Chocolate pistachio swirls

Time for more fun with croissant dough! Thinking along the lines of pain au chocolat , how about using the classic chocolate batons in smaller pieces to create a chocolate pistachio swirl? Sure thing!

I’ve been using Callebaut’s chocolate baking sticks ever since my Paris internship days at Pascal Pinaud’s pâtisserie on rue Monge in the 5th arr. The box in the shop looked EXACTLY like this and here I am 13 years later still buying the same brand. They’re delicious and hold up well during baking - the only problem is that Steve likes to snitch a couple every day for that oh so needed chocolate fix.

I love making petite pain au chocolat with my basic croissant dough. Just the right size for a treat along side one’s morning coffee.

For this project I took a slightly different approach. I had a full batch of dough on hand but, since I wanted to bake some straight-up all butter croissants for the freezer (croissant aux amandes here we come!), I used a half batch for those and the other for my choco-pistachio swirls.

I made a pistachio version of crème d’amandes by replacing the almond flour with toasted and ground pistachios. Blend butter and sugar, add in the ground pistachios, blend in egg and a bit of flour and you’re ready.

I prepped my muffin tins by buttering and coating with raw sugar.

I spent a few minutes plotting the size to which I wanted to roll the dough out as well as the width of each spiral. Turns out I used 1/3 portions (~1 inch wide pieces) of the chocolate batons to create my spirals.

I planned 9 swirls from a half batch of dough. Roll the dough out to ~ 9 inches wide and ~ 12 inches high. Spread a layer of pistachio cream over the dough and place 4 rows of the 1” baton pieces across the dough, spacing the rows about 3 inches apart as seen below.

Cut one inch strips, roll them up and tuck them cut side up in the prepared muffin tins.

Cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap and let the spirals rise about 45 minutes. You should appreciate some poof and greater prominence of the laminations.

About 20-30 minutes before baking heat the oven to 375ºF.

Bake approximately 20-25 minutes until golden brown and the pistachio cream is set. I typically bake 10 minutes, rotate my pan and, depending on the degree of browning, I may reduce my oven temp to 350ºF to finish the process.

I find that when baking these in a muffin tin, even when the visible portions of the swirls look nicely browned, once I pop them out of the pan there can still be paleness to the sides and bottoms. If so, I transfer the swirls (OUT of the tin) onto a parchment lined sheet pan and put them back in the oven at 325ºF for another 5-10 minutes to finish off the baking and have a nicely golden end result. It’s a bit more fuss but it does the trick.

Another way to approach this is to use buttered 80 mm open rings instead of a muffin tin or simply space the pastries an inch and a half or so apart on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake them unfettered by any type of form. They’ll probably unfurl a bit as they expand but will be “held” by their neighbors.

Once cooled (or even when still a bit warm!) enjoy with a fresh cup of coffee or your favorite tea. No fancy plated shot here - just go for it!

Flaky, buttery, pistachio-y with just the right balance of chocolate. Good and good for ya as Steve loves to say!

Stay home and happy baking! We’ll get through this yet folks.

Orange olive oil cake

My baking focus during these self isolation/shelter-in-place days has revolved around ingredients on hand that I’d like to use up or at least pare down - white whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, potato flour, semolina, rolled oats, coconut milk, coconut chips, a lime, rum, almond paste, dried cranberries, sesame seeds, chocolate batons, oranges/zest just to name a few.

So far I’ve made chocolate pistachio swirls (stay tuned), coconut pound cake with coconut ice cream (coming up soon), Danish dough destined for almond Kringle (I’ll write about that too), chocolate chunk cookies (whole wheat pastry flour), white whole wheat sandwich bread, cranberry-walnut whole grain bread & rolls (oats, whole wheat flour, sesame seeds), potato dinner rolls (potato flour) and pizza dough (white whole wheat, semolina). Who knows what else I’ll be getting myself into.

Boy oh boy. We, our neighbors and our freezer are all the better for it!

On to the task at hand. Some months ago I purchased Food52’s “Genius Desserts” - chock full of tempting treats, wonderful inspiration and so many recipes to try. This orange olive oil cake is one of them. Credited to NYC restaurant Maialino, part of the Union Square Hospitality Group owned by Danny Meyer (now hit hard by COVID-19 like so many others), the cake was developed by a former pastry chef there, Rachel Binder. The link I’ve given you takes you to the current recipe for said cake by the present pastry chef, Geoffrey Koo - very much like the one printed in “Genius Desserts” with a few tweaks in ingredient portions.

Described as having “a crackling crust” and a center that is close to pudding-like, it’s an easy one to put together. Buuuuutttt . . . . . first let’s take a quick detour.

I’ve been meaning to tell you about a local business here in Grand Rapids. It’s called Long Road Distillers and boy do they make some good stuff. They’ve got award winning spirits and plenty of inventive cocktails (usually available at their retail/restaurant space until the current crisis), but we particularly enjoy their amaro and liqueurs. We even took several bottles to the UK as hostess gifts last fall.

They’re available from a number of wine and spirits vendors around town, plus Long Road is offering online ordering/pickup now as well. And to top it all off we recently learned that they’re now contributing to the COVID fight and making hand sanitizer - how cool is that??!!

The Michigan fruit liqueurs are great in Swiss meringue butter cream and basic crème pâtissiére, or joined with vanilla extract in fruity cakes or blended into crème d’amandes for a baked almond fruit tart or cherry-berry version of croissant aux amandes.

The Amaro Pazzo (pazzo means crazy in Italian) is a wonderful coffee essence’d digestif made with Madcap Coffee, another local GR company. And the green walnut Nocino is superb. Hmmm . . . . how about those in buttercream too? Add it to the to-do list!

Time for cake.

The recipe calls for Grand Marnier or Cointreau, well known orange liqueurs, but I had neither on hand so decided to use Long Road’s raspberry just because I could.

I’ve been eating a lot of oranges lately and, since I don’t like to waste any citrus, I zest them before sectioning and store the zest packets in my freezer - et voilà, I have orange zest at the ready. Needless to say I have a LOT of orange zest on hand.

I’m giving you the recipe as presented in “Genius Desserts” but you can also click on the Maialino link above for the current recipe.

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9-inch round, 2-inch deep cake pan, and line the bottom with a round of parchment.

Do your mise and have a medium bowl and a medium-large one on hand. You’ll blend dry ingredients in one and wet in the other.

Dry: In a medium bowl blend 260 g / 2 cups all purpose flour (feel free to sub in 50-60 g or so as whole wheat pastry flour); 350 g / 1.75 cups sugar; 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

Wet: In a medium-large bowl blend 285 g / 1.33 cups extra virgin olive oil; 300 g / 1.25 cups whole milk; 3 large eggs; 1.5-2 tablespoons orange zest (the more the merrier I always say); 60 g / 1/4 cup freshly squeezed OJ; 1/4 cup liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau - I used Long Road’s raspberry liqueuer instead.

Now blend the dry ingredients into the wet, and scrape into the prepared pan.

Note: My springform seemed a tad askew (I’ve had it a long time), and I could see light coming through along one of the bottom edges. Since this is a pretty wet batter, I wrapped foil around the outside of my pan to insure against leakage. It worked.

Bake about an hour until the top is golden, the center set and you have a dry or few crumb-ed tester poked in the middle. I baked mine 10-15 minutes longer than suggested since I could still see a bit of gooey-ness in the top cracks until finally I achieved the tester result I wanted. Moist is good, gooey and under baked isn’t.

Cool in the pan about 20-30 minutes then un-mold and cool completely.

Once sliced, the moist nearly pudding like center is clearly appreciated, making one harbor some concern as to whether it baked long enough. But do not fear - all is well.

For our initial taste test, I sliced a couple of thin portions to try au naturel. With a tender yet dense crumb, the olive oil and lovely hint of orange offer a completely different experience than a basic butter-made cake. The flavor is hard to describe - at first one questions its uniqueness, but then it starts to grow on you and becomes almost ethereal.

Next I accompanied it with lightly sweetened whipped cream and some fresh berries. What a delicious combo! I must admit that the raspberry liqueur didn’t provide that particular essence to the cake but that’s OK. Come to think of it, I could have drizzled some over the berries and cream!! Duh. Next time.

Of course Steve and I have to ask ourselves “what are we going to do with all of this?”. Well, as it turns out, we were experiencing a particularly beautiful day and some of our neighbors had social distanced themselves into lawn chairs out in the street. At another appropriate distance we set up a small table and brought out a tray of individual servings of cake with berries and cream for all to enjoy. Each person could approach safely, pick up their own and head back to their chair. What a great way to share!

As always, stay home, stay safe, stay healthy.

Savory cheesy quick bread

This one is thanks to my French teacher here in Grand Rapids, Rita Selles. Even though I have’t taken classes for awhile now, I certainly enjoyed our group sessions, learned a lot and still do my best to practice speaking en Français with myself when I’m out for my daily walks.

A few years back, at the end of our fall session of classes, we all brought something to eat as a mini holiday celebration. Rita provided this savory cake (is it bread or cake?), and I immediately asked her for the recipe. It’s one that you can suit to your own tastes using different veggies and cheese.

I opted for Rita’s suggestion of diced, sautéed zucchini, a vegetable I don’t often use. Truth be told Steve and I are avid broccoli/cauliflower fans pretty much all year long but also rejoice at the fresh green beans, juicy tomatoes and succulent sweet corn that we’re able to acquire at our local Fulton Farmer’s Market each summer.

For my loaf pan I used my mom’s longer/narrower aluminum Mirro brand pan that she’s had for beaucoup years (click the link for Wikipedia’s interesting history of the company, now defunct). I love the shape compared to a standard, wider 8 or 9 inch loaf pan - it reminds me of what might be called a “tea loaf” pan. Now that she’s living in her lovely apartment at Pilgrim Manor, her meals are provided and her baking days are a fond memory for all of us. Those blueberry and apple pies - man oh man! But I digress.

Lightly butter the loaf pan, line with parchment then lightly grease the paper as well. Heat the oven to 400ºF.

For your mise en place weigh/portion out 250 g / scant 2 cups all purpose flour; 8 g / ~1 tablespoon baking powder; 120 ml / 1/2 cup heavy cream; 60 ml / 1/4 cup milk (whole, 2% or !% all work) OR, as in my case, I used whole milk ricotta instead; 3 large eggs; 140 g / 5 ounces cave aged gruyère; one medium zucchini; 1 teaspoon herbes de provence (or herb of choice); pinch of sweet paprika; salt and pepper to taste.

Grate the gruyère and set aside. Dice up the zucchini, heat a bit of olive oil in a sauté pan and stir fry it for several minutes to soften and brown it a bit. Let cool.

Mix the flour, baking powder, paprika, salt, pepper and herbes de provence in a medium bowl. Add the eggs, cream, ricotta and blend then stir in the cheese and zucchini. Pretty straight forward.

Transfer the thick batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth. I grated some extra cheese on top too.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean. Ooooh -eee look at that cheese!

I let it cool for 10-15 minutes, then turned it out of the pan onto a wire rack to finish that process.

Once cooled, Steve and I did our requisite taste test - yup it’s good all right!

We enjoyed a few slices with a hearty, bean-y chili that evening. For another meal Steve toasted a couple of slices up, put ‘em in the bottom of a shallow bowl and topped them with another tomato bean concoction with some pieces of grilled pork. Perhaps you don’t know this, but he is THE leftover king of the house!

The bread kept well wrapped for 2-3 days as we nibbled our way through it. Warmed a bit with a schmear of ricotta and some chopped roasted tomatoes for lunch wasn’t too shabby either.

As Rita suggests, try your own version with different sautéed or roasted veggies, add some chopped black olives, take it up a notch with some crisp bacon bits or sub in your favorite grating cheese. How about some toasted and chopped nuts like pecans or pistachios? I’m liking this. I hope you will too.

As usual during these times in which we find ourselves, stay safe, be well and enjoy the simple things. And remember - spring is coming!

Sablés au parmesan et pecan

Cheese and nuts - mmmm, mmmm good!

Here’s the question: how about the real deal Parmagiano-Reggiano from The Cheese Lady along with toasty pecans combined in a luscious shortbread cookie, one of my favorite baked treats? A big YES from this corner of the planet.

Over the years I’ve made the occasional savory shortbread, a couple of my favorites being honey herbes de provence and nutty rosemary. Such wonderful marriages of sweet, salty and herby all rolled into one. So when I was presented with another savory take on the buttery, crumbly cookie I love so much, I had to give it a go.

This one comes from La Cuisine de Mercotte , a blog I was first made aware of several years ago thanks to Parisian friend Valerie, a classmate of mine (and a translating life saver in the practical kitchen!) during the basic pastry course at Le Cordon Bleu back in 2006. Val, an engineer by profession, had previously lived in Las Vegas for 5 years and speaks English like an American, so I was often able to turn to her for language assistance during those early days of incomprehension.

The blog is orchestrated/written by Jacqueline Mercorelli, (a.k.a. Mercotte) a well known French food critic, blogger and gastronome. Full of recipes, tips and techniques, it’s available in English too!

This Mercotte shortbread recipe calls for parmesan and black garlic, something I didn’t even know existed. Since I didn’t have that particular ingredient, why not use pecans instead!

Nothing fancy or difficult about this one folks. Make the dough, divide and log it up, wrap/chill then slice and bake when you’re ready. I had planned on baking these for a March 20th appetizer event, but since that was canceled due to the current health crisis, the logs went into the freezer to be baked at a later date. They’ll keep a good 3-4 months.

Get started by doing your mise en place: 160 g / 11.5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and softened; 250 g / scant 2 cups all purpose flour; large pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper to taste; 150 g / 5.2 ounces grated Parmagiano-Reggiano; 60 g / ~1/4 cup lightly toasted pecans, cooled and finely chopped; have on hand a splash of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of water..

Once you have everything ready to go (don’t forget to grate that cheese and toast/cool/chop those nuts!), place the butter, flour, salt and pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend on low, adding the parmesan and pecans soon after and continuing to blend.

As the dough becomes more crumbly, stop the mixer, pick up a handful and see if it holds together. If still pretty crumbly, add a splash of heavy cream and 2 teaspoons of water. Continue to blend for a minute or two and test again. The dough should hold together. NOTE: after making this dough a couple of times, going forward I plan to routinely use the cream and water - it works!

Divide the dough into four portions and form each into a compact log about one inch in diameter (or a bit larger if you’d like) and about 7-8 inches long. Wrap snugly in plastic wrap and chill for several hours or overnight. Remember you can freeze them too!

The recipe yields about 65 cookies, depending on the diameter you choose.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 400ºF. Line a half sheet pan (or two if baking all the dough in one go) with parchment paper. Slice the log(s) into 1 cm slices and place on the prepared sheet(s).

Bake 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool and enjoy.

Set out your own appetizer platter with toasted nuts, assorted cheeses and jams to go along with these buttery gems. I think you’ll like them!

Stay safe, shelter in place and be well.

Orange pecan crumble pull apart rolls

This one is great fun! Add some spices to your favorite sweet roll dough, let it rise, roll it out, spread with an orange zesty sugar/butter filling, cut it into squares and create your own pull-apart shapes. Top it off with a nutty pecan crumble and you’ll be happy you did!

The dough I used is easy to work with, soft and pillowy and quite delicious. The yield is either 7 or 9 rolls depending on how many squares of dough you use per roll to create your version (as you’ll see coming up). Note - the images below show ingredients and steps for my base recipe test batch with a 9 roll yield.

Base recipe: put 120 ml / 1/2 cup whole milk in a microwaveable container (a 2 cup Pyrex measurer works well here), heat just to boiling then add 56 g / 2 ounces cubed, unsalted butter to the milk. Stir to melt the butter and let the mixture cool to tepid ( ~105ºF).

Now add 1 lightly beaten large egg and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract to the milk/butter mixture and keep it on standby.

In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 130 g / 1 cup all purpose flour, 130 g / 1 cup bread flour, 50 g / 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar, 5 g active dry or instant yeast, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch (or more to taste) of cinnamon and, in my case, I threw in some vanilla powder that I had made by grinding down and sifting some dried vanilla beans. Even though there’s vanilla extract in the dough, I figured a dash or two of the powder would only enhance the flavor.

Stir in the milk mixture and mix with either the paddle or a large spatula or wooden spoon until combined.

Fit the mixer with the dough hook and knead on low speed for about 6-7 minutes until smooth and elastic. Or knead by hand for about 12-14 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly buttered bowl . . . .

cover with plastic wrap and let rise for anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple of hours depending on the ambience of your room. You’re looking for about double in size.

