Daring Bakers August Challenge...Eclairs!

This is the first Daring Bakers Challenge I have done solo. I told my sisters that I wanted to do it since I love eclairs so much. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! After spending the last few days and countless hours making them, I have a new respect for any eclair I may eat in the future! They are very time consuming (at least for a novice) but I learned a lot and had a bunch of fun. If I ever decide to do it again, I know exactly what I would change or do to make it faster and easier for me. So here are my tips... 1. Make sure you bake the pastry long enough (took 28 min for me, not 20) or they will fall into little lumps of dough - ick. Yes, this took me two times of making that elaborate dough and piping each "chubby finger" - I wanted to shoot myself! 2. I would try a vanilla custard filling...the chocolate is delicious but not sweet enough for me, especially paired with the bittersweet chocolate glaze. 3. I may try a different glaze. It was pretty but rather bitter. 4. If I would have had time, I would have added a dollop of sweetened whipped cream to each eclair or folded whipped cream into the chocolate custard filling. For any of you non-Daring Bakers that are willing to rise to the challenge...here is the recipe. You better love chocolate...especially dark chocolate!

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs Recipe

from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

Cream Puff Dough

½ cup (125g) whole milk

½ cup (125g) water

1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

¼ teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour

5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs.

Notes: 1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately. 2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Piping dough and baking:

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes: 1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Chocolate Pastry Cream Recipe

from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk

• 4 large egg yolks

• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar

• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted

• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted

• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan. 2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture. 3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat. 4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth. 5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes: 1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. 2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream. 3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze Recipe

from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream

• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature

• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes: 1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water. 2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce Recipe

from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 1 cup (250 g) water

• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream

• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1)Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes: 1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using. 2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Assembling the éclairs:

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95–104 degrees F or 35–40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes: 1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles. 2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Daring Bakers June Challenge-Braided Danish

 


My, Oh MY....this has filled my home with the most incredible aroma!! Thanks to Kelly and Ben who chose this lovely recipe to challenge all the Daring Bakers this month. I have never attempted to make a laminated dough recipe before. It sounded very complicated...but I was excited to challenge myself! This recipe ended up being really fun and not too difficult at all...and I learned some new terminology! Although, it was a bit time consuming waiting on the dough in between steps, this was not a problem for me. I always have PLENTY of little things to do (like laundry) and little people (my 5 boys) to take care of in between the "turns", while it was raising, and then baking. The Detrempe or dough was flavored with orange, cardamom and speckled with vanilla bean seeds--a heavenly combination! My Beurrage or butter block (the mixture of butter and flour) that is spread with in the layers stayed in just fine, so the "turns" (rolling it out and folding it on itself) went well! I made the Fuji apple filling and it was great (and wonderfully aromatic)too! I added a brown sugar glaze. It went perfecty with the apple filling. This recipe was fun and delicious! I think I will definetly make this again sometime! Check out the other daring bakers and all their danish creations here !

Danish Braid” from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking
Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugarZest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes
.4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.


APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids
Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.


DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids
Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves

For the egg wash:
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.


Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes (Mine was overdone after 12 min.) more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Brown Sugar Glaze
Combine in a saucepan over medium heat:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup cream

Bring this to a boil and let it boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile place in the bowl of a mixer:
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Add warm brown sugar mixture to bowl and beat for a few minutes. Add a little more cream for desired consistency. Drizzle over danish! Enjoy!
 

Cheesecake Pops!

These were so fun to make and totally perfect for a party! I made them for a baby shower this month, and they were a big hit. In fact, a friend of mine asked me to make them again this Thursday for her son's Scouting Court of Honor. I can see myself making these again and again.  Which says a lot since I'm not even a die-hard cheesecake lover. But I absolutely love serving these cute little pops, and everyone loves them!

When I made these for the baby shower, I used tall 8-inch sticks for half of them and then had bunches of them coming out of bottles for table decorations. Then for the other half I used 4-inch sticks and layed them on a tray. I sprinkled some of them with stars and the rest I piped contrasting melted chocolate on them. I think the star sprinkles were cuter. (I learned my lesson that using a plastic baggie with a snip in the corner does NOT make nice piping. Once I got out my real cake decorating bags and tips, the piping turned out much better.)

Most importantly, I cut them into squares instead of the balls. (Thank you Melanie (my cute sis-in-law) at Mel's Kitchen Cafe for your tips!) It was SO MUCH EASIER to cut them into squares than trying to scoop them out into balls. The cheesecake was definitely too soft for scooping. But as long as I scraped the knife after each slice, cutting them into squares was a snap. And I actually think they looked really cute as squares. All my other minor changes and/or tips I highlighted in pink inside the recipe.

I LOVED this Daring Bakers Challenge!! ---Erin

 

Cheesecake Pops

 

Submitted by Erin  ~  The Sisters Cafe

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream

 

- Boiling water as needed
- Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks {This recipe originally says it makes 30-40 pops. Because I cut these into squares instead of balls, I got nearly 100 pops from this recipe. I bought two packages of 8” lollipop sticks (25 in each pkg) and one package of 4” lollipop sticks (50 in the pkg) and I only had about 10 leftover.}
- 1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.) (Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible) {Since I got way more pops out of the recipe, I ended up needing much more chocolate. I bought Ghirardelli milk chocolate and used that on most of them. I ended up using 1 ½ pkg of that, about ½ pkg semisweet and ½ pkg white chocolate – between dipping and drizzling. Dark chocolate would be better than semisweet, but I didn’t have any on-hand.}
- 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees)

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. {I couldn’t find a 10-inch cake pan, so instead I used a metal 9x13 pan and lined it with tinfoil (and then sprayed it with Pam) so I could lift the cheesecake out of the pan when it was cooled.} Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. {My cheesecake took a little over 50 minutes to cook. Unlike usual cheesecake baking, I wanted the middle set before I took it out because that would make the pops easier to cut into.}
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls (no larger than a golfball size) and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. {I removed the cheesecake from the pan by holding the tinfoil, and then I cut them into squares. After each time using the knife I wiped it on the edge of a plate so it would continue to make clean cuts. Scooping them out to make balls like they describe is very messy and hard, and it wastes a lot of cheesecake. I’m glad I did the squares!} Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose its shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. {What worked best for me is to pick up some stars in my fingers and sprinkle them onto the pops.}You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. {I didn’t want them to have a flat edge in the chocolate, so instead of placing them on the parchment I propped them up using a cooling rack. A piece of Styrofoam would work well too (it would probably work better!).} Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Daring Bakers, March: Perfect Party Cake

This Perfect Party Cake is the first Daring Baker's Challenge for the Sisters' Cafe. This is Erin, and I got to represent our sisterhood this month. :) I regret that I don't have any pictures of this cake when it was sliced. The presentation before being sliced was mediocre, but the presentation afterwards was fabulous. Each slice looked like a masterpiece, with so many layers, and a hint of red in between each (the thin layer of raspberry jam). However, I didn't think it tasted nearly as good as the slice actually looked. The buttercream frosting had THREE cubes of butter in it, and it positively grossed me out! But perhaps it was because I had to make the cake the night before (and I consequently had to refrigerate it overnight - but I let it sit at room temp for four hours before serving), so when I served it at noon the next day the buttercream was ever-so-slightly firm so it reminded me of biting into straight butter. It didn't help that the layers of frosting between the cake layers were super thick. When I took the cake out of the oven it smelled so good; I bet it would have been yummy if I could have snitched a piece right then and there. I think perhaps it lost some of it subtle lemon flavor when it was refrigerated. I am a huge advocate of serving things FRESH. But there was no way around it this time, since I wanted to serve the cake to the group of teenage girls that I teach on Sundays. (The pretty white cake went well with our Easter lesson.) Assembling the cake was fun and new... but I wouldn't want to do it all again unless I was making an incredibly delicious cake. All in all, I thought the effort of putting it all together was a lot of work for just an average tasting cake. After this experience I am even more a die-hard bundt cake fan - bundt cakes are EASY to make, easy to glaze (no frosting required!), have gorgeous presentation (before and after being sliced), and are always MOIST and delicious. But even though I wasn't thrilled with the final outcome of this layered cake, I received many compliments and at least my girls were impressed and thought it was yummy! Our hostess for this month's challenge was Food Art and Random Thoughts. You can see what other Daring Bakers thought about our challenge this month by visiting our blogroll.