Junglefrog Cooking » Daring Bakers

Yeasted Meringue coffee cake; Daring Bakers march 2011

Simone (junglefrog) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 06:00:17 +0000

Yeah!! I did it! I finshed a Daring Baker challenge ahead of time!It’s been far too long since I last finished a Daring Baker challenge and when I found out that my dear friend from Life’s a Feast, Jamie was co-hosting this event together with Ria from Ria’s Collection, I just knew I had to get of my lazy behind and start baking! And since I know myself I figured it wouldn’t hurt to finish it early so with still two weeks left before the reveal date I think that is a first for me..

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

As soon as I read that this recipe originates from an old handwritten recipe in the collection of Jamie’s dad I was intrigued. It’s a shame I never had any parents or grandparents that were particularly font of cooking as I would have loved to find old recipes like that. I had definitely never made a yeasted cake before and so this weekend, when I had spare time on my hands, it was time to tackle this recipe.

The recipe itself was pretty straightforward; I didn’t run into any issues, apart from the fact that I forgot the cinnamonsugar in the first cake… I was so occupied with making sure I would be able to roll it correctly that I forgot the sugar. I didn’t miss it though, so all good. I made the first cake pretty much exactly the same as per Jamie’s recipe. The second one was similar but I added banana in there. Which I actually thought was a great addition as it made it slightly more moist and well, who doesn’t like banana? (Tom doesn’t, so I am sure he is not happy that I ruined the second cake for him!)

Showing the insides

While assembling the cake I was a little afraid that the fact that it overflowed a little bit around the seams would potentially cause problems but it didn’t so the end result was all beautiful and delicious as it was supposed to be. I totally loved the cake and I am sure it will go down really well with Tom’s friends who are coming over tonight. Nothing beats 4 hungry guys when it comes to finishing any sweets you made…

Fresh out of the oven and cooling

Yeasted Meringue coffee cake; Daring Bakers march 2011

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 6

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients

For the yeast coffee cake dough:
4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
For the meringue:
3 large egg whites at room temperature
teaspoon salt
teaspoon vanilla
cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar
For the filling:
1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts
2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate
Egg wash: 1 beaten egg
Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Instructions

Prepare the dough:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted. Ria’s version: add the 10 saffron threads to the warmed liquid and allow to steep off of the heat for 10 minutes. This will give the mixture a distinct aroma and flavor and a yellowish-orange hue.
With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.
Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Prepare your filling:

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.
Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque. Add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).
Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal
Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.
Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.
Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.
Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool.
Just before serving, dust the tops of the coffee cakes with confectioner’s sugar as well as cocoa powder if using chocolate in the filling. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.

Daring Bakers okt.2010; Nuts for doughnuts!

Simone (junglefrog) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:00:59 +0000

yeast doughnuts with cinnamon and lemon glaze

I think this is possibly the first time ever that I am finishing a Daring Baker challenge this early! I still have almost two weeks left! It’s been quite a while since I last completed a challenge and now that things have quieted down a little bit I figured I would definitely be making the challenge. Whatever it was… So I was really pleasantly surprised when I read that the challenge recipe would be to make our own doughnuts. But let me start by getting the official lines out of the way:

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I made the challenge on a saturday afternoon. Tom had something to do during the day so I got the house (and the kitchen) all to myself to have some fun. Lori gave us four different recipes, but ultimately the only thing we had to do was to make doughnuts. The rest would be entirely up to us. Now I have been tempted before to make doughnuts after visiting the wonderful blog of Lara Ferroni, who recently also published a book about doughnuts (which I purchased now that I know how delicious homemade doughnuts are!!) so the first thing I did after reading about the challenge was to go to Lara’s site and check what tips and or recipes she had to share. I saw a delicious looking recipe for baked chocolate doughnuts, so I decided I wanted to go with both the Yeast doughnuts that Lori gave us and the recipe from Lara, which could be made in exactly the time it took to let the dough of the yeast rise.

