Memories of F&N Class

No I haven't given up on baking or the blog. October was a super crazy busy month for me because my dance company, Dance Theatre Xaymaca, staged their 16th Season of Dance on October 29 and 30. Rehearsals for the performances and the performances themselves pretty much kidnapped all my time, but I'm back now.

When I was in 3rd form in high school we had to take food and nutrition class. There were two desserts we made that I remember. The plantain tarts because they tasted really good and the donuts because we accidentally forgot the sugar and ended up with something similar to fried dumplings. These memories came back when we made these same treats in my baking class. But this time the donuts were divine. I like simple glazed donuts, no fillings, no fandangles. The donuts were tender and delicious and the glaze was to die for with a little tups of lemon mmm. We tried different shapes, round, twist and pretzel shaped. The plantain tarts were pretty good too.

Unfortunately some of the donuts came out a little dark. This is because while in the deep fryer its important to flip them unto the other side very quickly. Being a first-timer I didn't flip them as swiftly as required so the last ones I turned ended up dark on one side. They still tasted great. I think what I need to do is practice doing these over and over at home (wink, wink).

Tropical Treats

For the last few weeks I've been feeling a tropical vibe. It came through in my desserts. Coconut macaroons are something I ate a lot as a child. My mom loves them and used to take them home for us as an occasional treat. Incidentally I happened to be talking to her on the phone for the entire time I was making them, which wasn't that long since they're so easy to make. Too easy in fact, I'm tempted to just through some together for a sweet snack. A temptation I will resist in the name of vanity. When I made the Chewy Lime and Coconut Sugar Cookies, I discovered the beauty of a marriage between the flavours and decided that I'd make Coconut Lime Macaroons. The flavours were just as delicious in macaroon form and I ate one everyday until they were done.

Revisiting things that worked seemed to be the second theme of the last couple weeks. I had a visit from my aunt who happens to be a huge fan of my blog. Since she lives abroad, this was her first opportunity to taste my goods. I remembered her comments about the Nectarine and Mascarpone Tart with Gingersnap Crust  and decided to do a version with mango, one of her favorite fruits. The ginger and lime zest in the tart went very well with the mango. I have to say I prefer this version to the Nectarines, but perhaps I'm biased towards tropical fruits. I served the tart with Moscato which according to my internet research, would go well with the fresh fruit in the dessert. I rushed to make this on the same day it was served, it was a rather busy weekend. But if you make this recipe it really is best to make it the day before and add the fruit topping just before you serve it. That way the creamy filling has more time to set. The piece I had the day after was just perfect! This is by far one of my favorite recipes.

Passion-ate about Ice Cream, Crazy for Mangoes

This week my fiance's parents were visiting from Barbados and I decided to make some strawberry ice cream. Well, as luck would have it, there were no strawberries in the grocery store. Disappointed, I paced, trying to decide what other flavour I'd like to make. Then I passed by one of the produce displays and saw something that was even better than strawberries, passion fruit. I grabbed two bags and merrily skipped to the cash register. I have had passion fruit ice cream only a few times but each and every time it has left a lasting impression on me. I love the flavour of passion fruit.

I'm also discovering that I LOVE making ice cream. I used Food Blog Search to track down a recipe. I came upon David Lebovitz's recipe on several blogs. I've been wanting to get his book The Perfect Scoop for quite some time now. Everything I read about it is positive.

I began by extracting the juice from the passion fruits. This was done by pressing the juicy seeds in a strainer with the back of a spoon which was the most time consuming part of the recipe. I decided to double the recipe to yield a quart. Then I added a cup of cream. I warmed the sugar, salt and remaining cream in a medium saucepan and slowly added it to six whisked egg yolks in a bowl. Then I put the custard back in the pot and cooked it until it coated the spoon. I then added this mixture to the passion fruit mixture. I chilled the mixture, churned it in my ice cream maker and let it freeze overnight.

