A Trip to the Homeland

Eliza and I recently returned from a trip to Rochester, New York—my hometown. We went to visit family and friends who hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Eliza. While there I was struck by how many foods I have been missing since moving to Texas. I made it my mission that week to eat all the foods I can’t get in Austin. I left Rochester after a week a few pounds heavier, but with a smile on my face.

For all the delicious food in Austin, one thing I have struggled to find is some good, hearty Italian food. I’m not talking wood-fired pizzas and “artisan” pastas. I’m talking about a big bowl of stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth gnocchi covered in red sauce that took three days to make. And that’s what they serve at Agatina’s.

For the most part, Eliza was a perfect doll the entire week, but when we went to Agatina’s, she really cranked out. Before our entrees arrived it became obvious she wasn’t going to settle down anytime soon, so we got our food to go and enjoyed it at home. It was still delicious and we had tons of leftovers. It was exactly what I wanted.

Among the other foods I gorged myself on last week were white hots, real bagels, scallion pancakes (I haven’t been able to find these in Austin), and white pizza from Martusciello’s Bakery.

But enough about the savory side—what about dessert? On our last day in the Flower City, we took a trip to Savoia Pastry Shoppe, one of the best bakeries in the greater Rochester area. After hemming, hawing, and trying to rationalize just getting one of everything, we settled on three varieties of cookies, a sfogliatelle, and a pasticiotti. I inhaled nearly all the cookies myself; of the three we got, the raspberry jam sandwich cookies were the winner, but just barely. The butter cookies with a plump dollop of chocolate frosting were the perfect combo of vanilla and chocolate, and the amaretti were, of course, sublime—perfectly chewy and crispy. I wasn’t impressed with the sfogliatelle (it was rather bland), but the pasticiotti was good—sort of a sugar cookie filled with pastry cream. You could fill a throw pillow with pastry cream and it would be delicious.

We also squeezed in a trip to Schutt’s, and even though Eliza seemed thoroughly unimpressed, I had a blast. We picked up a dozen fried cakes and a half-gallon of fresh cider to bring over to my grandmother’s house. It was a perfect fall day, still pretty warm, and the donuts and cider made a great snack.

But I’m still thinking about those Italian cookies. My next baking project is going to be to try to replicate those butter cookies. The great thing about the Italian butter cookies is their versatility—both the raspberry jam cookies and the cookies with the chocolate frosting from Savoia were made from the same basic butter cookie recipe. There are countless variations—different shapes, sizes, fillings, toppings, and flavorings. I look forward to a little experimentation.

Chocolate Chippers and Blondies

It’s taken me longer than I anticipated to get this post up. Why? Because I’ve been doing some freelance work, writing a book, keeping the house in order, staying social, and . . . oh yeah—taking care of my pride and joy, Miss Eliza! Am I complaining? Not even close. I really couldn’t be happier—or busier—right now.

A phenomenon I’ve noticed recently is Entire Day Disappearance. Some days I wake up, get some coffee, feed Eliza, check my e-mail . . . then somehow it’s eight o’clock at night and I haven’t crossed anything off my to-do list. Of course, I’ve still managed to squeeze in some baking. It’s something that makes me truly happy, and I hope I will always find time for it.

When I first started D is for Dessert, I did so with the goal of really pushing myself to try some baking techniques I’ve never tried before. I pictured myself making soufflés, macarons, and maybe a Buche de Noel around the holidays. In reality, I’m lucky if I can crank out a batch of cookies before Eliza starts getting fussy. Again, I’m not complaining, just noting my limitations.

So now I’m focusing on the simpler desserts: cookies, bars, maybe a cake or two. Just because they don’t take an entire day to prepare, and require myriad exotic ingredients, doesn’t mean they’re any less worthy.

In the past month I’ve made the following recipes twice each. They’re really simple recipes that produce absolutely delicious treats. The recipes I’m posting are adapted from Cook’s Illustrated (of course) to be dairy free. In related news, I’ve been given the green light from Eliza’s doctor to go ahead and eat dairy again (yay!) so my recipes will no longer be dairy free.

The chocolate chip cookies are gorgeous—big and satisfying without sacrificing depth of flavor. They’re not overly sweet, so you could really play around with add-ins, like coconut, nuts, or peanut butter chips. The blondies have been a big hit. They truly taste like a brownie minus the chocolate. They have the same texture and chewiness as a brownie, but with a lovely golden flavor. This recipe is also super flexible; I was thinking they’d be great with mini peanut butter cups or with coconut and toasted almonds.

Dairy-Free Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp table salt
½ tsp baking soda
12 tbsp Earth Balance, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix the Earth Balance and the sugars until thoroughly blended. Mix in the egg, yolk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients; mix until just combined. Stir in the chips.
3. Form ¼ cup of dough into a flattened ball/disk shape. Place dough disks on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
4. Bake, reversing cookie sheets’ positions halfway through baking, until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes.


Dairy-Free Blondies
(adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp table salt
12 tbsp Earth Balance, melted and cooled
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or a mix of any kind of chips, nuts, coconut, candy bits, etc.)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a 13 x 9 pan with two perpendicular sheets of foil. Spray the foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
4. Whisk the melted Earth Balance and the brown sugar together in medium bowl until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined; do not over mix. Fold in the chocolate and the nuts and turn the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake until the top is shiny, cracked, and light golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature. Remove the bars from the pan by lifting the foil overhang and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares and serve.

An Apple Tart for Uncle Bryan

Erik's brother, Bryan, was in town for the night, so I thought I'd make a little dessert for us all to share. I love desserts with fruit (maybe on some level I believe the healthiness of the fruit cancels out the less-than-healthiness of dessert), and since fall is just around the corner--though you'd never know it here in Texas--I thought apples would be perfect.

In New York State, apples are synonymous with autumn. Growing up in Rochester, every fall we'd hit up Schutt's Apple Mill for apples, cider, and apple freezes (a creamy frozen concoction made from apple cider). In that part of the world the weather actually changes in the fall, and so we'd bundle ourselves up in thick sweaters and woolly socks to go find the perfect pumpin for carving or to lug home a big bushel of fresh russet apples. To this day, the smell of apples reminds me of fall in Upstate New York and of Schutt's.

Eliza and I will be visiting Rochester in September and I'm definitely going to pencil in a trip to Schutt's. It will be the perfect time of the year, and I'm excited to share the experience with Eliza.

In the meantime, I thought an easy apple tart would be a perfect dessert for Bryan's last-minute visit. I used the store-bought puff pastry I had in my freezer (once the weather cools off a bit I'll be making my own doughs again) and made the Quick Apple Tart from Epicurious/Gourmet. I followed the recipe pretty closely, with only a couple of minor changes (I used Earth Balance instead of butter and I sprinkled some almonds on the tart after it was done baking), and it turned out great. The bottom burned a little, but that was my fault--I baked the tart on the bottom rack of my oven when I should have put it on the top rack. Lesson learned. It was still delicious. There are three pieces left that will make awesome breakfasts for the next couple of days.

The tart would be equally yummy with pears, or even with peaches or plums. Or blueberries or raspberries. My point is, it's a very versatile recipe that I will probably use again when I need a fancy-looking dessert for last-minute company. Oh, and the almonds really did nothing for the tart. I will probably just skip them next time.

Quick Apple Tart
(adapted from Epicurious/Gourmet)

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (half of 17.3-ounce package), thawed
3 medium apples (I used Pink Ladies), peeled, cored, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons Earth Balance, melted
3 tablespoons sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup apricot jam, melted
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Unfold the pastry on the parchment paper. Using the tines of a fork, pierce a 1/2-inch border around the edge of the pastry, then pierce the center all over. Arrange the apples on the pastry, overlapping the slices and leaving the border clear. Brush the apples with the melted Earth Balance, then sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Bake for 30 minutes. Brush the melted jam over the apples, then bake the tart until golden, about 8 minutes longer. Sprinkle the almonds over the top of the tart. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Bundt Cake and Some Effing Good Cookies

First let me explain my photo. I made a lemon bundt cake on Thursday night, glazed it on Friday, and got so excited to give it to some dear friends that I forgot to take a picture before passing it along. Then, when I went to take a picture of the cookies I made, my camera’s battery died. I tried taking a picture with my phone, but the quality was even worse than with my regular camera.

Instead of posting without a picture, though, I thought I’d introduce you to the cutest kitty in the world, Mr. Geoffrey Jellineck.

Moving on. As I mentioned, I made a scrumptious lemon bundt cake this week that, adhering to my new dietary adjustment, was also dairy free. I adapted a recipe from (who else?) Cook’s Illustrated. The recipe was for one 12-cup bundt cake, but I only have a six-cup pan and a pan that makes six one-cup cakes, so I used those. It turned out to be a good idea, because I was able to make one big cake and a bunch of mini cakes, which allowed me to sample my goods before foisting them upon my friends.

The recipe also called for glazing the cake twice: once right out of the oven, and once when cooled. Eliza got super cranky right around when I was taking the cakes out of the oven, so the first glazing did not happen. I ended up glazing all the cakes the next afternoon and, frankly, I see nothing wrong with that. The lemon glaze was tart and delicious and a perfect pairing with the sweet cake. That first glazing might have allowed some of the glaze to penetrate the cake a bit, but it was plenty tasty the way I did it.

Two of the mini cakes went to our new next-door neighbors, and the big cake went to Akina and Todd (Akina is lactose intolerant, so the dairy-free cake was welcomed gratefully). The other four mini cakes ended up in my belly.

On Sunday night I had a hankering for some cookies. I looked online for a good cookie recipe that I could easily modify to be dairy free, and that also called for ingredients I had already since I didn’t feel like going to the store. The recipe I decided on was Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies (there’s an explanation for the name of the cookies here).

In my Google travels I’ve read a lot about Dorie Greenspan, but I’d never tried any of her recipes until this one. And I’m hooked. I will be buying Baking: From My Home to Yours very soon.

The World Peace Cookies recipe is a little funky. The dough is really, really crumbly, and the chilled dough logs were nearly impossible to slice; the dough just kind of fell apart and I had to mash it back together into cookie-like shapes. As a result, many of the cookies I made were unsightly—delicious, yes, but they were some ugly mofos. I guess it’s lucky my camera battery died after all.

But it doesn’t matter that they were ugly, because I couldn’t keep my hands off of them. They're super chocolatey, with just a hint of a salty bite. Their texture is like sand or, as Erik said, like "cooked cookie dough"—which somehow makes perfect sense. They are delicate and hefty at the same time. I'm pretty much addicted. I was only able to get 14 cookies from the recipe, and that’s a good thing, because if there were many more I probably would have turned into a giant World Peace Cookie.


Dairy-Free Lemon Bundt Cake
(adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Cake
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Zest of 3 lemons
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain soy milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
18 tablespoons shortening, at room temperature
2 cups sugar

Glaze
2 - 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon plain soy milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. Mince the lemon zest to a fine paste (you should have about 2 tablespoons). Combine the zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice in small bowl.

2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. Combine the lemon juice mixture, the vanilla, and the soy milk/lemon juice mixture in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, gently whisk the eggs and the yolk to combine. In a standing mixer, cream the shortening and the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes; scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add half of the eggs, mixing until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with the remaining eggs; scrape down the bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the soy milk/lemon juice mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition (about 5 seconds). Repeat using half of the remaining flour mixture and all of the remaining soy milk/lemon juice mixture. Scrape the bowl and add the remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until the batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold the batter once or twice with a rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Scrape into the prepared pan.

3. Bake until the top is golden brown and a wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into center comes out with no crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.

4. While the cake is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, the soy milk, and the confectioners' sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until the glaze is thick but still pourable. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack set over a baking sheet for 10 minutes, then invert the cake directly onto the rack. Pour half of the glaze over the warm cake and let cool for 1 hour; pour the remaining glaze evenly over the top of the cake and continue to cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours. Cut into slices and serve.


Dairy-Free World Peace Cookies
(adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

11 tablespoons Earth Balance shortening, at room temperature

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

2. In a standing mixer, beat the shortening on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both the sugars, the salt, and the vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time; if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking—just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

6. Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them—don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes. They won’t look done, and they won’t be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack.

The Three-Day Cake I Cannot Eat

Picking out our wedding cake was one of the most enjoyable parts of planning my and Erik’s wedding. I knew from looking at countless photos of cakes that I definitely wanted fondant—it has such a clean, polished look. As far as I can remember (all our film was stolen from the reception hall, so there are no surviving pictures of the cake), our cake was ivory fondant with ivory swirls and scrollwork all over it. It also had some of our wedding flowers in between the tiers: aubergine and flame calla lilies.

I looked forward to the cake tasting for weeks, and I could barely restrain myself from inhaling all the little slices the bakery gave us. We settled on three tiers: one was raspberry Chambord cake with vanilla buttercream, one was chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, and the top tier—also raspberry Chambord—was ours to take home.

The cake was delicious and it made me very happy.

Erik is out of town this weekend. He’s on a “mini tour” with the super awesome Akina Adderley & the Vintage Playboys. Originally, I thought I’d make myself a coconut cake this weekend (one of my absolute favorites) because Erik doesn’t like coconut very much and it wouldn’t be fair of me to make a big, delicious, fluffy coconut cake when he’s home and then not be able to share it with him.

I started to plan the cake, and decided to go all-out with some decorating. I’d always wanted to try playing around with fondant, so I figured this would be a good opportunity. I also thought I’d try messing around with gumpaste flowers, too. In essence, I was making a mini-wedding cake.

As my decorating plans grew in complexity, the cake itself became simpler. Instead of spending the whole weekend making a multi-layered coconut concoction, I opted for the simpler—but no less delicious—classic yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting. I knew I could bang it out way faster than a coconut cake, leaving me more time for decorating.

On Friday I made the cake and the frosting. I decided to make a six-inch cake—my favorite size for home consumption—which gave me enough left-over batter for six cupcakes. I doubled my usual chocolate buttercream frosting recipe and had more than enough left after frosting the cake to frost the cupcakes.

I froze the two six-inch cakes I made on Friday, and then sliced them into four even layers on Saturday. I frosted them with room-temperature frosting, and then put the whole thing in the fridge until today.

This morning I rolled out my fondant, which I tinted light blue on Friday afternoon. I rolled the fondant a little too thin, so there are a few blemishes on my cake, but all in all I think I did a pretty good job.

With royal icing I glued some pearly nonpareils along the bottom edge of the cake to hide the seam, then added rows of dots of icing all over the cake. My original idea was to make some white gumpaste roses and pile them on top of the cake, but you know what? Gumpaste is really hard to work with. I realize now that I need a lot more practice before I’ll be making anything decent-looking enough to grace a cake. So, I just went with all-over dots. I like the way it turned out; it’s a bit simple, maybe, but I‘m definitely proud of the overall effect.

I used the following recipes for this one:

Rich and Tender Yellow Layer Cake
Easy Chocolate Buttercream

Sadly, due to Eliza's delicate constitution, I have to give up dairy products for a while (see A New Direction). I don't mind, really; it's a small price to pay for for my child's well-being. But now there's a lovely cake in my fridge that I can't eat . . . does anyone in the greater Austin area want a piece?

A New Direction

Eliza has been having some, well, digestive issues recently that may or may not be caused by my consumption of dairy. There’s only one way to find out, so for at least the next two weeks I’m going to be dairy free. Hopefully this small adjustment to my diet will help Little E’s tummy problems.

But don’t most yummy desserts require oodles of butter and cream and such? Not necessarily. I have been a vegetarian for several years (with a brief hiatus while I was pregnant) and even spent a few months as a vegan, so I know for a fact that cruelty-free deliciousness does exist. If you don’t believe me, try the vegan cookies and cream cake at Whole Foods—it’s out-of-this-world good.

I have almost no experience with vegan baking, so this next couple of weeks (or months, if dairy is indeed the culprit) will be a true learning experience. I have no intention of quitting my blog; instead, I’m just going to make dairy-free desserts for a while. I’m sure there will be a few missteps, but I hope to discover some truly wonderful recipes along the way.

Pastry Cream and Phyllo

I like to think that the first time I made pastry cream was when I was around 13 years old, after watching Julia Child make a croquembouche on PBS. I was inspired to make cream puffs, and did, fairly successfully. From then on, I was obsessed with baking and pastry. You could say that Julia Child made me what I am today.

I don’t think that’s an accurate memory, though, just a romanticized version of what really happened, based on all the current hype surrounding the release of Julie and Julia.

Here’s what I know to be true:

1. I made cream puffs when I was in middle school.
2. I watched Julia Child make a croquembouche on PBS once.
3. I sure like baked goods.

Continuing on my quest to use up all the random food in my kitchen, I vowed to make something with the phyllo dough that’s been in my freezer forever. I’ve never used phyllo before, but I’ve seen people use it, and that’s got to count for something, right?

I hadn’t made pastry cream in a long time, so I thought I’d make some to go with the phyllo, along with some sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream. It’s really my favorite type of dessert: a little fruit, a little crust, and a little cream . . . perfect!

I used the phyllo to make some little cups. I wrestled a bit with the phyllo, and the end result would probably make a Greek grandmother weep, but the cups are tasty and, well, cuppy. I used five sheets of phyllo, brushed a lot of butter in between, and sprinkled the butter with sugar. I pressed squares of the layered dough into a muffin pan and baked them. I was actually surprised at how not hard (I wouldn’t go so far as to say easy) it was to work with the phyllo. I think it might become a good tool in my dessert arsenal.

I was nervous entering into the pastry-cream-making portion of my dessert, as Eliza had been fussy on and off all afternoon. Luckily, she cooperated enough to let me finish it, with only a few glitches.


Phyllo Cups with Pastry Cream and Strawberries

Ingredients

For the phyllo cups:
10 sheets phyllo dough
1/4 cup melted butter
Sugar

For the pastry cream:
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups half and half, heated
1/2 cup corn starch
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Sliced strawberries
Whipped cream

1. For the phyllo cups: Layer five sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with melted butter and sprinkling with one to two teaspoons of sugar. Cut into six four-inch squares. Press the squares into a muffin tin, making little cups. Bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Let the cups cool before using.
2. For the pastry cream: In a saucepan, whisk the egg yolks until creamy and yellow; whisk in the sugar and salt. Sift in the corn starch, mixing well. Slowly add in the heated half and half.
3. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking continuously. The mixture will get lumpy as it begins to boil--keep whisking. Reduce the heat to low and keep cooking for a minute or two, until it gets super thick. Remove from the heat and add in the vanilla.
4. Press the pastry cream through a sieve to eliminate the lumps. Let it cool before using.
5. To assemble: Fill each phyllo cup with a couple of tablespoons of pastry cream. Cover the pastry cream with sweetened sliced strawberries, then top with a big dollop of sweetened whipped cream. Take a big bite, then moan with delight.

My measurements for the strawberries and whipped cream are, well, nonexistent, because I just kind of made a bunch of everything and threw a couple of the desserts together for me and Erik. The pastry cream recipe makes about two cups, which means I have a tub of pastry cream in the fridge that I will have fun incorporating into other desserts this week. I made 12 phyllo cups, which was probably overkill, but I wasn’t sure how my maiden voyage into phyllo would turn out, so I made extra. I whipped up about half a cup of cream and sliced maybe a pint of strawberries, and I have lots left over. This isn’t a very specific recipe--just throw some stuff together and see what works.

Flaccid Caramels, Chalky Truffles, and a Delicious Fruit Tart

I learned an important lesson this week. I am not a confectioner.

I’ve been on a baking winning streak. Pretty much everything I’ve made in recent memory has been good. No major mishaps. Maybe I’ve gotten a little cocky, because this week I took on something I’ve never been good at: candy.

I’ve read a lot lately about salted caramels, and they truly appeal to my taste for the combination of salty and sweet. I thought about finding a local shop that sells them, but decided to try making them myself. Big mistake.

It might have been the wicked Austin humidity that was the culprit, though. I realize I’m a bit of a masochist for experimenting with chocolate and sugar when it’s 104 degrees and 70% humidity. But, like I said, I’ve gotten a little cocky and I thought my skills could somehow transcend Mother Nature’s obstacles. I was so wrong.

My caramel, despite reaching the right temperature on my candy thermometer, never set up quite right. I ended up with a big, brown, over-salted square of vaguely chocolatey goo. Erik tried to be polite, saying the flavor reminded him of See’s chocolate lollipops, but I knew it was bad. There was nothing wrong with the recipe, per se, but I lack the patience to try to make these again.

Next up was truffles, something I’ve made many times before without any trouble. In retrospect, I see that the recipe I used wasn’t great, as it called for far less heavy cream than I remember using in past successful attempts, and the directions said to melt the chocolate first, then add the hot cream mixture to it, mixing to combine. In all my experience making ganache, I’ve always added the hot cream to finely chopped chocolate, which melts it. In this case, I ignored the voice in my head that said this ain’t right and followed the instructions as written.

So, what happened? My ganache broke. Never in my life have I broken a ganache. I made two batches of truffles, actually, and only the second batch broke; the first batch was grainy, but edible. I tried in vain to fix the broken ganache, and ended up just chucking it angrily in the trash.

