Daring Bakers - May ~ Piece Montée or Croquembouche

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.




I had such high hopes for this challenge. But my dreams were not to come true! I have been making cream puffs for years so I am not sure what happened. Since my puffs weren't exactly how I liked them I decided to dip the whole things in chocolate. Good, right? Well, sure but then I couldn't get them to stack up properly so my photos look like a plate of little chocolate doughnuts. LOL I like to call it THE LEANING TOWER OF LITTLE CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUTS!

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!




Oh well. It was a really fun challenge and now we have a plateful of little chocolate cream puffs to munch on! I'm not sure I would attempt to make a Croquembouche again but I sure would like to eat one!

Daring Bakers - December ~ French Yule Log

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

This was such a fun challenge. I have to admit I almost didn't participate when I saw the 18 page recipe!! Holy cow! But once I sat down to read through it I knew I could make this delicious dessert.

Here are some of the instructions we Daring Bakers given:

So, to the business of our Yule log:
#1 DO NOT PANIC when you see that this document is 18 pages long. The actual recipe is not 12 pages long, it’s more on the order of 3-4 pages once you choose your flavors. Marion and I believe in Culinary Freedom and wanted to make this as fun and accessible as possible for everyone around the world.
#2 THE CHALLENGE RULE is that you MUST MAKE ALL 6 of these elements for the log:
1) Dacquoise Biscuit
2) Mousse
3) Ganache Insert
4) Praline (Crisp) Insert
5) Creme Brulee Insert
6) Icing
The assembly will essentially be a Dacquoise Biscuit at the bottom, and the inserts inter-layered with mousse, with an icing finish.

I broke the recipe down into three days. The first day I made the creme brulee, mousse, and praline crisp. The praline crisp is really, really good. It's like super fancy rice krispie treats.

Agnes ate almost all the leftovers!


On day two I made the dacquoise biscuit, ganache insert, and icing. Since I don't own a yule log mold I used a standard size loaf pan. It worked perfectly.

Here the whole thing is ready to go into the freezer for 24 hours. The bottom layer in the picture is the chocolate mousee right before I put the chocolate ganache insert and biscuit on.


The Log taken out of the mold. The yellow is the creme brulee. That was my favorite layer. YUM!!


This was taken right after I put the icing on. The icing is super easy to make but I should have made a double batch. It would have gone on smoother and more evenly.

After icing The Log I put it back into the freezer until we were ready to eat it.

And, finally THE LOG!




While it was a daunting recipe The Log will be made again. Done in steps it is a really easy dessert to make. The Log has become a new holiday tradition for my family. When the berries come in this year I will be making a new log. It would be delicious with a berry mousse, creme brulee (because you have to have this layer!!), and drizzled with white chocolate icing.



If anyone would like the recipe let me know and I will email it to you. It is too long to post here.



Please visit this month's hosts blogs.
Saffron and Blueberry
Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux

"I Want Candy..." ~ Bow Wow Wow

My newest creation Whopper Cupcakes. Oh my gosh! These are so good! I found the recipe over at The Hungry Housewife. There is a lot of cake batter. I ended up with 32 cupcakes. I fill my tins with 1/4 cup of batter. The cakes are a white cake made with malted milk powder. I didn't use the icing recipe the recipe suggested. I McGyvered my own. I think the next time I make these I will leave out the cinnamon and nutmeg so the malt flavor comes out stronger. The icing is a mix between semi, bitter, and unsweetened chocolate buttercream.

“Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it” ~ Lily Tomlin

My life is so full of stress right now. UGH! I want to bury my head in a pillow and scream. I want to take to bed and not get out for two weeks. 

I've been very careful not to stress eat. Before I eat anything I ask myself 5 times if I am hungry. It is a great practice to follow. It is hard but it works. 

I did something yesterday I have never been able to do. I was craving chocolate badly so I bought a small chocolate bar. I cut it in half and put the other half in the cupboard. It is still in the cupboard. I just don't want anymore. Never in my life have I done that. 

Another new part of my life is breakfast. I never eat breakfast unless I am on vacation or we make waffles/pancakes on a Sunday morning. I have eaten breakfast everyday since I saw the nutritionist. Now I eat a couple pieces of fruit, cereal, or oatmeal. I can definitely tell the difference. I have so much more energy and I don't seem to be as cranky. 

The yoga is helping some with the stress. It gives me 2 hours, 4 days a week for myself. I don't have to think about anything except my breathing and poses. 

Although, if I didn't have stress in my life I am not sure what I would do. It seems to be the only constant in my life. :)