Champagne Panna Cotta for the New Year
Happy New Year, my dear friends!
For New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be fun to have a champagne dessert to drink with our champagne toast! This champagne-flavored panna cotta is super easy peasy-if you can warm cream on the stove, you can make this. The champagne flavor is quite bold so be sure to use a champagne that you love to drink! The booziness does mellow out over time, in fact, I found the panna cotta more to my liking 2 days after I made it. To accompany the panna cotta, I poached pears with a vanilla bean until they were tender and reduced the poaching liquid until it was syrupy. The pears and vanilla syrup were enjoyed the morning after with yogurt and granola, and I can’t wait to put them in my oatmeal and eat them with ice cream!
I hope you all had a nice weekend ringing in the New Year, perhaps over-indulging in the last hours of 2010 before those resolutions of 2011 kick in!
I don’t like to make New Year’s resolutions because it seems a bit disingenuous making grand promises about flossing everyday or working out 5 times a week, when I KNOW fully well that I will be breaking them before the month is out. Now that I’m thinking about it, I suppose it’s not actually the resolving part that I’m against- it’s the guilt and disappointment in myself that I feel when I break my resolutions that I would like to avoid! So though I have not explicitly made any resolutions (and therefore, you cannot fault me when I inevitably break them!), I am very proud of my first 2 days of 2011: I slept in (until 9:30 and 10), cleaned (part of) my room, was efficient in lab, tried a few recipes I’d tagged way back in 2010, and went to a yoga class. I hope this streak of motivation and improved attitude and time management continues into 2011, and most importantly, I look forward to all the new recipes and random ramblings I will share here in 2011!
Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta
It was the summer of panna cottas; after having made my first a little over 2 months ago (and becoming instantly smitten with its creamy, dairy goodness), I suddenly seemed to find panna cottas everywhere I turned- on every restaurant dessert menu and prevalent in the food blogosphere. It’s like when I finally learned what siRNAs were (light-years after my biological-science-inclined peers), and suddenly, they were the answer to 90% of every quiz question in our paper-reading class my first year of graduate school. Panna cotta is the answer to my dessert cravings!
This panna cotta seems quite decadent, being richer and sweeter than my first, due to a healthy dose of Nutella and chocolate, but thankfully it is not OVERLY sweet and you don’t feel like you have to run 10 miles or restrict yourself to salads for a week after eating this. This recipe requires less gelatin, which results in a softer, more pudding-like consistency, but next time I would increase the gelatin a bit. Also, I highly recommend sprinkling toasted hazelnuts on top for a nice crunch with the creamy panna cotta.
Mango and Vanilla Bean Buttermilk Panna Cotta
It is estimated that up to 90% of Asians suffer from a decrease in lactose tolerance in adulthood. Both my parents are lactose tolerant; my dad is so intolerant, he has basically identified which common grocery ice cream brands use real dairy or artificial ingredients based on the intensity of stomach discomfort and length of bathroom time required after ingestion. (TMI? sorry.) Taking these two gems of information together, I’ve come to realize that the odds are against me; my carefree days of chugging glasses of milk, buying J.P. Licks ice cream by the pint, and creamy pasta dishes are numbered!!
Of course, only now that the countdown is on, I have fallen (and fallen hard) for a cool and creamy LACTOSE-FILLED dessert. What a cruel world!
Panna cotta is made by simmering sugar, milk and/or cream, and gelatin, and allowed to cool until it is set. The texture is amazingly custardy, but without the egg-y flavor. It’s simple and clean-flavored by itself, but can also be gussied up with all kinds of sweet accompaniments- fruits (fresh, poached, macerated, puréed, compotes), caramel, chocolate, nuts, streusel, cookies. I love recipes with lots of different variations because it gives me a great excuse to try the recipe out several times to figure out what combination I like best!
