February celebration recipe is on!! Kouign Amann

 

Nous célébrons aujourd'hui le septième anniversaire…. en francais! That should say that we Babes are celebrating our 7th anniversary this month, with a French, or rather a Breton bake fest. A Brittany buttery pastry all deceptively light and fluffy and puffy, called Kouign Amann.

Lien is the Master of the Kitchen (yes she is, look at that picture above…. mouthwatering!) and she proposed to bake Kouign Amann.

Due to family circumstances I was not able to bake this month. I would love to see you hop over to my fellow Babes and celebrate with them.

The Bread Baking Babes (current dozen) are:

• Bake My Day - Karen
• blog from OUR kitchen - Elizabeth
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Feeding my Enthusiasms - Pat/Elle
• girlichef - Heather
• Life's a Feast - Jamie
• Living in the Kitchen with Puppies - Natashya
• Lucullian Delights - Ilva
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• My Kitchen In Half Cups - Tanna
• Notitie Van Lien - Lien
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie (Bitchin’ Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire)

Would you like to be a Bread Baking Buddy? Please take a look at the instructions Lien posted for your Buddy Badge!

 

(yes I know…. this can be too much…. can we just share one? or two maybe?)

Bread Baking Babes; nutty as ever {Nut roll coffee cake}

The episode of August, in which:
*  the Babes bake a coffee cake,
*  the hostess bakes the coffee cake 3 times
*  we all are use different kinds of nuts
*  I am late.
But also ..
* I baked!
* although in order to do that I schlepped the risen dough by bike to a friends house and put it in her oven.
* Her oven bakes beautiful coffee cakes!
* One of her sons had a birthday party and even out on the terrace the smell of something delicious baking reached us
* Very happy to leave half of the coffee cake there in return.

What I can tell you about this one is that it’s surprisingly soft and tasty. Not dry. I always suspect coffee cakes are dry and hint of great flavours and never deliver… But that’s just me and coffee cakes, I never know where to place them in a Dutch house of taste/flavors. Does it belong to the cake/cookie range? It sure looks that way but it tastes too much of bread. Put it there then? With the regular breads? I don’t think so, no. My feeling is that a coffee cake would feel at ease in the company of “Suikerbrood” (Sugar loaf) or “Ontbijtkoek”; a treat to help you through the morning/afternoon. Not as substantial as a sandwich, not as luxurious as cake. Maybe as an extra in the lunchbox or at the lunch table/breakfast table during weekends?
This one consists of a brioche like dough (lots of butter, lots of egg yolks) which needs an overnight rest in the fridge to chill and firm up. The next day you use the eggwhites to whip up a meringue, fold in ground nuts. The dough is divided in two, each part rolled out and spread with the nutty meringue. Rolled up and placed in a bundt pan to rise.
Now that sounds not too difficult right?
Except
- that amount of butter in the dough…
- And the meringue in this kind of weather
- Ground nuts? Can’t buy so that is a DIY exercise
- Rolling up dough with meringue inside….

In comes Jamie, of Life’s a Feast, she picked the recipe, spelled out the recipe for us and proceeded to bake…  Fighting the dough with (or without?) all that butter, adjusting the flours for us (Yay Jamie! Spot on!). Then struggling with the meringue, sorting out how to roll and bake. And after all has been said and done manages to write a hilarious post accompanied by beautiful pictures. So that’s Jamie. Our August Kitchen of the Month.

I think I ground 200 gr toasted almonds, and used 2 tsp of cinnamon together with a meringue of 3 (or maybe 4?) can't remember... egg whites. Not sure what happened but my meringue wasn't as stiff as I like and so I had a little trouble rolling up. The dough however behaved beautifully, used the advised 390 grams et voila, a dough that came together, was soft but utterly pliable after it's night in the fridge! Resulting in a satisfyingly airy bread with just a hint of cinnamon. ( I think it could just use a little bit of oomph in that filling). Nice one this month!

I will refer to Jamie for the recipe in English! You too can bake along with us and be a Bread Baking Buddy. Simply bake this Cinnamon Nut Roll Coffee Cake, blog it – don’t forget to mention being a Bread Baking Buddy and link back to Jamies blog post! Then send the link (please include your name and your blog’s name) by August 26th to jamieannschler AT gmail DOT com with August Bread Baking Buddy in the subject line and Jamie will add you to the roundup.
Of course my fellow Babes have been baking; see how they did

Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
Paulchens Foodblog – Astrid
Provecho Peru – Gretchen

Cider Apple Pie with a woven lattice crust

Son #1 thought I’d like to sample some different ciders and brought home two different brands from his student job as “logistics bar guy” (Hmm fun job). One I liked, one was meh and the extra bottle lingered in the basement. Looking for something else I accidentally toppled it. Looked at the left and saw a bottle of cooking Calvados…
Cider
Apple
Calvados
Apple
Normandy
Pie?
Sometimes my brain works like that. Even when I am not drinking cider.



Pie dough. I don’t know where I got this recipe from but it was not my favorite so I won’t repeat it here. Just use a recipe you like, or go Dutch and make a cake/cookie like crust. This one was tasty but a bit brittle. Personally I like to up the ratio filling crust some more. The filling however was different from what I usually do.

Cider Apple Filling(adapted from the weekend baker, Abigail Johnson Dodge)
1 kg (2 lb) firm apples, peeled, cored, cubed 2cm
2 tbs butter
140 gr (5 oz) light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
100 ml (3.5 fl oz) apple cider
50 ml  (2 fl oz) calvados (because that’s what I had I used “cooking calvados” which is cheap and comes already flavoured with a bit of salt and pepper) By all means use the real stuff if you have it! (Or cognac?)
3 tbs cornstarch
In a large heave deep skillet/pot melt butter, combine sugar and spices and sprinkle over the apples, stir to combine and cook apple cubes on medium heat until they are softened a bit (3-4 minutes).
Adjust heat to high and add cider, stir and keep stirring, cook until the sugar has dissolved and the cider comes to a soft boil. Meanwhile combine calvados and cornstarch in a small bowl and add this pasty mixture to the boiling cider-apples in your pan. Keep stirring and boil until the liquid is thickened and clear, this will take about 1 minute. The apples still need to be crunchy at this point so don’t boil until you have apple sauce! :-)
Remove from the heat and let the apple mixture cool to room temperature.

Assembling the pie:
Now that is going to tough….. Not really.
I used a 9 inch (22 cm) Pyrex pie plate, buttered.
Then rolled out the dough to a 14 inch/35 cm round, lifted it onto the pie plate and adjusted so that I would have an even overhang. Nudge the dough into the sides of the dish. I like to use a small ball of dough to push the crust against the sides. I have long nails and that causes tears and stretching so a small ball of dough pushed against the sides gets the dough exactly where I want it!
I love the lattice crust! To make a lattice crust you roll out a rectangle (9x14 inches / 23x35 cm) and cut strips 2 cm wide and 35 cm long. On a piece of parchment arrange 6 strips horizontally, setting them 2 cm apart. These are the bottom strips. You’ll need another 6 strips for the top.
Two methods:
- one where you make the lattice crust directly on the pie
- one where you weave the lattice crust separately on a piece of parchment
Now, I could explain in writing how to proceed and that would be fine, however, images in this case say so much more than words….
I didn’t take pictures of the process but here is an step by step instruction, and maybe even better, here’s  a lattice crust on Youtube! (The latter uses a different method than I did but the effect is the same, plus she shows that you don’t need to weave to get a beautiful result). Both of the examples weave their crust directly on the pie and that’s fine. I created the top separately and chilled in the fridge for 15 minutes, then inverted the whole thing onto the pie (remember the parchment paper underneath? that’s why!). It’s easier to correct weaving mistakes this way and your dough strips aren’t getting wet and slippery from the filling, but I find it quite hard to position the top exactly right on the filling afterwards so there is something to be said for either way.
Now that you’ve topped your pie with a crust, it’s time to preheat the oven to 425F / 220 C (or 200 convection). Meanwhile trim both crusts, leaving a 2cm/3/4 inch overhang. Roll the overhang under itself to provide a high edge that rests on top of the plate rim. Pinch crimp the edge using your thumb and forefinger of one hand on the outside while you push your other forefinger on the inside to make a dent. Brush with milk.

Bake for about 55 minutes until the crust is golden and the apples are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife. I had to top my pie with some foil because it started to brown a bit quickly.

Technorati Tags: apples,pie,cinnamon,calvados,cider

Bread Baking Babes: Gâteau á la Crème !

 

As Lien says in her blogpost; we bake up a treat this time! Lien over at Notitie van Lien/Lien’s Notes invited us in her Kitchen of the Month and decided we would bake something different. Something with eggs, lots and lots of eggs and oh butter was involved as well! Not to fear though she said, this was truly Bread Baking Babes Business because the dough uses yeast.

I was a bit terrified when I read about the egss and the butter in the dough. Notoriously bad risers those doughs! I have this nemesis recipe with eggs and butter and whiskey to make rolls… and every time I try it the dough will stay as it is. (Like a terrified dog? “Down I said and don’t you move!” That’s how that whiskey dough behaves, and it doesn’t even whimper).

Anyway, back on track, not this dough Lien said. This dough, she said will behave and will rise. To make sure we were all duly convinced she baked the recipe up and showed us the tricks of the trade. Wow. That girl knows her dough. She figured out how much dough per gateau (say that out loud please? Just for fun? Aaaah.. that feels good right?) how much dough-per-gateau we needed and the amount of filling each gateau should have. Dedication my friends, sheer dedication!

I am so happy Lien baked this before we all tried, because we’re both in the Netherlands, working with the same flours. I did change one small thing to the dough because someone mentioned the resulting bread a bit dry because all the liquid comprised of eggs. So I substituted 1 egg with 90 gr. milk. And the dough did rise! I was so surprised but it behaved very well. Then the risen dough went in the fridge for a cool-down period so it’s easier to shape. For shaping (and the rest of the recipe please check out this video here.  Mind you, Lien has rewritten the recipe to accommodate for 2 small ones, or if that's too much richness for you, you can make one round gâteau with a small brioche loaf on the side. They take about the same baking time, so just place the tin next to the gâteau when you bake it.

