DB: Macarons

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.

I have to say that there was a lot to like about this challenge. I enjoyed the lack of butter, my procrastinatory tendencies were rewarded with such a quick cookie, and the flavor combinations are endless.

My friend Allison and I shared sifting and piping duties on this one. I can't fault either our sifting or our piping, but our macarons didn't rise nearly as high as we might have hoped. In fact, my lemon macarons bore a remarkable visual resemblance to communion wafers. Fortunately, they tasted a lot better. I planned to fill the lemon ones with raspberry jam, but the cookies were great on their own, so I ate them plain.

For the remainder of our macarons, we considered savory options. Ultimately, we were unable to reconcile the 2 cups of powdered sugar with savory flavorings. We added a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder, and some chili powder for a savory kick. These macarons rose a bit higher, and I filled them with a sour cream, dark chocolate frosting. I ate one. My family finished the rest in mere minutes.

TWD: Cherry Fudge Cake

So Allen went to bring the cake in from the fridge last night. His comment: "what's in this thing, besides butter?" See this cake weighs, oh, 5 lbs. Cutting into it is like cutting into winter squash -- if the cake could roll away, I'd worry about my hand coming into contact with the knife.

This cake is quite good, fudgy and studded with cherries. It's rich enough to benefit from a glass of milk as an accompaniment. It's probably best served as a single, bite-sized desserts.

TWD: Sweet Potato Biscuits

"Those were surprisingly tasty for sweet potato biscuits," said A.
"They were so good, I didn't even know they had sweet potato in them," added J.
They weren't as puffy as I might have liked, and I added a lot of skim milk to the batter after using two fresh sweet potatoes, but they complemented our creamy lentil soup quite nicely.

Unfortunately, my computer isn't currently recognizing my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

TWD: Allspice Muffins

So I jumped ahead and made these one evening right after the selections for October were posted. They're delicious, easy, and pantry ready (although I'm now out of Allspice). I've made them three times, adding some chopped apples after a recent trip to the orchard.

TWD: Split Level Pudding

One Word: Yum!

DB: Puff pastry

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.

I really wanted to be inspired by puff pastry. But instead, I've been on a sandwich kick. After getting through 5 turns of the puff pastry last Wednesday with Allison, my pastry languished in the fridge while I started turning out sandwiches left and right. Too those who know me best, my sandwich kick is as rare as homemade puff pastry when one can go to the store and pick up a box of Dufour. See, I don't really like sandwiches. Well, I'll take that back, I really, really don't like making sandwhiches with big slices of slimy deli meat. My aforementioned hate of peanut butter makes a quick pb&j less pleasurable too. Now, if others want to make a sandwich for me, I'll assure you that it tastes much better than one I make myself.

So, I started with the Shroomwich. And followed up with a remake of the shroomwhich, 'cause it was THAT good. Then, breaking out Tom Colicchio's Wichcraft, I used my CSA arugula and celery to make Goat Cheese, with Avocado, Celery, Walnut Pesto and, in my case Arugula. I finished up with Onion Fritatta with Roasted Tomatoes and Cheddar for breakfast this morning. In the last two cases, my breads weren't what they should be but the sandwiches still rocked.

So back to the pastry. It's been chilling, and I knew I need to do something with (some of) it. So I made my Vols-au-vent, using the shot glass/juice glass method of cutting. They came out nicely, and, given the quick return of the fall weather, I made a quick simmer of some sliced apples with brown sugar, ginger, butter, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, cloves, allspice and nutmeg. With a side of vanilla ice cream, they were the perfect dessert to a goat cheese and celery sandwich.

And the leftover pastry became palmiers, rolled in the remaining sugar mixture from the apples.

Shroomwich

I stopped at the Roadshow, in search of the 8 grain, 3 seed bread. Sadly, their daily allotment of a single loaf was long sold. Bakehouse White, it was then- I had a last of summer BLT in mind, but changed my mind when I recalled this recipe, from Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen.

"This," said Allen "is a sandwich I could eat all winter." Mushroom duxelle and Emmenthaler cheese grilled to perfection, with a mushroom dipping jus and a side of parsnip chips. If your sandwich contains cream, you know that it's going to be delicious.