DB: Facing my fear of decorating cookies and a recipe for spiced sugar cookie cutouts

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make decorated sugar cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

All I can say about the theme is "yikes!" I can handle the sugar cookie part. It's the decorating the scares me. Just the thought causes me to break out into a cold sweat. When I think of decorating cakes and cookies, I think of frustration and tears. However, I am a Daring Baker, and the host this month challenged me to decorate cookies, so decorate, I did!

Part of the challenge was to pick a cookie/decorating theme based on what we'd be doing in September. I racked my brain for awhile because, honestly, not much is going on in my personal life at the moment (*sob*). Then, I thought of this video of Mario Batali on "scorpacciata" from CNN's Eatocracy.



This video reflects exactly what I have been trying to do this September: since it is squash and pumpkin season in Quebec, I have been trying to incorporate and eat lots of squashes and pumpkin types in my meals while they are fresh, local, and in season. Therefore, my cookie-theme was squashes and pumpkins. I tweaked the Peggy Porschen's sugar cookie recipe to include spices that I am cooking with in September, namely, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. I also added salt to the recipe because I think cookies without salt are just not right. Here is my cookie dough recipe which yielded very tasty, lightly spiced sugar cookies.

Spice sugar cookie cutouts
Yields ~ 30–40 depending on the size of your cookie cutters

• 200 g butter, room temperature
• 200 g granulated sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 400 g flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar.
2. Add the egg and vanilla.
3. Whisk together all dry ingredients before adding them to the butter mixture. Beat until just combined.
4. Divide dough in half and combine half into a ball. 
5. Flatten half the dough into a disk on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to ~1/5-inch thickness.
6. Cut out shapes, and transfer them to a silpat- (or parchment-) lined baking sheet. Be sure to place similar sized cookies on same baking sheet for even baking time. Chill for at least 30 minutes to prevent cookies from spreading as they bake.
7. Preheat oven to 350°F.
8. Bake chilled cookies for 10 to 15 minutes depending on size.

I had a few pumpkin shaped cookie cutters, but I did not have any squash shapes. So I made my own with some paper, cardboard, and a pencil. I drew the shapes I wanted on the piece of paper, then placed the paper over the cardboard, and cut out the shapes. I prepared templates for butternut, spaghetti, and acorn squashes.

Baking was a cinch. So far so good!

Then came time to decorate.... I gathered all the equipment I needed. I had plenty of icing sugar, meringue powder, and Wilton gel colors. I had toothpicks too for easy icing spreading. So, I dived right in. I prepared the icing, making sure that the consistency was such that a drizzle of icing on the surface would take about 5 seconds to disappear. I scooped ladle-fulls of icing into coffee cups (which I kept covered with saran wrap when not in use), and dyed them to the colors I needed. Then I carefully drizzled the desired icing onto a cookie (honestly, I used a fork for this), and spread the icing (with the help of a toothpick and gravity by tilting the cookie in the direction I needed the icing to go) over each cookie. I also decorated a few acorn-shaped cookies. For the little caps. I used dark brown icing, which I pricked with a toothpick when it was partially dried to give it that spotted look. For the green acorn squash, I swirled in a tiny spot of orange just like real acorn squashes have. Et voilà!

Quality control was performed by Zen. She inspected each cookie individually.

My squashes and pumpkins are not perfect, but I think their imperfections make them unique, just like every squash is different. I am glad that I kept to a simple theme, otherwise I probably would have been overwhelmed and frustrated. I still cannot say that I love decorating. But I can say that now, I have a better idea of how it is done. I also have to declare that royal icing does not taste good and I think that the cookies tasted much better sans icing. But that is just my opinion.

Thank you to the Daring Bakers for organizing another challenge.

Brown butter and pumpkin cupcakes and an ode to brown butter

Brown butter, I heart thee.
Thou art most flavorful.
I heart your aromatherapy.
That nutty scent is oh so wonderful.

Regular butter is world renowned
But it is just not the same.
Perhaps I am being lame,
But I prefer my butter browned.

