alpineberry

I Heart Zucchini

2009-11-05T03:47:00.001-05:00

I love zucchini. I eat it year round. It's my absolutely favorite weeknight vegetable since it's so easy to prepare. Just slice them up and put them in some boiling water with a pinch of salt. I could eat it every night. And I actually make zucchini bread because I really like it not just because someone had a bumper crop of zucchini.

Zucchini bread was one of the first things I ever baked on my own. When I was 15 my best friend Nora gave me a recipe for zucchini bread and she said it was easy and delicious. I thought it was strange to have zucchini in a dessert, but I tried it and she was right about it being delicious. All through my high school years I made zucchini bread over and over again. I remember sitting at the dining room table grating the zucchini by hand with my mom's old box grater. Even to this day I grate zucchini by hand. I know it's faster to use a food processor, but I like doing this particular task by hand.

But whether you love zucchini like me or just tolerate it, when zucchini is combined with chocolate it can't be bad. When I saw this chocolate zucchini cake recipe on the King Arthur Flour website I just had to make it. It definitely uses more chocolate than zucchini. I think the zucchini is more for moisture and texture than flavor. But every once in a while you'll encounter a green fleck which I find rather pretty. Regardless of the reason, it's a good way to add more vegetables to your diet.

GIVEAWAY

I am giving away the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook. (The cookbook has a whole wheat flour version of this chocolate zucchini cake too.) Please leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm PST on November 12, 2009 and be sure to mention your favorite vegetable. I will select one comment at random. I plan to contact the winner by email so please make sure you have a valid email address associated with your user ID. Unfortunately I can only ship to U.S. addresses. My sincerest apologizes to my international readers.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
(adapted from King Arthur Flour)

4 ounces (1 stick / 8 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup canola oil
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream or whole milk yogurt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa*
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
2 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chocolate chips, for glaze
Coarse sugar for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly butter and flour a 9" x 13" baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake cake at 325F for 35-40 minutes, or until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set. Take the cake out of the oven, sprinkle it evenly with the 1 cup chocolate chips, and return it to the oven for 5 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven, and use an icing spatula or rubber spatula to spread the chocolate chips into a smooth glaze. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (if using). Cool on a rack.

* The recipe on the King Arthur Flour website uses 3/4 cup cocoa, but I like using only 1/2 cup cocoa.

Pumpkin Thing

2009-10-31T03:44:00.004-04:00

The premise behind the You Want Pies With That? event is to make a pie based on the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie that month can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets choose the theme the following month. Jeanette and I had the honor of choosing a theme for October. We decided on "Masquerade Pie" - make a pie that has a secret.

We suggested that "You can conceal your pie's secret identity (with a robe of dark chocolate, maybe?) or disguise your pie as one thing when it's really something else (like a mock apple pie deceptively made with Ritz crackers instead of apples). You can use a mysterious, unusual or surprising ingredient in your pie or if you're more inclined to step out from behind the mask, you can reveal a secret recipe or technique."

I decided to make something that I hesitantly call pumpkin pie squares. The recipe is based on a recipe I got from a restaurant in the West Portal neighborhood of San Francisco. I've been making this recipe for over a decade now, but I never know what to call it. That restaurant called it a pumpkin pecan pie, but that name never seemed right to me. So I ended up calling it that "pumpkin thing". The restaurant makes the recipe in two 9-inch round pans, but I found it easier to make the recipe in one 9x13-inch cake pan or one 10-inch round springform pan. If I make it in the 9x13 pan I call it pumpkin pie squares, but if I make it in the springform, it's just that pumpkin thing.

The dirty little secret to the pumpkin thing is the use of boxed cake mix. The cake mix, which is sprinkled on top of the pumpkin batter in the pan, becomes the crust when you invert the baked pumpkin thing. I am almost embarrassed to say the words "cake mix" when people ask me what's in the crust. The pumpkin thing is one of my two most requested recipes. The other is the toffee almond bars which also uses boxed cake mix. What is it about cake mix that people love so much? I will never understand it.

The internet is filled with variations of this recipe and most of them are named pumpkin dump cake or similar. But no matter its name, it's no secret that people love the pumpkin thing.

Pumpkin Pie Squares
(aka Pumpkin Thing)

One 30-ounce can of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
One 5-ounce can of evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
One 18-ounce box of yellow cake mix (Pillsbury or Better Crocker brand)
1 cup chopped pecans
8 ounces (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Line one 9 x 13 x 2-inch baking pan with parchment paper and coat with baking spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine pumpkin, both sugars and evaporated milk. Beat in eggs, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and salt and then pour batter into the prepared pan.

Sprinkle half the cake mix over the batter. Sprinkle on the pecans and then the remaining cake mix. Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake at 350F for 60-70 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool in pan for 2 hours on a cooling rack. Loosen and gently invert onto a serving platter. Carefully remove the parchment paper. Leave it pumpkin side up.

Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 or 3 hours before slicing.

Macarons with Salted Almond Butter Filling

2009-10-27T02:04:00.005-04:00

I am writing this post as I munch on a Miette chocolate macaron that my husband bought me. That should tell you how well my macaron making experience went during this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. Ami S. asked us to make macarons using a recipe from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. We could use any filling our hearts desired.

[Note: Macarons, which originated in France, are meringue sandwich cookies typically made with almonds. They should not be confused with macaroons (you know, those coconut ones).]

I have always wanted to make my own macarons, but laziness usually prevails. It's much easier to just pop over to Miette or Paulette (both in Hayes Valley near my beloved Blue Bottle), but they can be pricey at $1.50 and $1.60 each respectively. I never leave without 2 macarons. And more often than not, it's more like 6 or 12! But the DB challenge was a perfect opportunity to try making them myself.

I read posts by Helen, Duncan and Veronica. I watched videos in French even though I couldn't understand 90% of what they were saying. I religiously read the DB private forums about macaron making. I ordered an insanely large bag of blanched almond flour online and stocked up on plenty of eggs and confectioners' sugar. And I started early in the month, soon after the challenge was first announced, which is uncharacteristic for me since I always wait until the very last minute to try the recipe. The great part about starting so early was that I was able to try the recipe many times before the posting date.

Attempt 1
Unblanched (skin-on) almonds (Trader Joe's almond meal). I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. Single sheet pan. I tried both parchment and silicone baking mats. No problems removing the macarons from the pan using either. Macarons have the ruffled foot, but the foot extended beyond the border of the shell. Some had fissures and cracks. Helen's advice was to mix less and to stack a second sheet pan underneath the first to promote even heat distribution. The almond skins gave the macarons a more pronounced almond flavor, but the skin-flecked shells appeared less refined than ones made with blanched almonds.

Attempt 1: Batter flattened out nicely.

Attempt 1: Some shells developed fissures.

Attempt 2
Blanched (no-skin) almonds (Honeyville almond flour). I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. I used a second sheet pan and silicone baking mats. No problems removing the macarons from the pan. I was careful to gently fold in the almond-sugar mixture into the beaten egg whites. The ruffled foot did not extend beyond the border of the shell (yippee! - that's how it's supposed to be). But I had a huge air pocket under the shell (blah! - not what I want) and they looked like hamburger buns which my taste testing co-workers found amusing. Using blanched almonds gave the macarons a more delicate flavor than those made with unblanched almonds.

Attempt 2: Foot ruffle good, air pocket bad, looks like hamburger bun.

Attempt 3
Blanched (no-skin) almonds. I aged my egg whites at room temperature for 24 hours and whipped them to stiff peaks. I used a second sheet pan and silicone baking mats. After watching some how-to videos and reading the DB forums, I decided to mix in the almond-sugar mixture with purpose instead of gently folding. Advice was to "fold and press" to incorporate the almond-sugar and to somewhat deflate the batter. The batter (aka macaronage) should be smooth and "flow like magma". Also, I tested the macaronage by making sure a ribbon of batter drizzled on top of the rest of the batter would disappear within 30 seconds. After piping out the batter I also gently rapped the sheet pan to release any large air bubbles.

My baked macarons were flatter than in attempt 2, but the ruffled foot extended beyond the border of the shell and I still had that pesky air pocket under the shell. The macarons would not come off the silicone baking mat even after letting them cool for a couple hours. So I had to bake them in the oven until they would come off. That extra baking time darkened the shells to a light golden brown. They still tasted good but a bit toasty. The photo at the beginning of my post is from attempt 3.

Attempt 3: Shells darkened from extra baking to get them off the silicone mat, darned air pocket still there.

Attempt 4
Method and results identical to attempt 3, but I didn’t bother re-baking them to remove them from the silicone mat. I just scraped them off the silicone mats with an icing spatula. They were a sticky mess but the thin delicate outer shell remained intact.

Attempt 4: Macaronage looks promising.

Attempt 4: I just can't get the ruffled foot right.

Even though they all tasted really good with the salted almond butter filling I made, I would consider all four attempts failures. Attempt 2 had the best ruffled foot as it did not extend beyond the border of the shell. Attempts 3 and 4 had the right flat shaped but the ruffle was wrong and I still had that air pocket. I need to figure out how to get rid of the air pocket! It happens when I gently fold the almond-sugar mixture into the beaten egg whites and it also happens when I "fold and press" with purpose. I am getting pretty good at piping out the macaronage into circles of the same size. I am now officially obsessed with making them over and over again until I get it right. Then I will no longer need to buy them anymore.

The fine print:
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Macarons

Ingredients:
Confectioners’ powdered (icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated (or superfine) sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g, 0.88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 large (156 g) (at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes at 200°F (93°C). Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Yield: 10 dozen (5 dozen sandwich cookies)

Salted Almond Butter Filling

1/2 cup creamy almond butter (store bought or homemade)
1 cup confectioners' powdered sugar
3 tbsp softened butter
1/8 tsp pure almond extract
1/2 tsp fine sea salt (or salt to taste)
1-2 tbsp almond milk or whole milk

Combine all ingredients and only 1 tablespoon of almond milk in a mixing bowl. Stir until well combined and smooth. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of almond milk if it's too stiff.

The Scent of Cardamom

2009-10-20T21:42:00.004-04:00

The taste and scent of cardamom is hard to describe. It's very distinct and unique. If you're familiar with it, there is no mistaking it. If you're not familiar, then you might say it's floral with a hint a ginger. I would never describe it as spicy. Cinnamon is spicy. Ginger is spicy. Cardamom is not. I am at a loss for how else to describe the mysterious and exotic cardamom.

The yogurt along with the half pound of butter makes this coffee cake moist and definitely not low in calories. But the cardamom permeates each bite and gives the illusion of something bright and fresh that belies any sense of heaviness. The sweet filling is the perfect counterpoint to the fragrant cake. The cinnamon scented walnut filling holds its own yet does not compete against the cardamom infused cake. If you like cardamom chances are you'll love this coffee cake.

Cardamom Coffee Cake
(adapted from "The Bake Sale Cookbook" by Sally Sampson)
(makes one Bundt cake)

Filling:
3/4 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups whole milk plain yogurt (or sour cream)

Preheat oven to 350F. Generously butter and flour a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan.

To make the filling:
Combine walnuts, both sugars and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix well. Set aside.

To make the cake:
Sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt. Set aside.

Place butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl before each addition. Beat in vanilla.

Add half the flour mixture and beat well. Add 1 cup of the yogurt, continuing to beat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in the remaining half of the flour mixture. Add the remaining 1 cup of the yogurt and beat well.

Pour one-third of the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Sprinkle with half of the filling mixture. Repeat and top with remaining one-third batter. Bake at 350F until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and a tester comes out clean, about 60 minutes.

Cool for 20 minutes in the pan and then invert on a rack. Cool to room temperature. Dust lightly with powdered sugar if desired.

Vols-au-Vent

2009-09-27T01:30:00.010-04:00

Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon was the gracious hostess of this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. She chose vols-au-vents made with homemade puff pastry. It's not the first time the Daring Bakers were challenged to make laminated dough. There was the Gateau St. Honore challenge in May 2007, the Danish braid in June 2008, and croissants in January 2007. Of those 3 challenges, I only took part in the Gateau St. Honore and we were not required to make our own puff pastry, so I used store bought for my St. Honore.

So this is my first time making puff pastry. I never tried before since it seemed too time consuming to make it myself when I can easily buy high quality all-butter puff pastry from the supermarket. Dufour makes a great puff pastry and so does Trader Joe's. Dufour costs $10/pound and Trader Joe's is much cheaper at $4/pound but my TJ no longer stocks it. But a challenge is a challenge and I was looking forward to trying my hand at making my own.

Steph was nice enough to link to a video of Michel Richard making puff pastry on PBS's Baking with Julia (Child that is). I remember seeing this many years ago when the TV series first aired and I thought that puff pastry was best left to the professionals. But as I watched that video earlier this week I thought that it seemed quite do-able. Of course Michel Richard made it look so easy. I mean, the man has been doing it for decades.

There is very little active time when making puff pastry. It's mostly waiting for the dough to rest. And the resting period between turns can be as little as 30 minutes and as long as a day so the dough making process was flexible enough to fit into my busy schedule. I did have some trouble when my beurrage (aka butter layer) broke through the dough layer after the third turn. Despite chilling it between turns, the butter was very obviously present with every subsequent turn. It seemed that my puff pastry was doomed to fail, but I completed my turns and hoped for the best.

Vols-au-vent is a puff pastry case designed to hold a filling. My vols-au-vent did rise pretty well so my worries about the butter breaking through the dough during the turns were put to rest. But I think I got some egg wash on the cut sides of my dough which prevented a higher rise. But it was still high enough to hold a decent amount of filling.

Steph gave us the freedom to fill it with anything. I decided to sauté some diced bananas in butter, brown sugar and lemon juice to make my filling. I wanted to top it with ice cream, but all we had in the house was pistachio ice cream. To complement the pistachio ice cream I made a praline. I caramelized some sugar (to the light amber stage), tossed in some pistachios, and spread them out on a Silpat to cool.

Even though I had a little mishap with the beurrage, I was very happy with my vols-au-vent and the puff pastry making process. And since I only used a third of the dough to make the vols-au-vent I still have lots of puff pastry for a future use. I'm really glad I finally made puff pastry and I will definitely be making my own from now on. And it's budget friendly too. It cost me less than $3.00 to make 2 1/2 pounds of all-butter puff pastry dough. That means my cost per pound is $1.20 which is a significant savings over buying all-butter puff pastry from the market. So thanks to hostess Steph, DB founders Lis and Ivonne and the rest of the DB gang.

The fine print:
The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Vols-au-Vent

Equipment:
-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent
Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings. Fill and serve.

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough
From "Baking with Julia" by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds puff pastry dough

This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

Plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Daring Dobos Torte

2009-08-27T04:24:00.006-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge is co-hosted by Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella and Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar. They chose Dobos torte.

According to Angela and Lorraine, the Dobos torte is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.

I originally planned to pass on this month's challenge because it's summer time and I wanted to spend as much time away from the kitchen as possible. Even though we only need to complete 8 out of 12 challenges per year to maintain good DB standing, as the posting date approached, I felt guilty for skipping one due to laziness. I blame it on my OCD. I just like knowing that I can check this one off my list. So at the last minute I threw this cake together.

The sponge cake recipe was straightforward. I was too lazy to bake the cake in six rounds so I just spread the batter in two half-sheet pans and cut out rectangular layers. My sponge layers ended up too thick since I used only two half-sheet pans for the whole quantity of batter. I should have used three pans instead of two. My frosting and cake layering skills need some work. It bothers me that my buttercream layers are so much thinner than the cake layers.

I've only made Swiss meringue buttercream before so using whole eggs for this particular buttercream recipe was new to me. Even though I used a 60% cacao chocolate, I felt the buttercream was too sweet. But I really enjoyed the whole egg method. The chocolate buttercream turned out super rich due to the egg yolks and the buttercream did not feel too greasy or taste overly buttery. The recipe was also very forgiving. I thought my chocolate-egg mixture was cool enough to start adding the butter, but after beating in all the butter my buttercream was still a bit runny. So I chilled it in the refrigerator for 15 minutes and then beat it until it was the proper fluffiness.

I didn’t want the caramel coating on the top cake layer to be so hard that it would be impossible to fork through it so I thought that adding a little butter to the caramel might help. When the sugar reached a medium amber color I added a generous tablespoon of unsalted butter and swirled it until melted and proceeded to coat my cake layer. I had a minor mishap involving the hot pan and my sink so I was distracted. I was distracted for less than a minute but it was long enough that the caramel I poured over the cake layer had already started to set so I was unable to coat the cake layer as well as I should have.

I could fork through the caramel coated cake layer without any problems. I was worried that the caramel might be too hard or stick to my teeth but it wasn't and it didn't. The caramel shattered perfectly and melted it my mouth. I'm not sure if it turned out so well because I took the sugar to the correct stage or because I added the butter.

I read somewhere that the caramel coated cake layer was the key to the Dobos torte's "keeping properties". Well, I can't speak to that, but I can say that the caramel coated cake layer technique is something I will keep with me and use for other cakes. The caramel coated cake layer was my favorite part of the Dobos torte.

The fine print:
The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Dobos Torte

Sponge cake layers

* 6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
* 1 1/3 cups (162g) confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided
* 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
* 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (112g) sifted cake flour
* pinch of salt

Directions for the sponge layers:

1. Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F (200C).
2. Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9" (23cm) springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn't touch the cake batter.)
3. Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner's (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes. (You can do this step with a balloon whisk if you don't have a mixer.)
4. In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup (81g) of confectioner's (icing) sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.
5. Line one of the baking sheets with a circle-marked paper. Using a small offset spatula, spread about 3/4cup of the batter in an even layer, filling in the traced circle on one baking sheet. Bake on the top rack for 5 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned. While this cake bakes, repeat the process on the other baking sheet, placing it on the centre rack. When the first cake is done, move the second cake to the top rack. Invert the first cake onto a flat surface and carefully peel off the paper. Slide the cake layer back onto the paper and let stand until cool. Rinse the baking sheet under cold running water to cool, and dry it before lining with another parchment. Continue with the remaining papers and batter to make a total of six layers. Completely cool the layers. Using an 8" springform pan bottom or plate as a template, trim each cake layer into a neat round. (A small serrated knife is best for this task.)

Chocolate Buttercream

* 4 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 cup (200g) caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar
* 4oz (110g) bakers chocolate or your favorite dark chocolate, finely chopped
* 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Directions for the chocolate buttercream:

1. Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.
3. Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.
4. Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5. When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

[Co-host Lorraine's note: If you're in winter just now your butter might not soften enough at room temperature, which leads to lumps forming in the buttercream. Make sure the butter is of a very soft texture i.e. running a knife through it will provide little resistance, before you try to beat it into the chocolate mixture. Also, if you beat the butter in while the chocolate mixture is hot you'll end up with more of a ganache than a buttercream!]

Caramel topping

* 1 cup (200g) caster (superfine or ultrafine white) sugar
* 12 tablespoons (180 ml) water
* 8 teaspoons (40 ml) lemon juice
* about 1 tablespoon neutral oil (for coating the spatula and knife)

Directions for the caramel topping:

1. Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel top. To make the caramel topping: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Score the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.
2. Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-colored caramel.
3. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut through the scored marks to divide the caramel layer into 12 equal wedges. Cool another minute or so, then use the edge of the knife to completely cut and separate the wedges using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.

[Note: Co-host Angela recommends cutting, rather than scoring, the cake layer into wedges before covering in caramel (reform them into a round). If you have an 8” silicon round form, place the wedges on that for easy removal later and it also ensures that the caramel stays on the cake layer. Once set, use a very sharp knife to separate the wedges.]

Assembling the Dobos torte:

1. Divide the buttercream into six equal parts.
2. Place a dab of chocolate buttercream on the middle of a 7 1/2” cardboard round and top with one cake layer. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 4 more cake layers. Spread the remaining buttercream on the sides of the cake.
3. Optional: Press finely chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of the cake.
4. Propping a hazelnut under each wedge so that it sits at an angle, arrange the wedges on top of the cake in a spoke pattern. If you have any leftover buttercream, you can pipe rosettes under each hazelnut or a large rosette in the centre of the cake. Refrigerate the cake under a cake dome until the icing is set, about 2 hours. Let slices come to room temperature for the best possible flavor.

Cherry Tart with Almond Streusel

2009-08-07T03:20:00.003-04:00

The premise behind the monthly event You Want Pies With That is to make a pie based on a given theme. Then everyone who made a pie can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets to host and choose the theme. This month's host Jacque chose the theme "Nuts About Pie".

