Jump to content

Dessert - The Polyphonic Dessert Blog


mktye

Recommended Posts

I like blackberries with yogurt (especially nice thick Greek yogurt), or I'll put them in with some other kind(s) of fruit for a plain fruit salad. They're also great mashed into vanilla ice cream.

I picked so many fresh blackberries last summer than I overdosed on them. I put a lot in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I found them at the time of the picnic, but when I defrosted them, they had started to ferment. I guess the process must have started before I froze them, but I didn't realize it at the time. I'd like to say they'd be great for wine or something, but they tasted horribly fishy, as if they'd been kept in close quarters with rotting fish ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like blackberries with yogurt (especially nice thick Greek yogurt), or I'll put them in with some other kind(s) of fruit for a plain fruit salad. They're also great mashed into vanilla ice cream.

I picked so many fresh blackberries last summer than I overdosed on them. I put a lot in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I found them at the time of the picnic, but when I defrosted them, they had started to ferment. I guess the process must have started before I froze them, but I didn't realize it at the time. I'd like to say they'd be great for wine or something, but they tasted horribly fishy, as if they'd been kept in close quarters with rotting fish ;)

That doesn't sound ambrosial...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was certainly disappointing.

The best way to freeze berries is to spread them out on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. When the berries are frozen, take them off the sheet (use a spatula if they're stuck on) and then put the frozen berries into a ziploc bag. This works well with strawbs, raspberries and blueberries as well. When you go to use them, they're not frozen into a big glom, and you don't have to defrost them before you use them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The best way to freeze berries is to spread them out on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. When the berries are frozen, take them off the sheet (use a spatula if they're stuck on) and then put the frozen berries into a ziploc bag. This works well with strawbs, raspberries and blueberries as well. When you go to use them, they're not frozen into a big glom, and you don't have to defrost them before you use them.
I did that with at least some of the berries I had, but I don't remember what I did with these. They weren't really all that stuck together, but there was no room for them to be laid out flat in the freezer.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday I made the crostata from the apricot crostata recipe in the Washington Post food section, and filled it with sweetened sour cherries. Very tasty. Interesting crust, like a rich cookie in taste and texture. It is indeed more forgiving than standard pie crust, and a nice change of pace, but a bit frustrating to work with since it breaks so easily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Key-lime souffle cake (actually one of those strange "pudding" cakes that separates into a pudding layer and a cake layer... I love these things)

img4431yo8.jpg

I really like the desserts in the book this came from: Karen Barker's American Desserts. She's the pastry chef at the Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I came across this recipe on Chowhound and am VERY intrigued. Seems easy enough, which makes it a perfect candidate for a dinner party. But does the combination of chocolate, olive oil, and salt really work? I don't want to scare my guests or anything.

Also, for those of you who make tuiles -- is granulated or powdered sugar better? I've seen vastly different recipes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I came across this recipe on Chowhound and am VERY intrigued. Seems easy enough, which makes it a perfect candidate for a dinner party. But does the combination of chocolate, olive oil, and salt really work? I don't want to scare my guests or anything.

I'm not sure why she calls this a mousse. What the recipe makes is ganache. Generally, a mousse is made with whipped cream and/or beaten egg whites. Essentially what the recipe has you do, is make a chocolate truffle, and instead of rolling it in powdered sugar or cocoa and eating it out of hand, you put a small scoop into a bowl, drizzle some olive oil around it and sprinkle it with Maldon salt (My FAVORITE fleur de sel--I got hooked on it seven or eight years ago, and it's my go-to table salt).

You could try it in advance, to see if you like the combination of flavors, by tasting a little bit of chocolate with olive oil and salt. The addition of cream will change the texture, but not really the basic flavor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could try it in advance, to see if you like the combination of flavors, by tasting a little bit of chocolate with olive oil and salt. The addition of cream will change the texture, but not really the basic flavor.
And, if you don't like the taste of chocolate and olive oil/salt, you could rescue the whole thing by whipping some egg whites and folding them in to make a true mousse, no?
Link to comment
Share on other sites

And, if you don't like the taste of chocolate and olive oil/salt, you could rescue the whole thing by whipping some egg whites and folding them in to make a true mousse, no?

If you can scoop the ganache, ala truffles, it will be pretty hard to fold whipped egg whites into it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure why she calls this a mousse. What the recipe makes is ganache. Generally, a mousse is made with whipped cream and/or beaten egg whites. Essentially what the recipe has you do, is make a chocolate truffle, and instead of rolling it in powdered sugar or cocoa and eating it out of hand, you put a small scoop into a bowl, drizzle some olive oil around it and sprinkle it with Maldon salt (My FAVORITE fleur de sel--I got hooked on it seven or eight years ago, and it's my go-to table salt).

You could try it in advance, to see if you like the combination of flavors, by tasting a little bit of chocolate with olive oil and salt. The addition of cream will change the texture, but not really the basic flavor.

And the funny thing is, if you read the recipe closely, under step one it says "Be careful not to stir too vigorously, or you will add too much air to the ganache. "

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made a sabayon/zabaglione type thing for the first time the other day, using Henriques 15-yo Malmsey madeira (what is the Portuguese word for sabayon, anyway). Served with roasted peaches. Yum. And I'm pretty sure I could make this while moderately drunk if I wanted to serve it warm.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Needing a quick, fuss-free dessert over the weekend, I took a standard panna cotta recipe and added some canned pumpkin, a few spices, and a slug of brandy. I wanted to make a caramel sauce to go on top, but ran out of time, and anyway my guests seemed to think the idea overkill. Everyone loved the panna cotta, though.

Soften 2 t gelatin in 1/4 c cold milk

Scald 1 1/4 c heavy cream, 1/2 c milk, and 1/2 c sugar

Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin mixture

Whisk in about 1/2 cup pumpkin, a tablespoon of brandy, a pinch each of clove and ginger, two pinches of nutmeg, and about 1/4 t cinnamon

Strain mixture into 6 well-oiled ramekins and chill for a minimum of two hours

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only holiday baking I've done this year was a persimmon pudding I took to a friend's party last weekend. It was someone else's old family recipe. It turned out very rich, sweet, and delicious. I used more persimmon than the recipe called for, since I didn't know how many persimmons I'd need and had left over once I'd gotten the required amount of pulp. I didn't have any other use for it, so I put it into the mix. It was like a bread pudding made with pumpkin pie filling :(.

When I was trying to work out some kinks in the recipe, I started looking for other persimmon pudding recipes to compare, and there's an entire website devoted to them :(.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Poor, neglected dessert thread ;)

This Pierre Herme/Dorie Greenspan pineapple and tapioca thing called "Gourmandise" (recipe here).

hermeae5.jpg

Forget the damn pineapple chips, which took about 14 hours to bake (not one hour, like the recipe says), and this is a very easy, quick dessert. The components were nothing special by themselves, but tasted together you're like "yeah, that Pierre Herme is a genius". I doubled the tapioca, though, as 3 T of tapioca to 2 cups of liquid seemed way too soupy (in fact, I think it might be a misprint).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Strawberry-rhubarb clafoutis with some blitzed almonds using Bittman's base recipe. Sprinkled with sugar and thrown under a broiler. Also since I was out of milk, I uh... added water to the heavy cream as a substitute. =p It reminded me of Chinese sweet rice cakes, and was pretty. I think the juiciness of the fruit also made the batter not cook as well - so less cream next time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My darling nephew was visiting last week, so with an extra person around to help distribute the calories, I tried out a recipe (copied below) I ran across for St. Louis-style Gooey Butter Cake. It came out pretty well. Not really a classic cake (why this post is not in the cake thread), but more of a coffee-cakey, snack-type of thing. Overall, I thought it was a bit too sweet, but darling nephew and rwtye disagreed on that point and liked it a lot. My favorite part was the crispy "top" that formed on the gooey layer. It held up well without staling too terribly quickly and would be good for a picnic or other casual occasion because you don't really need a fork to eat it.

The recipe is said to be a scaled-down version directly from a baker in St. Louis, which would explain some of the oddities in technique and ingredients. I did not make the crust part as written, but did the usual mix all the dry stuff together, add the hot liquids, then the eggs, then the fat. Much easier and it came out fine. Also, next time (and it is definitely tasty enough to make again), I might try it without the almond extract so the butter flavor is more prominent.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gooey Butter Cake

BUTTER CAKE CRUST:

6 tablespoons warm water (105-110 degrees)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I used butter)

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

GOOEY FILLING:

2 tablespoons evaporated milk

4 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon almond extract

2 2/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temp.

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cornstarch

2 eggs

1 cup +2 Tbs. all-purpose flour

SPRINKLE WITH:

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375 DEGREES

CRUST: In a cup, dissolve yeast in warm water until frothy. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine shortening, sugar, dry milk and salt; beat on low about 1 minute (mixture will be crumbly). Add yeast mixture and mix well, scraping the bowl. Mix in the egg (now it really is lumpy!). Add flour and mix until it reaches a sticky dough consistency, about 30 seconds. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 10 minutes. Let dough rest 10 minutes. Divide dough in half; form halves into rounds by gently tucking under edges; then let rest another 10 minutes.

Spray two 9-inch square baking pans (NOT dark non-stick pans or dough will stick) with cooking spray. Roll out each dough half to an even crust. rolling from the center outward., until it is approximately 11"square.. "Air out" the dough by gently lifting it and laying it back down; now lightly roll into an 11" square again.

Lift dough and place into a prepared pan; press dough about 1 inch up sides of the pan, and trim any excess. Repeat process with the second half of dough. Use a fork to poke holes all over the crusts to keep it from bubbling up.

FILLING: In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, sugar, vanilla and almond extract. In a mixing bowl, cream sugar, butter and salt with an electric mixer. In a third bowl, beat cornstarch and eggs until smooth. Add cornstarch mixture to creamed butter mixture; beat on medium speed until combined, scraping down sides of bowl. Add milk mixture and mix to combine. Then add flour. Batter with be thick and stiff like a cookie dough. Divide filling between the two prepared pans and spread evenly. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Bake on the center rack of preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a thin shell forms on the top (the goo underneath won't be firm). Cake is done when the top is light golden brown.

Cool cakes 30 minutes in the pans resting on a rack. To remove cake, run a knife around the pan edge. Place rack over top of cake and gently flip it over and life off the pan. Invert by placing a plate over the cake bottom, flip it and life off the rack. Sprinkle with another tablespoon of powdered sugar. Cool completely; cover with plastic wrap and let rest overnight.

Recipe from: Cuisine Magazine (Nov/Dec.Issue, 1999)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recent panna cotta experiments: rosewater and orange blossom water. Getting the right amount of flavoring was tricky; it needs enough to be flavorful but not overwhelming when the dessert is cool, but you have to make that call while the mixture is still warm. (As usual, I did it by taste and have no idea how much "enough" actually is, so I can't provide a recipe.)

Still, both worked well. I served the rosewater panna cottas with crushed pistachio and a drizzle of acacia honey.

---------

Does anyone have a really good semifreddo recipe? Just a basic formula that allows for playing around with flavorings. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Recent panna cotta experiments: rosewater and orange blossom water. Getting the right amount of flavoring was tricky; it needs enough to be flavorful but not overwhelming when the dessert is cool, but you have to make that call while the mixture is still warm. (As usual, I did it by taste and have no idea how much "enough" actually is, so I can't provide a recipe.)

Still, both worked well. I served the rosewater panna cottas with crushed pistachio and a drizzle of acacia honey.

---------

Does anyone have a really good semifreddo recipe? Just a basic formula that allows for playing around with flavorings. Thanks.

i found this recipe the other night when looking for something to do with some cream I had. It met my secondary requirements of containing chocolate and not needing to separate eggs. I didn't have almonds so I left that and the almond extract out as well. Quite tasty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In about five minutes I'm taking a pan of Hungarian Shortbread from Baking with Julia out of the oven. It is dessert for the inauguration potluck party today. I love this recipe because you can freeze the dough in logs that will fit in the feed tube of the food processor, thus changing the annoying half hour of grating on a box grater into a few seconds. Plus, it uses up a pint of preserves from the overflowing cabinet. Today's flavor is mayhaw. Happy Inauguration Day everyone!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is more of a "what's for tea today and breakfast the rest of the week" post. I made Maidda Heatter's Savannah fig cake today for the first time, mainly to use a jar of figs in syrup. It is delicious. Delicate, moist, very lightly spiced, with a crust of toasted nuts all over from using them to coat the pan. I didn't make the glaze, and I'm glad. I think it would have been too sweet. I'll toast it for breakfast and have it with goat cheese to add a little tang.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My students have a long simulation tomorrow, likely to go past midnight, and I have to work on emptying my pantry as school comes to an end. Put the two together and you get -- a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal-cherry cookies, regular and mint brownies. Glad I'm baking today and not tomorrow when it is supposed to hit 90 degrees.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw an episode of Jacques Pepin's show yesterday and he made a very clever dessert, which I attempted last night. I have searched on his website for that specific episode or for a recipe and can't find it. Essentially, he uses a flour tortilla as a base for a pear tart. There is an episode where he uses the same technique to make a tart with canned apricots here: http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode212.html

Unfortunately, he does not indicate the oven temperature he used, which is where I had a little bit of trouble. But essentially, what's involved is putting a silpat on a baking sheet, and melting a T of butter on it, in the oven, then taking it out of the oven, sprinkling sugar on the melted butter, rubbing a flour tortilla in the mixture and then turning the tortilla over and arranging a single layer of ripe pear slices onto the tortilla, sprinkling a T of sugar over the fruit, dotting it with butter and putting it into the oven for about 25 minutes. I figured that the oven had to be pretty hot, so I did it at 400F. The idea is to caramelize the sugar under and top of the tortilla, so its important not to get a lot of butter-sugar surrounding the tortilla on the silpat rather than just underneath. It burns.

Basically, the tortilla gets caramelized and crispy and makes a delicate thin crust under the pear--I used bosc, which is what I had in the house, and sprinkled on a bit of cinnamon. Jacques Pepin glazed his pear tart with apricot preserves and sprinkled on crushed pistachios, but I didn't bother with a glaze.

I will definitely do this again--I may have to raise the oven temp and think I sprinkled too much sugar on the silpat, because the tortilla didn't crisp as well underneath in the center as on the edges. But it still came out really good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That sounds wonderful, Zora. I'm going to give it a try when I have friends over for dinner on Wednesday.

For an early Cinco de Mayo dinner tonight I have made cocoa-cinnamon-chile brownies. The apartment smells fantastic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw an episode of Jacques Pepin's show yesterday and he made a very clever dessert, which I attempted last night. I have searched on his website for that specific episode or for a recipe and can't find it. Essentially, he uses a flour tortilla as a base for a pear tart. There is an episode where he uses the same technique to make a tart with canned apricots here: http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode212.html

Unfortunately, he does not indicate the oven temperature he used, which is where I had a little bit of trouble. But essentially, what's involved is putting a silpat on a baking sheet, and melting a T of butter on it, in the oven, then taking it out of the oven, sprinkling sugar on the melted butter, rubbing a flour tortilla in the mixture and then turning the tortilla over and arranging a single layer of ripe pear slices onto the tortilla, sprinkling a T of sugar over the fruit, dotting it with butter and putting it into the oven for about 25 minutes. I figured that the oven had to be pretty hot, so I did it at 400F. The idea is to caramelize the sugar under and top of the tortilla, so its important not to get a lot of butter-sugar surrounding the tortilla on the silpat rather than just underneath. It burns.

Basically, the tortilla gets caramelized and crispy and makes a delicate thin crust under the pear--I used bosc, which is what I had in the house, and sprinkled on a bit of cinnamon. Jacques Pepin glazed his pear tart with apricot preserves and sprinkled on crushed pistachios, but I didn't bother with a glaze.

I will definitely do this again--I may have to raise the oven temp and think I sprinkled too much sugar on the silpat, because the tortilla didn't crisp as well underneath in the center as on the edges. But it still came out really good!

I saw that episode a while ago. It intrigued me so much that I started to write it down before I realized it's on his website. Thanks for the feedback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I will definitely do this again--I may have to raise the oven temp and think I sprinkled too much sugar on the silpat, because the tortilla didn't crisp as well underneath in the center as on the edges.
Zora (or anyone else) - does the silpat prevent the tortilla from crisping underneath??
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Zora (or anyone else) - does the silpat prevent the tortilla from crisping underneath??
No, the silpat prevents the caramelized sugar from irretrievably sticking the tortilla to the pan. I dumped a lot more than one T of sugar on the silpat before I set the tortilla on it (I was basically doing what I remembered from watching the show--didn't do the web search for a video until the next day.) When I eyeballed it, it looked like there wasn't enough. And I probably needed a hotter oven. Not all of the sugar caramelized, so I had a thick layer of unmelted sugar under the center of the tortilla.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I saw that episode a while ago. It intrigued me so much that I started to write it down before I realized it's on his website.
The pear tart episode was repeated on the PBS Create Network tonight, and I was able to watch more closely.

1 1/2 T of butter on the silpat. 1T of sugar into the melted butter. He used 2 T of sugar on top of the pear slices--don't think you'd need that much if the pear is ripe. Oven temp. is 400. 25-30 minutes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't the dough kind of dense for a souffle? How did it come out?
It's still a work in progress. I got the idea from Rachael Harriman.

Yes, cookie dough is too dense for a souffle. But obviously I'm not just folding a bunch of whipped egg whites into a Pillsbury log, here. :D

My first attempt basically started with a basic cookie recipe and tried to adapt it to a souffle.

Next I'll be starting with the souffle and trying to introduce the flavors common to the chocolate chip cookie instead.

An alternative would be to bake the cookies and then just crumble them into a basic souffle, but that seems like a cop out to me.

I'll be sure to post how it goes!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's still a work in progress. I got the idea from Rachael Harriman.

Yes, cookie dough is too dense for a souffle. But obviously I'm not just folding a bunch of whipped egg whites into a Pillsbury log, here. :D

My first attempt basically started with a basic cookie recipe and tried to adapt it to a souffle.

Next I'll be starting with the souffle and trying to introduce the flavors common to the chocolate chip cookie instead.

An alternative would be to bake the cookies and then just crumble them into a basic souffle, but that seems like a cop out to me.

I'll be sure to post how it goes!

How's this project going? I'm still intrigued.

Yesterday I baked some caramel crunch bars (Dorie Greenspan recipe) to take to a party. They came out quite well, despite the fact that I couldn't find the called for Heath toffee bits for the top. I ended up chopping heath bars instead. I looked for the Heath toffee bits at several stores and couldn't find them. Any leads for the next time I make these?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I winged a sweet tiropita-like dessert for yesterday's 4th of July party. I rehydrated some Turkish apricots, halved them, wrapped them in phyllo with mascarpone, brushed them with butter, and baked them for about 20 minutes. I beat the cheese with an egg for poof, and sweetened it with honey and cinnamon. They went over well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I winged it too, yesterday, on a simple cheesecake recipe that turned out really well :

Butter the bottom and sides of a 9" springform pan

2/3 package Anna's Ginger Thin cookies

3T softened butter

In food processor, grind cookies until they turn into powdery crumbs, add butter and pulse until butter is incorporated. Press buttered crumbs into bottom and up sides of springform. Bake in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Turn the oven temp down to 320 degrees.

8 oz. package of Philly cream cheese

8 oz. container of mascarpone

8 oz. (1/2 container) of whole milk ricotta

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon

1 T. lemon juice

Beat room temperature cheeses until creamy. Add sugar and continue to beat until sugar is well incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until mixture is light and creamy. Add vanilla, lemon juice and zest and beat briefly until well mixed.

Wrap a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil around the outside of the springform pan. Pour filling in and put into a larger baking pan that can serve as a waterbath. Place pan in oven and pour very hot water into the waterbath, filling it until the depth of water is 1/2 way up the side of the pan. Bake for 45 minutes, turn off the oven but do not open the oven door. Leave the cheesecake in the turned-off oven for one hour. Remove the cake from the waterbath and run a knife around the edge, but don't open the springform pan until the cake has cooled for about 1/2 hour.

This cheesecake is very light and can be served as is, or with berries or a fruit coulis. I made a sour cherry topping for mine, by cooking a scant quart of pitted cherries with 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tsp of almond extract, 1/4 cup tapioca starch and the juice of half a lemon. I did this on medium-low heat in a covered pan. The cherries are juicy enough that it's not necessary to add water. I narrowly averted disaster: word of warning-- keep an eye on them, so that once the mixture has thickened it does not scorch. Cool the cherry mixture thoroughly. When the cheesecake was cool, but before the springform was opened, I spread 4T. of sour cream on top of the cake and then poured the cooled cherries on top of that. I refrigerated it for a few hours before removing the springform and serving.

This recipe is not super-sweet. For those who like sweeter desserts, I suggest adding 1-2 T. of sugar to the cookie crumb crust, upping the amount of sugar in the cheese mixture and cherries to 1 cup, and adding a T. of sugar to the sour cream topping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For the fourth of July: a multicultural tart w the usual buttery, short pastry.

After the shell cooled, I sprinkled it with red raspberries picked up at the H Street market that morning from Quaker Valley.

Poured in a mixture of ricotta, cream cheese, egg yolks and lemon. Baked.

After cooling and chilling, the surface was decorated w pink and golden raspberries in a kind of free-form, fireworks pattern.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone have a tried-and-true recipe for a berry streusel square-type thingy? I'd like to make them for a party I'm having this weekend, but I don't have the time to test recipes, and every one I've found online seems to have at least one commenter pointing out a fatal flaw. I can always revert to Joy of Cooking, but if you can share a recipe you can vouch for, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Experimental chocolate cream cheese pecan cookies for dessert.

I had most of a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup and two half blocks of neufchatel to use up, and I wanted to make cookies. I decided to try the Ruhlman Ratio principle (which would have been easier if I actually had the book) to improvise a recipe. I am not good at writing recipes--and baking is particularly challenging on that front--but I've been working at improving my skills.

The ratio for cookies is 1 part sugar to 2 parts fat to 3 parts flour. By happenstance, the amount of fat I had (counting butter and cream cheese--though they aren't pure fat) was pretty much exactly 2 times the amount of chocolate syrup. The first 3 ingredients of the syrup are sweeteners (bleah--I bought this specifically for a recipe I make that calls for it or I wouldn't have had it on hand), but it's not pure sugar; nor is it all that chocolately when dispersed through a batter. I figured I needed to add some granulated sugar as well. Not knowing how to account for eggs (yes, I do need the book), I added an amount of sugar equal to the weight of 2 eggs, counting the eggs broadly as extra fat. The amount of flour the formula churned out was about 1 1/2 lbs., which seemed like it would be way too much. (It was. I stopped adding at 1 lb., when the batter seemed like it could accept no more flour.)

I was tempted to add some chocolate chips to boost the chocolate flavor, and I wish I had. The syrup is just not chocolatey enough when spread over 4 1/2 dozen cookies. I added some chopped pecans, and also did not add enough of them.

The final texture of the cookies reminded my husband of macaroons--light and cakey. They're not at all crumbly, though. They seemed to have properties of meringue as well. While I wasn't aiming to make little cake cookies, interestingly enough, my biggest complaint is that they don't have a strong enough chocolate flavor. (I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but the cookies are frustratingly light on chocolate flavor.) They're okay as is (and I'm proud of making edible cookies this way--math! I sound like Barbie :P), but they'd be pretty darn good if they were more chocolately.

I'm left wondering if the cream cheese caused the macaroon/meringue kind of lightness in the cookies.

Issue that proved hardest to figure out: balance of liquid vs. dry ingredients. (Probably addressed in the book :()

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After Thanksgiving's lemon meringue disaster, I needed to hop back on the pastry horse. Yesterday, I made an apple crumb pie mostly using Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe, including the flaky cream cheese pastry. I didn't think the cream cheese lent a significant amount of flavor to the crust, but boy, was it easy to use and flaky. The apples were half Granny Smith and half Stayman (and one random Rome), which made for a slightly tart, slightly spicy filling, a nice complement to the almond streusel topping.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^Sigh! I can't believe no one has contributed to this topic for so long, and since I had leftovers for dinner, the only omphaloskepsis worth sharing:

Rhubarb galette w cornmeal pâte brisée: Martha's recipe.

Highly recommend. Adjustments: sub half an organic Valencia orange for lemon juice, adding zest, too. Cut down salt in dough slightly, otherwise it is perfect for a galette. I cut amount of sugar slightly, too and once rolled out and placed on parchment-lined baking sheet, the dough was sprinkled w ground flax seeds to absorb the juices. I didn't bother to chill the assembled galette for 15-20 mins. before popping it into the oven. Not at all soppy, probably due in part to thin slices of the rhubarb. Having loved baked rhubarb compotes for ages, I can't believe I haven't tried this before. Great warm w generous dollop of tart B) Greek-style yogurt. Omega-3 in flax seeds, whole grains in crust, organic sugar and a vegetable for dessert!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...