FFwD: Sablés aux Olives Noires Pierre Hermé - Pierre Hermé´s Black Olive Sablés

Today we are baking Pierre Hermé´s Black Olive Sablés - Sablés aux Olives Noires Pierre Hermé for the French Fridays with Dorie group.

This unusual appetizer-style savory cookie consists of but a few ingredients namely one hard-boiled egg yolk (jaune d´oeuf bouilli), plain flour (farine), potato starch (fécule de pommes des terres), 215 grams unsalted butter (beurre non salé), some fruity olive oil (huile d´olive au fruité vert), powdered sugar (sucre glace) and oil-cured black olives (olives noires á l´huile).

I am no stranger to adding grated or mashed hard-boiled egg yolks to sweet or savory cookie and cracker doughs. I have prepared many absolutely delicious butter cookies (Butterkekse), spritz cookies (Spritzgebäck) and cheese crackers (Käsegebäck) with this traditional ingredient and all I can say is that the dough always turns out wonderful and very tender.

The dough for these fabulous sablés came together like a charm, it rolled out beautifully after only a two-hour chill in the fridge (not overnight) and the cookies held their shape when baked. And best of all, the kids devoured them! So glad to have some open-minded and adventurous taste testers at home. The cookies had a fabulous texture when baked, they were light and tender. And they tasted sweet yet salty from the black olives. Delightful!

This very French savory shortbread-style cookie would be perfect whenever you have friends coming for supper, as not only is it perfect with drinks, but it can be made in advance. You could make the dough, wrap it well and then leave it in the fridge for up to three days before slicing and baking. All you have to do when guests arrive is to remember to let the dough sit out on a kitchen counter just long enough to get the fridge-chill off the dough before slicing or cutting into different shapes and baking.

To see what the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought of these delicious savory bites, please do click here.

Historic Mustard Mill Monschau - Historische Senfmühle Monschau

Monschau Mustard is widely known as Moutarde de Montjoie. On a visit to the Historical Mustard Mill Monschau founded in 1882, one can learn how mustard is made from mustard flour and various addititional ingredients. The Moutarde de Montjoie has been produced in the Monschau Mustard Mill for more than 120 years and to this day the mustard is manufactured using traditional methods. Today the fourth and fifth generation of owners runs this family-owned enterprise.

Originally powered by a water wheel, the mill has undergone numerous changes but is still operated with the old belt transmissions.

The Mustard Mill is famous across borders because of the 19 different varieties of mustards and mustard blends that are manufactured there.

Aside from the original mustard called “Ur-Rezept”, a mustard that goes well with almost any dish, cold or hot, visitors can also taste about 18 other creations and buy them in the adjoining shop that also carries quite a few other regional specialties such as jams, chutneys, brandies and such unique products as mustard liquors and mustard chocolates. There is also a wine cellar that carries a vast array of wines.

The mustard blends offered include mustard with chili, currants, English curry, fig, garlic, ginger/pineapple, green pepper, honey/poppy seeds, horseradish, lemon, orange, Riesling, tarragon, tomato and wild herbs with ramson.

The mustard seeds that are the main raw material for the manufacture of the Moutarde de Montjoie, come from Canada, Sweden, Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. A distinction has to be made between yellow and brown mustard seeds, the typical sensation of "heat" on the tongue is more pronounced in brown mustard seeds than in the yellow variety. The ratio between brown and yellow seeds as well as the other added flavoring ingredients will thus determine how fiery or mellow of a mustard or mustard blend the creation will turn out to be.

Historically, mustard was established as an indigenous crop, initially in Germany and in France, by around the 10th century. British cuisine discovered it in the 12th century. In the 13th century, new mustard mixtures were developed specifically by the French in the city of Dijon, which has since remained renowned for its mustard.

The Dijon recipes were special because of the French practice of mixing the ground seeds with “must”, the young, unfermented juice of wine grapes, thus substituting the vinegar traditionally used in blending mustard. The French “moutarde”, the English “mustard”, and the German “Mostrich” all reflect this particularity.

