The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Daring Bakers! How are you?! It has been awhile, my goodness.

I am attempting to correct my wayward Daring Baker ways in 2011 and I begin with this lovely panna cotta from Mallory.

Over the years, Daring Baker’s challenges have spanned a wide variety of difficulty levels. Some challenges have been complex and others have been more straightforward.

Straightforward or not, it’s always fun to try a challenge that you haven’t made at all or perhaps have not made very often.

This would be the case with panna cotta. While I’ve made panna cotta a few times, I haven’t made it often and I can’t say that I’ve ever made it particularly well.

Mallory’s challenge has changed that. She used a panna cotta recipe from Giada De Laurentiis as the base for the challenge and added a twist by asking people to make florentine cookies to accompany the panna cotta. While I didn’t get to the florentines, I did make the panna cotta and my goodness was it delicious.

It’s sweetened with honey and sugar and I loved the flavour of the cream and honey.

I went with a very simple panna cotta so as to increase my chances of success with this one.
I made a quick strawberry-cranberry jam to use as a colourful (and delicious) layer.

I’d like to thank Mallory for being such a great hostess and for helping me to make my first DB challenge of 2011 a success!

Ciao!

February 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge recipe.

For the Strawberry-Cranberry Jam:

1 cup sliced strawberries
1 cup frozen cranberries
1/4 cup water
2 tbsps. sugar
1 tsp. grated orange zest

Place the strawberries and cranberries in a saucepan. Add the water and heat over medium heat until boiling.

Add the sugar and orange zest and stir.

Lower the heat but be sure to keep the fruit at a steady simmer.

The fruit will slowly cook down and form a thick jam. This could take 15 to 20 minutes.

Remove the jam from the heat and let cool completely.

Note: To use this as a layer in a panna cotta, fill your container partway with the panna cotta mixer and then place it in the freezer until it’s set enough to hold a layer of fruit (20 to 30 minutes). Spoon on a layer of jam and then return to the freezer for 15 minutes to help set the jam. Top the jam layer with the remainder of the panna cotta liquid and then refrigerate as indicated in your recipe.

If you have an Italian background and grew up in a household where Italian food traditions were maintained, I’m willing to bet pastina was a big part of your formative years.

For me, pastina refers to the soup dish that we were all fed as children: chicken broth with tiny pasta in it. Most often, the pasta shape we used is what we would call acini di pepe. But we just referred to the dish as pastina.

It was a code word for comfort.

It didn’t matter what part of Italy your family came from, every kid knew what pastina was.

We had it once a week, at least, and your mother’s pastina was always better than anybody else’s mom’s pastina.

I miss those days.

Chicken broth, or brodo di pollo, is near and dear to my heart. In fact during the fall and winter months, if I don’t have it at least once a week I feel like I’m missing something.

Now that I’m a grown up (when did that happen?!), we experiment with other pasta shapes like stelline or tubetti. But truth be told, what I really love to see floating in my chicken broth are quadrucci.

Quadrucci are squares of fresh pasta. Once you make a batch of fresh pasta, you roll it out and then run it through the pasta cutter to form fettuccine. Once formed, you gather the strands of pasta and cut them into tiny squares.

The squares of fresh pasta are spread out on a tablecloth or on a large pan covered with a cloth and allowed to dry. You can then use the squares right away or you can freeze them and use them in soup as you need them.

Last summer, when I was in Italy, my aunt made ravioli and then used the leftover pasta to make quadrucci. I asked her if she minded if I would take pictures and she was thrilled.

For 2011, I set some goals for myself and one of them was to make fresh pasta at least once a month. Last month, I made a batch of fresh pasta and used it to make quadrucci, which we enjoyed in a steaming bowl of chicken broth.

I can’t help but wax poetic. If it’s possible to love a dish, then this is one that I feel an actual physical love for.

It’s my one and only.

Ciao!

I have tried many fresh pasta recipes but I still stand by my mother’s. I first published it on my blog here.

To make the quadrucci, gather the pasta strands after you’ve run them through the pasta cutter or cut them on your own with a pastry cutter, and cut them into tiny squares with a sharp knife.

To use the quadrucci in soup, bring a pot of water to boil and salt it generously. Add the quadrucci and boil for a few minutes, until tender (al dente). Add the quadrucci to your soup. Enjoy!

When it came time to bake for Valentine’s Day, I had a tough choice between Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies and this luscios tart from Food & Wine.

Ever the diplomat, I made both! For last week’s edition of Magazine Mondays, I featured the cookies but for this week I’m sharing with you a most delicious and delectable tart.

If this is setting the standard for tarts I bake this year then the tarts to come in 2011 have a lot to live up to!

It’s interesting because almost everyone that tried the tart kept asking me, “What’s in that filling?!”

And when I would say, “Milk chocolate and heavy cream” the answer was inevitabley, “That’s it?!”

Yep. That’s it! A spectacular ganache filling made with heavy cream and milk chocolate. Of course, as with all things cooking and baking, it’s all about the quality of the chocolate you use.

I used milk chocolate pieces from Ghirardelli, one of my preferred baking chocolates.

While so many people focussed on the filling, I think it’s the crust that allows the filling to shine. If you can believe it, the crust has crushed pretzels.

