This week, Vienna rolls {flour, milk, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, eggs} with butter & jam. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is only 10 minutes on high heat (450 degrees), which creates a crust but keeps the inside soft and chewy.
Oatmeal bread - my favourite so far - made with a long list, which includes: water, yeast, flour, oats, bran, molasses & honey. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is longer: 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Toasted and covered with honey.
More white bread this week, this time washed with mmm...butter. I have to say, the amount of wait time involved in bread making is not that welcome on a Monday night at 9pm, but the end result is always good. Had some toast with peanut butter with this batch.
School is back in session! I saved the bread class for last because, well, bread is not covered in icing. It's yeast, it's flour, it's water, the usual suspects. 
These did smell amazing coming out of the oven though. Just basic dinner rolls and free-form loaves for Week 1 - more to come.
I've made the Barefoot Contessa's Beatty's Chocolate Cake many times - it includes brewed coffee and is truly the moistest, most chocolately chocolate cake I've ever tasted. I halved the recipe for a friend's birthday this week and made two smaller cakes vs. one large one. The portion sizes were perfect; we split one and the other was a take-home treat. Mini-desserts - this could be my new fixation.
I first tried Alfajores at La Merceria, a pretty cafe/home decor shop near my office. They are the Argentinian version of shortbread in the form of little sandwich cookies filled with Dulce de Leche or jam. This version is from the LCBO's Food and Drink magazine and contains both almond & all-purpose flour, butter, grated lemon peel, eggs, vanilla, salt and icing sugar.
Once mixed, the dough is chilled, rolled out and cut into circles. Baking time is 20 minutes at 325 degrees. I made Dulce de Leche for the filling because, duh, it's caramel and who doesn't like caramel? Whole milk & sugar is boiled, then baking soda added and the mixture simmered for about an hour until it browns {I only made a cup's worth; larger batches will take 2-3 hours}. Then you're supposed stir rapidly for 10 minutes until it thickens. Mine turned out kind of watery so I put in the freezer overnight once it cooled and that thickened it up. Whatever dulce you have after leftover after assembling your cookies can be added to your morning latte. Mmmm...
