Modern Pastry 11.29.12

Modern Pastry, 257 Hanover St, Boston MAs

Italian cookies are one of Modern Pastry's specialties.  But I didn't think they were as good as Lakotas.  And I did try the florentines, they were not as carmely and chewy as Lakotas.  I also didn't like the white chocolate version.

Black & White 11.28.12

B&W VII.1
12 oz sorghum
2 oz sweet rice
2 oz potato
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz butter
6.25 oz sugar
6 oz corn syrup
2 ea eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon
2 T milk



B&W VII.2
12 oz sorghum
2 oz sweet rice
2 oz potato
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz butter
9.25 oz sugar
3 oz corn syrup
2 ea eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon
2 T milk

With the reduced hydration, both of these cookies held their shape.  Ironically, I'd prefer a wider cookie, but it seems like I can play with the hydration to work on that.  And the cookies were certainly less sweet.

Next time I will try the second recipe but with a little more milk.  Also, the grittyness of the flour is still there. I may swap out sweet rice flour and use tapioca starch or amaranth flour.

Spritz cookies 11.28.12

12 oz butter
6 3/4 oz granulated sugar
1 egg
2 T milk
1 t vanilla
16 5/8 oz flour
1 t baking powder

way too much flour! The dough felt like bread dough.  Maybe try half the amount next time and add as necessary. It was hard for the cookie press to push these cookies out. I didn't even try using a pastry bag.

Molasses cookie 11.27.12

2086.8g    Molasses, blackstrap
4066.8g    Sugar
2804.2g    butter, med soft
491.7g      eggs
139.1g      water
6278.2g    flour
156.9g     bak soda
56.9g      salt
60.6g      cinn
19.7g      cloves
60.6g      ginger
28.6g      nutmeg
8.9g        allspice

I divided this recipe by 34 to make about 8 cookies.

This recipe came out awesome.  Next time I want to shape the cookies as disks instead of balls.  I used fresh ginger (since I had it on hand and ended up using four times the weight called for in the recipe.  I overbaked the cookies.  They bottoms were slightly crispy and I'd like to have the cookie soft the whole way through.

Ginger puffins 11.27.12

12 oz AP flour
3/4 t bak soda
1/2 t cinn
1/8 t cloves
4 oz butter
3.5 oz sugar
1 ea egg
1/2 c molasses (6.5 oz?)
1 t vanilla
1/4 c grated ginger.

I added too much egg to this recipe and too much ginger juice, so the hydration was too high.    I need to weigh the egg next time.  I added more flour to compensate.  Luckily the cookie tasted very good and had nice texture, but was very difficult to roll out because the dough was so sticky and soft.

Oatmeal cookies 11.27.12

1 c peanut butter
4 oz butter
10.5 oz brown sugar
3.5 oz sugar
1 1/2 t bak pwdr
1/2 t soda
3 ea eggs
2 t vanilla
12 oz quick oats
3/4 c chopped nuts
1 1/2 c holiday m&ms

I overbaked these cookies.  The peanut butter taste was very strong.  I'd be tempted to name them peanut butter oatmeal cookies.  They were not as chewy as I'd like.  Next time I'd like to try my oatmeal chocolate chip recipe and add peanut butter and oats.

Lakota Bakery 11.26.12

Lakota Bakery, 1375 Mass Ave, Arlington MA

This place specializes in cookies, and they are delicious.  The only bad thing about my experience was that I paid for 6 cookies, but only got 5.  I should have made sure to keep count myself.

It was the weekend after thanksgiving and I got some turkey cookies!  They were on sale and they are chocolate dipped shortbread which are my favorite.  Shortbread lasts for days so I was really happy I got some overflow cookies.  Lakota's shortbread was delicious and buttery with great texture.

The other five cookies I got: florentine, pistachio shortbread, mint sandwich cookie, lemon macaroon, and apricot linzer cookie.

The florentine was the highlight of the five.  It was amazing.  I asked the chef what the ingredients were.  They included shaved (?) almonds, cherries (I don't remember what kind), a little flour.  I never made florentines in school, but there is a recipe in my baking book.  It doesn't include any kind of cherry flavoring, but the wikipedia article on florentines says they are traditionally made with candied cherries.  Hm.

I haven't been touring Boston looking for florentines (i've really only tried two others), but Lakota's are awesomely delicious.

The pistachio shortbread was good, but I don't think I've ever had a pistachio before, so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be tasting.

The mint sandwhich cookie was good, but rather sweet.  The filling was very green, and I wish it was a little more naturally colored to reflect the natural ingredients in the cookie.

The lemon macaroon was a suprise because it had a lot of frosting, which I thought was going to be cookie. The frosting was really sweet and I couldn't taste the cookie much.

The apricot linzer was pretty good.  I loved that the thickness of the apricot filling was exactly the thickness of the cookie underneath.  It was good, but I think I prefer the classic sandwich style with powdered sugar.

Pumpkin cheesecake 11.22.12

I love this pumpkin cheesecake.  Inspired by Quebrada pumpkin cheesecake, this is Jacques Pepin's cheesecake recipe with pumpkin puree added.

Here's the JP cheesecake
2 T butter
1/2 c graham cracker crumb
32 oz cream cheese
7 oz sugar
1 T grated lemon rind
2 T lemon juice
1 t vanilla
4 ea eggs

my pumpkin cheesecake
1/2 c graham cracker crumb
2 T butter
8 oz cream cheese
1.75 oz sugar
1/4 t vanilla
1 ea egg
8 oz pumpkin puree (could possibly use less, but I was just finishing the can)

mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth, add eggs and flavoring slowly until smooth, add pumpkin

baked at 350 in a water bath 1 hour, then turn off oven and let sit another hour.  cool and unmold.

I still need to work on unmolding and how I will present.  This cake is turned out upside down, although that's okay because it looks like a pie now.

Unknown agent 11.14.12

Powdery, white or splotchy and moldy looking on my silicone molds.

Birthday cupcakes! 11.14.12

Chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse, raspberry whipped cream and candy corn

Yellow cake filled with raspberry whipped cream, raspberry whipped cream and candy corn

Black & White Cookies 11.8.12

Here I tried two more gluten-free flour blends for gluten free cookies.  One has less chia flour than my last try.  The second uses white rice flour instead of chia.

B&W II
13 oz sorghum flour
2 oz potato starch
1 oz chia

B&W III
12 oz sorghum flour
2 oz potato starch
2 oz white rice flour

the remaining ingredients are common
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz butter
12.25 oz sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon
1 c milk

with chia

with white rice flour

Dark Chocolate Pudding 11.15.12

The straining works wonders here.  I think it's a good idea to try less sugar.  I'm not sure sugar does that much for the texture, but maybe a little less sweet would bring out more of the chocolate flavour.

Dark Chocolate Pudding
2 egg yolk
1/4 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 1/2 c milk (skim works)
6 T dark coca
smidgen salt
1/2 t vanilla
2 T butter

--DarkChocPudding

Black & White Cookies 11.13.12

Since the white rice flour did not hydrate enough in the cookie, I tried using sweet rice flour which has a much finer grain.  Hopefully it will hydrate quickly in the batter.  I also refrigerated the batter overnight.


Next time I could try blending the rice flour with the milk first.


I think the cookie was still gritty.

12 oz sorghum
2 oz sweet rice flour or white rice flour
2 oz potato
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz butter
12.25 oz sugar
2 oz eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon
1 c milk

With white rice flour

With sweet rice flour

The cookies spread a lot.  I think the hydration can be reduced and the sugar as well.


I also tried to freeze the batter, but not much of a difference.  Maybe a little less spread, but it was still unacceptable

Black & White Cookies 11.2.12

So I tried two recipes, the original Black & White cookie recipe in Baking Illustrated, and the same recipe with a gluten free flour mix which was mostly chia flour.

Black & White Cookies
16 oz cake flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
8 oz butter
12.2.5 oz sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t lemon (more than the original recipe)
1 cup milk

For the gluten-free version I substituted
9.5 oz sorghum
4.5 oz chia
2 oz potato starch

The original cookie was very good, but as I've been eating less gluten, the texture seemed almost rubbery to me.  I recall eating these cookies before, especially when I found the recipe.  And I didn't detect any glutinous texture then.

The gluten-free cookie was pretty disgusting.  It just had too much chia.  And it's funny, the cookie batter was so thick and they baked up looking like scones.

Dark Chocolate Pudding 11.6.12

This pudding a little thicker is much nicer.  I also strain the milk mixture and cook directly until thick.

Dark Chocolate Pudding
2 egg yolk
1/4 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 1/2 c milk (skim works)
6 T dark coca
smidgen salt
1/2 t vanilla
2 T butter

Dissolve cornstarch in the milk, then add to the other ingredients slowly (except for vanilla and butter).  Strain into a pot and cook over low heat until thick.  Add vanilla and butter and chill before serving.

Dark Chocolate Pudding 11.4.12

1 1/2 egg yolk
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 T cornstarch
1 1/2 c milk (I used 2%)
6 T dark coca
smidgen salt
1/2 t vanilla
1 T butter

I really like the dark cocoa and I think this pudding came out smoother than last time.  I combined all the dry ingredients with the egg yolk and 1/8 c milk, or until it came together into a nice paste.  Then added another 1/8 c so the mixture is nice and liquid.  I heated up the milk and then combined the chocolate mixture into the hot milk, stirring until thick and boiling.  

I think the pudding could be a little richer.  Maybe increase to 2 egg yolk and a little more sugar?  Also, use 2 T butter with cocoa.  For the method I also want to reserve 1/4 c cold milk (heating the rest) and blend the cornstarch into it, then blend milk in batches into the other dry ingredients and egg yolk.  Then strain the mixture into the hot milk and cook as above.

Pumpkin Pie 10.31.12

I'm still looking for the perfect pumpkin pie recipe.  I'd like to use pumpkin puree and evaporated milk.   I found a king arthur recipe using corn syrup and a small amount of flour.  I made a graham cracker crust to go along with this pie filling.

Simple Graham Crust
2 c graham crackers
1/2 c melted butter
1/3 c sugar

Blend all three ingredients and press into bottom of pan.

Pumpkin Filling
2 T AP flour (14 g?)
1 1/4 t cinnamon (or less if desired)
1/8 t coves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1/2 t salt
5 5/8 oz brown sugar
12 oz pumpkin
1 3/8 oz corn syrup
12 oz evaporated milk
2 eggs

I baked the crust first at 325 for about 20 minutes (although this might have been too long, it smelled like burnt butter).  Then let the pan cool, and baked the filling in the pan at 325 for 55 minutes. It was just done, and that's with baking it in a very warm pan.  I wonder if the thick crust underneath contributed to the baking time.  Also, there were bubbles coming up through the filling, I think it could have been simmering butter.  There was a lot of butter int the crust, and with the pan I chose, the crust was very thick.

This tasted pretty good.  At least the pie part was spiced nicely.  I'd like to take out the flour.  Next time I'll try without flour (or at least with a gluten free flour).  Perhaps the texture of the pie filling could be a little less glutenous.  Also, for the rectangular pan , it would be wise to make one third of the crust recipe and half of the pumpkin filling.

I had a small pan and certainly used too much crust.  The crust is almost half the depth of the pie!  But the pie was pretty yummy, except glutenous (rubbery).