December - Stollen

Well, I'm not going to lie and tell you I was excited to be making Stollen. We made it in culinary school and it was just this gross stale bread. Which my chef, who was from Austria, assured us it was supposed to be. They have crazy ideas over in Europe - who wants to eat stale bread!?

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.

At school we made the Stollen with the strip of Marzipan down the middle using the traditional loaf shape. I went along with the wreath formation to try something different.

Sadly, I had no rum at work. And my boss was sick so I couldn't make him go to the liquor store and get me some. So, I soaked my raisins in orange juice. On the upside, my boss has had a store of mixed peel in the freezer pretty much forever, so any recipe that uses mixed peel is a-ok in his books! Anyway, I mixed up my bread and tossed it in the fridge to sit until the next day.

The next day I took my bread out first thing and let it warm up. When I got around to it, I rolled it out - it rolled out much easier than most bread. Probably from all that gluten formation from all the kneading! It wasn't hard at all to get the bread into the wreath shape! I shaped it, cut it, and threw it in my proofer! When it was ready to go, I baked it and it baked up lovely! When it came out, I dusted it with a ridiculous amount of icing sugar and it was ready!

I decided to just slice it up and wrap up the slices so the residents at the retirement home could have some in their coffee room. I gave a piece to my co-worker to try and she declared it delicious and said it tasted just like hot cross buns. So, I put my bread out and it was gone very quickly!

My summary would be that I'd rather not make Stollen very often. It's a very involved bread and I personally am not a huge fan. But it was a good challenge and was a great treat for the residents at the retirement home! They certainly enjoyed it!

Now, pictures!

Ahh, here's my favourite kitchen tool - my microplaner! I don't know how I ever zested citrus fruit before!
Here's my rolled out dough. Wasn't difficult at all to get it this thing, which was great!


My wreath prior to proofing! The ends didn't really pinch together, so I just made that spot another "cut."

Out of the oven and covered in icing sugar!


A slice showing the innards! I actually quite liked the spiral pattern that showed up due to the way the dough was shaped.

November Daring Bakers - Crostata!

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.

Crostata. Or what I would call a tart. Fairly simple. So simple, I completed it within 6 hours of originally reading the post!! I checked it out at 5:30am before work, printed it off, brought it with me, and made at work the morning of November 1st!

I thought about making this a full dessert for the residents at the retirement home where I work, but I was afraid the crust would be really crumbly and it would be hard to make as a large pan of Crostata. Boy was I wrong!

I made just a single batch and I have to say, the dough was BEAUTIFUL! I often have trouble with the recipes we're given, but this recipe was great. A lovely rich dough that was so easy to work with. It didn't break, it rolled out well, it wasn't crumbly. It baked to perfection. Overall, I love this recipe and will be using it again!

I chose to fill my crostata with a marmalade. The residents love marmalade and it makes a good filling for tarts. I went with a really basic lattice top. So basic that I didn't even overlap anything. (Ok, perhaps basic isn't the correct word. How about lazy?)

I don't have one of those lovely pans with the fluted edge and the bottom that removes. I wish I did! So I used a pie plate.

I tossed my Crostata in the oven and it baked up beautifully! Even though I forgot to egg wash it! Whoops!

I tried to get it out of the pie plate and it popped out beautifully!

Overall, I have to say that I love this recipe and would absolutely make it again. I would like to try it with the pastry cream and fresh fruit. Perhaps later in the month.

Now for some pictures!

Here's my mixture after cutting in the butter. While I had a RoboCoupe behind me, I decided to just cut it by hand with a pastry cutter.


My dough in the pie plate. I cut it about halfway down the side of the pie plate as it wasn't supposed to have a huge side. Rightly so - I think an entire mouthful of marmalade wouldn't be a nice as a layer between pastry.


My unbaked Crostata in the pie pan with lattice. Lazy Lattice. It's alliteration. So that means it's ok I was lazy.


My baked Crostata out of the pie pan! I think it turned out not too shabby! I'll cut it tomorrow and put it in the coffee room for the residents.

October Daring Bakers' Challenge - Doughnuts!

October has been a pretty hectic month around here. We've had a wedding and a killer sickness that knocked me on my butt for 2 days. Shanna came to Toronto, and we completed the epic feat of climbing the CN Tower for the Toronto United Way, and it's been United Way fundraising month at work. Not to mention Halloween! However, my mind started churning out piles of ideas when I saw this month's DB Challenge. It is one of Canada's favourites, and it was the perfect thing to bring to work for our United Way potluck: 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.

I made pumpkin doughnuts, pumpkin being one of my favourite seasonal flavours (Pumpkin Spice Latte Season!!!), rolled onto little tiny, Timbit-like morsels. I have to admit, I'm really not a doughnut fan. One of my first jobs was slinging coffee at a little doughnut shop around the corner from my parents' house. Believe me - after smelling like a doughnut 3 days a week, the things really aren't that appetizing. However, knowing how delicious these turned out, and how easy they were considering my preconceptions, may turn out to be dangerous information!

The recipe smelled delicious as I made the dough, but once I dropped those little blobs into the hot oil, the room filled with the unmistakable smell of deep-fried batter, and I got really, really excited.



The finished product was to die for. I could probably have eaten the whole batch myself. Dipped in a quick glaze and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, there were no complaints from anyone.


I think I need to up my exercise regimen... These things are far too good for me to resist!

Well, Mini-Baked Alaska... Not so much a success...

... That should be read as "A really, really messy failure." Needless to say, no one was impressed. However, they were impressed by my fab large baked alaska:


And also, it was the yummiest mocha ice cream EVER!

September Daring Bakers - Sugar Cookies

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.

Well, sugar cookies! I was a bit disappointed with this one as sugar cookies aren't really a challenge to make and decorating them is hit or miss depending on your creative skills. I have none. So, my decorating was a huge miss. But, I did it nonetheless!

The sugar cookies themselves I wasn't very happy with. I found the dough to be very dry and the cookies turned out just as dry. So, the cookies were more crunchy than soft and chewy. Not my preference, however sometimes the flour used up here in Canada needs a bit more moisture added, so if I were doing the recipe again, I would add more moisture.

I also wasn't big on the "September Theme." I can honestly say that nothing at all came to mind for September. Now that I'm not in school anymore, September is literally a nothing month to me. So, the only thing I could think of was to do some beach balls, because September reminds me that summer is over! When I ran out of time at work, I decorated the rest with just basic shapes so I would have some cookies to feed to the residents!

Anyway, I got the cookies done at work and was very rushed in the decorating, so I could have done a better job, but one does what one can with the time they have. I don't mean to be negative, sugar cookies can be fun! I just personally have, all my life, found them to be rather tedious. I think if there had been a theme that I associated with more, I would have had a lot more fun.

August Daring Baker's Challenge - Option B: Baked Alaska!

So, I'm behind yet again, but I will have some very adorable mini baked alaskas (or is the plural "Alaska" like the plural of fish is "fish"?). The week has smashed in on me, and the stuff is still sitting in the fridge, but rest assured, there will be mini baked alaska in the near future.

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”.

I'll bet you can't wait to see the awesome!

On another note, the ice cream cake went over well! Pictures to follow, when my pain in the butt camera is working.

July Daring Bakers Challenge: Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

Another month, another recipe. The end of the month always seems to sneak up on me, and while I have great ideas of variations on the recipe, I end up with no time to test them out! This month, I had the added challenge of a new job (which has fewer hours and considerably better pay, but also 150km in commute per day), and I all but purchased a new car on posting day! Tomorrow I face the wonderful world of insurance, and hopefully, if all goes to plan, I will be the happy and proud owner of a new 2010 Toyota Corolla S by Tuesday. But on with the recipe!
The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-
This recipe is basically death in a bowl for me. I'm lactose-intolerant, and I think I probably went through half a bottle of lactaid while making all the components of the recipe. It also took me four separate nights of baking/cooking, which isn't bad, considering the aforementioned car-buying. As of now, the completed bombe (which I have been informed is also known as Arctic Roll to the Brits), is waiting in my freezer for people with a far better appreciation of ice cream to come and test. Once my parents get back from vacation, I will be sure to post a picture of the final product in all its sliced and nommed glory!

