family

Little Time, Little Chocolate Mud Cake Cookie Sandwiches

10.03.2009 89 Comments

I can hardly believe my parents have been here a week already. Actually, I can notice it rather clearly: I only had time to make cookies this week! But these little bites of heaven were enough to keep us talking and eating for a few days! Imagine a chocolate cake with a hint of coffee sandwiched between two dark chocolate shortbread cookies and held together by a dab of chocolate ganache. The combination of textures is just perfect.

A good bit of time is spent around the dinner table catching up, making plans. It’s like being on vacation at home. The weather has been gorgeous and we have spent most afternoons out and about, sightseeing, catching the first flower blooms and enjoying the warm, already summer like temperatures. I hope I don’t sound like a broken record with my "parent stories" but it is one of the most important things on my agenda right now. I want to write it down and share so I can remember and be reminded. It’s a good break for them and a good break for me.

I know B. loves having them around too as he and my mom are like two peas in a pod and he loves catching up with the family "back home". He’s been so gracious in giving our "together time" for the next few weeks that I wanted to bake him something special. I know the man loves cookies. Small word if you saw his face when I asked what kind he would like. "Something fun!" he said.

Small cookies are always fun and since it was for him and I know he likes cakes as much as cookies. Mud cake cookie sandwiches fit the bill perfectly. It may sound odd, ok I admit it, it did sound really strange to my parents but trust me, it works. These are probably the best fun bites I have had in a while. Crunch, creamy and soft. They are great with a simple glass of milk but they are also perfect with homemade chocolate sorbet. Pure chocolate therapy.

Chocolate Mud Cake Cookie Sandwiches Recipe:

Makes 24

For the Chocolate Sable Cookies:
1 stick butter (113 grams) butter, at room temperature
¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
½ vanilla bean, seeded or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 egg yolks
1 ½ cups (190 grams) all purpose flour, minus 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons (16gr) cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add vanilla, then the egg yolks, one at a time, scraping the bottom and side of the bowl in between each addition. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and beat until the dough just starts to come together. Add some heavy cream if the dough still looks very crumbly and dry. Gather the dough into a ball, flatten it a little to a small disk and wrap it well in plastic wrap. Refrigerate two hours before using.
Lightly flour your work area well and start rolling the dough from the center out, lifting it from the work area every 2-3 times you roll over it. With a 2 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out 48 rounds in the dough, gathering scraps and rerolling as you go (you might need to refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes if it becomes too soft to roll out easily).
Place the cookies on 2 parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate 20 minutes. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

For the ganache:
6 oz (180gr) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a medium size bowl and set aside.
In a small saucepan set over medium high heat, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. Let the mixture stand for 3 to 5 minutes. Slowly stir the chocolate and cream together until the ganache is completely smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

For the Mud Cake (adapted from Pamela Clark):
1 stick (113gr) butter, at room temperature
4 oz (120gr) dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup (200gr) sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) water
3 tablespoons (30gr) coffee liqueur
2 egg yolks
1 cup (125gr) all purpose flour
3 tablespoons (16gr) cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Slightly coat two 8-x12-inch pans with cooking spray and line them with a piece of parchment paper. Slightly coat the parchment paper with cooking spray or vegetable oil.
In a small pot set over low heat, combine the butter, chocolate, sugar and water and stir until everything is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat, add the coffee liqueur and let cool to room temperature. Whisk in the egg yolks, then the flour and cocoa powder. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut 24 rounds of the same size as the cookies.

To assemble the cookies:
Spread a small amount of chocolate ganache under each cookie and sandwich a mud cake round in between two of them. Dust with cocoa powder if desired

Strawberry & Vanilla Floating Islands

02.02.2009 84 Comments

It had been a while since I had the night off to bake something just for us. No book recipe to test, no challenge, no order or request. Just for us. In moments like this I tend to gravitate towards childhood memories and desserts I learned to make with my mother and grandmother. Simple desserts made so often that I bake them from memories with only the guidelines they used to whisper as I was standing on the little step stool next to the kitchen counter. It always amazes me how clearly I can still hear my grandmother’s voice every time I make Floating Islands for example.

Many years after her passing, Mamie Paulette is still here as I separate the eggs and mix them with sugar to make those lovely clouds of meringues. Everytime I cut through a vanilla bean I respectfully scrape every bean to the last one "pour ne pas gaspiller" (not to waste) and put the pods in small jars of sugar to flavor it. Whenever we would make creme brulees, we would have floating islands or "iles flottantes" a few days later. Again, "pour ne pas gaspiller". I seem to faithfully carry on the tradition. I measure my egg whites, double their weight in sugar (which you can use as a guideline to increase or decrease the number of servings) and make a Swiss meringue. Stirring as she would to, still fascinated at the magic a couple of ingredients can create once baked…

After the vanilla bean mousse for the Daring Bakers challenge and the creme brulee tartelettes I had enough egg whites for a batch of macarons and some floating islands. The same week, juicy strawberry were on sale at the market and between my mother in law and us, I somehow ended up with about 5 pounds of them. I tried my best to use them but work got in the way and I decided to turn most of them into a coulis and freeze it in ice cube trays. That way I can easily portion out what I need for ice creams, sorbets, buttercreams, mousses later on. Some was used for the Floating Islands instead of the creme anglaise (vanilla custard sauce) they are traditionally served with. I hope mamie won’t scream "sacre bleu" since we are severe creme anglaise addicts in the family. I think she would have approved of the variation.

She would either bake the meringue in a baking dish in a water bath and scoop out portions for each of us or divide it in between several glasses and ramekins and bake invidual ones. I liked the latter best as my role once the meringues were baked was to invert them into the pool of sauce and I loved watching how they would just slide on down the glass and float around in the plates. I did the same thing here and decided to skip the traditional decoration of caramel sauce or caramel strands as I wanted to add a little touch of color to the glasses and used finely chopped pistachios instead. There was just not enough time in the day to let me play with caramel which I tend to get carried away with anyway…

The end result was just perfect after a full day at the office. The soft and delicate vanilla scented meringue contrasting with the energizing and fragrant strawberry coulis. Enough to make you want to put on your pajamas to take the dogs for a walk…

Strawberry & Vanilla Floating Islands Recipe:

Serves 4

For the strawberry coulis:
16 oz (500gr) strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/4 cup (50gr) sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) lemon juice

In a medium saucepan, bring the strawberries with the sugar and lemon juice to a simmer over medium low heat. Cook for an additional 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and puree the mixture in a blender or food processor. Divide evenly between 4 dishes or glasses.

For the floating islands:
2 egg whites (60gr)
1/2 cup+1.5 tablespoons (120gr) sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, seeded

Coat 4 ramekins of your choice with cooking spray, place them in a deep baking dish set on a baking tray, set aside.
Preheat the oven to 250F.
Place the egg whites, sugar and the seeds from the vanilla bean in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water and cook until the mixture registers 140F on a candy thermoter, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and whip the mixture with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until double in volume and cool to the touch. Pipe or spoon the meringue into the ramekins and fill the baking dish with hot water almost 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the meringues are slightly dry to the touch. Using tongs, remove the ramekins from the baking dish and set aside to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, invert them and let the meringue slide right off over the strawberry coulis.
Decorate with cut strawberries and chopped pistachios is desired.

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Note: If you liked the White Chocolate and Lemon Souffles from last week, you can find 3 more recipes I made for Desserts Magazine. Bittersweet Chocolate Souffles, White Chocolate Souffles and Chesnut Milk Chocolate Tapioca Souffles. It’s all about chocolate this month!

A Year In Posts

31.12.2007 36 Comments

I always admire people who send out Christmas or New Year’s newsletters and tell you all the wonderful, funny or tragic details of the year past. I keep feeling nothing major happened in my life but I start thinking about things and quickly realize that I am far from the truth. Starting at home, there is never a dull moment, whether it be due to our different cultures and customs or whether it be because of our age difference, B. and I surely know how to keep ourselves entertained…!

Then there is this blog. It has given me so much in the past year that I wanted to remember the good and sad moments, the friendships and mind blowing events I have experienced. I did this post a little selfishly to have a reference of this past year but I also wanted to highlights for you guys the moments of 2007 that make this blog what it is today and I could not do it without your readership.

January 2007: After a wonderful 3 weeks back home in France it was hard to get myself back in the groove. I had tasted so many delicious pastries and foods that I felt kind of lame in my little kitchen. It made me miss restaurant work (and trust me I itch for it everyday but not in this town!). One way to quickly snap out of it was by making creamy delicious Chestnut Mousse.

February 2007: Month of all things Valentine reds and rosy pink, little did I know that by sending Ivonne a Valentine’s card that she would try to seduce me with a cake. Mr.Tartelette still does not quite get it! It was also the month I finally made the most fat laden lemon cream filling by bloggers’s sugar daddy Pierre Herme, and this most excellent Nutella Mousse with Macarons.

March 2007: It was “step out of your comfort zone” for me. First,inspired by Marce I had the brilliant (sarcasm) idea to put Dulce de Leche in brioche rolls…talk about gooey sticky mess all over my counter top, apron, and pan! I then experience with sweet avocado cream and meringue. I still can’t get people to trust me on that one, but one bite and they are sold. Then there was the Sunflower bread, time consuming but delicious. Lastly, I won my first “competition”, HHDD hosted by less evil twin Peabody, with a Japanese style cheesecake served with Salted butter Caramel sauce. Surprised, elated…happy ya’ll deemed it worthy!

April 2007: As the winner of HHDD I got to host my first blog event and what a thrill that was! I loved every minute of it, the energy and high of hosting! Then there was the ever notorious Daring Bakers’ Chocolate Cr(a)epe cake challenge. I got in touch with my inner caramel diva but the whole thing made me curse the Martha! Poor Brilynn for calming our frustrations! That month I also professed my love for another sugar daddy, Richard Leach and made my best macarons to date (according to the people who ate them) Blood Orange Macarons. I also started to give you guys serious hints about my love for verrines and all things that are small and can be put in a glass.

May 2007: Definitely a bittersweet month. By participating in the Livestrong event, hosted by Barbara, one of the nicest bloggers around (and she is so good to me) I experienced with a sweet creations while remembering the loss of my grandmother and brother to cancer. Blog surfing one day, I met Kate from Applemint and we realized we had the same birthday and decided to blog bake a cake for each other to mark the occasion. May was very related to home and family, clafoutis, ile flottante but I was obviously as serious with my ice cream making!! Oh, and more caramel by hosting my first Daring Bakers challenge with Anita, one of my first reads before I started blogging. Meeta also trusted me enough to ask me to write articles for The Daily Tiffin, and it is a pleasure to be able to motivate people.

June 2007: What did not start as great month turned out to be the one of the most heart fulfilling ones after all. Blogging friends came numerous to cheer me up after a loss in my family with notes, cards, emails, and presents, every single day there was something wonderful and magic at my doorstep. Celebrating friends’birthday or blogging event provided great times in the kitchen. Putting our favorite candy in macarons was also one of the highlights of the month. The other one being winning DMBLGIT for the first time with this spur of the moment picture.

July 2007: Finally meeting Lisa was definitely “it” in July. To put it in her words, finding this bestest friend was quite unexpected but fills me everyday with joy and laughter…oh boy do I hold my ribs when opening my emails! Thinking outside the box and using bubble wrap in unusual ways was also another fun moment that she pushed me to do when I was not sure it would turn out ok. Starting a fun world wide event with Hannah and her cutest crochet eggs (not bad for a vegan!) was a way to get more bloggers involved to reach across the miles…I am dying to know where are the eggs now!

August 2007: Definitely a family month for me. My goddaughter came to the US for the first time and we had a great time both in the kitchen and in the city. It made me realize how many American things and habits had become "mine" and how many traditions I still had from home. Macarons and cakes were made many times, as well as cute cupcake cones and delicious caramel chocolate tarts! I was the cool godmother, woohoo!!

September 2007: I became a Brownie babe, with a cool apron to show for it!! My parents came for a while and I had to adopt our favorite treat due to their diet restrictions, but this month was particularly enhanced thanks to gorgeous gifts from other bloggers dear to my heart. Mary and Elle, I cannot thank you enough for the boxes of Meyer lemons and quinces that helped me bake tasty treats for those around me. When the craziness of the holidays calms down a bit you’d better stay close to your mailboxes.

October 2007: Wow! Another DMBLGIT award and I have to thank my mom for that one because my Daring Baker’s sticky buns look much better with her frames as the background! I enjoyed playing with my blowtorch and pretend it was Fall while carving some pumpkins. I went to see Lisa for the second time, and was joined by Mary who really went out of her way with the flight situations. We had a wonderful time, baked up a storm and while I was there I copied so many recipes from a magazine Lisa had that I am surprised I only made this cake so far!!

November 2007: All about friends and pies and buns again! I tried new flavors and food, such as dried hibiscus flowers, but also reminisced about my late grandmother and her great tarts. Coconut cream pie looked mighty deconstructed and prettier thanks to a long time friend while cranberry and nuts tart became a new Thanksgiving favorites. The cross states cinnabon knockoff adventures made up a sick day turn into play day thanks to Mrs. Sassy herself. Then Tanna asked me to cover myself in sticky dough and I could not refuse!

December 2007: This month finally sealed my addiction for cinnamon rolls and unusual macaron flavors. It was also the month to celebrate other’s holidays as well as my own traditions. I was the lucky recipient of a pay it forward package and I am dying to send one to Sarah to continue the chain, as soon as I get her mailing address. It was all about the friends who become family and good times. Cream became the definite flavor this month and I might have a couple more up my sleeve to start the New Year. Stay tuned!

Well, there you have it….my blogging year in a nutshell. What a wonderful year 2007 was! I plan on continuing to share the love with you guys in 2008 and keep improving my recipes, pictures and writing. Thanks for your comments, questions and readership, they mean the world to me!

