Authors: David Lebovitz
Ready for Dessert (34 page)
Begin assembling the baked Alaska: Line a deep bowl with a 2-quart (2-liter) capacity with plastic wrap and place it in the freezer. Freeze the chilled kiwifruit purée in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Spread the just-churned sorbet evenly into the bottom of the plastic-lined bowl and return it to the freezer.
Freeze the coconut custard in the ice cream machine. Spread 2 cups (500ml) of the just-churned ice cream over the kiwifruit sorbet; freeze the remaining ice cream in a separate container. Return the bowl to the freezer.
Freeze the chilled pineapple purée in the ice cream machine. Spread the just-churned sorbet evenly over the ice cream. Return the bowl to the freezer.
To make the macaroon layer, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-inch (23-cm) pie plate, dust it lightly with flour, and tap out any excess.
In the food processor fitted with the metal blade, grind the almonds with the flour, the ½ cup (100 g) sugar, and ⅛ teaspoon salt until very fine. Add the 2 egg whites and ½ cup (35 g) coconut and process until combined.
Spread the mixture in the prepared pie plate and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
Run a knife around the inside of the pie plate to loosen the macaroon, then lift it out. Place it over the last layer of sorbet in the bowl, trimming it to fit. Brush the macaroon evenly with the 3 tablespoons (45 ml) rum. Freeze until firm, at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.
To make the meringue, position an oven rack so that the oven will accommodate the height of the baked Alaska; preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C). Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or in a bowl by hand), whisk the egg whites on low speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and continue whisking until the whites just begin to hold their shape. Gradually sprinkle in the ¾ cup (150 g) sugar, add the vanilla, and continue whisking until the meringue is stiff and shiny.
Invert the bowl onto the prepared baking sheet and peel off the plastic wrap. Use a spatula to spread the meringue over the entire surface of the baked Alaska and create peaks and swirls. Bake until the meringue is nicely browned all over and slightly darkened in places, 3 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully!
To serve, using a long serrated knife, slice the baked Alaska into wedges, dipping the knife blade into a pitcher of hot water and shaking off the water before each cut.
VARIATION:
I like the color and flavor of the kiwifruit sorbet, but if you’re not a fan of kiwifruit, feel free to substitute your favorite fruit-based sorbet, such as
Chocolate-Tangerine Sorbet
,
Passion Fruit-Tangerine Sorbet
or
Strawberry-Mango Sorbet
.
TIPS:
I prefer to use unsweetened coconut, but if you can only find sweetened coconut, reduce the sugar in the ice cream by 1 tablespoon.
For assembly, the sorbets and ice cream must be spreadable. Although I give instructions to freeze them in succession, your ice cream machine canister will likely need to be refrozen between batches, so you may have to churn them over the course of a day or two. This means that the first two batches will be hard from being stored in the freezer; if they are, let them stand at room temperature until soft enough to spread.
If your freezer has enough space, you can unmold the baked Alaska and apply the meringue, then store the dessert in the freezer for up to 1 day until you’re ready to bake and serve.
Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies
Orange-Poppy Seed Sandwich Cookies
Rosemary Cookies with Tomato Jam
Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Almond and Chocolate Chunk Biscotti
Peppery Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti
Pistachio, Almond, and Dried Cherry Bark
If I had to name the one baked item I couldn’t live without
, it would be, unequivocally, the chocolate chip cookie. Is there anything that doesn’t encapsulate all there is to love about baking in a neat 3-inch (8-cm) disk? Bittersweet chocolate? Check. Butter? Check. Toasted nuts? Check. Brown sugar? Check. I don’t think anything can top chocolate chip cookies as the source of the greatest number of baking obsessions. And it all started by accident back in the 1930s when a baker ran out of baking chocolate and substituted broken semisweet chocolate pieces from a bar, hoping they’d melt into the dough. Like millions of other fans out there, I’m glad that they didn’t.
I treat each cookie that I bake like a precious gem, which is especially important if you’re one of those people who are able to eat just one at a sitting. (If you are, you have more restraint than I do.) To me, each cookie is just as important as the one baking next to it. I spend an inordinate amount of time making sure all my cookies come out of the oven baked just right.
The question people ask most frequently about cookies is “Why do my cookies spread?” The main culprit is overbeating the butter and sugar, which incorporates air into the batter. The air expands during baking, causing the cookies to spread. So when the first step in a recipe instructs you to beat or mix the butter and sugar, blend the ingredients for about 1 minute only, just enough to incorporate the two into a smooth paste without fluffing them up.
More than anything that goes in and out of the oven, cookies need to be watched carefully as they bake—just 1 minute can mean the difference between a texture that’s chewy and one that’s crisp. Always check cookies a few minutes before the baking time indicates. If you think they’re done, trust your instincts and take them out. Ovens vary, and even if they are set to the same temperature and our thermometers read the same, our ovens probably bake differently—9 minutes in mine might be 8 minutes in yours. Also, I’ve found that cookies baked on a silicone baking mat require slightly longer cooking times than those baked on parchment paper because the mat’s thickness shields the cookies a bit from the heat of the pan.
Be sure to rotate baking sheets midway during cooking to ensure that the cookies bake at the same rate. And follow the specifics of the recipe, which is especially important with delicate cookies like
Sesame-Orange Almond Tuiles
where parchment is used purposefully so that the cookies are easier to remove without breaking. Because no one wants broken cookies. But I will gladly take any off your hands.
BATCH BAKING:
Because people who like cookies like a lot of cookies, many of the recipes in this chapter make more than just a dozen or so. It’s often recommended that you bake two sheets of cookies at a time, but even so, in many instances you’ll still have more dough that’s begging to be baked off. If you do, let the baking sheets cool completely (if buttered and floured, wash and dry them between uses), then bake the remaining dough on the cooled baking sheets. Or, you can refrigerate or freeze the dough for baking at a later date.
MAKES ABOUT 40 COOKIES
These are the darkest, most chocolatey cookies you’ll ever sink your teeth into. A whopping full pound of chocolate and two cups of chocolate chips ensure an express route to chocolate heaven.
While the cookies bake, watch them carefully and remove them from the oven while they still feel molten in the center and just barely cooked around the outer edges because you want them to remain soft and chewy once they’re cool. But I suspect a few will go missing before they have a chance to cool completely.
1 pound (450 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60 g) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup (70 g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1¾ cups (350 g) sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups (320 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup (100 g) walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
Add the chocolate and butter to a large heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla on high speed until the mixture forms a well-defined ribbon when the beater is lifted, about 5 minutes. With the mixer running on low speed, mix in the melted chocolate-butter mixture until thoroughly incorporated, then stir in the flour mixture followed by the chocolate chips and nuts.
Cover and refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to handle, at least 30 minutes.
Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
On a lightly floured work surface, divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a log 10 inches (25 cm) long and 1½ inches (4 cm) in diameter. (If the dough is too cold and firm to shape, let it stand at room temperature until it becomes malleable.)
Slice the logs into disks ½ inch (1.5 cm) thick and place the disks on the baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch (3 cm) apart. If they crumble a bit, simply push them back together on the baking sheet.
Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway through baking, until the cookies feel just slightly firm at the edges, about 9 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.