Tiramisu

A couple weeks ago, Andy and I were at the bread thrift across the street, and we found a few packages of somewhat-freshly-baked ladyfingers. We picked them up let them get really stale so that we could finally make some Tiramisu.

On a side note, living across from a bread thrift is so awesome. We stop in at least once a week and the guy always at least one item that we need.

Back to the Tiramisu. I got this recipe from Cook's Illustrated, and I didn't have to change much. They recommended using the ladyfingers sold in the cookie aisle instead of the freshly baked ones, but if you let the fresh ones get very stale they're just as good. Here's a little tip: if you get the freshly baked ones, they usually come connected, and you should try to break them up while they're still soft. We broke them up after they were ultra stale and ended up with a pile of crumbs.

First, beat together six egg yolks, 2/3 c. sugar, and 1/4 t. salt in a large bowl, then beat in 1/3 c. heavy cream. Bring about one inch of water to a gentle simmer in a saucepan, and set the bowl on top. (This step cooks the yolks, because we didn't want a dessert with raw yolks sitting around in the fridge for a few days.) Stir constantly for about 4-9 minutes until the temperature of the mixture reaches around 160F (we just used a finger to tell when it got hot). The mixture should thicken slightly and coat the back of your spatula when you remove it. Set the bowl on the counter to cool for around 15 minutes.

Mix in 4 T. of dark rum, and then add 1.5 lbs of mascarpone cheese and mix until smooth and well-combined. Set the bowl aside, and use a mixer to beat 3/4 c. cold heavy whipping cream. Beat for 1-2 minutes on medium until foamy, then beat for another 2-3 minutes on high until cream holds stiff peaks. Fold in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture to lighten it up a little, then fold in the rest of the cream until everything is blended.

For the coffee mixture, you can either use day-old strong coffee or just use room temperature water mixed with some instant coffee. Mix together: 2.5 c. strong coffee (room temperature), 3 T. instant coffee powder, and 5 T. dark rum. Working with half of the ladyfingers, dip them into the coffee mixture and put them in a 9x13 glass dish.

The best method to coat the ladyfingers with coffee is to gently dip one side into the coffee mixture, then flip and dip the other side. Make sure to coat the entire outside of the cookie. Each cookie shouldn't take more than a couple seconds to prepare. Do not submerge the cookie, or else it will become too saturated and your dessert will be mushy. Try dipping a test cookie, then break it in half and check out the middle. If the middle is soaked with coffee, it's too saturated. If the middle is white and even a little crunchy, it's perfect. The middle will become spongy when the dessert is ready to eat.

Arrange the ladyfingers in a single layer, breaking any cookies if necessary to fit in as many as possible. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers, and smooth it over and make sure it gets into all of the corners. Dust about 2 T. cocoa powder over the top to cover the mascarpone mixture.

Dip and arrange the rest of the ladyfingers, spread the rest of the mascarpone mixture on the top, smoothing it out again, and dust with another 1-2 T. cocoa powder. If you have some chocolate laying around, grate some on the top of the dessert. Refrigerate for at least six hours, then enjoy!

I hadn't eaten Tiramisu in a while, so I forgot how rich it was. Fortunately for my friends, this means that this is one dessert where I have plenty leftover to share. (As Andy knows, trying to take my dessert usually results in a fork in the hand, but I'm willing to make an exception this time.)

Homemade Butter

I learned how to make butter when I was in the third grade. The teacher passed out empty baby food jars, poured a little heavy cream inside, and we shook them and made our own butter. It was one of the first times that I knew that I wanted to be able to understand how to make food (and crafts) for myself. Even now, most people that I talk to are amazed that I can make my own butter because they don't know how easy it is to do.

Start with a large jar and some cold heavy whipping cream. The cream at the store is usually ultra-pasteurized, so the butter will last for at least a couple months or so in the fridge. (I actually tried making butter with raw whipping cream, fresh from the cow, but since I don't eat a cup of butter every week, it went rancid before I could use it up.) You'll need a big jar or any sort of big container with a tight lid, because you'll be shaking the cream and having a lot of empty space will help to aerate the cream and make it much easier to shake.

Shake the cream for about 15-20 minutes. It will thicken up, and if you have a smaller jar it will get so thick that it will be very hard to shake (your arms will get very tired, but hey, you're working off some calories before you enjoy this delicious butter). Once it gets to the point where it's whipped cream, you just have to shake it for a couple minutes more until the cream begins to separate into butter and buttermilk.

The buttermilk made in this process is not the same as the stuff that you buy in the store, which is cultured buttermilk. This is old-fashioned buttermilk, and you can use it anywhere you'd use the cultured stuff (pancakes, muffins, mashed potatoes, etc.). Just don't throw it out!

When the cream has separated into butter chunks, just shake it a couple times more to get the butter to stick together. Put a colander over a bowl and dump out the contents of the jar into the colander. Put the buttermilk into a container and refrigerate for later.

Now the important step: put the butter into a bowl, and just rinse it out until the water is clear. Work the butter a little with your hands to get out any extra buttermilk, because if you leave any in there the butter will become rancid more quickly. Your hands will get pretty buttery, so have some paper towels on standby.

You're all done! You can mix in some salt to the butter at this point, but you don't have to. I prefer to leave it creamy. About two cups of heavy cream yields about a cup of butter and a cup of buttermilk.

There is actually an easier way to make butter if you have a food processor, or you can also use a mixer and just blend the cream until it separates. I prefer the jar method because I don't have a nice food processor (yet) and it also works out my arms.

Andy and I bought a Butter Keeper just for the homemade butter (on sale at TJ Maxx of course). It's a neat little gadget that lets you keep your butter out of the fridge so it's always at perfect spreading consistency. Especially because the bread thrift store across the street always has a loaf of cinnamon raison bread and we hate waiting for the butter to melt before we can eat it.

I still buy regular butter from the store for cooking since it's easier to measure, but the homemade butter is a nice treat to spread on our baked goods.

And on an unrelated note: here is a picture of our kitties, Josie (left) and Sabrina. This was taken a few weeks ago after they got shaved for the spring, so that's why Josie's hair looks funny. They're in their favorite spot, in the cat basket at the front window. A wasp wandered in the house today, and while it was stunned on the floor, Josie went over and sniffed it and got stung close to her nose. Hopefully this incident won't curb her bug-eating skills.

Our Tiny Garden

Andy and I went to the Farmers' Market today, for the first market of the year. One good thing about having such a terrible winter is that it really makes you appreciate it when spring rolls around! The first few Farmers' Markets usually just have plants and early spring veggies (peas, salad greens, swiss chard). It was a nice, partly sunny day so it was a perfect time to plant.

I took the above picture after I finished planting all of our new spouts. As you can see, the chives survived the winter beautifully! The people who live on the floor below us were nice and raked the whole yard, so all I had to do was dig a few holes for my plants. You can see where I planted all of the salad greens, a daisy plant, and in the background is the basil. (I can already taste the basil mayo and the chive omelets.)

The salad greens are so tiny and cute! I don't eat salads on a regular basis, but when I do it will be pretty cool to just go get some from out back. Maybe I'll plant another tomato plant.

Our yard is pretty nice, but unfortunately since the houses are so packed in, the garden only gets part sun. Most plants that I plant require full sun, but I just plant whatever I like and hope that it will grow. Last summer, we had great luck with the calendulas (which practically took over the garden), the chives, and the golden cherry tomatoes, but unfortunately nothing happened with our melon plant, even though we watered the hell out of it. Lesson learned. I have high hopes for the salad greens and everything else we planted, but we'll see.

I also planted some creeping thyme and candy-striped flox this year. This year, we didn't participate in a CSA because we have no idea about when we're moving to Boston this year (if that ever happens), which means more regular trips to the local markets and maybe planting more stuff in my garden. I have no idea what else I want to plant so far, but we'll see what next week's market has to offer.