I have now cooked all* of the recipes in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my Home to Yours. Every week, for the last four years, I have baked whatever recipe someone else picked. I was late a few times but never missed a week. I also managed to make up all of the recipes that the group made before I joined a few months after it started.
It’s been challenging, I will tell you that. That’s a lot of baking, and it’s a lot of baking that has to be done by a deadline. It often included recipes that were complex, recipes that I knew I wouldn’t love, and in worse case scenarios, complex recipes that I knew I wouldn’t love.
But, there were far more recipes that I thought I knew I wouldn’t love only to be pleasantly surprised. There were lessons learned, friendships made, and so much confidence gained. Now I have a generous handful of favorite new recipes in my arsenal.
And what a huge goal to be reached – checking an entire* cookbook off the list. I don’t know what I’ll do now, as I’m not joining the spinoff group. I might relearn how to choose my own dessert recipes. I might get into those healthified desserts. Maybe I won’t bake at all, although I suspect my coworkers, spoiled after months of weekly Dorie treats, would protest. These cookies, rushed to work on my day off because I was enjoying them a little too much myself for breakfast, were the last in a long line of sweets that quickly disappeared from the office kitchen. Tuesdays with Dorie is over, but I suspect the baking will continue.
This final recipe of Tuesdays with Dorie is posted on Dorie’s blog, along with her own reflections on the group. I was too lazy to deal with the egg white and chopped peanut coating but kept to the recipe otherwise.
*Okay, I haven’t made really all of the recipes. I skipped the two fresh fig recipes, and there’s a handful of garnishes and toppings in the last chapter that never came up as part of other recipes.
Final note: My favorite recipes from this book are marked with an asterisk in my blog page that lists posts associated with baking groups.
One year ago: Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
Two years ago: Pecan Pie
Three years ago: Tall and Creamy Cheesecake
It’s been great baking along with you Bridget. Good luck with your future baking adventures!
Looks great!
If it weren’t for TWD, I would never have discovered your blog, which I cook from on a regular basis (your pumpkin cinnamon rolls were our Christmas breakfast this year!). I’n on the tail end of my own somewhat insane baking blog project and am also not sure how I’ll adjust to choosing my own desserts, so I’ll be watching this space to see how you’ve adjusted :-). Thanks for your great writing and photography!
Thanks Bridget for all the information you so kindly shared. Your blog was one of the first blogs I visited years ago. I so appreciated your food photography helps. My photos have improved thanks to you! I enjoyed my Tuesday visits to your blog–always inspiring.
I’ll probably sit out the next baking group but will continue to check your blog!
Have a Happy New Year.
You are so impressive! Whew! I confess when a particular recipe didn’t appeal or I thought it wouldn’t be well received at home, I just skipped it. (And I think finding fresh figs at the right time of year was a big challenge.) But you must have an immense sense of pride and satisfaction for doing the whole thing! It has been great baking along with you and I look forward to seeing more (non-TWD) posts.
It’s been a fun baking group with a ton of great recipes! I have enjoyed baking along with you over the years! Your cookies look great!
Thanks for the list of your favorites! When you mentioned you had them, I was already planning a comment to ask what they were, and by the time I got to the bottom of the post, you’d shared. What a feat–I’m inspired to try something similar with one of my own cookbooks, which have been sadly neglected since I’ve found so many blog recipes coming to me each day!
Wow, this really dates how long I’ve been reading your blog, because I think I started right after you’d started TWD. Crazy! I’ve loved reading all of your TWD posts, and I only wish I was one of your co-workers 🙂
Wow ! You really baked all ! Bravissima ! I’ going to go through the recipes I havent done but not regularly I’m afraid. Happy new Year !
It has been wonderful trying so many recipes and I’ve always enjoyed your stunning photos! I can’t wait to see waht you do next- thanks for baking with us!
I can’t believe TWD is over. That’s such a huge accomplishment.
These look wonderful! Congratulations on doing all the recipes…wow, that is some accomplishment and persistence. I think somewhere around mid-January you might be rethinking joining the Baking with Julia book…I can just see you reconsidering that somehow, so I’ll see you there, then, okay? lol A little arm twisting never hurts!
Lovely cookies! So glad you baked along with us and sorry you won’t be part of the next group. Good luck!
It has been fun hasn’t it? Pressed you did 99% of the recipes. I have about 60 left so TWD goes on for me.
Hope u change your mind and ‘Bake with Julia’!
Aw…. what great looking thumbprints! Will miss seeing you in BWJ – but I’m sure your creativity will surface in some other form – as it always does! But if you change your mind…….. 😉
I’m so impressed you got to all the recipes. I missed a few along the way but I really loved being part of the group and trying new recipes
Bridget – I can’t remember if I discovered your blog through TWD or not, but I’m so glad I did. I’ve made countless recipes on your recommendation, and always with great results! Kudos to you for completing so many of the recipes – some day I hope to get through the ones I sat out. I’m not joining the new group either, and am definitely looking forward to a little more freedom 🙂
I’m impressed that you have done all of the recipes. I’ve got 21 left and they include one requiring fresh figs, another with raspberries, and another with plums. Hope to finish those up in 2012. I also hope you’ll reconsider and continue to bake with the next book. . . but if not, I hope you will check in from time to time. Happy baking!
What a great way to finish off the book! These cookies look delicious.
I am impressed, you cooked all of them. Dorie has great recipes but still, not skipping any is a wow four years. Congrats.
Yum yum 🙂 And they look so cute – all the best for 2012!
Your cookies look great! And all but two fig recipes is an extremely impressive accomplishment. I can’t always bring myself to make recipes that I won’t eat myself (eg anything with coconut).
Dear Bridget, as a longtime reader it was a great pleasure to follow your TWD posts among many others and I admire your efforts and precise reports. You are my role model for a perfect home baker and I wrote a little homage for you some time ago 😉
http://thefoodandthecity.blogspot.com/2011/10/100-whole-spelt-bagels.html
Wish you equally fulfilling experiences in the new year and best regards from Berlin, Germany