“It’s only 30p more for an Ottolenghi croissant than 1 at Euphorium. I’d scoop the 30p from Trafalgar Sq fountain with my shoe if I had to!”
Daniel @ Young and Foodish on twitter
If this hadn’t been a Daring Bakers challenge, I wouldn’t have baked croissants during the monsoons in India! Don’t get me wrong. Croissants are something I have long waited to bake, the shove in the right direction very much needed … but ‘Hot & humid at 35C‘ is obviously not croissant happy weather!Yes, it was time to go retro this month with Julia Child and Simone Beck tempting us to try these French delights … Fresh, Fluffy, French! My croissants were Fresh and French alright, though not as Fluffy as they characteristically should be.
The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!
The minute I popped the croissants into the oven, it poured like there was going to be no tomorrow! Pardon the bland pictures, but luck wasn’t on my side that day! Nevertheless, these tasted as good as they could given the pathetic weather consideration, and were gone really quick. I thought I’d do some with chocolate and others with roasted peppers and cheddar … in my dreams I guess, as I could barely get them to roll.In true Schwarzenegger style I’m going to say, “I’ll be back“. This is quite a ‘well-behaved’ recipe when the weather is hot and humid, so I can just imagine how good it’ll be in the winter. The kids LOVED the croissants with chunks of cheddar. I chose to bake from an amended recipe on the DB forum with reduced water and oil. It worked well for me.
Thank you Sarah for a wonderful challenge that I hope to revisit soon. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the Fresh, Fluffy & French Croissants the other daring bakers have risen to this month!
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Leonardo da Vinci
This is a simple cake and it’s been more than 2 years that I’ve had this recipe bookmarked. Its been on my folder of recipes I HAVE to try forever, yet I missed making it last winter {orange season here}. A few days ago an uncle dropped by to see me, and also dropped by huge bags of apples and oranges. It was time to bake! The apples found their way into these Apple Strawberry Basil Hand Pies. The oranges were destined for Anna Olsons Orange Almond Olive Oil Cake, a recipe I adapted from Vals post of April 2009. Visiting Vals blog is always nostalgic. More Than Burnt Toast and PAB go back many years. I’ve known Val ever since I began blogging {well almost, because in the first few months of blogging I was petrified of this whole blogging paraphernalia}.She’s a wonderful Canadian food blogger, supportive, fun and talented. We got to know each other better as time passed, and had a great time with the Blogger Aid Cookbook. I contributed a recipe to it, was part of the editing team, and thought up the idea for the book cover.The cake baked in the kitchen, filling the house with the most amazing aromas. I hadn’t felt this sweet bakery feeling in months. Summer has been filled with quick light desserts, baked in a hurry, sometimes no bake stuff. With the weather changing, a silent feeling of fall round the corner, this cake smelt so good, warm and comforting!
While the cake rose in the oven, I sliced up the oranges. The citrus salad is a refreshing, novel idea; a must make! All of it came together beautifully. My cake didn’t have as light a crumb as Vals because I used almost half almond meal and half all purpose flour. It was denser yet moist and delicious.
The citrus salad is a beautiful addition to an already delicious cake. I took it a teeny indulgent step further, and served some with a drizzle of low fat cream with the citrus salad topping it. YUM!! The kids enjoyed just plain chilled slices too, and we were sad that it got over too soon! What could be better!!Olive oil in baking is a wonderful idea and you must try and use a good quality brand. I would love to bake extensively with extra virgin olive oil but for its prohibitive cost. That said, this cake recipe will be made often as it was really nice!
“If cookies be the food of love…munch on”
Dame Judi Dench
“Can you make some cookies tomorrow?” asked Mr PAB one evening. He often has long working hours, and travels more than before now, so likes to carry a ‘taste of home‘ with him. Was going to bake him some Wholewheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies or maybe sugar cookies. Then I saw that Abby Dodge had posted the August #baketogether round up for the Summer Fruit Cake with the September challenge – cookies.Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies it was destined to be!
Abby said, “I’ve tweeted, I’ve listened and I’ve decided it must be COOKIES!
Everyone loves cookies, right? I’ve brought along my little blue friend if you need convincing…you know I’ve got his vote, right? I offer up September’s #BakeTogether recipe! One bite of this cookie and filling is all you’ll need to help you assuage the burden of #Irene.. or whatever else ails you.”
How true her words were. One bite ensured cookie happiness, though for the first time in years I struggled with the consistency of the dough. This was not ‘cookie dough‘ as I normally make; this was a thick mousse-y dough. I reread and checked the recipe several times. Didn’t look like I had missed a step but I had this thick lava like dough. It gave me jitters, the sort you get while waiting for feet in macarons!I figured I would get pancakes with the dough so added another 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour. The dough was better, still not firm enough, but with the name Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies, I figured this is how it was probably meant to be.
I did a small test bake with 3 bits and much to my relief they held their shape well! Hope you enjoy my take on Abby’sDouble Chocolate Mousse Cookies. I substituted some plain flour with whole wheat flour to make them a bit healthier. The first round of cookies were cakey, softish, chewy, very very chocolaty … and a big hit at home!We enjoyed them sans filling but they were a tad soft to accompany Mr PAB on his journey, so I made some dough for the Wholewheat Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies. Then an idea struck me, and I popped a teeny ball of the wholewheat oat chocolate chip cookie dough in the center of some the mousse-y cookies and baked them again for 8-10 minutes. I double baked a few sans filling and later filled them with the bittersweet chocolate filling as below. Perfect! The second time around they weren’t softish thanks to the double bake and looked pretty too. A few double baked ones were lavished with the bittersweet chocolate filling. Double yum!! Those were equally delicious too, if not more, and devoured by cookie monsters that infest our home! One hopeful cookie monster was left looking on … “crumbless‘!! Poor little Coco … she’s my little shadow who lives in eternal hope of a cookie or two!
Featured Blogs is a weekly Friday post on the FoodieBlogroll site featuring favorites from The Foodie Blogroll! We do this so we can share in the rich diversity of what The Foodie Blogroll has to offer by featuring some of our favorites.
[print_this]Recipe: Double Chocolate Mousse Cookies
Summary: Minimally adapted from Abby Dodges #Irene Double Chocolate Mousse Cookie for #baketogether. They are cakey, softish, chewy, very chocolatey … and a big hit at home! Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
For the chocolate cookies
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 + 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
85g bittersweet chocolate, melted
For the bittersweet chocolate filling
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
Method:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 180C. Line 2 or more cookie sheets with parchment or non-stick baking liners.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, wholewheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk until well blended.
In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and cocoa powder and beat on medium speed until well blended, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add the eggs, one at a time mixing until blended after each addition. Add the vanilla along with the last egg. Continue mixing on medium until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the cooled, melted chocolate and mix until just blended, about 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the mixture is well blended, about 1 minute.
Using a 2 tablespoon mini ice-cream scoop, shape the dough into balls and arrange about 1 1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, until the cookies are puffed and tops are cracked and look dry, about 11 to 13 minutes. {I baked them a second time for about 7-8 minutes as my cookies were still soft}
When the cookies are just out from the oven, make a small, deep well in the center of the cookies using the rounded side of a 1/2 teaspoon measure or the end of a thick handled wooden spoon. Let the cookies sit for 5 minutes then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Fill the cookies and serve immediately or cover and keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month before filling and serving.
Make the filling and assemble the cookies:
Melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a medium melt bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth. Remove from the heat and set aside until cool and slightly thickened.
Scrap the chocolate mixture into a small zip-top heavy duty plastic bag (alternately, use a pastry bag fit with a small plain tip). Snip off a small piece of one corner and pipe the chocolate mixture into the wells of the cooled cookies. Set aside until chocolate firms up, about 1 hour. Serve immediately or cover and keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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Before I go I need to thank the very sweet Jehanna @ The Cooking Doctor for David Lebovitzs ‘The Perfect Scoop‘ that I won at her giveaway. It’s a book I have longed to own. There was also a ‘surprise’ package of coffee. As Jehanna says “Remember, your winning giveaway entry was coffee ice-cream, so to ‘commemorate’ that, I thought I’d include my most, most fav coffee so you can try it out for the ice-cream. I hope you like it, and cant wait for your ice-cream post“. This book is an ice cream Bible in every way, and paired with Davids style of writing and sense of humour, it keeps you hooked on to every word he writes. It’s virtually a ‘chilling’ entertainer’!Also thanks due to the good folk at ADF Soul Foods who sent me this HUGE gift hamper filled with delicious ready to eat Indian gourmet food. Even though we hardly ever eat prepackaged food at home, we’ve tried a few of them from ADF, and I have to say they are quite delicious. With no artificial preservatives and no trans fats, the ‘Just Heat & Eat‘ range, all natural and a 100% vegetarian, is ready to eat in two minutes.
“Looks like you could use an extra hand.”
American Pie
We’re already trotting through the second week of September, the days are whizzing by! Just when I thought I’d done the SRC for the month, a Plum Almond Ginger Summer Fruit, I found a reminder in my inbox. Whoa we’re into the next month, a race against time as always, yet this club is fun! I made delicious Apple Strawberry Basil Hand Pies that I picked & adapted from Beantown Baker, my secret blog for September.
The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
Jen @ Beantown Baker lives in Boston with her hubby and two cats. She works as an engineer by day, and is baker by night when she gets home and enjoys spending her free time in the kitchen. She loves all desserts and has a huge to-bake list. Her hubby serves as her number one taste tester and her lucky coworkers and friends get to enjoy baked goods on a regular basis. It was wonderful to explore her blog as we seem to have so much in common, beginning with a ‘love for baking’! It was like a treasure chest, I flitted from one post to another, so much to do and so little time! I thought I’d bake these utterly delicious looking Strawberry Peach Basil Bars but sadly the stone fruit season has drawn to an end. Then I chanced upon these Strawberry Hand Pies …YES!! I’ve been charmed by hand pies forever but have never got down to making these sweetly delicious sorts! They reminded me of pop tarts! I went with whatever fruit I had on hand… apples and frozen strawberries. In a last minute moment of inspiration, I threw in some fresh basil! YUM! I also tried a few different shapes, including a roll up and a lattice!They turned out to be delicious, though I think I rolled the dough a tad too thin. As Jen says, “The pastry dough is VERY easy to work with. And quite tasty.” I kept my pies vegetarian and gave the pastry a low fat cream wash, followed with a sprinkling of vanilla sugar. Hand pies are convenient food, great grub on the go and and can be sweet or savoury. Almost every culture has a version of their own, mostly baked.
Hand pies are semilunar-shaped pastries with either a sweet or savory filling, formed by placing a dollop of filling onto a circular piece of biscuit-style dough and then folding it over and crimping it shut. They may be baked, fried or deep-fried.
English Cornish pasties are said the most famous in this category, and go back to the 1800’s when miners wives would freshly bake shortcrust pastry with a beef filling, and pop the pies wrapped in a towel or newspaper into the miners pockets. Miners would hold the pies with the crimped edges, their hands dirty with arsenic and coal etc, eat the pie and throw away the crimped edge. Many countries have popular versions of hand pies. India has the addictive samosa, a savoury patty, deep fried and absolutely delicious. Traditionally with a stuffing of potatoes, peas {and sometimes cottage cheese and raisins}, the filling is wrapped in a triangle of pastry and deep fried. We munched through cartloads of these in school, college and while I was working. I have a Chicken Mince Cocktail Samosa posted here which makes for great cocktail / party snacks. Other versions include the Spanish empanada, the Italian calzone & Jamaican patties. Have you heard of any others? OK we have more … Malaysian curry puffs {thank you Jehanne@ The Cooking Doctor}, Indian gujiya {thank you Fahad @ Simply Fahad-istic}.
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Recipe: Apple Strawberry Basil Hand Pies
Summary: Delicious and comforting hand pies, charming bites somewhat like pop tarts. Dough from Alton Brown, filling from Dinner and Dessert, originally from Smitten Kitchen – makes about 15. Adapted from Beantown Baker
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
Pastry Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
75gm unsalted butter, chilled
3/4 cup milk
Juice of 1/2 lime
Filling
3-4 apples, peeled, cored, diced small
1 cup frozen strawberries, chopped fine in processor
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
Handful of fresh basil, chiffonaded
Glaze
2 tbsp low fat cream { or an egg wash of 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water}
1 sachet vanilla sugar
Method:
Make the Filling
Toss all ingredients well in a big bowl, and keep aside.
Make the Pastry Dough
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse for a few seconds and then pour into a large mixing bowl.
Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly.
Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together.
Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times. {Thermomix: Add flour, baking powder and salt to TM bowl. Run on Speed 6/5 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and run on Speed 6/ 7 seconds. Turn to knead and run for 1 minute.}
Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring. Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter.
Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the cream / egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.
Brush a little bit of cream / egg wash on the outside of the pie and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
To bake pies, preheat the oven to 180C. Place finished pies onto a lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm {after about 20 minutes as the filling can be very hot} or at room temperature. We liked them chilled too with a drizzle of unsweetened low fat cream as dessert!
“…stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along.”
Robert J. Hastings {Tinyburg Tales}
This is one of those recipes lurking in my folder, adapted from a breathtakingly delicious looking post on Sips and Spoonfuls, devoured, yet for some reason it went ‘unblogged’! This eggless Roasted Peach & Plum Ice Cream made with condensed milk hit a nice chord after the Mango Fro Yo we got addicted to!
As we’ve bid adieu to stone fruit in our neck of the woods, I need to get this out for the lucky folk who are enjoying late summer stone fruit. I also enviously dream of the folk in the Southern Hemisphere who are now welcoming Spring and all the joys of berries & stone fruit! Condensed milk in ice cream is something very new for me, and had me pretty much intrigued as I read Sukaina’s post, devouring all her beautiful pictures. It was a post that sent me scurrying into the kitchen that same morningIn next to no time I had delicious aromas of stone fruit baking with vanilla wafting through the kitchen. It’s a heady way to begin a morning … for stone fruit lovers like me!It gets even more interesting if you are trying to take photographs and run helter skelter from a very inquisitive pooch, one who seems to enjoy every opportunity to ‘check out’ what’s on the menu! My days of ‘relaxed’ & ‘carefree’ photography are history, ones that I never cherished! Cut to now … I’m often glad to click a single frame without having to shoo Coco away! The hapless cocker gets nothing, not a crumb … and eventually snoozes! She is C.U.T.E. though, and even naughtier than before!!I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit gets. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. I had a bit of a struggle keeping the tiresome teen away from my beloved roasted fruit puree as she was looking at having a go at the bowl! Two spoonfuls and I literally shoved her out of my kitchen! Turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream. What’s not to love about the colours and glory of stone fruit!
Summary:I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit get. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. This turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
6 peaches- halved, pitted
8 plums, halved pitted
1 vanilla pod, scraped
3 tbs brown sugar
200ml low fat cream
200gm hung yogurt, well drained
400 ml condensed milk
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Combine sugar and vanilla. Arrange the peaches & plums skin side down on a baking tray and sprinkle with the vanilla/ sugar mixture. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the peaches appear caramelized.
Remove the skin from the peaches as soon as it is cool enough to do so. Puree the peaches and any juices in the baking tray in a blender. {I left the skin on}
{Thermomix: Puree at Speed 10 for 1 minute. Freeze the puree in ice trays or silicon trays}
In a separate bowl combine, the cream, milk, condensed milk and peach/plum puree. Adjust sugar if required. Adding peach extract, peach liqueur or a teeny bit of kirsch will enhance the flavours. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.
{Thermomix: Place frozen puree cubes and cream and condensed milk in TM bowl and process on Speed 10, 1 minute at a time, scraping as required, until smooth. Place in freezer safe bowl and freeze until ready to serve.}
“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
Albert Schweitzer
These are cookies born out of thankfulness, inspiration and amazement at the constant love I receive from readers of my blog. This Chocolate Almond Olive Oil & Whole Wheat Biscotti is the delicious result of the cocoa that Sheetal mailed to me a few days ago. The package had things I love – stuff to bake with … muscovado sugar {my first bag ever}, baking chocolate and cocoa powder. Sheetal said she really hoped I would bake something with the stuff she sent me. … and promised to make the same at home far away!Might as well keep you busy Sheetal, so if you are done with the tart, here’s the next bake!I left the contents of the parcel on my table and looked at them every morning feeling a strange sense of inspiration and desire to bake. The muscovado sugar was the first bit I used, out of curiosity, in this absolutely divine Vanilla Plum Frangipane Tart. The muscovado made the frangipane earthy and different, pairing beautifully with the plums!The success of the Plum Frangipane Tart adventure inspired me to think cocoa. As the dieting diva is still swinging back and forth on her yo-yo diet {as I call it} I thought I’d do some biscotti! It’s been ages since I made some, and this time I adapted a David Lebovitz recipe of Chocolate Almond Biscotti that I had made earlier.Substituted some plain flour with whole wheat, and made the firm cookie like dough in my Thermomix. Reduced the sugar a bit, and I think I could further reduce it a little more the next time. The end result was wonderful; the whole wheat not taking any yumminess. Toasted almonds and chocolate chips do make for delicious biscotti. The teen and pre-teen were seeing visiting the cookie jar quite often while the cookies lasted!The Valrhona I used in my earlier biscotti, coincidentally was a gift from a sweet foodie blogger, Shayma @ The Spice Spoon. Hintz was what I used here, and it made this twice baked Italian cookie absolutely addictive. Do remember to use good quality cocoa.
Summary:An already healthy Italian cookie, made even healthier with the use of some whole wheat flour. Adapted minimally from David Lebovitz, this is an addictive biscotti for the cookie jar. Makes 30-35 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 60 minutes Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cups top-quality cocoa powder {I used Hintz}
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 small eggs, at room temperature
1/8 cup extra light olive oil
3/4 cup vanilla sugar, or plain granulated
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped {optional}
1 cup almonds, toasted and very coarsely-chopped
3/4 cups chocolate chips {I used dark}
For the glaze
1 egg white
1 sachet vanilla sugar
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, olive oil, sugar, vanilla beans and vanilla extract. {Thermomix: Speed 4 / 7-8 seconds}
Fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the toasted chopped almonds and chocolate chips in the till well incorporated, and the cookie dough comes together. {Thermomix: Add the dry ingredients : Speed 3 / 10 seconds. If the dough is too firm, turn into a large bowl and add the nuts and chocolate chips. Mix to incorporate. Else, Reverse Speed 2 / 15 seconds}.
Divide the dough into half, and form into logs using slightly damp hands. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until the dough feels firm. Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes.
Slice and place sides down on the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, turning the baking sheet midway during baking, until the cookies feel mostly firm.
