Another month and another Daring Bakers Challenge!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I have such fun with this group of talented bakers. While I have only been a member for a few months it’s as though they read my mind. Last month I had been thinking that I really wanted to make some Macaroons for the holidays and sure enough that’s what we were asked to bake!

This was quite a pleasant coincidence I thought. Then it happened again with this month’s challenge. I had been watching an episode of “Cake Boss” which if you have caught by the way is an awesome show. They did a cannoli throwback a few episodes ago and totally got me wanting to make those delicious looking treats. Well sure enough I went to The Daring Kitchen website to see what this month’s challenge was going to be and wouldn’t you believe it was cannoli!

I really found making cannoli to be quite entertaining and definitely delicious. I especially enjoyed eating my mistakes! While most people like to fill their cannoli with something savory, I had different plans. I wanted to use a chocolate raspberry mousse and I cannot even begin to describe what a great choice that was. As I was pulling out some of my ingredients I also noticed that I still had some of my pumpkin spice mousse from a party I had thrown a couple of days ago and decided to fill a couple with that as well. This was also a winning combo!

The great thing about cannoli is that you are only limited by your imagination when it comes to flavor combinations. The cannoli is simply a shell waiting for your creativity! So if things continue the way that they have been…. maybe next month we will be making … our own gingerbread houses? I’ve always wanted to do that …..

CANNOLI SHELLS

2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar

Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

8. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

9. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Recipe

Ingredients:
3 squares unsweet bakers chocolate
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup water
½ cup sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup heavy cream whipped (soft peaks)

Directions:

Melt chocolate in microwave and set aside.

On top of double boiler soften gelatin in water. Stilling until dissolved. Add ½ cup sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Once cool combine corn syrup vanilla gelatin and sugar mixture. Beat on high speed with a hand mixer for 15 minutes or soft peaks have formed.

Fold in chocolate quickly.

Fold in whipped heavy cream.

Pumpkin Spice Mousse Recipe

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I wanted to post a little bit about the Thanksgiving holiday at The Gourmet Foodie Blog household. I love Thanksgiving! What food blogger in their right mind wouldn’t? I mean, who could wish for a holiday more focused on food then Thanksgiving itself?!?

I personally feel blessed as my family has a long standing tradition of getting the largest group of family and friends (all are welcome at our celebration) possible together for the holiday! An average Thanksgiving holiday will have 12 – 15 people minimum! With this many people in attendance leaving the cooking to one individual or couple would be utter insanity. So The Gourmet Foodie Blog family; (like many other large families I assume) have each couple (or individual) responsible for a dish. The dishes range from gourmet desserts, to secret family recipes that have been passed from one generation to the next.

For Jess and I we use this holiday as an opportunity to expose our family to some of our favorite recipes we have created over the course of the year. As I posted earlier this year one of my favorite recipes of all time was (*wait what*…Was?) lobster macaroni and cheese. Lobster macaroni and cheese is a great way to gourmet up a classic favorite. While many would feel that lobster macaroni and cheese couldn’t be improved upon…. I beg to differ…..

About two months ago Jess and I were enjoying this delectable dish when Jess had an epiphany. How much better would this be with pancetta?!?

“Pancetta?!?” I thought. You’re right! Who doesn’t love Pancetta?!? … Well the only people I can think of are those who don’t already love the flavor of bacon; but that is a sad bunch to begin with.

The idea had been thought of but the opportunity to try this recipe out had been lacking, until this weekend that was. My parents had been working their tails off out at the farm and have had little time to get out so Jess and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to give this recipe a try! Well needless to say pancetta macaroni and cheese is a new favorite! So much so that we plan on bringing this gourmet macaroni and cheese to our Thanksgiving celebration so the whole family can get a taste! The Pancetta gives this dish just the right amount of saltiness to create an even more gourmet version of an already gourmet dish. While I’m somewhat disappointed that our gourmet pancetta lobster macaroni and cheese won’t be on the main stage of our event I am excited about the opportunity to share something I love with friends and family!

I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving from our table to yours!

Pancetta & Lobster Macaroni & Cheese Recipe

Ingredients:

2 seven ounce lobster tails or 1 lobster – room temperature, cut into small cunks
12 ounces pancetta diced
5 ounces unsalted butter
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cup whole milk
3 ounces Cheddar, shredded
3 ounces Fontina, shredded
3 ounces Gruyere, shredded
12 ounces macaroni pasta

Directions:

1. Cut the butter in to once ounce cubes. Place 4 ounces of butter in a small pot and melt slowly over low heat.
2. Add the lobster meat and cook for 5 -7 minutes or opaque in color. Claw meat will cook faster so make sure to check this after 3 – 4 minutes of cooking.
3. When cooked remove from heat and remove lobster meat. Set aside.
4. In a small pan cook the pancetta until slightly crispy.
5. Place a pot on high heat with heavily salted water for boiling the macaroni.
6. Melt 1 ounce butter in medium sized pot over medium/high heat. Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes stirring constantly until the mixture browns and develops a nutty smell.
7. Stir in the heavy cream and bring to a boil. Add the milk and, again, bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes.
8. While this is simmering your water should have reached a roaring boil. Add macaroni to your pot of boiling salted water.
9. When your cream sauce has simmered for 3 minutes slowly add the three cheeses, a handful at a time, and stir until fully incorporated.
10. When the pasta is fully cooked pour the pasta into a colander to drain off water. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the cheese sauce. Mix well. Fold in the cooked lobster meat and pancetta; serve immediately.

What a weekend! Things have been pretty interesting around the gourmet foodie blog household lately. Not only did we throw a wedding shower for Jessica’s sister, it was also their birthdays! Yes, Jess is a twin! While we love to host parties at our house it definitely takes a ton of planning and time to get things set up, especially when you are planning two events put into one, which would explain the absence in my posts lately.

Things started out a little shaky on Friday. As we were setting things up for the following day I decided to open a window because the ovens had been running full steam ahead and heated the house to the point where we were about to pass out. I slow opened the window (which had a screen by the way) and was promptly stung by a wasp! WTF how did that get there!?!?! He must have been planning his attack for hours just lying there in wait, knowing we would have to open a window sooner or later! After a few choice words I decided to re-think this whole “Save the Bees” campaign I’ve been supporting lately….

Here is what I think it looked like when he attacked.

It has probably been 20 some years since I was last stung. I can remember this event as if it was yesterday… My brother and I were doing what children with loads of curiosity and time do. We had found a bee’s hive earlier in the week and wondered what you would expect any kid of this age to wonder… What would happen if you were to hit it with a water balloon? This was a completely legitimate question…. right? Well needless to say a couple of direct water balloon hits later we found out. I’m pretty sure you can guess that was the last time we did that.

Not only was I busy with planning and preparing our party this week, I have also been going crazy with raking leaves! For some reason this year our tree decided to produced extra leaves just to make things difficult. As soon as I have finished raking the yard the wind blows and the yard is completely covered again! Is there no end to the madness?!?

Since raking leaves is normally a really mundane task I decided to make it fun this year by enlisting two little helpers. They had a blast chasing the rake and running through recently stack piles of leaves!

Seeing as how this weekend was a two event party I wanted to make sure we did something special for the occasion. I wanted to make something that was representative of the season and perfect for a celebration of this kind which is what lead me to make one of my all time favorite cupcake recipes. Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes!

A Pumpkin spice cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting is basically a pumpkin spice pie baked in cupcake form. What I love most about these cupcakes is the unbelievable amount of moistness that is the direct product of the pumpkin pie filling. Many of my favorite cupcake recipes add pudding or extra milk to create a cake that is moist and delicious. Another great benefit of the pie filling is it makes them extremely hard to overcook.

Everyone at the party loved them!

With the end of the weekend finally here a day of rest was definitely needed. We did a quick lunch time meeting at Twisted Root (our all time favorite burger joint) and caught an afternoon movie with my parents and brothers girlfriend. We then went home and promptly fell asleep. What a week!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground all-spice
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 cup light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 3/4 cups pumpkin pie filling (I use Libby’s)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together flour, baking powders, salt and spices. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, eggs, melted butter and pumpkin puree with an electric mixer on med-low until well combined.
Pour in half of the flour mixture and slowly combine into the liquid mixture. Add the rest of the flour on low until everything is well combine and smooth.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly touched.
Cool completely (about 10-20 min) before frosting.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp cinnamon

Beat cream cheese and butter together until creamy.
Mix in (one cup at a time) powdered sugar until smooth.
Add vanilla and cinnamon, beat on med-high until light and fluffy.