I’m always up for a challenge. I thrive on trying something I’ve never done before and seeing how good I can be. When the challenge involves taking a risk with large, potentially negative, consequences, I’m obviously not as likely to partake. But when it’s all in good fun, you can count me in!
Which brings me to today’s blog post. I feel like there are so many things I haven’t attempted to make in the kitchen. I’d be much more likely to make some of them if I had a larger working space, but regardless I definitely find myself sticking with what I know. And whenever I ask someone (ahem, Nate!) for suggestions to try something new, I always get boring request like chocolate chip cookies and scones.
It’s for this reason that I decided to become a member of a website known as The Daring Kitchen. What began as two bloggers trying to challenge themselves to bake pretzels for the very first time using the same recipe, eventually catapulted into a huge blogging experience. Each month members are told the “secret” recipe they must each make and blog about exactly 27 days later.
I was a bit scared of what they could throw at me, but I was pretty confident I could handle anything that came my way. I took a look at some of the past recipes: Maple Mousse served in an Edible Container, Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake, Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies…nothing, I thought, that seemed too complex or time-consuming.
Little did I know that the first challenge for the month I decided to join was something so complicated! It figures, right?
I’m not sure if I did it all exactly as I was supposed to, but the results were amazing. Unless you’re as daring as I was in the kitchen, you probably won’t be making this dessert anytime soon, but as least you can enjoy the photos and picture me dripping sweat rushing to get all the pieces of this masterpiece together before it deflated, melted, or otherwise got destroyed.
Now comes the reveal: The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.
For further clarification, imagine “a cube of…creamy chocolate resting on a tuft of something that tastes like burnt marshmallow cream…”
The members were able to put their spin on any flavor additions to the chocolate, meringue or accompanying sauce. The one Emma and Jenny gave the recipe for had a tequila caramel and spiced nut addition, along with some pepper added to the chocolate. I, however, wanted something to cut the sweetness of the chocolate, so I made a Grand Marnier Cardamom Orange sauce and decorated with mandarin orange slices. I also added a tad of Grand Marnier to both the Chocolate Marquise and to the meringue, but I’m not sure if you could even taste it.
I brought this over to my friends’ apartment as a belated birthday celebration and it got two thumbs up. If anything, it was too rich and none of us could finish our whole servings (except the little pig named Amy), but wished we could. If you ever want to spend 8 hours prep to seriously impress your mom, dad, date, fiancé, cat, imaginary friend…then by all means give this recipe a shot!
*Note: All photos were taken with haste so as not to let the magnificent dessert melt before being tasted!
Chocolate Marquise
Servings: Nine- 2.5×2.5″ cubes
6 large egg yolks at room temperature
2 large eggs
1/3 cup (75 grams/ 2⅔ oz) sugar
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons (1⅓ fluid oz/ 40 ml.) water
Chocolate Base, barely warm (recipe follows)
1 cup (8 fluid oz./ 250 ml.) heavy cream
1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder (for rolling) (Note: Make sure it’s a Dutch processed cocoa, not a natural cocoa powder.)
Torched meringue (recipe follows)
Orange Cardamom Sauce (recipe follows)
Mandarin orange segments, canned (optional)
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 – 15 minutes.
When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F/115C). If you have a cake tester with a metal loop for a handle, the right stage for the syrup is reached when you can blow a bubble through the loop (as seen in the following pictures).
With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk.
When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.
In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.
When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you’ve whipped into the eggs. We used the stand mixer for this, and it took about 1 minute.
Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn’t allow in any air).
Freeze until very firm, at least 2 – 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).
When you’re ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving. While it’s still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment ‘handles’ or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.
Cut it into cubes and roll the cubes in cocoa powder. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don’t do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, sauce, orange segments) are ready. The cubes need to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before the cubes are rolled in the cocoa powder.
Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled orange sauce, and toss orange segments around for garnish. You want to handle the cubes as little as possible because they get messy quickly and are difficult to move. However, you want to wait to serve them until they’ve softened completely.
Chocolate Base
Not meant to be used on its own, only as part of the Chocolate Marquise.
6 oz (170 grams/ ¾ cups) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa)
¾ cups (180 ml/6 fluid oz.) heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried ginger
1/8 cup (30 ml/ 1 fluid oz.) Grand Marnier
1/8 cup (30 ml/ 1 fluid oz.) light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons/less than 1/2 ounce) cocoa powder (must be Dutch-processed cocoa, do not substitute natural cocoa powder.)