Baked chocolate dougnuts

Doughnuts are not something that is eaten a lot in the Netherlands; I mean, we do have them in supermarkets and bakeries but I won’t say that it is something that is eaten a lot. We call them donuts by the way, not sure if that is typically Dutch or just another way of spelling it.. I’ve had some nice doughnuts before and I’ve always liked the ones with pink glaze on them, which seemed to be the best ones (at least for me) but they tend to be dry and not the most exciting treat you can give yourself. So I was very curious to find out how homemade doughnuts would taste. I started out by preparing the dough for the yeast doughnuts and followed the recipe, with the exception of the fact that I added some cinnamon into the batter as I love cinnamon and thought would work well with the final lemon glaze I had in mind. Now according to the recipe the dough, while in the standmixer, should come away from the sides of the bowl. Lori said it took only 2 minutes for her, but I had left it turning for quite a while longer and well, it came of the sides a little bit, but maybe I should have waited a while longer still. With doughs and batters I am always a bit careful and afraid that I might actually overbeat the batter, so I figured it would have to do and transferred it to a greased bowl, to rise for an hour.

Dough ready for rising

As you can see from the photo; it looks very soft… too soft I think.

While the dough was nicely tucked away and rising, I prepared the batter for the chocolate doughnuts, which was incredibly simple and easy to do. The recipe called for using either a doughnut tin or use a muffin tin. I don’t have a doughnut pan, so I used the muffin tin and piped the batter in neat little rings in the tin.

The baking is really quick and takes about 6-10 minutes depending on the size and depending on your oven. Mine took just about 8 minutes to be done. If you put your finger in the dough it should spring back and not leave a dent, so you know they are ready. During the baking process the dough was rising so much that the entire hole in the middle disappeared, so I cut out of a few holes in some of them just to make them look like doughnuts again and once glazed and sprinkled with chocolate, you don’t even see it anymore..

Baked Chocolate Cake Doughnuts (by Lara Ferroni)

It may seem strange to add nutmeg to a chocolate recipe, but nutmeg is the key to a recognizable doughnut flavor. It’s fine to leave it out, but your doughnuts may taste a bit more like chocolate cupcakes.

130 grams (~1 cup) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
75 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Baked chocolate doughnuts

Lightly grease a doughnut (or muffin) tin and preheat the oven to 350F/180C

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda, and then whisk in the sugar, nutmeg and salt.

Add the butter, and using your fingers, rub it into the dry ingredients until it becomes coarse crumbs.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, vanilla and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Do not overmix, or your doughnuts may be a bit rubbery.

Fill each cup 1/2 to 3/4 full. You can do this with a spoon, but I prefer using a piping bag to fill each cup more evenly and cleanly. It’s important not to overfill, or as the doughnuts rise, you’ll lose the hole.

Bake for 6 to 10 minutes (depending on the size of your doughnut pan), until the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let cool slightly on a wire rack before glazing. If coating in powdered sugar, let them cool even a bit more.

Makes about 15 mini doughnuts.

Initially I just wanted to add a glaze to the doughnuts but I made it too thin and it was having little clumps of sugar in it so I thought I could solve that by dipping the still wet doughnuts into chocolate sprinkles.. The ones without a hole I just dipped into icing sugar.

Once those were done I moved onto the yeast doughnuts. The dough had risen a lot, so nothing wrong with that part, it was just way too soft and quite sticky so that was definitely not how it should be, as far as I can tell. But, ok, I decided to go with it and managed to sort of pat it into the right thickness. Rolling was impossible with the consistency it was. Too sticky and soft!

Cut doughnuts before baking

Putting them from the counter to a separate sheet where they could rise again proved difficult enough, so the shape didn’t really stay together very well, but the more flour I added the firmer they seemed to become, which let me to believe that the amount of flour I used might have been wrong somehow. In either way, as you can see from the photo the shape is not perfect by any means, but it sort of resembles a doughnut right?

I let these rise for another half hour and then heated the oil to the right temperature. Obviously since I had to fry them that meant I had to pick these limp doughnuts up again and transfer them into the oil. Needless to say that that proved a little tricky, but once they were frying they firmed up immediately and started to look much better. Still with odd shapes here and there, but to be honest; I figured they would still taste good regardless of their looks!

The second batch actually held their shape together better, which again was due to the larger amount of flour that I used for ‘rolling’ out the dough so they were a little firmer and easier to bake too.

I kept the glaze simple; I made a lemon glaze, which I always love and dipped them in. I think the glaze could have been a little thinner then it was, but the biggest problem was that the size of the doughnuts was too big for my bowl..lol… So I ended up smearing the glaze on. It still looks the same as it smooths out quite well.

So after all that work, I was entitled to a taste of my homemade doughnuts and o my god, they are SOOOO good!!

Golden and crispy!

