Daring Bakers: Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.



February is an insanely busy month for me and I knew that this challenge would require some time. There are many compenents to this dessert, but none were terribly difficult. I also got excited to try some new techniques including making my own cheese (the leftovers went great with blood oranges). This was my favorite Daring Bakers challenge since the pizza. The mascarpone was so easy and such a dream. It was smooth and creamy and I couldn't get enough. I normally don't like whipped cream, but mixed with mascarpone, pastry cream, and zabaglione, it transforms into something I can consume non-stop. I halved all the recipe parts and served it in these little wine glasses I love.


(I ate the whole thing)

Recipes can be found on the sites of our hosts. To see the very many creative renditions of this dessert, visit the blogroll.

Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

I think I may have been the only Daring Baker who was not excited about making Nanaimo bars this month. It wasn’t that I don’t like them. I do, and I have posted them before. However, I try to avoid doing repeats and also, JenFinn had just made them a few weeks ago for New Years. I thought I was full of Nanaimo bars until next New Year. Nevertheless I knew I would press on because that is what being a Daring Baker is all about. Nanaimo bars are pretty simple to make so the challenge part was making the graham crackers. Our host is gluten free, but I chose to make the regular gluten filled crackers.



The crackers were pretty simple to make, but the batter is very sticky. The recipe makes way more graham crackers than you’ll need so if you are making them just for this, halve the recipe and that should be plenty. I didn’t have time to make pretty graham crackers so I just did one big layer of them, but they came out well and taste pretty great! I will definitely have to experiment with those again in the future. I am glad that I checked the grahams halfway through. They only took about half the time to cook.



The only real challenge with making Nanaimo bars is planning because you have to wait for the various layers to chill. I doubled the amount of chocolate on top because I think it looks prettier and I like the contrast with that super sweet interior. For me, the other challenge was getting these suckers out of the pan! I had to use all my arm strength, but luckily I didn’t ruin my pan. Next time (if there is a next time), I will line that pan with parchment. Nanaimo bars are super rich. If you can't finish the pan yourself, take them to work or freeze them for another time!

The graham cracker recipe can be found on 101 Cookbooks. The Nanaimo bar recipe is below. Visit the blogroll to see how the other Daring Bakers fared with their bars.

Nanaimo Bars
(Ever so slightly adapted from The City of Nanaimo)

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg beaten
1 1/4 cups graham wafer crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup coconut

Melt first 3 ingredients in top of double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, coconut, and nuts. Press firmly into an ungreased 8" x 8" pan.


Second Layer
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons heavy cream
2 tablespoons vanilla custard powder (or pudding)
2 cups icing sugar

Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light. Spread over bottom layer.

Third Layer
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Melt chocolate and butter overlow heat. Cool. Once cool, but still liquid, pour over second layer and chill in refrigerator.

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.



I hope everyone is well and you're all recovered from your New Year's Eve celebrations. Mine was a fantastic low-key evening which is exactly what I wanted. As usual, I am late with my DB challenge. Even though I have been off work and had plenty of time the last two weeks, my fridge debacle kept me from getting a lot of cooking done. However, it's a new year folks. I have a new fridge and I am about to start a new decade of my life. Perhaps from now on I will even be on time with my Daring Bakers challenges...don't hold your breath.

I decided to go with Anna's recipe for the gingerbread because I was short on time and it was pretty straightforward. I decided to do a quarter of the recipe and I found the "blueprint" for my house over at Delectible Deliciousness.

The gingerbread was really easy to make. If you want the recipe, you can find it here on Anna's site. It got a little sticky because I chose to roll and cut out the shapes on a floured mat before transferring them to the baking sheet. The royal icing was pretty easy to make as well. The only change I made was to flavor it with vanilla extract instead of almond. In case you hadn't heard from the other bakers, that royal icing is like caulk. I was prepared to take it in my bathroom and fix some things in the tub. Mine was way too thick to pipe so I ended up rolling it and using it to piece the house together along with a bit of the simple syrup.

Assembling the house was a huge pain in the ass. I'm not going to lie, but after a few attempts I finally pieced together was you see above. I didn't do much in terms of decoration, but hey, at least I got it done. The other Daring Bakers were way more creative about this than I was. Check out their creations on the blogroll.

Daring Bakers: Cannoli

HOLY CANNOLI!



The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.



I'm kind of surprised when I visit the Daring Bakers forum and see people complaining about the challenge. The whole point is to be challenged. Have some fun people! I have had cannoli exactly one other time from a corner bakery in New York city. I loved it, but never imagined I would make it myself. The only thing that really made me nervous about this was frying in my tiny box of an apartment since the smell lingers for days. Luckily SoCal has been experiencing insanely warm temps so I was able to leave the windows open and the smell was not a problem. Rather than buy cannoli forms, I concocted something found in this tutorial. I did half the recipe and got about 10 cannoli. Some were 3 inches and some were 5 inches. The smaller ones were easier to work with. The filling was a simple mix of ricotta, mascarpone, powdered sugar, and a vanilla bean. Nothing fancy here folks (I didn't have a lot of time), but still it all came together well and it was really delicious! I had fun with this challenge and thanks to our fabulous hostess! To see how the other cannolis came out, visit the blogroll.




Cannoli

For the shells:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/4 cup sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand (I used Moscat)
Water for sealing the edges

For the filling:
1/2 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup cup confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean
Mini chocolate chips (optional)
Finely chopped pistachios (optional)

To make the shells:

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them oiled. Since I used parchment wrapped foil, I did not oil the outside of the parchment). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little water on the dough where the edges overlap. Press well to seal.

In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

To make the filling:

Beat together the ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla beans. Fill each cannoli with the ricotta mixture and top the outsides with a few chocolate chips or pistachios if desired.

Printable Recipe

Daring Bakers: Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.



I can't believe that in over two years of existence, the Daring Bakers have never taken on a macaron challenge. To me, macarons are one of those things that everyone hopes to be able to accomplish in the kitchen at least once. I made my first successful batch of macarons last winter so I was excited to have the opportunity to try them again...until I heard about how many people were failing with the recipe. The Daring Bakers forums and Twitter were full of complaints about time and money spent on a recipe that didn't seem to work. I don't know about you, but as a broke Hollywood assistant, I don't have a lot of extra time or money to repeatedly make something that may or may not work. Since this past weekend was my only shot to get the macarons done before the challenge due date, I decided to go with a recipe and tips that worked for me before.



Chocolate and pistachios are a wonderful combo. I ground my own nuts and used half almonds and half pistachios. I didn't grind my nuts as finely as I should have, so there was an interesting crunch in the shells, but it wasn't unpleasant. I used a chocolate ganache recipe from Sherry Yard that was easy and absolutely heavenly! If you make this ganache, be sure to use good chocolate because the flavor really comes through. (eek, how Ina Garten did that sound?). Katrina of she's in the kitchen is the one who gave me the heads up about the ganache recipe. Thanks Katrina! Check out the other Daring Bakers to see how their macarons turned out!

Daring Bakers: Vols Au Vent

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat Vols-au-Vent based on the puff pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Well, it's a bit late, but better than never, right??? With my move last weekend and me not cooking at Grey Gardens, it took a bit longer for me to get to last month's Daring Bakers challenge. I am so glad I finally made it! Puff pastry has always been one of those things that I have been scared to try and not afraid to buy at the store for convenience. When I saw that the September challenge was puff pastry and more specifically vols-au-vent, I planned on making my filling the fig, blue cheese, and bacon combo I did for the tart last week...and then life got away from me. Even though I am not fully unpacked, I am definitely way more settled in to my new apartment than I ever was in Grey Gardens. Despite my teeny, tiny kitchen, I am finding ways to make things work and really loving spending my weekends cooking again.



After a great workout with Erin at Equinox, I was more ready to attack something buttery. Honestly though, for how much pastry this recipe makes, it really doesn't use that much butter. I halved the recipe knowing I would have a lot of pastry left over and I was right. After carefully measuring the ingredients and doing my first two turns, I thought to myself "this is easy and actually kind of fun". All in all, this was a fun recipe to make and not as difficult as I thought it would be. The key to making puff pastry is to have a lot of patience because most of the time you aren't doing anything. Watch part of a movie, do some dishes, clean your bathroom because you will have time for all of those things and then some.

My vols-au-vent came out a little crooked, but I didn't mind. I filled them simply with some Greek yogurt from Stoneyfield. I sweetened the plain yogurt with a bit of agave and left the blueberry yogurt alone. Topping them off with a few pomegranate arils was a crunchy, tart way to finish these off. I only made a few vols-au-vent and devoured them all in one sitting. The only problems I ran into were a bit of butter being exposed during the turns and the pastry rising crookedly. I like to think it adds character. I had a lot of fun with this and can't wait to come up with delicious ways to use up the leftover puff pastry.



To get the puff pastry recipe, please visit our gracious host, and to see how the other Daring Bakers did, click here.

Daring Bakers: Dobos Torte

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.



It's hard to believe, but this is my twelfth challenge as a Daring Baker. It was just a year ago that I was rolling up my sleeves and rolling out lavash crackers accompanied with vegan dips. Who can forget the tossing of pizza? The most memorable, has to be the one that took the longest (3 days!!). Not all challenges have been successful. Overwhipping egg whites leads to an incredibly dry and tasteless flourless chocolate cake. Luckily I was able to try it again a while later and it turned out great. I hope to one day re-do this challenge because unfortunately, my "anniversary" Daring Bakers challenge was a complete fail. This torte is pretty simple if you think about it. It's several layers of sponge cake with chocolate buttercream and then a sponge layer coated in caramel. I first ran in to problems creating the sponge layers. My first few layers were too thin and were not coming off the parchment so I added some flour to the batter and made thicker layers. I was about to give up because I was running out of time (housewarming party to go to), but I finally got about five sponges to work with. The chocolate buttercream was a breeze, but even with chilling it was a little too soupy. The caramel was an absolute disaster. I now know that lemon juice has no business in caramel. It was repulsive.



Luckily, I was able to drown my sorrows in the pudding-like buttercream. At least this wasn't a super expensive failure. I took a bottle of wine to the housewarming instead of the cake fail.



PS, Don't be fooled by the semi-normal slice pictures. This was a total disaster. I hope to try it again soon.

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

Um, yes...I just posted a cookie recipe, but...

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.



Lately, my trend seems to be ridiculously late posting of my Daring Bakers challenges. I just made these cookies two nights ago. Life is just so busy and until I figure out some balance, I will probably be late again next month.

At least I got them done.

We had two choices this month for which I am eternally grateful. We could either make homemade Malomars (chocolate covered marshmallow cookies) or homemade Milanos (cookies sandwiched with a rich layer of chocolate). I have to admit, I took the "easy" way out and just made the Milanos. I have already made marshmallows and since I did these one night after a long day of work, I wasn't really feeling adventurous with marshmallow making and chocolate dipping.

Even with the easier version, I still ran into one or two road blocks. The batter was perfectly easy to work with, but the suggestion of piping out a 1/4 inch thickness of batter, 1 inch long was a little ridiculous. My cookies didn't spread at all and I was left with many, many mini cookies. I ended up just piping out rounds and hoping that they matched up. For the ones that didn't, I just dipped them in chocolate. Also, I really detest the combo of chocolate and orange so I just added a couple splashes of rum to my chocolate mix, but I may have added too much rum. I had a hard time melting the chocolate with the cream so I ended up adding more chocolate which helped the consistency, but then I was left with a ton of melted chocolate. For the cookies that didn't match up, I just dipped them in chocolate and rolled them in a bit of toasted coconut or raw pistachios. The cookies are very simple to make and very similar to the tuiles we made back in the beginning of the year. They are also very addictive and I think I scarfed down about 5 (or 20) in the process. Once again thank you to our hostess for a great challenge, and I am looking forward to what we are faced with next month and *maybe* I will get it done in time...



Milanos
(Adapted from Gale Gand)

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 egg whites
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
Cookie filling (as follows)

Cookie filling
1/4 cup heavy cream
1-2 splashes dark rum
4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Cream the butter with a paddle attachment then mix in the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

Cookie Filling: In a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl. Whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools). Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies

Printable Recipe

Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.



Last week I was so sure I wouldn't be able to get my June DB challenge done so I thought I would use it as one of my free passes to skip. However, having the day off today really made a difference in that plan. After a quick trip to the DMV this morning (which ended up being a lot less of a nightmare than I expected), I was ready to get to baking. This is actually a very easy recipe and quick! I love almonds, but I am not always a fan of almond flavoring so I just replaced almond extract with vanilla. I was all set to grind my own almonds, but then I realized I had some ground almonds left from making macarons. I used half the recipe and baked them in my muffin pan. I must admit, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed these little tarts. Hopefully my friends will enjoy them at our 4th of July barbecue tomorrow. Thanks to the hostesses for picking a great recipe. To see the other Daring Baker creations, visit here.



Bakewell Tart

Makes 8 standard muffin sized tarts

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
Jam or curd, warmed for spreadability if necessary
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart:
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

4 ounces all purpose flour
.5 ounces sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces frozen unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons ice cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the vanilla extract and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand or stand mixer, rubber spatula

2.2 ounces unsalted butter, softened
2.2 ounces icing sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2.2 ounces ground almonds
.5 ounce all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the egg, beating well after the addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well.

Printable Recipe

Daring Bakers: Strudel

Can we say down to the wire? Normally when I learn what the DB challenge is, I have it completed within a week or two. This one was done just a few hours ago! Oh yes, the required lines:

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I have managed to keep myself surprisingly busy lately, which is part of the reason why I just completed my challenge today. I knew I wanted to make something a little more seasonal. Originally I had planned on doing a strawberry strudel, but lately cherries have been all over the farmers market. I saw a recipe for ricotta and cherry strudel and I knew that was what I would be making. It was especially lucky that I already had ricotta left from my Daring Cooks challenge a few weeks ago. I used the dough from the challenge and then played around with the filling.



The dough came together very easily in the stand mixer, but it can also be done by hand. While the dough was resting, I went to work on my filling. I ended up making two small strudels because I wanted to test the stretching of the dough without having to make a double batch. One strudel had cherries baked inside as well as a cherry sauce on top and the other was only filled with the remaining ricotta and topped with the cherry sauce. I think I preferred the plain ricotta strudel topped with the sauce which gave some flavor to the bland dough. Rolling and stretching turned out to be easier than I thought. I probably could have gotten the dough thinner, but with time not on my side, I went with what I had.

I would love to try this again and make a savory filling instead. People got very creative with their fillings, be sure to check the other Daring Bakers' sites to see how they did. The dough recipe and tips can be found here or here. Recipe for the filling is below.

Ricotta and Cherry Strudel
(Adapted from Lidia Bastianich for Bon Appetit, May 2007)

Ricotta filling:
8 ounces whole-milk fresh ricotta cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

Cherry filling:
8 ounces cherries, halved and pitted, reserve any juices
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon triple sec

Crumb filling:
6 tablespoons finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

To make the ricotta filling:
Line a strainer with a double layer of cheesecloth and set over a deep bowl. Place the ricotta in the strainer and allow to drain overnight in the refrigerator. Squeeze the cheesecloth to drain as much liquid as possible from the mixture.

Using an electric mixture, beat the ricotta, sugar and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until well incorporated. Refrigerate while preparing the cherries and stretching the dough.

To make the cherry filling:
In a medium bowl, mix together the cherries, any juices, the sugar, lemon juice and triple sec. Allow to sit for an hour or so for the flavors to come together.

Drain half of the cherry mixture and save the juices. Use the drained cherries in the strudel. Use the remaining cherries and juices to make a sauce. Place them in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until the mixture has thickened, about 4-8 minutes.

To make the crumb filling:
Mix the crumbs and the sugar.

To assemble the strudel, brush the stretched out dough with some of the melted butter. Lay a thin layer of the crumbs in the center of the dough. Top with some of the ricotta mixture and then gently press the drained cherries into the ricotta. Roll the dough and brush the top with more melted butter. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let the strudel sit for 30 minutes before cutting into it. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Daring Bakers April Challenge: Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

The thing I enjoyed most about this April challenge was the freedom we were given in creating a cheesecake of our liking. I made these cheesecake cupcakes for our Easter brunch. Originally, I was going to do a red velvet cheesecake since our brunch had a Louisiana/Southern theme, but then I saw a recipe for cheesecake cupcakes topped with lemon curd so I decided to use the rest of my Meyer lemon curd and make lemon cheesecakes instead. I made very few changes to the recipe. I left out the vanilla in the crust and instead of using lemon juice in the cheese mixture, I used a few teaspoons of zest from the large batch of lemons that Raulito gave me a while ago. Also, instead of cream, I used a bit of sour cream and no vanilla. Making the cheesecake was really easy. I pressed the crust into the wrappers in the muffin tin, filled with the batter and baked. This was a straightforward challenge that I really enjoyed and I am pretty sure my friends enjoyed the results. Making little cheesecakes like this was a great way to enjoy cheesecake without too much guilt. The original recipe can be found on Jenny's site. The other Daring Bakers got really creative with their flavor combinations. Visit the blogroll to check them out!


(Couldn't decide which plate I liked better, lol)

PS, Didn't meet Curtis Stone yesterday (unfortch), but Giada was nice. More on that tomorrow.

Daring Bakers: Lasagna

It's here! It's here, the March 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge is here!! Ok, I'm calm. That's just how I get at the beginning of each month when the new challenge is revealed.



The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagna of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.



This challenge caused a lot of debate among the Daring Bakers. I think it was mostly to do with the fact that when people think of DBers, they think of sweet creations. However, since I have joined, I have noticed an increasing number of savory challenges and have welcomed them. As much as I love sweets once in a while, I prefer savory dishes over sweets almost any time. Also, I was really excited about making a pasta sauce from scratch. All winter I craved standing over a stove and cooking something for hours. It's the kind of cooking I look forward to all winter, but unfortunately (fortunately?) living in Southern California, you don't get many opportunities for that type of cooking. I was perfectly happy standing over a stove for four hours watching my bolognese come together.

Green sludge aka future bolognese:


My pasta making work station:


I chose to do a bolognese because it was made mostly with ingredients I had on hand. I am not a huge fan of Anne Burrell...actually I don't like her at all. I just don't understand what she means "cook the crap" out of something and all her grunts and arm pumps make me tired. However, I have to admit, this sauce is really good...however there is one thing which I note below. Anne suggests tasting and salting the sauce each time you add water. I definitely agree with her about tasting, but the salt I just can't get on board with. Lucky for me, it was one of those rare times when I actually followed instructions and so each time I added water, I tasted the sauce. Besides the initial stages, I did not have to add more salt. Remember that Top Chef episode when Jamie got sent home for salty celery? I liken this sauce to that. Even though you are adding water every so often, the sauce is reducing and the flavors get more concentrated. All I am saying is salt with caution. Also, the first time I attempted the sauce, my base ingredients came out looking green and tasting green. I threw them out (ugh, such a waste) and started over (after a quick trip to the store). The ingredients still looked green, but didn't taste green so I kept going. The sauce was fantastic.

Spinach dough all wrapped up:


Bolognese after almost four hours of simmering:


I thought the pasta came together quite easily. I was worried about rolling it thinly enough because I don't have a roller, but with some patience and a lot of space (my roommate was out of town), I got thin slices of noodles that I was happy with. I got four layers of lasagna for my 8x8 dish and still had some dough left over. I didn't really do anything creative with the leftover dough which is why you don't see it here. Even though it was a long process, this was one of my most fun challenges to date. I hope the other DBers had as good a time with it as I did and to see their creations visit the blogroll. Also, check out our new amazing site to find out how you can join the Daring Bakers or the new Daring Cooks!

