Reflections

There are times when I really wish I was fluent in a second language.  For work, and life in Texas in general, Spanish would be the obvious choice.  Through listening to some of my Spanish-speaking bankers, I've gotten to the point where I can at least understand some very basic banking terms.  Through Gillian's fascination with Dora (and some faint memories of my one semester of Spanish in junior high), I know some numbers and colors and a few other words.  But that's about it.  Spanish just didn't appeal to me early on.  So instead, I took four years of French in high school, and another year in college.  I've never been that good at speaking it, though.  My shyness and lack of self-confidence worked against me there.  I have a really hard time opening my mouth unless I'm certain I know what I'm talking about.  Not the best approach for learning to speak a foreign language.

While I wasn't that good at speaking, I could read and write somewhat competently.  I've lost a lot of that now, since it's been....umm....over 20 years since I actively studied it... Eek.  But some of it's starting to come back to me, since some of my blogging friends post in French, and it's fun to try to read their posts before resorting to a translation.  And of course, French is used so much in cooking and baking.  This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is a good example.  Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life picked Tarte Noire for us to make this week.  Noire, meaning black, refers to the dark color of this elegant chocolate tart.  

It wasn't until I was talking with Nancy on Twitter that I realized that this tart recipe is quite similar to the Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart that we made last fall.  It's just the ganache layer and crust, without any other distractions.  Because of that, Dorie recommends using your favorite chocolate, since it will really stand out.  I went with Scharffen Berger 62%, which I really enjoy eating plain (and I can get the 6oz packages for $4.50 at my grocery store, so the price isn't as outrageous as it could be).  The filling is simple to make--cream, chocolate, and softened butter.  

For the crust, I went out on my own.  I've made Dorie's Sweet Tart Crust a number of times, and like it.  But I couldn't resist making this tart with my new favorite crust.  It's the one that Alice Medrich uses for most of the tarts in Pure Dessert, including the Lebni Tart I made recently.  The recipe uses melted butter and the dough is simply pressed into the tart pan and baked, no fussing with chilling or pulling out the food processor.  And it tastes fabulous.  Once the tart crust was baked and cooled, I filled it with the ganache.  I actually didn't refrigerate it at all, but the filling set up nicely at room temperature.

The verdict?  Yum.  This tart didn't last long around here.  Unlike the chocolate caramel version, it was eagerly devoured by all the members of our household, since it didn't have nuts.  In fact, I've already been asked by Brianna when I'm going to make it again. =)  The great thing is, it's so easy to make, it probably will make an appearance again soon.  It looks so elegant--I love the shiny surface of the tart.  This would make an simple yet impressive dessert for guests (if I can find any willing to brave the mess that is my home).  

Want to try this tart for yourself?  Head on over to dharmagirl's blog for the recipe.  The tart crust I used can be found in this recipe for Alice Medrich's Lebni Tart.  To see what everyone else did this week, check out the TWD Leave Your Links page for this week.  

Simply surprising

I like to play around with recipes. I don’t usually make drastic changes, but I also seldom follow a recipe exactly to the letter. And it’s not just a case of substituting for or eliminating things that I don’t like--though I do that sometimes, especially if there’s coconut involved. =) I take things I learn from making one thing and apply it to others. The TWD raisin bread is a good example--I mostly followed the recipe, but I chose to incorporate the raisins into the dough instead of just putting them in the swirl. It didn’t work exactly the way I wanted--I think they contributed to the crumb being a bit dry (dried fruit tends to suck moisture from the dough). I did soak them beforehand, but I probably should have done it farther ahead and let them absorb more moisture before adding them to the dough.

Okay, by now you’re probably wondering why I’m going on about raisin bread when this is obviously a post about something else... My point is, I like to learn new things, and I like to tweak recipes.  It doesn't always work out the way I expect or hope, but it's fun to experiment.  But sometimes you have a recipe that’s really simple and straightforward, and there isn’t much to play with. A lot of the recipes in Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert are like that. The cover says it well--"true flavors, inspiring ingredients, and simple recipes."  Each chapter focuses on an ingredient flavor (e.g. milk or fruit or chocolate) and consists of recipes that really highlight that one thing. Several of us have baked together via Twitter to make a number of the recipes, including Kamut Poundcake, Lemon Bars and Cocoa Wafers. Recently, Nancy, Wendy and I decided to try the Lebni Tart. The recipe has intrigued me ever since I got the book--the picture is lovely, and I’d never heard of lebni before reading this recipe. It’s made from yogurt, and is kind of like thick sour cream. I know Nancy made her own by draining yogurt to remove moisture and thicken it. But don’t get it confused with most of the Greek yogurts that are popular right now--this isn’t non-fat or even lowfat, by any means!

Nancy, Wendy and I made plans to bake the tart on Sunday afternoon, but I ended up getting a later start than I hoped. Fortunately, when I reread the recipe, I was encouraged to go ahead and do it even though it was getting late. Unlike a lot of tart crust recipes I’ve made, this one doesn’t require any advanced planning. It uses melted butter. You whisk sugar, salt and vanilla into the butter, then stir in the flour and you’re done. You simply press the dough into a tart pan and put it in the oven. While the crust is baking, you mix up the filling. Alice does strongly recommend doing it in order without changes to get the best texture--start by whisking the eggs (mine were from my local farmers market), then whisk in sugar, salt, vanilla, and the lebni. The filling is poured into the hot crust and baked. You just need to check early and often, because you don’t want to overbake the filling--it should be set around the edges but still jiggly in the middle, since it will continue to set once it’s out of the oven. I did goof a bit--the crust is baked at 350F, then you’re supposed to turn the temp down to 300F to bake the filling. I missed that direction. Fortunately, I checked on my tart after 15 minutes (it was supposed to bake 20-25) and it was just right. Whew. =) I let my tart cool to room temperature, then stuck it in the fridge because it was bedtime.

