Almond Puff Loaf with Preserves

Recently, both of my parents had personal genome (DNA) testing done.  The test results tell you about your ancestry, whether or not you are a carrier of certain diseases and provide information about an assortment of random traits such as tendency to like sweet or salty foods, eye color, amount of hair you had at birth, tendency to flush after consuming alcohol, whether or not you have dimples etc.  My parents’ results were not surprising per se but still very interesting. Most of the “traits” you can tell by either: (1) looking at them; or (2) knowing them for your entire life. In terms of ancestry, according to the test, my Dad is about 99% East Asian, almost exclusively Japanese but about 6% Korean and 2% Chinese.  My Mom is mostly Irish and English and a little bit French and German. This means that I am almost half Irish which may explain my penchant for oatmeal, brown bread, scones and preserves.  

If you look in my pantry you will see that I have several different types of preserves in there at any one time.  Right now I think I have two kinds of marmalade, blackberry, black currant, rhubarb ginger, strawberry and plum preserves and lemon curd.  ALWAYS lemon curd.  To some, this may seem strange “Who eats that much toast?” but I use preserves for all kinds of things; on top of waffles or pancakes, warmed up in a saucepan and brushed on fruit tarts, for cake and pastry fillings, a spoonful on top of a bowl of yogurt and granola and, of course, for the zillions of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches consumed around here. In the summer, I like to make my own preserves and put them up for the colder months ahead. Some years I don’t get around to doing much of my own canning and I just get my preserves from the Irish Boutique.  The Boutique carries a variety of Irish preserves and there's always something I want to try. 

The other day I was meandering through some of my favorite food websites looking for inspiration to motivate me to bake something yummy for a weekend playdate in the park. I stumbled upon this recipe for Almond Puff Loaf with step-by-step instructions and I was instantly sold. You probably have all of the ingredients you need to make it in your cupboard right now (I did) and, as much as I love working with yeast, I also love that this recipe doesn’t require any and therefore also doesn’t require extra time to let the dough rise. Even with the rather long baking time of 50 minutes, there was ample time to throw this pastry together while the kids had their (first) breakfast and still make it to the park by 10:00 a.m. The hardest part was deciding which preserves to top them with - my kind of tough decision.

For quality control purposes, Paul and I sampled the ends before packing the rest up for the park. 

The recipe makes two pastries so I ended up making one with lemon curd and vanilla glaze and the other with blackberry preserves and lemon glaze. 

Refreshments required to fuel all of that climbing, swinging and sliding.

Snack break.

Birthday Cake, Breakfast Cake: Upsidedown Cake from Rachel Allen's Favorite Food at Home

This weekend we are celebrating my birthday.  I’m not one to get too excited about my upcoming birthdays.  Most of the time I forget about my birthday, or I would, if not for my mother who always sends me the most thoughtful gifts and tells me my birth story each and every year (and no, I never get tired of hearing it).  This year is a little different however, because my son, Emmett who is three now LOVES birthdays. He’s been excited about mine for weeks.  To him, birthdays mean CAKE and I cannot let him down.

The fact is, not only am I not a “birthday person” but I’m not really a “birthday cake person” either.  Don’t get me wrong, I love sweets as much as the next person but in terms of cakes, I’m much more of an afternoon tea or a breakfast cake eater than a dessert cake type.  I am drawn to cakes that are moist, fruity and tart, the kind you could imagine having for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee.

So, in selecting my birthday cake this year I knew the following:

#1 – I could not forgo cake because, Emmett

#2 – I wanted something in the vein of a “breakfast cake”; and

#3 – after a long Chicago winter and a not very spring-like spring, I wanted something bright, something that would remind me that we are on the precipice of longer, warmer days.

Somehow I knew that Rachel Allen would not let me down.  I picked up her fantastic cookbook “Favorite Food at Home” and sure enough, it had just what I was looking for.  First, I noticed a Plum and Rhubarb Crisp that is exactly MY kind of dessert, but unfortunately, not a cake (see #1 above).  So the final decision ended up being between Sponge Cake with Rhubarb Cream and Upsidedown Rhubarb and Ginger Cake.  Talk about a tough decision.  Well, until, I thought to whip up some Bird’s custard to spoon on top of each piece of the Upsidedown Cake.  Did I mention that I am definitely a “custard person”?  That’s when I knew this had to be my breakfast-birthday cake this year.  

