The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I’m going to suck it up and pick one name to stick with for this post…so croquembouche it is. I like the sound of it and how it rolls off the tongue. Try it yourself: CROAK-EM-BOOSH. Isn’t that fun? “Piece montée,” on the other hand, means “mounted piece.” So you can see that, clearly, “croquembouche” is the superior term.

Croquembouche means “crunching in one’s mouth,” because of the caramelized sugar holding the pieces of filled pastry together. It’s a tower formed of profiteroles, or miniature cream puffs, which are made with pâte à choux pastry batter then piped with a creamy filling. The traditional filling, since we’re being French, is of course pastry cream, or crème patissiere. Once the cream puffs are ready you melt some sugar, dip the cream puffs in the very hot sugar, and assemble the tower.

The croquembouche challenge appeared just in time for Mother’s Day, so I had a good reason to get off my ass and make it early in the month for once. Sadly, I’m terrible at following rules, and instead of preparing the challenge recipe for pâte à choux, I used the whole grain recipe from King Arthur Flour, because around here we love when whole grains work just as well as refined flours. And it did…but more on that in a few days when I put up the pâte à choux recipe proper.

The whole thing made me very nervous. Piping fillings into cream puffs? Dipping said puffs into burning hot caramel? Sticking them together in a stack so they don’t fall? Making spun sugar?

I found this video pretty helpful as far as the whole assembly process. At least it made me less frightened of burning my fingers off.

So how did the croquembouche go over on Mother’s Day? I wound up making two because I misjudged how large I could make the first, beribboned one. I kind of like the small one, on the red plate, a little better: it’s funkier in its irregularity, leaning like the Tower of Pisa and twisting like an insane DNA strand. Sis was more impressed with small croc’s spun sugar, too: my fork must have caught the quickly-cooling sugar at just the right temperature to drag thick, personality-filled strands of sugar the color and shiny, hard consistency of amber.

The family’s verdict: mini filled cream puffs are yummy. Croquembouches look really cool. But they’re a pain to eat: wrestling delicate, cream-filled pastry from its diamond-hard caramel sugar glue is an exercise in destructive futility. You don’t make one of these expecting them to stay purty once the guests begin pawing at it.

Unless your guests turn it into a game of Jenga. Then it’s kind of cool. Insert Jenga-like croquembouche picture here, because I’m in Chicago right now and forgot to upload it before I left.

Loved this challenge, because it reminded me of how dead easy cream puffs are to make. I’ll show you soon!

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2010. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Boy was I excited earlier this month to find that February’s Daring Bakers challenge would be tiramisu. It’s a dessert I’ve always enjoyed in restaurants — that is, when I’ve had room…and who ever has room? Mom and I agree that one day we should order dessert first, and then if we’re still hungry get something after. Who says dessert has to be last, anyway?

Tiramisu is the classic Italian dessert, made with ladyfingers soaked in sweetened espresso and layered with a mixture of marscarpone cheese and zabaglione, a Marsala wine-tinged egg custard. The challenge recipe adds vanilla pastry cream and whipped cream to the marscarpone/zabaglione mixture.

One aspect of the challenge was making your own marscarpone cheese. I was looking forward to this as my aunt gave me a yogurt cheese maker for Christmas. It’s a wavy fine-meshed strainer that sits in a plastic container, making cheesecloth-sitting-over-a-bowl a thing of the past. Making marscarpone would have devirginized my cheese maker, but sadly I couldn’t find the right kind of cream. Ultra-pasteurized cream was all that was available, and ultra-pasteurized isn’t quite active enough to properly turn into cheese. So, sorry, I wasn’t able to do that part of that challenge. ;(

This tiramisu recipe has several parts: the ladyfingers, the zabaglione, the pastry cream, the whipped cream, and the putting-it-all-together bits.

My gods, it’s worth it, though

You’ll see why in a bit.

Allow a few days’ lead time when making tiramisu. The ladyfinger biscuits can be made a week ahead and kept airtight or frozen. The zabaglione and pastry cream need at least 4 hours to chill, so simply make them the night before.

I diverged from the challenge recipe for whipped cream because earlier this week I made strawberry shortcake. I made enough whipped cream for both recipes, and I needed it to be stable enough to wait a few days while I made the tiramisu, so I used the stabilized whipped cream recipe from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

Once all the components are ready and the marscarpone/zabaglione/pastry cream/whipped cream is mixed together, the production line begins!

