Best DC desserts from Washingtonian magazine

Here are the results from their January 2010 issue, based on diners’ report cards.

• Hazelnut souffle w/ orange granite and orange-ginger sorbet, Adour
• Deconstructed carrot cake, Tosca
• Chocolate tart w/ caramelized banana, Corduroy
• Cider doughnuts, 1789
• Chocolate-coconut candy bar, Bourbon Steak
• Chocolate cream w/ hazelnut sherbet and cocoa nibs, Trummer’s on Main
• Zeppole w/ zabaglione, Assaggi
• Salted profiteroles, Vermilion
• Warm chocolate cake, J&G Steakhouse
• Trio of creme brulees, Charlie Palmer Steak
• Crepe souffle, BLT Steak
• Lemon chess pie, Vidalia*
• Blueberry crumble, Source
• Key lime pie, Ray’s the Classics*
• Vanilla ice cream, 2 Amys
• Apple Tarte Tatin, Restaurant Eve
• Lingonberry linzer torte, Hook
• Napoleon, Citronelle

Lingonberry linzer torte, Hook

*Pitifully, these are the only ones from the list that I’ve tried. I didn’t enjoy the lemon chess pie at Vidalia. My friends and I split it–we all had a bite and were like, meh. But the key lime pie at Ray’s is darn good.

On a baklava bender

I’ve had Saladelia’s pistachio baklava every day now for almost a week. It calls to me (taunts me is more like it) whenever I’m in Durham, NC. What makes it so good? Well, each flaky layer is honey-kissed, not honey-soaked. That’s key, because you still get that crunch you want from the phyllo and nuts. I tend to stay away from baklavas drowning in honey/syrup for that reason.

Saladelia’s version will convert those “Oh, baklava’s too sweet for me” types. Try it and tell me I’m wrong.

Croquembouche. Crisp in the mouth, delicious in the stomach.

Whatever you might say about the French (don’t get my dad started), there’s no denying that they know how to live. Take this traditional dessert, croquembouche, which translates to “crisp in the mouth.” It’s basically a  tower of cream puffs in a web of spun sugar. You crack the sugar with the back of the knife before serving it to your awestruck friends.

Food Network Magazine featured a recipe for making this from scratch in their December issue. They preface the recipe by saying it’s easier than it looks, which usually means it’s not. Sure enough, the recipe goes on for three pages and involves a pastry bag–already too complex for me.

Rather than trying to make cream puffs, you could buy some in the freezer case and do the spun sugar caramel yourself. I’ve included that part of the recipe below.

Full recipe here, courtesy of Food Network: http://bit.ly/7FlPmH

Caramel recipe to create web of sugar:

3 cups sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 cup water

Directions: Mix the sugar, corn syrup and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Don’t stir. Uncover and boil, swirling the pan, until the syrup turns deep amber, 20 minutes. Immediately dip the bottom of the pan into a bowl of ice water for a few seconds to stop the cooking. Transfer the caramel to a liquid measuring cup and cool just slightly–it should still be hot and liquid.

Draw a seven-inch circle on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. Partially dip each puff in the caramel, letting the excess drip off. Arrange the puffs around the circle. (Note: If the caramel hardens, microwave about 45 seconds.) Build the base of puffs, continuing to stack into a tower formation of smaller circles.

To get the “web effect” of spun sugar, dip the tip of a fork into the caramel and quickly wave it in circle around the tower to create a web of caramel strands. Repeat. (Make sure your working surface is covered in parchment paper, because this process can be messy.) Let set. Destroy web before eating. Voila!

Afternoon Tea Chinois. Or, why am I a sucker for anything served on a multi-tiered plate?

In a perfect world, afternoon tea would be served every day. Imagine breaking at 4PM for your daily dose of crustless cucumber sandwiches followed by fresh-from-the-oven pastries. If only. In reality, afternoon tea is more of a special occasion thing–like when you want to take someone out and have hours to linger, without heading to the Melting Pot.

Here’s the spread from the “Afternoon Tea Chinois” at the Willard Intercontinental. Both the decor and the food were inspired by the terra cotta warrior exhibit currently at NatGeo. The Willard offers a good selection of Chinese teas, along with the more traditional standbys like Earl Grey. We had the green passion (fragrant, light) and the oolong tea (bitter, a nice complement to all the sweets).

I was curious to see how they’d do afternoon tea with a Chinese twist. Some places slap a few Mandarin oranges onto lettuce and call it Asian chicken salad. Would the Willard’s interpretation be as simplistic? (Excuse the poorly lit photo.)

Actually, no, but they could have taken it further, especially with the desserts. I enjoyed the finger sandwiches more than the sweet stuff–unusual coming from a sugar addict. The Asian-style chicken salad and Chinese eggplant ones were packed with flavor. A big plus: they offered us seconds on the sandwiches.

The middle tier held two scones per person. While the five-spice scones were pretty bland, the cranberry-orange ones delivered, the crunchy top giving way to a flaky center. They were served with a delicious lemon curd, Devonshire cream, and raspberry and orange marmalades.

Onto the dessert tier. It’s a little sad when the macaroon from the Trader Joe’s freezer case beats your house-made chocolate-hazelnut one. Oh well. The green tea meringues, spiced marshmallows and Chinese fruit petit-fours were also ho-hum. But I gotta give them credit for their Mandarin mousse sitting in an edible white chocolate spoon, if more for presentation than flavor. 

