Bostock...Yumm!

Well what do you do with left over brioche a day later? Dorie Greenspan recommends making bostock. Bostock is basically 1/2 - 3/4" thick slices of stale brioche with 3 Tbs of almond creme spread on top and then baked in the oven till golden brown and puffed.

Though I changed her recipe a tad, wow did it smell and taste wonderful. The recipe called for blanched almonds. I only had slivered almonds and therefore couldn't blanch them myself since they were already cut. The skins gave it a more "rustic" look. I liked that. If you are looking for a perfectly smooth look, then buy them blanched or buy whole and blanch them yourself. I believe they sell sliced blanched in the stores. I also used vanilla paste instead of extract which added more texture with vanilla seeds. But I always think that the flavor is worth the change in color and look.

ALMOND CREAM INGREDIENTS
Makes about 1 1/2 cups
3/4 stick (6 Tbs) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 ground blanched almonds 2 tsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 large egg
2 tsp dark rum or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

I used the food processor method and used 1 tsp vanilla paste AND 1 tsp rum emulsion. I was out of dark rum, thanks to the rum raisin icecream I made...well worth it by the way, and did not have any rum extract on hand...which is fine too because this rum emulsion is much much better! What are emulsions? Emulsions are water-based,  alcohol-free alternatives to extracts.  Instead of using alcohol, the flavor is micro encapsulated in natural stabilizers and suspended in water.  The encapsulation enables the flavor to not lose its integrity when exposed to high heat.

TO MAKE THE CREAM USING A FOOD PROCESSOR:  Put the butter & sugar in the food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch and process to blend, then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogenous. Add the rum and/or vanilla and pulse to just blend.

TO MAKE THE CREAM USING A MIXER OR BY HAND: You can use a hand or stand mixer (fit the mixer with the whisk attachment), or you can blend the cream in a bowl with a rubber spatula. Blend the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the almonds, beating to incorporate them completely. Blend in flour and cornstarch, then add the egg, beating until the cream is homogenous. Stir in the rum and/or vanilla.

Scrape the almond cream into a container and use it immediately, or refrigerate it until firm (about 2 hours).

Now just cut 1/2" - 3/4" inch slices of your brioche. Spread the bread with about 3 Tbs of the cream, leaving a little border bare (as you can see, I forgot this part but it worked out fine), and scatter over some sliced almonds, blanched or not. Put the bread on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, and bake in a 350 degree-F oven until the almond cream is puffed and golden brown, 10 - 15 minutes. Serve the bostock warm or at room temperature.

I had left over almond cream and after reading, other suggestions for it are: smoothing over th bottom of a crust, then topped with fruit, used intead of pastry cream to fill Brioche Raisin Snails or simply spoon into a ramekin capped with berries and baked like a tart. Almond cream puffs and develops a light crust. Inside, it remains soft and creamy and deeply flavored by the almonds.

I think I'll try the ramekin and berries and let you you know how it is!

Brioche Raisin Snails

With the 2nd half of the brioche recipe, I decided to make these. They sounded marvelous and as fast as they were eaten, I guess they were! This recipe is yet another by Dorie Greenspan.

These are the Sun-Maid raisins I used in my snails.
They are fabulous. A variety of colors and flavors.



FOR THE RAISIN SNAILS
1 cup moist, plump raisins (I used Sun-Maid Mixed Plump)
3 Tbls dark rum
1 1/2 tsp sugar
Scant 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (I used fresh ground in a mill)
1/2 recipe dough for Golden Brioche Loaves, chilled and ready to shape)
1/2 recipe Pastry Cream



FOR THE OPTIONAL GLAZE
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
About 1 tsp water
Drop of pure vanilla extract (I used Vanilla Paste)

GETTING READY:  Line one large or two smaller baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan, cover them with hot water and let them steep for about 4 minutes, until they are plumped. Drain the raisins, return them to the saucepan and, stirring constantly, warm them over low heat. When the raisins are very hot, pull the pan from the heat and pour over the rum. The raisins and rum can be kept in a covered jar for up to 1 day.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together.

On a flour-dusted surface, roll the dough into a rectangle about 12" wide and 16" long, with a short end toward you. Spread the pastry cream across the dough, leaving a 1-inch strip bare on the side farthest from you. Scatter the raisins over the pastry cream and sprinkle the raisins and cream with the cinnamon sugar. Starting with the side nearest you, roll the dough into a cylinder, keeping the roll as tight as you can. (At this point, you can wrap the dough airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months. Or, if you do not want to make the full recipe, use as much of the dough as you'd like and freeze the remainder.)

With a chef's knife, using a gentle sawing motion, trim just a tiny bit from the ends if they're very ragged or not well filled, then cut the log into rounds a scant 1 inch thick. Put the snails on the lined baking sheet(s), leaving some puff space between them.

Lightly cover the snails with wax paper and set the baking sheet(s) in a warm place until the snails have doubled in volume- they'll be puffy and soft- about 1 hr and 30 minutes.

GETTING READY TO BAKE: When the snails have almost fully risen, preheat the oven: depending on the number of baking sheets you have, either center a rack in the oven or position the racks to divide the oven into thirds & preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Remove the wax paper, and bake the snails for about 25 minutes (rotate the sheets, if using two, from top to bottom and front to back after 15 minutes), or until they are puffed & richly browned. Using a metal spatula, transfer the snails to a cooling rack.

IF YOU WANT TO GLAZE THE SNAILS: put a piece of wax paper under the rack of warm rolls to act as a drip catcher. Put the confectioners' sugar in a small bowl, and stir in the teaspoon of water. Keep adding water drop by drop until you have an icing that falls from the tip of the spoon. Add the vanilla extract, then drizzle the icing over the hot snails.

Pastry Cream

This recipe is from Baking from My Home to Yours, by Lorie Greenspan. I used it in my Brioche Raisin Snails and loved it. Lorie gives 7 other ways to "play around" with this cream: liquer-scented, rum-scented, cinnamon, ginger, citrus, coffee or espresso, and chocolate.

Lorie suggest using pastry cream in a crust, topped with fruit, as the filling between layers of a cake or even a serve-along spread with cookies. I will have to give this a try and try very, very, very hard not to forget to use it. I have so many recipes I'd love to give a go and find myself forgetting about the many wonderful ideas I've stumbled across.

PASTRY CREAM
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
3 1/2 Tbls unsalted butter, cut into bits at room temperature.

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Whisk yolks together with sugar & cornstarch in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan until well blended.
3. Drizzle about 1/4 cup of the hot milk-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle. (I find it best to allow it to drizzle along the inside of the pan rather than directly onto the eggs.) Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.
4. Put the pan over medium heat, whisking vigorously, constantly and thoroughly, bring the mixture to a boil. (Mine never did!) Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 -2 minutes, then remove from heat.
5. Whisk in the vanilla extract & allow to sit for 5 minutes.
6. Whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the cream is silky and smooth.
7. Press cream into a bowl and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until cold. If you would like it to cool quickly, put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water. Stir the cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes.

Golden Brioche Loaves

This little project started off with a line from Kate & Leopold that has been stuck in my head for months:

"But perhaps one day, when you've awoken from a pleasant slumber to the scent of a warm brioche smothered in marmalade and fresh creamery butter you'll understand that life is not solely comprised of tasks, but tastes."

"Brioche"? What is brioche? And to my surprise, in my new favorite baking cookbook, Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan, there's a brioche recipe. It made two loaves, so I chose to do something different with the other half of the recipe ... Brioche Raisin Snails. Even the stale day old leftover brioche has a delicious use when topped with Almond Cream and toasted...Bostock.

I can not see how this recipe could work in a bread machine. It's very specific on how long to do each step involved. All seemed wonderful and correct except my bread did not rise beyond what it rose while in the final stage as you can see. While cooking it stayed right where it was when I put it there. While affecting the texture it did not affect the taste.

According to Dorie G a brioche is

"Elegant... rich, with golden color and unforgettable texture - pull on a slice and watch how it stretches luxuriously in thin, ever widening lengths (one sign of a superior brioche) - and slightly sweet, fully buttery flavor."

Oops! My poor brioche failed in the texture, but not the flavor! I will address this recipe and give it a shot again. Pull on my brioche and it pulls apart. No stretching involved. Oh well. Regardless, it's a fabulous recipe and she allows you to do so many things with this basic recipe. So give it a shot and I'll also share the wonderful Brioche Raisin Snails I made from the other half of this recipe.

The dough should be made 1 day ahead and then shaped and baked the next.