The last of the season's sweet cherries are still available in the markets so I wanted to make a tart with them before they're all gone. I knew I could incorporate nuts into the tart crust, but I wanted my pie to be nuttier. Then I found inspiration in a past issue of Bon Appétit - a streusel made with almonds, crystallized ginger and orange zest. I knew it would go perfectly with the cherries. I used meyer lemon zest instead of orange zest and I think it was a good decision. But I am always looking for ways to use up my endless supply of meyer lemons so it was not only a good decision but an easy one.

The crumbly streusel clung to the sweet cherry filling providing each mouthful with the toasted nuttiness of almond, the subtle spice and mild heat of ginger and the floral fragrance of meyer lemon. Even though the almond crust, cherry filling and streusel are magical together, I wanted to scrape off the streusel from the top of the tart and eat it all. Yes, the streusel topping was that good. It would've been a crime not to share something so delicious so I had to show restraint. But believe me when I say I'll be using that streusel to top anything that I can.

Sweet Cherry Tart with Almond Streusel
(makes one 9 1/2 x 1-inch tart)

Almond crust:
2 ounces ground blanched almonds
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 ounces (1 cup) all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Streusel topping:
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 teaspoon finely grated orange or meyer lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 teaspoon almond milk (or cream or milk)
2/3 cup sliced almonds

Cherry filling:
24 ounces sweet cherries, pitted (I used Bing)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Make the dough for the crust:

In a food processor, add the ground almonds and sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter cubes and pulse about 15 times or until no loose bits of almonds/sugar remain. Add the flour, zest and salt and pulse about 15 times or until the butter is about the size of small peas.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and the cream. Add it to the mixture in the food processor bowl and pulse until the ingredients are just barely incorporated, about 8 times.

Dump the mixture into a plastic Ziploc bag and flatten the dough. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until firm enough to roll out.

Roll the dough to an 11-inch dough circle and line a 9 x 1-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim the dough so that it's even with the edge of the pan. Patch any holes or tears with the excess dough. Chill the tart shell in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking. [Note: If you find the dough too sticky to roll out, you can press the dough into the tart pan with your fingers. Try to get an even thickness. You probably won’t use up all the dough. Excess dough can be baked like a sugar cookie.]

Make the streusel topping:

Blend flour, sugar, crystallized ginger, zest, and salt in a food processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, blend until coarse crumbs form. Blend in milk (mixture will resemble moist coarse crumbs). Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in almonds. Set aside. [Note: Streusel can be made one day ahead. Cover and chill in refrigerator until needed.]

Make the cherry filling and bake the tart:

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400F.

Gently toss cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes. Add cornstarch to cherry mixture and toss gently to coat. Place chilled crust on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any possible spills from the tart. Transfer cherry mixture to chilled crust. Bake at 400F for 30 minutes.

Remove tart from oven and reduce oven temperature to 375F. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over cherry filling. Return tart to oven and bake until crust is golden brown and cherry juices are bubbling thickly, about 30-40 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely before serving.

Mallows and Milans

2009-07-27T01:43:00.012-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' hostess Nicole at Sweet Tooth chose chocolate covered marshmallow cookies (aka mallows) and milan cookies from the Food Network website. Both are from pastry chef Gale Gand and are homemade versions of Nabisco's Mallomars and Pepperidge Farm's Milanos. I've never tried Mallomars and didn’t even know about their existence until Harry (played by Billy Crystal) declared them the greatest cookies of all time in "When Harry Met Sally". Milanos were a favorite snack while I was in college. Back then there were only two varieties - original and mint. Orange, raspberry and others came along much later.

I really enjoyed the mallows. The cookie dough was very straightforward and easy. My only problem was the stated yield in the recipe was completely wrong. I rolled my dough 1/8-inch thick as stated and I was on my way to getting 12 dozen 1-inch diameter cookies. Luckily I only cut out about 50 cookies and saved the rest of the dough for the future.

I've never made marshmallows from scratch and was excited to try it. It's pretty amazing that the fluffy, runny, sticky mess sets up so nicely. It was a lot of fun and tasted much better than store bought. Instead of piping the marshmallow onto the cookies, I made them in a potato starch coated baking pan and cut them into disks after they had set up. Of course I didn’t really think it through and the marshmallow disks wouldn't stick to the cookie. I tried using fruit jam or peanut butter to stick them onto the cookie base but I felt that it detracted from the delicate flavors of the marshmallow and cookie. So I just placed them on the cookie base. The chocolate glaze coating held them in place just fine.

The recipe for the milan cookies appeared very straightforward. But I messed up somehow. Maybe I misunderstood the piping instructions, but I ended up with a lot of tiny cookies. Like the recipe instructed, I used a 1/4-inch plain tip and piped out 1-inch long sections which could give me enough to make over 200 miniature cookies instead of 3 dozen Milano-sized sandwich cookies. Maybe I was supposed to pipe out 1-inch wide sections instead of 1-inch long sections? I actually stopped after piping two sheet pans worth so I ended up baking about 80 miniature cookies.

The flavor of the cookie was okay, but the texture of my cookies was nothing like a Milano. Mine were much thinner than those used in Milanos and were like chewy tuiles. Not good. Maybe my batter was too runny? I didn’t have time to redo the cookie batter so I continued on with the recipe anyway. I made the chocolate ganache filling and assembled the sandwich cookies. I did not enjoy these at all. I should have cut my losses early by only assembling a few cookies for the photographs, saving the ganache for something else and then tossing the rest of the cookies into the compost bin. Yes, I disliked my cookies that much. I felt they were a total waste of good chocolate.

So this month was 50-50 for me. My mallows were good. My milans were bad. I'm sure the other Daring Bakers fared better than I did.

The fine print:
The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

"Mallows" (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Recipe yield per Food Network website is 2 dozen cookies. However, I was able to make 150 1-inch diameter cookies. So if you make the full quantity of cookie dough, you will need to increase the amount of marshmallows and chocolate glaze by 2 or 3 fold.

Cookie dough ingredients:
• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with cling film or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let marshmallow set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar and bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag. (I did not pipe my marshmallows. I coated a parchment lined 9x13 inch pan with potato starch, poured in the soft marshmallow and let it sit for 3 hours until the marshmallows set. Then I used a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out my marshmallow disks.)
(Note: I was able to top 50 1-inch diameter cookies with this quantity of marshmallows. You will need to increase the quantity if you need to top more cookies.)

Chocolate glaze ingredients
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.
(Note: I was able to cover 50 1-inch diameter marshmallow topped cookies with this quantity of glaze. You will need to increase the quantity if you need to glaze more cookies.)

~*~

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Recipe yield per Food Network website is about 3 dozen cookies. My yield was quite different and will depend on how you pipe them out.

Cookie dough ingredients:
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling ingredients:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 small orange, finely zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Blueberry Hand Pies

2009-07-06T21:00:00.008-04:00

Rebecca of Ezra Pound Cake and I had the honor of choosing the theme for this month's You Want Pies With That. We asked the participants to come up with a pie that reminds them of a "Taste of Summer". Summer can conjure up seasonal fruit or carnival foods, but it can also be about sunburns and bored kids. I was one of those bored kids.

The concept of over scheduled children driven around by a "soccer mom" didn't quite exist when I was growing up. My parents didn’t send us to camp or summer school. In fact, it was okay to leave children at home alone unsupervised for a few hours back then. My brothers and I would hang around the house and try not to destroy the house or each other.

My mom never let us have any junk food normally. But during the summer break we could occasionally go to the corner store and pick out something sugary. I always chose a Hostess Fruit Pie. I know it sounds gross and I am a bit ashamed to admit that I like it, but a 9 year old me thought it was delicious. [Note: Hostess Fruit Pies are commercially produced hand pies.]

So I decided to bake some miniature blueberry hand pies as a tribute to that childhood summertime treat.

Blueberry Hand Pies
(22-24 mini hand pies)

1 quantity of Flaky Pie Crust (see recipe below)

Blueberry Filling:
14 ounces blueberries
6 tbsp granulated sugar
5 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Optional glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp water
1-2 tsp granulated sugar

To make the filling:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

To assemble the hand pies:
Roll out your chilled dough to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a 4-inch round cutter, cut out 4-inch circles. (You can reuse the dough scraps once. Lay the scraps, side by side slightly overlapping and roll them between plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for at least 15 minutes before cutting out more circles from the rolled scraps.) You should get about 22-24 circles.

Spoon about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the blueberry filling, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Brush the edges lightly with cold water (to help the dough stick) and fold dough in half. Using your fingers, press the border to seal it and then press the border using the tines of a fork. Refrigerate filled hand pies for 30-60 minutes.

To bake:
Preheat oven to 400F. If desired, brush the chilled turnovers with egg glaze and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut 3 steam vents into the top of each turnover. Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden and the filling is bubbling. Let hand pies cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Flaky Pie Crust
(makes 20 ounces dough - enough pastry for 22-24 hand pies)

7 ounces (14 tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
11 1/4 ounces (2 1/4 cups) bleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
5 to 7 tbsp ice water
1 tbsp cider vinegar

Divide the 7 ounces (14 tbsp) of butter into 2 portions: 4.5 ounces and 2.5 ounces (9 tbsp and 5 tbsp). Refrigerate the 4.5 ounce portion and freeze the 2.5 ounce portion for at least 30 minutes.

Place the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade. Process for a few seconds to combine.

Add the 4.5 ounces of (refrigerated) butter and process for about 20 seconds or until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the 2.5 ounces of (frozen) butter and pulse until the frozen butter is the size of peas.

Add the 5 tbsp of ice water and the vinegar and pulse 6-7 times. Pinch a small amount of the mixture to see if it holds together. If not, add another 1 tbsp water and pulse 3 times. Try pinching again to see if it holds together. If not, add the final 1 tbsp water and pulse 3 times.

Divide the dough in half. Wrap each portion with plastic wrap and flatten into discs. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Dare to Bake Well

2009-06-27T02:51:00.003-04:00

Umm, I mean bakewell. Tart that is. Co-hostesses Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar challenged us with a bakewell tart for this month's Daring Bakers' recipe. The history of the bakewell tart is a bit fuzzy. According to Jasmine and Annemarie, today's version of the bakewell tart/pudding typically falls under one of two categories. The first is the "pudding" where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the "tart" where a rich short pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling. The version they came up with is a combination of the two: a sweet short crust pastry, frangipane and jam.

