Madeleines

The madeleine. Such a simple little cookie yet so difficult to perfect. Tender cake on the inside. Crisp edges on the outside. My first attempt was a complete failure. The second time around was near perfect. With some more practice I might just master this little cookie.

Lemon Glazed Madeleines
adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies
makes 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp coarse salt
3 eggs plus 2 yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tblsp lemon zest
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 1/2 sticks melted butter

For the Glaze:
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 lemon zested and juiced

Sift the dry ingredients in a small bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer add the eggs, sugar, vanilla, zest and juice. Mix with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes. The batter will get pale and thicken slightly. Mix in butter. Fold the dry ingredients in batches until combined. Let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease your madeleine pan with butter using a pastry brush. Spoon or pipe the batter into the molds only filling each up 3/4 of the way or less. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the edges start to crisp. Let cool slightly then turn out on wire rack.

To make the glaze, combine the sugar, lemon zest and juice in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Lightly brush the glaze over the cooled cookies with a pastry brush and let harden before storing.

Unfortunately these cookies are best the day they're made and quickly lose their flavor the day after. So have a huge tea party and whip up a batch! (Here is a great picture step-by-step of making these using a slightly different recipe.)

a new addiction

While many are giving up their vices this coming year, I have acquired a new one -- truffles. A truffle addiction isn't necessarily a bad addiction to have, but it is arguably much more expensive than smoking or alcohol. You see I haven't been right since the 'truffle explosion' that took place at Alinea a couple months back. Since then I can still taste truffles and I'm always wanting more.

I sometimes get asked what a truffle tastes like. It's really hard to describe. It's not mushroom-y. It's not dirt like and it's certainly not chocolately. How do you describe truffles? The only thing I can think of is pure umami -- that elusive fifth taste scientists can't quite wrap their brains around. Truffle is a taste that lingers and once you taste it, your tongue and brain will remember it forever.

Since truffles are difficult to find and totally impossible to afford, I've been getting my fix from truffle-studded cheeses. With every grocery store I enter, I first stop by the cheese case. So far I've found three cheeses that are quite wonderful and appear to be readily available. In order of greatness...

Boschetto Al Tartufo Cheese
A blend of cow's and sheep's milk to form a firm and moist cheese. This one won best cheese in the 1998 French Cheese show and I think I'd vote for it every time. It is hands down the best I've tried. Immensely flavorful, wonderful texture, and the taste lingers on and on.

Carr Valley Black Sheep Truffle Cheese
A sheep's milk cheese that is quite soft. This one is flecked with black truffles, soaked in truffle oil, and aged 6 months. I've found that Carr Valley really makes fabulous, award-winning cheeses across the board. I'm sampling the cocoa goat right now. yum!

Monti Trentino Caciotta Rustega with Truffle
Another Italian cheese made entirely from cow's milk. This is my least favorite but it is still very good. The truffle flavor here is less intense than with the other two. It isn't aged nearly as long making it more subdued and mild.

So next time you host a wine and cheese consider splurging a little and putting a truffle-studded cheese on your cheese board. Your guests' taste buds will get the ride of their life.

cheating

I'm all for the whole 'no-knead' bread movement. However, when life throws you a bread machine you just have to use it. You're probably thinking "ugh bread machines make oddly square shaped tasteless, crumbly balls of dough," and sometimes that is the case but the best thing about bread machines is that they do all the kneading and mixing for you and you can bake however you like.

I always make challah bread during the holidays. I make it because it is super easy in a bread machine but now that the whole no-knead challah is out there I will have to try the alternative to see which tastes better.



Bread Machine Challah

3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
3 tblsp butter softened
3 cups bread flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast

Place all ingredients into the bread machine pan in the order above. Select Basic Bread and Light Crust settings then press Start. How easy is that?! Now the secret is to take the dough out 1.5 hours into the mix cycle. Take the dough out and place it on a lightly oiled surface. Form into a long roll of dough. Cut the dough into equal thirds, form into three long rolls, and braid. Tuck the ends under so you have a nice tight braid and set on a parchment lined pan to rest. Let rest for at least 30 minutes then bake at 350ish until golden, about 12 minutes. You can apply an egg wash if you like or brush with butter when it comes out.

If you're feeling more adventurous, you can try the nutella swirl variety.


Follow the same steps as above. When you cut the dough into thirds and lengthen them out, slice a slit down the middle of each third and pull it apart a bit. Now spread nutella generously down the middle of each third and seal up the sides by pinching them together. You don't want nutella escaping just yet. When done, braid as before. Let rest, then sprinkle hazelnuts on the top and bake the same as above.

A Contest for the Holidays

I haven't quite figured out the art of blog giveaways but I hope to learn eventually. In the meantime head over to Jaden's Steamy Kitchen for the Holiday Giveaway of a lifetime.

Another Forgotten Recipe

This one I literally haven't made or thought about for 2 years. Sad huh? I actually mentioned it on this blog a small century ago but here it is again. How can such a gem get thrown to the wayside? This is fabulous. It makes an incredible sauce that would be great served on chicken, pork, or duck. Plum, mango, and curry are a match made in heaven.


Cornish Hen with Curry-Plum Glaze
adpated from Bon Appetit 2003

2 cornish game hens, halved lengthwise
2/3 cup plum jam
4 tablespoons mango chutney
2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup chicken broth
Scallions, thinly sliced

In a small saucepan combine jam, chutney, curry powder, and chicken broth. Heat until sauce comes together, about 5 minutes. Prepare the hens by cleaning them thoroughly and patting them dry. In a baking pan lined with foil, place the hens cut side down with a small amount of oil. Season the hens lightly with salt and pepper. Baste the hens with some of the jam mixture. Bake the hens at 400 until the skin crisps and juices run clear -- about 20 minutes. Bring the jam mixture to a slight boil to thicken. Spoon the sauce over the finished hens and sprinkle with scallions.

The recipe broccoli haters don't want you to know about...

There are several 'special interest' groups that I just cannot understand -- the cilantro haters, the sour cream haters, the fish haters, the mushroom haters, the broccoli haters, etc. In some cases there are entire websites dedicated to displaying people's hatred (dare I say misunderstanding) of these foods. I always think of how interesting it would be to gather all of these food haters together and force feed them their most hated foods, done up in a different way just to see if they could be swayed.

I challenge even the most devout broccoli hater to taste this recipe. Try this variation of the frightening green vegetable and invite all of your broccoli-hating friends over and show them the error of their ways.


Roasted Broccoli with Lemon
seen on TAG and in Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics

1 head of broccoli (don't wash it!!!)
2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 lemon, zest
Grated Parmesan

Heat the oven to 450. Cut the broccoli into florets and arrange in a foil lined baking pan. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle the sliced garlic over top. Pour in a good amount of olive oil and coat the broccoli -- mixing everything together with you hands. Roast in the oven for about 10-12 minutes or until tender and the edges just slightly brown. Take the pan out and immediately zest an entire lemon over top of the pan so all of the wonderful lemony oils hit the broccoli. Cut the lemon and squirt in the juice from half. Dress it with a tad more olive oil (you might use a tastier oil here) and grate fresh cheese over the top.

Martha Stewart Knows Cookies

Martha Stewart's Cookie cookbook came out earlier this year and I have been vying for it ever since. It was a wonderful coincidence that my aunt 'donated' it to me (by donate I mean she purged some cookbooks) right before I was about to give in and buy it from my cookbook club.

I've only tried one recipe from this book so far and already I'm in love. The book is organized by putting cookies into different categories like chewy, sandy, dense, crisp, etc. So if I crave something chunky and nutty I need look no further than the appropriate section. What's more is that every recipe has a picture! Beautiful pictures! I was so enthralled by the cover photo of the chewy chocolate gingerbread cookies that I had to make them first.

These cookies turned out fabulous. Chewy and rich in flavor. They go easy on the sugar content which makes me feel less guilty about eating a handful. I love how they crinkle when they bake and the light coating of granulated sugar makes them look snow dusted and sparkly. Include these in your Christmas cookie tins, Martha would want it that way.

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
seen in Martha Stewart's Cookies book
Makes 2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves (I used allspice because I only had whole cloves)
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tblsp Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Hershey's special dark which is 1/2 Dutch-process, 1/2 regular)
1 stick unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tblsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp boiling water
7 oz chocolate chips (this would probably be good without the chocolate chips at all)
1/4 cup granulated sugar

In a bowl, sift the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. In a separate bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and fresh ginger for several minutes until pale and fragrant. Add the brown sugar and beat until combined. Finally, beat in the molasses.

Dissolve the baking soda with the boiling water (I think this may be the key to making them wonderfully chewy). Beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add the dissolved baking soda and then the remaining flour mixture. Mix chocolate in with a spoon.

Martha then suggests turning the dough out onto plastic wrap into a 1-inch thick square and refrigerating for at least 2 hours (or overnight). This worked well to help in forming the cookies. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325. Form the dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart. Chill the balls for another 10-15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and roll the balls in the granulated sugar to coat. Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until the cookies began to crackle. They may seem soft but they will harden as they cool.

Martha says they taste best the day they are baked but I think they get better the next day -- if they last that long.