Dishing Up Homemade Ice Cream

After two longs weeks of disgusting, painful bronchitis, I am FINALLY back to feel better. I decided I deserve a treat. 

So tonight I tried a vanilla bean ice cream recipe, to which I decided to add defrosted frozen blueberries. Alas, while the texture was extremely creamy, the taste was too eggy for me and, in general, nothing to get excited about. In one word: BLAH. So I won't share the recipe, but I will share the pics. ;-)

Below I'm slicing the vanilla bean open so that I can add it to 2% milk I will bring to a boil. I'd never cooked with a fresh vanilla bean before. I expected it to have seeds that would spill out, not a sticky inner coating that I had to scrape with a knife!

In this photo I'm whisking egg yolks, granulated sugar, and corn starch together. The finished recipe, which called for 6 tablespoons of sugar, was definitely not sweet enough. I'd have to experiment to see how much more to add to get it closer to the sweetness of commercial ice cream.

Here I'm adding the boiled milk/vanilla bean mixture to the egg yolks.

Below I've put the combined milk/heavy cream/egg yolk mixture back on the stove to thicken. Compare the thinness of the custard at this point to the thickened version in the next photo.

The mixture thickened up after only about five minutes. Tip: stir constantly, over gentle heat, until the mixture coats the back of your spoon.

After popping the mixture into the freezer so it would quickly chill, I whipped a half pint of heavy cream by hand. The recipe called for it to be thickened, yet still thin enough to drip from the whisk. Tip: cover the egg mixture with clear wrap before adding the bowl to the freezer. Press the wrap directly onto the custard so it doesn't form a rubbery skin. 

In the photo below, I'm folding the heavy cream into the cooled custard.

The rest of the work will be done by my ice cream maker. Hard to believe I'll have ice cream in just 25 minutes!

At the end of the 25 minutes, I added plump, defrosted blueberries. Next time I would coat them thinly with sugar before adding them to the frozen custard. It looks yummy, right?!

Here's the bowl my husband kindly scarfed down. Too bad it didn't taste half as good as it looked! 

Some Books That Explain "WHY??"

Hey there, Dear Baker --

If you're like me, you're really wanting to know WHY and HOW various baking items -- from raw eggs to baking soda -- do their magic in the kitchen. Even better, you'd like to be able to look at a recipe and just "know" if it's going to work.

To that end, I've got some book recommendations for you! I stumbled upon them while doing research for a children's baking book I'm writing.

Read and digest them and you'll soon be a whiz on the "science" of baking. 

BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes  -- by Shirley O. Corriher

How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science -- by Russ Parsons



On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen -- by Harold McGee

What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained -- by Robert L. Wolke

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers December Challenge: Yule Log

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand in France.

Holy Cow, Batman! I join up to participate in this online baking group, and my first challenge is a doozy!

First, the good news: I tried. I really did. Second, the bad news: my yule log ended up looking more like a turd log. (Despite the assistance of my wonderful baking partner, Alyssa.) HA!

Let me share the recipe with you, just so you can see what we tried to get our minds (and fingers!) around. Because this yule log had many parts or "elements," as they're called. Six of them, to be exact.

**ELEMENT #1 - DAQUOISE BISCUIT (ALMOND CAKE)

Preparation time: 10 minutes + 15 minutes for baking

Equipment:
2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper

You can use the Dacquoise for the bottom of your Yule Log only, or as bottom and top layers, or if using a Yule log mold (half-pipe) to line your entire mold with the biscuit. Take care to spread the Dacquoise accordingly. Try to bake the Dacquoise the same day you assemble the log to keep it as moist as possible.

Ingredients:
2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) Almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) Confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) All-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) or about
3 Medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) Granulated sugar

Method:
1. Finely mix the almond meal and the confectioner's sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden. 8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

Note: We had no almond meal, so we used a blender to grind slivered almonds.

Here are photos of our Dacquoise:




**ELEMENT #2 - DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Equipment:
Stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula.

You will see that a Pate a Bombe is mentioned in this recipe. A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulée insert.

Ingredients:
2.5 Sheets gelatin or 5g / 1 + 1/4 Tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) Granulated sugar
1 1/2 Tsp (10g) Glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) Water
50g Egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) Dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 Cups (350g) Heavy cream (35% fat content)

Method:
1. Soften the gelatin in cold water (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package).
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F/118°C. If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature).
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler or equivalent, heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the remainder of cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of whipped cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6. Add in the rest of the Whipped cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

Note: I think one of our first missteps was with this element. Yeah, right around step #2b. Because when we added the sugar "syrup" to the egg yolks, the sugar hardened in clumps. So, no, there was no mixing of the two. In fact, to be honest, I dished the sugar clumps out with a spoon and tossed them! HA!

