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Another month, another great Daring Baker challenge! I’ve only been a Daring Baker for a few months now and each challenge has been a wonderful, educational experience! This month was no exception.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

The challenge included making all of the components of tiramisu from scratch. Mascarpone cheese, savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers) and Zabaglione to be exact. Plus whipped cream and a vanilla pastry cream. So, yeah, I’d call that a challenge since the only part I had experience with was the whipped cream.

Getting back to my “bite-size” roots, I chose to make mini tiramisu using a removable bottom mini cheesecake pan. I purchased the pan way back in April of last year. I never got around to using it, so when I wanted to make mini tiramisu, I knew just what to use it for! I was a bit concerned about removing them without damaging the sides but it worked out really well. More on that below.

I’ve detailed my experience making the mascarpone cheese, savoiardi biscuits (ladyfingers) and the assembly of my mini tiramisu below. Unfortunately, I didn’t get step-by-step photos of the zabaglione or the creams.

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

Recipe source: Vera’s recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese
Makes 12oz/340gm of mascarpone cheese

474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (I used lime juice)

Directions:
Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet (I used double boiler). Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190°F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.

It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours. Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.

My notes:

• I was unable to find pasteurized cream and had to settle for ultra-pasteurized.
• It works best to use a stainless steel bowl when making the mascarpone.
• While making the cheese, I was quite worried that it would ever thicken up. Eventually, it did thicken but not as much as I had imagined it would. When I poured it into the cheesecloth lined sieve, it started draining more than it should have. So, to keep it from draining the actual cheese, I added a thin cotton towel. That did the trick. You should only find a small amount (few spoonfuls) of whey that drained. I let mine drain a little longer than 24 hours to help firm it up more. After that, I transfered it to a airtight container and refrigerated it for another day until I was ready to use it. The end result was softer than store bought, but as far as taste, I couldn’t really tell any difference. Pure creamy goodness!

Zabaglione, Vanilla Pastry Cream and Whipped Cream

Recipe source: Carminantonio’s Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

For the zabaglione:
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee)
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

Directions:

For the zabaglione:
Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.
In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.
Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.
Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:
Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.
Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.
Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:
Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside (I stored in the fridge while waiting to assemble).

Keep scrolling for assembly instructions.

Savoiardi Biscuits / Ladyfingers

Recipe Source: Le Cordon Bleu at Home

This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long) ladyfingers. (Made about 38 roughly 2-inch round ladyfingers)

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350° F (175° C), then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.
Beat the egg whites using a hand held or stand electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulated sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.
In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into about 2″ thin circles leaving about 1″ space in between the biscuits.
Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.
Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft. Use circle cutter approximately the same size as the mini cheesecake cup and cut edges off while the biscuits are still warm.
Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.
Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

My notes:

• I ended up making two batches of the ladyfingers. The first, I mixed with a hand mixer. Not only was it tiring, but the biscuits didn’t turn out “right”. Something was off. They weren’t even spongy. So for the second batch, I turned to my trusty kitchen aid mixer. It cut down on mixing time, the egg whites held stiffer peaks and the biscuits came out more like traditional ladyfingers/savoiardi biscuits. Perfection!
• To get the biscuits perfectly round, and the exact size I needed to fit in my mini cheesecake pan, I used a circle cookie cutter to trim off the edges immediately after they came out of the oven. I discarded (read: ate) the scraps and transfered them to a cooling rack.

Assembly of the Mini Tiramisu

Directions:

2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese
about 36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

To assemble the tiramisu in mini cheesecake cups, working quickly, dip the top of 12 of the round ladyfingers for 1 second in the espresso mixture (they should be moist but not soggy) then place one in the bottom of each of the cups. With a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip (I used a Wilton 2A), or ziploc with corner cut off, pipe a layer of the tiramisu filling. Dip another 12 ladyfingers in the espresso and place on top of the first layer of filling. Pipe another layer of cream mixture. Dip 12 more lady fingers and place on top of second layer of cream. Pipe the final (top) layer of filling on top of the biscuits. Note: Be careful how thick you pipe your cream mixture. I started with too much in the bottom layer and ended up having to shy the top two layers so that the tiramisu weren’t rounded on the tops. They still were to some extent but that’s okay.

Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap (I used foil) and freeze the tiramisu overnight or until ready to serve.

To remove and serve the mini tiramisu: Carefully remove the plastic wrap or foil. Gently push up on the bottom of each cup. Try to push them up uniformly and not more towards one side to avoid it toppling out of the pan. If you have one, a wooden dowel about 5/8″ to 3/4″ around (or something of similar shape, such as a cannoli form) works perfectly.

Sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as desired.

My notes:

• I kept my tiramisu cream mixture in the fridge between layering the biscuits and cream. It kept it from getting soft or difficult to pipe neatly.
• At the end of dipping the ladyfingers, I was left with an insane amount of espresso. Not sure why the recipe calls for 2 cups as it didn’t take near that much. You may want to scale that down to minimize waste.
• Since the tops of my mini tiramisu cups were slightly overfilled, I created a foil “tent” to cover them while they were in the freezer.
• Ideally, they should be thoroughly frozen before trying to remove them. That way, you get the cleanest possible edges.
• The patterns on the tops were created with cupcake and cookie stencils from Martha Stewart. I picked them up at Macy’s last year and unfortunately, I can’t find them online. The back of the packaging says they are exclusive to Macy’s.
• If you don’t have a mini cheesecake pan but still want to make round tiramisu, you could try assembling it in a shallow dish, freezing and then cutting with tall biscuit cutters.

In the end, I’m happy that everything came together so well. It was challenging to get everything together and there was a lot to do, but isn’t a challenge kinda the point?

A big thanks to Aparna and Deeba for such an awesome challenge!

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The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

This month’s Daring Bakers challenge was especially exciting as I had never made my own graham crackers before. Part of the challenge was to bake them using Gluten-Free flours. The graham crackers, to me, were much better than store bought!

The second part of the challenge was to make Nanaimo Bars using the graham crackers in the base. I had heard of Nanaimo Bars before, but I had no idea what they were exactly. Boy was I missing out. My goodness, these things are addictive. The bottom layer is made up of coconut, walnuts (or almonds), chocolate and of course, ground graham crackers. The middle layer is what surprised me the most. I was expecting a custard/pudding type filling, not a wonderful vanilla buttercream texture filling. Top it all off with melted chocolate and it just doesn’t get much better that that.

To say the dough was a little sticky would be an understatement. I had flour everywhere when I finished rolling the crackers out. Everywhere.

Now, you can cut out the crackers in any shape you desire, but I was boring and went with round. I tried for some cute fluted edged crackers but those didn’t quite make it. In other words, they were ugly. No worries though, I just made those into the crumbs for the base of the Nanaimo bars.

While I couldn’t find two of the three flours called for, I did find a bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Flour. It seemed to work just as well as the other flours would have.

I’ve posted the recipe below with the adjustment for the flour mix I used. For the recipe using sweet rice flour, tapioca starch and sorghum flour, check out Lauren’s site.

Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp All Purpose wheat flour (or GF AP Baking Flour Mix)
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Have I mentioned these bars can be addictive?!? They are super sweet and a 2″x2″ square was more than enough for me. Luckily they freeze really well and are utterly delicious when they are frozen.

Lauren allowed for any flavor variation but being that I had never tried one before, I opted to stay with the traditional version. After seeing some of the other Daring Bakers outstanding flavor combinations, I will be making these again soon! Take a look at these variations – cappuccino, hazelnut, coconut vanilla bean and cranberry.

Nanaimo Bars
adapted from City of Nanaimo

Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See recipe above)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Walnuts or Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

Middle Layer:
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Confectioners’ Sugar

Top Layer:
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and confectioners’ sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

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I’m so happy to report that my first Daring Bakers challenge was a total success! And a tasty one at that!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Note: Rather than posting all of the instructions here (and there are a lot of ‘em), here is a link to Lisa’s blog where she has the complete and detailed info. Keep scrolling for my experience with making cannoli.

Because I had never made cannoli, naturally I didn’t have any cannoli forms. I found 4 stainless steel forms at a local kitchen store but, I figured in order to make more than 4 cannoli at once I should try making some forms out of wooden dowels. So, off I went to the hardware store and picked up two 7/8″ dowels (regular size cannoli) and one 5/8″ dowel (mini cannoli). I then cut them into 5.5″ long pieces for the 7/8″ dowels and 3.75″ long pieces for the 5/8″ dowel. After that, I sanded, sanded and sanded them down until they were perfectly smooth.

After sanding about the 8th dowel, I was wondering why I really needed that many. But in the end they did come in handy, as I was able to form most of the cannoli shells at once then fry them without having to stop and wait for the forms to cool before moving on.

From what I had read before, cannoli dough can be pretty difficult to roll out by hand. But as I don’t have a pasta machine (the other method for rolling out), I decided to just go for it. I divided the dough in half and rolled out a one at a time. I quickly learned just how difficult this dough really is. The minute I thought, “Hey, I’m getting somewhere here” it would shrink and become half the size of what I had just rolled out. It finally gave in after a lot more rolling and I was able to start cutting out the circles.

After they were cut, I rolled them into an oval shape, wrapped them around the oiled cannoli forms and sealed them with egg whites. I did the same thing for the second half of the dough, but this time rolled it even thinner. This resulted in better blistering of the shells when they were fried.

While the shells were cooling, I made the fillings. I had planned on only doing a traditional ricotta and a pumpkin version. But, in my true nature, I over did it a bit. When all was said a done, I ended up with 5 different fillings. Five. Why? I’m not really sure.

The flavors are (clockwise): Key lime mascarpone, traditional ricotta with mini chocolate chips, peppermint mocha, pumpkin pecan and chocolate raspberry cannoli fillings. (Recipes are below)

I drained the ricotta overnight to get the excess moisture out but I think something went a little off, as my ricotta was a bit grainy and not very smooth. It still tasted great though.

Also, when the shells were completely cool (before filling), I dipped the ends of a few in melted dark chocolate. For the peppermint mocha cannoli, I rolled the ends in peppermint pieces before the chocolate hardened.

So what to do with the scraps of dough left over? You could re-roll them and make more cannoli OR you could dunk them in the oil and make crispy little cannoli bites. Of course, to make it even better you could drizzle dark chocolate and sprinkle them with confectioners’ sugar. I really should have made cannoli sooner. I never knew this was what I was missing.

If you look closely, you’ll see that I completely forgot to fill a shell with the chocolate raspberry filling. So just squint or use your imagination, please.

Recipes:

• Cannoli Shells

Key Lime Mascarpone Cannoli Filling
adapted from Epicurious

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp freshly grated lime zest
4 tbsp bottled key lime juice (5 tbsp if fresh)
1 cup (1/2 lb) mascarpone cheese

With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar, zest and lime juice until smooth. Beat in mascarpone. Chill at least 4 hours before filling.

Pumpkin Pecan Cannoli Filling
adapted from Stonewall Kitchen

1 cup ricotta cheese, drained
1/2 cup Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter
2 tbsp confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Combine the ricotta, pumpkin butter and confectioners’ sugar and mix until well blended. Chill 2-4 hours.
Combine the 2 tsp granulated sugar and pumpkin pie spice. Sprinkle on the ends of the filled cannoli.

Note: This recipe was originally intended to use Stonewall Kitchen’s Maple Pumpkin Butter, but after searching every store in my area, I couldn’t find it. So I substituted Murihead Pecan Pumpkin Butter that I found at my local Williams-Sonoma.

Traditional, Chocolate Raspberry and Peppermint Mocha Cannoli Fillings

I used Lisa’s recommended ricotta recipe and divided it in thirds.

2 lbs ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons finely chopped candied orange peel or zest of one small to medium orange

unsweetened cocoa powder
mini chocolate chips
2 tbsp finely chopped good quality chocolate, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped peppermint candy pieces
1 tsp espresso powder
1/3 cup fresh raspberries

WIth an electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioners’ sugar, cinnamon and vanilla; blend until smooth. Using a wooden spoon, stir in zest.

Divide the filling into three separate bowls (just about 1 cup in each bowl).

For the traditional ricotta, just mix in desired amount of mini chocolate chips.

Chocolate Raspberry filling: Mix in 2-3 tsp of cocoa powder (add to taste). Add in 1 tbsp of the finely chopped chocolate, and fresh raspberries. Blend well.

Peppermint Mocha filling: Mix in 2-3 tsp of cocoa powder (add to taste). Add in espresso powder, peppermint pieces and remaining 1 tbsp of chopped chocolate.

Chill fillings for about 4 hours before using.

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