Daring Bakers Challenge 2

Julia Child's French Bread

For the complete recipe and visual steps, go to http://breadchick.com/?p=336.

As time consuming as it was to complete this challenge, I would repeat this experience to enjoy the warm scent of a fine bakery in my own home over and over again. One whiff of the proliferation in the air sends intimate signals to your brain and it makes you wonder who your love interest must be. Well, that's the way I feel when I walk into a busy bakery --extremely passionate and extremely hungry! Plus, I got to enjoy wonderful french toast the next morning. To me, this is love.

Finger lickin' good

Honey BBQ Chicken and Seasoned Fries

After I made a crispy crust on the chicken, I finished cooking it in the oven to ensure a safe temperature for the meat to be eaten. I constantly glazed it with a homemade BBQ sauce to help lock in the natural juices of the meat. WOW, it was so tender.

My brother kept emphasizing how juicy the chicken was that it almost sounded like a complaint. "Too juicy," he said.

Something "filling"

I love the versatility of ravioli fillings. Plus, I like the happiness ravioli gives my tummy as these little things sit there waiting to be digested.



Meat Ravioli (topped with bacon)


Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli


Content.

My "boo"

Happy Valentines Day dearest blog readers. Although I believe this day is somewhat overrated, it gives me another opportunity to take the time out of my busy schedule and reserve it for my baking pleasure. The only guilt I feel is for licking the spoons and bowls covered with delectable delights. (And sometimes I leave a little more than I should on the sides of the bowls.)

Instead of predictable heart cookies, I decided to use my ghost-shaped cookie cutter and thought of a witty excuse for using such an odd pattern for this particular occasion.

Excuse the cheesiness... "I know it's not Halloween, but I still want you to be my BOO!"

The ghosts came out looking like deformed dinosaurs, but no matter. I tried to make them as BOOtyful as I could at 1 in the morning. (Yes, I baked throughout the night like a mad woman.)

Roll Cookies (for your boo/lover)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

(sprinkles, decorating icing, etc.)

Directions:

Cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in vanilla, eggs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Once your dough starts to come together, divide it into thirds and wrap in plastic to chill for an hour or so in the refrigerator. This makes handling the dough much easier.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees [F]. Roll the dough out evenly and use confectioner's sugar instead of flour for dusting your rolling pin and surface. Cut out cookies with relatively similar sizes and thickness to that they will bake evenly. Place cookies on a greased or lined cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 12 minutes. For best results, bake 1 sheet at a time.

I also revamped the typical chocolate chip cookie recipe with my favorite ingredients in a cookie.

Mocha White Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Monsters

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

peanut butter (for filling)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees [F].

Whish flour and baking soda. In a large bowl beat white&brown sugar and eggs until well blended. Add and beat in egg, salt, cococa powder, and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended in smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly brown. Let stand briefly, then remove to a rack to cool.

You can stop here... but if you want to mimic my exact insanity, make decadent sandwich cookies out of these by gluing them together with peanut butter. I also made some with ice cream in between and stashed them in my freezer for a midnight snack.

Sweet taste of "failure"

One thing about vision is that it doesn't always translate into palpable form the way it appears in your mind. Sometimes it manifests itself even better than the image in your mind. Sometimes it results in unforseen disaster.

For my friend's 18th birthday, another friend and I attempted to bake him the ultimate cake. In our different minds, we both saw the same glorious cake. But this time, our vision manifested itself in an unexpected way. Nothing like we imagined. Nothing like anyone could have possible imagined. When the frosting didn't turn out the way we had hoped for, we decided to erase our minds of that picture perfect cake and make it fun by covering it with the birthday boy's favorite candies. We used our creativity to make a nostalgic cake of childhood imagination.

Candy + Cake = Candy-cake

The cake itself was made using a very light Angel food cake recipe so it balanced out the sweetness of the candy very well. We decided to drizzle the butter cream icing over the cake right before serving so people could control the sweetness level to their own taste.

As crazy as it looks, most of the responses from our daring cake eaters were that it truly tasted as innovative and marvelous as the dreams of our youth.

My first challenge

I am super excited to have joined the Daring Bakers in pursuit of monthly baking challenges. It's always fun to try something new... and fall in love with it as well.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:
¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water
For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
¼ cup (60 mL) butter
¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.
Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

Impatient

Most things in life, I can stand. However, it's so hard for me to resist a fresh batch of cookies right out of the oven. Most recipes suggest you let the cookies cool on a rack before munching on them, but I always fail that part of the directions. Sometimes it just feels (and tastes) so good to break "rules," especially in times like these. Here is a recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen that is quite irresistable, even before the final product is revealed.

Slice-and-bake Cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
pinch of salt
**optional mix-ins of personal choice
grated zest of 2 oranges
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Beat butter in a bowl and mix in sugar. Add in the egg, salt, vanilla, and any optional ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour in batches. Once everything is well incorporated, gather the dough into a ball and divide into two. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or so.
Working on a smooth surface, form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 1/4 inches (2.5 to 3.2 cm) thick. Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours.
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice. Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch (10 mm) thick. Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) space between them.
Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.

If you're like me, the last step may be irrelevant.