“Food is a central activity of mankind and one of the single most significant trademarks of a culture.”
Mark Kurlansky
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Dessert| Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce … when God created mothers!
“When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it is a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.”
Erma Bombeck
Dear Mother,
When the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was into his sixth day of “overtime” when an angel appeared and said, “You’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”
And the Lord said, “Have you read the specs on this order?She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;
Have 180 movable parts… all replaceable;
Run on black coffee and leftovers;
Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;
A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;
And six pairs of hands.”The angel shook her head slowly and said, “Six pairs of hands… no way.” … you must read the rest here When God Created Mothers
Chocolate marquise is a delicate chocolate dessert made of dark chocolate, heavy cream, egg yolks, butter and sugar. Though chocolate marquise is fairly simple in its ingredients, it makes for an elegant dessert as it can be molded in various shapes and served with fresh or chocolate dipped fruit and shaved chocolate pieces. Chocolate marquise requires no baking, but you will need at least three hours to allow it to chill in the refrigerator before serving.
[print_this]Recipe: Bittersweet Chocolate Marquise with Crème Chantilly & Balsamic Cherry Sauce
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 60 minutes
Ingredients
- 200gms dark chocolate, melted {I used 55% couverture}
- 85gms unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
- 2 tsp cherry liqueur
- 1/8 cup water
- 200ml low fat cream, chilled
- 1/8 cup powdered sugar
Method:
- Blend 50gms {2/3rd} of the butter with 1/8 cup of sugar, then add the cocoa and whip again. Set aside.
- Place the remaining butter, yolks, scraped vanilla bean, remaining 1/8 cup sugar and water in a metal saucepan and whisk until well blended.
- Place the saucepan over simmering water, and stir constantly until the temperature reads 160F. Take off heat and blend with an electric blender for about 5 minutes till it becomes smooth and cool.
- Whip this into the butter, sugar, cocoa mix, add the cherry liqueur if using, blending until homogeneous and smooth. Fold in warm chocolate. Adjust sugar if you like.
- In another bowl, whip up 200ml chilled low fat cream with 1/8 cup powdered sugar until it holds peaks. Fold this gently but firmly through the chocolate mix.
- Divide the marquise into your prepared molds, smoothen out to the edges and leave to set for at least an hour.
- Top with the crème chantilly if using, {recipe follows}, drizzled with a balsamic cherry sauce {recipe follows}.
Recipe: Crème Chantilly
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1/8 cup powdered sugar
- 100ml low fat cream, chilled
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder {or 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped}
Method:
- Whip all ingredients together to medium firm peaks.
- Place crème chantilly in a piping bag and top the mold with it. Using an offset spatula, level the tops. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Recipe: Balsamic Cherry Sauce
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 200gms fresh cherries, pitted
- 20gms brown sugar
- 3/4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Method:
- Place all ingredients in a metal saucepan and simmer until the cherries appear glossy, hold their shape and the syrup become thick.
- Transfer to a bowl and reserve. Use warm or chilled.
- If the syrup appears very liquidy, remove the cherries to a bowl, and reduce the syrup to desired consistency.
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Espresso Chocolate Chip Cupcakes … Espress-o-love for Mother’s Day!!
“Mothers are those wonderful people who can get up in the morning before the smell of coffee.”
Author Unknown
[print_this]Recipe: Espresso Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with a Chocolate Espresso Ganache
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup vanilla sugar
- 1 tbsp espresso powder {or 2 tbsp coffee powder}
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 cup milk, room temperature
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Line {or grease} a 12 mold muffin tray
- With a fork, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Reserve
- Beat the butter, vanilla sugar, espresso powder, vanilla extract and egg in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the flour mix and milk, and blend on low speed until smooth, 30 seconds.
- Fold in the chocolate chips
- Spoon into muffin cases upto 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool in the tin for about a minute before putting the muffins onto a wire rack to cool completely.Top with ganache if desired. {Recipe follows}
Recipe: Chocolate Espresso Ganache
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients:
- 100gms dark chocolate, room temperature
- 50ml low fat cream
- 1/2 tsp espresso powder
Method:
- Place the chocolate and cream in a heat proof bowl, and microwave on full power for 30 seconds. Stir, and give it another 10-15 seconds if need be.
- Add the espresso powder and blend well with a spoon until smooth and shiny. Cool and use.
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Baking| Pebbly Beach Fruit Squares … charming cookies for Mothers Day!
“If you can laugh at it, you can live with it.”
Erma Brombeck
“Kids have little computer bodies with disks that store information. They remember who had to do the dishes the last time you had spaghetti, who lost the knob off the Tv set six years ago, who got punished for teasing the dog when he wasn’t teasing the dog and who had to wear girls boots the last time it snowed.”, Erma Brombeck
Battling the teen and pre teen continue to pose ‘challenging‘ situations. I attended a wonderful parenting workshop at school. Importantly learnt that the brain largely consists of the frontal lobe or the office {The executive functions of the frontal lobes involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, to choose between good and bad actions}, override and suppress unacceptable social responses, and determine similarities and differences between things or events. Therefore, it is involved in higher mental functions}.
‘Most children’s first words are “Mama” or “Daddy.” Mine were, “Do I have to use my own money?”, Erma Brombeck
The other important part of the brain is the amygdala which performs a primary role in the processing and memory of emotional reactions. As luck would have it, the little amygdala, which is highly developed in adolescents, is apparently very reactive and irrational and packs a punch. I hear that the functional frontal will develop in teens only over the next few years! We’ve come to accept {read forced} that we are talking long-haul teen issues! Any of you in the same boat, dear readers?
- Source: British Library
I didn’t bake for 2-3 days, and yesterday the lad came home to say his friends in school opened his snack box and were disappointed that he didn’t ‘get something your mother made‘. I had given him store bought cookies! Time to get a hold on life, so it was back to baking. Yes bake I had to, and blogging happily follows!
[print_this]Recipe: Pebbly Beach Fruit Squares
Summary: Adapted from Food Gal’s “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt-In-Your-Mouth-Cookies” by Alice Medrich. It’s typical Alice Medrich style, classic and comforting, and high on taste. A highly adaptable cookie. Makes 24 to 32 two-and-a-half-inch squares.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 8 tbsps (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lime
- 1 cup moist dried fruit (one kind or a combination); dark or golden raisins; dried sour cherries; dried cranberries; coarsely chopped dates; dried apricots, or prunes; finely chopped candied ginger
- 1/4 cup vanilla sugar {or turbinado or other coarse sugar
Method:
- Combine flour, baking powder, vanilla powder and salt in a bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.
- With a large spoon in a medium mixing bowl or with a mixer, beat butter with the granulated sugar until smooth and well blended but not fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lime zest and beat until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.
- Divide the dough in half and form each into a rectangle. Wrap the patties in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator {let sit for 15 minutes to soften slightly}. On a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, roll one piece of dough into a rectangle 81/2 inches by 16 1/2 inches.
- With a short side facing you, scatter half of the dried fruit on the bottom half of the dough. Fold top half of the dough over fruit, using the paper as a handle. Peel paper from the top of dough. (If it sticks, chill dough for a few minutes until the paper peels easily.) Dust top of dough lightly with half of the coarse sugar and pat lightly to make sure the sugar adheres.
- Use a heavy knife to trim the edges. Cut into 4 strips and then cut each strip into 4 pieces to make 16 squares.
- Place cookies 2 inches apart on lined or greased cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, fruit, and sugar.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Rotate pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. For lined pans, set the pans or just the liners on racks to cool; for unlined pans, use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to racks.
- Cool cookies completely before stacking or storing. May be kept in an airtight container for a week.
Notes: Alice Medrich writes that if your dried fruit is especially hard or chewy, it will only get harder after baking. To avoid this, soak pieces in a small bowl with just enough cold water (or fruit juices or wine) to cover for 20 minutes (longer will dilute and oversoften the fruit). Drain and pat pieces very dry before using.
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Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust
“The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.”
Anatole France
I’ve never delayed a Daring Baker challenge this long before, and it gave me palpitations! Seriously, in my 3 years as DB, I’ve usually hit the ground running within the first week. This time around things just don’t seem to want to fall into place. My blog was throttling me, in addition to a million other things {you really don’t want to know, and life goes on!} Well, I completed the challenge a few hours ago , and happily so!
The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz.
I didn’t to the maple mousse as authentic maple syrup is very expensive here, and not easily available. The other bit of the challenge was the edible container. Heavens knows I had thoughts, many edible delicious thoughts, but summer in India is treacherous. With daytime highs already hitting 40C, melting mousses is more the call! My thoughts of sugar cookie boxes, cream rolls, spun sugar, chocolate coffee mugs with an espresso mousse, a pistachio meringue with lemon curd mousse all laid to rest! I liked Evelynes idea of nut bowls, and of course got mighty distracted.
I eventually googled my way and found Mollie Katzens Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust. It looked absolutely gorgeous and I had 2 boxes of strawberries on hand. I was fascinated by the beautiful meringue on top. Once I got the tart shells baking {walnut shortbread tart shells = edible containers!}, I put the berries to simmer… It was only half way through that I realised I was actually making a strawberry curd, very similar to a pastry cream. It did look deep pink and gorgeous once done, and I happily ladled it into my very delicate edible containers. One word of caution on the tart shells – they are very delicate {and very delicious too!}. Maybe the dough was overly soft as the weather is so warm here. I would probably add another 1/4 cup flour next time around, or would use this walnut shortcrust pastry dough that I used in these Dark Chocolate and Sour Orange Walnut Tartlets
. I happily spooned my very cheerful looking strawberry curd into the tart shells and offered a small taster to Mr PAB. He doesn’t mince his words unfortunately, and I hated him when he said it wasn’t the best. I could have strangled him as posting date was around the corner; he looked positively unhappy. He suggested it might taste better after chilling in the fridge for a bit, and I knew this wasn’t looking good! {He said it had a slight eggy flavour. For me, that is just doesn’t work at all!!}Turned the oven off, pushed the whites away; sadly there was going to be no meringue! Off to my beloved kitchen, mind working overtime, I began whipping cream. I would do a whipped strawberry curd cream filling, and all would be well with the world again! In went a dash of sugar {and vanilla bean powder to it as well}, and it was whipped it to medium stiff peaks. I then folded half the strawberry curd into it. I can say I felt much better, and one lick of the spatula told me that the sun was shining again!! Mr PAB gave this version a beamer!
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Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust
Course: Dessert | Serves: 6 |
CRUST
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
teaspoon salt
STRAWBERRY CURD
{1/2 quantity required for this recipe}
3 small eggs yolks
400gms strawberries, sliced
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 cup cornstarch or arrowroot
1/2 cup sugar {might require more if strawberries are tart}
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lime
1/3 cup fresh lime juice {3-4 limes}
200ml low fat cream, chilled
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla powder {optional}
Instructions:
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 190C.
Place walnuts plus 2 tablespoons sugar in food processor; process to powder with series of bursts. Add remaining sugar and butter; process 3 minutes more. Add flour and salt; process just until dough holds together.
Press dough into flattened disc {if dough is too soft, chill for 20 minutes in refrigerator}.
Gently press dough into six 3-inch loose bottomed tart pans, or a 9-inch tart pan with removable base; press dough down and ease dough into corners and up sides. Prick dough all over with fork. {Use extra dough to make sides thicker.)
Place sheet of parchment or foil in crust; weigh it down with pie weights or dried beans, and bake in lower third of oven 15 minutes. Remove parchment or foil and pie weights; continue baking crust until deep golden all over {10 to 12 minutes longer}. Cool completely before filling.
For the strawberry curd:
Place strawberries in medium-size saucepan. Without adding any liquid, cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat until soup-like {watch carefully so not to stick or burn}; set aside.
Meanwhile, in larger saucepan, combine cornstarch or arrowroot, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir in lime juice, whisking until uniform.
Whisk egg yolks with scraped vanilla bean until smooth, then drizzle yolks into cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly. Continue beating mixture and slowly pour in hot strawberries and their liquid.
Place saucepan over medium heat; bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly {but not too fast} with wooden spoon until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool, about 30 minutes.
Assemble:
Whisk cream with sugar and vanilla powder to medium stiff peaks. Fold in the strawberry curd {just half the above quantity, reserve rest for later, else make 1/2 quantity} gently with a spatula.
Spoon into tart shells, and chill for about 2 hours before serving.
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Delicious Old Fashioned Eggless Chocolate Cake with Balsamic Strawberry & Cream Filling
“Chocolate is the only aromatherapy I need.”
Jasmine Heiler
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Old Fashioned {Eggless} Layered Chocolate Cake with Balsamic Strawberries & Cream
Summary: This recipe is adapted from Cuisine at Home, taken from Barbara Bakes. This is an old fashioned eggless chocolate cake, which turns out moist and delicious. It’s a great one to make for vegetarians, or people who are allergic to eggs. Use a filling of your choice. I used seasonal strawberries to make mine.
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 2 hours
Cake
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Preheat oven to 180ºC with rack in the center. Line the bottom of 1 9″ spring form tin.{If you can, use two 9×2 inch round cake pans}
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. {Don’t use a mixer.}
Combine water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla in a large measuring cup. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, a few lumps are OK. Turn batter into prepared tin {or divide batter between pans if using 2}, then bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes for 1 or 35-40 minutes for 2.
Cool cake on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert them onto the rack.. Leave cake upside down (this flattens domed cakes) to cool completely.
Slice into 4 layers, and sandwich with filling {recipe follows}. Allow to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and then frost with the chocolate ganache {recipe follows}
Filling
Ingredients
300ml low fat cream
200gm strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1-2 tbsp powdered sugar
Preparation
First prepare filling: Place strawberries, sugar, scraped vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer till it becomes thick and jam-like. Cool completely.
Beat cream to medium stiff peaks, and gently fold in cooled strawberry mixture, taking care not to release the volume of the cream.
Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
200gms dark chocolate, room temperature
150ml low fat cream, room temperature
Preparation
Place the chocolate and 100ml of cream in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds {if the weather is warm as it is here, else try for minute}. You can also simmer it in pan until the chocolate melts. Stir well to combine both into a smooth ganache.
Give the cake one basic thin coating with this ganache, and reserve some for piping decorations. Add the remaining 50ml cream and mix until smooth.
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