Almond Sans Rival Part III - Assembly

 

Here is the final post in my almond sans rival series (I might have, in the future, chocolate, mocha, pistachio, cashew, or even pandan, who knows?). Thank you for your patience.

Please take note in Part II of what I WOULD HAVE CHANGED in making these sans rival. I would not really change the recipes, but I believe at least getting the proportions right will give very good results. Photo above shows the chilled (hence flattened frosting and sprinkles -- not too appealing to the eyes, but tastes actually better than when freshly made) sans rival with thinner frosting than that shown in my first post. It was good, but I still wish I had thicker meringue layers. My husband found the buttercream too buttery in that first one I assembled (what else can you expect of buttercream anyway?) but he loved the meringue cookies alone! (However, I knew when I was making whoopie pies when I asked him about using butter in the frosting instead of shortening, he said it just does not taste quite the same. So maybe he really is not a fan of buttercream). My kids love both assembled and meringue cookies (dacquoise) alone; in fact, they are requesting I make some more dacquoise, but at present, I have no egg whites available. I do have some egg yolks (4 of them) from when my stepdaughter made chocolate molten lava cakes. Now I am thinking of finally making purely egg yolk-y leche flan...but I find that too rich, I can't eat more than two tbsp.

Anyway, I digress...

UPDATE: I made a second batch and brought/shared with co-workers (in two hospitals) and they raved about this, even asked for the recipe. Then I made a third batch, this time making it into a rectangular cake to bring to my mother-in-law on Mother's Day. Both she and her husband loved it as well!

Ingredients:
Prepared meringue cookies (dacquoise)
Prepared buttercream
Toasted almonds (about 200 grams sliced)

Instructions:

Toast the almonds at 350 deg F for 8-10 minutes (I followed the instruction at the packaging for toasting the sliced almonds. I used two types of pan: 1 thin dark cookie sheet and another thick jelly roll pan, which gave me almost burnt almonds on the first, and perfectly toasted on the second. So, I suggest you watch after 5 minutes whether they are toasted good already). Cool then crumble using your hands.

Use a ziploc bag with a cut at the corner for the buttercream. Keep the rest cooled with bags of ice around (or in the fridge). Use gloves to insulate the buttercream from your warm hands. I would suggest putting a very thin layer of buttercream in between the dacquoise/meringue layers. Press together some more so the excess buttercream will be squeezed out. Use this to frost the sides.

[Note: In the slideshow you will see some sprinkled sugar+ground almonds which i sandwiched between two layers of meringue already frosted, so in effect I had very thick frosting of buttercream sandwiching the sugar+ground almonds. Since this resulted to overwhelming buttercream-y taste, I omitted the double frosting and sugar+ground almonds. Instead, I just applied one layer of frosting. It was much better, but I wish I had thicker dacquoise, or thinner buttercream.]

Prepare cling wrap for individual serving to hold the initial assembly, frost one broad side (e.g., bottom) and sprinkle with crumbled toasted almonds. Now you can touch this side with plastic so you can work on frosting the other broad side (e.g., top), then sprinkle some more with almonds.

There! I hope I have effectively taught those who needed teaching. Some of my readers might actually know about this; please do not hesitate to offer corrections, suggestions, etc. Even recipes are welcome! (That is, if you are willing to share.)

Gosh, I think I gained 5 pounds in the last three days because of this...I need to use the DDR!!! Arrrrgh!

Almond Sans Rival Part I - Meringue layers

I got into this obsessive desire to try making sans rival after my correspondence with retired pastry chef, EQ, who loved my supersoft ensaymada. I asked for his recipe for sans rival, but he could not find it, so he pointed me instead to two sites that will help me create them.

Sans rival ("no rival") is a very sinfully delicious dessert that I encountered first, I believe, in a bakeshop within UP campus during my college days. I cannot remember the name of the building (not an academic building but one of the administrative type of buildings, I think). In any case, since introduction to it, I had been enjoying it whenever and wherever I saw it (together with another favorite dessert, Sambo). I can't buy them where I am now.

The most common flavor then was cashew. Nowadays, browsing through the net, there are also other flavors such as pistachio and other nuts, and pandan. I made almond, based on the recipe pointed out to me. I am not too keen anymore on the pandan...somehow, the essence/extract/flavoring tastes too artificial to me. Nothing like the real leaves boiled in water.

As I said in the previous post, I will post this in a series (like my hopia series). If you have plenty of egg whites (maybe you make your leche flan only with yolks, or you are making runny ensaymada dough using 20 egg yolks), you might want to make sans rival. Both meringue and buttercream recipes I used as reference make use of egg whites.

Now, I don't know what the origin of the term is, but this particular wafer has its own name (which it deserves to have, in my opinion): Dacquoise. I don't have the least idea how to pronounce that. This is what makes the meringue layers of sans rival. Plain or used in sans rival, these have become a big hit in my family, including my hubby.