The first element was an easy to make dough for the short crust pastry. They encouraged us to put away the food processor and make the dough by hand. Grating frozen butter into the flour mimics the processing that a machine would do. My only problem was a lot of butter stuck to my box grater. I was unsuccessful in my attempts to extract every bit of butter out of the grater's teeth, so I just threw in another tablespoon of butter into the mix. Problem solved. To reduce the amount of water and increase the fat, I used heavy cream instead of water in the dough. No one said this was low fat baking!

They gave us the freedom to use any flavor of jam and it could be homemade or store bought. I decided to use a mango jam given to me by a friend. And then I exercised some creative license for the final element - the frangipane filling. Even though I love almonds, I used macadamia nuts instead of almonds in the frangipane filling. I'm not sure if I can still call it frangipane if it doesn't have almonds. I toasted the macadamia nuts in the oven and let them cool completely before blitzing them in the food processor. I made sure to add a small amount of the confectioners' sugar from the filling recipe. The confectioners' sugar absorbs some of the oils released from the nuts and prevents the ground nuts from turning into nut butter. I also added a bit of dark rum and vanilla to the filling to round out the tropical theme.

The end result was quite amazing. It was like eating a tart and cake at the same time. The cakey nut filling was divine. It was rich and moist. The perfume of the macadamia nuts paired wonderfully with the sweet mango jam. The crust was flaky and buttery, but sturdy enough to encase all the goodness of the jam and cakey filling. I could cut super thin slices and it held together beautifully which was important since I was taking slice after thin slice and eating it sans fork and plate.

The fine print:
The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Macadamia Mango Bakewell Tart
Makes one 23cm (9-inch) tart

One quantity sweet short crust pastry (recipe follows)
One quantity macadamia nut frangipane (recipe follows)
125ml (4 US fluid ounces) mango jam

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatized for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poufy and brownish.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poufy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the filling will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet short crust pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) granulated sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 large egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) vanilla extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water or heavy cream

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water or cream, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Macadamia Nut "Frangipane" Filling

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing (confectioners') sugar
3 large eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) pure vanilla extract
5ml (1 tsp) dark rum
125g (4.5oz) macadamia nuts (weigh, lightly toast, cool and then grind finely)
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is light and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the vanilla extract and rum and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the nuts) and retain its pallid yellow color.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

2009-06-21T21:59:00.005-04:00

I've been spending most of my time on my professional life (aka "the day job") during the last few weeks. The project will be completed within the next few days and I hope to be back to my baking and blogging life very soon after that. I did have time to make cupcakes for a baby shower recently. I made four varieties for the shower. Three were tried and true, but this fourth one, the snickerdoodle cupcake, was a new recipe I created.

It's a cinnamon cupcake topped with a cinnamon-sugar crackle. The cinnamon-sugar mixture is sprinkled on top of the cupcake batter before they go into the oven and it bakes into a crispy, crackly, cinnamony shell atop each moist cupcake. I then frosted each with a swirl of Swiss buttercream and then sprinkled the buttercream with more cinnamon-sugar to add a bit of sparkle. They were a big hit.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
(24 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 ounces (3 sticks / 1.5 cups) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (10 fl. oz.) buttermilk

Cinnamon-Sugar Topping:
1 tbsp granulated sugar combined with 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 (4 fluid ounce capacity) cupcake wells with paper cupcake liners. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside flour mixture.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the vanilla.

Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fill each well approximately two-thirds full. Sprinkle some of the cinnamon-sugar topping over the batter. (You might have some cinnamon-sugar leftover. That's okay. Just use it to sprinkle on top of the frosting.)

Bake cupcakes at 350F until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean or when the top springs back after lightly pressed, about 20-23 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool in pan for 5 minutes then remove cupcakes and cool on wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Swiss Buttercream
(enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes)

1 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp milk (I used low fat)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.

On medium speed, gradually beat in the milk, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla and cinnamon (if using). You should have a shiny smooth buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream if not using immediately.

Daring Bakers Stretch and Roll

2009-05-27T03:02:00.004-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge is upon us again. Co-hosts Linda of Make Life Sweeter and Courtney of Coco Cooks chose strudel. They gave us the freedom to fill our strudel with whatever our hearts desired. Their only mandate was that we must make the strudel dough.

When the challenge was announced, I was excited as well as apprehensive. Never in my life did I think I would make strudel dough. I've always thought that strudel making takes decades to perfect and those proficient use secrets passed from generation to generation. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the dough was to make. Rick Rodgers' recipe for strudel dough was truly wonderful. The dough was really easy to handle. Using a floured cloth to line my countertop, the dough didn't stick at all and it stretched tissue-paper-thin without tearing. And stretching it was so much fun too - I was actually giggling while doing it! Luckily no one but the cat was around to witness my silliness.

Traditionally apples are used, but apples are out of season right now so I decided to make a cherry strudel. Since cherries exude so much liquid I knew I would need a thickener. The recipe the hosts provided uses bread crumbs to absorb some of the fruit juices exuded during baking to prevent a soggy crust. I read that cornstarch can be used in place of the bread crumbs, but cornstarch needs to come to a boil to become thick and the baking time in the oven would not allow the cherries to reach that temperature. So I cooked my cherries on the stove top with the cornstarch and some sugar until it became thick. Problem solved.

Even though I had used some cornstarch, I still wanted to use some crumbs in the strudel, but I did not have bread crumbs (or even bread) in the house. My choices were chocolate genoise trimmings or panko. Using either would probably be blasphemous, but genoise seemed like the lesser of two evils. Since I introduced chocolate in the form of crumbs, I though I would add some chopped chocolate to the strudel too.

Overall the strudel was delicious. The pastry shell was strong enough to hold in the cherry chocolate filling but was at the same time delicate and flaky. The only criticism of my strudel was the ratio of filling to strudel pastry was high. I would have liked more layers of the flaky pastry. This was the 25th DB challenge that I have completed and I learn something new with each challenge. I already see myself making some kind of savory strudel for dinner in the near future and when autumn comes I will be making an apple strudel. Thanks to Courtney and Linda for choosing a great recipe which stretched my baking repertoire.

The fine print:
The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Cherry Chocolate Strudel

16 ounces bing cherries, pitted
3 tbsp granulated sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp pure almond extract
Strudel dough (see recipe below)
1/2 fresh bread crumbs
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted, divided
1/3 cup finely chopped bittersweet chocolate

Make the cherry filling:
In a medium, non-reactive saucepan, stir together cherries, sugar, cornstarch, salt and lemon juice. Allow mixture to sit for 10-15 minutes to allow the cherries to exude some juices.

Over low heat, bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. The juice will thicken and become translucent. Allow it to simmer for 1 minute. Transfer to a clean bowl and stir in almond extract. Allow mixture to cool completely.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 2 minutes. Let filling cool completely before using.

Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the bread crumbs about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm) wide strip. Sprinkle the chocolate over the bread crumbs. Spread the cherry filling mixture over the chocolate.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. If necessary, curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter. Using a sharp knife cut a few steam vents in the dough.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel Dough
(from Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers)

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry. Add a little more water if necessary.

Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.

Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.

Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

YWPWT: Egg Custard Tarts

2009-05-07T02:36:00.005-04:00

This month's You Want Pies With That theme "Family Favorite Pie" was chosen by Natalie of Oven Love. She asked us to use a family favorite dessert as the inspiration for our pie or tart.

A childhood sweet that I still love to this day is Chinese egg custard tarts aka "dohn-tot". They can be found on dim sum menus and in Chinese bakery cases everywhere. In fact, there is a cafe in New York City called Egg Custard King. But I have it on good authority (my brothers) that their namesake egg tarts are no match for Golden Gate Bakery's egg tarts. There is always a slow moving line for the egg tarts at this San Francisco Chinatown bakery. The wait can be as long as 15-20 minutes on weekends. The tarts at GG Bakery are pricey at $1.15 each, but the lightly sweetened silky egg custard encased in a flaky pastry shell is worth it. In general, dohn-tots are best eaten warm, but if it's still delicious when cold, you know you have winner.

The owners of GG Bakery close the bakery at least once or twice a year for a 4 or 5 week long vacation. And when they reopen, they always seem to raise the price of the dohn-tot by 5 or 10 cents. I heard from my parents who heard it through the Chinatown rumor mill that they always raise the price to pay for their long vacations. But I think they raise the prices because demand is high and simply because people will still line up for them.

The origin of the dohn-tot is unclear. Some people believe that they are similar to a Portuguese egg tart called pastel de nata and made its way to Hong Kong via Macau, a long time Portuguese colony.

I've never felt the need to make my own dohn-tot because I can easily get one from GG Bakery. Also, a lot of the dohn-tot recipes I've come across have a shortbread crust as opposed to the delicate but much more labor intensive puff pastry shell. In my opinion, it’s not a dohn-tot if it has a shortbread crust. For this month's YWPWT, I decided to try my hand at making dohn-tot.

I found this recipe for Portuguese custard tarts in an old issue of Saveur magazine. It sounded great because the crust is made using a rough puff pastry dough. Rough puff pastry is not as difficult to make as traditional puff pastry but it's still extremely flaky. It's perfect for this application. The custard filling recipe called for blueberries and passion fruit, but I left out the fruit to make the tarts more dohn-tot-like.

I liked the way my tarts came out. I was afraid that the custard filling would be a bit too sweet, and it was, but not when paired with the buttery, flaky tart shell. The filling had a nice flavor, but it wasn't as silky as I hoped it would be. But, overall, I think this was a good first attempt. The custard tart was very reminiscent of dohn-tot.

Egg Custard Tarts
(makes 2 dozen)
(adapted from Saveur Magazine #95: Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Crust:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 tsp salt

Custard filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3 tbsp all purpose flour
6 large egg yolks
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Crust:
Toss together 1 1⁄2 cups flour, butter, and salt in medium bowl. Add 6 tbsp. ice water; form into a rough ball (don't mash butter). On a floured surface, shape dough into a 6" × 12" rectangle. Fold like a letter. Roll out into a 6" × 12" rectangle; fold again. Roll out and fold 3 more times. Cover; refrigerate for 1 hour; repeat rolling and folding process 2 more times. Cover; refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll out dough into a 12" × 18" rectangle. Tightly roll up long side to form a cylinder. Cover; refrigerate for 1 hour. Cut crosswise into 24 slices. Working with 1 slice at a time, lightly flour, roll into a 3" circle, and press into 2 1⁄2"-wide, 3⁄4"-deep pie tins with sloping sides. Transfer to baking sheet and cover; refrigerate.

