Baking Bouchon - Recipe 20: Chocolate Eclairs

I just asked CA if Eclairs are a breakfast food or a dessert.  He says they can be either.  I think they're breakfast because we need more reasons to have chocolate for breakfast.

There are a ton of ingredients in this recipe!  But to be fair, it's really three recipes... Pâte â Choux, Chocolate Pastry Cream and Chocolate Glaze.
 

First came the chocolate pastry cream.  This stuff is out of control.  It's ten times better than the regular pastry cream I made for the cream puffs, it's as good as crack (from what I hear) and it's better than... well, it's good people.  Really freakin' good.

The pastry cream starts out with egg yolks and sugar which you beat together.  To that you add custard powder and cocoa powder.  Luckily the chocolates in this version of pastry cream keep it from turning yellow from the custard powder like the non-chocolate version did.  I've never really been a fan of neon food... brown food is perfectly acceptable.

To the egg/sugar/custard/cocoa mixture you add milk and that all gets cooked until it's nice and thick.  Like pudding.

That stuff gets strained and in goes butter and melted chocolate.  I used the really good chocolate here and am so glad I did.

That all gets chilled overnight and it thickens up even more as it chills.

I've been eating this stuff like it's my job and yes, I have a little bit of a stomach ache, and no, I don't regret it one little bit.

Next came the Pâte â Choux which is made just like the dough for cream puffs... water, butter and salt gets melted together.  To that you add flour and sugar and cook until it forms a nice ball.

That all gets transferred to the mixer and blended together with a lot of eggs, transferred to a piping bag and set in the fridge to chill.

Here's where I made an error.   I didn't do a very good job reading the instructions on what size tip to use on the piping bag to pipe the eclairs on the baking sheet so they were WAY too skinny.  CA said they look like churros.  He's right. 

In my defense, I used the biggest tip I had and I really thought they would puff out more than they did.

I tried my very best to find a way to fill these skinny little guys with pastry cream (I poked a skewer through them and sliced the in half) but it just didn't work. 

Luckily I had some dough leftover and just cut the tip of the piping bag and piped big flat eclairs and that worked just fine.  Since I only had a few eclairs to fill with the pastry cream, I had a bunch of chocolate pastry cream leftover.  I couldn't possibly eat any more of it and if it stayed in my fridge any longer that's exactly what was going to happen.  Luckily, I had some unfilled cream puffs leftover in the freezer so I thawed those and filled them with the leftover chocolate pastry cream.  Best idea ever!

The last step was to make the chocolate glaze.  I did not use the glaze recipe from this cookbook because it called for something called "neutral glaze" which I didn't have, couldn't find in the store and refused to order off the Internet.  

So, I used this recipe for chocolate doughnut glaze from Alton Brown.  It worked perfectly and didn't require me to buy random crap I'll never use again.

Each eclair and puff got dipped in the glaze as did the churros (which, even without the pastry cream are pretty darn tasty). 



See my laptop?  90% of the time I'm cooking this is how it's happening as I read a recipe off the Internet.  My poor laptop gets pretty crusty with splashes and spills. 
 

Here they are!  Shiny, chocolaty eclairs.  Not only are they pretty, they're delicious.  The pâte â choux is nice and crispy on the outside and moist on the inside.  The pastry cream is crazy good and has a nice bitter chocolate flavor (not too sweet).  The glaze is shiny, sweet and dried very nicely on top.  All things considered, these were quite successful.

Hooray for chocolate!  Hooray for the fact that CA is taking these to work tomorrow because having them anywhere near me is dangerous.

Julie

Southwestern Slaw

We consume an unnatural amount of Mexican food in this house.  Tacos, burritos, enchiladas, salsa... you name it, and we eat it.  Anytime we go out for Mexican, there is not a scrap of food left on the table.  No chips, no queso, nothing.  I often won't finish my entire entree (because I ate too much chips and salsa) but somehow it always gets eaten.  No wonder CA always gets overstuffed every time we eat Mexican.

I realize this isn't traditional Mexican food at all, it's really Tex-Mex, but that's what we call it around here.

About a year ago, I stopped serving rice and beans with our Mexican dinners.  We were trying to eat more healthfully and that stuff was just getting in the way of our main dishes.  So, in an effort to find a side dish that was more veggie centric I started making cabbage slaw of the Southwestern variety.

missing the vinegar... oops!

I've made this a dozen different ways depending on what ingredients I have in the house, but this is the combination I'm most fond of.

The base of the slaw is cabbage.  I use 1/2 a head and shred it finely.  You can absolutely use those bags of prepared slaw, but I don't find it too difficult to cut up cabbage.  To that I add green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro.  The green pepper is just for an added crunch, the jalapeno and cilantro are for flavor, for sure.

The dressing is vinegar, olive oil, agave, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin and my secret ingredient... TEQUILA!  Booze makes everything better and I find that putting tequila in anything makes it more Southwesterny.  It's amazing in fajita marinade, that's for sure!

Stir all that business together and you've got yourself a healthy side dish to go with your less healthy main dish.  It's all about moderation people.


Southwestern Slaw

Ingredients

1/2 Head of Cabbage, shredded
1 Green Pepper, thinly sliced
1 Jalapeno, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro
1 T Olive Oil
3 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 T Tequila
1 T + 1 tsp Agave
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
3/4 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Chili Powder

Instructions

In a large bowl toss together the cabbage, green pepper, jalapeno and cilantro.  In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil, vinegar, tequila, agave, salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder.  Pour the dressing over the slaw mixture and mix to combine.  Let sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to meld.


Now you can go and eat too many tacos and not worry so much about it.  Seriously, go!
Julie

Guest Baker

I was featured yesterday as a guest baker on the Bouchon Bakery Book Project blog!  This group of bakers is doing something similar to me and baking their way through the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook.  Their theme this week was Madeleines and since I'd already tackled that cakelet, I submitted my post.

They have a set schedule of recipes and I hope to line some of my future posts up with theirs so I can participate again.

More actual food tomorrow, I promise!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 19: Caramel Nut Tart

Oh my.  I don't think the tarts in this book and I are going to be friends.  The first one had way too many complicated ingredients and took me three days to make.  This one... let's just say if I wasn't laughing I'd be crying.  Don't get me wrong, it was DELICIOUS (honestly, how could a dessert containing something called caramel jam not be good?) but because the path to caramel nuttiness or nutty caramelness was fraught with disasters!

It all started off well enough when I made the crust (ok, fine, Pâte Brisée if you want to be all fancy pants about it).  This is basically just a regular old pie crust... butter, flour, salt and ice water.

Every other pie crust I've ever made instructs you cut the butter into the flour until crumbly (I usually do this in my food processor), then add the ice water until it comes together.  This was a little different in that you add the butter to half the flour and it forms a dough, then you add the other half of the flour and you end up with that same crumbly mixture before adding the water.  I can't say one is better than the other because this crust did end up being very light and flaky.  Honestly, maybe a bit too flaky since it crumbled a bit when the tart was sliced.

The one thing I have been doing in my other pie crusts lately is substituting a little of the water with vodka and I really like it.  Yes, because everything's better with booze, but also because when you bake the crust the vodka evaporates quickly and keeps the dough really light and flaky.  I can't decide which I like better.  I think I'll probably stick with my vodka crust for everyday use.

So, the dough gets refrigerated overnight and the next day I prepared the rest of the ingredients.

 

The tart really is just nuts and caramel which is fine by me.  The first thing to do it to completely bake the pie crust so it's ready to receive the nuts and caramel.

See how pretty this is?  You'll never see it looking this way again... ever.

But before we get to the crust catastrophe, have I ever told you what I like to do with pie crust scraps?  I roll them out, sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar and bake them.  These little buddies are super yummy!  I sometimes think I should just make pie dough and do this with it without ever making a pie or tart... maybe with a little sweet cream cheese dip on the side.  Oh man, I'm getting really excited now.

I've never really found anyone else who appreciates these scraps as much as I do, but that's fine with me.  You see that plate of sweet, cinnamony scraps?  I ate the whole thing all by myself and I didn't feel bad at all.

But a few minutes later I did feel bad.  Why?  Not because I ate too many scraps (I've got a much higher butter tolerance than your average girl) but because disaster struck. 


So, I devoured my scraps, the crust was finishing up in the oven and I started to work on my caramel.  I got everything on the stove and pretty close to done when the pie crust was ready to come out of the oven.  You know how tart pans come in two pieces?  There is the circular base and then the ring around the edge.  Well, I slid the pan out of the oven with my hand in a hot pad underneath of it.  The ring proceeded to slide off the tart and around my arm.  Remember how I just took it out of a 325 degree oven?  Yeah, it was hot.  I danced around the kitchen with a hot ring around my arm and a delicate pie crust in my hand.  The ring bounced around on my arm leaving multiple burn marks until I dropped the crust... one the floor... upside down.

I now look like I've been cutting on my left arm.

And guess what happened while I was dancing around the kitchen with a ring of fire around my arm?   

Yep, I burned the caramel.

After I stopped laughing, cleaned up the floor and dumped the burned caramel, I started all over again.  Luckily, I had enough ingredients on hand to remake the crust and the caramel.  Although, needless to say, this crust did NOT rest in the refrigerator overnight.  It got one hour and it should be grateful.

In other news, Sconnie really likes pie crust.

This time around I focused on one thing at a time.  I made the crust, chilled it and baked it.  Then I started back on the caramel again.

 

This go around the caramel came together pretty easily and did not taste like burnt sugar.

Isn't it neat how just sugar can go from clear to caramelized gooey goodness just from a little heat?  Sometimes science is cool.

In the bottom left hand photo you can see how the sugar foams up when you add the cream.  Once it stops being scary, it's actually pretty cool.

Lucky me, I got to see it twice today. 

So, you've FINALLY got a pie crust that isn't in pieces on the floor, some caramel that doesn't taste like you licked a campfire and some toasted nuts.  (It's hard to believe I didn't burn the nuts when I  toasted them.  Thank goodness for small favors!)  The nuts gets sprinkled over the crust and topped with the caramel.  Then you let it cool for a couple of hours.

Let me tell you, if I hadn't messed it up the first time, this tart would have been pretty easy to make.  I'm so glad I persevered and got this tart finished because it was really very good.  I was sceptical that the caramel would hold up when sliced but it definitely did. The crust is not sweet at all and actually a bit salty so it balanced nicely with the sweet caramel and the earthy nuts.  CA thought it was going to be a sugar bomb when he saw it but when he tasted it said it wasn't too sweet at all.

I'll definitely make this tart again (for a third time) and will be sure I am completely focused on what I'm doing.  Who knew you had to pay so much attention when you are baking?

Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 18: Pistachio Madeleines

Madeleines are back!  I really should have just made these when I made the traditional madeleines, because it's pretty much the same recipe minus the lemon and plus some pistachio.  Oh well, more cake for me.

This time I did have all the correct ingredients minus the pistachio paste (last time I had an unexpected honey shortage and had to substitute agave which ended up being a non-issue).  Instead, I had pistachio "essence".  It was essentially like extract but had thick consistency.  I think it added plenty of pistachio flavor, but apparently the paste has a vivid green color which my essence did not.  I thought about adding some food coloring, but I didn't.

Now that I think about it, I totally should have because it would have been festive for St. Patty's Day. 

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to drink more beer.

I know I've mentioned before that the recipes in this book do not call for a specific number of eggs, they call for eggs by weight.  It seems not all eggs are created equal.  This made me nervous at first because I was never sure how many eggs to crack, but I've gotten used to it and have my system down pat.  I put my eggs in a bowl and whisk them up really well, then put a second bowl on my scale with a strainer on top and strain the eggs through.  Once I get to the right measurement, I shift the strainer to a second bowl to catch anything that is left.  I've been refrigerating the leftovers and use them for the next recipe.  I'm not entirely sure how long eggs can keep in the fridge like that but I've been going through eggs at lightning speed so they never sit there for very long.

The batter came together easily...  mix eggs and sugar... add dry ingredients... melt butter, brown sugar and honey... add that to the mix... add pistachio paste/essence... voila, pistachio cake batter.

I over filled, then over baked them a little bit so they were not quite as moist as the traditional madeleines were but they were still really good.  I liked the pistachio flavor a lot.  I actually wish I had put that essence in the biscotti I made the other day.  It would have been delicious.  What else can I put this stuff in?  Cookies?  Pie crust?  Brownies?  Biscuits?  Yikes!  I can see now that I've taken this too far because no good Southern girl messes with biscuits.

Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 17: Chocolate Cherry Scones

Here we go again with the dried fruit.  Dried cherries might be worse than raisins because they're bigger and harder to ignore.  The one saving grace of the cherries in this recipe is that you soak them in booze for 24 hours.  Booze makes everything better.  Plus, there are chocolate chips which distracts me enough from the dried fruit to not hate these scones.

This ingredients in this scone recipe are a little different from the plain scones I made a few weeks ago.  The plain scones used all purpose and cake flour, this one is all all purpose.  The other used crème fraîche, this one does not.  I do think the plain scones had a more delicate texture but the chocolate cherry scones may need a bit more heft to them to hold up to the cherries and chocolate.

Macerating the cherries is the first step.  The recipe calls for the cherries to be mixed with a heated mixture of water, sugar and kirsch.  Kirsch is a clear, unsweetened cherry brandy.  We did not have any on hand, but we did have Cherry Heering.  Cherry Heering is a clear, sweetened cherry liquor.  I figured a little extra sugar never hurt anyone, especially not in a scone.

To make the scones, you take your cold, cold butter and mix it with the dry ingredients until the butter is cut into pea sides chunks.  Add your cream, then the strained cherries and chocolate.  Easier than pie.

The dough gets chilled, then scooped into balls and frozen before being baked.

In my opinion the best part of these scones is the glaze.  You keep some of the liquid (booze) that the cherries were macerating in and mix that with powdered sugar and cream to get a yummy (boozy) cherry glaze that you brush on the still warm scones.

The morning I baked these up, CA had a snow day so even he got to enjoy a fresh hot scones.  He may have liked them more than I did since he doesn't have a dried fruit aversion.  I actually prefer savory scones, but I have to get through Cinnamon Honey Scones before I get to Bacon Cheddar Scones.  Oh, the humanity.

Julie

Biscotti - whatever kind you want

I can't possibly count the number of times I've made biscotti.  When CA far, far away, for a very long time, it was the thing he wanted me to send him the most so I made biscotti nearly ever week for a year.  Since biscotti is already crunchy, it didn't matter if it took two weeks for it to reach him in the mail.  Plus, I'm pretty sure he and his coworkers consumed way more coffee than humans actually should and having something tasty to dunk in it made it a little less monotonous.

Needless to say I've been through my fair share of biscotti recipes... pumpkin, cinnamon, coconut, you name it.  But, I always found myself coming back to this one because I could customize it with whatever I happened to have in the house.  Today I found myself with a bunch of random leftover ingredients (dried cherries, currants, hazelnuts, pecans and cocoa nibs) and realized that they would all be really great in biscotti.  So, I whipped up a batch and now have a few less half empty bags clogging up my pantry.  That makes me happy!

If you think making biscotti is hard to make, you're positively incorrect.  It's actually really easy.  The dough for biscotti is essentially cookie dough, there is nothing magical or complicated about it.  You cream butter and sugar, add eggs, add your dry ingredients and then add whatever mix-ins you're using.

The whole idea of biscotti is that they are twice baked which is what makes them crunchy.  First you form your dough into a log (or two) and bake it once.

 Then you slice the log, lay the slices back on the cookie sheet on their sides and bake them again.

See, I told you it wasn't hard.

So, here's my go-to biscotti recipe.  You'll see I'm not specific about what you add into it because you can really do whatever you want.  Just make sure that whatever you put in there is pretty small in size or the biscotti won't hold together as well.  So, make sure you chop any nuts or large pieces of dried fruit.


Biscotti
Adapted from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter (at room temperature)
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Other Extract (orange, lemon, almond or more vanilla)
1 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Mix-Ins (dried fruit, nuts, chocolate, coconut, etc.)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a cookie sheet with a silpat or parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar together until it is fluffy and pale yellow.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated.  Add the vanilla and other extract and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing until just combined.  Add all the mix-ins and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough in half (it will be quite soft and sticky so use flour on your hands as necessary) and form each half into a log on your cookie sheet.  Each log should be approximately 12 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Bake for 30 minutes or until firm and lightly golden.  Remove the pan from the oven and let the logs cool for 10 minutes.  Transfer each log to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to cut the logs on the diagonal into 3/4 inch slices.  Carefully transfer each slice back to the cookie sheet and lay them on their sides.  Return the cookie sheet to the oven and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.


I bet you've got some random crap in your pantry too so it's time for you to go and get cooking!
Julie