Party Princess – September 2008

I’ll admit that I was disappointed that my very first challenge as a Daring Baker was not a sweet treat, but trying new things is part of the fun of joining. A gardening friend has been sharing her bounty of eggplant with me, so I knew that I’d make ratatouille to serve with the crackers.

I had to ask the stock boy where to find the yeast, not a good omen, but I had no trouble making the dough. I’ve had such good success rolling piecrust in a plastic zippered gizmo, that I decided to try rolling the cracker dough in it as well. I divided the dough in half and rolled two circles, sprinkled them with salt, basil and sesame seeds and cut them in wedges with a pizza cutter. I substituted non-stick foil for the parchment and baked them for about 15 minutes.

The final results weren’t as evenly browned as I would’ve liked; I guess the dough was not an even thickness. They tasted okay, especially topped with the ratatouille, but I don’t think I’ll make them again. They were a lot of bother for mediocre results. I’m looking forward to next month’s challenge!

Ratatouille (E. Casey Lunny)

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large eggplant, diced
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 medium zucchini, diced in large chunks
herbs to taste
olive oil to sauté onion/garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
• Saute the onion and garlic until tender
• Add eggplant and tomatoes, bring to simmer
• Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes
• Add zucchini
• Simmer for 10-15 more minutes, until vegetables are suitably soft
• Remove from heat
• Stir in herbs, season to taste

- Lynn

September Gluten-free Vegan Cracker Challenge!!

Hi all, bethanykae here with a funny story for you about my first challenge!

I have to say I was less than thrilled to get these crackers as my first challenge. In the past, my experience with gluten free anything has been less than delicious. After finally finding the right flour, I made them, took some pictures, but hadn’t made a dip yet. I am a baker and don’t ever make dips; it’s not my thing. I didn’t know what to make, so I put it off.

So, I had these crackers and didn’t even want to try them because I thought they’d be gross. I had some with poppy seeds, some with garlic, and some with cinnamon sugar. I left them out and told my mom to try them all. She reports they are good, “they are better than Wheat Thins”! I am shocked but not sold, so I reluctantly tried them for myself. Ha! Who knew? They were delicious! My mom and I ate them all before I ever even made any dip to go with them!

So I finally found a humus recipe to make with my less than cooperative blender and am remaking my crackers as I type (the night before they are due)!

Here are the final results! Yum! Thanks and apologies to Natalie from Gluten A Go Go, and co-host Shel, of Musings From the Fishbowl! I stand corrected. Gluten-free vegan crackers can be awesome!

Until next month!

- bethanykae

The Drought, or, Languishing With Lavash

Dear Readers, the summer has finally just concluded. Fortunately, here in sunny Los Angeles, we had a very mild and temperate summer. This turned out to be very advantageous, since, now that I write full time, I have no air conditioning, and so you may entertain yourself with the image of me in ratty tank tops and shorts, schvitzing in front of my computer. But, lest you think I spent the summer at the beach or catching up on reruns, I’ve actually been working my tushy off, trying to make a deadline. My very first deadline under contract. Ahhhh.

But, you may be asking yourself, what does all this have to do with Lavash Crackers, this month’s DB Challenge?

Readers, the well is dry. Maybe not dry, but the water level is low. I just don’t have much in me to describe the process of making lavash crackers. And, let’s face it, has anybody ever really gotten excited about crackers? If I ever find myself at a dinner party seated next to the world’s biggest cracker enthusiast, I think I may try and change my seat. Or feign injury. “Gee, I’d love to discuss the merits of Carr’s Water Biscuits, but I seem to have sprained my uvula and must go home to put it on ice.”

That’s not a disparaging comment about this month’s host. The crackers, ultimately, turned out to be very tasty, and Z. and I enjoyed them with the required accompanying vegan dip (I opted to make a white bean and roasted garlic dip). But I just don’t possess the wherewithal to wax rhapsodic about crackers. Give me a cake or cookie or pie or bar or pastry. Then I might be able to bestir myself from the torpor induced by three months straight of writing all day, every day. Crackers…not so much.

So, Dear Readers, I give to you, in their unadorned glory, Lavash Crackers. Those topped with coarse sea salt were the biggest hits. I’d eat them right now, if any were available. Easy to make. Quickly eaten. Wake me when it’s time for pie.

I remain,
Yours, &c.
Ami

Lavash Crackers

The Crackers:

I really enjoyed making the crackers. I know the recipe was pretty simple, and as long as you could roll them out thin enough, the product was fool proof. But I must say, I love the kneading and the waiting, watching the dough rise, so it gets to the time I get to knead again. I loved the feeling of the warm dough becoming more pliable and the feeling that it was helping mature with the warmth of my hands in the kneading. I enjoyed it a lot, even the rolling, which I thought would be boring, because I got to stretch the dough out in the air like a pizza base or something. :)

This is what I did with them:

Half mixture rolled and sprinkled with sesame seeds, shredded coconut, pounded coriander seeds and salt.

Half mixture rolled and sprinkled with homemade pecan praline (pounded) and granulated sugar.

Both baked in thin sheets and broken into rough, crispy shards. :) I had to fight to keep the best-looking shards for photos…very morish.

The Dip:

Well the first savoury dip was easy to make, but hard to think of. I had tonnes and tonnes of ideas for the sweet cracker dip, although the vegan aspect was troubling me a bit, with no use of creamy things like yogurt or cream cheese. Still, after assurance from my celiac friend that coconut milk is indeed gluten free, I settled on a Thai green curry dip.

I originally planned to use some tofu or ground peanuts to thicken the dip, but didn’t have tofu to hand, and my mum’s not fond of too much peanut. So seeing the avocado in the fridge, I thought it would add to the green, while hopefully not adding too much full on avocado cream dip taste. I really just wanted this dip to taste like a curry sauce that you’d slurp off of noodles. I thought grating another veggie into the mix would distract from the avocado, and carrots were easy to find in the draw. In the end I got a lovely coloured, flavourful, creamy and tasty dip. It tasted like the curry sauce I wanted, but that was after much too-ing and fro-ing to get the Thai sweet and sour flavours of the fish sauce, sugar and lime juice to set up just right.

Thai green curry dip:

- 1/2 avocado, mashed smooth with lime juice
- ½ brown onion, chopped
- Olive oil
- Small carrot, grated
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp garlic granules
- Large Tbsp Thai green curry paste (make sure vegan and gluten free)
- 150ml tin coconut milk
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- Fish sauce and lime juice to taste
- 2 drops sesame oil
- Lime wedge and ground roasted peanuts to garnish

Fry the onion in oil till translucent. Add spices and carrot and sauté for a few minutes. Add curry paste and sauté till fragrant. Add coconut milk and curry powder, sesame oil and simmer till it thickens. Stir in avocado mash; add lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. Add 2 Tbsp of the ground peanuts and mix. Serve hot or cold with lime wedge and sprinkling of peanuts.

The sweet dip, as you can probably guess from the photos, wasn’t so successful. I tried to be too smart, and made a vanilla soy milk ice-cream, that I was going to put blueberries thru and serve with the praline crackers, but then I wasn’t fond of the texture (I don’t have an ice-cream machine anymore , so it wasn’t really creamy) and realised that a dip really should be able to sit there without melting all over the place in a few minutes.

Then I thought up a raspberry and vanilla mouse. I was going to use blended silken smooth tofu, and jam down some frozen raspberries, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla seeds in a saucepan and just mix them together and in the fridge it goes. But even with strict shopping instructions, I returned home to firm, rather than smooth tofu, and thought that the dip wouldn’t be so appealing with large tasteless bits of tofu bobbing around in it (I’m not too huge a fan of tofu, and eating it sweet is a scary thing I’ve not tried as yet).

On the third strike, I thought I’d had a stroke of genius, for a smooth, boozy, warm and comforting dip, almost like an alcoholic fondue style. I was going to make golden banana rum dip. The plan was simple: golden syrup, sugar and water in a pan, heat down to syrup. Add some banana’s sliced and a little vegetable oil to another pan, and fry till they are getting a bit golden edged, add to the syrup pan and put in some golden rum, and flambé a bit. Add all this to the blender and make smooth, then dip the praline crackers in the smooth and sweet rum banana sauce. Unfortunately by the time I got home from an ‘absurdist’ play that my friend wanted me to see (and which type of play I have absolutely refused to ever see again) I just didn’t think it would be wise to stay up past 12 making this dip. I was very tempted to throw a sickie and make it today tho .

Anyhow, I will be enjoying these crackers with some native hibiscus and raspberry jam, till I can try the banana dip that is.

