My Twelves Days of Christmas Cookies (Martha Stewart)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

Twelve Drummers Drumming
Eleven11 Pipers Piping
Ten Lords-a-Leaping
Nine Ladies Dancing
Eight Maids-a-Milking
Seven Swans-a-Swimming
Six Geese-a-Laying
Five Gold Rings
Four Colly Birds
Three French Hens
Two Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

This is another Christmas song that I like to sing while doing my Christmas baking.  With too much of this song, I think that I'm having difficulties getting this out of my head... HELP! Strangely, I'm baking a part of this music now. LOL!

Originally, I was thinking of using the Christmas tags that I bought from Esty (A Touch of Gray) as stencils to decorate my cookies but ended tracing the designs onto the cookies with royal icing. We love these Christmas-y cookies and again... we can't stop singing this song while eating our cookies.

My family and I will be going to Sydney for small break. This will be my last post for Cook Like a Star, Martha Stewart and also 2012 and will be back again in early January 2013 for more baking and cooking.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you!

This is me baking with a little Christmas music...

Making the cookie dough

The messy me baking these cookies

Now, I need to decorate these cookies.

Sad to see my yucky stencil cookies!

These look better...

Merry Christmas, everybody!!!

Here's the recipe from Martha Stewart
(with my notes and modification in blue)

3 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup ground cinnamon 
(1/2 cup! I reckon this is an error and have used 1/2 tsp instead of 1/2 cup)
Salt
3 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract 
royal icing
confectioners' sugar or luster dust

Sift flour, cocoa, cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp salt into a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, and beat until combined. Divide dough in half, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr. 

Preheat oven to 350°F . Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out cookies in desired shapes using cookie cutters, and transfer to baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 mins. (I skipped this step and proceed on baking after cutting)

Bake until crisp, but not dark, 8 to 10 min. Transfer cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.

Note: Using half of the recipe, I have cut 48 cookies with a 58mm fluted round cutter and baked them at 160°C fan forced for 8 mins.

Punch desired shape out of stiff paper using a craft punch. Hold stencil over 1 cookie, and brush a thin layer of icing over exposed surface using a small food-safe paintbrush. Holding stencil in place, gently sift confectioners' sugar over cookie through a fine sieve to evenly coat exposed surface. Lift stencil, and return cookie to wire rack. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let dry.  

Note: I tried the stencil decorating method but reckon that my stencil cookies look really yucky. And so, I drew the shape of Twelves days of Christmas characters with royal icing and decorated them with some Christmas sprinkles.

Happy Baking and Merry Christmas

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #26- Creative Christmas Motif Bakes! hosted by Alan from Travellingfoodies.

This post is also linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
 
To blog hop with us, simply copy and paste this linky HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML view/mode when you paste in the code. get the InLinkz code

Before using this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to our Cook like a Star post, (Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats). Cheers!

Moist and Boozy Fruitcake (Martha Stewart)

I have never baked a Christmas fruit cake or pudding before. When I saw this recipe, Moist and Boozy Fruitcake at Martha Stewart website, I thought that this seems to be an exciting cake to bake and would love to make these as little gifts for my friends and colleagues. 

Like most fruit cakes, these cakes are expensive and time-consuming to bake. Just the premium dried fruits and the mid-range port itself had cost me more than AUD$40. Plus more than 3 hours of slow-baking... I was crossing my fingers very badly, hoping that this costly and time-consuming cake recipe will work well for me.

As I was afraid that I might over-bake these cakes, I had check them regularly while they were baking. To my surprise, in regardless of the sizes and thickness of the cakes, they actually took the same amount of baking time (3 1/2 hours) for the cake tester inserted to come out clean! When the cakes were cooled, I was excited and tasted a slice... Then, spat out a chewy bit! I was totally shocked to find the cake a little too tough to chew. At this disappointment moment, I was in state of asking myself: "What I have done wrong?"...

Fortunately, nothing is wrong. As I was about to throw away these cakes, part of my gut feeling told me not to do it. After a week of allowing my cakes to stand in the fridge, the cakes revived! Originally, all fruitcakes should stand in room temperature from 3 days up to a few months but I was afraid that the warming Melbourne weather might damage the cakes and decided to stand mine in the fridge. And, it is true that the longer the fruitcakes stand, the better the flavours and texture develop. These pudding-like Christmas cakes are indeed moist and boozy to enjoy. Unlike most fruitcakes, these cake taste more like Christmas puddings to me and have a compact and dense texture. My best part of this bake is to enjoy the fruity and boozy fragrance of these cakes while wrapping them into little presents... They smell really good!

I didn't forget my boy when I made these boozy cakes. For him, I have adapted the recipe to make a kiddy non-boozy version. The non-boozy ones are just as good as the boozy ones, minus the boozy, of course. LOL!

My moist and boozy fruitcake

The fruits and the booze

Mixing the fruit and booze...

Making the cake

Baking the cake

Can't eat the cake now... We have to wait!

Making the non-boozy ones for my boy

A moist fruitcake with pudding-like texture

All wrapped up to give away!

Here's the recipe from Martha Stewart 
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Yield Makes two 9-inch loaf cakes and two 8-inch round cakes

1 pound pitted prunes (2 1/4 cups)
1 pound dark raisins (2 3/4 cups)
1 pound dried currants (3 1/2 cups)
(replaced with same amount of raisins)
1 pound dried cherries (3 1/3 cups)
(replaced with dried cranberries)
3 ounces candied citrus peel, orange and lemon (1/2 cup)
3 ounces candied ginger (1/2 cup) (I didn't add this)
1 (750 mL) bottle dark rum, plus more for brushing cakes
(replaced with port but used rum for brushing)
1 (750 mL) bottle ruby port or Manischewitz wine
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for pans
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
4 ounces blanched almonds (2/3 cup)
(I used almond meal)
1/3 cup boiling water
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
(I used Dutch processed)
2 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
(I used dark muscovado sugar)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
10 large eggs, at room temperature
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup molasses or cane sugar
(I used molasses)

Confectioners' sugar or royal icing, for serving 

Note: I have used only half the amount of this recipe to two 20 cm x 20 cm square cakes.

At least 2 weeks before you plan to bake the cakes, place prunes, raisins, currants, cherries, citrus peel, candied ginger, rum, and port in a large container with a lid. Stir fruit once a day.

Note: I did this only 1 week before. I've soaked all my dried fruits with 750ml of port and stored it in my fridge. The Australian port that I used, Yaldara Fine Old Tawny is a mild-range one with rich fruity flavours and a nice warming finish.

When ready to bake the cakes, preheat oven to 250°F (or 125°C fan forced). Butter and flour two 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pans and two 8-by-2-inch round cake pans and line with parchment; butter parchment and set aside. 

Note: For thinner cakes, I've prepared two 20 cm square cake pans for half amount of this recipe.
 
In the bowl of a food processor or the jar of a heavy-duty blender, grind almonds to a coarse meal (I skipped this step because I used almond meal). Stir ground almonds into the fruit mixture until well combined. Working in batches, transfer almond-fruit mixture to the bowl of a food processor or jar of a blender and pulse until a chunky paste forms. Transfer paste to a large bowl or a rimmed baking sheet.

In a small bowl, whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add vanilla, and beat in eggs, one at a time. Transfer to a very large bowl or stock pot.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Using a spatula, fold flour mixture into butter mixture. Add cocoa powder mixture and molasses and fold to combine; stir in fruit.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and bake until cakes are firm on top and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 3 hrs. Remove from oven and immediately brush tops of cakes with rum. Let cakes cool completely. (I baked all my cakes for 3 and 1/2 hrs)

Invert cooled cakes to unmold and brush with additional rum. Wrap cakes in cheesecloth, a clean dish towel, or sturdy paper towels, and then in aluminum foil. Let stand at room temperature at least 3 days before serving, and up to 1 month. Serve cakes dusted with confectioners' sugar or frosted with royal icing.
Note: My cakes stand in the fridge for more than a week before serving.

My adapted kiddy non boozy fruitcake:

60g prune
125g rasins
60g dried cranberries
175ml orange juice
60g butter
75g flour
15g almond meal
10ml boiling water
3g Dutch cocoa powder
45g dark muscovado sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp molasses

I've baked the non boozy fruitcake using two 10 cm round cake pans. The dried fruits were soaked in orange juice overnight in fridge. The cakes were baked at 125°C fan forced for 3 1/2 hrs too. I've let the cake stand in the fridge for more than a week before serving.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
 
To blog hop with us, simply copy and paste this linky HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML view/mode when you paste in the code. get the InLinkz code

Before using this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to our Cook like a Star post, (Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats). Cheers!

Classic Cheese Lasagne (Martha Stewart)

"Noodles, marinara, noodles, ricotta mixture, Parmesan..." Despite that I kept telling myself this while layering the lasagne, I was still confused! Mine was eventually "noodles, marinara, ricotta mixture, Parmesan, noodles, marinara..." Silly me! In regardless, it was really fun baking this dish because this is my first time making fresh lasagne noodles.

Without addition of meat, this vegetarian lasagne is actually not rich at all and perfect for us to eat. Funny that my meat-eating husband and son didn't realise that this at all. Seriously, there was no complains at all! After we finished our dinner and cleaning up our plates, my husband suddenly had a surprised look at me and said "I don't remember that I ate any meat just now..." LOL!

This lasagne doesn't need any meat. All it need is lots of cheese and love. *smile*

A very nice vegetarian lasagne

Making the Marinara

Making the fresh lasagne noodles. Didn't have a pasta drying rack, used a cooling rack instead.

Layering the lasagne

Although I was a little confused with my layering order, the lasagne still look good!

Here's the recipe from Martha Stewart

(with my modification and notes in blue)

Classic Cheese Lasagne

1 pound whole-milk ricotta cheese 
(I used the light one which has 4.7g fat per 100g)
1 large egg (I actually forgot to add this!)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I didn't add this)
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 pound fresh mozzarella
Marinara
Fresh Lasagna Noodles, cut into 4-by-13-inch strips and cooked, or store-bought dried noodles, cooked
5 ounces coarsely grated Parmesan cheese, (about 1 3/4 cups) (plus extra to top)

Preheat oven to 375°F (or 150°C fan forced). Combine ricotta, egg, nutmeg (I didn't add egg and nutmeg), and salt in a medium bowl. Season with pepper. Coarsely grate 1/2 of the mozzarella, and stir into ricotta mixture. Using your fingers, shred remaining mozzarella into 2-inch strips, and reserve.

Spread 1/2 cup marinara in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Place a layer of noodles over marinara. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over noodles, and sprinkle with 1/3 of the Parmesan. Place a layer of noodles over the cheese layer.

Spread 1 cup marinara over noodles. Repeat layering (noodles, marinara, noodles, ricotta mixture, Parmesan) 2 more times. (Mine was noodles, marinara, ricotta mixture, Parmesan, noodles, marinara x 2) Spread remaining marinara over cheese layer, then sprinkle with shredded mozzarella (plus extra Parmesan).

Place baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until cheese is golden brown and sauce is bubbling, 45 to 50 min. Let stand for 15 min before slicing and serving.

Marinara

2 cans (28 ounces each) whole peeled plum tomatoes, undrained
(my can tomatoes are finely chopped and do not require any processing)
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (2 tbsp)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Pulse tomatoes and juices in a food processor until coarsely chopped (I didn't do this).

Heat garlic and oil in a 5-quart pot over medium heat until garlic begins to sizzle, about 2 min. Add tomato puree, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for 30 min. Let cool slightly. Sauce can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.

Fresh Lasagna Noodles

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface and dusting
3 large eggs
Coarse salt

Mound flour on a work surface, and make a well in the center. Beat eggs and a pinch of salt in a small bowl, then pour eggs into well. Using a fork, slowly add flour to eggs, incorporating a small amount at a time, switching to hands as dough becomes stiff.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, about 10 min. Cover with plastic, and let dough rest on counter for 1 1/2 hrs.

Cut dough into 8 pieces. Working with 1 piece at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, dust dough lightly with flour, and feed through a pasta machine's widest setting (No.1).

Fold dough lengthwise into thirds, and rotate 90 degrees. Pass through machine 2 more times.
Turn dial to next-narrower setting. Pass dough through machine twice, gently supporting it with your palms. Continue to roll dough through ever-finer settings, 2 passes each, until sheet is almost translucent . If dough bubbles or tears, pass it through again, and dust with flour if it sticks. 

Immediately cut sheet into lasagna noodles: 4-inch squares for individual lasagna or 4-by-13-inch strips for a large pan. Transfer strips to a drying rack for 1 hr. (Mine is just dried for 1 hr) Repeat with remaining dough. (Noodles can be stored, when completely dry and stiff, for up to 1 week.)

Fill a large bowl with cool water. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook 2 to 3 noodles at a time for 90 seconds. Using a wire-mesh skimmer, transfer noodles to cool water, and swirl a few times. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet until ready to use, placing a piece of parchment or plastic between layers. Use immediately.

Note:

Using half amount of this recipe, I have baked my lasgane in a 16 cm x 26 cm baking dish at 150°C fan forced for 45 min.

Instead of dividing the dough into 8, I've divided by my half amount into 4 and can make eight of 10 cm x 26 cm lasagna noodles.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
 
To blog hop with us, simply copy and paste this linky HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML view/mode when you paste in the code. get the InLinkz code

Before using this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to our Cook like a Star post, (Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats). Cheers!

Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies (Martha Stewart)

Since the day that I baked my dark chocolate whoopie pies with toasted almond cream, my husband and son can't stop thinking of whoopie pies. Ops! I think I have created a constant craving for them... LOL! It was really funny to watch my son jumping with joy when he knew that I was baking these mini chocolate whoopie pies!

My husband and son couldn't wait to sink their teeth into one of these whoopie pies when I was serving these to them but were disappointed after they had their first bite. They kept saying that these whoopie pies were not as good as the one with toasted almond cream and I was quite surprised to witness their disappointment. I thought that these whoopie pies made with whipped dark chocolate ganache can be very chocolaty and comparatively good to eat but I have to agree with my husband and son after I tasted these whoopie pies.

To be honest, these whoopie pies can be as delicious as you can imagine... Just unfortunate that they can't compete with the ones that I made previously with toasted almond cream. To be fair, I think this recipe should not be entirely responsible for these not-so-ideal whoopie pies. Maybe we were expecting a little bit too much... or maybe the healthy freak me had changed their texture too much by replacing shortening with butter in this recipe...

My Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Baking the whoopie rounds

Making the whipped chocolate ganache

Filling the pies

Yummy but not as good as the ones that I previously made with toasted almond cream

Here are the recipe from Martha Stewart
(with my modification in blue)

Mini Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Make 32

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda (replaced by baking powder)
Coarse salt
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (replaced with butter)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar (I used dark muscovado sugar)
1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Whipped Ganache

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (or 180°C fan forced). Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt into a medium bowl.

Beat shortening (butter), sugars, and butter with a mixer on high speed until smooth, about 3 mins. Add egg, and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2 mins.

Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture in 2 additions, alternating with milk and vanilla, beginning and ending with flour.

Drop mounds of dough (about 2 tsp each) onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing each 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies spring back when lightly touched with a finger, 12 to 14 mins. Let cool on sheets set on wire racks for 10 mins. Transfer cookies to racks, and let cool completely.

Transfer whipped ganache to a disposable pastry bag, and snip a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe ganache (2 to 2 1/2 tsp each) onto flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing gently.

Note: Using this recipe, I have baked 40 medium sized whoopie pie rounds (20 whoopie pies) and they were baked for 180°C fan forced for 12 min.

Chocolate Ganache

8 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (preferably 61% cacao)

(mine is 70% cocoa)
1 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp coarse salt

Coarsely chop chocolate. A serrated knife is best for the job; its sawlike teeth grab the chocolate, breaking it up.

Bring cream just to a boil over medium-high heat. Pour over chocolate, and add salt. Let stand for 10 mins (don't stir - doing so will cool the ganache too quickly, making it grainy).

Stir with a whisk until smooth and shiny to break up any pieces and emulsify cream and chocolate.

Chocolate will often settle on the bottom or sides of the bowl. Scrape dish with a rubber spatula to incorporate all of it.

To make a whipped filling. Let ganache cool to room temperature, stirring often, 45 mins to 1 hr. (I didn't cool my ganache to room temperature before beating. My ganache was cooled while beating with an electric at its lowest speed for about 15 min. Then beat it on a higher speed until pale and fluffy.) Beat it with a mixer on medium-high speed until paler and fluffy, 2 to 4 mins. (This will yield about 2 cups.) Transfer to a disposable pastry bag with a large opening and use it as a filling for mini whoopie pies.

Note: Half amount of this recipe can fill 18 medium whoopie pies.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
 
To blog hop with us, simply copy and paste this linky HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML view/mode when you paste in the code. get the InLinkz code

Before using this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to our Cook like a Star post, (Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats). Cheers!

My Ultimate Chocolate Éclair Experience

My husband and I are chocoholic. Naturally, we have created a little chocoholic boy and together, we form one chocoholic family. I always want to create an ultimate chocolate éclairs experience for my chocoholic family and this recipe from the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours seems to be the one that I'm after...

Prior to this bake, I have never bake chocolate éclairs before. I really want to set myself up for this attempt and so I'm suggesting the theme, "chocolate éclairs" to my two baking buddies, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Lena, from Frozen wings for this bake-along.
 
And so, here I am proudly present my ultimate chocolate éclairs with four major components:

First is the pâte à choux. Pâte à choux in French can be translated as "cabbage pastry", but its real meaning has nothing to do with vegetables and usually refers as pastry that is light and hollow to hold various kind of fillings. This choux pastry that I'm using to make my éclairs is slightly difference from the one that I baked for my cream puffs as this recipe contains milk but the previous one doesn't.

Second is the white chocolate cream filling. I was disappointed at first that the Sarabeth's white chocolate cream recipe didn't work well for me. The cream that I made according to this recipe did hold its shape very well but curd very badly. And so, I have improvised the recipe to make the white chocolate filling according to my way. I wouldn't refer my improvised version as "white chocolate cream" as it is not firm enough to form pip-able shape but it sets well only after it is very well chilled.

Third is the dark chocolate glaze. Nothing complete a chocolate éclair with a nice and smooth dark chocolate glaze. I notice that Sarabeth likes to incorporate coffee into lots of her chocolate bakes, ganaches and glazes including the chocolate glaze for this éclairs recipe. As my son and I can't really consume coffee due to its caffeine content and so I have substituted all the coffee ingredients in this bake with just water. In the near future, we may wish to try baking with decaffeinated coffee...

For my most ultimate experience, the fourth ingredient is a dark chocolate dipping sauce! Since this experience, it has became an essential for us to eat with our chocolate éclairs. And this is what we did... just dunk an éclair into this dark chocolate sauce and enjoy the combination of all four different chocolates in one bite! Yum!

My chocoholic son was excited seeing these mini chocolate éclairs and not surprisingly at all, everything is gone in a flash.

My chocolate éclairs

Making the choux pastry

Piping and baking them

Making the white chocolate filling

Making the chocolate glaze

Filling the pastries

My chocolate éclair with white chocolate cream and dark chocolate glaze

What's more? ... I'm making dark chocolate sauce for my éclair dipping.

Here's my ultimate chocolate éclair experience, dunk an éclair into dark chocolate sauce...

and eat it...

Here are the recipes from the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.
(with my notes and modifications in blue)

Pâte à Choux

Make 12 large éclairs

1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp whole milk
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp water
7 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature, beaten

Combine the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often with a wooden spoon to help dissolve the butter. The butter must be completely melted by the time the liquid boils, so adjust the heat as needed.
Immediately dump all of the flour at once into the saucepan. Using the wooden spoon, willfully and briskly stir to make the mixture come together into a thick paste. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Continue stirring the dough for at least 1 min until it resembles a blob of mashed potatoes. A thin film will form on the bottom of the pan and adjust the heat as needed to keep it from scorching.

Transfer the hot dough to the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on low speed for 30 sec to slightly cool the dough and force out more steam. Increase the speed to medium. A tablespoon or two at a time, add the beaten eggs, letting each addition absorb into the dough before adding more. With each addition, the dough will break up, and then some together with beating. When all of the eggs have been added, increase the speed to high and beat until the dough has a sheen, about 15 secs. The dough will be warm, elastic, and very sticky. Use the dough immediately, because cooled dough will not puff to its full expansion. It is usually transferred to a pastry bag and piped for the most uniform shapes.

Position racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat, to 400°F. Line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.

Fit a large (at least 14 inches) pastry bag with an 11/16-inch-diameter plain pastry tip, such as Ateco #809 (I used Wilton 1A tip). Fill the bag with the freshly made warm pate a choux dough. Pipe twelve 5-inch-long strips of dough on the two pans, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Exert a good amount of pressure on the bag of dough so the strips are wide and thick. Smooth any pointed tips of dough with a finger dipped in water.

Bake until crisp and golden brown, 25 min. Do not underbake, or the eclairs will fall when they come out of the oven. Remove from the oven. Using a small paring knife, pierce a small slit, into the crease on the side of each éclair. Return the éclairs to the oven and continue baking until a bit more crisp and golden brown, about 10 min. Don't let them burn, of course, but don't be afraid to get them good and crisp. Turn off the oven and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Let the éclairs cool completely in the oven.

Note: Using half of the recipe, I made 14 mini éclair pastries and baked them at 15 min first at 190°C fan forced, pierce them and baked them for another 5 min.

White Chocolate Cream

1 1/2 cups heavy cream, divided
6 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped

To make the white chocolate cream, heat 1/2 cup of the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from the heat. Add the white chocolate and let stand until softened, about 3 mins. Whisk until smooth. Let cool until tepid.

Whip the remaining 1 cup cream in the chilled bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment on medium-high speed just until soft peaks form. Add the cooled white chocolate mixture and whip until the cream holds its shape. Remove from the bowl. If you would like it a bit stiffer, whisk by hand with a balloon whisk. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Note: Using this method, my white chocolate cream had curd very badly. To improvise, I used the same ingredients from half of the recipe to my own white chocolate filling. All the cream was simmered and added to the white chocolate. The chocolate mixture was stirred until smooth and chilled for about 2 hr to firm up slightly.

Chocolate Glaze

The chocolate that I used for this bake

1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tsp boiling water (I didn’t add this)
1 tbsp water
4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (no more than 62% cocoa), finely chopped (the chocolate that I used is 58% cocoa)
1 tbsp light corn syrup

To make the glaze, bring the cream, sugar, dissolved espresso (I didn’t add this), and water to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and let stand until softened, about 3 min. Add the corn syrup and whisk until smooth. Pour into a bowl large enough to fit an éclair. Use the glaze while it is still warm.

Note: Using half of the recipe, I have made enough glaze to top 14 mini éclairs.

To assemble:

Using a serrated knife, cut each éclair in half lengthwise. Remove any stringy, uncooked dough from the inside of each éclair to make a crisp pastry shell. Set the top and bottom of each éclair side by side on a half-sheet pan to keep each pair together. One at a time, hold the top half of each éclair, cut, side up, and dip into the glaze to coat the exterior. Let any excess glaze drip back into the bowl. Place, glazed side up, next to its matching bottom half. Repeat, with the remaining éclairs.

Transfer the whipped white chocolate cream to a pastry bag fitted with a 7/16-inch-diameter open-star tip, such as Ateco #825. Pipe swirls of the cream onto the top surface of the bottom shells (I didn't pipe my filling into my pastries and spread it using a spatula). Place the top glazed halves on their matching bottom halves. Refrigerate until the glaze sets, about 15 min.

Chocolate Sauce

Makes about 1 cup

1/2 cup brewed coffee (not French or Italian roast) (replaced with boiling water)
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp superfine sugar
6 ounce semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (no more than 62 percent cacoa), coarsely chopped (the chocolate that I used is 58% cocoa)
1 tbsp heavy cream
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

Combine the coffee (I didn’t add this), water, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the chocolate and let stand until the chocolate softens, about 3 min. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Whisk in the cream and vanilla.

Transfer the sauce to a bowl. Let it sit until slightly thickened; it should be thick enough to nicely coat a wooden spoon. If it thickens too much, thin it with more brewed coffee as needed (I didn't have to do that).

Note: Using 1/3 of the recipe, I have made enough sauce to dip the mini éclairs.

Happy Baking

Here are our baking friends that have joined us for this bake-along. Please visit their blogs for more of their Chocolate Éclair baking.

Please submit your details if you wish to link your post with this bake-along. This linking tool is open from 11 Dec to 17 Dec 2012.

For our next bake-along, we are baking Cold Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake (Recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes, Pg 114) which is to be posted on 14 Jan 2013. Please bake-along with us! All you need to do is to bake this cake and blog hop with us on this day or within the next 7 days.


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Pulled-Pork Sandwiches (Martha Stewart)

Honestly, I always associate American foods with big generous portions... And, I can never walk out of any American-style restaurants feeling not full enough or still hungry. One of the most fulfilling American food that I reckon would be a classic pulled-pork sandwich and this is what I have cooked for my family when we were feeling very hungry, especially on a cool weekend.

There are heaps of pulled-pork sandwich recipes that are available Martha Stewart website and I have chosen this because the pulled-pork is cooked in ketchup and seems very saucy and delicious to eat. I could have choose this Southern pulled-pork recipe which uses cider vinegar but prefer to explore a non-vinegar slow-cooked dish for this bake.

To compliment my saucy pulled pork, I have made homemade buns from scratch and served our pulled-pork sandwiches with Martha Stewart's tangy coleslaw for an overall balance in their tang and taste. In particular, the homemade buns recipe from Epicurious is interesting to bake because it uses no butter or oil in the recipe but uses cream instead. Due to this, these golden brown crusty buns are interestingly milky and white at their inside.

I think I have to trust the look of my satisfying "customers" as everything in our plates is delicious being on its own or even being together and they are gone without any hesitation.

Serving now... my pulled-pork sandwich

The ingredients that I used to cook the pulled-pork

After 2 1/2 hrs of slow-baking...

Proving the bread dough

Freshly baked bread - Now, where is the pork?

Making the tangy coleslaw

Assembling pulled-pork sandwiches... got to eat the sandwiches now. Ciao!

Here are the recipes (with my modification and notes in blue)

Pulled-Pork Sandwiches from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon light-brown sugar

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3/4 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Coarse salt and ground pepper

3-pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat

tangy red cabbage, for serving (I served mine with Tangy Coleslaw)

6 crusty white rolls, split in half horizontally (I baked my own homemade buns)

The oven method:

Preheat oven to 350°F (or 160°C fan forced). Stir together 1/2 cup ketchup, sugar, garlic, sage, oregano, 1 tsp coarse salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Cut pork in half lengthwise, coat the pork with the sauce and add all into a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy pot with a tight-fitting lid. Add 1 cup water, and cover. Transfer to oven; cook until pork is tender for about 2 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, prepare tangy red cabbage (or coleslaw) if desired.

Transfer pork to a large bowl. Using a large spoon, skim off and discard any fat from surface of cooking liquid. With two forks, pull meat apart until shredded. Pour any juices from slow cooker over pork, add remaining 1/4 cup ketchup, and stir to combine; season with salt and pepper. Spoon meat onto bottom half of rolls; add red cabbage (or coleslaw), if desired, and top of roll.

Tangy Coleslaw from Martha Stewart

1/3 cup light mayonnaise (I used 99% fat free ones)

1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream (replaced by yogurt)

2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)

Coarse salt and ground pepper

1 bag (16 ounces) coleslaw mix

3 scallions, green parts only, thinly sliced crosswise (I didn't add this)

In a large bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Add coleslaw mix and most of scallions (I didn't add this); toss to coat. Serve immediately, sprinkled with remaining scallions (I didn't do this) , or cover and refrigerate up to 1 day.

Homemade Burger Buns from Epicurious

For dough:

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup warm water (105-115°F)

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup sugar

5 cups all-purpose flour

(replaced by a combination of OO flour and bread in the ratio of 1:4)

2 tsp salt

For tops of hamburger buns:

1 large egg, lightly beaten  

(I used 1 egg yolk plus 2 tbsp milk)

2 tsp sesame seeds

Make dough:

Bring milk and cream to a bare simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cool mixture to 105 to 115°F.

Meanwhile, stir together warm water and yeast in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 min. (If mixture doesn’t foam, start over with new yeast.)

Add warm milk mixture, sugar, flour, and salt to yeast mixture and mix at low speed, scraping down side of bowl as necessary, until flour is incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat 6 min. (Dough will be sticky.)

Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 2 hrs.

Butter 2 large baking sheets. Punch down dough, then roll out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 14-inch round (about 1/2 inch thick). Cut out as many rounds as possible with floured cutter, arranging 3 inches apart on baking sheets. Gather and re-roll scraps once, then cut out more rounds.

Loosely cover buns with oiled plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until they hold a finger mark when gently pressed, 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.

Preheat oven to 375°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

Brush buns with some of egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until tops are golden and undersides are golden-brown and sound hollow when tapped, 20 to 25 min. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

Note: Instead of using the electric mixer, I've placed all my ingredients into my bread-maker and use "dough" setting to knead and prove the dough for 1 hr plus 30 min extra in the bread-maker. To shape my buns, I've divide the dough into 16 portions and shape each into a smooth ball. The buns were then proved in a 25 cm x 35 cm lightly greased non-stick baking tin and were baked 180°C fan forced for 18 min.

Happy Baking

This post is linked to the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organised by me, Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats. Do you love to cook or bake like Martha Stewart? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from Martha Stewart's food website or cookbooks and blog hop with us for the whole month of December 2012. For more details, please see this.

Here are my blogging friends that have joined me cooking for this event. Please visit their blogs for more of their 5-stars cooking.
 
To blog hop with us, simply copy and paste this linky HTML code into your blog post where you want the blog hop list to appear. Make sure you are in HTML view/mode when you paste in the code. get the InLinkz code

Before using this linky tool, please make sure that: (1) Your post must be a current post. (2) Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to our Cook like a Star post, (Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats). Cheers!