 

For the brioche dough
250 g strong plain flour
3,5 g sea salt
2 TBsp caster sugar
1 TBsp fresh yeast or 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3,5 free-range eggs, preferable organic (the other half egg will be used for the glaze)
150 g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes (cool room temperature)

For the crème filling (for two small gateaux, if you want to make 1 small gateau and 1 plain loaf, half it)
6 free-range egg yolks, preferably organic
60 g caster sugar
1 lemon, juice and zest
250 ml crème fraîche

For the glaze
1/2 egg, preferably organic
1/2 TBsp caster sugar
10 g (¾ oz) butter, cut into cubes (optional)
1/2 - 1 TBsp nibbed sugar, to decorate

Preparation method
1. For the brioche dough, place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast (keeping the yeast away from the salt as it will attack it and damage its ability to ferment), in an electric mixer bowl. Add the eggs and mix with a dough hook attachment for 5 minutes on low power until the eggs are completely incorporated (alternatively, place the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir together for 5 minutes).

2. Increase the speed of the machine or your stirring and mix for another 5 minutes until the dough comes away from the edge of the bowl. Then add the cubes of butter and continue to mix for 2-3 minutes until completely incorporated.

3. Remove the bowl from the machine, if using, then cover with clingfilm and set aside at room temperature for 1 hour to prove, then chill the dough for a further hour (it will be easier to work with).
4. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/360ºF.

5. Lightly flour a work surface and your hands. Take half of the brioche dough and bring it together with the palms of your hands to form a ball, then place it on a baking tray and flatten it slightly. Starting from the middle of the dough, gently press the dough flat and spread it out to form a circle to approx 24 cm ( 9,5 in) in diameter, but leave a 2 cm (1 in) gap from the edge as this will create the rim of the tart. Be careful not to stretch the dough and try to keep the base even in thickness. Use the second half of the dough for another gateau or make a small loaf from it.

6. Cover with lightly greased plastic and a clean tea towel and place the dough in the warm area for 25 minutes.

7. For the crème filling, mix the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest and juice together in a large mixing bowl and gradually mix in the crème fraîche. Set aside.

8. For the glaze, brush the rim of the gateau with the egg yolk and sprinkle with the nibbed sugar and prick the base of the dough evenly with a fork to help the even cooking and rising of the dough. Pour 1/4 the crème mixture inside the rim of the dough of one gateau, sprinkle with the caster sugar and dot with the butter. Pour in the other 1/4 when the baking sheet is already in the oven, so you won't spill. (make the second one the same way)  and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until the brioche has risen and the filling is set. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool, then serve.

NB: For this recipe you will need a food processor with a dough hook attachment. (Or work the dough in the bread machine like I did, take it out for rising)
(adapted from: Raymond Blanc "From Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets")

 

So why does it look so appetizing on all the other girls blogs and I am not completely blown away by mine? I found the dough rather dry, I think I baked it at a too high temperature too long? (And I completely completely forgot to let the dough rise for a second time!!
And I have to confess I did unmentionable stupid things to my filling; overdoing it on the vanilla is one thing, adding raspberry vanilla infused vodka instead of lemon, adding canned figs. Because they look cute. Yes. I should have stayed true to the recipe.
My filling behaved like the stock market these days, it rose and fell never to come up again. Can you tell I’m a little sad? I even contemplated to not post and make it again last night… but no. Instead I went out for a dinner date with the husband and had the most horrible bread ever with our wine. Pah! That’s heavenly punishment enough.

Posted!

 

Buddies!! As always you're all very welcome to bake along as our Bread Baking Buddy. Bake, tell us what your thoughts are about it, blog and send it all to Lien (notitievanlien(at)gmail(dot)com), so she can return the favour by sending a Buddy Badge back ánd include you all in a round up of the Buddies. Deadline 29th of this month as usual. Have a great time baking and Happy easter!

Bread Baking Babe Bibliothécaire – Katie
blog from OUR kitchen – Elizabeth
Feeding my enthusiasms – Elle
girlichef – Heather
Life’s A Feast – Jamie
Living in the Kitchen with Puppies – Natashya
Lucullian Delights - Ilva
My Kitchen In Half Cups – Tanna
Notitie Van Lien – Lien
Paulchens Foodblog – Astrid
Provecho Peru – Gretchen

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: lemon,egg yolks

Restverwerking; foto’s en zomerfruit! Fruit cobbler

 
Toen we dachten dat de zomer nog moest beginnen.… niet wetende dat we zulke druipdagen zouden hebben. Toen ik helemaal geen zin meer had in bloggen. Niet wist wat ik te melden zou hebben wat in de verte nog de moeite waard zou kunnen zijn. Nou toen dus… werd er evengoed gekookt en gebakken. Weinig brood moet ik toegeven maar toch best wel andere dingen.
Zoals deze cobbler. Zo leuk en zo snel om te maken. Ik had rijpe perziken op de fruitschaal en een zak zomerfruit in de vriezer. Combinatie met een beslag en een hele vlugge cake op tafel. Kan niet beter toch?

Fruit Cobbler

Voorbereiding: 20 min
Oventijd 175C , 1 uur
Ingevette Ovenschaal: metaal, vierkant, 9 inch/23cm

Ingrediënten

• 220 gram boter
• 180 gram suiker
• 150 gram zelfrijzend bakmeel
• 220 ml melk
• ik gebruikte 3 kleine perziken en een handje vol bevroren zomerfruit
• extra suiker voor het bestrooien.

Doen:
Laat de boter smelten in een pannetje of kommetje in de magnetron. Meng suiker en bakmeel in een mengkom en roer daar de melk doorheen met een garde tot een dik pannenkoekbeslag). 
Voeg dan de gesmolten boter toe en klop alles flink door elkaar zodat je geen spoortje meer van de boter ziet en alles goed gemengd is. 

Giet het beslag in de ingevette ovenschaal en strooi het fruit erover. Grotere stukken kun je beter een beetje strategisch neerleggen, met kleine stukjes kun je je uitleven op het strooien. Indien gewenst –erg lekker- kun je nog wat suiker over de bovenkant strooien.
Bak ongeveer een uur in de voorverwarmde oven tot het mooi goudbruin ziet. Warm is het erg lekker, koud trouwens ook. Voor de liefhebbers kan er een schepje vanille ijs bij of een dot slagroom.

Op de foto trouwens ook chocolate chip cookies (ei-vrij recept hier), en spinazie in filo deeg. Hmmm en een spontane rood fruit milkshake, en nog gevuld brood met spinazie, kruiden en kaas vermoed ik. Zie je, ik doe nog weleens wat!

Plum tart

This is a crap picture of something really delicious. See I had bought 3 kgs of these purple plums at the market. Got them for a really good price… and of course they were really …. let’s say ripe.
So much so that when I left them on the counter I could bin one or two each day. Not good.  I needed to do something. Not jam. Pie. Or tart. Or as someone suggested a crumble. I did tart. And that my girls was a good thing. Two strokes of genius at work here. First; a class A recipe from David Lebovitz. Second: peeling or skinning the plums.
I’ve made plum jam before and I used to leave the skin on out of sheer laziness because I didn’t want to bother with a ton of slippery reluctant plums. I put them through a food mill but the result of course always was a pink/purplish jam.
This time I did it right and I loved the result. It’s so simple!
Just like you would do with tomatoes you score a cross in the skin of the base of the plum. Boil a kettle and pour the hot water over the plums. Leave for a few secs until the skin near the cross starts to curl. Place in cold water, then peel off the skin. Easy as that.
The best thing is that you are going to cook the plums anyway so if they get  a little mushy from the boiling water it doesn’t matter. Then they went into a large saucepan with a little sugar (not too much I wanted to keep a little tartness) and I added some pectin as well. Cook until they fall apart, give it a good stir and let cool.
Easy Jam Tart
Adapted from David Lebovitz*
(Adapted from the Crostata recipe at Wednesday Chef)
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
75 gr sugar
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
190g flour
70g fine ground cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Approx. 375 gr cooked plum puree**

coarse raw sugar; known as cassonade, turbinado, or demerara sugar, for sprinkling
1. Mix butter and sugar until well-combined. Mix in the egg and almond extract.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients; flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder. Gradually add the wet ingredients, just until the mixture just comes together.
3. Measure about 2/3rd of the dough (about 330 grams), pat it into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill it. Take the remaining dough and roll it into a log about 2-inches (5cm) in diameter, wrap it and chill it, too
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to room temperature slightly. With the heel of your hand, press the dough into the bottom and sides of an unbuttered removable bottom tart pan pat it out evenly. (I used one that’s 8″ but 9” or 10” will be fine as well, just make sure you save enough dough for the bottom).
5. Spread the jam evenly over the dough.
6. Remove the log of dough from the refrigerator and slice in cookie-sized disks, then lay them over the jam. Top with a scant 3 tbs of coarse sugar.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven (fan assisted oven 180C) until the pastry is golden brown. Let cool and serve at room temperature.
This tart is great on the day it’s baked but equally nice a day or even two days after. Just make sure it’s well wrapped.
* I used less butter, less sugar because our flour is different
** David suggest approx. 450 gr of any kind of jam as long as it’s not too thin/runny
Verdict: I baked and served this one on our combined birthday together with a frangipane ripple chocolate cake and a raspberry buttercream cake. The next day there were only two pieces of plum cake left! Nuff said! We loved it!

ABC; Cheese Blintzes

 

This is our September challenge for the ABC Bakers where we bake recipes from Flo Braker's "Baking For All Occasions". This time we bake page 130: Quintessential Cheese Blintzes.

 

To my Dutch ears this does not exactly sound delicious. Now try to seduce me with: Crèpes filled with a lemony creme fraiche and raspberry sauce…..Aaah! Much better.

I really think this will make an excellent –if rich- dessert for a nice showy dinner party but since we don’t dine this exquisite during weekdays I decided to do dessert for dinner and serve these. My family thinks I’m an A-list Mom right now. (I’ll enjoy it while it last ;-))

Basically you make small really thin pancakes (crèpes), fill them with a heaped table spoon of fresh cheese mixture**. Roll them like you would roll an eggroll and carefully bake them again in a skillet with a little butter. Serve warm.

I used cream cheese I had in the fridge, mixed it with egg, some sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest. No quantities here because I winged it and adjusted the other ingredients to the amount of cream cheese I had left. (Flo would like you to add a little salt to the mixture, I didn’t). My mix was a little runny and I added some custard powder to even that out. Turned out to be just right, a slight tang from the cream cheese very nicely balanced with sugar and lemon zest.

The raspberry sauce is just that; fresh raspberries from the garden, flash cooked in a sugar syrup. Yum!

Absolutely my kind of dessert!! (Or dinner..)