Thanks guys :)

- Monique

Lavash Crackers with a Trio of Dips

Many thanks to Natalie and Shel for the yummy cracker challenge. I received Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice book many years ago as a gift and read it from cover to cover with the intention of becoming not just a baker of sweet treats but also to hone my savory-baking repertoire. Sadly, I never moved beyond the pizza dough recipe, which by the way I highly recommend! Making the crackers were so much fun and I’m happy to report that they turned out fantastic! But I did not have too many to keep for myself since my coworkers staked a claim in most of the batch. It happened something like this:
“so what are you doing this weekend?”
“making crackers”
“how do you make crackers”
“it’s just like making bread, but you roll the dough really thin”
“can I try them?” “can I watch you bake them?” “Yum, can I have the recipe?!”

To flavor my crackers I added about 2 tsp of minced garlic and 1 tsp of fresh thyme to the dough as I kneaded it. I also ended up kneading the dough a bit longer than called for (~30 minutes with a few breaks to rest my arms) just to be sure I had the right elasticity. I sprinkled the dough with a mixture of cumin seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, baked onion bits, Hungarian paprika, fresh ground pepper, and sea salt. I was thinking Everything Bagels. The flavor of the cumin seeds, toasting as the crackers baked, really came forward adding a wonderfully savory flavor to the crackers.

As for dips, I made three! All recipes lurking in my cookbook, clipped from magazines (or in the case of the red pepper dip—requested from a deli in a town I used to live) that I never got around to making. The spinach dip was good in a tasty, earthy, I-heart-spinach sort-of-way. The red pepper dip wasn’t quite what I remembered it tasted like when I used to order it at the deli. The white bean dip, however, was by far my favorite! A lemony, garlicy spread reminiscent of hummus but without the tahini taste. Here are the recipes for the dips, if you care to try them as well.

Chickpea and Spinach Spread

1 Tbs olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 Tbs + 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
10 oz spinach
Course salt
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tsp tahini paste

Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (~ 1 minute). Add chickpeas and 1Tbs lemon juice. Cook, stirring for 1 minute. Add spinach, ¼ tsp salt and red pepper flakes. Cover; raise heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring once, until spinach has wilted, about 4 minutes. Uncover, raise heat to high. Cook, stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Let cool. Pulse mixture with tahini, 1 tsp lemon juice, and ¼ tsp salt in a food processor until slightly chunky.

Chunky White Bean Dip

1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz can cannelli beans, rinsed and drained
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 8 oz container plain soy yogurt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
juice of one lemon

Puree half of the chickpeas and half of the cannelloni beans with the garlic, yogurt, lemon juice and spices until smooth. Add remaining beans and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip (adapted from HotCakes rosalita dip)

2 red bell peppers roasted, peeled and seeded
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained
3 cloves garlic
1 cup blanched almonds, toasted
1 cup olive oil
¼ cup sherry vinegar
¼ tsp cayenne

Put garlic and salt in food processor and mince finely. Add the almonds and process until fine. Add peppers and tomatoes and pulse until smooth. While machine is running pour in the oil and process until combined. Then add the vinegar and cayenne. Season with salt if needed.

- Olivia

Lovin' the Lavash!

I really enjoyed making something I would NEVER have picked out myself! It reminds me of the years I was part of a book club. I read so many great books that I would never have dreamed of reading if left to my own devices. It changed my whole reading repertoire and made me a much more adventurous reader!

Imagine making your own crackers when there are whole aisles at the grocery store devoted to crackers?! I’m so glad I did! These were easy and fun to make – not to mention delicious!!! I made mine savory with a mixture of spices. Fresh ground garlic salt was a favorite with everyone, rosemary and sea salt was very good, I liked the fennel and sea salt ones, but my kids didn’t care for that – ha, more for me!

For the dip, I made The Joy of Cooking’s hummus recipe that has been a long time favorite. They worked well with that. I was really hankering for an olive tapenade dip to go with these crackers, but alas, the crackers were eaten all up in one day and I haven’t had the time to make more.

I am looking forward to trying these again – especially some of the sweet cinnamon sugar variations. Thanks for this fun September challenge!

-Robin

Lavash Crackers: The Q and A

Here are my thoughts on the challenge:

Did I like the crackers?
Yes, they are delish. The crackers remind me of store bought pita chips only better.

Would I make the crackers again?
If I had all of the ingredients, YES!!! Since I still do, I probably will. I am such a carb addict that when I want crackers, I gotta have them now...Sorry but true. I would definitely make these for guests or a football get-together. I would probably serve these crackers with homemade spinach dip or the vegan cilantro "pesto" below.

