UBE LINZER COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

Another adventure with ube, my newfound love. For these cookies I went the extra mile and made the jam myself, from frozen grated ube that I bought at one of our Asian grocers in town. The process is simple, in fact quite similar to making Brazilian brigadeiros and results in a smooth, not too sweet delicacy perfect to fill cookies. I opted for a little air-brushing to decorate the tops instead of the usual showering with powdered sugar.

UBE LINZER COOKIES
(adapted from Instructables)

FOR THE UBE JAM:
1/3 cup condensed milk
1/4 cup evaporated milk
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup grated ube
1 tsp ube extract
1/8 tsp salt
Squeeze of lemon

FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened at room temperature
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp ube extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
pinch of salt
Extra icing sugar for dusting

Make the jam: Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, and butter in a pan over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted in low heat. Add grated ube. Stir continuously until thickened, it should take about 10 minutes. Add ube extract, salt, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Continue stirring until you reach the consistency of thick pudding, about minutes longer. Remove from heat and let cool at room temperature.

Make the dough: Using a paddle attachment, cream together butter and icing sugar. Add egg yolk.
Continue to cream together until pale and fluffy. Add ube extract. Mix until throughly combined.
Add all purpose flour, almond flour, and salt. Mix just until combined. Roll the dough out, cut shapes, and for half of the cookies, cut a design of your choice in the center.

Bake the cookies at 325F for 15 minutes. Once cool, spray a pattern on the cookies with the cutout, if so desired. Spread ube jam on the underside of the bottom cookie layer, so that the smooth side is on the outside. Find matching tops and make a cookie sandwich.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: If you can find frozen grated ube, you are in luck! Having tried both kinds, I can tell you that the home-made jam is much better, both in taste and texture. Totally worth the extra work. The Linzer cookies had a nice flavor and amazing color just from the ube extract.

To make the pattern I used a simple stencil and air-brushed white color over the naked cookie, after baking and allowed to come to room temperature. You can of course omit this step and just cover the tops with powdered sugar, but I find those hard to transport and eat without getting the fingers all coated with sugar. Your kitchen, your rules…. At any rate, these are truly delicious, and if you want a very unusual take on Linzers, I cannot think of a better version. MAKE IT!

ONE YEAR AGO: Four Festive Macarons

TWO YEARS AGO: Cuccidati, from Tina to You

THREE YEARS AGO: Festive Macarons to Welcome 2021!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Episode 6, Cookies in The Great American Baking Show

FIVE YEARS AGO: Brazilian Chicken and Heart of Palm Pie

SIX YEARS AGO: Roasted Butternut Squash with Walnuts and Tahini Sauce

SEVEN YEARS AGO: The Complicit Conspiracy of Alcohol

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Candy Cane Cookies

NINE YEARS AGO: Macarons: Much better with a friend

TEN YEARS AGO: Our Mexican Holiday Dinner

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: The Ultimate Cranberry Sauce

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Edamame Dip

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Gougeres

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Beef Wellington on a Special Night

21Dec2023

UBE MACARONS

Posted in macarons by sallybr

Are you familiar with this Philippine ingredient? I was not, until my dear daughter-in-law Courtnie professed it to be her favorite flavor for all baked things… I was intrigued. Read a lot about it, gathered ingredients and went to work. For the macarons you will need ube extract and ube jam, which you can make yourself or buy it ready at the store. We do have a couple of great Asian markets in town and they carry exotic ingredients from all over the planet. For this adventure, I used store-bought jam, but stay tuned for my next post about it, in which I will show you how to make the jam from scratch.

UBE MACARONS
(from The Bewitching Kitchen, adapted from several sources)

For the shells:
200g Icing/powdered sugar (1 ⅔ cups)
115 g Almond Meal (1 + scant ¼ cup)
115 g egg whites at room temperature (approx. 4 eggs)
1/8 tsp of cream of tartar (optional)
100 g granulated sugar (½ cup)
¼ tsp ube extract
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Line 3 heavy baking sheets with parchment/baking paper or Silpat mats. Layer the powdered/icing sugar and ground almonds/almond meal in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture looks like fine meal, about 12 pulses. Pass through a sieve and transfer to a small bowl or to a sheet of parchment/baking paper. Set aside.

