The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Before I left for Italy, I knew that Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon would be hosting the September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge and that she would be putting forth vol-au-vents (and puff pastry) as the challenge for DBers everywhere.

In the flurry of getting ready for my trip, I didn’t really think much about it until … ummm … yesterday when I was like, “Oh yeah. Vol-au-vents. Puff pastry. Yeah. I should get on that.”

I could look it up but am, quite frankly, too lazy and tired to do so right now but I believe that vol-au-vents means something like flying in the wind or on the wind. Or something like that. Someone will correct if I’m wrong, I’m sure.

In any event, I made like the wind yesterday and threw together a batch of puff pastry and can I just say that I was thanking Steph all along because truly, I adore making puff pastry.

It’s not that I think my puff pastry is all that great. I mean it’s good, but I’m by no means an expert and I’m sure that my puff pastry would be judged as serviceable, at the very best.

But the act of making it is one of the most beautiful baking experiences. All afternoon long, as I rolled and turned, I kept thinking to myself: “This is what I love.”

A quiet Saturday afternoon, a hot cup of tea, flour, butter and a rolling pin. It’s the best day I’ve had since I got back from Italy.

I decided to fill my little puff pastry nests with a cold, dessert filling. For that I chose Italian Chocolate Mousse from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. I chose this chocolate mousse because it’s actually a recipe that I’m making along with my new friends in a new group that I joined.

Love new groups!

I actually found out about this group, called Cooking Italy, from Simone of Junglefrog Cooking (Love Simone!!!). On Simone’s blog I read about this group that cooks recipes from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The group was created by the lovely Angela of the blog Spinach Tiger.

Once upon a time when I first started this blog, I remember thinking that I wanted to spend a lot of time really studying Hazan’s book. Of course, that hasn’t happened. While I do refer to it time-to-time, I haven’t used it nearly as much as I should and that’s a shame because Hazan is truly a treasure when it comes to Italian cooking.

I e-mailed Angela and she very graciously said I could join the group. So expect to see a lot more Hazan around here!

I’m going to do a separate post about the chocolate mousse but in the meantime, it was lovely in the little pastry nests. I caramelized some sugar and let it harden and then added some crushed caramel pieces to the top just for a bit of crunch.

So thank you so much to Steph, for choosing this challenge and for helping me remember why I love baking so much. And thanks to Simone for introducing me to Angela who’s helping me rediscover Marcella.

Ciao!

Here’s a photo journal of my vol-au-vent efforts. You can find the recipe on Steph’s blog.

We begin with a mass of flour, butter, salt and water … and a game of tic-tac-toe.

Bash a block of butter. Say it 20 times really quickly.

One day I would like to receive a love letter filled with butter.

My first turn. So pretty.

Dough rings.

And voila! Vol-au-vents!

I’m feeling a bit ragged these days.

It’s not one thing in particular, it’s just a combination of things. Nothing bad, mind you, just a lot of things going on at the same time and as usual, it’s always what you love most that tends to suffer most.

So while I deal with work and home and the myriad other factors that seem to make our days so chaotic, my little blog falls by the wayside.

Why do we always abandon that which we love most? Isn’t it strange? I know. I know. You can’t give up work (or can you???) and while the temptation to run off to an abandoned island to sit beneath the proverbial palm tree is great, that’s not quite feasible.

Between The Daring Kitchen and cookbook reviews, I sometimes feel like this blog is becoming a repository for “things I must do” rather than the quiet corner for “what I love”.

And don’t take this as complaining, because I’m not … really. I’m very lucky and I realize that. But for just one day, I wanted to do something for myself. Just for me. I didn’t want to have to worry about meeting a deadline or fulfilling a promise made to someone or just throwing up a post because it’s been a week.

For years, and I mean yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaars, I have wanted to make Chouquettes, the sweet and simpler cousin to the cream puff. I don’t even remember where I first read about these beauties. Maybe it was here or here. Who knows. But about a month ago, as I was spending another night at the PC figuring out DK stuff, they just appeared before me like a vision.

Les Chouquettes.

I wanted them. All for myself.

In the corner of my mind that I keep reserved just for recipes that I want to try for the pleasure of it, I remembered seeing a recipe for Chouquettes in Chocolate and Vanilla by Gale Gand. I pulled the book, dusty and lonely from the bookshelf, and went straight to the kitchen.

I mixed and I stirred and I piped and I sprinkled and I baked.

And I ate.

And I was happy.

Just for me.

Ciao!

I used the recipe in Chocolate and Vanilla. But here are some links to recipes that you can try:
http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2003/10/sugar_puffs.php
http://lacerise.blogspot.com/2007/02/chouquettes.html
http://www.shesimmers.com/2009/06/chocolate-chip-chouquettes.html

I just love saying the word strudel. It brings out my inner Austrian and brings back many happy memories of four precious days spent in Vienna, in December 2006.

