Daring Bakers Do Claudia’s Macarons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

I’ve been kind of tired and overwhelmed lately. But, I pushed myself to make these macarons. What did I do? Iadded a little coffee powder to the batter and made a filling from 70 percent chocolate and hot coffee (a water ganache). I thought the bitterness would offset the sweetness. They were quite nice. I sort of got feet on my macarons.

Sisterhood Kickoff Brunch Cake Decorating Demonstration

Actually, I don’t have pictures from the Sisterhood brunch itself. But, I can tell you about the cake decorating demonstration I did.

I had something like ten minutes to talk. At the end of a 2 hour brunch when everyone was more than ready to leave.  Oh, and it had to be participatory. So, what did I talk about?

Stenciling, that’s what.

I let everyone take a rectangle of brownie and stencil on it with powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and plain powdered sugar. The only thing I forgot was taking pictures!

Anyway, here is my tip for coloring powdered sugar fast and easy: take granulated sugar and add food coloring and mush it aound in a plastic bag. Then add powdered sugar and mush it around some more. Ideally, you would pulverize it in a blender or food processor, but it is usable without that step.  The granulated sugar helps distribute the color and break up lumps that form in the powdered sugar.

Here is another tip: buy stencils from  the craft store from a section other than the cake decorating aisle. So much choice, so inexpensive. I experimented with stenciling to create a project for the brunch, but I am now adding this to my regular repertoire of quick and easy cake decorating tricks.

Update about Potato Bread

My second loaf of the rustic potato bread (which I( had frozen) was fantastic. I took the frozen loaf and popped it into a hot oven to bake an additional half hour. The resulting crumb was moist but not gummy. The bread tasted freshly made.

Easy Broiled Salmon

I have found a really easy, really fantastic way of making salmon.

Pumpkin Pie with Easy Press-in Crust

For Rosh Hashana, I made my usual pumpkin pie, which is based on Nick Malgieri’s recipe. I made a few changes.

For one, I made a very deep dish pie, which needed double the amount of usual filling. Other changes, I used orange juice as my liquid and added in some honey.

Sephardic Leek Fritters for Rosh Hashana

It is traditional to eat leeks on Rosh Hashana, and here is an easy and delightful way of preparing them:  Ejjeh B’Kerrateh, or leek fritters.

The LA Times printed this recipe for leek fritters two years ago in a Rosh Hashana article that focused on the dishes of Syrian Jews. In particular, the article focused on Poopa Dweck’s beautiful tome about this cuisine, Aromas of Aleppo.

Apple and Honey Challah

I was planning on making the apple challah from Maggie Glezer’s A Blessing of Bread, but before I had a chance, I spotted this recipe in the LA Times from a Los Angeles kosher take-out store called “Got Kosher?”

Yet Another Chocolate Cake

I wanted to bring to dessert to a family that is having us for lunch, but I was feeling kind of tired. Also, I didn’t want to make a dessert that needs to be refrigerated because I have no idea how much fridge space my hosts have available.

So  . . . I decided to give this chocolate bundt cake from Jamie Geller a shot.

Kasha Varnishkes and Tzimmes for Rosh HaShana

For Rosh HaShana, so far I have made potatonik, tzimmes, and kasha varnishkes (oh, yeah, and pumpkin pie and chocolate bundt cake and honey cake and caramel apple cake, but who is keeping track?). I still have a lot of cooking to do, so I will keep this short and then get back to my honey apple challah . . .

Potatonik!

My husband loves potatonik. It is a kind of yeasted potato kugel that you can buy in certain kosher bakeries in Brooklyn (and elsewhere probably). Or  you can make it at home . . .

As a special Rosh HaShana treat for my sweetheart, I made potatonik from George Greenstein’s Secrets of a Jewish Baker, a wonderful cookbook by a former bakery owner.