Vanilla and Cinnamon Challah bread pudding

Yesterday was the day that the daring bakers presented this months challenge, whe made challah this time. I made 2 small loaves but whe couldn't eat all of it with the two of us and it was already starting to get dry. So i decided to make a bread pudding from the leftovers of this delicious sweet bread.
Here is the recipe

Do you want to make Challah bread yourself here is the recipe.

Vanilla and Cinnamon Challah bread pudding

Adapted from here.
serving 5 to 7

Ingredients:

5 cups challah bread, in cubes
1 cup whole milk
½ cup whipping cream
3 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup apple, peeled and chopped
½ cup of nuts, chopped
¼ cup of raisins
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
Icing sugar and cinnamon for decoration

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and  lightly grease a 8 X 8 inch square baking dish.

Place the bread chunks in a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, mix together the whole milk, whipping cream, eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, baking powder and salt, then pour this mixture over the bread chunks & let stand for 10 minutes.

Fold in the apples and nuts,  then spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and dust the top with a little powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Bake 30-40 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Cool about 5 minutes before serving, although it will also taste just fine served cold.

Grilled bananas with cajeta and cream

This weeks cooking theme at the I Heart Cooking Club is sweet tooth!

Searching true the recipes of Rick Bayless i got curious about cajeta at first because i didn't know what it was but now after tasting it, i do! A very nice cinnamon flavoured caramel sauce that is verry popular in mexico i understand.

But Cajeta is better known as dulce de leche in other parts of the world.

Making the cajeta was another daring experiment for me. Again because i tried to make caramel before and i always failed in attempt. It took me 1 hour and 45 minutes to finish the cajeta because i was afraid it would burn or boil over(don't like all the sticky stuff on my stove top). Like Rick said it would, it turned golden but only after 1 hour and 30 minutes. And i was stirring a lot tho prevent it to stick to the bottom of he pot.

I served the cajeta with this grilled banana recipe from rick and it was lovely. substituded the dulce the leche flavoured ice for cinnamon flavoured ice cream. and sprinkled some halved pecans on top.



Grilled bananas with cajeta and cream
Serves 4
Recipe by Rick Bayless

Ingredients
4 firm, but ripe, bananas with attractive stems
Vegetable oil for brushing or spritzing
8 small scoops best-quality ice cream, preferably dulce de leche flavor
1/2 cup Mexican cajeta (goat’s milk caramel sauce)

Directions
1. Heat a gas grill to medium or prepare a charcoal fire, letting the coals burn until they are covered with a gray ash and are medium hot. Cut the bananas through the stems lengthwise in half. Brush or spritz the cut sides with oil.
2. Place the bananas on the grill cut side down directly over the heat. Cover and grill until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Turn skin side down and continue grilling until tender and bananas have pulled away from their skins, 2 to 4 minutes more.
3. Arrange 2 banana halves on each serving plate. Top each serving with 2 scoops of ice cream. Drizzle each with about 2 tablespoons of the cajeta. Serve immediately.


Cajeta
Goat's Milk Caramel Sauce
Recipe by Rick Bayless

Makes about 3 cups

INGREDIENTS
2 quarts goat's milk or a combination of goat’s milk and cow’s milk—or even with all cow’s milk (use whole milk in all cases)
2 cups sugar
A  2-inch piece of cinnamon stick, preferably Mexican canela
1/2 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS
1.  Simmer the cajeta.   In a medium-large (6-quart) pot (preferably a Dutch oven or Mexican copper cazo), combine the milk, sugar and cinnamon stick and set over medium heat.  Stir regularly until the milk comes to a simmer (all the sugar should have dissolved by this point). Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the dissolved baking soda—it’ll foam up if the goat’s milk is acidic. When the bubbles subside, return the pot to the heat.   Adjust the heat to maintain the mixture at a brisk simmer (too high and the mixture will boil over; too low and the cooking time will seem interminable). Cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture turns pale golden, more or less one hour.   Now, begin stirring frequently as the mixture colors to caramel-brown and thickens to the consistency of maple syrup (you’ll notice the bubbles becoming larger and glassier).  Stir regularly so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Test a couple of drops on a cold plate: When cool, the cajeta should be the consistency of a medium-thick caramel sauce.  If the cooled cajeta is thicker (almost like caramel candy), stir in a tablespoon or so of water and remove from the heat; if too runny, keep cooking.

