tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43832015289822780672024-03-12T20:14:27.581-07:00Rose's Alpha BakersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.comBlogger204125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-9785623709843935032016-12-16T11:15:00.003-08:002016-12-16T11:16:35.880-08:00The Last Roundup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you made the Kouigns Amann (or Kouign Amanns, if you prefer), you already had an amazing taste treat. Now you're in for a visual treat, as The Last Roundup features photos from every baker who braved the mysteries of laminated dough to make this Breton specialty. This series of pictures--each one a beauty--is a fitting tribute to Rose, who was able to make the impossible for a home baker doable.</div>
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<img height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCnGZ0_XIkYRroinbTL0xi1NL46_hwN2W_o_tWoo6p9eKI0zjtTWzIlCMAodIAwQA8qVfMpoGt-Ytl62TJrgzPGEBUYhbPRDnqoubVuSpy-GE76wa3GL1lKkH6u1vwWRSdT_o2Z7R_W4o/s640/IMG_0411.JPG" style="text-align: center;" width="480" /><br />
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<b><i>Photo by Joan</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Alpha Baker Joan</i></b></div>
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<a href="http://alphabakerjoan.blogspot.com/2016/12/kouigns-amann.html">Joan</a> was troubled by the heat in her tiny kitchen, and she had a hard time persuading the butter to stay solid during the turns. But you'd never know there was a problem from looking at that pile of pastries on her elegant floral plate.</div>
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<img height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_VEbvvsV8G7b8IxlJGwXqOiz_r55NSxxY2hm_DlT0pQy6uq3Y29aDUzqvFMEfmlO_ZlEe7cfd0xBbH_t50DGfysX5ng5mtTQr93nnktXKCSUuIF53nJjVekSoHx9vzB2SNlGWaHG7XzN/s640/KA+on+black.jpg" width="480" /></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Vicki</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Heavenly Cake Walk</i></b></div>
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<a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/12/kouigns-amann.html">Vicki</a> was not totally on board with the idea of ending the bake-through as we began, but being Vicki, and with granddaughter as sous chef, she soldiered on, making a Kouign Amann which you can almost hear crackle. "With Roses's recipes, it's often blind faith. Keep calm and carry on." And she did.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhniymVqWVTfAKnoZn94E64VethyAgiTASo0j4NJrFisz5dbYWmcTQOumxEul9zvijQJs1f468mc1vwb4Ya5NiftkQnWOLKrOqjSAhkXv1mgJk81WE3pleCbo-Ybm7TiCXlfTguo-MqPr4/s1600/Rachel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhniymVqWVTfAKnoZn94E64VethyAgiTASo0j4NJrFisz5dbYWmcTQOumxEul9zvijQJs1f468mc1vwb4Ya5NiftkQnWOLKrOqjSAhkXv1mgJk81WE3pleCbo-Ybm7TiCXlfTguo-MqPr4/s640/Rachel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Rachel</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Cooking and Thinking</i></b></div>
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For some of us, including <a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/12/12/rlb-kouigns-amann/">Rachel</a>, this was not a repeat experience. Rachel was one of about ten bakers who joined the group after it started (and special shout-out to Rachel--I don't think she's missed a single week since she joined up!). She didn't think she was up for "this kind of pastry. No laminating for me!" But "these delicious buns had me literally eating my words. They looked right, they were flaky, and they were delicious!" </div>
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<b><i>Photo by Aimee</i></b></div>
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Making these Queenies was also a first-time adventure for <a href="http://www.foodgeekette.com/kouigns-amann/">Aimee</a>, but does this picture make her look like a novice? I think not. "Somewhere between a danish and croissant. Not too sweet. Layers of butter. Completely awesome still warm. Still better than anything from the store the next day.</div>
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<img height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnza7AwZ7FFl9KtPQZy6a1DHJcUgkdNRWA-T5jdEFuqqw_MUaWcn4kiWDHLegJjDWsK20ncEls_I9yYpd3fyWlV4AnD_cqoTUG595oZWM0D8ekQcE6y6XyS5w9iEFOtYfV4CWJEm8FWWty/s640/IMG_3435.JPG" width="640" /></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Mendy</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Greenstein's Bakery</i></b></div>
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And this entry from<a href="http://greensteinsbakery.blogspot.com/2016/12/greensteins-bakery-baking-bible-kouign.html"> Mendy</a>, another amazing example of what you can do with a toaster oven. These were "delicious. Better than I remembered." Mendy sugared the dough with all the turns, instead of just the final one, and was "glad [he] did." And one last picture of Mendy's family, enjoying the pastries with a hearty "L'Chaim!"</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho116iq7ln6vfIF50YsVdsOYJqFKSkz69gP6exqTaAh-ZVnz35Y9rGRKbassPtDb7XEkLAEB03X_c_qqjQvcc5oQuWjX5qdhyphenhyphenk3qKyZ4Px2KVT8iJbAjBYkK68BTCsplrxBW1r5ulhmLo1/s1600/Orin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho116iq7ln6vfIF50YsVdsOYJqFKSkz69gP6exqTaAh-ZVnz35Y9rGRKbassPtDb7XEkLAEB03X_c_qqjQvcc5oQuWjX5qdhyphenhyphenk3qKyZ4Px2KVT8iJbAjBYkK68BTCsplrxBW1r5ulhmLo1/s640/Orin.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Orin</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Orin's Goodies</i></b></div>
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This was also <a href="http://orinsgoodies.com/?p=1980">Orin</a>'s first Kouign Amann, but she thinks they'll be one of the things she'll "be making traditionally in the years ahead." And although it was a first experience, it "went so well," in part, thanks to Patricia's valuable step-by-step in her re-post of her 2014 Kouign Amann blog. "We loved the diversity of textures, flaky, soft and chewy. A goodness of butter rich flavor mixed with caramel heaven."</div>
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<b><i>Photo by Catherine</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Phyllis Caroline </i></b></div>
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Like Mendy, <a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/the-last-post-kouign-amann.html">Catherine</a> thought these were "even better the second time around." And a perfect example of one of the things she's learned after baking nearly every week as an Alpha Baker. "Your colleagues will be disappointed eand angry if you suddenly stop bringing them baked goods on a weekly basis. Especially after the Kouign Amann. Boy, did they like them."</div>
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And that's all she wrote. </div>
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It's always hard to say goodbye, isn't it? It may be a little hard to adjust to a new reality that doesn't include baking at least one, often complicated, recipe a week, blogging about it, and reading all yours blogs and writing about them too. </div>
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The biggest payoff for me has not been the succession of baked goodies, although it's hard to deny that that's been pretty great, but being able to read your vivid, funny, and detailed accounts of your own baking. I've loved being invited into your kitchens, watching your successes and frustrations, and getting glimpses into the lives you lead outside the kitchen. You are a warm, smart, thoughtful, and talented group of people. I'll miss you all.</div>
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And thanks once again to Rose and Woody, for developing these recipes and for having confidence that anyone with an oven (even a toaster oven) can pull them off. Of course you can smooth fondant! Meringues in the shape of birch twigs--why not? Laminated pastry--you can do it! And, for the most part, it turns out that they're right.</div>
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As Mendy said, "Cheers! L'chaim! To life!"</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-3300575727686284082016-12-12T07:59:00.000-08:002016-12-12T07:59:38.280-08:00Kouign Amann<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2w6vc6kGSQr2pJYaGUrCXoJR0fbiLPuBHvjdN9hHWHf7ponMKBXKOf1yQG1dN-DvSBYFvp874A2zLmV4ifKJRaO4UGWfGnWDDa7C6TRRR92Jt6Vkb_x4dq1-9ZmvjtVlHYkrUqHLiHDV/s1600/Kouigns+Amann-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie2w6vc6kGSQr2pJYaGUrCXoJR0fbiLPuBHvjdN9hHWHf7ponMKBXKOf1yQG1dN-DvSBYFvp874A2zLmV4ifKJRaO4UGWfGnWDDa7C6TRRR92Jt6Vkb_x4dq1-9ZmvjtVlHYkrUqHLiHDV/s640/Kouigns+Amann-23.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's all well and good to talk about one Kouign Amann, but what if you want to discuss two or three? I called them Kouigns Amann, but then I noticed that Rose called them Kouign Amanns. Rose knows French better than I do, but does she know Breton? I asked <a href="http://www.eater.com/2016/4/13/11410646/kouign-amann-pastry-france-america">Google</a> what the plural of Kouign Amann was, and it promptly told me it was actually K<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3b3b3b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">ouignoĆ¹ Amann</span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3b3b3b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">. </i><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #3b3b3b; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit;">Well, I must say I hadn't expected that. In the privacy of my own home, I'll continue to call them Queenies, which I've always done.</span></span><br />
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I remember how scared I was of making these the first time around. I just didn't believe it would work out. This time, I honestly enjoyed making them. It was a fine way to while away a wintry December day. During the time the day was resting, I wrapped presents and decorated the house and listened to music.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtrU4gA5zXRbtNi2Ibfg8nTTAFH28Ke5fBvsFCTSRDOyp41EgkOCugqhlNoE7x94lJnuCJ8vzAiNvTG0XJkP7Z7sCuRDBQ0Rmp0X66uPUbdFPpq8EYgh2EhOsPJyZHh4DgOOPzRR41r7j/s1600/Kouigns+Amann-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFtrU4gA5zXRbtNi2Ibfg8nTTAFH28Ke5fBvsFCTSRDOyp41EgkOCugqhlNoE7x94lJnuCJ8vzAiNvTG0XJkP7Z7sCuRDBQ0Rmp0X66uPUbdFPpq8EYgh2EhOsPJyZHh4DgOOPzRR41r7j/s640/Kouigns+Amann-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When the dough wasn't resting, I rolled it out, keeping the corners square!, and folded it in business-letter turns. (When people stop sending letters altogether, how will bakers know how to turn laminated dough?) I can't think of a better way to spend the day.<br />
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I even used a measuring tape to make sure my rectangles were just the right size. Woody was with me the first time I made these. I was alone this time, but the measuring tape and square corners made me feel that I was channeling him.<br />
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It doesn't get hard until the very last part, where the sugar is folded in, and the dough is at its thickest.<br />
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The first time I made them I was confused by the directions about how to make the final flower-like folds. This time I understood they wouldn't all turn out the same way and, as Rose says, that's part of their charm.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgL9S1OfQNpCqXSZET4CKLOXpuz4fedPvvpe5BLq3d5kk26aOZl_myBi4D5nK9AVm7MV4iW_tlopYcBR9Cgd61owxrhZ1JOELJcAfPZaQXpOVWh-fF5S5eOFjRKf9IbAXJWVHZNx164e9/s1600/Kouigns+Amann-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIgL9S1OfQNpCqXSZET4CKLOXpuz4fedPvvpe5BLq3d5kk26aOZl_myBi4D5nK9AVm7MV4iW_tlopYcBR9Cgd61owxrhZ1JOELJcAfPZaQXpOVWh-fF5S5eOFjRKf9IbAXJWVHZNx164e9/s640/Kouigns+Amann-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Fortunately, I had my handy-dandy crumpet rings so I didn't have to improvise with foil or with flashing. <br />
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Isn't it beautiful?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjrImniqOFyCroR9Nq45gRzNtlvenYd0WRwJhJ4gJhhUMobjWHSs9Zer1Wc8KbbyF6mHd-LS7GA0A8WT6dsMlfCj7RlfOJNB_BTmwgpOSZYurJCADyPpqLPWcH8VgO5IMK_5N-wiXt7am/s1600/Kouigns+Amann-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzjrImniqOFyCroR9Nq45gRzNtlvenYd0WRwJhJ4gJhhUMobjWHSs9Zer1Wc8KbbyF6mHd-LS7GA0A8WT6dsMlfCj7RlfOJNB_BTmwgpOSZYurJCADyPpqLPWcH8VgO5IMK_5N-wiXt7am/s640/Kouigns+Amann-15.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I haven't quite achieved perfection yet. There must be a perfect spot, when the top is nicely browned, and the bottom is deeply caramelized but not burned. I moved the baking pan up to the second instead of the lowest level, but I think I must have baked them just 30 seconds too long because the bottom of the Kouign was just a tad over the line between dark and burned. I may try using parchment instead of foil next time (unless someone's already tried parchment and it didn't work, in which case I hope you'll let me know). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBr9XdpsQ5YUeT_asn8cVImv8ROJzQDpbVroxOVquH-gNddtbfq_c_WQJ6M9n6WQZPku9_hbxxBmUtvh-wVcbml6p_dEp2hiDsOry9Fv5EFhyphenhyphen0N1akmPW6W9BamuAuDL4YJT3RSzn9UO7E/s1600/Kouigns+Amann-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBr9XdpsQ5YUeT_asn8cVImv8ROJzQDpbVroxOVquH-gNddtbfq_c_WQJ6M9n6WQZPku9_hbxxBmUtvh-wVcbml6p_dEp2hiDsOry9Fv5EFhyphenhyphen0N1akmPW6W9BamuAuDL4YJT3RSzn9UO7E/s640/Kouigns+Amann-20.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm seriously thinking of freezing just one of these and putting it out for Santa. I'm pretty sure if Santa got a Kouign Amann and a snifter of brandy instead of milk and cookies, I'd get some serious jewelry in my stocking. <br />
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One can always hope.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-32313245374549608072016-12-09T13:24:00.003-08:002016-12-09T13:24:48.713-08:00Midweek Roundup: "Delivered to Three Happy People"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzrcdVVeNUbtfMxg4i92LYanQJ_3wh5VoGjuMKfrfOF4Y4IlaY768uTE5hAODSKaVcfIq7Lsef3HU39GSprloO-mAXJLQeFnLsfRW85c2Z-Ttgauj-tt-E6SJNif-_o0n7AldeZ6K2jBu/s1600/Joan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMzrcdVVeNUbtfMxg4i92LYanQJ_3wh5VoGjuMKfrfOF4Y4IlaY768uTE5hAODSKaVcfIq7Lsef3HU39GSprloO-mAXJLQeFnLsfRW85c2Z-Ttgauj-tt-E6SJNif-_o0n7AldeZ6K2jBu/s640/Joan.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Joan</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Alpha Baker Joan</i></b></div>
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<a href="http://alphabakerjoan.blogspot.com/2016/12/luxury-chocolate-buttercrunch-toffee.html">Joan</a> started making her toffee at 6:00 p.m. and was writing about it at 1:00 a.m., so she must have been exhausted by the time she wrote about it, what with "the long stirring and constant temp checking." Definitely the time-consuming part of making this toffee. But "all's well that ends well," and her toffee "has now been delivered to three happy people."</div>
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Come to think of it, making people happy with small gifts of toffee was a theme for the Alpha Bakers this week, even if the person being made happy was the Alpha Baker herself.</div>
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<a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/12/luxury-chocolate-buttercrunch-toffee.html">Vicki</a> certainly made her granddaughter (aka sous chef) happy with the toffee, and also with the sous chef title and the introduction of the saucier pan, which is now on her Christmas list. And the feeling was mutual, since granddaughter/sous chef made Vicki breakfast, kept her company in the kitchen, and caught it when Vicki almost omitted the vanilla and baking soda. A "luxurious and buttery" toffee is what these two intrepid chefs made together. </div>
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<a href="http://www.butteryum.org/roses-alpha-bakers/2016/12/7/tbb-luxury-chocolate-buttercrunch-toffee">Patricia</a> had just one word for this toffee: "perfect." She wouldn't change a thing (although she spdid change the recipe a bit by spreading the toffee out in a bigger oval so it would be thinner, and by coating only the top of the toffee with chocolate and almonds instead of flipping the cooled toffee over and covering the bottom too). This is one of her favorite toffee recipes--"perfectly crisp and chewy."</div>
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"Toffeemaking success" for Rachel, even though she, like most of us, found the actual cooking process somewhat "nerve-wracking," with the "stirring and temperature taking and fretting I'd let it get too hot and end up with crumbly toffee." She thought she might add some salt to the almonds next time (good idea!), but she was pretty pleased with her first foray into chocolate-covered toffee. </div>
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<a href="https://eatsndrinks.ca/2016/12/08/luxury-chocolate-buttercrunch-toffee/">Kristina</a> was pretty sure this toffee would "make a good contribution to the snack stash" for an at-home football party, and she was so right. "When one of my friends had a piece, his eyes lit up, and he said 'Homemade skor! Skor is my favourite!'" "Definitely a hit" and "a great treat for the Christmas stockpile." </div>
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In addition to making toffee, some of us waxed a little nostalgic over this, the last new recipe in the bake-off. <a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-baking-bible-luxury-chocolate.html">Jen </a>wrote "Baking through Rose's Baking Bible these last two years has been quite a journey. Parts fun, parts exasperating, time-consuming and lost-in-creating, delicious and exquisite and confidence building, this has been a wonderful experience." And the toffee? Pretty wonderful itself. "Crunchy and sweet and perfect for the holiday platter."</div>
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This toffee, in its original incarnation in Rose's Christmas Cookies, was <a href="http://orinsgoodies.com/?p=1946">Orin</a>'s introduction to the Rose Baking Method, and it's been a holiday favorite ever since. Staying true to the original version, she made it without corn syrup, but she did add the chocolate and nuts to both sides, because "who doesn't like more chocolate?" The toffee "has a very nice crunch, and it melts in your mouth like a celebration of flavors. It's rich and creamy, addictive, and buttery smooth crunchy. My taster said, "this is so unlike any 'toffee' that it should have its own name." No wonder it's won a place on Orin's holiday plate!</div>
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<a href="http://breadbabies.blogspot.com/2016/12/alpha-bakers-luxury-chocolate.html">Katya</a> brought happiness to her boyfriend, who is not usually an eater of sweets, but who "has a weakness for salty toffee and Heath bars...." He said "it sticks in your teeth like something very not good for you but in a good way." And "the teen shelvers [at the library] just stood around saying 'mmmmm.'" Well, what do you expect from "some pretty good toffee covered (on both sides!) with chocolate and dipped (on both sides!) in nuts. Madness. Delicious."</div>
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Next week: We are down to the reprise of the Kouign Amann. I can't wait to make this again and to see all of yours!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-65653800844254874612016-12-05T07:57:00.000-08:002016-12-05T07:57:53.756-08:00Luxury Chocolate Buttercrunch Toffee<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2C0D2iKI6NhCZLUPQV6ctXF7Ztt8uUr9LnGnyJBTFmGrjeF6iUTGYiAUy9nETLowgxfbzGRucyy0aiye1X2Mnv4zOfyt-6DLe8sjdO4AT_LamqzIvO7ycQRjky8KOxswBZ1Sdnn4nrS2N/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2C0D2iKI6NhCZLUPQV6ctXF7Ztt8uUr9LnGnyJBTFmGrjeF6iUTGYiAUy9nETLowgxfbzGRucyy0aiye1X2Mnv4zOfyt-6DLe8sjdO4AT_LamqzIvO7ycQRjky8KOxswBZ1Sdnn4nrS2N/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-24.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I wasn't too worried about making this cookie/candy because I've made the original <i>Rose's Christmas Cookies</i> buttercrunch toffee many times. It used to be a regular on my Christmas cookie platter, but I haven't made it for a while. I don't know why because everyone always loved it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-THKB6trTyqjdB77jv5yMRyY7gcdCFZtKt_OZKHsks3V2AJLqJQWu-vKYuM-AB4cv9xjk3MyOen3Fww_E9s4KG_6BiNq2QPpzk9u6wqfIwU_c5lX3mQKKQCXj6ddQXZJXzYHGA-epXgEB/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-THKB6trTyqjdB77jv5yMRyY7gcdCFZtKt_OZKHsks3V2AJLqJQWu-vKYuM-AB4cv9xjk3MyOen3Fww_E9s4KG_6BiNq2QPpzk9u6wqfIwU_c5lX3mQKKQCXj6ddQXZJXzYHGA-epXgEB/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But when I started getting out the ingredients, something about the recipe deeply confused me: the amount of chocolate was given as a range. From 170 to 340 grams. This from Rose, the Queen of Precision. It must be a mistake, I thought. Because I use the advance reading paperback copy to bake with (I know from experience that a cookbook you use once a week for two years gets torn, stained, and generally ratty), I checked the real (autographed) copy. No, that book gave the same range. I was so stunned I had to sit down to ponder. Okay, I guess Rose is letting me decide how thick a layer I want on my toffee. This is probably good. I should be willing to take responsibility for how chocolatey I want my toffee. But that's a big range. I finally decided to let chance take over. I have a huge bag (now almost empty) of Guittard chocolate chips. I poured them in a bowl, and then looked at the scale. 223 grams. I tossed in a few more to get it up to 225 grams. Then I put another 225 grams in the measuring cup, to be melted at a later time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfTuwVJ3ijSBVPvxQ92qjZwq1rX7HIy5w1xcDgA0wWWs9NFFvxy40IuXmawuJ_ZpL8d3wyIC-DH1Ne42wCpRSQpyP2jiz5kseHgCwQrs01_hb7gMU8dEPH0gL68SZCTBbQHyZ6D67shZA/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlfTuwVJ3ijSBVPvxQ92qjZwq1rX7HIy5w1xcDgA0wWWs9NFFvxy40IuXmawuJ_ZpL8d3wyIC-DH1Ne42wCpRSQpyP2jiz5kseHgCwQrs01_hb7gMU8dEPH0gL68SZCTBbQHyZ6D67shZA/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I used dark brown sugar because I was out of light Muscovado. Remember when your baking staples were just flour, sugar, and butter? And remember when you'd never heard of Muscovado sugar or Lyle's golden syrup and didn't have at least four different kinds of flour in your pantry, I dimly remember those days. Anyway, the toffee mixture is much darker than I remember it being. I'm too lazy to go compare recipes. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kuDSS4seVdWf15JTMiIzUHicBoCgcO-Fi1IST3h2vx8MmNhRI4JnUKmP0j9hxr2dMQk-OedRflZq_srWoLXO5MmHnkfvchzySBvX6SxjmAPIMBqxw8dSst3FV_BYRKN-8F6iDWcAzu0D/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7kuDSS4seVdWf15JTMiIzUHicBoCgcO-Fi1IST3h2vx8MmNhRI4JnUKmP0j9hxr2dMQk-OedRflZq_srWoLXO5MmHnkfvchzySBvX6SxjmAPIMBqxw8dSst3FV_BYRKN-8F6iDWcAzu0D/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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"Instant-reading" thermometers aren't really instant. Also, the temperature varies depending on whether you take it in the center or the edge of the pan. So much as I like the idea of taking the hot toffee mixture off the flame at just the right moment, it doesn't really happen. At least not in my kitchen.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLlSujQTlapXL-0gagreF3BKtFwa1EtCyjOv3Vv7jHq9-Pu427Ks0dk4H5dMs7f3x0GtTXBVFjlwppsJ1nEJuZx4i9sTHrnvRQ00i31IzOBtYk0k2glSvmFU_lUHdDURXBCbUq8TseFyA/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizLlSujQTlapXL-0gagreF3BKtFwa1EtCyjOv3Vv7jHq9-Pu427Ks0dk4H5dMs7f3x0GtTXBVFjlwppsJ1nEJuZx4i9sTHrnvRQ00i31IzOBtYk0k2glSvmFU_lUHdDURXBCbUq8TseFyA/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I love it when things change form as if by magic. Here the chocolate melts while it sits on top of the hot toffee, which is also changing from molten lava to solid form. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjJ0JnhJd4MJ7A_pG_HtqsCDR56inwEyQGxBEjfXP_0IxvIt-WEHj3gjdaU2Fvm6b1NzwmUB2wFfU52IOucYioS_eFr2Bc0iT2HSUo265Q-OPLVjZBmoxOBtowbQu0eXZ2kmXki4X-Pd_/s1600/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjJ0JnhJd4MJ7A_pG_HtqsCDR56inwEyQGxBEjfXP_0IxvIt-WEHj3gjdaU2Fvm6b1NzwmUB2wFfU52IOucYioS_eFr2Bc0iT2HSUo265Q-OPLVjZBmoxOBtowbQu0eXZ2kmXki4X-Pd_/s640/Luxury+Chocolate+Buttercrunch+Toffee-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I also remember when I didn't have two different sizes of offset spatulas. Life was simpler then.<br />
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After cooling for an hour, the now-hardened toffee easily slipped off the Sil Pat and turned over without a hitch. A lot of the almonds seemed to fall off even though I thought I'd done a thorough job of pressing them down.<br />
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Then melted chocolate and almonds go on the second side. Press and cool.<br />
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And there you have it. Luxury Buttercrunch Toffee with just exactly the right amount of chocolate. It's very hard to get those proportions just right.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-9816193521439921892016-12-02T13:09:00.003-08:002016-12-02T13:09:56.231-08:00Midweek Roundup: "Rustic and Adorable"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Photo by Katya</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Second Dinner</i></b></div>
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It's pretty hard not to like these cupcakes. In fact, I think you'd have to be pretty grinchy not to like them, although being grinchy is always possible.</div>
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For <a href="http://breadbabies.blogspot.com/2016/12/alpha-bakers-white-chocolate-cupcakes.html">Katya</a>, they provided a chance to work on her "cupcake spin"--"that quick twist of the wrist, properly executed, [that] will make your cupcake frosting look both rustic and adorable, a la Magnolia Bakery or their offshoots." Piping makes them look adorable, but if you add cherries to the raspberry mousseline, the cherries might get stuck in the piping tip. Since Katya's previous foray into baking was brownies into which she'd forgotten to add flour ("weirdly delicious), she was satisfied with how these turned out.</div>
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<a href="http://maggiggie55.blogspot.ca/2016/11/white-chocolate-cupcakes-with-raspberry.html">Rosa</a> has some of the best piping skills this side of the Rockies, so it's not surprising that her cupcakes also looked adorable (although perhaps not rustically so). Rosa enjoyed the cupcakes so much, but she wished the recipe for the mousseline had made just a bit more--the better to make big and beautiful roses atop the cupcakes. She also baked her cupcakes at 350 rather than 375 because she was afraid that temperature was too high for the delicate cupcakes. </div>
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If you've read many of <a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/11/yet-again-another-outstanding-bowl-of.html">Vicki</a>'s posts, you'll know that she likes to taste-test the batter, as well as the finished product. And yes, this was "another outstanding bowl of cake batter from Rose's repertoire." It was Vicki's "lucky day," as there was nary a glitch with meringue are mousseline. And the result was some "pretty fancy cupcakes, ... perfect for a Fancy Nancy tea party." I for one think that in these troubled times we could all do with more Fancy Nancy tea parties. </div>
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I read <a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/11/29/rlb-white-chocolate-cupcakes-with-raspberry-mousseline/">Rachel'</a>s post with great interest because she compared smooshing the raspberries into puree with her old method (sieve and effort--ugh!) with her new method (food mill). The food mill won, hands down, once she figured out that she had the blade in upside-down, that is. Even though Rachel had to mix the butter by hand (her immersion blender "having given up the ghost"), all turned out well. If you want to see what a cupcake with pink spaghetti frosting looks like, you'll have to check out her blog. If you want to know how to get pink spaghetti frosting, you'll just have to figure out how to clog up a piping tip with a "small chunk of hardened sugar syrup." </div>
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I have a confession to make. I've always been comforted by the fact that <a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-baking-bible-white-chocolate.html">Jen</a> is almost as piping-averse as I am. After all, if the Evil Cake Lady herself can bake 100's of great cakes without piping, why shouldn't I? But now she's gone and made these cupcakes and decorated them so beautifully, with roses straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Even though she claims she hid her piping errors, I didn't spot any. Not only did her cupcakes look great, but they tasted great too. "I immediately wanted another cupcake, but in an attempt to model good behavior for Eliot I did not. He is in bed now, and of course I am eating another cupcake."</div>
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<a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/12/white-chocolate-cupcakes-with-raspberry.html">Catherine</a>'s "baking adventure" was a "tale of shortcuts, go-arounds, and straight out laziness." (Note that this is a quotation from Catherine, and that I am not accusing her of being lazy.) Catherine figured that she could find just enough energy to make cupcakes or mousseline, but not both. So she decided to bake the cakes and make raspberry cream cheese icing instead of the mousseline, as Baker Google assured her this would be a snap. Not quite a snap when you run out of icing sugar in the middle of the night, but Catherine managed a series of improvisations that resulted in good, though runny, frosting. Perfect for a young dog's birthday party. Yes, you read that right.</div>
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Next week: Luxury Chocolate Buttercrunch Toffee, an ultra-chocolatey variation on Rose's old favorite from Rose's Christmas Cookies.</div>
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The countdown: We're down to two. It's only the toffee and Kouigns Amann Redux. If you want to get in on the fun, better do it now.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-39331849043016078152016-11-28T07:59:00.000-08:002016-11-28T08:01:43.560-08:00White Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Mousseline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gnOYDEqfw385SE2JfmnVzVrXUIM_iWlmuTkxkvJU_8HpDVA4yjUxo5GDEaBwrsX8Qa_dj8KSNqHAODxosNwdiHkFNN1Su8TsPK_ApIPJ1Lr_Uq5Vv_2tRDnfeB187gigY-RHKWPDNv4G/s1600/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7gnOYDEqfw385SE2JfmnVzVrXUIM_iWlmuTkxkvJU_8HpDVA4yjUxo5GDEaBwrsX8Qa_dj8KSNqHAODxosNwdiHkFNN1Su8TsPK_ApIPJ1Lr_Uq5Vv_2tRDnfeB187gigY-RHKWPDNv4G/s640/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-20.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Have you ever been tempted by a cupcake at a bakery only to bring it home and find that it's dry and flavorless and the nicely-piped mountain of icing tastes of nothing but sweetness? Well, these cupcakes are not like those cupcakes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMg9NHn3yWFV3GnNj_sn0LEXVn4MvrBBGRoqWGY-wv_s7rktfyL5j0fVOwzKjkFwW2A9bqtA5ui8MC5U3nGPB_BABNSAIVebbdEmQdUfQl-qvLjn_7leEJ1ZZCAO4jY5yBmsdxcHCF5QLw/s1600/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMg9NHn3yWFV3GnNj_sn0LEXVn4MvrBBGRoqWGY-wv_s7rktfyL5j0fVOwzKjkFwW2A9bqtA5ui8MC5U3nGPB_BABNSAIVebbdEmQdUfQl-qvLjn_7leEJ1ZZCAO4jY5yBmsdxcHCF5QLw/s640/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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First, they're made with melted white chocolate, which gives them an indefinable but definite flavor and also (I think) gives the cake some texture so that you can't just squish it in your hand and have it turn to mush. (Well, I didn't try that maneuver, but I'm still standing behind my statement).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4e2o9vn1j51HtRcn_ExeIsfXw-EAa_-TShw4qMi2LdoOagAfg7wCDlT-yZY5p8Be8rHX0nfQ2LqcF_2SNe2LslSpy198c6HcIT04KuHLJBGLUVZskLoQKD2kF6DsIQ0vJLISaea29p4hb/s1600/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4e2o9vn1j51HtRcn_ExeIsfXw-EAa_-TShw4qMi2LdoOagAfg7wCDlT-yZY5p8Be8rHX0nfQ2LqcF_2SNe2LslSpy198c6HcIT04KuHLJBGLUVZskLoQKD2kF6DsIQ0vJLISaea29p4hb/s640/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Other than making sure you have real white chocolate with butterfat content, there's nothing tricky about making the batter. And even without weighing the individual cupcakes, I found that the batter was just enough for 16 cupcakes. You probably could have put a little more batter in each cup and make 14 cupcakes, but there's too much for just a dozen. Having more than a dozen of these cupcakes is not the worst thing in the world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPUK-2eu9uSyyGfgDdF3hsjUPTLowZwZmmwi1LKlO19zRabH2ureZoXKRbblexSGX62sFMi7cnmArxUwbAnbU7sT27_OC6jw45XCAOg5MHO5BbOwcx5WXlznPJW-kXM2DMJwO86QPKSBZ/s1600/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCPUK-2eu9uSyyGfgDdF3hsjUPTLowZwZmmwi1LKlO19zRabH2ureZoXKRbblexSGX62sFMi7cnmArxUwbAnbU7sT27_OC6jw45XCAOg5MHO5BbOwcx5WXlznPJW-kXM2DMJwO86QPKSBZ/s640/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now the frosting. When I first read the name of the recipe, I said to myself, "Mousseline. Hmm. Isn't that the frosting with the sugar syrup that can fly all over the kitchen and the one that turns into a horrible curdled mess but eventually turns out OK? If you're lucky." Yes, indeed it is.<br />
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I hate straining and pounding and mashing raspberries. Last time I had to do it, I told myself to immediately order a food mill. But I forgot. I forgot until I was pounding and mashing the raspberries this time. I even know which one I'm going to get, but there are no more raspberry puree recipes in The Baking Bible, so should I get it now or wait until the next time I need it, which may be never. The jury is out.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipNCzKHJ_7kCbsHjTsNo5bWgGOS83p-CP1s1aVTByO9V5w_lEpIaFl26nMp6iu99ZYpXFAleicBVBG70rJZ3j85fG18raf9CVnMvBY4CtD2Q1FSxCCJQkgQRsW6B0ExTuzYg0IIQhblPRs/s1600/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="554" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipNCzKHJ_7kCbsHjTsNo5bWgGOS83p-CP1s1aVTByO9V5w_lEpIaFl26nMp6iu99ZYpXFAleicBVBG70rJZ3j85fG18raf9CVnMvBY4CtD2Q1FSxCCJQkgQRsW6B0ExTuzYg0IIQhblPRs/s640/White+Chocolate+Cupcakes+with+Raspberry+Mousseline-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once you have the raspberry juice and the puree (I have to say it was really hard to tell the juice from the puree). <br />
