Panna Cotta

Got a bit of unflavored gelatin in the cupboard to use up?  The perfect dessert that could get that used up is a Panna Cotta.  It's a great dessert that doesn't have too many ingredients and its great for a light dessert on a summer day.  The first time I tried this dessert, I think that I might of used a little too much gelatin but it was still sweet and tasted great.  But with a little less gelatin, its even better.



The recipe:
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups whipping cream
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of salt
2 cups sliced apples
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
juice of one lemon

Place the milk in a saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin into the milk.  Let it stand for 3 to 5 minutes to allow the gelatin to bloom.  Stir over medium heat just until the gelatin dissolves, about 5 minute, but do not let the milk boil.  Add the cream, honey, sugar, and salt.  Stir until the sugar dissolves and remove from the heat.  Melt the butter in a sautee pan, add the apples and sautee.  Reserve some of the sauteed apples to put into the panna cotta, then add the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon to the rest.  Cook the apples in the sugar down so that the sugar makes a nice thick sauce for the panna cotta.  Pour the milk mixture into the dishes that they will be served in then add a little spoonful of the sauteed apples.  You should get about 6 serving.  Cool slightly then refrigerate until set, about 6 hours. Spoon the apples in syrup over and serve.

I used some silicon molds that I had laying around, but looks elegant in wine glasses or even little bowls.  I'd like to say that this dessert is easy and simple and great for anytime.   The apples that were just sauteed will add a crispness and the sauce will add another layer of flavor.
Happy chomps and nibbles.

Alfajores

Cookies!  Well today, I thought we could make some Peruvian cookies called Alfajores. Alfajores are a traditional confection found in some regions of Spain and then made with variations in countries of Latin America, including Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, and Mexico, after being taken there by the colonists. 
In Spain, there are completely different recipes, but the most traditional contain flour, honey, almonds and several spices, such as cinnamon.  It is most commonly sold around Christmas, but in Medina Sidonia, it is sold year-round.  The real alfajor was made in this town since ancient times, and their development, called alajú, passed from father to son.
In the province of Cuenca, Spain, its still called alajú and is made with almond, honey and figs, all wrapped in a wafer.  Medina Sidonia was the capital of the Arabic world confection, where the alfajor has centuries of history with a recipe that has been transmitted from generation to generation.
In South America, due to the lack of ingredients and habits, alfajores were made totally differently. Nowadays, they are found most notably in Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, Paraguay, Chile, Perú and Brazil. In Argentina, its basic form consists of two round, sweet biscuits joined together with mousse, dulce de leche or jam, and coated with black or white chocolate (many alfajores are sold in "black" and "white" flavours) or simply covered with powdered sugar. There is also one variation, called "alfajor de nieve", that instead of having a white or black chocolate coating, it has a "snow" coating consisting of a mixture of egg whites and sugar. Big alfajores, with 25, 30 or even 40 cm diameter, are consumed as desserts, shared among many people. Peruvian alfajores are usually coated in powdered sugar, and are filled with Dulce de leche. Most alfajores come packaged in aluminium foil. In Mexico, they are made with just coconut, and are normally a tri-color coconut confection. In Nicaragua, they follow more in the lines of the Canary island type of alfajores, and are made with molasses and different types of grains, including corn, and cacao similarly to most chocolate bars, though hand-made are just as accessible and generally packaged in plastic wrap or wax paper.  These cookies are delicious, the cookies being a little salty while the filling making the entire snack take on a sweet aspect.  Everyone should try making these easy to make treats.  Of course the dulce de leche is the traditional filling but any kind of jelly or cream can be used.


Recipe:
580 grams cornstarch
284 grams all-purpose flour
6 grams baking powder
8 g salt
454 grams butter, at room temperature
136 grams powdered sugar
60 grams pisco
10 grams vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift the cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix briefly and add the softened butter.  Mix until the butter is incorporated.  Then sift the powdered sugar and add to the mixture with the pisco and the vanilla extract.  Mix until incorporated and portion into 2 equal logs measuring 2 inches wide.Wrap the logs and chill for at least 4 hours.  Cut and bake on a sheet tray with parchment paper, for 15 minutes, turning them halfway.  Once cooled, sandwich some dulce de leche between two cookies and dust with powdered sugar.


Note:  Pisco is a colorless or yellowish-to-amber colored grape brandy produced in winemaking regions of Peru and Chile.  And dulce de leche can be bought but if none is available, you can cook a can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot covered with water for about 4 hours.  But the water level has to be watched constantly, if the water level drops too low there is a danger of the can exploding.


Try these out, especially with a chocolate ganache filling or a raspberry jam filling.  Delicious!
Happy chomps and nibbles!

Brownies? Churros? Funnel Cake?

So, this weekend me and my boyfriend will be throwing a housewarming.  We just moved into a new place and we love it!  And being that I am addicted to sweets, I cannot decide what kind of dessert to make!  I could make some funnel cakes, which everyone loves with some ice cream and cooked fruit.  Or a brownie of sort which would always be a delight for the chocoholics, but what about those who do not like chocolate?  Then there is the churro, which is good and simple, but it is fried and that means lots of oil.   After thinking about all of these choices, I decided on a deep fried ice cream.  Taking the idea of the brownie and wrapping the ice cream with it, and then dipping it in a batter and deep frying.  But that will just be the end result.  I want to share with you the recipe for the brownies that I will use.

12 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter

6 tablespoons butter
9 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoons vanilla

6 eggs
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoons almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Melt chocolate and 1/2 cup butter and set aside to cool.

To make the cream cheese batter, with a whip attachment cream 6 tablespoons butter than add the cream cheese and continue mixing. Add the sugar, beat until fluffy then beat in the eggs, then flour, and vanilla. Set aside.
For the chocolate batter, in a separate bowl whip the eggs and sugar until fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and mix into egg mixture. Mix in the melted chocolate and butter, and the extracts.
In a rectangular pan, lined with parchment, spread half the chocolate mixture. Spread the cream cheese layer over that to cover, then drop remaining chocolate batter by spoonfuls on top then swirl with a knife. Bake for 40 minutes.
Once the brownies are baked and cooled, I just cut them into thin slices and wrap scoops of ice cream with them.  Then make sure to freeze the prepared ice cream for at least a couple hours, then drop them into a batter, beer or sweet, then fry them up in some oil that has been heated up to about 350 degrees.  But make sure not to fry them for too long, about a minute should be enough.
I’ve made these before for other parties and they have always been a favorite.  But I made sure to make a couple with pound cake as well, just so that everyone has something that they’d like.  The first time I decided not to make these for a party, I had a couple of friends asking for them and I made a quick batch out of regular brownies.  So I hope you and your friends enjoy them as well.   
Happy chomps and nibbles.

Cream Puffs

So, I was out and about with the boyfriend, and we wanted to get a snack.  We're looking around and we see a Beard Papa.  Cream puffs.  They seem to have become the dessert of the time a couple of years ago and now, they are EVERYWHERE.  I think that I was just picky about the ones that I had at Beard Papas just because I saw that they filled a whole bunch and just took some of them out of the fridge when we bought them while others were filled to order.  But, that's besides the point.  I like them when they are fresh, and not so much when they are soggy from being filled in advance.  The idea to sell cream puffs and only cream puffs was a brilliant one, but maybe not the easiest to do, but, like I said earlier, that's besides the point.  After the little outing and the cream puffs,  I got back home and decided that cream puffs were going to be my next project.

Cream puffs:
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs

Pastry Cream filling
5 egg yolks
2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cream puffs, combine everything except for the flour and eggs into a pot and bring to a boil.  Once it has come to a boil, add the flour all at once and stir.  Continue to stir over medium heat until it becomes thick and it pulls away from the sides of the pan and is slightly shiny.  Transfer the paste to a medium bowl, and beat with a wooden spoon until cool to the touch. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each one thoroughly before adding the next.  Continue to add the eggs until mixture, when taken between your forefinger and thumb can be stretched all the way.  Place in piping bag, and pipe onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper.  Or a scoop can be used to portion the pieces equally.  Then bake in a oven preheated to 400 degrees until browned and light and airy.

For the filling, scald the milk and while waiting for the milk, combine the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.  Whisk the cornstarch mixture to get all lumps out, then add the egg yolks and mix well.  Temper the milk to the egg yolk mixture, and then return to the pot and cook until thick.  Take the custard off the heat and mix in the vanilla.

To fill the cream puffs, there are two methods.  You can cut off the top of the cream puff, fill and place the top back on.  Or you can make a little hole in the bottom of the cream puff and pipe the filling in from a piping bag with a small tip.  Both ways are good, but the first cannot be covered with a chocolate glaze.

So with the I had some fresh cream puffs today.  I also played with some ideas and had some fun with the bag of pate a choux, or cream puff dough.
Happy chomps and nibbles.