Soup - Getting Better

Yes, it has mushrooms in it.  I made this bowl of soup after I got better and updated the post, because I thought it'd be more interesting than an empty bowl, which was the original photo at the bottom of this post.

So I am sick.  Not surprising, considering that my boyfriend was coughing and running a 100°F fever last week.  Yes, let me hold the hand of a boy who might have just coughed into said hand, then let us go to lunch.  Yes, let me study and do homework all week, run the robotics team and then work in the lab on the weekend.  Yes, let me go to bed late, then wake up early in the morning for my Biomechanics class.  Yup, I'm sick.  

Baking is suspended for the meanwhile, despite approximately four (!) things I had planned on making this weekend.  I only got the Irish Shortbread done, the rest I was missing ingredients.  Luckily for me, my boyfriend was able to take me to the Oriental Market this weekend, and I picked up some supplies for comfort food.  Besides from being rather healthier than almost every offering at the school food courts, this one doesn't even require leaving the building.  Bonus!  

This dish is very simple, requiring only a pot, a bowl and a pair of chopsticks, although I suppose you could omit the bowl if you felt up to eating straight out of the pot.  Which I have done, to cut down on dishes.  It requires 4 ingredients, one of which is water.  Done in 10 minutes and slurped down in 5, it's not much, but sometimes, that's enough.

Ingredients

2 cups water

2 ounces somen noodles (Japanese noodles, very fine.  Spaghetti works, too)

1 packet instant miso soup

1 large egg

Equipment

1 saucepan/3 quart pot/frying pan if you're desperate enough

1 bowl (optional)

1 pair chopsticks (or fork, if you can't handle chopsticks :P)

Directions

1. Boil water.

2. Plunk the noodles into water and cook for 3 minutes (or as directed).

3. Pour miso packet into boiling noodles.  Stir.

4. Crack egg and plop the entire raw egg (minus the shell) into the broth.

5. Pour into bowl, or serve in pot.  Wait in semi-coma for soup to cool and egg to cook partway.  Break the egg yolk and swirl with chopsticks, then devour hot.  Feel better!

Notes:

This is a very cheap, very quick meal.  If you'd prefer something a little more substantial, vegetables are a great addition, as well as substituting with a "real" miso or other broth.  While I personally do not eat meat aside from fish, bivalves, crustaceans and the occasional cephalopod, any meat or fish would also be a great addition.  Basically, put whatever you want in, and get whatever you want out.  This will serve as a post, since I am sick and should probably not bake anything to share....

More of these make life better.

Sigh - Irish Shortbread

My roommate thinks I am beginning to lose my marbles.  My boyfriend offered to buy me a bag of them as a gift to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.  I am, by now, completely convinced that mine are gone.

Last week, the building manager warned us that we would need to clear the floor of our lab for cleaning and servicing.  When I asked what we could do with the robots, he said to put them on the tables.  Alas, he greatly underestimated our table space and boxes of stuff.  To add insult to injury, the team (the club he advises) who shares our space only uses it as an office.  They have an entire machine shop across the hall to store their things at leisure.  

Of course, I forgot about this and only remembered about midnight Tuesday night as I checked my email.  Cursing mentally, I changed back into my clothes at lightning speed, told some friends I'd be gone and stalked angrily across the empty campus about midnight.  For the next hour, I shuffled chairs onto tables, balanced boxes on chairs and finally shoved each robot into a corner.  I finally stormed back across campus at one in the morning.  I would have pitied any poor soul who thought to try to mug me then.

Luckily, we were rewarded the next afternoon with a sparkling floor and a never-before-seen shine.  Not so luckily, I believe the floor wax managed to react with the rubber tires and leave an interesting yellow stain on the floor, resembling robot tire-footprints. Also, our Electrical Team Leader managed to drip hot solder on the freshly waxed floor, decorating with blobs of silver.  And very soon the floor will lose its amazing glow when people resume standing on it.

But there is very little cannot be soothed with sugar and butter in my world, and sometimes I prefer my sins in the purest form.  In moderation, of course.  And so I bring you this wonderful recipe for Irish Shortbread, borrowed from David Lebovitz.  An interesting man who was a pastry chef and now lives in Paris, he made a trip to Ireland a few years back.  Like the other culinary delights he tried, this one is best made with Irish butter.  However, the budget of a college student sometimes cannot be swayed, and this shortbread was made with American butter from a nearby grocery store.  It still turned out splendid.

Irish Shortbread barely tweaked from David Lebovitz's blog Living the Sweet Life in Paris
Makes 1 9" round pan (12 wedges)

Ingredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup cornstarch
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt (I used cheap iodized salt, 3 individual packets)
1 cup (2 sticks) very cold salted butter (you could substitute unsalted butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment
1 large mixing bowl
1 wooden spoon
1 rubber spatula
1 butter knife (for cutting the butter into chunks)
1 9" round tart, pie or cake pan

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.  Grease the pan with some of the butter.

2. Mix together the flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt.  Cut the butter into cubes and toss with the flour, then use the wooden spoon to cream together all the ingredients.  

3. When the dough becomes soft and creamy, add the vanilla and mix until completely combined.  Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Plop the dough in the middle of the prepared pan and slowly work your way outward, spread the layer evenly.  Try to make the top as smooth as possible.  

5. Using a thin knife (plastic if you have a nonstick pan and you can get one without the strengthening rib), score the top of the shortbread into 12 equal wedges.  Prick the tops with a fork and bake at 300°F for about 1 hour.  Enjoy!

I'm still working on getting used to the camera my boyfriend's family was kind enough to lend me. 
But the shortbread is so lovely... So very buttery and rich.  And delicious. 

Notes:

The dough for this shortbread is unlike any I have ever made before.  Rather than crumbly and needing to be pressed into the pan, it was wet, more like very thick cake batter.  I easily spread it into the pan. 

Since the dough is so wet, the resulting product is very buttery.  It's delicious, but for once I prefer my shortbread a tad less rich.  In this recipe, I increased the amount of flour by a ¼ cup.

Next time, I might try to use brown sugar instead of white.  The white sugar is purely sweet, augmented by the vanilla, but brown sugar gives a wonderful toffee taste that has worked well in previous shortbreads I have made.

Mourning - Chocolate Expresso Cheesecake Bars

It's been 11 days since I last posted.  So many things to do...  Also so many things baked and to bake, but most of them repeats.  I do, however, have a recipe for Not-Quite-Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting that I made for a friend's very belated birthday.  But before I can share that, some very sad news.  

I apologize to anyone who reads, this one is long.  This past Saturday, my boyfriend took me to his tae kwon do picnic.  During this picnic (on the beach, a little cool and breezy, yummy food, very pleasant except for getting lost and finding the post office closed, but I'm getting off-topic), there were several games of dodgeball.  Apparently, it's a very popular tradition on these picnic/social gathering things.  

So everyone plays, and I am shoved into the game at the last minute.  Now, I dislike sudden things.  I dislike sudden loud noises, and despite my current love for Ultimate Frisbee, I dislike things suddenly thrown at my head.  Which is where people aim for maximum intimidation.  So I carefully set my disc, camera and boyfriend's cell phone aside and timidly step into the fray.  Immediately, the other team grabs all the balls and launches a full-out attack at top velocity.  I am hit on the arm at approximately 20 mph (guesstimation) and my adrenaline immediately spikes.  Now, when my adrenaline spikes, my reflexes don't heighten (I guess you can't help what isn't there to begin with...), my awareness doesn't sharpen (again, didn't exist before) and my senses don't improve, but I do start shaking.  Like a Richter 8.  I gratefully sprint out, but alas, boyfriend's dad is a very good catch and I am punted back in.  I do manage to peg one guy, but of course, as I try to catch the ball hurtling towards my chest, it bounces off.  So I am out again, and only watch as the game ends soon.  However, as I try to pick up my disc, camera and the cell phone with cold, shaky hands, the unforgivable happens.  

My camera, faithful companion of over a year and stout survivor of many drops and falls, slips and crashes to the unyielding concrete.  It bounces once and lies still, an ominous omen of what I'll find when my unsteady fingers delicately caress its wounds.  

At first glance nothing is wrong, but my numb finger slides the familiar switch on and nothing.  Slowly, light spreads across the screen, revealing the full carnage.  There is a crack on the center, about far right on the screen.  It resembles a bullet hole, with all its shock damage.  Cracks spiderweb out and cover the screen in whiteness, only permeated by flecks and thin, hard lines of technicolor and black that reveals a computer in a coma.  The only bit of screen left to reveal the camera's power is a slender slice on the far left.  It's impossible to tell whether the object is in focus.  Through my own idiocy and clumsiness, I have just destroyed my smallest travel companion and consistent artist.

I miss my camera.  Although it was a small, digital point-and-shoot, it was a good camera.  While occasionally cranky and refusing to focus in macro, it always gave me reliable scenery shots, particularly night scenery for low-light conditions.  Many car trips at night were spent painting streaks of light on highways, many car trips in the day spent trying to capture road signs as they flew by at 70 mph.  All of my photos in the blog prior have been taken with this camera.  I am not yet ready to bid farewell, but it may be too expensive to fix.  If my camera never works again, these extravagant bars will be the last food it ever photographed.  Savor with care.

Camera still works, but the screen... :(

Chocolate Expresso Cheesecake Bars tweaked from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle
Makes 1 9" x 13" pan full, about 24 bars (but I cut them smaller)

Brownie Layer

Ingredients
4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
7 tablespoons (almost 1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant expresso powder (powder! Not granules!  Crush them first)
¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup all-purpose flour

Equipment

1 small, microwaveable bowl (for melting chocolate and butter - it gets reused)

1 rubber spatula

1 wooden spoon

1 medium bowl

¼ teaspoon measure

1 tablespoon measure 

⅓ cup dry measure (for chocolate, if scale is conspicuously missing from dorm room)

½ cup dry measure (for sugar and flour) 

1 9" x 13" baking pan

Enough parchment paper to cover the bottom and hang over the sides of the pan

Directions

1. Prepare the pan by lining it with the parchment paper.

2. Melt the chocolate in the bowl.  You can use a double boiler, but in a college dorm room, those are rare.  The microwave melts chocolate best at around 50% power.  Check after each 30-second interval, the chocolate only took a couple minutes to melt.  Melt in the butter and gently stir until smooth and creamy.

3. Beat the eggs until smooth, then mix in the sugar, expresso powder (not granules!), salt and vanilla extract.  Gently stir in the chocolate and butter, scraping down the sides.  Then gently fold in the flour until just combined.  Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Set aside until cheesecake layer is mixed.

Cheesecake Layer

Ingredients

⅓ cup coffee (I used ⅓ cup water and about a teaspoon of the instant coffee)

1 tablespoon unsalted butter (saved from the brownie layer)

4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 8-oz. package full-fat cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar

⅔ cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

Equipment

The same bowl you used for melting chocolate and butter earlier

The same rubber spatula

The same wooden spoon

The same medium bowl

1 2-cup liquid measure

1 teaspoon measure

½ cup dry measure

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl.  Let it coolr.

3. Beat the cream cheese until soft and creamy with no chunks, then gradually mix in the sugar.  Mix in the chocolate and butter, then the vanilla extract and sour cream.  Add the eggs and egg yolk one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. 

4. Carefully pour the cheesecake batter evenly over the brownie layer.  Bake the whole thing at 325°F for about 30-35 minutes, until only a little bit jiggly when nudged.

Topping Layer

Ingredients

1 cup sour cream (originally called for 1½ cups, but I didn't buy enough)

½ cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 ounces (about ⅔ cup) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Equipment

The same bowl you've now used twice before

The same rubber spatula

The same wooden spoon

Do you sense a trend here?

1 2-cup liquid measure

1 teaspoon measure

½ cup dry measure 

Directions

1. Mix together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla in the liquid measuring cup.  Melt the chocolate in the bowl in the microwave.

2. Once the chocolate is melted and cooled a little, mix about ¼ of the sour cream topping into the chocolate to lighten it.  You now have vanilla topping in a measuring cup and chocolate topping in a bowl.

3. When the cheesecake bars are ready, pour the vanilla topping on top of the hot bars in an even layer.  Dollop the chocolate topping on top of the vanilla, then gently swirl with the tip of your teaspoon measure.  Try not to swirl too much.  Put the whole thing back in the oven and bake at 325°F for another 10-15 minutes.  Don't let the topping brown too much or the sharp contrast will be lost and your topping will crack.

4. Allow the bars to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.  They can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

It's a chaotically marbled!  Do you see the alpha?

There it is!  I didn't intend for this to happen...

Enjoy!  May your camera always be safe from the ground.

Taken by a lovely friend of mine, since my camera is currently non-operational.

The Quest - Attempt at Fluffy Banana Muffins

I'm always in a rush, running back and forth from tasks, doing my best not to be distracted and worrying about what I should do next.  I constantly struggle for efficiency and productivity, wondering what I should do first, next, after that.  I only hope I finish the last task.  Life sometimes seems nothing more than a series of tasks, waiting for your attention.  I had hoped that I would rush less this semester, to take the time to fully understand my homework and studies, take the time to lavish care on my baking.  

For the last 3 batches I have timed my efforts, rushing the mixing and baking, with subpar results 2 out of 3 times.  You'd think I'd learn.  These muffins were mixed watching the clock anxiously, baked as I hurried to wash up and get my little butt mostly out the door, then sprinted from the oven to my room as I ran to Thermo.  On the way I managed to share a few, which, I later found out, got rave reviews.  My only criticism is that because I beat the butter into flakes rather than melting it, there was too much and butter coated the bottoms of my cupcake pan.  Luckily for me, I later decided to make corn muffins in these pre-buttered cups, but that is another post for another day. 

And now, as I am soon to be running out the door to the anticipated tedious and arduous USG Leadership Conference, I leave you with this: a light, fluffy muffin topped with oats, strongly banana flavored and just sweet enough to be an indulgent, yet quick breakfast that leans vaguely towards "healthy."  Enjoy.

Shining in the morning light.

Fluffy Banana Muffins adapted from 17 and Baking

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

3 overripe bananas (Mine nearly fell off the hanger, that was fun)

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened (It's warm and humid since the last vestiges of 
New York summer are passing by, so it only took a few minutes)

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed into the measuring cup

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt (I used one of those little packets you get free in a food court)

1½ cups all-purpose flour

Oats for sprinkling on top

Equipment

1 large mixing bowl

1 wooden spoon

1 plastic butter knife swiped from the food court on campus to cut the butter stick in half

½ cup dry measure

1 teaspoon measure

1 cupcake pan (Makes 12)

12 cupcake papers

Directions

1. Mash the bananas in the large mixing bowl.  Try to get it liquid for lighter muffins, leave some small chunks if you like denser muffins.  

2. Add the butter and (gently!) whack it with the wooden spoon until you have tiny flakes of butter floating in a mass of pourable banana.  Add the sugar and mix until combined.  Add the egg and beat until completely combined.

You can see the nice flakes of butter floating in banana mush here, along with a single, lovely egg.

3. Add the baking soda, then the vanilla extract (so the vanilla doesn't wet the spoon and make difficulties when you try to scoop out the soda - see, I am efficient sometimes!).  Add the salt and mix until completely combined.

4. Pour in the flour and gently fold until there are no streaks.  You can mix a few extra times to make sure; the banana helps to keep everything moist.

5. Pack the cupcake pan, liners and oven mitts in a backpack.  Carry the bowl of batter with the wooden spoon.  Carefully make your way down 2 flights of stairs and preheat the oven to 350°F.  While the oven is preheating, line the cupcake pan, then fill each cup about ¾ full.  Sprinkle the tops with oats; any type works.  Bake the cupcakes for about 25 minutes, until puffed up and the top is slightly browned.  The muffins will puff up spectacularly in the oven, then fall slightly as they cool.  They're heavenly eaten fresh from the oven, even when you're running late to Thermodynamics.  Hey, it's radiation cooking the muffins, right?  I was studying!

Worth having to walk into class late.

Dreams of Grandeur - Coconut Mango Tart

I wrote this post in the summer, sometime after making the egg tart.  I've been taking more photos lately, simply of random things at school.  Close-ups are by far the easiest way for me to capture the beauty I find, and with all the rain we've been having, the sky gives a pleasantly soft, grey glow.  This one is probably the one I like the best, taken near the Bioengineering building on campus.  

