Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
• 2 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
• Lemon Cream Frosting
• 1 cup lemon curd

Line muffin tin with 24 paper liners.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat butter with a electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.  Gradually add sugar and beat until combined.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Alternatively add flour mixture and buttermilk/sour milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined.  Stir in 2 tsp. of finely shredded lemon peel.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and bake for 15-18 mins. or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans for 5 mins. then remove cupcakes and cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare Lemon Cream Frosting and set aside.  Spoon lemon curd into a decorating bag fitted with a star or round tip.  Push tip into each cupcake and force some lemon curd inside. 

Generously pipe or spread frosting onto the tops of the cupcakes.

Lemon Cream Frosting:

• 6 oz. cream cheese
• 1/3 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup lemon curd
• 6 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp. milk

In a large bowl, combine softened cream cheese,  softened butter and lemon curd.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until smooth.  Gradually add 3 cups of powdered sugar, beating well.  Beat in 1 tbsp. of milk.  Gradually beat in the other 3 cups of powdered sugar.  If necessary beat in additional milk, 1 tsp. at a time, to make the frosting of a spreadable consistency.

Tip: To make 1 cup of sour milk, place 1 tbsp. of vinegar or lemon juice in a glass measuring cup.  Add milk to make 1 cup total liquid.  Stir.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

This is a nice change from all the chocolately recipes I do.  Sweet with a nice bit of tart from the lemon curd hiding inside each cupcake.  Kind of a like a little surprise in each one.  Love that!  I found this made a huge HUGE amount of frosting and was able to do almost 2 batches of cupcakes with 1 recipe of frosting.  Feel free to make this for company.  It’ll be a hit.  You can trust me on that, Chippies.

I give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Introduction: Unless you’ve been frozen in permafrost for the past five years, you’ve likely noticed that cupcake bakeries have popped up all over like iced mushrooms. Knock one down, and three take its place. Much has been made about not only the cupcake’s popularity, but also its incipient demise as the sweet du jour. Since we seem to be a culture intent on the next sensation, pundits, food enthusiasts and bloggers have all wondered what this sensation might be. More than a few have suggested that French-style macaroons (called macarons in France) might supplant the cupcake. This may or may not come to pass, but the basic premise of the French macaroon is pretty damned tasty.

In the United States, the term “macaroon” generally refers to a cookie made primarily of coconut. But European macaroons are based on either ground almonds or almond paste, combined with sugar and egg whites. The texture can run from chewy, crunchy or a combination of the two. Frequently, two macaroons are sandwiched together with ganache, buttercream or jam, which can cause the cookies to become more chewy. The flavor possibilities and combinations are nigh endless, allowing infinitely customizable permutations.

Famed purveyors of the French macaroon include the legendary Ladurée (http://www.laduree.fr/index_en.htm) and Pierre Hermé (http://www.pierreherme.com/index.cgi?cwsid=7450phAC194316ph5211130) in Paris, Paulette Macarons (http://www.paulettemacarons.com/) and Jin Patisserie (http://www.jinpatisserie.com/) in Los Angeles, and La Maison du Chocolat worldwide (http://www.lamaisonduchocolat.com/en/index.php#/home/undefined/1). This is by no means a complete listing of patisseries and bakeries that sell macaroons. If you want to check if any bakeries near you sell French macaroons, here’s a good place to start: http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/10/where-to-find-macarons-new-york-city-….

French macaroons are notorious for being difficult to master. Type in “macaroon,” “French macaroon” or “macaron” in your search engine of choice, and you will be inundated not only with bakeries offering these tasty little cookies, but scores and even hundreds of blogs all attempting to find the perfect recipe, the perfect technique. Which one is right? Which captures the perfect essence of macaroons? The answer is all of them and none of them. Macaroons are highly subjective, the subject of passionate, almost Talmudic study and debate. Chewy? Crisp? Age your egg whites? Ground the nuts or use nut meal or nut flour? Cooked sugar syrup, or confectioners’ sugar? In the words of a therapist, what do you think is the ideal macaroon? The answer lies within you.

Will French macaroon supplant the cupcake as the next sweet trend? There’s no way to know. I couldn’t have predicted the resurgence of leggings, yet here they are.

