Daring Bakers

Daring Bakers: Christmas Stollen

What a great challenge for Christmastime.  I wish I’d had a huge family to share this with.  I’d bring it out on a lovely platter.  Everyone would ooh and aah over this lovely sugar coated, fruit and nut filled bread.  But it is just me, Ben and the new baby at home…and the new baby can’t appreciate my culinary feats just yet.  We’re going out of town for Christmas, and traveling with this thing intact would be difficult.  So, I made my stollen, had a little photo shoot and cut it into pieces to pack away.  At least I can post the photo of my stollen for all of you!

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!

Daring Bakers: Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Donuts

My house now smells of deep frying, I have a pot of oil cooling on the stove that I have no clue what I am going to do with, and a sink full of sticky dishes.  On the bright side I have a rack of apple cake donuts and donut holes covered in cinnamon glaze awaiting consumption.  I guess I can’t complain.

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. (more…)

Daring Bakers: Fall Inspired Sugar Cookies

It is a miracle that this is actually going to post today.  The icing on these lovely cookies is still wet, and my fingers are dyed a nice reddish orange.  But, it is done, and it is delicious.

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.

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Daring Bakers: Ice Cream Petit Fours

This challenge sure snuck up on me…like many other Daring Bakers challenges of the past.  Thankfully I remembered enough in advance to get this dessert completed in time!  We had an option this month to complete one or both of these desserts; ice cream petit fours and baked Alaska.  One day I will try baked Alaska, but I chose to make the petit fours only.

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”.

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Daring Bakers: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Bombe

So many components to this dessert!  Two ice creams, hot fudge sauce, chocolate cake, whipped cream…and then there’s the assembly process.  Whew!  When I told Ben all the things I had to do, he said “Can you imagine having to do this when you were still teaching?”  Yes, I can imagine that.  I would have freaked out.  Probably like this scene from Julie & Julia.

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!

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Daring Bakers: Chocolate Pavlovas with White Chocolate Mousse and Strawberries

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

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

  • 1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream (cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
  • grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
  • 9 ounces (255 grams) white chocolate, chopped
  • 1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
  • pinch of nutmeg
  • 2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (optional)
Directions
  1. Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
  2. Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
  3. Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.
Creme Angliase
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
  • 1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
  • 1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 6 large egg yolks
  • 6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar
Directions
  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.

Daring Bakers: Orange Tian

This orange tian was not one of the prettiest desserts to ever come out of my kitchen, but it was one of the most refreshing and tastiest.

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.

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Daring Bakers: Tiramisu

Tiramisu.  Oh, I’ve made it before.  I’ve made it more than once.  It is simple, easy and delicious.  Tiramisu is a piece of cake when you use store-bought lady fingers, a cream mixture of store-bought mascarpone cheese and sugar, and brewed coffee.  This challenge uses nothing store-bought.  This challenge is so much more than store-bought.  This challenge is a challenge.  A devilishly delicious and decadent challenge.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

As is my habit with Daring Bakers challenges, I waited until the last minute to make this dessert.  Thankfully I read through the recipe on Monday of this past week and realized that I would need at least 4 days from start to finish to complete it.  Each component requires your attention and an overnight chill.  Conveniently, the components can be prepared and chilled for a few days in advance.  So I made a plan for how to get this done without going crazy.

Day 1: Make the Savoriardi Biscuits (Ladyfingers)

Day 2: Make the mascarpone

Day 3: Make the pastry cream and zabaglione

Day 4: Whip the cream and assemble the tiramisu

Day 5: Consume your masterpiece

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Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

First thing’s first…I cheated.  I did not make the graham wafers.  I am a terrible person.  I promise to make them another time, pinky promise!  I just did not have the time.  Well, that is only partially true.  I could have had the time if I’d actually looked at my January commitments and planned ahead.  This last week of January finds me in San Diego for 3 days for a conference for work, two days at home in Amarillo and then I head to Austin for 4 days for my sister’s baby shower and grandpa’s 90th birthday celebration.  AND I have to somehow fit in the baking of a few dozen cut-out bird cookies for the shower.  When it rains it pours, people.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Now you’re thinking, “She’s a double cheater!”  You’re right.  I didn’t even consider trying to make anything gluten free.  Again, the lack of time and my laziness got the better of me!  Also, I think I like gluten.  It sounds like glutton…

I had to make the bars before I left for sunny (sorta) San Diego in order to get them done before the craziness began.  When you’re a cheater like me and you use store-bought graham crackers these bars come together very quickly.  You have to give them some time in the fridge before enjoying them, but other than that they are quick and simple.

After chilling in the fridge they have a beautiful hard chocolate-y layer which innocently hides the sweet soft vanilla layer beneath it.  I was not thinking about this HARD chocolate layer when I took a knife to these bars.  All, or almost all, of the chocolate cracked and popped off the top of the bars.  I should have waited a few minutes after taking them from the fridge to let the chocolate soften a bit and adhere to the creamy layer.  You live, you learn.

Even with the shattered chocolate layer, which I managed to somehow replace on a few pieces, these were very delicious.  I will be making these again.  Delicious.

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

Bottom Layer

  • 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
  • 1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
  • 5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
  • 1 Large Egg, Beaten
  • 1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs
  • 1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
  • 1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer

  • 1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
  • 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
  • 2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
  • 2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

Top Layer

  • 4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
  • 2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Gingerbread House Demolition

Like most kids do at some point in their lives, I once had a bit of an obsession with fire and burning little objects.  It wasn’t a huge deal.  I stuck to simple things like notebook paper and tissues.  My days of burning things came to an abrupt end when I tried to burn the end of a mechanical pencil and caused a serious stench in my room.  That was the end of that.

A few years ago my sister Sarah rekindled my obsession when she uttered this phrase a day or so after Christmas, “Let’s burn down the gingerbread house.”  And that is what we did.  With the help of my dad and some lighter fluid, we burnt that house down.

This year I wanted to get rid of my gingerbread house, but did not want to throw it away, and it was not meant to be eaten.  What was I to do?  Well, the only option seemed to be demolition by fire.  I wanted to do this on New Years Eve, but that did not exactly happen.  So, I tried again with much success about a week later.  The only thing I failed to consider was the can of jalapeños that I’d trapped inside my gingerbread house during construction remained in the house.  You probably know what happens to a can that is heated beyond what it can bear.  It definitely exploded.

It was a controlled burn, and no one was harmed.  I sat the house outside on the concrete and kept a close eye on it.  I highly recommend you try this at some point.  It is great fun and is a completely free form of entertainment.

Here is how it all went down.  From beginning to end.

1.  Pre-burned house.  So adorable!

2.  The burning begins.  I suggest starting a little fire inside the house to get things going.  I used a little tea light and some shredded paper.

3.  After a while, things really got going.

4.  I should have taken some in between shots, but this is what happens after some good burning time.  This is when Ben begins to complain about the smell.

5.  And in this picture you can see the can of jalapeños, post explosion.  Good times had by all.