Sherry Trifle and Cats

Currant Scones - Daring Bakers January 2012 Challenge

2012-01-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Audax worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

These are my currant scones. I am quite pleased with them - they certainly taste good, but I think there is room for improvement still (perhaps a teeny bit higher). I would like to thank Audax for his excellent challenge choice and articles on "Sconery" - for the first time I triple-sifted the flour and it paid off. I have never made nice scones before this. I also went for the flaky scones, with larger bits of butter, and refrigerated the flour and dough between actual bench work times. I also chose the "by hand" option - so easy and restful, real comfort baking. I am taking them to the office tomorrow and cannot wait to see what the team has to say about them - it's something different as mostly they get cookies.

The next day: I think these have been the most popular desserts that I have taken to work yet! There was a VIP meeting in the boss's office so I put half of the scones on a plate for the meeting; the other half was for the rest of us; also provided salted butter and raspberry jam for those who did not want the scones plain. Talking about popularity, the group was even talking about them the following day.

Thank you, Audax! I can see that I will never be at a loss for what to make and am now browsing through a lot of U.K. scones recipes to get different kinds of flavors.

Recipe for Currant Scones (From Epicurious from Sarabeth's Bakery)
Ingredients
3/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs, chilled
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
A few gratings of fresh nutmeg
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup dried currants
1 large egg, well beaten with a hand blender, for glazing
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper.

2. TO MAKE THE DOUGH BY HAND: Whisk the milk and 2 eggs together in a small bowl; set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and nutmeg into a medium bowl. Add the butter and mix quickly to coat the butter with the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour, scraping the butter off the blender as needed, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs with some pea-size pieces of butter. Mix in the currants. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the milk mixture and mix just until the dough clumps together. TO USE A MIXER: Whisk the milk and 2 eggs together in a small bowl; set aside. Sift the dry ingredients together into the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer. Add the butter. Attach the bowl to the mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until the mixture looks mealy with some pea-size bits of butter. Mix in the currants. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the milk mixture, mixing just until the dough barely comes together.

3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of flour on top. Knead the dough a few times, just until it doesn't stick to the work surface. Do not overwork the dough. The surface will be floured, but the inside of the dough should remain on the wet side. Gently roll out the dough into a 3/4-inch-thick round.

4. Using a 2 1/2-inch fluted biscuit cutter, dipping the cutter into flour between cuts, cut out the scones (cut straight down and do not twist the cutter) and place 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared half-sheet pan. To get the most biscuits out of the dough, cut out the scones close together in concentric circles. Gather up the dough scraps, knead very lightly, and repeat to cut out more scones. You should get two scones from the second batch of scraps. Brush the tops of the scones lightly with the beaten egg, being sure not to let the egg drip down the sides (which would inhibit a good rise).

5. Place the scones in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 400°F. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cool on the pan for a few minutes, then serve warm or cool completely.

Whipped Shortbread Cookies

2011-12-24T07:42:00.001-08:00

Are these ever fabulous! The recipe is adapted from Allrecipes and I made half quantities. They taste like puffs of delicious shortbread and remind me a bit of eating peanuts - you can get hooked on tossing them into the mouth and before you know it you have eaten a dozen.

Recipe for Whipped Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients
3 cups butter, softened
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups cornstarch
2 Tbs. Lemon Peel OR 3 tsps. ground Cardomon (I separated flavorings into 2 batches).
2 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt

In a large bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy - about 10 mins. on medium speed. Mix dry ingredients - flour, cornstarch, cardomon (if using). Gradually add to creamed mix, beating until well blended. Add grated lemon zest if using. Add vanilla. Beat until blended.
With hands lightly dusted with additional cornstarch, roll dough into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Press lightly with a floured fork. Dip into colored sugars. (The purple ones have the cardomon.)Top with small pieces of different nuts (cashews, walnuts, pistachios).

Bake at 300° for 20 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: about 16 dozen.

Sans Rival - Daring Bakers November Challenge

2011-11-26T15:25:00.001-08:00

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

I can see I am ending up with a mini mini miniature, just a tiny sample to show I have attempted the challenge. The original plan was to make the 4 - 9 inch layers of the nougat, to be followed by mousseline on the layers and the top but not on the sides. I was thinking about the people in my office who are watching their cholestrol. Well, I need not have worried! I put two pans on the middle rung of my oven, let the meringues bake for 30 minutes and then had a devil of a battle trying to get the paper off the back. The remainder of the meringue/nuts had become all watery sitting in the bowl for 30 minutes so I did not even attempt to bake it.

With only one rather jagged circle, I am just going to make something the size of a quarter and fill the layers with regular buttercream so as not to waste all the mousseline ingredients.

I must say I am disappointed at my big FAIL. I have tasted a bit of the nougat and it is very nice - would have been really delicious as a complete product, I am sure. Hopefully I will have better success in the December challenge.

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design

2011-11-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

My flowers cake from the Wilton Part 2 course - Flowers and Cake Design. I think I have found a passion and maybe even a new occupation as I near retirement - working with fondant and gum paste and making beautiful flowers. This was such a good class and I now feel encouraged to go on to the third level.

Povitica - The Daring Bakers October Challenge

2011-10-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

I had such a good time with this challenge! And I actually finished it half-way through the month, instead of waiting until the last minute. After much anxiety and wondering if I could meet this challenge I decided to devote the better part of a Saturday and the evening - until almost 11:00pm - solely to Povitica.

Now that this one has turned out quite well, I feel encouraged to do the DB Croissants and the Baklava that I shied away from earlier this year; even to try the Strudel again using the sheet method. I made the half portion - thank you, Audax, it was wonderful to have this option. My first loaf had a band of plumped raisins at the beginning of the dough rectangle (to make it easier to roll); my second loaf had a band of Nestle chocolate mini-morsels at the beginning of the dough. These two flavors should take care of the non-chocolate lovers and the non-raisin lovers at the office as they can choose.

It's an unusual dough, for me at any rate - it seems that European baking has so many fancy dough types. However, it was not terribly difficult; it just took a lot of flouring. Kneading was quite enjoyable, something which I have feared up to now. A good neighbor in my building comes from Eastern Europe, Bosnia to be precise, and she is always making me treats of their marvellous cooking, both sweet and savory. I can't wait to tell her I have made her national bread.

My group swooned over this bread - we enjoyed it for two days as there was some left over after the first day. I would like to try some more flavors now, although my favorite so far is the raisin bread. I will write up the recipe soon, very soon, promise, but I'm just in a bit of a rush mode right now.

Fun with Candy Melts

2011-10-18T14:25:00.001-07:00

I took a class today in using candy melts. Basically the methods are plain dipping in melted compound chocolate or filling various molds with melted compound chocolate and placing them in freezer for a few minutes. Once taken out of the freezer, the chocolates are tapped out on to the work surface. The marshmallow on a stick, pretzel, and chocolate coated Oreo Cookie at the back of my pic are done using the dipping method. The orange pyramids, spider patterned cookie and the white chocolate disc are made using the filling and freezing method.

More follow - this is just the beginning working with chocolate for me.

Lemon Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies - Fine Cooking

2011-10-12T06:43:00.000-07:00

I love this shortbread. It is short, buttery, and has a slight lemon flavor from the grated lemon rind. I have made this twice so far, once with regular flour and then with unbleached flour. The recipe calls for unbleached flour but my personal taste is for the regular flour - it gives the shortbread a finer consistency.

A dear friend and the group at work have been the "tasters." All round, these cookies got a five star rating. Here is the recipe, from "Fine Cooking," slightly adapted.

Lemon Cornmeal Shortbread Bars
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup) finely ground yellow cornmeal (I used Bob's Red Mill Cornmeal Flour - it is nice and fine and not at all gritty.)
1/2 tsp. table salt
1-1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened at room temperature; more for the pan
1-3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar (I think a caster sugar would also be nice.)
1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest (I use a Microplane-style zester)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

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Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a 9x13-inch baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with the parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornnmeal, and salt to blend. In a large bowl, combine the butter, confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla; with a hand-held electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape the bowl. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the dough begins to form moist clumps. Dump the dough into the prepared pan.

Using a rubber spatula or lightly floured fingertips, spread the dough into the pan in a smooth, even layer. Dip the tip of a knife or a small metal spatula in flour (to prevent sticking) and score the dough all the way through into bars that measure 1x2-1/2 inches (about 1 inch across the short side and just a smidgen over 2-1/2 inches on the long side). Bake until the tops look dry and a pale golden brown, 35 to 40 min. Transfer the pan to a rack. Immediately cut the shortbread into bars, with a metal bench scraper or a knife, using the scored lines as a guide (they will have faded a bit during baking). It’s important to do this right after the shortbread comes out of the oven; if you wait until it has cooled, it will crumble when you try to cut it. Let the bars cool completely in the pan before removing them with a small, flexible offset spatula.

Make Ahead Tips
The shortbread dough can be pressed into the pan, scored, covered, and frozen up to a month before thawing and baking. The baked bars keep, well wrapped, for up to three days at room temperature.
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Crunchy Sugar Cookies - Fine Cooking

2011-10-02T04:34:00.000-07:00

I am totally in love with "Fine Cooking's" website - the instructions are nicely detailed and the recipes are delicious. Here is one of more to come - these "Crunchy Sugar Cookies" are easy and ideal to make on a Monday night after coming home quite late from work. I find it interesting that many of the recipes in the Cookies section call for unbleached flour; I think this gives a slightly more chewy consistency than bleached flour.

The Recipe for Crunchy Sugar Cookies1 cup granulated sugar; more for shaping
4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened but not meltingly soft
1 oz. (2 Tbs.) vegetable shortening, preferably trans fat free, softened
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 drops almond extract (optional)
9-1/2 oz. (2 cups plus 2 Tbs.) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
White or colored (coarse) sanding sugar for rolling (optional)

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Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar, butter, shortening, and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract (if using) and mix on low speed ( just to combine); then beat at medium speed for a total of 1 minute.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and baking soda to combine; then add to the mixer. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds, just to combine. Scrape down the bowl and then mix on medium-low speed for another 30 seconds to mix the dough uniformly.

Gently roll the dough into 1-oz. balls (about 1 heaping Tbs. each). Roll the balls in sanding sugar (if using). Arrange at least 2-1/4 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the dough balls to 1/4 inch thick with the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar (re-dip the glass after each cookie). Bake one sheet at time until the tops are light golden and set, 15 to 18 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

From Fine Cooking 109, pp. 39
December 30, 2010

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Cherry Turnovers

2011-09-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are having a feast of Cherry Turnovers at work. I have just spent Labor Day making them. I bought some gorgeous, sweet Bing cherries from Citarella, made a pate brisee then a delicious cherry pie filling, which I got from a favorite blog, Pastry Studio.

Ingredients:
Pate Brisee of choice - enough to make 2 pie crusts
For Filling:1-1/2 to 1-3/4 pounds Bing cherries, pitted (weigh before pitting), cut into quarters
2 Tbs. instant tapioca
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. almond essense
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1-1/2 tsp. lemon juice

One egg white, slightly whisked, to glaze turnovers
Extra sugar for dipping

Combine above ingredients and let sit for about 1/2 hour, then drain off some of the accumulated juice.
Roll out pastry in 2 portions to about 1/8 inch thick.
Using a turnover cutter 3 inches in diameter, cut out pastry rounds and fill with about 3 teasp. cherry filling each (or as much as will fill the turnover shape when closing the cutter).

Refrigerate for about 30 mins. Brush with lightly whisked egg white and dip into sugar. Place on baking tray covered with sheet of parchment.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 22 minutes, until turnovers look nice and golden.
Remove from oven and immediately transfer baking sheet with turnovers to wire cooler. Let cool and remove from sheet.

I love these - maybe a bit more sugar next time for the cherries (I used less than 1/2 cup). The pastry was good too.

[Bench Notes: Never use twice rolled pastry on these - it shrinks and cannot fit the turnover mold. Always use the first pastry round rolled out.]

Chocolate Truffles and Blackberry Pates de Fruits - Daring Bakers August Challenge

2011-08-27T16:17:00.001-07:00

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com/ offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Firstly, the truffles. They turned out most imperfect but they taste good. I used a half-pound each of Callebaut white chocolate and Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate to make the actual truffles. It was not a large enough quantity to temper so I just used it for the truffle centers, boiling cream and then pouring it over chopped up bits of chocolate. This is the recipe I used, from Epicurious, slightly adapted from Trio of Chocolate Truffles.

Semisweet Chocolate Truffles
1/3 cup whipping cream
6 oz. of Callebaut semisweet chocolate
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. Grand Marnier
Finely ground pistachio nuts (about 4 ozs).
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Bring cream to boil in medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; whisk until melted and smooth. Whisk in vanilla and Grand Marnier. Pour into medium bowl. Let cool on counter top then cover with foil and chill until firm, about 3 hours. (A good alternative would be to pipe the chocolate into a pomponette pan so it will keep a roundish shape.) Remove when they are just firm enough to shape and roll by hand, then replace in fridge to cool again.

While the chocolate is cooling in the fridge, prepare the Bada Bing Bada Boom enrobing candy melts, which does not require full tempering. However, some temperature changes are necessary to get it to the right state.

The Bada Bing Bada Boom Enrobing Chocolate

Heat water in bottom pan of double boiler to 130 - 15o degrees F. Turn off heat.
Place candy melts in top pan, and fit over bottom pan. Stir frequently with rubber spatula, until temperature is reduced to 100 - 105 degrees F.
Remove top pan. Let melts cool and hold temperature at 96 - 98 degrees F.
Dip prepared, rolled truffles into candy melt mixture (a slotted spoon is quite helpful). Place back in fridge for about 5 minutes, then remove and dip into the ground pistachio nut mixture.
Refrigerate truffles until set up, then keep at room temperature. (I have stored mine in a cake box covered lightly with a plastic bag).

White Chocolate Truffles
Repeat process with white Callebaut chocolate and white candy melts. (I found white chocolate much trickier than the dark chocolate, it kept on melting). Just keep putting in fridge to firm up as necessary.

Bench Notes: Practice, Practice, Practice - not easy to temper chocolate. For Chocoley Bada Bing Bada Boom Dipping and Enrobing Chocolate, "temper" as described above. For full tempering of couveture chocolate I have in the past used the recipe in About.com (once succesful and once unsuccesful - got streaks). Two good videos are on the sites:http://www.chow.com/food-news/54141/how-to-temper-chocolate/ and http://gourmetcandymaker.com/tempering-chocolate/.

Blackberry Pate de Fruits

These pretty sweets were incredibly easy to make - compared to the Truffles which I found rather difficult. I bought a 14 oz. of Goya frozen Blackberry pulp from the local supermarket and used a recipe in About.com (somewhat adapted):

Ingredients
14 oz. blackberry pulp (the recipe was for mango pulp)
2-1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbs. butter
6 fl. oz. liquid pectin
sugar for sprinkling

Directions
Prepare an 8x8 inch square pan by lining it with aluminum foil or parchment paper and greasing it with Crisco.
Cook blackberry pulp and sugar together in a medium saucepan over low heat until they form a very thick syrup, for about an hour. The syrup should thickly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Add butter and cook for 3 minutes more, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat and stir in the pectin while hot. Pour immediately into the prepared pan.
Allow to cool to room temperature. Cover pan with foil and refrigerate overnight until set.
Cut the candies into into small squares with a knife dipped in water. Roll in granulated sugar.

They can be stored in the refigerator in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

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Well, my truffles are really wonky, quite embarrassing in fact. My aim: work on making them so that they come out beautifully rounded and glossy. I did not like the fruit at all, possibly because the brand was not of the best. On the other hand, I have never been one to reach for fruit jellies in a box so I don't think I will make the jellies again.

All in all, a great learning experience with the hope of perfect truffles in the future.

Coconut Macaroons

2011-08-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

These delicious little cookies are from a recipe in "Joy of Baking." I have made them for two occasions, the first for a reception and the second for a treat at the Office. They vanish in a minute.

Easy, just right in texture, and sweet but not cloyingly sweet. Egg whites, sugar and sweetened coconut comprise the main ingredients and some wait time in the refrigerator is required. "Joy of Baking" also has a video on making these macaroons (which I can't seem to access now on my computer! - however, it is good) .

Coconut Macaroons:
4 large (120 grams) egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (60 grams) cake flour, sifted
3 cups (300 grams) sweetened shredded coconut

Coconut Macaroons: In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt. When this mixture is warm to the touch, and nice and creamy, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract, flour, and coconut. Cover and refrigerate for about two hours, or until firm.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place small mounds (heaping tablespoons) of the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing several inches apart. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes and then place on a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 2 dozen Macaroons.

Bench Notes: Egg whites must be room temperature. When mixture is over pan of simmering water, whisk only until warm to the touch and nice and creamy - don't keep over water too long or it will start to make egg whites. Bake for about 21 mins. - just until there are a few dots of pale brown on some of the pieces of coconut.

Capt'n Jerry's Browned Butter Cookies

2011-08-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

Makes over 60 cookies with 2 batches of dough.

