Daring Bakers : November 2010 : Crostata

This November the daring bakers were challenged to make a Crostata. Crostata is essentially an italian tart, most often made with pastry cream and fruit filling. A sweet short pastry crust is baked, topped with delectable fillings, cut, and hungrily consumed. 

I was a little late on this challenge as time has become somewhat of a precious commodity these days. School, work, and the impending holiday season has me in a bit of a whirlwind. So, I'm going to be quick and tell you simply, make this. I adore tarts, almost as much as I adore cookies and cake. Simple, gorgeous, and downright delectable. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect challenge!

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.

For some reason when I try to post the recipe, blogger is just not reading it. Fortunately, there are thousands of Daring Bakers out there who I'm sure did not have the same issues with posting as me. Be sure to check them out!

Daring Bakers : October 2010 : Donuts

If these donuts are any indication, I've officially lost my mind. 

I planned to make and blog about donuts sometime this October. You could say they were on my 'to blog' list. So imagine my surprise and excitement when I opened the Daring Bakers announcement folder only to read that we were being challenged to fry up a batch of donuts. Serendipitous, truly. Donuts? Check. Daring Bakers? Check. The classic two birds, one stone scenario.

What you see here is my spin on this months challenge. Yeast raised donuts, schmeared with a brown sugar maple/cinnamon/cayenne glaze, topped with pepper bacon & candied oats (or as I refer to it, bacon granola). Yes, you read that correctly. Donuts, maple cinnamon glaze, bacon granola. Miss mallory has gone and lost her marbles. . . 

Now, I've tried a few maple bacon donuts in my day. Each of which proved to be disappointing, even at my favorite donut haunts. Why is it that most donut shops, even the great gourmet ones, insist on using some form of microwave or other less-than-stellar bacon product? Why in the world would I want to eat thin, limp, dry bacon? I want thick, crispy edged, fatty fried, true blue bacon. So, for these donuts I used thick slices of pepper encrusted bacon, fried to perfection. I then chopped my slices up to bits, I was gunning for meat sprinkles, which is what I got. The night I fried and assembled these donuts also landed on a night we were having a few friends over for dinner. The candied granola originally had no intention of being mixed with the bacon, it had been created as a gluten free (as one of our guests is gluten intolerant) topping for a batch of delicious lemon cream ice cream I had planned for dessert. Mid day my lovely boyfriend, in a fit of hunger, scooped up two handfuls, one bacon the other granola, and popped them in his mouth. Let's just say, something magical occurred. Bacon granola? It's genius. So much so I feel like I should be marketing it!

I could not resist. Sure I'd heard of a maple bacon donut. But a maple bacon granola donut? 

 Thus the bacon granola donut was born.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Nuemann, and Epicurious. 

Alton Browns Yeast Donuts

makes 20-25 donuts 

1 1/2 cups milk

2 1/2 oz vegetable shortening (about 1/3 cup)

2 packages instant yeast

1/3 cup warm water

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

pinch of nutmeg

23 oz flour, plus additional for dusting

vegetable or peanut oil for frying (at least enough for 3 in depth in dutch oven)

Directions: 

1. Warm milk until just hot. Place shortening in a bowl, pour warm milk over shortening.

2. In a small bowl pour yeast over warm water. Allow yeast to stand & dissolve 5 minutes.

3. Pour yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the milk/shortening to the yeast, being sure the milk is only lukewarm.

4. Add eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg and half of the flour to the mixing bowl.

5. On low speed beat until ingredients are incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat until ingredients are well combined.

6. Reduce speed to low again and add the remaining flour. Increase speed one last time, and beat well.

7. Remove paddle and attach dough hook. Knead dough on medium speed for about 4-5 minutes, or until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

8. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise for about an hour, until it has doubled in size.

9. On a well floured surface, roll dough out to 1/2 inch thick.

10. Cut out donut circles, one larger one smaller (I used a large round cookie cutter, and a very large icing piping tip for the middle hole, my donuts were thinner, but I loved the way that looked).

11. Set cut donuts (and donut holes) on baking sheet, cover with a tea towel and allow to proof, for about a half an hour. (when you poke the dough with your finger and it bounces back almost immediately, your dough is sufficiently proofed). 

12. Heat oil (enough for 3 inch depth) to 365 F in a dutch oven. 

13. Using a metal slotted spoon or other slotted kitchen gadget, gently place 3 donuts and a few holes at a time in hot oil. Cook for 1 minute or so per side, until golden brown, and removing from oil and placing on a baking rack set above paper towels.

14. Allow to cool about 20 minutes prior to glazing and decorating. 

I swear, the only thing better than a warm donut, is a warm donut hole. . . they're the perfect bite size. No?

Daring Bakers : September 2010 : The Sugar Cookie

I'm late. I'm beyond late. For a very important date, indeed. My Daring Bakers entry is due on this blog the 27th of each month. As you know, it's nearly three days into the next month. Whoops. I have good reason though. You see, I took a trip east, to New York City, and upon my arrival home (a few days shy of my DB due date, mind you) I contracted my second cold flu in two weeks. Therefore, I feel I had good reason to be late. Sheer exhaustion. My butt required to be relaxed in my sofa, sipping tea, snuggled in with a blanket, recovering. Not rolling out sugar cookie dough.

During my trip I missed a dear friends 26th birthday. So, being the multi-tasking daring baker that I am, I combined her much deserved birthday cake, with my daring bakers challenge. It wasn't intentional, at first I simply intended to spend the day baking, both cookies and cake. But as they both neared the finish line, I could not help but put the two together. It turned out quite beautiful, if I do say so myself! 

The cake is a 6 inch, tall, 4 layer best chocolate cake ever with a generous schmear of brown butter cinnamon frosting which I stumbled across at the always lovely My Kitchen Addiction. Each cookie was cut with a very small tart tin, I loved the scalloped look. Every other cookie got a dusting of sanding sugar and itty bitty white sprinkles, baked up, and then gently placed around the bottom edge. Two cookies were left, one plain, one sprinkle, so I quickly wrote 26 on the plain cookie and supported them against each other atop the cake. Couldn't have been a bigger hit, more delicious, or elegant but fun (and what an oh so easy way to decorate a cake while squeezing in one more baked confection to the mix). 

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.

Basic Sugar Cookies:

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour

200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar

1 Large Egg, lightly beaten

5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions

• Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming

creamy in texture.

• Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during

baking, losing their shape.

• Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.

• Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid

flour flying everywhere.

• Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.

• Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)

• Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

• Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an

hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and

then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

• Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.

• Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.

• Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.

• Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.

• Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

• Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.

• Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in

some cookies being baked before others are done.

• Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

• Leave to cool on cooling racks.

• Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.

• Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated

cookies can last up to a month.

Daring Bakers : August 2010 : A Brown Butter Cheat?

I think I cheated. I fully intended on building a tower of baked alaska amazingness, yet, somwhere in the process what you see above is where I ended up. With a bit of a deconstructed baked alaska mess. . .

This whole process started with me picking apples from the front yard. I've been watching them from my kitchen windows, growing in size and color over the last few weeks. I feel they've ripened far quicker than normal this year, I attribute it to the mixture of rain and sun we've had here in the northwest this summer. It seems that every few days of 80 degree weather we get are followed by a few grey rainy days. That's been the pattern this year.

 I really have no clue what variety of apple they are, they were in our yard long before we were. Yet, they are quite possibly the best apples I've ever tasted, rivaling the pink ladies and honeycrisp kings, a perfect mixture of tart and sweet. Perfect for eating straight from the branch, or piled high in pies (blackberry apple being one of my favorites).

After picking them, I introduced them to my mandoline. Afterwhich they took a long bath in cast iron skillet filled with copious amounts of cinnamon, sugar, and butter. They bathed for a good half an hour, until they were completely sticky, gooey, and caramelized.

While the apples simmered away on the stovetop, I melted and cooled a batch of brown butter, whipping it together with the usual cake suspects of sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour. Baking it to a golden perfection and allowing it to cool by an open window (I have yet to tempt any cake or pie burglars, like those featured in many a cartoon). 

This is where things went south for my baked Alaska. After the brown butter pound cake cooled, as I sliced two large pieces away from the loaf, my plans changed. I fully intended to stack slices of cake with slabs of homemade vanilla ice cream, sandwiching caramelized apples throughout. I also entirely intended upon slathering the whole thing with fresh made meringue and toasting it until perfectly golden. Yet, as my knife sliced through that cake something came over me. I can't tell you why exactly. I was fully committed to the baked alaska tower. But, at that moment, the moment the slices fell from the cake, I was hit with the desire to make a deconstructed baked alaska. I'm not sure I love the looks, but the taste was spot on. Nutty, crumbly, sweet, creamy, with a hat of crunchy meringue to top it all off. The brown butter pound cake is a must try for your fall menu. It's incredibly unique in flavor, so nutty, buttery, but sweet. It would make the perfect end to a autumn inspired sunday supper. Top it off with apples and ice cream (the meringue could easily be skipped) and you've got yourself a certifiable mouthgasm on your hands.

I know I could've gone with summer flavors, seeing as it's still summer. But the brown butter and the apples dripping from the branches outside begged to be made into something Autumn in flavor and inspiration. 

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”.

Brown Butter Pound Cake

19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter

2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)

1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt

1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar

1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

                          1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan (I baked mine in a traditional loaf pan). Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes (45 minutes for the loaf pan).

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

David Lebovitz's Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (150g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2 cups (500ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The Daring Get Light : Daring Bakers June 2010

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

As I mentioned earlier this month I've sort of (okay, really) fallen in love with cherries this season. Standing in my kitchen, cutting each one in half, pitting them, feeling the red juice on my fingertips, plus, they're absolutely gorgeous to look at it, no? Deep, dark, almost sinful. To me, they spark many of my senses; taste, visual, tactile. It only seemed natural that cherries would make the perfect accompaniment to this airy, yet rich chocolate pavlova. 

Pavlova's are like clouds. Chocolate, vanilla, doesn't matter. Topped with generous portions of whipped

cream these simple egg white based desserts are like a cloud on your tongue. A show stopper, and a crowd pleaser. They take mere minutes to whip together, and a few hours cooking to dry them out in a very lightly heated oven. Making them (in my opinion) a perfect dinner party dessert. Whip together, then forget about them in the oven for a few hours until you're ready for dessert. I couldn't have been happier with the way my chocolate puffs turned out. To make my variation on this months daring bakers theme simply dip one end of each of your pavlovas after they have baked and cooled in melted semisweet chocolate. After filling with the chocolate mascarpone cream, crown each one with freshly whipped heavy cream sweetened lightly with a bit of honey, sprinkle with split bing cherries (I macerated mine with a bit of vanilla bean sugar), and finish with a few pan toasted almonds (and if you dare, more of that melted chocolate for drizzle). Crunchy, creamy, light, rich, and smooth. Textures and flavors abound, desserts rarely get much easier or more gorgeous! 

Chocolate Pavlova Meringues

Ingredients: 

3 large egg whites

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup cocoa powder

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 200 F, placing rack in the center. Line baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper and set aside. 

2. Place egg whites in a medium bowl, and whip on high until medium/soft peaks form. With beater moving slowly (about 1 Tablespoon at a time) add your granulated sugar. 

3. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form (stiff but not dry).

4. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar over stiff egg white mixture, then slowly fold in. It may take a minute or two to come together, but I promise, it will. Just be patient, gently folding chocolate into egg whites. 

5. Instead of filling a pastry bag and piping out my pavlova, I used a standard ice cream scoop to make nice individual sized desserts. My batch made about 8 pavlovas. Scoop of pipe onto prepared baking sheet.

6. Place pavlovas in oven and cook for 2-2/12 hours, until crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!

7. Remove from oven and top with mascarpone cream (recipe below), whipped cream, and whatever garnish your heart desires!

Chocolate Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients: 

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

zest of 1 lemon

9 oz 72% chocolate

1 2/3 cup mascarpone 

2 Tablespoons grand marnier (optional) 

pinch of nutmeg

Directions: 

1. Heat 1/2 cup heavy cream and the zest of a lemon in a medium sized saucepan until hot (just boiling). 

2. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth and well combined. Set aside. 

3. Place remaining cream, and mascarpone in a bowl with the nutmeg and whip on medium speed until mascarpone has loosened up a bit. Add the grand marnier and whip until the mixture holds soft peaks (being careful not to over beat as the mixture will break). 

4. Mix about 1/4 of the mascarpone mixture into your chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold remaining mascarpone into chocolate. 

5. Dollop or pipe onto the top of each pavlova. 

Viola! Another great month for the Daring Bakers!

Daring Failure : Daring Bakers May 2010

Daring Bakers May 2010 : Fail, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.

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.

Oh boy, did I screw this one up! Everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. Guess that's what happens (or perhaps is more likely to happen) when you put things off to the last minute? There really isn't a whole lot to say, beyond the fact that this failure stings a bit more than it normally would because I used to be the champion choux baker back in high school. Weird statement I know, but it's true. One day my best girlfriend growing up, Katie, and I stumbled upon a choux/cream puff recipe, it was so easy to make that we often whipped up a batch and filled each puff with sweetened whip cream ( knowing us it was likely whipped cream from a can), our very own version of the cream puff. A simple way to get a sugar fix if we weren't in the mood to bake a batch of cookies.

So, what happened today? The choux didn't puff enough, and before it had an opportunity to dry out enough in the oven, it got to dark and had to be pulled out. The cream filling curdled, despite my babying it over the lowest flame possible. The caramel was soft. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. Sometimes we just have to accept defeat and move on. I hate even posting it here on my little blog. I think it's quite possibly one of the most hideous creations I've ever whipped together, but, I'm a daring baker, meaning I'm daring enough to share my failure. May it soon be forgotten. . .

(I still encourage you to try this recipe, it's not fairly complicated, but quite impressive, when you get it right that is! Go check out some of my fellow DBs, they'll show you how it's really done!)

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Equipment required:

• several baking sheets

• parchment paper

• a whisk
• a pastry brush (for the egg wash)
• a pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)
• a flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée
• some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)

¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

t this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)

1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Directions:

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Daring Bakers May 2010 : Fail, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.

Daring Bakers : March 2010

Daring Bakers : March 2010, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.

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.

This is going to be an uber quickie post, so, don't be offended, it has nothing to do with the dessert itself, I'm just super tired and frankly, not feeling much up to writing/posting. As you read above, Jennifer chose Orange Tian for this months DB challenge. Something I have never even heard of (is that a shocker?) nevertheless attempted to make. Funny enough, this challenge was due the same day as my cooking clubs Fusion dinner with an Asian theme. I knew I didn't have the patience for two desserts (though in the end I did end up with both this and a strawberry/wonton napoleon) therefore I needed to meld this challenge with my dessert for that night. Two birds, one stone. My take on the Orange Tian; layers of jasmine and matcha filling, topped with sectioned navel oranges & texas red grapefruit on top of a pistachio pate sablee (although, I used a different pate sablee recipe than the one Jennifer provided because I wanted the pistachio flavor, I cannot attest it's a true sablee). Hope you enjoy my take on this months challenge, my version may be a bit 'out there' compared to the original, but, it was fun and tasty and I couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out!

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.

Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.

Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Daring Bakers : March 2010, originally uploaded by miss.mallory.