Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Rugelach


Rugelach cookies
are Jewish in origin
with the root translation
meaning
"little twists".
No matter what the shape
they are tasty cookies.

First a cream cheese dough
is made then
chilled and rolled
into a circle. 
I used my mini food processor
but next time
will use a mixer
or
pull the large one down
from the cupboard.
It got extremely creamy.


Brushed with apricot preserves,
sprinkled with
cinnamon and sugar
then
topped with raisins and walnuts.

Cut into wedges and rolled
they are brushed with milk
and
sprinkled with more 
cinnamon and sugar.

Chilled and baked.
I can't even tell you
how wonderful
the house smells.


Ready for 
a nice cup of tea.
They are
so delicious.

Uh oh!
All the recipes baked through Rose's Heavenly Cakes,
the current list of The Baking Bible
and
the thirteen or however many breads from The Bread Bible,
this has never happened.


I forgot to set the buzzer
for the final ten minutes
of the last tray.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum


Sunday, April 24, 2016

Italian Fig Cookies




These
are the Italian Fig Cookies
known as
Cucidati.

They may not look
like the pretty
sprinkled cookies
which grace
Italian Christmas
tables
but they are very tasty.

Image result for Italian Fig Cookie images

Labor intensive
I can see why 
it can be 
a fun family affair
to make them
together.

I learned about these
charming cookies
from a 
high school friend.
They are a favorite
in her Italian family.
I'm so glad she 
shared them
with me.

is the
Gourmet Magazine
recipe I used.







Thursday, April 21, 2016

Sacaduros




Hackeysak Sacaduro rolls
are quite scrumptious
even if they failed to
blossom into petals. 

Fun volcano sponge step

First up was one of my favorite of Rose's recipes,
The Basic Hearth Bread,
for the dough.
Had I realized this was needed for Sacaduros,
I could have made them back
when I mistakenly made the dough for
the Pretzel Bites.

Mixing the sponge into dough

Is it too dry?
Is it too wet?
I wish there was an instant read thermometer
that measures moisture in dough.


The dough behaved nicely during risings.

+

It was much too wet to form petals,
and instead formed puddles around the butter slices.
I tried out Trader Joe's new cultured salted butter,
leaving out the sprinkle of salt.
It's very nice butter.


I baked up half the dough and put the 
remaining in the refrigerator for the night.
Maybe a night chilling will make a difference.


Regardless of the lack of shapeliness,
they are delicious.
My husband,
who has zero appetite
from being in and out
of the hospital
absolutely loves them.
The texture is the perfect
combination 
for his discerning Italian palate.
Go figure!

UPDATE

After refrigerating half the dough overnight,
which had gone through all the risings,
it was wrapped around butter
and thrown in the oven
on a cookie sheet.
No flour coating, 
no pizza stone,
no ice cubes for steam.
The flavor is spectacular; 
the crust nice and soft.
What a surprise.

~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum





Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Hungarian Raisin Walnut Tartlets


Is everybody having a good time
with 
Mars in retrograde?
Clearly this was not the recipe
to space out on.

After I made the dough,
I saw the bit about needing to triple 
the recipe.

My math was off
and it turned into
a soggy, vinegary mess.

To start over in this heat wave
we are having
or buy ready made dough?
Ready made dough won.

The raisin mixture was
simple enough to mix up
except I botched 
that, too.
I popped the raisins and
toasted walnuts into the
Cuisinart for a whirl
instead of the sugar, egg, vanilla
mixture.
Didn't seem to hurt it any.



I baked a few in the
ill gotten pastry dough
and the rest 
in a Nordic Ware non-stick
mini tartlet pan.


I am surprised how
delicious these are.
Next time I'm adding
a bit of unsweetened coconut.
Hopefully, 
Mars will be out of retrograde
and Mercury is nowhere to be found.

Crust-less
~

by
Rose Levy Beranbaum











Thursday, April 14, 2016

ChocolaTea Cake



Rose's ChocolaTea Cake

with caramel buttercream filling
from the FloRo

Half the cake was absconded by
granddaughter number three
before it was frosted.
How could I refuse
when she asked if it was dairy free?
It was without the frosting.

The ganache is delicious.
Combined with the caramel buttercream,
exquisite.
As for the 
I was blind sided genoise
cake layers,
well Taylor Swift says it best-
We are never ever getting back together.

Go have a look see at the other
 and see how it was supposed to
turn out.


I did have fun using my new
All-Clad Saucier pan.
I have coveted this pan
since reading about it
on David Lebovitz's blog 
but it was expensive.
I've watched the sales
for a couple years now
and finally it got down
to a reasonable price.

I love this pan!
The round shape was perfect
for all the cooking steps.
It's going to be great for lemon curd.

There are other saucier pans
much less expensive 
and 
I'm sure just as good;
I just wanted All-Clad
to go with my other pans.

~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum




Monday, April 4, 2016

Meringue Birch Twigs




Well, It looks like a storm hit these
Meringue Birch Twigs.


Very simple to make
Mix up egg whites with 
sugar and vanilla
then pipe in
somewhat
straight lines,
and bake for an hour.


Let cool
and drizzle
with melted chocolate.


Try and remove without cracking
the delicate twigs.

These are similar to eating 
cotton candy
which is to say,
it's almost like eating air.

They were fun to make
and
underscored once again
I have zero patience for piping
which may have to do
with zero skills.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum