Chocolates

I'm terribly, terribly late with this month's Daring Bakers challenge...I should rephrase that: last month's challenge! I made the Milan cookies one day late but they didn't turn out the way I needed but the heat here in Croatia (where I'm on vacation) didn't make me feel like redoing them.
I had two problems: I didn't have a plain nozzle to pipe rounds and the star form piped rounds I had didn't spread well on the baking paper. Trying without baking paper didn't work either because the cookies got stuck to the baking sheet.
So I was left with very small, not completely round, vaguely star-shaped cookies. Too small to fill and just not pretty. So I had to come up with a plan B. Plan B was to make truffles. Only it took me a while to actually finish making them.
I made the ganache with white chocolate, cream and peach puree. To that I added freeze dried, crumbled raspberries. Rolled the ganache in balls, rolled them through the crumbled cookies and finally dipped them in white chocolate.
I loved the taste of the ganache, the subtle peach taste and small pieces of raspberry gave a fresh twist to an otherwise sweet ganache. The use of fruit puree in ganache is definitely something I'll experiment with in the future.
As I expected the cookies didn't stay crisp but at least I used them ;)

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

This month's Daring Baker challenge is hosted by Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms. It wasn't a difficult challenge this time but it was a fun one to make. I wanted to take the pops with me when I visited my best friend and her two daughters. Thought they would enjoy eating these pops (and this turned out to be the case :) Only I had been busy baking a lot of other stuff that I didn't have them ready. I did make and chill the cheesecake part before I left though and just took everything that I thought I might need and finished them at her house. I kept the decoration simple and just sprinkled the pops with silver and pearl/golden non pareils. Good thing my friend has a garden so I could take outside pictures for a change.

Things I did differently:
- I halved the recipe
- I used orange oil instead of vanilla to flavour the cheesecake
- in addition to scooping cheesecake balls I also rolled them between my hands to make them rounder and smoother.
- instead of adding shortening to the melted chocolate I added sunflower oil

And now for the verdict: as much as I love cheesecake, I didn't love these pops that much. I missed the crust. Also I don't like chocolate with my cheesecake. My eldest son liked the chocolate but not the cheesecake but the two little girls loved the pops as did my friend and husband. The smallest one (nearly 2) even choose it over an ice cream cone :)
Even though I didn't like eating them that much I think it's a cute and fun way to present cheesecake.



If you want to see how the hosts did, check them out here and here. You can find the recipe there too.
To see how creative all the other DB-ers are checked out the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Looking forward to checking out how the other DB-ers did when I come home from Denmark.

A quick reminder that the deadline for Go Ahead Honey, it's Gluten Free! is coming Monday 24rd of March. So there is still some time to enter your gluten-free baked children's birthday treat!
Even though the truffles above are gluten-free they are not baked and not eligible for the event. However...they are eligible for this month's SHF hosted by Danielle of Habeas Brûlée. I made these orange truffles a while back as birthday presents for two girlfriends of mine. I was too quick trying to roll the ganache into truffles but I was pressed for time so it had to be done anyway. I used a round spoon to scoop out balls and dipped them into melted chocolate. The fact that the melted chocolate was warm (I know, this is logical) made the ganache balls turn into 'shape shifters'. So halfway dipping I stopped and just threw the truffles into the cocoa powder without dipping. At the time I already knew that it was a short-term solution. Not dipping and rolling in cocoa powder makes for cocoa powder saturated with fat and that makes for less appetizing looking truffles. So I made one plate with dipped 'free form' truffles. Their appearance wasn't great but at least they were covered in chocolate which gave them a bit of a bite and the cocoa powder stayed fresh. The non-dipped truffles went onto a second plate. At first the non-dipped truffles looked better but of course by the time I gave the truffles away the cocoa powder started getting saturated with fat and became dark. The ones in the picture are fresh undipped ones btw. The 'shape shifters' were less photogenic ;)
Although the truffle making didn't go all that well, they did taste good! I mean, what can go wrong with a combination of bittersweet chocolate, whipping cream, butter, orange and honey?

Also wanted to let you know that I have two exams in the near future so I won't be baking and posting a lot from now till 4th April.



Orange ganache

250 g (8 oz) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
30 g butter
1 tbs honey
250 ml (1 cup) whipping cream
zest of 1 orange

Place the chocolate, butter and honey in a heat-proof bowl.
Heat the cream with the orange until just simmering. Let it steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine meshed sieve into a measuring cup. Press onto the orange with the back of a spoon to get more flavour out of it.
Fill up the measuring cup until you have 250 (1 cup) again. Reheat the cream. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a few minutes. Stir until smooth. Allow to come to room temperature for a several hours until firm enough to roll. Chill for some time if necessary.

Making truffles

cocoa powder, sifted
orange ganache
400 g (14 oz) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Put a piece of baking paper on your working surface to put the truffles on.
Put the cocoa powder in a bowl.
Scoop out balls with a melon baller. Roll between your hands to make a smoother ball. Place on the baking paper.
Melt the chocolate au bain marie (or in the microwave). Allow it to cool down (if necessary) to 40°C (104°F). Place a ganache ball on a fork, submerge the ball in the chocolate. Use a spoon to cover the top with chocolate. Tap the fork a few times on the bowl and slide the bottom of the fork over the lip of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Tip the truffle in the cocoa powder and use your hand to move it around covering it completely with cocoa powder. Place the truffle onto the baking paper. Repeat with all the truffles.

The birdnest is made out of ganache that I squeezed through a garlic press. It's not the easiest of jobs to do, but someone has to do it ;) I could have opted for either tempering chocolate and using that to make a nest or by making modeling chocolate (adding a little corn syrup to melted chocolate). The first option would have made for a less 'real' looking nest, not to mention the hassle of tempering the chocolate. The second option would have looked like a 'real' nest but wouldn't have such a great taste (at least my experience with white modeling chocolate was that it just wasn't nice to eat). So ganache it was. It is a bit nerve wracking to use a garlic press to 'pipe' the ganache because only a little fits in there. Because of that the ganache 'threads' are not very long, making the nest look less stylised but also less neat. All in all I was happy enough with the end result. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have used a spaghetti maker! But unfortunately I don't own one so the garlic press was my only real option...or if I wanted to make an ostrichs nest I could have used a potato ricer ;)
I've had my eye on Sherry Yard's caramel ganache for a while and in my imagination I had tasted it many times already. So when I finally did taste it in real life it disappointed a little bit. It was a little bit bitter. Maybe I let it become too hot. The thermometer was still going up when I took the saucepan off the heat at 348°F (175°). So maybe it was already over and my thermometer was a bit slow. But judging by the colour it wasn't far over because it wasn't even dark amber yet. It was by the time the bubbles subsides. Colour wise it looked like a perfect caramel. I'm recovering from a minor flue so maybe that changed the way the ganache tasted too (also I'm very sensitive to bitter). Let's just say that it wasn't as delicious as I had imagined it would be. It did have an intense caramel taste and wasn't overly sweet.
I'm entering my birdnest to Art you can eat #2, co-hosted by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon and Inge of African Vanielje. The theme this month being eggs or egg shapes.



Ganache birdnest

200 g (7 oz) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
100 ml (3 ⅓ fl oz) whipping cream

Brush a small half round bowl (where three eggs will fit into) with oil. Stick some plastic wrap on it. Place it upside down onto a glass that more or less snuggly fits (this will be easier to work with later on). Put it in the frigde for at least an hour.
Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
Bring the cream to a boil. Pour over the chocolate. Tap the bowl on the counter a few times and allow to stand for a few minutes. Stir with a spatula until the chocolate is melted. Allow to cool down to room temperature. Fill a garlic press with ganache and squeeze the ganache onto the chilled bowl, trying to work in a circular motion, working from the top. (The garlic press will need to be refilled and refilled.) If the ganache doesn't stick to the ganache already on the bowl, help it by pressing it slightly with your fingers.

Caramel ganache filled eggs (from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard)

enough for filling 3 eggs and rolling enough truffles for tea

4 oz (115 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz (115 g) milk chocolate, chopped
½ cup (120 ml) sugar
2 tbs water
1 tbs light corn syrup
1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
3 empty and clean egg shells
sprinkles (I used a combo of small pearl and golden sprinkles)

Place the chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.
Combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and stir them together.
Heat the mixture without stirring on medium heat during 4 minutes with the lid on the pan. Slowly Take the lid off and continue cooking until the mixture reaches 350°F (177°C). The mixture will be deep amber. Remove from heat and let the bubbles subside for about 30 seconds. Meanwhile bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the caramel (watch out, it will bubble!) and stir until the caramel is dissolved. Pour the mixture onto the chocolate. Tap the bowl on the counter a few times and allow to stand for a few minutes. Stir with a spatula until the chocolate is melted.
Allow to cool down before piping the ganache. It should be cool enough to pipe at about 70°F. Pipe the ganache into the egg shells and sprinkle with some sprinkles.
The remaining ganache can be rolled into truffles or cookie filling. If not used immediately, store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Today is my little brother's birthday, so Happy Birthday Z! I call him little brother but he's far from little (nearly 2 m / 6'6”) but he's younger so he's my little brother ;) Now that we're on the subject of my brother, he has a blog too. Not a food blog but (nowadays) a blog with mainly pictures. If you like out of the ordinary pictures of (usually) very ordinary things take a look at his blog Zz.
About the picture, I didn't actually make these treats for my brother but I had to post something ;) Plan on making something tonight because we'll be seeing him tomorrow at my parents place.
The first time I made lemon grass ganache I used it to fill bite-size tartlets. I piped the ganache (at room temperature) into the tarlet shells. That time I also made dark chocolate ginger ganache (with fresh ginger) but I let it set a bit too long and was therefor unable to pipe it. Popped it in the microwave for a tiny bit but that made it sort of runny so I just poured the ganache into the tartlets instead of piping it. Looked ok too. Only it didn't taste ok :( Not to me at least. Fresh ginger and bittersweet chocolate don't create synergy. And no synergy no photograph, ha!



The lemon grass and white chocolate ganache however was really delicious! I'm a big fan of white chocolate - I know that this doesn't make me a sophisticated chocolate eater :p - so probably I'd like most flavour combinations with white chocolate. But I think even for people who aren't into white chocolate that much, the fragrant and fresh lemony taste of the lemon grass makes the white chocolate a lot less white chocolate-y.
A week later I made the lemon grass ganache again to use as a filling for hazelnut cookies. The ganache never actually made it between the cookies until a week later though. Instead I used the chilled ganache to make truffles. They were a present to a friend of mine. I wasn't sure if she was into white chocolate so to take the edge off the sweetness I dipped them in bittersweet chocolate and rolled them in cocoa powder.

To make the photograph I bit off part of a truffle while it was still cold from the fridge (I was in a hurry so there was no time to waste). Should have let it come to room temperature because the filling would have been less firm and that would have looked better in the picture. It's just a detail but stil ;)



White chocolate & lemon grass ganache

75 ml (2 ½ fl oz) whipping cream
1 stalk of lemon grass, chopped into ½ cm (1/5 in) pieces
200 g (7 oz) white chocolate, finely chopped

Heat the cream with the lemon grass until just simmering. Let it steep for 30 minutes. Strain through a fine meshed sieve into a measuring cup. Press onto the lemon grass with the back of a spoon to get more flavour out of it.
Fill up the measuring cup until you have 75 ml (2 ½ fl oz) again. Reheat the cream again. Pour the cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for a few minutes. Stir until smooth. If not all the chocolate melts, pop it into the micro wave for 10-20 second intervals at 40% power until the chocolate is nearly melted. Or alternatively heat it au bain marie. Stir until everything is melted.
Allow to come to room temperature for a several hours.
Use at room temperature if you want to pipe the ganache.
Chill if you want to make truffles.

Making truffles

cocoa powder, sifted
white chocolate and lemon grass ganache
400 g (14 oz) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Put a piece of baking paper on your working surface to put the truffles on.
Put the cocoa powder in a bowl.
Scoop out balls with a melon baller. Roll between your hands to make a smoother ball. Place on the baking paper.
Melt the chocolate au bain marie (or in the microwave). Allow it to cool down (if necessary) to 40°C (104°F). Place a ganache ball on a fork, submerge the ball in the chocolate. Use a spoon to cover the top with chocolate. Tap the fork a few times on the bowl and slide the bottom of the fork over the lip of the bowl to remove excess chocolate. Tip the truffle in the cocoa powder and use your hand to move it around covering it completely with cocoa powder. Place the truffle onto the baking paper. Repeat with all the truffles.

Sweet shortcrust (from Modern Classics Book 2 by Donna Hay)

135g (1 cups) flower
1 ½ tbs caster sugar
75 g (2 ½ oz) cold butter, chopped
1-1 ½ tbs iced water

Process the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add enough iced water to form a smooth dough and process until just combined. Knead the dough lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Divide the dough in 12 and press into a 12-cup mini muffin pan. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is golden. Allow to cool completely.