Brozy's Baking

daring bakers: donuts

2010-10-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

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

Because I think that raised donuts are really only good straight from the fryer, I opted to make the old-fashioned buttermilk cake donuts, so that I could enjoy some later, as well.

I enjoyed this challenge. It was simple and straightforward but a lot of fun. I liked the recipe well enough, but I probably won't use it again. I prefer my donuts a little sweeter, a little more tender and crumbly. (Because the recipe includes sour cream, I mistakenly expected the donuts to be more like typical sour cream donuts than cake donuts. Oops.) I loved how perfectly crisp the outsides of the donuts were, even after cooling off. Thanks for a great challenge, Lori. I'll definitely be making donuts again.

old-fashioned buttermilk cake donuts

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: About 15 doughnuts & 15 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
.25 C sour cream
3.25 C flour, plus more for dusting surface
.75 C sugar
.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher (flaked) salt (or .5 tsp table salt)
1.5 tsp nutmeg
1.125 tsp active dry yeast
.75 C + 2 TB buttermilk
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 TB vanilla

sugar for dusting
neutral-flavored oil for cooking

Directions:

1. In a small stainless-steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, heat the sour cream until just warm.

2. Heat the oil to 375°F.

3. Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.

4. Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.

5. Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.

6. Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side.

7. Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain. Roll donuts in sugar and serve.

daring bakers: sugar cookies

2010-09-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

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

I was relieved to see that this month's challenge wouldn't be an all-day project. Although I love difficult challenges where I learn new techniques, we've had house guests and more house guests and parties and family things and major cleaning projects and more of all of those coming soon. So making cookies instead of some complicated sixteen-component French thing was a nice break.

We were supposed to decorate the cookies, but I hate royal icing, and I added too much yellow to the glaze I made, so it was a weird egg-yolk color. So I skipped the decorating. I didn't love the flavor of the cookies, but they did hold their shape amazingly well. If I ever need great-looking sugar cookies, I'll use this recipe and bump up the vanilla.

sugar cookies
7 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
14 oz flour, sifted
7 oz caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until just becoming creamy. (Don't overmix or you'll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.)

Beat in the egg until well combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a nonsticky dough forms.

Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of .2 inch.

Refrigerate for at least 30 min.

Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

Cut out shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30 min. to an hour.

Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake cookies until golden around the edges, 8-15 min., depending on the size of the cookies.

Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorated as desired.

daring bakers: swiss roll ice cream cake

2010-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

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

I was, once again, not looking forward to the month's challenge. What can I say? Ice cream cake is not my favorite, and the prospect of swiss rolls on ice cream cake did not improve things. But that's what's great about the Daring Bakers--it gets me to try things I would never do on my own. For this challenge, Sunita allowed us to choose our own flavors and our own recipes for the components, so long as we made them all from scratch. I asked B what flavors he'd like in the cake and he requested blackberry and stracciatella. Again, I wasn't feeling inspired. I have never cared for blackberries (inferior raspberries, imo) and stracciatella is just gross. Little chocolate bits in ice cream are always waxy and disappointing.

I'm happy to report that all my preconceptions about this challenge were wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. First I made the blackberry ice cream, using David Lebovitz's raspberry ice cream recipe. It was fantastic. So, so good. The blackberries give the ice cream this wonderful tang. Then I made the stracciatella, again using David's recipe. The vanilla base was out of this world and when I added the chocolate, it only got better. (These ice creams were so good they deserve their own posts, so I'm going to wait to give them the attention their merit.)

For the swiss rolls, I used Martha Stewart's mocha roulade and filled it with a blackberry cream. While both are good on their own, they weren't the most inspired combination--the roulade had a much stronger coffee flavor than I had expected and the blackberries didn't complement it. I was in a hurry to get it put together, so I didn't let the roulade chill and it got a little smudgy when I lined the bowl with it. I kind of liked the effect, though.

Despite the initial roulade/cream mismatch, when the cake was put together, all the flavors blended nicely. A little extra hot fudge on top, and it was a dessert that I can't get enough of. Kudos to Sunita on her choice and to B on his inspired choice of flavors.

blackberry cream
1 C heavy whipping cream
3 TB strained blackberry puree
.75-1 C sugar

Whip cream to soft peaks. Mix in sugar and puree and whip to firm peaks.

mocha roulade (Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon hot water
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line a 17 x 12" rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. Dust a large kitchen towel with cocoa; set aside.

3. Sift together cocoa and flour. In another bowl, stir together the espresso powder and hot water until dissolved; set aside.

4. Beat the egg yolks on high speed until thick and pale (using a mixer); it should hold a ribbon-like trail on the surface when the whisk is raised, about 5 min. Set aside.

5. On another bowl, whip the egg hites on low speed until foamy. Raise speed to medium-high, and add the sugar in a slow, steady stream, beating until stiff peaks form.

6. Fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the egg-yolk mixture to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined. Fold in the espresso mixture, then gradually fold in the cocoa mixture until just combined. Do not overmix.

7. Pour the batter onto prepared sheet; using an offset spatula, spread evenly and smooth the top. Bake rotating pan halfway through, until the cake springs back when lightly touched, 10-12 min.

8. Immediately invert the cake onto prepared towel; carefully lift off pan and peel off parchment paper. Starting on the long side, roll towel and cake into a log, incorporating towel as you go. Transfer the cake, seam side don to a wire rack to cool completely.

9. Unroll the cake, leaving it on the kitchen towel. Using an offset spatula, spread mocha mousse evenly over the cake. Gently roll the cake again into a log (do not incorporate the towel).

10. Wrap with the towel; refrigerate on a baking sheet until filling is well chilled; for at least 2 hours.

hot fudge sauce (Cook's Illustrated's New Best Recipe)
10 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cocoa
1/3 sugar
1/3 cream
1/3 corn syrup
1/3 water
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 TB unsalted butter

1. Melt the chocolate. Mix in the cocoa and set aside.
2. Place the sugar, cream, corn syrup, water, and salt in a nonreactive pan. Heat on low without stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Turn the heat up to medium high. Simmer for four minutes.
3. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and butter.
4. Cool to minutes. Whisk in chocolate mixture.

assembly:
Slice the roulade into swiss rolls and line a bowl with the rolls. Soften the first flavor of ice cream and place in the bowl. Freeze. Pour 1 C of the fudge onto the ice cream and freeze. Soften the second flavor of ice cream, place in the bowl and refreeze.

daring bakers: chocolate pavlovas

2010-06-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

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

I had a lot of fun with this month's challenge, once I had time to make it. (We have had in-laws visiting, friends visiting, a family reunion, and so on, some of which we had planned on and some we hadn't. Between one thing and another, I didn't get a chance to start baking until after the posting date.) All of the components except the mascarpone were easy to make. I love the mascarpone mousse and the creme anglaise.

I've had trouble with making mascarpone before, and this time was no exception. I cooked it about three times as long as I was supposed to and still couldn't get it up to the required temperature, so I cheated and started throwing portions of it in the microwave to bring up the overall temperature. Finally, I got it to 190. I think I overcooked it, though. In the past, I haven't been able to get it to set up. This time it set up, but only made 1 cup of very thick mascarpone. So I had to make a second batch. That time, I skipped the double boiler (I suspect my stove just sucks) and cooked it on low and was able to complete the recipe in 15-20 minutes. Although it wasn't quite as thick as I'd expected. I'll keep working on it.

Anyway, because the first batch of mascarpone was so thick, I only used 1 C of mascarpone in my mascarpone mousse and thinned it down with an extra 1/2 C or so of whipping cream. Everything else was simple to make and assemble. For my photo, I wanted a dessert with a bit of height, so I piped on several layers of mousse. However, I found that I preferred the flavor of the dessert with just one generous layer of mousse and tons of mascarpone cream to balance things out. I enjoyed the dessert and am filing it away for when I need a light (as in not filling, not as in low-calorie), fancy dessert with plenty of flavor. I don't know whether I'll make it again for just for myself because I like my desserts to have a little more density so that I don't feel like I can eat five of them. (Good thing the batch only made four.) I will definitely be making the mousse and the anglaise again, though. They were both spectacular. The anglaise is the best I've tested yet. Frankly, it seems like a bit of a waste to hide most of its flavor by serving it with the mousse. Thanks to Dawn for the recipes. A great choice.

chocolate pavlovas and chocolate mascarpone mousse with mascarpone cream

While the pavlovas are baking, the crème anglaise should be made which will take about 15 minutes. While it is cooling, the chocolate mascarpone mousse can be made, which will take about 15 minutes. There will be a bit of a wait time for the mascarpone cream because of the cooling time for the Crème Anglaise. If you make the Crème Anglaise the day before, the dessert should take about 2 hours, including cooking time for the pavlovas.

Equipment required:
baking sheet with parchment or silpat
several bowls
piping bag with pastry tip
hand or stand mixer

chocolate meringue (for the chocolate pavlova):
3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) Dutch processed cocoa powder

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.

2. Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)

3. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)

4. Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.

5. Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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

1. Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.

2. Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (Do not overbeat as the mascarpone will break.)

3. Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.

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

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

crème anglaise:
1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.

2. Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat. .

3. Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not overcook.

4. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

mascarpone cheese (Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese, from Baking Obsession)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients: 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.
Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

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

deep, dark chocolate cookies

2010-06-23T19:17:00.000-07:00

Dorie Greenspan's Baking is one of the staples in my cooking library. I love this book, so much that I will try even the recipes that don't really appeal to me. I've had the book for several years, and at no point tried the Chocolate Chunkers. Don't get me wrong--I love almost anything chocolate. But I'm not much for dried fruit in my cookies or my chocolate, my husband hates nuts in dessert, and "chunkers" is a word that turns me off. So I didn't get around to trying the recipe until I needed to make chocolate-chocolate chip cookies for a friend. I thumbed through several baking books. Some of the recipes I found sounded all right, and some sounded a little iffy. But on closer reading, Dorie's cookies, with two kinds of chocolate melted into the batter and two more mixed in in chunks, sounded pretty amazing, name notwithstanding.

The first time I made these, I omitted the dried fruit and nuts and used bittersweet and milk chocolate for my mix-ins. Although I loved the batter, I didn't like the cookies until the next day, when they were thoroughly cool and so less sweet. This time, I made them sans fruit and nuts and with only bittersweet mixed in, in hopes that avoiding milk chocolate would make them enjoyable even before they cool. Because who wants to wait to enjoy double-chocolate cookies? Not me.

The result was indeed a cookie that I didn't have to wait a day to enjoy, though I expect I will again like these cookies still more after they've cooled completely. I love the intensity of these, although I'm considering the possibility that they would be best of all as Dorie intended them, with fruit and nuts to cut the richness.

deep, dark chocolate cookies (adapted from Baking, by Dorie Greenspan)

1/3 C flour
1/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
.25 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
6 oz bittersweet
1 oz unsweetened
3 oz butter
2 eggs
2/3 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz bittersweet, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

Place 6 oz bittersweet, 1 oz unsweetened, and butter in microwaveable bowl and microwave in twenty-second intervals, stirring between intervals, until melted. (Be careful not to overcook.)

Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat on medium speed until foamy and pale. On low speed, mix in vanilla. Scrape down bowl. On low speed, mix in chocolate mixture until just combined. Still on low speed, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in 12 oz bittersweet chocolate.

Spoon large tablespoons full of batter onto baking sheets, about an inch apart. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies from baking sheet and cool on cookie racks.

Martha Stewart's rhubarb meringue pie

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

I was thumbing through Martha Stewart Living at B's aunt's house last week and admiring the pictures, so B's aunt kindly lent me several back issues. When I flipped through the May issue, I saw all the rhubarb and knew this was where I had to start. B requested the rhubarb meringue pie. It was easy but time-consuming to make, just because the rhubarb pulp had to be cleaned out of the juicer so frequently. (Cleaning up, on the other hand, was ridiculously difficult and time-consuming. Getting all the bits of rhubarb pulp out of the tiny crannies of the juicer I'd borrowed required a bevy of toothpicks and an electric toothbrush [with a clean head, of course].)

The end result was nice but not amazing. Despite my following the directions exactly, the pie filling didn't firm up quite enough. Every time I cut a slice, the filling gooshed all over. And the meringue was not the billowy-yet-firm masterpiece I'd imagined from the photo. It didn't quite set properly, and there wasn't enough of it. And the overall flavor, though nice, was a bit one-dimensional. However, I really loved the crust, which I wasn't expecting after tasting the dough before it baked. The crust was just perfect. The pie was nice enough that I'd like to try it again with a few tweaks. When I make it again, I'll make more meringue, whipped to firm rather than medium peaks. I'll add just a bit of gelatin to the filling to firm it up. And if the extra meringue doesn't balance out the sour filling, I may resort serving it with strawberries.

rhubarb meringue pie (from Martha Stewart Living, May 2010, p 34)
1 disk pate sucree
all-purpose flour, for surface
2 pounds rhubarb, trimmed and cut crosswise into 3-inch pieces
1.75 C sugar
coarse salt
3 large egg yolks plus 4 large egg whites
2 TB unsalted butter

1. Preheat aoven to 375. Roll out pate sucree to 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured surface. fit dough into a 9" pie dish; trim to 1", fold under, and crimp edges. Refrigerate for 30 min. Prick inside of pie shell all over with a fork; line with parchment. fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges are golden and set, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove weights and parchment. Bake until bottom is dry and light gold, 5-10 min. more. Let cool.

2. Juice rhubarb. (You'll need a juicer to make this filling. Rhubarb is fibrous, so cut it into 3" pieces before juicing. This will help keep the fibers from clogging the appliance. Clean your machine if it gets too full or sounds labored.) You'll need 2.25 C juice; add water if needed. Whisk together 1 C sugar, the cornstarch, and .25 tsp salt. Whisk in juice; bring to a boil in a medium saucepan, whisking. Cook for 1 min.

3. Place yolks ina bowl; gradually hisk in half of hot juice mixture. Return to pan. cook over medium heat, whisking, until thick, about 1 min. Whisk in butter. Strain through a fine sieve into pie shell. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or overnight.

4. Preheat abroiler with rack about 8" from heat source. Heat whites and remaining .75 C sugar in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering waater, whisking, until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot (160 F), about 2 min. Transfer to the bowl of a mixer. Whisk on high speed until medium peaks form. Dollop meringue onto pie. Broil until well browned, 30-40 seconds.

pate sucree
2 large egg yolks
.25 C aice water
2.5 C all-purpose flour
3 TB sugar
salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Lightly beat together yolks and water until combined.

2. Pulse flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. Drizzle yolk mixture over dough mixture. Pulse until mixture just begins to hold together (no longer than 30 seconds).

3. Divide dough in half, and wrap in plastic wrap. Shape dough into disks. Refrigerate until firm, 30 minutes or overnight.

le succes

2010-06-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

This dessert is the reason I bought Rose's Heavenly Cakes. When I thumbed through a copy at the bookstore, none of the other recipes really called to me (although that has certainly changed as I've looked through the book more). But le succes looked heavenly with its thick layers of ganache. And it's absolutely as good as it looks. Layers of ganache sandwiched between almond meringue disks, it's basically a giant truffle. And the ganache is made with creme fraiche, which gives it a lovely, subtle tang. It's quick and easy to make, although you do need to wait a day to eat it. I'll definitely make it again, and I can't wait to make the ganache by itself for truffles.

le succes (from Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
Prepare and compose a day in advance.

succes
6.3 oz almond flour
6.3 oz superfine sugar
7.5 oz (weight) egg whites (about 7) at room temp.
1 tsp cream of tartar

Line two 17-inch baking sheets with parchment and coat lightly with cooking spray. Mark three 8-inch circles on the parchment paper.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Beat egg whites on medium until foamy. With mixer off, add cream of tartar. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form when the beater is raised. Gradually beat in 2.5 TB of sugar until stiff peaks form when beater is raised slowly. (If whites are not very stiff, the succes will spread slightly during baking.)

Fill a pastry bag (with 1/2-inch plain tip) with meringue and pipe the batter onto the baking sheets, forming three 8-inch circles, starting at the perimeter and spiraling inward toward the center. Because the disks will puff and expand up to 1/2 nnch in diameter when baking, do not pipe them too close to the edge of the pan. Use an offset spatula to fill in any gaps with leftover batter and smooth the surface.

Bake first the two circles then the remaining circle, baking each pan for 15-20 minutes, or until the disks just begin to brown. Rotate the pan front to back n the oven halfway through.

Place on baking sheet on wire rack to cool. Cool completely, then loosen carefully with long offset spatula, including at the centers.

tea ganache
1 lb dark chocolate, chopped
13.6 oz creme fraiche
2.7 oz heavy cream
4 tsp instant powdered lemon tea

Whisk together cream and creme fraiche and scald it. Pour it over the chocolate and mix until smooth. Mix in the tea. Let it sit for an hour, then cover with plastic and let it sit until it reaches frosting consistency.

Spread a little ganache on the serving plate to anchor the succes. Place a disk on the ganache and cover with an even layer of ganache. Place the second disk on top. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. Spread on another layer of ganache and place the third disk on top. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate another hour. Spread a thin layer of ganache around the sides, then cover the top. Bring to room temperature before serving.

daring bakers: piece montée (croquembouche)

2010-05-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

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

This was my favorite DB challenge so far. I've been meaning to make cream puffs for quite a while now, but I've been too intimidated. And croquembouches sounded even more fun, and even more intimidating, than regular cream puffs. Thanks to Cat, I've conquered my fear of choux pastry. The recipes she provided were easy to follow and the results were delicious. For eating out of hand, I prefer the vanilla pastry cream. But for the actual cream puffs, the chocolate pastry cream won, no contest. Everyone who tried them preferred it. Unfortunately, I was the only one who liked the croquembouche. Or perhaps not so unfortunate, as it left more for me. I love the feel of the caramel coating cracking in my teeth.

The pastry cream and the choux pastry were simple to make, but I'll need more practice to get my pastries a consistent size and shape. And to be able to assemble a piece montée without burning my fingers or having the finished dessert come out lopsided.

Anyway, we all loved these. I ended up making a whole batch of both the chocolate and vanilla creams and two batches of the puffs. One just wasn't enough. And my son particularly loved the cream puffs. They were just the right size for his hands. I don't have any of Nick Malgieri's cookbooks yet, but that's going to have to change after trying these. Thanks to Cat for such a great pick.

cream puffs

vanilla crème patissiere (half batch)
1 C whole milk
2 TB cornstarch
6 TB sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 TB unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla

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

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

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

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

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

chocolate pastry cream (half batch)
Bring ¼ cup milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

pate a choux (yield: about 28)
¾ cup water
6 TB unsalted butter
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 C all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

egg wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

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

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

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

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip. Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high and about 1 inch wide.

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

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

Bake the choux at 425 F until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350 F and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. They can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

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

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

chocolate glaze
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

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

hard caramel glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

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

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

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

paneer with spinach and simple pilaf

2010-05-26T18:47:00.001-07:00

B and I love Indian food. Well, we love almost any kind of food. But Indian is one of our absolute favorites. I've tried to cook Indian food in the past, but the results have been nothing like the wonderful things we eat when we go out. Toasting and grinding spices is a lot of work for a meal that tastes terrible. So I haven't tried to make Indian for a few years. But I found Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy on sale at the bookstore a while ago and when I read her description of her food as not being for purists, I thought this was something I could handle.

The first thing I made was saag paneer, which she calls "paneer with spinach." I served it with her simple pilaf. The saag paneer is my new favorite. I like hers better than any of the ones at the local restaurants--it has a lovely, bright flavor. And true to her title, it was very easy to make.

The recipe makes a rather small batch, so I always at least double it. I've since had a bit of trouble making the paneer successfully, but it has worked when I've used yogurt with a bit of lemon juice, so that's how I'll make it from here on. I used ghee instead of oil to cook in, and I throw a pinch of asafoetida in the cooking oil (on the recommendation of the former chef who owns the Indian spice shop I go to). There's really nothing more to say about this--a little blanching, a little chopping, a little frying, and you've got dinner. Couldn't be easier.

paneer with spinach and simple pilaf (from Indian Food Made Easy, by Anjum Anand)

paneer
4 C whole milk
7/8-1 C fresh yogurt or 2 TB lemon juice

Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy-based saucepan. once the milk starts to biol and rise up, stir in 7/8 C of the yogurt or all the lemon juice. Keeping the milk on heat, stir gently to help the milk curdle--this should take only a minute or so. If it does not separate, add the rest of the yogurt (if using) and keep stirring. The curds will coagulate and separate from the watery whey. Remove from the heat.

Line a large strainer with muslin or cheesecloth, and palce it over a large bowl or saucepan. Pour the cheese into the lined strainer and run some cold water through it. Wrap the cheese in the cloth, and hang it from the faucet over the sink to allow the excess water to drain for 10 minutes. Then, keeping it fairly tightly wrapped, place on your work surface with a heavy weight on top (I refill the same saucepan with the whey or water and palce it on top) for 30-40 minutes or until it is flattened into a firm block. Then cut into cubes or crumble, depending on how you want to use it.

Store any unused pieces of paneer in the refrigerator in water in a covered container. You can alos freeze it in an airtight container. Defrost thoroughly before use.

paneer with spinach
7 C baby spinach leaves, washed
3 TB veg. oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
2" fresh ginger, sliced into long julienne strips
1.5 TB chopped garlic
1-2 green chilies, left whole
2 tsp ground coriander
salt, to taste
4 C milk, made into around 9 oz paneer with fresh yogurt
1/2-1 tsp garam masala, depending on quality
3/8 C whole milk or 4 TB heavy cream
1-2 tsp lemon juice, or to taste

Blanch the spinach leaves in hot water for 3 minutes or until well wilted. Drain into a colander and run under cold water until they cool. Blend to a smooth paste and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large nonstick pan. Add the cumin seeds and fry for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the onion and fry over a mild heat for about 5 minutes or until soft. add the ginger, garlic, and chilies, and cook for 1 minute. Add the ground coriander and salt to taste. Cook for another 30 seconds, then add the spinach and a splash of water, if necessary. The mixture should be loose but not watery. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes.

Add the paneer cubes, garam masala, and milk or cream. Stir and cook for a few minutes or until the spinach is creamy. Before serving, stir in the lemon juice to taste.

simple pilaff
2 TB vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced (I chopped mine instead)
1 tsp garam masala
salt, to taste
1 C Basmati or long-grain white rice, washed and soaked for 30 min.
3/4 C frozen peas
1.5 C water
1-2 TB lemon juice, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan. Add the cumin seeds and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the onion and saute for about 6 minutes until lightly caramelized. Add the garam masala and salt, and cook, stirring, for another 20 seconds.

Stir in the drained rice and frozen peas, then add the water. Taste for seasoning. Bring to a boil, then cook, covered, on the lowest heat for 10 minutes. Check that the grains are tender; if not, leave to steam for another 2 minutes. Then remove the lid and allow any moisture to evaporate, Drizzle the lemon juice over and gently mix with a fork, fluffing up the grains.

daring bakers: steamed british pudding

2010-04-28T21:35:00.001-07:00

I admit, I dreaded this challenge all month. We were supposed to make a traditional British steamed suet pudding, either a crust or a sponge pudding. The ingredient list for the sponge pudding didn't appeal to me, so I decided to make the crust pudding. But I was defeated by my imagination--a steamed crust pudding just sounded like it would come out squishy and dumpling-like. I couldn't bring myself to make it. (Judging by some of the others' pictures, I was completely wrong and steaming will give you a lovely crisp crust.) So I made the sponge pudding instead.

The batter had a nice flavor and came together in five minutes or less. I didn't know where to get suet, so I used a mixture of butter and butter-flavored Crisco. I was also out of milk, so I swapped half cream and half water. And I didn't have a one-liter bowl or even a tall, relatively narrow bowl. So I just buttered up one of my small metal mixing bowls and steamed the pudding in that. Unfortunately, I didn't butter it enough. My pudding broke when I tipped it out.

The final flavor of the pudding was fine. The breadcrumbs gave the pudding a coarser texture than I care for. I mixed up some Byrd's custard (with a little extra powder for thickening and a *ton* of extra sugar) and made a tangerine caramel for serving. After dousing the pudding in custard and caramel, I understood the need for the breadcrumbs. They help the pudding keep a little bit of form under a deluge of sauces.

The pudding was a fun thing to try, but I probably won't make it again. I liked it okay, but I didn't love it, even with the sauces. And three hours is a long time to wait for a dessert that I don't love. [Edit: After letting everything sit over night and cool so that it wasn't a hopeless slog of soggy pudding, I really enjoyed the dessert. It reminds me a little of old-fashioned strawberry shortcake.]

The April 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

steamed sponge pudding
100 g all-purpose flour
.25 tsp salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
100 g bread crumbs
75 g caster sugar
75 g butter & butter-flavored Cristco
1 large egg
6-8 TB cold milk

1-Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into bowl.
2-Add breadcrumbs, sugar, and fat.
3-Mix to a soft batter ith beaten egg and milk.
4-Turn into a buttered 1 liter pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.
5-Steam steadily for 2.5-3 hours.
6-Turn out onto warm plate. Serve with sweet sauce to taste, such as custard, caramel, or a sweetened fruit sauce.

David Lebovitz's chocolate sherbet

2010-04-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

When I saw David's photo of this sherbet, I knew I had to make it. In fact, it looked so good I went ahead and made a quadruple batch the first time. It was easy to put together (aside from my letting the chocolate/milk mixture boil over--all over, below the electric coil on the stove and in the tiny gap between the stove and the cupboard--because the baby started crying at a crucial moment;), and it tasted every bit as good as it looked. I had some trouble getting it to freeze properly--I had to put it in the freezer to get it to set up, and it had some unpleasant ice crystals when it did--but testing other recipes confirmed that this is a problem with my ice cream maker and not the recipe.

This is a fantastically intense dark chocolate sherbet. While I certainly didn't limit myself to the one scoop David suggests, this sherbet packs enough punch that I felt satisfied much sooner than with regular ice creams. My only complaint about this sherbet was that when I did choose to glut myself on it, after I ate the sherbet for fifteen or twenty minutes, a cocoa/fat scum started to accrue on the roof of my mouth. I suspect this is a problem most people don't have.

chocolate sherbet (David Lebovitz)
2 cups (1/2l) milk (whole, low, or non-fat)
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup (50g) unsweetened cocoa powder
4 ounces (115g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional: 2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur, such as Kahluà

For directions, see David's site.

pear caramel tartlets

2010-04-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

I love tarts. I am invariably disappointed by tarts that I get at local restaurants and bakeries, though. The crusts are hard and flavorless and the fillings are boring. But I love baking tarts. I've had a few disappointments baking them myself, but not many. I love Dorie Greenspan's Tartest Lemon Tart and I adore Pierre Herme's Linzer Tart. Herme's cinnamon-rum-almond tart crust for the linzer tart is my absolute favorite. It's easy to make (at least, it is now that I can buy almond flour instead of having to grind it myself), it has a lovely crumbly texture, and it's delicious. Homemade tarts are one of my favorite desserts. And the only way to improve on a homemade tart is to make it a tartlet. Smaller means cuter, and as long as there are enough minis to go around, it means you can try all the flavors or have several servings of the same one without the guilt of having a full serving each time.

My family gave me a set of mini tart pans for Christmas, and I'm always plotting new things to try in them. (You'll be seeing a lot more tartlet posts as I work out the fillings I like.) I made these pear caramel cinnamon cream cheese tartlets a couple of months ago and they were a big hit with my family. The caramel was something I threw together after reading the ingredients on a bottle of delicious and, sadly, discontinued pear caramel I found at the store. Mine was, of course, quite different from the original, but still quite good. It seems to be my sister's new favorite. At any rate, it's a work in progress, so the directions are a bit higgedly-piggedly. When I made the tarts again to use up the remaining caramel, I replaced the cinnamon in the cream cheese with ginger. The sharper flavor was a nice contrast with the caramel.

pear caramel tartlets

pear caramel

2 C pear juice

2 C sugar

.5 C corn syrup

1 TB butter

2 C cream

pinch salt

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp-2 Tb lemon juice (to taste)

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Melt the butter. Add sugar and corn syrup. Mix and cook on medium heat until just turning golden. Add the pear juice and cook ten or twenty minutes so that the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and whisk in the remaining ingredients. When cooled to room temperature, spoon over cream cheese in tart shells.

cream cheese filling

8 oz cream cheese, softened

pear caramel, to sweeten to taste

.5 tsp cinnamon or 1 tsp ginger

Mix all and spoon into cooled tart shells.

tart crust (from Chocolate, by Pierre Herme)

7 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature

2.5 TB confectioners' sugar

2.5 TB finely ground almond powder

1 large hard-boiled egg yolk, at room temperature, pressed through a fine strainer

.25 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tsp dark rum

pinch of double-acting baking powder

.75 C all-purpose flour

Mix butter until creamy. Add sugar, almond powder, egg yolk, cinnamon, and salt. Mix until smooth, scraping bowl as necessary. Whisk the baking powder into the flour and add the flour to the bowl, mixing until thoroughly blended. The dough will feel soft and look a little like the dough you'd use to make peanut butter cookies.

Place dough in plastic wrap and form into a disk. Chill at least 4 hours before rolling and baking.

Roll the dough out or pat it into the tart pans. Chill at least thirty minutes.

Bake at 350 until crust is honey brown. (How long this takes depends on the size of your mini tart pans.)

daring bakers: blood orange tian

2010-03-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose orange tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

This is my first Daring Bakers challenge, and it was a lot of fun. I had never heard of a tian before. The dessert is a pate sablee spread with orange marmalade and covered with whipped cream, orange segments, and orange caramel. This was a nice dessert, but it needs a little punch. If I made it again, I'd use a cream cheese-whipped cream mixture instead of plain whipped cream.

I decided to make mine with blood oranges. I think they're beautiful, and I especially love the way they look like jelly candy when you slice them.

I've made pate sablee before, so making it was a snap (especially now that my grocery store carries almond flour). The marmalade was easy as well, and unusually tasty. I was out of pectin, so I used some gelatine to set the marmalade. Too much gelatine, as it turned out. My delicious marmalade turned into delicious blood orange jello. I snacked on a little of it and threw the rest in the food processor with hot water until it was spreadable.

I was excited that Jennifer included a recipe for stabilized whipped cream, because I've always had trouble making it, even when I follow the recipes in my cookbooks exactly. Apparently the gelatine requires a lot more water than my other recipes suggested. This time, it worked perfectly--no horrible gelatine chunks to be strained out of my whipped cream.

I had a little trouble with the caramel. The sugar seized when I added the orange juice. I had to take the pan off the heat and keep reheating the juice and pouring it over the sugar until most of it mixed together. Then I moved it to a different pan to thicken it.

Segmenting the oranges was the hardest part for me. Thank goodness Jennifer gave us a link on how to do it. Even with great instructions, it took me forever to segment the oranges. After soaking them in the caramel and draining them, I put the soaking caramel back in with the rest so I could have extra sauce.

The upside-down assembly was fun. I broke my crust trying to assemble the dessert, but you couldn't really tell once it was all together.

blood orange tian (adapted from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School)

pate sablee
2 medium-sized egg yolks, room temperature
6 TB + 1 tsp sugar
½ tsp vanilla
¼ C + 3 TB unsalted butter, ice cold, cubed
1/3 tsp salt
1.5 C + 2 TB flour
1 tsp baking powder

Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogeneous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Pat the dough onto the bottom of a parchment-paper-lined 9" springform pan until you have a .25"-thick circle.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

blood orange marmalade

.25 C + 3 TB fresh blood orange juice
1 large orange (to make orange slices)
cold water
5 g pectin
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar. If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

blood orange segments:
8 blood oranges

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

blood orange caramel:
1 C sugar
1.5 C + 2 TB blood orange juice

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

stabilized whipped cream with marmalade:
1 C heavy whipping cream 1 cup
3 TB hot water
1 tsp gelatine
1 TB confectioner's sugar
1 TB orange marmalade (see recipe above)

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner's sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

assembly:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

olive oil and balsamic vinegar ice cream

2010-02-19T16:52:00.003-08:00

A few years ago, one of my foodie friends told me that she and her husband had fond memories of an olive oil ice cream served for dessert on an out-of-state trip they'd taken. A the time I thought it sounded a little odd, something I'd probably not be interested in. But B has a crazy olive-oil-and-vinegar obsession, and when he recently started getting his fix by swirling oil and vinegar in a glass and drinking them straight, I thought, there's got to be a better way to do this. And I remembered K's olive oil ice cream. I headed to the internet, and found a promising recipe at the Worldwide Gourmet.

Although I'd rate the recipe as easy on the whole, the directions were a little confusing for someone with as little ice-cream making experience as I have. I haven't made a lot of custard bases, and I curdled my first batch. This made B ridiculously happy because we strained out the clumpy bits and he drank the custard and dunked French bread in it. I also had a bit of weirdness with trying to fold the cream into the anglaise. There's a *lot* of custard, and it sort of dissolved the whipped cream, leaving a few bits of whipped cream unincorporated. I'll play with this next time to see if I can get it mixed smoothly.

Now, if you're anything like my friends, this recipe may be inspiring a lot of hate. I know it isn't exactly a standard flavor, but I wasn't expecting so many of the people I talked to about it to dislike the idea so much. If you're leaning this direction, I have good news for you--you're wrong. This is one of best ice creams we've eaten. I loved it, the one friend who actually tasted it loved it, and B loved it. Enough to go back for more every night. (With B, this is the equivalent of an 15-out-of-10-star rating. He does *not* go looking for dessert. If I buy his usual favorite, strawberry ice cream, it will sit in the freezer for two months before he'll consider eating it. And he loves it.) The olive oil and balsamic are there, but they're quite subtle. If I didn't know what I was eating, I wouldn't guess olive oil and vinegar. The custard base is incredibly rich, as it should be with ten egg yolks, and the oil and vinegar complement it nicely. The final product is a beautiful custard color.

At some point, I want to try making a savory version of the ice cream, where the oil and vinegar are more noticeable, but it's hard to really think about tinkering with this recipe when it's perfect. The finished ice cream was a little bit icy in texture, but based on results making other ice creams, that seems to be a problem with our machine and not the recipe. (If you have any recommendations for a really good ice cream maker, I'd love to hear them.)

Now for the best ice cream recipe ever. Go make yourself a batch. You deserve it.

olive oil and balsamic vinegar ice cream (from The Worldwide Gourmet)

4 C milk
10 egg yolks
9 oz. sugar
9 oz. cream
3 TB olive oil (I used a robust oil to be sure the flavor would show up.)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Heat the milk. (I don't know how hot it's supposed to be; I'd recommend checking your favorite liquid custard recipe.) Temper the egg mixture with some of the hot milk. Whisk the remaining hot milk into the eggs and transfer to a heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens slightly to form a creme anglaise. Do not overheat or the eggs will curdle.

Cool custard to lukewarm. Whip the cream and fold it into the creme anglaise. Add the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Put in ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Devour.

devilish chocolate roulade

2009-12-28T12:47:00.003-08:00

I made these for holiday dinner with my family. We enjoyed them, but they were a little too rich for me. I think perhaps the "plain chocolate" was supposed to have been milk chocolate, but I used dark. I make this again, I'll either omit the chocolate filling entirely, or make it with milk chocolate and use half as much, and I would increase the mascarpone.

devilish chocolate roulade (from Chocolate, Christine France)

roulade:
6 oz dark chocolate, broken into squares
4 eggs, separated
1/2 C baking sugar
cocoa powder for dusting

filling:
8 oz. plain chocolate, broken into squares
2 eggs, separated
generous 1 C mascarpone

(The recipe also called for brandy in the chocolate filling and for chocolate-dipped strawberries for decoration; I omitted these because I didn't have brandy or strawberries on hand.)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 13 x 9" Swiss roll pan and line with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar ina bowl until pale and thick, then stir in the melted chocolate evenly.

Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold lightly and evenly into the egg and chocolate mixture.

Scrape into the pan and spread evenly to the corners. Bake for 15-20 min., until the sponge is well risen and firm to the touch. Dust a sheet of parchment paper with cocoa. Turn the sponge out on the paper, cover with a clean dish towel, and leave to cool.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over hot water. Remove from the heat. Beat the egg yolks together, then beat into the chocolate mixture. In a separate bowl,a whisk the whites to soft peaks, then fold them lightly and evenly into the filling.

Uncover the roulade, remove the lining paper and spread with the mascarpone. Spread the chocolate mixture over the top, then roll up carefully from a long side to enclose the filling. Transfer to a serving plate and dust with cocoa powder.

prickly pear mousse

2009-12-28T11:56:00.000-08:00

I made this because B loved a prickly pear smoothie mix that he found in the cupboard. Looking through our cupboards is not unlike going on an archeological dig. I buy things that I have no idea how I'll use and I can't bear to throw away anything interesting or potentially useful. So, you can look and find gravy mixes from when my great-grandmother died and I inherited half her pantry and spices I received third-hand when a friend moved to California. The prickly pear smoothie mix was from a fundraiser seven years ago. Which is to say that when the small box ran out, I had no idea how to get more. But our grocery store carries prickly pears, so I decided it would be fun to make something with them. A mousse seemed like the best way to ensure that the prickly pears' flavor wasn't overwhelmed.

It turned out to be pretty good, although it was quite time consuming to process the pears. (If anyone has tips on processing prickly pears, I'd love to hear them.) And next time it will take even longer, because I'll use more prickly pears.

prickly pear mousse

5 prickly pears

2 C heavy cream, chilled

2 egg whites

1/8-1/4 C sugar

Peel the prickly pears, using caution and/or gloves. Even though most of the spines are removed from those sold in stores, I still managed to get on in my hand, and because it was so tiny, it was hard to find and remove.

Mash through a strainer, saving juice and discarding seeds. I used my pestle with the strainer for this.

Reduce juice (I started with around 1.5 C) to around 1/4 C. (I reduced mine in two batches; the first I reduced too far--it was a thick paste--and the second I left more watery. Next time, I'll shoot for a nice syrupy reduction.)

Whip cream to stiff peaks, adding half of sugar when soft peaks are reached. Mix in prickly pear reduction. Whip egg whites to stiff peaks, again adding sugar when soft peaks are reached. Lightly fold into whipped cream mixture.

We ate our mousse immediately; I don't know how well it keeps.

lentil soup

2009-11-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, B convinced me to try some of Amy's Organic Lentil Soup. It was a hard sell, because lentil soup is ugly. It isn't just plain jane- or ugly betty-ugly. It's hideous

brunehilda-ugly. Lentils aren't just badly dressed but secretly beautiful. Designer clothes, a

makeover, and losing the tacky glasses won't save this dish. There's no recovering from looking like something the dog has already digested. And to top it off, this stuff smells a little bad. But underneath the ugly is an amazing soup. Healthy, filling, and delicious. I fell in love.

Unfortunately, Costco only carries it packaged with an equal amount of minestrone, and while Amy's minestrone is fine, it just can't compare to the recipe we make. So, after reading the back of the soup can and looking up a few recipes online, I threw this together. And I think it's as good as Amy's.

A couple of things: If the soup doesn't taste good, add more salt. Seriously. Salt makes all the difference with this soup. And when you puree, use the blender and not your food processor. It's a real pain to get all the little bits of lentil out of the inside of the blade of the food processor afterward.

lentil soup

5 C dried lentils

2 ribs celery, sliced very thin

carrots, sliced thin (about same amount as celery)

1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped small

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

salt, to taste

Put lentils in pot; cover with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium. Add vegetables and spices. Simmer, stirring and adding more water occasionally. When lentils are soft and you are happy with the amount of liquid, turn off the heat. (This will be fairly thick soup.) Take a few cups of the soup and puree them in the blender. Add back to the soup. Salt to taste.

peach pie and fruit theft

2009-10-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

It amazes me, the entitlement people feel toward other people's fruit trees. People who would never dream of stealing so much as a pen think nothing of snatching the tempting fruits of their neighbors' trees. About a year ago, I was reading a popular food blog. The author had posted about fruit was falling to the ground from a neighbor's tree in copious amounts and was apparently going to be wasted. The author confessed to going climbing into the neighbor's yard and taking the fruit. This elicited a barrage of comments from like-minded readers, patting themselves on the back for preventing precious fruit from going to waste. One even had the audacity to strip a neighbor's tree without permission and then present the neighbor with a jar of jam, as though that made up for the theft. (Apparently the neighbors were, in fact, forgiving.)

I was angry when I read the post and the comments, joking about and justifying such theft. But I refrained from commenting because I hadn't commented on the blog reguarly, and I don't like my only comments to be critical. If the negative things on a blog compell me to post more than the positive ones, I just stop reading.

But now I wish I had. Last summer we were delighted to discover that our new home has a peach tree. And the peaches on this tree are the best we've ever tasted. So good that even I, mistrustful of peaches after a childhood of eating far too many canned ones, have looked forward to our peach harvest since January. When the peaches were finally ripe, I put off picking them because I was dismayed by the strange spots they all had. I didn't want to face the possibility that they could be bad. And because we just had a baby, and it has been no small adjustment. Finding even the little time needed to pick the fruit felt overwhelming.

So, the peaches were starting to fall. My husband wanted to eat them, spots notwithstanding. And I, remembering that blogger's post, decided the day had come to pick the fruit regardless of
whether we were actually going to use it. If it was good, we would celebrate with pies and cobblers. If it wasn't, I would prevent any passersby from feeling entitled to take our fruit next year on the mistaken idea that we had wasted it this year. I had a busy day running errands (everything takes so much longer when there's a baby involved), and at night, remembered my
peaches. When I went outside, I discovered that someone had stolen our peaches. Every last one.

I was devastated. We hung a sign on the tree, begging for the return of our fruit. But to no avail. So, I'll say to the internets what I wish I could say to the peach thief: Just because the fruit hasn't been picked yet doesn't mean it won't be. And even if it isn't, even if the fruit rots on the ground, that doesn't justify you in trespassing or stealing from your neighbors. Most of you wouldn't sneak into someone's house to take leftovers out of their fridge to prevent food from wasting, and it's no more your business if they choose to waste their fruit. Either get permission to pick or pony up the dough and go buy your own fruit. Chances are, if your neighbor has a tree, there's a fruit stand selling the same thing. And chances are, if your neighbor isn't going to use the fruit, they'll happily share. We can't give the fruit from our other trees away fast enough. Ask about our cherries or our pears, and the answer will be please, take more! We can't use it all, and it's a shame to waste it. We are delighted to be able to share, and we are all the more delighted that people are considerate enough to ask instead of just taking what is easily in reach.

So--if it's not yours, don't take it.

And now, for the peach pie. We resorted to buying our peaches from a local stand this year, and they were quite good, if not as good as our own peaches would have been. B's father was visiting and peach pie is his favorite, so B asked me to make one for him. I haven't made many pies and the crusts I've tried have been hit-and-miss. So I was excited to try the Best American Classics version. And my excitement was completely justified. This pie was amazing. I'll be making it every year now, and I can't wait to use the crust for a sour cherry pie, too. I made two pies, one with almond extract and one without. Somehow, even though I used the same peaches for both pies, the peaches in the pie without the extract were juicier and created a bit of a flood. The pie was still good, though a bit soggy.

lattice-top peach pie (from New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)

1 recipe pie dough for lattice-top pie

flour for dusting the work surface

6-7 medium, ripe peaches (about 7 C sliced)

1 TB juice from 1 lemon

1 C (7 oz.) + 1 TB sugar

pinch ground cinnamon

pinch freshly grated nutmeg

pinch salt

3-5 TB potato starch or Minute tapioca

*I added about 1 TB almond extract

Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). roll the larger piece of dough to a 15 x 11" rectangle about 1/8" thick; transfer the dough rectangle to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With a pizza wheel, fluted pastry wheel, or paring knife, trim the long sides of the rectangle to make them straight, then cut the rectangle lengthwise into 8 strips 15" long by 1 1/4" wide. Freeze the strips on the baking sheet until firm, about 30 minutes.

Following the illustrations on page 884, roll the smaller piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface or between 2 large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to a 12" circle. Transfer the dough to a 9" pie plate by rolling the dough arounda rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan. Working around the circumference of the pan, ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge of the dough with one hand while pressinag it into the pan bottom with the other hand. leave the dough that overhangs the lip of the pie plate in place; refrigerate the dough-line pie plate.

Remove the dough strips from the freezer; if theya re too stiff to e workable, let them stand at room temperature until malleable and softened slightly but still very cold. Form the lattice top and place in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.

Adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on it, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Bring 3 quarts water to a boil in a large saucepan and fill a large bowl with 2 quarts cold water and 2 trays ice cubes. Score an X in the bottom of each peach and simmer in the boiling water 30-60 seconds, depending on the peaches' ripeness. Transfer peaches to ice water and let stand about 1 minute to stop the cooking process. Starting from the X, peel the peach, using a paring knife to lift the skin off in strips. [I skipped this step, peeling my peaches with a vegetable peeling. I'll probably try this next time, as my way took forever.] Halve and pit each peeled peach and cut into 3/8" slices.

Toss the peach slices, lemon juice, 1 C sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and potato starch into a medium bowl.

Turn the peach mixture into the dough-lined pie plate. Remove the lattice from the freezer and place on top of the filled pie. Trim the lattice strips and crimp the pie edges. Lightly brush or spray the lattice top with 1 TB water and sprinkle with the remaining 1 TB sugar.

Lower the oven temperature to 425 F. Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake until the crust is set and begins to brown, 25-30 minutes. Rotate the pie and reduce the oven temperature to 375 F. Continue baking until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices bubble, 25-30 minutes longer. Cool the pie on a wire rack at least 2 hours before serving.

basic pie dough, lattice-top variation (New Best Recipes)

3 C flour (15 oz)

1 tsp salt

2 TB sugar

7 TB vegetable shortening, chilled [I used butter-flavored]

10 TB cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces

10 TB ice water

Process the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor until combined. Add the shortening and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse crumbs, with butter bits no larger than small peas, about ten 1-second pulses. Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.

Sprinkle the ice water oer the mixture. With a rubber spatula, use a folding motion to mix. Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula until the dough sticks together. Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 4" disk. Wrap in palstic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 2 days before rolling.

key lime cupcakes

2009-10-22T17:08:00.000-07:00

My family and I have quite the sweet tooth (teeth?), so when we get together, someone frequently ends up baking dessert. One brother does pies, another has taken over Dad's fudge recipe, though Dad occasionally makes it himself, with mini-M&Ms thrown in while it's still hot. My mom and my sisters and I do the brownies, cookies, and cakes.

However, thus far, only the pie brother is willing to spend the hours baking that result in the kinds of desserts that I love. (We once created a rose cake together that will live forever in infamy. Improvisation in the kitchen, admittedly, has not been my strong point.) So when I bake with my sisters, I try to find simpler recipes that we can make together, so I can slowly convince them of the superiority of from-scratch recipes that don't require half a day to make.

So last time we were all craving dessert, I suggested we try these. We made my favorite yellow cupcake recipe (from New Best Recipes)--quick and no fail. And then we mixed up a batch of key lime pie filling and threw it into the cupcakes. Easy and delicious. You don't even need frosting. B thought they were too sticky and continues to disparage them, but my family and I loved them. If you find them too sticky as well, you could up the liminess of the cupcakes by using more zest and decrease the filling. Or you could use the cone method to fill the cupcakes after baking, if you don't mind raw eggs.

key lime cupcakes
yellow cupcakes: (modified from The New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1.5 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
8 TB unsalted butter, softened
.5 C sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
2 TB key lime juice
grated lime zest

key lime filling (from epicurious.com):
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
.5 C + 2 TB key lime juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins and line with muffin cups.

Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, lime juice, and zest, and beat until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

Whisk together sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks until combined well. Add lime juice and whisk until combined well.

Divide half of cupcake batter amount muffin tins. Add a generous helping of key lime filling to each tin, and cover with more cupcake batter. Bake as appropriate for size of cupcakes. (You may need to bake slightly longer because of filling.)

dinner & dessert: goat cheese and thyme-stuffed chicken breasts with bacon-shallot-sherry vinegar peas and herbed rice, and praline bread pudding

2009-09-29T10:21:00.000-07:00

In an effort to improve our cooking skills, a friend and I have started cooking dinner and dessert together once a week. This was our first meal. The stuffed chicken breasts were very pretty, but it turns out that I don't like goat cheese (except served with cranberries as a spread for crackers), so I didn't care for the chicken. The peas, however, were delicious. The rice is my husband's grandfather's recipe, and like all the recipes he has come up with, it is wonderful. The bread pudding is simply the best bread pudding I've ever eaten. I recommend making extra sauce.

breaded stuffed chicken breasts (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
4 (5-6 oz) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed with tenderloins removed
salt and ground black pepper
goat cheese and thyme filling
2 C panko
.5 C flour
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp Dijon mustard

1. Adjust a rack in the oven to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300 F.

2. Butterfly each chicken breast and pound between two sheets of plastic wrap to .25" thick, with edges .125" thick.

3. Place stuffing near tapered end of breasts. Roll each chicken breast over filling to form a neat, tight package (roll up the end to completely enclose the stuffing, and then fold in the sides and continue rolling to form a cylinder), pressing on the seam to seal. Refrigerate, seam-side down and uncovered to allow edges to seal further, about 1 hour.

4. Toss panko with salt and pepper and spread over a rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and dry, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a shallow dish and cool to room temperature. Increase oven temperature to 350 F.

5. Combine flour, .25 tsp salt, and .125 tsp pepper in a second shallow dish and whisk eggs and Dijon together in a third shallow dish. Working with one chicken roll at a time, dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess, then coat with the egg mixture, allowing the excess to drip off. Finally, coat with bread crumbs, pressing gently so that crumbs adhere. (Up to this point, the chicken can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 24 hours. Increase the baking time by 5 to 10 minutes.)

6. Place the chicken rolls at least 1 inch apart on a wire rack set over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake until the center of the chicken registers 160 to 165 F on an instant-read thermometer, 35 to 40 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

goat cheese and thyme filling (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1 TB unsalted butter
1 small onion, minced
2 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed (about .5 tsp.)
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 oz. goat cheese, softened
.125 tsp salt
.125 tsp ground black pepper

1. Melt butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in the thyme and garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds; set aside to cool.

2. Mix the cooled onion mixture, cream cheese, goat cheese, salt, and pepper together until uniform. Spoon the cheese mixture onto the chicken.

peas with bacon, shallot, and sherry vinegar (The Best Chicken Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
6 oz. bacon, chopped
1 shallot, minced
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed (about 1 tsp.)
2 tsp. sugar
1 pound frozen peas (do not thaw)
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
salt and ground black pepper

Fry bacon in nonstick skillet until crisp, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate and pour off all but 2 TB of the fat. Add the shallot, garlic, and sugar; cook until softened, about 2 min. Stir in the peas and cook, stirring often, until just heated through, about 2 min. Off the heat, add 2 tsp. sherry vinegar, as well as the bacon and thyme, to the pan.

Jack's herbed rice
6 tbsp butter
2 small onions, chopped
2 cups white rice
2/3 tsp marjoram
2/3 tsp summer savory
1 1/3 tsp rosemary
1 tsp salt
4 chicken bouillon cubes
4 cups water

Melt butter in pan. Saute onions and rice until lightly browned. Add seasonings and water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 25 min. on low-medium. Cool for ten minutes on warm.

praline bread pudding (Restaurant Favorites at Home, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
pudding
12 oz. good-quality French baguette, cut into 1.5" cubes
2 C pecans
6 TB unsalted butter, cut into .5" pieces, plus more for greasing the pan
12 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
3 TB vanilla
2 TB hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico (I used Kahlua)
1.5 C sugar
6 C heavy cream

sauce
4 large egg yolks
.5 C sugar
.25 C hazelnut liqueur
8 TB unsalted butter

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 250 F. Spread bread cubes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry, 30 to 40 min. Remove from oven, transfer to large plate, and cool to room temperature. Increase oven temperature to 350 F. Spread nuts on empty baking sheet and toast, shaking the pan once to turn the nuts, until fragrant, 5 to 8 min. Set aside and turn off the oven.

2. Grease 13 x 9" baking dish with butter. Spread dried bread cubes evenly in baking dish. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, hazelnut liqueur, and sugar together in a large bowl. Whisk in the cream. Pour three quarters of the custard over the bread and sprinkle the toasted pecans over the top. Using a rubber spatula, press the bread into the custard. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 min. Pour remaining custard evenly over the top, replace plastic wrap, and refrigerate until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 1 hour.

3. Return the oven temperature to 350 F. Remove plastic wrap and dot the top of the pudding evenly with the remaining 6 TB butter. Bake until the top is a deep golden brown, the center is slightly puffed, and the custard begins to climb up the sides of the baking dish, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool until set, about 20 min.

4. For the sauce: While the pudding is cooling, place the egg yolks in a medium bowl. heat the sugar and hazelnut liqueur in another medium bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water, whisking constantly, until the sugar is dissolved, about 5 min. Slowly stir the warm liqueur mixture into the egg yolks. Place the bowl of yolk mixture over the simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and the whisk leaves distinct trails, about 2 min.

5. Melt the butter. Slowly drizzle the hot melted butter into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until all of the butter is incorporated and the sauce is thick and creamy.

6. To serve: Cut the pudding into 12 squares. Transfer to plates and top with 2 TB of the hot hazelnut sauce each. Serve immediately.

minestrone

2009-09-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

I love minestrone. It has a nice, rich flavor, and it always feels like a healthy thing to eat. Whenever I've had too much junk and need some vegetables, I find myself craving minestrone.

I've made some rather fantastic failures in trying to get a good minestrone. Undercooked cabbage, flavorless broth. And then I got a copy of The Best Italian Classics, which has you cook a parmesan rind in the broth and finish it with pesto. And that made all the difference. This is a great soup.

Because I'm utterly incapable of cooking a meal for two people, I can't take seriously directions that include 3/4 C carrots to make soup for six to eight people. I always add a little more of this and a little more of that until suddenly I have a cauldron of food for forty. So be warned--my directions below make a ridiculous amount of soup.

minestrone (adapted from The Best Italian Classics, editors of Cooks Illustrated)

1 small green cabbage, chopped small

2-2.5 lbs baby carrots, chopped

2 lbs green beans, chopped

3 cans stewed tomatoes

6 cans cannellini beans

2 onions, chopped

half bundle of celery, chopped

2 medium zucchinis, chopped

2 bundles spinach leaves, stemmed and cut into strips

24 C water, more as needed

1 wedge parmesan, plus any extra rind available

2 C rice

1 small jar pesto

salt and pepper

Bring water and cheese rind to a boil in a very large pot. Add vegetables and cook till tender. (Because I never prepare mise en place, I heat the water and then just start chopping things and throwing them in, beginning with the vegetables that need to cook longest, such as cabbage and carrots.) Twenty minutes before finishing, add rice. (Wild rice should be added sooner; check directions on the package.) Five minutes before finishing, add beans. Remove pot from heat. Add pesto. Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

chicken breasts with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce

2009-09-04T12:23:00.000-07:00

A while ago, when I was feeling ambitious, I sat down with B and a stack of my cookbooks to make a list of dinner recipes to try. I've never been much of a cook when it comes to dinner. Dinner, unlike dessert, is something I don't crave. So it never occurs to me to cook it until I'm starving and then I don't feel like waiting. So I usually just eat cereal or a sandwich. Given the dearth of dinner posts here in the last several months, you can see how long my cooking resolution lasted. Anyway, this is the one thing on the list that I did make.

This was probably the most complicated dinner I've ever made, what with the packet of spices and the mirepoix and sauce and the stuffing. The mirepoix was the first I'd made, which was fun, even though it wasn't very appetizing. I cheated and used bouillion for the chicken broth. I also used a bag of those microwave steamed vegetables.

The recipe was easy enough to follow; it just took forever on account of chopping and slicing a million tons of mushrooms. The only trouble I ran into was that, being tired after the mushrooms, I neglected to pound my chicken (breasts rather than supremes), so I had to finish my chicken in the oven after frying it. I won't skip that step next time. There's nothing as disheartening as spending four hours in the kitchen to produce a meal and then taking a bite and realizing it's still basically raw.

I hate mushrooms, so I made this one entirely for B's benefit. By the time I was done, I hated mushrooms even more. The kitchen stank of mushrooms, and they ruined the sauce for me. But B enjoyed the meal, so I suppose it counts as a success.

breast of chicken with duxelles stuffing and supreme sauce (The Professional Chef, 8th ed., Culinary Institute of America)
10 (7-8 oz) chicken supremes
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 lb duxelles stuffing
5 oz all-purpose flour, or as needed
6 fl oz. egg wash, or as needed
12 oz bread crumbs, or as needed
24 oz clarified butter or oil, or as needed
20 fl oz supreme sauce

1-Trim the chicken supremes and remove the skin, if desired. Butterfly each breast portion and pound between sheets of parchment or plastic wrap to even thickness.

2-At the time of service or up to 3 hours in advance, blot dry the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Fill each breast with a portion of the duxelles stuffing and roll the breast around the stuffing. Overlap the edges to form a seam.

3-Apply a standard breading: Dredge the chicken in flour, dip in egg wash, and roll in abread crumbs. (Refrigerate seam side down if breaded in advance.)

4-Heat .5" of the butter or oil to about 350 F over medium heat. Add the chicken to the hot oil seam side down first and pan fry for 2-3 min, or until golden brown and crisp. Turn once, and finish apan frying on the second side, 3 minutes more or until it reaches an internal temperature of 170 F. (Finish cooking in a 350 F oven once the ccrust is properly browned, if preferred.)

5-Blot the chicken on absorbent paper towels briefly before serving with the heated supreme sauce.

supreme sauce
2 oz clarified butter or vegetable oil
8 oz small-dice white mirepoix
12 oz blond roux
1 gal chicken stock
1 sachet d'epices
salt, as needed
ground white pepper, as needed
32 oz heavy cream
2 lb sliced mushrooms

Heat the butter or oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the mirepoix and stock, stirringa occasionally, until onions are limp and have begun to release their juices, about 15 min. They may take on a light golden color but should not be allowed to brown.

Add the roux to the mirepoix and cook until the roux is very hot, about 2 mi.

Add the stock to the pan gradually, stirring or whisking to work out any lumps. Bring to a full boil, then lower the heat to establish a simmer. (Use a heat diffuser, if desired, to avoid scorching.) Add the sachet and continue to simmer, skimming as necessary, until a good flavor and consistency develop and the starchy feel and taste of the flour have cooked away, 45 min. to 1 hr.

Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve. Strain a second time through a double thickness of rinsed cheesecloth, if desired, for the finest texture.

Return the sauce to a simmer. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add cream and mushrooms. Simmer, stirring and skimming the surface frequently, until it coats the back of a spoon. If desired, the sauce may be finished with 6 oz butter.

white mirepoix
2 parts onion or the white of leeks
1 part celery root or hearts
1 part parsnips

blond roux
3 parts flour
2 parts fat

Heat fat over medium heat and add the flour, stirring to combine. Cook to a golden straw color with a nutty aroma.

duxelles stuffing
6 oz minced shallots
2 oz butter
2 alb small-dice mushrooms
1 TB salt
2 tsp ground black pepper
8 fl oz heavy cream, reduced
8 oz fresh bread crumbs
1 TB achopped parsley
2 oz abutter, melted
20 fl oz supreme sauce

Sweat the shallots in the butter over medium-high heat until translucent, 2-3 min. Add the mushrooms and saute them until dry to create a duxelles. Season the duxelles with some of the salt and pepper.

Add the cream, bread crumbs, and parsley and mix well. If desired, the duxelles can be chilled and reserved for later use.

Dorie Greenspan's molasses spice cookies

2009-08-28T15:37:00.001-07:00

When it comes to cookies, I am a chocolate fan, almost to the exclusion of everything else. And so are my mom and most of my siblings. My dad likes snickerdoodles, so we make them for him once or twice a year. B likes oatmeal cookies, pumpkin cookies, and inferior versions of snickerdoodles. I like none of these, so he has to buy his cookies from the store. If left to myself, I would never have tried these cookies. If left to myself, I'll never make them again, either. I just don't love spice cookies. But my sisters and I were baking and my sister wanted to try these, so we did.

Because I wasn't precise in following Dorie's directions, mine came out chewy. Fine with me, as all of us who ate them prefer chewy cookies to crispy. In fact, the texture was the major draw of these cookies for B and me. The level of spice and the flavor of the molasses were nice. My dad, who had wrinkled his nose at the idea of pepper in cookies, ended up liking them a lot. As spice cookies go, these are good. But me, I'm sticking with chocolate.

Molasses Spice Cookies (from Baking, Dorie Greenspan)
2.5 C flour
2 tsp baking soda
.5 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
.5 tsp ground cinnamon
.25 tsp ground allspice
pinch cracked or coarsely ground black pepper
16 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C (packed) light brown sugar
.5 C molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg

about .33 C sugar, for rolling

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, and pepper.

With a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add brown sugar and molaasses and beat for app. 2 min. to blend. Add egg and beat for 1 min. more. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, mixing until flour and spices disappear. If some flour remains on bottom of bowl, to avoid overbeating, mix by hand with a rubber spatula. Dough will be smooth and very soft. Divide dough in half and wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Freeze for 30 min. or refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 4 days).

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Put the sugar in a small bowl. Working with one packet of dough at a time, divide it into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball between your palms. One by one, roll the balls around in the bowl of sugar, then place them on the baking sheets. dip the bottom of a glass into the sugar and use it to press down on the cookies until they are between .25 and .5" thick.

Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops feel set to the touch. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and, iaf the cookies have spread anda re touching, use the edge of a spatula to separate them while they are still hot. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the second batch of dough.

rhubarb big crumb coffee cake

2009-08-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I saw this recipe in the Times a couple of years ago and have been meaning to try it ever since, as B and I both love coffee cake.

This was a hit--quick, easy, and delicious. B even liked it despite his hatred of ginger. Unfortunately, I was having bad problems with heartburn when I made this, and between the rhubarb and the rich crumb topping, I wasn't able to eat more than a slice. But I will be making it again.

Rhubarb Big Crumb Coffee Cake (from the New York Times)

Rhubarb filling

1/2 pound rhubarb, trimmed
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Crumbs

1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cups cake flour

Coffee cake

1/3 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons softened butter, cut into 8 pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8-inch-square baking pan. For filling, slice rhubarb 1/2 inch thick and toss with sugar, cornstarch and ginger. Set aside.

2. To make crumbs, in a large bowl, whisk together sugars, spices, salt and butter until smooth. Stir in flour with a spatula. It will look like a solid dough.

3. To prepare cake, in a small bowl, stir together the sour cream, egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and a spoonful of sour cream mixture and mix on medium speed until flour is moistened. Increase speed and beat for 30 seconds. Add remaining sour cream mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition, and scraping down the sides of bowl with a spatula. Scoop out about 1/2 cup batter and set aside.

4. Scrape remaining batter into prepared pan. Spoon rhubarb over batter. Dollop set-aside batter over rhubarb; it does not have to be even.

5. Using your fingers, break topping mixture into big crumbs, about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in size. Sprinkle over cake. Bake cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean of batter (it might be moist from rhubarb), 45 to 55 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

NYT chocolate chip cookies

2009-06-16T15:05:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I finally got around to making the NYT chocolate chip cookies. These cookies were the ultimate test of will power--waiting thirty-six hours to bake them? That is way too long. But I managed to hold out until thirty-four, and the results were fantastic. I didn't roll mine in salt before baking because the dough tasted salty enough to me. I did put the dough back in the fridge between rolling each batch to keep the butter as cool as possible. And I was glad that I spent the extra money to use the chocolate disks (I used Guittard). These cookies were delicious, and I will totally make them again . . . as soon as I can stand to wait another day and a half to satisfy a cookie craving.

chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream and peanut butter mousse

2009-05-15T13:13:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for my brother's birthday. This was the first time I'd tried any of Beranbaum's recipes. The chocolate cake was every bit as good as she'd promised. I don't usually care for buttercreams but decided to try the milk chocolate buttercream she recommends to go with the chocolate fudge cake. Unfortunately, I still didn't like it, and it didn't go well with Cafe Johnsonia's tasty peanut butter mousse. I filled the cake with the buttercream and mousse, used some buttercream for a crumb coat, and covered the whole thing in faux buttercream.

I have to say, this is by far the ugliest cake I've ever made. It was fun to put together, though, and I learned some interesting things for next time. (For instance, I didn't know that the frosting color would continue to darken with exposure to air. By the time I got the cake to my brother, it was much darker than in these pictures.)

naked seal

crumb coat

chocolate fudge cake (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
3 oz. unsweetened cocoa (Dutch-processed) (3/4 C + 3 TB) or 1 C nonalkalized cocoa (e.g. Hershey's)
12.5 oz boiling water (1.5 C)
3 large eggs
1.5 tsp vanilla
10.5 oz sifted cake flour (3 C)
15.25 oz light brown sugar (2 C, firmly packed)
2.25 tsp baking powder (if using nonalkalized cocoa, eliminate baking powder and use 1.25 tsp baking soda)
.75 tsp baking soda
.75 tsp salt
8 oz unsalted butter (1 C)

Preheat the oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, lightly combine the eggs, 1/4 of the cocoa mixture, and vanilla.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and remaining cocoa mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1.5 minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure. Gradually add the egg mixture in three batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure. Scrape down the sides.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans will be about 1/2 full. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the center. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven.

Let the cakes cool in the pans on racks for 0 minutes. Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto greased wire racks. To prevent splitting, reinvert so that tops are up and cool cfompletely before wrapping airtight.

Grease two 9 x 1.5" cake pans, line the bottoms with parchment or wax paper, and then regrease and flour. (If you only have 2"-high pans, either do 2/3 the recipe for 1 layer or 1 1/3 the recipe for 2 layers.)

milk chocolate buttercream (from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum)
1 lb milk chocolate
8 oz dark chocolate
12 oz unsalted butter (softened)

Break the chocolate into squares and place in the top of a double boiler. Set over hot but not simmering water on low heat. The water must not touch the bottom of the double boiler insert. Remove the double boiler from the heat and sitr until the chocolate begins to melt. Return to the heat if the water cools, but be careful that it does not get too hot. Stir until smooth, and cool until no longer warm to the touch. (The chocolate may be melted in a microwave oven if stirred every 15 seconds. Remove before fully melted and stir, using residual heat to complete the melting.)

In a bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixture at medium speed and beat in the cooled chocolate until uniform in color.

peanut butter mousse (from Cafe Johnsonia)
2 cups peanut butter (not natural)
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup heavy cream, chilled

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until combined.

Beat the cream to soft peaks; fold into the peanut butter in two additions.

ganache-filled raspberries

2009-02-09T18:54:00.000-08:00

I made these for fun a few months ago, when I was giving a chocolate dipping demonstration. (I'm not sure how I ended up doing that when my chocolate tempering skills are still more miss than hit, but it was a lot of fun.) They take way too long, but they're really cute. Just make your favorite ganace recipe and pipe it into a bunch of raspberries. (You're not supposed to wash raspberries, I think, but I just had to. Getting the water back out of them was a hassle.)

bittersweet ganache

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 C heavy cream

Break the chocolate into pieces. Bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. When ganache has cooled but is still pipeable, fill the raspberries.

quiche florentine

2008-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

After reading the French Laundry at Home blog (if you haven't read it, you must), I knew I had to have Thomas Keller's books. They were exactly what I'd been hoping to find--books that would tell me in great detail how to make restaurant-quality food at home. And not, you konw, Chili's-quality food. But why-can't-I-get-a-reservation-there-quality food. And when I picked up a copy of French Laundry and read, "French Laundry chefs will pass a sauce through a chinois twenty times or more. . . . We pass our pea puree for the pea soup through a tamis, then we blend the puree in a blender and pass it through a chinois. The result is texture on your tongue and palate that is almost indescribable. It is the texture of luxury," I was in love.

I decided to start my Keller experience with simple dishes. First, I tried the glazed vegetables. Then I made this quiche. This quiche florentine is simply the best quiche I've ever eaten. The custard was smooth and silky and rich. I loved it. I did run into some minor hangups--I misplaced part of my dough for the crust, and so didn't have enough to drape it over the edge. And as Keller warns, it did in fact shrink. It was rather misshapen, and my custard made it soggy. It was delicious, all the same. (And of course, this would be the one dish I forgot to take a picture of.)

quiche florentine (from Bouchon, Thomas Keller)
2 TB unsalted butter
.25 C minced shallots
1 lb spinach, washed, large stems removed
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
.75 C grated Comte or Emmentaler cheese
basic quiche shell, cooled
basic quiche batter
Canola oil

Melt the butter in a large pot or saute pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook gently for about 2 minutes, until they have softened but not colored. Add half the spinach, 1 tsp of the salt, and 1/2 tsp of the pepper. (To season the spinach evenly, it is best to sprinkled the leaves with salt and pepper before they wilt.) Stir for a minute to wilt, then add the remaining spinach, 1 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring until all the spinach has wilted. Drain the spinach on paper towels and let cool.

Put a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Squeeze the cooled spinach to remove excess liquid and chop coarsely to make cutting the quich easier. Scatter .25 C of the cheese and half the spinach evenly into the cooled quich shell (still on the baking sheet). Blend the quiche batter again to aerate it, then pour in enough of the batter to cover the ingredients and fill the quiche approximately halfway. Top the batter with another .25 C of the cheese and the remaining spinach. Blend the remaining batter and fill the quiche all the way to the top. Sprinkle the remaining .25 C cheese on top of the quiche. (If you don't have a very steady hand, you might spill some of the batter on the way to the oven; fill the quiche most of the way, then pour the final amount of batter on top once the quiche is on the oven rack. Then top it with the remaining cheese.)

Bake for 1.5 to 1.75 hours, or until the top of the quiche is browned and the custard is set when the pan is jiggled. Remove the quiche from the oven and let cool on a rack to room temperature. Refrierate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1 day, or up to 3 days.

Once the quiche is thoroughly chilled, using a metal bench scraper or a sharp knife, scrape away the excess crust from the top. Tilt tthe ring on its side, with the bottom of the quiche facing you, and run a small paring knife between the crust and the ring to release the quiche. Set the quiche down and carefully lift off the ring. Return to the refrigerator until ready to serve.

To serve: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Linea baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly oil the paper.

Using a long serrated knife and supporting the sides of the crust, carefully cut through the edge of the crust in a sawing motion. Switch to a long slicing knive and cut through the custard and bottom crust. Repeat, cutting the quiche into 8 pieces. Place the pieces on the baking sheet and reheat for 15 minutes, or until hot throughout. To check, insert a metal skewer into the quiche for several seconds and then touch the skewer to your lip to test the temperature of the quiche.

shell
2 C flour, sifted, plus flour for rolling
1 tsp kosher salt
8 oz. chilled unsalted buttter, cut into 1/4" pieces
1/4 C ice water
canola oil

Place 1 C of the flour and the salt in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn to low speed and add the butter a small handful at a time. When all butter is added, increase speed to medium and mix until butter is completely blended with flour. Reduce speed, add remaining flour, and mix just to combine. Add water and mix until incorporated. The dough will come around the paddle and should feel smooth, not sticky, to the touch.

Remove the dough from the mixer and check to be certain there are no visible pieces of butter remaining; if necessary, return to the mixer and mix briefly again. Pat into a 7- to 8-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. REfrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to a day. (If the dough does not rest, it will shrink as it bakes.)

Lightly brush the inside of a 9 x 2" ring mold with canola oil and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Place the dough on a floured work surface and rub on all sides with flour. Flatten into a larger circle using a rolling pin or the heel of your hand. Roll the rolling pin back and forth across the dough a few times, then turn it 90 degrees and roll again. Continue to turn and roll until the dough is 3/16" thick and about 14" in diameter. (If the kitchen is hot and the dough has become very soft, move it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for a few minutes.)

To lift the dough into the ring, place the rolling pin across the dough about one-quarter of the way up from the bottom edge, fold the bottom edge of dough up and over the pin, and roll the dough up on the rolling pin. Lift the dough on the pin, hold it over the top edge of the ring and unroll the dough over the mold, centering it. Carefully lower the dough into the ring, pressing it gently against the sides and into the bottom corners of the ring. Trim any dough that extends more than an inch over the sides of teh mold and reserve the scraps. Fold the excess dough over against the outside of the ring. (Preparing the quiche shell this way will prevent it from shrinking down the sides as it bakes. The excess dough will be removed after the quich is baked.) Carefully check for any cracks or holes in the dough, and patch with the reserved dough as necessary. Place in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 20 mnutes to resolidify the butter. Reserve the remaining dough scraps.

Put a rack set in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 F.

Line the quiche shell with a 16-inch round of parchment. Fill the shell with pie weights or dried beans, gently guiding the weights into the corners of the shell and filling the shell completely. Bake the shell for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the edges of the dough are lightly browned but the bottom is still light in color.

Carefully remove the parchment and weights. Check the dough for any new cracks or holes and patch with the thin pieces of the reserved dough if necessary. Return the shell to the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bottom is a rich golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow the shell to cool copmletely on the baking sheet. Once again, check the dough for any cracks or holes, and patch if necessary before filling with the quiche batter.

basic quiche batter

2 C milk
2 C heavy cream
6 large eggs
1 TB kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly fround white pepper
6 gratings fresh nutmeg

Combine the milk and cream in a large saucepan and heat over medium heat until scalded (meaning a skin begins to form on the surface). remove from the heat and let cool for 15 minutes before continuing.

Put 3 eggs, half the milk and cream mixture, 1.5 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp white pepper, and 3 gratings of nutmeg in a blender and blend on low speed for a few seconds to combine the ingredeints. Increase the speed to high and blend for 30 seconds to a minute, or until the batter is light and foamy.

This is the first layer of the quiche. Once you have assembled it, add the remaining ingredients to the blender and repeat the process to complete the quiche.

corn chowder

2008-10-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

B asked me to make corn chowder, and, as usual, I was leery of trying it. (I was a very picky eater as a child, and my default position on anything but dessert is to assume I'll hate it.) But I found a recipe in The Professional Chef and gave it a shot, and I really enjoyed it. Enough that I made a second batch, and doubled it.

The original recipe calls for salt pork, but I didn't know where to find any, so I used bacon. (The amount of corn makes in the soup makes it quite sweet, so I enjoyed the balance the smokiness of the bacon gave it.) I omitted the celery because I hate celery and the Tabasco sauce because we didn't have any.

corn chowder (adapted from The Professional Chef, The Culinary Institute of America)

4 oz bacon
2 oz butter
6 oz small-dice onions
4 oz small-dice green peppers
4 oz small-dice red peppers
3.5 oz all-purpose flour
64 fl oz chicken stock
2 lb corn kernels, fresh or frozen
2 lb potatoes, small dice
1 bay leaf
8 fl oz heavy cream, hot
8 fl oz milk, hot
salt, as needed
ground white pepper, as needed
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1. In a large pot, melt butter. Add bacon and cook until crisp.
2. Add onions and peppers and sweat until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the flour and cook to make a white roux, about 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add 1/3 of stock. Stir until combined. Return to medium heat and continue stirring to work out lumps. Repeat with remaining stock. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring periodically to avoid scorching, until thickened, 30-40 minutes.
5. Puree half of the corn and add to the soup with the potatoes. Add the remaining corn and bay leaf and simmer, covered, until corn and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
6. Add the cream and milk to the soup, and stir to combine. Heat just until soup begins to simmer, about 10 minutes. Remove and discard the bay leaf. Finish soup or rapidly cool and refrigerate for later service.
7. To finish for service, return soup to a boil. Season with salt, pepper, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce and serve in heated bowls or cups.

deviled eggs

2008-10-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

I never liked deviled eggs until one of my friends brought them to a party, still warm. They weren't rubbery at all, and they tasted great. I asked him his secret--it was something to do with the cooking--at then promptly forgot it.

Recently, though, B pulled out New Best Recipe to make himself some hardboiled eggs. And there was the same secret cooking method--bringing them just to a boil, turning off the heat, and allowing them to sit for ten minutes before putting them in cold water to stop the cooking.

B's eggs turned out so well that I decided to devil them, again using NBR. They were delicious, and we ate the entire batch by the end of the night.

deviled eggs (New Best Recipe, Editors of Cook's Illustrated)

7 large eggs
.75 tsp whole-grain mustard
3 TB mayonnaise
1.5 tsp cider vinegar (or vinegar of your choice)
.25 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and ground black pepper

1. Place eggs in medium saucepan, cover with one inch of water, and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove the pan from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Fill a medium bowl with 1 qt cold water and 1 tray ice cubes. Transfer eggs to ice water with a slotted spoon; let sit 5 minutes.
2. Peel the eggs and slice each in half lengthwise with a paring knife. Remove the yolks to a small bowl. Arrange the whites on a serving platter, discarding the two worst-looking halves. Mash the yolks with a fork until no large lumps remain. Add the mustard, mayo, vinegar, Worcestershire, and salt and pepper to taste; mix with a rubber spatula, mashing against the side of a bowl until smooth.

3. Fit a pastry bag with a large open-star tip. Fill the bag with the yolk mixture, twisting the top of the pastry bag to help push the mixture toward the tip of the bag. Pipe the yolk mixture into the egg white halves, mounding the filling about .5 inch above the flat surface of the whites. [I didn't mash mine smoothly enough and my star tip was a little on the small side, so I got tired of unclogging it and just spooned in the filling.] Serve immediately.

strawberries & cream cupcakes

2008-10-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

These are currently my favorite cupcakes. We had some extra strawberries, so I made yellow cupcakes, filled them with a tart strawberry jam, and topped them with a lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting. They're unbelievably good.

They're cute frosted, but I prefer to just cut the cupcakes in half and slather frosting and jam on each half.

strawberries & cream cupcakes:

yellow cupcakes (The New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)
1.5 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
8 TB unsalted butter, softened
.5 C sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 mini muffin tins and line with muffin cups. Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla, and beat until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.Divide among mini muffin cups. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and cupcakes pass toothpick test.

strawberry jam
1 C strawberry puree
.25 C sugar
1 TB pectin

Heat the strawberries, sugar, and pectin on medium until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat. Allow to cool before using.

cream cheese frosting
16 oz cream cheese
.5 C butter
2 C powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla

beets and potatoes

2008-10-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

This was an attempt to replicate the flavor of an Ethiopian dish that B and I love--beets with some potatoes mixed in. I haven't figured out yet what is missing from my version, but regular old beets and potatoes boiled with some salt and butter are still good.

beets & potatoes
10 small red potatoes
4-5 medium beets
2-3 TB beet water
1 TB butter
salt to taste

Boil the beets and potatoes (in separate pans) until tender. Chop and mix with salt and butter. Add water from the beets for a little extra color.

churros

2008-10-09T16:26:00.001-07:00

My sister needed to make a Spanish dish for a class project, so we made these together. I'm a little distrustful of random Internet recipes. The pictures look so good, but something goes missing in the transcription. This one, though, is a winner. It's quick, easy, and delicious. The churros are perfect--crispy outsides and creamy, custard insides. And they're adorable. Despite making a quadruple batch, we ran out of churros within minutes of frying the last plateful.

churros (from Dean Derhak's Real Spanish Food Recipes)

vegetable oil for frying, heated to 360 F
1 C water
.5 C butter
.25 tsp. salt
1 C flour
3 eggs, whisked until thoroughly mixed
.25 C sugar
.25 tsp. cinammon

1. Put water, butter, and salt in a pot and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Add flour, put heat on low, and stir until combined in sticky ball.
3. Whisk eggs into flour mixture until smooth.
4. Place in pastry bag with large star tip.
5. Pipe 4-6 churros (or as many as your pan can hold) into the hot oil.
6. Cook about two minutes (until golden) on each side.
7. Remove from oil, place on paper towels to briefly drain, and coat in cinnamon sugar while still warm.

Sam's gnocchi with tomato mozzarella artichoke sauce

2008-09-12T08:49:00.001-07:00

My friend Sam is one of those talented people who can throw together ingredients without a recipe and create a masterpiece. Recently, she taught me how to make gnocchi, and she served it with a wonderful tomato mozzarella artichoke sauce. This was my attempt to recreate the dish. My gnocchi came out perfect, light and tender. My rendition of Sam's sauce, however, left a lot to be desired.

Sam's sauce goes something like this--a bit of your favorite spaghetti sauce, heated. Dice several small tomatoes and add to sauce. Add garlic, and fresh basil and oregano with a touch of rosemary. Drain and cut a can of artichoke hearts. Add to sauce. Chop fresh mozzarella and add to sauce. Serve. Our version is below. We're going to have to make it a few more times to get it tasting right. It'll be worth the effort. The dish Sam made for us was one of the best meals we've had.

gnocchi
2 lbs potatoes, boiled, peeled, and riced
1.5 C flour

Mix potatoes with flour until dough is workable. Roll into several thin logs. Slice into coin-shaped pieces. Press with fork. Put in boiling water and cook until pasta floats to the top.

sauce
2 cans tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
1-3 cloves garlic, diced
fresh basil leaves
fresh oregano leaves
(or use Italian herb blend)
2-3 fist-sized balls of mozzarella, cut into chunks
1-2 cans artichokes, drained, and cut into chunks
5-8 roma tomatoes, cut into chunks

Briefly sautee garlic. Add tomato sauce and paste, with a bit of water. Add herbs and artichokes. When sauce is heated, add mozzarella. Allow to melt slightly. Serve.

apple-apple bread pudding

2008-09-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

When I was looking for a base to make the rosemary hazelnut bread pudding, I decided on this one. On looking at the list of ingredients, I thought it would be a shame to use this just as a base when it sounded so good. So I made a batch of this, as well. The caramelized apples with the apple butter just melt in your mouth. I wish I had a piece right now.

apple-apple bread pudding (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

caramelized apples 3 medium apples, peeled and cored (Dorie recommends Fujis or Galas; I used Granny Smith)
3 T butter
3 T sugar

12 oz. egg bread (I can never find brioche, so I used English toasting bread), sliced .5" thick
1 C spiced apple butter
3 C whole milk
1 C heavy cream
3 large eggs
5 large egg yolks
.75 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Butter a 9 x 13" baking pan, dust the inside with sugar, and tap out the excess. Line a larger roasting pan with a double thickness of paper towels.

Cut each apple in half from top to bottom, cut each half lengthwise into 6-8 slices, and then cut each slice in half crosswise.

Put a large skillet (preferably nonstick) over medium-high heat, add the butter, and when it melts, sprinkle over the sugar. Cook the butter and sugar for a minute or so--you want the sugar to caramelize but not burn, so adjust the heat accordingly. Toss in the apple slices--don't worry if the caramel seizes and lumps, it will melt and smooth out as you work--and cook, carefully turning the apples once or twice, until they are tender but not soft, 3-5 minutes. They should be golden, and some might even be caramelized. Transfer the apples and the liquid to a plate.
(I tore my bread into pieces before staling it, rather than retaining the whole slices.) If your bread is not stale, spread it out on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat and bake at 350 F to "stale" it for 10 minutes.

Spread one side of each slice of bread with the apple butter, then cut each slice on the diagonal to get 4 triangles. (I put my bread chunks and apple butter in a bowl and tossed them until they were coated.) Cover the bottom of the baking pan with half of the bread, arranging the triangles, buttered side up, so that they overlap slightly (don't worry about spaces between the slices). Spoon over the apples and their liquid and finish "the sandwich" with the rest of the bread.
Bring the milk and cream just to a boil.

Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat. (I skipped this step, as I couldn't find my roasting pan to be able to put my baking pan in it.) Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks, and the .75 C sugar. Still whisking, slowly drizzle in about one quarter of the hot milk mixture--this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining milk. Add the vanilla and whisk to blend. Rap the bowl against the counter to pop any bubbles that might have formed, then spoon off any foam that has risen to the top. Pour the custard over the bread and press the bread gently with the back of a spoon to help it absorb the liquid. Leave the pan on the counter, giving the bread the back-of-the-spoon treatment now and then, for about 30 minutes.
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F.

Put the baking pan in the roasting pan, slide the setup into the oven and very carefully pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the pudding pan. Bake the pudding for about 1 hour and 25 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. Transfer the baking pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

The pudding can be served as is or dusted with confectioners' sugar just before serving. Or, if you want to give the pudding a little gloss, put about .5 C apple jelly in a small pot with a splash of water. Heat until the jelly liquefies, then brush a thin layer over the top of the pudding.

the marzipan people

2008-09-07T23:19:00.001-07:00

My sister asked me to help her make a cake for a class project last spring. B and I stayed up basically all night making people and scenery for the cake. These are a couple of the people I made. Their bodies are marzipan and their clothes are fondant. I was particularly proud of the man's curly hair (you can't really see it here, though). I got a kick out of making the woman--I had to give her tentacles to give the train of her skirt more volume.

potjie

2008-09-02T19:56:00.001-07:00

This was another dish I ate at the Google cafe. I almost never cook beef--B and I both prefer chicken--but I enjoyed the tender meat with the flavor of the apricots so much I knew I had to have this again. I scoured the Internet until I found a similar-sounding recipe (although I may still beg our friend for the authentic Google recipe). Biltongmakers describes this as a "lovely" potjie. I couldn't agree more.

I did a little tweaking to the original recipe, and I'll do a little more next time. As we'd never heard of potjie before the Google trip, we didn't have a potjie pot. I just used a large pot. Next time, I'll use a crockpot. I left out the kidney because we're not kidney people. I also used a little under a pound of stew meat, because I didn't think about the math before I sent B to the store to buy the meat. If I used the proper amount of meat next time, I'll increase the amount of sauce, because I thought it was just perfect.

The recipe calls for the vegetables to be layered into the pot in the order the ingredients list gives them. This may work in a potjie pot, but it was not the best idea for a regular pot on the stove. I cooked our potjie for around an hour extra, and the cabbage still was not done. Next time, I'll cook the veggies in a more sensible order, adding them according to their individual cooking times. I also used fresh apricots, because our friend Z had just given us a bunch from her garden. I feel bad for using them in this dish, because they basically disintegrated. Occasionally, I would get a bite with a bit of apricot. They added a subtle flavor to the dish, but next time I'll use dried ones, so they'll hold up and give a more distinct flavor. I also omitted the sweet potatoes, because I don't like them. I may try them next time, though, as I thought that regular potatoes seemed out of place in this dish. Or maybe I'll just stir in some gnocchi before serving.
The recipe below is a combination of what I did last time and what I'm going to try next time, so the times may be a little off.

Beef and Veggies Potjie (adapted from Biltongmakers.com)

1 lb. stewing beef, cubed

2 medium onions, chopped

125 ml dried apricots, soaked in water for 1 hour

4 carrots, peeled and sliced

4 medium potatoes, peeled and halved

6 small zucchini, sliced

250 ml cabbage, chopped

1 tomato, peeled and sliced

30 ml dried parsley30 ml cooking oil

black pepper to taste

the sauce

125 ml sherry (the recipe calls for sweet; I used dry)

125 ml soy sauce

5 ml black pepper

3 ml dry mustard

1 ml dry rosemary

1 ml dry thyme

1 cube beef stock

500 ml boiling water

Don't add salt; there's plenty in the soy sauce.

1. Heat the oil in the pot cook the meat till almost brown.

2. Add the onions and brown together.

3. Mix the sauce and add it to the pot.

4. Stir well, cover with the lid and simmer for 1.5 hours.

5. Add the cabbage and cook for 30-60 minutes.

6. Add the carrots and cook for 30 minutes.

7. Add the dried apricots and the remaining vegetables, sprinkling some pepper over the tomatoes, and simmer until vegetables are soft (30-60 min).

prep time: 15-30 min.

cooking time: 3 hrs 15 min.-4 hrs 15 min.

bread pudding a la Google (rosemary hazelnut bread pudding)

2008-08-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

I particularly enjoyed this dessert when our friend and his wife took B and I to dinner at the Google campus, and I've been wanting more ever since.

I used Dorie's apple-apple bread pudding as a base and added rosemary and hazelnut. This is best served cold; I found the flavor too strong when it was warm. If I make this again, I'll decrease the amount of rosemary and probably strain the leaves out of the milk altogether.

Rosemary Hazelnut Bread Pudding
12 oz. stale bread, torn into 1/2" chunks
3 eggs
5 egg yolks
1 C heavy cream
3 C whole milk
leaves from 1.5" piece of rosemary
1.25 oz hazelnuts, roasted and skinned

Bring milk and cream to a boil. Remove from heat and steep rosemary in hot mixture. Whisk together eggs and egg yolks. Temper egg mixture with about 1/4 the hot milk mixture. Then whisk in the rest.

Toss bread and hazelnuts together and place in buttered 9" x 13" pan. Pour custard mixture over top, and let sit for thirty minutes, using a spoon to occasionally press down any protruding pieces of bread.

Heat oven to 325 F and bake for about an hour and 25 minutes, or until pudding passes the knife test.

prep time: 50 min.
cooking time: 1.5 hrs.

the vegetables

2008-08-12T22:10:00.000-07:00

The vegetables Zillah gave us. I think they're gorgeous.

chicken piccata

2008-08-10T23:08:00.001-07:00

My brother came over the other day to learn a dish to cook for a date. We had to have something without alcohol, as he's underage and can't buy it to cook with himself, and something that used chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, in the interest of time. I looked through New Best Recipes and chicken piccata was the first recipe I found that fit the bill. After reading the list of ingredients, I was expecting a light, sissified dish, the sort that comes with a few drops of lemon juice and olive oil and makes it so dieters can still eat at Italian restaurants. Which, as you probably already know, is not at all what chicken piccata tastes like. It was an explosion of sour, salty, smoky flavor. I was amazed that so much flavor was packed into the 1/3 C of sauce you're expected to divide between six servings. (We served ours with double helpings of sauce, and I'd still like to increase the portions.) This was an entirely enjoyable meal, and when my brother made it again for the rest of my family, all but one of my siblings loved it. No mean feat in a family where one child hates mashed potatoes, another hates hamburgers, and still another won't eat green vegetables.

chicken piccata (New Best Recipes, Cook's Illustrated)

2 large lemons
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (5-6 oz ea.), tenderloins removed and fat trimmed
salt and ground black pepper
.5 C flour
4 TB vegetable oil
a small shallot, minced, or 1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 C low-sodium chicken broth
2 TB small capers, rinsed
3 TB unsalted butter, softened
2 TB minced fresh parsley leaves

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position, set a large heatrpoof serving or dinner plate on the rack and heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Halve one lemon pole to pole. Trim the ends from one half and cut it crosswise into slices 1/8-1/4" thick; set aside. Juice the remaining half and whole lemon to obtain .25 C juice; reserve.
3. Sprinkle both sides of the cutles generously with salt and pepper. Measure the flour into a shallow aking dish or pie plate. Working with one cutlet at time, coat with the flour and shake to remove the ecxcess.

4. Heat 2 TB of the oil in a heavy-bottom 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. lay half of the chicken cutlets in the skillet. Saute the cutlets until lightly browned on the first side, 2 to 2.5 minutes. Turn the cutlets and cook until the second side is lightly browqned, 2 to 2.5 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the cutlets to the plate in teh oven. Add the remaining 2 TB oil to the now-empty skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the remaining chicken cutlets and repeat.

5. Add the shallot to the now-empty skilled and return the skillet to medium heat. Saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds (10 seconds for garlic). Add the broth and lemon slices, increase the heat to high, and sc rape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon or spatula to loosen the browned bits. Simmer until the liquid reduces to about 1/3 C, about 4 minutes. Add the reserved lemon juice and capers and simmer until the sauce reduces again to 1/3 cup, about 1 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the butter until it melts and thickens the sauce. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.

whole wheat bread

2008-08-10T14:09:00.001-07:00

Homemade whole wheat bread is one of my favorite things to eat, with its thin crust and tender but substantial middle. Mom always made this when I was growing up. On baking days, we'd have it for lunch, fresh from the oven.

whole wheat bread

4 C very warm water
1/8 C yeast
1/3 C oil
1/3 C honey
1 TB salt
1/8 C dough enhancer
11-12 C freshly ground wheat flour (white wheat, ground on finest setting)

Mix yeast and 6 C flour with water. Let sponge for 15 minutes. Add oil, honey, salt, and 5 C flour. Knead 6 minutes. Cover and allow to rise 30 minutes. Dump on floured surface. Cut into thirds, form loaves, and place in greased pans.

Preheat oven to 350. Place bread in pans on top of stove to rise 15 minutes. Then bake for 30-35 minutes.

vanilla pudding with fresh raspberries

2008-08-01T09:25:00.003-07:00

Among the vegetables Zillah sent home with us were a bunch of the best raspberries I've ever eaten. There is something magical about eating raspberries fresh off the bush in the middle of a garden at dusk. I ate half the berries on the way home and decided they were far too good to be baked. So I made pudding to serve with the rest, instead.

vanilla pudding (The Complete Book of Desserts, Martha Day)

3.75 C milk
1.5 C sugar
6 TB corn starch
3 egg yolks
6 TB unsalted butter, room temperature, cut in pieces
1 vanilla bean or 1 TB vanilla

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together sugar and cornstarch. Slowly mix in milk until smooth. Add vanilla bean if using. Heat on medium, whisking, until mixture begins to boil. Quickly whisk in egg yolks and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until smooth. If using vanilla, whisk in. Strain the pudding into a bowl and refrigerate.

sauteed kohlrabi

2008-08-01T09:25:00.001-07:00

Our generous friend Zillah recently gave us bundles and bundles of produce, fresh from her family's garden. (I'm going to post pictures soon, because it was just so pretty.) One of the things she gave us was a kohlrabi. I had no idea what it was or what I do with it, but I was delighted to get it because it looked like something from outer space.

We looked over some recipes and ended up deciding to simply saute it. We tried a few slices raw (reminded me of jicama), and then I fried up a few batches. I added garlic to one, garam masala to another, and just salted the rest. The garlic was overpowering, the garam masala was pleasant, and the salt was just right.

I'm not going to bother with a recipe here--just peel it, slice it, saute it to the desired tenderness, and season it with whatever makes you happy.

peach cobbler

2008-07-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

B isn't a sugar fiend the way I am, and he is frequently less enthusiastic than I'd like about the desserts I bake. He has, however, said he would enjoy a cobbler or crumble. And he likes peaches. So last night, we baked cobbler.

We were both happy with how it turned out. The biscuits were perfect--crispy on top and tender on the bottom. The peaches were wonderful. We did both prefer eating the peaches separately from the biscuits, but I think that's just because of the nature of peaches. I don't think they have enough flavor to stand up to a good sweet biscuit. When we ate them together, I found myself wishing for cinnamon and then for the peaches to be apples. But when we pulled them apart and plopped them both on ice cream, it was amazing.

Peach Cobbler (from New Best Recipes, Cook's Illustrated)

filling

2.5 lb peaches

.25 C sugar

1 tsp corn starch

pinch of salt

1 TB lemon juice

biscuits

3 TB sugar, plus 1 tsp

1 C flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

5 TB butter, sliced

plain whole-milk yogurt

Peel peaches and cut in half. Remove pits and clean out pit area. Cut each half into quarters. Place in bowl and gently toss with sugar. Let sit thirty minutes. Place in strainer and pour off juice. Reserve .25 C juice and discard the rest.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Mix cornstarch, salt, and lemon juice into the .25 C juice to make sauce. Place peaches in 8 x 8" glass pan. Bake until juice bubbles, about 10 minutes.

While peaches are baking, make biscuits. (Do not make biscuits early--leavening may not work correctly if you do.) Mix together the dry ingredients (except 1 tsp sugar) in food processor. Add slices of butter and pulse until mixture feels grainy. Place in bowl and stir in yogurt just until mixture forms dough. Overstirring will make tough biscuits.

When peaches are baked, remove from oven. Divide biscuits into six and place evenly around the pan (not touching--biscuits will expand). Bake 16-18 minutes.

total time: 1.5-2 hrs

mango lime cake

2008-07-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a light cake to take to some friends recently. Deb of Smitten Kitchen's mango lime wedding cake intrigued me, so I decided to make a genoise layer cake, filled with my generic cream cheese/whipped cream mix, soaked in lime syrup, and topped with mango curd.

This was the first time I'd made a genoise. I had a lot of fun doing it. Watching the whole, heated eggs whip up light and fluffy was like watching magic. I had no idea whole eggs could do that.

I made a couple of batches of this. The one I made my friends was a bit on the limey side. It was nice, but the mango wasn't as flavorful as I would have liked. To remedy this, I used less soaking syrup and cut the cream cheese filling back to half for the version I took to B's family reunion. This brought out the mango nicely. Next time, I'm going to try a 3/4 batch of cream cheese mix to give it a little more height.

Mango Lime Genoise

1 sheet of genoise

2 batches of mango lime curd

1 C lime soaking syrup

3/4 batch cream cheese/whipped cream filling

Makes two small cakes.

Assembly: Use a straight edge and a serrated knife to cut genoise into four equally sized rectangles. Spoon .75 oz lime soaking syrup over two bottom layers. Cover each with cream cheese mixture. Soak two top layers and place one on each bottom layer. Spoon on mango curd and smooth with a spatula.

Deb's Mango Curd
Adapted from Bon Appetit, June 1998

You will need two batches of curd for this cake. If you have a large processor, you can just double the batch. It's easier for me to make them separately.

Makes 1 to 1.5 cups

1 15-ounce ripe mango, peeled, pitted, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Pinch of salt

4 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. Puree mango with lime juice, sugar, and salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Add yolks; puree 15 seconds longer. Strain through sieve set over large metal bowl. Discard solids in sieve.

2. Set metal bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); whisk puree until thickened and thermometer registers 170°F., about 10 minutes. Remove from over water. Whisk in butter 1 piece at a time. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

genoise sheets (The Art of the Cake, Bruce Healy)

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk, at room temperature

6.5 oz granulated sugar

5.75 oz all-purpose flour

.33 oz potato starch

.75 oz unsalted butter, melted

1.Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the edges and diagonals of a large, heavy baking sheet with melted butter. Line with parchment paper. Brush the parchment with melted butter.

2. Combine eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in a stainless steel mixing bowl. Break up the yolks with a wire whisk and beat until smooth. Set over a saucepan of simmering water, and stir with the whisk until warm (about 100 F), frothy, and pale yellow.

3. Remove from simmering water, and whip at medium speed in the mixer until the batter has risen and cooled, becoming light and thick and almost white in color. It should coat your finger very thickly and form very slowly dissolving ribbons when dropped from the whip.

4. Sift the flour with the potato starch onto a sheet of wax paper. A little at a time, dust the mixture over the batter and fold it in very gently but thoroughly. When the flour and potato starch are compeltely incorporated, slowly pour the melted butter over the batter and continue folding gently until the butter is uniformly mixed with the batter.

5. Scoop the batter from the mixing bowl onto the prepared baking sheet, distributing it evenly. Spread and smooth the batter with a large icing spatula to completely cover the baking sheet in an even layer about 3/8" thick.

6. Bake until the top of the genoise is lightly browned and firm to the touch but not crusty, about 6-10 minutes.

7. Remove from the oven aloosen the edges of the genoise from the parchment using a small icing spatula. Slide the genoise off the baking sheet onto a wire rack. When it is no longer hot but still warm enough that the butter between the parchment and genoise hasn't solidified, place a second wire rack upside down on top of the sheet of genoise and turn the genoise upside down with both racks to transfer it to the second rack. Lift off the first wire rack. Carefully peel the parchment away from the back of the genoise, and place it clean side down against the genoise to protect the cake. Place the first wire rack ack on the sheet of genoise and turn it right side up again. Lift off the second wire rack, and allow the genoise to finish cooling.

*When baked in a thin sheet, the genoise dries very quickly. It is best used the same day as it is prepared.

soaking syrup

.5 C heavy syrup

.25 C lime juice

.25 C water

heavy syrup (The Art of the Cake, Bruce Healy)

2 C granulated sugar

1 C water

1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve all the sugar.

2. Cover and allow to cool.

cream cheese/whipped cream filling

2 packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 qt heavy whipping cream, chilled

2-3 TB vanilla

1-1.5 C sugar

Whip cream. Add vanilla and sugar to taste. Mix in cream cheese. Mix until smooth.

chocolate-filled sour cherry chocolate cupcakes

2008-07-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

I made these cupcakes for a work party. They're Dorie's chocolate cupcakes again, the same ones we made for the tea party. I loved addition of the ganache filling and the sour cherry in the icing. Next time, I'm going to either swap the icing for a buttercream or use mascarpone instead of cream cheese. I want the icing to be firmer and with a stronger sour cherry flavor.

chocolate-filled sour cherry chocolate cupcakes
cupcakes:
chocolate cupcakes (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)
1 C flour
1/4 unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cube unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 C sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Grease 2 miniature muffin tins and line with muffin cups. Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together dry ingredients (except sugar). Beat butter until soft and creamy. Add sugar and beat 2 min. Add egg, then yolk and beat for 2 min. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, mix in half dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and mix until incorporated.. Mix in remaining dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate.

Fill muffin cups with batter. Bake until cupcakes pass toothpick test.

ganache:
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
3 oz cream

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, in 10- or 20-second intervals. Heat cream in the microwave. Pour over chocolate and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate until an hour or so before using. Ganache should be at room temperature when you want to assemble the cupcakes.

icing:
1 pck cream cheese, room temperature
150 mL sour cherry juice, reduced to 50 mL
sugar to taste (1/2 C to 3/4 C, baking sugar)
whipped cream (1/2 C to 3/4 C)

Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. Icing should be refrigerated until you are ready to assemble the cupcakes. (This icing is on the thin side; you may want to adjust the proportions.)

Assembly: Just before serving, fill an icing bag (with a small tip) with ganache. Press tip into cupcakes and fill with a small amount of ganache.

Using another icing bag with a tip of your choice, pipe the icing onto the cupcakes. Serve immediately.

cauliflower

2008-07-05T10:46:00.002-07:00

We've been trying to work more vegetables into our diet, so I decided to make roasted cauliflower. I have no idea where he got this recipe--he just pulled up the first good-sounding one he found on Google--but it's the same as the one Elise uses on Simply Recipes, so we'll go ahead and call it hers.

This was a pleasant recipe. Not amazing, but hey, it involves a vegetable, so I wasn't really expecting amazing.

Elise's Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower
juice from 1 lemon
2-3 cloves minced garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper
parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Chop cauliflower. Toss with garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Place in one layer in a baking dish.

2. Bake 15-25 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with parmesan.

pea barley risotto

2008-07-05T10:46:00.001-07:00

I told B that I would cook some real dinner recently. Closet Cooking is his favorite food blog, so he requested that I make Kevin's pea barley risotto.

I thought that a whole onion would be overpowering, so I replaced it with a shallot. I like shallots better anyway. We prefer our grains softer than al dente, so I cooked the barley longer and added extra broth (I think I ended up using about twice as much). I'm also lazy, so I got bored after twenty or thirty minutes of stirring and wandered off. I think you're just fine to do this as long as you check up on the dish every few minutes and then stir it constantly at the end to keep it from burning. It may decrease the creaminess. I don't know, but I do know ours tasted delicious. We were feeling a little skittish, because the last risotto we made involved practically a whole bottle of wine and was so soused we couldn't eat it, so we tried a batch with wine and a batch without. The batch without wine was fine, but the batch with wine was so much better than I won't be making it any other way. I forgot to stir in the parmesan at the end, but it was great anyway. We liked this so much we stocked up on barley and white wine on our next shopping trip so we could have it all the time. So thanks, Kevin, for the recipe.

pea barley risotto, modified from Closet Cooking
1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot (chopped)
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 cup pearled barley
1/2 cup wine
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
1 tablespoon butter
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in large sauce pan.
2. Add shallots and saute until softened.
3. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add barley and stir to coat with the butter.
5. Add wine and stir until evaporated.
6. Add stock and stir occasionally, checking frequently.
7. When stock is nearly evaporated, check the texture of the barley. If it is still too firm, add more stock. When you like the texture, add the peas and continue to stir until stock is evaporated.
8. Add cheese, butter, salt, and pepper, and stir.

lazy caramel brownies

2008-06-28T22:48:00.001-07:00

I hate to go all Cake Doctor on you, but before I met Pierre Herme's recipes and learned what True Cooking was, I had this favorite brownie recipe. I'm sure you've seen some form of it online. You take a cake mix and throw in caramel and chocolate and marshmallows, and you get a chocolate confection that will put you in a diabetic coma. Being a sugar fiend and lazy, I modified it a bit. I increased the fillings, because if a little caramel is good, a lot is better, right? And I replaced the caramels + evaporated milk with plain old caramel sauce from a jar, because no one wants to spend half an hour unwrapping caramels.

This recipe comes with a warning: This is a *ton* of sugar. Too much for many people's taste. And you *cannot* serve it warm. You just can't. The brownies need to cool completely to room temperature to be good. If you serve them warm, not only are they ridiculously messy, but they taste much sweeter. To the point of being basically inedible. I made these for a sugar-eating contest with a friend this weekend and served them warm, and neither of us could get more than one of them down. When they're cold, I've single-handedly eaten a pan of them by myself in two days. They're that good.

caramel brownies
1 box chocolate cake mix, (the darker the better)
.66 C butter, melted
.33 C evaporated milk
1 C pecans, finely chopped or food processed until size of large crumbs
1 jar caramel ice cream topping
.5 bag mini marshmallows
.5 bag milk chocolate chips
.25 bag dark chocolate chips
handful of white chocolate chips (optional)

Mix the evaporated milk and melted butter into the cake mix until thoroughly combined. Add the nuts. Press 1/2 of dough into sprayed 9 x 13" pan. Bake about 6 minutes at 350. Sprinkle chocolate and marshmallows across crust. Pour caramel over top. Roll out remaining dough and press over the top. Bake about 15 minutes.

floating islands

2008-06-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

Carol Blymere's recent rendition of Thomas Keller's Iles Flottante reminded me that I'd been wanting to try Dorie Greenspan's version of this dessert.

I'd never made creme anglaise before, and I'd never poached anything, so I had fun trying this recipe. My creme anglaise turned out rather yellower and grainer (even after straining) than Dorie's beautifully smooth and white sauce, but it tasted great and added color to the dish, so I didn't mind. I had been afraid the islands would dissolve into a pan full of bubbles when I poached them, like the gnocchi I once tried to make, but they came out just fine. The dish as a whole was, well, really eggy. Without the caramel, it was nice, but not amazing. I decided to add the optional caramel.

I don't like hard caramel, but I topped the first servings with Dorie's caramel, just to give it a chance. And I still didn't like hard caramel, so I topped the next servings with generous portions of my honey caramel, and I loved it. The deep caramel flavor and the honey were just what the dish needed to give it some flavor, without sacrificing any of my fillings in eating it. Next time, I'd like to try a nice tart strawberry sauce in place of the caramel. (Or maybe with the caramel, although that seems weird. Maybe with a dark chocolate sauce instead of the caramel?)

Also, I had an unusual problem with my pictures this time. Normally, I take ten or twenty shots and spend half an hour deciding which is least ugly. This time, I couldn't decide which one I loved most--several of them actual looked edible. Many thanks to my husband for suggesting that I try a different lighting source.

Floating Islands
creme anglaise
2 C whole milk
6 large egg yolks
.5 C sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla

Bring the milk to a boil. Combine yolks and sugar in a heavy saucepan and whisk vigorously until thick and pale, 2-3 min. Temper yolks with a small amount of hot milk. Slowly add the rest of the milk while continuing to whisk. Put saucepan on medium-low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until custard thickens, lightens in color, and coats the spoon (up to around 10 min.)--if you run your finger down the spoon, the track should remain. The anglaise should be cooked until it reaches 180 F.

Immediately remove from heat, strain into a bowl, and add the vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap pressed against the surface. Chill thoroughly (best if at least overnight, up to three days).

islands
2 C milk
4 large egg whites, aged, at room temperature
pinch of salt
.25 C sugar
(makes 12)

Spread a clean kitchen towel on the counter near the stove and have a large slotted spoon at hand. Put the milk in a wide saucepan and bring to a simmer at low heat.

Beat whites on medium speed until foamy. Beat in salt. When eggs are opaque, increase speed to medium-high and add sugar 1 TB at a time. Whip until meringue is firm but satiny and still glossy.

Scoop up islands (about twice amount of egg) and lower into simmering milk, adding only as many as fit in the pan without crowding. (For smoother islands, transfer meringue between two large spoons a few times.) Poach for 1 minute. Gently turn over and poach 1 minute on the other side. Remove from milk and place on towel.

After cooking all islands, remove from towel and place on wax-paper lined sheet. Refrigerate 1-3 hours.

Dorie's caramel
.5 C sugar
.33 C water

Combine sugar and water in small, heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat, bring to a boil, and cook without stirring (swirling pan occasionally) until caramel turns a pale gold color (6-8 min.). Remove from heat and allow to cool just until thick enough to form threads when dropped from a fork. If it is too hard, rewarm slowly over low heat.

Pour creme anglaise onto plates. Place an island in the center and drizzle with caramel. Serve immediately.

tea party cupcakes

2008-06-08T21:27:00.001-07:00

My sisters came over for a tea party recently. My husband and I made these cupcakes for the party, and then my sisters helped me frost them. They are Oreo cream and Nutterbutter cream-topped chocolate cupcakes and white chocolate raspberry cream and strawberry cream-topped yellow cupcakes. Because we spent too long shopping, we threw the toppings on it a bit of a rush. I didn't have a big enough icing tip for the cookie crumbs to get through, so after the white chocolate raspberry, we gave up on making them cute and just slapped the whipped cream on. I liked this effect with the cookie crumbs, anyway.

chocolate cupcakes (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

1 C flour
1/4 unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cube unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 C sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C buttermilk
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled

Grease 2 miniature muffin tins and line with muffin cups. Preheat oven to 350.

Mix together dry ingredients (except sugar). Beat butter until soft and creamy. Add sugar and beat 2 min. Add egg, then yolk and beat for 2 min. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, mix in half dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and mix until incorporated.. Mix in remaining dry ingredients. Mix in chocolate.

Fill muffin cups with batter. Bake until cupcakes pass toothpick test.

yellow cupcakes (The New Best Recipes, editors of Cook's Illustrated)

1.5 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
.5 tsp salt
8 TB unsalted butter, softened
.5 C sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 yolks, at room temperature
1.5 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 mini muffin tins and line with muffin cups.

Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, sour cream, egg, yolks, and vanilla, and beat until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape sides of bowl with rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

Divide among muffin cups. (This may take more than two tins, I'm not sure.) Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and cupcakes pass toothpick test.

To top the cupcakes, I whipped a quart of whipped cream and added some vanilla. I left 1/4 unsweetened and added white chocolate raspberry ganache (1 lb. white chocolate, 1 bag of frozen raspberries food processed, simmered, and strained, and enough cream [started with 1/2 C] to make it goopy; I just added it to taste to the whipped cream). The white chocolate raspberry whipped cream needs work--more raspberry, less white chocolate. It came out tasting yogurty and not very raspberryish.

I sweetened the remaining whipped cream and divided it into equal parts. I stirred crushed Nutterbutters into one part, crushed Oreos into another, and food processed, heated strawberries into the last. The strawberries I used weren't very flavorful and didn't work well. The Nutterbutter and Oreo whipped creams were great, although they have to be eaten quickly or the cookie pieces go mushy.

fallen fairy cake

2008-06-08T21:22:00.001-07:00

When I was baking the fairy cake, I thought it would be fun to make a honey caramel, too. One of the fairy cakes fell rather drastically, so I topped it with the caramel instead of filling it with whipped cream. By itself, the honey caramel is a bit strong for my taste. On the cake, though, I enjoyed it.

honey caramel

.5 C honey

1 C sugar

1.25-1.5 C heavy cream

Heat honey in pan and allow to reduce and darken (15-20 min. on med. heat). Remove from heat and whisk in half of heavy cream. Heat sugar on medium heat without stirring until dark translucent patches start to appear. Quickly stir together and add first the honey and cream mixture and then the remaining cream. Whisk until mixed thoroughly. Remove from heat. Serve over fairy cake base.

fairy cake

2008-06-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Every time I see a recipe for fairy cake or hummingbird cake, I get visions of this light, airy, summery, ethereal cake. And then I read the list of ingredients and realize that, while the cake sounds good, it is nothing at all like what I'd hoped for. The problem is, I can't figure out what it is I want.

Every time I condition my hair with Joico (recommended to me by the girl who cut my hair last and totally not worth the money, incidentally), I think, I want to eat this.

When I was drinking a Henry Weinhardt vanilla cream soda the other day, these ideas collided and I realized that the light, airy cake I've been craving is a citrusy honey vanilla cake.

So I pulled out Chocolate Desserts and used the cocoa cake for a base recipe to make a honey vanilla orange lemon cake. I soaked it in a honey vanilla orange lemon syrup and filled it with vanilla and honey whipped creams. The cake fell a little, so it was tough, and the whipped cream was too sweet. I think next time I'm going to add more vanilla, cut most or all of the honey out of the soaking syrup, and leave the powdered sugar out of the honey whipped cream. If there is a next time. I may make the cake base again; I'm not sure if I'll fill it with whipped cream. It just wasn't hitting the spot.

Fairy Cake

honey vanilla cake (adapted from Cocoa Cake, Chocolate Desserts, Pierre Herme)

7/12 C cake flour, -1 TB

3 1/2 TB corn starch

5 1/2 TB unsalted butter

9 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 1/4 C sugar, -1 TB

1 TB honey

1 TB vanilla

1 drop lemon oil

2 drops orange oil

5 large egg whites, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Sift together flour and starch. Melt butter and set aside to cool to room temperature. Divide sugar in half. Beat egg yolks until pale and fluffy, adding one half of the sugar sugar a bit at a time. Beat in vanilla, orange oil, lemon oil, and honey. Clean beaters. Beat egg whites to a soft peak. Gradually add the remaining half of the sugar and beat until peaks are firm and shiny.

Fold the dry ingredients and 1/4 the beaten whites into the yolk mixture. Stir a few teaspoons of this mixture into the cooled melted butter, stirring to incorporate the butter as much as possible. Add the butter and remaining whites to the yolks. Quickly and gently fold everything together.

Pour batter into a buttered 8 3/4" cake pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Set cake aside to cool.

soaking syrup

6 oz water

2 drops lemon oil

2 drops orange oil

1 tsp honey

1 tsp vanilla

Mix all together. Heat briefly to ensure complete mixing. Set aside to cool.

honey and vanilla whipped creams

3 C heavy whipping cream4.5 tsp vanilla

1 TB honey

approximately 3/4 C powdered sugar

Beat whipping cream to soft peaks. Beat in 3 tsp. vanilla. Take 2 C of whipped cream and put in another bowl. Add app. 1/2 C powdered sugar and additional 1 tsp vanilla to larger bowl of whipped cream. Beat to firm peaks.

To 2 C of whipped cream, add 1 TB honey, 1/2 tsp vanilla, and app. 1/4 C powdered sugar. Beat until firm.

to finish:

Slice cake into 3 rounds. Soak each round with syrup before layering with whipped cream. On the bottom layer, spread vanilla whipped cream. In the middle, use the honey whipped cream. Finish the top with vanilla whipped cream.

madeleines

2008-06-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

I tried madeleines for the first time at a local store about a month ago. We went back to buy more two weeks ago but couldn't find any. When we inquired about them, an employee told us they were seasonal. I'm hard pressed to understand how a cookie is seasonal, but this gave me a good excuse to go buy madeleine pans.

traditional madeleines (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

2/3 C flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 C sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Rub lemon zest into sugar until sugar is fragrant. Add eggs and mix 2-3 minutes on medium, until pale, thick, and light. Beat in vanilla. Gently fold in dry ingredients with spatula. Fold in melted butter. Press plastic wrap against surface of batter. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or up to 2 days.

Butter and flour 12 full-size madeleine molds, tapping out extra flour. Fill with batter. Bake 11-13 min. at 400 F.

classic brownies

2008-06-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

One of B's bosses had a barbecue last night, so I made these brownies to bring. Fortunately, like most brownies, they were very forgiving. Somehow, I combined the butter, sugar, chocolate, and pecans but neglected to add the flour. (I really don't know what my deal is lately. I also almost wrecked the car yesterday--while B was driving.) I baked them fifteen minutes this way, realized what I'd done, and scraped them back out of the pan. I mixed them with the flour, baking powder, and salt and put them back in the oven, and they turned out just fine. Better than fine, actually. These are great brownies.

Classic Brownies (The New Best Recipe, Cook's Illustrated)

1 C pecans, chopped medium
1.25 C plain cake flour
.5 tsp salt
.75 tsp baking powder
6 oz unsweetened chocolated, chopped fine
12 TB unsalted butter, cut into six pieces
2.25 C sugar
4 large eggs
1 TB vanilla

Toast nuts on a baking sheet 5-8 minutes at 325 F. Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Do not allow butter to separate. When melted, remove from heat and stir in sugar. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder.

Spray 9 x 13" pan with vegetable oil and line with foil. (The CI folks claim this is to make the brownies easier to remove. It sort of seems like a waste of time to me.) Pour brownie batter into pan. Sprinkle nuts on top. (This is to prevent them from being steamed during baking.) Bake 30-35 minutes at 325.

tomato pesto sandwiches

2008-05-20T23:32:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't done any baking yet this week, I bring you tonight's dinner: tomato pesto sandwiches with havarti on toasted bread.

We live off tomato sandwiches in one form or another, as I'm always too busy cooking dessert to bother with dinner.

lemon brulee (sugar-high friday)

2008-05-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

I made lemon brulee and lemon tart for a work potluck today. The lemon tart didn't survive my post-midnight baking tactics, so I'll save that one to post another time. The lemon brulee was a little battle scarred, the crust having been forgotten in the oven while I was out buying extra cream cheese, but it still tasted good. I made extra crust this time, so I made a couple of minis in ramekins.

This is going to be my first contribution to Sugar-High Friday. It's lemon cream on a soft cheesecake filling with a shortbread crust. The whole thing is finished with a bit of bruleed demerara sugar.

Lemon Brulee

Shortbread (from The New Best Recipe, by the editors of Cook's Illustrated):

1.75 C unbleached, all-purpose flour
.25 C rice flour
.66 C superfine sugar (baking sugar)
.25 tsp salt
16 TB unsalted butter, cold

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Mix dry ingredients. Cut butter into pieces. Cut or rub into dry ingredients, using pastry cutter, food processor, or fingers. Stop when you have a bowl of pea-sized crumbs. Press into 9 x 13” pan.

Place in oven. Immediately turn heat down to 300 F. Bake for 40-60 minutes, until pale golden in color.

Filling:

2 packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 qt heavy whipping cream, chilled
4 tsp vanilla
1-1.5 C sugar

Whip cream. Add vanilla and sugar to taste. Mix in cream cheese. Mix until smooth. Spread over cooled shortbread.

Lemon cream (from Baking, by Dorie Greenspan):

1 C sugar
zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
.75 C fresh-squeezed lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)
2 sticks + 5 TB unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into TB-sized pieces

Rub zest into sugar until sugar is fragrant. Mix in lemon juice. Add eggs and mix thoroughly. Put in metal bowl over a pot of boiling water and whisk constantly until mixture thickens and reaches 180 F. Whisk will leave tracks in cream at this point. Remove bowl from pot. Pour cream through strainer (to remove zest and any egg bits that didn’t mix properly) into blender. Allow to cool about 10 minutes. Add butter pieces and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the blender occasionally.

Spread over filling. (This layer will be very thin, so spread carefully.)

Chill for a couple of hours. Before serving, sprinkle with demerara sugar and brulee sugar with torch. (You can probably stick it very briefly under the broiler if you don’t have a torch. I haven’t tried it, though.)

cream of spinach soup and creamy rosemary potato soup

2008-05-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had the best soup ever last night. I hate spinach, but I love cream of spinach soup. I had it for the first time at a little bakery while we were on our honeymoon. I eat it every chance I get. Unfortunately, the bakery once serves it once a week, on a Tuesday or Wednesday, when it's usually impossible for us to drive out there. I've been meaning to learn to make it for months now, but I'm always intimidated by cooking real food. Moreover, when I get home from work, I'm starving and I want something that tastes good *now*, not something that might taste good in an hour or two. So I almost never cook dinner. We live on tomato sandwiches, toast, and cold cereal.

Anyway, I picked up some spinach last week, intending to make soup on the weekend. I just never got around to it, though. Hanging out with B and J and eating curry and then celebrating Mother's Day all sounded like more fun than cooking soup.

Last night, though, I had a major craving for cream of spinach soup. So I decided to give it a try. I pulled out my faithful America's Test Kitchen Best Recipes and was dismayed to find that they had no cream of spinach soup and no real cream soups to speak of. I decided to give my Julia books a try, even though my irrational fear of Julia's recipe is far greater than my irrational fear of cooking dinner.

If all of Julia's recipes are as straightforward as that soup, my fears were entirely unfounded. I have never cooked a dinner that was so fast and easy and tasted so good. A little sauteeing, a little boiling, a little mixing, and I had a wonderful, creamy, buttery bowl of spinach soup, every bit as good as the bakery's. It was so easy that I went ahead and used the base to make a batch of rosemary potato soup, as well. Julia's recipe says it serves six, so I doubled both batches.

Cream of Spinach Soup (Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, Julia Child)

5 TB butter
1/3 C onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
3-4 C spinach leaves, chiffonaded
5 1/2 C chicken stock, boiling
3 TB flour
2 egg yolks
1/2 C cream

Saute onion in 3 TB butter until soft and translucent but not browned. Add spinach leaves and salt. Cover and cook on low until wilted, about 3 minutes. Stir in flour and cook over medium for 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in chicken broth.

Mix together egg yolks and cream in large bowl. Temper by whisking in 1 C of hot soup. Whisk in remaining soup in a steady stream. Finish by mixing in remaining 2 TB of butter (should be room temperature). (If you are planning to serve soup cold, do not add remaining butter.)

Rosemary Potato Soup (adapted from Julia Child's cream of spinach soup)

5 TB butter
1/3 C onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
6 regular potatoes, peeled
3 TB flour
5 1/2 C chicken stock, boiling
2 egg yolks
1/2 C cream
2-3 tsp. fresh rosemary (or to taste)

Saute onion in 3 TB butter until soft and translucent but not browned. Stir in flour and cook over medium for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Chop two of the potatoes into chunks. Cook in broth until soft. Remove from broth. Rice into onion mixture. Add salt. Mix well.

Slice remaining potatoes and add to broth. Add rosemary. Cook until potatoes are soft.

Gradually whisk about half of the broth into the potatoes. Pour this into the remaining broth and stir.

curry and caramel-peanut-topped brownie cake

2008-05-11T21:51:00.000-07:00

B and I got together to make dinner this weekend. We made massaman curry and Dorie's caramel-peanut-topped brownie cake.

The curry was great. The cake was okay. I really liked the salty peanut caramel topping on the cake--it reminded me of the caramel and peanut wrapped nougat bars I used to eat as a kid. The cake itself was remarkably blah. It's entirely possible that I'm just too accustomed to eating rich foods and I've deadened my tastebuds or something. But it just didn't do anything for me. Its entire purpose was to provide a place to put the caramel; the cake tasted like neither chocolate nor brownie to me. It was a cinch to make, though, and since the caramel provided flavor, it was an okay dessert.

I melted the butter and chocolate while B did everything else. Then B made the curry while I made the caramel topping.
Since I'm not confident in my caramel-making skills quite yet, I brought along a strainer to take care of any lumps or burned bits. The caramel came out nicely, with only a few small lumps. (I think next time I'll skip the water, since you have to boil it out anyway.) I threw the peanuts on top of the cake and then we poured the caramel through a strainer onto the peanuts. (Dorie says to stir the peanuts into the caramel, then spoon them back onto the cake, pour on the caramel you want, and save the rest for later. My pan is bigger than 8", though, so we used all the caramel. And adding peanuts to caramel just to spoon them back out immediately seems like a waste of time, so I didn't bother with it.)

caramel-peanut-topped brownie cake (Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

cake:
1 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 sticked unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
1/2 C (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
3 TB light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

topping:
2 C sugar
1/2 C water
1 1/2 TB light corn syrup
2/3 C heavy cream
2 TB unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C salted peanuts

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter an 8" round springform pan.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

Heat butter and chocolate together in a double boiler until just melted (do not let butter separate).

Whisk togther eggs and sugars until well blended. Whisk in corn syrup, then vanilla. Whisk in butter and chocolate. Gently stir in dry ingredients with whisk until just incorporated. Pour batter in pan and jiggle to even out batter.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until cake passes knife test (there may be a few moist crumbs on knife).

Transfer pan to a rack and cool for 15 minutes. Then remove side of pan (you may need to run a blunt knife around the edge). Cake may sink; this is normal. Cool to room temperature. When completely cool, remove bottom of pan. Return cake to pan and refasten sides.

Put sugar, water, and corn syrup in a medium heavy-bottom saucepan. Stire to combine. Place over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring, until caramel turns deep amber, 5-10 minutes. As sugar is caramelizing, wipe down splatters on the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.

Lower the heat a bit and add the cream and butter, standing back from the pan to avoid being splattered. After splattering subsides a little, stir to dissolve lumps. Stir in peanuts and pour caramel and peanuts into a heatproof container.*

Pour mixture over cake. Allow topping to set at room temperature about 20 minutes before serving.

Mother's Day chocolates

2008-05-09T22:02:00.000-07:00

I made homemade chocolates for the first time for Christmas last year, and I thought it would be fun to make more for Mother's Day and mail some to Mom-in-Law and Mum-in-Law, since we didn't plan far enough in advance to send them any for Christmas.

I decided to make the process easier this time by making the ganache fillings farther in advance (and making plenty extra) since they have to be frozen anyway. I made the following flavors:

plain milk chocolate
milk chocolate coconut
milk chocolate strawberry
milk chocolate cardamom
milk chocolate earl grey
milk chocolate jasmine
milk chocolate chai
milk chocolate buttermilk
milk chocolate hazelnut
milk chocolate balsamic
milk chocolate lemon
milk chocolate rum

white chocolate strawberry
white chocolate raspberry
white chocolate chai

plain dark chocolate
dark chocolate buttermilk
dark chocolate raspberry

dark chocolate balsamic

It was an interesting experiment. I learned many things. The biggest being that I still am not tempering my chocolate correctly, as it develops little spots that make it look like aliens with the plague. I also learned that white chocolate ganache is marvelously easy to handle if you skimp just a touch on the cream. White chocolate ganache that is creamier, though, makes pleasantly gooey fillings, even though it's nearly impossible to freeze sufficiently or to handle when dipping. Ditto on the rum ganache. (The white chocolate raspberry and milk chocolate rums came looking rather monstrous. They were also the tastiest chocolates by far.) Milk ganache without enough cream refused to be molded. The earl grey came out nicely; the jasmine and chai were a bit strong for my taste. (All three were done two bags to half a cup cream.) The cardamom was pleasant (ten pods to half a cup cream, nuked repeatedly for brief bursts). Buttermilk was nice in milk chocolate but not in dark. Balsamic came out tasting too sweet. (What my husband learned from this process: Balsamic vinegar is not for drinking.) The lemon milk chocolate was very nice. The coconut remains one of my favorites. Imitation strawberry flavoring is horrid; strained, pureed raspberries are wonderful.

I apologize for not including recipes; I just sort of throw these together, so some of the consistencies are a bit off, and I have no idea how much of anything is going in. I'm going to start keeping track, though, so someday when I have things figured out, I'll post proportions.

This one was my favorite. I think it looks like a gargoyle.

cranberry upside-down cake

2008-04-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

I love cranberries and buy them any chance I get. The dried ones I devour immediately. The fresh ones, though, I buy and then leave in the fridge and eventually throw out, because I don't know what one does with fresh cranberries, and I'm usually feeling too lazy to make a smoothie. (For some reason, while I'm willing to spend hours and hours on a cake, a smoothie or shake seems impossibly inconvenient. If I'm to have one, I have to bribe my husband into making them for me.) This time, though, I discovered something cranberry I wanted to bake--Dorie's Cranberry Upside-Down cake. I cross my fingers and went to the fridge to check out the cranberries. There were a few bad ones, but most of them still looked quite good, considering I'd had them for three or four months. So I washed them off and started on the cake.

I was delighted by the simplicity of the recipe. (I suspect I'll be saying this a lot--my favorite cakes come from Pierre's Chocolate Desserts, and with my amateur baking skills, none of them are simple.) The base is a small, mild spice cake. The topping is cranberries and pecans pressed into a mixture of sugar and butter brought to a boil and then poured into the bottom of the pan. After baking, you top the cake with red currant jelly. (Which was another delight--I'm a bit of a compulsive grocery shopper, so I've had red currant jelly in the cupboard for months with no specific plans for it. But suddenly, I had a recipe that called for red currant jelly [which I hadn't noticed until B pointed it out to be after the cake was done], and lo and behold, I had the jelly on hand. It is moments like this that reinforce my bad shopping habits.) The overall effect was that of a nice coffee cake.

We ate the cake while it was still warm. B didn't care for it--he doesn't like sour things, squishy things, having nuts in a dessert, and most spice cakes. I, however, loved it. The crackling sugar, the crunchy nuts, the plump, squashy berries, the soft cake, and the contrast of sweet and tart, balanced with the background flavor of cake. It tastes like Christmas, and I could happily eat it for breakfast every day.

I could happily eat this for breakfast every day. I'm sad knowing that after I use my last few cranberries (only half as many as I need), I won't get any more of this cake until fall, since I haven't been doing the smart thing that Dorie does and stashing bags of cranberries in my freezer while they're in season.

Cranberry Upside-Downer (Baking from My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan)

1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C minus 2 TB sugar
1/4 C chopped walnuts or pecans
2 C cranberries--fresh or frozen (do not thaw if frozen)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/3 C whole milk
1/3 C red currant jelly, for glazing

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put an 8 x 2" round cake pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in 6 tablespoon of sugar and cook, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil. Pour this evenly over the bottom of the cake pan, then scatter over the nuts and top with the cranberries, smoothing the layer and pressing it down gently with your fingertips. (If you've used frozen berries and they've caused the butter to congeal, don't worry--everything will melt in the oven.) Set aside.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining stick (8 TB) of butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the remaining 1/2 C sugar and continue to beat until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition and scraping down the bowl as needed. Pour in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add half of the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. mix in the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Spoon the batter over the cranberries and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake is golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove it from the oven and run a blunt knife between the sides of the pand and the cake. Carefully turn the cake out onto a serving platter. If any of the berries tick to the pan, just scrap them off with a table knife and return them to the cake.

Warm the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat, or do this in a microwave oven. Gently brush the glaze over the hot cake.

corn muffins

2008-04-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

Because my husband loves corn muffins, I decided I'd give Dorie's recipe (from Baking) a try. Neither of us likes chunks of corn in our cornbread, so I left out the can of corn and skimped a little on the flour to compensate for the left out moisture. I also didn't use corn oil, just plain old vegetable oil. So mine weren't really the corniest corn muffins.

The muffins were quick and easy to make, and we both liked the flavor. They weren't quite as sweet as we like our cornbread, so I'll probably add more sugar next time. It's hard to really judge them, though. I ate one, my husband ate one, and the dog stole the rest out of the bag while we were in bed. (Our dogs love muffins, and they have quite a talent for extracting them from small holes in packages.)

Corniest Corn Muffins (adapted from Baking, Dorie Greenspan)

1 C all-purpose flour
1 C yellow cornmeal
6 TB sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C buttermilk
3 TB unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 TB oil
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk

Center a rack in the oven. Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in one regular-size muffin pan or use paper muffin cups. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, oil, egg, and yolk together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough--the batter will be lumpy. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 14 to 18 minutes, or until muffins pass the knife test. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins.

chocolate caramel slice

2008-04-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

I've been eying a chocolate caramel slice recipe in a book from mum-in-law for a year now. This week, I finally made it for a party . It's a very straightforward recipe. A shortbread crust, a thick layer of caramel, and a tiny layer of three kinds of chocolate, poured in stripes and then marbeled. I had my doubts--could any shortbread recipe compared to that of the America's Test Kitchen's New Best Recipes? Would the miniscule amount of chocolate even be noticeable?

The shortbread came together quickly. I had some issues with the caramel--it never got quite as dark as I wanted it to, yet I ended up with a pan full of burned bits. Thank goodness for strainers. Nor did the milky caramel taste quite as strong as I wanted it to. The chocolate worked out just fine, although I didn't smooth the caramel layer as thoroughly as I'd've liked.

When I tried the slice, I was pleasantly surprised. The shortbread was just fine. The caramel had a pleasant texture and a nice, quiet flavor. The small amount of chocolate prevented it from overwhelming the caramel. I'll definitely be making these again, although I'll increase the amount of chocolate just a bit, and perhaps use my beloved ATK shortbread recipe.

I also, uh, dropped my camera in a ramekin full of melted chocolate taking these pictures:

Marbled Caramel Chocolate Slice (Cookies, Catherine Atkinson et al.)

Base:
2 1/4 C flour
scant 1/2 C superfine sugar
3/4 C sweet butter, softened

Filling:
7 TB sweet butter, diced
scant 1/2 C light brown sugar
2 x 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk

Topping:
3 1/2 oz semisweet chocolate
3 1/2 oz milk chocolate
2 oz white chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line and lightly grease a 13 x 9" jelly roll pan. Put the flour and superfine sugar in a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Work with your hands until the mixture forms a dough.

2. Put the dough into the prepared pan and press it out with your hand to cover the base. Then use the back of a spoon to smooth it evenly into the pan. Prick all over with a fork and bake for about 20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and very light brown. Set aside and leave in the pan to cool.

3. To make the filling, put the butter, brown sugar and condensed milk into a pan and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Stirring constantly, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the mixture very gently, stirring constantly, for about 5-10 minutes, or until it has thickened and has turned a caramel color. Take care that the mixture does not burn on the base of the pans, as this will spoil the flavor. Remove from the heat.

4. Pour the filling mixture over the cookie base, spread evenly, then leave until cold.

5. To make the topping, melt each type of chocolate separately in a microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of hot water. Spoon lines of semisweet and milk chocolate over the set caramel filling.

6. Add small spoonfuls of white chocolate. Use a skewer to form a marbled effect on the topping.

macarons

2008-04-09T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last night, I tried making Pierre Herme's macaroons (from that most wonderful of books, Chocolate Desserts). As you can tell from my choice of verb, I failed. But this was the tastiest failure I've had in the kitchen.

The process:

I separated the eggs, putting the whites in a bowl and then putting that bowl in a bowl of hot water to bring the whites to room temperature more quickly. While they were warming up, I started making my almond flour. Pierre recommends putting the confectioner's sugar and cocoa in the food processor with the almonds. (I didn't have confectioner's sugar, so I just used powdered sugar. And admittedly, I was sloppy about measuring it.) The sugar prevents the almonds from turning to butter from you grind them. You're supposed to grind the almonds for three to five minutes to get them fine enough. Then you push everything through a medium sieve (strainer? can't remember).

Well, it took me closer to half an hour to grind my almonds. The problem is that I simply don't have a big enough food processor to fit all of that in at once and get it to grind the almonds effectively. So after grinding everything in batches, mixing it together, and discovering the almonds were still quite gritty, I sifted the sugar and cocoa back out into a separate bowl, and dumped the almonds in in small batches. They did end up a bit buttery, but I just rubbed the paste through the mesh and it worked well.

As directed, I ran my metal bowl under warm water to heat it up for the egg whites. I whipped them on low until they were quite foamy, then turned up the speed and beat them to not-quite-hard peaks. I stirred in the dry ingredients, and that was where I began to worry. There were an awful lot of dry ingredients. But Pierre's instructions said not to be afraid of this, just to add them all. So I did. But instead of coming out thin and cake batter-like, my macarons were fairly thick. Not quite brownie batter, but much thicker than cake.

I scooped the batter into a pastry bag. Since the directions didn't specify tip size and I had no idea [edit: only, turns out, it is actually included in the recipe--I'm going to be learning a lot about why my baking fails by typing out the recipes], I decided to leave the bag with no tip. This was a bad idea—the batter dripped out one end while I was putting it in the other. I was to pipe 1" circles onto parchment covered insulated baking sheets. Or, lacking insulated baking sheets, I was to stack baking sheets one on top of the other. However, I could only find two of my baking sheets, so I had entirely uninsulated sheets. I tried piping rounds. I think I got at least one that was a circle 1" in diameter. Then there were ovals of 2.5" x 2" and large circles and a bunch of run-together batter. And they were all flat as can be (not unlike the divinity I made as a kid, actually). This did not bode well. The next step was to knock the air out of the macarons to create the feet. There was no air to be knocked out of these, but I figured I might as well follow the directions. Which would have worked much better if I'd finished reading them.

After preheating the oven to 425 while the cookies set up, the cookies go in for 10-12 minutes. You immediately turn the oven down to 350 and prop the door slightly ajar with a wooden spoon. Well, I missed that part. So my first batch of cookies baked for several minutes at 425. They were not only flat but a bit cracked and crunchy, with parchment paper stick to the tops of a few where I'd forgotten to trim it. Fortunately, I had read the directions before baking the second batch, so they turned out softer. But none had feet or little domes. Most of them looked like overbaked homemade oreos. A few were slightly puffy.

The next step is to pour hot water under the parchment paper to loosen the cookies from it and make them a bit soft. This step made me nervous. Shouldn't this result in soggy cookies? Well, I tried it, and except for where I got distracted and poured the water on the parchment instead of under, it resulted in nice, soft cookies that came off the parchment nicely.

I filled my little misfits with milk chocolate coconut-flavored ganache that I had pulled out of the freezer intending to throw out. It had been there since Christmas and I thought it would be freezer burned. Luckily, I tasted it before throwing it out. It went nicely with the cookies, which had a pleasant chewy feel and only a few bits of noticeably gritty almond. I've never eaten macarons, so I don't know how far off mine were in texture. We enjoyed them, though. Only two lasted long enough to get the overnight in the fridge treatment Pierre says they need.

Chocolate Macaroons (Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme, Dorie Greenspan)

1 1/3 C finely ground almond powder
2 C + 2 TB confectioner's sugar
1/4 C Dutch-processed cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona, plus more for dusting
1/2 C egg whites

1. Line two large insulated baking sheets with parchment paper, or line two regular baking sheets and put each one on top of another baking sheet. Fit a large pastry bag with a plain 3/8-in. or 1/2-in. tip. Set these aside for the moment.

2. If you've got almond powder, just sift it with the confectioners' sugar and cocoad. If you're starting with almonds, place the almonds, sugar, and cocoa in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until the mixture is as fine as flour, at least 3 minutes. Stop after every minute to check your progress and to scrape down the sides of the bowl. This is not a quick on-and-off operation. Although the almonds may look as though they're pulverized after a minute or so, they won't be: The nuts really need 3 to 5 minutes to be ground to a powder or flour. When the almonds are ground, using a wooden spoon, press the mixture through a medium strainer.

3. For this recipe to succeed, you need 1/2 of egg whites, which means using 3 large egg whites plus part of a fourth white. The easiest way to get a portion of a white is to put the white into a cup, beat it lightly with a fork, and then measure out what you need. once the eggs are measured, they need to be brought to room temperature so they can be beaten to their fullest volume. You can leave the whites on the counter until they reach room temperature, or you can put them into a microwave-safe bowl and place them in a microwave oven set on lowest power; heat the whites for about 10 seconds. Stir the whites and continue to heat them--still on lowest power--in 5-second spurts until they are about 75 F. If they're a little warmer, that's okay. To keep the eggs warm, run the mixer bowl under hot water. Dry the bowl well, pour the whites into the bowl, and fit the mixer with the whisk attachment.

4. Beat the egg whites at low to medium speed until they are white and foamy. Turn the speed up to high and whip them just until they are firm but still glossy and supple--when you lift the whisk, the whites should form a peak that droops just a little. Leave the whites in the mixer bowl or transfer them to a large bowl and, working with a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients gently into the whites in three or four additions. It will seem like a lot of dry ingredients to go into a relatively small amount of whites, but keep folding and you'll get everything in. Don't worry if the whites deflate and the batter looks a little runny--that's just what's supposed to happen. When all the dry ingredients are incorporated, the mixture will look like a cake batter; if you lift a little with your finger, it should form a gentle, quickly falling peak.

5. Spoon the batter into the pastry bag and pipe it out onto the prepared baking sheets (to keep each sheet of paper steady, "glue" it down by piping a bit of batter at each corner of the baking sheet): Pipe the batter into rounds about 1 in. in diameter, leaving about an inch between each round. (Because you're going to sandwich the baked cookies, try to keep the rounds the same size.) When you've piped out all the macaroons, lift each baking sheet with both hands and then bang it down on the counter. Don't be afraid--you need to get the air out of the batter. Set the baking sheets aside at room temperature for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven.

6. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 F.

7. You should bake these one pan at a time, so dust the tops of the macaroons on one pan with cocoa powder and slide one of the sheets into the oven. As soon as the baking sheet is in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350 F and insert the handle of a wooden spoon into the oven to keep the door slightly ajar. Bake the macaroons for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they are smooth and just firm to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and turn the oven heat back up to 425 F.

To remove the macaroons from the parchment--they should be removed as soon as they come from the oven--you will need to create moisture under the cookies. Carefully loosen the parchment at the four corners and, lifting the paper at one corner, pour a little hot water under the paper onto the baking sheet. The water may bubble and steam, so make sure your face and hands are out of the way. Move the parchment around or tilt the baking sheet so that the parchment is evenly dampened. Allow the macaroons to remain on the parchment, soaking up the moisture, for about 15 seconds, then peel the macaroons off the paper and place them on a cooling rack.

8. When the oven is at the right temperature, repeat with the second sheet of macaroons. Remove from the parchment as directed above.

[edit: As my husband so helpfully demonstrated, you can bring this recipe to a whole new level by reading the egg white section in a seductive voice.]