August 2010 is going to be a big month in baking land as Sugar High Fridays is joining up with The Daring Kitchen to bring you a joint event!

SHF #68 is being hosted by the talented Elissa of 17 and Baking (her blog is gorgeous!). The theme is Browned Butter or Beurre Noisette. Elissa has all the details on her blog.

SHF is an event started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess and it’s an honour for The Daring Kitchen to be part of this month’s edition. So how does the DK figure in, you ask?

Simple. If you’re a Daring Baker, then when you check the private forum today, you’ll see that there’s a very special challenge for August.

The world won’t know what it is until reveal day on August 27th, but it promises to be big!

If you’re not a Daring Baker already, no worries. You can always join The Daring Kitchen and while you won’t be able to participate in this month’s DB challenge (the deadline for joining in time for this month is passed), remember you can still take part in the SHF challenge!

Ciao!

Note: To catch up on this event and other food events, check out a great site called The Food Blog Diary run by Jacqueline. You can submit any events you like to Jacqueline at tinnedtomatoes{@}gmail{dot}com.

Just a reminder that it’s the 27 of the month, which means it’s the Daring Bakers’ reveal day for July! As you can see I have nothing to reveal … my DB challenge is a bit late. But don’t miss out on what all the other great Daring Bakers did!

Ciao!

All you Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks, that’s who!!!

Check it out … The Independent published a piece on The Daring Kitchen.

Take a bow!

Ciao!

Today is Daring Bakers day and as you can see I am delinquent yet again.

But do not the judge the Daring Bakers by the negligence of moi … please. There are some daring, daring people out there and none moreso than Esther of The Lilac Kitchen who challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using … suet for the April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge.

That girl is daring!

I will dare myself to make this challenge … just not yet. In the meantime, please do visit The Daring Kitchen blogroll to see how steamed up Daring Bakers can get.

Ciao!

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

In my ongoing and valiant efforts to catch up on all The Daring Kitchen challenges I’ve missed over the past year, I now bring you the February 2010 challenge presented by Aparna and Deeba, two most enthusiastic Daring Bakers. They chose the Italian dessert Tiramisu as the challenge.

Tiramisu, literally translated, means pick-me-up and in theory, it isn’t the most complex of desserts. However, when your hostesses challenge you to make all the components from scratch, including the mascarpone, well, let’s just say it changes things.

Yes. You read that correctly. The Daring Bakers are now also cheesemakers, among other things.

Even though my background is Italian, tiramisu is not my favourite. It’s not that I don’t like it - how could one not possibly like such a creamy, boozy dessert that packs a coffee-kick to boot?

It’s just that growing up, tiramisu became the ubiquitous dessert. Every birthday, every family dinner, every baptism, every confirmation, every wedding party dinner and just about everything else inevitably showcased a tiramisu.

To make matters worse, in the 80s and early 90s, mascarpone was not the easiest ingredient to find in Toronto. And even when you did find it, it was ridiculously expensive, moreso than it is even today. As a result, people (and I’m ashamed to admit some of my own family members) resorted to some very strange mascarpone substitutions the worst of which was fake “whipped cream”.

Ugh.

I prefer not to think of those horrible days! Happily, we have all seemed to move on and on the few occasions when we do make Tiramisu, it’s mascarpone all the way.

Over the years, I have shared my family’s Tiramisu recipe with numerous people and it remains my standard for the dessert.

However, Aparna and Deeba laid down the gauntlet and in the spirit of the Daring Bakers, I accepted the challenge.

There were two elements to this challenge that really intrigued me and that I enjoyed tremendously, even though I wasn’t all that successful with them.

The first element was the recipe for homemade mascarpone. I would have never attempted this on my own but Aparna and Deeba pointed everyone to a post on the blog Baking Obsession that belongs to Vera, a most talented baker. Even if you don’t make the mascarpone, you have to visit her site to see how beautiful her creations are!

The making of homemade mascarpone involves heavy cream, heated to a certain temperature, and the addition of lemon juice. The mixture is then allowed to drain in the refrigerator for a period of time after which you should end up with a thickened cream that is, in essence, a form of mascarpone.

My lack of patience reared its ugly head again and I did not allow my cream to heat to the right temperature before I added the lemon juice. I’m not sure what the issue was but after more than 40 minutes in the double boiler, my cream seemed to stop heating up. Finally I got so tired I mixed in the lemon juice and proceeded with the recipe.

My end product was delicious, but not nearly as thick as it should have been. Still, though, I wasn’t complaining. It was so good that we could all just imagine eating it in the summer over fresh berries. I cannot wait to try it again!

