May Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Marquise on Meringue

Required blog-checking lines: The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Oh my goodness.  This challenge was a doozy to create and a doozy to eat.  Emma and Jenny, both accomplished pastry chefs with training and professional time served, challenged us to make one of their favorite confections, chocolate marquise on meringue.  The challenge consisted of four parts--the fourth part that you're not seeing here is a spicy nut topping.  Oh, and I didn't have cocoa nibs available anywhere in my little town, either, so those are missing as well.

But let my tell you what IS here, and you tell me if you think it needed the rest.

First is the meringue, and one the most sensory rich recipes outside of bread dough that you might ever encounter in the kitchen (at least while cooking, ahem!). In a new-to-me-twist on meringue making, the egg whites, a splash of vinegar, and a heaping love of sugar are put into a mixing bowl over a hot water bath.  Then, you use your hands to stir the warming mixture until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is almost hot.  Go on, I dare you!

Next up is the marquise itself.  Somewhere between mousse and ice cream, this frozen-but-thawing hunk of creamy chocolate is rolled in cocoa prior to plunking down on top of the meringue.  Sweet, but not terribly so.  Smooth, but not without some body.  Oh, and did I mention the little bit of Kahlua flavoring in there?  The recipe called for Tequila.  I demurred.  Worms are for the garden, not for the kitchen, I always say.

Alrighty, see that caramel sauce?  Yum.  Again, the recipe called for Tequila.  Again, I demurred.  Whiskey!  Whisky is good, right?  You betcha! Interestingly, the whisky gave the caramel a fruity flavor--something akin to pineapple.  Not sure what happened there, but it really goes well with the chocolate and meringue.

Are you drooling yet?  I would be, but I'm full.  How much of this were the teenager formerly known as Chirp Chirp and I able to eat between the two of us?

Clearly, we need practice! 

Recipe here (I made a quarter batch)

Many, many thanks to Emma and Jenny for this great dessert.  I see this as a showstopper for a crowd, maybe around the holidays? 

May Daring Bakers (by Kat)

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.

Oh boy, was this ever a fun month for Daring Bakers! I actually made the challenge twice. While it was very good the first time, the second time was even better.

No, it's not le Tour d'Eiffel...
it's une Croquembouche
(ou un Croquembouche?).
(Masculine or feminine, Je ne s'ais quoi...)

First, prepare a very simple vanilla pastry cream.
(I modified the recipe to include a vanilla bean)

Second, prepare a choux pastry.
(Ten minutes or less, baby. This is EASY!)

Third, stuff your baked puffs with the pastry cream.
(Lick your fingers lots)

Finally, dip each puff in melted sugar and build a tower.
Feel free to use the leftover caramel to make swirls, spirals,
spun sugar, or (awwww) hearts!

Here's the recipe, with my mods as noted:

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla [I omitted this and used 1/4 vanilla bean the second time, and it was much better.]

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk [and vanilla bean, split open, if using] with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs [I used three eggs the second time, and the results were much improved]

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.

As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight. [If you store them overnight, be sure to crisp them up in the oven before filling. I didn't, and I regretted. On my second run through, I filled the little buggers about an hour after cooking them, and they were much better.]

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze: [this could be halved]
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Gory Story (by Kat)

Remember last week, when I said I just needed the strength to make it through the week?

You know the expression "be careful what you wish for?"

Yup.

I made it through the week, and then came Saturday. The migraine lifted, but then came Saturday. I fought for my funding at work (and won, yay!), but then came Saturday.

The girl-child headed off with her Girl Scout troop for an overnight trip, so my husband took her to the meet-up point Saturday morning. I figured now was as good a time as any to remove the slab of Easter Caramels from the pan and begin the tedious chore of individually wrapping them in little pieces of waxed paper.

The caramels had other plans.

I really like good kitchen tools. I'm a sucker for a heavy pot, a sil-pat nonstick pan liner, silicone rubber spatulas, and sharp knives. I'm partial to Global knives. I own four, and I use them all the time. My husband is a super great guy, and he bought a fancy set of stones and polishers that he uses to keep my knives sharp. Dull knives are awful, and I don't let them hang out in my kitchen.

So there I was, trying to pry the slab of caramel out of the dish, when something somewhere slipped. The slippage was stopped by my bone. For half a second, I had a 12" Global chef knife sticking into my bone. Wow!

Not thinking, I pulled the knife out immediately. Yes, I'm first aid certified under two different globally-recognized training systems. No, I didn't remember that one should NEVER pull out a knife in a stab wound.

Blood everywhere.

I don't handle blood very well. I have a scar on my forehead from chemistry class in high school. The teacher was discussing bloody accidents from the past and down I fell, hitting my head on a ceramic eye-wash stand, then proceeding on to seizures on the laboratory floor. I really wasn't the coolest kid in the class. I was even less cool after this episode.

Anyway, blood, spurting. I went down, hit the floor, stood up, made it further, hit the floor, got to the phone to call my husband. His cell isn't on. I make it up the stairs, blood still flowing, hit the floor. Try to get to bed, hit the floor again. Decide this is the most comfortable pile of dirty laundry in the whole wide world and I'd just rest here for awhile.

My poor husband comes home, sees the blood trail, follows it through the house, and finally finds me crumpled in a ball on the bedroom floor. Poor guy! I tell him I cut myself, and he says yes, he can tell. But where the heck am I bleeding? Where is this mad gush of blood coming from? There's blood all over the house, he says. In fact, there's blood on the walls, blood on the trim around the bedroom door, blood just about everywhere!

I show him the wound. It's less than an inch long on my thumb.

It took it a few hours to stop completely. But it finally did. And the weird thing is, the cut doesn't hurt at all. I still can't use my thumb without it bleeding, but there's no pain, so I don't really care.

And, since I couldn't use my thumb, my super-cool husband had to wrap all the caramels.

I just might have to remember this plan for next year!

I also have to remember to be careful what I wish for...

Easter Caramels (by Kat)

I can't remember ever celebrating Christmas without Easter Caramels until my parents moved away from all the family to come to Washington State. The caramels sat on my grandma's counter in a pretty little cut-glass candy dish. Each piece of caramel was carefully wrapped in waxed paper, just like the Christmas presents under the tree.

My mom is one of eight kids, so plenty of aunts and uncles parked themselves on the bar stools lining the counter. The trick to getting the most caramels was to be sure to slip between different stools each time. That way, no one ever noticed how many times you came back. The other trick was to throw the little wrappers away in the far back bathroom, where no one would ever see the sticky little pile of waxed-paper squares.

I was cute, too, as well as the only child, and looking back, that may have played a more significant role than I realized at the time!

The recipe for the caramels came from my great great aunt. She shared it with many, but specifically passed it down to my great aunt, who in turn shared it with many, but specifically passed it down to my aunt. Who Wouldn't Share with Anybody!!!

So, after we moved north, I didn't get caramels. My mom called and asked for the recipe, but my aunt wouldn't let her have it. My mom called the rest of her siblings, but nobody had the recipe. It's not that my great aunt wouldn't share, as some remember getting the recipe from her, it's that nobody still had a copy. Except my aunt...

A few years later, I called my aunt and told her to cough it up! Actually, it was probably more like, "Um, I miss you. Um, I love you. Um, remember those caramels? Um, can you tell me how to make them? Um, I love you?"

A week later the recipe came in the mail. She sent specific instructions that this recipe was hers and mine alone.

Hmph. Screw that!

I've shared this recipe with everyone, and I've shared that it's a family favorite. I've shared it and seen happiness spread and grow. I want you to make these, and share them, and share the recipe if people want it.

And who knows. Maybe it will make someone so happy, they'll share their recipes in return. The world could do with far fewer bitter old aunts, don't you think?

Oh, and just so you know, when my own niece asked for the recipe, I went to the local stationery store and bought the loveliest recipe cards I could find, and a beautiful pen with matching ink. I carefully wrote out the recipe, and let my niece know that this was a special recipe for aunts and nieces--and whoever the hell they wanted to share it with!

Easter Caramels

In a large, heavy, non-stick-if-you-got-it, at least 4 quart pot combine
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt


Now add 1 cup of heavy cream.

Bring to a full boil while stirring near-constantly.
If you're using non-stick, you don't have to be as vigilant as you do with not-non-stick.
Now, slowly drizzle in 1 more cup of cream.

Using your favorite thermometer, keep a close eye on the temperature.
You want to get to 240 degrees F.
Not under, not over, but right on the money.

It's a bit hard to tell, but the candy is a light tan color, and when the bubbles pop,
they do it in a sort of sticky manner.
I think Pooh-bear would understand that, and I'll just have to hope that you do, too!
Now add 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and chopped nuts if you'd like.
I don't like, so I don't add.

After stirring the vanilla in very well, pour the mixture
*CAREFULLY*
into a well-buttered 8 inch square(ish) dish.


Let cool overnight, cut into squares, and wrap each individual square.

Easter Caramels
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
2 cups heavy cream, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Combine first four ingredients and one cup cream in a large saucepan.
Bring to a full boil, then slowly add second cup of cream.
Stir constantly until the temperature reads 240 degrees F on a thermometer or has reached the medium ball stage in a glass of ice water.
Remove from heat and add vanilla and nuts (if using).
Pour into a well-buttered 8 inch square pan.
Cool overnight, then cut into squares. Each square must be individually wrapped or you'll end up with a congealed cluster of caramel.
Remember that sharing is good and kind, and is the right thing to do!