February 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge - Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.


I can't believe that, considering I had this month's challenge done and dusted right at the start of the month, I didn't manage to post my results on time! It's been a busy month, and we're off to the UK on Saturday and there's still so much to get done...

I did manage to complete both elements of the challenge, although not at the same time. It was actually very straight forward, I didn't really have any trouble with the recipes (apart from trying to throw things together in a hurry, and I should know better by now).


I made the panna cotta for my MIL, and went with the vanilla recipe provided. I made a chocolate syrup and poured it in the bottom of each glass (not easy to see in the photos, I should have used a white background!), poured the vanilla panna cotta over the top (got a few bubbles around the edges) and decorated with melted dark chocolate.


The only thing I changed in the recipe was the vanilla pod - at 600 yen for one, I went for the much cheaper option of using vanilla extract! I also halved the recipe, as there were only a few people to eat the dessert, and cream here is far too expensive to waste (not that there would have been any left over, they went down a treat)!


Giada's Vanilla Panna Cotta

Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
3 cups (720 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/3 cup (80 ml) honey
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) granulated sugar
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Pour the milk into a bowl or pot and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 5 minutes to soften the gelatin.
2. Pour the milk into the saucepan/pot and place over medium heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until it is hot, but not boiling, about five minutes. (I whisk it a few times at this stage).
3. Next, add the cream, honey, sugar, and pinch of salt. Making sure the mixture doesn't boil, continue to heat and stir occasionally until the sugar and honey have dissolved 5-7 minutes.
4. Remove from heat, allow it to sit for a few minutes to cool slightly. Then pour into the glass or ramekin.
   
5. Refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add garnishes and serve.

The Florentine cookies got made a week or so later, which worked in my favour as the calorie count of the panna cotta and cookies together would most likely have taken me over one day's allowance in a single serving. These Florentines are nothing like the Florentines from back home (fruit and nuts, yum!) and really were a doddle to make. OK, I'll come clean and admit that the first batch was already in the oven when I realised that the syrup, milk and vanilla I'd measured out were still sitting on the kitchen counter - oops. I did wonder why the mixture seemed a little dry as I was spooning it out onto the baking tray. Funnily enough, they were actually very nice - crunchy but a little pale in colour :-) Once I'd stirred the liquids into the remaining mixture, the resulting cookies were pretty much as they should be.

I didn't enjoy these florentines as much as the ones from home - made with oats they had a rather porrige-y flavour - but once I'd sandwiched them together with some melted chocolate they reminded me of some biscuits sold at Ikea (Gilles?), oh my, they were gooood...



Nestle Florentine Cookies

Ingredients:

2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
2. To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
4. While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).
5. Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
6. Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.

This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

One-sided Valentine

This year was the first year K didn't do anything for me on Valentine's Day. The tradition here is that women give chocolates to men, and then the men reciprocate with cookies on White Day (14th March), but K has always acknowledged that that's not how we Western women do things and bought me some nice choccies... but not this year. Well, if that's how he's going to play things, then I shall be expecting the traditional sankai gaishi (three-fold return) gift. Haha!

K didn't do badly today. He got some hand-made nama choco (truffles) made by my own fair hand (actually it was a joint effort by the Mama & Me group, we joined forces to make them), some chocolate beer:



which was far, far tastier than we could ever have imagined (dark and rich, mmmm), and a special dinner:



The above was my attempt at a tower of sushi, but I didn't have a suitable mould so layered it in a bowl and tipped it out before decorating. Very, very easy to make, just prepare some sushi rice and layer it with whatever you fancy. I used raw tuna, salmon and scallops, some chopped egg and mayonnaise, avocado, shredded lettuce and shiso, and salmon roe.

I wonder what he'll be cooking for me in return ;-) (Yes K, if you're reading this you can take that as a challenge!)

A day off the diet

I know, it's been a while... I've been really, really tired this week. So tired that I can hardly function - time to take some vitamins, me thinks!

It's actually been a great week. Wednesday was a holiday, and we were invited over to spend the afternoon with some friends from church. We haven't seen much of each other of late due to illness (my goodness, it's been a long haul for dear K and her little one!), but praise the Lord that all were well for our get-together! We had such a good time, the children played together wonderfully (there was a real hug-fest going on!), and we enjoyed each others' company well into the evening. Our hostess roasted a chicken (it was huge!) and a yummy pinenut loaf for me, we had roast potatoes, salad, and pavlova for dessert... mmmmmm...

Today is Valentine's Day. The boys are sooo excited, having been told by K that they will be inundated with chocolate (in Japan, on Valentine's Day girls give chocolate to boys, and then on White Day (14th March) the boys give cookies to the girls who gave them chocolate)! In fact, a girl from kindergarten had some choccies for W, and this morning we had a delivery for J, so they are feeling pretty pleased with themselves. K isn't naturally romantic, but he is working on that - he did give me some chocolate this morning, albeit a family-size bag of Hi-Chocolat presented in a plastic carrier bag. It's a good start - he'll get there, eventually. I've decided to make the day special by making a fuss of all my Valentines:



The children were served these pancakes as their mid-morning snack (filled with sliced banana and chocolate), and this afternoon they will help to transform the dining area into a romantic restaurant setting for our special dinner. I've made some posh burgers that I spied on NQN's blog earlier this month, and I would write about this myself but just wouldn't be able to do NQN justice, so please do have a look at her version:

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2009/02/02/wagyu-burger-a-la-plan-b-with-brioche/

(Sorry, can't seem to get the link to work, but believe me you will thank me for pointing you in her direction)

I confess, I didn't make the brioche (I was all up for doing so, but then I read what it entails and don't own a mixer!), and actually was unable to buy any either, so they will have to make do with some toasted english muffins. Dessert is under wraps, but will tell you all about it in due time. Suffice to say that it contains chocolate, loads in fact:



Oink, oink!

Right, off to caramelize my onions...