Sunday, January 31, 2016

Irish Cream Scones with Raspberry Butterscotch Lace Topping

                                     

Shall I be mother?

It is bad luck to have more than one person 
pour tea from the pot,
or so it is said.
Perhaps this is the origin of
the expression
"Shall I be mother?"
meaning, 
Should I pour out tea for everyone? 
Tea and scones
and a lively chat with my daughter, granddaughters 
or friends always makes me happy.



This is the recipe I have been waiting to bake
since we began sifting our way through
Rose's Baking Bible.
Being able to make a decent scone
has eluded me,
even with all the Irish, Scottish and English DNA,
until now.
  

The ingredients are few:
bread flour, baking powder, salt, lemon rind,
raisins (I used currents),  sugar, honey
and heavy cream stirred together.
Quick knead,  patted into an
eight inch circle
and baked for a very short time,
they popped out of the oven 
with the most wonderful aroma.


It was difficult not to tuck in right there
but Rose declared her Raspberry Butterscotch Sauce
"Is to live for!"
on 
Catherine's  post.
So I carried on.

It's always a bit of a chore smashing
raspberries through a fine mesh sieve
and all the rest of  the finicky steps,
but oh so worth it in the end.
Really worth it!
Next time I double it 
at the very least.


The recipe says the Raspberry Butterscotch
can also be mixed into whipped cream.
I opted to make use of the 
left over Devonshire cream
in the frig.

It makes me happy that I can 
finally make a decent scone
with an amazing topping.
It is better than any tea room
scone I have ever had.


Such a surprise.
I never thought this day would come.
 ~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Lemon Almond Cheesecake



Rose's Lemon Almond Cheesecake

Take a whole lot of frozen lemon shells
just waiting for a recipe like this,
a package of store bought lovely soft lady finger cookies,
loads of sour cream and cream cheese,
blanched almonds, turbinado sugar,
about a dozen egg yolks
and this is the result:
an absolutely scrumptious lemon cheesecake
with extra flavor from lemon juice, lemon oil, lemon zest,
vanilla and almond extract (which I doubled).


Zesting frozen lemon rind is so much easier

It was a fairly easy recipe
just interrupted by lengthy chill times.
Oh and that whole wrapping the spring form pan
with foil and submerging in a hot water bath. 
I found the longest roll possible of extra strength foil
which encased the entire pan.


Huzzah!  No water hazard.

Another thing I did was blitz the extra
lady fingers in the mini Cuisinart
and sprinkle over the base of whole ones.


Stirring up a small dose of lemon curd for a
shallow topping was a great touch.




With a dollop of Devonshire Cream,
even better


Forgot to heat the pan before removing the 
sides and smooth with a warm knife.
Too impatient! 

Everyone who has had a slice
loves it! 


~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum













Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Rondo's




It's always fun to find a new treat
so when Hanaa from 
invited me to bake along
I was excited about
this recipe for Rondo's.

They were easy to mix up, 
first the almond filling
which is refrigerated,
and then the pastry dough,
which also is refrigerated.
Rolled out, filled, sealed and baked
in rings, the kitchen was filled
with a lovely aroma.


I used dark Muscavdo sugar and some
of the sugar didn't entirely melt
but it just added to the charm.
I also did not brush with the egg wash 
and adorn with almonds.
I had unexpected visitors
in the form of grandchildren
arrive.


Baked in a four inch English muffin ring.

You can image the chaos.  
They loved them so much 
I was asked if the could take 
them all home!
That says everything, yes?!





Thursday, January 14, 2016

The Trellis French Roasted Garlic Soup


Soup's on!
The Melting Potters have set sail with
The Trellis French Roasted Garlic Soup 
from 
The Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia.
This is an incredibly easy tres chic soup to make.


First garlic is oven roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper.
On the advise of my daughter,
I doubled the amount.
We like garlic in this family.
Meanwhile cream is set over heat to
slowly reduce for an hour and half.
I used part half and half with 
whole milk.
It's plenty rich and creamy.


Vegetables prepped.



