Dreaming of Paris, Croissants and Bonbon

Today I am a guest blogger at Deb's. She went to Paris for a little trip and all I wanted to do was to sneak in her luggage. I am dreaming of Paris, Spring, the last time I visited the city and the amazing croissants we had every morning for breakfast. Please visit here to read the full story.

Post Title

→

Dreaming of Paris, Croissants and Bonbon

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2009/03/dreaming-of-paris-croissants-and-bonbon.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Bonbon Oiseau and my Candy Cane Marshmallow

This is the story about another blogsphere friendship that developed over some matcha diamant cookies. It's about the lovely and super talented Deb and her delicate jewelry Bonbon Oiseau and my interpretation of what her pieces represent.

I have admired Deb's work ever since I found her blog "Your Destiny is Stone Golden" a few months ago. We started exchanging emails and as time went on, we decided that one day we would collaborate somehow. Deb asked me if I could photograph her work. Her necklaces are very delicate and almost angelic. I didn't know if I would be able to capture her essence, until I decided to pair them with something that I made. Suddenly, marshmallow entered my mind.

So here is my ode to you Deb, my ode to your fabulous work with some peppermint candy cane marshmallow.



Holidays are here and if you are looking for a perfect gift for a friend, loved one or even yourself, please checkout her fabulous shop. Deb has been kind enough to agree to offer a 20% discount on her pieces to all Cannelle Et Vanille readers until December 10th. Please visit her shop and mention the code "Cannelle Vanille" at checkout.



Peppermint Candy Cane Marshmallow

This recipe makes one layer of the marshmallow, so you will need to make it times two if you want to just make one color, or two times for the bicolor effect; one recipe with food coloring, the other without.

I used a 14"x14" square frame

320 grams sugar
12 grams glucose or corn syrup
130 grams water
40 grams powdered gelatin
130 grams water
45 grams egg whites
pinch of cream of tartar
20 grams sugar
1 tsp peppermint oil (optional)
5-6 drops of natural red food coloring (optional)

In a small saucepan with tall sides, combine the sugar, glucose or corn syrup and water. Cook to 126C.

In the meantime, whisk the powdered gelatin and 130 grams of water together and let the gelatin bloom.

Place the egg whites and the cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer and start whipping in medium speed. When the egg whites are almost fully whipped, add the 20 grams sugar and continue whipping in slow to medium speed depending on how far the sugar syrup is from reaching the desired temperature.

When the sugar syrup reaches 126C, turn the heat off and add the bloomed gelatin (will be a solid mass) to the saucepan. It will bubble up so be careful. Whisk until the gelatin dissolves completely in the syrup.

Add the syrup with the gelatin into the whipped egg whites while whipping in low speed. When all has been added, turn the speed up to high and let it whip until ribbons start to form. Add the flavoring and food coloring at this point. We don't want the marshmallow to cool completely because we want to be able to spread it. Remove from mixer and pour into the square frame that has been placed over a silicon mat. Let it harden.

If making the bicolor marshmallow, repeat the recipe and pour on top of the first layer.

If it becomes sticky, sift together half cornstarch and half powdered sugar and lightly dust this over marshmallow. Roll in crushed candy cane powder.

Post Title

→

Bonbon Oiseau and my Candy Cane Marshmallow

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/12/bonbon-oiseau-and-my-candy-cane.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Daring Bakers, Shuna and Her Caramel Cake

It is time once again for the monthly Daring Bakers challenge, which I am very excited about because it comes from none other than pastry chef extraordinaire, Shuna Fish Lydon. Shuna has an amazing curriculum as a pastry chef and is the voice behind the blog Eggbeater, one of my daily reads. Her blog is filled with intelligent social and culinary commentary, photography and modern poetry. I had the pleasure to meet Shuna earlier this year and got a glimpse of where her artistry comes from.

When I learned we would be making her caramel cake for this month's challenge, I was jumping up and down with joy because this cake had so much buzz around it. This is what I would call a true American cake. Sweet, moist and buttery.




I really wanted to be true to the recipe as it was presented to us and the only small addition was a bit of orange zest to the cake batter. I wanted to play around with the decorations in the cake and I ended up making two versions of it. The first one is surrounded by baked meringue sticks and decorated with candied orange slices and pulled caramel paper. The second one is decorated with piped buttercream dots, candied orange, chocolate shavings and poured caramel.



All recipes by Shuna Fish Lydon

Caramel Syrup

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Caramel Cake

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy. Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder. Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

Caramelized Butter Frosting

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

A big thank you to Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo and Jenny of Foray into Food for hosting this month's challenge. Please visit other Daring Bakers to see other interpretations of this cake.

Post Title

→

Daring Bakers, Shuna and Her Caramel Cake

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/11/daring-bakers-shuna-and-her-caramel.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Anita Chu's "Field Guide to Cookies"

Today, I am very, very excited to share with you these wonderful cookies from Anita Chu's "Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imaginable". As you know, Anita is the mastermind behind Dessert First, one of the most popular food blogs today. She approaches the classics with a modern and sophisticated touch and her photography is simple, clean and very evoking. And this book follows very much her style.

The first thing that surprised me when I read through "Field Guide to Cookies" was the amount of recipes and photos that were in it given its small size. It is a pocket book but features over 100 recipes and photographs. Really a well written cookie recipe book. I walked into Barnes and Noble on Monday to find this book on the shelves next to established pastry chefs and food writers. I was so proud Anita!




During the holiday season, I really like to bake for friends and family. Cookies make such great homemade gifts and I took this opportunity to review Anita's book to start thinking about what cookies I will be making for the holidays this year. Certainly a few out of this book like these chocolate crinkles, rosemary and parmesan biscotti and my favorites, raspberry linzer cookies.



For the chocolate crinkles I used 72% chocolate which made them really dark, bitter and rich. I love how these cookies look too, the contrast of black and white.

Chocolate Crinkles

adapted from "Field Guide to Cookies"

6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbs cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
confectioners sugar for rolling

Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the meantime, whip the eggs with the sugar until thick. Add the vanilla extract and the melted chocolate and mix.

Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder into a bowl and add this to the chocolate mixture. Mix until combined.

Place this bowl in the refrigerator for about 2 hours until the dough hardens enough to scoop out.

Preheat oven to 325F. Scoop one inch balls. Roll these in powdered sugar and place them on sheetpans lined with parchment paper. Flatten the tops of the cookies a bit with your fingers and bake until set for about 12 minutes.



Rosemary and Parmesan Biscotti

adapted from "Field Guide to Cookies"

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp baking powder
2 springs fresh rosemary, chopped
3 1/2 Tbs freshly grated parmesan
2 eggs
3 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the first six ingredients. In a bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and the melted butter and add to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Divide the dough into two and roll each half into a log that is 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Place the logs on a sheetpan lined with parchment bout 5 inches apart. Flatten the logs a bit and bake for about 30 minutes until lightly golden.

Let them cool completely and cut with a serrated knife into individual biscotti that are about 1/2 inch wide. Place them on the same sheetpan and bake at 250F for another 30 minutes until dry.



Linzer Cookies

adapted from "Field Guide to Cookies"

1 1/4 cups almonds
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup raspberry jam
Powdered sugar for dusting tops

Finely grind the almonds with the flour in a food processor. Combine this mixture with the spices, salt and baking powder.

Cream the butter and sugar together. add the egg and mix. Scrape the bowl and add the dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

Turn the dough on a clean surface and flatten to a rectangle that is about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roll the dough to about 1/16" thick. Sometimes these doughs tend to get soft easy so tpicking up the cut out dough and manipulating it too much can result in deformed cookies. To avoid that, I tend to roll the dough on a silicon mat so it is easy to transfer to the refrigerator if I need to. Once dough is rolled, cut with desired cookie cutters and place on sheetpan lined with parchment. Using a small cutter, cut a shape out of half of the cookies which will be the tops. Refrigerate the cookies for an hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 350F. Bake for approximately 8 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely.

To assemble, dust the tops with powdered sugar. Pipe a little bit of raspberry jam on bottom cookies and place the top on the jam, applying a bit of pressure so the cookies stick.



I hope you go out to your bookstores today and take a look at this great book and please visit the following blogs to read this book's reviews, interviews with Anita and other great recipes.Thanks Anita for sharing this book with us!

Nov. 11th - Jen of Use Real Butter
Nov. 12th - Ari of Baking and Books
Nov. 13th - Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy
Nov. 14th - Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice
Nov. 17th - Helen of Tartelette
Nov. 18th - Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen
Nov. 19th - Cannelle et Vanille
Nov. 20th - Bea of La Tartine Gourmande
Nov. 21st - Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

And I also have to thank the lovely Suann from Simplesong for printing these cute cookie boxes for me!

Post Title

→

Anita Chu's "Field Guide to Cookies"

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/11/anita-chu-guide-to-cookies.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Meeting Esti and More Basque Country

It's been a week since I left home and I still cannot seem to get in the swing of things. I still feel torn between my home overseas and my home here. I have been sorting through the hundreds of photos that I took and trying to really internalize the experiences I had. This visit was in many ways very different than any visit I have had before. Very emotional and personal.

One of the highlights of the trip was meeting Esti, whose blog I adore and read every single day. She is part of my daily morning routine along with my email and my coffee. I need her drawings, music and stories to begin my day. But it is incredible how I need something so much from someone I have never met before. As she wrote about in her blog, Esti and I grew up in the same city and shared friends many years ago, but never really knew of each other. A few months back, we found each other's blogs by chance and realized how much we had in common. I really wanted to meet her during this trip. I really wanted to know the artist behind it all.

We met and sat at a cafe talking about the magic of blogging, music, creative impulses, motherhood and many other things. So many questions and topics jammed in a couple of hours with intensity but at the same time the feeling we have known each other for years. It was really magical. Those are some self portraits we took under the rain with our silly faces and messy hair.




With these photos, I put an end to my trip. Until next time. I hope you can visit one day.

Post Title

→

Meeting Esti and More Basque Country

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/10/meeting-esti-and-more-basque-country.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

A White Birthday

I have a dear friend who loves white and all its shades and textures. She has a closet full of beautiful white dresses and delicate white shirts. She has an eye for beauty that I admire. And today is her birthday.




I created this little white dessert palette for her with little meringue kisses, coconut cupcakes and lemon meltaways. Distance will not allow us to be together on her birthday but I want to wish her happiness on this special day.

Happy Birthday Nadia!


Update: I have received an overwhelming amount of emails from readers who want the lemon meltaway recipe, so here it is.

Lemon Meltaways

160 grams butter, at room temperature
125 grams powdered sugar
zest of 2 lemons
2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs vanilla
260 grams flour
20 grams cornstach
1/2 tsp salt
Powdered sugar for rolling

Cream together butter, sugar, zest and vanilla. Add lemon juice and mix. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Form the dough into a log that is about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap it in parchment and refrigerate it overnight.

Cut the log into 1/2 inch disks and bake at 350F for about 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool slightly and roll in powdered sugar while they are still warm.

Meringue Cookies

50 grams egg whites
50 grams sugar
50 grams powdered sugar, sifted

In a bowl, whip the egg whites fully until a light meringue forms. Slowly and while whipping, sprinkle in the granulated sugar and let it whip to stiff peaks. Stop whipping and fold in the sifted powdered sugar. be gentle not to deflate the meringue too much.

Place the meringue in a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (number 5) and pipe little meringue kisses onto a sheetpan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 175F (or lower if your oven permits it) until dry. You should be able to lift it from the pan without sticking. Store in an airtight container.

Post Title

→

A White Birthday

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/10/white-birthday.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Seven Spice Ice Cream with Yogurt and Brown Sugar Cake

Even though it still feels like a hot summer where we are, and it will continue to feel this way for another couple of months, I thought it would be a good way to start the autumn season with the aroma of spices. My friend Helen sent me a wonderful care package a couple of weeks ago. I know many of you know and visit her blog, and I can assure you she is just as lovely as she appears to be. In that care package, she included some mulling spices, which I have using to make tea almost every night. That's where he inspiration came from for this dessert, the warmth of spices.




I toasted the spices before infusing the milk, which created another subtle layer. The ice cream is served over a really moist brown sugar and yogurt sponge cake. Along with the brown sugar I also added some muscavado, which left some pieces of undissolved sugar in the cake creating almost a sugar swirl inside the cake. Very, very moist and gooey. Even if you don't try the ice cream, I do encourage you to make this cake. You will not regret it.



Seven Spice Ice Cream

500 grams whole milk
130 grams heavy cream
40 grams glucose
100 grams granulated sugar
50 grams muscavado sugar
180 grams egg yolks
6 grams juniper berries
1 cinnamon stick
5 grams white peppercorns
8 grams fresh ginger, sliced
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
6 grams coriander seeds
5 grams star anise

Place the juniper berries, white peppercorns, coriander seeds and star anise in a small saute pan. Place them over the heat and toast them for a minute until they really start to release a lot of their aroma. Remove from heat.

Place the whole milk, heavy cream, glucose, muscavado, cinnamon, vanilla bean, fresh ginger and all the toasted spices in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and let the spices steep in the milk for about 45 minutes. Return the pan to the heat and bring it to a boil again.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the granulated sugar. Temper the hot liquid over the yolks and whisk. Return the custard back to the saucepan and cook to 82C or until it coats the back of the spoon. Strain the ice cream base through a fine sieve into a clean bowl and chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate overnight and churn in ice cream machine. Freeze.

Yogurt and Brown Sugar Sponge Cake

170 grams butter
150 grams brown sugar
85 grams granulated sugar
50 grams muscavado sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
180 grams yogurt
180 grams flour
4 grams baking powder

Cream the butter and all three sugars together for about 2 minutes until fluffy. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix. Scrape the bowl well. Add the eggs, one at a time. Mix and scrape the bowl. Add the yogurt. Mix and add the flour and baking powder. Mix until combined. Pour the batter into a quarter sheetpan and spread evenly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Post Title

→

Seven Spice Ice Cream with Yogurt and Brown Sugar Cake

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/09/seven-spice-ice-cream-with-yogurt-and.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Chocolate Macarons and a Tropical Storm

This is what happens in my family when we are stuck indoors for hours on end due to bad weather. We eat, cook, bake and eat some more... and we particularly like to eat chocolate. Call it emotional eating, but we cannot help ourselves.

Last Monday, we were hit by tropical storm Fay and although we didn't get significant damage in our area, some communities north of us were impacted pretty badly. It rained heavily, we had five tornado warnings in a row and the wind blew strong for a few hours. Luckily, we did not lose power so we were able to enjoy a cozy afternoon with movies and lots and lots of baking.




After all the ice creams and custards I had made prior to the storm, I had an enormous bowl of egg whites in my refrigerator that needed to be used. I always find that macarons are the best way to use up all the egg whites because everyone I know loves them and nothing will ever go to waste.

This time I had to fulfill my neighbors' request for chocolate macarons with salty peanut butter cream, but I also saved some for me to fill with milk chocolate and passion fruit ganache. One for you, one for me.

I really wanted to call this post "Anatomy of a Macaron" because I wanted photograph close ups of what the macaron feet should look like, the bottom of the macaron, the before and after... This week a reader that emailed me about macaron was able to successfully replicate them in her own kitchen, which definitely makes my day. It's hard to explain all the little details in an email but she mastered it.



Chocolate Macarons

100 grams egg whites
25 grams sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
225 grams powdered sugar
125 grams almond flour
15 grams cocoa powder
pinch of salt
Cocoa nib for topping

Separate the egg whites at least 24 hours prior and even let them sit at room temperature for a few hours before starting to make the macarons. This will help them get rid of some moisture and become more acidic, which will help form a stable meringue.

Whip the egg whites and the lemon juice until they are almost fully whipped. Sprinkle in the sugar while still mixing. Continue to whip to a full meringue.

Sift the powdered sugar, salt, almond flour and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add the meringue into the dry ingredients and fold until a shiny mass is formed. We want it to spread a bit but not too much.

Pipe the macarons onto a silicon mat and sprinkle with cocoa nibs. Let the macarons dry at room temperature for 20 minutes or so. Bake them in a 300F for about 8 minutes. Rotate the sheetpan and bake for another 8 minutes.


Salty Peanut Butter Filling

125 grams creamy peanut butter
70 grams powdered sugar
25 grams softened butter
25 grams heavy cream
5 grams vanilla extract
3 grams fine sea salt

Cream all ingredients together for a smooth filling.

Milk Chocolate and Passion Fruit Ganache

100 grams milk chocolate
40 grams passion fruit puree
20 grams heavy cream
15 grams butter

Chop the milk chocolate into small pieces. Boil the passion fruit and heavy cream together and pour over chocolate. Stir until incorporated and the ganache forms. Wait a couple of minutes for the ganache to cool a bit and add the softened butter. Stir to create and emulsion. Let it harden a bit until it is pipeable and fill the macarons.

Post Title

→

Chocolate Macarons and a Tropical Storm

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/08/chocolate-macarons-and-tropical-storm.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

The Petit Suisse Experiment and an Accomplice

I have thoroughly chronicled my quest to find the perfect petit suisse recipe. Some think it's insane that I would spend so much time trying to replicate something that back home, is just baby food. But you must understand, I live far, far away from home and sometimes one needs closeness and needs to feed the soul with childhood memories and flavors.

I believe this is my third attempt at it and as we say in Spanish, "a la tercera, la vencida". And so it was. This time, it worked. Wonderful, thick, creamy, sweet and tangy petit suisse.

But there is something I must tell you. Something wonderful happened during this whole process of finding the perfect recipe. Another "insane" blogger decided to join me on this quest. She had brilliant ideas and we both put our minds and our palates to the test. So this would have never happened without her help, the wonderful, inspiring and "Baker Zen Master" herself, Tartelette.




Helen emailed me a couple of months ago saying she was in. She also wanted to "break the petit suisse" code. Of course, I was jumping up and down with joy. Time passed and we both got busy with life until I recently emailed her to tell her about how my creme fraiche blancmange tasted just like petit suisse. Surprisingly, she had just made some creme fraiche from scratch herself and was about to email me the same thought.

So soon after that, we scheduled a first experiment. We agreed to try to culture a mixture of some heavy cream and whole milk with creme fraiche and a bit of buttermilk. We decided to go against using a starter because both creme fraiche and buttermilk are cultured products so there would be enough bacteria in them to incubate the base. I let mine incubate overnight in my yogurt maker and in the morning, I was greeted by something similar to creme bulgare, which I have blogged about, with a good layer of cream on top. Surprisingly, not all the little jars had set the same way and for some reason, some of them ended up with a layer of cream but a liquid center. So good tasting but not what I was looking for.

I still wanted to go the fromage frais route which I had read about originally. So for our second experiment, we decided to use whole milk and rennet. We let the milk inoculate overnight and in the morning, when the milk curd had formed, we decided to add heavy cream to it. This was the key. I laddled the curd into a strainer lined with cheesecloth and I added 20% of heavy cream. Gently mixed it and let it drain the excess whey for about 4 hours. The result was unbelievable. Just like the petit suisse I grew up eating.



I made some strawberry compote to go with it and since it is so hot and humid, I thought my little boy would really enjoy some petit suisse popsicles so I folded some petit suisse and lightly whipped cream together, piped it into my shot glasses and froze it. He could not keep his hands off them!

So here is the recipe that worked wonders.

Petit Suisse

2 liters organic whole milk
30 ml organic cultured buttermilk
1/8 tablet of rennet
30 ml water
200 grams heavy cream (40% butterfat)

Sterilize a large pot by covering and boiling a small amount of water in it for 5 minutes prior to use.

Pour in the fresh milk, then the buttermilk. Warm up stirring to a final temperature of 65°F. Since my pot was warm from sterilizing it, I didn't even have to turn the heat on. Meanwhile, dissolve the rennet in 30 ml of cool water. Stir dissolved rennet into warm milk. Stir well to blend thoroughly. Cover and let it sit undisturbed overnight at room temperature.

The next morning, a soft curd should have formed; if not, let it sit until it does form which could take up to an additional 12 hours (mine was done overnight). When the curd is adequately formed, cut it into 1/2 inch cubes. Ladle cut curds into clean sterile cheesecloth suspended in a large strainer or stainless steel colander. Pour remaining whey through the cloth.

At this point, weigh the curd and add about 20% of its weight in heavy cream. Mine was 1 kg so I added 200 grams of cream. Stir gently. Place the curd and cream back on the strainer with the cheesecloth and refrigerate for 4 hours until most of the whey has drained off. Spoon the petit suisse into your jars.

I really want to thank Helen for helping me on this project. It was so much more fun to be able to share the steps and results with someone else. Like she said on Sunday morning... "who else out there is getting excited over curd like we are?". Yes, that's us! Merci Helen!

Post Title

→

The Petit Suisse Experiment and an Accomplice

Post URL

→

https://mercymadame.blogspot.com/2008/07/petit-suisse-experiment-and-accomplice.html

Visit Merci Madame for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection