*August 2009 COTM* OTTOLENGHI: Bars, Biscuits; Meringues, Macaroons; Tarts

[Caitlin McGrath]

Our Chowhound August 2009 Cookbook of the Month is Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi; and all online recipes by the authors.

Please post your full-length recipe reviews here for dishes from the cookbook chapter Baking and Patisserie, sections Bars, biscuits and truffles; Meringues and macaroons; and Tarts, and online recipes with those ingredients.

Please mention the name of the recipe you are reviewing and the page number, or include a link to the online recipe, if possible, as well as any modifications you made to the recipe. Let us know if you would like to make the recipe again, and if you would change anything in the future, too.

Please see the main Cookbook of the Month thread for some useful links.

Lists of the recipes from these book sections, along with links where applicable, and the opportunity to request paraphrases, may be found at these links:

Bars, biscuits and truffles: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/641703#4914045

Meringues and macaroons: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/641703#4914049

Tarts: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6417...

A reminder that the verbatim copying of recipes to the boards is a violation of the copyright of the original author. Posts with copied recipes will be removed.


Thanks for participating and enjoy!

[TxnInMtl]

Pistachio and rosewater meringues - p. 249

I found this recipe while searching for ideas to use up frozen egg whites before moving that did not require the purchase of confectioner's sugar. I swore that I had rose water in the pantry, but further inspection revealed that I only thought I had it. I ended up using orange blossom instead which came out great. I've never used this method to make meringues, but this worked quite well for me. I made half of the recipe and I'm glad I did because I'm not certain that the full recipe would've fit in my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer!

To make, sugar is heated on an oven tray until it is hot and just starting to dissolve at the edges. Meanwhile, you start whisking egg whites in a stand mixture. Once they're frothy, the hot sugar slowly gets poured in to the whites. Be careful that the parchment paper doesn't slide in with the sugar! Add the rosewater to the sugary whites (or in my case orange blossom) and then let the stand mixer do its thing for 10 minutes or until the meringue cools and you have a beautiful shiny, stiff meringue. Scoop out dollops of meringue and roll on chopped pistachios. Bake at low heat until done.

These came out perfectly and were a huge hit.

[nomadchowwoman]

I'll bet they were gorgeous too!

[blue room]

Thank you for this! While looking for the recipe online (I don't have the book) I saw this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyl...

which will be helpful for meringue makers, I think. It describes the Ottolenghi technique, and others.

A chance to use *flower* water in a dessert makes my day :)

[TxnInMtl]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing it. I might try reducing the temp slightly as my meringues didn't turn orangish, but they did have a tiny bit of darkness. If you follow the recipe online (it's scaled in half from the book), you'd add 1 tsp of flower water after the sugar is added. One of my friends described the orange blossom ones as meringue baklava.

[nomadchowwoman]

Pistachio Shortbreads, p. 220 from Ottolenghi, The Cookbook

I've made these a few times and absolutely love them--they are fragrant, buttery, crumbly (and otherworldly with some good ice cream wedged between a couple of of them). While they're baking, your house will smell divine. And, oh, with their pistachio edges, they're also drop dead gorgeous! What more could one ask of a cookie (or "biscuit")?

I dump everything into my KA mixer bowl--cardamom (pods ground to powder, skins removed), butter, ground rice (I did this in a coffee grinder), flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt--and mix it (w/paddle) just until a dough formed, then remove it and roll it into a log, wrap it in cling wrap, and refrigerate it for a couple of hours before brushing it w/an egg wash and rolling it in finely chopped pistachios. Re-wrap and put back into the fridge to set for an hour or so. (Log can be frozen at this point; it keeps well in freezer--or fridge.)
Cut thin slices from the log and lay them onto a baking sheet lined w/parchment paper (or silicone mat, which is what I use)*; bake in 300F oven for about 20 minutes, being careful not to let them brown. (They should be just barely golden.)

*The recipe calls for a dusting of vanilla sugar at this point. I did this the first time, but don't bother with it now. They're delicious either way.

[blue room]

nomadchowwoman, is the ground rice the same as rice flour, would you say?

[nomadchowwoman]

Sorry, just seeing this, blue room, but, no, the ground rice is actually . . . ground rice (which, I suppose, rice flour is too?)--by that, I mean, I put some uncooked (basmati) rice in what functions as my spice grinder and whirred it until it was ground and then measured it out. The texture was different from that of rice flour I've purchased (not as powdery, more sandy).
I knew to do this by doing some research before I made these the first time as I too was curious about what was meant by "ground rice." (I have seen occasionally as an ingredient in some southeast asian recipes.)

[Breadcrumbs]

missing you ncw!

[nomadchowwoman]

TY, BC--I miss this site too. I've been lurking when possible, but crazy busy and not cooking nearly as much as I want to; I'm getting ready to jump back in though. Can't live w/o Chowhound.
I got Ottolenghi's Plenty and while I've drooled over several recipes, I haven't yet cooked one. Maybe this month! And drooling, as ever, over your dinners!

[Breadcrumbs]

So nice to "see" you ncw and looking forward to hearing about your delicious dinners from Plenty, I'm sure you'll love the book! Wishing you the gift of time so you can have some fun in the kitchen!

[blue room]

Lime-Basil Macarons Ottolenghi recipe

http://cakesandbooksandrockandroll.wo...

Wow I never made macarons before, thought they were notoriously tricky, but these behaved perfectly throughout.

I'd never have thought my first macarons would be lime-basil, either, (or greenish!

)

I would've guessed chocolate / vanilla / sane simple flavors.

But these are xtra xquisite little things!

The filling is butter, lime, basil and very little sugar--exactly right with the very sweet cookie (I was worried, *almost* dumped in a LOT more powdered sugar, phew -- in Otto I trust now.)

The cookie is ground almond, (did you know you can toast nuts in the microwave?) whipped egg white, sugar (both powdered and superfine) more basil and lime zest. I've used basil only for savory dishes in the past--but it is sweetish, now that I notice.

Piped little circles on to a parchment-covered cookie sheet and baked about 15 minutes -- assembled while congratulating myself on these sweet little French successes.

I'd make them again without hesitation, but only after I try some of the zillion other flavor combos.

[buttertart]

Kudos! Must try these.

[L.Nightshade]

Those are just adorable! They don't look like a first time effort, very professional looking.
Toast nuts in the microwave, really? Do they actually get toasty?

[blue room]

Yes, I just followed the simple instructions here
http://baking.about.com/cs/hintsandti...
They browned a little and got that nice smell.

[L.Nightshade]

blue room - I finally tracked down the post where I learned the nuts in the microwave trick. Just coming back to thank you. I love how toasting enhances the aroma and taste of nuts, and I've been doing it in the microwave since you posted this. Just today I toasted some hazelnuts, saving time and oven heat, and thought I'd let you know what a great tip this was!

[blue room]

Amaretti (an Ottolenghi recipe found online)

https://mysaltismaldon.wordpress.com/...

Oh I love these -- I know, I know, it's Spring, not Santa Season but I'm so glad I found these. They're ground almonds and dried cherries with lemon zest, (I used orange zest) whipped egg whites, salt, honey, sugar of course, mixed into a soft dough.

Mix and match--dried strawberries or blueberries or cranberries with lemon, orange, lime zest.

The almond base is important though, and it makes me crazy that almonds (I've tried blanched, slivered, whole, ground, flour, sliced) are too often less-than-full-flavored. So you have to fall back on the almond extract flavoring. They are great cookies, though!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Sour Cherry Amaretti, p. 232

I've had my eye on this recipe since I got the book a couple of years ago, so decided I needed to finally make them during this second COTM go-round. I found I had run out of almond extract, so I added a capful of amaretto liqueur instead. I have one quibble with the recipe, which is that he tells you to divide the dough into 20 pieces, and it's not so easy to look at a mound of sticky dough in a bowl and know what 1/20 of it is. Would have helped to have a size or measurement indicator, as in most cookie recipes. I grabbed a spoon and forged ahead, figuring I'd at least try to keep them a uniform size. I guess I guessed well, because I ended up with 19.

I suppose this could be a blueprint recipe, but I think I'd always like them best with sour cherries because the flavor works so wonderfully with almonds. They're pretty sweet, and I'd consider dropping the amount of sugar back next time, but I'm afrain doing so might compromise the wonderful chewy-melting texture in the centers. Really lovely, and simple enough to make.

[blue room]

The online recipe I used called for "walnut sized" balls of dough, so I had a little guidance.
And yes, "really lovely".

[Caitlin McGrath]

These keep well, too; a few days later, they were still nice after keeping in a tin, with no staleness or degradation of texture.

[blue room]

Blackberry and Star Anise Friands http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyl...
I don't have the book, so can't give a page number, anybody have it handy?
These are great--I'm very happy with them. Meant to be baked in little loaf pans, but I used large muffin cups (bigger than standard cupcake size). Made with ground almonds, egg white, some flour, sugar of course, butter, a little lemon and (frozen) blackberries. I was a little afraid of the anise -- didn't want to blot out the almond flavor (or the blackberry!) But it's just enough and just right. After these are baked, you can douse them with a liquidy icing of sweetened blackberry juice. I did this afterward and it only got better. My Mr. thinks they're great, nixed my idea to make them smaller next time. Will make them again I'm sure.
I do not have "Ottolenghi" or "Plenty", so will be relying on Internet recipes.

[buttertart]

They look very nice - I can see the anise working with those flavors as long as it wasn't too much.

[greedygirl]

That recipe's not from either book, it must be internet only. I love friands - thanks for pointing this recipe out!

[blue room]

Oops -- do you think we should put Internet-only recipes in a separate thread? (I'm really finally trying NOT to buy every cookbook mentioned, auto-pilot fashion!) I know many of the recipes are in the books *and* online -- but evidently not this one.

There are so many threads--old and new-- this month.

[Caitlin McGrath]

No, I think the idea, with the first Ottolenghi: The Cookbook COTM go-round and this month, has always been to include all his recipes, whether in the books or online, and to just post about them in whichever thread is most appropriate, because the books are less available..

[greedygirl]

White chocolate and raspberry tartlets, p258

I cheated and bought ready-made tartlet cases from M&S so these were really easy to make. You heat up double cream, and then pour it onto white chocolate and a small amount of butter, broken into small pieces. Stir until it become a smooth and glossy ganache. I had a few problems with this, mainly I think because my butter was too soft and so I couldn't cut it into very small pieces. It wouldn't melt properly, so I just set it on top of a pan of simmering water and that did the trick. Then you spoon raspberry jam into the tartlet cases, and pour on the ganache. Then add a small amount of raspberry coulis (literally just seived raspberries) and swirl with a skewer or the tip of a knife. Chill.

These were really good, and would be even nicer with homemade pastry. They look very professional as well, even though I say so myself! The raspberry stops them from being too sweet.

[JaneEYB]

Back in the 80s my signature dessert was a white chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis (just typing that makes me feel dated). This sounds like a modern version of that. I think the shortcrust would also help cut the sweetness of the mousse. Got to try it.

[lilham]

White chocolate and raspberry tartlets

I have made these twice now, and both times have been very well received. I took a few shortcuts when making them. We don't have a m&s locally so instead of prebaked tart cases, I got all butter ready roll short crust pastry. I cut a sheet into 6ths and lined a 6-hole muffins tray. Bake at 180c for 25min. To make the ganache, I put the white chocolate, butter and double cream into a glass measuring jug, bang in the microwave and stir until smooth. Instead of making a coulis, i simply mushed 4 or 5 raspberries with a fork. This mean the tartlets had seeds in them but that didnt bother anyone. I also substituted raspberry jam with black cherry jam because thats what i have in the fridge. The tarts are very delicious, and even with mushed raspberries, still looked fairly impressive. Definitely going to make again because it's as easy as spoon in jam, pour in microwaved ganache, then stir in mushed berries.

[buttertart]

That chocolate cake that calls for two percentages of chocolate and two bakings is absolutely, utterly, divine, the best of its sort I've ever made.

[Caitlin McGrath]

So you reported last year in the cakes, muffins, and cupcakes thread! http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6417...

[buttertart]

Oops! the more exposure for this gem, the better!

[The Dairy Queen]

almond and orange florentines, page 226

Well, these were just lovely. They say it's not a typical florentine, but since I don't know what a florentine is, I guess I wasn't bothered by this. If it weren't for the powdered sugar, this would be quite a healthy recipe, with just egg white, sliced almonds, and orange zest. They say you can brush chocolate on one side and I do think that would be fantastic. Nevertheless, mine are quite naked.

It's hard to really know when these cookies are done. I gave my a couple more minutes after the recommended baking time. They are still a little floppy instead of crisp, but I (perhaps incorrectly so) chalk that up to the extreme heat and humidity we're experiencing right now.

My husband thought I used too much zest, and felt I could have used even more sugar. I suppose it's possible that my orange was larger than the typical U.K. orange and I did have too much zest, but, I liked it the way it was.

Photo.

~TDQ

[smtucker]

Hey DQ.... I am planning to make these this weekend as dessert for a gluten/dairy free guest. Am I correct that icing sugar is confectioner's sugar? What kind of sorbet do you think might be nice to serve with the florentines?

[greedygirl]

Icing sugar is indeed confectioner's sugar. Florentines are really nice when half-coated with chocolate - so how about chocolate sorbet?

[smtucker]

I have never had chocolate sorbet. Is it as good as it sounds? What about this.... a chocolate sorbet and an orange sorbet with the Florentines? Does that sound tasty?

[Caitlin McGrath]

Chocolate sorbet is delicious. Chocolate and orange sorbets would go very well, I think. Chocolate and orange are delicious together and both go well with almonds, and there is orange in the cookies.

[smtucker]

Who could have imagined such a wonderful dessert for my gluten/dairy challenged friend. No one else around the table [I was enthusiastic and have 12 people coming with appetites] will know that they are being 'deprived.'

Thanks so much for the input!

[greedygirl]

I've never actually had it to my knowledge, but I came across a recipe for it the other day and thought it sounded delicious!

Your guests will not indeed feel deprived! What else are you cooking?

[smtucker]

I am viewing this get-together as an Ottolenghi opportunity with one Gourmet recipe thrown into the mix. Menu below:

Smoked Fish Mousse on Cucumbers [Batali]
Deviled Eggs

Ribs, Georgia style with a rub and mustard mop
Cucumber & Poppy Seed Salad
Marinated Eggplant with a Tahini Dressing
French bean and Peas with Hazelnuts
Winter Tabouli [Gourmet]
Potato Salad [Silver Plalate, modified]
And friends are bringing a green salad and a pasta salad

Orange and Almond Florentines
Chocolate Sorbet
Orange Sorbet [web, Martha Stewart]

Home-made Ginger Ale
Iced tea
Wine
And the guests bring their favorite beer

Almost all of this can be made on Friday and/or Saturday. Sunday will be assembling and one or two last minute items. I tried to choose a range of 'have made and loved' and 'looks great and want to try.' Plus I wanted a range of colors and textures.

Would you swap anything out?

[greedygirl]

For me, lamb would be a better match to all those Ottolenghi salads, which have a middle Eastern flavour. While the ribs sound fantastic, they are striking a bit of an odd note, but that's just me!

[smtucker]

You are absolutely right, but the ribs are the given; the reason this get-together was created. Then I made the decision that this time I would not do 'traditional' sides because I wanted to try new stuff. Really, all very selfish. :-)

[greedygirl]

Haha! Maybe sneak some lamb cutlets in there as well - the Ottolenghi marinated rack of lamb is amazing.

[smtucker]

Greedygirl, you were absolutely correct. The chocolate sorbet was the perfect pairing!

[greedygirl]

So glad to hear this. I'm going to try it for my next dinner party.

[smtucker]

My turn to make these Almond and Orange Florentines [pg 226-227.] I broke down and purchased already sliced almonds. My goodness were these easy to assemble.

Just mix the flour, egg whites and almonds with some grated orange zest. I used a tablespoon to measure out the mixture. Flattening them wasn't difficult. I think my first batch had less of the egg whites than the second tray. Like DQ, my Florentines needed almost double the time stated in the recipe. One tray was light and crispy, while the other was floppy. Sadly, I lost track of which was which.

Served with chocolate sorbet and orange sorbet. I must say, these were wonderful. If all desserts were this good, I might actually eat dessert!

[Caitlin McGrath]

Glad to hear your desserts turned out so well. That's a cookie and sorbet combo I would love. Here's a somewhat similar cookie recipe to keep in your pocket for your friend (though you needn't be gluten or dairy averse to love them, as I can readily attest) - made with egg whites, cocoa, confectioners' sugar, and pecans, with a great bittersweet chocolate flavor and a crisp outside/chewy interior: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6519...

[greedygirl]

A lot of people in the UK have fan-assisted ovens, which might account for some of the discrepancy in time.

[LulusMom]

White chocolate and cranberry biscuits (or, in american, cookies) p. 225

couldnt' find my scale and my math-brilliant husband wasn't around, so conversion was ... interesting. But, after much flour and sugar all over the place, I made these wonderful cookies. Mine were probably thinner than they were supposed to be (looking at the photo in the book) but I loved the thin, crispy sweetness of them. Lulu and my husband also big fans. I can't wait to make them again.

[greedygirl]

I'm having fun picturing the scene!

Not content with last month's street party, there's a tea party in my street this weekend as well. I think I might make these as my contribution to the festivities.

[Rubee]

The combination sounds great, I'll have to add it to my list!

I found this recipe on-line, is it the same as the book?

http://bitching-in-the-kitchen.blogsp...

[Caitlin McGrath]

That's the one, the only change being it calls for white choc. chips where the book calls for chopped white choc. I'm going to post the link in the paraphrases/links thread.

[greedygirl]

Chocolate chips aren't a standard baking ingredient in the UK like they are in the US, so that probably explains the change.

[Caitlin McGrath]

White choc. chips aren't that common in the US, and the ones available aren't very good quality for the most part, so chopping a bar is probably the better bet in the US, too.

[LulusMom]

They're really surprisingly good. In the end I couldnt' find any superfine (caster) sugar, so just used regular. Not a problem. I still have a log of the dough in the freezer, and can't wait to make them again.

[The Dairy Queen]

I'm making these white chocolate (blue)berry biscuits from p. 225

And I've just had a casualty. I am out of counter space so I set one tray of unbaked cookies on a dining room chair. I went into the kitchen for one moment, then came back out into the dining room and my cat was standing on her hind legs eating one of the raw cookies! The thing you have to understand about this cat is that she only eats 4 things.

1) IAMs original chicken cat food, 2) cheap Walgreens brand vanilla ice cream (no other brand, no other flavor--not even premium, natural vanilla ice cream will do), 3) tuna-flavored laxative and 4) popcorn (but only to lick the salt off). She will eat no other brands or flavors of these foods and no other foods.

However, cookie dough apparently calls to her!

The cookies are actually quite good. They are way too thin and caramelized. I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe I shouldn't have chosen such a high-humidity day for baking?

~TDQ

[The Dairy Queen]

Oh. My. God. I know what's wrong with my cookies. Please don't be too hard on me. I forgot to put the flour in. HAHHAHA! The bowl of flour is still sitting on the counter. Apparently i've just made white chocolate-blueberry caramel disks. No wonder the cat was eating it--it was just sugary, vanilla-flavored butter.

Unfortunately, I'm out of butter and blueberries or I would try again. But, I think I'd better call it quits. They're still really good; they're just not cookies.

~TDQ

[Caitlin McGrath]

TDQ, what counts is that, no matter what you left out, they're still really good!

[oakjoan]

ROTFL!!! Oops, I'm sorry TDQ, didn't mean to laugh. I'm entitled, however, since I've done so many similar things over the years that I should just shut up.

[The Dairy Queen]

oakjoan, this isn't the first time I've done this sort of thing, alas. I'm a horrible baker. The thing is, I was thinking, wow, this is a really weird texture and kept thinking, well, it's just some exotic recipe and that's why it's behaving like this. I had just come off of trying the florentine recipe (delicious, I'll post about that in a minute) and, of course, that's also not a typical "cookie" so instead of thinking WHOA something's really wrong here, I just rolled with it. Also, it was really really humid here yesterday (heat advisory warnings and even a tornado touch-down) so I thought perhaps that was affecting it, too. I'm just a hopeless baker, but, that never stopped me (even though maybe it should!)

Caitlin, thanks for the encouragement!

~TDQ

[JaneEYB]

White chocolate and cranberry biscuits/cookies p.225

I wasn't as enamoured of these as LulusMom. They were nice, just not special enough to make me want to repeat the recipe. I found I needed to bake them at a slightly higher temp - 350 rather than 345 and for 11 minutes to get any color in them.

[LulusMom]

Need to pick the brains of you bakers out there. I made these again on Saturday (the white chocolate and cranberry biscuits) and they were a complete catastrophe. And I can't for the life of me figure out why. Made as written before (with my notes for US measuring equivalents), put in the oven and when I went to get them out they were all melted into one big flat thing (on two different trays the same thing). I tried breaking it off the parchment after it had cooled, but even that didn't seem to work; despite the oiliness (I guess from the butter) they wanted to hang onto the paper. Any thoughts on what might have happened? I've been having much better luck with cookies over the past few years and don't want to lose the hard-won cookie mojo.