Daring Bakers Challenge: Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

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.

My version is a vanilla sponge, filled with berries and a banana custard filling.

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- ¾ cup almond flour/meal
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
- ¼ cup cake flour
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg whites

- 2½ tsp white granulated sugar or superfine sugar
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
2. Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
4. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in melted butter.
6. Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients
- 14 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
- 1½ cups + 1½ tbsp confectioners' sugar
- 7 large egg whites
- 1¾ cup cake flour

- Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3. Fold in sifted flour.
4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approxim ately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet mak es spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock ba g and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
3. Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
5. Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
6. Cool. Do not leave too lon g, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
7. Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)

Preparing the MOLD for entremets:

1. Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
2. A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping.
3. Cut PVC pipe from your local hardware store. Very cheap! These can be cut into any height you wish to make a mold. 2 to 3 inches is good. My store will cut them for me, ask an employee at your store. You can get several for matching individual desserts. Cling wrap and parchment line, as outlined above.
4. Glass Trifle bowl. You will not have a free standing dessert, but you will have a nice pattern to see your joconde for this layered dessert.

Preparing the Jaconde for Molding:

1. Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
2. Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
3. Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
4. Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
5. The mold is done, and ready to fill.

Entremet- Filling Options: Mousses, pastry creams, Bavarian creams, cheesecakes, puddings, curds, jams, cookie bases, more cake (bake off the remaining sponge and cut to layer inside), nuts, Dacquoise, fresh fruit, chocolates, gelee.

Burns Night Supper

It hadn't even occurred to me that it was Burns Night, until I returned home from the supermarket already with a haggis in hand. You may be wondering why on earth I decided to purchase Haggis of all things during my spontaneous trip to the store. Well... I can't even explain it. I originally went to the store to buy bananas, as I had run out just this morning, and while I was perusing the aisles, I spotted it... the lying round and plump, like a little baby crying to be swaddled, in the meat department cooler... haggis! For reasons which are beyond my comprehension, I decided to spend $12.30 of my hard earned cash on this lump of meat which I had never tasted in my life (I think being an Anglophile makes you do crazy things). Anyways, I purchased the Haggis and when I got home, realized that I wasn't quite sure how to cook it because the package did not come with instructions. Do I boil it? Bake it? Steam it? hmmm... I think I'll Google it!

What showed up on Google surprised me... for as I searched among pages of recipes I discovered that today was actually Burns Night (a national day celebrating the birth of Scottish poet, Robert Burns). Delighted with the knowledge that I had found a new holiday to celebrate, I set to work in the kitchen preparing what was to be a delicious supper.

I'm not going to post any recipes, because honestly... all I did was cover the haggis in tin-foil and bung it in the oven for 1 hour, alongside some onions, sweet potatoes and cloves of garlic (which I would later use in my potatoes). And I don't really need to post a recipe for colcannon, because hey... anyone can boil potatoes, mash them with garlic + butter + boiled cabbage + salt.

I literally just threw this supper together last minute, and it was sooooo gooood. The haggis, melted in my mouth and was so tender and moist. It reminded me of meatloaf, but without the beefy taste. I don't regret spending my money on the haggis... and if you've never tried it before, you're seriously missing out! Go get some... and have a happy Burns Night!

I think I'll leave you with the first verse of the Burn's Address to The Haggis:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race.
Aboon them a' ye tak your place.
Painch, tripe or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

I actually memorized this verse a while back, after being introduced to it on QI... I know, such a panel-show nerd. But, it shows you that panel-shows can be quite educational.

Green Bean Coconut Kueh

It's been a while since I steamed up some Malay goodies, so I thought this weekend I'd play around and experiment with what ingredients I had in my pantry to make a unique version of my favorite Malay sweet...

