Pete Fred

I can't believe I only today learned of Ferran Adria's "La tortilla de patatas chips"... I thought it might be a bit gimmicky, but was pleasantly surprised. Obviously it doesn't compare to the real deal, but as a quick 'hack' I thought it delivered. (The late, great Anna N, however, was not impressed).

@ElsieD In the description below the video.

Claire Saffitz's Dirt Bombs (YouTube)... She describes them as a cross between a muffin and a cake donut (hole). They're remarkably light and fluffy, so much so that the first one I dunked in butter disintegrated (hence only five in the bowl). I let the others cool a little more, but they were still fragile. They're nutmeg flavoured, but the cinnamon sugar coating dominates. I could taste the bicarb (baking soda) but that might just be down to the crème fraîche I used (instead of sour cream) not being acidic enough to neutralise. The Dirt Bombs were good. Recommended.

Steamed chocolate pudding (recipe)... The cake was disappointingly dry and crumbly. I didn't have cake crumbs so used breadcrumbs instead, but I doubt that was the issue given it's similar to the one a couple of posts back and by the same chef. Even a lake of custard failed to rescue things, so it must've been poor.

A couple of friends just tried some and liked it a lot. And, to be fair, I was a little more disposed towards it, so I'll probably make it again next time I'm staring at a bottle of maple syrup and wondering what to do.

@ElsieD Nice job. I just rub my moulds inside and out with kitchen paper while they're still hot but handleable. Any bits of crust get scratched off with my thumbnail or a toothpick, but it's minimal. They've never seen water or soap. I only use beeswax now to coat, but I don't remember it being any different when I used 50:50 clarified butter. I can't speak to anything oil-based. The info that came with mine says "To restore the luster of your copper molds, do not hesitate to rub their outer surface with a mixture of flour, egg white and white vinegar." I've never tried it, though.

Maple butter glazed loaf cake by Benjamina Ebuehi (recipe)... Eaten warm, as suggested, it was nicely buttery, but not particularly maple-y. Maybe it'll transform overnight. If not, I can't see there being a revisit..

@TdeV Adapted from a Christophe Felder recipe... Translations for our North American listeners: pâte brisée = pie dough or non-sweetened shortcrust; caster sugar = superfine or regular granulated; cornflour = cornstarch; clingfilm = plastic wrap; oven temperatures are 450°F and 500°F; size-wise, this is for a pie just a touch smaller than 9-inch x 2-inch.

Flan parisien... I go creamy; others prefer firmer. There are no wrong answers when it comes to flan.

NYT Cooking recently featured a cheesy potato gratin... The potatoes weren't particularly large, and the dish was a touch too shallow, so I had leftover cream (halfway up the potatoes, as directed). Next time I'll chuck in some more for extra 'sauce' in the bottom. A meal in itself. That missing wedge is exactly what I ate, and I make no apologies.

Steamed pudding (in the British sense)... Based on this marmalade pudding recipe via Darina Allen, I swapped in Jersey Black Butter (a spiced apple preserve) and Scotch whisky. It was good. The cake was light and moist, without the hassle of whipping up a traditional sponge. I think the one-bowl, breadcrumb thing might become my go-to method for this type of dessert.

Another cookie via bon appétit, this time the Chocolate Chipless Cookie by Shilpa Uskokovic (Tickety-Tok, and possibly paywalled recipe)... Again, a portion of the flour is toasted, but this time in brown butter. For me, this was much more successful because, errrr, butter. I experimented with the thickness and preferred less spread than their version. The chocolate chipless moniker is perhaps a little gimmicky, but as a brown sugar cookie I liked it.

Chocolate Chip Cookies With Olive Oil and Sea Salt by Jesse Szewczyk (Instagram, and possibly paywalled recipe)... They we fine, I guess, but overpromised and underdelivered. I was intrigued by the technique of toasting some of the flour with olive oil, supposedly for a brown butter flavour. It did smell somewhat nutty, but ultimately didn't come through in the finished cookie. Butter is still king. Having said all that, they were better than other vegan chocolate chip cookies I've made, so worth a look if that's your thing.

I had a bunch of egg yolks in search of a purpose so made a big bowl of baked custard from Ottolenghi. Well, it's more burnt custard really, due to the unusual way of making it (here, from last earlier this year). After eating a few spoonfuls I decided such a large quantity was far too dangerous to be within walking distance of, and was wondering what to do with it. A burnt custard tart seemed a reasonable solution... Because I was winging it, there wasn't quite enough of the mix to fill level with the rim for a clean, perfectly flat surface; a good excuse to make even more next time.

I'd never heard of Tate's Bake Shop chocolate chip cookies until Michael Ruhlman mentioned them on his Substack, so I thought I'd try Stella Parks' copy-cat recipe... Mine baked darker than Tate's/Parks', probably because of the dust from using chopped chocolate rather than chips; they also spread more, which might be down to differences in French flour/butter/sugar. I quite liked them: thin, crispy, chocolatey... job done.