The Demise of Gourmet

The one little treat I allowed myself on moving to the US was some food magazine subscriptions. An annual one can be had here for about $15, it certainly beats €5+ per issue back in Ireland. They do come filled with direct marketing blurbs but they just go straight into the bin in my house. I went for Bon Appetit, Saveur and Gourmet. I'd only received one issue of Gourmet when the news came that Conde Nast were to halt publication, I guess Bon Appetit was the more profitable of the two magazines in their stable. Personally Gourmet has always been my favourite, the one I purchased every time I travelled across the Atlantic. They have also published some nice anthologies of writing from the first 60 years of the magazine, one of which focused solely on articles about Paris. The one issue of Gourmet I did receive was the Thanksgiving one, with its multiple variations on the theme from traditional to vegetarian. I stuck with the traditional for my first Thanksgiving and made this pecan pie.

The quantities below make enough for one full 9" pie (to bring to Thanksgiving dinner) and two mini ones (for next day leftovers!)

Pecan Pie
adapted from Gourmet magazine Nov 2009

dough
1 1/4 cups flour
1 stick butter, cold and diced
1/4 tsp salt
ice water, 3-5 tbsp

• rub butter into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs
• stir in salt (no sugar needed, the filling is sweet enough)
• add the water, starting with 3 tbsp, until dough just comes together
• wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 mins
• remove from the fridge and leave for 5 mins before rolling out
• roll out into a circle and fit into a 9" pan, trim the edge of the pastry
• use leftover pastry to line two small pie dishes
  
• chill in the fridge for 30 mins while you make the filling
  

filling
1 stick unsalted butter
1 2/3 cups light brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten lightly
10 oz pecans halves

• preheat oven to 180 C
  
• melt butter in a pan on the hob, add sugar and whisk until smooth
• remove from the heat and add the corn syrup, vanilla, zest and salt
• whisk in the eggs
• scatter pecans over tart shell and pour mixture over them
• bake until filling is set in the middle, about 50 mins
• leave to cool before slicing
  

One a Penny, Two a Penny

It wouldn't be Easter without some Hot Cross Buns. This recipe come from Delia's "Complete Cookery Course" and is also available online. I made a double batch and I doubled the quantity of mixed peel also. If you can buy the peel that comes as a large piece that you chop yourself - much better flavour and a lot less dried out.

Mince Pies

My Dad rang me in a bit of a panic on Christmas Eve "I can't find Mrs. Dunbar's pastry recipe", having made six dozen mince pies the previous weekend I could rattle this one off the top of my head. By now my mincemeat has matured nicely, much more moist than the commercial variety with an added citrusy kick.

Rich Sweet Pastry
makes enough for 15 mince pies

8oz of plain flour
2oz of icing sugar
5oz butter
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp ice-cold water
1 tsp lemon juice

• whisk together egg yolk, water and lemon juice
• sieve together flour and icing sugar
• place all ingrediants in a food processor and blend until they come together
• wrap in cling film and refridgerate for at least 1 hour before using

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and brush the tart pans with melted butter. Roll out pastry to approx 1/2 cm thick and cut rounds using a pastry cutter or glass (I like to cut bigger rounds for the base than the lids). Place the larger rounds in the base of the tart pans and add a generous teaspoon of mincemeat, cover with the smaller rounds and pinch together. Brush with egg wash and bake for 20-25 mins.

Plain Jane?

Sometimes appearances can be deceiving, this looks like a pretty boring cake but in fact it's perfect. A moist firm crumb which holds it's shape when cut and improves with age. It comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking which I picked up on my trip to Houston. I had never heard of her before I bought this but have since discovered that there are an mpressive 41 pages on egullet devoted to this book. Everything is in cups, but I weighed it all as I went along and have only given my measurements here.

Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking)
makes two 2 pint loaves

Cakes
390g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
425g vanilla sugar*
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 eggs
150 mls double cream
2 1/2 tbsp rum
210g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Syrup
85ml water
45g sugar
60ml rum

• preheat the oven to 180 deg C
• grease two loaf pans
• sift together the flour, salt and baking powder
• beat together eggs and sugar until tripled in volume
• whisk in the vanilla extract, then the cream and the rum
• fold in the dry ingrediants
• fold in the melted butter
• bake for 55-60 mins (check after 30, if the tops are getting too brown cover with foil)

Once the cakes go into the oven start making the syrup.

• stir sugar and water together over a low heat until sugar is dissolved
• bring to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the rum
• leave to cool

When cakes are cooked leave to cool for 5 mins in the tin and then unmold. Turn the right way up, pierce all over with a skewer and brush over the syrup. Work slowly with the syrup to ensure in all gets soaked up.

* I actually use vanilla sugar in pretty much all my baking. Simply chop
two vanilla pods into thirds add to the sugar and store in an airtight
jar (I use a Kilner jar as you can see). Top up the sugar and give a little
shake to mix as you go along.

Time for Cake

I'm not a great fan of Christmas cake, I find it a bit too rich and I don't like marzipan or icing either. I wasn't going to make one at all this year until I was flicking through my copy of Nigella's 'Feast' (her best book IMO) and came across this recipe which is for a lighter cake that is later topped with glazed nuts and candied fruit. It's very simple to make, I substituted apricot jam for the chestnut puree and also used brandy rather than rum - both of these are suggested by Nigella herself. Don't skip on preparing the tin, you don't want the cake getting too dark around the edges.

Easy Light Christmas Cake (adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)
525g mixed dried fruit
250g glace cherries
175g unsalted butter
250g dark brown sugar
250g apricot jam
125ml brandy
juice and zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
3 large eggs, beaten
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

• double line and grease a 10" square tin
  
• put two layers of brown paper around the outside of the tin (secured with string), it should stand 3-4" proud of the tin
  
• chop cherries in quarters and add to heavy pan along with the rest of the dried fruit
• add the butter, sugar, jam, rum, orange juice and both zests
  
• over a low heat stir until the butter has melted
• bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins
• remove from the heat and leave to cool for 30 mins
  
• preheat the oven to 150 deg C
  
• sieve together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
  
• lightly stir in the eggs and flour mix
• pour into the prepared tin
• bake for 1 3/4 - 2 hours, the cake is done when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean

Once the cake has cooled completely wrap the cake in two layers of greaseproof paper followed by two layers of tinfoil.

Baby It's Cold Outside

And what better to warm up with than a crumble? This is a very simple one from Tartlette but the addition of some cardamon to the topping brings a little extra to the mix. A big fat mug of tea in the other hand and what more could you ask for?

Cupcakes

Until today I didn't really understand the allure of cupcakes. I think I was comparing then to fairy cakes from my childhood birthday parties. But cupcakes really are in a different league, moist in the centre and topped with a creamy icing (or 'frosting' as its American originators would call it). I got both of these recipes from Lorraine's site. The chocolate ones were my personal favourites, the hint of coffee means they really are 'grown-up' cupcakes, I topped mine with a cocoa covered coffee bean. I was less successful in my icing of the lemon ones, I suggest you add the lemon juice slowly in case you have a very juicy lemon like me!!

Last of the Summer Strawberries

There are still some Irish strawberries available, on my drive back from Wexford on Saturday I passed numerous stalls selling their wares that would normally be well finished by this time of the year. If you get some good quality ones a simple recipe that showcases their beauty is best. I found this one in the Chocolate and Zucchini book by Clotilde Dusoulier, author of the blog of the same name. It's a really quirky little book and has earned a place on my shelves simply because everything in it is original and just that little bit different. The only change I made was to replace one large egg with one medium one plus another yolk which makes the filling just a little bit richer.

The pastry for this recipe is the same as she uses for her plum tart here, prepare and bake blind as she describes.

Filling:
500g strawberries
1 medium egg + 1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
120 ml milk

• whisk eggs, vanilla, sugar and cornstarch together
• bring the milk to the boil, pour it over the egg mix and whisk
• return to the saucepan and whisk over a low heat until thickened
• cool slightly and then spoon into tart shells
• leave to cool and then topped with washed, sliced strawberries
  

On the other hand if your strawberries have seen better days then I recommend this recipe from Smitten Kitten, the strawberries add that little bit of sweetness to the rhubarb (no pics as my camera was broken for the last few weeks).

Probably the best..........

Chocolate chip cookies in the world

I first came across these on Orangette's blog, though they are originally came from the New York Times. I made two batches, one with 24 hours of resting the dough and the other with 48 hours. Both were good but the second lot were a bit easier to handle. The great thing about resting the dough is that you can come home from work, stick the oven on and 15 mins later have yummy fresh cookies to hand. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter except for using ordinary plain flour for both 'flours' specified and I got 24 enormous cookies from the recipe.

P.S. I used chocolate chips that I bought in Cacoa Sampaka in Barcelona. They were great as they are really small and you get a nice, even distribution of chips throughout the cookie. Does anybody know where I can get ones like these in Ireland? (I found them in one shop but it would have been over 10 Euro for the chips for these cookies!!)

Party in the Park

Ok, the Party in the Park. My friend S decided to invite a few friends to celebrate her birthday with a picnic in Bushy Park. If you remember last Sunday in Dublin she possibly picked our one day of summer for this event. Nobody should have a birthday without a cake so I provided this one.

An American friend gave me a cookbook of cookbooks Food & Wine ‘Best of the Best’ Vol 8 (thanks BJM). I’m not a big fan of very sweet desserts. I like dark chocolate, lemon and raspberries. I especially don’t like overly sweet icing/fillings, the filling in this cake is white chocolate rather than frosting based which made it jump out at me immediately. It is originally from ‘Pure Chocolate’ by Fran Bigelow. I know my recipe is a mixture of imperial and metric - the original is in American imperial and I converted the sugar and butter to metric because I can never get my head around a 'stick' of butter!!

First things first – when a recipe has an instruction like ‘chill overnight’ it’s probably for a reason. I baked my cake on Saturday evening and simply left it out to cool overnight, as a result it was quite stick and difficult to cut. Thus my cake had slightly-less-than-perfect edges but the taste was still good. It's quite a rich cake and you will easily serve 16 from this recipe. You do need to start this the day before you intend to eat it.

Ganache Filling
½ cup double cream
8 oz white chocolate

• roughly chop chocolate and place in a bowl
  
• heat the cream until just boiling
  
• pour over the chocolate and keep stirring until it's smooth and glossy
• cover with cling film (touching the surface) and leave to cool overnight

Cake
8 oz chocolate, chopped
115g unsalted butter, softened
5 eggs, seperated
340g sugar

• preheat the oven to 150º C
  
• grease, line and grease again a 9 x 13'' swiss roll tin
• melt the chocolate
• remove from the heat, stir in the butter until the mix is glossy
• set aside to cool for 20 mins
• whisk egg yolks + 170g sugar together until tripled in volume
• fold the melted chocolate
  
• in a clean bowl whisk the egg whites until firm
  
• add the sugar and whisk until firm again
• slowly and gradually fold the egg whites into the chocolate mix
• spread the mix evenly in the pan
• bake for 25 mins
  
• CHILL UNTIL COLD IN THE FRIDGE (wrap in cling film)
  

Cake Assembly
Put the white chocolate filling in a mixer and whisk for 3-4 mins until it is lighter in colour and texture. Turn the cake out onto a cake board and cut into three lengths of equal width. Spread ½ the filling on slice 1, top with slice 2 and spread it with the remaining ½ of the filling and top with slice 3. Chill for at least and hour before proceeding.

Chocolate Ganache
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup double cream

• heat the cream until almost boiling
• pour it over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy
• put ¼ the mix in the fridge for 25 mins and leave the rest to cool at room temperature
  

Writing Icing
2 oz white chocolate
2 tsp vegtable oil

• melt chocolate
• stir in oil

Icing the Cake

Use the chilled ganache to thinly coat the top and side of the cake (this seals in the crumbs and provides a smooth surface for the rest of the ganache). Pour the rest of the ganache over the sides and then the top of the cake. For the writing icing I put it into a squeezy sauce bottle but you could use a parchment cone instead. Pipe three lines down the centre of the cake. Then using a cocktail stick draw a continuous series of figures-of-eight down the centre of the cake. Finally chill for about 2 hours so the ganache can set.

Flapjacks

We were heading over to a friend's house for Grand Prix today and I knew there would be lots of chocolate/crisps etc. provided. I'm trying to be healthy so I wanted to bring something that would be tasty and stop me grazing but not leave me eyeing up the junk food. You think flapjacks are healthy and then you see that they have 250g butter AND 250g sugar!!! So I browsed the net for some slightly heathier options. I combined advice from a few different sites and kinda made it up as I went along, replacing the butter with sunflower oil, cutting down on the sugar and adding dried apricots to keep them moist. You can add any combination of nuts, seeds and fruits that take your fancy. The tartness of the blueberries contrast well with the sweet apricots in this version.

Flapjacks
100ml sunflower oil
30g brown sugar
150g golden syrup
250g porridge oats
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
50g dried blueberries
75g dried apricots, chopped

• Melt together the oil, sugar and butter
• Stir in the remaining ingrediants
• Pour into greased tin
  
• Bake @ 180° for 15 mins
• Cool before slicing up

I made mine in a flexible silicone mould which made them really easy to get out when it came time for slicing them up.

Warm Chocolate and Raspberry Tarts

From the moment I first flicked through Claire Clark’s "100 Perfect Desserts" I have wanted to make these. It’s a well-known combination but there is just something special about chocolate and raspberry. I just needed a dinner when there would be more than just me and The Doc. Once we had been invited to his parents for Sunday dinner I immediately offered my dessert making abilities.

My previous experiences with chocolate pastry have been a bit hit and miss, it can be very delicate and prone to breaking but this pastry crust is a dream to work with. I managed to roll it out really thin with ease, resulting in a crisp crust (you really do have to get the pastry thin when making individual tarts in order to get the optimum crust to filling ratio).

The chocolate filling is really a variation on chocolate mousse and I can confirm that it tastes good all by itself. It doesn’t set firm, as you break the crust with a spoon there is an unctuous flow of chocolate, so I wouldn’t advise scaling this up to a big tart. I served mine with crème frâiche which I much prefer it to cream with rich chocolate desserts; I just feel that it cuts nicely through the richness.

This would make a really wow dessert for a dinner part, all the constituent parts can be assembled well in advance and the tarts then just need 8 mins in the oven to finish them off.

Pastry:
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g icing sugar
1 large egg
¼ tsp vanilla extract
225g plain flour
25g cocoa
Pinch salt

• Cream together butter and sugar
• Beat together egg and vanilla
• Add in stages to butter/sugar mix, beat well between each addition
• Sieve in flour, cocoa and salt
• Bring together with your hands
• Rest in the fridge for 30 mins

• Roll out on a lightly floured surface
• Cut out 8 15-cm diameter circles to line 10-cm individual tart dishes
• Rest again in the fridge for 15 mins
• Line tartlets with greaseproof paper and baking beans
• Bake @ 160°C for 15 mins
• Remove beans and bake uncovered for a further 10 mins

Filling:
400g raspberries
3 eggs
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter
300g good-quality 70% chocolate

• Whisk together eggs, egg yodlks and sugar until tripled in volume (you really need an electric whisk for this unless you are looking for a sore wrist)
• Melt together butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water
• While it is still warm fold the chocolate mix into the eggs

• Place 6-8 raspberries in each tart shell
• Spoon over the chocolate filling and level with the back of a knife
• Bake @ 180°C for eight minutes until the middle still retains a little wobble
  

Afternoon Tea

My friend S was visiting for tea and a chat on Saturday afternoon so of course I had to provide something to much on. The kind of cake that goes with tea at 3pm is quite different from the kind you have for dessert, something simple yet tasty is what is called for on these occasions. Clotilde's Gâteau au Yaourt has been on my to-bake-list since I got my copy of her book last summer, however I felt that it need some addition. Then I remebered that Caroline at Bibliocook enhanced hers with pistachio nuts and lemon zest and I decided that this was the way to go, I went with Clotilde's quantitites as she has them in metric in her book.


80ml vegtable oil
250g whole milk natural yoghurt (I used Glenisk, but be careful as the packaging for the whole milk and low fat versions is very similar)
200g sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
a handful of shelled pistachio nuts, chopped
240g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bread soda pinch of salt

• grease a 22-cm springform pan with some of the oil
  
• beat together yogurt and sugar, add the eggs one at a time
• beat in the remaining oil and the vanilla
• gently fold in the lemon zest and the nuts
• sieve together the flour, baking powder, bread soda and salt
• fold gently into the cake mix
• bake at 180 degrees for 35-40 mins
  

As you can see from the picture above mine was a tad overcooked even though I did a bare 35 mins at 170 degrees (turned it down ten as I have a fan oven). My oven is brand new so I must remember to bear it's efficiency in mind in the future!

Almond Slices

My granny used to make these yummy almond slices and lo and behold when making my mince pies this year I glimpsed a recipe on the back on the packet of flour. Yesterday was a stormy day, bitterly cold and lashing rain. A good day for baking something comforting to go with that cup of tea.

It wouldn't be me if I didn't fiddle around with the prescribed recipe, for a start I replaced the margarine with butter as I hate the feeling that you get when the margarine coats the top of your mouth. Next it called for 2 tbsp of jam - I needed 1/2 jar to cover the base with a thin layer.

Almond Slices (adapted from recipe on Odlums flour packet)

Base:
175g plain flour
pinch of salt
75g unsalted butter
2-3 tbsp cold water

Topping:
200g jam
125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
75g plain flour
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract

flaked almonds to decorate

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees
  
• Sieve flour and salt together
• Rub in butter until it resembles breadcrumbs
• Add just enough water for the dough to come together
• Roll dough out and line a Swiss Roll tin (it will look like it couldn't possibly stretch that much but persevere - it will)
• Spread jam over dough in a thin layer
• Melt remaining butter and stir in sugar, ground almonds and flour.
• Beat in eggs and almond extract
• Pour topping over jam (again it will look like you don't have enough - it does rise in the oven)
• Sprinkle over flaked almonds
• Bake for 18-20 mins
  

Chocolate Yule Log

I'm starting the New Year with a Christmas recipe. I made this Chocolate Yule Log for Christams Eve and again for a family gathering yesterday. It's inspired by a recipe in the December issue of Delicious magazine where the creamy chocolate filling is offset by the sharp tang of cranberries. I prefer a lighter sponge so I used a version from Good Food (Dec 06) which whisks the egg whites separately. On Christmas Eve I didn't have the required amount of cream so I reduced the ganache by 1/3 - there was still loads - and I have continued to use these proportions.

Sponge:
5 eggs
140g light brown sugar
100g self-raising flour
25g good-quality cocoa

• preheat oven to 190 deg
• butter an line a Swiss roll tin
• Beat together egg yolks, sugar and 2 tbsp water until light and thick
• Sieve in flour and cocoa and fold in lightly
• Whisk egg whites until still and fold gently into cake mix in 3 batches
• Bake for 10-12 minutes and turn out onto some clean greaseproof paper
• Leave to cool and roll up tightly in the greaseproof paper (along the long edge)
  

Cranberries:
200g fresh/frozen cranberries
75g caster sugar
2 tbsp water

• Put 3 ingrediants in a saucepan and heat together gently until cranberries pop
• Leave to cool
  

Filling:
450ml cream
300g good-quality chocolate

• Break chocolate up and place in a bowl
• Warm 300ml cream up to boiling point and pour over the chocolate
• Whisk gently until chocolate is melted - leave to cool
• Whisk reamaining cream into soft peaks - fold in 5 tbsp of the cooled ganache

Unroll the sponge and spread with the chocolate cream and then the cranberries. Roll up tightly, I then cut 1/3 of the log at an angle and placed it at the side to resemble a log. Spread over the cooled ganache, I put some greaseproof paper around the log to catch any ganache that drips down.


The sponge can be made a few days ahead - or even frozen for up to 3 months. It was reported that the first log tasted even better 2 days later - the second one didn't last long enough for me to test this hypothesis!