Almond Torte

This is a great dessert and I have pretty much convinced myself that is is really more of a vitamin than a dessert.  It has very little white flour, instead uses ground almonds.  It is made with 6 eggs,  4 ounces of dark chocolate, a little cream, only a cup of sugar, and a little raspberry jam for fun.  I think it is more like a PowerBar.  OK, that is just rationalization, but I love this recipe none the less.  It's out of one of the more random cookbooks that I own:  The Sopranos Family Cookbook.  Yep, everybody's favorite mob family. Tony and Carmella have chapter and so do Artie Bucco and Paulie Gualtieri.  If you've never watched the show before, the characters like to eat.  A LOT.  They aren't small people, so go figure, they made a cookbook.

Anyway, some notes on this recipe.  The leavening agent for the cake is the egg whites.  It is a little difficult to incorporate the whites into the almond mixture all at once without deflating the whites.  I would recommend just adding a scoop or two of the egg whites to the almond mixture and combining.  Don't worry about being gentle with it,  all you want to do is lighten up the almond mix.  Then, once it is combined, add the remaining egg whites and fold in.  Here is a good link on how to fold egg whites into a thinker base, although, it is at the 17 minute point in the video, so unless you want to learn how to make a full souffle, fast forward to 17:00.  But all that being said.  Folding will help you keep the cake light.

Also, I'm sure you could use any sort of jam for the filling.  I'm sure strawberry would be good, or even apricot.  Just make sure, whatever you buy, that it is seedless.  I haven't done this yet, but I bet a little bit of Chambord would be delicious in the frosting.  Now I'm just brainstorming.  Have fun with it!

Almond Torte
Serves 8
Printable recipe

2 c blanched almonds
1 c sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 c seedless raspberry jam
4 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1/2 c heavy cream
Sliced or slivered almonds for decoration

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Butter 2 9-inch layer cake pans.  Line the pans with circles of parchment paper.  Butter the paper and sprinkle the pans with flour.  Tap out excess.

In a food processor or blender, combine the almonds and 1/4 c of the sugar.  Grind the nuts very fine.  Blend in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks until thick and light.  Beat in the remaining 3/4 c sugar and the extracts.  Stir in the almond mixture.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form.  Add one big scoop of egg whites to the almond/egg yolk mixture.  Stir in to lighten up the mixture (no need to be gentle here, just mix it in).  Then gently fold the remaining whites into the almond mixture with a rubber spatula.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pans.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched int he center.  Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Unmold the cakes and carefully peel off the paper.  Turn the cakes right side up and let cool completely.

Place 4 strips of wax or parchment paper around the edge of a cake plate.  Place one cake layer upside down on the plate.  Spread the jam evenly over the top.

 Place the second cake layer right side up on the first layer.

 

Break up the chocolate in to small pieces.  In a small heatproof bowl set over, not in, a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate with the heavy cream.

Stir until smooth.  Let the glaze cool slightly.

Pour the glaze onto the top of the cake.  Smooth the top with a metal spatula, allowing some of the chocolate to run down the sides of the cake.

 Then smooth the chocolate over the sides.  Decorate with slivered/sliced almonds (I like to put them around the sides of the cake--it covers up the rough edges I tend to create).  Let set briefly, then remove the paper strips.  Chill briefly to set the chocolate.

Double Chocolate Biscotti

Hello everyone! I must first apologize for being so absent the past month or so.  Life got a little ahead of me...and all of a sudden its the 2nd of November and I don't know where most of October went!  But I went on a cooking spree yesterday, and have plenty of raw material for posts and I'll be back with more tasties more frequently--that's my goal!

I rummaged around through all of my cookbooks for some good treats, and found some good ones in the old plaid stand-by.  That is the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  The very first cookbook I ever owned.  I've been caught up recently in the celebrity chefs, restaurants, fanciness of the Food Network recently, that I've forgotten my "roots" as it were.  This is the very first cookbook I can remember seeing. My mom still has it in her pantry with her cookbooks, too!

So I randomly flipped to the Cookie tab (OK, maybe not randomly.  I really wanted to make some cookies).  This recipe sounded fantastic to me and I figured it would travel well, since (most of) the cookies will be headed to Afghanistan for my brother's enjoyment.

