Jalapeno poppers

Hope you all had a great Christmas with your family and friends! Holiday season is the time to remember your loved ones and the blessings that you are thankful for. I am thankful for my husband, my little girl, my family, my home, and all the happiness that surrounds me! I was particularly ecstatic about Christmas this year because it was the first in our new home and I wanted it to be special! We exchanged gifts in the morning with my daughter being super excited about the gifts she got (ofcourse!!)! We sure did have a wonderful Christmas morning!

Since all our close family members are back in India, we had a great gathering with our friends! We had a such an amazing time together with them who generously showered my little girl with gifts. We had a traditional Kerala Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, I should say! But I did try out a few new appetizers which turned out awesome! We finished off our meal with traditional Christmas Fruit Cake and a Berry Black Forest trifle.

Jalapeno Poppers

I found this recipe on youtube for some wonderful jalapeno poppers and I definitely wanted to try them out. Check out the video where the presenter explains the technique beautifully. The jalapenos that I used were a bit thicker than what she used, so I had to bake them a bit longer. Other than that I would say this is a fool-proof recipe which would be well received especially among crowds who would love food with a kick to it!! Since we were entertaining and I was running around with last minute "things-to-do" we couldn't take a lot of pictures.

I made some modifications to the recipe in the amounts used and here is what I did.. You might still have some stuffing left over which I think makes for a good topping for chips!

Recipe (Makes 24 servings):

Jalapenos -12
Cream cheese - 6 oz
Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup
Mild cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
Beef lil smokies - 6-8 chopped finely
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped finely
Bacon - 2 strips, cut into small pieces

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cut the jalapenos lengthwise into halves. Remove the seeds and membranes using a knife or a melon baller.

Cook the bacon so that they are nicely brown and crisp, drain on paper towels.

Remove the bacon grease and in the same pan, add some more oil and saute the finely chopped onions.

Once the onions are cooked, add the finely chopped sausage and cook until heated through.

In a bowl, combine the onion-sausage mix, crumbled bacon and cream cheese well.

Add the shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheeses and mix well.

Fill each of the jalapeno halves with the cheese-sausage-bacon mix to the height of the pepper half.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or longer until the peppers are cooked through.

Serve the poppers on a platter with some sour cream to cool down the heat, if any!

VERDICT: I just loved loved loved these!!! Once they are cooked through they just have the wonderful flavor of the cheeses, the peppers and the bacon, but I did come across a few raw tips of peppers which gave us (and some guests) a bit of a trouble! Nevertheless, this is a wonderful recipe which will be made again in my house soon!!


NOTES:

1. Check out the video for the actual recipe.
2. If the peppers arent cooked through, they will have some heat, so make sure there aren't any raw ones.

Thanks again for visiting Tasty treats! Have a wonderful week ahead!

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays!

Wishing all my readers, supporters, friends and family a very Merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday season and a happy and prosperous New Year 2011 !!

I will be blogging soon about some new amazing recipes that I tried out during the holidays! See you soon back at Tasty treats!

Cheers!!

Yeast Doughnuts for Daring Baker's Challenge!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Yes!! I did it on time! Its been a couple of months since I've posted on the blog, and I've missed a few of the challenges as well... But I'm more than happy to be back, that too with a successful completion of the challenge! There is a reason I've highlighted the word "successful". Its because it had every reason to be the opposite when I attempted the challenge! Of course, I kind of "planned' it for the last minute.. Starting the challenge the evening before the posting date is never easy.. My little girl's school harvest festival being on the same evening didn't help much! We just went through a move (Yay! We are in our new home!!) and my baking/measuring stuff are still somewhere in the boxes.. Eyeballing 2/3 cup of flour is not fun! And the weather has gone berserk here- extremely windy, rainy and a bit cold. Doughnuts rising well..? I didn't think so! Ages old yeast also added to the chaos...

But even after everything that could've gone wrong, I completed the challenge - "successfully". The yeast didn't froth initially, but I still went ahead with making the dough. I didn't have a stand mixer, so I just mixed with a spoon and then later kneaded the dough a bit. But it came together in just a few minutes, nice, soft and smooth! I left the dough in the pre-warmed oven to help it rise a bit and left for my little one's school. But the dough didn't seem to have risen (maybe it did a bit!?) when I came back, but since there was no going back, I rolled the dough out and cut out the doughnuts.

I just wanted to test whether the doughnuts would be any good with the seemingly flat dough! But it wasn't as bad as I thought and showed some promise. So I cut out the rest of the doughnuts and let it sit in a warmed oven for about 30 minutes. I didn't have a thermometer so again, it was hard keeping the temperature constant. Anyways, the doughnuts fried beautifully to a golden brown color quickly and was crisp on the outside with a yeasty chewy inside. I was surprised at how "well-rounded" they got once they were in the oil. My only issue was many of them cracking open in the oil (which I assumed was due to the oil being heated up too much?).

Anyways, despite everything, the doughnuts turned out really nice. I really didn't know how to dress up a doughnut, so a sprinkle of powdered sugar did the trick well..

I think this is a very solid recipe which would give consistent results and even after so many drawbacks, I got it right! I'm happy to be back, and that too with some handsome doughnuts!

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:

Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes
Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients

Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard) Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil
(can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)




Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)

2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.

4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).

9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.

11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).

12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.



Bomboloni

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 35 minutes
Rising time - 1 1/2 hours plus overnight
Cooking time - 10 minutes
Yield: About 32 Bomboloni

Ingredients

Water, Lukewarm 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon
Active Dry Yeast 3 ¼ teaspoon (1.5 pkgs.) / 16.25 ml / 10 gm / .35 oz
Honey 1.5 Tablespoon / 22.5 ml
All Purpose Flour 3 cup / 720 ml / 420 gm / 14 ¾ oz
Milk 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml
Egg Yolk, Large 6
White Granulated Sugar 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 75 gm / 2 2/3 oz + more for rolling
Kosher (Flaked) Salt 2 teaspoon / 10 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
Canola Oil 3 cup / 720 ml / (Or any other flavorless oil used for frying)
Raspberry Jam, Seedless ¾ cup / 180 ml / 300 gm / 10.5 oz (or any flavor jam, preserves, jelly)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

2. Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.

3. Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

4. In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch (12 mm)of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine. Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F 180°C and 190°C. Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.

5. Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Filling Directions:

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Serve warm.

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great day!

Swiss Swirl Icecream Cake for DB Challenge!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I finally got around to attempting this challenge last weekend. I was disappointed that I couldn't do last month's challenge, so I made sure that I did this one.. The baking part with the two swiss rolls went fine. I should say that never before have my swiss rolls been this soft and tasty. I particularly loved the fact that the filling was light Chantilly cream and not the heavy over-sweet buttercream or jam! The only thing that I felt I would change was the amount of cream used because I felt that the recipe given kind of over-stuffed the roll. But nevertheless, it was delicious and light! I guess since I used a smaller bowl to assemble the icecream cake, almost the whole second roll was excess for me (no regrets there, anyways!!).

I didn't get to go too creative with the icecream flavors. I went with the recipes given kind of "settling" for the vanilla icecream and chocolate icecream as the two flavors (eventhough my longing was to make rose-flavored and pistachio flavored icecreams!!). I used icecream maker to make both icecreams! I really didnt like the taste of the fudge sauce alone, but everything came together in the end. I felt that it tasted just like it was- sweetend water with cocoa! Maybe it would have been better if we had made some chocolate ganache for the filling!

I assembled the cake slices and the vanilla icecream on Sunday. I also made the Chocolate icecream. I was planning to make the fudge sauce and assemble the rest of the cake on the evening before the challenge reveal date. Unfortunately, when I came back home I found that the freezer wasn't closed properly and that the cake/vanilla icecream was soft!!! I still made the fudge sauce, waited a while for it to cool down and keeping my fingers crossed added the slightly warm sauce on top the vanilla icecream! Ofcourse, there is a reason for every instruction in the recipe, the sauce melted the icecream a bit and kind of became gooey. But I just hoped that too much damage wasn't done. I waited for an hour, but the icecream/fudge had still not set, but I added the softened chocolate icecream on top and just hoped that I would still have the three separate layers when I cut into the icecream cake.

I had to wait till evening today so that the cake could harden and I could take pictures once I came back from work. The unmolding was quick, and I decorated the cake with some cherries, shaved chocolate and sugar-frosted cherries on top. My cake slices were not clean - maybe I should have partially frozen the swiss roll before cutting into slices which would have made lesser smearing of cream on the cake. But other than that everything looked good and I was happy with the icecream cake.

VERDICT: Today was the best day for this icecream cake because the weather was unbearably hot in MN and there even was a heat advisory!! The thought of the icecream cake got me through the harsh evening commute! The icecream cake was perfect for this hot day. It was delicious, sweet and cold, everything you would expect from an icecream cake. Maybe its just me, but I wasn't "wow"ed by it though! I felt that the cake was a little bland tasting once it absorbed a bit of moisture or maybe it was because of freeze thawing!? Who knows, maybe it was because my swirl slices almost completely thawed because of the freezer mishap! A delight for sure for the eyes because of its layers, but somehow didn't rise to my expectations. I honestly felt that the individual elements worked better for me separately... We would give a 7.5/10 for this cake..

But one thing is for sure, it was a hit with my daughter! She rarely asks for seconds (be it any kind of food, including desserts!) but she wanted an additional piece of the icecream cake!

Swiss roll ice cream cake

inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)

Swiss rolls - Recipe

Preparation time- 10 minutes
Baking time- 10-12 minutes
Rolling and cooling time- at least 30 minutes
Filling-5-8 minutes
Filling and rolling- 5-10 minutes

Ingredients-

6 medium sized eggs
1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling-

2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method-

1. Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.

6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.

7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.

10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.

11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.

12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.

13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).

14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Vanilla ice cream

Preparation time-5 minutes+freezing

Ingredients-

2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar

Method-

1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.

2. Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Hot fudge sauce

Preparation time-2 minutes
Cooking time-2 minutes

Ingredients-

1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract

Method-

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.

2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).

3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .


Chocolate ice cream

Preparation time- 5 minutes + freezing

Ingredients-

2C/ 500 ml whipping cream
1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar
3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method-

1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .

2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.

3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.

4. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.

5. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).

2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour).

5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour).

6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .

7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Thank you Sunita, for a wonderful and interesting challenge!

style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great week ahead! I will be back soon with the decorating details of a cake that I made for a dinner party!!

Croquembouche or Piece Montee for Daring Baker's Challenge

First of all, let me apologize to all my readers for posting late for May 2010 Daring Baker's challenge. We decided to take a vacation without much advance planning and so I was away on my vacation!! I totally forgot about preparing the post eventhough I completed the challenge well ahead of time this month! Thanks, Twinsy Rachel for your message of support! :-) I really appreciate it!

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I was really excited about the challenge because eventhough we have made pate a choux eclairs before for Daring Bakers, this challenge involved stacking them up into a piece montee and creating awesome caramel art! The initial pictures on the forum was so encouraging I just couldn't wait to start my attempt. The challenge was amazing also because it took me about 4-5 hours to complete the whole thing, including the baking!!

The batter was a breeze to prepare although it involved some serious stirring!! The choux baked excellent and were beautifully browned on the outside with a sheen because of the egg wash! The chocolate pastry cream filling was amazing and again easy to prepare. I should've doubled the recipe of the pastry cream, because in the end I couldn't fill the choux to the full.

I assembled the croquembouche using hard caramel glaze which gave me some serious burns!, but still it held the pieces together beautifully. The caramel art completed my croquembouche and I was proud of my creation eventhough it isn't as elaborate as some of the other ones my fellow DBers came up with!!!

VERDICT:

I took this to a party with my friends and they were all really impressed, to say the least!! The only downside was that I didn't have enough for everyone, so we had to share, which nobody was happy about! :-) The filled choux tasted amazing!! I decided that I would try this again before the posting deadline, but finally didn't get enough time! I would love to make this again with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate ganache glue, but I would definitely double the choux recipe so as to make a towering piece montee!!

This challenge one of my most favorite Daring Baker Challenges of all times for sure!! Thanks to Cat of Little Miss Cupcake again for this amazing challenge!

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):

Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)

¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:

Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:

When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:

8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:

1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:

You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Do try this recipe out and I am sure you all would love it!!! Thanks for visiting Tasty treats and have a great week ahead!!