Maraschino Cherry and Chocolate Chip Loaf

Last Saturday, I baked a fragrant Maraschino Cherry and Chocolate Chip loaf. It was meant for a get together with friends, some of whom I saw after a really very long time. It was a beautiful sunny day and we ate outdoors, picnic style. With the changing weather its just great to get out in the open. The warmth of the sun is reassuring and there are so many pretty wild flowers around.

Cinnamon Almond Raisin Twists

I love almond butter and baking with it is such fun. Apart from the fact that its really easy to bake with, and the taste that almond butter imparts to the baked product, its also a great and healthy alternative to butter. Last summer I baked Almond Butter Oats Cookies and they turned out delicious. Since then I have done a lot of baking and cooking using almond butter and been very happy with both the taste and quality of the product.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

The sole muffin pan I own has been staring at me askance for several months now. For reasons I can't seem to identify, I have not baked muffins in a long time. My collection of decorative baking cups/ l on the other hand has been increasing steadily. Such pretty colours, designs, and patterns are now available in the market, I can hardly stop myself from adding them to my shopping basket! Just last month, my grocer had displayed some really attractive metallic baking cups and I just couldn't resist buying a box.

Trick or Treat: Cookies for Halloween

After making some delicious sugar cookies for Daring Bakers September 2010, I was inspired to make a whole new batch for Halloween. I made some decorated pumpkins and ghouls. They are headed to a Halloween Party at work tomorrow!!

This time I followed the DB recipe, using egg in the cookies. But I stuck to the eggless icing. Both worked well and I got some nice colourful and crunchy iced sugar cookies!!

Hope these happy fellas will win some hearts and taste buds tomorrow:)

These lovely cookies go out to Akhila @ Learning To Cook for her ongoing event Dish Name Starts With: C.

All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2013. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Vasilopita or St. Basil's Day Bread

In Greece New Year's Day is also known as St. Basil's Day. St. Basil was the father of the early church and it is in his honour that Vasilopita is shared amongst family and friends at the stroke of midnight in many Greek homes! The tradition of cutting the Vasilopita on the first of January is said to bless the house and bring good luck for the new year. Traditionally the first piece is offered to the saint himself, the second piece distributed amongst the poor, and the third piece goes to the senior most member of the family.

Typically the the baker hides a coin in the Vasilopita, and the person who gets it is deemed blessed for the year. Of course in the old days there was a reason why the coin was hidden in this festive bread and why indeed this bread is baked!! Vasilopita is made in honor of a wonderful act of charity by St. Basil to the poor of his flock. St. Basil wanted to ensure that the needy would have enough money for necessities. But he was also aware that they were proud people and would not accept money. St. Basil asked his church members prepare some sweet bread with coins baked into them. In this way he was able to give them money without demeaning them.

Despite its distinctive simplicity, this bread is very rich. But it is also beautifully fragrant and tasty. As I searched for recipes for BBD #15, an event started by Zorra , which I myself am hosting this month and for my very first entry for YeastSpotting hosted by Susan, I kept finding recipes that asked for anything from 6-12 eggs and a kilo of all-purpose flour!! I could not even begin to tackle reducing these quantities but I did want to bake this bread - simply because it was not too sweet and because I adore anise!!

So after much searching I came about a recipe that I felt could be tweaked to our requirements here while keeping with the original taste and texture of the bread. The original recipe is at the bottom of this post. What follows here is my version of this traditional New Year's Bread!!

Ingredients:
2-2 1/4 cups flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp candied lemon peel
1 tsp anise seeds
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp sesame seeds

To Glaze:
1 tbsp orange juice

Method:

1. Sift together 1 cup of the flour, yeast, lemon peel, and anise seeds.
2. In a separate saucepan, heat the milk, butter, sugar, and salt until all the butter is melted.
3. Add the heated milk mixture to dry ingredients, and the add egg whites to this mix. Blend well.
4. Stir in the remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead this dough on a lightly floured surface for around 7 minutes.
5. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Coat the top of the dough with some butter.
6. Cover the bowl and let it rise in warm place until it has doubled. This may take a couple of hours.
7. When it is risen, punch it down. Divide it into half. Flatten one half of the dough in greased loaf pan. Shape other half into 3 ropes. Braid them. Seal the ends and then place on top of the dough in the pan.
8. Glaze the top of the loaf with the orange juice. Sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.
9. Let the loaf rise in warm place until double, around 45 minutes.
10. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Remove the loaf, cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

This bread tastes delicious on its own, and even better when it is toasted. Serve with a a pat of butter and a dollop of your favourite jam or conserve!! Here's to a Happy New Year and blessing to one and all.

