Archive for October, 2005
Given that, for those of us in the northern hemisphere, fall is upon us, I am much more inclined than usual to make things with pumpkin. I know other people are, too. The subtley sweet and easy spiceability of the squash make it practically the symbol of fall. I just love it any time, but certainly am aware of a higher level of acceptability as the year progresses.
Along with casseroles, cakes and pies, cookies seem like a good vehicle for pumpkin. Unfortunately, many pumpkin cookies are spongy and cakey and rubbery. The flavor is good, but you just don’t want to keep chewing them. Even if they are fine the day they come out of the oven, the next day they are dry and bland. Tempting, isn’t it?
These pumpkin cookies, fortunately, do not seem to have those problems. They are very soft and a bit chewy, but not cakey. They are moist and have a good pumpkin flavor. The whole cookie presents a slightly unusual, but excellent, combination of texture and flavors. Best of all, they retain all of these qualities, making them just as good (if not better) on the second day. I think that they are best with chocolate chips and a few nuts, but they work well with raisins and dried cranberries, too. I always like to add the optional pecans for crunch.
I recommend using freshly cooked, cooled and pureed pumpkin because I think that the extra moisture helps the cookie’s texture; canned pumpkin may result in an ever so slightly cakey cookie.
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The brilliant theme of Souffles was chosen by our host, Kitchen Chick, for this month’s Is My Blog Burning event. Souffles are wonderful things and one of the few dishes that should really only be prepared inside the home, though of course, I would not refuse if the souffle is part of a tasting menu at the French Laundry.
A souffle is a mixture of egg whites and some sort of sauce or custard base. You can really souffle just about anything, though moister, softer things will make better souffles. Would you prefer a cheese souffle or a cracker souffle? Souffles are light and airy creations that get their structure from beaten egg whites. The protein in the egg whites forms pockets of air that, much like rising bread, expand when heated and give the souffle lift. Of course, egg whites are rather more delicate than the gluten in bread, so the temperature difference between the oven and your kitchen will cause the souffle to deflate. Souffles should be served immediately to preserve the look and their soft, fluffy texture.
What are, arguably, the two most common souffles? Cheese and chocolate. I make banana souffles often, too. None of that from me for this event. I wanted to be a little bit different and try out a few souffle ideas I had recently. I ended up with a whole day of souffles.
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Kelli, of Lovescool, picked Dark Chocolate as the theme for this Anniversary edition of Sugar High Friday. Good choice, eh? She included a note telling people to try something new, since quite a few food bloggers have a weakness for the cocoa bean. But while I like to eat a nice bit of dark chocolate, I often prefer to use cocoa in my baked goods since I like the flavor and it couldn’t be any easier to incorporate into any mix. So, the fact that I had little risk of repeating myself with this event gave me a lot of freedom. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything too boring.
I chose a recipe that I tried to adapt semi successfully before. Working with it again, I now know for certain that my big mistake was using too many egg whites. Yes, the difference between 7 ounces of egg white and 7 egg whites is a big one. This is good news because the mouse tasted great, it was just a bit liquidy at the bottom of the glass. For this SHF, I went back and made the original recipe for Chocolate Yogurt Mousse.
This adaptation of the recipe makes four servings, since I decided to halve the recipe. Because I used thick, greek-style yogurt, I didn’t drain it first. If you can’t get the greek yogurt, just drain plain, nonfat yogurt through a cheesecloth overnight in the fridge before making the mousse. It turned out to have a smooth and creamy consistency, but was very bittersweet. Not a dessert for everyone, but if you really like good bittersweet chocolate, you’ll love this. I used Callebaut bittersweet and tasted every bit of it. Next time, I think I’ll add a dash of almond and vanilla extracts (or a shot of amaretto) for fun.
If you’re feeling decadent, top it with a bit of whipped cream. If it’s not sweet enough for you, you can increase the sugar in the mousse by 1-2 tbsp.
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There are three ways to come by a starter:
Catch wild yeast
Use packaged yeast
Buy/Borrow/Steal
I would say that the best way to start a starter is to get some from a friend. Sourdoughs – and their starters – get their flavor from long and slow development, so the older your starter is, the more character it is likely to have. Of course, a fresh starter will still produce excellent results and it is the way to go if you don’t have any friends who keep starters in their fridge.
Yeast is easy to catch and not too hard to maintain. The flavor of your particular starter will depend on the yeast that live in your enviornment. San Francisco sourdoughs have a strong, unique flavor due to their sea side location. The flavor can also be influenced by any additions you make to your starter. You can enhance the yeast-catching ability of your starter by adding things to increase fermentation – like grapes, peaches, potatoes or simple sugars.
Excessive heat is pretty much the only thing that will kill yeast, which is why water temperatures are called to be below 120F. Moderate heat encourages the growth of yeast, which produces carbon dioxide and causes your bread (or starter) to bubble and rise – hence the reason for allowing your dough to rise in a warm place. The cold does not kill yeast, it merely causes it to slow down or, in extreme cases, hibernate completely. Active dry yeast has been freeze dried, but it reactivates when exposed to water. Slow rises are done in a refrigerated enviroment where it can take ten times the length of a normal rise for your dough. Slow rises, like slow cooking, allow the flavors of the dough to meld and increase in strength. Slow rises also allow some breads which might have difficulty rising quickly, due to low gluten content or high fat content (like rye breads or brioche), to achieve a better rise.
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I love citrus curds. Lemon, lime – even orange. They’re velvety, slightly sweet, quite tart and the perfect topping for a wire variety of baked goods.
I am not going to claim that this is the best use for a curd because I still think that my spoon is the finest vehicle, but it is a darn nice way to eat it. A crisp buttery cookie makes a great shell for the lime curd, though, like all cookies with moist fillings, the crispness does not last for more than a day. It gives way to a moist, buttery, crumbly cookie that melds into the curd in a very appealing way.
I used Alice Medrich’s recipe for lemon curd and simply substituted lime juice for lemon juice. I didn’t believe that a curd without butter would work, either, but it’s great! Tanvi adapted the recipe to a lighter lemon curd a while back, reducing the sugar from the original. I advise against reducing the sugar in this recipe if you are going to use limes, unless your limes are far less tart than mine. If you have a strong aversion to tartness, you can add one more tablespoon of sugar. Next time, I think that I will stir some lime zest into my curd, which I forgot to do this time, to emphasize the fact that this is lime and not lemon. The vanilla flavor came through wonderfully after refrigeration.
The cookies are easy and versatile. I made them in the “thumbprint” style of cookie here, but you can roll them out or refrigerate the dough and slice them later. The dough produces nice, crisp cookies when unadorned. You can also use jam when making little mini-tarts here, but the lime curd makes them zesty, bright and addictive. esides, you can eat more than one tart and feel good about it. How often can you say that?
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