I made these for a reception at my Church on August 15. They have come out excellently and look so pretty with the different colors of sugar. I feel like making these again and again as they are stress free and the given baking time is perfect. Basically they are a fairly rich sugar cookie, a bit like a Danish butter cookie.

The source is Land O' Lakes - if there were but world enough and time I would love to go through the whole selection of their cookies marked with 4 or 5 stars. This is the recipe, slightly adapted:

Capt'n Jerry's Brown Butter Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
colored sugars

Directions

Melt butter over medium-high heat in heavy saucepan. Continue cooking until butter foams and just turns a delicate golden color (3-5 minutes). Remove from heat immediately. Put in fridge for 30 minutes. Set oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Take cooled butter out of fridge. Combined browned butter, sugar, egg (lightly whisked) and vanilla in bowl. Beat at medium speed with Kitchen Aid, scraping sides of bowl often (1-2 minutes).

Reduce speed to low. Add flour gradually and mix slowly for about 102 minutes.

Place in fridge to firm up, then roll dough with rounded teaspoon scoop, pressing dough down lightly. Form into balls, roll them in colored sugar and press down on cookies with the tines of a fork. Bake for 12 minutes. Let stand one minute on baking sheet then remove and place on wire rack.

Ina Garten's Fresh Peach Cake

2011-08-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

I have just baked the Fresh Fruit Cake by Ina Garten, which I found on "Food Network." Even though I have been pretty good with my diet (since starting three weeks ago) I have to confess that I broke down here and ate a good slice of this wonderful breakfast-coffee type cake. It has fresh yellow peaches, sprinkled in cinnamon sugar and pecans, nestling in the midst of a delicious dough combination that contains sour cream.

Ina's recipe can be found on the Food Network site - just check out Fresh Peach Cake. The peaches are lovely this year so it would be just the right time to try this cake.

Milk Chocolate Tartlets

2011-07-31T04:11:00.000-07:00

Firstly, let me rave about the book from which I got this recipe, "Baking for All Occasions," by Flo Braker. It's my reading relaxation at present, filled with delicious recipes for the sweet tooth, recipes that do not look too complicated to make but which have luscious fillings, toppings and sauces, and a great selection of styles and types of sweet-tooth baking. On my list after today's Milk Chocolate Tarts are treats such as, "Luscious Lime Bars with Milk Chocolate Glaze", "Strawberry-Mango Shortcakes with Basil Syrup","Peanut Butter Crunch Cake," "Cupid's Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream" and lots more. Most of the ingredients are quite easy to obtain and will not break the bank. I can see the beginning of a beautiful friendship with this book.

Milk Chocolate Tartlets

I used a pate sucree for the pastry shells, baked in 4-inch mini tartlet pans with removable bases; for the filling I used extra creamy Lindt milk chocolate and a sprinkling of toasted almond slices. Baking time was about 15 mins. at 375F for blind baking, then about 7 mins. for open baking.

The filling is a ganache consisting of 10 ozs. milk chocolate and 3/4 cup of cream, with the cream brought to the boil and poured over the chocolate, allowed to sit for a minute, then stirred to a nice, smooth soft consistency. The recipe in the book calls for meringue topping, which I will try the next time I make this treat - my apartment in Brooklyn offers a tropical climate in summer, not a good time for finer things such as meringue. I'll just take a picture and be on my way to the chocoholics at work.

Bench Notes: Next time use stronger flavored nuts, such as pecans. The almond flavor rather disappeared into the chocolate. Also add 1/4 tsp. gelatin sprinkled over 1 tsp. of water, allowed to get damp, then blitz in the microwave for 5 seconds - this makes the chocolate set more firmly.

Fresh Blueberry and Raspberry Bavarian - Daring Bakers

2011-07-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

I love this cake. It has been one of my most enjoyable Daring Bakers challenges so far and so very French! I chose the Basic Chiffon Cake recipe and baked it in a 9-inch springform pan which I later trimmed down to fit an 8-inch springform. Chiffons seem to shrink quite a bit in the baking. I also used blueberries and raspberries and am now looking forward to many remakes with variations. Mango would be marvellous; I might also try it with blackberries or yellow peaches or both.

The Recipe for Basic Chiffon Cake

Creme Patisserie
Ingredients
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
2 TBS/ cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 TBS unsalted butter
3/4 tsp. gelatin
1/2 TBS. water
1 cup cream

Method
Put milk, vanilla and salt into top pan of a double boiler (directly on the heat.) On medium high heat bring mixture to scalding point(near but not to boiling point). Stir occasionally during process.

In mixer, add cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine. Add egg to sugar and cornstarch. Whisk(by hand whisk) until smooth.

Pour scalded milk mix gently and slowly down side of sugar and egg mix, whisking sugar and egg mix at the same time.

Bring water to boil in base of double boiler. Place hot top of double boiler on base and pour the custard mix back into the warm double boiler pot; cook until custard is thick, just about to boil and until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. (This prevents the custard from getting thick and gummy too quickly, which happened to mine but I smoothed it out through whisking with a hand beater.)

Remove from heat, pass custard through sieve into large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.Cut butter into 4 pieces, whisk into pastry cream one piece at a time until smooth.

Cover cream with plastic wrap to prevent it forming a skin. Chill in fridge overnight.

The Basic Chiffon Cake Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (270 ml) (5½ oz/155 gm) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (4 gm) baking powder
3/4 cups (180 ml) (6 oz /170 gm) sugar
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) (1½ gm) salt, preferably kosher
1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60 ml) vegetable oil
3 large egg yolks
⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon (3.17 fl oz/95 ml) water
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon (3¾ ml) (3 gm) lemon zest, grated
5 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1 gm) cream of tartar

The Method:
1.Preheat the oven to moderate 325°F (160°C/gas mark 3).
2.Line the bottom of a 10 inch spring form pan with parchment paper - not 9 inch or 8 inch - they were too small to hold all the batter. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
3.In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
4.In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly.
5.Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
6.Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
7.Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
8.Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 (it make take less with the 10 inch pan) to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9.Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
10.To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Refrigerate for up to four days.

Simple Syrup:gluten free and vegan!
You may choose to flavor the syrup. One way is to use flavored sugar (for example: apple cider sugar, orange sugar, or vanilla sugar) or to stir in 1-2 teaspoons of flavored extract. You may also infuse with herbs or spices, if desired or add four tablespoons (60 ml) of fruit juice or liqueur while the syrup is cooling.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (2⅔ fl oz/80 ml) (2⅔ oz/75 gm) of sugar, flavored or white
1/3 cup (2⅔ fl oz/80 ml) of water

Directions:

1.Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
2.Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
3.Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly.
4.Transfer syrup to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.
Assembly:Components:
1 baked 8 inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
1 recipe pastry cream filling
⅓ cup (80 ml) simple syrup or flavored syrup
2 lbs (900 g) strawberries
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
½ cup (120 ml) (5 oz/140 gm) almond paste

Directions:

1.Line the sides of a 9-inch spring form pan with plastic wrap if you are going to use a 10-inch pan for baking, then assemble in a 9-inch pan to handle shrinking. Do not line the bottom of the pan. Use 2-1/2 inch high transparency film for the lining, cut up into about 3 sections then joined with scotch tape.
2.Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers. Using toothpick method to get an even cut, use long serrated knife and run it under piping hot water them cut gently.
3.Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
4.Prepare enough fruit to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the fruit against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
5.Pipe cream in-between fruit.
6.Prepare remaining fruit and place them in the middle of the cake. Cover the fruit entirely with the pastry cream.
7.Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
8.Spread whipped cream on the top.
9.Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
10.To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
11.Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Delicious!

Cookies for Our Troops

2011-07-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made about 60 Oatmeal Raisin cookies to send overseas to our troops. I belong to the "Operation Baking GALS" group which has been sending packages overseas for well over two years now.

How it works is you are given some information on the baking teams that are entering, and a brief bio. on the troops you will be baking for. You select a team and then get busy. This month I chose to make the Oatmeal Raisin cookies from the recipe off the top of the the Quaker Oats box - quite frankly I have a soft spot for "back of the box" recipes, probably because they are often so darned good. My package will be going to a group of guys and gals fighting for us in Afghanistan.

I have a tremendous admiration for our military and am deeply grateful to them.

I also got some munchies at Duane Reade to send as well as the cookies - cheese popcorn, lifesavers, Werther's candy and so on. I'll probably do another mailing in September.

(I see little Phoebe has got herself into the picture, my little baby darling Angora whom I rescued from a shelter - she's a real little French princess.)

Assorted Mini Cookies from "Kaff's" Bakery

2011-07-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

Oops! my Big Boy, Ernest, seems to have slipped a pic in, flashing his bare tummy.
I stopped by this evening to get some bread rolls from Kaff's Bakery in Borough Park, Brooklyn and could not resist getting one of each of a selection of mini cookies. I think they look very cute - the mini shortbread hearts, with or without chocolate, a tiny rolled circle cookie, a tubular cookie with, I think, sesame seeds, a black and white cookie, and, if I had remembered to include it there would have been a pretty little flower cutout sandwich cookie with jam in the center, something like a linzer cookie.

We are already planning what to make for the next St. Mary's parish reception and I thought these would look really nice to copy, bake them ourselves and place on the cookie tray. Is that not a cute one looking like a bow tie with apricot jam!

Now I can enjoy the summer coasting around bakery shops (Citarella and other really upscale ones have exquisite little cookies), buying a couple of samples and getting ideas. Also eating the samples; that is one of the perks.

Key Lime Tartlets

2011-06-29T20:07:00.001-07:00

Actually, it's a lime-lemon curd and it packs a real punch, reminding me of the sour sweets I used to enjoy when I was a child. I used "Nellie and Joes Key West Lime Juice," which I purchased from Citarella, and regular lemon zest. So far I have not seen key lime fruits in New York. Just being able to pour the juice instead of laborsome lime squeezing is a benefit in itself.

The recipe is very easy, the only time consuming element being the 20-25 minute stirring at the stove once all the ingredients are added.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, cut into ounces

3/4 cup Nellie and Joes Key West Lime Juice

1 TBS. lemon zest (regular lime zest is too bitter for my taste)

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

1. Place the sugar, butter, lime juice, lemon zest in the top of a double boiler, stir over medium-high heat until butter melts. Mix 2 tablespoons hot lime mixture into the eggs and stir to blend.

2. Reduce heat to medium until water simmers. Slowly whisk egg mixture into the lime mixture. Cook over the double boiler until lime mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon, 20 t0 25 minutes. Cool slightly, then spoon lime curd into a clean, glass jar (or place Saran Wrap right against the curd in a bowl.) It seems that key lime juice is quite yellow.

Bench Notes: Tried recipe again, this time with 1/2 cup lime juice plus 1/4 cup water added, only 1 tsp lemon zest and an additional 2 Tbs. sugar. This went over better with people who,unlike me, do not like mouth-puckering sour.

Chocolate Biscotti - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-06-20T05:32:00.001-07:00

Only a week late but I am getting construction work done in my apartment so am giving myself a little credit for being able to function at all.

I like these biscotti. They taste really good after they have sat for a night, are nice and chewy and certainly pack a chocolate punch! Ghirardelli cocoa powder and Nestle's semi-sweet mini morsels are responsible for that punch. Some white chocolate squiggled on the biscotti is a good contrast to the deep chocolate taste.

They are a bit difficult to slice - as stated in the recipe the logs form cracks, rather fissures, in the first baking. One thing I will make sure to do next time (they are definitely on my list for a next time) is to read the recipe properly and shape the logs into a 12x2 inch size (I was trying to make two kinds of biscotti at once and misread the size, making them too short and fat). The recipe is here.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-06-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

Red Velvet Mini Cupcakes

I found this recipe on a blog while I was coasting around like a shark looking to see what I could capture. It's a very good red velvet recipe; I particularly like that it calls for 2 ozs. of the red coloring. It comes out a beautiful red.

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups sifted cake flour

1 teasp. baking powder

3/4 teasp. salt

2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa

2 ozs. (2 bottles) red food coloring (tasteless)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1 tsp. white vinegar

1 tsp. baking soda

Directions

Oven at 350 degrees. Use 2 - 12 cup muffin pans for regular cupcakes,2 - 24 cup muffin pans for minis. Line with stiff textured cupcake liners.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt into mixing bowl. In smaller bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa to form a thin paste without lumps.

Beat butter and sugar (3 mins.). Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add 1/3 of flour mix to butter mix, beat slowly well, then beat in 1/2 of buttermilk. Beat in another 3rd of flour, then 2nd half of buttermilk. Beat in last 1/3 of flour mix, until well combined.

In small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Add to cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill cups a little under 3/4 full.

Bake about 20 minutes for full size, about 16 mins for minis, rotating pans. Use spring up test or toothpick test. Cool in tins on wire rack for 10 mins. then remove. Cool completely before frosting.

Bench notes - Buy the Wilton taste-free red coloring (the regular red coloring will give the cupcakes a metallic flavor as one has to use so much of it.)For minis bake about 16 mins. Use 1 level Tbs. batter for each cup. Put some oil or crisco on edges of cups so any overflow does not stick; use stiff cupcake cups - the dough is quite thin and light paper cups will not hold it well.Cups must be a little under 3/4 full.

Blueberry-Blackberry Brown Sugar Plain Cake - TWD

2011-06-08T15:01:00.000-07:00

This pic was taken early this morning and looks a bit like stacked logs as it is in the carrier already. The cake was a rave; I served whipped cream with it (I think it's a bit plain otherwise) and quite a few people came back for seconds.

I added some blackberries to the blueberries (8 ozs. in all), which gave it an extra moist texture. So easy, so delicious to go with morning tea or coffee. I think it might be nice with peaches or pears as well.

This week's pick came from Cindy - thank you; it's a perfect choice. The recipe for the cake is on Cindy's blog: Everyday Insanity.

Cardamom Sugar Cookies

2011-05-26T16:42:00.001-07:00

These cookies might look rather plain but they are marvellous! (I got the recipe from Food.com - I believe Recipezaar has morphed into Food.com). In fact I have butter and an egg coming to room temperature right this evening to make another batch.

I also intend making them for an event next week, but then I'll add a few squiggles of white royal icing to give them a festive air.

The dough is kept in the fridge for a few hours then rolled out. At first I got very frustrated as it was too soft and it was impossible to peel the surrounding dough from the cutout cookie. The solution is to roll the dough when it's cold, then, after making the cutouts, put the tray with the cutouts in the fridge, for at least 15 minutes. The surrounding dough will then peel away easily from the cookie shape. Also, 1/4 of an inch in height is just the right level for the cookies; anything thinner would be even more difficult to work with. I found that about 12 minutes was right for the baking temp of 350 degrees F. Bake until they are slightly golden and turn the pan to prevent the cookies at the back getting too brown around the edges.

The best thing to bake on is a pizza tray (for any cookies for that matter) as it's so easy to just swirl it around rather than struggling with moving a rectangular tray.

Recipe for Cardamon Sugar Cookies (adapted from Food.com)

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Beat butter and sugar together by hand or in a mixer, until pale and fluffy. Blend in egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cardamom and salt. Stir into butter mixture until just combined. Gather dough together, shape into 2 discs, wrap and chill until firm, about 1 to 2 hours, or freeze until ready to use (then thaw overnight in fridge). Preheat oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out first disc of dough to just less than ¼-inch thick. Cut out desired shapes and lift with a spatula onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roll second disc, saving all scraps to re-roll for more cut-outs. If you choose, add sprinkles or other decorations onto cookies before baking. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Let cool before removing from tray. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Brown Sugar Bundt Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-05-08T16:54:00.001-07:00

It's in the oven, a half size cake, which I will probably bake for about 40-45 minutes give or take. There are some very nice ingredients in it - fruit, grated orange rind (my addition), nuts, two essences - I think it's very promising.

My cake pan is a smaller size coffee cake pan with smoothe sides and base and quite a heavy consistency; for one thing, I prefer this shape and for another thing, my small, thin metal bundt pan has let me down twice by not releasing my cakes, in spite of lots of crisco and flour. I think this bad pan is on the way out.

The next day: the pic shows that my group was enjoying the cake. The flavor is as I expected - fruity and the texture was bouncy and soft. I would definitely make this again. The recipe is on the Pantry Revisited blog.

Basic Marbled Loaf Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-05-03T17:03:00.001-07:00

It's a bright green and pink carnival cake, mainly because the green coloring squirted out too much from the tube and I shook in too much of the red powder coloring. It was meant to be a delicate pale green and shell pink, flavored with almond essence.

But for the taste, it's a very nice loaf cake and it was very popular at work. I served it with whipped cream. I enjoyed learning the marbling technique, following the instructions exactly. Some of Dorie's alternative flavors must also be delicious - particularly the expresso and cardamon mix. Maybe I'll try that one for next time.

If you fancy making this cake, the recipe is here .

Maple Mousse served in Chocolate Nut Cups - April Daring Bakers Challenge

2011-04-30T16:57:00.001-07:00

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!

Here I go, limping along, posting late as usual and doing only the basics for the challenge. However, it's done, thank goodness! I have been looking at the superbly artistic entries on the Daring Bakers website - there is a feast beautifully made, top level desserts. I can learn a lot from browsing through them and experimenting with some of the ideas.

