Baby it’s Cold (and snowy) Outside!!

So Mother Nature is at it once again!

hahahahaha...Mother Nature making another funny!

I could complain about this…  Alright, none of us have time to listen to me moan and groan about the excessive snow, so here I give you a quick, easy and oh so comforting dinner for a blustery night.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with a steamy bowl of soup!

No recipes needed on this one, it is basically a choose your own poison kind of meal.  This evening for us the Soup du Jour was Ham and Bean.  Ray has gotten into baking bread so the base for our sandwiches was courtesy of him.  The cheeses were Cheddar and Emmental  and on mine I had to have a slathering of good old Heinz yellow mustard.

That folks is it, sometimes simple and to the point is the best thing

Frittata in the Dark!

Taken in the dark and with not an ounce of styling...so sue me!!!!

Feb.6, 2010 was an anniversary (you don’t need to know which!) of my 29th birthday (I will never turn 30…EVER!!) and also the day most of the east coast got blanketed in a very thick layer of snow.  As the clock struck midnight and the day rolled in, I had just set the sleep timer on the TV and was settling in for the night.  About 35 mins later I awoke with a start to no television, hmmmm, I know I set it for 90 minutes….what’s up now???  I made my way into the hallway and tried the light switch….nothing.  I then made my way to the spare bedroom and looked out the window, not a light on on the street!!  I looked further down and saw a few neighbors out shoveling their walk, defeated, I figured I might as well join them, best to get a jump on the snow!!! I was back in bed by 2am.

Fast forward 16 hours…the snow had stopped but not before dumping 22″ (official count but my backyard says 28″), we had shoveled for hours, the sun was again setting and dinner was calling.  The only thing was the electric had still not come back on..the house temp was reading about 54 (it bottomed out at 43 before the power returned) so I had 2 stockpots of water boiling to get some steam heat going.  What to do about dinner though?  I had some sweet italian sausage thawing in the fridge, which wasn’t going to make it to its intended use, so I figured sausage, home fries and eggs.  I threw a couple potatoes in one of the stockpots to par cook and got out the sausage, well the truth be told, I had no desire to pull out different pans to bring this meal together so it was improvise….Frittata!!!!  As some of you may know, Ray is a VERY picky eater and when I say “frittata” he says “eww”, however I was cold, tired, sore and truthfully not in the mood to please his pickiness…my anthem became “frittata or starve”.  I sliced the sausage and by the time it was done the potatoes were perfectly done to fry as homefries.  Now I can’t imagine I am saying this but it was such a welcome task to peel those right out of the pot potatoes barehanded……HEAT and lots of it!!!  I pulled the sausage from the pan and gave the potatoes a rough dice and threw them in till they were nicely browned and crispy, back in went the sausage.   I whipped up 6 eggs with a bit of water and salt and threw that in as well.  Damn!!!!!  I have an electronic igniter which can not be bypassed to light the broiler…ok then, a flipped frittata.   Oh Hell no!!!  I was too tired, sore and shaky from the cold to attempt a manual flip by candle light…now what?  I grabbed a lid and partially covered the pan, turned the flame down low and prayed for a done and non burnt frittata.  After some time dinner was served and quite edible.  We finished the night off with a few rounds of Yahtzee by candle light, then shivered the night away under many, many blankets.

8am this morn we awake, again, no power!!!!  Grand!  Immediately I dressed to go check on the elderly couple next door, I knock and Rose opens the door, in she beckons me…”you are gonna let out the heat” she says.  I walk in and the house is quite toasty….yea they were doing the big no no that so many old school folk do….they had the gas burners lit the night through!!!  After scolding them a bit and knowing that I wasn’t going to change their ways, I exited, Rose followed me out onto the porch and we continued to chat, 5 minutes later Nino pops his head out the door and told us the power had returned!  Hot damn!!!  Anyone that had been outside immediately went back in to enjoy the chance to join the 21st century again!!  After a bit of time, it became apparent that no plow was in sight, so one by one the neighborhood came together and we dug our way out.  By 3 in the afternoon we were again cold, tired and hungry.  In we went for a late lunch…we had power and we had leftover frittata so in the microwave it went.  We sat down to share the last bit of this cooked in the dark meal and finally Ray looks at me and says, ” ya know, this is pretty good”.  It was in that moment  I learned that after living life like the folks in “Little House on the Prairie” for over 36 hours….Ray ain’t so picky afterall!!!!!

It’s a”boot” time!

Late….

No time…..

Gotta rush…..

Oh, I had plans for this post, my house has become a 2 Daring Baker joint and I thought I would have a lot to say about it all.  I envisioned myself as a teacher assisting the newbie yet also a (not so) Iron Chef competitor firing up dueling ovens!  Didn’t happen!!!!!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen.   Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Celiac disease is not something that affects me closely, if at all  but I applaud Lauren for what she is doing for herself and others in converting recipes to fit her needs.  With that being said, I apologize to her for not following her challenge 100% but sorghum and rice flours were simply not in the budget, which has as of late tightened considerably.  I did, however, make the wheat version of the graham crackers…..and I am really glad that I did…they are fantastic!!!

Before I take you on a quick pictorial of my progress and my thoughts on the challenge, let me first give you a glimpse into the state of my mind and how very very acute my powers of observation were this month.  As I was rolling out the dough, I was inundated with the scent of GRAHAM CRACKERS…it was as if my entire kitchen were filled from floor to ceiling with GRAHAM CRACKERS.  As I rolled, I kept thinking to myself (in complete amazement), “wow! this stuff smells just like GRAHAM CRACKERS!!”.  Really John???  GRAHAM CRACKER dough that smells like GRAHAM CRACKERS and not a bacon cheeseburger, who’da thunk it?!?!?!?  Apparently, nothing gets by me!!!

Hey!!! This stuff smells just like GRAHAM CRACKERS!!!

No Bake chewy ooey brownie-esque base!

Yummy Nutella filling layer!

The icing on the cake...so to speak!

As for the Nanaimo Bars, I have heard of them,  have wanted to try them and now can say I have.  As a complete package they were a little over the top for me…..just too rich for my taste.   As individual components, well that’s a different story.  The topping,  that is something I have used often in candy making and it is a pretty straightforward taste.  The base, with all the GRAHAM CRACKERS, was like a luscious dense no bake brownie and I have plans for working with it again!  The filling, oh the divine filling!!!!! I initially intended to follow the recipe with no additions but as I was reaching for the vanilla pudding I spied none other than my jar of Nutella.  Yes, that one thing that makes my world go round!!!!!  So of course I had to add a tablespoon or 3 of my silky friend to the filling…do I need to say more????  Truly, the Angels sang!!!!

So again, I gotta rush but I highly recommend giving these a shot, if not as a whole as individual components.  However, if I were one to know what a small portion were, these might have not been so overwhelming……so cut em small and enjoy!!!!!

Thank You Lauren!!!

For my Boys

For quite some time I have wanted to try a baking project, a baking project based soley upon love.  However, time and life always got in the way and it was easier to get this via our weekly trips to the store.  The other day, however, I saw something that….well, frankly….made me think to hell with time constraits and a busy life!!  The “master” of the house was making his way up the steps and I saw a slower, slightly more hesitant ascent than I am used to.  The trip was made and there are no signs which could cause worry but it is apparent that time, once again, is having an effect.  It became evident that this project would wait no longer , I would make the time and today was the day!!!

Dog Biscuits
(in our house they are called cookies)

• 2 teaspoons dry yeast
  1/2 cup lukewarm water
  3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 egg
• 5-6 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 ° F (180 ° C).

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in the peanut butter, garlic, broth, honey, and egg. Gradually blend in flour, adding enough to form a stiff dough.

Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth (about 3-5 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball, and roll to 1/4-inch (6 mm) thick. Using small bone-shaped cookie cutters, make biscuits! Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1/4 inch (6 mm) apart. Gather up the scraps, roll out again, and cut additional biscuits.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and turn over. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on both sides. Let cool.

Aside from being way too easy and, truthfully, divine smelling while baking, these “cookies” are a definite hit!!  The “master” and his (not so) little brother LOVE em!!!

If I may offer a bit of advice…..you bake for your family, you bake for your friends….now bake for your pets, as they are both family and friends!!!!

I was “afeared”!

