I can't help but wonder...

Hot chocolate, everybody! Who's up for some recomforting hot chocolate and some extremely moist pear and cardamom cupcakes? I do!
We are still having some summer breeze but from time to time we can't help wonder what the weather will be like for the next few weeks. It seems like we are going to have a cold long winter, so I decided to move ahead, forget summer and feel the comfort of a good heart healer: HOT CHOCOLATE! This time it's not for your stomach, it's for your soul! so I hope you can enjoy it as well as the cupcakes.



The recipe:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 TBSP cocoa powder
1 Tsp vanilla extract
Ganache made of 4 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream.
First make the ganache:
1. chop the chocolate into very small pices and place it into a bowl.
2.Heat the cream until it comes to a boil.
3. Pour the hot milk into the chopped chocolate. let it sit for 1 minute.
4. With circular motion, mix the cream with the chocolate until it all comes together.
5. Set aside.

On the other hand:

1. Heat the milk with the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil.
2. Add the cocoa and mix until it's dissolved.
3. Turn off the heat and and the ganache you made previously and the vanilla extract.

To drink with caution!
It last up for a week in the refrigerator.


For the Cupcakes:

100g butter
100g sugar
100g all purpose flour
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 small ripe pears

Preheat oven to 180 C
1.Cream butter and sugar together.
2.Add one egg at a time mixing well after each addition.
3.In another bowl sift together flour, baking powder and cardamom.
4.Fold the dry ingredients to the wet mixture until fully combined.
5.Fold in the pears.
6.Pour into muffin cups and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!

Distant

I have been distant these past few months, but not because I intended to, but because I was very busy, creating my very own Tea House.
Despite all the drama revolving around all this, I'm finding again some spare time to concentrate on what I think is a part of me now, i.e. "the blogging thing".

The last months were CRAZY, and I wasn't able to handle my spare time wisely. And it doesn't mean that I haven't been baking, because I have... a lot, so these following days you will get to see all of my baking and you'll, of course get the recipes.

Thank you for your patience.
Happy new year to you all!

Assorted Tartelettes:



Sugar Dough

8 oz unsalted butter, softened
4 oz powdered sugar
1 egg
12 oz flour
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the egg, mix and scrape bowl. Add the flour, salt and baking powder and mix until combined. Do not overmix.

Make a ball with the dough and wrap it in plastic wrap. Press down on the dough to create a flat disk. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.

Roll the dough out to about 1/8-inch thick and place it over your tart pan. Press down the sides, remove excess from the top and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Dock it and bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly golden

Fill the tarts with the filling you like the most.



For the Apple Crumble:

100 grams unsalted butter
100 grams sugar
100 grams almond flour
100 grams flour

pinch of salt

Cream all ingredients together until a ball forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until it hardens. When it is solid, grate it with a large grater or even through a food grinder. You will get little pieces of crumble. Refrigerate right away and then spread over you apple pie.

Cooking and a mission...

This is a new version of my banana cake. Why I chose to post it once again? Well, because it has Nutella as a frosting and because I was hired to cook all the sweet food for a wedding, so I'm pretty excited about it, since I don't have any experience on that field, so I'm trying to reinvent the banana bread and make it small so it would fit your fingers...
If you haven't tried this recipe yet, you most definitely do it!



The recipe:

Butter: 65g
Brown sugar: 100g
1 medium egg, lightly beaten
2 medium ripe bananas, that weight aprox. 150g
Yogurt: 2 TBSP
All purpose flour: 100g
Baking Soda: ½ TSP
A dash of salt.

1.Preheat oven at 170 C. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and blend in. In another bowl, mash the bananas and combine them with the yogurt.
2.In another bowl sift the flour, salt and baking soda. Add the flour to the butter mixture alternatively with the banana mixture in three additions.
3.Bake the mixture in individual sillicon molds or any mold that you have at hand for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the size of the mold you have chosen.

A trip to Remembrance!

I must admit that this challenge in particular was not the one I would say: "wow let's get creative!" There's nothing so dull as an eclair... So to spice things up I use as a filling some "dulce de leche", which it was absolutely great. For those who don't know what dulce de leche is...well, let me explain... It's a rich paste made of condensed milk, it's totally amazing!
So as I was saying, I'm not very keen on the idea of making some eclairs and neither did my husband, but it was a challenge and that is what it was.So my husband and I tried our best to make it look eatable... and hey, it was!

I followed Pierre Herme recipe for the pate au choux as well as for the chocolate glaze. Enjoy!



Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream (I used Dulce de leche, but this recipe is also great for filling)
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)


• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Tea for two, anyone...?

These are one of my favourites, easy to do, rich and yet elegant for an afternoon tea, don't you think?
I've been doing this recipe for quite some time now, and whenever I don't get the time for making something planned and ahed, I always go with these little beauties. I added a bunch of raisins soaked in port wine, that always have on hand, anyway, that gives them an extra touch of sweetness, and you don't need to put them marmelade on top, because they are great on their own.





So whether you eat them alone or with some clotted cream and marmelade on top, please ENJOY, and what I do recommend is for you to try them with a little bit of cream cheese and jam on top... mmm my mouth is watering again... I must go to the kitchen and just grab one.




Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

Cold Butter cut into small pieces 100g
All purpose flour 400g
Sugar 60g
Yogurt 60g
Milk or Cream (whatever you prefer or at hand) 150g
1 Egg
Baking Powder 20g
A dash of salt
Raisins, well... as many as you like

Preparation:

In a food processor mix in 1/3 of the flour with all the butter and pulse just until you see like small lumps of butter, then add the rest of the flour, the sugar, the baking powder and salt, pulse just once and place the mixture into a bowl. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the raisins (if you don't like raisins, just omit this step),stir a little bit, then the egg, the yogurt and the milk/cream. Blend in very carefully, trying not to overmix the batter until you can form a dough with it (It will be tricky if you live in a dry place like I do). Then turn out the dough into a floured surface and roll it about 2cmm tall. Fold it in half and then roll it again until you have about 2 to 3 cmm tall again. Cut small rounds with a cookie cutter and place them in a baking tray, brush the scones with some milk and bake them at a 180 C oven for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Eat them warm, just as they come out of the oven...





and enjoy!


Te para dos, alguien...?




Estos pequeñitos son uno de mis favoritos, porque son fáciles de hacer y elegantes para un te de las 5, no te parece? He estado haciendo esta receta hace un tiempo ya, y cuando no tengo tiempo de hacer algo planeado, voy por esta receta, simple pero sin dejar de ser exquisita. Agregue a mi gusto un par de pasas de uva embebidas en oporto que siempre tengo a mano , solo las dejo en un frasquito sumergidas y cuando las necesito para alguna preparación, ya tienen un gusto incorporado y además se hidratan al mismo tiempo. Ellas le dan a los Scones una dulzura extra que creo que le hace falta, pero también se pueden reemplazar por alguna fruta seca que te guste o alguna nuez o almendra que tengas a mano. Con ciruelas pasas queda muy bien también.
Tradicionalmente los scones son servidos con alguna clase de crema llamada Clotted Cream o Devon y mermelada por encima. Yo los disfruto mucho con queso crema y alguna mermelada. Ya se me está haciendo agua la boca, creo que mejor me voy a la cocina y me agarro algunos…

Ingredientes:

Manteca fría cortada en pedazos pequeños 100g
Harina 0000 400g
Azúcar 60g
Yogurt 60g
Leche o Crema (como mas prefieras o lo que tengas a mano) 150g
1 Huevo
Polvo de hornear 20g
Una pizca de sal
Pasas de uva, nueces u otra fruta… tantas cuantas quieras!

Preparación:

En un procesador combina 1/3 de la harina con toda la manteca y pulsa hasta obtener como si fueran migas gruesas, luego agrega el resto de la harina, la azúcar, el polvo de hornear y la sal, pulsa una vez y pon la mezcla en un bowl. Haz un hueco en el centro de la mezcla de harina y agrega las pasas de uva (si no te gustan las pasas de uva, omite este paso), revuelve para que se integren las pasas y ubica en el medio el huevo, el yogurt y la leche o crema. Mezcla con cuidado, tratando de no sobre amasar, hasta que puedas formar un bollo. Ponlo luego en una superficie enharinada y pásale el rodillo hasta que hayas alcanzado los 2 cm de altura. Dobla a la mitad sin poner harina en el medio y consigue con el rodillo nuevamente la altura de 2 o 3 cm, corta pequeños círculos o con un cortador de galletitas. Ponlos luego en una placa, pincélalos con un poco de leche por encima y hornéalos a 180 C por 15 o 20 minutos o hasta que estén dorados en la superficie.
Cómelos tibios, apenas salgan del horno…
Seguramente si estas cocinando para ti misma o para dos personas, te va a sobrar, así que la masa la puedes guardar por 2 días en la heladera, no más, porque contienen polvo de hornear. Así que puedes hacer algunos en el desayuno del día siguiente.

Ahora a disfrutar!