Angel Food Cupcakes | Spring

The past few months for my have flown right buy in a flurry of school, changes and revelations. My parents finally agreed to let me wear contacts , I’m getting my braces off in a matter of weeks, and I’ve stopped procrastinating so much. While that is great, I’ve also had a revelation about going off to college. Initially, college seemed amazing to me, to be able to start over new, by yourself in a different environment, and meeting new people. But the more I thought about it, what I loved about college suddenly started to be the very thing that also frightened me about college. I would be miles away from my family, friends, or anything that was even vaguely familiar. Is it odd that I wish I was my geeky little freshman self again, so that I would still be ages away from going to college? As great as it is to try new things (something that food has definitely taught me), the overly sentimental part of me still wants to cling on to the small world I live in right now. 

But I do want a fresh new start, just like spring, and these cupcakes. The seasons and my thoughts definitely inspired me to find and make these cupcakes, and I think they’re the perfect spring snack. Spring reminds me of light, bright, and fruity tastes, and these cupcakes have all of those flavors. The light and fluffy angel food cupcakes are topped with whipped cream and a couple of strawberries and raspberries.

Angel Food Cupcakes w/ Whipped Cream  & Berries

Recipe Adapted from Alton Brown

4 dozen cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups sugar (or castor’s sugar)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cake flour, sifted (if you don’t have cake flour, you can make some! 
• 12 egg whites (the closer to room temperature the better)
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• Whipped cream
• strawberries & raspberries (any sort of berry you want, those two are just the ones I prefer)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. If you have regular sugar: Blend the sugar for about 2 minutes until it is superfine. if you have castors sugar, you can skip this step
3. Sift half of the sugar with the salt the cake flour in a medium bowl and set the remaining sugar aside.
4. In a large bowl, use a  whisk to thoroughly combine egg whites, water, orange extract, and cream of tartar for two minutes. Then, using a hand blender, slowly sift the reserved sugar into the eggs beating continuously at medium speed to achieve medium peaks
5. Once the eggs are whipped to medium peaks, sift the flour over the mixture, 1/4 a cup at a time. Repeat until all of the flour mixture is finished.
6. Carefully spoon mixture into an lined cupcake tray and fill 3/4 of the way up. Bake until the tops of the cupcakes are turning slightly golden, and you can insert a tooth pick between the liner and the cake and have it come out clean.
7. Cool completely & top with whipped cream and berries to your liking :)

Happy spring & I hope you all enjoy :)

Deepshikha

Maple Blondies | Fall

Earlier this month Hurricane Sandy swept through the east coast leaving people and their homes devastated. Admittedly I was not in one of the worst areas during the hurricane, but I was definitely affected by it. My heart goes out to those who lost everything because of the hurricane. I only lost power for a week, and it was hard enough living that way, I can’t even fathom what others are going through.

In the end, this experience left me with many things to be thankful this thanksgiving. That includes my parents, my sister, my friends, my home…I suppose I could go on, but I’ll sum it up into one sentence: I’m thankful that I have everything and everyone that I need in my life. Quite honestly, not many are as fortunate as me, and even though I do complain frequently  and face problems, I only deal with a fraction of what others have to go through in life.

I know this post is a little early for a thanks giving post, but this was the only time I could do it, and I’m trying to keep posting frequently! So, dear readers: Happy thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful meal with your family and your friends :)

For this post I baked these maple blondies, and quite frankly, I am in love with maple flavored anything right now! It’s just such a wonderful flavor to enjoy during the fall, and I’ve been trying to put maple syrup in or on literally everything. I think I may be a little ridiculous, but it’s just so delicious. These blondies are very sweet, however, not heavy, because the texture is much lighter, so in the end it all balances out.

Maple Blondies

Adapted from Southern Lady Magazine via Baked Bree

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
• optional: 1 cup pecan or walnut pieces [ I didn't include any in the blondies I made in the picture, because I was making these for someone with a nut allergy, however I highly reccommend putting in nuts if you like them :) ]

Instructions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl & set aside.
2. In another, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup, until well mixed.
3. Add the eggs, and the two flavorings, and whisk until combined.
4. Add a half cup of the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until combined
5. Repeat step five, until you’ve added all of the dry ingredients to the wet.
6. If you are adding nuts, stir them in now.
7. Spread into a 9×13 pan that has been coated with cooking spray.
8. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy & happy thanksgiving!

