Cake Batter & Crumbs

Daring Bakers Challenge: Lemon Meringue Pie

I'm so excited to be part of the Daring Bakers group. January's challenge is my first, and it was really a lot of fun. Jen from The Canadian Baker announced that this month's challenge will be Lemon Meringue Pie, which was a little more intimidating for me because my husband's grandmother makes an awesome lemon meringue pie. Dare I attempt such a pie as well?

The recipe has three components. First the crust is prepared and blind baked in the oven. I should have read the recipe more closely as I didn't realize I needed pie weights. Guess I don't make many pies and will have to work on that. I rummaged through my cupboards looking for some dried beans that I could use as weights, but had none. I thought for a while about other solids I could shove inside some tin foil to weigh the crust down. I almost grabbed a box of macaroni, but in the end decided it was worth the trip to the grocery store to buy a bag of dried beans. Sixty-eight cents later, I was on my way home with  my makeshift pie weights. The lemon curd is such a beautiful, glossy-yellow filling for the pie. It's poured into the pie crust and allowed to cool to room temperature. The last component is the fluffy meringue that is piled on top and browned in the oven.

Overall, I thought this pie was a great success. My pie crust didn't come out as pretty as I had hoped and it seemed to slide a little down in the pan. Luckily the meringue covers most of it! The crust though has a really nice sweet flavor and wasn't dried out like some can get. The lemon curd has an excellent tart flavor and is complimented really well by the sweetness of the meringue. Not sure if it beats grandma's, but hey she's had a lot longer to perfect her recipe!

Check out everyone else's pies at The Daring Bakers' Blogroll.

Lemon Meringue Pie
Daring Bakers January Challenge
recipe from Wanda's Pie in the Sky

Lemon Meringue Pie

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:

¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:

2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
¼ cup (60 mL) butter
¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:

5 egg whites, room temperature
½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.

Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

French Apple Tart

A while ago I splurged on some baking pans from France and I've been dying to use them ever since. I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to use them, but I'm very pleased in the result with their inaugural use. I love the look of the French apple tarts that you can see displayed so beautifully inside the patisserie shop cases. I wanted to give it a try for myself.

These open-faced tarts are really quite simple to prepare. I adapted mine from Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques book. First the dough is prepared. I used a recipe for pâte sucrée, which is a sweet, short pastry dough. It reminds me a lot of short bread cookies. Peel, core, and thinly slice some cooking apples and arrange nicely in the tart pan. I love, love, love my apple peeler/corer. It makes this job oh so easy, and it's actually kind of fun to use! The apples are brushed with melted butter, then sprinkled with sugar and baked. After the tart is baked, I heated some apricot preserves and lightly brushed it on the tops of the apples.

The toughest task was arranging the apple slices. No matter how I tried, mine just didn't look as good as in the picture. What I discovered though is that as the apples bake, they magically soften up, shrink a bit, and meld together nicely. So, the final product turned out a lot better than the raw version. The tart was excellent; definitely different than an apple pie and really delicious with vanilla ice cream.

French Apple Tart

Pâte Sucrée

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1/4 tsp vanilla

Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter. Stir in the sugar. Use a fork to lightly whisk the egg yolks with the vanilla then add them to the dry ingredients and mix to forma short dough. Press together lightly and chill for 30 minutes. (The dough will be more crumbly than regular pie dough)

Apple Tart

4 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced (I used Granny Smith)
juice from 1 lemon
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar

Toss the apples with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration. Press the tart dough into the tart pan making sure to get the dough along all of the sides. Arrange the apples in the pan, overlapping them slightly. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar. Bake at 375 for around 45 minutes. (Keep an eye on the edges of the crust. I had to use a crust shield toward the end of the baking time.)

I also brushed mine with some cooked apricot preserves. It gave it a nice glossy finish with even extra flavor.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

One of my most favorite desserts ever is Tiramisu. There's something about the combination of sponge cake and velvety mascarpone cream filling that is irresistible to me. Throw in some chocolate and a hint of coffee, and I'm in heaven.

When I saw that the Cupcake Hero's challenge this month was coffee, I decided to try turning this classic Italian dessert into a cupcake.

To get started with the base, I adapted the tiramisu sponge cake recipe from a Williams Sonoma Desserts cookbook. Instead of baking in a spring form pan, I filled 18 cupcake liners. You really have to watch these in the oven as the batter is so airy, it takes a very short time to bake. Once the cupcakes have baked and cooled, I made some slits in the tops with a knife and then brushed them with a sweetened espresso syrup. The final component is the mascarpone cream that I filled inside the cupcakes as well as on top. Dust them with cocoa powder, and a few chocolate shavings, and it's all set! These were so tasty and just as good as their full-sized counterparts. Yum!

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Sponge Cake
1 cup (4 1/2 oz / 140 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, at room temperature
2/3 (4 2/3 oz / 145 g) sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with 18 liners. I sprayed the liners with nonstick spray. (I don't know if that's necessary, but the cake didn't stick in the end so it worked)

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt until blended.  In a large bowl, using a mixer on medium-high speed, beat the eggs until pale and thick (about 3 min). Add the sugar and vanilla and continue beating until very thick and tripled in volume (about 3 min more). Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, and using a rubber spatula, fold gently until blended.

Fill the liners with the batter and baking until a toothpick inserted in the cakes comes out clean. Mine only took around 15 minutes. Let the cake cool completely

Syrup
1/2 cup (4 fl oz / 125 ml) water
1/3 cup (2 1/3 oz / 70 g) sugar
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Combine the water and the sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves.Bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Stir in the rum and espresso powder. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Make slits in tops of cupcakes with a sharp knife and then brush on the espresso syrup.

Filling
8 oz mascarpone
scant 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon marsala
1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled

Beat together the mascarpone, confectioner’s sugar and marsala in a mixer until well blended. Add the cream for around another 1-2 minutes until it is fluffy.

Using a pastry bag with the filling mixture, insert the tip in the cupcake to squeeze a small amount. Then frost the tops of the cupcakes with the mixture. Sprinkle cocoa powder and chocolate shavings.

Banana Cupcakes

My husband loves banana flavored baked goods and when given the choice between chocolate or fruit flavored cupcakes, he was quick to ask for a banana cupcake. For Christmas he bought me the book 500 Cupcakes by  Fergal Connolly and it had a nice recipe for banana cupcakes.

Now, I have to admit I really only like bananas in their natural form. I was never a fan of banana bread or banana cakes, but I was happy to give these a go. I altered the mixing process after watching Alton Brown explain the science behind cake baking. I've included my method below in the instructions instead of the original recipe version.

The batter includes quite a lot of butter and in addition to your typical cake ingredients, it also incorporates a bit of nutmeg and of course bananas. I found the batter to be quite tasty. In fact, I was blissfully excited because it only had a faint flavor of banana and a wonderful nutmeg spiciness. I took the mixer beater and was in heaven. After baking these golden beauties though, I was slightly saddened at how the banana flavor intensified while in the oven. My husband though couldn't stop shoving them in his mouth, so I'm figuring they must be a winner. The recipe suggests topping these with a simple cream cheese icing. Since these have fresh fruit in them, I'm storing them in the refrigerator.

Banana Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
4 eggs
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup (about 2 large mashed ripe bananas)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans. Cream together the butter and sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Sift together the flour and nutmeg. Lightly beat the eggs into a bowl. Slowly add part of the flour mixture to the sugar and butter and then alternate with the eggs until all of the flour and eggs are incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes.

Chocolate Truffles

Rich, luscious, creamy, divine... these are all words that come to mind when I think of chocolate truffles. Because of their high society status (in my mind anyway) I assumed that making these at home would be a daunting task that naturally would end in some sort of kitchen disaster. Surprised, however, was I to see how easy these really are to create. With a few simple tricks, anyone can make these 'expensive-to-purchase' but 'cheap-to-make chocolates' in their own homes.

I wanted to start basic, so this is a classic truffle recipe I found on the Food Network website made from a  semi-sweet chocolate ganache and rolled in cocoa powder. The trick to making these is to work with very chilled ganache and then have very cold hands. The recipe suggests running your hands under cold water. I also saw Warren Brown on Sugar Rush make truffles and his recommendation was to pull out some cans of soda from your fridge and roll them between your hands. If your hands are too warm, you'll melt the ganache and end up with a sticky, chocolaty mess.

These truffles so rich and creamy and they melt in your mouth. They definitely help curb a chocolate craving.

Chocolate Truffles
from How to Boil Water on the Food Network

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 to 2 tablespoons dark rum, Grand Marnier, Bourbon, or other liquor [I used Grand Marnier and it gave it a really nice flavor]

1/4 to 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa, confectioners' sugar, sweetened ground chocolate, or finely chopped nuts Put the chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan or microwave, heat the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and shake the bowl gently to settle the cream. Cover with a plate or lid and set aside until the chocolate melts, about 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture until smooth and shiny. Stir in the rum or other flavoring. Cover the surface of the chocolate with plastic wrap. Set aside in a cool place until the chocolate firms up, about 2 hours. (To speed this up set the bowl of chocolate over another bowl of ice and stir until the desired consistency.)

Line a baking sheet with waxed or parchment paper. Use 2 spoons to drop small mounds/balls of chocolate, about 1/2 to 1-inch high on the paper (depending on the size you want). Then chill your hands under a faucet of running cold water or by using an ice bath. Roll each chocolate mound between your open palms to make smooth round balls.

Pour the cocoa or coating of choice into a cake pan or on a plate. Roll the truffles in the coating or use a clean spoon to pour the coating on the truffles. Repeat with all the truffles. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, scoop the truffles out of the cocoa with a fork or a slotted spoon. Put the truffles in small candy cups and serve now or refrigerate until ready to serve.