The second element of the challenge that I found most intriguing was the making of the savoiardi biscuits. Savoiardi (often referred to as Ladyfinger cookies) are an Italian biscuit that form the base of Tiramisu. However, savoiardi are quite popular beyond this dessert and are used for many other sweets and are also enjoyed on their own.

I have never actually made savoiardi so I was more than pleased to try them.

Like the mascarpone, things didn’t go perfectly for me. I’m not sure if I didn’t whip my egg whites enough but the biscuits didn’t quite rise as much as they should have. Still, though, the cookies were delicious and I can’t wait to try them again.

The rest of the challenge was quite involved. We had to make a zabaglione and a pastry cream, as well as prepare the espresso and whip up some cream to finish off the filling.

The end result was a very detailed dessert with lots of components. It was delicious, but also a lot of work. In Tiramisu’ world, this to me was the equivalent of a “supermodel” Tiramisu. For a very special event, I would consider trying it again, but for a Tiramisu’ fix, I’d probably stick with my family’s recipe.

For me, what distinguished this challenge was the unabashed enthusiasm displayed by Aparna and Deeba. They were the very embodiment of the spirit of The Daring Bakers. They cut no corners and pushed everyone. I have to admit sometimes I get a little lazy with these challenges, but not this time. Faced with the efforts that Aparna and Deeba displayed I could not, in good conscience, do anything but my very best.

Ladies, I thank you for being an example to us all and picking me up for an awesome challenge!

Ciao!

For a copy of the challenge recipe, click here.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

The busy past few months have meant that I haven’t been able to fully participate in the Daring Bakers’ or the Daring Cooks’ challenges.

That’s okay. I’m allowed. Foundership (not just membership) has its priviledges!

Having said that, however, I don’t plan on slacking off and the first order of business was to complete the March 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge hosted by Jen of Chocolate Shavings.

Jen chose a dessert called Orange Tian as the challenge for the month.

The dessert consists of a pastry base, orange marmalade, a cream (stablized with gelatine) filling and segmented oranges in a caramel sauce.

To be quite honest, I’m not sure I would ever have tried this dessert had I come across it on my own.

It’s not that it was difficult, just time-consuming. And while I do like orange, I don’t necessarily like desserts that are predominantly orange-flavoured.

Plus I really dislike orange marmalade. I’m just not a fan of candied orange and the marmalade was too reminiscent of that.

Nevertheless, I am a Daring Baker so I perservered with all elements of the recipe, including the marmalade, and knocked out a fairly nice dessert if I may say so myself.

Actually, I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought. The frozen cream part of the dessert definitely has potential. I imagined making something similar in the summer with fresh berries.

For those of you interested in giving the recipe a go, you can find it here.

Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers’ and their efforts with the Orange Tian.

Ciao!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Okay. So I’m exaggerating just a bit. The Daring Bakers aren’t actually physically going to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver but we’re definitely going in spirit with the January 2010 Daring Baker’s challenge.

Lauren, who is one of the sweetest girls, decided to put her Canadian pride on display by choosing a very “Canadian” treat for the DB challenge. As a proud Canadian myself, I cannot wait until February 12th when the world’s focus will shift to Vancouver.

While I don’t know what will happen over the two weeks of competition, I have no doubt that the world will see what good, caring and friendly people Canadians are. And I also have no doubt that we will have our fill of drama, joy, thrills, tears, beautiful moments and reminders of why sport, amateur sport in particular, is such a worthy pursuit.

With all the compelling stories that the Olympics promise, I was so happy that this first challenge for 2010 was relatively straightforward.

The best part of the challenge was learning to make graham crackers. Nanaimo Bars use graham cracker crumbs in the recipe for the base of the bars. Lauren very creatively challenged us to make our own graham crackers, and not just regular graham crackers, but gluten-free graham crackers at that. She also generously provided some links to recipes for regular graham crackers for those who didn’t want to try the gluten-free version.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make graham crackers. Considering how much I love to eat them out of hand and how regularly I use graham crackers in baking, I can’t thank Lauren enough for thinking of this part of the challenge.

As for the Nanaimo Bars, if you’ve never seen one or tried one, you should definitely attempt them. They’re an easy bar cookie to make (if you use store-bought graham crumbs there’s actually no baking involved) and I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t like them.

I made basic Nanaimo Bars (no variation) as I’d never tried them before so I wanted to make the original. When I served the bars, I cut them into very small squares because they are quite sweet.

I want to thank Lauren for her efforts in hosting the challenge and for making all Daring Kitchen members honourary Canadians just in time for Vancouver 2010!

Ciao!

For the challenge recipe, click here.

Click here to visit The Daring Bakers’ blogroll.

If you’re interested in following the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, visit the official site here.

At this time of year, it’s very easy to become lost in the great big commercial machine that the holidays have become.

So it’s precisely at this time of year that I like to look around and think that even though we live in a big city in a big province in a big country in a big world, in some ways, we also live in our own little villages of space. And the best way to feel full and warm and loved, is to inhabit that space fully and brightly.

I hope that wherever you are today, you have loved ones close by and much light in your life.

From Cream Puff and family, a very Merry Christmas to all!

Ciao!

The gingerbread scene you see above is my take on the 2009 December Daring Bakers’ challenge hosted by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. I cheated slightly (I’m allowed … right … ) by not quite making a house but rather making a little village (house facades only) based on an idea from Joanna Farrow’s book Gingerbread: 24 Inspirational Houses and Decorative Gifts to Make.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone. She also added her own modifications and changes.

Can I just say that I completely LOVED this challenge!

After missing the last two Daring Cooks challenges and not having much success with the October Daring Bakers’ challenge, it was such a pleasure to try making cannoli.

This was a first for me. I’ve never tried cannoli at home mainly because, to be honest, I’m not a huge cannoli fan. They’re okay, but they wouldn’t be my first choice when it cames to Italian desserts.

And I think I now know why.

After making the cannoli shells on my own, I can see that most of the cannoli shells that you buy at the store and even at bakeries, pale in comparison.

The recipe that Lisa provided created a shell that was crispy and light, with a faint hint of Marsala that was so pleasing.

And the filling was rich and luscious.

Perhaps what made this most worthwhile is that I finally got to use the cannoli molds that I purchased several years ago. I purchased them to use in making rolled cookies like tuiles, but I think in all this time I’ve only used them once.

While I considered rolling out the dough myself, I wimped out and used my pasta machine (thankfully Lisa included that in the instructions).

It was a breeze to roll out the dough with the machine. I wrapped the circles of dough around the molds and fried those babies up.

They looked so lovely coming out of the oil that I had to resist the urge to remove them from the mold right away. I found that if you let them cool down a bit, they slide of easily.

I didn’t do anything really fancy with my filling. I flavoured it with cinnamon and vanilla extract and as for the shells, I dipped the edges in melted bittersweet chocolate and then in ground pistachios.

These were just so delicious. The shells were so crispy they shattered when you bit into them. The filling was creamy and perfect and the chocolate and pistachios were just the right touch.

In the course of frying the cannoli shells, a few came off the mold because I hadn’t secured them properly but no worries, I used the shells to make cannoli stacks as Lisa suggested.

Thank you so much to Lisa for hosting. That’s another challenge to cross off the list!

Ciao!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavernas the challenge recipe.

Today, in case you haven’t noticed, is Daring Bakers’ reveal day.

This month’s challenge was to bake the ever-elusive and oh-so-popular macarons.

I would hazard a guess that next to the ubiquitous cupcake, the macarons is probably one of the most popular blog subjects among foodbloggers, especially those that specialize in baking. There’s something about these little treats that is so captivating. Made up of just a few ingredients, they are probably one of the most difficult cookies/pastries to master.

Our host for this month is the gracious LAmonkeygirl. She’s a non-blogger so you can read her challenge post here.

You’re probably wondering where the picture of my macarons is … well … there isn’t one. Not really, anyway.

I did make the macarons as part of the desserts that I prepared for a recent baptism I attended (more on that in another post). I made mini macarons and used blue food colouring to create a marbled effect on top (it was a baby boy being baptized). I filled the macarons with chocolate ganache, but I’ll be honest, while they tasted good, I was not impressed with the end result.

I found that the macarons turned out flat and didn’t have the smooth top that is key when it comes to successful macarons. I’m not completely sure what I did wrong. I’ve had similar problems with another macarons recipes and I’m beginning to suspect two things.

First of all, most macarons recipes ask you to sift the almond flour and icing but I always have difficulty with this step. My almond flour never makes it through the sieve. I’m not sure if I’m using too fine of a sieve or if my almond flour hasn’t been ground enough.

Secondly, when it comes time to fold the almond flour and icing sugar into the egg whites, I think I’m overfolding. I have a feeling that the mixture is too deflated and that might explain why the macarons tend to come out flat.

Of course this is all speculation on my part. To be honest, I think I give up when it comes to macarons. I know that there are many bloggers out there who are brilliant at these little pastries, many of them having turned macarons into a business. Maybe you have to make literally thousands of them before you get the hang of it. I’m not sure. All I know is that I don’t have the touch for them. And to be honest, I’d rather buy them from someone who really knows what they’re doing because nothing is as disappointing as a disappointing macaron.

I want to thank LAmonkeygirl, though. The whole point of The Daring Kitchen is challenge … go try something you normally wouldn’t. While my macarons weren’t the greatest, I’m very glad I tried them.

Ciao!