Do forgive me, if you are so inclined.  It was windy that day.

Natural light is a fickle friend.  My mum insists on having all the bulbs in the kitchen on, leaving my photos to wait until after everyone is out, or to steep in yellow indoor glow.  I also generally bake in the evening to prepare a fresh dessert and avoid the chaos of preparing dinner.  This tart required an overnight stay in the fridge for the custard to firm up (not enough, as I later found) and created an opportunity to use afternoon light. 

I think the beginnings of this idea came from Crumb.  I read this post, thought it sounded delicious and promptly forgot all about it until a few days later when I was cooking on the stove.  I wanted some fruit, reached for a mango, and stopped.  After slicing into the mango and eating just the part around the seed, I sprinted to the back room and unearthed a single can of creamy coconut milk.  I immediately wanted to make a cool coconut custard, topped with wedges of bright mango and perfumed with vanilla bean.  

Tart Crust slightly adapted from Crumb (Honeyed Nut Tart)

Ingredients

1¾ cup all-purpose flour

⅓ cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

5 tablespoons soymilk (I wanted to use mango nectar, but we ran out)

Equipment

1 large mixing bowl

1 sturdy butter knife

1 10" or 11" round tart pan with removable bottom (possibly substitute another pan)

1 rolling pin (optional, only if you want to have sharp, clean edges on your pastry)

Directions

1. Combine all the ingredients except soymilk in the mixing bowl.  Use your hands to quickly rub the butter into the flour mixture until it forms large flakes.  Add the soymilk by tablespoon, mixing with the butter knife until the dough forms.  Pat it into the tart pan, covering the bottom and sides.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Prick the crust several times with a fork or toothpick to help prevent bubbles.  If desired, roll the rolling pin across the top of the tart pan for a crisp, professional edge.  Bake for about 30 minutes, until a pale golden.  The crust will bubble up, then sink back down when it finishes baking.

Coconut Custard by trial and error
 Makes about 2 cups, enough to fill a tart crust in a 10" round pan

Ingredients
1 can coconut milk (about 13 fluid ounces)
¼ cup soymilk (I simply used a little to rinse out the container into the measuring cup)
¼ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 egg yolk

Equipment
1 balloon whisk
2-cup liquid measure
¼ cup dry measure
1 tablespoon measure

1 small pot for cooking custard

Directions:

1. Heat the coconut and soymilk over medium heat until steaming, stirring occasionally.  Whisk the egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch together in the measuring cup and set aside.  

2. When the milk is hot, turn the fire off.  Pour a little of the hot milk into the yolk mixture and whisk until thoroughly combined.  Turn the fire back on, pour all of the yolk and milk back into the pot and continue to cook.  Whisk constantly until the mixture is thick and leaves lines from the whisk, about 15 minutes.

3. Turn the fire off.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise scrape the seeds into the custard.  Add the vanilla bean and leave to cool, stirring occasionally.

Some Assembly Required:

2 or 3 mangoes, depending on size
2 cups of custard (should be the entire batch, minus tastings)
1 10" round tart crust still in tart pan

Pour the custard into the crust.  Since it's still pretty liquidy, it should smooth out into an even layer.  Do not worry about this layer, since it'll be covered by mango slices anyway.
 
Cut the mangoes into slices.  I do this by locating the approximate position of the edge of the seed and cutting there, so I have a mango cut into thirds.  Hold one of the mango sides in your palm and carefully slice, cutting all the way through the skin on one of the cuts so you have about a ninth of a mango.  Slice between the mango and its skin, so you are left holding a small handful of very juicy and slippery mango slices.  Repeat until all the mangoes are sliced.  (This sounds complicated.  I'll take photos next time.)

Arrange the slices on top of the custard.  Work carefully since the slices are slippery.  A good pattern is to start from the edge and spiral the slices in like flower petals.  Use the smaller slices near the edge and progress until your largest slices form a spiral flower of sorts in the center of your tart.  

I just liked this picture :)

Here's what it's supposed to look like!

Refrigerate overnight, and enjoy!  If you'd like a firm custard, I recommend baking the crust, then coconut custard and crust, then layering the mango on top.  I'm not sure how long to bake the custard, but check after 10 minutes and then every few minutes after.

Egg Tart from Scraps

Remember the pinwheel cookies I made a while back?  Well, the recipe stated that it made 28 cookies and scraps.  While I gave about half the cookies away, I was still stuck with what to do with the scraps.  Making more cookies seemed like taking the easy way out, when here were a couple of chunks of premade tart dough!  I love pie crust, but am usually adverse to making pies since 1) my family isn't entirely fond of syrupy cooked fruit and 2) the pie crust is usually delicate, difficult to work with and requires so much butter.  The main problem is, my family (and, as it turns out, my roommate this year) absolutely loves pie crust.  Pie crust is best when moved from fridge to oven with the least distance possible.  This ideal is completely destroyed when your roommate's tiny fridge doesn't fit your pie and you live three flights of stairs away from the oven.  This coming semester I will be lucky enough to live only two flights away.  Maybe there will be more pies this semester.

Egg Tart by trial and error

Crust adapted from My Buttery Fingers

Ingredients
1½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk

Equipment
1 large mixing bowl
1 sturdy butter knife
1 cup dry measure
½ cup dry measure
¼ cup dry measure
1 tablespoon measure (optional, if chocolate dough is desired)
1 teaspoon measure 
1 8" x 4" loaf pan (or any small tart pan, I imagine a 6" round would do quite nicely)
Parchment paper to line the pan

Directions

1. Mix the flour and sugar together in the large mixing bowl.  If you prefer chocolate crust, replace 2 tablespoons of the flour with 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.  Cut the butter into cubes and toss into the bowl.  Rub quickly until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.

2. Line the loaf or tart pan with parchment paper.  If using a loaf pan, make sure the parchment paper is left sticking out of the pan on the sides to assist with removal of tart.  If using a round pan, just cut a circle of paper and use that.  

3. Back to the shortbread dough: Mix in the vanilla and egg yolk, then press the dough into the loaf or tart pan.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes to 1 hour, until thoroughly chilled.  

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and bake the crust for about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix the filling.

Filling by trial and error (over about 10 years or so... egg tart was one of my first bakes)

Ingredients

1 egg

½ cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar

Less than half a ¼ teaspoon of salt (tiny, tiny amount, just to enhance the sweet flavor)

Equipment
2-cup liquid measure
1 tablespoon measure
Tiny spoon or ¼ teaspoon measure
1 balloon whisk or rubber spatula

Directions

1. Crack the egg into the measuring cup and whisk or beat until thoroughly scrambled.  Add the milk to make about ¾ cup of liquid (around a ½ cup of milk).  Add the sugar and salt and mix until all is relatively homogenous and dissolved.

The cute whisk my boyfriend gave me for Christmas.  It mixes well without incorporating too much air, perfect for a smooth liquid recipe like this one.  Too many bubbles will mar the surface of the custard.

2. Bring the measuring cup of egg tart filling to the oven.  When the timer rings for the crust, carefully open the oven and pour the filling into the crust.  This will help prevent spillage of filling and ease removal of the tart.

Parchment paper is a beautiful thing.

3. Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

A new take on an old tradition.

Notes:


I actually just used the scraps from my pinwheel cookies, which is why I have a striped dough.  My dad called it the leftover tart.  You may have a very thick crust if you use all of the dough for this recipe.  Just make another tart or a bigger one.  Double or triple the filling amount accordingly.  If you do so, the filling may not all fit into the measuring cup.  You all have common sense, get a mixing bowl and a whisk.

Miracles of Butter - Swiss Buttercream

This blog is supposed to update once a week.  For a while, I've had a lot of backed-up posts, intended to be saved for when school gets busy.  However, I find that I want to write as soon as I make the item and this doesn't quite fit with real time.  For example, I've actually been back at school for a week, yet this post was written way back in early August.  Sigh.  But I did promise that my next post would be the frosting, so here it is!

 I've never made real frosting before.  I can't stand the canned frostings or the ones on top of cakes sold in the supermarket.  They're just too sweet and have this strange texture.  I do like adornments on my cakes.  I've baked for a few years, whipped cream to a delicious, light dressing for my cakes, decorated with fruit and glazes and ganaches.  But buttercream scares me like no other recipe.  My best friend used to make this amazing French buttercream in her standing mixer, carefully spreading it on a cake that some lucky person had commissioned.  Once I even helped her with this process.  But I considered real buttercream frosting to be the domain of professionals, real bakers who were known for their cakes and had real standing mixers.  

No longer.  I have decided that I am going to do my best to be a real baker.  I will dare to use high-quality expensive ingredients, I am going to take a risk.  There are many things I love to do, and baking is one of them.  I will will throw myself headlong into my passions and attempt the recipes that only the real bakers make.

When I was making this, I was terrified for a while.  The egg whites had been heated to 160°F, then beaten to stiff, glossy peaks.  All went well, if rather nervously, until the butter. My beloved handheld mixer is currently broken and only works on its highest setting, so when I added the first tablespoon of butter, egg white and sugar flew everywhere, splattering me, the microwave, the counter and nearby implements.  After a few more tablespoons of the exact same thing happening, I tried using the balloon whisk to incorporate the butter, then mix again using the highest (only) setting.  This resulted in lumpy frosting until about halfway through the butter, when the frosting simply broke, resembling cottage cheese.  Panic slowly seeped into my brain like the liquid pooling under the mutilated chunks of butter.  Hurriedly I checked the book, pinning all of my hopes on the last sentence: "Beat at high speed until the buttercream is smooth, about 1 minute."  That was one step I could do.  Doggedly I pushed butter into the frosting, beating at high speed.  Then vanilla, and "beat at high speed."  I think I prayed for the entire 5 minutes it took for the frosting to come together.  If I hadn't needed both hands to hold the mixer, my fingers would have been crossed.  Then...

The most miraculous thing to come from my kitchen yet!  I was utterly stunned when slowly the chunks resembled less soggy blobs of grease and more silky buttercream.  The last time something curdled on me, it was white chocolate whipped cream, and I gave up in the end.  This time, I was amazed at the frosting.  Light and fluffy, rich and so much more compliant than the whipped cream I usually use.  I love buttercream!  Now, if it didn't require so much butter...

Swiss Buttercream from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle (½ recipe)

Makes about 2 cups, enough to lightly frost and fill a 9" round, 2-layer cake

Ingredients

2 egg whites (the largest you can find, but I'm not sure if it matters.  Original recipe called for 5 egg whites, 2x the other ingredients and made 5 cups of frosting)

½ cup sugar
1½ tablespoons water (1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons)
½ lb. butter (2 sticks)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Equipment
1 large bowl, preferably metal or other nonporous material
1 skillet or pot, to hold water (the large bowl will rest in the water)
1 instant-read thermometer (I used a clean meat thermometer)
½ tablespoon measure OR
     ½ teaspoon measure
     1 teaspoon measure
1 tablespoon measure 
½ cup dry measure
1 balloon whisk
1 mixer with slow, medium and fast speeds 

Directions:

1. Whisk together the egg whites, sugar and water.  Bring some water in the pot to a simmer and place the egg white mixture in the pot.  Keeping the water in the pot at simmer, whisk the egg white mixture gently until the thermometer reads 160°F.

2. Once the thermometer hits 160°F, turn off the fire and immediately whip the egg whites at high speed until they show stiff, glossy peaks.  The mixture should be cooled to about room temperature by now.

A delightfully fluffy mass that deflates when butter is beaten into it...

3. Reduce the speed on the mixer to medium and slowly add the butter, one tablespoon at a time.  Do not worry if the butter appears to clump together and the frosting looks like it's dying.  Keep adding the butter slowly and mixing.  Breathe in, breathe out.

Bits and pieces of butter slowly incorporating...

4. Add the vanilla and beat until it is smooth.  This is the cool part, where the miracle happens.  Slowly the butter and egg whites will emulsify and merge.  The butter will whip to be fluffy and the egg whites will bind together in one smooth, luscious and indulgent frosting.  Enjoy!  It spreads beautifully and melts on your tongue like the mere dream of butter and sugar.

The clouds of butter and sugar, ready to enhance any cake you can find...

My lovely friend with the final cake!