Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones, as I know them anyway, are those nice, slightly sweet triangular shaped breads, a little crunchy outside, soft and crumbly inside.  Sometimes plain, sometimes full of fruit, sometimes glazed, sometimes sugared, and always wonderful.  That is not a scone by English definition.  What Daring Bakers were challenged to do this month was to make what the Australian and the English call scones, and that is what we North Americans call biscuits!  Thanks you, Daring Bakers!  I don’t make biscuits often, so having an excuse to make myself a batch or two was going to be a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

Tender, flaky,so high they’re rising to the heavens biscuits are so very special and wonderful because they are so stinkin’ hard to achieve.  I made two batches, and I wish I’d had the time to make more because I could have figured out the secret to the perfect biscuit.  I’m going to have to keep making these until I get it right.  I don’t think anyone in my house will have a problem being the taste testers.  It is the ingredients, but it’s also very much the process.  Laminating, or folding, the dough gives the tender flaky layers I most associate with a good biscuit.  And be gentle with the dough.  You don’t want to overwork it.  At the same time, you don’t want to underwork it.  I know, that’s confusing.  But make a batch or two (or ten) and you’ll start to figure it out.

Here are my first and second batches together (first batch on top).  This experience made me so excited about baking!  I know this makes me a food nerd, but I like that just changing a few things can yield totally different results.

For my first batch I tried what is called an Australian Scone Ring, which is a nice little ring of biscuits.  The recipe uses less butter than the basic dough and the fat is worked into smaller pieces.  Total fail.  I worked the dough too much, and rolled them out too thin.  They didn’t rise much at all and they were a non attractive pale color with no semblance of biscuit texture.  Some of the differences are of course due to the differences in the ingredients and process, but I still think I screwed these up.

So I looked at some of the other variations and opted for a Buttermilk Biscuit.  Now these are biscuits, and good ones.  Still not with the height that I would have liked them to have, but with a great flaky texture, buttery flavor and a nice golden brown hue on top and bottom.  They also smell divine.  They are on the counter next to me at the moment and every time I get a whiff I want to eat another one.  With twice the fat of the basic recipe, buttermilk instead of plain milk and a folding process instead of a kneading one, these came out much more to my liking.

Below I am including the recipe and instructions for the buttermilk biscuits.  The basic recipe can be found here.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup whole milk (+ 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to make sour milk) or use buttermilk
• 4 tablespoons butter, chilled in the freezer

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 475°F
2. Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
3. Rub the frozen butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized.  (I used a pastry cutter to get it started, then used my fingers to get the right sized butter pieces.)
4. Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough.  Knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
6. Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
7. Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish (I used a cast iron skillet) if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
9. Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

Maybe I did something wrong with the mousse.  It didn’t have the great maple flavor I was hoping for.  I’m not creative enough to make a fun container, I just did simple pastry dough baked in a mini muffin pan.  My pastry cups weren’t what I was hoping for either!  All in all, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the results of this challenge.

It was fun to make the mousse.  I’d never tried anything like that before, so there is a bright side to this baking story!

Maple Mousse

Ingredients:
• 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

Directions:
1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

I managed to get the coffee cake made this week despite the fact that my son has not been a fan of napping for more than 30 minutes at a time.  At the moment I am trying to get this post written before he wakes up!  So, forgive me if this one is short and sweet.

The dough wasn’t too difficult to put together, but even after an hour and a half rise it hadn’t really doubled in bulk.  I do not have a great relationship with yeast.  I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon of cardamom to the flour mixture.

The filling.  Oh my goodness.  The filling.  How can you argue with this?  Sweet meringue, chopped pecans, cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips.  I did one ring with chocolate, and one without.  I prefer the one without if I’m enjoying this for breakfast.  I found that the chocolate hides the other flavors too much.

Rolling this up was easy, but when I went to form the ring I couldn’t get the edges to completely seal together.  I also didn’t have much filling on the edges, so a section of my ring was just bread…which still tasted delicious.

After baking, the meringue puffed out of the vents and got nice and brown.  It is so lovely!  I couldn’t resist breaking off a piece of it to enjoy.  Yummy.

