August Daring Bakers: Baked Alaska

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Yay! An excuse to make more ice cream!!! And an excuse to use a blow torch!!!

YES!!! This is as close as my boyfriend would get to me with the blow torch.

Actually we had the choice between Baked Alaska and Petit Fours (those tiny little fancy cakes that are drenched in chocolate.) But I don't do fancy well, and this was a chance to use open flame, so I went with the Baked Alaska. I'm not a huuuuge pound cake fan, to be honest, and I've never understood the hoopla for browned butter (I know, blasphemy.) But I was pretty blown away and was happy to have scraps to snack on the rest of the day. This cake is more coffee cakelike- it's sturdy, rich, nutty; a tiny bit drier than your average cake. Which makes it a perfect compliment to ice cream. And delicious marshmallowy meringue that gets toasted with the blow torch.

This was just before I dropped my camera/phone into the batter. Awesome.

I went with a peach ice cream from David Lebovitz (of course) that's made with sour cream. It's a more grown up ice cream- not overly sweet custard that would just turn this whole dessert into one pile of sugariness. It's also a little harder than your average ice cream (although that might be because I accidentally bough fat free sour cream.) The tanginess really gave it that extra umph to round out the dessert.

One lesson I learned the hard way- never use egg whites from a carton when making a meringue. I've never had trouble getting a meringue to come together before. I wanted to take a shortcut this time because I have so many egg yolks on standby that I didn't want to add any more. But after 30 minutes of mixing and waiting for the egg whites to fluff up, I broke down and just separated some eggs. That time it came together in minutes. At least I got a good arm workout, though, and now I have four more excuses to make more ice cream!
Here's the recipes. I halved the meringue recipe since I was just making a smaller dessert for 2 and just stored the leftover ice cream and cake (and by stored, I mean put back in the fridge, only to come back to an hour later. And then again two hours after that.) If you want to give the Petit Fours a try, go here!

Peach Ice Cream
The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

3 large peaches, peeled, pitted, chopped
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice

Cook peaches and water in a covered saucepan on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until soft. Give it a stir a few times. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Purée mixture in blender with remaining ingredients (leave some chunks if desired). Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator or over an ice bath then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Brown Butter Pound Cake

19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Meringue

8 large egg whites
½ teaspoon (3g) cream of tartar
½ teaspoon (3g) salt (I omitted this)
1 cup (220g) sugar

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.

Assembly Instructions – Baked Alaska

1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. Cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for several hours, or until solid.

2. Level the top of the brown butter pound cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.

3. Make the meringue (see above.)

4. Unwrap the ice cream “cups” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.

5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.

6. Burn the tips of the meringue with a cooking blow torch. Or, bake the meringue-topped Baked Alaskas on a rimmed baking sheet in a 500°F/260°C oven for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Serve immediately.

Daring Cooks August: Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

I never had a real pierogi until today, except for one that was frozen from a box. It might as well have been the box for all its cardboard flavor. I always wondered why people rave about them, except that they look so cute; kinda like pockets. So I was pretty excited to have a chance to do it right with this challenge.

Pierogi, for those who might not know, are kinda like a dumpling/ravioli hybrid. They're pieces of dough stuffed with a myriad of fillings (most traditional is potato and/or cheese, but anything from meat to fruit are used) which are boiled and then fried. (I can't believe I haven't tried these before.) I decided to keep this one pretty traditional by using a potato and cheese filling. And I went all out with the nationality of this dish and served it with kielbasa and sauerkraut.

Ok, so I'm not very good at making piergoi. My dough was a little on the sticky side, most of them apparently had holes that leaked all the filling out during boiling, and they in no way resembled the adorable pockets of carbohydrate I've seen in pictures. But they are good. Indulgent, tasty, carby goodness in a deformed lump. Topped with a little sour cream and some tangy salty kielbasa and sauerkraut, I'm still stuffed hours later. These are a true comfort food. I'd like to try them again with maybe some ground beef in the middle.

