Adventures with the Ice Cream Maker: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

So, Rebecca got an ice cream maker for her graduation and has been experimenting with yummy ice cream recipes since. So far, she has made chocolate peanut butter ice cream from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop and strawberry frozen yogurt, from the same book. Both have been very tasty, but neither have made it onto this blog. That's what moving will do for you.

However, Rebecca finally got around to making some ice cream and remembered to take a picture of it, so we finally get some ice cream on this blog. Apologies for no pictures of the finished product. This batch was churned at 11PM, and I wasn't about to stay up waiting for it to freeze so I could take a picture. Also, this way, you get to see my pretty ice cream maker.

This ice cream is chocolate ganache ice cream from page 430 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours. You can see the recipe here, from Google Books. This ice cream is delicious. Silky and smooth and it tastes just like ganache. I was a little worried, since I think I overcooked the custard a bit and it got lumpy, but it smoothed out in the ice cream maker. I also don't think I chilled it for long enough (hey, I wanted to go to bed), so the finished product is a bit soft, but even with all these mishaps, it is still delicious. Next time, I think I will put chocolate chunks in it, as Dorie suggests.

Peppermint Love

Hi there, faithful readers, it's Sarah! Though I am from New York, NY, today I am blogging from Carlisle, PA, about some cookies that I made for a trip to Providence, RI. It was an intense day of baking, encompassing the aforementioned cookies, homemade Thin Mints, some AMAZING toffee bars from Dorie, a miserable attempt at lemon pound cake, and a more successful attempt at Snickerdoodles. However, these were the only ones I got to photograph, so these are the ones I am going to write about.

I was going to Providence to visit my wonderful friends from school, and to express my affection I decided to bake. These particular cookies were for my friend and suitemate Devon and the girls she's living with over the summer. They were so kind to take me into their lovely house and let me sleep on their comfy couch, so they definitely deserved cookies. And these were good ones!

The recipe is from Dozen Flours, and I will post it below. They are very girly-looking, especially in their original incarnation (heart-shaped, though I made them circular due to lack of appropriate cookie-cutting material), so you should probably make them for girls. However, that is not to say that boys can't enjoy them; it takes a real man to eat pink. A couple of notes:

1) The dough is AMAZING. Seriously, this is the best dough I have ever tasted. I'm really looking forward to experimenting with it- anyone have ideas or suggestions?
2) Despite the amazing taste of the dough, it was frustrating to work with. Obviously, you wanted it to be as cold as possible to prevent the shapes from spreading in the oven, and I froze it accordingly, but every time I rolled it out to cut out the circles, it would get soft and warm again. If at all possible, cut out the shapes first and then chill the dough; that should prevent the problem from happening.
3) I found the buttercream to be weirdly grainy, which is odd because apparently it's adapted from a Magnolia recipe and normally I love Magnolia buttercream. Maybe I used too much sugar or something, but it was not worthy of the dough. However, the peppermint flavor was a nice contrast with the sweetness of the cookie.

Here is the recipe, as it appears on Dozen Flours:

Peppermint Heart Shaped Cookies
Cookies

1 cup of sugar
1 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 eggs, at room temperature
3 cups of all purpose, unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

Cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together. With the mixer on low/medium speed, slowly add dry ingredients to the wet, being sure to scrape down the bowl frequently. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Form the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Separate the dough ball into 2 balls and place between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll the ball out to about 1/4 inch thick being sure to keep all the dough between the sheets of paper. Transfer to a cookie sheet and store in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or until firm (you can also cheat by putting them in the freezer).

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut out desired shapes (I used a big heart shaped cookie cutter plus a slightly smaller one to create a heart shaped frame) and place onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Bake for 8-12 min. Keep a careful watch on your first batch so you can establish the correct cooking time. After 6 minutes, keep checking them every minute until they are firm to the touch and just the slightest bit brown. Cookies will continue to bake as your remove them from the oven. Let them sit for a minute, remove the cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula big enough to support the entire surface of the cookie (or they may break) and cool on a wire rack.

Repeat steps with left over cookie dough.

When they are completely cool, store them in an airtight container or a big zip-lock bag. You can even freeze them and save them until later.

