DB: Orange (Strawberry) Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.


To me The Daring Bakers' Challenges are always a struggle not so much in the technical aspect (I love learning new things), but in the flavor arena. I'm a wuss when it comes to trying new foods, and I have some very strange likes and dislikes. Citrus is one of the things I'm not overly fond of. Orange juice hurts my stomach, and the white pithy stuff that surrounds the orange segments is very unappetizing to me. I know, I know, I'm weird.

So this month's Orange Tian posed a dilemma. To Orange or not To Orange? I chose Not to Orange. I swapped out the Orange Marmalade for Strawberry Marmalade and used strawberry slices as my topping instead of orange.

The recipe I used for Strawberry Marmalade did include tangerines, so I saved some of the tangerine segments and made one token "Orange" Tian.


Below are the many steps that went into making the Tian.

The Pate Sablee were quick and easy to whip up.



Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings suggested a baking time of 20 minutes, but my Sablees were toasty brown after just 13 minutes.


Next came the Strawberry Marmalade which was made from strawberries, tangerines, sugar, vanilla, strawberry extract and cinnamon. The marmalade took a long time to cook (about 30 minutes), and at first taste was a little bitter. I added more sugar, more vanilla and a little bit of mint. It tasted better after the adjustments.



The whipped cream was a snap to whip up.



Then the assembly. I lined the pan with parchment paper and arranged the fruit. I made one orange and the rest strawberry.


Added a layer of whipped cream.


And topped with a Pate Sablee that had been slathered in marmalade.



I froze the pans for 3 hours and then popped the frozen concoction out with just a twist of the pan.

Everyone who sampled the Tian said they were superb. And what really made my day was that the people who sampled both the Orange and Strawberry Tian said the strawberry was better. Thanks Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings, I really enjoyed your challenge.

DB: Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

When I saw the February 2010 Daring Bakers’ Challenge I groaned. Tiramisu. Two tastes I hate most in the world (coffee & pudding) rolled into one dessert. I seriously considered not doing the challenge, but then I remembered my mom LOVES Tiramisu so I figured I could pawn the whole thing off on her.


The Tiramisu was composed of a lot of individual parts that made up the finished product. Mascarpone cheese, Savoilardi Biscuits, Zabaglione, pastry cream, and sweetened whipped cream. Each had to be made from scratch and then assembled.

First came the Mascarpone cheese. I had trouble from the beginning. You were supposed to use pasteurized whipping cream and using a double boiler, heat it to 190 degree. I don't have a double boiler, and all I could find at the store was ultra-pasteurized. I use an improvised double boiler, but no matter how long I heated, I couldn't get the temperature of the cream to rise above 170 degrees.


Finally I took the pot of cream out of my improvised double boiler and set it directly on the heat. The temperature shot up to 190 within seconds and the cream started to thicken.


After cooling, the mascarpone cheese went into a sieve lined with cheese cloth (I didn't have cheese cloth so I used a kitchen towel), and then into the frig for overnight chilling.


Next came the Zabaglione (what in the heck is that?). Egg yolks, sugar, Marsala wine, vanilla and lemon zest, heated gently (in that double boiler again) until it thickens.

Pastry cream next. Same kinda ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, milk, lemon zest, vanilla, heat until thickened.


Now the cookies. Yes! Something I might actually eat. Whip together the egg whites and sugar and then add the yolks.



Add the flour to the egg mixture and fold gently.


Pipe the batter onto a parchment lined baking pan.


Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar and then bake for 15 minutes. I think I might have baked my cookie a little too long. They were a little hard and the bottoms were very brown.


With the cookies baked and my mascarpone, zabaglione, and pastry cream chilled it was time to start assembling the Tiramisu.


I de-sieved my mascarpone and found a hard lump. It was supposed to be soft and smooth, but mine had the consistency of cold butter. In other words: hard-as-a-rock. I guess using that ultra-pasteurized whipping cream did me in.


But I moved on. I beat my mascarpone till it softened a little and then dumped in the pastry cream and zabaglione. Looks kinda gross huh? Like jars of baby food all dumped together. Did I mention I don't like "cream/pudding" desserts. This kinda grossed me out.


Now comes the assembly part. Dip the Savoiardi biscuits (Lady Fingers), into sweetened coffee and line the bottom of the pan with the moist cookies.

Top with the cream/pudding mixture and then more cookies.


Refrigerate overnight, and then server. My Tiramisu wouldn't set, so I stuck it in the freezer to harden it up enough to cut.



And yes I did taste some. It had a lemony flavor and I didn't taste much coffee at all (which is a good thing for me).

So all-in-all the Tiramisu challenge was very enjoyable. I had a lot of fun making the individual components and assembling the finished product was a breeze. And you know what? Everyone who tried the Tiramisu honestly seamed to enjoy it (some even asked for seconds, and one person wanted thirds), and in the end making your guest happy is what is really important.

I'm sure glad I didn't skip this month's challenge. Thanks Aparna and Deeba for introducing me to a great new dessert.

DB - Nanaimo Bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

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Thanks, Lauren, for selecting a unique baking challenge. My baking horizons have expanded tremendously since joining the Daring Bakers.

Lauren of Celiac Teen gave us the option of baking gluten-free or regular wheat graham wafers. I opted to make the regular flour graham crackers. The cracker dough came together nicely, but I had a lot of trouble cutting and lifting the sticky dough off the rolling surface. In the end I fell back on my sugar cookie method: 1) roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper 2) chill the dough till it is stiff 3) cut out the shapes from the half frozen dough. No mess, no sticking, no problem.

Here is the dough just out of the frig. Stiff as a piece of plywood.



The Nanaimo Bar itself was a little time consuming to assemble, but nothing that a Daring Baker couldn't handle.

The bottom layer was the most involved. The first step was to bake graham wafers/crackers. I've never considered myself a lover of graham crackers, but these things were good. They tasted like thin, crispy honeyed shortbread cookies.



I also cut a few crackers in the shape of Fleurs de lis.

Geaux Saints!!

Next stop Miami and the Super Bowl !!!

Back to the Nanaimo Bars... next the cocoa, butter and sugar where melted together and then an egg was added to the mix as a thickener.

Next add the graham cracker crumbs, nuts and coconut to the chocolate mix.


And dump it all into the pan and let it cool.


The middle layer was a mix of butter, vanilla pudding mix, milk and powdered sugar that was beat until smooth.
I had a little problem spreading the custard layer (it was thick and not at all custard-like), but I just used my fingers to gently push the custard around without disturbing the chocolate crust layer underneath. Added bonus I got to lick all the custard off my fingers.

The top layer was just a thin layer of melted chocolate.



So all-in-all another fun and tasty Daring Baker Challenge, but if I had to describe Nanaimo Bars in one word it would be "sweet". If I make them again I would change a few things to better suit my tastes. For the crust (bottom layer), I would reduce the amount of sugar by half, use unsweetened coconut (sweetened coconut was just too much sugar), and increase the amount of graham cracker crumbs. I would also add some vanilla extract to the custard layer to punch up the flavor.

The recipes selected for Daring Baker's is always interesting and challenging, and I can't wait to see what they have in store for us in February.

DB - Nov 2009 - Cannoli

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I’ve never had much luck with fried deserts, and this month’s cannoli challenge was no different. I wouldn’t saw it was a total failure, but neither was it a success. Look for yourself:


A little too brown and a little too thick, and I didn’t care for the taste at all. I couldn’t see spending more money and time on something I knew I wouldn’t eat, so I skipped the filling. I know, I know, I’m a bad Daring Baker.

Here is the dough just out of the frig and waiting to be rolled and cut.



I didn't have any cannoli forms so as suggested, I used pasta shells.



Here are a few cannoli waiting to go into the grease.



Again, the final product. I guess my grease was too hot, because the cannoli browned much too quickly (after about 1 minute). I lowered the temperature of the grease, but I still had trouble. A few cannoli popped apart and a few wouldn't slide off the pasta shell. I fried a few "cannolipoleons". The flat disks looked better than my rolled attempts, but they all tasted kinds doughy and bland. I guess the "pizazz" of a cannoli comes from the filling and not from the dough itself.

