July, 2011 Daring Baker Challenge

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakeswas our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

This was a beautiful (the picture doesn't do it justice), delicious, and surprisingly light summer dessert!  I served it chilled, straight from the refrigerator.  On a hot day, after much time out the whipped/pastry cream filling would start to soften quite quickly.

This is definitely a do-again-er; a chocolate variation is tempting, but I really loved the clean flavors of the vanilla and berries.  Maybe in the fall....  And I will definitely test different kinds of fruit next time, as well as my arranging technique!

June 2011 Daring Baker Challenge

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge.  Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

It started out innocuously enough.  This looks like a friendly, harmless packet of dough, right?  Try stretching it into 18 sheets of super-thin dough, and see how friendly it REALLY is....

The recipe had a link to a YouTube video of an old Macedonian woman, speedily rolling out the dough around a wooden dowel while chatting away to her friends.  I tried rolling the dough around a wooden rolling pin...but it kept sticking to itself, no matter how much flour I added.  So, I started by rolling it out, then draped it over my arm and pulled in all four directions.  I don't think it got thin enough to read a newspaper through it, but it more or less worked okay.  The directions had estimated 2 minutes per sheet...I was nowhere near that fast.  More like 5!!  I learned my lesson to not begin these things at night on the last possible day.  Until next month's challenge, anyway....

The scene of the attempts at rolling.

Half-baked.

Fully baked, with syrup poured on top.

I did not know the difference between "looks like way too much syrup but will soak in and is really the correct amount" and "looks like way too much syrup and IS, in fact, way too much syrup."  Unfortunately, I ended up with the latter.

Overall...not a success!!  I don't like baklava, and do not think my baklava tastes very good.  And it's way too syrupy.  So I will probably definitely throw it out today, since there is just enough sugar and "stuff" in it that I would most likely end up eating it anyway.  

Oh, well, live (and bake) and learn...!

Daring Baker Challenge: May, 2011

The May 2011 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

This dessert was a ton of fun to make! There were four main components: (1) a tequila caramel sauce, (2) spiced almonds, (3) a toasted meringue "pillow," and (4) the chocolate marquise itself. I made all four components. The below photos show the plating process from start (tequila caramel sauce) to finish (all components including the chocolate marquise).

Caramel sauce

With spiced almonds (btw, these are TOTALLY addictive!)

Untoasted meringue

Toasted (with a kitchen torch!) meringue

The final product!!!

Daring Baker!

I joined the Daring Kitchen a few weeks ago, and just saw May's Daring Baker Challenge recipe! It is a secret until the "reveal date," which is May 27th, so I can't spill the beans here -- but I promise it will be a fantastic creation! Stay tuned, as I will be posting pictures of the finished recipe, along with a descriptive blog post, on May 27th!

For more information on the Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, visit www.thedaringkitchen.com!