September 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge: Fresh, Fluffy, French…

… and no, I’m not talking about myself! The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child.

When I saw we were making croissants, I got a little scared. Don’t get me wrong- I like croissants, but that’s just it. There are certain foods  where (to me) ignorance is bliss and if I don’t know how to make them, then I won’t be tempted to make them again, and again, and again…you get the idea. Croissants are fattening. They’re full of butter, and we all know I have a love/hate relationship with dairy products i.e. I love them but they hate me. However, I decided to participate anyway and hoped to make them once then burn the recipe, bury the ashes, and never look back. So then naturally I thought that if I was only going to do this once, why not go out with a bang and add two of my favorite ingredients: chocolate and bacon?

A note to my vegetarian/vegan friends and family members: Yes, I am aware that bacon is bad for you; and no I do not eat it as much as you guys think I do. I am an ex-vegan and still can’t stand to eat meat more than a few times a month. I am also aware that bacon is a gateway meat (hence my term “ex-vegan”) and will not push my bacony baked goods on my veggie friends. In fact, I do have plenty of vegan baking and experience and will be happy to bake you a vegan cake if you ask nicely!

Before you begin, be aware that the process for making croissants is a long one. Luckily, you can complete part of the rising process in the refrigerator overnight. Otherwise, it takes about twelve hours from start to finish. Since the croissants take so long to make, don’t make your filling until the final rising time.

As far as the bacon and chocolate go, I cannot stress this enough: Use good quality chocolate. It doesn’t have to be the best, most expensive brand, but don’t just pick up one of those cheapo waxy-tasting candy bars from the checkout isle. It just won’t taste as good. Luckily, the store brand at my local supermarket makes really good dark chocolate chips so that’s what I used. As for the bacon, you can use pretty much whatever kind you like. If you want to add a special kick to the recipe, candy your bacon first by laying the slices on a broil pan in a single layer and sprinkling some brown sugar on them. Bake them in the oven at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Make sure you let the candied bacon cool before handling it! Caramelized sugar is the devil and will leave a nasty burn if you get it on your skin. However, if you want to lose your fingerprints and tastebuds to third degree burns, then be my guest

Preparation time: In total, 12 hours.
Making dough, 10 mins
First rise, 3 hours
Kneading and folding, 5 mins
Second rise, 1.5 hours (or overnight in the fridge)
Rolling in the butter (turns one and two), 15 mins
First rest, 2 hours
Turns three and four, 10 mins
Second rest, 2 hours (or overnight in the fridge)
Forming croissants, 30 mins
Final rise, 1 hour (or longer in the fridge)
Baking, 15 mins

Equipment required:
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Mixing bowls of numerous sizes
• Rubber spatula
• Plastic bag
• Pastry scraper
• Counter space or board for rolling and kneading
• Rolling pin
• Plastic wrap
• Baking tray

Ingredients (for the dough)
¼ oz (7 gm) of fresh yeast, or 1¼ teaspoon (6¼ ml/4 gm) of dry-active yeast (about ½ sachet)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water (less than 100°F/38°C)
1 teaspoon (5 ml/4½ gm) sugar
1 3/4 cups (225 gm/½ lb) of strong plain flour (I used Polish all-purpose flour, which is 13% protein)
2 teaspoons (10 ml/9 gm) sugar
1½ teaspoon (7½ ml/9 gm) salt
½ cup (120 ml/¼ pint) milk (I am not sure if the fat content matters. I used 2%)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) tasteless oil (I used generic vegetable oil)
½ cup (120 ml/1 stick/115 gm/¼ lb) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash

Directions:

1. Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little, about 5 minutes. You can measure out your ingredients while you’re waiting for the yeast.

2. Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar.

3. Place the flour in a large bowl, and add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour.

4. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl

5. Knead the dough eight to ten times only. The best way is as Julia Child does it in the video (see below) It’s a little difficult to explain, but essentially involves smacking the dough on the counter (she does this at 6:55 in the video in case you want to fast forward to it) and removing it from the counter using the pastry scraper. This is lots of fun, and a great stress reliever if you’re having a bad day- so next time someone pisses you off, don’t get mad! Make croissants!

6. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size.

7. After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips.

8. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, and use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20cm by 30cm).

9. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up.) Place the dough letter back in the bowl, and the bowl back in the plastic bag.

10. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge .

11. Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge while you prepare the butter.

12. Once the dough has doubled, it’s time to incorporate the butter. Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board, and using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little till it’s almost flat.

13. Use the heel of your hand to continue to spread the butter until it is smooth. You want the butter to stay cool, but spread easily.

14. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two.

15. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

16. Remove the butter from the board, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle. Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from all the edges. (See kids? you do use math in real life!)

17. Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third of the dough up. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book.)

18. Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). *I ran into trouble in this step because my kitchen was too hot and the butter was too soft. If this happens, just pop the dough into the fridge for a minute or so to firm it up again- just don’t leave it too long or the butter will get too hard!

19. Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

20. After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little, and let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes.

21. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

22. Fold in three, as before. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).

23. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising.)

24. The next steps is rolling out and shaping your croissants. While you’re waiting, cook your bacon and set aside. Once it’s cool to the touch, pulse in the food processor to chop it up into bits. I like to call these bacon sprinkles…yum.

25. Lightly butter your baking sheet to get it ready. If you don’t want to use butter, you can bake the croissants on parchment. However, you’re already eating a ton of butter in the croissant, so why stop with the butter now? We’re going all out, remember?!

26. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter.

27. Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle (51 cm by 12½ cm). Cut the dough into two rectangles (each 10 by 5 inches (25½ cm by 12½ cm.))

28. Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold.

29. Roll the second rectangle out until it is 15 by 5 inches (38 cm by 12½ cm).

30. Cut the rectangle into three squares (each 5 by 5 inches (12½ cm by 12½ cm.)) Place two of the squares in the fridge

31. The remaining square may have shrunk up a little bit in the meantime. Roll it out again till it is nearly square.

32. Cut the square diagonally into two triangles. Stretch the triangle out a little, so it is not a right-angle triangle, but more of an isosceles (more math!!!)

33. At the wide end of the triangle, sprinkle some of the chocolate and bacon chips. Don’t use too much or it’ll ooze out when the chocolate melts. Then, starting at the wide end, fold the dough over the filling and roll the triangle up towards the point. Curve into a crescent shape. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet, and repeat the process with the rest of the dough, creating 12 croissants in total.

*To be honest, I didn’t make 12 croissants. I made about six before getting impatient and cutting, filling, and rolling rectangles instead of triangles and making little rolls that looked more like pain au chocolat than anything else. They tasted just as good, and I was able to use more filling than in the triangles.

34. Leave the tray of croissants (or rolls) covered lightly with plastic wrap to rise for 1 hour. Preheat the oven to a very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.

35. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water, and brush the egg wash across the tops of the croissants.

36. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely, then let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before serving.

Storage & Freezing Instructions/Tips:
Croissants are best eaten the day they are made. They will survive till the next day in a sealed container. If they seem a little stale, they can be quickly re-freshed by warming them in the oven.

Whew! That was a lengthy, yet fun process. Let’s never do it again… at least not for a while… dammit.

 

 

August 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge: Molded chocolates and dipped chocolate beer truffles

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

Though I love candy, I don’t have much experience making it. In fact, I’ve had more candy fails than candy successes; and every time I’ve attempted to temper chocolate in the past the results have been nothing short of disastrous. I’ve had chocolate seize, bloom, go grainy…you name it! That’s why for this month’s candy challenge, I decided to learn how to temper chocolate the right way (a.k.a. no shortcuts, not microwaves, and by all means NO paraffin!)

I decided to make a dipped truffle with a dark chocolate ganache filling that was flavored with one of my favorite local beers, Natty Greene’s Old Town Brown Ale. When I first tried this beer I noticed a tiny hint of a chocolaty flavor that I thought would be great to try in some type of chocolate dessert, such as chocolate truffles.  I scanned the internet for a specific recipe for chocolate beer ganache, and used this one as a guide. I found that the beer flavor kind of disappeared in the rich dark chocolate, and even after increasing the amount of beer to half a cup, the flavor didn’t really stand out that much. Next time I may use malt extract (you can get this wherever home beer brewing supplies are sold) or I may reduce the beer on the stove to bring out a little more of the “beer” flavor- though I’ve heard to be careful with beer reductions because they may become too bitter.

Here’s the recipe I used (makes about 28 truffle centers):

9 squares of semisweet baking chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2  cup dark beer

Procedure:

1. In a double boiler (or a bowl over a pan of boiling water on the stove), heat the cream and chocolate for 3 minutes without stirring. Then, take the mixture off the heat and whisk until it’s mixed thoroughly and completely smooth. Set aside to cool for a half hour.

2. After the 30 minutes, very slowly and gradually stir in the beer. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set (the recipe I used said about 3 hours, but I left mine overnight.)

3. With a melon baller or small scoop, scoop out balls of ganache and use your hands to roll into balls. This will be messy! One thing I do to make it easier, especially if it’s a warm day, is put the scooped out balls into the freezer for 10-15 minutes to really firm them up so they don’t melt into good all over your hands. Just try not to handle them too much and work quickly!

4. After they’re rolled out you can either roll the balls in cocoa powder or topping of choice, or you can dip them in tempered chocolate. If you won’t be covering the ganache balls right away, place them in the fridge so they don’t melt.

To temper the dipping chocolate:

Here is a list of temperatures the chocolate must reach in each stage of the tempering process, depending on the type used.

Celcius
Dark: 45°C-50°C > 27°C > 32°C
Milk: 45°C > 27°C > 30°C
White: 45°C > 27°C > 29°C

Fahrenheit
Dark: 113°F-122°F > 80.6°F > 89.6°F
Milk: 113°F > 80.6°F > 86°F
White: 113°F > 80.6°F > 84.2°F

For my dipping chocolate I used Wilbur’s “Velvet” semisweet dark chocolate. I really liked this brand of chocolate. It tasted great and was affordable- which is a good thing since I’m not the most confident candymaker and don’t want to waste a ton of money on failed experiments.  I got mine online from Candyland Crafts.

Here are instructions and tips for tempering chocolate using the marble/granite method:

• Finely chop chocolate if in bar/slab form.
• Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
• Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water).
Tip: Make sure that your bowl fits snuggly into the saucepan so that there’s no chance of steam forming droplets that
may fall into your chocolate. If water gets into your chocolate it will seize!
• Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly
• Once it’s melted, keep an eye on the thermometer, as soon as it reaches 45°C / 113°F remove from heat (between 45°C-50°C / 113°F-122°F for dark chocolate)
• Pour ¾ of the melted chocolate onto a marble or granite slab or worktop
• Using a scraper or large palette knife move the chocolate around the surface to help it cool
Tip: Keep the motions neat and tidy, if you’re not working with a lot of chocolate you don’t want to spread it too far otherwise you may end up with chocolate that begins to cool too quickly and start to set as well as drops below
• the necessary temperature. Use a motion that folds the chocolate on itself
• Check temperature regularly with a thermometer
• Once it reaches 27°C / 80°F put the chocolate back into the heatproof bowl with the remaining chocolate
• Gently stir together with a rubber spatula
• Check the temperature to see if it’s risen back up to the working temperature
• If the temperature has not risen to its working temperature, put the bowl back over the simmering water, stirring gently
• IMPORTANT: You really need to keep an eye on the temperature as it can rise quicker than you think, so as soon as it’s up to its working temperature, remove from heat
• It’s now tempered and ready to use
Tip: If you’re using the chocolate to dip a lot of truffles etc. which means the chocolate will be sitting off heat for a while it will naturally start to thicken as it cools. To keep it at an ideal viscosity for even coating, put the bowl over steam for 30sec-1min every 5-10mins, just do not let the temperature go over the working temperature!
Tip: Having the chocolate in a warmed glass bowl and wrapped in hot kitchen towel can also help keep the chocolate at its working temperature for longer
Tip: It is also easier to keep the heat if you work with larger amounts of chocolate rather than small amounts. Any leftover chocolate can be kept to be used later and then re-tempered
Tip: Remember, don’t let any water get into your chocolate at any stage of the tempering process!

Dipping the truffles was a little messier and more difficult than I anticipated, but it was a lot of fun. I bought a special dipping fork to use for this purpose, but I really couldn’t get the hang of it. I dip cake balls all the time using a regular fork, and that’s what I ended up using for these as well. The only problem I had was that once the chocolate set, some of the truffles weren’t completely coated in chocolate on the bottom and I had to re-dip just the bottoms and put them back on the parchment to set. This created large “feet” around the bottom edges that I had to scrape off with a knife.

Dipping truffles is messy business!

Aside from the dipped truffles, I rolled some of the truffle centers in a mixture of cocoa powder and ground cinnamon. I love the combination of cinnamon and chocolate, and since the beer flavor wasn’t really that strong it worked well and tasted great. I also pulled out some of my chocolate molds and made filled molded chocolates in the shape of skulls. I love how shiny they turned out!

 

I also made some Harry Potter-style chocolate frogs for my kids (solid chocolate- no beer filling for the kiddos!), and when I ran out of tempered chocolate I covered the rest of my truffle centers with melted chocolate candy coating (which doesn’t require tempering.)

After participating in this challenge and actually succeeding at tempering chocolate, I’m glad to see that it really isn’t impossible to do at home. With just a bench scraper and a marble pastry board, I was able to make great tasting, almost professional quality candy, and learn a very valuable skill for any baker or candy lover. And though the beer ganache filling tasted more like ganache and less like beer it was still really rich and decadent, and made a great filling for my truffles. Now that I know what I’m doing I can’t wait to experiment with other chocolates and flavor combinations, and see what else I can come up with!

 

Daring Bakers July 2011 Challenge: Fresh Fraisiers

 

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

Summer time for me means one thing: berries! Imagine my excitement when I checked to see what this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge was and saw a beautiful cake layered with pastry cream and berries! I couldn’t wait to dive right in. I made a few changes to the original recipe, though, and added lime zest to the cake along with a drop or two of green food coloring . I also halved the recipe to make a smaller cake, and made the vegan version of the pastry cream since I cannot have dairy.

The cake recipe itself was delicious, but the vegan pastry cream wasn’t that good. I hate to be negative, but I’ll probably never make it like that again. I think a vegan vanilla pudding made with nondairy milk and cornstarch to thicken it would have been a better bet. Another option for people who don’t eat/can’t have dairy is to use an instant vanilla pudding mix (check the label to make sure it is in fact dairy free) and add canned coconut milk instead of cow’s milk. This will not work with soy, rice, or almond milk sine they have a lower fat content, but coconut works like a charm. The pudding will set up a little thicker with the coconut milk, which is perfect for a dessert like this.

For the garnish I used a lime slice with the pulp scraped out. I learned to make these citrus peel “twists” from a bartender I worked with ages ago at the Olive Garden. It’s a pretty simple garnish, but really comes in handy for desserts like this. To make the lime twists, make a slit in the lime from one end to the other and use a spoon to work in between the lime and the peel, and get the peel off in one piece. Roll the peel up as tightly as you can, and put a toothpick through it to hold the roll in place. Chill in the refrigerator for an hour, then slice thinly, and pull gently to stretch the peel into a spiral. (Forgive my lack of pictures, I completely forgot to take some!)

Here’s the cake recipe (for the smaller cake, halve the recipe and use a 6″ round pan):

Ingredients:
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably kosher
1/4 cup  vegetable oil
3 large egg yolks
⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon  water
1 teaspoon  pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon lime zest, grated
5 large egg whites
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 325°F (160°C/gas mark 3).
2. Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
4. In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lime zest. Whisk thoroughly.
5. Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
6. Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
7. Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
9. Removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
10. To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Refrigerate for up to four days.

Here is the recipe for the regular (includes dairy) pastry cream:

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) whole milk
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon (1/2 ml) (¼ gm) salt, preferably kosher
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (10 gm)cornstarch
1/4 cup (60 ml) (2 oz/55 gm) sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (1 oz/30 gm) unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon (3¾ ml) (4 gm) gelatin
1/2 tablespoon (7½ ml) water
1 cup (8 fl oz/250 ml) heavy cream

Directions:

1. Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, in a stand mixer add the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine
3. Add the eggs to the sugar and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
4. When the milk is ready, gently and slowly while the stand mixer is whisking, pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture.
5. Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick, just about to boil and coats the back of a spoon.
6. Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
7. Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth.
8. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for up to five days.
9. In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften.
10. Put two inches (55 mm) of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
11. Measure 1/4 cup (2 oz/60 ml) of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
12. Heat the cream until it is 120 F (48.8 C). Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches.
13. In a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.

As I said above,  for a non-dairy pastry cream, replace the cow’s milk in instant pudding mix with canned coconut milk (be sure to shake well before opening!). Make sure to check the label- not all pudding mixes are dairy free!

Simple syrup:

Since I made a lime flavored cake, I added two Tablespoons of lime juice to the syrup, but this is optional. You can also add liqueur to the syrup instead of the fruit juice for a little kick.

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

Directions:

1. Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
2. Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly.
4. Transfer syrup to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.

To assemble the fraisier:

Components:
1 baked 8 inch chiffon cake
1 recipe pastry cream filling
⅓ cup simple syrup or flavored syrup
2 lbs strawberries
confectioners’ sugar for dusting
½ cup almond paste (I tinted mine green to complement the cake)

1. Line the sides of a 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with plastic wrap. Do not line the bottom of the pan.
2. Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
3. Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
4. Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
5. Pipe cream in-between strawberries and a thin layer across the top of the cake.
6. Hull and quarter your remaining strawberries and place them in the middle of the cake. Cover the strawberries and entirely with the all but 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of the pastry cream.
7. Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
8. Lightly dust a work surface with confectioners’ sugar and roll out the almond paste to a 10-inch (25 cm) round 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of pastry cream on the top of the cake and cover with the round of almond paste.
9. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
10. To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
11. Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Aside from the pastry cream, I really loved this cake. There’s really a lot of room for creativity for this dessert by switching they types of berries and adding different flavors to the cake, and I can’t wait to try some of them out. I’m thinking blueberries and lemon will be my next frasier experiment

Until next time! Can’t wait to see what’s up next for us Daring Bakers!

Daring Bakers April 2011 challenge: Maple mousse in served edible containers

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

Evelyne, a native of Quebec, came up with this challenge to celebrate the annual tradition of the Cabane a Sucre, or the sugar shack. Sugar shacks are small cabins found mainly in Eastern Canada (and even parts of the Northeastern United States) where maple sap is collected and boiled into maple syrup. According to Evelyne, families, friends, and coworkers organize trips to these shacks and enjoy rich meals of eggs, bacon, ham,  pork rinds, pancakes, and pea soup- all drizzled with maple syrup. Sounds delicious doesn’t it? It doesn’t end there! Afterward, the meal is finished off with delicious maple taffy- served atop a bed of clean snow, of course. Seriously, sign me up! This maple mousse may not be a traditional cabane a sucre recipe, but it is a nice little taste of what the sugar shack pilgrimage is all about.

There were two rules in this challenge. The first was that we make the maple mousse, and the second, that the container we serve it in has to be edible. Included with the mousse recipe were two suggestions for a container: One was a bacon cup, and the second was a little cup made out of crushed nuts. Both sounded amazing to me so I decided to combine them and make a bacon-almond tart crust. The resulting dessert, a rich maple mousse served in a chocolate lined bacon and almond crust, and topped with a snowy white meringue was the perfect combination of salty and sweet; and a small taste of a tradition that dates back to the 17th century.

Here’s the recipe!

For the crust you will need:

small tart pans (or a mini muffin pan)

1 pound of bacon

3/4 cup ground almonds (you can use a coffee grinder to grind them as fine as you can)

1 Tablespoon light brown sugar

1 beaten egg*

2 Tablespoons flour

1/4 to 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

*I halved the recipe for the mousse so I made up this recipe based on half of the nut crust recipe provided. Though the crust turned out fine, one whole egg may have been too much liquid. The “dough” will be a little pasty if you use a whole large egg, so you may want to either use half a beaten egg or use a small egg instead of a large one.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your tart pans with a little aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Fry the bacon in a large skillet, according to package directions. Some packages say you can microwave or bake the bacon, but I never tried it so I can’t guarantee it will work. Once the bacon is nice and crispy, remove from the pan and set aside on paper towels to soak up excess grease, and let cool slightly. Be sure to save the bacon grease in a heat safe container- it’s great for making bacon cupcakes (but that’s for another post…)

3. In a food processor, pulse the bacon strips until they are as finely chopped as you can get them. Remove the bacon crumbles from the food processor and place in a medium sized bowl.

4. Add remaining ingredients (except for the chocolate) and stir well to combine. Spoon a little of the mixture into each prepared tart pan and use the spoon to make a uniform crust in each one. The mixture will be slightly sticky.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for fifteen to twenty minutes, until the crust is cooked through and slightly browned. Set aside to cool completely. When the crusts are cooled, carefully remove them from the pans and peel off the foil. Be careful not to break them, they’re kind of fragile.

Bacon crusts, about to go in the oven

6. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring well after each interval. Be careful not to overheat the chocolate or it will get grainy.

7. Use a spoon to smooth a thin layer of chocolate over the bottom of the crust, and place in the refrigerator while you make your mousse.

For the mousse (half batch):

1/2 cup pure maple syrup (not maple-flavored syrup)

2 large egg yolks (save the whites for the meringue)

1/2 package (1/2 tbsp.) unflavored gelatine

3/4 whipping cream

Directions:
1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).

3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.

4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.

5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.

6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.

7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.

8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

For the meringue:

2 large egg whites at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated  sugar

1.Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Put the egg whites in a bowl. Using an electric mixer beat for a few minutes until the whites become stiff. Now add the sugar, a little at a time, whisking until the mixture is stiff and glossy. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down and the mixture won’t fall out.

3. Place baking parchment on to a clean baking sheet. Using a spoon or a piping bag, dollop the meringue into circles that fit inside the rim of your edible cups.

4. Put the tray in the oven, then immediately turn the oven down to 250 degrees F and bake for 45 minutes.

5. Turn off the oven and allow the meringues to cool in the oven for a few hours.

6. Place meringues as decoration on your maple mousse which has already be spooned into your edible containers.

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers March 2011 challenge: Yeasted meringue coffee cake

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

We had a choice between two different fillings, or the option to come up with our own. I chose to go with Ria’s Indian spiced filling of cashews, chocolate, and garam masala. It sounded like an interesting mix of flavors, and I love Indian food, so I figured I’d try it. Unfortunately, this ended up being one of those epic baking fails for me. I’m sure it was my fault somehow- maybe I rolled the dough out too thin, maybe my garam masala had too much cumin in it, or maybe it was too humid for meringue-making, but the finished product was probably one of the worst things I have ever baked- appearance wise anyway. Taste-wise, it wasn’t bad. Not great, but edible. I totally blame my garam masala. It tasted more like taco seasoning than Indian spice, and it ruined my coffee cake. The chocolate did help somewhat, but not really. I would try this recipe again, but I might go with the other filling instead, or buy my garam masala from an Indian market instead of googling a random recipe for it like I did this time. As for the humidity, I should have known better than to attempt meringue on a rainy day. It took forever to get to stiff peaks, then started to liquefy during the second rising time, making the dough soggy and gummy. The whole thing looked like someone sat on it. It was pretty funny actually, and we ate it anyway. My son actually liked it so it wasn’t a total loss.

Anyway, here’s the recipe.

Preparation time:
For the dough:
10 – 15 minutes preparation of the dough
8 – 10 minutes kneading
45 – 60 minutes first rise
10 – 15 minutes to prepare meringue, roll out, fill and shape dough
an additional 45 – 60 minutes for second rising.

Baking time: approximately 30 minutes

Equipment required:
Measuring cups for dry ingredients
Measuring cup for liquid
Measuring spoons
Cutting board and sharp knife for chopping nuts & chocolate if using
2 large mixing bowls
1 small mixing bowl
1 medium mixing bowl for beating egg whites, preferably plastic or metal
1 medium saucepan
Electric mixer or stand mixer
Wooden spoon
Rolling pin
Spatula
Clean kitchen scissors or sharp knife
Plastic wrap & clean kitchen towel
Parchment paper
2 medium-sized baking trays (or 1 large if your oven is large enough)
Cooling racks
Serving platter
Vegetable oil to grease bowl

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:

4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature

10 strands saffron** (I substituted two pinches of turmeric for color, and a pinch of cardamom for flavor)

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites at room temperature
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

1 cup (130 g / 5 oz.) chopped cashew nuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 cup (170g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions:

Prepare the dough:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.

With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Prepare your filling:

Combine ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling evenly over over the meringue.

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.

Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

January 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge: Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

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

closeup of biscuit joconde imprime "wrapper"

I must admit, when I saw pictures of this month’s challenge I could barely contain my excitement. Finally, something huge and fancy, and… really really difficult! Don’t get me wrong, a lot of the other challenges were difficult in their own way (remember my ice cream sponge cake roll bombe disaster of July 2010?) but this particular dessert was in a class all its own. Before I looked to see what this month’s challenge was I had never even heard of entremets, much less biscuit joconde imprime. I knew it was going to be a lot of work, but I also knew it was going to be a lot of fun.

However, I actually ended up experiencing triple the fun after my first cake was ruined by my little cake thief (a.k.a. my one year old who magically discovered how to climb chairs and help himself to whatever was on the kitchen table- namely my cake.) The second cake I made to replace the first one fell apart- which was totally my fault. I was trying to be clever and avoid using up all my eggs making a second joconde sponge and made a vegan version that fell apart the moment I touched it. It was a shame too, because it was SO pretty! Luckily, the third time was the charm and I ended up with a beautiful chocolate and pink pinstripe sponge cake.

When I planned the design of this cake, I envisioned the joconde sponge in pink and brown zebra print. I wanted the pink to be a soft European pink like my old ballet slippers, so I didn’t add much red food dye to my decor paste. When it came time to pipe the design, I used a small round tip and pastry bag to pipe the pink zebra stripes onto my silicone mat. To get the design just right, I used my pink zebra pajama pants (don’t judge me!) as a visual guide and piped the design onto the mat. Since the recipe for the joconde sponge made enough for two cakes, I piped a leopard print design on a sheet of parchment. As the decor paste was freezing, I got everything ready for the sponge cake. It wasn’t until I read the recipe and realized that it didn’t include instructions for a chocolate version that I realized I would either have to wing it and add a random amount of chocolate myself, or make the whole thing exactly like the recipe and have yellow and pink zebra  print. I ended up making a compromise with myself and doing one sheet of yellow and one of chocolate. For the chocolate, I added a few tablespoons of Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder and mixed until it looked right. Both sponges ended up looking really good, though my pink zebra stripes ended up blending in a little too well and not standing out as much.

Piping the zebra print decor paste

After my son tore into my fist cake, I made a vegan version of sponge cake with a recipe I found here. I re-piped the zebra print, froze it, remade the cake, and ended up with a great looking sponge cake that fell apart the moment I cut it into strips. What a shame…

Second attempt. A vegan sponge cake. Beautiful, but crumbly. Tasted great though!

For my final attempt, I made the original recipe but added more chocolate this time. Not wanting to devote another half hour to piping animal print, I spread a thin layer of decor paste to the mat and used an icing sculptor to drag lines in it.

As for the fillings, I wanted to layer them in a Neapolitan ice cream color scheme, so I used raspberry jello and cool whip to make a raspberry Bavarian-style filling (found here),  a vanilla Bavarian made with instant vanilla pudding (find the recipe here), and dark chocolate mousse mix. Instead of pouring them in one after the other I made each layer one at a time, letting each one set before making and pouring the next. Since my springform pan was so big, I ended up having to make an extra layer of the raspberry Bavarian. To top my entremet, I made a raspberry sauce with a recipe found in ‘The Professional Pastry Chef’ by Bo Frieberg.

I decorated the entremet with a decor sauce made with a recipe also found in ‘The Professional Pastry Chef’. It was made with sour cream thinned with heavy cream to make it the same consistency as the raspberry puree.

To make the cream hearts, I added a few drops to the top of the rasperry sauce and dragged a toothpick through the dots to form hearts. I also tempered some chocolate and molded two chocolate skulls and a large chocolate heart, then arranged some raspberries around them for decoration.

When we unmolded and cut the cake I was so happy with the way it turned out. The layers set perfectly, and tasted great. Even though the final sponge didn’t turn out the way I had originally envisioned it, the end result of all the time I spent making this dessert was well worth it and I made a dessert I was proud of. I don’t know if I will ever make this again, but at least now I know I can. I will, however, have to try another zebra sponge at some point. Jelly roll perhaps?

Here’s the recipe for the decor paste and sponge (I found it was better to make the decor paste first, then the sponge while the decor paste is freezing):

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18”  jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
¾ cup almond flour/meal
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup cake flour
3 large eggs
3 large egg whites
2½ teaspoons white granulated sugar or superfine sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and granulated sugar to firm, glossy peaks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
2. Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour together into a bowl.
3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light.
4. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in melted butter.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” jelly roll pan

Ingredients
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons Confectioners’ sugar
7 large egg whites
1¾ cup cake flour
Food coloring gel, paste or liquid ( I used regular red liquid food coloring)

COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3. Fold in sifted flour.
4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch thick onto silicone baking mat with an offset spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
3. Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
5. Bake at 475ºF until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes.
6. Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
7. Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing.

Preparing the MOLD for entremets:

For my entremet I used a springform pan as the mold. The directions provided in the challenge were as follows:

Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.

I tried doing it this way but had really crappy cling wrap that wouldn’t cling to anything, so it wouldn’t wrap tight enough to hold the filling. I ended up just putting a layer of sponge cake in the bottom of the assembled springform pan and molding my dessert that way. When I unmolded, I just moved the entremet with the springform pan bottom and all onto my cake stand. Since the filling was soft and didn’t take too much effort to cut I didn’t have to worry much about scratching the pan bottom.

Preparing the Jaconde for Molding:

1. Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
2. Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
3. Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. You can use a very sharp paring knife and ruler, but I used a pastry scraper that had a ruler printed on it. The long straight edge made it easier for me.
4. Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
5. The mold is done, and ready to fill.

OCTOBER DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE: Let’s Go Nuts for Doughnuts!

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

Just a few weeks ago I went to the Dixie Classic Fair here in Winston-Salem and was faced with multiple fried temptations. Though I didn’t give in (I was actually good and only had half of  an Italian ice that I shared with my son), I have to admit that the good feeling that came with not eating the tempting, artery clogging food only lasted about five minutes and turned into a feeling of regret and deprivation. Still craving something deep fried and delicious, I went online and found that I had my second chance with this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge: Doughnuts!

Though I haven’t been a fan of doughnuts since I was a kid (a Krispy Kreme overdose at age eight took care of that), I was ready to give them a second chance; especially when I saw the recipe for pumpkin doughnuts! Not only was I going to satisfy my deep fried craving, I was going to satisfy my ever present Fall pumpkin craving, and learn how to make doughnuts all in one go. Could it get any better than that? I think not.

Making the dough was fun. Cutting the dough was not. I didn’t have a doughnut cutter so I used the rim of a glass that I dipped in flour to keep it from sticking. For the hole in the center I used the large end of a one inch pastry tip. I don’t know if the dough came out extra sticky because I let it sit too long in the fridge or if doughnut dough is normally like that, but it was so sticky it was hard to cut the holes out and I ended up with a lot of misshapen doughnuts. I wonder if it would have been easier with a doughnut cutter… I may have to buy one and find out.

After I cut the doughnuts out I prepped my oil. I don’t have a deep fryer so I used a saucepan to heat up the oil and used a candy thermometer to check the temperature. It took a long time to get them all done since the pan was so small, but it was worth it. My whole house smelled like a doughnut shop and I loved it. I don’t really like glazed doughnuts, so once they were done I chose to sprinkle them with powdered sugar instead of the glaze like the recipe suggested. I thought it worked really well, though cinnamon sugar might have  been better.

I know I say this every time, but I had SO much fun with this month’s challenge. I learned something new, and now that I’ve tried homemade doughnuts I don’t think I can even compare them to store bought.

Here’s the recipe:

Pumpkin Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time – 15 minutes
Chilling time – 3 hours
Cooking time – 10 minutes

Yield: About 24 doughnuts & 24 doughnut holes

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour 3.5 cup
Baking Powder 4 teaspoons
Table Salt 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon, ground 1 teaspoon
Ginger, ground ½ teaspoon
Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
Nutmeg, ground ¼ teaspoon
Cloves, ground 1/8 teaspoon
White Granulated Sugar 1 cup
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon
Egg, Large 1
Egg Yolk, Large 2
Pure Vanilla Extract 1 teaspoon
Buttermilk ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon
Pumpkin 1 cup (Canned pure pumpkin or fresh cooked and pureed pumpkin – DON’T use pumpkin pie mix!)
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Powdered Sugar Glaze:
Powdered (Icing) Sugar 2 cup / 480 ml / 250 gm / 9 oz
Whipping Cream (About 32% butter fat) 4 Tablespoon + more if needed / 60 ml

Directions:

1. Whisk together the first 8 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until blended (the mixture will be grainy and not smooth). Beat in egg, then yolks and vanilla. Gradually beat in buttermilk; beat in pumpkin. Using rubber spatula, fold in dry ingredients in 4 additions, blending gently after each addition. Cover with plastic; chill 3 hours.
2. Sprinkle 2 rimmed baking sheets lightly with flour. Press out 1/3 of dough on floured surface to 1/2- to 2/3-inch (12 mm to 15 mm) thickness. Using 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) -diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Arrange on sheets. Repeat with remaining dough in 2 more batches. Gather dough scraps. Press out dough and cut out more dough rounds until all dough is used.
3. Using 1-inch (25 mm) diameter round cutter, cut out center of each dough round to make doughnuts and doughnut holes.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with several layers of paper towels. Pour oil into large deep skillet to depth of 1 1/2 inches (40 mm). Attach deep-fry thermometer and heat oil to 365°F to 370°F (185°C to 188°C). Fry doughnut holes in 2 batches until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 minute per side. Using slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain. Cool completely.

Glaze Directions:

1. Whisk powdered sugar and 4 tablespoons whipping cream to blend. Whisk in additional cream, 1 teaspoon at a time, to form medium thick glaze.
2. Can be made up to 3 hours ahead.
3. Add doughnut holes to bowl of spiced sugar and toss to coat.
4. Spread doughnuts on 1 side with powdered sugar glaze.
5. Arrange doughnuts, glazed side up, on racks. Let stand until glaze sets, at least 30 minutes.

The recipe for pumpkin doughnuts is from Bon Apetit and can be found here.

Daring Bakers September 2010 challenge: Decorated sugar cookies

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

When I found out that this month’s challenge was to make sugar cookies for your own special occasion in September,  I couldn’t have been more excited. September is a very special month for me because not only do I celebrate my wedding anniversary (number 5 this year!), but it’s my youngest son’s birthday, this year being his first. I immediately decided to make these cookies to fit the theme of the birthday party and give them out as party favors.

My son is in love with Yo Gabba Gabba, so naturally I picked that as his party theme. In case you’ve never seen it, this show has five main characters, four of which are monsters, and the other a magic robot. They are brought to life by a DJ named DJ Lance Rock. There’s music, special celebrity guests, and kids absolutely love it. I have to admit it’s one of the least annoying shows my kids watch.

Since I didn’t have cookie cutters in the shape of the characters, I made my own templates out of paper and used a sharp knife to cut the shapes out of the dough.

I only made two of the characters (his favorites, Muno and Brobee) and used star, circle, and rocket ship cookie cutters to make the other shapes. Since my son’s name is Phoenix (after the constellation) I thought space-themed cookies would be cute.

The cookie recipe was probably the best sugar cookie recipe I have used in a long time. The dough easy to make, and the resulting cookies were delicious. Not overly sweet, with a perfect cookie texture.

Here’s the recipe:

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36- 4″ Cookies

½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until it just becomes creamy in texture. Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.
2. Beat in the egg until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
3. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
4. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
5. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins. Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time, and it’s already been rolled out while still soft, making it easier and quicker.
6. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
7. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
8. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.Tip: It’s very important you chill them again to avoid them spreading during baking. 
9. Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
10. Preheat oven to 350°F / Gas Mark 4 and bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies. Bake same sized cookies together to make sure they are cooked evenly and to avoid burning the smaller cookies. Rotate the cookie sheets halfway through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
11. Remove from the oven and cool on cooling racks.
12. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

If wrapped in cling wrap or foil and kept in an airtight container, these cookies will last up to a month.

For the icing, I used Wilton’s royal icing recipe with the exception of the red icing. It’s just too hard to get a true red without using an entire jar of color paste and making the icing bitter with it. For the red, I bought a squeeze bottle of ready to use cookie icing by Wilton.

I used this recipe because it was made with powdered egg whites, and to me was a little safer than the traditional raw egg recipe I’ve used before. It’s important to keep the bowl covered to keep the icing from drying out while you are working. The recipe makes about 3 cups, and you’ll only be working with small amounts at a time. I took about half a cup or so and mixed the color in a separate bowl and used a zip lock bag with a small round pastry tip to pipe an outline on the cookies, then “flooded” the inside with icing. On some cookies, like the Yo Gabba Gabba characters, I was working with multiple colors and had 3 or 4 bags of icing out at a time. For their eyes I put a chocolate chip into white icing, pointed end down.

You can tell which ones I did first...Too much icing and they smeared a little!

For the star shaped cookies I piped a number one in the center and filled it in. Then, I piped the outline of the star and filled it in as well. For the round cookies I outlined and filled in the circle and then piped little drops of a different color in the icing and pulled a toothpick through the center of the drops and all around the cookie without lifting it to form hearts. I had never done that before and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be, though I did use way too much icing and smeared a few of them beyond repair.

After the cookies were done, I put them on a wire rack to dry. It took about a day for them to dry completely, but it was worth it. They looked great for my first try, and the party guests loved them. These cookies were a lot of fun  to make and I’ll definitely make them again soon. I’m already dreaming up ideas for Halloween.

Sugar Cookie

Daring Bakers July 2010 Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

Last post I mentioned I had been working on something that was a secret, and today is the day I get to post about it! I recently became a member of The Daring Bakers, an online community of bakers who take on monthly baking challenges and then blog about them. This month was my first challenge and I couldn’t be more excited. The challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s World and was for a Swiss roll ice cream cake. We had to make two cream filled Swiss rolls, two different kinds of ice cream from scratch, and a fudge sauce and layer them in a bowl to make a bombe. What a beautiful cake!

I started off by using Sunita’s recipe for the sponge cake as follows:

Preparation time- 10 minutes

Baking time- 10-12 minutes

Ingredients-

6 medium sized eggs

1 cup caster sugar, and a little extra for rolling

6 Tablespoons all purpose flour + 5 Tablespoons of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

2 Tablespoons boiling water

a little oil for brushing the pans

Method-

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with parchment paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick. When the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
3. Add the flour mixture in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
5. Place a pan in the center of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

I had a little trouble with the cake because my oven cooks at too high a temperature, as I found out when the first cake turned out looking and feeling like crisp cardboard. I verified the temperature issue with an oven thermometer and adjusted the oven accordingly. The second cake turned out fine but I had to make another half batch of cake batter to make up for the first one that burned.

burnt cake

For the cream filling I wanted to make a dairy free strawberry cream filling, but the recipe I tried for a vegan coconut cream whipped topping didn’t work. The video I used as a reference advised to use a specific brand of coconut milk with a higher fat content, but I had a different one. I think a combination of added emulsifiers and a lower fat content made it impossible to whip to soft peaks, so I ended up giving up and making real whipped cream with strawberry puree. I used this recipe from Joy of Baking and it was perfect for this cake.

doesn't that look good? Love the color!

After the cake was cooled, I gently unrolled it and spread each cake with the whipped cream icing almost to the edge, leaving a half inch border all around the cake then rolled it back up. I covered it in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge until the ice creams were done.

As far as dairy free ice creams go, coconut milk ice cream is my favorite. The higher fat content makes it a softer set than soy or almond milk ice cream, and has a richness almost like real ice cream. I wanted to make strawberry and chocolate ice creams to go with the chocolate cake and strawberry filling. For both flavors I looked to one of my favorite blogs, A Vegan Ice Cream Paradise,  for my recipes.  They have an amazing recipe for chocolate raspberry ice cream that my husband, Nathan makes for us using coconut milk instead of soy. I decided to use that recipe but left out the raspberry and used Hershey’s special dark cocoa powder instead of the regular cocoa powder for a richer, more decadent chocolate ice cream.

I had never made strawberry ice cream before and was a little nervous since I’ve heard the high water content in the berries can make dairy free ice cream seem icy. The recipe on the vegan blog worked okay, but it did turn out just a bit icy. David Lebovitz’s blog recommends adding alcohol to prevent this. I’ll have to try that next time.

While the ice cream was setting I made the chocolate sauce. I used my favorite dairy free chocolate ganache recipe, adapted from Sweet Dreams: Recipes for Delightful indulgences. To make it you will need:

4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance vegan margarine

2 Tablespoons coconut milk

It’s really simple to make, just melt the ingredients in the microwave or on a double boiler and whisk until smooth. Before using on the ice cream cake, let it cool a little to room temperature. I chose ganache because it’s richer than chocolate sauce and in the freezer it hardens to a solid chocolate without getting icy.

Once everything was made, the next step was assembly.

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices, approximately 2 cm each.
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the bowl, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the strawberry ice cream. If you’re making vegan ice cream, it won’t take much. Be careful not to melt it. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the plastic wrap cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour).
5. Add the fudge sauce over the strawberry ice cream, cover and freeze till firm ( at least an hour).
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water. If you aren’t using vegan ice cream, you may need to let the cake sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before slicing.
   

   first layer of ice cream over the cake

   

   ganache layer

My finished cake didn’t look as pretty as I wanted it to, but part of it was that we let it sit too long before slicing and the bottom ice cream started melting. Despite this, it was a beautiful cake and delicious!

the finished product

yum!

My thanks to Sunita for posting this challenge and teaching me something new in dessert making. I can’t wait to see what we are going to do for next month’s challenge!!!