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Musings of the FoodMadam

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Musings of the FoodMadam

Tag Archives: dessert

How’s This For Colorful Foodporn?

20 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Dana Moos in breakfast, dessert, foodporn, fruit, gluten free, Produce

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Tags

art of breakfast, beets, breakfast, dana moos, dessert, fruit course, oranges, panna cotta


 

Layers of vanilla panna cotta, orange slices, candied fennel in St. Germain and beet simple syrup, oranges macerated in the beet syrup, orange cranberry relish and pecans. Sound good? It was certainly fun to create!
beets, oranges, candied fennel, panna cotta

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Chocolate Almond Coconut Toffee…careful, it’s addictive!

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Dana Moos in candy, chocolate, dessert, food photography, foodporn, gluten free, recipes

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

chocolate, cookbook, dana moos, dessert, food photography, foodporn, recipes, toffee


For those of you who have me figured out, you realize I’m all about the images. I try not to get too wordy in my posts. I like to let the photos speak for themselves. But this post has a story to it, one that has to be told in its long version to be appreciated.

I started with this toffee recipe back before I bought a bed and breakfast in Maine in 2004. It fact, made it several times, successfully. So when we bought the inn, I thought I’d make it as my thing, to put in the candy dishes in the rooms every day. It would become my signature candy, no commercial candies for me, it had to be homemade. So one day I got out my trusty candy thermometer (the same one I used before when making the toffee) along with the other ingredients and started making toffee.

Let me first preface the rest of the story by saying DO NOT MAKE TOFFEE AT CHECK-IN TIME. Repeat, DO NOT MAKE TOFFEE AT CHECK-IN TIME. My kitchen was open to the guest entrance (which I loved) so in walk some guests to check in. I’m standing over my pot of melted butter and sugar in its light golden stage of yumminess. I tell my guests that I’ll just leave the mixture on low while I give them the tour and show them to their room. They even offer to wait until I’m done (maybe they had more sense than I did given that I was using a candy thermometer- pretty serious stuff). But NO, DON’T WORRY, THE CARAMEL IS STILL IN THE VERY EARLY STAGES AND NOT EVEN READING 200 YET (it needed to reach 290)…so off we go. You can see where this is going. After a few minutes upstairs I begin to smell smoke. I run downstairs to the kitchen and the caramel in the pan is as BLACK as ASPHALT and smoking the house up. Thankfully the smoke alarms didn’t go off (my guess is that because Summer in Maine is gorgeous we leave all windows open almost all Spring/Summer/and part of Fall. I ran outside with the pan so that it could continue to smoke OUTSIDE and not INSIDE. Baking  is supposed to make the inn smell good, right? The rest of the checkins that day heard my “don’t assume the smell of burned food will be what’s to come in the morning, please!!!!” and they all laughed.
Over the next year I attempted to make toffee again, promising NEVER to leave the pan unattended again. I followed the recipe exactly. Removed the mixture from the heat when the thermometer read 290. But it still looked too pale to be done. But I followed the recipe. After a handful of attempts and trashed toffee, I bought a new thermometer. This time, a fancy digital thermometer.

So it had been a while before I decided to try making toffee again. But now that I have a new thermometer, I was confident. But this time I had just been given a gift of a box of See’s Peanut Brittle, I think it was just before the holidays, and we happened to have a little snow on the ground. If you haven’t tasted See’s brittle, GO ONLINE and BUY IT NOW, it’s just amazing. Or maybe you shouldn’t because you could become addicted and be in my predicament of trying to create it at home…So the primary difference between brittle and toffee is baking soda and/or cream of tartar, it some how changes the texture just slightly.

I get all of my ingredients out, new candy thermometer and I decide to make brittle. I follow the recipe (except I used too small a saucepan but couldn’t have imagined that would matter)…WRONG. Candy making tip: DO NOT ASSUME WHEN MAKING CANDY. Repeat: DO NOT ASSUME WHEN MAKING CANDY. When it comes time to add the baking soda at just the precise moment, I add it and am prepared to stir quickly as the recipe reads, but I wasn’t prepared for a big VOLCANIC ERUPTION from my 3 quart saucepan. Fortunately my kitchen door was only 15 feet from the stove, I ran with the erupting saucepan outside and leaned over the porch rail JUST IN TIME for the blobby bubbly brown mess to pour over the edge of the pan and plop onto the beautiful WHITE SNOW. This brown blobby mess hardened in the once white snow immediately, AT OUR INN’S FRONT ENTRANCE, looking like someone had a bad case of the stomach flu (oh dear what if our guests thought it was from my breakfast?) My husband tried to remove the hardened candy from the snow but it wasn’t as easy as he thought. So he covered the mess up with more snow. Out of sight, out of mind…so the blobby mess sat beneath a winter’s worth of snow. By spring there was no sign of it. That was my FIRST and LAST attempt at making brittle.

So YEARS LATER after we sold our inn…I decide to get the almonds out of the pantry and right away my husband knew where I was going with this. He said “uh oh”, but right away I said “no, you know what, I’m making my original toffee and I’m NOT going to rely on the thermometer. I know what color it should be.” And that’s exactly what I did. I used both thermometers just to verify what I thought all along, that my eye knew what would be right. The thermometers gave an inaccurate reading. And many chefs do things the same way, by touch, taste, appearance, smell, using the senses. MY TOFFEE TURNED OUT PERFECTLY DELICIOUS WITH JUST THE RIGHT TEXTURE.

SO HERE’S THE RECIPE with my coconut twist:

3 cups whole raw almonds (you can buy them already roasted but I prefer to roast my own)
2 cups shredded coconut
2 sticks butter
1 tablespoon water
1 cup white sugar
6 tablespoons corn syrup
1. roast almonds and coconut on sheet pan in oven on 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Let them cool.
2. chop the nuts in a processor – stopping halfway to reserve about half the mixture leaving some larger pieces, then continue to pulse into small pieces.
3. put butter in 3 quart saucepan (we’re not adding baking soda so this size is adequate!) and add the water, corn syrup and sugar and heat to melt over medium heat.
4. Once melted, bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat, stirring with heatproof spatula occasionally for about 10 minutes (here is where the recipe calls for heating to 290 degrees) but I say heat it until it JUST gets to the right color of toffee (camel brown) and then remove from heat.
5. immediately add the large chop nuts and half of the small chop nuts and quickly fold to combine. The mixture will harden quickly.
6. spread onto parchment lined sheet pan with an offset spatula or heatproof spatula to the desired thickness.
7. top with 2 cups of chocolate chips (I prefer semi-sweet but you can use milk chocolate or a combination), let sit for a couple minutes, then spread the melting chips over the toffee.
8. top the melted chocolate with the remaining finely chopped nuts and let sit at least a few hours at room temperature. When completely set, break into pieces and store in an airtight container. Freezes beautifully!

This recipe is in my Cookbook, The Art of Breakfast (which includes baked goods, chocolates, etc!)

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Chocolate Cherry Cordial Tart

07 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by Dana Moos in chocolate, dessert, food photography, foodporn, fruit, Produce, recipes

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

art of breakfast cookbook, cherries, chocolate, dessert, puff pastry, recipes


As a new Gojee contributor, I was invited to the Gojee Potluck Dinner at their headquarters in New York City on January 12th. Unfortunately I am not able to make it. But this is what I would have brought with me if I did! The combination of cherries with chocolate, a touch of chocolate Balsamic and the flaky puff pastry crust is just delicious! Starting on Thursday, January 26, check out other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave.  You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter

Chocolate Cherry Cordial Tart

Wonderful as an afternoon treat with coffee or tea.
Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream  or frozen yogurt and you have a perfect dessert.

Serves 8

4 cups fresh sweet Bing cherries, pitted
1/2  cup sugar
1/4 cup port wine
1 tablespoon chocolate balsamic
vinegar (I use Fiore brand), but if not
available, use an aged Balsamic
1 teaspoon arrow root powder
(dissolved in a couple
tablespoons of the port)
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 sheet frozen puff pastry,
thawed (you could make your own!)
4 ounces softened cream cheese
4 ounces shaved chocolate (or
Chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the pitted cherries with the sugar, port,
balsamic, dissolved arrow root powder, and cocoa
and put into medium saucepan. Cook over medium
heat until sauce comes to a boil. Remove cherries and boil
sauce 2 to 3 minutes longer to thicken. Remove from heat and
place cherries back into sauce and allow to rest.

3. Press the puff pastry sheet into a 9-inch shallow and greased baking dish or tart
pan.

4. Spread the softened cream cheese on the pastry. Spread the chocolate shavings
(or chips) evenly over the cream cheese. And using a slotted spoon, place the
cherries in a single layer over chocolate.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

This recipe is in the Baked Goods section of my cookbook, The Art of Breakfast.

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I never thought a roasted plum could look so gorgeous in photos!

17 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in breakfast, food photography, foodporn, fruit, gluten free

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

breakfast, cookbook, dessert, food photography, foodporn, fruit, photography


So this isn’t about Maine (though I did make this dish here in Maine and it is in my cookbook) but more about photography and how just the right lighting, contrast and reflection can make a photo pop! The shine of the glaze fascinates me, and this food is 100% natural! The plums are roasted with honey and the skins give off this beautiful pink juice. They tasted great too, by the way…

roasted plums

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Ever tried homemade marshmallows?

08 Saturday Oct 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in baking, chocolate, dessert, food photography, foodporn

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Tags

chocolate, dana moos, dessert, food photography, foodporn, recipes


YOU SHOULD! You may never buy packaged mass-produced again!

This was a Martha Stewart recipe. We turned them into bite sized S’Mores 🙂

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

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I found another food to torch! A fresh fig!!

23 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in breakfast, dessert, food photography, foodporn, fruit, gluten free, recipes

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Tags

dana moos, dessert, food photography, foodie, foodies, foodporn, fruit, recipes


I halved a fresh fig, dipped it into Vanilla Bean Creme (recipe in The Art of Breakfast) and then into raw sugar and torched! Add a drizzle of the creme on top and voila, a beautiful, delicious garnish or even small bite for dessert.

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Chocolate Cherry Cordial Tart, from The Art of Breakfast

01 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in baking, chocolate, cookbook, dessert, food photography, foodporn, recipes

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

breakfast, cherries, chocolate, cookbook, dana moos, dessert, food photography, foodporn, fruit, recipes


Chocolate Cherry Cordial Tart

Wonderful as an afternoon treat with coffee or tea.
Add a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and you have a perfect dessert.

Serves 8

4 cups fresh sweet Bing cherries, pitted
1/2  cup sugar
1/4 cup port wine
1 tablespoon chocolate balsamic
vinegar (I use Fiore), but if not
available, use an aged Balsamic
1 teaspoon arrow root powder
(dissolved in a couple
tablespoons of the port)
2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 sheet frozen puff pastry,
thawed
4 ounces softened cream cheese
4 ounces shaved chocolate (or
Chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Mix the pitted cherries with the sugar, port,
balsamic, dissolved arrow root powder, and cocoa
and put into medium saucepan. Cook over medium
heat until sauce comes to a boil. Remove cherries and boil
sauce 2 to 3 minutes longer to thicken. Remove from heat and
place cherries back into sauce and allow to rest.

3. Press the puff pastry sheet into a 9-inch shallow and greased baking dish or tart
pan.

4. Spread the softened cream cheese on the pastry. Spread the chocolate shavings
(or chips) evenly over the cream cheese. And using a slotted spoon, place the
cherries in a single layer over chocolate.

5. Bake for 35 minutes. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

Recipes can be found in The Art of Breakfast, How to Bring B&B Entertaining Home

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Serious Foodporn: Balsamic Glazed Figs, Chocolate Dipped Ranier Cherries and Chocolate Bark

07 Tuesday Jun 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in candy, chocolate, dessert

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chocolate, dana moos, dessert, food photography, foodporn


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Salted Maple Caramels

25 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in candy, Maine, Maine fare

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

candy, caramels, dessert, maple syrup


The Bangor Metro magazine decided to do a feature in their March issue for Maine Maple Sunday. They decided to interview me for their “food file” section. So I did a recipe for caramels using Maine maple syrup!

Here’s the full article

Maple Pecan Turtles

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
4 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. pure maple extract
8 oz. chopped pecans
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Maine sea salt (optional)

Equipment needed:
Candy thermometer
quarter sheet pan (rimmed baking sheet about 9×13 or smaller)

Directions:

Line baking sheet with parchment and coat very lightly with butter or cooking spray. Spread all but 2 tablespoons of the pecans evenly and set aside.

In a 3-quart saucepan, combine evaporated milk, maple syrup, corn syrup, butter, and sugar and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. The mixture will take at least 15 minutes to get near 220°, but goes quickly from that point so keep watching. Add the maple extract and continue to cook until the caramel reaches 250° and appears dark caramel in color.

Pour the caramel over the pecans. Toss the chocolate chips over the hot caramel and let sit for 20 seconds or so. Then spread chocolate with an offset spatula to coat evenly.

Toss the remaining pecans over the chocolate. Scatter a few sprinkles of the larger grains of sea salt over the mixture. Let harden at room temperature for a few hours or place in freezer for 30 minutes. Cut into squares. Keep in air-tight container at room temperature.

For best results, Moos suggests wrapping the hearts individually in waxed paper for gifts, as they soften as they warm up.

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St. Germain + Clementine + Back River Gin from Maine

14 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by Dana Moos in cocktails, Maine fare, recipes

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Tags

cocktails, dessert, food photography, foodies, foodporn, maine gin, maine spirits, recipes


Today’s cocktail experiment involves gin, not usually my favorite spirit. But this combination is really nice. Maine’s Back River Gin, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur, fresh Clementine juice and club soda – a very light and refreshing, not too sweet cocktail!

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Your FoodMadam – Dana Moos

I'm a cookbook author, guest chef instructor at Stonewall Kitchen, food blogger, wineaux, chocolate addict, convertible driver, optimist, amateur photographer and full time broker selling B&Bs. I love foie gras, crusty bread, cheese, champagne and flip flops.
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