Sherry Trifle

World Peace Cookies

2009-02-09T17:26:00.001-08:00

My cookies are only a week late! I feel I'm slinking in through a hole in the fence but I just had to make the World Peace Cookies after seeing them last week on all the TWD blogs.

They are quite seductive - perfect for close on Valentine's Day - the cookie version of molten chocolate cakes. They are also very easy to make. I think I'll get the real Fleur de Sel for my next indulgence - I used sea salt but there is so little in 1/4 teaspoon you don't get to taste the salt with each cookie.

No more ado - must just put them in a container and take them to the office for my co-workers. I have a feeling they are going to go very fast. For the recipe, just check it out on Jessica's blog, Cookbookhabit .

Assorted Pastries for a Reception

2009-02-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

I didn't get to making the World Peace Cookies for TWD this week as I catered mini-pastries for a reception at my Church on Monday evening (almost 300 pastries) so I'll put the World Peace Cookies on my list for a re-run. Sorry about missing TWD but I'm a bit baked-out.

This was my menu:
Dorie's Buttery Jam Cookies
Dorie's Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes (mini version)
Lemon cream tartlets using Dorie's Pate Sucre
Chocolate Mocha mini cookies

Does any of these sound familiar? Thanks to our wonderful TWD group and Dorie's recipes I was able to pull off this baking feat. I did manage to take a pic of all but the lemon tartlets. I got lots of complements and each of the cookies got named as a favorite by different guests. It was all so exciting and rewarding.

Next TWD I'm doing will be the cover cake, so I will learn to make yet another beautiful confection.

Tuiles - Daring Bakers

2009-01-28T18:26:00.000-08:00

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

This was a fun and light challenge - just as well after the December French Yule Log which quite wore me out! I was a lazy artist as far as making templates of tuiles went - I bought mine from Kerekes in Brooklyn, aka "Paradise." They had all sorts of wonderful tuile templates lined up in boxes against the counter wall and I actually bought not one, but four.

The two I picked for the Challenge were the butterfly and the large flower. The recipe was easy and I applied the dough with an offset spatula onto the tuile shapes. I was as happy as a kid doing arts and crafts class. After baking, the tuiles were easy to mold - I used my rolling pin. Then the most exciting part of all - brushing on petal dust; now I really felt like a kid again - it was most enjoyable.

Oh dear, oh dear, though, I chose to make a blancmange for the dessert part and picked a recipe for a plain simple vanilla blancmange from somewhere on the web - it really turned out so dull and boring. Oh well, as least it served as a backdrop. I also tried raspberry coulis, but it turned out more like a blob of raspberry jam. I think if I had served this dessert to anyone but myself that person would have kept the tuiles for a decoration and sent the rest back to the kitchen. But that doesn't really matter; it was all about tuiles wasn't it?

Thank you Karen and Zorra for this delightful challenge; I will be using my tuile templates again for sure.

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread - Tuesdays with Dorie

2009-01-24T03:23:00.000-08:00

Sunday night - A nice cake to make. The process was quite straightforward, except perhaps for the finely chopped ginger root. I tried chopping it in my coffee grinder but it came out too full of liquid, so I just chopped it with a knife. It's stringy and does not respond well to being cut into tiny pieces - I have a feeling that people are going to get little chunks of ginger with string in their portions. I did not use the ginger in syrup - I thought it would be too much.

Of course, I believed I had Grandma's Molasses but it turned out I only had blackstrap so that meant a quick trip to the store about 4 blocks away. After that putting it together went very breezily. I baked it for 40 minutes before testing with a fine knitting needle - it came out with lots of batter on it, so I went for 50minutes. Now I think it might be a bit overdone! Oh well, as long as it tastes good.

I've just sampled a small piece that fell off the bottom of the cake when I turned it out - it does not seem to be very sweet and has a strong molasses (somewhat bitter) taste. Hopefully it will settle down tomorrow before we eat it on Tuesday. Right now I'm thinking of real English Gingerbread Loaf Cake with Lyons Golden Syrup (like my mother and grandmother used to make)- it was sweet and absolutely divine.

Monday evening - Finished the chocolate ganache part. It set very quickly and looks quite glossy. I sprinkled the top with mini crystallized ginger morsels.

I'm really looking forward to it tomorrow, posting day. I'm the "Chooser" this week so here's Dorie's recipe:

Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

For the Cake
2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate - 2 ounces melted and cooled, 4 ounces finely chopped
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon finely chopped stem ginger in syrup (available in Asian markets and supermarkets; optional)

For the Icing
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon strong coffee
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

Getting Ready:Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan and put it on a baking sheet. (Pan must be a full 9-inch square size or batter will overflow - measure first).

To Make the Cake: Put the fresh ginger and sugar in a small bowl, stir and set aside.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and spices together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment,or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar and butter together at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Don't worry if the mixture looks curdled at this stage. Pour in the molasses and beat until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the melted chocolate, along with the sugared ginger. Still on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the buttermilk in 2(begin and end with the dry ingredients),mixing the batter only as much as needed to blend the ingredients. Fold in the chopped chocolate and the ginger in syrup. Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the cake starts to pull away from the sides of the pan and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Don't be concerned if the cake has domed and cracked-it will settle down as it cools. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes, then unmold the cake. Turn right side up to cool to room temperature before icing the cake. (The edges of the cake might be quite brown, but don't fret-you can trim them after you ice the cake.)

To Make the Icing: Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, put the chocolate and coffee in the bowl, and stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted. Remove the bowl and, using a small whisk, stir in the butter one tablespoon at a time. Sift the confectioners' sugar over the chocolate and stir in. Transfer the bowl to a counter and let the icing sit for about 10 minutes.

Put the gingerbread, still on the rack, on a piece of wax paper or foil (the drip catcher). Pour the icing onto the center of the cake and use a long metal spatula to spread the icing evenly over the top. Allow the icing to set for 30 minutes (you can hurry it along by chilling the cake briefly). If the edges of the cake are overbaked, now is the time to trim them. Then cut the gingerbread into 9 even pieces.

Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes

2009-01-19T18:19:00.000-08:00

Time for some cupcakes, Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes, from an excellent book 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson. The recipe uses the creaming method but with egg whites, resulting in a nice light, delicate cupcake. Easy and quick to make and would probably be good for those bite size mini cupcakes that are so popular. This time I made the regular size.

Here's the recipe:

Lemon Buttermilk Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350F.
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Pinch salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 egg whites
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/2 lemon oil or lemon extract
1/3 cup buttermilk (I mixed 1/3 cup of milk with 1 tsp. vinegar - it worked fine)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon zest and lemon essence, beating well. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two ob buttermilk, beating until smooth. Add lemon juice, beating just until smooth.

Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(This is a half portion of the original from the Joy of Baking website.)
3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
4 oz. Mascarpone cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup confectioners sugar

In food processor or with hand mixer, mix cream cheese and Mascarpone cheese until smooth.
Add vanilla and confectioners sugar and process until smooth.
Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl.

Then, in bowl of electric mixer, or with hand mixer, whip the cream until stiff peaks form. With a large spatula, gently but quickly fold a little of the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture to lighten it. Then fold in the remaining whipped cream, in two stages. Cover and place the frosting in the refrigerator for an hour or two, or until it is firm enough to spread.

Vanilla Apple Cake - Sweet and Simple Bakes

2009-01-18T13:12:00.001-08:00

This is a most delicious cake, perfect for that morning or afternoon tea or coffee break or for a more formal teaparty. It's from the Brit site Sweet and Simple Bakes(a wonderful site for British cakes). The more I think of my already eaten apple cake the more I can almost taste it; it has a nice sweet, but not overly sweet, crust that forms on the top.

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Apple Cake

Ingredients
250g/9oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
250g/9oz golden caster sugar (or normal caster sugar)
4 eggs, beaten
250g/9oz self-raising flour
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds removed and reserved (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
3 small Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges (or any other type of cooking apple, if not apple of your choice)
2 tbsp Demerara sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4/350F. Butter a 20cm/8inch springform tin, then line the base with baking paper.

Beat the caster sugar and butter together until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, flour and vanilla seeds, then beat together quickly to make a smooth batter. Tip into the prepared tin, then lay the apple wedges on top, poking them halfway into the mix. Don’t worry if the apples appear crowded – they’ll shrink as they cook. Sprinkle with the Demerara and cinnamon, then bake for 1 hour 5 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the sponge is risen and golden.

Leave to cool for a few mins, then release the tin and cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

I put regular sugar in the coffee grinder to get "caster sugar" - much less expensive and just as good; actually bought some Demerara sugar but a running brown sugar (not the packed kind) will do just as well. Also used Golden Delicious apples.

Definitely worth making again and then again.

French Pear Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2009-01-05T05:45:00.001-08:00

Dorie Greenspan herself has chosen her wonderful French Pear Tart recipe for us to bake this week. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big "Thank you" to Dorie for her outstanding book, Baking From My Home to Yours and also to Laurie and her team for the Tuesdays with Dorie blog. I have learned such a lot: choux pastry, brioche, kugelhopf, creamy mousses and .... I could go on and on - so many delicious recipes that I had never even thought of trying just a year ago.

Well, so it's French Pear Tart. I got up early this morning and blits the pate sucre , which is now sitting in the fridge for this evening's endeavor. I have a trip planned to Citarella for the best baking pears I can get.

After a nice lunch with friends in the City and carrying some Boscobel pears, I wended my way homeward. I was filled with fury when I got home to see there was yet another dunning letter for me - some lousy company harassing me for a payment I don't owe. It took me a while to calm myself before I could start baking. But my mood became so upbeat when I started on the tarts - so creative.

I made minis, using some 2-1/2 inch tartlette pans with removable bases - a delight to work with. The minis look cute but they were certainly a lot more work than a single 9-inch tart. However, they will be easy to handle and easy to eat.

If you would like the recipe for Dorie's French Pear Tart - get the book, get the book! It is truly one of the best.

French Yule Log - Daring Bakers

2008-12-30T06:25:00.001-08:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry
and Marion from Il el faut peu pour etre hereau.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

Whew! Finally, done! I started way late - on Thursday, New Years Day, and it's taken me up until Saturday night to get to the stage of putting it in the fridge until it gets the icing Sunday morning. A lot of work!

Sunday morning - did the icing - lovely - I always wanted to know how to do plastic icing. I loved the praline crisp, the vanilla mousse, and chocolate ganache. That leaves only two elements I wasn't happy with - the creme brulee and the dacquoise, but I think I messed up there (used a tall pan for the dacquoise so it took a long time to bake and got a bit rubbery; I beat the creme brulee instead of just stirring it so I think that's why it came out a bit spongy.) Ran out of mousse and icing, so had to leave out some mousse layers and could only ice part of the log. It would have been fine in an 8x4 pan instead of a 9X5.

Would I make this again, like the opera cake? I'm not sure, but I would certainly make individual elements to put in other creations. Now that I have tasted the completed product, I shiver with delight, in spite of some of my construction faults. It is a real fancy French restaurant dessert. I think it would be perfect cut up into petit four sizes too.

Thank you kind hosts - it was a very challenging and worthwhile experience.

Vanilla Apple Cake - Sweet and Simple Bakes

2008-12-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

This is a most delicious cake, perfect for that morning or afternoon tea or coffee break or for a more formal teaparty. It's from the Brit site Sweet and Simple Bakes (a wonderful site for British cakes). The more I think of my already eaten apple cake the more I can almost taste it; it has a nice sweet, but not overly sweet, crust that forms on the top.

Here's the recipe:

Vanilla Apple Cake

Ingredients
250g/9oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
250g/9oz golden caster sugar (or normal caster sugar)
4 eggs, beaten
250g/9oz self-raising flour
1 vanilla pod, split, seeds removed and reserved (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
3 small Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges (or any other type of cooking apple, if not apple of your choice)
2 tbsp Demerara sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4/350F. Butter a 20cm/8inch springform tin, then line the base with baking paper.

Beat the caster sugar and butter together until the mixture turns pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, flour and vanilla seeds, then beat together quickly to make a smooth batter. Tip into the prepared tin, then lay the apple wedges on top, poking them halfway into the mix. Don’t worry if the apples appear crowded – they’ll shrink as they cook. Sprinkle with the Demerara and cinnamon, then bake for 1 hour 5 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the sponge is risen and golden.

Leave to cool for a few mins, then release the tin and cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

I put regular sugar in the coffee grinder to get "caster sugar" - much less expensive and just as good; actually bought some Demerara sugar but a running brown sugar (not the packed kind) will do just as well. Also used Golden Delicious apples.

Definitely worth making again and then again.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

2008-12-28T23:10:00.001-08:00

Anne of Anne Strawberry has chosen a wonderful cheesecake for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie. (Please excuse the pic of the cake in its pan still - it was about to go on the subway and I was afraid it would get all squished if I took it out.)

Speaking of pics, todays blog is also starring my little girl cat, Phoebe,who is on show for her Holiday photograph.

I think the cake could well have been named Tall and "Dreamy" Cheesecake - it's a winner, the kind of cake that one is proud to serve to guests after a nice dinner. It is totally delicious and has quite a light consistency (I have had some cheesecake clunkers at times). It is rich - 4 packets of cream cheese, 4 eggs and a generous amount of cream and sour cream give it a melt-in-the mouth flavor, and it's easy to bake! No fuss, no anxiously peering through the oven door glass, just follow Dorie's time instructions exactly and after 2-1/2 hours the cheesecake will be on the table, gradually cooling.

I let mine sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours, drizzled some caramel sauce on and then took it to work. It was a great success and a very nice treat for the Christmas/New Year Holiday period. I could cut 12 generous portions (none of that sliver business) and they disappeared very quickly.

The recipe for the Tall and Creamy Cheesecake is up on Anne's blog. Bake and enjoy!

Christmas Morning Muffins - Sweet and Simple Bakes

2008-12-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

As well as delicious muffins my great, big beautiful cat "Mystery" is featured in this post, taking his ease in his kitty condo. He is truly the master and commander in my house and posed for a special Holiday pic.

Sweet and Simple Bakes is one of my favorite blogs, with a great recipe to enter every month. For December we could vote on one out of four Christmas recipes and Nigella Lawson's "Christmas Morning Muffins" won. (I was one of the folks who voted for the muffins recipe).

I have just consumed a Christmas Morning Muffin. It's 9:15PM on December 16th but that doesn't matter does it? - I think Nigella will allow me some poetic licence. They were not quite cooled on the rack when I reached out and grabbed one - oh my, delicious! It's all those plump dried cranberries (1/2 lb.) in the mix that did the trick, I think.

Some of the ingredients are true British and a bit difficult to get here in the States, but it's nothing that can't be resolved. For caster sugar just pulse some regular sugar in the coffee grinder a few times and presto, it's caster sugar. Demerara sugar can be substituted with "Sugar in the Raw." It's not as sparkly as Demerara sugar but it will taste good. I got fresh dried cranberries at Sahadi's on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn - just so much better than the dry shrivelled stuff one gets in a packet at the supermarket.

I took them to work (all 10 of them as I ate two before work) and placed them alongside the "Buttery Jam Cookies" I had baked for "Tuesdays with Dorie." They were quite the rave (as well as the cookies). An excellent recipe for Christmas time and so easy to put together. Here's the recipe:

Christmas Morning Muffins ~ adapted from Nigella Christmas Book

Makes 12

Ingredients
250g (9 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g (4 oz) caster (super fine) sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Good grating of fresh nutmeg (or ¼ tsp ground nutmeg)
2 Clementine’s or Satsuma’s *see notes*
Approx 125ml (4 fl oz) full-fat milk
75g 3 oz) vegetable oil (or melted butter, left to cool slightly)
1 egg
175g (6 oz) dried cranberries
For The Topping
3 tsp Demerara sugar *see notes*

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C/fan oven 180°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Line a 12-bun muffin tin with muffin paper cases.

Measure the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl; grate the zest of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s over and combine.
Squeeze the juice of the Clementine’s/Satsuma’s into a measuring jug, and pour in the milk until it comes up to the 200ml (7 fl oz) mark.

Add the oil (or slightly cooled, melted butter) and egg, and lightly beat until just combined.

Pour this liquid mixture into the bowl of dried ingredients and stir until everything is more or less combined, remembering that a well-beaten mixture makes for heavy muffins; a lumpy batter is a good here.

Fold in the cranberries, then spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle the Demerara sugar on top.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The muffins are ready to eat now either plain or broken up and smeared with butter and marmalade.

* Notes*

*Cranberries could also be replaced with another dried fruit of choice*

* Clementine’s/Satsuma’s*

If you’re unable to source Clementine’s or Satsuma’s, 1 orange of zest and juice would be adequate.

Buttery Jam Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-12-14T14:51:00.000-08:00

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie is chosen by Heather of Randomosity and the Girl. What a nice easy cookie to whip up - just imagine guests coming for tea and there's nothing to eat - just bake a batch of these Buttery Jam Cookies and you're all organized.

I used my delicious Turkish rose jam so the cookies have a lightly scented flavor and you can really taste the butter in them. Also baked them one tray at a time on the middle rung - seems to work just as well as switching trays around from top to bottom. They have quite a chewy texture with the jam. But aren't they tiny! About three of these would make a normal size cookie.

I think they need prettying up a bit so I have given mine some frosting with a bit of Rose water flavoring, topped with toasted almond pieces. Just right for tea.

Thank you Heather for your choice - they are on my "make again" list.

Operation Baking GALS - Christmas Package

2008-12-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

This is my Christmas mailing package for a brave soldier in Quatar and for a brave nurse in Iraq(two boxes for each recipient). I picked Team Your Place Gourmet to work on - Kim Onstott's a great team leader and gives lots of encouragement and support.

Had a real good time baking and tasting this weekend and now everything is all packed up and ready to go. My pics. show(top)Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies ; (middle) Coconut Oatmeal Cookies and (bottom)Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (with some candy packs).

*****Five Stars for the Peanut Butter Cookies - the recipe is from one of my favorite blogs, Alpineberry. If you're looking for a special peanut butter cookie, make these - they are divine!

Salted Peanut Butter Toffee Cookies
(makes about 50 cookies)

1 1/3 cups (6 ounces) all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse sea salt (like fleur de sel)(I used 1/2 teasp.)
4 ounces (8 tbsp/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2/3 cup firmly light packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup smooth natural peanut butter
[Be sure to stir PB well to blend in the oil before measuring]
1 cup (5 ounces) toffee peanuts, coarsely chopped (I used Honey Roasted Peanuts)

Preheat oven to 325F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in peanut butter. Add the flour mixture and mix until the flour is incorporated.

Pour the chopped toffee peanuts in a shallow bowl. Scoop 2 level teaspoons of dough for each cookie and shape into a 1-inch ball. Roll the ball in the chopped peanuts to coat heavily, pressing any bits that fall off. Place the coated balls 2 inches apart on the line cookie sheets.

Bake the cookies until they are lightly colored on top, about 14-17 minutes. The cookies will seem soft to the touch but will firm up as they cool.

I also liked the Coconut Oatmeal Cookies which I got from
Friends Bookclub, a really good site which, altho' no longer active, has retained hundreds of lovely recipes.

Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
1 Cup Butter or margarine
1 Cup Brown sugar, firmly packedCornstarch
1 Cup Granulated sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tsps. Vanilla extract
2 Cups Sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
1 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Baking powder
1 Cup Rolled oats, quick cooking
2 Cups Coconut

Cream butter, add sugar slowly and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat well.

Sift together flour, salt, soda and baking powder; add (stir in) 4 parts. Mix in oats and coconut. Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown.

YIELD: Approx. 5 dozen

The Oatmeal Raisin Cookies are from the top of the Quaker Oats box, so I won't be posting the recipe for them. I was not crazy about these by comparison with the other two.

So mailing is early tomorrow, Monday morning. Of course I'm hoping it all gets there intact. So far all my packages have arrived at their destinations and I have received some very nice Thank You cards from the recipients - they write me that it is very touching to see the happiness in the eyes of the soldiers when they distribute the cookies to their troops, mainly to those who do not get mail or packages from home. Next month - Round Six. If you would like to send cookie boxes to our Troops, just check out the Operation BakingGALS site.

Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-12-09T15:06:00.000-08:00

Ulrike of Kuchenlaten has made a wonderful Christmassy choice for us this week - sugar cookies - Yum! I'm making this a real quick post - it's already the evening of Tuesday and I have just put the oven on and taken the butter and eggs out. Two festive days of going to Handel's Messiah and a Langlais Mass (followed by a nice glass of Merlot last night) have put me out of commission for leisurely baking and blogging. However, I'm determined to get this post in before my carriage turns into a pumpkin.

Done - The cookies are quite cute; a bit small (I used the roll and slice method as it's quick and easy) and they taste rather good. I decorated them with glace cherries and colored sugar. My second batch tastes very good - I baked them for 15 mins. at 350 degrees; the first batch for 11 minutes. The shorter time gave rather a bland cookie, slightly soft. I do have a preference for a nice crisp "biscuit;" nevertheless I think Dorie is sometimes out on her timing - usually under.

If you are looking for a pretty cookie to put out on the Christmas dessert table, you can get the recipe on Ulrike's blog. Next week we will have another cookie recipe suitable for Christmas fare - Buttery Jam Cookies.

Linzer Cookies -Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-11-30T10:08:00.000-08:00

These attractive cookies were chosen for us this week by Noskos of Living the Life. I take a quick look at the trusty Wikipedia - the cookies are of Austrian/Hungarian origin. They are mini-versions of the Linzer Torte, a tart with a lattice design on top of the pastry. The oldest recipe for the Torte was discovered in the town of Linz and dates back to the 1600's. Right, good, I've learned something today.

Making the Cookies

The dough was quite easy to get together and my rolling out skills are improving slightly. I'm also one of the bakers who thinks the dough should be rolled thinner to say, 1/8 inch, as 1/4 inch is too heavy. Well, it's done now so it's too late this time. I experimented with Dorie's cooking time, first with 15 minutes, then 13 minutes, then 11 minutes. The 15 min. batch was overdone of course, the 13 min. okay but still a bit brownie and the 11 mins. was just fine. (Sounds like The Three Bears and their porridge.)

However, I don't care for the dough very much. I have tasted Linzer cookies before and they are usually quite sweet and buttery and the dough is soft. It's probably me but this dough is hard and quite tough and it does not have anywhere near enough sugar. Also too much cinnamon for my taste. Surely the powdered sugar will make it sweeter, but I still won't use this cookie dough again.

I like the jam filling - I chose Rose Jam, imported from Turkey. I got it at the Turkish deli about 1/2 mile from me. It has a unique, scented, delicate flavor and is quite runny, so I did not add any water to it. It's also a pretty Turkish Delight pink color. Goodness, I hope the guys at work like it, but I know the gals will.

I got 26 doubled-up cookies out of the recipe, even with the dough being a bit thick. Does anyone use those rubber measuring bands on the rolling pin? - I hear they are supposed to give a perfectly even height to the pastry.

Nice creative cookie idea with the jam and the little cut-outs. Noskos has the recipe on website - Living the Life.

Caramel Cake - Daring Bakers

2008-11-26T03:04:00.001-08:00

This is the most absolutely wonderful cake. I whined and worried all the way through the making but in the end it turned out fine. The result - a delicious caramel flavored dense-crumb cake, with a frosting that becomes increasingly addictive the more you taste it.

Many thanks to Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity for so graciously hosting our challenge this month; also to co-hosts Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray into Food. This was probably my favorite challenge. And of course thank you, thank you to Chef Shuna Fish Lydon for her wonderful Caramel Cake Recipe . Shuna's blog is Eggbeater. I am still dreaming and drooling, even though we ate it two weeks ago.

The Cake Experience
I started off with the syrup and ended up making it twice as I thought it was supposed to taste like caramel - even though it was a nice amber color it tasted like barley sugar. Thank goodness for our Forum as I got good advice from a fellow DB'er that it's not supposed to taste like caramel - it's only sugar and water; it's butter that gives it a caramel flavor. I also got the tip on the Forum to whisk the syrup mix for 10 minutes before dousing it with the cold water - the recipe did not give us a time span.

I was alarmed to see the syrup set like a firm jelly while I dithered around taking breaks, then getting the other ingredients together. I microwaved it for about 15 seconds but it wouldn't liquify, so I had to add gelatinous blobs to the batter and the frosting. NEXT TIME - must work more quickly so as to catch the syrup before it gels - Syrup first; wait until just cooled, then make the batter.

The cake came out beautifully, giving off a divine aroma. I baked it for 25 minutes after turning; it probably would have been fine at just over 20 minutes as my cake developed rather brownie edges.

For the frosting I played by the rules, even though I was so tempted to try something less sweet (even made a beautiful Swiss meringue buttercream for the cake, which I will freeze as I didn't use it). I don't usually make frosting with confectioners' sugar - it is just too cloying and grainy but as it was part of our Challenge I had to use it if I wanted to play fair (and get credit, of course!).

This frosting is admittedly very sweet indeed, but the browned butter and the 2 Tbs. of caramel syrup give it a wonderfully exotic flavor, heightened by about a half-teasp. of sea salt crystals - pretty sophisticated.

I halved the portion of frosting as I wasn't sure I was going to use it at first. It's an ample quantity to cover the top of the cake, but as I spred it I couldn't help wishing I could make nice puffy creamy swirls with more frosting.

The Verdict: My co-workers loved it and so did I. It is a really special cake. There was such a demand for slices that I had to cut small slivers so people could get a taste. with the full amount of frosting now. This cake is like poetry - it has the power to uplift the spirit and change ones mood. "Cake Day" Tuesday was at work was very upbeat. Will definitely make again for a special occasion, with the full amount of frosting.

Here's Shuna's recipe:Caramel Cake

Thanksgiving Twofer Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-11-25T03:46:00.001-08:00

Vibi of La Casserole Carrie made this week's pick - it looks like a wonderful choice for Thanksgiving dinner. Vibi has the recipe on her blog, in French first and then translated into English.

However, for me not a very happy evening. I had such great plans to make individual 4" tartlettes, each decorated with a rosette of stabilized cream. But this was not to be. I made a double portion of the "Good for Almost Anything Pie Dough" which was sitting nicely chilled in the fridge when I got back from my physical therapy session (for a conked in knee).

Quite fulfilling - this time my dough rolled out pretty well, with the help of a King Arthur Flour silpat that has circles drawn on it. So feeling confident I cut out nine 4" rounds and placed them carefully in the tartlette pans. While watching how they were doing at 400 degrees I realized the pans were too large for the pastry - I had simply formed dough pancakes.

Attempt no. 2: Rolled out the next batch of cold dough and placed it in a 9 inch Pyrex pie plate; no trouble. I sprinkled some dried navy beans over the base and did the 10 minute thing again. After 10 minutes I was dismayed to see part of the sides had fallen in and then I spent quite a while digging out navy beans from the base as I forgot to cover it with foil. I hope I didn't miss any beans or someone might break a tooth. I really don't know why my dough shrunk in the glass plate; it hasn't happened before.

Another 20 mins. will tell if I have made something halfway edible or not but gone are my visions of producing little French looking tartlettes. There will at best be a crumpled pie. But onward and upward - this Pollyanna says it's a good learning experience and to forge ahead with making Christmas mincemeat pies from Dorie's pie dough.

The taste test remains but it took almost an hour for my pie to bake at 300 degrees. It looks, well, just like a rather ordinary pie.

Kugelhopf - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-11-11T01:37:00.001-08:00

Tuesday morning, Veterans Day, and I'm ready to tackle the Kugelhopf, chosen by Yolanda of All Purpose Girl. The Kugelhopf is certainly a full day cake, going into the evening. I won't have time to let it sit in the fridge overnight so a couple of hours will have to do.

I have made the dough - it is a lovely, soft, elastic, sticky dough but much moister I think than the other brioche dough recipes Dorie has given us. After reading the P&Q section, I let mine get beaten up for 15 minutes, instead of the prescribed 10 minutes. Finally it did curl up around the hook. So now I wait for the first rise, with fingers crossed.

Much later, like 9:00PM and after two L--O--N--G rises and some slap downs, my dough was almost at the top of the kugelhopf pan and ready to bake. It felt as light as a feather as I put it in the oven and did the 10 minute/foil tent thing. Now I'm waiting, holding my breath and having heart palpitations (seriously) while it bakes for another 15 minutes.

So now?! What's this - a hat that someone has sat on! Why doesn't it look like a proper kugelhopf like some of you other TWD'ers have made? I'm wondering what could have made it turn into a pork pie. It was so beautiful when I first took it out of the oven. It had better taste good tomorrow! Oh well, next time maybe it'll look nice.

Rugelach - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-11-03T19:32:00.001-08:00

This week's baking pick, Rugelach, comes to us from Piggy of Piggy's Cooking Journal. It was an exciting bake - I have never made anything like this before.

I find these pastries to be very European, not Brit or American. My neighbor Mitka, who is from Bosnia, often brings over delicious pastries that usually have fruity, nutty fillings - the Rugelach remind me of her baking. We sit around looking at pictures in baking books, drinking Turkish coffee. A nice little break from the humdrum.

The pastry was a pleasure to make in the food processor (seems Dorie likes the food processor a lot). When it came to rolling the dough however my confidence dimished somewhat as the pastry would not form a circle, rather a map of Spain in the first batch and a distorted rectangle in the second. So the roll-ups are a bit wonky but they have held together and my office consumers will not be not looking for symmetry.

I used three different kinds of jam fillings - raspberry jam, apricot jam and guava jelly, then sprinkled either walnuts or pecans on them, followed by raisins plumped by steeping them in boiled water. Could not get currants anywhere near me. My first batch stayed in the fridge overnight and was a lot easier to handle than the second batch which started getting too soft and tricky to roll - I kept these in the fridge for only 1-1/2 hours. The pastries look as if they'll taste good; I'm looking forward to doing my own taste test tomorrow.

Thank you Piggy for this pick - I think it will be a "make again."

Pistachio Cake

2008-10-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

I made a Pistachio Cake the other day, something I've been dying to try and finally got around to doing. My Blog challenges were done and I had some "free-lance" time. This Pistachio Cake is a very nice cake indeed. It's from Epicurious, amidst at least a dozen other pistachio cake recipes. It had cardamom , my favorite spice, and looked like it wouldn't take too long. Here's the recipe:
----------------------------

Pistachio Cake -
Rick Tramonto

3/4 cup unsalted shelled pistachios (approximately 4 ounces; not dyed red)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 3 medium oranges)

Arrange oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Butter 9-inch-diameter round metal pan and line bottom with waxed paper. Butter paper, then dust pan with flour, knocking out excess.

Using food processor, pulse pistachios until finely ground, about 40 seconds.

(Do not overprocess, or mixture will become paste.) Add flour, baking powder, cardamom, and salt and pulse briefly to combine.

In small bowl, combine milk and vanilla.

In large bowl using electric mixer at moderate speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add pistachio and milk mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with pistachio mixture and beating after each addition just until combined.
Add orange zest and beat just until combined.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, then run knife around cake to loosen and invert onto rack. Remove paper and serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Add orange zest and beat just until combined.

Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until wooden skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes.

Cool in pan on rack 10 minutes, then run knife around cake to loosen and invert onto rack. Remove paper and serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
---------------------------------

Some adventures along the way, well one happening: I followed the instructions and measures exactly and waited until the 30 min. checking time before looking in the oven - the cake had risen nicely but needed five more minutes. Next I noticed the darn thing deflating in the middle - it wasn't a crater but it was a wide bell curve. I felt really miffed. In the end, however, it looked okay and I slathered cream cheese frosting over the top so the curve didn't show. The next morning it was tested by my co-workers - they loved it. The skinniest guy had three slices and most of the others (including me) had two (we had a small group this week). They absolutely loved it!

But why did it deflate in the middle? - perhaps I could be a bit scientific for a change. I consulted my recently purchased copy of Bakewise by Shirley Corriher. She writes that most problems with deflating are caused by over-leavening (i.o.w. too much baking powder or baking soda). She recommends 1 to 1-1/4 teaspoons of baking powder per one cup of flour. My recipe had 2 teaspoons. I'm going to reduce the baking powder next time I bake the cake to see if it makes a difference. Shirley's book, by the way, is an absolute treasure of beautiful recipes and advice on how to make improvements to one's baking.

The cake's a keeper.

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-10-26T16:23:00.001-07:00

Three Little Cupcakes All in a Row. Absolutely super, an absolute delight, absolutely to be made again for any chocky cupcake occasion! Making them was a breeze and I think the buttermilk is what made them so light and fluffy. One little slip, however. I didn't use the mise en place method as I ought to have done (I have even bought a lot of little dishes and bowls to organize my ingredients). The cupcakes were in the oven already; I turned around and saw a small blob of melted chocolate in a cup - the 2 oz. of melted chocolate in the recipe. Too late to do anything about it so I put it in the fridge (ate it the next day - frozen chocolate is quite delicious). But it did not make much of a difference to the lovely chocolately flavor of the cupcakes - this was the kind of chocolate cake I had as a child, with cocoa powder. No-one used chocolate for baking then.

I left them in the oven for 20 mins. before taking them out - some of them were not quite baked enough so I put them back in for 2 mins. Dorie's timing is perfect here. For the frosting I used the ganache recipe from Carole Walter's exotic Filbert Gateau* as I already had some in the freezer.
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*Recipe for Carole Walter's Ganache Glaze
Makes about 1 cup, enough to cover the top and sides of a 9 or 10 inch layer or tube cake

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

Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside.

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

Heat the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan, on low, until it reached a gentle boil. Once to the gently boil, immediately and carefully pour over the chocolate. Leave it alone for one minute, then slowly stir and mix the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in vanilla mixture. If the surface seems oily, add ½ - 1 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn’t thicken, refrigerate for about 5minutes, but make sure it doesn’t get too cold!
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As a decoration I used Bittersweet Chocolate - Guittard Sprinkles from King Arthur Flour. I think they are quite expensive but oh my, is it worth it! Regular baking aisle fare cannot compare to them. After all, they should last pretty long too - how often does one use them?

My co-workers were delighted with the Cupcakes, as they were with the Pumpkin Muffins. These last two recipes have been absolute hits. Many thanks to Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought for picking the Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes. Clara's lovely blog also has the recipe for them.

