notes from my food diary

The fifth challenge from Klub Berani Baking is Banoffee Pie. I usually make a regular crust for my pie/tart, but this one requires me to make a rich pie crust using egg yolks. I prefer the regular crust to the rich crust because I hate having leftover egg whites! I don’t have any obstacles making this pie, but there’s a few steps that I didn’t pay attention, that was letting the crust rest in the fridge after being formed to the pan, the crust was rolled too thick, although my tart pan was already quite big in size, and a rectangular tart pan was used instead of a round pie pan. Hello??? I felt like I was lost in translation though the recipe was in English. Thus, I couldn’t say that this is a true Banoffee Pie because it’s misleading, it should be called Banoffee Tart. A few things that I liked to point out was that I didn’t care about the caramel-dulce-le-leche-like sauce (or toffee) for the filling. I didn’t like the taste at all and it’s quite sweet; I didn’t pour all the sauce into the tart, instead I drizzled it when it’s time to eat the tart. Next time, a butterscotch sauce might be a better substitution.  But I like having bananas in tart shell with whipped cream.  One addition to the recipe was that I added lemon juice to my bananas to prevent them from getting brown (just in case). Banoffee Pie

Makes one 20-22 cm pie or tart

Pastry

300g all-purpose flour

150g unsalted butter, diced

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons cold water

Combine the flour, butter and sugar in the food processor and process until well mixed. Then mix in the egg yolks and process in small bursts until the mixture appears crumbly. Add the water a little at a time. As the crumbs get larger, turn the motor off and check that the pastry will come together when pressed between your fingers. Turn the mixture on to a clean board or bench and work very gently into a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to line 20-22cm flan or loose-bottomed tart tin, prick the base of the pastry with fork several times. Set aside for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base of the pastry with baking paper and beans, bake blind for 12-15 minutes or until the pastry turns golden brown. Remove the paper and beans. (Return the pastry base into the oven for 5 minutes or until the base becomes dry.)

Filling

75g butter

50g brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

300g sweetened condensed milk

2 firm bananas

300ml heavy cream

Toasted slivered almonds, optional

Place the butter and sugar in a non-stick pan and heat gently until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer for one minute, stirring continuously using a wooden spoon. Remove from the heat and add the milk and condensed milk. Return to the heat and bring to the boil. Allow to gently bubble for 5-6 minutes, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens and turns a light golden brown. Cool slightly.

Cut the bananas and put them on the base of the pastry. Pour in the caramel mixture. Leave to cool then chill for at least 2 hours. Serve topped with the whipped cream, spooned or spread over the caramel, and toasted slivered almonds, if using.

Source: Foodtown Magazine, October-November 2007; Cuisine Magazine, November 2002 (with adjustments of pastry making and filling)

I don’t remember when I started but I’m not a big breakfast eater anymore. Usually my breakfast consists of milk, juice and banana during the weekdays, days which I don’t want to think “big” in the morning. Weekends are different. These are the days I could plan ahead, a day that I could be a little creative with my or actually, my family’s breakfast. All my breakfast choices that I’ve written in this blog are mostly comfort foods, foods such as pancakes, waffles, sticky buns, or quick breads. I love those and fortunately my family members feel the same too.

This next recipe that I’m going to share is something that I’ve never thought would be good for breakfast item. But actually it fitted in the theme quite nicely. The recipe is called finger pies, which uses pie crust as the skin that would be cut into small rounds and filled with preserves and chocolate chips. The end result looked similarly like empanadas. Later it would be rolled in confectioners’ sugar, just like cookies! I like the size of the pies especially, that way I could nibble on it while reading my comics in Sunday morning.

The recipe suggested that this type of pie is something that you could do with your kids. The size of the pie and simple ingredients really help. I enlisted my son to help me scatter the chocolate chips after I dropped the preserves in the pastry. It was really fun activity! Because this was a success, I’m sending this for Waiter There Is Something In My… that’s hosted by Johanna from The Passionate Cook. The theme for April is breakfast favorite. It has become a new favorite in my family, so hopefully it’ll be one for you too.

Now that I knew how to make this in a snap, I want to try it with different preserves. I was thinking of making pineapple preserves just like the one I usually use to make Pineapple cookies (Nanas tart) and fill the pie with that. This pie needs a preserves that’s thick and substantial. Time to go get the pineapples! Yay…

Little Preserves and Chocolate Finger Pies

Tender Cream Cheese Pastry
Yields 1 single crust, 9-inch standard pie

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces 1/3-less fat cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Combine the butter, cream cheese, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater attachment. Blend for 30 to 45 seconds on medium-low speed. Stop once or twice, if necessary, to scrape the build-up from the beater. Stopping the machine before each addition, first add the confectioners’ sugar and 1/2 cup of the flour. With the mixer on low, blend until the flour is incorporated. Add another 1/2 cup of the flour and blend. Add the remaining flour. When all of the flour has been added and the dough starts to ball up around the beater, stop the machine. Remove the bowl and scarpe the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.

Gently knead 2 or 3 times. Divide the dough into 2 pieces of the same size. Knead each piece into a ball, then flatten it into a disk about 3/4 inch thick. Wrap the disk in plastic and refrigerated for at least an hour, preferable longer, until firm enough to roll but not too solid.

Filling

Raspberry, strawberry, or other fruit preserves
Handful of semisweet chocolate chips

Garnish

Confectioners’ sugar

On a lightly floured work area, roll the dough slightly less than 1/8 inch thick with a floured rolling pin. Using a 3 1/2-inch round cutter, cut the pastry into circles. Remove the scraps, leaving the rounds in place.

Spoon about 2 teaspoons of the preserves into the center of each circle. Scatter a few chocolate chips around the preserves. Moisten the entire edge of the pastry with a wet fingertip or pastry brush, then fold the circle in half and press the edge together to seal. Roll the edge up slightly, forming a sort of rope edge. As you work, transfer each pie to the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little room between them. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 ^oF.

Using a paring knife, poke 1 or 2 small steam vents in the top of each pie. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the hot pies to a wire rack. As soon as they’re cool enough to handle, put some confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl. Roll each pie in the confectioners’ sugar, coating it heavily, and return it to the rack. Serve warm or let cool to room temperature before serving.

Source: adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich

This is the first event for Klub Berani Baking which is organized by Arfi. Almost all of the members are Indonesian food bloggers who love to bake and are willing to bake a certain challenge once every two months. Paris Brest is the challenge for the month of September and October.

Paris Brest is made from choux pastry that is formed into a ring because the story had it when there’s an old French bicycle race starting at Paris and ending in Brittany, Paris Brest was created to commemorate the event annually. That is why the shape is round like a bicycle wheel. Arfi has a recipe from Australian Women’s Weekly that is slightly different than a regular Paris Brest. This recipe asked the readers to make 8 small rings instead of a big one and it is adorned with toffee.

Honestly, I’ve never made a choux pastry before and funny that I never have a time to try it. The first time I made a try of this recipe was a week ago. I was confident that I’d succeed the first time I tried it. I read the instruction carefully and followed them methodically. Lo and behold, I failed. Again, I tried and still I failed. I was perplexed at what I did wrong. I read the recipe two, three times, they’re still the same as I’ve read before. I started to talk to my mom, who used to make choux pastry, and also consulted Arfi about my failure. I also looked up at a few baking books in a meantime. There’s one thing that my mom said that stuck in my head; that was to cool down the first stage of the dough before adding the egg (s). I came across another posting by Regina who participates in the club too. Her failed Paris Brest picture is exactly the same as what I had a week ago! I started to exchange messages with her and another friend, Irma, joined the conversation and told me that she also cooled down the dough before adding the egg. Bingo! I’m pretty sure that’s what made mine completely failed. I guess when I added the egg to a still hot dough, the egg seized/curdled and the result was a stiff paste. The recipe didn’t specify the cooling down period and me, an inexperienced choux pastry maker, didn’t know it in the beginning. Most of the book I read also specified that you needed to cool down for a few minutes before adding egg (s).

So with that knowledge I made it again this week and a huge relief flooded me when I saw that the pastry rose beautifully. Here’s a list of what I did differently with mine:
1. Added a pinch salt to the roux mixture.
2. I let the roux mixture cool down for 3 minutes before adding the egg. Then I beat with wooden spoon just until combined and the color of the mixture was glossy.
3. My oven temperature was set to 400°F. The timer was set to 15 minutes for the first half of the baking time.
4. I reduced the oven temperature to 350°F for 13 minutes for the second half of the baking time.
5. I pricked the sides of the rings with sharp knife, turned off the oven and left them for 10 minutes with the half of the oven door open.
6. When making pastry cream, I used wire whisk to mix egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. I poured about 2 tablespoons of the hot milk into the mixture, whisked it and return the whole mixture to the remaining milk in the pan.
7. Instead of almonds, I used what I had on hand which was kenari nuts. I chopped and toasted them and scattered them around the finished Paris Brest rings.

In my excitement of getting these rings decorated with hot toffee, I was kind of sloppy now that I looked at the photos. What a mess of toffee indeed but still delicious since they add crunch to the pastry

Here is the original recipe in case anyone is interested making these…
(italics are mine)

Toffee Paris Brest
Yields 8 4-cm rings

Choux Pastry:
20g butter—unsalted butter
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1/4 cup (35g) plain flour—all purpose flour
1 egg (the book is using 60g egg)—large egg
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat the oven to hot. Lightly grease two oven trays. Line with baking paper. Draw eight 4cm circles on each tray.
2. Combine butter (and a pinch of salt) with the water in small saucepan; bring to boil. Add flour; beat with wooden spoon over heat until mixture comes away from base and side of saucepan and forms a smooth ball.
3. Let mixture cool down for 3 minutes. Transfer mixture to small bowl; beat in egg with electric mixer (wooden spoon) until mixture becomes glossy.
4. Pipe choux pastry mixture around edge of each circle; bake in hot (400°F) oven for 7 minutes (15 minutes). Reduce heat to moderate (350°F); bake further 10 minutes (13 minutes) or until pastry rings are browned lightly and crisp. Cut each in half horizontally; bake further 5 minutes or until rings are dried out (Prick sideds of rings with sharp knife, turn off oven, leave the rings inside for 10 minutes with half of the oven door open). Cool to room temperature.
5. Spoon pastry cream into piping bag fitted with 1cm plain tube (I used star tube); pipe cream into 8 ring halves; top with remaining halves. Place paris-brest on foil-covered tray. Drizzle with toffee; top with 1/4 cup (20g) flaked almonds (I used chopped, toasted kenari).

Pastry Cream
1 cup (250ml) milk—preferably whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar—granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cornflour—cornstarch

1. Bring milk, with vanilla bean added, to a boil in a small saucepan.
Discard vanilla bean.
2. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in small bowl with electric mixer until thick. With motor operating, gradually beat in milk mixture (I only used wire whisk, and pour about 2 tablespoons of hot milk, whisked it and return it to the milk in the pan). Return custard mixture to saucepan; stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.

Toffee
1 cup (220g) caster sugar—granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125ml) water

1. Combine sugar with the water in medium heavy-saucepan frying pan.
Stir over heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves; bring to boil.
2. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, without stirring, until mixture is golden-brown in colour. Remove from heat; stand until bubbles subside and toffee runs evenly from back of spoon.

Source: adapted from Australian Women’s Weekly