Nanaimo Bars Deconstructed

Nanaimo Bars Deconstructed

It’s been nearly three years since I joined The Daring Bakers and in that time, I’ve been quite diligent about making each month’s challenge and posting it on time.  Actually, I’ve had a slip here and there along the way, but recently,  I’ve struggled the past several months for a variety of reasons.  Suffice it to say I’ve had to reorganize my planning to bake or cook anything that is multi-stepped — something I usually enjoy quite a bit.  It’s all been consigned to the weekends and although that isn’t a bad thing on most weekends, there are recipes I’d like to try that sit alongside the monthly challenges and a husband who hopes he can peel me from my kitchen occasionally.  When I do decide to spend a day in my kitchen,  I indulge myself by making whatever strikes my fancy thereby avoiding the “have-to-get-it-done” feeling I’ve imposed on myself about our Daring Baker challenges.  Who knew that someone who writes a food blog could struggle with obsessive-compulsive tendencies?  (All food bloggers reading this, please raise your hands!).

Let’s call this my confessional, shall we?

I’ve missed the following challenges:

  • December, 2008French Yule Log.  Go ahead and call me a big chicken for not tackling this one.  Or remember (if you’ve been reading my blog for a while) that our house had been under construction for quite a while and I’d agreed to join a nice group of bakers posting 12 cookies in 12 days for the holiday season.  Oh, the memories.
  • November, 2009Cannoli.  I bought the cannoli forms.  Does that count?  To quote Scarlett O’Hara, “Tomorrow is another day.”  Of course, there are also more challenges.  Oh what a tangled web we weave,  when first we practice to deceive. Can you imagine hooking Scarlett up with good ol’ Will Shakespeare?
  • December, 2009Gingerbread House.  My youngest is nearly 18 so the wonder of making something like this has to be in my ability to simply entertain myself.  Bear in mind that I do not begin Christmas shopping until my vacation begins, so it all makes for a whirlwind holiday season with very little down time (like everyone else!).  I had a great idea that I still haven’t given up on which may become a summertime fad.  Or, perhaps not.  We’ll see come July.  Hold me accountable.
  • February, 2010Tiramisu.  I have no excuse for this one.  I’ll blame it on the fact that I couldn’t find (didn’t work very hard to find) cream that isn’t ultra-pasteurized so that I could make the mascarpone which is one of my favorite ingredients.  This recipe is definitely on my list even though my resident food samplers don’t especially appreciate the wonders of coffee.  A tea version is in the works.  It’s beside the fact that I need to learn to make ladyfingers as well.  Doesn’t everyone?

You noticed I skipped February, 2010, didn’t you?  Wonder of all wonders, I did complete that challenge graciously hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen.  She is Canadian and challenged all of us to make Nanaimo Bars, a Canadian confection.  Lauren also compiled and edited the cookbook A Hand for Haiti whose proceeds are all donated to the Red Cross as disaster relief.  She’s quite an inspiration, so I had to try my hand at Nanaimo Bars out of sheer respect.

If you’ve not heard of a Nanaimo Bar, it’s a dessert comprised of a chocolate layer containing graham cracker crumbs, nuts, and coconut, a pudding layer, and a final coating of dark chocolate.  I’ve created free-form deconstructions instead of the traditional cut bars.

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Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Yesterday was my oldest son’s birthday, and although I do make him a cake from one year to the next (he’s 31),  I didn’t this year.   Retrospectively, I did decide that the cupcakes made as a Valentine’s Day treat for my two remaining menfolk-in-residence might be as good a reason as any to coerce me to sit and write something in celebration.  My oldest loves chocolate cake, and had I asked what he might enjoy for his birthday, he’d have said chocolate.  Anything with chocolate.  Like his mother, he can do without the calories, so I think it’s fitting this year that a photo of a birthday cupcake take the place of the real McCoy as long as I can get him to look at my blog.  I’m not holding my breath because as my grandmother would have said, the chances are “slim to none and Slim’s on a fast train out of town.”

Where was I?

Cupcakes.  True to form, I haven’t tried either the cake or frosting recipe before, but have tried many others from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.  This is the book I go to when I want to experiment.  If you’re not familiar with it, you won’t see glossy photos of each recipe.  It’s more of a work horse cookbook.  What sets it apart from other cookbooks is the way the ingredients are listed.  Measurements are provided by volume and weight which makes it quite easy to divide a recipe or to adjust ingredient quantities.  Cakes are presented in one section and toppings in another and although Beranbaum makes suggestions about which go best together, I enjoy considering all the options.  Each recipe also contains a brief section on “understanding” where the science is explained.  As much as I’ve been an avid cook most of my life, I don’t always understand how or why certain ingredients interact with one another, so it’s helpful to understand what may not work when I’m experimenting.

What caught my attention with this recipe was the brown sugar — not something I’m used to seeing in a recipe for chocolate cake.  Equally interesting was the recipe for the buttercream.  Yes, it has an alarming amount of butter in it (hence the name “butter” cream…), but it’s made with egg whites instead of egg yolks, and they aren’t cooked as they would be in a mousseline buttercream.  Both recipes work quite nicely with one another and make a very chocolatey combo that the resident menfolk finished off in a couple of bites — even if it wasn’t in celebration of either of their birthdays.

Speaking of birthdays, Sass & Veracity turns a big three years old this month and I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than to share with you that Saveur magazine has graciously nominated me in their 1st Annual Best Food Blog Awards in the “Best Individual Post” category.  I’m very honored considering those whose work is sitting alongside mine.  They understand the time and effort it takes to put a good post together — let alone two or three in a week.  The post Saveur has chosen to focus on is one I wrote after returning from Puerto Vallarta last spring at about the time that H1N1 was gaining momentum.  A group of friends and I met there in celebration of a 40th birthday only to find that we may have trouble getting back across the border.  We didn’t, of course, and thankfully I was able to have fun with my own version of Mexican street tacos, which have absolutely nothing to do with chocolate fudge cupcakes or birthdays.

Are you with me?

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Chocolate Mint Cookies

I’m not sure what it is about mint, but it’s never been one of my favorite flavors.  I could blame it on the Junior Mints I ate too many of one afternoon in at a matinee when I was a kid.  But then again, it might have been the time that my grandparents took us to Howard Johnson’s to have ice cream and I chose a double scoop of peppermint and apple streudel which, if you think the way I now do, don’t exactly go well with one another.  Sadly, those cheerful red and white hard candy disks never quite appealed to me and just the thought of York Peppermint patties made my teeth ache.  Mint tea has no appeal whether I’m under the weather or not, and mint juleps remind me of cough medicine.

Mention Girl Scouts’ Thin Mints, however, and you’ll have my undivided attention.  It has to be the crunch.  These holiday cookies may not be Thin Mints, but they come very, very close.

I’ll have to give them a good dunk in the chocolate next time instead of making a big mess slinging chocolate all over my kitchen.

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Chocolate-Glazed Mocha Fans

Chocolate-Glazed Mocha Fans

I used to make quite a few holiday cookies.  The prep routine went something like this:  wallow through the recipes until the calendar pressured me into making choices; make sure there’s not only a variety of flavors, but textures and shapes as well; and vary the types to spark some interest, making sure to include pastry cookies, or bar cookies.  I’d look forward to settling down with a cup of coffee and a notebook then make my master ingredient list.  I couldn’t wait to begin, planning on who would receive my cookies and how I’d package them.  Add two little boys under the age of five to the mix and wonder with me now how I managed to pull it off.  Clearly, I was delusional.

I’ve no small children at home now, and haven’t for years.  What I do have is a very pleasant senior in high school who wandered into our kitchen last Sunday as I was getting organized and asked, ” Mom.  Do you need any help today?” as he bent his tall, willowy frame over to give me a hug.  For a second, I wondered whether his dad, who was headed for the Chargers game had given him some direction before he left, perhaps feeling unnecessarily guilty for abandoning us on a Sunday, but it was only a fleeting second.  For those of you who have not yet had your children grow up to be teenagers, please know I’ve raised three, and as much as they can be quite good at passive resistance, they’re also kind people.

Credit to aforementioned resident teen whose offer of assistance I accepted in making these Chocolate-Glazed Mocha Fans.  He gets credit for having a hand steady enough to place the pearls.

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Chocolate Almond Dipped Sandwich Cookies

bon-appetit-badge-2009

bon-appetit-badge-2009

Last year at this time, our house was completely torn up due to a remodel.  When left to consider where I might set up shop while all of the dust, noise, and construction workers took over, it didn’t take long to decide that if I moved my Mac down to the kitchen, I’d be just fine.  It would mean that I could cook, shoot photos, then pass samples among the crew for critique before settling in to write about what I was busy making: cookies.  This isn’t completely out of place if one considers that it is December, and many cooks do bake cookies for the holidays.  But do they bake in the middle of what seemed to be a disaster zone at the time, and at the pace of one cookie per day?  “The 12 Days of Cookies:  A Gourmet cookie extravaganza” was born.

It doesn’t sound as crazy now that a year has passed, but the time has arrived to bake more cookies.  Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench has invited those of us who participated last year to join in on the cookie baking frenzy once again along with a few new participants.  Instead of choosing recipes from Gourmet, we are making Bon Appetit our source for recipes, but since I have a tendency to deviate from the norm, I just may select a recipe here or there for consideration as well.

The goal is to bake 12 cookies, posting one each day for 12 days.  Since this involves far less of a commitment than making 101 of Mark Bittman’s Simple Salads, I think I’ll be just fine — especially since there is not one construction worker in sight.  I’m happy to say that I’ll bake with quite a fine group of individuals:  Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen, Courtney of Coco Cooks, and Judy of No Fear Entertaining who are all returning this year, and Michelle of Big Black Dog, Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook, Renee of Flamingo Musings, and Tiffany of The Nesting Project who will be joining us this year.  A special nod goes to Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes who started the group last year, but cannot join in on the craziness this year.

Are you ready?

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Chocolate Macarons with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Buttercream

Chocolate Macarons with Peanutbutter Creamcheese Buttercream

I’ve tried to remember the first time I saw a macaron, but honestly, I can’t.  It surely wasn’t until I started writing here, more and more frequently crossing paths with amazing people who bake amazing desserts at home with little or no formal training.  I’d not heard of Pierre Herme, either.  No, I was caught up in the the world of savory dishes with only an occasional dessert made for a special occasion coming from my kitchen rather than the circular, often brightly colored sweet sandwiches that comically remind me of tiny hamburgers — or perhaps moon pies.

Even after I’d begun to realize that macarons were a fascination for many and saw them in every imaginable color and flavor, it wasn’t until a year ago that I tasted my first:  antique rose in color, delicately crisp, and oh so sweet, it tasted of rose as well.  For someone used to sinking her teeth into a nice bran muffin, I was a bit perplexed and beginning to understand what all the fuss was about.  There didn’t appear to be much to the tiny thing, and yet I knew it was quite the opposite.  A paradox.

I’ve wanted to make macarons for quite a while now, and yet I’ve procrastinated.  Instead of delving into the endless recipe variations, comparing quantities of ingredients, and analyzing techinque, I’ve gazed at the beautiful the colors and admired perfect the shapes.  Finally, I was forced to consider not only how a macaron is made, but to make them along with countless other bakers this month.  The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

After a few days of reading everything I could find about macarons and sifting through the forum comments and advice at The Daring Kitchen, I decided to devote a Sunday to the task.  Not a frilly person by nature, I skipped the gorgeous pinks and bright greens and headed straight for the sturdy, practical flavors of chocolate and peanut butter.

In a house full of men, what would you expect?

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