The tea is held in the hotel’s Peacock Alley–proof that this town is really all about spin. We were basically seated in a hallway off the lobby flanked by the corridor to the bathrooms and the doors to a ballroom. Hmm. While Mr X-sXe enjoyed the people-watching opportunities, I was distracted by the chilly draft coming in every time the hotel’s back doors opened (hey, it was 40 degrees today and I was freezing my tokhes off). Thank goodness for the extra sandwiches, which helped redeem my opinion of the Willard’s afternoon tea.

Stuff your face with cookies while doing good

Baking for Good lets you do just that, since 15% of proceeds go to the cause of your choice. Word is that their baked goods are very tasty. I’m particularly intrigued by the lemon and lavender shortbreads (below). They also do brownies, whoopie pies, rice treats and more, chock full of organic ingredients. Get your order in for the holidays! 

Gratuitous macaroon photo of the day

I read yesterday that sugar depresses the immune system and that your body only needs 8 grams a day, energy-wise.

On most days, I exceed those 8 grams by breakfast. This morning, I had Vanilla Almond Shredded Wheat. 11 grams of sugar per serving.

Then a raspberry fruit tart with lunch. Another 16 grams. So I’ve already had 3x the sugar my body supposedly needs. *Sigh*

I guess I’ll just have to stare at photos of desserts for the rest of the day, like this one from the book “I Love Macarons.” (Click for more info.) Crap, now I really want a macaroon.

Food Network’s “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”: Holiday episode

Here’s where to find the two desserts that were mentioned on this episode. I’m not an Indian pudding fan (maybe I’ve just never had it done right?), but I do like to bring home a panettone for the holidays. It’s a buttery, eggy Milanese bread with an airy texture, studded with dry fruits. Panettone reminds me of Challah, flavor- and texture-wise. You can find them in grocery stores for about five bucks, and they have a pretty good shelf life. I liked toasting up slices before serving. It’s also a great bread for French toast.

Panettone Milanese-Emporio Rulli

446 Magnolia Avenue

Larkspur, CA 94939

(415) 924-7478

www.rulli.com

Warm Indian Pudding-The Colonial Inn

48 Monument Square

Concord, MA 01742

(978) 369-9200

www.concordscolonialinn.com

Home-grown DC whoopie pies from B. Hall, Baker

I know I’ve been harping on about how macaroons are the next cupcakes. But given the fact that whoopie pies are in every grocery store and bakery lately, I’ve had to reconsider. (Also, if you think about it, whoopie pies are close cousins to cupcakes. Just lop off the bottom half of a cupcake and reattach it to the top, like a cupcake sandwich. You end up with a whoopie pie-like creature.) 

The thing that bums me out about most whoopies pies is that they taste like a variation on a Devil Dog. So it’s exciting to see that B. Hall, Baker (featured in DailyCandy DC today, http://bit.ly/2jGZLs) is bringing us ones made with gourmet ingredients. With flavors ranging from Raspberry Red Velvet to Dulce de Leche, this ain’t no Hostess creation.

These babies are available by mail order and for local pick-up on select dates.

And for you bakers out there, this white-chocolate whoopie pie recipe from The Washington Post is pretty good. http://bit.ly/8Jhv1

NYC sugar rush: Rice to Riches and Butter Lane Bakery

It’s hard not to marvel at the number of food places in NYC that specialize in one thing only, and somehow manage to cover their bills–even turn a profit. The Macaron Cafe (http://bit.ly/HFNJJ), a store dedicated to selling French macaroons in rainbow colors, is a prime example. Yeah, they do sandwiches too, but I’ve never actually seen a customer order one.

On a recent business trip there, I only had a couple of hours before I had to catch my train back. But I couldn’t go home empty-handed. My sweet tooth (and greed) wouldn’t allow it.

Thanks to Sex and the City and the national obsession with cupcakes, you can pretty much find a cupcake place every few blocks in NYC. So one of the things I picked up was a dozen organic cupcakes from Butter Lane. They have a limited number of cupcake bases that you can pair with their frostings. I believe the ones in the photo are caramel on vanilla cake and strawberry on vanilla cake. We thought they did a better job with the frosting (perfectly sweet, creamy and flavorful) than their cakes (the vanilla was dry, but the other cake options were more moist).

Rice to Riches, which JDang introduced to me a while back, specializes in a smorgasbord of rice pudding flavors (20+ kinds a day). I picked up the Coconut Coma and Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug. Check out the funky UFO-like packaging.

The coconut was disappointing, a bit bland with a faint sour taste to it. But I could probably bathe in the chocolate-hazelnut. Rich (more dark chocolate than milk chocolate, flavor-wise), creamy and nutty. It’ll be hard to go back to Nutella after you’ve tried it.

Butter Lane, 123 East 7th Street, (212) 677-2880

Rice to Riches, 37 Spring Street, (212) 274-0008

Trader Joe’s dark-chocolate covered pretzel slims

Trader Joe’s has been offering chocolate-covered pretzels at a great price forever. These are a variation on that product. There’s more surface area covered by chocolate on the slims than their regular pretzels, so these might be  a better option for chocolate lovers. Be prepared for the large grains of salt on these, which contrast nicely with the sweetness of the chocolate.

This bag was 6 ounces for $2.99. My guess is that ounce for ounce, the regular chocolate-covered pretzels are a better value. I’ll have to verify that next time I’m in the store, though.