Piped Shortbread

Imagine the morning dew as it sparkles icily on the still-monochrome blades of grass. Imagine the morning mist as it meanders through the trees, its vapourous twirls curling themselves around the pines' needles like coffee steam around the nose. Imagine the clouds of morning that rise from the ground, rise above the trees and lodge themselves in the sky for just a moment before vanishing to another horizon. Imagine the cup of coffee that stands on a saucer in front of the window overlooking the grass and the trees and the sky. Imagine all of this, and imagine the house that is sprawled behind the cup; its pinewood walls, its white furniture, its worn couch, its diaphanous curtains and its silky bedcovers that conceal a grumpy dragon. He is already awake but reluctant to forsake the foetal snugness of his bed. The sun is shining bleakly from the window, and Celestial Dragon is squinting his eyes at it. He can discern, beyond the clouds, beyond the sky and beyond the stars, the shape of something good. Then his nostrils awake too. They twitch, like Small Perfect Cloud's, and Celestial Dragon is made aware of another world. One that does not lie beyond the stars, but beyond the kitchen door. He overcomes his incorrigible reluctance and gets out of bed. He puts on his night-blue morning bathrobe and makes his way through the home. He passes the curtains, the couch. He walks past the pinewood walls and does not even see the white furniture.
He opens the kitchen door. The great window is still there, still showing the same meadow and trees and clouds. The coffee cup is there also, and the saucer too. Behind the coffee cup, seated on a chair with her back to the door is Divine Cherry. In front of her, next to the cup, is a small plate with visibly fresh shortbreads. Celestial Dragon looks furtively at the kitchen. He sees the open oven and feels its warmth radiating through the room. He sees the wire rack on which a few crumbs still cling to the bars. Divine Cherry turns around and smiles at him. Celestial Dragon pours himself a cup of coffee and walks to the table. He sits down on the chair next to Divine Cherry and smiles back at her.

This recipe participates to the November Daring Bakers challenge.

Blog-checking lines: Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us.

Piped shortbreads - Adapted from a Pierre Hermé recipe
- 260g flour
- 30 g cornflour
- 250 g soft butter
- 100 g icing sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 egg whites
Preheat the oven at 180 C. Mix the flour and cornflour in a bowl. Whisk the butter in a second bowl using an electric whisk until it is very fluffy. Add the icing sugar to the butter and whisk until smooth, do not overwork.  Beat lightly the egg whites and add them to the butter mix. Beat everything until just well combined and smooth. Stir in the flour and cornflour until smooth but do not overmix the batter.
Pour the batter in a  piping bag and form 5 cm long lines on a tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 10-12 min.
Let the shortbread cool and when cold dip them in melted chocolate.



Piped Shortbread from Peta's recipe, that you can find here.

Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) (225 gm) (8 oz) softened butter
1¼ cups (175 gm) (6 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
½ cup (65 gm) (2- 2/3 oz) confectioners' sugar
¼ cup (45 gm) (1½ oz) cornflour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla essence
Nuts, chocolate chips, maraschino cherries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to moderate 300°F/ 150°C/gas mark 2
2. Combine butter, flours, vanilla and confectioner's sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle beater. Mix on low speed until combined and then change to the whisk beater.
3. Beat for 10 minutes.
4. Pipe into rings or lines.
5. Decorate with maraschino cherry pieces to look like little wreaths or leave plain.
6. Bake in preheated moderate oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned.
7. Cool completely and drizzle with melted chocolate or icing (frosting) if you want to.

Ricetta in italiano:
 Sablés montati - da una ricetta di Pierre Hermé
- 260 g farina
- 30 g maizena
- 250 g burro morbido
- 100 g zucchero a velo
- 1 pizzico di sale
- 2 bianchi d'uovo

Riscaldare il forno a 180C. In una ciotola mescolare la farina e la maizena. In un'altra ciotola montare il burro con le fruste elettriche fino a che risulta cremoso e molto morbido. Aggiungere lo zucchero a velo e continuare a sbattere finchè il composto risulta omogeneo, ma senza eccedere con l'uso delle fruste. Sbattere a parte i bianchi d'uovo senza montarli troppo e poi aggiungerli alla preparazione di burro. Sbattere con le fruste elettriche fino ad incorporare bene gli albumi. Aggiungere la farina e maizena. Mescolare bene per evitare la formazione di grumi. E' importante che la preparazione sia omogenea, ma senza lavorare troppo l'impasto.
Versare il composto in una tasca da pasticceria con beccuccio smerlato e creare tanti bastoncini lunghi 5 cm circa ben distanziati tra loro su una teglia rivestita di carta da forno.
Infornare per 10-12 minuti circa.
Quando i biscotti sono freddi si possono intengere le estremità nel cioccolato fuso.

Scones for the Daring Bakers

Have you ever wondered what colour Celestial Dragon is? How do you picture him? Blue, red, green? There have been innumerable representations of dragons throughout history, but the fact of the matter is that no one has actually ever seen one (except through the Lens of Opium). Accordingly, however you may picture Celestial Dragon, chances are that you'd be wrong. Furthermore, dragons, just like their descendants the chameleon, can change colour at will - which of course does not simplify our task. There is, however, a clue as to his true colour.

A number of years ago, Celestial Dragon was walking on the clouds above a great northern isle. They were his favourite kind of clouds: permanent, heavy, grey, dreary, miserable, stiff, polite, almost infinitely long and always wet. And because he felt safe behind the black cumulus shelter, he had decided to appear in his true form. And if you had been there, and if indeed you had looked intently at the sky, you might have discerned a shining shadow behind them. However, since there are no (living) witnesses, we can't corroborate this claim. Nevertheless, something peculiar happened that day: Celestial Dragon was in an exceptionally good mood. And so it was that he decided to make the people underneath the clouds a present. He drew himself up to his full height, cracked his knuckles, smacked his lips, and began. He shook his body so violently that the scales fell off and plummeted down towards the earth. At that time, no one knew what meteors were, so the people had no name for the strange, glowing stones that came falling down from the sky. And as they looked up to see where they were coming from, they saw Celestial Dragon looking down at them, smiling. The people realised that what had descended on them like stones were actually his scales. And they were happy and grateful. So much so that this event, although unrecorded, has survived through the ages till our time in a bakery that reminds the world still of that day: the scones. The clue lies in their name: they are a dragons scales that look like golden stones. And so it is that we may deduce that the heavenly sweetness and goodness of the scones is a reflection of Celestial Dragon's colour: Oven-Baked Gold.

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones Recipe from Audax Artifex (his post is very detailed, so please have a look)

Ingredients

-140g of flour

-10g (1tsp) of baking powder

-a pinch of salt

-30g of butter

-100/120g of milk

-45g of raisins

-15g of sugar

Preheat the oven at its highest temperature (230°C-240°C).

Sift the flour with the baking powder and the salt. Add the cold butter cut in small pieces and form crumbs  working with your fingertips the flour and the butter. Add the raisins and the sugar. Then, add the milk and mix quickly with the help of a spoon just to mix everything. Don't overwork at this stage.

Put plenty of flour on the work surface and pour the mixture, which will be very sticky, on it. Add a little flour on the surface as well, flatten the dough and quickly knead it 4-5 times, alternatively turning and bending it.
Flatten the dough into a rectangle about 2cm high and cut it into 8 pieces. Place the pieces on a baking tray covered with parchment paper and bake in the oven for no more than 10 minutes (check after 8 minutes and turn the tray). The scones are ready to be enjoyed with a cup of tea, or any other liquid that's just handy!

Note:

- Audax advises to sift the flour and baking powder 3 times to improve the leavening. As I don't dispose of a sieve right now, I've mixed the dry ingredients well with a fork in order to incorporate air, and thus favour the leavening process.
- The crumbs of butter and flour should be formed quickly so as to not heat the butter. The smaller the crumbs are, the softer the scone will become. That said, irregular crumbs will also give you a good result; the scone will be flakier.
- After adding the liquid in the mixture, it will be very wet: however, the wetter the dough, the softer the scone shall be. Help yourself with a spatula and knead the flour on the work plan.
- This recipe is extremely fast- 10 minutes to mix the ingredients and another 10 minutes for baking everything. The result is a deliciously soft bun, and it's well worth a try!

 

Scones  Ricetta di Audax Artifex (il suo post e' estremamente dettagliato, dateci un'occhiata)

- 140 g farina

Enjoying our scone in morning sunlight...
with some cramberry and clementine
 marmelade

- 10 g (1 cucchiaino) di lievito

- una puntina di sale

- 30 g burro

-100/120 ml latte

- 45 g uvetta

-15 g zucchero

Accendete il forno al massimo (230°C - 240°C).

Setacciate la farina con il lievito e il sale. Aggiungere il burro freddo tagliato a pezzetti, e formare delle briciole lavorando velocemente con i polpastrelli la farina e il burro. Aggiungere uvetta e zucchero. Aggiungere il latte e mescolare velocemente con l'aiuto di un cucchiaio soltanto per amalgamare il tutto, ma senza lavorare troppo.

Infarinare abbondantemente il piano di lavoro e versare il composto, che sara' molto appiccicoso. Aggiungere un po' di farina anche sulla superficie, appiattire l'impasto e lavorarlo velocemente girandolo e piegandolo 4-5 volte.

Appiattite l'impasto formando un rettangolo alto 2cm circa e tagliatelo in 8 pezzi. Ponete i pezzi su una teglia coperta con carta forno e infornate a forno caldo per 10 minuti esatti (controllate dopo 8 min e girate la teglia). Gli scones sono pronti per essere gustati con una tazza di te'!

Note:

- Audax consiglia di settacciare la farina e il lievito ben 3 volte per migliorare la lievitazione, io non avendo il setaccio ho mescolato bene gli ingredienti secchi con una forchetta per incorporare aria.

- Briciole di burro e farina: vanno formate velocemente per non scaldare il burro. Piu' piccole sono le briciole, piu' morbido sara' lo scone, ma anche delle briciole irregolari daranno un buon risultato rendendo lo scone piu' friabile.

- Dopo l'aggiunta di liquido l'impasto e' molto umido: piu' umido l'impasto, piu' morbido lo scone finale. Aiutatevi con una spatola e farina per lavorarlo sul piano di lavoro.

- Queste ricetta e' estremamente veloce, 10 minuti per mescolare gli ingredienti e altri 10 per la cottura. Inoltre il risultato e' un panino morbidissimo, vale la pena di provarla!

Enjoy,

And Spread the Mess

Melting moments for a birthday

We have all had them: those moments when things are just perfect. When everything is right; when changing even the smallest detail would spoil the overall, complete picture; when any ever so slight alteration is an aberration to the abstract concept of the conceptually divine. We have all experienced those moments at various stages of our lives, under different circumstances, with different people in different places. Each one of us now associates those idyllic moments with bliss and happiness. And every single one of those moments is special. Especially if they are dedicated to someone we love. Especially, even, if they are (literally) Melting Moments.
Every now and then, a special person is born. Every now and then, a special person is born again; year after year. And every now and then, that person is the only person we can really think about. And when thinking about that person, all that comes to mind are those precious, distinct and in themselves separate moments in space and time that paint for us, in our loving mind's eyes, the glad picture of someone one could simply not do without. And when, year after year, birth after birth and smile after smile that moment completes a full cycle and orbits our world again, we can do nothing but melt to an emotional and dumbly smiling pool of merriment and delight.
And what better way to celebrate such a gayful event with the offering of the sincere embodiment of that feeling of cheeriness?
This recipe is dedicated to the Golden Peach. Quite simply, quite truly. Happy birthday.

MELTING MOMENTS
Biscuits:
-250g of butter
-58g of icing sugar
-58g of cornflower
-250g of flour
-half a pod of vanilla

Buttermilk Cream:
-125g of milk
-2tbsp of flour
-112g of butter (superior quality, e.g. Bavarian butter)
-112g of sugar
-the seeds from half a pod of vanilla

-Raspberry Jam

Beat the soft butter and the icing sugar for at least 5mins until you get a soft and clear paste. Scrape the vanilla pod in the mix and add the cornflour and the flour at the same time. Continue to mix until it is all well amalgamated.
Take small pieces of your mix (circa 20g each) and form small balls. Flatten the balls delicately on baking foil to shape the biscuits. In order to make sure that your biscuits will all have the same dimensions, draw small circles on your baking foil using small glasses. Before putting them in the oven, put the tray (with the soon-to-be biscuits) in the freezer for 10mins, thus allowing them not to loose their shape during the baking process. Eventually, put them in a preheated oven for 10mins at 200°C.

For the Buttermilk Filling:
In a small pan warm the milk, add the 2 tbsp of flour and mix with a whisk so as to avoid the formation of grains. Cook until it becomes thick like béchamel. Take off the fire, cover it with a film and let it cool. Beat the butter until it's soft with the sugar and the vanilla seeds from the pod for at least 10mins - until you get a fluffy and very pale mix. Add to it the milk and mix until you get a homogeneous whole.
Now it's time to put it all together. Put the raspberry jam (you may want to quickly mix it first so as to eliminate any small seeds) on a by-now cooked biscuit. Helping yourself with a piping bag, draw a circle of buttermilk cream on another biscuit and eventually put the two together. Voilà.



Ricetta in italiano:
MOMENTI SCIOGLIEVOLI
Questi scioglievolissimi momenti sono dedicati a Golden Peach che oggi, questo 20 di settembre, compie gli anni!!! Tanti Auguri Golden Peach!!!
(Ricetta tratta da qui)
Per una trentina di biscotti (verranno 15 coppie farcite):

Biscotti:
-250g burro
-58 g zucchero a velo
-58 g maizena
-250 g farina
-mezza bacca di vaniglia

Farcitura di buttermilk cream :
-125 g latte
-2 cucchiai di farina
-112 g burro (di buona qualità, per esempio quello bavarese)
-112g zucchero
-i semi di mezza bacca di vaniglia

-Marmellata di lamponi


Sbattere con un frullino elettrico il burro morbido e lo zucchero a velo per 5 minuti abbondanti, fino ad ottenere un composto soffice e chiaro. Grattare i semini di mezza bacca di vaniglia e aggiungere la maizena e la farina in un colpo solo. Continuare a sbattere ancora qualche momento finché non si è amalgamato il tutto.
Prendere dei pezzettini di composto (circa 20 g l'uno) e fare delle palline, schiacciare delicatamente le palline sulla carta da forno per formare i biscotti. Per aiutarsi a fare tutti i biscotti delle stesse dimensioni, disegnare dei cerchietti sul retro della carta forno, usando un bicchierino da liquore come stampo.
Prima di infornare mettere la teglia con i biscotti crudi 10 minuti in frezeer, in modo che mantengano la forma durante la cottura. Infornare a forno caldo per 10 minuti a 200°C.

Preparare la farcitura:
Scaldare in un pentolino il latte, aggiungere i 2 cucchiai di farina e girare con una frusta per evitare la formazione di grumi. Cucinare finché sarà diventato denso come una besciamella. Togliere dal fuoco e far raffreddare coperto da pellicola. Sbattere il burro morbido con lo zucchero e i semi di vaniglia a lungo, per almeno 10 minuti fino ad avere un composto arioso e pallidissimo. Aggiungere il latte addensato e mescolare fino ad avere un composto omogeneo.
Assemblare i biscotti: mettere un velo di marmellata (passata velocemente al minipimer per eliminare i semini) su un biscotto. Con l'aiuto di una sac à poche, disegnare un cerchio di buttermilk cream sull'altro biscotto, e unire i due.


Enjoy,
And Spread the Mess