Black Corinth Financiers

financier bars and frozen black corinth grapes

One of my to-bake recipes is the French tiny almond cookies, Financiers, for oh over two years already but somehow I never found the time to make them. Looking for what other things to do with Black Corinth grapes besides freezing them to eat as fruit ice candies, I saw this and thought now is the time to make financiers and bake them with the tiny grapes. They are very yummy, the edges are crispy but soft inside, not too sweet and I like that the grapes are very mild and don't dominate the flavor of the cookies. The only negative is one recipe makes very few cookies that I want to bake another batch soon, maybe tomorrow.:-)

I baked them in small rectangular loaf pans because I don't have the shallow rectangular ones for baking these cookies and I think they came out a little bit thick, I'm not really sure. I do have those boat tart molds but I can't remember where I kept them.

French Almond Cookies
½ cup melted butter or browned butter
½ cup toasted almond meal
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup confectioner's sugar
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
fresh raspberries or jam, black corinth or regular seedless grapes
mini cupcake pan or boat tart molds

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. If using molds, place them on a cookie sheet.
• Transfer 2 tablespoons of the melted butter into a small container. Brush molds generously with the butter.
• In a medium bowl, mix together the almond meal, sugar, flour, and salt. Stir in the egg whites, the remaining 1/3 cup butter, and vanilla extract. Fill mini cupcake pan or molds almost to the top.
• Bake for 4 minutes. Remove from oven and top with fruits or fruit jam. Return to oven and bake until cookies are golden brown. Transfer into a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Unmold cookies and enjoy with frozen grapes.

fruity gold ingots

black corinth grapes, very sweet and fun to eat when frozen

Beet Greens And Parmesan Bread

I had an OMG! moment halfway through baking this loaf when I opened the oven to rotate the pan for even baking. The bread had an enormous oven rise doubling its height for maybe several reasons: I didn't roll the dough tight enough and so it spilled its gut out from one side, I used a loaf pan that was too small, I proofed the dough too long, or the instant yeast was overly frisky. When I removed the finished bread from the oven I couldn't help giggling like a fool because it looked so friggin' ugly. I was expecting a cavernous interior which the bread thankfully doesn't have, just a little bit, but the slices look funny like a person's profile. It is also not very swirly.

I made this bread when I read about it here; her loaf is so perfect and beautiful and because I love swirly breads I just had to make it. I didn't have chard but I had beets with its greens still attached. After a quick online search I found out that beet greens are edible and they are nutritious too. For this recipe, I used challah dough. The slices are delicious and light as feather; it's like eating a piece of cloud with bits of beet greens, garlic, and savory Parmesan cheese, very good with Beets and Yogurt Salad. I will make this bread again using chard or other greens and hope it will improve in appearance.

the height of the loaf before baking was barely half an inch above the pan


doubled in height after 20 minutes in the oven and its top was pushed to the side

le freak

Mungbean Soup

mungbean soup with fresh pepper leaves

Growing up in the Philippines I remember eating boiled mungbean soup and fried fish almost EVERY Friday. Most Filipinos serve a vegetable dish for lunch and dinner and mungbean soup or stew is a favorite because it's cheap and nutritious. After boiling the mungbeans, my mom used to set aside a few cups for us children to eat as a snack with added milk and sugar. It is delicious, weird maybe, but delicious.

I cook mungbean soup once a month and pair it with an adobo dish. I usually add a saute of garlic, onions, and tomatoes after boiling, other times I prepare it Spanish style boiling the uncooked mungbeans together with garlic, onions, a bay leaf, and olive oil. Regardless of the way I prepare mungbeans, we always prefer the dish meatless.

For color I added fresh pepper leaves from my garden. I don't know if the pepper leaves have nutritional value but I like them for visual appeal.

Mungbean Soup
1 cup dried unhulled yellow or green mungbeans
water
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 cup sliced sweet onions
1 cup diced tomatoes
1½ teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
pepper leaves, optional

• Clean and pick out foreign materials from mungbeans. Rinse with water 3 times and place in a medium sauce pan. Add water to top 2 inches above the beans. Turn heat to high, let come to a boil. Turn heat down to low, cover, and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes, checking and adding more water if necessary.
• In another medium sauce pan or wok, heat the oil and saute garlic and onion for 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, and the cooked mungbeans including the water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, adding more water as needed. Taste and adjust salt. Turn the heat off and mix in the pepper leaves if using. Transfer into a serving bowl and serve with rice.

yummy atop a bowl of rice

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge 12: English Muffins

The recipe for English Muffins, the 12th in The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is very different from the recipes I use for making English muffins. Those recipes including PR's test recipe have the consistency of thick pancake batter which cannot be shaped into balls or they will spread out all over the place. The batter is measured and poured into crumpet rings set on a preheated griddle. Baking soda mixed with water is added just before cooking the muffins which helps create the must have sponge-like "nooks and crannies" for an authentic looking English Muffins. Without the holes the muffins will just be an ordinary flat round white bread. This Alton Brown's recipe which I still have to try looks okay but has a very short rising period.

I was reluctant to make the BBA's English muffins knowing I will be disappointed if they come out without air pockets. I decided to make it into a loaf which the book says is an option. I used whole wheat Indian-type ATTA flour for all of the flour. Atta flour has a slightly higher protein content than bread flour. I got the atta flour, which is grown and milled right here in the US, from a Korean grocery store. After shaping the dough into a loaf I rolled it on fine corn meal and sprinkled some more on top.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that the bread slices have nooks and crannies with soft but chewy flavorful crumb, and the crust is crunchy when toasted and therefore have the same qualities of really good English muffins. I'm not sure if the flour had anything to do with the texture and flavor but I will make this loaf again when I feel like whole wheat-y English muffins or when I get the munchies for Sausage Egg Muffin Sandwich.

look at all the nooks and crannies to catch all the creamy raw honey or butter

better than you-know-where Sausage Egg McMuffin

Rating (whole wheat):
flavor 4
texture 4
visual appeal 4
ease of preparation 4
performance 4
worth 4
Total: 24
Average: 4

I felt I was being unfair for prejudging the recipe just by reading it. After a few days I made the round ones and just as I thought, the muffins don't have air pockets, are very soft like white bread and not chewy at all. I actually like the rolls, they are very tasty but I won't call them English muffins.

too soft and fine-crumbed

Rating (rounds)
flavor 4
texture 1
visual appeal 3
ease of preparation 4
performance 3
worth 1
Total: 16
Average: 2.66