Daring Bakers: Phyllo Dough and Baklava

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

For this challenge I went a bit non-traditional as I'm not a big fan of walnuts.  The basic recipe is found here, from Alton Brown (one of my favorites!!).   I changed it quite a bit and used almonds, cherries and cashews for the filling.  For the syrup I used honey, water, and sugar and flavored it with lemon, cayenne, cinnamon and allspice.  I absolutely loved the flavor of the filling, slightly nutty, lots of cherry and a pinch of spice.


I enjoy these daring bakers challenges because they challenge me to be creative and to try recipes I would never try otherwise.   For instance, baklava is too rich to be a favorite of mine, but I did enjoy spending hours making the dough and coming up with a filling flavor.  If you have any desire to try making Baklava I'd encourage you to take a weekend and do it.  I can help give pointers, if you'd like. :-)

Unbaked

Fresh outta the oven!

Chocolate Marquise on Meringue

This month was my first month participating in the Daring Bakers challenge. This fun group chooses one blogger to host a monthly challenge. That blogger picks a dessert, announces it, then everyone else makes it and adds their own variations. I like it because it inspires me to be more creative and to try making things I would have never thought to make.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

A marquise is basically a frozen mousse rolled in cocoa. They also suggested adding a torched meringue and a tequila caramel drizzle. I decided to try the vegan version of the dessert offered. I've been cooking more vegan recently, and honestly, the vegan version looked easier. :-) Ashlae at ladycakes provided the vegan recipes.

I followed her recipes, found here, but added some tequila to the caramel, and cayenne and orange zest to the chocolate.

I loved all of the components that I made (coconut caramel, frozen chocolate pudding, and vegan meringue), but together it was too rich for me. Others who are more into desserts would love it, I'm sure.

I apologize for the awful pictures.  I broke my camera so I had to use the cell phone camera.  It did give me a great excuse to order a new camera.  :-).   It should be here soon, then I'll post lots more recipes!