And in the "pet" category, a fleeting visitor to my garden.
The only thing I don't like about these cookies is how much they spread! The edges thin during baking and turn brown and crisp. From an visual point of view the brown edges aren't very appealing, so I trim them away using a knife or cookie cutter. But don't throw the crispy scraps away! They make a great topping for ice cream.
Any suggestions on how to stop these cookies from spreading? I've tried re-chilling the raw cookie dough balls after filling them with jam but that didn't help.
I've baked them on aluminum pans, baking stones, on parchment paper and silpat, but they spread everytime.
HELP!
But regardless of the spreading phenomenon, they taste darn good.
Glance at any praline recipe and you will see a simple list of sugar, butter, liquid, and of course pecans. But a praline's complexity lies not with the ingredients but with the cooking process, or the cooking temperature to be exact. Too hot and the pralines will be brittle, not hot enough and they will be grainy. A candy thermometer is supposed to take all the guess work out of the process, but don't believe it. Thermometers are like a broken crutch: use it at your peril.
Here is my latest batch of pralines in the final stage of cooking. The thermometer read "soft ball" stage, which according to various source can range between 234 and 238 degrees F.
When the correct temperature is reached, the pralines are removed from the heat and whipped until the syrups starts to stiffen and turn cloudy. After just a few stirs, I noticed a slight graininess developing in the mixture.
But as usual, I was in a rush so I ignored my misgivings and started spooning the pralines onto the pan.
I let my babies cool for just a minute and then popped one into my mouth (there is nothing like the feel of half molten sugar burning the roof of you mouth). I chomped the praline into bits and allowed it to dissolve on my tongue. Sh#@! I could feel the grains of sugar in my mouth. The pralines had not reached the correct temperature.
I was torn. What should I do?
Where they good enough to serve to my guest?
No!
A big fat double NO.
I'll feed you DRY cake any day, but I will not stoop to serving grainy pralines.
So back in the pot they went for another try.
Look at those hunks of chocolate...
That moist, cakey texture...
Thank you, Betty. I'm in brownie heaven.
I started the egg whites beating, mixed up the batter, and then folded the peaked eggs whites into the batter.
Here are the cakes just out of the oven. I over baked them of course (I over bake everything), but they weren’t too, too dry. The cakes had a faint lime flavor and the spongy, airy texture of angel food.
Here is the lime curd in the staging processes. My curd came out much more yellow than Vita Arina’s. It must be the Egg Land’s Best eggs that I used. Notice how bright, almost neon, the yolks are? No Photoshopping, I promise.
The finished curd. Look at the little bits of lime rind suspended in the curd. It makes it looks so old-fashioned and home made.
Next it was time to prepare the whipping cream frosting. The recipe called for gelatin to “stabilize” the heavy whipping cream. I had never done this before, but you know what--It really worked! I took the final pictures of the cake outside in 95 degree heat and 100% humidity, and the cream frosting did not droop or melt one bit. Thanks, Vita. Stabilized whipping cream frosting is a amazing.
Here is the gelatin softening, and then melted. Vita said to heat gelatin over a low fire to liquify it, but I just zapped the bowl in the microwave for 15 seconds at 30% power. Worked fine.
Be careful when you pour the gelatin into the cream. Do it slowly and consistently and keep the beaters going. Some of my gelatin clumped and I had little semi-solid balls of gelatin in the frosting. Nasty.
Next came the assembly. Cake-Curd-Blueberries-Cake-Curd-bulueberries-Cake.
One third of the curd goes between each layer, and the final third goes into the frosting. The curd really added a nice flavor to the whipping cream. Not too citrusy or sweet. Just perfect.
So here is the final cake. Not as nice as Vita Arina’s, but not too bad for a novice like me.
The bougainvillea are flowering up a storm. Sorry about the hazyness at the top of the picture. I walked from the air-conditioned house to the hot, humid air outside and my lens fogged up.
And the roses are still hanging in there even with the record breaking heat we have been having in New Orleans.
And carefully smooth and stretch the sides to fit flat.
Overfill with that delicious pre-cooked apple filling.
Put a smaller round of dough on top of the filling (I did use the 4-1/2" cookie cutter for the tops), and squash the edge of the top crust into the bottom. Trim off the excess, leaving about 3/8 - 1/2" of dough all the way around.
Crimp the top and bottom pie crust together and curl on top of the pie. Don't leave the crimped edge on the flat part of the cupcake pan or the crust will burn. Add pie dough decorations (I used little cut-out leaves) and cut three little slits for steam venting. Brush the top with egg wash (oops, I put the egg wash on a little too thick), and sprinkle with sugar (I used coarse decorating sugar).
Pop the minis into an preheated, 375 degree F oven and bake for 20 minutes (or until the crust is golden brown).
That's it. Easy as pie.
Enjoy…