I made half portions of the recipe for the nut cups and the mousse and used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips for the dipping chocolate and pecans for the nut base. The chocolate was an ideal match - anything sweeter would not have tasted good. I also loved the nut cups and formed them in a mini cupcake pan. I got 10 cups out of the recipe; the ones not on the plate have been gobbled up by the baker. I did not care for the Maple mousse so much as I thought it was a bit too sweet and only faintly tasted of maple syrup. I will definitely try the cups again, maybe even with finely ground nuts to give a more even shell. Here is the recipe for this fun challenge:

Nut Bowls:
Ingredients:• 1 1/2 cups crushed nuts of your choice such as almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts• 1 egg, beaten, at room temperature• 2 tbsp sugar• 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces
Directions:1. Use a food processor or a zip-lock back with a rolling pin to crush your nuts if whole, use about 1 cup of whole nuts to get 3/4 cups crushed. You want it somewhat coarse.2. In a bowl mix the nuts with the beaten egg and the sugar.3. Take 6 small ½ cup capacity Pyrex cups or a similar container and line the inside with aluminum foil. Spread ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl, all the way up to the sides making sure you have a thin and even clean layer all around.4. Bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. until the nuts are golden and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Let cool completely before unmolding.5. Melt chocolate (either in the microwave or over a double boiler). Dip the rims of the cooled nut bowls in the chocolate. Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened and is set.

Maple Mousse:
Ingredients:• 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)• 4 large egg yolks• 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)
Directions:1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

Now it's onward to May - only one night to go before I know what it is.

Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-04-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed these neat little shortbread cookies. They have a crunchy, crispy consistency as a good shortbread should and the amount of butter is just right.

For myself I don't think I would use cornmeal again and would maybe cut out some of the lemon rind as the lemon flavor is quite strong. A nice, buttery plain shortbread does it for me.

I just love Dorie's ziploc bag method of shaping the dough and letting it harden in the fridge for hours - it makes the dough so easy to shape and cut. The recipe for the shortbread cookies is
here .

A Tourtely Apple Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-04-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to try some of this tart tomorrow; it's really quite different from other apple tarts or pies - the filling does not have any over juicy, runny liquid in it and the nuts give it a nice crunch.

The recipe can be found on Jeannette's blog, The Whimsical Cupcake. Thank you, Jeanette, I think this is going to be a winner.

After the tart - fabulous! five stars!

Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake - Daring Bakers March Challenge

2011-04-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

A whole week late! I rushed to get this challenge done on the 27th, Reveal Date, and made a dreadful mess. After that I was intending to pass the March challenge by until I spent some time looking at the lovely creations of fellow DB'ers. Surely it was worth another shot. I think it was quite a difficult cake to make, but one that would get easier once the techniques were mastered. Now that I have the cake in some sort of reasonable shape, I feel courageous about trying something similar. The recipe is basically for a rich brioche-type dough, filled with a layer of whipped meringue, which is then covered in cinnamon sugar, nuts, and chocolate chips. The last step is to roll the dough, Swiss roll style, and create a wreath shape. The recipe makes two cakes.

Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

Ingredients for Dough: 4 cups flour 1/4 cup sugar 3/4 tsp. salt 1 package active dry yeast (2-1/4 tsp.) 3/4 cup whole milk 1/4 water (temperature does not matter) 1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick) at room temperature 2 large eggs at room temperature 1/2 tsp. ground cardamon Ingredients for Meringue: 3 large egg whites at room temperature 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. vanilla 1/2 cup sugar Ingredients for the Filling: 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted, 2 Tbs. sugar. 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon, 1 cup (6 ozs.) Lindt milk chocolate from a bar, cut up finely into chips . Egg Wash - one beaten egg.

Directions for the Dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast. In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Add 1/2 teasp. ground cardamom. Let sit for 10 minutes so cardamom flavor can steep. With an electric mixture (hand mixer is fine) on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup of flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in most of the rest of the flour so that it makes a dough that holds together. Turn dough out onto a floured board or silpat and knead for 10 minutes, using what is left of the flour (about 1/4 cup) for the work surface. Add extra flour as needed. Place the kneaded dough into a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let sit until double in bulk, 60 plus minutes. Prepare the filling in a small bowl: Combine the sugar and cinnamon and set aside in a small bowl; chop up chocolate and chop up toasted pecans. Set aside.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue. In a clean metal mixing bowl beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the sugar, one Tbs. at a time while beating, until meringue is very stiff and glossy and forms stiff peaks.

Assemble the Cakes :Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Very important - grease and flour the paper. Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working with one piece at a time (keep the other half wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20x10 inch rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about one, even 1-1/2 inches from the sides. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar, then the chopped nuts, then the chocolate pieces onto the meringue covered rectangle. Roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined, greased cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal. Using kitchen scissors make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch intervals. Make them as shallow or deep as desired but don't be afraid to cut deep into the ring. Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings. Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for about 60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper/cake off the hot cookie sheets onto the table. Very carefully loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. The cakes tend to stick to the paper - it took me two cake lifters and a knife to get them off. (If it doesn't come off easily, can always turn the cake upside down when its cool and firm and just peel the sticky paper off.)

Five Star Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-03-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

Absolutely the best, most delicious chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted! The recipe is from the Land o' Lakes website - I think I will use this recipe forever!

I used both white chocolate chip and semi-sweet chocolate chips from Ghirardelli, plus about 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. The recipe suggested 8-10 mins. for the baking time but as I like cookies a little bit munchy, I baked them for somewhere between 10-12 minutes.

I halved the recipe and it made over 30 cookies.

Ingredients 1 1/2 cups Land O Lakes® Butter, softened 1 1/4 cups sugar (used about 1/4 cup less) 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar (used about 1/4 cup less) 2 Land O Lakes® All-Natural Eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla 4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 (12-ounce) package (2 cups) real semi-sweet chocolate chips

About 3/4 cup of lightly crushed nuts (used pecans) Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and baking soda. Beat until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips.Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Place cookie rounds in the fridge for about 1/2 hour before baking - this prevents too much spreading.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Let stand 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets.

They do not spread much, thank goodness - the dough is quite heavy and I gave it time in the fridge before baking, about 30 minutes. The result is a nice dome shaped cookie with a firm consistency.

A huge success with my group! Now I will make a batch, also using different kinds of choc. chips, for Easter Sunday as we are invited out to a nice dinner.

Honey Nut Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-03-20T15:01:00.001-07:00

I am looking forward to sampling these brownies tomorrow. They are baking right now. I don't usually bake with honey that much but it seems to be a very good variation for brownies. I halved the sugar in the recipe as I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted; I thought they would be too sweet with the whole quantity of sugar listed.

Suzy of Suzy Homemaker has the recipe on her blog. It was a great choice. Thank you, Suzy.

The next day:

There are so many delicious brownie recipes in Dorie's book and this is another one. So far I have four TWD brownie recipes that are favorites - the Brrrrr.ownies; the Quintuple Chocolate; the French Chocolate; and now the Honey Nut . This weeks dessert was an absolute rave with my group - the whole tinful disappeared before noon. I loved the somewhat softer, cakey texture that the honey created and yes, there is very definitely a strong taste of honey, clover honey to be precise. I think one could get very creative just selecting different flavors of honey. My choice to halve the sugar worked just fine as the sweetness level was perfect. For bittersweet chocolate I would use the full amount.

Citrus-Sunshine Muffins - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-03-17T15:41:00.000-07:00

A bit late - it will have to be Fridays with Dorie for this week. Things got a bit hectic these last couple of days.

What a lovely muffin recipe! For this time I used the plain batter, without any fruit added; however, I think this muffin will adapt to a lot of fillings - dried berry fruits, nuts or bits of dried apricot would be ideal.

They were a rave at work and I just love the somewhat coarse, bouncy texture and the light citrus flavor. I sprinkled some confectioners' sugar over the tops just before setting them out. Definitely a favorite.

Lauryn of "Bella Baker" selected these muffins for TWD this week.

Citrus-Currant Sunshine Muffins
Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 cups AP flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 cup moist, plump dried currants (I did not use currants this time.)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular sized muffin tin or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange is strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together the orange and lemon juices, lemon extract, melted butter and eggs. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Fold in the currants. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Quick and Delicious - Lemon Cookies

2011-03-16T05:25:00.001-07:00

These delightful cookies are from the Land O' Lakes website. The batter is an all-in-one and I only needed to use my small electric beater; no bother with cleaning the stand mixer afterwards.

They can be glazed with lemon/water/confectioners' sugar glaze. I left them plain for this time as they are "traveling" and I don't want squished glaze. They are really good just plain.

The Land O' Lakes site is filled with delicious possibilities and I am going to indulge myself now by surfing through it again to pick out favorities.

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup LAND O LAKES® Unsalted Butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Glaze
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
Directions
Heat oven to 400°F. Combine all cookie ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Meanwhile, combine all glaze ingredients in small bowl; stir until smooth. Frost warm cookies with glaze. Sprinkle with additional lemon peel, if desired.

The Corniest Corn Muffins - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-03-06T15:08:00.001-08:00

I ate the bottom half before I realized that I hadn't taken a pic, so hence the muffin top only. I took these to work - the reviews were 50-50 in favor/not so good.

Three of us thought they were really good; the other three (including me) were not overly keen on them. There is too much cornmeal in the recipe for my liking, one cup of cornmeal to one cup of flour. This gave the muffins a gritty, mealy taste. I checked out a couple of other recipes and the ratio of cornmeal to flour was much smaller - 1:2 in one case and 1:3 in another (Ina Garten's in Food Network used 1:3). I think I will try this next time.

Panna Cotta and Florentines - Daring Bakers Februrary Challenge

2011-02-26T14:13:00.001-08:00

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt
2 cups assorted fresh berries
Directions
Place the milk in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over. Let stand for 3 to 5 minutes to soften the gelatin. Pour milk mixture into a heavy saucepan and stir over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves but the milk does not boil, about 5 minutes. Add the cream, honey, sugar, and salt. Stir until the sugar dissolves, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat. Pour into 6 wine glasses so that they are 1/2 full. Cool slightly. Refrigerate until set, at least 6 hours.
Spoon the berries atop the panna cotta and serve. Cover and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight
Nestle Florentine Cookies
Recipe from the cookbook “Nestle Classic Recipes”, and their website.
2/3 cup unsalted butter;2 cups quick oats; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2/3 cup plain flour; 1/4 cup dark corn syrup; 1 tsp vanilla extract; pinch of salt; 1½ cups dark or milk chocolate
Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl).
Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
This recipe will make about 2 1/2 – 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

This was quite an easy challenge but I still learned some tips for making again - a silpat is essential!
I placed the first batch on regular baking parchment paper and they stuck to the paper - absolutely would not, would not come off without bringing sticky bits of paper with them.
The silpat batch came off smoothly and with a nice fine consistency.

I thought the cookies were a bit sweet, for my taste at any rate. I drizzled white chocolate over the cookies so that was sweet too - probably bittersweet would have been more suitable. The panna cotta was delicious - really like a nectar cream - a very elegant dessert.

Raspberry Oat Bars

2011-02-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

Raspberry Oat Bars (adapted from Allrecipes)

Makes 24 bars, using a 13X9 or two 8X8 pans.

Ingredients
13 ozs. butter, softened (12 is recommended but I used an extra ounce to blend the mix better)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1-1/2 cups oats (I used old-fashioned)
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
12 ozs. raspberry jam (I used Tiptree Raspberry Seedless; any jam with a bit of a tang will be fine)

Process
Set oven at 400 degrees F.
Cream butter and sugar, about 3 mins.
Combine dry ingredients: oats, flour, salt, baking powder. Stir into creamed mixture.
Press half of dough into bottom of greased & floured pan (can use Bakers' Joy)
Place jam into microwaveable dish or jar and blits for 25 seconds (this prevents it from sticking on the oat/flour base)
Spread jam on base.
Crumble 2nd half of oatmeal crust mix over the raspberry layer.
Bake until very light brown, about 20-22 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool completely in pan before cutting.

These are nice and easy but even with "nice and easy" it's possible for me to mess up - I baked the bars for 25 minutes - it's too much. They came out with the jam having a bitter flavor and the bars were quite hard, like rusks. This is the second time I have made these - the first time they were a grand success and I got an order for 2 dozen. The first batch were a pale brown, with a bit of loose oatmeal here and there. I'm not taking a disappointment to my customer so now it's off to the shops to replenish my supplies and to bake them for less time.

This batch came out beautifully at 20 mins. I hope my customer enjoyed them - he joked he was going to put out about 5 for his family and keep the rest hidden for noshing.

Toasted Almond Scones - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-02-21T06:31:00.000-08:00

Mike of Good Living Out West chose Toasted Almond Scones for this week. I took them to my group at work and was delighted, of course, that my boss really liked them. He said they were great for early in the morning and had quite a few. The people who like the fancier goodies - frosted cakes, tartlets, and so on, didn't really say much. So each to his or her own.

I thought they were quite nice but found them a bit dry; when I blitzed a scone in the microwave for 10 seconds it came out moist and delicious. I suppose scones and biscuit types should really be served warm and as soon as possible after baking.

I have never made scones before; for some reason there seems to be something mysterious about them, they require special handling, hidden talent and have baking secrets that I have not unlocked - my Yorkshire grandmother made the most perfect scones - quite small, with a nice light brown crust, and with lots of butter on them; I can taste them now. I think my hesitation was that I would not be able to make scones like Grannie's. So maybe my Toasted Almond scones are a good start and it will be onward and upward to more scone making.

The recipe is on Mike's blog. here

Chocolate Oatmeal Drops - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-02-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

The Chocolate Oatmeal Drops are fabulous! I halved the recipe and got 18 cookies. They are rich and chocolaty and perfect to go with an afternoon cup of coffee. I portioned out one rounded Tbs. of batter for each cookie and let them bake for 14 minutes - this time seems to be just right.

If you would like to make these cookies, check out Caroline and Claire's blog, Bake with Us. Great choice!

Bourbon Bread Pudding - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-02-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

I am so pleased I made this pudding. My group just loved it. Thank goodness I remembered to take a pic before the last slice was eaten.

The custard is smooth and has a faint flavor of Kentucky bourbon in it. I followed the recipe and only used one tablespoon. Two would be more daring and give a stronger bourbon flavor. I used Pepperidge Farm cinnamon bread; it was a perfect match.

What would I do differently next time? Use a 9x5 pan as recommended; I baked my pudding in an 8x4-1/2 and it took about 20 minutes longer to bake. That's about all - I can still taste that custard in my mind as I write.

Sharon of Simply Southern selected this pudding for us. Thank you; it was a great choice. The recipe is on Sharon's blog.

Chocolate Cherry Cake

2011-02-04T02:21:00.001-08:00

Chocolate Cherry Cake

Ingredients
1 cup dried tart cherries, snipped
1/4 cup cognac
5 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut up
1/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Simmer the dried cherries in a pan of quite shallow water and the cognac for about 5 plus minutes, enough time to soften the cherries. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler.
2. In a medium bowl beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer on high speed about 5 minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Beat in chocolate mixture, milk, and vanilla. Gradually add flour until incorporated in the other ingredients. Stir in undrained cherries and nuts.
3. Pour into a greased and floured 8-inch square cheesecake pan (or equivalent); place on a baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean, around 40-43 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then lift out. Cool completely.

The Chocolate Glaze
Spread 1/4 cup Chocolate Glaze evenly over top and sides of cake. Chill for 10 minutes.

Frost top and sides of cake with remaining glaze. Chill until set. Let stand at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. Decorate as wished for. Makes 12 to 16 servings.
[Chocolate Glaze: In a glass measure combine 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut up, and 2 tablespoons butter; place in microwave on high for about 1 minute until melted, stirring twice.]

This delicious confection is really more of a torte than a cake. There is just sufficient flour to hold it together and it has a deep, rich brownie consistency. The dried sour cherries are divine - the steeping in cognac makes them really special; and there are just enough pecans for a crunchy munch.

I took this to work a few weeks back and again to a reception this week; it got raves.

Great Grains Muffins - Tuesdays with Dorie

2011-01-31T17:06:00.001-08:00

Christine of "Happy Tummy" picked Great Grains Muffins for us this week. It's just what I feel like - I have been baking and eating a lot of really sugary stuff lately so muffins are just the thing. If you would like the recipe it's on Christine's blog, here.

I don't usually bake with prunes (mostly raisins or currants) but I had a nice can of moist prunes so why not use it? I will probably tell my office team that the fruit is plums - if I say prunes they might start thinking about Activa yoghurt or senna pods - I mean, prunes are plums, aren't they, just dried a little bit, so I won't really be misleading them.

Easy to come together, easy to bake. They have risen nicely and took exactly 20 minutes to pass the doneness test. Tomorrow will tell if they are successful or not.

The next day: Some of my group really enjoyed the muffins, but on the whole they were not a rave. I thought they were quite good but not as good as other TWD muffins I have baked. However, they are really moist and not too sweet, and go well with a cup of morning coffee.