Until then, you will have to settle for some in-the-making photos.

By far the hardest part of this recipe is the chocolate sponge. First, you have to have the patience to let the eggs and sugar whip forever. Then, when the cake comes out of the pan, you have to wrap it in a towel so it cools in the right shape. For future reference, you probably shouldn't leave the cake like that for too long. Otherwise, it sticks to the cloth, and looks like this when you unroll it to put in the filling:
And then when you line the bowl, it looks REALLY messy.

The ice cream was fairly simple. More than anything, it just required the patience to keep coming back and checking on it to whisk it smooth again. The chocolate recipe was a little sweet for me - next time, I will definitely go for more cocoa and less sugar!
By far, the best part of the whole recipe for me was the fudge sauce, though. Even if it took a little more cornstarch to thicken, and seemed to take forever to do so, I was rewarded with a really nice sauce when I was done. I did make one modification here. Our house has been going through a little bit of a phase... everyone's favourite spread: NUTELLA! I reduced the amount of sugar and butter I added to the sauce, and added a big spoonfull of nutella. The sauce ended up nutty and chocolatey and was everything good in the world about fudge sauce. I even had some left over that I will be saving to pour over ice cream in the future! I was also smart enough to use a small fruit bowl wrapped in plastic to create an indentation in the vanilla layer of ice cream...

Which is now filled with nutella fudge sauce, and that's probably what I'm looking forward to the most!

In the future I'd like to try and make this in a tube pan and fill it with a moat of fudge. The possibilities for this concept make me so excited.

I will keep you posted on how it looks on Tuesday!

May Daring Bakers' Challenge - Piece Montée

So... I'm a little late. But since when am I ever on time with anything. Having a new job and being on the afternoon shift has kind of thrown me a little when it comes to baking time. This month, we were challenged to create something I've wanted to make forever, but never had the guts to try without being able to say to my family "it's for the Daring Bakers challenge, don't judge me!"

CROQUEMBOUCHE!

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Now see, had I been smart, I would have thought this through at the beginning of the month and figured "Hey! I should make a lovely croquembouche for Mother's Day! My mom likes sweets!" And she does. She totally loved the croquembouche that I made at the last minute over the weekend, just because I had to get it done. But I'm clearly on another planet, and so the deadline rolled around and I wasn't anywhere close to a blog post.

I've found that working afternoon shift has meant a lot less options for baking. By the time I get home from work at night, it's 11:30, I need to cram in some semblance of dinner and give time to the people who missed me while I was off working. Not that I can drop right into bed right away, but living in a bungalow with parents and a brother who are working days and going to school, respectively, they hardly appreciate me clanging around in the kitchen at midnight, even if they do enjoy the finished product! Waking up early isn't an option either, since I'm not a morning person to start with, and the aforementioned "Not tired when I get home from work" thing usually leads to an episode or two of television (and just as shows are winding down and I thought I'd have a couple weeks with just Glee to entertain me, someone mentions that I should check out Doctor Who, which is clearly fabulous and now I'm hooked... *sigh*).

Also, did I mention that my brother roped me into going low-carb with him? Let me tell you, low-carb and Daring Bakers' Challenge are two concepts that can't be reconciled.

Regardless. Croquembouche!

It started with the lovely pate a choux, which I'll admit I thought I had screwed up multiple times. The milk boiled over my saucepan, then with every addition of the eggs I would be just about to the point of giving up on it ever coming together, and then it would miraculously combine perfectly in seconds. The puffs of dough were beautiful, though I think that next time (and believe me, there WILL be a next time!) I'll make my puffs just a touch smaller. I skipped the egg wash on these, since I'm really picky about things that taste really eggy, and I always find that egg wash ends up ruining otherwise delicious pastries for me.



Then came the pastry cream. Now, I love vanilla as much as the next girl, and who can say no to chocolate? But I've had a terrible craving since I first saw the posted challenge - I wanted my puffs filled with raspberry cream and dipped in chocolate glaze. When I finally bit into one of those babies, I almost cried (though, maybe that was the relief at getting some carbs into me!).

To the vanilla creme patisserie I added about 1/4 cup of raspberry reduction that I made by heating a pint of raspberries and smashing them up in the pan. I drained the mixture through cheesecloth, and got a nice clear reduction that flavoured the cream really nicely and gave it a lovely mauve colour.


I figured the assembly would be the hardest part. Clearly, stacking pastries together with chocolate glaze should be difficult, right? Wrong! It went together without a problem. It took about 15 minutes (though, admittedly, it was very small!), and looked delicious! I was even able to decorate it with raspberries dipped in the chocolate glaze.


And it must have been good! I headed out to see Sex in the City 2 with a friend (after a fairly lengthy nap!) and by the time I got home, it was decimated! Luckily, there were a few puffs of chocolatey, raspberry-filled heaven left for me!

Daring Bakers - April 2010 - Traditional British Pudding

When I first read this month's challenge I had two thoughts. The first was, "YUCK!" The second was, "But the seniors will LOVE IT." So, once again, I took the challenge to work and made this month's Traditional British Pudding for the residents at the retirement home I work at.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Unfortunately I did not have access to suet at work, but I did have a big box of lard that I've barely touched in the time I've been there, so I dipped into it. We were given a couple choices of types of British Puddings we could make and I chose to go with the Spotted Dick variation of a British Sponge Steamed Pudding. The reason I went with this was simple ease of serving. It's a whole lot easier to make a large batch of this and plate it up then with the pastry type.

So, off I went! Let's see what pictures I took this time!

Well, here's a pictures of the batter after I poured it into the pans I was using. Looks a bit like vomit, yes? That's how I knew it was good. Looks just like the gross Christmas pudding I made at work over the holidays.


I used this type of pan because we have industrial steamers at work. They're a sight different than those used at home, but I love them - makes a lot of things a whole lot easier!

Hmmm, this next picture seems to be an after picture - looking a bit better - kind of like a cake! Lovely!


And here it is, all plated up, ready to go. Oh, don't worry, I had 5 more pans just like this one - have to have enough for everyone! I made a brown sugar caramel sauce to put on top of the pieces. So, I plated them, poured the sauce on, then stuck them in my proofer to keep them warm and moist until it was time to serve them after lunch!


The only comment I got was that next time I should put more sauce on each piece. Otherwise, the British Pudding was a hit and the General Manager of the retirement home told me that I should definitely make it again! So, thanks Esther and the Daring Bakers for giving me another recipe to add to my arsenal!

March Daring Baker's Challenge II - Orange Tian!

I have never been a fan of marmalade, or anything really orange-y flavoured, except for maybe delsym cough syrup when I was a kid. Orange popsicles had thier place, and I do enjoy a good orange or glass of orange juice, but orange desserts never really did it for me. I'd much rather get my citrus fill from lemon meringue or key lime pie. However, at least oranges aren't grapefruit.

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.

That said, this month's Daring Bakers dessert was for my daddy. He loves marmalade. Loves it. And oranges in general. And the orange tian just so happens to have both! I've made jam in the past (strawberry and raspberry are my favourites), so making marmalade didn't seem like too much of a challenge. And after spending the time blanching the orange slices, cutting them up, and mixing everything together on the stove, I was happy to see a delicious pot of golden orange marmalade wasn't beyond my reach.



Too bad it still tasted like marmalade.

Regardless, the pate sablee biscuits were to die for, and totally made up for it. But they were an adventure too. See, my family isn't a big food processor user. We have a food processor... From when my parents got married more than 25 years ago. It has a very tiny bowl. And it's missing parts, so when I went to make the dough, I had to do it in parts, and when I went to clean the blade, I had to make some fancy use of my handy tweezers (don't worry, I washed them before and after!).


However, it made a lovely dough, and the biscuits that came out were really delightfully flaky. I ended up making two kinds: the first were made following the directions, but I had mislaid the vanilla extract, so I made a bit of a substitution!


The second were made by substituting 3/4 of a cup of cocoa powder in for some of the flour, and a slightly different additive for the vanill I just couldn't seem to find!


