Come back soon sunshine

Autumn suits me for days are crisp and cool. Lovely days are when ray of warmth shines a plenty. The bureau forecasted showers for tomorrow, day after tomorrow and day after ...*sigh*



Last Christmas, in my office we had Kris Kringle. Having been away I only found the present on my desk after I came back from holiday, wrapped in unassuming plain brown paper. It was this beautiful cookie tin within, a cookie recipe book and 2 cookie cutters. Above all, it's the tin I love, my favourite shade of blue. Identity of the Kringle is not known, I have a few usual suspects... thank you!

Well anyway... last Sunday I suddenly craved for chocolate chip cookies, so I pored over my magazines and cook books to find a recipe. Now, I am not a chocolate chip cookie virgin baker, but I'm not a CCC baker minx either, in fact it must have been years since I last time made a batch. The recipe I tried this time, didn't come from the afore mentioned cookie book, I chose to try a recipe from Delicious, which uses baking powder which is quite common. Another recipe I found in another Delicious uses baking soda, a bit uncommon... typo/tricks/tips? I have a few more recipes nearly all seems to claim to be the best. I might test some out sometime and blog my findings. Betcha that my favourite batch would be one from my very un-American Larousse des desserts.



Double choc chip cookies
Makes 16 (Delicious magazine, Apr'04 p.69)

125 gr unsalted butter, softened
250 gr brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
225 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 gr good quality dark chocolate, roughly chopped
100 gr white chocolate, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale. Add vanilla and egg and continue to beat until just combine. Sift in the flour with baking powder and a pinch of salt then fold in. Stir through chunks of chocolate.

Place tablespoonfuls of mixture 4-5cm apart on the tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool a little before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve with glasses of milk.

Note:
Maybe it's my fault I ended up with some tough cookies. Yes only some, strangely... maybe I over-handled the dough, either that or maybe it's because I completely subbed half of the ingredients:
a. damerara sugar rather than brown, because I thought I had some at home but then apparently not.
b. vanilla from pod rather than extract because I have excessive stock of vanilla pods
c. didn't find any nice white chocolate in the supermarket so I opted for Green and Black's Organic Milk and Maya Gold (not because I'm slightly pretentious but they were on special 2 for $5.00)
d. actually I think I must have used 70 gr + 70 gr of each chocolate and added 100 gr of macadamia nuts

They are all right biscuits I suppose. Score : 6.5 out of 10

In bloom

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. Such thoughtful hosts they are... aim to please all; providing optional tuile recipes for savoury lovers and alternative bakers.

My reaction when I found out that we were doing tuiles I must admit, was tepid... a bit boring I thought. Only until I churned my little brain for ideas that I got rather excited. Concocted many lofty plans in my little head, all seem very sound and foolproof. Days, weeks passed until Monday I let out a little shriek realising that posting date was looming... lofty plans got canned (don't think they are executable anyway). Luckily we were only to attempt 1 of the recipes *pheew* but one condition was that we were to serve tuiles with a light accompaniment. Finally started the batter on Wednesday, left it in the fridge overnight and baked for hours (yes, hours!) on Thursday night. It was great fun though I couldn't help but yelp ever so often as I twisted and turned the hot tuiles.


Thankfully they turned out as nice as they are rather pretty, but I'm a bit bias. Of course.

Tuiles
Makes: 20 small or 6 large
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams sifted icing / confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice, optional
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).



Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template, press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations if you wish.

Bake tuiles in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend them in the desired shape. These tuiles have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.



Note :
1. So pressed for time... I didn't manage to make the lime mousse I had previsioned (in my head I imagined roses with mini quenelles of barely green lime mousse), so crème pâtissière would have to do.
2. It took me hours to bake these because I could only shape 4 'petals' at the most before they start to harden. Had I made them all into roses, I would have ended a grouchy sleep deprived girl (with blistered fingers), so I turned the rest into giant tuiles aux amandes. Miam!

Four pots of crème brûlées and a batch of mayonnaise later

I had in my fridge, enough egg white to meringue my cat if I want to. But I didn't... after all, despite all his mischievous activities (of late) and rather bossy attitude (constant), I do have a soft spot for him.

Now, I'm not sure why this delicate little biscuit is called almond bread. By the by, if there is one recipe that is going to make me rich, this is the one. I can not believe how much they charge for a little packet in my local grocer. I suppose it is kind of laborious to thinly hand slice trays and trays of these but I'm inclined to think the professional must have some sort of machinery to speedily cut them with even thickness. Unless... they are produced by some biscotti cutting pro Italian nonnas who would probably be a bit peeved with me as I'm going to share the recipe. Don't worry nonnas, I have very very scarce audience.



Almond Bread
makes hundreds (literally)

200 gr egg whites
180 gr caster sugar
180 gr plain flour
180 gr raw almond

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a rectangle pan with baking paper.
Use an electric mixer unless you have strong arm...

Beat egg whites until firm peaks form, then gradually whisk in sugar.
Beat until sugar has dissolved and the meringue is thick and glossy.
Use a rubber spatula and gently fold in flour and almond.
Spoon mixture into pan and use spatula to flatten the surface.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until top is lightly brown and quite firm to touch.
Leave to cool on wire rack, then wrap with aluminium foil and chill in the fridge overnight to ease slicing.

Cut the loaf into several columns of approximately say 5-7cm then slice thinly (not unlike slicing bread) with serrated knife (rather fine serrated knife and not big toothed bread knife sort). I normally do this in batches, uncut loaf can sit happily in the fridge wrapped for a few days.

Place sliced 'bread' on baking trays and bake gently until dry and crisp, in a 40°C oven for about 1 hour. I wouldn't go any higher than 40-50°C otherwise, the biscuits will take on a bit of colour.



Recipe adapted from a book by Christine Manfield, Paramount Desserts. An excellent recipe may I say.