Caramelized White chocolate Cake

I am not a white chocolate type of person, but when I saw a recipe called "Caramelized White Chocolate" at David Lebouvitz blog, I was intrigued immediately. The process was not hard at all, it just consumed lots of time, which mean checking, scrapping and stirring every ten minutes for a little bit more then an hour. I intended to make this recipe for an ice cream, but changed my plan at the last minute after I saw this beautiful little cakes. Glad I made it, the cake was delicious, moist and not too white chocolaty. Caramelized White Chocolate Individual Cake make 12 little cakes 12 oz warm caramelized white chocolate 6 tbs butter, melted 3 large eggs ⅔ cup flour ⅔ cup almond flour 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt Preheat oven to 375 F, butter generously 12 (2 oz size) ramekins. Set aside. Place flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, mix using a wire whisk to aerate them . Set aside. In another bowl, mix Caramelized White chocolate and butter together using rubber spatula , add egg one at a time, mix just enough to incorporate them. Fold in the flour mixture. Divide among prepared ramekins. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm or cold.

The Ultimate Lemon Madeleines

The original recipe was not intended for Madelines, but for another little tea cake called "Gateau Weekend", which has similarity of that Madeleine characteristic, the hump. Soon after my first batch of trial, I found myself using the same recipe over and over again each time I make Madeleines. The recipe is pretty interesting, because you are required to make 2 different kind of batters, and only mixing them together right before you are ready to bake. The batter it self is pretty simple, quick and straight forward to make. Can't be more simple then this right?, especially, if you've tried to make it before and never had those distinct hump on your madeleine. Well, this time you'll be happy to see the "hump"!. The Ultimate Lemon Madeleines makes 2 dozens For lemon batter : 1/2 cup sugar zest of 3 large lemons pinch of salt 2/3 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 5 tablespoon butter, melted 2 large eggs, lightly beaten Place sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a bowl, rub them with your fingertips until the sugar is moist, and very aromatic. Sift together flour and baking powder, then add it to sugar mixture, mix. Make a well in the middle, add the beaten eggs to the well, mix just enough to incorporate the ingredients together, using a rubber spatula fold in the melted butter. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic, refrigerate several hours (at least 3 or 4 hours) or better yet, overnight. For almond batter: 4 tablespoon butter, soften at room temperature 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon almond flour 1 egg Place the soften butter, and confectioner's sugar in a medium bowl, with a hand whisk beat them together until pale, add the egg, whisk until fluffy, then fold in the almond flour. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic, refrigerate refrigerate several hours (at least 3 or 4 hours) or overnight. Preheat oven to 375⁰F. Buttered and floured the Madeleine's moulds. Set aside. Combine the two batter together, spoon the batter into madeleine moulds, don't worry about spreading the batter, it will spread by itself. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Make sure to check after 10 minutes, least thing you want is having a slightly burned Madeleines like mine.

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

The scent of this herb is so intoxicating, it makes me want to cover my entire bed with it. I am seriously addicted, it reminds me of the type of basil that grow in Indonesia and people there always eat it raw with rice, fish and other condiments. If you have any chance to visit a nursery near by, you might want to grab lemon verbena (it's in the herb section), even if you don't have land, you can still grow it in a pot. It is absolutely a plant worth having.

Anyway, since the weather is starting to get hotter each day, I decided to make some simple mint-chocolate ice cream. But, I changed my mind and made lemon verbena ice cream instead. The recipe was inspired by a book "Mastering Forzen Dessert" by Melanie Barnard. Using the formula from this book, I substituted lemon verbena for mints. The ice cream was delicious, the fragrant lemony basil scent was absolutely heaven! Well, at least to me ...

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream

make about 1 pint + ½ cup

1½ cup whole milk

1½ cup heavy cream

⅔ cup sugar

4 sprigs lemon verbena

4 large egg yolks

• Bring milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, ⅓ cup of sugar, and lemon verbena to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat, crush the lemon verbena with the back of wooden spoon to release its fragrance. Steep for 20 minutes to intensify the fragrant.

• Whisk the remaining ½ cup heavy cream, ⅓ cup sugar, and the yolks until well blended.

• Return the milk pan to the stove, heat until hot once again. Temper the yolks by slowly drizzle about a quarter of the milk into the yolk. Pour the tempered yolk into the milk pan, cook and whisking constantly until the mixture is thickened, abut 3 to 5 minutes. To test, coat a wooden spoon with this mixture, draw a line a long the spoon, if it doesn't leave a trail that fill in right away, the mixture is ready.

• Set a fine-mesh sieve over medium bowl, strain the custard, discard the lemon verbena.

• Place chunks of ice cubes in a large bowl, fill with water just enough to cover the ice. Place the custard bowl inside this bowl, let the custard cool for about 45 minutes. When the custard is cool, place a piece of plastic directly over it to prevent skin forming. Refrigerate overnight.

• The next day, churn the custard according to manufacture's direction. Serve immediately, or freeze up to 3 days.

45

Bliss!
Having all my family came over to celebrate my birthday was the best birthday gift ever. Thank you ....
and love you all ...

Chocolate, Pistachio and Peanut Nougat

I must let you all know that I am no longer a "daring baker" member, as I found myself a little overwhelm each end of the month trying to finish the challenge. Instead, I decided to have my own monthly challenge which give me more flexibility to play around with the timing, I get to choose the recipe that I want to make, and I can post it whenever I want it. The challenge that I am going to post monthly is the one that I never made before, and of course the one that I feel the most difficult or challenging to make. Just remember that, I am only a home cook, I never took any baking or cooking classes, so what might be challenging for me, is not so for you. Since I never made NOUGAT, I chose this as my first challenge. Why nougat? Well, for me, cooking or baking that involve boiling sugar to a very high degrees and can really burn you if you are a clumsy person, sounds a little scary. So, to overcome this fear I must make something that involving this type of process. When I visited Aran, and found her nougats recipe, I thought this would be a perfect contender. I follow the recipe to the letter, it came out beautifully and according to friends and families who were lucky to tasting it, was delicious, but they would prefer it without peanut, I think I'd prefer that as well. I, finally conquered my fear! Hope you'll try it as well.