The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. This post focuses on the panna cotta. My other post focuses on the florentines.

I had already made my first panna cotta last year (see here) and so that part of this month's challenge was not new for me. But because I have to host a Mai Pham, Vietnamese style dinner next month, I chose to make a coconut cream panna cotta to see if it would work. It turned out fabulous, much better than I expected.  What took it over the top was because I used a blackberry honey that I bought last summer at the farmers market. Giada's recipe uses mostly honey to sweeten the panna cotta, versus the recipe I used last year that used only sugar. Both recipes are good in their own rights. 

One of my criteria for a good panna cotta is that it has a beautiful jiggle to it. This recipe did. For an example, see the video at the bottom of my Grange review here. 

This recipe is the Giada one adapted to use coconut cream. You will find coconut cream in Asian markets. It is much thicker than coconut milk, having the high fat content that you want for panna cotta.

Coconut Cream Panna Cotta 

1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon (one packet) unflavored powdered gelatin

1 cup  whipping cream

2 cups coconut cream
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
pinch of salt

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. This post focuses on the Florentines. My other post focuses on the panna cotta.

Florentines originated in Florence, Italy. My first exposure to them was the ones you find at Trader Joe's. Most recipes call for minced nuts in the caramelized sugar mixture, but this one calls for quick oats. Both taste the same since it is the caramelized sugar that is the real flavor.

This couldn't be an easier cookie to make. The most 'difficult' part would be to watch the oven to make sure you get them just the right color/doneness. I actually ended up switching the trays on the racks halfway through because the bottom rack was going so much faster. This worked well for me.

I would suggest being careful when spreading the chocolate if you want to make sandwiches. Since the cookies are so lacy/holey, the chocolate leaks through. You just want a thin layer.

2/3 cup unsalted butter

2 cups quick oats

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup  plain (all purpose) flour

1/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 cup  whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1½ cups dark or milk chocolate

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a pan or microwave. Remove from heat. Add all ingredients but chocolate and mix thoroughly. Drop dough by teaspoons onto parchment. Slightly flatten them with the spoon. Bake 6-8 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool on pan.

Melt chocolate in microwave or on top of a double boiler.

Spread chocolate on the bottom of one cookie and sandwich together to the bottom of another cookie. Or you can just drizzle chocolate along the tops of the individual cookies. Let cool for chocolate to harden. Enjoy!

It's been a month since the NASFT Fancy Food Show and the samples keep on coming. I have really fallen behind on some of products I want to share and in an effort to catch up, I'm blogging about a few today. Some I wish I could give more time and space to, but I've been in the lucky position of being a bit blog swamped.

When I went to the Fancy Food Show last year I came across one brand of rum cakes. This year I found a new one and made a point to check them out. Any alcohol added to baked goods aids in keeping them moist and gives them more shelf life. That's why I add Kahlua to my brownies. I tried the cakes offered by Tortuga Rum Cakes, which are from the Cayman Islands. They are super moist so that they would leave a sticky rum ring on a piece of paper. As a non-drinker, I'm pretty sensitive to alcohol, even when used in cooking. These cakes definitely had a rum kick to them. But what I particularly liked was the Key Lime flavored cake. Something about the key lime just smoothed and mellowed out the intensity of the rum. Tortuga Rum Cakes makes other things besides the cakes. They also have coffees, fudges, and sauces. I'm sure the rum infused fudge must be pretty good. I liked the sauces. I got to taste their jerk sauce, which had a blended sweeetness with the heat of West Indian spices. They've sent me a bottle of Hell Fire Caribbean Sauce, which I am, quite frankly, nervous to open. Oh, and they gave me some of their coffee, which I gave to Kimberly since I don't drink it. She texted me yesterday asking where I got it, she'd had three cups already that morning. Guess it's pretty good.

I also stopped at the Prima Taste booth. They specialize in Asian sauce mixes, particularly from Singapore. I took three packets home to try. The first one is the Black Pepper Sauce that I used with beef. Loved it. You just need to sear the beef cubes and then saute with onions and the sauce with a bit of water added. Being black pepper, it is not really spicy, just peppery. My dad would be a fan of this because he always puts a lot of pepper on his food. The other I liked was the Sweet & Spicy Seafood Sauce. I tossed this with shrimp, onions, and green peppers. These sauces are perfect for when you are lazy and want something good and easy. I'd rather use a sauce pack like these with the meat and veggies of my choice rather than resort to junk food.

Seattle Chocolates' Chick Bars

When I saw these Chick Bars from Seattle Chocolates at the show I wondered what was their purpose? The five are Power, Survivor, Nutty, Extreme, and Strong Chicks. Originally sold as small truffles, the candy bars only just came out last fall. In fact, all of Seattle Chocolates bars had been truffle style with soft centers. The Chick Bars are solid,  dark chocolate. Each has its own personality with the mix-ins. I don't like fruit with my chocolate and so I was wary of the Strong Chick bar with its acai, cranberries, almonds and crunchy edamame. But I was surprised. There wasn't too much sweetness from the berries to bother me and the edamame was just like a peanut. And their purpose? For us to enjoy while celebrating the strength of women every day!

Frosting Queens

Over the three day weekend I decided to get around to using these frosting samples from The Frosting Queens, who happen to be right here in Sacramento and were recently touted by Food and Wine Magazine. I first made cupcakes and topped them with the Crowned Caramel Spice Frosting. It was definitely spiced strongly, but tasted great over my Mexican chocolate cupcakes. These frosting pouches contain one pound of frosting and will keep in your cupboard for up to three months or you can refrigerate them for up to six months. They have no additives or preservatives. Problem is, one pound is not enough to frost a cake. They just covered my 15 cupcakes, but with just my spreading them and not getting all decorative. For a cake you would need two pouches at least. Knowing this, I decided to use the second pouch, the King's Cabernet Chocolate, in some cake balls I posted earlier here. The cabernet is a great flavor component with the chocolate. Mixed in with a chocolate cake fresh from the oven, the cake balls came out fantastic. Their website also offers other uses for the frostings, like using one for the base of a chocolate fondue. Check them out.










Seattle Chocolates Strong Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Seattle Chocolates Survivor Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Seattle Chocolates Nutty Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Seattle Chocolates Extreme Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Seattle Chocolates Power Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)
Seattle Chocolates Survivor Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)Seattle Chocolates Survivor Chick Bar, 2.5-Ounce (Pack of 6)

Update: If you read my original post below, you'll see that I really thought the cake balls made with boxed cake mix and a tub of frosting were disgustingly sweet. But I also said that I was pretty sure they would taste much better if you at least made your cake from scratch.

Well, it's true. Today I made a chocolate cake from scratch and then used a Cabernet Chocolate Frosting from The Frosting Queens, a local frosting company. These cake balls were sooooo much better!  I could eat see how cake ball addiction could be formed with this batch.  I definitely recommend making cake from scratch since it will be less mushy and sweet than a cake mix.

Original Post 6/30/10:

I had read on another blog about the growing trend of cake balls. Funny how trends can creep up on you. Anyway, it made me curious because, as a cake snob, they really sounded pretty gross to me. But they are so simple that I had to give them a try, say I did them, and unleash them on my always willing coworker tasters.

All you need to do is bake a box of cake mix. While the cake is still warm from the oven, you crumble it into a mixing bowl. Then you add a can of frosting and mix this whole mess together. Now roll small spoonfuls in your hands to make balls. The last step is to dip them in chocolate and then let them sit to harden.

The possibilities are endless. You just mix and match cake flavors and frostings. Then you can roll them in nuts, coconut, candy bits, etc.

I chose yellow cake mix because it was on sale. I added a bit of almond extract to the batter to give it a little nutty flavor. I also chose the cream cheese frosting. You can always make your own frosting as well. Since this was an experiment and I was taking the easiest route to end product, I just bought a can of the stuff, again, on sale.

The only difficulties I had was that the cake balls are pretty soft and so my fork left marks in the ball and chocolate as I dipped them. Then they tended to stick to the wax paper so that when I lifted cooled ones the bottom bit of chocolate would break off. So I ended up with bottomless balls. (Sounds a little kinky.)

Just as I thought, they are pretty sickly sweet and gross. But I can see how they could suit my taste if I just work from scratch and tweak it. The other day I had a rather disappointing cake recipe that was really dense and flavorless due to low amounts of sugar. I could use that cake, basically sugarless, and then use a little bit of homemade icing to "glue" the balls, then dip in chocolate. That would cut down on the sugar overkill of the mix/canned frosting version. I can also see this working really well with a gluten-free cake since they tend to be crumbly. So if you mix the cake with the frosting, you'd get a nice GF cakey treat.

What did the coworkers think?

Rocio said, "Thank you for the treats. They are really good!! I like that the cake balls look like truffles but when you bite into them you get a very moist cake. I don’t know if they are different on the inside, or if they all have the same cake inside, but the one I had was good!. I also like the fact that there’s no mess associated with the frosting. I’m the kind of person that has to wait until a center piece of a cake is available because I don’t like that much frosting. The cake balls get rid of that all together, plus they give the illusion of eating less calories. One or two cake balls seem better than a slice of cake (at least to me it does – but I’m sure its not). I’ve never had one before, but I like the idea, and love the ones you made."

Certainly none of my coworkers ever complain about treats. Not many took the time to comment to me though. Rob ate three of them. Nancy said that she thought they were rich but didn't mind the sweetness. I guess it's just a matter of what kind of a diner you are and what you are used to eating. I'll let you know if I try again with my tweaked, less sugar version.

Have you ever gotten a backhanded compliment? Or one where it's hidden under a disguise of malice or negativity? Sometimes it takes a day or so for you even to find it buried under all the trash.

This week I had two such instances. The first one was an attack on me regarding this blog and my day job. The second was a misunderstanding. Both involved reviewing of restaurants.

I don't want to get into details about the work one. My friends already know the whole story and it might even exacerbate the situation even farther with this post. Suffice it to say, I sort of got in trouble for a restaurant review. But after a couple of days of dealing with it, I realized something. This attacking person apparently thinks I have more reach with this blog than I really do. And that I am going to take as a compliment and just say, boy, I wish that were true.

The greater Sacramento urban/suburban area has a population of about one million people. My total page views of the review on the day in question - 155. Not even a drop in a big barrel.

The thing about blogs is, they are personal online diaries. First and foremost, they are an outlet for the owner. A way to express their feelings and opinions. Because they are on the internet, they are available for others to read. Whether a blog develops a following or is read by anyone else at all... I like to think that I contribute something to Sacramento by having this blog. That's why I have it tied to places like the Bee's SacConnect blogger site and the News10 Community blogger site. I'm trying to reach more people. But my readership is small and I rarely get comments. I guess it's better to get no comments than bad ones. Anyway, my impact is pretty darn negligible.

Many people get to my blog via Urbanspoon.com for my restaurant reviews. Recently I went past my 100th. Before that I had tried to see if I could get one of the better restaurants to comp me to be my big 100th review. I just didn't want to waste #100 on one of my cheap eats. I found out from a friend that some of the restaurants thought I was threatening them. Give me a free meal or I'll write a bad review. Unfortunately they misunderstood. I'm on a tight budget. Some of the restaurants in Sacramento can be over $100 for a meal. I just wanted a way to get to review them for my 100th anniversary review without having to shell out that much money. And if they read my site, they would know that I rarely write a downright bad review. 

As I've explained in past posts, my palate isn't one that can taste every nuance in a dish. My writing skills aren't super descriptive or all that great. They are just passable. In the end, though, I had to take it as another backhanded compliment - that they thought my blog was bigger and more read than it actually is.  Thank you for that. Again, I wish it were so. 

So here I am on my personal blog with my personal thoughts. Will anyone read this? Probably only a handful, if that. But I get to say what I want, how I want, and I'll take any criticism, even negative, as a sign that I might have more reach than I think.

As we are in lemon season I thought I'd repost a couple lemon recipes.

This time around I made lemon souffles. The lemon curd in the bottom of the ramekin is essential for this version. Otherwise the souffle itself is light and boring. I will be trying another version in the future for comparison, since I wasn't too thrilled with this one.

* 3 egg whites

* 5 tablespoons castor sugar or superfine sugar

* 3 egg yolks

* 1 large lemon, zested and juiced

* 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar for dusting

* lemon curd (see microwave lemon curd)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Spoon a tablespoon or so of lemon curd in the bottom of 4 ramekins.

In a medium glass or metal bowl, whip egg whites with an electric mixer. When they are able to hold a soft peak, sprinkle in 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and continue mixing until stiff. Whisk the remaining 4 tablespoons of sugar into the egg yolks along with the zest and juice of the remaining lemon. Fold a couple of spoonfuls of the egg whites into the yolks to lighten them up, then fold in the rest of the whites. Spoon into the ramekins over the lemon curd, and run a finger around the inside of each rim.

Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet, and place in the preheated oven. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

 

Have you heard about a restaurant that goes the extra mile by not only having biodegradable servingware, but they take going eco-friendly to the extent of low carbon emissions and recycling wherever possible? Better yet is the food - fresh and healthy ingredients.

That restaurant is Freshii. A new franchise which opened its first Sacramento area locations in Folsom and downtown.  Freshii originated in Canada in 2005 and since then has been growing like gang-busters. And why shouldn't it? They are serving real, fresh, food.

Some of Freshii's 70 fresh ingredients

What do I mean by real food? The concept is simple. Fresh, healthy, custom made dishes using whole ingredients like brown rice, chicken breasts, fresh vegetables. You choose what ingredients you want in a bowl, wrap, soup, or salad. You can also order pre-set combos. You won't find frozen, canned, adulterated food at Freshii.


Here is the clipboard you receive when you first walk in. You write your name and choose the ingredients that you want. Most vegetables are unlimited, while premium ingredients, like the proteins, cheeses, and certain fruits, have per ingredient costs. You can choose your dressing/sauce by calorie level and whether you want half, whole, double serving sizes. What's really awesome is that if you go to their website and enter in the ingredients, it will calculate the nutritional values for you. So you see the calorie, carbs, fiber, and fat content right away. Give it a try here.

Freshii Warrior Chicken Bowl

 
I chose to do a pre-set selection called the Warrior Chicken Bowl. It had Cajun chicken, corn, black beans, onions, cilantro, and some other things mixed with brown rice.  Poor Girl Kimberly ordered the Bliss Bowl with goat cheese, avocado, tomatoes, and more mixed with brown rice and with a balsamic dressing. You can choose to do noodle bowls instead of rice.

Here is a video where the company founder explains the process.



If you like soups, they have three broths: vegetable, chicken, or spicy lemongrass. When you select the vegetables you want in your soup, they quickly parboil them and then add them to the prepared broth. That way you don't have overcooked veggies in a soup that's been sitting around.  Each soup is freshly made for each person.

Freshii yogurt

Freshii is open for breakfast with oatmeal, muesli, and breakfast wraps. They also have frozen yogurt and toppings.

The stores themselves are eco-friendly. They have low carbon footprints because they do not use dishwashers, grills, or ovens. They clean with natural, biodegradable cleaners. They recycle as much as possible. If you are really into being green yourself, you can even bring in your own bowl which they will wash and then use to serve your food in.

You see above that my bowl was actually served in a to-go box. They don't mess around with unnecessary plates that will immediately go into the trash and then you want a to-go box for your leftovers. Instead, you eat out of the box and if you can't finish it, you seal it up and off you go. All of there servingware is biodegradable. The silverware is made from potato and corn starches. These implements have been around for years and I've always wondered why restaurants won't use them. The answer usually is "they are too expensive". Well Freshii proves you can use them and not inflate the prices of the food.

Kimberly and I are excited that there is such a healthy, fast alternative out there now. It is possible to eat that way while dining out. Since we live downtown, we can't wait for the second location.

The downtown location opens at 3rd and Q on Monday, April 11th. Since it is owned by Yogurtagogo's Eric Heffel, it will have a self serve yogurt section with six flavors. It will also be getting a beer and wine license. Heffel plans on having music and other events on nights and weekends.