SUGAR AND LIMES

I have recently started a freelance recipe writing job for eHow. Unlike Sugar and Limes, the recipes that I’m writing for eHow are very easy to make and designed for beginner to intermediate bakers. I’d love to get some feedback on them, so please check them out.

HOW TO MAKE GLUTEN-FREE BLUEBERRY SCONES

HOW TO MAKE PISTACHIO MACAROONS

HOW TO MAKE PINE NUT BRITTLE

In the back of my fridge is a freezer bag labeled “Candied Lemons”. This pretty, sweet, gem-like fruit is a very handy baking ingredient to have on hand. Once you have them, you’ll put them in everything; I use candied lemon in quick breads, such as scones, and in many desserts, like brittle and cake. They add a level of complexity (think Limoncello, bite-sized) that is well worth the time it takes to prepare. Candied lemons will keep for several months in a sealable plastic bag stored in your fridge. They can be chopped, sliced into ribbons or even used whole.

Below is a recipe that is based upon one from Martha Stewart. I like this recipe because it is very simple, but I have changed it slightly because I find that lemons need to be blanched more than once to remove all of the bitterness in the rinds.

CANDIED LEMON SLICES

2 large lemons

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1. Prepare and ice-water bath by filling a large bowl with cold water and adding ice cubes.

2. Cut the tops and bottoms off of the lemons, then slice them paper thin using a mandoline or sharp knife. Discard the seeds.

3. Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan. Remove from the heat, and add the lemon slices. Stir them gently with a wooden spoon until softened, about 1 to 2 minutes.

4. Drain, then immediately plunge the slices into the ice-water bath. Remove the cooled lemons from the ice-water bath with a slotted spoon.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 two more times.

6. Bring the sugar and 2 cups water to a boil in the same large saucepan. Swirl to dissolve the sugar granules. Reduce heat to to medium-low when sugar is completely dissolved and liquid is clear and bubbling.

7. Add lemon slices to the sugar syrup. Simmer gently until rinds are translucent, about 1 hour. Do not let the sugar water come to a boil.

8. Transfer candied lemons to a parchment lined sheet pan, arranging them in one layer. Let stand until completely cool, then seal in a plastic bag and refrigerate.

There are a couple ways to make scones, but my favorite type is the classic, Savoy Scone.

The recipe gets its name from the Savoy Hotel in London, where it is served at afternoon tea. This scone is made with a lot of heavy cream and, accordingly, has a tender and light crumb. The fruit inside is plump and soaked in brandy. There is a bit of sugar sprinkled on top that forms a very thin crust when baked. They can be eaten plain, or with a bit of jam or lemon curd on the side. If you think you don’t like scones, these will change your mind.

Scones can also be frozen raw for up to 1 month, then brought to room temperature and baked. To prevent freezer burn, wrap each raw scone well in plastic wrap, then wrap again in aluminum foil and place in a sealable bag. This way, you can have warm scones anytime you want.

LEMON CURRANT SCONES WITH BRANDIED RAISINS

Makes 9 to 12 Scones

2 1/3 cups bread flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/8 tsp. of kosher salt

1/2 stick or 4oz butter, unsalted

2/3 cup dried raisins & currants, plumped and soaked in brandy

1 tbsp. candied lemon zest, chopped

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. heavy cream

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.      Mix the dry ingredients together.

3.      Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is the size of dried lentils. If the butter is cut too small, the scones will not be as flaky.

4.      Add the plumped, brandied currants and raisins, and candied lemon. Stir to mix thoroughly.

5.      Put the egg and egg yolk in a measuring cup and add enough cream to measure 1 cup. Scramble the egg and egg yolk with the cream to make adding it to the dough easier.

6.      Add the liquid to the dry ingredients; the dough may not require all the liquid so add the last bit slowly. Mix until a dough forms; do not overwork the dough. If you need more liquid, add an additional 1 tbsp. cream. The dough should be soft, but not wet and sticky.

