First off, thanks for the kind e~mails and support you've shown regarding this. Things are progressing okay, although we found out on Saturday evening that the sister apparently died from cancer about five months ago. Her husband didn't seem to think that was news worth sharing. Like I said--a tight knit family...
Moving on!
The February Daring Bakers challenge was a canvas calling for all sorts of self-expression. I thought that after last month's challenge, no challenge to come could ever come close to calling for the creativity inspired by the joconde imprime. I. Was. Wrong. Furthermore, I'm really happy to wrong! How often is that the case? Not very, even though I'm wrong a good deal of the time.
The first part of the challenge, the panna cotta, is a gelatin dessert made with dairy instead of fruit juice. Think jello, but creamy. The flavor can be sweet, savory, or anywhere in between. Like I said before, a blank canvas begging the cook to be creative. I went with the original version as provided by our hostess with the mostest, and intended to make several more varieties. I'm not sure what happened, though, but February has ended without me playing with this recipe any further.
Don't walk away from the stove when heating the cream, or you'll get to do some really fun scrubbing afterward!
The second part of the challenge, the Florentine cookies, was a tasty revelation. Fast, easy, eminently edible either as dough or as a baked good....mmmmmm! Seriously, I've thought on more than one occasion over the past month how easy it would be to just make a little pot of the cookie batter and squirrel it away all for myself.
Butter, oats, sugar, and flour. What could be better?
Warning, they spread quite a bit when baking!
Chocolate drizzle, baby....
Florentines on panna cotta. Delicious, comforting, and not too difficult!
The recipes are here, so you can see for yourself what a satisfying project this is.
I want to do another with butterscotch schnapps, and another with Kahlua.
Maybe you can test is out and let me know how it goes?
PS Happy 16th elope-a-versary, Mr. Boom. Go take a look in the shop...there's a brand new little something for you out there on your workbench. I hope you like it!
