IN THE TUBE WITH DARING BAKERS...CANNOLI TIME

“A man who loves good food has a way of making it gravitate toward his kitchen.”

Angelo Pellegrini

I did the Daring Bakers challenge, finally. Got late this time for want of cannoli tubes or a fitting replacement. Oscillated between broomstick handles (thanks for the idea Judy) and paper rolls. Even got a metal tube cut into 5" bits but wasn't satisfied. Then suddenly got a brainwave...yes cream roll horns. That's what I would attempt to use ... & did in the end. Didn't get the perfect shape, but they were pretty close!

I got the cream roll horns from a quaint little store in Old Delhi ages ago. The little shop is a fascinating one, in the middle of the old city known as Purani Dilli. A part of Delhi steeped in culture, in all things ancient, old buildings, rickshaws, people from a different era ... just enthralling! This part of the Old Delhi, Chawri bazaar, is a wholesale market for everything ranging from auto parts, to weighing scales, to kitchen fittings, dry fruits, handmade paper, copper ware, basically everything ... and amazingly baking ware. Here's where I found dessert rings, piping bags, cookie cutters, muffin tins... and lots more. And that's how I got through my challenge this November!

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.

This times challenge was a departure from baking, a firts ever for the Daring Bakers! Yet, the spirited group embraced cannoli & deep frying with such exuberance, it was amazing. Yes, that's us. Daring Bakers who will leap to any challenge. The forums were a buzz with excitement after Lisa set up the challenge with all sorts of yummy filling ideas from ricotta, mascarpone, pumpkin puree filling etc. She is an over-the-top creative blogger & daring Baker, who churns out exquisite DB posts challenge after challenge. Her creativity blows me away each time. Thank you for hosting the challenge this time. Thank you also, Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, the fab ladies behind the Daring Kitchen.

I did have hopes to do a savoury and sweet challenge but finally got to terms with that just 'not going to happen' this time. I did however do a variation on the basic recipe. Made 1/2 dough with cinnamon keeping the original recipe (my cannoli is dark because I forgot to halve the cinnamon while having the rest of the ingredients), and another using some buckwheat and pepper. The buckwheat was meant for savoury cannoli, but ended up with sweet mascarpone flavourings eventually. The cannoli were super simple & straightforward to make, and made for yummy dessert. I stuck to mascarpone because the hub loves the luxury of this cream, not so much ricotta in dessert. Used an assortment of whatever I had in my spice cupboard to flavour the filling. I had a field day!Ranged from basil sugar (got the idea to make it from Ilva), pink peppercorn (sent to me by a sweet Mumbai blogger Anushruti), fresh orange zest, dark chocolate and plain vanilla. I dipped the tubes into melted chocolate & then into bowls of the flavourings to code them, then filled the tubs with corresponding flavoured mascarpone. Of course I made my mascarpone at home again. You can find the recipe here.

Do stop by at Lisa's for the recipe & to check out her gorgeous post! Also make sure you check out here how the rest of our gang have been making & stuffing these tubes!

I'm scheduling my post for the 27th as I will be in London for the Food Bloggers Connect. Do forgive me if the post is a hurried one, as I still have to pack...

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Pink Peppercorn & Chocolate Chip Shortbread ... Off to the FBC with the kick of peppah!

"The more you have to do, the less time there's to get it done in"

Aparna's Law

Barely a few hours to leave for the Food Bloggers Connect in London and I am still hopelessly distracted. So much to do, so little time. And then the hair brained idea to use pink pepper in cookies. It keeps taking over my insane imagination, even though I knew I had so much more to do. Loose ends to tie, brownies to bake for the kids snack box, a pound cake to make for them too, apples that are lying on the kitchen counter crying themselves hoarse to be baked into dessert. I thought I would do no such thing, leave in a calm composed manner, let them miss me & dessert...realise my true worth etc!

In the meantime, the 'mama' mode in Mr PAB hasn't kicked in yet . He's been trying to take over Mama duties in my absence, and it just isn't happening. I'm still doing the laundry, making BIG eyes at him, saying this is what 'Mama PAB' should be doing now. Poor guy ... he's overwhelmed at the thought of running home & looking after the kids for 4 days. Ain't easy to deal with a teen; thankfully the boy at 10 is a blessing; always a smile. And suddenly, with an uneasy feeling of her mother going, the daughter has begun to be rather nice, unlike the edgy teen we get to see!!

I've been in baking mode all of yesterday... something like jump into a bag & bake myself to death mode. Made them a coffee pound cake, made them brownies & made them some shortbread cookies. I have to admit they're having a field day, & have had a good go at the pound cake & cookies.

The shortbread cookies are a sudden obsession. Of course I shouldn't have made them as I didn't have time ... but the pink peppercorn that this lovely Mumbai blogger Anushruti @ Divine Taste mailed has had me mesmerised. It's from her mother's garden down in South India & the flavours are entirely intriguing. Mildly spicy, but with a lingering aroma. Used them in a pink peppercorn chicken curry a few days ago, but had cookies on my mind. Cookies for Anushruti because I know she's a vegatarian, and bakes eggless too. Had an idea developing in my mind for a bit, and couldn't resist throwing these together. They have a hint of a surprise if you are expecting just 'sweet' shortbread. The kids were slightly taken aback, but sports that they are, the taste grew on them. I like the idea of pepper, chili, chocolate in cookies desserts, and these were yum, simple & different. Without much ado, here we go...

Pink Peppercorn & Chocolate Chip Shortbread
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
5 tbsps vanilla or Castor Sugar
2 tbsps pink peppercorn + 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
Powdered sugar for sifting on top
Dark melted chocolate for topping if desired
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets.
Coarsely grind the pepper in a pestle & mortar with 1/2 a tsp of granulated sugar.
Beat the butter & sugar till creamy & soft. I do this by hand.
Mix in the pink peppercorn coarsely ground. (I do this too by hand & don't use the mixer at all for this recipe).
Gradually add the flour and gently pull the dough in together to form a soft ball. Chill for an hour.
Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 " thickness, and cut into shapes.
Put on the baking sheet, bake for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown. Remove to a cookie rack to cool. Dip into melted chocolate & leave to set.
Makes about 2-3 dozen 3" cookies.

Thank you for stopping by ♥

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Dresden Stollen... Stolen my heart, it has!!

“Sometimes I want to clean up my desk and go out and say, respect me, I'm a respectable grown-up, and other times I just want to jump into a paper bag and shake and bake myself to death”

Wendy Wasserstein

It's all her fault. I wish I could have stolen it. Jamie tweeted she was pulling out a freshly baked Stollen from her oven a few days ago. 'Pleeeeeeeease' came the shout, 'we want some too!!' Diva & me fought for it, but I knew I had to make mine soon. Diva had a better chance of getting to Nantes to Jamie's oven before me, so I took a stab at making my own pretty quick.

The recipe for the Christmas Stollen (Dresden Stollen) is a beautiful one from Murasaki Shikibu or Ayako @ Samurai Viking Cuisine. Once the Stollen is baked you need to let it mature for 2 – 3 weeks. Leave it in a cold dry room, wrapped in aluminum foil. If you don’t have a nice cold, dry room – you’ll have to let it mature in your refrigerator, in which case wrapping it up in Saran Wrap is recommended. Typically this is done in the last week of November in German households.

Made the Stollen and it was absolutely delicious. Used the changes Jamie suggested, and made some additional ones like substituting fruit with whatever I had on hand. I used quark which I made at home. You can find the recipe here. The only issue I had was the crumbly texture. I didn't get a smooth, beautiful crumb like the one Jamie's picture had, and I think I can blame that on differences with oven temperatures, the kind of flour available here, and my impatience.

More importantly I think too on the lack of self restraint. The Stollen had flooded the house with delicious warm smells, and I just couldn't resist hacking some off ... too soon maybe. The timer was set on 30 minutes once the loaves were out ... At the buzz, I was there with my bread knife. Crumbly or not, this was mighty delicious stuff!

