Daring Bakers Challenge - Tuiles

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.

This is my very first Daring Bakers Challenge and I have to say I was little nervous to make Tuiles. They aren't something that I had always been dying to make. In fact I still don't know how to say the word properly. So if you see me in person and you ask about this blog...don't laugh at me.

As I said in a previous post I celebrated my dear friend's birthday by bringing her chocolate mousse. I thought it would be a yummy treat to pipe a bit of mousse into a Tuile cup. It worked out quite well! The cups were only crisp around the edges. The bottom part set up but was a bit soft.


Tuiles

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
65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces 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)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 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 overmix.
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 bakingsheet 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.

Faux Hostess Cupcakes

**Carrie Bradshaw voice** Hello Lover.


I recently bought my first Food Network Magazine. A subscription soon followed. I thought it was going to be a joke since you can find all their recipes online and you can watch chefs make the stuff right on TV. Why do they need a magazine? I don't know. But they do. I destroyed it, tearing out page after page to add to my recipe binder.

Today was a half day of work due to a huge snow storm hitting Maine. I knew when I left work what I was going to bake on my snow day. These faux hostess cupcakes from Lulu's Bake Shoppe in Boston, MA. I'm not quite sure how I've never been to this bake shoppe. It is located in the North End which I tend to frequent for a black and white cookie at Modern Pastry. Maybe the occasional lobster tail at Mike's Pastry.

These cupcakes are unbelievable. Probably one of the best things to ever come out of my kitchen. The filling is phenomenal. It's sweet and smooth, creamy. I definitely needed a moment after my first bite. Even the cat wanted to lick off the frosting!

Lulu's Cupcakes

Food Network Magazine

Yield 24 delicious cupcakes

For the Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
11/4 cups granulated sugar
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the Filling
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup marshmallow creme
For the Ganache and Icing
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
21/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350. Place paper liners in two 12-cup muffin pans.

Prepare the cupcakes: Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Bring the sugar and 1 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Pour into a large bowl; add the chocolate and butter and let sit, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture has cooled slightly. Stir in the vanilla. Using a mixer, beat in the eggs, then mix in the dry ingredients.
Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans (about 1/4 cup batter per cupcake) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool in the pans for about 25 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Using a mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon heavy cream; beat until smooth. Beat in the remaining 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons heavy cream in batches, alternating after each addition. Beat in the marshmallow creme; set aside.

Prepare the ganache: Place the chocolate in a stainless-steel bowl. Heat the cream and 1 tablespoon butter until just boiling, then pour over the chocolate; let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla; let stand until cool but still glossy and liquid.
Spoon the filling into a pastry bag with a medium tip. Insert the tip into the center of each cupcake top; fill until the cupcake is heavier (do not overfill). Dip the cupcake tops in the ganache. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the icing: Using a mixer, beat the remaining 1 stick butter, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, the milk and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spoon into a pastry bag with a small tip; pipe onto the cupcakes to decorate.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Wooohoo! I've made it through two TWD challenges. This recipe was picked by Heather at Sherry Trifle and you can view the recipe here. Thank goodness for staff meetings. We always have a potluck lunch for our monthly meetings and this provided me an opportunity to get the cake out of the house! (Believe me, I'd like to keep it in the house and eat cake for BLD but I don't know if my rear end would fit out the door.) I heard a lot of positive feedback from my coworkers regarding this cake. One girl asked for the recipe so she could make it for her husband for Valentine's Day!

I liked the taste of this cake. I enjoy ginger and I, of course, enjoy chocolate. I struggled a bit with the icing for this. It was extremely runny and when I poured it over the top of the cake it ran over the sides and pooled on the plate. I poured it back into the bowl to cool. Now, it is cold in my house, 49 degrees to be exact. You'd think that stuff would have thickened up a bit. No luck. I ended up leaving the messy, thin icing as it was.

I apologize for the messy picture for this post. It was a rough and cold morning at 179 and I didn't have the patience to take a decent picture.

Pints of Guinness Make You Stronger

Well at least that is what Tom Gabel says.

I have never made french onion soup in my life. My mother made it a few times when I was in high school but back then I didn't have a great palate so I wasn't a fan. I saw this recipe which included Guinness and just had to try it. The only catch was that I didn't want to use beef broth but isn't that what make french onion soup so good? That rich broth? Not when you add Guinness it isn't.

My husbands exact words were, "If they served this at The Cup then I'd get it every time." (The Cup is the Liberal Cup which is our regular spot in Hallowell, Maine) The broth was fantastic, I used homemade country bread that I had made a day earlier, and I used aged Irish cheddar cheese. I actually made the soup a day before we had it and it was better after sitting for a day. The flavors all intermingled...as Catie would say, "Deliciousoso."

Guinness and Onion Soup
Adapted from Food Network's Michael Chiarello (saw this on Lime in the Coconut blog)
Serves 6

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
5 cloves minced garlic
8 cups thinly sliced onions
salt
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 1/2 cups dark beer (recommended: Guinness)
6 cups beef stock (I used veggie broth)
6 slices country bread cut 1/2-inch thick, toasted
1/2 pound Irish Cheddar, sliced thin

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and cook briefly to release aroma. Add onions, season with salt and cook for about 5 minutes stirring often. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown.
Add the thyme, vinegar, and beer. Reduce beer by half and add the beef stock. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 more minutes.
Preheat the broiler. Transfer soup to an ovenproof serving dish or individual ovenproof soup bowls. Top with toasted bread slices and sliced Cheddar. Broil until cheese melts and starts to brown slightly. Serve piping hot.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Berry Suprise Cake

This is my very first Tuesdays with Dorie challenge as well as my very first recipe baked from her book, "Baking From My Home to Yours". This recipe was chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen blog. This isn't a cake I would normally make. I'm Belgian. I like chocolate. Sure I like berries. Sure I like fresh whipped cream. But put all of that on a rich chocolate cake and then I'm a happy girl. However, my husband isn't a fan of chocolate like I am so he really enjoyed this light cake. I am positive that the cake part of this was a flop. You are to beat the eggs to triple their volume and then fold in the dry ingredients. I'm quite sure I lost a great deal of my volume there. Despite that I think the cake was quite tasty!

**Edit**

My husband has brought to my attention recently that I have ADD. I have a hard time reading things online and my good frind K told me that in the TWD rules you aren't supposed to post the recipe. OOPS. Sorry Dorie.

Happy Birthday Toria!!

Sunday was my best friend's birthday!! While we work across from each other Monday through Friday we don't get to spend enough girlie time together. We had such a great day Saturday at her house eating this soup, chocolate mousse, drinking tea, and picking out her birthday outfit for drinks.

I found this recipe on Martha Stewart's website. She had a whole slideshow of winter soups and I think I printed off every other one! I thought this was a fantastic soup. My husband looked at it and said, "I don't eat cooked carrots." I gave him and a look and he tried it and admitted that the soup was very good! I didn't feel like transferring the soup from my dutch oven to the blender so I just used the immersion blender which worked fine. The recipe says it feeds 4 but I halved it and it fed both of us and her boyfriend with some left over! I served this with homemade croutons.

Curried Carrot Soup

Source: Martha Stewart

Serves 4

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (about 3 1/2 cups)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Heat butter in a Dutch oven or large (4- to 5-quart) saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, carrots, and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

In a blender, puree soup in batches until smooth; transfer to a clean saucepan. Add more water to thin to desired consistency. Reheat, if necessary. Stir in lemon juice. Serve garnished with cilantro, if desired.

Glamorous Brownies

A few years ago I had a subscription to Glamour Magazine. In the back they used to have a little entertaining section with a recipe or cocktail ideas. I found it a bit odd that they included a brownie recipe but I suppose that most of the readers get that chocolate craving just like I do! I was really pleased with these. They are very fudgey and have a cinnamon undertone which I find interesting.

I had been home sick for a few days and hadn't been outside and was so bored. I decided that the brownies deserved a photo shoot in the snow. :) It was super fun.

The Ultimate Brownie

Source: Glamour Magazine

14 T butter

2 T EVOO

8 1oz. squares bittersweet chocolate

4 eggs

1/2 t salt

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 t cinnamon

2 T vanilla (I saw this and my jaw dropped. I was NOT using 2 T of my Madagascar vanilla for brownies!!)

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 pan. Melt butter, EVOO and chocolate in double boiler. In a separate bowl beat eggs. Whisk in salt, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Stir in chocolate-oil mixture. Fold in flour. Pour batter into pan and bake for 50 minutes.

Sick Soup

I have been sick for...count them...17 days! Finally I went to the doctor today and am hoping I'm on the road to recovery. Like most people when I am sick I want soup and this is one of my favorites. This soup is hearty and I make it extra garlicky. The recipe came from a co-worker of mine who is quite the worldly traveler and a foodie herself!

I actually had no intention of blogging this dish but when I was done I couldn't not take a picture of it and pass it along. To keep with my pescetarianism I substituted the chicken broth for vegetable broth. (I feel that I now need to use the word pescetarian rather than vegetarian to be true. We do eat fish. Pescetarian is harder to say than vegetarian and it sounds religious.) This soup is fabulous the next day when the tortellinis soak up all the garlic and broth.

Garlicky Tortellini, Spinach, and Tomato Soup
Source: Co-worker
Yield: 4 servings

2 T EVOO
8 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 cups of broth (chicken or veggie)
8 oz fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
14 oz canned diced tomatoes (sometimes I used fresh tomatoes too)
1 bag fresh baby spinach (I usually eye ball this)

Add EVOO to large sauce pan or dutch oven. Add garlic and saute over med-high heat for 2 minutes. Add broth and bring to boil. Add tortellini. If frozen cook for half the time on the package, if fresh cook for 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes and their liquid. Reduce heat and simmer until pasta is tender. Stir in fresh spinach and cook until wilted. I like to top my with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and serve with crusty bread.

Kinda Gamy

My big brother is awesome. He is a registered Maine Guide and breeds bird dogs (English Setters). Every year he, his wife, and his in-laws throw this feast of wild game. There are tables filled with soups, stews, dips, etc. of meats that he and his friends have shot during hunting season. Then they also fry and grill up meats to serve fresh at another counter. For those of you who don't know me, I don't eat meat nor does my husband. We like to go and support big brother and dine on mac and cheese and salad...and dessert of course!

This year my brother asked me if I would make a wild game gumbo for him. I kind of laughed at first. Even when I did eat meat I didn't eat red meat and I rarely cooked with meat. Still, I took on his challenge. He gave me the recipe out of "Ducks Unlimited" and provided me with smoked sausage, shrimp, homemade chicken stock, and venison (thank goodness it was all cut into chunks already).

I took this picture because I want people to know I really had raw deer meat! (gave me the heebie geebies but the cats LOVED the smell of it cooking)

I cooked this in a crock pot thinking it would better meld the flavors. After simmering away all day I added 1.5 cups of rice since I was transporting this to a party. I tried a spoonful of the rice and a shrimp before leaving and thought it was really tasty. If I were serving to a bunch of my adult friends I would have spiced it up a bunch but I knew that there were kids at this gathering so I kept it mild. We think we might try to make something similar with a bunch of seafood!

Duck Gumbo
Ducks Unlimited Magazine
Serves: 8-10

1/2 cup peanut oil (I used veggie)
4 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups onion, diced
1 1/2 cups bell pepper, any color, seeded and diced
1 pound Andouille sausage (or your favorite smoked sausage), diced
3 cups boneless, skinless duck breast fillets, each cut into 3 or 4 pieces (I used venison)
3 quarts chicken broth
1 tablespoon filé powder (Don't know what it is so it didn't go in)
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon salt
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
6–8 cups cooked warm white rice

1. In a heavy skillet over medium-high heat, combine peanut oil and flour to make the roux. Cook while stirring constantly until roux is mahogany in color. Remove from heat and stir in onions and peppers (this will help cool the roux).

2. In a large, heavy stockpot over medium heat, cook sausage until browned. Add duck and cook until browned. Add chicken broth, filé powder, paprika, salt, and garlic. Stir in roux mixture thoroughly and bring to a boil, stirring often. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until duck is very tender, about 1 1/2 hours.

3. Once duck is tender, stir in shrimp, thyme, and parsley. Cook until shrimp is pink, about 4 to 6 minutes more. Mound about 3/4 cup rice in bowls and ladle gumbo over.

Eggless Egg Salad

People keep asking me why I made tofu egg salad and not just egg salad. I don't have a good answer. I wanted to try tofu egg salad since I've never had it and it isn't exactly a hot commodity in Augusta, Maine. Your sandwich options as a vegetarian are much more slim than those who like deli meat (believe me, I miss quality Italian meats). Sure you can pile your sandwich high with veggies and hummus and cheese. Sometimes I like it outside of the box!

I love that this looks like egg salad. The color comes thanks to turmeric. The flavor comes thanks to dry mustard. I put mine on multi-grain bread with lettuce. Tomorrow I'm just going to put a scoop of the tofu salad on a garden salad. I'm really looking forward to lunch tomorrow!



Creamy Tofu Salad
Gourmet Magazine
Serves 4

1 (14-oz) package firm tofu, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste


Finely mash tofu with a fork in a bowl, then let drain in a sieve set over another bowl, about 15 minutes (discard liquid).
While tofu drains, whisk together mayonnaise, lemon juice, turmeric, and mustard in bowl, then stir in tofu, celery, chives, salt, and pepper.