DB October 2009 - French Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

French Macarons/Macaroons? Up until a few months ago I had never seen or heard of them (yes I have been living under a rock). Coconut Macaroons, yes, but not the French version. And then Ami S. at Daring Bakers selected them for this month's baking challenge. Oh, la, la. What a daring challenge.


Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, dark and luscious chocolate filling in between. Lovely.


But my first adventure in Macaroon land wasn't without some missteps.

The recipe all Daring Bakers were required to use is as follows:

Ingredients

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.


I thought a while about flavorings and decided on blackcurrant cookies (flavored using Twining's Blackcurrant tea) and semi-sweet ganache filling. I also didn't want to make a whole batch, so I cut the recipe in half. Question: just how do you split an egg white in half!#$#@ It kept oozing off the spoon!

Step one: beat the egg whites. I read somewhere that "stiff peak" egg whites should cling when held upside down. Looks clingy to me.


Next I added the dry ingredients (in thirds) to the egg whites. I had a little trouble incorporating the almond flour/sugar into the whites, and I think I over mixed the stuff. My egg whites started to deflate and look soupy. Poor little pink egg whites.

Next I piped the macarons onto the parchment paper. They spread a little, but the tops were smooth and shiny. They looked perfect to my macaron novice eyes.

Into the oven they went, first for 5 minutes at 200 degrees F, and then 8 minutes at 375 degrees F. When I took them out I was not pleased. 1) They did not rise, 2) the required macaron "foot" was hardly noticeable, and 3) they didn't look cooked.


Back in the oven they went for another 5 minutes at 375 degrees. But after 5 minutes I still was not happy with the end product. I tried to pull one off the parchment paper and it stuck like glue. Then I tasted it.

Yuck! It still tasted raw.

My first batch of French Macarons was a total failure. Into the trash it went.


For my second attempt I did a little more research.

On a blog called One Bite More I found a recipe similar to the Daring Baker's recipe, but it was already adjusted to a half batch. It also added a small amount of powdered egg whites to help stabilizer the raw egg whites. I also liked the fact that the egg white quantity was given in weight and not just number of eggs.

Macaron Ingredients (second try)

100g egg whites
2g powdered egg whites
50g white sugar
200g icing sugar mixture
110g almond meal


There were also a few additional step in the directions from One More Bite.

- The egg whites are microwaved for 10 seconds at medium power before you start to beat them. The post-microwaved egg whites didn't look any different (it does not cook them), but apparently this step evaporates a small portion of the water content from the egg whites. You do this instead of letting the egg whites age for three days.

- The almond flour is toasted in a 285 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Again this is done to remove excess moisture from the almond flour. I'm beginning to think that excess moisture plays a big part in macaroon failure. Hummmm, may be not the best cookie to bake on hot, humid New Orleans days.


Now in mortal fear to introducing moisture to my macaroon batter, I decided not to add any food coloring paste to this batch. "Better safe than pink", I said. I also skipped the blackcurrant tea. This time around I was shooting for plain almond cookies with chocolate ganache filling.

- The One More Bite directions also say to add all the dry ingredients at once and not in thirds like the original Daring Baker instructions. I dumped it all in a once, and I was much gentler in my folding of the dry ingredients into the egg whites. My batter ended up much stiffer this time (almost too thick). When I piped out my circles they didn't spread at all and the piping tip left little points on top of the cookies. I should have flattened the points with my finger, but I didn't think about it until later.

Here are my babies just out of the oven. Nice and puffy with pretty little feet. Those little pointy tops kinda irked me, but live and learn. I also baked them a little longer than necessary (5 minutes at 200 degrees and 12 minutes at 375 degrees), but after my first batch came out raw I didn't want to take a chance.


And no sticking this time, the cookies slid off the parchment paper with just a little push. And that, Grasshopper, is what happens when you over-bake.


So in the end I deemed my macaron adventure an almost-complete success. They were a little too puffy, a little overcooked, and those pointy tops just scream amateur. But all-in-all a fun and rewarding experience. I can't wait to see what the Daring Challenge is for November 2009.