A Daring Bakers' Challenge : Time to Make the Donuts

To say I was elated when I saw the October Daring Bakers' challenge: Donuts, would be an understatement. Though I have never made them myself, I've always wanted to and so was able to channel my inner "Fred the Baker" for this one. Time to make the donuts!


The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.



I decided to go with the classic yeast donut variety from Alton Brown. Making these were a bit of a challenge since I wasn't really sure what the dough was supposed to look and feel like as I worked with. Thanks to one of the other Daring Bakers' write-ups in the forums (thank you Audax!), I knew that the dough might appear to be overly sticky or wet and so I tried to avoid the temptation of adding in too much flour to compensate.




I did end up rolling and cutting the donuts once before frying only to find that they stuck too much to the tabletop, which then forced me to re-kneed (and yes, I admit -- I added some flour!) roll and cut again. I think this may have had a negative effect on the finished product as these donuts were a bit more chewy, compact and dense than I would have liked.



When I had finished cutting the donuts out, I had some left-over dough which I rolled into logs, braided and then shaped into circular form. I was actually thinking of the crullers I used to eat in high school at Niel's Coffee Shop on East 70th Street that were billowy on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and covered in the sweetest glaze that melted in your mouth as you bit into it. These were the best of the bunch that I made -- they puffed up nicely when plopped in the oil and were moist, cakey and airy on the inside.




My kids and I went to town on the glazing of these donuts when we were done. I mixed up some simple vanilla and chocolate glazes and dumped an entire bottle of sprinkles in a bowl for a pretty finish. These were so much fun to make and a lot easier than I would have thought. Next time, we'll be sure to try the buttermilk cake donut recipe that Lori also posted.



I made the donuts! You can too -- here's the recipe....
Yeast Doughnuts, by Alton Brown:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size (I cut the recipe in half and ended up with about 18 regular size donuts and 15 holes).

Ingredients
Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)



Directions:

Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C. (I used a wok).
Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

The Sweetest Thing : A Daring Bakers' Challenge

I've been a Daring Baker for almost 2 years now and have loved so many of the challenges. We've made things from scratch I would have never dared to try on my own, and I have discovered new recipes for some of my standard desserts which are so much better than what I had traditionally been making. This month's challenge, basic sugar cookies, falls into the latter camp. For years, I have given sugar cookies at Christmas as teacher gifts, to our neighbors, etc. and I thought I had an excellent recipe for them. That is until I tried these which come from Peggy Porschen (who by the way I am dying to take a Master Cake Decorating Class with if anyone wants to sponsor me to the tune of 973 GBP!).



The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.



These were so much fun to make; if I had the time, I would have spent hours on different shapes and ways of decorating them. Unfortunately, with my pop-up store at Printemps this month, I have had very little free time and so I actually made these as cupcake toppers, which was a little bonus for those of you who had a chance to taste them.



I made a batch of heart-shaped cookies and decorated half with yellow royal icing and a checkerboard band which was my take on a NYC Checker Cab (the theme at Printemps is I Love New York!).



For the second half of the cookies, I covered them in white royal icing and before they dried, made heart decorations with hot pink royal icing and Wilton Sparkle Gel. I loved how these turned out; the sparkle gel looked like stained glass inserts on the cookies. I used these as toppers for some of the 150 cupcakes I donated to their breast cancer research charity event.



I've seen some of the amazing cookies the Daring Bakers made this month and you really should check them out. To make your own, here's the recipe...

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies

200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

Directions
- Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming
creamy in texture.
- Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during
baking, losing their shape.
- Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
- Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
- Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch)
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.
- Tip: Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an
hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and
then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.
- Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
- Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour.
- Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
- Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
- Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
- Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies.
- Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in
some cookies being baked before others are done.
- Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
- Leave to cool on cooling racks.
- Once completely cooled, decorate as desired.
- Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated
cookies can last up to a month.

Royal Icing:
315g – 375g / 11oz – 13oz / 2½ - 3 cups Icing / Confectioner’s / Powdered Sugar, unsifted
2 Large Egg Whites
10ml / 2 tsp Lemon Juice
5ml / 1 tsp Almond Extract, optional (I used Vanilla Extract)

Directions

- Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined.
- Tip: It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and
grease free.
- Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
- Tip: I’ve listed 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
- Beat on low until combined and smooth.
- Use immediately or keep in an airtight container.
- Tip: Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

Don't Know What You Got 'til It's Gone - A Daring Baker's Challenge

I am sorry. I totally took you for granted. I guess I didn’t know a good thing when I had it. And now you are gone. There will never be another like you. I think about you all the time. Forgive me…..

