Tag: traditional

Filled Pate a Choux Swans – Daring Bakers, Ugly Ducklings and Swans

“I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats and I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”
Neil Armstrong

Filled Pate a Choux SwansWhen the pastry turned from ugly ducklings into swans it was definitely an ‘almost missed a heartbeat’ moment!  Ever since I got these gorgeous glasses from Urban Dazzle, I thought coffee filled pate-a-choux drizzled with melted chocolate would look beautiful in them! Fancy getting to the Daring Bakers rather late this month, and finding one of the easiest pastries ever but with a delightful challenge woven in –  Filled Pate a Choux Swans!

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

 It was a strange coincidence that I’d been thinking choux pastry the last few weeks and knew I HAD to make the swans even though they did look a little formidable. My only concern was the pastry creme filling, given the hot and humid weather these days. However, the month passed in a heartbeat {what is it with time these days?} and the challenge got left behind!Then 2 days ago at Veda for a Delhi Bloggers Table meet, the very talented and sweet {wickedly so if I may add} food blogger and fellow Daring Baker Ruchira fished out a pastry bag clandestinely and whispered, “Have got these. How much do I snip to get the necks right? Mine are just not piping OK!”You need a trigger sometimes … sometimes stronger than Mr PABs persistent prod when he doesn’t see a show stopper by the 25th of any month. This was it! The next evening it was choux pastry time, done in minutes by the ever efficient Thermomix! The weather has been REALLY drippy and wet the past week, and all of last night too {the pic above is from this morning}. Humidity is HIGH … and crisp pastry proved elusive.The arty daughter decided to pipe a few swan necks too, and got the one that looks the best! See…Made the pastry cream last night {Thermomix again, 7 minutes and done} … and just as my DB alarm rings out loud on my phone, I am hitting the keyboard while the pictures download! Breathless as always, so much to do and so little time … but I got there! Thank you for the inspiration Ruchira @ Cookaroo!I loved the way these came out … whimsical, charming, romantic like a fairytale! Much like the ugly duckling story we read when we were little. I would have liked to whip some home made mascarpone that I had left over into the pastry cream, but there was no time!Pate a choux is one of the simplest and lightest pastries to make – think chooclate eclairs, think Croquembouche, think profiteroles, think cream, puffs or think gougères. One delightful, light as air, crisp golden puff and so much variety. I love that you need very basic ingredients, a strong arm and you are good to go!The Thermomix Cookbook had a choux recipe in there, so my work was easy! The tough part was the waiting to see if the necks came out good, if the piped out ‘poopy‘ shapes made the ugly ducklings into swans, if the crème patisserie  would hold. Worked a charm! The swans remind me of Tchaikovskys Ugly Duckling … a ballet we attached on TV several times as kids; the LP would play forever at home!

Thank you Kat, and 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 and check out some more fabulous swan songs!!!

[print_this]Recipe: Filled Pate a Choux Swans

Summary: Light as air p’pate a choux swans filled with a crème patisserie. Choux recipe source: Good Housekeeping Illustrated Guide to Cooking, 1980 edition. Crème patisserie recipe source adapted from Thermomix Cookbook

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour {plus cooling time}
Ingredients:

  • Pate a choux (cannot be doubled)
  • ½ cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) butter
  •  1 cup (240 ml) water
  •  ¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
  •  1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
  •  4 large eggs
  • Crème patisserie
  • 75g raw sugar {or granulated
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 200ml low fat cream
  • 300ml 2% milk
  • 4 eggs
  • 40g cornflour

Method:

