The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.
I was so excited to do this one. I had to miss the challenges for January and February because we were in the middle of the move, so I was all fired up about the orange tian.
I did the marmalade first, a couple days in advance. That actually worked out very well, which only made my eventual demise that much more tragilarious. We were given the freedom to use any citrus, and I inevitably chose blood oranges. I love those things. When we were growing up, my mother would make us fresh-squeezed orange juice on the weekends, and for a few short, fleeting weeks every year we would get blood orange juice instead of boring old yellow orange juice. Mellower, sweeter, richer somehow, I jumped at the chance to use it in this recipe. And the oranges were bloodened... until they started blanching. Huh.
I had wanted to use a stick of cinnamon in the marmalade, to give it some extra flavor, but I forgot. Oops. It turned out pretty good, anyway. Filled a couple of small jars that used to contain minced garlic, with enough left over to spread on a warm roll. Mmm.
It gelled up a bit more than I like. I think in the future I would use less pectin, or cook it less. Or both.
On to the next part! The oranges and caramel sauce are supposed to sit overnight, but since I normally get out of class at 12:30 AM, I figured I'd just make them the following morning and let them sit during the day. Day, night, what's the difference really? I actually ended up getting out at about 10:30 PM, but even so, I was tired. 14 hour days are still tough.
Well. The segmenting went all right, though these were some finicky blood oranges. I had those sitting in a bowl, and went to put the sugar on the burner. Here is where things really started to go downhill.
The recipe said to melt the sugar and have it boiling, then to add the blood orange juice. I know better than this! At least, I should! But instead of hydrating the sugar like I should have, I put it on the stove and turned my back. And, bam, the outsides were caramelizing and the insides were still granular sugar. I tried to stir it around with a spoon and dump in my juice, but as soon as the cold liquid hit, it seized up and glued to the bottom of the pan.
Okay. New plan. Rescue the orange juice, and set that pan to boiling with plenty of water in it, to get the sugar off. Now, put some water in another pot, and measure out more sugar. Boil.
This went okay, but I think I did not boil it enough. I let it reach about 220, at least, that's what my thermometer said, but it was still pretty liquidy. I might not have let all the water boil off. Oh well. It was 220, and I poured the juice back in. Let it boil for a bit, to thicken slightly, then poured half over the orange slices. The other half went into a cup, to sit and think about what it had done. Or whatever.
I had ALSO wanted to spice the caramel up a bit, but I forgot AGAIN. Another oh well. It still tasted yummy.
So then I went off and sat on hold with the RMV for about 40 minutes before starting the dough.
We were given leave to use any pate sablee recipe, but as I don't have a favorite, I stuck with the one Jennifer provided. Well, with a minor modification - I halved it, and added some shakes of spices. Cinnamon, clove, allspice, and coriander. Oh, and slightly more important, I couldn't find our food processor. So I used the mixer. It ended up pretty much a pate brisee, and the little rounds smelled fantastic and were flaky and delicious, but I'm not sure it was as it should have been.
And then Monster got home, and we got started on taco fillings and margaritas, and our guest showed up, and dinner was omnomnom. We watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, then I went off to assemble the desserts, while the other two watched Archer. Man, what a messed up show.
The whipped cream had to be made. We had some cream, but it had frozen and thawed and the fat was kinda... goopy in the liquid. I hoped it'd work anyway, so I dumped it in the mixer, whisked it around, and added the sugar. And then promptly did another thing I should - no, do - know better than.
The recipe calls for 1 tsp of gelatin, 3 Tbsp of warm water, mixed together, and let cool. Well, I know that gelatin should first be bloomed in cold water, then heated (in the case of powder) or squeezed and added to something hot (in the case of sheet). So what did I do? I put the gelatin in with 3 Tbsp of cold water, then microwaved it hot... then dumped it straight into the whipped cream. Which promptly melted and completely fell apart. DUH. Whipped cream doesn't tolerate hot things.
So I sent Monster to the store for more cream, and decided the hell with gelatin. I'll make normal whipped cream, make it stiff, and that'll be good enough. I was running out of patience, you see, and didn't want to have to wait for the hot gelatin to cool down first. So I rinsed off my bowl and whisk, chilled them, dried them thoroughly, and whipped the new cream good. Added 1/4 cup of granulated sugar instead of the lesser amount of confectioners' sugar, and added more of the same spices to boot (cinnamon, clove, allspice, and lots of coriander). Whipped it nice and stiff, then assembled the tians and stuck them in the fridge. Not the freezer, you see, because our freezer is completely filled with bread and meat and other stuff. I just turned the fridge up to the max, and turned them around after 5 minutes for a total of 10 minutes cooling time. While it was cooling, I reduced the remaining caramel for a better sauce.
A spatula under the bottom, a plate over the top, flip, and success! Minus one orange. Put that on top and hope nobody notices. Spoon some warm sauce over, add a dollop of whipped cream, snap a quick picture, and serve fast, before the cream is melted by the sauce. Monster put a bite in his mouth and said, "Mmm! That is tasty!" Hurrah! It was pretty awesome tasting, I have to admit. But man, what a pain to get there.
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