"Tuesday's with Dorie" - Pears, Nuts and Rye, Oh My!

We were having family over the evening I tried this recipe and since my batter seemed extra liquidy, I decided to make them as individual desserts. I didn’t have any fresh pears, so I used bottled and left them as a whole half of pear. These cakes turned out to be a lot better tasting than they look and/or I thought they were going to be. I loved how easy they were to make and put together. We served ours with a scoop of homemade ice cream right in the center. They made a wonderful quick and yummy dessert.

This recipe is titled “Pears, Nuts and Rye, Oh My” and it comes to us from Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook “Dorie’s Anytime Cakes”. You can check out other fans and fun recipes at  "Tuesday's with Dori".

The Best Uses For Baking Soda

 "Thrifty Thursday"... this past week as I have been at my Mom's going through some of her stuff since she passed-away, I came acrossed some booklets called "The Old Farmer's Almanac" Who remember's them?… I loved reading them when I was younger. Anyway in one of them was a great article that I felt made a fantastic thrifty post for today titled "The Best Uses For Baking Soda”

                    

TWD - Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread

WE ARE SO EXCITED FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF BAKING WITH DORIE…. 

I was so excited when we kicked off the new year with a Bread recipe. We started with “Whole Wheat and Flax Daily Bread” featured on page 15 in “Baking With Dorie”. This is such a yummy loaf of bread to make, I love how easily the dough comes together. 

Out of respect for Dorie and our baking group I won’t share the recipe here but I will share that I added a cup of my leftover fermented Teff flour that I have been playing with since I made my Injera Bread a couple of weeks ago. 

And I can honestly say that this batch of dough worked up beautifully, the rise was perfect and then…. Somewhere between my second rise and baking, it all fell flat! Overproof? Not sure, baked to fast and fell? Maybe. We ended up with a beautiful crumb and two flat loaves of bread. 

BUT IT STILL TASTED AMAZING….. ❤️ we will make this one again.

 

Maple (Snow) Cookies

 Had a little fun with our “Frugal Friday” today… I wanted to soft Maple Cookies with Brown Butter frosting and the princess wanted to play in the snow, so we compromised based on her “great idea”. Which was… since the cookie dough needed to chill for an hour before baking, “We can put the cookie dough out in the snow to get cold, yaya, that way we can chill our dough and play in the snow and that would be frugal huh?, because it saves power in the fridge”… Said From the mind of a classic princess. 

 

    

INGREDIENTS

For the Soft Maple Cookies

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup pure maple syrup (Grade A Dark recommended)

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the Brown Butter Icing

1/4 cup unsalted butter (to brown)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

2 Tbsp pure maple syrup

1-2 Tbsp milk or cream (as needed for consistency)

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

For Garnish: flaky sea salt or chopped toasted pecans (for sprinkling)

INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until evenly combined; set aside.

Cream butter, sugar & maple: In a large bowl (stand mixer with paddle or hand mixer), beat softened butter and brown sugar on medium until light and fluffy (2–3 minutes). Scrape bowl; add maple syrup and beat until fully combined.

Add egg & vanilla, then dry mix: Beat in egg and vanilla just until combined. On low speed, add dry ingredients gradually and mix only until flour streaks disappear. Dough will be soft.

Chill: Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour (up to 3 days) to prevent excess spread and deepen maple flavor.

Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop 1.5 Tbsp dough balls spaced 2 inches apart. Bake 10–12 minutes until edges are lightly golden and centers look just set. Cool 5 minutes on sheet, then transfer to a rack.

Brown butter icing: In a light-colored saucepan over medium heat, melt 1/4 cup butter. Cook, swirling, until foamy and speckled with brown bits and nutty aroma develops. Immediately pour into a heatproof bowl to stop cooking. Whisk in powdered sugar, maple syrup, and optional cinnamon. Add milk 1 Tbsp at a time until thick but pourable.

Ice & garnish: Dip or drizzle cooled cookies with icing. While wet, sprinkle with flaky sea salt or toasted pecans. 

Let set ~30 minutes before serving.

Creamy Curried Chicken with Crunchy Vegetables (Ethiopian Style)

• Creamy Curried Chicken with Crunchy Vegetables 

  (we served it with our Ethiopian Injera Bread)

  
  

  Ingredients:

  
  

  2 tablespoons sun dried tomato oil, from the jar

  3 tablespoons butter

  2-3 skinless chicken breasts, cut in half into flat thin pieces. 

  Salt and pepper, to taste

  1 tablespoon garlic cloves, minced & sautéed in brown butter 

  1 cup chicken stock, or 1/2 cup of stock & 1/2 cup white wine

  1-2 teaspoons curry seasoning, season to taste

  ¼ -1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, or to taste depending spicyness

  1 cup red pepper and green peppers, cut into small chunks 

  1/2 cup red onion, cut into small chunks

  1 1/2 cup heavy cream, can use coconut cream 

  1/2 cup softened cream cheese

  3/4 cup parmesan

  1 cup chopped baby spinach leaves or fresh parsley

  
  

  (We added a cup of hot, cooked whole baby carrots to our recipe at the same time as the peppers)

  
  

  Instructions 

  Heat sun dried tomato oil with butter in a cast iron skillet.

  
  

  Season thin cut chicken breasts with salt and pepper, placing each piece of breast in hot skillet cooking for 2-3 minutes on one side until golden. Then, flip and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from pan. Do not over cook, they may seem still under cooked but they will finish in the sauce.

  
  

  Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add stock/wine and deglaze the skillet, removing bits that stuck to the bottom for flavor. 

  
  

  Season skillet with curry seasoning, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Stir for almost 1 minute to bring the roasted flavors together. Add cream cheese and stir until mixed into the liquid. 

  
  

  Stir in heavy cream and parmesan. Add peppers, red onions and spinach, return chicken breasts to the skillet, Turn off stove and cover skillet to allow the spinach to wilt and the pepper will steam to semi-crunchy, about 5 minutes. 

  
  

  Serve Warm with Injera Bread.

  
  

  

  
  

SMASHBURGER Taco

 The princess and Uncle Parker thinks we need to have a new “Taco Tuesday" post and they wanted to share their creation of the SMASHBURGER TACO, (the newest, hottest videos trending all over Facebook). They were actually really good. Check out all the videos and choose one to try, you can’t go wrong… here is our favorite:  https://fb.watch/EQOnCSAxXw/?fs=e

"Injera Bread" (Ethiopian flat bread)

 Sourdough Saturday... A few years ago, here on this blog we featured a series of “Around The World” challenges and we have decided we want to try that challenge again this year, so to kick off the New Year with our first challenge We made Injera Bread. 

It is a sour, spongy, flatbread made from fermented Teff flour (sourdough) and is listed as a staple in Ethiopia living.

Traditionally, people say it has a unique, slightly nutty and tangy flavor with a porous texture that is good for soaking up sauces, making it the reason why they use it as a utensil or plate. We found this to be very true. We really didnt care for it just plain, but when we used it to scoop up the "Garlic Butter Chicken & crunchy vegetables" it was really tasty. It's naturally gluten-free and vegan, making it a nutritious and versatile part of their daily diet.

   

We Loved and followed the photos and recipe from "The Daring Gourmet", so if you want to try it, here is the link: https://www.daringgourmet.com/authentic-injera-ethiopian-flatbread/#recipe.

And keeping with the traditional way of eating this flat bread, we served it along side our pan full of Ethiopian “Creamy Curried Chicken” (see post on January 7, 2026) and ate with our fingers using the bread as our utensils.