Heal My Life

Torrone Torrment

So I got this brilliant idea: I would make Torrone for my daughter's visit.  Torrone, for those of you who are not Italian or who have not been to Italy, is a yummy, white, Italian Honey Nougat chock full of toasted almonds.  We've bought it many times made by many different companies and both Chan and I can't get enough of it really like it. 

So I thought - hey, why the heck not - I'll make some for her visit. The December issue of Gourmet magazine had a recipe and I've made pretty much every kind of candy there is, so how hard could this be.  A cinch.  This is what happened: first, I burned the sugar/honey mix trying to get it to 310 degrees at 7000 feet. then I dropped the thermometer in the boiling syrup.

It was all downhill from there.

Finally, I refused to put two cups of pistachios into a "caramel" torrone that I was sure no-one was going to eat. Chan took a pistachio, dipped it into the caramel nougat in the pan and said "Hey, this isn't half bad".  So we poured the nuts on top.  And she was right - it was pretty good.

Even though my nicely cut oblongs oozed into patties, and they were an interesting shade of beige, everyone ate them anyway.

   

So What's New?

I know I've been a bad blogger, it's been weeks since my last post.  Here's what I've been doing: 

Yesterday, in preparation for a Thanksgiving feast for, which I'll be making desserts, at my friend Scout's house, I baked pate a choux or cream puff shells.  And lo and behold, not only did they RISE, but they rose HIGHER than they ever did for me at sea level.  YAY!!!  I didn't even have to alter the recipe.  How awesome is that.  I'd have taken pictures but Anthony and I ate them, which is sort of too bad because they really were pretty.  They ended up getting filled first with tuna for lunch, and then some leftover chocolate custard and almond creme anglaise for dessert.  YUM!  The shells really are very easy to make; don't be intimidated by the French.  There is a fab recipe and step by step instructions complete with photos here.

This past weekend, A and I drove to Farmington, NM, which is in the four corners, for a Fiber Fest to vend Heal My Hands.  No one came.  I'm not kidding - really - no one came.  They missed a year and didn't advertise in the right places, and so no one came.  We made did okay with Heal My Hands, all of the fifty or so people who showed up and most of the vendors bought from us, but I felt terrible for the other vendors - and there were some great people with wonderful yarn and roving (which I did NOT buy because my spinning wheel is STILL not here)!   

I did buy some of the most gorgeous yarn I've ever touched from Elsa Wool Company.  It's cormo from her own flock and it's as soft as a cloud.  I bought both worsted and woolen spun,natural colors in sport and worsted weights.  I wound one skein into a ball last night for socks.  I can't wait to get it on the needles!

Saturday night, after a yummy seafood salad at Red Lobster and a movie in bed at the hotel, my tooth started to hurt.  It got worse through the night and by Sunday morning I was pretty much in agony.  We went to the show but only ended up staying for a couple of hours.  The four hour ride home via Rt 505 took us through some beautiful scenery.  If I hadn't been rocking in pain - I'd have taken more photos, but here's one so you get the idea.  Anthony found a dentist in Santa Fe, Dr. Cho, who met us in his office and started a root canal for me at 7 pm on a Sunday night.  Who say's there are no such things as Angels? 

So my tooth is better now.  The chickens have been doing okay, and we only had a couple of mild scares.  One Feather and one of our red girls have what seems like a head cold.  We're giving them medication and hopefully they'll be better soon.  One of the male peacocks seems to think that perhaps our girls would make fine mates, so he has been preening and shaking his big tail at them whenever he thinks of it.  They seem less than impressed and just appear worried that maybe he'll take their food.

On the knitting front, I have not had much time to knit lately, but I'm almost finished with the veldt shawl. I ran out of Louisa Harding Sari Silk in #20 halfway though a row last night so I have to order more before I can move on.  I also did two baby socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One, link is in my sidebar, and believe me that book is AWESOME!  If you knit socks you NEED to have this book.  It'll change the way you think about knitting socks forever. 

The little sock on the left, is a Coreolis, which is an amazing way of increasing around the sock starting at the outer instep and curving up and around the foot and ankle.  There are NO gussetts!  It is truly amazing and you just have to se it and the other sock architectures for yourself to understand just how brilliant Cat is.   

And last, but by far not least, my daughter just sent me pictures of the cake she made for her company's Holiday Cake contest!  The winner gets a day off WITH PAY!!!!  he's won two years in a row - I'm keeping ALL my fingers crossed for her this year.  The cake inside the sled is a Martha Stewart Coconut cake recipe which she said is delicious.  The sides are gingerbread, and the gifts are dark chocolate fudge, dipped in tinted white chocolate with a fondant bag and bows.  And she did this with three kids, three cats a dog and no help!  She's so good!

So I'm off to the post office (which is another hideously painful and frankly unbelievable story that I'll save for another time) to ship orders.  And I promise to be a better poster.  Really.

      

Plum Almond Upside Down Cornmeal Cake

May I have a drum roll please.  TA DA!!! I'd like to announce a new category - Baking at Altitude - 7000 Feet!  I can't say I was looking forward to this new challenge to my baking skills.  Okay, so I was terrified.  I'd read all the horror stories of tried and true recipes that flopped spectacularly at altitude and rendered the bakers tearful at least and hysterical at worst.  I'd also heard that some bakers had thrown up their hands and given up the craft completely, preferring, in our local case, to buy their baked goods at the Cloud Cliff Bakery.

So it was not without a few jangly nerves that I picked up the whisk, flour and eggs; which by the way we bought at the Santa Fe farmers market, free range, and ungraded from a local farmer and his Aracauna hens and they were BLUE AND GREEN! And I made three first attempts. 

First was a recipe I found on the Web for High Altitude Blueberry Cream Scones.  I was very nervous about adjusting my own recipes and thought I'd play it safe by using one someone else had fiddled with.  I should have known better.  They were OK, but the texture was more muffin-like than scone-like, a bit airy and not to my taste. 

My second attempt was at Joe Froggers.  For anyone who isn't from New England, and Marblehead, Massachusetts more specifically, Black Joe's Joe Froggers are enormous molasses spice cookies with a good dose of rum and a generous spoonful of salt.  They're wonderful  and I used to love to have them for dessert at the Bear Mountain Inn in New York back when my kids were small and we lived in Bear Mountain State Park.  I don't know what made me think of them after all these years, but I suddenly got a yen for that spicy, mollassasy flavor  and I wanted to try them at altitude. 

They came out wonderfully - I adjusted a recipe I got from the Cooks Country website and whipped up a batch.  I still have some dough and will bake more and take photos hopefully tomorrow so I can post the recipe for you all (I used a different recipe than the one in the article).  That brings me to yesterday's attempt: The Plum Almond Upside Down Cornmeal Cake.

This recipe is a riff on one I found on the Food Network for Skillet Pineapple Upside-down Cake.  I had bought some beautiful plums at the Farmer's Market and wanted to use them for a frangiapane tart - but you know how that goes; I've had cornmeal on the brain since I got here and so the plums picked up on my little mind game and decided they wanted to be on cornmeal.  Besides, I'd always wanted to bake a cake in an iron skillet and had just become the proud owner of a two pan Lodge Set courtesy of Costco Albuquerque.  How could I say no?  So here's what I did.  I took the original recipe:

Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake 
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2004
Show:  Good Eats
Episode:  True Grits
Altitude: Sea Level

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup coarse ground cornmeal
4 ounces unsalted butter
8 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1 cup
6 slices canned pineapple in heavy syrup
6 maraschino cherries
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
3 tablespoons juice from canned pineapple
3 whole eggs
4 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 1 cup
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 3/4 ounces sugar, approximately 3/4 cup
1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a microwave-proof dish, bring the milk to a boil. Remove the milk from the microwave and add the cornmeal. Stir and let soak at room temperature for 30 minutes. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once the butter has melted, add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the heat and carefully place 1 slice of pineapple in the center of the pan. Place the other 5 slices around the center slice in a circle. Place the cherries in the centers of the pineapple slices and sprinkle the nuts evenly over the fruit. Drizzle pineapple juice over top.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sugar to the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the canola oil and whisk. Add the cornmeal and milk mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add this to the flour and stir just until combined. Pour the batter over the fruit in the skillet and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes in the skillet. Set a platter on top of the skillet and carefully invert the cake. Serve.

And modified for 7000 feet, and my choice of fruit of course:

Plum Almond Upside Down Cornmeal Cake 
Adapted from recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2004
Altitude: 7000 Feet

Ingredients

3/4 cup +3 tablespoons whole milk
1 cup coarse cornmeal
4 ounces salted butter
1 cup - 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
12 - 18 small red or black plums, sliced in half lengthwise, pits removed
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
3 tablespoons apple juice
3 whole eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup - 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Remove the milk from the microwave and add the cornmeal and the apple juice. Stir and let soak at room temperature for 30 minutes. Set aside.

Melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Place enough plums, cut side down, to fill the skillet.  Turn heat to low and simmer gently until the tops flatten and they begin to give off pink foam.  Remove the plums gently from the pan with the tines of a fork and place them on a plate.  Set Aside.  Add the brown sugar to the pan and stir until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and carefully replace the plums, this time top side down in a circular pattern. 

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sugar to the eggs and whisk to combine. Add the canola oil, vanilla and almond extract and whisk. Add the cornmeal and milk mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Add this to the flour and stir just until combined.

Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom rack of the oven as the butter from the pan will drip over the sides.  It will save you a clean-up later. Pour the batter evenly over the fruit in the skillet and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The melted butter will ooze up around the batter - don't fret about it - it all works out.

Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes in the skillet. Set a platter on top of the skillet and carefully invert the cake.  Sprinkle with toasted almonds.  This cake was wonderful with a good vanilla ice cream.  It would also be fabulous with a vanilla sauce - but I was too lazy and the cake smelled to good to take another minute to make it.         

And it came out beautifully!  The interesting thing about it all, was that the cake rose a good two inches above the edges of the pan (hence the butter drips).  I was a tad worried, but it sank back down very nicely as it cooled a bit.  Also, the cast iron pan kept a much more even temp around the edges of the cake and so there was virtually no peak in the center and no need for cake strips or trimming.  And the plums drifted a bit, which made for a slightly lopsided look (not sure why, perhaps the amount of butter allowed them to float around a bit under there). Nice. 

And for those of you at altitude who think that baking thing may just be possible, I'll tell you how I did it: I used this chart.  And it worked so well, that I bought the author, Susan G. Purdy's Book, Pie in the Sky. Oh, and by the way - the cake is delicious!

Zucchini Coconut Cupcakes

Mingled in with the excitement of packing and moving to a new and unknown place, all the way across the country, I guess I was feeling a little bit sad this morning that these were to be my last days in the house I grew up in.  Everything is taking on an air of "the last time I'll ever".  So it was with a dash of homesickness, a pinch wistfulness and a smidgen of expectancy that I made what will be my last dessert in this house.

My step mom brought in one of the last over sized zucchini from the garden yesterday and asked if I could make some zucchini bread with it.  Having just made two loaves a couple of weeks ago, I needed to mix it up just a bit.  I also had some shredded coconut I wanted to use up before we left and a block of yummy farm fresh cream cheese from our coop.  Bingo! Zucchini Coconut Cupcakes! 

I adapted Mom's Zucchini Bread from Allrecipes.com (I LOVE allrecipes.com) and found a recipe for Cream Cheese Coconut Frosting which I used as I found it.  Wow.  So yep, I chose the hottest day of the year for my suburban New York baking swan song.  The kitchen was so hot even with the A/C on that the frosting started to slide off the cooled cupcakes.  I had planned to pipe it on - but I'd already packed my pastry bags and tubes.  So I slathered it on with a spatula.  Anthony didn't seem to mind and declared the frosting a "winner"! 

They're delicious and I think that all in all, they made a yummy last act. 

Zucchini Coconut Bread

Adapted from www.allrecipes.com Mom's Zucchini Bread
Makes 24 cupcakes or 12 cupcakes and 1 8x4 loaf or 2 8x4 loaves

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon coconut flavor

Directions
Put papers into 24 muffin tins or 12 and grease and flour one or two 8 x 4 inch pans.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl.
Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, cocnut flavor and sugar together in a large bowl.
Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.
Stir in zucchinicoconut and nuts until well combined.
Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake 20 minutes for cupcakes or 40 to 60 minutes for loaves, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove from pan, cool and frost with coconut creamcheese frosting.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 5 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coconut flavoring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted (optional)

Directions
Beat the cream cheese and butter in a mixer bowl until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the confectioners' sugar, one cup at a time, alternating with heavy cream.
Beat in the salt, coconut flavoring, and vanilla extract. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and spreadable.
Add additional confectioners' sugar if necessary to thicken the frosting, or more cream to thin.
Stir in the coconut.
If desired, spoon toasted coconut evenly over frosted cake.   

So What's New?

I know, I've been REALLY bad. But honest, I've been terribly busy.  One day soon, I'll reveal all, but in the meantime I want you to know that I haven't forgotten about you all, and I have been doing at least a thing or two besides slaving away in front of this computer.  So, you can see that we've not turned into slugs, some photos:

First, Anthony's first crop of Lion's Mane mushrooms!  Okay, I know it can't really be called a crop, but I'm pretty proud of him for getting this far as the conditions he has to work under are antediluvian. And they're a little hard to see inside their sterile plastic bag, but that's them, on sitting on top of their growing medium.  The second shot is the Lion's Mane just prior to being consumed.  And yes, they really do taste like lobster! 

Next: Charlotte, my five year old granddaughter graduated from Kindercare!  Her class put on a play and she was a moth.  She was so adorable I cried.  The woman to the left is my talented daughter Chandra.  She designs children's knitwear and will soon be having her designs knit in Nepal!   

Okay, so these are not really photos of anything I've been doing... and it's true I haven't been doing many fibery things lately except working a bit on current projects, but I have been baking a bit though I have not photographed everything and I did not participate in this month's Daring Bakers Challenge: Bagels.  But, from the Essence Of Chocolate  I did make the Chocolate Shortbread with Cacao nibs and sea salt.  I didn't photograph them for a reason.  They were delicious.  SO good in fact that the batch didn't survive the second day.  But they didn't turn out as neat looking squares, they puffed and were light and crumbly, which means I over beat the dough.  Sigh. That's what I get for trying to do too many things at once - lack of attention to the task at hand. You can see the cookies (done correctly) over on my talented Daring Baker Sister Anita's blog .

I also made, from the same cookbook, the Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake which was AWESOME!  I did make a couple of changes to the recipe though.  First I added extra vanilla, then I baked it in a water bath.  It came out so creamy I got weak in the knees after my first bite: always a good sign.  You can see the original recipe as well as a photo of it baked without water (and it really is pretty that way) here, at allchocolate.com.  I honestly did take photos of mine but do you think I can find them? 

Chocolate Chunk Cheesecake

Adapted from THE ESSENCE OF CHOCOLATE by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg

Makes 12 servings

If you bake it without the water bath, this cheesecake will puff when baking and may run over the rim of the suggested pan size.  Although I baked mine in a water bath, I used two pans just in case - an 8" and a 6" since I was planning on taking the little one to my daughter. The next time I bake it - I'll use a 9" pan or three 6" instead of the 8".  Why look for trouble? 

NOTE: I should tell you that baking cheesecake in a water bath results in a white top.  If you prefer a puffy brown top, bake it directly on the rack without the water, and increase the beating times to create a fluffy filling.

For the Crust

2 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs made from store-bought cookies
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Directions
In a medium bowl stir together the crumbs and melted butter. Press the crumbs into the bottom and at least halfway up the side of an 8-inch and 6 inch spring form pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 375ºF. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool on a rack. Wrap the outside of the pans carefully with a double layer of aluminum foil or a single layer of heavy duty foil.  Lower the oven temperature to 325ºF.  Put on a full kettle of water to heat it.

For the Filling

3** 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temperature*
1 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs at room temperature*
2** cups sour cream at room temperature*
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon dark rum (I'll use 2 next time)
10 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

* Having the cold ingredients at room temperature is very important.  It's the only way you'll be able to blend them without beating in too much air, thus creating a softer, creamier texture.
** This recipe creates a soft and creamy cake.  If you like your cheesecake a bit denser, use 4 8 oz packages of cream cheese and 1 cup of sour cream instead.

Directions
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, blend the cream cheese, sugar and salt on medium speed just until combined - do not beat!  Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs and beat again, just until combined. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix on low for an additional 2 minutes, or until the batter is smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl and paddle as necessary. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate.

Place the two foil wrapped pans in a large roasting pan.  Pour the batter into the crust. Spread it evenly with a small offset spatula.  place the roasting pan in the preheated oven and pour hot water into the roasting pan to halfway up the sides of the cake pans.  Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until set.  If you are using one smaller pan, you can take that one out of the oven at 1 hour and leave the second one in for an additional 15 minutes or so.  Turn off the heat, prop open the oven door with a wooden spoon, and let the cake rest in the oven for 30 minutes. (don't worry about taking the small one out early, not resting in the oven didn't affect it at all)

Remove the cheesecake from the oven and cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours to chill and firm, or preferably overnight.

Run a palette knife or icing spatula around the edge of the pan, remove the spring form ring and carefully transfer the cake to a serving plate. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until serving. The cheesecake can be refrigerated up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

I also made another batch of the diplomat cream from last month's daring baker challange (this time it came out just fine).  I baked a sheet of puff pastry, cut it into squares, mounded the diplomat cream on top, added a dollop of chantilly cream, some caramel sauce and a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.  YUM!   

So that's it for now.  See you later! 

I Scream for Ice Cream

So I haven't had time for much of anything lately except work, and in a very exciting and creative way.  And I know I still owe some of you questions for the Interview and I have not forgotten, I promise - they're coming!  But I did sneak a few rows on the second Monkey sock, now down to the foot.  And I did make a batch of Peach Ice Cream in the new Cuisinart. 

I'm not going to share the recipe because I'm unhappy with it.  I've decided I like my homemade ice cream with eggs: this recipe was without.  Otherwise the flavor was very nice.  I used a plain peach ice cream recipe from A Passion for Ice Cream (see sidebar) which I ordered from Amazon after taking it our of the library to peruse it first.  I added a vanilla bean and seeds, 1 tablespoon of dark rum and about 1 teaspoon of powdered ginger. Next time I'll add chopped crystallized ginger and MORE rum. 

Yum.

Better Late Than Never Gateau St. Honore

Well I believe I'm the last daring baker to post about this month's challenge, and I DID complete it on time.  But I made it at Anthony's aunt's house on the Chesapeake, not at home, and I dutifully brought my camera, but completely forgot the cable to hook my camera to her computer.  Grrr.... so cakes done - photo's taken - no post possible.  Sigh, isn't that always the way. 

Then work one thing and another kept me from having the time to actually sit down and type this.  And I feel rather badly about it because so far I'm two for two with the fabulous Daring Bakers.  The first challenge I participated in was April and that crepe cake.  I won't even rehash that story but I screwed it up.  Next was this month's challenge and I'm late to post.  Yikes. 

Now all that said, this last challenge was amazing.  We made Gateau St Honore. The challenge was hosted by the ever gracious and talented Helene of Tartlette. If you visit her blog you can read the recipe and access links to half of the bakers, and get the links to the rest of the daring bakers over on Anita's Blog, Dessert First . 

Helene did quite a bit of work on the recipe(s) compiling them from several top pastry chef's cookbooks and presenting them as a unified whole to us - complete with assembly illustrations which were incredibly helpful.  You get kudos for that alone Helene! 
      
Gateau St. Honore is an assembly in the grand style and tradition that the French are famous for.  This cake, in fact, is often part of the requirements for graduation from top pastry schools.  It is composed of Puff pastry, Choux pastry, Diplomat Creme, whipped cream and caramelized sugar.  Count ‘em folks - FOUR recipes for ONE cake if you count making whipped cream and caramelized sugar as recipes and since they come with instructions - I do.  So yeah, of course we had to make it ours.  Helene, bless her heart, gave us the option of making our own puff pastry or using store bought frozen dough.  Normally, I'd take the plunge and make my own, but since I was supposed to be helping A's aunt and uncle get ready for a party for 100 people at their house over the same two days I was supposed to be making this cake, I was smart enough to use the store bought stuff. 

So the morning of the cake: First I made the diplomat cream.  Easy, except I had forgotten my thermometer so I had to guess at the consistency of the cream and wouldn't you know - I didn't cook it long enough.  I was so worried about curdling the eggs (I wouldn't have time to do it again) I took it off the heat too soon.  so my Diplomat cream was closer to a Diplomat sauce.  Okay, I can deal with that - it was delicious.  Next - I unfolded the thawed puff pastry.  It looked great, smelled okay and handled nicely.  I cut out two circles and put them aside.  Next I made the choux dough.  Now I’ve done this dozens of times and have the recipe in my head.  But following Helene’s recipe, somehow my brain short circuited somewhere between the water and butter and the flour.  I read her 4 ¾ ounces as 4 ¾ CUPS!!!! You don’t even want to know what happened when I dumped 4 ¾ CUPS of flour into a cup of water and a few tablespoons of butter.  Let’s just say I got pretty close to cement.  We won't even go into why I didn't catch this goof BEFORE I dumped the flour in. Okay, so – dump THAT into the trash and start again.  Fifteen minutes later, with 4 ¾ OUNCES of flour, I had a decent cream puff dough.  Nice.  I piped rings onto the puff pastry circles and little baby cream puffs around the two cookie sheets and popped it all into the oven. 

The cream puffs did perfectly what cream puffs were supposed to do - they puffed up beautifully.  And the puff pastry just lay there – dead.  The pastries came out of the oven looking like beige Frisbees.  This was NOT nice – I was NOT happy, and I was pretty much out of time.  So I crossed my fingers, said a very sincere prayer to St. Honore, who by the way is the patron saint of bakers, which is probably a good thing since her signature cake is such a trial, whipped the cream, assembled the cakes, caramelized the sugar and drizzled it over the cream puffs on one cake, made a chocolate glaze for the cream puffs on the second cake and the extra cream puffs and prayed that no one would notice how flat the cakes were or how runny the cream was.

I had just enough time left to do the dishes before I had to get busy with party things.

The party went off without a hitch except for one minor breakdown on my part over citronella candles at Kmart. Dessert time came and we put out three pineapple upside down cakes that A’s aunt had made, birthday cupcakes, black bottom cupcakes and a big bowl of fruit salad that his cousin had made, a plate of cookies that someone brought, two gateau St Honore and a plate of mini cream puffs that I had made.  Within ten minutes later, all my work had disappeared – the serving plates were empty. 

As I wandered through the guests eating gateau, listening to ooohs and aaahs of pleasure, I was glad I hadn’t told anyone about the runny cream and flat puff pastry – no one had even noticed.  I had sneaked a slice for myself and with the exception of the tough puff pastry bottom – it was delicious.  I never would have undertaken such a rigmarole of a recipe without the Daring Bakers – but it was worth every whine and groan.  And I’ll make it again.

    

It followed me home...

No, that's a total lie.  I bought it at Costco.  I also just got Emily Luchetti's A Passion for Ice Cream from the library.  The bowl was in the freezer within five minutes of our getting home with the box.  Can you say instant gratification?  Anthony has asked for peach sorbet and I just happen to have some Cascadian farms frozen peaches in the freezer so I guess that makes him a lucky man. 

I, on the other hand, have loftier flavors in mind.  And I'm not going to tell you what I'll be making for me first, suffice it to say you've probably never had this combination of flavors before.  And I can't make it until I get back from the Jamaica VT Fiber Festival, so you (and I, ARGHHHHH) will have to wait until next week.  Sigh.   

Woman Stops Knitting - Gains 50 Pounds

Yep - I can see that headline now.  If I can't start knitting soon - I'm gonna be in big trouble.  I'm already ten pounds heavier than I was at this time last year, a fact which I'm chalking up to Menopause and not to eating pretty much whatever I wanted all winter, and I swear I can't gain another ounce because I'm NOT buying bigger pants. 

Joining the Daring Bakers really hasn't helped at all.  Not that I really thought it would, but I seriously never thought I'd be driven headlong and in a rapidly descending spiral (it's no coincidence that their little logo has that spiral on it), back into the world of butter, eggs and flour.  And chocolate.  And caramel. And of course, coincidentally, I have this tendinitis in my pinkie and can't knit or crochet.  Which leaves me with nothing to think about in my idle moments except - you guessed it - BAKING!

Though I suppose I could think about Lampwork beads and get started on that project -  But my head is in the clouds of meringue that lurk in every new blog I visit on this Daring Bakers Odyssey so glass is really out of the question at this juncture.  Let me show you how bad it is.

Yesterday, Chan, her new hubby to be and the three kids came over for barbecue.  I made Angel Food Cake for dessert (this, by the way was all that was left of it by the time I ran downstairs to get my camera). 

Chan was tickled pink when she saw it and asked me what the occasion was.  She knows that I never make Angel Food Cake unless I've been planning for it by making yolky things and and saving up the egg whites which takes my putting on my baker's cap and thinking and planning.  It doesn't happen very often.  I reminded her that I wasn't knitting.  "Oh" she said. "That's too bad".  Those four words spoke volumes - I knew what she meant. 

She meant that unless I start doing something fast - I'll have yummy baked goods coming out of my ears.  And I'll eat them too. 

Pray for me.          

Can There Be TOO Many Flavors?

Nope - never!  As Andreas Viestad, one of my favorite chefs is fond of saying "Too much of a good thing is delicious"!

So after seeing the salted caramel ice cream (that one is definitely next) on Desert Candy the rose-cardamom on Cardamom Addict and the cardamom vanilla ice cream on Tartlette and then again on Hungry in Hogtown, I just had to do it. I made the ice cream. 

Because cardamom is one of my favorite flavors (I'll have to remember to post the cardamom cookie recipe), and because I happen to have just bought a jar of Horlicks powder and because I just had a pint of the new Haagen-Daz flavor Lehua Honey, which is to die for by the way, I thought HEY - why can't I have ALL the flavors!  So I combined them all and the result was Malted Honey - Cardamom Vanilla Ice Cream!

Holey moley - it's yummy!   I churned it by hand because I don't have an ice cream maker yet, a deficiency I intend to correct next week but I just couldn't wait, so it's grainer than I'd like.  But the flavor is awesome.  I used a dark honey from a local apiary and the result was a complex, meld of warm flavors, slightly reminiscent of caramel, but with a honey high note.  The cardamom added  mystery and a slight kick and the vanilla seeds are just darn pretty.  I toasted a few broken pecans for the top and they added a wonderful toasted nutty flavor.

Sheer heaven!

The recipe, adapted from here:

Malted Honey and Cardamom-Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar (white or brown, I used white this time)
¼ c honey
¼ c Horlicks powder
8 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 small vanilla bean, split and scraped
dash of salt

Heat milk, cream, sugar, cardamom, and vanilla to 175F over medium heat.  Remove from heat, cover tightly, and let steep for 5 minutes.

Strain.  Return vanilla pods to mixture.

Slowly add a little of the hot mixture to the yolks to temper them.  Add tempered yolks to mixture, and return to medium heat, stirring constantly, until it lightly coats the back of a spoon (approx. 185F).

Strain.  Chill completely.  Churn as per maker's instructions.