Danish Pastries Part Deux

Chocolate croissants, chocolate, almond pecan and honey danish pastries

Chocolate croissants, chocolate, almond pecan and honey danish pastries

Almond chocolate croissants

Almond pecan peach and honey danish pastry

Almond pecan peach and honey danish pastry

Chocolate croissants, chocolate, almond pecan and honey danish pastries

Chocolate croissants, chocolate, almond pecan and honey danish pastries

Chocolate croissants, chocolate, almond pecan and honey danish pastries

I forgot to tell you that the Allrecipe.com recipe will yield 34 pieces. But would you believe, my dough  yielded 44 pieces of danish pastries?!  My colleagues were just happy to be at the receiving end. My little boy couldnt finish them all off, we are also trying to lose some weight hey. Lol. And so it is nice to share after all.

You will have two book-like slabs of dough, you can half the recipe if 34-44 pieces were too many for you. Hehehe. I was in a trance and in a different playing field, and so I baked and baked like there is no tomorrow. I was on a roll.

For the recipe, please click here

Danish Pastries

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

Plain croissants, Chocolate croissants, danish pastries alla apple streusel and with peach and lemon curd filling

To be honest, it was a conscious decision not to blog for a while. Nonewithstanding the balancing act I do between keeping our wonderful home and the mundane tasks at work, recipes -I have come across- dont appeal to me anymore. I believe I hit an impasse in getting challenges from cooking and baking. Same old same old if I do cakes and cupcakes yet again. Pizzas, pastas Oh no, not again. I just need to be challenged. So what now? I made mention in one of my blog entries that doing danish pastries is like trekking the Himalayas...Can I finally muster the courage to do danish pastries? 

But first allow me tell you the analogy behind this; Years ago, I told a good friend of mine who has been to the Himalayas on a ski trip that the ultimate trip for me (read: a place called nirvana) is going to the Himalayas. A year after that; it may have been a be-careful-what-you-wish-for-it-may-come-true moment I still don't know or simply just a stroke of luck, I was in the Himalayas enjoying the first day of sweet winter - with that same good friend who played a pivotal role to get me there, frolicking in the snow, gazing through the vista in front of me and as I am hundred of thousands meters (?) above sea level, heaven is seemingly within my reach. 

And so...as obviously you got my drift, doing danish pastries is like trekking the Himalayas; it is "almost" inconceivable but again with a stroke of luck and a little bit of courage, you will get there.

I bookmarked the danish pastries recipe for more than a year now, its been sitting on my laptop for a long time but I was too scared to do it, let alone read the recipe.  I was finally egged on to try it when "that" sinking feeling is trying to sweep me away. Why not? Why not now huh? Whew!

And of course like a good student of the kitchen, I did some pre-work; read and re-read the recipe many times over, watched some youtube and Julia Child videos a few times and voila I was ready to rock and roll.

Being scared is unfounded after all; doing danish pastries is no different from doing simple bread albeit with a few tricks in between... like folding the dough 6 times, and the dough looking like a book before shaping them into shapes of clams, diamonds, spiral, and tubes, etc...

It helped a lot that I have been doing breads for some time now. It is easy BUT I am warning you now, it is LABORIOUS. The kneading, folding and what have you's take 3 hours or more depending on your baking experience. Baking time? 10 minutes tops.

The taste is mind blowing...the feeling that you get for overcoming your fear of baking danish pastries? priceless.

And trust me....having the end product; the danish pastries, especially my favourite croissants, melting in your mouth is worth the wait. 

The end. :)

*Snagged from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

2 cups unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup of flour. Divide into 2 equal parts, and roll each half between 2 pieces of waxed paper into a 6 x12 inch sheet. Refrigerate.
In a large bowl, mix together the dry yeast and 3 cups of the remaining flour. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and salt. Heat to 115 degrees F (43 degrees C), or just warm, but not hot to the touch. Mix the warm milk mixture into the flour and yeast along with the eggs, and lemon and almond extracts. Stir for 3 minutes. Knead in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is firm and pliable. Set aside to rest until double in size.
Cut the dough in half, and roll each half out to a 14 inch square. Place one sheet of the cold butter onto each piece of dough, and fold the dough over it like the cover of a book. Seal edges by pressing with fingers. Roll each piece out to a 20x 12 inch rectangle, then fold into thirds by folding the long sides in over the center. Repeat rolling into a large rectangle, and folding into thirds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Remove from the refrigerator one at a time, and roll and fold each piece two more times. Return to the refrigerator to chill again before shaping. If the butter gets too warm, the dough will become difficult to manage.
To make danishes, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The dough can be cut into squares, with a filling placed in the center. Fold 2 of the corners over the center to form a filled diamond shape. Or, fold the piece in half, cut into 1 inch strips, stretch, twist and roll into a spiral. Place a dollop of preserves or other filling in the center. Place danishes on an ungreased baking sheet, and let rise until doubled. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Danishes can be brushed with egg white for a shiny finish.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

Madeleines

I.should.have.NOT.procrastinated. I should have baked these goodies a long time ago and not wasted those precious times that I could have tasted these edible mesdemoiselles. I was in fact utterly surprised to know that these tea cakes are actually so good. A plethora of good food, and recipes occupied my baking life such that it simply overshadowed these little misses.  These clam-like cookies or biscuits or tea cakes (really!) or whatchamacallits are patisserie staple. 

During my first try, I baked 20 pieces, there were only 12 pieces left before I can even take photos for my food blog. My second bake the following day was even better, I baked another 20, only 3 pieces are left as I write this, and my boys from the office absolutely adore them. These madeleines - of French origin and made popular by them (sponge cake to them as well) upped my ante, so my boys said. 

And oh by the way, the recipe is from renowned food author Dorie Greenspan whom I worship and adore. And you thought it couldn't get better huh, dip the half part of the madeleines into melted dark chocolate  and you will definitely win the golden ticket :) 

*Lifted from Baking, From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

Just a couple of madeleine-making tips:

Beat the eggs and sugar together for a minute or two, just until the ingredients thicken a little and the sugar is dissolved; beat too long and thicken the ingredients too much (there's no need for the mixture to hold its shape when you beat it) and your madeleines will be dry.

Make sure the melted butter is not hot when you fold it into the batter and fold it in gently, thoroughly and as quickly as you can.

Even if you're using a nonstick madeleine pan, it doesn't hurt to butter it and dust it lightly with flour.

If you've got the time, it's best to make the madeleine batter up to a few hours or even up to 2 days ahead; chilled, rested batter produces madeleines with bigger bumps on their backs (a good thing).

Madeleines are fairly dry by nature and design -- making them better for dunking -- and really at their best shortly after they come from the oven (something that's not true for most things we bake), so try to time your baking to your serving time.  To make it easier to have just-baked madeleines, spoon the batter into the buttered-and-floured molds and slide the pan into the refrigerator to chill until baking time; bake the madeleines straight from the fridge.

Ingredients:

Makes 12 large or more than 36 mini madeleines

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon double-acting baking powder

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Confectioner sugar for dusting

Working in a mixer bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and fragrant.  Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment (you can make this batter easily with a handheld mixer or just a whisk, if you prefer), add the eggs to the bowl and beat until the mixture is light, fluffy and thickened, about 2-3 minutes; beat in the vanilla.  Switch to a rubber spatula and very gently fold in the dry ingredients followed by the melted butter.  You may use the batter now, but it's better if you can give it a little rest.  Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and chill for 3 hours or, if you have the time, overnight.  (For real convenience, you can spoon the batter into buttered-and-floured madeleine molds, cover, chill, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge.  See below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

Getting ready to bake:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds (or 36 mini-molds), dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess.  If you have a nonstick madeleine mold, butter and flour it or give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray.  (If your pan is silicone, you can leave it as is.)  Place the pan on a baking sheet.

Spoon the batter into the molds, filling each one.  Bake the large madeleines for 11 to 13 minutes and the minis for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the madeleines are golden and the tops spring back when prodded gently.  Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the molds by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter.  Gently pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your fingers or a butter knife.  Transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to just-warm or room temperature.

Banana Chiffon Cake

Well, well, well...Look who's here?! Chiffon Cake yet again. If I could exaggerate even more my love chiffon cake, I could have done it a long time ago. I've done them all , pandan, orange, blue berry, plain and banana chiffon cakes. I truly love them. And I hope you'll love them too. :)) 

Ingredients:

6 Egg yolks
1/4 tsp Salt
60ml Cooking oil
170g Banana puree
1/2 tsp Banana essence
50g Caster sugar
110g Plain flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda

6 Egg whites
1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
100g Caster sugar

Method:
To make egg yolk batter, combine egg yolks, salt, oil, banana puree, essence and sugar in a mixing bowl. Fold in sifted flour and baking soda until forms batter.
To make egg white foam, beat egg whites, tartar and sugar until mixture becomes peak form.
Gently fold beaten egg white foam into egg yolk batter until blended.
Pour batter into ungreased 9" (22cm) tube pan.
Bake at preheated oven at 170C for about 45 minutess or until cooked.
Then switch temperature to lower grill and bake chiffon cake for another 5 minutes.
Remove chiffon cake from oven, invert mould onto table.
Allow the cake to cool completely before removing the cake from the mould.

