Daring Bakers August 2010 - Ice Creams Petit Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.


Yeah yeah I know - baad blogger, really baaad blogger. Not only my last post was like two weeks ago but also for this month DB I use fruits I used the whole month - plums. Gosh I really must work on my blogger/cooking skills. 
But to be honest I think that I will back on track fully in October - to busy time now.


Just one word about the recipe - this is seriously THE BEST SPONGE RECIPE i ever had - richness of the gold burned butter is amazing. Usually i ad no butter at all. You can really feel the difference - cake is spongy, light, sweet with this nutty flavor on your tongue. AMAZING. 

Agust Daring Cooks 2010 - The World of Pierogi

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

I don't think that I could think of more polish/middle Europa kind of dish than Pierogi. Most of countries here (like Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia etc etc.) has those little dough pieces in menu. The main difference in filling - some are very traditional and connected with each country's history or style of living. Some are new and very modern. The truth is : you could probably make a filling with anything you want. 

This filling is kind of traditional here : many bars has "Russian Pierogi" in their menu - onion, cooked potatoes and "white cheese" (fresh cheese). As you can see - i skip the cheese this time.

See those? I wanted to show you, who are not familiar with pierogi, how easily you can fold those into uszka. Another polish specialty.

Dill dough - very nice aroma, delicate and summery, with salmon and, should be, two cheeses - fresh cheese and Dziugas - hard cheese from Lithuania (similar to parmigiano reggiano)

Sweets that are good for you

                   Plum craze continue. But can you blame me? After all it is begging of the end of the summer so the plums, in all their grace, are everywhere. Big, small, dark, light in color, sweet as...well...sweets and tart that give you sour taste after eating too much. 

The problem is one - how to avoid those little, sneaky worms. Some say that proteins are good for you but seriously, I will left you mine if you want. I think I prefer to have little lacks of the proteins.

Anyway - this time I was inspired with Turkey, Bulgaria and all those countries. Their kitchens are sweet and very rich. They using many tasty spices that give you 'that' taste. So, the dish is probably not really real Turkish but something I came up dreaming about places with men with a beards and mustaches.

Plums with sweet millet groats filing:


12-15 plums (quite or very big)
100 gram of millet groats
3-4 tablespoon of oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/3 teaspoon of nutmeg

pinch of pepper

50-70 gram of raisins
50 gram of dry plums
2- tablespoon of sesame
2-3 tablespoon of any sweet syrup you prefer (I like maple, date)


optional : 1-2 tablespoon of good honey or brown sugar 

Cook millet in salted water.

In dry pan place spices, sesame and oatmeal. Fry until you will smell tasty and strong smell of the spices. Add raisins and cutted dry plums (you can soak both in some tasty alcohol). Fry for about minute and add syrup (also now is the time for honey or sugar if you use it). Season with pepper and heat for another minute or two. Cool the filling down.

Cut plums in a half and fill with teaspoon (or two if yours plums are bigger). Serve.

Yes simple as that. I tell you you can eat many of those - with a glass of good wine is the best end of a day.

Plum rice pudding with granulated oatmeal plum topping

            Yesterday it hit me. Something changed - the air is different. You know - it is just beginning of an August, but I really can say that the summer is over now. Yeah, we will probably have few hot, hot days in August too, but it's not the same. 

You may feel sad, but me - no way. I love end of the summer/first few weeks of autumn. It's still warm, but not hot. The air is fresh, not only in mornings, but through entire days. The light is very cozy and nice - golden, everything looks better, nicer, warmer. Plus the best fruits are coming - apples, plums, pears. Oh can't wait (and do not even ask me how i love early autumn fashion - my fav period in the fashion year ^_^)

Rice pudding with plums and with oatmeal-plum topping

(one individual serving)

Pudding:

2 tablespoon of white rice

full fat milk (you can also mix regular milk with coconut one)

pinch of salt

2 tablespoon of sugar

5-6 small plums

white pepper

Topping:

2 tablespoon of granulated oatmeal (I take the plum one to add more plum taste to the pudding)

2 tablespoon of cold butter

2 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of flour

1/2teaspoon of cinnamon

Preheat oven 180C/360F.

Place a rice and milk (for start you will need about 200 ml) in a pan with heavy bottom. Cook it until rice will be al dente. Add more milk while cooking if it necessary.

Mix your creamy rice with sugar and nicely chopped plums, add white pepper to taste. You can also add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup.

Make the topping - mix flour, oatmeal(crush it if the chunks are too big),brown sugar and cinnamon. Add cold butter and mix quickly. If it will be too soft you may place it in fridge for 10 minutes. Place your pudding in a small, individual form (mine was about 3 inches). Top the oatmeal mixture over the pudding. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until topping will be brown and crispy.

Ohhh the sound when you crush the hard topping with a spoon and you find creamy, soft center...