1/2 oz unsalted butter (1 tablespoon/15 grams), softened
Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl.
In a double-boiler, warm the cream until it is hot to the touch (but is not boiling). Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.
Allow it to sit for a minute or two before stirring. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and is smooth throughout.
Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
Set aside until cooled to room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as the base needs to be soft when added to the marquise mixture. If you make it the day before, you may need to warm it slightly. Whisk it until it is smooth again before using it in the marquise recipe.
Torched Meringue
Servings: Makes about 2 – 2½ cups of meringue. If you aren’t planning on serving *all* of the marquise at once, you might want to scale this recipe back a bit. Excess can be frozen.
6 large egg whites
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (210 ml) (7 oz or 200 gms) sugar
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Grand Marnier
Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid.
Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don’t feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot.
Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the Grand Marnier to the meringue and mix thoroughly.
When you’re ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil. If you don’t have a blowtorch, spoon the meringue into piles on a baking sheet and broil until tops are toasted. Remove carefully with a spatula to plate.
Orange Cardamom Sauce
Yield: 1/2 to 2/3 cup sauce
1 cup fresh orange juice (from 2 or 3 fresh oranges)
zest from 1 orange
6 tablespoons sugar
Seeds from 4 Cardamom pods
1 Tbsp Grand Marnier
1.5 tablespoon butter
Mix the orange juice, zest, sugar and cardamom seeds in a small saucepan.
Simmer the juice mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 25 minutes, until a thick, syrupy sauce has formed. (At this point you should still be able to pour the sauce, but if you like, continue reducing the sauce to make it even thicker)
When the sauce is a consistency you like, stir in the butter and simmer the sauce for another 2 or 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Serve the orange sauce chilled, at room temperature or warm.
*Beware: It’s so good you’ll want to eat it with a spoon!
Do you ever do/say something to someone and you don’t quite have it in you to apologize with words, so you bake cookies instead? That’s never happened to me ;)
With all of the stress that comes with looking for a new apartment, finding a mover, scheduling time for painters to come, figuring out where the furniture will fit (actually, my mom took care of that- Thanks, Mom!), etc, you can imagine, perhaps, that my behavior over the past week or two hasn’t been stellar. Nate can attest to this.
Luckily, I have a patient man on my hands. He’s put up with my stressing, yelling, and ordering him around. And although he hasn’t helped me to take care of any of the details (except for getting his beloved FIOS set up), I can’t say that he deserves the rage I’ve let loose on him on several occassions.
So I thought that when he got home from work yesterday, I’d surprise him with the sweet smell of cookies wafting from the oven.
This is a recipe I came across online, although I’ve seen several variations in recent months and have been intrigued- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I was skeptical at first. How could 5 ingredients create such a moist, tender and delicious cookie? But one bite of the final product and I was a believer.
Try these for when you want to surprise someone special…or even to treat yourself. They take 25 minutes max from start to finish. Give them to the appropriate person and all will be forgotten…right, Nate :)
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Southern Living
Makes 2 dozen
1 cup chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate morsels
Preheat oven to 350°. Stir together peanut butter and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl until well blended. Stir in chocolate morsels.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake at 325° for 15 to 20 minutes or until puffed and lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets on a wire rack 5 minutes. Transfer to wire rack, and let cool 15 minutes.
As I’ve been saying, things are busy here. But I feel so bad not cooking at least a few times a week.
I wanted a yummy pasta dish and came across a recipe online for a pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce. It was pretty much like a mac n cheese sauce except that it used asiago for the cheese instead of cheddar or something.
You know how any cheese based sauce is thickened with flour? Well I wanted to add some protein to this recipe. I contemplated adding a can of chickpeas, but then I had a grand idea: chickpea flour! I told you about this flour a while ago…it makes an amazing pancake type thing called a socca, which i still haven’t blogged about yet (I promise I will).
Anyway, I have a bag of this garbanzo bean flour in my pantry and I thought it would make a great sub for the regular flour. 1/4 cup of it has 6 grams of protein, and I ended up doubling it. I think you definitely could have added more though, since it doesn’t really act as a thickening agent. You can find it at any health food store and some supermarkets may even have it. The brand I use is Bob’s Red Mill.
I also threw in a bag of spinach since it was near death in the back of my fridge. I’m sure it was happy to get turned into something tasty instead of being laid to rest in the trash.
This dish turned out totally delicious! If you use the pasta pot to make the sauce, you only end up dirtying two pans- perfection!
Creamy Orecchiette with Mushrooms, Spinach and Crunchy Cheese Topping
Adapted from Cooking Light
Serves 8 pretty large servings
1 lb uncooked orecchiette pasta (or medium shells/farfalle)
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sliced shallots
16 ounces sliced baby portobello mushrooms
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon dry sherry (or vermouth/white wine)
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour + 2 Tbsp white flour (or 1/2 cup white flour if you don’t want to use garbanzo bean flour)
3.5 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 cup grated parmesan/pecorino romano
Cooking spray
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sliced shallots
16 ounces sliced baby portobello mushrooms
8 ounces sliced cremini mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon dry sherry (or vermouth/white wine)
1/2 cup garbanzo bean flour + 2 Tbsp white flour (or 1/2 cup white flour if you don’t want to use garbanzo bean flour)
3.5 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
2 cup grated parmesan/pecorino romano
Cooking spray
Preheat oven to 375°.
Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well. Set cooked pasta aside.
Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots; sauté 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme, pepper; sauté 5-8 minutes or until mushrooms are tender. Add spinach and stir til wilted.
Add sherry; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
Place flour(s) in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat; gradually add milk, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring mixture to a boil; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Remove from heat; add 1.5 cup cheese, stirring until melted. Add pasta and mushroom mixture to cheese mixture, tossing well to combine.
Spoon pasta mixture into an 9×13-inch baking dish lightly coated with cooking spray; sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes and then broil for 10 minutes or until cheese on top browns.
One of my dearest friends, Erica (and the one I’ve known the longest!), celebrated a special bday this past weekend- the big 3-0. Because I wasn’t able to make it to her bowling bday bash, I did what I always do and baked her a cake :)
It’s so nice to love cooking and baking, because it makes giving presents so easy, enjoyable and special (I also sometimes paint/draw/crochet my gifts). I mean who doesn’t love some homemade treats? Plus, it’s so nice to put some thought and effort into a present and give it that handmade touch rather than just picking up a random gift from the store because you’re “supposed to” give presents on bdays.
And I have to say, I think my gifts tend to be much more appreciated! So when it came time to get thinking about what type of cake Erica wanted, I went straight to the source. I like to be creative, but Erica wanted the basics: yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I suppose that IS the traditional bday cake combo.
Of course, I had to add my touch and make it a little different and more gourmet- adding white chocolate chips to the batter and making a sour cream chocolate frosting. But I also have been so busy that I took a few shortcuts- using a boxed cake mix that I jazzed up.
Yes, Erica is wearing scrubs in those pics. She works in tv and is currently filming a show and is in the hospital all day long. I wish I could wear such comfy clothes to work!
Anyways, the cake result was nothing short of amazing…a birthday tradition from now on, to be sure.
Happy 30th Birthday, Erica!!!
I’m so happy to have you as my friend and I can’t wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you :)
Yellow Birthday Cake with White Chocolate Chips and Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
Cake recipe by me, Frosting recipe taken from Smitten Kitchen adapted from The Dessert Bible
# of Servings-who cares, it’s your birthday! (Makes one 2 layer bday cake)
Cake:
1 box Classic Yellow Cake mix
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/2-1 cup white chocolate chips
1 recipe Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting, recipe below
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Butter two 9-inch round cake pans (or two 8-inch, depending on how high you want the cake to be) and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
Place cake mix, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat well. Add eggs and beat to incorporate, 2 min. Stir in 1/2-1 cup of white chocolate chips, depending on how much you like.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 30 min. Cool in pan on a rack 15 minutes. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour (put in fridge if you want them to cool faster. Sometimes they’re easier to frost when cold). Do not frost until cakes are completely cool.
Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
15 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 teaspoons instant espresso (optional, but can be used to pick up the flavor of average chocolate)
2 1/4 cups sour cream, at room temperature
1/4 to 1/2 cup light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the chocolate and espresso powder, if using, in the top of a double-boiler or in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted. (Alternately, you can melt the chocolate in a microwave for 30 seconds, stirring well, and then heating in 15 second increments, stirring between each, until the chocolate is melted.) Remove from heat and let chocolate cool until tepid.
Whisk together the sour cream, 1/4 cup of the corn syrup and vanilla extract until combined. Add the tepid chocolate slowly and stir quickly until the mixture is uniform. Taste for sweetness, and if needed, add additional corn syrup in one tablespoon increments until desired level of sweetness is achieved.
Let cool in the refrigerator until the frosting is a spreadable consistency. This should not take more than 30 minutes. Should the frosting become too thick or stiff, just leave it out until it softens again.