Yea, I know that “afeared” is not a word but nothing else describes how I felt, when I was asked to do a wedding cake (scared sh*tless, runs a close second!).  A wedding cake with 8 days notice, with Christmas falling on the day before delivery!!!  Oh and I have failed to mention that this was my FIRST wedding cake!!!  Anyone that makes cakes knows a wedding cake is much more than just a cake.  It is a focal point on a tense bride’s big day, many people will (hopefully) “oooh and ahhh” over it, as well as taste it…..so it must be PERFECT!!!  If you know me, you may also know I have a tendency to be a little too hard on myself as far as my cakes go.  I never seem to be 100% satisfied with the end result, regardless of the raves it may receive, I always think I could have taken it a little further. So again, combine the fact it was my first one, I had 8 days notice and a major holiday fell in the mix as well and…..you guessed it….I was “afeared”!!!!

I am not going to bore anyone with a recitation of recipes but for one, the fondant, as everything was pretty standard but the fondant.  The cake was a vanilla Genoise (Italian sponge), with an ivory Italian buttercream (vanilla), the cake was “soaked” with a vanilla simple syrup and the layers filled with a vanilla raspberry coulis.  Pretty vanilla, huh??

On to the fondant.  I love to work with fondant, I love the look of a fondant covered cake, I love the possibilities fondant offers and I absolutely……HATE…. the taste of fondant, classic fondant, that is.  A few years back I was searching for a fondant recipe that might be better than the norm and I ran across Marshmallow Fondant.  Now as I said classic fondant just gives me the willies in the taste department, so I typically peel it off and discard it like a banana peel.  MM fondant has a bit more flavor and now I only peel off 50-75% of the covering….less waste….and I hate to waste!!!   For those of you who have worked with fondant but never MM fondant here is the recipe, for those who have never worked with any type of fondant and think MM might work for you, follow the above link, as it has some good pointers on working with fondant.

Marshmallow Fondant

• 1lb. miniature marshmallows
• 2-5 Tbs. water
• 2lbs. powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup (min) Crisco (shortening)

Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave by putting the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, open microwave and stir, repeat this until the marshmallows are melted.  Place 3/4 of the powdered sugar on the top of the melted marshmallow mix and stir to combine lightly.

Now grease your hands and counter GENEROUSLY and turn out the marshmallow mix and begin kneading it,  like you would bread dough.  Continue kneading and adding more sugar as you go, if the mix sticks to counter, add more crisco to the counter.  Continue till all sugar is incorporated and you get a smooth elastic dough (if the fondant tears easily when stretched it is too dry, add a few drops water and knead, continue this till you get a very elastic dough).

It is best to let the fondant rest overnight, this helps ensure that all the sugar has been absorbed.  Coat the fondant with a bit of crisco and wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest.  When ready to roll the fondant give it another good kneading and then proceed with rolling.

All in all the cake worked out well.  It did have a few “moments”……like the top tier was a bitch and it took me (much) longer to finish  than the other 2 tiers combined.  Another “moment” happened when we arrived at the venue only to realize that the piping bag, tips and extra buttercream were still at home!!!!  Aside from those few incidents it wasn’t as bad an experience as I had anticipated, the Bride and Groom seemed pleased, the guests “ooooh’d and ahhh’d” and the cake did not topple in any way shape or form.

I highly recommend to anyone that has a desire to make a wedding cake and has never done so….give it a go, it was definitely worth the trauma.  And to all those wedding cake veterans out there, I ask, when does the fear of the cake go away???

Merry Christmas 2009

Once again, it is that time of the year….time certainly does fly.  Obviously, this is a Daring Baker post…they seem to be the only ones I have done as of late (I am hoping that in 2010, that will change)… and there are formalities to dispense of…

Most importantly…

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

The recipes can be found on their blogs and soon as I find the time to update my DB recipe page, you will find them there as well.

Again, time has certainly flown yet there is still some year left in 2009 and still a lot to do.  So I only have a few more things to say and then you can all go off and enjoy this Glorious time of year!!!!

Obviously, I want to thank Anna and Y for a fantastic challenge!

To all the other Daring Bakers across the globe I wish to send many thanks as well.  You all have inspired me with your immense talents…such very beautiful creations you all have done!!!

Of course, none of us would be here without our fearless Daring Baker Diva leaders!!!

Lisa & Ivonne

What a fantastic idea you had and how very wonderful of you both to share it with the world!!!!

I now leave you all one last wish…

May you have a Joyous and Merry Christmas* and a Happy New year!!

*so if you noticed the asterick and made it past the video to here, then here is where I am the Bear that I so typically can be.  Again wishing you a Merry Christmas, sorry but this is my holiday and I refuse to be PC about it, if it isn’t your holiday then disregard and have a Happy New Year!

Here I go again!!!!

10:10pm Mon Oct 26:  A little Farmville play, harvest, plow, plant!

10:17pm Mon Oct 26:  Check Facebook! Ah how nice a Post on the Daring Baker’s Oct Challenge: Macarons  written by Sunita’s World

10:19pm Mon Oct 26:  Sunita’s Macs look yummy and the post was a great read.

10:20pm Mon Oct 26:  I think to myself, “Yo, John, you are a Daring Baker and tomorrow is the 27th, where in hell are your macs?!?!?”  Here I go again!!!!

10:23pm yadda-yadda-yadda!!!  Run downstairs and seperate five eggs and pray that the 16 hours the whites will age will be enough!!!!!

Comic relief kids, since time seems to be my weakest link……..

Fast Forward to

6:15pm Tues Oct 27:  I got magma!!!

Piped Magma

6:54pm Tues Oct 27: I DON’T gots feet!!  Feets done failed me now!!!

7:02pm…: Last bit of magma piped, going to let it air dry this time and see what happens.

8:0 (freakin’) 9…: Still no feet!!!!  Time to admit defeat?; or is that defeet?????

Ok, so I have finally come to a challenge that I feel I shall not return to.  This is not my 1st attempt at Macs, the first was last month, you can read about it here, that was a semi-success.  The 2nd attempt was earlier this month, I was going to make chai spice shells with a pumpkin cream cheese buttercream, I ended up with , once again, ‘feet”less hockey pucks.  Tonight’s attempt had no feet but had the classic crisp outer shell with a soft chewy core, so another semi-success.  After last night’s trip into the Time Warp, I was getting ready for bed and my flavor combo hit me…

Rocky Horror (Road) Macs

So tonight’s  batch was a milk chocolate shell, with a marshmellow cream filling and chopped almonds to round it out.  Even though they were more a failure than otherwise, I felt you needed to see the end result.

"Feet"less Rocky Horror (Road) Macs

And now I will leave you with two things to ponder.

First the obligatory….

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

And lastly…

I think it is time to kiss my Macs….

Goodbye!!!!

For the Love of Autumn

The first of each month has been pretty much the same for me for the past year and a half….I grab my morning coffee and head straight to the Daring Kitchen to see what is in store.  This month we were given…

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

As is often the case, we were given some freedom to play.  The puff pastry obviously is the star of this show, and Steph did a great job of explaining it here.  So I will not go into a lot of detail regarding it, other than to say it is really not a difficult endeavor!!  It is true that I more often than not buy puff already made but I do make it as well and always am I pleased when I do so.

What then, you wonder, am I going to tell you about then….

The supporting cast, of course.

Vols au vent are a puff pastry shell which are filled….and filled with a multitude of options.  My intial thought was to make a pumpkin praline mousse to fill small leaf shaped shells and then finish that off with a cinnamon caramel drizzle…..didn’t happen!!!

The weekend I decided to go for it and tackle the DB challenge happened to be a beautiful mid september weekend.  Crisp and cool yet sunny and bright…I could “smell” the leaves turning color….a wonderful weekend to get in the kitchen and play.  Truth be told, I had quite a few kitchen “projects” planned.  I needed to make a supply of my “world famous” pasta sauce and I wanted to dive into something that I have been afraid of for some time, you can read about that here, and of course puff pastry.

Saturday was a day of getting things in place…my sauce is an all day affair and I also had tons of prep for the DB challenge and my other project.  Sunday arrived, my sauce was “put up”, my fears had been put to rest and my puff pastry had been “turned”, now it was dinner time!!

As I said earlier, initially I was going to go for more of a dessert for the challenge but again dinner was calling, what to do?  The weather was still holding, the air crisp and I kept thinking how much I Love this time of the year…the warm spices, the tart green apples, the little bit of a chill that calls for something comforting, and then I favorite little cafe on the southside came to mind.  The 1889 Cafe does a great stuffed breast of chicken that I thought, if broken down, could be morphed into a great savory, comforting filling for fresh from the oven puff pastry shells.

The inspiration is a chicken breast stuffed with sausage, apples and raisins with a white wine reduction as a topper…easy to break down!!!!  Now my cooking style is not one to follow a recipe, I am a pinch of this, dusting of that kind of cook…..so please bear with these “instructions” ( although I promise if you give it a go, you will make it one of your favorites).

