While we’re on this theme…

Tags

blueberries, cake, figs, honey, peaches, pistachios, yogurt

Pistachio Yogurt Cake with Figs, Blueberries and Peaches

Wherein we continue to head in a vaguely Middle Eastern direction, with some promising initial results.

One of my stand-by choices for Sunday baking is the French yogurt cake I originally discovered on Chocolate and Zucchini, which yields grandmere levels of deliciousness from box-mix levels of effort, just the thing when I want cake now. It’s so simple and so good that I’ve used it in my class for foreign students with zero baking experience, and they were able to reproduce it perfectly all by themselves the very next day.

To take to work on Monday morning, I used the basic recipe to make cupcakes iced with an espresso and cardamom infused ganache inspired by Turkish coffee, and decorated along the edges with ground pistachios. They were fine, but considerably less interesting than I had hoped. In particular, the ganache was too rich and bittersweet for the chiffon texture and mild flavor of the cake and the pistachio flavor was negligible.

Since I still liked the idea of combining yogurt, cardamom and pistachios, on Monday evening I decided to try again. I put the pistachios inside the cake by replacing part of flour with ground nuts, and spiced it with a hint of cardamom and cinnamon. I added a few more regional elements to reinforce the theme: honey, a splash of orange flower water, and a compatible addition from a little further up the Mediterranean, in the form of Tuaca, an Italian liqueur with vanilla and citrus flavors that I find very handy to have around for baking.

This slightly different approach worked much better. The cake was nutty but not aggressively “pistachio” in flavor, and the honey, spices and extracts added a hint of perfume without evoking potpourri, which can be a real danger with flower water. The plain cake was summery and fresh served with a salad of figs, peaches and blueberries in a very simple syrup that moistened both the fruit and the cake. The addition of a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream, while not necessary, certainly didn’t hurt.

Unusual but not outre, this would be a nice end to a meal featuring Northern African, Eastern Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Indian dishes.

Pistachio Yogurt Cake with Fig, Peach and Blueberry Salad
Serves 8–10

Cake:
1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
14 tablespoons granulated sugar (1 cup minus two tablespoons)
2 tablespoons strong-flavored honey
1/3 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon Tuaca or brandy
1/4 teaspoon orange flower water
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup finely ground raw, unsalted pistachios
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon each ground cardamom and cinnamon

Fruit Salad:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups water
1/3 cup Tuaca or brandy
Juice of 1 lemon

1 pint blueberries
6-8 fresh figs, cut into wedges
2 peaches, peeled and diced

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9-inch nonstick cake pan with parchment.

In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, sugar, honey, oil, eggs, Tuaca and orange flower water until homogeneous.

In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, pistachios, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Stir dry ingredients into the yogurt mixture, gently but thoroughly, until no dry flour lumps remain.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes in pan, then turn out, remove parchment, and let cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup by combining sugar and water in a small saucepan and bringing to a boil. Simmer for two minutes, then decant into a heat-proof liquid measuring cup and cool to room temperature. Stir in the liquor and lemon juice. Combine fruit in a large bowl, pour over enough syrup to just cover the fruit, and allow to macerate in the refrigerator until ready to serve the cake.

Spoon a generous portion of fruit and its soaking syrup over each slice of cake before serving. Garnish with sweetened whipped cream if desired.

Notes:

The extra syrup can be used to sweeten iced tea, lemonade, cocktails, or any other summertime beverages. If not using immediately, cover tightly and store in refrigerator.

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Mid-Week Baklava

Tags

almonds, honey, pastry, pistachios

I’m still writing up this week’s Sunday baking recipe, but as an appetizer, I’m putting up the baklava I made in the middle of last week.

And why did the crazy woman make baklava in the middle of the week? Because she can, darlings!

OK, truthfully, because she defrosted phyllo over the Fourth of July weekend, dreaming all kinds of big phyllo-wrapped dreams, but never actually got around to realizing any of them. Instead, I made a simple spinach, potato and feta pie for dinner on Tuesday, using one of the two individually-wrapped 8-oz sleeves in the pack. Then, looking down at the third of a roll of dough left in the sleeve, I thought, what the hell, I’ll make baklava while I’m at it.

Although I have a few legitimate Greek cookbooks, I chose the Cook’s Illustrated Best International Recipe version as a starting point because I had yet to cook out of that book despite having obtained it it nearly two years ago as a result of the temporary insanity that led me to sign up for the CI cookbook club.

In addition to roughly quartering the quantities to fit the amount of dough I had, I made a couple of modifications in terms of ingredients and technique. First, regardless of its supposed superiority over plain melting, there was no way I was clarifying butter at 9:00 pm on a work day. I also chose the more adventurous combination of almonds and pistachios over their walnut-almond mix.

The combination of almonds and pistachios worked well, because pistachios alone can be a little overwhelming in baklava, and almonds by themselves don’t have enough character to stand up to the honey syrup. The CI approach of creating three thin layers of nut filling produces a nicely flaky and cohesive pastry without the usual tendency to slide and split in half when picked up. It was nicely saturated all the way through with this quantity of syrup, but next time I might double it just to ensure a completely hedonistic experience.

Baklava is never going to be an effortless endeavor, but this was ready to bake by the time the spinach pie came out of the oven, and it makes a perfectly reasonable quantity for a small household instead of enough to feed an army. It does need to sit several hours to absorb the syrup, so you won’t be eating it until morning unless you’re an even more incorrigible night owl than I am. The reward for your evening industriousness is sticky, buttery, crisp, perfect baklava with your breakfast coffee.

Almond-Pistachio Baklava
Serves 2-6

Syrup:
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons honey
2 strips lemon zest
1-inch piece of cinnamon stick
2 cloves
1 pinch salt
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Pastry:
2 ounces sliced, unsalted almonds
1 ounce roasted, salted pistachios
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Generous pinch of ground cloves
1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 lb phyllo sheets

Combine sugar, honey, zest, and spices for the syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat until sugar has dissolved, stirring or swirling the pot as necessary. Transfer to a heat-safe cup, remove the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, stir in the lemon juice, and set aside to cool.

Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 300 F. Liberally butter the bottom and sides of a glass baking dish approximately 8 x 6 x 2.

Process nuts in a food processor until finely chopped, and transfer to a small bowl. Remove 1 tablespoon of nut mixture for the final garnish, then add cinnamon, cloves, and 1/2 tablespoon of sugar to remaining nuts.

Unroll the phyllo and cut to fit the size of the pan. Place one sheet in the bottom of the pan, and brush the entire surface with melted butter. Repeat with 9 more sheets, then sprinkle the top with one third of the nut filling. Cover the filling with 6 more individually-buttered sheets, and the next third of the filling. Repeat with another 6 sheets and the final third of nut mixture. Top with 8-10 more sheets of phyllo.

Using your flat palms, press out any air bubbles in the pastry, then brush on the remaining butter. Using a serrated knife, cut the baklava into diamonds, making sure to pierce all the way through the bottom layers.

Bake 1 1/2 hours or until completely golden, rotating the pan halfway through. Remove from oven and immediately pour all but 2 tablespoons of the syrup along each crevice, then drizzle the remaining syrup over the top. Sprinkle a generous pinch of the reserved ground nuts on the center of each piece.

Cool on a wire rack for 2-3 hours, then cover with foil and let stand 8 hours or overnight.

Holiday Cookie Blogging: Pistachios and Chocolate Two Ways, plus Jam Almond Diamonds

Tags

almonds, biscotti, Cacao Nibs, chocolate, cookies, jam, pistachios

My official policy is that the holidays are not over until I say they are, and I generally don’t say they are until after my birthday at the end of January, so there’s still time for holiday cookie baking as far as I’m concerned.

Depending on how organized I am in any given year, I launch the holiday cookie baking season the weekend of Thanksgiving or the first weekend in December. As I have quite a number of people on my cookie recipient list and some of them are significant distances away, my seasonal selection has been biscotti-heavy of late, because biscotti are easy to make in large quantities, are infinitely variable, keep for weeks, and ship well. Gingerbread, amaretti, shortbread, and other dry and crispy cookies are also must-haves, although I also like to make a few more delicate offerings for strictly local and immediate consumption.

I made six different cookies this year, two of which I have already been blogged about: Meyer lemon-rosemary shortbread, and Anzac Biscuits. Three new whim-driven experiments also joined the gift boxes: two variations on a pistachio-chocolate theme, and a jam and almond diamond that was too fragile and perishable to mail out but which was a huge hit when handed out at the office.

The pistachio-chocolate biscotti came from my constant fiddling with biscotti additions, and started out as a pistachio-dried apricot version I thought would look festive for the holidays last year. Unfortunately, the apricots turned into little pieces of shrapnel after that much oven drying, so I swapped them out with dark chocolate, remembering how well my earlier walnut-chocolate chunk version had turned out. Besides tasting wonderfully exotic and adult, the bright green nuts and dark brown chocolate make for a smashingly dramatic look.

The amaretti are the result of a market failure. Last winter I discovered cacao nibs, the roasted beans chocolate is made from. Much like coffee beans, cacao nibs are crunchy and loaded with flavor, tasting like a cross between pure dark chocolate and toasted nuts. I fell fast and hard, and instantly went about looking for ways to use them. In the middle of making my own amaretti when I couldn’t find them in my neighborhood haunts and couldn’t be bothered to make a trip to the specialty store, it occurred to me that cacao nibs were nut-like enough to be swapped out for part of the ground almonds in my recipe. I tried it, and loved the sophisticated results. I later substituted hazelnuts for the almonds, since the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate is so perfectly Italian, and their stronger flavor also stood up better to the nibs. The downside is that hazelnut skins are bitter and absolutely must be removed before using them. Given that I’m feeling both lazy and extravagant this time of year, I usually end up springing for blanched hazelnuts instead of toasting until the skins split and laboriously rubbing them off with a dish towel.

Although I was willing, nay, happy to pay the usurious prices charged by Whole Foods, they were just not to be had this time, so when I got home, I considered my pantry options. Spotting the pistachios, I gave them a try and was happily surprised when I bit into the first finished cookie and discovered that, while different, it was just as good. I’m sure I’ll continue to shell out for the hazelnuts, since they are my favorite nut, but the pistachio option is one to keep. Equally delicious but half the price and none of the bother. What’s not to love?

The final cookie is a twist on the America’s Test Kitchen take on the “one dough many cookies” idea in The New Best Recipe. I’m really not a fan of the plain sugar cookie, both because I find them boring and because I have no patience for cookie cutters these days, but I had faith in the ATK people and liked the idea of the chocolate-hazelnut bar cookie alternative they suggested. Since I had just done two chocolate-nut cookies, though, I wanted to do something a bit different. I thought of spreading the warm cookie base with seedless blackberry jam and sprinkled it with roughly chopped toasted almonds instead. The buttery crust, bright fruit and caramelized nuts ended up tasting like a deconstructed Linzertorte, and their fancy, stained-glass sheen are perfect for this time of year. As I discovered when I took them to work the next morning, they are too sticky and tender to travel well, but they are so easy to throw together, please consider inviting people over for these and a cup of tea.

Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
(Makes 4-5 dozen, depending on how thinly you slice them)

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 1/2 cups shelled pistachios
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

Blend the butter and sugars together in a mixer until fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and espresso powder and add to the wet mixture, beating again gently until just combined. Stir in the pistachios and chocolate.

Divide the dough in half and shape into two 12-inch loaves on the baking sheet. Bake until light brown and beginning to crack, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Lower the oven to 300F. Slice the loaves on the diagonal with a serrated knife into 1/4 inch slices. Place the slices in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake again until toasted and golden, about 15 minutes. Turn over and bake again until crisp, an additional 10-15 minutes. If the cookies are not sufficiently dry at that point, turn the oven off and leave several hours or overnight to cool.

Notes: Thinner is absolutely better in this case, as you want crisp but not tooth-breaking cookies, so fight the urge to slice them any thicker than 1/4 inch. You could use either raw or roasted pistachios, but using raw will help preserve the beautiful green color a bit better by preventing over-toasting.

Pistachio-Cacao Nib Amaretti
(Makes approximately four dozen)

1 cup roasted, unsalted shelled pistachios
1/2 cup roasted cacao nibs
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 egg whites
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the pistachios, nibs, cornstarch and powdered sugar in a food processor and pulse until the nuts and nibs are very finely chopped.

Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add the granulated sugar in a slow stream while continuing to beat until a stiff and glossy meringue forms. Beat in the vanilla.

Gently fold the nut mixture into the meringue with a rubber spatula. Scoop the batter onto the baking sheets with a tablespoon-sized ice cream scoop, approximately twenty cookies per sheet. (Since they will not spread very much, they can be spaced closer than usual.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the cookies begin to crack slightly. Lower the oven to 200 F, leaving the door ajar to release excess heat, and bake until completely dry and crisp in the center, 30-45 minutes. The oven can also be turned off and the cookies left overnight to dry.

The cooled cookies can be kept in an airtight container almost indefinitely, and ship beautifully.

Jam Almond Diamonds
(Makes approximately 4 dozen, not including the waste along the edges)

1 1/2 cups whole almonds
2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup (5.5 oz) superfine sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 16 pieces, at room temperature but still cool
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups seedless jam of choice

Adjust rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

While preparing the cookie dough, bake the almonds in the heated oven until toasted and golden. Remove and allow to cool, then chop coarsely.

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a mixer until combined. With mixer on low, add butter one piece at a time, then continue to mix until mixture looks crumbly and slightly wet. Add vanilla and cream cheese and mix until dough just begins to come together.

Press the dough into an even layer in the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes. Immediately after removing from oven, spread with the jam and sprinkle with chopped almonds.

Cool to room temperature, then cut into 1 1/2-inch diamond shapes.

Notes: You will have a fair amount of waste, since there’s no way to get perfect diamonds without creating triangles, trapezoids and the like along the edges, but I consider the waste the baker’s tax and will happily reserve it all for my personal consumption. If you want to avoid the waste and don’t care as much about a pretty shape, you can just cut the cookies into squares or rectangles instead.