Place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Make sure that the bowl and the whisk are impeccably clean. Starting on medium speed, whip the whites with the cream of tartar until they look like light foam. The whites should not appear liquid. The foam will be light and should not have any structure.

Slowly rain in the granulated sugar in five additions, trying to aim the stream between the whisk and the side of the bowl. Turn the speed up to high. Continue to whip the meringue until it is soft and shiny. It should look like marshmallow creme (marshmallow fluff). Add the vanilla and ube extract. Whip the egg whites until the mixture begins to dull and the lines of the whisk are visible on the surface of the meringue. Check the peak. It should be firm. Transfer the whites to a medium bowl.

Fold in the ground almond/almond meal mixture in two increments. Paint the mixture halfway up the side of the bowl, using the flat side of a spatula. Scrape the mixture down to the center of the bowl. Repeat two or three times, then check to see if the mixture slides slowly down the side of the bowl. Add drops of gel color and mix them briefly with a toothpick. Put the mixture in a piping bag fitted with your choice of piping tip (round, ¼ or ½ inch in diameter or 6 – 12 mm). If you don’t have a macaron mat, draw circles on baking/parchment paper about 2inches/5cm in diameter & turn the paper over before placing on the baking sheets. Pipe shells, I like to count numbers in my head and use the same count for each shell so they end up similar in size.

Slam each sheet hard four to six times on the counter/worktop. Let the unbaked macarons dry until they look dull but not overly dry. Drying time depends on humidity. In a dry climate, the macarons can dry in 15 to 20 minutes; in a humid climate, it can take 35 to 40 minutes.

While the macarons are drying, heat the oven to 300 F (150 C/130C Fan oven/Gas Mark 2). Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack. Check in 11 minutes. If the tops slide or move (independently of the ‘feet’ when you gently twist the top), then bake for 2 to 3 more minutes. Check one or two. If they move when gently touched, put them back in the oven for 1 to 2 more minutes until they don’t move when touched. Let the macaroons cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. The macarons should release without sticking.

Assemble the macarons: find two macarons similar in size and add a good amount of filling to the bottom of one of them. Place the other on top and squeeze gently to take the filling all the way to the edge. Store in the fridge for 24 hours for perfect texture.

Make the filling:

UBE BUTTERCREAM
100g Unsalted butter, room temperature
65g Cream cheese, room temperature
50g Ube halaya (If you can’t find any use ½ tsp ube extract and 20g icing sugar)
¼ tsp Ube extract

Whisk butter, cream cheese and ube halaya together until light and fluffy. Add ube extract and mix until well combined. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Match similar sized macaron shells with each other, fill and sandwich the cookies. Decorate the top with Royal icing swirls and sanding sugar, if so desired, or leave them plain. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours for perfect texture.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I am pretty happy with these! The ube gives the macarons a very interesting flavor, cutting the sweetness a bit. If you have never tried ube, please do so, you might fall in love with it, as I did… Big thank you to Courtnie for bringing this ingredient to my attention!

ONE YEAR AGO: Christmas Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Star-Shaped Sun-dried Tomato Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: Cranberry White Chocolate Tart

FOUR YEARS AGO: I dream of Madeleines and a Tower of Cheesecakes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Dominique Ansel’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

SIX YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Eye of the Round Beef

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Steam-Roasted Indian-Spiced Cauliflower

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Creamy Zucchini-Mushroom Soup

NINE YEARS AGO: Ken Forkish’s Pain au Bacon

TEN YEARS AGO: Carrot and Cumin Hamburger Buns

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Potato Galettes a l’Alsacienne & Book Review

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Caramelized Carrot Soup

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Miso-Grilled Shrimp

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Pain Poilane

6Dec2023

BAKE IT BETTER, THE BOOK & THE VIRTUAL SPOT

Posted in Cookbook Reviews by sallybr

Wondering what to give to that friend who loves to bake but seems to own every single gadget known to mankind? Here is a suggestion for you: offer Matt Adlard’s Bake it Better, still hot from the press! And if you want the gift to be even more special, add to it a membership to his virtual cooking school, where every month a series of two or three recipes of increasing complexity are shared. Not just the recipe, but a super detailed video tutorial to make it happen flawlessly in your own kitchen. And when you join the site, you will immediately gain access to the closed Facebook group, where you can hang out with other baking-addicts such as yours truly… To order the book, click here… To get the membership-gift, click here.

I will now share a few recipes I’ve tried from this wonderful book, which recently was the focus of a nice baking weekend with my friend Tanya (see post about it here). The recipes are listed in the order I made them.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK BROWNIES

These are fudge-y, intensely flavored, and have a crackly topping made more special with the drizzle decoration. Matt is known for always gilding the lily in unexpected ways, often simple touches that add a lot to the final bake.

TOASTED MILK POWDER AND BROWN BUTTER COOKIES

What is different and unique about these cookies is the use of toasted milk powder plus browned butter. If you have ever heard of “bronze butter”, this is pretty much the easiest way to achieve that level of buttery intensity. His trick to add a few chips right when the cookies are out of the oven make them look pretty professional… Yes, it is the “bake it better” at work!

ALL-BUTTER SHORTBREAD

These are very special cookies that remind Matt of his Dad’s special cookies baked at his restaurant. Matt’s technique is quite straightforward, with small details that make this one of the simplest bakes of the book, but with amazing complexity of taste and texture. I aded just a little pattern on top with a rolling cutter.

PEANUT AND WHITE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

These are simply amazing! Delicious cookie that bakes soft and tender, with a puddle of peanut butter in the center. The whole design and simple decoration is typical of Matt, taking a humble cookie into a cute playful presentation through the little details. These cookies were a huge hit with our departmental colleagues.

TIGER MADELEINES

My favorite bake of this series, it required me to buy a special silicone pan for the madeleines because to do the coating with tempered chocolate you cannot quite use metal pans. Totally worth it.

Once again the traditional madeleines are made super especial by just splitting the batter in two portions, adding chocolate to one of them and making a simple pattern with a piping bag. Genius. Coating the back with chocolate just ties the whole thing together, but you can conceivably skip that step, and just bake them in a regular, metal pan. They are spectacular!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into Matt’s first (and let’s hope NOT last) cookbook! If you love to bake or if you are a beginner baker and would like to learn perfect technique, this book is for you. Apart from the recipes I listed today, I was honored to test a few other recipes from the book while Matt was writing it and I can tell you that the Cardamon and Orange Custard Tart is simply to die for…

(available at amazon.com)

ONE YEAR AGO: Broccoli Slaw Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

TWO YEARS AGO: Vegan Blueberry-Lemon Cheesecake

THREE YEARS AGO: Green Tea Rice with Edamame and Butternut Squash

FOUR YEARS AGO: Santa Hat Mini-Mousse Cakes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Fun with Sourdough

SIX YEARS AGO: Pasteis de Nata

SEVEN YEARS AGO: New Mexico Pork Chile, Crockpot Version

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Chocolate on Chocolate

NINE YEARS AGO: Double Chocolate and Mint Cookies

TEN YEARS AGO: The Story of my first Creme Brulle’

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Sourdough Mini-rolls

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Focaccia with Sun-dried Tomatoes and Gorgonzola

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Mediterranean Skewers

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO Fettuccine with Shrimp, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes

30Oct2023

REVVING THE ENGINES FOR HALLOWEEN!

Posted in Chocolate Bonbons, Cookies, macarons by sallybr

It is almost time!!!! I share with you three baking ideas to keep you appropriately spooked…

SKULL AND SPIDER MACARONS

The idea for these came from my friend Dorothy, who tagged me on Instagram after seeing this post. I opted for a filling of Caramel Buttercream and Apple Jelly for these scary creatures.

CARAMEL AND APPLE MACARONS
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

for the shells, use my default recipe.
I dyed the shells with a very small amount of AMERICOLOR CORK

For the filling:
60g butter
120g powdered sugar
pinch of salt
5 soft caramels (Werther’s)
2 tablespoon milk
apple jelly (store-bought is ok)

Pipe the shells in skull shape or round (if you prefer to simplify). Bake them, let them cool, and pair them.

Draw the design of your choice (skull or spider) on the shells.

Make the buttercream: beat the room temperature butter for a couple of minutes. Add the salt and powdered sugar, beat until almost incorporated (mixture will be dry). Microwave the caramels with the milk until very hot, and whisk the caramels to dissolve. Let them cool slightly and add to the buttermilk. Finish creaming everything together, you should not need to add any more liquid, but if necessary, add a few drops of milk to achieve piping consistency.

Add a circle of buttercream to the bottom shell, a little blob of apple jelly in the center, and close the macaron with the top shell. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours before eating.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: The idea for the filling came from this post. That is a great site for macaron ideas, by the way. I did not make a template for the skulls, just improvised them starting from a regular circle, so they are not all the same shape, which I think is even better for a spooky bake.

SPOOKY CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

Use your regular mold for covering Oreos and use a contrasting color of chocolate to drizzle and glue sprinkles. The ghost is made with a smear of white compound chocolate on parchment paper, and orange sprinkles for the eyes. Once that is set (within a few minutes), place on the covered Oreo with a tiny amount of melted chocolate.

NINE BLACK CATS

These are my default Chocolate-Chipotle cutout cookies, iced with orange Royal icing and painted with Sugarprism. I just did a free-hand drawing, following the design of Kathy Barbro (IG page here).

ONE YEAR AGO: Happy Halloween from my Cookie Blog to You!

TWO YEARS AGO: Incredibly Simple Carrots

THREE YEARS AGO: Sarah Bernhardt’s Cookies

FOUR YEARS AGO: A Really Big Announcement

FIVE YEARS AGO: Stir-Fried Chicken in Sesame-Orange Sauce

SIX YEARS AGO: Monday Blues

SEVEN YEARS AGO: A New Way to Roast Veggies

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Two Takes on Raspberries

NINE YEARS AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree

TEN YEARS AGO: Own Your Kitchen with Cappuccino Panna Cotta

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Wild Mushroom Risotto

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

6Oct2023

DRESSING UP THE OREO COOKIE

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

Talk about a classic cookie, loved in more than 100 countries, born as Hydrox in 1908, sold in many flavors, some do not exist anymore (Lemon Meringue, anyone?). More than 40 billion Oreos are made every year, so why not make 20 or so in your own kitchen? Here is how.

OREO COOKIES
(slightly modified from Tasty.com)

FOR THE COOKIES
1 cup (225g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g)white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1 heaping cup (140g) dark cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda

CREAM FILLING
½ cup (113g) butter, softened
2 cups (240g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a Kitchen Aid type mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs until fully incorporated. In a bow, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix together until combined.

Turn the dough out onto your surface and push together into a flat square. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 325˚F. Remove the dough from the fridge, roll out and if desired, use a patterned rolling pin or other embossing gadgets to create a pattern. Cut the cookie rounds and freeze for 10 minutes before baking for about 15 minutes.

To make the filling, combine butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla in a medium mixing bowl. Beat together until light and fluffy. Assemble the cookies by spreading a generous scoop of the icing onto one of the cookies and sandwiching it with another.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: These are definitely for intense chocolate lovers, as the black cocoa pushes the chocolate flavor to higher levels. They are of course, totally fine made plain, but I cannot help dressing them up a bit with the pattern on top.

And now, let me take you through a little Chocolate-Covered Oreo Adventure! You need to get the appropriate molds, either plain or with designs and go to work. When using plain molds, I like to add chocolate transfer sheets to make them more visually appealing.

TRANSFER SHEETS
DARK AND GOLD

TRANSFER SHEETS
MISCELLANEOUS

The thing with transfer sheets is that unfortunately you get what you pay for. It is possible to find quite affordable options on amazon, etsy, but if you pay a little more you will be much happier with the results. Less flaking, sharper images. One great brand (the one I used for the ones below) is called LUCKS but apparently they are not in business anymore, it broke my heart. I had those golden dot sheets for years, and wanted to get some more.

SPECIAL MOLDS

All my molds with patterns are from Spinningleaf.com

You can dress up Oreos using molds that generate a pattern. I sometimes dye a small portion of compound chocolate and paint areas of the mold before pouring the contrasting color. You need to let the painted area fully set before pouring the warm chocolate on top.

REACH FOR THE STARS

For the stars, I dyed some chocolate with yellow ad also brushed the inside of the mold with gold. Next time I will go for more contrast.

WORSHIP THE SUNFLOWER

One of my favorites, the sunflower mold, you just need to be careful painting the center so that the edges stay sharp.

BAKE WITH YOUR HEART

Making chocolate-covered Oreos is a weekly event for me, as it turns out they are THE most popular item with the homeless meals. That and a certain banana bread that I shared not too long ago. I hope you enjoyed this post, and consider playing with Oreos also.