Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel-Topped Flan
March 25, 2008 at 2:10 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 40 Comments
I may be out of town right now, but I wasn’t about to miss out on my chance to choose the recipe for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie meet-up– at the rate the group is growing, I probably won’t get another pick! I decided to venture into the “spoon desserts” section near the back of the book, and go with Dorie’s Caramel-Topped Flan.
Flan is simple to prepare…it’s a no-fuss custard that gets baked in a waterbath. What makes it really special is the gorgeous amber-glass layer of caramel that adheres to the custard when you turn it out of the pan. I love the combination of the cold wiggly custard and the bittersweet caramel.
I scaled back the recipe and made a couple of individual flans in ramekins, rather than one large one. I also did the “playing around” variation, using coconut milk instead of heavy cream. I put a little twist on it by infusing the milks with lime zest and using rum instead of vanilla extract.
The recipe is, of course, in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but I also include it below. Don’t forget to check out Tuesdays with Dorie to visit all of this week’s posts.
Caramel-Topped Flan– makes one 8″x2″ flan
adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
Note: You can make individual servings by using six 6-oz or seven or eight 4-oz ramekins or containers instead of the larger cake pan.
For the caramel:
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
squirt of fresh lemon juiceFor the flan:
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cups whole milk
3 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Getting ready:
-Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a roasting pan or 9″x13″ baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off heat.
-Put a metal 8″x2″ round cake pan– not a nonstick one– in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel. (If you are using individual molds or ramekins, then skip this step.)
To Make the Caramel:
-Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.
-Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.
To Make the Flan:
-Bring the milk and heavy cream just to a boil.
-Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.
-Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don’t worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.) Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean. (Small, individual molds will take less time– start checking for doneness around the 25-minute mark).
-Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
-When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan–the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.
Storing: Covered with plastic wrap in its baking pan, the flan will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. However, once unmolded, its best to enjoy it the same day.
Serving: Bring the flan to the table and cut into wedges. Spoon some of the syrup onto each plate.
Playing Around– Caramel-topped coconut flan: For a more tropical flan with a somewhat lighter texture, replace the heavy cream with a 15-oz can of unsweetened coconut milk and reduce the amount of milk to 1 cup.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brioche Raisin Snails
March 18, 2008 at 2:48 am | Posted in breakfast things, groups, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 32 Comments
Ah yes, it’s that day of the week again, and Peabody has chosen Dorie’s Brioche Raisin Snails as the recipe for this round of TWD. I imagine this would be an ideal breakfast treat, but R & I moved faster than a speeding snail and ate them for dessert just a few hours after I made them.
Actually this recipe is a few recipes in one, beginning with brioche dough. It’s not hard to make (especially if you have a stand mixer to do the dirty-work for you), but requires a some time and patience, as it needs to spend a night in the fridge before it’s ready to shape. I strayed from Dorie’s advice in her opener for Golden Brioche Loaves (which is the base for the snails) and did half a recipe…it came out just fine. Once the brioche dough has had its beauty sleep, it’s rolled out and smeared with pastry cream (I don’t think I’ve ever baked pastry cream before!) and rum-flamed raisins. I said last time that I am not a raisin fan, so here I used dried cherries in lieu, as I knew they’d be nice with the rum. Then it gets rolled up and sliced into rounds– hence the whole “snail” thing.
Like I said, we ate these the day they were made, and they were really nice…soft and slightly boozy. Of course I glazed them, which Dorie says is optional (but in my books is mandatory). I only turned a portion of my dough into snails…I froze the rest as Pecan Honey Sticky Buns for another time. Yum!
You can find the recipe on Peabody’s site (her version includes a few yummy-looking modifications to the original) or in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. And head over to the Tuesdays with Dorie space to see all the other snails crawling around the blogosphere.
P.S.: I’ll be on vacation by the time you see this. I’m not sure about the internet situation, as I’ll be a tourist in lands unknown to me…so if I can’t comment on your posts for a few weeks, please forgive me!
Blogging by Mail– Thanks, Amy!
March 14, 2008 at 9:03 pm | Posted in events | Leave a comment
There was major excitement yesterday when I went to the post office to pick up a box, and it turned out to be my Blogging by Mail package! Amy from Tart Reform sent along a bunch of goodies to remind me of the States. She put together a great box, containing:
-Reece’s cups (an all-time favorite of mine!)
-Jolly Ranchers (I haven’t had one in years, and went straight for the best flavor– watermelon!)
-strawberries & cream cheeseball and dessert mix (what could this be??)
-animal crackers
-a Maryland candy bar
-a CD from a band called Damone (I don’t know them, so I’m excited to give it a try!)
-a postcard of the Capitol building (that makes me a little homesick–I spent the first 17 years of my life in the DC suburbs on the Virginia side of the Potomac)
Thank you, Amy! I have a great selection of snacks to last me awhile! And thanks so much to Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness, who organized this event, and I know spent hours, if not days, matching up bloggers from around the world! Little things do mean a lot, and this was great fun!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie-Cake
March 11, 2008 at 12:02 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, pies & tarts, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 43 Comments
Natalie from Burned Bits chose Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie-Cake as our Tuesdays with Dorie recipe of the week. I love apple pie and I love cake, so this one sounded great, even though I didn’t really know what to expect from it. Made from dough like a pie, but bakes up like a cake– huh?? Dorie doesn’t have a photo in her book to help me out (although she does have a nice story about the recipe), so I’d just have to see this paradox for myself.
It wasn’t hard to make– two layers of crust sandwich a cinnamony apple filling. When the “pie” bakes, the crusts poof up, and it really does become cake-like. It’s a really rustic dessert–all lumpy and bumpy and browned on top. And it’s really good…tonight I will be dreaming about eating it for breakfast!
I did make a couple of changes. Dorie uses raisins in her recipe, but I’m not too fond of them so I substituted dried cranberries instead. Also, I wanted to make half a recipe, which is a more manageable amount for us, and my 8-inch square glass pan worked perfectly.
You can find the recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Burned Bits. And check out the posts from the other Tuesdays with Dorie members!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Snickery Squares
March 4, 2008 at 8:22 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 34 Comments
Erin of Dinner and Dessert was at the controls for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. She chose Dorie Greenspan’s Snickery Squares from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours. Dorie calls these “classy Snickers.” Shortbread, dulce de leche, candied peanuts and chocolate glaze…okay, there’s no nougat, but we won’t get too technical here! They still sounded candybar-licious to me!
I can’t say that I’ve noticed store-bought dulce de leche at my local grocery store in Sydney, so I made my own from a can of sweetened condensed milk . I threw caution to the wind and did it they way they all say not to…I boiled it in the can for three hours. Luckily there were no horrific explosions, and when I opened up the tin a few days later (I went away for the weekend and stashed it in the fridge), I had a can of beautifully thick caramel goo.
My bars look a little more oozy than they probably should. I just made them this afternoon, and had to shortcut the chilling time before their photo-session, as my daylight was fleeting! These are rich…super-rich. I’d maybe prefer a thinner layer of bittersweet chocolate topping, but besides that, no complaints here!
You can find the recipe for Snickery Squares in Baking: From My Home to Yours or on Dinner and Dessert. And don’t forget to check out the posts from the other Tuesdays with Dorie members!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
February 26, 2008 at 7:06 am | Posted in biscuits/scones, breakfast things, groups, tuesdays with dorie | 30 Comments
Ashley of eat me, delicious lured us out of the realm of cakes and into the world of breakfast treats by choosing Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits as this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.
I will fess up and tell you off the bat that I made these twice. The first time around, they were truly delicious, but they didn’t come out the way I thought they were meant to. Dorie described them as ‘high’ and ‘flaky,’ but mine didn’t rise much at all (surprising, given the large amount of leavener in the recipe), and while very tender, I wouldn’t have said they were flaky. Also, my photos of that batch were so blah-looking, I didn’t want to put them up. I still don’t like this photo either. What can I say…I am a perfectionist who never attains perfection. How frustrating to be me!!
The second time around, I followed a good suggestion made by Lemon Tartlet Leigh to grate my butter into the dry ingredients rather than try to cut in larger pieces. Then you can just toss the grated bits to coat and don’t run the risk of over-working the dough. I am usually pretty sensitive to over-working, but maybe I did on my first attempt, who knows. I’d say the second batch did rise a bit higher than the first, but I was expecting them to double in height or something, and they certainly didn’t. The only way I can put it is that they seemed more like scones than biscuits. That being said, they made darn fine scones (pecans and brown sugar are a great combo), and I’d certainly make them again, again…if that makes sense.
If you read the recipe in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or here on eat me, delicious, you’ll notice that Dorie calls for cutting the biscuits into two-inch rounds. I cut mine into larger squares, so there was no waste. Also two inches is tiny…I could eat like five of those. And if you’re wondering what that crazy red stuff is on my scones, it’s cranberry honey, which I received in the last go-round of Blogging by Mail.
Did anyone achieve high and mighty pecan sour cream biscuits this week? I dunno. Join me at the Tuesdays with Dorie site to view the blogroll!
CH#6: Rum Punch Cupcakes
February 24, 2008 at 5:40 pm | Posted in cupcakes, events, sweet things | 18 Comments
If you ask me, any time involving rum punch is a good time. It may have been a decade (or more!) since spring break in Cancún, but rum punch is just as much fun today as it was back then. For this month’s liquor-laden Cupcake Hero event (hosted, as always by Laurie, and this time with the assistance of Tempered Woman), I wanted to make a cupcake that, while maybe didn’t have quite the same GGW effect (totally kidding–that is not me at all!!) as knocking back a few plastic cups o’ rum punch, at least incorporated some the flavors. Pineapple, orange, and of course rum, were what I was going for. And please don’t forget the paper umbrella…
To start off, I made some modifications to Billy Reece’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcake recipe, which I used in my cherry-lime rickey cupcakes awhile back. By modifications, I mean I dropped the vanilla, vanilla and made them rum, rum. I swapped out all of the vanilla extract and one-quarter of the milk for Caribbean rum. They did have a different texture than Billy’s original recipe. Not dry at all, but more dense…almost like a rummy poundcake. I’m guessing this is because when I substituted 25% of the milk for rum, I took out a portion of the fat component. I didn’t expect that to happen, but I didn’t entirely mind it either.
I wanted to make a filling for the cupcakes, but didn’t want to do a lot of work. I decided to spruce up some more of that Bird’s custard powder I have in the cupboard (any custard mix would do and homemade would be great) with orange zest and Grand Marnier. I set aside a portion of the cooled orange custard and mixed crushed pineapple into the rest. (I bough a fresh pineapple and roughly crushed up a good sized chunk of it in my mini food processor.) Filling done.
Coming up with a frosting was a tricky one. Meringue didn’t sound right…too sweet and not enough flavor. And buttercream was too heavy and fussy. I really liked the whipped cream topping on my cappuccino cupcakes last month. It was super easy and light, but also needed a bit of tropical flavor. I took that plain orange custard I had set aside before and folded that into whipped cream, and my frosting was ready to go. Since whipped cream is not the most stable stuff in the world, I’d recommend doing this part shortly before serving.
These were quite nice; pleasantly boozy but not too overpowering. And I love anything with a little umbrella!
You may notice that the recipe below is rather vague in measurements (quite bogan as they say in Australia). This is because I quartered the cupcake recipe (this gave me four cupcakes, but I could have squeaked out five if I’d made them a bit smaller), and then I basically eyeballed what I’d need to fill and frost them, since there were so few. I trust that you have good judgement, and if you make too much of something, then consider it an extra snack.
Rum Punch Cupcakes– makes as many as you want
-Start with a batch of baked and cooled Billy’s Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes, substitute rum for all of the vanilla in the recipe and up to 25% of the milk. (Not wanting 30 cupcakes, I did a quarter batch, which yields four or five.)
-Make and cool some rum simple syrup. See here for the recipe for plain simple syrup. To flavor it, add a splash of rum as soon as you take it off the heat. (You can make a full recipe of plain syrup and just flavor a portion with rum. The rest can be saved in the fridge for a month or so and be used to sweeten iced tea or coffee, or to moisten other cakes, etc.)
-Make and chill some orange custard, using your favorite pudding recipe with orange zest and Grand Marnier added to taste, or prepare custard powder according to package instructions, flavoring with orange zest and Grand Marnier. Set aside about 1/4 of it for filling and the rest for topping.
-Into the filling portion of the custard, stir in some drained crushed pineapple. This will probably be a couple of spoonfuls, depending on how many cupcakes you are making. You can used canned crushed pineapple or roughly crush some fresh pineapple in the food processor.
-To fill the cupcakes, use a small knife or round cookie cutter to cut a plug out of the center of each (going in from the top). Save the top bit of each plug. Spoon a small amount (about 1/4 teaspoon) of rum simple syrup into each cavity. This is just to keep the cakes moist…don’t drown them. Fill each cavity with pineapple-orange custard. Cover with the top bit so the filling is not exposed.
-Make the frosting from lightly sweetened whipped cream folded together with the reserved plain orange custard (about equal parts). You can whip it up a bit more if it is not stiff enough to sit nicely on top.
-Top and decorate as you see fit.
Taste&Create VI: Roasted Tomatoes with Basil with Cherrapeño
February 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm | Posted in events, savory things | 12 Comments
For this month’s Taste&Create Nicole from For the Love of Food matched me up with Nic from Cherrapeño. Nic has a lot of good-looking sweet treats on her blog (I have all the ingredients to make one of them and if I’m able to this weekend, I will), but for events like these, I often like to branch out to the savory side of the cooking world. Nic grows her own chilies and herbs and puts them to good use on the dinner table.
I decided to make Nic’s roasted tomatoes with basil. I thought they would be perfect with what I was already making for dinner– broccolini and a vegetable lasagna without tomato sauce. These were so easy to make, it almost felt like a cop out, but let me tell you, they are super flavorful and just burst in your mouth. No wonder she says they are one of her favorite dishes..now they’re one of mine, too.
You can find more detail on Nic’s site, but essentially tomatoes, basil and garlic are slow-roasted in the oven with a little olive oil. Then balsamic is drizzled on top before serving. I used some large-sized cherry tomatoes I had and sprinkled on a little sea salt, black pepper and more fresh basil when they were out of the oven. It’s really a beautiful end of summer side dish.
Thanks Nic and Nicole for a great event!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Almost-Fudge Gâteau
February 19, 2008 at 6:33 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 42 Comments
For this week’s installment of Tuesdays with Dorie, Nikki of Crazy Delicious has chosen Dorie’s Almost-Fudge Gâteau. I love saying the word “gâteau”…sounds so elegant! A dense chocolate cake with bittersweet glaze certainly is elegant, and luckily this one is a snap to make, too. I made a half-recipe to fit my 6-inch springform…that pan is getting a workout lately!
I thought this would make a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert. I actually had to work that night and was unable to make it then, but turns out it was also a perfect Sunday night dessert. (It was even more fudgey on Monday night!) And I still went ahead and decorated it with sugar hearts and pink pearls. It was really great with a little espresso ice cream on the side.
The recipe is, of course, in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but you can also find it on Crazy Delicious. The TWD group is growing by leaps and bounds…check out all of our gâteaux on the Tuesdays with Dorie site.
Food Fight #3: Lentil Soup
February 17, 2008 at 4:07 pm | Posted in events, savory things, soups | 9 Comments
It’s been awhile, but Allen from Eating Out Loud is back with another Food Fight, and this time it’s a pantry raid. That phrase makes me giggle in a juvenile sort of way…one of the lingering side effects of having seen Revenge of the Nerds a few too many times.
My pantry isn’t super-well stocked. I don’t have a huge family..it’s just my husband and me (and I guess now my brother since he’s been “visiting” for four months!), and several nights a week I am working at the restaurant and not home to make dinner. I tend to do my shopping on an as needed basis so I don’t have too much junk lying around. Poking through what I do have in the pantry the other day, I was wondering how I could combine Craisins, wild rice, peanut butter and golden syrup into something delicious. Perhaps I could encase them in that puff pastry that’s been in the freezer for several months. Yeah, maybe not. Then I discovered something I’d forgotten about…a bag of lentils.
Rather than concoct something potentially disgusting, I decided to go with a classic lentil soup that I could easily put together with things I had already. I’d say this particular pot of soup fit the definition of a pantry raid. It was made only from items I already had in the pantry and fridge (and wine rack). I didn’t go to the store to get any additional ingredients for it, and nothing was bought in advance with the intention of making lentil soup with it.
I used a recipe that I’d made once before from my most favorite cooking magazine, Cook’s Illustrated. I modified it slightly to use up what I had at home…dried thyme instead of fresh, a chicken chorizo sausage instead of bacon. (The other time I made this recipe, I turned it into a vegetarian soup by sauteing my veggies in olive oil rather than rendered fat.) I had a few small new potatoes hanging around from the previous week…there weren’t enough of them to do anything else with, so they went into the pot, too. The chicken chorizo gave it a wonderful smoky flavor that we all loved. Even my brother, who was quite suspicious of lentil soup, asked for seconds!
Allen asked us to also include a photo of our pantries. How personal! I bet you aren’t going to get any organizational tips from mine–what’s in there is a total mess! This photo is of a large pantry closet in the kitchen. I have a few shelves dedicated to food items and the others are for cake pans, the salad spinner, etc. Stuff is kind of all over the place, but I could close my eyes and still be able to pull out exactly what I need when I need it–sort of an organized chaos, I guess. I also have a smaller cupboard with my expansive vinegar collection, honey, jams and stuff like that.
Lentil Soup- makes about 2 quarts
modified from Cook’s Illustrated
Note: Instead of chorizo, you can use 3 slices bacon (about 3 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch pieces, or for a vegetarian version, use olive oil.
1 chicken (or other) chorizo sausage, cut into slices
1 large onion , chopped fine (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 medium carrots , peeled and chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 T)
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 bay leaf
1/2t dried thyme leaves
1 cup lentils (7 oz), rinsed and picked over
1 t salt
ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
4 small new potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 t balsamic vinegar
3 T minced fresh parsley leaves
-Fry chorizo in large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and chorizo crisps on the outside, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer chorizo to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Leave the rendered fat in the pan (although you can pour some off if it is excessive). Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes, bay leaf, and thyme; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in lentils, salt, and pepper to taste; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until vegetables are softened and lentils have darkened, 8 to 10 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, add wine, and bring to simmer. Add chicken broth and water; bring to boil, cover partially, and reduce heat to low. Simmer for about 20 minutes, then add in the diced potatoes. Continue to simmer until lentils are tender but still hold their shape and potatoes are cooked, about 10 to 15 minutes more.
-Discard bay leaf and puree 3 cups soup in blender until smooth, then return to pot; stir in vinegar, add the chorizo back to the pot and heat soup over medium-low until hot, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons parsley and serve, garnishing each bowl with some of remaining parsley and sour cream or yogurt, if desired.
Baked Fresh Weekly
Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.
a whisk and a spoon 