Happy New Year!

Apple And Thyme: Pear Tart With Grandma And Mom

10.11.2007 49 Comments

It’s interesting how life comes at you full force, sometimes from people you don’t even know.
A few weeks ago one member of the Daring Bakers, Inge, posted an event she was hosting to honor the women, be it moms or grandmothers (or any person special to us) who influenced us in the kitchen. The event, Apple and Thyme, was somewhat prompted by the fact that a blogging friend of hers, Jeni from the Passionate Palate, had just lost her mother to a long battle with cancer.

Losing is the right term when it comes to loved ones, especially mothers. You lose a bit of your essence, a small part of your flesh is ripped and your heart is taken away from away from you. The hurt and the pain diminish with time but never really go away. I am sorry that Jeni had to experience such a tragedy. I often think about the pain my own mother must feel day in day out after losing her own mother and it just breaks my heart. I can’t think about a day without my mom, even though we do not talk on the phone everyday or even when sometimes we don’t really like each other (hey, we all have our moods!). Jeni, I offer you my deepest condolences and thank you for reminding me to hug my mom, even if only in my dreams.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know how deeply my grandmother has influenced my baking. She had that magical touch…you would come to visit and within half an hour the table was set with a wonderful spread of foods. It seemed almost effortless to her to come up with the most delicious foods. I used to believe my grandmother was this goddess of the kitchen, even when she was too frail from battling cancer. It’s not that I thought less of my mother’s cooking and baking, don’t get me wrong, but I felt like my mother was showing me the ropes, the behind the scenes, while grandma was giving me the picture perfect, no mise-en-place necessary final product.

My mother is more of a cook than a baker but when she tackles the dough, man! She is good! Just as good as her own mother and I hope I am up to par with their talent. Most French house cooks and bakers do not make elaborate 5 courses meal or produce 3 layer mousse cakes every day of the week. We make yogurt cakes, chocolate mousses, clafoutis, flans, and tarts….lots of tarts!! I think the first item I ever baked was a tart, maybe a quiche, something with a crust, something with a filling, something with cream….and I got hooked, hence the blog name "Tartelette"…. There is always a tart of some sort in the fridge…no lie. Well, except tonight because I finished the last slice of this one. I love the contrast between crust and filling, the endless possibilities of ingredients combination. If a tart had a cousin, it would be a salad: both can be as rustic or elaborate as you wish, both can make a meal (savory tart) or a side, both make use of seasonal produce or what is overripe in the fruit basket and both adapt to a myriad of cultures and cuisines.

I remember my mother and grandmother teaching me the A,B,Cs of tart doughs, "pate sablee, pate brisee, pate feuilletee" (shortbread, basic, puff pastry), and I grew up making my doughs from scratch every time. Even when the times brought packages of ready made tart dough at the grocery store, they were still making them from scratch most of the time. It always seemed funny to me to buy them only to have them remain in the fridge drawer. "Juste au cas ou" …just in case. But again, "just in case" never usually happens in France…because nobody drops in "just like that"…we are a nation of planners you see, so there is always plenty of time to make dough…but that aspect of French culture is for another post. I have one of those pre-made dough in my fridge actually…and you know what? I think I ought to throw it away…it’s been there for a while and probably will never get used…why? In my mind, there is nothing like homemade: it is neither labor nor time consuming and if you are really lazy, you can turn a dough in your food processor in less than 5 minutes. A little resting time, a little rolling and "hop" you’re there…

For this particular tart to pay tribute to both my mother and grandmother I have chosen one of our favorite combination: pears and almonds. I miss you grandma and mom, and hope I make you proud everytime I step in and out of the kitchen.

Pear And Almond Tart

Makes one 10 inch tart.

Crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup chilled (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in pieces
2 Tbs ice water
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Place flour and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the ice water then the egg yolk, processing just until the dough holds together. Do not process for more than 30 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Place on a sheet of plastic wrap. Flatten, and form into a disc. Wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour before using.
Preheat oven to 350F and blind bake the tart shells: roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, lay into tart shell, cover with parchment paper or foil, pour dry beans or pie weights on top and bake fro 15 minutes. Let cool before proceeding.

Filling:
2 large pears, peeled and cored, thinly sliced (I chose Comice for this tart)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup slivered almonds

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar until pale. Whisk in the ground almonds, milk and cream. Pour into the cooled pie shell, leaving about a 1 inch border so that the batter does not overflow when you arrange the ears on top. Arrange the pear slices over the top and sprinkle with the slivered almonds. Bake at 350 until golden brown, do not worry if it still wiggles a bit in the middle, the custard will keep on setting once removed from the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature…oh heck! Eat it anyway you want, it is darn good even cold!!