These turned out really well, nice and crispy, and chocolate-y.  I've never been successful with biscotti before, but I think it was because I had a bad recipe.  I didn't realize that these actually get baked twice: once as a loaf and once as slices to crisp up.  They are great with a cup of coffee, and standup well to being dunked.  I hope you all enjoy them with a nice hot cup o' Joe!


Double Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
printable version

Ingredients
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces white chocolate chips
3 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper; set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder; beat until combined. Beat in eggs. Beat in as much flour as you can. Slowly.  You don't want a huge cloud of flour in your kitchen. Stir in any remaining flour. Stir in the chocolate chips.

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a (not entirely appetizing-looking) 9-inch-long roll. Place rolls 4 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet; flatten rolls slightly to 2 inches wide.

3. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet on a wire rack for 1 hour. Using a serrated knife, cut each roll diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Lay slice, one cut side down, on an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake slices in a 325 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Turn slices over and bake 7 to 9 minutes more or until slices are dry and crisp. (Do not overbake.) Transfer to a wire rack; cool.

Cookies for the troops!

My brother left for Afghanistan about 3 weeks ago.  He's in the Marine Corps and will be there about 6 more months. I've been wracking my brain to figure out what sort of care package to send to him (and the guys he's with) that would bring smiles to their faces.   That's when it hit me.  Since I'm living overseas with the military, it should be fairly easy to send him some treats that will still be good in the time it takes to get to him...

I was pleasantly surprised when I got a note from him yesterday saying he had already gotten the package...it was only a week! That means, as long as I can find recipes for treats that can travel well, he'll be getting more.  The other great part of this, is I can enjoy making tons of cookies, blog about them, and I don't have dozens of cookies sitting around the house begging me to eat them!  So, Brother (and your guys), these (as well as my thoughts and prayers for a safe return) go out to you, and expect more!

These cookies actually turned out oh so tasty.  They are a chocolate cookie with both white and dark chocolate chips.  I think adding walnuts or pecans would be a good addition, too.  Or maybe even macadamia nuts.  Now I'm just brainstorming.  Anyway, without any further ado, here are the cookies...

Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Food and Wine Annual Cookbook 2009

Makes 28 large cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks
12 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa, baking soda and salt.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter with the sugars at a medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until incorporated.  At low speed, beat in the chocolate chunks until they are evenly distributed.  This batter will be very thick.
3. Scoop eight 1/4 cup mounds of batter onto each of the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 3" between them.  Flatten the mounds into 2" rounds.  Bake on the lower and middle racks of the oven for 20 minutes, until the cookies rise and then flatten slightly; switch the cookie sheets half way thru cooking.  Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes, then slide the parchment paper onto racks and let the cookies cool completely.  Line the cookie sheets with fresh parchment and repeat to make the remaining cookies.

Homemade Marshmallows

So, we're going camping this weekend...I'm totally looking forward to it.  I haven't been camping in a long time, so I'm a little rusty.  But we're going camping in Switzerland, and I can't imagine anything better.  OK, I can imagine one thing that could make the trip even better...s'mores with homemade marshmallows.

I saw an Alton Brown episode where he made marshmallows from scratch.  At first, I thought he was totally crazy (I mean he is, but even more so that he thinks marshmallows can be made at home), but then I decided I was also crazy and I gave it a try.  Much to my surprise, it wasn't as difficult as I thought.  I will say, though, now that I have a stand mixer it is a whole lot easier, but even without one it isn't as complicated as you might think.  The only necessities are some sort of electric mixer and a candy thermometer.  If you've got those two, you're good to go.

Once you've tried these little babies, you'll never want to eat store-bought marshmallows again. They are light and fluffy, not plastic-y stiff on the outside (and they puff up HUGE in the microwave, if you like that sort of thing).  You can even cut them up smaller and make mini-marshmallows for your hot chocolate (I know for some of you, hot chocolate is not 1st on your mind--it's still hot outside--but last night here in Germany, it got down to like 40F, so I'm thinking hot chocolate).

Homemade marshmallows
From Alton Brown's Good Eats

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar, approximately 1 1/2 cups
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
Nonstick spray

• Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
• In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
• Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.

For regular marshmallows:

• Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.
• When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.
• Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

For miniature marshmallows: 

• Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Line 4 half sheet pans with parchment paper, spray the paper with nonstick cooking spray and dust with the confectioners' sugar mixture.
• Scoop the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round piping tip (or a zip-lock bag and cut off one corner). Pipe the mixture onto the prepared sheet pans lengthwise, leaving about 1-inch between each strip. Sprinkle the tops with enough of the remaining cornstarch and sugar mixture to lightly cover. Let the strips set for 4 hours or up to overnight.
• Cut into 1/2 inch pieces using a pizza wheel or scissors dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining sugar mixture and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Currant Clafouti

I'm not sure how many of you have read the book Julie and Julia, but to summarize, it's about a woman (named Julie) who cooks everything in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook.  But ever since reading that book (which was WAY better than the movie BTW), I've had this craving to make clafouti, which Julie raves about in the book.  Now, a clafouti is basically some fruit in a baking dish with a batter poured over it.  As it cooks the batter turns to this silky, flan-y, custard-y texture that goes so well with any fruit, really.  But, I guess to officially be called a Clafouti, it is made with whole cherries (pits included).  If it's made with other fruit it's called a flaugnarde.  But, since I hadn't heard that term until I was reading about clafoutis on Wikipedia, I'm still going to call this clafouti.

I decided to do a little twist on this and use red currants in stead of cherries.  There are TONS of currants out right now at the market in town and they are dirt cheap!  I haven't done any cooking with currants before, and I figured there was no time like the present to try something new that is in season (and cheap if I screw it up).  I needed to make a few adjustments to the original recipe which called for 3 cups of cherries.  I had planned to just substitute currants for the cherries, but after I started spreading the currants on, I realized using 3 cups was way too much.  I only used about 2-2 1/2 cups, but I feel even that was too much.  The currants have a lot more water in them than cherries, and that made this dish a little soggy.  I think it would be better off with 1 1/2 cups; I made that change in the recipe below. 

I think this dish would be amazing with other fruit.  I've made it before with cherries, plums, and pears.  Adding a little cinnamon is great with the plums and pears.  You could probably use whatever is in season and it would work out well.

Currant Clafouti
Adapted from Julia Child's Clafouti
Serves 6-8

1 1/4 c milk
2/3 c sugar, divided
3 eggs
1 T vanilla
1/8 t salt
1/2 cup flour
1-1 1/2 cups red currants

powdered sugar (for dusting)

Preheat oven to 350F

In a blender, blend together the milk, 1/3 c sugar, vanilla, salt and flour.  Pour a 1/4" layer of batter into a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered oven-safe baking dish.  Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan, about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and spread the currants over the batter.  Sprinkle on the remaining 1/3c of sugar and pour over the rest of the batter.

Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to an hour.  The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

Click here for a printable recipe

Strawberries Marinated in Balsamic Vinegar

So, it's been a while...I've been away and haven't had a chance to get back to blogging.  I'm actually really surprised how much I've missed it.  I've enjoyed posting my recipes and pics, and I really hope you all have enjoyed my posts, too!

The strawberries right now are insane...in season, they are so sweet and fresh and cheap.  Plus they are everywhere.  Whenever I think of strawberries I think summer!  So I've gone searching for a good summertime strawberry recipe and I've found one.  Strawberries marinated with balsamic vinegar with marscarpone cheese is one of my favorites.

Now, strawberries and balsamic vinegar, when I first heard that combination, sounded more than a little off-putting to me.  If it does to you too, hang with me, because it is awesome!  This is one of my stand-by desserts that is great if you want something that is fresh and light-tasting, and truly easy to make.  It would work great for dinner parties, because everything can be made ahead of time (and since you have to marinate the strawberries for a while, you should make it early) and just assemble it table-side.  Or you can make a presentation of it and deliver to your guests and bathe in their praise:).  But most importantly, enjoy it and share with those you love!

A couple of notes on this recipe...Although I have given quantities of the ingredients, they are just to give a general idea of how much to use, I honestly can't remember the last time I measured anything out when I make this, it just seems to work.  Also, it does call for a vanilla pod, but since those tend to be a little spendy, just a splash or 2 of vanilla extract works as well.  Fresh, super-ripe strawberries work the best, I haven't tried frozen ones, but I think that the texture once they are thawed won't be right, so I'm going to have to recommend against it.

Strawberries Marinated in Balsamic Vinegar
From Jamie Oliver's The Return of the Naked Chef
Serves 4

1-ish lbs of strawberries, hulled
~5 tbsp sugar, to taste
10 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 vanilla pod
14 oz mascarpone cheese
4 or 5 leaves of fresh mint or basil, finely sliced


Place strawberries in a bowl and scatter generously with the sugar followed by the balsamic vinegar.  Stir around and allow to marinate for up to 2 hours.

Score the vanilla pod length-wise and remove the seeds by running a knife along the inside, scraping the seeds away.  Mix the seeds with the mascarpone cheese and sweeten to taste with a little sugar.

 

Place a scoop of marscapone on a dish, cover with strawberries and balsamic juice, and finish with a sprinkle of mint or basil.

Mmm...Blueberry Pie

My husband's grandmother is famous for her pies. Every time we go to visit, there is always at least one (usually three) waiting for us when we get there. I haven't had a chance to make a pie along with her to learn her secret, but I did ask her once how she made the crust. She's a very modest lady, and her reply was "oh, it's nothing special, you just mix it all together until it looks right". Her recipe is so much a part of her, she needs no recipe, and the "looking right" part is what I really want to understand.

I think I may have found a crust recipe that rivals that of my grandmother-in-law. It's a little unorthodox, but I've tried it and it works like a champ, so I'm sold. The secret ingredient is...vodka. I'm not sure why it works, something to do with the alcohol to water ratio in the vodka allowing for the optimal amount of gluten formation in the dough. The alcohol does evaporate in the oven, so don't worry about your pie crust tasting like booze (I also tried some dough raw, and even then I could barely taste the vodka).
So all this talk about crust, I haven't even mentioned the filling. Grandma-in-law always has at least a blueberry, cherry and a chocolate pie waiting for us upon our arrival. So when I found this recipe for blueberry pie, this was just calling my name. It is almost as good as hers...

Blueberry Pie
From Cook's Illustrated All-Time Best Recipes

Pie Dough (for one 9" double crust pie)
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour (plus extra for work surface)
1 tsp table salt
2 Tbsp sugar
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut int0 1/4" slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 c flour, salt and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is even distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4-6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl (I actually don't have a food processor right now, so just used a dough blender thing and hand mixed the dough together. It worked well, but my arm was sore the next day).

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4" disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

The Rest of the Pie
Also from Cooks Illustrated

1 recipe of the pie dough
6 cups (about 30 oz) fresh blueberries (if you want to use frozen ones, just cook half of them over med-high heat in step 2 without mashing until they are reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 12-15 minutes)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated on large holes of a box grater
2 tsp grated zest and 2 tsp juice from 1 lemon
3/4 cups (5 1/4 oz) sugar
2 Tbsp instant tapioca, ground in a spice grinder (or 5 tsp pearl tapioca)
Pinch table salt
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tsp water

Remove 1 disk of dough from the refrigerator and roll out on generously floured work surface to 12" circle about 1/8" thick. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1" overhang on each side. Working around circumference, ease dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand. Leave dough that overhangs in place; refrigerate while preparing filling until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 cups berries in medium sauce pan and set over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of the berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry. Transfer apple to large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, tapioca and salt; toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.

Roll out second disk of dough on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 11" circle. Using 1 1/4" round biscuit cutter (or a shot glass like I did, because, hey, there's vodka in the dough and I don't have a biscuit cutter), cut round from center of dough. Cut another 6 rounds from dough, 1 1/2" from edge of center hole and equally spaced around the center hole (this is much easier than trying to do a lattice top). This will allow the steam to vent from the filling as it bakes. Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over pie, leaving at least 1/2" overhang on each side.
Using kitchen shears, trim bottom layer of overhanging dough, leaving 1/2"overhang. Fold dough underitself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with tines of fork fork to seal top crust to bottom. Brush top and edges of pie with egg mixture. If dough is very soft, chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
Place pie on heated baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juices bubble anc crust is deep golden brown, 30-40 minutes longer. transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.