And so, brown butter,
I heart thee.
You render me nutter,
And fill me with glee.

On that note, I made brown butter pumpkin cupcakes topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting. I was so excited by this recipe from Fine Cooking (I heart thee too, Fine Cooking) that I even roasted a pumpkin for it! Talk about keen and motivated! The original recipe was meant to make a 9-inch layer cake, but I chose to bake it as cupcakes to make it more transportable so that I could share it with friends. Brown butter love should be shared.

The cupcakes were spectacular! The little cakes were so light, tender, and moist. I was really not expecting such a great texture from a pumpkin cupcake. I figured that it would be heavier somehow, but these were quite the opposite. I baked 12 cupcakes with the batter, plus 12 madeleines.

And the frosting? Oh the frosting! I cannot even describe how good it was. The brown butter really comes through in the frosting. The frosting is not too sweet (I actually used 1 cup of icing sugar, which is a quarter cup less than what is called for in the original recipe), slightly tangy, but oh so nutty brown buttery. I was eating it by the spoonful! I was dipping whole pecans directly in the bowl (pecans made a pretty tasty vessel for this brown butter frosting, by the way). I will dream about this frosting for months to come. I adored it. Seriously, I did! And then I wrote the "poem" (yes, I know, I am less than poetic! I plead brown butter-induced temporary insanity).

My only comment about the recipe is that I was surprised that Fine Cooking suggests to remove the caramelized bits in the brown butter, and to use only the clarified, brown butter. I was pleasantly surprised that, even without the lovely caramelized bits, the brown butter is still very nutty and aromatic. However, next time, I would add the brown butter as is (brown bits and all) because I think the little caramelized specs would have made the frosting even prettier.

If you are looking for a fall pumpkin cake recipe, or if you heart brown butter as much as I do, this recipe is great and it works, from start to finish!

The only trouble I had: photography (a painful, ongoing issue with me). I had to photograph the finished cupcakes at night. Terrible idea. I should have skipped the gym in the morning to take better photos of these cupcakes. I am sad that I just did not have the proper lighting to do them justice. As I desperately tried to get that one good shot, I even tried taking photos of the cupcakes in my closet for better lighting! The next photo was the best of the bunch. It's too bad the photos did not turn out as well as the cupcakes. The cupcakes were wonderful, photography be damned!

















This was another great magazine recipe. Magazine Monday success (even though it was not quite a Monday).

 

A tale of two cornmeals in cherry pepper and goat cheese hush puppies

I stole borrowed the September 2010 Bon Appétit from my mom. I will return it soon, promise. In the meantime, I have marked off at least a dozen recipes from this issue, and plan on making most. So far, I have only made the crack pie, which was a dangerously addictive pie that I, embarrassingly, ate pretty quickly without sharing with anyone (except my mom who only had a tiny sliver because she realized its addictive powers). The crack pie was fabulous! I think it got better with refrigeration, although maybe that was my addiction talking. Who knows?
Yesterday, I attempted another recipe that I had marked off: The jalapeño goat cheese hush puppies. I hesitated to make this recipe because of my fear of frying. I am just not very good at it. Even pan frying can end in disaster or at least an oily soggy mess (like the time I attempted sweet potato latkes which ended up mostly greasy and uncooked inside—yikes!). Nonetheless, I faced my fears and decided it was time to get frying because, as the saying goes: "Practice makes perfect!"
The recipe calls for cornmeal. I had a bag of "semolina #2" in my pantry but was unsure if this qualified as cornmeal.

So, I emailed Bon Appétit to find out. I got a response within a day (very prompt!) from Leslie Anne Wiggins with an explanation that what I needed to use was stone ground cornmeal, not semolina. She also provided me with a link to an example of a product I could use. Sadly, we don't carry the brand in Quebec, so I went to the grocery store to see what I could find. My options were "semolina #2," (which I already had a bag of) and "maïs moulu moyen" (which somehow translates to coarse cornmeal? Ummm.... no! Is it coarse or medium grind people?), which is what I ended up purchasing.

