Desserts

13/365: National Peach Melba Day

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Peach Melba Day! When I saw this on the calendar I was a little worried. It sounds like one of those fancy, complicated desserts that entails a lot of time and effort. Fortunately, it’s pretty simple: a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with half a peach, and drizzled in raspberry puree. Now, that is do-able!

Peach Melba was created in 1892 by French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel in London. Auguste apparently had the hots for a famous Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba, who was a real diva. The type of gal whose rider stipulates she must have a bowl full of green M&Ms before every performance of Figaro. In an effort to impress her, the chef created a dessert in her honor. Most guys would’ve settled for a bunch of flowers or a schmaltzy card, but not this dude. His creation was served in an ice sculpture shaped like a swan, an ode to Wagner’s Lohengrin, the opera in which Nellie was performing. In one scene, the knight Lohengrin arrives in a boat pulled by swans. Escoffier’s swan carried ice cream topped with peaches and spun sugar, and was served at a dinner party in Nellie’s honor. This ploy might have gotten him to second base and beyond, but rumor has it Nellie shied away from eating anything cold for fear that it would damage her delicate vocal cords. Poor Auguste. This is what we call a FAIL. No word on whether she indulged in the treat named after her, but her career continued until 1930, so it’s safe to say her voice suffered no ill effects from eating ice cream served in ice.

Peach MelbaBy the way, five years later, Escoffier again attempted to impress Nellie by creating Melba toast for her. There happens to be a National Melba Toast Day coming up on March 23rd, so we’ll be revisiting this fascinating tale in a couple of months. Hang tight until then…you’ll just have to wait and see if Auguste ever did woo his lady!

Mr. Escoffier wisely realized it would be a real pain in the ass to carve an ice sculpture into the shape of a swan every time he served Peach Melba, so he changed it up a little and began serving it in a regular bowl, topped with a raspberry beret. The kind you find in a secondhand store. Err, sorry – Prince on the brain. He topped it with a raspberry puree! Good thing for us, too. My ice-carving skills leave much to be desired.

Since fresh peaches weren’t in season, we were forced to use canned. And of course raspberries are also more readily available in the summer months so we substituted frozen. None of this mattered, though. The dessert was easy to assemble, and tasted pretty good considering nothing was fresh!

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10/365: National Bittersweet Chocolate Day

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Midwest Mark

It’s National Bittersweet Chocolate Day, and upon learning this, my first question was: what in the heck is bittersweet chocolate? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. And also on the internet. Chocolate is broken down into different categories based on the amount of fat it contains. Chocolate starts out as “chocolate liquor,” which is simply pure chocolate in liquid form. Sugar and a fat, such as cocoa butter, are added to this substance. To be classified as bittersweet, chocolate must contain a minimum of 35% chocolate liquor. The rest is cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla, and an emulsifier.

My second question was: what in the heck is an emulsifier? But then I figured the science was getting too intense, and I should just appreciate the chocolate for what it is. Which is, delicious! Who doesn’t like chocolate?!

Chocolate dates back to ancient times. The Mayans, when they weren’t assembling calendars meant to freak out otherwise highly advanced 21st-century people who falsely interpreted them as “the end of the world is coming!” warnings, were busy growing cacao trees in their backyards. They used the seeds to concoct a frothy and bitter beverage, an early precursor to Yoohoo. The Aztecs took over Mesoamerica, started adding spices like chile peppers and achiote to chocolate, and made sacrificial chocolate offerings to Xochiquetzal (pronounced Beverly), the goddess of fertility. Ever since, women have been craving the stuff during a certain time of the month. Coincidence? You be the judge. Europeans got their first taste of chocolate in the 16th century, and by 1839 had invented the modern-day chocolate bar. It only took them 200 years to figure out how to solidify it! Milk was added in 1875 by a Swiss candlemaker and his neighbor, Henri Nestle. Rodolphe Lindt figured out how to easily blend liquid chocolate, paving the way for Milton Hershey to mass produce affordable chocolate bars. 132 years later, Tay Zonday went viral with “Chocolate Rain.” 

Yeah, that's Ghirardelli. We roll with the best around here!

Yeah, that’s Ghirardelli. We roll with the best around here!

I’ve always been partial to milk chocolate, which contains only 10% chocolate liquor. Tara’s a dark chocolate fan, and it doesn’t get much darker than bittersweet chocolate, which is most often used in baking – its bitterness cuts down on the sweetness inherent in sugary desserts. Tara has a recipe for brownies with a chocolate ganache (check it out here), so she took a couple of bittersweet chocolate bars, melted them down with some half-and-half and butter, and poured them over the brownies. “The chocolate is melted,” I said, once it had blended in with the ganache mixture. “That’s kind of bittersweet.”

Cracking food jokes is part of the fun. And the brownies were delicious with coffee.

Oh, and our coworkers are loving this project, because they’re ending up with all the leftovers! Well, the sweet leftovers. The beans, not so much.

By the way, we’ll be revisiting bittersweet chocolate towards the end of our challenge. November 7 is bittersweet chocolate with almonds day. Hard to believe there were two separate bittersweet chocolate lobbyist groups (check out another interesting article on how food holidays are created here) while nobody campaigned for white chocolate. What a crime.

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8/365: National English Toffee Day

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Midwest Mark

It’s National English Toffee Day! After the hard work involved in making tempura last night, we were thankful that all we had to do to celebrate this holiday was unwrap a Heath Bar and take a bite.

Nobody really knows where toffee came from. Much like Carly Rae Jepsen, it just showed up one day without warning and stuck around. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is a variation of taffy, a chewy candy made by stretching a mixture of boiled sugar, butter, and artificial flavors and coloring. Toffee contains similar ingredients (molasses may be substituted for the sugar, and sometimes raisins or nuts are added) but is heated to the “hard crack” stage, which means either 295 to 310°F or 3-5 for possession with intent to distribute, depending on your definition. English toffee, a buttery version often made with almonds, is especially popular in the U.S. and is, in fact, the #1 snack choice of housewives who are addicted to Downton Abbey. Despite the name, it has little in common with the toffee that is popular in the U.K. Wot the bloody ‘ell?

English toffee can be either hard or soft – debate rages over which is the most authentic preparation. (“Rages” might be a bit of a stretch considering the English are notoriously polite folk. Except during soccer matches. The conversation probably went more like, “I say, ol’ chap, me mum always made ‘er toffee soft, but I can see the appeal in hard toffee, too. Cheerio!”).

Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do with English toffee. I suppose we could have tried making a batch from scratch, or using it to make cookies or brownies, but (SPOILER ALERT!) the next couple of days are going to involve cookies and brownies, so we didn’t want to overdo it.

Also, thank god for that gym membership.

In a burst of inspiration, I suggested we crumble up the Heath bars, coat a chicken breast with them, and saute that in a pan with a little butter and olive oil. This seemed like something a contestant on Chopped would do. One look from Tara put the kibosh on that creative (though admittedly out-there) idea. This is why I’m so happy to have a partner for this challenge: she’s the voice of reason.

English Toffee

Real quick before we close this out (and because just unwrapping and eating a Heath Bar is a cop out), I wanted to at least share something toffee related.

I’ve never been a toffee fan.  I remember my mom occasionally stashing one in the freezer to snack on while us kids were in school.  Several years ago a friend (Hi, Doreen!) borrowed one of my cookbooks looking to try out some new recipes.  A few days later she came in with a cake that had toffee pieces on top.  To this day, it’s one of my favorite cakes to make.  I considered making it for today’s holiday, but we’ll be noshing on baked goods the next two nights and I can only take so many goodies to the office.  Instead, here’s the recipe for you fine folks.  It’s super easy and definitely a crowd pleaser.

Thigh Cake (aka Better Than Sex Cake)
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
8 oz jar caramel topping
8 oz tub whipped topping 
2 english toffee bars

Mix and bake cake according to directions in 9×13 pan. After baking, and while still warm, poke holes in cake with fork.  Pour canned milk and caramel topping over entire cake.  Let cool.  Spread whipped topping onto cake.  Top with toffee pieces (I freeze them overnight, place in a zip top bag, wrap in a hand towel, and break up the bars with a meat tenderizer).  Keep refrigerated.

Enjoy!

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6/365: National Bean Day*

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Bean Day! It is also National Shortbread Day. If you see an asterisk in the title, that means there are multiple food holidays on that date. We stated in the rules that when there are multiple holidays, we will choose at least one, but don’t have to incorporate them all. Some days are devoted to three and even four different foods. It’s just not feasible to cover every single one, but we’ll try our best. We’ll even let the readers choose sometimes!

What does January 6th have to do with beans? There’s no concrete evidence, but many believe today was chosen to commemorate geneticist Gregor Mendel, who experimented with bean plants to test his theories on inherited traits. Mendel died on January 6, 1884.

Beans have been cultivated for eons. They have been found buried with the dead in ancient Egypt, and were mentioned in Homer’s (the Greek poet, not the dimwitted yellow guy so fond of Duff Beer) The Iliad, published in the 8th century. It’s a little known fact that the famous poet penned the couplet “beans, beans, good for the heart/the more you eat, the more you fart.” His legacy lives on in schoolyards across the world to this day. Beans are even older than that: there is evidence they date as far back as 700 years B.C.! Which means it’s entirely possible that a caveman could have whipped up a nice stegosaurus and bean stew way back in the Jurassic era.

Oh, in case I haven’t mentioned it yet, my facts may be a little off here.

How many different types of beans are there? There’s fava beans, azuki beans, mung beans, chickpeas, peas, lentils, lima beans, pinto beans, kidney beans, soybeans, black beans, velvet beans, wax beans, green beans. I’d continue, but I’m beginning to sound like that dude in Forrest Gump.

Tara's single bean, on the right. (That's an olive on the left). Hey - it counts!

Tara’s single bean, on the right. (That’s an olive on the left). Hey – it counts!

With so many choices available, we were stumped as to what to cook, so we left the decision up to our Facebook followers. The results were unanimous: black beans won in a landslide victory. Whew! I was thankful lima beans didn’t clinch the win. I’m not exactly fond of them. As for Tara, she isn’t fond of any type of bean, but in keeping with the spirit of the challenge – and following those same rules we came up with – she did have one bite. We ended up making nachos with ground turkey and black beans. Yummy stuff!

So, are beans good for your heart? The FDA says yes:  “Diets including beans may reduce your risk of heart disease and certain cancers.” Boo-yah!

And yes, they really do lead to flatulence. Hey, that’s why they invented Glade, right?

For dessert, we had shortbread cookies. I’ve always been fond of shortbread! It originated in Scotland and is descended from biscuit bread served in Medieval times. One can imagine King Arthur noshing on this stuff while deciding which country to invade next.

Beans, beans, good for the heart...and the nachos!

Beans, beans, good for the heart…and the nachos!

The Scots still take their shortbread seriously. Often, it is broken over the heads of new brides in hopes that this will lead to a prosperous union. I doubt it leads to much more than crumbs for a few lucky birds, but then again, we throw uncooked rice over here, so who’s to knock their tradition?

And look at that…we managed to cover both food holidays today. Go, us!

Tomorrow we break out the deep fryer and drown a whole bunch of vegetables in hot oil. What can I say? We’re a couple of sadists.

Rich, buttery shortbread cookies in the shape of stars.

Rich, buttery shortbread cookies in the shape of stars.

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5/365: National Whipped Cream Day

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Whipped Cream Day, and that’s fortunate since we are out of town visiting family. We don’t mind the tougher challenges, but it’s nice not having to worry about anything more difficult than how to use a can of whipped cream creatively while we’re on the road.

While many of these food holidays were apparently chosen at random, January 5 is no coincidence: it’s Reddi-Wip founder Aaron Lapin’s birthday. Mr. Lapin (“Bunny” to his friends) was the first person to put whipped cream in a can. He passed away in 1999, but his creation lives on.

Whipped cream existed long before Bunny was even a gleam in his parents’ eyes. Long, loooong before. Recipes have been discovered dating back to the 16th century, when whipped cream was known as “milk snow.” (How cute is that name? Can we bring it back?). By the 18th century the English began calling it “snow cream” (also cute). It is also known as Crème Chantilly, but that just makes me think of the old Big Bopper song. You know, Chantilly lace and a pretty face. Before my time, but I did see La Bamba and loved it. In 1946 the aerosol can was invented, and the sweet concoction (nothing more than cream that has been whipped – duh – and often sweetened and flavored with vanilla) took off when Mr. Lapin started selling Reddi-Wip out of the can. I think we can all agree that the man was a genius, no?

Imitation products exist (Cool Whip and other “whipped toppings”) but they do not contain dairy, and after the flak we received yesterday there was no way we were going to try to use a fake product this time around. I did get a Facebook message that said, I thought after yesterday’s do over you had learned your lesson about cans! Get or make the real stuff! My response? We have to draw the line somewhere! Otherwise people might accuse us of cheating because we didn’t milk our own cow to make the cream in the first place. A can of Reddi-Wip is perfectly acceptable.

Bunny thanks me.

After a busy day on the go, we didn’t get back to Tara’s mom’s house until 9 PM. You know what sounded really good at that point? A mug of hot cocoa. Topped with real whipped cream.

Aww...milk snow!

Aww…milk snow!

And THAT hit the spot!

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3/365: National Chocolate Covered Cherries Day

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Chocolate Covered Cherries Day. Remember those Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups commercials from the early 80s, where there’s a guy walking down the street eating a chocolate bar, and he bumps into a girl walking down the street eating a jar of peanut butter? The most annoying exchange then transpires.

She: “Hey, you got chocolate in my peanut butter!”
He: “You got peanut butter on my chocolate!”
(In unison): “What?! Mmm…delicious!”

Anyway, you have to wonder if the chocolate covered cherry was a similar happy accident. Its exact origin is unknown, but I’d be more inclined to believe somebody might be walking down the street eating cherries than a jar of peanut butter. (Seriously, have you ever seen anybody walking down the street licking peanut butter off their fingers?!). What we do know is, Cella’s Confections in New York introduced chocolate covered cherries in 1929. Folks needed something sweet and tasty to take their minds off that horrible Great Depression, so the timing was perfect. Chocolate covered cherries consist of a maraschino cherry dipped in milk chocolate and refrigerated overnight. Doesn’t get much simpler than that! We would have made our own, but we were on the go this evening and by the time they were ready, it would have been National Spaghetti Day. So a quick trip to Fred Meyer solved that dilemma!

We brought the box along to Red Robin, where we met up with a couple of Tara’s friends from Eugene whom she hadn’t seen in ten years. So, after burgers and fries, we all indulged in chocolate covered cherries. Sadly, the box of ten cost a whopping $1.89, and I’m sure you can imagine what an 18.9-cent chocolate covered cherry tastes like. If I had it to do over again, I’d splurge for Godiva.

Oh, well. It’s all about the spirit of the quest, anyway.

Chocolate covered cherry

I’m also thrilled to report that our challenge has already received international attention, just a few days in. A radio station in England talked up the blog on their afternoon drive time show. So welcome, readers from the UK! We’re glad to have you aboard. Stick around ’til October 13, and we’ll be giving you blokes a shout-out with National Yorkshire Pudding Day!

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2/365: National Cream Puff Day

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Midwest Mark

Today is National Cream Puff Day. This dessert was introduced to the U.S. in 1880, but dates clear back to the 1540s, where it originated in Europe. It was created for royalty: King Henry II of France’s pastry chef is said to have whipped up the first profiterole (fancy word for cream puff) at the insistence of his wife, Catherine de Medici. Henry largely ignored Catherine in favor of his mistress, so perhaps the pastry was a literal “sweet” gesture to win him over.

Or maybe fatten him up.

Either way, France in the 16th century wasn’t a very happy place, thanks to near-constant war and poverty. A sweet treat like the cream puff could maybe, for a moment at least, make the French forget about their woes.

It made Tara and I forget about ours today. There are few desserts more decadent, in my opinion. Cream puffs are light, flaky, and filled with a delicious cream center. To achieve this consistency, flour and salt are added to a mixture of boiled water and butter, baked at high heat for 20-25 minutes, then cut in half in order to prevent them from deflating. No matter how you slice ’em (pun intended), they are good!

We didn’t make ours, though. Instead, Larson’s Bakery on Mill Plain came to the rescue. I walked in, scoured the display case, and found a pair of Bavarian Cream Puffs on the end, calling my name. I managed to snag the last two left.

“Did you know today is National Cream Puff Day?” I asked the cashier.

“It’s funny you should mention that,” she replied. “One of the managers told me the other day, and I meant to make extras, but I completely forgot about it.”

No harm, no foul. I brought them home, and Tara and I scarfed them down as a pre-dinner appetizer. Upstairs in the bedroom, even. Who says you have to save dessert for dessert? They looked too good to resist, and they were mighty tasty. Bavarian cream puffs have a chocolate topping and a Bavarian cream filling, and are pretty similar to an eclair. Think of them as cream puffs kicked up a notch. Tara isn’t even real keen on cream puffs, but she declared these to be very good. (There is a National Eclair Day, by the way. June 22nd).

Bavarian Cream Puffs have a bonus chocolate layer.

Bavarian Cream Puffs have a bonus chocolate layer.

Two days in, and this project is beginning to feel fun. Maybe by the time summer rolls around we’ll feel otherwise, but right now, we’re enjoying it! Check out the new Calendar page for a daily list of our upcoming food challenges. Tomorrow it’s chocolate covered cherries. Pretty easy so far!

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