"Creme caramel"...Flan!

I have always been fascinated by the idea and silky golden appearance of flan, yet I can't recall ever seriously getting a chance to try it, that is until I made it! So while I can't say how it compares, I did receive a lot of positive feedback. It's a great recipe!

Cinnamon & Vanilla Flan









The trickiest part is really just caramelizing the sugar. You have to be careful not to burn the sugar, but if you leave the heat too low it simply won't caramelize and will just become a hard, white blob. But by far the coolest thing about it was watching the sugar literally melt. I know this might be obvious to some, but I really didn't expect it to actually do that! And Tyler (the food network host who created the recipe) specifically says not to stir but instead to swirl which actually works fantastically well, and if you try to stir you'll see what happens: not only does it all stick to the spoon, but it is almost impossible to work through the thick goop.

The caramelization occurred almost instantaneously. One second it was white, then another second it turns a beautiful amber color. Be sure to let it continue to caramelize for a minute or so after it starts to change color - this deepens the final color and flavor. When we made this for the fundraiser we didn't caramelize quite enough and it came out closer to yellow. Amber is so much more alluring.

I didn't have a vanilla bean but instead tossed in a bit of vanilla extract in the cream. The cinnamon flavor and vanilla were both almost unnoticable in the final product. Since I love cinnamon, I sprinkled on some mixed with cane sugar at the end. It changes the texture but really brings out the cinnamon!

All in all, it was delicious - rich, silky, and a nice level of sweet.

Baklava!

I had no studying to do...so I made baklava yesterday!

I had never made it before, and I used an Afghan recipe. Baklava is a common treat across central asia, the middle east, and of course, Greece. However, while it's exact origins are disputed, it is quite certain it developed somewhere in the Ottoman Empire, and has since become engrained into the cuisine of a dozen countries.

Afghans' variation on Baklava is, in my opinion, the most elegant I've tried. Rosewater, saffron, and cardamom? I just about melted reading the recipe.

Pistachio-Almond Baqlawa
topped with rosewater, saffron, and cardamom syrup, dusted with fresh ground pistachio and garnished with cinnamon




The whole shebang. It fed a happy Persian class, as well as myself and my roommates - with a couple pieces left over to delight my father with on Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Sponge Roll!

Truth be told, I don't remember the name the recipe gave. So here's mine:

Chocolate Spongie-ness!
Dark Chocolate sponge cake roll with fresh made chocolate whipped cream filling, topped with dark chocolate shavings and served with fresh strawberries in a light syrup.





My friend Noam (also an excellent cook) and I whipped this together from a recipe, with our other friend Nate's ingredients. =) Always makes it better.

Very delicious! Next time I might drizzle with a chocolate syrup.

We (I) messed up a little and forgot to grease the baking sheet. Never to despair! With a little of my optimism and Noam's finesse, we were able to pry it off in one (give or take a chunk - shh!) piece.

I like sponge cake like this because it's so light! It's really just whipped egg whites with a little bit of flour and melted chocolate, then poured onto a baking sheet and popped in the oven. Actually very easy to make in retrospect - good for me since I'm not the most experienced baker.

Just to leave you with a nice dose of weirdness, I present you with the Noam.