There is also a Restaurant next to the Historic Mustard Mill called “Schnabuleum”. It is a lovingly restored restaurant that seats up tp 56 guests on two floors and an outdoor patio. While there, you can sample a variety of mustard dishes and numerous regional and seasonal specialities prepared by chef de cuisine Heinrich Leipold and his team.

The delightful menue in the Restaurant includes such creative dishes as Monschau cream of mustard soup (Monschauer Senfcremesuppe), char with a mustard-thyme crust (Saibling unter einer Senf-Thymian-Kruste) or for dessert a honey poppyseed mustard parfait (Honig-Mohn-Senf-Parfait).

For more information on the Historic Mustard Mill Monschau and the Restaurant Schnabuleum, please click here:

www.senfmuehle.de

Tuesdays with Dorie - Rustic Potato Loaves

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group are Rustic Potato Loaves. The recipe for this fabulous bread was contributed by baker Leslie Mackie.

The ingredients for these loaves are plain flour (I substituted part of the plain flour with whole wheat flour), and cooked russet potatoes (I made the dough sans potato skins)...

…as well as active dry yeast, a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, some salt and a bit of reserved potato water.

I took the liberty of shaping the bread a bit differently, not a long loaf but rather a chunky, round loaf this time.The whole wheat flour made the dough darker than it was in the picture of the original recipe but we liked it that way and since I bought so much flour at the artisinal flour mill a few weeks ago, I felt that I should use a mix of their wonderful flours instead of going for all purpose white flour as stated in the recipe.

I use cooked, mashed or riced potatoes in many of my recipes, for cakes as well as breads and focaccias - I even did a small blog series on that in February and March of this year featuring a Potato-Lemon Cake (with mashed potatoes), a Potato-Raisin Gugelhupf  and a Potato Crumb Cake (both with riced potatoes). I am always amazed at how wonderful everything turns out - just like this fantastic bread - it has a nice, moist crumb and a delicious and rather photogenic, rustic crust. Just right!

Since we are still in the middle of the two-week, no-school Easter vacation around here, we took the kids on a day trip to the wonderful Town of Monschau or Montjoie (since the town is located in an area of Europe where Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg meet, it was also given a French name). The town itself is located in the west of Germany, in the district of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), North Rhine-Westphalia.

The historic town center where vehicles are generally prohibited on town streets, has many preserved half-timbered houses, gray slate bridges, a mustard mill and flower-decked market square and its narrow streets have remained nearly unchanged for about 300 years, making the town a very popular tourist attraction nowadays. Historically the main industry of the town were cloth-mills.

On the heights above the city is Monschau Castle or Le château de Montjoie, which dates back to the 13th century - the first mention of Monschau was made in 1198. There is actually a Youth Hostel located in the castle itself and its grey stones makes the perfect backdrop for the summer concerts and operas held here.

Guests at the castle feel transported back to the times of the knights and great lords and during their stay and enjoy a rather unique view on the idyllic old town of Monschau with its many winding medieval alleys.

Part of our picnic in Monschau today was one of these wonderful Rustic Potato Loaves, we really enjoyed this bread - and while it was just perfect for a lunch outdoors, it is certainly a versatile bread to be enjoyed as sandwich bread or even toasted the next day.

To see how the other Doristas fared with this recipe, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Dawn´s blog - Simply Sweet - "Thank you for hosting today´s recipe, Dawn"!

For more information on the Town of Monschau/Montjoie and/or the Monschau Castle, please click:

Town of Monschau
Youth Hostel located in Monschau Castle

Easter Baking Pans (Vintage and New)

Following are pictures of some of my most treasured Easter baking pans, most of them are vintage but some of them are new and were modeled after the originals. I started collecting these baking pans many years ago.

These seasonal baking pans come in a variety of sizes and designs, there are sheep...

...and Easter bunnies with an Easter egg.

Some of them were are made of cast iron....

...and others are made of metal.

Then there are hens and roosters and more sheep, small one and bigger ones. But all have one thing in common, they are always two parts to each set, held together with metal clicks that have be be released after baking and in order to unmold the cakes before transferring them to the cooling racks.

Following is the translation of a recipe for a plain Marble Cake that I like to bake in these Easter baking pans. It was given to me in 1989 (the picture of the original recipe card is above) and I have been using it ever since.