The way I prepared the meringue layer was as individual servings of round flat "cookies" or wafers which everyone in my family also loves plain. I have experimented in the past by baking one whole flat sheet then using a biscuit cutter, but I ended up with crumbs and broken pieces. The site I referred to here gave me the idea about using patterns, although it did not elaborate much on how to easily peel off the meringue from the parchment paper. Some sites say to use greased and floured baking pans. I remember when I made the frozen brazo de mercedes, I greased the wax paper. At the edges where I missed some spots, the meringue stuck. So I experimented doing these two things: greased only, and greased and floured.

Ingredients:
2/3 cup egg white, in room temp for 30 minutes
2/3 cup almond meal (I had sliced almonds chopped finely in food processor)
1/4 cup sugar, mixed with almond meal
2 tbsp sugar, mixed with egg whites during foaming
2/3 cup sugar, mixed with egg whites during soft peaks

Instructions:


EDITED 3/19/09: Take out your eggs from the fridge and separate the whites if you don't have them ready yet (easier to separate them while cold). Use a small bowl/cup to catch the egg white. Once you are sure you are not gonna break the yolk, transfer the white to the mixing bowl, preferably glass or metal, not plastic. If you break the yolk, reserve that whole egg for another recipe and use another egg to avoid contamination of the whites). Let the egg whites sit out at room temp (better for whipping) while you prepare the pans.

A. Prepare the pan . Follow these steps carefully or you will end up breaking all your dacquoise trying to remove from the pan, then you will end up with crumbs.

1. Make patterns of circles on one side (the side that will touch the pan later) of wax or parchment paper. (I used sharpie and a plastic cup.)

2. Apply a thin layer of shortening onto baking sheet. (I dip paper towel into a bucket of Crisco to get about a tbsp of shortening. I then wipe this onto the baking sheet.)

3. Place the patterned wax/parchment paper onto the greased sheet.

4. Grease the paper also (like in step 2).

Note: I attempted to try sprinkling with flour one of them greased paper. I compared the two after baking. The floured ones stuck more. So just be satisfied with greasing the paper. I don't think that greasing the pan under the paper will also help, but I do it anyway so my paper sticks to the pan and not slide.)

B. Prepare the batter and bake. Pre-heat the oven to 225 deg F. (Recipe courtesy of Zoe).

1. Mix the almond meal with 1/4 cup sugar.
2. Start whipping the egg white under medium speed.
3. When whites start to foam, add the 2 tbsp sugar. Continue whipping.
4. When soft peaks form, gradually add 2/3 cup sugar while continuing to whip the whites. Stop when stiff peaks form. [Note that in the slideshow I changed from glass bowl to the metal bowl. I did this because my hand mixer did not seem to have enough power to beat once the sugar made the mixture sticky. The motor was running but the beaters were not. So I immediately transferred to my clean metal bowl and continued whipping there. It is important that there is no trace of water, oil or even egg yolks when whipping egg whites.]
5. Add half of the sugar+almond mixture by folding* this into whipped egg whites. Repeat with the remaining half.
6. Place in ziploc bag. Cut a corner and pipe out thin layers onto prepared pan, following the patterns.
7. Bake for 1 hr. Peel off paper and let dry out some more on cooling racks while making the buttercream. [Note: Maybe a shorter time will do, since this is very thin, maybe 20 minutes? maybe increasing the temp will help also? Then just let dry out some more on wire racks, if your air is as dry as mine here. If not (like in the Philippines, where it is always humid), maybe stick to the temp as above, bake for 20 mins, turn off heat and let residual heat dry out the cookies/wafers some more.)

*If any of my readers would be interested to make this (and other recipes with "folding" step) but do not really know exactly what folding is (if you are a newbie in baking), I will try my best to upload a video as an example, if requested. I may not be an officially trained baker, but I do know what "folding" means in baking terms. It was demonstrated to me by my ex-MIL, who is a home economics graduate. One thing to remember: YOU DO NOT USE A WIRE WHISK TO GENTLY FOLD something into the batter; rather, you use a spatula or spoon. The folding is a means to incorporate ingredients into an airy/bubbly batter without breaking up all the air bubbles, because you want to maintain the airy-ness and fluffiness of the batter for "volume" and sponginess upon baking.

UPDATE as of 3-27-09:
I made this again today, but basing on other recipes, i tried to do short cut by baking at 350 deg F for 20 minutes. Well guess what...after about 10 minutes, I sniffed the burnt smell! It was too late! I already ruined this batch...I will have to wait again for egg whites...

Frozen Almond Brazo De Mercedes

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

From Frozen Almond Brazo De Mercedes

10:50 PM

Nephew: Oh wow! This is the best tasting dessert I have ever had in a long while!

SIL: That was good! As a matter of fact, it is a tad better then the Paris Brest! (Paris Brest is what I always hope my SIL would bring during these gatherings. I love it.)

Sons: Yummy! This is so good, ma!

Husband: Thanks, honey. That was awesome!
Me: So, is this something I should make again?
Husband: Definitely! You can make it everyday!

Me: Mom, would you like me to leave some of this brazo?
MIL: Oh yes, PLEASE! That was so good!

VERDICT: It was a HIT!!!

Gotta make one again for Filipino Christmas Party.

11:45 PM
Done assembly!

11:21 PM
Cooling the meringue now...

11:00 PM
Meringue baking and the rest of the brazo in the freezer right now...

For some reason I was craving for this. And in my head I was toying with the idea of adding almonds to it...then when I went grocery shopping last Monday I impulsively grabbed a box of almond paste aside from sliced almond nuts.

I got the recipe and how-to's for the brazo itself from stef's post on the traditional brazo de mercedes log roll type. But reading the comments, I learned that the latest craze was frozen brazo de mercedes. I thought that would be an easy solution to the usual dilemma of baked meringue/egg-y/custardy goodies (which we are always afraid to be contaminated with Salmonella when out in room temp for a long while), and will allow me as well to prepare it much ahead of time (like when I prepare leche flan -- always best when chilled for at least overnight). That way, I can still make egg pie tomorrow and bring only that as freshly baked and still warm. (My MIL is addicted to my leche flan, my SIL to egg pie. My bilas loves both. I hope this new custard type of dessert will also wow them.) If it turns out superb, I might prepare this for a Filipino Christmas Party I am contemplating on having.

While photos and flavors of such frozen BDM that I saw while researching more about it were of mango flavor, which is definitely not an option for me, I had this persistent idea in my head brewing, which consisted of adding almond paste and sliced almond nuts to the filling, then chopped caramelized sugar sprinkled on top of the meringue...Sounds sinfully good to me...I hope it does turn out good. I used the vanilla because it has been a tested favorite among my family members.

Please take note of wiping the stainless steel mixing bowl with vinegar and salt then rinsing, then wiping dry, prior to placing egg whites in it. And before I started the whole process, I made caramelized sugar first.

Ingredients and How To's:

Base:
8 oz crushed graham crackers
1/4 cup melted butter (or 1/2 cup if you want this layer more intact,less crumbly)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 gallon vanilla ice cream (approximately; I just got thin layers using a pie server to lay on top of the graham base; you may opt to put the whole gallon for a thicker layer)

Mix thoroughly the first 3 ingredients then pack at the bottom of a 13 x 9 baking dish. Top with thin layer of ice cream. Cover with cling wrap then freeze.

Filling:
1 box (7-oz) almond paste, grated, sprinkled on top of the ice cream

Custard:
10 egg yolks (the egg whites should be placed in the mixing bowl and let stand in room temp for about 30 minutes before making the meringue)
1 (14-oz) condensed milk
several drops of lemon extract (to eliminate the fishy smell)
2 capfuls of almond extract

2-oz sliced almonds, sprinkled over the custard filling.

On medium low heat (#3 or 4 on my stove), blend well and continuously stir egg yolks and condensed milk until it sticks to the back of the wooden spoon. It may look still very liquidy at this stage but after removing from the heat, it will continue to cook so keep stirring, add the lemon extract, stir well, then the almond extract.

Spread this on top of the almond paste. Place back in the freezer (The short intervals of having this out of the freezer is to prevent the ice cream from melting too much while you work on it). Proceed with meringue procedure and while baking the meringue, sprinkle the sliced almonds on top of the custard. Place back in the freezer.

Meringue:

10 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar

Topping:
5 tbsp Caramelized sugar, cooled and chopped finely (The melted caramel should be poured onto a buttered baking sheet. Let harden, take off from pan, then chop in a chopper.)

As suggested by stef, since I have stainless steel mixing bowl, I wiped it first with vinegar and salt then rinsed and wiped dry with paper towel before I placed the egg whites in it.

Line the bottom and sides of a jelly roll pan (10 x 15) and spray with oil on all
sides (meringue, I realized, is so sticky!). Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites and start beating, low speed first then gradually increasing to highest speed. When soft peaks start to form, pour the sugar gradually and beat until it forms stiff peaks, still glossy. (You have overbeaten if it loses sheen and appears granular. This does not take too long as soon as you start slowly pouring the sugar.) Spread this onto the wax paper and level with spatula. Bake for 20-25 minutes (it inflates so much!!! I felt I had to rotate because one side was way much higher than the other).

Place on a wire rack to cool completely (deflates). Sprinkle some chopped caramelized sugar on top of the meringue then place a sheet of wax paper. Cover with bigger baking sheet and flip over. Peel off the wax paper from the underside of meringue. (I goofed here; did not spray with oil the sides of the wax paper, so it was so hard to peel it off the meringue edges.)

Lift the meringue using the wax paper, folding at the middle a bit so it is easier to place on top of the base/filling. Tuck the edges under. Sprinkle the rest of the chopped caramelized sugar. Place back in the freezer.

To serve: upon getting from the freezer, while still hard, slice with butter knife. Rinse with hot water and wipe knife with every line of slice (or when some custard starts to stick to it). Optional: drizzle with maple syrup.

Will post photo of sliced brazo, then update on how it was accepted by my in-laws and family tomorrow after celebration of Thanksgiving...