tiramisu!

This month I decided to participate in the Daring Bakers' Challenge. It is a community of food bloggers who all try an insane recipe and share their experiences. It is my first time partaking, but get ready for a very adventurous recipe every month!

Tiramisu is a layered dessert of ladyfingers soaked in espresso and a mixture of creams and mascarpone cheese. For the challenge we had to make the whole thing. Mascarpone, biscuits, 3 kinds of cream. Everything. I'll tell you about them in the order I made them.

First, I made mascarpone (which is basically cream cheese without the tang). To most people, this seems like an impossible task, but it was surprisingly easy and I will surely do it again soon.

You need 2 cups of heavy whipping cream. The recipe said not to use ultra-pasteurized but I did and it turned out fine. If you can get your hands on fresh, organic, pasteurized cream, use it. In fact, use the freshest and most natural ingredients you can find.

Anyway, in a double boiler/ skillet of water+stainless steel bowl, heat the cream to 190° or until little bubbles just start to come to the surface. They say it should take about 15 minutes. The most important part here is that you stir gently the whole time so that a film doesn't form on top making lumpy cheese. That would be gross. Personally, I stood over the hot cream for 30 minutes as my candy thermometer read 160°.

Finally, I gave up and went on to the next step. Add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon or lime juice and stir until the cream thickens (this is like curdling without the lumps). Take the bowl off of the stove and let it cool while you set up a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth over a bowl.

Once cool, pour the cream into the bowl and resist the urge to push it through the strainer with a spoon. Instead, put it in the fridge overnight to let it drain. In the morning, voila! Mascarpone!

Next were the savoiardi biscuits (a.k.a. ladyfingers). I kinda have a problem calling them lady fingers because some of them really looked like fingers and it weirded me out. But the recipe is really good. It is very similar to macaron batter in the respect that the only liquid comes from eggs. Separate 3 eggs and whip the whites as if you were making meringue of some sort. Add 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar 1 at a time and beat until you get shiny stiff peaks. Break the egg yolks and pour them over the whites. Sift 3/4 cup cake flour over the eggs and mix extremely gently. Don't even mix. Fold. These cookies are known for being light and you do not want to deflate them.

See how fluffy the batter is?

Then put the batter into a piping bag and pipe into "finger" shapes on one or two prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of icing sugar over the cookies and let the sugar moisten. It should look shiny like this after a few minutes.

Then sprinkle another 3 tablespoons of icing sugar on them. This is a lot of sugar.

Tap off as much excess as you can then bake them in a 375° oven for 15 minutes or until they puff up and brown slightly. Let them cool on a rack for a few minutes then save them in an airtight container.

The original recipes can be found here. I am not going to give you the recipes for sabayon and pastry cream here, I will just share my experiences. I made the creams the night before I served the tiramisu. The sabayon/zabaglione is supposed to be flavored with port (making it comically purple). My first batch was pretty alcoholic, so I made one flavored with coffee instead. In the end I used a mixture of the two.

The vanilla pastry cream is pretty straightforward. The only difficult part is stirring so that there are no lumps. That is pretty much the theme of this recipe.

After making 3 batches of creams, I had lots of egg whites leftover (perfect for macarons!)

So if you don't know what do do with your leftover yolks, make some classy pudding!

Later, you mix the mascarpone, pastry cream, sabayon, and whipped cream to make the cream.

Lightly dip the cookies in a mixture of espresso (or just strong coffee) and sugar and line the serving dish with them. Layer cream on cookies on cream on cookies as much as you have room and materials for, ending on a cream layer for the top. Dust on some cocoa and serve! You may want to chill it a while before serving.

Look at those layers!

This was for my sister's birthday.

Obviously, it was a hit.

You really should try this. As time consuming as it was, the concepts were not especially difficult and it was just so impressive.

Come on, I dare you.

xoxo,

allie

Barbapapa!

Barbapapa - Peinture et camouflage
Uploaded by CamDoTv. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

A cartoon in french which is completely unrelated to baking.

I think it's funny.

xoxo,

allie

butter madeleines

A while ago I received a silicon madeleine pan and stashed it far away in a corner somewhere. I just stumbled upon it and thought I should share it's coolness with you! As you can see, it is bright and festive. It brightens my day just looking at it. The coolest part about it is that it is flexible and perfect for popping out fresh and hot cookies. Strangely enough, it has 20 molds instead of the usual dozen. This particular pan yields teeny tiny cookies.

My first (or most memorable) experience with madeleines was at, in my opinion, the best restaurant in Atlanta, Bacchanalia. After being served at least five courses of amazing and fresh food, the waiter asked if we needed anything else. We all said that we could not even imagine there being anything else for them to give us! The waiter replied, "Oh, but there are two more courses!" We all thought he was kidding until a plate of tiny assorted cookies and a tray of fresh butter madeleines were placed in front of us. The buttery smell wafted around our table, and suddenly I had the need to taste one. They were, let me tell you, some of the best cookies of my life. Warm and buttery, with a golden, shell shaped crust, they were caramelized on the outside and like a pound cake on the inside. Absolutely perfect. This is my idea of the perfect madeleine.

This recipe is from 101 cookbooks and can be found here. It features a stick and a half of butter (I know, but it is just so good) and the zest of a lemon, which lends a freshness to the rich cookies. I apologize for the lack of pictures here; I kept saying "I forgot to take a picture of that!" But if you were wondering, I followed the recipe exactly (unlike usual). In my tiny pan, I ended up making about 80 cookies. My french class of four people probably won't finish them. =)

I did end up forgetting to dust them with powdered sugar, but they really didn't even need it. They are best fresh out of the oven, but they held up well all day. I can't vouch for how long they last since mine were eaten the first day. I know that metal pans are on an entirely different level of legitimacy, but silicon works just fine for me. If you want to buy a pan, I probably would recommend a metal one. This is a pretty easy recipe and very rewarding.

Madeleines are perfect for sitting down with a warm cup of something to relax.

Enjoy.

xoxo,

allie

not another birthday cake..

My family has always been a little bit out there. From our tastes in music to hobbies to food, we are not exactly traditional. Yesterday, my mom's birthday, I made an alternative to the classic birthday cake. This recipe is stolen from Tartelette, my favorite cooking blog. I highly suggest you all go check out the site. She is creative in the kitchen and takes gorgeous pictures of food. Also, she makes macarons! But today is a break from my favorite cookie to make another almond-based treat. If you have tried making macarons and do not feel the need to ever make them again, I understand. Don't throw away that almond flour! It can be used for hundreds of other recipes which are less frustrating than macarons.

Helene at Tartelette gives two names for these: the original, almond and poached pear cakes that tumble down, and her own name for them, poached pear and almond fallen souffle cakes. The latter sounds more upscale in my opinion, but use whichever you like.

Besides almond flour, these have another unusual ingredient, forelle or seckel pears. They are pretty much the world's cutest mini fruit. If you can't get these where you live, you can use regular pears cut in half lengthwise. My dad is not a fan of pears, so he gets some surprisingly nice looking raspberries on his cake. We try to eat locally and in season as much as possible, but these are what we would call "A++" berries.

First, we are going to poach the pears. For these 2 pears, I am using about 3 cups of water. You want the pears to be pretty much covered except for the stems. Add a quarter of a lemon or lime, a cinnamon stick, a clove, star anise, allspice berry, cardamom pod, or any other spices that aren't in powder form. Also add a quarter cup of sugar to the mixture and bring it to a boil. If you want, peel the pears and core them from the bottom, but leave on the stems (they look beautiful and help with eating them). Place the pears in the liquid and poach them for about 10 minutes or until they are soft. If yours tend to fall over when you cook them, like mine do, just remember to turn them over every once in a while to cook evenly.

These were the seasonings before I added water and a picture of the finished pears.

Set them aside to cool while you prepare the batter. Cream butter and sugar, then beat in an egg. Add vanilla, heavy cream, and flour (of the almond and all-purpose varieties) and mix until smooth. Fill the ramekins about a third of the way and place the pear in the center (or any fruit you choose). Bake them at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until they are puffy and golden brown.

When they come out of the oven, dust the cakes with powdered sugar and serve warm. Be sure to cool them for a few minutes, though.

The verdict? Delicious. They are crispy and chewy on the top and have a custard-like center, especially in the raspberry version. These cakes are not super sweet, and a good percentage of the sweetness comes from the fruit. Be sure to choose fruit that is in season to get the sweetest cakes. Stone fruits like peaches and plums could be ideal for the summer. If you like traditional and very sweet desserts, you may want to add more sugar or pick different fillings. These are nice for a small group because you can make individual portions without weeks worth of leftovers. For my mom, they were the perfect birthday cakes.

It was a truly happy birthday.

xoxo,

allie

p.s. the original recipe can be found here

starbucks macarons?

I recently read on Paris Breakfasts, my favorite blog, about the new "french macaroons" at Starbucks! She has much more experience than me in the legit macaron department, so I trust her judgement. She said that they were too sweet, and were sold at about 3,500 Starbucks stores. With a Starbucks on every corner, I figured I would never find them. The very next day I saw them at a store on Stuart St. in Boston! They come in a box of 12 mini macs with a variety of classic flavors: chocolate, vanilla, coffee, raspberry, lemon, and pistachio.

Apologies that I ate some before taking the picture :)

They are all adorable. The chocolate one had a much more even and chocolatey color than my little speckled ones. I found that it was dense in the middle, like a piece of chocolate cake, and I had a hard time distinguishing the filling from the cookie. Perhaps not being as fresh caused the textural difference.

They were a little too sweet, and the filling was... lacking (but mine is not perfect either, so I can't really judge).

If you can't get to Paris, Japan, LA, or New York City; can't find someone to get them for you, and have little success in the kitchen, these might be worth trying. Keep in mind that they are not exactly the best example of a perfect macaron.

When things are mass-produced, they are just not as good.

xoxo,

allie

passion fruit chocolate.

Today I am developing my own recipe for passion fruit chocolate macarons. Since a trip to Hawaii, my family has been in love with the "deliciously sour" distinctive flavor of passion fruit. It would be perfectly accented by the creamy nuttiness of dark chocolate.

To start out, beat the eggs and sugar as usual, but instead of vanilla extract, add a teaspoon of passion fruit concentrate. I got mine from my dad's friend who has a restaurant, but I am sure you can get it online. The directions say to add sugar and water, but there is already enough sugar, and we don't want to dilute the flavor in the batter. We will also add a small bit of red and yellow food coloring.

Then add almond flour and powdered sugar as usual. The adorable measuring cups are courtesy of my sister. Also, we got a new sifter! Mix the ingredients and do the macaronnage. Then pipe the batter onto baking sheets line with parchment or silpats. The batter was a little runny, but breaking them apart should not be a problem. With a small strainer, dust cocoa powder on the cookies before they dry.

As always, heat the oven to 375 and bake the macarons for 15 minutes once they have developed a crust. They look pretty fabulous, if I do say so myself. I tried to make a chocolate passion fruit ganache, but it was difficult and frustrating. I will work on the recipe before posting it here.

xoxo,

allie

crazyholidaypartytime.

So today I am making macarons for a french club party on thursday. It is a good idea to make them in advance to let the flavors meld and everything softens up a bit. Then this weekend I am making macarons for my friends as gifts. Lots and lots of macarons making, but plenty of opportunity for experimenting! My main issue with the basic batter recipe is that they sort of collapse and are hollow and unattractive on the tops. They still taste great, but we are on a quest for the perfect macaron. So I am going to try the recipe for chocolate macs, only without the chocolate. They seem to turn out better. Alors, here it goes!

First, of course, whip the egg whites. After watching videos of french people do this on youtube, I learned something potentially very important. The eggs should be a stiff foamy mass, then, while mixing in the other ingredients, you sort of smoosh the air out of them. They call it macaronage. Also, before adding dry ingredients, I added 1/4 tsp. each of chocolate extract and vanilla extract and whipped them together. They will be sort of white chocolate-y. I have a ton of leftover white chocolate glaze from a while ago that will be perfect.

Here are the eggs before,

And here is the batter just mixed...

And with the macaronage.

Note how smooth it is and how it "flows like lava".

Here is the tray of piped macarons while they set and prepare for baking. I am quite proud that they are pretty much even and only two of them ran together! Hooray for practicemakesperfect! Another issue I have had previously is a weird shaped crust. They look sort of like plastic wrap or something. There is a good example in the last post. To try to avoid that, this time I put them in the oven as soon as they all had any sort of film on top. They were shiny and round. Let's see how they turned out.

They started to brown on top, so I turned the tray. I think in the end, they all turned out golden brown. They look like marshmallows toasting. Yum! I put them too close and more of them ran stuck together as they baked. Once they come out I can easily pull them apart. The recipe says to cook for 15-18 minutes, which is the longest time I have ever read. I am stopping mine at about 13 minutes. Seriously, every minute counts. I used that glaze again and, thinking I could use it like regular ganache, piled it on. it quickly melted and dripped all over the place. I will use that one as my personal taste test. This recipe seems to be perfect. I am near tears of joy.

Oh mygosh so good! Go make these right now.

Everyone needs to enjoy this magic.

xoxo,

allie