Chocolate for Children’s Heartlink

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 25, 2008
Filed Under cake, dessert, recipe | 1 Comment

valentine dessert

Children’s Heartlink asked several pastry chefs from all of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities (I’m talking the BEST our city has to offer!) to come up with the most decadent dessert for Valentine’s Day that they could think of. This team of pastry goddesses and one very talented guy, includes: Michelle Gayer (Le Belle Vie & Solera), Christina Kaelberer (Chambers), Khanh Tran (Cosmos), Margo Bredeson (Patisserie Margo) and even Andrew Zimmern with his best ever fudge brownies. I’ve worked with Andrew and if there is one thing that man loves, its chocolate! Well, they asked me too, WOW, what an honor to be in this line up!!!

For the Warm Chocolate Rum Cake recipe and more information about Children’s Heartlink: Read more

“Gourmand Kids!” the Star Tribune asked what my boys eat…

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 23, 2008
Filed Under breakfast, dessert, kids, recipe | 9 Comments

crepes

May Chen asked me what I fed my boys when they were little, as part of an article she wrote for Cribsheet, a blog about kids at startribune.com. My guys are very adventurous eaters, borderline extreme. Yeah, they will try anything, once. The raw oysters were not a huge hit but sushi is a favorite. I suppose they have to draw the line somewhere, for now! Read about some of their favorites and our family philosophy on food!

As part of the article I gave her a recipe for crepes, because my boys LOVE them, depending what you fill them with they can be a meal or a sweet treat!!!

For the recipe and a demo on making crepes read on:

My Bucket Collection (the dough that lives within:day 5) and a loaf of bread!

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 18, 2008
Filed Under Artisan Bread book, basic, equipment, reader question | 116 Comments

buckets

Several of you have had questions about the right type of bucket to be using when storing your dough from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”. I have many that fit the bill beautifully, these are just a few! It depends on the size and shape of your refrigerator and how much dough you intend to make. There are a few basic guidelines to storing your dough in a bucket: Read more

Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry (plus tips on vanilla pastry cream!)

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 14, 2008
Filed Under Artisan Bread book, breakfast, dessert, recipe | 13 Comments

Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry

(photo by Mark Luinenburg from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day)

In Minnesota for the past week it has been a little too gray for my taste. The one consolation to all the cold and snow we get around here, are the endless clear blue skies. They are rather remarkable and make the winters tolerable. When they refuse to show themselves through the clouds I go cold. This means I need a little something to brighten up my day. Something sweet! Something easy and quick. Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry (p. 225) will do the trick. A combination of buttery brioche, luscious vanilla pastry cream and tangy sweet apricots. Read more

How to use a Vanilla Bean

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 13, 2008
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How to use a vanilla bean:

vanilla bean

This is one of my favorite ingredients and essential in the pastry kitchen. Vanilla beans are not cheap so you want to pick a good one and use the whole thing. The beans should be soft, oily and have an intense vanilla aroma. Avoid a bean that has no luster and is brittle.

Here is an overview of the different types of vanilla beans (adapted from vanilla.com):

Bourbon beans are long and slender, with a very rich taste and smell, have thick, oily skin, contain an abundance of tiny seeds, and have a strong vanilla aroma. Bourbon beans from Madagascar and the Comoros are described as having a creamy, haylike, and sweet, with vanillin overtones. Bourbon beans from other regions will be similar if they are picked at peak ripeness and are properly cured. They are also considered the highest quality bean and reflect this in the cost.

Mexican beans are similar to Bourbon beans though they have a more mellow, smooth, quality and a spicy, woody fragrance.

Tahitian beans are usually shorter, plumper, and contain a higher oil and water content than Bourbon beans. The skin is thinner, they contain fewer seeds, and the aroma is fruity and floral. They are often described as smelling like licorice, cherry, prunes, or wine.

Not Your Average Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 6, 2008
Filed Under cake, classes, dessert, reader question, recipe | 72 Comments

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

Last month we had a big party to celebrate the launch of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and my husband Graham’s birthday. I served our favorite Devil’s Food cupcakes with a sweet cream cheese icing. Of course the bread was the star of the night, but these cupcakes got rave reviews and several people asked for the recipe.

The dark chocolate cake has a texture that is smooth and rich. Its flavor is not overly sweet, because of the intensity of the coffee and rum (the Devil in “Devil’s Food” perhaps?), which make it a great match for cream cheese frosting sweetened with Lyle’s Golden Syrup.* Read more

Back to Basics: the original chocolate chip cookie

Print Print | Print Email this to a friend | January 1, 2008
Filed Under basic, dessert, kids, reader question, recipe | 7 Comments

toll house cookies They are the cookies we all ate as kids and probably still make on occasion. Toll House, of course. The recipe right off the bag. It is the cookie by which all others are measured. The perfect balance of sweet and salty, gooey, chewy and crisp. Most of us, as we got more confident in the kitchen, ventured from the bag and experimented with other recipes. We dared to add oats, nuts, dried fruit, black pepper, and even pumpkin puree to our chocolate chip cookies but there is still a place for the original. Read more