Scones and Biscuits

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host.. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

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The Daring Bakers: Sans Rival and Bibingka

cashew sans rival

fluffy soft bibingka baked with slices of salted duck eggs 
and Filipino white cheese

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers's host and she challenged us to make traditional Filipino dessert - the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

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Povitica

with walnut filling 

The Daring Bakers October 2011 challenge was Povitica hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is lovely to look at as to eat!

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The Daring Bakers: Sinfully Delicious Candies

peach pâte de fruit

chocolate covered sponge candy

peanut butter and jelly cups

pomegranate molasses ganache in white chocolate

bittersweet chocolate with chai cream center

brown sugar meringue and salted honey caramels in bittersweet chocolate

rosewater cream in white chocolate

white chocolate coated grapes

The August 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts, ad Line Drives and Mandy of What The Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at   http://www.chocoley.com/ offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

I got carried away again with this challenge. It's candies and chocolates! How can I resist making different flavored fillings for chocolate? The last time I made was a simple hot chile infused chocolate candies in February of this year; before that, was in 2009. I used to make molded chocolate candies very often since I discovered 12 years ago how much fun it is to make them but I have since moved on to other yummy stuff and set aside my candy making activities. Thank you Mandy and Lisa for reviving my enthusiasm for making chocolate and fruit candies at home.

The recipes provided by Lisa and Mandy and how to temper chocolate are here.

Peach Pâte de Fruit

It's always a treat to nibble on these tiny fruity gems.

Dark Chocolate Covered Sponge Candy

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cups
This is my current favorite. The peanut butter is very creamy and I love the chewiness of the orange flavored wine jelly. I used dark chocolate for these.

chocolate cups

tempered bittersweet or milk chocolate

mini tin foil cups

peanut butter cream

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup white chocolate chips

½ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

wine or fruit jelly

1½ cups grape juice or sweet wine

1 box powdered reduced sugar/sugar-free pectin

2 cups or less sugar

• Prepare the chocolate cups: Brush cups with chocolate. Turn upside down to remove excess chocolate and turn back up and leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set.
• Prepare the peanut butter cream: Heat cream in a double boiler; add chocolate and let melt completely. Add peanut butter and salt and stir gently until fully incorporated. Let cool for 10 minutes then transfer into a disposable piping bag; set aside.
• Prepare the jelly: Place wine or juice and pectin in a medium sauce pan and whisk to combine. Heat to rolling boil then stir in sugar. Cook for 1 minute. Transfer into an 8 x 8 inch square pan lined with foil. Leave on the kitchen counter or refrigerator to set. When firm, cut into shapes with small cookie or fondant cutters.
• Fill the chocolate cups: Cut the tip of piping bag and pipe peanut cream 2/3 full. Press jelly on top of peanut cream until embedded but still visible. Refrigerate until set.
• To serve: Peel off tin foil cups and transfer into a serving plate.

Pomegranate Molasses Ganache Balls

The ganache is tart and sweet and best with sweet white chocolate. I found a bag of malted milk crisps at the candy supply store and used the bits to cover the soft ganache balls. They add very little sweetness but I like the malted milk flavor.

ganache

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

3 tablespoons honey
½ cup pomegranate molasses

coating

tempered white chocolate

malted milk crisps

• Make the ganache: In a double boiler, heat the cream; Add the chocolate and butter and heat until melted, stirring to combine. Add honey and pomegranate molasses and gently stir. Transfer half into a container and let set in the refrigerator. Leave the other half on the kitchen counter.
• Coat the ganache balls: Pour tempered chocolate on round candy molds and place in the freezer for a few minutes. Fill with room temperature ganache just below the rims of the mold cavities, put back in the freezer for a few minutes, then cover bottom with tempered chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Form the chilled ganache into 1 inch balls; roll in malted milk crisps and refrigerate until firm. 
• To serve: Unmold white chocolate candies and trim edges if necessary. Transfer both chocolates into paper cups and serve. Refrigerate leftovers.

Bittersweet Chocolate with Chai Cream Center

chocolate shells

tempered bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate

chai cream 

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1 tablespoon black tea leaves

1 tablespoon Earl Grey tea leaves

1 large cinnamon stick, broken in two

8 whole cloves

8 whole black peppercorns

cardamom seeds from 8 pods

¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 inch piece ginger, sliced thin

2 cups white chocolate chips

• Crack or pound cinnamon stick, cloves, black peppercorns, and cardamom seeds. 
• In a small pan, heat cream over medium heat and add the leaves and spices. Cover pan and simmer over lowest heat for 15 minutes. Turn heat off and let steep for another 15 minutes. 
• Strain though a fine sieve into a glass bowl and set on top of a pan of low simmering water (or double boiler). When heated through, add white chocolate, a handful at a time, stirring until melted. Cool to room temperature. Fill chocolate molds and leave in the refrigerator until set. Unmold, cover in foil wrappers or set on paper cups.

