make life sweeter!

When this month's Daring Bakers challenge was announced I have to admit I wasn't thrilled. I'm probably the only person in the world that doesn't like tiramisù. But after reading the recipe I started getting more and more interested in making it and was hoping that maybe this was the tiramisù recipe, the one that I would actually appreciate. Making all the different components for this dessert was rather time consuming but was fun doing: making your own mascarpone, making zabaglione, making pastry cream and making lady fingers.
I think I cooked the cream and lemon mixture for the mascarpone a little too long as it turned out pretty firm. Even after whisking it wasn't very smooth. I was waiting for the mixture to curdle/thicken but this didn't happen that much. So I kept it above simmering water a long time but it never really happened. The mixture barely released whey after draining but it still was very firm. Next time I would just buy mascarpone ;)
Making the zabaglione and pastry cream was straight forward and didn't cause any problems. I did check that the zabaglione reached the right temperature for the egg yolks to be cooked enough to be safe (better safe than sorry).
I didn't realise that the amount of mascarpone used in this recipe was very little when I decided to not use the whipped cream but to replace it by whipping up the left over whites (don't like left over eggs that much). I thought this would make it less heavy (something I don't like in 'regular' tiramisù) but with the small amount of mascarpone, this wasn't necessary at all. Again I cooked the egg whites over simmering water just enough to make them safe before whipping them.
My lady fingers were only dipped up till the flat part because I don't really like the booziness that much but after tasting I should have dipped them completely.
Because I used whipped egg whites instead of the cream the mixture didn't set as much as it should. The tiramisù in the picture was frozen, that way I could cut it neatly. I really, really loved the taste of this tiramisù but that's probably because it doesn't resemble the one's I ate before ;) What I loved so much was the addition of lemon zest and the fact that it wasn't so incredibily fat and boozy. I do want to try making this again but will be using the required whipped cream. And to make it less time-consuming I'd use ready-made lady fingers (which are very good in Austria) and ready-made mascarpone.
All in all a wonderful challenge, maybe from now on I'll actually love tiramisù...but only if I make it myself ;)

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

I know it's a bit boring only reading the Daring Bakers challenges every month and nothing in between but I sort of can't manage to do much else. I do make other stuff but usually not stuff that is particularly blogworthy or when it is, I'm to late to blog about it (who wants to read about Christmas cookies in January?) Anyway, I'm sure I'll be posting more but when is the question ;)
Ok, on to the DB challenge this month: Nanaimo bars. Something I've heard of before but didn't really know what it was exactly. Always nice to try your hand a typical recipe for a certain country, Canada in this case. The base contains graham crackers, also something I've heard of before but never tried or tried making it. So making the graham crackers was the first thing I had to make. We had the option of making a gluten-free of gluten-full version, I made the gluten-full version because a) it was easier ingredient-wise and b) wanted to experience what a 'regular' graham cracker would be like (but I did make it a bit differently by replacing 1 ½ cup of wheat flour with 1 cup of rye flour and ½ cup of whole wheat flour). The dough turned out dry-ish but I left it like that not knowing how exactly it should be. The dough wasn't completely blended/smooth, it reminded me of last month's ginger bread house dough. I could roll it out without using too much flour so that was good. It was an easy enough dough to work with. Baking time was about 25 minutes but after 18 minutes the crackers started to like dark brown. I was afraid I overbaked them but turned out they were just perfect (even though I don't even know how 'real' graham crackers taste/look like ;) I loved the crunch and taste, delicious! Will be making them again I'm sure. Maybe try with even more whole wheat flour (as I always thought graham crackers were made of).
So this was step 1. Step 2 was making the Nanaimo bars. The middle layer (buttercream) uses vanilla custard powder, something that could be substituted by vanilla pudding powder. So I was reading the label in the supermarkt and saw that the pudding powder (no custard in Austrian supermarkets) consisted of modified starch, colouring, flavouring and that was about it. So instead of buying a coloured and non-natural vanilla flavoured pudding mix I just used corn starch (corn flour) and vanilla bean (and no colouring). Worked just as well.
The base has slightly cooked egg inside, something I don't like giving to my children. I cooked the butter, cocoa and egg mixture till 70°C to make it save. This didn't cause any problems for the base.
Making the bars was easy. The layers looked pretty. Only the taste is not my cup of tea, even though I love sweet stuff (baklava, turkish delight, meringue etc) this was too sweet without much depth in taste. But I guess that's just me as the whole of Canada loves this bar ;) I did like the way the base was made with the egg. Nice base to use to make a dessert or small cake.



The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

You can find the recipe here.

On the last day of the year I bring you this month's Daring Bakers challenge :) A challenge much to my liking I must say: making of a gingerbread house. A tradition that is not Dutch (or Croatian) at all. I very much enjoyed making the model, and decorating and constructing the house (even though my dough didn't roll out very well as it kept cracking and I burnt my finger during construction with caramel).
After reading on the DB forum that one of the given recipes turned out very dry I checked the cup and metric measurements. There was a big difference between the amount of flour in cups and grams. I went with the cup measurements which was 200 g less flour than the metric measurement. Even though the dough was not really dry it didn't became a whole. Could be because part of the flour I used was not very finely ground. An hour after making the dough I realized that I forgot to add the baking soda... oops! Didn't think it would be a problem and maybe even an advantage as it wouldn't puff up. Rolling out the dough (after another knead to make it come together a little more) couldn't be done without the dough cracking. After baking the texture/look of the gingerbread was a bit odd and besides that it shrunk but the cookie was sturdy and kept its shape beautifully.
For decoration I went with natural items like almonds, pink peppercorns and pumpkin seeds. The icing is an egg white free icing that I've used before and like working with. It doesn't dry up rock hard but hard enough imo.

Instead of decorating the roof after baking I used a small circular cutter to imprint the tiles for the roof. The imprints stayed exactly like they were after baking.
I assembled the house with hot caramel...always tricky to work with without burning oneself ;)
I loved doing this challenge and will be making a gingerbread house next year as well :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

I'm pretty happy with myself, finished this month's Daring Bakers challenge on time AND finished writing about it in time to post it on the 27th!
So this month we made cannoli. Not something that was very high on my to do list but I've always been curious about their taste. They are not something you would find in the Netherlands (or Austria I think). I'm not very big on frying so that's something I very rarely do. But it's good to practice now and then. I think I've only used ricotta once in my life and I didn't like the cake I produced so I wasn't sure I was going to like the filling. But since I like traditional baked goods, decided to stick with the original recipe anyway.
Cannoli forms is not something I own but I did have something similar that I purchased a few months ago: schaumrolle forms. Pretty much the same thing only smaller (6 cm / 2.4 in) and coated with teflon. I was in doubt if the teflon would appreciate being fried but I thought baking the cannoli in the oven wouldn't be authentic enough. I tried frying it and the teflon seemed ok.
I made the dough as stated. When rolling it I used my new rolling pin with adjustable thickness rings (heaven to use!) and rolled it out to 2 mm (a little more than 1/16 in) thickness. The dough was easy enough to roll. I had egg left over so used that to seal the cannoli's and this worked well too. Unfortunately after baking the dough the cannoli never turned out blistered even though the oil was hot enough as it took less than a minute to brown them. With the second batch I used the 1 mm (less than 1/16 in) ring for my rolling pin hoping that the thinner dough would give the blistering but even those didn't blister :(
For the filling I pretty much followed the recipe except I used grated chocolate instead of chopped, used almonds instead of pistachio nuts and added a few drops of orange essential oil in addition to the candied orange peel. Never thought that ricotta with some sugar and flavours would be this good :) Nice substitute for buttercream on cakes, and less rich too, but probably everybody except me already knew this ;)
The filling combined with the bite size cannoli's was good and I'm glad I finally got to taste real cannoli's. I don't think I will ever make them again though with all the work and frying involved. But that's probably because I'm not a 'fryer' person.

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

CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners' sugar

CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios
Note - If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.
2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.
3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.
4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer's directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.
5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.
6. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.
7. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.
2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.
2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

Finally I made macarons :) and all because they were last month's Daring Bakers Challenge. Like the last few months I'm late in posting but this time I did actually finish the macarons on the 27th but still had to make the filling, fill them, photograph them and blog about them. And that took till now ;)
Though I love the look of vibrant colours in macarons, I didn't think it fitted the lebkuchen flavour I had in mind. I was inspired by the shops here in Austria that carry about a zillion different types of lebkuchen towards Christmas...yum! The filling was a simple dark chocolate ganache which was a delicious match for the spicy taste of the macaron shells.
I baked the first batch as the recipe stated but drying the shells in the oven didn't work out well for me. The shells sunk in while they were waiting for the oven to reach 190 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately they didn't magically rise during baking. Besides that problem, the shells browned too much because of the high baking temperature. They did develop feet but they didn't look like they were supposed to. The next two batches I went with one of Tartelette's recipes: air drying the shells for 30-60 minutes and baking them at a lower temperature. The first of these batches I should have baked a little longer but the second came out more or less perfect...I was happy :) The lebkuchen spices were delicious and the ground spices made the macarons browner than I antipated.
All in all making macaron's wasn't difficult and I even got the feet the first time round. Not sure if this was beginners luck or not but we'll see how future batches will turn out. Next time I'll try a more vibrant colour :)

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