Stained Glass Cookies ~ Baking Chez Moi

Per Tricia ~

This is a makeup week, or "rewind", as the Tuesdays with Dorie

community calls it.  I hadn't yet completed the Stained Glass Cookie

 recipe from Baking Chez Moi so I decided to go for it.  I expected 

the process to be time consuming so I tackled it AFTER 

Christmas, but while both sons were still home on break. 
 The process WAS time consuming. 
Even with Dorie's detailed  instructions, when you start thinking
 that tweezers would be a useful tool as you are cooking it's a good 

indicator that the process is involved. I'm not that patient :)

These were lovely when held up to the light. But even better to eat :)

The verdict ? 

Off the charts delicious and fun to look at. 
That said, I have no intention to ever make these cookies -per the recipe 
and for the holidays -again. I also have every intention to make the 
COOKIE part of the recipe many times.  I'll just omit the labor intensive/
arts & crafts cutting and filling with candy I have crushed by hand.

I cut the edge of a plastic bag and piped in the crushed candy, rethinking my choice of snowflake cutter the whole time.....
 

The cookie recipe is hands down the best butter cookie I have ever made. 

While many might not think its a compliment, the fact that the cookies

 tasted like the old school blue tins of little shaped butter cookies I grew 

up with is a huge compliment in my book. To have those little 

delights in a warm and fresh version was a wonderful surprise. 

I added an egg wash to the dough before cutting. The inserts got the extra candy on top- delicious !

And while it was labor intensive to this admittedly lazy baker, I really did 

enjoy trying - at least once - Dorie's technique for decorating the cookies 

this way. Trying is what it is all about.  And I am totally planning to steal

 the idea of one of my blogging peers who's going to revisit this with 

heart shaped cutters and red candy for Valentine's Day. Love it.

This marks another Tuesday recipe testing as we cook along with the "Tuesdays with Dorie" online group.  Please note that we do not post the recipes, per the group rules, but we do encourage others to RUN out and buy their own copy of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking Chez Moi".  Better yet, buy the book and JOIN THE GROUP ! www.TuesdaysWithDorie.wordpress.com

Chocolate Chestnut Tart - Baking Chez Moi

Per Nana ~

This is an incredible dessert and so decadent.  

I thought the best part was the syrup made from sugar and vanilla bean, 

added to the chestnuts.  The chocolate ganache came together beautifully 

and when it was added to the tart, looked fantastic.  Because it is so rich in 

flavor, I only served small portions and did not serve ice cream with it. I also

 didn't have any :) And the leftover syrup I have saved for another time. 

I chilled the remaining tart and found that the next day it tasted just

 like fudge with a crust. I loved it and just cut small portions. This 

is definitely a recipe I will make again, it is so impressive. 

Per Tricia ~

We knew the family would love this one because Nana sent

 over a portion of hers ahead of time. So I had to deliver on 

this one because of course, the family wanted more :) 

That said, the unsuspecting and not too complicated recipe got a 

disproportionate share of grumbling from me simply because it's the 

busy holiday season and I had lots of wonderful competition for my 

time- which did not include roasting and peeling chestnuts. 

Internet lies...that new technique of blanching & cutting a single line (not X) before roasting only added to the time lost.

I should have known better and bought a pricey jar of the ready to go 

version, but I got caught up in the cozy holiday illusion of how fun it 

would be to do these myself. That ship has sailed and took with it the 

immediate thought of making those stained glass cookies we are to 

also knock out this month too (we'll see about that one.....)

Vanilla specks in the syrup makes these chestnuts on the tart bottom delicious.

That said, the final version truly was a "company worthy" little dessert. 

My complaints are unjustified considering last year I was staring down a 

gingerbread Buche de Noel.  Great coordination and planning makes a big 

difference in this recipe, since it relies on a few different processes/steps to

 create the final product. Making the tart crust ahead of time, roasting and 

shelling the chestnuts, and then prepping the syrup too -  so that the vanilla 

chestnut combo (which takes about 45 minutes to cook down) doesn't 

blindside you - would all have made a big difference in my knocking this out.

  Truthfully we are simply not that HUGE of chestnut fans for me 

to likely be making this one again, but that is no reflection on the recipe. 

 I was happy to try it this once and the family is certainly 

enjoying round two after tasting Nana's :)   

 Happiest of Holidays to All ~

This marks another Tuesday recipe testing as we cook along with the "Tuesdays with Dorie" online group.  Please note that we do not post the recipes, per the group rules, but we do encourage others to RUN out and buy their own copy of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking Chez Moi".  Better yet, buy the book and JOIN THE GROUP ! www.TuesdaysWithDorie.wordpress.com

Stained Glass Cookies - Baking Chez Moi

Per Nana ~

Unfortunately this turned to be a disaster for me. 

The cookie dough was so easy to prepare and turned out perfect. 

I froze it for approximately one hour as Dorie suggested. I even had 

hubby working on the lifesavers using my mortar and pestle. 

He had a lot of fun sorting out the colors and pulverizing them.

 I realized later that this should be done at the last minute, as the 

candies all stuck together. When I started to fill the little holes in the 

cookie the candy had melted together and I could not push it 

through the pastry tip. I baked one sheet of cookies with the holes 

"sort of" filled and then just sprinkled candy onto the rest. 

The cookies were good, they just did not end up with a stained glass design.

Per Tricia ~

This month the "Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking Chez Moi" schedule is
 bit more flexible and includes an extra day to use as a rewind. I will 
be holding off baking and posting till later in the month so my college
 taste testers will be around to enjoy the treats fresh out of the oven :)

 Now, to get a hold of some of Nana's stained glass cookies....

This marks another Tuesday recipe testing as we cook along with the "Tuesdays with Dorie" online group.  Please note that we do not post the recipes, per the group rules, but we do encourage others to RUN out and buy their own copy of Dorie Greenspan's "Baking Chez Moi".  Better yet, buy the book and JOIN THE GROUP ! www.TuesdaysWithDorie.wordpress.com