I was so happy when Linda of make like sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks announced that they would choose Apple Strudel as the May 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge. When I first read the recipe, for some reason I thought that it would be a first for me. But then I remembered that last year, I made an apple strudel from Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight. I remember loving the dough and the filling so I could only hope that this challenge would be up to par.

My love of Rick Rodgers’ Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague is known far and wide. Or at least I think it is. I love the book so much I actually took it with me when I went to Vienna.

Who else brings cookbooks along as travel guides?

I’m not going to give you the painfuly long version of my adventures in Apple Strudel Land. Suffice to say that most parts of the recipe worked out successfully, except for the stretching of the dough. I developed some holes very early on and no matter how much I tried, I could not get it to the two feet by three feet specified in the recipe. I think I made it two feet by two feet before this happened:

Not a pretty sight.

Perhaps the greatest quality of strudel, though, is that it rolls. In baking, rolling means hiding, whether the hiding be a cracked sponge or an incredibly holey piece of strudel dough.

While my holes were significant and not all that well hidden, in the end, it still looked like a half decent strudel. Right out of the oven, it was quite good. The crust was crispy and the filling was juicy thanks to the apples and raisins. A day later, though, the dough had softened and the filling was a bit on the dry side. This is definitely a dessert to be served the day it’s baked.

It was fun to try strudel for a second time, although thus far, I have to say that the recipe in Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight is superior.

Ay yay yay … another Daring Bakers’ challenge come and gone. Where does the time go???

Ciao!

Click here for the Apple Strudel recipe.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Pragueby Rick Rodgers.

In case you hadn’t noticed and just thought that everyone in the foodblog world suddenly decided to make Apple Strudel for some inexplicable reason, today is Daring Bakers’ reveal day!

I did make the apple strudel, thank you very much to our lovely hostesses Linda and Courtney, but it’s been a crazy week so I’m not giving you the fill post … today.

Just a little tease until I can give you the rest of the details …

Ciao!

After the excitement of baking for a bridal shower at the beginning of May, I could not have possibly imagined what was to happen next. I was barely over the high of baking (and being paid for it) when I had what I consider to be an opportunity of a lifetime.

I had lunch with Dorie Greenspan.

Dorie is the author of many incredible cookbooks including Baking with Julia, Paris Sweets and the recently pubished Baking: From My Home to Yours. In April, Dorie was awarded the James Beard Foundation award in the Baking and Dessert category, and deservedly so.

Dorie was in Toronto for the Santé: The Bloor-Yorkville Wine Festival. As soon as Dorie e-mailed me to let me know that she’d be in town, I knew I had to make time to meet with her.

After a few e-mails, we agreed to meet at the Avenue bar and lounge in the Four Seasons Hotel for lunch. I arrived early and chose a table by the window. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I fidgeted in the chair and kept fussing with my top. I looked at the menu. I looked outside. I tried to imagine what it would be like saying hello to Dorie.

And then there she was. And the very first thing she did was give me a huge hug. Within seconds, I felt like I’d known Dorie forever. She is as sweet and charming in person as she is in her cookbooks.

Over the course of almost two hours, we talked about everything from living in Paris to creating recipes. With a wonderful sense of humour, Dorie imparted so much wonderful advice and encouragement. I told her about the Daring Bakers and how much baking meant to me.

I find myself at a point in my baking where I’m trying to figure out how to create recipes of my own, but I don’t want to fail. Dorie very wisely pointed out that it’s okay to try something and chuck it if it doesn’t work out. It was a liberating piece of advice! I was amazed by Dorie. Her energy and her presence were infectious.

Best of all, Dorie signed my copy of Paris Sweets, a book that I hold most dear!

But before I knew it, I had to return to work. I would have loved to have spent the rest of the afternoon with Dorie and walked over to The Cookbook Store. Gracious as ever, Dorie sent me on my way with another hug and a smile.

As I made my way back to work, I could hardly believe that I’d just had lunch with Dorie Greenspan. When I got back to work, a number of my colleagues were eagerly awaiting the details as I’d told them about the lunch. I got to relive it all and it was no less exciting and unbelievable.

In the days that followed, as I reflected on Dorie’s words, I had this overwhelming urge to bake for her. That may sound silly, but baking is the best way I know to share my appreciation. I have a little theory that we bakers share a generosity gene and I think Dorie proves that. Her selflessness, her willingness to share what she knows and give advice, I think it’s all because of that little bit of baking DNA!

For Dorie, I decided to bake one of my most favourite little treats. They’re called Pasticcioni (plump pastries) and are from Viana La Place’s dear, sweet cookbook, La Bella Cucina. They’re plump little cakes filled with a dollop of pastry cream and baked. While the original recipe advises to eat them while warm or the day that they’re baked, I actually like them if they’re a few days old. They’re lovely dipped in espresso and then bitten into to find the pastry secret inside. Sometimes, I also like to tuck a perfect blueberry or raspberry inside each one as a little treat.

Technorat tags: dorie greenspan, paris sweets