The flavor of the “successful” batch of truffles was flat (despite the spicy kick of cayenne pepper--go figure) and the texture was chalky. The recipe made an even dozen, and nine still sit in my kitchen, untouched. Chocolate never goes untouched in my kitchen. I suspect they will linger there for a couple more days before I heave them in the trash with a great sigh. It will be a long time before I try my hand at candy again.

A couple of friends were coming over for pizza that night and the truffles were supposed to be for dessert. I was reluctant to offer only the disappointing truffles, so, since I only had a couple of hours before they showed up, I scrambled to find something else to make.

Baking Illustrated (a collection of some of the best dessert recipes from Cook’s Illustrated) has a great recipe for a Freeform Summer Fruit Tart that sounded perfect: bursting with fresh in-season fruit, and not too heavy or sweet. I was hesitant about making the dough, though, given my humidity issues that week. Then I remembered that I had some store-bought pie crust in the fridge that would be perfect. (Note: I prefer to make everything from scratch, but not only was my time limited and the weather uncooperative, but I’ve been trying to make a conscious effort to use up the food we have before buying new stuff. Hence the store-bought crust.)

I got some ripe black plums and sweet blueberries at Central Market, along with some cream to whip up and serve on the side. I also got a loaf of apple cranberry walnut bread (not for dessert, just because I like it), half of which I ate in the car on the drive home.

The recipe calls for a 12-inch circle of dough--I had two 9-inch circles, so I decided to make two tarts. They were absolutely delicious and a huge hit with everyone.

I like that you can use any combination of stone fruits and berries for the filling. The assembly of the tart was super easy and fast, and that, combined with the unlimited possibilities for fillings, makes this a truly versatile recipe and perfect for company. I will definitely make this one again.

Here is the recipe as I made it:


Plum and Blueberry Tart
(adapted from Baking Illustrated)

2 9” store-bought pie crusts, at room temperature
1 pound of ripe plums, sliced
1 pint fresh blueberries
6 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Unroll the pie crusts and place each on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pile the fruit in the middle of each crust, to within 2” of the edge, evenly distributing the plums and the blueberries. Sprinkle the fruit in each tart with 2 teaspoons of sugar (use more or less, depending on the sweetness of the fruit), dot with butter, and then fold the edges of the crust over the fruit, overlapping each fold. Brush the folded-over edges with water and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.

Bake the tarts for about 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly, rotating the pans halfway through. Let the tarts cool on the pans for ten minutes, then either serve warm or transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve with honey-sweetened whipped cream.

Makes two tarts, which is enough for 8-10 people.

Donuts at Mrs. Johnson's Bakery

Erik and I got kicked out of a bar on Monday night.

Were we drunk? No. Disorderly? Certainly not.

We had Eliza with us. Sweet, sleeping, three-months-old Eliza. Was she drunk and disorderly? Nah.

Apparently, some bars in Austin take the “no one under 21” law very literally. We went to Lavaca Street Bar to meet a couple of friends and were promptly told by a waitress, who apologized profusely, that we couldn’t have a baby in the bar. Bummed out and all dressed up with no where to go, Erik suggested we get dessert somewhere. I suggested donuts at Mrs. Johnson’s.

Mrs. Johnson’s Bakery is special. Oh, sure, the donuts are spectacular, but what really sets Mrs. Johnson’s apart from the rest is their hours of operation. I’ve never known of a bakery that opens at 7:30 p.m. and closes at noon the next day. What this means is that you can get a hot, fresh donut not only to go with your morning cuppa joe, but also late at night after binge drinking your way down Sixth Street (or after getting kicked out of a bar for having a baby). You don’t even have to get out of your car because Mrs. Johnson’s has a drive-through window (though I would hope that if you’ve been binge drinking on Sixth Street all night you’re not driving anywhere. Ask your friendly designated driver/cabbie to swing by on the way home).

Mrs. Johnson’s donuts are delish. You can tell how good a donut shop is by how good their old fashioned donut is. It is a simple donut, yes, but if a bakery can get it right, chances are the rest of their donuts will be stellar. Beware the bakery that dazzles with fruity fillings, crazy sprinkles, and silly names; they might not have what it takes to turn out a truly tasty creation.

We got six donuts to go (we actually went inside the bakery; I didn’t want to miss out on that warm, sticky bakery smell). Erik chose a cinnamon roll, a Bavarian cream filled, and a glazed cake, and I got an apple fritter, a chocolate cake, and, of course, a plain cake (a.k.a. an old fashioned). Our free donut to eat on the way home--a Mrs. Johnson’s tradition--was a glazed cake donut.

It took all my willpower to not eat my three donuts that night. I had the plain cake donut right away and it was still warm. The outer crust was perfect: crunchy, sweet, fried goodness. The inside was moist and perfectly cakey. I saved my other two for the next morning. The apple fritter was good, though it could have been more apple-y, and the chocolate cake donut was delicious.

Going to Mrs. Johnson’s got me thinking about donuts. I’ve always been fascinated by universal foods--you know, foods that have a variation in almost every culture, like donuts. Pretty much every country has a version of sweet, fried dough: beignets in France, oliebollen in Holland, facturas in Argentina...even Chinese red bean buns are reminiscent of a filled donut (and they happen to be one of my favorite things in the whole, wide world).

In my Googling I found a recipe for Pumpkin Doughnuts with Sugar Glaze that looks dreamy; I’ll definitely be trying it when the weather cools down a bit. More interestingly, though, is a recipe I found for Neighborhood Donuts. Now, I usually despise "semi-homemade" cooking (I’m looking at you, Sandra Lee), but these piqued my interest. It’s a creative use for a lot of ingredients most people have in their kitchens. There have been countless nights we’ve wanted something sweet and dessert-y but were too lazy to get our butts out of the house. Neighborhood Donuts sure would have done the trick.

Suffice it to say, I’ve got donuts on the brain. I’d better get over my fear of frying, and fast.

A Note About Cook's Illustrated

The links in the previous post are to recipes from Cook's Illustrated. In order to view the recipes, you need to register for either their 14-day trial subscription or their one-year paid subscription, for $34.95. In my opinion, the paid subscription is worth every penny. I could reprint the recipes here for you and probably not get sued, but I don't want to be shady and stick it to the fine folks at CI. If you want these recipes, shell out the $34.95. You will have access to 10 bajillion superbly developed recipes and you won't be disappointed.

My Cupcakes Bring All the Boys to the Yard

Remember when I said I was going to make more ginger cookies for Marcus’s party? Well, I changed my mind. Apparently, they are “too gingery” for some people, so I made vanilla cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting instead.

Cupcakes are everywhere, which is good because they serve a very important purpose for people, like me, who love cake. They make it possible for one to get one’s cake fix without consuming an entire cake. If you put a cake in front of me, I will eat an absurd amount of cake; if you put a cupcake in front of me, I will eat a cupcake (unless you let it slip where the other cupcakes are; then it’s all over). In the quest to maintain my girlish figure, I find cupcakes to be indispensable.

I used Cook’s Illustrated’s recipes for Yellow Cupcakes and Easy Orange Buttercream. This was my first time using these two recipes in particular, but I’ve made Cook’s Illustrated’s Dark Chocolate Cupcakes and Easy Vanilla Bean Buttercream several times with great results. The folks at CI really know what they’re doing, and it’s awesome to have a recipe resource you can actually trust to provide well-developed, delicious recipes. With very few exceptions (and those few owing, most likely, to error on my part), the Cook’s Illustrated recipes I’ve made have produced stellar baked goods.

The finished cupcakes are delicious. I piped the frosting instead of mounding it on with a spatula; I like the more polished look. I happen to think most cupcakes need an extra something on top--for my vanilla/orange ‘cakes I wedged one half of an orange wafer cookie in the frosting on each. I chose these cookies not only because they look pretty, but because they enhance the orangey-ness of the whole cupcake.

One note: I doubled both the recipes, hoping for two dozen finished cupcakes, but the doubled buttercream only yielded enough to frost 13 cupcakes. I was fairly conservative with my piping, too, as I don’t like to have to bite through inches of think frosting before getting to the cake. When I make the Easy Orange Buttercream again--and I probably will because it’s really tasty--I will remember to make more. I have nearly a dozen sad little unfrosted cupcakes sitting in my kitchen right now...luckily I also happen to have a jar of Nutella, which I think will make a superb frosting substitute!

B is for Breakfast

I made some buttercream frosting last night. The recipe called for a bunch of orange zest. Now that we are a single-income family, I have become acutely aware of food waste. Those two little zestless oranges were weighing on my conscience all night.

I’ve never been good at using leftovers. Lying in bed last night, thinking about those oranges, I also guiltily remembered the stale loaf of sourdough bread we never even opened, and the half-pint-minus-two-tablespoons of heavy cream in the fridge, also left over from the buttercream recipe.

Then it clicked. Eggs? Check. Butter? Check. Cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar? Check, check, and check.

French toast.

Then I remembered a crucial piece of information: I am terrible at pan frying. Horrendous. Any french toast I attempt to make will leave me frustrated and teary and my husband hungry and disappointed.

So I decided to bake it, sort of like a french toast/bread pudding hybrid. I call it French Pudding.

This stuff is incredible! The hubs and I ate nearly the whole thing. The pudding itself is not very sweet, which is good because a generous pour of maple syrup over the top is the perfect final touch. I worried whether the use of sourdough bread would result in a tangy pudding, but it didn’t. In fact, the extra-thick crust of the bread softened a bit with the liquid, but still retained its chewiness. This dish has a lot of textures going on--the chewy crust of the bread, the crunchy cinnamon and sugar topping, the warm, eggy custard center--that work together brilliantly.

I added the slivered almonds at the end as sort of an afterthought, but their addition made me think that almond extract might be pretty good instead of the vanilla extract. And the orange juice didn’t add much of a noticeable flavor, so the addition of some zest to the liquid ingredients could be good. Maybe next time...

Here is my recipe, adapted from a recipe for French Toast Casserole. I think I will be working on this one and tweaking it as I go.


French Pudding

4 cups stale bread cubes
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 350. Spray an 8” x 8” pan with nonstick spray. Add the bread cubes to the pan. Combine the eggs, cream, orange juice, vanilla, two tablespoons of sugar, and salt in a separate bowl, then pour over the bread. Let the mixture stand for about ten minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon, remaining sugar, and almonds; sprinkle over the top of the bread mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is brown and crunchy. Serve warm with maple syrup.

Party Time

My friend Marcus is throwing a big party next weekend and I offered to bring a dessert. After hemming and hawing about what type of dessert would be best, taking into account the current heat wave and the type of party it will be, I settled on ginger cookies.

The smell of ginger, nutmeg, and cloves reminds me of winters growing up in Western New York. Emanating from the oven, the spices are warm and inviting, promising a delicious baked treat with a savory bite. But there is no reason these flavors can’t work equally well in a summer recipe, especially paired with fresh seasonal fruit. A plate of chewy cookies makes a great casual dessert for a warm-weather party.

Because I’d never made this particular recipe before, and because they were for “others” (that is, not to shovel in my own gob), I decided to make a tester batch first. I was skeptical of how the finished cookies would turn out, mostly because I accidentally added the crystallized ginger to the mix before the dry ingredients. The little ginger nuggets clogged up my KitchenAid mixer, which is already on its last legs, so I had to do the final mixing by hand. The dough was thicker and drier than I expected, so I was a little worried about the consistency of the final product. I chose to ignore the little voice of negativity in my head, however, and formed the sugar-crusted cookies as directed.

I baked the cookies for only 12 minutes, as my scoop makes cookies slightly smaller than those in the recipe. I let the cookies cool a bit before digging in. They are delicious--chewy and spicy, with the perfect burst of extra flavor from the chunks of crystallized ginger. I will definitely make more of these for Marcus’s party next weekend.

The recipe I used can be found here.

Welcome!

I love dessert and I love to bake. Someday I will go to pastry school, but until that’s feasible I’m going to learn everything I can about the pastry arts on my own. My goal in creating this blog is simple: to celebrate and document all things dessert. I’d like to bake at least one new item each week, and post about the result, whether it is a success or a failure.

Another of my goals is to get out and experience all the desserts that Austin has to offer. I’ve lived here for two years and I have no idea where to get the best chocolate chip cookie, or fresh baguette, or pumpkin pie. I know that Austin has a lot of unique resources and I’m ready to hit the mean streets looking for the best of the best.

I hope, above all else, that D is for Dessert is entertaining. I warmly welcome any suggestions for topics to cover or restaurants to visit, so please don’t hesitate to share. I’m always open to new ideas.

Thanks for reading, and welcome to D is for Dessert!