Daring Bakers March Challenge-Orange Tian

March 1, 2010
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.

And now I understand why it is called DARING ! When I first saw the challenge I thought oh my gosh a recipe from Alain Ducasse's Cooking school-Toto we aren't in Kansas anymore !! After my heart stopped racing I couldn't wait to begin. I read and re-read the instructions at least 5 times. I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking of what my results would look like and taste like and I can't wait for my days off to begin the challenge !

PS: I baked this earlier in the month but we couldn't post to our blogs until everyone completed the challenge.
March 4, 2010
Here it is my week-end and I'm starting with the marmalade. I have decided to use blood oranges because I love the color and think it will make a pretty presentation besides tasting incredible.

Pretty blood oranges

I spent some time reviewing the You Tube video on segmenting citrus. Even though this is the way I normally segment them, I was a nervous wreck wanting to get them just perfect , so it took me most of the morning to segment my oranges and make my marmalade. I decided to do the segmenting first so that any scraps and defective ones could be thrown in with the marmalade. I think that was a good plan, except I have enough marmalade now to feed most of my neighbors for a week !

And so pretty when sliced open

Slices for the marmalade

Bitterness all gone after blanching

Lovely marmalade setting up

Such beautiful colors and so sweet

Even the compost is pretty

March 5, 2010

After my morning coffee I couldn't wait to begin phase 2 of the challenge. I made my caramel-but instead of just orange/caramel I made chocolate,orange caramel-because you can never have too much chocolate with anything ! Then I moved onto placing the blood orange segments into the silicone molds. I decided to use the molds instead of cookie cutters just to see how they would turn out and because I wanted them just a little smaller than the 4" cookie cutters I have.

              The molds worked out perfectly

Once I placed the segments into the molds and was satisfied with how they looked, I placed the molds into the freezer while I prepared the whipped cream with gelatine. This went fairly quickly and I was soon placing my completed Tians into the freezer to set up. I had to stop myself from opening the freezer every few minutes to see how they were doing ! I patiently waited 2 hours before pulling them out and keeping my fingers crossed that they would easily pop out of the molds. I had one minor casualty and it was the last one so of course I had to give the damaged one to my official taste tester. He didn't protest at all and he didn't seem to mind that the blood oranges no longer had the pretty swirl design to them. I watched his face and his expression said it all when he took his first bite-so of course I had to take a bite too. Oh my oh my-we almost had to arm wrestle for the next bite. I left him in Tian paradise while I went back to adding the caramel I had made to complete the presentation and Voila -behold my first Daring Bakers Challenge:

BLOOD ORANGE TIANS

Lovely Layers of Pate Sablee, Blood Orange Marmalade, Whipped cream with Marmalade folded in, topped with Blood Orange Segments covered with Chocolate Orange Caramel

BON APPETIT !

Directions,Recipe and Tips for Orange Tian

Recipe Source: Recipe slightly adapted from Alain Ducasse‘s Cooking School in Paris, France (http://www.ecolecuisine-alainducasse.com/).

Stabilized whipped cream (http://tamsin-cakes.com/2009/06/05/tamsincakes-on-flickr-adventures-in-s...)

Note: There are quite a few steps to making this dessert; however a lot of them can be made in advance. The orange marmalade can be made several days ahead of time and the caramel sauce and orange segments preparation should be made the day before you make the dessert. Also, if you have a scale, try and use the weighed measurements as they will be the most accurate.

This recipe and fabulous directions are compliments of Chocolate Shavings-check out her blog !

CAUTION-THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART-IT IS INTENSE AND WILL TAKE DAYS BUT THE RESULTS ARE WELL WORTH IT !!

The recipe can be a little bit tricky to put together, especially the first time. My main tip is to make sure the whipped cream is firm enough when you make it and be sure to leave the desserts to set in the freezer for long enough or they will fall apart when you unmold them.

Preparation time:
- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake
- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch
- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit
- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit
- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes
- Assembling: 20 minutes
- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Equipment required:
-Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold without its base.
- A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)
- A stand-up or hand mixer
- Parchment paper or a silicone sheet
- A baking sheet
- A rolling pin

For the Pate Sablee:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
baking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
-Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
-In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
-Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogeneous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
-Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
-Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.
-Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. -Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

For the Marmalade:
Ingredients U.S. Imperial Metric Instructions for Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
pectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

-Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
-Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
-Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
-Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
-Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measure and use the same amount of sugar.
-In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
-Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:
-For this step you will need 8 oranges.
-Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.
-[See YouTube video in the References section below for additional information on segmenting oranges.]

For the Caramel:
-Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
-granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
-orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams
-Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
-Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
-Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:
-Ingredients U.S. Metric Imperial Instructions for Ingredients
-heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
-3 tablespoons of hot water
-1 tsp Gelatine
-1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
-orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon
-In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

Assembling the Dessert:
-Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
-Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
-Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
-Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
-Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
-Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. -Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
-Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
-Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
-Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
-Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

And if you have made it through all of this, pour a glass of wine and enjoy your dessert !

Resources:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-tian.htm (An article about the dessert known as tian.)
YouTube link on how to segment an orange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZG5mcEEBlcI