Bottom photo: The 2 corn meals
Top spoon: Maïs moulu moyen
Bottom spoon: Sémoule #2

The recipe for the hush puppies was very simple: mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, add the wet to the dry, along with the goat cheese. I followed the recipe exactly, but I ended up with a batter that was very loose (perhaps I screwed up?). I soon discovered that the batter was too loose to fry after a few attempts (another frying disaster?).

Top: Perfect hush puppies
Bottom: Not-so-perfect hush puppies made with a batter that was too loose to fry

I persevered (with some advice from my mom) and finally added a half-cup of my "semolina #2" from the pantry to tighten the batter. This worked perfectly! I could now spoon the batter into the hot oil and the batter did not spread out as the oil bubbled. I ended up with perfect hush puppies to munch on for breakfast with a hot cup of coffee. What a treat! I loved them. I would definitely make them again. Apparently, these are supposed to be an appetizer, but I really think these were a wonderful breakfast (then again, I eat entire pies without thinking twice...).

By the way, I used cherry peppers instead of jalapeño. I find the jalapeño peppers that we get in Quebec just aren't very spicy. So I opted for a pepper with more kick. According to IGA, a jalapeño is a 2 (not very spicy) on a scale from 1 to 8, while the cherry pepper is a medium spiced pepper, scoring a 5 on the scale (for reference, a habanero is an 8—use with caution!). The hush puppies were crisp on the outside and light on the inside. Not at all oily (SUCCESS! Look Mom, I can fry! I can fry!). The key is to use a thermometer so that you can monitor the temperature of the hot oil to make sure that it is hot enough before dropping dollops of batter in it. Also, I only fried 3 or 4 hush puppies at a time so that the oil temperature would remain constant.

Here's my recipe, tweaked from the original:

Cherry pepper and goat cheese hush puppies
Makes ~18 (depending how big your dollops of batter are) 

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal 
• 1/2 cup semolina #2
• 1 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons beaten egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped seeded cherry pepper
• 4 ounces coarsely crumbled soft fresh goat cheese (about 1 cup) 
• Lots and lots of canola oil (for deep-frying)

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
2. Whisk together the buttermilk, egg, and pepper in another bowl.
3. Add the goat cheese to the dry ingredients, along with the wet ingredients.
4. Preheat a medium–large saucepan, filled half way with canola oil, to 350°F.
5. Spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into the hot oil (carefully!). If the batter is too loose and spreads in the oil, add a sprinkling of semolina #2 to the bowl of batter to tighten it up.
6. Fry about 3–4 hush puppies at a time.
7. Fry them for about 3 or 4 minutes, until they are golden brown. Make sure to turn them a couple times as they fry to be sure that they are evenly cooked.
8. Serve for breakfast with coffee!

This was another Magazine Monday, and one of my most recent attempts to actually use the magazines that I (well in this case, my mom) happily invest in.

Fig and honey goat cheesecake

During the summer months, figs come and go very quickly. One day, they are available at the market and in stores by the boxful, and the next day, they are all gone. Apparently, there are up to 2 fig seasons per year. I think that the second fig season just ended. Luckily, a few weeks ago, I managed to squeeze in a fig, goat cheese, and honey napoleon. Then last week-end, with the last of the figs, I opted to make a fig and honey goat cheesecake. I know, I know: I stuck with the same flavors that I used for the napoleon. I couldn't help it. Those were the flavors I was craving! Plus, they worked so well in the napoleon, I decided to explore them some more. And explore them, I did.

Since I was exploring, I tested out using ricotta cheese (full fat ricotta, obviously) instead of cream cheese. I had always wanted to try a ricotta cheesecake, and I figured this would be a good recipe for it: Ricotta has a very mild flavor, therefore it would not compete with the goat cheese, but rather mellow it out a little. Along with the 2 types of cheese, I also used only honey to sweeten the batter as I really wanted to focus on that flavor. The honey I used is a mid-summer honey from Miel McCaig, produced by a local beekeeper and sold at Finnegan's market in Hudson. The honey is not as light flavored as an early June honey, but not as dark and earthy as an end-of-summer honey. The mid-summer honey is just right: an amber honey that is both sweet and floral.

The cheesecake batter baked up beautifully, just like a regular cheesecake (with a few cracks as I was too lazy to bake the cheesecake in a bain-marie, and I was also too impatient to let it slowly come to room temperature in the oven). The finished cake was tangy and earthy from the goat cheese, but also sweet and floral, from the honey and the figs. The cheesecake was just as satisfying as, but much lighter than, the usual cream-cheese based cheesecake. An extra drizzling of honey on top of each slice brought this cheesecake to the next level.

Filling for a fig and honey goat cheesecake
Yields one 8-inch cake

• 225 grams (~8 oz) soft, unripened goat cheese
• 250 grams ricotta
• 1.5 tbsp flour
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 4–6 fresh figs, sliced

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the two cheeses together until the mixture is smooth.
2. Add the flour and the honey, and beat until smooth.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just incorporated.
4. Bake in an 8-inch springform pan (with a pre-baked crust at the bottom) for 50–60 minutes until the cheesecake is set and starting to turn golden brown around. (If you want to avoid the  cracks that sometimes form on the surface of a cheesecake, wrap the springform in 2 layers of foil, and bake the cheesecake in a bain-marie. When the cheesecake is done, turn off the oven, crack open the oven door, and let the cheesecake cool completely in the oven).
5. Unmold the cheesecake and top it with slices of figs.
6. Serve drizzled with extra honey. This is dessert after all!

Are you wondering what happened to the crust? Ah, yes. Funny story.

Since I was experimenting, I stepped away from the usual graham cracker crust. Instead, I opted for a walnut shortbread crust. I used a recipe for a traditional shortbread (containing powdered sugar, butter, flour, salt, and vanilla), but added some walnuts, and an egg to strengthen it and make it into a sturdier cheesecake crust. The idea of a walnut shortbread base sounded nice in theory, but in practice, this turned out to be the worst cheesecake crust idea ever (a reason why I avoided the topic until now). On the other hand, with this experiment, I discovered the importance of a cheesecake crust and its flavor. Cheesecakes are tangy, sweet, and full of flavor. My walnut shortbread crust was not full of flavor, well, not next to the cheesecake. Shortbread are perfect with a cup of tea, not as a base for a cheesecake. Of course, I only discovered this as I was eating my first slice. When I attempt this cheesecake again, I think I'll whip up a batch of gingersnaps, or molasses cookies. I'll grind them up into crumbs, and use them (along with more butter, of course) as a base for the cheesecake. I guess that we will just have to be patient and wait for the figs to be in season again before I can test out my latest goat cheesecake crust idea. This could be awhile.

A recipe for a tangy courgette and rice bake inspired by BBC Good Food

I read a lot of food magazines, and I love reproducing the recipes from their pages and learning from them along the way. Some days, I choose a recipe to make, and then I get to the store to buy the ingredients, and my mind takes me somewhere completely different. I go home to put together the recipe from the magazine, but I veer so far from it that the original is unrecognizable. Then I stop to think: "How did I get to this recipe? Where did this come from? This is totally not what I set out to do!" The end result tastes delicious, but it has very little to do with the magazine recipe that inspired it.

Today was one of those days. I started with a BBC Good Food magazine recipe for a courgette gratin (doesn't it sound good?) from the June 2010 issue, but I ended up with a casserole that did feature courgettes (humor me as I use courgette instead of zucchini. I am on a British kick today!), but with a more Middle Eastern twist to it. I think it was the crème fraiche in the original recipe that steered me to a different place. I went from courgette, rice, cheese, and crème fraiche to courgette, rice, ground meat, almonds, cumin, and yogurt. Make sense?

The dish is pretty simple. I quickly cooked the ground beef and onions with the spices and seasonings in a medium saucepan. Then I removed the meat from the saucepan, and then cooked the rice in that very pan with some vegetable broth. When the rice was cooked, I combined it with the reserved meat, and a little more cumin, and chopped parsley. I let the mixture cool while I chopped the courgettes. When the rice mixture was cooled (I actually left it in the fridge overnight because it had been a long day and it was a little late to be cooking), I added about 1 cup of plain yogurt. I filled the bottom of my Pyrex with the rice mixture, then I sprinkled some slivered almonds on top, then I topped with the courgette slices.

I brushed the top with some egg wash, and baked it for about 45 minutes at 375°F.

What I love about this dish is the tang of the yogurt. I love the combination of yogurt, ground beef, and cumin. The courgette slices on top are still fresh and slightly crisp, even after baking them. They are certainly not wilted and mushy as they would be if I had boiled them.

I probably would have never made it to this recipe without the BBC Good Food magazine I was reading last week. I suppose this is yet another reason to keep buying all these magazines: They inspire us in the kitchen. One day I will actually follow the original BBC Good Food recipe for the courgette gratin. For now, I will enjoy my dish that was somehow inspired by their recipe.

Tangy courgette and rice bake
Serves 6–8 (makes a 9x11 casserole)

• Olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 2 tsp cumin, divided
• 1 cup rice (I used brown basmati)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 bunch of parsley, chopped
• 1 cup yogurt (I used 2% fat yogurt)
• ~40 grams slivered almonds
• 5 small courgettes, sliced
• Egg wash (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a medium saucepan coated with olive oil, cook the onions on medium heat until the are translucent.
3. Add the ground beef, 1 tsp cumin, salt and pepper. Stir occasionally until cooked through. Transfer the meat mixture to a bowl and set aside.
4. Turn up the heat under the same medium saucepan, add the rice and fry it until it is translucent (you may want to add a little more oil for this). Add the broth, bring it to a boil, cover, and simmer until all the liquid is absorbed.
5. When the rice is done, mix it with the meat mixture, add another 1 tsp of cumin, and the chopped parsley. Add the yogurt and spread the mixture evenly at the bottom of a 9x11 baking dish.
6. Sprinkle the slivered almonds, then the sliced courgette. Brush on the egg wash (if you are using egg wash). Sprinkle with a little salt and ground pepper.
7. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice is back from vacation. I hope that she will accept my magazine inspired creation for this week's edition of Magazine Mondays!

A recipe for a spiced custard and peach pie as summer fades away

It smells like fall. Can you smell it? I can smell it.

In this second week of September in Montreal, from time to time, I got a whiff of fall. It smells wonderful. When I smell fall in the air, I can smell the wet leaves, transformed from green to a warmer shade of yellow, orange, or red, on the ground. The air is fresher and crisper compared to the hot and heavy humidity of the summer. I swear, some days I can smell squash or pumpkin too. I cannot explain how or where the scent is coming from, but the scent of fall is definitely in the air.

With the scent of fall in the air, I start to plan all the wonderful dishes I want to prepare with the fruits and veggies of the season. Every day, my plan (in the form of a list) grows, and grows. My mind wanders and my list grows to the point that it cannot be completed in one fall season by little old me. I guess that is expected.

It's beginning to smell like fall and I have a long list of fall foods to create, but my fridge is still bursting with stone fruits from the summer: peaches, nectarines, and plums. Since fall implies comfort foods, rich and warm, spiced to perfection, I jump to the thought of a spiced custard pie featuring peaches. I think this is a good compromise between summer and fall. In my mind, I picture a pie that features summer fruit nestled in a warm bed of custard, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. The best of both worlds, in my opinion.

I scour the internet for a recipe for this dessert. I finally go back to a source of all sorts of comfort foods: The Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition to be exact. This edition opens with a letter from Julia Child. I have a feeling that if Julia Child wrote a letter praising this tome, a recipe pulled from its pages will not fail me.

Here is what I did. I started with an all-butter crust from Smitten Kitchen. I had tested this recipe once before, but rolled the dough out too thin as I was ambitiously trying to get three crusts out of this double-crust recipe. The finished pies were very, very crispy. This time, I halved the recipe, and rolled the dough thicker, maybe a 1/4-inch thick. The halved recipe gave me just the right amount of crust to fill a 9-inch pie plate. I blind-baked the crust for about 15 minutes at 425°F with a sheet of parchment and the bottom of a tart pan to weigh it down, then for another 5 minutes at the same temperature. At that point, the crusts were quite golden. I let it cool on a rack.

When the pie shell was cooled enough, I brushed some egg yolk at the bottom. I guess this seals it so that it doesn't get soggy with the fruits and custard. I sliced the peaches and arranged them "artistically" at the bottom of the crust.

I prepared the filling using the recipe for the open-faced peach custard pie on page 679. As I prepare the custard, I am happy, so I gaily pour the vanilla into the custard. Oops! I put about a tablespoon instead of the 1/2 teaspoon that was called for. The custard is brown. Sadness, although I love the aroma: So intoxicating and sweet. I continue. I opted for 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a generous 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg.

I baked it according to the Joy's directions, first at 400°F for 10 minutes, then reducing the temperature to 300°F. I baked it for another 45 minutes at the reduced temperature (instead of the 60 minutes the recipe called for).

I sampled a slice when it was still warm. The custard is luscious and comforting. This pie is definitely a nice dessert as fall creeps into my kitchen.

As for my verdict on the crust: This crust is delightfully flaky. I would say that the difference between this all butter crust, and the all butter crust with vinegar would be that the pastry flakes for crust prepared with only water are crisper, while the flakes for the crust with vinegar are more tender and cookie-like. They are both very flaky, which is exactly what we all strive for in pie-making. I cannot decide which I prefer at this point. They are actually quite different. I will ponder and debate the point over another slice.

Spiced custard  and peach pie
For one 9-inch pie
I tweaked the the recipe from the Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition, page 679

• 1 pre-baked 9-inch pie shell brushed with egg yolk
• 3 large peaches, sliced
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg (heaping)

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Arrange the peaches at the bottom of the pie shell.
3. Whisk all the ingredients together.
4. Pour into a pre-baked 9-inch pie shell.
5. Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature for another 45 minutes, or until the filling is set, even in the middle.
6. Serve warm.

Fig, goat cheese, and honey napoleon

National Napoleon Day (in the US) falls on September 7th. If you did not know of, forgot, or missed this fine holiday, mark it on your calendars for next year! In French, a "napoleon" is a "mille feuilles" (roughly translated as a thousand leaves or sheets) because the main component of this dessert is puff pastry which bakes up into a thousand layers (roughly) of pastry. A holiday honoring a puff pastry dessert is a must on my calendar.

So, to celebrate, I constructed a fig, goat cheese, and honey napoleon. I had been planning a fig and honey goat-cheesecake, but when I realized that today was National Napoleon Day, I quickly revamped my plan and came up with this dessert.

I only had half a package of puff pastry in my freezer, so this recipe was done on a small scale, yielding 2 (not-so-small) individual napoleons. Considering I polished off an entire crack pie in 3 days, I was probably better off making a small-scale dessert anyways.

Fig, goat cheese, and honey napoleon
Makes 2

• 200 grams puff pastry
• 1/2 cup cold whipping cream
• 1 oz. soft, unripened goat cheese
• 1 tbsp honey
• 4 figs
• More honey for drizzling

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Roll out puff pastry to a 7x8-inch square. Cut into 4 equal rectangles.
3. Place on a silpat-lined (or parchment lined) baking sheet. Dock them with a fork.
4. Top with a layer of parchment and a baking sheet.
5. Bake for 12 minutes.
6. Remove the top baking sheet and bake for an additional 12 minutes until nice and golden (trust me, you don't want to eat raw puff pastry!)
7. Prepare the filling by whipping the cream. Add the honey. Whip again.
8. Take out 2 tbsp of the cream mixture and place it in a bowl with the goat cheese. Mix the 2 with a fork (give it some elbow grease to get the cheese incorporated nicely). Return the cheese mixture to the bowl containing the cream. Whip again.
9. Assemble by layering whipped cream mixture and sliced figs in between 2 rectangles of puff pastry (save the prettiest fig slices for the tops of your napoleons).
10. Top with a few more fig slices. Drizzle generously with honey (it is a holiday after all!).
11. Have a seat and enjoy your napoleon on this national holiday!

P.S. Lynn and I have often debated on what is the best way to eat a napoleon. Through months of strenuous research, I have come to these conclusions:

1. If you are in a restaurant, use a fork and a serated knife (especially if you are trying to be lady-like and proper). Stab the dessert with your fork (daintily) and saw through it. Carefully scoop up the cut piece onto your fork (you may need the knife to help scoop) and eat up.
2. If you are at home, pick it up with your fingers and dig in. You may want to wear a bib for this. You may also want to cover the floor and table-top with newspaper because yummy bits of puff pastry will fly all over the place!

Epic fail, or how NOT to make basil pesto

Some days, I work myself into a snit. I wind up in such a foul mood that I should really go to the gym to unleash all the pent-up frustration. Obviously, this never happens.
Today, I felt a foul mood coming on, mainly because I was working on a Sunday, again. I continued to work for a solid 9 hours, and I ignored the feelings of anger that were slowly rising. And then I made pesto. Boy, was that a terrible idea.
I had 9 dollars worth—roughly 170 grams—of Parmagiano Reggiano in the fridge (note: I rarely buy parmagiano because it is a little pricey, and my budget does not allow me that cheese, on top of all the others that I buy every week.). I proceeded to pulverize it in the blender. Then, I tossed into the blender all the basil that I had in the fridge (note: my basil was a little limp and sad looking because I got it one week ago, but hey, I refuse to let it go to waste!). And then, I looked at the blender, and I realized that I had 170 grams of cheese in there, and—if I'm lucky—1 cup and a quarter of fresh basil. That is really not the right ratio of cheese to herb for pesto! I ignored that fact and proceeded to blend. Some of the leaves puréed nicely, most of the basil just got stuck. I added olive oil and 2 small cloves of garlic, but it still wouldn't budge (note: this was really not helping calm my feelings of rage!). Finally, I transferred a portion to my mini-food processor (Great! Now I have 2 appliances dirtied and I have not even begun to cook anything), and that worked. I processed the mixture in batches. End result: cheese pesto with a hint of basil. This is not was I was trying to make at all. EPIC FAIL! (Can I crawl into bed now? I just blended my $9 block of parmagiano into cheese pesto! Yikes!)

Cheese pesto with a hint of basil
Makes about 2 cups

• 170 grams parmagiano regiano
• 1 ¼ cup fresh basil
• 2 small cloves of garlic
• ¼–½ cup olive oil

1. Grind up all the cheese in a blender, add the basil, garlic and olive oil.
2. Attempt to blend it.
3. Have a small hissy fit at the blender because it will not do the one thing you have asked it to do all week.
4. Transfer, in batches, to a mini food processor. Blend in batches in the mini food processor.
5. Combine batches in a bowl. Voilà!

I sulked over the cheese pesto for awhile. It was not pretty. It was not lady-like. It was sad.
Then I made risotto with it.
 
Cheese pesto risotto with squid and a hint of basil
Serves 4 as a side dish or 2 as a main dish

• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 900 mL vegetable broth
• ¾ cup cheese pesto
• 1/2 tbsp butter
• 20 frozen squid rings, defrosted (feel free to omit if you don't want/like squid)

1. Heat the broth in a saucepan.
2. In another large saucepan, heat the oil on medium heat with the shallot and celery stalk.
3. When the onion is just cooked, add the arborio rice.
4. Stir until the risotto goes becomes translucent.
5. Add a ladle-full of broth, and continue to stir.
6. When the broth is gone, add another ladle-full of broth, and stir.
7. Repeat several times.
8. Start testing the risotto when you've added ¾ of the broth.
9. Repeat until you have a risotto that is almost cooked (to your liking). Personally, I like my risotto cooked through, and just a little on the soupy side.
10. Add another ladle-full of broth (if you run out of broth, add a ladle-full of boiling water), the squid, and the pesto. Stir for about 5 minutes to cook the squid.
11. Remove from the heat and let stand 5 minutes before serving. This allows your sauce to thicken, and also prevents you from burning your tongue (unless you are impatient as I am and like to eat it soupy even though you know it will do a number to your tongue).
12. Enjoy!

It turns out cheese pesto makes a delicious risotto! I probably broke a zillion Italian rules today, first with my pesto fail, and then by mixing seafood with cheese (Why are we not supposed to mix them? It tastes so good!). Stirring risotto is much more calming then going to the gym. My "epic fail" turned into a yummy, heart-warming dinner. I guess by now you have probably realized that I am just a drama queen sometimes!

Crack pie

I love sugar pie. Sugar pie and I go way back. Every year, during sugaring off season in Quebec, I go to Sucrerie de la Montagne and get my fill of sugar pie. I love it! For the last few years, I've been training to eat an entire pie. This year, I finally did. Approximately 15 of my friends were there to witness the event, when I ate an entire sugar pie after having consumed an entire country meal. A few were disgusted; some were proud; many were unsurprised. I felt a great sense of accomplish (and maybe a little bit of a sugar-buzz). I didn't need to eat for the next 15 hours.

I love sugar pie, but I've never actually baked one. Given my past record of eating an entire sugar pie in one sitting, it's probably a good thing that I never attempted to make one at home. Clearly, I can't handle it! And then Bon Appétit published a recipe for a sugar pie this month, "crack pie" to be exact (not made with maple syrup like a Quebec sugar pie, but it seems to be a sugar pie nonetheless). Apparently this crack pie is a bestseller at Milk Bar, and once you start eating it, you can't stop. I have a reputation to uphold, so I obviously had to try out this recipe and make the crack pie. Will I love it as much as I love Quebec sugar pie? Will I eat the whole thing in one sitting?

Crack pie has a lot of steps, but the magazine gave very few photos, so I took a few so that the steps were a little clearer. You have to first make an oat cookie dough, then you bake it as one giant cookie. Many of the Bon Appétit readers mentioned in the reviews to not bake the cookie too long or upon re-baking it, it would burn. I baked the giant cookie til it was golden and crispy on the edges, but still soft in the middle (next time I might let it crisp up a bit more).  Then you cool the cookie, and crumble it into oat cookie crumbs. This is a lot like if you were to first make a giant graham cracker from scratch, which you then crumble into graham cracker crumbs to make a crust.
 

Then, you combine the cookie crumbs with butter, and press them into the pie plate to make the crust.

You make the pie filling, pour it into the crust.

 

And you bake it. The pie filling puffs up quite a bit in the oven. The crust becomes a deep golden color.

When it's done baking, you have to cool it for a couple hours, then overnight in the fridge. OVERNIGHT? WHAT? But I NEED to eat the pie!
As the pie cools, the filling sinks. After chilling overnight, and sampling a slice, this is what it looks like.

 When you zoom in, note the filling has a lovely crispy top that hides a luscious gooey center! It's like sugar-heaven!

All I can say is "wow!"
This pie is wonderfully sweet, and not for the faint-hearted. If you are addicted to sugar like a crack addict is addicted to crack, this pie is definitely for you. Some Bon Appétit readers described the filling as resembling that of a pecan pie. Although I am no expert and it has been a very long time since I've made one, my pecan pie fillings do not have this light, creamy color to them. It is more like a Quebec sugar pie, but it's made with brown sugar instead of maple syrup. Since I love all things maple, I think that if I were to make it again, I might experiment with using maple sugar, instead of brown sugar. Bet that would be awesome!
A slice of this pie for breakfast will definitely give your day a jump-start. It's like a boost of energy! Instead of caffeine, have a slice of crack pie!

For the recipe, click here, please.

I hope you enjoyed my latest installment of Magazine Mondays, which is hosted by Janie this week.