Pretty julia things

Mille feuille au citron

I had bought a few blocks of french butter from Dean & Deluca recently. They had more kinds of french butter than I had ever seen before. I got myself lost in the imported butter section of the market, Ea-sily. I picked up one of each kind from Lescure (what I am already used to) to Échiré (Yes!!!). I remember having Échiré slathered toasted baguette at the Café Les Deux Magots in Paris – and you bet I was in heaven. I couldn’t forget that very taste for months, even after I came back from the trip. So you can only imagine how excited I was when I found it again at the little corner of Dean & Deluca in New York City.

Le beurre, Échiré

Échiré is located on the west of France in Poitou-Charentes region. It’s a mid-point between La Rochelle and Poitiers. It’s also very close from Celles-sur-Belle which is another big butter producer in the region. These blocks of French butter are made from cultured cream, so they have this unmistakable taste and aroma of a cross between crème fraîche and sweet cream. It has its prestigious label of the A.O.C. beurre des Deux-Sèvres. Here A.O.C. stands for Appellation d’origine contrôlée, which literally means controlled designation of origin. The French government protects superior agricultural products such as wine, cheese, and butter by enforcing the set standards on every designated terroir. For instance, only two regions are recognized for butter – Isigny region and Poitou-Charentes region. In order to have the A.O.C. status, it has to come from within the two designated region, and it also has to meet the set A.O.C. production standards.  This way, the tradition and the excellence can long live and carry over generations.

Encasing the precious block of butter

So having this prestigious butter on hand, I needed to do something that does this product justice. As energy-consuming as it is, pâte feuilletée (puff pastry) was the only thing that I could think of that would make sense. This particular butter has about 84% of butter fat ( European butter has 82+%, and American 80-81%), so it would make really flaky layers. I had made palmiers with the puff pastry before, so I wanted to try something new, and mille feuille came to mind. Mille feuille literally means a thousand layers. It’s many layers, and oh-so-good. And also, it requires labor of love.♥

So let’s get to it. For the puff pastry you’ll need…
…to preheat oven to 400F 
Détrempe
200 g flour
70 g melted butter + a pinch of salt
80 g water
Beurrage
150 g firm cold butter

First sift the flour into a bowl, and melt butter in a microwave (it’s just easy that way). Add a pinch of salt into the melted butter and mix so the heat dissolves salt into butter. Add the water to the melted butter, and slowly mix the whole thing into flour. Mix and knead to form a ball. It doesn’t need to be very smooth looking at this stage, so avoid working the dough too hard. Wrap with plastic and let it rest in the fridge while you prepare the beurrage. Place the block of butter between parchment paper and flatten it out with a dough roller. You want to make sure that the butter block is malleable so it rolls out smooth when it gets laminated later. Wrap and place return to fridge.

Now, take the détrempe out onto a board and make a cross incision on top with a sharp knife. Turn the dough so the incision is now X, instead of a cross. With a dough roller, roll out from the center out to create a dough envelope like the picture above. Place the beurrage in the center and encase. Make sure not to encase air. Later on the air bubble can pop and tear the dough. Once you have a laminated dough, we’re ready to roll.

Carefully roll out the dough using a roller (or an empty bottle wrapped in plastic). When you have a long rectangle turn it 90°, divide the longer side into 3 with eyes, and fold the right and left third onto the middle to create 3 layers. Roll it out to a long rectangle, and repeat the same procedure. Wrap it and let it rest in the fridge for 20-30 mins. Repeat this at least twice more, and your dough will be ready to be baked.

Baked puff pastry sheets of three

Take the finished puff pastry dough out from the fridge, and roll out into a thin sheet. Then take a docker or a fork to create many mini steam holes so it’ll bake nicely without puffing up ugly. Place it on a sheet tray and put another sheet tray on top so the sheet bakes evenly. Without the even weight on top, the puff sheet won’t bake flat. And we all know that ugly baked puff pastry means sad you, because of the sheer volume of work that goes into it. So make sure you bake your baby right. Bake for about 25 mins, or until the puff is all baked and caramelized. If the puff isn’t fully baked, the layers won’t flake but stick. So make sure to bake it through.

While the puff is being baked in the oven, make the crème pâtissière, or what we call pastry cream. Pastry cream is versatile, and it’s quite easy to make. For that you’ll need…

500 mL whole milk
3 egg yolks
1 egg
100 g sugar
50 g flour, sifted
1 vanilla bean, scraped

In a bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar, then slowly combine the sifted flour. Meanwhile, heat up the milk with vanilla bean. When the milk comes to boil, take it off the heat and whisk in 3/4 of it into the egg mixture. When the egg mixture is tempered with milk, pour it back to the pot and bring it to a boil. Make sure to whisk, whisk, whisk so the bottom doesn’t scorch. When you see the thick mixture bubbling up, that’s when it’s done. So take it off the heat and pass it through a sieve. Place the still warm pastry cream onto a plastic wrapped tray and put a wrap directly on top, so the skin doesn’t form. Let it cool in the fridge.

Flaky layers

By the time you’re done with the pastry cream, the puff should be about ready. When it’s done, take out the sheet and cut into a rectangle with a serrated knife. Depending on what size and shape you want your mille feuille to be, cut the big rectangle into smaller rectangles. Be careful not to smash the puff and destroy it, it’s very sensitive!

I decided to make the classic, tri-layered mille feuille, so I cut mine into equal size of three. The puff pastry sheet came out SUPER flaky, and nicely caramelized. It was kind of unreal when I had a huge rectangle of buttery flaky layers right in front of my eyes. For me, it’s one of those things that I would eat on my deathbed. Well, more than anything though, I just felt satisfied for doing the butter justice – the successful puff pastry was mainly possible because of its higher butterfat percentage. It makes all the work so worth it!

Pastry cream on puff pastry

Now for the assembly, pipe the pastry cream using a pastry bag on the bottom layer (you can use the Ziploc bag and cut off a corner too if you don’t have a pastry bag). Place another layer on top, and repeat. Place the final layer on top. You can sprinkle the top with some powdered sugar, or glaze with white fondant glaze. I made a quick icing with powdered sugar and lemon juice and glazed the top. Believe it of not, that lemon juice was a saving grace as it gave a burst of citrus and cut through the butteriness. My roommate really liked the citrus, creaminess, and butteriness all in one bite. But especially the citrus.

Mille feuille au citron

I must say that it is pretty damn satisfying when you have 1) flaky buttery layers, 2) creamy (but not heavy) pastry cream, and 3) a flash of sweetness and the citrus zing all together in one bite. Or maybe it’s just how the labor of love tastes like. But either way, I feel that the end product was worth spending the whole day in the kitchen on a lazy Sunday when I could have taken a nap or been out with friends. Now that I know how it works, I am definitely trying another variation next time. But until then… I will enjoy these thousand layers.

Sablé cookies

This wednesday in NYC, it rained quite a bit. Actually, earlier in the day, it wasn’t so rainy. Then towards noon, it started pouring down. And for some stupid reason, I thought it would be a great idea to walk around and get some shopping done. And you bet I was a royal mess by the end of the trail – highlight was getting soaked in a dirty puddle water thanks to the nonchalant driving-by cab. With the shopping bags in both hands, I just had to be standing by the biggest water puddle there was. Oh how everything goes wrong when you put down first the wrong foot.

So anyways, when I got home, I was wet and cold, and had a craving for something warm and comforting. Then I remembered that the french butter cookies I made last weekend at my sister’s place came out super buttery and comforting. These french butter cookies, namely Sablé, are good in a plain way. On the same line of thought, I decided to make some good old madeleines as well. Like Proust said, it’s one of those plain but good treats that take you places across time.

In french, sable means sand. So sablé means “sand-like.” The name comes from its crumbly sand-like texture. And since butter will be a main flavoring agent, it’s important to get good quality butter. If you follow my blog, you would know how much I love good quality butter (I think that’s what makes the world a better place). Also, the yolks that are separated from fresh eggs. Making these cookies are quite easy. All you need is 5 egg yolks, 250g butter, 500g flour, 20g baking powder, 200g sugar, and one vanilla bean (you can use vanilla paste as well or omit it all together). Sift the dry ingredients together, and in a separate bowl, combine egg yolks and the sugar. Scraped vanilla bean can go into the egg yolk mixture. Then mix in softened room-temp butter to the dry ingredients and combine well to form a ball without working too hard. To that, add in the egg yolk mixture. And that’s it. Could it have been any easier??

Now, this is what I do next. I put the dough ball on a parchment, top it off with another parchment. Then roll it out with an empty wine bottle I use as a roller (if you have a real dough roller, even better!!). Because the dough is still soft, it rolls out easier and faster. Then I put it on a tray and pop it in the fridge for half hour or so. That way it’s much cleaner and easier to cut out into circles (or whichever shape you like). Once you have the cut out cookies on a tray, brush the top with egg wash (just one egg beaten will do). Off it goes in the oven at 335F until the cookies are golden and caramelized.

Madeleines

Ever since I bought the madeleine mold pan, I’ve been making them more often than not, just because I feel like I need to get the most out of my investment. Well of course, that’s not the only reason why I make them. I also make them because they’re ridiculously easy to make, and they have this comforting effect on me in an organic way when I bite into them. There are a lot of so called madeleines out there in stores, but I’ve seen many un-authentic ones. They should have a distinct half dome shaped belly in the middle like this, and taste moist and light. I wish I could learn how to make them the real authentic way from a french grandma if I had one. Maybe I will ask my french friends if they ever got their grandma’s recipes.

For now, I use 2 eggs, 80g of flour, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 80g sugar, 1 TBSP of honey, 80g salted butter, and any flavorings like vanilla extract(I like to use orange oil or lemon oil). First off, whip eggs and sugar along with the flavoring of choice until they double in volume and become pale yellow and creamy. It’s important to whip the eggs well, because if it’s not whipped well, the madeleine will be too dense and not airy. You want to make sure your cake later will be soft and fluffy to the bite, not dense and hard. Once you have the well whipped egg mixture, slowly incorporate sifted dry ingredients and carefully mix in. Mixing it too hard will deflate the air, so mix in just enough that there is no clump. Then, add in the melted butter little by little, and fold the batter to mix. The batter must rest in the fridge for at least an hour before being baked. When you are ready to bake, set the oven at 400F, and butter and flour the mold so they won’t stick. Take out the batter, mix/fluff it through with a spoon, and fill about 2/3 of each shell cavity. Bake at 400F for 5 mins, then turn down the heat to 350F and bake for another 5 mins. Really simple.

Cheap and chic gift ideas, get creative!

Since if I ate everything I made by myself, I would be a hippo by now, I like to share them with friends. It always makes me happy to see them happy. But realistically speaking, if I had to buy the containers all the time, it would get quite expensive. So I get creative. I use empty blueberry containers or salad containers. It’s also just a fun way to share. I like to put little name stickers for each friends too, that way it feels more personal.

But this time around, it was a treat for myself for being soaked in the dirty puddle water. So I ate a lot of them. Eating fresh out of the oven madeleines is like falling into a plush down comforter. I did start to feel better after about 3 of them. Then, I ended up having 5 of the Sablé cookies for breakfast the next morning with a cup of coffee. The cookies tasted better the day after. Soul-nourishing. Was definitely a good treat for myself. Though I must apologize to my waist line for eating so much…

Tarte aux pommes et une petite pomme – Apple tart and a small apple

Ever since I bought the tart pan, I’ve been itching to make tarts. Nowadays at Jean-Georges, we make many different things apple for the Apple tasting, so I thought I’ll give it a shot at making a simple apple tart. In any case, I needed something to do to distract me from the crazy NYC weather that just keeps getting colder and colder. The cool thing about this tart is that even though it’s very easy to make, the end result is not only tasty but fancy looking, enough to charm anyone’s socks off. For that matter, I prefer the apple tart over the big apple pie that America is more accustomed to. It’s really a good way to please all senses of the fall and lift up any grey moods.

Pie shell – Pâte brisée sucrée

Tart filled with the compote and zested

Ready to go into the oven!

Simply put, the apple tart is 1) pie shell, 2) apple compote filling, and 3) shaven apple pieces on top. First, I started out by working on the compote filling. I used the green crispin apples, but you can use any other types of apple that are firm enough for cooking – mushy apples such as Mcintosh don’t work. I cored and cubed 4 medium to large apples, and cooked it down with 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 TBSP of water. Once they cook down completely, take it off the heat and cool. Add juice of half lemon to the cooled down compote to bring out the bright apple flavor. I added a tiny bit of orange extract here as well. I find that a bit of orange extract in anything makes people go “What is that?”

For the pie shell, I used the same dough recipe I used for the tarte au flan. 250g flour, 125g butter, 25g sugar, 5g salt, and one egg. I really like this recipe – the pie crust comes out very tasty and flaky every time. I also used french butter to make it, and I think that’s one of the reasons why it tastes so good. It’s just enough butteriness to savor the flavor, but minus the unwanted grease. I usually use Lescure butter, but I couldn’t find it at the store so I used Celles sur belle. French butter tend to produce flakier and crispier crusts due to its higher butter fat than its American cousins. Also the quality of the dairy cream they use over in France makes a big difference in the flavor. Once the pie shell is blind baked at 370F for 10 mins, let it cool.

Then it’s the final stretch. First, make sure the oven is on at 400F. Then on the cooled pie shell, pour in the compote filling, zest one lemon on top. Finally, make thin slices of apple that will go on top of the tart. When making them, I had a bowl of ice water with lemon juice in it ready, so the cut apples don’t oxidize while I prepare them. I used about 2 medium apples, probably because I sliced them thinly. 2-3 should be good for one tart. Core the apple, cut it into quarters, and peel. Then thinly slice the quarters. Easy as pie. Fan them out on the compote filling, then brush melted butter on top of the apples and Voila ! Ready to go into the oven.

Good for all dessert, really.

Depending on the oven, it takes about 35-40 mins. when the apple slices are golden on top, the tart is done. Even I was amazed at how good the tart looked when it came out of the oven. The apple slices make it so much prettier than the good ole’ apple pie we eat. And it’s actually easier to make too. This would be the perfect gift to bring to a Thanksgiving lunch/dinner if you get invited to. It’s simple, pretty, delicious, and it just looks impressive. I guarantee this will wow your host and their guests. No one will know how easy it was to make. ;)

Piece of pie, I mean tart

I gave some to a few friends, and I can tell you that they were very happy. My friend J told me that it’s the hottest piece of pie he’s ever had. And you know, I’ll take that. If it made him happy, it makes me happy. In fact, I think I’m going to bring the tart pan to my sister’s place in Boston this weekend, and make some more for her. I can only imagine how happy she will be, AND how happier she will be if I gave her a piece with a scoop of really good vanilla ice cream. So there it is, I’ll surprise her this weekend with this tart. Everybody Shhhhhhhh Keep it downlow please!

Tarte au flan scented with vanilla and cardamom

It’s been another while. I’ve been busy between my internship at the kitchen and falling in love with the city again. I’ve been going to a lot of concerts, and galleries – I went to see Phoenix at the MSG (Madison Square Garden), and it was awesome. Exploring the city is making me slowly fall in love with it again. On the work front, after almost two months of internship at the pastry kitchen, I can now say that I am getting a little more comfortable in it. In the first month, I lost like 10 lbs for just working there, without any special work out or diet plans. Depending on the workload, we can be there anywhere from 11 hours to 15 hours, working on our feet, moving around with heavy pots, and whisking like a mad (wo)man if recipe calls for it. We get about half hour break for the family dinner at the cafeteria around 6. The work was not only mentally demanding, but physically demanding. But the amazing adaptive beings we are, I got used to the life of a patissiere, as if I have been a chef  for a while. In the end though, no matter how demanding the work may be, it gives me pleasure knowing that I do it because of the love and passion I have for the industry.

Since I know I haven’t made anything at home (and have been slacking), I decided to utilize my off days to bake something at home, something easy and comforting. I don’t know why, but I started thinking about the piece of flan tart I had at Poîlane bakery in Paris. My friend Emmanuel bought me a piece when we met in Paris, and it ended up changing my life. I rarely crave for certain specific food, but I get the craziest cravings for this flan tart. I guess I will only get it the next time I’m in Paris. But since I was thinking about it, I wanted to at least give it a shot at making it.

I used the recipe for pâte sucrée for the pie shell. 250g flour, 125g butter, 25g sugar, 5g salt, and one egg. I know, why is it in grams? It’s because I used the European recipe. I recently bought a scale measuring cup made by Taylor, who makes those candy thermometers that we have all seen. It’s easy to use, and accurate enough for a home use. Put all the dry ingredient in a working bowl (preferably a metal bowl, so the temperature stays low), and cut in the cubed butter into the dry. It’s easier if the butter is not too cold and hard, but also not too warm and melty. Once it’s moderately combined, add an egg and work with hands just until they come together as a ball. Wrap it and put it in the fridge for 30 mins. Then roll the chilled dough between two sheets of parchment paper. That way not only your roller doesn’t get buttery, but it’s easier to transfer it to the pie pan as well. Once you have a thin sheet rolled out, place it on top of the pie pan GENTLY, and make sure the dough comfortably sticks to the surface of the pan. Poke the bottom with a fork, and blind bake it at 370F for about 10 mins, just until they sightly baked. If you bake until really golden, it would look more burnt when the pie is finished at last.

Once the shell is ready, work on the custard. I love the combination of milk and cardamom, so I decided to use it here. I took 500mL of whole milk and infused with one vanilla bean (split and scraped), and 5 crushed green cardamom, over a medium heat. While the milk is being infused, beat 2 eggs in a working bowl with 100g of sugar. Once it’s pale yellow and fluffy, add in 50g of flour. Then add in the warm infused milk into the batter. Remember to filter through the sieve to make sure no cardamom or vanilla bean go into the batter. Once you have everything incorporated, whisk to make sure it’s a uniformly thickened. Pour in the batter into the pre-baked shell, and baked at 370F for about 30-45 mins. Mine needed 45 mins, but it depends on the oven obviously.

The result wasn’t the flan I had from Poîlane, but it was completely light and comforting flavor success. It wasn’t too eggy, it was delicately perfumed with vanilla and cardamom, and the best part was the pie shell. It was so flaky, and just a tad buttery. I used the French butter, and I guess that worked wonders. I offered it to my family friend who is 80 yrs old, and she told me it was 100 out of 100. Old people don’t like overly sweet desserts, so it is a good thing that I passed the old family friend test. Phew.

I wish I took a picture of the pieces, but they were gone way too fast, even before I had a chance to pull out my camera. I guess there is always the next time!

Fondant au chocolat with a hint of orange

Moving on to the other side of the comfort spectrum, I wanted to make these rich and chocolatey  fondant au chocolat pieces. I found my mini cupcake pan in the box that I left at my friend’s place, so I thought I would put it to use. Making this rich but comforting dessert is very easy in fact. Since chocolate is the main ingredient, it’s important to choose good quality chocolate. We use Valrhona at work, but I couldn’t find it, so I used Scharffen Berger instead. Since I didn’t find dark enough chocolate, I mixed the 62% and the 82%. Anyways, I went ahead with the process by melting 125g of butter on a low heat, and melting 200g of chocolate on a double boiler. Once the butter melts, add a few drops of orange oil or orange extract, then mix in 125g of sugar. Those few drops of orange are going to brighten the heaviness of the dark chocolate – it’s the secret weapon. Then add the melted chocolate, and emulsify well. Next, add in the eggs, one by one, until they’re well incorporated. Lastly, fold in 40g of flour and a pinch of sea salt, et voilà! Cake batter ready for some oven action. Fill a spoonful into each cupcake mold and place it in the oven at 450F for about 4-5 mins. Once they’re out, make sure to cool them at least for 4 hrs. You can taste it when it’s warm too though – it’s gooey and warm, and just plain satisfying.

Pretty in the vintage shell dish

I placed the cooled cake pieces on the vintage Lenox shell dish I found at a thrift store, and garnished with some chocolate dust and one pretty raspberry. The cake was moist, rich, and interesting with the back note of orange. My friend who tried the dessert told me right away – “There is something in here besides the chocolate, Hmm, I’m not completely sure what it is but I like it.” Well, mission accomplished.

For me though, the best part of making these comfort desserts was sharing with my friends and seeing them being happy. And I can tell you, especially the rich chocolate cake pops will instantly comfort any dessert loving friend of yours. The flan tart is for friends who like a treat that is not too heavy or sugary. Different kind of comfort, but all happiness in the end. So why the hell not try them in your kitchen? ;)

Cupcake with strawberry mascarpone cream

I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve written my last blog. I blame everything on my mom. Ever since she came over to my place, she has taken over my Macbook. Oh mother. Well, speaking of mom, I am dedicating this one to her. Because it’s her birthday today!!

Since I didn’t have much time on hand to prepare, I cheated a bit and used Giada’s cupcake recipe that calls for a cake mix. (But don’t tell my mom, shhhhhh). Luckily, I had a mini cupcake pan, mini cupcake liners, a pastry bag, and the tip on hand. I prepared the cake dough by mixing the cake mix with water, oil, and lemon zest. My dough was still pretty watery, so I used a mini ladle to pour the dough into the cupcake liners. I filled almost to the top of the liner, and put into the oven at 325F. It takes about 12-18 mins but you know it is done when it passes the toothpick test – when you poke the cake in the middle with the toothpick and if it comes out clean, the cake is done. Otherwise, it’ll come out wet if it’s underbaked. After they’re baked through, let them cool on a rack.

Fun frosting

Now on to the highlight of any cupcake: le frosting. I am not a huge fan of buttercream frostings. It’s literally a mix of butter sugar and cream, not that there is anything wrong with it because butter, sugar, and cream are wonderful standalone. Perhaps not all at the same time. Well anyways, it’s a personal preference thing. I prefer creamcheese frosting or something lighter than the buttercream. In this case, the recipe had called for mascarpone cheese. Mascarpone cheese is creamy triple cream cheese from Italy. It doesn’t taste like cheese at all, but slightly tangy and just really creamy. It’s used to make the wonderful tiramisu. I like it because it’s creamy without being overly processed. Well back to the frosting, I mixed the mascarpone, powdered sugar, chopped thawed and drained strawberries together and boom. Magically refreshing but decadent frosting in a quick second.

Mini strawberry layer cake

For the assembly, I filled the pastry bag with the frosting, stick the piping tip into the cupcakes to fill the inside, and frost on top to finish. It was very easy. With the sheet of cake I made earlier, I cut out small rounds to assemble a mini layer cake. You can put a jam filling in between the layers, or cream filling in between, or anything you want in between. After stacking the layers, I put the frosting all over, and placed a slice of strawberry on top for decoration. I think the beautiful color of the ripe strawberry pop against the cream and the background. A beautiful, simple spring dessert idea.

My mom had breathed in two cupcakes at one sitting. For her, that’s pretty incredible as she’s not a big fan of cupcakes. I think she had picked up on that hint of love I put somewhere along the way in making the batter. I know cupcakes are overdone and so yesterday, but it really is a good treat especially when it’s a bite size. If you haven’t tried it yet, I think you oughta give it a shot. It’s fun stuff. And yummy too of course.

*If you want to listen to music while reading this, please click here. It will open on a different window/tab (The Bird and the Bees “Love letter to Japan”)

Masala chai kasutera

Kasutera is a sponge cake that is popular in Korea, which originated from Japan. The word kasutera, Castella really, comes from the word Pao de Castilla in Portuguese (it means the bread from Castilla region in Portugal). The bread from Castilla came from Portugal to Japan, and the Japanese started making them their way.

I remember eating them in Korea – they’re light, fluffy, soft, and moist. It was a perfect childhood snack with a glass of milk. Recently, I had a craving for an angelfood cake-like, that’s also moist, not dry, and the kasutera came to my mind. The long-lost childhood favorite of mine. The wonderfully light, fluffy, and moist cake that’s just tad sweet.

But this time around, I wanted to make it somewhat different. Commonly the Japanese bakeries offer them in vanilla, green tea, and chocolate flavors. I wanted to make something that’s not those flavors. Then I remembered the masala chai flavored chocolate I had from Le Pain Quotidien… why not masala chai? I adore drinking it. It would be interesting, it would be something new nonetheless.

So I went to pick up a dozen of fresh farm eggs, organic milk, green cardamom, cloves, and masala chai spice blend at the indian market in Murray Hill. I was excited to embark on this spicy experiment.

Kasutera and the gift bags

I operate in a poorman’s kitchen, so I often work without any gadgets, but in this case, I recommend using an electric mixer. In order to make the cake more light and fluffy, the egg whites and the egg yolks need to be beat to incorporate as much air as possible. So an electric mixer comes in uber-handy – unless you want to whip the eggs until your arms will fall off. Speaking of whipping the eggs, this is what I used to make the cake. 6 eggs separated, 3/4 cup of sifted flour, 2 tbsp of masala spices, 1/3 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of warm cardamom and cloves steeped milk, 3 tbsp of honey, and a dash of vanilla extract. First, I took the egg whites in a cold working bowl, added in sugar, and started beating. It’s like making a meringue – I whipped it until semi hard peak formed. (Once the egg white is done, keep it in the fridge while you work on the egg yolks). I took another working bowl, and set up a double boiler to whip egg yolks. Contrary to the egg white, it whips and doubles in volume better when it’s warm. After the yolks turned light yellow in color, and doubled in volume, I put the warm milk mixture. Earlier I had steamed milk with some green cardamoms, cloves, a dash of vanilla, and some honey. After mixing them together, I put sifted mix of flour and the spice mixture little by little. I incorporated them lightly with a spatula. After mixing the dry ingredients half way through, I folded in a half of the egg white foam. It’s important to lightly incorporate the egg white, because otherwise it loses all the fluffiness. I did my best to mix all of the ingredients together with the minimum disturbance. The dough should still be runny and jiggly, not too thick.

I lined my square cake pan with the wax paper. This is important because the cake will stick to the pan. I poured the dough into the lined pan, and hit it against the counter to achieve an even layer on top. I put it in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes, then reduced the heat to 315F for about another 40 minutes or so. When a toothpick comes out clean, you will know that it’s done. After it was out of the oven, I made some slits on top of the cake, and poured in the masala chai syrup I made just so the cake will stay moist when it cools. Then it was time for the pan to rest over night in the fridge.

Individually wrapped

Yellow ribbon

The next morning, I went to check on the cake as soon as I opened my eyes. The cake was soft, spicy, moist, and tad sweet. I liked that the cake was moist even without using a lot of butter or oil. Since it is a bit sticky around the edges, I wrapped them in a wax paper (since I didn’t have clear cellophane wrapper). Traditionally they are wrapped in a clear cellophane wrapper. It was a tad too spicy on the palate for me, but it was good indeed. I liked that it was different. I took it with a cup of honey steamer (milk steamed with honey), and boy oh boy was it good. It was a perfect snack for the grown-ups. It had the soft texture of a childhood snack, yet the kick and the exotic breeze to it.

I gave some to my Indian friend to see what he thinks. He personally thinks these will sell like hotcakes at any Indian grocery store. Maybe I should set up a cart on the corner of 27th and Lex and see what happens. Who knows?