Daring Bakers: Ice Cream Petit Fours and Baked Alaska

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I was inspired to do both the Baked Alaska and the Ice Cream Petit Fours. I started out making the vanilla ice cream from the previous daring bakers challenge and I used that in two of my Baked Alaska's. I also made a coconut ice cream, which I used in the petit fours and in the other two Baked Alaska's.


When I was brainstorming flavor ideas I knew the browned butter pound cake would give the desserts a nuttiness, so I thought why not do a play on almond joys and coconut cream pie? I used a really simple cocount ice cream recipe from allrecipes.com and I followed the rest components step by step.


For my decoration I started out drizziling some white chocolate on a few and then I decided to go with some toasted coconut that I had left over from making the ice cream. The petit fours turned out to be pretty amazing. I loved the combination of the chocolate with the toasted coconut and browned butter cake, it was divine.


The coconut Baked Alaska's turned out just like I imagined they would, it was like eating a slice of coconut cream pie, which is my favorite. Every step of this months challenge were some really great experiences for me. I loved making the ice cream again, but venturing out a little with my flavors this time around. I'm also glad that I finally made some petit fours, which I've been dying to make for quite some time now.

I'm back in school now, so I'm not sure how much space or time I will have for the challenges, but I'm looking forward to the reveal of next month's challenge!

Coconut Ice Cream
allrecipes.com

1 cup milk
1 (140z) can cream of coconut
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut (optional)

Combine the milk and cream of coconut in the container of a food processor or blender, and mix thoroughly. Stir in cream and flaked coconut.

Pour into the container of an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

*When making the recipe I first toasted the coconut before I put it in the food processor. It gives both a better flavor and texture than the raw coconut.

Anna

Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake...a little late.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.



I've been super busy this month and haven't had the time to work on the challenge until this weekend. I was rushed in making it, so it looks pretty sloppy but it tastes amazing I really enjoyed making the ice creams, but had troubles while rolling up the cakes. Both of my cakes cracked in numerous places so the filling oozed out of the cakes. But other than that I had no other problems with the recipes or assembly of the cake.

Also I'm super sorry for the terrible pictures. My camera died on me and I didn't have time to charge it so these were taken with my computer.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.





I really enjoyed this months challenge, which was my second daring bakers challenge. Mascarpone is hard to find around here, so I had to make my own. I used the recipe from the tiramisu challenge, which was very simple and will be great to use when I can't find mascarpone for other recipes. Once I had the mascarpone made the rest of the challenge flowed smoothly. Each componet had simple to follow recipes and they were all really fun to make as well, which is a plus. I used the 72% chocolate, but if I make the mousse again I will use a different chocolate, this was a little too bitter for my tastes. Other than that though, everything else was really good and I really enjoyed the pavlovas. Another great challenge and I cannot wait for the next.

Daring Bakers: Piece Montee

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

This was my first Daring Bakers challenge so I was very excited but nervous about it at the same time. The recipes were very easy to follow and I really enjoyed making the cream puffs, something I've been wanting to do for a while now, but haven't gotten around to . The only problem I had was with the pastry dough. My first batch spread and turned out flat, which I think was due to not fully incorporating the last egg. So I started over and my second batch came out perfect. I made both the vanilla and coffee pastry creams, which were simple, but my arm was exhausted once I finished. I was running out of time when I was assembling so it's not pretty, but it tasted good, which is what matters most. I really enjoyed my first challenge and I can't wait for the next.

Breakfast Delights

So I've been super busy these past few weeks and I haven't had time to update with a few recipes that I tried out back before Easter. I did a lot of baking over Easter as well, but forgot to take pictures because it seemed I was always stressed for time before I had to leave for church or a party. Anyway, on Wednesdays and Fridays I don't have classes, so I normally bake or make some sort of breakfast since I'm so busy throughout the rest of the week. I love pancakes and I normally just stir them together out of a pre-made mix, but decided I would make the 'real' thing this time around.





I love simple pancakes with a little maple syrup drizzled on top, so I went with a basic recipe from All Recipes and tweaked one or two things. Like I said the recipe was simple enough, but I ran in to a little problem when I added the milk, butter, and egg to the dry ingredients. The wet ingredients turned into this weird flaky looking mixture. The first time I added the wet, I just assumed I scrambled my egg because the butter was still a little warm, so I cleaned up and started over. This time I made sure my butter was cool before adding, but of course it happened again. Have any of you ever run into this problem? Like I said I assumed it was because the butter was too warm, but the second time I made sure the butter was cool, so I don't really know what happened? Anyway, I went ahead and made the pancakes because I figured they would still taste good, and they did. I did add a little vanilla to the wet ingredients because I add it to pretty much anything when I bake. The pancakes turned out fluffy and delicious.




Good Old Fashioned Pancakes
from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 Tbsp butter, melted

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

(I sifted the dry ingredients twice to make for a fluffier pancake; and I also added 1 tsp of vanilla).




Another breakfast item that I adore are scones. I had a white chocolate raspberry one a few years ago that was sinful. I haven't attempted that version yet, but instead opted for a simple chocolate chip scone.





I've made this recipe a few times before and I've loved them. This is another recipe from allrecipes and like the pancakes this is a very basic recipe for chocolate chip scones, but it uses orange juice instead of milk. The recipe calls for 5 Tbsp of butter and 3 Tbsp of OJ, but from previous reviews I decided to go with a stick of butter (8 Tbsp) and 8 Tbsp of orange juice. I also add a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients and some vanilla to the orange juice. The recipe also says to do this in a large bowl with a pastry blender, but I just throw it in my food processor, which is a lot quicker. I haven't run into any problems with this recipe and it's one of my favorite recipes for a quick breakfast pastry.



English Royalty Chocolate Chip Scones
from allrecipes.com

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
8 Tbsp orange juice

(I added about 1/2 -1 tsp of vanilla, depending on what you like and a sprinkling of cinnamon to the dry ingredients)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. With a pastry blender or a large fork, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the chocolate chips. Mix in the orange juice to form a dough.

Turn out the dough on a floured surface. Pat or roll into a 9 inch circle about 1/2 inch thick. With a 2 1/2 inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out 12 scones, pushing the dough scraps together for the last few, if necessary. Transfer the scones to the baking sheet.
(* Before I put in the oven I brush the tops with an egg wash and sprinkle some raw sugar on top)

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Move to wire racks to cool.


Both of these recipes are going into my recipe books and I will continue to make them, since scones and pancakes are a few of my favorite breakfast items. Over Easter I made the cinnamon rolls over on The Pioneer Woman's website. And let me tell you, they are divine. They take a while to make, but I enjoyed every step. They are uber sweet and I can only handle about one of them, but they are amazing. So you should head over to her site and try them out, if you haven't already.

Hope you enjoyed my first 'official post.' I decided to keep it simple with my first post and I really enjoyed this blogging experience. I will apologize for the pictures because they aren't the best since I used my digital camera, but I thought they turned out okay since I'm not a photographer. Well I hope you enjoy and I will see you here again in a few weeks.

Anna

Small Town Baker

I'm a lover of all things sweet and find so much pleasure in taking a few simple ingredients and creating a dessert that brings joy to my family and friends. I have a large, food loving family. My dad is the youngest of eight and almost all of my uncles live on the same street as we do. Our family can always find some excuse to have a cookout; whether it's hamburgers and hotdogs or roasting a pig for homemade BBQ to making homemade Banana, Peach and Vanilla ice cream. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of those family get-togethers. Everyone always enjoyed the food, but I always looked forward to the dessert, which normally consisted of my mom's famous 10 Layer chocolate cake. I remember sitting on the barstool watching my mom when she was making the cake, I never took my eyes off of anything that she was doing. Once she finished the layers she's let me help make the icing, which is a cooked chocolate icing. I would do whatever she'd tell me and couldn't wait to watch as she poured all of the chocolatey goodness on top and let it ooze down the sides. It also didn't hurt that she'd let me lick the spoon once she was finished, so I'd always stick around for that. It's hard to describe how amazing that icing is; the smell of it bubbling away on the stove, how it feels when the warm chocolate coats your tongue...I really need to stop, my mouth's watering just thinking about it. Those experiences, watching my mom in the kitchen and spending time with my family with all the great food, really brought out my love of food, cooking and baking.




Baking is my passion but that wasn't always so. One boring summer after eighth grade I started watching the Food Network. I can't remember which show I watched, but I remember thinking I want to do that; and I did. My first love was cooking; the smells, the process, the results, they always thrilled me. I had numerous failures in those first attempts, but I never let that discourage me. I'd start over with a new sense of what I was doing and learned many things about cooking that summer. Then I started my freshman year of high school and I had no time for cooking, I was so busy and was finally enjoying school. I think middle school years are the worst for everyone?... and I was so glad to be away from that environment. Toward end of my freshman year I started back up with my cooking and dabbled a bit in baking, but I still wasn't hooked yet.




The summer after my freshman year our family found out that my mom had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a really hard time for me because my mom and I were so close. The beginning of that summer is a blur, I remember being so angry that my mom was sick. I couldn't understand why we were having to go through this. The thought of losing your mom, your best friend, is one that's really hard to process, especially at such a young age. I'm not going to sadden you with anymore of that story right now. We did get through it though, my mom has been in remission for almost five years. That summer was hard, but it was when I fell in love with cooking and even more so with baking.




While my mom was sick, I took over the cooking duties of the house. After living off of my dad's sausage and eggs for a few days straight I was ready for something else. So I spent my days watching Food Network and perusing recipes online looking for something that would please not only me, but my picky family as well. I kept it pretty simple making things like cheeseburgers, tacos, spaghetti and baked chicken. Once I started to become comfortable with different ingredients and cooking techniques I ventured out making things like soups and side dishes that were more complex than boiling potatoes or heating up a can of Campbell's for dinner. I also started thinking about what I was eating and wanted our family to start eating more veggies, so I adapted a Giada de Laurentiis recipe and made a vegetable marinara that I still love today. Then I started making cookies and cupcakes and I was a goner.




I was so inspired that I took foods classes in high school. We started out baking and I immediately fell in love. When I first started I wasn't great of course, but I kept at it and now I'm impressed with the things I can whip up. Baking is very relaxing to me, it helps me unwind and I always love the compliments that I get when I make something that looks great and tastes amazing. Most of my weekends are consisted of measuring and sifting and stirring and I love every minute of it. I'm a pretty clumsy person, so I've had numerous flops when I've been trying new recipes, but I can always take a break and start over and keep at it until I'm successful. One of the first cakes that I made on my own was a Hershey cake, simple but still good. I took it to a family gathering and I was so nervous it would be terrible, but everyone loved it and I've never looked back.




I'm starting this blog because I'm joining Daring Bakers and I want a place to keep track of all of my baking mishaps and successes. I also hope that I will be able to blog about my other cooking and baking adventures as well. I have to get my camera fixed first though and once I do I'm hoping to post pretty regularly. I will go ahead and say that I'm no photographer nor am that great of a writer. My camera doesn't work because I don't use it that often , which is pretty bad. I'm hoping though that this blog will help me better my photography skills, along with my writing and baking skills.




I've been reading numerous blogs lately and they've inspired me to start blogging. I don't know how far this will go, or if anyone will read, but I hope that people will and be as inspired as I've been by other bloggers.