The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I’ve always wondered how awesome it would be to find a gingerbread house like Hansel and Gretel did…a house made of every conceivable goody. A house you you just eat off….
well, this months challenge is just that and Boy! was I excited!

The possibilities were endless.

Sadly , my kitchen had to be demolished for some renovation work..and i was left space-less…..
I finally made my gingerbread house in the balcony..but it was so windy the roof kept falling off…and all the decorations kept getting squashed and splattered ….
anyway here’s my gingerbread house…its extremely untidy and messy..but under the circumstances..it was all i could do……

Before i give you the recipe…Let me wish u all very Happy Holidays!!!!!!

Y’s Recipe:
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas http://astore.amazon.com/thedarkit-20/detail/0816634963

The dough was very stiff and i had to add water to soften it a bit. But the good thing is that it freezes well.

1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.

2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.

3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.

4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]

5. Preheat the oven to 375′F (190′C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

Due to the fact that I believed (pre-injury) that this month was going to be a crazy one full of baking different things, and well because I’d always wanted to make a gingerbread house I jumped on this challenge immediately. I was in the kitchen almost as soon as I read what the challenge was.

We had two choices for the dough and I followed the Great Scandinavian Baking Book’s recipe just because the ingredients required were those I had on hand (seriously, I jumped on the challenge as soon as I read it, going to the shop was not an option) I also made the simply syrup and royal icing for my decoration.
Now, I should quickly add that icing is a bit of a problem for me. I can make it fine, it tastes great, but the actual art of decorating?

Well……I’m abysmal (ergo recent purchase of: Essential Cake Decorating Cookbook) which fits in nicely with my Flavour of the Month Essential Christmas Cookbook ok side track done.

I had a lot of fun with this all the same, even if when I look at everyone else’s wonderful decorating I feel inferior! I did get my house to stand though so I feel that was an accomplishment for me and oh my word did it taste good! Oh it was so good, I was so glad of the left over dough because I just kept nibbling and nibbling as I was going. If I could pick at it some more (and you always can) it could have probably done with being rolled out a little thinner, but having said that I do prefer my gingerbread men fat, so it was just a default thing for me I think. And I made plenty little ginger bread men to give away as well, so many people benefited from this challenge.

Thank you very much! And I will start working on those decorating skills for next year!

Daring Kitchen

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

For weeks now I have been trying to figure out a way to do justice to this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I was planning to make a gingerbread house with my two girls during the holiday season.  However, were it not for the Daring Bakers Challenge aspect of the project, it would have been abandoned.  Why? Not because it is hard, not because it is time-consuming, not because of all the candy I bought that they will now consume.  It is not for any of those reasons, and also for all of those reasons.

The house was not hard to make, per se, it’s just that it requires working in stages.  So, the 7-13 hour time commitment is no joke, but for me that was spread out over several weeks.  Naturally, by the end of it, I am somewhat annoyed with and sick of the gingerbread house sitting on my kitchen table.  At the same time, it is the most beautiful and fun creation I have possibly ever made, factoring in the help from my daughters, their neighborhood BFF, my husband and my father.  Yes, my parents happened to be visiting when I decided to do the baking portion of the challenge, and I put my father to work creating the template (which I took from The All-American Cookie Book, a fabulous tome by Nancy Baggett).  Had not each of these people helped me out at some point along the way–the girls decorating, my husband helping me glue and support different parts of the structure, and my father precisely measuring and cutting out the design–this house would never have been made.

Perhaps my frustration lies in that fact: this was not a Daring Bakers Challenge, but a Daring Baker and her entire family challenge.  It could also have something to do with the fact that this time of year is insanely busy for any normal person. Add a cookie business to the general holiday mayhem, and a gingerbread house may just put one over the edge.  My father chuckles as he fondly refers to this project as my “death wish.”

Without any further ado, I bring you some photos of this gorgeous gingerbread house that perhaps only a mother (or Willy Wonka) could love.

The template for the front and back of the house, cut out of a file folder.

Two roof panels, and the back of the house, decorated by my daughters and one of their friends. In retrospect, adding candy after gluing the structure together may have been wise.

Here is the complete house, with portico, chimney, marshmallow smoke and snow, and gingerbread man.

"Did you hurt yourself when you fell out of heaven?"

