“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
Pablo Picasso
It’s raining summer desserts at home. The mango crop has been fantastic {as has been the peach harvest}. How better to celebrate this luscious fruit than with David Lebovitz! The man is genius, and his Mango Sorbet an absolute winner! The Perfect Scoop is a favorite on my shelf; indispensable for ice cream lovers. Remember the Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream? Droolicious stuff!I’ve had this Mango Sorbet in my drafts for a bit. Then suddenly this week things took a turn for the worse … the power grid collapsed, not once but twice!12 hours without electricity, then back, then gone again for 4 hours! Just when we kind of resurrected, the second collapse came by, 14 hours this time! While newspapers and TV channels were crying themselves hoarse about the worlds biggest black out, 600 million folk without power, all I could think about was “my mango sorbet”!It was a good lesson in preparedness for the future that awaits the generations to come. As kids we’ve lived different times, a country traditionally having exposed its people to frequent power cuts, so it was no big deal as power would go off all the time. Add to it black outs during the Indo Pak war in 1971. Brown paper darkened the windows, jets flew low over the town, sirens echoed over the city, trenches were ready and waiting. No power and no back up … and it didn’t bother us!Cut to now! The power goes off and the inverter cuts in. Instant solution and the kids barely even notice. The grid failure was different however! They learnt a new lesson … when the national grip trips, NO ONE knows when the power will be back! And another yummy one … grid failure is time for smoothies, ice cream, loads of food cooked non stop by a mother who cannot see food wasted!Remember my frozen cherries I mentioned in the Fresh Cherry Quark Cheesecake Pie post?Ho hum… since they threatened not to be frozen for long, they were hurriedly cooked with balsamic vinegar and made to top a delicious dessert to fill these gorgeous Urban Dazzle glasses. Result – happy family who didn’t complain about power cuts! Recipe to be posted next …The mango sorbet is light, refreshing, delicious and screams summer! It’s also my tribute to a beautiful lady – Barbara of Winos & Foodie who was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and sadly lost her battle recently. I was fortunate to meet her virtually on and off over her Yellow events; she was a fighter all the way!Monthly Mingle is the brainchild of the lovely Meeta @ Whats For Lunch Honey, and this month it celebrates Barbara’s spirit at the wonderful Jeanne @ Cook Sister. So positive, so full of energy, great sense of humour, always ready to share her experiences, Barbara held the food blogger world in awe, her love touching a lot of us. For years she successfully ran the Taste of yellow blog event. Of late, I had met her over Thermomix recipes after I bought one. RIP sweet Barbara … you were and are an inspiration to all of us!
{I am linking a few other yellow posts I did recently to this months Monthly Mingle}
Macaron à la Peaches et CrèmeRustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer GaletteFresh Peach Brown Streusel Coffee Cake
[print_this]Recipe: Mango Sorbet
Summary: The mango sorbet is light, refreshing, delicious and screams summer! Recipe adapted minimally from ‘The Perfect Scoop’, David Lebovitz.
“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”
Robert Orben
It’s been literally a mac-vacation for me, a vacation I dislike as it keeps me away from a challenge I love with a vengeance. I’m back on board to get in with the fun and beautiful Mac AttackJamie and I host each month. This time our call was for Vacation Macs … and how better could I get there with my mac-a-vacations … Macaron à la Peaches et Crème {pardon my French please}The flavours are reminiscent of one of the best vacations we enjoyed a few years ago in the Himalayas. We’ve had some other fabulous ones include Goa, Sydney, Hong Kong, Gangtok … but the one the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible just turned 13‘ teen remembers every single day is this one at Ramgarh. Nothing like the serenity of the Himalayas to unwind!
That vacation filled in perfectly with our call this month.Our best macarons reminiscent of that ideal vacation or that perfect holiday spot. Mountains, seaside, tiny hamlet lost in the countryside, large, bustling city teeming with restaurants and museums, these are our inspiration. With the best vacation that comes to mind, from that thought, memory or distant dream, create a fabulous Vacation Macaron!
We stayed at a beautiful heritage cottage surrounded by peach trees and since it was peak summer, we walked by peach trees plucking fresh, juicy fruit right off the tree. This is where my lad became a peach monster and developed a deep love for the fruit.Summer is for stone fruit is my chant. I just cannot have enough of these delicious fruit that are reaching us in the foothills of the Himalayas; better quality and quantity every year! This summer I have had a field day with stone fruit…… Apricot Peach Sorbet,Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherries, Black Forest Cake, Oatmeal Peach Apricot Mango Smoothie {yet to post}, Dark Chocolate Cherry Wholewheat Cakelets {yet to post} … and my fridge is full of cherries, peaches, mangoes and apricots!I have also been developing some food recipes for Del Monte for their website World Foody. The peach ice cream above is one I made last week from their canned peaches, beautiful cling peaches with a fabulous deep flavour. Will let you know when the recipe is up on the website; until then it’s Macaron à la Peaches et Crème!The macaron shells were going to be perfect, something deep within me said to me when I was done folding the macaronage.BUT … in my hurry to beat the power cut, I switched on the upper element instead of the lower one, so my feet popped out with the thermal shock and the skins developed a ‘peach‘ blush. It was too late to salvage the batch, and the little macronage left proved my feeling right! Aaaargh! And did I tell you that at 45C ice-cream melts SO FAST? I was RACING!I used the several times tried and tested David Lebovitz recipe that lives in my head. It never goes wrong if you mix the macronage correctly and let it rest! However, a little more advice follows …
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
… these cookies are fiddly creatures and are dependent on way too many things. egg whites {aged or not}, almond meal,oven temperature, room temperature, humidity levels, the hand that mixes them, the way you pipe them out … and above all, lady luck!
Before I get onto the recipe, I’d like to thank Chillibreeze for interviewing me. You can read it here if you like.I’d also like to thank the Financial Times, Times of India, for including me so generously in their feature ‘Gurgaon is Blogging & How‘ on Business Street, 21st June, 2012. Last but not the least, thank you Javelin Warrior for adding my Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake in your delicious Friday Food Fetish.
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar {I used granulated vanilla sugar}
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 tsp egg white powder
1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
Peach ice cream for filling
Method:
Run the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla bean powder and egg white powder in blender until well blended. Sift into a bowl.
Beat the egg white until foamy, then add the granulated sugar and beat for approximately 2 minutes until stiff peaks form.
Fold in 1/4 of the dry mix until no streaks remain, then add the remainder of the dry mix and gently fold in until you get a lava like batter. {Donot overfold}
Place into a piping bag and pipe circles onto parchment paper.
Tap the trays sharply to get rid of air bubbles and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
Bake in double trays at 140C for 12-15 minutes, until the shells are firm and no longer jiggly. {My oven uses just the lower element for baking, so I place the double trays towards the top of the oven}
Cool and sandwich with softened ice cream. Store in freezer and serve directly from there.
“Ice cream is exquisite, too bad it’s not illegal!”
Voltaire
This very unusual and ADDICTIVE Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream would be illegal if Voltaire had his way! It is beyond exquisite … silky, velvety, deep, sensuous and nothing like I’ve made or bought before. It calls your name as you read theBible of ice creams, The Perfect Scoop, a brilliant piece of work by Monsieur Lebovitz. His style of writing is charming, humourous and addictive as are his recipes. Bookmarking seems futile as I want to try each recipe, one tempting page after another!Coffee HAD to be my first pick for several reasons, primarily because it is my ‘favouritist’ flavour of all time. I am a HUGE coffee addict with a natural affinity to anything ‘coffee‘. Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream was also my first choice since the lovely lady who sent me the book from the UK, Jehanna @ The Cooking Doctor, included a bag of her favourite coffee in the precious parcel. The book itself had me singing, the coffee sent me into high pitched sopranos. Merci Jehanna!!Must be something in the air, the change of season, cooler weather around the corner, or then this coffee cupping session by the Indian baroness of coffee … filter coffee seems to be the only thing I want to use.My journey into the cup of coffee got more exciting all thanks to this hugely talented lady! It got even more exciting thanks to The Cooking Doctor!!
I also picked this eggless ice cream recipe as it uses ingredients easily available here in India {condensed milk and low fat cream}. Heavens knows how hard we try and overcome the non availability of whipping cream here, a daily culinary battle of sorts for many of us!A recipe that says ‘low fat cream’ is music to my ears. No substituting for once, and perfect scoops guaranteed! {I made this just over a month ago, hence the ‘melting moments’ as the weather was still warm}. Now I’m Ready For Dessert!!
“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.
“There’s nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with CHOCOLATE!”
Linda Grayson, “The Pickwick Papers”
Sometimes life springs wonderful surprises, and I sit back reminiscing about how far I’ve come in the past couple of years, and more often than never, the connections boil down to twitter. I have met so many great folk here, all like minded, food at the centre of our universe, and vibes that make everyday HAPPY! Amazing!!
One such tweep is the fun and very talented girl Shayma who blogs at The Spice Spoon. Have you met her? She writes evocatively, a food blog with plenty of connect, inspired by her heritage. We share a sense of infectious enthusiasm, and enjoy endless banter, often in direct messages. She sweetly sent me a bag of her favourite cocoa a few days ago, Valrhona. I’ve heard plenty about it but never figured out what the fuss and hoo-haa was all about. Googling for recipes led me to one of my fave food blogs, David Lebovitz. David recommends the use of superior cocoa in his biscotti recipe, and Valrhona was the one he used. I didn’t have to Google any more!
While I was Googling and deep in Valrhona type thoughts, Mr PAB gave me strangely quizzed looks. … so much excitement over cocoa. I had some proving to do, to me and to him as well. Just mixing the dry ingredients of the biscotti into the wet were enough to make me eat my words. Gosh, the depth, the colour and the flavour of adding superior quality cocoa were already stepping out of the bowl. The first bake and slicing later, it was impossible not to grab a few crumbs. DELICIOUS and oh-so-chocolatey! I couldn’t slice them as thin and neatly as David did his. I think it may be the variety of flour, the temperature, the slight deviation from his recipe etc, but the chunky cookie makes for a fab mouthful. Love how rustic and delicious the sliced biscotti looks.
… Eating my words now, with some delicious crumbs from the first round of baking the biscotti with the cocoa powder in question – Valrhona! Gosh … the biscotti is awesome, and I am pretty sure it had a lot to do with the quality of cocoa. I did add some olive oil to the dough since the eggs I used were small. I could have added another egg, but a sweet lady from the Spanish major Borges was coming over to visit me. I thought she might enjoy the use of olive oil this way, especially since I have been using Borges for a short while.
Sharon visited on behalf of Borges who recently announced it’s entry in the Indian market with the launch of its flagship product Olive Oil. It launched 3 variants – Extra Virgin, Extra Light and Pure Olive Oil. I missed the launch since I was out of town, and the lovely lady came by so see me with a bag of the different variants. Olive oil has seen an upsurge in the Indian market of late, and there have been hectic promotions on many fronts, including this one at the European Art of Taste. {I was mildly surprised to hear exclamations at EAT when I said I use olive oil in desserts and baking.} A lot of folk here don’t associate olive oil with desserts / sweet stuff, but I’ve made Cocoa Cherry Dessert Brownies, Pistachio Olive Oil Brownies, Orange and Olive Oil Cake, Chocolate Buckwheat Lime Tart among other things.
I have been using Borges Olive Oil for a short while now, mainly the extra virgin and extra light varieties. The Extra Light variety has been developed keeping in mind Indian cooking, and has a higher heating point to allow sautéing on high heat, deep frying etc. It has a mild flavour that doesn’t overpower the flavour of the food, but compliments the dish lending it the health benefits associated with olive oil. I am looking forward to using the extra virgin and the balsamic soon. You should see more olive oil recipes popping here now & then as I love using it!
Chocolate Almond Biscotti Adapted minimally from David Lebovitz 30-35 cookies Use a good-quality cocoa powder. You can use natural or Dutch-process for these, whichever one you like. Just remember that the chocolate flavor of the finished cookies is dependent on the quality of cocoa powder you use…. read more 2 cups flour 3/4 cups top-quality cocoa powder {I used Valrhona} 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 small eggs, at room temperature 1/8cup olive oil {I used Borges} 1 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. Bake 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, vanilla beans, vanilla extract and almond essence if using. Fold the dry ingredients, chopped almonds and chocolate chips in the wet mix till well incorporated, and the cookie dough comes together. 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. Cool completely and store in an airtight box.
Davids’ notes : Once baked, cool the cookies completely then store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. If you wish, the cookies can be half-dipped in melted chocolate, then cooled until the chocolate hardens.
“The hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn.”
David Russell
Ready For Dessert? Always!! Our home is always ready for dessert and it guarantees making the main meal so much more enjoyable. The air of anticipation, new variety coming forth … and if it’s chocolate, then it’s nirvana! I made these a while ago, or rather quite a while ago, and didn’t get down to posting them. Today is a happy day because the kids schools have finally reopened after more than 2 months of summer vacations, and I feel a sense of relief. Still scrabbling to get my life back in some order, to feel sane again …
As the story goes, the other day I saw a tweet about a Food Photo Competition from Leite’s Culinaria. I was all ears! I love food photos and competitions. So what if I don’t seem to win them, but taking a shot is always good! It was simple to enter. Find a recipe on Leite’s Culinaria that looks interesting to you, whip it up and make it strike a pose! Leite’s Culinaria is one of those places where the ‘want to make now‘ choice is ample, and it was a tough decision…
I spent the rest of my day browsing recipe after recipe on the site, and was amazed at how many I had bookmarked. There were so many I wanted to try, but eventually stopped short at ‘Robert’s Absolute Best brownies‘ from David Lebovitz’s latest book ‘Ready For Dessert‘. Of course, what I didn’t take into account was the fact that I never find chocolate stuff easy to click. Too late I guess, because the heart was set on these indulgent brownies! His introduction to the recipe had me sold, and I HAD to make them soon. In Monsieur Lebovitz’s words {I could almost see his cynical expression as I read the commentary} …
I have a blanket mistrust of any recipe with a superlative in the title. “The Ultimate” or “The World’s Finest” always makes me raise an eyebrow. But how else can I describe these brownies? I’ve made a lot of brownies in my life, and these really are the best. I learned to make them from the late Robert Steinberg, who changed the world of American chocolate when he cofounded Scharffen Berger chocolate. Part of Robert’s unique charm was that he was quick to argue and that he, like most people who hold strong opinions on things food-wise, was invariably right when you would taste the results. He adapted his brownie recipe from one by cookbook author Maida Heatter. The first time I made the brownies, they were a dry, crumbly disaster. Unconvinced that they were worthy of their accolades, I listened carefully as he walked me through the steps. When he asked if I had stirred the batter vigorously for 1 full minute, I stammered and then finally admitted that I cut that step short. “Aha!” he said. So I made them again, and discovered that was one life-changing minute.
I had the butter and chocolate in a pan in a jiffy, a baker on a mission, on a brownie high!Of course it was another matter that we ran into a major power outage by the time I was done stirring the batter VIGOROUSLY for 1 whole minute {gosh, didn’t think a vigorous minute would be so long!} Just as I turned the batter into the tin, and popped it into my nicely preheated oven, DING! There was a power-cut, and I was gutted! But then, having gotten used to such hapless situations more often than warranted in the summer, I just let the batter sit in the oven. What could go wrong? In any case there was no baking powder in it … ho hum! I aired my grievances on twitter … here’s a teenie bit of the banter…
davidlebovitz: @vindee 2 hours? I couldn’t wait that long. I’d just eat the batter : )
vindee: @davidlebovitz LOL … I might hv had a go if I hadn’t been so egg phobic. Fought the daughter off though. She was ready to dive in!!
Clichéd as it may sound, these did indeed turn out to be the best brownies ever. Fudgy, chocolaty and very ‘perfect-brownie like’ in taste. They baked well despite the fiasco I had with the power outage. I had to fight the kids to stay away from them, and predictably, they didn’t last very long. It’s a drop dead simple recipe, and a one-bowl one. Pay attention to that vigorous minute, you must. It might seem never-ending, but it seems to hold the secret to this great recipe.
Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies Recipe posted on Leite’s Culinaria fromDavid Lebovitz, Ready for Dessert Makes 9 to 12 brownies Ingredients 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped 3/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
Method Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line the inside of a 9-inch square pan with 2 lengths of foil, positioning the sheets perpendicular to each other and allowing the excess to extend beyond the edges of the pan, or with a single large sheet of extra wide foil or parchment paper. Lightly butter the foil or parchment.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Add the flour and stir energetically for 1 full minute—time yourself—until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan. Stir in the chopped nuts.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center feels almost set, about 30 minutes. Do not overbake.
Let the brownie cool completely in the pan—this is the difficult part—before lifting the foil or parchment and the block of brownie out of the pan. Cut the brownie into squares. {The brownies will keep well for up to 4 days and can be frozen for 1 month}
Variation
This recipe takes well to mix-ins. I’ll sometimes add 1/3 cup (45 g) chopped dried cherries or 1/3 cup cocoa nibs to the batter. To make minty brownies, crush the contents of one 50-gram tin of peppermint Altoids in a sturdy resealable plastic bag. Add the crushed mints to the batter along with the nuts (or, if you prefer, omit the nuts). If you like very minty brownies, add 1/2 teaspoon mint extract along with the crushed mints.