Recipe Source: Festive Bread Book, The by Kathy Cutler, Barron's Educational Series, Inc., 1982.


All content, text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2011. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Back With a Puff: Chocolate Eclairs with a Daring Baker

Chocolate Eclairs, for me, are melt in the mouth Choux Pastry that brings with it an explosion of the cream puff, fresh cream filling, and the very fudgy chocolate glaze!! Its a recipe that I picked up sometime in high school and have many happy memories of seeing the joy it has brought to everyone I have shared it with. Needless to say, I was delighted when I found that Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé was the recipe chosen by Meeta and Tony for the August Daring Bakers Challenge!!

The recipe as posted on the DB Challenge shows Éclairs as consisting of 3 elements:- Pate a Choux, or Choux Pastry or Cream Puff Dough, Pastry Cream, and Chocolate Glaze. The detailed recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Éclairs @ Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
makes 20-24 Éclairs

Making the Cream Puffs:

1. Take one portion Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm
2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds bypositioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets withwaxed or parchment paper.
3. Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.
4. Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.
5. The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the Eclairs:

1. For this you need the Chocolate Glaze (see below for recipe), the Chocolate Pastry Cream (see above for recipe), and the cooled Eclairs.
2. Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
3. The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
4. Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.
5. If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.
6. The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough Ingredients & Recipe:
½ cup (125g) whole milk
½ cup (125g) water
1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
¼ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature

1. In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
2. Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. Yaounde to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
3. Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your hand mixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
4. The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.
5. Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately. You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream Ingredients & Recipe:
2 cups (500g) whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75g) sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1. In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.
2. Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.
3. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
4. Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.
5. Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.
6. The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream. Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze Ingredients & Recipe:(makes 1 cup or 300g)
1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1. In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2. Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.
3. If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.
4. It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce Ingredients & Recipe: (makes 1½ cups or 525 g)
4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 g) water
½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
1/3 cup (70 g) sugar 1)

1. Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.
2. It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.
3. You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
4. This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

What I Did:

I followed the recipe for the Cream Puffs as per Herme, though I made only half the quantity. The dough was really easy to make and came together very well. I used my especially purchased piping bag to pipe out the eclairs. The size of my eclairs was around 11/2". I baked them for around 24 minutes total following the method above, but found it was just simpler to bake in the middle rack of the oven. The Choux Pastry turned out beautiful, firm, and sounded hollow when I gave it a gentle tap.

When the puffs cooled down I filled them with fresh whipped cream, and covered the tops with the chocolate glaze. Simple, beautiful, and delicious!!
All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Christmas Cookies: Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls

Now home-baked cookies and I have a history of sorts. I developed an avid interest in baked goodies early on, and as time went by it turned into a passion of sorts. Yes, there's always a time for a story and this is one for Christmas cookies. As I stumbled across Susan's Christmas Cookies from Around the World 2007, I was inspired to dig out my old faithful - a treasured recipe book which holds a collection of my very favourite tried and trusted cookie recipes. Just a turn of the page and memories of baking batches of cookies for school events, for family, friends all came flooding back. Just as much as I loved the aroma of my Mum's kitchen every time I loaded in a fresh batch to bake, the fact remains that I really have not had the time or the opportunity to indulge in this joy for several years. Now thanks to Susan I have come back to delight in baking cookies. Of course half the joy of baking cookies at home (read from scratch) lies in the sharing. With every fresh batch I have been counting off friends and family to whom I am shipping off these delectable delights. May be that is the true spirit of a Christmas cookie - its sharing!! I have picked my favourite cookies - Cinnamon-Chocolate Swirls to share with everyone at Eat Christmas Cookies!