Lasagna of Emilia-Romagna (Lasagna Verdi al Forno)
(Adapted from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food)

Serves 4-6 main dish servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes to assemble the lasgana and 40 minutes cooking time

1 recipe Spinach Pasta cut for lasagna (recipe follows)
1 recipe Bechamel Sauce (recipe follows)
1 recipe Bolognese sauce (recipe follows)
Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano


Working Ahead:
The bolognese and the béchamel sauce can be made up to three days ahead. The bolognese can also be frozen for up to one month. The pasta can be rolled out, cut and dried up to 24 hours before cooking. The assembled lasagna can wait at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius/68 degrees Fahrenheit) about 1 hour before baking. Do not refrigerate it before baking, as the topping of béchamel and cheese will overcook by the time the center is hot.

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have all the sauces, rewarmed gently over a medium heat, and the pasta at hand. Have a large perforated skimmer and a large bowl of cold water next to the stove. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring the salted water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagna from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. Repeat until all the pasta is cooked.

Assembling the Lasagna:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the pasta, and then a thin layer of the bolognese. Top with another layer of pasta. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, finishing with béchamel sauce and topping with a generous dusting of Parmesan cheese.

Baking and Serving the Lasagna:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagna. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagna rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve.

Spinach Pasta

1 large egg
5 ounces fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Equipment: A roomy work surface, any smooth surface will do, but marble cools dough slightly, making it less flexible than desired. A pastry scraper and a small wooden spoon for blending the dough. A wooden dowel-style rolling pin. Plastic wrap to wrap the resting dough and to cover rolled-out pasta waiting to be filled. It protects the pasta from drying out too quickly. A sharp chef’s knife for cutting pasta sheets. Cloth-covered chair backs, broom handles, or specially designed pasta racks found in cookware shops for draping the pasta. (I used plastic hangers)

Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the egg and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the egg and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. If the dough does not come together, add some room temperature water.

With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.

If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more.

Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.

Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagna, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colors. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm).

Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag if not using right away.

Bechamel

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Salt and pepper

Add the butter over medium-low heat. When the butter is half melted, add the flour and stir to combine. When the butter is completely melted, add the milk and cook for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has reached the desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper.

Bolognese
(Adapted from Anne Burrell)

1 onion, cut into 1-inch dice
2 small carrots, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 1/2 ribs celery, cut into 1-inch dice
4 cloves garlic
Extra-virgin olive oil for the pan
Kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds ground chuck, brisket or round or combination (I used chuck)
1 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 cups hearty red wine
Water
1-2 bay leaves
1/2 bunch thyme, tied in a bundle

In a food processor, puree onion, carrots, celery, and garlic into a coarse paste. In a large pan over medium heat, coat pan with oil. Add the pureed vegetables and season generously with salt. Bring the pan to a medium-high heat and cook until all the water has evaporated and they become nice and brown, stirring frequently, about 15 to 20 minutes. Be patient, this is where the big flavors develop.

Add the ground beef and season again generously with salt. Brown the beef, cooking another 15 to 20 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and cook until brown about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the red wine. Cook until the wine has reduced by half, another 4 to 5 minutes.

Add water to the pan until the water is about 1 inch above the meat. Toss in the bay leaves and the bundle of thyme and stir to combine everything. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally. As the water evaporates you will gradually need to add more, about 2 to 3 cups at a time. Don't be shy about adding water during the cooking process, you can always cook it out. Stir and taste frequently. Season with salt, if needed. Simmer for 3 1/2 to 4 hours.

Notes on making the pasta:
With just one egg, the pasta dough didn't come together very well so I ended up adding some water. Many of the other Daring Bakers added extra eggs.

Notes on making the sauce:
My onion, carrot, celery mixture turned green and tasted green the first time I cooked it out so I threw it out and started again. It turned green the second time, but I pressed on. I cooked it for about 30 minutes until fond started develop on the bottom of my pan and it ended up tasting fine with the meat.

As the meat browned, I drained as much of the oil off as I could. I didn't want to end up with an oily end product.

Taste the sauce each time you add water, but be careful of how much salt you add each time. As the sauce cooks down, the flavor gets more concentrated and you don't want a salty meat sauce

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Valentino

Would you guys believe me if I told you that I am not perfect? I know, I know...hard to believe, but it's true.


The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They 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.

This is my sixth challenge as a Daring Baker. It was bound to happen. I almost feel embarrassed that I FAILED this challenge. I mean, how can you screw up something with only three ingredients? I should have failed at the challenge that had eleventy thousand ingredients. Not this. Oh well, at least I had ice cream to make me feel better.



In case you were wondering, a chocolate Valentino is a flourless chocolate cake. We were also challenged to come up with an ice cream accompaniment. I decided to make the cake for my friend's Oscar party. It didn't take very long, but the part where I failed was overwhipping the egg whites. It even says in the recipe. "Do not overwhip the egg whites". You want to know what happens when you overwhip the egg whites? You get a dry, inedible cake which eventually will be introduced to the trash can. There was no way I could serve this at the party. Lesson learned...DO. NOT. OVERWHIP. EGG. WHITES!

If you missed it, the ice cream (star anise and vanilla bean) recipe is here. Many Daring Baker's cakes turned out beautifully. Visit the blogroll and check them out!


Chocolate Valentino
(From Chef Wan's Sweet Treats: 240 Pastry Recipes from Asia's Most Flamboyant Food Ambassador)

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

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.