Potato and Cheese Pierogi

For the dough:
3c All Purpose Flour
1/2t salt
1/4c sour cream
1 egg
1c water

Combine flour, salt, sour cream, egg and water in a large bowl. Mix until dough comes together. If dough is dry, add more water 1T at a time, until it's moist and springy.

On a floured work surface, knead dough for 3-4 minutes until elastic. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.


For the Filling
1-1 1/2 lbs baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1in slices
2 T unsalted butter
1T olive oil
1 small sweet onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4t dried thyme
3/4c farmer's cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the potatoes in a medium pot and add enough salted water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

While the potatoes cook, melt the butter and oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add the onion, garlic and thyme. cooking until the onion turns translucent. Lower the heat and continue cooking until onions caramelize slightly. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside to cool.

When the potatoes are soft, drain in a colander. Return them to the pot, remove from heat and add the cooled onion mixture and the cheese. Mash them just until blended and large lumps are gone. Season again with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool while you roll out the pierogi dough.

Assemble-
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. With lightly floured hands, pinch off tablespoon sized portions of the dough and roll them into balls.

On a well floured surface, gently roll each ball with a rolling pin until about 1/8in thick. Cover the finished rounds with a damp towel so they don't dry out.

Once your rounds are rolled out, hold each in the palm of your hand, filling the center of it with a generous tablespoon of the potato mixture. Gently fold the round in half, pulling the edges away and pinching them firmly shut to enclose the filling. Be sure the edges are sealed by working from one end to the other.

As you work, set your filled pierogi aside on a floured surface and cover them with plastic wrap.

Working in batches, drop no more than 6 pierogi at a time into the boiling water. After they float back to the surface, allow them to cook another 2-4 minutes. Remove the pierogi with a slotted spoon and place on a towel to drain and cool.

Just before serving, heat a tablespoon of butter in a pan over medium heat and briefly saute them in batches until they are slightly crispy and brown on the exterior.

July Daring Bakers: Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Holy crap, guys. I learned how to make ice cream. This is dangerous, as I am a huuuuuge ice cream fiend. It's my go to dessert. I haven't met one that I haven't liked. Ben and Jerry and I go way back. The only reason why I haven't tried this before is because I get terrible images of a 500 pound me as a shut in with nothing but eggs and cream and sugar in my kitchen.

So when I saw this was the challenge this month and that I had to make, not one, but TWO different flavors, I practically leapt for joy in my tiny windowless office. It completely changed my outlook as I started thinking of amazing ice cream combinations. Chocolate Cherry and Pistachio? Mint Chocolate Chip and Coffee? Vanilla and Chocolate? Strawberry and Banana? I got so excited about the ice cream part that I completely neglected the other major component.

Swiss Roll Cake. Ugh.

Don't get me wrong, swiss rolls (or jelly rolls) are delicious and cute. But I also understand that they go by the nickname "Sh*t Cake"; not for their appearance, although that is unfortunate, but because of the obscenities that stream from your mouth as your cake crumbles and cracks while trying to roll it. But ice cream can fix anything, so I sallied forth.



The recipes for the challenge (found here) gave examples of vanilla and chocolate ice creams. But when we're talking about ice cream, I can't just do chocolate and vanilla. I looked up my make believe BFF, the master of ice cream, David Lebovitz. This man knows his stuff. So I flipped through his website and his book and found Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream as well as a Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with cognac in it (since a chocolate ice cream was specifically requested by my boyfriend/dishwasher.)



Even with an ice cream maker (unless it's one of those super fancy ones) ice cream still takes a while to make. So I had to break this down into three days. Day 1 was the chocolate ice cream and the first attempt at the swiss rolls. But since no one ever in the history of the world has ever heard of an 11x9 pan, the obscenities started before I could even get the cake out of the pan.



Day 2 was the second ice cream and the second attempt at swiss rolls. This time they worked out with only PG-13 language.

Day 3 was the hot fudge and the assembly. And the tasting.



Oh my. This was good. Like really really good. And so nice on a hot summer day for a 4th of July party. I'm not sure how often I would make this again, since it's pretty involved, but it would make an awesome and creative summer birthday cake. I'd probably use different flavor combinations. Adding anything to that Salted Butter Caramel ice cream- much less hot fudge, other ice cream, and cake- is sacrilege. That is hands down the best ice cream I've ever tasted and I've been itching to make it again. And, while no one has had to wrestle a spoon out of my hands and I'm still in good graces with my trainer, making ice cream has totally sparked something in me. Ever wonder what Chubby Hubby would be like if it had chocolate malted ice cream and caramel swirl? Pretty frickin' awesome.

Ok, so now the recipes.

First, the Swiss Roll Cake, From The Daring Kitchen

Ingredients-

6 medium sized eggs

1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling

6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water

a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling-

2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream

1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method-

1. Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds. (This took me about 15 minutes)
   
3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream, from David Lebovitz
For the caramel praline (mix-in)

½ cup (100 gr) sugar
¾ teaspoon sea salt

For the ice cream custard

2 cups (500 ml) whole milk, divided
1½ cups (300 gr) sugar
4 tablespoons (60 gr) salted butter
scant ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cups (250 ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. To make the caramel praline, spread the ½ cup (100 gr) of sugar in an even layer in a medium-sized, unlined heavy duty saucepan: I use a 6 quart/liter pan. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or brush it sparingly with unflavored oil.

2. Heat the sugar over moderate heat until the edges begin to melt. Use a heatproof utensil to gently stir the liquefied sugar from the bottom and edges towards the center, stirring, until all the sugar is dissolved. (Or most of it—there may be some lumps, which will melt later.)

Continue to cook stirring infrequently until the caramel starts smoking and begins to smell like it's just about to burn. It won't take long.

3. Without hesitation, sprinkle in the ¾ teaspoon salt without stirring (don't even pause to scratch your nose), then pour the caramel onto the prepared baking sheet and lift up the baking sheet immediately, tilting and swirling it almost vertically to encourage the caramel to form as thin a layer as possible. Set aside to harden and cool.

4. To make the ice cream, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl about a third full with ice cubes and adding a cup or so of water so they're floating. Nest a smaller metal bowl (at least 2 quarts/liters) over the ice, pour 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk into the inner bowl, and rest a mesh strainer on top of it.

5. Spread 1½ cups (300 gr) sugar in the saucepan in an even layer. Cook over moderate heat, until caramelized, using the same method described in Step #2.

6. Once caramelized, remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt, until butter is melted, then gradually whisk in the cream, stirring as you go.

The caramel may harden and seize, but return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until any hard caramel is melted. Stir in 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk.

7. Whisk the yolks in a small bowl and gradually pour some of the warm caramel mixture over the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook the custard using a heatproof utensil, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture thickens. If using an instant-read thermometer, it should read 160-170 F (71-77 C).

8. Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk set over the ice bath, add the vanilla, then stir frequently until the mixture is cooled down. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

9. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. While the ice cream is churning, crumble the hardened caramel praline into very little bits, about the size of very large confetti (about ½-inch, or 1 cm). I use a mortar and pestle, although you can make your own kind of music using your hands or a rolling pin.

11. Once your caramel ice cream is churned, quickly stir in the crushed caramel, then chill in the freezer until firm.
Note: As the ice cream sits, the little bits of caramel may liquefy and get runny and gooey, which is what they're intended to do.

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, also from David Lebovitz


Ingredients

8oz milk chocolate with at least 30% cocoa solids, finely chopped (I used Ritter)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
Big pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons cognac

Combine the milk chocolate and cream in a large, heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted, then remove the bowl from the saucepan. Set it aside with a mesh strainer over the top.

Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrap the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk chocolate mixture, add the cognac, and mix together. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Anyone have any suggestions for ice cream flavors? Making some for you is a good excuse to make some for me ;)

June Daring Bakers: Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

Yeah. I forgot to take a final picture until I was almost finished eating. Again. You get the idea-
Delicious, messy, gooey, deliciousness so good, you can't even wait to put it on a plate.