** (Flo mentions farmer cheese and I have no clue what that is, substitutes are ricotta cheese or something similar like creme fraiche or indeed cream cheese).

Side note for the savoury lovers: I had some creamy leek-mushroom ragout left over and filled a couple of crepes same style. Can we all say “stroke of genius”?

Fluffy Sticky Lemon rolls; sweet and tart

Delicate soft rolls tangy enough to stand up against the sugar. Really very nice! Very important to not overbake, rather take them out a tad early to keep the fluff in the bread. 
It all starts with dough:
25 gr fresh yeast (or 2.1/2 tsp instant yeast)
1 cup milk
4 tbs soft butter
4 tbs vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
3.1/2 cups bread flour (475-500 gr)
1 cup ap flour (appr. 130gr)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon (juice will be used for glaze!)
2 medium eggs
Simple straight forward dough: knead all ingredients until you get a rather stiff but supple doughball and leave to rise until doubled (approx. 1 hour). Roll out into a rectangle of approx. 10”x15”.
(Or cover and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours).

Sticky lemon filling:
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1 lemon; juice and zest
3 tbs soft butter
Mix sugar with spices and rub in the zest, then add lemon juice.

Spread the rectangle with butter and follow up with the lemon-sugar mixture. make sure to leave the borders bare. Roll up from the longer side and pinch the dough closed. Messy messy! Have to say that the filling will ooze out from everywhere really but try to keep most of it in. This is why it is important to keep your borders naked otherwise you’ll end up in deep citrus mess. ;-)
Slice in 1.1/5” or 2” rolls, it made me 15 rolls that fitted nicely in a 13x9” pan as you can see below. (Right pic is fully risen btw). Edit: for your pleasure and your pan's health it is a good idea to line your pan with parchment. Leave an overhang on the short sides for easy lifting.

Cover and leave to rise approx. 45 minutes or until they fill the pan. Preheat oven to 350F/180C  and bake for 30-35 minutes. Keep a close eye on them they near the end of baking time, I took them out when the rims were nicely browned but the dough inbetween almost looked not done and that turned out to be perfect. In my oven closer to 30 than to 35 minutes.
Adding a simple lemon glaze by using the reserved lemon juice and powdered sugar. Yum! Perfect Sunday brunch.

ABC: Profiteroles or –ice- creampuffs with caramel

Another month of ABC-baking brings us another recipe from Flo Braker's "Baking For All Occasions"

This time it’s the perfect seasonal recipe because the miniature puffs are filled with pumpkin ice cream…. and caramel!

I have to admit I skipped the ice cream immediately upon reading. Pumpkin is something that we try to adopt but still is an acquired taste. No pumpkin puree here, and pumpkin ice cream? Nowhere. All that plus knowing that my kids love profiteroles and hate pumpkin anything the decision was quick and final.What I did do is make a gorgeous caramel, and whipped some of my home-made lemon curd with double cream. I used scissors to snip an opening in the puffs, spooned some caramel in the hole and used a piping bag to make a nice swirl of lemon curd cream….  You can’t see the color in the pics but the cream had a nice yellow glow.

These were gobbled up immediately… boys and their sweets? No time to wait until frozen! I kept half of them apart and froze them anyway without their knowing. So there will be a frosty surprise in the near future!

Notes:
- the recipe states to make a cookie dough and use cut outs on top of the unbaked cream puffs.  (you can see one right here on the pic). I still haven’t made my mind up about that one. I like the original idea, and the crisp of the cookie was a nice surprise against the softness of the cream puff. I do think however that I want my puffs to have their original bite.

- next time I will pipe the mounds of batter on my baking sheet instead of using a spoon to get a more finished end product

 

- I measured exactly 180 ml of eggs as stated in the recipe (about 3.5 eggs in my case)  but ended up leaving about 1 egg in the cup. So I used 2.5 eggs for this recipe to get a dough firm enough. It is a good thing to have your eggs ready and loosened a bit by a fork so you can pour as much in as you need.

 

- Mine were bit bigger than the recipe stated, I only got around 24 puffs. Sprinkled some sugar pearls on top of some of them.

- I liked the recipe and the way it was written, great puffs! On to the next challenge!

(to see what the other ABC-bakers made please check the blog list on the right hand side of the ABC blog or follow the links in the comment section. Thanks!)

Tiramisu

I won't bother you with a pick up line because I assume you all know what Tiramisu stands for. It's a bit retro dish that I used to make when we weren't afraid of raw eggs, tasted raw ground meat to check for seasoning....

This one is care-free because the egg yolks are whisked over a hot water bath, no egg whites are used for the cream. It's quite mellow in flavor, my kids (all but one) loved the soft and creamy taste. The next time I made it into a more adult version by adding some liquor in the dipping espresso, we loved that one even more; the kids weren't too pleased...

Now for the recipe... I know I read it somewhere and copied it on one of the many scraps of paper..... then when I wanted to thank her for the recipe couldn't remember where I read it. I think it's from you Ari, please check Baking and Books, recipe to be found here.

I used:

3 egg yolks

slightly less than 1/2 cup sugar

2 tbs liquor (such as Grand Marnier/Creme de cacao/Tia Maria)

225 gr. mascarpone

225 gr. whipping cream

1/8 cup sugar

espresso coffee with optional extra 2 tbs liquor

lady fingers/savoiardi

grated chocolate

Daring Bakers; Lime and Hazelnut Bûche de Noël

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

Their announcement started with the words: the gauntlet is thrown.

You can say that again! I was really eh impressed by the length of the recipe(s) given. Although both lovely ladies ensured us that once we had chosen our flavourings, following the steps in completing the challenge was fairly easy I wasn't convinced. I mean this is December. Right in the middle of all celebrations, cooking and entertaining we were supposed to make an 18 page recipe?

Of course they were right. And I waited until the last possible moment to discover that. Yesterday afternoon I took my first step. My husband warned me to not play with caramel that late at night, so this morning I finished up adding the last layer, and making the icing. Once I broke up the recipes in steps to take (and please go over to Hilda/Marion for the simplified recipe) and organised my kitchen/thinking, it all went smooth from there.

Naaa, you wouldn't believe that would you? 

- Not understanding to line the creme brulee mold resulting in a set brulee which wouldn't come out in one piece? I froze it, dipped the underside in hot water, shook and there it was. Phew!

- Steeped the cream-milk mixture with lime zest.... it would have been so wise to strain it. Believe it would. Beginners mistake!

- Made a nice white chocolate praliné, it firmed up as it should. Then Mrs Clumsy stepped in and almost dropped it while transferring it to the fridge.... grabbing and crushing it in the process. Jigsaw praline in my Bûche.

My flavours and the order of the steps I took:

a) White chocolate cornflakes praliné (nice and crunchy, better than I expected)

b) lime and vanilla flavoured créme brulée (very smooth and silky, great flavour!)

c) Milk chocolate mousse (mmm, not entirely sure about this one, a bit too sweet)

d) Hazelnut-Lime dacquoise (I loved this one!)

e) Lightly salted Caramel ganache insert (caramel! How can this not be good?)

f) Bittersweet chocolate icing (Eeek! I must have done something wrong. Not good.)

The one thing I played with was the Ganache insert which was supposed to be more about chocolate with a caramel accent. I reversed it. Making some more caramel, using slightly less cream and adding just 50 grams of chocolate for firmness and a bit of extra flavour. I wanted oozing caramel in this one!! (Left over stuff is excellent in coffee!)

When having completed yet another DB challenge I go over the steps and think about what I learned and if it was worth it. The problem for me is that I'm not much of a sweet person. I'll pick a nice baguette with cheese or paté or whole rye chicken sandwich over any dessert almost any time. Choose a cheese dessert instead of chocolate mousse. The whole Daring Baker's exercise for me is about mastering (and sometimes failing) a technique, trying to get "behind the scene" and figure out how it's done. I loved to learn how to make a mirror cake, how to make excellent caramel sauce, créme Anglaise, or buttercream and genoise, and get my hands in some magic dough. I will never forget the mindboggling bagels either! 

This one for me was about learning how to make a velvety smooth créme brulée and this dacquoise was an eye-opener! Thanks to Hilda and Marion for yet another challenge!

Can't tell you how it tasted, I sliced and photographed (badly!) while still fully frozen and my tastebuds are not exactly in tiptop shape at the moment. Hope to get better pics tomorrow when it's going to be served. Advil here I come!

DB's Dare to d-eclair

that Pierre Hermé is their Sugardaddy by making his recipe for double chocolate éclairs their own. Meeta hosted this month's challenge, Toni acted as her side-kick and together they had us all set to make pate a choux, a -chocolate- pastry cream and a -chocolate- glaze.

I knew right from the start that this was a recipe that would score points in my family of chocolate lovers, helped by the fact that this is a familiar treat in Holland/Europe. Familiar in bakeries all over Holland by the name of "Soesjes" (tiny bite-sized cream puffs), their bigger brothers called "Moorkoppen".

and of course the city I live in is famous for their "Sjoklade bóllen"; really really big cream puffs, filled with whipped cream and topped with a very dark thick layer of shiny chocolate glaze.

The latter a meal in itself as Sue and Tanna discovered one Sunday summer morning last year.

So...

Was I scared? No.
Did I take necessary precautions? No.
Took time out of a busy schedule to prepare for this challenge? No.
Did I focus? Ummm, No not exactly.

I made choux pastry, and thought the dough didn't look like what I was used to. Less shiny, less elastic, but the consistency seemed allright so ahead with it. Baked according to the directions and yes they all puffed. A bit wrinkled on top, maybe they could have done with some more heat, or a longer oventime I don't know. I found them to be somewhat softer and moister than I was used to. Still, the inside was nice and dry, and showed an intricate web of holes and pastry.
Next was the pastry cream. We were allowed flavour variations, but had to keep at least one chocolate element; either the pastry cream or the glaze. I decided to go for a chocolate pastry cream. I aimed for a "Banana éclair", filling of chocolate pastry cream and fresh banana, topped with a vanilla glaze and some more banana slices....

While cooking dinner for five.
While having an after-school-talk to one kid in the kitchen.
While directing the others to set the table.
While welcoming the husband into the house.
While loading the washer.
Stirring pastry cream...

which needs some attention. I didn't cook the pastry cream long enough, I should have given it somewhat more time to get a firmer custard that I could pipe. I had to spoon it in, quickly added the banana, closed the eclair (quick, before the chocolate escaped!), piped some whipped cream on top and decorated with some more banana slices. We each had one after dinner, together with a small bowl of chocolate pastry cream pudding. My men didn't mind at all! Had to be quick to snap some blurry pictures. We had the rest of the pastry cream (which actually firmed up relatively nice during the stay in the fridge) as a dessert the next day.

