Daring Bakers- Tuiles

This month challenge is for my idea of a perfect challenge. I`ve been planning on making tuiles for ages, and this challenge allowed me to do so.

I really enjoyed making these, and more than that, I enjoyed taking pictures of the final product. I loved how easy making the dough was, and the verity of shapes and flavors.

Mine, as you could see, did not turn out perfect- my critical mistake was using no as soft butter as the recipe ordered. That made the paste a little lumpy, and the baked Tuiles a bit bubbly (as you might see). As for the taste, it was nice, and the chocolate decoration added quite a lot.

I made the basic recipe, and made butterflies shapes. I made the butterflies stencils simply by using a paper and some drawings I took from the internet. I paired my ready tuiles with chocolate-irish cream truffle, and strawberries with a dash of balsamic vinegar.

Jacques Torres’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to make these recipe from the moment I saw it. I must say that this situation happens to me quite a lot; I see some recipe, and suddenly I must make it as soon as possible, no matter what.  As I said, this recipe was on my to do list for quite some time, and finally, I made it a few days ago.

I wont lie and say that this is the best mind blowing chocolate chip cookie recipe ever (though I was hoping to say that…), but this is a nice recipe, that makes nice cookies: crunchy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. My problem with the recipe was the slightly eggy taste that it had, though not something very noticeable, but still (and on that matter, are there any differences between the Martha’s recipe and the NY times recipe?).

I halved the recipe, since the  amount of cookies that come out of this recipe could feed a small village. Also, I used grams instead of ounces and pounds, the measurement are written brackets in case you should need it.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

This cake automatically gives you an appointment to the nearest cardiologist. Just take a quick look: this cake contains: 9 eggs, almost half a kilo of chocolate and heavy whipping cream, not something you`ll eat very often.

But, lets look on the brighter side, shall we? although the cake has enough eggs and chocolate to feed a small village, it has only 120 gr. of butter, and only 70 gr. of sugar, such small amounts probably delete all the calories of the chocolate and the eggs, right??

Now, seriously, you must make this cake at least once. Though my picky brother may not agree with me, I think that this cake is the perfect combination between the baked base and the mousse. The base is basically baked chocolate mousse that is a kind of “melt in your mouth” kind of cake. The mousse is perfectly rich and dreamy, with a slight (slight!) taste of the rum and the amaretto. All in all, this cake simply wroth the calories, and if you are feeling a little bit guilty, eat a small slice, and after couple of  hours, eat another one. I promise you the the guilt will just fade away!

A few bit a pieces to make this cake perfect: first, make sure to use only fresh eggs. This cake contains uncooked eggs, so be very careful with that. Second, after baking the base, it will fall, so be ready for that.

Maple Pecan Bread

I`ve made this one twice in one week, and I strongly suggest that you do the same. This bread is delicious, it is a bit cakey and it has a slight taste of maple, and a wonderful taste of the nuts. Honestly, I have nothing else to say, but you should really go and make this bread.

No Bake Cheesecake topped with Strawberries

The strawberries season has officially started here, though this cake was not the perfect way to start it. You could probably hear from my tone that this cake was not the greatest hit. Don`t get me wrong here, it was tasty, but it didn`t have that extra something, that makes a good cake wonderful.

I`m guessing that this cake may not be practical for those of you who live outside of Israel, since this cake is made with soft white cheese (or as we call it- “Gvina Levana”, simply meaning- white cheese). This cheese has low fat percentage, and is relatively light in texture. If you happen to know the exact name of this cheese in the US, please let me know.

If you are planning of making this one, I have two tips to make it better. First, use less gelatin the suggested in the recipe, I found that the cake was too firm. I would probably use about one envelope of gelatin instead of one and a half. The second tip is to add a bit more flavor to the filling, I used vanilla bean, but you could put some good vanilla extract or even lemon zest.