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.

I'm not one of those picky eaters who restricts themselves to the baked chicken on the menu and breaks into a sweat at the thought of sushi or curry. But I do have a weirdness about chocolate. Don't get me wrong, there are times when nothing will do but a good chocolate bar; but I've never been one for desserts that have "chocolate" mentioned more than once in the title or heavily chocolate things like flourless chocolate cake and chocolate ganache fillings. There has to be a balance. I want a glass of milk just thinking about it. Another thing that makes me nervous are meringues. I've never met a meringue I like. They always have this weird sort of fake flavor and a chalky texture and do nothing to make you feel satisfied for giving yourself that crazy insulin spike. So the idea of making a giant chocolate meringue with chocolate mousse made think twice about the challenge. But two things made me stick with it:

1. Upon doing some research pavlovas a whole 'nother animal from meringues. While they are the same ingredients and set up, the pavlova is bigger and thicker; it's not as cooked through, giving you a delicate sort of crust filled with sugary marshmallowy goodness.
2. I could omit the chocolate from pavlova part.

Want to work those biceps? Make a pavlova! And then ruin it all by eating said pavlova.

And on the most humid day of this summer so far, I decided to give it a try. The pavlova itself turned out beautifully. The creme anglaise was so good, I could eat it with a spoon by itself like soup. And there was enough of it to do so. The mousse was... alright. Still a little too chocolatey and acidic for my tastes and I had to scale way back on it to keep some sort of sweet/rich balance. Maybe it would have gone better with a lighter chocolate? I'm tempted to try this again but with a Strawberry coulis or some sort of fruit sauce with the same creme anglaise.

My partner in destroying this dessert was my boyfriend, again. He pretty much ate the whole thing in the time it took for me to put away the mixer. I guess he liked it.
The recipe is below and my tweaks are in italics. There was a whole ton of creme anglaise left over from this. If you're more proficient in math than I, you might want to cut it down. If you're not and you're still on a meringue high, try making Floating Islands- the Ina Garten way or the Julia Child/Wolfgang Puck way if you're feeling sassy.

Recipe 1: Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):
3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) Dutch processed cocoa powder
I omitted the cocoa and doubled the sugar and added an egg white

Directions:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
2. Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
3. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
4. Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon. (Class made rounds, hearts, diamonds and an attempt at a clover was made!)
5. Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
I made one giant pavlova to capitalize on the marshmallow insides. Also, a tip I found on the internet- Let the pavlova cool in the oven. Turn the heat off and crack open the door. This will keep the pavlova from cracking or collapsing.

Recipe 2: Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):
1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream (cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (or orange juice)

Directions:
1.Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
2. Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
3. Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

Recipe 3: Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling):
1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)
½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Directions:
1. Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Recipe 4: Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream above):
1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

Directions:
1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
2. Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat. .
3. Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

Daring Cooks June: Pâté and Bread

My photography skills are slowly starting to get better, but I need to learn to actually remember to take pictures of the food once it's done as opposed to pics of half eaten food with debris like the lighter for the pilot light and and note taking pen in the picture.. And maybe make sure to give hungry boyfriends a snack so they can wait half a second while I take the picture. When things settle a little bit for me, I think I'll look into a photography class at the local community college. Photography is one of those things I've always wanted to be good at, but didn't quite know how.

Anyway, our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.


Usually when I think of pâté, I think of pasty looking things made from parts of the animal that people usually don't like to eat without masking with other, more delicious, flavors. It is for this reason never tried it. This time, feeling I've already met my quota of cooking with icky things (also combined with a severely thin wallet this month) I have forgone cooking with parts of the animal I'd rather leave on the butcher table and went with a Trout and Shrimp Pâté. I didn't have any trout on hand, so I went with salmon. This was unbelievably easy to make. And it was so so good.



