Not-Baking JDs

Just a minute on the soapbox, and then I'll resume to normal posting: tempering chocolate is NOT baking. It might be fun and challenging, and the results might be delicious, but we didn't turn the oven on once this month. We feared when Daring Cooks started up (a spin-off of Daring Bakers), this group would quick spiral into Daring Desserts. A quick look back proves our fears were well-placed - the last savory daring bakers challenge was the suet pie in April of 2010 (never mind that we didn't actually make the suet pie . . . ). And a number of the projects in the last year have only tangentially involved the oven, if at all - the Marquise, the Panna Cotta, and the Donuts all come to mind. Bring back the baking challenges, particularly the savory ones, or else we're going to be forced to go renegade (on an already renegade group!).

Stepping off the soapbox now.

This month, we made two chocolate challenges. The first was truffles, something Erica and I have both made many times before. So we mixed it up a bit, taking a cue from a recent trip to Laughing Moon Chocolates in Stowe, VT. To celebrate summer, we took a bunch of basil, added black pepper, and seeped both in the cream base.


Once the cream was flavored, we stirred in the dark chocolate to melt.

Once the mixture cooled, Erica braved the process of rolling it into evenly sized, evenly shaped little balls. Chocolate melts quickly, so you have to work fast. Cocoa powder helps.

We were more excited about our second treat. We decided to make honeycomb (also called sponge or sea foam candy), a confection that neither of us had really heard of before. The basic idea is similar to caramel or toffee - it's a burned sugar base - but you add baking soda once it's warm. The addition causes the hot sugar to bubble and foam, eventually creating something crunchy, light, and delicious.

We started with heating the sugar mixture.


Next we added the baking soda. For your viewing pleasure, we videoed the addition - thinking that it would be much like childhood science fair volcanoes. Not quite as dramatic, but still fun. For those careful viewers, note the use of the kitchen knife. Perhaps not the best stirring utensil.

Then we poured the entire thing into a springform pan (yes, we bought a new one - no more missing bottom) . . .


And let it harden. Eventually, we cut it into pieces with a large knife. It pretty much shatters everywhere, but we did end up with some nice chunks.

Finally, we tempered the chocolate. We chose the "seeding method," in part because we made a royal mess of Erica's granite counter top.

It was tricky to get the chocolate to follow the exact 113 degrees to 80.6 degrees to 89 degree curve, despite the use of TJ's instant read thermometer, but our lack of precision didn't really seem to matter.

Proof positive? These beautiful truffles.

Another success - but hoping for a real baking challenge next month!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Fraisier on the Ninth of July

Over Fourth of July weekend, Sara and I were camping in Castle Crags State Park with a group of friends, enjoying some delicious campfire cuisine instead of the traditional barbeque. However, we were lucky to enjoy some great barbeque the following weekend courtesy of Genevieve, who once again let us share our Daring Bakers challenge with a hungry group of 20 or so friends at her house. 

For a recap of Genevieve's amazing barbeque, visit her blog. 

To make the fraisier and leave time for it to set, we started quite early that Saturday morning. While the recipe wasn't overly complicated, it did involve several parts and steps prior to assembly. Like zesting lemons for the chiffon cake batter.

And making pastry cream.

We folded egg whites into the chiffon cake batter, which resulted in an airy texture.

Unfortunately, we found ourselves with a missing bottom to Sara's spring-form cake pan. So we improvised by placing it on a baking tray and lining it with parchment.

Pouring in the batter... so far so good.

And the result. Despite some lumpy sides due to the parchment, it actually turned out fine. Although it was somewhat disappointing for us to watch the beautifully fluffy cake shrink a bit after it came out of the oven.

In the end the cake had the perfect light consistency we were hoping for.

It was hard to resist eating the strawberries as we hulled and sliced them.

Really very difficult.

But we resisted. For the most part.

Sara and I were very skeptical of the almond paste. And quite a bit amused by its shape and appearance after removing it from its packaging.... But we were actually pleased with the end product when we rolled it out and included it in the cake. The layer of almond flavor nicely complemented the sweet strawberries and cream

We successfully, albeit nervously, sliced the cake in half to begin assembly. Phew!

Carefully arranged the strawberries.

And, after adding the cream and topping it off, we wrapped it up and stuck it in the fridge.

After devouring Genevieve's delicious barbeque, we unwrapped the cake and spread fresh whipped cream on top.

Then we decorated the top with some blueberries and more strawberries, as well as some powdered sugar.

We were very pleased with the result. Beautiful!

Mmm... and delicious.

Not the best picture, but a glimpse of the interior. Another successful challenge!

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

East meets West (Side Story)

Between the many weddings, graduations, and outdoor adventures of summer, Erica and I find it a bit difficult to schedule time for baking. Thankfully, San Francisco weather took a turn for the bizarre, and instead of attending a blue grass festival, rain forced us indoors to roll out sheets and sheets of phyllo dough. (Fun(?) fact? This was the first time on record that it rained in SF on June 4th).

The prospect of phyllo dough made us nervous. So many sheets to make! Typically, so very bad at making things as thin as they need to be! So we read through the comments, and came across the best advice of all - buy 00 flour. 00 flour is the finest ground flour in Italy (and also provides the name for one of my favorite SF restaurants - Zero Zero). We picked up a small bag at Whole Foods, and proceeded to make some of the thinnest, most pliable doughs I have ever worked with. Miracle of miracles!

We rolled and rolled and rolled, and stacked and stacked and stacked. We decided to make spanakopita as well, so we rolled and rolled and rolled some more. Cat helped us out with the nut mixture - a divine combination of flavors. I sauteed up some spinach and feta as well. We used an ungodly amount of butter.

The worse part about baklava? Having to wait an ENTIRE DAY to eat it. We baked it and watched as our piles of dough transformed into flaky goodness.

Instead of devouring it though, we poured on the honey mixture, and satiated ourselves with spanikopita (as well as both Wet Hot American Summer and Bridget Jones' Diary).

The next day, we agreed to meet at the old Castro theater for a showing of West Side Story. I dutifully wrapped up the baklava and packed it into tupperware containers. And in the middle of one of the saddest stories of all time, we happily munched on some of the best baklava I have ever tasted. Dare I say we're on a roll?

Baklava!

(Apologies! post to come - just getting this up for the blog checking.)

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

MMM -- Making Marquise on Meringue

May's challenge was a resounding success, dear readers. Mmm, mmm, good. Sara and I were more nervous than usual because we knew we'd be cooking for a much bigger crowded than usual -- 14 people!!! Ay dios mio. Thank you to Genevieve for letting us provide dessert at your delicious monthly supper extravaganza. To drool over the pulled pork and everything else we ate, go here. 

We started that morning by making the marquise, well in advance so it had time to freeze.

Let me tell you, this was some delicious batter. It was essentially gussied-up mousse. Naturally, Sara and I undertook multiple taste tests. We had to be sure it was good. You can't tell by the pictures, but the chocolate had a little kick of heat that made it just delightful.

One of us -- yours truly -- beat the cream a little to zealously, so it didn't quite stir into the rest of the marquise as it was supposed to and instead stayed in little lumps. I have to say, though, frozen little lumps of cream are not the worst thing to find in your dessert.

Once we had the marquise ready to freeze for the day in Genevieve's freezer, we made some sweet 'n spicy almonds for a garnish. Sugar, cinnamon, cayenne, and a little salt . . .

The recipe required an unusual meringue-ish batter to get the sugar and spices to stick to the almonds. This was new to me and Sara, but ultimately quite effective. Even though we were too lazy to blanch the almonds.

During the morning we also whipped up the true belle of the ball -- the tequila caramel sauce. This sauce is not too be missed. Go make some now. I'll wait. It's easy -- Boil sugar and water until it turns into caramel. Add tequila. Cool. Eat.

* * *

After a morning of cooking, Sara went off to watch Will race bikes and I took a nap. (Look, the night before was a late one. We were out dancing. Sara almost got into a bar fight with Snooki's doppelganger. But that's a story for another day.)

* * *

Once at Genevieve's, after stuffing ourselves full of her Mexican-themed dinner, we were ready to finish the Challenge. The process for the meringue threw us for a loop. The picture above shows Sara uncomfortably stirring sugar into the egg whites over boiling water and keeping track of the temperature with her fingers at the same time. Yes, this was part of the recipe's instructions.

Although untested, this new meringue process worked quite nicely. We made a lot of little beds of meringue.

A lot.

Yes, I mean a lot!

But, oh, all of our efforts were worth it. Our marquise on meringue turned out just wonderfully. Every last one!

Look at those delicious almonds.

There's that tequila caramel sauce I was telling you about.

What a treat! And one of our must attractive challenges yet, in stiff competition with the vol-au-vents and the croquembouche. And our festive gingerbread prison.

The only complaint we heard was that the cocoa powder that coated the marquise was a little too easy to inhale when one was scarfing down one's dessert. There was some coughing.

Apparently it didn't hinder people too much, however.

Don't worry, those last two got eaten, too.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.