Daring to Bake in the New Year!

I was a little worried about how the Daring Baker challenge for January would fit in with my New Year's resolutions. But just as I began to really sweat over the possible ways to dispose of some enormous cake or dozens of doughnuts, I read the challenge and was delightfully suprised!

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Now, Tuiles are light and the perfect dessert for someone who is watching her waistline. They are 1 point on Weight Watchers, and the challenge was to pair them with some kind of fruit! Fruit is HEALTHY! Now I was excited.

The recipe is quite simple and is at the end of this post. But, basically, you have to make the batter, chill it, and then spread it thinly into a stencil. You bake it and then shape the still warm cookies. And they're thin and delicate and lovely.

So first, I had to make a stencil.

I chose to make it flower-shaped, and I used a heavy-ish plastic folder, because I wanted it to have a little bit of weight.

I used food coloring so that some of my flowers were white/uncolored, some were pink and some were orange. Then, I spread the batter thinly into the stencil (trickier than it sounds, but you get the hang of it). After they baked, I took them off of the cookie sheet immediately and used some juice glasses I have to shape them.

Some of my tuiles did not survive this process:

But I was very happy with the ones that did:

Then, I had to pair them with something fruity! Now, I'm in Brooklyn and it's wintertime. I don't eat a lot of fruit in winter. And I didn't want anything super-sweet. I wanted to stay light and low-calorie. Hmmm.... winter... not too sweet.... high in fiber.... CRANBERRIES!!!!

So I bought some frozen cranberries and 3 small cans of mandarin oranges and improvised a very simple relish by chopping the cranberries, mixing in the oranges and 3/8 of a cup of sugar.

My completed tuiles:

I LOVED this recipe. It was not too difficult, and a very interesting challenge. It felt more like a craft project than cooking, but there was a tasty product at the end. And best of all, I didn't feel guilty after eating more of these than I should've. I will make these again! In fact, I can't wait until someone I know has a bridal or baby shower. These are the perfect cookies for some very girly luncheon. They are light and pretty and girly. I wanted to eat them with my mom.

Now go! Check out the other daring bakers! See what fabulousness they came up with. And the recipe, as promised, is below.

This recipe is taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar

1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)

2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)

65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour

1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice (I used food coloring.)

Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

Yule Log and other holiday treats...

It's Daring Baker time again!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand


Since this dessert was all frozen, it presented some unique challenges. My refrigerator and freezer are... well... tempermental. Really, they're just old. And I have trouble with custards, so my creme brulee did not turn out very well. But all in all, this dessert was DELICIOUS.


There are SIX yummy layers to this frozen masterpiece. From the bottom up, we have the almond dacquoise biscuit, the cinnamon-milk ganache insert, dark chocolate mousse, the praline feuillete (crisp) insert, (more mousse), the frozen vanilla creme brulee, (more mousse) and the dark chocolate icing.


What a fun holiday challenge! And let me tell you, after a piece of this, your chocolate craving is taken care of for a while. Ah.....

Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers!

But, since I couldn't leave well enough alone, and since I finished this challenge halfway through the month, I went on and made other holiday treats. Like lots and lots of fruitcake...

And tons...and tons of cookies...And now, after the Tummy and I have done nothing but eat and eat and eat, we are ready to put the New Year's Resolutions to the test and not over-indulge like this any more. Oh, but it was fun while it lasted...

Caramel Cake

It's that time of the month again. That's right, it's Daring Bakers Post Day.

This month, our challenge was hosted by Dolores, assisted by Alex and Jenny and Natalie. They chose a Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting by Shuna Fish Lydon. You can find the recipe here.
My picture turned out pretty awful, but the cake was pretty good. I was a little concerned about how sweet this would be after reading other people's reactions. Since the challenge was just making the cake and the frosting, I figured, why not add stuff that's NOT sweet. So, I layered the cake and put a layer of 80% cocoa dark chocolate ganache in the center. Then I toasted some pecans and sprinkled the over the ganache in the middle and over the entire cake. All of my official tasters agreed that the ganache filling and the pecans helped to cut the sweetness. Overall, this was not their favorite cake, because of how sweet it was, but I didn't have any leftovers I couldn't get rid of.

Challenge completed. What's next?

Wait wait!!! I dare to bake!

It's still Wednesday, right? I've had a marathon day and just got home. And then I realized that it's daring bakers' posting day. So, fortunately, I already have the challenge done. This month, we made pizza! The challenge was hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yum Yums and you can find the dough recipe we used there.

I made six pizzas and invited the Composer and Shrek the Medic over to eat with the Tummy and I. It's helpful to have a couple of big guys around when there's a lot of pizza to eat. The dough turned out pretty well, I thought. I'm not a huge thin crust fan, but it got rave reviews.

It was a little too wet to toss effectively, though Shrek got a good one in.


I ended up rolling it out, which worked pretty well. Then, I topped two of them with tomato sauce, mozzarella and bacon. Shrek and the Tummy both preferred these, labeling them the "Manly" Pizza.

The Composer and I opted for the Goat cheese and veggie pizza.

I found this recipe online, but I don't really have a good source for it. I lost the page. It's been a chaotic month.

Goat Cheese and Veggie Pizza
2 already baked thin pizza crusts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves (1 1/2 to 2 ounces)
1 1/2 cups thickly sliced mushrooms (5 to 6 ounces)
1/2 cup drained roasted red peppers from jar, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup paper-thin red onion slices
8 large fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place pizza crust on large baking sheet. Mix olive oil and minced garlic in small bowl. Using pastry brush, brush 2 tablespoons garlic oil evenly over crust. Top with spinach leaves, then sprinkle with sliced mushrooms, roasted red peppers, red onion slices, fresh basil, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle pizza evenly with remaining garlic oil.

Bake pizza until crust is crisp and cheese begins to brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer pizza to board. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Then I made a dessert pizza with the last two. I sorta tweaked this recipe that I found on the same pizza web page:

Cherry Cheese Dessert Pizza

2 pizza doughs
8 ounces Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
42 ounces Dark Morello Cherries

Directions:

Roll out the pizza dough and put on a 16 inch pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until well blended. Pour into the pie crust and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool until cold and top with the cherry pie filling. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

I think the dessert pizza was my favorite to eat, but I really enjoyed making all of them. It was a lot of fun to get the chance to be creative with toppings. Check out my big sister's fabulous pizzas over at Shazam in the Kitchen and all the other Daring Bakers. What a great group to belong to!

Eclairs!

I just realized I'd forgotten to post about the August Daring Baker's Challenge! See, they've been baked and eaten so long ago that it slipped my mind. With the school year starting, I decided to get them out of the way early. So as soon as we packed up Medium Dude and brought him back to his mom, I bought my butter and cream and chocolate and I made...... ECLAIRS!



Our hosts this month were Tony Tahhan and MeetaK, and we made Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. I used the Pate a choux recipe and the chocolate glaze from here, but I decided I didn't want to do chocolate and chocolate, so I made a coconut pastry cream. I found that recipe here.

The first batch of eclairs came out a wee bit underdone. They looked fine coming out of the oven, but after I let them cool for a minute, they looked like this:


So I started over. The next batch worked much better, but if I did them again, I would be sure to make them a little smaller. They were a little bit messy to eat and probably more eclair than anyone should eat in a single sitting.The Tummy and I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge! Can't wait for September's! Be sure to check out the other daring bakers. Their eclairs look amazing.

I dare to Shish Kebab?

Whew..... What a long afternoon it's been. I worked on the August DB challenge, which I'll post about just as soon as I'm allowed. But I also made a lovely dinner for the Tummy and myself and a good friend of ours, the Composer. The Composer likes to hang out while I do daring baker challenges. I think it's because he's a bit sadistic and likes to see me struggle, but he might just like to be here when I have fresh baked goods.

This weekend, the Tummy and I delivered Medium Dude back to the midwest. We had a lovely visit with Mary, and I even got to have a birthday breakfast with my grandma! But now, we're back to the big city and I even brought a new recipe with me, so I had to try it out. When Mary made me such a yummy birthday dinner, I asked for the recipe. It turned out that she gave me another recipe when she xeroxed it that happened to be on the same page.

Lamb Shish Kebabs!

Unfortunately, the grocery store I went to this morning didn't have any lamb pieces (other than chops). So, I made beef shish kebabs. They ended up delicious! And they were easy enough that I could make them after baking all afternoon.

Beef Shish Kebabs
based on the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp lemon juice
6-7 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 pound beef stew meat
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a food processor and puree.

Put the meat into a plastic zip-top bag and add marinade. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and mush it around until the meat is coated. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Remove meat from refrigerator an hour before cooking. Soak 5 bamboo skewers in water about 45 minutes so they don't burn in the broiler.

Preheat broiler. Thread meat, onion, bell pepper and zucchini onto skewers. Broil 5 minutes on either side.

Corrupting the youth....

Mwahahahaha.... I'm so proud of myself.

My step-son, Medium-Dude, is a little bit of a picky eater. He's not terrible about it, but we do have a few issues with green veggies and with foods he hasn't tried before. Not a real adventurous guy. The thing is, the Tummy and I love to try out new recipes. And there's no way I'm eating hot dogs for a month just because we have a ten-year-old. Gross.

But sometimes I take his visit as an opportunity to sneak new foods (and new ideas) past his radar. So far this visit, I've impressed on him how cool it is to be environmentally friendly. When he complains about walking to/from the subway, I remind him that it's not easy being green, but it's cool. I know I'm successful when I hear him quote me to the tummy later.

Anyway... I'm very excited because when I asked Medium-dude what I should make for dinner, he answered, "CHEESY RICE!" See, and that would not be exciting except that what he meant was Sage Risotto with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto! It's one of my favorite Cooking Light recipes. Unfortunately, the blogger will not let me put up a picture. But here is the recipe:

Sage Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella and Prosciutto
Cooking Light
2 (14oz) cans low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup diced leeks
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 1/4 cups arborio rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp fresh sage (chopped)
1 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese
2 oz prosciutto (chopped)
black pepper to taste

Heat chicken broth until it just starts to simmer, and then turn it off.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook leeks and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

Add rice and salt and cook for one more minute, stirring.

Add wine, and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Then add 1/2 cup hot chicken broth and stir until absorbed. Continue to add the broth about 1/2 cup at a time, waiting after each addition until it is absorbed and stirring frequently.

When all the broth has been absorbed, add sage and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella. Sprinkle chopped prosciutto and black pepper on top.

Makes 4 servings.