For the bread, I went with the classic No Knead Bread recipe from the NY Times. It was the first time I've ever made yeasted bread from scratch and wanted to ease myself into it. This was also so easy and delicious that I honestly don't feel the need to go bigger.

Two regrets- The recipe didn't really call for any spices or herbs other than the usual salt and pepper. I want to make this again, but punch it up with some dill or Old Bay. The other is that I used the jumbo shrimp on hand and didn't think to chop them up a little. Oh well. This is definitely a great idea for a party or just something to have on hand for a quick protein fix with your salad.

Trout (or Salmon) and Shrimp Pâté
Yields one 6x3 inch (15x7,5 cm) terrine or loaf pan

1 tbsp / 15 ml butter
1/4 lb / 4 oz / 120g medium raw shrimp, deveined, shelled and tailed (about 12 medium shrimp)
1/8 cup / 30ml Grand Marnier (or cognac, or another strong liqueur of your choice) (optional- I omitted this since I didn't have any on hand.)
1/2 lb / 8 oz / 240g trout filet, skinned and cut into thick chunks
1/4 lb / 4 oz / 110g raw shrimp, deveined, shelled and tailed (any size)
3/4 cup / 180ml heavy cream
Salt, to taste
Green peppercorn, coarsely ground, to taste
Chives, for garnish

Preheat oven to 375ºF (190ºC).

In a heavy, flameproof frying pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Sauté the 1/4 pound of medium shrimp, stirring often, until pink and cooked through. Remove the pan from heat. (NOTE: These shrimp will be used to form layers within your pâté. If you feel they are too thick – like the ones in the photograph, you might want to slice them in half lengthwise.)

Pour the Grand Marnier over the cooked shrimp. Light a match and carefully ignite the alcohol, to flambé the shrimp. Wait for the flames to go out on their own, carefully tilting the pan to ensure even flavoring. Set aside.

Put the trout and the remaining raw shrimp in a food processor and pulse. Gradually pour in the cream and keep pulsing until you obtain a smooth mixture that is easy to spread, but not too liquid (you may not need to use all the cream). Season with salt and green pepper.

Butter a 6x3 inch (15x7,5 cm) loaf pan or terrine, then line it with parchment paper. Spoon in half the trout mixture, and spread it evenly. Place the flambéed shrimp on top, in an even layer, reserving 3 or 4 shrimp for decorating. Top with the remaining trout mixture.

Prepare a water bath: place the loaf pan in a larger, deep ovenproof dish (such as a brownie pan or a baking dish). Bring some water to a simmer and carefully pour it in the larger dish. The water should reach approximately halfway up the loaf pan.

Put the water bath and terrine in the oven, and bake for 35 minutes. The pâté should be cooked through and firm in the center.

Remove the pan from the water bath and let cool. Carefully unmold onto a serving platter. Decorate with the reserved shrimp, and sprinkle with chopped chives. Cut into thick slices and serve at room temperature, with crusty bread.

No-Knead Bread
Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Taken from NY Times

Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

I actually made something that looks pretty!!!!

Not that you can really tell with my awful food photography skills and my cell phone camera. It was one of those months where I had to choose between a new camera and new tires for my car. I actually thought about it before making the responsible decision. It's good to know turning 30 has really changed me.

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 was really nervous when I first read this challenge. While it isn't technically difficult and it doesn't involve cooking with organ fat, this requires a bit of aesthetic finesse. Basically, piece montée is a mountain of cream puffs. While it is edible, it is traditionally a decorative piece. If you couldn't tell by my previous post, decorative is not my game. I'm usually very good at making things taste good, but I lack that inner Martha where everything just looks like art.

Also, the piece montée is a traditional wedding or celebration dessert. And since I was hardly going to sit around and devour a mountain of cream puffs while watching the LOST series finale (that's a lie- I totally would), I suggested making it for my friend, Ootoberfest's, rehearsal dinner.

This was my first time making pâte à choux- an almost flavorless pastry dough that needs to be cooked before it's baked. Making this gives you an awesome arm workout, since you have to add the egg to the hot flour and butter mix and stir fast to keep the eggs from cooking. This dough is used for eclairs, beignets, and profiteroles as well. Not terribly difficult to do, but it does require constant attention. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of these early stages because of that.

Then there's the pastry cream- delicious, messy, pudding-like pastry cream. I went with a variety of vanilla, chocolate and coffee creams. Again, not difficult, but requires a lot attention.



And, finally, the assembly. I had several obstacles with accomplishing this, not the least of which was the massive sugar rush from "taste testing" the pastry creams. First, the traditional croqembouche (translates to "crunch in the mouth") is held together solely with a hard caramelized sugar as glue. But, thanks to the bride's half-hourly weather updates for the weekend, I knew it would be way too hot and humid for the caramel to stay hard. So I went with the alternative of some high quality chocolate from this tiny local candy shop. It was the first dark chocolate that I've eaten and actually enjoyed. Also, this puppy had to travel along I-95 into South Philly on a hot Friday afternoon in an unair-conditioned car and the Phillies were playing. So I took some shortcuts. I used a Styrofoam cone from the craft store, covered it with aluminum foil, and stuck the puffs on with toothpicks. It also allowed me some range for decoration with the strawberries.

So, despite a some chocolate spatterings on the inside of my car and the fact that wine was placed in my hand the second I put the croquembouche down, causing me to forget to take a completed picture until the thing was half devoured, I feel I can call this a success. Not a single complaint.

Would I make this again? Sure, if an occasion called for it. I liked creating a dessert for a party where you don't have to worry about balancing the plate and the drink while using a fork. Also, the small puffs made it more likely for people to eat without feeling too too guilty.When splitting the stages between days, it's really not that time consuming; but this isn't exactly something I would just bring over to a friend's house on a whim.

And so without further ado, the recipe:

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Equipment required:
• several baking sheets
• parchment paper
• a whisk
• a pastry brush (for the egg wash)
• a pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)
• a flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée
• some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

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.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl (this allows it to cool faster- kinda like how cans of beer cool faster than bottles.) Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with 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 (I totally forgot this part. While my puffs don't have the pretty glossy and brown color that others do, it doesn't affect the flavor at all. In fact, once dipped in chocolate, I completely forgot I was mad at myself for forgetting this.)

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. DO NOT ADD ALL THE EGGS AT ONCE. I know it seems time consuming, but it'll make your dough too wet and it won't puff up right when baked. It'll also cook 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.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I used dark chocolate from a local candy shop)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate (I used strawberries, which complimented the chocolate well.)

Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

I'm Back and I'm Daring!

Hey! Remember me?

Sooo yeah, I suck at updating. I actually have about 5 unfinished posts on my dashboard thingie, so hopefully I'll get to them soon. Also, I found a way to ensure blogging at least twice a month- I became a Daring Cook/Baker. It's this monthly challenge I found out about from Jill Coste where you bake or cook a complex recipe. I figure it'll not only get me to blog at least twice a month, it'll also help me with this rut I've been in where I feel like I can't have fun cooking when I eat healthy. I love complex, tedious recipes. Wilted spinach and grilled chicken is not complex. Nor is it exciting. Don't worry, though, I'm not becoming a food blog. My thought is, by making a deal with myself to stick to the splurges in the challenge only, I can feel less like I'm punishing myself the rest of the month. Does that make sense to anyone else? Do you think it'll work? We'll see.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet. WARNING: Crappy cell phone pictures ahead!

