Esquimaux Pops for Grown-Ups

This week I made Esquimaux Pops for Grown-Ups for the Tuesdays With Dorie online baking group.

I made several substitutions because I wasn't comfortable using raw eggs and I wanted the dessert to be alcohol free.

If you are a vegan or read vegan food blogs you will have heard of aquafaba ("bean water").  This is the liquid from canned beans.  It sounds disgusting, but amazingly it whips up just like egg whites.  I've been wanting to experiment with aquafaba and this was a good opportunity.  I used the leftover liquid from an unsalted, BPA free can of navy beans.

Here's how it looked after whipping:



It did not taste like beans, in fact it was pretty tasteless.

Because I wasn't using liqueur I wanted to add another flavour, so I put in a frozen banana.  Frozen bananas whipped up in a food processor make good banana soft serve ice cream, so I thought this would work well.  Unfortunately the cold banana made the melted chocolate mixture harden up, so I heated the mixture gently in the microwave and carried on.

Thinking that the banana was sweet I didn't add the confectioners' sugar called for in the recipe.  This was a mistake, as the final result could have been sweeter and more flavourful.  My taster suggested that almond extract would have made a nice addition.

After reading about other people's difficulties in getting the pops out of the molds I just froze the mousse in a single container.  I leave it out to soften before serving and that works well.  It was fun to play around with this recipe.

Philadelphia Blueberry-Corn Tart

It was truly a pleasure to get in the kitchen and prepare the tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie online baking project.

Philadelphia Blueberry-Corn Tart, from the Tarts and Galettes section of Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi, is an unbaked cheesecake with two special ingredients.  I confess I didn't use one of the ingredients, fresh rosemary.  Corn, the other unusual ingredient, was right there in my freezer, so in it went, adding a crunchy texture to the topping.

All who tasted this creation enjoyed it.  Blueberries, lemon, whipped cream, and cream cheese - delicious!

Cornmeal and Berry Cakes

It was fun to get back to baking again with Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Cornmeal and Berry Cakes, from Baking Chez Moi.

This is an easy quick bread recipe that uses cornmeal, lemon, and fresh raspberries.  Our raspberry bushes are not doing well this year, but I was able to pick enough ripe berries for this project.

The recipe is written for four mini loaf pans.  I made three loaves in slightly bigger pans.

I really like cornmeal in baked goods, and the other tasters also enjoyed the flavor and texture.

Betty's Chocoholic Cake and Tarte Tropezienne

The Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group made two cakes from the Fancy Cakes section of Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi this month.

Betty's Chocoholic Cake is dense and very chocolatey.  I went to the chocolatier and got a big bar, but when I got home I realized I needed even more chocolate.

I baked some of the batter in a square pan and then brought two layer cut up squares to a concert reception.  The rest of the batter went into round pans and was assembled in three layers as in the recipe.

It was good with whipped cream and strawberries.

Tarte Tropezienne is made with yeast.  I've made bread before, but nothing like this.  It took all day.  I didn't have pearl sugar for the topping, so I substituted almonds.  The cake looked lovely when it came out of the oven.

Alas many of the almonds fell off when I cut the cake to fill it.  It is chilling in the fridge now and we look forward to tasting it!

Cocoa Crunch Meringue Sandwiches

Dorie Greenspan's Cocoa Crunch Meringue Sandwiches are made with chopped toasted almonds or walnuts, and no flour.  The ingredient list is short, the steps involved are straightforward, and I felt confident heading into this baking project.

My first question arose around beating the egg whites until they start to turn opaque.  I wondered what that looked like exactly, and made my best guess.  After adding the sugar the whites whipped up to nice stiff, shiny peaks.  Next I folded in a sifted mixture of confectioner's sugar and cocoa, and then the almonds.  I did all this folding as gently as possible.

I piped the batter onto the parchment paper, using the 2 inch pencil drawn circles as a guide.  In the end I had enough batter for 14 meringues, with 2 of them quite small, not the expected yield of 16.  I wonder were the egg whites not at room temperature when I started or was I too vigorous when I folded in the sugar, cocoa and nuts?

Feeling ready to get out of the kitchen I didn't make the filling as directed but simply melted some chocolate chips, which worked well to keep the meringues sandwiched together.

Odile's Fresh Orange Cake and Matcha Financiers

Odile's Fresh Orange Cake and Matcha Financiers are the two recipes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi that the Tuesdays With Dorie online baking group is making this month.

I made the orange cake twice.  The first time I baked it into cupcakes and contributed them as refreshments at a gathering, never taking the opportunity to photograph or taste the cakes.  So I made it again which was easy to do as the ingredients are all basic things that I always have.

The cake comes together quickly and has a lovely taste.  The texture is a bit off due I think to the altitude at which I live.  Had I reduced the sugar the top of the cake might have been smoother.  We had no problem eating this up.





Finding matcha for the Matcha Financiers took a bit of effort.  I have lots of green tea that I rarely drink, so first I wondered if I could pulverize it as a substitute for matcha.  Some internet research revealed this was not a good idea.  I checked two tea shops, where small pouches of matcha were on sale for $30 and $35.  Further research led me to a Korean grocery store, where there was lots of tea but nothing labelled matcha in English.  After studying the labels I decided that the package labelled "super premium Japanese green tea powder" might be matcha and I took the leap and bought it for $10.

At home I looked up the Japanese characters for matcha and found that I had indeed purchased matcha.




As with the orange cake the batter came together quickly.  I was left with 6 egg yolks which I used to make a delicious chocolate pudding.  I baked some of the financiers in mini muffin tins and some in my madeleine pan.  My oven bakes hotter than I realized, and the cakes browned up a bit too much before I could pull them out.  Never having baked with matcha before I used only one teaspoon, and can't really taste it at all.  The flavor is mild, the almond meal is what I notice the most.  I look forward to making these again with 1 1/2 teaspoons matcha.

Hot Chocolate Panna Cotta and Soft-Centered Chocolate Teacup Cakes

Both of the Tuesdays with Dorie February selections from Baking Chez Moi feature chocolate.

I prepared the Hot Chocolate Panna Cotta for Valentine's Day.  I like to make panna cotta because it is easy, yet so elegant.

The recipe really did end up tasting like a cold hot chocolate.  My chocolate was a little granular.  I may have over heated or under melted the bittersweet chocolate, or perhaps I should have sifted the cocoa.  The liquid is strained twice before is is poured into the serving dishes.  I used my finest strainer and still the chocolate was not smooth.  The taste was good nonetheless.



I baked the second recipe, the Soft-Centered Chocolate Teacup Cakes, yesterday.  These were extremely easy to put together: melt butter and chocolate, beat eggs with icing sugar, add flour to the egg mixture, and then add the melted chocolate mixture.  I wasn't sure how my teacups would fare in the oven so I baked the cakes in Pyrex custard cups.  These cakes are really delicious.  I will definitely make them again.