The saltiness of the pretzels gives the crust a certain edge that’s perfect against the sweet filling.

I will be making this one again!

As always, I’m joined by some brave folks who kicked their magazine piles in the pants this week:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Three Seed Biscuits from the November 2010 issue of Canadian Living.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Feta and Radish Toasts from the March 2011 issue of Food & Wine.

My sweet friend Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking made a Yeasted Chocolate Coffee Cake from the March 2011 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Roast Pork Tenderloin with Apricot-Miso Glaze from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appétit.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Tartes aux Pommes from a 2009 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Jamie of Life’s a Feast made an Espresso Chocolate Cake with Mocha Mascarpone Frosting from the April 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

For those of you that want to participate in the February 28th edition of MM, please note that Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor has very graciously agreed to host for me (thanks, Tina!). If you send me your entries, I’ll pass them along to Tina.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Click here for the recipe for Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Cream Puff is sending you lots and lots of love and I’m doing it with Red Velvet Shortbread Cookies from Better Homes & Gardens.

On this very special Valentine’s Day edition of Magazine Mondays, my entry is from a holiday magazine I bought in the fall of 2010. I had bookmarked this recipe to give it a try over Christmas but that didn’t happen.

As I was considering recipes to try for Valentine’s Day, I remembered this one and I thought how perfect it would be! It’s a shortbread cookie tinted red and flavoured with cocoa powder. I drizzled mine in melted bittersweet chocolate for the perfect final touch.

It’s been a few weeks since my last edition of MM so I have a few entries to get through today:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Tomato Vinaigrette from the March 2011 issue of Canadian Living.

Carla from Recipe Addict Shrimp in Garlic Saffron Broth from an issue of Martha Stewart Living from 2000.

Jamie from Life’s a Feast made Fondants Châtaigne Ganache Chocolat (Chestnut Fondant Bundlets with Chocolate Ganache) from the February 2001 issue of the French Saveur.

Janie of Panini Girl made Porchetta from the June 2010 issue of La Cucina Italiana.

Nicole of Sweet Tooth made Malted Chocolate Cookies from an issue of Martha Stewart Holiday Cookies.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Chicken and Rice from the September 2007 issue of Ladies Home Journal.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Classic Chocolate Truffles from the December 2002 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day, everyone!

And have an amazing week!

Ciao!

There are times when I feel like an ostrich.

It’s like I have my head buried so deeply in all the minutia of daily life that when I stick my head out into the world I’m shocked (and often appalled) and what’s going on.

I’ll be honest. When I do stick my head out mostly I just want to curl back into my little life with a blankie and a warm cup of tea.

With all the uncertainy around us, it is nice to have some things that remain simple and pure, regardless if you’re 7 or 37.

And that’s Nutella.

No matter what, that thick layer of Nutella that I slather onto a piece of bread always tastes the same and always brings back that pleasant feeling of chocolate and sugar and hazelnuts and fresh bread.

And for all those that mock Nutella’s claims of being a healthy snack I’m sending a big dose of “shush” your way.

Just shush.

Nutella makes people happy. Happy is healthy.

So in honour of World Nutella Day, if you don’t mind, I’m going to curl up here in my little corner of the world with some Nutella Meringues to be followed by a piece of bread slathered in Nutella to be further followed by spoonfuls of Nutella straight from the jar.

I said shush.

Ciao!

World Nutella Day was started in 2007 by Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso. And for this we are eternally grateful!

Nutella Meringues
Yields 15 to 20 meringues (depends on how big you make them)

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
a pinch of cream of tartar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon, granulated sugar
1/4 cup Nutella

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Make sure you have one oven rack in the bottom third of your oven and one in the upper third of your oven.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Set up a double boiler (a pot with another pot on top or a heat-proof bowl on top) and put the Nutella in the top of the double boiler. Warm the Nutella through and then set aside while you make the meringue. (You could warm the Nutella in a microwave but I don’t own one so you’re on your own if you do use one.) Let the Nutella cool as you make the meringue.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, place the egg whites. Beat on medium-high speed until they are completely foamy.

Add the cream of tartar and the salt and continue whipping at medium-high speed until when you lift the whisk attachment, soft peaks form. This should take a few minutes.

Once you have reached the soft peak stage, increase the speed to high and begin adding the sugar a few spoonfuls at a time (this should take a few minutes).

Once all the sugar is in, the meringue should be very thick (almost stiff) and when you left the whisk firm peaks should remain.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and drop in all the Nutella. With a rubber spatula, gently fold the Nutella into the meringue three or four times. You’re aiming for a swirled effect so don’t overmix. This will also help avoid deflating the meringue.

Using two spoons, drop the meringue onto the parchment-lined baking sheets in large dollops.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, immediately lower the heat to 200 degrees F. and rotate the trays. Bake for an hour.

After an hour, check the meringues. If they are completely dried out then turn the oven off and leave the meringues in the oven for a few hours to cool with the oven. If the meringues still look a bit “wet”, then continue baking for another 20 minutes or so. Either way, once fully baked, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in there for a few hours.

When you remove the meringues from the oven they should be completely dry and cool and will sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

The meringues will keep in an airtight container for a week.

Enjoy!