Monday, March 22, 2010

Peanut Butter Nearly Plum Ingots





It finally happened.  Starting one recipe in Rose's Heavenly Cakes and finishing with ingredients from another.  If you've seen Rachael's English Trifle on Friends, you'll understand.  If not for my daughter asking "Mind if I have a look at the recipe?", heaven only knows what sort of Ingots would have emerged from the oven.  Come to think of it, Heavenly Only Knows would be a more fitting name for this blog!

Luckily for me the ingredients in both recipes were similar.  The toasted almonds were recalculated, as was the powdered sugar and flour. The next bit of confusion involved adding beurre noisette.  Drizzle and whip intermittently for five minutes or drizzle, then whip for five minutes?  Tired, late and irritated, I poured the whole lot in and decided to live dangerously.

Tired because I pulled weeds for two days.  Spring has brought forth weeds in abundance.  Late because we spent the afternoon at the barn playing with the horses.  Irritated because, well........Really, I've offered before and I'll offer again to be a test subject for Rose's next book.  Any day I expect a knock at the door only to find Woody and Hector demanding I turn over my copy of Heavenly Cakes with a Cease and Desist Order swearing never to bake anything from Rose's books again.

I used organic peanut butter instead of Jiff.  Since organic peanut butter must be kept refrigerated,  I warmed it up a bit in the microwave. All was going well until my daughter asked "What does plan ahead mean?"

Oops, missed that part.  I could also have sworn it said blanched almonds.

And the debate began when exactly the batter is supposed to be refrigerated.  Since I could not find proper Financier Molds and opted to use a long forgotten Nordic Ware mini tart pan, the first batch went in unrefrigerated, the second refrigerated.  The refrigerated dough was much easier to handle but did not seem to make any difference in texture or crumb.

The peanut flavor is understated.  I left some plain, added a sweetened peanut butter drizzle pelted with leftover mini chocolate chips on others, sprinkled muscavado with crushed cornflakes on a few and Lindt chocolate on the rest. The flavor seems stronger after sitting overnight.  I'm quite curious as to the flavor of a traditional financier and will make some if I ever find the molds.  Neither William Sonoma, Sur La Table or the cake decorating supply store knew what financiers were or that they required a mold. Loads of curious questions, though.

Eldest granddaughter has bestowed the ultimate endorsement for Peanut Butter Ingots:
"Grandma, you could sell these to Starbucks."

12 comments:

  1. I love your granddaughter's quote. That is high praise indeed!

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  2. I love that episode of Friends! You can't really compare though, since your ingots did not taste like "feet" I presume (remember Ross' comment :)). I also second Lois' comments, that is great praise from your granddaughter. I'm glad it all worked out well in the end.

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  3. LOL.. your granddaughter is right.. they are perfect for starbucks. And like you i had a "rachel' moment as well. But I save it in time!

    Sadly I would not know if today they would have a stronger peanut flavor, since Tom and I sort of because piggies and east each and everyone one of them.

    The shame!

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  4. Ha! I almost did the same thing.

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  5. LOL! I love Friends and that episode too! :) It happens to me a few times esp. on Rose's book, i don't know why..but i managed to see my mistake a few times..:) So you're not alone! Love your granddaughter's comment!

    Wish i could have that sort of lifestyle..pull weeds, ride horses..etc I've always lived in high-rise buildings/apts, so never tended to a garden before..and the only place i've petted a horse is in the zoo! But we get to go shopping till 930pm - 10pm since our shops doesn't close till then. :)

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  6. ב''ה

    Cease and desist order. LOL!

    Really though, they look great. :)

    The organic peanut butter may be the reason for the understated peanut taste.

    At Macys in harold square they told me, "Silicon? No we don't carry those no maw."

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  7. I made both peanut and praline, and (for Jif peanut butter anyway) the peanut butter is much bolder flavored than the praline. It did seem to get stronger overnight, by smell anyway--I kept eating the praline ones.

    I'm guessing a traditional financier without even praline paste would be very subtle indeed.

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  8. I used a hydrogenated peanut butter and found the taste underwhelming too.

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  9. Your comments have helped me realize some of the pitfalls I need to watch for!
    What is the name of your gorgeous horse? Soooo pretty!

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  10. Your ingots turned out great! Sometimes little accidents like this aren't all that bad. I love the ones with the jam on top.

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  11. Congrats on being Featured Baker!!! Your post are always fun to read.

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  12. Congrats on being featured baker this week! I was pretty underwhelmed by these as well. I much prefer them just plain almond - at least then they aren't trying to pretend to be anything more.

    I ordered mine from Silkomart for 9.95 euro (SF026 is the part number), perhaps you, Mendy and a few others could order bulk and get them deliverd to the US for not too much. But then again I think Matthew put a link on Marie's post to a US stockist for Leuke. I have two and wouldn't be without them.

    I am constantly doing the Rachel (hilarious btw and first time I have seen it!) with Rose's book. I think it is because she groups like recipes together and the instructions/ingredients are similar but not quite the same. Drives me barmy.

    Gorgeous horse!

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