Daring Baker's Challenge: Bakewell Puddings!

[Shalom from Jerusalem! I saved this post earlier so I could put it up the day of the Daring Baker's challenge. So, although it seems like I'm in Germany here, I'm in Israel! Pictures coming as soon as El Al airlines returns my computer cord to me!!!]

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.

I have no qualms calling this a pudding, since I am a devoted Anglophile, and any sweet at the end of a meal can be called a pudding! This was a fun challenge, with three elements to work on: the shortcrust, the jam, and the frangipane.

From the Daring Bakers forum: "Flan-like desserts that combine either sweet egg custard over candied fruit or feature spiced ground almonds in a pastry shell have Mediaeval roots. The term 'Bakewell pudding' was first penned in 1826 by Meg Dods; 20 years later Eliza Acton published a recipe that featured a baked rich egg custard overtop 2cm of jam and noted,

'This pudding is famous not only in Derbyshire, but in several of our northern counties where it is usually served on all holiday occasions.'

By the latter half of the 1800s, the egg custard evolved into a frangipane-like filling; since then the quantity of jam decreased while the almond filling increased."

I decided to make currant jam from scratch: how could I resist these beauties at the market?

I think I go by this market every 3 days, just to look at the produce. I can't tear myself away.

After plucking the fruit off their stems, the currants look even more like jewels!

The Redcurrant Jam Recipe:
I found this recipe online, from Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861). I didn't really follow it to the T, just plunked the fruit and some pectin sugar into a pot and let it boil merrily away for about an hour.

To every 450g (1lb) of Fruit allow:
340g (12oz) Sugar

Let the fruit be gathered on a fine day.
Weigh the redcurrants and remove the stalks.
Put into a preserving pan with sugar in the above ratio.
Stir and boil for about 45 minutes.
Carefully remove the scum as it rises.
Put the jam sterilised jars and when cold, cover with airtight lids.

Time: 30 to 45 minutes, reckoning from the time the jam boils all over.
Sufficient: Allow from 6 to 7 quarts of currants to make 12 1-lb, pots of jam.
Seasonable: Make this in July.

Here all the components can be seen: shortcrust,
topped with currant jam, topped with frangipane.

The Bakewell Pudding Recipe:
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).

A little plate of goodies, cooling at the window.
It was a great way to spend a Saturday, whipping these up.

Goodbye to Germany for Now

Tomorrow I take off for Jerusalem, for about a month's intensive biblical Hebrew at Hebrew University. I can't wait to see and taste and smell and touch everything there - and to put pictures of it all on the blog. But here's a fond goodbye-for-now to Heidelberg (I'll be here for the next school year starting September).

I just love this garden above a pub. Someone really loves plants!

Cherry tomatoes on the vine at a market.

These are gooseberries, I believe (the German is Stachelbeeren which means "prickle berries").

I noticed these window shutter holders on the street - little knights' heads.

One of my favorite restaurants here: Die Kulturebrauerei. Always good food, always good beer.

This was last night's dinner at Kulturbrauerei: it's called Pfälzer Lieblingsgericht, or "the Palatinate's (an old name for the region) favorite dish." It consists of, in clockwise order starting with the mustard: mustard, boiled potatoes, blood sausage (Blutwurst), caramelized onions on sauerkraut, ground and fried liver (Leberknödel), liver sausage (Leberwurst), and some kind of ham charcuterie. It was delicious. The blood sausage was super rich, with actual bits of fat still solid inside. Decadent innards!

Die Kulturbrauerei's specialty, in terms of beer, is Kellerbier - brewed at a colder temperature, traditionally in the cellar, hence the name. It is rich and malty. Mmmmm.

Here is a view of the castle, which sits above the old city. This was taken, believe it or not, at around 9PM! It is still so light in the sky! I've never lived so far north - I love that in summer there is still light in the sky at 10:30PM.

At Home in Heidelberg, Germany

Just a few pictures from the apartment and near it. It's nice to stop being in packing and traveling mode and get settled in. Then again, I have to get myself organized for Israel in 2 weeks! Never mind. That's still plenty of time to rest and relax.

