Gesine Bullock-Prado's Blog, page 27

Sugar Baby on the Today Show!

Sugar Baby on Today!

I had a great time buzzing through Parisian macaron on the Today Show.  Don't buy them...MAKE THEM!  The recipe's in Sugar Baby!

SugarBaby Companion Site!

If you're looking for tips and tricks or just more pictures from SugarBaby, come visit me at www.sugarbabycookbook.com for some sugaring fun!

SUGARBABY!

Thanks to the intrepid bakers over at my baking forum, I was informed that SugarBaby was slipping out earlier than April 1st.

And then my friend Jay emailed a picture of the book in his hot little hands, fresh from a bookstore in Baltimore.

I'm wondering if this is some nefarious plot to confuse me as to when exactly I'm supposed to celebrate, keeping the local cache of champagne safe from my sticky little sugar hands.

Either way, this has led to my releasing the privacy clutches around the sugar baby website.  I'm still working on a few posts...and will continue to post ideas and demos as needed.

NOW GO GET SOME SUGAR, BABY!

Hot Pockets of Purim: The Sugaring Hamantaschen!

Purim is upon us at just the right moment...when we Vermonters are in the thick of sugaring.

That means the Hamantaschen are going to be maple infused this year, whether you like it or not.

I have a sneaking suspicion you'll like it.

Hamantaschen, the tri-cornered cookie hat of victory and goodness, are traditionally stuffed with poppyseed or fruity fillings.  But when I see a sweet vessel, perfectly pinched in such a manner that a host of fillings might happily (and safely) reside in her buttery embrace, my mind goes straight to custard.

And so it is that my Hamantaschen became maple custard infused (and apricot topped).


Maple Custard Hamantaschen

(Makes about 25 cookies)

For the dough

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (6 ounces, 12 tablespoons)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
pinch nutmeg

Procedure

-Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with the paddle attachment.  Add the egg, vanilla, salt and nutmeg and continue to mix until the egg is completely incorporated and the batter is once again smooth.

-Add the flour and mix until the dough JUST comes together.  Don't over mix.

-Turn the dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap.  Press the dough into a tight, flat round.  Cover entirely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a half hour.

For the custard

Ingredients

1 cup cream
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup  of maple syrup
2 tablespoons corn starch
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean extract

Procedure

-Whisk together sugar and cornstarch in a metal bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and whisk until smooth.

-Continue whisking the mixture over a bain marie until the maple custard thickens.  Immediately pour through a sieve into a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap so the custard doesn't form a skin.  Refrigerate until completely cool.

To Assemble

You'll need:  egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)

-Preheat oven to 350º.

-Roll the dough about 1/8 thick and using a cookie cutter/ biscuit cutter/cake round, cut into 2" rounds.

-Brush the rounds with egg wash.

-Dollop about 1 - 2 teaspoons onto the middle of each round.


-Pinch the sides of the round on three sides to form a tri-cornered vessel that completely contains the custard.  Pinch rather aggressively, otherwise the cookies will come apart in the oven.


-Brush the outsides of the Hamantaschen with egg wash.

-Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Maple Custard Goodness.
-I've topped my little hot pockets with heart shaped dried apricots.  This adds a little fruity flavor and gives the treats a nice pop of color.

To Japan, With Love...

Donate @ www.forjapanwithlove.com

Japanese Friends

Dear Japan,

Know that you are all in our thoughts and prayers.

Love,
the bakers

SugarBaby Contest!

Sugar Baby is coming April 1st!  I'm so darn excited about the prospect of you learning to play with sugar that I'm going to give away 3 signed copies of Sugar Baby on the publication date.  But that's not all!

You see!  That's the thermometer up there, in the pictures, on the upper left hand side in the book!  And that's the my very own Maverick, just waiting to get dipped in hot sugar again!

The kind people at Maverick, the makers of my all time favorite candy thermometer, were so kind as to give me three super duper digital thermometers to do with as I saw fit.  And I see fit to give them away with the 3 books!

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!  The three lucky winners will also get a Gesine Confectionary t-shirt!  AHHHHH! Can you even take it???



Here's how you enter.  Simply leave a comment on this blog post until midnight March 31st (one entry per person.  I'm paying attention!).  On April 1st, I'll select the 3 winners by using a random number generator (thank you Tracy!).  Once I announce the winners, the lucky sweet peeps will simply have to send me their addresses, their shirt size (ladies sizes only, sorry gents) and sit back and await delivery of their goodies.

Good luck!

Chocolate Stout Pudding!

I've had a bottle of Chocolate Stout languishing in my fridge since October. It came in a Harpoon Brewery multi-pack.  We drank everything else, leaving one lone beer that no one wanted.  This made me feel guilty.  I needed to drink it or use it before St. Patrick's Day rolled around.  


I had a spot of maple syrup left from last year's tapping just lolling at the bottom of a bottle at the back of the fridge.  We're working on this year's batch.  With about 1/2 cup of amber sitting around just as I'm boiling down gallons of sap, I was feeling guilty.  I needed to drink it straight from the bottle or use it.
And then it came to me:  pudding.  I was going to make pudding and put all the ingredients to use.  
How about some donut with that pudding?

The beauty of pudding is that you can eat it straight, shove it into a donut or use it as a tart filling.  For a multi-tasking baker lady, it's the perfect treat to have hanging around as Fasching and St. Patty's day roll around.


Chocolate Stout Pudding
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup cocoa powder (I use Callebaut Extra Brute)1/2 cup maple syrup1 bottle chocolate stout (about 1 1/2 cups)1/4 cup cornstarch4 egg yolkspinch of salt1 teaspoon vanilla extract1 1/2 cups heavy cream
PROCEDURE
Cocoa powder and cornstarch waiting for the rest of their friends.

-Whisk together cocoa powder, maple syrup, cornstarch, chocolate stout, egg yolks, salt and vanilla extract in the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment.
-In a large saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer.
-With the mixer running on low, carefully pour the hot cream into the cocoa powder mixture.  Whisk until completely combined.
Transfer from the mixer back into the saucepan.
-Transfer the liquid back into the saucepan and whisk over medium heat until the pudding thickens.
Getting there...just not thick enough, though.

That's what I'm talking about!
-Ladle the pudding into serving glasses.  Cover the tops with a small piece of plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming, making sure the wrap touches the surface of the pudding.
Ladle!
-Refrigerate until completely cool.
CHILL!
-Top with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

King Cake for Our Queen

Tallulah the Catahoula came to us by way of Louisiana.  We had not planned on adopting another fur baby.  We'd recently lost our beloved April the Boston Terrier.  We were busy smothering our remaining pups with love.  It seemed callous to bring a new pawed soul into our home so soon after the little one's passing.

I'm such a sucker for those baby blues.
But as these things happen, a grey pip squeak managed to squirrel her way into Ray's heart when he happened upon her during his travels in Louisiana.  He had only meant to leave the Bayou State with an LSU t-shirt and a tailgate hangover.  Instead, he brought home a puppy.

I thank him every day for his foresight and curse him that I love her so that I let her sprawl in the bed next to me, stealing the covers and leaving my toes exposed.


Catahoula's are a Louisiana native.  Their proper name is Catahoula Leopard Cur and they boast a grand lineage, descending from the Spanish Conquistador war dogs who were left behind with the American natives, who then bred them with the local wolf population.  Apparently, they also taught them to like cake and snuggles.

So it's with the pelican state in my heart and Tallulah begging at my feet for some of her hometown cooking that I make the King Cake...and of course I let her choose the first piece.

Laissez les bon temps roulez, y'all.


King Cake

My recipe is a lush sweet roll, intertwined with bourbon cinnamon laced pastry cream.  It's great any time of the year, not just Mardi Gras.

INGREDIENTS

5 cups bread flour (plus a cup more just in case the dough is too sticky...)
1 tablespoon INSTANT yeast
2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups whole milk
zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
4 tablespoons/2 ounces room temperature unsalted butter

2 egg whites, set aside in a small bowl

To doctor the pastry cream:  2 tablespoons bourbon & 1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the glaze:  1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, divided among three bowls.  1 - 2 tablespoons of milk per individual bowl and 1 drop dye each of green, yellow and purple in each bowl.  Mix until smooth.

For the baby:  1 pecan

PROCEDURE

Preheat oven to 350º

-Make the pastry cream per the directions in this post.  Allow to cool completely.

-Place flour, yeast and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fit with the dough hook attachment.  Stir the dry ingredients together.

-Whisk together the maple syrup, 2 eggs, milk, lemon zest and vanilla bean paste.

-With the mixer on low, add the wet ingredients.  When the wet ingredients are just combined, slowly add bits of the butter.

-Mix the dough until it starts to pull from the sides of the bowl and is very shiny.  If the dough is very sticky, slowly add more flour from the extra cup.  The mixing process can take quite a while, up to 15 minutes.  Be patient.

When the dough looks rough like this, it needs quite a bit more time in the mixer. Better.  Shinier.  Almost there.
-Bulk proof the dough in a large bowl, spray with non-stick spray, until the dough doubles in size.

Starting out...not risen.  Bulk proofing means letting all the dough rise together in a big heap.
Almost there!
-Punch down the dough and roll out into a rough rectangle, approximately 24" long and 10" to 12" wide.

Slathered with pastry cream.
-Mix the bourbon and cinnamon into the pastry cream, stirring until the mixture is smooth.  Spread the pastry cream over the rectangle of dough.

-Roll the dough, starting with the long edge closest to you, into a jelly roll.

-Form the jelly roll into a circle, pinching the cut ends together gently.

Slice it up.
-Every few inches, make a cut into the top of the cake and brush the entirety with egg white.

Let it rise again!
-Allow to rise until doubled in size.  Brush again with egg white and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
-Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Golden

-Allow to cool completely.  Hide a pecan in the cake by sticking it gently in one of the cut openings.

hide a pecan!

-Paint glaze stripes willy nilly.

Tallulah Enjoys!  She's not really licking the actual cake, it just looks like it.  I swear.

An Update...

Psychedelic Sugar Bowl!  You too can make edible pottery ... just follow the recipe in SugarBaby and get extra guidance on the companion website.

I love pictures, especially in cookbooks.  And if there isn't a picture to go along with a recipe, I'm despondent.

But I understand it's impractical and cost prohibitive to laden a cookbook with color photographs of every single recipe along with detailed photo tutorials for making the goodies.  That was certainly the case when we were working on putting together SugarBaby.

There will be a video demo for making French Macaron.  Even instruction on how to pipe them into hearts.  These are green tea guava.  I just ate one.  They are delicious.

But I'm here to reassure you that you will never be alone because alongside the publication of the book on April 1st, I will launch a companion website with photographs and tutorials, both photo and video, to supplement the book.

Quilted Lollipops.  Photo tutorial on the site.

So bookmark www.sugarbabycookbook.com, it's not live yet so you won't be able to peruse it until April 1st but I wanted you to have everything in your sweet arsenal the moment you get the cookbook in your hot little hands.

( ***Remember, it's not live so if you click on the link, at the moment it will say you are not invited.  But everyone's invited April 1st***)  


Video demo will be on the companion website!  Well, you can also catch me slinging sugar on the sugarbaby trailer.