Eggless Apple,Walnuts and Flaxseed Bread

I have loads of these Goodies to post and they are just piling up in my folder, I just made this 2 days back, when my H forgot to get bread for my children, as they take only sandwiches I was quite upset, especially my son gets very hungry and if he doesn't eat at right time, he ends up having headaches :(, as I myself wasn't feeling well, I was really not upto make anything, After 3 long years (except when I go to India) I went to a resturant and had some food and some chat!!, which didnt seem to help me in any way, I had a tummy upset and I was quite tired. The whole day I had just yogurt and in the evening I ate some rice with yogurt again!!, coming back to my recipe I made myself up and decided I will bake something for my kids with what I have in hand, I saw 2 apples and thought of using them up, that is when I started searching for a recipe and I ended up here, like I have found gold, I started digging through her recipe Index and this caught my attention!!, I thought this was quite an interesting recipe and absolutely healthy one too, I had walnuts and Flaxseed too!!, how good is that!!, I was so happy, This lady has such a wonderful recipe collection and her write was very interesting too., with a carefree attitude with her cooking and writing and beautiful clicks, she mesmerized me, such an young talented and gifted, spirited person she is!!, Thanks Joy wilson I had such a Joy in baking this bread with your culinary skills.., Only thing is I tweaked it a little bit by making it Eggless, If you want to use eggs check out the recipe here.

EGGLESS APPLE, WALNUTS AND FLAXSEED BREAD

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup All purpose Flour

3/4 Cup whole wheat flour

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar packed (I used Demerara granulated sugar)

2 tsp Baking Powder ( I used 1 tsp Baking Powder)

1 tsp Baking soda ( I used 2tsp Baking soda)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1 tsp Nutmeg

2/3 Butter milk ( I used the milk which was in the process of becoming yogurt!!, halfway through!!)

1/3 cup Unsalted butter ( I used less than 1/4 cup may be 4 to 5 tbsp of canola oil)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Large eggs ( I omitted)

1 tbsp Flax seed Powder

1 cup Grated Apple ( I used 1 cup apple puree from 3 Apples as shown in pic)

1/2 coarsely chopped walnuts

4 tbsp of Maple syrup

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Farenheit, then line a baking loaf tin and keep aside.

I first sifted all the Dry ingredients the two flours, BP, BS, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg powder together and kept them ready

Then I peeled the skin of the apples cut them into segments and microwaved them for a minute and let them to cool.

Then in a mixie I gave a quick grinding to the apples and made them into a puree, to this I added flaxseed powder, buttermilk, canola and  maple syrup for a few minutes so they all combined well together.

I took this into a large bowl, added sugar and vanilla essence and whisked well until they blended well with the help of a hand whisk.

To this I started adding flour little by little until everything was together, to this I added chopped walnuts, I did not use any water as the batter was perfect, If it is dry try adding little water at a time, so it resembles the cake consistency.

Then pour this mixture into the prepared tin and bake it for 30 to 35 minutes or as always insert a tooth pick and check out if it done, that is the tooth pick comes out clean, This means your bread is done!!

Viola!! you have your lovely bread

My Verdict: The cake was a hit, my kids just loved it and promise it didn't really last long!!, It got over already, I baked it on Sunday night and it is tuesday today and is nothing left!!

The best moist, soft cake I ever baked, I think, it is a keeper, best of all kids had a very healthy food to consume!!

 

Look at the texture of the cake , it was perfect................

Look how perfectly I could slice the loaves, isn't it Gorgeous.......

Here's one last look at my awesome Bread, for a healthy heart!!!

This bread I am sending of to the Bread Baking day with kochoptf who is hosting this months BBB#31, A special occassion of BBD as this is the 3rd Anniversary and she wants us all to go nuts with Bread Baking - nuts!!, and I also wish to send this to Bake of event of champa's

Hoping you all so will go nuts with this bread.... (just kidding!!, as my daughter says!!)..love you all, take care, c u soon.............

I would like to send this to Mharo Rajasthan's CWS- Event, Flax seeds, being my favourite and I use it in loads of my dishes, who is guest hosting Priya's Event.

Golgoppas for the Indian Cooking challenge - May 2010

Hi everybody, hope you are all doing fine at that end!! :), well, as usual I am the 'Late Kate' here!!, When I was in school we used to have a story on Late kate in our English text book, After a long time I have realized who the late kate is!!, I will not give any saaboobs of why I am late, I am always in a midst of something or the other all the time. Coming back to the recipe.., thanks srivalli for a great challenge, my kids just devoured it!! even H and my friends who visited me today enjoyed it immensely!!, yup! even I loved it !!.  I don't have to say no more as you all would have noticed our team out their have already posted the recipe, Oh! yes, this time making Golgoppas was the Indian Cooking Challenge for the month of May.
As you all know (this is for people who do not know!! :) ) India is not only known for its diversity, but for its exotic cuisine from different cultures and traditions but also is famous for its street food, Of course even though parents do not encourage their children eating out side because of the lot of disadvantages it holds, you cannot resist them, can you?, No!!, When we are college goers parents assume that we are more sensible, understand what is right and what is wrong and have immense belief in you and spend the pocket money in a useful way!!, I was, I used to take my carrier but, but, I just couldn't resist eating outside, these days people who sell street food are also consicious and try to keep things more cleaner, only you have to look out for people like that, Here, I would like to remember a chatwala who would stand at the end of the road near my house, his name was veerabhadra, he is a young lad and a very famous one too!!, Once he opens his stall with in an hour he closes it with stock completely gone, today when my kids were eating the golgoppas said I second him!! (well, first impression is always the best impression, I know I cannot beat him, but this one was really good!!).  It's been a long time I made any chat, I still have my Bhelpuri in my folder!!, someday I will post it!!..

GOLGOPPAS

INGREDIENTS:

FOR GOLGOPPAS:

1 cup - Semolina

1 tbsp - All purpose flour

A pinch of Baking soda

water

Oil for deep frying

METHOD:

Mix all the ingredients except oil into a smooth stiff pliable dough by adding or sprinkling water little by little. Knead it well, with oiled hands as it is difficult to handle as the dough is stiff, cover it with a muslin cloth or wet cloth so that the dough doesn't dry out, keep it aside for few minutes or until you make the other ingredients ready for filling the golgoppas, so when you deep fry them you can serve it straight from the wok!!.

Knead the dough well with a little bit of oiled hands and pinch out marble sized balls (or 1/2 of marble size) and roll them out into small circles, do it in hand or make a big chappati and cut out small rounds using a cookie cutter or any other means and deep fry them until golden in colour.

(I know some of them are over fried well, that was my daughter frying she said she wants them like that, thank God! she usually gets ideas like making her name, or starting of the letter from her name or some designs etc., I don't know if I was lucky or the Golgoppas!!)

FOR SPICY PANI:

1 1/2 cup Chopped mint leaves

1 tbsp coriander leaves

1/3 cup Tamarind (using 3 to 4 flakes soaked and squeeze out the water nicely)

1'' Ginger

1 tsp Ground cumin

1 1/2tsp Black salt ( I did not use)

salt to taste

METHOD:

Grind all the above said ingredients to a smooth paste, I grinded everything except tamarind first, I always grind the dry ingredients first so they get blended well and then add water when I am making chutneys, I adopted the same method so the chutney is nice and smooth.

FOR RED CHUTNEY

1 cup Tamarind (soak gooseberry sized tamarind in warm water, and extract the Juice)

1/2 cup Jaggery

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp Red chilli powder

1/4 tsp Black pepper powder

1 tsp cumin powder

2 cloves (I crushed them finely in my mortar)

2 cups warm water

salt as required

METHOD

Extract tamarind water (using one or half cup of water mentioned in the recipe) add minced jaggery and allow it dissolve then filter the water as usually you get to see impurities in Jaggery, Once filtered put it back on the stove and add all the other ingredients and allow it to boil for a few minutes so that the raw smell disappears, put it off and it is now ready to use.

PEAS AND POTATOES MASALA

1 cup peas (cooked separately)

2 medium sized Potatoes (cooked separately)

Potato Masala : mash the cooked potatoes, add a pinch of cumin and coriander powder and salt to taste and chopped corainder leaves

Peas Masala:  I cooked the peas with mint leaves, drained the water put it into a wok and gave a toss with a pinch of cumin and coriander powder

Set the above veggies separately.

ASSEMBLING THE GOLGOPPAS:

Take a Golgoppa, make a hole in the middle add potato and peas, chopped onions, green and red chutney as you desire and just gulp the whole puri in your mouth and enjoy!!

If you want you can have grated carrot and sev on top of it, I made Jeera pani and dipped the Golgoppa in it and the whole family enjoyed it.

 

Do make them and you too enjoy it..... good day, c u soon..., take care..... 

MANGO RICE/ Maavinakayi chitranna/ Manga Masala Saadham

My husband is going out of town so I always pack a lunch box for him. He just makes rice and uses these side dishes to mix it with rice and eat. It is easy for him that way, he likes home food better than restaurant food.

Today I have prepared Mavinkaayi (Mango) Gojju. Actually, I don't know what to call it. I make this basic recipe and its one of my favourites, again, learnt from my mom . My children also love it and it stays for 2 to 3 days even if it is not refrigerated I do not know in Hot countries as we had no chance of testing!!. If I keep it in the fridge it stays almost for a week.
It is very easy to prepare, all you need is nice sour mangoes which are really really green in colour and quite hard when you press it, I mean I test them like that, here in UK sometimes I do get nice sour ones rarely but most of the times when I cut the mango and taste it, its sweet :) !! well, that's it then I don't like preparing it at all because they will not the give the Raw Mango taste in the rice. well here is my recipe:

MANGO RICE/MAVINKAAYI CHITRAANNA

The click is not good!! but make it and you will definitely love it!!

Select Nice Raw Mangoes....

First of all select nice green mangoes like this, peel out their skin, and grate them or if you want you can cut them into small chunks.

Ingredients:
To Grind:

• 1or 2 sour mango (Raw and green) (if it is 1 cup)
• 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup fresh coconut (if u increase the quantity of coconut the taste of mango will disappear, once you try it out you will guess how much coconut you like to add)
• 1 tbsp of mustard seeds
• 4 to 6 dry red chilles (guntur-byadigi)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• a pinch of hing/asafoetida
• 4-5 tbsp of oil

seasoning:

• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 cup Ground nuts
• 1 tbsp channa dhal
• 1 tbsp urad dhal
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• If you need you can add 2 or 3 red chillies for tempering
• 2 to 3 tbsp of oil

METHOD
Grate on the thicker side or chop them into chunks.
Grind all the things under Ingredients in the mixer into a coarse paste do not add water.
Heat oil (4-5 tbsp) in a wok or pan then add a tsp of mustard after it splutters keep it in a low flame then add a fist full of ground nuts roast for 2 minutes when it starts opening up add channa dal, urad dal , curry leaves roast for a minute, they change colour to golden yellow.(do not fry till they become too red).
Add the ground paste, and then fry in the oil for 3 to 4 minutes till the water content in the Mango evaporates from the paste (add some more oil if you want to take it away for a day or so).
Cook rice in the pressure cooker or what ever method you use, to cook rice. Alow it to cool and separate the grains, now mix the rice with prepared gojju and serve it with nice papads or raitha.

VARIATION:

You can add 1 tsp of coriander powder and fenugreek powder, which gives a lovely Mango Rice a different taste.

Hint: When making rice for these kind of food varities like this, if you add a tsp of oil to the water in the process of cooking , grains will cook soft and get separated. Then you can see the grains not sticky when it is cool  and use it for all the Rice bath varities.

Gateau L' a Orange

A questioning and a longing look at her everyday telling me, don't forget me, Reminding me that ''I have been here from past few days, what have you decided about me!!!'' ,  was the biggest question ?!!!.
Going through my mind again and again, this thought, and the summer slowly setting, the sunshine making its way and the streaks of the rays falling on her making her beauty worthwhile to watch and the smell lingering and the summery feeling making you rekindle your spirits, I decided I have to do this right away if not she would be finding her way to the bin, were my sweet Oranges!!, Everyday I thought I will do something out of it, and I started browsing through the search engine and ended up here!!, OMG!!, she is a fabulous lady with a dessert apron!!, she seems to whiz some wonderful recipes twisted around her fingers like a wizard and viola!!, she creates them with one click, fall for her clicks and fall for her desserts, and here is a perfect imitation jewellary of her creativity.

Family gave a thumbs up sign and I knew it was good, absolutely delicious when I saw a clean plate.
If you want to read more about the description of the Oranges you need to check her blog!!, Thank you for this lovely cake Deeba....

GATEAU A' L ORANGE

INGREDIENTS:
4 Oranges ( I used more than 4 until I got 1 cup of Juice)
Zest of 1 Orange
100 gms of softened butter
100 gms Sugar (I used more sugar)
150 gms Flour
3 Eggs Separated
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Orange essence (or Cointreau)
1 Pinch of salt
1 tbsp Rum (I skipped)
Butter to Grease the pan

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees, Grease a 6'' cake pan, and line the bottom with parchment.
In a bowl beat the sugar and butter which is softened together until well blended.
Add the yolks one by one to the this mixture, one by one slowly incorporating each one very well, add each yolk separately one by one carefully until you obtain a smooth batter.
I then added Orange essence but skipped the rhum as she had mentioned.
Then in an other bowl sift Baking powder and flour together and add it to the batter slowly incorporating it into the sugar and butter mixture and mix well.
Cut and juice the oranges, I had around 5 to 6 oranges where in I got 1 cup of juice, make it into two halves pour half of the juice in the batter and add the zest and mix well together.
Separately beat the whites until firm with a pinch of salt, Add them delicately to the batter (So says PAB!!), well I take these instructions very seriously!!.
Pour this batter into the pan and bake for an 45minutes to 1 hour or check by inserting a pick into it and if it comes out clean, then it is done.
You must have noticed that the colour will be dark orange when it is done!!
Take the cake out from the oven and Pour the other half of the juice into the cake while it's still warm!!!.
Take care not to pour it too fast and not to let the cake cool too much before you do it.
It is important to to get the right timing, if you don't get it right your whole cake will not have juice in it!!
Then the cake will have two different textures and will have a visible line halfway down where the juice would have stopped penetrating!!

GATEAU A' L ORANGE

I would like to send this to Erin of the Kitchen Apartment who is hosting Monthly mingle this month started by Meeta of what's for Lunch honey to her sweet treats!!

I am also sending this to champa's Bake of event.

That was a slice of my lovely cake!!, (of course don't laugh I couldn't take a lovely click like hers!), As always my girls helped me with this click too...,

Isn't it yum...., My H and K's loved it (me too!!), thanks for this recipe Deeba....

This lovely citrus fruit cake was so summery with the sun shining around for me to take a good click!!..

Have a lovely day......,

Tomato Bisibelebath (Tomato and Lentil spiced Rice)

Bisi (Hot), Bele (Lentils - Tuvar) Huli (Tamarind) Anna (Rice) or Bath (Mixed Rice), such a long name when I write it in English, Bisibelebath also called B - cubed in south Karnataka is a very famous Rice variety, absolutely delicious, to all the 5 senses, If you ever visit Bangalore you should definitely try this out!!, you will fall for it.  Bisibelebath is served with Boondi in Hotels and usually with a raitha or crisps or papads in Homely way!!, However it is served this a one pot meal and Gorgeous!!!.
Basically Bisibelebath is made of Rice, Tuvar dal and Tamarind, Adding Vegetables is becoming an interesting addition and also this addition helps kids eat more vegetables with lot of side dishes to go with it!!, So you must be wondering why I called it Tomato Bisibelebath because I have substituted Tomatoes in place of Tamarind and it was so colourful to look at and also to our taste buds.
It's so funny, I have never posted a Bisibelebath recipe till today, I have never been able to take a good click of it!!, I definitely make it once in a week or by fortnight!!, as it is the quickest I can muster up when I am in a hurry!!, you wouldn't believe would you!! but that's true..
This time I had loads of tomatoes and didn't know what to do..,

TOMATO BISIBELE BATH (TOMATO AND LENTILS SPICED RICE)

I couldn't get a good click of my Ingredients....

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Tuvar Dal

3/4th Cup Rice

1 Cup Mixed Vegetables

450 gms of Tomatoes

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

Salt as Required

5 to 6 Cups of Water

MASALA SPICE TO BE GRINDED:

1 tsp of oil

2'' inch of Cinnamon

2 to 3 Marati Moggu

1 Cardamom

1/4 tsp of  Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

2 tbsp of Chenna Dal (Bengal gram dal)

2 tbsp of Urad Dal

4 tbsp of Dhania or Coriander seeds

6-6 Dry Red Chillies (6 Guntur and 6 Badgi Dry Red chillies)

2 to 3 Flakes of Tamarind

1/2 tsp of Asafoetida (If using hard fry them with other ingredients)

GRIND WITH

1/4 Cup of Dry Copra/Kobbari

1/4 Cup of Fresh Grated Coconut

If you cannot find Dry Copra or Kobbari you can substitute with Dessicated coconut

SEASONING:

3 to 4 Tbsp of Ghee or Clarified butter

2 Sprigs of Curry leaves

1 tsp of Mustard leaves

2 to 3 Tbsp of Cashewnuts Broken

METHOD:

First of all In a Pressure cooker Add around 5 cups of water and then add turmeric powder and washed Tuvar dal and allow it to Boil when Tuvar dal is 3/4th cooked, Add all the chopped vegetables ( Peas, carrots, Beans, Double Beans,  Avarekkai (vaal Beans/Papdi Lilva Beans), Broad Beans, Soya Beans etc., ) and then around 450 gms of peeled and chopped Tomatoes which I made it into a puree in the mixie and allowed it to cook until they were 3/4th done.

While they are cooking in an other stove, take a wok add a tsp of oil when it is hot add fenugreek seeds (fry until reddish or golden brown in colour), cinnamon stick, Marati moggu, pepper and cardamom and fry with broken red chillies in a low flame and keep it aside, then again add a tsp of oil when hot add the dals and Coriander seeds and fry them in a low flame unitl nice aroma comes out and the colour of the dals change take them out and keep aside. Allow all the roasted ingredients to cool.
If you are using Dry copra fry the grated copra without any oil in the wok until golden brown in colour and keep aside.

Once the Roasted Ingredients are cool grind them in a mixie to a coarse powder then in the last round add the roasted Copra and fresh coconut and grind them into a fine paste, and keep aside.

If you want you can only use Dry Copra or Coconut or Dessicated coconut which will be in the form of a fine or Coarse powder as you like to Grind it and this can be kept for a long time and can be used when ever you want to prepare Bisibelebath.

If you use Fresh coconut you have to use the Powder immediately.

When the Dal was 3/4th done I added turmeric and the pureed tomatoes allowing it to cook so that the raw smell of the Tomatoes disappear. 

When the Tomato puree, Tuvar  dhal and vegetables are cooking, Now with another cup of water mix all the Grounded ingredients dissolve it well, so that their is no lumps and add it to the 3/4th cooked Tomato puree, dhal & veggies. mix well and allow it boil for a few minutes then add washed rice with required amount of salt mix well and close the lid, with the whistle to the pressure cooker.

Keep the stove in a low flame around 15 to 20 minutes exactly by then Rice cooks well with all the other ingredients, sometimes it whistles sometimes it won't but you can just put of the stove exactly after 20 minutes.

Once when the cooker cools down open the lid and mix well and keep aside.

In a separate wok heat Ghee then add mustard seeds once they splutter add the chopped cashew nuts and if need it is optional you can add one or two dry red chillies and once they change colour put of the stove  add curry leaves saute for a second pour it on to the Ready Bisibelebath mix well and serve hot with a dollop of Ghee, popadums/ crisps/ Raitha.
One more tip: This tip was given to me by our cooking contractor, who was a regular at our house for most of the marriages and functions told me adding a 1/4 Kg of Seegumbala kaayi / Red pumpkin / Gumadakayya / Parakikaya to the BBB, which gives a natural sweetness to the dish as the veggie itself is sweet to taste, than adding jaggery in it!!, I have told 1/4 Kg that is depending on how much quantity you are cooking, I just told you as he told me as always they speak in large quantities, so, you can use this vegetable in small quantity depending on quantity you are preparing.
One more thing you should know is that if you find that BBB has become thick you can always boil a cup of water, and mix it and serve, In Hotels they serve BBB like a gravy!!

Take an a other look at my Tomato Bisibelebath................, I would like to send this to MLLA#24, started by Susan of the well seasoned cook, which is hosted at Diana's Spain in Iowa .

Piece Montee or Croquembouche - Daring Bakers challenge for the month of May 2010

Hi, friends hope you are all doing well, You must be wondering that I keep disappearing every month for a few days to enjoy my migraines and my Irritable, horrible moods, well, I am now 'touch wood' feeling better, I missed a lot of events, don't think I wasn't cooking , I think thats the only thing which keeps me going!!, But, I will never be able to do anything further than that, my kids take the photos upload them in my comp but that's it, I cannot do anything as I will not be able to watch the screen for a long time,  this Migraine has become a monthly problem,  God!!, how I wish this problem gets out of me soon.

Coming back to the Daring Baker's challenge, I finished my challenge on the 27th of May, but could never post it, As I had made one step of this recipe before, I was comfortable doing this.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers challenging was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cup Cake , Cat challenged everyone to make a Piece Monte'e or Croquembouche based on recipes from Peter Kump's baking school in Manhanttan and Nick Malgieri.

This month's challenge was ''Piece Mont'ee, which literally means ''mounted piece''.  It is also called Croquembouche which means ''crunch in the mouth'' !!, The Piece Montee is actually a large cone like structure made of Profiteroles (Cream filled Puff Pastries, which I have seen in Super Markets dipped in chocolate), It is served like this as a dessert in weddings!!, people pick them out from the structure and enjoy it, there are loads of Videos you should definitely watch to know and how it is done.

PIECE MONTE'E OR CROQUEMBOUCHE

For the Piece Montee to mount there are three steps involved, first you have to make the Vanilla Creme pattissiere, Pate a choux and the glazing.

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE VANILLA CREME PATTISSIERE (Half batch)
1 Cup (225ml) Whole milk
2 tbsp Corn Starch
6 tbsp (100gms) Sugar
1 Large Egg
2 Large Egg yolks
2 tbsp (30gms) Unsalted butter
1 tsp Vanilla

METHOD:
Dissolve Corn starch in 1/4 cup of milk, combine the remaining milk wit the sugar in a saucepan, bring to boil, remove from heat.
Beat the whole egg then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture.
Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
Return the remaining milk to boil , pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream coninuing whisk.
Cream thickens and come to boil, Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla
chill until ready to use.

FOR CHOCOLATE PASTRY
Dissolve 1 and 1/2 tsp instant expresso in 1 and 1/2 tsp boiling water, whisk into pastry cream wit butter and vanilla.

PATE A CHOUX
INGREDIENTS:
3/4 or 175 ml water
 6tbsp (85 gms) Unsalted butter
1/4tsp salt
1 Cup (125gms) All purpose flour
4 Large eggs
1 tbsp Sugar

METHOD:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, Bring to a boil and stir occasionally.
At boil, remove from heat and stir in the flour stirring to combine completely.
Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
Transfer to a bowl with a wooden spoon, 1 minute to cool slightly .
Add 1 egg at a time , the batter will appear loose and shiny, like a buttered mashed potato, keep adding eggs one at a time reapeating the same process, until all the eggs are incorporated.
Meanwhile keep your pastry bag ready with a round tip 1'' apart, I just piped the pastry without any tip :) I think that is why my pastry was quite big!!,
Bake the choux at 425 degree F/200 degree C, until well puffed and urning lightly golden in colour about 10 minutes, Lower te tempratrue to 350 degree F/180 degree C and continue baking until well golden coloured and dry about 20 minutes more, Remove to a rack and cool.
Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.


Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your Piece Monte'e.

HARD CARAMEL GLAZE:
1 Cup (225g) sugar
1/2 tsp lemon juice

METHOD: Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand, place on medium heat, heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and center begins to smoke.  Begin to stir sugar, Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber colour.  Remove from heat immediately, and use it immediately.
Assembling your Piece Montee: Lay out the unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert.  For example, if making a conical shape, make a pattern stick them together and start from the bottom layer and build it upwards like a zigsaw puzzle, seeing which pieces fit together.
Once ready to assemble dip the top of each choux in the glaze and start assembling on the sheet. continue dipping and arranging the pastries in usisng the glaze t hold them together and build up.
Once done, I poured some more chocolate glaze on to of it and allowed my kids to enjoy by decorating with what ever they want.

You can take an other look at my Croquembouche..................

My Verdict: It was simply delicious so my kids declared and wanted me to make it again!!, but they did not like the caramel glaze as they found it quite sticky!!, So next time minus the caramel glaze I am going to do this again, My eldest said it was so delicious and said it tasted like the Eclairs, I had to tell her that it was the same choux pastry!! which I have used to do this, Loved it, thanks Cat for this lovely challenge!!....
c u soon...., take care......

I would also like you if you are interested in doing this check out Audax Artifex's blog for some wonderful tips and important things which you need to understand and keep an eye when you want it to turn out perfect. He is a great baker and a very creative one at that, and check out on other daring bakers for their lovely creations and feast your eyes with such creativity you will be awed to see.......