South of France-inspired brunch

It's been nearly ten years since I stepped foot in the south of France, but the tastes still linger in my culinary memory: aromatic olives, sun-kissed red tomatoes bursting with juice, the hint of lavender in Herbes de Provence.
As much as I'd love to hop on a place to take a stroll on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice right now, this bun in the oven is keeping my feet on the ground for now, so what better way to honour the foods of France than to recreate some of those flavours in my own kitchen?

I served the following menu at a brunch for some friends:

Tarte tatin a la tomate, a savoury upside-down tart of oven-roasted tomatoes, a layer of olive tapenade, goat cheese accented with Herbes de Provences, and a buttery pastry dough. If you are looking for one show-stopping tart, this is it. Prepare to take a bite and be transported to the Mediterranean climes of the south of France. Recipe courtesy Chocolate & Zucchini's Clotilde Dusoulier

Mini croque-monsieur, otherwise known as "a fancy French ham and cheese sandwich" as one friend put it, topped with a bechamel sauce and melting Gruyere. Recipe adapted from Ina Garten
An array of croissants and Bonne Maman jams

Pistachio and chorizo cake, a savoury loaf cake brought to life with slivers of sun-dried tomatoes, Spanish sausage, and crunchy pistachioes in a dense but moist and flavourful batter that takes minutes to whip up. Irresistible when fresh out of the oven, and even more tasty warmed up the day after with a layer of butter. Recipe also from Chocolate & Zucchini, by way of blogger David Lebovitz

Manchego, Oka, and Cantenaar cheeses
Heirloom tomato carpaccio, which involved slicing these tomatoes very thin, drizzling them with organic balsamic vinegar, olive oil, freshly ground pepper, and citrus sea salt, and adding basil and toasted pine nuts (click on the first photo in this post to get a closer look - the variety of colours is astounding
For dessert, I strayed from the theme - and the region, I must admit. I served fresh berries and Mexican snowballs. These are balls of vanilla ice cream that I froze, and then rolled in toasted flaked coconut and cinnamon. So easy, and yet so impressive. I will be making these Mexican snowballs time and time again. Recipe courtesy Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" book

Lemon-scented pull-apart coffee cake

This light, flavourful dessert marries lemon and cream cheese in a tangy but sweet coffee cake. The cake is buttery and fluffy, melting just as soon as you start chewing, while the fragrant lemon and orange zest filling dances on the tip of your tongue. Ideal for a picnic lunch, coffee date, or to grab a slice on the way to work in the mornings.

This recipe is also from Flo Braker's amazing cookbook "Baking for All Occasions." You may remember the last recipe I tried from there which was the butterscotch spiral coffee cake. While that cake looked better on the sweet table, this one has wider appeal.

Ingredients
For the sweet yeast dough
About 2 3/4 cups
(12 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup
(1 3/4 ounces) granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons
(1 envelope) instant yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup
(2 1/2 fluid ounces) whole milk
2 ounces unsalted butter
1/4 cup
(2 fluid ounces) water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature

For the lemon paste filling
1/2 cup
(3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (3 lemons)
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

For the tangy cream cheese icing
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup
(1 1/4 ounces) powdered sugar
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Method
Make the sweet yeast dough
1. Stir together 2 cups (9 ounces) of the flour, the sugar, the yeast, and the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter over low heat just until the butter is melted. Remove from the heat, add the water, and set aside until warm (120 to 130°F [49 to 54°C]), about 1 minute. Add the vanilla extract.
2. Pour the milk mixture over the flour-yeast mixture and, using a rubber spatula, mix until the dry ingredients are evenly moistened. Attach the bowl to the mixer, and fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until incorporated. Stop the mixer, add 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) of the remaining flour, and resume mixing on low speed until the dough is smooth, 30 to 45 seconds. Add 2 more tablespoons flour and mix on medium speed until the dough is smooth, soft, and slightly sticky, about 45 seconds.

3. Sprinkle a work surface with 1 tablespoon flour and center the dough on the flour. Knead gently until smooth and no longer sticky, about 1 minute, adding an additional 1 to 2 tablespoons flour only if necessary to lessen the stickiness. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place (about 70°F [21°C]) until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for the next step. While the dough is rising, make the filling.

Make the lemon paste filling
1. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and the lemon and orange zests. Set the sandy-wet mixture nearby (the sugar draws out moisture from the zests to create the consistency).

Make the coffee cake
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. Or, lightly coat the pan with nonstick spray.

2. Gently deflate the dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 20-by-12-inch rectangle. Using a pastry brush spread the melted butter generously over the dough. Cut the dough crosswise into 5 strips, each about 12 by 4 inches. (A pizza cutter is helpful here.) Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons of the zest-sugar mixture over one of the buttered rectangles. Top with a second rectangle and sprinkle it with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the zest-sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining dough rectangles and zest-sugar mixture, ending with a stack of 5 rectangles. Work carefully when adding the crumbly zest filling, or it will fall off when you have to lift the stacked pastry later.

3. Slice the stack crosswise through the 5 layers to create 6 equal strips, each about 4 by 2 inches. Fit these layered strips into the prepared loaf pan, cut edges up and side by side. (While there is plenty of space on either side of the 6 strips widthwise in the pan, fitting the strips lengthwise is tight. But that's fine because the spaces between the dough and the sides of the pan fill in during baking.) Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place (70 °F [21°C]) until puffy and almost doubled in size, 30 to 50 minutes. Press the dough gently with a fingertip. If the indentation remains, the dough is ready for baking.

4. Bake the coffee cake until the top is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

Make the tangy cream cheese icing
1. In a medium bowl, using a rubber spatula, vigorously mix the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in the milk and lemon juice until the mixture is creamy and smooth.

2. To remove the coffee cake from the pan, tilt and rotate the pan while gently tapping it on a counter to release the cake sides. Invert a wire rack on top of the coffee cake, invert the cake onto the rack, and carefully lift off the pan. Invert another rack on top, invert the cake so it is right side up, and remove the original rack.

3. Slip a sheet of waxed paper under the rack to catch any drips from the icing. Using a pastry brush, coat the top of the warm cake with the icing to glaze it. (Cover and refrigerate the leftover icing for another use. It will keep for up to 2 days.)

4. Serve the coffee cake warm or at room temperature. To serve, you can pull apart the layers, or you can cut the cake into 1-inch-thick slices on a slight diagonal with a long, serrated knife. If you decide to cut the cake, don't attempt to cut it until it is almost completely cool.

Substitutions:
I didn't make any

Would I make this again?
Indeed, I would. However, this is not one of this whip-it-up-quickly-two-hours-before-guests-arrive cakes. You need to provide for the time to let the dough rise and take some care when making it.

Grade:
Four stars out of five. It lost one star for the amount of time you need to devote to making this cake from start to finish. While flavourful and light on the palate, this other lemon coffee cake I made was just as tasty, but took half the time to make.

Chocolate-orange cookie stacks

The best way to describe these cookies are as a cross between Oreo cookies and Terry's chocolate oranges.
Don't be put off by the pastry shop look, these are surprisingly easy to make. But you'll need to start early to let them chill in the fridge. This recipe, from Bon Appetit magazine, would be ideal for last-minute guests had there been no chilling time involved.

All you need is an orange, whipping cream, chocolate wafer cookies, and some orange juice concentrate. You might even have all the required ingredients in your fridge right now. So hop to it and try these out.
You can find the recipe here.

Substitutions: As I am apt to do, and so should all of you, I click on readers' comments as soon as I am done reading the recipe - and before I make my shopping list.

Several readers were quick to point out that their cream didn't whip. Those who cut down on the amount of orange juice concentrate that the recipe called for were more successful. Fortunately for me, I only used 1/3 cup of orange juice concentrate and my cream whipped into soft peaks without any problem at all. Furthermore, the orange flavour was decidedly more subtle than tart and biting - just the way I like it.

Would I make this again? I'll have to sleep on this one. While I love the combination of chocolate and orange, chilling these wafers softens their consistency into more of a cake-like texture and just one cookie stack is all I could handle at one time.

Not only that, one box of wafers made only seven cookie stacks, while I had plenty of cream left over. To serve these to guests or friends, you'll have to buy several boxes of wafers and it's been my experience that not everyone loves this flavour combination.

Still, the idea is a good one and I may experiment with other flavours in the cream such as ground hazelnuts, perhaps almond or raspberry extract, offset with shaved almonds or fresh raspberries on top.

Grade: Four stars out of five. Full marks for appearance and ease. Let's be frank - anyone can whip some cream into shape and the white against the dark wafers is elegant and chic. Still though, I'm waffling on giving this full marks because of the taste and texture.

Chocolate-dipped Florentines

This recipe comes by way of London-based restaurant Ottolenghi, then through Paris, where former Chez Panisse pastry chef and acclaimed cookbook author David Lebovitz wrote about it on his popular blog.

You can find the recipe, including Lebovitz' helpful tips at this link.

Substitutions:
Unlike Lebovitz, I did in fact use orange zest rather than orange oil. However, I almost wished I had the extract on hand, because some bites of orange zest imparted a more acidic than sweet taste.

Would I make this again?
Yes, however, they weren't quite as easy to make as I thought. Sure, the recipe consists of throwing things in a bowl and mixing them. And yes, there was no danger of these cookies spreading as you watch in horror.

In the future, I will try to have a lighter hand with the chocolate to give it a more elegant finish. But who am I kidding? Chances are, I will become impatient and try to work faster than the hardening chocolate. Either way, these Florentines are delicious.

However, next time I will use my Silpat, as some of the cookies stuck the to parchment paper and I did not have a 100 per cent success rate. I suppose you could also use milk chocolate but I think dark chocolate is a better match for the almonds.

You could even make these in advance, seal them tightly, and have them ready when you serve coffee to unexpected guests.

Or even consider placing them atop a scoop or two of ice cream when you want to jazz up a simple dessert.

Grade:
Four stars out of five. The ones that did survive the parchment paper were crispy, delicate, and the dark chocolate was the perfect companion to the almonds.

