YAY! for baking!!!.... and crafts!

YAY! for Black Bean "Falafel"

2012-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Daring Cooks’ February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax & Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients and deliciousness! We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties!

I made hamburgers shortly after the challenge was announced, but that's something I've done several times before, so not much of a challenge. I also forgot to take pictures. For my second challenge attempt I thought I would make falafel, but I didn't have any chickpeas, so I came up with something completely different: a black bean "falafel" style patty, with Tex-Mex flavors, served in a pita with sour cream, lettuce, salsa, and cheese. Avocado would have been great, but I didn't have one :(

Recipe
Into my food processor I put 2 handfuls of tortilla chips (I didn't add salt because the chips were salty)
I chopped them small then added:
1/2 small yellow onion
3 cloves of garlic
zest of 2 limes
1/2 serrano chili (use more if you like more heat)
about 1/2 tsp each of black pepper and cumin
I blended again and added one can of black beans, rinsed and drained well. I added them last to maintain some of the chunkiness you find in traditional falafel (which uses soaked raw beans)
1/2 an egg might have been good, but they held together pretty well without it. Any more liquid than 1/2 an egg would have made the mix too soft to handle.

I used a #60 scoop to portion the patties, flattened them slightly, and fried them in about 1/3" of 350F oil until browned on both sides, drained on toweling, and served.
The patties were good, and super filling. I made about two dozen "falafel", which was more than enough for the four of us, and probably would have easily served 6.

YAY! for Pink!

2012-02-07T21:55:00.000-08:00

After we took the Christmas pillows down the sofa looked naked, so I got fabric to make pink pillows for Valentine's Day. It took a while (I've been busy) but I finally finished all four pillows.

Scrappy string-pieced squares

I made two 16" covers, with a paper-piecing technique from here. I used 1-2" strips of all the fabrics to make a scrappy looking top.

I like the pinwheel look of these two.

For the 14" squares I used only 3 fabrics and cut strips to make 8 identical squares. I then put them together into fours.

One with the lightest fabric in the middle

This one is my favorite!

And one with the darkest fabric in the middle. I'm bad at math, so the 8 "squares" were really rectangles, so I trimmed them down and added a second border to make the 14", which I actually really like. I had planned on a border of the backing fabric, but I like the second border a lot.

I always make envelope back pillow covers, with at least 6 inches of overlap.
I find the cover looks better with more overlap

YAY! for great friends!!

2012-01-29T16:27:00.000-08:00

We've had some hard things going on at home recently, and Mom's friends keep asking how they could help. The Primary presidency decided they wanted to freshen the garden, around the pond. And they did a great job!

They brought us a new doormat

Planted new flowers in the pots and added a fairy path with enchanted mushrooms

Dave and Elizabeth planted a LOT of bulbs. The narcissus started blooming at Christmas

They replaced the rhododendrons and added new bushes

planted jade, primrose and succulents around the pond

and added some daisies around the front

and they left Nacho's path so he can still lay about outside

We're grateful to have such wonderful friends and family!

YAY!! for Biscuits!

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

They were very flaky and fluffy, and I got to use my new baking rack!

The recipe provided was great, and quite similar to others I have used, with the one difference being the technique for incorporating the butter. I had never grated frozen butter into the flour, but it worked really well, and might be a good technique for other recipes, like pie crust.

They nearly tripled in height after baking!

I also made a batch with cheddar cheese and chives. They were fantastic with ham and green beans.

Golden brown and flaky deliciousness!

I added the chives and cheese to the flour with the butter, tossing them all gently to mix, then added the milk and smooshed it together in the bowl with my hands. I patted and cut rounds and baked until golden and gooey.

Gooey melted cheese. Yum.

RECIPE

Ingredients:
4 cups AP flour

2 T and 2 tsp baking powder

1 teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt

1/2 cup frozen butter, grated

2 cup cold milk or half and half

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450°F

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl.

3. Dump in the butter, cut a few times with a pastry blender.

4. Add all of the liquid at once, mix until it almost forms a sticky dough, then fold and press to mix in the rest of the flour.

5. Pat or roll out the dough to about ¾ inch thick, cut into rounds.

6. Place the rounds almost touching on a baking dish

7. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.

8. Serve while still warm.

Chopped Bingo!

2012-01-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

I made a Bingo game for watching chopped. I'd seen this drinking game, but we don't drink, and thought bingo would be a good alternative. I've made 5 different cards, so you can play with your friends and/or family! Enjoy!

YAY! for tamales!!

2012-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

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

I made the chili verde version here

They were really good! I usually don't like tamales (probably just haven't had good ones, I guess) but I liked these.

I served them with extra chili verde sauce and guacamole.

My brother, sister, and puppy helped me fill, and then I steamed them in my bamboo steamer (I got it for Christmas, thanks Jonathan!) I cooked them last night then reheated for dinner tonight.

Hunter was such a good supervisor

Valentine's Day Wreath

2012-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:00

This week I made a new wreath for our front door. I used corn husks left over from making tamales (more on that later this week!) dyed with Rit dye and stapled to a wreath form. I wrapped ribbon over the staples after the husks dried. I got the idea from here. I found that the corn husks that had been previously soaked dyed better than dry husks, even after several days in the dye.

I think it's pretty on the door, even if Jonathan thinks it shouldn't go up until Feburary:)

YAY! for wonky nine patch!!

2012-01-07T23:48:00.000-08:00

This YAY! for___!! thing is going to stop working, I just know it. I'm having a hard time thinking of new ways to say "quilt"

I could see a quilt like this in my future

This week I made the real Friendship Basket pillow cover. I made a wonky nine patch (instructions here ) The finished squares are 4 1/2", but with the sashing the pillow is 16". I decided to only quilt in the sashing, because the blocks are busy enough. I really like the straight precision of the quilting with the crazy skiwampus nine-patch.

I also really like the retro look of the fabrics and the colors are so pretty.

In other quilting news, I got a new quilting table! I rearranged some furniture to fit a folding table in the room. I've got to get some better lighting, since I usually quilt after noon, and the room doesn't get much light after about 2pm.

YAY! for Christmas Surprises!!

2011-12-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas I made my sister some pillow covers. I noticed she had no pillows for her sofa, and picked out fabrics in her favorite green. I wasn't able to finish before she got here, so I fibbed and told her the pillows were for the "Friendship Basket" at church. I'm supposed to put in something that represents me and my interests, so I also got fabric to make a pillow cover for the basket, but told her the green ones were for church.

She was really surprised that the pillows were for her, and said she was jealous I was putting so much effort into pillows for the friendship basket. There are two 18" and 1 14". I used a small fat quarter bundle from Joann's with Kona white. I made small disappearing 9 patches with 3" squares, planning on making just the two larger ones, but had enough to make another small one.

These pillows were really fun and quick to make, and I'm pleased with how they look and feel. Next up, the pillow that is really for the basket!

YAY! for Christmas!!

2011-12-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

For Christmas Eve dinner I made a Yule Log Cake. I make one almost every year. This is the recipe I use:

CAKE

3 eggs
1 C sugar
1/3 C water
3/4 C flour
1/4 C cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 recipe Fudgy Icing
1 recipe Chocolate Mousse

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375°

Line a jelly-roll pan with wax paper, grease paper.

Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored. Beat in sugar, then water and vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients. Gradually beat into egg mixture. Mix until smooth.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes then turn out onto tea towel sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar. Slowly roll up cake and towel. Let cool.

When cool, gently unroll cake. Spread Chocolate Mousse on cake and re-roll.

To decorate, pipe fudgy icing with a rose tip in long and short stripes to resemble bark.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

6 oz chocolate, chopped

2 cups whipping cream, divided

3 2 T sugar

DIRECTIONS

Bring 3/4 cup cream to a boil, pour over chocolate, stir until melted. Let cool.

Whip remaining 1 1/4 cups cream and sugar to stiff peaks. Fold into chocolate.

FUDGY ICING

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1-3 T hot water

Beat butter, cocoa, and sugar. Add vanilla and enough water to make it pipable.

FUDGY ICING

YAY! for penguins!!!

2011-12-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

The quilting bug has really bit. I spend a lot of time thinking about quilts and what to make next and reading all the lovely quilt blogs. When I went to the fabric store to get backing fabric for the tree skirt I saw the cutest penguin fabric and thought, "I have to get that for my manager" She LOVES penguins, teal blue is her favorite color, and her birthday was coming up. Then I saw the price tag, $7.99 per yard. That didn't fit my budget. Along came the Black Friday sales and the flannel was only $1.49/yard. I could afford that! So I went and stood in line for way too long and soon I had 7 yards of penguins and a few yards of blue, and enough black for a binding.

Hunter likes penguins too!

I brought the fabric home, looked at it, and finally came up with a block design. I decided to do a rectangle because it seemed more modern, and went with a 2 1/2" strip so the penguins would be mostly intact. I made 6 rows of 5 blocks, but decided that 6 was too long, so I put one row on the back, just for fun!

I quilted it in straight lines along some of the seams, using my walking foot (which it turns out I can't use with my quilting bar? silly Kenmore)

I'm really pleased with how well this one turned out, and the birthday girl seemed to like it too.

Next up, the zig zag quilt, but first Christmas cookies.

YAY! for cha siu bao!!

2011-12-14T18:39:00.000-08:00

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

This was a great challenge as this is a favorite treat!

Cha Siu Recipe:
1 pork fillet/tenderloin (roughly 1-1.5 pounds) (I used two pork chops because everything at the store was much larger than 1 1/2 pounds)
4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
½ teaspoon ground pepper
pinch of salt
½ teaspoon (2 gm) five spice powder
½ teaspoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon red food coloring (I use a paste color, so I used a LOT less than 1/2 tsp)

Mix everything together an pour most of it on the meat. Let the meat sit in the fridge for 4+ hours. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Heat a heavy pan until it's hot, add meat, cook to form crust of marinade. Put meat in oven and basting frequently, cook for about 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Let cool. Make bun dough:

1 cup milk, scalded and cooled to 100-115F
¼ cup (60 gm/2 oz) sugar
1 tablespoon oil
¼ teaspoon (2 gm) salt
2½ teaspoons (8 gm/1 satchel) of dried yeast
3 cups (420 gm/15 oz) plain flour

Mix together all ingredients. Knead well, let rise until doubled. Punch down and divide into 30-40g pieces. While the dough is rising prepare the filling
12 oz char sui, finely diced
2 shallots (finely diced)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Stir together in a frying pan or wok. Add ¼ cup water mixed with 1 tsp corn starch, cook until thickened. Let cool while prepping the dough balls.

Press the balls into rounds, put about 1T of filling on each, pinch shut. Place on parchment squares and let rise 15-30 minutes.
Steam for about 10 minutes, leave plenty of room, they expand a lot!

I steamed some in the rice cooker and some in a large pot with a vegetable steamer insert.

YAY! for Christmas Quilting!!

2011-12-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

I've recently taken up quilting, and have been busy getting things ready for Christmas! I made a new tree skirt

The tree isn't up yet, so the tree skirt is hanging out on a rocking chair, sometimes with a poinsettia pillow.

I used a disappearing nine block (tutorial here) It was a lot of fun to put together. The skirt started as a square, 10 x10 blocks. I got a little carried away and had leftover squares, some of which I turned into pillows for the sofa. I used metallic gold thread for the quilting for a bit of Christmas Sparkle, and I like the way it turned out.

This pillow is living in my bedroom right now

I've also done a penguin quilt, a post on that will be here soon, and I have fabric to make a yellow and gray chevron quilt.

YAY! for Sans Rival Cake!!

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

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

I made a cashew sans rival with a chocolate french buttercream (from my own recipe, it uses whole eggs not just yolks). The meringue came together quickly and easily. I traced 5 4"(ish) circles on parchment and piped a half recipe onto the rounds. I baked them for about 20 minutes and let cool. I cut a cardboard round about 5" (I just traced bowls for the circles so the sizes are approximate) to stack the cake onto.

The project wasn't too difficult or time consuming. The buttercream I used wasn't as solid as I would have liked, and if someone was paying me for it or I was trying to impress someone I would have added a second coat of buttercream after the first was cold (this makes it easier to get sharp corners with soft icing)

YAY! for Fancy Bread!!!

2011-10-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

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

I used the recipe provided but made my own filling recipes because I wanted to use ingredients I already had. The first filling was made by combining almond meal, cinnamon, sugar, and egg whites in the food processor until smooth and spreadable.

The second loaf had a poppy seed filling with lemon zest. I used 2 cups of poppy seeds and boiled them with water. I blended them with sugar and lemon zest

The dough was wonderful to work with. It rolled out so thin so easily on the sheet. It was very silky

Recipe:

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp flour

1/4 cup warm water

1 T yeast

1 cup milk

6 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 cups flour

Stir together the first four ingredients, let stand until foamy.

Heat the milk to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool to 105-110F. Stir in yeast mixture, sugar, and salt. Mix in beaten eggs and melted butter. Mix in flour until just barely sticky. It could take more or less than 4 cups, depending on the flour you use and the weather.

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise until doubled in size.

Divide the dough in half. Dust a sheet with flour. Roll and stretch the dough on the sheet until super thin. Spread with filling of your choice. Lift the sheet to start the dough rolling. Coil the dough into a greased loaf pan. Bake in a 350F for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 300F and bake another 30 minutes. If it browns too much, cover with foil.

Let cool completely before cutting.

YAY! for Cupcakes!!!

2011-10-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I got these yesterday and just HAD to get flowers to put in them.

They are SO CUTE I can hardly stand it!

YAY! for Candy!!!

2011-08-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

The first candy I made was taffy, from this recipe.

I made root beer and orange with citric acid for tartness.

The second candy I made was dulce de leche bonbons, with Ikea ice cube trays as molds.

I cooked down sweetened condensed milk until thick and caramel colored and let it cool while I tempered chocolate.

Then I put the chocolate in the mold, scraped, and let it drip and set. Then I put in the filling and topped with more chocolate.

The third candy I made was a homemade mounds bar.

I mixed together:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 stick softened butter

2 14-oz bags sweetened shredded coconut

and chilled for a couple of hours in the fridge. Then I scooped (with my #70 scoop) and shaped into rounds, and chilled again until it was firm (overnight)

Then I dipped using my special dipping forks:

They're just Wilton forks, but I bent them to the angle I prefer.

Then I rigged my special chocolate dipping tool:

Yep, it's a rice cooker. I like that I can turn it on to melt, and take the chocolate off to cool, and put it on Keep Warm to keep the chocolate fluid. I couldn't find my chocolate thermometer, so I used the infrared instead.

The last candy I made was a gummy candy that starts with Jello

Once again I used my handy-dandy Ikea ice molds. Next time I would use less gelatin, as it had a really firm texture.

YAY! for new toys!!

2011-07-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

I need to find a way to store the blades, they don't all fit inside the bowl, but I'm pretty excited. The slicing blade is adjustable from 1 to 6 mm

YAY! for Noodles!!

2011-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

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

I made Käsespätzle, which is spätzle with cheese and onions. It was really good. I have a spätzle maker (looks like this ), which makes it really easy. I layered the noodles with cheese and browned onions and baked until bubbly. YUM! For sure a once in a while treat.

YAY! for Baklava!!

2011-06-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Baklava is one of my favorite WOW desserts, something that's easy, delicious, and impressive. I usually use Alton Brown's recipe, except for the rose water, and make the syrup with orange blossom honey. Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava. I do like it better with the store-bought phyllo, but it was fun to make my own.

YAY! for Potato Salad!!!

2011-06-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

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

I made a warm potato salad using red an yukon gold potatoes, with blanched snow peas, asparagus, and green beans, crispy turkey bacon, sliced scallions, and a mustard vinagrette:

1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
2 T mustard (I used Maille hot dijon, my favorite)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

It was really good, and made good leftovers later in the week. Yum!

YAY! for Plated Desserts!!!

2011-05-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

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

I decided to go all out with the plating because I haven't done plated desserts since school. I made a half recipe by rounding up on the egg yolks, and didn't need all the meringue, but made it anyway. With the left over meringue I made these.

I borrowed the plate from work, and made a couple of less attractive ones for eating. I really wanted to do mine in a different shape and thought a heart would be fun. I made a croquante of hazelnuts, but forgot to put it on before pictures, so it's not there, but was really tasty.

YAY! for Soufflee Cookies!!!

2011-05-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

This might be my new favorite cookie recipe! They're so easy and delicious. I had extra swiss meringue from another dessert project and wasn't sure what to do with it, and then I remember this post at :pastrystudio. I estimated that I had about 4 egg whites of meringue left so I doubled it (she doesn't recommend it, but I was baking two sheets in each of two ovens, so the batter didn't sit and wait). I cooked the top oven batch perfectly, but forgot that the lower oven is about 25 degrees cooler than the top and underbaked some, which were still tasty, just less pretty and puffy.

I definitely recommend trying this recipe, but be sure to have plenty of milk on hand when you do. :)

Gumbo

2011-05-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

Our May hostess, Denise, of There’s a Newf in My Soup!, challenged The Daring Cooks to make Gumbo! She provided us with all the recipes we’d need, from creole spices, homemade stock, and Louisiana white rice, to Drew’s Chicken & Smoked Sausage Gumbo and Seafood Gumbo from My New Orleans: The Cookbook, by John Besh.

I didn't like it much, I think I cooked the roux too fast, it ended up oily and gritty. We made hush puppies to go with and they were great.

YAY! for Angry Birds!!!

2011-04-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

For this year's Scout Spaghetti Dinner and Cake Auction, Jonathan made an Angry Birds cake (with plenty of help and supervision) We used this recipe from epicurious.com, brushed it with a simple syrup soak, iced it with chocolate buttercream and covered it with marshmallow fondant.

YAY! for Maple Mousse

2011-04-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

I made a maple-flavored caramel mousse (made a caramel sauce with maple flavor instead of using maple syrup, I didn't want to buy anything for the challenge) in a florentine cookie cup. I tried to do a chocolate cup with a balloon, but the balloons popped (messy messy messy) and then tried to do a chocolate cup with a tartlet pan, but they didn't come out (grrr), so florentine cups it was! They were really good and reminded us of Hudson Bay Bread, which we always took on trips when I was growing up.

meringue filled coffee cake

2011-03-28T10:18:00.001-07:00

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

I tried on saturday to make the cake, but something went wrong twice and the dough never rose. It wasn't the yeast, as it's from the same jar I used a couple of weeks ago to make whole wheat bread, and that worked, so I don't know what went wrong and wasn't up to washing the bowl again, so I'll try it later and hope it works. :(

I tried again and it worked! YAY! I halved the recipe and forgot to halve the sugar, which was too much for the yeast, I think. I spread the dough with sweetened red bean paste before I spread it with the meringue. We LOVED it!

YAY! for Papas Rellenas!!!

2011-03-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

I made the Papas Rellanas, but changed the filling. Raisins and hard cooked eggs don't go over well in my house, so I made a filling of onions, mushrooms, spinach, bacon, and cheese. It was fantastic. I served it with sausages and homemade pretzels (I was recipe testing for something later in the week)

YAY! for Panna Cotta!!!

2011-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. I made mine a raspberry panna cotta with chocolate ganache with heart shaped florentine cookies.

I changed the recipe a bit to make it raspberry flavored:

1/2 cup raspberry puree
1/2 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
1 cup whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/2 cup half and half
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Pour the puree into a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the top Let bloom for 5 minutes.
Put the saucepan over medium heat on the stove and heat until the gelatin is melted.
Add the cream, half and half, and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and cool before pouring into ramekins.
I used creme brulee dishes, so they set in about an hour and a half.

They were creamy and not too sweet, but the fat content got in the way of our enjoying the dessert, it kind of coated our mouths and stopped us from tasting anything else.

So, I tried again, with yogurt instead of cream to keep the texture and loose the fat, and it was much better. I made a Meyer lemon panna cotta with raspberry sauce and chocolate filigree.

Lemon Panna Cotta

1/2 cup meyer lemon juice
1/2 tbs gelatin
1/3 cup sugar
zest of 3 lemons
1 cup Greek style yogurt
1/2 cup half and half

Sprinkle the gelatin over the lemon juice in a saucepan. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Blend the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor until fragrant, add to gelatin mixture. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Measure the yogurt into a mixing bowl. Add the half and half slowly, stirring after each addition to avoid making yogurt lumps. Add the warm gelatin mixture and stir to combine.

Pour into serving dishes and chill 1-2 hours, or until set.

Top with raspberry sauce and chocolate filigree if you'd like!

YAY! for Japanese Food!!!

2011-02-14T21:44:00.000-08:00

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

Japanese food has long been a favorite in our house. My dad lived in Japan in his late teens and developed an appreciation for the food, which he and my mother learned to make while living in Frankfurt, Germany from some Japanese friends.

Soba salad is a frequent dinner in the hot summer months, and tempura a popular treat for birthdays or New Year's Eve. The first time I made tempura on my own was 10 years ago, when I was just 16.

This month's recipes didn't feel like challenges, but they were sure family favorites!

YAY! for Fancy French Desserts!!

2011-01-27T00:03:00.000-08:00

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

I did mine to be kind of like a Princess Cake, with raspberry and custard and marzipan.

I piped the colored paste in a scroll design to mimic the pink marzipan rope often around the bottom of a princess cake. I made an almond genoise and layered it with a gelatin set vanilla bavarian cream and a gelatin set raspberry mousse. I topped it with the traditional green marzipan and roses.

I decided to do a square because I knew I couldn't make a single piece go all the way around like I would want (and the design would be harder to match up) so I built a cardboard frame, wrapped it in plastic and put it on a square plate to set in the fridge. I forgot to take a picture of it in the frame, but I took one after I removed the cake.

It was delicious, and fun to make.

Poaching

2010-12-14T00:06:00.000-08:00

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

As I don't like runny yolks (or really yolks at all) I decided to poach fish. I looked high and low for a recipe that didn't call for wine, then someone suggested I use a Court Bouillon. This sounded great. So I looked up recipes and found a few and decided on one. I won't bother posting the recipe because it was totally bland and flavorless, even with added seasoning. Part of this was probably the fish I used (I'm poor, so went with the cheapest thing at TJs) I thought, hey, a flavorful broth would be great to make risotto with, but it was so bad we didn't eat it (my sister added ketchup and pronounced it "edible")

I'd definitely poach fish again, but next time I'd just use water, it would add about as much flavor. And I'll try risotto again with something flavorful.

YAY! for Tarts!!

2010-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I added orange zest to my crust and made a cranberry jam. I cut out circles of dough, piped jam on top, and pinched corners to make tiny tartlets. Everyone loved them.

YAY! for souffle!!

2010-11-14T00:08:00.000-08:00

This month I joined the daring cooks, which is fun and exciting.

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I decided to do a sweet souffle first and wanted to use up some pumpkin left over from the pumpkin doughnuts from earlier in the month, so I made a non-fat pumpkin souffle.

I ran my thumb around the top edge of the ramekins, which is supposed to help them rise straight, but they didn't anyway. I'm blaming the oven.

Non-Fat Pumpkin Souffle1/4 c skim milk
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp sugar
6 T cup pumpkin
3/4 c egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/3 c sugar

Preheat oven to 400F
Prep 8 ramekins by spraying with pan spray and coating with sugar.
Mix together the first 7 ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over med-high heat until thick, stirring constantly. Add pumpkin, remove to medium mixing bowl, let cool.
In a super-clean bowl beat the egg whites with cream of tartar until frothy. While beating, add the sugar gradually. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold some of the whites into the pumpkin mixture to lighten, then the rest in two batches.
Spoon into ramekins, scraping off the top. Run your thumb around the edge, if you think your oven won't interfere and make them bake wonky anyway.

YAY! for doughnuts!!

2010-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I decided to use Alton Brown's recipe as a pattern and used it to make a recipe for pumpkin spice doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.

Pumpkin Yeast Doughnuts

2 1/2 oz butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 T instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
22 oz AP

Oil for frying

Cinnamon sugar

In a saucepan melt butter. Add pumpkin, milk, and sugar and heat to lukewarm. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle. Add eggs, mixing well. Add yeast, salt, and spices. Mix well, scraping down the bowl. Add flour in two stages, mixing until no flour is visible, scraping down occasionally. Change to the dough hook and mix at a medium low speed for 3-4 minutes. Remove the bowl, oil the top of the dough, cover with cling film, and refrigerate overnight.

Roll dough out on a well floured surface, cut with doughnut cutter or 2 round cutters, place on floured surface and cover with a towel for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan or electric frying pan to 350F, place doughnuts in hot oil (don't crowd the pan) and cook for about one minute on each side. Remove to a paper lined sheet pan to drain then shake with cinnamon sugar.

YAY! for cookies!!!

2010-09-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

This month we did sugar cookies, which I've done before. I'll stick with my own recipe for the cookies in the future as they are nice and soft.
The rounds are going to my brother in Singapore and the leaves are going camping with my sister.

YAY! for food on a stick!!

2010-08-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I made my pound cake with hazelnut meal in place of some of the flour to match my chocolate hazelnut ice cream and then decided to put it on a stick! Everything's better on a stick. They were melty but yummy.

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

8 ounces hazelnuts, toasted and cooled
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces dark chocolate

Grind nuts with sugar in food processor. Place in saucepan with milk and salt and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let steep for 20-30 minutes. Strain in a fine sieve.

Pour the milk into a clean saucepan, reserving about 1/4 cup. Mix reserved milk with cornstarch, whisk into saucepan. Bring the milk to a boil and let boil a couple of minutes. Pour into a sealable container and cover the top surface with cling film. Let cool several hours or overnight.

Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

YAY! for Ice Cream!!

2010-07-27T01:00:00.000-07:00

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

When I saw the title I thought it would be for an ice cream filled swiss roll, and that was exciting. Then I saw it involved a whole lot more and lost excitement.

I made mine with chocolate cake, chocolate whipped cream, milk chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream and fudge. I like chocolate.
It wasn't something I'd ever make again, it was way too involved for the result, which I could have gotten by making the cake and serving it with ice cream, but it tasted fine.

YAY! for Chocolate!!

2010-06-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

They were pretty good.

I made my chocolate meringues (they weren't really like pavlova at all) a day ahead and they kept really well. I made homemade ricotta with whole milk instead of doing mascarpone cheese because I don't like it. The ricotta beat really smooth and was okay for a mousse. I think I prefer the chocolate mousse I usually use better, but just because it takes less work.
I made my sauce with a caramel creme anglaise, which I make by using pre-caramelized sugar in a regular creme anglaise recipe.
For pre-caramelized sugar just cook sugar on the stove until light amber, pour out onto a silpat to cool and blitz in the food processor until finely ground. Use an equal weight to replace plain sugar in any custard recipe (makes great ice cream) or for easier brule making.

I found that they were better an hour after assembling than they were right away. The mousse softens the meringue so it's not so chewy and tough.

I might make them again, but I'm not sure.

YAY! for English Pudding!!

2010-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

I'm super late this month (last month?) because of a super-fantastic wedding our family pulled off a couple of days ago. It was DIY wedding with friends pitching in to help with everything from photography to the flowers, to decor and food. We did the food ourselves last minute, which made things extra busy and I wasn't able to get to the computer to post this.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

I made a chocolate pudding from The Pudding Club Unfortunately Nestle changed their chocolate chips and they didn't melt to make a soft chocolate sauce, instead they remained chips and stuck to the pudding bowl, making for a really ugly pudding, that I did take pictures of but my camera is lost in the mess of wedding stuff and I'll try to post a picture later.

Chocolate Raspberry Tian

2010-03-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris

I chose to make raspberry and chocolate instead of orange. We don't like marmalade in our house so I made raspberry jam and put ganache in the whipped cream (chocolate mousse! yum!!) I made one big tian in a springform pan instead of small ones. It didn't look as nice as I would have liked and I added the ganache too soon and it broke, which is why it looks kinda funny. But it tasted good.

YAY! for the Olympics!!!

2010-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

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 chose to make my crackers with actual graham flour (any other way would be a "graham-style cracker" rather than an actual graham cracker)

I made a peanut butter filling for the Nanaimo Bars by using half a recipe of Reese's Bars, so the recipe for the bars was:

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
5 T unsweetened cocoa
1 egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup peanuts, roasted unsalted, finely chopped
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

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 parchment lined 8 by 8 inch pan.

Middle Layer
1 C graham cracker crumbs
1/2 C butter, melted
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1/2 C peanut butter

Add cracker crumbs to melted butter. Then add sugar and peanut butter. Mix well. Spread on top of Nanaimo layer.

Top Layer
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
2 T butter
Melt together, spread on top of peanut-butter layer.

Chill bars until firm. Lift the parchment to pull bars out of the pan to cut into squares.

YAY! for Gingerbread Houses!!!

2009-12-25T19:49:00.000-08:00

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 cut and baked 6 houses and my sisters and brothers and I put them together using both the caramelized sugar and royal icing methods. The dough shrank and bubbled as it baked which made for difficult assembly.

YAY! for Cannoli!!

2009-11-28T22:00:00.000-08:00

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.

We made three fillings: Orange, Lemon, and Spice, all with our own homemade ricotta cheese. Yum!
The cheese fillings we'll probably make again, the cannoli shells, probably not.

DB October 09- Parisian Macarons

2009-10-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

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. Unfortunately, it seems nearly everyone found this recipe to be quite problematic, and as a result the recipe I'll be posting will not be the challenge recipe.
I didn't really succeed the way I would have liked to, but at least a few came out looking kinda okay. They're pretty flat, but they have feet, not tutus, and are mostly round. My batter ended up runnier than I had thought and the first tray ran all together to make one big blob (still with feet, YAY! feet!!). The second tray had far fewer macarons piped onto it, but due to uneven heat in the oven (and despite a stack of half-sheet-pans) they rose a bit unevenly and some are much taller on one side than the other.
The recipe I used comes from Helen of Tartelette ( http://www.mytartelette.com )

Basic French Meringue Macarons
100g weighed egg whites- I used the whites in a carton from Trader Joe's- room temperature
2 tsp of powdered egg whites- I used Wilton Meringue Powder
50 g sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g Almond meal- this also came from Trader Joe's and wasn't blanched, but I like the speckle-y look
Paste food color- I used orange gel color by Wilton

1. In a clean bowl with clean beaters whip the egg whites and meringue powder to a foam, then gradually add the sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form
2. In a food processor, grind together the almond meal and paste color. I added the powdered sugar after the color and almond meal were evenly combined to aerate and eliminate lumps.
3. Pour the almond meal and sugar onto the meringue and quickly mix, using as few strokes as needed. It should look glossy and be pipeable.
4. Fill a pastry bag or zipper bag fitted with a half inch round tip with the batter and pipe small rounds onto parchment paper on upside-down baking sheets. Bang the pan of shells down onto the countertop to release bubbles.
5. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150C). Let the macarons sit out for an hour and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let them cool before removing from the parchment. Let cool completely before filling.
6. Pipe filling onto half the shells and top with remaining shells.

Home-made Candy Corn

2009-10-26T15:33:00.000-07:00

I came across this recipe on Serious Eats ( http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/10/how-to-make-homemade-candy-corn-halloween-recipe.html?ref=se-bb2 ) and just had to try it. I made a bunch of candy corn and then with the rest of the candy decided to make pumpkins. I think I undercooked the sugar mixture even though I used a thermometer, so next time I'll cook it longer. The candy was so soft the pumpkins, which I originally made as tall and narrow flattened themselves out to what you see here within 15 minutes. They were so soft I couldn't even take them off the baking liner without freezing them first.

1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup salted butter
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/3 cup powdered milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
red and yellow food coloring

Sift powdered sugar, milk powder and salt and reserve in a medium mixing bowl.

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan (wide and shallow is preferable, as is nonstick or enamel coated), bring granulated sugar, corn syrup, fat and vanilla up to a boil over high heat. When you begin to see bubbles, reduce heat to medium-high and cook for five minutes, stirring frequently with a heat-proof silicon or rubber spatula. A candy thermometer will read 225-230 degrees, just before thread stage. You want to set a timer or use the thermometer - this is very important.

Remove pan from heat, and gradually add powdered sugar mixture to pan, incorporating with spatula. Make sure that mixture is completely integrated. Let mixture cool until slighty warm to the touch, about 20 minutes (again, a timer is helpful here).

With a knife or pastry cutter, cut dough into three equal pieces, placing each in a small bowl. Now here's where it gets interesting (and messy): Put on an apron or shirt that you don't mind getting stained.

Add three drops of yellow food coloring to one piece of dough and begin kneading until smooth and color is evenly distributed. You can this a few different ways: Wearing rubber gloves (however, latex was a disaster), covering your hands with plastic wrap or placing dough and coloring in a Ziploc-style bag and knead the bag. Set on parchment or wax paper or on a silicone baking mat.

For the second piece, use a combination of red and yellow coloring to make orange, using the same procedure. Knead the third piece until smooth but keep uncolored.

Clear a large work space to roll out each piece of dough, which, when rolled into a thin rope, can get quite long. If rope gets too long, trim with a paring knife or pastry cutter.

Push three ropes together to form a long rectangle. Use sharp knife to trim ends and sides to make a straight angle. Starting at one end of the rope rectangle, cut small triangle shapes. Place each candy on parchment or wax paper to keep from sticking to your work surface.

Store at room temperature in airtight container, separating layers with parchment or waxed paper.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2007/10/getting_handy_with_candy_corn.html

DB August 09- Dobostorte!

2009-08-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

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 Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I've made a Dobostorte before and didn't like this one better, so I'm going to stick to the other recipe if I ever make it again. I did use the chocolate buttercream from my recipe because I already had it in the fridge. It's a whole-egg buttercream made with a boiled sugar syrup, and made even better with the addition of melted dark chocolate. I really like it and use it for other things as well. I'm using it for a wedding cupcake tower in just a couple of weeks.

I made mine rectangular because it's faster. I lined two sheets with parchment, divided the batter between them, and baked them for 10 minutes, switching racks halfway. I cut each sheet of sponge into four and stacked it with the buttercream. I cut it into six pieces and arranged them on a cake plate for serving. I covered long, thin triangles of sponge with the caramel and put them on top to decorate. I think they looked pretty fantastic, and tasted fine, although I wasn't a fan of this sponge recipe.

July DB

2009-08-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

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.

This month's challenge was great. The cookies turned out beautiful, unfortunately my camera hasn't been working. I needed cookies for a church event, so I made the Milans. They were really easy and I will definitely make them again. I made mine round, as it was easier to make them all the same.

June DB- Bakewell Tart Bars

2009-06-27T16:17:00.001-07:00

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.

I decided to make mine with seedless raspberry jam (from the supermarket) and to make mine in a rectangular pan. I cut them into bars to serve at a lunch buffet tomorrow and plan to dip them in chocolate. I topped mine with a florentine cookie batter and re-baked for a caramel-y crunch.

Shortdough Crust
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks (I used one whole egg)
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional) (I used vanilla extract)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Blitz flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse until it become fine crumbs. Lightly beat the egg with the extract. Add to processor, pulse to combine. Keep processor running while slowly pouring in water until just combined (I didn't need all the water)
Wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes before rolling out and fitting in the bottom of an 11x7" cake pan coated with pan spray and lined with baking paper.
Spread with jam. Chill while making frangipane.

Frangipane
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs- room temperature!
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

In a standing mixer beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add almond extract. If your eggs aren't cold it will form a smooth paste. Add almonds and flour and mix until well blended. Pour into jam covered pastry shell.
Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes. While it's baking make the florentine batter.

Florentine batter:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 T honey
3 T heavy cream
2 cups sliced almonds

In a heavy sauce pan combine all but the almonds, bring to a boil and boil until thickened. Quickly stir in almonds, spread over baked frangipane filling and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until browned.

I let mine cool and then froze it to make it easier to cut into perfect bars.

May DB- Strudel

2009-05-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

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 Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

This is the first of my DB challenges that disappointed me. I did not like the dough. I've made strudel dough before but this recipe was definitely not a keeper. First, the smell. I don't know why but it smelled like playdough, even after if was baked. Second, it was a pain to work with. I should have used bread flour and knew it, but the recipe said all purpose. Third, ingredients for the filling I'd planned on got eaten by someone, probably little brother, so I was left scrambling on the last day to come up with a filling and decided on sweetened cream cheese with lemon zest and juice, bound with an egg, as I had all four ingredients in the fridge. It did not get eaten and I felt bad for wasting food. Here's a picture of the horrid thing.

Cheesecake!

2009-04-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. I added melted dark chocolate since we were having it for my dad's birthday and he loves chocolate. It turned out fine, but with a huge crack in it! I've never had a cheesecake crack like that before. The crack was 3/4" deep and several inches long, so I made ganache and poured it over the top. The edges were higher than the middle so the ganache didn't go over the sides but stayed in a nice round pool.
I'll post pictures soon, but they aren't on my computer yet.

YAY! for Lasagne!!

2009-03-29T01:00:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was a little out of the ordinary, but still delicious!
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 Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
I've been baking for ages and this is one of the few times I've felt like I failed at something.
I don't have a pasta machine, so I rolled it by hand and it was taking far too long, so I gave up and used boxed no-boil noodles for half. I added a ton of mozzarella to the bechamel and added a ricotta layer because that's what my family wanted.
Mostly I made it up as I went, as I tend to when cooking. To make the meat sauce I first cooked a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, added a pound of bulk sausage, cooked it up, added a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, and a cup of water. For the bechamel I cooked a roux, added hot milk and cooked until thick, then added a lot of grated mozzarella cheese (I don't know how much, but I'd guess about a pound). I also mixed a couple of eggs into a pint of ricotta, then stirred in a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan. I layered it all in a pan, topped it with more mozz and parm, and baked. I've only made lasagne one other time, and it was several years ago and I don't remember how it turned out, but this one was good. I'd make it again, but never again will I make my own noodles without a pasta roller, even if it's just one from the craft/hobby store.

DB Flourless Chocolate Cake

2009-02-28T17:55:00.000-08:00

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

I made my chocolate cakes in heart shaped pans and served them with spiced ice cream and salted vanilla caramel sauce.
I used David Liebovitz's vanilla ice cream recipe, first flavoring the cream with the zest of one orange, a few whole cloves, two cinnamon sticks, and a few pieces of fresh ginger before making the custard.

Tuile Hugs with Raspberry Ice Cream

2009-01-25T22:22:00.000-08:00

A new year, a new blog, and a new Daring Baker! YAY! for new!! YAY! for baking!!!
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. It was quite good timing for tuiles, as we had just done them in class, so when we had a free day to practice what we'd learned, I was able to make my challenge cookies. It was far less challenging than it had been, having just made them and having my chef instructor there when I did them again. I was also able to use school silpats and school ingredients as well as a professional bakery oven and full sheet pans, which wouldn't have been available to me at home.
Tuile batter is one of the easiest recipes to remember, as they are made from equal parts flour, butter, powdered sugar, and egg whites. This makes it easy to make as much or as little as you would like. I did:

120g unsalted butter, softened
120 g powdered sugar
120 g all-purpose flour
120 g egg whites

Sift together the powdered sugar and flour and mix into the butter until smooth. Gradually add egg whites to make a smooth paste. If you add them all at once it'll be harder to mix all the lumps out. To make the chocolate paste I added cocoa powder to part of the batter until I liked the color, then added a couple of drops of water to make it the proper consistency. I baked them at about 350°

I used an unassembled cake box to make my stencil, although I think thin plastic might have held up better. I piped in chocolate stripes, filled in with plain batter piped between the stripes, and gently scraped it to cover with an offset spatula. Unfortunately, my offset was bent and I didn't know it, so they ended up with a few thin spots in the middles.

I made chocolate cake rounds (recipe) to fit inside the "hugs" and topped each with whipped cream and homemade raspberry ice cream and garnished with edible flowers.
They were tasty, although I probably should have served them the same day they were made or at least stored them with dish of desicate to keep them crispy, as they got a little chewy. Next time I'll make the hugs smaller so the ice cream scoop is closer to the same size, but I'd definitely do them again.

Tiramisu- at least it's pretty

2009-01-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

I don't like coffee, not the smell, the taste, nothing, but it was an assignment, so I made it, and I made it pretty. We pretty much destroyed the rest of the pan of dessert to get the couple of pieces out for plating. The pieces were to be topped with croquant and chocolate shavings/fans. I didn't get any good fans, but I thought the wrinkled ribbon of chocolate was pretty cool, so I used it.

Baked Alaskas

2009-01-25T21:24:00.000-08:00

We had quite a time making baked Alaska with a freezer that kept creeping up to 30 degrees and higher. The meringue was slipping off the ice cream and the ice cream was leaking out the bottom. It was worse once we started to blowtorch the meringue. They ended up being such a mess. We were supposed to make our own ice cream (really we were supposed to Paco Jet frozen ice cream base) but the freezer didn't work, so they went out and bought us some at Luckys. I took my base home and added frozen mashed raspberries to make a lovely raspberry ice cream.

Chocolate Banana "Tartlet"

2009-01-25T18:39:00.000-08:00

When I heard we were making a caramelized banana and chocolate tart made with phyllo dough, I thought it would be an actual tart, not a stacked dessert with blowtorched bananas on top. I might play around with the idea and come up with something more tartlet-like, and maybe something not so heavy on the chocolate. We also got to play around with spun sugar, which is lots of fun but super messy.

Christmas Cupcakes

2009-01-25T18:34:00.003-08:00

Here's a gingerbread cupcake with a lemon icing and large crystal sprinkles. They look better than they tasted, unfortunately. Next time I'll do a lemon cream cheese icing or a brown butter icing and put more spice in the cupcakes, maybe even some crystalized ginger for crunch and pizzazz.

Standard First Post

2009-01-25T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm in pastry school and having a lot of fun learning new things. I'd like this blog to be a place where I can show things I'm proud of and maybe share some of what I'm learning at school. I'm 24, just finished college last spring and have moved back to California and back in with my parents while going to pastry school.