Daring Bakers and my Chocolate Eclairs!

Although my work load has lessened this week, the allergy season has begun! So between sneezing and sniffles I made the Chocolate Eclairs any way and they were delicious.

I've made Choux Pastry before and I have to admit this time my puffs did not puff like I'm used too...darn Midwest humidity but they tasted delicious! But I almost did not get a picture. I had misplaced my camera and could not for the life me find the darn thing! Finally I found it right before the last 2 eclairs were gobbled up!

For the filling I used a pastry cream recipe of Dorie Greenspan's and added Dark Rum. It was so good and I could not help stealing spoonfuls every now and again.

Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Hermé

½ c. whole milk
½ c. water
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
¼ tsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature



Pastry Cream
Recipe from "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan

2 c. whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cornstarch
2 TBL dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla
3½ TBL unsalted butter, at room temperature


Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from "Chocolate Desserts" by Pierre Hermé

1/3 c. heavy cream
3½ oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
4 tsp unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
7 TBL Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

Cream Puff Dough:

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

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.

Baking Cream Puffs:

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 Glaze:

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.


All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Whisk Wednesdays and Steak Mirabeau

OMG.....DELICIOUS! Absolutely, out-of-this-world wonderful entree! Who would have thought that anchovies and beef could be so fabulous! Mr. Tastebuds and I loved it!

The recipe did call for Fried Onion Rings and Roasted Tomatoes which we enjoyed very much! I had some Red Onions that needed to be used, so fried up a large batch of onion rings and we ate every last one!! And I could use my fresh from my garden tomatoes too! All in all it was a perfect summer dinner.



Steak Mirabeau -- Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Anchovy Butter
Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

6 Tenderloin Steaks
Vegetable oil
Fresh ground pepper
18 oil-packed anchovy
6 green olives

Mirabeau Butter:
15 oil-packed anchovy
8 TBL butter, softened

Onion Rings
3 large onions
Salt and Pepper
1 TBL parsley
Milk
1 c. flour
Oil for frying

Roasted tomatoes
6 medium tomatoes
2 TBl butter, softened


I can't wait for next weeks Whisk Wednesdays which is Brochet au Beurre Blanc (Whole Poached Pike with White Butter Sauce) pages 307-308.


All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Whisk Wednesdays and Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee

Okay...I admit it, I'm being very bad about blogging this month. But I've a great excuse as I've been working on finishing up our home. The construction is at a trickle now, but that means that we can finally move into the house, which is no small task being everything has been in storage for over 2 years! Putting all our books into our new bookshelves, cleaning each book and then organizing them, has taken me more then a week and I'm still not done! This week I'm cleaning out the garage and painting the garage floor...whew what a mess!

I honestly did make my Whisk Wednesdays recipe a week ago Sunday, so I was well prepared with my soup, but just could not find the time to type up my post. I know, I've been bad...very bad!




Soupe a l'Oignon Gratinee
Recipe adapted from Le Cordon Bleu at Home

3 TBL unsalted butter
1 1/4 lbs onion, sliced thin
3 TBL flour
1 c. dry white wine
6 c. water
1 Bouquet Garni
Salt and freshly ground pepper
12 slices slender French baguette or 6 slices French-style bread
3 oz Gruyere cheese, grated about 3/4 c.

Saute the onions, add flour. the water and wine. Add the Bouquet Garni (I used fresh parsley, basil and tarragon from my garden) and simmer for a few minutes. Pour the soup into individual oven proof soup bowls and add the crouton and top with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melted.


Next week , actually 2 days from now: Potage Ambassadeur (Split Pea Soup with Bacon, Sorrel, and Lettuce) page 462

All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Consomme Madrilene and Whisk Wednesdays

Consomme: A consommé is made by adding a mixture of ground meats or mousselin with Mirepoix, tomatoes, and egg whites into either bouillon or stock. This is then slowly brought to a simmer, and carefully kept there until the desired product is reached. The act of simmering brings impurities to the surface of the liquid, which are further drawn out due to the presence of acid from the tomatoes. Eventually, all the solids will form a 'raft' at the surface of the liquid, which is held together by the egg protein. The resulting concoction is then a clear liquid that has either a rich amber colour (for beef or veal consommé) or a very pale yellow colour (for poultry consommé). It is then carefully drawn from the pot and passed again through a filter to ensure its purity, and then is put through the lengthy process of skimming all visible fats from its surface.


This week for Whisk Wednesdays we made Consomme Madrilene, chilled consomme with red peppers and tomatoes, from "Le Cordon Bleu At Home". I've never made Consomme before but it was great fun and incorporated several techniques that I've never done before. My consomme turned out wonderfully clear, so I guess I did it right!

There is quite a bit of waste as you discard all of the meat and vegetables but my dogs will love all these goodies. As the Madrilene simmered away the aroma of tarragon was outstanding! And I love tarragon! And how I wish I could have used some of my homegrown tomatoes for this, but here in Northern IL, we've got a ways to go before any tomatoes.

Consomme Madrilene

10 c. Chicken Stock, skimmed of fat and salt free
Salt
12 oz lean ground beef
1 leek (green part only), chopped fine
½ stalk celery, chopped fine
2 carrots, chopped fine
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 TBL finely chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chervil, and tarragon)
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or ¼ teaspoon dried
½ bay leaf
2 egg whites
30 peppercorns, crushed

Garnish:
8 oz red bell pepper, diced fine
1 small tomato, peeled, seeded, and diced
Chervil or parsley leaves

Served chilled.



All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog

Animal Crackers all dressed in Plaid!

I love making cookies and really consider myself a cookie baker above all else. Although I have not had time to make many cookies lately and I hope to change that in the next few months!


I've been looking for a good summertime cookie and I found an excellent one. It's a basic sugar cookie with fresh orange juice and zest and absolutely yummy. If I was making these for myself, I would have skipped the icing. But I'm sending these to my 3 gorgeous Great Nieces in OH, so I iced them up and they turned out so pretty and unique. I just had to enter them in Holly's Art You Can Eat, "Special Effects", blog event.

I send my nieces packages every now and again for no special reason. I loved Animal Crackers when I was a kid and I always include a box of animal crackers for each of them. So I decided to make my own animal crackers this time.

Animal Crackers
Recipes adapted from AllRecipes

1 1/4 cups white sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Zest of 1 large orange
2 tablespoon orange juice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add eggs and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until well blended. Mix in the orange juice and orange zest. Shape dough into a saucer shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Line cookie sheets with parchment.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out shapes with a cookie cutter. Place shapes onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake until edges are lightly browned.





Icing
Recipe adapted from "I don't have a clue"

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla (I used Orange Water)
1/4 cup milk

Sift the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Gradually add 1/4 milk until icing is the consistency of heavy cream. Add 1/2 tsp orange water or vanilla. Add food coloring a drop at a time. You'll need to make more of this icing to completely cover each cookie. I just made 1 batch per color.

All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog