Mary Mary Culinary

Spice School: A Course in Masala Mischief!

2012-01-31T07:51:00.002-05:00

Because I need more school in my life I joined Mr P of Delicious Delicious Delicious and Sanjana of Ko Rasoi in this exploration of spices and Indian vegetarian cooking. We will post on the last day of the month and if you'd like to join you can find a clear explanation here and a list of the first 4 dishes in the 'curryculum'. I love Indian food, as I may have mentioned here and went on a bit about in my appam challenge. I love both sweet and savoury spices and one of my favourites is mustard seed. That was the focus this month and I was in as soon as I saw that. Now, some of you may remember that I am not a big fan of potatoes. In fact, they were the only ingredient I had to go out and buy in order to make this dish. I only bought half the specified weight, which was too bad, as this was delicious. I make an exception for curried potatoes. We ate it on rice for some winterlicious carb on carb action.

Next month: Exploring Carom Seeds with Crispy Potato Bhajia.

Hmm, more potatoes. I will grow to love them. It's in my genes, somewhere.

You can find the recipe on KO Rasoi.

Chestnut Lamingtons

2012-01-28T10:18:00.002-05:00

Happy Australia Day! I can't believe I missed it even though we are 16 hours behind. I guess I was too busy watching tennis. Rafa! Mr P over at Delicious Delicious Delicious is hosting Reinvent the Lamington again this year. Well, it's his invention, so I'm not sure who else would host it. Anyway, I look at the amazing creations every year and I come up with lots of ideas, but I've never actually participated before. After leaving a comment over at DDD, I got a reply strongly urging me to get some lamingtons made. And so I did. Nothing earth-shattering over here, but at least I found a good use for my homemade candied chestnuts and chestnut jam.

Yes, I made my own candied chestnuts and chestnut jam last fall. It was a dangerous combination of gorgeous autumn produce, sporadic employment and temporary insanity after returning from Ecuador. It was a good thing I wasn't working, as the chestnut jam took all day to make and the candied chestnuts took about 4 days. By that time I couldn't be arsed to blog about them or even take photos. In fact, I couldn't even eat the stuff as it just tasted like too much effort for 5 small jars. The candied chestnuts, which never softened enough, have been taking up valuable real estate in the fridge and the jam has been languishing on the counter. I gave 2 jars away at Christmas and nobody knows what to do with it. So, I made some chocolate and chestnut mousse cupcakes last week and now lamingtons. If you have any other ideas, please let me know. I have 2 jars left. And no, I'm not sending it to you unless you pay the postage. Sporadically employed, remember?

I made ⁴/₇ of this recipe for the cake and ½ the glaze recipe for 9 lamingtons. Instead of chestnut, you can leave them unfilled or use another jam. Roll them in the traditional coconut or nuts instead of chestnuts. I also made some with coconut and a lovely raspberry cassis jam that a friend made. Too bad I ate them/gave them away before getting photos--they were the prettier of the lams.

Mexican Chocolate Streusel Cake

2012-01-21T11:39:00.001-05:00

After making the atole in the previous post, I was left with almost a whole package of Ibarra chocolate. I looked in my Mexican cookbooks for ideas and found this cake. I think Rick Bayless makes amazing Mexican food, but I don't think he's much of a baker. This cake was good hot out of the oven (you can see above that I helped myself to the middle piece), but I found it very firm when it was cool. It reminded me of those snack cake mixes I used to beg my mother to buy as a child and then never ate once they had cooled off. Why a boxed mix? I thought I was deprived with all the homemade food we had. Silly me.

Anyway, if you have nostalgia for the snack cakes of yore, this is for you. It's not extremely chocolaty and the streusel is not too streusely. Hmm, I'm not a big fan of either chocolate or streusel. This poor cake never stood a chance.

Mexican Chocolate Streusel Cake
Adapted from Mexico One Plate at a Time, Rick Bayless et al
Makes one 9"x13" cake (I made a half recipe in an 8" pan)

One 18-19 ounce (510-540 gram) package Mexican chocolate, such as Abuelita or Ibarra, coarsely chopped
For the streusel topping:
1 large egg yolk
½ teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (3½ oz/100g) unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup (3 oz/85 g) all-purpose flour
⅔ cup sliced almonds
For the cake:
1¾ cups (8 oz/227 g) all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 oz/227 g cream cheese, at room temperature
8 oz/227 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon almond extract

In a food processor, pulse half the chocolate until it is like breadcrumbs. Set aside in a bowl. Add the remainder of the chocolate and process it to breadcrumb consistency. Add salt, butter and flour and pulse until just combined. It should be crumbly, not a paste. Add almonds and pulse just to mix in.
Preheat oven to 350℉/175℃. Grease baking pan. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder.
Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well blended after each one. Scrape bowl and beat in almond extract.
Add flour mixture and mix in on low speed until almost thoroughly combined. Add remaining chocolate and mix gently.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and level it. Sprinkle streusel on top, breaking it up as you do so.
Bake 35-40 minutes, until springy, the edges have just begun to pull away from the edges of the pan and a tester comes out clean. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve warm. Apparently it keeps, well-wrapped for a few days, but I found it very firm the next day. Eat this right out of the oven!

The Daring Cooks Make Tamales!

2012-01-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

My favourite memory of my first trip to Mexico was learning to cook many special dishes. I stayed for a month, with a former student in Queretaro. In the evenings, I helped her to plan her lessons in English, as she was also a teacher, but I had the days to myself. I did a lot of wandering around on my own and her mother and sister took me to different markets and restaurants, gathering ingredients and being invited into the kitchen. It was hilarious, because neither of them spoke any English and I didn't know much Spanish. We were all comfortable in the kitchen, though. I really must do a post on some of those dishes, but right now we need to talk tamales!

This was just about the best cooking challenge I could imagine. I had been wanting to make tamales for a long time, and in fact had had a bag of masa for tamales in my freezer for ages for just that purpose. I almost chose them for my own Daring Cooks' challenge but went Indian instead. The only thing holding me back was ... sheer laziness. I had heard that they were a lot of work and as you can see by my sparse posting here I just wasn't in a blogging mood. Maranda's challenge was just the kick in the pants I needed. I made two varieties: the ones above are pork cooked in guajillo chile salsa and wrapped in banana leaves. Below are chicken in a green chile and tomatillo salsa and wrapped in corn husks.

I much preferred the chicken ones. The corn husks were easier to work with than the banana leaves and the filling was far tastier. I think I got a dud batch of guajillo chiles, because the filling was bland. I ended up spicing up the remaining sauce with a couple of chipotles in adobo and that did the trick--wish I had thought of that when filling them. So, were they a ton of work? I don't think so. I spaced out the making of the filling and preparing the wrappers, then was able to wrap and tie about 25 corn and 18 banana tamales in the time it took to watch 1 episode of Mad Men. That Don Draper sure does make time fly. Then I steamed them and gave some away and froze the rest.

That cup in the back is one I got in Queretaro just before I left. It is my Mexican hot chocolate cup (I have many dishes that are only used for one specific food). I tried my hand at atole to accompany the tamales, as it is traditional. Atole is like hot chocolate thickened with corn masa. It's as thick as heavy cream, but made with a mixture of water, milk, masa and Mexican chocolate. I never liked it before, as it has a distinct corny flavour, but I added a dash of almond extract and ended up drinking 2 cups instead of eating the plate you see above. It was astonishingly good. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Atole

Adapted from Rick Bayless

⅔ cup masa harina mixed with ½ cup warm water

8 ounces chopped Mexican chocolate (Abuelita or Ibarra)

3 cups water

3½ cups milk

1 teaspoon almond extract, optional

Combine masa, chocolate and 3 cups water in a blender, blend until smooth. Place in a saucepan with the milk and cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Thin with milk or water if it's too thick. Add almond extract (cinnamon would be good here, or rum).
Strain into cups, or for frothy atole, strain into the rinsed blender and blend before pouring into mugs.

Thanks so much to Maranda of Jolts & Jollies for such a fun challenge! You can see all the beautiful results on the Daring Kitchen homepage. Click here for the full challenge pdf with recipes, links and photos.

Blog-checking lines: Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Tourtière, French-Canadian Meat Pie

2011-12-22T22:36:00.000-05:00

Every year I bake huge amounts for the holidays, but I never make the same things. I may repeat a cookie or two, but I like to change it up. Even the decorated sugar cookies I make come from a different recipe every time (this year's recipe was a keeper, though I doubt I'll be able to find it again next year). You may be wondering just where the cookie posts have been. I've made at least 6 kinds of cookies but not managed to get photos. Most of them were boxed up and gifted as soon as they cooled. You've probably had enough cookies by now anyway, right?

So, how about something a little lighter? Well, not exactly light, but to me it's not Christmas without it. Tourtière is a French-Canadian meat pie that is always served at Christmastime, usually Christmas Eve. There are many variations, using different types of meat, including wild game but I always make mine with pork. The pie is rich but not fatty, spiced and incredibly savoury. Tourtière is best served with something acidic like a chutney or homemade ketchup or beet relish in my case. Actually I don't like anything at all on it, just some of my homemade coleslaw on the side. I'll be sharing this pie with my family on Christmas Eve, and may even make another one for Christmas Day. It's so much better than turkey, trust me.

Tourtière
Source: Lucy Waverman, The Globe and Mail
Makes 1 double-crust pie

Crust for a double-crust pie: lard is traditional, but I used this butter one

2 tablespoons oil
3 cups chopped onions
1 kilogram/2 pounds ground pork
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
½ teaspoon ground allspice (I used 2 allspice berries, ground)
¼ teaspoon ground cloves (I used 2 whole cloves, ground)
generous ¼ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons dried savoury
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 cup beef or chicken broth
2-3 tablespoons oatmeal

Saute onions over medium heat until softened and brown. Increase heat and add pork, breaking it up and sauteing until no longer pink. Add garlic and all spices and saute for another few minutes, stirring and continuing to break up the pork. Drain fat if necessary. Add broth and oatmeal and simmer, covered for 45 minutes, until thick. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Cool.
Preheat oven to 450℉. Roll out half of pastry and line a 9" deep pie plate. Fill with meat mixture and top with crust. Flute edges and make slits in pastry for steam to escape. Bake 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375℉ and bake for another 35-45 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool slightly before cutting and serving. Serve warm or cold.

The Daring Cooks Make Char Siu Bao!

2011-12-16T10:14:00.001-05:00

Do you know that saying 'A day late and a dollar short'? I think that's my motto. I seem incapable of getting anything done on time. Completely done is more accurate. This challenge was made and it was only the photo (and the dreaded write-up) that were missing (for the third challenge in a row). So, what do you get? A short post and a photo of a 4-day-old steamed bun. Merry Christmas!

I love barbequed pork and steamed buns, but I had few of the ingredients to make these. So, I went over to a friend's place. She has a cupboard full of Chinese cooking ingredients and has taken cooking classes in Beijing. In fact, she had made this exact dish there. Unable to follow a recipe to the letter, I combined a few different recipes to make the marinade for the pork. The most interesting ingredient was fermented tofu marinated in rice vinegar and ground red rice. We didn't need any food colouring with this, and you can see that the pork was quite pink. I assure you that it was cooked. I also used pork shoulder, as tenderloin can be dry, being the boneless skinless chicken breast of the pig world. The picture above is of the very end piece, which was fattier than the rest. The meat had a great texture and flavour. For the buns, we boiled the marinade as a sauce, adding a bit more of this and that to make it delicious.

This was a fun and tasty challenge, and it really wasn't that much work, so I urge you to try it. Thanks Sara of Belly Rumbles! Check out what the rest of the Daring Cooks made in the slideshow. Find the full challenge and recipe pdf here.

Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from Belly Rumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Nutty as...

2011-12-07T20:20:00.001-05:00

How would you finish that title? Fruitcake, right? I couldn't bring myself to put fruitcake in the title, because I am a lifelong and vocal fruitcake basher. I can't stand the stuff, but not so much because it's like a brick, but because it has raisins in it. Raisins, and nasty artificially dyed 'fruit'. Since when are cherries bright green? Blech. Nuts and booze and nice dried fruit are just fine with me, however. So, when I saw this cake I thought I'd give it a try. I wasn't sure, though, so it took a few years for it to make the move from bookmarked to baked. And another month and a bit to make the move from baked to blogged (and eaten), but at least I was bathing it in Amaretto for that month. The results were surprisingly good. I cut into one to share some with a friend and found myself unable to stop taking another thin slice, and another and then maybe just one more. Make it now and it'll be fab over the holidays.

Oh, I forgot the almost-best part: it's called Dowager Duchess Fruitcake! I think I saved it for the name alone. It's full of candied orange peel and almonds, but there is cake too, reminiscent of pound cake. The original recipe called for sherry, which sounded too dowager-y and dowdy to me. I used rum, then doused it with Amaretto, about ⅓ cup for each cake over a month, making it potent and tasty too. I won't get up on a fruitcakey soapbox and try to convince you that this is the fruitcake that will erase all your bad fruitcake memories like so many well-meaning folks have done to me, but I will say that I like it very much indeed.

What I used for a half recipe

Dowager Duchess Fruitcake
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 2-9" loaves, apparently, but it wouldn't fit in my loaf pan. I made 2-6" cakes instead from a half recipe

1 pound/454 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 pounds 4 ounces/1 kilogram candied orange peel, cut in 1 cm pieces (I made my own, but you can buy it too)
15 ounces/425 grams whole blanched almonds
2½ cups sugar
5 large eggs
3 tablespoons Amaretto or rum, plus extra for soaking
4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 300℉/150℃. Line cake pans with buttered parchment paper. Combine orange peel and almonds in a large bowl and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping bowl after each addition. Add Amaretto/rum.
Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour a cup at a time, beating only until combined. Fold in orange peel/almond mixture.
Divide batter amongst pans. You can fill to the top as it doesn't rise. Bake until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 1 to 1¼ hours. Remove from oven and douse each cake with 2-3 tablespoons Amaretto, depending on size of cakes. Let cool completely on rack.
Remove cakes from pans and discard parchment. Wrap in cheesecloth and store in a tin in a cool, dark place for 1 month, dousing them with Amaretto (1-2 tablespoons) once a week. I alternated soaking the top and bottom and turned the cakes every week.
Slice thinly to serve.

Coconut Grapefruit Sans Rival

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Do you sometimes have trouble paying attention when you are baking? I have trouble paying attention at the best of times, but making this dessert was more difficult than it needed to be because I was in space cadet mode. I blame it on all the kindergarten I taught this week--many little kids and their snowsuits and winter accessories turn my brain to mush. I only decided to make this dessert at the last minute, as I was worried it would be too rich and too sweet (it is basically buttered meringue, after all). To balance the sweetness a bit, I made a grapefruit curd to add to the buttercream. I reduced the grapefruit juice by half, which meant that the curd was a bit too bitter on its own, but it was perfect in the buttercream: difficult to identify, but encouraging another taste to figure out the mystery ingredient. Too bad I only had pink grapefruits--red ones would have made for a prettier frosting.

I made a small version of this, using 5 eggs in total: 2 for the curd, 3 whites for the dacquoise and 3 yolks for the buttercream. The original recipe calls for 10 egg whites and 5 yolks for 12 servings, but I got 8 servings from my mini version (13x13x6.5cm). Instead of baking it in pans, I traced a paper CD envelope onto the foil using a chopstick. I wanted to pipe the meringue mixture, but I got two, yes two, yolks in the meringue so it wasn't the most durable stuff. I started out well, separating the first egg neatly. Then, who knows what happened, but I cracked the next egg with such force and flung it in the bowl before noticing that I had mixed yolks and whites, and the yolk was broken. Oops. I scooped it out and did the very same thing with the next egg. This yolk was really broken up and I was unable to remove it all from the whites. I considered pitching the whole thing but I was out of eggs. So, with a few choice words, I started beating the whites anyway. It worked rather well, and I got fairly stiff peaks. So, I folded in a pile of unsweetened coconut and that's when I got a bit worried. Rather than manhandle (Maryhandle?) it any more by putting it in a piping bag, I quickly spread it with a palette knife, got it in the oven and hoped for the best. It was fine, so don't panic about a tiny bit of yolk in your egg whites!

I halved this piece to make 2 servings

The French buttercream was easy to make, and not as fussy as the meringue one I usually choose. I always find that moment when you are beating the butter in and it finally comes together a bit off-putting. It's when the bowl of beaten yolks (or whites) begins to look exactly like a bowl of beaten butter. That's when I start to calculate just how much butter will be in every piece and how many pieces I am likely to eat. 2 tablespoons, in case you were wondering, and totally worth a brisk walk or ten. I'll always choose real buttercream over that nasty, gritty powdered sugar stuff.

Putting it together was easy enough, except that the kitchen was quite warm by this time and frosting each layer pushed the ones below off kilter. I eventually got it somewhat straight, so I just left it alone, intending to fix it up the next day. That didn't happen. Instead, I added a few flakes of fresh coconut and dug in. I don't think my Sans Rival is going to rival any of the beauties you'll find on the Daring Kitchen, but it tasted great! Thanks to Catherine for a fun challenge. Now, what to do with the extra buttercream and grapefruit curd???

Full challenge PDF with photos and recipes.

Blog-checking lines: Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

Oatmeal, Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cookies

2011-11-18T13:38:00.000-05:00

Do you bake to create something new? To recreate a taste memory? To use up a surplus of ingredients? Or just because you need something sweet? I bake for all of those reasons, but this recipe is one in a series of cookies I've been making over the past few years trying to recreate a teenage indulgence. I was never a mall rat, but whenever I did go I would pick up a cookie at a famous cookie franchise. It was called Mrs. something or other... They were huge and chewy with a centre verging on raw. I loved them and could make one last all day. Like I said, they were huge. This chain sold lots of cookies but this one was my favourite for a number of reasons: it did not contain chocolate; it had coconut; and macadamia nuts. Oh and I did I mention the size? It does matter.
A few years ago I was at a mall and went to pick one up only to find they had been discontinued for years! Like I said, I'm not a big shopper. I was disappointed so I set out to make them myself. Over the years I've taken a few cracks at the recipe, but my results have always been too cakey or too crisp. Sometimes the cookie didn't spread at all, other times it spread all over the place. I even tried to adapt a few ANZAC biscuits recipes, as they are full of oats and coconut, but they weren't quite right either. My most recent attempt is the first I have been mostly happy with. It's almost thick enough and chewy--almost too chewy. I used golden syrup instead of white sugar along with old-fashioned rolled oats and shredded coconut, but will try quick oats and flaked coconut next time. And maybe change the ratio of flour to coconut/oats to give me exactly what I'm looking for. That said, these were delicious and if you're a cookie dough monster like me you'll love them raw or baked.