Below is the recipe for the dough, given out by Anna, and adapted from Good Housekeeping. I found it to be extremely dry when I mixed it together, resembling sand. To remedy this, I simply added heavy cream until I thought it was moist enough to hold together. The end product was fine, although even more heavy cream would have been fine, too, and probably would have helped in the rolling stage, which was quite difficult. Also, I used my Hobart 10 quart mixer to do this. I cannot imagine anyone having success assembling this dough either by hand or with a 4 or 5 quart KitchenAid mixer. There is simply too much dough.  Perhaps divide the quantities in half to solve this problem.  And finally, I used the Royal Icing recipe also found in Nancy Baggett’s book.  I like that her recipe calls for the addition of lemon juice rather than vinegar, as a matter of taste (literally). I found it to be easy to work with, and well-sealed it lasted for over a week in the fridge. She also provides a recipe for creating royal icing that looks the color of the gingerbread itself, thus masking any messes that might come up.  Perhaps after the holidays I will edit this post to include that, because it is a nice trick to have up one’s sleeve.

(And don’t forget to visit my other labor of love, TasteStopping if you’re looking for more great photos, recipes, blogs and ideas.)

Anna’s Recipe:
Spicy Gingerbread Dough (from Good Housekeeping) http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/spicy-gingerbread-dough-157…

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream
1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses
9 1/2 cups (1663g) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon(s) baking soda
1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.

2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.

3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43×36cm)

4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)

5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.

6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.

8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.

9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.

Should I? Shouldn’t I? I pondered and pondered…..

Where on earth where in Goa would i find cannoli tubes.

Then one day when i googled cannoli for more information, it suddenly hit me…they look freakishly similar to an Indian(North Kerala to be more exact) savory snack called Kuzhalappam.Although it is a savory snack ,the shape was pretty much similar. And what we used back home was the cassava or the stem of a banana leaf .

Well that clinched it for me.

I WAS IN!!

This months The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

The challenge was fun and after a few failed trials (a few opened up and a few didn’t get crisp) i realized that the trick was
to roll out the batter as thin as possible
to keep the temperature of the oil even and keep adjusting the heat to make sure that it doesn’t burn or brown immediately
to ensure that the ends are sealed tightly.
I used a tried and tested Ricotta Pistachio and Ricotta Chocolate filling. I would have loved to experiment with the filling but i had guests visiting and i ran out of time. Still they were delightful and we thoroughly enjoyed them.Thanks Lisa!!

Pistachio Ricotta Filling
About 1 1/2 cup ricotta( i used homemede that i made using this recipe)
4 tbsp icing (confectioners) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of one lemon
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup toasted chopped pistachio nuts
1/4 dark chocolate chips, chopped or grated
1/3 cup dried sour cherries, pitted and chopped
1 tablespoons
amaretto liqueur (that i happened to have)

Whisk ricotta well along with the sugar. Add vanilla, lemon zest and cinnamon and beat until smooth and well combined. Fold in remaining ingredients.

Place mixture into a piping bag or ziplock with a corner cut off . pipe this mixture into the cannoli shells .

Cannoli Shell
Speculaas Cannoli Recipe
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli

Ingredients

Cannoli Shells:
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) speculaas spice
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) grated chocolate for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar

Directions For Shells

In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, speculaas spice, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that).

Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (or whatever you are usuing instead.). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Directions For Filling:

1. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, speculaas spice, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

Assemble The Cannoli:

1. When ready to serve, fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the filling. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.

I feel like I have had some success this time! It is exciting!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Success had! I was a bit apprehensive about this to begin with; I’ve always looked at them but never made them because I am always apprehensive of things that are fried. I did see the option of baking them, which I may try next time. This time though I thought I would go the traditional route, I didn’t have the tubes to begin with so I went and bought some. I understand that we did not have to buy anything to complete these challenges, but I didn’t have a broom handle, and I’d actually wanted to make these for some time now, so I used it as a bit of an excuse.

I only got 1 size, not a good idea because I was a little disappointed with the size. Would’ve liked a smaller cannoli actually but the taste was good all the same. And, it looked good which is great for me after the past failures. The cannoli was nice and bubbly just like it was meant to be, I was so pleased with myself.

The dough was a bit stiff like others have commented on but I used my pasta roller to roll it out which I think helped. I only made two types both custard, one chocolate custard. I dipped them with walnuts after because I had some left over from a salad I’d been making for dinner that night. I seem to cater to the taste loves of the Husband a lot when given the opportunity. He’s not a fan of ricotta nor is he a lover of mascarpone so not quite traditional but it was delicious all the same.