French Shortbread Rolled in Non-Pareils

2011-01-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

I think these look really pretty for a party I am planning. I have to confess that I just renamed them. The original recipe is for Sables, from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking From My Home to Yours." The original used sanding sugar for the decoration; I used multi-color non-pareils.

Dorie's Tips and Recipe for Sables :

Don't beat the butter (or the butter, sugar and eggs) so enthusiastically that the mixture is light and fluffy. You don't want to beat air into this dough, because it would cause the cookies to puff as they bake in the oven and sink as they cool on the counter.
Be soft and gentle when you blend in the flour. This is the make-or-break step in the process. With the word "sandy" singing in your head, add the flour all at once and mix it only until it disappears into the dough. To guard against overmixing, you can mix in the last of the flour by hand.

RECIPE FOR SABLES

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature, plus 1 large egg yolk, for brushing the logs
2 cups all-purpose flour
Decorating (coarse) sugar
Makes about 50 cookies
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 of the egg yolks, again beating until the mixture is homogenous.
Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and the counter from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. (If most of the flour is incorporated but you've still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.) The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball — and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long: it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log. Wrap the logs well and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough — this is the glue — then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
Trim the ends of the roll if they're ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. (You can make these as thick as 1/2 inch or as thin as — but no thinner than — 1/4 inch.) Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top; they may feel tender when you touch the top gently, and that's fine. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remaining log of dough, making sure the baking sheets are cool before you bake the second batch.

My Bench Notes: (1) Use fine, light decorations - sanding sugar, non-pareils, etc. I started with coarse sanding sugar and some of the edges fell off the sables as they were too heavy!

(2) Chill each full tray for about 10 minutes once the rounds are on the trays. Then bake.

(3) I really, really must confess I prefer regular, ordinary parchment paper to silpats for these cookies.

They are lovely buttery cookies and well worth a bit of fussing with the shaping.

The TWD Cinnamon Swirl Cake - Second Try

2011-01-26T14:35:00.000-08:00

This is much better! I was determined to treat the office team to this cake and could not take it in crumbs like my first attempt.

This time I halved the recipe, used 2 tsps. of cocoa powder (unsweetened) instead of the chocolate and baked it for around 45-50 minutes. So now I can add it to my "make again" list.

It still cracked a little on turning it out; I am not quite sure why. I oiled the pan with quite a lot of Crisco and some flour. Maybe a bit less sugar will do the trick.

Nutty Chocolaty Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake - TWD

2011-01-23T19:26:00.001-08:00

Oh no!!!!*****My cake would not release from the pan; this is in spite of Baker's Joy and knowing it's a good pan which I have used before!!

I cannot take it to work like this, although it is so delicious. I have been munching from the heap - the crust and the body of the cake are just perfect. However, I think I know the culprit - greed! I added too much milk chocolate, in quite large chips, so it must have made the batter too sticky.

I promised my office team a cake tomorrow; now I will have to disappoint them. But I will pick myself up and make it again tomorrow, with only one layer of filling and maybe without the chocolate.

Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort chose this week's TWD pick. Gosh, I am so sorry I made a mess of this lovely cake, Jennifer.

I have to post as I have not done a TWD recipe for a while. Tomorrow is another day.

Daring Bakers - January 2011 - Biscuit Joconde Imprime and Entremets Dessert, with Custard and Meringues

2011-01-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Oh my goodness! I have just finished the joconde decor strip; my kitchen is smoky from the high baking temp.; there is bubblegum pink squish all over the sink top and on the floor, and sponge cake crumbs galore. I did it though! I have a 7-inch springform pan lined with a pink and yellow strip, ready to be filled. In spite of warnings about the baking time, I overbaked my joconde. It turned in a minute, but there was enough of the sheet to rescue a strip. Quite a lot of the paste just blended into the sponge batter and was a solid pink - maybe that had something to do with the heat and overbaking or perhaps because the paste was too thick on some of the sponge sheet.

Most fun thing so far? Definitely drawing a pastry comb down the pink batter. It gave me a nice feeling of creativity. I have seen these pastries at quite a few high-end shops, like Citarella; it never occurred to me to wonder how they were fashioned.

Well, I' have decided to fill the cake with something quite easy - a nice plain custard, covered with some meringue kisses I made last night.

For another time? Maybe halve the batter of the paste and the sponge, and use just a couple of small cake rings for an exotic little treat. And definitely sit glued to the oven to check the baking status.

I think this was a wonderful challenge. It was a difficult, professional chef technique to learn. Everytime I make something really challenging for Daring Bakers I feel my learning curve goes way up. It's a bit like being trained as a Roman soldier - they used to drill wearing extra-heavy packs, so by the time they had to go into battle, with normal -weight gear, they were leaping over hills and gullies, conquering everything.

Thank you, Astheroshe, for a wonderful challenge and new technique.

Galettes des Rois for Epiphany

2011-01-07T15:13:00.001-08:00

I made over 50 of these delightful little pastries for the Epiphany reception after Mass at my Church, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in NYC. They are mini "Galettes des Rois" (King cakes), served on Epiphany night, to commemorate the night when the three Kings from the East journeyed to Bethlehem to pay honor to the baby Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Posted in her column on the "Serious Eats" website is an entry by Dorie Greenspan on Galettes des Rois: Dorie writes, "While the galette des rois is a cake meant specifically for January 6, Epiphany, it’s impossible to resist its temptations before or after the official holiday—so impossible that some shops [in Paris] offer the sweet until the end of the month.

The galette is really very simple, if a little time-consuming to make—it’s an almond and pastry-cream filling sandwiched by two rounds of (all-butter) puff pastry dough—but so, so good. Nothing beats buttery puff pastry and a filling made with more good butter! But great taste is only one of its attractions—the chance to wear the king’s crown is another, and probably the one that keeps kids asking for the cake over and over.

Every galette comes with a crown and, this being Paris, patissiers vie to have the most beautiful crowns of the season. And the way you get to wear the crown is to be the person lucky enough to get the feve, the little trinket that’s baked into the filling. Feve means bean and, originally, that’s what the trinket was. But over the years, while the word feve remained, the beans gave way to fanciful trinkets. (There are feve collectors all over the world now.) It probably goes without saying, but this being Paris, the best pastry chefs change their feves each year and, yes, vie to be the most original. Oh, one last thing about the crown—you’re not supposed to keep it. If you win, you can pocket the trinket, but when you get the crown, you’re meant to place it on the head of your chosen king or queen. It’s a lovely tradition, but one I’ve never seen honored. Everyone I know who’s won, has plunked the crown on his or her head, gloated over winning and dug into the galette."

Of course, at our reception, we just ate the galettes. They were very popular - "so delicate", "the best Galettes I have ever tasted", (comment from a visitor from France!), "this is a lovely pastry," and so on. But my word, they are a lot of work! I used the Defour Puff Pastry, which is worth every cent of what it costs. It's a light, buttery pastry and can be rolled out quite thin - I got 12 two-and-one-half inch cakelets from one box. I made the frangipane (almond cream) filling from a combination of recipes, tripling it to make enough for the entire batch. That was easy, but it's the putting of the pastries together that takes the time. Would I make these again? Yes, definitely, for a small batch, but never again for 50 pastries!

This is the Frangipane recipe I used. It's quite delicious and difficult to resist the temptation of eating it with a spoon.

Frangipane
1 stick (110 gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
1 cup (100 gr) ground almonds
2 eggs (beaten)
1/4 cup (60ml) heavy cream

Combine dry ingredients in food processor and pulse until almonds are fine in texture. Add beaten eggs, then stir in cream (do not pulse cream). Store in refrigerator overnight so the cream can firm up.

Roll out pastry to about 1/8 -1/4 inch thick and cut 2-1/2 inch rounds.
Using two rounds for each galette, place 1 heaping TBS. of frangipane in center of the bottom round, leaving at least 1/2 inch around the edge uncovered.
Dab some water on the edges and press together the sides.
Bake at 375 degrees F for just over 20 minutes. (This is the temperature recommended for Dufour pastry.)
When they are nice and golden, with a little bit of brown on the base, remove from oven. Place immediately on cooling rack.

They are absolutely best eaten fresh, slightly warm. This is not practical for most baking I do but they taste really good the first day baked. The unbaked, filled rounds can also be frozen and then baked straight from the freezer if it's necessary to prepare them in advance.

What changes would I make for next time?
1.Add more ground almonds until the frangipane is of a firmer consistency - it tended to spread and leak over the edges of the rounds.
2.Make them a bit larger - 3 inch rounds at least (more room to handle them).

I have some of the delicious puff pastry left over; I'll freeze it again and my next adventure will be with Eccles Cakes from the North of England.

Translucent Maple Tuiles - Tuesdays with Dorie/and a TWD Catch-up: The Peanuttiest Blondies

2010-12-06T18:42:00.001-08:00

I have to say I don't like the tuiles - they taste too buttery although they do have a nice crunchiness. Mine aren't anywhere near as lacy as the one's in the picture although I baked them for about 7 minutes and put them in the fridge to chill before baking.

To catch up on some of the TWD bakes I have missed (crazy schedule this past couple of months) I made the Peanuttiest Blondies. These are nice - I used a mix of milk and semi-sweet chopped chocolate and they are filled with good goodies. I would say the best baking time in my oven is around 45 mins. (at 40 mins. they were still mushy and at 50 mins. the edges got a bit overdone).

Daring Bakers - Italian Ricotta Crostata

2010-11-28T15:44:00.000-08:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I have enjoyed this challenge. It took me a long time to decide on the filling then I got the idea for a traditional Italian ricotta cheese filling from one of the Daring Baker posts. I used version 1 from our challenge for the Pasta Frolla and rolled it into an 8-inch tart pan. It has a lot more sugar and eggs than a pate sucre and was very crumbly; I had to add 2 TBS. of water to the dough to get it together.

I let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight before rolling it out; it was not such an easy task to roll it as it can get pretty sticky and break off here and there. Maybe pressing the dough in the tart pan with the finger-tips would be an easier, if not better, method as I had to do this with the edges anyway.

This is what I used for the filling, a recipe from "Group Recipes," slightly adapted.

Ricotta Filling
2 pounds ricotta
½ cup sugar
1 Tbs. flour
1/2 teasp. salt
1/2 teasp. vanilla
1 tsp. grated orange zest
4 egg yolks
2 TBS. white raisins, soaked overnight in marsala wine
Pastry cut-outs from the left over pasta frolla

Combine the ricotta cheese with ½ cup of sugar, 1 Tbs. tapioca, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, grated orange peel and egg yolks. Beat until they are thoroughly mixed. Stir in the raisins. Spoon this filling into the partially baked pastry shell spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Decorate the pie with the pastry cutouts. Make sure the filling covers the edges of the pastry so the pastry does not get too brown.

Place tart on a tray in the oven then bake on the middle shelf at 350 degrees F for 1 to 1¼ hours or until the crust is golden and the filling is firm. (I baked it for 1 hour and 10 mins.) The almost invisible flower shapes are pastry cutouts I made from the leftover dough.

After baking:
Take the pie from the oven and let it sit on wire rack to cool. Refrigerate for a while. Serve slightly chilled.

Apple Cranberry Galette - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-11-15T15:03:00.000-08:00

I have never made a galette before; it's a wonderful type of pastry to make - so easy and quite pretty, I think, with its pleated border. I used a pizza pan to bake it on, just rolling the dough over the rolling pin and placing the pastry on the pizza pan by unrolling the dough from the pin. The pan also has a natural 1-1/2 inch border so I used it as a guideline for making the folds.

Cranberries alone are a bit tart for my taste so I chose sliced apples and cranberries in a compote, mixed with sugar, water, honey, about 3/4 tsp. of squeezed of lemon juice, and a dash of cinnamon. I got the idea for the compote from Epicurious.

The dough was nice and easy to roll but stuck awfully on the silpat the first time, so that means using a lot of flour. The galette is in the oven right now. Tomorrow I'll get my taste testers' comments.

Later - it's baked perfectly, except some of the fruit on the very top is a bit dry so I am applying some Dr. Oetker's glaze over the fruit.

The verdict today: fabulous pastry but the fruit mix was not liked. It was too sour and needed more sugar. My next fruit galette will not have cranberries; I think my best recipe for apple filling so far is Chef Bo Friberg's in my November 2 post.

Elizabeth of Celestial Confections chose this week's treat. Here's the link to her blog and the recipe: http://celestialconfections.blogspot.com/. Here's to many more galettes! Thanks Elizabeth.

Not-Just-for-Thanksgiving Pear Shortbread Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-11-08T02:13:00.001-08:00

Monday night - I have just finished grating the dough disks and mixing the pear filling in a skillet. The P&Q is just the right place to get great ideas for the weekly Tuesdays with Dorie bake; this week I read about grating dough. It is so much better than trying to get rolled out pastry discs to fit the pan.

For the filling I cut up two large Boscobel pears, quite finely, then added 3 ozs. brown sugar, 1-1/2 TBS. flour, 1 TBS. lemon juice, a dash of ground nutmeg, a dash of ground cloves, and a couple of pinches of salt to a skillet and stirred them a bit, then added the pears. Cooked mixture gently over a medium heat until it started to bubble (it took about 7 minutes to bubble). Now it's cooling - I hope it's not going to make the cake mushy, but here's hoping.

Tuesday and one cake slice later. This is a delicious cake, a bit like a crumb cake in texture but very rich because of the butter. The pear filling is very good and not too sweet. Any stone fruit compote or preserves would be good with this; and apples with some cranberries, but not a whole cranberry filling.

Jessica of "Singleton in the Kitchen" picked this week's treat for us. Thank you, Jessica; it's a great cake. For the recipe check out her blog.

[Note to self: next time leave the freshly grated pastry out on the shelf for about 15 minutes; do not put back in fridge. This way the dough won't be too cold and take about 50 minutes to bake; it should be more like 35 - 40 minutes.]

Lemon Meringue Nests and Apple Hand Pies

2010-11-02T02:11:00.000-07:00

I've been pretty busy these past two weeks, making pastries for a reception at my church. All in all I prepared around 200 mini pastries; it felt something like a teach yourself pastry school course as I tried a couple of different items I had never made before.

The first pastry was the Meringue Lemon Curd Nests, adapted from a recipe by Chef Gordon Ramsey in BBC Good Food.

Meringue Recipe

3 egg whites

1/2 teasp. lemon juice

3/4 cup of fine sugar (ground regular sugar in the coffee grinder)

Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Tip the egg whites and lemon juice into the clean bowl of a food mixer. Whisk until the whites double in volume and hold a peak when the whisk is drawn through them. Keep the whisk running and add the sugar a tbsp at a time, incorporating completely before adding the next. Whisk until all the sugar has been added and the whites are glossy.
Place a square of baking parchment on a large baking sheet. Pencil 20 circles, about 1-1/2 to 2 inches each, onto the parchment (or place a second sheet of parchment with drawn circles under the top sheet). Spoon the meringue into a 14-inch piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle (no. 3 is a good size) and pipe concentric rounds to fit each drawn circle, piping two or more rings around the edge to form a nest. Place in oven, leaving oven door slightly open by inserting the handle of a wooden spoon it it. Bake for 3 hrs until they are crisp and lift off the paper easily. Leave to cool completely.

Filling

Make lemon curd mixed with whipped cream.

Spoon small amount of the curd-cream into each meringue nest. Delicious!

The next treat was apple hand pies. I used a pie pocket maker 3 inches in diameter to cut the pastry and fill the pies. This is a wonderful tool as it makes really neatly shaped pies.

Apple Filling Recipe

(from The Professional Pastry Chef, by Chef Bo Friberg*)

About 7 Granny Smith apples

10 ounces granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

4 teaspoons lemon juice

Peel and core the apples. Chop approximately 2/3 of the apples into 1/2 inch pieces.

Place the chopped apples in a saucepan with sugar, water, and lemon juice. Adjust the amount of sugar according to the tartness of the apples and your own taste. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the apples have broken down and the mixture starts to thicken.

Chop the remaining apples into 1/4 inch pieces and add to the mixture on the stove.

Continue cooking the filling until the apple chunks are soft and the filling has reached a jamlike consistency, adding a bit more water if it seems necessary. Let cool at room temperature, then store, covered, in the refrigerator. Add nuts, or raisins, currants or dried cranberries.

Pastry

Make favorite all butter pastry.

Roll out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut as many rounds as will fit. Sprinkle pie pocket maker lightly with flour. Fill each round of pastry with about a TBS. of apple filling and insert into pie pocket, closing very lightly. Remove apple pastry from pocket. Make a couple of small knife inserts into pie so air can escape while baking. Use egg wash over the top side of each pie.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes or a bit less. (These pies freeze very well, unbaked; when needed they can be baked straight from the freezer.)

Tip: Very important - use only the first round of pastry cut outs - the dough on subsequent rounds will shrink in the the pie pocket and the pies will open while baking. The leftover dough from each first round can always be used for something else.

Work quickly; only cut one circle at a time for each pie. Use needle, not knife for pricking. Use egg wash to help close edges as well as over tops. Must prepare well beforehand so pies can sit in freezer at least overnight.

The reception guests thoroughly enjoyed both these treats - I will be making more of them coming up Thanksgiving visits and Christmas Holiday visits.

*The Professional Pastry Chef:Fundamentals, by Bo Friberg, is an absolutely fabulous baking volume. I would highly recommend it for a treat-yourself purchase.

Daring Bakers - October - Doughnuts

2010-10-25T16:19:00.001-07:00

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I am so excited - my freshly deep-fried doughnuts are cooling off on a rack and I've just consumed one. It is quite delicious, a cakey doughnut, with a half cup of ground unsalted peanuts included in the flour. I'm going to sprinkle finely ground sugar over them just before serving.

Admittedly the deep frying was a bit nerve wracking; I shut the cats in the bedroom (in case they got any ideas about tripping me up in the kitchen) and managed to burn my left index finger with just a spot of hot oil. I'm too nervous to take the pan off the stove until it's all cool - pouring two jugs of iced water in has helped a bit but I'm still not lifting that pan. However, the whole challenge was really fun and not too difficult. I would definitely like to try doughnuts again.

Thank you, Lori. This is a really great pick for our October challenge.

The recipe is from "Chocolate Passion" by Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty, slightly adapted, thus:

Peanut Doughnuts

3-1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising)

1 cup unsalted cocktail peanuts

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt (I cut it to one teaspoon)

3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

vegetable oil for frying

1. In food processor, combine 1/2 cup of the flour with the peanuts. Process for 20 to 30 seconds, until coarsely chopped.

2. In large bowl, using a wire whisk, stir together all the dry ingredients, including the chopped peanut/flour mixture.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil and vanilla extract until blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into it. Using a spatula, stir the mixture until it forms a soft, moist dough. Dust work surface with flour. Scrape the dough onto the work surface and lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Gather the dough into a ball and knead it gently 5 to 6 times, until smooth. (Do not over-handle.)

4. Dust a large baking sheet with flour. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Dust your hands with flour and pat the dough into a circle that is about 11 inches in diameter and 1/2-inch thick. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place the baking sheet with the dough on it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, until firm.

5. Using a 2-1/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut rounds from the circle of dough. With a floured 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut a hole from the center of each doughnut. Unsing a floured spatula, transfer the doughnuts and the doughnut holes to a waxed paper-lined baking sheet.

6. Gather the scraps of scraps of dough together, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Pat the scraps into a circle 1/2-inch thick and make more doughnuts as above. Cover the doughnuts and refrigerate for up to 6 hours, until ready to fry them. Let the chilled doughnuts stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before frying.

Fry the doughnuts

1. Pour enough oil in a deep-fat fryer or 10-inch, high-sided skillet to come up a depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil to 375 degrees F. Using a spatula or slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts three at a time into the hot oil. Fry one minute at a time on each side (a bit less, I think), until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the doughnuts from the oil and transfer to paper towels to drain. Set the doughnuts on a wire rack to cool. Fry doughnut holes six at a time, for about 45 seconds each.

Make a chocolate glaze and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired. (I did not do the glaze as I enjoyed the cruller like consistency of the plain, sugared doughnuts.)

Double Apple Bundt Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-10-04T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is a nice, easy, comforting cake to make, the type of cake to prepare in rainy weather or after having a rough day.

I managed to get some apple butter at a supermarket in Brooklyn Heights, however, it's a health apple butter with only apple juice and apple sauce. -I don't go for health foods, but I didn't see a nice, buttery, apple butter alternative. It's very dark and tastes a bit acidic; hopefully it won't spoil the taste of the cake. I used Golden Delicious for the grated apple; and I halved the recipe for a 6-cup bundt cake.

It baked for about 45 minutes and seems to be the right consistency. The smaller bundt cake shape is rather pretty, and should cut into about 8-9 slices if I'm not too generous. I've sprinkled it with caster sugar.

Lynne of "Honey Muffin" chose this week's cake. Thank you, Lynne. I think it's going to be a keeper. Readers will find the recipe here .

The verdict? Some of my taste testers loved it, a couple of others would have preferred it with a ganache or some kind of frosting on top; we had some cream cheese in the refrigerator and one of the guys spread his slice of cake with cream cheese - quite a good idea, I think. I really enjoyed my slice and would say it's a lovely breakfast type cake.

Tarte Fine - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-09-28T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is a really nice tart. One of my group quipped that it was "Apple Pizza" and yes, it is in a way, a very delicious pizza. There were very few slices left when I took the picture and that was only 10 minutes after I set the plate out.

I used Granny Smith apples and made some "Rough Puff Pastry" from a recipe in Epicurious. The Granny Smiths were a bit sour so next time I make this I will use Golden Delicious or some other type of sweeter pie apple. The puff pastry came up really well, but it's not that much easier to make than classic puff pastry - it involves grating frozen sticks of butter into the flour in the beginning instead of wrapping some dough around a block of butter, but it still takes 4 turns and lots of refrigeration. (I have discovered a "VahChef" demonstration on u-tube showing what looks like a very good method of making classic puff pastry; it will be nice to give it a try.)

The tangy apricot glaze gave the tart a good finishing touch and I provided a small bowl of cream as well, but most of the group preferred it without cream.

Leslie of Lethally Delicious picked this weeks treat and the recipe is on her blog. Great choice, Leslie! Thank you.

Daring Bakers - Decorated Sugar Cookies

2010-09-22T16:10:00.001-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

In keeping with our spring theme, I have chosen some Biblical verses and sugar cookies that suit the season:

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land...

I think this is one of the loveliest of Biblical passages, from The Song of Solomon, Chapter 2, verses 11-12. I wanted the 16th century English so I copied the passage from my Great-Grandmother's King James Bible. Grannie MacMillan was the Scottish grannie, who came from Motherwell near Glasgow. I like to picture her reading these verses so many years ago.

I ordered copper cookie cutters from Coppergifts.com - a turtle and a flower shape. (I have learned that the turtle was actually a turtledove in Hebrew, but the translators of the KJB read it as a turtle! When I was a child I always used to marvel that the spring could be so wonderful that a turtle could sing.)

Packaged royal icing powder from N.Y. Cake made an excellent outlining and flooding icing and coloring by Chefmaster proved to be the best brand. It gave a deep, dark brown for the turtle markings, without having to add too much liquid. Some of the others, like Wilton, took just too much liquid or powder before they became anywhere near dark enough.

This was altogether an enjoyable project and a good learning experience. I have plans now for Christmas and Easter decorated cookies.

Cinnamon Raisin Rolls

2010-09-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

I'm all gung ho on learning to make sweet yeast breads, hence my effort with raisin buns this week. The recipe is from the "Sunmaid Raisins" website. I adapted it slightly and followed Dorie Greenspan's method in making cinnamon bread - to leave the dough out to rise once it has been formed. I can't imagine why one should put it in the fridge for the first rise, which is the instruction from the Sunmaid recipe! They certainly aren't the best looking of raisin buns but they were a wow with my "taste testers" at work. Obviously I must practice forming them into nice roll shapes.

Ingredients

3/8 cup of milk

6 TBS butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teasp. salt

1/4 cup warm water (110 to 115 F)

1 packet yeast

1/2 egg (beat an egg lightly then measure half of beaten egg in liquid measuring cup)

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar (light), packed

1 TBS cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins

Method

Check if raisins are nice and moist; if not, steam them for one minute and pat dry.

Lightly beat egg then measure to one half of this.

In saucepan, heat milk; stir in 4 TBS. butter, sugar and salt, stirring until butter melts; cool to lukewarm.

In large bowl, combine warm water and yeast; let sit for 3 minutes then stir until dissolved. (Does not matter if not perfectly dissolved but it must be soft.) Add milk mixture, the beaten egg half and 1 cup flour; beat on low speed for a minute or two in stand mixer with paddle attachment until smooth. Stir in remaining cup of flour to make a soft dough.

Cover; let stand in a warm place until twice the volume. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 30 mins. to make the dough firm enough to roll.

Grease 9-inch round pan, buttered. On floured surface, roll dough to 18x8-inch rectangle.

Melt remaining 2 TBS. butter; brush over dough.

Sprinkle dough with the brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins. Starting with longest side, roll up jelly-roll fashion. Pinch edges firmly to seal. Cut roll into 12 slices. Place cut side down in greased pan.. Cover; let rise in warm place (80 to 85 F.) until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 F. Bake for 25 minutes or until light golden.

Glaze:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 TBS. butter, softened

1 tsp. milk

1/8 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all glaze ingredients; brush glaze over rolls while they are still warm.

Nectarine Upside-Downer - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-09-14T02:05:00.000-07:00

This is my first upside-downer. I chose nectarines for the "topping" - they came out tasting delicious on the cake but I think they must have more liquid than I thought as the base of the cake is a little too soggy. It's rather like a sponge pudding texture. When I can get cranberries I'm going to make this one with cranberries; the Dorie cookbook picture looks so enticing with them.

It's a nice recipe though and so easy to get together. I have set aside a large slice just for me.

Thank you, Sabrina, of "Superfluous" for this week's pick. The recipe is on Sabrina's blog.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

These are delicious PB cookies; the flavor is delicate, not too peanut buttery and they are a cinch to make. I did not use any add-ins as I like cookies that are quite classic in a way, and these fit the bill.

I baked them for about 14-15 minutes and they seem to be just right - I've eaten half of the props!

Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine picked these cookies. For the recipe, check out her lovely blog.

Italian Almond Squares

2010-08-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

Quick, easy, delicious and great if one needs a Plan B if the first recipe bombs.

Recipe

Yield: 16 squares.

CakeIngredients:

3/4 cups of butter

1 1/2 cups of sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 1/2 cups of flour

Topping:

1 Tbsp sugar

3/4 cup of SLICED almonds

Procedure

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter. Pour melted butter in a bowl and stir in sugar. Add eggs . Beat mixture at moderate speed with hand mixer, until creamy (about 4 minutes). Add all other ingredients (but not the topping ingredients). Grease bottom and sides of eight-inch square pan. Spread the batter in the pan. Sprinkle the almonds over the top and sprinkle the sugar over the almonds. Bake for about 40 mins, until cake starts to pull away lightly from pan edges.

These were a rave at work, one of the most popular desserts I have made.

Expresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-08-31T14:59:00.000-07:00

These are cute side-of-the saucer cookies. The dough is delicate and lightly crunchy; the cookies are well worth making again, with the proviso that I will use a lot less coffee. This is my own personal taste, but I think 1/2 to one teasp. of coffee should suffice to give the chocolate that mocha lift. I found the taste with the exact recipe of 1 Tbs. rather bitter. I'm going to give them a shot next week, with the smaller quantity of coffee (when I make the peanut butter cookies for TWD).

For the recipe, check out Donna's blog: Life's" Too Short Not to Eat Dessert

Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-08-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

Rachel of Sweet Tarte picked this lovely tart for us. It's a great choice - thank you, Rachel. The recipe is on the Sweet Tarte blog.

Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough has become a staple for my baking - I use it for lemon curd tartlets, fruit tarts, and so on and so on. Why use anything else! I just made the plain recipe for this tart, without the almonds (I'll try that some other time).

I used my rectangular tart pan, just for a change - it's roughly, very roughly, the same area measurement as my 9 inch circular pan and the single portion of the dough fits very nicely. It's also easier to cut than a circular tart. I bought luscious, ripe, yellow peaches from my local store and had fun slicing and fitting them into the pan. The custard filling was easy. The only thing I was a bit disappointed in was the streusel - it came out looking rather lumpy; obviously my streusel making skills are not yet up to par.

They loved it at work - I had to go out of the office for the morning; when I came back it was all gone, with only a few crumbs left. It always gives me a lift when the group enjoys the Tuesday treat. Now I'm sold on using peaches in baking - maybe in individual tarts next time, with some brown caster sugar over them, or in a nice fresh fruit cake.

So onward to next week's Chocolate Shortbread.

Pistachio White Chocolate Biscotti

2010-08-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

These are the biscotti I baked for the co-workers for their Tuesday treat. The recipe is Dorie Greenspan's, adapted to include pistachio nuts and anise essence and dipped with tempered white chocolate.

They were delicious and got a thumbs up at work. I had a bit of a hard time doing the baking in the heat - yesterday was quite wicked and my kitchen gets very hot, so the dough was difficult to handle and had to be put in the fridge before shaping into the logs.

I have tempered white chocolate successfully before but that was in May; this time it didn't temper properly and remained a bit sticky. The temperature on the chocolate thermometer was supposed to go no higher than 110 degrees F, then down to 84 degrees and finally up to 87 (according to the instructions I used). But it shot up to well over 110 degrees, which, I think, is white chocolate tempering doom. For my next effort I'm going to heat the chocolate as the water in the double boiler base is heating, not wait until it's simmering. That way I should have more control.

Dorie's recipe is here: (I've just realized I have made this four times and posted about it three times - oh well, it must mean I really like it.

Pistachio White Chocolate Biscotti

adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Biscotti

1 1/2 cups of flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal

8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons of anise

3/4 cup of pistachios, medium-size chopped.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal together. (If you are adding ground spices, add them to this mixture before combining.)3. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the pistachios and mix just to blend.4. Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.6. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet, setting them again on the same sides as before and slide the sheet back into the oven.7. Bake the biscotti at 350F for another 15 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature. These are very nice indeed. (The baking time might need to be a little longer but the biscotti must not get too brown on the underside.)

White Chocolate: Temper one pound of good quality white chocolate (I used Callebaut) and let cool before dipping biscotti.

Raisin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2010-08-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

I wanted something quick, easy and which did not require a long baking time. Once again we suffer in NY with sticky, airless weather. I came across this recipe from About.com (often an excellent site for baking). These are the full measurements; I halved them and used an 8-inch square pan.

Raisin Cake:
2 cups flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
2 eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups raisins

Frosting: (I also halved this).
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (or lemon)
Milk, as needed (did not need, in fact needed a bit more confectioner's sugar)

Preparation:
Pour hot water over raisins to cover. Let steep until plump, about 15 minutes, then drain thoroughly. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick foil. In large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and allspice. Make a well in the center. Add oil, applesauce and beaten eggs. Mix well. Fold in plumped raisins. Pour into pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. (My smaller cake was done around 25 mins.) Cool to room temperature. Frosting: In small bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla extract and confectioners' sugar. Add lemon juice and just enough milk to make frosting smooth and easy to spread. Smooth frosting on top of cooled cake. Refrigerate cake for 1 hour. (overnight)

This proved to be a great hit; it's a very nice snack cake and the apple sauce and oil made it wonderfully moist. I'll definitely make this for other occasions besides the office Tuesday treat.

Nut Sponge Cake

2010-08-04T16:52:00.000-07:00

.

I really like this recipe - it's quite rich and delicate in texture and the flavors blened in very well. I used a thin layer of apricot jam and whipped cream for the filling; this is a cake which could take a variety of fillings: creme anglaise would be lovely, as would a mascarpone cheese frosting filling, and so on and so on. I sprinkled the top with caster sugar.

Nut Sponge Cake with Jam and Cream

4 oz. butter
4 oz caster sugar
2 eggs, separated
1-1/2 oz roasted ground hazelnuts
4 oz self raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 tablespoon warm milk

Set oven at 375 degrees F. Grease and line a 8-inch round cake tin. Soften the butter in a bowl, add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the egg yolks, nuts, sifted flour and salt. Dissolve the coffee in the milk and add to the mixture; then fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Turn into the tin and bake for about 25 minutes until firm and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool. Fill with filling of choice.

Gingered Carrot Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-08-02T15:37:00.001-07:00

I'm wondering if there are photo lessons for Dummies, like the Dummy series books - I got this pic quite nicely because by chance the camera was in image mode. Must learn, must improve!

I have to say I didn't like these cookies very much; they were okay just baked but later they turned soft and did not seem to have that much flavor. But that's just my taste; a lot of TWD'ers did like the recipe.

Anyhow, they're up and posted.

Chewy Chunky Blondies and a Catch-up: Lots of Ways Banana Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-07-24T10:12:00.001-07:00

First, the Blondies. Umm....! Chocolate, coconut, butterscotch chips, a combination not to be resisted, plus a chance to make some blondies, which I have not made before.

I halved the recipe and used an 8-inch square pan. Baking time was about 43 minutes. The top has a nice crust on it, quite flaky. Unfortunately quite a few cracks appeared when I flipped the cake onto the second tray; oh well, I think it's going to taste good even though it looks a bit like paving stones.

The recipe is here on Nicole's blog. Thank you, Nicole - it looks like a really good choice.

The Banana Cake was due last Tuesday but I had problems with unripe bananas. This time I had two beautiful, speckled bananas for the cake (also using half the recipe), so here it is. It's an easy cake to get together and I was grateful that I did not have to spend too much time in the kitchen, while NY is reaching record high temperatures and humidity.

This is another 8-inch square cake; I halved Dorie's recipe and baked it for just over 35 minutes. I'm going to keep it simple and just sprinkle some caster sugar over the top - the weather is too hot and sticky to think about frosting.

The recipe is on Kimberley's blog, here. It was an excellent choice.

Lemon Sheet Cake with Lemon Glaze

2010-07-19T16:20:00.001-07:00

No Tuesdays with Dorie Banana Cake yet - I have some not ripe enough bananas hopefully ripening in the kitchen; I'll make the cake when the bananas get brown spots.

I wanted something easy, cool and quite plain as the heat is unbearable here, so I chose a lemon sheet cake - no frosting, just a glaze, a dollop of cream and an oven temp. of only 325 degrees F. Here's the recipe:

Lemon Sheet Cake with Lemon Glaze (from Texas Cooking website)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest from 2 lemons
4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, and set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium-high setting for 2 minutes. Add the sugar gradually, beating for 5 to 6 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest and beat until incorporated. Add eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Turn mixer speed to low and add the sifted flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Scrape down sides of mixer bowl as needed, and beat until the batter is uniformly smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake for just under 50 minutes or until the sides begin to pull away and a sharp knife dipped comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and turn on to cooling rack.

Make the glaze:

juice from 2 Lemons
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon light rum

Mix all ingredients and stir well several times until sugar is dissolved. When the cake has cooled for about 10 minutes, brush the surface with the glaze using a pastry brush. Use all the glaze.

This is indeed a wonderful cake, a great success. It has a light lemon flavor in the base of the cake yet the glaze is delightfully tangy. This was a hit at work. It's an ideal cake for a crowd - two or three batches would bake up beautifully for a reception or a party. Even without the cream it is delicious and would do nicely for an outdoor event.

Brrrrr-ownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-07-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

How nice to only have to spend about 15 minutes in the kitchen getting these together. They are quick and easy to make. It is so outrageously hot here in NY that it's difficult to think of doing anything at all except staying close to the air conditioner.

I'm excited about this recipe; I cut the York Peppermint Patties into 1/8ths and placed them on a layer of the batter, covered by the remaining batter. I'm hoping that way they won't get too gooey.

Well, they are indeed pretty ugly - there are bumps of peppermint chocolate sticking everywhere and it was a battle prizing the foil off the bottom. A pretty ugly picture too. But, beauty is not everything. They are amazing! I had such a nice treat of two brownies when I came home this evening - cool and chewy, straight out of the refrigerator.

Now I can't wait to take them to work tomorrow.

The recipe is on Karen's blog, here. Thanks, Karen; it's a super choice.

Betty Crocker's Peanut Butter Cookies

2010-07-10T03:49:00.000-07:00

I'm always searching for nice, traditional American cookies to send to our Troops in the Middle East (I belong to the Baking Gals group). What could be more traditional than Betty Crocker peanut butter cookies!

These cookies are delicious; sweet (but not too sweet) and with a light, quite delicate texture. I used crunchy peanut butter, which gave them a nice munch/crunch quality. I'm mailing them tomorrow, with some other "traditionals" as well - cocoa drop cookies and coconut cookies. I'm am told that our troops really appreciate the packages the Baking Gals group sends them; I try to make a batch every month.
If you would like more information on the Baking Gals, check us out at http://www.bakinggals.com

Recipe - Peanut Butter Cookies
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Mix sugars, peanut butter, shortening, butter and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.
2. Heat oven to 375ºF.
3. Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten in crisscross pattern with fork dipped into sugar.
4. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Tarte Noire (or Tart with Milk Chocolate) - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-07-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's a 7-inch tart with Lindt milk chocolate filling, topped with some toasted hazelnuts. I'm looking forward to a thin slice. I have not yet found a better sweet dough recipe than Dorie's; it's so easy to make and never fails, unless it's overbaked like my first effort this week. (I forgot to freeze the tart before popping it in the oven and did not cover it enough with the foil, so the end result was tart edges that tasted quite burned and a brownish looking base.)

On to the next effort. This tart was much better - I kept it in the freezer overnight before baking it, fully covered the frills with foil and baked it for only 15 minutes before removing the foil and baking it open for about 7 minutes. It's come out very nicely.

Now the filling - I also had two goes at this; the first, where I halved the cream, chocolate and butter exactly, was way too liquidy. My second attempt had only 1/3 cup cream so it has come out nice and glossy with a firm consistency. I'm keeping it in the fridge overnight - the weather is so steaming hot here in New York I don't want to leave anything out on the table.

The recipe is posted here.

Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-06-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

My Rum-Drenched cake has a little bit of a history - in my eagerness to work with small pans I initially baked half the portions in a small loaf pan; it rose way above the level of the pan and I didn't bake it for long enough. The next morning there was a pale, gummy loaf sitting on the table. So I will have to be careful with my size experiments. I read only glowing reviews of the cake in the P&Q so I gave it a second shot. This time I halved the recipe again but baked it in the recommended 8-1/2x4. I also reduced the amount of sugar to about 7/8 of one cup. Tomorrow will be the taste test when I will find out if my second attempt is a success. For the recipe, check out Wendy's blog at Pinkstripes. Thank you, Wendy.

Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-06-27T03:07:00.000-07:00

I'm sneaking the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake in a week late - it was almost ready to make for last Tuesday, that is, the dry ingredients were sifted and sitting in a bowl on the kitchen table. But I ended up coming home late so I did easy shortbread cookies instead. Now is my chance to catch up.

I have the ambition to make small cakes like the stunning presentations that one sees in shops like Citarella - little comma cakes with mirror glazes, small cylindrical opera cakes, and so on. I just stand at the counter and gaze at the beauty; fortunately the staff are used to me and don't seem to mind if I don't purchase a cake. I'm a long way off from reaching my goal but as long as I enjoy myself along the way I guess that's good. Today's cake is a half-size - I used a 5x5x3 inch square pan that I purchased at New York Cake..

I was very worried at first as the cake looked as if it would be permanently sunk in the middle; however, after 45 mins. at 325 F it rose beautifully. I was advised to use 325 F for chocolate cakes generally (my Baking 911 club)and it seems to have worked very well.

Cream Cheese frosting from "More from Magnolia" on top and some cherry jam in the middle are the dressy components of this lovely chocolate cake recipe.

The recipe is on Amyruthbakes.

Pavlova - Daring Bakers

2010-06-27T02:47:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Here's my Daring Bakers' Challenge Pavlova. One comment I got was "awesome" while another was it was good but that it would be more appropriate for an after-dinner dessert (I served them in the morning at work).

My own feelings - the mousse and creme anglaise are indeed awesome - there was quite a lot of mousse left over so I had some large spoonsful just for me. But I was disappointed in the meringue - it was way too hard; I like meringues to be soft-centered and puffed up high. Made with puffy meringue this dessert would be fabulous.

I'm all in gear for trying Audax's tradional Aussie Pavlova when it's not so humid, as it is here in NY at the moment. All in all, an exciting and challenging challenge in which I got to make desserts which I had never made before.

Thank you Dawn for a great project.

Lemon Sables - Cooks' Illustrated

2010-06-22T16:40:00.001-07:00

Lemon Sables

I made these for the weekly co-worker treat. The recipe is from Cooks' Illustrated and has an interesting twist to it - hard boiled egg yolk is used in place of uncooked egg yolk. The reason given is that this will give a more sandy, crunchy texture to the sables. Well, they were delicious anyway - I'm not sure if the egg yolk thing made that much of a difference. I may well use this method again, but boil two large egg yolks, weigh the first, then keep some of the other one to make up any loss of yolk when putting the first one through the strainer.

Recipe:

Make sure the cookie dough is well chilled and firm so that it can be uniformly sliced. After the dough has been wrapped in parchment, it can be double-wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to 2 weeks.

Ingredients
1 large egg
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter , softened
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (2 3/4 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest (I used 3 teasp. as I did not want it too lemony.)
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
Confectioners' sugar

Instructions
1. Place egg in small saucepan, cover with 1 inch water, and bring to boil over high heat. Remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, fill small bowl with ice water. Using slotted spoon, transfer egg to ice water and let stand 5 minutes. Crack egg and peel shell. Separate yolk from white; discard white. Press yolk through fine-mesh strainer into small bowl.

2. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, granulated sugar, salt, and cooked egg yolk on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl and beater with rubber spatula as needed. Turn mixer to low, add vanilla and lemon zest, and mix until incorporated. Stop mixer; add flour and mix on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Using rubber spatula, press dough into cohesive mass.

3. Divide dough in half; roll each piece into log about 6 inches long and 1 3/4 inches in diameter. Wrap each log in 12-inch square of parchment paper and twist ends to seal and firmly compact dough into tight cylinder (see illustrations below). Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

4. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Using chef’s knife, slice dough into one-quarter-inch-thick rounds, rotating dough so that it won’t become misshapen from weight of knife. Place cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets.

5. Bake until centers of cookies are pale golden brown with edges slightly darker than centers, about 15 minutes (mine took 20 mins.), rotating baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using thin metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature. Once cookies have cooled, dust with confectioners' sugar. Store cooled cookies between sheets of parchment paper in airtight container for up to 1 week.

After tasting and comparing - These cookies are definitly more crunchy and sandy than those with an uncooked yoke as an ingredient. It seems the more uncooked yoke (two in my next trial) the more the cookies become like delicious butter biscuits but very, very light. Both kinds are good.

Raisin Swirl Bread

2010-06-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is something new for me - I have only made a couple of yeasted bread recipes up to now. I've quite often used a bread machine for baking bread (perhaps the equivalent of a cake maker using a cake mix instead of the real thing). Now I feel rather thrilled that I have actually made real bread, using the dough hook of course, not kneading by hand. Maybe kneading will be my next progression.

This is a lovely recipe, with such clear instructions for the various stages of baking. It came out nice and soft. I made cinnamon-raisin rolls instead of the regular loaf. Only thing is they got a bit distorted and uneven in shape, maybe because they needed more room to expand (I used a 9-inch square baking pan and stuffed 12 rolls in it).

This recipe makes a light, quite plain, not really sweet loaf, ideal for eating with butter or cream cheese. I expected it to be sweeter but it was a rave in the office; the large bag of rolls vanished early in the morning.

Susan of Food.Baby picked this recipe. I will definitely make it again, probably in a regular loaf pan. Great choice. The recipe is on Susan's blog.

Tender Short Cakes - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-06-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

These were a huge success! I am feeling quite proud of myself for making something really new - I have never made shortcakes before (or biscuits or scones)- Opera cake yes, but shortcakes no. They tasted delicious with the cream and a cherry compote I cooked up; one of my co-workers liked the plain shortcake as is, saying it made an excellent breakfast cake to have with his coffee.

I made a half quantity which gave eight large cakes. Although I'm feeling really good about them, I think I still need some practice in getting them light. We had them the next day and they were a little bit dense. I thought the dough was quite dry when making it, even with adding another 2 Tbs. of cream.

I thought the compote was good too; it's from My Recipes website. I used half quantities here as well. It was not too sweet.

Compote:
4 cups pitted sweet cherries (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

To prepare compote, combine cherries, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons water, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in extract. Cool. Serve with shortcake.

Cathy of The Tortefeasor picked this one for us. It was a wonderful choice. Thank you, Cathy.

White Chocolate Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-05-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Looking good - I've just taken them out of the oven. Billows of lightly browned meringue are covering the brownies, which seem to have pulled nicely away from the sides. I made half quantities, except for the meringue, which I kept at the full quantity, and used an 8" square cheesecake pan with a removable base. This way I would not have any problem getting them out of the pan. I baked them for 35 minutes and used blueberries instead of raspberries.

The verdicts at work: Some raved, some said they were a bit too sweet. I think I would probably use only half the recommended sugar portion in the meringue next time. On the whole, a success - I liked them very much, being a sweet tooth. This posting will be a day late; all a matter of not being able to find my camera/computer connection due to an early summer cleaning frenzy in my apartment. I took a pic at work and will use that one.

Marthe of Culinary Delights selected these white chocolate brownies. Thanks Marthe - it's a keeper. Check out Marthe's blog for the recipe.

Piece Montee - Daring Bakers May Challenge

2010-05-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I loved making the profiteroles and the creme patisserie; just seeing the profiteroles all puffed up and crunchy when taken out of the oven and tasting the silky pastry cream gave me a sense of achievement. I made the vanilla pastry cream so can't wait to make a dessert with the chocolate version. I used melted Callebaut white chocolate to drizzle over the profiteroles - it came out a bit chunky looking as I put my "work of art" in the fridge overnight.

I bought a 6-inch foam cone at an arts and crafts shop for a few dollars, so did not bother with making a cardboard cone, then I used toothpicks to attach the pastries to the cone. I did not enjoy this part so much - certainly need a lot of practice as it came out a bit wonky looking.

I took the filled pastries (without the cone!) to work - so true what the recipe says; this dessert must be eaten fresh; by the time we were ready to consume them they were a bit soggy. Next time I'll make them (or cream puffs) at home, for guests at home.

Here's the main recipe section:

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Banana-Coconut Iceream (Custard) Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-05-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

I want icecream but it's custard for this week - icecream won't survive a trip on the A Train to East New York, where I work, so custard it is. I am using the basic custard recipe Dorie gave us for our earlier TWD Banana Cream Pie, so I'm not deviating too far.

The coconut-butter-shortbread crumbs crust is a keeper. It's quite difficult for me not to eat it as it sits in the fridge, in fact, I have had a couple of crunches. It is delicious!

I've just eaten the props, for breakfast no less. Yum and crunch!

Thank you Spike of Spike Bakes
for this great pick. The recipe and a pic of a beautiful pie filled with chocolate icecream is on Spike's blog... I still want icecream!

Perfection Pound Cake - A TWD Catch-up

2010-05-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've been browsing through my copy of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking From My Home to Yours - there are quite a few recipes from our TWD group that I want to catch up on, make-up on or re-try, so this Tuesday it's the Perfection Pound Cake. This was one of the first recipes the group made and it was before I joined; I'm feeling like a nice bit of pound cake, something secure and soothing and relaxing. My dessert catering for Ascension Day reception at my Church went very well last Thursday, but I sure am in need of de-stressing - I made over 200 mini desserts. Pound cake should do the trick.

Perfection Pound Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2-1/4 cups cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I also added 1 teaspoon almond extract)

Getting Ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan or an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you’re working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated – don’t overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it’s browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you’re using a 9×5 pan, you’ll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Storing:
Wrapped well, the cake will keep for 5 to 7 days at room temperature (stale cake is great toasted) or up to 2 months in the freezer.

I baked my pound cake in an 8-1/2" x 4" loaf pan, for about one hour and 20 minutes. It looking quite neat, a bit overly brown for the crust - I should have used the tip about covering it with foil, but I think it will be fine for the office test tomorrow.

I'll whip up some cream and have a super jar of raspberry syrup, which tastes delicious, so I'll have these additions on the side for those who want their cake a bit fancier.

Scottish Butter Cake - Trial Baking for Reception

2010-04-25T15:31:00.000-07:00

Umm .. creme fraiche, fresh blackberries, fresh mint - sounds good. These are the accompaniments, now I just have to make the cake. I had lunch at a really nice restaurant in the West Village last week, Highlands. We ordered Scottish Butter Cake for dessert and I was sold on trying it out for my church reception coming up on May 13th. So this is the prelim.

Next evening - this is such an easy cake to make. Here is the recipe, from mysuncoast.com

Scottish butter cake with raspberries and crème fraiche

6 egg medium organic egg yolks, plus 1 extra for glazing (I used 5 large egg yolks, plus one for glazing)
9oz all-purpose flour, sifted
6 oz granulated sugar
2 pinches of salt
8oz unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375F
Mix all of the above ingredients in a bowl to form a smooth dough
Butter a 8-10 inch cake tin
Press the dough evenly into the tin
Lighty mark the surface of the dough in a criss-cross using a fork
Glaze the top of the cake using the extra egg yolk
Place the cake in the oven and bake for 15 minute
Turn the oven down to 325F and bake for a further 10 minutes
Remove the cake and let it cool for 10 minutes before tuning out

Serve with a dollop of crème fraiche and raspberries (blackberries here).

I followed the baking times and oven temps exactly and the cake turned out very well. The only difference from the recipe is I whipped the butter for a short while in my KitchenAid (maybe just over a minute) so it was easy to incorporate with the other ingredients.

The results were delicious. I'll definitely make this for the reception but I'll just leave out the mint - it seems to have collapsed in its travels from home to work.

Maamoul

2010-04-17T18:36:00.001-07:00

I had a really good time over the weekend, what with brunch on Sunday at St. Andrews Restaurant on W. 46th St. NY, and the making of Maamoul, a delicious, exotic Middle Eastern pastry filled with dates (or pistachios or walnuts). I got all the necessary ingredients at Sahadi's - semolina flour, dates, rose water, and orange water and purchased a wooden maamoul mold there as well.

It's my first Middle Eastern pastry venture so the whole process was quite new, what with using semolina flour and the maamoul mold. The first part, mixing the dough, is pretty easy; it becomes a bit finicky once one has to stuff and shape the cookie in the mold.

This is the recipe I used;it's from Gourmet Sleuth:

Basic Mamoul Recipe
I N G R E D I E N T S
1/2 cup solid shortening
8 tablespoons or 4 ounces butter
1 cup flour, all purpose
2 cups semolina
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking power
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon rose flower water and
1 tablespoon orange flower water
7 tablespoons water
walnut, pistachio or date filling
confectioners sugar

I N S T R U C T I O N S
Do not expect the dough to be cohesive but it will be damp enough to form into balls to pack into the cookie molds. This recipe needs to be started a day ahead.

Melt shortening and butter together or use all butter if you wish a richer cookie. cool slightly. Mix flour, semolina, salt, baking powder and sugar together. Rub melted shortening into dough with fingertips until it is like fine soft meal.

Cover bowl and let it rest overnight. Combine flower waters with 7 tablespoons water and sprinkle over the dough. Toss lightly with a fork to distribute liquid evenly. Mix until just combined, like pie dough. (another person says to knead the dough well).

Dust maamoul molds well with flour. Invert and tap gently to remove excess flour. Estimate the amount of dough need to fill maamoul mold and make a ball of dough. Flatten it out slightly and place a good tablespoon of filling in center. Close dough around filling to cover it. Pack ball into mold. Level off cookie even with the lip of the mold. Be sure you have not revealed filling or it will stick to the pan as it bakes.

Tap cookies out onto the work area with a sharp firm hit to the top of the mold. Transfer cookies to baking sheet with a spatula. Bake at 350 F until slightly brown around the edge (about 25 minutes). Cool.
Sprinkle with confectioners sugar before serving.

The oven temperature and baking time are adjustments I made; the recipe recommended far too short a time.

I'm rather delighted with them; now it's onward to nut-filled maamoul.

I checked out a lot of recipes and information on this cookie.Phoenician Gourmet is the best, with very clear instructions, realistic baking times, and fascinating information about the tradition of this delightful cookie.

Swedish Visiting Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-04-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Delightful! I can't wait to have a slice tomorrow. Rushed home from work, expecting to have to make a lot of effort in meeting my Tuesday with Dorie deadline. Instead, the Swedish Visiting Cake was so quick and easy to get together. It's a perfect cake for visitors - one could just about make it while getting coffee for them.

I don't have a cast iron pan so decided to bake it in an 8-inch square cheesecake pan and cut it in squares. Everything went very smoothly.

Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs picked this one for us. Thank you, Nancy. It's a lovely recipe. The recipe is on Nancy's blog.

Mocha Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-04-05T16:25:00.001-07:00

Erin of When in Doubt Leave it at 350 has chosen this week's Dorie recipe.

It's such a luscious, thick (but light), battery cake to make and there's lots of it. The preparation is quite straightforward, using the standard creaming method. The chocolate coloring and flavoring is the real gooey, chocolate thing, made with butter, coffee, and bittersweet chocolate chips - so much more sophisticated than the marble cake of my childhood, which consisted of blobs of vanilla, cocoa and rose pink batter. (Not that it wasn't nice at the time but it's definitely vintage now.)

What's in the oven now is my second attempt - this time in another pretty bundt pan, slightly larger than the one I used the first time and also stick resistant. Last night I used my regular tin bundt pan (9 inch) - the cake rose beautifully but horror of horrors, when I tried to turn it out the whole thing broke apart. No, not even a chance of rescuing it, unless one wanted to make marbled chocolate trifle. After the breakage experience, I stopped by Cooks'Companion in Brooklyn (delightful store on Atlantic Avenue) and bought a can of Bakers' Joy. I sprayed the inside of the pan liberally. Here's keeping my fingers crossed.

Happiness! The cake came out of the pan beautifully and awaits a dribbling of chocolate ganache then it will be ready for its pic. Thank you, Bakers' Joy, thank you, thank you. This is the way to go for bundt cakes in future.

Check out Erin's blog for the recipe and some beautiful baking.

Coconut Tea Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-03-28T07:03:00.001-07:00

A pretty cake in a pretty kugelhopf pan. I think some of my crust came off when I turned the cake out (maybe adding flour to the pan as well as shortening would have prevented this), but with some confectioner's sugar drizzle, it should be just fine tomorrow.

I gather it's really a hot milk sponge cake. It was delightful to make, just watching the sugar and egg mixture puff up and peeking through the oven window to see the cake rising gradually. I have a feeling it's going to be good - will see how they like it at the office tomorrow. It's nice to have a run of cakes for the next few weeks - we have had lots of cookies and tarts in TWD lately but we haven't baked a cake in a while.

Carmen of Carmen Cooks picked this week's recipe for us - it's a very nice recipe, Carmen. Thank you.

The Conquest of Frilly Tarts

2010-03-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

.

Yippee! Finally! I've figured out a way to get pate sucre tart shells out of frilly tart tins. I have tried many methods and usually end up with about 1/3 of the tarts wasted as they crumble horribly.

So now, here's the method (thanks to Rose Levy Berenbaum, who recommended it). Once the tartlet is baked and removed from the oven, while it is still pretty hot (I mean almost finger-burning hot) stick the eye-end of a sewing or embroidery needle in between the metal and the middle of each flute. Push the needle all the way down to the base of the tin. Pic attached (a terrible pic, I am sorry to say, but it's supposed to be a needle in the middle of a flute). Give each flute the same treatment; when all flutes are done, just gently turn the tartlet tin upside down and the pastry will come out very easily.

I will have to be in a patient mode to do this but with, say, just a dozen or so tartlets, it will now be possible for me to get almost perfect frilly tartlet shells.

Dulce De Leche Duos - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-03-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

Jody of Beansy Loves Cake has chosen this recipe for us this Tuesday. Another delicious Dorie Greenspan cookie recipe, and so easy to put together. I bought some Dulce de Leche at Sahadi's, which was made in Argentina. It has a light coffee flavor and is difficult not to eat by the spoonful.

The cookies keep their shape beautifully while baking - a heaping teaspoon full of dough rolled into balls gives a nice size of cookie. I didn't stint on the filling and as I type am enjoying a Duo, filled with decadent toffee coffee spread. Lovely recipe - definitely a "Make Again."

Thank you for this nice pick, Jodie.

Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-03-14T17:49:00.001-07:00

This one looks really good. So far (Sunday night) I've made the pastry and will do the fillings tomorrow.

Not only is there dark chocolate for the Tuesday treat but also white chocolate. Surprisingly, amazingly, we have one taste tester who does not like dark chocolate! Hence the option to try a white chocolate tart.

Thumbprints for Us Big Guys - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-03-07T15:48:00.001-08:00

These are really a delicious shortbread cookie - there's lots of butter and the mix is quite crumbly. I made 30 with thumbprints and another 30 just plain - the plain ones are going to act as "fillers" for my Baking Gals package to the Middle East, although they are so good that "fillers" is hardly the word.

Oh my goodness! I am out of control - I have just consumed two of the cookies with Morello Cherry jam in them. They are fantastic and their small size could lead to eating them like peanuts! Now I'm sorry I didn't make a double portion for the Office. I must quickly put them away in a container so I am not tempted by the sight of them on the tray.

However, I have to practice getting nice, smooth, Dorie-type Thumbprints, not like these raggedy ones dripping jam all over the place. I'm looking forward to reading other blogs to see if I can get some advice.

Mike of Ugly Food Dude selected this treat for us this week. Wonderful choice, Mike! Thank you.

Coconut Custard Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-03-02T00:08:00.000-08:00

Another wonderful Dorie recipe.

I halved the quantities to make just a 7" in diameter tart, then some mini tart shells for lemon curd. The 7" tart took about 15 minutes blind-baked and another 5 openly baked, at 375 degrees. It's a good size for a small group; we had a couple of pieces left at the end of the day and they went quickly at the last minute.
I had a bit of a problem with the consistency of the custard - it was quite rubbery; maybe it needed less cornstarch or it should have been whisked in a double boiler once it had reached boiling in the pan. I just mixed about 1/4 cup of whipped cream in it before serving, to make it a bit softer.

Make again, make again, and then again. I think it will be one of my dessert items for the Annunciation Day reception feast coming up at my Church, maybe in puff pastry vol-au-vents! Umm!

Beryl of Cinemon Girl picked this one for us - thank you, Beryl; an excellent choice.

Daring Bakers - Tiramisu

2010-02-22T01:40:00.001-08:00

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

This has not been an easy challenge (that's a contradiction in terms isn't it?). Firstly, I got dry ladyfingers and secondly, it took me nearly an hour to get the mascarpone to 190F. I think these problems are solvable - my next ladyfingers batch will stay in the oven for less time and I'll place my special tin ladyfingers tray on top of another, firmer sheet. That way the sponge won't get so much direct heat. The mascarpone problem will probably be solved if I just follow the instructions and use the right kind of cream. My supermarket has only one kind of cream, the highly pasteurized kind. This will be a good excuse to go to Wholefoods in Manhattan and maybe indulge in a little stroll around Williams Sonoma as well. (The mascarpone did set overnight in the fridge though but it didn't have much texture; more like yoghurt.)

The Zabaglione - fabulous, 10 out of 10. Easy and quick to make.

The Pastry Cream - also fabulous, 10 out of 10. I love the lemon flavor.

Next day: I made another batch of ladyfingers.

Batch 2 of the Ladyfingers worked out much better - using the same recipe, I baked them for about 12 minutes and placed a baking tray underneath the ladyfinger pan.

The verdict? They loved it at work and I feel very happy that I have learned to make such a wonderful dessert. Making it the next time won't be so difficult, I am sure, as I will know what to expect.

My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-02-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

I've been looking for a really good chocolate chip cookie for a while. The "Back of the Box" recipes that I've tried are quite nice but nothing like these - Dorie's recipe is fabulous; maybe it's the brown sugar and nuts mix that puts it over the top; they are just delicious and are on my "Make Often" list.

The batter made quite a lot - 50 cookies. I made two batches, one for our Troops and one for the Office. Kait of Kait's Plate made this week's pick. Thank you, Kait. It's an excellent choice.

Weekend Baking - Four Different Treats

2010-02-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

I've been a busy bee this weekend, baking Chocolate Spice Cookies; Pistachio Biscotti; Apricot Squares; and Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes. The Mini Bundt Cakes are for last week's Tuesdays with Dorie (am trying to catch up!)and are going to the Office; the other three items are for a fabulous group I have just joined - the Secret Bakers. Basically, you get matched up with a blogger to bake for and in return you receive a treat package from another volunteer. Identities are not revealed (we are "secret bakers") until the nice surprise comes in the mail. My package this week is going to my "secret bakee." I'm posting the recipes here. It's fun to bake for another blogger and gives one a great opportunity to try out new recipes and get delicious goodies in return.

Chocolate Spice Cookies
by Nick Malgieri and David Joachin

Yield: Makes about 36 cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
1/3 cup alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup molasses
2 cookie sheets or jelly-roll pans lined with parchment or foil

Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with a large rubber spatula. Beat in the applesauce and molasses.

Stir in the dry ingredients to make a soft dough.

Drop tablespoons of the dough (or use a small ice cream scoop) an inch apart on the prepared pans.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, changing the position of the pans about halfway through the baking. Exchange the top pan and the bottom and also turn them back to front at the same time. The cookies will still be fairly moist when they are done. Avoid overbaking them or they will be dry and hard. (10 mins. is just right.)
Slide the papers from the pans to racks to cool the cookies.

I brushed some beaten egg white over them and sprinkled on pretty decorations - otherwise they would look very plain. They taste fabulous! Five Stars!

Apricot Squares
(from somewhere on the internet - can't find the source right now).

1/2 cup of butter (room temperature)
1 cup of light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 teasp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 teasp. baking powder
l cup oats (quickcook)
1/2 cup apricot jam

Oven temperature must be 350F and pan size 8x8 inches. Butter pan, but do not use baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar
Add vanilla extract
In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and oats.
Mix dry ingredients with butter and sugar.
Reserve 1/4 cup of mixture for topping.
Pat remaining mixture into pan.
Spoon on apricot jam.
Sprinkle the 1/4 cup of topping over the jam.
Bake 30-40 minutes, until lightly browned.
Cut when cooled. (I would say 35-40 mins. should be enough.)

These are really good - the brown sugar gives a caramelly flavor.

Lenox Pistachio Biscotti
adapted from Baking From my Home to Yours
by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of yellow cornmeal
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of pistachios, medium-size chopped.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and cornmeal together. (If you are adding ground spices, add them to this mixture before combining.)

3. Beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the almond extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the pistachios and mix just to blend.

4. Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

6. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet, setting them again on the same sides as before and slide the sheet back into the oven.

7. Bake the biscotti at 350F for another 15 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature. These are very nice indeed. (The baking time might need to be a little longer but the biscotti must not get too brown on the underside.)

Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

From Dorie Greenspan's "BAKING From My Home to Yours"
These were due for our "Tuesdays with Dorie" blogging last week but I was in the middle of doing a bake-in for a reception at my Church, so I'm sneaking these lovely little cakes in one week late - just couldn't resist trying out the mini bundt pan.

I've just had a munch - this cake is delicious; a nice, close-crumb cake a bit like a pound cake. The chocolate frosting is a bit gummy, so for the remainder of the cakelets I'm going to use a chocolate ganache.

The best chocolate ganache ever! From Joy of Baking:
8 ozs. chocolate
3/4 cups cream
2 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. cognac
Heat cream and butter, bring to just a boil.
Pour over chocolate. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Stir and whisk.
Add cognac.

Nanaimo Bars - Daring Bakers

2010-01-23T17:47:00.001-08:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

For the graham crackers part of the challenge, I did not use any gluten free flours but chose pastry flour and unbleached flour. I also used Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of honey as I am not very fond of honey in baked goods. The cracker dough came together nicely and it sat in the freezer for a few days. Yes, it certainly is sticky when doing the rolling out - I did plenty of flour sprinkling. It was also quite sticky to get off the pastry board and onto the baking sheet; I used an offset spatula to coax it off. I also used a triangular serrated cake decorating comb 4 inches on each side to measure; this was really handy as it made nice clean-cut pastry edges.

I like these crackers, much better than store bought grahams, in fact I can't stand store bought grahams. What is more one gets to munch on a 4-inch square cracker instead of the usual mini size. There is almost a gingersnap tang about them. Now all I need is a parrot to share them with.

I'm also thinking cheesecake base. I usually use Animal Crackers or Nilla Wafers but these seem like a nice change. Umm! Now I'm wondering about chocolate ganache coating for an special treat munch. Not bad for somebody who didn't like graham crackers. Thank you Daring Bakers for changing my taste.

Tuesday night and getting ready for Reveal Date. I took the Nanaimo Bars to work today; they were a great success, together with some delicious wholewheat sables and chocolate biscotti I received as a gift. We munched the whole day. Everything was a real treat.

Making the 2nd and top layers of the bars was easy and most enjoyable; I finished them on Sunday, after a delightful trip to Soho in Manhattan to check out Sur La Table on Spring Street,(now a newly discovered earthly paradise for me). The chocolate ganache quantity was a bit short so I doubled it and got a nice, firm layer on the top. I had never tasted a Nanaimo Bar before; they are really very sweet but that's just fine with me. I might try other flavors next time, such as pistachio or caramel.

I'm posting the recipe below. Now I can't wait to see what February Daring Bakers brings.

Nanaimo Bars

Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Graham Wafer Crumbs (from 101 Cookbooks)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate (I used 8 ozs.)
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter plus I used 2 tablespoons Crisco

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Note: To get a nice, smooth chocolate top, use 1-1/2 times choc. in recipe and twice the fat (between 5-6 oz. of butter/crisco mix).

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-01-18T12:23:00.001-08:00

Umm! I haven't tasted these yet (I'll eat one tomorrow at work) but I think I can safely say that these are a crunchy, yummy snack. They were delightfully easy to get together. I made a half portion and used an 8 inch square cheesecake pan so I won't have to tip the bars upside down. It will make 16 portions so that will be plenty enough for the Office team.

Lillian of Confectiona's Realm picked this weeks recipe. Thank you, Lillian. I can't wait to savor it. The recipe is on Lillian's blog.

Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake

2010-01-12T09:43:00.001-08:00

I have had my eye on this recipe for quite a while - it's from Epicurious. There's something about the winter cold that makes me want to make fulsome, simple, thick batter cakes so this is what the Office team is going to get tomorrow.

Right now it's baking, with another 30 mins. to go. It will be a new type of recipe for me as I have not made a coffee cake before.

Here's the recipe:

Ashkenazic Sour Cream Coffee Cake (Smeteneh Küchen) Epicurious | October 2000

by Gil Marks
The World of Jewish Desserts

Coffee cakes rank among the most popular of comfort foods, welcomed at breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and as the name indicates, coffee breaks. A coffee cake batter is generally more liquid than a quick bread one and contains a bit more sugar, and as a result, the final product is lighter and moister. On the other hand, coffee cakes tend to be less sweet than butter cakes. There are many versions of kuchen, this streusel-topped sour cream type being a very popular one. It is commonly served at the meal following Yom Kippur, or Shavuot, and on Sabbath afternoons or the melaveh malcha ("accompanying the queen") party following the Sabbath. For the later occasion, spices are added to the batter and topping, reflecting those used during the havdallah ceremony signaling the end of the Sabbath.