You know what they say about the best laid plans right?  Well, all three of my birthday choices involved rhubarb (which I thought was a safe bet because it is supposed to be rhubarb season), but when I went shopping there was no rhubarb to be found anywhere. Disgruntled but not defeated I decided to find a replacement for the rhubarb but nothing seemed right. After much deliberation and in spite of #3 above, I finally settled on cranberries. Despite their complete lack of seasonality, in terms of taste, I thought they would make the best stand in and I wasn’t wrong.

This cake is both sweet and tart with a terrific texture – moist cake topped with soft pieces of cooked down fruit and crisp bits of caramelized sugar tucked in around the edges of the berries. It really needs no accompaniment. Rachel Allen suggests topping it with fresh whipped cream which sounds amazing. Emmett wanted his with ice cream, also a solid choice. But I am a custard girl through and through.

Because Paul is only selectively fond of ginger (i.e. gingersnaps and gingerbread) I replaced the ginger with some vanilla bean paste and lemon zest.  I also used a cake pan because my cast iron skillet is enormous.  So I melted the butter on the stovetop, added the brown sugar and cranberries and poured the whole mixture into the cake pan instead of doing it in a skillet. It was birthday perfection and even better the next morning with a big dollop of greek yogurt (or more custard, I won’t tell if you won’t) and a cup of tea. You can bet I will be baking this again with rhubarb as soon as I can get my hands on some.

A Cranberry Cake adapted from Upside-Down Rhubarb and Ginger Cake

from Rachel Allen's "Favorite Food at Home."

Makes:  8 servings

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar (divided)

12 ounces rhubarb, trimmed and cut into ¾-inch chunks OR 12 ounces of frozen cranberries

1 2/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk or sour milk

1/3 cup vegetable or sunflower oil

1 generous teaspoon grated ginger OR the zest of one small lemon and 1tsp vanilla bean paste or extract

Softly whipped cream OR Bird’s custard

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in medium (10-inch) ovenproof frying pan. Stir in half the brown sugar and cook over low heat about 2 minutes. Add the rhubarb (cranberries) - no need to stir - and remove from heat. Set aside.

I added the brown sugar-butter-cranberry mixture to the bottom of the cake pan and just tried to spread it out in an even layer before pouring the cake batter on top. 

Into a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Okay, we didn't sift it.  But this little guy stirred and stirred. 

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup or small bowl, whisk eggs and add remaining brown sugar, the buttermilk, oil and ginger (or zest and vanilla).

Our liquids are in the measuring cup in the center of this photo, just waiting to be whisked and incorporated into the batter. Emmett was so proud of himself for cracking the eggs and getting them all in the cup (no eggshells!). 

Mix together, then pour into dry ingredients and whisk to form a liquid batter.

Pour over rhubarb, in our case, cranberries, in pan. Place pan in preheated oven and bake 30 minutes or until cake feels firm in center.

The top, um bottom, was so beautifully browned and a little crisp around the edges.  It was a good idea to bake this on a baking sheet to catch the overflowing juices. 

Cool 5 minutes before turning out by placing an inverted plate over top of pan and turning pan and plate over together in one quick movement. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Éclairs: A French Dessert with Irish Flair

This afternoon we are heading over to the home of our very close friends.  Our kids love to play together and we usually have dinner and try to squeeze in some adult catch-up talk before heading home to put the little ones to bed.   People say it’s the Japanese side of me but I hate going anywhere empty handed.  Not that it doesn’t happen, but I think it’s so nice to at least try to arrive with something for your host.  So, for tonight I wanted to prepare a dessert that we would all enjoy without having to make an extra trip to the store.  Inexplicably, I came up with chocolate éclairs.  Chocolate éclairs.  Yes. I know they seem like EXACTLY the opposite of a treat you could just whip up with stuff that you already have in your fridge and pantry, but looks can be deceiving. I don’t know about you, but I always have eggs, flour, sugar, chocolate, and a canister of Bird’s Custard Powder in my cupboard – from the Irish Boutique (of course).  Believe it or not, that’s all you really need to make éclairs.  There are a few steps in the process but none of them are difficult.  I love it when a recipe is both impressive and simple.

