mix, mix…stir, stir

This week the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers are cranking out a serious dessert. Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart is the black-tie, white linen tablecloth version of a snickers bar with the added bonus of pastry crust. Chocolaty-caramely-peanutty flavors playing on a rich, buttery, impossibly crispy crust is pure dessert satisfaction.

Oddly I wasn’t motivated to through some flavor into the chocolate ganache, but while cooking the caramel my spice collection called to me. Perched right above my stove as though it was in line and next up, is my container of Alderwood Smoked Salt; Alderwood Smoked Salt Caramels are my signature confection so it was a natural choice that a pinch of this flavor magic land in my caramel just as it finished cooking.

There isn’t anything revolutionary about a chocolate ganache tart. Caramel and peanuts are certainly familiar, as is salt with caramel and chocolate. A tart shell is a blank canvas. Why then, is this dessert so absolutely engaging? My expectation of the finished product was that it would be predictably good, but not attention grabbing, spotlight stealing, and conversation haltingly good. A special synergy between the individual components launched this understated looking tart into a completely unexpected realm.

Except for making caramel, it’s even a very easy recipe. The dough is effortless thanks to the aid of a food processor, and it’s just pressed into the pan, no rolling pin needed. I replaced 2 tablespoons of the flour with cornstarch to make it extra crispy and crumbly. Ganache is no more than hot cream poured over chopped chocolate and stirred to bring it together. I used a 72% chocolate, so it was a deep rich and not-too-sweet player. Because the percentage of cocoa mass was so high in my chocolate and the ganache called for heavy cream, I only used half of the butter called for. If too much fat is worked into ganache, it can break. Had I been working with a 56% chocolate the full amount of butter would have incorporated smoothly into the mixture. If a ganache does break, blending it with an immersion blender or in a food processor can usually bring it back together.

The caramel element may seem intimidating, but the technique Dorie uses of sprinkling in a little bit of sugar at a time into the pan during the melting process is very successful. Yes, it’s molten sugar that can result in an unbelievably painful burn if you splatter it on yourself, so be careful, but give it a try. I just noticed that Dorie calls for chopping the peanuts, had I realized that while making the filling, I would have likely chosen to leave them whole because I like the visual impact and more definitive flavor experience of whole nuts.

Carla of Chocolate Moosey selected this week’s baking assignment.  If I have gushed enough to inspire you to want to try it for yourself, you can find the recipe posted on Carla’s blog.

10/2 update: After reading lots of other TWD baker’s posts about this tart I realized I left out 2 tablespoons of cream from the ganache using just 1 cup. I saw many comments about the ganache being very runny and in looking back at the recipe realized my happy accident.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 93 recipes completed 128 to go!

Whenever I need a good hearty laugh, I just click over to see the latest from Jen Yates at Cake Wrecks. Her world famous blog documenting “when professional cakes go hilariously wrong” is endlessly entertaining. Cake Wrecks is now available unplugged in the form of a good old fashioned book. Jen and her husband John stopped in Seattle to spread cheer, share cake and sign books.

Of course they added a fun cakey twist to the event by hosting a cupcake Wreckplica contest; fans were challenged to replicate a favorite Cake Wreck on a cupcake. Though I had put this event on my calendar months ago and was looking forward to it, I managed to completely forget about it the day of. Thankfully they sent out reminder email that I saw 2 hours before the event started, so I raced to the kitchen to make cupcakes determined to participate in the cupcake Wreckpilca competition. Having only 2 hours, I selected a very simple Wreck to replicate, though it wasn’t a winner, it was fun.  The original Wreck is part of a collection of Father’s Day celebration cakes scroll down to the last one of the bunch to see the origional of my Wreckpilca.

My Wreckplica

Jen and John carefully judge the many entries

The winning Werckplica -My Lap’s On Fire

The evil genious behind Cake Wrecks, Jen Yates with her husband John

Cake Wrecks – the book, is every bit as enjoyable as the blog and is primarily new material not published on line including stories about the bakers, reporters, and recipients of Wrecks.  We are set for entertainment should we lose power or our Internet connection! It’s a fun book worth having on your shelf.

The title of this week’s Tuesday’s with Dorie recipe had me intrigued and a little confused.  I just couldn’t imagine what these would be like. Why cottage cheese?

If you read the previous post, you know I am a big fan of pastry wrapped around a filling, but these curious little cookies let me down. From Dories introduction to the recipe they clearly worked for her as she describes them as delicate little puffs.  I found the dough to be really difficult to work with because it was so soft and sticky. Once baked, they were more greasy than puffy. The quince apple jam I used worked great as a filling, but I actually enjoyed eating the leftover cottage cheese more than I enjoyed the cookies. You can’t win them all.

Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes selected the recipe for the week and you can find it posted on her blog if you want to give it a try and see if you have a result more like the description of the cookies Dorie gives.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 92 recipes completed 129 to go!

A little package of pastry with a delicious filling is hard to beat —sweet or savory. One of the most appealing features of this style of treat is the ability to pick it up and eat it out of hand. There is an added element of pleasure to food I can hold in my hand and eat. I am not sure why that is, but it could be because such foods generally involve a pastry shell or doughy wrapper of some sort, which is almost an unfair advantage.

These Apple Turnovers are part of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking odyssey.  Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen, selected the baking task for us and has the recipe posted on her blog. The dough was flaky, not too sweet and had a nice tangy note from sour cream. The instructions direct to combine the butter and flour by hand, but I was feeling pressed for time and rather impatient, so I employed my food processor to get the job done in all of about 30 seconds. Like any pastry dough there is chill time, so don’t be thinking this is the kind of treat you can whip up the instant a craving hits.

The sour cream adds such a great flavor, but makes for very soft dough, so rolling it out between plastic or parchment paper will save a lot of frustration. Because I was in a hurry and didn’t want to fuss with a cutter, I just sliced the rolled dough into squares, filled, folded, and baked.

Being pressed for time didn’t prevent me from adding a little extra dash of this and pinch of that. The first deviation I made was to grate the apples rather than chop them. I wanted the filling to cook down into an applesauce like consistency and the grated apples did just that. The only seasoning the recipe calls for is a bit of cinnamon, but I couldn’t stop there. I added 1/2  teaspoon of lemon zest, pinch of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of coriander. The apple coriander combo is working its way into my DNA. I also used brown sugar rather than granulated sugar because it just seemed right. The filling was great. Knowing David isn’t a fan of fruit fillings, I filled half of the turnovers with chopped bittersweet chocolate, which was equally as delicious. Each turnover was sprinkled with spiced sugar I had saved from a previous baking project to add another touch of flavor.

This is a quick pastry that is delicate, flaky, and flavorful. It does require patients to chill and re-chill mid-assembly if necessary, but definitely a success in my book.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours . 91 recipes completed 130 to go!

This 2009 James Beard Award-winning book is the ultimate culinary idea generator. Have you ever wondered what foods are good match with fennel, or been stumped over what to do to take tonight’s pork tenderloin in a new flavor direction?

The Flavor Bible lists hundreds of ingredients in alphabetical order, offering dozens of flavor matches for each ingredient as inspiration.  Karen Page and Andrew Dorneberg interviewed highly regarded chefs and culinary experts across the US and Canada compiling data on natural flavor affinities for all kinds of foods, spices, cuisines, and beverages to create this encyclopedia for your palate. If you’re a free spirit in the kitchen, creating your own culinary masterpieces, or you would like to be, this book is a fantastic resource. Chef commentaries and tips on various ingredients are sprinkled throughout the book giving insight into how they pair foods and layer flavors.

This is a book of concepts and ideas, not recipes. It’s pure inspiration. My copy has found a permanent home on the counter in my kitchen where it’s within easy reach. Anytime I’m pondering what to do with a dish or ingredient I draw on the flavor pairing expertise of dozens of culinary professionals that this book puts at my fingertips.  The Flavor Bible is celebrating its one year anniversary this week, and of all the books I own, I have probably referenced it more times in this one year than many books I have had for decades.  It’s one of the books I’ve included in our Essential Spice References section because it’s become such a valuable tool in my kitchen. Happy anniversary Flavor Bible!