Yield: One 9-inch square or Bundt cake; 6 to 9 servings

Streusel Topping:
1/2 cup granulated or brown sugar, or 1/4 cup each
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cloves (optional)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans, grated coconut, golden raisins, or chocolate chips, or 1 cup any combination (optional)

Batter:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated or brown sugar or 1/2 cup each
4 large egg yolks, or 3 large eggs
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream or plain yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional)

Glaze (optional):
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or water

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (325°F if using a glass pan). Grease one 9-inch square pan,9-inch Bundt or tube pan, or 9-inch springform pan. Line with parchment or waxed paper, grease again, and dust with flour.

2. To make the streusel: Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg if using. Cut in the butter to resemble coarse crumbs. If desired, stir in the nuts.

3. To make the batter: Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter until smooth, about 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time. Blend in the sour cream, vanilla, and zest if using. Stir in the flour mixture.

4. Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of the streusel. Carefully cover with the remaining batter and sprinkle with the remaining streusel.

5. Bake unitl the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 50 minutes. Set on a rack and let cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. Wrap the kuchen in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

6. To make the glaze if using: Combine all the glaze ingredients, stirring until smooth and of pouring consistency. Drizzle over the cake and let stand until set.

HINT:

When baking and storing a cake containing acidic ingredients such as sour cream in an aluminum pan, line the bottom with parchment paper to prevent the juices from reacting with the aluminum and creating a metallic flavor.

VARIATIONS

Single-Layer Coffee Cake:

Spread all the batter in a 13-by-9-inch pan, sprinkle with all of the topping, and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Fruit-Filled Coffee Cake:

After adding the middle layer of streusel, top with 1 cup peeled, cored, and thinkly sliced cooking apples, 1 cup peeled, pitted, and sliced peaches, or 1 cup pitted cherries, blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries.

Cheese Coffee Cake:

Combine 8 ounces softened cream chees, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 large egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Spread over the top of the batter, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. If desired, spread 1/2 cup melted blueberry, cherry, raspberry, or strawberry preserves or pie filling over the cheese mixture. Sprinkle with the streusel.

My Notes: This cake was very popular at work. It's quite a light coffee cake and fairly plain. Well worth making again.

Big Feast Day Reception and Some Mini-Desserts

2010-01-03T11:48:00.001-08:00

I prepared the desserts for the Epiphany Feast reception at my Church. They turned out pretty well - I made about 200 pastries in total. I made Galette des Rois, center front; Peppermint Brownies (clockwise); Nigella Lawson's brownies; pecan tartlets with cream and mini-carrot cake cupcakes.

Part of the enjoyment was coasting around the internet looking for recipes:

The Galette des Rois is by Chickpea Chef, on Group Recipes. The Galette des Rois is a cake of French origin, made of puff pastry and frangipane. It is only eaten on Epiphany night. I used Trader Joe's Puff Pastry, which is superb. It has a light and buttery flavor and rises beautifully. These puffs vanished instantly.

The green items are the result of using dark green candy melts on a perfectly good peppermint brownie bite recipe I have. Apparently there have been studies done on the effect of color on food appeal - dark green must be a loser as these were not popular at all. I don't suppose I will be using green candy melts again any time soon. I think a white chocolate coating would have been much more pleasing.

The chunky, fudgy looking brownies are from the blog site Sweet and Simple Bakes and come from one of Nigella Lawson's books. My, what a brownie! Rich, fudgy, just right - definitely my best brownie recipe.

The next treat was Butter Pecan Tartlets. (I put a dollop of cream on each one just before serving). The sweet pastry is delicious; I mixed it by hand and then used the food processor to get it to blend nicely.

The last treat was a batch of mini-carrot cupcakes with orange cream frosting from the blog Simple Recipes. These were cute, dainty and delicious.

This was lot of work, a lot of fun, and gave me the opportunity to try new recipes and skills. My next big bash is in March sometime - it will be a specifically
petit four and mini pastries evening. Here are the recipes for the mini treats:

Galette des Rois
Ingredients
•1/2 cup ground almonds
•1 stick butter
•3 eggs
•1/4 cup of sugar
•2 sheets puff pastry
•powdered sugar

Directions
1.Grind almonds in food processor
2.Beat sugar and butter
3.add TWO eggs and almonds.
4.You now have Frangipane!
5.Butter a flat baking sheet
6.unfold thawed puff pastries and using a pie pan as a template cut into two circles
7.Lay one circle on buttered sheet and spread Frangipane in the middle
8.Place a dried fava bean or ceramic figure in the Frangipane
9.Using the last egg, beat and paint the edges of the dough
10.Place the other dough circle on top and seal the edges very tight!
11.Brush top with egg (i forgot to in my picture)
12.Bake ~ 25-30 min at 375 (I did 400 for 10 minutes and 15 minutes at 375)13.Dust with powdered sugar

I tried this recipe with both Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry and with Trader Joes. Pepperidge Farm is less expensive, easier to work with and tastes quite good. Trader Joes is quite expensive, so bouncy that it's difficult to work with, and utterly delicious. It's a no contest. The main thing is to keep putting the Trader Joes pastry in the fridge during the process, as soon as it gets too soft to handle; use a sharp cutter; and don't even try to roll out extras from the left over pieces.
Also, use a generously buttered baking paper (Criscoed in my case). Once out of the oven, remove parchment with cakes on from the baking tray and let them cool completely on a grid. It's easy just to peel off the cakes from the parchment once they are cool. These would probably work well with a silpat.

Sweet and Simple Bakes Monthly Bake ~ Snow-Flecked Brownies

Ingredients
375g best quality dark chocolate
375g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
6 eggs (large)
350g caster sugar (superfine)
1 teaspoon salt
225g plain flour
250g white chocolate buttons or chips, or white chocolate chopped into chunks (or your own choice of chocolate)
2 tsp icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350F.
Line the sides and base of a 13x9 inch baking tin with foil or baking parchment.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a large heavy based pan.
In a bowl or wide mouthed large measuring jug, beat the eggs together with the caster sugar and vanilla extract.
Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a little, then add the egg and sugar mixture and beat well. Fold in the flour and salt. Then stir in the white chocolate buttons or choped white chocolate. Beat to combine then scrape and pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin.
Bake for about 30 minutes. You can see when the brownies are ready because the top changes to a slightly paler brown speckle, while the middle remains dark, dense and gooey. Even with such a big batch you do need to keep checking on it: the difference between fudgy brownies and dry ones is only a few minutes. Remember, too, that they will continue to cook as they cool.
To serve, cut into squares while still warm and pile up on a large plate, sprinkling with icing sugar pushed with a teaspoon through a small sieve.

Butter Pecan Tarts
Ingredients
TART SHELLS 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened* 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon almond extract FILLING 1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter 1/3 cup dark corn syrup 1 cup chopped pecans 36 pecan halves
Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine all tart shells ingredients in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Put lots of Crisco in the tartlet pans.
Press 1 tablespoon mixture into each cup of mini muffin pans to form 36 (1 3/4 to 2-inch) shells. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until very lightly browned. Remove from oven. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F.
Meanwhile, combine all filling ingredients except chopped pecans and pecan halves in 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil (4 to 5 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in chopped pecans.
Spoon filling into baked shells; top each with pecan half. Bake for 5 minutes. Cool 20 minutes; remove from pans.

My Tips - I baked the tarts for about 12 minutes at 400, filled the shells and reduced heat to 350, just so the filling could meld nicely. Make sure there is not too much filling - it will bubble over and make it impossible to remove the tart.
I used Rose Levy Berenbaum's tip on removing pastry from small tart pans - use a sewing needle (medium size) and just prick the side of the tart against the edge. If the pan cavaties are straight sided, not fluted, carefully give the tartlet a twirl, still using the needle and keeping the tartlet in the pan. It will loosen, then carefully lift out the shell with the help of the needle.(This RLB method is the best one I have found for removing tiny tartlettes from their pans.)

Mini Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Carrot Cake
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2/3 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups shredded carrot
6 oz crushed pineapple (drained)- that is, from a 6 oz. can of crushed pineapple. Use the pineapple in syrup, not the one in its own juice, for a sweeter taste.
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz cream cheese
2 tablespoon butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tablespoon grated orange rind

Carrot Cake
In a large bowl blend together the salad oil and the sugars. Add the eggs one at the time beating until blended. In another bowl shift together both flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at the time to the oil and egg batter, beating just enough to blend. Fold the carrots and then the pineapple into the batter. Add the nuts it desired. Pour approximately 1 tablespoon into small size bake cups (1 in). Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes out on the rack, let it cool completely.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
In a large bowl mash the cream cheese, add the butter and mix well, until the cream is fluffy. Add the confectioner’s sugar to the cheese mixture and beat until well blended. Blend in the vanilla extract and the orange rind. The orange cream cheese frosting is ready to be used.

Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2010-01-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

Lovely, just lovely! It's been a while since I have made a regular chocky cake with cocoa powder; I also used the 4 ounces of melted chocolate but that was optional. It's almost retro in fact, with a nice thick batter - very much like the sort of cake my mother used to make.

It took about 35 mins. to bake, not 26-30 as stated in the recipe; I sometimes find that Dorie's recipes are rather short on baking time. I used the chocolate buttercream frosting from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cake Bible (recipe is in my December Opera Cake post). There was a lot of frosting left over from the Opera Cake effort, so here was a chance to use up this very expensive and very delicious buttercream.

Most important - this cake is the TWD'ers pick for our second anniversary. (The other choice was Tarte Tatin but I was in a chocolate cake state of mind.) I came onto the TWD scene quite early on, with the Snickery Squares recipe, and have been having a ball ever since. Thank you, Laurie and team, for all your hard work in making this group such a success.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Candied Kumquats

2009-12-27T18:22:00.000-08:00

I must admit I'm a bit overdosed on baking with dark chocolate so this week I am trying a white chocolate cheesecake. The recipe is from Diana's Desserts.

I'm getting as much done tonight as possible as I won't be home until about 8-ish tomorrow and am determined to finish my cheesecake for Tuesday.

Getting it together is plain sailing - a crust with melted butter and crushed animal crackers and lots of cream cheese and white chocolate. Now it just needs to sit in the fridge until tomorrow evening. I have also made some candied kumquats as a garnish, which will go on top of whipped cream. I think this will add a bit of tartness to an otherwise very sweet cheesecake - as much as I am a white chocolate fan, it can be overly sweet at times.

Here's the recipe (tweaked):

Cheesecake Filling: 3 bars (1.5 ounces each) Godiva Solid Ivory, coarsely chopped (any other good quality white chocolate may be substituted for the Godiva brand)
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Place white chocolate, butter and cream in a double boiler top and let it sit over boiled water. The steam should be enough to melt the chocoate. The water does not need to simmer. Stir until smooth and let cool.

2. Beat cream cheese in mixing bowl until smooth, using electric mixer at medium speed. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla and cooled solid chocolate mixture, using low speed. Pour mixture over crust.

3. Wrap base of cheesecake pan with aluminum foil and place pan on baking tray. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until top is slightly puffed and center is just firm. Turn off oven and leave cheesecake in oven for 1 more hour and prop oven door open. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight.

Here is the recipe for the kumquats, from Ruth Reicl's The Gourmet Cookbook, which I found while surfing around. The recipe is in half quantities of the original.

Candied Kumquats
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teasp. salt
1 cup kumquats, sliced into three's and with pips removed

Boil water, sugar and salt; stir until sugar has dissolved.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes.
Add sliced kumquats and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 10-12 minutes until tender.
With slotted spoon, transfer kumquats to heatproof bowl.
Boil syrup 7-10 minutes on low until reduced to 3/8 cup. Pour syrup over kumquats and cool.

Chocolate Opera Cake for a Christmas Gift

2009-12-26T19:48:00.000-08:00

A friend asked me to make an opera cake she could give as a Christmas gift and requested that I use the best chocolate, with 70% cacao. I got some Ghirardelli Extra Bitter Chocolate and some Scharffen berger semi-sweet and went to work. It was my Christmas Day project.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself making it except that it got off to a bad start as I used a genoise recipe that must have had a mistake in it - it produced layers that looked like tough pancakes; then I turned to Helen's (Tartlette's) recipe for genoise, which I had used before. It is a lovely recipe, producing a light, rich sheet of sponge cake. For the soaking syrup, I used Grand Marnier in the mix.

I chose Rose Levy Berenbaum's recipe for Chocolate Buttercream from her Cake Bible, and a chocolate glaze recipe from Carole Walter's Great Cakes. I topped the finished cake with white chocolate curls, made from Callabaut chocolate. I was pleased with the way my cake came out; however, the finishing is a bit wonky and the curls way too thick - just needs lots more practice, I guess.

Recipes

Tartlette's Vanilla Genoise
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon (4gr) vanilla extract (I used 1/2 teasp. vanilla and 1/2 teasp. almond essence)pinch of salt
¾ cup (150gr) of sugar
½ cup (70gr) cake flour
¼ cup (30gr) cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 400F and set a rack in the middle.Lightly spray a 12x17 baking sheet with cooking spray or lightly brush with melted butter. Set aside
Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, salt and sugar together in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100F on a candy thermometer(or test with your finger - it should be warm to the touch).
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the whisk attachment (or hand held beaters) and whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled and tripled in volume. The mixture will be thick and will form a slowly dissolving ribbon falling back onto the bowl when the whisk is lifted.
Over a medium bowl or a piece of parchment paper, sift together the flour and cornstarch.
Add one-third of the flour mixture to the beaten egg mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl to prevent the flour mixture from making lumps. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula.
Bake the genoise for about 10 to 12 minutes. Make sure the cake does not over bake and become too dry or it will not roll properly. Let cool on a rack. Remove the cake from the baking sheet and invert it on a larger piece of parchment paper. Peel of the parchment paper that was lining the baking sheet. Set the cake aside.

Soaking Syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. Grand Marnier

Chocolate Buttercream (Rose Levy Berenbaum's Cake Bible)
9 ozs. bittersweet chocolate
4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar

Break the chocolate into squares and place in a double boiler over very hot water or low heat. The water must not exceed 160 degrees F. or touch the bottom of the double boiler insert.
Remove double boiler from the heat and stir frequently until the chocolate begins to melt.
Return to the heat if the water cools, but be careful that it does not get too hot. Stir 8 to 10 minutes or until the chocolate is smooth. (Chocolate may be melted in microwave oven on high power if stirred every 15 seconds. Remove before fully melted and stir, using residual heat to complete the melting.)

In a mixing bowl beat the butter until smooth and creamy. (I used my KitchenAid and let it beat until the butter turned a pale cream color - about 5 mins.)

In another mixing bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. Gradually beat in the sugar until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised slowly. Beat in the butter by the tablespoon. If the mixture looks slightly curdles, increase the speed a little and beat until smooth before continuing to add more butter. Add the melted and cooked chocolate all at once and beat until smooth and uniform in color. Place in an airtight bowl. Re-beat to restore texture.

Carole Walter's Ganache Glaze from Great Cakes

Carole Walter's Ganache Glaze
Makes about 1 cup, enough to cover the top and sides of a 9 or 10 inch layer or tube cake

6 oz. (good) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, like Lindt
6 oz. (¾ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier, Cointreay, or dark Jamaican rum (optional)
¾ tsp. vanilla
½ - 1 tsp. hot water, if needed

Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside.

Break the chocolate into 1-inch pieces and place in the basket of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer into a medium sized bowl and set aside.

Heat the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan, on low, until it reached a gentle boil. Once to the gently boil, immediately and carefully pour over the chocolate. Leave it alone for one minute, then slowly stir and mix the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in vanilla mixture. If the surface seems oily, add ½ - 1 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn’t thicken, refrigerate for about 5 minutes, but make sure it doesn’t get too cold!

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My Favorite Walnut Pies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2009-12-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

It's Sunday and we have just had a massive snowfall in NYC - wild horses would not drag me out of my apartment and I have run out of pecans. Thank goodness I had bought walnuts a week ago so I have made Walnut Pies instead.

This is the first time I have used pastry rings to make tarts - it's really a lot of fun, I think, but I certainly need practice. The first tarts I made came out way over-filled; for the next batch - the ones in my pic - I removed some of the filling and nuts. A couple of them still oozed syrup out on to the baking sheet but now they are all settled quite nicely, cooling off. It took 7 mins. of baking at 425 degrees F and between 15-20 mins. at 350 degrees F. I'm trying to perfect my tart shapes so that they at least begin to resemble Anita's in Dessert First, but I have a feeling that will take some time. Maybe I should use larger rings - these were 2-1/2 inch rings.

I have done a taste test - they are really very delicious (I did not use the cinnamon, chocolate or coffee but went for a plain walnut mixture). I also tried another dough,the "Perfect Food Processor Pie Crust" from Baking 911; it's very good and easy - I am not too keen on Dorie's "Good for Almost Anything Pie dough"; it just doesn't do it for me, although I do love Dorie's pate sucre recipe and the sour cream puff pastry we used for the apple turnovers.

A nice dollop of whipped cream will be a delicious addition, I am sure. I'll do that on Tuesday.

Beth of Someone's in the Kitchen with Brina picked this week's recipe - I really enjoyed it and learned some new skills. Thank you Beth. The recipe is on her blog.