That’s sweetened coffee spiked with a bit of rum in the middle. Just a bit. Had to save some for myself, you know.

After getting the ladyfingers liquored up and caffeinated a tad, they’re laid out in a layer.

And the creamy stuff is spread on, and the layering continues until it looks like you’d like to just fill a tub and swim in it. I thought briefly of making it look nice — assembling the tiramisu in a springform pan or parfait cups.

But I wanted it messy

I wanted it freeform and gloppy and a bit risque. I wanted it to be loose and unabashedly sexy. I would even call it insouciant, but I’m not sure what that word means, so I won’t.

Fits, though, doesn’t it? Insouciant. This is a dessert that drips grown-up hedonism. A bit of this tiramisu sings deep red wine. It sings rum, and coffee, and creamy textures wrapped around gently crumbling, moistened ladyfingers.

I love this tiramisu recipe. It’s involved, yet not particularly persnickety or time-consuming. It has quality notes like the lemon zest in the zabaglione and pastry cream: you don’t taste lemon at all in the final iteration, you simply sense a brightness shining up the dark flavors of the wine and coffee and the quiet flavor of the ladyfingers.

Tiramisu isn’t an everyday dessert. But for a dinner party? Absolutely. I can’t think of a better way to end a meal.

That is, if you still have room.

tiramisu

Recipe source: Carminantonio’s Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007. This recipe makes 6 servings


For the zabaglione:

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar/50gms

¼ cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)

¼ teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:


¼ cup/55gms sugar

1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

½ teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk

¾ cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:

1 tablespoon cold water
½ teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (1 to 1½ ounces) confectioners’ sugar

To assemble the tiramisu:


2 cups/470ml brewed espresso or instant coffee, warmed

1 teaspoon/5ml rum (optional)
 (I didn’t use rum extract because it was imitation)
½ cup/110gms sugar

⅓ cup/75gms mascarpone cheese

36 savoiardi/ladyfinger biscuits — or 1 recipe’s worth from below (you may use fewer)

2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Making each part

For the zabaglione:

Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.

In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.

Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.

Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream: 

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)

Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:

Place the water in a small heatproof bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over the water and let it sit for 5 minutes to dissolve. Met the gelatin in the microwave on low power for 10 seconds, just until melted. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Whip cream in a large mixing bowl until it begins to thicken and the whisk begins to leave tracks as it moves through the cream. With the mixer at medium speed, pour in the gelatin. Once the gelatin is incorporated, stop the mixer and add the confectioners’ sugar. Resume beating the cream until it forms medium peaks. Set aside or chill until needed.

To assemble the tiramisu: 


Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8″ by 8″ should do) or one of your choice.

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.
 Working quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.

To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

ladyfingers

Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home. This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long).

3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner’s sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5″ long and 3/4″ wide strips leaving about 1″ space in between the strips.

Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.

Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.

Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.

Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cheese, coffee, cream, eggs, wine

Let me warn you, I’m slapping these in the “600 calorie death spiral” category ASAP. Nanaimo bars are sweet. Tooth-achingly, sugar coma-inducing sweet. Guess how much butter this recipe packs into an 8 x 8 pan?

Okay, you guessed two. I’ll give that to you, because it was obvious. How about this? What is that yellow, creamy middle layer 90% comprised of?

Drat, you guessed a stick of butter. And you were right.

Nanaimo bars — I keep wanting to call them Nanowrimo bars —are a Canadian invention, intended to nourish moose hunters in the frigid Yukon winters much like the Eskimos gained their needed calories from whale blubber. It’s common for moosers (as the great Yukon moose hunters call themselves) to fabricate dozens of batches of Nanaimo bars in the fall, pack them in their own dogsled, and thus haul the sweets with them throughout their winter hunting on the tundra.

quit making things up already

There were two required parts to this Daring Bakers Challenge: make your own graham crackers, preferably gluten-free, and make the Nanaimo bars. The gluten-free grahams recipe called for several specialty flours, and I didn’t look forward to a) hunting them down or b) spending $30 on flours I literally would never use again.

Instead, I made a graham cracker recipe I’ve made before: Whole wheat graham crackers from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking. As always with crackers, I had trouble rolling the dough thin enough (read: I couldn’t). However, even the crackers that came out thick and cookie-like were tasty, of course. How could they not be? Crackers are made using the same cutting-solid-fat-into-flour method as pie crust. Don’t expect homemade crackers to be similar to store-bought. They are very rich in comparison — not the kind of cracker you can eat a few dozen of easily.

Nanaimo bars are three layers: bottom is crushed grahams, cocoa, chopped nuts, coconut, butter. The butter middle layer is basically butter, with some powdered sugar and custard powder. I can only imagine those dry ingredients are added to the butter to stabilize it, because they don’t add much flavor. The top layer is melted chocolate chips with…guess. Come on, guess. Butter!

As you also may have guessed, Nanaimo bars aren’t quite my cup of tea. I found them cloyingly sweet (and I like sweets) with little going on other than chocolate and butter. The nuts, coconut, and grahams are entirely lost, and I have no idea what the custard powder is supposed to taste like because the layer it’s in simply tastes like a stick of butter.

However! Linda and Dad really liked them. Mom thought they were too dark chocolate-like. So I’m likely the weirdo here, missing out on something amazing.

whole grain graham crackers

Adapted with permission from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.

oven: 350 degrees
yield: 6 dozen 3-inch crackers
baking time: 12 to 15 minutes

1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) whole barley flour
1/2 cup (2-1/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1-7/8 ounces) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (1-3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled
1/4 cup (2 ounces) milk
Cinnamon sugar (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Alternately, use a food processor, and pulse in short bursts until butter is nearly pea-sized.

Add the milk and combine until you have a stiff dough. You may need to add a bit more or less milk depending on local humidity. Knead the dough lightly until it’s smooth. It’s okay to work with this dough a little bit, but take care to only knead until the bread is smooth — you don’t want to completely incorporate the butter; you want to be able to see bits of butter poking through.

Divide dough into 2 pieces and flatten into a rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about an hour, or overnight. I chilled mine overnight.

Working with one piece of dough at a time, and leaving the other in the fridge, roll out the rectangle very thin on floured parchment paper, about 1/16th of an inch thick. With a sharp knife or a pizza cutter (I prefer the pizza cutter), trim the edges from the dough to form a clean rectangle about 9 x 12 inches. Save scraps to re-roll later.

Cut the dough into 3-inch squares, then cut each square in half. Prick the crackers with a fork or a dough docker. Transfer the parchment, dough and all, to a baking sheet.

Repeat with second piece of dough, saving its scraps as well. Re-roll the scraps into more crackers. The re-rolled dough bakes up surprisingly well, not much tougher at all, nearly indistinguishable from the “virgin” crackers.

Top crackers with cinnamon sugar, if desired.

Bake crackers until lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes. I found 14 minutes worked well in my oven, and I did one pan at a time while rolling and preparing the next. Transfer crackers to a wire rack to cool.

For Nanaimo bars, place graham crackers in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin to make 1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs.

nanaimo bars

Bottom Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer

4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill. Makes 16 servings.

Each serving is 312 calories. Two bars surpasses the 600 calorie death spiral threshold.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: almonds, barley flour, chocolate, coconut, whole wheat flour

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.

This post dedicated to the memory of Aunt Alice, who made a gingerbread house and brought it to family Christmas (Mom’s side) every year. And every year the kids gleefully demolished it.

Lots of pics in this post. No progress pics. Too busy. Gingerbread recipe follows, as I misread and used a completely different one from the challenge recipes. Which worked out well, it turns out, since most Daring Bakers had trouble with the challenge recipes, but the one I used came out just right.

I made the Dawson City house from The Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes. I liked the style in the book: no-nonsense with authentic architectural details. As authentic as one can be using butterscotch candy windows and Rice Krispies treats trees, that is.

Dawson City is a gold rush-era town in the Yukon. Though the plans called for a sparse landscape decorated with a pastillage Santa and sleigh pulled by penguins, I could not bear the inaccuracy of the fauna (penguins live in the southern hemisphere, not the northern hemisphere; that’s polar bears) and slapped some equally inaccurate pine trees down instead.

Okay, I was just too lazy to sculpt in sugar clay. So sue me.

Ooh, a licorice chimney. Of course, I used one piece out of a full bag. My brother-in-law got the remainder. Merry Christmas, Dale!

The walkway, made of milk chocolate rocks. Easily the yummiest part of the house.

The other side of the house. Actually, the gingerbread and even the royal icing were pretty good-tasting.

I didn’t trim pieces to be even when they came out of the oven as the book recommended, which resulted in some gaps, most noticeably where the roof met the walls. No problem. Just squirt a whole mess of royal icing in there.

A top view. Loved making that sparkly pink roof. That’s a Barbie roof right there.

You totally can’t tell this was my first time using pastry tips, right? Right?

Let’s see that pink roof again.

Blew through a whole lot of gel food coloring making that brown, pink, violet, yellow, and blue icing.

That cord. I put rice lights inside the house. They were supposed to glow through the windows, but the effect was hardly noticeable. Culprit could either be using colored lights instead of white, one set instead of two, or thick butterscotch candy windows.

A closer look at the facade, easily the hardest part of the whole house.

That pink squiggle was the most satisfying part of the whole project, hands down. Perhaps it had something to do with being the last part of the project.

gingerbread: the wreckening

It began so innocently, with Justin striking a pose next to the house after I took it to Mom’s on Christmas day.

Then Maggie asked if she could take the roof off. Fool that I am, I said yes.

Then Jennifer got in on the action.

The wreckage, after hurricane Magjen struck.

gingerbread dough

This recipe is for gingerbread for building a gingerbread house. It is a smooth, highly workable dough. I had excellent luck with it. Adapted from The Gingerbread Architect: Recipes and Blueprints for Twelve Classic American Homes.

Yield: 3-1/2 pounds of gingerbread dough

1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup dark (not light or blackstrap) molasses
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons white vinegar
5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Using a large stand mixer, cream shortening and sugar.

Add baking powder, ginger, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until well-mixed.

Add molasses, eggs, and vinegar. Beat until smooth.

Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. The end result will be a smooth brown dough.

Turn out dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press into a rough square shape. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours before using. Will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ginger

okay, fine, “macarons”

Well, en français they’re called macarons. Silly Frenchies. Macarons were October’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I filled them with lime-colored peppermint buttercream, and decided they looked like little hamburgers, and since it’s that time of the year, they’re now officially Halloween Boo-Burgers. Yay!

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 must be a real hick, because I’ve participated in Daring Bakers challenges two months now, and I’d never heard of either month’s baked good. Vols-au-vent? Macarons? Double-you-tee-eff, mate?

Turns out macarons aren’t those coconut cookie things. They’re simple-looking cookies made of almond flour and powdered sugar folded into egg whites that have been beaten into a meringue and slightly sweetened with granulated sugar. As a result, they’re kind of nutty and kind of sweet, but not overly so. A perfect macaron will have a thin crunchy outside, chewy inside, and crunchy “feet” at the base.

It’s quite easy to become obsessed with achieving the perfect feet.

Word among the Daring Bakers was that this particular macaron recipe was a bit finicky. My first attempt, plain macarons, came out pretty well….

So I decided to try a cocoa-flavored version. Oops! That didn’t work out very well. They did get a thumbs-up from everyone who tried them. I told them they didn’t have to be nice. They said they actually really liked them. I was meh about the whole deal.

the traveling macarons

The macarons and I went with Linda this evening to see local bluegrass superstars The Doodads.

We met up with Debi and several of her family and friends.

See the macarons on the table? That’s my excuse for these two pics.

the nitty gritty

Back to basics. Each of these attempts I made using a scaled-down one egg white version of the recipe. I was just too scared to try more; I’d read too many disaster stories. Since I needed to beat only one egg white, my stand mixer was overkill, and its whisk attachment wouldn’t even be able to do the job properly as it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl. It was time to break out the trusty old hand mixer. I hadn’t used it in years. Good thing the pack rat in me made me keep it, eh?

Old egg whites are supposedly better. That egg white has been sitting on the counter for two days, covered in a paper towel secured with a rubber band. Then you have the powdered sugar and almond flour, sifted together. And the teensy bit of granulated sugar the one egg white recipe requires (a bit over a teaspoon).

That egg white sure got a lot bigger! Hey, is that meringue too wussy? I think I’m scared of overbeating.

Now this next pic is from the cocoa disaster, but I wanted to show you what folding in the dry ingredients looks like, and the gooey final product.

Shh, I know, I told you the cocoa ones came out badly. That’s still how the dough is supposed to look. Both my successful batches were just like that.

If you don’t have a squeezy pastry bag, just put a plastic bag in a glass and fold the edges over, and put your batter in that. Then snip off a corner of the baggie to squeeze through.

Just out of the oven.

macarons

Recipe adapted from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern. Directions are as provided by Daring Bakers. Have 5-6 of these for a 100-calorie snack.

prep: 20 minutes
bake: 5 minutes, then 7-8 minutes, approximately 13 minutes total
servings: varies by size of macaron; 1-inch (tiny!) macarons will yield 2 dozen per egg white in the recipe
oven: 200 degrees, then 375 degrees

Full recipe:


Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)

Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)

Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

1 Egg White version:

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 7 tablespoons (1.6 oz.)

Almond flour: 1/4 cup + 2-1/2 tablespoons (1.3 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 1-1/4 teaspoons (0.2 oz.)

Egg whites: 1 (Have at room temperature)

2 Egg Whites version:


Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (3.2 oz.)

Almond flour: 3/4 cup + 2-1/2 tablespoons (2.7 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 2-1/2 teaspoons (0.35 oz.)

Egg whites: 2 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.


2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.


3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.


4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.


5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).


6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.


7. Cool on a rack before filling.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: almonds, eggs

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.

When I read that my first Daring Bakers challenge would be to make puff pastry, and then form them into vols-au-vent — a French phrase that roughly translates to “windblown” for their lightness and airy height — I was trepidatious. Why couldn’t my de-virgination be a nice cake or something? Sure, it might be a complicated cake, but it would have a basis in something recognizable.

After several weeks, I took a deep breath and jumped in.

The result was light, flaky, buttery pastry baked in shaped shells, begging to be stuffed with fillings sweet or savory.

how to make vols-au-vent

you need:

1. well-chilled puff pastry dough, thawed from frozen or made from scratch
2. egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
3. filling(s) – a few are described below
4. cutters
5. baking sheet
6. parchment paper

You may cut your vols-au-vent into any shape you desire. Round shapes are easiest to work with. Have two cutters for each shape you plan to make, one for the main shape, and one that’s half to two-thirds as large as the first. Small, appetizer-sized vols-au-vent can be made with 1-1/2″ and 3/4″ circle cutters, while a large, main course-size would take more along the lines of 4″ and 2″ to 2-1/2″ cutters.

Cut a piece of parchment sized to your baking sheet and set it on your work surface. Marble works best, because it keeps the chill. I did mine on a large wooden cutting board, and they still came out fine.

Flour the parchment paper lightly. If your puff pastry is in a sheet, lay it on the parchment. If it’s in a block, roll it into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the top and beneath the dough as you roll it out if it becomes sticky.

Transfer the dough and parchment paper to your baking sheet and refrigerate for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, get the dough back out. Using your larger sized cutter, cut out several circles. You’ll get 4 to 10 circles from a sheet of puff pastry dough, depending on the size you’re making. Cut out an even number of circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides.

Scraps: this process will create scraps of dough, much like when making cutout cookies. Unlike when making cutout cookies, don’t ball up the scraps. Simply stack them up. They can be re-rolled. They will not rise enough to make vols-au-vent, so don’t attempt to re-use the scraps in this recipe. However, they make mighty nice palmiers.

Using your smaller cutter, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. The rings will be the sides of your vols-au-vent. The small center discs can be baked as little “caps” for your vols-au-vent. The whole rounds will be the bases.

Prick the bases and small center discs gently with a fork, making sure not to go all the way through the dough.

Brush the bases and small center discs lightly with the egg wash. Keep egg wash clear of the sides.

Place the rings on the bases and press lightly. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, keeping the egg wash clear of the sides.

They don’t look very tall yet, do they?

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Once the oven is heated, get the vols-au-vent from the fridge. Lay a piece of parchment over top of them. This will help the pastry to rise evenly.

Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and remove the parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. The center caps may be done already; otherwise check closely while the vols-au-vent continue baking, as they will be done before the shells.

Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more.

Cool baked shells and caps on a rack, and fill with your desired filling.

Filling ideas

I filled mine with three different things.

One was julienned roasted summer vegetables.

Another was oven-caramelized Italian plums and lemon curd.

And the third was apple pie filling.

Other fillings could be egg salad, tuna salad, any creamy salad; whipped cream and fruit; Greek yogurt and caramelized peaches with almonds; and chicken pot pie.

© Amy for Shiny Cooking, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: puff pastry