While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

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). With the same beater beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate. 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.

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C 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. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

January Daring Bakers: Tuiles (With Meyer Lemon-Rosemary Sorbet)

Even the Daring Bakers had light on the brain this month. This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. They also chose a savory Tuiles recipe from Thomas Keller.

Can I just say how happy I was to see this challenge? After the cream, sugar and egg ball that was last month's challenge I was really nervous about what I would be faced with this month. The other part of the challenge was to create something light to go with the cookies. A lot of DBers did a mousse, but I wasn't in the mood for more eggs. The farmers market has been flooded with all kinds of citrus and I found a recipe for a lemon-rosemary sorbet. I switched it up by using Meyer lemons which were really delicious. Having a light cookie like this makes me feel better about the insane dinner I am going to have tonight. More on that another day, but to you LA'ers do the words Comme Ca mean anything to you??


The tuile recipe is pretty straightforward. I didn't have any hard plastic laying around that I could cut stencil with so I used a manila folder which worked just fine. I cut out a little hearts to be cute. I also did some free form cookies in the shape of a circle and then made them into cute little cups. I baked 3 cookies at a time and kept them warm by laying the baking pan on the door of the oven. I alternated between three parchment lined baking sheets and kept the sheets I wasn't using in the fridge. Shaping them was really easy for me. I think the key is to spread the batter as thinly as possible and to work quickly once they come out of the oven.

This was a fun and pretty easy challenge and I am happy it didn't take three days to do! Visit the blogroll to see what the other Daring Bakers came up with. There are lots of really creative recipes and many people did savory tuiles so check it out!

Tuiles

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / 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 / 2 1/4 ounces sifted all purpose flour
Butter or spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed), cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. 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 or 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 baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes.

Bake cookies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet 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. Or: place a baking sheet 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…

Meyer Lemon-Rosemary Sorbet
(Adapted from Good Housekeeping Step by Step Cookbook: More Than 1,000 Recipes * 1,800 Photographs * 500 Techniques)

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh Meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
Rosemary sprigs and Meyer lemon slices for garnish

In a medium saucepan, heat sugar, corn syrup, and 2 cups of water to boiling over high heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in chopped rosemary. Cover pan and let stand about 20 minutes.

Pour mixture through a sieve set over a medium bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Pour the lemon mixture into a 9x9 metal baking pan (8x8 works fine too); cover with plastic wrap or foil. Freeze, stirring occasionally, about 3 hours until partially frozen.

In a food processor with knife blade attached, blend the lemon mixture until smooth, but still frozen. Return mixture to the baking pan. Cover and freeze for at least 3 hours, or until firm.

To serve, let sorbet stand at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes to soften slightly for easier scooping; garnish with lemon slices and rosemary sprigs.

December Daring Bakers: French Yule Log

If you're reading this now, it means Blogger didn't screw me over and my post has appeared on time while I make my way back from Hawaii. If you're nice and not naughty, I will share some pictures of my beautiful vacation with you soon. I should really have a better title for this post like "How Chocolate Kicked My Ass" or something clever like that. As I do at the beginning of every every month, I headed over to the Daring Bakers forum to see what this month's challenge would be. At first I was confused. I know for a fact that last December the Daring Bakers made a yule log, but then I kept reading. This was wasn't a nice rolled cake, this was a scary French thing with dozens (ok, six) layers and lots and lots and LOTS of eggs and cream. Of course I work with eggs and cream, but this dessert involved many things I have never made before.

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 chose a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

Fear paralyzed me when I saw that the recipe was 18 pages long (which I later came to realize as mostly full of filler). As I said before, it called for things I had never made like creme brulee, ganache, praline, and dacquoise. I was so scared that I seriously contemplated opting out of this one, but my competitive side got the best of me. Hello! This is a challenge, of course I had to take it on. After reading through the recipe several times, I figured out the flavors I wanted to incorporate into my log. I am a sucker for cinnamon so I decided to go with the mostly dark chocolate flavors with a cinnamon milk ganache insert and a cinnamon creme brulee. Since the daquoise was almond in flavor, I decided to use almond in my praline (hence the almond brittle which I turned into the paste for that layer)

One of the things I love about being a Daring Baker is that there are so many people to help you and guide you through the process. One of the bakers gave a timeline of what order to prepare the various components of the log so that is how I was able to organize myself. Another big thing (one of the most exciting things to happen all year) is that I was finally able to get the STAND MIXER I have been coveting for months. When I first started cooking, I was very scornful of the stand mixer. I figured that people baked and cooked for years without it, so why would it not be possible for me to do the same. That was until a week ago, when I got mine. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen making the various components of this dessert, but my life was made infinitely better by the use of my spanking new stand mixer (which was worth the trip to the ghetto Target). The other thing that helped was a kitchen scale which was another recent purchase. So much of this recipe was in ounces and grams and instead of trying to do conversions, I just figured it out on this handy kitchen tool. This was a pretty exhausting process and even though I wanted to take pictures of each step, I just didn't have the time since I was trying to bang this out before I left on my trip.

The first part I made was the praline paste for the Praline Crisp insert. I also decided to go ahead and make the gavottes (lace crepes) versus using Rice Krispies. The only snag is that I didn't have enough of the gavottes once I had finished that part, so I made up the difference using Special K. Even though my praline layer was very crumbly, it was one of my favorite parts of the recipe. I am glad, that I had a lot of it leftover because it made quite an addictive snack.

The next day, I tackled the bulk of the log. First up was the creme brulee insert. As I mentioned, I wanted cinnamon flavors in my log so I made a cinnamon creme brulee. It was a simple recipe, but the cooking temperature and time was not only a problem for me, but for most of the Daring Bakers. I ended up cooking it at (approximately) 210 for the first hour and then at 275 for another 30 or so minutes until it set.

While the creme brulee was baking, I attacked the dark chocolate mousse. The only other mousse I have made was an incredibly simple recipe. This chocolate mousse recipe was waaaay more involved. I had to make a pate a bomb (what?) and whip cream, and soften gelatin, and do all sorts of unmentionable things. I messed up a couple of times in the mousse recipe. Instead of bringing the cream to a boil in my double boiler, I added the cream and chocolate at the same time. I ended up needing way more cream than the 2 tablespoons called for to make it a smooth mixture. Also, I used powdered gelatin. In the recipe it says to "follow the instructions on the box" for powdered gelatin. I can prove to you, my box didn't come with instructions. When I mixed the gelatin with the chocolate, I had a really unappetizing mix with a whole bunch of liquid on the top, which I skimmed a lot of off before I folded in the whipped cream. After a while, I thought I was going to have to restart the whole thing, but magically it came together. It was delicious too. In retrospect, I wish I had added a little bit of cinnamon flavor to the mousse, but again it was delicious the way it was.

Next up, daquoise. Da-WHO?? This little almond cake was one of the easiest parts of the recipe and also one of the tastiest. I just did the straightforward almond daquoise recipe and could not have been happier. I was so glad to have some of the cake left over to munch on while I waited for the partially assembled log to freeze and make the ganache.

So second to last, I made the cinnamon milk ganache. This was actually not as difficult as I thought it would be. It called for making a caramel out of sugar, adding cream to the caramel and then adding that mixture to some chocolate and then some butter. One bit of advice, do not (not even for a second) walk away from the sugar while it is caramelizing. One bathroom break and you could have an almost burned caramel...not that I would know from experience.

Once I had these layers complete, the actual log assembly was pretty straightforward. Mousse, creme brulee, mousse, praline, mousse. Freeze for a couple of hours...make ganache, top with dacquoise and freeze overnight. Next day, make the icing and re-freeze the log. My log was very uneven so I "decorated" it with leftover praline. I think it's quite ugly, but the taste of this was amazing. Tony came over and we enjoyed the log together. It is verrrry rich. We could only eat a little bit at a time, but it was fantastic.


The recipes below are the components I used. Check out the Daring Bakers blogroll to see the other combinations people came up with.



Daquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake)

Equipment: 2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper

Note: You can use the Dacquoise for the bottom of your Yule Log only, or as bottom and top layers, or if using a Yule log mold (half-pipe) to line your entire mold with the biscuit. Take care to spread the Dacquoise accordingly. Try to bake the Dacquoise the same day you assemble the log to keep it as moist as possible.

2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar

Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).

1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Equipment: stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula

Note: You will see that a Pate a Bombe is mentioned in this recipe. A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulee insert.

Ingredients:
2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 1/2tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in color (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in 1/2 cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6. Add in the rest of the whipped cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

Cinnamon-Milk Ganache Insert

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Equipment: pan, whisk. If you have plunging mixer (a vertical hand mixer used to make soups and other liquids), it comes in handy.

Note: Because the ganache hardens as it cools, you should make it right before you intend to use it to facilitate piping it onto the log during assembly. Please be careful when caramelizing the sugar and then adding the cream. It may splatter and boil.

1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2.7 oz (75g) milk chocolate, finely chopped
3.2 oz (90g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. Heat the cream with the cinnamon (use the quantity of cinnamon you want to infuse the cream, a pinch is the smallest amount suggested) until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the milk and dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast. The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert

Preparation time: 10 minutes (+ optional 15 minutes if you make lace crepes)

Equipment: Small saucepan, baking sheet (if you make lace crepes).
Double boiler (or one small saucepan in another), wax paper, rolling pin (or I use an empty bottle of olive oil).

Note: Feuillete means layered (as in with leaves) so a Praline Feuillete is a Praline version of a delicate crisp. There are non-praline variations below. The crunch in this crisp comes from an ingredient which is called gavottes in French. Gavottes are lace-thin crepes. To our knowledge they are not available outside of France, so you have the option of making your own using the recipe below or you can simply substitute rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K for them. Special note: If you use one of the substitutes for the gavottes, you should halve the quantity stated, as in use 1oz of any of these cereals instead of 2.1oz.

If you want to make your own praline, please refer back to the Daring Baker Challenge Recipe from July 2008.

To make 2.1oz / 60g of gavottes (lace crepes - recipe by Ferich Mounia):
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
2/3 Tbsp (8g) unsalted butter
1/3 cup – 2tsp (35g) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp / 0.5 oz (15g) beaten egg
1 tsp (3.5g) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Heat the milk and butter together until butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Sift flour into milk-butter mixture while beating, add egg and granulated sugar. Make sure there are no lumps.
3. Grease a baking sheet and spread batter thinly over it.
4. Bake at 430°F (220°C) for a few minutes until the crepe is golden and crispy. Let cool.

Ingredients for the Praline Feuillete:
3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) butter
2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline
2.1oz (60g) lace crepes(gavottes) or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.
3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

Cinnamon Creme Brulee Insert

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 1 hour infusing + 1 hour (+) baking

Equipment: Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper

Note: The vanilla crème brulée can be flavored differently by simply replacing the vanilla with something else e.g. cardamom, lavender, etc...

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
1/2 cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.
5. Put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly

Dark Chocolate Icing

Preparation time: 25 minutes (10mn if you don’t count softening the gelatin)

Equipment: Small bowl, small saucepan

Note: Because the icing gelifies quickly, you should make it at the last minute.
For other gelatin equivalencies or gelatin to agar-agar equivalencies, look at the notes for the mousse component.


4g / 1/2 Tbsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin
1/4 cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50g) water
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.
3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.
4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

November Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake (or Cupcakes)

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend with people you love and that you're eating too much!! It's also time for another Daring Bakers post. November's challenge was hosted by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food. Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go helped with the gluten free edition. The challenge, which I accepted, was to bake Shuna Fish Lydon's famous caramel cake with the optional challenge of making Alice Medrich's golden vanilla bean caramels from her book Pure Dessert.

Let me tell you, I was super deluxe nervous about making this recipe. Last month, I mentioned that I suck at candy making and this recipe called for caramel in several ways. There was caramel syrup in the cake and frosting, and of course, being the overachiever in the kitchen that I have been known to be, of course I was going to try making the golden caramels. My first concern was when to make the cake and how to make the cake. The original recipe called for a tall baking pan which I do not have. The other concern was deciding whether to bake the cake for myself or my friends. Luckily, JenFinn decided to host a potluck (which was one of our biggest) at the beginning of the month so the when was not so much an issue. To make this recipe more potluck friendly, I changed it a little to make cupcakes (which many Daring Bakers ended up doing). A little bit of research (and very helpful advice from my fellow bakers), turned me on to this article by David Lebovitz. I realized that my main problem when making the dreadful pepita brittle was that I was using organic sugar. In his article, David explains that one of the secrets to making caramel is to use a white, refined sugar. Lesson learned.

The first part of the recipe that I tried was the caramel syrup that was needed for the cake and for the icing. I found this to be quite easy compared to some of the other Daring Bakers. I have an intense fear of burning things, so I didn't let this syrup get quite as amber in color as others, but I also didn't burn it. I made the syrup the night before the cakes kept it in a jar in the refrigerator until I made the cakes (I still have some left!). Later that same night, I attempted the caramels. The recipe for the caramels calls for something called golden syrup. I have never heard of or seen golden syrup, but my trusty Google led me to a site that said you can use half light corn syrup and half honey to get something that resembles golden syrup so that's what I did. I cooked my caramels to 260 and then poured them into a pan to let them cool. I made two mistakes that night. 1) I really wish I had cooked the caramels to 265 to make a firmer caramel, the ones I made were very soft blobs, 2) I kept tasting the caramels (and burning my fingers) as they cooled. I could not get enough of the flavor of these things. SO INCREDIBLY GOOD! I have never been a huge fan of caramels, but if you get a chance to make these sometime, I strongly suggest you do so. Again, I wish I had cooked mine to a firmer temperature. It was kind of a bitch getting these into wrappers and they kept turning into caramel blobs instead of the lovely squares I cut them into, but all was forgiven once I popped the sugary goodness in my mouth.

The last two parts of the challenge were the cake itself and the brown butter buttercream icing. I found the cake recipe to be very straightforward and the easiest part of the recipe. The only thing I really had to modify was the cooking time because I made cupcakes instead of a full cake. The frosting was...interesting. The measurements were vague and many people were complaining of the overwhelming sweetness in the final recipe. I absolutely hate when things are too sweet so instead of the pound of confectioners sugar called for in the recipe, I only used two cups. I added the beans from a one inch piece of vanilla to give the icing some more flavor and those lovely flecks of vanilla. I also used about a teaspoon of sea salt to counteract the sweetness of the recipe. I topped each cupcake with a caramel blob and I think the flavors all complimented each other nicely.

And there you have it. These seemed to be a big hit at the potluck, but it could have been my friends lying to me, paired with the copious amounts of wine and the thrill of our monster version of Mafia, the game (to this day I maintain my innocence as a townsperson). Again, I hope you are having a most fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. I am off to my highschool reunion. GAH!! Has it really been 10 years already?!?! Enjoy the long weekend. If you would like to see how the other Daring Bakers interpreted this cake, check out the blogroll. To get the full recipes, please visit the sites of any of our hosts.