Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies with Lemon Ice Cream

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

For this month's Daring Bakers Challenge, I was excited to see that we could make Milan cookies. I guess everyone is familiar with the classic Pepperidge Farm line of Milano Cookies, so these were fun to make using Gale Gand's recipe. The cookies are light and lemony with a layer of orange flavored chocolate sandwiched in between two cookies. Since the cookies have a lemon flavor to them, I thought a lemon ice cream would be nice to serve alongside. If you wanted something even lighter, you could serve the cookies with a lemon sorbet using the recipe from this post. Remember when making your ice cream or sorbet, it is so easy - make the mixture in the morning, stick it in the fridge to get well chilled and when you're ready for ice cream, it only takes about 20-25 minutes in your ice cream maker.



Milan Cookies
for a printer friendly recipe, click here

Cookies:
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.



Lemon Ice Cream

2 cups half n half
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
juice of 1 lemon

In a small saucepan, heat all ingredients over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Transfer mixture to a 4 cup Pyrex or any other heatproof bowl and refrigerate until well chilled. Place in ice cream maker for 20-30 minutes.

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Daring Bakers: Cheesecake with Roasted Rum Pineapple and Pineapple Flowers

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes.  She has chosen Abbe's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

For this month's Daring Baker's challenge,  we were supposed to make cheesecake, but do something different and wonderful to it.  I've always wanted to make these pineapple flowers and thought about a roasted pineapple and rum topping I had made a while back for a cheesecake.  So I put the two items together and it made a beautiful cheesecake.  Jenny's recipe didn't call for sour cream or creme fraiche in the recipe, but I do believe it gives a cheesecake a special flavor and I always add it.  

Try to use a real vanilla bean for this.  If you've never used real vanilla beans you won't believe the flavor difference.  Buy good quality vanilla beans and store them in an airtight container in the pantry.  Don't store them in the refrigerator.  They should last about two years.  I've even found real nice vanilla beans at Costco.  If you can't find good quality vanilla beans where you live, you can order them from the Organic Vanilla Bean Company.  

Be sure to cook the cheesecake in a water bath.  It really does prevent the top from cracking.  I cook the cheesecake for an hour, shut off the oven, and leave the cheesecake in there for another hour.   The top never cracks.

Cheesecake with Roasted Pineapple and Pineapple Flowers

for a printable recipe, click here

adapted from Bon Appetit and Martha Stewart magazines

crust

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon sugar

filling

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp good vanilla extract)

2 large eggs.

3/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche

 

topping

1 ripe pineapple, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch thicks rounds and cored*

1 cup water

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons rum

flowers

1 pineapple

For Crust:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Blend all ingredients in a 9" cheesecake pan and press the mixture over the bottom and about an inch up the sides.  Bake until golden, about 12 minutes.  Transfer to a rack and let cool.  Carefully wrap outside of pan with 2 layers of heavy duty foil.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

For Filling:  Using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sugar.  Split vanilla bean down the middle with a sharp paring knife.  Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and blend 1 minute.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time and then beat in sour cream.  Transfer filling to crust.  Place cheesecake in roasting pan.  Add enough hot water to the roasting pan so that the water comes up the side of the cheesecake pan about 1 inch.

Bake cheesecake for one hour.  Turn off oven and let cake cool in closed oven for one hour. Remove from water bath and refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight. 

For Topping:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Place pineapple rings on large rimmed baking sheet.  Boil  remaining ingredients in a small saucepan  for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour syrup over pineapple.  Roast pineapple 12 minutes.  Turn rings over and roast until tender and syrup thickens, turning rings every 5 minutes, about 20 minutes longer.


*(I use a little cookie/biscuit cutter to remove the cores from the pineapple)

 Cool pineapple on sheet.  Cut into small pieces or larger 1/3 inch cubes, whichever you prefer.  Transfer pineapple and syrup to bowl.  (Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill.)

Drain pineapple, reserving syrup.  Cover top of cheesecake with some pineapple; stir remainder back into syrup.  Serve cake, passing remaining pineapple in syrup separately.

For Flowers:  Preheat oven to 225 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.  

Peel pineapples.  Using a small melon baller or the eye remover on a vegetable peeler, remove and discard eyes of pineapple.  Slice pineapple very thinly, preferably with a mandoline.  Place slices on baking sheets.  Cook until tops look dried, about 30 minutes.  Flip slices; cook for 30 minutes more.  Flip slices again and cook another 30 minutes more until completely dried. Before the final flip, place a small ball of rolled up tin foil under the "flower" if you would like to mold it to be more of a flower shape.  Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 3 days.

tip:  I sliced the first batch of pineapple for the flowers with a knife.  They did not dry out enough, because they were not thin enough.  I don't think you can get them properly thin with a knife. For my second batch, I tried slicing them with my mandoline and they were great.  With the mandoline, I could get them very thin.

tip:  If you use a KitchenAid mixer and you don't know about the new beater blades which eliminate having to scrape down your bowl during mixing, I highly recommend them.  They work great.

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Daring Bakers: Valentino Cakes

So it's Daring Baker's Challenge time again! This month, the February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The Valentino cake is a flourless chocolate cake and it is very dense, moist and rich. Instead of making one large heart shaped cake, I wanted to make a bunch of small ones. I've had this cast iron pan for ages, which I've made muffins in, and I thought the cakes would look cute if I baked them in this:


Part of the challenge was to serve the cake with your own homemade ice cream, which wasn't a problem for me since we make our own ice cream fairly often in our trusty ice cream maker. I used the vanilla ice cream recipe that I've used for years. Make sure you make it with a real vanilla bean - so much better than vanilla extract - try it!



Valentino Cake with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

for a printable recipe click here

16 ounces (1 pound) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (I used chips)
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
5 large eggs, separated

Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often. Do not overheat this mixture. When it is just melted, take off the heat and let slightly cool.

While the chocolate/butter mixture is cooling, butter your pan and line it with a parchment circle then butter the parchment. I used a totally different kind of pan, so I just buttered and lightly floured it. You can also use an 8" spring form pan for this or ramekins.

Separate the eggs into two large bowls. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry). With the same beater, beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in one third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining egg whites. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.



Pour batter into prepared pan. The batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes . The top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake test will appear slightly wet. In the mini heart shaped pan I used, it took about 20 minutes because the cakes were smaller.

Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups half n half
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean


Scrape seeds from vanilla bean. Place all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and heat, slowly, until all the sugar is dissolved. Do not boil. Take off from heat, pour in a container (I use a 4 cup Pyrex measuring container) and place in fridge. Stir from time to time until the mixture is very cold. Place in your ice cream maker and process according to your maker's directions. (In my Cuisinart, it takes about 20 - 25 minutes.)

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Caramel Cake - Daring Baker's November Challenge

I was scared to make this cake.

When I saw what this month's Daring Baker's Challenge was, I was excited because it was something sweet and the last couple have been savory.    This cake comes from Shuna Fish Lydon, who is a professional pastry chef and writes the great food blog, Eggbeater.  I started reading all the comments by people who have previously attempted this cake and had real problems with it.  I was sure I would, too.   But Shuna had lots of detailed notes posted about how to deal with some of the challenges of this cake and I followed them thoroughly and did not have any problem at all.   The cake was moist and light and absolutely delicious.  The caramel frosting is outstanding.  So if you have the urge to make this cake, don't be afraid. It was pretty straightforward. It just takes a little time to make it properly.


Making the Caramel, Steps 1 & 2



I think one of the important things that Shuna emphasizes is the "dry, wet, dry, wet, dry" method of cake making. You must alternate adding the dry and wet ingredients, and do it very slowly and patiently. For additional notes by Shuna about how to make the cake, click here.

When you finish this recipe, you will have additional caramel sauce left over.  It won't take long to put it to good use!  You can even drizzle the extra over the cake slices.

The hosts for this month's challenge are Delores of Chronicles of Culinary Curiosity , Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food . And if you need a gluten free version of this cake , you can turn to Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go.

For the full recipe for this cake, please go to this link on Bay Area Bites.



My previous Daring Baker's Post: Lavash Crackers with Peperonata Topping

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Daring Bakers: Lavash Crackers with Peperonata Topping

It's Daring Baker's time again!  The challenge this month was from Shelly from Musings From the Fishbowl and Natalie of Gluten a Go Go.  The Challenge: make Lavash crackers and create a vegan and gluten free topping or dip.  The Lavash crackers are from Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice".

I was excited about this challenge because Lavash crackers are basically identical to Italian Croccantini crackers. These crackers are crisp and light and the perfect vehicle for any kind of spread or topping. This peperonata topping is one of my favorite things. You can use it for so many things - even over pasta, if you want!



The crackers were interesting to make. The recipe calls for rolling out the dough with a rolling pin until it's super thin. Well, I thought why do all that work with a rolling pin when I can just zip it through my pasta rollers? I rolled out the dough very thin and then I just cut the dough with a pizza cutter into the sizes I wanted and placed the dough on a Silpat in a baking pan. They crisped up really nice, although there were a lot of bubbles. But it didn't matter. The crackers were really delicious and crisp. And making the crackers fresh - what a difference that makes!



Lavash Crackers with Peperonata Topping

to print recipe only, click here

1.5 cups unbleached bread flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. instant yeast (Rapid Rise kind of yeast)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. water, room temperature
Kosher Salt and pepper for topping

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt, yeast, sugar, oil and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full amount of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is nice and firm, satiny to the touch, not tacky and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also refrigerate the dough and bring to room temperature the next day, let it rise and continue on with the recipe).

Roll out the dough with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 x 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. Cover it with a towel while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. (Or alternatively, roll out the dough in pasta rollers like I did). Line a sheet pan with a Silpat or baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. (Or cut the dough with a pizza cutter into strips).




Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack in the middle. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. If you rolled out the dough into one large sheet with a rolling pin and you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the crackers begin to brown across the top.

Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart.

Peperonata Topping

2 yellow bell peppers
2 red bell peppers
1/4 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. salt packed capers*
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 tsp. dried red chile flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
chopped parsley, about 1/4 cup



Put the oven on broil. Cut tops off peppers, cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Lay a piece of foil on a baking sheet and lay peppers (including the tops) on sheet, skin side up. Broil until skin blackens. Place peppers in paper bag and let steam. Remove and let cool. Skins should slip off.  Chop peppers into small pieces.



Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Rinse the salt off the capers and dry capers. Add the capers to the oil and fry for about one minute over medium heat. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes and then add onion, chile flakes and salt and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes.

Add the vinegar to the pan and deglaze, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan and then stir in the chopped peppers. Adjust seasoning for more salt or vinegar. Add parsley. Remove topping to a bowl and let cool. Do not refrigerate. Let sit at room temperature until ready to use.



*tip: Don't use vinegar packed capers, only salt packed! They are far superior. Just give them a rinse before you use them. They are so delicious.

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Daring Bakers - Chocolate Eclairs

It's time for the Daring Baker's Challenge! I recently joined this incredible group of food bloggers who challenge themselves to create the same recipe every month. It's a group that was formed by Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. This group has grown to over a thousand members! We all make the same recipe each month, which is kept a secret, and then at the end of the month, on the same day, we all post our creations. It's interesting to see the differences in all the dishes, even though they are the same recipe.


This month's hosts are Tony Tahhan and Meetka of What's For Lunch, Honey? in Germany. They have chosen the recipe of Chocolate Eclairs from the book by the world renowned pastry chef, Pierre Herme called "Chocolate Desserts", written by Dorie Greenspan. I was relieved to see this as the baking challenge because for eclairs you need to make pâte a choux dough, which I have made many times before, using Julia Child's recipe. I was interested to see how Pierre Herme's recipe would differ. It was a little different with the ingredients, but the technique was exactly the same. Pate a choux dough is very easy to make. Don't be afraid to try it! I usually make the dough into round cream puffs , bake, split in half and fill with ice cream and drizzle chocolate sauce all over. Easy. This recipe is much more complicated to make the eclairs with the filling and the glaze, but the dough is still very easy.



Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé

Recipe from "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Choux Pastry Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.

Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.



3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.



Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.



4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.



Chocolate Pastry Cream

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.



Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze

(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

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