I plan on making a "sweet" batch in the near future. I first need to finish my Wilton cookie blossom classes before I start any more baking.

What would I do different?
I would definitely mist the crackers a little more. Most of my cracked pepper, poppy seeds and Zijuatanejo (sp???) sea salt fell off. This was a total bummer. The poppy seeds were from last year's garden and the sea salt was from a cruise to Ixtapa...I hate to waste these ingredients.

What are my thoughts on the Tahitian Almond Dipping sauce?
It wasn't a sauce...I followed the ingredients exactly and ended up with a paste...In fact, my cuisinart food processor started to smoke. I ended up using more than a whole orange worth of juice just for half a batch...The taste was horrible. I love a great diversity of foods and spices, but this just did not do it for me. The texture and taste were of bad peanut butter.

I ended up making another vegan sauce out of cilantro, basalmic, a garlic clove, agave nectar, olive oil, pine nuts and s&p. This came out fantastic. It tasted almost like a cilantro pesto, just without the cheese. This dip is in the picture below. It's an ugly green brown color, but dang it's good.

Who is going to eat these crackers?
Probably just my husband and I. He is downstairs snacking on them as I type...He says that he likes my cilantro sauce. Yeah.

Was the recipe easy to make?
Most definitely. The dough came out perfect. It was very easy to roll. My crackers were done in about 13-14 minutes. I used the convection feature on my oven...It automatically drops the oven temperature by 25 degrees F.

- Angelique

My Daring Bakers SUCCESSFUL First Challenge! :)

This is my first daring bakers task and I was anticipating what it would be for the past couple of weeks. I must say that I usually bake cakes and cookies and this is the very first time for me to make crackers – Lavash.

Since I am not familiar with bread making/making crackers and using yeast I was already half expecting to do the recipe over and over again in anticipation of failure. I'm glad it did not turn out that way. In fact it turned out to be a good experience for me. I'm not sure if I was kneading the dough correctly though but I must have been doing something right since the lavash came out ok.

I topped the lavash with poppy seeds and sesame seed and sea salt. I decided to run my pizza cutter along in a diamond pattern before baking. They came out crisp and golden brown and snapped easily.

All in all it was a great experience. I would not normally make this as I am a creature of habit – meaning I usually stick to baking the usual cakes and cookies. I’m very glad I attempted to do this and I might add successful at it too. Can't wait for the next daring bakers experience!

- aleli

As if I didn't love eclairs enough already...

and now I can make them on my own (I'm in trouble).

I followed the recipe as is. (*Note to self: when the recipe says use "waxed or parchment paper" don't automatically think that the Silpat would do better because if your pan shifts from the heat -it did- your eclairs will think it's a Slip-N-Slide). If I make these again I will definitely go with a creamy, whipped vanilla filling because that is my favorite flavor of eclair.

I decided to spread the work over the course of 2 days. I made the Pastry Cream and the Chocolate Sauce yesterday and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight. Reading through the forums (and Lis' blog) I was prepared for my pastry to come out flat from the oven and to be a little raw in the middle, but I just did the best that I could: I used my KitchenAid and made sure the eggs were well beaten into the dough, I made small eclairs and I baked them a little longer than the recipe required (I also checked out a YouTube video on making eclairs). It turned out better than I expected.

I decided to omit making the Chocolate Glaze and just to use the Chocolate Sauce only since it worked for some other DBers (and more importantly, I'm just lazy). That part was O.K. If I had made the Glaze it probably would have set up better. The sauce was a little runny but it tastes just fine.

All in all, this recipe was not cumbersome at all (although I confused myself a number of times but that has nothing to do with how the recipe was written) and it was a lot of fun to see how it all came together. Each challenge is building up my baking confidence. Great challenge!

I'm Back with Éclairs and a Brand New 6 Week Old Baby Girl! :)

Let me first say that I have never been a fan of éclairs. They were a pastry I’d always pass by in a bakery, not because there was anything bad about them, but there were always so many other things that called to me. If I found these éclairs in a bakery, things sure would be different! I shared them with various family members, and they all agreed, best éclairs ever. The one picture I got was from just before the last three disappeared. These éclairs will surely be making another appearance at my house.

Making the éclairs was easy and enjoyable. I started with the chocolate glaze. The recipe was rather odd, I’m not sure why it needed some chocolate sauce added to it, but hey, it worked! And my kids really loved the chocolate milk I made from the leftover sauce. I made one recipe of the pastry cream, but only added chocolate to half – I made the other half vanilla. The chocolate cream was to die for; I think it will make a great filling the next time I make a chocolate cream pie. The cream puff dough came together easily, but my piping left a bit to be desired. I had to bake the éclairs longer than the recipe said to get them golden, about 30 minutes in my oven. I didn’t think the dough puffed as much as it should, but there was enough room to fill them. There could have been more cream for filling – I’d make a recipe and a half in the future. The glaze spread onto the tops beautifully, but it took a lot longer than I expected to set.

I will definitely make these again. They were delicious, especially the ones with the chocolate filling. I’d like to try them with a coconut pastry cream, or maybe raspberry. Thanks to Tony and MeetaK for such a yummy challenge!

- Brooke

My Second Challenge...Eclairs!

It's always so awesome to see how everyone turns the same suggested recipe into so many different, beautiful finished products. I finally got around to making my eclairs in one evening...from start to finish! It was tiring...although I think that might be more from all the dishes I had to wash afterward. I was surprised at how easy the choux was...really, all the components...but I felt that they just didn't come out as nice as I had hoped

I made half chocolate and half banana (split the mixture in half after before adding the chocolate...added chocolate to one half and vanilla extract and 1 mashed banana to the other). I think my pastry cream would have been better off if I had strained it one more time - it seemed a bit lumpy. I agree with a lot of other Baker's on the glaze being a little tedious for what it wound up being...but it was very shiny and it does taste good. My chocolate cream was a great consistency and I probably could've piped it and made them a little prettier, but my banana cream was very runny, so I spooned my cream in and sort of spatula'd the glaze on the tops (I assume this is from the chocolate setting up as the cream cooled). I also made some banana chips, which, after following a quick set of instructions I found online, they still came out a little too brown and tasted a little too much like the lemon juice I dipped them in to prevent them from becoming too brown :)

My husband and I tried them together and we both had the same opinion - DELICIOUS! The chocolate was right up my alley - nice and cocoa-y, not too sweet. The banana tasted so fresh. I also brought a bunch into work, as did he, and they were all gone within one day - even though both of our offices were short-staffed. I think the flavor of the chocolate cream was a little too much for some people, but in my mind, there is no such thing. Considering the co-workers didn't get to try them until day 2, I think the shells held up really well. I wound up with 24 eclairs, because I piped them smaller than I realized, but I think people honestly appreciated them over a huge eclair. I think I would make them again, experimenting more with the flavors - I remember my mother making cream puffs often when I was younger and filling them with fresh whipped cream, which I prefer to pastry cream. As for the chocolate glaze, I would definitely go with a simpler recipe in the future. I won't say it isn't nice having extra chocolate sauce left over for ice cream, though :)

Oh eclairs!

I love eclairs. I love all the combinations one could come up with. And I love Pierre Hermes. 

Of course no picture..I still can't figure it out.  I followed the recipe but instead of chocolate pastry cream, I made a vanilla pastry cream and added trablit, coffee extract and YUM!!!! That was just the first time though. I also made raspberry, white peach, and pumpkin. The raspberry and pumpkin I glazed with chocolate ganache and the white peach I glazed with poured fondant.

I really love eclairs and will most definitely use this recipe again!!

Thanks Meeta and Tony!!! And all you other lovely bakers!!

Best Eclairs Ever!

I'm no stranger to choux pastry, but I admit that I was a little shocked when I first saw the challenge recipes. C'mon.. homemade chocolate sauce to make the chocolate glaze?! It seemed so unnecessarily complicated. Since I didn't have any free weekends this month, I made the eclairs over the course of a few evenings.

Day One: I adapted the chocolate pastry cream recipe to make vanilla cream and coffee cream. Note to self: Next time, add instant coffee directly to cream instead of first dissolving in a few Tbs of water. That extra bit of liquid made my coffee cream a little too runny to put in the eclairs.




Day Two: I tried to pipe the dough into a cute shape. It sort of worked...




Day Three: Chop chocolate (a labor of love),
prepare chocolate glaze, and assemble eclairs! Even though this recipe was time-consuming, it was totally worth it. To watch the chocolate sauce bring the somewhat unsightly looking chocolate mush come together into an absolutely decadent chocolate glaze was little short of magic. ;)



Plus, they look so cute when they're done! I ended up with a few dozen because I made them half the size of normal eclairs (I couldn't help myself. I heart mini-desserts.) I gave most of them away to friends and neighbors, and got rave reviews all around. Great recipe. I would definitely make them again.