Next week - Rugelach.

Pizza! - For Daring Bakers October Challenge

2008-10-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums chose Pizza for the Daring Bakers October project. What an excellent choice - I have learned so much and maybe I will start making my own pizza now. What freedom of sauces and toppings, quantities and doughs. They say Brooklyn pizza is the best - sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn't, so now I can be independent.

This said and done, however, this was one rather difficult, tricky challenge for me, but I had a lot of fun and a great sense of delight at seeing my pizzas cook so nicely in the oven.

I'm a real novice with bread making - for one thing, YEAST. My yeast behaved very badly. Last weekend I optimistically planned to get ahead of the game and finish my challenge almost two weeks before the deadline. Not so! I prepared the Peter Reinhart dough with high hopes in spite of some peculiar behavior from my Kitchen Aid and dough hook. [The machine was banging and walking around the table and the dough hook kept on curling all the dough above it.] I survived this performance and finished with a nice batch of dough. I patted the dough into a round, cut six segments and placed them under saran wrap in the fridge.

Two days later, no rise; three days later, no rise. Thank goodness for our Q&A section - a fellow Daring Baker advised me the yeast must be old and that I should just graft a bit of new, fresh yeast onto the dough. I would like to have tried this - after all, I'd just used up 4 plus cups of flour, but it was not to be. In New York of all places there was not a package of Instant Yeast to be found. I went to four different shops (two regular supermarkets and two posh ones, as well as one I found to have closed down). They had plenty of Active Dry Yeast but no "Quick Rise" so I could not get an add-on to enliven my dough. This is a cautionary tale - do not use yeast that you cannot remember when last you bought it except that it must have been at least 18 months ago!

My Confession - I had to use another dough recipe (this one from Epicurious) that required the Active Dry Yeast and a warm rise. In fact, I'm a bit leery of a cool rise now but my fellow DB'ers do not seem to have a problem with it. I promise, I promise to try the Reinhart dough again someday, but by now I was actually in a state of panic - only a couple of days to go before posting. So this time I made less dough and let it rise for nearly three hours on my kitchen table; thank goodness it came out bouncy and puffy.

The tossing? I get an "E" for effort, but I did try to toss up my oddly shaped dough - I "tossed" them with mouse like timidity - they got a couple of inches in the air but I was so nervous they would fall on the floor I quickly let them land on my hands again. I have such a lot to learn about bread baking.

The outcome of my first pizza making adventures can be seen in my pics - wonky pies in odd sizes, but the baking is the part I loved. It was just wonderful to choose toppings and sauces and then to gaze into the oven, watching the sauce bubbling up and the dough giving a slight rise. I feel proud that I have actually completed this challenge, well, sort of.

My first pie is made with a "Tomato Herb Sauce" topped with mozzarella cheese and mushrooms; my second pie, the wee one, is made with "Pesto Sauce" topped with feta cheese and pepperoni. I can't wait to try them.

Thank you so much Rosa for this rigorous and exciting challenge - I plan to improve and make my own pizza for when friends come over.

The sauce recipes are from Great Party Recipes. They're really nice so I'm posting them here.

Pesto SauceJust a little of this savory pizza sauce goes a long way.

1 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine all ingredients except olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and finely chop. Slowly add olive oil while running the processor on low speed.

Tomato Herb Sauce (Marinara Sauce)
The traditional pizza sauce recipe has never tasted so good.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste

In a medium saucepan, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil until tender. Add seasonings and continue cooking a few more minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, and then tomato paste. Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Pumpkin Muffins - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-10-17T16:40:00.001-07:00

This weeks choice is brought to us by Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp. I love pumpkin loaf, pumpkin scones, and now I love Dorie's Pumpkin Muffins. They have just cooled enough for me to have a little gobble - very good indeed. The texture is dense and soft, perfect for muffins. I love the crunchy walnuts and the golden raisins. The tops are a little bit too crusty for my taste - I think it must be the baking at 400 F. I think I'll bake them at 375 F next time.

I've wrapped them in Saran wrap and they're ready to go to work - they will really be delicious with butter and slightly warmed if any of my co-workers want to try them that way. The recipe is on Kelly's blog and in Dorie's wonderful book, Baking From My Home to Yours.

Thank you, Kelly. Excellent choice!

Lenox Almond Biscotti - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-10-11T18:59:00.001-07:00

This fabulous choice is picked for us by Gretchen of Canela & Comino

So far so good. Saturday night and starting my Lenox Almond Biscotti. I have rolled the dough into two 12x1-1/2 inch rolls and am keeping them in the fridge overnight before baking.

Sunday afternoon and back from my pilates class - I'm ready to do the first baking. Well, it took 25 mins. not 15, but then I had them in the fridge all the time, so this must have made the difference. They are out on the countertop now, looking quite nice (keeping my fingers crossed). Thank you Melissa of Baking a Sweet Life for your P&Q advice - it worked well for me.

2nd baking - have turned my oven down to 300 F and half of them are in the oven. I got almost 30 biscotti out of the dough. I kept them in the oven for 25 minutes; half way through I turned them on to their other side.

Great success - I am so excited; I can now make biscotti! They came out beautifully and taste delicious. I was thinking of including them in my next Operation BakingGALS package but they are quite delicate and I think they may crumble in transit; it might be better to take them to work. We have quite a few Italian-American guys at work so I'm interested in what they will say. Their wives are great cooks, judging from the delicious aromas of homecooked lunch meals, so the bar will be set high.

Now onward to Pumpkin Muffins for next week.

Bobotie

2008-10-11T09:30:00.001-07:00

Bobotie

Bobotie is an Afrikaans recipe very popular in South Africa. It originated with the Malaysian population who, in the 17th century, brought with them to the Cape from the East Indies many delicious spicy recipes.

Bobotie is essentially ground meat with a variety of spices served on a bed of rice.

Here's the recipe, first the original in Afrikaans then my translation and adaptation in English (pretty free translation). It is from an excellent recipe book Kook en Geniet -by S.J.A. de Villiers, published in 1980 (11-th publication; first published in 1951). The measurements are all metric as S.A. went metric in the early sixties but Mrs. de Villiers has provided imperial measures alongside.

Bobotie
l kg (2 pd) gemaalde skaap-of beesvleis (of oorblyfsels van koue, gebraaide vleis)
2 uie
1 sny brood
250 ml (l k) melk
2 eiers
12,5 ml (1 e)kerriepoeier
18,5 ml (1-1/2 e) suiker
10 ml (2 t) sout; 2,5 ml (1/2 t) peper
6 ml (1/2 e) borrie
25 ml (2 e) asyn of die sap van 1 suurlemoen
6 amandels, in kwarte verdeel
125 ml (1/2 k) ontpitte rosyne
4 suurlemoen-of lourierblare of die gerasperde geel skil van 1 suurlemoen
37,5 ml (3e) blatjang

1. Dop die buitenste droe skilletjies van die uie af, sny die uie dan in dun skyfies en kerf dit fyn. Braai dit effens bruin in warm vet en indien rou vleis gebruik work, braai dit saam met die uie tot dit net effens gaar en los is.
2. Week die brood in die melk en druk weer die melk uit. Maak die brood fyn.
3. Meng al die bestanddele, behalwe 1 eier, 1/2k melk en die lourierblare.
4. Sit die mengsel in 'n gesmeerde, vuurvaste bakskottel, rol die blare op en steek hulle in the mengsel sodat hulle regop staan.
5. Bak dit 1 uur lank in 'n matige oond by 180 C (350 F) as rou vleis gebruik word en 45 minute lank as gaar vleis gebruik word.
6. Klop die orige eier en 125 ml (1/2 k) melk en gooi dit oor die vleis 'n halfuur voordat dit uit die oond gehaal word.
7. Dien dit op met gekookte rys en blatjang.

Bobotie

2 lbs. ground meat (lamb or beef) or left-over, cold, cooked meat
2 onions
4 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 slice bread
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 Tbs. curry powder
1-1/2 Tbs. sugar
1 teasp. salt; 1/2 teasp. pepper
1 teasp. turmeric
2 Tbs. vinegar or juice of one lemon
1/4 cup of sliced almonds
1/2 cup of seeded raisins
4 lemon leaves or bay leaves or grated peel of one lemon
3 Tbs. chutney

1. Remove the outer peel from the onions, then cut the onions in thin slices and chop finely. (I used my food processor - didn't feel like cutting up tiny bits of onion). Saute until translucent in hot oil. If using uncooked meat, fry on low flame together with the onions until it is slightly done and a bit crumbly.
2. Soak the bread in the milk and squeeze most of the the milk out. Cut the bread in fine pieces.
3. Mix all the ingredients - except remaining egg and the 1/2 cup milk and the bay leaves.
4. Place the mixture in a buttered, fireproof casserole, roll up the bay leaves and place them upright in the mixture.
5. Bake one hour in a moderate oven (350 F) if using uncooked meat and 45 minutes if using cooked meat.
6. Beat the remaining egg and the 1/2 cup milk and pour over the meat half way through the baking. Remove dish from oven after one hour and let cool in casserole.
7. Serve with boiled or steamed rice and chutney.

I've just eaten the dish in the photo for supper. I put half a sliced banana on it and a teaspoon of Major Grey's Mango Chutney. It's a long time since I've tasted Bobotie, and a very long time since I've tasted a really good Bobotie - on a visit back to S.A. Today's dish is superb, a lovely example if anyone would like to try this recipe. Definitely a make again recipe.

Caramel-Hazelnut-Topped Brownie Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-10-06T18:32:00.000-07:00

This week's choice, Caramel-Topped-Brownie Cake, comes to us from Tammy of Wee Treats. Thank you Tammy for such a great pick.

A nice easy cake to prepare, with rather an unusual method of melting the butter rather than creaming. It's odd how it suddenly does a crater cave-in just before being taken out of the oven - could it be something to do with the mixing method perhaps? I once made a Nigella Lawson chocolate cake with this method and it also caved in the middle.

However, with the caramel sauce and nuts on, it looked just fine as no-one could see the dip. I didn't do Dorie's TWD caramel sauce as it seemed too fussy - was feeling a bit tired and crochety, so I used a quick recipe from Diana's Desserts.I would recommend this recipe for any caramel sauce occasion; it was delicious and nice and thick after sitting on the sink top overnight.

My cake got two really polarized reviews at work:
The Boss - "Not my favorite."
The Shop Manager - a special phone call thanking me and saying, "It's the best of the lot so far!" Well, what can I say! Personally, I think it was just okay. If I make it again I would not use hazelnuts as they are hard on the teeth and give a slightly bitter aftertaste. I would also bake it for less than 40 mins. - It was a little bit tough around the edges.

So onward to Biscotti next week.

The Fab Three

2008-10-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

I've mailed my third round of goodies for Operation BakingGALS. It's funny but in each round - I bake three different kinds of cookies each time - I always discover one FIVE STAR recipe, a "Where have you been all my life?" recipe that I will now make again and again.

I don't have pics this time as I was in a rush to get to the Post Office, but I really want to reprint my discoveries:

Round 1 - Molasses Cookies *****
Round 2 - Celebration Cookies ***** (from Kara's Kitchen)
Round 3 - Snickerdoodles ***** (from Butterbur's Bistro)

Recipe for Molasses Cookies:
Heat oven to 350 F. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.

Ingredients
3/4 cup Crisco (shortening gives a much better shaped cookie than butter in this recipe - I have tried both)
1 cup sugar
1 egg whisked
1/4 cup Grandma's Molasses
pinch of salt (less than 1/4 tsp.)
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. ground cloves

1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Cream together Crisco and sugar (about 3-4 mins.) with stand-alone beater.
3. Lightly whisk egg and add to creamed mixture - mix in until just blended.
4. Add molasses.
5. Slowly add dry ingredients.

Use Tbs. cookie scoop (level) and drop batter in balls onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes - cookies must look a nice bronze/ginger color. Remove from oven and leave on baking sheet for a couple of minutes. Remove to wire cooler.

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Round 2: (August/Sept.)

Recipe for Celebration Cookies
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 recipe Celebration Cookie Mix (follows)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine butter, eggs and vanilla; mix until well blended. Add cookie mix to butter mixture; mix until well blended. Drop rounded Tablespoon scoops of dough 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly if you want a crisper cookie.

Bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove to cooling rack.

Celebration Cookie Mix
1/2 c granulated sugar
3/4 c sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate morsels
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 c pecan halves, coarsely chopped
THANKS KARA!
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Round 3: (Sept/Oct.)
Recipe for Snickerdoodles

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 Tablespoons sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, margarine and 1-1/2 cups sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Stir dry mixture into sugar mixture. Form dough into balls. Blend cinnamon with 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Roll the dough balls into the cinnamon-sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Do not overbake. Cookies should be chewy in the center.
THANKS RIGBY!
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I hope I discover some more 5 STAR recipes with Round 4.It's always exciting to find something that is just that GOOD. I seem to have much more luck with checking out the blogs than with recipe books.

Brown Sugar Apple Cheesecake - A Tuesdays with Dorie Re-wind

2008-09-28T08:11:00.001-07:00

I decided on a Dorie Re-wind for this week - a butane torch for creme brulee would not go well with the clumsy and forgetful Sherrytrifle so I decided against buying one. Hence my pick of Dorie's Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake, chosen back in February by Jaime of Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats.

Here's the recipe:

Brown Sugar-Apple Cheesecake
For the Crust
30 gingersnaps (or a scant 2 cups graham cracker crumbs) - I used Nilla Wafers.
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
For the Apples
1/2 stick (4 tbsp) unsalted butter
3 large Golden Delicious or Fuji apples, peeled, cored and cut into eighths
2 tbsp (packed) light brown sugar
For the Filling
1 1/2 pounds (three 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
6 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp apple cider
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup heavy cream
Apple jelly, for glazing, or confectioner's sugar, for dusting (optional)

To Make the Crust:
Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan.
Put the gingersnaps in a food processor and whir until you have crumbs; you should have a scant 2 cups. (If you are using graham cracker crumbs, just put them in the food processor.) Pulse in the sugar and cinnamon, if you're using it, then pour over the melted butter and pulse until the crumbs are moistened. Turn the crumbs into the springform pan and, using your fingertips, firmly press them evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan as far as they'll go. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven. (The crust can be covered and frozen for up to 2 months.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Remove the pan from the freezer and wrap the bottom tightly in aluminum foil, going up the sides. Place the pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until the crust is set and lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the apples and the filling. Leave the oven at 350 degrees F.

To Make the Apples:
Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When the foam subsides, toss in half of the apple slices and cook, turning once, until they are golden brown, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle the apples with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and cook them, turning, just until coated, another minute or so. Scrape the apples onto a plate, wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining apples. Let the apples cool while you make the filling.

Getting Ready to Bake:
Have a roasting pan large enough to hold the springform pan at hand. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

To Make the Filling:
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium speed, scraping down the bowl often, for about 4 minutes, or until it is velvety smooth. Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the cider, vanilla, and cinnamon. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg goes in. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream, beating just until the batter is smooth.

Pour about one third of the batter into the baked crust. Drain the apples by lifting them off the plate with a slotted spoon or spatula, and spoon them into the pan. Cover with the remaining batter and, if needed, jiggle the pan to even the top. Place the springform pan in the roasting pan and pour in enough boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 to 45 minutes, covering the cake loosely with a foil tent at the 45-minute mark. The cake will rise evenly and crack around the edges, and it should be fully set except, possibly, in the very center--if the center shimmies, that's just fine. Gently transfer the cake, still in the pan, to a cooling rack and let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate it for at least 6 hours; overnight would be better.

Run a blunt knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the crust, open the pan's latch and release and remove the sides.

I used a 10" cheesecake pan with a removable base rather than a springform pan. I just love my cheesecake pan - it is so satisfying to just lift the whole cake with the base, which I use as a plate. There is no moving of the cheesecake unsupported.

I've eaten a slice - I'm not sure if I like it as much as a classic New York Cheesecake or as much as the light and fluffy Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte I made back in August. But I think it will be very popular at work tomorrow as it is nice and creamy.

Cupcake Hero - Here's to the Red, White and Blue - and Cocoa

2008-09-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

For the new Cupcake Hero I've decided to make Red Velvet Cupcakes, with a few sprinkles of bright blue nonpareils. Our challenge is to do a re-run from a combination of two earlier CH themes: my Red Velvet Cupcakes will have red food coloring, white cream cheese frosting and a few sprinkles of bright blue nonpareils for the Red, White and Blue challenge and cocoa in the Red Velvet batter for the Cocoa challenge.

My co-workers were expecting cake today but I was empty-handed, hence the sudden inspiration to enter Cupcake Hero, something I would like to get into the habit of doing. Who doesn't like cupcakes! Naturally, I am being the true copycat - the cupcake recipe is from Kim of Scrumptious Photography and the cream cheese frosting is a Martha Stewart recipe. However, the idea of Nonpareils is original, authentic Sherrytrifle.

They have come out light and fluffy, definitely a "make again." Next time I'll make more and freeze the ones we don't eat at first and also use a cupcake tray, not disposable aluminum muffin tins - they made the cupcakes come out a bit uneven.

I'd say it took about 24 mins. to bake. It's important to follow the instructions and let them sit in the pans for 10 mins.

Here's Kim's recipe:

Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) cake flour
2 1/2 tablespoons (22.5 grams) cocoa (not dutch processed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder or 1/6 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 ounce red food coloring paste (I used 1 tablespoon of the grocery store liquid)
3/4 cups (150 grams) sugar
1/4 cups (55 grams) butter
1 egg

-preheat oven to 350°F
-sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder (or cream of tartar), and salt into medium bowl
-whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring in small bowl to blend
-beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well fluffy, 3 minutes
-add egg, beating until well blended, about 30 seconds
-beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry, wet, dry)
-scoop into cupcake tins bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes
-cool in pans 10 minutes
-cool completely on racks

Dimply Plum Cake

2008-09-23T16:59:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no Dimply Plum Cake this week. I made it about an hour ago but overbaked it so it came out all dry like a rusk. I'm just too pooped to bake it again. Oh well, next week is another week.

Pictures for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2008-09-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Blogger is driving me crazy....It left out my carefully previewed pictures of my Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake, so here's trying again!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2008-09-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Another lovely chocolate cake recipe I have discovered! This one is adapted from a recipe by Gourmet Girl. I found it by luck when I was Googling for "chocolate mayonnaise cake with eggs." It is different from my August chocolate cake as it has a softer, less dense crumb, but both get Five Stars in my opinion.

I promised it to a friend, Carla, for her birthday; her sister used to make a mean chocolate mayonnaise cake that she recalls with fond memories. I was invited to visit her in her new home in Brookline, Mass, and along went the cake as well, on the Acela Express to Boston. It was a successful journey - I was worried at first as I thought the buttercream frosting would get gooey but the air conditioning on the train was plenty cool enough to be like a fridge. Only slight repair work was required to patch up the sides with the buttercream.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

2- 9" round cake pans, greased and floured

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1- 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1-2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mayonnaise
1-1/3 cup water

Make the cake:
Preheat oven to 350 F

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.

2. In large mixer bowl with paddle attachment beat sugar, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy on high speed, about 3-5 minutes. Add mayonnaise, reduce speed to medium and beat a couple of minutes longer.

3. Add flour mixture to batter, alternating with water- starting and ending with flour. Pour batter into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan and middle of cake looks set. Leave cake in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

For the syrup
(Note: The syrup can be made up to 1 week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.)I used the syrup recipe in the Daring Bakers Opera Cake challenge. See ...

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan

Ingredients:

½ cup (125 grams) water
⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. of the flavouring of your choice (i.e., vanilla extract, almond extract, cognac, limoncello, coconut cream, honey etc.)

1.Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

2.Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

For the buttercream
This recipe makes enough buttercream to comfortably frost a 2 layer 9" cake.

(Note: The buttercream can be made up to 1 month in advance and packed in an airtight container. If made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days after making it. To use the buttercream simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.) Also from the Daring Bakers Opera Cake challenge.

What you’ll need:

•a small saucepan
•a candy or instant-read thermometer
•a stand mixer or handheld mixer
•a bowl and a whisk attachment
•rubber spatula

Ingredients:

1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 grams) water
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract (Note: If you are flavouring your buttercream and do not want to use the vanilla, you do not have to. Vanilla will often enhance other flavours but if you want an intense, one-flavoured buttercream, then by all means leave it out!)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
flavouring of your choice (a tablespoon of an extract, a few tablespoons of melted white chocolate, citrus zest, etc.) I used a couple of drops of pure orange oil - very good.

1.Combine the sugar, water and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.

2.Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225◦F (107◦C) [*Note: Original recipe indicates a temperature of 255◦F (124◦C), however, when testing the recipe I found that this was too high so we heated to 225◦F and it worked fine] on a candy or instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.

3.While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg and egg yolk at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk them until they are pale and foamy.

4.When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!

5.Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).

6.While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.

7.With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.

8.At this point add in your flavouring and beat for an additional minute or so.

9.Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

Before frosting, drip the sugar syrup on to the base of the bottom layer and the top of the top layer of cake. It's probably not necessary to use it all - just enough so most of the surface is drizzled on.

Remove buttercream from fridge - when it's spreadable, cover the top and middle of the cake plus the sides. I used fork prongs to give the frosting some peaks and snazz it up a bit.

Over the weekend we ate half the cake, altho I must say in our defence that we had a visitor for afternoon tea who helped us out. It is absolutely delicious, has a rich mahogany color and goes perfectly with a buttercream frosting. I can't wait for another occasion to make it again, perhaps this time with a different flavor of frosting - pale green tinted with crushed pistachios would be nice. Oh well, I'm dreaming right now. Have to wait for an invitation from someone.

I'm submitting my Chocky Cake to Laurie's new event, Layers of Cake

Chocolate Chunkers -Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-09-15T17:35:00.000-07:00

This weeks recipe was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food. Thank you Claudia. I've just consumed a Chunker - really scrumptious! A very rich chocolate cookie, somewhat like a candy bar.

They came together nicely in the preparation and, surprisingly, formed into drop cookies without falling apart. I thought they would fall apart considering there are so many chunky ingredients in them and very little flour. Right now they are packed for taking to work tomorrow. The dough makes quite a lot of cookies - I got 40 out of mine and that's with using quite generous tablespoons.

For the recipe, please check out Claudia's blog.

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-09-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

Right now it's a beautiful Sunday morning and I am supposed to be baking my Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, but there's a slight problem - I have eaten the whole 7 oz. pack of Whoppers I bought yesterday! Now I have to wait in for Sleepy's to deliver a new mattress, so I can't get to the supermarket to buy some more. Only myself to blame!

Later - I got my delivery and re-stocked on my ingredients. I have just done making the Whopper Drops. Oh my! Rich, dark chocolate, a serious cookie to be eaten with a cup of good coffee, perhaps after dinner. It's a bit surprising in a way - the title of the cookies sounds a bit like a quick crunch and munch casual cookie, good for lunch boxes and eating a plateful at a time, but these cookies are really sophisticated. Even I, with the ability to polish off lots of sweet stuff in one go, will savor these smart cookies and treat them with respect.

In spite of my delight with them, I don't think they rose very much - I used only half the baking powder as I halved the recipe - I'm wondering if one should do that or use the full amount of baking powder when all the other ingredients are halved. I pounded the Whoppers pretty small but I think I prefer them that way.

I baked them for 13 minutes as stated in the recipe and left them on the tray for 2 minutes; however, they were flopping and collapsing all over the place when I tried to move them to a rack, so I slid them off the hot tray, still on the parchment, onto the counter top. Let them sit for about 10 minutes. After this it was easy to lift them onto a rack. [This is the latest Sherry Trifle Tip.]

Thank you so much Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart for this wonderful pick. This is another Dorie GREAT. Oh yes, yes, yes I'll make them again!

An Award From Me to You

2008-09-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs has given me an award. How nice and encouraging. I'm feeling pretty puffed up - to think that around this time last year I didn't have a clue about blogging! So I'm passing on this adorable award to 10 blogs I always enjoy and often take stuff from.

Is going to:
A Whisk and a Spoon
Baking to perfection and beautiful pics as well of Sydney, Australia, where I lived as a kid. You can always get Steph's recipes a bit early due to the time difference there.

Bungalow Barbara: Lovely homegrown bakes - Barbara made Cherry Pie from the cherry tree in her garden. She also takes stunning flower pics and sure knows how to tweak a recipe.

Butterbur's Bistro: Rigby has great sweet-tooth treats - my next "must copy" are the Snickerdoodles I want to make for the Troops. She also has a darling kitty Butterbur who loves photo opportunities.

Cooking with Christine: A wonderful array of recipes to pick from - desserts, salads, main meals - a full menu. Last month Christine baked and posted over 50 recipes!

Cupcake Corner - Such pretty cupcakes and creative flavor mixtures! How about the "Mocha Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream" or one of those Chocolate Eclairs with delicately tinted mint pastry cream?

Spork or Foon? I love Teanna's wit and way with words. Great variety of yummy bakes (just love that Lil' Debbie Filling recipe) and I want that knuckle duster punch mug!

The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honey Bunch- delightful anecdotes about husband Grumpy and of course, way delicious recipes. There are two adorable kittens on stage too.

Brown Interior Tommi embarks on baking adventures - she does her own sour cream making and has baked Ethiopian bread. Lots of great TWD goodies as well.

Rosie and Maria from England have this really charming blog, Sweet and Simple Bakes. Real English treats like Victoria Sponge Cake.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-09-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

The title says it all. These are a pleasure to make, the sort of cookie one could make if unannounced guests arrived. I took Dorie's advice and used the Skippy Super Chunk Peanut Butter. I also halved the recipe as it seemed to make an awful lot with the full portion ingredients.

I've been eating like a pig the whole Labor Day weekend so I am avoiding tasting one now - they have just come out of the oven (9:10PM). I will take them to work tomorrow and test one there with everyone else - if they get a five star rating I'll add them to my cookies for the Troops list. The great choice for this week is by Stefany of Proceed with Caution. See Stefany's blog for the recipe.

Later - Amazing how one's appetite can perk up when waking up very early in the morning. I needed a cup of tea so had to have a snack as well. These cookies are good, really good. Next time, just on a personal taste basis, I will use semi-sweet chocolate chips and quick cooking (not instant) oats, which give a closer texture. I'm photographing the pics now so I can put the cookies away and have some left to take to my co-workers.

Pierre Herme's Chocolate Eclairs - Daring Bakers

2008-08-30T07:38:00.001-07:00

Thank you Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey and Tony of Tony Tahan for this lovely challenge. The wonderful thing about all the Daring Bakers challenges is that it gets me baking items I would never have dreamed of making myself. Eclairs! Goodness, I love them but before this I have always bought them from a bakery. Brooklyn is not exactly known for its French bakeries so I don't remember when last I tasted an eclair. Now that I know how to make them I can be independent.

The pate choux worked up nicely and I piped it into a special eclair tray which I bought recently (cheap - just an aluminum tray, for about $7.00). There were moments of anxiety while my eclairs were baking as they seemed to take ages to puff up. Finally they did puff but then deflated when I took them out of the oven.

I surfed through the baking advice websites and found that it's good to lower the temperature and let them bake for longer. Apparently deflating is a sign of not being properly cooked. So I made a second batch, this time setting the temp at 400 degrees for 10 minutes then lowering it to 325 degrees for another 30 minutes. The second batch really came out nice and puffy and shiny with no deflating.

I made vanilla pastry cream rather than chocolate as I just felt like some. I followed a really simple vanilla pastry cream recipe from the website Diana's Desserts. It's a great site and I have often had success with her recipes. The Chocolate Sauce looks a little bit too liquidy although I did stir it for a full 15 minutes. It's in the fridge now so maybe it will firm up a bit more. Same with the Chocolate Glaze, but I have a feeling they are going to turn out all right. I think I will have quite a bit left over and I have just remembered that I have some Turkey Hill French Vanilla Icecream in the freezer - Umm.. a little Sunday night treat tomorrow?

Here's the recipe for this Oh So French Dessert.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly  in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

I've just taken the pics and shall now enjoy the fruits of the day's labor - one eclair and one small glass of Harvey's Bristol Cream.

Cookies for Our Troops - Round 2 - Operation BakingGALS

2008-08-25T08:04:00.001-07:00

Another exciting round of cookie baking for our troops abroad. This round's menu is:
Chewy Chocolate Coco-nut Squares; Peanut Jumbles; and Celebration Cookies. The Squares and the Jumbles are from Carole Walter's wonderful book, "Great Cookies" and the Celebration Cookies are from a recipe by Baking GAL host Kara of Kara's Kitchen.

I've worked out a way of packing the cookies (no easy task at first) for flights to Afghanistan and Iraq. Am becoming quite a pro - the APO boxes are available free from USPS and there is a flat rate charge of around $7.00 for a 12"x12" box. Plastic baggies for the cookies - with a bit of apple peel in the baggies to keep the cookies soft - kitchen towel paper, a cardboard cake box and some Staples packing peanuts do the trick very nicely. I'm off to the Post Office early tomorrow morning with my boxes of goodies. It's a wonderful way for me to do something worthwhile for our soldiers, for whom I have the utmost admiration and feel the utmost gratitude. I'm building up quite a list of 5 STAR cookies: Here are the recipes for my two 5 STAR cookies from this round:

Chewy Chocolate Coconut Squares

INGREDIENTS
1 cup walnuts, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD
1. Position the shelf in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour the baking pan. Invert the pan and tap sharply over the sink to remove any excess flour.
2. Place 1/2 cup of the walnuts in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse three or four times, until medium chopped. Remove the nuts from the processor and set aside for the topping.
3. Place the butter in a medium bowl and set it over a pot of simmering water. The bottom of the bowl should not touch the water. When the butter is almost melted, add the chocolate. After 1 minute, remove the pot from the heat. Let stand until the chocolate is completely melted, stirring occasionally.
4. Place the sugar, flour, coconut, salt, and remaining walnuts in the work bowl of the food processor. Pulse three or four times.
5. Stir the eggs and vanilla into the chocolate mixture, then pour into the food processor bowl. Pulse all of the ingredients together just until blended.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a tablespoon. Press the remaining chopped nuts across the top. Bake for 15-18 minutes (mine took about 22), until set on top and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Place on a cooling rack. When cool, use a sharp knife to cut into 40 squares.

STORAGE:
Store in an airtight container, layered between strips of wax paper, for up to 5 days. These squares may be frozen.

Celebration Cookies
Yield: 3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 recipe Celebration Cookie Mix (follows)*

METHOD
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine butter, eggs and vanilla; mix until well blended. Add cookie mix to butter mixture; mix until well blended. Drop rounded Tablespoon scoops of dough 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly if you want a crisper cookie.

Bake 13-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove to cooling rack.

*Celebration Cookie Mix
1/2 c granulated sugar
3/4 c sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate morsels
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1-1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 teasp. baking powder
1/2 teasp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c quick or old-fashioned oats
1/2 c pecan halves, coarsely chopped

Both recipes are delicious.

Sour Cream Fudge Layer Cake with Chocolate Rum Frosting

2008-08-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely the best chocolate cake that I have ever tasted! It's from a recipe in Recipezaar (one of my favorite sites), is quite easy to make and has a nice soft but firm crumb. Big extra plus - you can taste the rum in it!

This cake went to a dinner given by a good friend of mine, Joanne, and is photographed on her dining room table. It was served after a delicious entree of sauteed turkey wings with tasty rice and vegetables, cooked in the Rachel Ray large saute pan. The wine was Trapichihe Broquel Carvernet Sauvignon and it went exceedingly well with the turkey wings and the chocolate cake.

Now that I have this recipe it's going to be a keeper. My last chocolate cake was of the cloud cake species and it fluffed all over the place. This one is just right.

Here's the recipe:
Sour Cream Fudge Layer Cake with Chocolate Rum Frosting (Recipezaar #191214)

Cake
2/3 cup strong coffee
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup dark rum or Kahlua
1 cup regular sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
frosting
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons dark rum or Kahlua
1-2 tablespoon sour cream or milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
Two 9 inch round pans; line bottoms with parchment paper. Butter pans well and dust with cocoa powder; shake out excess.

CAKE.
Combine coffee with chocolate in large glass bowl and microwave on high 1-2 min until very hot and chocolate has melted.
Whisk in rum until smooth.
Cool to room temperature.
Place sour cream in smaller bowl and add soda and salt, stir.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy.
Beat in eggs one at a time.
Beat in chocolate mixture until smooth.
Beat in 1/2 flour, 1/2 sour cream; repeat. Make a smooth batter.
Spread evenly in prepared pans.
Bake on middle rack for 35-40 minutes or until cake feels firm in the centre and the edges begin to pull away from the sides.
Cool on racks for 5 minutes, turn out onto wire racks to cool.
Cakes can be plastic wrapped and frozen for 1 month at this stage or continue on with frosting.

FROSTING.
Sift sugar and cocoa into a large bowl.
Beat in butter and rum, start at low speed, until smooth.
Beat in enough milk or sour cream to make a spreadable frosting.
Frost top of one cake, then top with other cake. Frost sides and then the top of the cake. Decorate with chocolate curls or raspberries or eat it just as it is!

Enjoy!

Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream - The Daring Bakers July Challenge

2008-08-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Finally, my Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream! Last month it was the Daring Bakers challenge but I was zapped by my old oven dying on me. I promised myself I would make this divine cake in my new oven, this time with all the trimmings.

A gorgeous confection! Not difficult to make but it involves a lot of work as there are so many stages in preparing it - the hazelnut sponge itself, the buttercream frosting, the pouring syrup, the chocolate ganache and more. But all the work is well worth it. I am so proud to have produced a real fancy European-type torte. My biggest achievement with this cake was I actually managed to torte it evenly into two discs, with the help of toothpicks and a cake cutting contraption I purchased from NY Cake and Baking Distribution.

I was a bit short on buttercream and chocolate ganache but the cake is so rich I don't think it matters. It was very popular at work; (there were only a couple of people who resisted as they are afraid of getting love handles!). A classy cake indeed!

Thank you Daring Baker Chris of Melle Cotte for this wonderful choice. Here's the recipe.

Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream
From Great Cakes by Carol Walter

1 Filbert Genoise
1 recipe sugar syrup, flavored with dark rum
1 recipe Praline Buttercream
½ cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 recipe Apricot Glaze
1 recipe Ganache Glaze, prepared just before using
3 tablespoons filberts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Filbert Genoise

Because of the amount of nuts in the recipe, this preparation is different from a classic genoise.

1 ½ cups hazelnuts, toasted/skinned
2/3 cup cake flour, unsifted
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
7 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar, divided ¼ & ¾ cups
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. grated lemon rind
5 lg. egg whites
¼ cup warm, clarified butter (100 – 110 degrees)

Position rack in the lower 3rd of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10” X 2” inch round cake pan.

Using a food processor, process nuts, cake flour, and cornstarch for about 30 seconds. Then, pulse the mixture about 10 times to get a fine, powdery mixture. You’ll know the nuts are ready when they begin to gather together around the sides of the bowl. While you want to make sure there aren’t any large pieces, don’t over-process. Set aside.

Put the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, and beat until thick and light in color, about 3-4 minutes on med-high speed. Slowly, add ¾ cup of sugar. It is best to do so by adding a tablespoon at a time, taking about 3 minutes for this step. When finished, the mixture should be ribbony. Blend in the vanilla and grated lemon rind. Remove and set aside.

Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl of the electric mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed, until soft peaks. Increase to med-high speed and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, over 15-20 seconds or so. Continue to beat for another ½ minute.
Add the yolk mixture to the whites and whisk for 1 minute.

Pour the warm butter in a liquid measure cup (or a spouted container). * It must be a deep bottom bowl and work must be fast.* Put the nut meal in a mesh strainer (or use your hand – working quickly) and sprinkle it in about 2 tablespoons at a time – folding it carefully for about 40 folds. Be sure to exclude any large chunks/pieces of nuts. Again, work quickly and carefully as to not deflate the mixture. When all but about 2 Tbsp. of nut meal remain, quickly and steadily pour the warm butter over the batter. Then, with the remaining nut meal, fold the batter to incorporate, about 13 or so folds.

With a rubber spatula, transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with the spatula or back of a spoon. **If collected butter remains at the bottom of the bowl, do not add it to the batter! It will impede the cake rising while baking.

Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when it is springy to the touch and it separates itself from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack sprayed with nonstick coating, removing the pan. Cool the cake completely.

*If not using the cake right away, wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap, then in a plastic bag, then in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If freezing, wrap in foil, then the bag and use within 2-3 months.

Sugar Syrup
Makes 1 cup, good for one 10-inch cake – split into 3 layers

1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. dark rum or orange flavored liqueur

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the liqueur. Cool slightly before using on the cake. *Can be made in advance.

Praline Buttercream
1 recipe Swiss Buttercream
1/3 cup praline paste
1 ½ - 2 Tbsp. Jamaican rum (optional)

Blend ½ cup buttercream into the paste, then add to the remaining buttercream. Whip briefly on med-low speed to combine. Blend in rum.

Swiss Buttercream
4 lg. egg whites
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 ½ -2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or liqueur of your choice
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the egg whites in a lg/ bowl of a elevtric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage). Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.
Remove from pan and with either the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. *Do not overbeat*. Set aside.

Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. *Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.*

On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy.

Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using.

Wait! My buttercream won’t come together! Reheat the buttercream briefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

Wait! My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. If freezing, store in 2 16-oz. plastic containers and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Praline Paste
1 cup (4 ½ oz.) Hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 cup Sugar
Line a jelly roll pan with parchment and lightly butter.

Put the sugar in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 min until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat. Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. **Remember – extremely hot mixture.** Then onto the parchment lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible. As it cools, it will harden into brittle. Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make paste, process for several minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cook dry place. Do not refrigerate.

Apricot Glaze
Good for one 10-inch cake

2/3 cup thick apricot preserves
1 Tbsp. water

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and preserves to a slow boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add water as needed.

Remove from heat and, using a strainer, press the mixture through the mesh and discard any remnants. With a pastry brush, apply the glaze onto the cake while the cake is still warm. If the glaze is too thick, thin to a preferred consistency with drops of water.

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

**Ganache can take on many forms. While warm – great fudge sauce. While cool or lukewarm – semisweet glaze. Slightly chilled – can be whipped into a filling/frosting. Cold & solid – the base of candied chocolate truffles.

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

Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside.

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

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

Assembling Cake

Cut a cardboard disk slightly smaller than the cake. Divide the cake into 3 layers and place the first layer top-side down on the disk. Using a pastry brush, moisten the layer with 3-4 Tbsp. of warm sugar syrup. Measure out 1 cup of praline buttercream and set aside.

Spread the bottom layer with a ¼-inch thickness of the remaining buttercream. Cover with ½ of the whipped cream, leaving ¼-inch border around the edge of the cake. Place the middle layer over the first, brush with sugar syrup, spreading with buttercream. Cover with the remaining whipped cream.

Moisten the cut side of the third layer with additional sugar syrup and place cut side down on the cake. Gently, press the sides of the cake to align the layers. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Lift the cake by sliding your palm under the cardboard. Holding a serrated or very sharp night with an 8-ich blade held parallel to the sides of the cake, trim the sides so that they are perfectly straight. Cut a slight bevel at the top to help the glaze drip over the edge. Brush the top and sides of the cake with warm apricot glaze, sealing the cut areas completely. Chill while you prepare the ganache.

Place a rack over a large shallow pan to catch the ganache drippings. Remove the gateau from the refrigerator and put it the rack. With a metal spatula in hand, and holding the saucepan about 10 inches above the cake, pour the ganache onto the cake’s center. Move the spatula over the top of the ganache about 4 times to get a smooth and mirror-like appearance. The ganache should cover the top and run down the sides of the cake. When the ganache has been poured and is coating the cake, lift one side of the rack and bang it once on the counter to help spread the ganache evenly and break any air bubbles. (Work fast before setting starts.) Patch any bare spots on the sides with a smaller spatula, but do not touch the top after the “bang”. Let the cake stand at least 15 minutes to set after glazing.

To garnish the cake, fit a 12 – 14-inch pastry bag with a #114 large leaf tip. Fill the bag with the reserved praline cream. Stating ½ inch from the outer edge of the cake, position the pastry tube at a 90 degree angle with the top almost touching the top of the cake. Apply pressure to the pastry bag, moving it slightly toward the center of the cake. As the buttercream flows on the cake, reverse the movement backward toward the edge of the cake and finish by pulling the bag again to the center. Stop applying pressure and press the bag downward, then quickly pull the tip up to break the flow of frosting. Repeat, making 12 leaves evenly spaced around the surface of the cake.

Make a second row of leaves on the top of the first row, moving the pastry bag about ¾ inch closer to the center. The leaves should overlap. Make a 3rd row, moving closer and closer to the center. Add a 4th row if you have the room. But, leave a 2-inch space in the center for a chopped filbert garnish. Refrigerate uncovered for 3-4 hours to allow the cake to set. Remove the cake from the refrigerator at least 3 hours before serving.

Leftover cake can be covered with foil and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Last edited by Mele Cotte (2008-07-13 08:52:12)

Granola Grabbers - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-08-17T16:31:00.001-07:00

Looks good for a bedtime snack. However, I'm not raving about the Granola Grabbers - it's just my personal taste. I'm a white bread and butter and lots of chocolate type and am not into health foods. The recipe is easy peasy and has all sorts of wholesome foods in it - granola (I made it myself from a recipe in the P&Q section); dried fruit; and so on and so on and the cookie is nice and moist. Maybe it was the wheatgerm flavor I didn't like and I think the peanut flavor was too predominant. I ate the pair of Grabbers in the photo so I should not be criticising too much. Used another good tip in the P&Q to soak the raisins and use dried cherries as well to reduce some of the sweetness.

The ice cream torte for next week's TWD promises to be rather divine - I'm looking forward to it.

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-08-11T17:43:00.001-07:00

After much thought, I decided to do a re-run for this Tuesday, seeing Laurie gave us the option. So many difficult choices - the Shortbread; the Black and White Cake; the Apple Cheesecake and so on and so on. I have come to realize just how precious and brilliant Dorie's book is with its variety of desserts - sophisticated-easy; sophisticated- challenging; simply delicious rustic; delicate tea party; - I could go on and on, and of course, lots of French, French, French! Well, after browsing through the book I finally decided on the Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte, a light cheesecake using part cottage cheese and part cream cheese, ideal for Summer.

It's sitting baking in my new oven right now (behold New Oven, an absolute delight, pictured with Mystery inspecting it). The Torte was easy to get together. I tripped up a bit by not making the buttered foil covering for the pie crust quite large enough, so I got a few edges of over-baked crust, but nothing serious.

Done and delicious! It's a soft, delicate cheesecake just right served on its own with the only addition the cherry preserves, adding an extra taste of sweetness. I used Vavel Morello Cherry Jam, made in Poland, an excellent brand. Bought it at the local Polish deli in my neighborhood. It got rave reviews all round at work and a couple of firm dieters had two slices!

Any changes for next time? Yes, I will use a cheesecake pan with a removable base, rather than a springform (the springform cracked some of the cheesecake when I released it; also the cheesecake pan gives a lovely smooth shape).I'll line the pan with foil, buttered, going up to about a half-inch above the top - that should take care of any over-browned pastry bits.

Here's the recipe:

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

FOR THE CRUST
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons unsalted butter,
cut into small pieces and chilled
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING
1/3 cup thick berry or cherry jam
9 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
8 ounces (1 cup) cottage cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

GETTING READY: Butter a 9-inch springform (or cheesecake)pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

TO MAKE THE CRUST: Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse just to blend. Toss in the pieces of butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir the egg yolks and vanilla together with a fork, and, still pulsing the machine, add them and continue to pulse until the dough comes together in clumps and curds - restrain yourself, and don't allow the dough to form a ball.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface. If you want to roll the dough, gather it into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate if for about 20 minutes before rolling. Or simply press the dough into the pan. The dough should come about 1-1/2 inches up the sides of the springform. Refrigerate for a least 30 minutes.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Fit a piece of buttered aluminum foil against the crust, covering it completely. Fill the crust lightly with rice, dried beans or pie weights and slide the sheet into the oven. Bake the crust for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 minutes or so - you don't want the crust to get too brown. Transfer to a rack to cool while you make the filling.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

TO MAKE THE FILLING: Stir the jam, and spread it over the bottom of the crust - it's okay to do this while the crust is still warm.

Put the cream cheese and cottage cheese into the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times, for 2 minutes, until you've got a smooth, satiny mix. Add the sugar, salt and spices and process for another 30 seconds. With the machine running, add the eggs and process, scraping the bowl as needed, for a final minute. Pour the filling over the jam.

Bake the cake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until the filling is uniformly puffed and no longer jiggly. Gently transfer the springform pan to a cooling rack and allow the torte to cool to room temperature, during which time the filling will collapse into a thin, elegant layer.

Run a blunt knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the springform. If the sides of the crust extend above the filling and you don't this look, very gently saw off the excess crust using a serrated knife. Chill the torte slightly or thoroughly before serving and, if you'd like, dust the top with confectioners' sugar.

Chicken Pilaf with Apricots

2008-08-10T15:54:00.001-07:00

This is a tasty dish. The recipe is from the Australian Women's Weekly Middle Eastern Cookery. [These books are absolutely wonderful; some can be purchased on Amazon -US; Canada; or UK - or on e-bay or from second hand book stores.The AWW website also has some fabulous recipes online -]

I tweaked the recipe a bit - it calls for boneless chicken thighs, cut up - I have yet to find them ready boned here in the U.S. so I just used a standard supermarket pack and put them in the pan as is; also I reduced the liquid content.

Here is the recipe:

Chicken Pilaf with Apricots

Ingredients
6 TBS. butter, clarified*
A 6-portion pack of chicken thighs
2 medium onions, sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced
2 cups basmati rice
1-1/2 cups chicken stock, low sodium
1-1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

*To clarify butter, place in small pot on very low flame until it melts. Let it sit for a while, then remove the white streaks from the top.

1. Heat half the clarified butter in large pan, add chicken, cook until almost done and lightly browned all over and tender; drain.
2. Heat remaining clarified butter in same pan, add onions, garlic and spices, cook, stirring, until onions are soft.
3. Add apricots and rice, stir over heat until rice is coated in spice mixture. Stir in stock and water. Add one teaspoon salt. Simmer, covered with tight-fitting lid, 15 minutes.
4. Place chicken pieces back in pan in rice mixture and simmer very low for another 10 minutes. Remove from stovetop and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in raisins, peas and toasted pine nuts.

A tasty dish indeed!

Goodies for Operation BakingGALS

2008-08-09T06:49:00.001-07:00

I am so proud to have baked three sets of cookies for a wonderful project started by fellow blogger, Susan, of She's Becoming Domestic. Susan e-mailed us for help in sending some home-made cookies to her cousin, Jason,who is posted in Iraq and missing his wife and new baby very much. The whole story is on Operation Baking GALS - it is delightful - how everything got started, the pictures of all the goodies baked by participating bloggers, Jason's fine Thank You letter and photos, and useful advice from a military wife on how to mail packages to the troops.

These are samples of my cookies, photographed on my new Frigidaire oven which arrived this week. I wanted the cookies to be the first item baked in oven, which is really beautiful and lovely and gorgeous and everything.

I made Molasses Cookies ; M&M Cookies and Apricot-Almond Bars. Of course, I tasted them, just a few. I liked the M&M Cookies and the Apricot-Almond Bars, but I loved the Molasses Cookies - soft, chewy things, with just enough spice to taste the ginger and cloves and the real comforting sweetness of Grandma's Molasses. Yum. The recipe follows, and will become a staple in other BakingGALS packages I send.

Molasses Cookies
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup of Crisco
1 egg
1/4 cup Grandma's Molasses
1/8th teasp. salt
2 cups flour
2 teasp. baking soda
1 teasp. ginger
1 teasp. ground cloves

1. Combine dry ingredients.
1. Cream together butter/Crisco and sugar (about 3-4 mins. on beater)
2. Lightly beat egg and add to creamed mixture - beat in just until blended.
3. Add molasses.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients combination.

Use Tbs. cookie scoop and drop batter in balls onto parchgment paper cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes - cookies must look a nice bronze/ginger color. Remove from oven and leave on sheet for a couple of minutes. Remove to wire cooler.*
*Recipe adapted from GMA Recipes/Eliza Leverton/2002.

Maybe Third Time Lucky

2008-08-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

The oven range gods are against me - today, Saturday (and two days late), the delivery men showed up with my range, but we couldn't get one half of the lobby door open to my apartment building! Oven had to go back on the truck and I must now arrange with our Super to unjam the door for attempted delivery number 3 - I am so frustrated I could screeeeeeam! Maybe, just maybe, Tuesday then.

Meantime, I am so behind - my Daring Bakers' Hazelnut torte; my galette and banana-choc. cake and my cookies for Operation Baking Gals. Just posting so that you don't all think I've wimped out.

Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream - Daring Bakers

2008-07-27T14:48:00.000-07:00

Behold! The first rehearsal before a trip to a barbecue: A wonderful, spongy cake with just the right crunch to it. Yours truly did not torte it properly - was cutting it in half ready for all the trimmings and somehow managed to cut a huge hole in the bottom layer. Emergency action - glob buttercream on the top layer, crumble the bottom layer and sprinkle it on the buttercream, then glob more buttercream and the chocolate ganache on top. The cake was a raving success at the barbecue - trouble is, I did not take a picture of it dressed up. I wanted to make another one for the Challenge so - Round 2:

Behold! Ground hazelnuts and cake flour in my food processor, everything mise en place and the oven heating at 350 degree F - or so I thought. I smelled gas and checked the oven - not a bit of heat! I immediately called the gas company - they tested it out and told me the oven was finished, kaput, had given up the ghost and recommended I get a new one. So much for Round 2. Now the chopped nuts are in my freezer for Round 3, which I will have to post late.

It's really dreadful to be without an oven and I can't wait until I get my new Frigidaire delivered on Thursday 31st.

Tuesdays with Dorie - No Post for the Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

2008-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no post from Sherrytrifle this week! You won't believe what happened! I bought some lovely cherries, couldn't find rhubarb so got blackberries instead, and was all set to do my baking. Oven thought differently - it went completely on the blink and gave off a horrible, alarming smell of gas instead of heating up. I called the gas company - they were at my place in 10 minutes and after testing a couple of things, they said my oven was finished! It had decided to stop igniting after about 12 years, so I suppose that's not too bad. Just a pity it happened at challenge time.

This evening I went to PC Richards and checked out some Frigidaire ranges - seems the medium-lower priced ones are better - the fancy ones are way too complicated for me. Tomorrow I will go back and get a new range. Meantime, I have to sit on the bench.

Chocolate Pudding - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-07-14T03:39:00.001-07:00

Melissa of Its Melissa's Kitchen has chosen "Chocolate Pudding" for us this week. A lovely choice for hot summer kitchens - there's no need to turn the oven on, only some whisking at the stove top. Just click on Melissa's blog link for the recipe.

The texture of the pud is smooth and the chocolate nice and rich. I think it's a bit soft though, like soft as in sauce. I followed the recipe instructions exactly but I am wondering if the problem occurred with whisking the sauce in the pan to thicken - it took me the longest time to get it to thicken and I read today that briskly beating a sauce when you have cornflour as a setting agent can cause it to break down and become runny. I have never had problems with making custard before when it's just stirred in gently. I think I'll try out a couple of other chocolate pud recipes to see if they are thicker. But it did taste good - my dish pictured above is all gone now!

Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-07-05T04:55:00.000-07:00

Amy of South in Your Mouth has chosen Dorie's Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie this week. What a good choice - blueberries are loading the fruit stores at this time of the year and they are delicious. [Click Amy's blog link, above, for the recipe.]

I did my usual uptown thing and bought 3 punnets of blueberries from Citarella (two for the pie and one for me) as well as some mascarpone cheese to serve as a double treat. I like mascarpone, not only for its wonderful creaminess but also because it's so portable for taking to the office.

Making the pie was a pleasure - how easy to mix the filling and while my pastry skills need lots of practice, I still got the pie shell together. My kitchen is hot, even with the oven off at this time of the year so if my pastry doesn't turn out I'll just blame it on the weather. [In the meantime, I've been reading how to roll pastry - from the center and like a clock - first 12 noon, then 6:00, 3:00 and 9:00, then 1:00, 7:00 and so on to get it into an even circle. Then a nice little trick to get it into the pie pan - starting 4 inches from the top roll pin towards you until you get about a third of the pastry disc wrapped around the pin, then carefully lift up the pastry and place it in the pie plate.]

My pie turned out beautifully and the aroma while it was baking was divine. Here it is, posing for its photograph. Can't wait to taste it tomorrow.

Danish Braid - The Daring Bakers

2008-06-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

For this month's challenge Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking? chose a Danish Braid.

I have never tried anything so ambitious before but as usual, my Saturday morning was very pleasant. With the help of my trusty Kitchen Aid the dough came together nicely and I set about doing the butter block and then the 1st turn. Oh, expletives ....This dough is not funny! A floppy, icky buttery mess sat on my kitchen counter and got stuck to it. Finally, by using a ruler and a dough scraper and many shakings of flour I managed to get it into a rectangular form of sorts, with bobbles of patched-up bits all over the place. I made the turn as best I could and put it in the fridge. Turn 2 was no better! I really, really want to learn how to make these wonderful pastries, but my word, the road is hard!

Later: Turns 3 and 4 - a bit better but I'm still spitting bullets about the dough. I wonder if a large marble pastry board would stop the stickiness - in any case, I need an excuse to buy another kitchen item! Well, at least I don't have to worry about it until tomorrow morning. Maybe the filling and baking part will be easier, maybe.

Sunday, posting day. Whew! I have crossed the finishing line. All is forgotten; all is forgiven. I have 2 nice braids with the apple filling, waiting to cool and 16 little baby turnovers with apricot preserves in them. The pastry feels soft and bouncy to the touch and the aroma in my kitchen is delightful. Was it worth a weekend of nervousness? In many ways, yes, as I have achieved the challenge and learned a lot. In other ways, no, as Danish from Lefske's Danish pastry bakery near me tastes divine, but that is copping out. I just need to learn to handle the dough better and I will feel confident about making these pastries.

I think the office team will enjoy the braid and the turnovers tomorrow. No more baking this week - need a little bit of a rest.

Kelly and Ben provided us with the recipe from, "Secrets of Baking,"by Sherry Yard, a book which, needless to say, is on my Amazon.com Wishlist now. Here's the recipe:

DANISH DOUGH
Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped*
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids
Ingredients4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup of plumped raisins - my addition

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

A Sherrytrifle tip: I read that leaving dough to proof in the oven with just the oven light on helps the dough to rise - I tried it - it worked beautifully!

Quintuple Chocolate BrowniesTuesdays with Dorie - Rewind

2008-06-22T19:42:00.001-07:00

I decided on a re-wind this week as I did not really fancy the Mixed Berry Cobbler, so I picked the Quintuple Chocolate Brownies . How deliciously decadent to have five types of chocolate on the table: Dutch Process Cocoa, Callebaut Plain Chocolate,Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, Callebaut Milk Chocolate and Ghirardelli white chocolate chips. Made me shiver with delight.

The brownies were fun to make; I had everything mise en place for a change (my usual style is to muddle through and reach for ingredients as I need them, but I didn't want any mix-ups with all this wonderful chocolate).

Everything went smoothly and I came up with a nice gooey brownie batter. Just popped the pan in the oven and went to drink coffee and watch, "The Mutiny on the Bounty," with Charles Laughton and Clarke Gable on TCM. I just love the old classics. Checked my brownies after 35 mins. as stated in the recipe but the batter was still runny, so ended up baking them for about 45 mins. Fortunately a couple of bits broke off as I was turning the square so I ate them. Very delicious!

This is a deep, dark, dinner-party brownie. It would be wonderful as a dessert to end a fine meal, with a dollop of whipped cream, or even more decadent, a dollop of Devonshire clotted cream. The white chocolate glaze provides a nice sweet contrast to the dark chocolate flavor - perfect brownies! I am so pleased I tried these for a re-wind.

Puffs Not the Ring - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-06-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

First, let me introduce you to the loveliest little cream puff of them all, Phoebe (also known as "The Princess Fluffy"). She was featured in one of my early blogs but she wasn't really on stage like now. As for the Cream Puffs I baked, I don't believe what I did this morning! I took photographs of a nicely risen, cute cream puff, filled with pastry cream and topped with Dorie's "Chocolate Ganache Glaze" but forgot to put the camera chip back in my camera. So no pastry photo this week - Boo Hoo!!

This was my first Choux Pastry adventure and the first time I have ever used a pastry bag and tips. It was all very exciting and satisfying at the end of the day but there were a few trip-ups along the way. My chocolate pastry cream from Dorie's book just wouldn't set so I ended up ditching it and using another recipe for vanilla pastry cream. That one came out fine. I'm going to use the pastry cream method used by Judy of Judy's Gross Eats next time, with Dorie's ingredients - sounds really easy.

Then my first batch of puffs (I was too nervous about the choux pastry challenge to try the ring) came out really small and looked like snails, so I tried again and this time I piped them much bigger, about four coils. Using a pastry bag was great fun. I left them to bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes without looking in the oven - what a delight when I checked them out - there they were, glistening, a nice pale honey color and really fat and puffed up. I did the drying out thing with the oven door kept ajar with a wooden spoon for about 10 minutes, then put these cuties out to cool.In the morning I filled them with the pastry cream and drizzled them with the chocolate and believed I had taken a photo.

My office pals were very impressed; I mean, how French. There were 15 puffs to start with - a few people had two each, so only one lonely little one remained in the fridge when I left for home. Thank you so much Caroline of A Consuming Passion for this great pick.

White Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Almond Flakes

2008-06-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

These cupcakes are very good indeed - they are based on a recipe I found on Epicurious for, "White chocolate cupcakes with candied kumquats." Well, needless to say, I couldn't find kumquats when I needed them so opted for something simple - just a ganache and almonds for the topping.

The white chocolate gives the cupcakes a lovely light pound cake consistency and they taste really good - sweet but not too sweet. Here's my adapted recipe:

White Chocolate Cupcakes

8 ounces high-quality white chocolate (I used my favorite - Ghirardelli chips)
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 and one-half sticks)of unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
3 large egg whites

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line three 6-cup muffin pans with paper liners. Place white chocolate in metal bowl set over pan of barely simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth, adding about 2 Tablespoons cream if the chocolate seems to be sticking and not melting properly. Stir very slowly, constantly. Remove from stove.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Add hot white chocolate to sugar mixture; stir to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with coconut milk in 2 additions, beating batter very slowly just to combine between additions.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg white mixture into batter in 3 additions.

Divide batter among muffin cups (about 1/4 cup each). Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 33 minutes (original recipe said 25 minutes). Cool completely. Can be made one day ahead. Store in airtight contrainer at room temperature.

Decorate with a dark chocolate ganache and sliced, toasted almonds.

Enjoy - it makes 18 cupcakes so there's quite a few to spare.

Spicy Turmeric Chicken

2008-06-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

This is a crockpot recipe from the recently published, "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker - Recipes for Entertaining," by Beth Hensperger, available from Amazon.com. The heat in NY is steaming - pedestrians have a desperate, sweaty look on their faces and my walk to the supermarket was in tortoise-time. What a perfect day to use my old crockpot; it can sit there for a few hours and cook my dinner - no oven, no range, no opening the oven door to see if it's done. So I have decided to make Beth's Spicy Turmeric Chicken. All I need to do is remove the chicken skin, cover with her Turmeric Marinade, which I made ahead, turn on and forget about it.

Here's the recipe (slightly adapted):

Spicy Turmeric Chicken

Pack of chicken legs and thighs (about 8 pieces)

Turmeric Marinade

1 Tbs. ground cumin seeds
1/2 Tbs. paprika
1 Tbs. ground turmeric
1/2 teasp. cayenne pepper
1 teasp. black pepper
1-1/2 teasp. salt
rounded tsp. of bottled garlic
6 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used orange juice - will see how it turns out; I didn't have any lemon juice.)

Coat the inside of the crock with nonstick cooking spray.

To make the marinade, combine the marinade ingredients in a small bowl or a small food processor. Be warned: The turmeric leaves a yellow stain behind, so use glass or stainless steel implements if you do not want your dishes yellowed. Please also note that this dish will stain a light-colored crock.

Remove the skin from the chicken pieces. Wash and dry the chicken pieces thoroughly.
Apply the marinade generously. Your hands will stain yellow, so use disposable plastic gloves. Place the chicken pieces in the slow cooker, with no liquid. Cover and cook on Low for about 5 hours, or until the meat pulls easily away from the bones. The cooking juices can be reduced or served as is.

Later - Have just sat down to dine - it is delicious. Certainly spicy as it says but tender and tasty. I had to shut Mystery out of the room so he didn't come to help me eat my dinner.

Regarding crockpots, I have also come across a super site for crockpot dishes:A Year of CrockPotting.

Here the blogger, Stephanie, has ingeniously developed a crockpot recipe for each day of the year - my next fancy is a dish of "Mongolian Beef" from her blog.

La Palette's Strawberry Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-06-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

Marie of A Year at Oak Cottagehas chosen this week's lovely summer tart - La Palette's Strawberry Tart. Great choice, Marie; good strawberries are gorgeous right now. I purchased mine at Citarella in the West Village in New York - this is an upscale food paradise, worth making a special trip to.

Another skills building lesson from Dorie - this time for the Sweet Tart Dough . I followed the recipe exactly except maybe I pressed down on the dough in the tart pan a bit too heavily, also the tart took almost 20 minutes after I took off the foil to get to a mellow shortbread color. What a relief to be able to turn the oven off - at 375 degrees F on the hottest and most airless day here in New York baking was not the usual fun. Supposedly the heatwave will lift in a couple of days.

I shook about 2 teaspoons of sugar on the strawberries and sprinkled them with a tablespoon of Cognac - I didn't have any of the liquers in Dorie's recipe. Tomorrow before work I'll whip the cream and off we'll go. I won't serve it until about 11:00am -it will be lovely for that third pot of coffee we make around then.

Next day: Almost ready to go but not quite: Oh dear! The whipped cream was ever so slightly off. I cut, photographed and ate one slice of pie - the shortbread crust is absolutely delicious, a definite "make again" for all sorts of pies but I can't take the pie to work because of the cream. It's the weather, even with the fridge. I won't put cognac on the strawberries again - they would have been nicer their natural sweet selves, but one lives and learns. I would make this again for an "at home" dessert, with the changes.

I guess "Cake Day" as my co-workers call Tuesday, will have to be put back until later in the week - I'll make another Dorie cake that can withstand traveling and the subway. Perhaps the Perfect Pound Cake.

French Chocolate Brownies - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-06-04T18:04:00.000-07:00

Easy to make, easy to bake, luverly cake! (Oh, such poetry!) Dorie's French Chocolate Brownies, chosen for us by Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook is an absolute find. It's the sort of recipe one can run up in almost no time with not too much effort and the results are wonderful. I used the Ghirardelli Extra Bittersweet chocolate slabs - I prefer the slabs to chips as they seem to melt more smoothly and more glossily; added a tablespoon of rum and a half cup of walnuts to the mix and left out the raisin-flame lighting stage. They baked for just over an hour (about 63 mins.) before coming out beautifully. I now have my Brownie recipe for keeps and will make these over and over. Took them to the Office today, as usual, and they disappeared like hot cakes, well, like good brownies. I'm giving the recipe to a co-worker who has previously only experienced box brownies. His children (not too young - early teens) will be able to make them, but I'll change the instructions to melting the chocolate and butter in the microwave.

This post is a a couple of days late, but am I pleased to be posting at all! My computer hard drive crashed last week. Thank goodness my warranty was still good so a technician came to my house to replace the hard drive. Many tech. support hours later I am now restored to life.

Here's Dorie's recipe:

French Chocolate Brownies- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden (exchanged for 1/2 cup walnuts)
1 1/2 tablespoons water (omit)
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum (one Tbs.)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

[Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.] - omitted this part.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

--

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-05-26T05:09:00.000-07:00

Madame Chow of Madame Chow's Kitchen chose this week's recipe for Pecan Honey Sticky Buns.

As we had already done Dorie's Brioche Raisin Snails I sailed into this challenge feeling very confident. The initial dough mixing gave my KitchenAid a real punch up, so much so that for some reason the bowl is now stuck on the stand and I can't lift it off. Patience....

First rising and the dough slappings went very smoothly but the second day was no fun. Of course, the glaze and filling were easy, but trying to get the ultra buttery, soft brioche dough to form anything near a 16 inch square seemed almost impossible. Finally, with a lot of patching, it formed some sort of wavy rectangle. Rolling the dough into a cylinder was almost as difficult; thanks to my trusty offset spatula the very sticky dough finally formed into a messy, uneven cylinder. It took a couple of hours to rise but most of the buns touched.

Out of the oven and being prepared for their photo shoot. I sampled three of them (is three out of 15 a sample?). While the initial flavors of brioche, pecans and honey/brown sugar are delicious, there was a salty aftertaste that spoiled the buns. Dorie said two teaspoons of salt for the Brioche loaves. If I make these again, I'll add one teaspoon of salt only.Maybe it was the aftertaste of so many whole pecans? I wonder if other TWD'ers feel the same about the taste. It did not happen with the Brioche Raisin Snails. Onward to the French Brownies - yum.

Here's the recipe:

Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Makes 15 buns
For the Glaze:
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup honey
1-1/2 cups pecans (whole or pieces)
For the Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
For the Buns:
1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche loaves (see below), chilled and ready to shape (make the full recipe and cut the dough in half after refrigerating it overnight)
Generously butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan (a Pyrex pan is perfect for this).
To make the glaze: In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring the brown sugar, butter, and honey to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring frequently to dissovle the sugar. Pour the glaze into the buttered pan, evening it out asbest you can by tilting the pan or spreading the glaze with a heatproof spatula. Sprinle over the pecans.
To make the filling: Mix the sugars and cinnamon together in a bowl. If necessary, in another bowl, work the butter with a spatula until it is soft, smooth and spreadable.
To shape the buns: On a flour-dusted work surface, roll the chilled dough into a 16-inch square. Using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread the softened butter over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months . . . . Or, if you want to make just part of the recipe now, you can use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder. Reduce the glae recipe accordingly).
With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends of the roll if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into 1-inch thick buns. (Because you trim the ragged ends of the dough, and you may have lost a little length in the rolling, you will get 15 buns, not 16.) Fit the buns into the pan cut side down, leaving some space between them.
Lightly cover the pan with a piece of wax paper and set the pan in a warm place until the buns ahve doubled in volume, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The buns are properly risen when they are puffy, soft, doubled and, in all likelihood, touching one another.
Getting ready to bake: When the buns have almost fully risen , center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the sheet of wax paper and put the pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Bake the sticky buns for about 30 minutes, or until they are puffed and gorgeously golden; the glaze will be bubbling away merrily. Pull the pan from the oven.
The sticky buns must be unmolded minutes after they come out of the oven. If you do not have a rimmed platter large enough to hold them, use a baking sheet lined with a silicone mate or buttered foil. Be careful - the glaze is super-hot and super-sticky.

What You'll Need for the Golden Brioche Dough (this recipe makes enough for two brioche loaves. If you divide the dough in half, you would use half for the sticky buns, and you can freeze the other half for a later date, or make a brioche loaf out of it!):
2 packets active dry yeast (each packet of yeast contains approx. 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm
What You'll Need for the Glaze (you would brush this on brioche loaves, but not on the sticky buns):
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
To Make The Brioche: Put the yeast, water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit into the mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Toss a kitchen towel over the mixer, covering the bowl as completely as you can-- this will help keep you, the counter and your kitchen floor from being showered in flour. Turn the mixer on and off a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour (yes, you can peek to see how you're doing), then remove the towel, increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point, you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mess.
Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-tablespoon-size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. You'll have a dough that is very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a clean bowl (or wash out the mixer bowl and use it), cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40 to 60 minutes, depending upon the warmth of your room.
Deflate the dough by lifting it up around the edges and letting it fall with a slap to the bowl. Cover the bowl with the plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down in the bowl every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the uncovered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight. (After this, you can proceed with the recipe to make the brioche loaves, or make the sticky buns instead, or freeze all or part of the dough for later use.)
The next day, butter and flour two 8 1/2-x-4 1/2-inch pans.
Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours. (Again, rising time with depend on how warm the room is.)
Getting Ready To Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.
Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

Madeleines - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-05-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

Everything about these pretty little French cakes is delicate and light - the batter, the cookie shape,the fresh lemon scent.....

They were a breeze to bake and the portion of batter was small, only for a tray of 12 so they could be whipped up in a few minutes. I prepared them on Saturday and let them stay in the fridge until Monday evening before taking them out to bake. They were ready at 12 minutes. I found that it was necessary to gently prize the sides of each cookie from around the shell and them to jiggle them out with a knife and my fingers - they were so delicate that a couple of them crumbled when I used the usual method of flipping the tray. If I look really hard I can see a slight bump on some of them but maybe I'm only imagining my bump success.

Just perfect with a cup of tea and lemon! I would make these again in a shot, only use 2 pans to get a double batch. Thank you Tara of Smells Like Home for this week's great pick.

Here's Dorie's recipe:

Traditional Madeleines
Madeleines are among the most recognizable pastries in the French repertoire because of their look: they are made in scallop-shaped molds from which they emerge ridged on one side, plump and full-bellied on the other and golden. That they are among the best known is thanks to Marcel Proust, who immortalized them in his novel Remembrance of Things Past. Everyone seems to know the story of Proust's narrator dipping the cookie into his tea and having the first taste bring back a flood of childhood memories. With that short entry, Proust and the madeleine gained such celebrity that even people who've never tasted the cookie refer to it with confidence as a touchstone. Yet when you take away all the literary allusions and all the romance, what you're left with is a tea cake that deserves to be famous for its deliciousness alone.

The madeleine is a beautiful, if somewhat plain, cookie made from the kind of batter you'd use for a sponge cake. What distinguishes it is its lightness; its texture—the tiny-bubbled crumb is très raffiné; and its flavor, a delicate mix of lemon, vanilla and butter.

This recipe is for a classic madeleine like the one I learned to make in Paris—it's the kind that would make Proust happy. But there are other kinds of madeleines, madeleines Proust might not approve of but that would please most everyone else. When you're ready for a different take on the classic, try Mini Madeleines, Earl Grey Madeleines and the far-from-traditional Fluff-Filled Chocolate Madeleines. I don't even want to imagine what Proust would think of those!

Just to set the record straight, while it's Proust who gets all the credit for making madeleines a household name, the honor really belongs to King Stanislas Leszczynski of Poland, who, in the eighteenth century, tasted a tea cake made by a local woman in Commercy, France. He was so delighted with the cookie that he named it after the baker, Madeleine.

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl, or in a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium-high speed until pale, thick and light, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or for up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. (For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge; see below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Or, if you have a nonstick pan (or pans), give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed. Place the pan(s) on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don't worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven's heat will take care of that. Bake large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes, and minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan(s) from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch(es), making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan(s) before baking.

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners' sugar.

makes 12 large or 36 mini cookies

serving: Serve the cookies when they are only slightly warm or when they reach room temperature, with tea or espresso.

storing: Although the batter can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, the madeleines should be eaten soon after they are made. You can keep them overnight in a sealed container, but they really are better on day 1. If you must store them, wrap them airtight and freeze them; they'll keep for up to 2 months.

Opera Cake - Daring Bakers Challenge

2008-05-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful challenge. It all started for me with a leisurely weekend, all to myself, to make the Opera Cake. It's a no-rush, not at the last minute production and for once I left myself plenty of time.

Here's my Opera Cake diary:

Woke up on Saturday morning and eased myself into the day with 3 cups of coffee and some blogger browsing.

Made the Buttercream. Grrrr! If I was poetically inclined I would write an "Ode to Buttercream."

Had some more coffee and rearranged my cake decorations and spices, for the umpteenth time.

Made the Syrup.

Moseyed out to the liquor store and bought some Baileys Irish Creme for the mousse.

Then things started to get really challenging, difficult, nerve-wracking - the cheap white chocolate I had bought went all grainy in the mousse so I chucked it out.

Sunday I got some Ghirardelli chocolate (I like this make) but decided to leave out the mousse and just use it for the glaze. White chocolate is so awfully, awfully sweet.

Very excited I started the Jaconde - quite tricky; the first set I made got burned at the sides so I made another batch and lowered the oven setting to 400 F. These came out a respectable pale yellow.

Greatest fun - coloring and flavoring the buttercream. I decided on three flavors, one lemon/yellow, one cherry/pink and one pistachio/green. It felt like painting. The assembling was easy; once the edges were trimmed it started looking quite pro.

Monday - made the glaze. Ooey, gooey, delicious! Left my finished Opera Cake in the fridge overnight and took photos in the morning - then off to work we went. It was a success at work - some people absolutely loved it, others said they found it a bit sweet, I am ecstatic about the cake - it tastes like a sophisticated petit four. Oh yes, I will definitely make this again. What a wonderful learning experience, to make a French cake like this. I have a "do" coming up on June 11, so I'll otherwise make this one again or try the Tish Boyle one with coffee and chocolate.

Thank you Ivonne andLis for this great challenge.

Florida Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-05-11T06:45:00.001-07:00

Thank you Dianne of Dianne's Dishes for choosing this super pie. This is a pie that takes quite a lot of patience - boiling and stirring the cream and coconut mixture took me about 20 minutes, even more, until I could see a very slight thickening. I ended up dragging a chair into the kitchen so I could stove watch in comfort. I wasn't too sure about how pale yellow the egg yokes should be but beat them at high speed for about 10 minutes - until they were a nice yellow, but certainly not pale. After that it was plain sailing.Felt ever so tempted to add a drop of green food coloring to make it a green lime pie but resisted - it might have spoiled it.

Had a strange experience doing the meringue - the recipe said to heat the egg white and sugar and keep beating until the egg white was hot to the touch - so I kept on sticking my finger into the foam. I smelled something burning - it was the base of the egg white under the foam - so next time I'll know to test below the foam. Picked out the few burned spots and did the whisking and broiler thing. Am not too confident about how it will taste. I didn't add any more coconut as I felt the pie had enough. I hope we are not all eating burned meringue tomorrow.

Here's the recipe:

Florida Pie
1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust (I swapped for a ginger cookie crust)
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, separated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened. Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk. Still on low, add half of the lime juice. When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended. Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust, and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes. Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch. Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks. Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown. (Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.) Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Recipe for Ginger Snap Cookie Crust
1/4 cup butter
1-1/4 cups gingersnap cookies, finely crushed (about 30 cookies)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter, blend in cookie crumbs with a wooden spoon, until well mixed. Press into 9 inch pie plate; freeze for 10 minutes then bake for 10 minutes. Remove and allow to cool.

Peanut Butter Torte - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-05-03T05:44:00.000-07:00

This is so full of lovely favorites my mouth was watering as I made it - cream cheese mixed with lots of cream; peanuts; cookies; chocolate; and of course PB. I haven't tried it yet as it's going to work tomorrow but I made quite a few inroads into leftover ingredients - in fact there are no cookies or peanuts left. So much for saving stuff for future baking!

It was quite relaxing to make - no anxiety about rising, temperature and so on - just mixing and mushing. I've never boiled cream for ganache before - does anyone know why this makes a good ganache, compared with just adding room temperature cream?

I used about 34 Oreo's and 5 tablespoons of butter to get the crust to come up the pan; fewer than that just wouldn't do it.

Here's the recipe

Peanut Butter Torte
1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
Getting ready: center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.
Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Crape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.
To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.
Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and , working with a a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel damped with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-04-29T17:45:00.000-07:00

As soon as I finish writing this I will be able to delete my silly petulant post about not posting this week; I think I was just discouraged because my DB Cheesecake Pops bombed. The best thing to do is to get right up again, so I rushed to the store near me after work today to buy some polenta and made a quick start as soon as I got home. The Polenta Cake is fun to make and quite unusual - I have never used polenta before. I decided to use raisins as I really don't care for figs and a 10 inch cheesecake pan with a removable base as I don't have a fluted pan that size. I browned a handful of sliced almonds in the 1oz. of butter instead of dabbing the butter on top of the cake - as soon as it was ready I scattered the buttered almonds over the top. Looks quite attractive except some of them got a bit over-browned. Found that my cake took about 55 mins. to bake at almost 350 degrees F - oven does not like going below 350 so has to be watched like a hawk. I'm so pleased I'm out of my funk and will take the cake to the office tomorrow. The guys at work are having a job pick so it will provide the lucky few with some sustenance.

Recipe (slightly adapted)for Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

2 handsful of raisins (plumped)
1 cup polenta
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup ricotta
1/3 cup tepid water
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
Grated zest of one lemon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon butter
1 handful sliced almonds
2 large eggs

Center rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (mine to almost 350 degrees). Butter a 10-1/2 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

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

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey and lemon zest and beat until light. Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time,beating until the mixture is smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. You'll have a sleek,smooth, pourable batter. Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the raisins. Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary.

Bake for 35 to 30 minutes (55 mins. for me), or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan. Heat the one oz. of butter and gently saute the almonds in the butter until a light gold color. Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the base of the pan with the cake on it. Scatter the buttered almonds on the top of the cake. Cool to warm, or cool completely.

Daring Bakers - Cheesecake Pops

2008-04-26T18:29:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! I did not have a good baking weekend. The less I say about my Cheesecake Pops the better. It's 5:25PM on April 27 so I don't have time to go back and try again. But I must put them up - want to get DB credit for April. Here's to May!
Cheesecake Pops Recipe

Makes 30-40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks (used 6-inch wooden skewers)

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped (used bitter sweet)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Assorted decorations (finely chopped pistachio nuts; chocolate sprinkles; ground shop-bought shortbread crumbs,can shredded sweet coconut;finely chopped crystallized ginger bits(obtainable from "King Arthur Flour").

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10" cake pan (couldn't find mine so I used a 9" square cake pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35-45 minutes (mine took over an hour, probably because I used a smaller square pan - almost the same volume but the batter was denser). Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-oz round balls (I sliced mine into 2 oz. squares)and place on a parchment paper-lines baking sheet. Carefully insert a skewer into each cheesecake square. Freeze the cheese cake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 - 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose its shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate). Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-line baking sheet to set. Repeat with the remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Bill's Big Carrot Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

2008-04-20T06:04:00.001-07:00

Cake for me and carrots for China Bunny. This was a delightful cake to make, easy to prepare and yummy gooey to frost. I got all the prelim. stuff ready last night, including grating the 9 carrots with a hand grater. When I got home this evening my cake was a breeze to make.

I wasn't too keen on the idea of baking at different levels in the oven but my newest cook book* arrived this afternoon which recommended baking 2 layers at the same middle level and putting the third to wait in the refrigerator. Apparently if you use regular baking powder, which contains sodium aluminum sulfate, the "waiting" cake will still rise nicely as the baking powder responds to heat, not so much to moisture.

Can't wait for 11 o'clock coffee tomorrow morning to munch into luscious carrot cake.

Recipe for Bill's Big Carrot Cake

FOR THE CAKE

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
1/2 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola or safflower oil
4 large eggs

GETTING READY: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter three 9-x-2inch round cake pans, flour the insides and tap out the excess. Put two pans on baking sheet and one on another.

TO MAKE THE CAKE: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one by one, and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently mix in the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean; the cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooking racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

TO MAKE THE FROSTING: Working with the stand mixer, preferably fitted with paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the frosting is velvety smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.

If you'd like coconut in the filling, scoop out about half of the frosting and stir the coconut into this portion.

TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE:Put one layer top side up on a cardboark cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. If you added the coconut to the frosting, use half of the coconut frosting to generoudly cover the first layer (or cover generously with plain frosting). Use an offset spatula or a spoon to smooth the frosting all the way to the edges of the layer. Top with the second layer, this time placing the cake top side down, and frost with the remainder of the coconut frosting (or more plain frosting). Top with the last layer, right side up, and frost the top-and the sides, if you want-of the cake. Finish the top with swirls of frosting. If you want to top the cake with toasted nuts or cocomut, sprinkle them on now, while the frosting is soft.

Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes, just to set the frosting before serving.

*This wise and wonderful new cook book is "Sky High - Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes" by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne.

THINK SPICE ... THINK CLOVES

2008-04-20T06:02:00.000-07:00

Surfing around I came across this lovely blog,Canela & Comino by Gretchen. I love spicy food but not the fiery hot type - this blog has recipes with delicate spice flavors - Gretchen's challenge for using cloves for this month is just what I want and need.

My recipe is for KEVIN'S SPICED ROAST CHICKEN WITH POTATOES, PENANG STYLE. It's from a fabulous cook book, "Cradle of Flavor" by James Oseland, featuring "Home cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore." It's quite new, published in 2006 and has many. many rave reviews.

Here's KEVIN'S SPICED ROAST CHICKEN WITH POTATOES

1 whole free-range chicken, 3-1/2 pounds
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons double-black soy sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 bay leaves
2 pieces cinnamon stick, each 4 inches long
6 whole cloves
5 small red or yellow onions (about 1 pound), each no more than 3-1/2 inches long, halves (used shallots)
1-1/2 teaspoons coarsely crushed black pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 pounds small potatoes such as Yukon Gold, Peruvian blue, or Maine, no more than 1-1/2 inches in diameter

1.Remove and discard the fat inside the chicken. Rinse the chicken and thoroughly pat it dry inside and out with paper towels. Tuck the wingtips behind the shoulders.

2.Place the chicken in a bowl large enough to hold it comfortably. Pour both soy sauces and the Worcestershire sauce over it. Add the bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and onions. Using your hands or a large spoon, turn the chicken a few times, making sure that some of the liquid, spices, and a few onion halves are slipped inside the cavity. Rub the inside and outside of the chicken with the pepper. Let the chicken marinate, uncovered, at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Turn the bird over every 15 minutes or so to distribute the marinade evenly. Its skin will darken a few shades from the sauces.

3.Toward end of the marinating, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

4.Place the chicken, breast side up, in a shallow roasting pan. Scatter the onions around the chicken, making sure that 1 or 2 halves remain inside the cavity. Rub the chicken inside and out with the softened butter. (I like to rub some underneath the breast skin as well, which helps make the breast meat juicier.) Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken, placing the cinnamon sticks and a few of the cloves inside the cavity. Cover the pan loose with aluminum foil

5.Roast the chicken for 20 minutes, then turn it over. Tilt the pan toward you and, using a large spoon or baster, baste the chicken and its cavity with the pan juices. Cover the pan once more with the foil and continue roasting for another 20 minutes.

6.Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes but don't peel them. Fill a 3-quart saucepan three-fourths full with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes and cook at a rolling boil until they are just tender when pierced with a fork, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes will in a colander.

7. Add the cooked potatoes to the roasting pan. Combine them gently with the onions already in the pan and baste them well with the pan juices. Turn the chicken over again (it should be breast side up this time) and baste it once more. Continue roasting the chicken, uncovered now so that it can brown just a bit, until it's cooked. The total cooking time will range from 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1-1/2 hours. To test for doneness, using a fork, pierce the skin at the thigh joint and press down gently. The juices should have on the faintest tinge of pink. Or, you can insert an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, not touching the bone. The chicken is ready when the thermometer registers 170 degrees F.

8.Place the chicken on a serving platter. Pour half of the pan juices over it and allow the chicken to rest for a least 10 minutes before carving (this allows time for the juices to be absorbed by the flesh). Place the potatoes and onions around the chicken or in in a serving bowl. Pour the remaining pan juices over the potatoes and onions. This chicken is best when served slightly warm. The flavors will be more pronounced and the flesh juicier.

Serve with boiled peas and roasted beets.

This is quite a fancy dish - a took a bit of fussing, what with the turning over and basting and the foil on and off. But I think it looks rather grand on its platter, a fine dinner to serve to guests. I've never roasted beets before; I ended up baking them like potatoes and it took well over an hour at 375 degrees F before they were ready. Altogether much grander than my usual casseroles; I'm quite excited about it.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge and Introducing Mystery

2008-04-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

What more 70's than "Chicken a la King!" -aka as Creamed Chicken, a more mundane title but describing the dish exactly. It graced family style tables, PTA lunch meetings, and was presented to guests for dinner. It seems to have gone out of fashion big time; however, it's a tasty dish and easy to make.

The book I have chosen is a 70's recipe book published by "The Star" newspaper in Johannesburg, S. Africa. The cover page is lost so no publication date, but it was in use in the 70's and is a collection of recipes by Angela Day who was the home expert of "The Star." Here goes:

CHICKEN A LA KING

1 large chicken
salt and pepper
pinch of thyme
one small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 tablespoons butter
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon flour (potato starch)
1/2 cup stock from the chicken
1 tin mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk (half-and-half)
1 red or green pepper, seeded and chopped

Season the chicken and steam in very little water, to which a pinch of thyme has been added, until tender. Remove all the flesh and cut into small pieces. Place in a casserole.

Fry the onion and garlic in the butter until the onion is golden brown. Add the mushrooms and fry for a minute, then blend in the flour and pour on the chicken stock. Add the mushroom soup and milk and stir until the sauce thickens. Finally add the red or green pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken in the casserole. Cover and place in a 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes to heat through.

Serve with white rice.

I used potato starch instead of flour after I learned about it for my Marshmallows baking effort for Tuesdays with Dorie; it's such a nice thickener and it blends easily. Also used half-and-half as it adds a touch of luxury. I made this dish recently for a Church Potluck and it got "Yums" all around.

Thanks so much to Carla of Chocolate Moosey for selecting the Vintage Cookbook theme. I think there are going to be lots of interesting recipes in this challenge - my oldest vintage cookbooks are a 1943 American cookie book and a 1948 Australian's Women's Weekly cookbook, both of which I picked up on e-bay recently. (AWW has a great website and fantastic current books as well.)

Well, here's to the Seventies!.

Goodness, my recent blog entries look as if I'm filling up on pale pies - I must obviously rectify this situation - my next blog will be (to be announced). To add something bright and beautiful to my blog, here's a formal introduction to Mystery, my darling big boy, who ate a lot of the chicken before it reached the casserole!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Marshmallows

2008-04-12T11:14:00.001-07:00

Fun to make. Who would ever think of making their own marshmallows, but on the other hand, how is it that we have put up with the shop-bought sponge-rubber squares for so long? Perhaps this is the beginning of a new era for me, for "From Scratch" Marshmallows. But I digress. Everything seemed to go quite easily, from reaching 265 degrees F for the syrup, the pouring of the syrup into the eggwhite, and laying the marshmallow out on a tray. I have let them sit overnight in a small, dark room and will hold my breath when I start to unpeel them tomorrow morning.

Next day: The first thing I do when I get up - eat some marshmallows. Delicious! They were a bit tricky to prize off the parchment paper but eased out anyway in strips. Here they are, ready for a party - they would get eaten pretty quickly as they are a bit deceiving with all that dainty, delicate, delicious fluff - makes one think they could not be that fattening. The only problem I had was not using a shaker for the potato starch - I dashed the starch by hand onto the parchment and some of it clumped together and stuck to the marshmallows. Next time: flour shaker essential! Would probably make again.

Dorie's Recipe for Marshmallows

About 1 cup potato starch or cornstarch
3/4 cup cold water
1-1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 quarter ounce packets unflavored gelatin
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Line a rimmed baking sheet - choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high - with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1-1/4 cups of the sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup - without stirring - until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquefy it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy - don't overbeat them and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F. remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl. Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won't fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallow set in a cool, dry place. They'll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you'll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you'd like - into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they're cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you've got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

Until next week and the yummy carrot cake!

The Root Source Challenge - "Curried Eggs with Peanut Rice"

2008-04-12T11:02:00.000-07:00

The "Root Source" looks like a really interesting blog - it's got me cooking midweek which is so much better than ordering yet another "D13" from the local take-out. I have chosen to do curried eggs - my mother used to make a delicious curried egg dish; I haven't tasted my production yet but I wonder if it will be as good as Mom's was.

This is a quick and easy egg dish and although the portions are for four servings, I think one could get more if it's eaten as a light lunch. I just made a couple of changes to the recipe - I used potato flour instead of just flour as it makes a wonderful thickener and does not lump and I halved the quantities of all the ingredients. It's an Australian recipe from The Peanut Van" website - was just surfing around looking for an egg recipe and came upon it.

Curried Eggs with Peanut Rice

Ingredients for Egg Curry:

6 hard-boiled eggs
1 level tablespoon of butter
1 small apple, diced
1 small onion, sliced thinly
1 rounded dessertspoon of curry powder
1 rounded tablespoon plain flour
3/4 pint milk
1 small banana, sliced
Handfull of raisins
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Peanut Rice:

2 cups of freshly-cooked rice
1 dessertspoon of chopped parsley
1 tablespoon of toasted peanuts
1 tablespoon of butter

Method:

1.Meld the butter in a saucepan and add the diced onion and apple. Fry them, stirring well, until they're golden brown.
2.Add the curry powder, flour, salt and pepper and stir the mix until smooth - then cook it for about a minute
3.Add the milk and stir until the sauce boils and thickens - then add in the raisins, bananas and lemon juice, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
4.Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and add them to the curry sauce. Heat the eggs in the sauce gently (to avoid breaking them up too much).
5.While the eggs are reheating, add the butter, chopped parsley and toasted peanuts to the well-drained rice, and toss them over heat until they're well-mixed.
6. Make a nest of the rice on a hot dish and spoon the curried eggs into the centre.
7. Serve garnished with lemon and parsley.

Until the next "Root Source."

Recipe Remix - Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie with Goats' Cheese Mash

2008-04-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hello Danielle and Robin:

Like your blog - found it on Is My Blog Burning. I've decided on the "Sheperd's Pie" for my remix. I have a great recipe from Delia Smith, the par excellence cookery expert from Britain. She has written a number of super cook books (I have ordered a couple through Amazon.co.uk)and she also has a website at Delia Online. The dish is a very tasty vegetarian version of Shepherd's Pie, not at all bland like so many veggie recipes.

Here it is, slightly adapted from Delia's:

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie with Goats' Cheese and Mash
Serves 4

Ingredients

5 oz green split peas (no need to soak), rinsed
5 oz green lentils (no need to soak), rinsed
3 oz peeled carrots
3 oz peeled swede (turnip)
1 large onion, peeled
1 small green peper, deseeded
2 oz butter, plus a little extra for greasing
8 oz tomatoes
1 heaped tablespoon chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as sage, rosemary, thyme and parsley
1/4 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 level teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
salt and freshly milled black pepper

For the topping:
4 oz. soft goats' cheese
1 lb 8 oz potatoes, peeled
2 oz butter
2 tablesppons milk
1 oz Pecorino-Romano cheese, grated
salt and freshly milled black pepper

Put the split peas and lentils into a saucepan. Add 1-1/4 pints (2-1/2 cups) boiling water and some salt, cover and simmer gently for 50-60 minutes, or until the pulses have absorbed the water and are soft. Then remove them from the heat and mash them just a little with a large fork. Now pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5 (375 degrees F), and boil the potatoes. Next, roughly chop all the vegetables, pile the whole lot into a food processor and process until chopped small. Next, meld the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the vegetables and cook gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring now and then until they're softened and tinged gold at the edges.

Meanwhile, skin the tomatoes. Place them in a heatproof bowl and pour boiling water on to them. After exactly a minute (or 15-30 seconds, if they are small), remove them (protecting your hands with a cloth if the tomatoes are hot), slip off their skins and slice them.

After that, add the vegetables to the pulses mixture, along with the herbs, spices and salt and freshly milled black pepper to taste. Then spoon the mixture into a 9 inch round, 2 inches deep baking dish and arrange the tomatoes in overlapping slices on the top.

As soon as the potatoes are cooked, place them in a bowl, add the butter, milk and goats' cheese, whisk to a smooth puree, season with salt and freshly milled black pepper and spread the potato over the rest of the ingredients in the dish. Finally, sprinkle over the Pecorino-Romano cheese and bake the pie on the top shelf of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.

Looking forward to your next Remix challenge.

Tuesdays with Dorie - The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

2008-04-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

Day 1: The baked pie crust is in the fridge, ready to receive the lemon cream tomorrow. Am hoping it will taste nice and buttery but the edges got slightly caught and look too brown. The solution for next time - make sure the buttered foil covers all of the edges very closely.

Making the lemon cream was most enjoyable. The temp rose to 180 degrees F. in less than 10 minutes and it thickened nicely. Could the lenghty temperature rising time that some bakers experienced have anything to do with altitude? As I'm on the coast I wouldn't have that problem.

Day 2: Very easy to finish. As soon as I'd had my post work cup of coffee I whisked the lemon cream and poured it into the pie. The cream tastes really good; it's very lemony so it's for people who really like lemon (who doesn't?) but the richness of the blended butter comes through nicely.

The Pie dressed for work is pictured above (can't take it out of the pan yet as it has to ride on the Subway tomorrow. I'm not sure why one picture looks light and the other a real yellow, but it's the same pie. I hope my co-workers like it.

Daring Bakers - Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

2008-03-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon and I'm cutting it fine. I suppose I could say I'm at the substantial completion stage.
It seems to be going okay - the cake has come out light and smelling sweetly of lemons; it has a good texture except for one large bubble in the middle of one of the layers. I'm not going to make four layers; will just have to make do with two. I'm a bit disappointed the layers did not rise higher so I don't dare cut them. The buttercream was a deluxe experience. All in all I have probably had the equivalent of a slice of cake by now as I have been licking the spoon, beater and knife right from the beginning. Maybe I should bury my face in the buttercream! I'm going to finish it later this evening in time to meet the deadline, but I will have to keep the cake in the fridge until Monday morning as it's going to the Office. The most difficult choice in my life right now is how to decorate it - should it be with coconut as it says in the recipe? With strawberries? With coconut and strawberries? Or maybe even chocolate shavings? I have a few hours to make a decision.

Later - Behold the 2-layer buttercream cake! Putting it together was easy and I think it looks quite pretty. Will add the decorations (coconut flakes it was decided) early Monday morning so they won't get all soggy in the frosting and the fridge.

Main fun - preparing the buttercream. Main anxiety - worrying about cake done-ness and rising. I just love DB's!

Presto Pasta Nights - Pasta with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

2008-03-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/2008/01/presto-pasta-night-roundups-2008.html
The joy of Presto Pasta Nights for midweek meals! Quick, delicious and doing for at least two suppers. This one is absolutely delish - it's from Gourmet Magazine September 2000 and it earned the Epicurious 4 forks and the 100% "Would Make It Again" grade. Here it is:

1 lb gemelli or penne

2 3/4 lb cherry tomatoes, halved

5 to 6 oz soft mild goat cheese, crumbled

2/3 cup coarsely chopped Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives

3/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves

Cook pasta in a 6-quart pot of boiling salted water until just tender, then drain. While pasta is cooking, toss tomatoes with salt to taste in a bowl and let juices exude. Toss hot pasta with goat cheese in a large bowl until cheese is melted and coats pasta. Add tomatoes with juices, olives, basil, and salt and pepper to taste and toss to combine. To prevent basil leaves from discoloring, don't tear them until just before pasta is done. Enjoy!

Once Upon a Feast

2008-03-19T16:31:00.000-07:00

http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/

A shot of tonight's supper, "Spaghetti Alla Carbonara" - it was very tasty and so quick to make. Even though I was tired after work I breezed through the cooking. Pity the photo didn't come out better. The recipe is from a treasure of a book, "Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook," published (revised & updated) in 2003. It's the kind of book I cover with plastic when I take it to the kitchen; heaven forbid if it were to get a crumb or an oil spot on it! It's an English publication, which I bought through Amazon.co.uk this year. The recipes are delicious, ranging from soups through cakes, and they are in American measurements as well as the UK metric. (Some of her recipes are on UKTV as well.) Here's the recipe for my supper:

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Serves 4

1 lb spaghetti

salt and black pepper

6 oz diced pancetta or streaky bacon, any rinds removed

1 garlic clove, crushed

4 eggs

4 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 pint single cream (1/2 cup)

chopped parsley to garnish

Cook the spaghetti in large saucepan of boiling salted water for 8-10 minutes until just tender.

Meanwhile, put the pancetta or bacon into frying pan and heat gently for 7 minutes until the fat runs. Increase the heat and add the garlic. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until the bacon is crisp.

Break the eggs into a bowl. Add the bacon and garlic mixture, using a slotted spoon. Add the Parmesan cheese, season generously with salt and pepper, and whisk until well blended. (Don't need to add the salt - it's already salty enough from the bacon.

Drain the spaghetti and return to the hot pan. Stir in the bacon and egg mixture and toss quickly until the egg just begins to set. Stir in the cream and heat gently. Serve at once, sprinkled with parsley.

Meanwhile, I'm going to make some of the super pasta dishes in the roundups - how does one choose, there are so many delicious looking recipes!

TUESDAYS WITH DORIE - BRIOCHE RAISIN SNAILS

2008-03-17T19:51:00.000-07:00

I have already written up my post but it's disappeared so this is a rewrite. The Brioche Raisin Snails are fabulous! I tasted one slightly warm - really a melt in the mouth bread. (Read that brioche was a favorite of Marie Antoinette).

It was more work than I was expecting - a three step process over 2 days, but well worth it in the long run. I think they will taste best warm so when I take them to the Office tomorrow I'll pop them in the microwave for about 10 secs. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this wonderful club.

Weekend Cookbook Challenge - Crockpots etc.

2008-03-14T15:36:00.000-07:00

http://weekendcookbookchallenge.blogspot.com/

Hi there! Had a wonderful time with this challenge - I haven't used a crockpot in years so hauled my old West Bend crockpot off the top closet shelf, dusted and washed it and put in the food. Forgot how easy it was to cook this way as I did all the ingredient prep. the day before. The recipe book is modern: "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two," by Beth Hensperger, published 2007. Here's the recipe:

Red Curry Chicken Braised in Coconut Milk

1 red chile, seeded (I used one dried red chile)
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
One 1-1/2 inch chunk fresh ginger, peeled
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey
Pinch of salt
2 to 3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of fat
One 13.5-ounce can coconut milk
1/2 chopped dried mango pieces

1. Place the chile, red curry paste, onion, ginger, lime juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, and salt in a food processor and process until smooth to make a loose puree. Scrape into a heavy quart-size zipper-top plastic bag. Add the chicken and mix around to coat completely with the paste. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Without shaking it, open the can of coconut milk. Carefully spoon off the top one-third of the liquid in the can (about 1/2 cup) and add it to the chicken. (The thick portion on top is called the coconut cream; reserve the remaining coconut milk for another purpose.) Stir well to distribute the ingredients and coat the chicken with coconut cream. Add the mango pieces and stir again. Cover and cook on HIGH for 2-1/2 to 3 hours. Serve hot.

Thanks to Lisa of La Mia Cucina http://llcskitchen.blogspot.com for hosting this Crockpot challenge - I might actually start using it more often now; they seem to have come into fashion again. Heather of Sherry Trifle-Lovely Cats

Photo of my efforts: I think it looks quite good although I haven't tasted it yet. Am looking forward to next month's challenge whatever it is.

2008-03-13T17:24:00.000-07:00

Hi: Just want to greet - I have taken the plunge and started my own blog as I have joined so many fantastic sites that throw out challenges for baking and cooking - probably my favorite occupation and the most relaxing and creative for me. I now belong to "Daring Bakers","Tuesdays with Dorie", and "Weekend Cookbook Challenge." I spotted another one on making pasta dishes - I might join that as well, so I have a lot to keep me busy.

My first challenge was the Daring Bakers' "French Bread," then TWD's "Snickery Squares," and their "Apple Pie-Cake." I'm going to put them up here so I'll have something on my site until the next time, although, technically, I did not have my own blog then. Here they are:

Subj: My Daring Bakers French Bread - Feb. 29

Three very pale and hard crusted baguettes, a bit too salty but really tasting rather good. I ate a whole baguette as soon as they cooled. My pictures are for first rising and my finished product, with Phoebe, aka "The Princess Fluffy" in the background.

It has been quite an adventure and I can't wait for the next challenge. Just wish my bread had browned instead of having the color of cottage cheese! I am determined to try again with boules instead of baguettes. I think my room temperature was a bit too warm so I have bought a $2.00 thermometer from Sid's Hardware in Brooklyn for my next bread, and am tempted by a baking stone and pizza paddle I have seen on Amazon.com. I used my stand mixer dough hook for kneading, and a piece of cardboard to turn the baguettes onto the baking tray and a plant water sprayer for the baking phase, so it really wasn't that expensive to get stuff together - not counting the Julia Child CD of course (about $40.00), which I couldn't resist.

I am so pleased I joined this group. I know it will hone my skills and get me beyond the nice comfy sponge cakes and cupcakes I usually make.

Subj: My Tuesdays with Dorie Snickery Squares - Mar. 3

I've just finished my Snickery Squares. I like them - perhaps next time I will choose semi-sweet chocolate rather than bitter-sweet. Otherwise, they are quite delicious. I enjoyed the caramelizing, a first for me, so now I have learned a new baking skill. The peanuts didn't turn white when I dunked them in the boiling sugar but they came out tasting good anyhow. Got lots of compliments at Wednesday night's potluck.

Subj: My Tuesdays with Dorie Russian Grandmothers' Apple Pie-Cake - Mar. 11

I really enjoyed this challenge - the crust making went very well; I had it in the fridge for a day and it was not too sticky to roll out; used foil and some sprinkled flour to get it to go smoothly and it flipped quite easily into the dish. I used Golden Delicious apples and baked it for 65 mins. I just loved the puffy rising of the crust due to the baking powder. What would I do differently next time? Use foil strips to cover the edges of the pie dish as the edges got too brown and use a mix of different types of apples for more flavor; otherwise it was a winner. I took it to the Office on Monday and it got excellent reviews so I felt much encouraged. I have never baked an apple pie before now. Am looking forward to the Brioche Raisin Snails for next week. Lovelycats.