Caramel apricot mille feuilles

Fresh apricots are wonderful eaten as is but sometimes they start getting a little mushy. This is a good way to get that apricot aroma into a mille feuille.

1 sheet puff pastry
Bake at 400 C for 20-25 minutes sandwiched between two baking sheets. Let cool and cut into 9 equal sized pieces

Apricot puree:

Apricot puree (blend 3 ripe fresh apricots in blender)
1 T sugar
2 t. cornstarch
3 T water

Heat apricoat puree and sugar over med heat. Mix cornstarch and water and add to apricot puree. Stir until thickened.

Caramel mousse

2 T dulce de leche
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 c powdered sugar

Heat dulce de leche in microwave for 20 sec until soft but not too hot. Whip heavy cream to stiff peaks in a cold bowl. Sift powdered sugar into cream and gently whip/stir to incorporate. Add a few Tbs of whipped cream to the soft dulce de leche and stir to mix well. Gently fold in rest of whipped cream until well mixed.

Layer puff pastry piece with apricot puree and caramel mousse.


I also made some apricot mousse that was too soft for mille feuilles so I made "Apricot Benedict" for breakfast with yogurt cheese, apricot puree and apricot mousse. Yum.

Crème Caramels

Smooth, creamy, cold. Perfect for this hot weather.

Put on a kettleful of water to boil. Oven should be 350 F.

Caramel
1/3 cup sugar

Heat sugar in a small smooth saucepan until medium amber color. Pour into six 4 oz ramekins.

Custard
4 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar

Heat milk until just before boiling. In a large bowl, whisk sugar and eggs until smooth and sugar is dissolved. Slowly whisk in milk in a thin stream. Pour custard into ramekins. Place ramekins in a large baking dish. Fill dish with hot water to halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 20-25 mins. Chill overnight before eating.

A mighty Poire D'Eve attempt

My roommate D's birthday was this weekend and I wanted to make her a special cake so I thought of this beautiful concoction that Tartlette posted a while ago. It's a Poire D'Eve, a crispy chocolate feuillantine layer topped by a caramel mousse layer topped by a poached pear bavarian cream layer topped by a pear syrup "glass". It looked light and beautiful.

I started the night before, making the feuillantine and the caramel mousse. Both were delicious and I almost ate all the caramel mousse right away but I exercised great restraint and put it in the fridge instead.

In the morning I made the bavarian cream but used agar agar instead of gelatin. It wasn't the easiest substitution since the two are very different. Next time I think I would boil some agar agar in water to make sure it is completely dissolved and then put 3-4 tablespoons of the liquid into the creme anglaise. Also, you have to be careful with agar since it starts setting earlier than jello. I would keep stirring the agar'ed creme anglaise until it's cooled. Then whip in 1/3 of the whipped cream before folding the rest in.

When I brought out the mold to add the bavarian cream, I noticed that there was caramel liquid leaking out. Maybe I didn't whip the cream stiff enough?

When using agar agar for the mirror, I found it best to simmer the syrup and agar for 10 minutes then keep stirring it until it cools down to just slightly warmer than finger temperature. If you wait longer than that to pour it, it will be too thick and chunky as evidenced by my mirror.

Here's it is before unmolding:


It was quite pretty unmolded but I definitely didn't have a chance to take a picture. Also, I think the bavarian cream and the mousse were too soft so it was hard to cut nice slices. Maybe the cake has to be sliced frozen? Or it could be the agar agar. I think the agar has to be incorporated before it cools down otherwise it doesn't really gel the mixture, just makes clumps of gelled mixture in the whipped cream. I'll try to make a small 4" version of this with gelatin to see what the consistency should be and then see if I can recreate it with agar.

Also D made some pretty awesome matcha cupcakes with pomegranate cream cheese frosting:

Avocado Pie

It's bad when I visit Trader Joe's. I inevitably spend too much money and buy too much food that I can't use up quickly enough. Case in point: avocados. Four to a bag for a dollar each is so cheap, how can I pass up the deal. Only when I forget to use them for a week do I start to regret purchasing such beautiful fruits just to let them go to waste. Fortunately for me, Vegan Explosion posted about an avocado pie. Perfect! I could use these ripe avocados for baking. What more could I ask for?

