I started out making Chipotle Sweet Potato Biscuits. I was super excited when I found this recipe because it seemed *perfect* for Clabber Girl Biscuits, which is judged partially on Creativity, so the unique ingredients definitely would help. So I went through the recipe, everything was going fine, I put them in the oven, they turned a nice golden brown and done!
Then I went to go crack into one to see what the texture was like, and the inside was still gooey batter. Hmmm...so I put them in a few minutes longer. Still not baked. Then a few more. STILL not baked. The outsides were starting to get overbrowned so I just stopped and said forget it. Moving on...
I had some jalapenos that had been soaked in buttermilk for the biscuits, but the peppers themselves weren't used so I was trying to think of some use for them. Then it dawned on me - I *LOVE* fried pickles, and I love jalapenos, so why not try to fried jalapenos??? So I set out some flour, eggs and since I didn't have cornmeal I dried out some bread and crushed it to make the breading. I prepared them, fried them, got all excited about it, and then they tasted like crap. So I was 0 for 2 for the day.
I thought, I can't go through a day of baking and have NOTHING turn out! It seems so in vain! So I had a couple of hours before I headed out for the evening and was brainstorming through recipes I wanted to try that I a) had the ingredients for and b) wouldn't take too terribly long. This led me to a recipe I found for Honey Beer Bread. It was ridiculously easy to make - the prep time was seriously about five minutes and bake time was ten - and it turned out ten times better than my previous attempts! The world is funny and cruel like that sometimes. I took it to the party I went to that night and got positive reviews on it, so I think it's a keeper :)
Honey Beer Bread...yummmm
Now it's Sunday. I had absolutely nothing planned except an audition in the afternoon, which left me with about 80% of my day to fill. So I did something I don't do very often but probably should do more: cleaning. And not just the pick-up-my-clothes-and-put-my-dishes-in-the-dishwasher type of cleaning, I mean I actually broke out the Scrubbing Bubbles, the broom, the vacuum and the Swiffer. I was so proud of myself, man. My place looks and feels SO much better! Not to mention I got my Scentsy candle yesterday so now there's a nice smell to go along with it!
The cleaning took up my entire morning before I had to leave. I headed downtown to audition for a show (and it went VERY well, I couldn't believe it!) and was back home within the hour. I did some more last minute cleaning and around 4:30 thought, "I should make something else, I've been on a roll!" And I had the entire night to myself, which meant one thing: ENTREMET.
I found this entremet recipe when I first started looking for State Fair recipes and I thought it sounded AMAZING. It's a more difficult dish, since it has multiple layers, and it takes a lot of time to make because of multiple freezing times and two different meringues to whip up. Since I had a few hours to fill, it seemed like the perfect time to do it.
First was a Chocolate Genoise, which is an extremely light italian cake. It's very spongy and almost melts in your mouth. I had never even heard of Genoise before but now I love it! I might try to incorporate it into some other things. Plus, it wasn't overly difficult to make. Got the cake done, baked and set aside. Next was the Toasted Hazelnut Ganache and the Chocolate Panna Cotta layers, both of which were also pretty easy to make.
The making of the genoise. It's the lightest, spongiest cake I've ever tasted, and is SO much more interesting any other "typical" cake. Not to mention it's pretty easy! It consists primarily of eggs/yolks, throw in a little sugar, add some flour and cocoa and BAM!
-Side Note Rant - IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND HAZELNUTS!!!!!! It's such a common flavor, particularly in coffee, that I had foolishly assumed the nuts would be a standard in most grocery stores. I was proven wrong. I went to every Dahl's in a 15-mile radius and to Hy-Vee and never found them. I eventually found them at Gateway Market (very cool place, had never been there and I'll definitely have to go back) and was able to sleep a little better at night :)
Panna Cotta layer --->
Second Genoise layer with Toasted Hazelnut Ganache on top
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Back to the food. I had my first three layers done - cut the cake, froze the first layer. Added the panna cotta, the second sheet of cake and the ganache, froze that. Then I made the berry mousse layer, which turned out more like thick soup than mousse. I was very deflated by that point because I had messed up whipping the last of my cream and had to drive out to Hy-Vee to buy one little lousy container of cream (I was at the END of the damn thing, I couldn't just stop!). I then proceeded to mess up THAT batch of cream as well, so I just tried to salvage and said "Screw it, I'll use it anyway."
Berry puree! --->
The finished frozen product, cut so you can see the layers. They turned out pretty even! ---->
This dessert didn't turn out picture perfect by any means. The recipe called for the Genoise to be baked in a 12x17 pan. Well I didn't have one of those, so I just used my 9x13, figuring that it'd be a little thicker but that it wouldn't be a huge issue. I was wrong. The cake gets cut into two 8x8 squares and - you guessed it - you can't cut two 8x8 squares out of a 9x13 pan (you can tell in the picture on the above left - the cake doesn't fill the 8x8 pan and leaves an awkward gap on the side where all the berry mixture fell down and pooled). My cake was both too thick AND too small. So, that was awesome.
Essentially what I'm saying is, this run of the dessert was more of a test to see if I could get through all the steps and, in the end, see how the flavors played out. The most difficult thing, which I figured would be the case, is timing it all out. There are four layers, and various freezing times in between, so it's hard to know when to make what so that it all gets pieced together at the correct time. I think that's one of the reasons my berry mousse flopped, because the meringue had to sit out for a while while I puree'd the berries and finished other steps before adding it in at the end (it wasn't creamy enough to create a mousse texture by that point). But this is why we practice, to learn our lessons. It's freezing now and I'll be taking it to work tomorrow, where I'm sure people will say it's delicious just because it's free, but hopefully I'll get some honest feedback as well.
I'll come back and post pictures, but I've been working on this dessert for literally 8 hours and I'm shot. Time to go to bed so that I can be all chipper for work tomorrow ;)
UPDATE: After a day at work and feeding it to two groups of friends, I am now left with only this:
I think it's safe to say, it was a hit :)
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