January 2009 Archives
This months Daring Bakers challenge was Tulies. These are very thin and crispy cookies that can be bent and curved fresh out of the oven. Once set, they can support a little weight and will retain their shape. The recipe was simple, and it produced a thin crispy cookie that could be formed about 60% of the time.
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.
The cookies are very fragile, and if they are too thin, they break when forming. If they are too thick, they are hard to chew, but very easy to mold. Getting the balance between the two were a little hard, but I got about 55% that allowed me to form them.
After breaking and shattering countless thin crisps, I got a little disenfranchised with these cookies. But, I needed to finish the challenge. We were supposed to make some topping, dip, soup, or other accompaniment.
My first attempt had a dollop of lemon curd, then topped with fresh meringue, a little caramel syrup and lime zest. The second attempt was ice cream based. Ice cream was way too cold. My wife liked the meringue, I think it would have been better with a whipped cream, but we did not have any at the time.
The rest of the cookies will be served with a port wine-chocolate dipping sauce.
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.The cookies are very fragile, and if they are too thin, they break when forming. If they are too thick, they are hard to chew, but very easy to mold. Getting the balance between the two were a little hard, but I got about 55% that allowed me to form them.
After breaking and shattering countless thin crisps, I got a little disenfranchised with these cookies. But, I needed to finish the challenge. We were supposed to make some topping, dip, soup, or other accompaniment.
My first attempt had a dollop of lemon curd, then topped with fresh meringue, a little caramel syrup and lime zest. The second attempt was ice cream based. Ice cream was way too cold. My wife liked the meringue, I think it would have been better with a whipped cream, but we did not have any at the time.
The rest of the cookies will be served with a port wine-chocolate dipping sauce.
Better late then never - right?
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.
The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
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