Shortbread Cookies

After a few weeks of absence searching for the Sun and warmer temperatures abroad, I'm back to Belgium and to the rain and cold, but also to the wonderful color of Fall and the breathtaking landscapes...

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoVSuyT

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoVSuyT

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoQwqnf

Shortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoIyrSxLi

... like the one in the picture. The fog climbing and hugging the trees as the afternoon arrives.

Nothing like good cup of tea or coffee with a shortbread cookie to make a Sunday afternoon perfect!

Shortbread cookies are my favorite cookies of all times. They are delicate, they melt in your mouth and they have the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Plus, it's such an easy cookie to make with just a few ingredients : flour, butter (lots of it), sugar, corn flour, vanilla extract and salt.

In internet, there are tons of recipes you can find, with different flavors, shapes, you name it! After reading quite a few, I decided to choose the one from Joy of Baking. I doubled up the recipe from the http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html, and replaced as they suggest 65 gr of flour with corn starch.

Now my house has warmed up and there is that delicious and wonderful smell of baking floating around.
Gotta go now... my cookies are cool enough to eat !!!!

for a more delicate tasting shortbread, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture, replace 1/2 cup (65 grams) of the all purpose flour with cornstarch (corn flour

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CasXs0Vr

hortbreads: In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) with the rack in the middle of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough into a 1/4 inch (.6 cm) thick circle.  Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.  Place on the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. (This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.) Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are very lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoIyrSx

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).  Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.  Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour or until firm.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/shortbreads/shortbreadcookies.html#ixzz2CaoVSuyT

Carrot cupcake with cream cheese

My daughter has been after me with a cupcake book in her hands for the past week saying " que bonito este queque rosado" - translation " what a beautiful pink cupcake"....

So I indulged her, but since I wanted that there was something "healthy" in the cupcake, I decided to made carrot cupcake and colored pink the cream cheese glacage.

It was a good opportunity to use my new silver cupcake holder that I bought back in Peru and unfortunately, they are not good. The outside of the holder was grease and the cupcake stick a bit in the holder. Good to know!
I took the recipe from the book "Cupcakes" from Les Petits Plats (Marabout) and I found it too sweet.

The recipe:
190 gr flour
275 gr sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate de soude
3/4 tsp cinamon
175 ml sunflower oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 vanille extract
120 gr  finely shredded carrots

Cream Chees Glacage
200 gr cream cheese
120 gr unsalted butter
225 gr confectioner's sugar
lemons zest

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Alicia did an excellent job ... mami very proud of her.  She filled in the 12 cupcakes very patiently

Sift together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon . In a large stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the sugar, oil and eggs until well combined. Add the carrots and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
With an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar and lemon zest until smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cupcakes

And of course, time to enjoy!!!!

Bittersweet Brownies

Last week, I tried a piece of brownie that was insanely sinful... close to orgasmic. The person that said the chocolate was like sex, was very much close...
So in my search for having again this insanely sinful taste in my mouth, I took another baking book by Dorie Greenspan, "Baking from my home to yours" and hope it would turn out the same....
I followed the recipe to the coma, and was extra careful with the baking time and, no, these are not the ones. I had a very earthy experience

Still chocolatey, still good, still gooie but not like my last week experience! I'll keep looking!

The recipe
sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (we used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chips)
1 1/2 cups/150 grams sugar (we cut it back to 125 grams)
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup/140 grams all-purpose flour
3/4 cup pecans, chopped (my choice, optional)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with foil, butter the foil and place the pan on a baking sheet. (we used parchment paper, which doesn't need buttering)

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolate and stir occasionally until the ingredients are just melted - you don't want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

With a whisk, stir in the sugar. The mixture might get grainy, but it will even out. Whisk in the eggs one by one, then add the vanilla and whisk enthusiastically to smooth the batter. Finally, gently whisk in the espresso powder, if you're using it, salt and flour, stirring only until incorporated. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
Bake the brownies until the top is dull and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Books says between 20 to 22 minutes, my oven 15 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the brownies to room temperature. When they are completely cool, turn out onto a rack, peel away the foil and invert onto a cutting board. Cut into rectangles, or like me in little hearts!

Brownie de mi corazon!!!

Lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd and Italian meringue frosting

I'm having my parents over for a little time and of course I'm doing desserts almost everyday for them to enjoy!

We were not very lucky with the weather this week unfortunately so I wanted to bring the sun inside my house, and that for me is the taste of lemon, its color, the freshness of it, its smell...

For 24 small Lemon Cupcakes
1 1/2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of plain yogurt
1 cup of sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup of sunflower oil

Put on a bowl the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla essence. Add the dry ingredients by batches.
Fill in the cupcakes and bake till it's done at 180° C. Depending on your oven, this might take 15 to 30 minutes approx.

Lemon Curd
75 g of melted unsalted butter
juice of 4 lemons
120 g sugar
3 eggs
1 spoon corn flour
the zest of 2 lemons
125 gr of unsalted butter

Mix eggs, sugar and corn flour. Add this to the melted butter mixing continously. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Bring almost to boil -fremir in French and keep stirring with a espatula until it thickens. BE PATIENT , it might take a while and do not stop stirring.
then add 125 gr of butter, keep stirring until consistency is smooth and shinny :)
Let it cool at room temperature

 
Italian Meringue
200 gr sugar
Water to dilute the sugar
100 gr egg whites

Make a sirop with the sugar and water, when the sugar reaches the temperature of 110 °C, start whisking the egg whites . When the sirop reaches 120°C, stop cooking and drizzle the sirop in the egg white, continuing whisking - ideally you should have a standing mixer- or a helper .
Continue mixing till the bowl is cool.
 