Deepshikha :)

Vanilla Sugar

A couple days ago I was sitting in my biology class, listening to my teacher talk about evolution, the past of earth, and fossils. Fossils were a subject that have fascinated me ever since I was a child, it amazed me how an animals body could turn into stone, however I never quite looked into it, intimidated and confused by the complex terms I didn’t understand, being the age of seven(even though I did try making my own fossils). However, when I grew older, I switched on to a different scientific fascination, forgetting about fossils until now. I’ve finally found out how fossils become the way they are, and the strange thing is, when I was reading about this, it reminded me vaguely of vanilla sugar. No, I don’t always relate everything I learn to baking, however this was one time I did :)

So with fossils what happens after its buried is that the minerals in the bones of the organism and other hard tissues get replaced with metal ions and other inorganic materials, and also combined with the pressure of the sediment on top of the whole thing transforms it.

With vanilla sugar you have two simple elements, sugar and a vanilla bean, with the insides scraped out. Now you leave them in an air tight jar for a while. The sugar starts to take on the smells and tastes of vanilla like the bones did with the metal ions and inorganic material. However in the end, unlike the process of fossilization, you end up with a delicious vanilla tinged sugar that adds a little flair to everything you put it in.

So, you ask, what exactly is vanilla sugar, and what do we do with it?

Well that’s simple. It’s simply sugar that  has this amazing vanilla taste to it, and you can do many things with it, like spoon a bit into your tea, or coffee in the morning, however I mostly prefer using it for making creme brulee, trust me it makes a difference compared to regular granulated sugar!

So I’ll start over from the beginning for how to make it.

you need:

A vanilla beans with the insides scraped out or used(i usually use mine in ice cream, and keep the pods around for exactly this purpose).

An airtight jar | I usually make really big jar of this but for depiction purposes:

and lastly: sugar. Just plain ol’ granulated sugar.

so what do you do with these?

1. Take the jar and fill it up with sugar(not fully to the rim. Just below is good.)
2. Take your vanilla bean, and push it into the middle of the sugar, like so:

3. Put it in the pantry wait for a month. Yes a month. Although I recommend checking on it every week and a half, because I’ve heard other food blogs say that their vanilla sugar was made much faster than mine. How do you know its ready? You open the jar, and the first you smell is the light aroma of vanilla, and if you taste the sugar it should definitely taste vanilla-y.

Bon apetit :)

~Dee D.

Strawberry Tart | Me

Dear Readers,

I’m sorry I haven’t been around…

I’ve been caught up in some of my business(which involved staring at textbooks and math equations relentlessly)…

If you’re a new reader, hello and welcome :)
Hope are enjoying it :)

This is going not going to be one of my usual posts, it’s going to be somewhat more quick and direct because at the moment I am busy, and I just wanted to post something quickly…

Also, some of you commented and emailed me for step by step pictures of each of posts, and here’s why I don’t want to do this:

I have nobody around most of the time to take pictures for me, so I’ll have to take them myself. No it’s not because I’m lazy, it’s because I will get involved in what I’m making and forget to take pictures, so you’ll probably end up with half of the pictures for all the steps…

I will try however :)

I know I’ve said this before, but just in case you don’t know: if some of you have questions about anything, feel free to email me, or just leave a comment below, and I’ll reply to your email and/or comment! My email is: thenexperiments@live.com. If you want to tweet me as well, go ahead! My username is @thenexperiments (there’s also a follow button on the side somewhere).

Now about this tart I’m supposed to be talking about… I’ve had this recipe, and these pictures for a while now, except I never got around to posting, and I forgot about it, until now when I realized it was strawberry season, and this would be perfect for use!

I really love this tart. Its crust is amazing, and ridiculously flaky and buttery. The pastry cream, isn’t fully solid but it ta

stes great, and it uses a only a little of heavy cream(I’m really attempting to find recipes for things without heavy cream, its notoriously bad for you! How ever I am being a little hypocritical, considering the tart shell, but I cannot not use that shell! its amazing!)…and the topping of the fresh

strawberries really just is great :) It adds a fresh taste to it :)

Hope you try and enjoy it!

Fresh Strawberry Tart

• 1 pack of strawberries(16 oz.) quartered.
• tart shell(recipe below)
• pastry cream (recipe below)

Use this recipe from David Lebovitz for the tart I followed the whole thing exactly, and he has pictures of certain steps as well :)

Pastry Cream

Modified from Barefoot Contessa in Paris via Culinate

• 5 large egg yolks at room temperature
• 3/4 a cup sugar(I didn’t fully fill each of the cups to minimize the sugar content in this  somewhat)
• 3 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups of scalded milk(scald the milk by heating it at a medium, until it develops a skin on top and that skin starts to rise and turn off the heat before the whole thing boils over. note: scald this right before you start the first step of this)
• 3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract.
• 1 tsp. rum
• 1 tbsp.unsalted butter
• tbsp. heavy cream