Verdict: Think I won't use the cream puff recipe again, the pastry cream on the other hand was very very good! Nice challenge!

Crowd teaser, mouth pleaser

Just a little something to think about these next three weeks. We're packing our bags and are almost ready to go. Provence here we come!

Will be back at the end of this month, maybe in time for our next Bread Baking Babes challenge, maybe not. See you!!

Pistachio flavoured Pastry cream / Crème Anglaise met pistache

(In het Nederlands? Even scrollen)

My latest DB Challenge had a rebellious streak hidden between the layers...I decided to substitute the buttercream for a Pistachio flavoured Crème Anglaise. It became the hit of the day, a nice mellow flavour and we loved the color. Since so many of you asked how, here is the recipe:

100 gr. shelled unsalted pistachio nuts
6 egg yolks
125 gr sugar
500 ml milk

(I think you can double the amount of pistachio for more intense flavour).

• Rub and pound the pistachio nuts to a paste, using a mortar and pestle. I think it would work in a food processor too, but I would add a part of the sugar (or 1 tbs flour) together with the nuts to avoid the nuts going oily.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together yolks with 1/3 of the sugar until light yellow.
• Put milk and rest of the sugar in a heavy bottomed pot, stir and bring mixture to a soft boil. Slowly pour a little of the hot milk on the yolks and the sugar in the bowl whisking constantly. Gradually add the rest of the milk, continue stirring!
• Once all of the milk is added, return mixture to same saucepan. Sitr over medium-low heat until custard thickens, you keep stirring with a wooden spoon. Aim for 80C on your thermometer, about 2-3 minutes (do not boil!) or looking at your spoon and the bottom of the pan: the spoon should make a track on the bottom that will not fill immediately. (leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across).
• Off the heat, pour a third of the mixture onto the pistachio paste and whisk. Tip this mixture back into the pan again and mix.
• Now, instead of sieving, you can transfer the custard to a blender/food processor and mix for approx. 3 minutes until you have a smooth silky custard.
• Cool quickly using an ice bath, stir every once in a while to prevent a sking forming.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to two days.

======================
De pistache crème die ik gebruikt heb in de Daring Baker's Challenge van Mei;

100 tot 200 gram gepelde pistachio nootjes, ongezouten
6 eidooiers (m)
125 gr basterdsuiker
1/2 liter melk

• Nootjes in een vijzel wrijven tot een pasta.
  Eidooiers in een kom mengen met 1/3 van de suiker en mixen tot het een luchtige lichtgele massa is.

Melk en de resterende suiker in een steelpan boven matig vuur verhitten tot het bijna kookt. Al roerend heel geleidelijk aan de melk in een straaltje toevoegen aan de eidooiers. Als alle melk toegevoegd is kan het mengsel weer terug in de pan.

Langzaam verhitten tot 80C, regelmatig roeren met een houten lepel tot het mengsel een dikke vla wordt, (2 a 3 minuten) Niet laten koken! Het is klaar wanneer je lepel een spoor achterlaat op de bodem van de pan, of, wanneer je met je vinger op de achterkant van je lepel een streep kunt trekken dat niet dicht loopt.

Schenk een derde van de vla op de pistachepasta en roer goed door met een garde. Voeg dit mengsel toe aan de resterende vla in de pan. Giet de vla in een blender of keukenmachine en draai ong. 3 minuten tot een heel gladde vla.

Koel zo snel mogelijk, evt. in een ijsbad. Blijf zo nu en dan roeren om te voorkomen dat er een vel op de vla komt. Kan goed afgedekt 2 dagen bewaard worden in de koelkast.

Dulce de Leche / Caramel pasta

Dulce de leche; een Argentijnse lekkernij gewoon in het schap bij de Jumbo, onder de naam: "Mijn Oma" (Vraag me niet waarom....).

Zelf maken kan trouwens ook; neem een (of twee ;-)) blikje gezoete! gecondenseerde melk (Friesche Vlag) en leg dit nog steeds gesloten in een grote pan water. Het blikje moet ruim onder staan. Laat het water aan de kook komen, en kook één á anderhalf uur. Zorg dat het blikje altijd goed onder water staat! Afgieten, evt. koud water erop en af laten koelen alvorens je het opent. Er zijn verhalen over exploderende blikjes.... ik heb het verschillende malen gemaakt en ben nog steeds in het bezit van al mijn ledematen.

Maar...mocht je dit toch te riskant vinden, het kan ook in de oven worden gemaakt, giet hiervoor de inhoud van het blikje (of twee) in een ovenschaal, dek af met alufolie en zet deze ovenschaal in een grotere ovenschaal gevuld met water. Het water moet halverwege je schaal met melk komen. Oven voorverwarmen op 220C en het mengsel ongeveer een uur "bakken". Zoals David Leibovitz zegt, een snufje zeezout toevoegen geeft de smaak nog een extra dimensie! Check af en toe even of er nog voldoende water in je schaal is.

Lekker als beleg, over ijs (of in ijs als je in het bezit bent van een ijsmachine!), maar ook bijvoorbeeld als je cake bakt, 1/3 van het beslag achterhouden en daar een gedeelte dulce de leche doorroeren, over de rest van het beslag gieten en een paar keer met een spatel erdoor. Gemarmerde cake!

Vroeger hadden wij weleens Bebogeen, als ik me goed herinner ongeveer vergelijkbaar in smaak.

Het hele gecondenseerde melkverhaal is trouwens een terugblik in de tijd, als ik me goed herinner was dat vaste prik als we op vakantie waren. In de Franse supermarkt speuren naar de tubes gecondenseerde melk die mijn vader in de koffie gebruikte en ook wel op brood smeerde. Wij, dochters, hielpen braaf meezoeken maar keken toch altijd enigszins verbijsterd toe hoe mijn vader van zijn stokbroodje genoot...brrr.

Toen we eenmaal zelfstandig op vakantie gingen werd het een soort traditie om tubes van heinde en ver van vakantie mee terug te nemen naar huis. Alsjeblieft pap! (Totdat we erachter kwamen dat het spul in Nederland ook te koop was.....).

2nd hand desserts / 2e hands toetje

(In het Nederlands? Even scrollen!)

Second hand and borrowed was the theme of this dessert. Not on purpose, it just turned out that way and I had so much fun making it. The kids had their share of fun too, wandering into the kitchen in irregular intervals to see what on earth their mum was trying to accomplish.

Why on earth would someone be dumping a whole bag of flour in a flat dish and make odd shaped holes in it? They whispered to each other: apparently this is going to be our dessert *raised eyebrows*, I think she read it somewhere *wrinkled their noses*, Do you think it's going to be good? *sticking out tongues*. Out loud: "are we supposed to eat the flour as well or are you going to bake it at some point?"No, I was not going to bake anything this time, nor were they supposed to eat the flour, and yes I had seen something somewhere... and was trying to recreate it, using whisky tumblers I found at the thrift shop. My search for glasses for our Christmas dinner ended at the thrift shop. I was determined to use glasses for appetizers and wasn't prepared to let go of a lot of money just because of that. I needed 12. Found 12. Spend 2 €. Skipjumped out of the shop.

2nd hand glasses, borrowed recipe. Where from? Why..our Queen of desserts of course; Tartelette! Please go there to find the recipe and see yummy photos. I changed the components slightly and was very pleased with the top layer which consisted of a mix of orange, tangerine and red grapefruit juices. The bottom layer was plum puree mixed with strawberries .... mwah. Bought two cartons of Greek yoghurt, one of them turned out to be the low-fat kind, not good, you'll definitely need the original, full fat creamy one to set off the tarty fruit layers.

Helene used an egg carton to set the glasses "on edge", that didn't work with our Dutch egg cartons (or maybe my glasses were just too wide), so in comes the flour. I was so pleased with the outcome, it looked so good and I was happy it actually worked! Sure, I need some training to make nicer layers but still for a first...

Too bad my guinea pigs weren't too pleased with the way it tasted, granted, 5 out of 8 were kids, and as we're Dutch we're not used to Jell-O anything. I definitely want to try these again and figure out a way of using enough gelatine to set the layers without the Jell-O experience. Een 2e-hands toetje in alle opzichten; de glazen komen van de kringloop (ik wilde er 12 om te gebruiken tijdens het Kerstdiner, en was niet bereid om net zoveel geld te gebruiken voor de glazen als voor wat er in zou komen, dus...tadaaa 2€ en ik helemaal blij!). Het recept is ook "gebruikt" en wel door go Tartelette, ik heb haar recept en werkwijze gebruikt. De hoeveelheden heb ik anderhalf keer genomen en uiteraard kon ik het niet laten om iets te veranderen, dus mijn fruitlaagjes waren gemaakt van sinasappel-mandarijn-rode grapefruit sap en een mix van pruimpuree met aardbei (had ik nog in de vriezer, makkelijk!). Als je dit na wilt maken gebruik dan goede volvette griekse of turkse yoghurt, ik had per ongeluk 1 pot van de magere variant genomen en je hebt echt het romige nodig ten opzichte van het fruit.

Zij gebruikt eierdozen om de glazen op 1 kant te laten staan, dat werkte bij mij niet, maar zoals je ziet werkt het prima als je een zandbak namaakt van bloem (of zand haha) in een grote platte schaal. Het resultaat ziet er intrigerend uit maar is eigenlijk heel simpel, je giet het eerste laagje erin, laat het opstijven en vervolgens zet je de glazen andersom voor de volgende laag en...Voilá!

Denk er wel om dat je keurig schenkt en geen druppels maakt op de binnenkant, die blijf je zien. Nog een kleine waarschuwing.....wij vinden dit misschien helemaal niet zo lekker... het is namelijk wel erg gelatine-achtig. Amerikanen zijn verslingerd aan hun Jell-O toetjes, (niets meer of minder dan gelatine met een smaakje) en dat is niet helemaal ons idee van een toetje. Ik moet dan ook braaf vermelden dat er maar 2 van de 10 zijn opgegeten....(het geheel leek een beetje op yoghurt met erg stijve jam) maar oooh het zag er wel gaaf uit!! Niet verder vertellen, maar ik ben echt van plan om dit nog een keer te doen en dan te proberen om het gelatine-gevoel te verminderen. Sorry Nancy en kids...jullie waren letterlijk proefkonijn...volgende keer gewoon ijs ofzo?