Meringue Class

I took a class on making meringue. It was a blast! I made these mini Baked Alaskas. Of course mine are the messy ones, and the pretty one in the back was made by our instructor. My favorite part: toasting the meringue with the torch at the very end. Our instructor shared with me a very important piece of advice: go to Home Depot to buy a welders torch w/ propane because they are a fraction of the price of the torches sold in kitchen specialty stores. Uh-oh... I shared the secret... the Williams-Sonoma police are going to arrest me!


Here are lovely examples of what my classmates made:




(Hazelnut Dacquoise with Lemon Cream and Berries)

Cookies from The Gourmet Cookbook by Ruth Reichl

Starting from the top, clockwise: Mexican Chocolate (not from Gourmet-- that's actually a recipe I sort of invented, you can find it here), Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookies, Brown Sugar-Ginger Crisps, and lastly Anise-Scented Fig and Date Swirls.

The Tiny Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe was (not surprisingly) very easy to make. These little babies are suuuuuper tasty. Tastier than regular chocolate chip cookies... I think it has something to do with the extra saltiness. I love, love, LOVE this recipe. I dream about a cereal bowl full of these cookies and a pint of 2% milk. Does "Cookie Crisp" ring a bell? Well this is that stuff... but, you know, ten billion times better!

The Brown Sugar-Ginger Crisps were also easy to make. I can think of several different flavors of sorbet and ice cream that I would like to see these cookies on top of: lemon, lime, honey, cinnamon, chocolate, pear, scallion... ;) Here is the recipe.

The Anise-Scented Fig and Date Swirls were a bit more of a nuisance, shall we say. Any rolled cookie that needs to be sliced at 1/3 of an inch thick is a pain in the rear, I don't care how chilled your dough is. I recommend using dental floss, as you would with cinnamon rolls. Do this as quickly as your can. I'm sure there is a better way of doing it but I'm an amateur, and this way worked really well for me. Any suggestions for technique are greatly appreciated! Also, I don't recommend wrapping the dough in wax paper to roll. I actually had better luck with plastic wrap, rolling on a granite counter top. The wax paper tore as I rolled the dough and I was not a happy camper. But these cookies look cool and they taste great too, kind of like a sophisticated Fig Newton.

All Star Birthday Cake

Kate's Birthday Cake:

Devils Food with Mocha Buttercream frosting and fondant decorations... what I learned from this experience: mixing luster dust with vodka to paint on bow pieces looks REALLY MESSY... hence why you don't see shiny gold bow pieces on this cake. My new obsession: buying an airbrush for cake!!

dum da da daaaaaaaaaaaa...the presentation!


now... will someone buy me an airbrush for MY birthday? :)

Fondant...

So I made a cake with fondant the other night...and it sort of looks like an Easter Sunday hat worn by some old lady in the flower arranging club, but whatever :)

Daring Bakers Blog Challenge: Flourless Chocolate Cake

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



For my version of the flourless chocolate cake, I used a 50/50 blend of semisweet chocolate and bittersweet chocolate and decorated it with toasted pecans. It was great with either butter pecan ice cream or coffee ice cream. It's really easy to make. Only 3 ingredients!!!


Recipe:

"Chocolate Valentino"
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

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


* Notes on this recipe: Not necessary to use the same beater to beat the yolks together. I don't know why the recipe is written this way. Just whisk them in a separate bowl. You'll need to keep your whites in the bowl of the Kitchenaid.
Also, when I baked mine for 25 mins, it came out at 170 Fahrenheit.
If you want more sophisticated flavor, use some bittersweet chocolate!!

Blueberry Lime Cobbler

Ingredients:


For the filling:
-16 - 20 oz blueberries (frozen is ok, just make sure to let them defrost at room temp for best results. If you use frozen, set the berries in a colander over a bowl to catch the juices as they defrost, then reduce the juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until slightly thickened, add this to the filling mixture)
-Grated zest of 1 lime + 1 tsp juice
-1/3 c sugar
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- pinch of cinnamon

For the Topping:
- 1 c flour

-1/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 c sugar
-1/3 c lowfat milk mixed with 1-2 tsp lime juice (whatever is left over from the lime you zested)
- 1/2 stick of melted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract



Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Stir together all the filling ingredients and place in an 8" - 9" pie dish. Bake for 25 mins until bubbling. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, 1/4 c sugar, and baking powder. Add the melted butter and vanilla. It should be the consistency of cookie dough.
When the berry mixture comes out of the oven, increase oven temp to 425.
With spoons or a 2 oz scoop, evenly distribute the dough on top of the blueberry mixture. Bake for 15 mins more, until slightly golden brown on top. Allow to cool 15 mins before serving.


This is my take on "The Best Recipe" version of blueberry cobbler... sort of by accident, because I didn't have all of the ingredients called for. Supposedly blueberry, lime and honey is a flavor affinity. I agree... try this recipe with honey drizzled on top.

Daring Baker's January 2009 Challenge: Tuiles

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


I used the recipe from The Chocolate Book:

Recipe: Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example) Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch 65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft) 60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar 1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract) 2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork) 65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour 1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice Butter/spray to grease baking sheet Oven: 180C / 350F Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable. If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Obviously I didn't make the butterflies. Instead I made a tuile cup and filled it with coconut ice cream, topped with toasted sweetened coconut and drizzled with honey. Oh, and by the way, the practically neon pink cookie was made by taking a few tablespoons of batter and mixing with a few drops of red food coloring. Yes, it is shockingly pink. Not exactly my intention, but what the heck. I need to tackle this recipe again because my cookies came out really bubbly... probably because I got a little too happy with the Kitchenaid.
The tuiles are easy to shape. I made a stencil out of thin cardboard and spread the batter with an offset spatula:




I baked three at a a time. When I took them out of the oven, I scraped them off the parchment-covered baking sheet CAREFULLY with the spatula and draped them over upside down juice glasses. To make a big enough cup for a scoop of ice cream you need to make them at least 5 inches in diameter.
This recipe is delicious!! The tuiles themselves are so so yummy and vanilla-y, you will enjoy them without any extras.