I start by making the custard because it needs to cool before I can assemble the éclairs.  I’ve included instructions on how to make Bird’s Custard below despite the fact that there are easy to follow instructions on the side of the canister.  This is because U.K. measurements are a little different from the ones we use here in the U.S.  Personally, I do just fine winging it and adjusting the amount of milk, sugar and custard powder depending on how sweet, thick or thin I want my custard to be.  I'm not much of a measurer, but I’ve included the recommended amounts (the ones on the canister) below in U.S. measurements so you can make it the way it's intended to be.   

Birds Custard

1. Put 2½  tablespoons* of custard powder and 1½-2½  tablespoons of sugar in a heatproof bowl or measuring cup.

*Technically, the proper amount of custard mix is 2.4 tablespoons but I rounded to 2½ for the sake of simplicity.  Like I said, I'm not much of a measurer.

2. Mix into a smooth paste with a little (approx. 2½  tablespoons) milk taken from 1 Imperial pint (568ml/2.36 cups/19.2 ounces).

3. Heat the remaining milk to nearly boiling and pour onto the custard mix; stirring well.

4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring to the boil over a gentle heat; stirring continuously.

NOTE: Because I wanted to fill my éclairs with a thick, vanilla-flavored custard, I adapted the ratio of ingredients a bit.  I ended up using about 3½ tablespoons of custard powder, 1½ tablespoons of sugar and only 2 cups of milk and stirred in ½ a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste after I took the custard off the heat.  For a pourable custard, the kind we usually eat, I would go with the measurements provided on the canister.

Once the custard is ready - it will thicken more as it cools – cover it with a piece of plastic wrap so that it does not form a skin and refrigerate until cold.

On to the choux pastry.  This is the stuff profiteroles (cream puffs) are made out of. When shaped into round balls they are called profiteroles and when shaped into logs they are known as éclairs.

Pâte à Choux (cream puff dough)

makes about 16 3-inch éclairs

¼  cup whole milk

¼ cup water

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

½ tablespoon sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Pour milk, water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Dump in all of the flour at once and turn the heat down to low.  Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together in a smooth ball.

Now, take the dough out of the saucepan and place it in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Mix the dough at medium-low speed until it cools down a bit and add the first egg.  The mixture breaks each time you add an egg.  Don't be scared, just keep mixing. It will come back together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the second egg.  Scrape down the sides again and continue to mix until a smooth paste is formed.

Place a pastry bag with a large pastry tip or a plastic ziptop bag in a large glass.  Roll the sides of the bag over the glass and use a spatula to fill the bag with the dough.  Cut the tip of the bag off and pipe the dough in 2½ inch logs onto your prepared sheet pan.  

Bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for 10 more minutes. Leaving the oven ajar just a bit, bake 5 more minutes until the éclairs are a light golden color. Cool completely on a rack.  

Once éclairs have cooled completely, cut them in half length-wise and fill a pastry bag (or a ziptop bag with the tip cut off) with your chilled custard.  Pipe a generous amount of custard onto one half of each éclair and sandwich the filled half and the unfilled half together. Place éclairs back in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Let your baby suck the extra custard out of the pastry bag to instill an early love of baking. 

Ganache

4 ounces heavy whipping cream

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

When you are ready, make the ganache.  Heat the whipping cream in a saucepan or in the microwave until simmering and pour over the chopped chocolate.  Wait a couple of minutes before gently stirring, taking care not to incorporate too much air. Now, dip your éclairs in the ganache and place back in the fridge until you are ready to leave the house.  

Look how shiny they are! I sprinkled sea salt on about half - for the adults- and left the rest plain.

Good luck getting them all into the fridge!