This challenge raised a couple questions for me. So here's what I learned:

1. What is a pudding?

Ok, this is a question I've always had. I remember reading about Treacle and Christmas Puddings and Jam Roly-Polys being devoured by the greedy antagonistic children in gothic novels. However, when I was in England, my diet mainly consisted of crumpets slathered with clotted cream and jam, Bangers and Mash, Shepard's Pie, and Cadbury Crunchies. I remember hearing jokes about something called "Spotted Dick" but never got up the courage to try it. After being given my challenge, I learned that a pudding is a dessert. It can be prepared two ways- either as something similar to cake or similar to pie- but there are a few differences:

• It is prepared in a bowl, rather than a pan or plate
• It is steamed rather than baked
• Instead of butter it requires suet- the fat found around the kidneys of a cow or sheep

That's right y'all. Organ fat. Which leads me to:

2. Why suet?

I'll admit I had some difficulty coming to terms with this aspect of the challenge. I love my butter. I had the option to use substitutes if necessary, but I wanted to be a good Daring Baker. I didn't want to wuss out on the first try. So I psyched myself up. I mean, I've eaten prairie oysters before, so this can't be that bad, can it? Then, after thinking about it for a while, it did kind of make sense in an historical aspect. Suet has a higher melting point and longer shelf life than butter. It's also completely flavorless and uses more of the animal.

So I went to the butcher who gave me some suet for free (!) and I set to making this challenge. We were given free range as to what kind of pudding to make, but the sticky caramel freak in me was drawn to Sticky Toffee Pudding. This challenge also gave me the opportunity to play with a recipe- I'm always a stickler for recipes, so this got me out of my shell, so to speak, and tweak. I used the basic recipe provided by Esther and adapted a sauce recipe from the gay boyfriend of my dreams, David Lebovitz.

The process of making the pudding was awesomely simple. It took about 15 minutes total to prep and, while it was steaming, I was able to de-pet hair all my furniture; do 3 loads of laundry; AND put together an Ikea bookshelf. The hardest part, actually, was converting the measurements. Math was never this English major's strong suit.

As for how it tasted? It was... good. I think if I had added some sort of spicy or salty aspect to the pudding it would have been fantastic. Somehow it just didn't have any flavor while tasting amazingly sweet. It had the texture of bread pudding. While I didn't have any issue or taste a trace of suet in the pudding, I think it could have benefitted with the flavor of butter, or something that wasn't obnoxiously sugary. Which is totally on me deciding to hack and adapt instead of following a recipe.

I had my boyfriend, J, be my impartial taster. He thought it was interesting, but kept freaking out that he was biting into animal fat. Baby.

Would I make it again? Sure. I might make it with butter to ease the minds of whoever else was eating it, and I might go with a more dynamic recipe, but I do like the texture that results from steaming and it's just so easy. So, without further ado:

Sticky Toffee Pudding
Adapted from Esther of The Lilac Kitchen
and David Lebovitz

Equipment required:
• 2 pint (1 litre) pudding bowl or steam-able containers to contain a similar amount they should be higher rather than wide and low (I used my smallest pyrex mixing bowl)
• Steamer or large pan, ideally with a steaming stand, upturned plate or crumpled up piece of kitchen foil (I overturned a cereal bowl in my stock pot)
• Mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Measuring cups or scales
• Foil or grease proof paper to cover the bowl
• String

Ingredients
For the sponge pudding
(100 grams/4 ounces) All-purpose flour
(1/4 teaspoon) salt
(1.5 teaspoons) Baking powder
(100 grams/4 ounces) breadcrumbs
(75 grams/3 ounces) Caster sugar
(75 grams/ 3 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)
(1) large egg
(6 to 8 tablespoons) Cold milk
6 oz dates, chopped and steamed

For the sauce
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup (120g) demerara or muscovado sugar (it's the same as sugar in the raw)
2 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup or molasses
pinch of salt

1. Make the toffee sauce by bringing the cream, demerara or turbinado sugar, golden syrup (or molasses) and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often to melt the sugar.
2. Lower heat and simmer, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is thick and coats the spoon. Pour half the sauce into the prepared soufflé mold, and reserve the other half for serving.
3. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl.
4. Add breadcrumbs, sugar and suet.
5. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk
6. Mix in the dates.
   
7. Turn into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil. Tie string around the bowl, leaving a handle for lifting out of the pan.
   
8. Steam steadily for 3 to 4 hours
9. Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with the reamaining toffee sauce.