Crème Brûlée!

This week at New School of Cooking we focused on custards and puddings.  My favorite was Crème Brûlée.  As fancy as it looks, it's actually very easy to make.  I even stopped at Surfas to pick up some ramekins and a chef's torch so I can practice this week and add them to my repertoire of desserts. Here's the recipe:

4 egg yolks

4 T sugar 

1/2 vanilla bean

2 cups heavy cream

sugar for caramelized topping

1. Combine egg yolks with sugar in a bowl--set aside.

2. Split vanilla bean down the center lengthwise, scrape out seeds

3. Add both pod and seeds to the 2 cups of cream in a pan.

4. Heat cream until bubbles on edges and movement in center--do not boil.

5. Slowly temper in hot cream mixture to egg mixture, small amount at a time, or eggs will cook!  Use wooden spoon to stir constantly.

6.  Let steep for 10 minutes with vanilla bean.

7.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Coat 4-6 ramekins lightly with cooking spray.

8. Set them on a kitchen towel in a deep baking pan. This will create a water bath or bain-marie which prevents egg-rich dishes from overcooking.

9.  Strain custard (toss bean) and pour into ramekins almost to top.

10.  Place pan on middle rack of oven.  Carefully pour hot water into the pan so that it comes about 1/3 of the way up sides of the dishes.

11. Bake 300 degrees  20 -25 minutes.  Do not overcook. Tap side gently--should shake evenly. (CIA says: done when edges have set and a nickel-sized spot in center jiggles slightly.)

12. Remove dishes from bath and set on wire rack to cool for 30 minutes.  Wrap individually and refrigerate for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days before finishing with brûlée layer.

13. When ready to serve: evenly coat the top of each custard with a thin layer of fine sugar-- about a tablespoon.  Use chef's torch to evenly melt and caramelize the sugar. (Move torch constantly, back and forth, until sugar browns.) Serve immediately. 

What I love about this impressive dessert is that you can make it a day or two ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to serve, and then dramatically torch in front of your guests and voila--Crème Brûlée!

  

        

Blueberry Streusel Muffins

The streusel topping makes this a one of a kind blueberry muffin. I like using these parchment cups instead of cupcake papers because they open easily and make clean-up neat and simple.  This recipe makes 6 muffins. Double for a dozen. Pre-heat oven 350 degrees.

Topping:   Can be made in advance and stored in frig for up to one week.

                 1/3 cup brown sugar

                 1/2 tsp cinnamon

                 2 T chilled butter

                 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

                 Mix all ingredients together with fingertips to resemble 

                 coarse crumbs. (Don't cream)  Set aside or store in frig.

Muffin Batter:

•  Mix together dry ingredients> 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder,1/2 tsp salt.
•  Combine wet ingredients> 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg, 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp vanilla.
• Carefully fold together wet and dry ingredients using a rubber spatula.  Do not over-mix. 
• Gently fold in 1 cup fresh blueberries.
• Spoon batter in lined muffin pan and top each with streusel topping.
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Can prepare each part ahead of time: (*but do not combine wet and dry until ready to bake!)    

• Prepare topping, cover, and put in frig.  
• Wash berries, cover and put in frig.
• Mix wet ingredients, cover and refrigerate. (Bring to room temp before mixing with dry.)  
• Mix dry ingredients.  Cover and set aside.  

So they can be prepped the night before and ready to mix the next morning for warm muffins for breakfast.

*Must bake as soon as you combine wet and dry because baking powder and soda activate when combined with liquid.

Recipe from Carol Cotner Thompson, New School of Cooking

My All-time Favorite Scone Recipe

These scones are light and lovely--melt in your mouth yummy.  I added currants and orange zest to these. Recipe compliments of Carol Cotner Thompson of the New School of Cooking.
1.  Combine:
                1 ½ cup flour  
                1/3  cup sugar 
                 ½  tsp salt 
                 3 tsp baking powder 
                 Add zest of 2 oranges (or lemon)    
2.  Cut 3 ounces (6 T) chilled butter into dry ingredients: Carefully use your fingers to combine butter and dry ingredients to form wet sand—do not cream together.
3.   Add 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or dried fruit or currants  
4.    Lightly beat together ½ cup cream and 1 egg yolk and gently add to above mixture.  Use fork and then hands to work dough gently—do not over mix!—and form into a ball.
5.    Press down to 1 inch thick, no less.  Cut into desired shapes. (circles, triangles, squares).
6.    Wash with cream and sprinkle with sugar.   
7.   Place on parchment lined tray, sprayed lightly with cooking spray.
8.   Bake 350° for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Did My "Homework": Muffins, Scones, and Carrot Cake! (Plus Started Another Sourdough Starter)

Yep, I've been busy doing my homework.  As I pointed out in a previous entry about my Professional Baking class at New School of Cooking, my assignment this week was to make Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping, Currant Scones, and Carrot Cake at home on my own.  So this morning I got started beginning with the muffins.  (All recipes will be included as soon as I check with school to be sure it's okay.)  I made the streusel topping first, then the muffin batter, filled the parchment cups with batter and topped them.  Put them in the oven to bake, and moved on to the scones.  Once the muffins came out, the scones went in, and I started on the carrot cake.

Confession: I don't know what I was thinking, but I put in shredded carrots (the long, skinny, pre-packaged kind), not grated carrots like the recipe called for, and I didn't realize it until I was mixing the wet with the dry ingredients.  At this point I figured I'd bake it and see.  If it didn't work, I'd toss it, and if it did--well, maybe I'd discover my own twist on a more carroty carrot cake.

The verdict?  My taste testers both said they liked it very much.  One said he didn't see a difference and the other preferred the slightly more carrot crunch.  It did taste very good, so I'm glad I didn't toss it.  Will I do it again?  Not sure.  I'll probably try the grated next and compare.

                                         

I was so happy with both the muffins and the scones, they are now my all-time favorite recipes.  

I also began a new starter for sourdough bread using Peter Reinhart's recipe that includes pineapple juice.  I will write in more detail once it's finished (in a week) and I attempt a loaf of sourdough bread.

Love My Baguette Pan

Ordered my little baguette pan on-line at cooking.com, and I've used it twice already.  It holds the dough during both proofing and baking. (After shaping the dough into a baguette, gently place it on the pan, cover it loosely with plastic wrap, and let it proof.  Then when ready to bake, simply pop the pan in the oven.)  You can buy pans that hold 2, 3 or 4 baguettes.  It works beautifully.

Professional Baking at the New School of Cooking

After much research into local schools offering serious classes on baking, I decided on the Professional Baking series at the New School of Cooking in Culver City.  It's a ten week class that meets once a week for four hours and covers all aspects of baking from basic quick breads to souffles, pies, and cakes to artisan breads and pastries. The instructor, Carol Cotner Thompson, is a graduate of both the cooking and pastry programs at the California Culinary Academy and has been teaching for over 20 years.  Like many other local culinary schools, the classes at New School include some lecture and demonstration followed by hand-ons in the kitchen, but unlike other schools that pair up students in the kitchen, New School students work on their own in the baking program--a fact that I liked.

My first class met last week and I was thrilled with all aspects--the physical set-up, the instructor, fellow students, and the class itself.  (I even got my own white chef's jacket!)  Compared to a few other schools I've seen, New School is spacious and open and arranged in a way the makes it easy for ten students to get what they need without much bumping of elbows or spilling of flour.  They cleverly set-up the work tables in one direction for the beginning lecture/demonstration, and then turn them the other when students are ready to work. The instructor Carol was great--professional, personable, knowledgeable, and very helpful.  There are ten students in the class--all women--and most are considering taking their baking to a professional level.

Our first class was on quick breads which served as an intro to baking basics and gave us a chance to get used to the kitchen.  Carol demonstrated blueberry muffins, scones, and carrot cake.  She wove in valuable tips as she moved through each recipe.  (Mix brown sugar with wet ingredients, not dry.  Put cold eggs in a bowl of hot water for five minutes to bring to room temperature.  Do not over-mix muffins or scones--just until combined so they will be light and airy, not heavy and dense.)  Then we got to work.

We each made blueberry muffins with streusel topping and then currant scones, and when finished, we sampled Carol's to see what  they should taste like and then compared them to our own. (I did pretty well, though her scones were so light they melted in my mouth.)  Our homework is to bake them again on our own at home.  And of course, we got to take our "classwork" home to eat!

                                         

Simple and Delicious.

Since I had left-over Chocolate Ganache from my cupcakes last week, I put it to good use.  It hardens in the frig, so I popped it in the microwave for a minute or two until it softened enough to stir easily.  Then I dipped fresh organic strawberries into the melted chocolate and placed them on a dish to sit a minute.  We ate a few with the chocolate still soft and warm--mmm--and put the rest in the frig to harden and be enjoyed later.
(Chocolate Ganache: 2 cups of good quality chocolate chips in medium bowl; 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream in saucepan to a simmer--pour over choc. chips, wait 30 seconds, stir until melted and blended.)