Custard:
Put sugar and 2⁄3 cup water into a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat without stirring; reduce heat to medium and boil for 5 minutes. Be careful - this sugar syrup is hot.

Whisk together 1⁄4 cup of the milk with the 3 tablespoons of flour in a large bowl. Bring remaining milk to a simmer and, while whisking, pour hot milk into the milk-flour mixture. Whisk in sugar syrup and let mixture cool until warm. Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla to make a custard.

Preheat oven to 400°. Fill each tart by two-thirds with custard. Bake until pastry is light brown and custard has just set, 16–18 minutes. Let cool on a rack.

The Creamiest Cheesecake

2009-04-27T01:22:00.005-04:00

Time for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. Host Jenny of Jenny Bakes presented us with an easy challenge - cheesecake. She gave us the freedom to do any flavor cheesecake and any kind of crust as long as we used the recipe she gave us as the starting point. The recipe comes from Jenny's friend Abbey. Abbey's recipe was very similar to the recipe that I've been using for years. My batter is made with three sticks (24 ounces) of cream cheese, 3 large eggs, 1 cup of sugar, and a little heavy cream and/or butter. Any number of flavors can be added to the batter and, over the last 15 years, I have tried many combinations. The major difference between my usual recipe and Abbey's is the amount of heavy cream. I usually use about 2 to 4 ounces heavy cream which adds some mellow richness to the cheesecake. Abbey's recipe uses a full 8 ounces. Oh my, how decadent! Not that I'm complaining. If you're going to make cheesecake, might as well make the richest, creamiest one you can.

Many people love cheesecake, but I am not one of them. Most of the time it's too tangy-sour-cheesy for me. Even so, I've baked a lot of cheesecakes in my lifetime and people are always impressed by homemade cheesecake. Cheesecake is not as hard as people imagine it is to make, but let's keep that little secret between you and me.

Since I'm not a fan of cheesecake, I prefer batters with flavors that downplay that cream-cheesiness. I know that defeats the purpose of a cheesecake. One of my favorite flavors is espresso/coffee. I gave up coffee about a year ago due to health reasons, but I can still have one very teeny-tiny cappuccino every few weeks. Having one is pretty much a special occasion for me. I can tell you the exact details surrounding each one I've had in the last 6 months. Can you tell how much I miss drinking coffee? For my birthday last month my husband asked me what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to go to the Blue Bottle Café at the Mint Plaza and share a cappuccino. Hey, what can I say? I'm a cheap date.

Anyway, like I was saying, espresso cheesecake sounded really good. I didn’t want to do a graham cracker, cookie, shortbread or pastry crust, so I decided to make a chocolate brownie for my crust using a recipe from Tish Boyle's "The Cake Book". The brownie bottom was a perfect complement to the espresso bean flecked cafe latte filling. The bottom layer was like a really moist and fudgy brownie and the filling layer was extremely smooth and creamy. It must be from all that heavy cream. That Abbey really knows her stuff. Thanks to hostess Jenny for sharing this great recipe. So there you have it. Another DB challenge under my belt - that makes 24 and counting. I can't wait to see what's in store for next month.

The fine print:
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Please visit Jenny Bakes to see the original recipe for Abbey's infamous cheesecake.

Brownie Bottom Latte Cheesecake
(One 10-inch cheesecake)

Brownie Bottom Ingredients:
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I like using 60-72%cacao)
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in 8 pieces
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Cheesecake Ingredients:
24 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup (8 fl oz) heavy cream
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tbsp hot water
2 tsp finely ground espresso beans

Make the brownie bottom:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 10x3 inch springform pan. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper and butter the parchment. Cut two or three 18-inch squares of heavy duty aluminum foil and wrap the foil around the outside of the pan.

2. In a double boiler, heat the chocolate and butter until just melted. Add the espresso powder, vanilla and salt, Whisk in the sugar until well combined. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir in the flour until just incorporated.

3. Scrape batter in the prepared pan and smooth the batter into an even layer. Bake the brownie for 25 to 30 minutes until a tester inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Place the pan on a cooling rack while you make the filling. Increase oven temperature to 350F.

Make the cheesecake filling:

1. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla extract, espresso powder mixture, ground espresso beans and blend until smooth and creamy. Don’t overbeat.

2. Pour batter into your baked brownie bottom and gently tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. (The foil wrapped around the pan should help keep the water from seeping into the cake.)

3. Bake at 350F for 45 to 55 minutes, until the edges are set and the center is still a little wobbly. You don't want the cheesecake to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let the cheesecake rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top.

4. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter (about 2 hours), and then cover and chill in the refrigerator. Chilling it for at least 4 hours before cutting is important. Otherwise the cheesecake won't be completely set and might be runny when you cut into it.

How to remove the cheesecake from the springform pan:

Run a thin bladed knife along the sides to loosen the cake from the pan. Undo the latch of the springform and remove the ring. Run a thin blade or spatula underneath the parchment paper to loosen the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan. I like to use an icing spatula for this. Now place a piece of parchment on top of the cheesecake and then place a plate on top of the parchment so that the cheesecake is sandwiched between the cake pan bottom and the parchment-plate. Invert. Remove the cake pan bottom and gently peel away the parchment from the brownie. Place your serving platter on the brownie and re-invert so that the cheesecake is right side up. Remove the plate and parchment from the top.

Chocolate Truffle Tarts

2009-04-19T17:02:00.004-04:00

I'm not posting as often as I would like since I've been extremely busy with work lately. I do apologize and I hope you'll be patient. The craziness at work should settle down in the next five or six weeks. I'm still trying to bake and post for Daring Bakers and YWPWT, but I haven't had much time otherwise. I've dug back into my Flickr archives and found this lovely tart I never posted. The crust is an almond cookie crust with some grated orange zest. The zest is optional, but I think the combination of orange and almond works really well with the raspberries and chocolate. The chocolate filling is a truffle cake batter with some raspberry jam mixed in. The batter is baked in the prebaked cookie shells and then I topped the tarts with gorgeous fresh raspberries when I was ready to serve them.

Chocolate Truffle Tarts with Raspberries
(makes seven 4 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch tartlets)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup raspberry jam, at room temperature
(I prefer seedless jam but with seeds can work too)
7 prebaked 4 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch tartlet shells
(see "Sweet Almond Cookie Crust recipe below)
Fresh raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water), combine the chocolate and butter and stir occasionally until smooth and melted. Set aside.

3. In the bowl from a stand mixer heat the 4 whole eggs, 1 egg yolk and sugar, set over the same pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally to prevent curdling, until mixture is just warm to the touch.

4. Attach bowl to the stand mixer, and using the whisk attachment, beat on medium speed until just lemony yellow and doubled in volume.

5. Whisk the flour into the chocolate mixture. On low speed, add the chocolate mixture to the eggs all at once. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and continue to mix until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the raspberry jam and mix for another 30 seconds. At this point the batter can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for up to 5 days. Or you can use it right away.

6. Pour batter into the seven prebaked tartlet shells. It's okay to fill the shells all the way to the top. (You might have some batter left over.) Bake at 375F for 13-16 minutes until the filling is just set and slightly wobbly in the center. Allow tartlets to cool for at least 30 minutes. Carefully remove the tartlet from the pans. Top with fresh raspberries and serve.

Sweet Almond Cookie Crust
(makes enough dough for seven 4 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch tartlets)

2 ounces ground blanched almonds
3 tablespoons superfine or granulated sugar
4 ounces (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 1-inch cubes
5 ounces (1 cup) all purpose flour
2 tsp finely grated orange zest (optional)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions for making the dough and prebaking the crusts:

1. In a food processor, add the ground almonds and sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter cubes and pulse about 15 times or until no loose bits of almonds/sugar remain. Add the flour, zest and salt and pulse about 15 times or until the butter is about the size of small peas.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and the cream. Add it to the mixture in the food processor bowl and pulse until the ingredients are just barely incorporated, about 8 times.

3. Dump the mixture into a plastic Ziploc bag and flatten the dough. Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until firm enough to pat into the tartlet pans.

4. For seven 4 3/4-inch x 3/4-inch tartlets, divide the chilled dough into 7 equal portions. Press each piece of dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of each tartlet pan. Chill the tartlet shells in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before baking.

5. Preheat the oven to 425F. Bake for 5 minutes at 425F. If the dough starts to puff in places, prick it lightly with a fork or press down lightly with your fingertips. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and continue baking for another 5-8 minutes or until it turns pale gold, feels set but is still soft to the touch. Cool tartlet shells (still in the pans) on a wire rack.

The Ultimate Pick Me Up

2009-04-07T02:11:00.006-04:00

This month's You Want Pies With That? hosts Jacque and Natashya chose the theme "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous". They asked that we make a pie based on someone famous. It can be inspired by them or something you'd like to serve them if they ever dropped by. Our famous celebrity must be someone who has had more than 15 minutes of fame. So all you reality show hacks can apply elsewhere.

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams

For the uninitiated, the premise behind YWPWT is to make a pie (or anything pie-ish like a tart) inspired by the chosen theme. Then everyone who made a pie can vote for their favorite pie and the baker with the most votes gets to host and choose the theme the following month.

Tiramisu is a dessert typically made from ladyfingers soaked in espresso and Marsala and then layered with a mascarpone cream. Tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian. The dessert will do that to you because of the espresso and booze. I decided to turn a typical tiramisu into a tiramisu tart. I made a tart shell with pate sucree which is like a sugar cookie dough. I then sweetened some mascarpone cheese and blended it with some whipped heavy cream. I also made a genoise (sponge cake) and soaked that in an espresso-Kahlua syrup. Then I layered the cream and soaked genoise in the tart shell (which I first brushed with some melted chocolate) and I topped it off with a dusting of cocoa and some bittersweet chocolate shavings.

Now what does tiramisu have to do with Brad Pitt?

Could it be the sweet, dreamy clouds of mascarpone cream?

Perhaps the smoldering, dark espresso?

Or maybe it’s the simple fact that no matter how bad a day you've had, this sight has to be the ultimate pick me up.

"Brad Pitt Me Up" Tiramisu Tart
(makes one 9-inch tart)

Four components: pate sucree, genoise, espresso syrup, mascarpone cream.

1. Pate Sucree (Sweet Dough Crust)
(makes 14 ounces)

4 ounces (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (200g / 7 ounces) all purpose flour
1/8 tsp salt
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp heavy cream

In a food processor with the metal blade, pulse the butter and sugar about 15 times. Add the flour and salt and pulse again about 15 times or until the butter in no larger than small peas.

In a small bowl, stir together the egg yolk and cream. Add it to the mixture and pulse until just incorporated, about 8 times. The dough will still be crumbly.

Empty onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Using the plastic wrap press the dough together, kneading it a few times until the dough becomes one smooth piece. Flatten into a 6-inch disk.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes, until it's firm enough to pat into the pan or to roll.

You will only need 11 ounces of the dough to line your 9 x 1-inch tart pan. Save the rest of the dough for another use. It's important that your tart pan be at least 1 inch deep. I used a springform pan and made sure that my dough came 1 inch up the sides. Also, be sure to use a pan with a removable bottom - it'll make it easier to get your finished tart out.

Roll your dough in between lightly floured sheets of plastic wrap to about 1/8-inch thick circle. Trim the edges of the rolled dough so that you have 11 1/2 inch circle. Gently transfer dough to your pan and press into pan, making sure that the dough comes up at least 1/8 inch above the rim of the tart pan. If the dough tears, just patch the holes with scraps. Wrap the lined pan well and refrigerate for 6 hours if you have the time. The longer rest period will help decrease the shrinkage during baking. But if you're pressed for time, refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400F. Remove the plastic wrap and line the dough with parchment (pleat the parchment to make it fit nicely). Fill the parchment with pie weights. Bake at 400F for 5 minutes. If the dough puffs in places, prick it lightly with a fork. Lower the heat to 375F and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until set. Lift out the weights with the parchment, prick lightly and continue bake for 10 to 15 minutes. (So total baking time would be 30 to 40 minutes). Let crust cool in the pan.

pie weights

2. Genoise (Sponge Cake)

3 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup cake flour, measure and then sift 3 times

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare one 9-inch round cake pan by buttering just the bottom. Line with a parchment circle and butter the paper.

Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring to a simmer. Combine the eggs and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer and place the bowl over the simmering water. Insert a thermometer. Whisk constantly until the temperature reaches 110F, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove from heat and attach bowl to your stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip on high speed for 5 to 8 minutes or until the eggs are three times their original volume, are thick and pale yellow and form a ribbon that doesn’t dissolve when drizzled from a spatula.

Turn down the mixer to medium speed and whip for 2 more minutes. This helps the form to stabilize. Decrease speed to low, stream in the melted butter and mix for 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer.

Add the flour. Fold in gently with a balloon whisk, maintaining as much of the foam as possible.

Pour the batter into your pan. Tap the pan lightly on your countertop three times to eliminate any air bubbles. Then, using the same jerking wrist motion you would use to toss a Frisbee, swing the pan around on your countertop so that the batter is forced up the sides of the pan. This will prevent a dome from forming in the middle of the cake.

Bake 25 to 27 minutes. Test for doneness by lightly touching the top of the cake with your finger. The indentation should spring right back if it's done. If it's not done, bake another 5 to 10 minutes.

Let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack, gently peel off the parchment. Cool for at least 2 hours. Slice the cake horizontally to get a 1/3-inch thick disk or cake. Make sure the disk will fit inside your baked tart crust. If necessary, trim some of the edges to make it fit. Save the remaining cake for another use.

3. Espresso Syrup

4 tsp instant espresso powder (I use Medaglia d'Oro brand)
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2/3 cup water, divided use
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp coffee liqueur (like Kahlua brand)

In a small saucepan, stir together the espresso powder, sugar, and 1/3 cup water. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the espresso and sugar. Remove from heat and add remaining 1/3 cup water, vanilla and liquor. Can be made 1 day ahead (store in refrigerator).

4. Mascarpone Cream

1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp coffee liqueur (like Kahlua brand)
1 cup heavy cream

Put mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk until smooth.

Working with a stand or hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch (you don’t want to deflate your mixture). Use immediately.

How to assemble your tiramisu tart

Place your disk of genoise on a sheet of plastic wrap and brush with half the espresso syrup.

Make sure your baked tart crust has cooled completely. Leave tart crust in pan. Melt 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate. Warm 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and stir into melted chocolate until well combined. With the chocolate mixture, "paint" the bottom of your crust. This helps to moisture proof the tart crust so that it doesn’t get soggy.

Spoon half of the mascarpone cream into your chocolate painted tart crust, spreading the cream gently and evenly with an offset spatula. Place the genoise disk, syrup side down, on top of the cream. Brush genoise with the remaining syrup. Spread remaining mascarpone cream gently and evenly on top of genoise. Dust with unsweetened cocoa powder. Refrigerate tart at least 3 hours before serving.

Daring Bakers Make Lasagna

2009-03-27T04:14:00.004-04:00

When co-hosts Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande announced that March's Daring Bakers' challenge was lasagna, I thought about passing on this one. I don’t usually skip any of the Daring Baker challenges, but lasagna falls outside of what I normally blog about here on Alpineberry (which is mainly pastries, baking and desserts).

I admit I have blogged about a savory tart before, but that was about making a flaky pie dough. And, yes, I blogged about pizza for the October 2008 DB challenge, but that was more about making the yeasted dough for the crust. To me, making pizza dough seems to be more like making bread. I know that the key part of this month's challenge is to make our own pasta dough, but making spinach lasagna with a béchamel sauce and meat ragu feels more like cooking than baking. I know it's a fine line. Technically something is baked if it went in the oven. I guess you can argue that pizza also straddles the line between cooking and baking. But would a roast chicken be considered baking? I mean, it's baked but is it baking? I don't know. We could argue the semantics for days.

I think our hosts may have chosen lasagna as a way to celebrate the launch of our new website The Daring Kitchen and a new group called the Daring Cooks. Yup, that's right. We're no longer just Daring Bakers anymore. We're cooks now too, hence, the new Daring Kitchen. Even though the lasagna is the Daring Bakers' challenge recipe and not the inaugural Daring Cooks' challenge recipe, I'm not going to argue with the powers that be. After some consideration, I knew I could turn this month's challenge into something that I could post on my blog. I decided to create a sweet "lasagna" dessert.

I wanted to be sure to honor the main part of this month's challenge - making the pasta dough. Instead of spinach pasta, I decided to make a sweet pistachio pasta dough. And instead of béchamel and meat ragu, I decided on a white chocolate mascarpone cream and a diced strawberry "ragu". My idea was to deep fry the sweet pasta dough and then layer it with the cream and strawberries.

I had to make up a recipe for the sweet pistachio pasta dough. Using the spinach pasta dough recipe as the basis, I omitted the spinach, decreased the amount of flour and added some sugar and pistachio paste. I used canned pistachio paste which is a mixture of ground pistachios, oil, and sugar. My dough was difficult to knead by hand and to roll out. It took some time but I managed to get the dough nice and thin. I think I built up some arm muscles working that dough. My resulting pasta dough wasn’t as elastic and stretchy as traditional pasta dough, but, for the most part, it had the texture and feel of fresh pasta. The dough wasn't as green as I wanted and it lost any semblance of green after I deep fried the pasta squares.

The white chocolate mascarpone cream was very straightforward. I just made a white chocolate ganache, mixed in some mascarpone cheese, chilled the mixture and then beat it until fluffy. My ragu of strawberries was even simpler. Just dice some strawberries, toss in a bit of sugar and let them macerate for a few minutes.

The sweet lasagna dessert was pretty delicious. The fried pasta squares had just a hint of pistachio and was just sweet enough. The cream was rich and decadent and the berries were sweet and tart. It was a good combination of flavors and textures. The only thing I didn’t like was my fried pasta squares were a bit crunchy so it was difficult to break through the top layer of the lasagna with a fork. The bottom two layers were easy to break since the cream and berries softened them a little. Overall, I would say it was a great success.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

To see the recipe for Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna, please visit our hosts Enza, Melinda, and Mary.

Sweet Pistachio Pasta Dough
(enough to make about 36 3x3 inch squares of pasta)

220 g all purpose flour
2 large eggs
4 tbsp pistachio paste
2 tbsp sugar
Pinch salt

Mixing the dough:
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Beat together the eggs, pistachio paste, sugar and salt in a bowl. Scrape mixture into the well. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in some flour. Continue kneading about 5-10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

Rolling:
With a rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. Keep rolling until the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. The sheet should be pretty thin (about 2 mm). Cut into squares about 3 by 3 inches. Repeat with remaining dough.

Fry the dough:
Heat a pan half-filled with vegetable oil to 375F. Fry the pasta squares in batches for 20-30 seconds, until golden. Carefully remove and drain on paper towels. Cool before assembly.

White Chocolate Mascarpone Cream
9 oz high quality white chocolate, finely chopped
9 oz heavy cream
12 oz container of mascarpone cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl and set bowl over a pot of simmering water (or use a double boiler). Stir occasionally until chocolate is melted. Whisk in mascarpone and vanilla extract. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour. Using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer, beat until fluffy.

Strawberry "Ragu"
1.5 pounds strawberries
2-4 tbsp sugar

Hull and dice the strawberries. Toss with sugar. The amount of sugar you need will depend on the sweetness of your berries. Let sit for 10 minutes.

Assemble your sweet lasagna:
Top one fried pasta square with 2 tablespoons of white chocolate mascarpone cream and spread cream to cover the square. Take care not to break the pasta square. Top the cream with diced strawberries. Repeat with another layer (fried pasta, cream, strawberries). Set a fried pasta square on top and dust it with powder sugar. Serve.

Eat Good Cake

2009-03-14T03:25:00.004-04:00

I've been so busy lately that I've been neglecting my poor little blog. I already missed last month's "You Want Pies With That?" and sadly I couldn't get my act together to participate in this month's event either. I feel particularly bad about it since today is Pi(e) Day (as in 3.14). So I’d like to apologize to my fellow YWPWT participants. I will definitely get back to making pie next month.

I did manage to throw together this carrot cake though. Spring is right around the corner and spring reminds me of bunnies and bunnies eat carrots. So I guess you can say I've just had carrots on the brain lately and there was a bag of organic carrots in my refrigerator calling out to me. I used a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking From My Home to Yours" and tweaked it a little bit. I scaled her recipe down to make a shorter (two layer) cake instead of a taller (three layer) cake. Also, I replaced some of the granulated white sugar with brown sugar to add a bit of that molasses flavor, decreased the amount of cinnamon and added some orange zest. I really liked Dorie's addition of shredded coconut to the cake batter. I adapted a Martha recipe for the frosting. The addition of orange juice and zest to the frosting really brightens up the flavor of your typical cream cheese frosting and pairs nicely with the cake.

Everyone, including me, really liked the cake. It was moist and flavorful and not at all dense and the frosting was just sweet enough. I was a bit surprised with how many people said to me "I don't normally like carrot cake...but I love this one." My response to them was "I guess you don’t like bad carrot cake."

Carrot Cake
(Makes one 9-inch layer cake)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup canola oil
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated orange zest
2 1/4 cups grated carrots
2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
2/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened or sweetened)
1/3 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 9x2-inch round cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat both sugars and oil together on medium speed until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add vanilla extract and orange zest and beat batter until batter is smooth.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix only until the dry ingredients barely disappear. On low speed, mix in the grated carrots. Then remove the bowl from the mixer and, by hand, gently mix in the nuts, coconut and dried cranberries.

Divide the batter evenly among the two prepared cake pans. Bake at 350F until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean and the cakes have just started to come away from the sides of the pans, about 35-45 minutes.

Allow cakes to cool in the pans about 10-15 minutes, and then run a thin knife or an offset spatula around the edges to loosen the cake form the pan. Invert cakes onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper. Reinvert the cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
(enough to frost a 9-inch two layer cake)

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in the orange zest and orange juice. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is smooth.

Chocolate Valentino

2009-02-28T03:20:00.007-05:00

Our wonderful co-hosts Dharm and Wendy gave us an easy and delicious flourless chocolate cake recipe called "Chocolate Valentino" for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge, but they also asked us to pair it with a homemade ice cream. Even though the challenge recipe was one of the easiest Daring Bakers' recipes we've had to date, I had to turn to Ben and Jerry for help with the second part of the challenge. It's been about 9 or 10 years since I've made my own ice cream and my ice cream machine was not stored in my garage as I originally thought, but actually stored at my parents' house. So my apologizes to Wendy and Dharm for failing the ice cream part of the challenge.

The "Chocolate Valentino" recipe comes from Chef Wan, Malaysia's eccentric rock star chef and food ambassador. It simply contains chocolate, butter and eggs. I don't think a cake can get much easier than that. Because there is nothing to hide behind, the cake will taste only as good as the chocolate used, so I used my favorite brand for baking - Valrhona. I used a 70% cacao chocolate because I didn’t want the cake to be too bittersweet. Also, less cacao means more sugar and more sugar means more moisture added to the cake.

The batter was a breeze to whip up. Like with most flourless chocolate cake batters, the most technical part was making sure the egg whites were not over beatened. They should be beaten to stiff peaks but not dry (they should still be shiny and glossy). At this stage, the egg whites will provide the maximum expansion for a souffle-like result and excellent moisture inside when baked. Over beaten whites will make the cake dry. Of course folding the beaten whites into the chocolate-yolk mixture with minimal deflation is also key. You want to maintain the air you worked so hard to achieve. Deflated egg whites will give you a flat cake.

soufflé-like

I divided the recipe into 3/5 which was the perfect amount to fill three heart shaped ramekins. It was also easy to divide the recipe into 3/5 since the original recipe called for 5 eggs. The cakes puffed up and then settled down a bit while they cooled, leaving a nice crust. I must say that they turned out great. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender and so delicious when paired with the ice cream.

it melts in your mouth

Chocolate Valentino

Ingredients:
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Note: For a real Valentino, bake it in a heart shaped pan or cut it out into a heart shape. You may use any shape pan that gives you an area of 50” - 6x8 or 7x7. An 8” spring form pan works with great results as do smaller pans or ramekins.

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C.
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. (Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.)
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

The fine print:
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

My 3/5 recipe ingredients:
9.6 oz (273 g) chocolate
3 oz (6 tbsp/87.6g) unsalted butter
3 large eggs, separated

Ben and Jerry's pistachio ice cream to the rescue

Not My Grandmother's Chocolate Cake

2009-02-23T02:33:00.005-05:00

This is the very first chocolate layer cake I've ever made. To me chocolate layer cake is a very "American" cake. The kind of cake grandmothers all over the country have made using family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I imagine that every family has their own version. But my family doesn’t since my parents are immigrants and I am a first generation American. My family has amazing recipes for dumplings, soups, Chinese tamales (zong zi) and New Year's cake (nian gao), but we have nothing for chocolate cake.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this chocolate cake from Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa at Home" since I find most American-style frosted layer cakes too sweet. Well, it's mainly the frosting that I find too sweet. But it looked so good when she made it on her television show that I had to try it myself.

The cake is basically a one bowl chocolate cake. Put all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and mix in all the wet ingredients. Just like Ina says on her show "How easy is that?". The cake is dark and moist with the coffee adding a subtle flavor that really enhances the chocolate. The frosting is a very basic butter frosting. Cream some softened butter in a bowl, add a little bit of powdered sugar, and then add some melted chocolate. I like to use a bittersweet chocolate (like 70-85% cacao) so that the frosting isn’t overly sweet. The frosting is smooth and satiny. It's easy to spread on the cake layers without making a gloppy mess.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the cake and the frosting. In fact, I liked this cake so much that I've made it three times this month - twice as a layer cake and once as cupcakes. This tasted exactly like what I imagine an American chocolate cake should taste like. A co-worker told me that my cake looked so perfect that it couldn't be real. Not perfect as in precise or elegant, but perfect as in exactly how an old fashioned chocolate cake is supposed to look. Now that's the biggest compliment this first generation girl could hope to receive.

Chocolate Cake
(Adapted from Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa at Home")

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee (or hot water)
Chocolate Frosting (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients. In another bowl, gently whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.

With the mixer still on low speed, add the coffee and stir just to combine. (I like to cover the stand mixer with a large dish towel since the coffee might splash.) Remove bowl from mixer. Scrape the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure everything is well combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place one layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Chocolate Frosting

6 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate (I like using 70-85% cacao)
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon instant coffee or espresso powder
2 teaspoons hot water

Chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir chocolate until just melted. Set chocolate aside to cool to room temperature but still melted.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and continue beating for 1 more minute. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the confectioners' sugar. Increase speed to medium and beat until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Dissolve the coffee/espresso powder in the hot water. With the mixer on low speed, add the melted chocolate and dissolved coffee/espresso to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip. Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

(Note: Ina's recipe uses 1 raw egg yolk in the frosting, but I decided to leave it out of my frosting.)

Velvet Kisses

2009-02-09T02:34:00.007-05:00

Valentine's Day and chocolate seem to go hand in hand. But during the past few years I associated Valentine's Day with red velvet cake too. It must have something to do with the red. So when I saw Angela combine the two into a "kiss" I knew exactly what I would be making this weekend. It's such a cute idea to make red velvet cake kisses covered with chocolate. (For those who don't know, they are inspired by Hershey's Kisses candy.)

I started with a red velvet cake recipe (which I adapted from Martha Stewart's site). I prefer my cake without a lot of food coloring so I guess it's more like mahogany velvet than red velvet. When the cake was cool, I broke the cake into crumbs. Then I bound the crumbs with a cream cheese frosting and formed the "kisses". After letting them chill in the refrigerator, I glazed them with a chocolate ganache.

I have to be honest and tell you that I felt like I had made a big mistake by making these kisses. It felt wrong to break up the cake into crumbs. It felt just as wrong to mush up the cake crumbs with frosting. And it was definitely wrong to handle any food so much. When I tasted the mixture before forming the kisses, I was pretty disappointed with the texture and taste. But I couldn't do anything about it so I forged ahead and continued as planned. I shaped the crumb mixture into kisses and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day I made the glaze and proceeded to coat my kisses. When the glaze had set, I tried one and I no longer felt that it was all a big mistake. The cake was super moist, but not mushy, and they were dense without any toughness. I've always felt that red velvet cake didn’t have a dominant flavor (very light cocoa would be the best way to describe the flavor). I feared that the chocolate glaze would completely overshadow the delicate cocoa-ness of the cake, but the chocolate glaze really complemented the cake and actually brought out the cocoa in the cake. Overall I was pretty happy that it worked out so well.

Red Velvet Cake

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (natural not Dutch processed)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup flavorless oil (like canola or grapeseed)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 to 4 tsp red food coloring (optional)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Generously butter one 9-by-2-inch round cake pan. Sprinkle with flour, and tap out the excess. Set your pan aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside your dry ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the sugar and oil on medium speed until well combined. Add egg and beat well. Add vanilla extract and food coloring (if using), and beat until well combined.

Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add vinegar to batter, and beat for 10 seconds.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Remove cake from the pan, and return to the rack to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp.
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

6 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate*, finely chopped
*(54 - 72% cacao works well)
1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) heavy cream

Place chopped chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl. Heat cream over medium heat until it comes to a gentle boil. Pour cream over chocolate and let it sit for 1 minute. Using a spoon or rubber spatula, gently stir the mixture until well combined.

How to assemble your "kisses"

Crumble the cooled cake either by hand or using a food processor. Place the cake crumbs in a large bowl. Add the cream cheese frosting and stir until well to combine the cake crumbs and frosting. The crumbs should hold its shape when gently squeezed together.

Shape your cake kisses by hand. I made my kisses approximately 2 inches high with a 1.5 inch diameter base. I was able to get 28 kisses, but the yield will vary depending on your size. Place the kisses on a sheet pan and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and as long as overnight. This chilling period will help the kisses hold its shape and allow the frosting to "soak" into the crumbs.

While the kisses are chilling, make your glaze. Place your chilled kisses on a wire rack set over a rimmed sheet pan (to catch any excess glaze). Spoon some glaze over each kiss to cover completely. Allow glaze to set, about 15 minutes.

Tuiles

2009-01-29T02:58:00.003-05:00

For January's Daring Bakers' challenge, hostesses Karen (aka Baking Soda) of Bake My Day! and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte inspired us to do something light. And what could be lighter than tuiles? Tuiles are wafer thin butter cookies. Our only requirements for this challenge were to make at least one of the tuile recipes they provided us (vanilla, chocolate, nougatine, or savory), shape it any way we like and pair our tuiles with something light and refreshing.