1. Whip up the eggs and sugar, until it become a very pale, almost white-ish yellow and the mixture will be very thick.
2. If you are using a mixer, lower the speed of the mixer and add in the corn starch. if you are doing this by hand, simply mix in the cornstarch.
3. Then while constantly mixing pour the scalded milk into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Don’t stop mixing, or the eggs may scramble.
4. Pour all of this, in to a medium pan, and put it on medium heat stirring with a whisk.
5. After a while this will start to look at though it is curdling, so at this point start stirring vigorously with the whisk.
6. after a while it will come together a little bit more and that is when you put in the rum, vanilla extract, butter, and heavy cream. Stir it in and continue to cook for a minute, then remove from heat.
7. Grab a strainer, and put it over a a bowl and strain the mixture.
8. Cover the bowl of the mixture, and put it in the refrigerator until it is cool.

To assemble tart:

1. make sure pastry cream, and the tart shell are cooled down completely.
2. pour the pastry cream into the tart shell. Be careful, the tart shell is a little delicate, and spread it out evenly.
3. top the whole thing with the strawberries, you can simply toss them on there, or arrange them like I did, what ever you like.

Note: this recipe for this tart can be pretty flexible.

So you say you want lime and coconut tart? Add approximately a teaspoon(taste and adjust) into the pastry cream, and a half cup of coconut, and top the whole thing with shredded coconut.

Or if you want a black forest gateaux inspired one, cut up some maraschino cherries, and mix them into the pastry cream, and replace some of the flour inthe tart dough with chocolate powder, and cover it all with a chocolate glaze perhaphs.

Be creative, and if you have any questions email me.

Hope you enjoy!

Blondies | Hello Spring

I love spring, its one of the most beautiful seasons, with birds coming out of hibernation, flowers blooming, and the very best part: more sunlight.

The lack of sunlight is one of the biggest reasons I despise winter. The sun used to set at five everyday, and even then it was so drab and depressing because the sun almost never came out from the clouds…but now a five, the sun is still out shedding its vibrant rays of sunshine upon us.

I would say flowers are my very favorite part, however I have ridiculous pollen allergies…although I’m not experiencing  the allergies that badly this year, the occasional sneezing fits…well they’re not fun.

I remember back in first grade where they used to be truly horrible, that one day in class my teacher took pity on me, and let me be teacher for half a day, because she felt bad for me. She even colored my project in for me. I loved that day, and i still do :)

But even with that I still think spring is wonderful. And to celebrate I baked some of my favorite baked goods: Blondies.

I really love blondies. In fact I love them more than brownies!

Just because I’ve encountered a lot of confusion when I’ve mentioned blondies, I ‘ll explain what they are: Like chocolate cake is the opposite to vanilla cake, the opposite to brownies, are blondies! Where brownies depend upon chocolate to flavor it, blondies depend on butterscotch like flavor. Both have the same density(between a cake and fudge), its simply their flavoring that differentiates them.

They are amazing, so buttery and lighter in taste than brownies, which are rich and somewhat heavy tasting.

Blondies

Adapted from Whipped 

• 1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 c. & 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• any extra toppings that you want such as nuts or chocolate chips and such.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
2. Line an 8 inch baking pan with baking parchment, or aluminum foil.
3. Sift together flour baking powder and salt into small bowl. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan melt the butter down, and cook until it starts looking brown and smells nutty.
5. Add the brown sugar, and continue to cook until this darkens slightlfy, smells like butterscotch and the sugar is fully melted down. *If the sugar for some reason isn’t melting, which has happened to me sometimes, remove it from heat and put it in a medium sized bowl letting it cool for two minutes, then add in the eggwhisking the whole time. If you stop whisking the eggs will scramble. If the sugar starts chunking up its okay! Mix as much as you can until the bottom of the bowl feels very mildly warm to the touch, then grab a sieve, and drain the what ever liquid-y parts you have in to a small bowl and reserve that. Grab your food processor, and put the chunky sugar parts in the sieve into the food processor and blend until it is no longer chunky, then put this back in the medium sized bowl that you started with, and add that liquid part that you had reserved. Stir in the vanilla.* How ever if your sugar did properly melt down, remove it from heat, stir it a little with a wooden spoon until cool down a little for approx 4 mins. Then add in the eggs and the vanilla mixing constantly.
6. Stir in the flour mixture, and any additional toppings that you chose, spoon the batter into the baking pan, and spread it evenly.
7. Bake until the center of the batter seems set(approx 20-25 mins)
8. After taking it out, let it cool completely, then remove the baking parchment or aluminum foil, cut and enjoy! :)

~Dee D.

Meringue Coffee Cake | Japan

From my childhood, I remember that every few years or so there would be some sort of catastrophe. There was Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the huge tsunami and Haiti. Now, there’s Japan, and I personally think, that this recent disaster has been one worst ones of them all. It was a huge triple blow to Japan. First the earthquake and its aftershock, then the tsunami, and now the impending disaster of  a possible nuclear explosion.

When I saw the before and after shots, I was astonished by how much Japan had been affected by all of this. It’s absolutely devastating, especially for the people there.  It’s truly heartbreaking. I feel the need to do something, and I’m thinking about doing maybe, a bake sale for Japan? I’m not sure how that will work out, but I’ll try to do the best I can.

On a happier note: I made the daring  bakers challenge, and I loved it!

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.

This coffee cake is so delicious soft and most definitely not the way I expected it to be. When I saw the addition of the meringue in this, I was surprised. Usually when baked, meringue turns hard, however when I took it out of the oven and cut myself a piece, I saw that instead of a hard sugary layer inside which I’d expected, there was a warm,  and utterly soft inside with a layer of almond chunks, chocolate and white chocolate.

The texture of the cake was amazing, and it was very similar to the texture of brioche, a cross between a cake, and bread. The chocolate inside added wonderful taste to it and the almonds gave a subtle nutty crunch. This is absolutely amazing, when it was straight out of the oven, and just as good when toasted a little afterwards.

Bon appétit!

Filled Meringue Coffee Cake
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:

• 4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
• ¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
• ¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
• 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
• ¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
• ¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
• ½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:

• 3 large egg whites at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

• 1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) coarsely chopped roasted almonds
• 2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
• ½ c. white chocolate
• ½ c. semisweet chocolate

Egg wash:

• 1 beaten egg (or if you simply happen to have egg yolks lying about, those work too!)
• Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions:

To Prepare the dough:

1.       In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

2.       In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.

3.       With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended.

4.       Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

5.       Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together.

6.       Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

7.       Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

8.      Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:

1.       In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds.

2.       Then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque.

3.       Then add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Note: I made little individual pockets, but it was hard to fill these and in the end they didn’t have enough filling. So I recommend taking a look at the other shapes the other bakers made here(just click on any link you want and check it out :)). Below I’ve included the instructions for a wreath like shape, which most bakers did.

1.       Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.       Punch down the dough and divide in half.

3.       On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle.

4.       Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges.

5.       Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

6.       Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

7.       Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

8.      Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

9.       Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

10.   Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

11.    Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

12.    Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks.

13.    Allow to cool.

Daring Bakers | Panna Cotta & Florentines

Almost every time my father comes home from a business trip, he will sit and happily tell me about all the desserts and dishes he had tried at many restaurants. It’s maddening for me, listening to the names of all these fancy, amazing desserts, which I really want to try. However, every now and then he tells me about a new dessert, which I immediately go look up. If I find it appealing enough, I book mark a recipe to make later.

A couple months ago, my father mentioned panna cotta. It sounded delicious as he described it. “It’s like flan, just as creamy, but lighter, and instead of caramel on top, there’s fruit…” I was intrigued, and so looked it up and found a recipe by Giada De Laurentiis, and left it bookmarked intending to make it soon. However I completely forgot about the recipe and it stayed there gathering dust.

This month when I logged on to the daring bakers website, to check the challenge, I was surprised: The challenge was panna cotta(and florentine cookies), and recipe for the panna cotta was exactly the same one that I had bookmarked so many months ago!

The Febuary 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

When I first tried out the vanilla panna cotta recipe I noticed that it had a nice honey flavor, that could be balanced perfectly by something that was slightly tart. Later I re-made the panna cotta, but this time I added a little more honey, to amplify the honey taste, and paired it with some tart(not too tart though) berry compote. The flavors are wonderful: creamy, tart, fruity, and sweet. It’s quite simple, yet complex.

And as for the florentines: I tried some variations and it came way different but need a few tweaks here and there…I will share the recipe later…

Honey Panna Cotta

Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

• 1 cup  whole milk
• 1 tablespoon  unflavored powdered gelatin
• 3 cups) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
• 1/3 cup  honey(slightly more but not quite 2/3 a cup…)
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
2. Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
3. Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn’t boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
5. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight.

Berry Compote

• 1 cup of frozen mixed berries(or any fruit that you want really)
• some sugar

Wash the frozen berries in sieve to get the ice off of it.

Put the fruit in small sauce pan and just let it simmer for a while, and let the fruit defrost. Stir it a little and you’ll see some juice gathering on the bottom. Keep stirring and if you don’t see juice add little water. Not a whole lot or you’ll end up with a very watery compote, that won’t taste very good. Taste the compote. If needed add a little bit of sugar, until it tastes right to you.  Let it simmer for some more time, until the juice around the berries, thickens a little more. Remove from heat and spoon onto panna cotta.

NOTE: Because I had frozen rasberries, and blackberries in my frozen berry mix, which fell apart easily, my compote will look much different from yours. Usually compotes look something like this, with the syrup, separate from the fruit, unlike what you see here.

Enjoy!

~Dee D

Daring Bakers | Strawberry Vanilla Bavarian Cake

As a child, I never figured I would end up baking. Never, ever, ever even thought of that. I’d always figured my singular hobby would have been reading, and writing stories, something I’d always loved and still love. But here I am today, baking and making dessert almost every week…

I have no idea when I truly started baking…I suppose it was when my mom discovered that she loved warm brownies with ice cream. We’d stand by the counter in the afternoons, mixing together brownie mix, following the directions word by word, with my sister and I arguing over who got to stir the mixture. In the end, I would stir for a minute, and then my sister would take a turn, stirring over zealously for a minute.  My mother would then pour the mixture into an aluminum lined baking pan, and leave it in the oven, and then my sister and I would jockey for the best view of the brownies, in the end, most of the time, I would win, and sit there watching the brownies like a hawk.

Finally when they were done, grab a carton of ice cream, three bowls, three spoons, the warm brownies, and eat away happily.

Then one day, I decided I was old enough to make them myself. I wandered into the kitchen and happily poured mixed and baked a bunch of brownies. They came out great, and I was soon dubbed the brownie maker of the family. From there on I baked only brownies. Why? I suppose it never occurred to me to bake anything else.

A couple years later, it finally did occur to me to bake something else. It was a couple of days before Christmas and I was sitting at my desk drooling at beautiful pictures of festive cookies and cakes, when I realized: You can bake. Why don’t you make these? Immediately I started flipping through pages of recipes looking for something my family would enjoy but wasn’t too complex, and well, I happened upon a recipe for blueberry muffins.

Immediately I wandered into the kitchen, and started mixing away. My sister wandered over and crinkled her brow, confused, “Brownies aren’t polka dotted.” She stated plainly.

I started to laugh and replied, “These aren’t brownies.” Now she looked even more perplexed. “They’re blueberry muffins!”

“Blueberry muffins?” She frowned even more, but stayed silent and wandered off. Mean while, I poured the batter into a buttered bread pan, since I didn’t have a muffin tin, and sat and waited for them to bake. When the blueberry loaf came out of the oven, perfect and golden I was probably the happiest girl in the world. It was excellent, soft and buttery, with the fruity flavor of the blue berry dancing about. After that, my confidence escalated, and I started baking more and more. I now wanted to make my favorite dessert, Tiramisu. It took a couple of tries to perfect the recipe, but I got there. My next recipe? Flan. Then crème brulee, and the list seems to go on and on from there, to now, where I bake a various different recipes almost every week. It strange, how my love for baking was born from a box of brownie mix…

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

I think this is probably my most favorite challenge so far. It allowed so much freedom, and was amazing. My Entremet filling was strawberry and vanilla bavarian layered upon each other, to create a light, creamy and delicious strawberries and cream like filling, which I’ve loved as a child. Even though the sponge didn’t come out perfect, it was still delicious. I’m definitely making another variation of this, and fixing my mistakes.

My mistakes:

There were way too many air bubbles when I piped the design which lead to a very holey design.

I need to use almond flour that don’t have the almond skins in them, since it adds a speckled look to the Jocode Imprime.

Putting in the vanilla bavarian too late, when it started to gellify.

Using such big mold for this

But over all it was pretty great :) I like this very much and will make it again.

NOTE: The recipes for the Joconde Sponge and paste are full size, I only used a quarter of the Joconde Decor Paste, and the whole recipe for the sponge. It all depends how you mold this dessert and what exactly you do…(but trust me, you won’t need more than a quarter of the Joconde decor paste). Also considering I made a pretty large dessert, some of this can be halved depending on how much you want. My entrement/impreme was made in a 9×3 circular spring for pan. Also, If you don’t like either of these fillings, you can replace it withanything else you want that has a stable enough consistency. Chocolate mousse, tiramisu cream, cake, cookies if you like…it goes on and on. Also if you do decide to switch things up, do not attempt to variate a recipe that has gelatin in it by adding a tropical fruit(such as kiwi or pineapple) to it. There are enzymes in those fruits that prevent the gelatin from setting up.

