La Platicona Habla: Tastes, Passions and Pursuits

Marcel Proust, a famous French author, is perhaps most commonly known in the food world as making Madeleines -- a bite-sized cake-textured cookie -- famous by writing about it in his novel Remembrance of Things Past (À la recherche du temps perdu):

"She (Marcel's mother) sent for one of those squat plump little cakes called "petites madeleines," which look as though they had been molded in the fluted valve of a scallop shell … I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure invaded my senses …"

Although his description sounds like an orgasm, the real controversy surrounding Proust's passage about the madeleine isn't his sensual language, but rather, the fact that his madeleine sounds like it was a stale shortbread cookie rather the moist cake-like treat we are familiar with.

Putting Proust's failed recollection aside (and his stale madeleine for that matter), I tried my hand at making a batch and they lived up to their hallowed description. If you drink coffee or black tea, there can be no better match than these cake-like cookies. I simply couldn't make enough - they lasted about 2 days before they mysteriously disappeared from my countertop.


The following recipe is again, adapted from Once Upon a Tart. I suggest that if you want to try to make this recipe, you double check for all the ingredients and tools. A madeleine mould is a must. I have a plain old-fashioned tin one, I don't like teflon. You also need a cooling baker's rack. This prevents the madeleine's from over-baking in the hot mould. Finally, if you can procure a local honey that is has not been pasteurized to death, it will really contribute to the flavor. I managed to get some honey produced by my boyfriend's grandpa who raises honey bees in the backyard full of mint, lavender, and rose plants. The honey has a cloudy appearance and an essence of all the herbs the bees feed on to produce the honey.

Tools you will need:

- one or two madeleine moulds
- cooling rack
- shaker or mesh strainer for sprinkling powdered sugar
- optional pastry bag
- pastry brush

Ingredients:

- 6 tbsp butter (4 for the recipe, and 2 reserved for brushing on the mould)
- 1 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1 tbsp packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- confectioner's sugar for dusting

Step One: melt 4 tbsp butter over low heat in a small pan. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in honey and vanilla, leaving to cool.

Step Two: Beat the eggs and sugars in a bow at high speed until the mixture turns foamy and light (about 5 minutes)

Step Three: In a separate bown, whisk flour, baking powder and salt together. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wen ingredients using a spatula. Add the cooled butter/honey and continue mixing until fully incorporated.

Step Four: Cover bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Step Five: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush the madeleine mould generously with barely melted butter, and around the mould as well.

Step Six: Either using a pastry bag or a spoon, fill each mould three quarters full. I advise that you fill the top of the mould as it expands when baking.

Step Seven: Bake for 8-10 minutes or unti ljust golden brown. Remove immediately and set on cooling rack. After a few minutes, turn the mould over and empty the cookies onto the cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar and eat warm (it's the best).

Repeat and eat, and eat again!

Labels: cake, cookies, dessert, honey

It's the start of summer, and I have already indulged on some of the delights of the season: frozen desserts.

Recently, I was treated to a delicious non-dairy dessert, "Faloodeh," by my boyfriend's father whose Persian background gave me the opportunity to experience Norouz.

Faloodeh, also spelled "falude" and "palude" is a frozen dessert between a sorbet and shaved ice. As Wikipedia puts it: "fālūde (Persian: فالوده) or Pālūde (Persian: پالوده) is a Persian sorbet made of thin vermicelli noodles frozen with corn starch, rose water, lime juice, and often ground pistachios. The faloodeh of Shiraz is famous. Faludeh is one of the earliest forms of frozen desserts, existing as early as 400 BCE. Ice was brought down from high mountains and stored in tall refrigerated buildings called yakhchals, which were kept cool by windcatchers. Kulfi-faludah is also a common sweet dish in northern-India."

I ate this curious frozen treat with much delight. The picture you see is the container showing "Faloodeh, Golobolbol" and its origin in Los Angeles, California. The taste of this dessert is like "spring in your mouth" - really. It is floral and citrus, tart and refreshing all in one, with frozen bits of vermicelli of all things to add texture to an otherwise frozen water treat.

Purchasing this dessert in a place near you may be difficult, but I am told you can find it at any Persian or middle-eastern grocery. If you have an opportunity to try this dessert, do.

As for recipes, I imagine that Baking Fool will have to indulge me the use of her Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment. Afterall, she recently indulged my lactose intolerant taste buds with the most scrumptious Peach Pinot Grigio sorbet, and Blackberry and Cabernet sorbet. Mmm.

The basic ingredients for Faloodeh include rice vermicelli, cooked and cooled; basic sorbet recipe with rosewater and lime or lemon juice as the base flavor. Recipes on-line reveal that most people make the noodles themselves, and make the sorbet separately:
Discuss Cooking
Persian Mirror

If I do attempt this recipe, I'll let you know. For now, I've got a freezer choc full faloodeh.

Labels: dessert, non-dairy

I love breads and cakes made with olive oil rather than butter - the moisture content is much higher, and in a dry high altitude climate, that really makes a difference. As usual, I pulled this recipe out from one of my beloved cookbooks by Lidia Bastianich, but of course I've left some things out that don't like. The recipe, it says, was really taken from one of her cooking students' grandmother. Whoever that lady was - this recipe is delicious. The best part, is you can make this without a mixer.

You will need:

- 1 c olive oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 2/3 c sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla

- 2 c flour
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda

- 2 c shredded zucchini
- zest of one lemon

Step One: Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan by greasing and flouring it.

Step Two: In a separate bowl, sift flour, cinammon, salt, and baking soda.

Step Three: In the main bowl, using either a whisk or mixer, whip eggs and olive oil until mixture is a frothy light yellow color. If using a whisk, slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking the eggs. Add sugar slowly and continue to mix.

Step Four: Using a wooden spoon or spatula, slowly add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture. When fully incorporated, mix in the zucchini and lemon zest.

Step Five: Pour batter into the loaf pan. The batter will almost fill the entire pan, but don't worry, it won't spill over. Bake this loaf for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool. Eat to your heart's content.

You may choose to jazz up this vegetable bread with some walnuts or golden raisins. The result of this bread is a moist spongy texture that will last for about one week.

Labels: dessert, lemon, spices, zucchini

Is there any felicity superior to chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies? I think not. The difficult thing is living in a place where nothing rises: breads, cakes, and your chocolate chip cookies (they just flatten out real ugly and turn crispy). Searching for the holy grail of cookies, I think I found what I was looking for once again in Once Upon a Tart's cookbook. The recipe is actually a modification of their chocolate chip cookies, but the principle remains the same for churning out chewy cookies: beat that butter and sugar like your shakin' your money maker! The "key" to making cookies that don't have the texture of cds is to cream the butter and sugar at least five minutes. With that, let's get to it.

You will need:

- 2 sticks of unsalted REAL butter, room temperature
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1 c packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla

- 2 c flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 c rolled oats
- 1 1/2 c bitter sweet chocolate chips
- 1 c chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Step One: In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar for 5 minutes on high speed. Add the brown sugar and beat another 4 minutes. On a lower speed, mix in one egg at a time and then vanilla.

Step Two: In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, add these ingredients into the wet ingredients, completely incorporating them. Add the oatmeal, chocolate chips and walnuts at the end.

Step Three: Using a 1/3 c scooper, plop the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the centers stop shining (the dough is cooked then). Remove promptly and cool. EAT THEM UP.

Labels: chocolate, cookies, dessert, oatmeal

The sweetest thing is having a zesty and elegant tart in a hurry. After preparing the tart crusts in advance, making this sweet tart from Once Upon a Tart was easy and rewarding. The best part about making this tart was that the ingredients were simple and few compared to others I looked at. I suggest that if you make this tart, you par-bake the tart crust so that the custard doesn't seep out and stick to the sides of the tart pan. So how many times can you say "best part about this sweet tart?"

You will need:
- 3 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1/2 c sugar
- zest of one lemon
- juice of 3 lemons
- 3/4 c of heavy cream
- 1 par-baked flaky tart crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Step One: Whisk eggs and yolks together in a medium sized bowl. Add sugar while whisking and pour in lemon zest and juice. Still whisking, pour in the cream.

Step Two: Slowly pour in the custard into your par-baked tart shell and ensure that none spills over. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until it doesn't jiggle. Remove from the oven and cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

I think this tart would go best with a dollop of cream and a piping hot cup of Earl Grey tea with milk. So far my tart making has been a success. The cookbook from Once Upon a Tart was worth every penny and makes a great gift for a first time or well experienced baker who enjoys classic pastries like scones, muffins, and these savory and sweet tarts.

Labels: cream, dessert, eggs, lemon, tart

I decided to take a cue from the Baking Master and try making some scones myself just to see how good/bad they turned out. To my utter surprise, they were quite edible.
I also chose a recipe from Once Upon a Tart, and decided on Cranberry Scones with Sugared Topping. The result was a delicious hearty scone with a beautiful finish on top. I remade the recipe over the weekend using only a pastry cutter instead of the food processor to cut the butter and was met with the same great results. The key to good results for this recipe are very cold butter that is cubed, a metal mixing bowl if doing this by hand that you put in the refrigerator to keep the ingredients cold, and speed. These scones should be prepared quickly and popped into a piping hot oven (no peeking!).

You will need
- 3 c of flour
- 1/2 c of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of baking powder
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 20 tbsp of butter (2 1/2 sticks) cubed and COLD
- 3/4 c cranberries
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 c buttermilk
- 1 egg + 1 tbsp cream whisked for topping + sugar crystals

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Step One: combine the dry ingredients in a food processor or bowl with a pastry cutter. Add butter and pulse for 2 minutes until there are only crumbs and lumps of butter. If doing this by hand, cut the butter quickly into fine crumbs (about 5 minutes to do this well).

Step Two: In another bowl, whisk the eggs and buttermilk, then add cranberries.

Step Three: Place the flour/butter mixture in a large bowl and make a well. Pour in the eggs and buttermilk mixture and mix with a spoon. The texture is really lumpy and thick, so don't worry if it is not smooth and creamy.

Step Four: Place 1/2 c scoops of the dough onto a cookie sheet. Press each scone down with your hand and then brush each with the cream/egg wash. Dust each scone with crystalized sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Check scones to see if stiff. Bake for another 5 minutes or until the scones are golden.
Remove quickly from the oven and let the scones cool. Eat with joy.

20-25 minutes

Labels: cranberries, dessert, scones

I've been baking this banana bread since I discovered my mother's Menonite cookbook buried in our kitchen cupboards when I was 8. My Aunt Lilly sent my mother, many years ago, the "Christian Home Cookbook," a cookbook with recipes assembled from Menonite colonies across the country, and has recently sent us a new edition printed a few years ago. There are four banana bread recipes and I have baked all of them. From these, I have combined what I thought were the most essential ingredients to make my own AnnaBanana Bread. I share with all of you a sure fire recipe for this delightful morning treat.

You will need: 3 ripe bananas; 3/4 c sugar; 1/4 c butter slightly melted; 1/2 tsp of baking soda dissolved in 1tsp water; 1 egg slightly beaten; 1 tsp of baking powder (add 1 more if at 6000+ feet in altitude); 2 c flour sifted.

Crockery: Bake these in small loaf pans or even muffin pans because high altitude prevents the middle of this bread from baking all the way through without burning the outside. Butter and flour the pan.

Step One: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees Celsius).

Step Two: In a large bowl, mash bananas with a fork until runny. Add sugar, baking soda, and butter. Mix these ingredients with a wooden spoon (don't blend with a mixer, ever ever). Beat egg and incorporate into mixture.

Step Three: Sift flour and baking powder into wet mixture and stir in until completely incorporated. Pour into 3 mini loaf pans and bake for 20-27 minutes or until golden brown on top. Turn off oven, leaving bread in there to cool down. Serve hot with butter, or eat the following morning with your coffee. MMMMMM.

Tip: You can flavor your banana bread with grated ginger, spices like nutmeg or cinnamon, fresh walnuts, frangelico, rum, or any other spirit you like.

Labels: banana, bread, dessert