The ice cream was lovely. It had the fresh, vibrant flavour passion fruit with just the right amount of sweetness, mm mm mm superb!

Later on in the week, my fiance's Dad brought home some mangoes from St. Thomas, providing me with the inspiration for my next two desserts. I decided to make Mango Sorbet (using another David Lebovitz recipe).The sorbet was simple to make. I simply put sugar, water, diced mango, lime juice, a tablespoon of dark rum and a pinch of salt into the food processor and pureed it until smooth. Then I chilled the mixture, churned it in the good ole ice cream machine and froze it for several hours. The sorbet tasted completely authentic, it was just like biting into a sweet, ripe, juicy Julie mango. One of my testers even said it was better than Haagen Daaz! What a compliment! :-)

I still had many mangoes left so I figured I'd bake something. After all this is "The Baker Within". So I decided to make Fresh Mango Bread from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. It was made by combining the dry ingredients and spices, mixing together the wet ingredients, marrying both mixtures and then adding the diced mangoes, lime zest and golden raisins.

After making sure everything was well incorporated, I placed it into a loaf pan and baked it for an hour and a half. The center was still wet, so I had to bake it for another 20 minutes.

The bread was delicious and moist, the spice and sweetness just right. But even though I could see the chunks of mango all throughout the bread it just didn't taste mango-y enough. It should've been bursting with mango flavour. Next time I try this recipe I'll either increase the amount of mango or pulse the mango in the food processor first so that it can be even more incorporated into the batter or heck maybe I'll even do both.

Feeling Blue

No, I'm not sad, I actually had a wonderful weekend. This week's post is all about BLUEberries! Remember last week I mentioned that the summer berries had done a disappearing act in my usual grocery store? Well this week they're back and it took me a while to decide what to make. As I walked by the aisle with the ice cream maker I had an idea, Blueberry Ice cream! I hurried and got all my ingredients together. I used the "Blueberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream" recipe from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking: From my Home to Yours".

I needed a cup of blueberries, but didn't know whether a six ounce package would be enough to fill a cup so I bought two packages thinking a cup would be about 8 oz. It was a little annoying that this particular recipe was using cups to measure the fruit. I would've preferred they use weight since thats how they measure it on the package. Anyway, I ended up with one whole package of extra blueberries and decided to make blueberry muffins as well.

I felt pretty foolish when I read the little ice cream maker's instructions and discovered that this thing had to be left in the freezer for at least 8 hours! Silly me, now I wouldn't be able to churn it till 9pm. I set the bowls in the freezer as instructed and begun preparing the custard for the ice cream. I combined the blueberries, sugar, salt, lime juice and lime zest in a saucepan and cooked over medium heat until the blueberries popped to form a lovely little sauce. I pureed this in the blender for a minute and then thought of all the wonderful things I could do with just this part of the recipe alone. All the other desserts it would be lovely drizzled over. I added the cream and sour cream to the blender and pulsed a couple times to get everything incorporated. When I took a taste, I thought it needed more lime juice and sugar so I added one lime at a time, and one tablespoon of sugar at a time until my tastebuds approved. Then I poured it in a container and left it in the refrigerator to chill until the bowls for the ice cream maker were done their 8 hour freeze.

During the wait I made the muffins. I used the "Blueberry Muffin" recipe from Nick Malgieri's book "BAKE! Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking". What I like about this recipe is that he provides a basic muffin recipe and then suggests several variations. This one recipe can turn into blueberry , lemon poppy seed, apple raisin, jam or whatever else your imagination can think of muffins. IT encourages you to take the basic recipe and put your own spin on it.

I started by whisking the dry ingredients together, then I whisked the wet ingredients together with the lime zest and then combined both wet and dry mixtures. I folded in the blueberries and divided the mixture evenly among the holes in the muffin tins.

I sprinkled the tops with cinnamon sugar and baked them at 375F for 20 mins. Then I set them on the cooling rack. Look at these babies!

