Infamous Milan Cookies

After considering to renounce this months challenge, due to a very busy schedule, the portuguese little helper offered himself to bake it. As usual his initiave was rather... errr... compromised by all the external distractions offered by a day off. So in the end I was still very involved in the baking process.

I don't feel very possessive about the daring baking's chalenges, however I still feel responsible for their outcome and I just couldn't leave it to an overconfident and easily distracted Portuguese baker.

To make things easy we decided to bake only the milan cookies, since the timeframe was rather small. However it turns out that they dind't come out exactly like on the reference pictures. The dough was to liquidy and in the end it was quite complicated to give some thickness to the cookies. After the first attempt becoming a whole tray cookie, the following were kept to a minimum size in other to maintain their... individuallity??

Anyway, it was a challenge alright but in the end we made something similar to what was intended.

Here follow the intructions:

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

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

The best picture from the best possible angle from the Milan Cookies.

Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Lemon curd bakewell tart

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

I left the jam out and decided put lemon curd into my tart. I'm glad that I did it, because the result came out quite satisfing. This time I was happy enough, because all the cake was eaten on the first day. I managed to give it away to friends and even Joao gave thums up to this cake, so this recipe is a keeper.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

125g unsalted butter, softened
125g icing sugar
3 eggs ½ tsp almond extract
125g ground almonds
30g all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Lemon curd

2 lemons, rind and juice
2 egg yolks
55g butter
225g sugar

Grate rind of lemons and squeeze out juice. Put sugar, rind and juice, butter and beaten eggs into a large basin on top of a pan of simmering water. Stir with a wooden spoon until thick and curd coats the back of the spoon. Pour into warm sterile jars, cover, seal and label. Refrigerate.

Assembling the tart

Line the tart pan with the crust. Pour the lemon curd on the crust and spread it out evenly. Cover the curd layer with the Frangipane, spread evenly. Dont mind if it gets slightly mixed with the lemoncurd, it won't spoil the final result.

Three dinners

In past 2 weeks or so, I had some divine dinners. Nothing too complex to make, but complex enough to satify the senses.

Bacalau a bras

This is a typical dish from Portugal and very much loved in there. Bacalau is typical salted cod in Portugal. Dish is easy enough to make, but little bit time consuming as all the ingredients: cod, potatos, onion, garlic, eggs are required to boil or fry separately and then mixed all together. Its worth the effort though.

Shrimps in chilli sauce

Another easy meal. Shrimps cooked with onion, garlic, olive oli, white wine and chilli. Nice fresh salad and tomato rice on a side. I must admit that this meal was also inspired by Portugal. I remembered having shimps with piri-piri last year when on holiday in Albufeira.

Warm bread with fresh mozzarella and tomato

It was a bread baking day and since we are not big eaters then this fresh bread with some mozzarella and tomato and once again fresh salad on the side became a yummy dinner.

Apple Strudel

Rolling the strudel

Now this one was exciting for me. I love Apple strudel. I have thinking about it for a while already, so May's challenge was like Linda and Courtney reading my mind. The best strudel I ever had, goes all the way back to my childhood. She was a neighbour of ours and the strudel she made was divine. I remember my mother asking the recipe more than once, and we did it, and we did it, but it never came out the same. Maybe her oven had a little twist. I dont know.
The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
This strudel was quite close to the my childhood one, but still missing something. I think I could have added more sugar. In my apple strudel I kept the apples, but left out raisins and replaced breadcrumbs, with ground almonds.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

Raspberry cheesecake

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

As suggested by the hosts, this months challenge was about getting really creative with your cheesecake. Once again I have gone down the simple path and chose a single flavour, raspberries, for my cheesecake. Its the same old story that Joao doest like complicated sweets, so I must keep it as simple as possible to appeal him. Result was almost perfect. Cheese part was lovely, tasty and tender, but the crust stayed bit mushy. Cheesecakes that I have eaten the crust is dry and crispy, but mine stayed soaked.
I failed to keep some raspberries for garnish, so my cheesecake looks a bit boring, but taste was far from being boring, don't judge simply by the looks.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

crust:
180 g graham cracker crumbs
115 g butter, melted
2 tbsp.
1 tsp. vanilla extract

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

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the centre. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Handmade spinach egg pasta

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

I loved this months challenge. I feel that pasta is something that I would have never done myself, if there wasn't for Daring Bakers. Pasta is always there in the shelf of the supermarket or delicatessen store, if I want to go to more fancy cooking. Its very inexpensive, so there is really no need to do all that heavy duty.

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I bought the fresh spinach and rolled up my sleeves and got it started. Chopped spinach and there came my first wow and amazement and double checking of the recipe. Is it really all this amount. Next step, measuring out the flour, making the well, starting to mix in the spinach and eggs and once again, WOW, is it all that amount of spinach??? I started to knead it together and it didnt look anywhere near to be a pasta, just all this dry mixture of flour and spinach. But I didnt give up and kept manipulating it. It took some time, much more than 3 minutes suggested in recipe, close to 10 at least to get it into this.

Following the instructions I kept on kneading 15 minutes or so and ended up something that looked more close to being pasta.


I left it to relax at room temperature for about an hour. Rolling out didnt seem too much of a trouble. I managed to roll it out quite thin. I used fairly small baking dish to make the lasagne, sinde its only two of us eating. It took exactly half of the made pasta to fill in this dish. Other half I rolled out and cut into pieces and left to dry.

For a sauce I chose simple ground beef version with a little twist of good quality Portuguese chouriço from Joao's last trip home. I usually dont use any measures, just shuffle in about 500g ground beef, 2 small cans of chopped tomatoes and rest of it is pure fantasy, sometimes mushrooms, different types of veggies, Herbs de Provance etc. This time I also added some carrots to the sauce to cut the acidity of tomatoes and chouriço. For bechamel I used recipe given, plus added some grated parmesan cheese for a taste.


Spinach Egg Pasta (Pasta Verde)

2 jumbo eggs (2 ounces/60g or more)
10 ounces (300g) fresh spinach, rinsed dry, and finely chopped; or 6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
3 1/2 cups (14 ounces/400g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour (organic stone ground preferred)

Mixing the dough: Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.
Kneading: With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.
Stretching and Thinning: If using an extra-long rolling pin work with half the dough at a time. With a regular-length rolling pin, roll out a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest of the dough wrapped. Lightly sprinkle a large work surface with flour. The idea is to stretch the dough rather than press down and push it. Shape it into a ball and begin rolling out to form a circle, frequently turning the disc of dough a quarter turn. As it thins outs, start rolling the disc back on the pin a quarter of the way toward the center and stretching it gently sideways by running the palms of your hands over the rolled-up dough from the center of the pin outward. Unroll, turn the disc a quarter turn, and repeat. Do twice more. Stretch and even out the center of the disc by rolling the dough a quarter of the way back on the pin. Then gently push the rolling pin away from you with one hand while holding the sheet in place on the work surface with the other hand. Repeat three more times, turning the dough a quarter turn each time.
Repeat the two processes as the disc becomes larger and thinner. The goal is a sheet of even thickness. For lasagne, the sheet should be so thin that you can clearly see your hand through it and see colours. Cut into rectangles about 4 by 8 inches (10 x 20 cm). Note: Enza says that transparency is a crucial element of lasagne pasta and the dough should be rolled as thinly as possible. She says this is why her housekeeper has such strong arms! Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

Final product, straight from the oven and following day .. mmm

Camera action!

Dear fellow bloggers,

I am asking little help from you. Our Sony digital camera has died. Doesn't blink an eye, so it means that I need to get a new one and fast, because I have Daring Bakers challenge to cook and post. My question for you dear friends is: are you satisfied with a camera you use and let me know what type is it? Also perhaps leave me your blogs address as well, so I can check out the images that you have taken with it. Oh and I am talking about digital compact cameras. I wont be getting a big one, since I want it for travels as well and I won't have much patience to walk around all day with something excessive to carry. My own bum is enough already :)
So folks I'd appreciate if you drop me a line :P

Aire

Flourless seduction

Beautiful bite ...

I am cooking this months challenge from my mothers house. I came to Estonia for a week. Its snowy here and pleasently cold, not too much. Just a perfect environment to pamper our tastebuds with divine chocolate flavour.


New chocolate cake recipes are always welcome. This was my first time to try the flourless version. The amount of chocolate that goes in is a bit scary in first glimpse, but in the taste it transformes into true pleasure.


The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


Cake was unbelievably easy to make. I did ditched the ice cream making part and served it with store bought vanilla ice cream. The photograph that I am using is without the ice-cream though, for a simple reason that I prefered it without ice-cream. Just with a dash of powdered sugar and lingonberries from my mothers freezer.

Chocolate Valentino

454 grams of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
146 grams total of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

2 in 1:Shrove Tuesday+Independence Day

Meal is served ...

Now this year's last Tuesday in February happens to be with double celebrations. Shrove Tuesday that travels every year to a different Tuesday, happens to be on a same day with Estonian Independence Day. I am not a big patriot of my country, but since it is a day off it gives an opportunity for a family to get together, cook, eat and relax together. And so it is in our family. I came traveled to Estonia for a week and my brother also came to my mothers house where we had a little festive lunch with simple and delicious foods.

For apperizers we baked some canapes on puff pastry. Filling them in with various fillings that we could find from the fridge, like: ham, salami, pickeld wild mushrooms, tomato, sundried tomato, mozzarella, blue cheese.

Finger food

Main dish came from my suggestion to make oven potatoes. Every family in Estonia is familiar with oven potatoes. Our grandmothers would make it in wooden ovens and this would give a special touch and crispiness, but even simple electric oven will do the job.

Simple pleasures

For desserts there was several suggestions, but mine and Karina's won. My suggestion was Tart with lingonberries and Karina's wish was traditional buns for Shrove Tuesday. Photos are talking for themselves.

Su-su-su-su-sushi!

Oh yes, I finally did it. Can you believe that it's so easy to make? It costs a fortune in Japanese restaurant. Why? I did it without big research, just looked one sushi making clip in youtube. Bought sushi rice, sushi mat, avocado, cucumber and smoked salmon.
Now I would like to do some more research and reading about it, what's the best seaweed to use or is there different variety at all etc. Joao found it a bit chewy, for me it seemed fine, but I suppose, it wouldne hurt to look into that and see if there are some better than the others.

Broa

Now, since the bread was finished this morning, I had to bake another one to keep my man's belly singing. Yes, it seems that I am one of those women who bakes her own bread. At least for now that I don't have kids hanging on my thighs while trying to manage in the kitchen. Who know, by the time I have 7 kids I feed them all sliced bread from plastic bags, because baking bread is at the end of my list and therefore I never get there. I do have to admit that I like baking, its not just the man's belly that I try to satisfy. I find in nice, to smell the baking in the house and overall challenge myself. So far, even if I use the same recipe, no beard comes the same, somehow its always different. Also, when coming to read the bag of those breads that we can buy in supermarket, I cant but wonder, why is it when I make a bread I only put flour, salt, water and yeast, but when they make it, they find loads of other crap to put in it. So, I make my own and it simple.
This time I went wild and decided to try new recipe. Google helped me out here. In Portugal they eat Cornbread and so far Portuguese that I have met, all like it alot. I borrowed the recipe from David Leite.

Unfortunately soup is fake, from a powder. But the bread came out delish.

Mighty challenge

Days are becoming longer now and somehow this tiny little sign on every day gives excitement that the summer and warmth is somewhere out there on the way. Also, when it comes to food, I feel like eating more juicy and light foods. Lot of fruit and vegs, although its not exactly season for it, but even citruses and kiwis will do.

The ending of 2008 was very rich, which I did enjoy, but you know, summer coming up and all I am happy that, this month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Now this was the challenge of them all so far. I read the recipe and figured I will do it in a flash. Batter was easy enough, but the challenge came when those little babys came out of the oven. They stayed too thick, were nice and brown on the edges though, but when it came to shaping, disaster. They were too soft and lacked crispiness, so it was impossible to shape them, they springed back. I had decided to go with a simple round shape that I simply roll into a stick to go with a dessert. Reality wasn't so pretty, I did try to shape them into a stick, that became more like a sausage. First batch was a disaster, luckily I had enough batter to give it another try and this came out somewhat similar to what I had imagined. Oh well, "not all days are brothers", we say...

Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

Tuiles

Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food colouring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter. Be careful to not over mix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with butter and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time. Note: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

My babyBlog is 1 year old!!!

Yeap, 1 year old. I cant believe its been a year since I made my first post and also its been a year and a bit more since we came to Dublin. We've moved twice, we've changed jobs, we've are back to school again. Bottom line, its been year full of action. Hopefully there will be another one with as much action or tiny bit more :P

I don't have a Birthday cake for the occasion, mostly because its 8pm and I discovered only now that its a day to celebrate. To accompany the post is a picture of a delicious tart my specialty Pastry cream and chocolate filling raspberry tart :)

Happy birthday, dear Blog!!!

Daring French Yule Log

I almost didnt dare after first reading the December challange recipe. It was 10 pages long. This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.
There I was from my head to toes with the chocolate and close to crying and wanting for it all to be over. The result was worht it. Everyone loved it. Defenately a festive choise.

Element #1 Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake)

2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar

1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

Element #2 Dark Chocolate Mousse

2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of the cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6. Add in the rest of the WHIPPED cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

Element #3 Cinammon-Milk Ganache Insert

1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp / 135g) heavy cream
A pinch of cinnamon
2.7 oz (75g) milk chocolate, finely chopped
3.2 oz (90g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. Heat the cream with the cinnamon (use the quantity of cinnamon you want to infuse the cream, a pinch is the smallest amount suggested) until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the milk and dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Element #4 Chocolate Crisp Insert

3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) unsalted butter
2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline
1 oz. (25g) lace crepes or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.
3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

Element #5 Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert

1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
½ cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.

Element #6 Dark Chocolate Icing

4g / ½ Tbsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin
¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50g) water
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.
3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.
4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

Assembling the Log

1) Mousse
2) Creme Brulee Insert
3) Mousse
4) Praline/Crisp Insert
5) Mousse
6) Ganache Insert
7) Dacquoise

"Happymusic" concert

Friday I went to a concert of I'm from Barcelona and I must state that it has been my best concert experience ever. I don't have huge record of concert experiences, but I have been seeing some big names in huge stadium concerts. I have figured out already for some long time ago, that huge concerts are not as enjoyable to the audience as concerts held in smaller venues. So there you go, that's why the concert on Friday gets extra 100 bonus points on the enjoyment scale.
Concert on Friday was in a small venue and for that it was perfect. In a small space it's this intimacy between the band and the audience. Plus those guys used balloons to create interaction, it was great. They had huge red balloons released, so balloons were bouncing between them and the crowd. Such a simple thing, but everyone seemed to want to be able to give a kick to it when it was approaching over the heads. Poor little people they had no chance :D Also because the band had been formed of 20 something friends, there is great party scenery on the stage, so it is impossible not to get caught with it. Great stuff!!!
They were mostly singing songs from their new album which I didn't know yet, but of course there were couple of songs from the old one for everyone to sing along. Let me tell you, you want them to your party, its a recession and maybe you cannot afford them but you can afford buying a CD. Oh and since we are close to Christmas, you can write to Santa to get you a CD ;)

Enough sugar for a lifetime

Another challenge finished. Wasn't easy, but I got it done. November challege was hosted by Dolores of Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food and gluten free assistant was Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go and their chosen recipe was Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater.

I must admit that caramel isn't my number one choice and probably without Daring Bakers I would have never tried something like this. Therefore I am happy for the proposal, now I know that this is not my cup of tea.

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F
Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth.
Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.
Sift flour and baking powder.
Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}
Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan. Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes.
Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.
Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber. When colour is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back. Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.} Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool. Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.
Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month. To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

Cake, frosting, cake with frosting.

Winter gatherings and Portuval vs. Catalunya

Life in our new house has indeed brought brightness and parties to our life in this dark time of the year. We have only lived here for a month now, but hosted 3 dinner parties. I have picture records only two of them though.

On one dinner we had the chef Rui Martins from Portugal, who gracefully prepared a two course meal. As a stater we had auted mushrooms with tomatoes and herbs on a toast for starter and for main meal more traditional deep fried chicken wings and thighs with tomato rice, salad and Nando's Sauce Toppings (a non-typical-portuguese franchising).

Portugal

Another major event was the reception of chef Jordi from Catalunya (not Spain) to make paella. For starter we had some cured ham and salami type of thing from Catalunya or Spain (I am trying to be politically correct here, not to insult anyone, but forgive me if I do). For main meal chef Jordi made poor peoples paella with chicken and some vegs. This is what roughly seemed for me to be in the dish, true recepie is only known by the chef himself and not to be given out to anyone.

Catalunya

As I mentioned there was three dinners and so the third one of them I was cooking and made a simple Lasagne, which tasted yummy, but unfortunately I don't have any photographic record of it. I leave the images for the responsibility of your imagination.

Chef Rui Vs. Chef Jordi

Just not to pass in vain, I will mention the fact that booth of these gran latinos are marvellous cookers, truly passionate about their food and able to do horrendous things to protect their master pieces.
With these Iberic Peninsula cuisine icons I realised that a good meal comes from the dedication of the chef and the environment created around the ritual of dinning and not the use of gourmet ingredients and the fashion look of the dish.