Rugelach perfection

February 28th, 2011  |  19 Comments

 

This recipe comes from the stunning Sarabeth’s Bakery: From My Hands to Yours by Sarabeth Levine (written with Rick Rodgers. Don’t miss the great interview with Rick here). You know something is really good when you wish you could have written it yourself.


The recipes are from Sarabeth Levine’s famed bakery on the Upper West Side and they are first rate. With photos so lush and tempting, it’s easy to get lost in the pages. I sat for a while, carefully flipping this coffee-table worthy volume, eating with my eyes. Ooo, just look at this Raspberries and Cream Charlotte.

 

Oooh, ooh, and these Black Beauty Cupcakes.

And the graphic designer in me couldn’t help but notice how elegantly it was all laid out. I have to say, this book deserves some shelf space in any cookbook collection.

Settling on the first recipe was dizzying, but in the end, my love of cream cheese dough won out. Rugelach it was. And this rendition was exactly what I hoped for — perfectly light and tender, with just a whisper of sweetness.

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Tootin’ some horns

February 21st, 2011  |  14 Comments

Here’s to you.

What a great day for singing your praises.

Baking is such a simple thing, and makes people so happy. One whiff of buttery, cinnamony  aroma wafting from the kitchen can melt away any foul disposition. And the act of stirring and rolling calms our own overstimulated minds. It’s one of those things that we can do together, virtually, and then share and inspire each other to try something new.

It’s also nice to see you step outside your comfort zone. Sometimes a moment of bravery can get you what you didn’t think you were capable of.

Right before Valentine’s, I got an email from Gina. She read this post and “went for it”.


Irina,

I just wanted to write and thank you for this blog! I myself am a print/web designer who has been looking at pastry work for a while as my next creative outlet. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but found myself drawn to desserts for some reason. I seem to put a little extra love into any dessert I make and I just enjoy the process so much more than preparing savory foods. Eating it isn’t all that bad either. :)

So I took your advice last week and decided to ask a bakery if I could intern for a day. I chose Dulce Desserts because I created their website and knew that the owner might have a little more patience with me. She agreed to let me try it! I worked 10.5 hours on Thursday and left very tired, but happy as could be. Turns out she really needed my help that day, as they had an order for 2400 small bites, 800 of which were the mini cupcakes I made. I didn’t burn, spill or seriously screw anything up. It was a miracle. And everyone got to go home early and spend time with their families. So needless to say they loved me and begged me to come back at the next opportunity. I’ll be helping them out again the Sunday before Valentines Day when I’ll learn to bake a ton of cookies and pipe designs on them. Can’t wait!

So thanks again for the inspiration to try something new. I don’t know if I’ll be able to quit the day job just yet, but I’m definitely going to be practicing at the bakery and at home any chance I get.

Take care!
Gina

I know how scary it is to put yourself out there like that and yet the rewards can be huge. It IS possible to go after what you want and Gina is a perfect example that it can be done. Gina, you rock! I’m truly ecstatic for you!

So if you’ve been hesitating up to this point, just try. You may surprise yourself.

Speaking of success, check you guys out! You tried macarons and lived to post about it. We’ll never be macaron deprived again, *wink*.

image courtesy of Joyce at Teamo Passion Delights

1. Joyce at Teamo Passion Delights made peanut butter and jelly, and peach with coconut jam. Gorgeous!
2. Zo at Two Spoons did vanilla macarons with Salted Buttercream and Caramel filling. Perfection!
3. Jaqueline at Always Freyday went with the Classic Almond Version with Vanilla Buttercream. Lovely!

And here’s an email I got from Lisa. She had such good results, she kept going with flavors.

Loved the “Macaron Primer” and you’re right, I was finally able to ‘nail’ the perfect macaron everytime. I just stared at them in awe especially that foot – I made lemon, chocolate and pistachio. I’ve been trying to make them since 1997 and there was NOTHING out there to help me save an articleI stumbled upon from “GOURMET” magazine dated December 1992. I’ve read everything I could get me hands on and never really had consistant results until your primer. THANK YOU so much.

If  you tried macarons recently and want to tell us about it, please do! Add a comment, or link to your post.

I want to thank you guys again, because I learn so much from you, too. You’re always experimenting and coming up with ideas I wouldn’t have thought of. And when you ask questions, if I don’t know the answer, I’ll go look it up, and get instant learning gratification, too.

Ok, my turn!

Epicurious.com got wind of the macaron primer, and did a really nice post about it! Believe me when I tell you I did a little jig in my office cubicle when I saw it. I hope I don’t get big-headed now, heh heh. Thank you Lauren, at epicurious!


Read more and see it come together...


Chasing a Coconut Cake

February 13th, 2011  |  31 Comments

Hundreds of you have now downloaded the macaron primer, and I thank you! The response has been nothing short of awesome. A few of you even dove right in and made some, and have reported that you’ve achieved the “impossible”. You slam-dunked that macaron!

The fact that you visit this blog and have enough faith to try out the recipes means everything to me. We’re becoming quite the baking circle, and I love hearing your thoughts and feedback. It makes baking and blogging so much more fun. I’m honored that you’re baking with me.

If you still haven’t downloaded the macaron primer, make your way over to this post. It’s totally free!

Speaking of you guys, a few months ago, a reader named Jackie sent me an email looking for coconut cake. Here is a clip in her own words:

“I was looking at your coconut cookie recipe, and a coconut cake recipe popped in my head. I’m looking for a recipe that has a lot of coconut flavor.”

