“Gastronomy is and always has been connected with its sister…
…art of love.”
M.F.K. Fisher
14th morning is always an action replay of the days gone by. He will come and announce {without fail} that we first met on the 13th of Feb many years ago. 21 years!! Can’t believe it’s been that long. Mr PAB has a memory that astounds me, and in many ways is my personal journal – birthdays, anniversaries, who died when etc, each day with marked by an event significant to the time elapsed. He offers me time-lines whether I want it or not, often a balm to my cluttered mind. I do the more mundane practical stuff – insurances, bank work, bills, payday for Man Friday, the gardener etc!Red is the colour of passion or so they say. IMHO, V Day is much over-hyped and a commercial oversell for new lovers! Me? Give me the vibrant colours of nature and I’m inspired. Roasted red bell pepper sauce, a fiery yet sweet Sriracha {finally made it and it’s yum!}, strawberries … all colour my world. {Daughters red painting too!}I am far from a mushy V Day person, yet there’s something magnetic about all the red one sees around this time of the year. It tends to get to me, making me obsess about a Valentine Day special, for PAB though. Blogs are resplendent with sweetheart desserts, one more charming than the other, often more amazing than any you’ve ever seen, and they egg me on to post some love on V Day too.I fell for the trap of this love filled or rather love-fueled day. More red & more l♥v after the heart shaped Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake. The bazaar is still flooded with the most gorgeous red strawberries, the second annual wave in India every year. The fruit & veggie vendor, or fruitwala, is a persuasive fellow, charming me with the shiny red berry. Knocks off a fraction of the price. ‘Specially for you,‘ he says. In my heart I know he says this to many regulars, but I get talked into it and come back in a gleeful mood.What shall I make is the eternal question? Waffles are really on top of my list since I saw El’s gorgeous Belgian Waffles post, but after a headless chicken dance on soccer Saturday, a Sunday morning waffle exercise falls flat. By the time we get our act together, it’s almost time for lunch. The teen has been up doing art work since 5am and at 8am decides its time for nap number 2.Wild horses can’t drag the dieting diva out of bed … so dessert it has to be!Rough puff pastry in the freezer is a bad thing, possibly worse than I ever thought it would be. Do you think so too? It has hypnotizing powers and is the easiest thing to have in the freezer. Did me in for World Nutella Day when I made Nutella Strawberry Puff Pastry Hearts.It threw me a line of temptation yesterday too.Quick check of the fridge revealed low fat cream, home made easy lemon curd, strawberries and of course rough puff pastry! Time for mille fueille, the classic French dessert which holds endless charm, and one I’ve never baked before. If you have puff pastry on hand, this is an indulgent dessert on fast track. I used whipped lemon curd cream instead of pastry cream, the latter I think is quintessential to the classic version. Also cut out a few hearts on top to go with the ♥VDay♥ theme, gave the tops a brushing of egg yolk, and sprinkled some vanilla sugar on top {which you can see got caramelised}. I suppose regular puff pastry would yield a more layered Napoleon vis-a-vis rough puff pastry, but the later is simpler to make at home and is fine with me.
The Napoleon is a pastry made of many layers of puff pastry with filling alternating the layers. It can be eaten as a dessert, or even as a decadent meal. As a French pastry it is called mille-feuilles, or thousand leaves, and it is usually filled with whipped cream, pastry cream, and fruit preserves – most often raspberry jam. The topping may be simply powdered sugar, or a layer of fondant, often with strings of chocolate drawn into a chevron design. In Italy, where the pastry is thought to have originated in Naples, it is called mille foglie (again, thousand leaves), and contains a similar layering like the mille-feuilles of cream, pastry cream, and fruit preserves. A traditional napoleon is filled with plain pastry cream but if desired you may add a thin layer of fruit preserves such as seedless raspberry or strawberry jam or preserves to the filling.
Roll out the puff pastry to a 1/4″ height, trim the edges, and cut into 9 equal rectangles. Cut out hearts in 3 of them if you like, and place rectangles and cut out hearts on a baking tray.
Place tray in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 225C.
Brush the pastry with the glaze, sprinkle with vanilla sugar if using, and bake for 20-25 minutes till puffy and golden.
Cool on racks, and then carefully split each horizontally into 2 with a sharp knife. or the tines of a fork. {You can get 3 layers if you use regular and not rough puff pastry}
Whip the cream to medium peak, and then gently but thoroughly fold in the lemon curd. The cream should thicken quite well now. {You won’t need to add sugar as the lemon curd is quite sweet on it’s own.}
Reserve the heart cut out layers for the pastry tops. {I used the tops and bottoms to give me ♥ cut out tops}
Spread about 1 1/2 tbsp of the whipped lemon curd cream on the bottom layer, and layer with strawberry slices. Top with a middle layer of pastry. Repeat and finally top with remaining pastry layers. Garnish with sliced strawberries if you like. Chill up to 1 hour.
“You are the creative type. We all are – even if we don’t know it yet.”
Oprah
I’m late and I’m racing. It’s World Nutella Day today, the 5th of February. Though I had 2 jars of Nutella in the larder, I kind of got the dates all wrong. A tweet fromthe wonderful Michelle @Bleeding Espresso, one of the WND co-hosts, caught my eye … and she said ‘You still have time. It isn’t until tomorrow’. Sara @ Ms Adventures in Italyis the other host of this delicious event.Tomorrow is already here, and I have battled to get this post rolling after an afternoon of baking with yummy Nutella.
Nutella is the brand name of a hazelnut flavored sweet spread registered by the Italian company Ferrero at the end of 1963. It is a tasty hazelnut spread that contains quality ingredients such as skim milk and a hint of cocoa. Nutella contains no artificial colors or preservatives.
Nutella® spread, in its earliest form, was created in the 1940s by Mr. Pietro Ferrero, a pastry maker and founder of the Ferrero company. At the time, there was very little chocolate because cocoa was in short supply due to World War II rationing. So Mr. Ferrero used hazelnuts, which are plentiful in the Piedmont region of Italy (northwest), to extend the chocolate supply.
I thought I’d just do a rectangular puff pastry tart with Nutella and strawberries, but then the inner passion took over. My sweet & spicy friend Meeta’sMonthly Mingle was on my mind. The theme – Small Bites – Soul Food for your Loved Ones, hosted this month by the lovely food blogger, Astrid @Paulchen’s Food Blog. February is Astrid’s birthday month, and she says “I’d be more than happy if you surprise me for my Birthday with lots of suggestions for a luscious and seductive Valentine’s Day Dinner”! Nutella and strawberries offer quintessential seductive pairing; serve them in crisp puff pastry hearts, and I think you’d hit bulls eye!The morning was a race to the finish as Saturday is an early morning soccer league match for junior. We made it to the game in time, and thankfully the lads team won. I drove back, dirty soccer kleats and boy. It was laundry time again! Oh the mundanities of life. Got back to find the teen had finished all the granola and asked if I could make more. {That post is coming soon… it’s a granola that changed my life!}. ‘LATER‘, I boomed!! Nutella was the only thing on my mind.Kebabs for lunch √. Happily polished off by the troops. Finally time for me and my Nutella. A creative streak kicked in while rolling the puff pastry, and out came heart cookie cutters. I have PLENTY of those in every size and avatar possible! Don’t even ask me why! I’m not a mushy person, and would never think of baking hearts for Mr PAB. Practical, level headed, creative and pretty stubborn am I, baking is my guilty pleasure. I baked hearts to feed the blog in honour of World Nutella Day! I managed to make sweet little bites and tick it off my list-to-do for the day. Are you like me? Before I sleep every night, I have a list of things to do in my mind for the next day. Often it’s a fight to the finish as I try to get them ticked off before the ‘dwarves’ come home from school. And often, they find me running breathless and tired to the bone, but I almost always achieve my targets.I ran a small heart past the mister to check if it was fine to post. He ♥’d it… crisp buttery pastry, slightly tart strawberries and luxuriant chocolate cream! “Indulgent“, he declared … and so they are! I think these are fabulous served for tea, or would make for great V Day dessert served with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream for dessert! Happy Nutella Day!
Nutella Strawberry Puff Pastry Hearts
250gm rough puff pastry
1/2 cup Nutella
100gms strawberries, slice
2 tbsp apricot glaze
Pistachios Method:
Roll out the puff pastry to 1/4″ height. Neatly stamp out 6 3″ heart shapes. {Reroll the pastry gently if required for the 6th shape}.
Take a slightly smaller heart shaped cookie cutter and mark a border about 1/2″ inside, not cutting the pastry right through.
With a offset spatula, or butter knife, spread about 1 tbsp of Nutella over the inner heart. Top with 5-6 slices of strawberries, overlapping slightly. Brush the sides with low fat cream {or egg glaze if you like}
Heat the apricot glaze till runny. Bake at 220C for 30-40 minutes till risen and puffed up.
Remove to a cooling tray. Paint over the strawberries as soon as the tarts come out. Garnish with chopped or slivered pistachios.
“Biryani is often called India’s signature dish”
Pratibha Karan
This was an opportunity I wasn’t going to miss. It took a little organising. MrPAB had to come in early from work to get the kids off the school bus. I had to bake like a mad hatter all morning for the next day was an early soccer match {read 7.30am reporting time…brrrr}, yet I HAD to be attend the event. It was a demo workshop for Pratibha Karans delicious Indian cookbook, simply called – BIRYANI!I remember twisting my younger sisters arm almost a decade ago to buy me Pratibha Karans earlier book Hyderabadi cuisine – A Princely Legacy, which at the time cost a princely sum. It is entirely worth owning. Every picture in that cookbookis royal, the commentary steeped in history and culture. Pretty as can be crockery and tableware, with ancient bric-a-brac, used in the photographs, A Princely Legacy is worth every page. I have cooked from it often, had many questions for the ‘biryani expert’ … which is why I HAD to get to this biryani workshop.With such delicious thoughts in my muddled head, I hopped into a cab and was driven 25 miles in horrid traffic to get to the demo. The event was organised by Perfect Relations & Random House, hosted at Godrej Nature’s Basket in Defence Colony, South Delhi.
The biryani is India’s most beloved dish — one that has spread to all the four corners of the country and assumed many forms. It originated in the Mughal courts, flowering in the jagirs of Awadh, and it is in Lucknow, Delhi and the small Muslim principalities of north India that one finds the classic versions, subtle, refined, and delicately flavoured. Pratibha Karan gives us not just the definitive recipes from these regions but unearths rare and old dishes such as a biryani made with oranges, Rose Biryani and Kebab Biryani. In the south, the biryani has an equally distinguished lineage, if not more so. There are the blueblooded biryanis of Hyderabad which include gems such as the Doodh ki Biryani, Keeme ki biryani and Bater ki biryani. Away from the royal courts, the biryani has adapted itself into a spicy local delicacy in Tamil Nadu, with many towns like Salem, Aambur, Dindigul boasting of their own signature version of the dish.
Pratibha Karan shared lesser known tips of biryani making with patrons of Godrej Nature’s Basket, and took them through the evolution of this mouth watering delight. She offered a blend of culinary, cultural and historical insights of this much loved dish, and shared her ‘Qabooli’ recipe {a vegetarian biryani} with special tips thrown in. The only disappointment was that there was no live cooking demo, which most patrons who attended the workshop expected. Else, it was a pleasure to hear her talk, to feel her passion for biryani and food culture, her eyes glistening with joy. She took questions from curious and enthusiastic foodies, guided them towards making the perfect biryani, sharing her expertise large heartedly. Armed with a copy of her book that Random House generously gave me, I left the workshop feeling uber-confident, ready to win the battle of biryani. {For those who are vegetarians, the book offers a number of delectable vegetarian biryani recipestoo}.