The recipe was pretty simple but I made some changes. The pie was rich and tasty although I wanted it to be a little more tart and a little more sweet so I'm guessing that means more sugar and more lime. Maybe adding some zest would be good. The 1 T of agar agar powder seems like a bit much to me so I would probably reduce it to 1 or 2 t to have a creamier pie. That said, my pie was probably not so creamy because I replaced the soy cream cheese with silken tofu.
I also did not have soy milk powder so I used 1 cup soymilk and 1/3 cup sugar, simmered it on medium heat until it was reduced to 1/3 cup. But it was still delicious.

Mint Chocochocolate Chip Cookies

I was struck with an urge to bake last night at 10 pm so I got out "The Joy of Vegan Baking" and after a house pow-wow, embarked to the kitchen to make some mint chocolate chip chocolate cookies. We love mint and chocolate in this house and these turned out very well for my first foray with Ener-G. The cookies are light but very chocolatey with a refreshing mint lingering on the tongue.

Matcha Green Tea Vegan Cupcakes

I made these a while ago for my roommate's birthday cocktail party. They were good, moist and soft with a touch of bitter from the matcha.

Matcha Green Tea (adapted from Vegan Lunch Box)

1 TB apple cider vinegar
1 green tea bag steeped in 1 ½ cups plain soymilk overnight
2 cups flour
2 T matcha powder
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. kosher salt
1 1/8 cups sugar
½ cup oil
1 ¼ tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350º. Line with paper cupcake liners.

In a bowl, mix vinegar and soy milk. Stir well and set aside (the mixture will curdle).

In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, matcha, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another mixing bowl whisk together the soymilk mixture, canola oil, vanilla, and coconut extract. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and beat until smooth using a hand-held mixer, stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Fill each muffin cup with ¼ cup of batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes from the pan and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.


Matcha Frosting

1/4 cup Earth Balance
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon soy creamer or soymilk
1 T matcha powder
1 t vanilla extract

Cream the shortening for a few minutes until soft. this is easiest using a stand mixer but can be done with a handheld mixer (or a fork) as long as the shortening is at room temperature. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and a few splashes of the soycreamer. Mix to incorporate and continue to alternate until all the powdered sugar is used up and the frosting is at the desired consistency. Add Matcha powder and vanilla.

Orange Cream Roll

Today was my advisor's birthday. What better reason to bake a cake? I had been eyeing this lovely lemon roll over at Tartlette's so I finally got over my reluctance to use lots of eggs for a dessert (a lingering effect from starving chinese family during cultural revolution syndrome) and hopped to it. Except I subbed orange for lemon and agar agar for the gelatin. The cream turned out great. The cake was another story. After I carefully measured and whipped and folded, and finally slide the batter gently into the oven, I started cleaning up dishes and found that I had totally forgotten to put the butter in! I took the cake out after 10 minutes and inverted it to find something akin to a 2 by 4. I tried to roll it but the stiffness made the roll rectangular rather than a nice spiral. It was a dilemma for me (Oh!). Bake another cake or just make do with this one? Well, I thought, it only takes 10 minutes to throw together and 10 minutes to bake and I could deal with using more eggs. But this time I used a roll cake recipe from Paula Deen. It turned out beautifully and my advisor (and the rest of the group) was pretty happy.

Orange Roll Cake (adapted from Paula Deen's Jelly Roll recipe)

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup cake flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Garnish:
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting, sifted
1 cup orange cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with sides) with parchment or wax paper.

In a small bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form and set aside. In another bowl, beat the egg yolks until light and lemony and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar, zest and vanilla, and mix well. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the sifted flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture. Stir in half of the egg whites into the yolk mixture then fold in the rest. Pour the batter into jelly roll pan and smooth out. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until the cake is golden and springs back with pushed lightly with a finger.

