The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

This is only my third Daring Baker’s challenge, but there’s no doubt that so far, this is the one that’s required me to step the most beyond what’s familiar to me. Fortunately, although Esther recommended using suet to make the puddings more authentic, it wasn’t a requirement (my semi-vegetarian, health conscious family thanks her), and as it turns out, steaming a pudding isn’t hard. It merely takes some improvisation. Thanks to Audax, my mother’s crockpot immediately suggested itself as an excellent steaming apparatus, combined with a couple of pyrex bowls and a wadded up dishtowel. Getting the bowls out of the crockpot after the puddings were cooked was a scary process, but there were, happily, no disasters.

Since I had not had any idea that one could steam a pie – and certainly I had no idea that it would turn out deliciously – I knew I was going to do at least one version in a pastry crust. I opted for savoury, because we love lentil and vegetable pie with mushroom gravy in this house. Just to be different, though, since I wasn’t going to use suet, I used coconut oil instead of butter – with excellent results. And I had to do a sponge version too, because who doesn’t love cake? The only requirement I had for the sponge version was that it incorporate dulce de leche, which I’ve fallen in love with in a big way ever since a classmate brought some amazing coconut-crusted macaron-type cookies filled with it to our end-of-year potluck. After the coconut-banana bread I’d made the week before, combining the two was as natural as breathing.

I’ve included only my adaptations here, but Esther’s recipes as originally posted are extremely detailed and give lots more variations.

Lentil and Vegetable Pudding with Coconut Oil Pastry (adapted from Esther’s suet-crust pudding recipe and Bryant Terry’s vegan pastry recipe for Jamaican Patties)

250 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
175 g room temperature coconut oil
a pinch salt and pepper
about 1/2 cup of milk

Notes: I followed my general pastry-making strategy, minus the rule about having everything as cold as possible, and the results were delicious and the pastry was relatively easy to roll.

Filling Ingredients:

2 cups cooked brown or green lentils
2-3 cups chopped vegetables (I used a mix of sliced mushrooms, shredded cabbage, and some leftover garlic-mashed potatoes)
1 onion, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp harissa
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Notes: The measurements for the pie filling are very approximate.

Prepare your steaming apparatus and butter the inside of a large bowl. I used my mom’s big crockpot and a pyrex bowl that sort of hung on the lip of the crockpot – it was the only possible bowl, but I think this probably works better if you can fit the pudding bowl right into the steamer.

For the pastry:

Whisk the flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder together. Cut in the coconut oil with a pastry cutter or your hands (although note that coconut oil will stick to your hands far more than butter will). Add in the milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the pastry comes together in a smooth, elastic dough. Set aside – but do not refrigerate!

For the filling:

Heat the oil in a large sautee pan on medium heat. Pour in the onions and sautee for about 10 minutes, until they are nicely caramelized. Remove from heat and mix in the lentils, vegetables, and seasonings until everything is thoroughly combined.

To assemble and steam the pudding:

When ready to use, divide the pastry into two. Roll out one piece and use it to line the pudding bowl. Spoon in the filling and then top with remaining pastry. Cover the bowl tightly with foil or a tight-fitting lid, and then fit it into the steaming apparatus. Steam for about 5 hours; the pastry crust should be nicely browned at this point.

Remove the bowl from the steamer and let rest for 10 minutes or so, then turn it out onto a plate. Serve with mushroom gravy.

Mushroom Gravy

2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 sliced onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 – 2 Tbsp flour
salt and pepper
dash of Worcestershire sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium heat, then add the onions. Sautee for a few minutes, then pour in the mushrooms. Sautee for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked.

Pour in the red wine. When the wine is mostly evaporated, add the stock; whisk in the flour. Continue to heat until the gravy is thick and bubbling hot.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a bit of Worcestershire sauce.

Coconut-Banana Pudding with Dulce de Leche (adapted from Esther’s sponge pudding recipe and Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid’s coconut banana bread)

100 g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g coarse semolina flour
75 g white sugar
75 g softened butter
1 large egg
1 pureed banana
75 g dried shredded unsweetened coconut
6 Tbsp coconut milk
About 6 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk

Notes: The coarse semolina replaced the breadcrumbs in the original recipe, because I had it on hand, and I think it worked really well, but definitely, especially combined with the coconut, meant the pudding had a lot of texture although it was very moist. I don’t know how traditional that is; I just know that I thought it was good. My measurements for the shredded coconut and the sweetened condensed milk are guesstimates; I had about half a can of the condensed milk in the fridge and used all of it, and I just threw in a big handful of the coconut. I didn’t bother, but you could serve this with extra dulce de leche and it would, I’m sure, be delicious.

Prepare your steaming apparatus. Butter a 950 mL bowl which will fit in your steamer.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder, then add the semolina and sugar and softened butter. Cream everything together.

In another bowl – or in a food processor, if you’re lazy like me – mix together the coconut milk, egg, and pureed banana. Stir this mixture into the creamed butter and dry ingredients to make a soft batter. Stir in the shredded coconut.

Pour the sweetened condensed milk into the bottom of the prepared pudding bowl, then spoon the batter on top. Cover the bowl tightly with tinfoil or a tight-fitting lid and place in the steamer. Steam for about 5 hours, then remove the pudding. Allow to rest for 10 minutes or so, then turn it out onto a plate.

A tian is a tall, conical earthenware cooking vessel used in the Alpes-Maritimes area of France. Today, most of these vessels are produced in the town of Mougins. It is traditionally made from red clay and can be either glazed or unglazed. A modern tian can come lidded or not and sometimes has a looped handle on one side.

Apparently, the word has undergone a significant shift, though: the cranberry orange tian I made for the March Daring Bakers challenge is certainly very far removed from clay pots.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I just barely managed to get this made in time for the posting date (i.e., I made it on the 27th). It’s been a stressful month: making a fussy dessert with multiple parts seemed crazy. But then I thought, well, I made marmalade in December, and I’ve got a lot of it left, so I feel like I’ve fulfilled the marmalade-making part of the challenge. Pâte sablée? I know my way around it. Whipped cream takes no time at all. It was only the fruit that was daunting; I just didn’t feel like hauling out to the grocery store for 5 additional oranges. And then I spotted the cranberries in the freezer, and I was all out of excuses – even if it took me a couple of days to muster the energy to write the post.

I did make only a half-portion of the caramel sauce and whipped cream, because there are only four of us here tonight and apparently leftover desserts are frowned on, but I made the full batch of pâte sablée and used the extra dough to make thumbprint cookies. Because thumbprint cookies are too cute. (I filled half of them with one or two of the caramel-soaked cranberries, and the other half with the strawberry-riesling jelly I made back in the fall; I must remember this use for it. The cranberry ones were good, but the jelly really shone.)

Recipes right here.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

The challenge required me to make my own savoiardi (ladyfingers) and my own mascarpone, which was fun. I’m no stranger to baking cookies but the technique for savoiardi was definitely outside of my experience (and clearly I need more practice with the method). I’ve also made paneer, and the method for making mascarpone is similar but not quite the same; it was interesting to compare the two. Making the tiramisu was a good way to get out of a baking rut that I didn’t really realize I was in: although I’ve got some experience with each individual part, except the zabaglione, I’ve never made anything that incorporated many different elements the way tiramisu does.

I definitely need to play around some more, though. My savoiardi were tasty, but I think I must have deflated the batter somehow, because instead of the predicted 36 cookies, I had 15, which wasn’t really enough. I also experimented a bit with the flavours, using amaretto as the liqueur instead of marsala, which I didn’t have. I really love the idea of the fruit flavours some of the other Daring Bakers tried, and if I make  it again I think I’ll head in this direction, because sadly, I didn’t love my execution of tiramisu. It wasn’t that it was bad, but it didn’t really come together as more than the sum of its parts.

Tiramisu Recipe:

(Source: Carminantonio’s Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 )
This recipe makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

For the zabaglione:
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar/50gms
1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee; I used amaretto)
1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream: (my favourite part of the challenge)
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup/175ml whole milk (I used a mix of skim and half&half)

For the whipped cream:
1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream
1/4 cup/55gms sugar
1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:
2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed
1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional; I skipped this)
1/2 cup/110gms sugar
1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese
36 savoiardi biscuits (you may use less; fortunately, as I had only 15!)
2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:

For the zabaglione:

1. Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove and use a heat-proof bowl large enough to rest against the sides of the pot.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth. Transfer the mixture to the top of the double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency. Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the pastry cream:

1. Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.

2. Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:

1. You’ll want to do this right before assembling the tiramisu. Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu:

1. Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8″ by 8″ should do) or one of your choice. I couldn’t find anything but one of my mom’s casserole dishes; it worked, but it could have been prettier.

1. Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract (if using) and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. This step may be a bit awkward if your mascarpone is stiff, as mine was; do not skimp on this step. I kept finding little lumps of unblended mascarpone in the assembled tiramisu, which was, I think, less delicious than fully blended-in mascarpone would have been. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

3. Now to start assembling the tiramisu. Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the dish you’ve chosen for the tiramisu, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.

4. Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.

5. Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and another third of the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

Mascarpone Cheese Recipe:

(Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese)
This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:

474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping cream
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface. It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. I strongly recommend using a thermometer. A candy thermometer can be had cheaply, and it would have made my life much easier.

2. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. It took me quite a while to get to this stage; however, I have a feeling that it was actually done much sooner, because my completed mascarpone was very, very thick. This is another reason why I should have gotten a thermometer.

3. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a colander with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Note: you won’t need all of this for the tiramisu. I used my leftovers to make a creamy version of Heidi Swansen’s harissa spaghettini. Try this, seriously. Not as healthy as the original recipe, but delicious.

Savoiardi Biscuits (Ladyfingers) Recipe:

(Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home)
This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2″ to 3″ long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated
6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar
3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch)
6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner’s sugar,

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.

2. Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth. This step is very cool. I don’t think my photos do justice to the change in the texture of the egg whites, but watching it happen was fun.

3. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy. This is probably what happened to my biscuits.

4. Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5″ long and 3/4″ wide strips leaving about 1″ space in between the strips. Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.
Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.

5. Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft. Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack. Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

***

I have to begin with a confession. I think this may cost me some of my Canadian cred – even more than the time I blithely said that the animal on our quarter is a moose.

I don’t particularly like Nanaimo bars.

I do love the idea of them: graham cracker crusts (with nuts and coconut, no less!) are yummy, custard is always good, and chocolate is chocolate and nothing else need be said. But put them all together, and for some reason we Canadians tend to produce something so sweet it makes my teeth ache.

I’ve made them twice before, the second time just this last December, while visiting R in Belfast; we brought them to a potluck dinner his co-workers put on, as they asked us to bring something Canadian. It took a good chunk of our last day before coming back to Toronto to track down the ingredients. We never did find graham crackers (though plain digestive biscuits turned out to be more or less indistinguishable), and had to go to five – FIVE! – grocery stores before we found unsalted butter. I was pretty pleased that we managed to make anything at all, given the under-equipped kitchen we had access to, but they turned out like ordinary Nanaimo bars – painfully sweet. I’m not sure R’s colleagues were impressed. (Probably a good thing we didn’t make poutine!) It convinced me that if I made Nanaimo bars again, I was going to do something different.

Fortunately, a few days later I signed up for the Daring Bakers, and the opportunity presented itself. Part of the challenge was to make my own Graham crackers, preferably gluten-free. I skipped the gluten-free in favour of  using up the whole wheat pastry flour I had on hand, and I think it worked out very well (in the sense that they tasted like store-bought Graham crackers, only better), although my cookies were too sticky to roll out properly. I also decided to use hazelnuts instead of almonds (though I’ll toast them longer next time), and added candied ginger and cinnamon to the base layer. For the buttercream, I added 2 tablespoons of very finely grated fresh ginger (if you try this, it works best with frozen ginger), 1/8 tsp of lemon extract, and instead of Bird’s Custard Powder I used 1 Tbsp of homemade vanilla (vanilla beans steeped in Bourbon) and reduced the amount of cream by half. I could have cut down on the sugar even so, because it’s still very sweet, but there’s a subtle hint of zip and brightness from the lemon and ginger that I really love, and I’m not sure I’ll ever make a plain buttercream again. I topped off the bars with Green & Black’s Fair Trade dark chocolate, which I should have tempered but which is nonetheless delicious.

Graham Crackers:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp flaky sea salt
7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup honey
5 Tbsp milk
2 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Use a pastry cutter or your hands to break up any lumps. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, with no visible butter.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla. Pour into the flour mixture and stir until it barely comes together. It will be very sticky at this point. Wrap in plastic and chill, at least 2 hours or overnight. (I skimp on chilling sometimes, but this dough really needed all of the time I gave it.)

3. Preheat the oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment.

4. Divide the dough in half. Return one half to the fridge, and roll out the other until it is 1/8 of an inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Use a glass or round cookie cutter to cut it into circles – or if, like me, your dough simply will not cooperate in this process, just lift the irregular pieces to the baking sheet, since you’re going to be pulverizing the cookies anyway. Prick the cookies lightly with a fork, place them in the oven on a middle rack, and bake for up to 25 minutes; they should be fairly hard and will harden more. Repeat with the second half of the dough.

Nanaimo Bars:

Ingredients:

Bottom Layer:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 large egg, beaten
1 1/4 cups Graham wafer crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts (or almonds), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped candied ginger
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Buttercream:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 Tbsp cream (whipping cream or half&half)
2 cups icing sugar
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp grated ginger
1/8 tsp lemon extract

Top Layer:
115 g good-quality dark chocolate
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Method:

1. Make the base: pulverize the Graham crackers until you have 1 1/4 cups of crumbs. In a large bowl, toss the crumbs with the nuts, candied ginger, and shredded coconut. In a small saucepan, melt the butter together with the sugar, cinnamon, ground ginger, and cocoa powder. When the butter is melted, whisk in the beaten egg and continue to whisk until the mixture thickens. Combine with the Graham cracker mixture until fully moistened, then press into an 8″ x 8″ square pan. Place in the fridge or freezer.

2. Make the buttercream: cream all ingredients together until a smooth frosting forms. Taste and adjust flavourings if necessary. Spread the frosting evenly onto the base layer and return to the fridge or freezer.

3. Make the top layer: melt the chocolate and butter together, on the stove or in the microwave, and mix until completely combined. Set aside until the mixture is cool but still liquid. Pour over the buttercream layer and spread evenly. Allow the bars to chill until the top layer is hardened.

4. Cut into small (1″) squares. Can be served immediately or kept wrapped in the freezer for several weeks.