Oatmeal Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cookies
Adapted from Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy by Alice Medrich
2 cups rolled oats
¼ cup water
5.625 ounces/1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
8 ounces/1 cup unsalted butter
5.25 ounces/¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup roasted, salted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweetened coconut

Place the oats in a bowl and sprinkle with the water, stirring to combine. Set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda and nutmeg together in a medium bowl.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Take off the stove and add the sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt and stir well. Add the egg and beat in. Add the flour mixture, oats, nuts and coconut and stir just until combined.
Cover the dough and let it stand at room temperature for a couple of hours, or ideally overnight in the fridge. This helps to moisten the oats thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 350℉. Line baking sheets with ungreased parchment. Scoop 2 level tablespoons of dough for each cookie and flatten into a small hockey puck shape. Bake 10-12 minutes, just until cookies are golden on the edge. Slide parchment and cookies onto a rack to cool. Store airtight.

Almond Torte

2011-11-11T21:01:00.000-05:00

Over 2 weeks have passed since my last post, but I am still having trouble getting into a blogging frame of mind. I find it really hard to find anything I want to bake, much less write about (I hate writing) and it doesn't help that it's getting dark at 4pm and I can't take photos. I haven't even been baking much, which means I probably should see the doctor. So, complaining aside, what's been on the menu? Lots of spicy food and this one lonely cake. I made it when a friend was coming for dinner. It was the perfect end to a simple meal, no adornment needed. If you like to gild the lily, raspberry coulis, candied sour cherries or any fresh or cooked fruit would make a wonderful accompaniment. This recipe is from a cookbook I've had since I was a teen, and I've been making almost that long, though I had forgotten about it for a few years. I simplified it by making the whole thing in a food processor, and I won't go back to the mixer for this cake, as the food processor does a much better job of breaking up the almond paste anyway. Yes, almond paste. Aren't you glad you kept reading? Try it--it's a moist and tasty cake, and a good keeper too.

Almond Torte
Source: Cooking A to Z
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 package almond paste (7 oz/200 grams)
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter
4 eggs
½ teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350℉. Lightly grease bottom of a 9" cake pan; line with parchment. Grease sides of pan and parchment and dust with flour. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
Crumble almond paste into bowl of a food processor, add sugar and pulse until it looks like fine crumbs. Add butter and process until it is well creamed. Add eggs, one at a time, processing until each is well mixed before adding another. Add almond extract with the last egg. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add flour mixture and pulse a few times, until just combined.
Scrape batter into pan and bake until golden and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Start checking after 40 minutes, though it could take up to 50. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove and cool right-side up on a rack.

The Daring Bakers Make Povitica (Walnut Swirl Bread)

2011-10-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

I was so happy to get back into the swing of participating in Daring Kitchen challenges after missing a few! This recipe was just the kick in the pants I needed, though those pants may not fit for long if I keep picking at this bread. It is completely addictive, and I find myself wanting a slice at breakfast time, with tea in the afternoon and for dessert too. It's also a lot of fun to play with: by unraveling the spirals as I eat I can make a slice of this last for a long time. Not long enough, though: I offered about ⅔ of the loaf to a friend, but we haven't managed to meet up yet, and I am sorry to say that I started in on her share of the bread this afternoon. I plan to make another of these soon, so she may have to wait for that!

Complete challenge and recipe in this handy PDF. Make this and you'll be a hero. Thank you to Jenni of The Gingered Whisk for a fantastic challenge! See some of the other beauties in the Daring Kitchen slideshow (not sideshow).

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Pumpkin Flan

2011-10-23T17:46:00.000-04:00

Right after I got home from Ecuador, I took my nephew up to my aunt and uncle's farm to get some pumpkins. We had different goals, James and I, but we both came home happy. He got a pumpkin 'big enough to fit Poppy (his sister) in', as well as some quality time admiring the tractors. I scored 15 pie pumpkins. My plan was to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but we were missing something crucial, though I can't remember what it was now. That left me with a cooked pumpkin, so I brought it home and got to work. I made a pumpkin loaf, which was delicious, but got eaten before the camera-computer issue got fixed. Then I made this, which is just like pumpkin pie filling without the crust, and with a caramel sauce. It's smooth, creamy, dense and pumpkiny.

Pumpkin Flan

Serves 8 according to the recipe, but I think it's enough for at least 12--it's quite rich

Source: Adapted from Gourmet Today

2 cups sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1½ cups whole milk

5 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

15 ounces pumpkin puree (I used fresh, but this is equivalent to one can)

2 tablespoons dark rum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon salt

a handful of pumpkin seeds for garnish (optional)

2-quart/liter souffle or round casserole dish (I used small ramekins)

Preheat oven to 350℉.

Caramel:

Heat 1 cup sugar with ¼ cup water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, brushing down the edges of the pan with a wet brush to rinse away any sugar crystals. Boil until it is a dark amber colour, then immediately pour into dish or dishes and swirl to distribute evenly. Set aside while you make the flan.

Flan:

Bring the cream and milk to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (I used the same saucepan, and didn't bother to wash it--the hardened caramel with dissolve). Whisk the eggs, yolk and remaining sugar together until well blended. Add the pumpkin, rum, vanilla, spices and salt and whisk. Add the hot cream mixture in a stream while whisking. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pushing mixture with a spatula to force it through. Pour custard into caramel lined dish or dishes. Place into a large roasting pan, place pan in preheated oven and then pour boiling water to come at least halfway up sides of dish. Bake until flan is golden brown on top (small ones won't brown as much) and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1¼ hours. Transfer dish to a rack to cool. Once cool, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, overnight is even better. The longer it sits, the more caramel dissolves, giving more sauce.

To serve:

Run a thin knife around the edges of the flan to loosen it. Shake the dish gently until the flan moves freely in dish. Invert a large platter deep enough to catch the caramel sauce over the dish and, holding them tightly together, quickly invert and turn flan out on platter. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds just before serving.

See you on Thursday with the Daring Bakers' reveal!

I'm back, with Rarotongan Coconut Rolls

2011-10-17T12:02:00.000-04:00

Coconut bun with very special sauce

Hello! Is anyone out there? I have been back in Canada for 2 weeks now and am finally getting around to posting something. Unfortunately it's something I made before I left, but I am still having computer problems. I have a new hard drive, but iPhoto is not working properly, meaning no new photos, and no photos from Ecuador. Since returning, I haven't baked much, worked much or done much of anything. I just want to jump back on a plane (preferably without any airports involved) and be somewhere else, away from everyday responsibilities. That's not happening right this minute, so I'll post this and then head back to the computer shop so that I can share the results of pumpkinfest 2011. Brace yourselves.

Ready to rise

I have had this recipe bookmarked for ages and finally got around to making it in a fit of baking before I kissed my stove goodbye for 6 weeks. My family and I are huge fans of coconut, and my nephew likes to help too. While trying to entertain him at my mother's non-childproofed house, we gave him a coconut and a hammer. What followed was hilarious, with James chasing the coconut around the garage and swinging the hammer with abandon. I know, not safe, but nobody lost an eye, the kid was entertained and I got enough coconut to make these buns. Win-win, no?

Barely risen, hoping the oven spring will sort that out

Not exactly. More lose-win. I loved the coconut sauce and could see myself eating it on just about anything. I left it at my mother's and she was contemplating pouring it over ice cream. The buns, though, were a bit of a disappointment. They did not have the texture of yeast buns, but seemed more like bad biscuits or scones: heavy, with a dense crumb. I proofed the yeast, but they just did not rise much and the amount of liquid called for did not even make crumbs, much less a kneadable dough. There were comments noting this on the original recipe, so I can't say I wasn't warned. I'll be making these again, but using a different yeast dough recipe. Maybe this one from King Arthur Flour?

Baked, slightly risen, but look at that sauce!

Here's the link to the original recipe, from the lovely blog Pease Pudding.

This Year's Raspberry Cream Cake

2011-09-29T10:22:00.000-04:00

My family loves raspberry cream cake, and we used to get delicious ones at a local bakery. The last one we got was overpriced and underwhelming, so we've sworn off them and I occasionally remember to make one, usually when local raspberries are in season. I used to want to recreate that bakery cake, but I always end up making something completely different. That's okay, because I can still remember the other cake fondly while I'm gorging on raspberries, cake and cream. This one was exactly like the fraisier I made for the July Daring Bakers' challenge. Okay, not exactly. I used raspberries, skipped the almond paste and soaking syrup, and added lots of lemon zest to the cake batter. The verdict? Delicious.
Here's the link to that recipe because I'm far too lazy to type it up.
:)

Update: I am still not home! I'm enjoying my last week in Ecuador, and thinking of all the things I'll miss and making plans to return. I know my last post said I was on my way, but that was a mix-up on my part. I had lots of auto posts scheduled but the death of my computer while I was here buggered that up a bit. Anyway, enjoy some cake and I'll see you in a week or so!

Raspberry and Honey Cranachan

2011-09-22T10:08:00.002-04:00

This is my last auto-scheduled post, and I should be on a plane home by the time this is posted. I can't wait to get back to my own kitchen to bake up some Thanksgiving goodies!

I used red and golden raspberries, along with tayberries

Funny name, isn't it? Now, if I was one of those bloggers that did tons of research into how foods got their names, I'd have a story to tell. But I'm not that person. What I can tell you is that this dessert is Scottish and delicious. When I went to Edinburgh for work, this was one of the things on my to-do list. I wasn't sure how to pronounce it, but I knew that any combination of raspberries, cream, whisky and oats was bound to be amazing. I tried it in a few places just to confirm, because I do believe in some kinds of research. I even ate this combination atop hot oatmeal at a very cool spot at the Edinburgh Farmers' Market called Stoats Oats. It was a porridge bar where you could get any number of interesting toppings on your bowl of oatmeal. It was July, but freezing and pouring rain, so this was a Saturday morning treat. Here's the link to the breakfast dish, but I recommend you have the dessert version. This would also be delicious with stewed rhubarb (of course!) or other berries or cherries in season.

Raspberry and Honey Cranachan
Source: River Cottage Every Day
Serves 4
50 grams rolled oats
2 tablespoons whisky
250 ml double or whipping cream
2 tablespoons honey
250 grams raspberries

Warm a small frying pan over low heat. Add rolled oats and stir until they are golden and toasted. Watch carefully as they burn easily. Transfer to a plate to cool.
Stir the whisky and cream together and whisk until it holds soft peaks. Lightly crush a few of the raspberries so their juices run. I didn't crush them enough, so my cream was pale and full of whole berries. Not as pretty, but tasty. Fold all the raspberries, honey and oats into the cream, spoon into small glasses or bowls and serve immediately.

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

2011-09-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

I love making ice cream, but I don't love eating it. I blame it on my brother. He hit me in the face with a Coke bottle when I was about 7 or 8 and broke my front tooth. It was so sensitive and I still think about it whenever I eat ice cream. So, when I make ice cream, I play with it a bit, and love making ice cream sandwiches. These ones are thin brownies. Brownies are cake's first cousin. Cake is my favourite thing to make. All that cancels out phantom tooth pain. Enjoy! I used the cherry ripple ice cream to fill these, but you could use any flavour you like. I'm thinking coconut for next time...

Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches

From Chatelaine Magazine, August 2011

Makes 16

84 grams/3 squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped

⅓ cup unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

¼ cup all-purpose flour

2 litres ice cream of your choice

Preheat oven to 350℉. Grease a rimmed 11"x17" baking sheet and line with parchment. Melt butter and chocolate together in a large saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring. Remove from heat.
Stir salt, sugar and vanilla into chocolate mixture, then whisk in eggs one at a time, until blended. Gently stir in flour, just until combined. Scrape onto prepared baking sheet and level with an offset spatula to make a thin, even layer.
Bake in centre of oven until brownie appears shiny and is firm, but slightly undercooked, about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan on rack.
Run knife around pan edges to loosen, then cut brownie in half lengthways, making 2 long rectangles. Peel off parchment and place one brownie top-side down on work surface. Now, if you were clever, you froze your ice cream in a shallow rectangular container. I wasn't, so I sliced mine 1" thick and laid the slices on the brownie and sandwiched it with the other, top-side up. Wrap in plastic and freeze for a few hours, until very firm.
Unwrap and trim edges if desired, then cut into 16 rectangular bars.

Cherry Ripple Ice Cream

2011-09-08T09:31:00.000-04:00

Can you resist giant baskets of cherries at the farmers' market? If so, you are a stronger person than me. I bring home as many as I can carry and mostly eat them fresh, as I prefer raw cherries to cooked, unless they are sour cherries. That's a whole other story for next year, as I missed them at the market this summer. Anyway, to use up some cherries, I made this ice cream and it was a big hit. And it was much better than the photo indicates, trust me!

Cherry Ripple Ice Cream

Adapted from delicious. magazine, July 2011

Makes about 2 litres/quarts

500 ml/2 cups milk (I used 2%)

6 large egg yolks

375 g sugar

450 g/1 pound cherries, pitted and quartered

30 ml/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

500 ml/2 cups whipping cream

almond extract to taste, I used a scant ½ teaspoon

Bring the milk to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Meanwhile, beat the yolks and 200 g sugar together until pale and fluffy, a few minutes. Gradually stir in the milk, then return the mixture to the saucepan and stir constantly over medium-low heat until it thickens enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Pour into a bowl, cool, cover and chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.
Combine the cherries, lemon juice and remaining sugar in a saucepan over low heat and let the sugar dissolve to make a syrup. Simmer for 25 minutes, or until the cherries are very tender. Scoop them out and boil the cherry liquid for a few minutes to thicken and reduce it. Add the cherries back in and chill. It should be thick and jammy.
Add the cream to the ice cream base along with the almond extract. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker. Once ready, transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Dollop the cherries on top and swirl in with a spoon or spatula. You can decide how much rippling you want. I didn't swirl too much, as it was so hot the day I made this that it was melting incredibly quickly. Place in the freezer for a few hours to firm up.

Coconut Ice Cream with Passionfruit Caramel

2011-09-01T00:01:00.001-04:00

Remember those passionfruit caramel filled chocolates from my last post? They might have been a bit of a disaster, but the very happy outcome was that I got a great recipe for passionfruit caramel sauce. Not that this sauce was immune to the struggles I had that day. The recipe stated 'dark amber caramel' and I thought my caramel was amber but the end result was much too thin and pale. I used golden syrup instead of corn syrup, giving it a darker colour to start with, so this may have been the problem. However, golden syrup has so much more flavour than corn syrup, so it was worth having to boil the caramel for another 10 or 15 minutes after adding all the ingredients. It still wasn't thick enough at room temperature. Oh well. It was so delicious that I was really happy to have almost 500 ml left after making the chocolates. Even though I tested it almost every day, there was still enough left to do something with. I decided to make ice cream and stuck with tropical flavours to make a knockout combination. This is a simple and tasty ice cream, but it makes a very small batch. 2 cups was perfect for me, but you may want to double it.

Coconut Saffron Ice Cream
Source: Delicious Days by Nicole Stich, via David Lebovitz
1 cup coconut milk
⅔ cup whipping/heavy cream
¼ cup sugar
scant ½ teaspoon saffron threads

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer to a small bowl and chill thoroughly.
Churn in an ice cream machine, transfer to a sealable container and place in the freezer to firm up.

Passionfruit Caramel Sauce
Source: Adapted from CandyBarLab by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives
Makes 3+ cups!

¾ cup + 2 Tablespoon (210 ml/7 oz/200 gm) passion fruit puree
1½ cups (360 ml/12 oz/340 gm) sugar
½ cup + 2 Tablespoon (180 ml/5 oz/140 gm) corn syrup (I used golden syrup--yum)
1¾ cups (420 ml) whipping/heavy cream
6 tablespoons (90 ml/3 oz/90 gm) unsalted butter

Place the sugar, golden syrup and enough water so it’s like wet sand in a medium saucepan. Set over medium-high heat and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until dark amber in color, about 5 minutes. Use a pastry brush, dipped in water, to wash down sides of pan to prevent crystallization as the mixture boils. Remove saucepan from the heat and gradually whisk in the passion fruit puree, heavy cream and butter. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool.
Serve warm or at room temperature with just about anything you can think of! I found this caramel sauce had a greasy mouthfeel when refrigerated, so I may skip the butter next time, and there will be a next time.

The Daring Bakers Go Candy Crazy!

2011-08-27T00:01:00.002-04:00

Greetings from Ecuador! By the time this is posted I will have been here for a week or so. I am working on a course training English teachers, and living in a very rustic setting on a Pacific Coast beach. I have heard that internet access (and electricity) can be intermittent, so I have scheduled posts for the next 6 weeks, and I'll check in as often as I can and post pictures if possible.
Update! My laptop's hard drive crashed and died the day after I arrived! Some of the posts I had scheduled, but hadn't attached the pictures yet, so I've postponed those till I get back and get a new computer. Sp now I will post about once a week, but will be back in October. Ecuador is gorgeous, by the way, and the food, especially the fruit, is amazing.

Dark chocolates with passionfruit caramel filling

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was fantastic because it didn't require me to turn on the oven. This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was not fantastic because tempering chocolate was required. I'm sure I've whined about this before in this space, but I am not a big fan of chocolate. There's something about the texture I don't like and I'm not crazy about the flavour either, but I do like chocolate cake and other baked goods more than plain chocolate. And yes, I've had the good stuff! However, I do like a challenge, so I jumped in as soon as I had a free day. Unfortunately that free day was one where the temperature was higher than the temperature I had to bring the melted chocolate down too, causing me no end of trouble.

My sweaty chocolates after their sojourn in the freezer

First of all, I had a hard time finding a chocolate thermometer. I called a local cake decorating supply store and they assured me that they had one for the bargain price of $6.95. I drove through heavy traffic to discover that it wasn't a chocolate tempering thermometer and didn't go as low as I needed. After coming home and making a number of calls I found a store in the other direction that did have one. I got it, but it only has Fahrenheit on it, and I am hopeless with Fahrenheit. I can barely spell it, in fact.

I chose a heavy glass bowl to melt the chocolate in, and I think this was the wrong choice for the season. It held the heat forever and meant the chocolate did not cool down. I couldn't remember the temperature range and kept running to the living room to check my laptop. Even though I am very patient, I ended up sticking it in the freezer at one point. In the end, I did get it tempered, but then I had to fill the *^*%&^ molds! I lined them with chocolate, then overfilled them with the delicious, but too thin, passionfruit caramel (more on that in my next post), meaning it was impossible to get a nice thin, even base on them. I ended up with a thick layer of chocolate on the bottom and all the chocolates joined together. I did not foresee the trouble that was to come. Can you? When I went to unmold the chocolates, the base snapped off most of them and the filling ran everywhere. Out of 26 chocolates only about 6 survived. The rest? Garbage! I went to mope on the sofa in frustration and discovered that I had obviously stepped in some melted chocolate and left chocolate footprints all over the apartment. Sigh. And I was only half finished the challenge...

