Some baking projects make me very happy. This was definitely one. For starters, the idea to make them came from my dear friend Jill, who shared a picture she saw in a Facebook group, and led me to investigate how to get my hands into those cookie cutters. It turns out, they are from Italy. That did not stop me….
PASTA FROLLA COOKIES WITH RASPBERRY JAM (From the The Bewitching Kitchen)
200 g butter, cut in pieces and softened 75 g powdered sugar 40 g honey 2 g salt 1 egg yolk 1/2 tsp vanilla paste 300 g all-purpose flour raspberry jam for filling powdered sugar to shower the assembled cookies (optional)
Mix the flour with salt, reserve.
In the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer, beat the butter with powdered sugar and honey until lighter in color and the sugar is fully dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add the yolk and vanilla paste, and mix well at low-speed.
Gradually add the flour/salt mixture. Mix until fully combined, but it is best to finish mixing by hand. Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap in plastic refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Roll the dough, one half at a time 1/8 inch thick. Cut shapes (tops and bottoms) and bake at 350F for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on the size. Remove shapes that are smaller as they get ready.
Once the cookies are cool, cover the bottom part with raspberry jam and add the top half. Shower with powdered sugar before serving, if so desired.
Comments: Pasta Frolla might very well be my favorite for cookies at the present time. Texture, taste, everything works. As to the cookie cutters, they can be found here. Beware, that site has things that are VERY hard to say no to. I did not worry about how long it would take for shipping, and it was a little less than 1 month. Not bad. Here is the set I used for this first adventure.
You will need two of the large 7-petal flower, 14 of the other two shapes. Then the smaller cutter is used to make the empty space in half of the cookies before baking. It is best to do the cut while the dough is still in the large cutters as I show below:
By doing that, you prevent the dough from getting distorted as you cut the inner portion out.
The other thing to consider is that the cut shapes will bake faster. Either bake them separately or be sure to remove them before the larger pieces get done, or they will brown too much.
I am totally in love with this cookie set… Stay tuned for more “Italian Adventures” in the future.
I am thrilled to share these because they were my first cakes frosted using my electric turntable, a wonderful gift from my hubby last month (check it out at my last In My Kitchen post). Amazing how much easier it was to get a smooth frosting! Without further ado, here is the first cake, fully dressed for an Easter Party.
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VANILLA-ALMOND CAKE WITH RASPBERRY FILLING (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
345 grams (3 cups) cake flour 2 teaspoons)baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 226 grams (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 375 grams (1 + 3/4 cups) granulated sugar 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon almond extract 160 grams egg whites (about 5 eggs) 170 grams (¾ cup) sour cream 170 grams (¾ cup) whole milk Swiss meringue buttercream for frosting seedless Raspberry jam for filling
Prepare three 6-inch round cake pans lining them with parchment and spraying with baking spray.
Heat oven to 350F.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Reserve. Mix the sour cream and milk together, making sure they are at rom temperature and well incorporated. Reserve.
n the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Cream together on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through mixing. Slowly pour in the egg whites while the mixer continues running.
Alternate adding the dry ingredients into the bowl in three additions with the milk/sour cream mixture in two additions, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix on medium speed between additions until almost fully incorporated. Finish mixing by hand with a spatula.
Transfer the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a tester comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool the cakes in their pan completely on a cooling rack before turning out of the pan.
For the three layer 6-inch cake I started with 200g egg whites. The magic is all in the temperature control.
Start by dicing your butter and placing at room temperature for at least a couple of hours before making the buttercream. The reason for that is the closer the temperature of the egg whites/sugar and the butter match each other, the smoother the whole preparation will go. All problems with Swiss meringue buttercream happen when there is a sharp difference between those temperatures.
Mix sugar and egg whites and whisk well, then over a bain-marie bring them to 140 F minimum. I take it to 149F because I find it makes a nicer emulsion to work with. Place in a KitchenAid type mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high speed for about 10 minutes. You want a stiff meringue.
Most recipes will tell you that it will be enough to bring the mixture to room temperature level, or not feeling warm if you touch the bowl. However, if you measure the temperature inside the bowl you will notice it will probably still be at mid 90’s Fahrenheit, way above the butter that is waiting to be incorporated.
My advice is to turn the mixer off and walk away. Come back in 10 minutes, give it a 20 sec mix, check, the temperature. Still a bit too high? Walk away and repeat the process. I find that if the egg white mixture is around 80F it will be ok to incorporate with the butter, which might be around 72F or so.
Now start incorporating the butter with the mixer running, you can squish it with your fingers as you drop them to help incorporate even better. Once all the butter is added, whisk at high speed for a couple of minutes, change to the paddle attachment and mix for another couple of minutes to smooth out air bubbles.
Two problems might happen if the temperature was not a real good match: buttercream will be grainy (butter too cold), or soupy (meringue too hot). Both can be fixed by either warming the bowl (hair-dryer works great), or placing it in the fridge for 15 minutes and whisking again. Contrary to popular belief, Swiss meringue is not that tricky and can always be salvaged even if it looks like Armageddon in a bowl.
For the layers I added a circle of white buttercream on the perimeter of the cake, filled the center with raspberry jam, and repeated that for the upper layer. I crumb coated with white frosting, then dyed most of the buttercream with Sky Blue (just a couple of drops), and the tiniest amount of black to mute the tone. A small portion was dyed brown for the nest. Malted chocolate eggs and sprinkles finished the decor.
Comments: This is pretty much like a wedding type cake, very white because you omit using egg yolks. It is delicate and moist, truly one of my favorites for layered cakes. I adapted the recipe from versions that call for more sugar, I prefer the cake a little less sweet. Sugar is important for structure so there is a limit of how much you can reduce, but this formula works great. My rookie mistake was to use parchment paper to add the sprinkle border at the bottom, and it took me so long to do it, that the buttercream warmed up and the paper got stuck at places. All my hard work to get the smooth surface was a bit compromised, but nothing that strategically placed sprinkles would not fix!
Feedback on the cake was wonderful, I cannot show you the cut cake as I dropped it whole and it was cut later in the evening. But I hope it looked ok inside…
Moving on…
LEMON POPPY SEED LAYERED CAKE WITH BLACKBERRY FILLING
I cannot share this recipe because it is copyrighted from a very interesting book called “I’LL BRING THE CAKE” by Mandy Merriman. It is unusual in the sense that all cakes start from a boxed mix, but they are heavily doctored. If you are totally against boxed mixes, the book is not for you, but I wanted to give those a try and her cakes are quite delicious.
This was my very first cake using the turntable, and I opted for a watercolor effect, which started by adding blotches of darker color all over the frosted cake.
Then you just turn the cake and allow the color to mingle with the background until you are satisfied. For the decorations on top I mixed the white with the mauve-dyed buttercream and used the trusty 1D tip for rosettes.
I hope you found some inspiration for your Easter festivities with this post!
First of all, let me clarify that I cannot share this recipe. It is copyrighted and available exclusively for members of Savour, the online cooking community hosted by the amazing Kirsten Kibballs (click here for details). This can only be described as a baking marathon, one of the most involved projects I’ve ever attempted. However I am beyond thrilled with the way they turned out!
Although I cannot share the recipe, I will walk you through all the steps, so you will have some idea of all that is involved.
Starting with the Financier component, you can conceivably use a muffin tin to make them, but if at all possible, get this silicone pan that allows you to bake cute strawberry-shaped cakes.
. Kirsten’s recipe includes coconut and it is really delicious on its own. Once the cakes are baked, they go straight into the freezer (still in the pan) to facilitate removal. From that point, the cakes are hollowed and filled with the other components.
Starting with a Strawberry jelly made from fresh strawberry puree, agar-agar, allowed to set, and then emulsified in a blender to make a cream. That is finally mixed with fresh strawberries, diced very small, and used to fill the cakes.
The second component of the filling is a fantastic white chocolate chantilly cream, that must be made at least 6 hours before use. First the strawberry jelly/fruit is added, then the chantilly. The cakes go into the freezer to set for a while, and then white chocolate is used to seal the bottom.
At this point, all goes back to the fridge, or for a short stay in the freezer. Tempered chocolate dyed red mixed with neutral oil is used to coat each mini-cake. It will be messy! Best way to deal with it is using two big wooden skewers to manipulate them.
Marathon is in its final stages now… For the strawberry leaves, I spray-painted wafer paper and cut shapes using the template provided by Savour. Kirsten used tempered green chocolate and a very elaborate system to cut and shape them, but I had to simplify it.
The only way they stayed glued was using Edible glue from Wilton. Melted chocolate and Royal icing were no good.
Finally, they get brushed with a little oil (I used grapeseed) and white sesame seeds are sprinkled all over!
And with that step, we just crossed the finish line!
I made 9 of these babies, and Phil and I shared one, as I really needed to know how they tasted.
One of the best things I’ve ever baked, for sure! I messed up when I cut it, they were too cold from the fridge, but I can tell you everything worked great together. The cake is moist and tender, the strawberry cream intensely flavored, and the chocolate whipped cream completes the symphony…
I was quite exhausted at the end, but so glad I decided to face this challenge. If you are interested in expanding your horizons in baking, consider joining Savour online school. I’ve been a member from their very beginning, and although I don’t bake often from their recipes, I watch most of their videos when they are published and learn a lot with each and every one.
In My Kitchen posts are hosted by Sherry, from Sherry’s Pickings. Please visit her site to see what everybody else is sharing this month. I join four times each year, on the first day of January, April, July and October. If you are a food blogger, consider taking part of this fun event. It is chance to share those little things you bought or received as gifts and that make your life in the kitchen easier.
Starting with gifts, I have quite a few to share…
I won’t name names, because I understand some people prefer to remain anonymous, but I got a beautiful Bonsai, a gorgeous baking dish with a colorful lid I love, a wooden board that gave me a huge smile, and a t-shirt that I shall proudly wear while walking the pups around the neighborhood…
But there’s more…
Two beautiful flower arrangements that arrived right on my Birthday and brightened up my day! Finally, this AMAZING chocolate-covered popcorn, which I urge you to try if you have a chance to buy or order some. Just the right amount of chocolate, not excessive, perfect against the salty popcorn. Deliciously addictive!
And, finally…
From my beloved husband, I got a super cool little gadget, an electric turntable which I immediately put to use on these Chocolate-Covered Oreos
Here is a short video of the gadget in action...
In our kitchen…
This set of chopsticks are very beautiful, we eat sushi on a regular basis at home, so it was nice to have them to spice up things. Available here.
In our kitchen…
A set of alabaster spoons, that are perfect to enjoy caviar “comme il faut”. They came with the order Phil placed with the company below.
In our kitchen…
A set of colorful kitchen scrub thingies that are gorgeous and work super well on all surfaces. I love them to clean the countertop by the sink. Read the reviews on amazon and you might do what I did: get a set!
In our kitchen…
This set of tools is designed to work with clay, but they work wonders on Royal icing and I suppose also on buttercream, although I have not yet tried to sculpt buttercream, so I don’t risk what is left of my sanity. I got them at Jo-Ann a while ago but I am sure they are available at The Evil Empire.
My most recent passion, mahlep, or mahaleb, or mahleb, not sure of the correct spelling. It is the ground seed of a type of cherry, and the flavor profile is similar to cinnamon. I love it! Recently used in Cherry Linzers, from this cookbook by Molly Yeh.
In our kitchen….
Our favorite way to consume sourdough: Phil is indulging in his special gifts from December, a great Castelvetrano olive oil and aged balsamic. Whisk, dip bread and dream!
In our kitchen….
I like metal cutters, but I must say the round ones can be tricky because there is always a seam that tends to distort it a bit. I caved and got a set of plastic cutters and I am a real happy baker!
In our kitchen….
A little manual pump normally sold to clean computer keyboards by blowing air into them. It works very well to blow sanding sugar and do some watercolor work on Royal icing, the watercolor trick I learned from Haniela recently. These chocolate-covered Oreos were also made using my little electric turntable.
In our kitchen….
Under the idea of “Cookie What You Love”, some cookies celebrating our beloved fur babies. Speaking of them, I believe it is time to let them bark a little…
This past winter has been really really hard, so we had to deal with it with the stoicism that is required from four-legged heroes.
Of course we also decided to brave the elements and have some fun running like crazy fools around the totally empty Golf Course.
At home, our humans provided us with as much entertainment and comfort as possible, because as you know those are some amazing humans!
For instance, Little Star got a brand new bird to play with…
But it turns out he had a very foul mouth and my little sister had to take matters into her own paws to silence it. And so she did… I am so proud of her! We don’t need that kind of verbal abuse around the Kingdom of Tatarrax.
We also provided moral support while Dad worked hard to exercise in the dead of the winter…
Truth is, no matter how cold outside, I am always happy when I can rule things from the comfort of my throne. I feel very dignified this way.
But I am also magnanimous and will at times allow my sister to occupy my favorite spot and use it as she sees fit… Apparently Zenless was not very happy with Star using her “favorite” coat to dream on, but we all know she can be difficult. Just ask our dad…
Sometimes even Grumpy is allowed near the throne which proves I may be a mighty ruler but I also have a soft heart.
To show gratitude to my Royal Brother I protect him as he sleeps his noble sleep…
No gratitude from Grumpy! He sees himself as The Alpha Male and tries to prove it by claiming ownership of every single bed from My Kingdom.
I am not at all worried about that. I have much more important things to do like helping Zenless celebrate her birthday…
I helped her celebrate also! I gave her extra doses of The Cute!
Clearly, you two whippersnappers know nothing about proper celebrations. I know better and I dress up for the occasion as any sensible canine should do.
Well if you must know, Mr Grumpiest, me and my sister were born with Natural Elegance, so additional items of clothing are totally unnecessary for us to shine.
Oscar fights back using pretty harsh evidence… Is THAT what you call Elegance?
I see more the behavior of two deranged, low-class quadrupeds embarrassing our humans in front of the whole neighborhood. And, barking of it, who sits in such undignified manner and sees nothing wrong with it?
How DARE you talk to us about elegance!!!! Care to explain THIS?
It was simply a moment of weakness and back-scratching abandon…..
I AM normally a Magnificent example of my species!
Well friends, as you can see the fun goes on in the Kingdom of Tatarrax and although we can complain about the harshness of this past winter, although we can complain (a lot) about politics, we can’t say there is ever a dull moment in our home! We bid goodbye for now and the canine crowd will be back for our summer feature of In My Kitchen…
Bewitching Kitchen 