Start with 1/2 lb breakfast sausage, brown and remove to paper towels to drain.  Cube 3 boneless skinless chicken breast and brown add 1/2 of a medium onion diced and continue till chicken is cooked through and onions are translucent, remove and set aside.  Chop 3 granny smith apples into bite size pieces and caramellize in pan, have patience with this step…let the apples get a nice color on them.  While all of this has been going on I plumped about 1/4 cup raisins in a spiced Riesling, when the apples  have caramellized nicely, remove them and deglaze the pan with the excess wine from the raisins. scraping all the “bits” from the pan.  I then added 1 1/2 cups chicken stock  and brought it to a boil, I then added the chicken, onions and sausage and lowered the flame to a simmer.  Let this reduce by half, then add the raisin, apples, a touch of salt, pepper, sage, cinnamon and 1/4 cup heavy cream bring to temp.  Remove from flame and then “swirl” in 4oz butter, ladle this into fresh out of the oven pastry shells!!!  Enjoy!!!

I served this with a crisp greens salad topped with butternut squash croutons and a lite drizzle of cider vinegar.  Warm, comforting and well worth the “turns”, alas Autumn has arrived!

For the Love of Autumn

Mac Attack!

Yea, so I have been playing a bit of the tease with some of you on Facebook….well I guess now is the time to put up or shut up, so here goes.

It has been a year and a half since I first joined the, then, Daring Bakers who have now become The Daring Kitchen; it has been that same amount of time that I became aware of something called a “Macaron”, only one “O” there kids, so not the chewy coconutty cookieish thing you are thinking (although macarons are chewy and cookie-like there is a world of difference between 1 “o” and 2).  It has been slightly under a year that I had my first taste of one of these divine pastry/cookie delectables!!!! It was at Lisa and W’s wedding that I got to put one of Veronica’s macarons to my lips…..OMG!!!!!  No wonder that damn near every food blog this side of the recently downgraded Pluto had something to say about these bad boys!!!!!!!

Almost a year gone by and you are wondering why it has taken me so long to attempt these, well when you read about them, you find that they are a bit intimidating.  The basic 3 ingredients are but egg whites, almonds and sugar combined in such a way as to form something so wonderful one won’t forget it!

At the wedding I also met Helen(e), of Tartelette fame, invariably when macarons are mentioned so is she.  The fact that her creations, edible art, blow me away combined with all the semi horror stories I have read about making macarons  conspired to make me (if you are prudish turn away or switch your browser to another blog) one scared shitless mother fucker!!!!!!

Really, I thought these babies were so outta my league that I would never again have one.  Sure they can be ordered online or you can fly to France or Tokyo for the King of Macarons but since I don’t often patronize bakeries/patisseries, I prefer to make my own,  it was learn or go without.  For almost 1 year…I bought the ingredients more than once and more than once they became something else…the elusive treat was not to be.

Jesu, Giuseppe, Maria as my aunt Lena often said…enough is enough…..(look away time again) shit or get off the pot!!!!!

I committed, I read, I shopped and finally I dove in head first.   Again, 3 basic ingredients but about as many recipes as there are stars in the sky!  These things are all about technique…french method, italian method, whip all the whites, whip only half the whites and on and on.  I finally decided on a  recipe by David Lebovitz, which combines the french method with my favorite flavor, after meat, chocolate.

The egg whites were aged, the almonds ground to a point just short of becoming almond butter and hell I even printed out some nifty macaron templates…aside from doubling the ingredients I followed David’s recipe to the letter, so I won’t bore you with those details.

Nifty printed templates under parchment!

I whipped, I folded and I was pleased.  I filled, I piped and again I was pleased.  Well, almost, something was slightly amiss, naw!!!! just stage fright.  5 trays of chocolate macaron discs, 90 shells, 45 finished macarons (for those who have no clue these are constructed like an oreo, 2 shells and a filling).  Now some people suggest to let the piped shells sit out for about an hour to dry and form a “skin” of sorts, David mentions this but it appears he doesn’t always use this.  I did.

Ready for Macaronage!

Piped and drying.

First tray in the oven, I could have fit another but I wasn’t risking multiple trays just yet!!!!  Oven temp…check, time…check, ok in they go.  A short time later the unmistakable scent of…scorch… I look at the timer and dismiss it, I am only halfway there…..DUMBASS!!!!  FYI, if you smell scorch do NOT dismiss!!!!!  Hockey pucks, I had mini hockey pucks!!!!!!!

Regroup and rethink.  I lowered the oven temp by 50 degrees and used another of those not mentioned in recipes hints…I put a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it slightly ajar.   No smell of scorch this time but when all was said and done, some of the shells cracked, hmmm oven temp adjustment time.  But there was good news with this batch…..I HAD feet!!!!  Those who know, know and for those that don’t…well the macaron shell consists of 3 “areas”, the dome (top), the base (bottom) and the feet ( a small area between the dome and base that…well, resemble little feet).

Because of the cracked shells, I lowered the oven temp another 25 degrees, in went the 3rd tray and then the fourth, as the 3rd looked great.  You got it “Houston, we have a problem!”  At about the time the 4th tray was ready to come out of the oven, the 3rd tray was cooled quite a bit, so I had to get a taste.  Into one I gingerly bit, yes there is that slight crisp exterior but wait where is the softer chewy brownie/cake-like interior????  The interior was slightly chewy but way more “dense” than it should be.

4 trays down and it was not looking good.  I had lowered the temp to the lowest temp I had read in any recipe, so it must be my batter or more specifically the “macaronage”, again if you know…then you know and really I apologize for this but if you don’t know, well I am not sure I can explain, as I am not sure I know it as fully as I could.  Did you see the light at the end of the tunnel in those last 5 words written??

1 tray left and something told me I didn’t screw it up badly enough to just pitch the rest into the can!!  What to do?  I wasn’t going lower with the temp, so I decided on less oven time.  The original recipe calls for 15-18 mins at 375,  I had shaved off 75 degrees and was now about to shave off time, but in they went.  I was not going to walk away from the oven, no way!!  So on went the light and in I stared.  I swear to you, at a little over 6 minutes in, the oven light blew!!!!!  It frickin went out on me!!!  Can this be for real.  Now a 300 degree oven isn’t the hottest but you try sticking your face as close to a slightly ajar, totally dark oven and try and see what is going on in there at that temp!!!!!  No easy task, I tell you!  So at 8 minutes in, I just had to open the door and see what was up….nice rise and FEET, I don’t know what but something told me they were done.  Out they came to cool.

Now, if you have been paying attention you may think, there is something wrong with this picture.  Me too!!  Original recipe the oven temp was 375 and cooking time 15-18 mins, this last try was done in a 300 oven for a little over 8 mins, that’s one helluva difference….and I think I know the reason but that I am saving for the end!  Just a few more observations and ramblings and you are all free to go and bake.

Once tray 5 was cool, I had to taste test….crispy dome, soft chewy interior and chocolate from hell!!  Could I have done it???  Yes, Watson, I think I just may have!!!  Keep in mind, I started with 90 shells, the first 70 were…well we won’t go there.  So I had 20 shells that worked and I had just eaten one, remember, macarons are 2 shells and a filling….what to do???  Yep, I had to eat another shell…and it tasted as grand as I remembered, perhaps no competition for Veronica and Helen but damn tasty!!!!

18 little shells in need of filling…decisions, decisions!!!  Well, I had a little leftover American buttercream from a sidetrip on this months DB challenge (hush hush till the 27th), so 8 got to wrap themselves around that.  If you have been paying attention you know my favorite flavor is meat with chocolate being a close 2nd.  3rd comes….and what better to pair with chocolate….peanut butter!  So I made a mini batch of chocolate peanut butter ganache, literally 2 oz of chocolate, 1/2 tsp PB and a splash of cream, to finish off the last 10 shells.

9 filled macarons… Now I would be a liar to say that I followed what every recipe suggests…to wait a day to let the flavors meld…hell no, I was tasting one of each.  7 filled macarons and 24 hours to wait…in the interest of science and baking I waited and then tasted.  5 filled macarons….hours of reading and thinking, a few singed eyebrows, all this and more for 5 filled macarons!!!!  Am I doing it again?  Yes!!!!!  I am not anywhere in the city of Macaron but I am certainly in the suburbs and soon to be at the city limits!!!  Would I have waited this long to dive in again, NO, Never….go for it, don’t wait!!

For those who “know” I ask that you not hurt yourselves too terribly from falling out of your chairs in hysterical laughter at my not so pretty macs (although, I hope you read on once you get back up to see if what, I think the issues were, seems to be feasible).  For those of you closer to me, who may not “know”, I promise to continue to use you all as guinea pigs till I get pretty macs!!!!

Mac Attack!!!!

Issue/Issues.

One hint that I did not follow, nor even think about till after the fact was to get the batter to a consistency where it flows like lava.  Hell I am not a volcanologist so I am not really sure what lava flows like but I am certain my batter had no flow whatsoever.  This though, I think was caused by what I believe to be my biggest mistake…..

“Beat the whites till they are firm and stiff”.  I thought it at the time and know it almost 100% now but I beat my whites till they were rigid and dry.  Could this have been my biggest downfall????

I now want to mention someone who I don’t know, of whose blog I have read little (but I plan on that changing) that I just kind of happened on after all was said and done.  Audax Artifex, his post on his DB anniversary macarons has great information that I found to be helpful.  I just wish I had read it before my first attempt, but then, perhaps it was meant to be this way….I saw my wrongs and then was given a resource to help fix them.

Dobos on the fly!!!! (or PB&J Torte)

Yep kiddies, that time again…well yesterday was that time…Daring Baker reveal for August!  I know, again I have been remiss, again I am behind but then if I were on time, you all might get “afeared” that I had been abducted by aliens and replaced with some sort of pod person….so consistent and behind I shall be.

First and foremost…..The August 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers’ cookbook Kaffeehaus:  Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Second…The excuses and the story!

Excuse #1- ‘Tis august, the thermometer is bulging….who wants to turn on the oven?

Excuse #2 through infinity- Refer to excuse #1.

The Story…..As some of you know, I have been absent from our beloved DB for a bit, too busy, too tired, too whatever, at the beginning of this month I was happy as a clam for a cake, my kind of cake, so I swore to all the baking and blogging Gods that I would “hell or highwater” manage to find the time.  Then, of course, the month intervened, vacations, bee stings, etc, etc, etc (all of which are lovely stories in and of themselves but I know you don’t want to hear them).  Then this morning arrives and I am sitting here with my coffee and cig and in my reader I notice….Dobos…..Dobos…DOBOS!!!!   “Aw crap!!” (that isn’t really the retort but I am trying a kinder and gentler approach here).  Yep, John will be John!

So off to work I go…BTW did I mention today was Fudge Day?  Yea, aside from the 96 gallons of ice cream we have been going through in a week, today was my day to make 140 lbs of fudge. Between the ice cream, the fudge, an employee on vacation and various classes of returning college kids…yea I had time to plan an attack on making a Dobos!!!!  Along about 4pm, in walked my inspiration….Ray (and for everyone going “awww” and tearing up…please!)…it wasn’t so much him , as it was the package of raspberries he just had to have that he wanted me to come up with something to make from them.  But alas, my dear sweet partner in life didn’t WANT CAKE!!!! (Lis, I think you have the proper retort for this one…can you be the one to say it please?)  Crunch time, now I have 2 desserts to come up with, yea right like that is going to happen….Ray will just have to be content with his nightly PB&J sandwich before bed!!!!! Yes people, we keep Smuckers and JIF afloat, not to mention Wonder Bread (yea he has to have the spongy flavorless white crap bread and if it didn’t take an extra 20 seconds, the crusts would be cut off also!).  At all times we have on hand 1 drum o’ Jif and 2 jars preserves, one strawberry the other raspberry.  Hmmm, raspberries, raspberry preserves, peanut butter, cake, dessert….can you feel the impending crescendo?  Viola!!!!  PB&J Torte!!!

Lastly, I give you the Mechanics!!!

As with any Daring Baker challenge that I complete, you can find the recipe here, on various other DBer Blogs and of course on our above mentioned Hostesses sites as well.

Here are my tweaks:

To the egg yolks in the batter I added 1/3 cup creamy Jif ( I think a bit more would have served me well)

For the buttercream I subbed white chocolate and also added 1/4 cup strained rasp. preserves.

Instead of doing the free-form rounds, as I feel I am rotund enough, I chose square and thus used 1/4 sheet trays to bake in, hence the reason I feel I got alot of “lift” in my layers.  (although I wish I would have spent a little more time leveling the batter)

For the wedge embellishments I did a half moon shape and replaced the caramel with reduced  strained preserves.  I really wanted to do more of a crescent shape for a bit more lacy feel and also for a little spot to tuck in a raspberry but it didn’t happen!!!!

The guinea pigs will have at it tomorrow, so I will update you when the final verdict is in.  Up to this point I found it to be a great challenge!!!