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Ginger Almond Toffee

12 Dec

It’s not tough to find a specialty chocolate shop in Portland, or in most any other city, I suppose, but it is certainly not easy to find a shop that is not only staffed by some of the friendliest, most knowledgeable chocolate fans around (sidenote: I once knew someone who worked in a chocolate shop and was allergic to chocolate, which is just absurd when you think about it, because wouldn’t you think, and hope, that a chocolate shop, selling chocolate and all, would want to hire people who could, you know, readily sample and talk honestly about  their product without breaking out in a rash?) but also offers a truly creative selection of chocolate treats.  Alma Chocolate, in Northeast Portland, is that chocolate shop.  Sure, everyone makes salted caramels nowadays, but how about habanero caramels?  Or a Thai peanut butter cup, a dream of a chocolate confection that layers your mouth with hits of lime, chili, and ginger?  How about a chevre and black pepper truffle?  Do you see what I mean?  It’s chocolate taken just a step further, from pleasingly creative to utterly inspired.

Though not their most unusual of offerings, Alma’s ginger almond toffee bark is a great example of the way their take on confections can be given a bit of a lift.  The toffee is perfectly melt-in-your-mouth, enveloping large chunks of spicy candied ginger and toasted almonds.  Most people take the timid route with this type of toffee, unfortunately, peppering it only moderately with tiny little bits of ginger, and pulverizing the almonds into an almost powdery layer that only hints at its presence.  But Alma knows better, and they know that if someone wants to eat ginger almond toffee, they want to eat ginger, and almonds, and toffee, each component standing front and center.

It might seem odd to wax rhapsodic about a chocolatier and then immediately turn around and attempt to make their product at home instead of heading out and buying something to support that chocolatier, but, when I have an affection for something, this is how I show it.  If I am truly enamored of something, I like to make it a part of my life, and a toffee of this caliber is most certainly worthy of being part of my life, and the lives of other people I know who happen to be partial to smooth chocolate, rich toffee, snappy ginger, and crisp almonds.

Ginger Almond Toffee

Inspired by Alma Chocolate

1 cup toasted whole almonds

heaping ¼ cup crystallized candied ginger

1 ¼ cups white sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons water

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon molasses

¼ teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon baking soda

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Separate the almonds into ¾ cup and ¼ cup piles.  Chop the ¾ cup pile very roughly, basically just chopping each almond roughly in half (you want these almonds to maintain a good bite).  Chop the remaining ¼ cup pile into a medium-fine dice and set aside.

Coarsely chop the heaping ¼ cup of crystallized ginger.  Line the bottom of an 8”x13” baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper, and evenly scatter the ¾ cup of almond chunks and the chopped crystallized ginger over the parchment.

In a large, heavy saucepan, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, water, butter, molasses, and sea salt.  Over medium heat, cook the mixture, stirring occasionally with a heatproof spoon or spatula, until it turns a rich, dark golden brown and just reaches a heat of 300 degrees.  (This process can take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the heat of your stove’s burner and the heating capabilities of the saucepan you are using.)  Immediately remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla and baking soda.  The mixture will bubble up when the baking soda is added, so be sure to stir carefully but thoroughly.

Quickly pour the mixture evenly over the almonds and ginger.  When the toffee is still hot but just starting to set (about 2 minutes later), sprinkle the chopped chocolate over the surface of the toffee.  Allow the chocolate to melt from the heat of the toffee, then spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee.  Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup chopped almonds over the chocolate.

Allow the toffee to cool completely before breaking into pieces.  If you want to speed up the cooling process, you can place the toffee in either the refrigerator (more patience) or the freezer (less patience).

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Chocolate-Dipped Lime Shortbread

8 Dec

It seems somehow unbelievable, but up until last year, I had never before heard of a holiday cookie exchange.  Then I was invited to one, and it was like someone had thrown open the door to a whole new world of crisp, buttery delights.  If you’ve never heard of a cookie exchange either, the basics are thus:

-You make a bunch of cookies.

-Other people make a bunch of cookies.

-You and those other people gather at a predetermined location to exchange a handful of each cookie in attendance.

-You leave with as many cookies as you came with, only now your cookies are made up of a glorious mix of several different types of cookies.

And I went most of my life without knowing about this magnificent event?  Unfathomable.  Thankfully, this year I was invited to yet another cookie exchange, and it seems as though we somehow lucked into the greatest, most creative group of cookie makers for which anyone could ever hope.  When we left that cookie exchange, we had been blessed with extra-spicy ginger cookies, peanut butter Nutella cookies (how I’ve never been exposed to those little miracles before, I’ll never know), tiny little pecan pies, anise butter cookies, and something called an espresso crunch bar that I eventually had to get rid of after I found myself unable to resist its charms for the tenth time in one evening, leading me to stand in front of it whilst pointing angrily and yelling in a stern voice, “You are not the boss of me!”

A success all around, it seems.

Of course, in order to partake in a cookie exchange, one must bring along a selection of cookies, and I dutifully did my part.  I’ve always been a big fan of shortbreads that have been heightened with a bit of citrus, so my choice of cookie was easily made.  As an added bonus, choosing to shape the dough into logs and cut them later made for a great, simple method of breaking up my cookie preparation into a couple of laid-back evenings.  One night I made the dough and shaped it, the next night I baked the cookies.  The morning of the cookie exchange, I dipped the cookies in just a bit of melted chocolate, giving them a touch of something extra.  It might be debatable if we really need to add extras during the holiday cookie season, but why go down that road?  Make some cookies, then exchange them, gift them, or, if you are brave, leave them in your house to be enjoyed over the remaining weeks.  Okay, days.  Okay, day, singular.  You know what?  Just send the cookies to work with your spouse.  It’s safer that way.

Chocolate-Dipped Lime Shortbread

Keen eyes may notice that these pictures show two types of shortbread.  Because the cookie exchange I attended require each person to make 7 dozen cookies, and this recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, I doubled the recipe and made one batch of lime shortbread and one batch of ginger shortbread.  To make ginger shortbread, simply add two tablespoons of finely chopped candied ginger in place of the two tablespoons of lime zest.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

½ cup cornstarch

2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into smallish chunks

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolk and blend well.  Add the flour and cornstarch and beat until well mixed.  Add lime zest and mix until combined.

Dive the dough into 2 batches.  Shape each batch into a log roughly 12 inches long.  Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until firm (tightly wrapped, dough can be left refrigerated for up to a week).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cut dough into ¼-inch slices.  Bake the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets for 10 to 13 minutes, or until the cookies are mostly set in the middle and just starting to turn light golden brown at the edges.  Prick tops of cookies with a fork (to allow steam to escape and ensure a crisp cookie), then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

When cookies have cooled, heat the chocolate on top of a double boiler until it is smooth and glossy.  Alternately, you can melt the chocolate in the microwave by heating the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between each session, until the chocolate is mostly melted.  Let the chocolate sit for a minute or so to melt completely, then stir to make it smooth.

Line several baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Dip each cookie into the melted chocolate, coating it halfway.  I ended up dipping each cookie by tipping the top into the chocolate and leaving the bottom mostly uncovered, because I found this method to be the easiest.  Place each dipped cookie on the parchment paper and allow to the chocolate to harden completely before packing up or transporting.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

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Dutch Apple Pie

5 Dec

For a very long time, I thought I had come up with the greatest pie dough recipe I’d ever had the pleasure of working with, and subsequently eating.  It was flaky, it behaved well, and the end product was always a delight.  My pie dough recipe had a squeeze of lemon juice in it, which aided the goal of keeping the gluten in the flour undeveloped and, as an end result, the dough never turned out tough.  My only complaint, small as it was, was that the dough never really developed the dozens of flaky layers that I always wanted to see in my pie dough.  Sure, there were layers of crisp flakiness, but not innumerable layers (like I said, small complaint).

Last Thanksgiving, I decided to try out a different pie dough.  Turning to my bible of all things pastry, I settled on using Tartine’s flaky tart dough, an unsweetened, highly buttery dough that I already knew I absolutely loved in savory applications.  Now, here comes the part where I instruct you all to recite with me the discovery I made about this dough when used in a pie, because, by now, you all know what I am going to say when it comes to Tartine and the food it produces: This, my friends, is the greatest pie dough in all the land.

So buttery, so simple to work with, and so unbelievably flaky, this is the very pie dough I have been looking for my entire life.  The best part is, there is no secret to the dough.  There are four ingredients, there is a standard mixing method, and then there is a nice long resting period in both the refrigerator and the freezer.  If I were to really take a stab at what I think makes this dough so fantastic, I’d have to go with three possible suspects.

First of all, the proportion of butter to flour is marginally larger than my former favorite recipe, and it is absolutely perfect.  Second, giving the dough a long resting period in the refrigerator before rolling it out and forming it seems to add a particularly fine texture to the dough, as you are allowing the butter, water, and flour to adhere to one another better without coaxing them along with your hands or a food processor and working the flour’s gluten too long, thus making the dough tough.  A well-chilled dough also allows the small, pea-sized chunks of butter to firm up slightly, which makes the flour and water form tiny little pockets around the butter pieces, which results in a super tender and flaky crust when baked.  I rested this pie dough in the refrigerator overnight and it was simply dreamy.

Third: no sugar.  No sugar.  So simple, right?  For some reason I always thought that I had to add a tiny shot of sugar to my sweet pie and tart dough, but, now that I think of it, that makes absolutely no sense.  If you pie’s filling is going to be sweetened, why gild the lily and sweeten up your dough as well? The lack of sugar in this dough allows the flavor of the butter to really shine in a glorious and uncomplicated way, which bodes well for the dough’s richly sweet filling.