Hmmm. A coconutty coconut cake. Shouldn’t be so hard, right? Off I went, hunting for coconut cake recipes. I saw many different approaches to it. Some were mere butter cakes with plain frosting and grated coconut sprinkled on top. A ghost of a coconut cake, if you ask me, not worthy of the title.

Some were dense, like pound cakes, while others were light, like angel food cakes. Some had cream cheese frosting, while others were coated with meringue. Inexplicably, I spied versions with coconut flavors in either just the cake part or just the frosting part. That’s like half a handshake! It doesn’t make sense.

Why go subtle on coconut flavor? When have you ever thought, “My word, this is good, but wouldn’t it be better if I could hardly taste the coconut?”

I wanted balls-to-the-wall coconut. Clock-me-on-the-head coconut. Dropped-in-a-piña-colada coconut. This meant some form of coconut had to appear in every nook and cranny of the cake.

When I spotted Alton Brown’s version, I slammed a triumphant fist on the table. It looked just right. There was coconut extract, coconut milk, and coconut cream in the cake batter. It was a coconut steam bath. And it’s that little bitty teaspoon of extract that would lend a powerhouse of flavor. Extracts do wonders to perfume a cake through and through.

Only….only…he made all those things from scratch. The extract came from fresh coconut (that he cracked open, grated and soaked in liquor for days), and so did the coconut milk and cream. Ol’ Alton hoped you’d pre-plan this a week in advance, and then had a whole Sunday to spare.

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Master the French Macaron

January 26th, 2011  |  234 Comments

Ahh, the macaron. So beautiful, and fragile, like a Faberge Egg. And so elusive, it is.

Or is it?

The day I learned how to make them, the chef gave me a demonstration, and then I made them on my own. They came out well. No drama. And since they were on our daily petit fours plate, I had to make them every day. Sometimes it was pouring rain outside, and the kitchen was swamp-humid. Sometimes it was the thick of summer, and the temperatures rivaled Death Valley. But still, I made them. Once in a while they didn’t work, but most of the time they did. And on those few occasions they didn’t behave, I wasn’t phased. I just made them again.

For me, the trick to it all was that no one told me how impossible they were, how one false breath could mean failure — one extra stroke of the spatula, and you might as well pack it in. To me, it was just another recipe, and I didn’t have any baggage about it before I even broke out the almond flour. No one psyched me out.

Now, as I read all the talk around the blogosphere, I think that’s exactly what’s happening. The macaron fear has spread far and wide. And there’s no reason for it. Especially when the base recipe has just 4 ingredients. You sift the dry stuff, whip a few egg whites, fold it all together, and pipe it on a sheet tray.

I really, really want everyone to master the macaron, to be swimming in as many as they want. Once you understand the basic recipe, you can modify it to any flavor you can think of. All it takes is a batch or two of practice, and then it’s locked in forever. Like riding a bicycle.

So I started working on a post. I was testing, then testing some more. Before I knew it, the whole project grew, becoming more than just a quickie tutorial. I wanted to include as much helpful stuff as possible  — the basic recipe, some troubleshooting tips, how to make flavor variations, and a few fillings to get started. It became longer — a primer, of sorts. And so I put it all together into one fat pdf format that you can download, totally FREE. I hope you find it helpful.


In Master the Macaron, I cover:

  • The almond macaron — the master recipe
  • Vanilla Buttercream Filling for the Almond Macaron
  • Troubleshooting
  • Chocolate Macaron with Chocolate Ganache Filling
  • Coffee Macaron with Nutella Filling
  • Lemon Macaron with Lemon Curd Filling
  • Coconut Macaron with White Chocolate Raspberry Filling

I hope you enjoy this primer, and have success with your macaron-making. Please let me know what you think. We’d even love to see some pictures if you give it a go. And pass it on!

Get your FREE copy of Master the Macaron:

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Extra yolks? Extra whites?

January 4th, 2011  |  36 Comments

Oh, egg whites, how you taunt me.

And egg yolks, you stare back at me with your beady yellowness every time I open the fridge.

All because I dared make some desserts that didn’t include one of you. And now you’re left over, like an unwanted stray, and I don’t have the heart to toss you out.

Even with the best of intentions, even when I plan on using you up, I sometimes don’t get around to you soon enough. You get your revenge by going bad. I’m forced to sacrifice you to the trash, and that’s no good for either of us.

Well, those days are over, oh egg parts. Not since I learned you can be frozen has a single one gotten away. Yep, frozen.

Yolks, you try to resist. You don’t freeze quite as well as the whites. You become a bit gelatinous when frozen. In order to avoid that, I first add a pinch of salt, about 1/8 teaspoon for every 4 yolks, scramble you up, and freeze. That helps alleviate the problem.

When I’m ready to use you in, say, this lemon curd, or this ginger ice cream, I simply defrost your chilly selves and proceed with the recipe as written. Can you tell this curd was made with frozen yolks? I can’t.

Whites, you are much less tempermental.

All I have to do is wrap the bowl with plastic. Then with a Sharpie, I mark how many specimens are in the midst before freezing.

Next time I make a meringue or a sponge, you’re ready to go as soon as you thaw. The meringue whips up just as billowy as your fresh counterpart.

Yolks and whites, you may get separated from each other, but never will you get separated from me.

Read more and see it come together...


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