For those of you out there who worry about gluten, it's also gluten-free. In short, an ideal cookie. If it hadn't been for the stickiness factor, I would have given these full points.

Butterscotch spiral coffee cake

If you love cinnamon buns, you're going to love this gorgeous coffee cake with an adult twist. So many times, delicious coffee cakes are baked in loaf pans, and they just don't have the same wow factor.

I found this recipe in a new book I purchased, "Baking for All Occasions" by Flo Braker, which I have been poring over for weeks now.

There are few photos in this 396-page book but it is full of tips about technique and variations on old classics. Already, dozens of ripped Post-it Notes are peeking through the pages.

This was the first recipe I tried from this book and it won't be the last. The wafting smell of cinnamon was enough to win me over from the beginning.

Below, you will find the recipe with some adaptations.

Yield: One 9-inch round cake, 14 to 16 servings.

Dough Ingredients
2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 tsp. (1 envelope) instant yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (If you don't have any, increase your nutmeg and cinnamon)
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/3 cup whole milk (1 per cent milk worked as well)
2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Butterscotch Glaze
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 oz. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 tbsp. dark corn syrup (light corn syrup worked too)

Cinnamon-Butter Filling
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

To Make the Dough: Mix 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, yeast, salt, cardamom, nutmeg, and cinnamon in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside. In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the milk and butter and melt over low heat. Add the water and put the saucepan for about 1 minute.

Pour the milk mixture over the flour-yeast mixture and mix well with a rubber spatula until all of the dry ingredients are moistened. Attach the bowl to the mixer. You will be using the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, on at a time, beat after each addition until incorporated. Add the vanilla in the final moments of mixing. Stop the mixer, add 1/2 cup more flour and resume mixing on low speed until smooth, 30-45 more seconds. Add 2 tablespoons additional flour and resume mixing on medium speed until the dough is smooth, still soft, and slightly sticky, about 45 seconds.

Sprinkle the work surface with 1 tablespoon of flour and centre the dough on the flour. Knead the dough gently until it is smooth and no longer sticky. It is likely that you will need to add an extra 1-2 tablespoons flour to prevent stickiness. Place the dough in a large bowl, cover the bowl securely with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, which should take about 45-60 minutes. The dough is ready when a finger gently pressed into it leaves an indentation. Meanwhile prepare the baking pan, the glaze and the filling.

To Make the Butterscotch Glaze: Lightly coat a 9 by 2-inch round cake pan with nonstick spray, or butter the pan. Combine the sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a small, heavy saucepan and set over low heat until the butter is completely melted. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tilt the pan to cover the bottom evenly, set aside. Don't worry if the glaze thickens slightly, it will liquefy again in the oven.

To Make the Cinnamon-Butter Filling: In a small bowl or cup, stir the cinnamon into the butter; set aside.

Before Baking: Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To Assemble the Coffee Cake: Gently deflate the dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 16 by 12-inch rectangle. Using a pastry brush, spread the butter-cinnamon mixture evenly over the dough. Cut the dough lengthwise into six 2-inch-wide strips. Try to keep the strips consistent in size otherwise the height of the cake will not be even. A pizza cutter works just great. Loosely (so the dough has some give as it expands in the oven) roll up 1 strip and place it, cut edge up, in the centre of the prepared pan on top of the glaze. One at a time, coil the remaining dough strips around the centre one, starting each strip at the end of the previous seam. The butter-cinnamon side of the dough strips should be facing inside. You will see the large spiral begin to form. (Don't worry if there is space left in the pan, it will fill up as the dough bakes.) Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the cake rise in a warm place until it is almost doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

Bake the coffee cake until the top is deep golden brown, about 35 minutes. Check after 20 minutes to make sure the cake is not browning too fast. While I kept a close eye on my oven and temperature, the cake did brown too fast. If it is, cover the top loosely with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning. Remove foil if you used it, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Tilt the pan and tap the sides on a counter to release the cake sides, using a small rubber spatula if you need to loosen it some more, or a butter knife. Place a serving plate on top, leave the pan on the cake for 1 minute, so the glaze transfers to the cake, then gently lift off the pan. Using a rubber spatula, scrape out any butterscotch syrup remaining in the pan and spread it over the warm surface of the cake.

Serve the cake warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges gently with a serrated knife. It's best served the day it is made.

Substitutions:
As you may have seen above, I used light corn syrup instead of dark; I skipped the cardamom because I forgot to buy it and increased the cinnamon and nutmeg. I worried it might overpower the dough, but that wasn't the case. I also used 1 per cent milk rather than whole - not that I recommend this, but it worked in a pinch.

Would I make this again?
I would, particularly because I will be more confident about the techniques in this recipe, such as letting the dough rise, and forming the cake. However, I found the glaze was simply not enough, and I might even double the recipe to give it more moisture when served. Otherwise, I found this cake to be a little dry. Braker suggests spreading a layer of apple butter over the cinnamon butter and then baking as directed. This might be another good solution.

Grade:
Four stars out of five. The cake is stunning in presentation, light and tasty, but a little bit dry, it almost has the consistency of and Italian panettone or Eastern European Easter cake and more glaze would have improved this cake immeasurably.