Kofieebroodje - let us start the 2014 Baking Partner's challenge with a Dutch Coffee Bun

Happy Makara Sankranthi to all my readers who are celebrating the festival. This is the harvest festival in India and recipes rich in ingredients newly harvested are prepared, shared and enjoyed. Well, are you wondering that you have never heard of a Kofieebroodje in any part of India during Sankranthi? Okay, this is not a Sankranthi dish, it is not even an Indian dish. This came from Amsterdam where one of our Baking Partners Kaveri resides. And since it is the 15th of the month, a good rule abiding baking partner that I am, I chose to post this recipe instead of my Sankranthi goodies today :-). I can hear some of you muttering that if I were any good blogger worth my salt, I would have planned this and brought timely Sankranthi recipes. So, until I can get my act together and get the Sankranthi recipes for this year, look at these previous year's posts here, here and here. There is plenty of harvesting going on in these posts already.

With that explained to everyone's satisfaction, now back to Kofieebroodje or the Dutch Coffee Buns. There were 2 choices this month, one for a tart apple pie and another for these coffee buns. Here we are in the first month of the new year and I was thinking of reducing/eliminating all processed food from my cooking and eat better, but then the lure of baking partners is too great to resist. So I let my resolve go down South a little bit but made it up by not eating too much myself but sharing it generously with people around me. I know, I know, it sounds so totally selfish but they didn't have any such resolutions and I was upfront in telling them that the delicious looking pastries had all purpose flour, butter and sugar. What can I say, I am a very honest gal and I didn't want to let go of my resolution so early in the year either, there are 350 and odd days to do it anyway.. :-)

As many of you already know, I am part of this fun group of home bakers called Baking Partners, Swathi who started this group very diligently reviews out suggestions and gives us a couple of shortlisted recipes every month. I picked the Dutch Coffee buns this time (since it sounded like the easier of the two :-)) called Kofieebroodje. They are like most of the pastries you get in bakeries but the best part is that they are not overly sugary but have just the right amount of sweetness and a little tang from the jam on top, the slightly flaky crust is made moist with the jam. I am told these are served as mid morning snacks over a cuppa when you meet up with neighbors/friends but you don't have to organize a 11AM meeting specially to consume them, they taste good any other time of the day also :-). The dough itself is very easy to work work, much like a 'less buttered up' cookie dough and is a novice baker (a.k.a me)'s dream come to true. You get to create something so professional looking and tasty without any fuss.

I made my first batch of Kofieebroodje a week or so ago. Since I have been experimenting quite a bit now a days, DD was rightfully apprehensive about trying a new dish when I offered her the warm buns the first time. She was in her room studying and I took one in a plate and as soon as she took a bite, the face exploded in a big smile and then came a hug and then after 30 seconds when all of that bun had gone inside came the request for 2 more and 'make it quick amma' she says! I had halved the original recipe since I didn't want to make too many of them but the dozen Kofieebroodje were gone before the Earth had twirled once around its base. So I made them again the second time and added some roasted and crushed almonds and experimented with an apple sauce layering for half the batch instead of the pudding. And the batch is looking thinner and smaller since the last 4 hours or so of making them :-). These stay well without dripping and being squishy, so they are perfect for a kids party or for taking over as a present for a host.

What do you need to make Kofieebroodje?
Recipe source: The Dutch Table
Makes about 12 Kofieebroodje
1.5 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Rapid rise/bread machine yeast
1/2 cup + 1Tblsp milk (lukewarm)
2 Tblsp sugar
1.5 Tblsp butter (at room temperature)
1/4 Tsp salt
1/4 cup raisins (I used golden raisins)
1/2 Tsp Vanilla essence
8-10 almonds (I added this on my second batch, not in the original recipe but made a very favorable difference)
For the cream/custard:
I used single serve cups of vanilla pudding from the store. It took me 2 cups for this measurement
For the glaze on top: 
2 Tblsp Apricot jam (or any other favorite flovor)
couple of drops warm water (to loosen up the jam to a spreadable consistency)

How do you make Kofieebroodje? 

• Soak raisins in warm water for 15 minutes, once they plump up a little and soak up the water, drain the water and keep aside until ready to use.
• Toast almonds in microwave or stove top until toasty and pound/chop in to small pieces. Keep aside. 
• Mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a wide bowl. 
• Add butter and vanilla essence and mix it in homogeneously. 
• Add warm milk slowly to make a soft and pliant dough. 
• Knead for a couple of minutes to get the yeast going. 
• Cover the bowl with a cling wrap and let it rise in a warm corner of your kitchen counter. 
• When the dough doubles in volume (about 45 mins to an hour), punch it down and knead to a smooth ball. 
• Divide the dough into 2 and roll each ball into a rectangle of about 12inch X 12 inch. 
• Spread the pudding in a thin layer on top leaving 1/2 inch from the edges on all sides. 
• Sprinkle chopped nuts, soaked raisins.

• Roll the rectangle from one end to the other, closing the edges to prevent pudding from popping out too much. 

• Cut the roll into 5-6 pieces (depends on your preference for size), take each piece and set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. When you put the pieces on the baking sheet, turn them to have one of the cut surfaces on top so it bakes beautifully with those concentric circles not getting smudged. 

• Cover and let them proof for 25-30 minutes. 
• Brush lightly with milk (gives that wonderful glow and golden hue), add a few more raisins on top if you like and bake it in a pre-heated oven at 350F for 25-28 minutes. 
• Mix the jam and a couple of drops of water and give it a good stir. 
• Take the baking sheet out of the oven, brush the jam all over the hot pastries. 

