Tiramisu Charlotte Recipe + Skillshare

For the past month, Monica and I have lived, breathed, and dreamed tiramisu. As I've hinted on Instagram, we experimented with so many iterations of this humble Italian dessert that we've bought almost our weight in mascarpone cheese, and are still slightly buzzed from the coffee. 

Monica and I have partnered with Skillshare, an online learning community, to create a series of baking videos on making tiramisu. Professionals and dedicated amateurs can share their skills--from cooking to photography to marketing--through digital classes. Our class, "How to Make Tiramisu Without Being Cliche," walks you through creating a traditional tiramisu from scratch, as well as two more creative variations.

We were mildly flabbergasted that a videographer for Skillshare (thanks, Arron!) was actually going to travel to Indiana to film us. Learning to explain our baking process to the camera was quite a learning curve (we spent a good 15 minutes laughing at our first edits!), but I'm so excited about the recipes we developed. In addition to a very traditional tiramisu, we created a tiramisu-flavored charlotte (a British cream and sponge cake dessert), and a tiramisu French opera cake. 

We're sharing that tiramisu charlotte recipe here today, but if you would like to watch us walk you through this and two other recipes through step-by-step videos, do sign up for our Skillshare class. The referral link, which gives you a free trial, is here.

Stay warm,  my fellow East Coast-ers!
-Caroline

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TIRAMISU CHARLOTTE

Yields: one 6-inch charlotte
Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.

Ingredients
For the Ladyfingers
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
3 eggs, separated
½ cup granulated sugar, divided
¼ cup powdered sugar

For the Mascarpone Cream Filling
2 tsp powdered gelatin
3 tbsp water
1 ½ cup heavy cream
½ cup powdered sugar
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp Marsala
1 tbsp espresso

For Assembly
½ cup toasted chopped hazelnuts
¼ cup espresso, cooled
1 tbsp Marsala

For the Chocolate Curls
2 oz. dark chocolate
½ teaspoon vegetable oil

Directions
Make the savoiardi. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Find a 6-inch cake pan or pot to use as your Charlotte mold. Use the pan to draw a 6-inch circle on the parchment paper. Turn the paper upside down on the cookie sheet so that you don’t get ink on your savoiardi. 

Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt over a piece of wax paper. 

Whisk together the egg yolks with ¼ cup of granulated sugar until the yolks become a very pale yellow and double in volume. Fold in the dry ingredients.

Add the egg whites and remaining ¼ cup of sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. For best results, start whisking with the electric mixer set on low speed, and gradually increase speed.

Fold about ⅓ of the egg whites into the egg yolk/flour mixture to lighten. Fold in the remaining egg whites, until just combined. 

Spoon the batter into a piping bag. Fill in the circle you drew on the parchment paper, leaving a one-inch border from the edge. (You will get a cookie round that is slightly smaller than the base of your pan). Use the rest of the batter to pipe 4-inch long ladyfingers on the other cookie sheet.

Bake the ladyfingers for 25-30 minutes, rotating the cookie sheets halfway through, until golden brown and crispy. Bake the cookie round for another 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

Make the mascarpone cream filling. In a small bowl, combine the gelatin and water. Microwave for 15-20 seconds, until the gelatin is liquid and melted. Let cool to room temperature.

Whisk the whipped cream to soft peaks. Whisk in the powdered sugar. While whisking continuously, slowly pour in the liquid gelatin.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the mascarpone cheese, Marsala, and espresso. Fold the the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Line charlotte mold you are using with foil or plastic wrap. Trim one end of the ladyfingers, so that the bottom is even and they are all about the same height.

Place the cookie round in the bottom of the pan. Stand up the ladyfingers around the perimeter of the pan. You may need to spread a little of the cream filling on the base first, so that the cookies have something to stick to.

Mix together the espresso and Marsala. Spread about ⅓ of the mascarpone cream mixture on top of the cookie round. Dip a few of the remaining ladyfingers in the espresso mixture, and place on top of the cream. Be careful not to let them touch with the ladyfingers along the edge of the pan, or else the walls of your charlotte will go soggy. Sprinkle with about half of the hazelnuts.

Repeat this process again with the remaining mascarpone cream, ladyfingers, and hazelnuts, finishing with a final layer of cream on top.

Refrigerate overnight to let the filling set.

Make the chocolate curls. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on medium power in 20 second bursts. Mix in the vegetable oil.

Turn a clean baking  pan upside down, and spread the chocolate in a thin layer of the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate for about five minutes, until the chocolate is set but not too hard.

Using a metal spatula, press the edge against the chocolate and scrape away from you until chocolate makes curls.

Using the edges of the foil or plastic wrap, gently lift the Charlotte out of the pan. Peel away the foil. Top with chocolate curls and serve!

Check out our Skillshare class to watch us make this tiramisu opera cake!

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Lemon and Honey Granola

I think I might have gotten a little--just a little--tired of dessert food this holiday season. Monica and I were worked on a big baking project over break (you'll hear more about it soon!) and I turned out about a dozen cakes in two weeks. Between all the Christmas cookies and chocolate we went through, I started craving savory food and fruit. 

This granola fits the bill perfectly as a light, fruity breakfast to start the day. In contrast to a lot of store-bought granola, which always seems a little too sickly-sweet with dried fruit or weighed down with chocolate, this granola gets a bright flavor from both lemon juice and zest. I don't know why I never thought of introducing citrus to granola before; the lemon lifts the granola from a stale pantry food (or fished from the bottom of your backpack food) into something fresh and homemade.

Granola was one of the first things I learned how to bake completely from scratch. I remember feeling a sense of surprise that the little brown bar that seemed intrinsically linked to its foil package and corn syrup-y sweetness could actually be made at home--and what's more, was quite easy to make and had the potential to taste so good.

I highly recommend the addition of freeze-dried fruit to this granola; it adds a pop of color and tartness, without the sugar and funky preservative flavor of dried fruit.

You can make a pretty big batch of this granola in under an hour, even accounting for hauling your baking supplies up and down the stairs outside to the communal kitchen, almost getting locked out of the dorm, and forgetting the citrus zester in your room and zesting the lemon by hand.

The granola will keep for a few weeks, but it will probably disappear from your kitchen quite quickly.
-Caroline

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Lemon and Honey Granola

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe
Yields about 7-8 cups of granola

Ingredients
4 cups rolled oats (see notes)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
½ cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
zest of one lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 cup puffed rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
1 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
1 cup raw pepitas
½ cup roughly chopped raw almonds
¼ cup freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries, finely chopped (optional; I just like the extra pop of color and tartness they add)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Toss together the oats, oil, and salt. Spread evenly over a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan and bake for 15-20 minutes, shaking the pan two to three times during baking. 

Reduce the heat to 325 degrees.

In a microwaveable bowl, mix together the brown sugar, honey, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Microwave on high for about 1 minute, or until the mixture just begins to simmer. 
Place the cooked oats into a large mixing bowl. Add the rice cereal, coconut, pepitas, and almonds. Pour the honey/lemon mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until well-combined.

Line a 11x17  jelly-roll pan with foil, and grease with vegetable oil. 

Turn the sticky granola mixture onto the pan. Rub some vegetable oil into your palms, and use your hands to press the granola into an even layer. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool. Peel the granola away from the foil and break into small chunks. Toss in the freeze-dried strawberries, if using them. Enjoy!

Notes:
Quick oats can be used in place of rolled oats. Just reduce the toasting of the oats from 15 minutes to about 7-8 minutes. To make this recipe gluten-free, make sure to use certified gluten-free oats.

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Kale and Smoked Chorizo Hand Pies + Dinner Pies Cookbook Review

I spent most of finals week binge watching The Great British Bake Off (I think this was a much more productive procrastination activity than last year's, which involved watching Hugh Grant rom coms and reading The Hunger Games trilogy). The show is so British, with Union Jack bunting and judges sitting around with tea cups and people talking about Spotted Dick with completely straight faces.  In true British fashion, a recurring bake is the pasty, a small savory pie ranging from Cornish Pasties to pork pies.

