by Aimee on February 5, 2009
It is ironic that what appears to be the simplest of tasks turns into a laborious challenge. That was the big lesson I learned attempting January’s Daring Bakers Challenge.
This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.
They also supplied a recipe for savory tuiles from Thomas Keller from the French Laundry and his cookbook
of the same name. I ended up trying the basic sweet and savory recipes. (Scroll down for recipes and food porn.) Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Daring Bakers,
MacGyver Baking Tip,
Oops!,
Raspberries,
Recipe!,
Savory
by Aimee on December 29, 2008
Yep, those were the exact words that left my lips the night (or was it morning?) when I finally finished the assembly of this challenge. I just joined the Daring Bakers group last month and while last month’s challenge wasn’t too difficult for me, seeing as I had made a caramel cake a couple of months earlier, December was certainly a doozy. pics
Tagged as:
Chocolate,
Daring Bakers,
Hazelnuts,
MacGyver Baking Tip,
Oops!
by Aimee on September 26, 2008
My kingdom for a … food processor/standing mixer??? I’d be hard pressed to make a decision on that one, if I had the money. Not to pick on the noble blender, but when it comes to performing tasks the right tool can make all the difference. I am a baker on a budget. My budget being virtually nonexistent, I actually made my first pie crust with the attachments from my hand mixer. While getting my MacGyver on can be a thrill, sometimes it’s just a plain drag.
For example, when the Plum Tart with Walnut Cream recipe called for walnuts to be ground into a “coarse powder” I had to entrust this task to my poor, overworked blender. As anyone who’s ever tried it can tell you, chopping nuts into a powder regardless of how coarse it might be isn’t easy to do with a blender. Nuts have a habit of becoming more like a paste on the bottom and large-ish chunks on the top. So what really was a simple recipe that could have been whipped up in a matter of minutes in a properly equipped kitchen, ended up taking me over an hour(s?). Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Baking On A Budget,
MacGyver Baking Tip