7.      Pat or roll out the dough until approximately ¾ inch thick.

8.      Cut the scones into the desired shape and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

9.      Brush the scones with remaining heavy cream or egg wash and sprinkle with sugar for color and flavor.

10.      Bake the scones for 10 to 20 minutes until browned on the bottoms and around the edges. Serve immediately.

I love making brittle, but this candy can be very temperamental in a high-moisture climate like San Francisco. Brittle really only lasts a day before the sugar begins to degrade and become tacky. One trick is to store it in a sealable container with a desiccant pack, like the kind you get with a pair of new shoes. Desiccant keeps the air in the container very dry and extends the life of the brittle significantly. Choose a brand of desiccant that is food safe — not all of them are.

The recipe below is really easy to make, and you don’t even need a thermometer or any special tools.  In fact, a piece of oiled parchment paper releases the hardened candy just as well as a $20 Silpat. A few other tips — the candied lemon zest is made using the same method that I wrote about in an earlier post. Try using Citronage instead of Grand Marnier; it’s quite a bit less expensive.

ALMOND CITRON BRITTLE

(Makes about 1lb of candy)

1/2 lb. almonds, slivered and blanched

2 tbsp. candied lemon zest

1 tsp. oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup corn syrup

1 tsp. honey

1 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. Citronage or Grand Marnier

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds into one layer on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, and toast for 6 to 8 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

2. Chop the lemon zest and set aside.

3. Line a second sheet pan with parchment paper. Oil the parchment paper, wooden spoon and offset spatula to prevent sticking.

4. Combine sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Stir gently. Wet a pastry brush with water and wash the inside walls of the pan to remove any excess sugar granules.

5. Cook sugar mixture on high heat until it is light gold in color.

6. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the almonds to the cooked sugar. Stir well with a wooden spoon.

7. Remove from heat and add the zest, honey, butter, salt, baking soda and Citronage. Mix vigorously.

8. Pour the hot, almond brittle onto the sheet pan lined with oiled parchment paper. Spread the mixture out evenly with an offset spatula. Let cool.

9. When completely cool, break the brittle into small pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

This week I bought a dozen peaches that looked absolutely jewel-like. I turned them into Peach Ginger Tarts with Almond Crust. Though I wrote the recipe myself (maybe I’ll talk that another time), the filling is based on Epicurious’ Honey-Glazed Peach Tart recipe.

The key to making a good peach tart is to remove the skins. I really think this is critical. I know that some bakers prefer to leave them on, but quite frankly, I don’t find the texture appropriate. I think it’s the mark of an experienced baker to remove skins for a more refined dessert, like a tart, and to know to leave them on for more rustic desserts, such as an Italian peach crostata.

Removing the skins of peaches is a very simple process. Simply bring a stockpot of water to a boil in a large pot. When the water is boiling, add the whole peaches.

Blanch the peaches in the boiling water for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Use a timer (you don’t want to cook them!). Immediately remove the peaches from the water and run cold water over them.

Gently peel the skin of the fruit away from the flesh. The skin should be very easy to remove and require hardly any effort.

The peaches are now prepped for your fruit tart, or whatever other kind of dessert you plan to make.

I used to hate making recipes that just called for egg whites because it felt really wasteful to throw away the yolks. I then discovered a great way to freeze the yolks for up to three months. Now, when I want to make pastry cream or ice cream, I always have yolks handy.

Freezing egg yolks is very simple. All you need is a sealable container and plastic wrap. The trick to preserving the yolks is to add a little sugar. For every three egg yolks, add one teaspoon of sugar. Whisk thoroughly, then cover with a sheet of plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Seal the container with a lid, and write the date on the container. Label it with a description of the contents (like 6/30/10, Six Egg Yolks). Wrap the container in plastic wrap again.

To reuse the yolks, one tablespoon equals one egg yolk. You may want to note this on the label in case you forget. Let the yolks thaw slowly in the fridge, or if you are super cautious, you can heat them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Just be careful not to cook them!

It’s summer finally, and the little box of produce that I get delivered from a local CSA is stuffed with strawberries. The fruit is organic and not sprayed with wax to preserve it, so it spoils very quickly. What to do with all of this fruit? A strawberry tart is the most obvious choice and perfect dessert to bring to a dinner party.

A plain old strawberry tart seemed sort of boring though, so I began to scour my kitchen for other ingredients that might go well with it. Lemon and strawberry is a classic pairing, and I always have a bowl of lemons, so I decided to use one of those. Then I flipped through of of my favorite cookbooks, Charlie Trotter’s Desserts (beautiful!), and noticed that one recipe paired strawberries with basil. Interesting. Fortunately, I have this sad looking basil plant on my back porch that was begging for a clipping.

