Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[ejw50]

Vanilla Tart - the recipe can be found here

And with some Octavia French Breakfast tea

Quite delicious and well worth the time. I think I might even like it better than Alain Ducasse's Louis XV dessert. A similar recipe for a coffee tart is in PH10.

Cheers

wow, I saw this recipe online somewhere else and thought it was way too much pain to make

without a shop or something.

That is pretty awesome!

[Kim Shook]

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! Lior, I didn't make the chocolate squares - they were Ghirardelli white chocoate squares. Very convenient!

ejw - gorgeous chocolate! I love the idea of including the pop rocks. I have some pop rocks that I'm planning to top some cookies with and was wondering how they will work on top of frosting. I'm guessing that if they work in chocolate, they will work on frosting.

[Lior]

If there is cream in the frosting they will get soggy. Also, if they are on top, after a while they will absorb moisture from the air, assuming the air has more moisture in it than the pop rocks...

If it is for prior to serving it would be fine.

[Dakki]

Cream cheese brownies, recipe found on the web.

I've never made these before and baking is my weakest point. We'll see how they come out.

Well, it just didn't work. The cream cheese part was delicious, like a light cheesecake, but the brownie part utterly failed to rise. Tasted fine, but it was hard and crust-like, not like a brownie at all.

I served it anyway and just told people I'd accidentally doubled the crust. >_>

[DeliciouslyLekker]

Kim: The tartlets are adorable!

[emmalish]

Cream cheese brownies, recipe found on the web.

I've never made these before and baking is my weakest point. We'll see how they come out.

Well, it just didn't work. The cream cheese part was delicious, like a light cheesecake, but the brownie part utterly failed to rise. Tasted fine, but it was hard and crust-like, not like a brownie at all.

I served it anyway and just told people I'd accidentally doubled the crust. >_>

Dakki, could you point us to the recipe?

[Dakki]

http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/CreamCheeseBrownies.html

I've been thinking about this and the only places I might've screwed up is using not-very-fresh eggs (would it make that big a difference?) or the batteries on my scale are starting to fail (would it screw up the measurements or just refuse to work?)

[emmalish]

http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/CreamCheeseBrownies.html

I've been thinking about this and the only places I might've screwed up is using not-very-fresh eggs (would it make that big a difference?) or the batteries on my scale are starting to fail (would it screw up the measurements or just refuse to work?)

You say the brownie portion didn't rise, but brownies like this don't rise so much as they just set up. They stay dense and gooey. Did it look anything like the picture? Because it looks pretty dense to me. I don't think you did anything wrong.

If you prefer a cake-ier brownie, I'm sure you could try a different brownie recipe and add the creamcheese portion from this one...

[Dakki]

It looked like the photo, but the bottom part was more "cookie" than "brownie" so I assumed something had gone wrong. It wasn't gooey at all. Come to think of it I used a glass (pyrex) baking pan, would the carryover heat cause the brownie to overcook and harden or dry out?

(Yes, I am an utter novice at this).

I will definitely try changing the brownie recipe. Thanks for the advice.

[emmalish]

It looked like the photo, but the bottom part was more "cookie" than "brownie" so I assumed something had gone wrong. It wasn't gooey at all. Come to think of it I used a glass (pyrex) baking pan, would the carryover heat cause the brownie to overcook and harden or dry out?

(Yes, I am an utter novice at this).

I will definitely try changing the brownie recipe. Thanks for the advice.

I think I've read that yes Pyrex dishes will affect temperatures and times. Anyone else?

Another thing to check is your oven temperature. You can buy an oven thermometer for about $5 at any kitchen store. I'm a renter so I always have oven issues. The one I've got right now is about 100°F off – if I want 350°, I have to set it for around 250°! And the dial has a lot of wiggle room so it takes some fiddling to get temps right.

[Dakki]

I have a thermometer and a weird oven (came with the house). It doesn't have a thermostat, instead the dial (which you'd expect to set the temperature) just controls the level of the flame from the burner. I think it should actually be better at keeping a stable temperature than a regular on-off thermostat oven, once I get the knack of setting the flame just right once it reaches the desired temperature.

Thanks for all your help.

[rosejoy]

All glass bakeware, such as Pyrex, needs to be baked at a temperature about 25 degrees below the temp specified by the recipe.

My guess is that your brownies were just over-baked.

[RichardJones]

I went home yesterday to make some house-warming presents for my sister and a friend.

It's based on Herme's Mozart but I used a different recipe for the mousse. In other words, three layers of a very short cinammon pate sablee, and layers of chocolate mousse studded with cubes of caremlized, flambeed apple.

The pastry is interesting because it contains hard-boiled egg yolks which you pass through a sieve. I think this is traditionally a German technique but I may well be wrong. It helps add a lovely crumbly texture to the pastry which is enhanced with a little baking powder, too.

The mousse was based on a creme anglaise, lightened with whipped cream and Italian meringue.

Had to make them all in a terrible rush so the finish is a little rough and ready (just cocoa powder, hastily sieved).

[Darienne]

Exquisite, Richard. I think I've got to find more talented friends, friends like you, who might 'owe' my little goodies.

[Doodad]

Making Keller's chocolate bouchons again for my female friends at work. They were great last time. Topping with cherries this time.

[Jmahl]

Tried my hand at making Marble Pound Cake - Recipe from the CIA cookbook "Breakfasts & Brunches" For two 9" loaves recipe called for a pound of butter and 9 eggs. This is heavy duty pound cake.

[Mette]

Last week my new Gaggia ice cream maker arrived in the post from Italy, and so far it is great. I have made vanila gelato, strawberry sorbet, raspberry and blueberry gelato (just hardening in the freezer). No pix - camera packed it...

So far it is, if not better than s.. then at least a great supplement

Now i have to start tweaking the recipes to my liking, which is not eggy, but full bodied and not too sweet.

[Kerry Beal]

Crispy Tangerine Sticks

One of the stranger things I've made, but very tasty too. This is tangerine juice, sugar, citric acid, methylcellulose, and xanthum gum, all blended together until it increases in volume 8 times. Then it's baked in a 150 degree oven for 9-10 hours. Recipe from Johnny Iuzzini's book Dessert Fourplay.

It reminds me of cotton candy in the way it melts in the mouth. I wonder what else one could do with this sort of thing. I guess whatever you'd do with crisp meringue might work.

I was thinking I might get a weird aftertaste with those additives, but it's not there.

So sourced some methylcellulose (not the right one, about 400 times 'stronger' apparently - and tried these with raspberry puree. Not crispy - more like a puffy fruit leather. Tasty though. I guess you really need juice to get cripsy. I kind of forgot about them in the dehydrator - nice and quiet when it's in my chocolate room - so they got to dehydrate for about 36 hours - but still chewy!

Now to find myself an airtight container to store them until I can dip them in chocolate.

[tonylombaardi]

Crispy Tangerine Sticks

One of the stranger things I've made, but very tasty too. This is tangerine juice, sugar, citric acid, methylcellulose, and xanthum gum, all blended together until it increases in volume 8 times. Then it's baked in a 150 degree oven for 9-10 hours. Recipe from Johnny Iuzzini's book Dessert Fourplay.

It reminds me of cotton candy in the way it melts in the mouth. I wonder what else one could do with this sort of thing. I guess whatever you'd do with crisp meringue might work.

I was thinking I might get a weird aftertaste with those additives, but it's not there.

So sourced some methylcellulose (not the right one, about 400 times 'stronger' apparently - and tried these with raspberry puree. Not crispy - more like a puffy fruit leather. Tasty though. I guess you really need juice to get cripsy. I kind of forgot about them in the dehydrator - nice and quiet when it's in my chocolate room - so they got to dehydrate for about 36 hours - but still chewy!

Now to find myself an airtight container to store them until I can dip them in chocolate.

Interesting that it didn't end up crispy. Maybe even with the seeds strained out there's a lot of other fiber or some other solids in the raspberry pure. Did it foam up and get very light in color? I'd imagine it should look the color of pink chalk. It's not humid where you are is it?

The fact that it's chewy may actually make it stand up better to the chocolate though.

I wonder if it's possible to make thin layers like the kind in a Kit-Kat bar with this stuff. You could put a filling between them like those Loacker wafer cookies. I don't know how long they'd stay crisp though.

[Kim Shook]

Richard – just gorgeous. I wish I had someone like you to make me such goodies!

Jmahl – beautiful pound cake! The texture looks great and I love the crown – mine never crown like that!

This weekend I made a lovely banana bread from a recipe that I got from a friend at another site:

This is really fantastic banana bread – moist and fragrant. Mr. Kim took it to work with him yesterday and it just vanished! Everyone loved it. I almost always have bananas and pecans in the freezer, so I’ll be making this one often.

[Kerry Beal]

Crispy Tangerine Sticks

One of the stranger things I've made, but very tasty too. This is tangerine juice, sugar, citric acid, methylcellulose, and xanthum gum, all blended together until it increases in volume 8 times. Then it's baked in a 150 degree oven for 9-10 hours. Recipe from Johnny Iuzzini's book Dessert Fourplay.

It reminds me of cotton candy in the way it melts in the mouth. I wonder what else one could do with this sort of thing. I guess whatever you'd do with crisp meringue might work.

I was thinking I might get a weird aftertaste with those additives, but it's not there.

So sourced some methylcellulose (not the right one, about 400 times 'stronger' apparently - and tried these with raspberry puree. Not crispy - more like a puffy fruit leather. Tasty though. I guess you really need juice to get cripsy. I kind of forgot about them in the dehydrator - nice and quiet when it's in my chocolate room - so they got to dehydrate for about 36 hours - but still chewy!

Now to find myself an airtight container to store them until I can dip them in chocolate.

Interesting that it didn't end up crispy. Maybe even with the seeds strained out there's a lot of other fiber or some other solids in the raspberry pure. Did it foam up and get very light in color? I'd imagine it should look the color of pink chalk. It's not humid where you are is it?

The fact that it's chewy may actually make it stand up better to the chocolate though.

I wonder if it's possible to make thin layers like the kind in a Kit-Kat bar with this stuff. You could put a filling between them like those Loacker wafer cookies. I don't know how long they'd stay crisp though.

Pretty thick puree - so I suspect it really was more like making fruit leather.

It about tripled in bulk, got lighter, but not really light.

I think the technique has great possibilities.

[Kerry Beal]

Richard – just gorgeous. I wish I had someone like you to make me such goodies!

Jmahl – beautiful pound cake! The texture looks great and I love the crown – mine never crown like that!

This weekend I made a lovely banana bread from a recipe that I got from a friend at another site:

This is really fantastic banana bread – moist and fragrant. Mr. Kim took it to work with him yesterday and it just vanished! Everyone loved it. I almost always have bananas and pecans in the freezer, so I’ll be making this one often.

Looks yummy Kim!

[Dakki]

Trying my hand at making a cheesecake this afternoon, from the JoC water bath recipe. Got a springform pan and everything.

Wish me luck everyone!

[Jmahl]

Trying my hand at making a cheesecake this afternoon, from the JoC water bath recipe. Got a springform pan and everything.

Wish me luck everyone!\

Good luck. Do you wrap your springform pan in foil?

[Dakki]

Yep, I did. Thing's in the oven as I type this.