2.  Finish the cajeta.   Pour the cajeta through a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl or a wide-mouth storage jar.  When cool, cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.  Warming the cajeta before serving (a microwave oven is efficient here) makes it extra delicious. Working Ahead:  Cajeta keeps for a month or more in the refrigerator.  Keep it tightly covered to keep it from absorbing other flavors.



Admitting this post to:

Daring bakers june 2011: Baklava and making our own phyllo!

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

This Challenge took me more then 4(minus all the resting time) hours to make, but the outcome was more then word it. Well it started out as fun and easy just mixxing the dough by hand(don't have a stand mixer:( yet). After kneadding for 20 minutes like the recipe calls for i was glad i had a little break, because the dough had to rest.
Then it was time for the not so fun part "the rolling of the dough". I just had a normal rolling pin, and i started watching the video Erica had provided. If you see that you think that everything is going to be fine, but now i think differently about it. I spended a lot of time of time rolling the dough, and when i was reday and had all the phyllo sheets to assemble the baklava in my pan. They where stuck together, i didn't used enough flour inbetween i prsume. So started over rolling again...

Finally my baklava was ready for the oven, and it statred smelling real good. But ofcourse whe couldn't take a bite because whe had to wait another 24 hour to soak in the syrup. It was deffinatly worth the wait. This baklava is Delicious! Thank you Erica for this Dare to bake/make something out of my kitchen comfort zone.

Preparation time: The recipe may seem simple but it is a little time consuming

Phyllo Dough Mixing/Kneading: 15-25 minutes
Resting time: 30-90 minutes (longer is better)
Rolling Phyllo: varies, approx. 2 minutes per sheet

Syrup: 15 minutes plus cooling
Baklava: 30 minutes
Resting: Overnight

Equipment required:

Measuring spoons
Wooden dowel or rolling pin
Sharp knife
Measuring cups
Towels
Spatula
Stand mixer (can knead by hand)
Baking dishes – 9” x 9” is recommended
Strainer
Plastic wrap
Medium pot
Pastry brush
Food processor /blender
Bowls

Phyllo Dough:

*Note 1: To have enough to fill my 9” x 9” baking dish with 18 layers of phyllo I doubled this recipe.
*Note 2: Single recipe will fill a 8” x 5” baking dish.
*Note 3: Dough can be made a head of time and froze. Just remove from freezer and allow to thaw
and continue making your baklava

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) (185 gm/6½ oz) unbleached all purpose (plain) flour
1/8 teaspoon (2/3 ml) (¾ gm) salt
1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) cider vinegar, (could substitute white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar, but could affect the taste)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt
2. Mix with paddle attachment
3. Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
4. Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough, if it appears dry add a little more water (I had to add a tablespoon more)
5. Change to the dough hook and let knead approximately 10 minutes. You will end up with beautiful smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, knead approx. 20 minutes.
6. Remove the dough from mixer and continue to knead for 2 more minutes. Pick up the dough and through it down hard on the counter a few times during the kneading process.
7. Shape the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil
8. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest 30-90 minutes, longer is best ( I let mine rest 2 hours and it was perfect)



Rolling your Phyllo

** Remove all rings and jewelry so it does not snag the dough**

Use whatever means you have to get the dough as thin as you can. I have included a fantastic video at the end of the post on how to roll out your phyllo dough, using a wooden dowel, which worked perfectly for me. You may also use a pasta machine if you have one, or a normal rolling pin whatever works for you.

1.Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk slightly larger then a golf ball. While you are rolling be sure to keep the other dough covered so it doesn’t dry out.
2. Be sure to flour your hands, rolling pin and counter. As you roll you will need to keep adding, don’t worry, you can’t over-flour.
3. Roll out the dough a bit to flatten it out.
4. Wrap the dough around your rolling pin/dowel
5. Roll back and forth quickly with the dough remaining on the dowel (see attached video for a visual, its much easier then it sounds)
6. Remove; notice how much bigger it is!
7. Rotate and repeat until it is as thin as you can it. Don’t worry if you get rips in the dough, as long as you have one perfect one for the top you will never notice.
8. When you get it as thin as you can with the rolling pin, carefully pick it up with well floured hands and stretch it on the backs of your hands as you would a pizza dough, just helps make it that much thinner. Roll out your dough until it is transparent. NOTE: you will not get it as thin as the frozen phyllo dough you purchase at the store, it is made by machine
9.Set aside on a well-floured surface. Repeat the process until your dough is used up. Between each sheet again flower well. You will not need to cover your dough with a wet cloth, as you do with boxed dough, it is moist enough that it will not try out.


