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Tag Archives: Dessert
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 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.
Almond flour and sugar is gently folded with egg whites to create the French macaron. Nestled between the delicate cookies is a slight layer of nutty but chocolatey Nutella.
I have to admit I have been eavesdropping on a Twitter conversation between, Jamie, Deeba, Hilda, Aparna, Barbara, Meeta, Ilva, Shelley, Erin, Deborah, Rachael, and Ria the past couple of weeks. Okay, I do have better things to do with my time then listen in on things that have nothing to do with me, but they were chatting about one of my favorite things to nosh on, The French Macaron. Finally, I could not stand it any longer and I tweeted Rachael and asked what was taking place? How did I miss this mac-a-thon and how could I get involved, not that I needed another reason to bake something! Being as sweet as she is, she told me to tweet Jamie for all the info, so I did!
This wonderful group of bloggers are attempting to perfect the macaron, the French macaron, by using one of the queens of macarons, recipe, Helen of Tartelette. Now since I was a little behind, they are posting today, the 15th, I had to take jump on it and decided only to make one round of macs using Helen’s recipe. We were suppose to make the basic shell and fill with a chocolate ganache. Everything was right on track, egg whites sat out for 24 hours, the batter came together beautifully, the macs looked so pretty on the baking sheet, they came out of the oven looking the best they ever have (mine usually look like dreidels), they had feet, yes, they had feet and then after they cooled, I attempted to remove them from the baking sheet and their feet, legs and all, stayed behind! What went WRONG? I think I should have baked maybe one more minute (Jamie suggested this as well) or maybe it was the humidity in the air? I had one left that was nearly perfect, well, it had a top and bottom, the rest, well, let’s just say they make nice little noshes with a hot cup of coffee!
*disclaimer, I did not, I say DID NOT make a batch of ganache for this photo shoot, I used nutella.
Recipe: Macarons
Kick up the traditional brownie with an ultra creamy cheesecake topping.
It is that time again, time for Tuesdays With Dorie (TWD) and Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell, is our hostess this week. Melissa must have known that I needed the perfect dessert for us to bring to a BBQ last weekend when she picked Dorie’s Espresso Cheesecake Brownie. When I pulled up the September schedule Saturday morning, I was thrilled to see what was pick for the week. I have always loved brownies with a cheesecake topping but these were double the fun. The cheesecake was flavored with espresso and then topped with a creamy topping made of sour cream and sugar. These brownies are sure to please even the most discriminating group!
Be sure to pour yourself a big glass of milk and head over to the TWD blogroll to indulge even further.
Recipe: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies
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