Daring Baker - February Challenge - Panna Cotta & Floretine Cookies

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.

I was super excited about this months Baker's Challenge because I LOVE Panna Cotta!  Love, love, love it.  I didn't realize how easy panna cotta is to make, making it taste the way I like was going to be a different challenge.  So the panna cotta came out pretty good, it could have been put into a prettier container and I totally forgot about the gelee recipe, so I had some plain panna cotta.  I thought the flavor was a bit lacking and I might try adding some vanilla beans or vanilla extract next time.  The texture came out perfect, but it pretty much tasted like whipping cream flavored panna cotta.  Still delicious though, especially after I let it set overnight.  When I first tasted it (about 7 hours of being in the fridge) it tasted more like whipped cream, after setting over night it tasted more like panna cotta.

The florentine cookies were a different story entirely.  This is where I wish I had a pipping bag or some of the other tools that make cooking easier, like more counter space. haha... because this is what happened..

***CRASH*** BAM**** BOOOM***

(thank goodness for a well trained dog, yes he got to try a taste after I cleaned it up)

On a positive note, I got to purchase a Silpat and wonder how I ever lived without it!  The end results weren't that pretty, but I think I might give it another shot and halve the recipe.  I had so much chocolate left over!  These are the before photos of the cookies (I have a tendency to dollap too much I think).

I was WAY more excited about melting this:

Into this (because I've never done it before):

The cookies tasted almost overly sweet, but magic happened when I ate it with the panna cotta!  It's like the flavors were made for each other!  I think I'll try these again, because I really want to make them pretty and also because I now have a giant container of quick oats and I'm not a huge oatmeal fan. ;) All in all, not a successful challenge for me, but definitely a fun experience!

Kings Hawaiian Sweet Bread Sliders

I've always wanted to try making beef burger sliders and with what else.. but my all time favorite bread (or one of) - Kings Hawaiian Sweet Rolls!  I have to say Kings Hawaiian is doing an amazing marketing job with twitter and facebook... honestly they got me.  Because they tweet so much I actually eat more of their bread than I did before.  It also didn't hurt that I went to their restaurant up in Torrance in January and it was definitely onolicious!

So I looked up their slider recipe and went off to the market to pick up ground meat and more rolls. (By the way.. the Costco near my house sells Kings Hawaiian sweet rolls in 24 packs - YAY!).

I adjusted a few items in their recipe, instead of lettuce, I used spinach and green onion, added a thin slice of tomato.  I also didn't make the aioli sauce they described.  Instead I used Grill Mates seasoning and Tapatio on the meat.  While they look delicious and were pretty yummy there were definitely things I could have done to make it better.  The bread got really soggy from the juice of the patty and the patties were a little bland.  I bought Angus beef pre-made sliders so I didn't have to sit there and mold the meat myself.  But laziness meant the burgers lacked some flavor.  If I made them myself I could have marinated the meat and added more seasoning.  I think next time I'll try that, and also poke a few holes in the meet so there's not as much juice, maybe add some cheese too!

All in all, a good first beef slider experience.

Daring Cook - February Challenge - Soba Noodles & Tempura

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com.

So this is my first ever Daring Cooks' challenge! And I know the soba was going to be no problem, although I did have difficulty finding Kombu and Katsuobushi dashi and used a fish based one instead that usually goes into miso soup.. maybe it's the same? Not sure. However it still came out tasty and doubled as a dipping sauce for the tempura!

The soba is easy to make in large batches and I made it for a Lunar New Year potluck (despite the fact the Japanese don't really celebrate Lunar New Year). 

 The tempura I was afraid of. I haven't had good experiences with deep frying things in a pot of oil and have always wanted to get a deep fryer, but opted to give it a shot anyway. The tip they provided about knowing when the oil is hot enough was fantastic - you drop a bit of batter in and if it sinks and floats immediately you're ready to go.  The trick is that the batter stays cold and the moment it hits the water is when you get that light, fluffy taste!  I had blanched the sweet potato a little too long, but they still came out tasty anyway.

1) Take the veggies, dip them into flour:

2) Dip them into the batter that sits in an ice bath:

3) Deep fry and enjoy!

I honestly was so surprised that they came out so pretty and tasty!  I'm quite proud of myself and now not as scared to deep fry things.  I think it's time to get a thermometer and forgo the deep fryer purchase.. for now. :)

Daring Kitchen

I saw my friend The Flirty Girl's post about her participation in the Daring Baker challenges.  So I decided to hop on over to the Daring Kitchen to see what all this was about.  I figured I should apply to join because I've been wanting to cook and bake more and what do you know... you can sign up to be either or both a Daring Cook and a Daring Baker!  My first post about the first assignment I got as a Daring Cook is coming up soon, so watch out for it!

And if you feel like you're ready for a challenge (these can be for novices too) you should go over there to sign up too!  Never fear if you're not an amazing cook, this can be a good place to start and to try, I'm sure at some point I'll mess up or fail at one of the challenges, but that's okay, it's a learning experience and one I'm looking forward too!