Note: Macaroon making is somewhat labor intensive, yet simultaneously less difficult than you think it will be. One thing you must do is have your egg whites at room temperature. This ensures they beat up properly, as texture is an integral component to macaroons. You will be piping the batter onto parchment paper or nonstick liners, and some home bakers use stencils to make sure their macaroons are uniform in size. It’s your choice.

Be aware that you are beating your egg whites first to soft peaks. Soft peaks means that the peaks of the meringue curl over when you lift up the beaters. After you add the granulated sugar to the soft peak meringue, you will beat the mixture to stiff peaks, which, true to their name, stand straight up. Be careful not to overbeat your eggs.

You will also be folding the nut flour into the meringue. As with most recipes when you combine something with beaten egg whites, be gentle in your mixing to keep the egg whites light.

Some recipes call for drying the piped macaroons on the counter prior to baking for 30 minutes to an hour. This recipe stipulates that you bake the macaroons at a low temperature for 5 minutes, then take them out of the oven, raising the temperature, and baking them for an additional 7 to 8 minutes. Drying is necessary to get the trademark “feet” on your macaroons. Experiment to find the best technique for you.

If you plan on using parchment paper rather than nonstick pan liners, be careful when removing the macaroons from the paper, as they can stick and are very delicate. Some recipes suggest lifting up a corner of the paper and letting a drop of water fall onto the hot baking sheet, thus producing steam, which helps the macaroons release.

Flavor variations are, as I said, infinite. In Fleming’s original recipe, she calls for adding vanilla bean seeds to the granulated sugar, and folds in the zest of a lemon to make lemon macaroons. You can add cocoa powder, instant coffee or espresso powder, green tea powder, fruit zests. You can tint the batter (Helen again suggests using powdered food coloring to keep from adding too much moisture to the batter). The same goes for fillings—anything goes. Ganache, buttercream, jam, caramel, custard. Here in L.A., there is place called Milk (http://www.themilkshop.com/) that bakes extra large macaroons and makes them into delicious ice cream sandwiches. You must make at least one filling, preferably from scratch, but what that filling will be is entirely up to you.

An important note about coloring and flavoring: liquid food coloring can be used, but be cautious! Use 1-3 drops maximum, otherwise, according to Helen, it increases the moisture in the batter, and that can ruin the macaroons. She suggests one trick: mix the liquid color with the almonds and powdered sugar and to let that air dry for a couple of hours. This reduced the moisture a little bit. If you use more than 3 drops of food coloring, you’re going to have a disaster. That means using fruit puree is out. One way to flavor the macaroons is to use 1-2 teaspoons of citrus zest, 1-2 teaspoons of matcha (green tea powder), or 1-2 teaspoons of herbs or freeze-dried fruit powders. If you want savory macaroons, you can try 1 teaspoon of saffron or other savory dry flavorings. If you want to use powdered color, Helen says that up to 1 tablespoon is a safe amount.

Equipment required:
• Electric mixer, preferably a stand mixer with a whisk attachment
• Rubber spatula
• Baking sheets
• Parchment paper or nonstick liners
• Pastry bag (can be disposable)
• Plain half-inch pastry bag tip
• Sifter or sieve
• If you don’t have a pastry bag and/or tips, you can use a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off
• Oven
• Cooling rack
• Thin-bladed spatula for removing the macaroons from the baking sheets
• Food processor or nut grinder, if grinding your own nuts (ouch!)

Ingredients
Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)
Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)
Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.
7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Tips that I Should have Read Before Attempting this Recipe:

1. If you have macaroons that stick to the parchment paper after baking::

This is a common problem (try a few degrees hotter next time or slightly longer next time) the bottoms of the macarons didn’t dry enough and are very sticky and leave the belly of the macaron behind when you lift them off the parchment paper.
Solution 1 – don’t peel the macarons off the paper just leave the stuck macarons on the paper on a drying rack for a few hours (or overnight) and then peel carefully.  Use scissors and cut out a row of macarons and then peel them so that way you can handle a few at a time instead of the whole sheet.
Solution 2 – Leave the macarons out for about 10 mins and then place back into the cooling oven with the door ajar. Make sure the oven is only warm, should be ready in less than an hour.
Solution 3 – Place some barely moist paper towels on top of the hot baking sheet and place the parchment paper with the sticky macarons on top of the towels. This creates steam which helps with the removal of the shells. A lot of sites said to use a few drops of water under the parchment paper but this tends to be a little “miss-and-hit” where the steam is formed.

Other notes from fellow DB’er Audax Artifex:

The Meringue
Start beating the egg whites at low speed, gradually increasing the speed to medium-high. If you start at high speed the air bubbles created will be less stable as they are too large. Continue beating the whites and once they have reached the soft peak stage, gradually add the sugar (this ensures that the sugar fully dissolves into the foam). The egg whites should be beaten until you have moist stiff shiny pointed peaks when the beaters are raised. Test by holding the mixture upside down and if they don’t fall out of the bowl they are done (this is the classic test for firm peaks). If you are using fresh egg whites  then continue to beat until you have ‘firm-firm’ i.e. very firm peaks a couple of minutes more. Since the DB recipe has so litttle sugar in the meringue (as compared to most other French method recipes) you might have to whip it longer than normal to get the correct stiffness.

Did you deflate the meringue at the start of the folding process when making the final piping mixture (the macaronage)? When you start to make the piping mixture you must use hard and fast strokes to release the air in the meringue this is important you don’t want the batter to be light and airy or fluffy, you don’t want to have air pockets or bubbles in the final batter. Use a ‘fold and press’ against-the-sides-of-the-bowl motion that deflates the meringue. I will explain in detail how to make the macaronage below.
Macaronage
For your next batch when you are doing the folding of the macaronage (the piping mixture) watch closely. When you add the almond meal and the icing sugar the mixture will go dull now start folding hard and fast for six to seven strokes (could take more depending on your technique) to break the air out of the mixture (you are trying to deflate it) don’t be gentle then slow down and fold more carefully. It is difficult to mix the almond meal/icing sugar and the meringue at first but it gets easier and a few folds later it will come together quickly, after some more folds the piping mixture will become shiny again about half to almost the same shininess as the original meringue mixture depending on how finely you have ground the almond meal and the type of colourings/flavourings used, now all the ingredients will be incorporated with no streaks and the piping mixture will be smooth, have no visible aeration (i.e. not light and fluffy and no bubbles in the batter) and it has lost about half of its starting volume, and the batter will level itself in the bowl and it shouldn’t be able to hold itself up when left, also the piping mixture at this stage should fall from the spatula in gentle slow continuous ribbons, these points are what you are looking for, now start testing by placing a tablespoon of the batter in a thin line on the remaining macaronage mixture it should disappear in 30 secs if not do a couple more folds. For me a 3 egg white batter takes about 35 strokes BUT this is different for everybody you might take 50 or 20 this is something you have find out for yourself. Also the piped shells will smooth out and spread out and flatten somewhat after a short time (a minute or so).

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Yeah, I know.  I totally buggered these up.  No poof.  No “feet”.  Flat, pathetic little creatures.  My macarons totally stuck to the parchment paper so that was another factor to deal with.  See above for solutions to That Problem.

But even with all these errors, it was still one heck of a tasty morsel.  :0)

The shell was light and chewy and the ganache was fab-u-lous.  I couldn’t help myself from licking the spoon afterward.  You taste the chocolate right away and then get a little hit from the hazelnuts in the Nutella.  Speaking of which, here is the recipe for the ganache:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp. Nutella

Healt the cream to the boiling point.  Remove from heat.  Stir in dark chocolate and Nutella.  Let stand 2 minutes then stir well until incorporated.  Refrigerate until of spreadable consistency.  Fill maracons shells and enjoy!

I would love to give these another try because when they are done right, they are gorgeous to behold.  Be sure to check out the other Daring Baker’s blogs to see what I mean.

I give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10…even if I did screw it up.  :p

I saw these on Bakerella’s blog and knew I had to try them!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk.
• In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until just combined.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips. Reserve a few chips to sprinkle on the tops.
• Bake for 8-9 minutes.

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins.

Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan.
Serve immediately with warmed butter if you like or even just with maple syrup.

These are such tasty little morsels of breakfast-y yumminess!  We served the maple syrup in a small bowl which was perfect for dipping the tiny muffins in.  The kids (and adults) in the house were all over these and they were completely gone within the day.

I give this recipe 8.5 chips out of a bag of 10.

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 vegtable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Line muffin pan with paper liners and preheat oven to 350F.

In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, oil and eggs until smooth.  Add banana and vanilla, beating well.  Add flour mixture, beating until smooth.  Scoop batter into prepared pan.  Bake in preheated oven for 24-28 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.  Let cool in pan on rack for 10 mins.  Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.  Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Frosting Ingredients:

• 4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 2 1/4 cups confectioner’s (icing) sugar, sifted

In a bowl, using an electic mixer on medium-high speed, beat together cream cheese, butter and salt until creamy.  With mixer on low speed, beat in confectioner’s sugar, 1/2 cup at a time so that sugar doesn’t fly all over the place.  Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.  Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes and refrigerate until ready to serve or for up to 1 day.

Note: I cut the frosting recipe in 1/2 and had just enough to cover the 12 cupcakes above.  The full recipe will give you about 2 cups of frosting.  This can be stored in the fridge up to 3 days.  Before using,  let stand at room temperature for about 15 minutes to soften enough to spread.

The sweet frosting combined with the taste of banana was a sure fire hit with my kids.   :0) And it was kind of weird but the more of these I had, the more I like them.  It definately has the makings of an addiction.  Next time, I need to try it with caramel frosting.  Oh, yeah, baby!

I give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10.

The moistened crumbs add liquid to the meat loaf, keeping it juicy. Note: This recipe is designed for a 5- to 6-quart (5 to 6L) slow cooker. Recipe reprinted from the Canadian Living Slow Cooker Collection

Taken from Laura Calder’s French Taste

Galette Pastry

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups (300g) flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup (225g) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup ice-cold water
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Put the flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  Add the butter pieces and pinch with the fingers to create a crumb texture.  Make a well in the middle, and pour in the water and vanilla.  Quickly work in the flour with your fingers to create a dough.  Do not overmix as that toughens the dough.  Divide into 2 disks, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 15 mins. before rolling out.

Filling:

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 6 baking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 tbsp. butter (optional)

Heat the oven to 400F (200C).  On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry into a round about 1/8 inch (3mm) thick and lay on a baking sheet.  Stir together the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Add the apples and toss to coat, then turn onto the pastry, piling them in the middle and leaving several inches of margin.  Dot with the butter, if using.  Fold the edges of the pastry up so they lie, rough edged, on the apples.  They won’t cover the apples completely.  Bake until the crust is crisp and golden and the apples are caramelized and soft when pricked with a fork, about 40-45 minutes.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Not to sound disrespectful, but I think this is even better than my Mom’s apple pie.  The pastry is light and tasty (and I didn’t mess it up!!).  I really like that there is no “top” to this, like you would find with pie, so you don’t get overwhelmed with dough all over the place.  I used Granny Smith apples and they held up really nicely to being baked in the oven.  I would seriously recommend this for Thanksgiving if pumpkin is not your thing.

Homey and delicious.

I give this recipe 8.5 chips out of a bag of 10.

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée) is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store, but in order to be really daring, we should make our own at least once in awhile, right? Kitchens should be getting cooler in the northern hemisphere, and are hopefully still cool-ish in the sourthern hempisphere, so I’m hoping you will all join me in making homemade puff pastry from Michel Richard’s recipe, as it appears in the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. With our homemade puff we’ll be forming vols-au-vent cases to fill with anything we chose.

Puff pastry is in the ‘laminated dough” family, along with Danish dough and croissant dough. (In fact, if you participated in the Danish Braid challenge back in June 2008, then you already know the general procedure for working with laminated dough.) A laminated dough consists of a large block of butter (called the “beurrage”) that is enclosed in dough (called the “détrempe”). This dough/butter packet is called a “paton,” and is rolled and folded repeatedly (a process known as “turning”) to create the crisp, flaky, parallel layers you see when baked. Unlike Danish or croissant however, puff pastry dough contains no yeast in the détrempe, and relies solely aeration to achieve its high rise. The turning process creates hundreds of layers of butter and dough, with air trapped between each one. In the hot oven, water in the dough and the melting butter creates steam, which expands in the trapped air pockets, forcing the pastry to rise.

Once we have our puff pastry dough made and chilled, we are going to roll and form a portion of it into vols-au-vent, which are little puff pastry cases designed to hold a filling. I chose vols-au-vent specifically because I think they do a beautiful job of showing off the hundreds of flaky layers in the homemade puff. They can be made large enough for a full meal, or made small for little one-bite canapés, the choice is yours. Vols-au-vent are typically served hot and filled with a creamy savory filling (often poultry or seafood-based), but cold fillings, such as chicken or tuna salad, work, too. Whipped cream or pastry cream with fresh or stewed fruit often goes into sweet versions. If you are stumped for ideas for your filling(s), a quick on-line search or a glance at a traditional French cookbook will give you plenty of things to consider.

Equipment:
-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)
-rolling pin
-pastry brush
-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)
-plastic wrap
-baking sheet
-parchment paper
-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)
-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)
-sharp chef’s knife
-fork
-oven
-cooling rack

Prep Times:
-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)
-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete

Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent

In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:
-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to “glue”). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough

From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.

There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

Ingredients:
2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter

plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Steph’s extra tips:

-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don’t want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough…you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don’t roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

You can find lots more general tips for making puff pastry on-line, including here:
http://www.baking911.com/pastry/puff.htm

I encourage everyone to watch the on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book:
http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry

I did not know I would need to do some weight training before undertaking this challenge.  Seriously.  If you do not have strong arms to roll dough, this is not the challenge for you.  Back away from the kitchen and sit down before you hurt yourself.  I can not be held responsible if you decide to not listen to me and decide to proceed so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I was looking forward to this challenge but things went a little awry straight out the gate.  I really had wanted to begin my dough in the food processor but mine is way to little so I had to do it by hand.  Already I knew I was in trouble.  I was trying to kneed the dough but was worried about overworking it/not working it enough.  How does one know these things?  It was holding together but wasn’t smooth and elastic like bread would be.  I kneeded a few more minutes and then set my dough to rest in the fridge.

The most fun part of the challenge came next: smashing the butter with the rolling pin.  Puff pastry is great to make on a day when you have some aggression to let out.  Smack that butter, baby!  In order to ensure my butter was really, really cold I took it out of the freezer and let is sit on the counter an hour before I began so it was still plenty cold.  Perhaps a little too cold…

When I went to put the butter and wrap the dough around it, things were still going ok but when it was time to do the first turn—oh my word.  The butter was too hard and I was having a heck of a time getting things to cooperate.  Thus began a painful afternoon of dough tearing and butter popping out of places it wasn’t supposed to.

But, dear Chippies, I am nothing if not stubborn.  :0)

With each tear, I would put a bit of flour on the butter and pop the whole thing back into the fridge to rest a bit.  Then back out to continue the rolling and “turn”ing process.  By the fourth turn, things were coming around and looking improved.  The butter was incorporating nicely with fewer incidents of dough tearing.  I was still having to put tremendous effort into rolling it out to 24 inches each time though.  If I was smart, I would have stopped after the fourth turn and continued the next day.

Did I mention that I’m stubborn?

Well, I couldn’t possibly do that!  Heck, these vols au vents were going to be supper so I had to perservere!  I couldn’t let my family starve!

So onward and upward.  By the fifth and sixth turns, I was using my forearms to roll my French rolling pin over the dough as my hands felt bruised and my arms were burning.  Horrendous.

I felt a small frisson of happiness when I was finally ready to form the vols au vents.   I cut the dough into thirds and could see the strata within the dough.  Holy Mary, Mother of God! I began to think I may triumph over this challenge yet.

The first thing I made was Spicy Cheddar Palmiers.  Just look at those flaky layers!

Then I made vols au vents stuffed with chicken.

Then for dessert, we had Raspberry Creme Fraiche Puffs (my personal favorite).  I used one of the tops from the vols au vent and split it for this one.

Victory at last!  My arms were burning so bad they felt like they were on fire but I kicked the Pastry Puff’s flaky butt.

I came.  I puffed.  I conquered.

Due to the versatility of this recipe to combine with either sweet or savoury fillings , I give it 8 chips out of a bag of 1o.

Brine:
12 cups cold water
3/4 cup salt
2 tbsp sugar
2 cloves garlic
2 x bay leaves
2 x branches fresh thyme
2 x branches fresh rosemary
Chicken:
1 x chicken (about 5 lbs)
1 x onion, quartered
3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
6 x large carrots, halved lengthwise
Sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp water
1/4 cup white wine
1-1/2 cups chicken broth
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
salt and pepper
 
Directions:
Brine
In a Dutch oven or large pot, bring 1 litre (4 cups) water and the salt, sugar, garlic and herbs to a boil. Stir until the salt has dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the remaining water to cool the mixture. Place the chicken in the brine, breast side down. Refrigerate overnight if possible but at least 2 hours.

Chicken
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
Remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with paper towels.
Place the herbs and garlic from the marinade and the onion in the chicken’s cavity. Brush the outside with butter and pour the remainder in the cavity. Sprinkle the outside with the thyme. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the carrots on the bottom of a roasting pan. Set the chicken on top. Insert a meat thermometer into the meat on the inside of the thigh without touching the bone. Roast until the thermometer reads 82°C (180°F), about 2 hours.

Sauce
In a bowl, combine the cornstarch and water. Set aside.
After removing the chicken, pour the white wine into the roasting pan. Scrape the bottom of the pan to free up any brown bits. Pour into a small saucepan, add the broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce by half. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture. Simmer 1 minute. Strain into a sauceboat. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve the chicken with the sauce.

I have never brined a chicken before so I was a little nervous but, really, there’s nothing to it at all.  And the result!!  The skin was crispy and the meat was wonderfully moist.  Plus, with the carrots laying under the chicken in the roasting pan, you don’t get soggy chicken on the underside.  Truly a treat and you something you must try.

I give this recipe 8.5 chips out of a bag of 10.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups water, divided
• 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 3 cups ginger ale, chilled

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1/2 cup water.  Cook and stir over hight heat until sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Press raspberries through a sieve and discard seeds.

In a large bowl, combine the raspberry puree, sygar syrup, lime juice and remaining water.  Transfer to a 1 quart freezer container.  Cover and freeze for 12 hours, stirring occassionally.  May be frozen up to 3 months.

To serve, combine the raspberry mixture and ginger ale in a 2 quart pitcher.  Or for one serving, combine 1/2 cup raspberry mixture and 1/2 cup ginger ale in a glass.

Yield: 6 servings

This slush was a great hit at a little summer family lunch I had this summer.  Tart yet sweet and perfectly cool for a hot day.  To make things easier, combine your ingredients in a clean ice cream pail and pop into the freezer.  As is, this slush is super for kids too.  If you want to make it for grown ups only, add a splash of vodka to your glass

I give this recipe 8.5 chips out of a bag of 10.

Taken from The Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan

Yield: approx. 18 medium madeleines

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, melted (more for the molds)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. dark brown sugar
• 1 heaping tbsp. honey
• grated zest of 1/2 lemon
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk

Directions:

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl.  In a large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients.  Whisk by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until very smooth, about 1 or 2 minutes.  Gradually add the flour mixture and whisk for another minute.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours.  Brush the molds with  melted butter, chill in the freezer until set and butter a second time.

Heat oven to 400F/200C.  Spoon the batter into the molds, filling them almost to the rim.  Bake until puffed, golden brown and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the molds, 8 to 10 mins.  The peaked centers will be lighter than the rest of the cake.  Turn them out onto a rack to cool.  They are best eaten fresh from the oven but can be stored in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

This is almost like eating lemon cake.  Definately sweet from the honey and a little citrus zip from the lemon zest.  My daughter loves these with powdered sugar on top and I discovered if you put a thin layer of strawberry jam on top (think thin like a glaze), it is  taken to a new level of sweet indulgence. Mmmm…how sweet it is!

Btw,  you can also check out my other madeleine post here for info on the pan needed, a glaze recipe, etc.

I give this recipe 8 chips out of a bag of 10.