This panna cotta recipe is so amazing (and easy!), I really can’t wait to try it again. The addition of real vanilla bean results in a most beautifully vanilla-infused custard- without the somewhat cloying aftertaste that can come from using extract. And who doesn’t love little speckles of vanilla sprinkled throughout their dessert?! The buttermilk also adds a really pleasant tang that adds such complexity to the flavor. I made a mango purée on the bottom, but in all honesty, this panna cotta is better on its own (or with less purée or milder-flavored fruits) so that you can really enjoy the vanilla and the buttermilk. I know I will be having many more of these because not only are they great cool treats for hot summer days, but also because if that tragic day ever arrives when I realize my lactase has finally failed me, I REFUSE to make this with Lactaid.
Tiramisu
This weekend was a special somone’s birthday.
I hope he doesn’t kill me for posting this picture for the 5 people that read this blog to see, but I just couldn’t resist… I mean, omg, how freaking cute was he??!!!
Though he’s not into big birthday hoopla, I wanted to cook him a nice dinner (to be posted shortly) and for dessert, we enjoyed this tiramisu.
I apologize for the extreme unphotogenic-ness of my tiramisu.. it is partly because I had tried to cut a circular slice of tiramisu (I thought it would look super cool) and failed, and partly because creamy layers of soft coffee-soaked cake and whipped mascarpone just don’t hold an independent shape, it’s like some law in physics. But don’t let the unappetizing pictures fool you… this tiramisu was freaking awesome.
I was never been a big fan of tiramisu. When I was younger, I just didn’t get it… mushy cake made soggy by bitter coffee smothered in some fluffy stuff with a slightly sour alcoholic aftertaste? No thank you, please pass me a REAL dessert! (A slice of cheesecake and a slice of apple pie, perhaps?) Maybe the tiramisus of my childhood were not great anyway, or maybe it was because I hadn’t yet developed the appreciation for coffee and alcohol (which I have since probably over-developed)… It wasn’t until my dad made tiramisu at home over the holidays that I came to realize how heavenly tiramisu really is. It is a rather soft and subtle dessert: the deep coffee/espresso flavors are tempered by a generous amount of mild mascarpone, whipped until oh-so-light and airy, the slight bitterness of the cocoa and liqueur delicately accents the coffee just so that you remember it is there, and the whole experience is like eating a dream. A really really good one. Like the ones where you are flying or where you win a bazillion dollars and don’t have to be in grad school anymore.
Tiramisu (without raw eggs)
adapted from America’s Test Kitchen, November 2007
The original recipe makes enough tiramisu for a 9x13 inch baking dish, and though I was really tempted to just make the whole thing, I sternly reminded myself that there were only TWO of us in this apartment and halved the recipe for the sake of some sense of portion control.
1 1/4 cup strong black coffee
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I used 1 shot espresso)
4 tablespoons dark rum (or brandy or other alcoholic liqueur; I used Baileys)
3 large egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 ounces mascarpone cheese
1/6 cup cream (for adding to yolks)
1/2 cup cold heavy cream (for whipping)
7 ounces lady fingers
3 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (optional)
- Stir coffee, espresso, and 2 tablespoons of rum (Baileys) in wide bowl or baking dish; set aside.
- In a heat-proof bowl or bowl of a standing mixer, beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl with a spatula a few times. Add 1/6 cup cream to yolks and beat until just combined, 20-30 seconds; scrape bowl with spatula. Set bowl with yolks over medium saucepan containing 1 inch of gently simmering water. Cook, while constantly scraping along bottom and sides of bowl with a heatproof rubber spatula, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon and registers 160 degrees, about 4-7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir vigorously to cool slightly, then set aside to cool at room temperature, about 15 minutes. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons rum (Baileys), then add mascarpone, and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30-45 seconds. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat 1/2 cup cream at medium speed until frothy, 1-1 1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes longer. Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain.
- Prepare the ladyfingers by dropping a few into the coffee mixture at a time, rolling them to coat and then remove; the whole soaking process should not take more than 2-3 seconds to prevent over-soaking the cookie. Transfer to a 9x9 inch baking dish. Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in the baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly.
- Spread 1/2 of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use spatula to spread mixture to the sides and into the corners of the dish and smooth the surface. Place 2 tablespoons cocoa into a fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over the mascarpone.
- Repeat dipping and arranging ladyfingers for the 2nd layer; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1 tablespoon cocoa. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate (or freeze?) 6-24 hours. Sprinkle with grated chocolate, if using; cut into pieces and serve chilled.
Semi-Homemade Twinkies
Last weekend, Andreas and I watched Zombieland, and though I am usually not a zombie-movie kind of girl (or any movie where aliens/possessed people/crazies/serial killers/vampires pop out suddenly to a suspenseful symphonic soundtrack), I actually enjoyed this movie! The movie was more like a smart comedy that happened to have zombies in it, and unlike after watching other zombie movies, I felt no need to leave the lights on when I went to bed and had no trouble falling asleep.
Woody Harrelson’s character is hell-bent on finding the last Twinkie in Zombieland, and gleefully (and creatively, might I add) takes out any zombies that stand in his way. Towards the end of the movie, Andreas turned to me and whispered, “We should try to make Twinkies!” And so we did.
I found a few recipes online, here and here, and decided to follow this one mostly because of the ease (it crossed my mind to make the cake batter from scratch of course, but laziness inevitably won out) and also because I happened to have a box of yellow cake mix that I had bought before we even moved into this apartment (2 years ago!) for some long-forgotten reason; it felt good to finally use it for something. Andreas constructed little baking vessels using aluminum foil and spice bottles to give each cake its twinkie-like shape.
Originally, I attempted to make the filling by making my own marshmallow creme, from this recipe. I managed to make the cream, and it was thick and full… and then I abandoned it to watch Apolo Ohno compete in the men’s final 1000 meter (I never realized how exciting short track speed skating is until this year!) and when I returned, the cream had deflated to a much more liquidy mess. No amount of beating could get back the whipped texture, so we scrapped that filling and started over with heavy cream and some sugar. I know using cream kind of makes this a non-Twinkie, since the reason Twinkies have such long shelf-life (25 days) is because they are made entirely of non-dairy products, and thus do not spoil as quickly (though the 10-25 year shelf life is an urban myth, per this article), but it’s what we had on hand and we knew it would be tasty. Using surgical precision, Andreas cut out little trenches along the length of each cake to make room for plenty of filling. Improvising a pastry bag with a ziploc bag with the corner cut out, I filled each cake. After replacing the top of the cake to hide the filling, they were ready to eat! I’ve never had a real Twinkie before, but these little guys were pretty tasty.
Question: If you were stuck in Zombieland, what food item would you risk fending off zombies to find??
Semi-Homemade Twinkies
from Todd Wilbur, Top Secret Recipes, there is also a youtube video
1 box (16 ounce) yellow cake mix
* The cake mix has a pretty tinny artificial flavoring (stronger than just a vanilla taste) that I am not really a fan of, so next time around, I would certainly look for a vanilla cake recipe that uses beaten egg whites to maintain the light sponge-y texture.
2/3 cup water
4 egg whites, beaten until stiff peaks form
Filling
1 cup heavy cream, beaten until thick
1/4 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
- Preheat the oven 325 degrees. Grease or lightly coat with nonstick spray molds. You can use muffin tins, home-made tins (step by step pics here), or a real twinkie pan.
- Disregard directions on the box. Mix cake mix with 2/3 cup water until smooth.
- Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold in the egg whites into the cake batter until just incorporated.
- Fill each mold about 3/4 full. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until lightly browned and a tester comes out smooth. Cool completely on a rack before filling.
- Make filling, beat heavy cream in a medium bowl until thick, about 3-5 minutes. Add sifted confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Transfer filling to a ziplock bag and squeeze cream to one corner. When ready to fill cakes, cut the corner off.
- Using a small sharp knife, cut a rectangle along the length of the cake, without cutting all the way through. Remove the rectangle and fill with the filling but squeezing the ziplock bag. Replace the displaced rectangular slice of cake.
- Eat twinkies.