I've had blueberry muffins before, my mother used to make them for weekend breakfasts when I was a child. But never with fresh blueberries. The difference is apparent. There is a fresh, fruitier taste to them and I just love how the blueberries popped and infused themselves into the muffin dough. Yummy!!

Several hours later when my ice cream bowls were ready I filled each with half of the liquid I had chilled. Each one churned in my little ice cream maker for a little over 5 minutes.

I covered each bowl in plastic wrap and put them back in the freezer overnight. Then this morning at dawn I ran to the kitchen and pulled out my first frozen creation.

Isn't the colour amazing? It had a light, refreshing, creamy, tangy, taste. Ice cream is not my usual morning breakfast, but any chef (or wannabe baker) knows you gotta taste your product before you serve it!

Finding Comfort in Simplicity

I kind of struggled to find inspiration for last weekend's project. At first I had wanted to do something with summer berries. However, the sporadic supply of them at my grocery store and my reluctance to drive all over town looking for them, led me to chose something else. I saw some beautiful large D'Anjou pears and decided to make a Pear-Oat Crisp from Martha's Baking Handbook.

This dessert requires very little prep time which suit me well this weekend cause I was able to prepare it, stick it in the oven, take a shower and get ready for a movie date with the bf. The first step in preparing the dessert is combining the ingredients in the topping: butter, flour, oats, cinnamon, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Then I peeled cored and sliced my pears and mixed them with cornstarch, lime juice and mixed spice. The recipe calls for ground all spice but I couldn't find any so I used the mixed spice instead. What I loved about the pears is that they were significantly easier to core than apples. I didn't use a corer, I just used a spoon and scooped it out! 

I got my baking dish out and buttered it thoroughly, then I put the pear mixture in and generously scattered the topping over it. I popped it in the oven and cooked it for a full 55 mins. I turned off the oven but left it in there to keep warm while we were at the movies. When we got home, I served a bit of it with some vanilla ice cream. I couldn't find the ice cream scoop so its a little misshapen hehe :)

    

This was just as I expected it to be, warm, comforting, just the right amount of spice. Did I mentioned I doubled the mixed spice? I'm glad I did, it was great. And the pears, they added a fresh taste and were succulent but not mushy. This wasn't the most challenging, high reaching, stunning dessert but some of the simplest things, taste the best!

An American Icon

This week's dessert was a special request from a very good friend. It's also an American icon, Classic Apple Pie. For the recipe I turned to Martha Stewart, it's from her book Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook which I received as a gift from my parents last week. I've been reading this book and the other one they gave me like novels for the past week and they not only have many wonderful recipes but they have clear instructions, many pictures and loads of baking tips and techniques to make you a better baker. This is just the way I like cookbooks to be and I can't wait to put them both to good use. 

Last night I measured the crust ingredients and  set them to cool overnight in the fridge. Cold ingredients make the best crust. Yesterday I went out and bought a food processor, I've wanted one since I started baking but I kept putting it off, not wanting to spend the extra money. Finally I caved and bought a very reasonably priced one at MegaMart. I put it to work this morning on the pie crust. I pulsed the flour and salt together, then added the butter and pulsed a few more times before adding the ice water. I divided the dough in half, wrapped each piece in plastic wrap, formed them into discs and chilled them in the fridge for 2 hours. I could've made the pie crust by hand, but certainly not as quickly or efficiently as the food processor did. I like my new toy :)


After removing the dough discs from the fridge I rolled them both into 12inch discs on sheets of parchment. I fitted the first one to my glass pie plate then I returned both to the refrigerator. While they chilled, I began to prepare the apples. The recipe calls for an assortment of many different cooking apples. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of having many different varieties of cooking apples available to me in Jamaica's grocery stores. In fact the only cooking apple which is readily available is the Granny Smith. However, I decided to take a pointer from Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking and use an equal mixture of Granny Smith and Golden Delicious. While peeling, coring and slicing I said to myself, "Buy an apple corer!" It was a nightmare trying to take the core out with a paring knife. 


When I was finally done I combined my sliced apples with lime juice (couldn't find lemons), sugar, cinnamon, flour and nutmeg. Then I piled it into the pie shell. It took me so long to prepare the apples that the pie dough spent more time in the fridge than it was supposed to, and by the time I took it out it was quite hard. But a few minutes in the hot Jamaican weather and it was just right to work with.

I then brushed the edges with egg wash. I made the egg wash with whole milk instead of cream because I already had the milk and it seemed like a waste of money to buy a carton of cream to use only one tablespoon. I laid the top crust over the filled pie shell and pressed the top and bottom together. I used my handy kitchen shears to trim the sides, then I folded the edges under and used a fork to crimp them. I covered the resulting pie in egg wash and gave it a generous sprinkling of sugar. Again I was forced to make a substitution based on availability, I couldn't find sanding sugar so I used granulated sugar. Then I made three slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape during baking. I tucked this bad boy in the freezer for 30 minutes.

 After preheating the oven to 400 degrees, I placed my very first apple pie on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put it in the oven. I baked it for 20 minutes, then reduced the temperature to 350 and baked it for another 50 minutes, rotating its position from lower third to upper third of the oven half way through. 

It smelled amaaaazing in the last 15minutes of baking when the juices were super bubbly. I let it cool for a painful 3 hours. I really had to try hard not to cut it. My friends arrived just in time to cut their special request. 

I did good, not only was it stunning, it was delicious. The crust was flaky and buttery, the apples were tender and the two types of apples worked well together. If I were to make any adjustments, I would reduce the citrus a bit because I found the filling a little too tangy and I'd add more spice. I'm a spice lover, I love me some cinnamon and nutmeg, so I'd dial that up a bit. My first apple pie, well, my first pie all together was a success, and not nearly as complicated as I thought it would be. 

It's Springtime!!

It's springtime! Not that it makes any difference in Jamaica, it's pretty much always warm. In my opinion there are three seasons here, rainy season, drought and hurricane season. But I know its spring because supermarkets are starting to carry the imported fruits that aren't always available here. Fresh berries, peaches, plums, nectarines. Forgive me if I take advantage of the availability and better prices and use them liberally in my challenges, I don't get to eat or use them often. This week I made a Nectarine and Mascarpone Tart with Ginersnap Crust from Bon Apetit July 2002.

I wanted to make this tart the moment I saw it on Epicurious.com. I mean, look at it, it's gorgeous. I think tarts are slowly becoming my favorite thing to make. I just think they are elegant, delicate, and stunning and fresh fruit makes them even more beautiful. Of course, the fact that the filling contains mascarpone and cream cheese was also a major factor in my choice. In case you didn't get the memo, I love cream cheese. I can't believe how wonderful it tastes in both sweet and savory preparations. Need a sweet tangy frosting for your carrot cake? Cream cheese. Need something creamy to go with your smoked salmon? Cream cheese. Mascarpone is also an ingredient I've never actually used before but I've learnt a lot about it from watching copious amounts of food tv. When I learnt it was a sweet Italian cream cheese, I knew we'd become great friends.

I came home early on Friday and headed straight to the kitchen. I made the crust first. I don't have a food processor but I do have a mini chopper which I used to grind 25 Jamaican Ginger Biscuits for the crust. I combined this with butter and pressed it into my 9" tart pan. The crust baked for 8 minutes, then I placed it on the cooling rack to cool.

While the tart cooled, I made the filling. For some reason both lemons and limes have totally vanished from the produce section at the supermarket. I had some oranges at home, so I used orange zest instead. I combined the orange zest, mascarpone, cream cheese, sugar, sour cream and vanilla and beat them with my hand mixer until the filling was smooth. Then I added a tablespoon of crystallized ginger. At first I was worried about the crystallized ginger at first, wondering if it would be like biting into a big piece of raw ginger when you're eating a nice piece of meat. Ginger is a wonderful spice and can make things taste amazing. But when you bite into a chunk of it, it's rather unpleasant. I decided to use it anyway, mostly because of the many reviews I saw that said it MADE the tart. So many people couldn't be wrong right? After making the filling I spread it into the cooled crust and refrigerated it overnight.

The next morning, I got the nectarines out to make the topping. I haven't actually eaten nectarines before, I have had peaches which are very similar. In fact I read that the difference between the peach and the nectarine basically boils down to the fact that peaches have fuzz and nectarines don't. I found them very hard to cut in half. They were glued to the stone. I tried my best to pry them open without ruining the fruit. I sliced three of them thinly and arranged them on top of the cooled tart. I brushed the topped tart with warm peach preserves and sprinkled it with two tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger.

So now for the most important part, sure it was beautiful, but how did it taste? The filling was really wonderful. The orange zest worked very well, adding a citrus hint to the sweet, creamy filling with a hint of ginger. The crust was also delicious and complimented the filling beautifully. I have a feeling that I'll be using this filling and this crust many more times varying the toppings and zests. There were mixed reviews about the fruit topping. The nectarines, by no fault of their own weren't ripe enough in my opinion. So they were not very sweet and quite crunchy. I would've preferred if they were ripes and sweeter. I guess thats what you get when you use a fruit you're not used to. Some felt as though the fact that they weren't as sweet was refreshing, and that the crunch added great texture to the creamy filling beneath it.

I'm certainly going to try it again with different fruits and riper nectarines. I know it will be even more delicious than it was this weekend and trust me, it was really tasty. So tasty in fact, that my friends have already devoured it. And as for the verdict on the crystallized ginger, lovely, subtle, spicy, perfect in both the filling and sprinkled on top. I should never have doubted it.

An Apple a Day the Otaheite Way

They're everywhere, even at the traffic light. One of my favorite fruits, otaheite apples, are in season. So this week, I decided to bake something with them. I took a recipe for a Rustic Pear Tart http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/healthy-appetite-with-ellie-krieger-/rustic-pear-tart-recipe/index.html
and used 3 otaheite apples instead of pears.

This recipe is by Ellie Krieger, one of the hosts on Food Network. Her show is about healthy eating, so her recipes usually have less fat and sugar than others. This is a risk because I find healthy is not always tasty. But it was a risk I was willing to take, I felt daring.

I started by whisking together the dry ingredients for the crust. Then I cut in the butter with my favorite tool, my hands. I used a fork to add the buttermilk and ice water mixture, formed it into a disk, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. While it was chilling I made the filling. I sliced up 3 apples and combined them with the lime juice, corn starch, brown sugar and cinnamon.



After the 30 minutes of refrigeration time was up, I removed the crust from the fridge and rolled it into a 9" (very approximate) circle on a floured cutting board. Then I transferred it to my lined baking sheet sprayed with baking PAM. Now it was time for filling and crust to meet. I made a neat pile of fruit in the centre of the crust with a 2" (another very approximate measure) border. I folded the edges over and put it in the oven.

I baked it for 15 minutes at 425F and then turn it down to 350 and baked it for 40 minutes more. The tart smelt amazing when it was baking. After I removed it from the oven I brushed it with the honey glaze, transfered it to a plate and cooled it for a bit. I was impressed by how lovely my rustic tart looked. Then I cut myself a slice.

When I tasted it, the lovely fresh taste of the apples came out. They were definitely the thing on show here. I think this recipe is best if you use the sweeter otaheite apples, the ones with the very dark purplish skin. This recipe is great as a healthy dessert but I did miss the sugar in the crust, I wanted it to be sweeter. I can imagine making a similar tart with a less healthy, sweeter dough that will be totally bad for me. I can also see myself making it with different fruits.

As more fruits come into season, I hope to find delicious ways to showcase them just as I did with the otaheite apple.