Tuiles are traditionally molded over a rolling pin while still hot from the oven to create an arched shape that resembles curved French roof tiles hence the name "tuile". The key to making tuiles is spreading the batter just right. It shouldn't be too thick or too thin. Too thick and they will bake up chewy. Delicious but chewy. Too thin and they will be too brittle to shape or not sturdy enough to be used as a vessel (like a bowl or cone/cornet). But I would err on the side of too thin because I prefer a light, almost see through quality, especially if I'm shaping the tuiles the traditional way.

To create 4-inch round tuiles, I cut a paper plate to make a template. Getting the thickness correct took some trial and error. My first 2 batches were too thick and my next two batches were too thin. Even though I eventually got the desired thickness, I still couldn't shape my tuiles into small bowls like I wanted. So I ended up with shallow ruffled wafers. They were still quite pretty but not what I originally planned.

I wanted to pair my tuiles with a fruit sorbet but I didn't have time to make my own sorbet. Instead, I topped my tuiles with a few frozen raspberries and I dusted them with just a bit of powdered sugar. When the raspberries thaw just a little bit, they taste just like sorbet. It was a perfect accompaniment to the tuiles.

Tuiles
(Recipe from “The Chocolate Book” by Angélique Schmeinck)

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time: batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes
Baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / 1/4 cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.1 ounces confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of pure vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice (optional)
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

The fine print:
This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Cookies and Cream

2009-01-19T16:34:00.002-05:00

I had some Oreo cookies leftover from making my chocolate espresso praline tart so I decided to use them up by making a cookies and cream cupcake. I saw a lot of recipes on the internet using cake mix to make the cupcakes but I don’t like the taste of cakes made with cake mix.

So I used a simple vanilla cupcake recipe and added some crushed Oreo cookies to the batter. The cupcakes turned out nice and moist and I liked the way the interior looked with the flecks of cookie crumbs. But overall I found that the cookies crumbs didn't really add much in terms of flavor or texture. Even though I was disappointed with the results, everyone still enjoyed the cupcakes. But who doesn't love a cute cupcake, especially when you don’t have to pay $3 for one?

Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
(24 cupcakes)

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks/16 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (8 fl oz) whole milk, at room temp
1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed Oreo cookies

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 24 standard sized (3.5-4 oz) cupcake wells with paper liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.

On low speed, add the flour mixture in two parts, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Fold in the crushed Oreo cookies.

Divide the batter evenly among the 24 cupcake wells. Bake at 350F until cupcakes are golden and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18 to 20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes then gently remove from pan to cool on a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting
(enough to lightly frost 24 cupcakes)

4 ounces (1 stick / 8tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temp
2 to 2.5 cups confectioners' sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the butter with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds. Sift in 2 cups confectioners' sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until sugar is incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Adjust the frosting consistency and sweetness with the remaining 1 tablespoon milk and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Frost your cupcakes.

It's The Glaze, Baby

2009-01-12T01:17:00.004-05:00

Almond and lemon are two great flavors that come together in this amazing cake. I first made this flavorful almond lemon tea cake over 15 years ago and it's become one of my most cherished recipes. The recipe is from Flo Braker's "The Simple Art of Perfect Baking". So imagine my surprise when I found a similar cake being sold at Tartine Bakery (for $3/slice). I ran home and I checked my Tartine Bakery cookbook and, sure enough, the recipe they use is Flo's.

The almond paste makes this cake super moist and rich. If you love almond paste, you will adore this cake. And I really love anything made with almond paste. But the thing that secured this cake a permanent place in my heart is the oh-so-yummy lemon glaze. The glaze shell not only adds a bright flavor to the almond rich cake, but it also helps to seal in the moisture. The glaze is brushed onto the still warm cake, and dries to a lovely, sparkly finish. When you take a bite of this cake, the glaze gives way, almost cracking in your mouth, and releasing a wonderful burst of citrus. If it was socially acceptable, I would slice off all the glazed edges of the loaf to keep for myself, leaving the center almond loaf behind. I could nibble on the edges all day long. I do live in polite society so I share (reluctantly) with others. But I always keep the first slice (the edge slice) for myself.

Almond Lemon Tea Cake
aka Crystal Almond Pound Cake
(adapted from Flo Braker's "The Art of Simple Baking")
(makes one 9x5-inch loaf)

Cake ingredients:
3/4 cup sifted pastry or cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 ounces (3/4 cup) almond paste, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon finely grated meyer lemon zest

Glaze ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven. Preheat to 350°F. Lightly butter and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan; tap out the excess flour.

To make the cake...

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt twice. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla. Whisk to just combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the almond paste on low speed until pea-size crumbs form, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Slowly add the granulated sugar in a steady stream and beat until incorporated. This should take about 2 to 3 minutes. If you add the sugar too quickly, the almond paste won't break up as well.

almond paste and sugar

On low speed, beat in the butter, tablespoon by tablespoon. This should take about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of bowl.

Increase speed to medium and cream the mixture until lighter in color and fluffy in appearance, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Still on medium speed, slowly pour in the eggs, cautiously at first, tablespoon by tablespoon. After each bit of the eggs have been absorbed, add more. If at any time the mixture appears water or shiny, stop the flow of eggs and increase the speed until a smooth appearance returns. Then decrease the speed to medium and resume adding the eggs.

Continue to cream, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl at least once, until the mixture appears fluffy, velvety and white, and has increased in volume. Including the time to add the eggs, this should take about 2 to 3 minutes.

Fold in the meyer lemon zest. Then fold in the flour mixture.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface gently with an offset spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top springs bake when lightly touched, about 45 to 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes.

Make the glaze while the cake is cooling in the pan...

In a bowl, stir together the sugar and meyer lemon juice until smooth.

Set the wire rack over a sheet of parchment paper or foil to catch any drips of glaze. Invert the loaf pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Using a pastry brush, generously brush the entire warm cake with the glaze. Let the cake cool completely on the rack, at least 3 hours, or until the glaze has set. The cake is fragile when warm so don’t try to move it.

When the cake is cool, gently transfer it to a serving platter by crisscrossing 2 large icing spatulas or the base of a 2 part tart pan to lift the loaf. Serve at room temperature.

glaze…mmm, mmm, good

I Resolve to Eat More Pie

2009-01-04T20:30:00.004-05:00

I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year. I hope the holidays were good to you and your family. Like many people do each year, I made some New Year's resolutions. In addition to the usual stuff like exercise more, eat healthier, spend less, save more, I have a couple resolutions that are not so usual.

Stop buying shoes. I just counted and I have 34 pairs of shoes. Thirty four may not seem like a whole lot, but I guess it is if you consider the fact that I don’t have to dress up for work. I can wear pretty much whatever I like to the office, so it's not like I have the excuse of needing work shoes vs. non-work shoes (casual, dress, sports). I've worn each pair at least once this past year so it's not like they are just taking up space in my closet. But I really only wear 8 or 9 pairs most of the time. I blame all those shoe websites that offer free shipping and free returns. Those sites just make it soooo easy to shop from home.

Learn to make macarons. I never hesitate to buy one (or two) of each flavor from Miette whenever I'm at the Ferry Building. It can really add up considering they cost $1.50/each. Although having so many trial batches of macarons around the kitchen won't help me stick to the "eat healthier" resolution, it will help with the "spend less".

Now this pie might not be the best way to kick off the new year, but that's exactly the point. Co-hosts Nic of Bakeologie and Carrie of Cooking With Carrie chose "Resolution Breaker Pie" as the theme for this month's "You Want Pies With That?" event. They wanted us to create a pie or tart so irresistible that we just can't help but to throw our resolutions out the window and just indulge.

I decided that my tart must have chocolate and coffee. To make it even more decadent, I used Oreo sandwich cookies for my crust. Using the Oreo cream filling along with some butter helps to hold the cookie crumbs together.

The next layer is dark chocolate ganache. Nothing but chocolate and heavy cream. Oh yeah!

I topped the ganache with a creamy espresso mascarpone mousse. Mascarpone is a rich cow's milk cheese that has about 60-75% fat. It's sometimes referred to as Italian cream cheese. Mascarpone has a mild flavor that is less tangy than Philly cream cheese. It's more like heavy cream than cream cheese. The espresso mousse reminds me of a less intense espresso ice cream.

To make my tart even more tempting, I topped the espresso mascarpone mousse with ground pecan pralines. The praline added a nice crunchy contrast to the smooth and creamy mousse. And I love the combination of pralines with espresso.

I finished the tart with a drizzle of melted dark chocolate. The tart was really delicious and even better than I imagined it would be. Now that's what I call a resolution breaker.

Chocolate Espresso Praline Tart
(makes one 10-inch tart)

Crumb Crust

28 Oreo brand sandwich cookies
4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1. Process cookies in food processor until fine crumbs form.
2. Add melted butter and pulse until just moistened.
3. Press crumbs evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. (My tart pan has a 10-inch diameter and the sides are 1-inch high.)

Chocolate Ganache

5 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped (I used a 71% chocolate)
4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) heavy cream

1. Place chopped chocolate in a heat proof bowl.
2. Heat cream over medium heat until it just comes to a boil.
3. Pour hot cream over chocolate and let sit for 1 minute.
4. Stir gently until combined.
5. Pour ganache over crumb crust.
6. Chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Espresso Mascarpone Mousse

8 ounces mascarpone, softened at room temperature
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp finely ground espresso beans
1 tsp instant espresso powder (dissolved in 2-3 tsp heavy cream)
1 tsp powdered unflavored gelatin
1 tbsp water
4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) heavy cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl, beat mascarpone, sugar, ground espresso beans, espresso powder / heavy cream mixture until creamy, about 10 seconds.
2. In a small heat proof bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the water.
3. Let sit for 5 minutes.
4. Set gelatin in a pan of simmering water and stir occasionally until dissolved. (Keep gelatin warm while you beat the cream.)
5. Beat the heavy cream until it begins to form soft peaks.
6. Add the vanilla and warm gelatin. (It's important that the gelatin is warm or it will clump when added to the cream.)
7. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.
8. Fold whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture.
9. Spread mousse over the chilled ganache / crust.
10. Chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Pecan Praline

1/2 cup store bought or homemade pecan pralines (or candied pecans)

1. Grind pralines in a food processor until you have fine crumbs. Some larger pieces are okay.
2. Sprinkle over chilled mousse.

Decorate

Drizzle with melted chocolate and serve. Store tart in refrigerator for up to 3 days.