DB:French Macaroons

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.

Yes, it's Daring Bakers time again and this month challange is French Macarons. I have first met macaroon at Food show in NY. It was falling in love in first bite. Then I start researching about this marvelous one bite sweets. Thanks to Tartelette , I learned to many tips from her long article called Demystifying Macarons. I am sure that many daring bakers decided to use her recipe instead of the original one.

By the way where do you think my "one bite sweet" blog name came from? Yes, you nailed it. It's from the macaroons. I know, i don't have any macaroon recipe in my blog yet. Actually I have in my Turkish blog uzakkose.com . I have a lot of good stuff in Turkish that I don't have time to translate and put it in here yet. But I am working on it. Here is my little french kisses. I chose to make almond macarons with a banana buttercream and dragon fruit macaron with strawberry buttercream.

Thanks for another fun challenge.

Here’s the basic recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.) Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar
  
• 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.) Almond flour
  
• 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.) Granulated sugar
  
• 5 Egg whites (3 day old)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Dobos Torte

A traditioanl Dobos Torte is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel.

My version is a six-layer sponge cake brushed with coffee syrup, layered chocolate buttercream and topped with caramel pieces. I baked the sponge layers in a sheet pan.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Thank you ladies. It's delicious cake.

DOBOS TORTE

To see the original recipe please click here.

Sponge cake layers

• 6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups (162g) confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (112g) sifted cake flour (Subs. 95g plain flour + 17g cornflour (cornstarch) sifted together)
• pinch of salt

1.Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F (200C).

2.Line 3 sheet pans with parchment paper.
3.Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner's (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes.
4.In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup (81g) of confectioner's (icing)sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.
5.Using a small offset spatula, spread the batter amongst the sheet pans. Bake on the top rack for 7 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned. Completely cool the layers.

Chocolate Buttercream

• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup (200g) caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar
• 4oz (110g) bakers chocolate or your favourite dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

1.Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.

2.Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.
3.Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.
4.Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5.When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

Coffee Syrup

• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbs instant espresso coffee

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.Stir in the espresso.

Caramel topping

• 1 cup (200g) caster (superfine or ultrafine white) sugar
• 12 tablespoons (180 ml) water
• 8 teaspoons (40 ml) lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, combine the water,sugar and lemon juice and stir to dissolve the sugar. Boil until the mixture turns amber brown about 10 min. Remove the heat and pour the caramel out onto the lined baking sheet.

Assemble the Torte

1.Divide the buttercream into seven equal parts.
2.Brush the layer coffee syrup. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 5 more cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the sides of the cake. And sprinkle the top with caramel .
3.Freeze the cake for an 4 hour to make it easier to cut.

Serving options: Cut the cake lengthwise in half. Transfer one half to a serving platter. Stack the remaining half on top, to get 12 layers of cake. Sprinkle the top with caramel pieces. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

DB: Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed in these cookies. I didn't like the texture. I was expecting much crispier like the orginal Milan cookies, but it was more chewy. Maybe , this recipe needs more work. I wish I had had time to try the mallows...

But the chocolate filling with orange zest is really really good.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.