Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[CanadianBakin']

This is by far my favorite thread-- such inspiration! Here are a couple of things I have been working on over holiday (as well as my food photography):

Alfajores:

Also, would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for as discussion in "food photography"?

bah! Edited to try and get picts to show!

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These look fantastic but I'm confused....I thought Alfajores were a vanilla ground nut cookie rather than chocolate. I'd be interested in your recipe. Chocolate, caramel, nuts, what's not to like?!

[emmalish]

Wow, this is the first time I've looked at this thread - amazing accomplishments!  Emmalish, if you're not a professional photographer you should be - your photos are SO GOOD!  I've never done a search on this forum for how to do food photography - that would be a good thread...

I got some snowflake cookie cutters for Christmas - can't wait to try them.  I love your white design... how did you do it - is that piping?

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Thanks, but trust me, not all of my photos turn out.

The snowflake design is just piped white royal icing, and then I sprinkled a bit of sugar on them for some sparkle. I bought these cutters years ago and never got around to using them and then forgot I had them at all... and then I was shopping and saw some snowflake cutters in the store and thought "hey, I've always wanted these!", bought them, took them home... lather rinse repeat...

Long story short, when I was cleaning up and organizing all my cookie cutters earlier this year, I found THREE identical sets of snowflake cutters, all unopened and unused. D'oh! So I had to promise myself that I'd finally use them this year.

[scratch]

This is by far my favorite thread-- such inspiration! Here are a couple of things I have been working on over holiday (as well as my food photography):

Alfajores:

Also, would anyone be able to point me in the right direction for as discussion in "food photography"?

bah! Edited to try and get picts to show!

←

These look fantastic but I'm confused....I thought Alfajores were a vanilla ground nut cookie rather than chocolate. I'd be interested in your recipe. Chocolate, caramel, nuts, what's not to like?!

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The recipe is from a back page feature from an old Food & Wine magazine that I put in my "need to try' box. Their take on an Alfajores is a basic chocolate wafer with a dulce de leche/almond caramel filling covered in chocolate. However, I've found that F&W is often creative with interpretation! I'd certainly be curious in knowing & trying a more traditional Alfajores

Emmalish- your pictures (as well as your subjects) are beautiful! They're so bright and clean! Ah! Any food photo secrets you wouldn't mind sharing??

[scratch]

I made these about a week or so before xmas for a catering at work. They're about the size of a quarter or so. I did, eventually, regain the use of my right hand . Everything is individually glazed with a poured fondant.

[emmalish]

Oh man, scratch, those are adorable! And I totally hear you about slowly regaining use of your hand again. Definitely a labour of love.

[mostlylana]

The snowflake design is just piped white royal icing, and then I sprinkled a bit of sugar on them for some sparkle. I bought these cutters years ago and never got around to using them and then forgot I had them at all... and then I was shopping and saw some snowflake cutters in the store and thought "hey, I've always wanted these!", bought them, took them home... lather rinse repeat...

Long story short, when I was cleaning up and organizing all my cookie cutters earlier this year, I found THREE identical sets of snowflake cutters, all unopened and unused. D'oh! So I had to promise myself that I'd finally use them this year.

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That's funny!

[gfron1]

Scratch - those are just about adorable!

Here are a few things I whipped up today now that business has slowed again.

Flourless Almond Orange Cake with Candied Kalamata

and an Apple Tart with Almond Cream, Caramel & Sherry in an Olive Oil Crisp shell

[Kim Shook]

cmflick – wow! I am so impressed with your chocolates! Nice job!

scratch – I had to look up Alfajores – they sound wonderful and your challah is gorgeous!

emmalish – your snowflakes look exactly like I want mine to look, but I think that my dough is too soft – do you know of a sugar cooky recipe that will hold the shape like the gingerbread does?

mostlylana – here are some threads about taking food pictures:

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Rob – your apple tart looks and sounds perfect!

Cake I made for my MIL’s birthday today:

Pretty cake, huh? Utterly tasteless – the cake, that is – the icing was Cake Love ICBM and delicious, as always. I committed the cardinal sin of using a recipe for serving that I hadn’t made before. It looked good and had a decent crumb, but it was dry and tough and tasteless . I guess I need to spend some time testing the recipes in the yellow cake thread.

[emmalish]

emmalish – your snowflakes look exactly like I want mine to look, but I think that my dough is too soft – do you know of a sugar cooky recipe that will hold the shape like the gingerbread does?

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Sadly no, but if you find one PLEASE let me know too! I'd love to do something other than gingerbread for my cookie cutters. scratch's cookies looked like they held their shape pretty well – especially the snowman's hat looks nice & crisp. Can you tell us more about those cookies?

Kim, too bad about the flavourless cake. It's always so disappointing to try a new recipe and have it not taste as good as it looks. But it looks delicious!

Edited January 5, 2009 by emmalish (log)

[scratch]

Rob-- you are always so inventive with your flavor pairings! I must ask... what is the base of your flourless cake? It looks like it contains a grain but I couldn't be sure. I would love to hear a little more about the ingredients. Is it also gluten free?

Kim-- Thank you for the links about the photography. Your cake is beautiful! Shame that it wasn't the cake you were hoping it would be I hate it when that happens!!

[gfron1]

I'll do you one better. CLICKITY for the recipe from chezcherie. I modified it quite a bit, but she still gets the credit because its a great almond/meringue cake. Scroll a few more posts down and you'll see my all-time favorite flourless cake from the old foodie.

[DanM]

Cider Donuts were on the menu for this past weekend. They need work as they do not have enough cider flavor in them

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll57/da...ing/Donuts1.jpg

Dan

[Shelby]

Kim, I think you're being too hard on yourself. A cake that beautiful couldn't taste bad!

[Kim Shook]

Kim, I think you're being too hard on yourself.  A cake that beautiful couldn't taste bad!

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Well, it tasted good if you only licked off the icing, so I guess you're right ! Not bad, just blah.

[isomer]

You guys are all rocking the house. Your stuff is always so beautiful!!

My little contribution: Today I made a lemon tart. This is Dorie Greenspan's Sweet Tart Crust (perfection incarnate, imo) and the lemon curd from Cook's Illustrated's much lauded Lemon Bars recipe. I think it's a winning combination.

[Tri2Cook]

That's a really nice looking tart.

sweet tea ice cream - lemon cornmeal cake - sweet tea caramel - pecan praline powder - lemon sugar

[gfron1]

Very nice T2C - what was your opinion of the cornmeal cake - did you get it moist or was it more dry like Jiffy mix?

Here's mine for the night - Rootbeer Float

The description and recipe are quite lengthy so I put them on my blog HERE. This was a lot of fun to make and the base rootbeer syrup will become two more desserts this weekend.

Another treatment of it:

[Tri2Cook]

That's cool Rob! I like it.

The cornmeal cake is relatively moist but I didn't want it too sweet or too moist because the ice cream is quite sweet and needs to kinda meld with the cake to seem well balanced. I don't know if you've experienced southeast U.S. sweet tea or not but it can be a shocking experience for those not expecting it. 1 1/2 - 2 cups of sugar per gallon is average in most areas.

Edited January 7, 2009 by Tri2Cook (log)

[scratch]

Dan- Your cider donuts look scrumptious! MMmm I hope they're hard cider donuts

Isomer- Your lemon curd set-up perfectly-- i'll need to track down that CI recipe... I think my lemon bars need improving. Thanks for providing the source!

Tri2cook- Beautiful plate and concept. This is the first time I've seen "sweet tea" infused. Neat stuff.

Rob- stop it. you're making me feel bad! Beautiful, and painfully creative as always (painful to me that is!

[isomer]

Isomer- Your lemon curd set-up perfectly-- i'll need to track down that CI recipe... I think my lemon bars need improving. Thanks for providing the source!

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Thanks for saying. I tried Hermé's lemon cream from Dorie Greenspan's book, and it tasted completely amazing, but didn't really hold together unless it was ice cold. I only made it once, so I don't rule out an error on my part.

tri2cook and gfron1 -- you guys are totally killing it. Your stuff looks so amazing!

Here's today's indulgence: Butterscotch walnut bars:

[gfron1]

You know what I am so taken by in that pic above is the cut lines. They are so damn sharp. I can see that you used a hot knife, but mine are never that perfect.

Here are a couple of things from this weekend. First is a chocolate tart from my Playing with Chocolate workshop today.

PH's tart shell, a basic cream ganache and a candied kumquat that we injected with a water-based ganache - my cure for the inevitable collapsed kumquat!

And yesterday a very nice scone.

Apricot, brandy soaked raisins, orange zest and a bit of pecan meal. They were more done than they look in the pic.

[Tri2Cook]

Isomer - those look really tasty.

Rob - great stuff, as always. That ganache-filled candied kumquat is cool.

I've been planning to do these for a while, finally got around to it. The Johnny Iuzzini chocolate doughnut. Basically, a stabilized ganache that's breaded and fried. Fun and tasty.

Crispy on the outside.

Creamy on the inside. apologies for the blur

I was having so much fun that I decided to plate them.

Johnny Iuzzini's chocolate doughnuts - coffee ice cream - toasted cinnamon caramel - chocolate mousse powder

[Sif]

Isomer - those look really tasty.

Rob - great stuff, as always. That ganache-filled candied kumquat is cool.

I've been planning to do these for a while, finally got around to it. The Johnny Iuzzini chocolate doughnut. Basically, a stabilized ganache that's breaded and fried. Fun and tasty.

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That is beyond cool!

[gfron1]

That was the first recipe I wanted to try in his book too. I want to serve them stacked on a vertical stick with a mug of something savory off to the side.

Edited January 12, 2009 by gfron1 (log)

[isomer]

Tri2cook - Wow.... Those look like a blast to make. I have everything but the methocel. Any suggestions for a supplier in Ontario? Did you get Dessert 4-play? Any good?

Rob - The super clean cuts are a matter of a hot, thin knife, and also a very cold product. Like refrigerated 12 hrs. After today's tasty photo is the recipe for the butterscotch layer. I'm sure you'll get very clean cuts if you chill it long enough.

Today I made some pretty tasty brownies:

I don't know why they look like they're hovering above the plate. I mean, they're good, but not like magically good or anything. Also, I only chilled them for about an hour, and you can see they didn't cut as nicely.

Anyway, here's the butterscotch brownie recipe:

8 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 Cup light brown sugar

1 Large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

136g unbleached AP flour

8-inch baking pan lined with parchement.... oven at 350F.

Melt the butter, and beat in the sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the salt, then (gently) stir in the flour. I did it all by hand, rather than get the mixer dirty.

Pour into the pan, and bake 20-25 mins until barely set in the middle. Cool to room temp on a rack, the into the fridge for a good several hours. Slice 'em up.

Let me know how it goes!

-Anthony