Entries Tagged 'Cooking' ↓

2 large egg yolks
4 tablespoons water
4 (17 1/4-oz) packages frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed but kept chilled
2 (8-oz) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger (4 oz)
2 pt strawberries (1 lb), hulled, then halved or quartered if large
3/4 cup red currant jelly
4 pt blueberries (2 1/2 lb)

Garnish: confectioners sugar
Special Equipment: parchment paper and a large flat board (at least 20 inches square) for serving

Prepare and bake pastry in 4 quadrants:
Stir together yolks and 2 tablespoons water for egg wash. Put a baking sheet in freezer.

Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a 12-inch square of parchment and brush all over with egg wash. Prick entire surface evenly with a fork.

Unfold a second pastry sheet on a cutting board and cut out a 1 1/4-inch-wide right-angle strip along 2 adjacent edges with a sharp small knife, reserving remaining square for another use. Place right angle on 1 corner on top of 2 adjacent edges of pricked pastry to form first quadrant of tart. Transfer pastry on parchment to baking sheet in freezer and chill until firm, about 10 minutes.

Transfer pastry on parchment from freezer to cutting board and trim a 1/4-inch-wide strip from all 4 edges using tip of small knife and a ruler and cutting all the way through pastry. Make 1/4-inch-long vertical cuts through double layers of edge about 1/2 inch apart (to help sides rise evenly).

Return pastry on parchment to baking sheet in freezer and chill until firm but not solid, about 10 minutes more.

Preheat oven to 450°F and heat another baking sheet on lowest rack in oven until hot, about 2 minutes.

Remove baking sheet from oven and transfer pastry on parchment from freezer to hot sheet. Bake pastry on lowest rack of oven until puffed and deep golden brown (a little darker than usual so double edges are cooked through), 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer pastry on parchment to a rack to cool.

Repeat procedure with remaining 3 packages puff pastry to make remaining 3 quadrants of tart.

Make Ginger Cream:
Blend cream cheese and granulated sugar in a food processor until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. Add ginger and pulse until finely chopped and mixture is combined well.

Prepare Fruit and Assemble Tart:
If very puffed, gently flatten inner parts of pastry (single layer) slightly with your palm. Fit quadrants together on flat board to form a giant square tart shell, trimming inside edges of each quadrant slightly with a serrated knife to help quadrants fit together smoothly. “Glue” inner edges together with a little ginger cream, then spread remaining ginger cream evenly over tart, leaving double edges as a border.

Arrange strawberries in a decorative pattern over cream. Bring jelly to a boil with remaining 2 tablespoons water, whisking until smooth, then simmer glaze 1 minute. Toss three fourths of glaze with blueberries in a large bowl and spoon blueberries onto tart to cover cream between strawberries, mounding slightly. Brush strawberries with remaining glaze.

Cooks’ Notes:
·All 4 quadrants of pastry can be prepared (but not baked) 1 day ahead and stacked in freezer between sheets of parchment paper. Let each section stand at room temperature until no longer frozen solid but still firm, about 5 minutes, before baking.
·Ginger cream can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.
·Assembled tart can be kept at cool room temperature 3 hours before serving.

From: Epicurious.Com

Tate’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is Tate’s recipe – Anyone who’s lived in New York has no doubt had a small addiction to these delicious but crispy cookies. I used to go through 3 Bags a Week. This is the best, simplest chocolate chip cookie recipe – but the only difference is that I bake mine for eight minutes instead of twelve. Those extra four minutes yield Tate’s signature, crispy texture but I like them slightly chewy in the middle.
About 40 cookies

• 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) lightly salted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Nestlé can’t really be beat)

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Whisk the flour, soda and salt together in a bowl. In another large bowl, mix the butter with a wooden spoon to lighten it a bit and then mix in the sugars. Add the water, vanilla and eggs to the butter mixture. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then fold in the chocolate chips. Using two soup spoons, drop the cookies 2″ apart onto two nonstick or greased cookie sheets. Bake for eight minutes, rotating the sheets after four minutes. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool, and repeat the process with the rest of the batter.

At this very moment in London, Sir Paul McCartney and daughters Stella and Mary have called upon their fabulous friends from far and wide in support of Meat Free Mondays. Yes, they are asking the public to give up meat on Mondays. And so far, notable mates like Kate Bosworth and Moby are on board to support their cause. The idea is that by giving up meat one day per week, it will help in slowing down global climate change. How? According to the U.K.’s Food Climate Research Network, food production accounts for 20-30 percent of Greenhouse Gas Production, and livestock production accounts for half of that. So, less meat = less gas. Got it? Good. —Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin for Elle.com

INGREDIENTS
5 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
4 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup plus 2 2/3 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1 3.5-ounce bar high-quality white chocolate (such as Lindt or Perugina), finely chopped
5 cups sliced hulled strawberries (about 2 pounds)

PREPARATION
Whisk egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt in medium metal bowl to blend. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water. Whisk until mixture is very thick and thermometer inserted into center registers 160°F to 170°F, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from over water. Cool lemon mousse base to room temperature.

Combine 1/4 cup cream and white chocolate in another medium metal bowl. Set bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir constantly until chocolate is soft and almost melted. Remove bowl from over water and stir until white chocolate is melted and smooth. Cool white chocolate mousse base to room temperature.

Beat remaining 2 2/3 cups cream in large bowl until firm peaks form. Divide whipped cream between both mousse bases, folding in 1 cup at a time (about 3 cups for each).

Layer scant 1/4 cup lemon mousse in each of 8 parfait glasses or wineglasses; top with 2 tablespoons strawberries. Layer scant 1/4 cup white chocolate mousse over strawberries. Repeat layering 1 more time. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and chill. Cover and chill remaining strawberries.

Spoon strawberries over top of each parfait, if desired, and serve.

Recipe From Bon Appetit Magazine