It was a great challenge, I loved it, and I liked the challenge a lot. I plan to give a savoury a go sometime very soon. These are not a normal thing to be able to find here in Australia, at least not anywhere in my local area. I am aware that there is some places in the inner city area that sell them but you really don’t see them very often. So it was a lovely special treat.

Thirthiest Step.

Le challenge Daring Baker du mois d’Octobre était aux couleurs de la France ! Et oui on a eu le droit à notre petite French Touch, avec les incontournables Macarons – la recette a été proposée par Ami S. qui a choisi la recette disponible dans le livre de cuisine : The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern de Claudia Feming.

Qui n’a jamais entendu parlé des Macarons de chez Ladurée ou bien de Pierre Hermé ?! C’est que ça donne drôlement envie quand on voit ces petites choses à l’esthétique parfaite : une coque croquante sur le dessus et une collerette de dentelle à la base. Des couleurs à en mettre plein la vue et des saveurs à séduire les palais les plus exigents.

Seul petit downside à tout ça, THE magic ingredient : le blanc d’œuf. J’avais déjà fait des Macarons « classiques », et après quelques essais j’avais finalement réussi à obtenir quelque chose qui avait un peu d’allure. Mais là pour le coup, faire des macarons sans cet ingrédient miracle, c’était un vrai challenge !

J’ai épluché plusieurs pages internet pour tenter de trouver de quoi les Vegan se servaient pour réaliser leurs macarons, et j’ai finalement opté pour la recette de Béatrice (Vegansfield). Elle paraissait simple et ne demandait que des ingrédients que l’on a tous dans nos placards.

L’aspect des Macarons ne ressemble pas comme deux gouttes d’eau aux Macarons que l’on a habituellement en tête (avec le dessus lisse et la petite dentelle à la base); mais la texture ne s’en approche pas moins !

Quoiqu’il en soit, je suis plutôt satisfaite de ce premier essai de Macarons Vegans, et cela me donne envie de recommencer avec d’autres saveurs, d’autres couleurs.

Vegan Blueberry Macaroons

The Ingredients (8 completed Macaroons) :

• 40 gr de yaourt de Soja Nature
• 50 gr de Poudre d’Amande
• 60 gr de Sucre Glace
• 4 cuillères à soupe de Fécule de Maïs
• 1 petite cuillère à café de Poudre à Levée (ou à défaut 2 pincées de Bicarbonate de Soude)
• 1 cuillère à café de Curcuma en Poudre

Blueberries’ Ganache

• 55 gr de Myrtilles Surgelées
• ½ Yaourt de Soja Nature
• 1 petite cuillère à soupe de Sirop d’Agave
• De l’Amande en Poudre (au choix, pour donner la texture souhaitée)

The Tools :

• Un blender
• Une petite casserole
• Un ustensile pour mélanger
• Une spatule fine (Maryse)
• Une seringue à pâtisserie (ou une poche à douille)
• Une plaque pour aller dans le four
• Un four
• Du papier sulfurisé
• Un crayon

Chronometers :

Blueblerries’ Ganache : 5 minutes

Macaroon :

• Preparation : 10 à 15 minutes
• Repos : 1 heure
• Cuisson : 15 minutes

Temps total (montage inclus) :1 heure 40

Preparation :

Macaroons :

Passer la Poudre d’Amande au blender pour obtenir une poudre la plus fine qu’il soit. La verser dans un bol contenant le Sucre Glace, la Fécule de Maïs et la Poudre à lever ; bien mélanger le tout.

Battre un peu le Yaourt de Soja puis l’ajouter à la préparation aux Amandes, mélanger jusqu’à ce que ça soit bien homogène.

Prendre un morceau de Papier Sulfurisé de la taille de la plaque du four (ou un peu plus grande) ; sur une des deux faces dessiner 16 ronds de diamètre 3,5 cm environ (je me suis servie d’un bouchon de Jus de Fruit Andros) – veiller à les espacer suffisamment car à la cuisson les Macarons devraient gagner environ 1 cm de diamètre. Une fois les ronds dessinés, retourner la feuille de Papier Sulfurisé sur la plaque du four.