The verdict? I love this tart. It looks so unassuming.  I started to dress it up with some raspberry sauce for pictures, but I actually prefer the tart plain.  The pictures could be better, but I really wanted to share my thoughts on this recipe, so I'm using them anyway. =)  I can’t even tell you exactly why I love it so much.  One reason is the crust. Browned butter is such a great flavor, and the bit of vanilla in the crust is perfect. And the filling is smooth and tangy and delicious.  I'll definite be stealing ideas from this recipe to use in others.  I'm sure this crust will be great as a base other things, and I’m already trying to think of other uses for lebni.

All of the recipes I’ve tried so far from Pure Dessert are very good, and I’m sure I’ll be baking more.  I highly recommend this cookbook.  But for now, if you'd like to try this tart for yourself, you can find the recipe on Google Books.  And watch for more reviews of this recipe on Nancy's blog and Wendy's blog.

Two for the price of one

Oops.  My last TWD creation of 2009 is getting posted in 2010.  I made it on Tuesday and we sampled it on Wednesday, but I didn't get a chance to take pictures until Friday morning.  And here it is Sunday night and I'm still trying to finish this post.  Nice to know that the year is off to a good start. =P  My only excuse is that Jamie's parents have been here since last Tuesday, so I've been otherwise occupied.  In fact, I waited until they got here to even make this week's (last week's?) recipe so they could help eat some of it.  Margaret of Tea and Scones picked Dorie's Low and Luscious Chocolate Cheesecake for us to make this week.  It seems fitting, since we ended 2009 with a cheesecake as well.

The recipe calls for a graham cracker crust, but I think a chocolate cheesecake just cries out for a chocolate crust, as well.  It worked out perfectly that my blogging buddy Nancy and I decided it was also time for another bake-along recipe from Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert.  For the first one, Nancy and I baked along with Sarah from Blue Ridge Baker to make Kamut Poundcake.  One of these days I'll actually get that posted...  This time, Nancy suggested that I pick something.  There are a number of things that I've been wanting to make, but we decided to go with something easy during the holidays.  You'd think I'd be totally sick of cookies after 12 Days of them, but we ended up making some delicious Cocoa Wafers.

The cookies were wonderfully easy to make.  You mix flour, good cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger), sugar, salt and baking soda in the food processor.  You pulse in butter, then add milk and vanilla.  You form the dough into logs and refrigerate them an hour or longer.  Then you simply slice and bake, making sure to bake the cookies long enough for them to become crisp as they cool.  Easy and delicious!

Fortunately, Nancy made the cheesecake before me, so I knew that 20 cookies would work nicely to produce the 1 1/2 cups of crumbs that I needed for the crust.  Next time I'll cut back on the melted butter, though.  I suspect the cocoa wafers have a whole lot more butter than your average graham cracker, and the crust ended up a bit greasy.  The sides slumped down a bit after baking the empty crust, but I was able to push them back up a bit.  And the crust was very soft but did firm up as it cooled.

Like the cookie recipe, the cheesecake batter was quick to mix up in the food processor.  You pulse together cream cheese, sugar, eggs, vanilla, a bit of salt and melted bittersweet chocolate (I used 70% El Rey).  A few people mentioned that the chocolate flavor was mild, so I decided to add a bit of espresso to pump it up.  I dissolved a teaspoon of instant espresso powder in a teaspoon of warm water and mixed that in at the end.  I was a bit surprised that the cheesecake wasn't baked in a water bath even though it didn't have any flour in it.  Usually flour (or some other sort of starch) is added to prevent curdling when the temperature isn't moderated by a water bath.  Then I realized that the difference must be the chocolate--all the cocoa solids in the bittersweet chocolate must be acting like flour (there are several references to this in Shirley Corriher's Bakewise).  I baked my cheesecake for 35 minutes, being sure to pull it out before it was all the way set.  If you wait until then, the cheesecake is usually over baked.  And sure enough, even though my cheesecake had a fair amount of jiggle to it when I took it out of the oven, as it cooled, it set up nicely.  It originally had a ring of puffed batter around the edge, but that settled as well, leaving me with a nice, even surface.  I chilled the cheesecake for about 24 hours before we ate it.

The verdict?  This is a very nice cheesecake.  The chocolate flavor was definitely on the mild side, but I think the espresso did help.  I think I'll actually use a lower percentage chocolate next time, probably around 60%, but maybe add more of it.  I rarely say this, but I think the cheesecake could have been a bit sweeter.  The cocoa wafer crust was actually my favorite part--it really added to the chocolate experience.  The cheesecake was definitely enjoyed by my taste-testers as well.  I can definitely see myself making this one again, with a bit more tweaking.

If you'd like to try the cheesecake recipe, head on over to Margaret's blog for the recipe.  You can find the recipe for the cocoa wafers and many other wonderful things in Pure Dessert.  I highly recommend getting your own copy, but you can also find the cookie recipe here.