Green Bean Coconut Kueh

Ingredients:
Coconut Sticky Rice Layer
- 3/4 cup glutinous rice, soaked in water overnight
- 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup sugar
- pinch of salt

Green Bean Coconut Layer
- 3/4 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup coconut milk + 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup dried green beans, soaked overnight in water, then boiled until tender
- 1/3 cup dried shredded coconut

Method:
1. Combine the soaked rice, coconut milk mixture, sugar and salt in a bowl. Mix well, then pour into your steaming tray (I used a 6inch round tin). Steam over high heat for 45minutes, until rice is cooked.
2. In another bowl, combine the rice flour, sugar, coconut milk mixture, beans and shredded coconut.
3. Pour the flour mixture into the steaming tray, covering the cooked rice in an even layer. Continue steaming the kueh for another 45minutre, until flour layer is firm and cooked through.
4. Remove tray from steamer, allow to cool. Cut into wedges and serve, at room temperature or cold.

I must say, this was a pretty tasty treat! I guess I've made enough kuehs that I know the basics enough to throw together something decent. I hope one day I'll be able to make a cake/brownie/cookie recipe by heart... but baking takes a little bit more calculative work than steaming. Well... after some early morning kitchen antics, I'm off to watch the Arsenal v. Wigan game that I taped from yesterday (and maybe do some tumblr blogging). See ya!

Cinnamon Apple Upside-down Cake

I've taken it upon myself to do a bit more stress-baking. Apparently the powers that be have decided to seriously screw with me this week. Initially, I was really looking forward to working this week because I had swapped shifts around with a friend so that I could work mostly nights (I usually love nights). But, I guess because I was trying to "make my life easier" karma decided to kick it up a notch. After I got home from my shift, which ended at 7am I emptied my scrub pockets to find, to my dismay, the narcotic keys!! When I saw them, my heart sank... "Crap, crap, nooooooo!! Why!!" these words ran like a continuous news broadcast ticker through my mind. AAAARGH!! I had to drive all the way back to work to bring the keys back to the ward!! Nooo... why!!!

Well, after that adventure, I finally made it home and literally collapsed in my bed, ready to sleep until 5pm... but then I remembered that my colleagues and I had planned a pot-luck for our next shift, and I scrambled out of bed to whip up something tasty. Boy, am I glad that tonight's the last shift of my set... I seriously need to take a break and get reset my internal clock. But anyways, here's what I'm bringing to work tonight.

Cinnamon Apple Upside-down Cake

Ingredients:
- 1 cup butter
- 1 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp each, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
- lemon juice of one lemon
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325degrees.
2. In a medium sauce-pan, heat 1/2 cup of butter until melted and frothy. Add in 2/3 cup brown sugar and cook over medium-heat until mixture is dark amber and smooth in texture. Add in 1 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Pour mixture into the bottom of a 9-inch round, deep dish baking pan.
3. Arrange the sliced apples in a fancy pattern on top of the caramel mixture in the pan, ensuring that the apple slices are tightly tiled over the caramel. Sprinkle lemon juice over top of the apples.
4. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, remaining 1 cup of brown sugar, salt, baking powder and the remaining 1/2 tsp each of the spices.
5. In another bowl, cream together the butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well-combined.
7. Spread the batter over top of the apples in an even layer.
8. Bake for 45-50minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven, invert on serving dish and serve warm or at room temperature.


You could smell the heavenly scent of apple and cinnamon wafting through the house... and it nearly made me forget about the fiasco that had happened with the narcotic keys. Needless to say, I'm definitely not carrying the keys tonight... no siree.

Soft, Sour Cream Cookies

AAHHHH, okay... so this set of shifts has been uber stressful for me. I'm glad I switched one of my day-shifts with a colleague so that this set I'll be working 1 day and 3 nights, but these nights seem to drag on sooooo loooong. In addition, the weather man decided to be correct for a change and snow actually fell while I was at work... a freaking 5-6inches of it! I had my fingers crossed and was praying that I'd be able to get home, because there was no way I was going to stay at the hospital for longer than my 12hour shift (especially since I'm heading back there tonight for night #2). Luckily, the snow-fall turned to slush-fall and the roads cleared up for me; but, I wasn't taking any chances so I decided to just drive to my parents place because they live closer to the hospital... I thought that it would probably be the best thing to do considering I'd be heading back there tonight anyways.