The view from the living room window, looking over Untere Strasse
(our street) and the hills beyond the River Neckar.

Every morning this little sugar pot is set outside Tee oder Kaffee, a cafe on our block.

Juicy currants (Johannisbeeren) for sale at a nearby bakery/market.

A light meal outdoors at a cafe on the next block -
that's a nice dark wheat beer (dunkles Weissbier) in the background.

The view from the back bedroom of the apartment.
We think some Americans live in that tower.

Eating My Way through Germany: You Don't Know What A Sweet Tooth Is Until You Come Here

The streets of Heidelberg's old city (Altstadt) are all cobblestone and pedestrians only (Fußgängerzone), full of little shops that are teeming with goodies.

That's the cathedral in the background, standing in the middle of a square that also has markets on weekends.

It's absolutely lovely. And, for part of the summer and the whole next academic year, I get to live in an apartment right at the heart of all this loveliness! It's one of those apartments with dormer windows and sloping ceilings, above restaurants and stores.

The problem will be keeping from eating at the luscious bakeries and chocolateries that line the blocks every day! In the space of 2 blocks I counted 1 bakery, 2 chocolateries, and 2 gummy bear stores. Stores that are devoted only to selling gummy bears! I'll let the pictures do the talking. All I'm saying is, you only have to walk 2 blocks to see everything I've posted below. You might need to get a glass of milk to cut the sweetness.

In the window of our favorite bakery. Those cube things are called
Pflasterstein, meaning "cobblestone." They're filled with cake and marzipan.
Those globes in dark and white chocolate - scroll down for further detail.
The first resolution I made upon seeing this is: I have to try
every one of these outrageous looking sweets.

Remember Augustus Gloop from the new "Charlies and the Chocolate Factory"?

I think the caricature of him as a German chocolate eating machine
is not too far from the truth...

Okay, this was photographed with a hand to give a sense of size. It is enormous.

It's filled with cake and cream and more chocolate. It's decadence, in ball form.

Getting Crafty

Ever since getting together with my friends, E and D, to visit yarn and fabric stores in NYC, I've been spending an inordinate amount of time knitting and sewing. It's fast becoming an obsession!

At Purl in Soho, petting the pretty, pretty skeins of yarn.

At Purl Fabric. I love their Japanese prints!

Last weekend, D came down from Boston to have a sewing weekend with me. It was a chapter of accidents: elastic thread didn't work, not enough fabric (due to errata in a book), not enough tracing paper, etc. etc. But, we still got to play with pretty fabric!

And I've been knitting like crazy - too bad I can't knit during lecture! I guess that would 1) be disrespectful and 2) reinforce stereotypes - do I want to be the female academician who knits during meetings? Anyway, I finished my first hat:

It's knit of the softest baby alpaca wool - but in a sedate color, since it's a guy's hat. As my friend E likes to say, guy's knits are all boring. They all have to be in "manly" colors of blue, gray, or black. Ah well!

And here is Marlowe, modeling a scarf I knit and gave to a friend. I fell in love with the hand dyed yarn - but when it's knit up it is too funky for my style, I think.

Marlowe says, "Somebody help me!!! She's a crazy knitting freak!"

Amouage Perfumes

nce upon a time there lived a sultan. He was very sad because his land was once renowned for its riches and especially for its heady perfumes--but all this had faded and the perfumers had left their trade to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

But one day he had an idea. He would hire the most famous French perfumer and bring him to his palace. He would ask him to bring back the craft of perfume back to his land. He would ask him to concoct something absolutely breathtaking, full of spices, incense, and flower oils so rich that whole fields of roses would be used for one precious vial.

The French perfumer came. He admired the palace. He listened to the sultan's sad tale. He stepped into the laboratory set up for him and went to work.

Three weeks later, he asked for an audience with the sultan. He brought forth a small crystal bottle. When he unstopped it and held it under the sultan's nose, the sultan almost fainted with joy. From the bottle flowed the scent first of roses, then of Provence herbs--all classic scents in the French tradition--but then it changed its tune ever so slightly. Suddenly, the sultan could smell the desert night, the cool breeze under a hundred flying carpets. He could smell the musky scent of Scheherezade as she lay in her silken bed, frankincense rising from a censer behind her. It was the answer to his dreams.

The perfume markets began their trade again. Artists and craftsmen competed to mix the sweetest fragrances, the richest oils. The French perfumer went back to his land, with a thousand camels, five hundred chests of jewels, and one hundred golden lamps, full of perfumed oil. The sultan rejoiced and breathed in the fragrance rising from beyond the ivory walls of his palace.

******
Okay, maybe there weren't a thousand camels, but this story, in its bare bones, is all true. In 1983, the Sultan of Oman asked Guy Robert to revive the Arabian art of perfumery, no expense spared. Guy Robert is the "nez" of French perfumery. He concocted Amouage Gold for the Sultan, what he called "the crowning glory of my career."

And I own it! I bought a bottle of it off ebay when I discovered that its 24% lead crystal bottle and 24K gold top (for Gold for women) was being discontinued. It is truly a thing of beauty--both bottle and scent.

Amouage Gold for men (left) and women (right)

I must admit that my favorite Amouage scent is Jubilation XXV and not Gold. XXV is just about the most perfect thing I have ever smelled. It is an incense scent but full of the heady smell of a fruity wine as well. It's a man's scent, but I long ago decided that gender does not play a role with regards to the nose. At least not for me. When I wear it, I swear I'm at the market place in Oman at dusk, surrounded by candied dates and scented resin. I only have a sample vial for now...Amouage is a pricey brand, and for good reason! You can smell the amazing quality of their ingredients. But, this makes them prohibitively expensive. My Gold bottle was a steal. Someday, though, Jubilation XXV will be mine.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Lycheesecake!

So, it was a rather plain challenge, I thought, to make cheesecake. On the other hand, I don't think I've ever actually made cheesecake! I had a little fun with it and put lychee syrup in the graham cracker crust and in the filling, along with chunks of lychee. It was faintly fragrant, but mostly just like regular cheesecake. Still, I tried! I think lychee probably needs to be used in something more subtle.


The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Spring Day

It is a happy, sunny day here - 75 degrees! Finally! Just thought I'd blog my joy.

Yay! Sunshine!

Eating My Way through Rome: Frascati

I should be grading compositions, but who wants to read woefully bad papers when blogging is an option?

I'd like to share a great night of fun and eating we had on our last night in Rome. Two friends, both Italians--and one a native Roman!--took us by car to Frascati, a town about 20km south-east of Rome. It, I've been told, is the site of Cicero's favorite villa. Ah, to have enough villas in order to have a favorite. We were joined by two other Italian friends and sat down to a joyful meal. (Strangely, the language we all spoke together was German, since that was the one most people felt more comfortable with, as opposed to Italian or English.)

It was a rustic little restaurant, with a family running the show.

We began with a serious platter of meat. Look at all that pork! It was beautiful.
Prosciutto, salami, various sausages, cooked pork, walnuts, hard pungent cheeses,
and buffalo mozzarella. I am drooling right now as I blog.

This was accompanied by a variety of olives, artichokes, grilled eggplant,
tomatoes, and peppers, all seasoned with delicious olive oil.

Then some hard cured meats.

Finally, sweet biscuits, called ciambelline with Roman wine. Ciambelline al vino romane.
You dip the hard biscuit in the wine, which is lovely and slightly sweet, and eat.

We had some fun with the Italians' demonstration for us of how to eat this.

It was a great night. Always let your Italian friends order for you in Italy.

Eating My Way through Rome: Gelato!

Apologies for not participating in the Daring Baker's challenge this month (lasagne verdi al forno with homemade pasta!). But, I hope to make up for it in pictures from Rome!

I first read about Il Gelato di San Crispino in Eat, Pray, Love and was intrigued. Then a friend of mine told me that eating at that gelateria was "one of the top five sensual experiences of my life." This I had to try. It is located about a block away from the Trevi Fountain.

Trevi Fountain at twilight. If you throw a coin in,
it means you'll be coming back to Rome. I gladly threw one in.

Il Gelato di San Crispino is a very spare space, all glass counters and chrome pots.
The servers behind the counter almost look like lab workers.

This one is half pistachio and half zabaglione. Delizioso! San Crispino's has a very purist
approach to gelato - only fresh, natural flavors, reducing things to their essences.

This one was truly amazing: chocolate chip, except the most chocolate-y ice-cream I've tasted.
I wouldn't say that this was one of the most sensual experiences of my life,
but it was certainly beautiful gelato.


This was closer to the Termini Station, the Palazzo del Freddo, established in 1880,
by Giovanni Fassi. It offers a myriad choices, all very creamy and lovely.

These are sweets offered alongside the gelato - the little pink and green
confections are made to look like the stones lining ancient streets.

Eating My Way through Rome: Market Day

The morning we went to see the Vatican Museum was cool and gray. We took the subway from Termini to Cipro, then wandered a bit to find the Trionfale market. It's a big covered market full of good things, such as...

Fresh produce. A Roman specialty is fried zucchini flowers, stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy paste - you can see the blooms in this picture. There were also gorgeous blood oranges - so juicy and sweet! - and crisp apples to be had.

Farm fresh eggs! Along with honey and preserves, relishes and other yummy things.

Super fresh meat. I don't know how one can be Jewish and live in Rome - the place is full of all kinds of pork. Thousands of varieties of sausages, cuts, flavorings, smokings, etc.

We picked up some prosciutto - I'd never seen it cut fresh from the pig like this! Our butcher was good humored and posed - albeit goofily - for a picture.

Vats of wine - I wish I were a drinker, but I can't handle alcohol at all, especially wine.

After an exhausting trek through the Museum - it is vast and amazing and overwhelming - we sat down in St. Peter's square for our picnic lunch. It was fresh bread with prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, and apples. Perfetto!

Back from the Eternal City

This is my favorite photo from my trip to Rome - just outside the Pantheon's porch, at twilight. The pedestrian walkways are beautifully lit, and everything seems enchanted. I have food photos to share, of course, in upcoming posts. For now, here are some highlights from the trip.

Laocoon at the Vatican Museum.

Bernini's fountain at Piazza Navona.

The Diocletian Baths were huge!

Although the Belvedere torso and Laocoon were impressive, my favorite sculpture at the Vatican
was this little guy in the Egyptian section. He's saying, "Okay, okay, I've dropped my weapon!"

One of the many macabre shrines we saw in churches. This is in Santa Prassede.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Valentino Cake!

This was a lovely challenge: simple but rich and lovely. I'm not a true chocoholic, and I usually find a whole slice of chocolate cake cloying, so I was wary of this chocolate heavy cake. I was very pleasantly surprised!

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.



The Recipes:

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I may be sappy & dopey, but I love this holiday. Maybe because I love red and pink and hearts. And doilies and glue and paper cut-outs. I haven't made a valentine in years, but I remember loving to make them in grade school.

I had some extra pink tuile dough leftover, so I made a valentine of them.

Happy Love Day, everyone!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Tuiles!

I've finally gotten my act together enough to do another Daring Bakers challenge. This month, it's tuiles, French for "tiles," since the feather-weight cookies are curved to look like roof tiles.

I dyed mine pink and used a heart stencil (see below).

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Recipe:
Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch.

¼ cup softened butter (not melted but soft)
½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
½ cup sifted all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not over-mix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….

That's my heart stencil, which I cut out of the plastic lid of a coffee can.
You paint the batter on very thinly with a metal, off-sided spatula.

I did have mine on some coconut sorbet, but, in the end,
the sorbet looked a bit off. . . like a lump of lard!
So, here they are, not as a garnish but as the main feature.
The squiggle I made with a sandwich bag, cut at a corner, for a piping bag.