Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Tiger Cakes
October 13, 2015 at 6:10 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I first had a Tiger Cake a couple of years ago at a beautiful bakery in Montreal, but I had no idea what it was called. I don’t think there was a sign and I just pointed to it and I took it to-go. When I ate it I thought it was so delicious– moist and chewy with ganache in the center– that I kicked myself for not having gotten its name. I could tell that it had almond flour in it and its texture seemed like a financier, so I immediately Googled around in English and French (it’s limited, but thanks to my fluent mother, I can speak some– especially food words!). I found exactly what I was looking for on several French sites, les tigrés au chocolat. Although I once posted about a tiger cake, it was a very different animal, and I never did make les tigrés at home. I didn’t forget about them, though, and was delighted to see a recipe for Tiger Cakes in Baking Chez Moi. I have nominated the recipe several for TWD times now, and I am really glad that its time has come!
This batter is a lot like a financier, or maybe more like a friand, with melted butter and egg whites. It stirs together in just a few seconds. Dorie’s recipe has finely chopped chocolate mixed into the batter to give the tiger cakes their stripes, but a bunch of those French recipes I saw called for chocolate vermicelli instead. Makes sense to me…jimmies do look like stripes. I have a box of nice Dutch dark chocolate ones, so I went ahead and used them (and also saved the trouble of chopping up chocolate into tiny flecks). I just eyeballed the amount. Some folks had trouble getting their baked tigers out of the tin, and recommended greasing well. My mini muffin mold is non-stick and has only been used a couple of times so it’s still pretty slick. I used a bit of spray for added insurance and I didn’t have any sticking issues. The ganache on top isn’t strictly necessary, but it sure is good.
These were great…just what I remember from Montreal. Cute, too. I will definitely repeat this one.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Concord Grape and Peanut Butter Crumble
October 4, 2015 at 1:13 pm | Posted in cobbler/crisp/shorties, sweet things | 7 CommentsTags: baking, dessert, fruit
Concord grapes are one of the highlights of fall in the Northeast. Every autumn, I’m sure to make a pie and a batch of jam from them. Thinking about what else I could do with the purple-blue beauties, a crumble seemed like the next logical experiment. A peanut butter crumble, of course.
I prepped the fruit for the crumble in much the same way I do when I make the pie. It sounds a bit tedious to seed the grapes one-by-one, but it’s only about a quart of grapes, so it doesn’t take too long. It’s one of those zone-out prep tasks that’s really worth the step. After a stint in the oven, the fruit bakes up jammy and deeply purple and the crumble topping tastes like peanut butter cookies. This one’s definitely added to the annual list.
Concord Grape and Peanut Butter Crumble- serves 4-6
Steph’s Notes: You can mess around with this crumble topping a bit if you want or need to. For instance, you can sub AP flour for the whole wheat or chunky PB for smooth. And if you don’t have peanut butter powder, just leave it out.
for the crumble topping
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick)
1 tbsp peanut butter powder
2 tbsp coarsely chopped peanuts
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1/8 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt (bigger pinch if your peanuts are unsalted)
3 tbsp smooth peanut butter (I used a “natural” one)
3 tbsp (1.5 oz) unsalted butter, melted
for the fruit mixture
4 cups stemmed concord grapes (about 1 1/4 pounds), rinsed well and patted dry
1/4 cup+ 2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 T cornstarch
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon juice
-Start by making the crumb topping. Combine all dry ingredients for the topping in a medium bowl, then stir in the peanut butter and the melted butter. It will resemble a soft peanut butter cookie dough, but after chilling briefly, you’ll be able to break it into clumps. Put the topping in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare the fruit filling.
-For the filling, slice grapes in half and remove the seeds. As you work, put the seeded grapes (and their skins, which tend to easily slip off–don’t worry about it) into a large sieve set over a medium bowl. Drain off grape liquid, saving 2 tablespoons.
-Whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt in another medium bowl to blend. Mix in drained grapes, reserved juice and squeeze of lemon juice.
-Put the fruit mixture in the bottom of a greased ceramic or glass baking pan, approximately 8-9″ in diameter.
-Sprinkle the chilled topping evenly over the fruit mixture, breaking it up into clumps and crumbles. Bake until topping turns golden and juices are bubbling, about 35-40 minutes, turning at the halfway point.
-Let cool on a wire rack at least 30 minutes before serving.
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Apple Kuchen
September 22, 2015 at 3:53 pm | Posted in BCM, cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 16 CommentsTags: baking, cake, fruit
I have to say that I wasn’t too sure about this Apple Kuchen when I started putting it together. I did not doubt that it would be tasty…I mean, apples and custard inside a sweet crust….yeah, that’s good, obvi. This sounded like it would be the high-rise cousin to the low-rise Alsatian Apple Tart. It’s just that I did not get off to a very good start making it.
The crust was easy enough to make and roll out, but let me tell you that getting a soft, delicate crust pressed neatly into a tall springform pan is a pain in the you-know-what. It was frustrating enough that the dough cracked into like a 1,000 pieces, but while I was pressing them back together into something crudely resembling a crust, the clasp on said springform decided to pop and now will not stay closed (actually, now it’s in the recycle bin). Ugh. I needed to go with it at that point, so I put a tight rubber band around the pan to hold it closed, dusted cookie crumbs on the bottom, piled it full of apples and chucked it in the oven to par bake. Not my most brilliant idea, as within a few minutes, the rubber band popped in the heat and the buckle opened up again, cracking the crust. I scrambled around and found a small pie pan that was big enough to hold the springform but tight enough to keep the buckle in the closed position. The dough was still soft at that point and seemed to come back together when the pan was re-closed, but with all those apples in there, I really couldn’t tell what condition it was in.
After the par bake, I poured in the crème fraiche custard (confession:I replaced 1/3 of the crème fraiche amount with buttermilk to lighten the calories a bit) and scattered on some plumped raisins. I was amazed that the custard did not immediately leak out the pan, so I hoped for the best. I was just making a half-recipe (6″), but I left it in the oven the full time. A knife poked into the center still didn’t come out completely clean after an hour, but I took it out away. After it came to room temp, I popped my springform-in-pie-plate contraption it into the fridge for extra insurance that the custard would be fully set. And then the moment of truth…
Guess what. The crust was perfect. There was not one spot torn or cracked and not a drop of custard had leaked out. How this happened, I do not know. It’s like it self-healed in the oven. It was very handsome, actually, and delicious…chockablock full of chunky apple pieces with rummy custard seeped around them. Now that I know to relax about the crust, next time, I’ll either mix the raisins in with the apples at the start or I’ll skip the final step of running the kuchen under the broiler with extra sugar and butter on the top…or maybe I’ll do both. The raisins were a little too brûléed for my tastes…they started off as golden raisins, but you can see in the picture what happened to them under the broiler!
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Twice-Baked Brioche
September 15, 2015 at 5:52 pm | Posted in breakfast things, BWJ, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 6 CommentsTags: baking, bread, breakfast
After making the dough for Nancy Silverton’s Brioche Tart with White Secret Sauce, I had enough of it leftover for a brioche loaf to tuck into the freezer. Twice-Baked Brioche, or bostock, is just the thing to make with extra brioche, especially if it’s a little stale. It’s the brioche equivalent of an almond croissant. Take slices of brioche, douse them in a orange flavored syrup, smear them with almond fangipane and sprinkle them with sliced almonds. Then pop them in the oven until toasty brown.
With a cup of strong coffee in the morning or warm, with a little scoop of ice cream for dessert, this is really good…yup, really good. Going on the repeat list. I may even keep a little pot of frangipane in the freezer to have on hand whenever I crave bostock.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Jam-Filled Sandwich Cookies
September 8, 2015 at 8:35 pm | Posted in BCM, cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 CommentsTags: baking, cookies
I may not be going back to school this week, but in solidarity with the children, I am happy to indulge in some after-school-style snacks. Oh, wait– I don’t have children. More Jam-Filled Sandwich Cookies for me, I guess!
These little shortbread cookies are so simple, yet so tasty. I was initially expecting them two be to separate cookies glued together with jam, but instead, two cookies are sealed together to form one, with jam hiding in (and, ehem, sometimes peeking out from) the center. Almost like baby handpies. I made two flavors, sour cherry and concord grape. Despite the fact that my kitchen has basically no climate control, I didn’t really have any trouble with these in the heat. The dough came together in like five seconds and rolled out no problem between two sheets of parchment. I chilled it before cutting and afterwards I chilled the rounds before assembly. As I applied the jam blobs to the bottoms, the dough rounds softened just enough to not crack too much when I sealed on the tops. It all worked out deliciously well.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Brioche Tart with White Secret Sauce
September 1, 2015 at 3:00 pm | Posted in BWJ, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 11 CommentsTags: baking, bread, tart
Nancy Silverton’s Brioche Tart with White Secret Sauce is known as “the tart that made Julia cry.” If you don’t know why, then you’ll just have to watch the end of this video to see. We’ve used brioche before to make tarts, back in the BFMHTY days. Seems unusual and maybe it’s just called a tart because of its shape, but brioche is a good base to hold up to juicy fruit. This tart has a quick and easy crème fraiche (although I really used labneh) custard filling and is topped at serving time with a “secret sauce” and poached fruit. I didn’t need a box of tissues to eat this myself, but it’s plenty good, thankfully, as there’s a lot to do to if you make all the components.
Formed in a ring or a cake pan, the brioche bakes up golden and fluffy, with a tall back crust. I was a bit worried that the custard in the center wouldn’t set, but it did. “White Secret Sauce” sounds a little dodgy to me, but really it’s innocent enough…a sabayon folded with whipped cream. The sabayon is made with caramelized sugar and wine, but if you didn’t want to take the time to make it, the tart would be absolutely fine, and a bit less sweet, with just some fruit for garnish. I quick-poached some ripe apricots and plums in a portion of my caramel-wine syrup, but again, if you can’t be bothered and have nice fresh fruit, just use it as-is or macerate it with a light amount of sugar. You can also use dried fruit, in which case I do think they would be better plumped in liquid.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here and there’s a video, too). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Bubble Éclairs
August 25, 2015 at 5:48 pm | Posted in BCM, general pastry, groups, other sweet, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 18 CommentsTags: baking, choux
I love making pastries with choux paste. The dough is so fun to make, and then when you open the oven the oven and find a tray of chubby golden puffs, well, I think it’s just delightful. These Bubble Éclairs are like cream puffs piped (I used a pastry bag and tip rather than a cookie scoop or spoon) snuggled up together in éclair form. Cute!
You can get fancy with these éclairs, or keep them simple like I did. I just sprinkled a little Swedish pearl sugar on the tops before baking and filled them with coffee whipped cream after (flavored with the espresso syrup I still have in the fridge from BWJ’s Cardinal Slice). I did make a couple of fancier ones with white chocolate glaze and passion fruit whipped cream, but it was such a hot, muggy day that they became a drippy mess when I tried to photo them. Whatever, you get the idea. I sure wouldn’t mind an éclair served profiterole-style, with ice cream and chocolate sauce…next time.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Cherry Crumb Tart
August 11, 2015 at 1:25 pm | Posted in BCM, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 13 CommentsTags: baking, fruit, tarts
We’re on a roll with tasty tarts from Baking Chez Moi and this week we’re continuing to make the most out of summer fruit with a Cherry Crumb Tart. Here, we have our old friend STD (sweet tart dough, that is) housing lots of fresh cherries that are nestled in an almond frangipane filling and topped with streusel crumbs. Yum, right!?! This tart sounds like it has a lot of components, but you can make your dough (and roll and pan it, too), frangipane and crumb topping all a day or two ahead of time. Then when you’re ready to go, just par-bake your crust, pit your cherries and follow the bake-off instructions.
When I came home from vacay, I was pretty sure the summer’s cherries were a thing of the past (just like that gorgeous Montana view…boo) and I planned to pick up a punnet of blackberries to use in this tart instead. But lo and behold, I found some sour cherries at the greenmarket and snapped them right up. Sweet cherries would be just as good here, btw. My streusel didn’t really keep it’s crumbly, piecey shapes in the oven but kind of melded together into a (quite sweet) crispy shell. Not sure why, since I used cold ingredients and chilled it overnight, but it was still delicious. I flavored it only with cardamom, no orange zest, and thought it was the perfect subtle flavoring to go with the cherries and almonds. I liked the tart with a little whipped cream and thought it held up just fine in the fridge for a couple of days, as we cut off slices after dinner and whittled it down to nothing.
I’m wishing now that I’d taken a side view photo of a slice. It really was full of red cherries! For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BWJ: Miniature Florentine Squares and Glazed Mini-Rounds
August 4, 2015 at 7:32 pm | Posted in BWJ, cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, petit fours, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 CommentsTags: baking, cake
I make a lot of petits fours at work, but it’s not often that you’ll see something like Flo Braker’s Miniature Florentine Squares or Glazed Mini-Rounds making an appearance at my house. I don’t usually get that old-fashioned fancy here. If I serve up anything post-dessert, it’s typically just a healthy-sized complaint about having to do all the dishes myself.
The Florentine Squares and the Glazed Mini-Rounds are two different recipes in the book, but they are both made the very same way, just cut and decorated a little differently. They are both ladyfinger genoise layers soaked in sweet wine syrup, sandwiched with jam (I used blackcurrant), glazed with white chocolate ganache and decorated with designs of melted dark chocolate. I made one cake and cut and decorated some of each style.
They weren’t so hard to make (I watched the video first, and got some tips on chilling the cake before cutting to prevent too much crumbage) and they were pretty fun to decorate. It’s so hot in my kitchen that my dark chocolate designs got a little droopy as the petits fours sat for their photo shoot. I thought they were still charming though. These were tasty little bite-sized treats, but they were quite sweet. They would have been good with a strong cup of coffee.
For the recipe, see Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan (and here’s a video). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie BCM: Vanilla-Mango Panna Cotta (sort of)
July 28, 2015 at 12:01 am | Posted in BCM, groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 22 CommentsTags: pudding
Panna cotta is one of those chilled, wobbly, creamy desserts that a lot of people seem to love. Okay, I am not one of those people…cooked cream sounds like it should be right up my alley, but the secret to this eggless Italian pudding is usually gelatin, something that I avoid whenever possible. I want to love it though, and I am continuing my quest for a vegetarian gelatin substitute anyway, so I decided to try out powdered agar-agar in this week’s layered Vanilla-Mango Panna Cotta recipe. The only other time I’ve experimented with agar-agar at home was with this mirror thing several years back, and it did not go so well. I still didn’t really know what I was doing here, but I did a little more research and decided to use 1 tsp of agar powder in place of the 2 1/4 tsp gelatin in the recipe.
I first blended my frozen mango with lime juice and honey and spooned that puree into glasses. I then cooked my vanilla sweetened cream and milk with my agar powder for a few minutes to activate the agar-agar and poured that on top of the puree. Then I put the everything into the fridge to set and crossed my fingers. And when I opened the fridge an hour later, it was really firm…like, nothing delicate about it…not what I was hoping for.
Besides the mirror thing, my only other agar-agar experience is an entry-level molecular gastromy technique that we used at the fancy-pants restaurant I worked for in Sydney called a “fluid gel.” We’d boil fruit juice with enough agar powder to make it set hard (practically so hard it could bounce) when cooled. Then we’d blitz it in a high-speed blender until it turned into a gel the consistency of toothpaste (remember Close-Up?) that we could use to make dots and squiggles for plate decoration.
I thought about my fluid gel days with a hint of nostalgia and decided to scrape my not-panna cotta (notta-cotta?), mango puree and all, into the blender and I whizzed it up into a very creamy and luxurious soft pudding. I had a bit of extra mango puree that was meant to go with my morning yogurt, but plans change, so I divided it up into my glasses and topped it with my vanilla-mango pudding and some blueberries. I couldn’t call it panna cotta in the end, but it was cold, creamy and tasty anyway.
For the recipe, see Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!
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