Holiday Baking
Every year family friends and neighbors share not only gifts from the store, but gifts from the kitchen.
The holidays are a great time to try out new recipes or to spice up time-honored favorites.
This holiday season, try some chef-recommended recipes created by The French Pastry School of Chicago and professionals at Plugrá European-Style Butter.
Holiday desserts will shine when you follow these tips and techniques gained from decades of culinary competitions and world-class dessert instruction.
Avoid these common mistakes in your kitchen:
n Don't be afraid to give baking a try. Start simple and allow yourself to make mistakes.
n Accuracy does count; it pays to measure. While some ingredients can be added with a pinch here and there, it's best when baking to always measure accurately.
n Preheat your oven. It makes cookies and cakes rise like they're intended to-something you'll definitely miss out on if you place your pan on a cold rack.
1/6 cup Earl Grey tea leaves3 1/6 cups granulated sugar4½ fresh whole eggs (room temperature)¼ teaspoon finely ground sea salt1Z\, cups cream2 cups sifted pastry flour1¼ teaspoon baking powderZest of Z\v lemon½ cup unsalted butter, meltedFinely grind the Earl Grey tea.Mix with the sugar.Beat together with the eggs, salt, and cream.Sift the flour with the baking powder, and add to the cream mixture with the grated lemon zest. At the end, add the melted butter.Fill Teflon-coated loaf pans.Bake in a convection oven at 360 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.Yields 3 loaves.
½ cup and 1 tablespoon unsalted butter1 cup and 1 tablespoon powdered sugar½ cup almond powderZ\c cup pastry flourZ\, cup cocoa powder3 fresh egg whites1 tablespoon apple compotePrepare beurre noisette (brown butter) by heating the butter in a saucepan until light brown, then strain.Mix all the dry ingredients together.Add the egg whites, the apple compote, and the strained beurre noisette.Let mature overnight in a refrigerator.Pipe in molds and garnish with candied orange, and cacao nibs.Bake in a convection oven at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.Let cool; keep in an airtight box or freeze.
½ cup unsalted butter3Z\v ounces bittersweet chocolate2 fresh egg yolks2 fresh whole eggsC\v cup and 1 tablespoon powdered sugarZ\c cup and 1 teaspoon sifted cake flourButter and sugar 4 small ramekins (3.7 ounces each).In a mixing bowl, slowly melt the butter and chocolate over a bain marie of hot water.Make sure that the eggs and egg yolks are at room temperature and mix the two together.Using whisk attachment, slowly mix the powdered sugar and egg mixture into the melted chocolate until smooth.Add the sifted flour all at once and mix until homogenous.Fill the prebuttered and sugared molds to three-quarters full with the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate, then bake to order at 375 degrees for about 10-15 minutes.Note: Do not overbake the cakes; otherwise you will not get the soft center effect.
