June 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge - From Phyllo to Baklava

I'm not a huge fan of Baklava, but I've only ever had it one time. What I was most excited about was the challenge of making home-made Phyllo. I even bought a new rolling pin for this challenge (and also because I broke my cheap one I got from Walmart)

Let me just add, that I WASN'T a huge fan of Baklava, but I have now been converted. AMAZING! I'll be making this for my mom next time I go home, because she Loves Baklava. I'm convinced that if she likes the stuff that I could hardly stomach, She will be blown away by this recipe. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Erica!

Home-made Phyllo is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than the store bought stuff... And sooooooooooo much more frustrating.... But all that frustration is worth it in the end.

Blog-checking lines: Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making home-made phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.


Again, I'm going to send you over to the Daring Kitchen Website to check out all the other Daring Baker's Creations this month, and to get the Recipe.... Although I'm sure I'll be adding the Phyllo recipe at some point because I LOVE it!


I bought roasted Unsalted Sun-split California Pistachios and hand-shelled them. Because of that, I cheated a little and bought Ground Almonds, and I already had Walnuts at home. I split the amount of Walnuts in half and replaced the half with Hazelnuts... (the real reason I bought the ground almonds? They were cheaper)

I ground up the nuts in my Magic Bullet (which sounds dirty, but its not, and if you don't have one, you should get one, because they are awesome... especially if you like smoothies)

I couldn't find whole All-spice Berries, so I just used about 1/3 tsp of the ground allspice, and to save some dishes, I just used ground cinnamon too.



I'm sorry my pictures are not so good, It's been pouring rain all day, and the light is crap. But here they are. I don't have much else to say about this month's challenge, except that I loved it. And I plan on using the phyllo recipe again and again. Thanks Erica for a great Challenge!!!

May 2011 - Daring Baker Challenge - MARQUISE ON MERINGUE

May has been a CRAZY month. CRAZY! It is basically the start of horse shows for the summer. Guess what my job is? Getting everything ready to go to the horse show... And we take everything but the kitchen sink. Once everything is set up, all the curtains are hung and the coffee pot is plugged in and working... It Looks REALLY good - So all my hours of packing and organizing aren't totally wasted. Plus, I get to play real life Tetris - Fitting all the set up stuff into horse trailers - and still having room for the horses.

When I first got this months challenge, I was a little intimidated... It called for 11 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs... And we are only 2 people! But It also gave me a change to go and buy some rum, which I would usually be too cheap to buy and go for the wine that is on sale for $5.99... Major Dilemma... Although, Obviously since I'm writing this post, the Alcoholic in my won out, and I bought a bottle of rum AND the wine that was on sale...

I'll let you get the recipe from the Daring Kitchen site, you can check everyone's amazing ideas out there too. Mine did not go so smoothly, But I got some OK pictures. (My camera seems to be back on board with focusing again!)

Blog-checking lines: The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Things I changed:

• I used Rum instead of Tequila (I bought the mickey instead of the expensive big bottle)
  
• I made hazelnuts with tails instead of spiced nuts (inspired by Bourbonnatrix)
• I burnt my caramel sauce, so just subbed in Chocolate sauce I had in the cupboard... Although, I also burnt my sugar syrup for the hazelnuts with tails too
• I didn't search the city for Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder, so I just didn't dust my Marquise with it. I'm a rebel like that.
  

I'm not in love with this dessert, just because of the huge egg content and It was really complicated to make and get it right (which i didn't really do anyway). But It was yummy and I'm glad I tried it. I can definitely see it as a restaurant dessert instead of a homemade one. The boyfriend doesn't like meringue so I got to finish his (since it is one of my favourite childhood treats) and He finished my Marquise. It was a little too rich for me.

I am going to hold onto the caramel and spiced nut recipes, because I do want to attempt them again sometime in the future. After seeing Bourbonnatrix's plated dessert in the Forums, I HAD to try to make her tailed hazelnuts instead of the spiced nuts. It is something I have NEVER done, and have never seen before, So I wanted to challenge myself with that.
I only made 2 big meringues for our dessert. With the rest I made myself some meringue cookies like I always harass my mom to make for me. I don't have a blow torch like the recipe said to use, So I used the Broiler. I would've used Boyfriend's blow torch out of the garage, but he took it with him to work, So I didn't get to play with fire.


Here are my hazelnuts growing tails. To make these, make a sugar syrup (don't ask me, I burnt mine, so google it, You'll probably find someone who didn't burn their sugar syrup). Stick a toothpick or a skewer into the nut, swirl it around in the syrup and then stick the end of the skewer under something heavy and let gravity get to work. Make sure you cover under where you are hanging your nuts to dry (hehehehe) Because you get this: (ignore the mess on my counter, I didn't have time/energy to clean up)

This challenge isn't so much a "Baking" challenge. Apart from my meringue I didn't use the oven. I (well, my stand mixer) whisked egg Yolks into submission (and egg whites and whipped cream)

I put it all together, and my Freezer Froze it... see:
Also, I may have whipped my cream (that sounds dirty somehow) too much, So it was kind of lumpy in my Marquise, which was kind of a happy accident. We actually ate it while it was still frozen- instead of thawing it like instructed, and it tasted a lot like Ice Cream.



I tried cutting a pretty square cube out of my frozen Marquise, but it just wasn't happening. I kind of salvaged it into an Octagon thing (see above). So for the 2nd plate I grabbed my large biscuit cutter and made a circle one (much easier!)
Since I burnt my caramel sauce, I just subbed in the chocolate fudge sauce. On the blue plate, I attempted to draw hearts, but they just ran together and made a big chocolate puddle. So with the white plate, I just dropped the sauce randomly over the whole thing.




I definitely learned a lot of new skills with this challenge, Thanks Emma and Jenny, and all the other Daring Bakers for the inspiration. Can't wait for the June Challenge.

(these are the meringue kisses I made with the left-over meringue I had... SOOOOOO yummy!)