Maple Bacon Mousse

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!

Nut Bowls:

Ingredients:
• 1 1/2 cups crushed nuts of your choice such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, or pecans
• 4 Tbsp. butter (melted)
• 2 tbsp sugar

Directions:
1. Use a food processor or a zip-lock back with a rolling pin to crush your nuts if whole, use about 1 cup of whole nuts to get 3/4 cups crushed. You want it somewhat coarse.
2. In a bowl mix the nuts with the melted butter and the sugar.
3. Line the inside of muffin tin with aluminum foil (this recipe is enough for 6 nut bowls). Spread ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl, all the way up to the sides making sure you have a thin and even clean layer all around.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. until the nuts are golden and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Then chill in refrigerator. Let cool completely before unmolding.

Maple Mousse:

Ingredients:
• 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavored gelatine
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

Directions:
1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine (sprinkle in a thin layer or else you get clumps of gelatin that don't dissolve). Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I chose to add a mixed berry gelee on top of the panna cotta. I would probably leave it out next time as the texture was kind of rubbery. It looked pretty though. With the Florentine cookies, I found that they spread a lot during baking. I used 1 teaspoon of batter per cookie instead of 1 Tablespoon as the original recipe called for.

Giada's Panna Cotta

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin

3 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup honey

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

pinch of salt

Directions:
Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.

Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 3-5 minutes.
Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.

Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.

Nestle Florentine Cookies:

Ingredients:

2/3 cup (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter

2 cups quick oats

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup plain (all purpose) flour

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1½ cups Ghiradelli Bittersweet chocolate, 60% cacao

Directions:Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F. Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a teaspoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.

While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 -2 minutes). Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

Cheese and Chive Biscuits

Makes 12 Biscuits. Adapted from From Cook's Illustrated.

If buttermilk isn't available, powdered buttermilk added according to package instructions or clabbered milk can be used instead. To make clabbered milk, mix 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and let stand 10 minutes. A 1/4-cup (#16) portion scoop can be used to portion the batter. To refresh day-old biscuits, heat them in a 300-degree oven for 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

2	cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
2	teaspoons baking powder
1/2	teaspoon baking soda
1	teaspoon sugar
3/4	teaspoon table salt
1/2	cup cubed cheddar cheese (1/4" cubes) (2 ounces) 1/2 cup diced gruyere (1/4" cubes) (2 ounces)
1/4	cup chopped chives
1	cup buttermilk (cold)
8	tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled slightly (about 5 minutes), plus 2 tablespoons melted butter for brushing biscuits

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, salt, cheeses, and chives in large bowl. Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons melted butter in medium bowl, stirring until butter forms small clumps (see photo below).

2. 2. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until just incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. Using greased 1/4-cup dry measure, scoop level amount of batter and drop onto parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet (biscuits should measure about 2 1/4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high). Repeat with remaining batter, spacing biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12 to 14 minutes.

3. 3. Brush biscuit tops with remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 5 minutes before serving.

Alice's Tea Cup Ham and Cheese Scones

The biscuit lacked flavor. Perhaps because I used light buttermilk. The ham and cheese were tasty though.

"Babycakes" Healthy Hostess Cupcakes

These were very moist with a nice texture. They tasted better when freshly baked. The vanilla icing was better as a sauce at room temperature. It had a funny aftertaste after refrigerating for the recommended 6 hours.

"Babycakes" Apple Pie Recipe

I was super excited to try this recipe from the Babycakes cookbook. I really wanted it to taste like real apple pie. But it didn't. I was disappointed for a few reasons:

1. The dough was very crumbly. It was hard to roll out smoothly and get it into the pie plate without it falling apart. I managed to roll in onto the rolling pin and unroll onto pie plate.

2. Not enough sweetener to balance the tartness of the apples.

3. The crust had no flavor and was cakey.

Won't be making this again. On to the "Healthy Hostess" cupcake recipe...

Oven Roasted Spareribs

From Cook's Illustrated:

Serves 4 but recipe can be halved.

2 full slabs pork spareribs (about 6 lbs.) trimmed of excess fat
3/4 cup dry rub
3 cups Bullseye Memphis Style BBQ sauce

Dry Rub:
Makes about 1 cup

4 Tbsp. sweet paprika
2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 Tbsp. ground cumin
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. black pepper
1 Tbsp. white pepper

1. Rub both sides of the ribs with dry rub and let stand at room temp for at least 1 hour ( For stronger flavor, wrap rubbed ribs in a double layer of plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 1 day.)
2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 300F. Place ribs meaty side up on a stainless steel cooling rack and place rack on rimmed baking sheet. Wrap pan with foil and cook for 1 hour. Remove foil and cook another 1 hour.
3. Liberally brush meaty side of ribs with BBQ sauce (about 3/4 cup per slab) and cook for another 1.5 hours or until bones have separated from the meat.
4. Remove ribs from oven and wrap in entirely in foil. Place in brown paper bag and crimp top of bag to seal tightly. Allow to rest for 1 hour at room temp.