Sour cream pie crust

The idea behind this recipe came from the fact that I needed to make pie crust for my apple-cheddar pie and I had leftover sour cream I needed to use.

After doing research on google, I found a recipe on Serena Bakes Simply from Scratch and decided to use her recipe as a base for mine. Check out her wonderful blog for the original recipe and other delicious treats!

Here's how I made mine.


INGREDIENTS (for a double crust):
- 2 1/2 cups of AP flour
- 1 stick of butter, very (very!) cold, diced
- 1/2 cup of sour cream, cold
- 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup ice-cold water
- a large pinch of salt


RECIPE:
- in a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, the butter and incorporate the butter quickly with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the flour looks like fresh bread crumbs and the butter is the size of a green pea

Note: you want to work really quickly here, with very cold butter. The butter should stay solid as much as possible so that those little nuggets can melt when the crust bakes. That will ensure a flaky crust!
- add the cold sour cream and mix with a spatula

- add ice-cold water by the spoonful (not all at once!) until the dough can hold when pressed together
Note: the dough should not be sticky here. You just want enough water so you can form a ball.

- shape the dough into two discs, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate at least one hour or until ready to use

Note: you can absolutely freeze the dough at this point
Note 2: if you will use this batch for a double-crusted pie, make one of the two discs slightly larger than the other one (the top disc should be a bit bigger)
- after the dough has rested, roll out on a floured surface and make your favorite pie!

French Baking: Chocolate-Raspberry cake (Patisserie, gateau chocolat-framboise de Christophe Felder)

This recipe is taken from this wonderful book by Christophe Felder: Patisserie! It is THE most amazing baking cookbook. Full of elegant, decadent and delicious french patisserie recipes. If you can read French, I strongly advise you to get this book immediately! Actually, even if you can't. It's just too pretty!

Here's a traduction of the recipe for the gateau chocolat-framboise.



INGREDIENTS:
for the raspberry syrup:
- 100g (3.5 oz) frozen raspberries (the original recipe calls for fresh raspberries, but I just didn't have them on hand :) )
- 5cl (1.7 fl oz) water
- juice of 1/4 lemon
- 50g (1.7 oz) caster sugar

for the chocolate sponge:
- 120g (4.2 oz) egg yolks
- 240g (8.4 oz) egg whites (handily enough, the white weighs about twice as much as the yolk in one egg)
- 150g (5.3 oz) AP flour
- 20g (0.7 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 180g (6.3 oz) caster sugar

for the rasberry compote:
- 1 jar of raspberry preserves, with pips (375g -13oz)
- 250g (8.8 oz) frozen raspberries (original recipe calls for fresh)

for the chocolate mousse:
- 500g (1 pint) heavy whipping cream (pour in a bowl and keep in the fridge until use - it needs to be very cold)
- 90g (3.2 oz) caster sugar
- 5cl (1.7 fl oz) water
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 220g (7.7 oz) dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

for the assembly:
- 100g (3.5 oz) melted dark chocolate
- 50g (1.7 oz) confectioner sugar

RECIPE
- pre-heat your oven at 180C (350F)

raspberry syrup:
- mix the thawed raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a bowl
- crush with a fork and reserve until further use


chocolate sponge:
- whip the egg whites with a mixer
- when the whites start getting fluffy, gradually add the sugar (this is a french meringue)
- when done, the meringue should hold its shape at the tip of the whisk
 
- incorporate the egg yolks

- slowly add the flour and cocoa and stir delicately with a spatula

- spread the batter evenly on a baking sheet covered with a silicone pad or greased parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes
 
- cool the sponge until further use

raspberry compote:
- mix the raspberry preserves and frozen raspberries
 
- cook in a small pan over low heat, stirring often
- reserve until further use


chocolate mousse:
- make a simple syrup: mix the water and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil (118C/244F reading with a candy thermometer). set aside.
- whip the egg and yolks together with a mixer
- slowly pour the syrup over the eggs while mixing at high speed until fluffy, smooth and creamy
Note: be sure to add the syrup very slowly, otherwise the eggs will curdle and you'll end up with sweet scrambled eggs. eek!

- melt the chocolate in a double boiler, over low heat

- whip the cold heavy cream until firm
Note: be careful not to whip the cream too long, otherwise it will separate into butter and buttermilk... not a bad thing really, because homemade butter is delicious, but you really want whipped cream for this particular recipe ;)

- incorportate the chocolate into the eggs

- then the whipped cream


Assembly:
- melt the chocolate and spread it on the sponge
- sprinkle confectionner sugar and let it firm up in the freezer for a few minutes
Note: I'm not sure why this step is necessary and it does not say in the book. But after thinking it over, I believe this is necessary for the cake to hold its shape once assembled and prevent the sponge layers from getting too soggy from the syrup and mousse filling.

- Cut the sponge into two sheets that fit in a rectangular cake frame
Note: if you do not own a baking frame, you can make your own (my friend actually crafted this for me, out of cardboard, scotch tape and saran wrap)
- place one sponge sheet in the frame, chocolate side down
- using a brush, imbibe the sponge with half of the raspberry syrup
- pour half of the chocolate mousse and even it out with a spatula

- repeat with the second half of the sponge, syrup and mousse
- place a sheet of saran wrap on top of the mousse, weigh down with a cutting board and place in the freezer for 30 minutes (2hrs in the fridge in the original recipe)

- when the cake is cold and firm, remove the plastic wrap and spread the raspberry compote on top

- remove the frame, slice in squares and ENJOY!!!


PS: this goes really really well with Champagne ;)

ZOMG Butterness!

The title says it all!

This gloomy weather just makes me crave comfort, cozy food. On a whim, I decided to bake some kind, any kind of bread, just to be able to dunk delicious pieces of soft, warm dough in my soup tonight (which was to be a prepackaged brick of lobster bisque my friend brought me from France last week).

I decided to use a recipe for dinner rolls from one of my favorite blogs out there, Simply Scratch.

Check this blog out, but don't do it at work as massive procrastination will ensue!