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Strawberry Lemon Cream Puffs

31 May

Though the arrival of our garden strawberries is still a few weeks away, it has proven difficult to resist the siren song of the plump, scarlet berries populating the market right now.  Even our local farmers markets have been showcasing some early strawberries, a feat that seems almost miraculous, what with the rather unstable weather we’ve been experiencing lately.  Or, more accurately, that we experience every year, though it has become very clear that, due to what I can only deem an effort of pure survival, I have apparently trained myself to forget every year.  This is the only logical explanation for why I still live in a place where 70 degrees is considered a warm and balmy June day.  But, let’s talk about something else

Specifically, let’s talk about strawberries, and how they seem to simply sing when matched with lemon.  This is not the first time I have decided to nestle some strawberries inside a cloud of lemon cream, and it is clear that there is good reason for my path back to this companionable flavor pairing.  The brightness of lemon brings out all the best notes of a sweet, dark berry, and the mellow smoothness of this particular lemon cream seems to make everything it touches transform into a soft, delicate dream.  Though the lemon cream is certainly not lacking in richness, it manages to maintain a lightness that belies its hefty butter content.

It was that exact lightness that led me to this riff on strawberry shortcake that was a bit less dense than the usual (and perfectly delightful) offering of a buttery biscuit topped with slices of berries.  When pastry is the topic at hand, you can’t get any lighter than a classic pâte à choux, and as soon as I envisioned a plate of airy cream puffs drizzled with tart lemon cream and piled high with ripe strawberries, there was no going back.  Unless, of course, you count going back for seconds, which I most certainly did.

Strawberry Lemon Cream Puffs Recipe

Cream Puffs

Pâte à choux

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

½ cup water

½ cup milk

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.  Line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.

In a medium saucepan, combine water, milk, butter, and salt.  Bring to a full boil over medium heat.  Immediately add flour all at once and stir vigorously with a sturdy wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Reduce heat to low and continue to stir the mixture over the heat for about 1 minute.  As the moisture in the mixture evaporates, a little bit of butter may begin to seep out, which is just fine.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.  When the mixture has cooled a bit, beat in the eggs, one at a time, using a wooden spoon.  Beat the dough vigorously in between each egg, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding another.  The dough should end up looking quite smooth and shiny.

To form cream puffs, fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain, ½-inch tip with choux paste (alternately, you could fill a large Ziploc bag with choux paste, then clip off a corner of the bag with a petite, ½-inch cut).  On the prepared baking sheet, pipe the choux paste into tight swirls about 2 ½ to 3 inches in diameter.  I fit about 11 swirls on one large baking sheet, and had to bake two batches of cream puffs, with 5 swirls in the second batch.

Bake the puffs for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until the puffs are golden brown and firm to the touch.  Turn off the oven, turn each puff upside down, poke a small hole in the bottom of each puff (this will allow steam to escape and keep your puffs from becoming soggy), and allow the puffs to dry in the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove the puffs from the oven, and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, then repeat instructions to bake a second batch of cream puffs.

Makes 16 cream puffs.

Lemon Cream

Adapted from Tartine

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) of freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 whole large eggs

1 large egg yolk

¾ cup (6 ounces) sugar

pinch of salt

½ cup (4 ounces or 1 stick) cool unsalted butter, cut into 1 tablespoon pieces

Bring about 2 inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan set over medium heat.  In a non-reactive bowl that is able to rest securely in the rim of the saucepan without touching the water, combine lemon juice, whole eggs, egg yolk, sugar, and salt.  Whisk the ingredients together.  Do not allow the egg yolks and sugar sit together without being stirred constantly, as the sugar will react with the eggs and turn them granular.  Place the bowl over the saucepan of simmering water and continue to whisk for around 10-12 minutes, until the mixture thickens considerably and reaches a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remove the bowl from above the water and allow the mixture to cool to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.  Stir from time to time to help the mixture cool and release its heat.

When the cream has reached 140 degrees, pour it into a blender, or leave it in the bowl if you will be using an immersion blender to mix the lemon cream.  Add the butter to the lemon cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, blending the mixture continuously until each piece of butter is completely incorporated before you add the next one.  The cream will be pale yellow and quite thick.

The lemon cream can be used immediately, or it can be made ahead and kept in the refrigerator, tightly sealed, for up to 5 days.  Makes about 2 cups of lemon cream.

3 pounds of strawberries, hulled and sliced

1 pint whipping cream

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine the whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla, and whip together until it forms soft peaks.

To assemble strawberry lemon cream puffs, slice off the top of a cream puff.  On the bottom of a puff, drizzle on a bit of lemon cream.  Pile strawberries on top of the cream, drizzle on a bit more cream, then top with a dollop of whipped cream.  Place the top of the cream puff on the pile, and serve.

Makes 16 cream puffs.

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Ginger Cardamom Cake with Lemon Glaze

25 May

As my week-plus of Indian food postings comes to a close, it would seem only natural thing I take the time to focus on an Indian dessert offering.  The problem is, I am not the most ardent fan of Indian desserts.  Though there are exceptions, I find most Indian desserts to be unbearably sweet, unpleasantly textured, and nearly always containing golden raisins, of which I am no friend.  With apologies to half of my genetic make-up, here is the part where I admit that, after a nice, satisfying Indian meal, I am 100% more likely to be found going out for gelato than reaching for the Indian dessert menu.

It is not as though a petite cup of gelato after an Indian meal is a crime against humanity, but, unless I happen to order a bit of mango sorbet, it is not the smoothest bookend I can think of to complete my meal.  And so, my dislike of Indian sweets, embarrassing as it is to admit, only compelled me to come up with a dessert that is at least slightly related to Indian cuisine, one that could be served at the end of an Indian feast and carry on the tone of the meal.

Though I can’t claim that this cake is in any way an actual Indian dessert, it is, at the very least, very much the type of dessert that makes for a satisfying end to an Indian meal.  Plumped up with three iterations of ginger (powdered, fresh, and crystallized), just barely scented with the aroma of cardamom, and brushed with a light, tart, lemony glaze, the flavor of the cake contains a subtle reminder of the savory foods that came before it.  If you are looking for something to bring your Indian meal to a gentle close, you should look no further.

You can, however, look beyond what I have initially come up with here.  Though a nice addition, the lemon glaze definitely takes this cake in a brighter direction than some people might like.  If you are looking for an even subtler presentation, omit the glaze and serve this cake with thin slices of ripe mango.  To make the ginger sit even more front and center, you can serve it with lightly whipped cream flavored with a bit of ginger extract.  No matter what you serve it with, you’re bound to be pleased with the result.

Last Year: Chocolate Cake with Coffee Frosting (and a Secret) This is one stand-out cake, my friends.

Ginger Cardamom Cake with Lemon Glaze Recipe

Ginger Cardamom Cake

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Lemon Glaze

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup powdered sugar

Make the cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place an oven rack in the middle position.  Thoroughly butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, ground ginger, cardamom, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until light and creamy.  Add the sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs, one at a time, blending well after each addition.  Add the vanilla and freshly grated ginger and beat until combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add one third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.  Add half of the sour cream, and beat until just combined.  Add half of the remaining flour mixture, beat until just combined, then add the remaining sour cream, mixing only until just combined.  Add the last of the flour mixture and beat until just combined.  Stir in crystallized ginger

Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan, and bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the middle of the cake emerges with just a few moist crumbs attached, and the top of the cake is golden brown.  Cool the cake in its pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool.

To make lemon glaze, in a small saucepan, combine lemon juice and powdered sugar over low heat and stir to dissolve sugar completely.  Heat the mixture very gently and do not allow to boil.  When sugar is completely dissolved, remove mixture from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

While cake is still slightly warm, brush all over with lemon glaze.

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Coconut Lime Frozen Yogurt and Chewy Ginger Cookie Sandwiches

10 May

As tough as it was for me to find a name for these astonishingly delicious treats (that title is almost more of a mouthful than the actual cookie sandwich), the path from idea to reality was a surprisingly simple one.  As often as I have ideas about dishes and flavor combinations I think would be great, only to have them never really work out in the end, no matter my efforts (there might be an entire article I can write about this phenomenon, which I may dub “Foods that Never Were”), it is always a great boon to my cooking inclinations when I can manage to make something work itself out on the first go around.  These frozen yogurt sandwiches came into being at just the right time.

It doesn’t take much to make the people of Portland move from cold weather doldrums to sheer, unadulterated excitement over the promise of a warm, sunny day.  All I have to do is hear someone casually mention that it might not rain for a few days and my brain wanders over to thoughts of picnics, hammocks, and tall, ice-filled glasses, their sides mottled by drops of condensation.  If it seems the warm weather might take a trip north of 70 degrees, I start to hover around the cabinet where I keep the ice cream maker, waiting in earnest for a cue—any cue—that will allow me to unearth my old friend and start welcoming the cold treats we so crave on warm days.

Striking the perfect balance of cool and creamy against chewy and crunchy, I can’t think of a better invitation to celebrate summer than having a batch of these ice cream sandwiches sitting in your freezer, waiting for the perfect moment to accompany you in a lounge chair or on a picnic blanket.  The tropical notes of the lime and coconut yogurt make fast friends with the wonderful ginger bite of the cookies that envelop it, making this an ice cream sandwich for the ages.  As an added bonus, and as any fellow fan of the frozen sandwich will hear and, no doubt, applaud, the wonderfully chewy ginger cookies that hold this sandwich together are sturdy enough to keep their shape throughout the entire life of the sandwich, but never do they impede one’s efforts to bite through the sandwich.  Crisp, yet with gentle give, they are the perfect bookends to an equally perfect treat.

Last Year: New Potato and Caramelized Leek Tart in an Olive Oil Crust

Coconut Lime Frozen Yogurt and Chewy Ginger Cookie Sandwiches Recipe

Some of you may remember these ginger cookies from a post a few months ago.  That’s how I remembered them, and that’s how I came to conclude that, with their fantastic chewiness and great ginger flavor, they’d be the perfect match for this ice cream treat.  The recipe for the cookies is the same here, only the size of each cookie is obviously larger, and the baking time adjusted accordingly.

A note on the yogurt choice: you’ve got to go Greek yogurt on this one.  The creaminess and texture of Greek yogurt are unparalleled here, and really make the frozen yogurt that much more luxurious.  If you’re afraid of the fat content in Greek yogurt (which is fine, it’s a perfectly reasonable concern), I’ll have you know that I accidentally ended up with non-fat Greek yogurt when I was making this (did you even know that there was such a thing as non-fat Greek yogurt? I had no idea), and I never even suspected it was fat-free until I was pitching the yogurt cups in the recycling bin later on in the day and noticed the designation on the label.  The taste gave nothing away.  So, Greek yogurt is a must, and full or non-fat are both fine.

Coconut Lime Frozen Yogurt

18 ounces (just a tad north of 2 cups) plain Greek yogurt

1 heaping tablespoon finely grated fresh lime zest

½ cup unsweetened coconut milk

2/3 cup granulated sugar

In a large bowl, or in a large measuring cup, combine all ingredients.  Whisk vigorously together for 1 minute, thoroughly combining.  Allow the mixture to rest for about 5 minutes to really let the sugar dissolve, then vigorously whisk once more for at least a minute, making sure that everything is fully incorporated.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.  When yogurt has frozen, remove from ice cream maker and pack into a freezer-safe tub.  Place frozen yogurt in freezer for at least an hour to allow it to firm up just a bit more before assembling ice cream sandwiches.

Chewy Ginger Thin Cookies

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 beaten egg

¼ cup molasses (dark or light are both fine)

1 ½ cups sifted unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground powdered ginger

pinch nutmeg

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg, and molasses.  Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, powdered ginger, and nutmeg, and sift together directly onto the butter mixture.  Stir until smooth.  Add the fresh ginger, then mix to combine.

Using a pastry bag or a Ziploc bag with a bottom corner cut off (the dough is extremely sticky, so trying to portion it out with a spoon won’t work well at all), pipe or squeeze out cookies into circles roughly 3 inches across onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Place each cookie about 1 inch apart, lest they stick together as they spread during baking.

Bake cookies on the center rack of the oven for 8 to 9 minutes, until the edges of the cookies have just begun to appear slightly darkened and dry.  While the cookies are baking, pipe another batch of cookies onto your second prepared baking sheet.

Cool baked cookies on their parchment sheet placed on a wire rack.  When cookies have cooled on a rack for about 5 minutes are and no longer gooey, you can slip the cookies right off of the parchment and reuse the parchment for another batch of cookies.

The desired consistency for these cookies is super chewy but ever-so-slightly firm (they will be very bendy when they come out of the oven, and will become soft-firm when cooled).  If you find your cookies are persistently floppy even after having sufficiently cooled, increase the baking time of subsequent batches by 1 minute.

To Assemble and Wrap Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches:

Allow cookies to cool completely.  Place a cookie on a piece of plastic wrap.  Scoop desired amount of frozen yogurt on top of cookie, leaving a bit of open space around the edges of each cookie to allow for settling.  Place another cookie on top of the frozen yogurt, and gently press down until the frozen yogurt settles a bit and the top cookie starts to adhere.  Wrap the plastic wrap around the sandwich and place in the freezer to allow to firm up a bit, ideally for a couple of hours.  There is, of course, nothing stopping you from eating a frozen yogurt sandwich as soon as you assemble it, but allowing the sandwiches to rest in the freezer for a bit really does help them keep their shape while you eat them.

Assemble all sandwiches until yogurt is gone.  You will have cookies left over, but this is a good thing.

Makes 12-15 sandwiches, depending on how much yogurt you desire to put in between the cookies.

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