June 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

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.

Sorry for posting this challenge a day later, but my usual lazyness prevents me from writing and programming the post ahead of the posting date, thus and because I had an unexpectedly busy sunday, I've ended up doing it in a hurry today. Indeed, everything in this month's challenge has been made in a hurry -_-U

I made the Mascarpone Cream last friday after coming from a visit to my grandma's home and before dinner (in Spain dinner is eaten at around 9 o'clock in the evening), while the chocolate pavlovas were in the oven. So, that means: I came house from work at lunchtime (3 o'clock, and no, that's not very late; lunch is eaten here between 2-3:30 in the afternoon, and don't expect to be served in any restaurant before 1:30 ^^), ate lunch and went to grandma's (4:30 in the afternoon), came back home (around 7:00) and got ready to make the mentioned above before 9:00 to be able to help with dinner. Buffff! So tiring!
Unfortunately, I overbaked the pavlovas and they went to the bin T_T The recipe states that they need 2-3 hours baking, but after 45 minutes they were already wasted! I had to redo the pavlovas the next morning, but this time I baked them for 25 minutes, which proved to be enough for me.
On saturday morning I made the chocolate and mascarpone mousse too, to have everything ready before lunch because I wanted to serve it for dessert.

I made one third of the recipes because I thought that the ammounts were going to be too much for my parents and me, therefore, I'm posting the ammounts I used.

The recipe:

Ingredients for the Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream):

80 ml whole milk
80 ml heavy cream
25g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks

Method for the vanilla Crème Anglaise:

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 half of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs.
4. 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.
5. 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 (as the ammount of cream I made was only one thirth of the original I only had it in the fridge for half an hour before using it).

Ingredients for the Mascarpone Cream:

1 recipe crème anglaise
40g mascarpone
40 ml heavy cream

Method for the Mascarpone Cream:

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

Ingredients for the Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

1 large egg white
35g white granulated sugar
10g confectioner’s (icing) sugar
10g cocoa powder

Method for the Chocolate Meringue:

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 95ºC. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
2. Put the egg white 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 egg white should be firm but moist).
3. Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg white and fold the dry ingredients into the white (this looks like it will not happen, but keep folding gently and it will eventually come together).
4. Shape the meringues on the parchment paper and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until the meringues become dry and crisp on the outside but still moist inside.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

120 ml heavy cream
85g 72% chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt's)
130g mascarpone

Method for the Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse:

1. Put 40 ml of the heavy cream 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 and the remaining cream in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose and then whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK).
3. Mix about 1/4 of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten.
4. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated.
5. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse.

Method for assembling:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top (or under, or aside, or however you prefer). Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

Well, after all I can say that it was worth the effort, even though the results were not the best possible because I, as said previously, made them in a hurry.

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake

I made this cake 2 weeks ago, but I've been too busy lately to post anything new T_T I found this recipe in the same blog as the peanut cookies' one, Table for 2...or more, and it caught my attention inmediatly because the cake in the post looked very fluffly ^^ Well, I was looking for something that wasn't too dense, as the summer was getting nearer and I prefered a lighter dessert.
And know what? This cake not only met my expectations, but surpassed them by way too far!!! It isn't fluffly, but SUPER FLUFFLY! Really! I ate a portion shortly after taking it from the oven and I can say that it's the lightest cake that I've ever eaten. It reminded me of cotton candy because of its fluffiness and because it melted in my mouth. So, I'll definitively do it again soon, only that next time I'll restraint myself from eating as soon as it comes from the oven and I'll try to put some fresh fruits and wipped cream on top of it ^^

P.S. The cake looks so white because it is upside-down. Actually, the top is light brown, but I thought that it would look better this way.

Peanut Cookies

Last week I was browsing through Table for 2...or more when I saw this recipe of Chinese New Year's peanut cookies. I decided to make them because the recipe uses vegetable oil (I used olive oil, not corn oil) instead of lard and I had some peanuts (and I love them ^^). Also, we don't celebrate here the Chinese New Year, so I didn't feel like out-of-season while making (and eating) them.

The original recipe yields too much cookies for us, so I made 1/10 of it, which yielded 35 marble ball-sized cookies:

Ingredients:        

100g flour
100g roasted peanuts (deskinned and ground)
100g fine sugar
40ml olive oil
1 egg (beaten)
Peanut halves for decoration

Method:

1. Mix flour, sugar and peanuts until well blended together.
2. Pour in the oil and knead until the oil is well incorporated.
3. Take a small amount of peanut dough onto your palm and roll into a small ball the size of a marble.
4. Place the peanut ball onto a baking tray and place a peanut half onto it. Lightly press the peanut half.
5. Apply the egg wash with a small brush.
6. Bake at 180ºC for 12 minutes or until the egg wash turns golden.

May 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Piece Montée

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Although the profiteroles are a very popular dessert here (they're filled with whipped cream and eaten with chocolate sauce), I've never dreamed about making them because they seemed too difficult for my current baking level -_-u Therefore I'm happy that the croquembouche was chosen as this month's challenge.
I was pretty nervous during the whole process (making the crème patissiere, the pate a choux and mounting the finished profiteroles) and surprinsingly I managed somehow to do everything right at first attemp!!! ^^

I chosed the chocolate glacé for 2 reasons: first of all because I'm used to eat the profiteroles with chocolate and secondly because I'm not very fond of the taste of the melted sugar caramel. And because I LOVE CHOCOLATE I thought that it was a good idea to bath the profiteroles in it instead of simply pour some chocolate sauce over them. I also melted a little white chocolate to decorate the Piece Montée.

The recipe:

Ingredients for the vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch):

225 ml whole milk
2 Tbsp cornstarch
100g sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
30g unsalted butter
1 Tsp vanilla

Method for the vanilla Crème Patissiere:

1. Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk.
2. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan and when it's boiling remove from heat.
3. Beat the whole egg and then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
4. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
5. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking until the cream thickens and starts to boil.
6. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
7. Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

Ingredients for the Pate a Choux (yield about 28):

175ml water
85g unsalted butter
1/4 Tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
125g all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

I used more flour than the stated in the recipe (about 180g) because my mixture was too liquid.

Method for the Pate a Choux:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220ºC. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.
3. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
4. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
5. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
6. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.
7. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking. At this point add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
8. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip. Pipe choux about 1 inch-apart in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high and about 1 inch wide.
9. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.
10. Bake the choux at 220ºC until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.Lower the temperature to 180ºC and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Actually, the original recipe calls for an egg wash before baking the choux, but I omited this step because I was going to cover them completely with chocolate.

Method for assembling the croquembouche:

1. Using a plain pastry tip pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.
2. Melt 200g chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning.
3. Dip each choux in the chocolate (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up.
4. Melt some white chocolate and, using a fork, draw lines over your Piece Montée.

The profiteroles were delicious, though it was kinda messy to pull them appart to eat them ^_^U They were soooooo good that even my boyfriend (who doesn't like dark chocolate) said that he liked them (hurrah!!!).

Coffee meringues

I don't know why I didn't make this delicious meringues sooner! I saw them in dailydelicious the very day that they were posted, but I decided to make other things and so I put this recipe aside. Until yesterday. On friday I went looking for a small bottle of coffee liqueur, as I wasn't sure if I were going to make any other dessert that includes this, and yesterday morning I got into it. It's incredible how easy this recipe is! It only has a few steps and it seems to be foolproof, because I got them right on my first attempt, which isn't usual. The only modification that I dared to do was to use 100 grams of sugar instead of 114 grams of caster sugar.

The meringues are sweet and very "airy". It was a surprise when I put them in the box and lifted them to store them in the cupboard; it seemed that the box was empty! They're sooooo light! ^^ As you're biting them you think that you're eating something dry but they melt as soon as they reach your tongue. They remind me of the cotton candies ^^ And they're so full of coffee flavour! I made them of different sizes to try out which one is the best for me and I have decided on the small, bite-sized, meringue because the coffee + hazelnut taste is incredibly good, so next time I want to have that taste in every bite ^^

April 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge: Traditional British Pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

And thus the very first thing I did was to check in the nearest supermarket whether they had any suet. You see, suet is widely used in the south-east spanish's kitchens, but here, in the north, we rarely used it. But I was lucky, as they had 2 sticks of it, 300g each.
Next I had to decide if I was going to make a savory or a sweet pudding. Well, my father can't eat too much sweets and my mother prefers savory dishes, so it was an easy choice. Therefore, I decided on the savory pudding, filled with carrots, potatoes and beef. To make it nicer I added some onion and white wine sauce to the filling.
Then I went to search for an alternative to the steamer (I don't own one and I don't intend to), which was resolved quickly by using the pressure cooker with a steamer stand. And I made 2 handles for the pudding bowl with some string.

When the day I had set to make the pudding came, my main worry was to undercook the pudding, so I decided to leave it for 2 and half hours steaming (I made enough for 2 medium-sized puddings), as the host had said that is very difficult to overcook it. Also, at the last moment I decided to add a dash of pimentón (I think that in the english-speaking countries it's called spanish paprika, but I'm not sure) to the crust instead of pepper, that's why the uncooked crust has a yellowish color.

The recipe:

Ingredients for the crust:        

250g self-raising flour (I combined all-purpose flour with baking powder)
175g shredded suet
A pinch of salt
2 dashes of pimentón
Water (I don't know the exact amount that I used)

Ingredients for the filling:        

2 small carrots
1 large potato
200g beef, chopped

I'm sorry but I can't post the ingredients nor the method for making the sauce because I don't use fixed amounts, it a family recipe so we simply add the ingredients and cook it as we please, so it changes from one time to another.

Method:

1. Mix the flour and suet together.
2. Season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pimentón.
3. Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. Don't over handle the pastry or it will be too hard.
4. Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased bowl.
5. Add the filling and roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal.
6. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil (pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking). Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water.
7. Steam for up to 5 hours (mine was steamed for 2 and half hours); you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. It's hard to over steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.
8. Take the pudding out of the steamer and serve it while still warm.

The pudding was exactly what you could expect from the British kitchen; it's trully one of the best exponents of the English food. The results that you get with such a simple but savory ingredients are really incredible. And I must say that I believe that the steaming process plays an important part in obtaining it's final cualities.

Condensed milk pound cake

A few weeks ago I was going through Tracey's Culinary Adventures (a blog I had just discovered) looking for some ideas, when I saw this recipe. This cake is great! I only made half of it because I didn't want it to last long (this kind of cakes get dry too easily), but it lasted way less than I thougth! Next day I barely got to eat 2 slices with some choped strawberries on top (yummmmmm!) for breakfast. This combination is one of my favorites ^^ I highly recommend this cake to be eaten warm or cold, because if you eat it right from the oven you might find it too sweet (at least that's what happened to me).

So, the recipe I used is as follows:

Ingredients:        

80g butter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
80g all-purpose flour
40g sugar
125ml sweetened condensed milk

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170ºC.
2. Butter a small loaf pan.
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add the condensed milk and mix until well incorporated.
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until no traces of the flour remain.
7. Add the egg and, again, mix until well combined.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes
9. Let it cool completely in the loaf pan on a rack before unmoulding.