An unconventional method for making biscuits results in puff pastry,

It’s Sunday and that’s often a morning of biscuits and fruit.  My typical biscuit prep is 300 g flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, salt, a T sugar, cut in butter (100 g) and moisten with 180 grams liquid (water or milk), mix, fold a few times, cut in circles, bake at 450. 

Today, since I was in croissant mode, I took a different tack with the same biscuit ingredients and stumbled on something nice.  I made a dough mixed from water (90 g), flour (150 g), salt (3 g), sugar (1T) and baking powder (2t) – which could just have easily been made from self rise flour (150 g) and water (90 g).  That was kneeded in a bread machine while I made a 55 gram butter pat in a small ziploc bag using my butter trick.  The dough and butter were treated just as in the croissant method (albeit much smaller rectangles, but still 81 layers) and cut into squares. 

It was a lean dough, leavened with just baking powder.  Butter was then added, and the folding/chilling/rolling went off in about 15 minutes.  I cut the final dough into 6 cubes and baked at 450F.  The delectable morsels are depicted above.  They were reminiscent of puff pastry (obviously not as thin, but just as delicate) and are going to be a serious building block for all sorts of stuff, popovers for starters!

DEVIL’S FOOD CAKE
(dal libro “Cioccolato – Nuove armonie” di Rosalba Gioffré)

Ingredienti per due tortiere da 22 cm:
per la base:
120 gr di cioccolato di copertura fondente grattugiato
125 gr di panna acida (io ho usato metà panna e metà yogurt greco)
150 gr di zucchero di canna fine
300 gr di farina
un pizzico di sale
3 cucchiai di cacao amaro
1 cucchiaino di bicarbonato (io ho usato lievito vanigliato)
120 gr di burro morbido
200 gr di zucchero
2 uova
175 ml di acqua
per la farcia:
250 ml di panna fresca
1 cucchiaio di zucchero a velo
1 cucchiaino di essenza di vaniglia
per la glassa:
140 gr di cioccolato di copertura fondente
110 ml di panna acida (io ho usato panna normale)

Procedimento:
Sciogliete in un pentolino a doppio fondo il cioccolato con la panna acida e lo zucchero di canna, tenendo il fuoco molto basso e girando continuamente.
Setacciate la farina con il cacao, il sale e il bicarbonato. Sbattete il burro nel frullatore finché non diventa gonfio e cremoso, unite gradualmente lo zucchero, poi i tuorli d’uovo, uno per volta; abbassate la velocità al minimo e aggiungete la farina alternandola all’acqua.
Levate dal frullatore con una spatola di gomma, amalgamatevi il composto di cioccolato quindi le chiare montate a neve fermissima. Dividete ora l’impasto in due tortiere imburrate e spolverizzate di farina e infornate per circa 30 minuti a 180°.
Sformate le due basi e fatele raffreddare.
Nel frattempo montate la panna con lo zucchero a velo e l’essenza di vaniglia.
Sciogliete a bagnomaria il cioccolato per la glassa, toglietelo dal fuoco e amalgamatevi la panna acida riscaldata.
Una volta raffreddate, sistemate una delle basi al cioccolato su un piatto di portata, spalmatela con la panna e coprite con la seconda base.
Infine ricoprite la superficie con la glassa.

Think oysters with finger limes, or micro salads with finger limes… The picture above shows my suggestion, smoked salmon and goat cheese on rye, topped with finger limes. Might sound like strange combination of cheese and citrus, but it works nicely. I’ve read that the dried peel can be turned into a spice, but have never tried. 

Finger Limes – Recipes with the Australian Native- The Food Blog.

The stuffing was going to be crème damande, not frangipane. There is a lot of confusion between the two, so heres the difference: crème damande almond cream is a simple mix of butter, sugar, ground almonds, and eggs, more or less in equal parts. Frangipane, on the other hand, is a blend of crème damande and crème pâtissière pastry cream, which is made with eggs, milk, sugar, and flour or cornstarch.

via Homemade Galette des Rois | Chocolate & Zucchini.

Dutch New Years Cake.

Thanks to quirkyjo for the recipe

For our family, New Year‘s Eve is usually a quiet day at home, with maybe some friends over for dinner, or a special New Year’s Eve service at church. I like to cook traditional New Year’s recipes on New Year’s Eve, one being a rich, buttery yeast cake baked in a fluted mould, called Breudher.

Chocolate Dobos Torte splendid picture By Irina

Dobos Torte
makes one 6″ square cake, serving about 9
adapted from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers

Sponge cake batter:
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (150 g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup + 2 tablespoons (130 g) cake flour, sifted
pinch of salt

Chocolate Buttercream:
4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, Dutch-processed
1 1/4 cups (125 g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Caramel:
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

hazelnuts for garnish

You can cut the pandoro in starred slices to build a Xmas tree

Crema al Mascarpone

In una terrina sbattere i tuorli d’uovo con lo zucchero. Quando saranno diventati spumosi, aggiungere il mascarpone e whiskey continuando a sbattere bene per amalgamare la crema. Montare a neve fermissima i 3 albumi e a cucchiaiate incorporarli alla crema mescolando con il cucchiaio di legno dall’alto in basso per non smontare gli albumi.

Related articles

• Pandoro 1st Time Ever (firenzemom.wordpress.com)

Image by kizette via Flickr

Panpepato is rumored to have strong aphrodisiac qualities and has the ability to stop couples from arguing, two very good reasons to give it a try this holiday season. The third, and perhaps most compelling reason, is that the black pepper, honey, dried fruit, and nuts combine for a chewy, spicy and delicious holiday treat.

Panpepato or Pepper Bread