Pichet Ong's Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream and Meet My New Ice Cream Maker

An ice cream maker has been on my "to-buy-list" for the looongest time. Everytime I go into the Bed Bath and Beyond store, I tell OCT that I am going to get it once we moved to Atlanta.

You proud owners of ice cream makers out there have no idea how tortured I was, watching these talented and imaginative people posted their ice creams photos on their blogs. If it's not for the move, I would have gotten mine loooooooong ago. OCT never understood my fascination with ice cream maker. "What's wrong with store bought ice creams?" He asked. Nothing, honey. But I just want to make my own wacky flavors. Like this Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream.

I am inseparable from my nifty Vietnamese coffee filter ever since I bought it few weeks ago. That potent little cup of coffee is all I need to stay alert for the whole day. Because I use much less condensed milk than the restaurants, I don't feel too guilty drinking on a daily basis. Oh,I digress.

So I decided it would only be fitting to make my first batch of ice cream with my latest obsession- Vietnamese Coffee. The ice cream tastes almost like the iced Vietnamese Coffee, and that's the way I like it. OCT, being a non-coffee drinker, thinks that it is not sweet enough, and the coffee flavor is too overpowering.I guess that means more for me, which is always better:D)

Not the perfect scoop yet, but at least it is a start.

p/s: The lovely Tartelette made a version of Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream sometime ago, and here's her version.

Pichet Ong's Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
from foodandwine.com

2 cups whole milk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup ground Vietnamese coffee
Pinch of salt
6 large egg yolks

In a medium saucepan, combine the whole milk, condensed milk, ground coffee and salt and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes. Strain through a fine sieve lined with several layers of moistened cheesecloth.

Return the steeped milk to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until slightly pale. Gradually whisk in the hot milk; refrigerate until cold. Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker. Transfer the ice cream to a container and freeze until firm enough to scoop.

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The tale about some little fellas called Cappuccino

I have made grand plan when I saw two granny smith apples sitting forlornly in the fridge a few days ago. I told them that they were going to be transformed into Mozart. No, not that musician you have heard of. I am referring to Pierre Herme's creation in his book -Desserts by Pierre Herme. Grand plan indeed and I can almost sense the apples' excitement, especially after they have been deemed as good looking last month. They simply couldn't wait to show off again.

Unfortunately, the Mozart endeavor met its hurdle in the beginning stage and had to be abandoned. For some unfathomable reason, the cinnamon crust required in the recipe turned out all cracked up and thus, spelled the end of project Mozart.

Now what? I end up with lots of cookie crumbs. Delicious crumbs I must add. Call me unimaginative, the only way I could think of to effectively utilize these crumbs would be making cheesecake. Or cheesecakes. So I turn to my favorite cheesecake book for the time being for inspiration.

I settle for the Cappuccino little fellas in the end, because I love any baked goods with coffee in it. Making little fellas which are basically mini cheesecakes make sense, because they are handy to share with friends as opposed to one big cake which I will inadvertently carve out a bigger piece for myself before cutting it for others. By making it into muffin cup size, this possibility could be eliminated.

The original recipe is one without the cookie base, but not wanting to waste my delicious crumbs, I simply fill each muffin liners with one heaping tablespoon of crumbs and press it lightly into place, just like one would for a classic cheesecake base. The cookie bases are then baked in a preheated 350F oven for 5-7 minutes until they looked dry and golden in color. I used lesser cheesecake filling in each molds, and came up with a total of 17 little fellas.

Of course you can follow the original recipe sans crust, you should be able to get 12 to 13 little fellas with more fillings than mine. As you may have guessed, both versions are equally delicious, and would stand in nicely in place of the real McCoy after a meal. In fact the recipe could easily be doubled and kept in the freezer for any dessert emergency. According to the author, the little fellas freeze exceptionally well. I have yet to try that out myself.

Cappuccino Little Fellas
adapted from Junior's Cheesecake Cookbook: 50 To-Die-For Recipes for New York-Style Cheesecake (Juniors)

1 tablespoon instant freeze-dried espresso or instand coffee or instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon hot water (I need 1.5 tablespoons)
two 8-ounce packages Philadephia Cream Cheese (the recipe says full fat only but I used 1/3 less fat Neufchtel, without any problem), at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs (large eggs are fine too)
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Chocolate curls
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F. (I used 325F) Line 12 standard muffin cups with silicone, foil, parchment, or paper liners.Dissolve the instant espresso in the hot water in a small cup and let stand.

Put one package of cream cheese, 1/3 cup of sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl a few times. Blend in the remaining cream cheese and 1/3 cup sugar, then the vanilla. Blend in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each one.Stir the dissolved coffee into the cream and beat in the cream just until it's completely blended. Be careful not to be overmix.

Divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Place the muffin tin in a large shallow pan and add hot water until it comes about 1 inch up the sides of the tin. Bake the cakes until set and slightly puffy, about 30-45 minutes, depending on how hot your oven is. Remove the cakes from the water bath, transfer the tin to a wire rack, and let cool for 2 hours.*Transfer the cake to a container and chill for at least 4 hours.
*note: instruction from the book: After 2 hours of cooling, cover cake with plastic wrap (do not remove from the tin) and put in the freezer until cold, at least one day.

To remove the cakes, lift them out with your hands and peel off the liner. Although I find it more convenient to hold and eat it with the liner on. For a dressier version, place the cakes, top side up, on a serving platter or individual dessert plates, Top with chocolate curls and dust with a little cocoa if you wish and refrigerate. If there are any cakes left, cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.

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Christmas Cookies from other blogs

I was talking with OCT yesterday about our Christmas cookies project. I suggested that he bakes and decorates a batch of cookies we intend to give away. The scientist who works so efficiently on complicated zillion steps experiments gave me the excuse that it is too tough! And guys are not good at making cookies, etc. Excuses, excuses.

So I guess I have to do the baking and let him be the critic: " Hmmmm, this cookie is good, this one is too ugly, this one tastes too complicated, I think this is too hard". Sigh....

Anyway, back to the cookies. I have already tried out a few recipes, and are quite pleased with how they turned out. Meanwhile, here's the first cookies for the Christmas season:

When I first saw it on Joe's blog: Culinary in the Country , I know I wanted to make it. Not only does the cookies look irresistible, it is also a good use for the long forgotten Godiva Milk Chocolate Cocoa mix I have somewhere in the carbinet. And to be perfectly honest, I find it too sweet to my taste. Great, the Cocoa mix has a better place to go than into the bin! Win-win situation.

In my opinion, what makes these cookies special, are the marshmallows and chocolate drizzle on top. I like the nice contrast of crisp cookies and soft marshmallow, sweetness from the cookies and marshmallow, and the bitterness from 72% melted chocolate. The flavor is balanced in an interesting way. It takes slightly more time than the usual drop or slice cookies, as you have to bake the cookies half way through, and add the marshmallow on top towards the end. After that, they have to be cooled before the melted chocolate can be drizzled. But they are real treats.

I think I will try it with the dark cocoa mix when I make it next time.

The second recipe is a simple recipe with simple ingredients and pure flavor. Perfect accompaniment with a cup of coffee after dinner. I am talking about the Coffee Hazelnut Cookies from Alice Medrich's latest book "Pure Dessert", which I first saw it on Cenk's beautiful blog-Cafe Fernando. Cenk is a real artist. He can make any food looks good. Go to visit his blog if you haven't already!

Taking a glance at the ingredients list, I know this is the kind of cookies I would enjoy. Freshly grounded coffee beans and grinded hazelnuts is a flavor combo for success. The cookies are a real treat: nutty with a hint of coffee. I don't think I like it on the first bite, but as I continue chewing the cookies and allow the flavor to fill my orifice, I suddenly understand the depth and sophistication of the cookies I have just eaten. Wow. I like it.

When I served it to friends on another night, I dipped them in some chocolate gananche, leftover from a cake. I think I like the version with gananche better. Chocolate, coffee and hazelnut. My adulterated version of the "Pure Dessert".

I baked half a batch of the cookies and have half a batch of dough in the freezer. I will dip them on some tempered chocolate when I am playing with chocolate next week. (I shouldn't have used gananche because it doesn't harden and certainly isn't too impressive to look at.... )

Anyway, I am looking forward to playing with more sugar and trying my hands at candy making next week! But now, I have to think of what to bring for OCT department Christmas party next Tuesday. Arghhh...

I am submitting these cookies recipes to Susan's Eat Christmas Cookies event. Remember to check out her blog for more Christmas cookies ideas! And better yet, join in the fun and submit a cookie recipe, she has decided to award the best cookie with Sherry Yards' latest cookbook:Desserts by the Yard: From Brooklyn to Beverly Hills: Recipes from the Sweetest Life Ever . She is such a generous girl.


Hot Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from Land O Lakes, via Culinary in the Country
makes about 48 cookies.

For the cookies:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup instant hot chocolate cocoa mix - I used a milk chocolate variety
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
24 large marshmallows, cut in half crosswise

For the chocolate drizzle:
1.5 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped




Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa mix, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until combined after each. Mix in milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Using a teaspoon cookie scoop, drop the dough onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake until the cookie are set, about 8 minutes. Remove and carefully place a marshmallow, cut side down, in the center of each cookie. Place back in the oven and continue baking until the marshmallow begins to look puffy, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove and let cookies sit on the baking sheet for 1 minute before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the chocolate drizzle:

Melt the chopped chocolate in microwave on high for 30 second.

Pour the melted chocolate into a zipper bag, and cut a slit at one corner. Unleash the Picaso in you and pipe away!




Coffee Hazelnut Cookies
adapted from "Pure Dessert", via Cafe Fernando

Makes 45 2-inch cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup hazelnuts (whole)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh finely ground medium-roast coffee beans, plus 45 whole beans
14 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract


Combine the flour, hazelnuts, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the hazelnuts are finely ground. Add the ground coffee and pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly.

Drizzle in pure vanilla extract and pulse until the dough begins to clump up around the blade.
Remove the dough and press it into a ball. Knead a few times to complete the mixing.

At this point, you can either roll the dough into a 12×2 inch log or divide the dough in half and form into 2 flat patties.

Wrap it and refrigerate at least two hours (or overnight).

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

If you rolled the dough into a log, cut into 1/4 inch slices and place on ungreased sheets 1 inch apart. Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie.

Or if you formed the flat patties, roll the dough between two pieces of wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Using cookie cutters, cut out cookies and place on ungreased sheets 1 inch apart.

Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie.

Bake until golden at the edges, 14-16 minutes. Let cookies firm up at room temperature before you transfer to a rack.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for at least a month.

Instruction for people without a food processor and mixer:
Mix all the dry ingredients well in a large bowl. Grind the hazelnuts in batches, (depending how large your grinder is.Mine is a small one)add it to the flour, followed by grinding the coffee beans.

Mix all the dry ingredients well with a spatula.

Cut the butter into dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, add in the vanilla. Continue to work at it until it becomes a clump.(you can use two forks too if you don't have a pastry cutter)

Remove the dough and knead a few times to complete the mixing. Follow the recipe above to chill, shape and bake the cookies.

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One chiffon cake, Two ways

As much as I love my trustworthy chocolate cake recipes, I decided it's time to try my hands at making chiffon cake last week.But which recipe should I entrust my first chiffon cake experiment? In the end, I decided to go with Espresso Chiffon Cake with Caramel Glaze from Carole Broom's Essential Baker. Surely I can't resist a recipe with name like this! And what would be a better breakfast item to bring on OCT's weekly lab meeting?

The final result was light and flavorful. But not too sweet. I like how the espresso aroma filled the room when the cake was out from the oven. The soft and airy texture was reminiscent of my childhood. This is the kind of cakes which I liked to buy from the Asian bakeries. Often filled with chocolate buttercream. I was instantly transformed back to my childhood.

Needless to say, I am ecstatic that I could replicate this familiar comfort food memory in my apartment kitchen. Never mind that I am zillion miles away from home. I cut a huge piece for myself after the cake was frosted with caramel glaze, and paired it with a cup of coffee. It was a great afternoon tea. The rest was packed and sent for the next day's breakfast meeting.Now that I have a taste of my childhood chiffon cake, I can't stop thinking about it. I decided to do something unprecedented in my short baking life. I baked the same chiffon cake again! This time, frosted with a bittersweet chocolate ganache for a dinner party.

The effect is not unlike a woman who takes off her serious working clothes and put on an elegant evening gown. The version of Espresso Chiffon Cake adorned with Bittersweet Ganache albeit simple, was sophisticated and elegant. Not to mention, delicious; with the accompaniment of ice cream.

I have to admit, I much prefer the second version. But I maybe bias, as I like anything with coffee and chocolate together.

Espresso Chiffon Cake with Caramel Glaze
adapted from Carol Bloom's Essential Baker

Ingredients for Espresso Chiffon Cake:
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup unflavored vegetable oil (canola or safflower)
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
2 1/4 cups cake flour (I used all purpose flour with no problem)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, separated
6 extra large eggs, at room temperature, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

For Caramel Glaze:
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 ounces (4 tablespoons, 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

For Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used 72% chocolate), finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 to 2 tablespoons rum
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 325F.

Cut a round of parchment paper to fit the bottom of the pan and cut out a hole in the middle to fit the center tube of the pan. This cake is baked in an ungreased pan because greasing the pan would keep the batter from rising and gripping the sides of the pan as the cake bakes.

In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, dissolve the espresso powder in the water, Add the oil,vanilla and eggyolks. Whisk until well combined.

Over a large piece of parchment paper or bowl sift together the flour and baking powder. Add 1 cup of sugar and salt and stir together.

Make a well in the center of the mixture by pushing the dry ingredients towards the side of the bowl. Add the espresso mixture. Using a rubber spatula, stir together until thoroughly combined.

Place the egg whites in the grease free bowl of an electric mixer or in a large grease free bowl. Using the wire whip attachment or a hand held mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they are frothy. Add the cream of tartar. Slowly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and continue whipping until the egg whites hold glossy and firm but not stiff, peaks, about 5 minutes.

Fold the egg whites into the cake batter in 3 to 4 stages, blending thoroughly after each addition. Transfer the batter to the tube pan. Use the rubber spatula to smooth and even the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.(Mine took 45-50 minutes).

Remove the pan from the oven and invert it over a cooling rack onto its feet or over a funnel or a thin necked bottle. Let the cake hanf to cook completely. Don't set the pan on a cooling rack on its base. This will cause the cake to collapse onto itself.

Don't shake the cake out of the pan before it is cool. Once the cake is cool. use a thin blade knife or flexible blade spatula to run across the outer edge and the inside tube to help release the cake from the pan. Invert the cake onto a rack, then reinvert onto a serving plate.

Making the Caramel Glaze:
Place the sugar, butter and cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the mixture is very smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and cool slightly. Stir in the confectioners' sugar until very smooth.

Place the cake on a rack over a lined baking sheet. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake and let it run down the sides. Let the glaze set for 10 minutes, then cut into serving pieces.

Making Chocolate Ganache Glaze:
Heat cream, sugar, rum in a saucepan over medium heat until it simmers and bubbles forming on the sides of saucepan. Remove from heat and pour cream over chopped chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, stir to melt chocolate with hot cream until the mixture turns glossy and smooth. Let the chocolate ganache cool to pouring consistency. Pour over the chiffon cake. The leftover is delicious to eat with a spoon or as spread on bread.

Serves 12 to 14.

Note on keeping:
The unglazed cake can be kept in room temperature for 3 days and up to 4 month in freezer, when tightly wrapped in plastic. If frozen, defrost overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving.

Once the cake is glazed, it can be kept, lightly covered with waxed paper and then tightly covered with plastic wrap, at room temperature for 1 day. (Mine was kept in refrigerator for 3 days with no problem)

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