Way beyond chocolate
THERE’S an episode of the late-’90s PBS series “Baking With Julia” that features Berkeley-based pastry chef Alice Medrich (in some circles, fondly referred to as the Queen of Chocolate) and one of her cakes -- a beautifully executed spectacle of framboise-soaked, chocolate genoise layered with chocolate mousse, whipped creme fraiche and raspberries, wrapped ‘round with a sheet of chocolate, topped with elaborate chocolate ruffles and dusted with powdered sugar.
No wonder that by the end of the episode, both Medrich and Child need a seat and a glass of Champagne.
Though undoubtedly delicious (she’s also not called the First Lady of Chocolate for nothing), no such chocolate-raspberry ruffle cake makes an appearance in Medrich’s new cookbook, “Pure Dessert.” Instead, you’ll find a simple, elegant almond cake decorated only with the handful of toasty, sliced almonds that line the cake pan.
How easy is it to make? As Medrich says: “It starts with whole almonds in the food processor, and two minutes later, you have batter.” A far cry from having to triple-sift cocoa with flour. Or there’s a vin santo chiffon cake, served plain with a little whipped cream and maybe a few orange slices drizzled with more of the sweet wine and some honey. It’s Medrich unruffled: no glazes, no mousses, no frostings.
With the ruffles swept away, we can now appreciate Medrich’s gift for combining flavors: corn tuiles with salt and pepper, a cake scented with sesame oil and vanilla, figs roasted with cardamom. And her guidance in coaxing the best texture from often-adventurous ingredients.
Medrich founded Cocolat, a chocolate dessert company, in the 1970s (it was sold in the ‘90s) and has written and contributed to several cookbooks. (By the way, the recipe for that chocolate-raspberry cake later was published in the book “Baking With Julia.”)
“Pure Dessert” lives up to its subtitle, “true flavors, inspiring ingredients, and simple recipes.” Chapters are categorized by flavors: milk; grains, nuts and seeds; fruit; chocolate; honey and sugar; herbs and spices, flowers and leaves; and wine, beer and spirits.
In each chapter are recipes for tarts, cakes, cookies and ice creams, with an occasional recipe for candied citrus peel or chocolate pudding or honey caramels. It’s not intuitive when you’re looking for, say, cake recipes, but that’s what the index is for. It’s great when you have a farmers market fruit or special ingredient on hand.
I found myself returning again and again to the grains, nuts and seeds chapter, which includes some of the book’s most intriguing recipes: bourbon-nutmeg pound cake made with whole wheat or spelt flour, golden kamut shortbread (kamut is an ancestor of modern wheat), sesame seed cake, whole-wheat sable cookies with cacao nibs, and those corn tuiles (thin, crisp, wafer-like cookies) with salt and pepper.
Sweet and salty
The corn tuiles came out amazingly thin and crisp, light and delicate. They’re made with corn flour, finely ground cornmeal (Bob’s Red Mill brand is available at Whole Foods markets and at health-food stores). The flavor of corn is heightened by the cookie’s sweetness, which is in turn balanced by a sprinkling of salt and pepper.
Medrich suggests eating the tuiles on their own, or -- refreshing to hear in a dessert book -- with a selection of cheeses. In one of the instructional sections interspersed throughout the book, she points out that tuiles carry flavor so well because they don’t require egg yolks (just whites), which she says can have a dulling effect.
And her smart, creative versions -- jasmine tea, dried lavender, fresh thyme, crushed saffron, freshly grated cinnamon -- take full advantage. Her tuile batter is great because you don’t even have to refrigerate it before shaping the cookies.
Medrich is exacting when it comes to measuring flour and includes in all recipes both the weight and volume measurements for flour. If you have a scale, use it, for the tuile recipe especially; a little too much flour will render a not-so-delicate cookie.
And the delicacy of her cookies is what makes them so elegant. Whole-wheat sables are tender and fine-crumbed and perfectly baked. The recipe suggests adding hempseed, currants, hazelnuts or cacao nibs to the dough; I tried the cacao nibs. The nutty flavor of the wheat and the deep-chocolate flavor of the cacao nibs were a perfect combination, and the nibs melt a little during baking but keep much of their crunchiness.
The shortbread crust for tarts was somewhat disappointing. It’s fabulously easy to make; mix together melted butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and flour, then press the dough right into the pan. But maybe because of all that melted butter, it slumps into the “corners” of the pan during baking.
I got much better results from her cake recipes -- such as the vin santo chiffon cake. It had a perfectly moist-but-light texture and with the wine and a little olive oil, an almost ethereal flavor.
And then there’s an Italian chocolate-almond torte made with lots of ground, unsweetened chocolate and almonds folded into egg whites. It’s rich and nutty but not overly dense. It gets dusted with a little cocoa. No chocolate ruffles required.
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Vin santo chiffon cake
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Servings: 10
Note: Adapted from “Pure Dessert” by Alice Medrich. Medrich suggests serving the cake with whipped cream and peaches or nectarines splashed with Vin Santo, or with sliced oranges drizzled with honey and Vin Santo. If you have both a hand-held mixer and a stand mixer, you can use the former for the egg yolks and the latter for the whites, so you don’t have to wash equipment in between.
2/3 cup sugar, divided
7 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons high-quality olive oil
1/2 cup Vin Santo or other sweet white wine, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup (3.5 ounces) sifted (before measuring) cake flour
1. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch springform pan, or 9-inch-by-3-inch cake pan with a removable bottom, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine one-third cup of the sugar, the egg yolks, salt and both zests. In a standing mixer or with a hand-held mixer, beat at high speed until thick and light in color. Gradually beat in the olive oil, followed by the Vin Santo.
3. Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl and beat (at high speed if using a hand-held mixer, medium speed if using a standing mixer) until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Gradually beat in the remaining one-third cup sugar and continue to beat until the egg whites are stiff but still moist when the beaters are lifted.
4. Pour half the egg mixture over the egg whites, sift half the flour on top, and fold until nearly incorporated. Scrape the remaining egg mixture into the bowl and sift in the remaining flour. Fold just until the ingredients are blended.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 degrees and bake until a thin wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 10 to 15 minutes. If the cake is browning too fast, place a piece of buttered parchment or wax paper on top. Cool the cake in the pan on a rack for at least 10 minutes, then remove it from the pan and cool on the rack. The cake stays moist for at least 2 to 3 days if refrigerated, tightly wrapped.
Each serving: 182 calories; 5 grams protein; 23 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 6 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 148 mg. cholesterol; 109 mg. sodium.
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Nibby whole-wheat sables
Total time: 40 minutes, plus chilling time for the dough
Servings: Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies
Note: Adapted from “Pure Dessert” by Alice Medrich. Cacao nibs are available at Whole Foods stores, Surfas in Culver City, Nicole’s Gourmet Foods in South Pasadena, and well-stocked supermarkets.
1 cup (4.5 ounces) flour
Scant 1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup cacao nibs
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and whole wheat flour and set aside.
2. In another medium bowl, using the back of a large spoon or with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar, salt and vanilla until smooth and creamy but not fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the cacao nibs and mix to incorporate. Add the flour and mix just until incorporated. Scrape the dough into a mass and, if necessary, knead with your hands a bit, just until smooth.
3. Form the dough into a 12-by-2-inch log. Wrap the log tightly in plastic wrap; refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.
4. Position the oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Using a sharp knife, cut the cold dough log into one-fourth-inch slices. Place the cookies at least 1 1/2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 16 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Allow the cookies to rest on the sheets about 1 minute to firm up, then transfer them to a rack using a metal spatula. Let them cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Each cookie: 69 calories; 1 gram protein; 7 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 12 mg. cholesterol; 15 mg. sodium.
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Corn tuiles with salt and pepper
Total time: 1 hour
Servings: Makes about 40 (2 1/2 -inch) tuiles
Note: Adapted from “Pure Dessert” by Alice Medrich. Corn flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill brand) is very finely ground cornmeal and is available at many supermarkets. “Even a little too much flour may result in thick and tough rather than thin and crisp tuiles,” Medrich writes. “Measure carefully.” So with this recipe, it is highly recommended that you weigh the flour.
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons butter, melted and still warm, plus additional butter for the baking sheets
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg whites
1 ounce (3 1/2 tablespoons) flour
1.2 ounces ( 1/3 cup) corn flour
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat. Or line with foil, dull side facing up, and smooth the foil to remove any wrinkles (to avoid distorting the cookies). Lightly butter the mat or foil.
2. In a small bowl, combine one-eighth teaspoon of the salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, egg whites, flours and the remaining one-eighth teaspoon salt. The batter will have the consistency of thin, runny Cream of Wheat cereal.
4. If using a silicone mat: Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet. If you intend to shape the tuile, bake only four or five at a time to allow time for shaping. Using a small offset spatula, spread the batter into rounds, ovals or elongated shapes about one-sixteenth-inch thick. Sprinkle a pinch of the salt and pepper over each. Bake, watching carefully, until the wafers are golden brown one-half to three-quarters of the way to the centers, but still pale in the centers, 10 to 15 minutes. If the cookies are not baked long enough, they will not be completely crisp when cool. As soon as you can coax a thin metal spatula under a cookie without destroying it, transfer it to a rack to cool flat. Or shape it by draping it over a rolling pin, nestling it into a little cup or twisting it with your fingers. Working fast, remove the remaining tuiles; reheat for a few seconds if necessary. Repeat until all of the wafers are baked.
5. If using foil: Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart onto the baking sheet. If you intend to shape the tuile, bake only four or five at a time to allow time for shaping. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper mixture over each. Bake, watching carefully, until the batter spreads and the cookies are golden brown one-half to three-quarters the way to the centers but still look pale in the center, 10 to 15 minutes. If the cookies are not baked long enough, they will not be completely crisp when cool. If the cookies do not spread thin while baking, try using a little more butter on the foil and/or spread the batter with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. For flat tuiles, slide the foil sheet of cookies onto a rack to cool. For curved tuiles, grasp the edges of the foil when the sheet comes out of the oven (without touching the pan or the cookies) and roll it into a fat cylinder, gently curving the attached cookies like potato chips. Crimp or secure the foil with a paper clip. When cool, unroll the foil carefully and remove the tuiles. Alternatively, remove individual tuiles from the foil while they are hot and shape them as described above. Flat or curved, tuiles are easiest to remove from the foil when completely cool. Repeat until all the wafers are baked.
Each cookie: 28 calories; 0 protein; 5 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 1 gram fat; 0 saturated fat; 2 mg. cholesterol; 19 mg. sodium.
