July Daring Bakers - Milan Cookies, My Way

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

As we could decide which of the 2 recipes we wanted to indulge in, I chose the Milan Cookies. I made only 1/3 of this recipe. The cookies came out beautifully. Thanks Nicole for this great pick :)

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, The Food Network

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour

Cookie Filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 orange, zested

Method:

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

MLLA 12: And the Winner Is....

I know everyone has been waiting eagerly for this post!! MLLA 12th Helping has a winner. It is Deepti of Dipskitchen. The winner was the result of a random drawing via an online name generator. The prize selected by Susan for this month's winner is a Ritz 5-Piece Egyptian Flat Kitchen Towel Set. Deepti, many congratulations. Do choose the colour of the kitchen towels and contact the creator of this event Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook at: thewellseasonedcook[at]yahoo.com at your convenience :)

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

An Invitation to Think Spice.... Think Bayleaf

Laurus nobilis, known as bay leaf

This month I am hosting Think Spice..... This event in the foodie blogosphere was thought up by Sunita of Sunita's World. It aims to bring spices - those lovely fragrant, pungent, vegetable based substances that made the world go round - centre stage! Bayleaf is the spice of my choice this month and I invite all you food bloggers and food lovers out there to join me in celebrating its contribution to global cuisine.

Create and post your favourite and/or most delicious recipe that features the aromatic bayleaf as a key spice. You can use it in any form you like - whole in the form of pieces or leafs. The dish can be spicy, savoury, or sweet, but one should get a sense of bayleaf is what makes this dish special. Email the entry to me at: annarasa@gmail.com along with your name, name of your blog, name of your entry, the url link to your entry, and a short description of your creation. You can share any facts you have learnt about bayleaf, your ideas, and thoughts about it and its uses. Let us know if bayleaf is a part of your spice cabinet or if this is the first time you decided to give it a try! Do you use bayleaf only for cooking or do you find it useful in any other way too..... the possibilities are endless. I do have one request though. This is a vegetarian blog, and so I would be happy to welcome all vegetarian recipes.


Now for a few rules regarding Think Spice.... Think Bayleaf:

• This event runs from 10th July 2009 - 9th August 2009.
• You can send in as many entries as you like to this event.
• You can send in recipes that you might have submitted to other events also.
• Any recipes from your archives can be accepted ONLY if they are updated and re posted especially for this event. Please do not send in links to an old post.
• Non-bloggers are welcome to join in. Just send in your recipe to me with a photograph if you have one and all details mentioned above, and I will add it to the round-up.
• If you would like your foodie colleagues and friends to know where you are located, you can add your City, Country to your entry. This is entirely your choice.
• It would be lovely if your entry is accompanied with a photograph. Preferred size of photograph: 350 pixels wide.
• As mentioned above, do describe your creation - just a couple lines telling us about the recipe you have chosen to enter into Think Bayleaf this month.
• And don't forget to link your entry this announcement and to Sunita's blog @ Sunita's World.
• I have created a badge for Think Bayleaf. Show it off on to your post.

So what are all you bloggers waiting for? Let's get started - its bayleaf time this month:)

Drawing Courtsey: from William Woodville, Medical Botany, 1793

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.

Vegetarian Fish Sticks Anyone?

This month's Challenge came from Sketchy @ Sketchy's Kitchen. The Challenge was: Skate, traditional flavors powdered (slightly altered). Given that this is a vegetarian blog, I knew from the beginning that this Challenge was going to need some creative alterations!! before I go into what I did, I'd like to acknowledge that the original recipe comes from Grant Achatz, found in the Alinea cookbook.


I made the fish sticks at home with barley, potato, and all the seasonings recommended by the recipe. I served it with a mushrooms, bok choi, peas, and corn seasoned with herbs and black pepper. Recipe to follow :)

All text and photographs in this blog, unless otherwise noted, are Copyright of © Annarasa 2007 - 2009. All Rights Reserved. Kindly do not reproduce without permission.