Climbing the Mountain, Or Why I Don’t Bungee Jump

It’s part of the human experience to try and push oneself to new heights. Most of the time. Often, we find ourselves settling into routine because it’s comfortable, familiar, easier than taking chances or moving beyond the realm of the known. I’m sure even astronauts sometimes say, “Oh, look, the Earth from space. Again. Sigh.”

There are others who continually strive for new experience, to challenge themselves. Some of those people are admirable. Others, slightly insane. I’m looking at you, wilderness survival guy on the Discovery Channel.

K-2

While I long for adventure, I’m also constrained by my own sense of practicality as well as knowledge of mortality. So, while it sounds intriguing, you won’t find me base jumping, storm chasing, street luging, or going to Wal-Mart the day after Thanksgiving. I spend my days writing about death-defying adventure, so, for myself, I adhere to a slightly more feasible, less life-threatening list of culinary challenges. The prospect of making cupcakes no longer thrills me (though I definitely enjoy the end result). On this list of challenges are such daunting Mt. Everests such as puff pastry, dacquoise, croissants and pâte à choux.

Mt. Rainier

Am I fan of the éclair, the cream puff, the profiterole? Not especially. But I needed to make pâte à choux because, in the words of George Mallory, it’s there. I was also pleased, when learning of this month’s DB Challenge, that there were multiple components to the éclair recipe. Therein lies the more esteemed aspect of the pastry chef’s art. Anyone can bake a cake and make a simple powdered-sugar buttercream, but pâte à choux, pastry cream and chocolate glaze all held the possibility of failure, and thus, challenge.

Mt. Blanc

What did I learn from this experience? The mountain is much smaller than it had looked at the base. Granted, it wasn’t a completely smooth climb, fraught with occasional stumbles and slides, but, when I reached the summit, I could bask in the glow of my accomplishment—éclairs with butterscotch pastry cream and chocolate glaze. I even delivered éclairs to my friends, which, for me, is a sure sign of success. The two different cakes I made for last month’s challenge were not distributed to the public because I was mortified by the utter failure of the glaze, rendering gateaux that were delicious but aesthetically displeasing. In fact, the hazelnut gateau went straight into the garbage in a fit of pique.

Everest

But not so with the éclairs. I stood on the mountaintop and hoisted my flag, announcing that I’d made it.

So, how do I get down from here?

I remain,
Yours, &c.
Ami

PARIS CROISSANT AIN'T GOT NOTHING ON ME

This month's challenge was an ode to the Sugar Daddy in the form of an éclair. Now, I'll be honest…..I've never liked the éclair, nor the cream puff. Sacrilege you say? Well I concur with that. I've tried them over and over again wanting to "love" them. I was unsuccessful until I moved to Korea. In my neighborhood there is this fantastic little bakery called Paris Croissant and they make THE best éclair and cream puff. So when first looking at the challenge I was a little bummed because I knew that it would not be what my mouth wanted it to be. While the recipe looked complicated, I realized while making it, that it was one of the easiest recipes I've made. I made the pastry cream first so it would have time to cool before I made the éclair. I did alter the recipe a smidge by not adding chocolate and adding cinnamon to the cornstarch mixture. After all, cinnamon makes everything taste good. (well that's what my palate tells me…) I then moved on the pate choux. I was nervous as the method was pretty specific and seemed to need to move quickly. I however, was totally amazing and did it pretty seamlessly. When I put the piped éclairs into the oven I did nothing but watch the timer. I usually rough guesstimate the timer, but I did not want to mess these up. When the final timer dinged I pulled out the most perfect pastries you have ever seen. And then to my horror they went flat. I knew that this happened with some of the other bakers, so I wasn't totally surprised, but still…..their beauty had diminished. And I totally used a timer. So I really needed a chance to step away from them and refocus. I figured I would come back to them later in the day. Well fate then dealt me a nasty hand….I ended up slicing my finger open. Of course it was my right hand and my middle finger. Who knew I was dependent on it so much? Anyway, I ended up having to wait a couple of days to assemble as I tried to heal enough to be able to hold things in my right hand. Unfortunately the wait made my pastry cream loosen up. So when I assembled I had flat éclairs with cream that could hold no shape. They look pretty sad….but they taste FANTASTIC! Now I don't have to walk down to the bakery to get one. I can make them myself and to be honest….they were fairly easy. Once I figure out the flat issue I'll be able to make them whenever I want them. I love that Daring Baker's makes me feel like I can make anything. I'm learning it doesn't have to be perfect to be good.

-Amber

My First Daring Baker Challenge - Éclairs!

Hello readers of the Daring Bakers non-bloggers blog! My name is Emily and this is my first time.

I was very excited when I found out the first challenge was making Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. I've never heard of the man, but éclairs are absolutely one of my favourite things and I haven't made them in years. These éclairs as per the recipe use a chocolate pastry cream as the filling with the traditional choclate glaze. My favourite local boulangerie (well, probably my only local boulangerie) sells amazing eclairs with chocolate or vanilla pastry cream. I never even thought to ask what was in them before, but now I know and I can make it myself!

I had some problems with this recipe which was frustrating. I managed to make choux pastry at age 13, but not now? I thought I had improved at this baking lark! My first batch of eclairs had not hollow, managed to deflate even despite that and were far too eggy. I think this was due to a number of things, particularly that I did the mixing of the dough by hand and did not cook them long enough.

As I have no standing mixer (I almost never meet people who do in
England) I decided on my next try to use a food proccessor forthis mixing. Thanks to whoever suggested that on the sooper-secret DB forums!

So, I had made the pastry cream the night before (absolutely delicious!). Sadly, due to forgetting to charge the camera battery I only have pictures of the end. The next morning I was up bright and early; I wanted to have them done before people arrived at midday. The food processor worked a dream for mixing the pastry up, it looked incredible. I had managed to forgot to bring my pastry bag to my boyfriend'shouse, but ended up finding it much easier to use a sandwich bag with a corner cut off.

I put a tray full of water atthe botton of the oven to help with rising and set to making the glaze. I had a problem here as the glaze consistently separated. I managed to get it reasonably together though before the eclairs were done.

I think that in the end these were slightly underdone as well, but I was being over cautious. Wha felt like a triumph then was that they were definately hollow! Most deflated a bit, but I did not mind so much as I was able to fill them (using a spoon)!

And cover them in glaze!

They were not the prettiest eclairs in the world but they were certainly delicious! I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate and it was amazing. They were eated up very quickly and everyone loved them, even if the pastry was slightly soggier than it should have been.

Thank you and good night!

- Emily

Experiments with Chocolate Éclairs

I love chocolate éclairs!!! I remember when I was a teenager and could go to our local bakery and eat 2 or 3 at a time (with no ill effects). I even made chocolate éclairs when I was a daring 9th grade baker! I thought these would be a delicious piece of cake so to speak.

The éclairs themselves turned out very small, soft & eggy even though I baked them for more time than the recipe called for. The chocolate filling was wonderful but more like a pudding filling. My chocolate glaze seemed pretty drippy – although delicious. When I put all the parts together, they formed a very soft, gooey, chocolatey confection. I was disappointed; these were not what I was craving.

Taking my cue from other daring bakers who do not let one disappointing batch deter them, I attempted to make new & improved éclairs. A recipe from my good old Betty Crocker cookbook was a winner. They puffed magnificently; they browned and crisped to perfection. Unfortunately, they also cooked too long when “someone” forgot to take them out of the oven on time! They were hard as rocks. My only consolation was that my sister and I spooned the last of the chocolate pastry cream into little bowls, topped it with whipped cream and enjoyed a tasty little treat.

Lucky for me, my childhood bakery is still in business and serving the chocolate éclairs that I know and love!

- Robin

The Mysterious Chocolate Sauce Disappearance!

I just completed my first challenge. And a challenge it was.

I had never made eclairs before. I had to try three batches of dough till they came out as they should. But thanks to tips posted along and by other members I was able to determine my mistakes and finally get some nice results.

First I forgot to slice them while in oven and they went flat as sheets.
In my second attempt I surely was too fast in goving in the eggs and finally opened the oven too early and they went flat again. So I had to make a third batch of dough.

For the first batch I had decided to use both the chocolate pastry cream filling as also the chocolate glaze and had made pastry cream and chocolate sauce ahead beforehand.

But I never used the sauce for the glaze because the first eclairs were all flat and we ate them only with the cream or nutella on top while I started the second batch. They came out flat like the first batch and my boyfriend found a liking in the chocolate cream filling so that there was no trace of it as I came to fill the third batch of eclairs.

So I had to change plans. First I wanted to fill them all with whipped cream. But one moments unawareness and now we have a nice amount of sweetened butter to eat. *sigh*

With nearly all my cream gone to butter I had to improvize once more. I decided on making two different cream fillings. I cooked some thick vanilla pudding and whisked some cream fraiche into it.

Then I made some youghurt-banana-cream because bananas go so well with chocolate. I filled half the batch with vanilla cream and the other half with banana yoghurt cream.

Finally I cooked the glaze with the rest of the choclate sauce which was miraculously also nearly half gone (and some innocently looking childen couldn't remember anything). I must say this glaze is the best I have ever made. But I don't know if I will ever make that chocolate sauce again. It took nearly 40 min. to thicken but as it did it was delicous.

The eclairs were gone before I could finish my photo session at all. All of them prefered the chocolate cream filling which went with the first two batches. Threre surely can't be enough chocolate for these kids. There was a debate about which of the other fillings was better but one of the children doesn't like vanilla, one other doesn't like bananas at all so I think there is no winner between the two.

I definitely will make chocolate eclairs in the future, maybe when I don't remember clearly how many bowls and sauce pans there had been to wash.

- Bana

White chocolate pastry cream, dark chocolate glazed éclairs with crushed raspberry foil

Hi Guys

Well I wanted to join DB for the experience and the challenge of baking new things…and actually being told what I HAVE to bake, so there are no excuses or opportunities for me to wimp out.

I have to say, these éclairs definitely were challenging…not counting my insistence on using my oven, which has no temperature markers, and a fan force that doesn’t actually work properly, to bake them in.

I had two attempts. Trial 1 failed completely. My éclairs puffed up lovely and golden in the oven, and then fell flat as a pancake. I hurriedly tried to resurrect them by shoving them back in the oven before anyone noticed. They looked like they were coming good, until I took them out again and the same thing happened.

Obviously they hadn’t cooked properly, and I had an idea they could be too thickly piped to cook enough in my oven with its temperamental temperature. I had piped a profiter roll type shaped éclair, as I had a little bit of dough left, and that was the only éclair in the first batch that cooked properly.

By this stage I had made up the pastry cream, and had no more eggs for a second attempt there and then. So I trialled the small éclair and my mum thought it was nice with the pastry cream, although there was no glaze at that stage.

I made up the pastry cream, but flavoured with white instead of dark chocolate, as I planned to use berries in the mix as well. Because I had white chocolate left over, and only exactly enough bitter dark chocolate to make the glaze, I ended up having to use white chocolate to make the chocolate sauce that went into the dark chocolate glaze…? Anyway, it worked out well, and the glaze was bitter dark, but not to bitter to be enjoyed in a chocolatey way. :)

So my when I could get another 5 eggs to room temperature, I tried the pastry again. I never had trouble mixing it up with the hand mixer, although I didn’t get the ‘shiny, ribbon’ texture quoted in the recipe. The second time I piped the éclairs thinner, and made closer to the amount of éclairs the recipe said I’d get, so I think my first ones must have definitely been too thick.

This time I had the oven realllly hot the first time. Popped the éclairs in and watched and waited. 7 minutes went by, and I decided they didn’t look cooked enough on the top shelf, so I left them a few more before popping in the wooden spoon. I kept a close eye on them, and in the end, probably cooked them for a total of 30 or so minutes, even trying to raise the oven temperature again. There were still some floppers resulting from this batch, but not so many that it wasn’t a successful bake. Probably 4 out of the 24 flopped beyond use.

I had also still made little profitter roll ones, as they were cuter and bite size, good for me . Filling and glazing was easy, but I added in some defrosted, slightly crushed raspberries on top of the pastry cream before putting on the glazed tops. I was impressed with how nice they looked, especially the glossy glaze, and the studded red of the raspberries, which perfectly went with the white and dark chocolate in the cream and glaze.

I will not be making these again for a long…long while, not because they weren’t delicious, it’s just that I’ve never thrown out a whole batch of anything before, even if a cake doesn’t bake I can usually spoon it through ice cream. Binning the whole lot was really horrific, the more I think about it. My reluctance to make them again also wasn’t helped by much sampling of the pastry cream, glaze and sauce along the way, spoiling my desire to try a finished éclair, although, thankfully none of these mixes were a problem to get together.

This was a great first experience with trying something new and learning to show some perseverance. I will look forward to more challenges from now on.

- Monique