Which brings me, finally, to the rest of the recipe.  A hybrid of a Cook’s Illustrated recipe and what I remember about the Dutch apple pie at the restaurant where I worked as a teenager (which called the pie a French apple pie, as there seems to be quite a bit of overlap concerning what people consider a French apple pie and a Dutch apple pie), the pie I ended up making is stuffed with sautéed tart apples and topped with a hearty, crumbly, pecan-crunchy lid.  When baked, the crisp topping settles into the nooks and crannies left open by the baking apples, leaving no space unoccupied by tasty, cinnamon-laden glory.  At the risk of making two loud proclamations in one post, dare I say that this apple pie is the best apple pie I’ve ever had?  For now, yes.  But only time will tell if its throne will one day be conquered.  Tartine, it’s your move.

Flaky Tart and Pie Dough

From Tartine

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup (5 ½ ounces) very cold ice water

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons (1 pound) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup plus 5 tablespoons (10 ½ ounces) very cold unsalted butter

In a small bowl, add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve.  Place in the freezer to keep super cold until ready to use.

Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor, or in a large bowl.  Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces, then scatter over the flour.  If using a food processor, pulse the mixture briefly until it forms into large crumbs and some of the pieces of butter remain pea-sized.  If making the dough by hand, cut the butter into the dough using a pastry cutter.  You will want the dough to have the same crumb-like look with some large pea-sized chunks of butter throughout.

Drizzle the salt and water mixture over the dough and, if using a food processor, pulse until the dough comes together into a ball but is not completely smooth.  You should still see visible butter chunks.  If mixing the dough by hand, drizzle the salt and water mixture over the dough while tossing with a fork.  The dough should come together in a shaggy mass.  Gently mix the dough together until it comes together in a ball but is not completely smooth.  As with the food processor dough, you should still see visible butter chunks.

Divide the dough into 2 equal balls on a lightly floured surface.  Shape each ball into a disk about 1 inch thick.  Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Makes 2 9-inch or 10-inch tart or pie shells, enough for 2 single-crust pies or tarts, or 1 double-crust pie.

Dutch Apple Pie

I have seen many apple pie recipes that call for a mix of tart and sweet apples, and I never understand why.  Tart apples, in addition to holding their shape so much better than sweet apples, provide the best flavor balance for the sweetness of a pie’s sugar and spice.  I know I tend to err on the side of less sweetened desserts these days, but, trust me, tart apples are the way to go with this recipe, or any other apple pie recipe, for that matter.

You will need:

Dough for 1 single-crust pie shell

Streusel

1 cup (5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed (2 1/3 ounces) light brown sugar

¼ cup pecans, chopped medium-fine

pinch of salt

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Filling

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 pounds firm tart apples (I used Granny Smith, the tartest, firmest apples I know), peeled, cored, and slice ¼ inch thick

¼ cup (1 ¾ ounces) granulated sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

½ cup heavy cream

Parbake the crust:

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your disk of chilled pie dough into a circle about 1 ½ inches larger than your 9-inch pie dish.  Gently transfer the dough to the pie dish, easing it into the bottom and sides, and pressing gently into place.  Using a sharp knife, trim the dough so it hangs over the pie dish by ½ inch, or, using your fingers, tuck the scraggly edges of the dough under itself and lightly press to adhere.  Using your fingers, crimp the edges of the dough to make a fluted edges, or using the tines of a fork, press the edges of the dough to flatted it against the rim of the dish.  Place the formed dough in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour (this ensures the flakiest dough possible).

While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and adjust an oven rack to the middle position.

When the dough is chilled and the oven preheated, line the chilled crust with a double layer of foil and fill with pie weights.  Bake until the pie dough looks dry and is light in color, 25 to 30 minutes.  Transfer the pie plate to a wire rack and remove the weights and foil.  With the oven still heated to 375 degrees, adjust an oven rack to the lowest position, and place a foil-lined baking sheet on the rack.

Make the Streusel:

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, pecans and salt.  Drizzle with the melted butter, and stir the streusel with a fork until roughly combined.  Set aside.

Make the Filling:

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Stir in the apples, cinnamon, sugar, and salt.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the apples have just started to soften, and some of the apples have just begun to break down.

Set a large bowl under a colander.  Pour the cooked apples into the colander, allowing the juice to thoroughly drain into the large bowl set underneath.  In a small saucepan, combine the drained juice from the bowl with the heavy cream.  Cook over medium-high heat until thick and reduced by roughly half, about 3 minutes.

Spread the apples into the parbaked pie crust.  Drizzle with the reduced cream mixture.  Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top (there will be some large pieces of streusel and some small pieces—this is exactly what you want, as the variation in texture makes for a great bite).  Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and bake until the crust and streusel have browned, about 25 minutes.  Allow the pie to cool on a wire rack until the filling has set, about 2 hours.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

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