FOR THE BRIOCHE
2 packets active dry yeast
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch water
1/3 cup just-warm-to-the-touch whole milk
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
3 sticks (12 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature but still slightly firm


FOR THE GLAZE
1 large egg
1 Tbs water

To Make the Brioche: Put the yeast, water & milk in the bowl of a stand mixer and, using a wooden spoon, stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add the flour and salt, and fit the  mixer with the dough hook, if you have one. Turn the mixer on and off in a few short pulses, just to dampen the flour, then increase the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for a minute or two, just until the flour is moistened. At this point you'll have a fairly dry, shaggy mass.

Scrape sides & bottom of the bowl, set the mixer to low and add the eggs, followed by the sugar. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball. Reduce the speed to low and add the butter in 2-Tbs size chunks, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding the next. Dough will be very soft, almost like batter. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to beat until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 10 minutes.

Transfer dough to a clean bowl and cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature until nearly doubled in size, 40-60 minutes.

Deflate the dough by lifting up around the edges & letting it fall with a slap into the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. Slap the dough down every 30 minutes until it stops rising, about 2 hours, then leave the covered dough in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

The next day, butter and flour two 8.5 x 4.2 inch loaf pans.

Pull the dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece of dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a log about 3 1/2 inches long. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in the bottom of each pan. Put the pans on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat, cover the pans lightly with wax paper and leave the loaves at room temperature until the dough almost fills the pans, 1 to 2 hours.

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in over and preheat to 400 degrees F.

To Make the Glaze: Beat the egg with the water. Using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops of the loaves with the glaze.  Bake the loaves until they are well risen and deeply golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer the pans to racks to cool for 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the pans and turn the loaves out onto the racks. Invert again and cool for at least 1 hour.

Homemade Oreos

I found a great little recipe on The Cupcake Project blog for making homemade Oreos and couldn't resist!  I mean...who doesn't love Oreos? I've made these twice now and my husband and kids will not let me give these out or share outside of our house! I'm not one for super sweet frosting/filling and so these were great.

There are other recipes that require rolling into a log and chilling. Honestly, I don't have the patience for that. When I get excited about making something, I want it now! So this recipe satisfied my quirk and my family's sweet tooth.

My first question when making these is….Hershey's or Nestle? Nestle was sitting in the front of my cabinet so that's what I chose. The batter came together easily in my stand mixer and absolutely no effort at all. The effort lay in the pressing out of the cookies and cutting them into perfect circles with the cookie cutters. This is where my 2nd SET of questions came….how big of a scoop? How big of a circle/cutter? Will the cookies flatten as they bake? Will they spread? So my first batch was created with a standard cookie dough scoop and pressed until just over the size of the 2" cutter.

6 minutes into the cooking…YES they are spreading…oops…so that's how she got approximately 40 cookies…I was over half way through the dough at 16 halves!  So the 2" cookie cutter circles turned out to be 3" baked.

Time to choose a smaller cutter and less cookie dough.  I will give the small end of a melon ball scoop and the 1.5" cookie cutter a shot. Woo hoo! That's the winning combination: small end of melon scoop and 1.5" cookie cutter. If you want thicker cookies...use the larger end.

On to the frosting/stuffing. I used butter flavored shortening the first time…because that's all I happened to have in my cupboards. It definitely made it yellowy and not white. If you must have white, stick with regular ol' shortening and clear vanilla extract. I also, however, chose to use my favorite staple, vanilla bean paste instead of extract which caused it to go darker as well, but I choose flavor over looks any day!

The Chocolate Wafers

Makes about 20 stuffed cookies or 40 halves

• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 C sugar
• 1/2 C plus 2 T butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.
2. Beat in the butter and the egg. Continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. (I found that while the dough wasn't sticky enough to roll, I could press it flat with my hands like the recipe said and then use cookie cutters to cut perfect circles. If you just care about the taste, then there is no need for the cookie cutters. Also, remember this is a chance to get creative and use all kinds of cookie cutters.)
4. Bake for 9 minutes at 375 F. Set on a rack to cool.

The Filling

• 1/4 cup room-temperature, unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening (1st batch I used butter flavored for more depth of flavor)
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste instead.)

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
2. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
3. To make a cookie, pipe teaspoon-sized blobs of cream into the center of a cookie using a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch round tip. (If you don't have a pastry bag, you could easily just spread the filling with a knife or use a Ziploc with the corner cut off as a pastry bag. I had a pastry bag, but I only had a star tip. The tip doesn't matter much.)
4. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.