Tuesdays with Dorie - Chocolate Truffle Tarts

Wow these were AMAZING!!!!


The mods at TWD did say that they would be choosing one easy recipe and one difficult recipe per month from Baking with Julia so I was worried these would be very fiddly. If you look at the length of the recipe you would think so too but they were surprisingly easy.


I made the dough the day before I made the tart. I didn't have any butter in so I used Stork (sorry Dorie!) but it hasn't affected the taste at all. I divided the dough into two before refridgerating it as I knew I would only be making three tarts (the whole recipe makes six). There are only three of us in the house and the rest would go to waste. The dough freezes so I knew I'd use the rest of it at some point.


Rolling the dough and putting it in the tins was the most difficult part, it broke very easily and was a bit of a mismatch job but you really can't tell from the finished product. I do love these tins, I bought them from Lakeland a few years ago and I use them a lot. Dorie's tart recipes always make enough for six of these tarts so easy enough to half the recipe for my family or do all six if we've got guests. Dorie says to remove the bottom from the tins but I baked them with the bottoms in, they were fine and well greased so popped out of the tin easily.

The only change I made (apart from the stork) was to use half milk and half dark chocolate in the filling as my husband and daughter don't like things too bitter. I also forgot to add any biscuits (I didn't have biscotti but was going to use speculoos instead that I had in the cupboard but when the time came totally forgot).


The tarts are absolutely delicious, the truffle filling is a bit like a chocolate mousse. They are very rich and so we could only eat half each (the other half being eaten the next day of course!) I have already made them a second time to use the second half of the dough and I can confirm that it was just as good from the freezer as it was freshly made.

Messenger Bag

My friend Clare bought me the pattern for the Amy Butler messenger bag for my birthday last year and I couldn't wait to make it. It's a really big messenger (perhaps a bit too big for me if that's possible).

The great thing about the bag for me is that it can fit a big file in it meaning if I have a meeting etc outside work I can take it all with me in one bag without having to take a separate bag or, heaven forbid, a carrier bag! I also really like the amount of pockets in the bag - I loooooove pockets and compartments. I particularly like the zip pocket on the exterior which you can keep quite train pass etc in without having to open the whole bag.

I have used the bag for work but I also used it for a quick overnight trip when I didn't want to take a weekend bag with me as I was getting the train to London and going straight to meet a friend and off to a concert. I could easily fit in my wash bag, PJs and a change of clothes and was really comfy to travel with.

I didn't really measure the strap for myself just trusted the pattern. I do think the strap is a bit too long for me (and I'm 5' 7) if I do make this bag again I will shorten the strap or perhaps make it an adjustable strap.

The exterior fabric is some grey suiting which is from Abakhans in Manchester. The internal fabric I think is Amy Butler fabric which I bought from John Lewis.

I do like Amy Butler patterns they are well drafted and very "wordy". I didn't have any problems with this pattern apart from one of the internal zips being a tiny bit too short. As usual Amy over-estimates how much fabric you will need for the bag but as long as you know this you can plan accordingly.

This bag would also be great for a man and there is a photo on the pattern of the bag in "man" colours. My husband uses a messenger bag for work so perhaps when his bag dies I'll be making him another one.

Tuesdays with Dorie - White Loaf

I love baking and Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan is the best baking book I own. A website was set up where various people baked their way through this book (it took them years!) and they have now finished it and so have moved on to another Dorie book, Baking with Julia. I thought now that I am blogging that I'd have a go at trying to keep up with them and bake my way through the book. I've had it for well over a year and haven't baked anything out of it as it all looks very complicated.

The first challenge was a white loaf. I must admit I am not a breadmaker. I have a breadmaking machine and I love it, why would I do it by hand? Well this seemed the best place to start.

The recipe said it made two loaves and as they are only fresh for a couple of days this seemed far too much for my family of three so I halved the recipe and made one.

I used my mixer with a dough hook to do most of the kneading as it says you can in the book. The dough didn't seem that 'alive' to me though. My yeast is very old (way past it's sell by date) but is fine in my breadmaker so I don't think that is it (I could of course be totally wrong!). Anyway, the rising seemed to go well.

Here it is ready to go in the oven all lovely and risen.

And here is the end result.

I must admit I wasn't overly keen. The crust was very crusty (a bit too hard for me!) and I had a couple of slices the night it was made planning to use it the next day for sandwiches. The next day it was inedible, all dried up and hard so it ended up going in the bin which was a total waste!

I'm glad I had a go at it though and do look forward to making the other breads in the book, I'll be making them the day I plan to eat them in future though. Head on over to the Tuesdays with Dorie website to look at all the other white loaves.

Teardrop Bag

As I finished my Blossom bag in record time I went straight onto my next bag from Amy Butler's Style Stitches, the Teardrop bag. I have made this bag for my friend Clare who, I think I have said previously, bought me the Style Stitches book for my birthday last year. She has asked me to make her a blind for her birthday and she's going to pick the fabric. Her birthday was last September and she's still not picked the fabric so, as yet, she is present-less. I thought this bag would be nice for her and the colours I have used are very 'her'.

The main body of the bag was kindly donated by my husband. It was previously his Armani denim shirt. He wore the shirt on our first date, and the second. In fact, probably on lots and lots of dates when we first met in 1990-something, he never had the shirt off; he loved it. Sadly the fashion changed and the shirt got sent to the back of the wardrobe never to be worn again. In order to ensure he never wore it again it was donated (grudgingly) to my fabric stash. It makes a pretty good bag I think!

The floral fabric is Amy Butler, again, purchased half price in the sale at John Lewis (it's sadly above my budget to buy it full price!). The hardest part about this bag was the hips, they were really fiddly to sew onto the bag and as I've used navy to top stitch them they don't look particularly neat. I have no idea how I'd get on with the smaller bag (this is the large size) but I wouldn't like to try it! I can't see me making the smaller version of this bag in any event as the large is just enough for any every day handbag (not like Amy's usual massive bags!) so the small will be too small for anything useful.

The rest of the bag was a breeze to put together. I added a flush zip pocked to the inside before putting on the top band. It is a bit squished at the top but I wanted it quite high up as its not that big a bag. I love a zip pocked and add them to all bags now as they are so handy.

I didn't have enough fabric to make the inside pocket as wide as the bag so as the sides would be showing I stitched them all the way around and then turned it inside out so that it had neat edges. I also divided the inner pocket so that it has a mobile phone section. the pocket it is a bit large when it isn't divided.

Isn't it cute? I hope Clare likes it. I am thinking of making her the matching coin purse to go with it.