I made the coffee cakes the day before and sent half of each one to work with Ben the next morning.  I was worried that it wouldn’t stay fresh overnight, but I had a piece the next afternoon and it was quite good.

Here is the link to the recipe.  I am too pressed for time to put the recipe on this post!  Ok, now off to get the kitchen cleaned before the little man wakes!  Enjoy!

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.

The dough for the stollen was quite easy to prepare and work with.  While I was given the option to let my imagination run wild in what I added to the dough, I just used cranberries and sliced almonds.  As a new mom I decided it was OK for me to opt out of making the candied citrus peel.  It would have been quite nice in this bread though, so I wish I’d taken the time to make it.

I used orange juice instead of rum to soak the cranberries and it was a good substitute.  The citrus flavor was subtle, but nice.  If you’re really into citrus then definitely use the juice, more zest and the candied peel as well.

I froze half of the wreath and plan to bring it down to my parents for Christmas.  The other half I have been snacking on over the past week.  It is incredibly tasty toasted with a little spread of butter.  Now, the only issue I had was the bottom of the bread.  It was beyond browned.  It was beyond dark.  It was burnt.  Solution?  Slice off the bottom before enjoying!

You can find the recipe and photos here.  Merry Christmas!

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.

There were quite a few donut options for this deep-fried challenge.  All the Daring Bakers could choose from a yeast donut, a buttermilk cake donut, filled bomboloni or pumpkin donut.  I was quite close to choosing the pumpkin since I have been on a pumpkin kick lately, but chose the buttermilk cake donut and added some grated apple and cinnamon to the dough.

The recipe says the dough will be sticky.  I was not prepared for the level of stickiness.  Use as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking to the cutters and your counter.  I even found that after my first cutting and re-rolling the donuts cut and handled much better thanks to the additional flour that had been incorporated.  Do not be shy with the flour.

After frying these beauties to a golden brown, let them drain on paper towels.  After cooling you can glaze them.  I used a simple glaze of powdered sugar, cinnamon and milk.  If you don’t want to glaze, you could dip the donuts in cinnamon sugar while they’re still warm and get a nice crunchy exterior.  Or just sprinkle them with powdered sugar.

My only mistake here was choosing to make some extra donut holes that I knew would be ugly.  When you have ugly scraps of food, you know what happens, don’t you?  You can’t give them to anyone or serve them, so your only other option is to eat them.  And if you’re anything like me you will walk by that plate of ugly donuts and take a nibble here, a nibble there, and before you know it you’ve eaten the equivalent of about 5 full sized donuts.  Then you feel very happy and full of sugary, deep-fried goodness.  Pure donut bliss!

The apples provide a nice texture to the interior and made for some funky looking donuts, but don’t add an incredible amount of flavor.  I would maybe try applesauce in addition to the apple pieces if I try these again.  These really come together quickly, so they would be do-able on a Saturday morning and a much appreciated change from cold cereal I am sure.  Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Donuts

Adapted from Nancy SIlverton

Ingredients

• Sour Cream ¼ cup
• All Purpose Flour 3 ¼ cup
• White Granulated Sugar ¾ cup
• Baking Soda ½ teaspoon
• Baking Powder 1 teaspoon
• Kosher (Flaked) Salt 1 teaspoon
• Nutmeg, grated 1 ½  teaspoon
• Ground Cinnamon 1 ½ teaspoons
• Active Dry Yeast 1 1/8 teaspoon
• Buttermilk ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoon
• Egg, Large 1
• Egg Yolk, Large 2
• Pure Vanilla Extract 1 Tablespoon
• Grated apple 1 ½ cups

Directions:

1. Microwave sour cream on low power for 20 seconds.  Keep heating on low until sour cream is lukewarm.
2. Heat vegetable oil in large pot to 375°F/190°C.  Oil must be at least 3 inches deep.
3. Over a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon; make a large well in the center. Place the yeast in the well; pour the sour cream over it. Allow it to soften (if using packed fresh yeast), about 1 minute.
4. Pour the buttermilk, whole egg, egg yolks, and vanilla extract into the well. Using one hand, gradually draw in the dry ingredients. The mixture should be fairly smooth before you draw in more flour. Mix until it is completely incorporated. Mix in the grated apple.  The dough will be very sticky. Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour.
5. Sift an even layer of flour onto a work surface. Don’t be afraid to use a lot of flour. You don’t want the doughnuts sticking to your counter. Scrape dough out of bowl onto the surface; sift another layer of flour over dough. Working quickly, pat dough into an even 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness. Dip cutter in flour and, cutting as closely together as possible, cut out the doughnuts and holes. Place holes and doughnuts on a floured surface. Working quickly, gather scraps of dough together, pat into 1/2-inch (12.5 mm) thickness, and cut out remaining doughnuts and holes.
6. Drop three to four doughnuts at a time into the hot oil. Once they turn golden brown, turn them and cook the other side. Cooking times may vary.  Watch them closely, but 20-30 seconds per side should be enough time.
7. Once cooked, place on a baking sheet covered with paper towels to drain.

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.

Thankfully I am an old pro at this sugar cookie decorating thing.  Well, I am not a pro but I have all the necessary cookie equipment and I don’t make as many mistakes and I did when I first starting doing this.  I have an icing recipe I like and trust, and I know how long the process takes to do it well.  I could have used an extra day to really make a polished looking and impressive cookie, but the two days I gave myself was just enough time.

For this challenge we were to make a basic sugar cookie and decorate them with a September theme.  I am sure I am not the only one who immediately thought of fall and the changing seasons.  So, I decided to try something I had not tried before…marbling my icings.  I wanted to create a fall colored leaf with all the lovely red, orange and yellow hues that display themselves this time of year.  While some are better looking than others, I was really pleased with the results.  I simply dropped a few colors of icing on the cookie and spread them around with a toothpick to create the marbling.

I started with 5 different colors of icing using gel colors.  That is a must if you want deep colors and not the pale colors you’d get if you use the water based ones you use to dye easter eggs.  I use a Toba Garret icing recipe to flood the cookies.  It has a good consistency, it dries well, and it tastes good.  I always flavor this icing with almond extract, a little something I picked up from my mom.  She always adds a little almond extract to whipped cream and I will never do it any other way.

I enjoyed this challenge even though I had to rush to get it done in time.  It is nice to have a reason to make decorated cookies since they are a bit time consuming.  Ben’s office is getting the tray of these tomorrow!

Here is the cookie recipe from the challenge, and below is my favorite sugar cookie icing from Toba Garrett.

Basic Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

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

Directions

1. Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture.  Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.
2. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
4. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
5. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
6. Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
7. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
8. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
9. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.  Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
10. Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
11. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
12. Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.  Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done.
13. Leave to cool on cooling racks.
14. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

Glace Icing

Ingredients

• 1 pound (454 g) powdered sugar
• 3/8 cup (90 ml) whole milk
• 3/8 cup (4.5 oz or 126 g) light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, thoroughly mix the sugar and the milk first. The icing should be very soft and have a heavy-cream texture before you add the corn syrup. Add the corn syrup and mix just until combined.
2. Divide the icing into several bowls. Flavor each bowl with extracts, alcohol or candy oils. Color each bowl of icing as desired. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to prevent drying until you’re ready to use it.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

There are a few components to this dessert.  You must make ice cream, brown butter pound cake and some kind of glaze for the petit fours.  I chose a strawberry ice cream and used the pound cake and chocolate glaze recipes from the challenge.  The ice cream recipe makes quite a bit.  I had to freeze it in two batches in the ice cream maker since it wouldn’t fit in all at once.

The pound cake is easy and so very delicious.  The petit fours require two even, flat, level cakes so I had a nice top layer to snack on.  Ginger also tried a bit from the kitchen floor and continued to give me those big puppy eyes the rest of the night in search of more little bits…which I gave her.  If I give in this quickly to a dog, there’s no telling what a pushover I’ll be with our baby.  The cake is dense, sweet and buttery.  There is nothing quite like brown butter.  It might be one of my favorite things.

Since you have to layer the ice cream between the cake layers, give yourself enough time in between all the freezing.  All the layering, cutting and glazing will be easier if the ice cream and cake are frozen solid.  I froze the cut up petit fours for about 6 hours, and even when I was covering the cakes in chocolate glaze I had to stop after half of the them were done because the ice cream started to get too soft.  Time and the freezer are your friends.  The heat of August, however, is not.

Now to the fun part.  Time to eat these lovely little treats.  The chocolate was not quite solid after 2 hours in the freezer, but it was hard enough to photograph and soft enough to eat.  My layer of ice cream was thicker than it should have been, so it kind of oozed out the sides when I cut into the petit four, but it still tasted spectacular.  I liked the combination of bitter-sweet chocolate, fruity ice cream, and rich, buttery cake.  The cake tastes best when it’s not frozen solid, but the ice cream melts pretty quickly.  So, let these sit for a few minutes out of the freezer before enjoying them, but don’t leave them for too long.

Here is the brown butter pound cake recipe, the recipe for the chocolate glaze, and the strawberry ice cream recipe which is pretty great.  If you have any strawberries that need to be put to good use I highly recommend you try this one out.

Brown Butter Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
• 2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
• 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
• 1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

• 9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Directions

1. Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate.
3. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Very Berry Strawberry Ice Cream

Courtesy of The Food Network

Ingredients

• 3 pounds fresh strawberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 eggs, or 1 cup egg substitute (recommended: Egg Beaters)
• 2 cans condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1 quart heavy whipping cream
• 1 quart half-and-half
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons vanilla extract

Directions

Assembly Instructions – Ice Cream Petit Fours

1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.

2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.

3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.

4. Make the chocolate glaze.

5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).

6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.

7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

Thankfully I saved myself, and Ben, from this potential freak out by spreading everything out over 5 days and having this thing ready to enjoy 3 days before the Daring Bakers reveal.  Having a lot of free time is such a luxury.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I must confess right now that I cannot attest to how good this ice cream treat is at present.  I haven’t yet cut into this impressive dessert and tasted it.  It is sitting in my freezer just waiting for me…calling to me, really.  I’m saving it for our 4th anniversary this Thursday.  I’ll make sure to amend this post once I get to try a slice as we celebrate 4 years of marital bliss!

Day 1 and 2:

I made the vanilla ice cream first.  On day two I made the chocolate ice cream.  These were completed first and spent a few days in the freezer.

Day 3:

I made the chocolate cakes and filling and rolled them up.  I stored these in the fridge overnight.

Day 4:

I made the fudge sauce and assembled the cake.  I highly recommend taking the time in between layers to let everything set fully.  It will make life easier for you.  Also, your ice cream needs to be soft and pliable so let it sit out for a while before trying to spread it.

Day 5:

When you go to un-mold the cake, wrapping a warm, wet towel around the bowl for a few seconds really helps.

I can’t say how the slicing is going to go, but a warm sharp knife is key to any frozen dessert.  Dipping it in warm water and drying it quickly between slices is also a nice trick.

Since there are SO many recipes, here is the link to the PDF with all of them.  This is an much easier way to read the recipes than my cut and paste jobs!

All the components are delicious separately.  I had some leftover fudge sauce and whipped cream that I used to make one of the best simple sundaes I have ever had.  I had to sample the ice creams as well, and they were both quite tasty.  I cannot wait to try all of these together!  Thanks for a great challenge.

Originally, this recipe didn’t sound summery enough to me.  Chocolate upon chocolate just seemed a bit heavy and rich to serve in June.  However, the chocolate pavlovas are wonderful and light.  I made white chocolate mousse and served it with sliced strawberries.  I was very pleased with the results and found this to be a lovely dessert.

Take the time to make the mascarpone cream.  It tastes divine drizzled on the desserts, and it also delicious eaten like soup…soup that tastes like melted ice cream.  Yum.

This could be done in a day, but I opted for the  two day option just to make like a little less hectic.

Day 1: Make pavlovas and creme anglaise.  Store the pavlovas in an airtight container and let the creme cool in the fridge.

Day 2: Make the chocolate mousse, and use your reserved creme anglaise to make the mascarpone cream.  Then assemble your desserts.

Once assembled and ready to serve, this is quite an impressive dessert.  It has a few components, but they are all worth the time and effort.  I brought this to a friends for a little dinner party, and so I had to have everything prepped and ready about 3 hours before we actually ate the desserts.  I was a little worried about how the mousse and cream would hold up in the fridge.  Thankfully, everything was perfect and the mousse was easier to scoop after being chilled.

The combination of the crunchy pavlovas, creamy and rich white chocolate mousse, sweet, fresh strawberries and indescribable mascarpone cream makes for quite a dessert.

Make the Pavlova Batter

Pipe and Bake the Pavlovas

Make the Creme Anglaise (photo courtesy of Daring Bakers)

Make the White Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

Make the Mascarpone Cream (photo courtesy of Daring Bakers)

Assemble and Enjoy

Here are the recipes.

Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites
• ½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
• 1/3 cup (30 grams) Dutch processed cocoa powder

Directions

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees.  Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
2. Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
3. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
4. Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
5. Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

White Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

Ingredients

Creme Angliase

1. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
2. Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
3. Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
4. Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients

• 1 recipe crème anglaise
• ½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
• 2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)
• ½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Directions

1. Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed.
2. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture until smooth.

Assembly

1. Pipe or scoop the mousse onto the pavlovas.
2. Top with fruit is desired.
3. Drizzle the mascarpone cream over the top.
4. Dust with confectioner’s sugar if desired.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I had not heard of an orange tian before.  I hadn’t heard of any kind of tian before, actually.  My lack of knowledge demanded a Google search.  A search of “tian” will give you some interesting results.  According to wiki, tian (Chinese: 天; literally “Sky or heaven, heavens; god, gods”) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the cosmos and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and religion.

In the culinary world, however, tian is a French term “describing a type of cooking vessel used in the Alpes-Maritimes area of France. It is traditionally made from red clay and can be either glazed or unglazed. A modern tian can come lidded or not and sometimes has a looped handle on one side.

The vessel is used to cook a traditional braised vegetable stew also called tian. The unglazed vessels, filled with root and winter vegetables along with wine or rinds of cheese, were placed in the hot ashes of a fire and left to stew all day in gentle heat, somewhat like a Dutch oven.”  You can read more here on wiki.

In this case, a tian is a dish composed of layers of ingredients.  Many that I have found in my searches are vegetable tians and can be either hot or cold.

No vegetables or rinds of cheese are found this in this dish.  This tian is a layer of orange segments, whipped cream, and orange maramlade with a base of rich pate sablee.  The layers create not only a lovely presentation, but a great combination of flavors and textures.  It tasted incredible.

This challenge, not unlike other challenges, was not without its share of hiccups.

1. I over baked the pate sablee resulting in a large cookie that cracked upon removal from the baking sheet.
2. I am no pro when it comes to segmenting oranges, so there were a few stray pieces of membrane in there.  Check out this video on you tube for some tips.
3. The whipped cream with the gelatin was super confusing, and I’m not sure if I did it right.  I think it should have set up more?  I just had to kind of go with it.  It turned out OK…I think.
4. I used a sheet pan to form the tian that I was sure would fit in the freezer.  I was wrong.  So, I had to transfer the dessert to another pan by sliding the silpat from the big pan to a smaller one.  Sounds easy, right?  Well, both pans had lips and so in this moving process some of the juices escaped and my cookie got a few more cracks.  At least the cookie would end up at the bottom.

After that, I let the tian set for about an hour.  When I flipped it out onto a platter it was beautiful!  Not perfect, but not falling apart either.  So, while this orange tian was not a complete success, it was not a failure.

Orange Tian

Preparation time:

• Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake
• Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch
• Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit
• Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit
• Whipped Cream: 15 minutes
• Assembling: 20 minutes
• Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Equipment required:

• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base and create one large dessert.
• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)
• A stand-up or hand mixer
• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet
• A baking sheet
• A rolling pin

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon granulated sugar 2.8 oz; 80 grams
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup + 3 tablespoons Unsalted butter 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
1/3 teaspoon Salt 2 grams
1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons All-purpose flour 7 oz; 200 grams
1 teaspoon baking powder 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogeneous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in half of the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.