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Creaming the butter for a good long time is the easy part.<br />
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And this time, adding the sugar syrup to the egged whites was easy too. <br />
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Dealing with the curdled mess was not so easy. Actually, curdled messes, as in two of them. First, the butter and sweetened meringue mixture curdles. Then, when you add the raspberries, it breaks apart and curdles again. I took the curdled mess's temperature several times; it was 68 or 69. Not too hot and not too cold. But definitely not just right. However, by magic as far as I can tell, eventually the curdled mess turns into mousseline. Should it be called messeline?<br />
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I'll grant you that this doesn't look much like a rose. But hey, I piped it, didn't I? I should get credit for that, especially since I hadn't a clue which tip I was supposed to use. Also I got tired of piping from the middle outward, so I went from thse outside in. There is actually one cupcake that you might look at and say to yourself, yeah, I guess you might call that a rose. Unfortunately, Jim didn't take a picture of that one.<br />
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Mess or not, I love the taste of this mousseline. Usually I try to eat one piece of whatever I've made and get it out the door ASAP. I put these in the freezer, however, to reward myself for doing something reward-worthy. JJ gets a treat for being a good listener. Maybe I should<br />
try that. <br />
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What did you say?<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-34291931221085190522016-11-25T11:14:00.000-08:002016-11-25T11:45:39.338-08:00Midweek Roundup: "Wow!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Photo by Rosa</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Simply Delicious</i></b></div>
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This picture of <a href="http://maggiggie55.blogspot.ca/2016/11/pomegranate-winter-chiffon-meringue-pie.html">Rosa</a>'s looks, at first glance, like it's made with a meringue pie shell, but that beautiful white rim is actually piped super-stabilized whipped cream. For the crust, Rosa made a honey wafer graham crust from The Pie and Pastry Bible, and added lemon zest and toasted walnuts for extra flavor. I think she was a little surprised at how delicious this pie turned out to be, and suggested that it would make a dynamite Christmas dessert. Some other alternatives she suggested were to make mini pies or to simply skip the pie concept altogether, and spoon it into pretty glasses topped with whipped cream and crumb topping.</div>
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When you have enough Minor Mishaps to start numbering them, you know it wasn't completely smooth sailing. But <a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/11/21/rlb-pomegranate-winter-chiffon-meringue-pie/">Rachel</a> didn't let her list of mishaps stop her from making the pie from start to finish. First, there was the two-hour slow-oven meringue bake, which prevented her from baking the pie before taking a planned walk, but that just threw the timing off. More problematic was the Losing of the Pie Pan. This clearly shows the disadvantage of having only one pie pan (although you can see that logic would require you to have at least two of every cooking utensil). Well, in fact, she did have another pie pan, which was perfectly fine except for being a little shallow for this recipe. Minor mishap #3 was beating her egg whites for the meringue with an immersion blender that was leaking oil. It turns out that you can beat egg whites by hand. Rachel, who's not on Facebook, missed Rose's instructions on how to get a meringue shell out of the pan. Suffice it to say "the pie had to be scraped out like a baked pudding." Oh well. Rachel still found things to admire about this pie, but it wasn't going to make it on her Top Ten All-Time Favorite list.</div>
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Rachel should take a look at <a href="https://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com/2016/11/pomegranate-winter-chiffon-meringue-pie.html?showComment=1480100401364#c7414591139337756961">Catherine</a>'s blog if she wants to feel a little better about her mishaps. Catherine didn't number her mishaps, but I think she might challenge Rachel to a mishap duel. (Easy for me to say since I didn't even make the meringue). Had Catherine not been an Alpha Baker, she would not even have considered making this pie. "To my mind, a meringue pie crust is an odd concept, and filling it with mousse straight out eccentricity." But, as it turned out, she was glad she made it. "The meringue swirls at the rim of the pie ... are a clever and pretty way to show off the pink mousse filling. The pomegranate flavoured filling is a really lovely, fresh flavour that goes well with the sweet meringue." Because I've already written enough, I won't detail the things that went wrong in the formation of the meringue (but remember that Catherine lives in one of the most humid spots in the world). I'll just say that in Catherine's estimation, delicious as it tasted, the rest of the pie just might have to "go to the big fridge in the sky." Sniff.</div>
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Let me add that Joan has been baking right along with us, but the fruits of her labors are not always visible. Her blog is acting up, so she's been unable to post photos to the blog, but you can see some on Facebook. She may be working on her pie at this very moment!</div>
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Next week: The last cake in the book--a white chocolate cupcake with raspberry mousseline. Sounds delightful.</div>
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The countdown: We have only three recipes left--the cupcakes, a candy/cookie, and the incredible Kouign Amann.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-25437016126095039442016-11-20T18:55:00.000-08:002016-11-20T18:55:26.938-08:00Pomegranate Winter Chiffon Meringue Pie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8BohelBnw5JOQyrMs9x_CvEqv1KaRmqFKopJjx2Q_B-8CK3jMjK2CFwGuARPPkifOixX7p4Bq-11luYQ6t6Uw35TMt-OBHIar8nY_XS1aYgA_Ge6GdjoMefLTpeqJbtp87XdJ4gs2Jft/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM8BohelBnw5JOQyrMs9x_CvEqv1KaRmqFKopJjx2Q_B-8CK3jMjK2CFwGuARPPkifOixX7p4Bq-11luYQ6t6Uw35TMt-OBHIar8nY_XS1aYgA_Ge6GdjoMefLTpeqJbtp87XdJ4gs2Jft/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-14.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Although the name of this pie has the word "meringue" in it, my pie does not, as the picture makes clear, contain meringue, piped or otherwise. We had dinner guests on Saturday. I was still shocked and saddened by the election results, and I didn't have it in me to plan the menu. Saturday morning, though, I realized I was either going to off to shake off my gloom and get started or I would end up ordering pizza and having ice cream for dessert. Nothing wrong with pizza and ice cream, but that's not what I have in mind when I invite people for dinner.<br />
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I decided on comfort food--braised short ribs, mashed potatoes, and glazed carrots. Then I checked the pomegranate pie recipe to see if I'd have time to make it. Well, clearly the meringue shell wasn't going to work. Not only did I have to make meringue and pipe it into a pie pan, but I'd also have to bake it for over 2 hours. And where did that leave the short ribs that had to go into the oven for 3 to 4 hours.<br />
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I considered the alternative: a lemon cookie crust. That sounded delicious, but I'd have to bake cookies, which gave me the same short rib problem. Then I had, if I do say so, a brilliant idea. Remember the very good, very easy crumb crust made with vanilla wafers? What if I made that, and just added lemon peel to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-cdcJKhrOeOoXsEyJ8Axow058z0vJGOwmH5r77TG3A9_qVYXNLuq3y_xqn6aWcf9t-5HH6mQTVJicybecWlPAmaZ1nDbHGZ9CuUGIRJPZGXMTC7BCYDDrZwQwekzKTZW9_wrO3luCcsz/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-cdcJKhrOeOoXsEyJ8Axow058z0vJGOwmH5r77TG3A9_qVYXNLuq3y_xqn6aWcf9t-5HH6mQTVJicybecWlPAmaZ1nDbHGZ9CuUGIRJPZGXMTC7BCYDDrZwQwekzKTZW9_wrO3luCcsz/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And so I did. Vanilla wafers, sugar, almonds, butter, and lemon zest. No baking, no interfering with the short ribs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQi1puYYPfn2gnoZygL5fOV2ttJ6GJgjbxMH_v_Sw6BDEHElmjXXXgIVM70aMUAWhVOo4pBVHIlisVLyxY9zpKY8TzFrM7mCeWfaC9rHlrGK0dNMv9J53qNqwXBlisydZ2zYM817-Cm2l/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYQi1puYYPfn2gnoZygL5fOV2ttJ6GJgjbxMH_v_Sw6BDEHElmjXXXgIVM70aMUAWhVOo4pBVHIlisVLyxY9zpKY8TzFrM7mCeWfaC9rHlrGK0dNMv9J53qNqwXBlisydZ2zYM817-Cm2l/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once I got the crust problem out of the way, it couldn't have been simpler to make the pomegranate chiffon part of the pie. POM pomegranate juice (Rose is right about the beautiful color) with sugar and cornstarch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5Qwnzh0jUesY1xpVhXb9mrsoJ75ep6EDueXcWaUYKryX2baYqHC2i44HaDucbanDFXSRPJ8JXdaITLZGPRUrwaNKq2ePvZDYaWV_gDtTcdz_HOyoOU4SpxHComQj_FNCbW2bTjDPq7Su/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV5Qwnzh0jUesY1xpVhXb9mrsoJ75ep6EDueXcWaUYKryX2baYqHC2i44HaDucbanDFXSRPJ8JXdaITLZGPRUrwaNKq2ePvZDYaWV_gDtTcdz_HOyoOU4SpxHComQj_FNCbW2bTjDPq7Su/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Then beaten egg whites mixed in with the thickened juice to make a sweet pink mixture, and whipped cream to make it even more sweetly pink.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2o6NTyl9ZsEBeXM7MtAVOdzWah_M1aHNkHjt0DPO2viIq2ePJV6sF3ga40I0LVYvzlFQ_jP3oaPSMmqS5Vn0v-H4q4ekk8XbI6OtLA8TDayMGIoxzkt_1H0fu3ujIEH0nK9OA_vdsPhH/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB2o6NTyl9ZsEBeXM7MtAVOdzWah_M1aHNkHjt0DPO2viIq2ePJV6sF3ga40I0LVYvzlFQ_jP3oaPSMmqS5Vn0v-H4q4ekk8XbI6OtLA8TDayMGIoxzkt_1H0fu3ujIEH0nK9OA_vdsPhH/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Poured into the already made crumb crust.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKC6vLaVC3RdSmTD11ZLEw-W_4JW4IG3sH3OkkTJZquzQMr6NB_OX7ArmRWpPULZMSRED13JAKJvFITFCtK-YXupyBNeufxAVI9D-8za70ZVGVw4omjdHVBSeipzpjl72gHpy1QXgYkigr/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKC6vLaVC3RdSmTD11ZLEw-W_4JW4IG3sH3OkkTJZquzQMr6NB_OX7ArmRWpPULZMSRED13JAKJvFITFCtK-YXupyBNeufxAVI9D-8za70ZVGVw4omjdHVBSeipzpjl72gHpy1QXgYkigr/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Since I wasn't doing any of the hard stuff, I thought that the least I could do is decorate the pie with fresh pomegranate seeds, AKA pomegranate arils. It's a little tricky to get rid of all the bitter white pith that wants to cling to the arils.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSQwAxQUu3_H3IZs_GNvkz55wNcVXRO4sazgRI5W-z1kHqhI40oancnZ-b3frAgmPa4sqdHbB0d12j0M3i3byKvVQlUn7Lieb19sn6fydyEP4l-i4XlWriRBWI0zswmjXmDOjeYpOQa-m/s1600/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSQwAxQUu3_H3IZs_GNvkz55wNcVXRO4sazgRI5W-z1kHqhI40oancnZ-b3frAgmPa4sqdHbB0d12j0M3i3byKvVQlUn7Lieb19sn6fydyEP4l-i4XlWriRBWI0zswmjXmDOjeYpOQa-m/s640/Pomegranate+Winter+Chiffon+Meringue+Pie-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here is a piece of pie. As the pie sits, the mixture wants to separate. The next day, there was a definite dark red layer at the bottom of the pie, but if you don't say anything about it, people will think it's supposed to be like that. <br />
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My guests loved this pie. We had it for dessert at our pre-theater dinner. Then, after we watched the play, we came back and had a second piece. Our friend David said that mango chiffon pie was his old favorite pie, but his new favorite is pomegranate chiffon pie. I feel a little bad about displacing an old family favorite, but I think there's always room for two kinds of pie in your life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-23320899113796355752016-11-18T10:10:00.000-08:002016-11-18T10:10:19.102-08:00Midweek Roundup: "Dangerously easy to eat"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRLlpz46_vmS4TC302x53oZtcAzUOmEBxz3gRvktm8rLy4LeAFRo_pEzPl8HVh3dgsXZFHjTkvYpGaP_kPszKq3_xKFgKnlgDoNWEyofHn5N3RBPENYIcbnlcG-QuI-eUUG8o6IyFIlH_/s1600/Jen.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYRLlpz46_vmS4TC302x53oZtcAzUOmEBxz3gRvktm8rLy4LeAFRo_pEzPl8HVh3dgsXZFHjTkvYpGaP_kPszKq3_xKFgKnlgDoNWEyofHn5N3RBPENYIcbnlcG-QuI-eUUG8o6IyFIlH_/s640/Jen.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Jen</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Evil Cake Lady</i></b></div>
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The question of the week was "Are these real madeleines?" <a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-baking-bible-chocolate-sweetheart.html"> Jen</a>, for example, said she had never tried a madeleine before, so she has "no idea if this is true to the original or not," but it is a "lovely soft little chocolate cake," so that's good enough for her, especially since the madeleines are "easy enough to make and pretty quick." (You'll notice that she made full-sized madeleines, which accounts for their being quick and easy.) She also discovered that the unbaked batter tastes like "soft serve ice cream." An added bonus.</div>
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It seemed to <a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/chocolate-sweetheart-madeleinesblobs.html">Catherine</a> that an authentic madeleine would be made with almond meal. But she acknowledged that she was no expert in the arcana of madeleine-making, especially since she had only one single madeleine mould. So she made just a few madeleines that looked like madeleines; she filled up her mince pie tray with the rest of the batter. Without "the traditional shell shape," these looked like "cake blobs. Delicious but meaningless." But is anything delicious really meaningless? That is my existential question for the day.</div>
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<a href="https://yjdesserts.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/chocolate-sweetheart-madeleines/">Raymond</a> may be the Alpha font of madeleine knowledge, since he says he has "made many different kinds of madeleines over the years," his favorite being "the classic lemon flavored <a href="https://hungrysofia.com/2010/08/06/julia-childs-madeleines-de-commercy/">Commercy</a> madeleine." His "only complaint about madeleines is that they go stale so quickly." He liked these chocolate madeleines (and, I'm guessing, the fact that they don't get dry and stale), but would not bother brushing on the glaze next time: he'd either "dunk them in the chocolate glaze or skip it altogether and just dust them with cocoa." </div>
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<a href="http://theamateurbaker.blogspot.com/2016/11/tbb-chocolate-sweetheart-madeleines-p391.html">Faithy</a> had some doubts about whether you could call these true madeleines because they were "humpless"--they came out of the oven without the "characteristic hump" of traditional madeleines and they "tasted more like chocolate cake than madeleines." They actually reminded her of whoopie pies, and so she decided to sandwich them with ganache. Doubts about this madeleine's authenticity fell by the wayside after she tasted them. "I would still make it again anytime since they are easy to make, delicious, and easy to eat too in bite size." </div>
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<a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/11/chocolate-sweetheart-madeleines.html">Vicki</a> didn't much care if they were true madeleines or not. She didn't even much care if they were baked or not. Like all of Rose's cake batters, "why bother baking them at all? Just hand out spoons and sit around the mixer bowl like a fondue pot." But she did bake them, in both regular- and mini-sized versions. There were "more casualties among the mini." On the other hand, that meant "more to pop into my very willing mouth." They are "lovely little morsels." </div>
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<a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/11/14/rlb-chocolate-sweetheart-madelines/">Rachel</a>'s "adventure into madeleine land definitely ended well," even though she used mini-cupcake pans instead of madeleine pans and even though she dipped the cupcake-madeleines into the ganache instead of glazing it on. (No stray bristles on your madeleines that way). They were delicious, and easy to make, although that could just be because "compared to the complicated dance of supervising college applications while not being overbearing makes most things look simple by comparison." Yes, I remember that dance.</div>
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Next week: The Pomegranate Winter Chiffon Meringue Pie. A perfect choice for Minnesota, and probably some other states and provinces, since we're supposed to have our first winter snowfall tonight. Note Rose's new information on how to<a href="http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2016/08/yes_you_can_unmold_a_meringue.html#.WC9DFWsrLIU"> unmold a meringue pie</a>. </div>
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The countdown: Only 4 recipes left, one from each major category of the book--pies, cakes, cookies, and breads. You can do it!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-58087020395470006602016-11-13T17:11:00.001-08:002016-11-13T17:11:32.010-08:00Chocolate Sweetheart Madeleines<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLIvkjKjaaxnDqiKKVHTTInOcYOtUYzpfagzz4tz1EX3dsd0fq73Vte1SMeqBspOEpPoUN0nMYE1aWBVpZV4HD0Uu7QwmAgaSbxLuHAbDClEUsH25b39P7oS81JOU9icGZHA9NvAt5p_E/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwLIvkjKjaaxnDqiKKVHTTInOcYOtUYzpfagzz4tz1EX3dsd0fq73Vte1SMeqBspOEpPoUN0nMYE1aWBVpZV4HD0Uu7QwmAgaSbxLuHAbDClEUsH25b39P7oS81JOU9icGZHA9NvAt5p_E/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This would be quick and easy if you didn't use mini-madeleine pans and if you didn't have to glaze the mini-madeleines with a tiny paint brush (that shed red bristles on the tiny cookies). Also, if your mini-madeleine pans had some definition, you might end up with tiny madeleines that actually looked like madeleines. If they don't, then you end up with little brown blobs. Brown blobs taste fine, but they don't have the same cachet as madeleines.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06A_4W4Q4F7PgAVJZMzxRsi9mmPprTqlvvqhKzQAhn_osSjZqxlX26g_N1RfxZuP51EwP5x2I9Iu6NdzeVo-7Y6Kli-3Y9pmG_jiB5mkwphoq0DbC4AD30d2a9XvvW2_KaKr00XKa5_Tq/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi06A_4W4Q4F7PgAVJZMzxRsi9mmPprTqlvvqhKzQAhn_osSjZqxlX26g_N1RfxZuP51EwP5x2I9Iu6NdzeVo-7Y6Kli-3Y9pmG_jiB5mkwphoq0DbC4AD30d2a9XvvW2_KaKr00XKa5_Tq/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The madeleine batter is based on Rose's Chocolate Domingo Cake recipe, so even though the madeleines are in the cookie section, they're really more of a cake. Even the small madeleines (made using only 4 grams of batter) remained moist after baking. <br />
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I had only two mini-madeleine pans (24 small indentations in each pan, for a total of 48). I'm glad I didn't get four pans to make 100 (or 96, to be precise).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCma8lyWlV8yjv5Uaychzg4cmk-ms285W12E01OfDiYcoYN58i_1KyTnhyphenhyphenOBiOaD7NF2bTPoPXaNVua6vCXVZffhIdAE_37WVgz1AJ1y-FkO_naeUHbNAiiA-7MpbRhNyu3FJJY8wLB8H/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhCma8lyWlV8yjv5Uaychzg4cmk-ms285W12E01OfDiYcoYN58i_1KyTnhyphenhyphenOBiOaD7NF2bTPoPXaNVua6vCXVZffhIdAE_37WVgz1AJ1y-FkO_naeUHbNAiiA-7MpbRhNyu3FJJY8wLB8H/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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These are the little molds.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfm26YJRdjtZNv8lSywyOzXpF9YB8Pzm4JayUBRFjiUhKqCA-c5c5jatC0Ctm8neJgCOx6h308y5vcOxxbc5n8HZ1xJzutosyQDlKoFW9hlLo2k8smDgjYduttC7cMKL4K4gioPA5PEIH/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEfm26YJRdjtZNv8lSywyOzXpF9YB8Pzm4JayUBRFjiUhKqCA-c5c5jatC0Ctm8neJgCOx6h308y5vcOxxbc5n8HZ1xJzutosyQDlKoFW9hlLo2k8smDgjYduttC7cMKL4K4gioPA5PEIH/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And these are the big ones. Even when I looked at them both, it didn't occur to me that the big one was going to produce something that looked like a shell, and the little one wasn't.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTD3lvQnsw6lmlGJGL3NiRtY4AbztW9qFU-H1VxuoJlaZgpUHgN8002PrdRXvSnPw-bDRq6q2lnUouKTaiusetwhZPKo0zA9YgFyjbgRVVpzVAiyBwLiazvBrhNGMw_9Uo_uHRtXCGXS-/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTD3lvQnsw6lmlGJGL3NiRtY4AbztW9qFU-H1VxuoJlaZgpUHgN8002PrdRXvSnPw-bDRq6q2lnUouKTaiusetwhZPKo0zA9YgFyjbgRVVpzVAiyBwLiazvBrhNGMw_9Uo_uHRtXCGXS-/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Even when I spooned (no, I didn't pipe) them in their little pan in 4-ounce increments, it didn't occur to me that they might not look like madeleines.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNvAqxPaLBYolRZfl0s8PQ__IwmacX6RXe7gU_vPNdZF20e4d7hjTHjdHKmGr3dR9n1x4Pq4_4-dmhaHKUPB0OZUMzcWE0BsEcmO1pSr_S5PBcc-bGmEf4nKNuwMb3lFiwQWm_gvvlz1O/s1600/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWNvAqxPaLBYolRZfl0s8PQ__IwmacX6RXe7gU_vPNdZF20e4d7hjTHjdHKmGr3dR9n1x4Pq4_4-dmhaHKUPB0OZUMzcWE0BsEcmO1pSr_S5PBcc-bGmEf4nKNuwMb3lFiwQWm_gvvlz1O/s640/Chocolate+Sweetheart+Madeleines-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Finally, after I took them out of the pan and started daubing chocolate glaze on them, I started thinking, hmm, these don't look like much of anything. Aren't madeleines supposed to look like shells? Well, maybe when they have glaze on them, they'll look like something.<br />
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Nope. Well, maybe a little bit like a newly hatched bunch of headless brown turtles.<br />
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Actually, even the bigger ones didn't look so much like madeleines. On the other hand, they didn't look so much like headless turtles.<br />
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The good news is that they really did taste good. And the small ones were just the right size for granddaughter Lily to smush in her hand before popping into her mouth. And anything that elicits a big toothy grin from Lily is OK with me.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-46031315545854655772016-11-10T12:33:00.000-08:002016-11-10T12:33:01.031-08:00Midweek Roundup: "Quite tasty"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBVGOKm45vsrySmRvELJOP9OWX2O_VLHOOVwPiDtIVLEGhmpNpCPKh3Gaie1mcFTqpM7hrZdQ4YD7TeskgBabXP8EGhSF1pJcjenVofWlpORNNVeQyGElb4-0sgIQNdRKN49pwYERvP6JO/s1600/Raymond.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBVGOKm45vsrySmRvELJOP9OWX2O_VLHOOVwPiDtIVLEGhmpNpCPKh3Gaie1mcFTqpM7hrZdQ4YD7TeskgBabXP8EGhSF1pJcjenVofWlpORNNVeQyGElb4-0sgIQNdRKN49pwYERvP6JO/s640/Raymond.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Raymond</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Your Just Desserts</i></b></div>
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<a href="https://yjdesserts.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/prune-preserves-and-caramel-cream-cake-roll/">I</a> thought this week was going to be all about the prune filling, but it was more about the multiple steps involved and what might have gone wrong, or almost went wrong, and did go wrong.<br />
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Not so much for <a href="https://yjdesserts.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/prune-preserves-and-caramel-cream-cake-roll/">Raymond</a>, whose biggest problem was the same feeling of <i>deja vu</i> that he had last week (<i>deja vu </i>all over again?) when he made the monkey dunkey bread. Fortunately, he's not going loco. He just baked them both as a Beta Baker, and since those top-secret posts have been erased from history, he couldn't check on it. But he liked the cake the second time, just as he liked it the first. He also thought the cake was "very easy," and making the caramel was "old hat," and he had no problem rolling up the cake. (See above photo). "All in all a really nice dessert."<br />
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Although Raymond made a double batch of lekvar to have some on hand for morning toast, for <a href="http://theamateurbaker.blogspot.com/2016/11/tbb-prune-mango-preserves-and-caramel.html">Faithy</a> it was "plums yes, prunes no," so she substituted mango preserves for prunes. She also substituted canned dulce de leche ("lazy me," says dynamo Faithy), and made the cake a little thicker by using a smaller pan and adding a little water and oil to the cake mixture. Because the cream melted so quickly, she put it in the freezer, and served it with ice cream. And presto! The prune roll became an <a href="http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/classic-arctic-roll">Arctic Roll</a>. who<br />
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Rachel, who took the cake to a party, admits that she didn't tell anyone what the fruit was in the cake roll. "But then again, they didn't ask." Are we getting better through experience or is it just my imagination? Rachel thought that making the cake went "really smoothly" and the sugar syrup was "easy peasy." The unrolled cake was "in good shape," and there was no problem with rolling it back up, although "the edge view reminds me of a wrinkly-faced dog. Homely but appealing." She drizzled the glaze atop instead of using a piping bag, which brought her some criticism from her would-be food stylist daughter, but the cake got gobbled up at the party, barely giving Rachel herself a chance to eat a piece.<br />
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<a href="https://eatsndrinks.ca/2016/11/08/caramel-cream-cake-roll/">Kristina</a> titled her post "Caramel Cream Cake Roll" because "that sounds so much better than a recipe that starts with the words 'prune preserves,' right?" As her husband was about to invite some friends over for dinner, with homemade dessert as a principal draw, he discovered the name of the dessert in question and said, "I can't sell that." As it turned out, thought, she ended up "loving" the dessert. And so, I surmise, did everyone else. "I didn't expect to [love it], but the stewed prunes (aka Lekvar) took a back seat to the caramel whipped cream, and really just added a subtle fruit flavour that you wouldn't be able to put your finger on if you didn't know it was there." <br />
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<a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-baking-bible-prune-preserves-and.html">Jen</a> enjoyed making this cake because each component could "hang out and wait" for a time to fit in busy schedule. Here's a hint: wrap the cake in a Silpat instead of a kitchen towel--works just as well and you don't have to launder the Silpat. And nothing went wrong, except for "Eliot was intrigued with the chocolate drizzle and asked his mom if she was making a tiger cake. Even though the tiger cake was headless, Eliot was still OK with that. "We all liked the cake, and I love the feathery lightness of the biscuit. The prune lekvar is really good and pairs well with the caramel. It actually felt like a great autumnal dessert, and a nice departure from all things pumpkin and spice and apple."<br />
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Mendy made his caramel whipped "cream" with Rich's Whip so it would be parve and he wouldn't have to get out the toaster oven. This was a good plan except that Rich's is sweeter than cream, so the caramel whipped cream ended up to be "cloyingly sweet." He made up for that by using 82% dark chocolate "love me a Scharfenberger 82%." Mendy's used to buying lekvar, but he made it this time and found that he missed the allspice flavor that he grew up with. Still, no complaints about the lekvar or the cake. And from the smiles on "Omi girl's) and "Ez man's" faces, no complaints from them either.<br />
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Considering all the things that might go wrong with this cake, you probably wouldn't put "whipping the cream" high on the list. And yet that's what happened to <a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/the-prune-caramel-swiss-roll-adventure.html">Catherine</a>. You'll probably guess that sad turn this take is going to take when you see that her post is titled, "The Prune Caramel Swiss Roll adventure on which we learn never to turn out back on a stand mixer." That's what she did, and "instead of deliciously light caramel cream, I found myself looking at a large bowl full of wet sand." I'd like to say something encouraging, but I have to admit that a cake filled with wet sand sounds singularly unappetizing. She did manage to cobble together at least one edible piece (more cream and some gelatin). "The combination of flavours (who would think of adding prunces?) was sophisticated and interesting as well as being delicious." Just think how great it would be without the sand!. <br />
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Next week: I think I told Tony many months ago that he should buy some mini madeleine pans because we'd be making them soon. Well, it wasn't soon but it was eventually. You can also make these in regular madeleine pans.<br />
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The countdown: We're moving so fast. Down to 5.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-88888393513580799652016-11-06T16:40:00.000-08:002016-11-06T16:40:12.783-08:00Prune Preserves and Caramel Cream Cake Roll<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Pity the poor prune. While other dried fruits--cranberries, apricots, cherries and the like--are found in healthy, well-muscled young hikers, prunes (especially stewed prunes, which sounds even worse) are in the sad cereal bowls of the elderly. Rose wants to change all this. It definitely helps to add caramel whipped cream--that was certainly never served at breakfast at my grandmother's house.<br />
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I guess these prunes are stewed. Maybe lekvar means "stewed prunes." At any rate, they're cooked with water, sugar, and some lemon zest until they're so soft and tender that you probably wouldn't even have to put in your false teeth to eat them. This is, by the way, a multi-page, multi-step recipe, but it's not too bad if you just take it one step at a time and try not to think about all the steps that are left. While the prunes are coming to room temperature, you make the sponge. We've done this so often I feel that I should have the recipe memorized. I don't, of course.<br />
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It involves beating whole eggs and then adding in beaten egg whites. That's always good for at least one photo.<br />
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Then the batter is spread onto a half sheet pan. I never get mine completely even. After a while I get tired of smoothing it out with a spatula, so I just decide it's good enough.<br />
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After the lekvar and sponge cake are made, the caramel is next. I've taken to using caster sugar sometimes; it has a little more color than regular white granulated sugar, so I thought it might interfere with my ability to tell when the caramel was done, but luck (and an instant thermometer) were with me.<br />
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Jim always likes the part where you add the cream to the caramel mixture and it "boils furiously."<br />
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I could just dig into that mixture of caramel and cream, but I have a little discipline.<br />
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One layer of cooled lekvar spread on the sponge cake.<br />
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Followed by a layer of caramel cream.<br />
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I should have rolled it tighter, I now see, but at the time, it seemed that I was.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQVfmRnyZuleN9tPeBTqcDV4Q9RrSMGz-oamq82iIaZS6oRjTm47vLw9ri7u4vBnTlL5WL6MEwd4OnI1r5sqvef9y9hNdr9mGlHFMjGs_jgiHCwH9cgIisGVTTscgZ0xbuTrVXybjRQHi/s1600/Prune+Preserves+and+Caramel+Cream+Cake+Roll-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwQVfmRnyZuleN9tPeBTqcDV4Q9RrSMGz-oamq82iIaZS6oRjTm47vLw9ri7u4vBnTlL5WL6MEwd4OnI1r5sqvef9y9hNdr9mGlHFMjGs_jgiHCwH9cgIisGVTTscgZ0xbuTrVXybjRQHi/s640/Prune+Preserves+and+Caramel+Cream+Cake+Roll-27.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Finally, the chocolate glaze. Very easy; just melted chocolate, cream, and about a tablespoon of leftover caramel.<br />
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JJ and Lily came over just as I was finishing the cake, so there were bowls of caramel, chocolate, and caramel cream, not to mention various bits of cake that I'd trimmed off. They were in hog heaven. I gave each of them a small spoon and told them to have at it until all the bowls and scraps were eaten. By the time their mother came in the kitchen to see why it was so quiet, the evidence was gone--except on their faces, of course. I told her it was actually a fruit dessert.<br />
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I served this to my book club. I did not apologize for the haphazard look of the glaze or the too-flat appearance of the roll. One person asked me if I bought the roll at Wuollet's (a well-known local bakery). Another took a picture to send to a woman who wasn't able to come. And every plate was absolutely clean. Not even a morsel for the compost bin. Take that, you prune haters!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-45488972860125645622016-11-03T14:56:00.000-07:002016-11-04T07:58:49.260-07:00Midweek Roundup: "Absolutely more-ish"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0RmGGHMb4euRIBd-6DzbXlC6uC042P_s2VqUNFVvf5jQ1zYqkBA15_CV7kZrwQ-WjKPTxqEWk0C5XRLKkhI16NkRfmkWM6GuDQBLshiDVaQRwxE01Kzxr-FWuekN7ceoGlGo-iraM7s1/s1600/Catherine.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="508" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD0RmGGHMb4euRIBd-6DzbXlC6uC042P_s2VqUNFVvf5jQ1zYqkBA15_CV7kZrwQ-WjKPTxqEWk0C5XRLKkhI16NkRfmkWM6GuDQBLshiDVaQRwxE01Kzxr-FWuekN7ceoGlGo-iraM7s1/s640/Catherine.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Catherine</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Phyllis Caroline Blog</i></b></div>
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What's not to like about brioche, chocolate, and caramel? There were very few criticisms to be found as we ate our way through petite balls of this bread. And that is the only way to get the word "petite" into the description of this bread, which is otherwise a Don't Step on the Scale for at Least Two Days kind of treat.</div>
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<a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/11/monkey-no-dunkey-bread.html">Catherine</a> found it "delicious, time-consuming and very sweet," and that was without the caramel sauce, which would have made it even sweeter. Next time she would omit the chocolate because "it didn't need it." With or without caramel, with or without chocolate, even the generous Catherine was not sure she'd share it at work.</div>
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<a href="http://breadbabies.blogspot.com/2016/11/alpha-bakers-monkey-dunkey-bread.html">Katya</a> also preferred a more simple version of this bread, the plainer monkey without the caramel pour-over and the chocolate filling. That said, however, she admitted that when she told her colleagues what it was supposed to be like, she saw their "eyes glaze over with desire." So next time she thought she'd take the version that would satisfy the most insatiable sweet tooth.</div>
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To <a href="http://shebakesthecake.blogspot.com/2016/11/monkey-dunkey-brioche-aka-resistance-is.html">Nicola</a>, who nicknamed her bread "Resistance is Futile," this bread/cake was a reminder of why she had stopped baking for a year: the recipes that are "totally amazing" and make "blood sugar spike." She gave one to her son Isaac as a bedtime snack, and, after declaring it to be "totally amazing," he promptly went for more. (Remember, Catherine warned that they were "more-ish.")</div>
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<a href="https://yjdesserts.wordpress.com/2016/10/30/roses-alpha-bakers-monkey-dunkie-bread/">Raymond</a> somehow "worked this in" along with some other kitchen projects (I have enough trouble doing one a week!), and found it "delish." He also promised to either take his "weekend baking projects to work or share them with the neighbors.... I am sure that everyone is going to be wanting seconds." <br />
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<a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/11/monkey-dunkey-bread.html">Vicki</a>, who loves the smell that baking brings to her kitchen, knew from "the lovely aroma" that the monkey bread was going to be something special. And tasting it made her even more sure. "This is definitely going to be a family favorite for years to come." <br />
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When I read<a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/10/30/rlb-monkey-dunkey-bread/"> Rachel</a>'s blog, I thought, for probably the 100th time, that doing a bake-through of Rose's recipes really does make you a better baker. She recalls first hearing of monkey bread on a Martha Stewart show and thinking it looked good but complicated. Then she bought a few versions, but they were disappointing. So finally she made her own, and was not disappointed at all. "This bread was so good!" And, although it took a while, "the 'fiddle factor' was negligible" and "many tummies were happy."<br />
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Like Raymond, <a href="https://eatsndrinks.ca/2016/11/02/monkey-dunkey-bread/">Kristina</a>, playing catch-up, had a busy and productive weekend in the kitchen: "2 loaves of bread, monkey dunkey brioche dough, and all of the components of cannoli." With all that baking, though, when it came time to finish the monkey dunkey, she "looked at the instructions for filling the dough balls with chocolate, said 'No way!' and just made [it] without the chocolate, without the caramel sauce, and without gilding the lily with chocolate drizzle." Still "plenty gilded" for a "great breakfast"!<br />
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<a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-baking-bibile-monkey-dunkey-bread.html">Jen</a> remembered making this monkey bread as a Beta Baker, at which time her tube pan leaked, making the predictable mess, so this time she made it in a bundt pan. She didn't roll the dough--just pressed it into shape, and used chocolate chunks instead of chocolate perles, but otherwise, the monkey bread was pretty much as directed. When Eliot tasted it, he said, "We are eating cake." When Mark tasted it, he said it might be his favorite Baking Bible project yet. And when Jen tasted it, she said she was sure she would be making this for years to come. I think we can all see this bread becoming a family tradition.<br />
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<a href="http://maggiggie55.blogspot.ca/2016/11/monkey-dunkey-bread.html?m=1">Rosa</a> dropped the chocolate and the dunking sauce, fearing that it would be too sweet. Instead, she added toasted pecans, as well as the caramel sauce. Still "monkey," but not as "dunkey." And still delicious.<br />
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Next week: The Prune Preserves and Caramel Cream Cake Roll. It's a lot of words, so you may just end up calling it that prune-y thing.<br />
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The countdown: How has this happened? Only six more baking projects left!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-38159060423913665492016-10-30T20:20:00.000-07:002016-10-30T20:20:08.768-07:00Monkey Dunkey Bread<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lRJSRvoPTJGz1Gg_7ryvSy-nj2Y0pBWE7xXkzWQRYeIvNO-ljf-X6iAtFZnECRI15Sn1iY9B2Rej193vv0NL_I6ZUTo3HkxX2SIhoioa1xEt22LR8blQqG2t3qiGGtG6oZHv5U7FhfJ8/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lRJSRvoPTJGz1Gg_7ryvSy-nj2Y0pBWE7xXkzWQRYeIvNO-ljf-X6iAtFZnECRI15Sn1iY9B2Rej193vv0NL_I6ZUTo3HkxX2SIhoioa1xEt22LR8blQqG2t3qiGGtG6oZHv5U7FhfJ8/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-25.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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After last week's cannoli debacle, I was afraid I'd lost my baking mojo. Worse, when I looked at the recipe, I thought that Rose had gone the way of those recipes that you see on Facebook that are made up of butter, cream, sugar, doughnuts, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. You know the ones--they take a bunch of decent ingredients and mix them together so the end result looks just over-poweringly sweet. Monkey bread (not what you'd call a subtle bread) stuffed with chocolate, dipped in buttered sugar, glazed with caramel sauce, and topped (if you don't mind "gilding the lily" with a second (chocolate) sauce). I thought the whole thing sounded like gilding the lily.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkewIDcLbmWZU73wSl12VHlCiQ_JkOadPlovz3xosC1UM8j98dpiE_2Q0WHQ_iR9NbxPZM5Tb54onHV9BkaxGnPGoF6Hh_t0rLWshNhPfeNb5QhI2CuQGJZnn3cd3YR1glEfioHoelREXV/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkewIDcLbmWZU73wSl12VHlCiQ_JkOadPlovz3xosC1UM8j98dpiE_2Q0WHQ_iR9NbxPZM5Tb54onHV9BkaxGnPGoF6Hh_t0rLWshNhPfeNb5QhI2CuQGJZnn3cd3YR1glEfioHoelREXV/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But, I thought, after all, the whole recipe starts with Rose's brioche dough, which has never gone awary, and has been the base of some pretty fantastic breads. And so I decided to have faith.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27iIgkzB48eiOeGzPo0TiOFeumbLHvGhXdMOuI0ceuRyvkwneHgZ0BxHEhkdTlKutlAUn0jAnwYyN9jcTAdQThr36Qs9pQhMt7ZiK96E-_np-SJt-ToJ5-Wa5-vBRkgiNqgVxiwuHYhW3/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi27iIgkzB48eiOeGzPo0TiOFeumbLHvGhXdMOuI0ceuRyvkwneHgZ0BxHEhkdTlKutlAUn0jAnwYyN9jcTAdQThr36Qs9pQhMt7ZiK96E-_np-SJt-ToJ5-Wa5-vBRkgiNqgVxiwuHYhW3/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Working with this rich but not-too-sticky (if you've overnighted it in the refrigerator) dough always makes me happy. I will say that cutting the dough into 32 pieces, rolling each piece out, filling it with chocolate <i>perles, </i>then reshaping the dough and squeezing the edges together got a little tedious. About as tedious as reading that last sentence.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSjXJekYiJWgCBQjTks7q90TqbqgvzHo9JhEvb1PVTisORVMY9f2l3zEC-TIwTebk1mxEknYuwMHM04ai11JQL21StX6iayrw2lGcE1NZKd15Rk1OtaeqRWKQ_nGwOCOhsE43m3GG9XSN/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSjXJekYiJWgCBQjTks7q90TqbqgvzHo9JhEvb1PVTisORVMY9f2l3zEC-TIwTebk1mxEknYuwMHM04ai11JQL21StX6iayrw2lGcE1NZKd15Rk1OtaeqRWKQ_nGwOCOhsE43m3GG9XSN/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But eventually the job was done. I love chocolate. But just as I don't agree that bacon makes everything better, neither do I agree that chocolate makes everything better. I was unconvinced that this bread needed chocolate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARu2tVUy-J3KQ9wTsBl7X7eC4TABXqdzrBuTskhqaUG6mn5BaDVcCocNT5k9xHkrjjWu0sHLYuMVphf8yrQ71iEvs18NSg7JCK6zRjISGDip86xRgFn19c2CDLmciK7gcgHNUI-OkOIhm/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiARu2tVUy-J3KQ9wTsBl7X7eC4TABXqdzrBuTskhqaUG6mn5BaDVcCocNT5k9xHkrjjWu0sHLYuMVphf8yrQ71iEvs18NSg7JCK6zRjISGDip86xRgFn19c2CDLmciK7gcgHNUI-OkOIhm/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The butter-sugar <strike>glop</strike> mixture did serve a purpose, which was to make sure that every little ball of dough was covered with a coating of a simple butter and brown sugar mixture. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWCeYH3NNiG3qyoVcUfZ-lk8QrmlaDe09GclZQHql5p9s87FnwfK6QVEV2fPL8MwYDiFnEU18BxByXCpeM-7ERf2H0L5clFv-l5ess7pCViwSRgVksvGyIhpag3XIq9DjcBgygP7VDSnE/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWCeYH3NNiG3qyoVcUfZ-lk8QrmlaDe09GclZQHql5p9s87FnwfK6QVEV2fPL8MwYDiFnEU18BxByXCpeM-7ERf2H0L5clFv-l5ess7pCViwSRgVksvGyIhpag3XIq9DjcBgygP7VDSnE/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And when I put these little buttery balls in the pan and stuck them in the oven, I thought, well, that looks good enough to me. It shouldn't be any sweeter than this.<br />
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And then I dutifully proceeded to make the caramel sauce, which was definitely going to make the monkey bread sweeter, not to mention a whole lot richer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMeL0KjsLtJpD8le-v1oe-QBj2OyOP1n2zFH1_mpYJTP6dwcriCfoAOUTZ-kxAm7By20A1IPyl7HZwtMQIFJOTb2I7T0xuxTGYeS6zwTIZ5gKD5-IU1hLwH03BOaTkYNx-pd2MshsfBEs/s1600/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVMeL0KjsLtJpD8le-v1oe-QBj2OyOP1n2zFH1_mpYJTP6dwcriCfoAOUTZ-kxAm7By20A1IPyl7HZwtMQIFJOTb2I7T0xuxTGYeS6zwTIZ5gKD5-IU1hLwH03BOaTkYNx-pd2MshsfBEs/s640/Monkey+Dunkey+Bread+-19.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Here's the baked monkey bread straight out of the oven. I confess that I used a one-piece angel food cake pan, instead of one with a detachable tube. My reasoning was that Woody had given me this pan, and he surely wouldn't give me anything other than a superior piece of equipment. And if he did, I could blame him if the monkey bread wasn't up to snuff.<br />
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Thanks for the nice angel food cake pan, Woody. The monkey bread fell apart slightly, but not disastrously so, and who cares anyway.<br />
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The verdict? Was this monkey bread too sweet? Too complicated? Beyond the pale? Well, not really. I'd like to try it again without the chocolate <i>perles </i>and the caramel sauce (and of course, not the optional chocolate sauce, which I didn't use this time). But then it would just be monkey bread (although the quality of the brioche dough would guarantee that it wouldn't be "just" anything). But the addition of chocolate didn't make it too sweet. In fact, the bittersweet nature of the dark chocolate counteracted the sweetness of the brown sugar "dunk" and the caramel. And, while it certainly didn't need the caramel, it was such a delicious caramel that it's all right with me. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-58661096433605619582016-10-27T15:13:00.000-07:002016-10-27T15:13:08.983-07:00Midweek Roundup: "Rustically homemade"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Photo by Nicola</i></b></div>
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<b><i>She Bakes the Cake</i></b></div>
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Let's face it. We're all much harder on ourselves than we are on anyone else, and baking is no exception to this rule. Look at Nicola's cannoli, for example. Aren't they lovely? And what is the best thing she can say about them? That at least they didn't come out of a packet (as did the cannoli that her grandmother always brought to family gatherings and that cemented her reputation as an ace baker). The brandy snaps? Nicola says they "look more akin to a crocheted afghan blanket, rather than anything approaching lace." See? Way too harsh. On the other hand, "the creme patisserie was incredible." Never one to do things by halves, Nicola cleverly doubled the recipe. (I wish I'd thought of that). Not only did she not have to divide an egg in half, she also had plenty of leftover pastry cream.</div>
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<a href="http://maggiggie55.blogspot.ca/2016/10/brandy-snaps-cannoli-with-cwhite.html">Rosa</a> made some of the most gorgeous cannoli you'll ever see. Of course, you might not recognize them as cannoli, because the ends are cut off, they're filled with white chocolate mousse, drizzled with melted dark chocolate, topped lavishly with all kinds of fresh fruit, and then lightly sprinkled with sugar pearl dust. Take a look--they're exquisite desserts. And what does Rosa see? Her beautiful desserts? No, she sees that the cookies were too thick.</div>
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<a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/10/24/rlb-brandy-snaps/">Rachel</a> took a look at the recipe and realized that "the combination of a fruity, creamy filling and a short shelf life didn't seem like a viable option for [her] family." So she decided just to make the cookies. Well, not "just." She didn't stop at cookies. She also tried rolling some of them up, just for fun. (Um, maybe "fun" is not quite the right word). And some of the cookies that she rolled into cannoli shapes, she filled with ice cream. And she discovered that, whether rolled or not, "they go well with vanilla ice cream." Like Rosa's, ice-cream filled cannoli may not be traditional, but they do sound good.</div>
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<a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/brandy-little-bit-of-snap-no-cannoli.html">Catherine</a> was clearly thinking along the same lines as Rachel. She knew that her brandy cookies weren't going to snap in humid Darwin (it was raining at Rachel's house too), so she gave up on the shaping and bought some vanilla ice cream. Catherine's blog is quite instructive--not necessarily on the art of making cannoli, but it's certainly worth a look if you ever want to make a brandy snap wreath, which comes from spacing the snaps a wee bit too close. But it's a lacy, golden wreath that can be snapped apart, and each interestingly-shaped portion can serve as a base (or a roof) for a big mound of ice cream. </div>
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Yes, perhaps none of these versions is quite what Rose had in mind when she wrote this recipe, but that's what happens when your baking children go off on their own frolics.</div>
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Next week: I'm pretty sure you'll frolic when you taste next week's Monkey Dunkey Bread.</div>
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The countdown: We are getting very close to the end. I've added all the recipes that are still on the list, so you can see what we'll make each week from now until the end. You may be surprised to see that we end with the Kouign Amanns. "But wait," you may say. (Jim did). "I thought we started with those." True enough, but it's such a spectacular recipe that I wanted to make sure that everyone, especially those who weren't with us at the beginning, has a chance to make these pastries. Not to mention the fact that even if you did make them before, you'll have a chance to eat them again. (It was that fact that got Jim to stop worrying over the duplication). And of course, if you want to end with Luxury Chocolate Buttercrunch Coffee, well, it won't bother me one bit. I'll just sit and eat my improved Kouign Amann (because don't you think that two years of weekly baking has had some effect on our skill levels?) and feel that all's right with the world. A feeling that's been eluding me lately.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-79941391981639976702016-10-24T05:38:00.000-07:002016-10-24T05:43:09.848-07:00Brandy Snap Cannolis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNqxUE55PYk2ckLJv5CbCdvRPoqQEH6dUwAWdGrTXz78vEzbKuwBnVODWSoWhDtrZhOri3p6cfhkEkwsFmh1GfqjsjKTGxk5ELnkpseGLNTwP8fffRPfnHyotr-WSM0_Lxi9KcD32XtHW/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvNqxUE55PYk2ckLJv5CbCdvRPoqQEH6dUwAWdGrTXz78vEzbKuwBnVODWSoWhDtrZhOri3p6cfhkEkwsFmh1GfqjsjKTGxk5ELnkpseGLNTwP8fffRPfnHyotr-WSM0_Lxi9KcD32XtHW/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-29.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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When I first made the two-year baking calendar for the Alpha Bakers, these cannoli were somewhere in the first three months. Might as well get them over with, I thought. But then I kept rearranging the list, and the cannolis kept going further down. Until finally there was no escaping it. Still, I thought to myself, this may turn out better than you think. After all, the Meringue Twigs turned out to be fairly presentable. And the Pink Pearl Lady looked a little weird, but it was good. The more I looked at this cannoli recipe, though, the more I sensed disaster ahead. Sadly, my prognosticating powers were all too accurate. After hours of hard labor, I ended up with one moderately acceptable cannolo (honestly, that is the singular of cannoli). Everything else went to the squirrels (who seemed quite delighted with the unexpected treat).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEjxZoaehZbxp2nC3tOGBNtlzyvXtx0lTQu_4efhL8EAVd2u-jRkEGqKA67L6cIiX7yZGLAd3Rmx1KiGz-lvvZby64lk4GnuPjYiP309pzjO0eAlpYIB92x-F2I5hFnegd-7Nr25QQ37mF/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEjxZoaehZbxp2nC3tOGBNtlzyvXtx0lTQu_4efhL8EAVd2u-jRkEGqKA67L6cIiX7yZGLAd3Rmx1KiGz-lvvZby64lk4GnuPjYiP309pzjO0eAlpYIB92x-F2I5hFnegd-7Nr25QQ37mF/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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In fairness, making the batter for the brandy snaps was, well, a snap. Just heat up some butter, sugar, and golden syrup.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwrlwA0vajgiPJI2nUM3beD9n2xL8K0lPLHvdloyPPaaPg_Rq4CTrGMEqavfMCh7CRYrfcsk4q2yGHBgDrJf4g_TmeGe2VYcsVvYfxFgakkTk1aFgw7g5a7XMucvEIjpvYgEtZdyjydVPG/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwrlwA0vajgiPJI2nUM3beD9n2xL8K0lPLHvdloyPPaaPg_Rq4CTrGMEqavfMCh7CRYrfcsk4q2yGHBgDrJf4g_TmeGe2VYcsVvYfxFgakkTk1aFgw7g5a7XMucvEIjpvYgEtZdyjydVPG/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And then add flour, whisking until the flour is completely mixed in. Then pour onto prepared baking sheets.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpXKs8XRoD52peLiXTzFHGhyphenhyphenkVyQeWt6HjJT8DvjFCJd_ET-pOHXw9BWjSGTSblLUyklDqrVEpAr8GVyrKn4ciiGU3LmQa2shJSFne4KkTMOensOPA15eYhEoWl07dRBDIbSJYkD4u8-gh/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpXKs8XRoD52peLiXTzFHGhyphenhyphenkVyQeWt6HjJT8DvjFCJd_ET-pOHXw9BWjSGTSblLUyklDqrVEpAr8GVyrKn4ciiGU3LmQa2shJSFne4KkTMOensOPA15eYhEoWl07dRBDIbSJYkD4u8-gh/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The batter spread a lot (I may have made the cookies too big), and I only got five on the first sheet, so I switched to the bottom of a half-sheet pan. Big mistake. The cookies on the cookie sheet turned out fine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZE9m7soXRCXH_nzuT4dKoWLiVAaHPRRoKMLACJIY7wRpsuhi907ALjU9ukyZPCzgoiwjA2ALS1Xykl69EyYUvwiqtLO2pTivcQf-Ucsghi9BkmTexdQlMLEense5W6hvPIPKAcm6Zylt8/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZE9m7soXRCXH_nzuT4dKoWLiVAaHPRRoKMLACJIY7wRpsuhi907ALjU9ukyZPCzgoiwjA2ALS1Xykl69EyYUvwiqtLO2pTivcQf-Ucsghi9BkmTexdQlMLEense5W6hvPIPKAcm6Zylt8/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But something about the makeup of the half-sheet pan didn't agree with the makeup of the brandy snap, and the cookies refused to crisp. They refused to harden, although they seemed to be done. Finally I scooped them up, turned them into a gooey brown ball, divided the ball into six pieces, and smashed them onto a cookie sheet.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbYKjLv1-oKY6DyHxWhItp_0ciVjflMV4Q4U63UIpo4TNHuGdsXTKSxmO3Q52PWlhWZ3no7kr6mMcU0Bxuxn6ZOxxGJbxF-aXYQ4GO-t-qBAAFYmyUV0vN6FnHD0ZuSzdvBFLL9q1mOaUC/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbYKjLv1-oKY6DyHxWhItp_0ciVjflMV4Q4U63UIpo4TNHuGdsXTKSxmO3Q52PWlhWZ3no7kr6mMcU0Bxuxn6ZOxxGJbxF-aXYQ4GO-t-qBAAFYmyUV0vN6FnHD0ZuSzdvBFLL9q1mOaUC/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The dark brown, lumpy ones below are the snaps that didn't work out. At this point, I was still relatively optimistic that I could rescue at least some of the cannoli. I figured I could just put more powdered sugar on the thick, lumpy ones, and, after all, half of them looked more or less like what they were supposed to look like.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCq8QB5wlvnluYOFNGjRO7R9HwnnIBUSVNYh5dYSQrt09Rc4VVCatlMm9VVQGKqfONIw4sNN1R_EWFXOOExnU3XRcoCihlipRyxRqMfYOAa7a1ym1mBGtrdZ15EWVb4HyqcYDGlmXdNVBL/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCq8QB5wlvnluYOFNGjRO7R9HwnnIBUSVNYh5dYSQrt09Rc4VVCatlMm9VVQGKqfONIw4sNN1R_EWFXOOExnU3XRcoCihlipRyxRqMfYOAa7a1ym1mBGtrdZ15EWVb4HyqcYDGlmXdNVBL/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Also, I was pretty proud of myself for figuring out that Rose's mini rolling pin would make the perfect sized dowel.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABVy0N4knJ0z9WsP3B3gMgsMTjzlmFGlvJaUkVhAWH48dSQBT2ukQfaybJjL0zmHW2C27mPYVuAgumReJ1rdU-YXYw1yC2LM9vbj77Lo3pD9orK_S_gz53ZKTIDerQxSPuZd79i3017WX/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhABVy0N4knJ0z9WsP3B3gMgsMTjzlmFGlvJaUkVhAWH48dSQBT2ukQfaybJjL0zmHW2C27mPYVuAgumReJ1rdU-YXYw1yC2LM9vbj77Lo3pD9orK_S_gz53ZKTIDerQxSPuZd79i3017WX/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And for finding the same-sized pestle from a marble mortar and pestle set that served to keep the opening in the cannoli round while they cooled and hardened.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwE27_0yOD2_L1SoxNZ-L12ffghz1m6X3yoJEAOPQYrrxtPALsyyzVIbZdbc7B35GXQUH4-LLaibietboLifBLbagIB49fmQcN7p0_CixgcUBdKZMpcXj9ZWD5ilgOcz75NPL4R_eH5AYm/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwE27_0yOD2_L1SoxNZ-L12ffghz1m6X3yoJEAOPQYrrxtPALsyyzVIbZdbc7B35GXQUH4-LLaibietboLifBLbagIB49fmQcN7p0_CixgcUBdKZMpcXj9ZWD5ilgOcz75NPL4R_eH5AYm/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-14.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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But here's where things really started to fall apart. First, the pastry cream didn't thicken. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirGKW8pZTb0JShn7reZY8g51E0maV_gK2zxRdd_vSmr1RNJq3K0bx46lQhk7hZ9KtGFqhWsA53xFuE3ygguFIz6y8IW4dfnk98-FEAzP_5hjIU8Jvqmgkgq8sCruxodAkoJJ1YjwwhREwj/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirGKW8pZTb0JShn7reZY8g51E0maV_gK2zxRdd_vSmr1RNJq3K0bx46lQhk7hZ9KtGFqhWsA53xFuE3ygguFIz6y8IW4dfnk98-FEAzP_5hjIU8Jvqmgkgq8sCruxodAkoJJ1YjwwhREwj/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-17.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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It was completely liquid, even though I used the correct amount of egg and cornstarch (I checked). I thought it might thicken as it cooled, but it didn't. Not at all. I thought the mascarpone and whipped cream would make the filling thick enough if I just added a little pastry cream, but the entire mixture was still very thin. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVEvwTZ4OdexsLnNVUGUhW8RodbCwqr7j37DQrTXknWbs_-W1ooI_SuqD3j0Ros7q3JOe8AaYNEEh-dp9XkbTIdWFfwAS-k6iIQeltE0loqbexWuvhPxPlo7xLcd4naf98nrzK73HXEIG/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikVEvwTZ4OdexsLnNVUGUhW8RodbCwqr7j37DQrTXknWbs_-W1ooI_SuqD3j0Ros7q3JOe8AaYNEEh-dp9XkbTIdWFfwAS-k6iIQeltE0loqbexWuvhPxPlo7xLcd4naf98nrzK73HXEIG/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-26.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I squeezed as much liquid from the dried fruit mixture as I could, and I didn't add the Grand Marnier, because the filling just didn't look thick enough to work in a pastry tube. Actually, I was so dismayed at how everything was turning out that I forgot to be worried about the fact that I was going to have to use a pastry tube.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWvlc4f59e4VlqHe9PkiLhgY7IDHda1wo-GZscItSkJh3vZmxnw3WU4MzRtH4vje747SWzQnEbmRYV59mMiZzYyZawSFXx7lqmVEk4jjeWzvjgGUgVR-luVA2dbn7US90QVzVk5rixR3L/s1600/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAWvlc4f59e4VlqHe9PkiLhgY7IDHda1wo-GZscItSkJh3vZmxnw3WU4MzRtH4vje747SWzQnEbmRYV59mMiZzYyZawSFXx7lqmVEk4jjeWzvjgGUgVR-luVA2dbn7US90QVzVk5rixR3L/s640/Brandy+Snap+Canolis+-27.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I picked a smallish pastry tip because I thought maybe the not-very-dense filling would work better coming through a small tip. Alas, what happened is that the fruit got stuck in the pastry tip and nothing came out. Refusing to believe I couldn't somehow rescue this, I grabbed another tip and another bag, and I sloshed as much filling as I could from one bag to the other. Daubs of white filling flew all over the kitchen. I ordered Jim to put his camera down--"I don't want a record of this," I said.<br />
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And that, dear reader, is how there came to be one cannolo on a plate and why the squirrels are now begging at our back door. Jim said it was pretty good. I didn't even want to taste it. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-24190335046400427932016-10-20T13:28:00.001-07:002016-10-20T13:32:33.988-07:00Midweek Roundup: "A Complete Doddle"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJibRkLxF6VwSOoD2VEwBI9MVDA3WYfOQHH0O2sjlhyrWKWUJnzXpAIhIuMHy-tyNt_MsaUv_Fn8zNGo615ky5RvFg4G_VWbKEbHGpAWysYxcaEeUHUVa0KroOorjv_7oXXGVJNIfdowdE/s1600/Nicola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJibRkLxF6VwSOoD2VEwBI9MVDA3WYfOQHH0O2sjlhyrWKWUJnzXpAIhIuMHy-tyNt_MsaUv_Fn8zNGo615ky5RvFg4G_VWbKEbHGpAWysYxcaEeUHUVa0KroOorjv_7oXXGVJNIfdowdE/s640/Nicola.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b><i>Photo by Nicola</i></b></div>
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<b><i>She Bakes the Cake</i></b></div>
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To be precise, <a href="http://shebakesthecake.blogspot.com/2016/10/araxi-lemon-tart.html">Nicola</a> called this recipe a "complete doddle" if you have an already-prepared crust sitting in the fridge. If you have to make the crust first, it's not so much of a doddle. However, before you think this was a complete breeze for Nicola, you should probably also know that she overbaked the tart (but only because she followed the directions) and ended up with a "crack between the pastry and the filling [that] could swallow a small child." (You can see the crack in the picture--it clearly presents a danger to small children). This tart is on Nicola's make-again list, but next time she's going to eat it soon after it comes out of the oven, when the crust is at its crispest.</div>
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Creative <a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-araxi-lemon-cream-tart.html">Vicki</a> not only made the tart ("exactly how I always wished a lemon bar would taste") but she also made a parfait with the leftover filling, crumbled shortbread cookies, raspberries, and whipped cream. In fact, Vicki should get to work on her own cookbook, called something like "Everyday Trifles." She clearly believes that any dessert can be improved, and any disaster can be rescued, by trifleizing a recipe. And really, she does have a point. Look at her parfait if you have any doubt.</div>
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<a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-baking-bible-araxi-lemon-cream-tart.html">Jen</a> did something even more daring than making a parfait. She made a tart crust without rolling out the dough--she just patted it into a pan. Why has it taken so long for someone to suggest this? No rolling, no splitting, no breaking, no sticking. And it looks lovely too! With no rolling of pie crust to put her in a bad mood, her blog is happiness itself: "wonderfully creamy and lemony," "very simple to make," "a delightful dessert." I don't think pastry whizzes understand how daunting rolling out a piece of dough can be to those of us who are pastry-challenged.<br />
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Leave it to <a href="https://eatsndrinks.ca/2016/10/18/araxi-lemon-cream-tart/#more-3231">Kristina</a> to celebrate her making of the Araxi Lemon Cream Tart by visiting Whistler, B.C., the home of the Araxi Restaurant. No word on whether she herself visited the Araxi for a taste of the original tart, but she did whip up her own, which she described as "quite a simple" recipe. Just wave your hands around the ingredients and "Done! This made a great dessert on Saturday, with my parents visiting. Just had another piece tonight, and I think the rest might make it to work tomorrow."<br />
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Rachel noted that when you bake a lot of Rose's recipes, you realize that chocolate and lemon are high on her list of favored flavors. And if you're "going to bake a lot of lemon desserts, this one should be on your list!" Rachel also zipped right through this recipe: "Almost before I realized it, I was pulling the baked crust from the oven!" This was a satisfying recipe for another reason; Rachel figured out how to whip small amounts of cream with her hand-held mixer without splashing cream all over the kitchen walls. (She made a makeshift silicone guard, and now most of the cream stays in the bowl). It's the small things that keep us going.<br />
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When you start reading <a href="http://theamateurbaker.blogspot.com/2016/10/tbb-araxi-lemon-cream-tart-p235.html">Faithy</a>'s blog, you think this is going to be a story with a very unhappy ending. No time to rest! Bubbles that couldn't be removed! Poured too much filling in the tart shell! Until you get to the last paragraph, which is a perfect example of all's well that ends well. "This is the BEST lemon tart I have ever tasted! I always thought lemon tart is too sour for me ... but this cream tart, I love! Now I feel like making it again...soo good!"<br />
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Next week: Brandy Snap Cannolis. I can pretty much guarantee that nobody is going to say that these were a breeze to make, but, like so many other of Rose's multi-page, multi-step, multi-process recipes, they may well turn out to be worth the effort.<br />
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The countdown: Just eight more elegant recipes. I hope you have time to try some.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-74203876579841345932016-10-16T18:45:00.000-07:002016-10-16T18:45:48.606-07:00The Araxi Lemon Cream Tart<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGe-DLIj1Iv0NO8YYegWuI824BJStGJWBWS36QnrhmQculwFz54mrP5G1KndPfGlY_bBLCaPL61yMZ89HqN35Xc0WIHYvkn_Z5j_kVg4YjcCJr7MNNCSKxJVodVD_8xbNo71uVdewR85i8/s1600/The+Araxi+Lemon+Cream+Tart-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="402" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGe-DLIj1Iv0NO8YYegWuI824BJStGJWBWS36QnrhmQculwFz54mrP5G1KndPfGlY_bBLCaPL61yMZ89HqN35Xc0WIHYvkn_Z5j_kVg4YjcCJr7MNNCSKxJVodVD_8xbNo71uVdewR85i8/s640/The+Araxi+Lemon+Cream+Tart-25.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This tart was creamily delicious, and all my tasters loved it, and gobbled up every bite, but it wasn't my finest hour as a baker. I've learned that there are a few of Rose's instructions that you can fudge on--not everything has to be strained, for example, and you can get away with some modifications. But when she tells you over and over again that the filling of this tart MUST NOT leak or overflow, you should pay attention. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_E3DzJ2t0JnTJqQI2KHSe1GtX84nKC3TzgDlDu_xo9xb7KXUwToBBinMr_24NuIN2-SnMdbtffnXOjYmlpY7eC_FgI80PWkno0wUi7Q89Hh3gCFn8LGpV5kq0hYKZqgcPtMoD4VNxbSq/s1600/The+Araxi+Lemon+Cream+Tart-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_E3DzJ2t0JnTJqQI2KHSe1GtX84nKC3TzgDlDu_xo9xb7KXUwToBBinMr_24NuIN2-SnMdbtffnXOjYmlpY7eC_FgI80PWkno0wUi7Q89Hh3gCFn8LGpV5kq0hYKZqgcPtMoD4VNxbSq/s640/The+Araxi+Lemon+Cream+Tart-3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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I know that some people don't like to drag out their food processors, but mine is always on the counter, at the ready, so I love recipes that give a food processor option. Sugar and lemon zest buzz together to make the beginnings of pate brisee, AKA lemon sugar cookie dough. <br />
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Flour and lots of butter whizzed in with the lemony sugar.<br />
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Finally, an egg yolk and some heavy cream complete the pastry dough. Nothing has gone wrong yet.<br />
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Believe it or not, I worked really hard on this tart crust. I tried to make sure that the dough was pressed down, that it came up a little bit above the top of the tart pan's rim, and that no dough was sticking to the pan. <br />
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But it doesn't look so great when it comes out of the oven. It's browner than it should be, although I used the minimum baking times at all stages. I'd bake it on the next to the bottom level instead of on the lowest rack if I did it again--I don't have good luck baking things on the lowest level. <br />
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The filling is way easier than lemon curd. Nothing has to be cooked. You don't have to watch for steam or worry about scrambling the eggs. Just whip together eggs, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. (I used a mixture of Meyer and regular lemons, which accounts for it not being as tart as I expected).<br />
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Then you just whisk in some whipped cream. <br />
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Aside from the grotty-looking tart shell, this is where I made my big mistake. Despite the multiple warnings and despite seeing that my tart shell had sunk so that the sides were considerably shorter than when I put the shell in the oven, I wanted to use all the filling. Yes, I know that Rose says you shouldn't try to use all the filling if the crust has shrunk, but I really wanted to use all the filling. I could have put together a little tartlet with the leftover dough and filling, but I had a thoroughly unwarranted confidence that everything would be okay. <br />
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Overbaked again. Maybe it's time to check my oven temperature. The filling pulled away from the crust and didn't jiggle one little bit in the middle. And because I'd overfilled the tart, there was filling between the tart shell and the tart pan. Horrors! But the worst was yet to come.<br />
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I got the sides of the tart pan off pretty easily, putting it on top of a sugar canister and gently pulling it off. But sliding the tart off the bottom of the pan was another story. Because of the filling that had leaked out, the bottom was firmly cemented onto the bottom crust. I was struggling with it when Jim said, "Can I help?" I said sure. Unfortunately, he tried using brute force, pushing the crust in with both hands. Suddenly instead of a round tart, I had two joined parabolas. I screamed something like, "Oh my God, what have you done?" I'll admit I didn't have the appropriate amount of gratitude in my voice. <br />
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It turns out that a double parabola can be coaxed back into something resembling a circle, and the pieces of crust that fell of during the rescue operation can be more or less pushed back into place. But if I were the pastry chef at <a href="http://www.araxi.com/">The Araxi</a>, I would have been fired on the spot. Fortunately, a rim of raspberries and a fairly heavy sprinkling of powdered sugar covered some of the flaws. And once the tart was cut into slices, it looked less blemished. The worst thing that happened was that the crust got soggy in places, so, although some pieces were fine, not every bite had the "contrast of the crispy crust and tart, creamy filling." The good thing is that my guests didn't know they were supposed to have that experience, and one thing I have learned is not to apologize for the shortcomings in my food. At least it didn't fall on the floor.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-33913909412504276402016-10-14T10:02:00.003-07:002016-10-14T10:02:47.031-07:00Giant Jam Cookie: "Absolutely delicious!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Photo by Rosa</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Simply Delicious</i></b></div>
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I didn't think that Rosa had made this week's project, but then I remembered she told me she'd baked it earlier. I was determined to track it down, and I finally found it on a blog post she wrote in April of 2015. She used apricot lekvar instead of raspberry jam (in case you're wondering whether she might have used golden raspberries), and it turned out to be just as pretty as the one in the book. She used several cookie cutters and carefully planned it so each slice had a cookie cutter cut-out and a cookie cutter cookie. And it looks like she got every slice right. <br />
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<a href="http://shebakesthecake.blogspot.com/2016/10/giant-jammy-biscuit-or-some-such-thing.html">Nicola</a> didn't have any "natty cutouts" in a "quaint tiny size," so she improvised with an icing coupler for a "minimalist circle." Of course, Nicola refers to this as a "giant jammy biscuit." (Thanks to all you bakers who actually speak English, I remembered to request an oat biscuit instead of an oatmeal cookie in a shop in Ireland). Making the giant biscuit was actually pretty uneventful for Nicola, although she almost burned the raspberry jam while joining her sons in an exciting episode of "How to Train Your Dragon," and the same boys all thought they should be able to eat the entire jammy biscuit before they settled for a mere wedge.<br />
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I hope that Nicola's boys don't read <a href="http://breadbabies.blogspot.com/2016/10/alpha-bakers-giant-jam-cookie.html">Katya</a>'s blog. If they do, they'll discover that at least one person managed to eat the entire cookie by herself. She meant to share, but forgot to invite her colleagues to tuck into the cookie. Then she took it to give to her parents, but they're off sugar. (There's a lot of that going around, isn't there?) So really, what choice did she have? And here are Katya's new year wishes to you: "Make cookies. Be alive. Forgive. Refuse to forgive.... Lie down. Get up. New Year. L'Shanah Tovah. May it be sweet. And bitter. And tough. And new."<br />
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I suppose I should say at some point that, although some of the above bakers described this cookie as easy, there are others who were a little disgruntled by the time and effort it required. <br />
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<a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/giant-pain-in-neck-jam-cookie.html">Catherine</a>, for example, titled her post, "Giant Pain-in-the-Neck Cookie." Even though she acknowledged that the "biscuit dough is easy to whiz up in the food processor," and the end result is "delicious," she thought the rest of the recipe was, well, a giant pain in the neck. It is not the recipe "for the impatient, intolerant and generally irritable baker." From her blog, I'd describe Catherine as generally amiable rather than irritable, but apparently you don't want to be in the same kitchen with her if she's "inverting dough onto trays and then re-inverting on to other trays and so on." Still, "it's a really great combination of flavours," and that's what counts, right? Right?<br />
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<a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/10/10/rlb-giant-jam-cookie-or-someones-got-to-be-miss-personality/">Rachel</a>, like several of the rest of us, was somewhat cowed by the description that said, in effect, "that making it look like the photo would require painstaking precision." Then she decided to kiss precision goodbye and make "Rachel's version of Rose's Giant Jam Cookie, and everybody who eats it will enjoy it because let's be honest, even a crumbling disaster of a Rose recipe is delectable." As it turned out, Rachel's version was not a "crumbling disaster." It was quite nice. She used a mixture of strawberry and cherry jams, which sounds quite yummy. The worst thing that happened is that she got a little mixed up when she was making the cut-out pattern, so it looked a little more free-form than the picture in TBB. But "it was really good." <br />
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When you look at <a href="http://baking-with-granny.blogspot.com/2016/10/giant-jam-cookie.html">Vicki</a>'s giant cookie, you'll notice a fairly heavy layer of powdered sugar. This layer, Vicki says, "hides a multitude of sins." And no cut outs, either; "this dough is lucky it made it into the pan." On the other hand, "the flavor is lovely and the house smells heavenly." Glad to hear that there are heavenly smells wafting from your kitchen again, Vicki.<br />
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<a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-baking-bible-giant-jam-cookie.html">Jen</a> allowed as how the recipe was a bit "fiddly," but she made her cookie over the space of a few days, so she wasn't too bothered by the "shenanigans" required by the recipe. Despite a few minor problems (the dough not fitting in the freezer, "mangling" the tiny gingerbread men, having to piece together some split-off dough), everyone enjoyed the final result (although Mark would have preferred blackberry jam). <br />
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Here's the takeaway on the giant jam cookie--nobody didn't like it!<br />
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Next week: The Araxi Lemon Cream Tart. This is the last of Rose's fabulous lemon desserts, and a recipe that Rose liked so much that she added it after all the recipes had already been chosen, so it must be good!<br />
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The countdown: Just nine more recipes and we'll have completed the entire Baking Bible.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-43324564789216663242016-10-10T15:39:00.003-07:002016-10-10T15:39:43.549-07:00Giant Jam Cookie<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi808o6aNhv76BE4VLfJ8z4s0C7E3CvXlKbT7BE-4CAmKM_nBMBO4KjX45jGQsaGqCWI-a0_23nE0Z5nTZtSUr5-pVFay4Fo8UxF0bSWfMz8h2m3vY1bcXso51k3nTCdUuyqLr_9-e4qVjB/s1600/Giant+Jam+Cookies+-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi808o6aNhv76BE4VLfJ8z4s0C7E3CvXlKbT7BE-4CAmKM_nBMBO4KjX45jGQsaGqCWI-a0_23nE0Z5nTZtSUr5-pVFay4Fo8UxF0bSWfMz8h2m3vY1bcXso51k3nTCdUuyqLr_9-e4qVjB/s640/Giant+Jam+Cookies+-25.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Fussy, fiddly, putsy, finicky, exacting--choose your favorite adjective indicating you're going to be in the kitchen for longer than it usually takes to make a cookie. But most of the time is spent putting the cookie top and bottom in the refrigerator or freezer and taking them out again. I got nearly 2,000 steps going from the kitchen to the basement (where my freezer is) and back!<br />
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The dough itself is easy enough to make in the food processor--just Demarara sugar, butter, flour, eggs, and salt. They come together to make a nice, soft dough. This is going to be easy, I thought.<br />
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You'd think I'd know by now that, at least for me, when a dough has been in the refrigerator for an hour or so, it's going to take a lot longer than five minutes for it to get back to the malleable stage again. But I'll spare you the description of how the dough tore apart. I eventually got it into a circular shape big enough to trace the shape of a 12-inch lid.<br />
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A pizza cutter works much better than a knife when you're trying to make a circle.<br />
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A few patching jobs here and there, and some wrinkles from the plastic wrap, but it's serviceable.<br />
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I ran out of raspberry jam, but I dug around in the refrigerator and found another half-full jar, so I didn't have use jam with seeds. You should do the jam part first--you have to boil down the jam, and then let it cool to room temperature. If you let it cool while you're running back and forth from freezer to countertop, it should be done about the time you're ready for it. (That's if you don't elect to make the dough a couple of days before you bake the cookie).<br />
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I thought I was being very careful not to cut all the way through the dough, but, as I found it when I tried to slide the top layer over the jam, I wasn't careful enough.<br />
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The heart shapes came out in the cookie cutter, so I didn't bother to freeze them separately. I just took the top layer down to the freezer and let it freeze solid. This is a very important step!<br />
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Spreading the jam on the bottom layer and brushing the edge with water--super easy step! I was getting too sure of myself.<br />
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Because even though the top layer was frozen solid, it started to thaw in about 10 seconds. It came apart at the edges and at some of the wedge markings. I pieced it back in one piece as well as I could and poked some holes in the dough.<br />
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I forgot to set the timer, but fortunately I didn't leave the kitchen, so I smelled it when the dough started to brown.<br />
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This is just the kind of cookie I like--tart fruit, crispy and buttery cookie. Jim liked them too, although, to be honest, Liz and JJ only took a few bites. Lily ate more, but not with the same gusto she displayed when she ate a chocolate ice cream sandwich. I think this mega-cookie would be fun to bake for a crowd because who expects one cookie to serve 12 people.<br />
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Too tart for a four-year-old?</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-5456853847557639662016-10-06T12:21:00.000-07:002016-10-06T13:56:02.608-07:00Midweek Roundup: "Super delicious and very rich!"<br />
<img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6SmIyilHp6r5_7INrFXsMQmX3kinLQA7fWdFzjI0sgWSzLxYUhXIte3pYOaoCRTZAdRQyHBLYFBAwdBCVbDZ357PIUBWX6kzBfl9r6c8hOBgtmhcUbSTNMcuaDABz8P-usviSIrJlw14/s640/IMG_1356.JPG" /><br />
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<b><i>Photo by Peggy (Faithy)</i></b></div>
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<b><i>The Amateur Baker</i></b></div>
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There was something about this cheesecake recipe that seemed to inspire mistakes. On the other hand, there was something about the recipe that enabled it to forgive all mistakes and hand everyone a first-rate dessert.<br />
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<a href="http://theamateurbaker.blogspot.com/2016/10/tbb-marble-white-dark-chocolate.html">Faithy</a>, for example, ran out of white chocolate, so she substituted some dulce de leche (good thinking, by the way). This wasn't much of a problem. The real fun started when she put her not-quite-done cheesecake in the toaster oven for its cool down. Unfortunately, she forgot to turn off the oven, so she ended up with a burned cheesecake top. No problem, she thought--just tear off the burnt layer and cover with sour cream. But the sour cream turned out to be heavy cream, which liquified on the cake and had to be laboriously siphoned off. Plan B--cover the cheesecake with chocolate ganache--turned out to be a winner, as was the cheesecake itself: "creamy, smooth, and deliciously melt in the mouth."<br />
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<a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/10/03/rlb-marble-white-and-dark-chocolate-cheesecake/">Rachel</a> also substituted for the white chocolate--not because she ran out of chocolate but because she had a glut of bananas. Banana + chocolate = very tasty. Her cheesecake wobbled alarmingly when she took it out of the oven, and she was afraid the substitution didn't work because the liquid content of bananas is not exactly the same as that of white chocolate. But guess what? The cheesecake turned out to be perfect! She couldn't say the same for the sponge cake, however, which for some mysterious reason turned out to be "leathery" and "burnt on the bottom." Still the cheesecake was "great--super creamy and light-textured." <br />
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You've got to hand it to <a href="http://evilcakelady.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-baking-bible-marble-white-and-dark.html">Jen</a>. Her cheesecake "mistake" resulted from her knowing Rose's cheesecake formula by heart. The ratio is always a pound of cream cheese to about a pound and a half of sour cream. So that's what she bought. And then she read the recipe. And decided to "Franken-bake a marble chocolate cheesecake." Also, she did what I didn't have the nerve to do: she spotted the leftover chocolate wafers and made them into a crumb crust for the cheesecake. What happened with the Franken-bake? Well, husband Mark proclaimed it "The Perfect Cheesecake." And we all know how hard it is to improve on perfection.<br />
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<a href="http://shebakesthecake.blogspot.com/2016/10/white-and-dark-chocolate-marble.html">Nicola</a>'s main problem was with the marbling, which she alternately describes as "unattractive brown splodge" and "more mess than marble." (It was her main problem if you don't count being lured back on the sugar wagon by a certain "diabolical" blogger). She had a few other gripes too--such as Americans' stubborn refusal to use the easy and logical metric system, and having to cool the chocolate to just the right temperature, lest it turn into chocolate chips, but all in all, it was a fairly easy project. Although Nicola is sure she's not going to be called up to the Great British Bake Off any time soon, I think she misunderestimates (as a former president probably didn't actually say) the power of the cheesecake.<br />
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<a href="http://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com.au/2016/10/marble-white-and-dark-chocolate.html">Catherine</a>'s entry into the cheesecake pool ruined the thesis of this roundup because she didn't have any problems at all with her cheesecake, even though her favorite almost-five-year-old refused to help her. (Well, maybe it's because her favorite almost-five-year-old didn't help). There was no chance to mess up the cake base because Catherine adapted the biscuit (cookie) base from the Frozen Lime Meringue Pie instead of the sponge (biscuit) base. Why do English-speakers not speak the same language?! I must say, the high point of Catherine's blog isn't really the cheesecake, although that part is very nice, but it doesn't compare to the pictures of Aunty Catherine and Parker made with stones, and with Aunty Catherine (but not Parker) sporting a stone belly button!<br />
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Next week: Giant Jam Cookies. I thought this might be a quick and easy recipe that had somehow missed being placed in that wonderful category. Then I read more: "Be warned. The jam cookie is one of those things that looks simple and elegant, but it takes the skill of a craftsperson to achieve." Uh-oh. <br />
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The countdown: It's getting serious now. Only ten weeks left. We may be done before the snow flies!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-56128209035120396942016-10-03T15:14:00.002-07:002016-10-03T15:14:19.573-07:00Marble White and Dark Chocolate Cheesecake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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Our last cheesecake. Normally I enjoy making Rose's cheesecakes. They take a while, but nothing is hard, and I know the result will be fantastic. But this time nothing seemed to go quite right. I think my brain was still a little addled from being on Dublin time, or I wasn't in the right mood for baking, or something. I did pour the boiling water into the cocoa correctly--the first step to making the chocolate genoise that serves as the base and sides of the cheesecake. Although I had no trouble with the cocoa, I was a little put out that I had to bake a cake before I could make the cheesecake. I eyed the box of chocolate wafers, left over from the bourbon balls, and thought, "This would be so much easier...." But I persevered.</div>
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Beating the eggs for the genoise. This is when they're just getting started; they're much lighter and fluffier after being in the stand mixer for five minutes.<br />
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Adding the cocoa mixture to the genoise batter.<br />
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Aargh. The genoise was completely uneven when it came out of the oven with one side thin and flat and the other side three times as high and much fluffier. Fortunately, at that point I had to go to the opera (Romeo and Juliette by Gounod), so I just covered the cake with another half-sheet pan and went off to watch the star-crossed lovers.<br />
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By the next morning, the cake seemed to have evened itself out. To my surprise, I didn't have any trouble cutting the shapes out or fitting them in the pan. Still, I think a chocolate crumb crust would have worked just fine.<br />
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Next problem. Melting the white chocolate. I had half good stuff that melted like a dream and half stupid little chocolate chips that wouldn't melt. Fake chocolate. I remember it gave me problems the last time I used it, when I swore I'd never use it again. Sadly, I forgot that vow before it was too late. (This time I threw the rest of them away. I just hope I remember never to buy them again). <br />
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So instead of being smooth and stirrable like the dark chocolate, the white chocolate never did melt properly. When I got it close to smooth, it just re-hardened. At this point, there was no way I was going to start over.<br />
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2 pounds of cream cheese at room temperature. I beat that for five minutes too, but, like the white chocolate, it never turned smooth and lump-free. <br />
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Three layers of cheese mixture: white chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate. The last layer came right up to the top of the cake sides.<br />
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I used a whisk to marble the cheesecake, but it looked odd, so I drew a sharp knife through it a couple of times. I'm not sure I got to the bottom layer, so I guess it won't be marbled all the way through.<br />
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3 hours later.... If I was going to get this posted on Monday, I couldn't let the cheesecake sit in the refrigerator overnight. After 3 hours, it was still not cold, about room temperature, I'd say. The good news is that none of the difficulties I foresaw actually happened. The cheesecake had no lumps or crunchy bits in it; it was completely smooth and silky. And I LOVED the genoise enclosure!<br />
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I was right that the marbling effect didn't show through the whole cheesecake. Cutting into it turned it into more of a layered cheesecake than a marbled one, but it didn't really matter. I'm so happy that the last cheesecake turned out to be another winner in the pantheon of RLB cheesecakes!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-85811361986346139112016-09-25T23:04:00.000-07:002016-09-25T23:04:38.253-07:00Bourbon Pecan Butter Balls<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjloK_dsdwEkMbkh9SHbuU9W3LtjrUYAlQDAMyjwyQV-cA57LZhlMMND4JVWOpqryPE9_wtbR_Tt0Gc09bHAIxrMpvQo_ovgNEduMsYLjrYsqYoIQtseZVHnWdM7Me8KaNJJ83D74SXMeRZ/s1600/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjloK_dsdwEkMbkh9SHbuU9W3LtjrUYAlQDAMyjwyQV-cA57LZhlMMND4JVWOpqryPE9_wtbR_Tt0Gc09bHAIxrMpvQo_ovgNEduMsYLjrYsqYoIQtseZVHnWdM7Me8KaNJJ83D74SXMeRZ/s640/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-9.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Wait! Is this actually a recipe from The Baking Bible? And yet there's no baking involved? (Unless you make another batch of Chocolate Oriolos, of course). I actually have some chocolate Oriolos in the bottom of my freezer, but, due to a long story that I won't bother you with, I can no longer get to the bottom of my freezer because a person put six months' worth of frozen items on top of the Oriolos and sundry other things until this person locates housing. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-p8EWBppEge7N9wfMxkZ7O2ZmjO-Ugb4sros7c1ssR05vkEsN7tWBuOI12xkzzd7oH03_F8jRrpei3J3GtbK0Nx0M8IIEYVcuDH8EBL9g82-46pJzCDzG3r-JtZWut9459x0alf9kkQw-/s1600/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-p8EWBppEge7N9wfMxkZ7O2ZmjO-Ugb4sros7c1ssR05vkEsN7tWBuOI12xkzzd7oH03_F8jRrpei3J3GtbK0Nx0M8IIEYVcuDH8EBL9g82-46pJzCDzG3r-JtZWut9459x0alf9kkQw-/s640/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Rather than make new cookies from scratch (or, worse, remove the ton or so of food from the top of the freezer). I simply bought some Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers. (While I was looking at the cookie section in the grocery aisle, I was stunned at how bad most boxed cookies look. I have come to believe, like many of you, that sugar is probably the food villain that we thought fat was, and I've vowed to eat less sugar. But I'm not ready to give it up entirely.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm80dcz0Xg6gIumdD7z1gfucIHB9XWqXfL5L3iZ9w4g-i4bUViw-0vPDv0-xV6C48qdOz3AcbNVYXLxBGDvkmvebIVSIMsR_MuhrZom1WoT5xL66IUt4hsmDnSptuwPu9Sx3SzTsb6TLbY/s1600/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm80dcz0Xg6gIumdD7z1gfucIHB9XWqXfL5L3iZ9w4g-i4bUViw-0vPDv0-xV6C48qdOz3AcbNVYXLxBGDvkmvebIVSIMsR_MuhrZom1WoT5xL66IUt4hsmDnSptuwPu9Sx3SzTsb6TLbY/s640/Bourbon+Pecan+Butter+Balls-2.jpg" width="478" /></a></div>
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When I started baking with a scale, I was obsessive about getting the weight just right. Now one of my scales weighs to the tenth of a gram, and yet I'm more careless. But by breaking the last wafer into tiny pieces, I managed to get 383 grams, right on the nose. I took that as a good omen.<br />
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Should I talk about making the cookies? There's really not much to say because it simply involves a food processor and the ingredients in the picture of the <i>mise en place</i>--chocolate cookies, pecans, cocoa, butter, powdered sugar, corn syrup, and bourbon. I don't usually use alcohol when I might be giving food to my grandchildren, but I thought that bourbon balls should be made with bourbon. JJ took one look at the bottle of Maker's Mark, and said, "These aren't for children, are they?" <br />
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Here's the processed mixture of everything but the pulverized cookies and the bourbon.<br />
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Here's the mixture with everything. I found this to be a little dry, but, rather than adding more bourbon or water, I just dampened my hands every few times I reached in to shape a ball, and that worked well.<br />
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The triple sugar roll (sounds a little like an Olympic event) was the most fun part about making these cookies. A little more sparkly white sugar clung to the chocolate-pecan balls with every coating. Yes, sugar is evil incarnate but this is why I can't quite give it up.<br />
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The thing is, these were really good cookies. I can hardly believe that eating a few of these dainty little morsels is going to take years off of your life. They're intensely chocolatey, crunchy, and nutty, and the bourbon gives them a wonderful mellow taste. (I waited the recommended 24 hours before tasting them, and they didn't have a raw, boozy flavor, although they did taste like booze.) I liked them a lot. So did Jim, and so did the people at the office.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-77789017474083250462016-09-22T11:19:00.002-07:002016-09-22T11:19:55.037-07:00Midweek Roundup: "Tasted Great!"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b><i>Photo by Rachel</i></b></div>
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<b><i>Cooking and Thinking</i></b></div>
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Because she doesn't "own nine matching mini souffle bowls" (not many people do) and because her "antipathy for precision in presentation is longstanding," <a href="http://cookingandthinking.com/candt/2016/09/18/rlb-cadillac-cafe-milk-chocolate-bread-pudding/">Rachel</a> "opted to make one large pudding." I'm muttering under my breath just a little as I type this because honestly, that does sound a lot easier, and Rachel and I are usually on the same wavelength when it comes to fussiness in presentation. She thought it was fun to slice the baguette to make the many thin slices, and she decided while she was at it, she might as well clarify three cups of butter so she'd have "plenty for making popcorn." (Sounds like Rachel will have the best popcorn on the block). She couldn't quite bring herself to use three cups of cream so she defatted the pudding to the extent of using half and half instead of heavy cream. She was "willing to go with rich instead of super-rich." Which I think is a fine compromise.<br />
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Like Rachel, <a href="https://eatsndrinks.ca/2016/09/20/milk-chocolate-bread-pudding/">Kristina</a> didn't have 9 matching souffle bowls. But she did have 8 (not all quite the same size), so she made 8 bread puddings instead of 9. When she was shaping the bread, Kristina cut the slices in half because otherwise, she noted, the instruction to place the bread slices "cut side down" made no sense. (I wondered about that too--I looked at the sliced baguette pieces, held them up, turned them every which way, and tried to figure out what the "cut side" was. Kristina's explanation makes more sense than anything I could think of). Despite the "chocolate advantage" of these puddings, Kristina still thought she preferred more traditional ones with custard and raisins, but then she just got back from England, so maybe she's still thinking of English things like custard and raisins.<br />
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<a href="http://orinsgoodies.com/?p=1913">Orin</a> really went all out, and made her own baguettes instead of just buying them. Orin discovered her fiance crunching away on the buttered and toasted baguette slices, but instead of giving him the evil eye, she just toasted more baguette slices. The bulk of Orin's pudding went into four heart-shaped molds, which she presented on a plate with homemade raspberry jam. Look no further if you're trying to think of a lovely Valentine's Day dessert. Orin's taster "loved that it wasn't too sweet... He loved the crunchy top and thought it added texture to the dessert." <br />
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If you've read <a href="https://phylliscaroline.blogspot.com/2016/09/mud-pie-milk-chocolate-cadillac-cafe.html?showComment=1474567981226#c6631121696894648323">Catherine</a>'s witty commentary over the past several years, you won't be surprised to hear about her baking adventures with her mother. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Catherine's mum described Rose (or maybe just her methods) as "relentless" after reading the multi-step, multi-container, multi-page recipe. And they both, when faced with the question of whether it made sense to melt the chocolate separately, as specified, or simply let the chocolate melt in the warm cream, opted for the easier approach. Whatever the method, I think you can glean from the different experiences of the Alpha Bakers that it's hard to go wrong with this chocolate bread pudding.<br />
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Next week: Bourbon Pecan Butter Balls. If you have some Chocolate Oriolos resting in the freezer, you can use them for this recipe. Otherwise, you have Rose's permission to use chocolate wafers that you've bought from the grocery store.<br />
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I won't be able to do a roundup next week because Jim and I are going to Ireland for a week. But I'll post the bourbon balls, and, hopefully, will have enough time to make the marble cheesecake for the following week.<br />
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The countdown: We're down to 12 great recipes!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4383201528982278067.post-4147358365535879162016-09-18T11:21:00.001-07:002016-09-18T11:21:30.281-07:00Cadillac Cafe Milk Chocolate Bread Pudding<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsmfvKL6_hblSdnWW4C0AbW1G8oU51Tp0M11VPYlCV3sxsVQhrvWdgg09spIAu50F5syDO6poyCuZtRp6cnIuE4nDo9Ckk7ptNM261l0DF376U0__oaNREk-45LndPUwcl8hyphenhyphene8Mv0O9U/s1600/Cadillac+Caf%25C3%25A9+Milk+Chocolate+Bread+Pudding-28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfsmfvKL6_hblSdnWW4C0AbW1G8oU51Tp0M11VPYlCV3sxsVQhrvWdgg09spIAu50F5syDO6poyCuZtRp6cnIuE4nDo9Ckk7ptNM261l0DF376U0__oaNREk-45LndPUwcl8hyphenhyphene8Mv0O9U/s640/Cadillac+Caf%25C3%25A9+Milk+Chocolate+Bread+Pudding-28.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is a pretty easy bread pudding. At least the pudding is easy. Slicing the bread, buttering it, and toasting it; then arranging in the little cups--well, it's not hard, but it is time-consuming.<br />
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I made this once before, but I didn't take any pictures because my baguette was so sturdy that it wouldn't bend even after it was soaked in the chocolate custard. No chance of getting anything that resembled a rose. I think I finally just poured everything in a big dish and baked it. It was unlovely as I recall, but I seem to have erased it from my memory.<br />
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Cream and eggs--that's pretty much the entire custard. It's mostly egg yolks, but also two whole eggs. When Jim saw me crack an egg and put it in whole, he panicked. "No! You forgot to separate the egg!" I don't need another person panicking, but I recovered enough to tell him that it wasn't a mistake.<br />
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Oh, well, of course there's chocolate in the custard. Otherwise it wouldn't be a chocolate bread pudding. I was tempted to use darker chocolate, but I decided to follow the recipe. Next time I'd use at least half dark chocolate. Milk chocolate tastes too sweet and bland now that I'm used to the good stuff.<br />
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And there's not enough color. I don't know if I'd have had the same reaction if we hadn't just made the chocolate mousse cake, with its rich chocolate taste, so recently.<br />
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What? 8 individual souffle cups AND 8 small bowls! Couldn't I just use the souffle cups and save a step (not to mention a lot of dishes)? I opted to follow the recipe again, but I do think you could get away with only using the souffle cup. I'm just trying to save you some work.<br />
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This is how they came out of the oven. You'd have to stretch it some to say these look just like chocolate roses. But they do have a decorative look, even if they're not as pretty as the picture in the book. If I were making them again, I'd dust a little confectioners' sugar on them because I was reminded during chocolate mousse cake that powdered sugar and cocoa both hide a multitude of sins. And it's never bad for sins to be hidden away. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15187362927261194164noreply@blogger.com5