After i poured in the syrup.

Baklava Recipe

Adapted from Alton Brown, The Food Network
30 servings

Ingredients

For the syrup:
·1 1/4 cups (300 ml) honey
·1 1/4 cups (300ml) water
·1 1/4 cups (300 ml) (280 gm/10 oz) sugar
·1 cinnamon stick
·1 (2-inch/50 mm) piece fresh citrus peel (lemon or orange work best)
·a few cloves or a pinch or ground clove

When you put your baklava in the oven start making your syrup. When you combine the two, one of them needs to be hot, I find it better when the baklava is hot and the syrup has cooled

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium pot over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar has dissolved
2. Boil for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
3. Once boiled for 10 minutes remove from heat and strain cinnamon stick and lemon, allow to cool as baklava cooks





Ingredients for the Filling:

1 (5-inch/125 mm piece) cinnamon stick, broken into 2 to 3 pieces or 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (8 gm) ground cinnamon
15 to 20 whole allspice berries ( I just used a few pinches)
3/4 cup (180 ml) (170 gm/6 oz) blanched almonds
3/4 cup (180 ml) (155 gm/5½ oz) raw or roasted walnuts
3/4 cup (180 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) raw or roasted pistachios
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm/ 5 1/3 oz) sugar
phyllo dough (see recipe above)
1 cup (2 sticks) (240 ml) (225g/8 oz) melted butter ** I did not need this much, less then half**

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
2.Combine nuts, sugar and spices in a food processor and pulse on high until finely chopped. If you do not have a food processor chop with a sharp knife as fine as you can. Set aside
3. Trim your phyllo sheets to fit in your pan
4. Brush bottom of pan with butter and place first phyllo sheet
5. Brush the first phyllo sheet with butter and repeat approximately 5 times ending with butter. (Most recipes say more, but homemade phyllo is thicker so it's not needed)
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
7. Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
9. Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
10. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
11. Continue layering and buttering phyllo 5 more times. On the top layer, make sure you have a piece of phyllo with no holes if possible, just looks better.
12. Once you have applied the top layer tuck in all the edges to give a nice appearance.
13. With a Sharp knife cut your baklava in desired shapes and number of pieces. If you can't cut all the ways through don’t worry you will cut again later. A 9x9 pan cuts nicely into 30 pieces. Then brush with a generous layer of butter making sure to cover every area and edge
14. Bake for approximately 30 minutes; remove from oven and cut again this time all the way through. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. (Oven temperatures will vary, you are looking for the top to be a golden brown, take close watch yours may need more or less time in the oven)
15. When baklava is cooked remove from oven and pour the cooled (will still be warmish) syrup evenly over the top, taking care to cover all surfaces when pouring. It looks like it is a lot but over night the syrup will soak into the baklava creating a beautifully sweet and wonderfully textured baklava!
Next morning all syrup is absorbed
16. Allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled cover and store at room temperature. Allow the baklava to sit overnight to absorb the syrup.
17. Serve at room temperature


After 24 hours when all the syrup schould have been absorbed.

Freezing/Storage Instructions/Tips: There are a few ways to store your Baklava. It is recommended that you store your baklava at room temperature in an airtight container. Stored at room temperature your baklava will last for up to 2 weeks. You will notice as the days pass it will get a little juicier and chewier. You may choose to store it in the fridge; this will make it a little harder and chewy, but does increase the shelf life. You can also freeze your baklava and then just set it out at room temperature to thaw.



Additional Information: I have included some videos and links to help you through the process

How to roll the phyllo dough -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvNzAi9w6TU&feature=related

Excellent 3 part video showing the whole process -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLV7W-KUME8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pzyKgxuF4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJgotI69pXY&feature=related

Making Hollow Baklava Rolls- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FvM8cWzjKI

Making Baklava Rolls - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H51egHWv0sQ

Nut Free Baklava –
http://hubpages.com/hub/nut-free-baklava-recipe
http://tzk-design.com/recipe/nut-free-baklava

Gluten Free Baklava
http://glutenfreepastry.org/gluten-free-baklava-recipe-demonstration/
http://gluten-free.mobi/gluten-free-baklava.php

Home-made granola with berry compote

In a few days it will be Fathersday, so this weeks theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs is "Pops is tops". So it time to honour my dad with a home made meal, but i got stuck with this delicious granola recipe. My father eats granola at breakfast and dessert as he pleases. So it was time i make some my own, to give him this sunday.

I adjusted the original recipe. I used hazelnuts instead of mixed nuts. And after the granola was finished to make the dessert i changed the fruitcompote in a fruitpuree. The first time i made granola myself, and o boy how lovely is that. Again a winner i whil try to make granola more often.

original recipe can be found here.
ingredients

• 200g mixed nuts
• 400g rolled or jumbo oats
• 100g pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds
• 400g runny honey
• 200g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 200g raspberries
• 200g mixed dried fruit (raisins, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, chopped apricots)
• 500ml plain yoghurt



method

Jamie says:This healthy pud is quick, easy – and tastes delicious!

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Place the nuts into a plastic bag, squeeze the air out and seal the bag. Gently bash with a rolling pin until they are lightly crushed, then tip them into a mixing bowl and add the oats and seeds. Warm up the honey to make it extra runny and stir it into the oaty mixture with a wooden spoon until everything’s lightly coated.

Tip the mixture onto a baking tray and spread out roughly with the wooden spoon. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is crunchy and a dark golden brown. Meanwhile, place the strawberries and raspberries in a pan on a medium heat for 10 minutes until nicely stewed.

Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool, then break up the toasted seeds, oats and nuts into clumps and mix in the dried fruit. There you have it: granola! Serve the granola in small bowls or glasses. Top with the plain yoghurt and the hot fruit compote. Any leftover granola will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

Tip: Use any leftover granola as a nutritious breakfast. Serve with natural yoghurt or a splash of milk.

 

Charred eggy bread with strawberries and honey

Chicken and the egg - wich comes first? That is our cooking theme for this week at IHCC. It really is an age old question! And in my eyes whe probably will never now the real answer to that question. Whe can only presume, like the other age old questions of al exsistance on earth. Every religion at least thinks to now the answers, but there are more books then i can count on this particulair subject. In all the simple things i do know the eggs first and then is the chicken...But where they really came from, i don't want to know because it will drive me grazy;)

recipe can be found here
serves: 4

ingredients

• 2 eggs, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
• 50ml full-fat milk
• a good dash of limoncello
• 4 thick slices of stale sourdough or Italian bread
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus a little extra
• 250g strawberries, halved
• 200g ricotta, sliced or crumbled
• runny honey
• grated lemon zest, to serve

method
Mix the beaten egg with the milk and a dash of limoncello in a shallow dish. Dip the bread slices into the mixture and shake off the excess. Sprinkle the slices with the caster sugar then cook on the barbecue for a couple of minutes on each side until golden.

Dust the strawberries with caster sugar and grill them really quickly, just until the sugar on the outside of them browns. Top the warm bread with ricotta and the grilled strawberries.

Drizzle with honey and decorate with lemon zest.

Notes: I did'nt used the barbecue but a grillpan one the stove and that worked just fine to make the bread. Left out the lemon zest(did'nt had any at home), but used a bigger splash of limoncello to compensade for that. All the flavours where amazing together, real threat! Great as a dessert after a barbecue or just for lunch.

Daring cooks november 2010 Rise and shine: Soufflé

Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

I've been missing out on the daring cooks for several months now, but when i saw this challenge i was back in immediatly!
Exited bij the challenge as i am, i was already afraight of disapointment. Thats because i have never made souffle's before and i still think its difficult to make them.

The batter is easy and while they where in my oven they did rise but as soon as i took them out the souffle start collapsing...
That was where i was afraight for but they still where delicious, i'm not intimidaded anymore and going to try some again. Thanks for this great challenge!

