Pie dough can be a bully and burnt beans stink

Don't let the above picture fool you. The pie gods were not being nice to me on this day.


When a recipe gives me grief I can't help, but keep trying until I get it right. I decided to be brave and try to make pie dough again. I thought I would have better luck if I used a different recipe. I choose to use the one that came with my food processor as I had heard it is a foolproof recipe.

Foolproof you say-well we'll just see about that.


Everything was chilled and ready to go. I mixed the flour with the salt and baking soda and then added the butter and shortening.

I even bought some peas so I would know how small my butter had to be.

Now the part I hate -adding the water. If this was a horror film,then this is when you would hear the scary music they play right before something bad is going to happen. Dun Dun Dun...


I added 2 tablespoons of ice water and pulsed 5 maybe 6 times. The mixture did hold together when I pressed it together just like the recipe said it would. Okay I just needed to add some more water and it should be able to be formed into a ball. After a few more teaspoons of water it looked like it was ready.

I dump it out onto the counter even though I had a gut feeling it needed more water, but I went ahead and formed it into a ball-



a dry crumbly ball.

It was hard to form into a ball and I felt it didn't have enough water. I knew if it didn't have it would crumble when I went to roll it out. So I dumped it back into the bowl and added more water. At this point I'm not feeling too good about this dough. I probably over mixed by now and even after adding more water it still looked too darn dry.

My only option was to form it into a ball and see if a miracle would happen after it had chilled in the refrigerator.

Guess what? No miracle here. The pastry gods did not bless the dough. In fact I think it might have been cursed.

Ugh. Why can't pie dough play fair and just behave?


I needed help. All I needed was someone to show me how wet the mixture needed to be. I went searching on line since I don't know any good pie makers living by me. My mom, who could help me, lives 2 hours away. But I found a video. Yes, finally a visual-just what I needed and my favorite part of the recipe, an exact measurement of water. None of these 2-4 tablespoons of water crap for me no way, just give me a precise number. It will make my life so much easier.

I tried it and this is what it looked like after I added in the water. It already looks better than the dry piece of crap I made earlier. It actually looks like it will stick together. Let us all pray that it does.


This is what it looked like after it chilled in the fridge.

Thank you pastry gods!

Hmmm... The edges of the dough still cracked, but it did roll out better. I wonder-are cracked edges normal when you roll out dough?


To blind bake the shell, I filled it up with pinto beans and then baked it for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes were up, I needed to remove the beans and bake the tart for another 15 minutes. I got lazy and instead of taking the shell out of the oven to remove the beans, I tried to do it while it was in the oven. Not such a smart idea as some of pinto beans fell back into the hot oven. I left them in the oven thinking they're just beans they won't hurt anything. Yeah right. Those suckers really stink when they get burnt.

Ugly stinky burnt beans on the right-pretty non-stinky beans on the left.


My dough shrunk in the pan after I baked it. Why does that happen? I am quickly coming to the conclusion that pasty dough is a rebellious punk that does what it wants to do regardless how nice you are to it. I'm going to have to figure out what caused that. Deb at Smitten Kitchen has a no shrink tart dough recipe that I think I will try in a month or so. I need time to recuperate after this experience.

But the true test is how does it taste?

The next day:

My original plan was to make Tarte au Ganache Chocolat (Chocolate Ganache Tart) from "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts" which is a tart shell filled with a chocolate ganache. But after my experience with pie dough I wasn't sure if my crust would be edible. So instead of wasting ingredients for the original ganache, I decided to use the chocolate sauce I had made for the profiteroles. I figured this chocolate sauce would work, as it becomes firm once it is refrigerated. I warmed up some of the sauce and poured it into the crust and let it sit overnight. After it was chilled, I finish off the chocolate tart with whipped cream and bittersweet chocolate shavings.

I was so, so good!

And surprise, surprise. The crust was light and flaky and tender just the way a good crust should be. This ladies and gentlemen is the first time I have achieved this. Wow. Hubby gave it a 9 out of 10, which is awesome. His mom made really good pie crust. The kind of crust you would get in a really good restaurant so he knows a good crust when he taste one. So I think I will pat myself on the back for this one.



