Tag: nuts

  • New York City’s Levain-style chocolate chip cookies

    New York City’s Levain-style chocolate chip cookies

    I’m not quite sure how I escaped it, but I only came across New York City’s Levain Bakery cookies a few months ago, despite their legendary status.

    After hours of research – comparing recipes, watching a 2008 video where the bakery’s founders shape the dough together . and a few tests in my own kitchen, I finally have a go-to recipe. Not quite the same as a flight to New York, but close enough.

    Six-ounce cookies with a deep golden crust and a fudgy crumb. I baked a few straight away, then tucked the rest into the freezer for later – because knowing they’re there, waiting, is a pleasure in itself.

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    New York City’s Levain-style chocolate chip cookies

    Adapted from Hijabs and Aprons.
    Big, craggy, gooey-in-the-middle cookies inspired by the ones from New York's Levain bakery. Perfect with a glass of cold milk or an afternoon coffee.
    I find that these are even better on the day after I bake them. 
    I usually make a couple of big ones – weighing 160-170g – then roll the rest in smaller balls – approximately 60-70g each – and freeze for later use. 

    Notes

    On baking smaller cookies
    For smaller cookies, divide dough into 60-70g portions and bake for 10-12 minutes.
    On freezing cookie dough balls
    To freeze dough balls, place them on a tray lined with baking paper and freeze until solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer bag. To remove excess air without a vacuum sealer, insert a straw into the bag’s opening, seal the bag around the straw, and suck out the air. Quickly seal the bag upon removing the straw.
    When ready to bake, place the frozen dough balls directly on a baking sheet and bake, adding a couple of extra minutes to the usual baking time.
    On vanilla sugar
    Vanilla sugar is a staple in many French and Swedish homes. However, a teaspoonful of vanilla extract will do the trick if you don’t have any on hand.
    If you wish, you can even make your own vanilla sugar. I always collect used vanilla pods, wash them if needed, and leave them to dry in a pot in my skafferi [pantry] until crisp. Then, I mix 3-4 dried pods with 200-300g of caster sugar, grind them to a powder, and store it in an airtight container.
    Author: Fanny Zanotti
    Prep Time30 minutes
    Cook Time15 minutes
    Total Time2 hours 45 minutes
    Makes 8 large cookies

    Ingredients

    • 115 g salted butter at room temperature
    • 200 g light muscovado sugar
    • 50 g golden caster sugar
    • 1 tsp vanilla sugar
    • 1 tsp flaky sea salt
    • 2 eggs
    • 300 g plain flour
    • 1½ tsp baking powder
    • 1 tsp baking soda
    • 250 g walnuts roughly chopped
    • 300 g dark chocolate chips I used Callebaut’s 56.9%

    Instructions

    • Preheat the oven to 190°C / fan 170°C. Line one or two baking sheets with baking paper.
    • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and salt until creamy, about 3 minutes.
    • Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
    • In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
    • Divide the dough into 8 rough balls, about 160-170g each. Shape them loosely into balls.
    • Place on the lined baking sheet, spacing them apart.
    • Bake for 14-16 minutes, until the tops are golden brown with lighter patches. Let the cookies set on the hot tray for at least 10 minutes before moving them – this allows the centers to firm up.
    • Allow to cool down completely, and store into an airtight container.

  • Macarons au chocolat blanc caramélisé et aux noisettes

    Macarons au chocolat blanc caramélisé et aux noisettes

    [Caramelised white chocolate and hazelnut macarons]

    I’d like to tell you I’ve made macarons today. I had planned to. Really. Last week, we bought mandelmjöl [ground almonds] and florsocker [icing sugar]; mjölkchoklad [milk chocolate] and vispgrädde [whipping cream].

    But you see, we’ve been for walks everyday. At times, in the forest. Or by the river. And, always, in the snow.

    And the chocolate bars we wrapped in foil – along with kokkaffe and the old kaffekanna [coffee pot], perhaps a square or two of Tatin tart salted caramels too, and a few baconost [bacon cheese] sandwiches that K. loves to make with lingonbröd [lingonberry bread, which I’ve seen an amazing recipe for here, and I can’t wait to go pick lingonberries to make it] – well, they’re gone.


    Yes, I wanted to make moka macarons, but we’ve eaten all the chocolate before it even got the chance to be turned into a whipped ganache, just so.

    Instead, we made the most of last night snowfall. For K. and Kaiser, the not-so-puppy-anymore you’ve perhaps seen on my pictures, it most likely involved effortless runs over the ice. For me, it means that the one patch of slippery mud will land me somewhere I didn’t decide to. Repeatedly 🙂

    Macarons au chocolat blanc caramélisé et aux noisettes

    When I realised I had never posted a recipe for macarons, I couldn’t believe it. It’s not like I haven’t spent the last seven years of my life making some almost daily. Pistachio and vanilla were ranking high amongst all. But I’ve also made some with elderflower and champagne, fermented mango, coconut and lime, salted caramel, avocado and chilli, pumpkin and cinnamon, rhubarb and cream. Even beetroot and orange ones. The list could go on for – almost – ever, really.
    And that’s what I love about macarons, how versatile they are.

    These ones are made with caramelised white chocolate – a love of mine, and roasted hazelnuts.
    At times, I like to fill my macarons with a crémeux instead of a ganache to lower the sweetness slightly. However, macarons made with crémeux will only keep for a couple of days in the fridge before getting a bit too moist. They will keep beautifully frozen though, and judging by how many times I’ve seen our container in the freezer getting emptier and emptier, I’m sure some chefs – whose names will remain undisclosed – can vouch for it.

    The recipe for the shells is adapted from Andrew Gravett’s beautiful macarons. He’s an amazing pastry chef and person, and I couldn’t be anymore grateful to have followed him in one way or another during my six years in London.
    It’s super-foolproof. And trust me, this is something you want your macarons to be.

    The stages are quite simple really: start by making a smooth tant-pour-tant, for this I like to use extra fine ground almonds as they give a more flawless finish.
    Then make an Italian meringue, which you fold into the almond mixture and the extra egg whites.
    After all is incorporated, you’ll deflate the batter slightly. This step, called macaronage, can be done with either a maryse or a plastic scraper. I like to use a plastic scraper and push the batter against the sides of the bowl until I have the correct texture. Now, it’s quite hard to describe the texture of the finished macaron batter: it should almost form a ruban and when the batter drops, it should smooth out into the rest, leaving only the tiniest bump.

    If you’d like I could write a little post about macaron troubles and what they mean. Perhaps we’d call it the macaron doctor?
    In the meantime, here are a few notes on macarons:
    – flat and odd shaped macarons with bubbles mean your batter was over-mixed.
    – gritty macarons with a pointy top means your batter was under-mixed.
    – cracked shells can mean two things: too much humidity in your kitchen/oven or your oven temperature is too high.
    – shells that stick to the silicon mat: try to bake them a minute or two longer.

    Macarons au chocolat blanc caramélisé et aux noisettes

    makes around 40 macarons

    for the caramelised white chocolate
    100 g white chocolate

    Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C. Place the chopped chocolate onto a baking tray lined with a silpat. Bake for 8 minutes, or until the chocolate is golden-brown. Take out from the oven, and using an off-set palette knife, work the chocolate to even out the colour and smooth it out. Allow to cool down while you get on with the rest.

    for the hazelnut paste
    300 g blanched hazelnuts

    Preheat the oven to 165°C/fan 145°C and roast the halzelnuts for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown. Save 100g to chop for decorating shells. And blitz the remaining 200g in a mixer until you have a smooth paste, around 8 minutes.
    This will make more than you need, but you can keep it in a container in the fridge for later use.

    For the caramelised white chocolate and hazelnut crémeux
    1 g gelatine 200 bloom
    50 g hazelnut paste
    60 g caramelised white chocolate
    50 g milk
    50 g 35% cream
    a fat pinch of salt
    1 egg yolk

    Soak the gelatine in ice-cold water. Place the caramelised white chocolate and hazelnut paste in a bowl.
    Bring the milk and cream to the boil. Pour onto the egg yolk, whisking as you do so. And return to the pan. Cook over low heat to 80°C, stirring at all times with a silicon spatula. Off the heat, add the squeezed gelatine. Then pour onto the white chocolate in three times, emulsifying well to create a glossy core. Handblend for 3 minutes to emulsify further.
    Transfer to a container and clingfilm to the touch. Chill for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.

    For the macarons
    150 g icing sugar
    150 g ground almonds
    55 g egg whites
    150 g caster sugar
    50 g water
    55 g egg whites
    15 g caster sugar
    100 g roasted hazelnuts, chopped and cooled down

    In a small blender, blitz the icing sugar and ground almonds for a couple of minutes, pulsing so it doesn’t overheat the nuts. Tip into a large bowl and add the egg whites. Mix to a smooth paste and cover with a damp cloth.

    Place the sugar and water in a small pan and cook over medium het to 118°C.
    When the syrup reaches 110°C, start whisking the egg whites on low speed. When soft peaks form, add the caster sugar, a little at a time, keep on whisking until stiff peaks form.
    Wait for the syrup to stop bubbling – around 30 seconds or so – and pour over your meringue, whisking as you do so, along the sides of the bowl to avoid splashes. Once all the syrup as been incorporated, increase the speed to medium and keep on whisking until the meringue is around 50°C.

    Add the meringue to the almond mixture and fold in using a maryse. Then deflate slightly until you get a ribbon.

    Pipe the macarons using a 9mm nozzle onto a baking tray lined with a silpat. Around 3cm wide. Immediately sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.
    Leave the trays at room temperature for around 30 minutes, or until a skin forms and the macarons no longer feel tacky.

    Bake at 160°C/fan 140°C for 12 minutes.

    Allow to cool down completely, then turn the macaron and fill them with the crémeux using a 11mm nozzle.
    Freeze on a baking tray, then put away in an air-tight container.