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Tag Archives: Baking
The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.
We were both on the same page that I was crazy for taking on this project for Thanksgiving, especially since I have never made cannoli, we knew it would be a big risk. Working as a team, made it so much easier. One person was in charge of rolling and cutting circles, while the other gently fried them to perfection. Keeping with the Thanksgiving theme we made a pumpkin filling, which was light and not overly sweet. Move over Mike’s, there is a new cannoli in town! An amazingly easy recipe.
* we had leftover filling which froze nicely into a creamy ice cream
Recipe: Pumpkin Cannoli
Equipment:
Cannoli forms/tubes – optional, but recommended if making traditional shaped cannoli. Dried cannelloni pasta tubes work just as well!
Deep, heavy saucepan, enough to hold at least 2-3-inches of oil or deep fryer
Deep fat frying thermometer. although the bread cube or bit of dough test will work fine.
Metal tongs
Brass or wire skimmer OR large slotted spoon
Pastry bag with large star or plain tip, but a snipped ziplock bag, butter knife or teaspoon will work fine.
Cooling rack
Paper bags or paper towels
Pastry Brush
Cheesecloth
Sieve or fine wire mesh strainer
Electric Mixer, stand or hand, optional, as mixing the filling with a spoon is fine.
Food Processor or Stand Mixer – also optional, since you can make the dough by hand, although it takes more time.
Rolling pin and/or Pasta roller/machine
Pastry or cutting board
Round cutters – The dough can also be cut into squares and rolled around the cannoli tube prior to frying. If making a stacked cannoli, any shaped cutter is fine, as well as a sharp knife.
Mixing bowl and wooden spoon if mixing filling by hand
Plastic Wrap/Clingfilm
Tea towels or just cloth towels
Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes
CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar
Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough.
DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.
3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.
Pasta Machine method:
1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through
2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.
3, Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.
For stacked cannoli:
1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep sauté pan, to 350-375°F (176 – 190 °C).
2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.
ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.
2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.
Pumpkin Filling
2 cups ricotta cheese, drained
2 cups mascarpone cheese
2 cups canned pumpkin, drained
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 whole vanilla bean seeds
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight. Do the same with the pumpkin.
2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta and mascarpone until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, pumpkin, spice and vanilla bean seeds and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl. Chill until firm, several hours or overnight.
Chewy warm molasses cookies are spiked with allspice, ginger and pepper; this is the ultimate molasses cookie.
Pamela of Cookies with Boys picked this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) challenge and a good challenge at that. This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point (only because I am a bit sick and I have too much on my plate right now – not cookies either). I love ginger snap cookies. Now I love sugar topped molasses cookies even more. This cookie is slightly crispy but still chewy, spicy but warm and I love the addition of fresh cracked pepper, it really brings all the spice of this cookie together. I think we have found the cookie for the holidays!
Be sure to check out all the other TWD bakers, I am sure they have some goodies for you to be inspired by. Recipe can be found here – by the way the Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, is the only baking book you ever need to own, there is a sweet for everyone you bake for.
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S of Baking Without Fear. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
I love macarons! They are one of the first things I eat when I go to Paris. I love how cute, small and slightly sugary they are. They are perfect with an espresso or even on their own. You can go simple and refined or out of this world crazy with flavor combinations.
I have been trying to perfect the macaron for about 3 years now, two of those have been public. I keep thinking that ‘someday’ it will happen. As soon as I saw this month’s challenge, I started the process of planning the flavors I wanted to attempt. I always have a million different ideas and always attempt too many at one time. Since I am in the ‘perfecting’ mode, I decided I had to stick to one flavor; trust me it was hard to hold myself to this plan!
 
I started the macaron process on Friday, by separating my eggs and letting them sit out. I normally let them sit out for 24 hours, even though the recipe said for 5 hours, I still went with the full 24. I felt very good about this come Saturday morning. I slightly toasted my almonds and hazelnuts, cooled them, and then turned them into flour. My meringues started out soft and by the end of the beating, they were glossy and stiff. I folded the nut flour, sugar and coco into the whites and the batter was perfect. Even the piping process was ‘perfect’. I felt good. Then I slide them into the oven, took a couple peeks and nothing. Not a foot, leg, nor a crack or the ever so famous dreidel that mine usually have. These were the flattest batch of macarons I had ever seen. Now, even though, I was disappointed, I did not give up. I tried again and once again …. flat!
By this time I was in the mind frame of macarons and damn it, we were going to have macarons. I had the perfect flavor combination and I HAD to make them, I just had, too! So, I walked down to the market, picked up more eggs, separated them, set them aside and pulled out another recipe. Yes, I broke the rules & I am sorry Ami, I just had to perfect this mission. I chose one of Aran’s recipes. I admire Aran and the wonderful sweet delights she shares with us. I have never tried her macaron recipes but decided to give it a try.
I turned on some Sia, made a latte, cut my parchment paper and started the process. Once again, everything went very smoothly and the beginning stage of the macarons looked, well, perfect. At this point I figured anything could go right or wrong. I slide them into the oven and set the timer for 8 minutes; I did not peek, I continued working and waited. “ding” …. I slowly opened the oven door, and I was *smiles* from ear to ear, I had FEET and I had damn good looking FEET!
Now … it was not the original recipe that the Daring Bakers were suppose to use, yes, I cheated; but, I had some near perfect macarons and I was happy!
Recipe: Dark Chocolate Macarons with Bittersweet Ancho Chili Ganache
Chocolate Macarons
*inspired by Aran of Cannelle et Vanille
8 ounces whole raw almonds
8 ounces whole hazelnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
100 grams egg whites
25 grams sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon creme of tarter
200 grams powdered sugar
125 grams mixed nut flour, I used half hazelnuts and half almonds
15 grams scharffen berger (or really good) cocoa powder
pinch of salt
Prepare the nut flour by grinding the nuts with 1 cup of powdered sugar, in a food processor until the consistency of flour. You will need to pulse the food processor and run it, then pulse and then run. *I did toast my nuts beforehand and let cool completely before grinding.
Separate the egg whites and let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours before starting to make the macarons.
Preheat oven to 300. Whip the egg whites and creme of tarter until they are foamy. Sprinkle in the sugar while still mixing. Continue to whip until stiff peaks form. Sift the powdered sugar, salt, nut flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add to the meringue and fold until a shiny mass comes together. ill a pastry bag with a number 806 tip. Pipe the macarons onto parchment paper. Let the macarons dry at room temperature for 30 minutes (Aran suggests 20, I lost track of time). Bake them for 8 minutes, rotate the baking pan and bake for another 8 minutes. Cool. Remover from parchment and fill with your favorite filling.
Recipe: Bittersweet Ancho Chili Ganache
200 ml heavy cream
200 g scharffen berger bittersweet chocolate broken into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried ancho chili powder
Bring cream to a boil. Put chocolate into a mixing bowl and pour the cream over the top. Let sit for a couple minutes. Stir until melted. Add the ancho chili powder, stir well. Let sit in the refridgerator for at least an hour before using.
Tart Granny Smith apples and sour quince are lightly sprinkled with raw sugar and finished with a cardamon topping made of oats, sugar and pecans.
Lenny loves apple pie. I, on the other hand, could really care less about it. In fact, I was never a big apple dessert fan, until a couple years ago. We were in Paris and stumbled upon Au Gamin de Paris and their apple tart with a caramelized topping. They only make a few tarts, daily, so when you go you have to order dessert first, it is amazing! From that point on I was a converted apple fan!
I picked up a few apples and quince at the market last week with an intention of recreating a tart that would be similar to Au Gamin de Paris but instead, due to a lack of time, I make a crisp. I have never used quince before but have had it in the form of a jam, which was served with cheese. I had no idea what to expect. The quince was rather dry, somewhat astringent and a little sour as well. I was a little worried. I mixed the tart apples and sour quince together with a little raw sugar and cardamon and then made a topping out of some oats, butter, sugar, cardamon and pecans. The sugar and butter melted together to form a nice caramel coating that gripped the oats and pecans, the flavors screamed “FALL” when mixed with the quince and apples. It was perfect and the only other thing that would have made it more perfect would have been a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Don’t forget about your Thanksgiving Gift Away - you have until midnight on the 31st of October to enter!
Recipe: Apple Quince Crisp
4 apples, peeled and cut into chunks
2 quince, peeled and cut into chunks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cups oats
1 cup pecans, broken into pieces
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon caradmon
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, cut into chunks
Heat oven to 375. Butter a baking dish. Toss the apples, quince and 3 tablespoons of raw sugar together in a mixing bowl. Pour into your baking dish. In the same mixing bowl, add dry ingredients and lightly stir. Cut in the butter until it is crumbly. Pour over the top of your apples and quince. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes. Serve. Eat.
This recipe is a classic pumpkin pie with a twist! This is definitely the best pumpkin pie recipe I have ever had, the secret to this pie is the fresh slow roasted pumpkin, it makes all the difference. You will never go back to canned after eating this!
This recipe has been in the family for years and I really cannot believe I am letting the secret be known. My step-mom, Kathie, came up with this recipe years ago and we have never gone back. Plan on roasting the pumpkin a day or two before you make the pies as well you can change around the spices and liquor to suit your personal preference. I serve it with a very small amount of whipped cream, that has been slightly sweetened with a little brown sugar and a fresh vanilla bean.
 I picked up the Williams Sonoma Thanksgiving cookbook a few months ago and enjoyed it so much that I have decided to give away, not one, but 2 copies. All you need to do is leave a comment below, sharing with us, one of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions. We will draw the winners on November 1! * Sorry this is only open to US readers **the photo of the book is not that good, sorry, it really is only a glare on the side, these are both new books!!
Recipe: Pumpkin Pie
Pie Crust
Makes one 9” pie shell, with extra for garnish
1 1/2 cups pastry flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup ice water
Combine flour, salt and butter in a food processor. Pulse until pebbly. Add water and pulse until it comes together. Form into a disk and chill for 1 hour. To line pie dish, place disk of dough on a lightly floured surface and roll until 1/8” thick, rolling from the center toward the edge in all directions. Lightly dust the work surface with extra flour as needed to prevent sticking. Carefully transfer the round to the pie dish, easing it into the bottom and sides and gently pressing into place. Trim the extra dough even from the rim of the pan. Use extra dough to cut out garnishes if desired.
Pie Filling
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup brown sugar
6 medium eggs
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup cognac
Preheat oven to 450.
Combine all ingredients, except pie shell, in the order given and beat until thoroughly blended. You can also blend in a food processor. Pour into the unbaked pie shell. Garnish if desired with left over dough cut outs. Egg wash the pie crust and any garnish. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 45 – 50 minutes. You may have to cover with foil, if it is getting too dark. Pie is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool. Serve. Eat.
This pumpkin bread recipe is the ultimate pumpkin bread recipe. You cannot go wrong with a creamy layer of maple cheesecake, which is sandwiched between rich, dense and spicy layers of pumpkin bread.
I have been thinking about this recipe for literally a year and I am not even kidding you. Peabody of Culinary Concotions posted this fall treat last year and I have been thinking about it ever since. I actually made it last week but it never got around to be photographed as I turned my back and it was gone; no, we did not get a dog and yes, it was Lenny who ate the entire thing. As well, something failed between mixing, layering and cooking, when I took that loaf out and he cut into it, the cheesecake had melted into the bread. Don’t get me wrong, the few crumbs I was able to scrape up were delicious and it is always a good sign when it does not last more than a day.
Today was a cold, dreary and wet day, a good day for baking as well I planned to make it without a certain someone in the house, as I wanted to be sure I would be able to grab a few photos. I love to bake when it is gloomy outside as it warms the house and the smell of sugar, butter and spices mixed with the gentle rain, is really intoxicating ….hmmmm!
This second loaf came out perfectly, it does not look as pretty as Peabody’s does, but it was close and it is darn good. I did change a few of the portions as well as some of the spice options, just so to give it our personal touch since we would be posting. Be sure to check out Peabody’s as well, it is a great post!
Recipe: Pumpkin Bread with Maple Cheesecake Layer
Maple Cheesecake Layer
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons dark amber real maple syrup, we use grade a
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg
Pumpkin Spice Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, freshly grated
1 teaspoon ginger, freshly grated
1 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1 cup pumpkin puree, plain, not pumpkin pie
½ cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly grease and flour loaf pan. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the maple cheesecake ingredients, beat until smooth. Set aside. In another bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Set aside. Mix together pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat for about 2 minutes until fully mixed. Add flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined.
Fold in the pecans. Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the loaf pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter. Bake in preheated oven for 90 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan for about 15 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack, let cool to room temperature. Serve. Eat.
This is a lovely late summer/early autumn tart made with a Pate Sable pastry which is filled with fragrant frangipane and luscious black Turkish figs.
I made this wonderful tart for a dinner party with our friend’s Chelsea and James. We love figs and use them very often from the beginning of the season until the very end. You will often find a big bowl of them on the counter, just for noshing on throughout the day. I normally make a savory tart of blue cheese and figs but wanted something sweeter for this event and thought the figs would go nicely with a light frangipane; I was right! Dorie Greenspan’s pate sable recipe is by far my favorite one, as it is lightly sweet and flaky as well it is not too buttery, just prefect. The recipe is in Dorie’s book Baking From My Home to Yours, you should own this book, it will be the baking cookbook you will ever need, Dorie includes every recipe you will ever need from the basics to the perfect party cake and all the recipes we have tried have been perfect! I wanted the tart to have a nice shiny glaze, so I melted a little of the marmalade that we have left from Chez Pim’s amazing Bouquet des Fleurs Marmalade collection and I glazed the top during the last 5 minutes of baking. This my friends, was a wonderful addition to the tart, not only was it shiny but the finished tart had a beautiful floral under-note.
Recipe: Frangipane Fig Tart
1/2 cup almonds, raw, organic
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, organic
2 eggs, organic, cage free
1 your favorite pate sable
1 pint of figs, cut in half
I use a Dorie Greenspan recipe for the Pate Sable, using a rectangle tart pan and following her instructions for baking. Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor combine the almonds and sugar, pulse until coarse. With the processor running, add the butter one tablespoon at a time. Add the extract and the eggs with the food processor on until mixed. Pour into a pre-baked tart pan and smooth the top. Lay the cut figs in the pattern of your choice, on top of the Frangipane. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before removing the tart from the baking pan. Serve. Eat.
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