Chestnut Bûche de Noel - Yule Log

Chestnut Bûche de Noel - Yule Log

Yield: 12-14 servings

Batter:

3/4 cup Cake flour
3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
5 Eggs
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Chestnut Filling:

1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 egg yolk
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tbsp heavy cream
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
30 whole cooked chestnuts
2 tbsp butter
4 tbsp heavy cream
1/3 cup powder sugar

Mocha Silk Frosting:

1 1/4 cup powder sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp Instant coffee
5 1/3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 tbsp heavy cream

Cake:

Have ready a clean lint-free dish towel and preheat oven to 400 F.Prepare 12"x18" jelly roll pan by greasing it, lining bottom and sides with wax paper, or parchment paper, and greasing the paper.
Bring eggs to room temperature and separate. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat yolks until thick and pale. Gradually add 6 T sugar, beating well after each addition. Mixture should fall in thick ribbon when beaters are lifted. Add vanilla and beat again.With clean dry beaters, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add remaining sugar, beating constantly, until whites stand in firm, glossy, moist peaks. Fold 1/3 whites into yolk mixture to lighten it, then fold remaining whites in too.Gradually fold dry ingredients into egg mixture; fold in gently but thoroughly.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan, making sure to get it into the corners. Put pan into oven immediately. Bake 10-12 minutes, just until cake is golden on top and tester comes out clean. Do not overbake. Remove from oven; working quickly, cover jelly roll pan FIRST with clean towel, then with inverted cookie sheet. Turn over pan, towel, and sheet to turn out cake. Remove jelly roll pan; peel off wax paper. Slide towel and cake onto counter; cake is wrong side up. Cut off any crisp edges, fold one end of towel over short end of cake, and roll cake in towel. Place rolled cake seam side down on wire rack or cookie sheet to cool completely.

Chestnut Buttercream Filling:

Combine sugar, egg yolk, salt, vanilla, and cream. Using an electric mixer, beat for 8 minutes at medium speed. Without washing beaters, cream butter until light. Add yolk mixture a little at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating well after each addition. Set basic buttercream aside.Using a food processor, puree chestnuts with butter, cream, and powdered sugar. Stir chestnut puree into buttercream, blending thoroughly. If necessary, thin with a little more cream to bring to very spreadable consistency.

Mocha Silk Frosting:

Powder instant coffee by placing in plastic bag and crushing with rolling pin. Mix together sugar, cocoa, and coffee. Add remaining ingredients and beat for 1 minute at medium speed. If necessary, add a little more cream to make frosting easy to spread.


Unroll cooled cake, leaving it on towel; don't worry about the cake looking deflated, it will perk up soon. Spread 1/2 cup frosting evenly over cake, all the way to the edges. Spread 2 cups filling over thin layer of frosting, pushing generous amount into curved end. Roll up again, without towel but using it to help roll. Place cake, seam side down, on cake plate or tray.Remove any excess filling from ends and seam edge. Refrigerate for 1 hour to firm filling.Trim and discard (or eat!) a thin slice from one end of chilled cake; cut and reserve wedge from other end. Spread a small amount of filling on top center of cake and press reserved wedge on it to make the "knothole."Frost entire cake with remaining frosting, building frosting up around sides of "knothole." Do NOT cover knothole top! Work frosting as far under roll as possible. Repeatedly draw narrow metal spatula lengthwise through the frosting to simulate rough texture of bark. Snip pieces of angelica into leaf shapes and cut glace cherries in half to make log decorations. And add Maroon Glace around the sides,
Also you can make mushroom meringues and add them, sprinkle the cake with shredded chocolate and powder sugar.

Chestnut Puree

Chestnut Dessert Puree
(Makes about 8 cups thick puree)
4 pounds large, heavy chestnuts (watch out for worm holes)
4 cups water, more if necessary
3 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
Optional: non-fat milk or cream (to thin the puree)
1. Halve chestnuts with a heavy knife or cleaver. Place in a very large skillet or saucepan and add enough water to cover them. Boil for about 10 minutes or until the shells can easily be removed.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Remove chestnuts, a few at a time, from the water. Peel off shell sand husks, then place nuts in a large heavy saucepan. Add water,sugar, and vanilla bean to the pan and stir to mix in the sugar. The liquid should just cover the chestnuts. (Add more water if it doesn't.)
4. bake chestnuts uncovered till tender ,depending upon dryness of the nuts. Stir nuts and keep adding water if necessary, until they are very tender and the syrup is very thick.
5. Let chestnuts cool completely in the syrup, then puree them in batches in a food processor or blender, adding milk or cream if you want to have a thinner puree. Press the entire mixture through the fine disc of a food mill. Divide the puree among 1- or 2-cup freezer containers. Seal, date, and freeze.

note: You can cook the chestnut on the stove, they require attendant, and stirring often, so the heat distributed evenly and doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

Maroon Glace

This is a home made recipe for candied chestnuts if you cannot find it in your local store.

Its delicious and easy if you follow the instruction.

Score a cross or x on the brown shell of the chestnuts with a sharp knife and bake them for about twenty minutes at 250 F. ( if you have a non stick pan you can do that on top of the stove) This will make them easier to peel. Let them cool for couple of minutes to enable you peel them without burning your hands. Remove the outer shell and the brown membrane as carefully as possible, being sure to leave the chestnut whole. If you got broken pieces, chop them and add them to the frosting.
Boil the chestnuts for twenty minutes and let them sit in the hot water for half an hour afterward. This softens the nut, and lets it soak up the sugar later. Taste one; they should be soft.

While the chestnuts are soaking, prepare the sugar syrup in a separate saucepan. For each measure of chestnuts that you are making, add one measure of water and one and half of sugar to a large saucepan. Place the mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. With a candy thermometer, take the temperature of the syrup. When the syrup reaches 230-235F “thread stage,” add the chestnuts to the syrup. The thread stage is also the point at which a bit of the sugar syrup will spin a thread between the thumb and forefinger when it is plunged suddenly into a cup of ice water: don’t stir the chestnuts, let them cook in the syrup.
The goal now is to bring the chestnuts slowly to the “soft ball stage,” at 235-240 F, and to keep them there for about fifteen to twenty minutes. The mixture will continue to boil, which is not a problem, but do not let it get hotter than 240 F. If it does, just take the pot off the heat for a minute or so , then bring it back, to the stove.
Some recipes say that you should re-apply the syrup again to the nuts by repeating the above procedure, by ladling syrup over them, or even by baking it onto them as a final step. I find that these steps either break them up too much or else have no real effect on the finished product. In other words, you’re done. Drain them using a colander and store in the refrigerator .

LAYALI LUBNAN - LEBANESE NIGHTS (PUDDING)

Layali Lubnan - Lebanese nights
Ingredients
8 cups of cold milk
1/2 cups semolina
2 eggs
2 tbsp rose water + orange blossom water
¼ tsp of ground mustikah gum(optional)
4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Topping
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup finely chopped pistachio nuts

Preparation
Pour the milk into a large saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat, and slowly pour in the semolina in a steady stream, stirring continuously. Continue to stir and cook until the mixture thickens and boils for 1 to 2 minutes.
Mix the eggs with the flavouring, Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the eggs and rose water, return the pot to the heat and stir so the eggs cooks and combined well with the rest of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into a 9x13 inch serving dish, or into individual cups. Allow the pudding to cool slightly, and then cover with plastic wrap directly on the top. Refrigerate, covered, for at least 5 hours or overnight.
Heat 1/2 cup of the sugar, plus 2 tablespoons of water in a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, don’t stir , let the sugar dissolve and turns to light golden brown, immediately remove from the heat and stir in the rest of the water. Do not worry if the mixture bubbles and hardens a bit, it will dissolve. Return the pan to the stove, and stir in the remaining sugar until dissolved. Add the lemon juice, to the sugar syrup, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and chill. The syrup will keep for a month if refrigerated in a sealed container.
To serve, whip the whipping cream with sugar until fluffy, chill before you use it. Spread a thin layer of whipped cream over the pudding sprinkle with chopped nuts. Cut into squares and serves with the caramel syrup poured over it.

LEBANESE NEW YEAR'S EVE RICE PUDDING - RIZ BI HALEEB

This pudding is simple, light and white for successful pure New Year

Ingredients:
1/2 cup short grain rice, (Arborio rice or Egyptian round rice)
4 cups homogenized milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon each of rose water and orange water (or vanilla)
¼ tsp of ground mustikah gum (optional - sold at Middle Eastern Stores)

Preparation:
Combine rice, milk, and cook over medium heat, stirring almost constantly until it boils. Lower the heat and let it boil gently until it thickens, stirring every few minutes. Add sugar and cook until sugar dissolve; use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture. Add the flavoured water and the mistakah gum.

To check if the pudding is cooked, dip your wooden spoon in the hot pudding, and turn it and draw a line with your finger on the back of the spoon, if the line stays still and did not move, the pudding is cooked. Shut the heat, add the mustikah and the flavoured water, stir to combine and then serve in separate bowls.
Serve cold.
Enjoy