**ELEMENT #3 - DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE INSERT

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Equipment:
Pan, whisk. If you have plunging mixer (a vertical hand mixer used to make soups and other liquids), it comes in handy.

Because the ganache hardens as it cools, you should make it right before you intend to use it to facilitate piping it onto the log during assembly. Please be careful when caramelizing the sugar and then adding the cream. It may splatter and boil.

Ingredients:
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) Granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) Heavy cream (35% fat content)
5 oz (135g) Dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) Unsalted butter softened

Method:
1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Note: no problems here, fortunately!!

**ELEMENT #4 - PRALINE FEUILLETE (CRISP) INSERT

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Equipment:
Small saucepan, baking sheet (if you make lace crepes). Double boiler (or one small saucepan in another), wax paper, rolling pin (or I use an empty bottle of olive oil).

Feuillete means layered (as in with leaves) so a Praline Feuillete is a Praline version of a delicate crisp.

Ingredients:
3.5 oz (100g) Milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) Unsalted butter
2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) Praline
2.1oz (60g) Rice Krispies or Corn Flakes or Special K

Method:
1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.
3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

Note: more problems here, Batman! We had neither praline nor Rice Krispies...but we did have some leftover candied slivered almonds. So we ground those up finely. Then we grabbed an individual box of sugary cereal from the school cafeteria and added that in. Hmmmm.....could that be why our praline turned out so hard that we couldn't cut through it when we went to slice the cake? Me thinks the recipe hosts could have been more specific as to the thickness they wanted. Oh, wait....I now see the recipe says this should resemble a "delicate" crisp. As in "Don't make it a quarter-inch thick, you dorks!" But just so you know, it looked and tasted great! HA!

**ELEMENT #5 - VANILLA CRÈME BRULÉE INSERT

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 1h infusing (unless you use vanilla extract) + 1h baking

Equipment:
Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper

The vanilla crème brulée can be flavored differently by simply replacing the vanilla with something else e.g. cardamom, lavender, etc...

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup (115g) Heavy cream (35% fat content)
1/2 Cup (115g) Whole milk
4 Medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) Granulated sugar
1 Vanilla bean

Method:
1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center (You can bake it without a water bath since it is going to go inside the log - the aesthetics of it won't matter as much since it will be covered with other things - nonetheless it would be recommendable to use a water bath for the following reasons: you will get a much nicer mouth feel when it is done, you will be able to control its baking point and desired consistency much better - it bakes for such a long time that I fear it will get overdone without a water bath. Since it is baked in a pan and it is sometimes difficult to find another large pan to set it in for a water bath, even a small amount of water in your water bath will help the heat be distributed evenly in the baking process. Even as little as 1 inch will help).
5. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.

Note: I'm not gonna lie to you. We decided to skip the crème brulée step. Too much bother for so little return, we reasoned. Yeah...we might have been wrong about that. Because the banana mousse we made instead seemingly disappeared! Only a tiny smidgen was to be found when we sliced the cake. (I'm thinking this was an act by the Daring Baker Fairy, teaching us to never, ever, skip a step in future challenges!)

**ELEMENT #6 - DARK CHOCOLATE ICING

Preparation time: 25 minutes (10 minutes if you don’t count softening the gelatin)

Equipment: 

Small bowl, small saucepan.

Because the icing gelifies quickly, you should make it at the last minute. For other gelatin equivalencies or gelatin to agar-agar equivalencies, look at the notes for the mousse component.

Ingredients:
4g / 1/2 Tbsp Powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin
1/4 Cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) Granulated sugar
1/4 Cup (50g) Water 1/3 Cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:
1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.
3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well
4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

Note: the only problem here is that the recipe didn't make nearly enough to cover our log. We had to stop and make a second batch, just when we were ready to ice our frozen log. Pop! Back into the freezer with you, stat!

**ASSEMBLING THE LOG

1) Dacquoise
2) Mousse
3) Crème Brulée Insert
4) Mousse
5) Praline/Crisp Insert
6) Mousse
7) Ganache Insert

Here are the assembly steps, accompanied by our photos:

A) Cut the Dacquoise into a shape fitting your mold and set it in there. If you are using an actual Yule mold which is in the shape of a half-pipe, you want the Dacquoise to cover the entire half-pipe portion of the mold.

B) Pipe one third of the Mousse component on the Dacquoise.

C) Take the Crème Brulée Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.

D) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Crème Brulée Insert.

E) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.

F) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.

G) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.

H) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight edge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top. (Note: oops! we were supposed to pipe the ganache!)

I) Close with the last strip of Dacquoise. (Note: we surrounded ours with extra mousse.)

J) Freeze until the next day.

The next day (or, in our case, two days later!):

1. Unmold the cake/log and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.

2. Cover the cake with the icing. (Note: yeah, this is where we really made a boo-boo. The icing had cooled just enough that when we tried to pour it over the frozen log, the icing set. Yuck!)

So we hurried back to the stove to make another batch (a double this time!). But then we obviously didn't let it cool enough, because when we poured it onto the log, it began melting the log. "I'm melting! I'm melting!"

3. Next you're supposed to decorate the still-frozen log....but we lost heart after watching it start to pool away. So we decided to cut our losses and cut the log to see how the layers looked. As you can see, they're decidedly unappetizing! Thus, our pronouncement of, "We've created a turd log!"

Oh, well! The experience wasn't a total wash: we DID learn to make Dacquoise, for one thing. HA! And we learned a bit about layering different textures, and especially about being mindful of thicknesses. All good stuff. 

Too, as our challenge hosts reminded our group of courageous bakers, "the spirit of the group is to try new things and to stretch your baking limits, trying it and challenging yourself is what matters, not whether you had a perfect outcome or loved the taste of the outcome (although the taste thing would obviously be preferable)."

Ummm....yeah. But when you're dealing with a recipe this expensive, it would be great to see it turn out. ;-)

Don't worry, I'm still gonna show you some eye candy!!!

If you want to see this dessert in a perfect form, jump onto the Saffron & Blueberry (this month's hosts) blog. Their yule log is gosh-darn beautiful, though I will make one observation: their "dark chocolate" mousse insert looks decidedly like vanilla, and their "creme brulee" insert looks like it's made with chocolate. Perhaps they switched things up???

Here are some links to other Daring Baker bloggers who had more success with this month's challenge. You'll learn a lot if you take the time to read their comments.  ;-)

Oven Ready

Bitter Sweet

Madcap Cupcake

Life After Gluten

NOW you're drooling, right?!!!

Petits Fours, Anyone?

I can remember, as a child, being offered a petits fours -- one of those fondant-coated nibbles of cake made to be eaten in one or two bites.

I put the entire square in my mouth because the icing looked so yummy ... and then proceeded to spit the entire mouthful right back out because I found the taste -- and smell -- of marzipan (almond paste) to be revolting. Right up there with mushrooms and green peas! And Beef Stroganoff. Gag me.

So I was not overly enthusiastic when Chef told me to make a tray of petits fours in baking class. 

That is, until I took a tentative bite of my finished product and found -- to my amazement! -- that I now find marizpan quite delectable! (Mushrooms and green peas are okay now, too.)

However, I will probably never make petits fours again -- unless I'm forced to. Because I HATE working with fondant!!! (Look, Ma, my baking classes did teach me something important!)

Too, the little treats are labor intensive. Because before you FINALLY get to the fondant stage, you must bake up three half-sheet pans of cake (choose a firm, close-grained cake), which you then spread with a THIN layer of flavoring (such as raspberry preserves). To the top layer of your tower of cake, you then finish up with a thin layer of marzipan. 

(Yes, making the marzipan by blending almond paste with corn syrup and powdered sugar in an electric mixer adds yet another step!)

After the cake layers are assembled, you will need to wrap the cake, right on the sheet pan, in plastic and put it in the freezer to firm up. Doing so allows you to easily and neatly cut the cake into strips, and then into small squares or diamonds, as pictured below. Or you can use a cookie cutter to make circles, though you'll end up wasting a good bit of cake.

Now comes the part I hate: messing with the fondant.  ;-(

In class, we get fondant in big, white blocks. Which means that it's super fresh and soft when first opened, but quickly turns hard after students get lazy about closing its protective plastic bag. So yeah, I was hacking away at the hard block, trying to free enough to coat my little nibbles. 

Chef, ever watchful of an opportunity to slip in a lesson on profit and loss, pronounced the fondant "still good" and that it just needed to be "briefly rehydrated" by soaking it in a bowl of warm water, as shown below.


As the photo clearly shows, fondant (which is technically defined as "icing made from boiled sugar syrup that is agitated so that it crystalizes into a mass of teeny, tiny white crystals") is thick stuff. Which is why you must warm it over a double broiler (we use stainless steel bowls placed atop pots of steaming water), adding water to thin it to the consistency you need. 