  1. Pate a choux
  2. Line at least two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, or grease pans well.
  3. Preheat oven to moderately hot 190°C.
  4. In a small saucepan, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over until butter melts, then remove from stove.
  5. Add flour all at once and beat, beat, beat the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
  6. Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition. Resulting mixture should be somewhat glossy, very smooth, and somewhat thick.
  7. Thermomix Recipe
  8. Place water, salt, sugar and butter in TM bowl and cook at 100C /Speed 2 for 10 minutes.
    Add the flour and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4. Allow to cool for around 10 minutes.
    Once cool, add eggs to the mix by dropping one egg at a time onto rotating blades for 30-40 seconds each on speed 5.
  9. … the choux swans
  10. Using a ¼” (6 mm) tip on a pastry bag, pipe out about 36 swan heads. You’re aiming for something between a numeral 2 and a question mark, with a little beak if you’re skilled and/or lucky.
  11. Remove the tip from the bag and pipe out 36 swan bodies{ I got about 28}. These will be about 1.5” (40 mm) long, and about 1” (25 mm) wide. One end should be a bit narrower than the other.
  12. Bake the heads and bodies until golden and puffy. {I baked the heads and bodies in separate lots}. The heads will be done a few minutes before the bodies, so keep a close eye on the baking process.
  13. Remove the pastries to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before filling
  14. Crème patisserie
  15. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the flour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
  16. Pour the boiling milk into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. And then stir in the rest of the milk until the mixture is well combined.
  17. Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and heat it under low setting. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
  18. Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain / pour it into a clean bowl.
  19. Thermomix Recipe
  20. Place sugar and vanilla bean in TM bowl, and process for 30seconds on speed 10.
  21. Add remaining ingrdeints, plus vanilla bean shell and cook on 90C/Speed 4 for 7 minutes {until thick}. Strain into a bowl immediately to cool. I chilled it overnight.
  22. Assembling
  23. Take a swan body and use a very sharp knife to cut off the top 1/3rd to ½. Cut the removed top down the center to make two wings.
  24. Dollop a bit of filling into the body, insert head, and then add wings. {I used some pastry cream to secure the wings too}.
  25. Your first attempt will probably not look like much, but the more you make, the more your bevy of swans will become a beautiful work of swan art.

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Thank you Sparkah for including Passionate About Baking in this list –  Top 100 Food Bloggers You Should Cater To And Treat to Expensive Pu Ehr Tea.

Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette … moorish summer tart

“I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.”
Thomas Keller

Ah summer! With fruit and colour in equal abundance, what more can one ask for! Yet with the Indian summer comes stuff I don’t need! Power cuts, high temperatures and no time to bake! Then 2 days ago, the monsoons appeared, schools reopened, and I got a tiny breather. The first thing I did was to roll out a Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette.Whats not to love about a season that offers crumbles, crisps, sorbets, fro yos, cheesecakes, mousse, ice creams, panna cottas, coolers, sangrias, chutneys, preserves, … and so much more! HAPPINESS! And then there are galettes, moorish in every way, full of rustic appeal! A simple free form pastry filled with fresh seasonal fruit has got to be one of my favourite summer desserts {among a slew of others!} There is SO MUCH you can do with stone fruit, it’s amazing! This year the quality has been exceptionally good. I looked at the peaches and wondered if they were ripe enough to peel; I really wanted to see if I could slip ‘them off‘. The fruit was perfect and for the first time in years I looked at a bowl of perfectly peeled peaches. Plums next and success again! I have a friend, an old lady, who spoils me silly constantly sending me stuff from chocolates to tangerines, and everything in between. Her grandson is quite fond of my baking so I try and bake him a little something when he visits from Moscow where he works. He’s visiting these days and this was for him!Made one for him, and then had some fruit left, so made one for us too! Got me high fives from the family. The peach monster said it was ‘really really nice‘, and so did the dieting diva. “Pie, pie, pie“, she screamed, “I want more!“The pastry was nice and crisp despite all the fresh fruit it held. The cornmeal added a touch of texture and crispness. It’s a good tart to make. Serve it warm if you like, though we loved it cold!

A few more rustic tarts on PAB …
Strawberry Galette with Vanilla Scented Frangipane
Savoury Spinach, Tomato & Cheese Galette
Mini Peach, Cherry & Blueberry Galettes
Peach & Plum Galette
Fresh Fig Galette with Vanilla Scented Frangipane

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 with a Taste of Yellow. I am sending this to the MM for July 2012.

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Recipe: Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette

Summary: A rustic dessert bursting with flavour and colour, full of all the fruity goodness that summer offers baked into a simple free form tart.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:

  • Pastry
  • 150g {1 1/2 cups} plain flour
  • 25g {1/4 cup} cornmeal
  • 100g unsalted butter, chilled, cubed
  • 25g {1/8 cup} vanilla sugar {or plain}
  • 2-3 tbsp ice cold water
  • Filling
  • 450g fruit {net weight, peeled, pitted, chopped}, 5-6 peaches, 4-5 plums
  • 50g {1/2 cup} vanilla sugar
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1tbsp Kirsch {optional}
  • 1/4 tsp almond essence
  • 2 tsp plain flour
  • 2 tbsp marmalade
  • Topping:
  • 15ml {1 tbsp} cold milk
  • Turbinado/demerera sugar for sprinkling
  • 1-2 tbsp honey
  • Slivered pistachios/almonds for garnish

Method:

  1. Fruit filling
  2. Place the fruit in a bowl, add in the remaining ingredients {except flour} and leave to macerate for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
  3. Drain out the juices and reserve the fruit in a large bowl. Place juice in a non reactive pan over low heat and reduce it till it becomes thick and syrupy. Add back to fruit in bowl with the flour and mix well. Chill until required.
  4. Pastry
  5. Combine flour, cornmeal and sugar in the bowl of your processor and pulse 2-3 times. Add chilled butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the chilled water through the chute, processing until the dough begins to clump up. {It should stay together when pinched with the fingertips}
  6. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, and quickly pull together to form a ball, flatten, wrap in film and chill for about 30 minutes or more if the weather is warm.
  7. Assemble
  8. Place the pastry on a large sheet of parchment paper. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out, forming a 14-15-inch wide circle.
  9. Brush about an 8-9″ circle  in the centre with the marmalade .{This will prevent the pastry from going soggy with the fruit juices}
  10. Turn the prepared fruit filling over the marmalade keeping it within the inner circle, leaving a 2-inch border.
  11. Gently fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds, using a touch of water if necessary. Place tray in freezer until the oven preheats.
  12. Preheat the oven to 200C.
  13. Before popping the galette into the oven, brush the overlapping sides of the pastry with cold milk and sprinkle turbinado sugar over it.
  14. Bake for about 30-35 minutes till the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. {Tent the top if the pastry browns too fast}
  15. Remove to cooling rack, and brush the visible fruit portion with honey, and top with slivered pistachios, almonds etc.
  16. Cool for at least 30 minutes to allow the pastry to firm up before serving. {Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack}. We had it cold with a drizzle of single cream.

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Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Chip Battenberg … Daring Bakers go ROYALE!

“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
Benjamin Franklin

“My tongue is smiling”, ‘Only good can come out of this”…. some of my favourite food quotes tumbled through my head as I mixed the batter. I was up early looking at the pile of sweet home made butter. The time had come for the Daring Bakers Batternberg, the Queen of Englands favourite cake. My take for her birthday celebrations – Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Chip Batterberg! It was delicious; pretty too, but an uphill task given the terrible weather!!

This cake has grand beginnings. It was actually created as a wedding cake for royalty. The first Battenberg cake was made to celebrate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Victoria, to husband Prince Louis of Battenberg. It’s traditionally flavoured with almond and has the signature Battenberg markings, that is, the yellow and pink squares, said to represent the four princes of Battenberg. The strips of sponge are glued together using jam (normally apricot) and the whole cake is covered in marzipan. Sometimes the edges are crimped and the top is patterned with a knife. This traditional Battenberg recipe comes from Mary Berry’s “Baking Bible”.

Flavours danced in my head, the possibilities seemed endless but the incessantly high temperatures and rampant power cuts held me back … until 4 days ago. The time had come as it was a now or never. Vanilla and peach, coffee walnut, cherry vanilla, dark cherry chocolate, chocolate orange, vanilla pistachio … the colours now dancing too.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

So many choices, so much more confusion! We have a mini Queen of England at home, the dieting diva who has a strong dislike for walnuts and pistachios much to my dismay. The newly turned 13 teen is simpler to handle in food matters as he is more adventurous with his palette. MasterChef helps! Thankfully coffee is something we all agree on, so coffee was in!Pairings? The teens love for dark chocolate {last wished for in this Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake} had my flavours were sorted out. Next? Covering the Battenberg! India is not a marzipan country, and with the heat these days {45C feeling like 47C}, it’s a bother to make from scratch. In fact, you could easily bake the Battenberg on the sidewalk! I chose the plastique as I have wanted to try it ever since I spied it on sweet Allesios blog Recipe Taster ages ago.The time had come for plastique adventure; thats when the cookie crumbled! It was the hottest day of the season, a hot wind blasting its way through the city … and then a massive 7 hour power cut!  Oh, the HORRID HEAT! “If it hadn’t been your birthday, your Majesty, wild horses couldn’t have dragged me to make a Battenberg, buttercream, chocolate plastique and all, given the conditions.”How my buttercream curdled and wept! The plastique behaved beautifully for a while. I LOVED IT; then I hated it. The camera was now thrown away! Rolled the plastique out to line the cake. That was the easy bit. A blast of hot summer wind and contact with buttercream kind of paved it’s plastic-y fate. Everything flowed and disintegrated in different directions. I patched up what I could and shoved it into a fridge already under stress.I tried to pretty it up and camouflage the tattered edges with cocoa, and dunked a plastique rose on top {beautiful tutorial here for chocolate roses}. The stalk wilted in the heat, but at least I managed something. It tasted darned good though, so here you are – Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Chip Batterberg thanks to Mandy …. and her Majesty of course!About the cake Mandy said, “It’s an all in one cake method, so very simple, quick and very few dirty dishes! Although there are specialised Battenberg cake tins available, you don’t need one. This can be baked in a square baking tin and a divide made with foil to separate the two batters. This recipe really is all about simplicity.” TRUE!

Thank you Mandy, and 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 delightful Battenbergs our other daring bakers have squared up!!

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Recipe: Coffee Vanilla Chocolate Chip Batterberg

Summary: A simple, stunning and delicious traditional British cake. Adapted from Coffee and Walnut Battenberg from Mary Berry on the BBC Food website

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves: 8+
Ingredients:

  • Cake
  • ¾ cup / 175gm unsalted butter, softened & cut in cubes
  • ¾ cup / 175gm caster sugar
  • 1¼ cups / 175gm self-raising flour {see notes on how to make your own}
  • 3 large eggs, room temp
  • ½ cup / 65gm ground almonds {or ground rice}
  • 3/4 tsp  baking powder
  • 3 tsp / 15 ml milk
  • ½ tsp / 2½ ml vanilla extract
  • 1½ tsp / 7 gm instant coffee powder
  • 3 Tbsp / 25gm mini dark chocolate chips
  • Coffee Buttercream
  • ½ cup / 115gm  unsalted butter
  • 2 cups / 225gm powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp / 2 gm instant coffee
  • 1½ tsp milk or cream
  • Dark Chocolate Plastique To Finish
  • 200gm Good Quality Dark Chocolate (70% Cocoa content)
  • ¼ cup / 60ml Light Corn Syrup / Glucose Syrup

Method:

  1. Cake
  2. Preheat oven to moderate 180°C
  3. Grease an 8”/20cm square baking tin with butter
  4. Line the tin with parchment paper, creating a divide in the middle with the parchment (or foil) – Tip: See photos or watch video above for detailed instructions
  5. Whisk together dry ingredients (except chocolate chips and coffee) and combine with the wet ingredients in a large bowl (except vanilla and milk) and beat together just until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth
  6. Spoon half the mixture into a separate bowl and stir in the vanilla, 1½ teaspoons milk and chocolate chips.
  7. Spoon the chocolate mixture into the one side of the prepared baking tin
  8. Dissolve the coffee in the remaining 1½ teaspoon milk and add to the remaining batter, stir until just combined
  9. Spoon the coffee batter into the other half of the prepared baking tin
  10. Smooth the surface of the batter with a spatula, making sure batter is in each corner
  11. Bake for 25-30mins until the cake is well risen, springs back when lightly touched and a toothpick comes out clean (it should shrink away from the sides of the pan)
  12. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on a wire rack
  13. Because it’s such a thick batter I find that if you spread the batter so that it’s higher at the edges, when it bakes it helps rise without as much of a curved surface
  14. Once completely cool, trim the edges of the cake with a long serrated knife
  15. Cut each sponge in half length ways so that you are left with four long strips of sponge
  16. Neaten the strips and trim as necessary so that your checkered pattern is as neat and even as possible.
  17. Coffee Buttercream
  18. Combine the buttercream ingredients together and mix until combined.
  19. Dark Chocolate Plastique
  20. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water, stir occasionally. {I used the microwave}
  21. Once completely melted, remove from heat and allow to cool a bit
  22. Stir in corn syrup / glucose syrup, it will seize up almost immediately, just keep stirring until mixed and it comes away from the side of the bowl
  23. Transfer chocolate into a seal-able bag, spread the chocolate out then seal the bag. Leave overnight or refrigerate for about 2 hours until completely firm
  24. Turn out from the bag and knead on a surface dusted with powdered sugar, at first it will just break , but as you knead, it will warm up and start to become pliable
  25. Knead until it’s pliable enough to roll out or mould, 5 – 10mins
  26. To Finish
  27. Spread a thin layer of buttercream onto the strips of cake to stick the cake together in a checkered pattern
  28. Dust a large flat surface with icing sugar then roll the plastique in an oblong shape that is wide enough to cover the length of the cake and long enough to completely wrap the cake
  29. Spread the top of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream
  30. Place the cake on the plastique, buttercream side down
  31. Spread buttercream onto the remaining three sides
  32. Press the plastique around the cake, making sure the join is either neatly in the one corner, or will be underneath the cake once turned over
  33. Carefully flip the cake over so that the seam is under the cake and score the top of the cake with a knife, you can also crimp the top corners with your fingers to decorate
  34. Neaten the ends of the cake and remove excess plastique by trimming off a small bit of cake on both ends to reveal the pattern.
  35. Note: How to make your own self raising flour: 1 cup Self Raising Flour = 1 cup / 115g All Purpose Flour + 1 ½ tsp Baking Powder + ¼ tsp Salt (omit salt if there is salt in the recipe) sifted together

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Macaron à la Peaches et Crème … Vacation Macs!

“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 Attack Jamie 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.

Thank you all! I feel really honoured.

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 with a Taste of Yellow. I am sending this to the MM for July 2012.

[print_this]Recipe: Macaron à la Peaches et Crème

Summary: Vanilla macarons sandwiched with a home made low fat peach & cream ice cream. Perfect for those hot summer days!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes {plus resting time}
Ingredients:

  • Vanilla Macarons
  • {recipe adapted from David Lebovitz}
  • 1 egg white {35gm} {I didn’t age mine}
  • 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:

  1. Run the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla bean powder and egg white powder in blender until well blended. Sift into a bowl.
  2. Beat the egg white until foamy, then add the granulated sugar and beat for approximately 2 minutes until stiff peaks form.
  3. 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}
  4. Place into a piping bag and pipe circles onto parchment paper.
  5. Tap the trays sharply to get rid of air bubbles and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
  6. 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}
  7. Cool and sandwich with softened ice cream. Store in freezer and serve directly from there.

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Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake … the most delicious walnut tea cake!

“In case you never get a second chance: don’t be afraid!”
“And what if you do get a second chance?” “You take it!”
C. JoyBell C

The walnut tea cake haunted me. It was part two of the Daring Baker challenge that’s just gone by. I didn’t get it done on time, yet it was high on my list of things to do. Many enticing DB posts later, I breezed into the kitchen, whipped it together … and then helplessly stared at lava cake overflow in my oven! The failure haunted me, so I had to get it right! Here it is now, a happy success story with the Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake.

It was a tea cake waiting to be made, one which I followed on many blogs after a huge thumbs up at the Daring Baker forum. Lorraine @Not Quite Nigella posted a stunner, and so did Sawsan @Chef in Disguise.

I didn’t need any more convincing and soon scuttled off to the kitchen to make mine. I did hit disaster zone as I experimented with smaller tins and had overflowing walnut lava all over my oven. What I salvaged was fabulous but not worthy of a picture! Bryt had a similar disaster …

The walnut tea cake haunted me for a couple of days, and then I pinned it down to using smaller size tins than recommended. I should have just followed the recipe guidelines … but well! We live and learn, and thankfully I had another chance to get it right!! I used the same proportions as I did the last time {cut back the butter and sugar}, and substituted a little flour with walnuts. I hit a home run, and was so relieved I had a cake this time.

Stunning cake! Nutmeg is an acquired taste as many say, but give it a shot. I used a nice heavy dose of freshly grated nutmeg and the whole house smelt divine! You could always use cinnamon if you don’t like nutmeg, or maybe some orange zest instead of the spices. It’s a wonderful cake to try.It’s different! It’s got a crisp biscuit layer on the bottom {and on the sides since I thought I had too much base and pushed some to line the sides}. A rather liquidy batter is beaten up and poured over the biscuit crust, and they bake together, the crust firming crisp and the batter ending up in a sponge. Very interesting!

I used some extra walnuts in mine, and they sank into the liquidy batter becoming soft and nice while baking in the sponge, and tossed a few on top. Great flavours in a cake served warm. A nibble the next day, and the thought of a warm spicy fruit cake popped into my head, a nostalgic winter thought! {BTW, we loved this cold too}

Surprisingly the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible pre-teen‘ requested for a slice {rather two} when he got in from school, and said the same thing. ‘This tastes like Christmas cake Mama’, he declared and ‘I really like it‘! The ‘not so terrible anymore teen‘ didn’t quite take a shine to nutmeg though she devoured the ‘earlier disaster’ as it was squishy & gooey, and nibbled on the ‘good one‘ only when it was chilled!

Thank you Jason of Daily Candor  for sharing your rich cultural heritage in this Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake.

A big thank you also to Womens Weekly UK for featuring Passionate About Baking in their May 15, 2012 issue which is on the stands now.

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Armenian Nutmeg Walnut Cake … the most delicious walnut tea cake!

An addictive, warm, spicy Armenian cake with pleasing overtones of nutmeg and walnut. Simple to make and rustic in appeal, it’s a beautiful tea cake to serve. We enjoyed it warm and chilled too! {Minimally adapted from Jason @ Daily Candor}. Serves 12-14
Course Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine Mediterranean
Keyword baking, cake, dessert, eggless baking
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Cooling time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 12

Ingredients

  • 250 ml milk
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 200 g all-purpose flour
  • 100 g walnuts divided
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 320 g brown sugar
  • 150 g unsalted butter chilled, cubed
  • 1 egg {optional}
  • 1 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Lightly grease an 8″ springform tin {or line}. I used a dessert ring and lined it with foil.
  • Mix the baking soda into the milk and set it aside.
  • Place the flour, 50gm walnuts and baking powder in the bowl of your processor and pulse until the walnut is ground {4-5 times}
  • Add the brown sugar and pulse a couple of times to mix.
  • Now add the chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix. {You can do this by hand too, but a processor is far quicker and easier}
  • Divide this into half. Press half {435gm approx} into an 8″ springform tin, pushing up some into the sides if you like. Else pat firmly to create a base.
  • In the bowl of the processor, add the milk-baking soda mixture to the remaining biscuit mix with the egg and freshly grated nutmeg, and process for 2-3 minutes till you have a smooth batter.
  • Pour this batter over the pressed crust, and sprinkle 25gm walnuts on top. They will sink into the rather ‘liquidy’ batter. Toss the remaining walnuts in a tsp of flour, and sprinkle on top gently.
  • Bake the cake at 180C for about 35 to 45 minutes till the top is a golden brown or till a skewer pushed through the centre of the cake comes out clean. { Mine took about an hour}
  • Cool the cake in the tin before demolding. It is best eaten while still warm, though we enjoyed it cold too.

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Saffron Caramel Panna Cotta

“I remember a hundred lovely lakes, and recall the fragrant breath of pine and fir and cedar and poplar trees. The trail has strung upon it, as upon a thread of silk, opalescent dawns and saffron sunsets.”
Hamlin Garland

There’s something about saffron, something exotic, like a caress, light and beautiful! A tiny bit of this beautiful spice catapults a seemingly good dish into an extraordinary one. Pairing it with a panna cotta I learnt that something quite ethereal happened! We have never sat so long over dessert …  S L O W L Y is how we ate it, not wanting it to finish. Thats just how sublime the Saffron Caramel Panna Cotta turned out to be.A good panna cotta is one of my favourite Italian desserts, possibly on top of my list. It’s been difficult to get the right consistency as whipping or heavy cream isn’t available here in India. I’ve made panna cotta several times in the past, but have never had much luck with turning them out perfectly, never a 100% satisfied feel!Must have been my lucky day as I experimented with a combination of low fat cream and gelatin and got the most amazing result. Amazing in taste and more importantly amazingly set! I set a few in goblets and the rest in metal molds with a saffron caramel {one in a ramekin too}. I had panna cotta on my mind ever since I received a mail from VAV Life Sciences, Mumbai inquiring if I was willing to review a ‘saffron extract‘ that their company produced. Saffron? Yes please! I’d never heard of saffron extract even though I use the normal dry saffron strands quite often … like here in Saffron, Pistachio & cardamom Kulfi {Indian frozen dessert}, Saffron Pistachio Yogurt Ice Cream, Saffron Rice Pudding, Hyderabadi Katchi Biryani, Yakhni Pulao etc.

Natural Saffron Extract : Saffron is a culinary spice that comes from the stigma of the crocus sativus flowers. Saffron Extract is a specially formulated food grade extract of saffron that has been treated to enhance the natural flavour of saffron, without losing any of its natural properties. There is a reduction in the amount of saffron extract required for imparting the same flavour, as compared to dry saffron. While the saffron leaves quickly stale and dry out, saffron extract does not lose flavour and can be stored upto 24 months. Liquid extract is easier to use and standardized in food preparations compared to dry stamens and can be dosed precisely compared to natural saffron. {For further details you can get in touch with  Maitreyee Ghosh – logistics {@} vav {dot} in/ VAV Life Sciences }

With the tag of being the most expensive spice in the world, saffron is precious in many ways, especially its delicate flavour. Gentle and mild yet it elevates taste exotically perhaps like no other spice, saffron is associated with cuisines from India, Persia, Turkey, the Arab World, and even Europe. And I love the way it embraces both sweet and savory recipes so well.This versatile spice goes a long way, and the saffron extract was a pleasant surprise. It imparted the characteristic subtle saffron flavour and colour to perfection. It was easier to use as its already in an extract form so the need to soak it for the obligatory 15 minutes prior use wasn’t necessary. The flavours were deep and pronounced, as was the colour. Just a knife tip amount {about 1/8tsp} was good enough to beautifully flavour the panna cotta and another bit to flavour and colour the caramel.A panna cotta caramel? That morning my path crossed with Raquels who writes a stunning food blog in Spanish, The Tragaldabas. She had the most beautiful panna cotta posted there, and I found my culinary path instantly!! She used Werthers candy in her caramel, and the very idea of a panna cotta with a caramel had me captivated.I went my own caramel way, like how my mother used to make it for caramel custard when we were kids. I remember waiting with bated breadth for the custard to be turned over {always in a green bowl which was reserved for caramel custard}. All three of us sisters would cheer when like magic the well set steamed pudding would ‘plop’ out with this shining crown on top!That was going to be the caramel for my panna cotta, one I decided to flavour with a dash of the saffron extract. Since saffron is such a gentle spice, I kept from letting the caramel turn characteristically dark. Bitter caramel in pudding is yum, but with saffron I turned the heat off the minute the sugar melted and coloured slightly.Perfect Spring dessert, the panna cotta came together like a beautiful dream, lilting, mesmerising, smooth, perfect, like a dream you didn’t want to wake up from. The textures teased the palette and we ate it in silence, everyone enjoying the elegance and caress of this cooked cream. {I made it again yesterday, on request, and to ensure that the magic was for real. It was!!}

[print_this]Recipe: Saffron Caramel Panna Cotta

Summary: Perfect Spring dessert, the panna cotta came together like a beautiful dream, lilting, mesmerising, smooth, perfect, like a dream you didn’t want to wake up from. The textures teased the palette and we ate it in silence, everyone enjoying the elegance and caress of this exquisite Italian dessert.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes plus setting time
Ingredients:

  • Saffron caramel
  • 75gm granulated sugar
  • 1-2gm saffron extract {knife tip full}
  • Saffron Panna Cotta
  • 2tsp gelatin powder
  • 3 tbsp cold water
  • 1ltr low fat cream {18% fat}
  • 110gm vanilla sugar {or plain}
  • 1/8 tsp saffron extract {plus a teeny bit more for topping}
  • Pistachios, rose petals to garnish

Method:

  1. Saffron caramel
  2. Keep the serving molds/ramekins ready.
  3. Place sugar and 1/8 tsp of saffron extract in heavy bottom pan and melt the sugar to a light caramel. Do not let it burn or it will gte bitter. Swirl the pan often and take off the minute all the sugar has melted. It should be a bright orange colour.
  4. Immediately spoon about a heaping tsp into each mold/ramekin, swirling it about to distribute it.Continue for all the molds. Do this pretty fast as the caramel will harden rapidly. Just in case it hardens before you are  place the pan over very low heat to melt again.
  5. Saffron Panna Cotta
  6. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand for five minutes.
  7. Place the cream, saffron and sugar in a heavy bottom pan and gently bring to a simmer, but not a full boil. Stir often.
  8. Take off heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of this hot cream to the dissolved gelatin to loosen it further, and then pour the gelatin mix back into the hot cream through a sieve. Stir well.
  9. Let the mixture stand for about 10 minutes, reserve about 100ml {optional}, and distribute the rest among your serving bowls/molds/ramekins/goblets.
  10. Leave to set for about 1-2 hours, then add a tbsp of the deeper saffron cream over the tops. Allow to set for another 6-8 hours/preferably overnight.
  11. Demold loosening the sides with a blunt knife and serve with a sprinkling of pistachio nuts and edible dried rose petals if you like.

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