Vanilla Chai Cookies

I've just returned from the east coast to look at colleges. I'm on my spring break right now, which happens to be two weeks long (woo hoo!). Of course the first thing I did when I got back was to start baking. I've always been a fan of little cookies (here, here, here, & here). I think it's nice to be able to have a small treat when you want something sugary, but you don't want to eat an entire cheesecake.





These cookies taste just like a sweet chai latte. These would be great for a little tea time snack. Or any snack time for that matter.


Also, on another note, you may have noticed that Pâtisserie Natalie looks a little different. I've updated the layout for spring 2010. As you probably know, I design and code all my own layouts, and I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. Being on spring break gave me some time to work on this new layout, which took a while to get right. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Vanilla Chai Sable Cookie

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Combine butter and sugar in stand mixer until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and mix well. Add to the wet ingredients and mix just until barely combined. Using your hands, use a kneading motion inside the bowl so that the dough starts to come together. Flour your hands if the dough is sticking to you. Divide into two parts, flatten into disks, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Take out one of the disks and roll out to 1/4" thick on a flour surface. Using a scalloped cookie cutter (see link at the bottom) about 1 3/4" in diameter. Cut out cookies (I also cut out a little shape in the middle of half the cookies) and bake for 8 minutes, until edges are just slightly golden brown.

Cardamom Cream
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine ingredients in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment until soft and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag with plain tip about 1/2" in diameter. Sandwich cream in between two cookies.

What I used:


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Halloween Cupcakes

These halloween cupcakes were very last minute. I made the the chocolate vanilla "ghosts" on Thursday night and the pumpkin spice ones on Halloween itself. I think that with Halloween, there has to be a little chocolate, and pumpkins are basically the symbol of Halloween, so you've got to have that. I've found that people tend to enjoy the mini cupcakes the most. First, they're irresistibly cute and they just pop into your mouth so easily.




When a regular size cupcake is presented to someone they will most likely eat it, but feel rather sick afterward. To avoid that bad feeling being associated with cupcakes, I usually make these little guys. The frosting/cake ratio also seems to work a little better with the minis.

Chocolate Cake

4.25 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter; softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from water and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the melted chocolate until incorporated. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture has changed to a slightly lighter color. Mix in the yogurt until completely blended. Dissolve espresso powder into water and pour into batter. Mix on low speed just until smooth. Line a muffin tin with paper cups and spray the whole pan with vegetable oil [to prevent sticking]. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake minis for about 10 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream

1-1-½ stick unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1-1-½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Sanding sugar or sprinkles

In a stand mixer, beat softened butter and powdered sugar, then salt, and mix thoroughly. Add in vanilla extract and mix. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Sprinkle with orange sprinkles or any other decorations of choice.

Pumpkin Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat butter, sugar, eggs, and pumpkin puree in mixer until thoroughly combined.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Mix together well. Add to the wet mixture. Do not overmix.

Butter and flour mini muffin tins. Fill each cup 1/2 way with batter. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cakes are firm to the touch.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix ingredients together in mixer until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

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Cupcake Duo

This was definitely one of the more frantic baking orders I've done. It's all thanks to this darn heat. It's not supposed to get this hot here. Several things went wrong, starting with the frosting. Seeing as it rarely goes above 70 degrees here, I didn't plan on any difficulties with making buttercream frosting at 2:00 in the afternoon. Wrong. I made two batches of peach frosting, using my delicious, ripe peaches from Pike Place Market, only to find the butter breaking down. I didn't figure that out until the second batch of frosting. I'd already made the cakes earlier in the day, before it got too hot, but I couldn't make the frosting until late at night when it cooled off. I also needed to make recipe cards, as it was for a little in-office cook off at the University of Washington, for my aunt. It was too hot to do anything (for me, at least), so I slept. Then I realized I hadn't made the recipe cards, and did so frantically. They were all printed and ready to go when I realized I would have to make different frostings because of the heat and my wasted peaches :( . I quickly made new ones, after I had frosted my cupcakes with their final frostings: chocolate peanut butter and lemon (with drops of peach puree on the cake). While the recipe cards ended up being kind of ugly, due to it being 12:30 at night, the cupcakes turned out well, which is what mattered in the end.


Lemon, Peach & Blueberry Cupcakes

Vanilla Blueberry Buttercake

1 stick unsalted butter
1- ¼ + 2 tablespoons cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 medium peaches

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin, or mini muffin tin with paper liners. Sift 1-1/4 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and whisk thoroughly. In a stand mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well in between. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 parts, and the milk in 2 parts, starting and ending with the flour. Beat just intil combined. Toss the blueberries in 2 tablespoons of flour to coat. Add the batter and mix in by hand. Fill each cupcake liner to the top (whether standard or mini sized). Bake standard cupcakes for about 18 minutes and minis for 12 minutes.
In a food processor, puree peaches until liquid consistency. Pour through a sieve to remove chunks. Spoon ½ teaspoon of peach puree on tops of cupcakes.

Lemon Buttercream Frosting

1-1-½ stick unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1-1-½ teaspoons lemon oil
Sanding sugar (for sprinkling)

In a stand mixer, beat softened butter and powdered sugar, then salt, and mix thoroughly. Add in lemon oil and mix. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Sprinkle sanding sugar.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake

4.25 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter; softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over simmering water. Stir until melted. Remove from water and let cool.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. On low speed, add the melted chocolate until incorporated. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture has changed to a slightly lighter color. Mix in the yogurt until completely blended. Dissolve espresso powder into water and pour into batter. Mix on low speed just until smooth. Line a muffin tin with paper cups and spray the whole pan with vegetable oil [to prevent sticking]. Fill each cup almost to the top. Bake regular sized cupcakes for aprox. 12 minutes, minis for 8 (depending on your oven.)

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter; softened
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1- 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Combine butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix thoroughly.
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Neapolitan Cakes

Phew! It is getting hot here. Hot for me anyways. Being a native Seattle-ite, I despise weather over 65 degrees and overcast is always a plus. But hot weather does create some good inspiration for ice cream treats. When I was really little, I would go to this outdoor pool with friends and I always wanted a neapolitan ice cream sandwich. Such a good combination: the chocolate cake/cookie(?) and the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams. I wanted to make this a little differently, as I now despise the milky chocolate ice cream. I also wanted to make a thin flourless chocolate cake. Since the chocolate cake was so chocolatey, I decide to forgo the dark chocolate ice cream, as it seemed like overkill. These started out as cakes, but since their size seemed a little scary on their own, I made some half sized ones as well.

The chocolate cake recipe is from a past daring bakers challenge that I didn't participate in, but the recipe looked so good, I had to try it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your sheetpan and line with parchment, then butter the parchment.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
Whip the egg whites in a grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed, making sure not to overwhip, as this dries out the cake.
Beat the egg yolks together. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan's bottom, and bake at 375F/190C for 8 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Once cool, remove the cake from the pan onto a clean work surface. Let cool for at least 1 hour. After an hour, use a circular cutter and cut as many shapes as possible from your sheet.



Strawberry Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups hulled strawberries
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups heavy cream

Wash and hull 2 cups of strawberries. Place in a food processor until you get a smooth puree.

In a saucepan over medium heat, warm the milk until steam begins to rise from the surface.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and salt until blended. Gradually add 1/2 the hot milk, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan and set over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 8 to 10 minutes; do not allow the custard to boil.

Pour the custard through a fine-mesh sieve set over a clean bowl and stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla. Nestle the bowl in a larger one filled halfway with ice and water and cool the custard to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Refrigerate until cold [at least 2 hours]

Transfer the custard to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. Transfer the ice cream to a sheetpan lined with parchment and spread in an even, thin layer. Freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving. Makes about 1 quart.



Vanilla Ice Cream

Use the same instructions and ingredients above, but omit the strawberry puree. Split and scrape one vanilla bean. Put the seeds and pod into the milk when first heating. Make sure to remove the vanilla bean just before pouring into the ice cream machine. Use 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.

Assembly

Using the same cutter as you did for the cake, cut circles from the sheets of ice cream. Place on top of each other in alternating order.
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Apple Pear Galette with Vanilla Sides

While apples and pears are considered more fall-like, we get pretty decent apples and pears all year long. I've never met anyone who didn't love something like apple crisp. While this doesn't have the "crisp" part, the dough does bake like a tart and is slightly crunchy, but more flaky. I made the vanilla ice cream because you simply can't have a dessert like this without it. The two are a pair and cannot be separated.
I made the custards for my aunt's friend, whose father is recovering from a surgery. The only thing he can eat is soft food like puddings and custards. They just wanted vanilla for now, but maybe more flavors in the future.



For the galette dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons (or more) ice water
[eggwash+sanding sugar]

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter; pulse until coarse meal forms. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; pulse until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk and wrap in plastic. Chill 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out dough on a floured work surface 1/2" thick. Cut into 8" diameter circles and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Place 1/3 of a cup of the filling in the center of the circle and fold up edges in one direction. Place a 1/2" cube of butter on the filling. Using a pastry brush, paint the sides of the galette with an eggwash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Place on the parchment-lined sheet pan and bake for 15 minutes depending on your oven.

For the filling:

3 crisp apples
3 crisp pears
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablesooon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Slice apples and pears thinly. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.



For the vanilla bean ice cream:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean; halved, seeds removed

Whisk ingredients together until sugar is dissolved. Place in refrigerator to let vanilla seeds infuse into the cream, for 1 hour. Place in ice cream machine and churn for the amount of time given by manufacturer. Remove from machine and place in air-tight container overnight to harden.

For the vanilla bean custard:

2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 1-inch piece vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
4 large eggs
3 large egg yolks

Combine milk, half and half and sugar in saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk mixture; add bean. Bring to simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Cover and steep 30 minutes.
Strain mixture into medium bowl; cool to lukewarm. Whisk eggs and yolks in large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk milk mixture into eggs. Chill until cold.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk custard; pour into caramel-coated dish. Place in large baking pan. Fill pan with enough hot water to come halfway up sides of dish. Cover pan completely with foil, sealing at edges. Bake until center 3 inches of custard moves only slightly when dish is shaken, about 1 hour. Remove from oven; let stand covered 10 minutes. Remove from water; chill overnight.
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Bumblebee Cake

One of my favorite places in the world is San Francisco. More specifically, the Ferry Terminal Building. Home to Miette Pâtisserie, Schaffen Berger chocolate, and other independent organic farmers. It's basically a foodie heaven. Miette Pâtisserie is my all-time favorite place to get a sweet. It combines beautiful designs with really delicious flavors. One of their cakes I've always thought looked super moist and tasty was their Bumblebee cake- A buttery vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Not an unusual cake, but this one is just so pretty and classically scrumptious. A friend of mine has a birthday tomorrow, so I thought I'd make this cake, which he mentioned he loved the flavors of.

I'm not thrilled with the photos I took, mainly because I had to shoot them at night. I didn't finish the cake until then, and I won't be home when it next gets light. However, an exciting update: I just ordered my Canon Rebel Xsi and 50mm/1.8 lens. I am so excited I can barely contain myself. The new camera will take my photos to the next level, so don't be shocked! :)

For the buttercake:
Adapted from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans

2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two 8" cake pan bottoms and line with parchment. Grease parchment and flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until combined and creamy (about 2 minutes). Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes. ON low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture ad mixing just until the flour is incorporates and the batter looked smooth. Fill the cake pans equally and shake to smooth top. Bake for about 30 minutes, depending on your oven. [Having a convection oven really helps in this case.] When the cake tops are dark-golden brown and a tester comes out clean, remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. After at least 2 hours, you can slice the domed tops of the cakes off, and split the layers.


I am a believer that the best buttercream has very little powdered sugar. It should be soft, and not ridiculously sweet. I get compliments about my frosting all the time about how it doesn't give people a head-rush from all the sugar and isn't stiff as a brick.

For the chocolate buttercream:

3 sticks unsalted butter; soft
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Beat butter in electric mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder in small increments as slowly as possible [if you start the mixer too high, your frosting will end up on your kitchen walls]. Increase the speed after it looks like your frosting won't fly everywhere.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

Combine equal weights of chopped chocolate and heavy cream. Heat cream in a small saucepan to a simmer. Pour over chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let it sit and cover the chocolate for 2 minutes, then stir.
Wait until the chocolate is room temperature before you pour it over your iced cake. Don't put it in the fridge or it will form a crust on the surface.
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