So, after a restful nap in my snuggly warm bed, I awoke with a great desire to do some baking. I'm pretty sure the desire to bake arose due to --> the intensely snowy weather, work-related stress, and waking up to the news that my favorite football team had been crushed by Ipswich... but anyways, here's the recipe!

Sour Cream Cookies
Yields 15 medium sized cookies

Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- heaping 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:
1. Cream together the butter and sugars until light an fluffy.
2. Add the egg, vanilla and sour cream to the butter mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until well incorporated.
5. Add in the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
6. Drop heaping tablespoons of the batter onto a baking sheet, and place in the oven at 350degrees. Bake for 10-12minutes.
7. Place cookies on cooling rack and serve.


OMG! These cookies were so cakey and moist! I'm thinking I have to bring some to work to share with my peeps. I had thought of putting sour cream in my cookies for a long time but just never got around to it because it's not a staple ingredient in my house, but being at my parent's house I found a tub of the stuff and thought to myself, "Today's the day!" Mmmmm... I think I'm just going to huddle by the fireplace with my cookies and a cup of tea until I have to go back to work.

Addendum: How good are these cookies?? Well, they almost made me forget about how sad I was for Arsenal's defeat, but then I went on Tumblr and the pain was relived every time I refreshed my dash. But, life must move on...

Daring Baker's Challenge: December 2010 - Stollen Wreath

I know it's been a while since my last post... a month to be exact, but don't worry, I'm still alive and kicking! I've just gotten a bit distracted by another blogging side-project. Tumblr's got a hold of me and while I haven't been posting a lot of my baking adventures, if you check out my Tumblr blog (www.silverrock.tumblr.com) you can take a peak into my other obsessions.

But, even though I haven't been blogging recipes recently, I will always do my best to keep up to date with the Daring Baker Challenges. So, here's my Stollen Wreath for December's challenge.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

Stollen Wreath

Ingredients:
- ¼ cup lukewarm water
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1 cup milk
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter
- 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon extract or orange extract
- ¾ cup mixed peel
- 1 cup firmly packed raisins (I substituted 1/2 a cup with cranberries)
- 3 tbsp rum
- 12 red glacé cherries (chopped) for color & taste (optional)
- 1 cup flaked almonds (I didn't use these, as my sister is allergic)
- Melted unsalted butter for coating
- Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Method:
1. In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside.
2. Pour ¼ cup warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
3. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup milk and 10 tbsp butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.
4. Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.
5. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
6. Then stir in the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. 7. Add in mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with hands to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries, if using. Be delicate or your dough will turn red
8. Sprinkle flour on counter, transfer dough to the counter, and begin kneading to distribute the fruit evenly, add additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for ~8 minutes. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.
9. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
10. Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want. Shaping The Dough
11. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly. 12. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
13. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
14. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches and ¼ inch thick.
15. Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.
16. Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape. 17. Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.
18. Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
19. Proof for ~2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
20. Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. 21. Transfer to a cooling rack; brush the top with melted butter while hot
22. Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sifter.
23. Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over-top.
24. The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
25. Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar 3 times, since the many coatings help keep the stollen fresh.
26. When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.

This recipe was challenging for me, as I'm not that gifted when it comes to baking with yeast. As my regular readers may know, yeast and I do not get along very well... we're fair-weather friends, one might say. But thanks to my patience and sticking to the recipe to a "t", I was able to produce a Stollen Wreath which I was most proud of sharing with my family and friends for a Christmas potluck. The wreath was wonderfully moist and sweet, thanks to the many layers of butter and icing sugar, and it was the perfect addition to our holiday banquet. I will definitely be making this recipe again, come next winter-time.

Daring Bakers: November 2010 - Crostata

I've been feeling rather guilty having not updated my blog for practically a month. I swear to you I've been in the kitchen quite a few times, and just this past week I whipped up a tasty batch of cookies. I just didn't get around to posting any of my escapades, but thankfully I baked up something for this month's DB challenge. I'm so glad that I joined this group... it's keeping me in-check, and making it so I have to post at least once a month.

I don't know where my time's been running off to. I have been working, but that part of my weekly routine seems to have settled itself out, and I'm getting use to my work schedule... maybe it's because I've been really engrossed in catching up with Arsenal FC's 2010/2011 season (The Premier League, UEFA Champions League and Carling Cup). These guys play brilliant football, and I can't help but be enamored with their dedication to the sport and great team play. I'm sure they'll take the top of the table by the season's end, and with the number of injuries the team's had to endure they're doing amazingly well. The team's last EPL game, they topped Wigan Athletica and like a winter fairlytale, lovely white snow began falling on the pitch.

But anyways, here's my long-awaited blog post for November's DB Challenge: Crostata. 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.

Pasta Frolla (crust)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. minus 1 tbsp superfine sugar or a scant 3/4 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• a pinch of salt
• 1 stick [8 tbsp] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• grated zest of half a lemon
• 1 large egg + egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

Method:

1. Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2. Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
3. Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
4. Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
5. Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6. Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7. Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
8. Roll dough, and form into a baking pan. Add filling, and bake in 350degree oven for 45minutes.
   

Berry Filling

Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup butter
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour + additional 2 tbsp flour for roux
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup mixed field berries
• 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
• Enough milk to make a thick batter (1/4 to 1/2 cup)
  

Method:

1. Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan, add in the sugar and 2 tbsp flour to form roux.
2. Add in the berries, and heat over medium until berries become macerated.
3. Add 1/4 cup milk to the mix and continue stirring mixture.
4. Add in the flour + baking powder mix, stirring until well combined.
5. Slowly add in the eggs, mixing well to ensure that the eggs do not begin to cook; and if batter remains thick, add in additional milk to form a batter with pudding-like consistency.
6. Pour into the pasta frolla crust and bake at 350degrees until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
   

Yay!! The crostata was tasty, and with the winter-ish weather doing it's business outside (seriously, I can't believe it began snowing already) my family enjoyed the warm pie with a big dollop of whipped cream. Mmmmm... I cannot wait until Christmas rolls around, it seems so close yet so far!

October's Daring Baker Challenge: Doughnuts

Eeeee! I know I haven't posted anything in what seems like forever, and yes you can blame my work on that one. I simply haven't found the time to get back into the kitchen! When doing shift-work, it seems like your "days on" are so busy you can't get anything done when you get home... and then on your "days off" you're simply too exhausted to even contemplate doing anything (even the things that you love). But, hopefully I'll get into a good routine soon.

In regards to work, all I have to say is that I'm very glad I have the co-workers I do. Although the work is extremely exhausting and frustrating at times (seeing as how none of us get decent breaks and it's always go-go-go) my team at work is just amazingly supportive and they always offer a hand (even when they're swamped too). Without them, I'd seriously have a complete melt-down... and came so close to it, let me tell you. But for now, I'm good... enjoying my restful days off and finally stepping into the kitchen to do some Daring Baker's work.

Blog-checking lines: 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.

Boy do I love doughnuts... and I could hardly wait to get cracking on this challenge, so without further adieu. Here's the recipe:

Yeast Doughnuts

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 milk
- 1/3 cup butter
- 4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 eggs, large [I substituted one egg for 1/3 cup pumpkin puree]
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp nutmeg, grated [I also added 1 tsp ground cinnamon]
- 4 2/3 cups all purpose flour + extra for dusting surface
- Enough canola oil to create THREE (3) inches of oil within your frying vessel

Method:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

[NOTE: I halved my portion of dough so that I could fry one half, and save the other half of dough to shape and bake. For my baked donuts, I placed them on a well greased baking tray, brushed the uncooked donuts with melted butter and baked at 350degrees for 8-10minutes. Once baked, I then brushed them with a little more butter and dipped them into a mixture of granulated sugar + cinnamon. For my filled donuts, I simply poked a hole in the middle and filled with raspberry preserve]

Yay, for DB challenges! These doughnuts were simply divine! Both the baked and the fried versions were super tasty and they actually weren't that difficult to make. There are times when I look at the DB challenges and think "OMG! I don't have any time to complete this challenge", but then when I look back on it again, it's actually a good thing that these challenges are monthly because then I'm almost guaranteed to enter at least a blog-post a month! So thanks DB's for keeping me on track!

Irish Soda Bread Take 2

Having already made Irish Soda Bread (and having loved it the last time), I thought I'd try a different recipe to revive the ol' classic. I made the soda bread to go a long with a stew that my dad had prepared for me and brought over to my place... I don't know what could have given him the impression that I don't do home cooking when living on my own (doesn't he read my blog?? or is that too "new agey" for his generation?) but the stew was a welcomed surprise.

Anywho, on with the bread! I love Irish Soda Bread because it's delicious, easy, only uses a few ingredients and you can not screw it up. So, here's the recipe...

Irish Soda Bread

Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp butter, cold and cubed
- 1 cup buttermilk (or 2% + 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar, left to sit for ~10mins)
- 2 tbsp mixed grains (optional)

Method:
1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl.
2. Using a pastry cutter, or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture. Continue breaking up the butter until you get pea-sized chunks.
3. Working with the dough as little as possible, add the buttermilk into the dry ingredients.
4. Shape the dough into a rough ball and place on a greased baking tray. Flatten the dough slightly, dust the top with the mixed grains and score the top of the dough with a knife.
5. Bake at 350degrees for 35-40minutes, or until golden brown.

This was such an amazing bread. Really quick, and really simple to conjure up. I think that from start to finish, the entire bread only took about 45minutes to create (including baking time!). I almost didn't even need to eat the bread with the stew, but the smell of my dad's stew was just too alluring to pass up. So, with an amazing comfort-food meal of soda bread and stew... my evening was complete.

Welsh Rarebit

Again, thanks to my new found obsession with the show Come Dine With Me I've gotten a hankering for some not-so-Canadian dishes. Not that I'll be cooking anything like Laverbread, skirly, Howtowdie wi Dappit Eggs and Tatties or any black pudding (at least not anytime soon), but I did find myself craving some Welsh Rarebit. The ingredients were on-hand in my kitchen and the recipe didn't seem too labor intensive or complicated for a quick afternoon snack, so... off I went.

Welsh Rarebit

Ingredients:

- 6 slices of French bread

- 1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

- 1 tsp mustard powder

- 1/2 tsp nutmeg

- 1/4 cup butter

- 3 tbsp flour

- 1 clove of garlic minced

- 3/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I only had marble)

- 1/3 cup dark ale (I used Guinness)

- 1/2 cup milk

- chopped spring onion (optional)

Method:

1. Melt butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan and fry garlic until golden brown and fragrant.
2. Add in the flour and mix over medium heat to form a roux.

3. Slowly pour in the dark ale, and continue to mix until well combined. Then, slowly add in the milk and cook over medium until mixture begins to thicken.

4. Add in nutmeg, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and salt to taste. Continue mixing, and add in the cheese. Stir sauce until cheese is well melted and mixture is nice and thick.

5. Place slices of French bread on a baking tray; spread cheese-ale sauce over top of slices and place tray in the oven. Set oven to broil and cook until cheese topping bubbles and browns, and French bread begins to brown.

6. Optional: Serve rarebit topped with a garnish of chopped spring onions.

The Guinness flavor was really strong in the rarebit, but boy was it tasty. Man! The Brits really know how to eat their toast! I mean, toast and beans, toast and eggs, toast and cheese... all sound uber-tasty to me but I've never seen it served as a snack food in Canada. I will definitely be making this recipe again, I just gotta go out and buy more ale... I finished off the last can of Guinness, because hey... what else could I do since my recipe only called for 1/3 cup of the malty, creamy nectar?! (Did I mention that Guinness is my favorite draught... probably why it was the ale that ended up in my rarebit)... uh, oh... gotta sober up before work :P jkjk

Bailey's Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

I was sitting at my computer watching another lovely episode of Come Dine With Me, and having watched each of the competitors puddings be either chocolate or cheesecake related I suddenly felt the urge to have something creamy, chocolatey and cream-cheesey. So, just before the winner of the Come Dine With Me episode was revealed, I paused it and ran off to the kitchen to whip up a tasty treat for myself (seeing as how no body else was around to share it with me :P)

Bailey's Cheesecake Swirl Brownie

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup (8 tbsp) butter

- 1 cup white sugar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 2 eggs

- 1 cup flour

- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

- 1 tbsp instant coffee

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- 2 tsp milk

- Cream Cheese Swirls: 3 tbsp cream cheese + 1 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp flour + 2 tsp Bailey's (all creamed together)

Method:

1. Melt butter and add in both sugars, mixing until well combined. Mix in the eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, coffee granules and salt.

3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry, mix well and then add in the splash of milk.

4. Place in prepared 8x8 pan . Take tsp sized dollops of cream cheese swirl mixture and drop randomly on the surface of the chocolate brownie batter. With a knife, swirl the mixture around.

Look at the lovely swirls of rich, cream cheese! Mmmm...

5. Bake at 350degrees for 35-45minutes.

6. When done, remove from oven and leave to cool on wire rack before slicing.

This brownie turned out better than I had anticipated, and I'm sure if I were a competitor on Come Dine With Me (and had served the dessert with some home made vanilla bean ice cream) I could have been a real contender for top. The topping was nicely crisp and the cream cheese swirls were rich with the ever lovely taste of Bailey's Irish Cream. The inside of the brownie was gooey, soft, moist and simply decadent and it was hardly noticeable that I had used no baking chocolate whatsoever. This recipe is definitely a keeper, that's for sure!

Red Wine and Horseradish Beef Roast

I was browsing the grocery store doing my weekly shopping and came across a great deal on a beef roast! It was only $6.88 for a 2lbs of deliciously meaty roast, and since I've never attempted to cook a beef roast dinner before I thought I'd give it a go.

Red Wine Horseradish Roast

- 2lbs beef roast
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and cracked pepper, to taste
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 gala apple, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp horseradish
- 1/4 cup red cooking wine, plus more for the gravy
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp barbecue sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- Your favorite roasting vegetables

Method:
1. Toss together the sage, oregano, cumin, salt and cracked pepper. Rub oil over the roast and coat the roast with the herb-spice blend.
2. In a small sized bowl, combine the garlic, apple, onion, horseradish, wine, vinegar, tomato paste and barbecue sauce.
3. Place the coated roast in an oven-proof dish and pour the horseradish marinade over-top, being sure to coat the entire roast liberally. Marinate in the fridge for 3hours or a maximum of 24hours.
4. When ready to cook, heat some cooking oil in a pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, take the roast out of the bowl and place in pan. Sear the roast for ~1-2minutes on each side and then remove the roast from the pan, placing back in the oven-proof dish.
5. De-glaze the pan with a splash of red wine, remove from heat and set aside for making the gravy once the roast is completed
6. Place the dish in a 375degree oven, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
7. When there are 30-40minutes left of cooking time, place your roasting vegetables (i.e. carrots, onions, Brussels sprouts etc.) in the dish to cook.
8. Once roast is cooked to your preference, remove from the oven and place on cutting board to rest.
9. Place the pan which was set aside for the gravy back on the stove-top and add 2-3tbsp of flour to make a roux.
10. To the pan, slowly add in the roast drippings. Continue to whisk over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. If desired, add in some beef stock to enhance the flavor (adding more flour to thicken, as necessary).
11. Slice roast and serve with the vegetables, gravy and whatever sides you like (I served mine with wild rice).

I really enjoyed cooking this roast, it was a great "first" for me. The flavors were amazing, and the meat was wonderfully tender. I normally enjoy my meat rare, and when I first sliced the roast it was perfectly done. However, I forgot that while you let the meat rest it continues to cook, so when I finally plated the meat it ended up being more towards medium. The beef gravy was delicious, and way better than any store-bought gravy I've ever tried. I think I will definitely be making this meal again.

Post Script:
I was completely weirded-out when I went to chop my garlic clove. I grabbed what looked like a regular old clove, smacked it with the side of my clever and then proceeded to peel off the normal looking skin. And what greeted me was this strangely opaque, squidgy, sticky, yellow clove of garlic. It smelled okay, but I was too creeped out to use it so I threw it out. Strangely enough, the rest of the cloves in the bunch were perfectly normal, but this one clove was just an odd-ball. Has anyone seen one of these before?

Daring Baker's August '10: Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies! So I was ecstatic to see that this month's DB challenge would be featuring the simply delicious and tasty treat. I wasn't quite sure how I wanted to decorate the cookies, but I realized that in this challenge it was mandatory that we had to use decorate the cookies in a "September theme" (whatever September means to you). So, I chose to do this challenge in two parts. The first day, I made a bunch of little square cookies (each 1 square inch in size), which gave me until day two to decide what my "September theme" would be.

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.

Basic Sugar Cookies
(Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies)

- ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
- 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose
- 1 cup Caster Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Method:
• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavorings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm (0.2 inch)
• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for 30mins - 1 hour.
• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

So... again, with the theme... hmm... that was a tricky one to figure out. After making the cookies, my mind started running trying to figure out how to theme my cookies for September. Then, after a long hard think, I remembered that September 13th, 2010 was the 25th Anniversary of the release of Super Mario Bros. So, I used the cute little squares as "bits" and created an 8-bit Mario by using various colors of icing sugar to decorate the cookies with the outline-fill/flood


Royal Icing
- 2½ - 3 cups Confectioner’s Sugar, unsifted
- 2 Large Egg Whites
- 2 tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

• Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
• Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
• Beat on low until combined and smooth.
• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.

Note: 3 cups of confectioner's sugar is good for piping the outline, and by adding a little bit of water to the mixture the icing is perfect for flooding the outline)


Look at all the cute little colored squares! They were a bit time consuming to decorate, but in the end I think they were worth every bit of effort. If I were to do this again, I'd probably pipe the icing a bit closer to the borders of the cookies so that there would be less cookie visible when the 8-bit character is put together. Other than that, the cookies and icing were delicious and my sisters really enjoyed picking apart Mario, piece by piece ^_^

Easy Creamy Pasta

With such an elaborate dinner last night, I thought that tonight I'd play it a little low key and make an easy creamy pasta dish. It was full of vegetables, and didn't take a lot of time to prepare; this made it even more tasty because I was able to relax and savor the slowness of the day. So, without boring you with a long winded intro (and because I just wanna chill out and watch a movie tonight :P) here's the recipe.

Easy Creamy Pasta
(Yields two servings of pasta)

- 3 cups cooked spaghetti (freshly cooked, and still warm)
- 3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup broccoli rabe
- 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp dried fennel seeds
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 chicken breast fillet
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
- A splash of red wine (or you can use grape juice)
- 1 heaping tbsp cream cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Season the chicken breast with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper. Let sit to marinade for at least 10 minutes. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
2. To the skillet, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil until hot and then add the garlic, fennel seeds, cayenne, crushed peppers. Fry over medium heat until fragrant ~1 minute.
3. Add in the onions, broccoli rabe, vinegar and red wine. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes and allow vegetables to steam
4. Cut the chicken breast into slices, and add to skillet. Next, add the cooked spaghetti, followed by the tomatoes and the cream cheese. Toss the pasta mixture with tongs, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

See... nice and simple, it literally took no more than 8minutes to cook. Once the veggies are prepped and you have the pasta already cooked, this dish is a breeze to whip up. I loved the richness that the cream cheese adds to this dish; it adds a great subtle cheese flavor without overpowering the sweetness of the wine and the tangy-ness of the vinegar. All in all, a great comfort food dish... and the colors make it look so elegant! Mama would be proud ^_^