Tuile Cookies

When I saw the Daring Bakers challenge this month, I was stoked! As much as I enjoy the occasional time consuming multiple step dessert like last month, I knew this month would not be possible for such a feat. These tuile cookies were just up my alley. This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

I made several different shapes; long triangles that I shaped over a (washed) can, spirals that I shaped around a thin wooden spoon handle, spoons that I shaped on (obviously) spoons, and butterflies that I bent in half and set in a baking dish. I served them with home made raspberry and mango sorbets.

For this plate, I piped a few thin lines of melted chocolate in a crisscross pattern. After the chocolate set, I filled the center diamond with mango sauce that I slaved over. By slaving over, I put a spoonful of sorbet into a ramekin, set it on the counter… and let it melt. Voila… easiest mango sauce, ever.

Maybe this time… doh!

Has everyone seen The Bee Movie, the animated one with the voice of Jerry Seinfeld? There’s this part when the bee is trying to get inside and he runs into the glass of the window. He keeps saying “maybe this time” each time he bounces off of the closed window… over and over and over. That is how I feel when I make truffles.

I hate making truffles. Really, truly hate making the little morsels of chocolate that I so love to eat. I always have issues when making them. Usually they are too soft, or too firm, or it is too hot in my kitchen and they melt while I try to enrobe them with chocolate. I am an apparent glutton for punishment, because I decided this year to make homemade treats for several of my friends and co-workers. I also decided to make them just a few days before I wanted to dole out the treats. Smart, eh?

In the end, the truffles turned out very good, and I was happy, but as usual, I cursed like a sailor with Tourettes Syndrome the entire time and swore never to make them again. We’ll see how I feel next year around the holidays. Will I be the Bee again??? :P I made two different flavors, Rum scented dark chocolate and white chocolate passion fruit rolled in chopped almonds. The latter was surprisingly my favorite of the two… the tartness of the passion fruit puree really cut down the cloying sweetness of the white chocolate.
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January 12, 2009 | Filed Under Holiday Fare, Sweet Tooth

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Braised Beef Short Ribs

Another cool blast came through South Florida and I used the opportunity to make braised beef short ribs. I often order short ribs when I see it on the menu at a good Italian Restaurant, but rarely make them at home. I love that you can take such a tough inexpensive cut of meat and turn it into such a delicacy.

The smell in the house while these are cooking drove us and the dogs crazy. I’m going to contact Yankee Candle and see if they will consider adding “Braised Beef Short Ribs” to their collection of scents. While I’m at it, I think I’ll pitch a new bacon scent. If Burger King is going to make a meat scented men’s cologne (Flame) then us GOOD food lovers need to band together and demand a more upscale meat fragrance. Right?

A Toaster Oven?

It was Christmas morning and I was so excited, opening up the large beautifully wrapped box that clearly came from Williams Sonoma. I was thinking… is it some kind of fancy serve ware? Maybe that cool panini press I’ve been eyeing? Oooh, a new Le Creuset piece? No… it was a toaster oven. So my husband got me a toaster. Gosh, how practical. Just what I wanted. A toaster. Yay! I hope I didn’t have the “uh, you got me a toaster?” look on my face. Then I see him laughing and he says to look INSIDE the toaster. Just like him to hide my birthday (which falls on Christmas Day) present in the toaster. Don’t get me wrong, the toaster is fabulous, and I love it, but it’s not exactly what I I’d been hoping to get. The iPhone was what I really wanted and was hidden inside of the toaster. As my friend Alicia said… its an iToaster! lol! Maybe next year, he can hide some diamond earrings inside a new vacuum cleaner??? (Hint, hint)

In honor of my new toaster, I decided to make some fresh bread. This is one of those crazy simple recipes, but it takes planning, since the dough needs to rise overnight in the refrigerator. The result is a flavorful, dense, chewy loaf of bread. We basically ate bread and water for two days… and loved it. Makes me realize that I should be making more bread at home. That’s one of my New Year’s Resolutions… Make more BREAD!

Happy New Year Y’all!

Don’t worry, I haven’t become Paula Deen… but I do have a confession. Deep down inside, beneath my half Japanese exterior hides… a country girl. I grew up a military brat (Dad was a US Marine) in the great southern town of Tallahassee, Florida. If you’ve never been there, Tallahassee is much more like Georgia or Alabama than Florida. Strangely, I live much further south (in Ft Lauderdale) now, but it is much more “Northern” down here. Weird.

Anyway, black eyed peas are a very traditional Southern fare for New Years Day. Ingesting the little black and white beans are supposed to bring you good luck. Some say that the beans resemble coins and this is why they bring you wealth in the new year. Although I don’t think they look even remotely like coins, I still feel the need to eat them on New Years Day, with homemade Southern Cornbread. Don’t want to mess with the Southern traditions!

After all of the heavy holiday feasting, I’ve done a bit of a healthy twist on the beans and made it into a cold bean salad. I wrote the recipe with canned black eyed peas, but I prefer to use dried black eyed peas that are soaked and cooked with a ham bone, which is what I did here.

Hope everyone out there has a Happy and Healthy New Year!
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