Tea and memories

It's a little hard to know where to start, coming back after a two-week blogging hiatus.  Some of you already know that the reason for my absence is that my grandmother died (on February 23rd).  Gillian and I made a trip to upstate New York for the funeral.  We almost didn't make it, due to a huge snowstorm that hit the area on the 25th as we were trying to fly into Syracuse (the closest major airport; we were headed for the Utica area).  The trip would have been the first time that 3-year-old Gillian had seen snow, except that we had a bit of snow here in the Austin area that Tuesday.  We actually got a couple inches here in Georgetown, and some of it didn't melt until the next day.  To be honest, though, this:

doesn't look nearly so impressive when compared to this:

It's still really hard to believe that my grandmother is gone.  She was my mom's mom, and definitely the grandparent that I was closest to growing up.  (And the last one I had left.)  Many of my memories of her (and the rest of my mom's family) involve food.  We'd hang out in the kitchen, helping with cooking, or just talking.  Then we'd sit around the dining room table, eating and talking some more.  We did lots of that over the weekend that I was there.  It was really nice to spend time with all of my family, both in and out of the kitchen.  My grandmother taught all of her kids to cook (including my two uncles) and all still cook a lot.  And bake.  I know that many of the recipes I learned from my mom, she learned from hers.  It's neat to see how we've all put our individual spin on things, but it all started from the same place.  It was nice to compare notes a bit.  For instance, I found out that my uncle Donald has also has some of Peter Reinhart's books and has been trying out some of the recipes.

I'm lucky that I had my grandparents for as long as I did.  My parents were pretty young when they had me, so I had relatively young grandparents on both sides.  As a result, I was able to spend time with my grandmother as an adult as well as a child.  She even came with my mom to visit me here in Texas after Brianna was born.  I got to cook for them for a change, and we got to sit around my kitchen table late at night and talk or read while drinking tea before bedtime.  A week or two after that visit, I came home to find a package on my doorstep.  It was a tea kettle.  I didn't have one, and while Gramma and my mom were visiting, we kept having to boil water in the microwave.  I still use the kettle on a daily basis.  It's a twin to the one that was sitting on the stove in my grandmother's kitchen.  I used hers quite a bit while I was in New York.  And I got to use some of her tea cups as well.  Well, mugs, actually.  My aunt Maureen got her some pretty butterfly ones.  And she had the great idea to get saucers for them as well.  I love using a cup and saucer, but I often want more tea that will fit in some of the teacups.  I came home and went shopping and now have a couple of my own to enjoy.  I'll think of family every time I use them.

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is perfect with tea.  Mike of Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude picked Thumbprints for Us Big Guys.  I guess everything is relative, because these still came across as pretty dainty cookies to me. =)  Just the right size for the side of a saucer.  I'm thinking the combination of hazelnuts and raspberry jam is what is supposed to make them "adult" cookies.  They were pretty simple to make, especially since I can buy hazelnut meal in bulk. =)  The only change I made to the recipe was to add a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients.  Oh, and I only made a half batch.  The cookies remind me of the nut balls that we always make at Christmas (aka Mexican wedding cookies or Russian teacakes).  I used my #100 disher to portion the dough, which gave me just the right yield.  I used the handle of a wooden spoon to poke the holes, and baked my cookies for 14 minutes.  They were starting to get golden brown on the bottom, but not really browned on top.  I heated raspberry preserves in the microwave until bubbling, and used a small spoon to fill the cookies.

The verdict?  I really love these cookies.  Hazelnuts aren't my favorite, but they worked well in these cookies.  I had toyed with the idea of filling the cookies with ganache instead of jam, but I'm glad I didn't.  The fruitiness of the raspberry was perfect.  I think it's important not to overbake these so they don't end up dry.  Mine had good texture, and I thought they were even better the second day.  I took some to work, and got several enthusiastic positive comments.  I'll definitely be making them again.

If you'd like to give them a try for yourself, head over to Mike's blog for the recipe.  And be sure to head over to the TWD blogroll to see how everyone else did this week.

Smooth as silk

Ever since I bought my new ice cream maker, I've been looking for excuses to make more ice cream. So I was excited to see this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte. This week's recipe comes from Amy of Food, Family and Fun. It's basically an ice cream cake, with alternating layers of your favorite frozen confection and chocolate ganache. The original recipe calls for store-bought premium vanilla ice cream blended with raspberries. I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry, but I just finished about a quart of homemade chocolate raspberry swirl.

Also, ever since the Filbert Gâteau, I've been wondering what to do with my leftover praline paste. The recipe made about a cup, and the buttercream for the cake only used a third of that. After eating a few spoonfuls, I still had about half a cup hanging around. Since I really liked the flavor in combination with the ganache glaze on the cake, I thought I'd try making a hazelnut praline ice cream for my torte. I started with my basic vanilla ice cream recipe. I used both whole milk and 1% because that's what I had in my fridge (the whole milk is for Gillian, mostly). Once the custard was done, I whisked in the praline paste. In hindsight, I probably should have mixed a little of the custard mixture into the paste and then mixed that back into the rest to minimize the chance of lumps. As it was, I just poured everything through a fine-mesh strainer. I would have put more rum in, but figured I shouldn't if I was going to feed it to my kids. =)

Another concern when feeding small children is the quantity of raw eggs in the ganache mixture for the torte. If it were just for me and Jamie, or if it wasn't so many eggs, I probably wouldn't worry about it. The simplest solution was to buy pasteurized eggs. A bit more expensive, but in this case I figured it was worth it. The filling mixture is pretty easy to make. It reminds me a lot of French silk pie. Sure enough, when I checked the recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook, the ingredient list is very similar.

I didn't really want to make an 8-inch torte. I tried to find a 6-inch springform pan, planning to make half the recipe, but Sur la Table didn't have any. I didn't have time to look elsewhere, so I just went with my 7-inch pan and made 3/4 of the recipe. And yes, I did the math to figure it out. =) Assuming a similar pan height, you just have to compare the surface area. An 8-inch round pan is about 50 1/4 inches in area. A 7-inch pan is about 38 1/2. Pretty close to 3/4.

Assembling the torte is pretty straightforward. It just takes a little while, since you have to freeze each layer for 20 to 30 minutes before adding the next. And then you have to suffer through a 6-hour wait (or overnight, in my case) before tasting it. As usual, the first piece was a pain to get out, and not particularly photogenic. =) Once that was out, things went a lot better.

The verdict? There was a definite difference in texture between the layers. The ice cream melts a lot more quickly than the ganache softens. I like the flavor of the ice cream I made, but it's a bit overshadowed by the chocolate. Still quite tasty, though. Brianna, oddly enough, preferred the plain ice cream that she had Sunday night over the torte. She mostly ate the ice cream out of her piece and left the rest. Gillian, as usual, loved the whole thing, and was covered in it, since she found it easier to eat with her hands than with her spoon. =) Jamie's reaction? "Yum!"

Want to try your own ice cream torte? Decide on an ice cream flavor and head on over to Amy's blog for the full recipe. Of course, you can always just go buy the cookbook.

Hazelnut Praline Ice Cream

12 ounces (1 1/2 cups) heavy cream

8 ounces (1 cup) whole milk

8 ounces (1 cup) 1% milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup hazelnut praline paste (recipe follows)

1 tablespoon dark rum

Whisk together the cream, milks, sugar and salt in a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved and the mixture is hot. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks until smooth. Still whisking, drizzle in about a third of the hot liquid to temper the yolks. Then whisk the the yolk mixture back into the remaining liquid in the double boiler. Heat, stirring frequently, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. The temperature should be between 170 and 180 degrees F. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the praline paste. Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into another bowl (to remove any lumps of praline or eggy bits) and stir in the rum.

Refrigerate the custard until well chilled. Churn the mixture into ice cream following the instructions for your ice cream maker.  Makes about 1 quart.

Praline Paste

(adapted from Great Cakes by Carole Walter)

1 cup (4 ½ oz.) hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 cup granulated sugar

Line a jelly roll pan with non-stick foil.

Put the sugar in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Heat on low to medium flame for about 10 to 20 minutes until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly.

When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat. Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. **Remember – extremely hot mixture.** Then turn the mixture onto the foil-lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible.

As it cools, it will harden into brittle. Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make a paste, process for several minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cool dry place. Do not refrigerate.

Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream

Since I sent in my request to join the Daring Bakers back in February, I've eagerly awaited the start of each new month.  It's so much fun to see what interesting new challenge will be presented.  This month was no different.  In fact, I had the day off from work on July 1st, so I was able to check out the new recipe and see some of the early responses to it.  This month's selection came from Chris of Mele Cotte--Filbert Gâteau with Praline Buttercream.  It's a long recipe, but mostly because you have to make a bunch of different components before assembling the finished cake.  A bit intimidating at first, but I survived the Opera Cake, so I didn't think this would be too bad. =)

One thing I did notice was that this recipe was for a pretty large cake, so I knew I'd need to find some people to help eat it.  My first thought was that I could take it to an annual 4th of July party that we attend.  So I headed right out to the store (yes, on 7/1) to buy hazelnuts and apricot preserves, the two ingredients that weren't already in my pantry.  But as I thought about it more, I realized that this might not work well--the party was outdoors in the Texas heat, probably not the best place for a cake like this.  And I was going to have a hard time finding the time to get everything done.  

So the hazelnuts and preserves languished in my pantry for another three weeks.  Last week I had another day off during the week, so I decide to tackle the praline paste while my kids were at daycare and not underfoot.  Super hot caramel and small children just seems like a really bad idea...  First I had to skin the hazelnuts.  Easier said than done.  First I tried roasting them and rubbing the skins off.  That didn't really work very well.  Bits of the skins came off, but not enough.  So then I tried boiling them in water with baking soda, as someone suggested on the DB boards.  That worked quite well for loosening the skins, but it still took longer than I would have liked to separate the nuts from the skins.  Not something I want to make a habit of.  Once I was done, I put the nuts back into the oven to dry them out some.  

Next was the caramel.  I've never actually made a dry caramel before, so I was a bit nervous about this step.  It turned out not to be too bad, though I'm still more comfortable with the wet method.  I got the nuts more or less coated with the caramel, and turned them out onto a pan lined with non-stick foil (love that stuff) to cool.  Once the brittle was cool enough to handle, I broke it up some and put it in my food processor.  Then I processed the heck out of it.  Eventually, it turned into a paste, but it took some patience.  My finished paste wasn't completely smooth, but it was close.  The texture of it actually reminded me a lot of the inside of Reese's peanut butter cups.  

Since I was on a roll, that same evening I made the Swiss buttercream.  I've made buttercream before, but the method for this one was a bit different.  Instead of adding butter to the meringue, you add the meringue to the softened butter.  But it worked fine for me.  I used rum for my flavoring.  And once the praline paste was added...  Wow!  I don't usually go for caramel-y sweet things, but boy was that stuff good!  And it kept well in the fridge until the weekend when I could finish the cake.  Once I was ready to use it, I let it sit at room temperature to warm up, then put it back in my stand mixer and beat it with the paddle attachment until it came back together. 

I made the full recipe of the buttercream so I would be sure to have enough for decorating, but I decided to make a small cake with only half the genoise recipe.  Since the original cake was to be baked in a 10-inch pan, I did the math and determined that my 7-inch springform would be the right size for half.  The genoise was pretty straightforward to make, though it took longer to bake than I expected (about 33 minutes).  I let it cool overnight, and on Sunday I finally got down to assembling the cake.  First I divided the cake into three layers with my serrated bread knife.  I brushed each layer with rum syrup (I made half the recipe of that, too) and layered it with the buttercream.  I brushed the top and sides of the assembled cake with apricot glaze.  While the cake chilled, I prepared the ganache glaze.  I used one of my favorite chocolates, Scharffen Berger 62%, as well as some more rum.  Pouring the glaze over the cake went pretty smoothly (pun intended).  Once the glaze set, I had fun piping stars around the bottom and on the top of my cake.  I added some hazelnuts for decoration as well.

The verdict?  I'm not sure if I'd ever had hazelnuts before I made this cake.  I'm still not sure how much I like them by themselves.  But the praline buttercream is absolutely fantastic.  I had to put the leftovers of that in the freezer so I wouldn't just stand here in my kitchen and eat it with a spoon.  The ganache glaze was fun to do, and looked really neat when I was done.  I'm not the biggest fan of nutty cakes, but I did like the whole thing put together.  And I tried some neat new things, which is part of the fun of the Daring Bakers.  

Wow, it's taken me longer than I expected to type all that out.  Not as long as the full recipe, though.  =)  For that, head over to Chris's blog, and don't forget to check out the creations of all the other Daring Bakers!