Walnut Mini Loaves

Today I have decided that I need to tackle one of my fears. Even though it is not a huge fear, I need to get past it. It is the fear of running out of an ingredient in the middle of creating something in the kitchen. The fear was built on having that irritation and inconvenience happen 3 times, back to back.

I am not alone, for there may be several bloggers out there that have this affliction. It is silly, I know. It is simply a matter of being organized. Instead of minimizing it to being organized, it would appear that I have over compensated by hoarding certain things. One of them that came to light recently is the amount of packaged nuts I have in my freezer.

Now it is time that I relieve some of the inventory, by baking up some nut bread. This particular recipe uses walnuts and whiskey. It yields 6 mini loaves that are really moist due to the texture from the oil in the ground nuts. Also, these little nutty loaves are even further enhanced by a sweet whiskey syrup ladled on top.

This does make a good base recipe that you can experiment with. Chocolate ganache can be drizzled on top after the syrup sets. Using hazelnut and a nut liqueur is another flavor choice.

Walnut Mini Loaves
adapted from Dr Oetker Recipes

Ingredients/Cake
1 cup ground walnuts
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 tbs melted butter
1 cup whiskey
3 tbs milk

Ingredients/Syrup
remaining 3 tbs whisky reduction from above
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbs water

Start by making the whiskey reduction. Pour whisky in a saucepan and place over medium high heat and let cook down until only a little over 1/3 of a cup, or 6 tablespoons remains. Set aside to cool.

Grease the interior of 6 mini loaf pans, making sure all corners and sides are well covered. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the baking powder and flour. Whisk in the sugar and then the walnuts. In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, eggs, milk and 3 tbs of the whiskey reduction. Fold the liquid into the dry mix until all is blended. The batter should be quite thick.

Spoon the batter evenly into each of the pans, evening out the surface by using a spatula. Place in oven and let bake until tester comes out clean and edges are golden, about 15-20 minutes.

As it bakes, prepare the whiskey syrup. Fill a saucepan with the 3 tbs of water and 1/3 cup of sugar. Stir and let cook until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining whiskey reduction.

Once the loaves are baked, remove from oven. Set pan(s) on cooling rack and poke holes in top of each, using a wooden skewer. Then drizzle a tablespoon of the syrup on top and continue to drizzle by tablespoon until all the syrup is gone. Let loaves cool completely in pan, then turn out onto rack.

Prior to serving, you can add an additional topping of whipped cream, chocolate or caramel.
                                   **LAST YEAR:Citrus Ginger Cookies** 

Hazelnut Praline Cakes

While buttercream and fondant are covering most cakes these days, do not forget about the coated cakes, such as petit fours. However, the thought of baking cutting and dipping does seem like a major project. I imagine that is why you rarely see these type of cakes. It is not just the cutting; the dipping and decorating for that special appearance can be tedious as well.

While petit fours are pretty tasty, today's average baker is looking for something more like a snack cake. Snack cakes are small individual cakes, but they are baked in the shape you want. No cutting required. Also, another modification is to change the coating to something more tasty and less fancy.

This version of the snack cake combines hazelnut flavor, chocolate and praline. The cakes is hazelnut flavored and then it is coated in hazelnut milk chocolate with little bits of praline. In making these, 2 major factors had to be considered. The first being the structure of the cakes. Pound cake would be too dense and an airy cake would soak up the chocolate. A happy medium had to be found. Also, the cake paired with the coating had to create a good balance. Chocolate dipped brownies would be way too much sweetness.The idea of a lighter flavor cake with a strong flavored coating would make the best combination.

I have to admit, the Cacao Barry store had my business on this recipe. However, do not let that deter you from this recipe. Hazelnut ganache and toffee bits are an easy and less expensive substitute.

Now, let make some cakes! This recipe makes 1 dz cakes.

Hazelnut Praline Cakes
by flourtrader

Ingredients/Cake
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp hazelnut extract
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Ingredients/Coating
2-3 cups hazelnut ganache (or Gianduja Plasir Lait/Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Coverture)
1/2-3/4 cup toffee bits (or Cacao Barry Praline Bits).

Prepare a muffin tin or square cake tin by buttering the interior and dusting with flour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make sure your eggs and butter have come to room temperature.

In a medium size bowl, sift together the salt, baking powder and flour. Set aside. Cut the butter into 1/4 inch chunks and place in bowl. Beat on high speed (stopping once to scrape down the sides of the bowl) for about 30 seconds until butter is smooth. Pour in sugar and beat again on high speed for about 1 minute, stopping again at intervals to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mixture should be fluffy.

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, egg and hazelnut extract. Pour into butter mixture and beat until evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Using a wooden spoon, mix 1/3 of the sifted ingredients into the batter. Then follow with 1/4 cup of whipping cream, mixing again. Follow the same steps, this time using with 1/2 of the remaining sifted ingredients. End with folding in the last of the dry ingredients.

Scoop the batter into the prepared cavities of the pans, make sure the amount of batter is about the same for all filled cavities.

Place pan in oven and bake from 18-24 minutes, or until done. Mine took about 20 minutes, but use a cake tester to determine when done. Cakes should have a golden edge.

Place pan on rack for about 10 minutes, then invert cakes onto cooling rack. Flip cakes over and let completely cool on rack.

While the cakes are cooling, if you purchased toffee bits, evaluate their size. Should you want them smaller, reduce their size by using a blender or coffee/spice grinder. With the Cacao Barry praline bits, no grinding is needed. Set aside.

Prepare the hazelnut ganache according to recipe or microwave the purchased coverture until melted (microwave in 20 second sessions, stiring after each until totally melted). Stir in toffee bits or praline pieces.

Place a sheet of waxed paper on a flat surface. Then put a rack over the paper. Dip your cooled cakes into the coating and then sit on rack to dry. If using store bought coverture, place cakes in refrigerator to have chocolate set up. Homemade ganache should set up at room temperature.

Once the coating has set up, transfer cakes to parchment or wax paper.

Tips and Notes:
1. Batter will be real thick, like cookie dough. Also and your cavities will only be about 1/2- 1/3 full.
2. You can use this recipe for mini cakes, the end result will be yield 2 dz cakes and the bake time will be around 12-15 minutes.
3. Flavor combos are limitless, so feel free to experiment. Chocolate cakes with coated with vanilla ganache with chunks of peppermint candy mixed in would be great for the holidays.
                                  **LAST YEAR:Pumpkin Chocolate Marbled Bundt Cake**
 

Pistachio Financiers

The name of financiers may not bring anybody running to the table for these, for the name is not commonly used here in the US. However, if you call them nut tea cakes, the item will be much more recognized.

If tea cakes do not peak your interest, then let's get into more detail. Imagine a moist mini cake that has the nutty flavor of both pistachio and almond. This flavor is not derived from extracts, but from nut paste. Now, add just a touch of dark chocolate and you have something more than any name can convey.

Making these as mini cakes and not cupcakes or a layer cake is the way to go. The high volume of nut paste makes these tidbits dense. In other words, Goldilocks (as the story states) would find the size of these as "just right."

I baked these in mini muffin papers, yet "true" financiers are baked in special molds. The instructions noted using silicon molds as the preferred pan. The financier molds are strictly for aesthetic purposes, so don't feel that purchasing them is necessary. However, the special purchase that is required is the pistachio paste. You can find it in specialty grocers or on line.

The recipe hails from Francois Payard and makes about 40-50 financiers.

Pistachio Financiers
adapted from Payard Cookies

Ingredients
4 eggs
7 tbs butter
1 1/2 tbs dutch processed cocoa powder
5 tbs pistachio paste
14 oz almond paste

Fill a small saucepan with the butter and place over medium high heat.  Let the butter melt and cook until it reaches a light brown color. Remove from heat and set aside.

Take the almond paste and grate into a bowl, then empty the bowl into a food processor. Add the pistachio paste. Process the two together for about 30 seconds or until the mixture is evenly blended. Leaving the food processor running, add one egg. Once the egg is completely mixed into the batter, repeat that step with the remaining eggs, adding one by one. Then drizzle in the butter, processing the batter as you pour. After it thoroughly blended, switch off processor.

Measure out 3/4 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Whisk the cocoa powder into the 3/4 cup of batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Empty the food processor bowl with the plain batter into a medium size bowl and also cover with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator to chill. Both batters should chill for a minimum of 3 hours. However, overnight is the preferred amount of time.

When the chilling time is complete for the batter, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the silicon molds by spraying with nonstick spray and place on baking sheets . If using a mini muffin pan, grease cavity edges and line with paper baking cups.

Take out a 2 pastry bags and assemble with a coupler and 1/4 inch round tip. As an alternative, you can snip the tip off the both bags or the corners off of 2 small plastic sealing bags. Fill one bag with the plain batter and the other with the chocolate batter.

Fill each of the cavities with the plain batter, using a piping method. Each cavity should be about three quarters of the way full. After they are filled, then pipe 3/4 tsp of the chocolate batter into the top center of each.

Place pans in oven and bake until tester comes out clean, which is about 20-30 minutes. When done, financiers will spring back to a light touch and have a golden brown hue on top. Let financiers cool completely in pan (regardless of type of pan) before serving or storing.

Tips and Notes:
1. Batter is thick, so the piping method keeps them from having bubbles in the center of the batter/cake. It is not recommended to spoon the batter into the pan.

2. The silicon molds will result in small cakes with a flat surface. Baking with mini muffin pans yield a puffy surface like small cupcakes.

3. Almond paste is much thicker than pistachio, so the grating method is necessary to insure that the two nut pastes are easier to blended together.
                              **LAST YEAR:Schnecken or Pecan Cinnamon Buns*