Both kinds of cookies were yummy. My favourites were the chocolate ones, but my parents and brother preferred the vanilla ones. We'll be making them again for a summer party dessert!

The whipping cream was deliciously fluffy, and the orange segments were... Orange segments? The caramel sauce was nice, and I think it definitely made the oranges better. My original plan was to use blood orange segments or mixed citrus, but in the end my creativity was limited by the state of the grocer's produce department in March. The blood oranges had been beaten to a pulp (and a couple of them were mouldy, ew!), and the only good looking citruses were the navel and seville oranges, so that's what I went with!

With Easter coming up, I decided to make a couple smaller egg-shaped tians and the rest rounded. The only limitation to the rounded ones was that we have weird, double-sided cookie cutters, so I couldn't build the dessert in them. So, I did what I do every time I don't have what I need in the kitchen: I improvised!


Regardless, the desserts came out lovely, and though tainted by the marmalade on the biscuit (I'd leave it out the next time if I were making them for myself, or use an orange jam rather than a peel-containing marmalade!), they tasted yummy and looked impressive. I think I may try them with strawberries or other fresh fruit come summertime!

Daring Bakers - March 2010 - Orange Tian

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.

I was excited for this month's challenge! The dessert looked delicious and not too difficult to make. I lucked out and my mom was looking for a dessert to make for my grandparents, so I suggested this one and we worked on it together. And she paid for it, always a bonus. ;)

I found this recipe to be fairly simple, although it had a lot of steps. But since so many steps involved waiting, you could do other steps during the waiting period. Everything was delicious and flavoured nicely.

The plus side to doing the challenge with somebody was that they could take pictures with me in them! So, here's my little photo journal of Orange Tian:


Here I am mixing up the dough for the Pate Sablee. It needed quite a bit of water, but did come together.


Here I am making the caramel. The pink burner looks cool. It was really orange. Also, you can see in the foreground the pot with our oranges being blanched.

Here I am pouring the caramel over the oranges we segmented!

Cutting out the cookies from the Pate Sablee.

This was midway through getting the ingredients for the marmalade ready. I was chopping up the blanched oranges. I have to say, I'm not a fan of this kind of knife - I prefer a traditional Chef's Knife.

Marmalade cooking on the stove with cookies cooling in the background.


The finished product!

They didn't turn out perfectly and I think the main reason was the cookie cutter we used. We had a plastic cookie cutter, so it took a lot longer for the cold temperature to get through the plastic to the dessert. It would have been a lot quicker with a metal cookie cutter. Oh well, you live and learn! Anyway, I haven't heard yet how the desserts went over, but I know they were being served sometime this week!

Daring Bakers - January 2010 - 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 was very excited for this challenge! As a Canadian, I have eaten Nanaimo bars all my life. I also have 2 residents at the retirement home I work at who have Celiac disease. So I knew just who to make my Nanaimo bars for.

Step one was to go out and buy the gluten-free flours I needed. This turned out to be much easier than I expected! One quick trip to Old Fashioned Foods and less than $8 later, I had my flours!


I quickly whipped up the graham cracker dough. This was a beautiful dough. I expected stickier given the instructions in the recipe, but I thought it was just perfect. I used real butter, not margarine, so my dough only needed about half an hour in the fridge. I cut out my crackers and tossed them in the fridge before baking them. I didn't worry about getting them all the same size as I knew I was just grinding them up after. In future, I'd probably not even bother cutting them - I'd just roll the dough out, bake it, break it into chunks, and grind it.

I probably should have baked mine for 5-10 minutes less than the recipe said. They weren't burnt, but I would say there were a touch bit overbaked. They tasted ok when done, but definitely had that gluten-free texture. For those who have never eaten gluten-free baked goods before, I'd describe it as the feeling of sand on your tongue. It's due to the different texture of flours not made from wheat.

Once my crackers were done, I threw them in the RoboCoupe and very shortly had graham crumbs. I then whipped up my Nanaimo bars quickly and was done!






Thanks for the challenge - my two residents were very pleased to have a "regular" dessert for once. In fact, I think they had a better dessert than what I had made for the rest of the group!