Ingredients

FOR THE DISHES

2 Tbsp (30 ml) 1 oz (30g) unsalted butter, for greasing
Cocoa powder or finely grated chocolate

FOR THE CREME PATISSERIE

2 tbsp (30 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
2 tsp (10 gm) (0.35 oz) caster (superfine) sugar (regular sugar is OK)
½ tsp (4½ gm) (0.15 oz) corn starch (aka cornflour)
1 medium egg yolk
1 medium whole egg
4 Tbsp (60 ml) milk
5 Tbsp (75 ml) heavy cream (or double cream)
3 oz (90gm) good-quality dark chocolate preferably 70+% cocoa solids, broken in pieces
2 Tbsp (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
Optional: 2 tsp orange zest or 2 tsp minced chipotle chile en adobo or 1 tsp chipotle chile powder. (The chile version is a Monkeyshines favorite!) Optional: powdered sugar for dusting

FOR THE EGG WHITES

6 medium egg whites
6½ Tbsp (95 ml) 3 oz (90g) superfine/caster sugar (if you don’t have it, regular sugar is OK)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to moderate 375 ˚F/190 ˚C/gas mark 5.
2. Take four 1 cup/~240ml soufflé dishes and brush them completely with softened butter. Tip a little cocoa powder or grated chocolate into each dish, roll the dish around tilting it as you do so it is evenly lined all round.
3. For the crème patisserie, mix the flour, sugar and corn starch into a small bowl. Put egg yolk and whole egg into a medium sized bowl, beat lightly, then beat in half of the flour mixture to give a smooth paste. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture and cocoa powder and mix well.
4. To make the ganache, pour the milk and cream into a pan and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat. Add the chocolate and beat until it is melted and smooth with no lumps.
5. Gradually stir hot chocolate ganache into the paste from step 3, and add the orange zest or chile if using. This is your crème patisserie.
6. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks with an electric whisk. Sprinkle in the sugar as you are mixing. Keep whisking to give stiff, firm peaks to give volume to
7. Stir about 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the beaten egg whites into the crème patisserie. Carefully fold in a third of the rest, cutting through the mixture. Fold in another third (take care not to lose the volume), then fold in the rest.
8. Spoon the mixture into the dishes. Run a spoon across the top of each dish so the mixture is completely flat. Take a little time to wipe any splashes off the outside of each dish, or they will burn on while cooking.
9. Bake the soufflés for 15-17 minutes.
10. The soufflés should have risen by about two thirds of their original height and jiggle when moved, but be set on top.

Rice Pudding with Vanilla Bean, Orange and Rum for IHCC

This weeks theme at IHCC is kid at heart.

As a kid i was fond of rice pudding, so made this delicious recipe.

i left out the rum, cause i don't like that.

Recipe from foodnetwork.com
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yields: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
5 cups whole milk
2/3 cup Arborio rice or other short-grain white rice
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons dark rum
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
Orange segments

Directions
Combine the milk and rice in a heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean; add the bean. Bring the milk to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the rice is tender, stirring frequently, about 25 minutes. Mix in the sugar, rum, and orange peel. Discard the vanilla bean. Cook until the mixture thickens, 5 to10 minutes longer.

Spoon the rice pudding into bowls. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 5 hours. Serve with orange segments.

Mascarpone and Dark Chocolate Cream in White Chocolate Cups for IHCC

The first Month of cooking with Giada has gone by, and I really start to like her cooking already. Al that recipe's with creamy Mascarpone are great.
So this weeks theme is Chocolate cravings(women and their chocolate isn't there a better match). I found another recipe with Mascarpone this time with chocolate ofcourse...

Started with making the white chocolate cups, made them a few days in advance because i didn't had a lot of time this week. They where very easy to make but it took some time cause they have to sit in the freezer before you can put on the second layer of chocolate. They turned out very well, only one of the cups broke wile getting of the paper. Made the chocolate filling today and it was delicious(my boyfriend tasted it, and fell in love immediatly, just like me!)

Here is the recipe
(adapted from the foodnetwork.com)
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients
8 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces mascarpone cheese
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
White chocolate curls, for garnish
Directions
Line 8 muffin cups with paper liners. Melt the white chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Spoon 1 tablespoon melted chocolate into each paper liner. Using a pastry brush, coat the chocolate evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the liners. Freeze until the chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Remelt the white chocolate in the bowl. Spoon 1 tablespoon into each cup and brush over the bottom and up the sides, forming a second coat. Freeze until completely set, about 1 hour.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate in top of a clean double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. At this point, set aside to cool completely.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream and sugar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Set the whipped cream aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the mascarpone cheese, melted bittersweet chocolate, orange peel, and vanilla in a large bowl just until smooth and glossy, about 30 seconds (do not overmix). Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture in 2 batches. Transfer the mousse to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the mousse into the white chocolate cups. Sprinkle the white chocolate curls over the mousse and serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate overnight, and then let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.

Daring Bakers May 2010: Piece Montée

When i saw this month's challenge i really was impressed, did they really think we could make something like in the picture(Down here), gladly we didn't had to make such a large french honeymoon cake. Piece Montée(or Croquembouche) is traditonal French dessert made out of cream puffs assembled in a conical shape, and served at weddings or baptisms. I chose to make the vanilla creme patissiere en drip it with chocolate, it was easier then it looked, and the taste was scrumptious! Cat thanks for introducing is to such a great dessert!



The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Preparation time: You will want to use your puff pastry batter and chocolate glaze or caramel as soon as it has been prepared and as close to serving time as possible. This is not a dessert that stores well and it may be a bit temperamental in humid areas as the glaze needs to harden to hold the choux together. The crème patissiere can be made a couple of days in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to use.

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Equipment required:
• several baking sheets
• parchment paper
• a whisk
• a pastry brush (for the egg wash)
• a pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)
• a flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée
• some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.



Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.
As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.



Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place)

Daring Bakers April 2010: traditional British pudding

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Due to the volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe i could participate in this months challenge. Because our vacation is postponed, i had enough time to make a pudding. But unfortuned it was a sunday... so all the shops where closed. So i really had to go find a pudding recipe with ingredients i still had. Because i don't have suet lying around the house, it became a sponge cake with butter. I found a recipe on puddingclub.com for Banana & Cinnamon Pudding. I still had left one banana at home, so even had to half the recipe...

The recipe was verry easy to make, but i don't have a pudding form. But i had a little iron bowl with a rather large edge on it, so i could use aluminum foil to cover the pudding. Steamed it in my largest cooking pan, with a ramequin at the bottom so the bowl would not touch the bottom. After 1 hour of cooking it was ready. It came out perfectly and it smelled delicous! I served it with some custard(pre fab:( i didn't had the ingredients to make a custard myself). It was a scrumptious! I wil definatly try to make a pudding again. After my holiday going to try a chocolate pudding. Thanks Esther for introducing this traditional English food to us.



Banana & Cinnamon Pudding(from http://www.puddingclub.com/wikipudia/banana-cinnamon-pudding)
Bananas give a good texture and flavour to a spiced sponge mixture.

Ingredients
120g Margarine
120g Sugar
1 large Egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Milk
120g Self Raising Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 ½ level teaspoons Powdered Cinnamon
2 Bananas, peeled
2 teaspoons Lemon Juice

Method
Cream the margarine and sugar together, then beat in the egg and milk. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Mash the banana with the lemon juice, then stir into the creamed mixture and fold in the flour. Spoon the mixture into a greased 900ml pudding basin. Cover securely and steam for 1 hour. Turn out and serve with Custard.






Preparation time: Preparation time is 5 to 20 minutes depending on the filling. Cooking time is 1 to 5 hours so do this on a day you have jobs around the house to do or are popping in and out as you need to occasionally check the pan hasn’t boiled dry! However it is otherwise a very low time requirement dish.

Equipment required:
• 2 pint (1 litre) pudding bowl or steam-able containers to contain a similar amount they should be higher rather than wide and low
Traditional pudding bowl so you know what is normally used.

• Steamer or large pan, ideally with a steaming stand, upturned plate or crumpled up piece of kitchen foil
• Mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Measuring cups or scales
• Foil or grease proof paper to cover the bowl
• String

Type 1 Puddings — suet crusts.

Pudding Crust for both Savoury Pudding or Sweet Pudding (using suet or a suet substitute):


Ingredients

(250 grams/12 ounces) Self-raising flour (Note* If you cannot find self-raising flour, use a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder.)
(175 grams/6 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)
(a pinch) Salt and pepper (Note* If making a savory dish, can be replaced with spices for sweet if wished.)
(210 millilitres/a little less than a cup) Water (Note* You can use a milk or a water and milk mix for a richer pastry.)

1. Mix the flour and suet together.
2. Season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pepper if savory and just a bit of salt and/or spices if sweet.
3. Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. The liquid amounts are only an estimate and most recipes just say water to mix.

4. Don’t over handle the pastry or it will be too hard.
5. Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased bowl.
6. At this point add your filling.. a couple of options are give below but have fun and go wild!
7. Roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal.
8. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil – pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking. Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water.
9. Steam for up to 5 hours, you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. There is a lot of leeway in this steaming time and different recipes give different steaming times. Delia Smith says 5 hours for Steak and kidney where as Mrs Beeton says 2.5 for a similar dish! One way to tell that it is cooked is when the pastry changes colour and goes from white to a sort of light golden brown. It is also hard to over steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.



This one is a steak and onion one cooked for 1.5 hours.

This sort of pastry can also be used as a topping for a baked meat pie and becomes quite a light crusty pastry when baked.

Savoury Pudding Filling options: steak and kidney pudding.


1 full amount of suet crust (see recipe above)
(450 grams/about 1 pound) Chuck steak
(225 grams/about 1/2 a pound) Ox kidney
1 medium-sized onion
2 teaspoons well-seasoned flour
splash of Worcestershire sauce

1. Chop the steak and kidney into fairly small cubes, toss them in seasoned flour, then add them to the pastry lined basin.
2. Pop the onion slices in here and there.
3. Add enough cold water to reach almost to the top of the meat and sprinkle in a few drops of Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper.
4. Follow the rest of the instructions in the crust recipe to finish pudding.
5. Cook for at least 2.5 hours (Mrs Beeton) up to 5 hours (Delia Smith).



Sweet Pudding Options: Sussex Pond Pudding

1 amount of suet pastry (see recipe above)
(120 grams/4.2 ounces) Demerara Sugar
(120 grams/4.2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 large lemon

1. Cut the butter into small pieces and put half in the basin with half the sugar.
2. Prick the whole lemon (preferably one with a thin skin) all over, using a thick skewer.
3. Place on top of the butter and sugar in the basin.
4. Cover with the rest of the butter and sugar.
5. Finish building the pudding as per the pastry recipe.
6. Steam for 3 ½ hours, or longer (for a really tender lemon), adding more water if needed.
7. To serve, turn the pudding into a dish with a deep rim, when you slice into it the rich lemon sauce will gush out.
8. Make sure each person is served some of the suet crust, lemon and tangy luscious sauce.

Type 2 puddings – Steamed Suet Pudding, sponge type.

(100 grams/4 ounces) All-purpose flour
(1/4 teaspoon) salt
(1.5 teaspoons) Baking powder
(100 grams/4 ounces) breadcrumbs
(75 grams/3 ounces) Caster sugar
(75 grams/ 3 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)
(1) large egg
(6 to 8 tablespoons) Cold milk

1. Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl.
2. Add breadcrumbs, sugar and suet.
3. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk
4. Turn into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin and cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil.
5. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours
6. Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce.

Variants:
Spotted Dick - Add 75g/ 3oz currants and 25g/1 oz of mixed chopped peel with the sugar.
Syrup or Treacle or Marmalade Pudding – put 2 Tablespoons of golden syrup, treacle or marmalade at the bottom of the bowl before adding pudding mix.
My Fair Lady Pudding – Add finely grated rind of 1 medium orange or lemon with the sugar.
Ginger Pudding – replace the sugar with 100g/4oz of treacle, and add 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

Eton mess with vanilla Merinque

Friday i told you about my love for strawberry's. Me and my boyfriend ate al strawberries in just one day! We really couldn't help ourselves. So on saturday morning i went back to my farmer to get another batch of fresh strawberries. From my friend i heared about Eton Mess and it was easy to make. Just cream, merinque and fresh strawberries, and then mess it up....
I did bake the merinque myself, i added vanilla extract to them. It was the first time i made merinque, and they came out quite well. Half of the mixture i just spooned on the baking sheet and the other half i piped down. The spooned merinque where still to soft on the inside, but the other ones where perfect.


Eton mess (also called Eaton mess) is a dessert of English origin consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the students of Winchester College.The dish has been known by this name since the 19th century. According to Recipes from the Dairy (1995) by Robin Weir, who spoke to Eton College's librarian, Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school's "sock shop" (tuck shop), and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice-cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition, and may have been an innovation by Michael Smith, the author of Fine English Cookery (1973). An Eton mess can be made with many other types of summer fruit, but strawberries are regarded as more traditional.(source wikipedia)

Eton mess
4 servings

Ingredients
300 ml Whipping Cream
2 tbsp Sugar
4 Meringue, broken into pieces
225 g Strawberries, hulled and quartered

First wash an hull the strawberries, quarter them. Put them in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of sugar. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

Crumble the merinques. Ad the tablespoon of sugar to the whipping cream, and whip it until you get soft peaks.

Then fill four glasses with the three ingredients. Layer by layer or just mix them all together in a bowl.



Vanilla Merinque
(adapted from allrecipes.com)
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In large bowl, beat egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Gradually beat in sugar until a little of the mixture between your thumb and forefinger feels smooth, not gritty. Stir in vanilla. Pipe or spoon small portions onto baking tray and bake 35 minutes, or until dry but not brown. Turn off oven and leave meringues to cool inside.

Strawberries With Balsamic Vinegar

This morning i got some really tasty fresh strawberries, from the local farmer. So i really wanted to use them. So it was my luck it is potluck on IHCC this week, and stumbled upon this great Bittman recipe.


Strawberries With Balsamic Vinegar
Yield 4 to 6 servings

Time 15 minutes

Potluck on IHCC
Mark bittman for The New York times

Strawberries are the basis for some of the best fruit desserts, from strawberry shortcake to summer pudding. After a heavy meal, though, you might regret eating something so rich and luxurious. But here is a strawberry dish that not only is delicious and intriguing but also can compete with plain fruit in its lightness.

Strawberries with balsamic vinegar will not hold for any length of time. You can sugar the berries an hour or two before serving them, but no longer. Sprinkle on the vinegar and pepper, very judiciously, just before serving. Feel free to mix in some blackberries or blueberries for color; their addition is a striking one. The berries, of course, can be served solo, but for an even more elegant presentation, add a few crisp cookies or a slice of pound, sponge or angel food cake.

Ingredients

1 quart strawberries, rinsed, hulled and sliced
1/2 pint blackberries or blueberries, optional
1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste
1 teaspoon high-quality balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Chopped fresh mint leaves for garnish, optional

Method
1. Toss strawberries and other berries, if using, with the 1/4 cup sugar, and let sit for 10 minutes or longer. Do not refrigerate.
2. Sprinkle with the vinegar; toss gently, then taste and add more sugar or vinegar if necessary. Sprinkle with the pepper, toss again, and serve, garnished with the mint, if you like. Spoon into a glass or bowl, and serve next to cookies or a piece of cake.

Daring bakers march 2010: Orange tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I was very exited about this dessert to make, and i had never heard of it before. So i started out with getting al the ingredients. But could'nt find any pectin so had to make my marmalade without it. Used a little bit of gelatin, and that worked out fine. Hated the biterness of marmalade, so i found out i really don't like it.

Cutting the orange segments and making the pate sablé disc where no problem at al just like making the orange caramel. But making the stabiled whipped cream i accidentally used to much gelatin, and it turned out lumpy. Gladly i had enough whipped cream to try it out again. They turned out great and made some with marmelade and some with caramel fudge sauce(instead of marmelade).
Will be making it again but without the marmalade, thats for sure.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients

U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for IngredientsFreshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams1 large orange used to make orange slicescold water to cook the orange slicespectin 5 gramsgranulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients

U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperaturegranulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 gramsvanilla extract ½ teaspoonUnsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubedSalt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 gramsAll-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 gramsbaking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Orange Segments:

For this step you will need 8 oranges.
Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredientsgranulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 gramsorange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams
Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]



For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients
U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredientsheavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams3 tablespoons of hot water1 tsp Gelatine1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugarorange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon
In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]


Assembling the Dessert:
Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.