Meanwhile, prepare a kitchen towel by dusting it with some powdered sugar. Loosen edges of cake, invert cake onto the towel (Wow! I should really read directions better. That is so much easier than inverting the powdered sugar towel over the cake, which is what I did and ended up with a gentle cloud of powdered sugar descending over the front of my shirt). Gently peel wax paper off cake. Trim 1/4-inch of hard crust off each long side of the jelly roll cake. Begin with the narrow side and roll the cake and towel up together. Cool cake on rack, seam side down, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Once cake has cooled, gently unroll and spread cake with orange cream and re-roll. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar or cover with whipped cream.

Orange Cream (from Pierre Herme by way of Tartlette)

1 cup sugar
zest of 2 oranges
4 eggs
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 Tb agar flakes, softened in 3 Tbs hot water
1 stick butter, cut into 1 inch pieces, softened

Make a water bath by putting a saucepan of water over heat to simmer and placing a metal bowl over, without the bottom touching the water. Rub the sugar and zest with your fingers and add to the metal bowl. Whisk in the eggs and juice.
Cook the mixture over the water bath, whisking constantly until the cream reaches 180 degrees (btw - this is hard to do with my meat thermometer). Put it into a blender with the agar mix until a taste test shows no sign of agar lumps. Let the cream cool to 140. Blend in the butter until smooth. Pour into a container, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Mint Chocolate Lovecakes

I was inspired to make cupcakes today after a long day of school and lab. They are mint chocolate cupcakes. But now it's Bedtime!

Chocolate mint cupcakes

Cupcake:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a 12-muffin tin with paper cupcake liners. Sift together flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, baking soda and salt. in another bowl combine the rice milk, oil, maple syrup, sugar, vinegar and vanilla. Beat at medium speed for about two minutes. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for about another minute to combine. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to fully cool.

Mint icing:
1/4 cup Earth Balance
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup or less soymilk
1 teaspoon mint extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
green food coloring

Cream the shortening for a few minutes until soft. Add 1 cup of the powdered sugar and a few splashes of the soy milk. Mix to incorporate and continue to alternate until all the powdered sugar is used up and the frosting is at the desired consistency. Add vanilla and mint.

Ganache:

2 Tablespoons soycreamer or soymilk
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Melt chocolate and soy milk in a double boiler or in the microwave until smooth and runny; be careful not to burn or the chocolate will seize up and become bitter.

Chocolate Hearts

Melted some chocolate and fill a small plastic bag. Cut a small hole at the tip and pipe some hearts onto a piece of waxed paper. Repeat with white chocolate . After letting it harden (on a cold cold porch), peel the hearts off of the waxed paper with a toothpick or two. Fingers will melt them.

Assemble:
Use a piping bag with a large round tip to frost cupcakes. Place a dollop of ganach on top. Pipe another dollop of frosting on top. Add chocolate hearts.

Tiramisu Layer Cake

My friends has a potluck (yay) and I made a tiramisu layer cake. Next time I would add even more liquid to the sponge to make it a truly moist cake. The whipped cream frosting was delicious and kept really well in the cold freshness of late fall. I felt a little dirty using box cake but I actually already had a box in my cupboard that I had bought a while ago because of some ridiculous sale and also because I intuited way back then that it would come in handy in a pinch.

Tiramisu Layer Cake

Cake:
1 (18.25 ounce) package moist white cake mix
2 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Syrup:
1 cup coffee
3 tablespoon coffee flavored liqueur

Filling
1 (8 ounce) container mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

Frosting:
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons coffee flavored liqueur

Cocoa powder and chocolate curls for Garnish

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). Grease and flour 3 (9 inch) pans. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions. Measure out one third of batter and pour into a pan. Stir instant coffee into remaining batter and divide into remaining pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. In a measuring cup, combine brewed coffee and 1 tablespoon coffee liqueur; set aside.

Filling: In a small bowl, using an electric mixer set on low speed, combine mascarpone, 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur; beat just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Frosting: In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer set on medium-high speed, beat the cream, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons coffee liqueur until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of cream mixture into filling mixture.

To assemble the cake: Cut domes off of cake layers. Place one coffee flavored cake layer on a serving plate. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake, about 1 inch apart. Pour one third of reserved coffee mixture over cake, then spread with half of the filling mixture. Top with plain cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour another third of the coffee mixture over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with remaining cake layer; poke holes in cake. Pour remaining coffee mixture on top. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting. Place cocoa in a sieve and lightly dust top of cake. Garnish with chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Catch up

Whoops, work took over for a while. It was good though, making progress towards that paper that'll proclaim me PhD and set me free to finally become the cheesemaker I always wanted to be.

Anyways, I've also been making some stuff in the meantime. I took pictures and am finally posting them.

First off:

Honey Lavender Ice Cream (adapted from epicurious)

1 1/2 c. cream
1 1/2 c. half and half
1/2 c. honey (light clover is probably good. I used dark wildflower honey and it was a bit much)
2 T. lavender flowers
2 large eggs
1 t. salt

Put cream, half and half and honey in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and add lavender flowers. Cover and let steep for an hour. Strain lavender flowers from cream. Reheat cream to hot but not boiling. Turn off heat. In a bowl, whisk egg and salt in a bowl. Sloooowly add 1 cup of hot cream, whisking all the while. Then pour egg-cream mixture back into saucepan full of cream. Heat over med-low heat and stir with a spoon until the cream coats the back of the spoon. Cool your custard either in the fridge or by carefully dunking the pot in a big bowl full of icy water. Then break out your ice cream maker.

It was yummy and one of those ice creams that stay creamy when you freeze it.


I also tried the Caramel ice cream that was posted on the Amateur Gourmet. Instead of using all cream, I accidentally used all half and half. Plus I burnt the caramel a little. Did you know that taking a pan of boiling sugar off the burner does nothing? The sugar just keeps boiling and turning darker and darker as you watch frozen with horror. I finally collected myself and put out the boiling sugar with the half and half. Then I chopped up some fine 65% chocolate and the toasted pecans. The ice cream, with all its mishaps, was still divine.

This is all I wanted to eat for about three days straight.

Basil Ice Cream

Recipe from Epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/230779

It was creamy and good. One of the better ice creams I've made so far. There's the mind contradiction element - wow, this is savory but in a deliciously sweet frozen cream form. A bit like desserts made with rosewater.

Mille Feuilles

We went apple, grape and raspberry picking this last weekend at Milborn Orchards. The grapes were phenomenal! And I came home with a beautiful box of raspberries.

The first thought that ran through my head was "Napoleons!!!"

It was my first attempt at puff pastry and mille feuille, aka Napoleons. I clearly remember the first time I ate a Napoleon. I was in 10th grade, sleeping over at a friend's house and her parents had just returned from NY city bringing back a big boxful of pastries from a fancy shmancy bakery. I got to have the Napoleon and oh my god, it was one of the most amazing things I've ever eaten. I continued to have an obsession with Napoleons and came across this intriguing recipe on Tartlette's blog last week. I took it as a sign and I gave it a go.

I was up at 6 am, translating grams into our silly english measurements and measuring out crazy shit like 3/4 cup + 1 T + 1 t butter and 2/3 c - 1 T flour, etc. Maybe it's time to get a scale?

Rolling out the dough encased in butter block wasn't intuitive to me. The butter block softened much more quickly than the dough block so whenever I rolled it, the butter block would all squish to the edges. Maybe that's why it's usually the inverse of this inverted recipe. I probably should thrown it in the fridge to firm it up a bit too. But after the 4th hour of rolling, folding and chilling, I had a nice looking dough:


I baked it according to directions by sandwiching the dough between baking sheets to keep it from puffing up. My result was a somewhat heavy and dense puff pastry. It's probably how I rolled out the dough or that the dough got too warm or that my pan was too heavy but the pastry wasn't fall apart flaky bits of heavenly lightness which was disappointing. I decided to cut each piece in half thickwise to lighten it up a bit.






I whipped up some heavy cream with sugar and got out my lemon curd and proceeded to layer. It was good but, again, not the light airy pastry orgasm I had a long time ago. I'll have to fiddle around and maybe get a book out on puff pastry. Note to self: here's a nice video, showing a logical way to make it and here is an illustrated recipe.