I had actually not expected them to be so good! It a difference of day and night, between these ones and the ones that I had before (never a homemade one!) they are wonderfully airy, the crust is lovely and crisp and the cinnamon in the batter for me came out quite nicely and combined with the lemon glaze it was a winning combination. So I will definitely be making these again but possibly with better dough, as it made it quite hard to handle them. Also on the list of things to get it a doughnut cutter. I mean; it works fine with two separate cutters, but still… something to want for christmas!

Thanks Lori for this wonderful challenge!! I loved it!

Look at that air inside!

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time – 25 minutes
Rising time – 1.5 hours total
Cooking time – 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

With icing sugar

Directions:

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Daring Bakers; Orange Tian

Simone (junglefrog) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 06:16:20 +0000

What is it with me and the Daring Bakers…? I forget one completely (but manage to make it a day late) and now I just did not have the time to make this lovely Orange Tian on time. Ofcourse it is not so much the fact that I do not have time, but maybe I can use a little more structure in the time management of my day! I tend to wake up, get Tom out the door and then I go behind the computer only to find out hours later, that it is already hours later and I still need to shower and do all sorts of stuff. I then end up having to do everything by the end of the day instead of doing it early in the morning and getting things done before going behind the screen. It’s a real time killer this is… Before you know it you been sitting behind the computer for four hours and time has flown away. I really need to chance that… Not that I am making any good progress this morning as it is 8 am and guess where I am? But… I have vowed to myself, I will finish this post, then I will take a shower and first go grocery shopping for the week. I have someone coming over to look at the painting of the house which needs to be redone and in the afternoon I have a photoshoot for Asics for which I need to drive to Hoofddorp first, pick up my model and then go to the studio. So all in all, I really DO need to do the other things before 11 am really… Mmm, better get on it with it then:

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

So what did I think of this challenge? Well for one it was rather straightforward and making the various different parts was a breeze. I loved making the marmalade; great taste too although maybe a tiny bit too sweet for my taste, but that could easily be adjusted. As you can probably see from the photos the pate sablee cookies that I made were slightly too big, which I am guessing is probably due to the fact that I added baking soda by mistake instead of baking powder and then I figured I might as well add some baking powder as well. I am not sure but I guess that might have been the cause for the slight expansion of the bottoms. Regardless of that I managed to either squeeze them in the forms (by scraping off the sides of the cookies until they fit into the form) or just put them on top. I had quite a generous amount of marmelade on the bottom I think but that worked out quite well…

The only thing I did not put on the tian was the caramel sauce. I did make it, but it took forever to thicken and quite frankly I am not a huge fan of caramel so I chose to not put it on top of the dessert. I added some lime zest into the whipped cream and I would definitely add different flavors for next time if I make this again (and I don’t see why not) but overall this really was a huge succes.

I am glad I ended up still making it. I was seeing so many gorgeous examples of the April challenge around the web that I just could not resist making this when I had a little bit more time over Easter. So here you have it; better late then never, right?

So now for all those that would like to recreate this dish; here is the recipe!

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner’s sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Yummy creaminess

Daring Bakers february 2010; Tiramisu

Simone (junglefrog) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:00:07 +0000

Amaretto tiramisu

I was quite excited when I read what the Daring Bakers challenge for this month was gonna be… Tiramisu… And it would be hosted by two of my favorite blogs! Tiramisu is an old time favorite in this household and in fact something I make almost every year for New Years when we go and visit friends. It’s become one of those things where people are really disappointed when you do not bring a bowl full of the creamy goodness. My recipe for tiramisu is quick and simple and I might share it some other time, but for now let’s focus on the DB tiramisu!

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

For this challenge the mandatory things to do where to make our own ladyfingers and… to make our own mascarpone! It’s one of those where you seriously have no idea how things are made. Ok I realize that mascarpone is dairy but that doesn’t mean anything. Little did I know that it would be straightforward to make (I did not think it was that straightforward while making it but trust me things turned out to be different then expected!) I started making all the various parts of the challenge on the sunday so I would have enough time for the tiramisu to be assembled and then photographed as well. I started by making the pastry cream and the zabaglione, which were both very easy to make. Next was the ladyfinger batter which was also not difficult to do except for the fact that I felt that they became soft rather quickly even though I kept them in an airtight container only for one night. It didn’t really matter ofcourse since they were gonna be soggy anyway but still. It did suprise me and on second thought I might have had to keep them in the oven a tiny bit longer to get rid of that issue. But then who knows? I also didn’t make enough of the cookies. I didn’t count them and figured I would have enough for what I wanted to do so I didn’t finish all the batter. Mistake…!

Ladyfingers

Not a major disaster and I managed with what I had but just barely and would I have had more cookies it would have been easier to divide.

When the cookies where in the oven I started on the mascarpone making, which is essentially cream that needs to be cooked till 190 degrees F. I used a double boiler as per the recipe but the warming up took for-ev-er and once bubbles tried to break through the surface I added the lemon juice as per the instructions and that is where the cream should have started to curdle. Now…. that is one of those words that I think I know what it means but it might actually be something else; in which case I was waiting for something that would never happen…lol… In any case it was supposed to get thicker and that it did not do. No matter how long I waited and no matter that I turned the heat up a bit, adding more lemon juice.. All to no avail. After what felt like a century but what was in fact something like 45 minutes I gave up and figured I just dump the stuff into the sieve and see what would happen the next day. I didn’t have cheesecloth so I used a cotton teatowel instead. I read on the DB forum that I was not the only one having issues with the mascarpone, so I dreaded the moment the next day where I would find only a little bit of cheesy goodness left and a major amount of fluid under the sieve.

So guess my total surprise when I peeked into the fridge the next morning to find a perfect batch of creamy and delicious mascarpone! Magic… pure magic… It had the right consistency and if anything, was even slightly firmer then the storebought varieties and the taste was good too.! I had honestly already agreed with myself that I would use storebought if it was a total drab, but this was ofcourse even better!!

So with the mascarpone successfully behind my back there was really nothing holding me back from assembling the tiramisu. O I have to tell you that I do not like rum or marsala so whereever the recipe called for something alcoholic I used amaretto instead. Ever since I started making tiramisu I have used amaretto instead of the regular rum. And believe me when I say it is irresistable. Really, really good. It gives it a slight almond flavor too. But then I love amaretto so you might not like it so much if you don’t like amaretto.

Perfect mascarpone

I wish I actually had a before and after picture of the mascarpone but I didn’t feel like taking a photo of the cream as it really did not look any different from when I started, but as you can see on the ‘after’ photo; it is looking good!!

For the dipping of the ladyfingers I used again amaretto and not so much sugar as the recipe said either. I am used to not using any sugar at all for the dip, so I just added a tiny bit in and diluted the coffee with about a tablespoon of amaretto.

I could really not dip both sides of the tiramisu since that was just too much liquid, plus I don’t like those soggy tiramisu’ that you buy in the supermarket… Yuck…! I wanted to try a variety of forms, but I actually like the glasses the best. Not only because it stays together but I love to peak through the glass and see the ladyfingers there; hiding. I did the glasses, one round form and one square… The ring of the round one should have been a little wider as you will see in the picture somewhere below; because the ladyfingers got wet so quickly they also got quite limp so it was difficult to keep them up as I wanted to have a ring of ladyfingers around the outer edge on the round form. Right now it looks kind of weird and wobbly (but hey, definitely homemade!)

Square form

And then for the most important part; the taste… O the taste… I can’t find much wrong with the taste. In fact I absolutely love it. It has a very slight lemon flavor which I love and overall this is a really really good tiramisu. Truth be told; I will probably stick to my regular tried and tested recipe as it is a zillion times quicker and tastes just as good. I did love making my own mascarpone and after that fear of failure it turned out to be pretty straightforward as I promised you!

Now for all who want to try this; here is the recipe(s)!

The somewhat crooked round version

MASCARPONE CHEESE

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Mascarpone cheese

Print recipe

Serves	340 gr
Prep time	40 minutes

Ingredients

500ml Whipping cream (25 to 36% fatcontent will do. Don't use ultra pasteurized)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions


Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours. Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

When boiling the cream it did not firm up at all when I did this. I really had doubts that I would get a mascarpone like consistency but I put it in the fridge as per the instructions anyway and when I looked in the fridge the next morning... by magic I had mascarpone! So if you followed all the instructions and it looks like it doesn't do anything don't toss it away... You might be surprised!

Note

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

LADYFINGERS/ SAVOIARDI BISCUITS
(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long) ladyfingers.

Ladyfingers/savoiardi biscuits

Print recipe

Serves	24
Prep time	30 minutes
Cook time	30 minutes
Total time	1 hour
Meal type	Snack

Ingredients

3 pieces egg (separated)
75g sugar (granulated)
95g cakeflour (sifted or use 3/4 cup all purpose flour and 2 tbsp cornstarch)
50g sugar (confectioners)

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.
Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.
Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5″ long and 3/4″ wide strips leaving about 1″ space in between the strips.
Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.
Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.
Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

Note

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long) ladyfingers.

Daring Bakers february 2010; Tiramisu

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Carminantionio’s Tiramisu from the Washington Post

Serves: 6

You would never have guessed there would be such a big difference to using packages to make tiramisu vs making everything from scratch… Soooo delicious! But a lot of work too!

Ingredients

For the zabaglione:
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
For the vanilla pastry cream:
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk
For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
To assemble the tiramisu:
2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese
36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less)
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions

For the zabaglione:

Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.
In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.
Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.
Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:

Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.
Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:

Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.
To assemble the tiramisu:
Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8″ by 8″ should do) or one of your choice.
Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.
Now to start assembling the tiramisu.
Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.
Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.
Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

Simone (junglefrog) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:23:30 +0000

Nanaimo bars

Ok, don’t you all dare to laugh at me… Yes I forgot to make the challenge but I think I came back pretty quickly didn’t I? I was lucky that an appointment for today was cancelled so I all of a sudden had time to make these lovely bars.

I first started with making the Graham wafers, which were very simple to make really. I did not make them glutenfree. I wanted to but to find glutenfree flour here is simply impossible. At least not in any store nearby so I figured I might as well do the wheat version. I did use part riceflour since I still had that from when I went to Amsterdam and saw it. I had no idea what tapioca was, so didn’t bother finding that and just went with wheatflour.

I didn’t have vanilla essence either, so I substituted this with cinnamon essence and I actually think that was a brilliant choice as I loved the slight cinnamon flavour of the cookies. I kept eating little bits of the dough. It was so good!

I had never had Graham crackers before so I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they are supposed to be like but I quite liked mine. I think I did roll them out a little too thickly. I mean 1/8 inch doesn’t mean anything to me except that it is roughy 1/8 of roughly 2,5 cm… I was a bit too lazy to actually calculate it so I just guessed a bit what would be the right thickness. And then again, I don’t know if mine were wrong or not as I have nothing to compair them with. They did bake longer then the 25 minutes that Lauren had given, but considering the fact that we have a terrible oven in need of replacement; that is probably the reason. O let me first get one thing out of the way:

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.

Once they were baked I got on with making the middle layer which consists of looooots of sugar, butter, cream and custard. I thought it was very very sweet so to counterbalance that a bit I added about 2-3 tablespoons of lemon curd and that did the trick for me. The sourness got rid of a bit of the sweetness and I love the subtle lemon flavor. But then I am a true lemonlover so anything lemon is good in my mind. But I think it went well together with the rest.

I did think that the qty of the middle layer was not really enough compaired to the other layers. I think my form was about the right size but I felt I had to spread the yellow layer too thin resulting in just a very small layer in the middle. So I actually didn’t spread it through the entire tin but left about a quarter open. So I will have only the bottom on that part…

Making the graham crackers was really the biggest part of the work and the rest was pretty easy. I made the photos while the top layer of chocolate had not really been long enough in the fridge so it is a bit too moist still, but I totally loved the taste. As I said I am glad I added the lemon in there as that gave it a little bit of freshness with all the heavy chocolate in there. It is VERY filling and since I just had lunch I really only tasted a tiny bit. Tom did eat an entire ‘bar’ (the one in the photo) and he thought it was extremely good too.

Thankfully as we have quite some of it left…

So there you have it; the Daring Bakers January challenge; behind schedule but not too bad! I am happy that I still got to make them as I hate missing a challenge!!

For the full recipe have a look here and to see what the other amazing Daring Bakers have made you can check here

If you want to keep with my changes then substitute the vanilla essence in the graham wafers for 2 tbsp of cinnamon essence and add to the middle layer about 2 large tablespoons of lemon curd. (BTW; I love lemon curd! I can still remember seeing it somewhere for the first time and buying a jar, not really knowing what I was gonna use it for, but I use it for soooo many things! Love it!)

So apologies for posting late. Will do better next time!

Junglefrog Cooking » Daring Bakers

Yeasted Meringue coffee cake; Daring Bakers march 2011

Related Posts:

Daring Bakers okt.2010; Nuts for doughnuts!

Related Posts:

Daring Bakers; Orange Tian

Related Posts:

Daring Bakers february 2010; Tiramisu

Mascarpone cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Ladyfingers/savoiardi biscuits

Ingredients

Directions

Note

Related Posts:

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

Related Posts: