Parce que je sais pas vous mais moi je supporte pas les infos de 20h, c’est tellement sinistre qu’on croirait que c’est fait uniquement dans le but de favoriser les ventes d’antidépresseurs. Comme s’ils avaient complètement oublié qu’à part les attentats le chômage la grippe et autres réjouissances  du genre il se passait aussi des jolies choses sur cette planète. Je sais c’est moins vendeur il parait et puis il faut bien se tenir au courant de ça aussi mais bon, mis à part les voisins de mes grands parents et mes anciens collègues, on a quand même des tas de belles choses à faire dans nos vies pour éviter de sombrer dans le voyeurisme macabre nan ?

Moi je préfère Jean-Pierre, et ses petites mamies dans leurs villages de montagne, les produits du terroir et les châteaux d’Auvergne, les recettes de cuisine et les chanteurs régionaux. Au moins on a l’impression de vivre dans un monde plus humain, parce que le matin quand on ouvre la fenêtre, des fois il fait beau et on ne se prend pas une bombe sur le coin de la figure et on ne se fait pas attaquer par des gros virus aussi hargneux que les chiens des voisins du dessous.

Bref, vers 13h30 après Jean-Pierre, j’étais en train de lire ce petit livre qui commence par une grosse galette au citron et au fromage de chèvre. Ca m’a donné des idées mais j’ai préférés faire des petits sablés plutôt qu’une grosse galette, et remplacer le thym par du basilic, éviter la chapelure et utiliser deux fromages de chèvre différents. Y’a plus beaucoup de points communs avec la recette originale, mais ça m’ennuie d’obéir bêtement à ce qu’un bouquin me dit de faire.

Pour un déjeuner tardif : 260g de farine, 120g de beurre, 1 jaune d’œuf, 1 c.s. d’huile d’olive, 1 c.s. de sucre en poudre, 1 c.c. de sel, 1 citron non traité (jus et zeste rapé), 1 c.c. d’écorce de citron en poudre, 1 crottin de chavignol, 100g de chèvre frais, 1 c.c. de basilic déshydraté, basilic frais.

Mélangez (avec les mains) la farine, le beurre, le jaune d’œuf, l’huile d’olive, le sucre, le sel, le basilic déshydraté, l’écorce de citron en poudre, le zeste du citron et 2 c.s. de jus. Pétrissez rapidement et formez une boule. Laissez reposer une demi-heure au frigo.
Préchauffez le four à 220°C. Etalez la pâte (½ cm d’épaisseur environ) et découpez les sablés à l’emporte pièce. Déposez une petite et très fine (pour que ça ne coule pas autour) tranche de crottin de Chavignol sur chacun. Enfournez un petit quart d’heure.
Laissez refroidir 10 minutes. Ajouter des petits morceaux de chèvre frais et du basilic frais ciselé juste avant de servir. Rapez un peu de zeste pour faire joli et pour que Chouchou dise « Waaaah ! » quand il entre dans la cuisine.

J’ai ramené de mes vacances dans le sud, un peu de saveurs du soleil, à cuisiner tout au long de l’année… la lavande est très forte en goût, parfaite pour parfumer quelques petits sablés…le tout accompagné d’un thé au jasmin…humm!!!

Pour réaliser ces doux sablés il vous faut: 60g de beurre salé mou, 80g de sucre, 150g de farine, 1 sachet de levure, 1 oeuf plus un jaune, 1 cuillère à café de vanille liquide, 1 cuillère à café de fleur de lavande.

Fouetter ensemble les oeufs et le sucre, jusqu’à obtenir un mélange mousseux. Ajouter le beurre, la farine, la levure, la vanille et la lavande. Laisser reposer au frais 3h. Préchauffer votre four à 175°(th 5 à 6), étaler la pâte en 1cm d’épaisseur environs, découper les sablés avec un emporte-pièce ou autres. Enfourner 17 minutes le tout, sur une plaque de cuisson.

Profitez bien de l’été!!! 

Muito Rugby no continente africano nessa última semana. Nem só de Springboks vive a África.

Após mais um grande rodada do Tri Nations Series 2009 (o Três Nações), a África do Sul se tornou líder da competição – claro que com apenas duas partidas disputadas, a liderança provisória não diz muita coisa.

Como já relatado anteriormente, os Springboks derrotaram os All Blacks por 28 x 19. Com um primeiro tempo verde, onde os sul-africanos dominaram as ações e a equipe kiwi foi decepcionante, o jogo foi equilibrado no segundo tempo, com a Nova Zelândia reagindo e se superando. Mas não o suficiente para derrotar os Boks, que voltaram a demonstrar sua superioridade no momento garantindo a vitória com um try de Fourie.

As duas equipes ainda podem mostrar mais na competição, e creio que mostrarão nas próximas rodadas, com a disputa pelo título esquentando.

Em Bloemfontein, os Springbooks conseguiram, além dos 4 pontos, evitar que os All Blacks conseguissem o ponto bônus (marcar mais de 4 tries ou perder por 7 pontos ou menos de diferença). Em um torneio tradicionalmente equilibrado, sobretudo neste ano em que a Nova Zelândia não demonstra a superioridade dos últimos anos, o torneio poderá ser decidido justamente nos pontos bônus, uma vez que as vitórias fora de casa tenderão a ser grandes feitos.

A próxima rodada colocará novamente frente a frente África do Sul e Nova Zelândia, dia 1º de agosto, em Durban, África do Sul. 

A classificação ficou da seguinte maneira:

1 – África do Sul – 1 jogo; 1 vitória, 0 empates, 0 derrotas, saldo de pontos + 9, 0 pontos bônus, 4 pontos

2 – Nova Zelândia – 2 jogos, 1 vitória, 0 empates, 1 derrota, saldo de pontos – 3, 0 pontos bônus, 4 pontos

3 – Austrália – 1 jogo, 0 vitórias, 0 empates, 1 derrota, saldo de pontos – 6, 1 ponto bônus,  1 ponto

Outra partida entre seleções disputada na continente africano foi a final do CAR Southern Trophy (o troféu do sul da África), que terminou com o título o Zimbábue, 23 x 3 contra os anfitriões de Botsuana – por apelidos, foi o confronto das Zibelinas do Zimbábue (The Sables, em inglês, animal semelhante a um vison, que, ironicamente, só existe em climas frios) contra os Abutres (Vultures) de Botsuana.

Mesmo estando ausentes as equipes mais fortes da região, África do Sul e Namíbia, o resultado foi importante para os zimbabuanos pelas crises política, social e esportiva vivenciadas pelo país.

Até o início dos anos noventa, o Zimbábue – Rhodésia, até 1980 - era a segunda potência do rugby africano, tendo disputado as Copas do Mundo de 1987 e de 1991. Nas décadas de 1950, 1960 e 1970, a Rhodésia era uma seleção de grande respeito no mundo do rugby, tendo enfrentado os Lions e a Nova Zelândia, perdendo por placares apertados (27 x 14 e 16 x 12 para os Lions, em 1955; e 27 x 14 para os All Blacks, em 1970).

No entanto, assim como na África do Sul, o rugby no país era esporte dos europeus e seus descendentes. Com a crise política e social vivenciada no país no início dos anos 1990, já sob o governo de Robert Mugabe, a situação do Rugby se deteriorou. O êxodo dos principais jogadores do país para a Europa e para a África do Sul quase sepultou a seleção. O nível da equipe caiu muito, nunca mais conseguiu voltar a disputar uma Copa do Mundo e vem sendo facilmente derrotada por muitas seleções africanas que antes não eram páreo para o Zimbábue – não só é hoje muito inferior à Namíbia, como chegou a ser derrotada por seleções como Uganda e Madagascar. Por isso, o resultado deste final de semana é importante para a seleção, que aspira a tempos melhores.

Os resultados do CAR Southern Trophy foram os seguintes:

Dia 20/7: Zimbábue 31 x 22 Madagascar

Botsuana 16 x 10 Zâmbia

Maurício 10 x 9 Reunião

Dia 22/7: Botsuana 39 x 17 Reunião

Maurício 8 x 14 Zimbábue

Madagascar 36 x 15 Zâmbia

Dia 26/7: Madagascar 36 x 27 Reunião

Maurício 25 x 8 Zâmbia

Botsuana 3 x 23 Zimbábue

Classificação:

1 – Zimbábue

2 – Madagascar

3 – Maurício

4 – Botsuana

5 – Zâmbia

Ya tenemos el primero de nuestros vídeos como equipo ultraOxígeno. Esperamos que os guste y que os transmita el ansia de superación que nos hace subir montañas para después bajarlas, correr más lento para llegar mucho más lejos y, en definitiva, buscar nuestros límites para no encontrarlos nunca.

Abrazos

Ça y est, je vous bombarde tout plein aujourd’hui !

Hier j’étais au marché avec Lapin et je m’amusais comme une folle quand une soudaine envie de faire des biscuits m’a prise. Malheureusement, je n’avais pas de recette sous la main (je ne suis pas encore assez confiante pour explorer la confiserie par moi-même) et j’ai donc du abandonner le projet.

Ce matin j’ai déniché un blogue tout à fait charmant portant le nom de Tartelette écrit par une expatriée Française qui habite Charleston, SC. Tartelette est une pro des desserts et vous l’aurez deviné ; elle nous livre sur son blogue ses découvertes, ses créations et des recettes qui ont l’air absolument divines. De plus, son blogue est vachement bien écrit et c’est un hybride de blogue traditionnel et un blogue culinaire. C’est simple et ça se prend comme du bonbon!

Pour assoiffer mon envie de sucré et surtout de faire du sucré, j’ai décidé de tenter ma chance sur les Sablés aux abricots et romarin. Si j’aime l’expérience, je vais essayer de me botter les fesses et faire des desserts plus souvent, à raison d’une fois semaine ! À quoi bon une femme aux fourneaux si elle ne sait pas confectionner la touche finale, c’est-à-dire le dessert !?

En plus, ça serait fou de ne pas essayer mon nouvel ilot (enfin!), il est parfait pour ça! De vous en donne des nouvelles… et peut-être des photos si j’arrive a mettre la main sur la caméra de lapin.

150g de beurre
125g de sucre glace
20g de cacao amer
1 œuf
250g de farine
de la décoration si on veut…

Mélanger le beurre mou avec le sucre glace et le cacao

Ajouter l’oeuf

Puis la moitié de la farine et enfin l’autre moitié. Mettre au moins une heure au frais.

Sur un plan fariné, étaler la pâte et faire des découpes…les poser sur une plaque recouverte de papier cuisson et les décorer.

faire cuire 10 minutes à 200°C

La verdad esta muy chido… totalmente recomendado

Se que no les he puesto naruto pero tengan por seguro que hoy mismo haré lo posible por dejarlos posteados todos los que faltan…

Siendo así por ahora disfruten el vídeo

mujeres, unas buenas mujeres; la combinación perfecta si quieres vender un producto entre hombre

La mejor lucha de sables laser que he visto:

(Vía WTF)

Pour accompagner le traditionnel tea-time

Ingrédients pour environ 40 Shortbreads

250 g de beurre,

125 g de sucre,

1 sachet de sucre vanillé,

400 g de farine,

Sel,

1 Sachet de levure chimique,

Farine pour le plan de travail,

Sucre pour saupoudrer.

TEMPS DE PREPARATION : 30 Minutes,

TEMPS DE CUISSON: 20 à 25 Minutes

1. Préchauffez le four à 160°C. Recouvrez une plaque de papier cuisson.
2. Travaillez le beurre, le sucre et le sucre vanillé jusqu’à obtention d’un mélange mousseux. Mélangez la farine, le sel et la levure chimique. Incorporez la moitié de la farine au mélange mousseux. Ajoutez l’autre moitié en pétrissant la pâte.
3. Sur le plan de travail fariné, étalez la pâte sur 1,5 à 2 cm d’épaisseur (attention, la pâte est un peu friable !). Avec un grand couteau ,découpez des rectangles de 2 cm x 4/6 cm ou des ronds. Piquez le dessus des gâteaux avec une fourchette ou une aiguille pas trop fine.
4. Posez les rectangles ou les ronds sur la plaque. Faites cuire (milieu du four à chaleur tournante, 140°C), pendant 20 à 25 minutes. Laissez refroidir les Shortbreads et détachez-les délicatement. Saupoudrez légèrement de sucre, puis conservez-les dans des boîtes fermées hermétiquement.

Des petits sablés en coeur ont failli s’envoler d’une assiette en ciel parisien. Heureusement, ils ne sont pas allés bien loin, ils ont vite été croqués…

One might argue that spending $25 on a breakfast bagel during a recession-depression is ludicrous and negligent.  They would be right if it wasn’t  the “World’s Best Smoked Salmon & Caviar.”  Sable’s is an UES institution.  It’s one of those places that’s been around forever and you hope will still be here 50 years from now. 

Here, the sweet is the salty.  The $25 breakfast special is schmeared with cream cheese, layered with silky smoked salmon and onion and gloriously topped with a dollop of black Russian caviar – mmmmm….salty goodness!

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow!  As far as I’m concerned it’s an excellent reason/excuse to eat tons of chocolate…I’m a big fan of chocolate.  I will be making my chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, however, I also wanted to make a little something else, a non-chocolate cookie (shocking!) in the shape of a heart, especially for the occasion.

I knew I wanted to make a shortbread cookie, preferably with pecans.  After scouring Dorie Greenspan’s recipes I chose this one.  Dorie is pure genious, so I had a good feeling these would come out great.  I was quite happy with the result.  These cookies are crumbly and delicious, perfect with a glass of cold milk or a hot latte. 

So go ahead…whip up a batch of these heart shaped goodies and share the love. 

Here’s what you will need to make approximately 40 cookies…

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup finely ground pecans

Decorating sugar

egg wash

In a stand mixer beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy.  Add sugars and salt and beat until well blended.  The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy.  Add the pecans.  Reduce speed to low and beat in the egg yolks until incorporated.

Pour in the flour and pulse the mixer at low speed 5-7 times for a second or two each time.  (You can put a towel over the mixer to protect yourself from getting flour all over you).  Continue mixing at low speed for 20 seconds more, just until flour disappears into the dough.  The dough should be soft, moist and clumpy.

Scrape the dough onto a smooth work surface sprinkled with flour, gather into a ball and divide in half.  Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or up to 3 days.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350.  Line baking sheet with parchment.  Remove dough from refrigerater, remove from plastic, sprinkle with some flour and roll out to approximately 1/4 inch to 1/3 inch thick.  Use heart shape cutouts to form each cookie. 

Whisk egg for egg wash.  Brush the top of each cookie with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with decorator’s sugar.  Place on baking sheet, one inch apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating baking sheet at the midway point, until the edges are lightly golden and the tops of the cookies are slightly less golden.  Remove from oven, allow to sit for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Pour une vingtaine de gateaux. Préparation: 15 minutes. Cuisson: 10 minutes.

Ingrédients: 250 g de farine, 150 g de beurre, 2 oeufs, 100 g de sucre.

* Coupez le beurre ramolli en morceaux. Dans un grand saladier mélangez-le avec le sucre.

* Ajoutez ensuite un à un les oeufs, mélangez bien.

* Versez petit à petit la farine, sans cesser de remuer. Au besoin rajoutez de la farine, il ne faut pas que la pâte colle!

* Une fois que vous avez obtenu une pâte lisse et homogène, formez une boule. Elle est prête à être travaillée.

* Farinez votre plan de travail et votre rouleau et applatissez votre pâte jusqu’à une épaisseur d’un demi-centimètre environ. 

* Découpez vos petits sablés à l’aide d’un emporte-pièce puis décollez-les délicatement avec la pointe d’un couteau pour les poser sur une plaque recouverte de pier sulfurisé.

* Enfournez à 180°C pendant environ 10 à 15 minutes. 

ILs seront aussi bons chauds que froids. Régalez-vous!

So as you may know, baking has become my preferred medium for creativity and expression. The use of 3 fundamental ingredients: butter, sugar, flour, manipulated in myriad ways to create desserts from flaky, to chewy, to crunchy is magical and I’ve never been happier with all this sweetness around me.

So I figured I’d share this joyousness by baking xmas cookies for friends and family. Unfortunately the latter were not wow’d by the goodies that came in their cookie box. The variety was not appreciated or acknowledged. It was like popcorn, just grab and pop in the mouth, if that. I was very disappointed by this and also concluded I will not be baking for fam anytime soon. My baby cousin enjoyed the sugar xmas tree, but other than that he was more preoccupied with the scented color pencils I got for him. My father was especially uncaring for it, and I suppose that was my mistake because he doesn’t really eat dessert. Koreans don’t really dessert, there is no sugar regimen in korean food, except maybe rice pudding. So basically I made all this for the wrong crowd. Now I know better.

Nonetheless, I had a shitload of fun baking and decorating the cookies, I love the multiplicity and singularity of cookies, the ability to take one whole bite and continue in this oral fixated repetitiveness that is actually harmful for me. I had a hard time trying not to eat these cookies and distributing them accordingly, they were really good and each had its own particular cute individual character.

I don’t remember the recipe for these sugar cookies anymore but I can confirm they were sugary for sure. The icing alone took three laborious hours but I enjoyed every minute of it. It took some practice and trial and error to get the piping tools to work properly and not goop and spill everywhere, and it was a challenge to figure how I would want to design my very first iced cookies. My favorite are the xmas trees, and the zig zags as branches and leaves. I didn’t want to waste a whole of icing filling all of them so tried to be as minimally creative as possible. The cookie itself is soft and not so sweet without the icing which compliments the topping very well. It’s solid and soft, meaning it doesn’t crumble all over you upon taking a bite. The recipe, if only I could remember was a keeper. The only thing that was odd was the food coloring didn’t fully dissolve, turning it more into a white and color splotchy swirl. I would like to find a better royal icing recipe, which is basically cups of confectioners sugar, vanilla and water.

I made these sables not so long ago here and they were so irresistibly delicious then so I had to try it again. It came out much prettier this time around now that I’ve got the gist of rolling, storing, and decorating. They tasted just as delicious and almost consumed an entire batch. I’ve concluded shortbread cookies are my favorite kind of cookies with the knock you out butter flavor and crumbling softness that gently melts in your mouth upon taking a glorious bite. A friend helped decorated with sprinkles and I unfortunately didn’t have red so settled with festive orange and green lining. Don’t they look delicious?

Thumbprints. Also from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking book. These cookies were even crumblier than the sables, a good thing they were mini bite size because they just feel apart at the mercy of your mouth. The jam I used was Sarabeth’s raspberry orange marmalade and it was very subtle so the cookie wasn’t too sweet. It was a great balance of texture and taste, texture emphasized by the ground hazelnuts which wasn’t overpowering or overtly flavorful. It reminded me of the linzer sables I made not too long ago, but softer and better. Recipe at end of post.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. My least favorite of all the cookies I baked, recipe found here. They’re mushy and chewy, I don’t get so much of the pumpkin flavor which also seems to silence the chocolate’s flavoring. They did come out uniform, round and bubbly so looked cute and soft, but not my favorite.

Chocolate Hazeulnut Crinkle Cookies. Both hazelnut and chocolate so subtle and well blended, a softspoken thick almost brownie like cookie that beckons your attention with its luscious cracks and powdered topping. They didn’t taste as beautiful as they looked but I got an aromatic high from the smell alone so that was enough for me. Recipe found here.

The perfect madeleine is very hard to find. It is rare I will even see madeleines in a bakery. I’m sure that’s not the story if you’re Paris. But in Brooklyn and Manhattan, I am yet to find the perfect madeleine. Mine aren’t that much better. I for some reason baked it a bit too much so they were too brown and tasted too brown. Buttery but too bready, not plump and airy enough, and also too thick due to my overfilling the pan. Still, don’t get me wrong, they were delicious. It was moisturized a bit too much but it would still melt in your mouth and revel in the beauty of butter. Recipe at end of post. Oh, and do read this article on the importance of butter.

I think these were my favorite cookies from all the batches, the classic NY Black & White cookies. It was definitely the icing that won me over. I’ve never had b&w cookies this good, usually would see the big ones in bakeries and only eat the chocolate half and they were always thick and doughy. These here are miniature nite size, thinner, softer, lighter, sweeter. The icing has some lemon juice in it which really comes out in the white part and makes eating that half more tolerable. The cocoa powder that is on the other side is just pure orgasm. One challange was balancing the consistency between the two shades, the white ended up too diluted, I added too much water, but didn’t mind because the chocolate was absolute creamy perfection before drying. I loved these and will be making it again and again. Recipe here.

Those were a lot of cookies weren’t they? I think it will be awhile before I bake again, need a break from such a gluttonous fat inducing activity, not to mention there is an unforgiving relentless zit on my forehead borne from layeres of oil and butter.  But don’t fret, I will be back in the kitchen before you know it.

Recipes

Thumbprints

Makes 60 cookies (I halved)

1 3/4 cups finely ground hazelnuts

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter at room temp

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

confectioner’s sugar for dusting

About 1 cup raspberry jam (or the jam or marmalade of your choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the ground nuts and flour.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add extracts and beat to blend. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add nut flour mixture, mixing only until incorporated.

Working with a teaspoonful of dough at a time, roll dough between your palms to form small balls and place the balls 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Steading each cookie with the thumb and finger of one hand, use pinkie of other hand or end of a wooden spoon to poke a hole in the center of each cookie. Be careful not to go all the way down to the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The cookies should be only slightly colored, they may even look underdone. they should not be overbaked When the cookies are baked, remove the baking sheets from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks with wide metal spatula and sift confectioners’ sugar over them.

Repeat with the remaining dough, remembering to cool the baking sheets before baking the next batch.

Bring the jam to a boil in a small saucepan over low heat, or bring to a boil in a microwave ovenp remove from the heat. Fill the indentations with enough hot jam to come level with the tops. Cool to room temperature.

Traditional Madeleines from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking

2/3 cup all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs at room temp

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working in a mixer bowl or large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the eggs to the bowl. Working wiht whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together on medium high until pale, thick and light, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With a rubber spatula, very gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the melted butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it for at least 3 hours, or up to 2 days. This long chill period will help the batter to form the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the madeleine molds, cover and refrigerate, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full size madeleine molds, or up to 36 mini madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. or if you have a non stick pan, give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. if you have a silicone pan, no prep is needed. Place the pan on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one almost to the top. Don’t worry about spreading the batter evenly, the oven’s heat will take care of that. bake large madeleines for 11-13 minute, and minis for 8-10 minutes, or until they are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temp.

If you are making minis and have more batter, bake the next batch, making certain that you cool, then properly prepare the pan before baking.

Just before serving, dust the madeleines with confectioners sugar.

La SNCF et le Conseil général de Vendée inaugurent aujourd’hui la liaison TGV Paris-Les Sables d’Olonne (Vendée) dont la mise en service commerciale est prévue pour le lundi 14 décembre. Grâce à l’électrification de la ligne, les voyageurs pourront se rendre directement depuis la capitale à la Roche-sur-Yon et aux Sables d’Olonne sans changer de train en gare de Nantes.
Deux aller-retour seront assurés chaque jour entre Paris et Les Sables d’Olonne mettant les destinations à un peu plus de 3h30 l’une de l’autre avec “un gain de temps de 15 à 20 minutes sur les meilleurs temps de parcours pour les rames TGV”, selon la SNCF. Le nouvel axe permettra de desservir Le Mans, Anger, Nantes et La Roche-sur-Yon.
Les TGV qui circuleront sur la ligne bénéficieront de rames rénovées. “Le nouvel aménagement intérieur a été confié au groupement composé de Christian Lacroix, MDB Design et Compin”, précise la SNCF.
L’arrivée du TGV aux Sables d’Olonne s’accompagne d’une modernisation du réseau TER de la région. Ont ainsi été créés, notamment, les arrêts de Clisson et Montaigu quand de nouvelles correspondances vers Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) et Montpellier (Hérault) seront mises en place.
De nouvelles rames TER seront aussi progressivement mises en place d’ici à 2010. Ces nouveaux trains assureront, selon les jours et les heures, 40 à 70% des circulations (près de 100 % le week-end) sur le parcours Nantes-La Roche-sur-Yon-Les Sables d’Olonne.
Pour permettre aux voyageurs de la région de découvrir le nouvel axe et le nouveau matériel, la Région commercialise des billets à 10 euros les mercredi 17, samedi 20 et dimanche 21 décembre.

Site: www.sncf.fr

I’ve got two cookie posts for you here today because time whizzed by and I wasn’t able to write about the Linzer Sables which was last week’s choice by Living the Life. This week’s cookie of desire was Grandma’s all-occasion Sugar Cookies as chosen by Kuchenlatein.  Both cookies were neither eye popping nor orgasmic in the mouth but they will get credit for good job back pats and midnight cookie foraging. They had there ups and downs but was overall goodness acrossness.

Now I have no idea what the difference is between European and American style baking, especially in the field of cookie making but I’ve concluded these were too nutty for my palate. There were 2 cups of ground almonds to 1 cup flour and this created a really crunchy and thick texture that upon biting broke apart and landed in your mouth in speckled pieces. There wasn’t enough sugar sweetness in this recipe despite having sprinkled it with sugar (I’ve discovered the aesthetic ingenious tool that is the flour/sugar duster, which weren’t used here but was used for the sugar cookies, a vast difference in an even light spread across the cookie plane) and with the jam in between. My mistake came I think when I simmered the jam for too long, there was no time frame indicated in the recipe so I ended up with really goopy thick almost burnt taste jam. I used Sarabeth’s Strawberry Rhubarb which is thin, a bit diluted but amazingly delicious on its own. Not to mention the dough was relentlessly mushy and impossible to work with, but this was a learning experience. Now I know and have basically gotten down the process of rolling, cutting and dispensing onto baking sheet: keep the dough as cold as possible, when getting too malleable kick it to the freezer for a few minutes, roll quickly with speedy hands, use that cookie cutter stampeding along the surface and use that handy dough bench to swiftly scrape the dough from the bottom and have it peel off and plop onto the baking sheet. Easy as that. It becomes a mechanical habitual act after the first time and it was quite a gratifying experience to know I kinda get it now. Amazing. Despite this I don’t know that I will make these again. I would like the sandwiched jam filling with the peekaboo hole (which I made with a hoison sauce cap, making sure to wash before and after use) but with a recipe that is more of shortbread cookie consistency, that was my favorite. I suppose this would be a healthier choice or for a more crunchier thicker nutty alternative to a basket of sugary savory sweetness. Find the recipe here.

As for the all occasion sugar cookies, they were much easier to handle and very simple and minimal in its ingredients. Perhaps it was easier because I’ve finally gotten the hang of the roll, cut, dispense technique which was unbelievably therapeutic and self-gratifying. Now this is a recipe for a proper cookie: slightly crispy on the outside, mushy doughy on the inside that gave it a crackle and chew. That dynamic alone makes this cookie a delicious simple addition to a tin of varieties. For the sugar sprinkle I used my new favorite tool, the flour/sugar grater (see how much more even the spread is compared to the sables above?) and added 1 part ground cinnamon to 2 parts confectioner’s sugar. This gave it an amazing seasoned subtle tinge to the buttery sugary goodness and I’m very proud of having made this addition. Now I will need some more cookie cutter shapes so they don’t all end up looking the same. I don’t know that I will include this in my xmas cookie list, I’ll have to experiment with some more to decide. I made a very large batch, this brought close to 50 cookies, if you want some chucked your way, just holler! Recipe can be found here. Check out the TWD blogroll to judge how everyone else did.

As a 3L, it is very hard to get motivated for my finals but I will be done in 8 days (which really means that I’m very far behind).  I seem to find any excuse to do anything other than outlining.  Today was my last day of class and I decided that is would be fun to bake cookies to bring to pass around to my Bankruptcy classmates. Last night,  I turned to my trusty “Baking: From  My Home to Yours” and decided that it was time to try the famous “World Peace Cookies”.  I was a little intimidated since I have never made sables-style cookies but they turned out to be pretty easy.  The thing that makes these cookies extra special is the hint of salt that you taste in every other bite. It really adds something unexpected to the dense chocolate flavor. The only thing that I will change for next time is to mold the logs into a more round shape, but other than that I wouldn’t change anything.  If you want a procrastination tool, or just a really fabulous chocolate cookies…give them a try.  You won’t be disappointed.

World Peace Cookies
From: “Baking-From My Home to Yours” p. 138

1 1/4 cups AP Flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds, just until the flour disappears into the dough–for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours or stick them in the freezer.

Center a rack in the over and preheat the oven to 325. Line baking sheet with parchment. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that 1/2 inch thick. Don’t worry if they crack a little, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie. Space the slices with 1 inch between them on the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies for 12-13 min–they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest. Serve warm or at room temperature.