Chocolate and Peanut butter . . . Need I say more? April 26, 2011

Yes, James, it's another side shot, but look at those layers!

Actually, there is a lot more to say; this is a peanut butter dacquoise with chocolate glaze, which means that it is a layering of peanut meringues, peanut butter mousse and thick, dark chocolate glaze. This was very peanut-y without being overly sweet and the dark chocolate was the perfect accent, making this a rich, yet light and not overly decadent dessert. That said, it was a lot of work spread over a significant period of time, so I would suggest this for a time when you are only in charge of the dessert or I would make all the ingredients the day before and then layer and glaze the day of the dinner party (or night in by yourself, depending on what you want this for; I’m not judging).  That said: totally worth it.

Meringues:

1 1/4 cups roasted, salted peanuts (good ones if you can swing it)

3/4 cup sugar, divided

6 large egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

pinch of coarse salt

1. Preheat oven to 275 and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw three 10″ x 4 1/2″ rectangles on the parchment and then flip over so you can see the lines through the paper.

2. Finely grind 1 cup of  peanuts with a 1/4 cup of sugar in a food processor. Coarsely chop the other 1/4 cup of nuts. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat together egg whites, cream of tartar and salt until nice and foamy. Add the remaining sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating for 1-2 minutes in between each addition or until sugar is fully dissolved each time (you can check by rubbing a little of the meringue between your thumb and forefinger; if it feels grainy, it is not yet fully dissolved, keep going). Once all sugar has been added, continue beating until glossy and stiff peaks form. (We learned the hard way that even the tiniest bit of yolk can cause the meringue to not puff up the way it should, so separate your eggs individually in a small bowl and set aside any that have yolk in them for scrambled eggs)

4. Add all nuts and fold in until just mixed.

5. Spoon approximately 2 cups of meringue onto each rectangle on parchment and spread evenly to fill the space. Bake until golden brown and dry all over, but still slightly soft, about 1 hour 30 mins. Let cool completely on the pan on a rack. If assembling the following day, store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Glaze:

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/3 cups dark chocolate chips (ours were 55% cocoa solids)

Pinch of coarse salt

1. Whisk cocoa and sugar together in a medium saucepan until well blended and then gradually add 1/4 cup water, whisking until smooth. Gradually stir in the cream and then bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking often.

2. Reduce heat to low and add in the chocolate, whisking until the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.  Let stand at room temperature, whisking occasionally, until cool and slightly thickened, about 2 hours.

Mousse:

1/2 cup natural  peanut butter (chunky, if possible)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

pinch of coarse salt

1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled

1 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1. Beat first 3 ingredients (through salt) together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until blended. With mixer running, gradually beat in 1/4 cup of cream. Add another 1/4 cup of cream and beat just until blended.

2. In another bowl beat together remaining cream, sugar and vanilla until peaks form. Fold into peanut butter mixture in 3 additions. Cover and chill until ready to use.

Building:

1. Glaze 2 layers of meringue with 1/4 cup of glaze. Chill for 30 minutes to set the glaze.

2. Place the biggest glazed meringue on serving plate. Place half the mousse on it and spread to cover evenly. Add the next glazed meringue and repeat.

3. Add the unglazed layer of meringue. At this point, our glaze had gotten quite thick and we essentially iced the dacquoise. However, if your glaze is still a bit runny, you may want to put it on in 2 additions, chilling for 30 minutes or so in between.

4. Chill the finished product for at least 3 hours before serving. We had this all on it’s own, but if you wanted a garnish, I would suggest fresh berries; this does not need whipping cream or anything like that.

Enjoy!

Ky

Homemade Lara Bars April 17, 2011

This Saturday was the Annual Climb and Run for the Wilderness, where for the 4th year in a row, we (the kids, the husband, and I) have climbed all the stairs in the Calgary Tower. This year, some of us also took the stairs back down. Some people do this as many times as their bodies will carry them and collect money for the Alberta Wilderness Association . We are not there yet. I am looking forward to the year when I am only required to haul my own body weight up and down those stairs, but until then, I’m only going to do it once and I require refueling at the top. Hence the homemade Lara bars. These are my favourite easy, to-go, long shelf life, lightweight snacks to keep around for outings with the kids. Everyone loves them and they are full of good energy and they can be made in 10 minutes including clean up and prep. This is my favourite flavour combination (chocolate/cherry/almond) but please feel free to mess with the nuts, spices, dried fruits, whatever until you find your perfect bar; I think if you keep the ratio of fruit to nuts (or seeds) and keep at least half of the fruit as dates, you can do whatever you like. I usually freeze what I am not planning on using right away in packages of 2 or 3 bars so I can just grab them and go whenever I need to – they thaw very quickly at room temp. Also, the recipe can be cut in half or quartered or doubled or tripled; you are limited only by your imagination and the size of your food processor. This recipe make a 9×9 pan, which I usually cut into 16 squares.

1 cup (about 10-12) fresh, pitted Medjool dates

1 cup tart, sweetened dried cherries (dried cranberries will get the job done if you can’t find good cherries)

1 1/3 cups whole almonds

a large handful or 2 of dark chocolate chunks

1 tsp of cinnamon

1. Put the almonds in the food processor and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Pour into bowl or measuring cup and set aside.

2. Add dates and cherries to the processor and pulse until it starts to form a ball. Use your fingers to break it up a bit, then add the chocolate and cinnamon and pulse a few more times.

3. Use your fingers to break the ball up again and add the nuts back in. Pulse a few times to start the mixing and then dump the whole thing on a clean surface and work it all together in a kneading kind of fashion.

4. Once it is all sticking together, press into a 9×9 pan lined with plastic wrap. You can keep it, wrapped in the plastic in the pan or cut into squares and wrap individually or in groups. Stays good in an airtight container on the counter for a couple weeks or in the freezer for several months (though mine usually don’t last that long).

Enjoy!

Ky

Chocolate Whoopie Pies w/Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling March 9, 2011

These lovely looking treats were supposed to be for my daughter’s 5th birthday party. Unfortunately, both of my children came down with the stomach flu of the century on the eve of said party, so these now reside in my freezer awaiting a healthier day. Of course, I couldn’t in good conscience freeze them all without a quality control test. And not to toot my own horn, but these babies are yummy; the cake is barely crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside, while the filling is fluffy but able to hold it’s shape and just tart enough from the raspberry puree to counter all that sugary goodness. This was a mix match of recipes from bon apetit and Martha and the creative center in my brain. Also, I kept expecting this to take a really long time, and it didn’t; it was no more, and maybe even a little less, work than a cake or cupcakes, because the decorating is way less finicky. So don’t be afraid to try these, the results are worth it!

Cookies – Makes enough for 12-15 whoopie pies, depending on how big you make them

2 cups all purpose flour

5 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/8 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 shortening or butter (I used shortening, it makes it crispier)

1 cup sugar (I think this could be cut a bit; next time I would go with 3/4 or even 2/3)

2 egg yolks

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk (I used 2%, but whatever you have on hand should do)

1. Preheat oven to 375 with rack in the center. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or silicone.

2. Sift together first 4 ingredients (through soda) in medium bowl.

3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat shortening, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla until well blended, about 2 min. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with the milk, beating until well blended between each addition.

4. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets about 3″ apart. Try to keep them about the same size for matching up later. Bake for 8-10 min (I found 9 mins almost on the money), one sheet at a time. Let cool on the sheets for 10 min before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Filling

3 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 oz or one brick light cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp vanilla

3-4 Tbsp raspberry puree, (I used frozen raspberries, let them thaw for an hour or two, then blended them and pushed them through a sieve to remove seeds)

1. Beat butter with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, then add cream cheese, beating until fluffy again.

2. Add 1 cup icing sugar, vanilla and 2 Tbsp raspberry puree. Beat until smooth. Add icing sugar and puree in two more additions, beating until well blended between additions. You can do this ahead of time and then take out of the fridge an hour before assembling cookies, or just do it while the cookies are cooling.

Now match up your cookies and sandwich them together. I have done it before by dolloping the filling on one side with a spoon, but this time, because I wanted them to look extra pretty, I used a ziploc bag that I cut the corner off of to pipe the filling in. Either way, use lots, or you will have a lot of leftover icing.  These are best served as soon as possible, but they will last in the fridge for a day or two. I’m hopeful they are also lasting in my freezer!

Enjoy!

Ky

Pain au Chocolat February 22, 2011

It turns out that long weekends spent with your sister in your mom’s kitchen is the perfect time for 2 day baking projects that require, apparently, a lot more muscle than we had individually. This recipe was taken from Dinner with Julie almost verbatim, so I am not going to re-post all of the instructions here, just provide some tips we thought of as we went along, and of course, after 7 or 8 taste tests.

1. She did not let the yeast sit to activate, looking back, I think it would be a good idea to let it get foamy before moving on the the next step, as ours could have risen a bit more than they did.

2. We could not get as much flour in our dough as she did and I think we may have consequently over kneaded a bit; I would suggest stirring as long as you can, even when it seems too difficult.

3. Have someone on hand to trade off with on the rolling unless you have really beefy arms.

4. We decided you could increase the butter content (health conscious readers beware). We noticed that the last couple of layers, where we realized we had to use more butter or risk not getting it all in there, separated better in the baking process. Adding another 1/4 – 1/2 cup of butter to the total certainly wouldn’t hurt anything (other than your heart and your butt/thighs/waist/etc.)

5. If using an oven that is foreign to you, bring a thermometer; turns out my mother’s oven cooks REALLY hot.

Even with all those little changes, this was definitely worth doing and fairly easy if you have the time. The dough can be frozen after all the layers are put in, so this would be an impressive and fast breakfast for weekend company if you made up the dough a month ahead of time. Overall, I am pretty happy with our first attempt and would love any tips anyone else might have.