Recipe for two Marble Cake Bunnies or Hens or Roosters or Sheep
(this recipe can also be baked in a Bundt pan, springform or loaf pan)


Ingredients for the Marble Cake

• 200 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 170 grams (3/4 cup) superfine (caster) sugar 
• 1 package/2 1/2 tsp  pure vanilla sugar (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
• 4 eggs, use organic or free range whenever possible 
• finely grated zest of a lemon, use organic if possible
• 200 grams (1 1/2 cups) AP (plain) flour, sifted
• 1/8 tsp fine salt (I use fine sea salt)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate dough add:

• 2 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar
• 3 tbsp dark rum or milk, room temperature

Preparation of the Marble Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Butter and flour your baking pans, knocking out the excess. Make sure to attach the metal clips to the pans before continuing with the recipe.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
4. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Beat in the vanilla sugar or extract.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Beat in the lemon zest.
8. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, the salt and the baking powder.
9. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix only until combined.
10. Pour half the batter into the prepared pans.
11. To the other half add the cocoa powder, sugar and rum or milk and mix only until combined. Do not overmix.
12. Add the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla batter in the pans and carefully draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Very carefully place the filled baking pans on parchment lined baking sheets (to catch any eventual overflow) and slowly slide the baking sheets into the oven - holding onto the pans with oven mitts.
13. Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes. Carefully take the pans out of the oven.
14. Place on a wire racks to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely by releasing the metal clips first, then one side of the baking pan and then the other. Make sure to cut the cakes flush with the pans (using a serrated knife).
15. Decorate as desired and use dark or white chocolate, just some powdered sugar or dessicated coconut for the sheep to give them that "furry" look.

These pans are just part of my ever-growing collection. And they are perfect for baking not only fabulous marble cake bunnies, but also vanilla sheep or coconut hens or chocolate roosters. The possibilties for baking delightful Easter cakes using these molds seem endless.

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French Fridays with Dorie - Ispahan Loaf Cake

Today´s chosen recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is the famous Ispahan Loaf Cake, inspired by the even more famous French pastry chef Pierre Hermé. This pâtissier extraordinaire is well-known for his macarons, many of which have unusual flavor combinations, such as the Macaron Isaphan, made with rose, lychee, and raspberry.

The Macaron Ispahan was meant to be an hommage to the very fragrant Rose d' Isfahan as well as  Isfahan, a city in central Iran. Hermé invented this Macaron on the occasion of  the presentation of the biography of the widow of former Shah of Persia, Farah Pahlavi. Over the period of several months, Hermé reportedly tried hundreds of different flavor combinations before settling on the lychee, raspberry, and rose combination.

This flavor combination has taken France by storm and as I looked at uncountable photos on numerous French blogs, I realized that there seems to be hardly a French food blog that does not have pictures and recipes of a Gâteau or Cake or Macaron à l´ Ispahan. And since only last Wednesday, I did a post on the occasion of my first blogiversary on Rose Petits Fours and everything rosy, I will keep this post short and sweet.

This cake with almond flour, raspberries and rose syrup is definitely suitable as a dessert for a ladies´ lunch.

Since I found a manufacturer of a variety of natural rose products in Bavaria that makes the most wonderful rose syrup, I did not have to order the Monin rose syrup as suggested by Dorie. However, when I served this cake, I was not successful in persuading any of my male taste testers to try it. Although this cake smells lovely while baking and definitely looks delightful, it does not seem to be for everyone.

To see all the other delightful versions of this very French Ispahan Loaf Cake, made by the dedicated members of the French Fridays with Dorie group, please click here.

Sources:

• Rose syrup (Rosensirup) from “Bergler-Fischer” (http://www.bergler-fischer.de)
• Backing pan called LURCH Flexi Royal Lüneburg from "Lurch" (http://www.lurch.de)
• Vintage cake platters with rose design and linen table cloth from my collection

First Day of Spring and a Slice of Linzer Torte

Today is the first day of spring (Frühlingsanfang), so why not welcome Spring (Frühling) by baking this delightful Austrian Linzer Torte, named after the City of Linz, Austria. This famous torte has a lattice design on top of the pastry and fabulous thick homemade raspberry jam as filling.

This  wonderful cake is often said to be the oldest cake in the world and according to recent research dates back to at least 1653. There are lots of variations and the oldest known recipe is in a cookbook that was written about 350 years ago.

Recipe for the Linzer Torte

Ingredients for the Linzer Torte 

• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) superfine white sugar (caster sugar)
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) AP (plain) flour, plus some extra for dusting
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces)  ground hazelnuts (you can substitute almonds or almonds and hazelnuts in equal parts)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon (I always use cinnamon from Ceylon)
• a pinch of ground cloves
• 150 grams (5 ½ ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg (L) beaten (free range or organic whenever possible)
• 200 grams (7 ounces) thick homemade or good quality raspberry jam
• ½ tsp icing sugar, to decorate (optional)

Preparation of the Linzer Torte

1. Put the sugar, flour, ground almonds, ground cinnamon and cloves in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined.
2. Add the cubes of butter and rub them into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs - you can also easily use a pastry cutter for this.
3. Add the egg and stir until the dough comes together, then knead lightly into a ball. 
4. Take about a quarter from the dough to use for the lattice topping. 
5. Roll the rest of the dough into a ball and turn it out on to a well-floured surface .NOTE: if the dough is too soft at this point, place it in the fridge for about an hour, then roll it out.
6. Flatten the ball with your hands, or a floured rolling pin, until it is about 2.5 cm (1 inch) thick. 
7. Place the dough in a 24 cm (9 ½ inch)  loose-based, fluted tart pan or other tart pan you have on hand and press it with your fingers over the base until it is about halfway up the sides of the tart pan and the tart pan is evenly covered.
8. Then spread the raspberry jam over the dough as evenly as possible.
9. Shape the reserved dough into a log and roll it out on a well-floured surface to make a rectangle 3 mm (⅛ inches) thick. 
10. Then cut the dough into 1.5 cm (⅝  inch) strips - you can use a special cutter for this which will cut "wavy" dough strips but you could also use a pizza wheel or a long, sharp knife.
11. Place the strips over the jam and create a criss-cross pattern over the filling. 
12. Press the edges to seal, pinch off the excess pastry and mark and carefully press down the edge of the dough with the tines of a fork.
13. Chill the tart in the fridge for about an hour.
14. While the tart is chilling, preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 degrees Fahrenheit).
15. Put the tart on a baking sheet and bake in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes or until the almond pastry is pale golden brown - you can brush the lattice top with a bit of an egg wash before baking if you wish to have a bit of a shiny look to the lattice top.
16. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool in the tart pan for about 15 minutes.
17. Place on a nice cake platter for serving.
18. Decorate with a light dusting of icing sugar, if you like, and cut it into wedges to serve.

Have a wonderful springtime! – Ich wünsche einen schönen Frühling!

Tuesdays with Dorie - Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group is for Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe for these fabulous cookies was contributed by baker Rick Katz.

The ingredients for these cookies are plain flour, instant coffee powder (I like to use freshly ground coffee instead)…

…baking soda, some salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar and dark brown sugar, eggs, vanilla (I like to use homemade vanilla sugar), chocolate chunks (I used only dark chocolate with 70 % cocoa solids), and coarsely chopped dried apricots – although apricots are an optional ingredient in this recipe, I decided to add the dried fruits because I found very nice, sweet and plump, dried organic apricots at my favorite health food store.

The combination of granulated and dark brown sugar is a common one, the former adding crunch, the latter a caramel flavor. And the addition of bicarbonate of soda is the most common raising agent in chocolate chip cookies. Overall, a nice and easy recipe.

Of course, you should go for good quality dark chocolate too – the more cocoa there is in it, the more cocoa butter content you will have and the uneven chunks created by chopping your own chocolate gives a better result than even chocolate chips.

These are the ultimate comfort cookies, they are crisp on the outside, chewy and soft on the inside and the addition of dried apricots is quite nice, the dried fruit adds a nice flavor and texture to these cookies. And they are really simple to make with ingredients that, maybe except for the dried fruits, you usually have in your pantry.

To see how the other Doristas fared with this recipe, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Peggy´s blog - Galettista - "Thank you for hosting today´s recipe, Peggy"!

Chocolate Almond Biscotti - Schokoladen Mandel Biscotti

We all love Biscotti.

Those oblong-shaped biscuits are made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven and then baking it for a second time.

I have blogged about two wonderful Biscotti recipes in the past, once about delicious Almond Biscotti (Mandel Biscotti) and then about the wonderful Gingerbread Biscotti (Lebkuchen Biscotti) that contain a whole range of  fantastic warm spices.

These crunchy Chocolate Almond Biscotti contain whole as well as ground almonds and cocoa powder as well as chopped chocolate. They are just the thing to accompany a silky dessert or a strong espresso. As fancy coffee shops become more and more popular across the world, to enjoy Biscottis with a cup of coffee has also become very  fashionable.

The name "biscotti" is Italian and literally means "twice baked". Biscotti can be found in all sorts of flavors, but the most common contain anise, hazelnuts, and almonds. In this recipe you will enjoy the delicious flavors of almonds and dark, good quality chocolate. Make sure to use dark cocoa powder as well as your favorite dark chocolate when baking these.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti
(Schokoladen Mandel Biscotti)

Ingredients for  the Biscotti

• 1 1/2 cups (8 ounces/200 grams) whole unblanched almonds – if you like, substitute hazelnuts or even pistachios for almonds
• 3 cups (13.2 ounces/375 grams) AP (plain) flour
• 2/3 cup (3.5 ounces/100 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (I used “Sarotti” cocoa powder)
• 1 tsp (0.2 ounces/6 grams) baking soda
• 1 tsp  (0.2 ounces/6 grams) baking powder
• a pinch of fine salt (I used French sea salt)
• 2 sticks  (1 cup/226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 cups (14 ounces/400 grams) superfine white sugar
• 3 eggs (L), organic or free range whenever possible
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla sugar (I used homemade)
• 1 cup (4.6 ounces/130 grams) dark chocolate, chopped (I used Lindt Excellence 70% - try to use a chocolate with 70 % or above cacao solids, then you get more chocolate and less sugar)

Preparation of the Biscotti

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (150 degrees Celsius).
2. Line heavy large baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper. 
3. Grind 1/2 cup almonds in the food processor and set aside. 
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 
5. With your electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar to blend. 
6. To the butter mixture, add the eggs and vanilla sugar and beat until well blended. 
7. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture.
8. Mix in 1 cup whole almonds, chopped chocolate and 1/2 cup ground almonds.
9. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. 
10. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2 inch (6.3 cm) - wide by 14 inch (35.5 cm) - long log. NOTE: At this stage, you can wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two weeks. Bring it back to room temperature before baking.
11. Place logs on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm) apart (logs will spread during baking). 
12. Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes. 
13. Cool logs on baking sheet about 10 to 15 minutes and maintain oven temperature in the meantime.
14. Carefully transfer the baked logs to a large cutting board. 
15. Using serrated knife, cut warm logs crosswise into 1/2-inch (1 cm) -thick slices. NOTE: If you do this while the biscotti are still a bit warm, they will not crumble.
16. Arrange slices, cut side down, on the two baking sheets. NOTE: You can either place each Biscotti slice directly on the parchment onto the baking sheet OR onto cooling racks that you place onto the baking sheets thereby allowing for the hot air to circulate around each Biscotti cookie slice.
17. Return the baking sheets to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp, golden-brown and cooked through.
18. Transfer to racks and cool completely. 

The Chocolate Almond Biscotti are not only wonderful with coffee or espresso but also with a cup of  tea or a small glass of sweet dessert wine at the end of a meal – or anytime, really. They do keep very well in an airtight cookie tin/container at room temperature for two to three weeks.

Biscottis make formidable gifts – pack them in pretty cellophane bags and add a nice ribbon or bow to the package, with a tag indicating what kind of Biscottis you baked. Or collect coffee cans and once you have enjoyed the coffee, keep the can as "gift boxes" and "stand" the cooled Biscotti in the cans - ecco - a perfect gift!