Verser le mélange à Macarons dans une seringue à pâtisserie (ou une poche à douille), puis remplir les ronds du Papier Sulfurisé (que l’on voit apparaître par transparence). Laisser reposer pendant 1 heure à température ambiante.

Préchauffer le four à 150°C. Une fois celui-ci préchauffé (ce qui met plus ou moins de temps selon les fours mais compter à peu près 10 à 15 minutes). Puis enfourner les Macarons pour 15 minutes.

Une fois le temps de cuisson écoulé, sortir la plaque du four et laisser refroidir – c’est une étape importante sinon il y a un grand risque de se retrouver avec des Macarons dédoublés, le moelleux sera resté collé au Papier Sulfurisé, tandis que la coque croustillante se sera, elle, détachée.

Pour faciliter le décollage, verser un petit peu d’eau entre la plaque et le Papier Sulfurisé, puis décoller délicatement les Macarons à l’aide d’une spatule (si besoin est).

Blueberries’ Ganache :

Mettre dans un Blender le Yaourt de Soja, les Myrtilles Surgelées, le Sirop d’Agave et mixer (avec ou sans morceaux selon la préférence). Verser la préparation dans un bol, ajouter si besoin de la Poudre d’Amande pour donner un peu de corps.

Réserver au frais.

Final :

Prendre une coque de Macaron, l’enduire d’1 cuillère à café de Ganache puis le recouvrir avec une seconde coque de Macaron.

Réserver au frais au moins 1 à 2 heures avant de servir – le mieux est de les préparer la veille pour le lendemain, pour qu’ils soient bien moelleux (mais pour ça il faut résister à l’envie d’en manger !).

Au moment de servir, ajouter une petite personal touch. En ajoutant par exemple un Coulis de Myrtilles ou bien saupoudrer de Poudre d’Amande, ou même de Sucre Glace. Libre court à votre imagination !

La recette originale se trouve donc chez Vegansfield sous le nom de “Lemon Chocolatey Macarons/ Macarons Végétaliens Chocolat & Citron”.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

My second Daring Kitchen world, but my first ever Daring Bakers, and for me it was an epic Failure…..

My KitchenAid did all the hard work, making perfect stiff peaks, it all look great. I followed the directions step by step I read up on all the suggestions, I tried my best. I was so super excited; I thought maybe this one time I’d get it! But, no….failure! And, as with my Daring Cooks Challenge I left it all too late to try again.

Did I over-fold? I don’t know! But I failed! No feet! No form! Epic failure!

Taste wise? Excellent! Delicious! Gosh I nearly ate them all in one foul swoop off of the baking tray once they were completely cooled. But, they didn’t hold their form, they didn’t form the feet! Maybe next time?

Maple sugar macarons with cream cheese buttercream filling

If you know anything about macarons (macaroons?) you know that the title to this post is something of a red herring. Or a pun. Or something in between.

A macaron is a delicacy that comes about from whipping egg whites until firm and folding that into ground almonds and confectioners sugar. Akin to a meringue, I suppose. Sounds simple enough, or so I thought when confronted with this month’s Daring Bakers challenge. (The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S of Baking Without Fear.  She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.)

Having spent a fair amount of time on the internet scouring blogs and food photography, it is hard not to notice the omnipresence of the macaron and the collective trepidation over making these treats. Apparently it all has to do with the feet. You see, correctly made, macarons bubble up along their bottoms (where they come in contact with the sheet pan) in a darling fashion that is called “having feet.”

However, my first foray into making macarons was woefully inept. You can see in this photo that they never grew feet and never puffed up.  I couldn’t have told you why until I did a little digging.

Sad little almond pecan cookies. Tasty, yet ultimately a fail

And here is the product of my second attempt, which was a rousing success.  The bubbly parts in the middle are the feet of two macarons which have been sandwiched together.

what beautiful feet you have!

What was the difference? While I can’t pretend to know which one factor might have turned the culinary tides in my favor, I can tell you what I did differently from first attempt to second, and hopefully these tips will help you.

Ingredients

A) The first time I tried macarons, my parents were in town, and I was planning for the Malvern Fall Festival, where I was to have a cookie booth.  I can’t imagine my thought process when I tried to make these on a Friday afternoon, as a lark, thinking “how hard can it be?” I ground my own almonds and pecans (a ratio of about 5 to 4, in favor of almonds), because I don’t love the flavor of almonds as much as pecans. Plus, I am drawn to the idea of making any recipe from absolute scratch. That’s just how kitchen witch rolls.

