Daring Bakers in August: Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
August 31, 2008 at 4:25 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, other sweet, sweet things | 63 Comments
Éclairs may be my husband’s favorite pastry. He blames a box of éclairs that I made and brought home while in cooking school for sending him on a downward sweets spiral that resulted in him being on a diet for like two years after my graduation! I blame his lack of self-control. Let’s see if he can keep it together for this month’s Daring Bakers event– Meeta from What’s For Lunch, Honey? and Tony of Olive Juice have challenged us to make éclairs. Not just any éclairs, but Pierre Hermé’s éclairs.
Éclairs are made from choux pastry, usually filled with pastry cream and dipped in chocolate. They’re just like a cream puff, but elongated instead of round. Meeta and Tony wanted us to keep either the glaze or the pastry cream chocolate, but gave us free reign to make one of them non-chocolate. I kept the chocolate on top and filled mine with a coffee-wattleseed pastry cream.
It wasn’t until I took that top picture, that I noticed that from the side, my éclair looked a little weird. “What’s with this thing?” I thought. I usually prefer not to cut éclairs in half in order to fill them. Looks-wise, I like them better when they are kept intact and filled through a small hole in the back or on the bottom. But I was fast running out of daylight for my photos, so I figured I’d cut them in half to cool quicker and just assemble and photograph one right away. Upon closer inspection, I realized that rather than filling the bottom half of the éclair I photoed with pastry cream, I’d filled the top half of another one, and then sandwiched the two together. D’oh! I thought about a redo but then I decided to leave it, so you can have a glimpse of what it’s like to be me, the master (or mistress, I guess) of imperfection.
I made Dorie’s pâte à choux not too long ago, and I think I preferred it. The ingredients aren’t too different, although this one from Hermé has an additional egg. Perhaps that’s why it seemd a little crustier than I’m used to. I also had to bake it a bit longer than the recommended 20 minutes to dry it out and get it the shade of brown I like. I do love the chocolate sauce, though. It is delicious, and luckily I have a bunch left over..it will be great on ice cream.
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Meeta or Tony for the recipe (which was adapted from Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Hermé).
Cookie Carnival: Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti
August 28, 2008 at 2:24 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, events, sweet things | 15 Comments
Kate over at The Clean Plate Club has come up with a great monthly event–one that combines my love for cookies with my equally passionate love for carnie rides! The price of admission to this month’s Cookie Carnival is a batch of chocolate-hazelnut biscotti. There’s been a lot of chocolate and hazelnut here this month, hasn’t there? Well, that’s OK–it’s one of my favorite combos, so keep it coming!
A café cookie jar staple, we all know biscotti as the crunchy biscuits we dip in our lattes. They are “twice baked” to get that hard crunch…first a large log to set the dough, and then again when that dough is sliced into individual cookies.
Besides the fact that I made just one-quarter of the full recipe, I did substitute white chocolate chunks for the semisweet chips. I figured that since the biscotti have a dark cocoa base, the white chocolate would go nicely. And, as a result of some shopping confusion, I have a giant bag of white chocolate pistoles that I’m itching to use up. A couple of months ago I bought a one kilo bag of the stuff for the DB opera cake. It should have been fairly obvious that there was no way I’d need that much, but for some reason my brain sometimes chooses to sit out the decision-making process..
These biscotti were good. I wasn’t crazy about them when they were fresh put of the oven, but they were much improved after sitting around for a few hours, I thought, and quite perfect when dunked into coffee the next morning. That being said, while I am glad I made them, I probably won’t make them again…but only because there are just too many other cookies out there to try!
Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti- makes about 4 dozen
from The Bakehouse in Bloomington, IN (recipe from Bon Appétit)
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, husked
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet or white chocolate chips or chunks
-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Grind 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts in processor. Set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl.
-Beat butter and sugar in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well blended. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in 1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.
-Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2-inch-wide by 14-inch-long log. Place logs on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart (logs will spread during baking). Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes.
-Cool logs on baking sheet 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.
-Using long wide spatula, transfer baked logs to cutting board. Using serrated knife, cut warm logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
-Arrange slices, cut side down, on 2 baking sheets. Bake biscotti until firm, about 15 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. (Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti can be prepared ahead. Store in airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.)
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte
August 26, 2008 at 4:36 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 54 Comments
I’m just going to admit that I almost pooped out on TWD this week. I’ve been feeling a little weighed down lately, ya know, and I wasn’t so sure that something called a “Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte” was really going to help. But then I felt guilty…I haven’t missed a week for no good reason yet, and thought it best not to go down that road. Besides, I didn’t want to let down Amy of Food, Family and Fun, who chose this week’s recipe. The deal I struck with myself was to make just two individual servings– one for R and one for me.
I knew that my solo portions wouldn’t need to be as tall as Dorie’s large torte, so I could get away with less of everything. I made just 1/8 of the ganache recipe (or enough for one Dorie-sized serving), and divvied it up between my two little molds, which were actually sturdy, straight sided muffin wrappers. (FYI: The truffle cream does use raw eggs, so if you are sensitive to that, then you may want to skip this recipe or seek out pasteurized eggs, or do whatever you would normally do in this case.) Dorie uses raspberry-flavored ice cream in her torte, but I can’t say that I’ve ever been a fan of fruit and chocolate combos. Instead, I bought two scoops of condensed milk ice cream from a Sydney shop called Passion Flower, which has lots of cool Asian-inspired flavors (I wasn’t sure how black sesame or taro would pair with chocolate, so I played it safe). Back at home, I ground up some hazelnut praline, leftover from this cake, and stirred that in to the ice cream.
The key to serving a frozen dessert like this is to it pull it out of the freezer and let it temper on the counter a few minutes beforehand. Obviously you don’t want it to start melting, but if the ice cream begins to soften just a tad, it’s much more pleasant to eat and will actually taste better, too.
I’m so glad I pulled my head out from you-know-where and got this one done! It was fantastic, and a bit more classy than the normal mid-week dessert around these parts. The chocolate ganache doesn’t freeze solid, but becomes almost chewy when cold. And I really loved it in combination with the hazelnut praline, which retained its sweet crunch in the ice cream.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Food, Family and Fun to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 250 other people had to say!
Hazelnut Praline Cake
August 22, 2008 at 7:04 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, events, layer cakes, sweet things | 18 Comments
If you asked me “cake or pie?” I’d yell “cake” every time! That’s why event-mistress-extraordinaire Laurie’s newest play-along, Layers of Cake, sounded right up my alley. In a happy coincidence this month, I knew I would be making a cake for R’s birthday anyway. R picks his own cake every year, and then I whip up his request. A couple weeks ago, when he chose a Hazelnut Praline Cake from a gorgeous book called Crave: A Passion for Chocolate by Australian Maureen McKeon, I momentarily thought I’d landed in Bizarro World– hadn’t I made something sort of like this but a little different last month? No matter, it was his choice after all, and I knew it would be good.
This is not what I would think of as an “American-style” layer cake. It’s a flourless chocolate cake, with ground hazelnuts providing the structure and whipped eggs providing the lift. It has the dense but creamy texture I was expecting and hoping for. The frosting is a milk chocolate whipped ganache (oh my gosh, is it ever good!), and it’s sprinkled with as much homemade hazelnut praline as your heart desires. It’s really rich, but fantastic– definitley fit for a special occasion, and not bad with a nice (giant, as you can see above!) glass of Cookoothama Botrytis Semillon, either.
Hazelnut Praline Cake– makes 10-12 servings
adapted from Maureen McKeon’s Crave: A Passion for Chocolate
Note: I halved this recipe and baked it in two 6-inch rounds. Rather than cutting each round into layers, as the author suggests, I left mine as a two-layer cake.
-Make the hazelnut nut praline (recipe follows) and allow to cool. Then break some into shards to decorate and crush the rest.
-Bake the cake (recipe follows) and allow to cool completely.
-While the cake is baking, make the milk chocolate cream (recipe follows) and chill.
-Slice both of the 9-inch cakes horizontally into two layers, or the 10-inch cake into three layers. (If you halve the recipe, or if your baked cakes are simply thin, use your judgement here to decide if you want to slice them or not.) Put one layer on a cake board and spread with some of the whipped chocolate cream. You may need to dip the your icing spatula into hot water to aid in spreading. Sprinkle with some of the crushed praline, and top with the next cake layer. Repeat until all layers are used.
-Spread the remaining cream on the outside of the cake. Sprinkle with as much crushed praline as you’d like and decorate with the shards.
-Cover lightly and refrigerate until service.
Hazelnut Praline
Note: This may make more than you want to use on the cake. You can adjust the quantities accordingly, but extras save nicely for a couple weeks and can be used crushed over ice cream, etc.
235 g granulated sugar
pinch of salt
250 g skinned hazelnuts, warmed
-Line a baking tray (with sides) with a Silpat or parchment.
-Put the sugar, pinch of salt and 50 ml water into a heavy pot. Stir to combine and clean down and sugar crystals on the sides of the pot with a little water. Bring the sugar to a boil and cook until a light caramel color (do not stir).
-Add the nuts and stir over low heat with a wooden spoon. You will notice the sugar go chalky white, and as you stir it will slowly begin to re-caramelize. Increase the heat at this point and continue to cook until the mixture turns a deep honey color.
-Turn the caramel and nut mixture out onto the lined tray. Pat into a single layer with the back of your wooden spoon. Allow to cool completely, and it will harden.
-Once hard, break into shards or put in plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.
-Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
Cake
6 large eggs, separated
115 g plus 1 T granulated sugar
pinch of salt
185 g chopped dark chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
185 g ground hazelnuts
-Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch or one 10-inch round cake pans and line with parchment.
-Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks and 115 g sugar on medium-high speed until thick and pale.
-Using clean beaters and bowl, beat the whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks. Add the 1 T sugar and beat until glossy.
-Mix the tepid chocolate with 3 T hot water and add to the egg yolk mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the ground hazelnuts. Then gently fold in the meringue in two stages.
-Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes (maybe less if you halve the recipe), or until the top is firm to the touch.
-Allow to cool completely in the cake pans before turning out.
Milk Chocolate Cream
375 ml cream (35% fat)
pinch of salt
300 g chopped milk chocolate
60 g unsalted butter
-Bring the cream and pinch of salt to a boil in the saucepan and remove from the heat. Add the chocolate to the hot cream and allow it to stand for a minute or two. Stir until smooth; then stir in the butter. Cover and chill for two hours.
-Use a wooden spoon to beat the chilled ganache mixture until thickened and spreadable.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Granola Grabbers
August 19, 2008 at 5:46 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 46 Comments
Granola Grabbers– I feel so wholesome. Perhaps Michelle of Bad Girl Baking was going for that good, clean feeling when she chose these for TWD this week.
Whether you are trying to satisfy the after-school crowd, or are just trying to put aside those impure thoughts you’ve been having about Gael García Bernal ever since watching The Motorcycle Diaries a few days ago, these will do the trick. These chubby little cookies are loaded with granola (of course), wheat germ, nuts, coconut and raisins (or dried cranberries, in my case). I also added a pinch of cinnamon to mine. They are chewy, but the granola also makes them crunchy…a very pleasant combination of textures. I only made a third of a recipe, and I briefly thought about patting the dough into a loaf pan and making bars instead, but I have definitely not been getting my recommended daily dose of cookies lately.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or on Bad Girl Baking to find the recipe for Granola Grabbers. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 200 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream
August 12, 2008 at 5:22 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 64 Comments
I’m back from Hawaii…a couple days in Oahu, a couple Kauai, but most of our time was spent on the Big Island, where my dad’s side of the family descended upon Kona for my uncle’s wedding. I’m sure the area is still recovering from the W family whirlwind. It was a lot of fun, and I have a face full of freckles and a mind full of good memories to show for it. One night, I even had a mai tai for each of you! Trust me when I say that I paid a stiff price for it the next day!
I’ve returned just in time to make blueberry sour-cream ice cream, this week’s TWD recipe, which comes to us courtesy of Dolores from Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. I was pretty jazzed about this recipe, not only because I jump at any excuse to use my KA ice cream attachment, but also because one of my favorite homemade fruit ice cream recipes is a strawberry-sour cream ice cream I found in Sunset magazine many moons ago. I just love the tang that a whomp of sour cream gives!
This ice cream recipe was pretty simple…no eggs, no making custard, no straining. I used frozen blueberries to make the base. I thought the end product had pretty good flavor, but decided to amp it up a bit before serving with a simple sauce made from, you guessed it, frozen mixed berries.
Dorie notes that this this ice cream is firm in texture. On the day I made it, we ate some within a few hours, when it had that gorgeously soft, smooth feel to it. But on the second day, it was more rock hard than just firm, even after sitting out for awhile. I find that to be a bit unpleasant, and usually put a teeny pinch of xanthan gum, which I get at the health food store, into my homemade ice creams to keep it scoopable for a few days (just a pinch, so it’s never gummy like some store-bought stuff). I was a little PO’d with myself for forgetting it here. If I make this again, I’ll wait till fresh berries are in season and I’ll add a pinch of xanthan gum at the point where the berries are just cooked and still hot.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 200 other people had to say!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Black-and-White Banana Loaf
August 5, 2008 at 5:32 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 54 Comments
I love a making loaf cakes (and Bundts, too…wink, wink, nudge, nudge), so I was glad to see that Ashlee of A Year In The Kitchen chose Dorie’s Black-and-White Banana Loaf for TWD this week. Loaf cakes are basically throw together no-brainers, although this one has the extra steps of melting chocolate, mashing a banana and marbling. Still no-brainers, but with a few more bowls to wash at the end.
I also love stuff baked with bananas. I do find this odd, since I don’t like raw bananas at all–ick! But they smell so good baking in the oven, and make for super-moist cakes, breads and muffins. You’ll hear no complaints from me on this cake (it tastes just like you’d expect), although perhaps I could work on my marbling skills…what I did just looks like blobs. Dorie said to make this more white than black, but I paid that no mind and went more black than white.
Did I tell you I found a half-size loaf pan a couple months ago? Really, I don’t even know why I have larger baking pans anymore…they rarely see the light of day. The little guy’s almost as deep as a normal loaf, though, so it doesn’t really shave anything off the baking time.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Ashlee’s post to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 200 other people had to say!
P.S.: I’m still out of town…back in a couple days!
Daring Bakers in July: Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream
July 30, 2008 at 4:19 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, daring bakers, groups, layer cakes, sweet things | 49 Comments
When I saw that Chris of Mele Cotte would be taking charge of this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I had my fingers crossed that she’d chose something sweet with an Italian twist to it. As if reading my mind, she chose Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream–a cake featuring the quintessentially Italian combo of hazelnuts and chocolate (and two funny words, “filbert” and “gâteau”). Mmmm…wonderful.
I made a half recipe, fitting the cake batter into a six-inch pan with high sides. There’s a little bit of citrus in this recipe, but I decided to leave out the lemon zest in the cake batter and replace the Grand Marnier in the soaking syrup and buttercream with Kahlua, which suits my tastes better. As you can see, I kind of copped out and only cut the cake into two layers instead of three.
While I did not to make the praline to add to the buttercream frosting, I did make caramelized whole hazelnuts to use as decoration. I flavored my Swiss meringue buttercream instead with an unsweetened hazelnut butter that I had bought at the health food store awhile back. Buttercream is plenty sweet already, so this gave it a nice balance and a good hazelnut flavor. I realized that I’d have a few more of those caramelized nuts than I’d need to decorate the top of the cake, so I chopped up the extras roughly and sprinkled them over the buttercream before placing on the top layer of cake. That was a nice crunchy touch!
I am wondering if my glaze was a little on the thin side. The top was nice and smooth, but as it dripped down the side of cake, it seemed to get hung up on the little specks of hazelnut in the buttercream crumb coat (which I chose to use instead of apricot glaze). No matter…it was on to the decorating! Chris wanted us to use some of the buttercream in our decoration. Small cakes can easily look look overwhelmed by garnish, so I didn’t want to use too much. Little shells on the bottom border, a few rosettes on top, and that was enough for me. I finished it off with a little gold dust and the candied nuts.
After reading through all that, maybe you wonder what it tasted like. This cake was seriously delicious! We had it for three nights, and I savored every bite. There were a lot of steps to this cake, but the end result was totally worth it. I can hardly believe that I joined the Daring Bakers last July (I can also hardly believe that the group was still in the double digits back then)! I considered this to be my DB one-year anniversary cake!
Check out the DB blogroll! And visit Mele Cotte for the recipe (which was adapted from Great Cakes by Carol Walter).
P.S.: I’m still out of town, but back next week!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Summer Fruit Galette
July 29, 2008 at 5:19 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 39 Comments
This week, it’s more summer fruit action for TWD, as Michelle from Michelle in Colorado Springs has selected Dorie’s recipe for Summer Fruit Galette. I’m wondering if there are any Southern Hemisphere dwellers coming up in the rotation? Anyone to pick a heavy, wintertime bread pudding, or perhaps a little pumpkin somethin’ somethin’? 
Just kidding…actually, I have something up my sleeve, and it’s one of my absolute favorites. It’s no secret either, because I used it last week— rhubarb.
I so associate rhubarb with spring back in the States, but I mentioned last week that I see it at the farmers’ markets year-round here. Maybe it’s the mild climate or something, I dunno. And I’m talking about thin, red as anything, beautiful stalks, with healthy green leaves (although they’re not healthy to eat–call Mr. Yuck!) still attached. It’s really a veggie, by the way, so perhaps I should call this a “summer vegetable galette”?
A galette is a free-form tart. Less muss and fuss than one baked in a ring, it’s easy to make, and even easier when you have enough of Dorie’s pie dough (left over from my mini Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie) stashed in the freezer to do it. I made two individual-sized galettes. After cutting out the rolled dough into two circles, I smeared the centers with a little strawberry rhubarb jam and sprinkled on some almond cookie crumbs. Then I just piled on a heap of cut rhubarb. Because I really liked the bite of ginger in last week’s cobbler, I chopped up a couple of small hunks of baby stem ginger in syrup that I had in the fridge, and dotted it among the rhubarb pieces…it’s pretty potent stuff, so a little goes along way. I folded the edges of the dough up to form pleats, and the galettes looked oddly similar to a stop sign when viewed from above. I wouldn’t exactly say that rhubarb abounds in natural sweetness, so when I sprinkled the dough with raw sugar before putting the galettes in the oven, I also sprinkled some on the rhubarb.
A few minutes before the galette finishes baking, a “custard” of melted butter, egg, sugar and vanilla gets poured on top. I had initially thought about leaving it out, because the combination of ingredients sounded a little weird to me, frankly. Other TWDers said it really added something, though, so I went ahead with it. And I must say, while it had a strange color (some may say “snot-like”), it was quite tasty and it gave a nice sweetness that seeped all around the rhubarb to fill in the gaps.
To serve, I followed Dorie’s suggestion to simply dust some powdered sugar on top and call it day. We really enjoyed this. It’s a great simple dessert, and I’ll definitely have to try it with some stonefruit in another six months! And I have to say (even though I should not praise that which contains shortening), Dorie’s pie dough is super freakin’ flaky.
Look in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Michelle’s post to find the recipe. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see what over 200 other people had to say!
P.S.: So sorry, but I may not be able to make the TWD rounds myself for the next couple weeks. I’ll be on vacation when you read this–twelve days in America’s paradise, and without our laptop. Aloha!
What do you think?
July 26, 2008 at 8:47 pm | Posted in other stuff | 24 Comments
Notice my new look? Big change, right? What do you think? I love it, but I can’t take the credit. Nope, that goes to Jess from Delicious Design Studio (although you may know her from All Things Cupcake or The Tattooed Mama). I don’t have a clue what CSS is, or even stands for, but luckily I had the good sense to find someone who does.
Since I’ve managed to keep at this blog thing for more than a year now, I felt it deserved a fancy new dress. Jess whipped up something that’s just my style. And as an unexpected plus, I think that having a great-looking template makes my photos look better. Maybe it will trick you into thinking my words are better, too! Thanks, Jess!!
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