Hot Cross Buns

I have been meaning to bake these buns since last year, didn't do it then, just too scared to do it. I finally did it now, still scared to do it. But conquered my fear.

I thought I might as well go back to food blogging with a vengeance - after 16 days hiatus. I thought of creating complex,  multi layered goodies and bring real flare and pizzazz to the pages  of No Set Menu. And so I thought of Hot Cross Buns. Hehehe. 

I know hot cross buns are way off the realm of glamor, but I am a baker at heart, and so I follow my heart's desire - to knead, proof and knead some more. And I will remain true to kneading despite having bread machines out there - making your baking life easier.

Hot cross buns are Australia's easter staple, baking them during easter when hot cross buns over flow the grocery shelves will simply rain in my parade. Baking them now, and wolfing them down when they are freshly baked, hot, with butter melting in your mouth during winter came early in autumn season (this year!) are non negotiable. 

Lifted from the pages of http://www.bisousatoi.com/

Ingredients

2 x 8g sachets dried yeast

1 1/4 cups (310ml) milk, warmed

1/4 cup (60g) caster sugar

4 cups (600g) plain flour (or bread flour)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1 tsp salt

60g butter

1 cup sultanas

2 eggs

1 tsp bread softener (optional)

1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour

1/4c (60ml) of water

apricot jam, warmed and sieved, for brushing

Method

Whisk yeast, milk and caster sugar until the sugar dissolves. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Sift plain flour with cinnamon, mixed spice and salt into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in butter.

Stir in sultanas,  eggs and yeast mixture.

Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead 5 mins. Put in large greased bowl. Cover. Leave in warm spot 3/4 hour. Punch down.

Knead until smooth. Shape into 12 balls. (i weigh 50g each and gets 30 balls) Put into 30cm x 20cm greased baking tray. Set aside 1/4 hour.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Combine self-raising flour and 1/4 cup (60ml) water.

Pipe crosses onto the buns.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 180°C and bake for a further 15 minutes.

Brush buns while warm with jam. (or melted butter)

Note: For topping, use 50g of flour with 1tbsp of oil, mix it first and add 60ml of water.. stir till pouring consistency.

No-fail Banana Muffins

When you are having a slow day or just too lazing to bake to impress, you might as well bombard your blog with photos. Lol! After all, the proof is in these muffins, pun intended.

No fail. rocket science. not. easy peasy. Will remain  my favourite banana recipe in the whole wide world...

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of oil (corn or canola oil)
2eggs
1 cup mashed banana
1tsp vanilla
Handful of almonds


Method
1. Mix flour, baking soda and salt

2. Whisk sugar, oil and eggs until smooth. Add banana and vanilla, beating well. Add flour mixture and beat until well combine. Sprinkle with almonds on top.

3. Bake at 180C for abt 25mins

Home-made "Over the top" alla David Pizza

This food entry has been sitting on my draft compartment far too long. I have delayed it long enough vis a vis my promise of posting it as soon as the pizza came out of the oven. I was overtaken by dishes I cooked and baked too many.

Anyway, This is my atypical pizza - I seldom eat meat, so I seldom cook meat dishes as well. On the other hand, this pizza is right up in David's alley - As men love their meat, and thrive on them, it came as no surprise that my little boy loves anything with meat on it as well. Although my little boy has managed to have a change of heart quite recently and succinctly announced that he doesn't loike meat anymore. How good is that?! :)

This is the pizza that brought out the little boy in my husband. I was relegated as his assistant while he dominated my kitchen dolling up the pizza base I made. While my little boy was fussy, giddy and thought the world of his pizza, I was calm and quietly doing my bit.  But a strange thing happened,  after wolfing down the pizzas during our pizza night and a whole pizza for the following day's lunch, he has lost interest and said, "baby, your pizzas are way better than mine, so we are not going to buy any pizza anymore and can you make all of them instead?".

To this, I answered my sweet smile and my solemn yes. This just goes to show my place in the world - kitchen.

The kitchen is my domain. :)

Warming: Do not overload your pizza base with so many toppings and cheese, as this will make your pizza soggy. Trust me I am talking from experience. LESS IS MORE.

Pizza 1 recipe, please click here.

Pizza2 recipe, please click here.