With my three key ingredients, strawberry, lemon and basil, I set to work. My filling will be lemon basil pastry cream. The tart will be topped with fresh strawberries brushed with apricot glaze.

I have already pre-baked my tart shell, but I brush the bottom with a little white chocolate too. I think the white chocolate keeps the crust really crunchy and adds another layer of flavor to fresh fruit tarts. It’s very subtle.

Pastry cream is very easy to make. Think of it as really delicious pudding with a velvety, delicate texture. My recipe is in grams, and I usually use 2% milk, but feel free to use whole milk too (no skim or 1% though).

LEMON PASTRY CREAM

454 milliliters of milk

100 grams of sugar

zest of one lemon

5 whole egg yolks

40 grams of cornstarch

To make the pastry cream, simply heat the milk and lemon zest with 50 grams of sugar. Mix the egg yolks with the cornstarch and remaining sugar. Once the milk has come to a boil, temper the milk into the egg mixture slowly while whisking. After all of the milk has been incorporated into the eggs, pour the custard back into the pot and cook over medium heat for two minutes, whisking rapidly the entire time. After two minutes, the mixture should be thick and ready to use. Remember to cover the pastry cream with a piece of plastic wrap, otherwise a skin will form. Let it cool completely.

There are arguably a couple ways to infuse basil into pastry cream, but given the fact that I already infused the milk with lemon, I decided to add the herb to the pastry cream in the final step when I fold whipped cream into the pastry cream to make it lighter. I base my whipped cream recipe one one from Claudia Fleming’s book “The Last Course: Desserts of Gramercy Tavern” in which she makes a tarragon whipped cream for strawberry shortcakes. I like it because it is not too sweet.

BASIL WHIPPED CREAM

About 16 fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar

First, blanche the basil in boiling water for 30 seconds, then quickly plunge it into ice water to stop cooking. Add the basil and corn syrup to a food processor and blend until basil is very finely chopped. Pour the basil through a fine sieve to remove any large pieces. Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream and confectioner’s sugar together to soft peak, then add the basil syrup and continue mixing to stiff peak.

Fold a third of  the whipped cream into the pastry cream. Add more if it suits your taste. You will have whipped cream left over for garnish. Next, fill the tart shells with the basil lemon pastry cream.

Top the tart with freshly sliced strawberries and glaze the fresh fruit with a bit of apricot jelly to stop the fruit from drying out or macerating. Now you have a delicious strawberry tart that will be perfect for a summer day.

I was making a grapefruit terrine for a dinner party last week and thought it would be useful to share the technique of supreme. My sister took this picture of me working.

To supreme is to remove the skin and membrane of citrus fruit. The membrane is stringy and slightly bitter. Accordingly, it is much more desirable to remove it. This technique is very useful for many desserts. For example, I like to make a lemon cake that uses segments of citrus in the batter and a tart that is decorated with oranges. I’ve also used this technique when adding lemons or oranges to the Australian pavlova, British trifle and fruit salads.

To start, cut off the top and bottom of the citrus.

Next, carefully slice the skin and membrane off exposing the flesh of the fruit. It is important to remove the white membrane completely, but to take as little flesh as possible.

After the skin and membrane has been completely removed, gently separate the segments with a sharp knife. They should loosen fairly easily.

Once all the segments have been removed, you can squeeze the membranes and use their juice in your recipes.

I was going through some of my old recipes tonight and found one from Jennifer Giblin who was the pastry chef at Blue Smoke, an upscale barbeque joint in Manhattan. Jennifer’s dessert menu was all about home-style sweets, like green tomato pie, apple cheddar crisp, gooey chocolate cake and of course sticky toffee pudding. Her desserts were so good that I barely remember the ribs.

I got this recipe when I attended Jennifer’s cooking demonstration at the French Culinary Institute back in 2004. I wish I had a photo of the finished dessert on hand. Maybe one of my subscribers will submit one

Sticky Toffee Pudding

From Jennifer Giblin of Blue Smoke

(Makes about 8 servings)

8 oz dates

1 cup stout beer (such as Guinness)

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 oz butter

8 oz sugar

3 medium eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

8 oz flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and line with parchment a 9 x 13” baking pan.

2. In a food processor, blend the dates until they come together in a ball. Transfer to a medium bowl.

3. Heat the beer until it begins to boil then add the baking soda and mix. Pour the beer mixture into the dates and whisk together. Set aside to cool.

4. Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Whisk together the eggs, and gradually add them to the butter mixture. Make sure the scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition of egg.

5. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter and beat until incorporated, add one half of the date mixture and combine. Repeat with remaining flour and date mixture, ending with the dry ingredients.

6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pan and continue to bake for another 5 minutes or until a tester comes out clean and the cake is set on top.

For the Toffee Sauce:

8 oz butter

8 oz dark brown sugar

1 vanilla bean (pulp scraped out of inside)

4 oz heavy cream

Pinch of salt

Dash of lemon juice

1. Place the butter, brown sugar and vanilla bean in a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Stir and continue cooking until mixture is smooth and just begins to boil.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the heavy cream, salt and lemon juice.

To Plate:

Cut the cake into squares and cover each portion with warm toffee sauce (about 2 oz of sauce per piece). Top each piece with toasted pecans and whipped crème fraîche.

One of my April 2010 wedding cakes was just included in San Francisco Style Unveiled for an event at the Bentley Reserve in downtown SF. It was a gorgeous wedding and the couple were so sweet. I wish them the best of luck.

I’ve already described the cake in an earlier post already, but below is the pic from the article.

Imagine this: It’s Memorial Day. There’s a BBQ (or “grill-out” as some call it because we’re not actually barbecuing anything; we’re grilling). I have a plethora of sweet potatoes from a bi-weekly organic produce delivery and some cheap bourbon from Trader Joe’s. What to make? Sweet Potato Pie seems like the obvious choice.

Ugh. Pie. I hate pie. Yes, you heard me right. I may be one one of the few people in country that doesn’t like pie. There’s too much filling. The crust is too thick. I get too full, or I just eat too much. I feel like I need an accent to make it. And then there’s that horrible movie, Waitress, with a pregnant Felicity making green and pink marshmallow “mermaid” pie.

I prefer to make tarts instead.

Considering the ingredients I have on hand, this grill-out is getting a Sweet Potato Tart with Bourbon Whipped Cream.

My favorite recipe is an adaptation of one from Cook’s Illustrated. The only changes that I make is to halve the filling recipe because a tart requires less sweet potato mixture than a pie.

Feel free to use your favorite tart crust recipe too. I’m going to assume that you have a crust recipe that you like; I’ll talk more about tart crust in detail another time.

Cook’s Illustrated Sweet Potato Filling

(halved for one 8″ or 9″ tart)

1 pound sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 large eggs

1 yolk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg

pinch of kosher salt

1 1/2 tablespoons bourbon

1/2 tablespoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

1 1/2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

Bourbon Whipped Cream Topping

One pint of whipped cream

2 1/2 tablespoons of powdered sugar

1/4 teaspooon vanilla

About 2 teaspoons bourbon (feel free to add more).

Start by pricking the sweet potatoes several times with a fork or a knife. Place them on a paper towel in the microwave and cook for about 5 minutes. Rotate and cook for another 5 minutes. When the potatoes are soft, they are sufficiently cooked through. Cut them open and scoop out the interior.

Mix the warm sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of butter. Mash them well.

Next, combine all of the remaining ingredients in a food processor, or whisk them together in a large bowl. Add the sweet potatoes to the mixture and pulse, or whisk until smooth.

Pour the filling into a tart shell that has been blind baked. Cook at 350F for approximately 45 minutes. Transfer pie to a wire rack; let cool.

Remove the tart pan and decorate with bourbon flavored whipped cream. I like to use a St. Honore tip to decorate; it’s shaped like a “V” and looks like blades of grass (kind of). A regular round tip, star tip or the back of a spatula will work just fine though too.

Groom’s cakes can be really fun to make because the opportunity to be creative is huge. Take for instance, an Alabama-themed groom’s cake that I recently designed for a wine country wedding.

My task? To make a cake that incorporated camouflage and the University of Alabama school colors. It was to be  a 10″ one-tier  with red velvet cake and white chocolate buttercream frosting covered in fondant. Hmmm … what to do?

I wanted to keep the design simple and classy; this cake was for an event at a gorgeous winery in Sonoma. Restraint was key.

I began by printing an edible Alabama logo. I then adhered it with a little egg white to a disc of white chocolate. I added it to the top of the cake.

The camouflage was particularly challenging. After looking at dozens of patterns and colors, I chose one with warm greens and tans for the classic camouflage look. I then hand cut the shapes and pressed them into the sides of the fondant. It took a lot longer than I expected. A whopping three hours!

Finally, I added the finishing touches – white royal icing borders. The cake was then placed onto a fondant wrapped cake board trimmed with a red ribbon that I’d made earlier.

I was really happy with this cake. It looked great at the venue too.

One of the most specialized aspects of making custom cakes is forming decorations out of sugar paste. Sugar paste (also called gum paste), has a clay-like consistency. It is similar to fondant, but it dries as hard as porcelain. As with fondant, it is absolutely possible to make your own sugar paste, but it can also be purchased pre-made.

The coolest thing about sugar paste is that you can pretty much sculpt whatever suits your imagination. I’ve made bees, grasshoppers, rubbery ducks and even a Hindu god. It can be molded, dyed and painted. The neatest part? It’s edible.

Recently, I started working on a new cake that uses lemons in the recipe. To play up the lemon theme a bit more, I decided to sculpt lemons using sugar paste. I find the best way to capture the essence of something is to sculpt from life, so I modeled my sugar lemons after a real lemon that I had in my kitchen.

After being shaped and  textured, I let them dry a bit and brushed them with some color to give them a more realistic look. The powdered color is also edible.

Once they were all dusted, I set them aside to finish drying. They are not done yet though; they still need leaves and a few blossoms. I’ll be working on those tonight while watching the finale of LOST … hard to believe the show is over, eh?

I have spent the weekend making much needed changes to my site. Namely, I have migrated it to a new host, uploaded a new layout and am having a custom header designed which will be up shortly.  You may see some funky stuff until I get the kinks worked out. Stay tuned for some exciting new additions though.

Despite getting sucked into mind numbing subject matter like nameservers and cascading style sheets, I managed to squeeze in the start of a new cake project that involves the use of almost two pounds of dried fruit. I’ll describe the project itself in detail in a future post.

For now, let’s talk about dried fruit. It really gets a bad rap; fresh is not always better. The problem is that sometimes we forget to bring dried fruit back to life before cooking with it. It’s really not meant to be used straight out of the package when it’s still hard and dry. To get that rich, concentrated flavor that only dried fruit has, it is necessary to plump it with liquid before baking. Think of it as rehydrating the dehydrated. Only then should it be mixed into a batter.

Use a variety of fruit for more interesting flavor. Golden raisins, currants, apricots, sour cherries and blueberries are all good choices. This picture below is the fruit that I used for my recipe after it was hydrated. It’s a mixture of golden raisins, currants and cherries.

Another suggestion: try soaking rehydrated fruit in brandy overnight. I find that brandy makes my desserts taste more complex. You can, of course, use whatever kind you like. There are fine brandies for cooking that are not too expensive at Trader Joe’s. For this recipe, I used a pear brandy that I bought it on a recent visit to Baden-Baden. It tasted a bit like German moonshine, so I decided to cook with it instead of drink it. At least the bottle was pretty!

WAKING DRIED FRUIT

Place 1 1/2 pounds of dried fruit, such as raisins, currants or cherries, into pan. Cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil, then turn off the heat. Leave the fruit resting in the hot water for 20-30 minutes. Drain in colander and place fruit into a sealable container with 1 or 2 cups of brandy. Refrigerate overnight.

Once when I wanted to try a new recipe on the fly and didn’t have buttermilk, I ran to the corner market to buy some, only to learn than they were out. How fruitless! So, instead, I borrowed a substitution from one of my favorite baking books, “In the Sweet Kitchen” by Regan Daley. It worked so well, that I actually prefer it over the real thing.

BUTTERMILK SUBSTITUTION

Mix 2 Tablespoons lemon juice with enough milk to equal 1 cup. Let stand for 5 minutes.

(That was easy, right?)