Growing up, we had one of those double door, side-by-side fridge/freezer combos in our kitchen. Did I mention it also had an ice and water dispenser? It was the perfect storage vehicle for all those Stouffer’s French Bread Pizzas I grew up on (yum, pepperoni!) and TV dinners (raise your hands, did you eat those when you were younger?). If so, you probably grew up in the 70’s like me. My favorite was the meat loaf in tomato sauce, green beans, tater tots and brownie variety! I can remember chowing down on those a few times a week; the best was on Friday nights when you had TV dinner and the Love Boat/Fantasy Island TV line-up.

My mom once dated a guy who was starting up a packaged Asian food business and for months we had dozens of varieties of egg rolls stored in our freezer as they tested out different recipes and flavors. At first, I thought this was kind of cool but after a few months of nothing but egg rolls, I was hoping for a freezer defrosting occasion.



When I moved into my own place, I had a smaller fridge/freezer but still adequate space for the Lean Cuisine dinners, Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and pints of Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food I so loved! Yes, I was a freezer schizophrenic! Diet Coke with your Double Whopper anyone? Seriously, though working for an ad agency meant lots of travel and late nights so the freezer was indispensable for keeping whatever I could scarf down when I finally made it home for dinner.

Here in France when you buy an apartment (and even sometimes when you rent), your kitchen appliances are often not part of the deal. That’s to say, many of my friends in rental apartments had to buy their own refrigerators, ovens, etc. and take them with them when they move. We happened to move into an apartment with a “cuisine aménagée” which means the kitchen is in place when you move in. And it was actually one of the bonuses of our place as the previous owner had custom built-ins installed from Miele. Now I didn’t take a close look at the fridge when we visited and because it’s a built-in and disguised to look just like the cabinets that surround it, I didn’t realize how very small the freezer portion was. In fact there was a separate freezer at the back of the kitchen that I understood was to be part of the deal, but when we arrived, it had been removed. So you can imagine my horror when I first opened the fridge and realized that the freezer portion is so small, I can’t even fit a shoe box inside!



I have heard time and again people talk about Picard, which is France’s dedicated frozen food chain store, as if they served mana from heaven. And I know MANY of my friends shop there for their dinners on an almost daily basis. I don’t have that luxury, unless my family decided to go on a real California-style diet and eat a cube of beef and 1 tater split between the 4 of us for dinner. There is just no way I can cram that stuff into my small freezer. Which brings me to today’s post the Daring Bakers’ August Challenge, in which we were given the choice of two desserts to make, both of which involved making our own ice cream. Yeah, right….oh double-door fridge/freezer of my youth…where have you gone? And will you please come back to me…..

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.



I obviously sat out the ice cream making part of this challenge, using instead one of my fave store-bought ice creams: Haagen Dazs Dulce de Leche. Rather than make these as petit fours sandwiches, I baked the cakes in my pretty new daisy shaped cupcake mold, filled them with ice cream and then covered in drizzled chocolate. My family ate these up! Thanks Elissa for the great challenge! Apologies for the crappy pics accompanying this post - I had to work fast before the ice cream melted and had only my iphone on-hand!

Brown Butter Pound Cake
19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze (For the Ice Cream Petit Fours)
9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract
Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

It Had to Be You : A Daring Baker's Challenge

I've been a Daring Baker for a little over a year now, and what fun it has been! Cheesecake, gingerbread houses, tiramisu, Bakewell Tart and macarons -- these are some of the challenges I have participated in. Over the Christmas break I got to thinking about hosting a DB challenge. There was a dessert recipe that I have always, always wanted to make yet never a good reason to do so. So I wrote Lis & Ivonne, the DB founders, volunteering my idea and when they wrote back asking if I wanted to host in May, I took it as a good sign. For the dessert I was thinking of had been served at my wedding and my wedding anniversary happens to be in May.

