Laura On Teaching

pâte à choux

Pâte à choux means roughly “cabbage paste”.  You can use this recipe to make cream puffs, éclairs, profiteroles, puffed swans, Paris-Brest, Gâteau Saint-Honoré… the possibilities for piping dough out of a pastry bag are endless.  This post will focus specifically on using pâte à choux to make cream puffs.  These are delectable treats that you can just pop into your mouth look like cute little cabbages.  ”Chou(x)” in French has an affectionate connotation, and you might call your loved one “mon petit chou”… my little cabbage.  It’s like Americans calling their kids pumpkin, sweet pea, sugar, sugar pie…

The original name for this pastry dough was “pâte à chaud” which means “hot paste”, because the dough is cooked twice — once on the stove and then in the oven.  This is the exact same technique and ratios as pão de queijo, so don’t be intimidated.  The only fancy thing here is that we pipe these with a bag and then slit them open and fill them with cream.  Yum.

Cream Puffs – Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free

pâte à choux:

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 tsp. salt

1 cup gluten-free flour mix*

4 large eggs

1 egg, beaten for egg wash**

* I follow Shauna’s recipe for an all-purpose gluten-free flour mix, and I just throw in whatever flours and starches I have on hand.

** It’s traditional to dorure (egg wash) the cream puffs before baking them, but I forgot to do this with the first batch.  I did it for the second batch, and, for some reason, they just weren’t as good.  I liked the first batch sans dorure better.  The dorure does make the puffs very shiny and golden, though.

filling:

1 can of coconut milk

a few drops of vanilla to taste

a few drops of stevia to taste

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Put the water, butter, and salt into a small pot.  Bring the water slowly to a boil over medium heat until the butter melts.  You want the butter to melt before the water boils, so resist the urge to crank up the heat.  Just when the water boils, take it off the heat and add the flour.  Stir it together with a wooden spoon.  It will be gloppy and sticky.  Put it back on the heat and keep stirring.  You are letting the paste dry out here so that the water will evaporate.  That’s good.  When the paste starts to look kind of oily on the surface, take it off the heat again and let the paste cool a little bit (you don’t want it to immediately cook your eggs).  Beat the eggs together in another bowl, and then add the eggs to the paste and blend together.

Put the paste into a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (.5 inch).  Pipe the dough into 1-inch rounds onto parchment-lined baking sheets.  Dorure if you choose.

Put the puffs into the oven, and then drop the heat to 325 F.  Do NOT open the oven to look at them.  The beginning of the baking process is crucial, because the steam from the eggs in the high heat is what makes the little puffs puff.

The puffs are done when there are no more little shiny balls of moisture on them.  This was about 15-20 minutes for me, but it may be more or less for you.  Check them often, about every 5 minutes.  Place the baking sheet on a rack after you take it out of the oven, and let the puffs cool for at least 15 minutes (or your cream will melt when you smear it inside).

While the puffs are puffing in the oven, make your coconut cream.  Slice each pastry puff in half carefully with a small knife.  Use a clean pastry bag with a plain tip, and load it with coconut cream.  Use the pastry bag to pipe your desired amount of cream onto the bottom half of the puff.  Place the top of the puff on top of the cream et voilà!  

Eat and enjoy.

Some variations:

* You can dip the tops of the cream puffs into melted chocolate.

*You can spread some of that chocolate as a base layer on the cream puff before pipping the coconut cream in… or you could put a thin layer of raspberry jam in there, too…

*If you use ice cream instead of coconut cream, you have profiteroles.

Nama Yatsuhashi

These sweets are one of my favorites, and they are inherently gluten-free and dairy-free.  In Kyoto, Japan, they are one of the many delicious and popular sweets made with sweet red bean paste (azuki bean paste).  Only when I began reading recipes for them did I understand why I fell in love with them so madly — they’re basically raw dough.  Anyone who knows my cooking knows that I love raw dough.  These sweets remind me of trips to Kyoto that I took with one of my best friends five years ago and more, so making these felt very special for me.  Honestly, I don’t know why I haven’t thought to try these before.

The original version has sugar in both the dough and the bean paste.  Neither needs it.  The azuki bean paste here was so delicious that I might make it again just to have as a sweet snack or as breakfast.  The dough is easy and quick to make, but it takes a lot of effort to roll out thinly, so allow time for that.

The nama yatsuhashi I made turned out very brown due to the cinnamon that I used.  They look like they’re chocolatey, but they’re not at all.  I didn’t add the cinnamon until after microwaving the dough, and that made it fairly difficult to fully incorporate the cinnamon well.  Next time, I’ll add the cinnamon to the flours, so that’s what I’m putting in the recipe here.  If it doesn’t work next time, then I’ll revise it here.

Also, I don’t usually use the microwave for any sort of cooking.  In fact, I haven’t had a microwave for years, but the house we’re in now came with one, and I have to admit that it’s useful for thawing meat… and making nama yatsuhashi.

I used the following websites for bases to make these amazing sweets:  Just Hungry’s recipe for azuki bean paste, this excellent recipe for making the yatsuhashi using steam on the stovetop, this recipe for how to make these in the microwave, and this terrific video that shows how to make it step by step.  I bought the flours (except for the potato starch) at a Japanese market.

Azuki Bean Paste

Nama Yatsuhashi – Sugar-Free, Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free

Makes about 16 nama yatsuhashi

Red Bean Paste

1 cup azuki beans

a pinch of salt

2 medjool dates, chopped small (pits removed)

Dough

12 Tablespoons Joshinko (rice flour)

6 Tablespoons Mochiko (sweet rice flour)

2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

1 Tablespoon roasted soybean flour

20 Tablespoons water

potato starch (for dusting and rolling the dough)

Preparing the red bean paste:

Soak the azuki beans for 24 hours.  Cook in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes.  Drain the azuki beans over a bowl so that you save the azuki bean water from cooking*.  Put the azuki beans in a small pot on the stove.  Add the chopped medjool dates, and heat over medium-heat.  Add some of the cooking water to the beans to keep them from getting dry, but don’t add so much that it becomes bean soup.  You just want a nice, slightly moist bean paste.  Cook for about 5-10 minutes, then remove from the heat.  Put the beans on a plate and spread around.  Leave to cool at room temperature.

* You can also drink this azuki bean water as tea in small amounts.  It’s good for the kidneys and the urinary tract.  On that note, when you’re eating azuki beans, be sure to drink plenty of water afterwards as they are a diuretic.

Preparing the dough:

Mix the joshinko, mochiko, cinnamon, and roasted soybean flour together with a fork in a microwavable bowl (or tupperware).  Add the water, and mix together.  It’s helpful to use a paddle like you would with a rice cooker for this.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes.  Remove and stir.  Put back in the microwave and cook for 1 minutes.  Remove and stir.  Put it back in the microwave again and cook for 1 more minute.  Finally, remove and stir one last time.

Put a sheet of parchment paper on the counter top and dust it liberally with potato starch.  One the dough has cooled enough to handle it, dust the dough with potato starch and knead it until it’s smooth.  Don’t be afraid to use a lot of potato starch.  Put the ball of dough on the parchment paper.  Place another sheet of parchment paper on top of the dough.  Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out until it is very thin, almost translucent but still able to be peeled easily off of the paper.  Continue to dust with potato starch as you need to in order to prevent sticking.

Using a knife, cut the dough into squares.  The easiest way to do this is to cut a straight line on two edges of the dough, and then fold in one corner until you have a square that is the size that you want it.  Repeat until all of the dough is used.

Assembling the nama yatsuhashi:

Place a small amount of azuki bean paste in the center of each square of dough.  Fold the dough into a triangle, pulling one corner to its opposite corner and pressing down the edges of the dough together.  There should not be any bean paste oozing out from inside.  The edges should be clean, and there should be some space between where the bean paste is inside and the edge of the dough triangle.  Repeat with each dough square.

These are delicious plain or with tea, especially green tea.  I refrigerated them overnight, and that made them a little tough.  I recommend just covering them with plastic wrap (if you miraculously have some to save) and storing them on the counter or in the cupboard until you want to eat them again.  They’re best fresh, so don’t let them sit around too long… as if that were a possibility.

Eat and enjoy!

My boyfriend loves banana pudding.  After the first couple of times that I made it for him, he asked me to teach him to make it, and now he makes it at least once a week for himself, sometimes more.  I’m allergic to bananas, so I only try a taste of what he makes.  The picture above was made by him, and I think this might have been the best version yet – the smoothest and creamiest.

This is a recipe that really benefits from having your mise en place ready to go.  In other words, get all of the ingredients ready before you put the heat to the milk and corn starch.  If you turn your back to go hunting for your banana, the corn starch will clump up, and the pudding will turn out lumpy.

Chilling is optional.  My boyfriend likes to eat the pudding warm, but if I make it for him, I usually make it earlier in the day and chill it in the refrigerator so that he has a surprise later.

I used this recipe from Joyfull Mother as the base.

Banana Pudding - Gluten-Free & Sugar-Free

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup corn starch (maybe a bit more, depending on how thick you want it)

1 ripe banana, mushed

2 eggs, whisked

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract – optional

ground cinnamon

Combine the milk and corn starch in a small pot.  Stir with a fork or a whisk to get rid of any lumps.  Heat slowly on medium-low.  Don’t let it boil.  You want it to slowly thicken without bubbling up into a boil.  After about 5 minutes, add the eggs and stir.  Continue cooking for about 2 minutes more, then remove from heat, and add the bananas.  Stir well until smooth.

Refrigerate for at least 2 hours if you want to serve it cool.  Otherwise, pour it into bowls and sprinkle the cinnamon on top.  Sometimes I like to make a thin layer of cinnamon covering the entire surface of the pudding.  Other times, it’s nice just to sprinkle cinnamon on the center and let some of the banana pudding show through.

Eat and enjoy!

Dairy-Free Pao de Queijo

This is an inherently gluten-free cheese bread from Brazil.  It is similar (but slightly different) to chipa in Argentina, pan de queso in Colombia, and gougeres in France.  I’ll do chipa and pan de queso in another post.  They’re all related but have some differences in their recipes.

I used the recipe from the back of the bag of flour – Amafil’s polvilho azedo – and Elisa Teixeira’s blogpost as well as the kitchn’s recipe for pao de queijo.  Pao de queijo uses sour cassava flour.  Cassava is also known as tapioca, yucca, and manioc.  The sour cassava flour does make a difference, although the bread will turn out fine with the regular tapioca starch.  The sour cassava flour gives it that fermented, cheesy flavor, even before you add the cheese.  I’m lucky enough to live in a town with a huge Brazilian population, so I was able to find a bag for a very good price of sour cassava flour.

A note on the cheese.  The first time we made these, we used 1 cup mozzarella with 1/2 cup parmesan.  They were good, but I thought that the parmesan was a bit too strong.  When I talked with my favorite local Brazilian bakery, they told me that they use only mozzarella.  So, the second time I made these, that’s what I did, too, and I liked the milder flavor better.

This bread is really easy to make, and it keeps well for several days.  You can reheat them in the microwave for about 5 seconds to warm them up.

Pao de queijo – with dairy

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1 tsp salt

2 cups sour cassava flour

2 eggs

1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 375.

Boil the milk, oil, and salt over medium heat.  As soon as the mixture boils, add the flour and stir.  Remove from the heat.  Add the eggs and stir.  Add cheese.  Mix until the cheese is well incorporated.

Coat hands with oil*, and roll into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball or golf ball (your choice).   Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden on the outside.  When you tap them, they should sound slightly hollow.

*The oil helps to make the surface of the balls smoother.

Pao de queijo – without dairy

1 cup water

1/2 cup sunflower oil

1 tsp salt

2 cups sour cassava flour

2 eggs

1-1.5 cups shredded Daiya mozzarella cheese (Add 1 cup first, and if you think you need more, then add more)

Preheat the oven to 375.

Boil the water, oil, and salt over medium heat.  As soon as the mixture boils, add the flour and stir.  Remove from the heat.  Add the eggs and stir.  Add cheese.  Mix until the cheese is well incorporated.

Coat hands with oil*, and roll into balls about the size of a ping-pong ball or golf ball (your choice).   Place on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

Cook for 20-25 minutes or until golden on the outside.  When you tap them, they should sound slightly hollow.

*The oil helps to make the surface of the balls smoother.

I used this recipe from glutenfreegirl as the base, and I used this tutorial from oh she glows for coconut cream.  I’ll try this again and see if I can use coconut oil instead of butter to make it dairy-free, too.  If you try out variations, let me know in the comments.

Strawberry Shortcake – Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free

1 tsp. ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tsp. warm water (mix and let sit for 5 minutes to gel)

315 g all-purpose gluten-free flour (no xanthan or gums)

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 Tbsp. baking powder

113 g unsalted butter (1 stick) – chill in the freezer first and then cut up into small squares

2 eggs

2/3 cup coconut milk (from the can — don’t use the lite)

extra flour for rolling the dough

1 lb. strawberries

coconut cream from one can*

*I use the Whole Foods brand of coconut milk (always the full-fat) and it works beautifully.

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Cut the butter up and put it in the freezer to keep it chilled.  Add the water to the ground flaxseed and let sit for about 5 minutes.  Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together.  Cut in the butter either with a pastry cutter or your fingers.  Keep going until it resembles wet sand.  Add the eggs and mix together (I use my hands for this).  Add the coconut milk.  (Again, I just use my hands, but I’m sure a spoon would work pretty well, too).  Mix the dough together until it just holds.  It will be sticky.

Put the bowl with the dough in the refrigerator (no need to wrap it) for about 15-30 minutes while you cut up the strawberries and whip the coconut cream.  Keep the coconut cream and the strawberries refrigerated until ready to assemble the shortcakes.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Grab a chunk of it and dust it with flour to make it less sticky.  Roll it out gently between two sheets of parchment paper to about 1/3 inch thickness.  Choose your cutter size (or use the rim of a drinking glass or jar).  Cut out circles of dough and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and slightly golden on top.

To assemble the shortcakes, take one disc of baked dough and top it with a dollop of coconut cream.  Place a few strawberry slices on top of the cream, and then place a second disc of baked dough on top.

Eat and enjoy!

NOTES:  I felt like the whipped cream needed a touch of stevia to sweeten it, although if there are more strawberries, then maybe it’s fine.  Next time, I want to try the dough with coconut oil (to make it dairy-free) or ghee (to make it casein-free).  I might also roll the dough thicker before cutting it.

My final grades are finally in for the university. The proctoring is done, the exams graded, and now I’m actually planning for the next term so that I can really have a full week (or two! … miracle of miracles…) off without the impending spring term looming behind me. Things are winding down and up in that excitement of holidays, changed routines, special foods, special rituals… all of the excitement that usually leaves me secretly looking forward to the relief of January.

Last year, at this time, I was struggling to fight through walking pneumonia. It was brought on by a combination of a sulpha drug for an infected spider bite with an overload of stress from work. I was exhausted. Drained. Sick. December was overcharged with everything.

This year, I feel happy in a way that is quiet, that makes me think of my feet pressing solidly into the ground.

I make less money right now than I ever have as a post-graduate adult, but I have more independence than I have ever had. I have an incredible boss who is kind and fair, and he listens to what his teachers have to say. REALLY listens. He listens to the students, too. Heck — he actually KNOWS all of the students in his program. I am grateful for a job where the only time I feel stressed is simply because I’m tutoring so much that I’m tired. I don’t feel resentment. I don’t go to bed angry every night because of what’s happening at work.

The students that I tutor have become my little community here, and I love working with them. It is a gift to be able to work one on one with another person at any age… to have this time where we dedicate our energies to learning together.

All of this gratitude feels incongruous with the outrage that I feel about the Sandy Hook shooting. I’ve been pretty vocal about my opinions on Facebook, and I don’t really feel like opening up the whole debate here. What I do want to say, though, is that we have a problem in our values when a high school of 3000+ high-poverty students has only 1 social worker yet has an in-school police station staffed with more than 2 police officers. NCLB babbled on and on about “back to basics” and cut art, music, even recess… but the “basics” of food, shelter, and health are not being met.

We have to change the mentality of this society as a whole to one where everyone cares about everyone having enough, not just “I have more than I need and you don’t need as much as I do.” This has to be a community-driven initiative. No more blaming the parents, no more abandoning of responsibility by scapegoating “choice.” One can only have the right to choose when one has access to different options. If the access isn’t there, then what choice is there? I don’t understand why every school can’t have a fully-staffed community health clinic, dental clinic, and counseling service. Sure, the parents can choose which services the kid receives, but the parents can also rely on the teachers and the community that revolves around the school to support them as a family and to support the health and well-being of their children.

The phrase that keeps running through my mind in this past week is “Lean In.” On Friday, before I had heard about the shootings, the kids that I tutor were so excited about learning about the American coins which I had scattered on the library table that they literally leaned in to manipulate the coins. Their elbows pushed against each other in excitement to participate, and they stopped looking at the clock, stopped thinking about when were they going to get to use the computers… and they were completely present, completely focused and engaged.

I think that’s what we have to do. On a personal level, I feel like I have had to learn to slow down, to make choices that involved big changes and a lack of certain securities that I was used to (more disposable income, health insurance…), and to lean in towards what really drives me everyday — my love of connecting with people and learning together.

As a society, we cannot step back and hold our hands up helplessly in a gesture of “What could we have done? What can we do?” We must lean in towards each other to discuss and to listen.  We must slow down to do this, to look carefully at the facts that we have, and to find solutions that will be the root of a safe and sustainable future for everyone in this society.