There is an interesting tale about Stollen... According to some sources, this sweet bread which dates back to 1400 A.D., used to be much more boring due to a 'butter ban' which had been implemented by the Roman Catholic Church. However an appeal was made to the Pope, and the Pope decided that after doing appropriate 'penance' you could use butter and milk!

Thank you Ayako...nom nom nom. My first Stollen was made, the remainder of which was soon sitting wrapped in foil in a cool place. Trying (seriously am) to leave it 2-3 weeks in hibernation. Am trying to feed it to my blog meanwhile... With temptation as strong as this, I'm back with news that it now slices beautifully. Yes, I have not been able to resist temptation & was back pulling the foil of this morning. Sliced some for the kids 'tiffin'/snack for school, and have to say it still tastes divine. Cake like, rich & yet not heavy. You must make some...still a month to go for Christmas!

Christmas Stollen (Dresden Stollen)
The recipe is from 'Backen macht Freude' (Dr Oetker)
Ingredients:
500g AP flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
200g Sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar
4 drops sweet almond extract (Use bitter if you can get some, or bitter almond oil, the edible kind - don't put arsenic in your Stollen!)
1tbsp Rum
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 eggs
175g butter
250g "Quark" (I make my own. Link here)
100g dried currants
100g raisins
100g dried craisins
50gm candied ginger/orange peel
Zest of 1 orange
150g ground almonds For the 'icing':
50g butter
50g powdered sugar

Method:
Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, almond meal, cardamom & nutmeg in your processor & give it a whiz.
Add chilled grated butter & process till you have breadcrumbs.
In a bowl whisk together quark, eggs, almond extract, rum (if using).
Add wet ingredients to flour mix and stir together until all the dry ingredients are moistened, and start to come together into a ball of dough, sticky but workable.
Knead on a well-floured work surface, adding just enough extra flour until it forms a nice, soft, smooth but not sticky dough.
Preheat the oven to 250°C. Bake it for 45 minutes at 180°C and then for another 15 minutes at 160°C. The 'icing':
As soon as the Stollen is done brush melted butter onto the hot stollen and dust it with the powdered sugar.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

I have to add that I used golden raisins in my Stollen that Madhuli mailed to me very recently. She sent me a beautifully wrapped gift & I was so touched. Each bit packed with love, a separate card on each, handwritten notes & even a recipe of her grandmothers with a masala mix her aunt made.

My Stollen also happily used parchment paper that Avanika large heartedly mailed to me from Mumbai when she heard we don't get it here. Thank you, you wonderful foodies, my Stollen was sweeter because of you!

Some more happy little bits I'd like to share...
I am honoured to be included in the list of nominees for 'Best Indian Food Blogs' here.

Voting begins in a day.

Also would like to thank EC for featuring me in the Sunday Super Blogger series here.
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LAVENDER MASCARPONE CAKE... & a Thank You Cards Giveaway

“Birthdays are nature's way of telling us to eat more cake.”
Author Unknown

I changed my blog header 2 days ago with pictures of my birthday cake. How ambitious of me when I thought I'd post the recipe alongside. 2 days have zipped by & I am still struggling with my thoughts. Time, or the lack of it, is to blame, but I got a couple of emails this morning conveying how 'torturous' it was not to find the recipe posted and just pictures! Then my dear tweetbuddy Yogalili tweeted...

@vindee waiting as patient as a spider for the lavender cake post......

& again...

@vindee Get thee to thy master's lair...your grace!!! I be a hungry lavender lovin minyon!!

...so here I am!

(You have to see the picture of the cake Yogalili made soon after.

It's at the bottom of this post. She is brilliant!!)

Was my birthday a couple of days ago, and an opportunity to bake another cake. The boy tried very hard to convince me that they would 'buy' me a cake, "Mama it's you birthday, watch TV all day!"...Ultimate comfort in his eyes??? LOL, he's never seen me plonked in front of the TV, so he figured that might be some sort of ultimate luxury for his darling mother. He's been at home for the past 2 weeks as his class in school is shut with 8 cases of H1N1, and it never seems to end. All he sees me do is racing from here to there like a headless chicken, with the odd whinge thrown in!

So much to do & so little time! But I always find time to do what I want to, so what if it kills me, so cake I had to bake. Was thinking coffee but alongside was toying with the idea of lavender in a cake. How would it be? Actually Shaheen @ Purple Foodie had very large heartedly mailed me half her stash of lavender some time back, with some more goodies. The bag included a cherry pitter (yes, Jamie, a leap out of stone-age for moi), some interesting spice mixes, a muffin book & a box of sprinkles! Sweet isn't she, this Purple foodie? That bag of lavender was calling my name, and it finally helped me chart a path to my birthday cake.

Finally settled for a light fatless sponge, sandwiched and frosted with lavender mascarpone. Made some marzipan flowers from left over home made marzipan from my Cinnamon Buttercream Autumn Cake here, which won me a beautiful cake decorating book from the Ivonne & Lis from the Daring Kitchen! This was my first time making roses, following a step by step tutorial from beautiful cake book by Peggy Porschen's Pretty Party Cakes.

My flowers weren't as smooth for 2 reasons. One I think is that store bought marzipan is smoother so gives a better end product, and secondly as Peggy says in her book, with practice the roses get better & better. I was quite happy with my first attempt. I even hand cut the leaves, and maked the veins on them from a great tutorial that Alice from Savoury Sweet Life posted here. Do stop by & see her absolutely gorgeous cake ... it's a piece of art!!

This lavender mascarpone cake was a delicious departure from chocolate. Soothing as lavender is said to be, it was elegant & subtly flavoured. Lavender married the mascarpone sensuosuly, like they were meant to be together. My only regret was that I should have increased the amount of cream on the frosting. My recipe reflects the increased amount...

Lavender Mascarpone Cake
Ingredients:

5 eggs (250gms)
100gms flour (half the weight of the eggs, including the cornflour)
2 tbsps cornflour
1tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
100gms sugar(less than half the weight of the eggs)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Purple food colour, optional
Filling/Topping
600gm mascarpone (homemade recipe here)
200ml cream (25% fat, that's all we get here)
1/2 tsp lavender
3-4 Tbsp icing sugar for filling
2 tbsp sugar ground with 1/4 tsp lavender seeds for topping
Food colour

Method:
For the sponge
Preheat oven to 190C , reduced to 180C after 10 mins of putting the cake in. Grease and line a 8" springform cake tin.
Sift the flour + baking powder + salt 3 times.
Beat the eggs and sugar well with hand beater till very thick ribbon falls and holds in place for at least 5 seconds (beat for approx 10mins). Add vanilla extract & beat for 1 min.
Gently fold in the sifted flour; mix lightly so that air doesn't escape.
Turn gently into tin and bake for 30-35 mins till done. Don't overbake or sponge will be dry.
Once done, remove from tin after 5 mins and leave on rack to cool completely. Cut horizontally into 3 layers.Filling:
To flavour mascarpone, stir the lavender into 1/4 cup mascarpone & leave to infuse overnight.
Whip 400ml mascarpone with 4tbs powdered sugar until thick and holds peaks.
Place the bottom most layer of the sponge on your serving platter, spread half the lavender cream on it. Repeat with next 2 layers. Topping:
Whip remaining 200gm mascarpone with 200ml chilled cream and lavender sugar till holds peaks.
Reserve 1-2 tbsps for piping on top. Frost cake top & sides with rest. Put sponge fingers as a border if you like. Top with marzipan flowers. Chill well before serving.

♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

~

My birthday was made even better by this sweet Delhi blogger, Nachiketa, who came along to wish me with a Coffee Tiramisu that she made especially for me. Drop-dead gorgeous cake, delicious & full of my beloved coffee, and beautiful flowers too. Thank you Nach... the cake was perfect in every way & so me...!

On another note, I have a 'Custom Thank You Cards' giveaway promotion on my blog today from one of my blog sponsors, UPrinting ! Holidays are just around the corner, ‘tis the season to be merry and giving custom thank you cards is the perfect gift to express your warm thoughts to your loved ones. One lucky reader will be jingling all the way with a pack of 50 Custom Thank You Cards with envelopes, all for free! UPrinting cards are made from high-quality paper and cardstock and will surely bring holiday cheer to your friends and family.

Prize Offered: (50 ct.) 7 x 5" (folded to 3.5 x 5") Custom Thank You Cards with plain envelopes.

If you wish to part of the giveaway, please leave a comment on how you would use the cards. I'd love to hear about your creative ideas!

The giveaway is on until November 28th. The prize will be announced thereafter.
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents due to shipping costs.

Disclosure : I will be receiving fifty (50) thank you cards from UPrinting.com for hosting this giveaway.

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Am adding a picture of the cake Yogalili made soon after I blogged my recipe. My son's immediate reaction... "Wow, will she give it to us? I want it now!!"...

...Thank you YL; you are a 'dream' student, sponge fingers & all !!

THE BLOGGERAID COOKBOOK ... a cookbook with a heart!

Bloggers Uniting to Aid in the Alleviation of Hunger...

We've been at it for a while. It all began with 2 wonderful, large hearted and fabulous ladies who joined forces in aid of world hunger. Val @ More Than Burnt Toast & Giz @ Equal Opportunity Kitchen began weaving a dream, an almost impossible dream, but hey, they did it! They focused on expanding their message and how to help others in need, in this worldwide crisis of world hunger. Val & Giz launched BloggerAid, and united a band of bloggers from across the globe, inspiring us to create & contribute original recipes for a cookbook.

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Now finally, after many months of editing, checking, re-editing, designing covers, giving suggestions, voting on the cover etc, we are excited. The members of BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine, have published a cookbook where 100% of the proceeds target children and education through the World Food Programme called School Meals. Purchases can be made by clicking here.

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Do you like the book cover? (I am editing my post to reflect Giz's comment.) Actually, the idea for the 'globe nestled in a pair of small hands' for the cover was one I suggested much earlier during the design stage. I was amazed at the response & passion it evoked at the time. Was even more ecstatitic to know that it finally won in the voting stage by a large margin. The photographs for the cover (this one & the other proposed one) were both taken by a fabulous Sydney lifestyle blogger, Peter G of Souvlaki For The Soul. He is an extremely talented food blogger and photographer.

The BloggerAid-Changing the Face of Famine Cookbook is now available through the Create Space estore. The estore is a connection of Amazon. You won't find the book on the Amazon.com site - royalties for the School Meals Programme are much higher through the estore. The children need as much support as we can give them!!!

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This side, 'Oven Roasted Baby Potatoes & French Beans' was my contribution to BloggerAid for our special cookbook. There are exciting recipes from across the globe to be found within this beautiful book. The BloggerAid Cook Book is a collection of international recipes illustrating that we can work together and unite for a greater cause. The over 130 authors of this cookbook are food bloggers from around the world who have endeavored to make a difference by raising funds for the World Food Programme and encompassing their passion for "all things foodie" at the same time.

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BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine
Bloggers Making a Difference...

...We are a growing group of international food bloggers determined to make a difference in aid of world famine. The love of food and community that brings us together drives the compassion of its members to reach out to our world to help those less fortunate than we are. Banded by a mission of helping to make a change in a world where starvation affects such a profound number of people, we will raise money and awareness for the hungry in communities both at home and abroad.

Want to join in? Check out the link here.

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100% of BloggerAid-CFF's proceeds from the cookbook will be sent directly to the WFP's School Meals Programme, which benefits an average of 22 million hungry children each year. School meals are important on many levels. In countries where school attendance is low, the promise of at least one nutritious meal each day boosts enrollment and promotes regular attendance. Our children are the key to a better future.

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In Val's words... This book is a virtual way for all of us, wherever we may be and however rich or poor we may be, to pull up a chair at the same table and share what we have. Click here to buy The BloggerAid Changing the Face of Famine Cookbook.
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