Indonesian FoodBlogger Challenge- Cassava & Yoghurt

A glance at this photo wouldn’t have you guessing of the crazy that went behind making it.

This donut combines two of the most unfitting ingredients ever thought of in a challenge.

Cassava and Yogurt.

The Indonesian Foodblogger has outdone itself by challenging its members to use these two ingredients in a dish.

And if you think things couldnt get any worse, I’ve further outdone myself by choosing another fermenting component on top of my fermenting milk product (read: yogurt).

Yup, you guessed it, this donut is made from fermenting cassava.

While i would love to go on and on about the benefits of food that has been fermented, this donut is not it.

Because all the goodness in eating live organisms went out the window when i drowned these donuts in a pool of hot oil.

But what about the yogurt, you ask?

Well, the yogurt was sugared, egged and cooked to make pastry cream!

Oh wells, YOLO !

So while this donut may not be the healthiest snack.I am glad I took up the challenge to combine two incomplementary product to make a mind blowing dessert.

Here’s to you, IDFB!

Donut tape Singkong (Recipe in Indonesian)

Taken from Sajian Sedap

Bahan:
300 gram tepung terigu protein tinggi
100 gram tepung terigu protein sedang
6 gram ragi instan
35 gram gula pasir
15 gram susu bubuk  (Saya pake creamer)
1/2 sendok teh baking powder
200 gram tape singkong
1 butir telur
175 ml air es
40 gram margarin
1 sendok teh garam
minyak padat untuk menggoreng

Cara membuat:

1. Campur tepung terigu, ragi instan, gula pasir, susu bubuk, dan baking powder. Aduk rata. Tambahkan tape singkong. Uleni rata.
2. Masukkan telur dan air es sedikit-sedikit sambil diuleni sampai kalis. Masukkan margarin dan garam. Uleni sampai elastis. Diamkan 15 menit.
3. Kempiskan adonan. Timbang masing-masing 35 gram. Bulatkan. Diamkan 10 menit.
4. Pipihkan adonan. Bentuk bulat lagi. Letakkan di loyang yang ditabur tipis tepung terigu. Diamkan 45 menit sampai mengembang.
5. Goreng dalam minyak padat yang sudah dipanaskan di atas api sedang sampai matang. Dinginkan.

Yogurt Pastry Cream

• 2 cups strawberry flavoured yogurt (Heavenly Blush)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1. In a medium saucepan, combine milk, sugar,and salt. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, and cornstarch. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot-yogurt mixture into the egg-yolk mixture. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens (about 2 minutes).
3. Add the butter, and stir into the mixture. Let the mixture cool.
4. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled. Pour into a pipping bag fitted with the longest pipping tip you can find at home.

To assemble:

Take a piece of the donut. Push the tip of the pastry cream filled pipping bag into the middle. Squeeze gently to fill the donut with the pastry cream

For the garnish, melt some hot chocolate over a double boiler. and dip the donut tops into it.

French Toast with Pastry Cream and Strawberry Preserve

My mother bought me a pack of strawberries a few days ago. And while they were organic, and look really pretty with their bright scarlet colour, they were really really sour.

Anyone who took a bite of the strawberry winced.

There was really no way i could have eaten them on their own. I needed sugar. LOTS of sugar.

So i made a preserve out of it.

And if you were wondering what those curious white balls were,

they are pastry cream scooped with an ice cream scoop.

And to top it all off, some french toast to complete the meal.

Breakfast is served!

Fruit Tart

I made cream tarts today.

And topped it with strawberries and dragon fruit.

That’s health food allright.

 

 

It doesnt matter the butter in the crust.

Or the  full fat milk and whole yolks in the pastry cream.

Having fruits on the tarts offset that.

In fact, having fruits on anything is healthy by default.

Right.

Fruit Tart

Sweet Tart Pastry

250gr butter

110 gr icing sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

430 gr AP flour

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla,

2. Beat flour into butter mixture till incorporated

3. Bake at 170 degree celcius till golden brown (about 15 – 20 mins)

 

4. Pipe pastry cream into baked shells

5. Arrange fresh fruits on pastry cream

Pastry Cream Recipe from Martha Stewart.

Lemon Cupcakes with Pastry Cream and Raspberry Curd

I think the local Indonesian confectioner’s sugar is not as finely grained as the rest of the world out there. Because each time i made the American Buttercream, which only involved beating the butter and sugar together, it comes out gritty.

My favourite buttercream to date is the Meringue buttercream. Sure, it is dreary and tiresome as it involves heating and beating egg whites before you add the butter in, but it’s really worth the effort in my case.

But what’s most frustrating is when i laboured over the said buttercream, fastidiously pipped them over the cupcakes,only to have them scrapped aside.

Because that’s what always happens around this health conscious household.

Ditto for frostings which involve whipped cream.

So i have decided to go on the safe road and used pastry cream for today’s cupcake frosting. If they had no qualms eating it as fillings for my Boston Cream Donuts, this pastry cream is pretty much insured from getting the brush off.

Using Martha Stewart’s pastry cream recipe, this pastry cream doesn’t even contain butter. And considering that i am using it as a frosting, this is as good as it gets. I dont think you can get any healthier than that.

Or any more boring.

So i’ve decided to jazz it up a bit.

And started off with a lemon cupcake.

With an apple corer, i decided to take a bit of the middle off,

And piped a perimeter of the pastry cream around it. A note when cooking this pastry cream though. To get that pippable consistency, i cooked the pastry cream way more than what the recipe suggested. At the end of the cooking, you should get a thick, gloopy mixture that sits (and not dissolve) when you let it fall back into your pan from your spoon.

Then i filled up the cavity I created from the apple corer with raspberry curd.

Raspberry curd. Sure, it might have a bit of butter, but definitely way lesser compared to a full fledged buttercream.

Besides, raspberries are fruits. They fall into the bottom of the food pyramid, which mandates that everyone eats more of. Which is why i created the cavity in the first place. And made sure that i filled it all the way up.

 

Lemon Cupcakes, pastry cream and raspberry curd.

That’s like sunshine on mah plate!

Of course, if for some reasons, you happen to squeeze waaaaay too many lemons for your cupcakes and have waaaaay more lemon juice sparing around, you could also make these lemon curd versions.

Like so!

Lemon Cupcakes with Pastry Cream and Raspberry (or Lemon) Curd

Lemon Cupcakes from Dash of Sass

For the cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 teaspoons lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
– Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two muffin pans or line with paper liners. Set prepared pan aside.
– In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
– In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
– Beat in the whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating until fully combined before adding the next one. Wipe down the sides of the bowl between each addition.
– Once all eggs and yolks are combined, add the vanilla and lemon zest. Stir to combine.
– Add the lemon juice. Mix on low speed to combine.
– With the mixer still on low, mix in the dry ingredients in three separate additions. Between each addition of dry ingredients, add half of the sour cream. Wipe down the sides of the bowl between additions. Stir until fully combined.

– Fill each prepared muffin tin 1/2 way with lemon cake batter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.  Rotate the pans halfway through to ensure even baking.
– Remove cupcakes to a wire cooling rack. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Pastry Cream from Martha Stewart

Raspberry Curd from Annie’s eats

For the raspberry curd:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 pint ripe raspberries or 1 12-oz. package frozen raspberries, thawed
5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2-3 tsp. fresh lemon juice

To make the raspberry curd, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar and salt, and cook, mashing the berries.  Stir frequently at first and then constantly at the end, until thickened, about 10 minutes.  Pour the mixture through a coarse strainer set over a bowl, pressing hard on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.  Cool to room temperature; the curd will continue to thicken as it cools.  Stir in lemon juice to taste.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Lemon Curd from Martha Stewart

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Curd, Pastry Cream Cake

So i opened up the refrigerator this morning.

It looked like someone is hosting a tupperware home party in there.

Plastic containers and tubs were swarming my refrigerator shelves and door. All of which containing an array of leftovers from all my baking stints. Most of them were actually frostings. Cookie frostings, buttercream, jam, caramel.. you name it.

 A spring cleaning is definitely in order.

And today, spring cleaning starts with the tubs marked “pastry cream 02/06/11” and “lemon curd 27/05/11”.

And came out with this.

The lemon curd, pastry cream cake. A yellow cake sandwiching pastry cream and topped with lemon curd.

For the cake, i have used Rose Levy Berenbaum’s Favourite Sour Cream Yellow Cake which gave me the chance to use up “egg yolk 04/06/11”

Using only egg yolks without the whites, the cake came out deliciously rich and moist. But it was also tender. Mine came out a bit too tender and crumbly. I think i might have underbeaten it.

Nevertheless, this cake still played a very good host to the layer of lemon curd and buttercream. In fact, this is somewhat like your boston cream pie. With the lemon instead of the chocolate on top of course.

What i really loved about this cake is the slight tang from the lemon curd against the sweet pastry cream. It’s bright and refreshing.  And the cake provided just enough matter to make it more substantial and not too pudding-like.

And best of all, no one has to know that they are really leftovers!

Boston Cream Donuts

While Boston Cream Pies are conventional, and Boston Cream Cupcakes are uninspiring, i was so excited when i thought i was the first one who thought of extending the Boston Cream family to donuts.

Boston Cream Donuts.

Sound good doesn’t it?

That’s when i typed the words into google and saw the deluge of recipes available from people who have done it before.

So much for thinking i was gonna be the pioneer in this.

I am not blaming the world for coming up with this earlier than me though. Cause seriously, it’s just too good to NOT think about.

True to the Boston Cream  family signature, these donuts are filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate.

I’ve used a different recipe for the donuts. This one is pretty different. It called for the use of a new(at least to me) ingredient. The Japanese bread flour.

I am not very familiar with the ingredient, but from what i have been reading, this flour contains more protein than the usual bread flour. It results in better gluten formation, better rise and ultimately softer, super aerated donuts. In fact, when i bit into it, it feels like biting on a cloud of cotton.

And while they are probably not the healthiest snack around, they are quite “light” in the sense that you probably have to eat 2, to get full. Or maybe 7.

So if you prefer something with more bulk, these are not for you.

For me, i decided to add bulk my way. Not by the texture of the donuts, but by filling the donuts.

One was, as seen above, to fill it up with pastry cream.

And another, with peanut butter.

I’ve thinned the peanut butter with a bit of a cream, topped the tops in white chocolate, and decorated with the dark chocolate.

  Pretty good!

Doughnut Recipe

Ingredients:
DOUGH 1
* 850 Japanese ‘Komachi’ bread flour. *
* 30 gr instant yeast
* 10 gr gsalt
* 600 ml water

* You can use regular bread flour for this, just adjust  by reducing the water by  75 to 100 ml. 

DOUGH 2:
* 200 gr  Japanese ‘Komachi’ bread flour
* 10 gr salt
* 60 gr milk powder

* 125 gr sugar
* 100 gr eggs
* 125 gr shortening

 

 

Cooking Direction:
1.) Mix dough 1 with a mixer till it comes together, cover & rest for 90 minutes
2.) Mix dough 2 together. Knead dough 2 into dough one til smooth and elastic. Cover and rest for 15 mnts
3.) With a roller pin, roll the dough abt 1 cm thick. Rest for 10 mnts
4.) Cut with round cookie cutter. Rest for another 10 mnts
5.) Deep fry in low heat until it turns light golden yellow.
6.) Cool on cooling rack.

 

Pastry Cream Recipe can be found HERE

To assemble:

1. Pipe cooled pastry cream into the cooled donuts. (I used a kitchen shear to tear an opening before jamming my pipping bag into the donut).
2. Melt some dark chocolate and dip the tops of the filled donut
3. Set aside to dry

Eclairs

I wanted to break away from the monotomy of baking the usual cakes and cookies. Much as i liked baking them, i can see the end users of my bakes losing their interests in what i brought out from my kitchen.

So i journeyed west, and went a little French this morning with the French Eclairs.

Finger shaped choux pastries filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate.

Before baking, my choux pastries started out sleek and smooth. They were just slightly bigger than regular pencils, only half the lengths.

But, they grew in the oven though, and turned out like these Frankenstein fingers. Fat and ripped.

 Not that i minded of course. Ugly, big, fat fingers was exactly what i was looking for. In fact, they bigger they get, the better, cause it means they got bigger caves in them.

 

Which means you can pipe in more fillings!

Of course, the choice of fillings is completely up to your discretion. I’ve made both vanilla and chocolate pastry cream. Just because majority end users are pro-chocolates!

 

Recipe taken from Ounces and Grams

For Recipe, Click–> Eclairs

Eclairs

After my bout with choquettes, i was kind of excited to make these eclairs, since they are both made of choux pastries.

I decided to try on a different recipe instead of sticking to the choquette recipe, as i am not really in the habit of repeating recipes, unless i am absolutely certain that that was the best recipe.For other times, i like to experiment.

After a brief search, i discovered that making eclair was a Daring Baker’s challenge, with Pierre Hermes’ choux recipe. I settled on that, since many daring bakers have had success with the recipe. And boy, was i impressed. This version of the choux pastry tastes way richer than the choquettes. It has a strong “eggy” aroma to it, which oddly speaking is kinda pleasant (well to me at least).

The steps in the both recipes were pretty much the same and executed in the same orders. However, i totally dissed the part on wedging ur oven door open with a wooden spoon in Pierre’s recipe. No harm done deviating there it seemed.

The DB challenge also requires a chocolate pastry cream to be filled into the eclairs. I chose to make a vanilla version, as i happen to have vanilla beans on hand, and plus, i didnt want to get a chocolate overload.

Eileen from Living Tastefully happened to have similar ideas with the pastry cream issues. She has a vanilla pastry cream version (also from Pierre) on her blog instead. I chose to follow that instead.

The pastry cream came really easily despite the part that called for a thermometer. Dont worry, i totally skipped that part (too!) and my pastry cream came out perfect.

The last part to the challenge was to create a chocolate glaze.Again, i threw caution to the wind and totally went on my own on that. The recipe just seemed to fussy, requiring a two step process. I just stuck to my  trusted dark cocoa plus shortening combination.

As you can see, i went astray from the recipe in quite a number of ways and in quite a number of times. But i guess i got lucky today since nothing major went wrong. (phew!)

For me, this recipe is definitely for keeps. I just loved the contrast of the crispy shells against the soft pastry cream. It’s also a good thing that all of the components of this eclair can be done in advance as they have to be served immediately after assembly, to prevent the crust from getting soggy.
Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Eclairs ( Taken From Living Tastefully)
recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 éclairs)

CREAM PUFF DOUGH (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Divide the oven into thirds by positioning racks in the upper and lower half of the oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.  Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.  Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in 4-inch lengths.  Leave about 2 inches between each dough strip to allow room to puff.  The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs (I got about 18).
3.  Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes.  After 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep it ajar.  When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back.  Continue baking for another 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and FIRM.  The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes (I did not open the door after 7 minutes, and after 20 minutes I turned my oven off, but left the éclairs in the oven for another 5 minutes.  It’s probably just my oven).
NOTES:  The éclairs can be kept in a cook, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:
• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1.  Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion.  Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
2.  The glaze should be barely warm to the touch.  Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula.  Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
3.  Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs.  Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry.  Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough

• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter cut into 8 pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1.  In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
2.  Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon.  The dough comes together very quickly.  You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough.  After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
3.  Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.  You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate.  Do not worry.  As you keep working the dough, it will come back together by the time you have added the third egg.  In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
4.  The dough should be still warm.  It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

NOTES:
1.  Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.
2.  You can pipe the dough and then freeze it.  Simply pipe the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and slide the sheet into the freezer.  Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags.  They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Vanilla Pastry Cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 plump, moist vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup (slightly rounded) sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
• 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1.  In a small saucepan, bring the milk and vanilla bean (pulp and pod) to a boil over medium heat.  Cover the pan, remove from the heat, and allow the mixture to rest for 10 minutes, time enough for the liquids to be infused with the warm flavor of vanilla.
2.  Fill a large bowl with ice cubes and set aside a small bowl that can hold the finished cream and be placed in this ice bath.
3.  Whisk the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan.  Whisking all the while, very slowly drizzle a quarter of the ot milk into the yolks.  Still whisking, add the rest of the liquid to the tempered yolks in a steady stream.  Remove and discard the pod.
4.  Place the saucepan over high heat and, whisking vigorously and without stop, bring the mixture to the boil.  Keep at the boil, whisking energetically, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.  Pour the cream into the reserved small bowl.  Set the bowl in the ice bath (you can add some cold water to the cubes now) and, stirring frequently so that the mixture remains smooth, cool the cream to 140 degrees F, as measure on an instant-read thermometer.  Stir in the butter in three or four additions.  Keep the cream over ice, stirring occasionally, until it is completely cool.  The cream can be used now or refrigerated.

Chocolate Glaze

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tablespoons Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1.  In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil.  Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon.
2.  Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Chocolate Sauce

• 4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar

1.  Place all the ingredients into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly.  Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.
2.  It may take 10-15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.