Ensembling your cupcakes
You can now dress the cupcakes.
With the help of an appel core peeler, make a hole in the center of your cupcakes. Fill it with the lemon curd.

Frost your cupcakes with the meringue and place it under your oven gril till colored. Keep an eye on them, they color very fast!!!

Let them cool and enjoy!

Carré a la crème

 I had some pate brisé left over from another sweet done last week.

So I used this one to make carré a la crème.
to make the pate brisé or pastry dough you need:

500 gr of flour
250 ml cold water
350 gr unsalted cold butter
10 gr salt


In a food processor add the flour, salt and butter, then do seconds pulses till you get a sand texture, not too grainy. Then, add the water till it forms a dough. Take it out and wrap in a plastic bag and place on the fridge for 20 minutes.

After that, in a flour surface, extend the dough into a rectangle and fold in 3. First one side and the other side on top of the first side. This is called the first tour.
Place in a plastic bag for 10 minutes in the fridge. Do this 3 times.
Finally, take the dough out and extend it till the size of your rectangular baking plate , around 3 mm thick. Any leftover can be reused! :)

Prick dough thoroughly on the bottom with the tines of a fork to help prevent it from blistering and "puffing up" as it bakes

Bake for 10 minutes at 220 C and then 15 minutes or less at 200 C. You need to see when ready. Depending on your oven, it might take less or more.

When cool, divide your dough in 3 rectangles of the same size. the size will depend on your baking sheet. Then again, in small rectangles of the same size.

Then whisk 500 cl of cream with 100 gr of sugar till it is like chantilly, firm but not too firm that becomes butter! With a piping bag and a canelle tip fill one rectangle of dough with chantilly, add some sliced strawberries or other season fruit and place another rectangle on top, you might need to add a bit of chantilly for it to stick! Then repeat again the same filling and end up with chantiflly and strawberries.

 

My daughter enjoying this summer dessert

My birthday

Yes, yes, yes... It was my birthday - April 6th and I had meant to post what I did for it some months ago. Normally, I don't like celebrating my birthday but this year I wanted to blow my candles, all 35!
So I made a vanilla cake with chocolate filling and covered with lucious chantilly...
Did I tell you I love chantilly? :) it's not only covered but on top chantilly roses ...



I baked a vanilla cake and then sliced it in 4 layers. I brush a syrop ( made with 200 cl of water and 200 gr of sugar, brought to boil for about 3 minutes and let it cool down before brushing it on each layer).
Brushing a syrop gives lots of moisture to a simple cake. You can flavour your syrop with alcohol (run, whisky, orange liquor, etc)

Then I made the dark chocolate filling...

For the dark chocolate filling recipe from Baking (Dorie Greenspan)
2 cups of milk
4 large egg yolk
6 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp corsntarch, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 1/2 tbp unslated butter, cut into 5 pieces at room temperature

To make the dark chocolate cream
Bring the milk to a boil. Meanwhile in a large heavy-bottmed saucepan, whisk the egg yolkds with the sugar, cornstarch and salt until think and well blended. Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk- this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won´t curdle- then, still whiskin, add the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and throroughly (make sure to get into the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes. remove the pan from the heat.
Whisk in the melted chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Then whisk in the pieces of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the chocolate cream is smooth and silky. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the cream until chilled, or for up to 3 days. Or if you want to cool the cream quickly, put the bowl with the cream into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the cream occasionally until it's throroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

I filled around 3mm each layer with the chocolate cream and then coat the exterior of the cake with chantilly.

Chantilly
1 L of cream - 40 % fat
120 gr of sugar
Whisk it until you have the right consistency, can form peaks. Be carefull not to over beat or you will end up with butter! Very expensive butter :)






what was left

yummy!

I am baaackkk

It's been certainly a while since I didn't post anything. I've been very busy, lot's of things happening, extremely tired but now I am back and also the sun.  It seems that finally Spring arrived bringing some much needed energy.

I am still going to my baking classes. I am in LOVE with them - once I managed to arrive and have my hands on the dough - but will spare you all the running around to get there which I don't necessarily love.

So what I have learned in class... many things... I'll post the pictures, sorry for the quality but they were taken with a mobile phone!

I made for my daughter's birthday. She turned 3!!!  I was told not to decorated with any cream.

I made this car cake for my colleague's son. He loved it!

Tartes meringue. Base of pate brise filled with pastry cream and cerises liés and cover with Italian Meringue !

St Honoré- Pate brise as base, with pastry cream, fruits, little choux filled with chantilly and covered in chocolate fondant

Saint Honore- and to cover it with Chantilly and fruit!

Carre a la Creme - 40X60 plaque of Pate brise as base, cut 10 cm width cut in long, cover with pastry cream

Last rectangle - brush a thin layer of abricotage (hot, hot)  and then brush the white fondant -fondant must be at the right temperature!!! and inmediately after do the lines with the chocolate and make with a knife the shapes

Finally, with a serrated knife cut in 3 cm width. Do NOT PRESS the dessert, very gently, no pressure SERRATE it

Huits à la creme- millefeuille with pastry cream

Belgian Waffles

Pain au chocolat (first attempt) this was my final exam of 2nd year!

Moka cake - this will be my final exam of Pastry!!!

Pain campagne

Croutes aux fraises- base pate sablé, filled with mix of pastry cream and chantilly, covered with fresh strawberries and finally brushed with abricotage and chopped pistaches