Daring Bakers Challenge - Panna Cota and Florentines!

PARA LER EM PORTUGUÊS, POR FAVOR, CLIQUE AQUI.

Daring Baker’s this month was hosted by Miss Mallory, from “A sofa in the kitchen”, and she challenged us to make pana cota and florentines cookies.
Pana Cota is a delicious neutral creamy dessert. It’s a very versatil recipe, so you can add chocolate, vanilla, honey, or any other flavour that you like!
But what really makes the difference in this recipe, is the top.
You can top it with jam, syrup or gelée, that what was my choice.
I made strawberry gelée, that is like a strawberry jam that you add gelatine.
But what I had really enjoyed in this challenge was the florentines cookies! I don’t know why, but I think I’m more a cookie person, than a dessert person.
Florentines are chunky oat and chocolate sandwich cookies! Very yummy!
And the combination of the creamy of the pana cota and the chunky of the florentines are just awesome!
Thank you Miss Mallory for the great challenge!



Vanilla Panna Cota:

Ingredients

1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/3 cup (80 ml) honey (I omitted)
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) granulated sugar (I used 3 Ts)
I added 1 vanilla bean
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
2. Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
3. Next, add the cream, honey (I omitted), sugar, vanilla (bean and grains) and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Remove the vanilla bean. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
5. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.

Fruit Gelée:

Ingredients: 1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) fruit (strawberries, raspberries, mango, blackberry, etc.)
*Note: Certain fruits interact with gelatin and stop it gelling like pineapple and kiwi etc.
3 tablespoons (45 ml) water 1/4 cup (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (3½ gm) (1/8 oz) unflavored powdered gelatin

Directions:
1. Sprinkle gelatin over water.
2. Place fruit and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Now mix the gelatin into the strawberry mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool (close to room temp, again, if you're planning on layering on pouring on top of your Panna Cotta, a hot mixture will also heat up your chilled Panna Cotta).

Florentines Cookies:

2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate

Berries Marshmallow Cupcakes

PARA LER EM PORTUGUÊS, POR FAVOR, CLIQUE AQUI.

Now, at chef cuisine course I’m attending creative cuisine classes. I’ve already had two molecular cuisine classes and I can say that it’s awesome!
It isn’t easy, but it is so funny! It seems that I went back to High School, more specifically to chemistry classes.
But there are some simple recipes, like this berries marshmallow, that is so tasty! And it's nice because it doesn’t require egg whites.

For the vanilla muffins I used the same recipe of the apple pie cupcakes recipe.
For the filling you can use a good quality berries jam.

For the marshmallow:

Ingredients:

130g berries (I used raspberries and strawberries)
20g unflavored powdered gelatin
130g water
400g sugar

How to:

Dissolve the sugar in water and make a light syrup (until it gets 150ºC) . Prepare the jelly and set aside. Blend the fruits,transfer to the mixer and add the jelly. Add the syrup slowly and beat until cold, and turn light and smooth.
Don’t put the marshmallow in the refrigerator. You don’t want it get to hard.



Assemble:

Prepare the vanilla muffins, set aside until cold. Use the cone method to remove a chunk from the center of each cupcake, as seen in the picture, making sure to leave a rim around the top of the cupcake. Fill the holes with the jam. To decorate, top each cupcake with a swirl of marshmallow.

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Daring Baker's Challenge - Crostata!

Para ler em português clique aqui.

Is finally Summer!!! Of course is not official, but I was missing the sun and the warm weather. This weekend I didn’t have class so I could make the Daring Baker’s Challenge. Just in time, today is the last day!
My pets are loving the good weather! As you can see, they enjoyed the day outside!



This month Simona from Briciole challenged us to make crostata.
Crostata is like a pie, that can be filed with fruits, jam or pastry cream.
I decided to put all together, so I filed my crostata with pastry cream and strawberry coulis, that’s like a jam, a little thicker, like a syrup.
I loved the result, mostly the dough. Certainly I’ll keep it for other recipes. Thank you Simona!

Vanilla Crème Patissiere:

1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar 1 large egg 2 large egg yolks 2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter 1 Tsp. Vanilla
Directions:
1. Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.
2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
3. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.
4. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Strawberry Coulis:

160g strawberries
160g sugar
1/2 lemon juice

Melt the sugar. Add the strawberries and crush them. Add the lemon juice. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the syrup consistence. Let it cool.

Crostata:
Ingredients

•1/2 c. minus 1 tablespoon [105 ml, 100 g, 3 ½ oz] superfine sugar (see Note 1) or a scant 3/4 cup [180ml, 90g, 3 oz] of powdered sugar
•1 and 3/4 cup [420 ml, 235 g, 8 1/4 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour
•a pinch of salt
•1 stick [8 tablespoons / 4 oz. / 115 g] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
•grated zest of half a lemon (you could also use vanilla sugar as an option, see Note 2)
•1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl

How to make:



1.Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.
2.Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
3.Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).
4.Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.
5.Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.
6.Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
7.Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
1.Heat the oven to 350ºF [180ºC/gas mark 4].
2.Take the pasta frolla out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut away ¼ of the dough. Reserve this dough to make the lattice top of the crostata. Refrigerate this dough while you work on the tart base.
3.To help roll the crostata dough, keep the dough on top of the plastic wrap that you had it wrapped in. This can help rolling the dough and can also help when transferring the dough to your pan. You can also use parchment paper for this. However, you can also roll the dough directly on a work surface if you prefer.
4.Lightly dust the top of the dough and your work surface (if you’re rolling directly on a work surface) with flour. Keep some flour handy to dust the dough as you go along.
5.If the dough is very firm, start by pressing the dough with the rolling pin from the middle to each end, moving the rolling pin by a pin's width each time; turn the dough 180 degrees and repeat; when it softens, start rolling.
6.Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch (3 mm) thick.
7.If you used the plastic wrap or parchment paper as rolling surface, flip dough over the pan, centering it, and delicately press it all around so the corners are well covered. Peel away the plastic wrap.
8.Trim the excess dough hanging over the edges of the pan. Press the remaining dough around the border into the sides of the pan making sure the border is an even thickness all the way around.
9.Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork in several places.
10.Put the tart in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
11.After 35 minutes, check the tart, and continue baking until the tart is of a nice golden hue.
12.When done, remove the tart from the oven and let cool. If you have used a tart pan with a removable bottom, then release the tart base from the fluted tart ring.
13.Make sure the tart is completely cool before filling.
14.Cover the bottom of the crostata crust evenly with the pastry cream.
15. Cover the top with the coulis.