• Let cook and if you want give another coating of the jam once it cools down. 
• Serve warm or cold with or without coffee :-)

Notes: 

• The second time I made this, I used unsweetened apple sauce for half the batch instead of the pudding. It worked very well. 
• I added the nuts the second day (smarter me :-)) as I have said before I am nutty about nuts and find excuses to throw some in every opportunity I get. DD said they gave a nice crunchy bite. I used almonds but use any toasted nuts of your choice. 
• You can prepare custard or pudding at home and use it to layer, make sure the consistency is right so it spreads easily but doesn't run. 
• You can add any frosting of choice on top instead of the jam but I didn't want to make too many changes as I was posting the recipe as part of the group. 

This recipe comes to you from the Baking partners

French Gougeres - A very cheesy affair for Baking Partners Challenge

This is my second month taking part in the Baking Partner's challenge. Last month I successfully baked a New York style pizza following one of the recipes Swati gave us. That was a dish we all enjoyed and I have made multiple times in the last 2 months since I got hold of the recipe. So I was really looking forward to the 'unveiling' of this month's challenge but when I saw Swati's email with 'Pete a Choux (paht a shoo)' and Gougeres and eclaires recipe details it was like a balloon gone 'phut' :-). She didn't ask us to make 3 different things, hold on for just a second while I will get to explaining what these 3 words mean if you are unfamiliar with French pastries  but before that .. first things first..

As I saw last time, Swati did a great job not only collecting the recipes but also following up with details, videos etc but all the information overload kind of made me back off a little bit since I personally do not enjoy 'elaborate' cooking and also do not ever weigh my ingredients or follow a recipe to the Tee. That explains why I am not running my own bakery :-). So looking at the recipes (a couple of them with weighed in ingredients), my immediate instinct was to come up with an excuse and tell Swati that I would not be participating :-)), but I don't give up easily. So over the next couple of weeks, I went back to study all the information she sent out and finally concluded that (weight or no weight), the recipe was pretty simple and as long as I stuck to the basic principle of getting the process right, I should be churning out (or baking in this case) something delicious. So, I considered myself 'in' and started gathering the ingredients.

Pete a choux is a versatile dough made in its basic form with flour, butter, water & eggs. I saw some variations including milk and water. The unique feature of this dough is that the flour is partially cooked on heat with butter and water. The dough can be used in savory pastries (Gougere being the most popular French pastry) or sweet versions (Eclaires filled with cream or ice cream and topped with glaze is the most popular sweet version). So my next task was to decide whether to make the savory or the sweet version.

Given that this recipe defied all my self-imposed rules about high calorie, butter laden goodies :-), I went the Gougere way as I wasn't sure that the three of us would do justice and consume the sweet version if I made a large batch and I definitely didn't want to feed this to my unsuspecting friends the first time I made it :-). The recipe called for a Swiss cheese called Gruyere. I had never brought this cheese home and didn't remember if I had seen it in my grocery store. Some of the other choices called for Cheddar cheese which I knew would be easily available. But I found a block of Gruyere cheese and was on my way to make the Gougeres.

Verdict: These are light and fluffy and the dough is really versatile as you can jazz it up with any favoured choice of spices. I tried black pepper and kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) but you don't have to be bound by these, be imaginative. The pastries reminded me a little bit of the popular kiddie snack - Gold Fish but I would think it was because of the cheese and the baking. This is a definite party finger food as the dough can be made ahead and frozen upto a day before you bake them.

For me, the eggy flavor was unpalatable though BH and DD didn't seem to mind and enjoyed the pastries. I may not make it again unless it is for a party where I know for sure people will enjoy nibbling on them :-). As I said before, this is a rich pastry, so watch out when you pop them into the mouth.

Thank you Swati for collecting all the information and sharing it with us. If not for Baking partner's I don't think, I would ventured into making a French pastry so early in my baking career :-)

What do you need to make Gougeres(Goo Zhehr)? 
Makes about 18 Gougeres
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup water
1/4 Tsp salt
1/2 stick butter (cut into small cubes)
1/2 Tsp fresh ground black pepper (replace it with any other spice/flavoring of your choice)
1/2 cup + 1 Tblsp grated Gruyere cheese (use Cheddar if you can't get your hands on Gruyere)
2 large eggs

Egg wash:
1/2 egg + 2 Tblsp water beaten until homogeneous

How do you make Gougeres? 

• Heat a sturdy, thick bottom sauce pan on medium heat. 
• Add water, cubed butter, salt and pepper into the pan and bring it to a boil. 

• Take the pan off heat, add the flour at one go and stir it in vigorously making sure no lumps are formed. 
• Bring the pan back to heat, reduce heat to low and cook for 2 minutes stirring continuously until the dough comes out from the sides. 
• Switch off and add egg one by one and beat the dough with a hand mixer or a wooden spoon until the egg is completely incorporated into the dough. 
• Repeat with the next egg. 
• Add 1/2 cup grated cheese and give another 2 rounds of mix. 
• Line a baking sheet with a parchment paper and preheat the oven to 400F.
• If you have piping equipment, you can put the dough inside the piping bag and pipe out cute little Gougeres. 

• I used 2 spoons to spoon out the dough onto the parchment paper, leave about an inch between two Gougeres. 
• Brush the egg wash lightly on top. Sprinkle a little bit of the grated cheese on each Gougere. 
• Bake in the 400F oven for 5 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and continue baking for 20-25 minutes or until the Gougeres look golden brown on top. 

Notes: 

• If you do not own the piping equipment - Take a scoop of the dough with one spoon and use the other to slide the dough onto the parchment paper. 
• My Gougeres seemed flatter than some pictures I saw on the web, I didn't use a piping bag and it may have been because of uneven spooning of the dough. They were flaky and light inside though. 

These Gougeres can be enjoyed along with other Baking Partner's goodies you will find here.