Bake-En has become Bakenpodcast.com!

Hello!

It has been a busy five years since my last blog post!  Since then I have moved twice, worked my buns off at my job as a Pastry Chef Instructor and had two little ones.   I have also fallen in love with podcasts!  I've decided to combine my love of baking, blogging and podcasting together.  My new podcast and website will be starting in July at www.bakenpodcast.com.  I can't wait for you to see what I have in-store!

Best,

Michelle Buswell

Craft of Baking Sour Cherry Scones

The Craft of Baking by Karen Demasco is a lovely new baking book. I highly suggest these little sour cherry scones.  They take seconds to make and are truly delicious.  Cherries aren't in season YET, so I used frozen cherries which worked wonderfully.

">

Maple Walnut Creme Fraiche Candies

I made Maple Walnut Creme fraiche candies with my mom in mind. She loves maple walnut ice cream more than anything. I wanted to make something for her to eat during the winter when ice cream can be a bit too cold to swallow in Vermont. This recipe is excellent. Smaller sized candies are better as these are very flavorful.


Maple Walnut Candies

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons creme fraiche
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
5 ounces toasted walnut halves

Method

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir in granulated sugar, maple syrup, salt, and creme fraiche. Raise heat to medium-low, and cook, whisking frequently, until sugar has dissolved. Raise heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently and scraping sides of pan with a spatula, until mixture reaches the soft-ball stage (240), 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat. Carefully stir in the vanilla (mixture will steam and bubble). Let cool, without stirring, for 2 minutes. Add walnuts, and beat vigorously with a spoon until slightly opaque but still creamy, about 2 minutes.
3. Drop small spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Let stand until set, about 30 minutes.

TWD Apple Turnovers

I had high hopes for these turnovers, but I never fell in love with them. The dough was too sweet and the apple filling not nearly enough. I hoped the sour cream would make the dough tangy, but the cloying sweetness overpowered it.





The upside is that this is a dessert I didn't go back for seconds on. There's something nice about that.

Julie of Someone’s in the Kitchen picked this recipe as this week's TWD pick of the week. You can find the recipe at her website.

TWD Chocolate Souffle

There's dessert and then there's DESSERT, souffle falls into the latter category. The magic of eggs and sugar whipped and folded together to create a puffy dessert that must be served immediately. Fun to make, serve and especially to eat. Thanks to Susan of She’s Becoming DoughMessTic for choosing this recipe. You can find the recipe for the chocolate souffle on her website.

Souffle's are amazingly easy to make. Some people find them nerve-wrecking, but as long as your ingredients are room temp, and you can whip your whites properly; it's a piece of cake (or souffle in this case). The only change I made to the recipe was I halved it because I was making it for two. I also added a pinch of salt to the egg whites and reduced the overall sugar by 1 tablespoon to bring out the chocolate flavor.


(Souffles as soon as they came out of the oven)


The souffles were just lovely. Airy and very chocolaty. Joe liked them so much he ate two! We pair the souffle with Schweiger Port VII which was perfect with the souffles.





For dinner that night we made a simple risotto with just a bit of finely chopped asparagus topped with an asparagus bacon garnish and buttery seared scallops. We paired our risotto with Patrick Bouland Chiroubles 2006, which was a perfect wine for this dish. Though most people wouldn't pair a red wine with a scallop dish we chose it because it was a nice light Beaujolais. We prefer reds to whites in general, so we frequently drink Beaujolais with meals that are more white friendly. As far as meals go, our scallop risotto and chocolate souffle night will go down as one of the top 10 meals of 2009.