Custard Tarts and Fish Fingers

Lately I have been watching a new TV show from the BBC called the Great British Bake Off.  One of the segments on the show requires the contestants to take on a recipe from one of the two main judges and making them to the judges standards.  Right before the challenge begins the judges are shown at a table with a perfect representation of the challenge recipe.  During Amy and my trip to France we enjoyed several sugar crusted custards called creme bruelees.  So when I saw the contestants making these custard tarts I thought of those great creme brulees.  I decided to take on the same challenge as the contestants and I found the recipe by Paul Hollywood.  If you want to see some great bakery and pastries look up the great British Bake Off on Youtube.

So the biggest issues that I found while making these tarts the recipe didn't give any real thickness for the tart pastry.  So this was my problem I made them about a quarter inch thick and what I found was that some would turn out fine.  So if I do this again I would make them a little thicker.  The second major issue I found was when I prepared the custard.  The recipe is written using weights and British terms for ingredients.  So it says to warm the milk and in a separate bowl it says to whip the egg yolks and caster sugar. Caster sugar is what the British call cane sugar.  So the real problem is when you add the warm milk to the whipped egg yolk and sugar.  So if you whip to quickly you will create small foam bubbles and it makes the pouring in the shells impossible.  You have to transfer the custard to a pourable container because its easier to pour the custard in the shells on the shelf in the oven instead of trying to carry the filled pan full of filled shells.  I hope that my pushing myself to be a better baker, makes you guys step out of your comfort zone and try new food recipes.

Recipe
For the sweet pastry

 165g/5¾oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting

 25g/1oz ground almonds 

 120g/4¼oz chilled unsalted butter, cubed

 55g/2oz caster sugar 

 1 free-range egg 

For the custard filling

  700ml/1¼ pint full-fat milk 

  7 free-range egg yolks 

  90g/3¼oz caster sugar 

  freshly ground nutmeg

First mix all the dry ingredients for the crust together then cube your butter and then mix with your fingers.

This is what you dough should look like after you add the butter. So to this mix in the egg and knead until it becomes a nice dough and pulls away from the bowl.  At which point allow this to chill for 30 minutes.  Roll out to larger then a 1/4 inch thick and cut out circles about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. I used a cupcake tin to bake the tarts.  Preheat to 400F. The next parts were really hard and I didn't get to many pictures.  So heat milk mix those into the yolks and sugar mix (don't over mix when you add the milk or you will have to much foam and its hard to pour). Bake for 25 minutes.

The top should have a little color and still have a little giggle to them let these cool in the pan for 30 minutes then comes the fun of removing from the pan.  The black bubbles on the tin were from the foam that was created for over mixing.  Next time I would allow the custard to sit allowing the foam to subside a small amount.

At this point its enjoy.  These are little on the go egg custards the hold up pretty well.  My personal addition to this is my favorite part and my dad's wife Marie loves as well. Take more cane sugar and put it on the top of these and hit it with the blowtorch for that creme brulee crunchy sugar top.

Phantom of the Opera Cake

Continuing my Simeon week of recipes.  My wife, Amy and I always concerned our self with his education.  So when he was very young we spent lots of times figuring out where to send him for daycare and then later to school.  The school we decided on is a catholic school which we felt was important to both of us.  We started our relationship with my self becoming catholic before we got married and Amy finds enjoyment in going to church on Sundays.  This emphasis in religion in our lives helped us decide to send him to a catholic daycare and school.  Last month I made a pie for his teacher and made three different kinds of cookies for his Christmas party. So last Monday my sons 4K teacher who also is his principal asked me to make a cake for a local event the school puts on called All for Love.  I decided to make a special cake that is very a decedent cake and is full of coffee flavor.  This recipe is called an Opera Cake which was created in Paris around the time the the national opera was open.  I added my photo of the Paris opera house from my wife and my trip to Paris.  

Opera Cake is layers of almond sponge cake soaked in with coffee and brandy separated by a layer of espresso buttercream and a bitter sweet chocolate glaze.  The recipe for my Opera Cake Came from epicurious.com.  The skill you need to understand the best is folding so as not to lose the air that has been whipped into the eggs and the egg whites.

For almond sponge cake 

 3 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising), sifted after measuring, plus additional for dusting pan 

2 whole large eggs at room temperature for 30 minutes

1 cup almond flour (3 1/2 oz) or 2/3 cup blanched whole almonds (see cooks' note, below)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, sifted after measuring
2 large egg whites at room temperature for 30 minutes
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, foam discarded, and butter cooled
For coffee syrup
1/2 cup espresso coffee
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup Cognac or other brandy
For coffee buttercream
1/2 of the coffee syrup
2 large egg yolks
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and softened
For chocolate glaze
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened; preferably 70 to 71% cacao), coarsely chopped

I mix up the whole eggs till they are almost triple in amount, then this is what it looks like when you add the almond flour and cake flour and icing sugar (or confectioners sugar) is combined.  I found that this is very thick and hard to fold the whites in so add the butter to this before you fold in the whites. 

Whip egg whites and cream of tarter till it becomes fluffy then add the sugar slowly to make a nice stiff peaks. Fold this into the almond flour mix in three separate additions.

I used parchment paper in the pan to save on clean up of my pans.  When you pour this into your prepared pan, don't worry you want to spread out the cake into a very thin cake it will raise a little but not much.  Bake at 425 for about 7minutes 30 minutes to 10 minutes. 

It will look pale but the edges will show some color.  While this cools you can make the butter cream which is easy I put the egg yolks in my mixer and mix till pale yellow.  At the same time I make the coffee syrup just combine the ingredients and bring to a boil.  Take and pour half of the syrup in the egg yolks, and let it mix to cool slightly.  At this point I add the butter I cube up and let it mix till incorporated fully then add a few more cubes of butter.

This is what you glaze should look like when almost fully incorporated.  your looking for smooth and shinny. 

So this is how you assemble the final cake. You take a piece of cake at the bottom then brush with the coffee syrup.  I like to let the syrup soak in and then do it again.  I then put a layer of buttercream down(in this one I piped in the cream it was easier and made assembly faster, larger cakes I recommend using a spatula to even out the layer.  Then another piece of cake and more coffee syrup.  Then pour the glaze over the cake.  Repeat the sequence till you get the desired number of layers you want. This is a version of the final cake I made for a small packer NFC championship game that I made using cake pop holders I have.

The Flying Braided Spaghetti bread monster (My French Bread recipe)

   
  So I have been trying to get my son involved in making food and helping around the house.  He is only four so I don't expect the world of him but I would like him to have some enjoyment in manual labor.  This week is dedicated to him.  I remember my mom and Grandma taking me under their wings and teaching me to bake.  I always wanted to be apart of the action in the kitchen during holidays.  Some of my favorite pictures in my photo album I made for myself a year back are of my grandmother, my mom, and I baking cookies or decorating them.

I have a picture like this of my mom and I doing this when I was a kid.  These are the memories that I want to give to him.

    These types of memories are what I am trying to help people remember with this blog.  I also wanted to help my son create memorable moments that he can pass down through picture or stories.  My hidden plan in showing him this is to help teach him how to cook.  I feel that some of the younger generation don't have the cooking skills that the generation before us have.  Creating family bonding moments tend to occur from situations like this.  Point in case is the photo of Simeon and myself kneading the dough.  What you see is me bonding with my son and smiling, what you don't see is us having fun listening to music and my wife taking photos of us and smiling the whole time.

Simeon is the light of my life and my toughest critic.  I let him test everything before I give it to anyone.  He does give it to me straight, whether he enjoys it or hates it completely.


The Basic recipe is french bread
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
2 cups of water
1 1/2 tablespoons of oil (I had some nice hot chili evoo I used)
2 1/4 teaspoons of salt
6 cups of flour

Mix the first three ingredients and let sit for ten minutes.  While that goes mix together the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients in two separate bowls.

After combining the the wet and dry ingredients together and you get to this stage.

Its time to knead this every ten minutes for the next hour. After the rest shape each individual loaf and egg wash like below.

This is my son learning how to get that beautiful shiny professional look to each loaf of bread. Bake your finished and proofed loaves of bread at 375 for 20-25 minutes till GBD (golden brown and Delicious).

 

To make it into braided spaghetti bread take per-cooked spaghetti and sauce and cut mozzarella cheese and load into a flattened out 1/4 of the total amount of dough and cut the outside of into one inch strips.  you will also leave a small triangle at either end of the bread.  Fold up the two triangle then alternate the side you fold over.  Egg was the bread and allow to proof for one hour to allow the bread to rise.

    

 I recommend that if you make the spaghetti bread, make two because it is good and addicting.  Also it reheats well in the microwave

Sable Cookies and the Raiders of Normandy

I had a single dream in my life from the time I was a child was to spend time in France.  My Grandpa Gauthier fought in World War 2 and I know he repaired tanks in France due to pictures my father had of him.  So when the opportunity arrived I almost jumped out of my shorts with enthusiasm for going.  I will tell you if you have never been to France, go.  Enjoy the smells, culture, and food.  Of all the peaceful feelings of my life, seeing the place my grandpa came into Europe during World War 2.  The reason I say it was peaceful is because my grandpa Gauthier died when I was six years old and I never really got to know him so this is the closest I have ever gotten to knowing him as a person.  When we were in Arromanches, and saw the man-made docks that the expeditionary forces entered France after the initial invasion on D-Day it was the closest that I ever came to being close to him.  Walking in my grandfathers foot steps help me feel closer to him, and to understand what kind of gumption he must of had to go into battle.

         One of the most vivid memories I have are related to a biscuit that I was eating the first time I saw Mt. St. Michel.  As a tour group we stopped at a biscuitier in Normandy region of France.  For my English friends out there a biscuit in European terms is a crisp cookies.  The actual kind I enjoyed the most were galette au beurre (which are cookies that are flaky and washed with egg yolk wash).  The other cookies that my wife and I brought home from France were Sable cookies ( these cookies are just a butter cookies made with plain sugar and icing sugar).  So in honor my bake this week is a vanilla sable cookie.  The recipe for the cookie is as follows.

 

2 vanilla beans ( I replaced this with 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

1/3 C granulated sugar

8 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 C powdered sugar

1 large egg yolks

9 ounces (2 cups) unbleached all purpose flour

 

 

I mix the butter till it looks like this.  What your almost making is a butter cream so at this point add your sugars.

At this point you have a very good butter cream which you can decorate cakes with.  I then add my flours and mix just enough to bring the mixture together.

When your dough is mixed together I use cling wrap to make the dough into a log about an inch a round.  I then refrigerate the dough for 3 hours or overnight.  This makes the dough easier to cut into about a half inch thick slice to bake.

I love to reuse containers for what they were made for.  So I like to put my cookies into the same container my wife and I brought bake from France. It is a good tin for these kinds of cookies.

These are what the final products of the recipe look like.  These cookies will remind you of sandies, but will melt in your mouth.  I enjoy these with  either coffee or tea.

 

What is your favorite food memory

I am a person that loves to associate great memories with food that goes along with them.  My blog is to reflect my favorite food memories.  I believe we are a society of people and that every person has great memories that go along with every big moment in your lives as well.  My personal favorite food memory is making cookies with my mom, grandmother, and grandfather during the Christmas season.  To this day I make my own personal favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies with dark chocolate chips.  As time goes on I will give you both of the recipes and tell you more of the stories behind my food memories. The only thing that will make me not want my own cookie is my grandma's cookies.  For some reason.  Her cookies have a lot of flour in them and they tend to have a great crumb to them. The taste of them is perfect to me.  I really believe that you can get a true feel of a persons love of dinning and live. 

Now here is what I want.  I have a question for everyone that reads my blog.  1. Tell me you favorite food memory? If there is a story please I love to know them. 

Profiteroles and why I learned to love my wife more.

Some of the best food memories I have are from a trip my wife and I took to France in 2009.  The first night we were in France we said that we were going to eat anything that we could.  Its only fitting I share with you one of my favorite desserts which was the first dessert we had in France.  I never knew what a profiterole was before that night.  Turns out profiteroles are a pretty name for small bite size cream puffs.  They are usually topped with a chocolate sauce, unless they are made for a traditional french wedding cake called a croquembouche.  I had planned on making something out of the normal for my wife's Christmas party.  So it was funny when my wife came home and said that one of her coworkers was expecting something extraordinary.  So here it is my version of a croquembouche.

 First thing is making a choux pastry which is very simple 

1 cup water

1 stick butter

1 cup flour

1 cup eggs (3-4 eggs)

1 pinch salt

Into the pot put the water and butter then boil.  Once at this point add the flour and salt continuously stirring till it is well incorporated.  It will be hard to get it to mix fully but keep at it.

After you have the the flour incorporated mix in the eggs one at a time till your dough looks like this.  I like to think it should be pipe able.

I like to draw one inch circles so that way you get a nice even amount of profiteroles.  Once You get to this point what I do is take a small cup of cold water to dip a finger in so I can gently push down the tips.  Bake these at 425 degrees for 10 minutes then pop a hole in the bottom of them. then bake again at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes to dry them out.

When they come out  this is what you get.  When cooled fill with your favorite filling then prepare for the cone assembly.

 The mixture for the sugar solution is.
1 cup of sugar
1/8 c water
Mix together over heat till the sugar melts into a beautiful caramel.  Then dip the bottoms in the caramel and make concentric rings giving a couple of seconds to to dry and start the next level.  when you have the layers complete take a fork and swing it bake and forth over the top of the cone giving you the strands of sugar.( oh don't do this on a rainy day, the strings will not form due to the moisture in the air.)

enjoy!

                                 

Best food memory (Cinnamon Rolls)

So one of my first and probably best food memories that sticks in my mind is my mom baking cinnamon rolls for me and my brother on Saturday mornings.  My mom was a teacher so it was hard for her to make fresh rolls for us.  Her preferred recipe of choice was Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls.  Every once and awhile she would buy the Rhodes raised cinnamon rolls.  I enjoyed the flavor of the Rhodes brand to the Pillsbury rolls.  My favorite smell in the world is the smell of fresh baked bread or rolls.  I always wanted to make them from scratch.  I made my first batch of from scratch rolls when I was in my early twenties.  The recipe at the time came from the better homes and garden cookbook that I got from my mom.  Since then I learned my tastes are a little different from that recipe and decided to start searching for a better recipe.   If you ever need a great idea for something or recipe of any kind try pintrest it is an invaluable resource to every person for every need.  The recipe I used for these rolls from Laurens latest for one hour cinnamon rolls.

Cinnamon rolls
-Dough
1 cup warm milk( 115 degrees) it should be warm to the touch not hot
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/3 vegetable oil
4-4 1/2 cups flour

-Filling
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

frosting
one recipe of what ever you like on them

First mix the warm milk, yeast, and half of the sugar.  This type of environment helps promote yeast growth. This differs from most peoples because I add the sugar.

After 10-15 minutes you will smell that great bread yeast smell that's how you know it is ready for the next step.  You will also notice foam or bubbles on the surface.

While waiting for the yeast to proof mix together the rest of the sugar, salt and about 3 1/2 cups of flour together.

Mix together your egg, oil, flour mixture, and yeast mixture till it looks like this. Knead this in about a 1/4 cup of flour or more till its smooth like the picture below.

Allow this to raise for about forty minutes in a warm place.  My wife and I own a home with radiator style heating system and there is one in my kitchen that has a board on top of it.  This is my favorite place to raise my dough because of the constant heat in the winter.  This raises for about 30-40 minutes depending on the temperature in the house.

While allowing the bread to raise mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

This is what the dough should look like when it has raised long enough.

Flour your work surface then roll out the dough till it is about a 1/4 in thick and 18 inches wide by 38 to 40 inches wide.

Spread dough with melted butter then spread the filling out.  I did mine like this to leave area to seal the ends up. Looking up this image I rolled the dough towards the purple bowl from the bottom of the picture.

If you roll tightly enough this is what the cross section of the rolls should look like.  I cut the roll every 2 1/2 inches.

I then put them into a greased pan and raised the rolls for 15 minutes in an oven set at 170 degrees. I pulled the rolls and raised the oven temp to 350 degrees.

I baked the rolls for about 20 to 25 minutes depending on your stove and temp and humidity.

Then serve and enjoy.  The topping I personally enjoy on my cinnamon rolls is called Diplomat cream.  It is a mix of French pastry cream that is really thick and Whip cream.  It tastes like ice cream and is a much lighter alternative to cream cheese frosting.