lemon pineapple biscotti

these things have tortured me since sunday night, when the idea of lemon-pineapple biscotti first occured. first thing monday morning i rush to trader joe's, but they had no pineapple (and no hazelnuts, incidentally, which i needed for another project) and as there was no time to go to a different store they had to wait until today. or, i had to wait, and i don't do patient. not with a craving the size of montana.

it was a rough night, but here we are. zhara got very excited at the prospect of cookies, and she yelled 'me too' after every single gesture of mine. not to mention i had to measure the pineapple three times cause some of it kept dissapearing. (one mangled piece mysterioulsy reappeared in her hair.)
this recipe is featured in the recipe booklet that came with my food processor. the other morning i was de-junking my flyer drawer when i found the booklet. it's been sitting there for the past two years. there's more to come from it, a great little recipe for banana bread. anyhoo, this biscotti recipe originally had a lot more sugar and ginger, which i don't particularly enjoy, but i loved the lemon part so i started from there.

3 oz or 87 gr white chocolate
2 oz or 58 gr crystallized pineapple
12 oz or 2 1/2 cups or 345 gr all-purpose flour
2 ts or 10 gr baking powder
1/4 ts salt
zest of 3 lemons
3/4 cup or 158 gr sugar
1/2 cup or 113 gr unsalted butter, room temp
2 large eggs
1 tb brandy or grand marnier
1 tb vanilla extract

preheat oven to 325F or 160C.
chop chocolate so no piece is larger than 1/4 inch. if you have chips you're all set. do the same for the pineapple and reserve. sift together flour, salt and baking powder and reserve. using a vegetable peeler remove the zest from the three lemons in strips. process the zest with 1/4 cup of the sugar until minced. add the remaining sugar and the butter and process until smooth. the mixture may look curdled. with the processor running, add the eggs one at a time. and the grand marnier or brandy and the vanilla. scrape the bowl. add the flour, chopped chocolate and pineapple and process to incorporate. turn out to a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. the dough will be rather sticky, be sure to flour your hands too. (when zhara saw this, she started again with the me toos, so i pulled the salt dough and talked sweetly about her having her own work station on the other counter. really i was thinking i'd rather be dragged around by wild horses than let her schmear that stuff all over the kitchen. cooks with toddlers, be warned.)

so once you have it into a ball, divide in two and shape into logs. you can make them as wide as you like, they won't spread too much. they will rise to about double. put them on ungreased sheets bake for 22 minutes. remove from the oven, let them sit for 5-10 minutes or until you can handle them, and slice using a serrated knife. place them back on the sheets, cut side up, and bake another 20 to 25 minutes, depending on how crunchy you like them. 20 was plenty for me. when you take them out they will still be kinda soft, but that's no indication. they will harden as they cool. once they're cooled you can drizzle more chocolate on top, they really are not that sweet and can easily afford another layer. store airtight for 6 weeks. they freeze well, too. they're my number one cookie.

later update: it's been 36 hours since they're out of the oven. they're firm, no doubt, but not hard. they don't really stand up to repeated dunking. it suits me fine cause zhara has taken quite the liking to them, but if you like yours good and sturdy consider adding 1/4 cup fine cornmeal when you mix in the flour. that way you'll get more crunch.

cake poire belle helene

there is no such cake. this is simply what happens when you get crazy excited about a dessert and you must make a ton of it. the poire belle helene is a pear poached in syrup infused with vanilla bean, lemon zest and cinnamon stick. and then drenched in a ridiculous chocolate sauce. how could i resist? of course the whole thing was too much for two, so i decided to dress up the leftovers.

first i made the pears according to tyler florence's recipe. sadly, it's not one i recommend. the pears are magnificent, yes, but the chocolate recipe is off: it produces a much larger quantity than what is needed for 6 pears, and it's too thin for my taste. next time i will use the recipe on delia online.

the next day the sauce had hardened and so it was impossible to use as intended. i whipped it up, as you would a ganache, and used it to fill a red velvet cake, along with my go-to lemon whipped cream, and the perfumed pears atop. for the cake i followed paula deen's recipe. the only modification i made to it was to replace two tablespoons of the sugar quantity with cocoa. i like that it has a whole cup of buttermilk, it's a fluffy cake with a tender crumb. for the lemon whipped cream all you need is 2 cups heavy cream beaten stiff, then 2 tb confectioner's sugar, then 4 - 5 tb lemon curd mixed in, according to your taste. check out celia's microwave lemon curd, it's bound to make your life easier. to assemble the cake i doused it well and good with poaching syrup, then filled it. then i ploped the pears on top and so i stumbled unto a great dessert. it would have been even better to have more pears under the whipped cream. i think next time i'll skip the first scenario altogether and go for the cake straight away. the photos are half-assed because i didn't think i would actually use them. i honestly did not expect it to be so good, it was just leftover pears, for crying out loud. i love it when a shot in the dark pans out.

hazelnut tart cherry tartelettes

pie dough is much blogged about, and very controversial. i side in the butter camp. i do have a bucket of lard in the house, and i'm not afraid to use it, especially in savory applications. when it comes to pie crusts, however, i don't like the aftertaste of lard in there. there's a greasy mouthfeel that joe pastry doesn't like either. have you met joe pastry? it's a great resource for any beginning baker. there's recipes for every dough on this earth, and detailed instructions for the techniques used in all of them. how's about pie dough in a ziploc bag? it's the first i've heard about it! of course, true to form, i remain faithful to my food processor, but go here to see this interesting approach. and even if i scorned the bag, i tried the recipe, which is lard-free and boasts a combo of butter and cream cheese, and it is very good.

for the crust:

12 tb unsalted butter, very cold, in 1/2 inch cubes

10 oz all-purpose flour

4.5 oz cream cheese

1/4 ts salt

1/4 ts baking powder

1 tb cider vinegar

2 to 3 tb ice water

either you do it in the bag like joe, or by hand like grandma, or in the food processor like me. i am very happy with the result, i see no reason to waste time, so i pulse it start to finish. first combine the flour, salt and baking powder in the bowl of your processor. then add the cream cheese to the flour and pulse a few times to get a coarse meal. then add the butter - very cold, frozen even - and pulse a few times more, until you have butter pieces the size of peas. then add the vinegar and ice water by the tablespoon and pulse just until it comes together. refrigerate for at least 2 hours to overnight.

when it's ready, split the dough in 2 equal pieces. while the second piece waits in the fridge, roll out the first one in a 10 inch circle. then you want to cut to size circles to fit the mini-muffin tin. none of my cookie cutters worked, so i've had to improvise. a circle of about 2 1/2 inches diameter is required. line all the muffin spaces with dough and refrigerate. proceed to the second one in the same manner, or make a tart using a removable bottom quiche pan. refrigerate that one, too.

for the filling:

a half recipe of hazelnut frangipane

1 1/2 lbs tart montmorency cherries/ 5 cups/ 680 gr

3/4 cups sugar

1/4 ts orange extract (almond extract works equally well)

3 tb cornstarch

i used frozen fruit. it is impossible to get fresh sour cherries in chicago. last summer i found some at trader joe's, but they were so puny looking i didn't even bother. anyhoo, if frozen defrost in a colander. if from compote, drain well. mix the sugar with the cornstarch. put the cherries in a pot, add the extract, then the sugar mixture, and cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, about 10 minutes. the filling will thicken as it cools.

for the pastry cream:

4 egg yolks

1 cup milk

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup cornstarch, sifted

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean

1 ts orange extract

heat up the milk, the heavy cream, the extract and the sugar. split the bean and scrape up the seeds. put everything in the milk to infuse. mix the yolks with the sifted cornstach until smooth and pale. when the milk is just below boiling fish out the bean and pour 1/4 of the mixture on the yolks, while whisking constantly. pour it back in the milk and stir like yout life depends on it. keep stirring until in thickens, about 5 minutes. set aside to cool.

to assemble, take out the muffin tins. put 1 ts hazelnuts in each, then top with a cherry and bake at 350F for about 20 minutes. let cool a few minutes and fill the remaining space with pastry cream.

the pastry is sufficient for two 10 inch tarts, or 48 tartelettes. i made one 10 inch tart and 24 little ones. the cherry filling fits those. if you want to make 48 tartelettes, probably half the recipe will be enough. those are great for little kids. they are a little labor intensive though, and i was short on time, hence the 10 inch shortcut. i do prefer the little ones, there's more crust, it's crispy and flaky and a great contrast to the creamy filling.

cozonac, or hazelnut frangipane babka

cozonac is the romanian babka. it's traditionally made for all the big holidays. usually it's filled with walnuts, raisins, cubed turkish delight or cocoa. this past christmas i filled one with walnuts, and one with nutella and dried sour cherries. i wanted a new flavor for easter, and after some pondering i chose a hazelnut frangipane for one, and a drunken fig filling for the other. this was inspired by mark scarbrough's fig cookies. i used a mix of black mission figs, dried apricots and golden raisins. it's a great filling, but one that works best on a sturdy dough such as mark's biscotti, not on something that needs to rise and puff. it's a heavy mix, so i ended up with air pockets in the cozonac. not the most desirable effect, but still tasty. everybody loved the hazelnut frangipane, no flaws there.

this is not a spur-of-the-moment thing. you need to plan for it. it requires a half hour of furious kneading. (if your kid doesn't run in the kitchen all horror-stricken, you're not pounding hard enough). but once you got that part done, you can crack open a celebratory beer: prevailing wind is blowing. the recipe is here, and the only note is about the flour: the better the quality of it, the better your finished product will be. i typically use king arthur bread flour, even though some recipes call for plain flour.

i think the hazelnut frangipane recipe belongs to jacques pepin, but i'm not quite positive. i remember it was used in an apple tart, but where, i can't recall. you need one pound shelled hazelnuts, that's 454 gr. if you're lucky enough to find blanched ones, hooray for you, but if you don't it's really not a problem. toast the hazelnuts in a single layer, for 7-8 minutes at 375F. the skins will come off easily when you rub them with your fingers. it doesn't have to be perfect, you don't have to drive yourself crazy about it.

put the nuts in the food processor, with 3/4 cups sugar, 3 eggs, 3 tb butter and a ts vanilla. whizz until pulverized. i like a bit of texture, so i don't let it go to paste, i stop when it's still grainy. that's it. it's ready to be spread in the dough. i had a little bit left over, about 3/4 cup, but i promptly wrapped it up and put it in the freezer. it has aspirations of becoming the base lining in a sour cherry tart.

this is the fig filling. maybe it would have worked better had i used less, and i nearly wimped and did, but i had finished the celebratory beer by then, and i was feeling mucho macho.

the hazelnut one. very well balanced, the filling just a notch sweeter than the dough. this is exactly the kind of thing that pops into my mind when i hear the term 'home cooking'. it's comfort food, if not all desserts are comfort...

i love the crust. a lot of people sprinkle extra sugar or sesame seeds on top, but i like mine plain, with just the sheen given by the egg wash. what's more: cozonac makes a mean french toast or bread pudding when i have leftovers, which is rarely enough. not a bit goes to waste. i love food that permits a second shine.

easter lollipops

i've been away for a week, but it feels more like a month! it's very difficult to catch up with everybody who stayed busy, i still have some reading to do, but i hope to get back on track soon. i wanted to do a quick how-to-dye-your-eggs-with-onion-leaf, but about half the bloggers i read already did, in one form or another, so instead i'll show you the candies i made last night for zhara. she still hasn't seen them, i can't wait for her reaction! happy easter everyone!

caramel coconut flan

i made this especially for a friend who was going to visit today. after stuffing her full of flan we were going to see 'alice in wonderland', but yet another migraine made the whole plan go down in plumes of dissapointment. i simply couldn't face 2 hours of blaring sorround and flickering lights, not if johnny depp was signing autographs at the door. [not the time to call me on it!] so no movie for me, and no flan for my friend obviously translates into double flan for both me and my husband. sweet mother of consolation!

the recipe i used comes from a restaurant in philadelphia, azafran - i'm pretty sure that's the name, i've never been there and i got the recipe from a friend who swears 'it's the best'. i really did love the consistency, but as far as taste goes, to me it seemed more creme brulee than anything else. you couldn't really taste the coconut, i definetely recommend adding finely grated coconut or extract to it to perk it up. probably extract though, i wouldn't want to mess up a perfect texture.

5 eggs

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

1/8 ts salt

1/2 ts vanilla

1 ts coconut extract

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1/3 cup water

mix the sugar and the water in a heavy-bottomed pan and place on high heat to caramelize. stir until sugar is dissolved, then continue boiling on high heat, tilting the pan occasionally, but no more stirring. use a wet pastry brush to brush down the sides of the pan. when you reach a deep amber color pour immediately into 6 ramekins, twirling each ramekin to get the caramel in an even coat on the bottom and on the sides. drizzle the rest of the caramel on wax paper to use for decoration.

 

preheat the oven to 350F. beat the eggs with the salt until well combined. add the condensed milk and the coconut milk and mix well. divide equally between the six ramekins. place them in a roasting pan and pour enough hot water to come up half-way around the ramekins. bake until just set but still jiggly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes. do not overcook.

the good news is, this stuff can be prepared three days in advance. when it's time to serve put each ramekin in a bowl of hot water for half a minute to loosen the caramel, run a knife along the side, then invert on a plate. you can also make it in a pie dish if you can't be bothered with individual flans. i have yet to meet someone who doesn't like this, even my creme brulee-hating husband is a convert! it has the smoothest texture, and it tastes like love: warm even when served cold, moist and airy, buttery light, sweetly overwhelming everything else as long as you have a spoon in hand.

dark chocolate cake with goat cheese mousse and raspberries

a few nights ago i watched 'chocolat' again. it's one of my favourite movies, and each time i see it it puts me in a good mood. the actors are all among my faves - juliette binoche, judy dench, alfred molina. a village in southern france and all the chocolate you can carry makes for good entertainment in my book. not to mention the tastiest morsel - johnny depp and his chocolate skin. now i'm not the kind of gal who indulges idle infatuations on distant characters, real or imaginary, but when it comes to johnny depp i think everybody is entitled to a healthy dose of fanatic adoration. well. let's put that particular pot on the back burner so i can tell you about this cake.

i can't post the recipe yet cause it's not quite perfected and i know how dissapointed i am when i try to make a recipe and it's not all it promises. but i was so excited with the idea and the taste of it, i simply couldn't wait. i'm very happy with the cake, it's very moist, did not need any syrup, and i thought the taste very well balanced. the filling is a goat cheese-white chocolate mousse, and it requires some further tinkering, cause it was kinda soft set. now my fridge has been acting up, and it doesn't seem as cold as it should be, so i really must remake it to see where the problem is. but i was very excited with the taste.  i simply love it. the dark chocolate isn't overpowering, its bittersweet works great with the raspberries and the mousse! the mousse is lovely, not too sweet, with just a bit of tang from the cheese, very delicate and in total harmony with the dark chocolate. i tossed the raspberries in a little hot jam to coat, and i poured a thin layer of dark chocolate glaze over the top.

i'm happy to say it keeps well, even in my questionable fridge. the first picture was taken when the glaze was barely set, but by the time we cut it the light had gone, so i took the picture of a slice the next day. i didn't even cover it, and it was just as soft and moist as the day before, so it's perfect to make ahead.

only thing left to do is see if i need more gelatin in the mousse or a new fridge. either way, something tells me this will need several batches to perfect... and possibly new pants.

zhara loved it, today she got up from her nap and demanded it right away. and well, it's got cheese and fruit! so it counts as a snack. and dark chocolate has antioxidants. so there.

well, i've joined the daring bakers: tiramisu from scratch.

because it pushes me to try stuff i'd never consider in different circumstances. i tend to stay in my comfort zone, make a little cake, maybe a tart sometime, but nothing very elaborate and the daring bakers' challenges are nothing but. this is the first challenge, and it was done for the same party as the dobos torte and a bunch of other dishes. i have one pic of the finished dessert and it's post-party slop, but seeing as you get removed if you don't post the challenges... better a sloppy one than none at all.

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.

now this is supposed to be a classic tiramisu, with all the components done from scratch. you see what i mean - when would i ever make mascarpone at home?! i wouldn't, i would just sit here and complain it's gotten pricey, and it's so easy to make! and i've always purchased ladyfingers, but i don't think i will again... the homemade, which haven't been sitting on some shelf for decades, are much superior. nothing out of the ordinary with pastry cream and chantilly. this recipe also calls for a marsala zabaglione. now zabaglione - or sabayon - of any kind is simply not one of my faves, but mixed in with the rest i have to say you couldn't really identify it. i didn't want to change anything, i've followed the recipe to the letter, and while it was fine and all my guests seemed to enjoy it, i felt it was a bit lackluster. maybe my espresso wasn't strong enough. it didn't boost me. i would have liked a stronger flavor. i also thought the proportions a little odd, there's very little mascarpone in there... anyhoo, here are the some pictures. i forget: if you want to check out the recipe, please go here, it's really a lot of talk and it feels silly to transcribe it.

perhaps it's all just a matter of personal taste... i just don't like tiramisu especially, i would never order it in a restaurant and for that reason i doubt i'll make it again. but this challenge was great. i loved making the savoiardi. a lot of desserts i truly love have ladyfingers as components and i'm sure now i'll be able to improve them. the cheese making was not without its troubles, as the first time i bought cream i neglected to check it wasn't ultra-pasteurized... but very rewarding when i got it right. all in all, a good experience for me. can't wait to see what's next.

orange vanilla mini brioches

to say i'm not a morning person: the understatement of the week. even after a good night's sleep, first thing in the morning i look like i'm suffering from a collossal hangover, and i feel like a bear too soon awakened from its hibernation. each morning i do a very realistic zombie impersonation nearly crawling from bed to the coffeepot. takes two cups for me to become human. moreover: nothing good ever happened to me on a morning. seriously, ever. all my jump-for-joy stuff occured mid-afternoon, or in the evening. that said, the early morning coffee cup has a completely different allure when paired with these brioches. a robust orange flavored dough, filled with lemon curd or nutella. or homemade strawberry jam. so long, briocheless mornings. i'll remember you all in therapy.

i saw these on fimere's blog, and i had to make them right away. hers turned out much prettier, but with two toddlers undefoot i'd say mine aren't all that bad either. zhara's best friend, genevieve was over here on a playdate and i only had so much time before sesame street was not the greatest thing ever. 

fimere made this orange curd that sounded lovely to me. what's more: you make it in the microwave, in 3 minutes. but my microwave decided to act up, and i got very unappetizing orange omelet, which joined raw eggs and beer from milwaukee on the list of foods not to be consumed. (just kidding: got nothin' against raw eggs.) this was happening late last night, and after that episode i called it in. put the dough in the fridge and went to bed.

which made things great in the morning when all i had to do was fill and bake.
for the dough:
3 3/4 cups/500 gr all purpose flour
1 1/2 ts salt
2 ts dry active yeast
3 tb sugar + 1 ts for the yeast/ 50 gr
zest of one orange, finely grated
1 egg
1/2 cup/120 ml orange juice
7/8 cup/ 1 cup minus 2 tb/ 200 ml heavy cream
vanilla bean, optional

first bring everything to room temp. if you forget to take it out in advance, put the egg in some warm water and leave it a few minutes. the juice you can warm a few seconds in the microwave. steep the cream and infuse with the split, scraped bean. let cool to 115F and dissolve the yeast and 1 ts sugar in it. place flour, salt, sugar and zest in the food processor and pulse once or twice to combine. add the juice and the beaten egg and pulse a few more times. with the processor running slowly stream in the cream. add a tb or two of milk if it's stiff. run it 15 seconds more to knead, then turn it into an oiled bowl, oil the top, cover and set in a warm spot to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. (or you can put it in the fridge overnight.)

 preheat oven to 390F. split the dough in half. roll a rectangular 1/4 inch thick sheet. then cut inch wide strips lenghtwise. crosswise cut 2 inch pieces to form rectangles. spread nutella, jam or lemon curd on them and stack three or four on top of each other. fold each stack in half and place in buttered muffin tin. let rise another half hour. brush with egg wash if desired. bake for about 20 minutes, until nicely browned on top.

they taste wonderful, i suspect even plain they would be a great treat, though i'd probably use an extra tb of sugar, and more orange zest. i loved the ones filled with nutella, there's just something about orange and chocolate - and so did zhara. the ones with the lemon curd could have used a bit more of it... i was afraid they'd be too sweet so i smeared it sparingly. the strawberry jam was great cause it had a lot of almost-whole fruit, it went great with the orange flavor. definetely a treat that makes the shortlist. merci fimere!

monkey bread

i saw this over at smitten kitchen. i have instantly fallen somersaulted in love with it. i had never heard of monkey bread before. i looked at the pictures and i felt like a kid who found proof santa is real after all. i simply can't understand how this is not something everybody knows about. [insert choice profanity here.] i think we shouldn't be allowed to graduate from childhood without having had a taste of this.

it's the perfect lazy sunday project. the dough needs to rise twice. we had a grand production tea during the first, me drinking my ubiquitous coffee, zhara her juice, and all her dolls were treated to crakers and dried apricots. when it was time to roll the monkey bread, i set up a playdough station for her so she could work, too. she loved that i kept saying monkey bread and demonstrated very noisily what it'd be like if we had an actual monkey in the kitchen.
as it always seems to happen with me, i started gathering my stuff and realized i didn't have enough all-purpose flour. i also didn't have any desire to change my fluffy fleece for freezing sleet, so i replaced half with whole wheat pastry flour. i only had dark brown sugar, and altough the original recipe advised against it, i decided to take my chances. finally, deb did a cream cheese glaze, but we ate the last of our cheese for breakfast, so i had to improvise and did a simple melted chocolate glaze instead. the rest of the recipe is unchanged.

4 tb/56 gr unsalted butter, 2 tb softened, 2 tb melted
1 cup/250 ml milk, warm
1/3 cup/90 ml water, warm
1/4 cup/55 gr granulated sugar
1 pk/ 2 1/4 ts dry yeast
3 1/4 cups/435 gr all-purpose flour,
2 ts/10 gr salt

for the brown sugar:
1 cup light brown sugar, or dark, it will be equally good
2 ts cinnamon
8 tb unsalted butter, melted

heat oven to 200F/100C. when it's warmed turn it off.
mix flour with salt in the food processor. in a separate bowl, mix milk, water, 2 tb melted butter, sugar and yeast. with the motor running slowly stream in over the flour. if it's too wet sprinkle some 2 tb additional flour, until the dough comes together into a ball, cleaning the sides of the robot. knead 15 seconds then turn into oiled bowl, cover with an oiled wrap and place in the warm oven to rise, about one hour, until doubled in size.
coat a bundt pan with the 2 tb softened butter. set aside. mix brown sugar with cinnamon. melt 8 tb of butter. now flip the dough onto a lightly floured counter and pat into 8 inch square. cut in 64 equal pieces, separating them as soon as they're cut. they'll morph back into a square if you don't. roll each piece to make it round. put each ball through melted butter, then sugar, then place it in the buttered pan. be sure to stagger the balls at the seams where they meet. cover tightly with wrap and put it back in the oven for another 50 to 70 minutes until puffy.

take the pan out and preheat the oven to 350F/177C. bake until the top is deep brown, 30 to 35 minutes. cool in the pan for a couple minutes and invert to a plate - any more and you'll have trouble getting it out. allow to cool for another 10 minutes, then glaze with whatever strikes your fancy. cream cheese is probably a good pairing and i might've tried it had i any cheese... even my chocolate supply was kinda low, so i combined 3 parts butterscotch chips + 1 part white chocolate chips + 1 part bittersweet 70% chocolate. melted those with a glug of milk and poured it all over. i should've probably thought ahead and put it on a rack, but i was already late and it didn't seem like such a big deal that some of it pooled in the inner circle. i ended up piling all of that on the last few pieces. i liked it very much, and i thought the whole wheat imparted a wonderfully subtle nutty background to it. the caramelized exterior would've been enough to convince me, glazed or not. to say it was good would be to trivialize things. so i'm not going to.

citrus savarins

i always imagined making savarins required twirling magic wands and whispering incantations. as it turns out, you only need a few very ordinary ingredients and lots of syrup. both my husband and i haven't eaten one since we were kids. i have vivid memories of my nose pressed against the showcase at pastry shops, trying to decide, or rather how to convince my mom to get them and the amandines. this was well before the i-hate-whipping-cream-phase. yes, i had one of those. no, i'm not wondering where my daughter gets it. fortunately i'm back to wholeheartedly loving whipped cream, plus the way my husband perked up at the mere mention of this dessert plus the fact you just can't find them anymore, equals this.

i did some research for the recipe. gale gand's results in a dough solid enough to turn on the counter, and i specifically remembered it thin enough to pour. in the end i combined three to get precisely what i wanted. gale gand's, this one and this one.

1 3/4 cups bread flour
1 tb dry yeast
1 cup milk, warm
1 egg, room temp
2 tb butter, softened
1 heaping tb sugar

sift the flour with a pinch of salt. dissolve the yeast and a ts of sugar in the milk. add the beaten egg, butter, remaining sugar to the flour and mix. stream in the milk, mixing all the while. pour immediately into brioche or muffin tins. fill them half way and place in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes. do not let rise a minute more or they will be though and crumbly and no amount of syrup will make up for the damage. 30 minutes in set your oven to 400F. bake 15-18 minutes, until nicely browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

while they bake prepare the syrup:

2/3 cups sugar

1 cup water

4 lemon rind strips

1 tb grand marnier

boil water, sugar and lemon until sugar is dissolved and the syrup is golden. take it off the heat and add the grand marnier, or cointreau or limoncello, whatever you have. let cool.

for the whipped cream, beat 1 cup heavy cream until stiff. mix in 2 heaping tb lemon curd. which you can make yourself or you can shell 3 bucks for trader joe's, which is quite decent and keeps in the fridge longer than i've ever needed it to.

when everything is cool, get a large shallow dish. cut the third top off the savarins. put each bottom through the syrup and lay it in the dish. if they absorb it right away, spoon a bit more syrup before topping with whipped cream. do the same for the tops. use all the syrup. if you have even a bit left pour it the dish. go all the way or go home. they will suck it up, don't worry. gale says to let it sit overnight but i don't find that necessary. a good couple hours is enough, just to get them cold all the way through.

traditionally they're topped with a dab of red fruit jelly. or maraschino cherries. i was planning on a bit of mint jelly, but of course when i opened the jar i discovered it had gone bad, so my only alternative was strawberry jam. oh well.

they're very good, although not precisely the same as those devoured when we were kids, a thousand years ago. those had plain whipped cream and rum extract instead of grand marnier, but i was in a lemon mood and these really hit home. i firmly believe: when something tastes this light and airy and citrusy the calories simply don't count. (and if you wolf one down in the middle of the night with your head in the fridge that definetely doesn't count.)

apple puff roses

i spotted this idea on miha's wonderful blog with beautiful desserts.

fans of the quick and easy, rejoice. this recipe was created just for us! i love a dessert that's easy and fast to prepare but allows a beautiful presentation. your child will look at you and in her eyes you'll see you're all wrapped up in a golden glow and really you're some kind of super mom, because this is a perfect dessert to make with a child, even an antsy two year old. once you slice the apples there's no more knifes involved. no mixers, no double boilers. zhara had so much fun sprinkling sugar and pressing it in the dough! i brought a chair to the counter for her, gave her plastic cutlery and her own apple, and while i sliced she did too. tzopp! tzopp! (or however i should transliterate the sound she makes when she says chop.) the sugar was the best part. me the control freak found it very difficult to just let her have fun but me the glowy supermom couldn't care less about the sugar contaminating every square inch of my kitchen. we really did make a mess, but we had a significant bonding moment and i wouldn't trade for anything. she is now very interested in cooking and her play kitchen and plastic veggies have been showered with renewed attention ever since.
so all you need is a sheet of puff pastry, two apples, some sugar and a bit of cinnamon. now i made this both with peeled and unpeeled apples. i found that if you leave the peel on it just creates a weird texture, because the peel is tougher and it was pretty much like having a piece of string in your puff. so i'll take the time to peel them. core and thinly slice them. blanch the slices in boiling water in which you've dissolved a bit of sugar and lemon juice, just to soften them and remove to a paper towel to dry.
preheat oven to 400F. add 1 tb cinnamon to 3 to 5 tb sugar and mix well. sprinkle this mixture all over the puff pastry. i like to sugar both sides. press gently to make it adhere. take a pastry cutter or a pizza wheel and cut inch wide strips. place apple slices slightly overlapping them all long the strip then roll it up and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment. reach under and gently push up while holding the base in place to create some height. secure with a toothpick if you think they might unfold.

bake for about 15 minutes until they're nicely puffed and golden brown. allow to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar if you wish.
i like using granny smith for this. a tart apple works best because then you have a bit of contrast with the sweet pastry. also, next time i'll use blond caster sugar. granulated sugar did not caramelize completely, there were still half-melted granules here and there, which is not a bad thing, but it makes me wonder if it can be improved. i find they are perfect on their own. the fist time i made them i did the powdered sugar on top and served them with warm caramel sauce but it was all so unnecessary.
when we had to go to the pediatrician's on a sunday i took some of these along. the nurse, who is very competent and generally nice -except for her tendency to ma'am people without cause- gave me the warmest smile ever. and she called me by name the next time we were in.

ps: you can't tell, but they have a wonderful color. that second picture has a greyish tinge because it gets dark at five. because it's still winter. because spring is nowhere to be seen in the near future. what's cabin fever?

lemon pistachio sugar cookies

i'm not much for this valentine's day thing. perhaps it's because i did not grow up with it. even more likely, it's because i'm just not the kind of girl who cares about hearts and candles and whatever. i don't have a romantic bone in my body and i don't feel fundamentally impaired because of it. i don't even remember when i started dating my husband. (how could i know he was my husband?!) we just know it was the beginning of the year; he has some recollection of a super bowl at a friend's house - which of course is just a big blank for me, and frankly we only remember the day we got married because it's also his birthday. i'm terrible with dates and keeping track of time in general. my husband doesn't mind. and he knows he'll stir up a lot more excitement with a book than a bunch of roses. recently he gave me a kindle: now that was a blue-ribbon day! valentine's day is so low on the list of exciting things it barely generates a 'huh? what's that?'. however: i'm not about to pass a legitimate occasion of baking various cookies, especially now that we have so much fun decorating them. zhara insisted on the blue icing, which is incidentally kinda appropiate, since my hubby is away and so even if i wanted i couldn't celebrate zip. these are humble sugar cookies, perked up with some pistachio paste and lemon zest. low-key or not, they still deserve a decent pic, and i tried, but this kept happening so i gave up:

here's what:

1 cup/110 gr all purpose flour

1 cup/110 gr whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 ts salt

1/2 cup pistachio paste

6 oz/170gr butter, softened

1/3 cup/75 gr sugar

zest of one lemon, about 1 tb

1/2 ts vanilla extract

1 egg

mix flours with salt and set aside. cream the butter with the pistachio paste and sugar until fluffy, then add the egg, vanilla and zest. stir in the flour, mixing until just incorporated. form into a disk, wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

preheat the oven to 400F/220C. lightly sprinkle the work surface with powdered sugar. roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut out your shapes. alternately drop by tablespoons. bake for about 12 minutes. the dough will be set and kinda golden, but not browned. remove immediately to wire rack to cool. i left them on it overnight as it was late, and in the morning they were crispy on the outside, and chewy inside, just the way we like them. keep airtight for a week.

p.s. i expect next time i'll use a bit of lemon extract, too and possibly more zest. the flavour was quite subtle and we like the lemon punch.

apple pistachio cupcakes

before i had a child i had all sort of ideas about what kind of mother i'd be one day. once i learned the day has come, i'd daydream about blissful days spent playing quietly on immaculate floors, cheerful meals and long naps. i would teach my child about my various rules and vetos and enforce them gently, but firmly.
boy, was i deluded or what! my floors are never immaculate. there is no quiet, there are almost no naps and sometimes there are no meals, cheerful or otherwise. these are especially hard. the days she won't eat are about as fun as gum surgery. the days when you just beg your lucky stars for a bite of anything. and that's how the cupcakes fit into the picture.

i needed something to fall back on when all else failed, that wouldn't make me feel like the worst mother to ever walk this earth. i turned to ellie krieger's apple muffins, i've made them before and i knew zhara liked them. only this was a day hell bent on getting worse. half way through the prep i realize i had no buttermilk. relax, i thought, just use sour cream. but there wasn't enough of that either. so i used a mix of sour cream and mascarpone in the end, and it did the trick, but it wasn't any great improvement so i'd suggest sticking to the original. i skipped the topping as zhara doesn't go for it but did not adjust the sugar quantity in the batter. it's exactly as sweet as i like it. it's really a great recipe, between the whole wheat flour and applesauce and diced apple, all stuff that's good for you.

for dinner we went through our whole routine, me offering, her refusing until i fold and break these out. she took a bite, then a second... then she clamped her mouth shut. to my great dismay, the muffins didn't fly. hence the cupcakes. the cupcakes made it! and today the leftovers were eaten after dinner.

pistachio frosting:

1 cup mascarpone

3 tb pistachio paste

1 tb confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup heavy cream

cream the mascarpone with the sugar. mix the pistachio paste well to blend in separated oils. mix into the mascarpone. add heavy cream and whip gradually increasing speed until you have a fluffy mixture. pipe onto cupcakes. decorate with candied orange zest and/or violet petals. (i'm not a complete filistine: candied violets are a great addition, they've a subtle but complex aroma.)

ellie's muffin recipe says it yields 12, but it has to be a typo. i got a clean 24, i made 12 regular ones and 24 mini, because zhara loves the small ones. do not substitute the whole wheat pastry flour - it provides a wonderful nutty background; any neutral oil will work if you don't buy canola; keep them in the fridge but remove half hour before eating so the frosting can come to room temp. they really are excellent, a very delicate flavor combo, moist with apple and a bit chewy from the whole wheat. i loved the frosting, it was silkier than i'd expected and went just great with the apple. plus, it beats hot dogs by a long shot. it's not like i'm bitter or anything. sigh.

dobos torte

this cake graced all the special occasions in my childhood. i don't think my mother ever made it herself. it was always ordered from various bakeries. some were great, and some not so much, but at that age, everything swaddled in chocolate is awesome. even stale, overly sweet cake. awesome, the whole lot.
after seeing it last august on the daring bakers it became an insidious bit of obssesion. this is not a dessert you just slap together, so i patiently waited for the magical intersection of a day i'd have people over for dinner and my husband would be home to mind the child while i baked it. he's away for days or weeks at a time, and pouring caramel with a toddler running around the kitchen is not exactly the pinnacle of safety-conscious cookery.

so i baked six thin layers. i made chocolate buttercream, despite the fact i've a deeply rooted aversion to buttercream and i never use it, not to save my life. i made the lemon caramel glaze and poured it on the top layer. then i assembled the thing and clothed it in pecan praline for a bit of extra oomph.

like proust with his madeleines, my tastebuds trembled with anticipation. i rushed everybody through their chips and dips, the goat cheese and asparagus tartelettes, the tuna empanaditas, and to hell with the chicken wings: who cares about that stuff?! let's cut the cake, right. now.

in the heat of things i never got to take a pic of a slice. it looked neat, equal thin layers of spongecake doused with coffee and deep chocolate buttercream. i only put praline on top so my husband could remove them. he's a nut hater. a hater of all nuts. (all but me.)

there's no easy way to say this: as i was eating, i felt cheated. robbed of one of the fondest culinary memories i had. this cake was nothing like the one i had growing up. it was good, fine, but just a bit too sweet. much sweeter than i like my desserts to be. i really resent a recipe when sheer sweetness masks all the other flavors. i used some great dark chocolate for the buttercream - i think it would have been the same made with wretched chips. you couldn't taste the coffee i brushed on the layers. it was too sweet.

so this cake gets a resounding, definite 'eh'. eh, i've had better. eh, next time i'll follow a romanian recipe and not use one just because it's already translated from the metric system.

luckily it wasn't the only dessert i had. i also made the parisians, only smaller so i'd get more mileage out of them, and another thing i can't say anything about yet because it's the current daring bakers' challenge. look how cute the miniature parisians are, and by miniature i mean about 5 or 6 inches long. these are always great, and even more so this time as i used king arthur flour.

molten lava chocolate cake

recipe adapted from paula deen

one slash of a fork and its molten center will spill like a lush, saucy secret. this cake is unbelivably moist, allows you to play with flavorings and it's great for a small dinner party. i can't remember where, but definetely on a pastry chef's blog i read that this cake is boring and commonplace as old shoes. as i was reading all the reasons i shouldn't bother, the fiercest of cravings took hold.

people are sick of it? i refuse to believe it. it's cliche? ts ts, i can live with that. i could care less about which foods are trendy today. i like what i like and this thing will grace my table a lot more than any other chocolate dessert. it's very easy to make, it takes 25 minutes! 25! from start to ready-to-be-eaten, and it looks good enough to entertain. you can make multiple toppings and each guest gets their own little cake to dress up as they will. can't think of a better ending to a meal.

2 oz/56 gr bittersweet chocolate (70% cocoa)

1 1/4 stick/140 gr butter

1/2 cup/ 75 gr all-purpose flour

1 cup/80 gr confectioner's sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 ts vanilla extract

2 tb orange/hazelnut/peppermint liqueur

preheat oven to 425F/218C.

butter and sugar 6 x 6 oz ramekins or 4 x 7 3/4oz.

melt the chocolate with the butter in the microwave, stirring every 20 seconds to avoid scorching or use a double boiler. add the flour and sugar. stir in the eggs and the yolks until smooth. add vanilla and flavoring of choice, i used some coconut extract. decrease to 1 teaspoon if you'll use extract instead of liqueur.

divide equally between ramekins. bake for precisely 14 minutes.

let cool a few minutes and invert unto dessert plates. i do not doubt for a second that more often than not we'll eat them straight out of their ramekins, but if you wanna get fancy, beat up a cup of whipping cream, divide it into smaller portions and mix each with praline, nutella, pistachio paste, peppermint brittle, cream of coconut or what have you, for pure, utter indulgence. as if the cake were not enough on its own!

a cure for a crummy day

well, more like a band-aid. this was a special kind of crummy. the kind that combines a hateful migraine with piercing toddler wails, a messy house and an improvident trip to the market. ever had one of these? the market was by far its crowing moment, since i forget my wallet at home and their stupid machine kept refusing my check. a nice person who works there gave zhara a cookie to prevent bleeding ears in other shoppers, which she sneezed all over my glasses as i was fixing her scarf.
so it was nice to come home to these.

i made mini cupcakes because they're toddler-friendly and as a part of my ongoing Battle against Large Portions. fact is, we could use some dieting around here, but we're simply not able to resist food. any food. so at least we should rationalize how much of it we eat. yes, we should. in real life however, these filled my kitchen with an unbearably tempting aroma as they baked. i'm sad to report some of them never got to meet their frosting. some never even got to Be Cool. they are weightless and fluffy, especially when consumed the same day. be sure to cover if you have leftovers, as they will dry some if you don't.

1 1/4 cups/150 gr flour

1/2 ts baking powder

1/4 ts baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/4 sticks salted butter/140 gr

1 cup/250 gr sugar

2 eggs

3/4 ts vanilla extract

1/2 ts coconut extract

2/3 cups/150 ml coconut milk

3/4 cups coconut flakes, optional

preheat oven to 350F. mix the flour with the baking powder, soda and a pinch of salt and set aside.

cream the butter with the sugar until very pale and fluffy, about 10 minutes. add the eggs one at a time, then add the flavors. slowly mix in the coconut milk and the dry ingredients until just incorporated. fill your paper cups no more than 2/3, they will rise a bit. yields a dozen cupcakes, or in my case 24 mini and 6 regular size.

the before and after photo:

i left out the topping: i'm not much for anything that calls for cups of powdered sugar. use your favourite one or whip 1 cup cream + 2 tb powdered sugar + 1 ts coconut extract + some pink coloring. pink tastes better. and some heart-shaped confetti won't hurt.

notice the remarkable restraint in decorating, as i mostly tend to pile it on: