Chocolate Raspberry Turnovers

Makes 32 small pastries.

Active Time: 20 mins
Start to Finish: 45 mins

Needed: Parchment paper

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 425F (218C).

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll out 1 puff pastry sheet into a 12-inch square on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, then brush off excess flour from both sides. Cut into 16 squares.

Whisk together egg and a pinch of salt. Place 1/2 teaspoon jam and 1 teaspoon chocolate in center of each square, then brush edges of squares with some of the beaten egg. Fold each square in half to form a triangle, pressing edges to seal. Brush tops of pastries with some remaining egg and transfer to a lined baking sheet. Chill on sheet while making 16 more pastires in same manner, transferring to second baking sheet.

Bake pastries, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden and cooked through, about 20 minutes. Cool on sheets on racks for 5 minutes.

Serve warm.

Milk Chocolate Pudding

Serves 4 to 6

Active time: 15 minutes
Start to finish: 2 1/4 hours, including chilling

2 TBSP Sugar
2 TBSP Cornstarch
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz fine-quality milk chocolate, chopped
1 TSP pure vanilla extract
Accompaniment: Lightly sweetened whipped cream

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt in a 2 quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk in milk and cream. Bring to a boil over moderately high heat, whisking constantly, then boil, whisking, 2 minutes. MIXTURE WILL BE THICK. Remove from heat. Whisk in chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and chill pudding, its surface covered with wax paper (to prevent a skin from forming), until cold, at least 2 hours.

NOTE: Pudding can be chilled, covered with plastic wrap after 2 hours and stored for up to 3 days.

Coconut Pavlova with Chocolate Mousse and Bananas

I am returning the scene of terrible food crime I committed a decade ago - I attempted pavlova 3 times and though it was marginally successful the third and final time, I just gave up all hope on it. I stopped trying. I was frustrated. I always told myself that this would not defeat me, that I would give it a shot. So here I am, posting this because frankly, I am going to give this a go again.

I love baking and I love challenges. This certainly was the biggest baking challenge I have ever encountered.

Once again, in bold italics are suggestions I am making - you do not have to follow them.

Ingredients for Meringue

• 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 6 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup boiling water

Ingredients for the Mousse

• 2 large eggs, separated
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon dark rum
• 4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips (about 2/3 cup)
• 3/4 cup chilled whipping cream
• 2 bananas, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

METHOD

For Meringue

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Spread 11/2 cups coconut on large baking sheet. Toast until golden, stirring twice, about 15 minutes. Cool. Maintain oven temperature.

Line another large baking sheet with foil. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and next 4 ingredients in large bowl until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Beat in 1/4 cup boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until whites are stiff and glossy. Fold in 1 cup toasted coconut. Before this next step, I would recommend sprinkling icing sugar/powdered sugar on the foil because scraping the meringue off it will be a PAIN and it will ruin the meringue by crumbling it. Spoon meringue onto center of prepared baking sheet and spread to 9-inch-diameter circle with slightly raised edges. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup untoasted coconut.

Bake meringue 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200°F and bake until dry and crisp outside and just cooked through inside, about 1 hour. Turn off oven. Let meringue stand in oven 1 hour. Remove from oven and cool completely.

For Mousse

Whisk egg yolks, 2 tablespoons sugar, butter, 2 tablespoons water, and rum in medium metal bowl to blend. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water). Whisk until thermometer inserted into mixture registers 160°F, about 6 minutes. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Turn off heat; leave bowl over water.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten. Fold in remaining whites. Remove from over water and let mousse cool 20 minutes.

Beat whipping cream in large bowl until peaks form. Place meringue on platter. Spread mousse over center of meringue; top with sliced bananas. Spread whipped cream over bananas and chill at least 20 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Sprinkle with remaining toasted coconut. Cut into wedges and serve.

Cardamom Cupcakes (or Cake) with Vanilla Frosting

So for my first post, I thought I'd do it with a bit of a challenge that has been presented to me. Some of you may (or may not) know that I live in India. While I can easily obtain the items below back in the good ole U.S. of A., it's been quite the challenge here. I like challenges. I don't think my poor driver Rajesh does.

However, in the end, he sure did...as did everyone at my husband's office (www.lakshyadigital.com).

Here is the recipe with tweaks and changes so it could adapt to life in India.

PS When I come back, I'll be wielding a box of baking soda and some boxes of cake flour!

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups cake flour
3 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
9 large eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange peel
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons orange-flower water*
2 1/4 cups (4 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup buttermilk

NOTES:

- Since I used cake tins, I found I had to modify my bake time to about 45 minutes.
- Originally this recipe was meant to be for cupcakes. If you have cupcake tins, use them - it's well worth it.
- Since I couldn't find any cake flour, the closest I could find was Maida. I pushed the maida through a fine grade sieve to get the flour even finer, so the cake would be lighter.
- The recipe calls for ground cardamom and I used the seeds of 18 cardamom pods
- Eggs: I whipped them until they were light and fluffy which is important so you can get more air into your batter so the cake is lighter and fluffier
- Orange-flour water: since I couldn't find flower water/rose water here that was meant to be eaten, I used orange water I found in Spencer's and it worked out just fine
- Orange peel: I found the gratings from 1.5 oranges was more than enough.
- Buttermilk: As I said before, I had a hard time finding buttermilk that wasn't spiced, so I made my own - 1 cup whole milk and 1 Tablespoon of distilled white vinegar (if you don't have distilled white vinegar, you can use 1 Tablespoon of lemon instead). Let sit for at least 1 hour.

Directions

Position 1 rack in top third and 1 rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 325°F. Lightly spray insides of a cake tin (or cupcake tray) with nonstick spray; arrange tray on 2 large rimmed baking sheets (if you use cupcake tins).

Sift flour, ground cardamom, baking powder, and salt into large bowl. Whisk eggs, orange peel, vanilla, and orange-flower water in bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. Beat in egg mixture in 3 additions. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk, scraping bowl occasionally.

For cake:

Gently pour the batter into the cake tin, a little more than half full, but not past 3/4 of the side of the tin - you don't want this to puff up and bake off the sides.

For cupcakes:

Spoon 1/3 cup batter (or less) into each cupcake tin.

Bake cake (cupcakes) until puffed and tester inserted into center comes out clean, reversing sheets after 12 minutes, about 25 minutes total (cupcakes may not brown on top). Transfer cupcakes to racks; cool completely.

Frost orange cupcakes with vanilla frosting. (Can be made ahead. Arrange cupcakes in deep disposable roasting pans. Cover pans with foil. Refrigerate up to 2 days, or store at room temperature 1 day. Bring chilled cupcakes to room temperature before serving.)

FROSTING

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
5 1/4 cups powdered sugar (icing sugar)
1 1/2 tablespoons whipping cream (I just used whole milk)
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar, then cream and vanilla.