Peppermint Buttercream Frosting
adapted from More From Magnolias Bakery

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3 to 4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cold milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (if you don't like peppermint, use vanilla)
pink food coloring gel (optional)
4-5 red peppermint candies or one candy cane, crushed but not pulverized (optional)

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add 1 cup of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar or you may find you need to add more milk. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly until you get your desired color. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Assembly
Carefully spread each heart-shaped cookie with a generous dollop of pink frosting. Top with a heart shaped cookie frame (if desired) and sprinkle a little crushed peppermint candy in the center.

A Father's Day Blueberry Pie

Our dad is awesome. He is an excellent dad. We learned many of our cooking and baking skills from him. However, it is always hard to buy a father's day card and/or present for him because he doesn't really drink beer, never plays golf and can only rarely be seen on the couch watching TV (although on the couch sleeping/pretending to read is a different story). Despite these troubles, we know that he loves blueberries, so making a blueberry pie was a no-brainer.

Confession time -- I ran out of time and so used pre-made pie crusts. They were good, although I know the pie would have been better if I made the crust. However, I did roll out the top so that I could seal the two crusts together well.

Second confession -- the picture is terrible since we ate the pie soon after I baked it and it was such a hit that there was very little left to photograph. Sorry!

Anyway, we made the filling from Dorie's Double Crusted Blueberry Pie and it was AWESOME. The only thing is that we had a lot of leftover flour/sugar/lemon mixture after pouring the filling into the pie, which we left out so that it would not overflow. It turned out great.

Here is the recipe:
2 ½ pints fresh blueberries
1 cup of sugar, or a little more, to taste, plus more for dusting
½ cup all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Coarsely grated zest of ½ lemon
Squirt of fresh lemon juice, or a little more, to taste
¼ cup dry bread crumbs (you can use packaged unseasoned crumbs)

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tsp of water, for egg wash
Sugar, for dusting

Getting Ready: Butter a 9-inch pie plate (Dorie uses a standard Pyrex pie plate).

Working on a well-floured surface (or between wax paper or plastic wrap), roll out one piece of the dough to a thickness of about 1/8 – inch. Fit the dough onto the buttered pie plate and trim the edges to a ½ inch overhang. Roll the other piece of dough into a 1/8 inch thick circle and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat. Cover both the circle and the pie plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you pre-heat the oven and prepare the filling.

Getting Ready to Bake: Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Put the berries in a large bowl and gently stir in the sugar, flour, salt, zest and juice; let sit for about 5 minutes. Taste the filling and add more sugar and/or lemon juice, if needed.

Remove the pie shell and top crust from the refrigerator. Sprinkle an even layer of the breadcrumbs over the bottom of the shell. Give the filling a last stir and turn it into the crust.

Using your fingertips, moisten the rim of the bottom crust with a little cold water. Center the top crust over the filling and gently press the top crust against the bottom. Either fold the overhang from the top crust under the bottom crust and crimp the edges attractively or press the top crust against the bottom crust and trim the overhang from both crusts even with the rim of the pie plate. If you’ve pressed and trimmed the crust, use the tines of a fork to press the two crusts together securely. Using a small, sharp knife, cut 4 slits in the top crust crust and cut a circle out of the center, then lift the plate onto the baking sheet. (If you have time, refrigerate the pie for about 30 minutes. The pie can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months. Glaze and sugar it before you put it in the over and add at least 15 minutes to the baking time).

Brush the top crust with the egg wash, then sprinkle the crust with a little sugar, just to give it sparkle.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake the pie for another 30 minutes or so (total baking time is about an hour) or until the crust is a beautiful golden brown and the filling is bubbling up through the slits. If the crust seems to be browning too quickly, make a loose foil tent for the pie.

Transfer the pie to a rack and let it cool and settle for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Great Modifications: Happy First Birthday Cake

There was a big birthday in our house in June -- Rebecca's son and Sarah's nephew turned one! It was a joyous day of celebration with many, many 1-year-olds and we, of course, had cake. We decided to turn to our good friend Dorie Greenspan for cake inspiration. She has a cake called The Perfect Party Cake. Not to judge Dorie, but we think that any cake that involves so much coconut cannot be called perfect.

However, in Dorie's infinite wisdom, she offered some suggestions for modifications, which we took her up on. Our son/nephew loves strawberries. He is, as we call him, a strawberry-atarian and so we thought that a strawberry short cake would be perfect. We modified Dorie's cake so that it was a lot like a strawberry short cake but with the moist, lemon-y cake of the Perfect Party Cake.

As you can see from the picture above, we made one large cake and one small cake. We made 1.25 times the recipe, which was insane with the measuring, but worked out well for making one small cake in a ramekin. He loved his tiny cake and both the large and small cakes were delicious, enjoyed by grownups and kids alike. Go Dorie! The recipe for the cake is below.

Here are the modifications that we made:
1. In putting the cake together, we used lightly sweetened whipped cream instead of butter cream for the filling and frosting
2. We used strawberry jam, then a layer of whipped cream on each layer
3. After the whipped cream, we put a layer of thinly sliced strawberries in each layer
4. We decorated the top with strawberries instead of coconut
5. If you use whipped cream, you have to store it in the fridge. We took it out about 20 minutes before we served it.

And now, the recipe:

Perfect Party Cake
From Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
Makes 12 to 14 servings
For the Cake

• 2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large egg whites
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing

• 2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
• About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make The Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and, working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the tough – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

To Make the Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake: Using a sharp, serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with the third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream left over). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving: The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but it’s best to let it set for a couple of hours in a cool room. Serve it at room temperature with anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing: The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to 2 days.

If you want to see some other photos, here is one of the big cake and one of the little cake:

Ethnic Flavor: Challah Three Ways

Challah is a great food. You eat it on Shabbat, on holidays and it makes killer french toast. One might ask why you would bake your own challah when there are a large variety of packaged challahs available that taste really good. While it is true that challah can take a while to make (with all the rising and waiting and braiding), it is totally worth it. It is delicious and with this recipe, there is only one rising which is great and you can customize to make any flavor you want. In addition, if you want to make a whole batch of dough, you can braid it and then freeze it. When the mood strikes for fresh challah, you defrost you dough, let it rise a bit and then pop it in the oven. Fresh challah for Shabbat...yummy.


This recipe comes from my friend Shoshanah, who is an amazing cook and baker and has a great blog called Couldn't Be Parve where she explores all matters of parve baking. You should check it out!


The baking sisters made six small challahs -- two plain, to chocolate chip (we accidentally used diary chips, so we had to serve it at a diary meal) and two cinnamon sugar. For the chocolate chips, we just added in what looked like the right amount (no measuring) during the pre-braiding kneading stage. For the cinnamon sugar, we rolled each piece of the braid into cinnamon sugar before braiding.


A note on braiding. We made three and four strand braids, but you could do more. All you have to do is google braid challah and lots of information will come up.


Challah
Yields 2 medium loaves and 2 small loaves (or six small loaves)


3 packages dry yeast (about 2 tablespoons)
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
¾ warm water
6 cups unbleached white flour (more, if necessary) -- note that you don't have to take challlah from this recipe, since the amount of flour is less than the required amount.
1 ½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
½ cup water
½ cup honey
1 cup raisins or chocolate chips (optional)
1 egg beaten with 1-2 tsp water
sesame seeds, poppy seeds (optional)

Mix yeast and brown sugar with warm water in a bowl. Let stand for about 5 minutes until mixture starts to bubble a bit. If it doesn’t bubble, it’s not working: try again.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, mix eggs, oil, water and honey. Set aside.

When yeast has proofed (bubbled), add the yeast mixture to flour and salt mixture and mix well. Add egg mixture and continue mixing until the dough has come together. If necessary, add unbleached white flour as you’re mixing. The dough will remain fairly soft, but it shouldn’t be sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a counter or a board, and knead it a few times just to smooth it out. Form it into a ball. This “kneading” should not take more than one minute. Place the ball of dough in a large, well-oiled bowl, turning the dough to oil all the surfaces. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm, non-drafty place for about two hours, or until doubled in size

Preheat oven to 325

Punch down the dough. If raisins or chocolate chips are desired, add them at this point, working them into the dough. To make two medium and two small challah divide the dough into three pieces. Use one piece to make each medium challah and divide the third piece in half to make the two small challot.

Divide each piece of dough into three, roll out into long ropes and braid them together.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the loaves with the egg and water glaze, then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Challah is done when both top and bottom are browned and it makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Great Modifications: Scrumptious Sandwiches

Some days, you just gotta bake cookies. Your sister leaves you for exotic climes, your friends are flakes, your sweet tooth is achin' and you need to do something with your hands or you'll go crazy. You call up your good pal Maida Heatter and she suggests that you try some fancy little cookies called "Les Petites." "But Maida," you protest, "I wanted to make these for Shabbos, and they have dairy in them!" And then a brainwave hits you! You will MODIFY the cookies so that they are parve!

These cookies were way fun to bake, even if they were time-consuming. They also look very nice and taste very good. I changed the assembly a little because I didn't have a small enough cookie cutter to create a hole within the top cookie, and my recipe reflects that, but if you have such a thing then by all means go with it. These are good cookies to serve on special occasions, and since the holy Sabbath is always a special occasion, they were perfect! I will definitely make these again. Of course, they are probably even better not parve; simply substitute butter for margarine and you are set!

3/4 blanched hazelnuts or almonds, finely ground in a food processor
1.5 sticks unsalted margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1.5 cups sifted flour
5 ounces parve semisweet chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream the margarine in the mixer, then add the vanilla, sugar and salt, then the flour, then finally the nuts. Beat well until mixed.
Roll the dough out on a floured surface so that it is between 1/3 and 1/4 inch thick. Using a round (preferably scalloped) 1.25 inch cookie cutter, place the cookies on the baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes or longer, until the cookies are sandy-colored but not too soft- do not underbake.

While the cookies are still on the sheet, use a fork to poke holes in half of the cookies. Be careful with this step, since the cookies will still be warm and a little fragile. Once you are done, put all the cookies on a rack to cool.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a microwave-proof bowl. When it is melted, find a cookie without holes in it. Place a dollop of chocolate on the cookie- don't spread it- and then sandwich it lightly with one of the holey cookies. Repeat. Refrigerate the cookies so the chocolate can set, then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar through a sieve.


P.S. Here are the answers to the Tony Cupcakes quiz from last time.
1-4 2-a 3-g 4-e 5-h 6-c 7-f 8-b

Some Very Tony Cupcakes

So, last Sunday was the Tony Awards, the night when, across the land, a thousand awkward high school girls and their "not gay" male best friends get together, pour some Martinelli's Sparkling Cider and watch theater royalty* pat themselves on the back. Of course, I am in college now, and thus much more sophisticated than those losers. The Tony party I attended called for cupcakes. And while my cupcake decorating skills are likely to land me on Cakewrecks (and not in the Sunday Sweets Section), I still thought I could have a little fun with it.

For the recipe, I went with Magnolia's chocolate cupcake with vanilla buttercream. You really can't go wrong with Magnolia, though I found the cupcake to be a little dry and dense for my taste. Here is the cupcake recipe, and here is the frosting. I halved both the cupcake and frosting recipes; however, in general I would recommend halving the frosting recipe even if you're making the full amount of cake, or else you will end up with a ton of extra frosting. (Which can be fun, don't get me wrong, but unless you, like me, enjoy eating entire meals made of buttercream, you might want to take my advice to heart.)

*Very talented people that no one has ever heard of.


And now, the quiz! See if you can match the cupcake's "theme" with the Broadway musical nominated for a Tony. As I said, my cupcake decorating skills leave something to be desired, so I'm telling you what all the designs are, along with the guesses from various friends and family members. If you fail this quiz, you will be forced to watch the touring company of Legally Blonde sing "Oh My God You Guys" for all eternity! Bwa ha ha ha ha

1)
Mommy: "Is it an umbrella?"
Correct answer: It is an electric guitar.

2)
C'mon, I don't think this one is so bad. At least not compared the the deformed pink lump that preceded it. This is a ballet slipper.

3)
Daddy: "I think it's a lock."
Mommy: "I think it's a handbag."
Correct answer: It is a pill.
Daddy: "Oh, I was looking at it upside down."

4)
Mommy: "Uh...a palm tree."
Sharon: "A green star."
Correct answer: It is a pot leaf.

5)
Mommy: "Um..."
Daddy: "Is that a gun?"
Correct answer: Yes.

6)
Once again, I'm not sure how this could be construed as being anything but the head of a grumpy green ogre.

7)
Sarah: "A cube with smallpox?"
Correct answer: It is a die (as in the singular of dice). Dude, I didn't think I was that bad.

8)
Sarah: "Musical notes and a guitar."
Correct answer: Close. It is musical notes and a microphone.

And the nominees are...
a) Billy Elliot (winner, Best Musical)
b) Pal Joey
c) Shrek the Musical
d) Rock of Ages
e) Hair (winner, Best Revival)
f) Guys and Dolls
g) Next to Normal
h) West Side Story

I will post answers on the next posting. Have fun! (And don't forget what happens if you fail. This is real, guys.)