I just need to keep making pie dough and then I will get a feel for it. It reminds me of making bread. It's something that has to be made over and over until you get a feel for. At least that's my theory and I' stinking to it.

SUPER YUM!





Sign of a job well done.

Audrey's yogurt cake

I recently finished reading the book "On Rue Tatin" by Susan Herrmann Loomis who is also the author of several other cookbooks. In her book "On Rue Tatin" she chronicles her life as a married woman living in France with her family. One of the best things about this book besides being entertaining is her liberal sprinkling of recipes throughout. I absolutely love getting recipes like this. It brings the story to life and gives me another way of enjoying a book.

Audrey's Yogurt Cake recipe came to her from a mother she meet at her son's school that had brought in this cake to celebrate her daughter's birthday. Susan explains that yogurt cakes were taught to every French schoolgirl but now most of them learn how to bake this cake at home. She said it was the best yogurt cake she had ever tasted and she had tried many before. So of course I had to try it. I love to try regional recipes especially recipes that I have never heard of.

My ingredients mise en place and ready for action.

My bake pan buttered, floured and ready.

Once the eggs and sugar have been whisked to a light yellow,

the flour is sprinkled over the mixture and folded in.

Fold in the yogurt and the vanilla, then the melted butter. Pour half of it in your prepared cake pan and

fold the melted chocolate into the remaining batter.

Pour the chocolate batter onto the plain one. You can run a rubber spatula through it several times if you want a marble effect. I ran a spatula through mine but my batter just wanted to sit on top and not mix with the rest of the cake. What a party pooper.


I liked this cake, as it was not very sweet. It reminded me of a snack cake that would go well with a warm cup of tea. The combination of a chocolate layer with a vanilla layer was a very happy combination. I mean let's face it; chocolate layered with anything is bound to be good. I had to give hubby a hard time as he added chocolate frosting to his piece, as did my middle son. They said it tasted better. They prefer a sweeter cake. My other kids thought it tasted perfect just as it was baked with just a dusting of powdered sugar on it.



Audrey's Yogurt Cake
Adapted from On Rue Tatin.

1 1/2 cups/200g all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

3 large eggs

1 cup /200g sugar

1/2 cup/125ml plain, full-fat yogurt (I used low-fat)

8 tablespoons/125 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 ounces/90g bitter chocolate, (I used Ghirardelli)
melted in a double boiler, then cooled

Confectioners' sugar

Butter and flour one 91/2-inch round cake pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Shift together the flour, baking powder, and salt onto a piece of waxed or parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until they are light and pale yellow. Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the eggs and sugar, whisking to incorporate then. Fold in the yogurt and vanilla, then the melted butter.

Pour half the batter into the prepared cake pan; fold the melted chocolate into the remaining batter until it is thoroughly combined. Pour the chocolate batter on top of the plain batter this is already in the cake pan and run a rubber spatula through the batter several times to make a marble pattern.

Bake the cake in the center of the oven until it is slightly mounded and your finger leaves a very slight impression when you touch the top of it, about 35 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack. Once it is cool, dust it with confectioner's sugar and serve.

Chocolate meringues

I was looking to make a simple dessert since it was the day after the Black Eyed Peas concert and my head was still ringing from being too close to the stage. Next concert I go to I'm using earplugs.

The Chocolate Meringues looked quick and easy to make, but I wasn't too excited to eat them. I've never made them but have bought them a few times for my son since he loves them. I find them unappealing. To me it's like eating cardboard with sugar. Maybe home made ones would taste better, but I had little hope.

First thing I did was let 3 egg whites come to room temperature.


Then whipped them with cream of tarter until they were stiff peaks.

Cocoa powder and confectioners sugar were folded in followed by the chocolate chips. Instead of dropping them onto parchment paper using a teaspoon, I used a cookie scoop. I like to use one as it keep them all the same size.


I expected these to taste like the store bought ones, dry and crispy with a hint of cocoa flavoring but I was in for a surprise when I took a bite. All I could say was they were amazing, crispy on the outside but warm and chewy on the inside. I ate mine about a half hour after they came out of the oven so the chocolate chips were still warm and soft. The cocoa flavoring was predominating making the meringue taste like a warm chocolate cookie. These little guys are dangerous to make since I could have eaten about 20 in a row. The next time my son has a craving for meringues; I will definitely be making them.

If you have never made homemade meringues before you need to at least once. They're so easy to make and taste way better than store bought ones.


Chocolate Meringues
Adapted from Essentials of baking

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

1/4 teaspoon cream tarter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup miniature (I used regular size) semisweet plain chocolate chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 250 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Shift confectioners' sugar lightly over the paper.

Sift together the 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar and the cocoa powder onto a sheet of parchment paper or plate. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment or a hand mixer, beat on medium speed until the cream of tartar dissolves and the whites begin to thicken, Increase the speed to medium-high and beat just until the soft peaks form, Slowly add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Remove the bowl from the mixer,

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the sugar-cocoa mixture into the egg whites, then fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop the dough by level teaspoons (I used a cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart, Bake until the meringues feel crusty and dry on the outside, about 55 minutes. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let the meringues cool completely. The outside of the cookies will become crisper as they cool. Serve at room temperature. Store in a tightly sealed container at room temperature for up to 2 days or freeze in tightly sealed container for up to 1 month.

Eclairs

This recipe was quick and easy, since I already had the cream puff dough made. All I had to do was take it out of the refrigerator, put it in a pastry bag and piped it into rows.

Which kind of reminded me of slugs.

Thank goodness they looked better baked!

Once they cooled, I cut one in half and dipped the top in warm chocolate sauce. That is one lucky eclair.

After I dipped the tops of the eclair, I let those bad boys sit there and look pretty as the icing set. Some of them might have been over dipped but I'm not complaining, its chocolate, the more the better.


I filled mine with whipped cream since I had some available. They were admired for a minute and then they disappeared.

Yum!

Profiteroles

Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought, there is no way in hell I'm going to be able to make that with out screwing something up? That thought had always crossed my mind whenever I contemplated making choux pastry or cream puff dough. I tend to stay away from tricky recipes and this one made me nervous because it used 10 to 12 eggs. That would be a lot of wasted eggs if I messed up the recipe.

The tricky parts to this recipe were; first I had to make sure I didn't overcook the mixture as it could separate and turn red, then I had to make sure the mixture had cooled slightly before I added the eggs or they would cook and ruin the dough.

But I thought it was time to be a big girl and face my fears of making cream puff pasty.

I scanned the recipe and didn't like this part of the direction. " Begin beating the paste at medium-low speed to release some steam and to allow it to cool somewhat. This is very important because the eggs will begin cooking if they are added while the paste is too hot."

Okay, I get that part, but what temperature is "cool somewhat?"

 I cheeked out another cookbook. "Essentials of Baking"

According to this cookbook, the magic temperature is 140 degrees.

EUREKA!

This recipe only took 4 eggs instead of 10-12. Hmm, since this was the first time I was making cream puff dough and there was a chance I could mess it up, I wondered, should I use the one that called for 10-12 eggs or the one that only used 4 eggs.

Of course I used the one that only took 4. Duh.

So with Hubby's help as the photographer, because I can't mix and take pictures at the same time and really if I could do that then I would be like a super hero and I would probably be out saving the world instead of baking. So as a non-super hero, I put on my apron and got down to business.

Here's the main thing I learned when I made this recipe. It's never a good idea to work out your arms with weights the same day you plan on hand mixing 4 eggs vigorously into a thick batter. It's also not a good idea to do this while wearing a sweater in an overheated house. Only do this if you want to torture yourself.

Yes, I'll admit it, I was tempted to let Hubby do the mixing, but it was my recipe and I was going to do it even if that meant I was close to sweating blood. Well, not really, but it did feel like my arms were going to fall off.


But let's start from the beginning. Before any eggs were added, I had to combine milk; water, butter and salt into a pan set it on medium heat. Once the butter melted and it came to a boil,

I removed the pan from the heat, mixed in the flour vigorously and return the pan to medium heat. My arms were fine at this point. I'm not in that bad of shape.

Once the mixture formed a ball,

I removed the pan from the heat and waited until it came to the magic temperature of 140 degrees. At that temperature, the mixture still felt too hot, but I trusted the cookbook and dumped in the whisked egg. The egg didn't cook so the mixture must have been cooled enough.

After nearly killing my arms, here is what it looked like after 4 eggs were mixed into it.



The recipe said to pipe 1 teaspoon of dough onto parchment paper for the profiteroles (small cream puffs), which I did, but they came out really small. That one in the picture looks like a snail and it was about the same size as one. The second batch I used a tablespoon of batter and they came out bigger.

Look Ma, I did it!

Speaking of my mom, my parents came up for Easter dinner so I decided to fill the small puffs with ice cream and serve them with a warm chocolate sauce also know as profiteroles.


Let's take a moment and talk about this chocolate sauce. If I was in front of a firing squad and was granted one last drink, it would not be a chi tea latte or an ice cold diet Coke-my two favorite drinks, no, it would be a tall glass of this warm chocolate sauce. It was that good.

It was way too easy to make, which means of course, I screwed up a part. I have a habit of doing that. When the milk came to a boil, I poured it over the chocolate chips, waited 30 seconds and stirred it like the directions said, but my chocolate chips didn't completely melt. I added the mostly melted chocolate to the cream, sugar and butter I had warmed up in a pan but it didn't melt all the chocolate like I thought it would.

Can you see the chocolate bits on the spoon?

It was an easy fix-I strained the mixture through a strainer (I'm becoming an expert with this handy tool) and presto-no more chocolate bits in the sauce.

Now that I know I can make choux pastry, next time I will try the recipe from "The Textbook."

Hot cross buns

As it's Easter, I have decided it was high time I made some. I've always wanted to make them, but I've never gotten around to it. I know I am such a procrastinator.

The recipe is from "Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook" my stand by cookbook. I swear this cookbook has everything you need to know when it come to baking. It even tells you how to make baked potatoes. I got this cookbook as a wedding present and have used it countless times. I love the pumpkin and zucchini recipes.


First thing you do is place flour, yeast and cinnamon in a bowl

and mix it all up until it's happy.



Then combine milk, cooking oil, sugar and salt and warm it up in a pan.



until a weird face appears (hello strange face) or until it reaches 120 degree to 130 degrees.

Add the warm liquid to the flour mixture along with three eggs. Beat it to submission for 3 minutes

then add raisins

and flour and mix it all up.

Turn dough onto a flour surface and kneed until it becomes soft and pretty.

Once the dough has risen for an hour and half, let it rest on the counter for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into balls and place them on a greased baking sheet and let them rise again.

Make a cross on them and brush them with egg whites. Mine look funny, but my family won't complain about that they will only complain about the raisins.

"How come you put raisins in them and not chocolate chips?" they cried.
"You put raisins in Hot Cross Buns not chocolate chips." I said.
"They would be better with chocolate chips." They shake their heads in disappointment and sigh.




While the buns bake make the Powdered Sugar Icing and then frost those babies when they have cooled. I put my frosting into a Ziploc bag, but cut the hole too big. It was hard to control the frosting. But I didn't care. Those buns were warm and yummy!

Happy Easter Everyone!

From Dizzy Girl


Hot Cross Buns.
Adapted from Better Home and Garden.

Oven 375 degrees.

Combine 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons) and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

Heat and stir 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cooking oil, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon salt till warm (120-130 degrees). Add to flour mixture along with 3 room temperature eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. Using a spoon, (I used my mixer) stir in 2/3 cup currants or raisins and as much of 2 to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour as you can.

Turn out onto a floured surface. Knead in enough remaining flour to make a moderately soft dough (3 to 5 minutes total). Shape into a ball in a greased bowl; turn once. Cover, let rise till double (about 1 1/2 hours).

Punch down. Turn out onto floured surface. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Divide into 20 portions; shape into smooth balls. Place 1 1/2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Cover; let rise till nearly double (30 to 45 minutes). Make a crisscross slash across each, Brush with 1 slightly beaten egg white. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or till golden brown. Cool slightly. Drizzle buns with Powdered Sugar Icing.
Serve warm. Makes 20



Powdered Sugar Icing
Adapted from Better Home and Garden.

1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
milk or orange juice

Mix powdered sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon milk or juice.
Stir in milk or juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, till of drizzling consistency.
Makes 1/2 cup or enough to drizzle over one 10-inch tube cake.