Brown Sugar Meringue Cookies and Salted Honey Caramels Dipped in Bittersweet Chocolate
I love these tiny buttons. They are all at once crunchy, chewy, and chocolaty. Very addicting! 

chocolate shell

tempered bittersweet chocolate

flaked sea salt, optional

cookies

2 egg whites

a pinch of cream of tartar

1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

salted honey caramel recipe here

• Cookies: Preheat oven to 300° F. In the bowl of a standing mixer with wire whisk attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add brown sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat in vanlla extract. Transfer meringue into a piping bag; snip a ¼ inch opening and pipe 1-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined sheet pans. With slightly wet fingers, flatten top of cookies. Bake until golden brown and dry to the touch, about 20 minutes. Turn heat off and leave in the oven for another 20 minutes. Remove parchment papers from sheet pans; gently remove cookies from paper.
• Caramel: Transfer into a piping bag and pipe a teaspoon on top of each cookie. 
• Dip cookies in tempered chocolate. Sprinkle a few grains of flaked sea salt, if desired. Leave on the kitchen counter until chocolate coating is set.

Rosewater Cream in White Chocolate

The fondant is soft that it oozes out when I bite into it.

chocolate shell

tempered white chocolate

rosewater cream fondant

1 cup heavy cream

1½ cups white chocolate pieces

2 teaspoons rosewater

a few drops of pink food dye

garnish

unsprayed rose petals

• Prepare molds, preferably shallow, with tempered chocolate; refrigerate while preparing fondant. 
• In a double boiler, heat cream and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in rosewater and food dye. Transfer into a piping bag; snip a small hole and pipe a thin layer on top of chocolate. Cover with chocolate. Refrigerate until completely set. Unmold and garnish tops with rose petals using a small amount of melted chocolate.

White Chocolate Coated Grapes

The recipe for these sweet fruit candies comes from Michel Richard, a Washington D.C. restaurateur and chef. I was watching a local TV show featuring Washington, D.C. restaurants and when I saw him preparing the candies I thought I should share it because the fruit candy is so simple to make yet really delicious and satisfying.

well chilled and dried seedless grapes, stems removed

1 cup tempered white chocolate

icing sugar

• Place grapes in a large bowl. Pour a little of the tempered chocolate while constantly stirring the grapes. Pour enough chocolate to cover the grapes, still constantly stirring until chocolate has almost set. Sift icing sugar all over while constantly stirring grapes, making sure they don't stick together, until completely set and dry to the touch. Transfer into a serving bowl or plate.

The Daring Bakers: Le Fraisier

le Fraisier: 2 thin layers of genoise, a layer of strawberries, 

a layer of pastry cream, 

topped with almond paste decorated with circles of strawberry coulis 

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make Fresh Fraisiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.


You can download the recipe from here.

I love the cake a lot; the pastry cream is rich but seems so light and everything goes well together with the wonderful fresh strawberries, of course. Thanks Jana for a delectable and extremely gratifying challenge.

The inspiration for the design is as usual from my favorite baking book ADVANCED BREAD AND PASTRY by Michel Suas.

Daring Bakers: Maple Mousse In An Edible Container

maple mousse in candied bacon topped with chocolate meringue

maple mousse in lemon rind confit topped with ginger-flavored meringue

chocolate boat, split tiny banana, semi-frozen maple mousse,
sweet cream, cherry

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!


The edible containers theme continues with this month's Daring Bakers. Thanks Evelyne for allowing us to choose our containers for the light, airy, and delicious maple mousse.

Maple Syrup Mousse
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups whipping cream (35% fat content)

• Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup while whisking to temper the yolks. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed. Measure ¼ cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle the gelatin. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl on top of a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatin has completely dissolved. Whisk the gelatin mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white. Whip the remaining cream. Stir ¼ of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

One of Evelyne's suggestions for containers is crispy bacon cups. I made them sweet and extra crunchy by dipping them in raw sugar before baking. I have candied bacon before and loved them as a snack but never tried it with ice cream or mousse. The crunchy bacon combined with maple mousse and chocolate meringue is heavenly.

Candied Bacon Cups
strips of bacon
golden raw or light brown sugar

• Snip bacon strips on both sides and dip in sugar. Form into coils and place in muffin cups. Bake in a 400°F oven until edges and bottom are dark brown. Leave for a minute in cups to cool and set slightly. Transfer on a plate with paper towel to remove excess grease. Let cool completely on a wire rack before filling with mousse.

I had a few lemon rind confit in the refrigerator and thought the tangy, slightly bitter, and sweet rinds would be perfect containers for the mousse. I added a pinch of ground ginger to half of the meringue recipe and the ginger flavor is just about right, not too weak nor strong. I love this combination too.

Lemon Rind Confit
14 ounces sugar
6 ounces glucose
12 ounces water
4 lemons, cut in half crosswise
water

• Heat sugar, glucose, and water until sugar dissolves. Let cool.
  
• Juice lemons, keep juice for another use. Scrape and clean the insides of the lemon rinds leaving the white pith on. Boil water and add rinds; boil for half a minute then drain. Boil and drain 4 more times with fresh water each time.
  
• Bring the syrup to a boil in a pot. Add the blanched rinds and let simmer for 1 hour, making sure the syrup does not boil and completely covers the rinds. Turn heat off and let rinds cool in the syrup. Transfer to a container, cover tightly and refrigerate until needed.
  
• Trim the bottom if using as a container for mousse or ice cream.