However, when you grind your own nuts, there are lots of pieces that aren’t ground into a powdery-fine texture. These largers bits (a little larger than sand, I’d say) were a puzzle to me. Should I throw them out? How would that affect the final product? Not knowing, I left them in.

Difference: In my second attempt, I purchased ground almonds from Trader Joe’s ($3.99 for a pound, I believe). I did not use any pecans this time.  Following the recipe at Life’s a Feast (see link below), I sifted the weighed almond meal with the weighed confectioners sugar. When I couldn’t press anymore almond meal through my sieve (and I worked on it), I weighed the little bits that were left and replaced them with the same weight in new almond meal. I did not bother to sift this, as it was only about a teaspoon. 

B) Another ingredient mishap came by way of my eggs. The recipe provided by the Daring Bakers site lists all of the ingredients by both volume and weight except for the egg whites, which are only listed by quantity and size of egg. Now, I can’t say why this is. I understand from my research that the ratio of wet to dry ingredients is crucial, so to leave that part of it to chance doesn’t make sense to me. However, what I also realized after the fact is that I used the egg whites obtained from extra-large eggs, whereas the recipe calls for large eggs. This would absolutely make a difference and alone would ruin the outcome.

Difference: For my second attempt, the recipe I found at Life’s a Feast included the weight of the egg whites as well. I went so far as to weigh mine and scoop out a little egg white with the shell when I had surplus, ending up with 91 grams to the recipe’s suggested 90 grams.  I measured them cold, as I ended up breaking a room-temprature egg while trying to separate it. (Quick tip: to quickly bring egg whites up to room temperature, place them in a metal–not glass–bowl and place that bowl in a larger bowl of warm to hot water. Replace water as it cools until eggs reach the temperature you desire. I do this all the time when whipping egg whites because I usually forget to leave them out. It seems to have worked fine this time.)

Technique

A) In my first attempt, I was feeling very smug to have my stick blender, with its extra fancy whip attachment.  Why, whipping egg whites is a breeze with this thing. It’s handy and portable and doesn’t require the heavy stand mixer to come out from hiding.  Plus, testing the eggs for firmness is as easy as lifting the blender out and seeing what peaks form.

Difference: What I learned about whipping egg whites for macarons is that the speed of the whipping matters. First you should start the whip on a low speed for about 30 seconds, at which point you increase to a high speed. When your eggs reach soft peak stage you add some granulated sugar (in my case, mixed with some maple sugar) and continue to beat until firm peaks form. One suggestion for testing the firmness of the whites was to turn the mixing bowl upside down. If the whites stay put, you’ve got the right firmness.  Granted, this is a pain with a KitchenAid stand mixer, but it yields correctly whipped whites. The stick blender may have been easy, but it created air bubbles in the whipped whites that were simply too large (due to lack of slow mixing at the outset).

B) Folding was another area were my technique faltered. Following the Daring Bakers recommendations, I was very gentle when folding my egg whites into my dry mix. I didn’t pay attention to how many strokes it took, but I did make sure to handle with care.

Difference: Turns out that for the first 6 strokes of the folding phase, I needed to be a little rougher with the ingredients.  That causes the air bubbles to break down a bit, which helps the macarons down the road. After six strokes I eased up into the gentle fold mentioned above. And I counted. Somewhere between 30 and 60 strokes the mixture should come together. It did for me, and had the appearance of “lava” or a thick ribbon of batter when I let it drop from the spatula.

Baking

A) Here is where my eagerness (or my laziness…or my rushing to get this done) also did me in. I did not take the time to draw circles to guide my piping efforts on my nonstick liners. I just winged it. Granted, I was probably pretty close, but because my batter was too wet, the circles spread and ran into each other while baking.  I also only used one baking sheet under my nonstick liner, believing my oven to be even enough in its heating to suffice.

Difference: In my second attempt, I used parchment paper, with traced circles underneath to guide my piping. I found in the end that smaller was probably better, as when I free-formed it and made larger macarons, they just didn’t have the height that the smaller ones did.  I also doubled up the trays underneath, which helped tremendously.  Plus, the recipe I followed the second time directed me to cook them at a lower temperature (280 degrees F) which I believe aids in allowing them to rise and puff without the feet spreading and getting overcooked.

I also made the executive decision to dry my macarons on the counter for an hour before baking them, rather than using the oven at a low temperature to do this for me.  This was fun to witness, as my macarons gained the thick skin that was predicted in the recipe.  Then the baking on a double thickness of trays, at a consistent low temperature, turning the trays to compensate for an inconsistent oven helped create beautiful macarons.  I undercooked the first successful batch as I was so excited that they actually grew feet. I have learned that a nice golden color for these is preferable to a lighter color…helps later for getting them off the pan.

And when my first tray of successes stuck to the parchment paper, I just popped them back in the oven for 5-10 minutes to dry them out. This did the trick, but when cooked correctly the sticking issue disappeared completely.

a great line up

I hope some of my mistakes can inspire you to try these wonderful treats. I know I will be making them again and soon, as I noticed that they taste even better and improve with texture as the days go by. It was all I could do to stop myself from eating them before I had a chance to take some photographs!  Thanks Daring Bakers. This was a great learning experience for me.

In the end, it was this recipe and post from Jamie at Life’s a Feast that saved me. It is essentially the same recipe as the Daring Bakers, but halved, and with some all important pointers along the way.  Most importantly, all ingredients are listed by weight. This is so very important in all of baking, but perhaps never more so than when making macarons. After all, these are an item which can be affected by the humidity on the day you are making them (rain, rain, go away!). Always go by weight to make macarons, and you’re on the right track.

Who doesn’t love a good challenge once in a while? I too am no exception and joining the Daring Bakers group is one of the best things I did to ensure that I get my monthly dose of it.

Thankfully it turned out fine- no dishes were thrown in exasperation, no lumps of hair yanked out in frustration and no kids thrown out in anger(though I did come really close when my son accidentally switched off the refrigerator for a good part of the day) Anyway as they say All’s well that ends well and I’m pretty satisfied with the results as they tasted so light and delicious even though they didn’t rise as much as as they were supposed to. Also i think i forgot to press and attach to ring to the base so they turned out as two separate entities……Nevertheless i proudly present to you my very first DB entry!

The chocolate cream vols-au-vent.

This month’s Daring Bakers‘ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry or vol-au-vent [ vóllō vaaN ] (plural vol-au-vents) is called mille feuilles, or “a thousand leaves” or “flight in the wind”. It is said that to create a good puff pastry, you need a cool room, a flat work surface and several hours to devote to rolling, folding, turning and chilling the dough. In the end, you should have roughly 730 microscopically slender layers of dough and 730 layers of fat. Its hard work but well rewarded and its no wonder that these miniature masterpieces are called the queen of pasteries.

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough
From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
4 sticks (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

I halved the ingredients as I feared the worst. Also since cake flour is not available I used its subs-plain flour and corn flour.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers.
Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.
Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.
To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).
With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.
Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:
If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.
The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Helpful notes

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.
-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don’t want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough…you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.
-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don’t roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.
-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.
-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.
-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.
-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.
-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.
-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.
-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent
In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.
(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)
Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.
Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.
Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)
Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)
Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature . Put in filling.

Filling
I used a chocolate cream filling and used melted white chocolate to drizzle lines on it.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Source: About Baking
Prep Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

* 2-1/4 cups milk
* 4 egg yolks
* 2/3 cups sugar
* 1/4 cup cornstarch
* 1/4 cup flour
* 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
* 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted
* 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted

Preparation:

Boil 2 cups of milk. Beat yolks with sugar and remaining milk. Whisk until smooth. Add cornstarch and flour until combined. Gradually whisk hot milk into egg mixture. Return to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils and thickens. Reduce to low and stir for 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and melted chocolates. Pour into a shallow disk. Cover with plastic wrap. (Make sure wrap touches surface to prevent a skim from forming.) Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Makes approximately 3 cups.

Daring Bakers Vols-au-Vent

Whew!  I feel like falling into a chair and closing my eyes for the rest of football season.  My first Daring Bakers challenge is behind me, and though I am very happy that I took part in it, I’m a wee bit exhausted. 

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.While not an exceptionally difficult recipe in theory, I found myself mentally tied up over this challenge ever since it was announced on September 1.  When would I make it?  How long would it take? Would my husband corral the kids long enough for me to do this? When would I bake it? Would I fill the final vols-au-vent with savory or sweet?  These questions seemed to repeat on a loop in my brain for weeks, until I finally dug into the challenge and got a little (okay, much) flour on my hands.

I have several cookbooks on my shelves with recipes for classic puff pastry, and if you are interested in the instructions given by the Daring Kitchen for this assignment, you can visit them here. The recipe takes patience, a close adherence to timing–such as giving your pastry dough time to chill in between “turns” (rolling it out again)–and attention to detail, with fork-pricking, egg-washing, shape cutting all jockeying for position in the process.  All in all you are simply creating layers of butter and dough, folding, rolling out to create more layers of butter and dough.  With a tri-fold before every turn, and six turns, you end up with fourteen million layers of butter and dough.  Which means when you bake the puff pastry, the moisture and fat in the butter create air pockets inside the flour dough, resulting in a light, layered, delicious pastry.

I decided to turn my puff pastry into a savory meal, filling the vols-au-vent with my favorite chicken pot pie recipe.  It comes from Emeril’s TV Dinner, and is absolutely the best chicken pot pie recipe you can find.  It is mildly labor intensive.  All that really means is that you should look this recipe over and plan ahead.  If your potatoes, carrots, onions, celery and parsley are chopped and your chicken is cooked and shredded or cut up, the recipe itself will fall together quite quickly and easily. 

First a few photos of my puff pastry process, with Emeril’s recipe below.  I’m sure that my final product is quite amateurish by some standards.  My The New Making of a Cook cookbook, is almost oppressive in its directions on making puff pastry.  However, rather than turn that into a reason never to make this again, I would simply agree to accept mediocrity (as I have in the past) in order to obtain this delicious result.

the dough

the flattened butter

 

dough rolled to 10 inches

corners of dough rolled out to form flaps or ears

folding the flaps over the flattened butter

 

 

 

all flaps sealed over flattened butter

first roll out: notice sticks of butter clearly through the dough

first turn complete; repeat five more times

poking cut out vols-au-vent gently with a fork

 

 

assembled and egg washed vols-au-vent (top) and cut out tops (below)

the finished vol-au-vent filled with savory, homemade chicken pot pie

 

 

 

Chicken Pot Pie from Emeril’s TV Dinners

 

Chicken pot pie

 

6 T unsalted butter

1 c chopped yellow onion

½ c chopped celery

salt and pepper to taste throughout cooking process

6 T flour

2 c chicken stock

1 c half-half

2 c peeled diced potatoes, cooked in boiling water 6-8 minutes

1 c diced carrots, cooked 4-5 minutes

1 c peas (fresh or frozen, thawed)

2 c shredded cooked chicken (one full chicken breast usually makes 2 cups diced meat)

1 T chopped parsley (Italian flat leaf)

Melt butter over medium high heat and sauté onions and celery, season with s & p, stirring for 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the flour and cook, stirring for 3-4 minutes to make a blond roux (this will thicken almost to a paste).  Stir in the chicken stock and bring liquid to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer as sauce thickens (4-6 minutes).  Stir in half-and-half and cook for 4 minutes.  Season with s & p.  Stir in the potatoes, carrots, peas, chicken and parsley, season with s&p and mix well.  Pour a generous 1 1/2 cups or so of the hot pot pie mixture into a freshly baked vol-au-vent (it will probably spill over) and serve.

Hope you enjoy this chicken pot pie either with your own vols-au-vent, or in a casserole lined and topped with a pie crust (which you would then bake at 400 degrees for about 25-20 minutes, until the crust turns a nice golden brown).

My second Daring Baker challenge is up!

Mini Dobos Torta

I’m quite excited…

I’ve joined the Daring Kitchen as a Daring Baker so keep an eye out every month for a post with the latest challenge :)

If all goes well, the challenge will be posted on the 27th of each month.

Shhhhh, it’s a secret! For now…

Every now and then, there is a clear theme among food bloggers.  For the last 24 hours, I’ve seen nothing but tarts thanks to Daring Baker’s June Bakewell Tart Challenge.  I officially want to buy tins so that I too may make tarts!!!  Check out these recently posted beauties…

Tomato Tart with Basil-Garli Crust from Ezra Pound Cake

Nutella Bakewell Tart from The Repressed Pastry Chef

Blueberry Tart from oui chef cook

Hibiscus Flower Tart from Bilateral Haze

Caramel Apple Bakewell Tart from Robbing Peter

I WANT TO LEARN TART MAKING RIGHT NOW!!!!