Hand-Pulled Strudel

Making strudel for the first time is an incredibly eye-opening experience. It is a feat one simply cannot imagine when looking at a small circle of dough. To believe it will stretch it into a sheet several feet squared takes a lot of faith.
 
While it really isn't as hard as it may seem, it is a bit time consuming and labor intensive. You simply can't rush the process; and it requires at least a few cooks to stretch the dough tissue thin and roll into its classic long shape. This is why in most professional pastry kitchens, a chef will rarely make strudel dough from scratch. Instead many of us use frozen phyllo dough as a perfectly acceptable substitute. Just like strudel dough it is light, crisp, and extremely flaky.  

But lucky for the pastry arts students at ICE...they have the opportunity to experience the process from start to finish! And lucky for you, I had the opportunity to snap shots of Pastry Chef-Instructor, Chad Pagano, demonstrating each step of the process. 

So if you can muster the courage, give it a shot. It will make for a great afternoon project to tackle with friends, with a seriously sweet reward for your effort.


Hand-Pulled Apple Strudel
Makes about 16 servings
(Recipe courtesy of The Institute of Culinary Education)

For the dough:
397 grams high gluten or bread flour, plus extra for rolling
7 grams salt
100 grams (2 large) whole eggs
14 grams canola oil, plus extra for coating
Warm water

To assemble:
60 grams finely-ground bread crumbs
170 grams melted butter, cooled to room temperature

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the the eggs and canola oil together and slowly add enough warm water to the eggs and oil to bring the entire mixture of liquids to a total of 300 grams by weight. 

Stir the liquid into the flour with a rubber spatula, making sure no flour sticks to the sides of the bowl. 

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, then pick it up and, from a couple of feet above the surface, slam it against the surface with a fair bit of force. Fold the dough in half, scoop it up, and repeat the slamming of the dough 100 more times until the dough is smooth and elastic. Use additional flour as need to prevent the dough from sticking to the surface. 

Very lightly oil a small bowl and place the dough in the bowl, turning the dough over once to oil the entire surface of the dough. Press a sheet of plastic wrap against the dough and allow it to rest at room temperature for about an hour. Meanwhile, make the apple filling.

Cover a large rectangular table with a clean cloth and generously flour the surface of the cloth.

Place the dough in the center of the cloth and roll the dough as thinly as possible. Lightly brush the surface of the dough with oil, and proceed with the dough stretching and strudel assembly process outlined in the slideshow. 

Dust with a confectioner's sugar, serve with a dollop of whipped cream, and enjoy!

Apple Strudel Filling
Makes enough for 1 large strudel

For the filling:
115 grams unsalted butter
2230 grams (about 10) Golden Delicious apples 
170 grams granulated sugar
Finely-grated zest of 1 lemon 
3 grams ground cinnamon
85 grams raisins (optional)
85 grams chopped walnuts (optional)

Peel, core, and cut the apples into about 12 slices per apple. 

In a large sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the remaining ingredients, cover and cook until the apples are just tender, about 8 minutes. Lower the heat, remove the cover, and continue to cook the apples until the juices have evaporated, about 10 minutes. 

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the filling to a baking sheet or shallow dish. Refrigerate until cool before using.

Coming Soon...My First Cookbook: Jenny McCoy's Desserts for Every Season!

 

After 23 months of testing recipes at home, 6 photo shoots, writing every single word on every single page, burning a few batches of cookies, and dropping a whole cake, I can officially declare my very first cookbook, Jenny McCoy's Desserts for Every Season, is complete!

A million and one thanks to my amazing team: Editor Sandy Gilbert, Photographer Pernille Pedersen, Graphic Designer Jan Derevjanik, Prop Stylist Michelle Wong, Food Stylist Amy Wilkinson, and Recipe Tester Junita Bognanni. Ladies, I could have never completed this project, which I first dreamt up in 1999 while working as a pastry cook at Blackbird.

Desserts for Every Season shall be arriving at bookstores near you on September 24th. Please do consider it for holiday gift giving. The better the book does, the more opportunity I will have to make my dream to be a published cookbook author come true again in the future.

Happy baking!

What's In Season: Ponchatoula Strawberries

Spring has arrived, yet it is cold and dreary in NYC, with grey skies and showers casting over what little sunshine we've had this season. It's not exactly conjuring up visions of strawberries on farmer's market tables anytime soon. But down south in New Orleans, it is blue skies and a perfect 70 degrees. The strawberry season is in full swing and farmers in the "strawberry capital of the US" are less than two weeks away from the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival!

But what's even more exciting is that this means it's Abita Strawberry season. Each year, Abita Brewing Company, makes a lager that is infused with fresh Ponchatoula strawberry juice. It is light and crisp, with a sweet fruity finish. Perfect for an warm afternoon, but dangerous because they are just too easy to drink. Before you know it, one bottle will turn into a handful.

 

  

For a lovely brunch cocktail, try what I like to call the Pink Velvet. Top three parts champagne with one part Abita Strawberry beer, and garnish with a bit of diced strawberry. The beer has become popular enough that if you don't live in Louisiana, you might find it (or request it to be ordered) at your local beer shop or Whole Foods Market.

Key Lime Christmas

Try this easy, old-fashioned pie filling recipe with a graham cracker crust and meringue or whipped cream.

Key limes, the tiny little citrus fruits—more yellow than bright green and juicer (for their size) than the typical Mexican or Persian variety—are a Christmastime treat for me. For the last couple of years, I’ve had the pleasure of skipping a winter wonderland and spending the holidays on Key Colony Beach, located on mile marker 53 ½ in the Florida Keys.

Burdine's famous fried Key lime pie.

It’s here where the produce section at the local grocery store stocks green mesh bags filled with fresh Key limes. Where in the bottom of corner store ice cream cases sit a stack of frozen pies ready to be thawed and served. And every restaurant menu offers a classic slice or some variation on the theme. At Burdine’s, a great waterside joint, with ice cold beer, spicy fries, and a bucket on each table containing condiments and a roll of paper towels, they serve fried key lime pie—a thin layer of pie dough, filled with Key lime custard, rolled up like a little burrito, and deep fried. The Shell Man, a novel shop with shells galore, sells slices, dipped in dark chocolate on a stick, to enjoy while perusing aisles of souvenirs and curiosities.

Perfect for fresh key lime margaritas.

It’s a nice time, to spend my days away from the kitchen mostly and enjoy a weeklong life of seaside escape. Where the key limes I bring home find their way juiced into margaritas, or wedged on the rim of a rum and ginger ale, as I catch up some much needed reading and rays.

Perfect Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe

Sugar pumpkins for sale at NYC's Union Square Greenmarket.

It is just one day away from my first slice of pumpkin pie this year, and I can barely wait. Sure, I could eat pumpkin pie all year long, using canned puree to make my favorite filling recipe, but why would I do such a disservice to one of America's most beloved baked goods? Because waiting until pumpkins are at the peak of their season isn't that much of a sacrifice, and homemade puree surely makes all the difference. 

Pumpkin pie recipes galore, from a cookbook published in 1927.

Just look at the recipes listed in this 1927 edition of The Donor Club Cookbook, published in Elgin, Illinois, just a hour outside of my hometown, Chicago. It has four variations on the classic pumpkin pie filling, including a handwritten recipe by its previous owner, and names the recipe that calls for homemade steamed mashed pumpkin "DeLuxe Pumpkin Pie." (Note to self: it also calls for sherry, an ingredient I will try tomorrow in my recipe.) 

Scratch bakers have long known the virtues of fresh pumpkin puree in our holiday pies--and while the canned puree works just fine when combined with extra spices, it's just not as good tasting. So take an extra bit of time and roast a pumpkin to use in your filling this year, by following my simple recipe:

ROASTED SUGAR PUMPKIN PUREE

1. Cut a sugar pumpkin into quarters; remove and discard seeds.

2. Place the pumpkin skin side down in a shallow baking dish. Fill the dish with about ½" of water. Cover tightly with foil.

3. Bake at 375°F until fork tender, about 1 hour.

4. Let cool until just warm, scoop flesh from skins, and puree smooth in a food processor.

And if you want to follow my advice even further, combine your homemade puree with the rest of the ingredients in my perfect pumpkin pie filling recipe.

PERFECT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING

1 ½ cups Roasted Sugar Pumpkin Puree

4 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

¾ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of ½ an orange

½ cup light brown sugar

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 unbaked pie crust

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 325°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all of the ingredients (except the pie crust) until completely smooth. Pour the mixture into the unbaked pie crust and bake until custard is set through the center when the pie plate is slightly jiggled, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool to room temperature and refrigerate until chilled. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

What to Bake During a Hurricane

Funnel Cakes!! Just one of the many desserts made for my first cookbook photo shoot, Summer 2011.

This is the third hurricane I've weathered in that last 14 months (thank you, Irene, Isaac, and now Sandy). And I am now quite the master of baking up a storm...during a storm!
Hurricane Irene -
While under threat in NYC two summers ago, I was in the midst of baking 30 different desserts for my cookbook's first photo shoot, which was scheduled the day Irene was supposed to hit. Luckily, the hurricane downgraded to a tropical storm and I didn't lose power. But if I had...I would have opened a pop-up bakery on my Brooklyn block.

Prep for Peach Hand Pies, Summer 2011.

Hurricane Isaac - 
In New Orleans this August, I planned to finish my cookbook manuscript. Well, that didn't happen on time due to the Category 1 storm that took the entire city out of commission. The weather was an unbearably hot and humid 90 degrees, but softening butter took no time at all. When combined with some seriously overripe fruit (that's what happen when you don't have A/C for several days in New Orleans), a breakfast of freshly-baked Banana Muffins with Oatmeal Streusel made me feel civilized.

Blueberry-Almond Tart, Summer 2011

Hurricane Sandy -
As I am working on my latest round of my cookbook edits (again, I am past due...), the Hurricane, named after my editor (Oh the irony!), has stormed in and set me back. Oh well. I'm going to go bake some of my Double Chocolate Chip Cookies...

Confection Tasting in San Francisco

This is just the first 25 confections I was tasked to eat last Sunday at the 3rd annual Good Food Awards. After lunch, which included a visit to Bar Tartine for a most amazing snack of peach leaf and roasted buckwheat tea and chicken katsu on Langos--potato fry bread sandwich, I had to taste at least 15 more candies.

Just imagine how I must have felt after eating what is equivalent to an entire heart-shaped box of Valentine's Day chocolates...pretty sick. So what did I do to recover? Visited Tartine Bakery for the world's largest gougeres--gruyere and black pepper cheese puffs.

I'm quite happy to be back in NYC where I will not be eating candy for at least a week. Best of luck to the entrants of this year's confection category--there were some phenomenal sweets submitted by great artisanal candy-makers from all over the US. So lucky to have been there to enter my vote!