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

• Ingredients:
• ¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2⅔ oz/ 75g confectioners’ (icing) sugar
• ¼ cup/ 60 ml/ 1 oz/ 25g cake flour *See note below
• 3 large eggs – about 5⅓ oz/ 150g
• 3 large egg whites – about 3 oz/ 90g
• 2½ teaspoons/ 12½ ml/ ⅓ oz/ 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
• 2 tablespoons/ 30 ml/ 1oz / 30g unsalted butter, melted

*Note: How to make cake flour: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/

Directions:

1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.

2.Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)

3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )

4.Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.

5.      Fold in melted butter.

6.      Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients

• 14 tablespoons/ 210ml/ 7oz/ 200g unsalted butter, softened
• 1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons/ 385ml/ 7oz/ 200g Confectioners’ (icing) sugar
• 7 large egg whites – about 7 oz / 200g
• 1¾ cup/ 420ml/ 7¾ oz/ 220g cake flour
• Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Directions:

1.Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)

2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.

3. Fold in sifted flour.

4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.

2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.

Strawberry Bavarian:

Adapted slightly from All Recipes

• 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. In a big bowl add together the strawberries, sugar and lemon zest, and let it sit there for twenty minutes.
2. In a very small saucepan sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the water and let it sit for a minute. Then turn the stove on and heat it until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in the lemon juice and pour the whole thing into the strawberry mixture, and stir the whole thing until it’s cooled
3. Whip the whipped cream till thick and stiff, and fold it into the strawberry mixture gently. If it seems too thinly textured for a bavarian, then leave it in the refridgerator for approx. six minutes and check continuously until it does thicken. Pour immediately into yourJoconde Imprime.

Vanilla Bavarian

Adapted Slightly From Tartelette

• 8 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (100 gr) sugar
• 2 cups (500 ml) whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean (or Two and half tablespoons extract)
• 2 tablespoons powdered gelatin, sprinkled over 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup heavy cream

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar until the become much paler than they were before.
2. In a large sauce pan with the heat on low, bring the milk and vanilla bean(split and scraped) or vanilla extract to a boil. Take off the stove and pour slowly over the egg yolks whisking constantly.
3. Then pour it back into the sauce pan and cook on low until the cream coats the back of the spoon you are stirring with. If you have a vanilla bean, remove it. Turn off the heat, and add the gelatin until it’s completely melted then let it cool to room temperature.
4. As soon as you add the whipping cream, you have to use it immediately!

Assembling the Dessert:

1. Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.

2.      A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping.

3. Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.

4. Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.

5. Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.

6. Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.

7. The mold is done, and ready to fill.

8. Now, choose which ever filling you would like to put on the bottom layer then make that first and fill it up. (I reccomend the vanilla bavarian). Then make the second filling and pour it over.

9. You are done! Now simply remove all the wrappings and such, and enjoy :)

~Dee D.

Chocolate Chip Cookies | Smiles

Everyone loves chocolate chip cookies. It’s almost a solid fact. Well, excluding those who dislike chocolate(and possibly cookies). 

These cookies make people smile all the time. Like my sister today while I was baking them. She the most beautiful smile on her face today as she wandered into the kitchen.

“Watcha doin’?” She asked sounding like a girl from her favorite show, while here eyes were completely glued to the warm cookies I had place on the counter.

“Baking cookies.” I replied with a smile turning around to get the next batch, purposefully going slowly. Sure enough when I turned around to place the cookies on the counter top, my sister had disappeared along with a cookie leaving only a smudge of chocolate on the baking paper.

The thing is, that with these cookies, you get a variety of textures, and sometimes flavors. Each recipe is different in it’s own way, and they match different people’s tastes. Some people may like extremely soft cookies that melt in your mouth, others extremely crisp ones. I like really chewy ones with slightly crisp outsides that are fully cooled and don’t have a trace of warmth. And I swear this recipe I found is perfect for that.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from original recipe from Words to Eat By

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 a cups of flour
• 1/2 a teaspoon salt
• 1/2 a teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick of cold butter(cubed)(this one stick of butter is also know as 1/4 a pound of butter)
• 1/2 a cup of sugar
• 3/4 a cup of brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup of chocolate chips or chunks

Method:

Note: I did this all by hand. As in I literally stuck my hand in to the bowl. Working with spoons and things on chocolate chip cookies annoy me because it’s a dough and I just prefer sticking my hands in there. That and using your hands makes creaming a whole lot easier…

1. Sift together the flour baking powder and salt in bowl.
2. Now in a seperate bowl cream together the brown sugar the regular sugar and the butter until smooth.
3. Add in the egg and the vanilla extract until well mixed.
4. Slowly mix in the flour in adding it batch by batch
5. Lastly add in the chocolate chips or chunks.
6. Put the dough in to the fridge for 45 minutes.
7. Take it out and take a chunk of each cookie and flatten it out to a circle of any size you want(remember the bigger, the better the center will be just don’t make it crazily huge…I made them thinner and slightly bigger than my palm)
8. Bake at 350 degrees F and make sure you rotate the pan every few minutes if  you have an oven that does heat evenly. Bake until the edges start turning a golden brown.

Enjoy with a glass of milk! :)

~Dee D

 

Daring Bakers |Sugar Cookies

My first day of high was…interesting. I really can’t call it fun, nor can I call it drop dead horrible. The worst thing was that I got continually lost. No, I am not direction challenged or anything of that sort, it’s just that the school is huge. I know, I know, all high schools are huge. But I swear I think my high school is extra huge. For some reason I always seem to end up on the opposite side of the school from the place I need to get to! It’s just…annoying. A conversation between me and the hall monitor- Me: Hi, can you help me find my bus please? Her:Oh sure, what’s your bus number? Me: 8 Her: Oh dear, that’s actually at the other end of the school. Me:<twitching with anger silently>.

Anyways it has gotten better, and I can find my way to all of my classes and now my only pain is the long hours of homework…It makes me seriously miss my middle school…

But thank god I got Daring Baker’s done before school started, other wise I would have had absolutely no time to get anything in!

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.

I was immediately excited after reading about this! I’ve always wanted to decorate sugar cookies, but never really had a chance to, considering I have a health conscious family and they tend to shy away from anything that involves the word sugar and has icing on it. So here was my chance to finally decorate!

So I went out to the store and bought everything with these beautiful mehndi -ish designs in my head, and then I came back and read all of the rest of the challenge. And then I realized it had to be September themed(as in if there is anything important to you in September you make that). It put a serious damper on my mehndi ideas but, I was still happy. Except I had no idea what sort of theme to do now.

So I listed a bunch of things that were going on in September for me:

• School
• Good-bye to constant visits to NYC
• Fall
• Asian Pear Picking(a tradition my family has, and every year we go to this Korean farm a couple of miles from our house, and pick this amazing, amazing pear…so crisp and juicy and with just the right touch of sweetness)

And that’s all I had. And slowly eliminated some on them only to end up with one.

• School -The last thing I wanted to do was remind myself of school.
• Goodbye to constant visits to NYC
• Fall – too many people would be doing that
• Asian Pear picking – How am I supposed to illustrate this? My cookie would end up decorated looking like a bunch of yellow circles with stems poking out on top…

And so goodbye to NYC it was. The story behind it? Well in the summer every year we have constant and random trips to NYC, but they always end when school starts because we don’t have enough time:( So these cookies were my good bye.

These look nothing like New York, but I always thought of it as the crazy city so I figured, why not actually make this crazy city?

And so I did, and I think this was pretty decent for my first time using Royal Icing. I will have to work on that though…the icing is little messy…okay maybe not a little…

So anyway want to learn how to make these?

Okay so first start out with the sugar cookies:

Sugar Cookies

• ½ cup + 7 Tbsp Brown Butter(or regular butter)at room temperature
• 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
• 1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions

Leave your butter out until it’s room tempreture! I always forget and then end up sticking it in the oven for a couple of minutes and ending up with uneven warmed butter. I doesn’t do anything, it just makes it harder to cream.

And making brown butter: Heat up a skillet and chop your butter up into slices and toss them on the skillet. Wait for it all to melt and continue waiting and watching the butter, and look for it turning a chocolate brown and smelling lovely and nutty(it’s an amazing smell!! I love it so much!) and then pour into a bowl and freeze for about five minutes or until it’s solid, and then after that just mix it up until its smooth and your good to go :)

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. Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid
flour flying everywhere.

4. Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces. (This makes it wayyy easier, trust me)

5. Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an
hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and
then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

6. Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

7. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.

8. 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.
Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
Preheat oven to  350°F.
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.
Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

9. Leave to cool on cooling racks.

10. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.

Okay now…

Royal Icing:

• 2½ – 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
• 2 Large Egg Whites
• 2 tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional

Directions

1. Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.

• Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and
grease free.

1. 2. Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.

• Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.

1. 3. Beat on low until combined and smooth.

• Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.
• Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

Consistency:
• Mix your royal icing according to the recipe/instructions.
• Separate into 2 different bowls, one lot of icing for outlining, the other for flooding.
• For the outlining icing, drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing.
• If the surface becomes smooth at around 10 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency.
• Tip: If your icing is too thick, thin it by adding a few drops of water. Mix, count to 10 seconds, then if it’s still too thick, add a few more drops of water, repeat, etc.
• Tip: To thicken your icing, add small amounts of icing sugar until thick enough for the 10 second test.
• For the flooding/filling icing, drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing.
• If the surface becomes smooth at around 3-4 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency.
• Tip: If your icing is too thick, thin it by adding a few drops of water. Mix, count to 3-4 seconds, then if it’s still too thick, add a few more drops of water, repeat, etc.
• Tip: To thicken your icing, add small amounts of icing sugar until thick enough for the 3-4 second test.

Colouring
• Separate Royal Icing into separate bowls for each colour you plan on using.
• Tip: Make sure to cover the bowls with cling film or a damp cloth to prevent the top from setting and then making lumps
• Using a toothpick, add gel or paste colouring to each bowl and mix thoroughly until desired colour is reached
• Tip: You can use liquid food colouring but you might not be able to get the desired strength of colour, liquid colouring will also thin out the icing so you’ll need to add more icing sugar to thicken it again.

Prepping and Filling Your Bag
• Attach your icing tips to the piping bags using couplers
• Tip: You don’t need to use a coupler but it makes it easier if you want to change tip sizes
• Tip: A size 1 tip is best for doing intricate details. A size 2 tip is good for some details and outlining. Fill or flood with sizes 2 – 5.
• Tip: You don’t need a piping bag, you can use a parchment cone or ziplock bag with a tiny bit snipped off the corner. I would however recommend getting a piping set if you don’t have one as it will be much easier and more precise.
• Stand the piping bags in glasses with the tops of the bags folded over the top of the glass.
• Fill your icing bags with each coloured icing.
• Tie the ends of the piping bags with elastic bands.

Decorating: Outlining
• Fit the piping bag with a size 2 or 3 tip.
• Tip: Or snip a very small bit of the corner off of a parchment cone or Ziploc bag
• Hold the piping bag at a 45 degree angle above the cookie where you want to start the outline.
• Gently squeeze the piping bag and start moving in the direction you want to outline the cookie.
• Start lifting the piping bag away from the cookie so that the flow of icing falls onto the cookie, making it an even and neater outline.
• As you start to reach the beginning of the outline, bring the piping tip closer to the surface of the cookie to meet the start of the icing outline.
• Tip: If you’re doing an intricate cookie, like a snow flake, you won’t be able to lift the tip as far away from the cookie.
• If you’re doing a different colour border, eg a black border, let the outline dry before flooding. If using the same colour for the outline as you’re flooding with, begin flooding after doing the outline.

Decorating: Flooding
• Fit the piping bag with a size 2-5 tip, the bigger the area being filled, the bigger the tip.
• Tip: Or cut slightly more off the corner of a Ziploc bag to create a slightly larger opening.
• Quickly zigzag back and forth over the area you want to fill.
• Tip: You need to be quick when flooding the cookie so don’t worry too much if it’s not filled in neatly.
• Using a toothpick or clean paintbrush, push the icing around into the gaps that are still remaining.
• Either pick up the cookie and tip it from side to side to even out the filling, or lightly bang the cookie down on your kitchen counter.

Decorating: Melding Colours
• If you would like to add lines or dots to the base colour that you flooded the cookie with so that they meld and dry as a smooth surface, you need to add the lines/dots/patterns as quickly as possible after flooding and smoothing the surface of the cookie.
• Tip: Make sure to have all the colours you’re planning on using ready and close by so that you can switch between colours quickly
• Simply pipe other colours onto the flooded surface in patterns or lines which you can either leave as that or then drag a toothpick through to make marbling patterns.

Decorating: On top of flooding
• If you’d like to do other patterns/outlines or writing on top of the flooded surface so that they are raised above the flooded background, simply allow the icing to dry, preferably over night.
• Fit the piping bag with tip sizes 1-3.
• Pipe patterns or write on top of the dry icing
• Tip: For writing, the consistency of your icing should be thicker rather than thinner, drag a knife through your icing and when the surface smoothes around 12-15 seconds, the consistency is correct.

Packaging and Storing
• Once fully decorated, allow cookies to dry for 24 hours in a cool and dry area.
• Stack cookies in an airtight container, from largest cookies at the bottom, to smallest and more intricate at the top, with parchment or wax free paper in between the layers.
• Store in a cool and dry area with the container’s lid firmly sealed.
• Will last for about a month if stored this way.

Hope you have fun making your own and enjoy!

Enjoy with a glass of milk! (seriously. I know most people usually have chocolate chip cookies with milk but I like these with milk too, because it downplays the sweetness)