Leeks, celery and onions softened in butter.
The garlic cloves are then added in.
This is cooked together for a bit
and the aroma really starts to kick up a notch.
Meanwhile, cubed potatoes are tipped into
stock and brought to the boil.
The vegetables are added and cooked
together with the potatoes.
At this point I got out my immersion blender
and blitzed everything together right in the pan
instead of pulsing in a food processor. 


Blitzed again with the addition of the reduced milk,
 and seasonings adjusted.
Rose instructs to strain the soup but
we like texture so I left it rustic.
It is still very silky.


What fun to cook from Rose's book
that has been sitting on my shelf forever!
I've never roasted garlic before or used leeks
so already I've learned something new.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum







Monday, January 11, 2016

King Cake


A long time ago,
I ordered a King Cake
expressed shipped from New Orleans.
Even with over night shipping,
it was a bit worse for wear 
but still good.
My husband was a Fed Ex manager
back then and nearly free shipping was one of the perks.

I can't remember why I thought 
this was a good idea or even where
I got the idea, 
never having been to New Orleans.

My kids were quite young then
but it made an impression.
My now grown up son asked if I would make
a King Cake.
He recently visited New Orleans on business.
So I gave it a go
with 


My assistant took over the all important
task of frosting and shaking the sprinkles.
It was a fun dough to work with
and smelled heavenly with the addition
of lemon oil and fresh nutmeg.
The KA version was filled with sweetened cream cheese.
See what happens 
after baking along with fellow
Bread Bakers for a few months?
Enough confidence 
to tackle another yeasty bake.



My Chocolate Chip Cookies



Rose's answer to Chocolate Chip Cookies

I guess when one is a world famous cookbook author,
it must be a constant parade of 

Do you make? Would you make? Could you make?


Marathon dual Rose baking day 
with cookies and Sweet Potato Bread



So it is with these chocolate chip cookies.
Clarifying the butter to beurre noisette 
and not burning it to beurre noir,
is a crucial step.
Toasting the walnuts is another.
Using Tony's posted video for garlic skin removal
by shaking in a glass jar,
I tried it with walnuts.
Works very well!
Tipped into the bowl
a lovely dough takes shape 
with Muscavado sugar, regular sugar,
flour, baking soda, salt, vanilla and egg.



Mistakenly bought instead of chocolate chips,
they were a lucky accident 
and added to the dough with walnuts.


Wrapped for a night in the frig.



I forgot to flatten the first batch.


Side by side with the flattened batch.
I prefer the unflattened ones;
nice and cakey. 
Great flavor, too.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum










Sunday, January 10, 2016

Sweet Potato Loaf


It's always amazing to see a dense lump of
dough transform into lighter than air bread.
This is exactly what happened with
Rose's Sweet Potato Loaf.

After an over night cool rise in the frig, 
sponge dough met a baked sweet potato and butter.
The dough had difficulty incorporating all the flour, 
remaining very dry, so I added
more sweet potato.
Probably because I used a different brand of 
unbleached flour.



When it became silky and sticky
as Rose described
it was off for a warm rise.


This recipe had several warm risings,
interspersed with a few folds.

The dough was soft, airy and very sticky.
I resorted to rolling it straight into the bread pan
from the bowl.
I knew the shape would not be correct
but  didn't want to deflate it too much.


Once again, 
waiting an hour for bread to cool,
is quite difficult.
The curiosity consumes me!
I want to see what the crumb looks like
and how it tastes.
Spread with Lyle's Golden Syrup,
this Sweet Potato Loaf is amazing!
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum 








Monday, January 4, 2016

Lemon and Cranberry Tart Tart


I am exhausted by this saucy little tart.
In theory it is very simple to make;
an almond butter crust shell 
filled with lemon curd and cranberry sauce.
It took me all day!


Devonshire Cream would have
been the perfect topping
but I didn't think of it,
my daughter did.
It's too late to run out for some tonight
but tomorrow I will.
I used whipping cream instead.


This recipe would make delightful
mini two bite tartlettes.

by
Rose Levy Beranbaum