Luckily for me and my floors, the next part of the challenge was a non-chocolate candy. Yay! There were so many things I wanted to try, but I picked up a basket of Coronation grapes one day, and while I was eating them and admiring their tart, concentrated flavour, I decided to make pâte de fruit with them to see if I could capture that essence in a candy. The answer is a resounding yes! Coronation grapes are the Canadian cousin to Concord grapes and they are in the markets and grocery stores in Ontario right now. They are dark purple-blue, thin skinned, tart, seedless and with a strong taste. This is the first time I have done anything with them other than eating them out of hand, as I can easily finish a basket in a day. These were perfect little bites: tart, with a great texture and the coating of sugar was a great and necessary contrast. I used this recipe. Pâte de fruit has a reputation for being tricky, but I had no troubles with this one, and in fact sat in the living room with a friend, chatting, and only occasionally stirring the boiling mixture. I am much better at that than being focused and precise!

Thanks to Lisa and Mandy for a fantastically challenging challenge! You can find the entire text of the challenge, along with photos, links and recipes here. Please check out the slideshow of the amazing creations by candy makers more daring than me! I'll miss the next Daring Bakers' challenge, but will be back for October. Cheers!

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 athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Apricot Jam

2011-08-21T19:19:00.000-04:00

Do you like making jam or eating jam? Or do you like both? I love making jam, but I don't eat that much of it. This often leaves me with a surplus, unless I give all of it away. So, I tend to make jam every second year to give me time to use it all up. A friend told me recently that I don't eat it because I am 'suffering a toast shortage'. This is true. I rarely have bread in the house, but if I did, I'd eat nothing else, and cook not at all. Most of my jam ends up in yogurt, and I can eat dozens of jars of rhubarb jam this way. In fact, I hadn't planned to make any jam this year, but I saw a basket of beautiful apricots at the farmers' market a couple of weeks ago and couldn't resist. I actually don't like to eat apricots out of hand, but love them in pastries and in jam, of course. This was a very simple recipe, which made a tangy soft set jam, just the way I like it. I may not be eating it on toast, but I do see a Sachertorte in our future.

Apricot Jam

From the Williams Sonoma Book of Preserving

Makes 5-250 ml jars

3 pounds apricots

2 cups sugar

½ cup fresh lemon juice

Pit apricots and slice thinly. Combine with sugar in a large pot and allow to macerate at room temperature for at least 4 hours. You can also refrigerate them overnight.
Add lemon juice and bring to a boil, and cook for about 25 minutes, until thickened. Remember that the jam will be firmer when cool, so don't overcook.
Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, cap, and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Any jars that do not seal can be kept in the fridge.

The Daring Cooks cooked with me!

2011-08-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

Last year, when Lis asked me if I would host a Daring Cooks' challenge, I had a moment of panic. I had no idea what to choose. I said 'yes' of course, then tried to narrow down the options. There were 3 challenges I had in mind, from 3 different continents. I think I chose the most 'daring' one, as I knew the appams would be unfamiliar to most of the members. I also didn't want to choose something that was too familiar, nor something that needed hours on the stove in the hot weather, eliminating my other 2 choices. Now, you may be wondering what appams are at this point. They are a stove-top flatbread made of rice and coconut milk and yeast and salt. That's it. That's all it takes to make a bread that is both thick and spongy and thin and crisp. They are simple and delicious and naturally gluten-free and vegan. The only thing you need is time to ferment the batter. Oh, and some delicious saucy dishes to accompany them! I made about a dozen dishes to prepare for this challenge, but only included some of the recipes and linked to others. By default, I called the accompaniments 'curry', but I think this may have been a turn-off to some Daring Kitchen members. It seemed that lots of people a) don't like 'curry' and b) think of it as a winter dish. What a shame, when there are so many different types and so many fresh flavours to explore!
Let me just show you in pictures what I made, then you can link to the (giant) challenge PDF for full recipes and links.

Cooking the batter in an appachati

In preparing for this challenge, I tried about 6 recipes for appams, using rice, rice flour, cream of wheat, a packaged mix, coconut meat, coconut milk and I don't know how many other variations. In the end, I decided on this recipe from Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. It was the most reliable and used rice, cooked rice and coconut milk, all easily obtainable ingredients. Thank you Aparna!

You can even make them flower-shaped

To accompany the appams, I made a variety of dishes, some hot, some cold, with meat, fish, and vegetables. Here are some photos. You can find all the recipes in the pdf.

Carrots with Tropical Flavours

Baked Goan Fish with Fresh Green Chile Chutney

Eggplant Curry (see link)

Sri Lankan Beef Curry

Shrimp in Coconut Milk

Thanks so much to Lis and Ivonne and The Daring Kitchen for allowing me to host a challenge! A huge thank you also to those who participated and made some amazing-looking dishes. Be sure to check out the homepage for a slideshow of them. You can find many more photos and all the recipes and techniques here. Hmm, guess I need to include these blog-checking lines:

Blog-checking lines: Mary, who writes the delicious blog, Mary Mary Culinary was our August Daring Cooks’ host. Mary chose to show us how delicious South Indian cuisine is! She challenged us to make Appam and another South Indian/Sri Lankan dish to go with the warm flat bread.

Berry Galette

2011-08-09T00:01:00.001-04:00

Do you have a dessert that you make regularly? Or do you flit from one recipe to the next? I do a bit of both but more often I make something for a while, then completely forget about it. This galette is a good example of that. I've been making it since Baking with Julia was published in 1996, but these days I am always trying something new and it got pushed aside. What a shame, as this is a beautiful dough to work with, even if you are not fond of making and rolling out pastry. It comes together quickly in the food processor and stays soft enough to roll easily, even right out of the fridge. Fill it with any sort of berries you like (except strawberries--too watery), stone fruit or even pineapple chunks.

Galette Dough

From Baking with Julia, contributing baker Flo Braker

Makes 2 large or 8 small

3 tablespoons yogurt/buttermilk/sour cream

about ⅓ cup ice water

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 to 8 pieces

Stir the yogurt and ice water together and set aside. Put the flour, cornmeal sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse 8 to 10 times, or until the mixture is speckled with butter pieces. With the machine running, add the yogurt mixture and process just until the dough forms soft, moist curds.
Divide the dough into 2 or 6 pieces and press each into a disc. Wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. It can also be frozen and thawed in the fridge.

Berry Galette

½ recipe galette dough

1½ cups mixed fresh berries (I used raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter (I usually omit this, preferring to serve it with scads of whipped cream)

Preheat oven to 400℉/200℃. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is about ¹⁄₈"/0.3cm thick. The dough is soft and easy to roll, but lift and turn it and add more flour if necessary so that it doesn't stick. Transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet.
Place the berries on top and sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon sugar. Fold the uncovered border of dough up over the edge of the berries, allowing it to pleat. Dip a pastry brush in water and coat the edge lightly, then sprinkle with sugar (I used a mixture of coarse decorating sugar and chopped pistachios).
Bake the large galette for 35-40 minutes, and the smaller ones for about 25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and crisp and the berry juices are starting to run. Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack and cool for about 10 minutes before sliding it off the parchment to continue cooling.
Serve warm or at room temperature. This is best the day it is made.

See you on the 14th for my Daring Cooks' Challenge reveal!

Strawberry Mirror Cake for Poppy

2011-08-03T11:15:00.000-04:00

I'm back! Sort of. Well, not really. Hmmm. Not sure. I've been back from Toronto for about 5 days and have spent most of that time hanging out with my niece and nephew. Fun! Except when you are looking after a 3-year-old with some sort of nasty stomach bug and you catch it by the end of the day. What a sorry pair we were by the time his mom got home.

So, I'm not in Montreal, as that was cancelled very last minute. I'm still planning to go for a long weekend, though, as we have tickets to the tennis final (Go Nadal!). With my intermittent internet access I've been trying to sort out another short contract for the end of August and had to spend yesterday getting my passport renewed (oh, the photos are awful--why won't they let you smile?) and shopping for tickets. I do enjoy the search for contracts and plane tickets, though I'm glad I don't have to do it nearly every month, like I did for a few years.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not posting much recently, and for not visiting any of you dear readers. Are there any of you left? More apologies, for the poor photos: I took these at my mother's where the light is either blindingly bright or non-existent. I haven't even got a recent recipe for you--I made this cake in June, when strawberries were at their finest. It's 2 layers of sponge with a kirsch syrup surrounded by strawberry mousse and topped with a fresh strawberry mirror. It was fairly easy, as the components were all quite simple and there was lots of refrigeration time in between. We loved it. And who is Poppy, you may be wondering? She's my niece, who turned one in early July.

Citrus-berry terrine

2011-07-29T10:38:00.000-04:00

Not sure what I can tell you about this, except that it was delicious! I made a half recipe sometime back in June, with oranges and an assortment of berries and enjoyed it for dessert with whipped cream, for breakfast (it's just fruit after all) and probably for lunch too, as I needed to clean out the fridge before leaving town. I may even have had it for a midnight snack if the photos of it sliced are any indication. So, you get the big picture and the end piece, okay?

This is a French Fridays post--we don't publish recipes. Thanks to Laws of the Kitchen for being in a much earlier time zone--I was avoiding packing last night and saw her post, which reminded me to put my own up.

The Daring Bakers make fraisiers

2011-07-26T23:06:00.000-04:00

This was the perfect challenge for July, I think. There were still strawberries in the market, and who doesn't love a light, moist cake crammed full of berries and cream. When I say crammed, I do mean it in the most elegant way, with the cut fruit showing on the sides. Oh, and the almond paste on top was the crowning glory. I wasn't sure that I would be able to make this cake, as I am working in Toronto and I haven't got the kitchen equipment or the time that I do at home. However, I did find a springform pan in the cupboard and decided that I would make this for some friends. With a borrowed rolling pin and a trip to the market I was all set.

I followed the challenge recipe this time, using Amaretto in the syrup and making a vanilla chiffon cake. I had no trouble with the cream filling setting up, but I did find that the cake recipe didn't work as well as the one I usually make. There was some confusion over pan size, and I used the 8" pan recommended. The pan was dark and non-stick, not my preference for cake pans. It rose far above the top of the pan, then sunk a bit when it cooled, leaving me with a mushroom shaped cake. Not ideal, so I sliced it into 3 layers and only used the bottom 2. This made a cake that easily served 10. I decided to keep the decoration simple, so made only a single marzipan rose. All in all, a delicious cake, and one I'll be making again with other fruit, though I will use my favourite genoise recipe next time. What should I use next, raspberries or cherries?

Have I mentioned that I am also cat-sitting in Toronto? There are 2 beautiful, but incredibly inquisitive Siamese cats who made it very hard to make and photograph this cake. Not only does one circle my feet and bite them and my ankles whenever I am in the kitchen, but they shed a lot! So, after a thorough de-hairing of the kitchen, I got to work, shooing the cats as necessary. That means about every 30 seconds. The next morning, before racing out the door to work, I tried to get some photos, in the only place with decent light: the floor in front of the window. Well, you can see below how well that worked! The feline cake inspectors approved, I think.

Thanks very much to Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes for this challenge. There were some spectacular cakes this month, so check them all out on the Daring Kitchen homepage. Click here for the full challenge PDF, including recipes, links and photos. I hope that I can make the August challenge from another borrowed kitchen, this time in Montreal, but we'll see....

Lemon-buttermilk sponge pudding with strawberries

2011-07-17T14:48:00.000-04:00

If you are looking for something simple to serve with beautiful summer berries, look no further. These sponge puddings are tart and actually taste of buttermilk, which I can't say of many of the other buttermilk baked goods I make. The texture was like that of a moist baked mousse. I was expecting a layer of cake and a layer of pudding, but that's not what I got and it was a very pleasant surprise. I served these with some of the first local strawberries, and am finally posting it so that you can make it with the last of the strawberries. If local strawberries are finished where you are, don't use those crunchy, white-centred imported ones. Choose another berry or even peaches. Just mix them with a bit of sugar until a syrup forms. Enjoy!
Here's the link to the recipe.

The Daring Cooks make noodles. By hand, of course!

2011-07-13T23:46:00.000-04:00

This month, Steph of Stephfood challenged us to make noodles or gnocchi or spätzle, but without the use of motorized machines. I rarely make fresh pasta, so this was a nice incentive to do so. In fact, it reminded me that I could shop after work and have fresh pasta on the table in time for dinner, with not too much effort and not too many dirty dishes. That's just what I did one afternoon: I picked up basil, eggs and I looked for my favourite brand of ricotta but couldn't find it. In a fit of pique, I bought a large carton of milk and decided to make my own.

The dried pasta

I made the pasta dough, set it aside, then made the ricotta and left it to drain. I rolled the pasta very thinly and cut it with the wavy cutter, then I hung it on my laundry rack to dry a bit. I shaved some asparagus into thin ribbons and tossed it in with the cooking pasta for a minute. I topped it with a few scoops of the very creamy ricotta and some basil oil, made by pureeing blanched basil and olive oil. I can assure you that it was delicious, but you may be wondering why there is no asparagus in the picture above. Well, just as I was plating the pasta, a thunderstorm rolled through and turned a bright early evening into a pitch dark night. The storm was over in 30 minutes or so, but that was too long to leave me with a plate of hot pasta. So, you get the next day version, with the pasta I dried thoroughly and no asparagus. It was really tasty too. So tasty that I had it for breakfast in the midst of frantically packing for 2 months away for work.

Just this week I decided to make the spätzle recipe that was also included in the challenge. I kept it simple and tossed it in lots of chopped parsley and topped it with onion bread crumbs and sage crisped in brown butter. I served it atop roasted green beans and green garlic and it was such a simple and satisfying meal. It was also nice that I could easily make it in a borrowed kitchen.

Thanks for a great challenge Steph! I can't wait for the next one. Oh, wait--I'm hosting it! What will it be??

Find the full challenge PDF here, including recipes. I used this recipe for the ricotta (with ½ cup cream).

Blog-checking lines: Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

Digestive Cookies

2011-07-10T18:23:00.001-04:00

If this sounds like some sort of health food to you, relax and keep reading! Digestive cookies (or biscuits) are a common item on cookie shelves in Canada and the UK. I seem to like making cookies that are easy to find in stores, as the oreos, graham crackers and this recipe show. I'm not a (complete) nut, it's just that homemade is better! Digestives are available plain or chocolate dipped and are the perfect partner for a cup of tea or coffee. They are often used as cheesecake bases, but are also an ideal accompaniment to a cheese plate.

With cheese or with tea, you'll love them

Here in Canada, there is usually only one brand of digestives available, but when I was in England, Scotland and Ireland people had very strong opinions about which brand I should buy. I was a very good sport and tried them all! My first batch were crisper than store-bought, but I couldn't stop nibbling on them. The flavour was a bit sweet and salty, with a wonderful grain taste and texture. For the second batch, I made balls of dough and pressed them with the 'homemade' stamp. These were thicker than the first batch, and I didn't bake them as long, making them soft and crumbly. I really can't decide which I like better as they were both so good. I even made an ice cream sandwich with them, but I left it in the freezer when I left town, so I can't tell you too much about that!
I used whole wheat flour from a local farm, and it was milled from Red Fife wheat right in front of me at the farmers' market. You can also use half or all spelt flour instead, and while I also bought freshly milled spelt flour I haven't tried making the digestive with that yet.

Digestives
Makes 35-40
From River Cottage Every Day

250 grams/8.8 ounces whole wheat flour
250 grams/8.8 ounces quick-cooking oatmeal
125 grams/4.4 ounces soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons fine sea salt (this gave a distinct salty edge--can halve it if you like)
2 teaspoons baking powder
250 grams/8.8 ounces unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
about 1 tablespoon milk (I needed a bit more)

Combine all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. This amount filled my food processor, but it was fine. Add butter and but in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can also do this easily by hand--it's a bit like making pie crust.
Gradually add the milk and pulse until it comes together into a slightly sticky dough. I found it easiest to do this by hand, after transferring it to a large bowl.
Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate about 30 minutes, or for a few days. Remove from the fridge about an hour before you want to bake it, as it gets very hard.
Preheat oven to 180℃/350℉. Dust the table and dough with flour and roll to 3-4 mm thickness/¹⁄₈", or thicker for a softer, crumblier cookie. The dough is sticky and crumbly, but if you are gentle it's easy to roll. Cut with a 6-7 cm (2½") cutter and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes, checking after 5. You want them to be golden brown around the edges and lightly coloured on top. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Soba noodles with eggplant and mango

2011-07-04T19:40:00.000-04:00

No, I did not make my own soba again. Once was definitely enough for that! However, since I seem to have made peace with potatoes recently, I thought I'd try my luck with eggplant. It's another food I find texturally challenging. As for the taste, there's not much I can say about it, as it doesn't seem to have much. This recipe caught my eye when I was browsing Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi, and I decided to make it before I changed my mind. Even if the eggplant is not a favourite, the soba, the mango and the tart dressing called my name. This is the point in the post where I talk about the changes I made--how predictable am I? This time, I grilled the eggplant instead of frying it and replaced the rice vinegar with lime juice. I plain forgot the garlic, so that doesn't really count as a change, does it?
And the verdict? This stuff is amazing! From the slightly chewy, grainy texture of the noodles to the perfectly ripe mango to the fresh herbs and lime, this was perfection itself. The eggplant? Whatever. It was there and it was fine, inoffensive but not crucial. Would I miss it if it wasn't there? Who knows, but I do know that I'll be eating a lot of this in the coming months.

Adapted from Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi
Serves 6

120 ml fresh lime juice
40 grams sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1-2 red Thai bird chiles, finely minced
1 tablespoon roasted sesame oil
1 eggplant, sliced about 1 cm thick
oil
250 grams soba noodles
2 ripe mangos, thinly sliced or diced
a handful each of basil and cilantro, chopped
½ red onion, thinly sliced or diced

For the dressing: combine the lime juice, sugar, salt, garlic, chile and sesame oil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
Brush the eggplant slices with oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill until browned and tender. Set aside to cool.
Cook the soba in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender. Mine took about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse well under cold running water, lifting the noodles with your hands to make sure all the starch is rinsed off. Drain, then place on a tea towel or paper towel to dry.
Dice the cooled eggplant into 1 cm cubes. In a large salad bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients and then toss with the dressing. Set aside for an hour or two, or serve immediately.

The Daring Bakers make baklava!

2011-06-27T00:01:00.023-04:00

I know what you're thinking: rolling chopped nuts in packaged phyllo is not much of a challenge. Well, you should know by now how the Daring Bakers works. We had to make our own phyllo from scratch and roll, roll, roll. It sounds daunting, but the dough was so silky and easy to work with that it wasn't difficult, just time-consuming. From a tennis ball sized lump of dough, I was able to get about 25 sheets.

My failed baklava tower!

The best baklava I have ever had was made by the aunt of one of my Turkish students years ago. I had never cared much for baklava before the day he brought it to class. Unlike the baklavas I had tried before this was super fresh, moist but not drippy, and filled with bright green pistachios from Turkey. I love pistachios, so I tried to recreate that amazing baklava for this challenge. As I did with these pistachio brownies, and this pistachio panna cotta, I shelled, blanched and peeled a lot of pistachios. The bright green colour and buttery flavour are worth the investment of time. And I can do while I'm watching Wimbledon. I used almonds for the top layer. Both fillings were scented with cardamom, and I brushed the layers of phyllo with browned butter. After baking, I doused the hot pastries, a bit too liberally, with a lime and sugar syrup. It was a delicious, but very sweet treat.

The next morning, I took all the off-cuts from my baklava and tried to roll them again. It was possible, but the dough was much tougher to roll out. I made a couple of nightingale's nests with the leftover dough and pistachio filling. These weren't as sweet as the baklava triangles, but not as tender as those made with fresh dough. Were mine as good as that long ago baklava? No, but they were pretty good for a first try.

Thanks to Erica for a great challenge! I look forward to making this dough again and making strudel out of it later this summer. Check out the slideshow at the Daring Kitchen to see all the kinds of baklava the Daring Bakers made this month. Download the printable challenge PDF with recipes, here.

I wish I had waited to cut and taste the baklava:
2 days after making, it was at its best. Moist throughout,
and it held together well.

Blog-checking lines: Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Mango with Coconut Sticky Rice

2011-06-24T13:27:00.000-04:00

When mangoes (mangos?) are in season, I go a bit crazy. I buy them by the flat, then race to eat them all before the fruit flies push me out the door and lock it so they can have them all to themselves. I never cook mangoes, never make smoothies with them, never do anything but peel and eat them. Except for once a year. Once a year, I remember sticky rice and mango and I go out and buy some sticky rice so that I can make this. It's the easiest and most delicious thing, and it's pretty impressive too, I think, for something so simple.

You need sticky rice to make this, and half the battle is finding the right kind. The rest is easy. Sushi rice is not sticky rice. You need to buy rice that is sometimes called sweet rice or glutinous rice. The easiest way to tell is to just have a look at the grains of rice. If they are slightly translucent you've got the wrong rice. Sticky rice is chalk white and opaque before cooking. You do need to soak it before cooking, preferably overnight, so plan ahead!

Left to right: basmati, medium grain, sticky rice

Coconut sticky rice with mango

Adapted from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid

Serves 3-4

1½ cups sticky rice

1 cup coconut milk

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 ripe mangoes

gratuitous black sesame seeds for garnish, optional

Rinse the rice and soak it in fresh water to cover for about 8 hours. You can also soak it in warm water for 2 hours. Drain and place in a metal sieve.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and balance the sieve on top of the pot. Make sure the water is not touching the bottom of the sieve. Cover with a lid and steam for about 15 minutes. Now turn the rice over in the sieve so that it steams evenly. You want the rice on the bottom to be on the top and vice versa. Steam for another 10 minutes, then test. When the rice is ready, it will be shiny and sticky (!) and will be cooked all the way through. Remove from heat but leave covered.
Meanwhile, combine the coconut milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan, and heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Stir in the rice and cover and let sit for 20-60 minutes so that the rice absorbs all the liquid.
Peel the mangoes, halve them and slice thickly, either lengthwise or crosswise. As you can see, I couldn't make up my mind. However you do it, the flesh around the pit is the cook's treat.
To serve, arrange the sticky rice and mango on a platter or in bowls. Serve immediately, as the rice will dry out if exposed to air.

Strawberry and Roasted Rhubarb Custard Tarts

2011-06-18T11:31:00.002-04:00

I am a delinquent French Fridays with Dorie member. I haven't posted anything in months, but when I saw that rhubarb was on the menu I jumped back on board. A day late, but I'm posting! Rhubarb season is pretty well finished here, but I grabbed a bunch last weekend at the farmers' market, along with a basket of local strawberries. I know that strawberries get all the glory, but I prefer the rhubarb. I just can't get enough of its acidity and tang.

Rhubarb surprise under the pastry cream!

These tarts were made from some rough puff pastry I had in the freezer, left over from the custard tarts. I cut small circles and baked them at 400℉ for about 10 minutes in a muffin tin, then turned them out onto a rack to cool. I was too lazy to line them and fill them with beans, so they shrunk a bit, but they were incredibly crisp and flaky. I made a quick pastry cream and piped it into the cooled shells, over a layer of the roasted rhubarb. Then I plopped a strawberry or more rhubarb on top and dessert was ready. These were so tiny that 2 or 3 seemed like a reasonable serving.

Straight rhubarb for me, please

The rhubarb was delicious, very tangy and not too watery. We don't post the recipes from Around my French Table, but you can find this one here on Dorie's blog. I used a vanilla bean instead of orange, as I find the orange takes over the rhubarb flavour a bit, and I like it to be front and centre. Enjoy!

The Daring Cooks Make Potato Salad. Really.

2011-06-14T16:11:00.000-04:00

I couldn't believe it when I read the challenge for this month: potato salad, and healthy too! I don't have a problem with healthy, and actually get very excited about produce (in the words of a friend), but I don't eat potatoes more than a few times a year, and that includes fries. However, I have a lot of experience with them, as it seemed like we had them every night for dinner when I was a child. I pushed them around a lot, not caring for the texture. Now, I eat potatoes to be polite, such as when I am a dinner guest. The taste is fine, but it's that slightly grainy texture that gets me every time. Anyway, I'm sure if you have read this far that you actually like potatoes, so let's get past my potato inhibitions, shall we?

I didn't want to miss this month's challenge, as I had missed last month's (too greasy/meaty). So, I put my thinking cap on and tried to figure out when I did like potatoes and how I could incorporate those flavours into a potato salad. I like spicy curries with potato, as well as thinly sliced potatoes on pizza, and poutine, but that was the end of my list. I didn't see how I could put gravy and cheese curds on cold potatoes and make it work, so the poutine salad was out. Potato salad on a crust? Nope. Spicy? Yes, please. Rather than curry, I went with some Mexican ingredients to make a chipotle potato salad. It was good, but very spicy, as I doubled the chipotles from what you can see in the recipe below. As for healthy, I used half buttermilk and half mayonnaise to make a creamy dressing. Oh, and the most exciting part for me was that I liked it! I actually took the leftovers for lunch 2 days in a row. This is pretty earth-shattering, people. I think it was because I used tiny new potatoes and they were creamy, not grainy at all. So, Spud, you're okay. See you at Thanksgiving. Now to love eggplant...

Salad
1 pound tiny new potatoes
12 small radishes, sliced
2 small or one large poblano peppers, roasted, peeled seeded and diced
½ red onion, finely chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

Place potatoes in a pot of cold water with a generous amount of salt. Bring to the boil and cook for about 10 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool. Halve potatoes and place in a large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients and about ½ cup of dressing and toss well. Serve.

Chipotle Ranch Dressing

½ cup buttermilk

½ cup mayonnaise

1 chipotle chile in adobo and a teaspoon of the sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 small clove garlic, mashed with a pinch of salt

¼ chopped cilantro

Combine everything but cilantro in a blender and puree until smooth. Add cilantro. Will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

Blog-checking lines:Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake

2011-06-11T21:33:00.004-04:00

Have you been over to my place for dinner yet? You should come. The food's good and so is the conversation. It's the getting there that's a struggle. You see, preparations for a dinner party follow a very predictable course chez Mary. Basically a dinner invitation means I want to cook up something I've never made before. I am not one of those people who goes for the tried and true. Once I finally decide on a menu, I procrastinate extensively. The day of the dinner party dawns, and is usually spent in a frenzy of cooking, cleaning, shopping, and just lying around, hoping it all magically gets done on its own. As the afternoon progresses, I look at the clock, wondering if there's anything I can skip. That is why you should never look in my closets. The laundry might fall over and smother you. As the minute of the guests' arrival approaches, I usually jump in the shower and then panic when I realize I've forgotten something crucial, like cleaning the bathtub. What? Well, you never know. The consummate hostess is prepared for everything.

Last month I had the pleasure of welcoming some good friends from Australia, along with their son and his grandmother, for dinner. I used to work with L in Toronto, where we also had some fun kitchen adventures. I'm giggling remembering the Benriner episode, the double cardamom shortbread fail, and the pumpkin ravioli. Oh, and cringed when I remembered T eating the whole cayenne pepper I had forgotten to fish out of a curry. L and T had also been my guests many times in Toronto and knew the drill. They used to pace outside on my driveway, waiting for the appointed time, not knowing what they'd find if they showed up early. Smart people! I don't mind lateness too much, being chronically late myself, but I think being early is insufferable for all involved.

Anyway, they were most considerately 90 minutes late, and I was pretty well ready when they got here. I had even managed to get a photo of the cake, even though it was a grim, grey and rainy day. L is a photographer, so I stressed about this a bit. We had a simple, but delicious menu of orange and olive salad, chicken, spinach and tomatillo tacos, refried black beans, and this cake. The only thing that wasn't homemade were the corn tortillas, and they were awful--soggy and falling apart. Next time I will be better prepared and make them myself. Ha! No really. I actually had to run to the store to get them, with not much time to spare, and some jerk yelled at me because my umbrella and his wife's caught, soaking us both.
The cake was nice, but I think it could have been better. The frosting, with the mascarpone and lemon curd was delicious--creamy and not too sweet. The cake seemed a bit floury and didn't rise as much as I would have liked, meaning I couldn't divide the layers. That meant there was a tiny layer in the middle where the syrup didn't reach. I don't think anyone else noticed, but it bothered me. Also, the cake wasn't as lemony as I would have liked. Next time I make this, I'll use a genoise from The Cake Bible and add use passionfruit curd instead of lemon. The raspberries were my addition, and I loved the texture and tart, winey flavour they added.

This cake had a lot of components, but it didn't take that long to put together. Or maybe I was just running on warp speed. Start the day before your dinner party, as the finished cake needs to sit overnight.
:)
Cake recipe after the jump!
Read more »

Rhubarb-brown sugar plain cake

2011-06-06T23:22:00.000-04:00

Does it ever seem that you run out of a lot of basic ingredients at once? My kitchen cupboards have been empty lately, and I haven't even had time to stock up. May is a very busy month for substitute teachers, as schools run their last workshops of the year and teachers take a day off here and there to celebrate the return of the hot, sunny weather, or just to recover and write report cards. June is a different story, which means I should have lots more time to bake. Apparently I need the practice, as I broke 2 bowls getting this cake made.

This week's recipe, chosen by Cindy of Everyday Insanity, was originally for a blueberry cake. I love blueberries in cake, but it's rhubarb season here. I did not get a chance to preserve any, so I am using what I've got in the fridge everywhere possible, as it's gone to seed and there'll only be a bit more in the late summer, but that's it. Sniff, sniff. The recipe called for all-purpose flour and whole milk, but I was out of these, so I substituted cake flour and orange juice. Actually, I ran out of cake flour too, so there is also ⅓ cup of buckwheat flour in mine, along with 2 cups of thinly sliced rhubarb. Instead of cinnamon I used a citrus-vanilla extract. And who has an 11"x17" pan? Not me. I used a 10" springform instead.

This recipe is called 'plain cake', but it was a bit fussy in its preparation. It called for separating the eggs and folding the beaten whites into the batter at the end, just before adding the fruit. I was going to skip that part and just add the whole eggs to the batter, but I had changed so many other things that I followed the directions for once. A small part of them, at least. The cake turned out to be delicious, I am happy to report. It had an interesting citrus flavour from the juice and extract, and a tart, jammy layer of rhubarb mostly near the bottom. It was very tender and moist, and the buckwheat added speckles and a faint taste too. It was quite sweet, as is typical for this book's recipes, so I was glad to have the sourness of the rhubarb to balance it out. It would be great with a bit of cream, if you didn't want to serve it plain. Since it was so yummy, I guess I can leave off grocery shopping for another day and see what kind of substitutions I can come up with next. I still have a few things in the cupboard...

The Daring Bakers overdose on chocolate!

2011-05-26T23:09:00.001-04:00

Daring Bakers around the world hover on the website on the first of the month, refreshing their screens to find out what the month's challenge is. Or is that just me? I'm not sure why I want to find out what the challenge is on the first day, as I rarely complete it until shortly before the deadline, but maybe it's because I'm insatiably curious about almost everything. Once I find out the challenge, I do nothing. For weeks, sometimes. Not this time, though: I made this challenge early, even though I wasn't very excited about it. You see, I don't love chocolate and this was a rich chocolate mousse, with torched meringue, creamy caramel sauce and sugar-coated nuts. Oh, and the recipe was enormous! It called for 11 eggs and made 18 servings and needed some last-minute attention, so wasn't something I wanted to make for a crowd. What's a girl to do? Get out her calculator and divide the recipe by 11, of course! It made for some ridiculously small quantities, but only took me about 15 minutes to whip up. It made 3 servings, meaning I would have got over 50 from the original recipe. That's a lot of chocolate mousse.

I knew that I wouldn't enjoy more rich and creamy accompaniments with this, so I went with candied sour cherries and kirsch. Frozen sour cherries have been my sour fruit stand-in from January when I ran out of rhubarb and even though my fridge is bulging with rhubarb right now, I'm still on a sour cherry kick. I made a quick candied cherry recipe from David Lebovitz, reducing the water and adding a few tablespoons of kirsch. For the nuts, I used green almonds, but didn't like them much. They were sour, but are a taste I haven't acquired yet. Maybe that's why I forgot to put them on the plate and left them on the counter instead, only noticing them when I took the empty marquise plate in to the sink. You'll find a picture below. The meringue was a great excuse to dust off my blowtorch, and its sweetness was a nice foil to the mousse and cherries. I hadn't used my blowtorch since making the amazing roasted marshmallow ice cream sandwiches last year. The verdict? I liked it, but found it incredibly rich. I kept going back for another taste until it was all gone. This was a dangerous thing to have in the freezer, and I'll definitely keep it in mind for my chocolate-loving friends.

green almonds

Many thanks to Emma and Jenny for the challenge! I certainly wouldn't have made this otherwise, and if it weren't for the Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie, this blog would be made up entirely of rhubarb and cardamom recipes! Though I do have a few kilos of rhubarb in the fridge...

Original challenge and recipe PDF.

Blog-checking lines: The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma ofCookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

2011-05-23T22:43:00.000-04:00

I was so happy that the May picks for Tuesdays with Dorie had lots of breakfast recipes.

Scones are so tasty, and I can usually find the time to make them. I had noticed at this recipe before, but this was the kick in the pants I needed to actually make it. Nutmeg is a favourite spice, though I find it works better in a background role than as a star, so I was curious to see how these would turn out. I decreased the sugar a bit and was generous with the freshly grated nutmeg, and these were a winner. As always, they were best when still warm, and I ate them plain. Cooled scones have no appeal for me, so I didn't touch them after they had cooled down--I gave them away to someone less fussy than me. I do still have a few unbaked in the freezer for a leisurely morning, but that may have to wait a bit. This is a busy month for work, and I am now another year older, so I am slowing down.

;)

Actually, I'm pretty tired after a long weekend and thinking that 5 straight days of kindergarten is going to make baking a challenge. See you on Friday with the Daring Baker's Challenge, as I've got that one made and eaten! Oh, and for the scone recipe, go and visit Patricia at Life with a Whisk.

Mango Passionfruit Pavlova

2011-05-20T14:16:00.000-04:00

What is your perfect dessert? As I was eating this, all I could think was that this was it. It had all the things I like in desserts: contrasting textures, sweet and tart flavours, tropical fruit, acidity, and lashings of cream. As an added bonus, it helped to use up some of the egg whites that were taking over my fridge. Pavlovas require a bit of advance planning, as they take a while to bake, but once they are baked you can throw them together very quickly. And, on a grey and rainy day, you too can enjoy a melt-in-your-mouth taste of sunshine!

Pavlova

Makes 2 individual servings

1 egg white
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon vinegar
a bit of vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 300℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment. Beat egg whites to soft peaks, then beat in sugar gradually, until they hold firm peaks. Quickly beat in cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla. Form meringue into 2 mounds on baking sheet, making a dip in the centre to hold the filling. Place in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 250℉. Bake for 1 hour, until crisp but not browned. Turn oven off and cool in over with door propped open.

Topping

1 mango, peeled and thinly sliced with a vegetable peeler

1 passionfruit, halved, and pulp and seeds scraped out

¼-⅓ cup whipping cream, chilled

Beat whipping cream to soft peaks and dollop on cooled meringues. Top with mango and then passionfruit. Eat. Repeat as necessary.

Maple Cornmeal Biscuits

2011-05-17T20:00:00.000-04:00

A very late TWD post today: I got home from a rough day at work yesterday with a terrible sore throat and sinuses, fell asleep and woke up ... 12 hours later, still wearing my scarf! Feeling a lot better, though, but had to run out the door again. Today was a much better day. It really depends which school you go to as a substitute teacher, and there's not so much work that we can be choosy.

Anyway, I couldn't believe it when the May recipes for Tuesdays with Dorie were posted. I thought I had broken up with cornmeal pretty definitively after the cornmeal shortbread, but here it was again. Never one to hold a grudge, I thought I'd give it one more chance. Dorie even recommended using the dreaded stone-ground for this recipe. I used half stone-ground and half regular cornmeal, and I have to admit that these were very tasty right out of the oven. I did eat them very gingerly, as I had fears of cracking (another) filling. I liked the taste, and ate a couple plain, but I didn't care for them the next morning. I couldn't really taste the maple, but I did like the cornmeal flavour, and will be taking the finely ground stuff for another spin soon. Lindsay over at A Little Something...Sweet has the recipe for you, and it's an easy one. As always, check out the TWD site for all the variations.

Maple walnut roulade

2011-05-08T17:11:00.001-04:00

I love maple. I'm always a bit sad when sugaring-off season is over, even if it means the weather is above 0℃ on a regular basis. This year I didn't make it to the sugar bush at all, but luckily I still have lots of syrup from last year. I have lots of walnuts too: I won over a kilogram of fantastic walnuts from a giveaway on Evelyne's blog, Cheap Ethnic Eatz. They arrived when I was in Toronto, and I've been trying to decide what to do with them ever since I got home. As usual, I have lots of ideas, but can only eat so many sweets! Watch for more walnutty goodness around these parts, as this recipe only used about a half-cup.

I decided to make a small rolled cake, substituting walnuts for the almonds. For the filling, I went with mascarpone and maple syrup, because that is one of the loveliest combinations ever. I was worried about the maple syrup thinning out the filling too much, so I reduced mine, ending up with maple fudge. Now, maple fudge is a very good thing, but not what I wanted here. I used it anyway and it dissolved in the mascarpone, but I don't think reducing it was necessary, so I've adjusted for that below. I also couldn't resist garnishing with a few maple candied almonds. 3 components seems like a lot, but this actually took less than an hour to mix, bake, cool and roll. A quarter sheet pan measuring 33cm x 24cm (13" x 9.5"), made enough for 4 servings, so double everything if you want to make it in an 11" x 17" pan and serve 8. Measurements are in grams, as the amounts were small.

Candied walnuts

½ cup walnut halves

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

a pinch of salt, optional

Preheat oven to 275℉. Combine walnuts and syrup and salt, if using and spread on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Cool.

Walnut cake
Adapted from The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Berenbaum
18 grams toasted walnuts
10 grams cake flour
2 large eggs
55 grams sugar
a few drops vanilla extract
¹⁄₈ teaspoon cream of tartar

Grease quarter sheet pan and line with parchment. Grease again and flour. Increase oven temperature to 450℉.
Combine walnuts, cake flour and about a tablespoon of sugar in a food processor and grind finely.
Separate 1 egg and place the white in a small mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat on medium speed until frothy, then add the cream of tartar. Once soft peaks form, add a tablespoon of the remaining sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
Place the yolk and the second whole egg in a small mixing bowl, along with the remaining sugar. Using the hand mixer (don't bother cleaning the beaters), beat on high speed for about 4 minutes, until thick, fluffy and tripled in volume. Beat in the vanilla.
Add the ground walnut mixture and fold in, using a spatula. When almost uniform, fold in the egg white. Spread evenly on the prepared pan and bake for about 7 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the cake is golden and springs back when you touch it.
Loosen the edges and flip the cake, paper and all, onto a clean tea towel. Carefully peel off the parchment paper and sift a thin layer of icing sugar over the top. Roll it up from the short end, towel and all. Cool on a rack.

Maple Mascarpone Filling

Adapted from the Cake Bible

1-227 gram container mascarpone (1 cup)

¼ cup pure maple syrup

⅓ cup whipping cream

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, and beat briefly, by hand or with a mixer until mixture thickens. Refrigerate while waiting for the cake to cool.

To assemble cake:

Unroll cake, remove towel and spread mascarpone filling evenly with a metal spatula. Leave the last inch of cake bare, as rolling will push the filling to the end. You won't need all the filling, unless you want a ridiculously full cake like mine. Re-roll and trim ends on the diagonal. Refrigerate, covered, until serving time. Garnish with candied walnuts.

Update:
I took the cake to some overworked friends, who said that it looked like a giant Twinkie. Exactly what I was aiming for...

Brown butter pumpkin birthday cake

2011-05-04T10:09:00.002-04:00

The little one, for O

I'm finally back home! I was hoping to have something yummy and seasonal to share with you, but who am I kidding? There's not much seasonal in my neck of the woods these days. I raided my mother's freezer and made rhubarb crisp with the last of the frozen stuff, but I didn't get any pictures. It wasn't the most picturesque dessert anyway, even though it was very tasty. Instead, I bring you pumpkin cake! I made this cake for 2 friends' birthdays, one in November and one in March. The first one, in November, was a half recipe baked in 6" cake pans. The second was the full recipe. Both times I made extra frosting, because you really don't want to skimp on the cream cheese and browned butter goodness.

The big one, for M

This is a rich cake, best served in small slices. Make sure the frosting is at room temperature for spreading and serving, as you can see how it wasn't as smooth in the top picture. Sorry, no cut photos this time: these left my kitchen and only the cake plates came back, eventually. Because I ~~am lazy~~ actually made these according to the recipe, I am linking it here. Okay, I might have added a teaspoon of baking powder and browned all the butter at once and used butternut squash for one of them. The extra baking powder definitely helped lighten the cake a bit, as I forgot it for the second version and it was much denser. Also, for the second cake I didn't strain out the browned bits in the butter, thinking they would add extra texture to the frosting. They did, but it also looks like my frosting is full of crumbs. Do as I say, not as I do. The last little change was that I didn't put any nuts between the layers, but piled them all on top.

Whatever changes you make, this is an absolutely fabulous cake, and one of my new favourites. It may not be spring-y, but there's a butternut squash on my counter that's tempting me to make this again. For me this time.

Cornmeal shortbread cookies

2011-04-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

Dear Stone-ground cornmeal,
We need to talk. I've tried really hard to make it work with you, but you just won't soften up, even when I slather you with jam. I'm afraid I can't take it any more. Last time we met, I thought you cracked a filling. You didn't, quite, but I'm afraid it's over between us in the sweet kitchen. I'll be turning to your slick and smooth younger brother, finely ground cornmeal, for my future baking needs. So, I know this is awkward, Stone-ground, but it's not me, it's you. Sorry. I'll still be calling you when polenta is on the menu, if that's okay?
Regards,
Mary

As you might have gathered, these weren't very successful cookies. They looked cute and the flavour and shortbread texture were amazing, but the cornmeal was too coarsely ground to soften up, even after being sandwiched with raspberry jam and left overnight. It's my own fault, as I keep going back to the fancy cornmeal I bought. Luckily it's all gone now, so I can try these again another time with finer cornmeal. The sunshiny colour was perfect for a spring day.

This recipe was selected by Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine. She was one of the first bloggers to visit me after I started this blog, and she still comes back sometimes! There was no way I would miss her recipe. Her site is beautiful, and she uses a point and shoot camera, like me, but her photos are amazing. Go and check it out.

I decided to use my cookie press to make spritz cookies because chilling the dough in a zipper bag and then cutting the bag off and throwing it out just seemed wasteful. I also wanted to make small cookies, and I got an awful lot of tiny cookies from a half batch. I sandwiched most of them together with homemade raspberry jam. The ones I didn't sandwich got dunked in tea and coffee. See what the other TWD bakers came up with here.

Little lemon meringues, and passionfruit too!

2011-04-21T21:51:00.000-04:00

These little cookies are a distant memory at this point. 3 weeks without cooking is just too long! Only one more week before I have a dramatic reunion with my stove. I can hardly wait, but for now I'll have to hope I can elbow my way into someone else's kitchen this long holiday weekend. In case I can't, I'll just have to be satisfied with the beautiful cakes and pastries from the 4 (!) French patisseries around the corner. Maybe being away from my kitchen is not so bad...

I made these little cuties with the leftover egg whites from the custard tarts. I also had leftover lemon curd from the yeasted coffee cake, and, well, I always feel better if I have passionfruit curd around. I baked the meringues till they were crisp, but didn't fill them until just before eating. The sweet crunch of the meringue combined with the tart creamy curd made these hard to leave alone. I have posted both curd recipes here before, so they are linked below. Happy Easter!

Crisp meringues

2 egg whites

1/2 cup fine granulated sugar

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 200℉/95℃. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
Beat egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add sugar slowly, beating all the while, until very thick and glossy and will hold stiff peaks. Rub a bit of the meringue between your fingers--if you can feel sugar grains, keep beating until they dissolve.
Pipe a bit of meringue under the corners of the parchment to attach it to baking sheet. Pipe or spoon small blobs (about 1"x1") on lined baking sheets. I use a star tip. Bake for about 2 hours, then turn oven off and let cool in oven until they are completely dry and crisp. When ready to serve, sandwich a pair of meringues with a bit of lemon or passionfruit curd. Plain whipped cream is also good. Serve immediately.

The Daring Cooks make edible containers!

2011-04-14T00:01:00.001-04:00

This month's challenge was a fun one, and I was only sorry that I could not create more dishes for it. I found out about a month-long business trip just after the challenge was announced, and I only managed 2 dishes in between frantic bouts of packing, tidying, baking, oh, and working too! Our host for the month was the lovely Renata, of Testado, Provado e Aprovado. She is one of the sweetest people on the Daring Kitchen forums and always has nice things to say to everyone. Not to mention the fact that she's incredibly talented and creative and blogs in English and Portuguese. I'm tired just thinking about it.

We were challenged to make savoury edible containers and fillings of our choice. The possibilities are endless, and if you check out the Daring Kitchen page, you'll see a selection of amazing dishes. What you can see above are eggs baked in tomatoes. They are delicious and perfect at any time of the day. As you can see, I like my yolks runny, but what you can't see is that I dropped one of the tomatoes upside-down while trying to maneuver it from baking dish to plate. It's a good thing my clumsiness didn't affect the taste.

The next dish is one that made leftovers seem new and exciting. I had some shrimp cooked in a tomatillo sauce with spinach and fresh cheese left over from a dinner. I cut cylinders of polenta, grilled them and filled them with the shrimp mixture. Wonderful. I haven't got the recipe with me, but it was based on a Rick Bayless one.

While I didn't go wild with creativity on this challenge, I really enjoyed it and I will be making some more edible containers as soon as I get back home at the end of the month. For now I'll just have to enjoy the best Toronto has to offer, as I am without a kitchen this month. Thanks Renata for a fabulous challenge!

Check out the full challenge PDF and get inspired!

Blog-checking lines: Renata of Testado, Provado & Aprovado! was our Daring Cooks’ April 2011 hostess. Renata challenged us to think “outside the plate” and create our own edible containers! Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 17th to May 16th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Quest for rhubarb, and a crisp

2011-04-12T00:01:00.002-04:00

I went to 8 stores in one day and all I brought you was this lousy picture. Sorry. The day the April recipes were announced I started looking for rhubarb, as I'd already been craving it for a while. I went to half a dozen stores, but no luck. I didn't worry too much, as I still had a week before leaving town, The next week the quest started in earnest. I tried everywhere but the closest I came was a shelf labelled 'rhubarb' in the freezer of a health food store. Even the fancy fruit store didn't have any imported rhubarb. What to do? Skipping the recipe was out of the question. I almost bought a jar of rhubarb jam, but worried that it'd be too sweet. I finally found a $7.00 jar of Bon Maman rhubarb compote, which didn't look like much, but was only lightly sweetened.

Of course, nice strawberries were out of the question--I didn't even bother looking for those. I don't love cooked strawberries anyway, so I used frozen raspberries instead. I halved the sugar in the filling and doubled the rhubarb, making the filling a tart contrast to the sweet topping. The bits of candied ginger in the crisp part were a nice touch, but I did find the filling a bit gloopy from the cornstarch. I'll reduce that next time. I ate this for breakfast, dinner and dessert for the last week before my trip and I can't wait to get back home to my oven to make more!

Thanks so much to Sarah from Teapots and Cakestands for choosing this recipe. She'll have the recipe on her site. As always, you will find links to all the takes on this recipe at the TWD site.

German chocolate cake

2011-04-03T22:37:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Toronto! I am here for a month to work on a short contract, but I have neither a kitchen or my camera, so I'm hoping to have time to share all the things I made last month and didn't get around to posting. I was actually expecting to catch up on responding to comments on the train here, but there was a problem and we had to travel by bus instead. Now, I don't romanticize the train, but it is a hell of a lot more comfortable than a bus. And it has wireless internet. And food that doesn't make you feel nasty the entire next day. Enough about that, I seem recovered now and ready for cake.

I made this for my brother's birthday. Like me, he is not a chocolate fanatic, but he does love coconut. That's what I told myself anyway, as I've been wanting to make this cake for a while. My mother used to make it for us when we were kids and I don't think I'd had it since. My plan was to use a recipe from America's Test Kitchen via Leite's Culinaria, but there were a few comments about the cake being dry, so I made one from Rose's Heavenly Cakes instead. Not only was it dark, moist and absolutely delicious, it used up a couple of extra egg whites, and I always have those around. The cake has a fairly light texture and stays soft even when cold, though our cake didn't last long enough to need refrigeration. It was huge, so if you can make yours last more than a day or two, keep it covered in the fridge and bring to room temperature to serve.
Cake
Source: Rose's Heavenly Cakes
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (2.3 oz/66 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa
½ cup (4 oz/118 grams) boiling water
½ cup (3.7 oz/108 grams)
4 large eggs, separated, plus 2 egg whites, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (2.6 oz/75 grams) cake flour
⅔ cup (2.6 oz/75 grams) all-purpose flour
1½ cups (10.6 oz/300 grams) superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350℉/175℃. Grease only the bottoms of 2 9" round cake pans and line them with parchment. Cake strips are recommended for the most even cakes, but I didn't use them and it was fine. I also didn't use a stand mixer, just a hand mixer and slightly higher mixing speeds than those noted below.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa and boiling water until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and cool to room temperature. Add the oil and the yolks to the bowl. Start on low speed, then beat on medium for about 1 minute, or until mixture is shiny and looks like buttercream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add vanilla and beat briefly.
Whisk the dry ingredients together (including the sugar), then sift half the mixture over the cocoa mixture. Beat on low speed until moistened. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and repeat with the remaining dry ingredients. Raise the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 1 minute. The mixture will be very thick. On low speed, add the egg whites. Gradually raise the speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes. The batter will be like thick soup. Divide the batter evenly between the pans (17.5 oz/495 grams) in each.
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer comes out clean, and the cakes spring back when pressed gently in the centre. During baking, the batter will rise almost to the top of the pans and be domed in the middle, but this will lower just before they are ready. Right after removing the cakes from the oven, run a knife around the edge of the pan and unmold onto a cooling rack. Remove parchment and re-invert so cakes can cool right side up.

For the topping, I went with the recipe from Leite's, as it just looked better and used evaporated milk instead of condensed, meaning I didn't need to make another trip to the grocery store. I had extra, as I didn't cut my cake into 4 layers. It'd make a great topping or filling for cakes, cookies or cupcakes, if you don't eat it all with a spoon.

Coconut-pecan topping

Source: Leite's Culinaria

4 large egg yolks
One 12-ounce can evaporated milk
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 1/2 cups (finely) chopped pecans, toasted

1. Whisk the yolks in a medium saucepan; gradually whisk in the evaporated milk. Add the sugars, butter, and salt and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is boiling, frothy, and slightly thickened, about 6 minutes.

2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, whisk in the vanilla, then stir in the coconut. Cool until just warm, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until cool or cold, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days. (The pecans are stirred in just before cake assembly.)

To assemble cake:

Stir pecans into filling. Slice layers in half horizontally, using a serrated knife, if desired. Top each layer with a generous amount of filling and top with another cake layer. Spread more filling on top of cake.

The Daring Bakers make meringue filled coffee cake

2011-03-27T00:01:00.000-04:00

I haven't got a lot of time today, but I wanted to share these pictures with you. When I first looked at the challenge, I wasn't so sure about it. I love making yeast breads, but the idea of putting a meringue inside one wasn't all that appealing. So, I went on to bake other things, and only remembered about the challenge with a week to go. One of my friends reminded me. Friends and family take a very healthy interest in these challenges!

Apricot in the front, lemon at back.

Last Sunday morning I made the dough, and it was as silky and easy to work with as promised. I made a half recipe and divided into two small loaves. For fillings, I made one with the meringue and lemon curd and roasted almonds. Rolling this mixture up was a bit like trying to change a squirming baby. There were slips and leaks galore. The second one I filled with apricot leather from Syria, called amardeen. It's tart and tangy, but not very flexible, so rolling the dough around this and the meringue, chopped bittersweet almonds, whole cardamom seeds and more roasted almonds was another challenge.

The lemon curd coffee cake, before I attempted to roll it

In the end, both loaves were tasty, but the apricot one was the clear favourite. The amardeen softened up to a firm, jelly-like texture which, combined with the dark chocolate, crunchy almonds and surprise bits of cardamom was perfect in every way. It didn't rise as much as the lemon one, I think because the amardeen did not stretch or give, but it didn't matter one bit. The lemon one was good, and stayed moist for at least 4 days, but the nuts softened up and it just wasn't as interesting as the other one.
Filling:
amardeen, cut (with scissors) to 1"/2.5cm smaller than the rolled out dough
chopped bittersweet chocolate and chopped toasted almonds, enough to generously cover the meringue
cardamom seeds from 2 pods (use 4 if making a full recipe)

The amardeen, before adding more meringue, chocolate and nuts.

Spread dough with a thin layer of meringue and centre amardeen on it. Cover with remaining meringue and sprinkle nuts, chocolate and cardamom over. Roll, making sure you are holding one edge of the amardeen, as it is reluctant to roll. Seal bottom and lay on parchment lined baking sheet. Slash every inch or so, using a very sharp knife and making sure you cut the amardeen as well as the dough. Let rise and bake as directed. See challenge PDF here for recipe.
Thanks very much to Ria and Jamie for a great challenge. I'll be making this again and I have more filling ideas. I always have ideas, and just need to work on finding time and more hungry mouths to feed!

Blog-checking lines: 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.

Custard tarts

2011-03-20T20:31:00.001-04:00

I have always wanted to make custard tarts, and even have a number of recipes bookmarked, dog-eared, photocopied and handwritten(!). Like many things I want to make, it was on a list and had to wait its* turn. This list does not exist on paper, but rather in my head, where items on it come and go, depending on the whims of my memory and what I'm craving at the moment.

The reason this recipe vaulted to the top of the list is that I signed up to test it for Food52's contest on late winter tarts. The recipe is by a member called checker, and you really should read the original post here, as the instructions are much funnier than mine. I really enjoy testing the recipes, but I always worry about giving feedback on them. What if I don't like it? I don't want anyone to think I'm a big meanie. For that reason, I only choose recipes I am confident I'll love, and this one fit that category nicely. The other difficult thing about testing recipes is making them as written. I find this a very difficult task, which is why I only test a recipe a month. Of course, next time I make this I'll make some changes, but minor ones. I'll eliminate the cinnamon and citrus peels. That's it. That's not a big change, is it? Then, for me, they'll be perfect: custardy but not too rich, and with a very flaky pastry.

Rough puff pastry

makes more than enough for 12 tarts

Source: Gordon Ramsay via BBC Good Food

250g all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
250g butter, at room temperature, but not soft (I used chilled)
about 150ml cold water

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Roughly break the butter in small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. You need to see bits of butter.
Make a well in the bowl and pour in about two-thirds of the cold water, mixing until you have a firm rough dough adding extra water if needed. Wrap in plastic and leave to rest for 20 mins in the fridge.
Turn out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until 3 times the width, about 20 x 50cm. Keep edges straight and even. Don't overwork the butter streaks; you should have a marbled effect.
Fold the top third down to the centre, then the bottom third up and over that. Give the dough a quarter turn (to the left or right) and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 mins before rolling to use.
For the tarts, roll it to a 1/4" thick rectangle, then roll the pastry up tightly, starting on a short side. It should look like a spiral from the end. Wrap and refrigerate.

I gave mine an extra turn, just for kicks.

Custard

Source: checker, a Food52 member. Here is the original text of the recipe.

4 extra-large egg yolks (I used 6 large yolks)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 3/4 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar (I doubled this)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 1" piece lemon peel
1 1" piece orange peel
cinnamon for dusting
icing sugar for dusting

In a medium saucepan, whisk together yolks, cream, milk, sugar, flour and salt. Add the citrus peels and cinnamon and cook over medium-low heat, whisking or stirring constantly until it is thickened and just beginning to boil. Checker recommends leaving peels and cinnamon in, but I found the flavour strong, so I strained them out at this point.
Remove from heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Cover surface of custard with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.
Preheat oven to 400℉/200℃. Have ready a 12-cup muffin tray.
Remove pastry from fridge and make 12 1/4" slices. Now, the original recipe has you flatten and stretch these by hand to form a cup, but I just bashed them in my tortilla press, between pieces of lightly floured waxed paper, then finished stretching them to fill the muffin cups. The tortilla press kept them nice and round. If you haven't got one, we can't be friends. I mean, take one circle of dough, rest it on your fingertips and use your thumbs to press the centre, while rotating it, until you have a circle big enough to fit in your muffin tin. It's easy, but tricky to explain. I'll try to get a photo next time. Transfer to tin, and refrigerate for a few minutes if the pastry seems warm or greasy at all.
Fill each pastry case with custard to within ½" of the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until custard is set and pastry is golden. Cool on a rack, dust with cinnamon and icing sugar and serve.

There should be a photo of one with a bite out of it right about here, but it was impossible to stop after just one bite. Maybe next time....

*It's not "it's", it's "its" for possession/belonging/attributes. I'll rant more about that another day.

Sheridan's Black and White chocolate pudding for St Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T00:01:00.002-04:00

Do we really need a dessert for St Patrick's Day? No, Guinness is not a dessert. Anyway, last year I made some coffee gelee and topped it with cream in a tiny beer glass. This year, I had lots of ideas, but no time. So, I decided on a rich chocolate pudding. It was made in about 10 minutes flat. Now, I am not a huge fan of chocolate pudding, and much prefer custard, but I thought I'd give it another try. I had tried a vanilla pudding a few months ago and found it too starchy, but hoped the chocolate and booze would fix that. I adapted the recipe from this one, where hundreds of commenters raved about it. I read a lot of the comments and they fell into a few categories: those that loved it; those that couldn't get the pudding to thicken; and the disturbing ones. They made weird substitutions like Cool Whip for milk, breast milk, artificial sweeteners, or they had really odd ideas about food chemistry. I don't know why I torture myself by reading comments, but sometimes it's like a car crash and you just can't look away. At least I can't: I'm nosy.

I added some Dutch-process cocoa and used 72% chocolate here. I was glad I was adding the liqueur at the end, as was very thick, even while hot. If you're skipping the alcohol, reduce the cornstarch a bit, or replace it with another liquid to get a wonderful, silky soft pudding. Have you ever tried Sheridan's? It comes in two colours that are separate, but in a fused glass bottle. The black is whiskey-coffee and the white is creamy vanilla. When you pour it, you get a layered drink. And it tastes much better than Bailey's, I think. I put the black in the pudding and the white in the cream top. Hmmm, in looking for photos of Sheridan's, I see that it is hard to find in the USA. Feel free to replace with whiskey and Bailey's.

Source: Tipsy Gifts

Black and White chocolate pudding
Makes 4-6 servings
Black:
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
large pinch salt
2 tablespoons darkest Dutch-process cocoa
3 cups whole milk
6 ounces dark chocolate, melted (I used 72%)
4-6 tablespoons Sheridan's black liqueur
White:
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons Sheridan's white liqueur

Black: Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium saucepan and then slowly whisk in milk until smooth. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until pudding just comes to a boil. Whisk for one minute. Remove from heat and whisk in melted chocolate and liqueur. Strain through a sieve and divide amongst serving dishes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
White: Whisk cream and liqueur together until soft peaks form. Serve puddings with a dollop of cream.

Maple butter tarts

2011-03-11T23:09:00.000-05:00

I missed making pancakes on Tuesday as I do every year, but I've got all ~~your~~ my favourite pancake toppings in a tart shell. Butter tarts are a Canadian staple, or at least an Ontario one. They are available in every convenience store, grocery store and bakery. The best are homemade, of course, and everyone loves the ones they are used to. The ones I like best are from a great little sandwich shop in Toronto. The only problem is that they are huge! I made mine a bit daintier so you can have 2.
Butter tart recipes usually call for corn syrup, but I'm not a fan, so I replaced it with maple syrup. The result was gooey but not runny tarts. Golden syrup would be another great substitute for corn syrup. Most butter tarts have raisins in them, but there was no chance of that happening over here. I love them plain, and also with nuts or wild blueberries. I made all kinds for you. Well, for me, but you know what I mean. So what do butter tarts taste like? Deliciously sweet, and a bit like pecan pie without the pecans.

This is my kind of research

Another great thing about butter tarts is that they are very easy to make. You use a homemade flaky pastry and the filling can be made in single bowl with a wooden spoon. You can even use pre-made tartlet shells. Just don't tell me if you do.

The wild blueberry version

Yup, they're good

Makes 12--2.5" tarts

Butter pastry:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
½ teaspoons salt
3-7 tablespoons ice water

Combine flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until the largest pieces are the size of peas and some pieces are tiny.
Add 3 tablespoons of water and pulse again. Squeeze a handful of the crumbs together to see if it holds. If not, add the water in small increments. You do not want the dough to come together in a ball in the processor. Once the dough holds together without too much effort, flatten it into a disc and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for a few hours.
Let dough sit at room temperature for a few minutes, then roll on a lightly floured surface to ¹⁄₈" thickness. Cut circles using a 4.5" round cutter. Place in standard (½) cup muffin tin. Chill for 30 minutes.

Maple butter filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
½ cup maple syrup (medium/amber), at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ cup small wild blueberries, nuts, raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 400℉ and place a rack in lower third of oven. Cream butter and brown sugar and add egg. Mix well, then add syrup, vanilla, salt and lemon juice and combine.
If you are using any nuts, raisins or berries, add a few to each pastry shell. You only want enough to barely cover the bottom of the shell. Add syrup mixture, filling only ¾ full. Don't be tempted to fill them to the top, as they'll bubble over and you'll never get them out of the pan.
Bake for 13-15 minutes, until filling is bubbly and puffy and pastry is golden. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes, then run a knife around each tart and carefully remove. You must remove them when they are warm, or else they will weld themselves to the pan. Cool and enjoy slightly warm or at room temperature.

Macadamia nuts are amazing in these

Corniest corn muffins

2011-03-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

I love the sunny yellow colour of cornmeal, but I find it ... gritty. I want to like it, so I buy nice stone-ground, organic cornmeal and keep it in my freezer, I save cornmeal recipes, and every once in a while I bake something with it. I never love what I make, but I never hate it either. Then I wait a few months and try again. I like cornmeal best when it has softened up a bit, like in polenta. I love polenta. These muffins? Not so much. They just didn't work for me. I found them quite sweet, so I didn't want to eat them with anything savoury. I thought about putting jam on them, but there were corn kernels and black pepper so that did not appeal. What to do? The usual--I put them in the freezer and have been eating them plain on the mornings when I haven't got time to make a proper breakfast. They're not bad, but it'll be a few months before I bake with cornmeal again. Thanks to Jill of My Next Life for choosing this recipe--she'll have it posted on her site. See all the corn muffins over at Tuesdays with Dorie. Oh, and if you've got a surefire cornmeal recipe, send it my way, please!

The Daring Bakers make panna cotta and florentines

2011-02-27T01:22:00.000-05:00

Pistachio marzipan panna cotta with florentines

Who needs an excuse to make panna cotta? The Daring Bakers, I guess! I don't why I don't make it more often: it's simple, delicious, and impressive enough that it looks like you were slaving over it, when in fact the fridge did most of the work. I made a number of variations this month, and I love when a challenge inspires me to eat nothing but pudding for a month. It's a good thing the canal is still open and I can skate it off!

Pistachio Dome

I never got the challenge florentines made, as I decided to go with a more traditional (I think), recipe using almonds and candied orange peel. This was great as I made a big jar of candied orange peel in December and it was taking up precious space in my fridge. I found this recipe here, and quite enjoyed these confections. They're more like a candy than a cookie, meaning rich and delicious.

Ginger-vanilla panna cotta with blood orange gelee

I have belatedly realized that I haven't written down any of my recipes for this month. I really need to measure and write things down when I'm in the kitchen rather than assume I'll remember weeks later. I did not use the challenge panna cotta recipe either, as I knew it'd be too rich for me. The first panna cotta I made, during a gray and cloudy week, was ginger-vanilla with a blood orange gelee. I adapted the recipe from the panna cotta plus gelee I had posted just a couple of days before the challenge was announced. I omitted the Amaretto and steeped some freshly chopped ginger in the cream/milk mixture.

Coconut panna cotta with tangerine, blood orange and cardamom granita

Next, I combined a recipe I was testing with one of my own. I was testing the granita above (which was lovely) and decided to make a panna cotta to serve it on, just for kicks. Inspired by some beautiful coconut panna cottas in the Daring Kitchen forum, I set out to create my own lighter version. I love coconut milk, but again, I didn't want it to be too rich. So, I combined it with milk and Cointreau and I really enjoyed the results. You can find the coconut panna cotta recipe here and the granita recipe here.

I love this green

The pistachio marzipan panna cotta was my absolute favourite. I had some leftover homemade pistachio marzipan from these amazing brownies, so I combined it with some milk and a bit of cream to make a soft, slightly textured and very pistachio panna cotta. I am really kicking myself for not writing this one down, as it was outstanding. That said, I doubt I'll be blanching and peeling any more pistachios to make more marzipan, so it might just have to be a happy memory. I think I already whined about that job in the brownie post so I'll stop now. If I do have a burst of enthusiasm, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks so much to Mallory of a sofa in the kitchen for the great challenge idea. Be sure to check out the Daring Kitchen homepage to see a slide show of some stunning creations. Here's the challenge PDF, complete with recipes and helpful links.

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Toasted almond scones

2011-02-21T21:42:00.000-05:00

I made these scones to start off a 4-day weekend, and now at the end of it I'm so sleepy I can barely stay awake to tell you how good they are. I baked half the dough on Friday and froze the other half and baked it Monday, and both versions were wonderful. I loved that they were barely sweet and had a great almond flavour and a crumbly, perfect texture. I tried them with homemade raspberry and plum jams and I'm just happy that there are a couple left to greet me very early tomorrow morning.

This week's fantastic pick was chosen by Mike of Living Out West. He'll have the recipe for you, and you can see which other TWD members baked this week by going here. Night!

Coconut tapioca pudding with caramelized bananas

2011-02-18T11:23:00.000-05:00

I love tapioca pudding--even the super gloopy kind. How about you? I imagine you must be willing to give it a chance if you're still reading this. I know many are turned off by its weird texture, but that's what I like about it. It's certainly not the flavour, as tapioca really doesn't have much. You won't find any vanilla, eggs or milk here, because this is not your granny's tapioca, or at least not my granny's. It's made with small pearl tapioca, not instant, and flavoured with coconut and topped with bananas. Mango or pineapple would also be wonderful here, so just use what you've got. I originally developed this recipe for Food52, where it was an Editors' Pick. I don't really know what that means, but I think it means someone liked it. I hope you do too.

tiny bubbles...

Serves 3-4

Tapioca:
2 cups water (you may need to add more, depending on your brand of tapioca and how loose you like it)
4 pods green cardamom, cracked but whole (optional)
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup small pearl tapioca
3 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup thick coconut milk (skim from the top of an unshaken can), plus extra for serving, if desired

Bring water, cardamom and salt to a boil in a medium pot.
Add tapioca, and bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to keep mixture at a gentle boil.
Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently as it tends to stick. Tapioca is ready when most of it turns clear, without a white dot in the centre.
Add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add thick coconut milk and stir in. Divide amongst dessert bowls and let stand while you prepare the bananas. It will thicken as it cools. Serve slightly warm. Do not refrigerate, as it will turn to glue!

Caramelized bananas:
2 bananas, ripe but firm, quartered
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Heat butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add bananas, cut side down. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Turn when browned and brown other side.
Place bananas atop tapioca and drizzle with pan juices and/or extra coconut milk to serve.

The Daring Cooks make hiyashi soba and tempura!

2011-02-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

I love the days when the Daring Kitchen challenges are revealed to members. If I am home, I check frequently, waiting for the challenge to appear. So, last month, when I checked on the challenge for February, I had to laugh. It was for hiyashi soba, which is a cold buckwheat noodle dish from Japan, accompanied by tempura. What did I find so funny? Just that it was -30℃/-22℉ that day! I could not imagine making any kind of salad, so I put off the challenge. Fast forward to February 11th, and I realized I only had a few more days. Now, putting things off till the last minute is much more my style, so I was ready to go. First off, the soba noodles:

Now, not only was I pondering the challenge for 3 weeks, but I also had to wait for my sister-in-law to bring me my pasta machine. Of course I planned to make my own soba! I enjoy making pasta, though I rarely do so, and I wanted to try my hand at an eggless noodle made with gluten-free buckwheat flour. I also like making things much more difficult than they need to be. The dough was like an unforgiving block of rapidly drying cement, and it kept crumbling as I tried to knead and roll it. Finally, I had to add more water and knead it for about 10 minutes to try to activate the gluten in the small amount of all-purpose flour. When I couldn't take it any longer, I started thinning the sheets in the pasta machine and cutting it into noodles. Some sheets worked, and others crumbled to bits as they were going through the machine. What you can see above is what I got from 1¼ cups of flour. What you see below are the defective noodles. They were falling out of the pasta cutter like this. I dried them and will use them in soup one of these days.

The noodles were very fragile, both when fresh and dried. However, once they were cooked, I was able to rinse and agitate them in cold water and they did not break. I won't be making them again, though, as I now think packaged soba noodles are worth looking for and worth every penny! For the 'salad', I steamed some soybean sprouts and snow peas. I also made paper-thin Japanese omelets and cut them into strips. This was probably my favourite part of the challenge, as I love anything to do with eggs. I served it with a spicy soy-based dipping sauce. All recipes can be found in the challenge PDF, at the end of the post.

Now, the tempura. I again used the challenge recipe for the batter, but it didn't stick that well to all the vegetables. It worked best on the shrimp, which were fried at 170℃/340℉, while the vegetables were fried at 160℃/320℉. If I ever make tempura again, I'll use the higher temperature for everything. Why 'if ever'? Well, because it was good enough that I ate too much and I feel a bit icky right now. And my place smells like a chip wagon. Luckily it's not too far below zero, so the windows are open!

L to R: shrimp, onion, sweet potato, snow peas, lotus root

It's funny, but I worked in Japan for about 6 months, and when I found out I had got the job, one of the things I was least excited about was the food. Japanese food just seemed so mild-mannered compared to the strong, spicy flavours I prefer. I had to eat my words when I was there, because in 6 months I didn't have a bad meal, and I was so impressed with the impeccable presentation and clean flavours. Oh, and the cakes! I really need to cook more Japanese food! Thanks so much to Lisa of Blueberry Girl for the challenge. Check out the Daring Kitchen homepage for a slideshow of the most beautiful soba and tempura you'll see outside of Japan.

Complete challenge PDF, with all recipes and links.

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

(not) Bourbon bread pudding

2011-02-08T16:40:00.000-05:00

I topped it with some blood orange segments and caramel

Bread pudding is a great way to use up slightly stale bread, but if you rarely have bread in the house it's not so convenient. After baking with TWD last week and getting such a warm welcome back I really didn't want to miss this week. Of course, things never work out quite the way I expect. I had a lovely weekend of visiting friends, eating out and skating on the canal. After work today, I skated home (about 6 km/4 miles) on a very soft and slushy canal, put on some comfy clothes and settled in to relax. I did relax, for about 5 minutes, until I realized I didn't have any bread for the bread pudding. I was so reluctant to get dressed and go back outside that I started gathering the ingredients to make a loaf of bread. This seemed perfectly reasonable to me, until I discovered I was out of yeast too. Not having the time to gather wild yeast, I moped for a couple of minutes, then looked in the freezer and found some little crumpets I had made for the poached egg challenge a couple of months ago. So, here's what I did: I quartered the recipe, except for the booze. I doubled that. Wouldn't you, at this point? I used mostly milk and skipped the extra egg yolks. Instead of bourbon I used my favourite heavily spiced rum/extrait antillais. It tastes of vanilla, mace, sapote and tonka beans. I made 2 little ramekins, and ate one for dessert. If you see a picture with this post, it means the other little bread pudding survived the night. How was it? Absolutely delicious! Thanks to Sharon of Simply Southern for choosing this recipe. As always, she'll have the recipe for you, and you can see who else baked this week by heading to the Tuesdays with Dorie site.

The homemade mini crumpets

Blueberry great grains muffins

2011-02-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

These muffins were the perfect way to jump back into the routine of Tuesdays with Dorie. I can hardly believe I missed 5 weeks, but I am glad to be back. I am finally feeling better and I definitely have my sweet tooth back, and it's making up for lost time! These muffins were actually not too sweet, and didn't taste like cake masquerading as a muffin. That's a good thing, in my book. I like to keep breakfast and dessert somewhat separate.

The recipe called for prunes, which I love, but only to snack on. There's something about rehydrated dried fruit that's weird. It's not dried, but it's still not fresh. Weird. So, I used fresh blueberries and some candied orange peel to flavour these. I also used more whole wheat flour and less white flour than the recipe called for, and these were not dense or tough at all. They definitely had texture, as I used a stoneground polenta and coarsely ground whole wheat flour. Oh, and I used some butter and some canola oil instead of all butter, because the butter was frozen. Everything is frozen here, actually.

The first muffin I ate plain, hot from the oven: delicious. The second I ate at room temperature with butter: delicious. The rest? I froze them before they disappeared too. Actually, I only baked 6, and froze the rest of the batter in my new muffin tin with a lid (finally!). So, I'll be able to pull that out and bake these fresh another day. I'll let you know how that turns out.

This week's recipe was selected by Christine at HappyTummy, so if you'd like to make these, head over there for the recipe. Thanks for a great pick, Christine--I'll be snacking on these for a while! As always, check out the LYL (leave your link) post on the Tuesdays with Dorie page to see who else made these, and how they changed them up.

Vanilla panna cotta on clementine Amaretto gelée

2011-01-30T17:11:00.001-05:00

Does gelée sound like the most pretentious thing ever? Maybe, but it sounds a hell of a lot better than Jell-O. I could have called it jelly, but isn't that something you spread on toast? Gelatin just doesn't sound very appetizing. Whatever you call it, this is a super easy and delicious dessert. It's summery and refreshing, but uses one of winter's most popular fruits. And it only takes a few minutes to make.

Clementine gelée layer
1 cup freshly squeezed, strained clementine juice (I used 7 clementines)
1-2 tablespoons Amaretto
¾ teaspoon powdered gelatin*
Panna cotta layer
1 cup light cream or heavy cream ( I used mostly whole milk with some cream)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste (or more Amaretto)
¾ teaspoon powdered gelatin*

For the clementine layer: Pour ¼ cup juice into a small saucepan and sprinkle 1 teaspoon gelatin over the top. Let stand a few minutes, then heat over medium-low heat, stirring, until gelatin is completely dissolved. Add the rest of the juice and the Amaretto. Divide amongst 4 small ramekins or pretty glasses (¼ cup in each). Refrigerate for 2 hours, or until set.
For the panna cotta layer. Pour ¼ cup cream and the sugar into a small saucepan and sprinkle 1 teaspoon gelatin over the top. Let stand a few minutes, then heat over medium-low heat until the gelatin is dissolved. Add the rest of the cream and the vanilla and carefully pour over the clementine layer. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight.
Serve with some candied orange peel or a cookie. Makes 4 small ramekins.

*This is enough gelatin to give a very soft, wobbly set, but not enough that you can turn the dessert out onto a plate. If you'd like to do that, use 1 teaspoon of gelatin for each layer and then refrigerate overnight.

The Daring Bakers make fancy cake

2011-01-27T00:01:00.007-05:00

Well, what we really made was a joconde imprimé and wrapped it around a filling, making an entremet. Fancy cake is a bit clearer, no? This was a fantastic challenge from Astheroshe of accro. I would never have made something so fancy-looking on my own, and I was thrilled to see the challenge and discover that it was not too complicated, though there were plenty of components. In fact, I was so eager to get started that I neither read all the instructions nor watched the video that was described as 'MUST WATCH THIS'. So, I was a bit disappointed with my results. It tasted amazing, but it just didn't look as nice as I wanted it to. If you were in a nice French bakery, your gaze would pass over mine, unless you're a real softie. Anyway, I'm being a bit melodramatic. If you decide to make one of these, please read the PDF and watch the video. No, I still haven't watched it.
:)

I used the passionfruit mousse from a couple of weeks ago to fill my entremets, and topped them with some passionfruit gelée (that's the fancy name for homemade Jell-O). The decor paste was tinted with cocoa, and the cake is an almond sponge. It was the construction where I messed up. I had it in my head that the entremets needed a cake base (they don't--it's in the instructions), but it just looks kind of stuck on. I also wrapped my molds completely in plastic wrap before lining them with parchment, meaning I mangled them a bit when trying to unmold them. Again, it was in the instructions not to do this. Like a few others, I discovered the gelée had run down the outside of the entremet, staining the cake a bit. Not tragic, but I definitely plan to make more of these, as I have so many ideas for designs and fillings. Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for a great challenge, Astheroshe! The Daring Bakers really went all out this month, so head over to The Daring Kitchen to see the slideshow of gorgeous entremets.

Blog-checking lines: 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.

Clementine almond cake

2011-01-24T00:07:00.002-05:00

Do you go through crates of clementines every winter like I do? I can't get enough of them before Christmas, and can easily eat ten a day. After Christmas, though, I find I don't care for them nearly as much. They still taste good, but they just don't call out to me the same way. Every year I buy a box in January and they hang around until I have to throw the last few away. This year I decided to make a cake with some of them, and if the batter was any indication, I'll be buying a lot more clementines. (It's still in the oven as I write this)

This is a Nigella Lawson recipe, which I found on the Food Network website, as well as on Smitten Kitchen. The recipes are the same, but the SK site has the weight measurements, and lots of good tips about baking the cake. Do you read the comments when you look up recipes? I always do, because (a) I'm nosy, and (b) I like to know what other bakers thought. It's funny that the same cake got rave reviews and people were generally enthusiastic about it on the SK site, but many on the Food Network thought it was a lot of work, and not sweet enough. Different audiences, I suppose. I thought this was an incredibly easy cake to make. 2 hours of unattended boiling for the clementines, a quick whirl in the food processor, and the rest can be mixed together by hand. I even blanched my own almonds and ground them, but that's only because I'm a nut. Actually, I have a store nearby that sells the freshest and tastiest nuts, and I'd rather use them than some flavourless, overpriced dust.

I managed to leave the cake overnight before tasting it, and it was well worth the wait. It was very moist, orangey, sweet enough, but with a very slight marmalade bitterness, and a bit crunchy from the almonds. I saw Meyer lemons on sale the other day, and I think they'd be marvelous here too. I served it with some candied orange peel, but only because I have a quart jar of it in the fridge and need to use it up. You really don't need anything but a fork.

Clementine cake
Source: Nigella Lawson via Smitten Kitchen
4 or 5 clementines (mine weighed about 400 grams, or just under a pound)
6 eggs
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar (225 grams)
2⅓ cups ground almonds (250 grams), or whole, blanched almonds
1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

Cover the clementines with cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 hours. Drain and cool to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 375℉. Grease an 8" springform pan and line with parchment. (I used a 9" pan)
If you are beginning with whole almonds, combine them and the sugar in the food processor and process until finely ground. Add baking powder and pulse to mix. If you have purchased ground almonds, go to the next step.
Cut clementines in half and remove any seeds. Add the cooked clementines, peel and all to the food processor and process until reduced to a thick orange puree. This will only take a few seconds.
Beat eggs and add almonds, sugar and baking powder. Add the clementines and mix well.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. You may need to cover the cake with foil after 30 minutes or so to prevent over-browning. I took mine out after 50 minutes, but I discovered that it was still a bit squidgy in the very centre, and I should have used the foil and left it in the oven a few more minutes.
Cool in pan on rack. Unmold when cool. This cake is best made the day before, and it keeps well. You may sprinkle the top with icing sugar or make a simple icing sugar and clementine juice glaze, but it really doesn't need it.

I have submitted this for Sweets for a Saturday.

Chocolate beet cake

2011-01-21T18:26:00.004-05:00

Pudding. That's all I want to eat these days. Rice pudding, tapioca pudding, maybe even bread pudding. I even made a cornstarch based vanilla pudding, but it was too starchy for me. I like custardy puddings best, and would be quite happy with baked custard and more crème caramel. So, maybe I'll be back in a few days with a pudding, but for now I've made you a cake. The quest for beet cake started back in October when I first moved. My mother gave me a large bag of beets and I was looking for ways to use them. I made one, but wasn't completely happy with it, so the draft of that post languished until the other day when I had more beets to use up. Yes, they were from my mother again. She likes to send me home with iron-rich foods. Thanks, Mom.

Oh, and guess what? I got a brand-new stove! I got home the other day, and there it was. So far, so good. The temperature is spot-on, and it goes up to 500℉, which is 100℉ hotter than my old oven, and means I can make great pizza and bread again. In fact, I've already made pizza, but I ate it all up, alongside some celery soup, which is my new favourite soup. My old oven was probably donated to a museum, or maybe you can see one just like it on an old episode of Happy Days. I'm hoping the new stove shakes me out of my blog ennui. I just don't feel like making much these days, and can never find the time to take pictures or write about what I make. Work has been busy and daylight is hard to find. Also, puddingy things are not the most photogenic desserts, at least not in my hands.

Anyway, I went looking for a beet cake recipe online, and found a few, but none of them were quite right. One used 2½ cups of oil for 2-9" layers, which seemed like an awful lot. Another one used chocolate, which I didn't have on hand (it's also in Portuguese, but that's not a big problem: I speak food rather well). The third one used just a little chocolate and spice, so that wasn't it either. Still another one used raw beets, but I had already roasted mine, and had no intention of buying more. So, slightly disappointed that I didn't have a Goldilocks moment, I decided to wing it. That's not as hard as you might think, especially if you understand the interactions between ingredients and what purpose they serve in a baked good. Some folks, especially non-bakers, think of baking as chemistry, where everything has to be just so for it to work. That's just not true! You may not get a prize-winner on your first try, but something made with lots of butter, sugar, eggs and flour will only rarely be a total fail. Here's how I went about developing this recipe:

I wanted to use oil, as in a carrot cake, for moistness. I also didn't think the taste of butter would come through with all the cocoa and the beets. Oh, and I had bought 2.5 litres for the doughnut challenge
I had no chocolate, only cocoa
I was having trouble getting a fine enough puree of beets on their own, so I knew I needed to add something else to the food processor. Buttermilk and cocoa make a great cake, so I went with that. And I had found a litre of it in the back of the fridge. Expiry date today!
I like brown sugar in chocolate cakes, so I used it
Buttermilk and brown sugar are acidic, meaning that baking soda would be a good addition. I also added baking powder. Think of it as leavening insurance
Usually when I make up recipes I don't measure anything, but I did this time. I used my scale because it was easier to see the proportions of ingredients. Sorry, no cup measurements this time!

Go ahead, pile on the whipped cream! You're having beets for dessert.

Chocolate Beet Cake (Updated, based on my friend Judy's results and my 3rd remake)

200 grams all-purpose flour
75 grams Dutch-process cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
200 grams brown or white sugar
200 grams cooked beet
½ cup water
100 grams buttermilk (or yogurt, or sour cream)
2 eggs
150 grams oil

Preheat oven to 350℉/180℃. Grease a 10” pan and line with parchment.
Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Puree beets and buttermilk until smooth. Add eggs, brown sugar, cocoa mixture and oil and combine well. (I just put all this in the food processor and liquified it)
Pour over dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Do not overmix.
Scrape into pan and bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (May take longer)
Cool in pan on rack, then turn out of pan. Dust with icing sugar and serve with whipped cream.

The verdict? Well, the top was very cracked, but it was very moist, chocolaty and fudgy. It doesn't taste of beets at all. I found it perfect with whipped cream and a cup of coffee.

This is the first one I made, back in October. It had more cocoa, no water,
less oil and a fussier preparation. It looks much the same as version 2 though.

The Daring Cooks make a casserole?

2011-01-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

Don't worry: it's not tuna noodle with potato chips on top! It's cassoulet: a classic French stew of white beans, sausage, confit duck and pork. Topped with seasoned breadcrumbs and baked, it's warm and comforting, and a bit stodgy too. Perfect for January! Jenni, of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa, of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives really challenged us this month, to make a confit, and even our own sausage! Normally I love doing stuff like that, even if I don't eat a lot of meat. That's what dinner parties are for, right? This month, because I still felt full a week after the holidays, I decided to make a vegetarian version. I started with this recipe, but made quite a few changes. First off, I skipped the carrots, as I don't find they roast all that well. I couldn't find celery root, so I used fennel instead. I love fennel--it's a winter staple around here. I used cherry tomatoes instead of canned and added a bit of tomato paste to the broth. I roasted all the vegetables, including a red onion. For the topping, I used fresh bread crumbs, parsley and the shallot confit I made. They were the best breadcrumbs ever, even before baking. I served the cassoulet with more shallot confit and some chimichurri sauce, to brighten up the long-cooked flavours. I must say, it worked a treat and I went back for seconds. Now, to eat the other 6 portions...

Complete challenge PDF here, with pictures, recipes and links. I have not included recipes, as I don't often measure when I'm cooking. Instead, I just use recipes as a guide. Try it!
Blog Checking Lines: Our January 2011 Challenge comes from Jenni of The Gingered Whisk and Lisa from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. They have challenged the Daring Cooks to learn how to make a confit and use it within the traditional French dish of Cassoulet. They have chosen a traditional recipe from Anthony Bourdain and Michael Ruhlman.

Cardamom crème caramel

2011-01-11T14:24:00.000-05:00

Simple, sweet and soothing, this is like a favourite childhood dessert, though not one from my childhood. We were more likely to have baked rice pudding or stovetop tapioca pudding, both of which I also love. This is my first foray into baking after yet another illness. It seems that I have caught every bug going around this winter. I visit many elementary schools, so I have plenty of opportunities to pick up germs, but this is getting ridiculous. This time it was a fever that stole my entire weekend, keeping me in bed for all but a few hours over 3 days. Once I woke up and started eating again I ate toast and tea, along with rice and orange juice. French toast was the next step, and today, I decided that I was ready for some dessert. Tomorrow it's back to germ warfare, sadly.
This recipe is from a wonderful book called My Bombay Kitchen, by Niloufer Ichaporia King. All the recipes sound delicious, but I haven't gotten any further than the desserts chapter. It might as well be called the cardamom chapter, as it is full of amazing-sounding sweets, spiced with that fragrant green pod. More on those other recipes later, but now I think you need to get yourself into the kitchen to make this. I used egg yolks rather than whole eggs, giving me a silky, pale yellow custard with the sharp flavour of very fresh cardamom. Don't even think about using pre-ground cardamom: you won't get any appreciable flavour from it.

Cardamom caramel custard
From My Bombay Kitchen, by Niloufer Ichaporia King
⅓ cup plus ½ cup sugar
2 cups half-and-half (I used some half-and-half and some milk)
1½ teaspoons cardamom seeds, pounded in a mortar (measure the sticky black seeds, not the green pods)
4 large eggs (I used 5 yolks and 1 egg)
pinch of salt

Combine ⅓ cup of the sugar, the half-and-half, and the cardamom in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from the heat and set aside for at least an hour to let the cardamom flavour develop.
To make the caramel: over medium heat, stir together the remaining ½ cup sugar in a small heavy saucepan with 2 tablespoons water until it melts. Keep stirring until it darkens to dark brown (I don't like my caramel that dark, so pull it off the heat when it's a dark amber). Add a splash of water and quickly pour into a 4-cup baking dish, or into 6 small (½ cup) ramekins. Set them aside until you're ready to make the custard.
Preheat the oven to 350℉. (I went with 300℉, as I prefer a lower temperature for baked custards)
Lightly beat the eggs with the salt, and continue whisking as you pour in the cardamom-infused cream. Strain it into the caramel-lined dish.
Set the baking dish or ramekins into a larger baking dish. Pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the dish. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 35 minutes, until a knife inserted an inch from the centre still looks wet. The custard will thicken and firm up as it cools. Remove from the water bath.
Cool to room temperature and then chill thoroughly, several hours or overnight. The longer you chill it, the more the caramel will melt into a sauce. Run a knife around the custard and turn it out onto a deep plate.

Passion fruit mousse

2011-01-06T16:19:00.000-05:00

I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things since the holidays. I've been surprisingly busy at work this week, and daylight has been fleeting. I actually made this on Monday, and just managed to get some pictures today, so I can tell you that this mousse is a good keeper. Not that it'll last long once you try it. Isn't it just the dreamiest colour? Well, maybe not in Ottawa's dull light, but trust me, it was a beautiful pale orange.

I love passion fruit, but it's so expensive to buy them fresh here, and sometimes you get a dud, with almost no pulp inside it. I lucked out just before Christmas, because my aunt brought me back a shopping bag full of them from the Dominican Republic. I ate a lot over the holidays, but still got almost a kilogram of pulp from the rest. I've been sneaking spoonfuls and using it in smoothies, enjoying it thoroughly, but I wanted to make something I've never made before with passion fruit. When I was at my mother's over the holidays, I looked through some of the cookbooks I keep there and found a recipe for a bavarois, or Bavarian cream. Now, I'm not sure that it actually is a Bavarian cream, as they don't usually contain meringue. My Larousse Gastronomique is in storage, so I've just called this a mousse, and enjoyed it thoroughly. A rose by another name and all that.

This recipe started with a passion fruit curd, which got lightened with an Italian meringue and whipped cream and set with a bit of gelatin. Perfect: it would dirty all my dishes! I had also been loaned a set of small metal molds, by a friend who went hunting in her childhood home over the holidays. This recipe did indeed require lots of bowls, but the results were worth it. The texture is light, from the meringue, and tart, but still a bit creamy. It really is January diet fare, if you ignore the 7 egg yolks and cup of cream. That said, it made a lot! I filled all my ramekins, molds, and even set some aside for another dessert. According to The Cake Bible, it can even be frozen, so I'll try that with a few ramekins and let you know how it turns out.

Passion fruit bavarois
From The Secrets of Baking, by Sherry Yard
Serves 8

½ cup cold water, divided
1 ¼ ounce envelope powdered gelatin
1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
¾ cup strained. pureed passion fruit pulp (can use frozen)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I skipped this, as my passion fruit was very tart)
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg whites

a 2-quart/litre decorative mold or smaller individual ones

Pour ¼ cup of the cold water into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over top. Set aside to soften. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a simmer over medium heat.
Whisk together the egg yolks, eggs and ¾ cup of the sugar in a medium heatproof bowl. Place over the simmering water and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the passion fruit and continue whisking until the curd reaches 160℉/71℃, or is the thickness of sour cream.
Melt the softened gelatin by heating for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave, and stir into the curd.
The recipe recommends straining and cooling over an ice bath, but I just put it in the fridge while I prepared the other components, and stirred it occasionally.
Whip the cream, then place in the fridge. Wash the beaters.
In a small saucepan, combine the remaining ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup water. Swirl to moisten the sugar, then cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Uncover and cook to 235℉/113℃. While you are waiting...
In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites to the soft peak stage. When the syrup is ready, drizzle it into the whites while you are beating. Be careful not to get the syrup directly on the beaters, as it will harden there, or be spun onto the sides of the bowl. Whip until stiff, shiny peaks have formed.
When the curd is cool (70℉/21℃), but not set, fold the meringue in with a spatula or a whisk. When it is almost incorporated, fold in the whipped cream.
Immediately pour the mixture into the mold(s) and refrigerate. It will be set in about 2 hours. To remove from the mold, invert it onto a serving dish and rub the outside of the mold with a warm damp towel. Tap the mold to loosen the gelatin. This did not work for me! I had to dunk the molds into hot water before they would release. Perhaps I'll oil them lightly next time. If you wet your plate first, you will be able to slide the bavarian into place more easily. Stays fresh, refrigerated and covered with plastic wrap for up to 3 days. Garnish with extra passionfruit pulp, or other tropical fruit.

Pistachio marzipan brownies

2010-12-28T15:59:00.002-05:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, if that's your sort of thing. I have been taking my 2 weeks of vacation very seriously, and have only baked a few pies and a birthday cake. I made this confection above the week before Christmas, and have been wanting to tell you about it, but couldn't find the time in the holiday mayhem. I'm not really sure what to call this, but the texture of the chocolate part was fudgy, with crispy edges, and the pistachio marzipan was rich and delicately flavoured. Together, they were outstanding, and I'm not even a chocolate fanatic.

I adapted this recipe from the gevulde speculaas, or spice cake with almond paste I made last month, by substituting Dutch-processed cocoa for some of the flour and making a sweetened pistachio paste from the fabulous, fresh Iranian pistachios available just down the street. I omitted the spices, but I bet a chocolate spice version would be fantastic. I baked it in a rectangular tart pan, but a round cake pan would also work well. Blanching and peeling the pistachios was a time-consuming business, but the end result was so worth it. Umm, that's a lot of 'buts', but I can't think of any other words right now. Bear with me. The brownies kept well in a covered container for well over a week, though I cut a small slice every time I walked by.

Pistachio marzipan brownies

Adapted from Warm Bread and Honey Cake

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour

⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
7 oz/1 cup brown sugar
6 oz/¾ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg, well beaten

Filling
10½ oz pistachio marzipan (I made my own, see below)
about ½-¾ of a beaten egg (reserve the rest for glazing)

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and run the food processor until the dough comes together. Try not to eat all the dough. Divide the dough into ⅓ and ⅔ portions, shape in discs, wrap separately in plastic and refrigerate. Chill for one hour. It can be made the day before, but will need to warm up before rolling to prevent it from breaking up.
Preheat oven to 340℉/170℃ and grease a 9" cake pan, or a 13"x4" tart pan.
Mix the pistachio paste with enough beaten egg to make a fairly soft, spreadable filling. Set aside. Roll out the larger portion of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap until it is about 1" larger than your pan on all sides. Make sure there are no creases in the plastic wrap. Use this piece of dough to line the pan, pressing it to the sides of the pan so it doesn't fall inward. Spread the pistachio paste evenly over the dough and fold in the dough edges so they rest on it. Reuse the plastic wrap to roll the smaller piece of dough into an 8½" circle. It should be slightly smaller than the cake pan. Trim it so the edges are neat. Moisten the edges of the dough in the pan and lay the smaller circle on top. Press the edges gently together to seal. Brush with the leftover beaten egg and prick with a fork in several places.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan, then transfer carefully to a serving plate. If you can stand it, wrap this and let it sit for a day or two before serving for best flavour.

Pistachio marzipan

10 ounces/283 grams shelled pistachios

7 ounces/200 grams granulated sugar

2 egg whites

This was rather labour-intensive, so if you can find shelled, blanched pistachios, it'll be worth it. Otherwise, pick up about twice the weight of pistachios in the shell.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pistachios and blanch for 30 seconds to one minute. Test one by running it under cold water and seeing if the reddish skin comes off easily. If so, drain and rinse with cold water. Now, one by one, squeeze the pistachios to remove the skin. This is what keeps the marzipan bright green. Once they are all skinned, place on a towel-lined baking tray and allow to dry for at least 3 hours. Do not dry in the oven, as the colour may fade.
Combine pistachios and sugar in a food processor and grind as finely as desired. I leave mine with a bit of texture.
Add egg whites and process until well blended. Scrape into a container and refrigerate or freeze. This keeps well, and is best made in advance.

Clockwise from top: pistachios in shell, shelled, blanched, marzipan

Oh, and here's the last slice of my mother's birthday cake: one for the baker!

Cardamom crumb cake

2010-12-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

I was so excited when I saw this cake appear on the December recipes list, thanks to Jill of Jill's Blog. However, with work, a nasty bug and general holiday craziness, I didn't get much time to spend on this. The one night I was able to bake this I discovered that I didn't have enough cardamom for both the cake and the crumbs. I put what I had in the cake, as I'm not usually a fan of crumb toppings and figured I'd be picking it off anyway. I know many people who prefer the crumb topping to the actual cake, but I am definitely not one of them. Other changes I made were to use slivered almonds instead of walnuts and I omitted the orange, as I wasn't convinced that it would work with both the coffee and cardamom. In the end, I didn't much like this cake, but I think it was probably my own fault. I found it tasted more of coffee than cardamom, and the texture was a bit coarse, like those boxed snack cake mixes my mother would occasionally buy when I was a child. Oh, and no surprise, but I didn't like the crumb topping. One good thing about it was that it kept very well: it sat around for about a week before I took a photo of it, and it was still perfectly fresh-tasting. Please don't let my poor results deter you--this was a well-liked cake by the rest of the TWD bakers. You can find the recipe here. I do have my eye on another cardamom cake recipe, so hopefully I'll be more successful next time.

Cupcake art

2010-12-18T16:29:00.006-05:00

I have finally got over a nasty cold/sore throat that I had been fighting (and mostly losing) for about 2 weeks. As a result, I haven't felt much like baking. I did make 4 big pots of soup over that time, and I ate lots of poached eggs. Thursday I baked for the first time in a while, but you'll have to wait a few days to see what I made. It's worth the wait, trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong? However, while I was lying on the sofa and generally moping, others were busy. Most excitingly, one of my photos from the summer was turned into a print by Lisa Orgler of The Lunchbox Project. Lisa paints pictures of food and I love her quirky style. She asked for submissions of cupcakes for a poster she's putting together, and she chose mine! Here it is, with my original photo beside it. Here's the link to the original post, with recipe.

In other news, I spent the day yesterday making a birthday cake for my mother's surprise party tomorrow. It's a 2-layer, 12" vanilla genoise with raspberry and vanilla buttercreams. I will try to get a photo, but it's hidden in her garage, frozen solid. And, my Escher salamander cookies showed up in Not So Humble Pie's science cookie roundup #8. Check it out here.

The Daring Cooks poach to perfection!

2010-12-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

I am always nervous when the Daring Cooks' challenge is revealed. What if it something really meaty? That just does not appeal to me. Eggs, on the other hand, are a staple for any meal around here. This was a perfect challenge, as I had already made the challenge recipe of Eggs Benedict, so I could branch out a bit and try other poached egg recipes. In fact, I got a bit carried away and made 4 different dishes, only missing making the fifth because I was out of a key ingredient.
First up, egg hoppers. Hoppers are a Sri Lankan stovetop yeast bread made with coconut milk. Usually an egg is cracked and cooked in the bread, but I poached mine and topped them with a coconut and curry leaf sambol. This was the dish I could not stop eating, and I think I had 8 of these until the sambol finally ran out.

Egg hopper with karapincha sambol

Next, I revisited Japan, and one of my favourite breakfasts. Hot rice, natto, and egg. What is natto, you wonder? Well, it's fermented whole soybeans that are quite slimy. They are often served with a raw egg beaten in, but I used a lightly poached one. Some say that natto is stinky, but I don't think so at all. This makes a filling, savoury breakfast. It was also a great excuse to use the natto bowl and spoon a friend had sent me from Japan.

Rice, natto, poached egg and black sesame seeds

Hmm, where to next? Well, back to Eggs Benedict, the dish that every brunch joint in North America serves. This is what I order almost every time I go out for brunch. I've had them on steak, lobster, crab cakes, biscuits, focaccia, with back bacon, with spinach... I had only made them once before at home, and that was for an Easter brunch of about 15 guests. This time, I made them for myself, for an indulgent breakfast on a day I wasn't working. First, I made crumpets, then topped them with steamed spinach, the eggs, and hollandaise sauce topped with a bit of smoked paprika or ancho chile, I can't remember now. Delicious!

I really wanted to make the oeufs en meurette, or eggs poached in a red wine sauce, but there are lots of mushrooms involved, and I'm not a fan of the fungus. I also thought about doing an eggs in tomato sauce, as that's another staple around here, but I just never got around to it. Instead, I enjoyed my eggs benny...

...and then it came to me. Of course! Eggs poached in maple syrup, that sugar shack specialty. I decided to make some buckwheat crepes and peppercorn crusted, very crispy bacon to accompany the eggs. Now, if you're recoiling at the idea of poaching eggs in syrup, relax! It's not nearly as sweet as you might imagine, especially when served with the unsweetened crepes. Don't forget to dunk your bacon in the syrup too!

And now, the official blog-checking lines for a great challenge. Thanks Jenn and Jill!

Blog-checking lines: Jenn and Jill have challenged The Daring Cooks to learn to perfect the technique of poaching an egg. They chose Eggs Benedict recipe from Alton Brown, Oeufs en Meurette from Cooking with Wine by Anne Willan, and Homemade Sundried Tomato & Pine Nut Seitan Sausages (poached) courtesy of Trudy of Veggie num num.

Challenge PDF, recipes and recipe links can be found after the jump.

Read more »

Tuile not get the best of me!

2010-12-06T23:25:00.000-05:00

What's your favourite thing to bake? Mine is cake. Not only do I love the texture, especially of a sponge cake, but the method suits me. You pay attention for a few minutes while you whip up the batter, then you put it in the oven and you've got at least 25 minutes before you have to pay attention again. Oh, and when you can smell a cake, it's almost ready. Cookies, on the other hand, require a whole different level of attention that I haven't got. Mixing the dough is fine, but then you have to roll it/cut it/mark it with a 'B'/divide it evenly/roll it into balls/roll them in sugar/press them flat with a fork or glass/space them evenly on the baking sheet/prepare that baking sheet/pay attention for 6 to 12 minutes or so/cool on sheet for a bit/remove to a rack to cool/cool baking sheet. And that only gets you about a dozen cookies, so you have to repeat! They sure do taste fantastic fresh from the oven, though. Why am I going on like this? Well, these tuiles and I are not friends, for many reasons. I made them a couple of months ago, to go with some pumpkin ice cream, but it took a few tries to get it right. I got it really wrong in a number of ways, including one smoke alarm incident. You can read about it here.

Tuile version 1.4, from earlier this year

Why could I make complex things, with multiple components like wedding cake, croquembouche, tian and pavlova, but not a simple cookie? So, when this recipe came up in TWD, I was leery. Did I need to make these again? Was it just bad kitchen karma the last time I tried? Well, the answer is yes, and no. I decided to try again, because they seem so simple. 4 ingredients, one of which is maple syrup. Then, Nancy posted the ingredients in weights, so it seemed easy enough just to make a half recipe. That would have been great, except for the attention span issue. Whenever I halve/double a recipe, I always forget to halve/double one ingredient. I can only pay attention for so long... This time it was the flour. I must have forgotten to halve it (for the second time that day), and didn't notice until I went to pull the first tray from the oven. They had hardly spread and could not even charitably be described as lacy. So, I added a bit of butter and syrup to the rest of the batter and tried again. They were even worse. At this point, I thought it was high time to give up. But, as bedtime approached, I couldn't. I made another half batch, carefully measuring all the ingredients this time.

Version 2.1 (in front) and 2.2 (in back): too much flour, but they tasted like
maple fortune cookies. I may be on to something.

Early the next morning, I got the batch you see up top in the oven, and I am so happy to say that they worked out well. They were crisp and lacy, and easy to remove from the baking sheet. I was so happy, that I had a few with breakfast, along with fruit salad in my favourite bowl.

Thanks so much to Clivia for selecting this recipe! I can now say I enjoyed the process, but I am not going to be making these again for a long while! I actually find them too rich and sweet, and greasy coming off the cookie sheets. Or perhaps that's just the contrast with the sour grapes! I promise not to complain next time. Even though I did get strep throat at school. See what the rest of the TWD gang thought here.

Hazelnut-buckwheat crêpes with pear-ginger compote and crème fraiche

2010-12-03T16:00:00.000-05:00

I recently joined the Food52 site when I saw that you could sign up to test recipes that members had submitted. These days, it seems that I belong to too many cooking groups, but I liked that with this one, you only sign up if there's a recipe you'd like to test. For me, that means dessert recipes. Then, it's as easy as writing a 100-word review and sending it in to the editors to help them make their picks for the week's winner. I haven't got around to submitting a recipe yet, as I always seem to be cooking someone else's, but hopefully soon.

I chose this recipe because it seemed to have a really interesting mixture of textures and flavours, and also because I love both buckwheat and crêpes. I loved the pear compote, with its sharp, gingery and lemony syrup. Sadly, I did not love the crêpes. I found them really heavy, and, if I make this again, I will eliminate the hazelnuts in the crepes and just use them as a garnish. The only change I made to the recipe was to use a rich, thick, local Greek-style yogurt in place of the crème fraiche. It was what I had on hand, and I actually prefer it.

This recipe was submitted by user KTC, who has a brand-new blog called Whip & Spoon.

Hazelnut-buckwheat crêpes with pear-ginger compote and crème fraiche

Serves 6

Pear-Ginger Compote:

8 pears, firm but ripe

Juice from one lemon

Juice from one orange

2-3 strips lemon zest

2-3 strips orange zest

¼ cup honey

½ cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, beans scraped from pod

1 cup cup white wine, such as Moscato (or a dry wine will work, too)

1-1½ cups water (enough to cover pears in pan)

2 1-inch pieces fresh ginger, peeled

6-ounce container creme fraiche

With a swivel peeler, peel skins off pears. Remove stems and cut in half. Cut each half into four even wedges; remove seeds and tough interior with a paring knife. Add to 2.5 quart sauce pan.
Using a swivel peeler, remove zest strips from orange and lemon; juice lemon and orange. Add lemon and orange juice and zest strips, honey, sugar, vanilla beans and pod pieces, white wine, and ginger pieces to pan. Add one cup water (plus extra, if needed, in order to just cover the pears).
Bring to a boil; allow to boil for just a few minutes. Turn down heat and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until pears are easily pierced with a sharp knife but not falling apart.
With a slotted spoon, remove pear slices from ginger syrup and set aside.
Turn up heat, bring syrup to a boil, stirring occasionally, until it's reduced to about 1.5 cups golden, thick syrup. Pour juices released by cooling pear pieces into the syrup as you cook it.
Remove ginger pieces, vanilla bean pieces, and lemon and orange zest strips from syrup. Add pears to syrup.
Keep pear-syrup mixture on low heat if you plan to serve immediately. Otherwise, cover and refrigerate; reheat when you're ready to use it.

Hazelnut-Buckwheat Crepes:

1 cup cold water

1 cup whole milk

4 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup sifted buckwheat flour

1½ cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 cups whole unsalted hazelnuts

2 teaspoons sugar

Place water, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and buckwheat and white flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (alternatively, you can use a hand mixer or a whisk and mix by hand).
Mix on high (or vigorously, if by hand) for a few minutes until all ingredients are fully incorporated and batter is smooth. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
Put hazelnuts onto a cookie sheet and into an oven preheated to 350 degrees. Roast them for 10 minutes (or, until skins start to pull away from the nuts and they turn golden). Remove the hazelnuts from the oven, wrap them in a clean kitchen towel, set aside for a few minutes to steam, then rub vigorously using the towel to remove as much of the skin as possible.
Divide hazelnuts into two even batches. Place one batch onto a clean plate; place a second plate on top of the hazelnuts and press down firmly a few times to crack the nuts into large pieces. Set aside to use as a garnish.
Repeat the above step with the second batch of hazelnuts then place the roughly cracked pieces onto a clean cutting board and chop them into fine pieces, about the size of Grapenuts. (Alternatively, you could chop them in a food processor, pulsing until you get the desired result, being careful not to overchop them into a paste). Set finely chopped hazelnuts aside.
When you're ready to cook the crepes, bring the batter to room temperature. Check the consistency of the batter--it should just coat the back of a spoon, like a heavy cream. Add water a little bit at a time if you need to thin the batter, then stir in the finely chopped hazelnuts (it's best to add the hazelnuts just before you cook the crepes, otherwise, if they sit in the batter, they will get soggy). Heat a 6-inch nonstick skillet over high heat, add a dab of butter (enough to thinly coat the bottom of the pan), lift the pan from the heat, and pour 1/4 cup batter into the center of the bottom of the pan as you quickly swirl it around to spread the batter evenly.
Return the pan to the heat. As it cooks through, gently peel it from the pan with a rubber spatula; flip the crepe with the spatula or your fingers and cook it on the second side until light golden brown. Repeat until all crepes have been cooked (stir the batter before you ladle the batter for each crepe, since hazelnuts may settle to the bottom of your bowl).
To assemble, fold the crepes in half, then in half again. Place one or two on a plate. Top with 8 or so pear pieces; spoon ginger syrup over the top. Add a dollop of creme fraiche. Sprinkle coarsely chopped hazelnuts on top.

Ad Hoc chocolate chip cookies

2010-12-01T16:53:00.000-05:00

Are you always in search of the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe? It seems to me, from wasting time online my extensive research, that folks want a very chewy cookie. Caky is bad. Too thin and crisp is usually bad. So, basically we are looking for warm cookie dough, I think. Have I got my finger on the pulse of chocolate chip cookie lovers? Or is that a bit too personal?
Anyway, I was looking for something to make for the Ottawa Foodies potluck that happened recently. I had to work that morning, so it couldn't be too elaborate. It needed to be portable and not require any serving utensils, because I was too lazy to bring my own. So, cookies it was. I made a double batch of dough the night before and finished baking them seconds before I ran out the door, only an hour late. After reading Valerie's post on the cookies I decided to reduce the flour by a fair bit, as I did want the chewiest cookies possible. That made my cookies much flatter than hers, but I loved the texture, even a couple of days later. Yes, I kept tasting in the service of sharing my findings with you. I'm unselfish that way.
I froze the leftover dough and baked them to send to a friend for her birthday. I underbaked them, hoping they'd still be somewhat soft when Canada Post finished mangling them. Amazingly, they survived the journey. This batch wasn't as flat as the first batch, but the only picture I got were of the ones I forgot in the oven and didn't mail! They are brown and crisper, but still very good.

The overdone batch: dark and crispy

Oh, and what is with cookie yields? This recipe apparently makes 30 3-inch cookies, and I doubled it, expecting 60 or so. I used EXACTLY the measure called for and got about 100. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate chip cookies
from Ad Hoc at Home, by Thomas Keller

2⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55% chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces (about 1¼ cups) I replaced this with milk chocolate
5 ounces 70 to 72% chocolate, cut as above I used 72%
8 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces *
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar. I added a dollop of molasses to brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Vanilla--not in recipe, but I couldn't help adding it

*I just noticed the 'cold' as I was typing. Maybe that's why mine were flatter. Oops.

For chewier cookies, instead of underbaking them, Keller recommends misting them with water before baking. I tried it, but couldn't tell the difference between those and the unmisted ones, so didn't bother after the first tray.

Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 2 baking sheets with Silpats or parchment.
Sift the flour and baking soda together and stir in the salt.
Put the chopped chocolate into a fine-mesh strainer and shake to remove any chocolate 'dust'.
Beat half the butter until fairly smooth. Add both sugars the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next, and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in the chocolate, and fold with a spatula to ensure that the chocolate is evenly incorporated.
Using 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape the dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, as dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, rotating pans and switching racks if you are baking 2 trays at once.
Cool the cookies on the pan on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost frozen cookies in the fridge before baking.
Apparently makes 30 3-inch cookies, but I got substantially more than that.

The original batch: paler, flatter and chewier. Cloudier that day, too.