Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs

It's that time of month again and I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about this month's challenge! My mom's favorite dessert is eclairs and what perfect timing with her coming to town this month. I've wanted to make these for the longest time and even more when I got an eclair pan from Kaiser Bakeware when I was picked for a monthly contest they host.

Our host this month were Tony Tahhan and MeetaK and they did a wonderful job picking a simple recipe that can be modified in with endless flavors. I choose to keep it traditional since I had never made these. The rules stated you had to use the dough recipe given and keep one chocolate element.

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)


• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

I will be making these again and can't wait to try some new flavors, I have so many ideas floating in my head right now. I think I will not cut them in half though, my filling came out a little loose therefore while you eat them it all splatters everywhere. I'll just pipe it in a hole at the end instead of cutting them in half. Overall it was a wonder turn out for making them for the 1st time. I apologize for the lack of photos this time. I got caught up talking to my mom while I was making everything and forgot to take the pictures. Looking forward to see what next month holds!

Alaska here I come!

My husband and I are off to tour the great land of Southcentral Alaska! I'm very excited about this trip and can't wait to see what Alaska has to offer. My fingers are crossed that Hurricane Gustav doesn't stop by my house while we're away. Hope everyone has a great week while I'm gone!

Allison

Not to shy to ask for a vote...

My ice cream finally made it to the Best Lick Contest site so if you don't mind I'll beg for votes....

Entry# 16

Thanks in advance!! :)

BBQ, Peach Cobbler And A Relaxing Day

Sunday evening we were attending a family gathering and our job was making ribs and dessert. My husband did the ribs and I decided to make my mom's peach cobbler. The weather was perfect with no clouds in the sky so we laid out to work on our tan while the meat was cooking. Let's start with the sweets...

Mom's Easy Cobbler

29 ounce can of fruit (any flavor can be used)
3 tablespoons cornstarch (or 4 tablespoons flour)
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ - ¾ cup sugar
butter
pre-made pie crust
cinnamon sugar

Combine cornstarch and liquid off the fruit and cook with 2 tablespoons butter until thick. Remove from burner and add vanilla and sugar. Stir well then add canned fruit and dump into baking dish. (For this recipe I doubled it and used a 9x13" pan)

Put a few pieces of butter on top of fruit.

Put pre-made pie crust on top and brush with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Onto the relaxing and meat....

Ribs

spare ribs, baby back ribs
seasoning of choice
unsweetened apple cider from the juice aisle

My husband rubbed down the meat with a mix of seasonings. (See some of my older post for all the seasonings he uses.) Then he put them in tupperware and covered the meat with apple cider and let them set overnight. He smoked them on the pit for 3 hours, basting it with the apple cider and seasoning that was left in the container. Then wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven at 250 degrees for 3 more hours. He also put a pan of water at the bottom rack to keep the moisture level up. The only problem we had is when he went to cut them they were so tender the bone pulled right out!

The family dinner went over great and it was great to see everyone so we're looking forward to the next gathering!

Thai-Style Green Beans for Two

When I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it! Candy at The Courageous Cook made a simple Thai-Style Green Bean dish for Two. My husband went nuts for this and couldn't believe I didn't make more. Then again it is for 2 and we're supposed to be cutting down on how big of portions we're eating. I love how quick and simple it was and the flavors went really well together. The only trouble I had is being in a hurry to make dinner I threw the sauce in a little too early and the pan was too hot so therefore it doesn't look as pretty and clumped up on me instead of being a smooth sauce, but it still tasted great. Be sure to check out Candy's site she has some mouth-watering dishes.

Thai-Style Green Beans for Two

1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon chopped shallot
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
Minced fresh cilantro and chopped dry roasted peanuts, optional

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, peanut butter and red pepper flakes; set aside. In a small skillet, saute shallot and ginger in oil over medium heat for 2 minutes. Add green beans; cook and stir for 3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add reserved sauce; toss to coat. Sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts if desired.
Yield: 2 servings. This recipe easily be doubled or even tripled if needed.

Jalapeno Corn Chowder

It's been a pretty rough week so far. My fridge died sometime over Monday night so Tuesday morning in my work clothes in the wee early hours I frantically clean out the fridge since it's trash day. Lucky I have a big upright freezer in the garage so I was able to save the freezer stuff. What I'm left with was whatever could fit in a dorm fridge. Sooo, the my poor fridge, who we've only had for 5 years, will see if it will RIP (and I'll get my fancy dream fridge) or if it will live again when the repair man comes on Saturday. Oh what a mess, but at least it happened now instead of when we leave for vacation next weekend!

Jalapeno Corn Chowder

(Adapted from Country Home)

3 cups frozen whole-kernel corn or 3 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 6–7 ears of corn)
1 14 1/2-oz. can chicken broth
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1 cup milk, half-and-half, or light cream
1/4 cup thinly sliced strips bottled roasted red pepper
1–2 fresh jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

In a blender container or food processor bowl combine half of the corn and the chicken broth. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. In a large saucepan combine the broth mixture and the remaining corn. (If using fresh corn, bring to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, 2 to 3 minutes or until corn is crisp-tender.) Stir in cooked chicken, milk, roasted peppers, and jalapeño peppers; heat through. Top each serving with cheese and cilantro. Makes 4 servings.

Overall the soup was ok, nothing fancy about it, but I liked how the feta gave it a mystery taste to try and figure out what's in it. My husband didn't like the chicken so fine he would rather have it more chunky and I have to agree. I left the roasted red pepper out because I didn't have any on hand.

THE BEST LICK ICE CREAM CONTEST

It's summer time and if you're in Texas that means it's HOT! My mom let me try out her ice cream maker since she's not using it and while I had it I thought I would come up with a new flavor ice cream. I figure why not I've never made ice cream before so how hard can it be? I had to learn about the ice and rock salt combo so that was a little tricky, but once I had that down I was cranking ice cream left and right. If I had more time I would have made another flavor I had in mind. Oh well there's plenty of contest so I'm sure there's bound to be another time to use it.

The contest I entered my "pink lemonade flavor" in was for The Best Lick Ice Cream Contest. There's already a couple of really great flavors entered so we'll see how it turns out.

Pink Lemonade Ice Cream

1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 can pink lemonade concentrate
pinch of salt
3 drops red food color, if desired for a darker pink look

Combine all ingredients and chill covered in fridge at least 20 minutes. Process in ice cream maker per manufacturer’s directions. The mixture will not be completely hard. To finish, put mixture into a lidded container and allow to harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving. Yields a little over 2 quarts.

So of course the only place for me to do my set up outside that was near a plug was right where the sun was! My poor ice maker was on overload that day.

The sticker on the box says this Dolly Madison Ice Cream Maker was inspected in June 1981. I'm one year older then this machine and it's good to see good quality machines that last so long.

The loud cranking of the ice cream maker freaked out the birds. The stuck to the top of the fence until I cut the machine off.

Overall I really liked how it turned out. A couple of people said it tasted like sorbet, but I liked it. It's tart like lemonade, yet finishes with a sweetness. My only problem was we ate it all up and didn't have any leftovers!

Lasagna Rolls

I like lasagna it's an easy make ahead meal and who doesn't like pasta? My husband has been bugging me to make him some lasagna so I thought I would try something new to make it look nice. I've been seeing lots of "stuffed lasagna pasta" turned up on it's side. It looks very pretty so I thought I would try that. I also laid some down flat because the more I thought about it I thought the ruffled edges would dry out and be crunchy, which they did. Next time I would probably just heat it in the oven to melt the cheese if I turned it upright, otherwise keeping it flat worked just fine. The thing I loved most about this is that it's easy to serve. 1 roll was plenty per person and made sure everyone got a fair share so I knew exactly how many people it would serve.

LASAGNA ROLLS

2 links (1 pound) Italian sausage

1 pound hamburger meat

2 (26 ounce) cans traditional pasta sauce

1/2 tablespoon Mrs. Dash

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/2 tablespoon garlic salt

dash cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 cups Mozzarella cheese

I like to start off by adding a couple tablespoons of plain pasta sauce to cover the bottom of the dishes I will be using.

Next I cook the meats and drain on a paper towel.

While the meat is draining I combine the remaining sauce and all the seasonings and heat over a medium-low heat.

Add the meat back in.

Stir to combine and remove from heat.

Next add in the cheese, onion and cilantro.

I pre cooked my noodles till they were almost done. Spread the meat mixture on the noodle leaving about an inch on each end so when you roll it up it has room to smooth out.

Place the roll in the prepared dish.

I then topped the rolls with the additional meat mixture and then covered it with cheese. Bake it at 350 degrees F. for 20 minutes.

Yummy now it's off to eat dinner and then rest up for the Kenny Chesney concert tomorrow!

Grilled Chicken with Easy Tangy Peach Barbecue Sauce

I always hate when you have leftover stuff in the fridge and you have no clue what to use it on so instead it sits there till you move and you try to figure out when you last used it becaue it got shoved way in the back of the fridge. There's always 1 or 2 containers that seem to find themselves in that position and I never know how no matter how well I clean out the fridge. Well lucky for me my peach mango preserves didn't find themselves in that spot. I had some leftover from the Daring Bakers challenge and it was just enough to try a recipe from Prudence Pennywise. This was a quick fix dinner from a couple weeks ago (sorry for not posting earlier I forgot to get the pictures off my camera). I love Prudy's blog she has easy meals as she puts it "scandalously good food on a budget". I'm glad I didn't settle for using the presserves up on toast or ice cream!

Grilled Chicken with Easy Tangy Peach Barbecue Sauce

Notes: For the brine soak, in a large zip top bag, combine chicken, 3 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let soak overnight. Drain and pat dry.

1 cup peach preserves
1 cup ketchup
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 pound bonless, skinless chicken

Preheat grill for medium hot cooking. Combine all ingredients (except chicken) in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer. To avoid cross contamination, set aside half the sauce for serving with the cooked chicken. Pour some of remaining sauce on chicken and continue to baste with sauce while grilling. Grill chicken for four to six minutes per side, depending on thickness, basting frequently with sauce. Serve with extra peach barbecue sauce. Enjoy!

I made a salad out of my grilled chicken and my husband at his with with some leftover stuffing from my Food Network dinner. I loved the sweetness of the sauce as well as how thick and nice it coated the chicken so I will make this again for sure.

Contest updates....

I love hosting parties and my birthday is no exception. This year for my birthday (June 6th) I had all my friends over and decided to do grilled pizzas. I thought it would be fun for everyone to pick their own toppings so of course I had way too many and I cheated my using the package pizza crust instead of my own. I have never made grilled pizza before and I have to admit it's the best I've ever had. I will make my own crust from scratch next time, but with so many people coming over I had to cheat to make things easier on me. It was my birthday after all.

Well the point of this post is to thank my brother Chad for taking this picture of me. Why you might ask since it's way past my birthday......well......because it won me a Grand Prize in the Red White and Blue Rhino Contest!!!!! To be honest it's not the most flattering picture of me, it was so hot outside, but it was fun and casual which I loved. Now we'll have a new grill to cook on and be able to use all that BBQ sauce from Cattlemen's Contest.

I also got a FedEx packet Friday evening letting me know I made the top 20 in the 7up contest. Sad news is that if I make the top 7 to go to Miami I will have to turn them down because that's when we leave for our Alaska vacation. It's a bummer, but makes me realize that even if I don't get picked for all the contest I enter I'm still good enough to make it to the top every once in a while. The prizes are great, but I love being inspired by the ingredients required and pushing myself to think outside the box.

As soon as I return my affidavit and get my new grill I'll post a picture of it along with a tasty new recipe. Woohoo!!!

To sauce or not sauce...

Sauce and steak it's a touchy subject for some people. If you ask my husband - "sauce ruins the flavor of meat". Me, I grew up eating A-1 or BBQ sauce or even dipped it in ranch at one time of my childhood. I've always liked my meat cooked well done. Apparently that's another no no and that's why I had to have sauce with it. Now a days I enjoy a good steak cooked medium-rare to medium, depending on who's cooking it. My mom likes hers mooing rare. I've grown to understand the flavor does change the longer you cook it. I've always had trouble with writing recipes that grill items. So may factors such as the type of pit you cook on and the heat and the flames, the thickness of the meat and so on. Grilling is one thing that everyone has their own personal touch. So for this post you're own your own for grilling your meat it's just about the sauce. :)

The inspiration for this dish came from a steak I had at Smith & Wollensky Steakhouse. I thought I would try the Filet Mignon Oscar Style and I must say it changed my life forever. It melted in my mouth and I savored every bite. I think I even stabbed my husbands hand when he tried to grab a piece. I've had it a couple of times after that and it was never the same. I searched online and found a few recipes that all pretty much were the same with a couple of things different so I mixed and matched and went with my own version. Besides the fact that my looks like it crudled (which it didn't it's the canned crab meat instead of jumbo lump crab meat), and the sauce not being a creamier white sauce it was just ok for me. Some things you can't just duplicate so I'm not giving up I will try a couple variations to it. On the positive side I give myself a gold start for making my first Hollandaise Sauce from scratch. Hollandaise is the base of this sauce which turned into a bearnaise by adding the wine and herbs.

Filet of Beef Oscar Style

3 large egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon white wine

1/2 cup firm stick butter (do not use margarine)

1 tablespoon chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon

1 can crab claw meat, drained

Stir egg yolks, lemon juice and white wine vigorously in 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Add 1/4 cup of the butter. Heat over very low heat, stirring constantly with wire whisk, until butter is melted. Add remaining butter.

Continue stirring until melted and sauce is thickened. Stir remaining ingredients in and stir until heated through.

My husband gets a kick how I like to play with my food and plate it to make it look pretty. We may not be a the restaurant, but who says you can't make it look fancy? To make the asparagus look evenly spaced I altered the direction they were facing on ever other one and then placed the steak on top.

I spooned the sauce over the asparagus instead of chopping the asparagus up in it. (I figured it was easier to scoot the sauce off if it turned out bad then waste the asparagus.)

Overall the meat was cooked perfect the way I like it and it was pretty tasty even if the sauce had a funky texture!