Queen Cake

Fourth time.  Perfection. 

Some tips:

What worked best for me was a pyrex pie plate with a circle of parchment on the bottom.  My kids do not like blackened, too dark caramel.  This was the best solution.

Yes, get the best butter you can. 

It is truly caramel heaven.  This one was a wee bit darker probably because I topped with some turbinado sugar instead of white. 

Amazing.  Go make it.  Now.

Kouign Amann Idéal

click here for more perfect

Well, my version of perfect.

Yeah, I couldn't resist making another.  I did a pyrex pie plate -- which was a huge improvement.  Still, a little blacker than I would like on the bottom -- I think next time I will bake on a parchment circle.

Because, oh yes, there will be a next time.  This is too good not to do again -- especially now that I've figured it out.

And it's better - much better at room temperature.  It all gets chewy and interesting -- like if the interior of a  very good sfogliatelle spent the weekend with a few pounds of butter.

click here for part 4

Kouign Amann Part Deux

click here for part 3

click here for part 4

OK, remember how last time, I announced that I didn't care if Kouign Amann ever called again and she wasn't my best friend anymore.  And I would never, ever, ever talk to Kouign Amann and I didn't even want to hear her NAME ever, ever, ever, ever.  Then I stomped off to my room, slammed the door and threw myself on the bed crying??

Yeah, you knew that was crap, right?

Of course it was. 

After Joe and I didn't work out, I was mulling over two recipes:  this one from the Kitchn and one from David Lebovitz.  I decided on David's, it looked less fussy.  I had read so many stories of Breton landladies actually making these in the morning, it resembled a home--rather than a patisserie--version. 

And, thank you Joe, having the sugar against the butter did cause the dough to weep.  I was prepared for that and just pushed through as David's looked like a mess anyway.  A delicious, burnt, buttery mess.

The verdict?  Really wonderful.  Mine burnt a little too much on the bottom and sides -- I followed David's recommendation for a nonstick pan.  Should've gone with my first instinct -- a pyrex pie plate.  Oh, well.

 

Like a big piece of buttery candy. 

ETA:  Now I'm peeling the nonburnt parts off and eating over the sink.  STOP ME FROM EATING THIS THING.  Yes, it's better at room temperature.


click here for part 3

click here for part 4

Kouign Meh-mah

When I first read about kougin amann on the Joe Pastry website, it was love at first site.

And, no, I've never actually eaten one -- that I can remember.  But when I was a kid, the ultimate in decadence was the butter cake from the local bakery.  Completely different animal -- more of a round sponge cake with brown sugar on top.  I hoped that the kougin amann would deliver the grown-up version.

I was feeling pretty cocky, having survived two laminated dough rounds with Cronuts Part I & 2.  I went out and bought a kitchen scale for the occasion, feeling this was baking with  big boys.  I did not get fancy Euro butter -- didn't have the time -- and just used Land O' Lakes. 

I woke up early, ran some 100m sprint intervals (how'dya think I'm surviving all this butter?), assembled my ingredients and proceeded to beat the hell out of my butter with a rolling pin.

A little too cocky, I'm afraid.  The lamination did not proceed as smoothly as with the cronuts.  I prefer the Daily Meal's method (or write-up), but I think this is a skill that will improve.  It's only my third time, after all.

While waiting for things to take off in the oven, I looked at some other recipes and realized there were some variants.  Baking in muffin tins seemed quite intriguing, to get more caramelization.  But nonetheless, Joe brought me to the party and we were leaving together.

Which was a mistake.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to be a good girl. 

Because after 25 minutes, they looked like this:

I was hesitant to leave them longer.  So we tried them.  And they were...meh. 

The best parts were the browned, burned parts.  And after reading a bunch of other recipes, that had them to bake slowly for about 45 minutes. .....I decided to put them back in the oven (I'm sure this is destroying some subtle chemical reaction) and got this after ANOTHER 25 minutes.

Huge improvement.  Huge.  Maybe it's just my stove, Joe probably has some amazing Viking thing. 

And.....not sure I would make them again.  Although I was committed to my cronut endeavors, this didn't have enough appeal for me to work again.  I think the boys would be far more thrilled if I took that laminated dough and made croissants -- preferably with a hunk of chocolate in the middle.

CRONUTS: BOW TO YOUR SENSEI

I did it!

The little cutter was key.  I used this one. 

There were some small caveats:

• I think I got TOO much rise.  Which is fine, rise is great.  But not all of them were perfect.  Many resembled the sand worms from Dune.  Delicious, but odd.
• The donut holes totally looked like the sandworms.  I put cinnamon on them too to celebrate.

