I’m going to admit up front that I’m stretching what could be a single post into two. But really, this first part should stand alone. And, since Septemberish appears to have become the month of crunches (rainbow and cinnamon toast crunch crunch), why stop now?
We begin with good quality bittersweet chocolate. And while it is gently melting with some butter, go ahead and bust out the…
Nutella.
Oh that’s right, I went there. Nutella has made several appearances on this blog. In fact, Nutella is to the Misanthropic Hostess what is Alec Baldwin is to hosting SNL; always a really good idea (the same could be said of Steve Martin and Christopher Walken).
Do you want to hear a confession? Nutella is the singular foodstuff not allowed in our house on a casual basis. I have pounds of varying varieties of chocolate stored in the pantry and at least three kinds of peanut butter in there as well. No problemo. However, introduce this little elliptical tub of chocolate hazelnut manna into our household and I swear, I can hear it whispering to me while I’m at work. So, sadly, I’ve learned that I can only buy it when I have an immediate use for it.
Once the chocolate and butter are melted and combined, the nutella is added and the whole mess is whisked until smooth.
And here is where the crunch comes in.
Once the crispy rice is incorporated everything goes into the freezer for a pause. Then, break the mass into smaller pieces and let your imagination run wild. On top of ice cream? Yes! Yogurt? Yup! As a fancy add-in to granola? You betcha!
My only suggestion is that you store the crunch in a sealed zip-lock in the fridge or freezer. The recipe doesn’t include any stabilizers and so the melt-point is very low (read: if you store it in the pantry and think you’re going to be able to sneak bites here and there, think again, your chocolately fingertips will give you away).
While all the suggestions for use provided above are equally tantalizing, I had other plans for this crunch. Here is a hint.
2 oz (about 1/3 C) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
2 TBS (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 C Nutella
3 C toasted rice cereal
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line baking pan or a dish that will fit in your freezer with parchment.
Spread hazelnuts out on sheet pan and toast until fragrant (6-8 minutes).
Coursely chop nuts, set aside to let cool.
Add chocolate and butter to medium heatproof bowl (or smaller heatproof pan). Set over large saucepan of simmering water. Heat mixture stirring often until butter and chocolate are melted and smooth.
Remove bowl or smaller pan from over larger saucepan. Stir-in Nutella and then hazelnuts. Fold-in rice cereal.
Spread mixture into prepared parchment lined pan or dish, freeze until set, about 30 minutes.
When set, break into smaller pieces with hands. Crunch can be made in advance and store in the freezer in a airtight container.
Try not to eat it all before using it on or with something.
I was excited to get to brush off my college french for this month’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge. Then I realized that being able to ask for the location of the library or discotheque isn’t of much use when making pastry. Oh well.
The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a biscuit joconde imprime to wrap around an entremets dessert.
Is biscuit jaconde imprime simply Greek to you? Well, it was to me until I read the challenge several times. And watched the suggested video. And scoured the links included in the challenge.
It turns out this challenge is actually two methods put together to create a single entity of deliciousness. A biscuit jaconde imprime is really just a fancy dessert wrapper made out of a very flexible sponge cake with a pattern in it. The entremets refers to the filling the biscuit jaconde imprime houses.
This recipe starts with paste. A pastry paste which will give the cake its fanciness. For this recipe, I piped the paste on to a silicon baking mat. More traditionally, a very thin layer of the paste is spread onto the mat and then a pattern is done in relief. As a note, I halved the paste recipe and still had plenty left over.
I did this pattern free-hand but if you wanted something specific, you could easily trace your pattern on to parchment, slip it under the mat and then trace with your paste.
The pattern then gets some time in the freezer to firm-up.
While the pastry is resting, it’s time to make the cake. In my case, I added a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder but you can make it any color you would like.
Returning to the paste, once firm to the touch, the mat is fitted into a half-sheet pan.
And then the sponge batter is poured over it.
After a very quick turn in the oven, the silicon mat is inverted on to a flat surface.
And when peeled-away, the pattern is revealed. Cool or what?
Once the cake is completely cool, it is ready to mold. I used two four-inch spring molds. However, because you are done with the baking process at this point, you aren’t limited to baking pans. Foam board and duct tape could be equally as effective if you wanted to get really groovy with your shapes.
I first lined the bottom of the pans with plastic wrap and then lined the inside of the mold with parchment that was cut to stick out vertically by a couple of inches. I cut the strips of sponge to reach just under the height of the mold.
A quick calculation and homemade compass helped me with the diameter of the bottom and middle layers.
And then it was time to fill. The instructions of the challenge said the entremets could be anything. ANYTHING. So, my mind went to ice cream. And ganache. I’m a little worried that this bastardization could get my spatula confescated, but the instruction did say “anything.”
Each little mold was filled with alternating layers of the extra sponge, mint chocolate chip ice cream and ganache. Once the mold was filled to the top, into the freezer my little friends went for a couple of hours.
Once completely solid, I un-molded the spring-form ring and added a final layer of ganache to top the whole thing off. My understanding is that the jaconde imprime often only goes half-way up the dessert with other delectable layers topping it off as sort of a penthouse floor. For this attempt, I played it conservative and took advantage of the support of the cake.
And then, back into the freezer. The top should have been completely smooth. That it isn’t is a complete rookie error on my part.
Once more frozen, I unwrapped each of the cakes
Here is the pattern on the bottom. I know, nice outlets.
A little detail work with the extra ganache and a cherry on top. Et voila! My take on an ice cream cake.
It isn’t perfect, but was really fun to make . Unlike a souffle or the French macaron, this is one of those recipes that is passably successful if you simply follow the steps carefully.
As a note. If you are thinking of doing this with ice cream, once completely frozen, the layers are much more defined than the picture below. This cut was made only a couple of hours after I completed the cake. A day or two later, I cut it again and the layers were very clean.
I’ve included the recipe here verbatim as posted by accro
Joconde Sponge
YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan
Ingredients:
¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal – *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2? oz/ 75g confectioners’ (icing) sugar
*Note: How to make cake flour: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/
Directions:
1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
2. Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
4. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in melted butter.
6. Reserve batter to be used later.
Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste
YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan
COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.
Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3. Fold in sifted flour.
4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.
Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:
1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
3. Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
5. Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
6. Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
7. Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)
Preparing the MOLD for entremets
Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
Preparing the Jaconde for Molding:
Video: MUST WATCH THIS. This is a very good demo of the joconde and filling the entremets:
1. Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
2. Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
3. Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
4. Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
5. The mold is done, and ready to fill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e1DsyDtcd0&feature=related
Disclaimer:
*Note: The Daring Kitchen and its members in no way suggest we are medical professionals and therefore are NOT responsible for any error in reporting of gluten-free ingredients. If you have issues with digesting gluten, then it is YOUR responsibility to research the ingredient before using it. If you have allergies, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. If you are lactose intolerant, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. If you are vegetarian or vegan, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure any ingredient in a recipe will not adversely affect you. Please consult your physician with any questions before using a product you are not familiar with. Thank you! 🙂
Valentine’s Day is about a month away. Yes a month.
While in college, I wrote a rather cynical article for the school newspaper about Valentine’s Day. The article went on and on about the commercially incited evils of sending cards and chocolate and how when it comes to the big day, we are all pretty much damned if we do and damned if we don’t. Sometimes I wish I could go back and tell my 21-year-old self to lighten up a little. Sheesh.
Yes, Valentine’s Day is ridiculous. But, it is also fun. If you take the serious out of it, Valentines Day can be a bright spot of pink and red glitter smack dab in the middle of what is often the dreariest month of the year.
It is with this spirit that I bring you a Valentine’s Day recipe that is a little off-beat. I’ll give you a hint. Its main ingredients include this.
And this.
Intrigued? Curious? Thoroughly disgusted? Stick with me.
When I began thinking about what kind of treats to post in preparation for Valentine’s Day, my mind went to ruby red grapefruit. I happen to think it is pretty sexy; sweet, slightly bitter and that gorgeous pinky-orangish color. Try saying it in French: pamplemousse rouge. See? Sexy!
So then I started thinking about what goes with grapefruit. Immediately, my mind went to a salad I often serve during the winter months composed of red grapefruit, avocado, cucumber and shallot. I happen to think the creamy nuttiness of avocado is an excellent counter for the sharp sweetness of grapefruit. But…could it be made into a dessert?
The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when I spied the whoopie pie pan my Aunt Jullie sent us for Christmas. Now before this, I’ve always done my whoopie pies freestyle like THIS. However, January’s Bon Appetit magazine has a whole spread on the whoopie pie versus the French macaroon [sic–alas, this is how they spelled it throughout the article], so I figured now was as good a time as any to get professional with my pies. And so, the Grapefruit Avocado Whoopie Pie was born.
Still not convinced? Let me win you over.
The cake was inspired by the Lemon Whoopie recipe from Whoopie Pies: Dozens of Mix’em, Match ’em, Eat ’em Up Recipes by Billingsley and Treadwell (the book came with the pan). My variation of the cake starts with a generous heap of grapefruit zest (I used Texas red grapefruit but use whatever toots your horn).
The zest gets incorporated into a buttermilk-based cake batter.
Even with the reddish zest, you can see the batter really wasn’t looking all that grapefruity. Once upon a time I would have left well enough alone. But then I started making French macarons which are, lets face it, the peacock of the petit fours. If there is one thing I learned from the French macaron, it is that food coloring is not only my friend, but an important visual cue for taste. So, I got out my hot pink food gel and colored half of my batter accordingly (note, I halved the recipe in these pictures).
While the batter tasted of grapefruit, the flavor was very subtle and I didn’t get that bitterness at the back of my tongue that I happen to like so much about grapefruit. So, while the cakes were in the oven, I made a simple syrup of the ruby grapefruit juice and sugar. As a side note, this syrup works well in cocktails with vodka and club soda. Just so you know.
One of the cool things about whoopie pies is that they bake as quickly as cookies. Twelve minutes and I had nearly a dozen ginormous pie halves.
Once out of the oven, I placed each still-hot cake on a cooling rack upside down. I then poked several holes 3/4 of the way through the cakes and spooned about a teaspoon of the grapefruit syrup over cake.
While the cakes were cooling, I got busy with some avocado. There are several recipes out there for avocado frosting/icing/filling. However, all roads really lead back to an Alton Brown recipe. A couple of avocados get beaten.
And then lemon juice, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla are creamed into the avocado. The recipe is very simple and despite the ridiculous amount of sugar in it, the frosting has a nice mellow flavor. After thinking about it for a couple of days, it struck me that at least to my taste buds, sweetened avocado tastes a little like banana. This frosting is rather elastic and ploppy. For this reason I let it rest in the fridge for an hour before loading it into a pastry bag to fill my cakes.
I realize that the color is interesting. It looks a lot like the Kid’s Choice (or You Can’t Do That On Television if you are old school like me) slime. But remember, we’re having fun with the day of love. What says fun more than green slime?
I know that for many, Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without chocolate. And, I promise a chocolate recipe before the big day. But, if your honey/brother/sister/best friend/ stranger-who-looks-like-they-could-use-a- Valentine’s-treat likes things a little wild, this might just do the trick.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, soda, powder and salt. Set aside. Using a standing mixer or electric mixer, cream butter, shortening and sugars until fluffy–2 or 3 minutes. Beat in eggs one-at-a-time. Mix in Zest, juice, vanilla and buttermilk. Fold in flour mixture. Spoon 2T of batter onto parchment-lined cookie sheets or oiled whoopie pie molds. Bake until cake springs back when touched–12-15 minutes.
While cakes are baking, combine 1 C each of grapefruit juice and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil and reduce to summer until sugar dissolves (do not stir). Take off heat and set aside.
When cakes come out of the oven, let sit on pan for 5 minutes and then carefully flip and place each on a cooling rack, top-side-down. Poke each cake about 3/4 of the way through several times with a bamboo skewer or toothpick. Carefully spoon grapefruit syrup over each.
While cakes are cooling, mix-up filling.
Cream avocado until smooth (I mashed it with a fork guacamole style and then introduced the hand-mixer). Cream-in lemon juice and then confectioners sugar and vanilla. If the consistency is not to your liking, you can slowly add-in additional sugar until you get what you want. Spoon or pipe filling onto half of the pie-cakes. Top with remaining pie-cakes and WHOOOOPPPPIIEEEE!