So I had been itching to make some little meat pies of my own when I seredipitously had the chance a couple of weeks ago to receive a copy of Ken Haedrich's new cookbook, Dinner Pies. While American pie is usually sweet, Haedrich's book shares savory pie recipes from around the world, from quiche and samosas to pasties from Cornwall and (my mother's favorite) Wellington.

I love the concept of dinner pies, of warm, savory pies that are the perfect comfort food and meal on the go. And because I've been watching way too much Bake Off, they evoke a Dickens-era working class dinner, hearty and fragrant and filling, tucked into a miner's shirtfront or tempting a ragged street urchin.

Aside from the many flavor combinations and enough quiche ideas to last me a few years, Dinner Pies helpfully walks you through several versatile pie dough recipes such as a dough for deep-fried pies and a sturdier dough for hand pies. 

The recipe that immediately caught my eye was Haedrich's Kale and Chorizo Hand Pies, though it unfortunately didn't have a photo. That would be my one complaint with this book: most recipes don't have an accompany picture, which I think are so important for convincing us to try out a new recipe.

However, I can't ever turn down the sausage and kale combination, and these little pies turned out deliciously. While kale is certainly quite trendy for its supposed health benefits, it actually is a wonderful vegetable to work with for its own merit. It has a great flavor and is much less watery than most leafy greens, which makes it perfect for pie. I was initially very dubious with recipe for hand pie dough, since it had much less fat than I'm used to putting into my pies, but it actually turned out beautifully flaky. 

Dinner Pies is an interesting creative work, transforming the pastry dough we usually associate with dessert into savory snacks and meals. The wonderful people at Harvard Common Press are allowing me to share with you the recipe for kale and chorizo hand pies. Do give these a try; after all, kale practically makes these health food, right?

Happy New Year!
Caroline

Caroline's notes for the recipe:

• I did not end up using all the broth the recipe called for, and only added about 1/2 cup. The liquid helps cook down the kale, which can be fairly tough, but I like my kale with a little bit of body, so I didn't leave it to simmer for very long. However much broth you add, you want the finished filling to be fairly dry, or else your pie will become soggy.
• You could use ground chorizo, or chorizo links. I used ground, which saves you the trouble of pre-cooking the sausages and chopping them up.

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Kale and Smoked Chorizo Hand Pies

Recipe © 2016 by Ken Haedrich and Used by Permission of The Harvard Common Press
Yields: 4 servings
Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.

Ingredients
1 recipe Flaky and Sturdy Hand Pie Pastry (recipe follows), refrigerated

For the Filling
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 to 1 cup beef broth
2 pounds kale, stemmed and chopped 8 ounces fully cooked smoked chorizo sausage, cut in bite-size pieces
1 plum tomato, halved, seeded, and diced
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese or 1 cup diced provolone or mozzarella cheese
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk 

Directions
If you haven’t already, prepare and refrigerate the pastry for at least 1 hour. 

About 45 minutes before you want to assemble these hand pies, heat the olive oil in a very large skillet or stovetop casserole over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for another minute; salt and pepper the vegetables lightly. Add 3/4 cup beef broth and bring to a simmer. 

Add the kale, cover the skillet, and gently braise the kale for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover the pan and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale is tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. (If there’s too little liquid in the pan, add the remaining 1/4 cup broth, or even more if needed, and finish cooking.) 

When the liquid has mostly evaporated, stir in the sausage and tomato. Heat for 2 minutes, stirring often, then remove from the heat. Transfer the mixture to a plate and set aside to cool. 

Preheat the oven to 375°F and get out a large baking sheet. Line it with parchment if you have some. 

Working with one piece of dough at a time (and leaving the others in the refrigerator), roll it on a lightly floured surface into a round- cornered rectangle about 10 inches long and 8 inches wide. Draw an imaginary line across the center (crosswise) and put one-quarter of the kale and sausage mixture to one side of that line, leaving a border of 3/4 to 1 inch uncovered. Cover with 1/4 cup of the cheese. Press the filling down gently to compact it. 

Using a wet fingertip or damp pastry brush, moisten the entire perimeter of the dough, then fold the uncovered half of the dough over the filling, lining up the edges. Press gently to seal, then roll up the border to form a sort of rope edge. Poke the top once or twice with a paring knife to let steam escape. Transfer the hand pie to the baking sheet, then make the remaining pies. Brush all four pies lightly with the egg wash. 

Bake on the center oven rack until the pastry is a rich golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the hand pies to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before serving.

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Flaky & Sturdy Hand Pie Pastry

Makes enough for 4 medium-size hand pies or more smaller ones

Ingredients
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 large egg
1/3 cup cold water
1 tablespoon white vinegar 

Directions
Put the butter and shortening cubes in a single layer on a flour- dusted plate, with the shortening off to one side of the plate by itself. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and refrigerate that as well. Gently whisk the egg, water, and vinegar in a 1-cup glass measure until combined and refrigerate that also. 

When you’re ready to mix the pastry, transfer the flour mixture to a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Remove the lid and add the fat all at once, dropping it here and there over the flour. Give the machine six to eight 1-second pulses, cutting the fat into small pieces (baby pea–size and smaller). 

Remove the lid and pour about half of the liquid over the dry ingredients, but not all in one place. Give the machine two or three half- second pulses. Remove the lid, add the rest of the liquid, and pulse the machine again until the dough just barely starts to form coarse crumbs that hold together when you press them between your fingertips. Dump the mixture into a large mixing bowl and gather it together, kneading it gently several times. 

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and divide it into four equal pieces. Knead each one a couple more times, then shape into balls. Put the balls on separate sheets of plastic wrap and flatten them into disks about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap individually in the plastic and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours before rolling, or longer if desired. (You can also slip the wrapped dough into a gallon-size plastic freezer bag and freeze it for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.) 

Note: To make the dough by hand, measure and refrigerate all of the ingredients as specified in step 1. When you’re ready to mix the dough, transfer the dry mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the fat; toss by hand to coat with the flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in the fat until it is broken into small pieces (baby pea–size and smaller). Push the mixture toward the center of the bowl. Add about half of the liquid, pouring it all around the sides of the bowl rather than in any one spot. Stir briskly with a fork to dampen everything. Add the remaining liquid and mix again until the dough pulls together. Knead, divide, and shape as specified in step 4. 

Outtakes 2015

This is the hardest part of food blogging, I think, right here, this first sentence of a post introducing a new recipe. The baking is hardly easy, but it looks after itself and is certainly the most immediately rewarding part of the process. However, quite a few recipes get lost somewhere on the way from finished bake to a post on this website; sometimes it's because the recipe needed more work or I didn't like the photos, but often I simply didn't have anything compelling enough say about it. 

So, instead of a best-of-2015 type of post, I wanted to share some of these recipes I cut along the way this year, for one reason or another. I did enjoy baking, eating, and shooting all of them, and though they didn't get their own posts, I do want to show them to the light of day. 

Courtesan au Chocolat: flavored with Earl Grey and Chocolate pastry cream, these little choux buns were inspired by The Grand Budapest Hotel. The presentation wasn't as neat as I would have liked, and in the end I decided not to post these.

Grapefruit Tart: I was experimenting with a citrus tart that was lightened with whipped egg whites. 

Cappuccino Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling: Recipe from Sprinkle Bakes. I went through a phase when I really liked shooting pictures with chairs in them. Most of those got cut.

Fig and Honey Rolls: I held on to these photos for a long time, and always told myself I would post them. The recipe itself wasn't remarkable, and I honestly don't even really remember what they tasted like, but these are some of my favorite pictures that I've shot.

Corn Muffins: Photographed on the heels of my Fraisier Torte, with a very similar style (and the same batch of strawberries).

Jam Sandwich Cookies: A simple shortbread cookie that I've made, many, many times.

Baked Green Tea Mochi: Stay tuned, there will be a mochi recipe coming on the blog!

Ma'amoul: Middle Eastern date-stuffed cookies. I took a shortcut with a shortbread dough, but here is a more traditional recipe.

Lemon and Pecan Biscotti: This made an excellent breakfast for several days. The lemon/pecan flavor combination works surprisingly well.

Apple and Cinnamon Bread Pudding: I fully intended to post this one, and had even taken step-by-step pictures, but somehow it just never happened.

Enjoy, everyone! I'll see you in 2016.

Caroline