Lemon Tart

Daring Bakers: Stollen!

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

The December Daring Bakers selection this year was a lot less work than last years. And that's a good thing because, while I've been absent this month here, busy doing the usual holiday bustle, I managed to complete this challenge just an hour before heading out of town for the holidays. That gingerbread was a tad more drawn out affair last year! The reason I could pull it off is that a stollen is one easy holiday bread, yet so incredibly impressive! Shhh... don't tell!

The dough is an easy sweet bread dough studded heavily with dried and candied fruits. I made the dough the day before in minutes and put it in the fridge for almost 24 hours to rise. A 2 hour rest to warm up, then a quick roll and before you know it this is in the kitchen tempting me to stop the holiday prep, gift wrapping and all around rushing to eat a piece of this with tea. 

I made one of these for Christmas day breakfast last year, although in a more less festive, yet more manageable shape. There's something so appropriate about a holiday bread, full of the dried and candied fruits and nuts that mean less than they did centuries ago when that was the only way you would have enjoyed a fruit in December. Last year I made a marjipan stollen, which takes the treat to to a new level by wrapping the dough arounda  generous log of almond paste. Each slice has a coin of sweet, nutty candy! This year my version is a cranberry orange which is less traditional, but certainly bright and sunny. My cranberries had been soaking in bourbon for a week and are lovely. A jar of homemade orange peel was a natural addition.

If you still haven't decided on something festive for one of your holiday tables, give this a try. It keeps beautifully, so you can do what I'm doing and just make it and leave it out for people to nibble.

Need some more Christmas morning breakfast ideas a little different than this unfortunately named breakfast tradition...

This Christmas I'll be making another Spinach Strata. Melty cheese, soft spinach, puffy and crunchy bread surrounded with an eggy custard. A revelation really. Best part? Its entirely made the night before and thrown in the oven in the morning. Beautiful!

And with that I leave you, gifts packed, wine corked, cookies cooled and on the road I go!

Merry Christmas to you all! I hope the holidays are full of , what else, great food, lovely wine, and even better company whether just you and yours or a house full of family and friends.

Daring Bakers : Crostata di Marmallata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Pastry is my thing. I'll just come out and say it. I'm good at it, I understand it, I know how to work it into submission. I can't say that about anyone anything else in my life. As with anything, this sense of skill comes simply from experience and since pastry is the dessert category I adore the most, I've made sure I've had lots of experience with it.

So when I heard this month's Daring Bakers challenge would be an Italian tart, called a Crostata, I flipped my hair back and confidently said to myself "well, that's an easy one for me, where's the challenge there?"...

If you ever wondered what humble pie actually looks like, apparently its a sweet Italian pastry filled with apricot jam. Yup, I spoke too soon. When I walked into that kitchen I was promptly [curse alert] bitch-slapped by this simple mixture of flour, butter, sugar and egg.

Crostata is an Italian tart made with Pasta Frolla, the Italian version of pate sucree, which as far as I can see is identical to the French version. My entry into the world of tarts and pastries began with a similar recipe of sweet crust dough. I got good at it, through repetition. This kind of pastry is tricky to work with. Its sugar content makes it beautifully tender and also very fragile. It can be overworked easily therefore losing its delicate nature, and it falls apart, oh how it falls apart. Over the years my recipe changed and I discovered that pressing the dough into the tart shell yielded a still beautiful tart shell without the frustration of trying to roll it out. I also discovered that a recipe using only the egg yolk made for an easier dough as well. So I left that original recipe in my pastry past.

Daring Bakers: Doughnuts!

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. 

Until recently I had it in my head that one should have a deep fryer in order to make deep fried foods. I kept rationalizing why I shouldn't even consider getting one, even when offered to me for free from someone in my family who actually has an "extra" one around. I feared having an appliance that served one purpose, and a kinda fun one at that, would mean I'd be deep drying everything in site and my already not too skinny body type would take a beating from just having it close by. Whatever small appliance company instilled that in my brain I'll never know, because that's just deep fried non sense! Those cannoli sure were a breeze to make in my humble stock pot with the aid of a thermometer and a strainer. And so were these doughnuts. Perhaps this is just as dangerous of a discovery as my fear of owning a deep fat fryer.

Truth be told, deep fried foods aren't something I feel I need more of, but every once in awhile there is a dessert that requires this technique and I do debate whether its worth the unpleasant smell and the vat of boiling oil. Doughnuts are certainly worth any small negatives and I tell you these little pillowly bites got my giddy on!

  I've had Claudia Flemmings excellent dessert book, The Last Course, for years now and it remains just outside of my Desert Island Cookbook list. I'm not sure when exactly I spied these sugar and spice dusted doughnuts but when I learned of Octobers Daring Bakers challenge it  didn't take me long to choose these for the challenge.

While there are indeed cake and yeast doughnuts, I tend to go for the yeasty kind. I think they have more flavour and seem more authentic, although I'm certain you could debate both sides. This dough was a simple egg and butter enriched sweet dough with a hearty dose of Orange Flower Water and tossed in a Cardamom and cinnamon sugar, making them definitely Middle East inspired. Next time having these alongside a rosewater pannacotta would not be a bad idea. The dough was quick and very basic in its technique with an important long overnight rest int he fridge to develop flavour. I loved the idea of cutting them into unconventional squares. While we all love the rings shape or the doughnut hole, the square made for almost no waste and no re rolled dough which always make for a tougher end product. They puff up so much that they still retain a doughnut whole appearance.

Daring Bakers: Decorated Sugar Cookies and What September Means to Me

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.  

When I found out what this month's Daring Bakers Challenge was I was ecstatic. Here was a challenge I was going to be able to run circles around, do in my sleep, with one hand tied behind my back...you get my drift. Cut out cookies decorated with royal icing have been a bit of specialty of mine for awhile, so there was nothing new to learn here. Plus, I'm a sucker for detailed oriented projects. Yet the day of the challenge reveal I was still decorating my cookies, slowly I might add. I got them done in time, yes, but barely. I know I'm not the only Daring Baker doing it at the last minute, but sheesh I really thought this one would be a breeze. Next month maybe.

Mandy's rules on the challenge, besides using the recipe she provided for the cookies, was to make cookies that represented what September means to you. Sugar cookies in September, and what they mean to me? Huh? it took me awhile to figure out what September does mean to me, and also how to make that into a cookie.

September is perhaps my favourite month and time of year. I love the clear way you feel the season changing into the next and the noticeable chill in the air, while still being full of the blue skies and sunny days of summer. The light in September changes to some of the most photogenic of its kind and of course as the leaves begin their descent into winter the world still feels alive and full of abundance. As a regular shopper at the farmers markets, this time of year is full of excitement as the stalls are chock full of so many beautiful fruits and vegetables and there's a desperate feeling in the air to ear or preserve as much of it NOW!

But even given all of those reasons, they aren't the only things that September means to me anymore. I was on my bike on a glorious September day a few weeks ago, the chill had already come upon us and I even spotted some leaves changing. It was on this reflective sort of day that I realized that September is quite a meaningful month to me, even if I wasn't entirely aware of it. Its the month I lost one of the most influential and important people in my life. My best friend, Heather, left us on such a September day, 6 years ago. And it just so happens that these cookies were a favourite of hers. So with her in mind I made a special cookie just for her in a colour she was goners for. As perhaps my biggest fan and a passionate and joyful person, Heather would have been a frequent guest and commenter on this site, and I think would have weighed in on some important food issues regarding the truly greatest ketchup chip or the best time for black vs. red licorice. and while life does indeed move on, during this month of September I feel a twinge of melancholy that she wasn't here to be part of something so important to me. How excited she would have been to see my blog grow. But this site is also not about melancholy or sadness, but about fun and food and the joy that food brings to me and so many of you. These cookies are with her in mind, and that means her zest for the oh too short life she lived. So with her in mind I say, "eat a cookie!".

Daring Bakers: Baked Alaska

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”. 

Baked Alaska. Its a one of the culinary worlds ultimate contradictions. Well, in name at least. Ice cream sitting on a sturdy cake base wrapped in a cloak of meringue, then baked quickly enough to brown and cook the meringue. From what I can tell the ice cream is the Alaska reference and before baking that meringue really does pass for that ultimate snow capped mountain peak. Of course its a bit of a misnomer since while it does see a hit of heat, its not really baked exactly, just browned, or barely baked. While this does seem like true retro fare and a nod to the over the top, cheeky desserts of the 60s and 70s, in actuality, Baked Alaska has been around since the late 19th century when it received its name at a famed New York restaurant, Delmonicos, in celebration of the newly acquired Alaskan territory. In fact it had already been around for at least 70 years under different guises. Whatever its previous incarnations, this meringue covered ice cream bombe is now known the world over as Baked Alaska.

Nowadays if you enjoyed this in a restaurant, your Baked Alaska will likely not see the inside of the oven, but rather be blasted with the flame of a torch, a touch of modernity to an old classic, that's if you come across it at all. I can't remember the last time I saw a baked alaska on a menu, aside for the last time I ever had one. Early on in my gastronomic education I have a vivid memory of enjoying one in a traditional European restaurant in a small town where my parents still live. I still remember the pool of raspberry coulis that it was served with, and how enthralled I was by the idea of baking ice cream.

Now that I have made it myself, I can attest to its instant appeal as a showstopper, and  its make ahead quality make it the perfect restaurant dessert. I'm wondering if us Daring Bakers might just be able to start a new trend? Perhaps we will see a resurgence of this long lived dessert. I for one will be making this again - probably at some last minute moment where dessert is needed. Afterall there's always ice cream in my freezer and often a spare bit of cake. Whip up a couple eggs whites et voila!
For this Daring Bakers challenge, not only were we required to make a traditional Baked Alaska, the secondary portion to this challenge was a focus on brown butter, or  beurre noisette in reference to the nutty aroma the butter takes when it caramelizes. Browned butter is a simple method of heating butter on the stovetop until the milk solids sink and brown, creating a complex aroma of caramel, nuttiness and butter which take over the entire room. I would suggest realtors skip the cookie trick when selling a home, but rather just put a  put of butter on the stove to brown. After so many years cooking and experimenting once in awhile I'm reminded of a classic technique that seems monumental in its ability to affect so much flavour with so little work. I couldn't help but pick at a piece as it came from the oven. I loved this portion of the challenge and I was excited to see how this cake would pair with the rest of the dessert elements.

All that intoxicating beurre noisette left me tinkering with which flavour of ice cream to churn. A basketful of gorgeous Okanagan peaches sat ripening on the dining room table begging me to make them the star. I happily complied. Afterall, this is the height of peach season, which will be soon over. A fruit dessert in August was a must! I made beautiful peach honey ice cream, full of deep peaches and cream flavour and chunks of barely cooked fruit. And since I'm never one to leave things alone I decided I needed a contrast colour and flavour. A quick look in the freezer and the last of the mid summer sour cherry sorbet was screaming to be part that contrast in colour and flavour. The bright cherry with these comforting peaches, sexy brown butter cake and a creamy, sweet meringue make this one fantastic dessert!

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

This month's chocolate pavlova is not a new dish for me. The national dessert of Australia, named after a famous ballerina, and one of the worlds most under appreciated desserts, has always been a favourite of mine. Never heard of it? Well, its a meringue - a simple whipping of egg whites and sugar, spread into a puffy disc and baked long and low in the oven until it cracks and dries. Deep inside it retains a puffy, chewy, marshmallow like centre. Hmm... this sounds like a friend of mine... This disk of non fat goodness gets smothered with whipped cream and then piled high with fresh fruit. Even if its sometimes a hard sell on paper, its always a hit once served. I've made many a version, some chocolate, some vanilla, covered in canned fruit or frozen raspberries, but usually with local fruit at the height of summer, after all this really is the perfect summertime dessert. I've filled them with the classic whipped cream, pastry cream, chocolate sauce and all manner of ice cream and sorbet, my favourite way indeed. Coincidentally last month I enjoyed a perfect example crafted by my friend, Bryan, done to such complete perfection it would have made any Aussie proud. It was a showstopping plateful of crispy, craggy, golden tinged meringue - marshmallow-y in the middle, just as it should be - covered with barely sweetened whipped cream and then generously strewn with jewel coloured papaya, kiwi, strawberries and passion fruit. The fact that 6 of us easily polished all 10 inches of it is  testament to its tastiness factor, but also to its lightness.

This version definitely has a little more "oomph" to it and would satisfy any manner of chocophile. Its chocolate based meringue deepens as it cooks providing the perfect crunchy base for the bittersweet chocolate mousse its served with. The mascarpone cheese in the mousse adds body while keeping the sweetness down. The entire thing is doused in custard, a break if you will from all that chocolate, but also a pleasing contrast in colour. I tend to love a little fruit with my chocolate desserts, so the creme anglaise also goes beautifully with the fresh strawberries I chose to serve alongside. With berries this beautiful there was simply no way they weren't going to weasel their way onto this plate! 

This challenge wasn't one of my favourites, although that's no fault of the dish itself or the recipe. I just tend to be in the minority as someone who really doesn't consider a chocolate based dessert my desert island sweet of choice. But as with every one of these Daring Bakers challenges, I come away either learning something completely new or re discovering something in my repertoire. And this one was no different. I was excited to practice my cheese making abilities, and had the opportunity to make mascarpone cheese for the second time. And let me tell you a little secret: it's really not so difficult. In fact, its a shame the dairy industry has convinced us to buy it rather than make our own. The flavour is pure cream, as it should be without the oh so attractive xantham gum and stabilizers, and the effort is basically heating up cream, stirring and draining. That's it! Shh... don't tell!

I also was reminded of how much I really I do love a crispy base of meringue and that I don't make them enough. As an avid maker of ice cream, custards and sweet tart doughs, all of which require yolks only, I always have a problem of having too many egg whites cluttering up my freezer. Indeed I believe I have not been without a supply for 6 years! These are so easy to make, practically cooking themselves, and keep beautifully. The bonus is the use of large amounts of egg whites. So thank you Daring Bakers, for reminding me to keep making those meringues and pavlovas. Wouldn't you agree that nothing dresses up a simple scoop of ice cream or sorbet than this lovely edible dish? The chocolate sauce doesn't hurt either!

 

Daring Bakers: 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.

Well these Daring Bakers do indeed keep me in line. 4 months ago I arrived home from our vacation in Italy. I wanted to share my travel experiences with you. Told you I would in fact. Time crept along, there was a wedding and a cake, visitors, and before you knew it, it was Christmas and then it was 2010. I hadn't kept my promise and for that I felt guilty and also a little sad that time had gotten away from me.  After 3 months, could I still share it with you? Would you still care? It felt like old news.

Then a few weeks ago I found out the February Daring Bakers challenge was to be Tiramisu- that molto Italian dolce. And with that I was reminded that sharing that Italian experience was something I could do months later. This challenge brought me back to Italy and to one of the most memorable days of our time there. On a warm, sunny day in Venice we  had a 3 hour lunch on a canal side patio at the Ristorante Riviera. The setting certainly helped make this afternoon special, but the good food, specifically the dessert, stood out. Tiramisu is a Venetian specialty, said to have been invented close by. Being a traveler who seeks out regional specialties, I knew that Tiramisu would have to be one many things I would have to sample here and it did not disappoint.

Tiramisu is not a dessert that impresses me. I can't remember the last time I ordered it at a restaurant and its not something I bother to make myself. Usually versions of this dessert are too sweet and over done. This Tiramisu at Ristorante Riviera changed my mind about this famed bit of Italian cuisine. It was restrained, simple and perfectly balanced- a proper Italian dish. Since that perfect Venetian day I've been thinking about Tiramisu- that Tiramisu I should say.

World Nutella Day 2010: Nutella Marshmallow Cookies

 

Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso (and Shelley from At Home in Rome,in spirit) solemnly declare Friday, February 5th “World Nutella Day 2010″ – a day to celebrate, to get creative with, and most importantly, to EAT Nutella.

This is my second year of decreeing my love for the flavour marriage of chocolate and hazelnut - in spreadable form no less! First off I must confess that for this Nutella celebration, I did not use Nutella... I cheated a bit and used a scrumptious high brow version made by Italian chocolate gods, Amedei, a lovely souvenir from our trip to Italy last year. 

I came to Nutella late in life, so my taste buds might not be as honed to the real deal as some people. This Amedei stuff is the one to my heart however. No surprise it costs a small fortune. Champagne tastes... my mother always says. Amedei chocolate is one of my favourite bars in the world, one that makes my heart beat a little faster whenever I spot some, a rarity. This spread contains nothing but Amedei cocoa making it worth the cost of a jar alone. But the even better is the hazelnuts from the Piedmont region in Northwest Italy, considered to be the finest in the world. This is a jar with a bit of pedigree, and I'll admit I'm fairly smitten with it, but none of this is meant to be taken away from the reason a jar of this exists. And that's the original chocolate hazelnut spread - Nutella. So Happy World Nutella Day all! If there ever was a day to buy yourself a jar and spread it on thick, this is it!

Daring Bakers: From Graham Crackers to Nanaimo Bars

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. 

I gotta admit that when I found out what January's DB challenge was, I was a little unenthusiastic. Nanaimo Bars?  Really?  I mean they've been on nearly every holiday and party sweet tray my entire life. They sell huge trays of them at Costco and there is nary a bakery in Canada that doesn't sell oodles of over sized, over sweet ones every day. And, as Un-Canadian as it may seem, I've never really understood what all the fuss was about. In my house you were more likely to find a mint variation, appropriately called "Creme de Menthe Squares", which was and still is my Christmas treat pick.

In just 2 short weeks the 2010 Winter Olympics will take place in Vancouver, Canada, home of this Lemon Tart. Our host of this challenge, Canadian Daring Baker, Lauren, wanted to choose a challenge that highlighted something uniquely Canadian. The fact that Nanaimo, this treat's namesake, is just a quick ferry ride away from Vancouver makes it an appropriate choice. With a country created by people from other places, sometimes its hard to think of a treat that we can completely claim as our own, but there's no doubt to those of us here that this one is ours! Lastly, Canada really is the land of the square. Cookie that is. From church socials to barbeques and baby showers to weddings, you will find plentiful amounts of homemade squares of an amazing variety across this country.  This is just one example.

The key part of this challenge was that we were to make our own graham crackers, an ingredient in Nanaimo Bars. Truth be told I was more excited about that than the recipe they were to be crushed up for. I have a love affair with graham crackers going way back. There's something about that not too sweet, deep honey flavour and just the right amount of crunch that satisfied many a craving. And I could polish off an entire sleeve in one sitting fairly easily. Except for the day when my Mom thought cheese whiz and graham cracker sandwiches would be tasty. They are not! Even when you are 15. Graham Crackers have been on my list for a few years now. Ever since I started making my own marshmallows I've had grand plans of quite the gourmet Smore. These things are so simple to make. Everything gets blitzed, Nigella style, in the food processor, left to rest, then rolled and cut. The ingredients are pantry staples, and taste of plenty of dark brown sugar and flavourful wild flower honey. They are golden and oh so crispy, and, well can you see I really love these graham crackers. It was fairly hard to hold back enough for the challenge recipe as my hand dipped into the container with every entry into the kitchen. I'll be making these again, and again, and again. Hold the cheese whiz.

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread House

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

I can't remember how many years I make the mistake of saying aloud, always in the company of either cynical DG or others, "I'm making a gingerbread house this year". I mean it when I say it . To me it seems something just for me, since I won't be giving it away as gifts or likely sharing it for its edible nature. Its a chance to play, have fun, put on some holiday movies or music, have the Christmas tree lit and perhaps even a glass of eggnog nearby. Whenever I think about it it sounds just perfect. After all I'm one of those people who loves Christmas. I love the ritualistic visit to the  Christmas lot looking for just the right tree and the smell of it inside. I take out a lifetime of ornaments, recalling old friends, people no longer with us, or a special ornament I made when I was a child. I love the smell of mulled apple cider and fresh grated nutmeg in a glass of magically aged eggnog and I'm a sucker for Bing and Burl and Christmas choir music. Throw in White Christmas or Holiday Inn on the DVD player and I am in HEA VEN. 

I'm also someone who easily goes overboard with the food part of things at this time of year. As usual the days leading up to Christmas Day were a whirlwind of sugar, butter and spices as I madly baked the many old and new things I like to have around and give at this time of year.  A wedding and a visit from family a few days before Christmas, however, threw my baking schedule off track this year.