It was just a matter of time and I got myself geared for the challenge. A challenge because I have had some miserable biryani failures of late, and have been cooling my heels on this particular front! I read the book cover to cover, wanted to try so many, and then finally settled for the Katchi Biryani, katchi meaning raw. In the authors words, “This is perhaps Hyderabad’s most renowned biryani. Both the rice and the meat are layered in an almost raw form in the pan. Therein lies it’s unbelievable magic. Many claim Katchi Biryani is th ultimate biryani dish”.I was sold, and just had to try my hand at the magic. I reduced the papaya marginally as I marinated the lamb overnight. I planned to ‘throw‘ together my biryani with minimal fuss the next afternoon, after returning from soccer, which is exactly how it went. Good planning {pat myself on the back}, it was a fuss free experience, and we waited with baited breath to see the outcome. It didn’t disappoint at all. My word, the aroma was great, each grain of rice was separate … I was walking on clouds. Mr PAB exclaimed it was the best ever; he had waited for this for 20 years! Wait no longer. Give this a go. After I made it and got it right, I did read a review on the web to say this was a fiddly biryani to get right. Maybe I’m plain lucky, or maybe I’ve ‘arrived’ on the biryani scene. Whichever way, this was a meal in itself, full of flavour, each grain of rice separate {test of a good biryani}, and tasted even better the next day!
Katchi Biryani From ‘Biryani’ by Pratibha Karan,pg 76 “This is perhaps Hyderabad’s most renowned biryani. Both the rice and the meat are layered in an almost raw form in the pan. Therein lies it’s unbelievable magic. Many claim Katchi Biryani is th ultimate biryani dish.“ Preparation: 25-30 minutes Marination Time: 5-6 hours Cooking Time: 1 hour 15 minutes Serves 8-10
1kg mutton, mix of medium pieces from shoulder, and chops
1tbsp ginger paste
1 1/2 tbsp garlic paste
1 tbsp raw papaya paste {skin & pulp ground fine together} ‘A‘
4 onions, finely sliced {about 300gms}
15 green chillies, ground {I used 3 chopped, and 2 whole}
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped
1 tsp garam masala
500gm yogurt, whisked
Juice of 3 limes
650gm long grain rice {I used basmati}
A liberal pinch of saffron soaked in 1/2 cup warm milk
2 tbsp ghee
150ml refined oil
Salt to taste Method:
Wash the mutton, and drain well. Add ginger, garlic and papaya paste to the mutton, and rub in well. Set aside.
Heat 150ml oil, and fry the sliced onions in this until golden brown. remove from oil, cool a little, and then crush by hand.
Add the crushed fried onions, remaining oil that the onions were fried in, and the remaining ingredients of ‘A’ to the meat. Add salt to taste, mix well and leave to marinate for 5-6 hours. {I reduced the papaya paste by a 1/4 tbsp, and left my meat to marinate in the fridge overnight} Rice
Wash the rice well. Soak for 20minutes. bring 3 1/2 ltrs of water with salt and 1 tsp oil to a boil. Once the water bbegins boiling, add the rice and cook for about 3 minutes, until 20% done. Drain immediately, and transfer rice to a flat pan. Assemble & serve:
Transfer the marinated meat to a heavy bottomed large pan, and place over high heat. Stir until it comes to a boil, then cover and cook for about 10 minutes. Add a cup of water, and when it comes to a boil again, lower the heat and spread the partially cooked rice over the meat in a uniform layer. Cover with a tight fitting lid, and place a heavy weight/ stone over it to prevent the steam from escaping. Cook on ‘dum‘ for about half an hour. {I cooked mine for 25 minutes}.
Open lid, sprinkle the saffron milk over the rice, dot with the ghee, and cover once again with a tight fitting lid. Cook on very low heat for about 15 minutes, until the rice and meat are done and steaming hot. {I did the second 15 minutes of ‘dum’ cooking with a griddle under the pan. } To serve, take out the biryani in large chunks from the sides without mixing to retain it’s multi-hued glory. Serve steaming hot. Note:I grind a small green papaya, skin included, and freeze it in an ice tray. I keep the frozen cubes in a zipbag, and use 1 cube for 1 tbsp when required.
“Maybe now I`ll be able to have a couple of extra cookies or ice cream after dinner without feeling so guilty. Or, without my wife yelling at me.”
David Larsen
Every new year begins with indulgence as the daughters birthday is on the 2nd of Jan! We enjoy this guilty pleasure {’twas Chocolate Orange Almond Gateau this year}. Predictably, the next day I’m hit by New Year guilt pangs. It’s time to think everything on a healthier note, especially to give the year a good beginning blah blah blah… High on my list is plain flour substitutes, as in my mind ‘plain flour = empty calories’. Extended vacations with growing kids means 24 X 7 Cookie Monsters, A L W A Y S H U N G R Y! For me healthy doesn’t necessarily mean knocking the butter out of the cookies during winter … butter has important work to do in this incessant cold weather we are braving.
The primary difference between different types of flour are the quantity of the wheat germ and bran that are milled with the flour, and the type of wheat used for the flour, and the relative protein content of that wheat. Whole wheat flour is simply wheat that has been milled into flour with some, or all, of the germ and bran still attached. Additionally, different varieties of wheat contain different amounts of protein, and the more protein is contained in the flour, the higher gluten it has. {Source:Hubpages.com}
India is traditionally a country where whole wheat flour {aata} is found in virtually every home, and freshly made whole wheat flat breads {rotis, chapatis, parathas etc} often accompany main meals. Until a few years ago, the use of plain flour was limited to cakes, biscuits etc. Unfortunately that is changing as people fall for the disguised charm that plain flour offers, deceptively increasing the luxury in our daily bread, yet sacrificing important proteins in the process.Thankfully though, there are an equal number of adventurous foodies who try to experiment with whole grains. I am one of the latter though I do tend to keep on middle ground; a little bit of plain and a little of whole grain. Other than whole wheat, I often try including buckwheat and oat in my bakes. Quinoa is one whole grain I would love to try, but the price is exorbitantly high as it is an import from South America. So my oft used alternate is oats which are extremely nutritious, containing more protein and unsaturated fat than any other cereal grain.
Whole Grains are Much More than Fibre
Whole grains contain all three parts of the grain kernel – the germ, endosperm and bran. Most often during the milling process the bran and germ are removed leaving only the endosperm. This results in refined grains. However, whole grains contain all three parts of the grain – this makes them a richer source of fibre, vitamins and minerals.
Oats : The Super Whole Grain
Oats have more protein, calcium and Vitamin E than other common unfortified whole grains (wheat, brown rice or whole corn grain) on a gram per gram basis. Only oats have a high amount of soluble fibre (beta glucan) compared to whole wheat or rice. {Source: Quaker Oats}.
Whole Grains are Much More than Fibre
Whole grains contain all three parts of the grain kernel – the germ, endosperm and bran. Most often during the milling process the bran and germ are removed leaving only the endosperm. This results in refined grains. However, whole grains contain all three parts of the grain – this makes them a richer source of fibre, vitamins and minerals.
With all these inspired thoughts in my head, I set off to make cookies, or rather chocolate chip cookies for a healthier 2011! I made a small batch as I consciously stayed away from plain flour and knew not where I was headed. The resultant cookies were a shock to my system, and I now wonder why I even bothered to look at plain flour in my chocolate chip cookies for so many years. I have always included some whole wheat by default, but was taken aback to see that using whole grains alone still gave them a fabulous texture, and handsome bite.Try these, they’re worth every bite even though they don’t look very pretty. The cookie mightn’t be as indulgent as a plain flour smooth cookie if thats what you make. For me, the transition from part whole wheat to whole whole wheat was like I had won the first prize; including oats and demerera sugar giving me the runners up too.I must admit I used my precious stash of Ghirardeli dark chocolate chips in hope that the Ghirardeli would make up for loss of flavour and quintessential chocolate-chip cookie indulgence. I was soon to eat humble pie because they just added to an already delicious cookie.With this new cookie under my belt, 2011 began to feel better already almost! To prove me otherwise, the pre-teen & the teen hit the kitchen this afternoon, shrugging off the cold, and indulged in piling the calories onto my so called healthy cookies. The daughter made delicious ‘Cookies & Cream Strawberry Sundaes‘ for themselves {low fat cream being small consolation}; the son playing the loyal slave. He knew he wouldn’t get a crumb if he displeased his elder sibling; even then wasn’t ‘allowed’ as much as a lick of cream off the spatula!!So much so for my inspired beginning … thankfully this was just 4 cookies. The rest retained their ‘healthy’ status!!
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Whole Wheat & Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies Makes 2 – 2 1/2 dozen cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup demerarera sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped Method:
In a bowl, stir together the dry ingredients – flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, walnuts.
In another big bowl, cream the butter and sugar till fluffy. Next beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Drop a tbsp of cookie dough onto greased cookie trays, leaving an inch and a half in between for spreading during baking. {I use a cookie scoop}. Flatten gently with the tines of a fork.
Bake at 180C for 12-15 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove from oven, leave to cool on trays for 1 minute, then remove to cooling racks and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight box.
“Oh good look its coffee o’clock :))…”
Linda@goodshoeday via twitter
How sweet that tweet was, music to my very ears! I saved it the minute I tripped across it ages ago. I’m a 100% coffee person, and it easily wins hands down as my most favourite flavour in sweet stuff; {garlic holds first place for savoury}. The PAB family is a coffee happy one too, and I am glad the kids are big enough to enjoy the odd coffee doused cake. Year after year, when it comes to my birthday, I always have this coffee cake plan in my head, and the day before, I leave a coffee cake sponge to mature beautifully in the fridge. This year was complete madness! My sis is over from the US with her kids, leaving me hair-brained with no time to plan. So I trashed all plans to bake me a cake…
Mr PAB came back from work, asked if I had baked me a cake {I ALWAYS DO … because I like to}, and I shook my head in negative, in despair and tiredness. He said he’d go and get me one first thing in the morning. Just then the lad said he and his sister would bake me one the next morning…”You just sleep late Mama,” he ordered with a twinkle in his eye! {Words like that are enough to give me sleepless nights!}
I shot out of bed very early in the morning in sheer fright. My kitchen in their hands, a mess that would be unbelievable, one that I would not be able to shriek about … party pooper, yes that’s me. I was in the kitchen in a heartbeat, and back to my books. First stop was Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, but that didn’t have a coffee cake recipe. Coffee coffee coffee…that was the only mantra in my mind, with a cuppa coffee in my hand! Then I leafed through Indulge, which I reviewed for Blogger Aid a while ago. The options seemed far too involved given the time frame… I had to get the cake into the oven before the kids woke up!
My next stop was this beautiful cake decoration book by Roland Mesniers – Basic To Beautiful Cakes that I had won at an event hosted by the Daring Kitchen. My Cinnamon Buttercream Autumn Cake cake got me this gorgeous book which landed at my doorstep, with a sweet note from the ‘daring ladies‘, Lisa ofLa Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice! In January this year, I was inspired to bake this Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake from the book.
I reached for the index and got to the coffee pages pronto. A Coffee Genoise Sponge – holy yum! This was just the thing.
About the sponge, the author writes, “Mrs Clinton’s Coffee Genoise … Mrs Clinton loved coffee desserts in every form. The Mocha Cake in my book Dessert University was a favourite. Espresso sorbet, served with a cinnamon whipped cream, was another. I turned to this recipe for Coffee Genoise again and again because it is so versatile, and because the genoise, flavoured with instant espresso powder, takes on a strong, pure coffee flavour.”
Just reading the introduction had me walking on clouds, dreaming of coffee nirvana, making me forget everything else but coffee! Pure Coffee Flavour?YES PLEASE! It was even better that my sis had got me a jar on instant espresso powder. I also got a heavy duty angel cake tin {Ahn, I got it, I did!!}, bags of spices from whole foods, chocolate chips, almond meal … never-ending delights, just how I like my goodie bag ! The espresso gave me pure delight, and I had the bowl of water on simmer in no time.
It’s a simple and versatile sponge to make, largely fuss free. It rises thanks to air beaten into it over simmering hot water. Be careful not to release the beaten air as you fold the flour in. The melted butter adds just the right luxury to the crumb… not heavy at all, but moist. It’s a cake we went FAST! Mr PAB didn’t look particularly pleased with the smallish size.
The cake was inspired by a series of bakes I did for a project a short while ago; {will write more about that when and IF it sees light of day}. For the project I made a Kiwi-Strawberry Cream Cake, a Espresso Coffee Cream Cake and a Deep Chocolate with Burgundy Cherries Cake. For two of the cakes I used my trademark scrolls, this time in the lace border again, as it seems to have caught on as my signature style, and I love doing it!
I have to shout out a big thank you to this crazy girl Nachiketa from Crazy Over Desserts, who drove miles down to visit me late at night on my birthday with a cake baked especially for me. A coffee-cinnamon cake, with a chocolate ganache, rum soaked raisins within. A gorgeous cake, with a beautiful card made by her little niece just for me.
SIMPLE COFFEE GENOISE
Adapted minimally from Roland Meisner’s Basic to Beautiful Cakes, pg 190
4 large eggs {I added and extra yolk because the eggs were a medium size}
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Line the bottom and sides of a 8″ spring form round tin. Grease and dust with flour.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar over a bowl of simmering hot water for about 5 minutes till thick and mousse like.
Take off water and continue to beat till the mixture cools down, about 5-7 minutes. Add the espresso and beat in again for a minute.
Fold the flour through gently, in 3 goes, lightly till it’s mixed through well. Be careful not to release the beaten in air.
Take a cup of this batter in another bowl, and mix the melted cooled butter through it. Now gently fold this back into the rest of the batter.
Turn the batter into the prepared baking tin, and bake for 30-35 minutes, till a tester comes out clean.
Filling:
1 tbsp coffee dissolved in 3 tbsp water with 1 tbsp sugar
400ml low fat cream
2 tbsp powdered vanilla sugar
1 tsp coffee essence {or 1 tsp instant coffee}
Method:
Whip together till medium peaks form.
Brush each side of the cake with the coffee syrup, and sandwich with the filling. Resrve any remaining cream for garnishing the top.
Topping:
300ml low fat cream
2-3 tbsp vanilla powdered sugar
1 scant tbsp instant espresso powder
Dark chocolate for garnishing
Method:
Whip together until stiff peaks form. Frost the sides of the cake first, and then the top. Garnish as desired.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
~
A reminder for this months MONTHLY MINGLE. If you are BAKING WITH FRUIT this month, do send it in to Monthly Mingle posted HERE. You have until November 23rd, 2010.
“Be sweet and honest always, but for God’s sake don’t eat my doughnuts!”
Emma Bunton
The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
It’s the 27th again, and the much awaited Daring Bakers time of the month again! I’m still not sure if I got it right. Maybe I missed the fine print that states somewhere that we have to bake a batch too, but here I am with the challenge for October 2010. Going nuts about dougnuts is the call, and I think it’s something we love to love universally! What’s not to love about this tasty fried dough, an end result that can be seen across various cultures. Call a doughnut by another name – beignets, crullers, fritters, Sufganiot, and krapfen; tasty little bites they are!
But hello? No baking here, and 650gms of flour…what was I thinking?Was bitten by a bug from la-la land; I really should have halved the recipe. I chose the yeasted doughnuts version, and there was dough popping right out of the bowl, threatening to explode. It was everywhere and I had to fry some in a hurry as it looked like the very active yeast was set to explode. Within the hour of the yeastly rise {in the fridge that too} I quickly set the wok on fire and got frying!
They say ‘hurry makes curry‘. Tch tch … the first doughnut went into the oil in haste, and I was miserably rewarded with a splattering of hot oil! OUCH!! Got branded a confirmed Daring Baker with 2 burns across my forehead. Some stamp eh? Never heard the end of it for 5 days, “OMG, what happened?“… blah blah blah! Could have kicked myself! Please always be CAREFUL when deep frying! Another tip: Do keep a plant of aloe vera handy in your yard/garden. It is soothing and healing, and you can barely see any marks on my face now. Just break off a bit of the cactus stem, squeeze out the clear gel, and apply… works wonders!Completed a quick batch that day after being rudely interrupted by the incident, and the remaining dough went back into the fridge. It stayed there for 2 days because by then I had so much more to do, and it just felt safe sitting there. Day 3 had me running again because it wasn’t safe to let it be anymore. I wish I had made half the quantity of dough because doughnuts are best eaten fresh. IMHO, they just seem to lose their charm as they cool off, losing their characteristic fluffiness and charm.
I made a batch in the oven too, just in case I had missed out on a DB rule for the challenge. They were OK. To make up for their lack of apparent lightness, I dressed them with a low fat cream and vanilla sugar glaze. Had to be PINK in support of Breast Cancer Awareness for Pinktober. {I’ve been going quite PINK this month – Pinkarons {pink macarons}, Quark Mousse with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries, A Strawberry and Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Cake}. The kids enjoyed the pink ones because of the glazing. I had many plans for the fried ones – pumpkin topping, pastry cream within, dessert donuts etc. But the number that had been eaten already didn’t warrant any more calories, so I let them be. They were absolutely light and delicious served fresh. This is one recipe I will use in the future, for it’s ease of making, and taste! YUM!!
The Alton Brownyeast doughnut recipe is great one, except that 4.5 tsps of yeast sounded like too much. I used fresh yeast from my block in the freezer, and despite cutting 10g {10g = about 1 tsp dry}, and placing the dough in the fridge after kneading, an hour later it had more than doubled. The results were very good. After refrigeration, the dough was very easy to work with, and the fresh doughnuts were very, very good. I dusted them with a cinnamon/vanilla sugar mix …
Thank you Lori of Butter Me Up for this fun challenge. It’s been a while since I made donuts, and I have to say it was wonderful making them! Got to use my new donut cutter too that I got from my little shop in Old Delhi. As always, a HUGE THANK YOU to Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for keeping this fab kitchen together … and growing!!
Yeast Doughnuts Minimally adapted from recipe by Alton Brown Yield: 30-35 doughnuts & 30 to 35 doughnut holes, depending on size {Mine were regular sized} Ingredients
1.5 cup milk, lukewarm
70g unsalted butter,melted
30gms fresh yeast
1/3 cup warm water {35°C}
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup granulated vanilla sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated nutmeg
4 2/3 cup (650g} all purpose flour {plus extra for dusting}
Vegetable oil for frying { at least 3 inches of oil} Method:
Mix the warm milk and butter. Set aside.
In a small bowl, pour the warm water over the fresh yeast and let dissolve for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes. If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. {I left it cling wrapped in the fridge, and it rose in 30 minutes}
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch thick. {Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter}.
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a heavy bottom wok to 185°C. {Test the oil to see if it’s ready with a doughnut hole. It should immediately bob to the top of the oil, and begin to brown. If it comes up slowly, the oil needs to get hotter. If it becomes dark brown immediately, the oil is too hot…beware!}
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Sift a mix of powdered vanilla sugar and cinnamon over both sides immediately. Alternatively, allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing.
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