 

 

• Lastly, I did fill with the lemon curd - but that seemed pointless.  They were so tiny, with the tiny cutter not much landed in a cronut.  A bit of lily gilding (and I am all for gilded lillies) that I would pass on.  At home, you can serve any cream on the side.  

CRONUTS! YOU AND I HAVE UNFINISHED BUSINESS

After this week's cronut experiment, I licked my wounds and decided to study further.  I have ordered a tiny donut cutter and a Bismarck tip.  Also, from my initial foray, decided to step away from the pastry cream--finding it far too eggy/heavy with the fried/crisp--and try something different.

Now, never having eaten an authentic cronut, I can get the pastry cream idea.  These are not big things.  People get one, probably to share.  It's okay if it hits a little heavy.

Me, I'm making these.  I'll have a dozen in my clutches. After all, I only learned to cook so I could eat expensive food in roadside diner proportions without having to get a better job. A tablespoon of foie gras?  Je pense que non!

Besides, this is Jersey.

So after an intense text conversation with Miss Texas and some serious study of my new favorite website, Joe Pastry, I decided on the following options to taste:

All of these had a whipping cream base.  The only one not pictured is a jar of Trader Joe's cherry preserves.

In preparation for my next cronut battle, I decided to spar with this donut recipe from Epicurious, via the Flour Bakery in Boston, and was oh so careful with the frying temps and cut them out so VERY LITTLE. 

I glazed one in chocolate ganache and the other in a thin confectioner's sugar glaze.

After dinner, each judge received a vanilla and a chocolate and a selection of creams.  I decided not to fill, to allow the most combinations and flexibility.

Mother's Favorite:  Mascarpone with Cherry Preserves

The overall winner was LEMON CURD (lemon curd + whipped cream).  Followed by MASCARPONE plus CHERRY PRESERVES.  The glazes did not make much of a difference.

I will be avenged, cronuts.  I look forward to meeting you again in battle.

Cronut Experiment

  

My beloved children are VERY GOOD about going into the Big City with Mommy to try new food.  We’ve done Donut Plant and fancy popsicles and crack pie even!  But with the people lining up at 5 a.m. and publicists shanking each other in alleyways, our chances of getting one of Dominique Ansels’ cronuts this year are slim. 

ShopRite!

ShopRite is getting into the cronut action --  “Croissant Donuts.” Not bad and pretty good for a grocery store.  Good for you, ShopRite. 

But Mummy can always cook….

I found this recipe for cronuts from the Daily Meal.  Looked pretty good.  However, the recipe was rather underwritten and thin in parts.  There were some steps I could’ve used some more information on  – I’m going to go over those points here.

 

You have to mash the butter into a block 8 x 8” between parchment sheets.  I had the bright idea of putting into the freezer so I could peel off the parchment.  It worked out great.

 

 

 

Pastry cream, not scambled eggs

Pastry Cream.  I don’t make pastry cream often.  Maybe every other year.  This recipe was a little underwritten for such a delicate emulsion.  I forgot all the tricks.  I threw out the first batch and used this recipe from Epicurious – after thoroughly reading the comments and remembering to temper the egg mixture first, etc.  Next time, I’ll probably dig out Julia Child’s recipe.

 

 

  

So after all the rises, the final roll out instructs “cut out 12 donuts” from a 6 x 8” rectangle.  Huh?  I really couldn’t picture how to do that.  So I used a small glass.  DIdn’t know what to do for the interior, because all my bottle caps, etc, were way too big for an interior hole.  So I threaded a straw through. 

THAT WAS A BIG MISTAKE.

I also didn’t want to handle the dough too much at that point, so I didn’t want to mess with it too much.  (I should’ve messed with it a little)

They fried up beautifully.  I even measured the temperature of the oil and set a timer for each donut.  Also:  THIS is when you roll in sugar, not the end when they are cooled.

Put the pastry cream in, glazed the top, took a bite – and some were raw inside.  RAW INSIDES.  Hole not big enough.  Not the right size.   Dough too dense, and fries too quickly.  Aaaarrrgghh.

The taste?  The surviving parts and others?  Lovely.  I had some leftovers that I just shaped into circles and those fried up gorgeous.  The pastry cream was a little heavy for my taste.  It reminded me a little of Krispy Kremes with the icing – which always strikes me as a little much.  I think with a lighter cream or an orange glaze, we’d be a little closer to God with these.

I think if I made these again , I would invest in a proper donut cutter to get the dimensions exactly right.  And then an orange blossom cream.