About 15 years ago, I saw a Martha Stewart show in which she made the traditional French puff pastry dessert, a Piece Montée, which means literally “mounted piece.” You may know this dessert by another name – Croquembouche (“crunch in the mouth”).The classic piece montée is a high pyramid/cone made of profiteroles (cream-filled puff pastries) sometimes dipped in chocolate, bound with caramel, and usually decorated with threads of caramel, sugared almonds, chocolate, flowers, or ribbons. It is often served at weddings, baptisms and other special events here in France.

Here are the obligatory blog checking lines: The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.



The piece montée is made from 3 essential elements : pate a choux (the puff pastry) which was the mandatory recipe for this challenge, crème patissiere which is used to fill the puff pastry (though DBs were able to express their creativity on this element and use whatever filling, savory or sweet, they so chose) and a caramel or chocolate glaze which acts as the glue to hold the whole thing together.

I ended up baking the challenge recipe twice -- the 1st time was to test the recipes which I hadn't used in about 10 years since my days at Peter Kump's before posting the challenge to the DB website. I made a standard chocolate crème patissiere and chocolate glaze. The second time around, I created a piece montée to celebrate our 9-year wedding anniversary. I was inspired by another DB, Jessica at Delicious Things, to color my pate a choux before baking. In this case, red, which is one of my favorite colors and symbolic of love, passion and all that jazz! I filled my pate a choux with a raspberry crème patissiere and then decorated it with fondant stars, a chocolate Eiffel Tower and threads of spun sugar. It wasn't as visually stunning as our wedding "cake" 9 years ago (pictured below), but we enjoyed it nonetheless!



You can check out more of the Daring Bakers' May Challenge : piece montée creations by clicking on the blogroll here. Thanks to Lis & Ivonne for indulging this long-standing, burning desire of mine to make a piece montée and thanks to all the DBs for playing along - your creations are always such an inspiration! Hope you enjoyed this challenge as much as I did.

xx Cat

I'm Gonna Soak Up the Sun - A Daring Bakers' Challenge

I'm posting this during a short pitstop home between the two weeks of our current school break. I just spent a glorious week at the beach and am getting ready to head down South to Avignom tomorrow. What can I say? A Daring Baker's life is never dull; well at least when you've got blog posting deadlines to meet, people! The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.



I have to say this was probably one of the most daring of all the challenges I have made to date. Not because it required lots of exotic ingredients (no, in fact the recipe I chose had only 5 basic items) nor fancy culinary techniques (it doesn't get much easier than melting some butter and then stirring in 3 ingredients to prepare). For me, the challenge came from the fact that I was preparing this recipe at my mother-in-law's apartment at the beach with nary a measuring spoon, kitchen scale or even proper baking tins available. There wasn't even a bar of butter in the fridge or bag of flour in the cupboard to get me started. So simplicity was key and I had no choice but to wing this challenge by guesstimating the amount of ingredients needed (which was an unbelievable task given the pudding recipe I chose asked for things like "the weight of 3 eggs in sugar," etc.). I'm telling you, I can't remember the last time I had to think so hard in the kitchen!

I was also a little bit thrown by the challenge, a steamed suet pudding. Suet? Isn't that some kind of derived animal fat, like lard? Ick! I've never even used Crisco in cooking so you can imagine my mindset. And pudding? Well heck! To me that involves boiling some water and stirring in the contents of a package you get in a small cardboard box labeled Jell-O! But Esther was kind enough to explain what she wanted -- a recipe would qualify as long as it was steamed and as long as it was called pudding, and never mind the suet if we didn't want to use it. Phew. So I surfed on over to one of the references she gave us, Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management and came across something called Canary Pudding recipe which called for only 5 simple ingredients. This was it - Game On!



Despite the measurements which I am sure I got wrong (when I'm back home from the next leg of my vacation, I aim to measure out each ingredient to see where I went wrong), this was a fairly easy recipe to pull together and prepare. The batter tasted pretty good - sweet and lemony - which gave me high hopes for a successful outcome. Next was the challenge of steaming it. The only thing I could find to cook this in was an old, deformed ring pan which I fitted with aluminum and propped up on some crumpled aluminum foil in a large covered pot that served as a makeshift steamer.



I let it steam for just under 2 hours as stated in the recipe and when I pulled it out, it was both undercooked and dry at the same time (?). The taste of the pudding was way too eggy. But inspired by the warm weather and sunny days, I decided to pretty it up in the guise of a Strawberry Short-pudding replete with fresh strawberries, raspberries and home-made whipped cream. My husband and I both agreed this pudding was an abomination. Oh well, at least we were able to enjoy the fresh berries and whipped cream on a beautiful sunny day overlooking the beach. Til next time, daring bakers, when it is my turn to host!



Mrs. Beeton's Canary Pudding:

INGREDIENTS - The weight of 3 eggs in sugar and butter, the weight of 2 eggs in flour, the rind of 1 small lemon, 3 eggs.

Mode.—Melt the butter to a liquid state, but do not allow it to oil; stir to this the sugar and finely-minced lemon-peel, and gradually dredge in the flour, keeping the mixture well stirred; whisk the eggs; add these to the pudding; beat all the ingredients until thoroughly blended, and put them into a buttered mould or basin; boil for 2 hours, and serve with sweet sauce.

Time.—2 hours. Average cost, 9d.

Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons. Seasonable at any time.

Mamma Mia! - A Daring Bakers' Challenge

Once upon a time, there was a restaurateur, "Tony," who dreamed of making it big in Manhattan. He worked hard and was able to make a name for himself -- soon he was operating one of the hottest, trendiest Italian ristorantes in the city. Although Tony told acquaintances and customers he had been living in the US for over two decades, his accent was so heavy, you'd think he had just stepped off the boat from Napoli yesterday. He prided himself on rustic, home-style cooking and claimed that many of his dishes were made with loving care from recipes handed to down to him from his great, great grandmother or "Nona Lucia" as he called her. One of these was a tiramisu that was billed as the house specialty on the menu.

He was a kind man and did well by his employees. But if you happened upon him in the kitchen after-hours as clean-up continued well into the night, you'd notice his accent start to waver and gone were the slick Italian custom-made suits in favor of a cotton polo and ripped jeans. For Tony had been born the child of Jewish emigrants from Eastern Europe. There was no family estate in Napoli, or a kind, loving grandmother named Lucia who loved to cook. No, just Ed...from Brooklyn....a regular schmo who had a good business sense. He had found a niche in the market and then created the perfect fairy-tale to go along with it. And, his customers couldn't help but eat it up (pun intended). His secret: he had perfected his act to the point where he actually started to believe it himself.



I worked for "Tony" one summer, first as a hostess in the front room and later on as an assistant in the kitchen. Thanks to a real live Italian behind the stove, the food frankly wasn't all that bad. There was nothing authentic about the tiramisu though, which came pre-packaged in huge vats from a food service company in Jersey. I never once had seen one made from scratch in-person. Which is one of the reasons why I was so excited about this month's Daring Bakers. The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.



This is a fantastic recipe; it yielded one of the best tiramisus I have ever eaten. I literally could not believe I (with no Italian heritage either) made it myself. Of course, we had to make our own ladyfingers and mascarpone from scratch which was a challenge in itself. But the instructions were easy to follow, and the whole thing came together with patience and time. If you want to make it at home, you'll find the recipe here. Thanks to Deeba and Aparna for a really challenging dessert but one worth its weight in gold! I made mine almost identical to their recipe with lots of grated chocolate in-between the layers in Margarita glasses (sorry for the poor quality of photos here; I made mine the day after the challenge reveal and didn't have enough time to set up a nice photo shoot!). But the possibilities are endless; see some of the other Daring Bakers' take on this recipe by visiting the blogroll.

A Daring Bakers' Challenge : Nanaimo Bars

It has been a rather hectic two weeks here in the Little Miss Cupcake kitchen. I have literally been dragging myself out of bed every morning, over to the kitchen, putting in a full day with the kids, school and various other activities, and then working into the wee hours for the next day's prep. I have just a few more days to go at this pace before giving myself a well-deserved day-off on Monday.



I am just getting in by the skin of my teeth on this Daring Bakers challenge. I barely had enough time to let the recipe set before showing it off cause I have a busy night ahead and wanted to get this post up. I sadly didn't have time to make these yesterday as I saw one of my very few Canuck friends here in Paris whose eyes lit up when I mentioned Nanaimo Bars. Chris, if you happen to be in the neighborhood tomorrow, drop on by....

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. I have to admit I had never heard of Nanaimo bars before (and still can't pronounce it properly. Say it with me "Nah-nye-Moh") but they are pretty darn tasty. It's essentially a triple-layer bar with a creamy custard middle sandwiched between a hardened chocolate crust and a chewy coconut-graham cracker crumb-chocolate base. As an added challenge, Lauren who has been diagnosed with celiac disease, gave us a gluten-free recipe for the graham crackers used in the bottom layer.

I really really enjoyed this challenge and will definitely be making these again. I made mine individually in cupcake wrappers and then threw some Reese's Peanut Butter candies on top of half of mine; they certainly made a yummy addition to the mix!

She's a Brick House - A Daring Bakers' Challenge

Bruce, or Brother Bruce as my mom affectionately refers to him, is one of our oldest and dearest family friends. She met him when I was very young and we lived in Florida, and though they never dated, he is probably the closest thing I had to a father while growing up. A mix of Willy Wonka, the Fairy Godmother, Peter Pan and a New Age guru all tied up in a somewhat askew package (and I mean that as the highest compliment), Bruce has more creative genius in his pinkie than a truckload of people put together. Make that a boatload...like the QEII. It really is no surprise that he has become one of the most sought-after and well-known party planners on the planet today.



Provocative is a word that springs to mind when I think of Bruce -- he is a talented showman always on the lookout for a spirited reaction from his audience. Don't get me started about the time he greeted one of my mother's suitors at the door and proceeded to have a 15 minute conversation with the guy while wearing a rubber chicken on his head. Neither of them acknowledged said chicken but suffice it to say, my mom never heard from her date again. Then there was the time he left a life-size doll in my bedroom doorway while I was sleeping. He had dressed it up in a Darth Vader mask to complete the look. Thinking I would be delighted upon waking and finding such a cool new toy, poor Bruce never expected I would wake from a nightmare and start shrieking my head off the second I saw this inert being stationed in my doorway. It took both of us a looooong time to recover from that one.



The holidays in particular always make me think of Bruce. There was one Christmas Eve when we were staying at his ex-wife's house where he climbed up on the roof, shaking some bells and yelling "Ho, ho, ho!" after his step-daughter and I had gone to sleep. We awoke in a daze thrilled beyond imagination that Santa was at that very moment coming down our chimney. And there was the year when Bruce was just starting out that he made these amazing 9-feet tall Nutcrackers, soldiers, etc. covered in candy for the Christmas windows of a local bank. Needless to say once the holidays were over, he stored them in our garage and after a few weeks in the Florida heat and humidity, nearly every ant, cockroach and 4-legged bug in the state had converged on our garage to come and nibble on the sweet, melting goodies.



This month's Daring Baker challenge - Gingerbread Houses - made me think of crazy, zany Bruce. I wold have loved for him to be here to decorate with us as I am sure his creation would be nothing less than spectacular....and bizarre (another one of his favorite past-times was re-arranging the food, fruit and vegetables in the fridge to create wild and weird creatures or scenarios that would unexpectedly greet and shock you when you opened the door).

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.



I had never made a gingerbread house before, though for years have been saying I was going to buy one of those pre-made kits they sell at IKEA. This was definitely the funnest DB challenge I have participated in so far and both my kids got in on the act. My son helped to decorate a small guest house for out back - though he has claimed this as his very own gaming and entertainment center. Okay with me -- I told him he could spend as much time as he wants out there playing - he still hasn't figured out that we forgot to add a door to his creation. So he's just chilling out front with his imaginary puppy. My daughter? Her contribution to this project was eating every spare piece of candy left unattended as we debated where to place it. I must have uttered the phrase "Don't Touch!" a thousand times this week as I spied her eyeing my not-yet-completed house with a sparkle in her eye and a mischevious smile on her face. And, is that drool at the corner of her mouth??



My biggest fear was that as soon as I placed the roof on, the whole thing would come crashing come down. You know what? It did. On the first attempt. Luckily, my gingerbread didn't crumble. The second time, I got wise, and left the supports on the roof overnight. When I took them off, I held my breath. But no worries. That thing is solid....like a rock.



Being me, I had to toss a few cupcakes into the challenge. I used some leftover gingerbread dough to make mini tree, puppy and family member cutouts which then went on mini red velvet cupcakes. There is in fact a gingerbread man and Christmas tree inside the larger house but he's not coming out. Oh, there is a door on the big house but it's not functional. If I was Bruce, I am sure I would have arranged some macabre scene for the kiddies to find in there when they break it open. Did I tell you about the time Ben Stiller & Ed Norton were using my grandmother's building exterior for a scene in their movie, Keeping the Faith, and Bruce only wanted to stage a fake murder in her first-floor window while filming was going on? Now that would have certainly gotten a rise out of the movie's audience!



Anyway, a big thank you to Anna and Y for this amazing challenge. It was great fun and I look forward to making the gingerbread house challenge a yearly tradition. You should too! Here's how: (PS, after my fiasco with October's Macaron Challenge, I took the time to read through the comments on the DB website and decided not to use the recipes provided by Anna or Y as they received lots of criticism on being difficult to work with - the dough was dry or shrunk during baking - and many complained about the taste. Instead, I used a recipe suggested by one of the other Daring Bakers, Alison from Someone's In the Kitchen. This is an excellent gingerbread recipe and I'd recommend it even if you just want to prepare it, roll it out and make simple unadorned cookies.)



Gingerbread House Recipe

Recipe By : Sullivan County Extension Homemakers Club

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
7 Cups Sifted All Purpose Flour -- 7-8 cups
1 Teaspoon Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Nutmeg
3 Teaspoons Ginger
1 Cup Shortening (I used butter)
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Cups Unsulphered Molasses (I used a thick dark honey called "Miel de Foret")
2 Each Eggs
1 Cup Additional Flour -- 1-2 cups

Sift together first 5 ingredients. Blend together molasses, shortening, sugar and eggs. Stir dry ingredients into molasses mixture. Add enough of the additional flour to make a dough stiff enough to be shaped into a disc. Refrigerate overnight for easier handling. Can be frozen.

Will make 4-5 small gingerbread houses using this pattern. (I halved the recipe and ended up with enough dough for one large house and one smaller house. I used the free template found here to design my house).

Roll to about 1/4" thickness on a floured cookie sheet. Trace the house pattern pieces onto typing paper and cut out. Arrange pattern pieces on cookie dough and carefully cut around each pattern being certain to allow 1/2" space between pieces to allow the dough to expand as it bakes.

Cut the dough with a sharp paring knife or the edge of a metal pancake turner. Be certain the walls and roof are the same size as the patterns. Remove scraps leaving house pieces on the cookie sheet. Do not attempt to shift pieces once they have been cut out. This will stretch the dough and distort the shape. Bake at 350 12-15 mins.

Carefully loosen then remove each piece with a metal pancake turner. Cool on a wire rack.

I used Royal Icing as the only "glue" for my house though I know a lot of people also do a suagr syrup for sturdier construction. I used Martha Stewart's recipe.
1 lb powdered sugar
5 Tbs meringue powder
½ cup water

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar, meringue powder, and a scant ½ cup water on low speed. Beat until mixture is fluffy yet dense, 7 to 8 minutes.

I did the majority of my decorating and candy "glueing" before assembling the house. I found it easier to place items and just leave them without the fear of gravity pulling them off as those that I added after house assembly. Assemble house using the royal icing as "glue". Glue the walls together first. Then attach your roof, chimney and other elements being sure to support these items until glue has hardened.

Another One Bites the Dust: A Daring Bakers' Disaster...uh, Challenge

I live directly above one of the best-known bakeries in the 17th. Often when I tell someone what street I live on, they’ll ask “oh do you live near ze famous boulangerie?” (Well, I’m not going to mention it by name so then the entire world will know exactly where I live!)

When my husband and I first visited it, one of the first things we noticed was the scent of fresh-baking bread that permeated what is now our apartment. The owner explained he had just baked a batch of brioche. On our subsequent visits, he told the same story and went so far as to show me his open cookbook in the kitchen. Though never the brioche. But my husband and I weren’t fooled. In the course of our dealings with him, we learned that he was going through a divorce and trying to get rid of the apartment fast. He’d had a few offers fall through. He wanted to unload the place (without revealing the true sales price to his soon-to-be ex-wife) and for whatever reason feared the constant scent of fresh-baked goods would be a deal-breaker.

To be honest, I’ve never been bothered by the barrage of odors that come wafting up through the vents from the bakery down below. Well, with the exception of a few weeks where they were trying out new and different curry recipes for one of their lunch items. Several of my friends have commented on it – saying they’d be unable to ignore the scents and would spend half their lives wolfing down whatever was on sale downstairs after smelling it. Personally, I actually like waking up to the smell of fresh baking bread, or croissant, or brioche, or...macarons.

Yes, macarons - the challenge recipe for this month’s Daring Bakers. Not only does the baker downstairs make fantastic macarons, but if he is closed, I have about 2 dozen other bakeries within a 5 block radius where I can get them. And if that wasn't enough, it’s only a short 7-minute walk over to the Champs Elysees where I can take my pick from either La Durée (arguably the best known macaron maker in the world ) or Pierre Hermé at the Drugstore (arguably the best macarons in the world). So frankly it never really crossed my mind to make them myself.



The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe. When I learned of this month’s challenge, I was quite excited. To live in Paris and never bake macarons is a lot like living in the US and never baking cupcakes. I read up on macarons, researched various ways of making them and whenever I met a French person who told me they baked, I asked them how they made their macarons. By the time I got around to making my macarons, I was fairly confident I had the best advice on how to achieve the perfect macaron - a smooth, shiny, shell; the right rise or lift; the coveted feet on the bottom of the shell, etc. And you know what? I experienced an epic fail!


Yes, my first time baking macarons was an absolute disaster. But as Lis told me once Daring Bakers is just as much about learning from your mistakes as it is sharing your accomplishments so I’ll post here what I experienced. Maybe some of you macaron experts out there would be kind enough to tell me where I went wrong. :(

I could tell from the get go that I hadn’t ground my almond powder finely enough. As I carefully mixed my firm egg whites (which I had let sit out for 2 days before beating) into the dry mixture, the texture was grainy and rough. Undeterred, I piped the macaron shells on to my baking sheet and let them sit for about 40 minutes before popping them in the oven. As I watched, they started to puff up nicely and grow perfect little feet. As time went on, they kept growing and the feet became granulous puddles around the shiny shell. My macarons melded together and then flattened out as I took them from the oven. After I had let them cool and removed them from the baking sheet, I discovered the shiny shells were baked but hollow. The batter had in essence run out from underneath and baked around the shell. I have no idea why this happened. Could it be that they didn’t have enough solids to hold them together since the almond powder wasn’t fine enough? Or the fact that it was a rainy, humid evening here in Paris? I was discouraged.

It’s the school holiday now and I knew that I wouldn’t have a chance to make these again before the reveal date. I grudgingly sandwiched several together with 2 fillings I had lovingly mixed up - a chocolate ganache and a mint buttercream - and left them in the fridge overnight. The verdict: my macarons sure were ugly and didn’t look anything like they should. But my husband said they actually didn’t taste half bad and thought it was a pretty good turnout for my first try. I had to agree about the taste though they were a bit chewier than any macarons I've ever sampled. I can say for certain I won’t be serving these to company anytime soon. I have the baker downstairs for that.

**UPDATE** Okay, now that the reveal date is here, I've been reading some of the other DB's experiences with this recipe and it seems that many (many of whom are experienced macaron bakers) criticize this recipe -- too wet being the common complaint -- and mention that it definitely is not a good choice for a first-time macaron baker. In fact, seems many of my fellow DBs made multiple batches of this recipe attempting in vain to correct it and then gave it all up in favor of other, more successful recipes such as that by Syrup & Tang or fellow DB, Tartelette. Starting to feel slightly better about my outcome but still.....

Every Picture Tells a Thousand Stories : A Daring Bakers'Challenge

Or in this case, the lack of baked goods related pictures tells only one story. The morale of it being: if you happen to be an Acer laptop and you don't want your owner to dropkick you out the window and into the street, please be kind and allow said user to get back into her Daring Baker's picture folder! Fume, fume!

Since I don't have my beautiful vol au vents pictures to share with you today, what I thought I would show are some of the photos enclosed in Helmut Newton's Sumo. If you've never heard of this book, I believe it is the largest book ever published (over 35 kilos) and packed with some of the most exquisite works of art by this talented master of photography. A few years ago, I had looked into buying a copy and almost choked on the cup of coffee I was sipping when I learned the going price was about 6,000$.



Luckily, the hubby discovered a few weeks back that a brand new smaller (yet still quite hefty) version that comes with its own stand has been issued to mark the book's ten year-anniversary. It's an awesome collection and I only wish that Helmut was still around to tell us thousands more stories captured in each of his photos.



Without further ado, here's the story of this post (sans vol au vents pictures but here's a last one from Helmut):



The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

I had worked with puff pastry before in cooking school and found this recipe fairly simple and straight-forward. The resulting puff pastries were light and buttery but not overly so. I highly second the reco to cover them with a silicon mat for the first 15 minutes of baking (or crowd them together a bit on your baking sheet). I did neither one and ended up with several lopsided looking pastries.

You can fill these with all sorts of savory or sweet fillings. I went with two sweet varieties. One was a French classic reminiscent of an eclair: a simple chocolate creme patissière filling; I then drizzled a melted chocolate glaze over the top of the filled vol au vent. For the second, I was inspired to do something 100% americana in contrast and created one that the King would have loved : filled with a banana cream, I topped this one with marshmallows and peanut butter chips then popped it under the broiler for about 2 minutes, and then added sliced bananas and shaved chocolate. Man, was it good!

I'll keep trying to see if I can pull up those pics. I think my laptop and I are going to have to take this offline for a little private chat. But in the meantime, here's the recipe for you home bakers! (And to see some pictures of Vols au Vents other Daring Bakers baked up this month, visit our Flickr Group here or see this google search).

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough
From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan

Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough
Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

+ plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

To Cut Pastry:

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

The Marshmallow Test

In recent weeks I have seen the story of the Marshmallow Test burning up the internet. Do you know of this study conducted by one of the psychology professors at Stanford back in the '60's? The basic premise was a child left alone in a room with a plate of sweets in front of him/her to see how he/she would react. A researcher would tell the child he needed to leave the room for about 15 minutes but before he went, he instructed the child to pick a treat from the plate (which included marshmallows). The child was told that he could either eat the marshmallow right away OR if he could wait until the researcher came back, he would get two marshmallows. The study was developed to identify the mental processes that caused some people to delay gratification while others simply ceded.



Of course, the kids who participated in the study demonstrated all sorts of behavior. While some were able to wait and receive the promised two marshmallows, others dove into the plate straight away and ate everything on it, others ate small bites of the goodies and put them back on the plate hoping no one would notice, and so on and so on. The study gets really interesting though when the researchers started to look into what happened to these kids about 20 years later. What they found was that those children who were able to wait for the researcher to return - the delayed gratifiers - were more successful in their lives than those who were not able to delay their gratification. Those kids "seemed more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home. They got lower S.A.T. scores. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and found it difficult to maintain friendships." For more on The Marshmallow Test, click here.



I'd like to think I would have been one of the kids who was able to wait and get the 2 marshmallows instead of one. But I have always had a bit of a sweet tooth, especially when it comes to marshmallows. And lo and behold was I thrilled when I learned of the Daring Bakers' Challenge for July cause I have always had a thing for Mallomars - a beloved childhood treat that I haven't seen anywhere on these shores!



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. We were given the choice to make either recipe, or for the more daring (and those with time to kill), both.

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies (note: I thirded the recipe and ended up with about 30 cookies!)
• 3 cups (375grams/13.23oz) all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs, whisked together
• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
• 1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 egg whites , room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.



I decided to make 4 varieties of Mallomars (or Mallows as they are called in the Daring Bakers' Challenge). The Classic, The Elvis (with a blob of peanut butter sandwiched between the marshmallow and chocolate glaze), The Obama (with a square of white chocolate hidden under the chocolate glaze) and The Cherry Kookoo a/k/a The Courtney Love (which sports a maraschino cherry at its center). They completely lived up to my childhood memories of these delectable cookies; who knew they were so easy to make at home yourself?

Speaking of Courtney Love, I doubt she would have been one of the kids who deferred gratification. But that's just my humble opinion of the gal - lord knows she's had a rough life. She looks like she could use a Mallomar or 20 these days. And hey, no need to wait, I've got a plate baked up fresh......

Just a reminder: Iron Cupcake Earth Herbs Challenge is now open for voting. Why don't you skidaddle on over there and vote for my luscious Lavender Loves Lemon Celebration cupcakes?