Berries in a Pie

New year is a time to make a fresh start, do the undone and make things better. 2009 was a year of highs and lows for me in my culinary expeditions. Even though I discovered my passion for all things culinary, I let myself slip into monotonous life, doing the ordinary most of the time and being lazy too. 
Of course there were some highs, like learning the tricks of cake decorating which literally opened my mind to a new world,self- learning some techniques and for the first time I have started my own cookbook collection. 
So anyways this year I have made up  my mind not to let self-inhibitions take my culinary spirits away and never let any thing come in between me and my baking!! Period!!

I started off my new year with mixed berries pie. Yeah, it is not a berry season right now,but we always have strawberries or blackberries in our fridge. So why not make pie.I decided to make a lattice top for my pie. I have seen the lattice top in magazines and cookbooks, but haven't had the courage to try it. That's when I saw Elise Bauer's Simply Recipes which has an excellent step by step instructions on how to make a lattice top pie. It was like a photo diary that I never thought this was so easy and fun thing to do.

For the dough: 

Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu's TheCooks Bible

All purpose flour - 200g

Cold Butter - 100 g

Salt - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Egg - 1

Ice cold water - about 2 tsp

• Sift the flour, salt and sugar. Cut butter into small chunks.
• Rub in butter into the flour. Once done it should look like a course meal.
  
• Add egg and enough water to make the dough (Note: I didn't use the water since adding egg itself gave the right consistency.)
• Divide the dough into half, wrap and chill it for minimum of 30 min.

For the Berry Sauce:

Strawberries, hulled and halved - 1 cup

Blackberries - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cornflour - 2 tbsp

• Mix cornflour with desired amount of water to make a smooth paste.
• Place strawberries,blackberries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Heat it for 5 minutes and then add cornflour mixture.
• Cook, stirring, for 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture has thickened and heated through. Set aside.
  

How to make the pie:

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree F .
  
• Roll out half of the pie dough and lay it in the dish.
• Using the back of the finger, press the dough into the dish. Trim the excess.
• Roll out the remaining half of the pie dough and make the lattice top as demonstrated here
•  Brush the top of the pie with egg wash (1 egg beaten with a small amount of water)
  
• Bake the pie for 45 min to 1 hour and till the top becomes golden brown.
• Allow it to cool completely before digging in.
  

Cranberry Orange Nut Cake

Few weeks back, while we were on a trip, I happened to eat an orange-cranberry muffin. I was awe-struck by the richness of the cranberry and the tanginess of the orange and yet the simplicity by which the two flavors merged. Once we were back, I decided to make it. I thought of making a cake rather than a muffin. Searched in internet and got one simple recipe. I tried it was a hit. I tried the second time,even more applause. So here goes the recipe..

 

Adapted from seasonal recipes website.

 
All-purpose flour - 1-1/2 cup
Butter, softened - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 4
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Almond extract - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/3 cup
Cranberries halved - 2 cups
Almonds toasted - 1/2 cup
Grated zest of 1 orange
Icing sugar

• Pre-heat oven to 300 F. Grease and flour a cake pan.
• In a mixing bowl, combine the cranberries, almonds, orange zest and 1/2 cup flour. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in vanilla, almond, and eggs, one at a time. Set aside.
• In another mixing bowl, stir together remaining flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in cranberry mixture.
• Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the rack to cool completely.
• When completely cool, wrap cake in aluminum foil and store in a cool place for a few days to allow it to soften and the flavors to mingle.
• Before serving, dust with icing sugar.
• For best flavor, make this cake a few days before serving.

Vols-au-Vent

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.
 

This time, it was truly a challenge, since it was about making Puff pastry,something which i always ate, but never even thought of making it. So when it's time to make it, I plunged into it .
As always, my friends came along to help me and boy, it was fun. I made two savory filling - with chicken and tuna. But I have only tuna snaps to show you, since my chicken filled puffs finished as soon as I made.

Vols-au-vent
 

Ingredients
  

 Well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below) 

 Egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
 

Tuna salad filling (recipe below)

• Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside


• Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled.


• On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.
  

For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles.

• Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides.


• Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms.


• Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash.
  


• Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise).
  


• If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.


• Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)


• Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly.


• Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent.
  


• If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)


• Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for tuna salad filling.
  

Puff Pastry Dough

 
 

Recipe adapted from Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
 
  

Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

 
 
 

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  

1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. 

salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
  

1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
  

1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

 

 
 

Mixing the Dough:

• Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix.
  


• Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers.


• Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.


• Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

• Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour ( with your rolling pin, press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square.
  


• Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently.
  


• Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.


• Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. ou should now have a package that is 8" square.
  

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

 
 
 

Making the Turns:

• Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" .


• With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich


• With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.


• Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.
  

Chilling the Dough:

• If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.
  


• Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it. 

Tuna salad 

Canned Tuna - 1 small can  
Red onion - 1 small   
Garlic - 3-4 crushed   
Salt - to taste  
Pepper powder - to taste  
Mayonnaise - 1/2 cup

• Drain the water from tuna.  


• In a shallow pan, saute the onion and garlic. Add tuna, salt and pepper and heat it through.


• Once done, remove from heat and let it cool. 


• Once cooled, mix in mayo and chill it for atleast 30 min before serving.

Marshmallow Cookies for Daring Bakers

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
Well, DB wanted all of us to make marshmallows.It would have been a truly exciting challenge if I could make my own marshmallows. Unfortunately, my other commitments took my time which was set aside for my baking sessions. But then, as always DB had given an option of making cookies with store bought marshmallows and I made the cookies in an hour with lot of help from my friends :-)

My friends joined for the cookie making session. So this time around,unlike others, I had company and let me tell you, it was much more fun. The cookie itself was so yummy to eat. So, of course once it came out of the oven, we gorged couple of hot ones. The rest went for marshmallow topping. Into the oven for 5 min and out came some gooey gooey marshmallows cookies..





It was really soft to touch(and my fingers burned.) In went couple of them into our mouths. We could not wait for the finishing stage - covering it with chocolate glaze.


And what beauties they turned out to be. It was my first time making cookies and I was so overwhelmed with emotions- was damn excited,maybe jumping with joy.

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies Prep Time: 10 min; Inactive Prep Time: 5 min; Cook Time: 10 min Ingredients: All purpose flour - 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) Sugar - 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) Salt - 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder - 3/4 teaspoon Baking soda - 3/8 teaspoon Ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon Unsalted butter - 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) Eggs, whisked together - 3 Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows Chocolate glaze, recipe follows In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy. Add the eggs and mix until combine. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with cling film or parchment paper and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours. Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping. Homemade marshmallows: Water - 1/4 cup Light corn syrup - 1/4 cup Sugar - 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) Powdered gelatin - 1 tablespoon Cold water - 2 tablespoons Egg whites, room temperature - 2 Vanilla extract - 1/4 teaspoon In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar; bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag. Chocolate glaze: Semisweet chocolate - 12 ounces Butter or Oil – 2 ounces Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

I made it!! My First Daring Bakers Challenge

Looking for a challenge/inspiration to do more than baking cakes and doing desserts, I end up joining The Daring Kitchen . This site was a result of two passionate people who loves baking & blogging - Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice . As soon as I joined, I knew I came to the right place. :-) They announce a challenge every month which has to be made by the end of every month. Not only they gives the chance to venture into the unknown, I get the chance to savor the yummy results.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.



First of all, I have never seen or tasted bakewell tart! Luckily they had given snaps of the tart, so I could know that once done, my tart has to look like that.The tart had three layers - shortcrust pastry layer, jam layer and frangipane layer(I didnt know what this was till now).They had given an option to play around with jam layer.So I decided to go with Mango Chutney and Apricot Preserve.




The pastry layer was easier to make than I thought which made me wonder why didn't I make it earlier, but hey that's what daring kitchen is for :-)The Frangipane looked more like a sponge cake and even easier to make. The one which took all my time was the jam/preserve since I made the preserve by myself!! I made apricot preserve and mango chutney to go with the tart. Here goes the recipe.

Sweet shortcrust pastry
All Purpose Flour - 225 gm
Sugar - 30 gm
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Butter,cold - 110 gm
Egg yolk - 2
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Cold Water - 1-2 tbsp

• Sift together flour, sugar and salt.
• Cut cold butter into the flour mixture. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
• Lightly beat the egg yolks with vanilla extract and quickly mix into the flour mixture.
  
• Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
• Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Frangipane
Unsalted butter, softened - 125gm
Icing Sugar - 125 gm
Eggs - 3
Ground Almonds - 125 gm
All Purpose Flour - 30 gm

• Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy.
  
• Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle.
  
• After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well.
  
• The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Home-made Apricot Preserve
Canned Apricot - 2 cans
Sugar - 1/4- 1/2 cup
Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp

• Reserve 3-4 apricots aside.
  
• In a pan, add rest of the apricots with the juice and sugar. Since I bought canned apricots, I used an extra 2-3 tbsp of water.
  
• Simmer for 30-45 min until it's thickened and apricot breaks.
• Add rest of the apricots and continue simmering until they are breaks almost apart, but not completely.
• Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Home-made Mango Chutney
Mango- 3
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 5 cloves
Ginger - 1 " piece
Red Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp
Raisin - 1/4 cup
Vinegar -1 tbsp

• Peel and cut mangoes into pieces.
• In a pan, add mangoes, sugar, garlic,ginger,red chilli flakes, raisins and water.
• Simmer for 30-45 min until it's thickened. Keep stirring occasionaly.
• Once done, stir in vinegar and stir for 5 min and remove from heat.

How to assemble:

• Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
• Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base.
• Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart.
• Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking.
• Remove from the oven and cool on the counter.

Once done it sure looked like the one in the snaps they had given :-) As far as eating it, since I haven't eaten any Bakewell tart before, I didn't have anything to compare with, but well, it tasted good. That I could tell the rate by which it got finished. ;-)

It's Raining Red Velvet Cakes

Well,I'm listening to Madonna's song Jump and eating a slice of my red velvet cake. I could not have asked for more :-) This cake has been tempting me for a long time until i decided to take action and make it. Red Velvet cake is more of a celebration cake here mostly served for weddings. It has the distinct deep red color and with a white frosting make its so rich and unique. I was searching for a good recipe and then Joy of Baking came to rescue.

I followed the recipe,but I made some subtle changes/additions to it. I added baking powder to make it little more fluffy. Also I used half the amount of the red color recommended. The recipe called for buttermilk. I didn't have buttermilk, so as Stephanie of this site says I made the buttermilk by adding 1 tbsp of distilled vinegar(you can use lemon juice also) to 1 cup of milk. I intend to make cupcakes with this recipe, but ended up making a batch of cupcakes and a two layer cake. Honestly, I didn't have the patience to bake a second batch of cupcakes. But in the end it all came out well, which was what mattered.


Waiting to get baked!!

For the cream cheese frosting, I used a recipe found in a old copy of Ladies Home Journal magazine. Cream cheese is readily available in markets here. If you want to make home made cream cheese, you can try Ria's home made cream cheese



Ingredients:
For the cake:
Adapted from Joy of Baking

All purpose flour - 2 cup
Cornflour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Buttermilk - 1 cup
Red food color - 1 tbsp
Distilled vinegar - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp

For the Frosting :
Adapted from Ladies Home Journal Magazine

Cream Cheese - 150 gm
Butter - 150 gm
Icing Sugar - 2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

How to prepare the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for cakes
  
• Butter two - 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt,baking powder and cocoa powder.
  
• Beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes).
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
• In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring.
• Add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour to butter-sugar mixture
  
• In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
• Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
• Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
  
• Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour. (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

How to prepare the frosting:

• Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
• Add icing sugar and vanilla essence and beat just until combined and smooth.
  

How to assemble the cake:

• Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter.
• Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.
• Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers.
• Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Once the frosting is done, it's ready to eat!! For the cupcakes, some changes has to be done. The oven temperature should be 325 F. And bake for approx 20-25 min.



And I'm dedicating this to lovely Ria as part of her birthday celebration event. :-)

Chocolatey Cupcakes

This was my first attempt in cupcakes. I wanted to make cupcakes for a long time. And then I came across a very easy recipe, from my favorite Ina Garten's chocolate ganache cupcake. Watching her cook is such a pleasure. She uses simple ingredients and makes such beautiful dishes. I chose her chocolate ganache cupcakes this time. This asks for Hershey's chocolate syrup instead of chocolate powder or bar which makes it even more easier to make the dish.


Ingredients:

All-purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tspn
Unsalted butter,at room temperature - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs, at room temperature - 4
Hershey's chocolate syrup - 1 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tbspn
Instant coffee granules - 1 tspn

How to prepare:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners
• Sieve together four and baking powder.
  
• Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl light and fluffy.
  
• Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla.
  
• Add the flour mixture and coffee granules and mix until just combined. Don't over beat, or the cupcakes will be tough.
• Scoop the batter into the cupcake pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't over bake! Let cool thoroughly in the cupcake pan.

The original recipe also called for a ganache frosting. But even before I planned to make the ganache the cakes were finished!!