While the dough is rising make the filling by blending 66 g / 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons orange zest, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and 42 g / 3 tablespoons soft unsalted butter.

For this test batch I wasn’t sure what pan/form would be best for what I had in mind, so I did some comparisons with standard muffin tin, individual cake pan and panettone paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gently de-gas then roll it out to a 9”x9” square. Spread the filling over it then cut into thirty-six 1.5” squares.

Stack 4 squares together (for a yield of nine rolls) and tuck ‘em into buttered and sugared pans (FYI - no need to butter and sugar the panettone paper).

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them rise for about an hour. About 30 minutes before you plan to bake, heat the oven to 375ºF.

Top with pecan crumble before baking.

Note: for the crumble combine 60 g all purpose flour, 60 g sugar and 60 g cold, diced butter. Sand the butter into the dry ingredients to achieve coarse crumbs and add in anywhere from 30 - 60 g toasted, then chopped pecans, depending on how nutty you like your topping. I usually double or triple any crumble I make so I can stash the rest in the freezer for another time. Nothing like planning ahead.

Bake from 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Each form yielded a slightly different end result. Not being rigid, the panettone paper roll skewed into an oblong pull apart, while the individual cake pan held the dough nicely in place.

The standard muffin tin, being more shallow than the cake pan, allowed for more rising and flaring out of the dough, kind of like one of those wide curved balloon-y kind of kites that billow out into a big, rippled rectangle.

Once out of the pan, they almost pulled themselves apart!

The taste test received a big thumbs up from both Steve and myself, and I knew I wanted to make these again.

This time I doubled the dough batch (here’s the recipe PDF) and rolled out each HALF of the dough into the 9”x9” square, spread on the filling and cut the thirty-six 1.5” squares. NOTE: I found it easier to work with the 9” square portions then a full double batch of dough.

I had done a bit of calculating and decided to use 5 pieces for each pull apart (for a yield of 7 rolls per dough half or a total of 14), arranging them more as a flower than a rectangular stack. I buttered and sugared my individual cake pans and tucked the pieces in an overlapping, rough swirl fashion. Having a couple of extra squares of dough, I tucked those in where they seemed to be most needed.

Since I own only 12 of the aluminum Fat Daddio cake pans (which I LOVE!), I used 2 ramekins to fill the bill.

After the rise they also received the pecan crumble top . . . .

and baked up like a dream.

After 5-10 minutes of cool time I gently loosened the edges with an offset spatula and popped them out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Boy are these babies good! I made these as part of a pastry assortment for a neighbor’s Saturday morning gathering, and the followup reports were A+. Steve and I enjoyed some of the extras, plus a few went into the freezer for later. They kept well for a day or two in a covered container and were even better with a few minutes warm up in a 325º oven.

Love that pull-apart feature! I’m already planning another round soon.

In the meantime Steve and I are wishing everyone calm days and peaceful nights as we continue to try to understand what’s happening in our world day by day.

Saint Angel tart

Along the lines of the tarte au fromage blanc that I made during the summer of 2018 as part of my baking with cheese series, this Claudia Fleming inspired tart is reminiscent of a soufflé, using a pastry cream base to which is added triple crème cheese and a lightly whipped meringue. Yum!

In preparation for this project I returned to our favorite cheese shop, The Cheese Lady, here in Grand Rapids. Steve and I never turn down an opportunity to drop by to chat, taste and buy (and they sell some great wines to boot). Love it!

After tasting a few triple crème options I went for Saint Angel, a creamy cow’s milk cheese from the D’Affinois group. It has a lovely, slightly nutty taste with just a hint of salt - perfect for a tart just like this one.

I used my favorite pâte sucrée d’amandes with the addition of ~ 60 g of toasted and coarsely chopped hazelnuts (following Claudia’s lead) for the crust. Below is the lined tart ring before blind baking.

By the way, the base dough recipe makes enough for two 9-inch tarts so I simply wrapped and froze the portion I didn’t use. Nothing wrong with that!

The tart shell can be blind baked at 325ºF and set aside for several hours before filling or even frozen a few days ahead to give your project a jump start before the day you wish to serve it.

With your blind baked shell at the ready, heat your oven to 350ºF.

For the filling I prepared a HALF recipe of my basic crème pâtissière using 3 large eggs, divided - yolks for the crème and whites placed into the bowl of a stand mixer and set aside. Once the crème has cooked and thickened, blend in 283 g/10 ounces Saint Angel cheese (rind removed and cut into pieces), then strain into a large bowl and set aside.

Using the whisk attachment, whip the 3 egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy then slowly shower in 150 g/3/4 cup granulated cane sugar. Once all of the sugar is added, whip on high speed until medium stiff peaks form.

Gently fold a third of the beaten whites into the triple crème mixture, then fold that mixture back into the remaining meringue in two additions.

Transfer the filling into the baked tart shell . . . .

and bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed and golden.

You can certainly plan to serve this soon after baking, yet knowing full well that it would collapse, I opted for letting it do just that, cool down and then give it a try.

Delicious, light, creamy, a hint of salt and a sublime taste treat indeed.

Thinking about accompaniments to a good triple crème cheese, I tried a dollop of cherry jam on top - not bad although Steve wasn’t a big fan. Otherwise toasted nuts, a drizzle of honey, roasted fruits/fruit compotes, berry sauces or coulis would be deelish too! Give it your own spin.

Good news! The tart held up well in the fridge (covered) for the next couple of days. Hurray!

Here’s to everyones health, safety and getting through the uncertainties in today’s world. Take care all of you.

Apple pie tart

It’s a pie! No wait, it’s a tart! What?? Frankly, it kinda looks like some kind of coral reef creature.

For a recent supper at cousin Jen’s, I was in the mood to make something apple. Besides that, I had sprung for a bottle of boiled cider from King Arthur Flour and was so ready to try it out. It’s made in Springfield VT, a state which Steve and I called home for nearly 12 very enjoyable years.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve most likely realized by now that I LOVE reading baking and pastry books, comparing recipes and techniques and continuing to gain knowledge about this craft. They give me much pleasure and inspiration to boot! Some of my faves are FOOD 52’s “Genius Desserts” and anything by Rose Levy Beranbaum. They are chock full to overflowing with cool stuff.

As I approached this apple project I reviewed apple pie recipes (again!) from “Tartine”, “Art of the Pie”, “The Baking Bible” as well as “Genuis Desserts”. GD’s is essentially a review of RLB’s recipe for fruit pies, creating a filling with concentrated flavor by cooking down the juices. I’m IN!

In my fall 2018 post on a couple of apple/pear/berry tarts, I followed Tartine’s method of cooking the apples in butter and sugar first then draining off the liquid and cooking that down. They were deelish! The Genius Desserts/Rose LB approach is a bit different - macerating but not cooking the fruit, then reducing down the drained off liquid to a lovely caramel.

Here goes! This go-around I used a combo of Granny Smith and Jonagolds. Years ago I used to think peeling and coring apples was such a chore, but it’s amazing how one can get into a rhythm and actually make a bit of sport out of it, racing against the clock to see how fast you might finish. It’s so satisfying!

Once the 2.5 pounds of apples for a 9-inch tart are peeled and cored, slice them up into ~1/4 inch slices and toss them in a large bowl with 50 g light brown sugar (or dark if you prefer), 50 g granulated sugar, a tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, some freshly grated nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cover and allow to sit a room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to three hours to juice ‘em up.

In the meantime take your favorite pâte brisée, roll it out about 1/8” thick and line your chosen tart pan or pie plate. I chose an open 220 mm tart ring this time, and since I planned a lattice top I made sure I had a 2-crust quantity of dough on hand. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and hold in the fridge until ready to fill.

I rolled out the dough for my lattice as well, cut my strips and held them in the fridge until ready for final assembly. I thought I’d be creative and cut curvy pieces, but, when it came time to create my lattice, the strips didn’t really feel like staying very curvy until I coaxed them into submission. I made the best of it and it worked out just fine and dandy.

Ready to finish the filling! Transfer the apple mixture to a colander set over a bowl and let drain to release anywhere from 1/2 - 1 cup liquid. Sounding good already.

Pour the juice into a small saucepan along with 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and bring to a boil. Cook until caramelized and reduced to about 1/3 cup. Then I added a tablespoon or so of boiled cider to intensify the apple flavor.

Transfer the drained apples back into the large bowl and mix them with 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of cornstarch.

Place a baking stone or empty sheet pan on the bottom rack of your oven and heat to to 425ºF.

In the meantime blend the reduced apple caramel liquid into the apples and transfer it all into the lined tart ring. Create the lattice, trim, tuck and crimp or flute the edges. Brush with milk and sprinkle with raw sugar. Hold in the freezer while the oven heats.

Bake approximately 50-55 minutes. If your crust edges are browning too quickly, place an aluminum foil ring over them. Watch for bubbling juices and tender fruit when poked with a small, sharp knife. My pie-tart baked about an hour before I was happy with the bubbles and texture. Looking pretty tasty!

One problem with this baby is that a small section of the crust bottom and edge seemed to collect a lot of juice and didn’t bake through. It was also an interesting challenge to get it out of the tart ring. I ended up cutting a cardboard round slightly smaller in diameter, slid it under the pie/tart and lifted it up and out of the ring. Whew. Maybe a solid pie plate or lovely fluted ceramic pie dish next time, eh?

No matter - it was delicious, the boiled cider adding just the right tang and deep apple flavor. A classic, particularly topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Always remember - there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

Now can’t you just imagine the hint of spring just around the corner? It won’t be long folks. Happy baking!

Rye buns

These buns are a true delight! Based on a recipe from “Brontë at Home: baking from the Scandi Kitchen” by Brontë Aurell, they come together like a dream, are great for any type of sandwich, have a lightness about them yet are sturdy enough to hold up to the juiciest grilled burger (which Steve’s tend to be!).

We’ve discovered that they’re great with most any sandwich you can dream up - one of our favorites is thinly sliced dried beef from our local Kingma’s market (no not the stuff you buy in packages in the cold meat section) with crisp lettuce and a schmear of mayo - yum! And a bit of cheddar never hurt either!!

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: in Aurell’s book she mentions these buns are especially good for Biff Lindström. Now what in the world is that I ask? Biff is the Swedish word for beef and, as it turns out, there’s a Swedish specialty named after one Henrik Lindström, a prominent industrialist back in the 1800s. It’s a fried burger made with ground beef, egg, onion, pickled beetroot and a bit of its juice, capers, seasonings (salt and pepper) and optional chopped chives. Hmmm . . . . not being a beet fan, I’m not sure I’ll go for that one, but you might like it - you never know!

Even though they’re called rye buns and contain dark rye flour, these buns have only the teensiest hint of rye flavor. That’s neither good nor bad, just a simple observation.

For this project I used Bob’s Red Mill, a line of wonderful flours readily available at local markets around here. While I’m a big fan of King Arthur Flour’s range of products and can buy the standards (i.e. all purpose, bread, whole wheat, white whole wheat, self rising and even the sprouted wheat) at the grocery store, their specialty flours have to be ordered from the company which obviously requires some planning ahead. Cue Bob’s - yes!

The range of rye flours available go from white/light rye, medium rye, dark rye and pumpernickel. Here’s a great overview of rye from King Arthur Flour. Since rye flour doesn’t contain as much gluten as its wheat flour counterparts, for a better rise and lighter texture it’s best to combine it with all purpose. Using all rye flour makes for a dense loaf, plus the larger percentage of rye you use in your bread, the slower the rise.

No matter - this recipe works. You can accomplish it in a morning or afternoon and have fresh buns for supper. What’s not to like. Here’s the link to the recipe in PDF form.

I use instant yeast as my go to dried yeast. It doesn’t require jump starting in tepid liquid like active dry does, however, if you’re proceeding with the recipe to complete that day, it’s doesn’t hurt to give the instant yeast a little bath in the warm liquid - gets it going just a tad faster.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix 10 g / ~3 teaspoons instant yeast with 160 ml (2/3 cup) EACH of tepid water and whole milk. Let stand 10-15 minutes to become frothy. Add 50 g (1/4 cup) light brown sugar and mix until dissolved.

Have 200 g (1.5 cups) dark rye flour and 390 g (3 cups) of white bread flour at the ready, as well as 1.5 teaspoons salt, 1 large egg, 84 g (6 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter.

On low speed add the rye flour to the yeast/milk mixture along with the salt, then the egg and butter. Increase speed to medium low and start adding the bread flour. You may not need all of it. Continue to mix for about 5 minutes.

You’re looking for a slightly sticky dough that’s pulling away from the sides of the bowl. FYI - I did end up using all of the bread flour.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place about an hour until doubled.

Before the first rise

After the rise

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, gently knead to form a log that you will then divide into your chosen sizes.

Note: the recipe yield will vary depending on the size you wish to make. For example, if making 9 buns (as the base recipe suggests), each one comes in at a hefty 122 g (4.25 ounces) which is a bit too generous methinks. For my first batch I chose 85 g (3 ounces) which gave me a yield of 13 buns, but since Mr. Steve prefers his burger buns a little larger, my second go-around yielded 11 buns at ~100g each.

Into the slider thing? Make them even smaller!

Shape each piece into a nice boule, place on a parchment lined sheet pan, cover with a damp towel or a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and give them a second rise for about 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile heat your oven to 350ºF. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds (white or black or both) on top (or any seed mixture you like).

Ms. Aurell suggests moisture in the oven during baking. Place the sheet pan of buns onto the middle rack and place a shallow heat proof pan with a cup or so of hot water onto the bottom rack. Bake about 13-15 minutes until golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Great buns!!

So far we’ve had grilled burgers on these babies twice and a couple of different sandwiches. Definitely a keeper. Give ‘em a try - you won’t be sorry.

Happy Valentine's weekend!

Take your basic favorite choux paste, pipe it into lovely hearts . . .

topped with central smaller hearts of lime scented crunchy dough . . .

bake ‘em with all the love you can muster . . .

then top with red fruits Swiss meringue buttercream, a dollop of Chantilly and a fresh raspberry. Enjoy!

Wishing all of you a wonderful weekend and lots of fun creating your own special treats for those you love.

Victoria sponge

Sur La Table is currently offering a “Great British Baking” class on the winter/early spring calendar and I’m on the docket to teach these British specialties.

In addition to sticky toffee pudding and sausage rolls, the classic Victoria sponge cake is on the menu, so why not trial SLT’s recipe along side another one by British chef Will Torrent - just for fun of course!

Chef Torrent has written a number of books, one of which I purchased a year or so ago. It’s chock full of goodies for one of my most enjoyable past times - afternoon tea. His recipe for Victoria sponge is a tad different due to the replacement of about a quarter of the all purpose flour with cornstarch, the result being a lighter texture.

I also reviewed a number of other Victoria sponge recipes and found that some call for self-rising flour (or self-raising as the Brits say) which is a softer flour with baking powder and salt already in the mix. Some call for cake flour, another softer flour without any leavening additions. Many simply use all purpose flour. As always, there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

I’m sure many of you know the substitution if you don’t happen to have cake flour in your pantry - place 2 tablespoons cornstarch in a one cup measure, top it off with all purpose flour to yield one cup. Sift it together and voilà! Cake flour.

The base recipe for Vic-sponge is similar to pound cake: equal weights butter, sugar, and flour, plus eggs (usually a bit less by weight), baking powder, salt and vanilla. Many also have a small amount of milk blended in at the end - some give a specific amount, some a range of anywhere from 1-4 tablespoons (depending on the amount of batter/size of the cake). The milk is intended to “slacken” the mixture making it less stiff for spreading evenly in the pan.

This recipe is for a six inch double layer cake. The batter can be baked in ONE buttered/parchment lined/buttered again/floured pan and then sliced into two layers once cooled OR in TWO prepared six inch-ers which takes out the layer slicing step. Just remember the two shallower layers won’t need quite as long to bake.

Note: double the recipe for an 8” cake, either baked in one pan sliced into two layers or two pans with shallower layers ready to assemble.

All ingredients should be at room temperature. The differences between the SLT and Torrent recipes are a tad more baking powder in SLT’s and the replacement of about a quarter of the flour with cornstarch in Torrent’s.

Here you go:

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Butter the bottom of your cake pan(s), place a round of parchment down, butter parchment and sides of pan(s) and dust with flour.

Break 2 large (~ 100 g) eggs into a small bowl and lightly beat them. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream 113 g softened unsalted butter with 113 g granulated sugar on medium high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Reduce speed to medium low and add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste) and the lightly beaten egg in three additions, blending fully and scraping down after each addition. On low speed add 113 g all purpose flour (88 g ap + 25 g cornstarch in Torrent’s version), 1.5 teaspoons baking powder (1 tsp in Torrent’s) and 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt and mix just until combined.

I like to take my bowl right off the mixer and finish things up by hand with a spatula - it helps to get down into the bottom to be sure everything is blended in. Then fold in 1-2 tablespoons whole milk as needed to slacken the mixture. I went with the smaller quantity and both batters came out with a bit of heft, yet nice and smooth and easy to work with.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top . Below is SLT’s - they both looked pretty much the same going into the oven.

Bake about 25 minutes until springy to touch in the center and a cake tester comes out clean.

Torrent’s rose into a dome while SLT’s stayed flat with just a bit of a dent in the center. Not to worry.

Once cooled, slice into two layers. A little tighter crumb on Torrent’s perhaps.

Spread a layer of strawberry (or jam of your choice) on the bottom and then spread a layer of lightly sweetened whipped cream over the jam. Sandwich ‘em up!

Dust with powdered sugar and you’re good to go!

When slicing you’ll invariably get some cream and jam ooze but it certainly doesn’t affect the flavor. On the right below is Torrent’s more domed version. They both have a nice crumb and golden color.

And guess what! They both taste great. What a lovely combo of jam, cream and vanilla cake. Steve and I noted that Torrent’s texture was a bit lighter but not really a huge difference at all.

Store covered in the fridge and enjoy a slice for several days to come. Not bad.

Until next time. Stay warm and think spring!

Pâte feuilletée inversée and galette des rois

Happy New Year everyone! I’m re-sharing this post I published FIVE years ago to celebrate Epiphany, galette des rois and a look at making reverse puff pastry, one of my favorite versions of pâte feuilletée.

Galette des rois or king's cake, is that very popular, scrumptious, almond-and-pastry-cream-filled puff pastry treat.  During the month of January in France most pâtisserie windows are laden with these "cakes" in various sizes, from the individual to the more traditional 9-10" size.  And they even sell them with a lovely golden paper crown!

Back in early 2007 I began my stage  in Paris two days before Epiphany, and the crew at Pascal Pinaud's had already assembled and frozen many unbaked galettes (ahhhhh the beauty of the freezer).  I don't recall how many were baked every day, but, suffice it to say, those babies were flying out the door - and it didn't stop for weeks to come.

Traditionally the galette is baked with a fève (literal translation: broad bean) inside, and the person who gets the slice which holds this "treat" is crowned king for the day.  Over the years the whole fève thing has evolved into a mini industry of small porcelain or ceramic figures that have become collector's items.

On one of my Parisian sojourns to Mora (a wonderful pastry supply shop with plenty of cool stuff to get your baking juices flowing) I purchased a set of 12 or so of these ceramic figures - mine were little marionettes.  I still had a couple of them left (along with a miniature olive oil bottle that I had saved from my own galette eating experience) and was looking forward to choosing one for my current project.  Imagine my disappointment when I found them in their storage spot (which I thought was safe!) all broken.  What a bummer.  But, thankfully, I had an intact sphinx that would just have to do.

2020 update note: I have since purchased additional sets of fèves at Mora and still have a number on hand just waiting to be popped into their own galettes.

Since my freezer stash of puff pastry was gone, I was inspired to make a batch of pâte feuilletée inversée or what I call reverse puff pastry.  When I was first introduced to this version in pastry school, I found it non user friendly and wondered why anyone would make it.  Buuuutttt. . . . now I have a completely different view.

Some time ago I tried the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book "Paris Sweets" (one of my top all time fave pastry books!) and, while I found the process a bit frustrating, I loved the result!  It puffs beautifully and has a lovely texture to boot.  I've fined tuned my process to make it easier and have become a true convert to this method for pâte feuilletée.  

So here we go . . .

As is true for classic puff pastry there are two components - the butter part and the dough part - but here the butter portion is on the outside, rather than being enveloped by the dough portion.

The ingredients are simple.  What I'll call dough #1 is 400 gm of butter blended with 175 gm of flour.

The butter should be room temp - beat it with the paddle and then add the flour . . . .

Mix it until clumps form . . . .

Turn it out onto plastic film wrap . . . .

and form a block about 6" in diameter.  I use the plastic to help me form the dough into a square.

What I'll call dough #2 consists of 113 gm butter (melted first, then cooled slightly), 180 ml water,  2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar and 390 gm flour.

Just a side note about the vinegar - I've seen puff recipes with and without it, so I did a little online review and found that it helps to tenderize the dough and also keeps it from oxidizing or turning gray. It is said to strengthen the gluten, making the dough stretchier and less likely to tear during rolling.

Mix the water, salt and vinegar and set aside.  Blend the melted, cooled butter with the flour to moisten it . . . .

Slowly pour in the water mixture, blending with the paddle on low . . . .

until the dough comes together and cleans the sides of the bowl.

Turn it out onto plastic wrap . . .

and form a square about 4-5" in diameter.

Both doughs should be chilled for a couple of hours or even over night if you need that time in your schedule.

Now the two doughs have to be formed into a package, and this is where the process gets a bit sticky (and I mean literally!).

I pull the doughs out of the fridge a good 20-30 minutes ahead so they will be somewhat malleable and easier to roll.  Since dough #1 is primarily butter it's important to work efficiently and with enough flour on your surface to avoid sticking.  I really struggled with this step for awhile, but I finally figured out that if I kept the dough between 2 sheets of film wrap, periodically lifting the film and flouring the dough surface a bit, I could roll to my heart's content.

Once I've rolled dough #1 into a rectangle I place dough #2 on one end to check for sizing.

Then I simply lift the still-plastic-wrapped #1 and fold it over to see if I have enough length to properly encase dough #2.  No butter sticking to the rolling board!

If needed I'll roll #1 a little longer and then unwrap #2, rolling it so it will fit nicely on one half of the outside dough.

 The outer dough is folded over the inner, edges pinched together, and the whole thing is wrapped and chilled for an hour or so before beginning the folds.

The dough is rough around the edges and not at all pretty at this stage, but just wait for the transformation!

After a 30-60 minute chill I roll the dough, still between plastic wrap since the outer butter is still a bit sticky, to a rectangle that is about 3 times long as it is wide. No precise measurements are necessary - just eyeball it.  Remove the top plastic . . . .

and do a "double turn", which I prefer to call a "four fold" or “book fold”, since I'm folding the dough ends into the center and then onto themselves like a book, thus creating four layers.

The completed fold . . .

Now chill the dough for another 30-60 minutes.  At this stage I see the beginning transformation from a somewhat marbled, rough, irregularly edged slab into a more uniform, smooth, supple dough. I ditch the plastic wrap for the next step, since the buttery stickiness has decreased considerably. Don’t forget to turn the dough 90 degrees to get ready for the next fold.

Now do another four fold just like the one above . . . .

and wrap and chill the dough for another 30-60 minutes.

Roll the dough into a rectangle. . . .

and now do a "single turn" or what I refer to as a "three fold" or “letter fold” since I'm folding the dough into thirds.

By this point the dough has achieved a beautiful light color, an oh-so-smooth feel, is easy to work and is simply lovely!  Oh how I love the feel of cool, smooth dough.

The dough should be chilled again before rolling it out for its final use, or it can be frozen at this point as well.  Many sources suggest that, if you plan to freeze your dough, you complete the two "double turns" or "four folds" but do the final "single turn" or "three fold" once you've thawed the dough and are ready to use it.  I tend to do all the steps and then freeze - works for me!

Whew - now that the dough is finished, let's make a galette des rois!

The rest is pretty simple: two rounds of puff pastry (I use about 175 gm of puff for the bottom and about 250 gm for the top) filled with frangipane and a fève of course and baked to golden perfection.

The filling for a 9"galette is a combination of about 250 gm of crème d'amandes (63 gm soft butter; blend in 63 gm sugar; blend in 63 gm almond flour; blend in 1 egg and a splash of vanilla; blend in 10 gm flour) and about 50 gm of pastry cream (just choose a basic recipe and go for it - use leftovers to fill eclairs or make a fresh fruit tart!).  An option is to add a tablespoon or so of rum or orange liqueur, although I prefer an almond or hazelnut liqueur if I'm going to add one.

You can make your filling a day or so ahead if you wish, then you'll be at the ready when you want to assemble and bake.

I roll out both top and bottom puff using a 9" fluted tart form to gauge the size. I hold the top layer covered in the fridge until I'm ready for it.  Don't cut the dough round yet - that happens AFTER its assembled.

Still using my fluted tart pan as a guide I pipe my almond cream in a nice coil, mounding it in the center and leaving an inch or so around the periphery.

Remove the tart pan, position the fève . . .

and now egg wash the periphery.  Gently place the top layer of puff over the cream and press firmly around the edges to seal.  Then I use my tart pan to cut the scalloped round - push down firmly and gently pull away the edges.  All right - scraps!

Lift off the tart pan, make a nice flat edge around the dome of cream and poke a little steam hole in the center.

Brush some egg wash over the surface and score decorative lines, kind of like a pinwheel, on the domed part.  Then do some linear slashes in the opposite direction along the flat edge.  I also add a little button of puff on the steam vent.

Whenever I bake anything with puff pastry, I pop the assembled goods in the freezer for 10 minutes or so before baking to stabilize the butter/dough layers.  The contrast between the cold galette and the hot oven increases the steam produced by the moisture in the butter, thereby causing the puff to puff.  Yeah!

I heat my convection oven to 450º, give the galette 5 minutes at that temp and then reduce to 425º.  After another 10-15 minutes, as I observe the baking process, I often slowly ratchet down the oven temp toward 350º over the total 30-40 minute baking time to achieve a nicely browned and fully baked end result.

Galette des rois is lovely for dessert, and to cap off the flaky, buttery, almond-creamy goodness, I garnish with lightly sweetened whipped cream, Cara-cara orange segments (love that pinkish-orange color), a drizzle of caramel and some toasted, sliced almonds.  Yes indeed!

Here’s to a fantastic baking year ahead! Happy New Year to all.

A merry season to all

Caramel almond moelleux chocolat

Blogging has taken a back seat due to December’s whirlwind of activities from teaching and baking to selling my 92 year old mom’s condo and moving her into a new apartment. Whew!

As was true during my days working in emergency medicine, baking continues to serve as a respite for my heart and soul. The feel of the dough, the lovely aromas wafting from the kitchen and the taste of that oh-so special treat - you can’t beat it!

To help say adieu to 2019, I’d like to share a few of the goodies I’ve been baking of late.

Pecan twirls, almond croissant, ham and cheese spirals

Orange financier with salted caramel buttercream

Pumpkin pecan crunch brioche

White chocolate raspberry crispy rice almond bark (now that’s a mouthful!)

Sending warm holiday greetings to all and may the upcoming year bring you many good things.

The Queen of Hearts she made some tarts . . . .

Mind you, I’m not equating myself with the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland (described as a foul tempered monarch), however I do love making tartes - and I can promise that Steve did NOT steal any of them!!

Above is a collection of fresh fruit tartes I created for a recent Alice-themed fund raising event here in Grand Rapids. The chess board seemed like just the right backdrop for these luscious treats.

We have blueberry/lemon, raspberry cream, strawberry/lime mascarpone and blackberry citrus/Earl Grey ganache. Delightful!!

When creating your own fruit tartes remember to start with your favorite pâte sucrée, blind baked, then fill with classic crème pâtissiére or a fruity whipped mascarpone or your own version of a citrus or tea infused ganache (white chocolate works well with fresh berries). It’s lots of fun to mix and match to your heart’s content. Hop on over to the recipes page to find some of my favorite base recipes.

Here are just a few of the other tartes I’ve done in recent months (including some late summer reminiscing!).

Fresh blueberry

Peach custard

Apple blackberry

Classic pear almond

As we are ever fast approaching Thanksgiving and the whirlwind of the holiday season, I wish all of you many “all is calm, all is bright” nights.

Happy tarte baking!

Pumpkin scones

When one has some pumpkin on hand for a certain project, invariably there is always some left. What to do with It? Make pumpkin scones, of course.

Before I proceed, check out the plate above - the result of my first ever pottery wheel session with a local Grand Rapids potter, Kate Lewis. She does the pottery for one of our favorite restaurants, Sovengard and offers one-on-one wheel sessions for anyone with an interest in the craft. It was great fun - I shaped 3 plates, a cup and 2 bowls, one of which was pretty wonky but will serve nicely as a snack or nut bowl for those oh-so low key occasions. I chose the glaze colors and she did the rest. Et voila!

For this treat I tweaked my base recipe, making a number of changes resulting in this recipe with added spices, pumpkin purée and a butter bump up. As with all scone and biscuit recipes, keeping the butter, cream and egg cold and working quickly, efficiently and with purpose without overworking the dough is très important.

The steps are the same as my typical classic recipe, adding the spices in with the dry ingredients and the pumpkin purée in with the cream and egg.

For baking I suggest doubling the sheet pan to protect the bottoms from darkening too much. It worked out well with these - lovely crisp outside, moist and tender crumb inside and a subtle taste of pumpkin and spice. One could certainly opt for a maple syrup/confectioner’s sugar glaze once cooled, although I went with a brushing of cream and a sprinkle of raw sugar before baking to achieve that wonderful exterior crunch.

For my taste test I dolloped on some blackberry jam (although most any jam will do).

Too bad the Steve-meister doesn’t like pumpkin. I brought some over to Mom for her enjoyment and popped a few in my own freezer for future breakfast treats for visitors. One can never be too prepared, particularly with the holidays fast upon us.

Have fun creating your own treat with leftover pumpkin! So much to bake and so little time! Don’t ya just love that plate!!

Cinnamon knots

Having been inspired by my recent purchase of Richard Bertinet’s latest book “Crumb”, I felt it was time to make some cinnamon knots with my own take on his approach to this tasty treat. Warming spices, brown sugar, butter, tender slightly sweet dough . . . aaahhh. Perfect for autumn which has finally arrived in its full glory. Too bad that once the the brilliant reds and oranges are making us smile, we get the winds and rains of late October and early November to blow them all down. It’s nature’s way.

For this project I utilized a basic cinnamon roll type sweet dough using a recipe I discovered on Ambitious Kitchen.com (minus the cream cheese frosting). Once the dough is mixed and undergoes the first rise, I roll it out into a 14”x15” rectangle and spread it with softened butter which is topped with light and dark brown sugars and cinnamon. With the 15” longer edge parallel to the edge of my worktop I fold the dough up onto itself and cut 1” wide strips.

Now it gets a little messy. Leaving the folded edge end intact, cut the dough the length of the strip and twist the two portions around each other. Then form knots. As you can see, the dry stuff fell everywhere, but I simply scooped it onto the shaped knots. Next time - mix the dry with the butter and spread away so it all holds together!

Once all the knots are shaped, place them on a parchment lined sheet pan (cover loosely with plastic wrap) and give them a 30 minute rise while heating the oven to 350ºF.

Bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

I opted for a light drizzle of a milk/confectioner’s sugar/vanilla extract glaze to give them a certain je ne sais quoi.

These were wonderfully tender, buttery and cinnamon-y - the perfect treat for a blustery autumn day. I served them at a morning coffee gathering down the street, and they were a hit!

I’ve been very intrigued of late with various twists, coils, spirals, knots or whatever shape one might imagine when creating what I’ll refer to as a “sweet roll” for lack of a better term. As the holiday season approaches I hope to add some new crowns, festive twists and star shapes to my sweet dough baking projects.

It’s all about learning and experimenting!

The Bertinet Kitchen Cookery School, Bath England

Wow! It’s already been a bit over two weeks since we returned from our UK trip. Without further ado I simply have to share our cookery school experience with you.

Richard Bertinet is a Frenchman from Brittany who has lived in England since 1988. In 2005 he not only opened his cooking school in Bath but also published his first book “Dough” which garnered a number of awards from the likes of James Beard, Julia Child, IACP and The Guild of Food Writers. Not bad, eh?

I discovered him in recent months while searching online for baking and pastry books, a pastime which I find quite enjoyable. He has recently published his 6th book “Crumb” which he described to me as an update and refreshing of many of the bread recipes in “Dough”. I bought a copy bien sür.

When I learned that Richard has a baking school in Bath (an hour and a half train ride from London), Steve and I decided we had to include a visit there in our itinerary. I emailed the school and received a very welcoming response from Richard’s wife Jo who invited us to stop in for one of the bread classes. And so we did.

We arrived around 2 pm, the class having kicked off at 10 that morning. The 12 students had made their dough for the various breads (breadsticks, focaccia, fougasse and mini loaves), the dough had proofed nicely and it was time for shaping and baking.

Shaped fougasse

Richard working on focaccia

It was truly enjoyable to see Richard interact with the class, having fun yet pointing out in an obviously knowledgeable and clear manner how things should be done. I picked up a couple of tips and techniques too. Love it!

The kitchen staff that day, Jen and Daisy, were kind, helpful and very tolerant of our presence. We did our best to stay out of the way but were also able to walk around the room and watch the students doing their thing.

Once all the breads were out of the oven, a long communal table was set up for a group lunch to which we were kindly invited. Wine, charcuterie, platters of tomatoes/mozzarella/basil, fresh bread of course, cheeses and the star of the show for many - pork rillettes, a slow cooked shredded pork in fat and seasonings, typically smeared on bread. To each his/her own I say!

If you’re planning a trip to England, Steve and I definitely recommend a visit to Bath. The Jane Austen center, the Roman Baths and the Abbey are just a few of the sites to visit. And if you love baking and cooking - need I say more? You know what to do.

Coming up - cinnamon knots, inspired by “Crumb”. Stay tuned!

Sweet and savory croissant twirls

Time for more croissant dough fun! Love it!!

Sweet and savory coming your way. Some months back I posted on this very topic using my whole wheat version of croissant dough. Classic croissant and spirals were the forms I went for then and now its time for - twirls!

There are so many shapes to be made from croissant dough, and, once you’ve mastered the base recipe and the nuances of lamination, there’s (almost) no limit to what you can create using different twists and turns. Twists + swirls = twirls!

First up - a savory version using my whole wheat croissant dough only this time I chopped fresh herbs (basil, thyme, rosemary) and added them right to the butter block before proceeding with the beurrage et tourage. Hence an herbed whole wheat dough was born.

I buttered standard muffin tins and coated the wells with finely grated cheddar.

After rolling the dough out to 12” x 18” I spread the top half of the dough with a mixture of 60 g (2 large) egg whites, 50 g toasted bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon dry mustard and pinches of black and cayenne peppers. Then a good sprinkle of 5 ounces grated cheddar cheese (Barber’s vintage reserve and Prairie Breeze are two of my faves).

Then the bottom half gets folded up over the top.

Cut into one inch strips, twist and coil into twirls.

Tuck into the prepared muffin tins, sprinkle a little extra cheese on top, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm space about 45 minutes. Meanwhile heat your oven to 375ºF.

These bake about 20-25 minutes until golden.

Pop ‘em out of the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Taste time was a delightful treat of cheesy herby layers with just a hint of sweetness.

For the sweet version I went for a coffee walnut theme. Using my basic non-herbed croissant dough, the steps are the same as outlined for the savory version. This time my filling is made with 3 large egg whites, 100 grams dark brown sugar, 80 g ground walnuts and 100 g coarsely chopped toasted walnuts, a tablespoon almond flour (for a bit more binding of the mixture) plus orange zest from one medium orange.

I prepped my individual cake pans with butter and espresso sugar (grind 1 tablespoon espresso powder with 200 g raw sugar).

Roll out the dough, spread the top half with the coffee walnut filling and a light brush of egg white plus chopped nuts on the bottom half . . .

. . . fold it up, cut strips, twist and swirl. While shaping keep a bit of a stretch on the dough as you go. The filling here is more gooey than the savory version - just forge ahead even though it seems as though stuff is oozing out. It’s OK!

Tuck ‘em in the prepped pans, cover and let rise about 45 minutes. Heat that oven of yours to 375ºF and bake away!

Once out of the oven, gently lift them from the pans and place on a cooling rack. I brushed them with some simple syrup for a nice sheen. Alternatively roll them in espresso sugar while still warm, let cool and enjoy.

Coffee and walnut go so well together, and the coffee essence here was just right. The orange didn’t come through very strongly so I’d add more zest next time (you can never have too much zest!).

It’s great fun to dream up other ways to use croissant dough. I’m keeping my thinking cap on and so should you. Happy baking and happy autumn!

Afternoon tea in the United Kingdom

Steve and I recently returned from a wonderful trip to the United Kingdom, during which we spent some quality time with friends Richard and Pauline, visited a number of historic sites and enjoyed many travel experiences and foods. Check out Steve’s blog to read about our other adventures.

Leading up to our departure, afternoon tea was on my radar, prompting us to reserve spots for three, count' ‘em three, tea venues - The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh, The Dorchester in London and The Pump Room in Bath. We also had a spur-of-the-moment lunch in the tea room aboard The Royal Yacht Britannia.

Get ready for it - here we go!

The Balmoral in Edinburgh was first. We were pleasantly greeted by the staff and seated in the Palm Court along with a number of others who came to enjoy this traditionally British pastime.

We started with glasses of Ruinart champagne as we perused the menu and made our tea choices. Interestingly they were still offering the summer menu even though it was late September, and let me tell you, it worked!

Hmmm . . . . I wonder what the autumn and winter menus are like.

We were treated to a dazzling display of tea pouring, and when we asked our server how long it took her to master the technique, she reported just a few practice sessions before she was raring to go.

The amuse bouche of leek and potato soup was creamy and tasty, soon to be followed by our savouries and sandwiches.

We had planned to try haggis at least once on the trip and this turned out to be the one and only time. On the top tier above - a small dollop of haggis tucked into a nice round of puff pastry was pretty darn good and paired nicely with the marjoram and sweet corn tartelette along side. Well prepared, nicely presented and, in a word, delicious.

The other sandwiches were classic afternoon tea offerings of The Balmoral’s take on cucumber, egg salad, coronation chicken, ham and smoked salmon. The small brioche roll with the egg salad was particularly delightful, although Steve and I must admit we’re not big smoked salmon fans so that one went by the wayside.

After a satisfactory post sandwich break our plain and fruit scones arrived accompanied by clotted cream and strawberry jam. Now I’m the first to tell you I love a good scone but these were too cake-y and dense for my taste (although the cream and jam helped!).

The desserts were definitely the piéce de resistance for me - spot on textures and flavors, particularly the praline cream on the crunchy topped choux and the buttery, crisp tart crust with the combo of cherry/pistachio/milk chocolate. The pumpkin spice version of opera was moist, creamy and nicely layered, but alas Steve doesn’t like pumpkin so he did not indulge. Poor Steve.

We received some final treats as parting gifts - strawberry sorbet cones, tins of tea and a box holding chocolate and pâte de fruit. Not a bad way to round out the afternoon!

Needless to say, we left satiated and wondering if we would even want dinner later on.

The next day we opted for the “Hop on, Hop off” city bus tour to get a lay of the land in and around Edinburgh. One of our goals was to visit the Royal Yacht Britannia which has been docked in Edinburgh since it was decommissioned in 1997. We took the self guided audio tour, making an unplanned stop for lunch in the tea room on the ship.

I chose the cream tea special for one and Steve went for the mature cheddar sandwich (he did of course join me in a glass of the sparkling rosé). Note that cream tea, as it’s been explained to me, is typically tea with scones, clotted cream and jam so this luncheon version strayed a bit from that, offering a more hearty approach. Notice my sandwich came with either scone or cake, not both. In the end I chose the egg salad on wholemeal bread and a slice of lemon drizzle cake (one of the many popular cakes in Britain, very much like our glazed pound cake). Very tasty and quite a switch from the petite versions we had enjoyed at the Balmoral. We thought it a pretty perfect lunch in a very pleasant setting.

White piano display in the Britannia’s tea room

We had a pause in our afternoon tea adventures until several days later when we arrived at The Dorchester in London to experience another mid-day repast. Rather unassuming from the outside (save for the Rolls Royces and Bentleys parked out front), the interior was a floral extravaganza within the portion of the hotel called The Promenade. Cushioned seating and tables lined the sides of the space and more seating ran down the middle. And the flowers - what a feast for the eyes!

Looking down The Promenade

While the tea menu was very similar to that at The Balmoral, the setting was definitely more sumptuous. We were seated along one side and soon had our glass of Veuve Cliquot Yellow Label Brut to sip and enjoy while we made our tea choices.

The primary difference in the sandwich selection was the addition of a beef pastrami version to go along with The Dorchester’s take on the classic egg salad, smoked salmon, cucumber and Coronation chicken. We both thought the tastes and textures topped those of The Balmoral (the smoked salmon not withstanding). Plus they brought us a second round to boot!

See that glass carafe in the background? That’s a tea leaf “flower” steeping in hot water which would eventually serve as a palate cleanser after our sandwich course. Hmmmm . . . . interesting.

We were also served a pre-scone treat that hadn’t been listed on the menu - a mango pineapple number, quite delicious indeed.

The scones were pretty much identical to The Balmoral’s, earning only a small bite of each - too cake-y and dense for me.

Finally - dessert!

The Balmoral beats The Dorchester in this category. The chocolate mousse cube was lovely but the mandarin and nut tart didn’t even come close to the caramel nut tart that yours truly (if I may be so humble) makes! Raisins and some kind of gelée stuff in the mix just didn’t work for us. The yuzu tonka bean mousse on a jasmine biscuit was quite odd both in texture and flavor, and the caramelised apple and quince delice on a shortbread round too jelly like.

Nonetheless we did enjoy this experience in a beautiful setting in the heart of London.

We left The Dorchester and headed to Paddington station to catch our train to Bath in Somerset County where the following day it was time for lunch at The Pump Room in the heart of town.

Reportedly one of the places at which Jane Austen hung out, the Pump Room has been around since the late 1700s. Adjacent to the Roman Baths, it is indeed a popular place.

Even though we had reservations, the staff seemed a tad distracted and disorganized at first. Once we were seated we had three different servers approach our table as though none of them were aware of what the others were doing. Oh well. It all smoothed out in the end.

We had a variety of choices from the lunch and afternoon tea menus. Steve chose the fish cakes from the luncheon menu, but for me, having experienced two very classic afternoon teas already (Balmoral and Dorchester), it was time for something a little different.

While many of us think of a posh, classic tea experience when we hear the term “high tea”, in reality it has traditionally been more of a country style, rural “meat tea” at the end of an arduous work day out in the fields. Some say the “high” part of it comes from being seated at a higher table than the usual low lounging chairs from which an afternoon tea might be enjoyed. There you have it.

My high tea was intended to highlight the local apples of Somerset - perfect for this time of year. As you see on the menu below, one had a choice between cider and “apple rambler”. We learned that when the Brits say cider, they mean hard cider (as do the French). The apple rambler was a simple apple juice, more akin to American apple cider. When in Rome . . . . .

Since Steve and I ordered a couple of Kir Royales, I kept my apple choice on the juice side of the equation.

Served on a rustic wooden board, it certainly spoke of being out in the English countryside.

This was a most interesting repast. I had heard about Scotch eggs not too long ago, and friend Pauline had explained what they are just a few days before our arrival in Bath - essentially a softish boiled egg wrapped and fried in a breaded meat layer. This one was served with piccalilli, a mix of pickled, finely chopped veggies like cauliflower, celery, carrot, tomato, onion, sweet peppers and gherkins to name a few. The recipe varies from region to region and usually includes some mustard and a variety of seasonings depending on who’s making it. Whoever set up my board put the piccalilli next to the chicken fennel sausage roll instead of the Scotch egg. Oh my!

I typically shy away from both fried and pickled foods, but I must say this egg and piccalilli combo was a unique and delicious experience. After all, part of traveling is to learn about and enjoy regional cuisines and customs, eh?

The chicken fennel roll was done up in a flaky puff pastry, had just the right fennel-y twist and paired well with the mellow onion chutney.

Last but not least, the apple cake was served with a light clotted type cream and apple jam. The cake was moist with a light crumb and just the right hint of spices - definitely an autumn treat and a perfect ending to my Somerset high tea.

Aside from all of these adventures on the tea trail there were many opportunities for a cuppa any time we felt the need. And we barely scratched the surface of all of the afternoon tea experiences available throughout the realm. It’s Great Britain after all!

You should go sometime. Cheers!

Oranais aux pêches

Kinda looks like a double yolked fried egg, eh?

As we step ever so eagerly into prime baking season and autumn flavors like apples, pears, nuts, caramel, coffee, chocolate and pumpkin, here’s a farewell nod to the delicious summer fruits of west Michigan. Desirous of doing something a bit different, I opted for my own peach version of oranais.

So what is oranais you might ask? A traditional pastry made with either puff pastry or croissant dough, it’s created with a combination of pastry cream and apricot halves. It may go by a different name in various parts of France, e.g. lunette aux abricots, croissant aux abricots (en Bretagne) or abricotine (sud de la France).

My research revealed that it reportedly originated in Algeria in and around the port city of Oran - hence the name oranais. Did you know that Algeria is fourth in apricot production in the world? And let’s not forget that Algeria was once governed by France so there’s still a huge French influence there, both culturally and culinarily (is that even a word?). By the way, here’s a little historical tidbit for you - Algeria gained it’s independence from France on July 5, 1962.

During our various trips-to and stays-in Paris over the years, oranais is always on Steve’s radar - he loves those sunny beauties!! Frankly they’re not often found in the many pastry shops around town so one has to keep an eye out for a good one. At Le Cordon Bleu Paris we made them with croissant dough, and those that we’ve found in Parisian pâtisseries have been made that way as well. However my online research found that many recipes call for puff pastry.

I decided to give it a go with both. Oh boy!

Since puff is not yeasted it’s more straight forward in its handling - no worries about the dough bubbling and puffing up during the rolling, cutting and shaping. I rolled my puff to about 6-7 mm (~1/4”) thick and cut 80 mm (3 inch) squares.

The rolling out, cutting and assembly process is the same for both puff and croissant dough. Using a classic pastry cream, pipe a line diagonally across the square, place two rounds of fresh peach near opposite corners and bring the other two opposite corners up and over, sealing with egg wash. Sort of like a chubby bowtie.

Remember - puff doesn’t have to rise before baking, whereas with the croissant dough version, give it a 45-50 minute (give or take) rise. I topped the shaped/risen croissant version of oranais with an additional blob of pastry cream and some peach jam in the hopes of keeping the corners together during their time in the oven.

Bake at 400ºF for about 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Puff result

Croissant dough version result

Once out of the oven brush with a vanilla simple syrup or some apricot glaze and let cool.

During the bake there was definitely more slipping and sliding of the pastry cream and peach in the croissant dough version. I had to keep pushing the peach rounds back onto the dough in my attempts at keeping things together.

As for the taste test (the best part, especially for Mr. Steve), we actually preferred the puff version. The flaky pastry and creamy, peachy combo was oh so delicious.

Of course, the croissant version was pretty good as well. After all, anything made with croissant dough is usually a winner.

Bottom line - going forward I’ll be making my oranais with puff. Yes indeed!

Blueberry tart with peach ice cream

Even though autumn is creeping up on us, we’re still enjoying blueberry season, and it’s time for a straight forward blueberry tart. This one is based on the “Double Blueberry Tart” recipe in Food52’s “Genius Desserts” - a book I purchased a couple of months ago and find so enjoyable and illuminating. Not only does it offer so many great recipes but also tips and tricks from a number of talented baking and pastry professionals.

What better to pair with the tart but peach ice cream made with our delicious local west Michigan grown peaches. A match made in heaven.

For my crust I made an oat/whole wheat version of a basic pâte brisée using the food processor method. This makes plenty for two 9” tarts.

I rolled out my chilled dough and lined my 240 mm open tart ring. I can do this ahead and hold it in the freezer for a day or two before filling and baking. Love planning ahead!

The idea here is to have a jammy baked berry filling that is ultimately topped with fresh blueberries. Double whammy delight!

Heat the oven to 400ºF.

I learned this tip from my mom years ago - sprinkle a mix of equal parts flour and sugar on the bottom of the unbaked crust. It helps protect it from soggy-ness. Gotta love it.

Stir together 75 g turbinado or blond cane sugar (I use Moreno), 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, a few grates of fresh nutmeg, a large pinch of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon coriander. Place a scant 3 cups fresh blueberries into the lined tart shell and sprinkle the sugar mixture over them. Dot with butter.

Bake for about an hour until the crust is nicely browned and the berries bubbly. Ooooh - like blueberry jam!

Once the tart has fully cooled, the only thing left to do is top it with 2 cups fresh blueberries and dust with confectioner’s sugar shortly before serving. Whoo-hoo!

Slice it up, top with a scoop of your favorite ice cream (peach in this case) and enjoy this crispy, buttery delectable crust filled with oh-so wonderful Michigan blueberries. You can’t beat it folks!