Daring Bakers hit the Olympic snowfields

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.

A very timely choice given the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics, Nanaimo Bars are a classic Canadian dessert and are named after their apparent birthplace of Nanaimo in British Columbia. As written on www.nanaimo.ca,

"According to local legend about 35 years ago, a Nanaimo housewife entered her recipe for chocolate squares in a magazine contest. In a burst of civic pride, she chose to dub the entry not "Daphne's Delights" or "Mary's Munchies", but "Nanaimo Bars". The entry won a prize, thereby promoting the town as much as her cooking."

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Daring Bakers turn Architects

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.

Yay! Gingerbread houses! I feel like I've done my dash waxing lyrical about gingerbread in my recent Gingerbread Christmas Biscuits post, and I'm a little weary after the last day spent completely gorging on food and opening exciting presents, so I might let the pictures speak for themselves.

We were given a choice of two different gingerbread recipes, but for the purposes of this post I'm going to give you a different one that I can recommend if you are going to get architectural yourself. If you are just going to make gingerbread biscuits though, I'd recommend my usual gingerbread recipe instead.

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October Daring Bakers' Challenge - Macarons

Choc-mint macaron

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.

Oh yes. Macarons. Seemingly the holy grail of the biscuit world. I've been wanting to try my hand at making them for some time now but had never quite got around to it. Fear? Possibly. I wasn't about to let a biscuit scare me off though, no matter how pretty and elegant it was.

Although it's not so apparent here in Perth, macarons have become the cupcake of the biscuit world - they are everywhere right now. Perhaps not literally everywhere, though that would be pretty awesome. Would prevent many trip and fall injuries too, with all that soft meringueness.

(Speaking of "literally", I enjoyed the new Jamie Oliver show last night, but when will someone teach him the meaning of the word? I don't mind so much if he's saying "now you just literally add some salt" as this is just being a little redundant, but when he says something like "in New York you can literally have the world on your plate" then I start to get irritated.)

Now, the recipe given for this month's challenge apparently caused many issues for many Daring Bakers. I was not willing to undergo such issues so I cheated and used Trissa's tried and true recipe. Seriously, if you want to make macarons, this is the way to go.

Kahlua macarons

Trissa's Conor-proof Macaron Recipe
Taken from Trissalicious

Ingredients
250 g almond meal
300 g icing sugar (not icing mixture)
200 g caster sugar
200 g egg whites (roughly 6 eggs)

Method
1. In a food processor grind the almond meal and icing sugar for around 5 minutes until very finely ground.
2. Place the egg whites in an electric mixer and whip the whites until soft peaks.
3. Add the sugar, 50 grams at a time while the egg whites are being beaten.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks.
5. Fold the ground almond meal mixture into the egg white mixture in three additions until fully amalgamated.
6. Pipe on to baking trays which have been lined with baking paper. Note: If you are using food colouring, add it now.
7. Let the macarons dry for around 30 minutes until the “shells” are dry.

Hmmm, perhaps you should pipe the green mix last, or at least clean..

8. Bake in a pre heated fan forced oven (150c) for 15 minutes, waiting very impatiently to see if your macarons will develop pretty "feet" or if they'll be the ugly stepsisters!

They have feet! They have feet!!!

Seeing these babies with their pretty little feet was reminiscent of the joy of having my puff pastry actually rise in last month's challenge. I have a couple of friends who have recently given birth (congratulations J&G and K&A!!!), and I think that this is my equivalent. Plus I get to eat these afterwards.

After making the actual macarons, it's time to get ganaching. Here's the basic recipe:

Ganache

Ingredients
400 g chocolate
200 mL cream

Method
1. Chop up the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a bowl.
2. Scald the cream then pour into the bowl with the chocolate.
3. Let it sit for a minute or so then mix it up well until a creamy consistency. If you still have chunks of chocolate, melt it over a double boiler or just zap it in the microwave very briefly until it is all melted.
4. Let the ganache set before using. You can speed this up in the fridge.

I did three different types of ganache. In one dark chocolate mix I added Kahlua (using a bit less cream to account for the extra liquid), in another dark chocolate mix I added mint flavouring, and the third was a plain white chocolate ganache.

Two Kahlua macarons, a choc-mint one and a little white choc one up the back

Thanks to Ami S for hosting this month's challenge, and a big big thanks to Trissa for being the Macaron Queen! Her macaron brilliance is so bright I think I need to wear some of Rilsta's patented macaron sunglasses :D

September Daring Bakers' Challenge

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. Thanks Steph! 'twas a brilliant challenge!

Christmas vol-au-vent, with his little cap discarded carelessly

Yep, it's been another month, and luckily this time I had the time and window of good health to let me tackle the scariness of making my very own puff pastry...... from scratch! Dun dun dun!

In fact, this actually wasn't half as scary as I thought it would be. Making your own puff pastry takes some time, as you need to allow quite a lot of chilling time in the process, but the actual work time is quite short (It also allows you to justify the purchase of a marble pastry board, and I'm exceedingly happy to state that no extremities were harmed in the dropping of said pastry board during the making of this challenge). Forming the vols au vent does actually take a little while, but they can easily be made ahead of time and frozen (uncooked) until you need to use them so you don't have to be slaving over a sharp cookie cutter, covered in flour, when you would rather be greeting guests and enjoying a beer.

My four creations: a breakfast flower, Christmas circle, tuna star and apple flower.

I decided to try out four different fillings for my vols au vent:

• Breakfast: creamy scrambled eggs with bacon and fresh chives, served with a panfried mushroom perched atop;
• Tuna Mornay: tuna, corn and sweet mustard pickles stirred through a cheesy white sauce;
• Christmas: turkey breast, English spinach, leek and cranberries with a light white sauce;
• Apple Delight: stewed apples (with cinnamon, brown sugar, orange zest and sultanas) served with warm custard.
  

Clearly I had high hopes that my puff would actually live up to its name, as I invited friends around for dinner to enjoy some puffy action with me and my housemate. I figured that if the puff didn't rise to the occasion then at least I could just plop the fillings on top anyway and it should all still taste good.

Some of my vols au vent cooling and patiently awaiting their fillings

It was an anxious wait after putting the first batch into the oven, peering through the door to see any sign of rising. As I'd made my shells the night before and kept them in the freezer, they took a little longer than the recipe states to start rising, and just as I was beginning to think my dreams of being a pastry chef (in my own kitchen) were oozing away like the butter in puff pastry that's been left out too long, I began to see some rise! Oh man, happy days. Yep, I'm not ashamed to admit that a well risen puff gets me excited. In the pants (to quote fellow blogger Steph).

It was a bit of a kitchen juggling act to have all the fillings ready to go at once, but soon we were all sitting down to a plate of three pastrified treats with a little side greenery.

Dinner is served

We all decided that it only seemed proper to begin with breakfast, and ate our "breakfast" ones first. We were unsure which of the two remaining ones would be more for lunch or for dinner, but I think I went with the tuna next and followed it up with the turkey. And then we followed all three up with a little extra of the leftover fillings and wished we had saved our little "caps" to dunk in the extra filling. Nevermind, more pastry goodness was soon on the way, with dessert.

Apple delight vol au vent, with stewed apples, sultanas, a sprinkling of coconut and apple skin curls, sitting in a bed of warm custard

So, my verdict of this challenge? I had heard there is nothing quite like freshly made puff pastry, and now I realise how true this is. I have seen the light. Quite frankly, if you eat too much of this you may well be seeing the light, and your life flashing before you, as it's not exactly for the calorie-conscious but it is totally worth it. Plus you get to bash the crap out of a massive pile of butter with a big rolling pin. What's not to like?

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

You will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

July Daring Baker's Challenge - Part 2

As promised, here is the final exciting installment in the tale of the July Daring Bakers' Challenge! Thanks again to Nicole at Sweet Tooth for hosting the challenge this month.

Well, I'm sure you've all been on the edges of your collective seats wondering how my new oven was going to perform on its maiden baking voyage. Would I be wishing I'd never let Mr Dodgy Oven go out to pasture? Would I be leaping around the kitchen pumping my fists in the air in joy? If you guessed that my actual reaction fell somewhere between these two then you'd be right, and you've earned yourself a treat. Go and have a mallow. Unless of course you're not like me and don't have FIVE MILLION mallows sitting around in your house. Yes, this recipe lies ever so slightly when it claims to make two dozen cookies. Perhaps two dozen cakies would be more accurate. Or two dozen dozen cookies. In any case, there were more than enough cookies to take into uni for my fortnightly research group meeting, to deliver to a friend on campus, to sample in case they were poisoned (the correct action for any responsible baker), to give to my housemate whose ears were assaulted by my mixer working the pesky marshmallow for ages, and to bestow upon my sister who is staying with me for the weekend.

The recipe itself gets a little technical in that you need to get the marshmallow made properly such that it sets to the right consistency, and you also need to be careful with your chocolate such that it actually sets at all (quite a few Daring Bakers had to keep theirs in the fridge as it simply refused to set without being refrigerated) and ideally it is tempered such that it sets with a nice snap, and without blooming. After reading of everyone's problems they were having in these areas, I was more than a little apprehensive about making these cookies, but looking forward to the challenge. I was determined to succeed! I was sure I would succeed!

I am exceedingly, delightfully happy to say that I did in fact succeed, and surpassed all my expectations at how brilliantly these would turn out! I'm pretty chuffed, really, although I am also quite tired as it was a pretty time consuming process. Just as well I have some sugary treats to get me through the day ahead.


After eyeing off the amazing creations of my fellow Daring Bakers, I came up with five variations on the original recipe. So, I ended up making the following cookies:

• original,
• with 100s and 1000s over the marshmallow (plus garnish),
• with coconut over the marshmallow (plus garnish),
• with a dollop of nutella between the cookie base and the marshmallow, then hazelnuts over the marshmallow (plus garnish),
• with sieved black cherry jam mixed through the marshmallow, and garnished with a glace cherry,
• with mint extract and green colouring mixed through the marshmallow, and garnished with white chocolate.

Yeah, I perhaps got a little carried away, particularly as this recipe actually produced 111 cookies. I did 20 each of the variations, and 11 of the plain.

The verdict from all who sampled my wares was resoundingly positive. Big smiles and happy tummies all round, and my favourite compliments of all - when people think that I must have bought them :D


Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)

Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
Cookies
3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
3 eggs, whisked together
Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

Homemade marshmallows
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites , room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate glaze
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

Method
Cookies
1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Marshmallows
Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.

2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from t

he heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Cookies, continued..

9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.

Chocolate glaze
1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Cookies, continued..
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

My notes and variations to this recipe:

• Like I said, the cookie dough recipe makes a lot of cookies. I ended up with 111, and consequently needed to do a second batch of marshmallow (which turned out much nicer than the first!) and use a lot more chocolate than the recipe calls for.
• I made sure to adjust for US measurements with the marshmallow recipe (1/4 cup ~ 59 mL; 1 Tb = 3 tsp). Not sure if this matters, but I did it just to be safe.
  
• You have to "continue whipping until stiff" for quite a while! I am SO glad that I finally bit the bullet and got myself my very first stand mixer this week (yay!).
• To add the flavours to the marshmallow, add it towards the end when it is almost whipped to completion.
• Don't be a fool and wear nice clothes while doing this. You'll be cursing yourself as you smear sticky marshmallow on everything.
• You'll need a decent piping bag. I piped the first lot of marshmallow using a standard plastic one, and it busted out! In a way this was a good thing, as it meant I didn't need to wash it and could just throw it away. I did the second lot with a decent canvassy type one, and it worked a treat.
  
• I just used straight chocolate for the glaze, melting it in a double boiler and keeping some unmelted chocolate in the mix at all times.
• See if you can rope someone into doing all your dishes. There is a lot of stickiness to get cleaned up. Perhaps a neighbourhood child would like to earn a nice shiny fifty cent piece and a few cookies for hours of scrubbing with hot, dangerous water?

July Daring Baker's Challenge - Part 1

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. Thanks for hosting Nicole, and for giving me an excuse to try my hand at making marshmallow (and a reason to use such technical baking language as "soft ball stage").

Yep, it's been a whole month since my very first Daring Bakers' Challenge! Soon we'll all be exclaiming that we can't believe it is August already, possibly followed by a quip about when Christmas decorations will start being seen in the supermarket.

So, this month's challenge was plural - challenges - and thus this post is Part 1 of a gripping two part series. I made the Milan Cookies (which I like to be a little pretentious about and call Milano Cookies) not very long after the challenge was first announced, as that recipe was a little less challenging in terms of technique, and also in terms of shopping, when compared with the marshmallow cookies. The only thing slightly out of the ordinary in terms of ingredients was the lemon extract, easily found in a supermarket, and I had all the necessary tools on hand.

This baking event marked my final experience with my dodgy oven, before it was finally put out to pasture with all the old burnt out blenders (oh the smell of a burning motor), broken fridges with no doors and rusty fondue sets. My only regret is that I was not there to see it being ripped out, though luckily my absence did not mean my oven thermometer met a similar fate. I did get to spend some long intimate moments with the dodgy oven during this final cookie project together, as the Milano Cookies recipe makes a lot of cookies! I was a bit of a machine in the kitchen that night - piping cookie mixture onto trays, putting them in the oven, turning the trays around so they cooked evenly, taking them out at different times depending on whether they were on the top shelf or the bottom, letting them cool long enough on the tray so they firmed up a bit before transferring to a rack and starting the process again and again (and I do believe I was so terribly busy making cookies that I couldn't possibly cook dinner and was forced to have a roo burger from Jus Burgers, oh deary me what a shame).

So, the cookies. Would I make them again? Probably not, to be perfectly honest. They were really a very tasty cookie, and enjoyed by all who ate them, but I think their presentation lets them down. Perhaps if I were more skilled in piping them all perfectly the same shape and size, and perhaps if I tweaked the recipe a little so that they were a little thicker and crisper I would be happier. A lot of other bakers seemed to have these same issues, particularly with the cookies softening too much after being filled. The soft chewiness was pleasant, and the overall texture was reminiscent of a tuille, but I guess my personal preference is to have a bit more crunch to my cookie.

Oh and I haven't made a typo with the recipe - it is actually 2 tablespoons of vanilla and lemon extracts! Seems like madness but it actually works. The flavour is not overpowering, and pairs really nicely with the chocolate ganache.

(This point reminds me of something I would like to point out as some people may not be aware of it - you need to be mindful of the differences between measurements between countries. 1 US tablespoon is equal to 1 UK tablespoon which is equal to 15 mL (3 teaspoons) while 1 Aussie tablespoon is equal to 20 mL (4 teaspoons). 1 US cup is equal to 240 mL (well, 236.59 mL) while 1 Aussie cup is equal to 250 mL and 1 UK cup is 285 mL! While these differences may be totally moot in many recipes, there are others in which it may make noticeable differences to the taste, texture or look of the final product so it's worthwhile bearing these, however subtle, differences in mind.)

While I followed the recipe provided by our month's host, I also made a few variations to the original recipe with the ganache fillings, doing some with mini m&ms, some with roasted/crushed hazelnuts stirred through, and some with a bit of a Cherry Ripe theme with chopped glace cherries and shredded coconut mixed through.

Milan(o) 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

Ingredients

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

Method

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.

A container of cookies ready to be taken to the footy!

June Daring Bakers' Challenge

Four fruits Bakewell Tart with ice cream and glace cherries

This is my maiden voyage into the world of the Daring Kitchen, having only just recently joined. I put my hand up to be a Daring Baker, though might also get involved in the Daring Cooks' Challenges once I've got the hang of fitting the Daring Bakers' challenges into my routine! Basically, there is a different challenge put forth each month, resulting in all involved making the same recipe and comparing results! There are no prizes but it is quite fun to see the variation in results and to learn from more experienced cooks.

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.

Hooray! A traditional English dessert, perfect for someone who has just started sharehousing with a traditional English lass. Well, an English lass. It was just as well that I was providing her with something nice to eat, given that I think I've exhausted the limits of referring to her as a traditional English Bakewell Tart over this month.

I have to confess I had actually not heard of a Bakewell Tart prior to learning of this challenge, so can't attest to just how traditional this particular recipe is. Calling anything traditional is generally fraught with danger, as most people tend to think that the way their Granny or Great Aunt Beryl made it must be the final word, even if old Beryl had more cats than sense.

I must admit I was a little daunted when I first read the recipe for the Bakewell Tart, given the three elements - sweet shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam/curd. Reading further however, it became apparent that this exercise could be broken into manageable tasks and if time was not on my side I could use ready made jam or curd instead of making my own. Sadly this was the case (plus winter isn't exactly a great time of year to be making jams unless you want to bust out some rhubarb or pear or pumpkin jam) but I used very nice jams so don't hold this against me. In fact, I was keen to try a few different types of jam so I opted to make little tartlettes instead of a big tart.

Following the recipe (repeated verbatim below) I managed to make 4 tartlettes and 5 little tarts in my Texas muffin tray. We had friends around for dinner last night, and I served up the 4 tartlettes for dessert, but sadly given the lighting in our house I wasn't able to get any decent photos of them before they were devoured. I received quite possibly one of the best compliments I've ever received for my cooking, when one of the friends said the only problem he had with it was that he couldn't quite fit enough in his mouth at once.

I really enjoyed my first Daring Bakers experience, and thank the hosts for introducing me to this great new dessert. I feel more deserving of my British citizenship now.

My jams of choice - St Dalfour Four Fruits, Black Cherry (chockers with big cherries! Yum!) and Thick Apricot

Four little tartlettes, all poofy and warm

And a cherry on top!

Bakewell Tart...er...pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

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

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) 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. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. 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.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).