Chef has us use our hand, rather than a spatula, when warming fondant, so that we can easily test the warmth and thickness. Tip: When the fondant thinly streams down your gloved fingertips, it's ready. 



If the fondant is not thin enough (which it is NOT in the photo above!), you won't be able to easily pour it over the top and down the sides of each petits fours. 

In the next photo, Chef demos (the dude LOVES to demo stuff, God love him!) how to use a ladle to apply the fondant. Hurry, hurry, the fondant is cooling!! 

Notice that Chef has placed the petits fours on a cooling rack positioned atop a sheet pan. And that he didn't line the sheet pan with parchment paper. Can you figure out why?

If you guessed it's because you reuse the fondant that pools on the tray, get yourself a cookie. (If you added parchment paper, you'd just make a big mess trying to scrape it off the paper.)

I guess if your bakery is lax about expenses, you could just toss the pooled fondant. But for the rest of us Joe Blow Bakers watching the bottom line, it's time to pull out our trusty offset spatulas and get to scraping.  ;-)

The recycled fondant can be reheated again .... and again .... and again(!) until all of your petits fours are coated. Just remember that each time you warm the fondant, you will probably need to thin it with water.

We're almost done, folks! Stay with me!  ;-)

After the fondant has set up, use a paring knife or offset spatula to carefully lift the petits fours from the sugary rack and onto decorative paper cups. Add a bit of melted chocolate (via a small piping bag made from parchment paper) to the top of each one, and you end up with a darn attractive little nibble to share -- or eat yourself.

JUST DON'T EAT TOO MANY, OR PAY THE CONSEQUENCES!!!  (Yes, Junior, there really is such a thing as a fondant high!)

Bonus quiz question: what does "petits four" mean in French?

a. "tiny potato"

b. "small oven"

or 

c. "enough for the masses"

---ready? 

---ready?

----THE ANSWER IS:

b. "small oven." 

Get it right? GO GET YOURSELF ANOTHER COOKIE!  ;-)

GGRRRRRR! Bear Claws!

Yeah, that's right, people: I made these awesome-looking bear claws!!

"How?" you ask. "What are the steps to baking up my own?"

1) Whip up a batch of Danish dough. Don't forget that you'll need to fold in a butter insert, and complete a total of three 3-folds. As you need to allow the dough to rest 30 minutes between each 3-fold, make sure you set aside about two hours for making the dough. The 30-minute rest/cooling period between the 3-turns is crucial: it re-chills the butter and gives the gluten in the dough time to relax. Also important: brush any excess flour off of the dough, with a brush, as you fold the dough. Extra flour on the surface can interfere with the dough rising.

I use a small mixer to mix up my dough, but this video, in which the instructor mixes the dough by hand, shows one way of rolling out the dough and adding the butter insert. Note: This instructor also adds one 4-fold, which I don't do. I use 4-folds when making puff pastry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg-zXn_YpLI

2) After the last resting, roll out the dough and fill the bear claws with your choice of filling: cinnamon/sugar/raisins, perhaps, or chocolate, or maybe you're a big fan of almond paste. Or maybe you can't get enough of maple syrup??


3) Here I chose to go with the cinnamon/sugar/raisin combo. Be generous with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.


4) After rolling the dough into a long log, I scaled out 4-oz portions. As you can see from the photo, that makes a hefty claw. A bench scraper is a handy tool to have for cutting through the dough; so much easier than a knife! By pressing down firmly on the bench scraper, you get cleanly cut edges.

5) Don't forget to cut the "toes" into the claws, then spread the toes out a bit to produce the traditional bear claw shape.

6) Proof the shaped dough, in a proof box or warm place in your kitchen, directly on your parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The heat will  plump up the bear claws nicely. Then egg wash the tops with a brush (egg wash is made simply by combining a beaten whole egg with water or milk) so that the tops brown.

7) When the claws are cooled, drizzle a glaze on the tops. Here I've added a chocolate glaze (I used fondant, which I flavored with chocolate) over the tops with a wire whisk. Note: this is a clean sheet of parchment paper. The paper that was under the bear claws for baking got quite "littered" with chocolate during the icing. Always place the finished product on display trays or new paper, so they look nice. And don't forget: New York law requires the use of gloves when handling ready-to-serve food items!

**some things I love: parchment paper and throw-away latex gloves!

Let's Make Tarts!

Today in baking class my baking partner, Amanda, and I made mini tarts. Hmmm, we wondered, what was the quickest, most efficient way to put the rolled dough into the mini pans? Here's what we came up with: