Mango & Tomato: daring bakers

2/27/10

Daring Bakers: PAMA & POM Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

This is my first Daring Bakers challenge since November! I was excited about making tiramisu. It's not my favorite dessert, but I felt challenged enough to make every single component, yet not panicked enough to give up.

Here are the lady fingers: they were relatively simple to make (if you want a recipe, email me, and I'll be happy to forward it to you).

Instead of using coffee, I decided to use a combination of POM (pomegranate juice) and PAMA (pomegranate liquor). This gave tiramisu a nice fruity flavor and a pretty pink color.

I must make a confession: I cheated (oh no!) and bought the mascarpone cheese instead of making it from scratch. I just did not have the time.

Overall, the challenge was lengthy, but the results were delicious. I have some of the cake in the freezer for one of those days when I really need something sweet.

And just one more photo (because I never know which one Tastespotting and Foodgawker might like lol).

I brought a slice of tiramisu to Oscar, my personal trainer, and he gave me 9/10 :)

11/27/09

Daring Bakers: Cannoli

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Somehow September, October and November are flying by before my eyes. How is it that the Fall is almost over and the Winter is almost here? Maybe it's all the Christmas decorations in the Mall that are messing up with my perception of time?

The point is, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything going on (cooking, blogging, trying to keep my apartment clean, dancing, freelancing for Robyn, etc) and was considering skipping this month's challenge.

Then I found out that my friend Jenny was going to be in DC. When I told Jenny about the cannoli challenge, she said it sounded like fun and "pressured" me to make them! So I did.

If you want a recipe, let me know.

The dough came together really easy, and I used my pasta machine to roll it out. I also decided to buy the cannoli molds (metal tubes), instead of making my own.

The hardest part of the challenge was removing fried cannoli from the forms. A few of them broke in the process.

For the filling, instead of using ricotta, I made home-made whipped cream and spiked it with a bit of rum, orange zest and confectionery sugar. The final result was tasty without being overwhelmingly sweet.

I made only 1/2 of the cannoli recipe and ended up frying 5 cannoli. The rest of the dough is sitting in my refrigerator and will most likely go unused. This wasn't a terribly complicated challenge, but it's also not something I'm planning on making again.

My original thought of adding some chocolate sauce to the shells and covering them with chopped almonds stayed just that: a thought.

Question: other than making more cannoli, is there anything else I can do with the metal cannoli tubes?

10/27/09

Daring Bakers: Macaroons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Let me start from the beginning...3 or so years ago Anna, my twin, decided to go to Paris for a long weekend because of great sales on airfare. Of course she invited me to go with her, but I thought it was ridiculous to go to the City of Love and Romance with my twin sister. I said "no." Then, of course, I changed my mind and bought the tickets. Yes, I change my mind often. Anna, her friend Jen, and I had an incredible time in Paris, despite the cold February weather.

Throughout the trip, Anna kept on mentioning that we simply must go to Laduree: on, and on she went. It was getting slightly ridiculous. And then, we got to Laduree: and OMG! It was so worth it: it was there that I had my firsts taste of macaroons (French, not American). And I was in love! Below are a few photos from that trip:

Then, 2 years ago, I was on a solo trip in San Francisco, and discovered great macaroons in the Ferry Terminal Building from Miette Patisserie--photo below.

For the last few years I have been contemplating making macaroons, but was too afraid. Imagine my excitement and trepidation when this month's challenge turned out to be macaroons!

I'm not posting the recipe here (it's a bit long), but if you want it, let me know and I'll email it to you.

I made my own almond flour, but used store-bought chocolate spread.

Taste-wise, the challenge was a success; look-wise, not so much.

As you can see, I did not get "feet" on my macaroons--they rather spread out.

They also totally stuck to the silicon mat.

Still, in their own imperfect way, I think they look rather pretty.

I think I shall summon up a bit more bravery and try to make macaroons again at some point ;)

9/27/09

Daring Bakers: Puff Pastry

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

When I learned about September's challenge I was both excited and frightened. You see, I love puff pastry, but have never thought about making it myself. Last weekend I decided to devote part of my Saturday to making the puff pastry and then bake it on Sunday.

If you want the exact recipe and directions, let me know and I'll send them to you: they are a bit too lengthy to post here.

Basically, you combine flour with water to make part of the dough. You then put flattened butter in the middle of the dough and close it up. Then roll it, fold it, roll it, refrigerate it, and repeat 6 times ;)

You then roll out the dough and cut out circles from it. Then you cut out a smaller circle out of the large ones and stack the "doughnut" shaped ones on top of full circles. Make some little holes in the full circle, brush everything carefully with an egg wash and bake. The dough rose in the oven quite a bit and was really flaky! (My pictures turned out ridiculously poor this time around.)

For the savory filling I made sauteed mushrooms with onion, bacon and thyme.

For the sweet filling, I used fresh figs, raspberries and home-made whipped cream.

I still have quite a bit of the dough in my freezer, so make sure to check back in at a later date for more puff pastry projects.

8/27/09

Daring Bakers: The Dobos Torta

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Where do I even start? I was horrified by the prospect of making chocolate butter cream and having one of the layers covered with caramel. But I decided to go ahead and give this cake a try (because who knows if the next challenge will be even more challenging? We are allowed to only skip 2 challenges and I've already skipped one earlier this year).

The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate butter cream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.

I halved the recipe and made a mini cake. Making the sponge layers wasn't too difficult: instead of making individual round layers, I made one big layer and cut out the circles. It was definitely spongy and not too flavorful.

The chocolate butter cream was pretty easy to make, but I must have made a mistake somewhere because it did not turn out as thick as I would have expected (even after chilling in the refrigerator) and it was rather hard to work with.

The caramel layer (you top the top layer of the cake in caramel and then cut it into slices) was truly a pain. It stuck to the paper and was chewy to eat...I was afraid all my fillings would be pulled out.

Uhm, anything else I could complain about? :) I guess I am just disappointed by both the taste and the look of the final product. I will definitely not be making this cake again. In fact, I gave most of the cake to Jenn to share with Luis and his roommates.

And now for "what were they thinking?"....SeriousEats chose my cake as photo of the day! This just made me laugh (not out loud, because I'm at work). This just proves that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In the words of my friend Jenny, toodles for now.

7/27/09

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This is my one year anniversary of being a member of Daring Bakers: time flies. I have vastly enjoyed being a member of this amazing group, although some of the challenges were more fun than the others ;)

I have always thought these cookies were called Milano, but I guess Milan is also an acceptable name for them.

I invited my friend Theresa to come over and help me make these. Let's just say it took us several attempts to figure out how to pipe these out: I wanted them to be round instead of oval, and we got a few that were perfectly shaped...others weren't so much. Still, we managed to match them up. The best part was decorating these cookies. Of course I chose dark chocolate, and also decided to use pistachio nuts to add a bit of crunch and saltiness. Pistachios went great with the richness of the cookie and the slight bitterness of dark chocolate.

Milan Cookies Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 20 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies (I actually halved the cookie recipe, but made full recipe of chocolate filling!)

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
Cookie filling
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces dark chocolate, chopped (I just used chocolate chips, so no need to chop!)
• 1 orange, zested
Optional: pistachio nuts, chopped

Directions
1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar. (I just used my hand-held mixer.)
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.
11. Optional: spread a bit more chocolate on top of the cookies and add chopped pistachio on top. Or just drizzle with the chocolate filling (I put mine into a plastic bag and just snipped a little piece of the corner off.)

I doubt I'll ever make these again (it is so much easier to just buy them at the store), but they definitely did not disappoint!

6/27/09

Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I must confess I've never heard of a Bakewell Tart and was slightly apprehensive about baking this concoction. But, like any good Daring Baker, I decided to rise to the challenge.

The recipe is rather lengthy, so if you want it, just email me. Basically, there are 3 components to this tart. 1) Sweet Shortcrust Pastry 2) Frangipane (that's basically a combination of ground almonds, flour, butter, confectionery sugar and eggs 3) Jam (I used store-bought apricot jam).

This was a pretty straightforward challenge. I really liked the result, but brought most of the tart to work because seriously, I do not need all those calories! And I wasn't sure if the dessert would freeze well. The only "issue" I experienced, was that when I took out the first slice of the tart, the jam sort of oozed out...maybe I did not let the tart cool enough?

Here's a quick recap of what you do: make the crust. Let it sit in the refrigerator, then roll it out, put it into your tart pan and then into the freezer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile make Frangipane. Then add a layer of jam on top of the crust, then add a layer of Frangipane. Smooth everything out and bake it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Add sliced almonds and bake 5 more minutes. Voila. You are done!

(click on collages for better detail)

5/27/09

Daring Bakers: Apple Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

When I saw the challenge, I was excited! I've never made strudel, and the task did not seem daunting. I made a few changes to the recipe and decided to make 4 mini strudels: 3 with apple/raisin/walnut/rum filling and one with mango/strawberry/rum filling. (Take a look at what I did with leftover mango/strawberry filling!). For the dough, I used bread flour instead of regular, and sherry vinegar instead of cider vinegar.

The dough was relatively easy to work with. I had a few holes while trying to stretch the dough out, but did not worry about those. Unfortunately I had to wait till the morning after baking the strudel to take pictures and it was REALLY, REALLY sunny, thus the super bright photographs.

Strudel dough from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface. [I made my dough in a bowl and just used a wooden spoon to mix things.]

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it. [As I mentioned earlier, I simply divided the dough in 4 parts and rolled each one on parchment paper, and then stretched it with my hands.]

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

5. I first spread the dough with melted butter, then a combination of fresh bread crumbs and butter and then added the filling before rolling it and tucking in the edges a bit. The whole thing baked at 400 for about 30 minutes.

Below: apple/raisin/toasted walnut/sugar/rum filling

Below: mango, strawberries, rum filling

My thoughts: I wish I would have more time to make this challenge (I felt rushed because was planning on going dancing, but then it rained and I ended up staying home). I also think I should have cut the fruit into smaller sizes. And like I mentioned earlier, the dough might be more tender with all-purpose flour instead of bread flour.

I think it would be a blast to experiment with savory fillings, such as potatoes and mushrooms. But it also might be very easy to simply buy phyllo dough and go to town with that :)

4/27/09

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Since I've made cheesecake before, I wasn't afraid of this challenge (something that typically doesn't happen after I read what Daring Bakers challenge us to do!).

Alas, somehow I was uninspired to come up with something extraordinary, and settled on following the recipe to a "t" and only adding zest of an entire orange to the filling. I also made the cheesecakes in muffin liners: individual portions are always my favorite!

Overall, the recipe came together without a hitch. But, after the cheesecake muffins were baked for 30 minutes, I opened the oven door and could not believe my eyes: they rose by at least one inch and were completely cracked! I was horrified, and too upset to take any photographs.

After sitting in the oven for an hour, however, the cheesecake leveled off, and actually fell slightly. Alas, after chilling in the refrigerator over night it sunk even further.

I was thinking of making sugared orange zest to go on top of the cheesecakes, but then changed my mind: they really were sweet and orange-y enough. And so, below are my un-adorned Orange Zest Cheesecakes.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake
crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, melted
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

NOTES: I used 2/3rds of the recipe and made 12 individual "muffin" cheesecakes and baked them for 30 minutes. Also, my muffin tin did not fit into any other container. So instead of using a water bath, I just placed a 9x13 Pyrex dish (Thanks, Jenny!!!) with boiling water on the oven rack below the one that was holding up the muffin tin.

3/27/09

Daring Bakers: Lasagna

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Ok, now that the official rules of including the above paragraph are completed, let me tell you about March challenge. We had to make lasagna with bechamel sauce, ragu, and most importantly hand-made noodles!!!

I have made fresh pasta in some of the classes at Sur La Table, but never at home. I was excited, a bit nervous, overwhelmed and needed to buy a pasta machine because there was no way I was going to roll out the pasta by hand :)

I also did not feel like eating the entire lasagna on my own, so my friends Jenn, Laura and Wendy joined me for dinner a few weeks ago.

And now to the lasagna!
Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

For the ragu sauce I decided to come up with my own recipe using premade tomato sauce, ground beef, mushrooms, carrots, thyme and dried hot peppers.

For the bechamel sauce I followed the recipe provided, but decided not to add the nutmeg: I'm not a huge fan. Instead, I added a few pinches of chili powder. The sauce came together without a problem, but I had to add quite a bit of milk to make it thinner once I re-heated it for the use in the lasagna.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons all purpose unbleached flour
2 & 2/3 cups milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

And here is the pasta! It was spinach pasta! (Please click on the collage for better detail. Also, notice that I cut my finger while making the ragu, so kneading the pasta was a bit challenging. I joked with my friends that whoever finds a band aid in their piece of lasagna will win a prize. Of course it was only a joke!)

2 jumbo eggs
6 ounces frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 & 1/2 cups all purpose unbleached flour

You basically pile your flour on a clean surface. Make a well inside of it. Drop eggs and spinach into the well and whisk the two together. Then slowly start incorporating the flour into the egg/spinach mixture. It will be a mess, but trust the process! Eventually you'll have a nice ball of dough (after at least 10 minutes of kneading!). I actually had quite a bit of flour left over...not quite sure why.

I used the manual pasta machine to stretch the dough into lasagna noodles. I then cooked it for about 2 minutes before starting to layer the lasagna.

The layers are as follows: bechamel, noodles, bechamel, ragu, Parmesan, repeat. End with noodles, bechamel, Parmesan. Bake at 350 covered for 40 minutes and then uncovered for 10. Let the lasagna sit for about 10 minutes before cutting into it.

What can I say? I was pleasantly surprised! I did not think the bechamel sauce would work in this recipe. But it totally did. The girls liked the lasagna too (and Laura ended up not even missing the ricotta!). The pasta was so insanely thin (in a good way) that it pretty much just melted in your mouth.

I have the leftover lasagna in the freezer to eat after my trip to Las Vegas.

Speaking of Vegas, when you read this post on Thursday, March 27th, I will be in Vegas celebrating my 30th birthday: the long weekend with Anna and our friend Lera! I promise to return your comments once I come back.

Can't wait to find out what challenge awaits the Daring Bakers in April!

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