Southern Belle’s Gone Wild
a/k/a Sweet Treats For Your Sweet Heart
Bittersweet Bourbon-Pecan Truffles
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (finely chopped)
3 tablespoons Jack Daniel’s whiskey
2 cups toasted pecans (finely chopped)
Make a ganache by pouring cream into a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat and bringing just to a simmer. Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle chocolate into the cream. Cover and let set for 5 minutes. Stir gently until smooth. Stir in liquor. Pour into a shallow bowl. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
Roll ganache into ¾- to 1-inch balls and set aside on a cookie sheet (should make 40 to 45 balls). Place chopped nuts in a shallow container and roll ganache balls until fully coated. Return to cookie sheet and chill in refrigerator to set. Serve at room temperature.
New Orleans-Style King Cake
There are many recipes for this Mardi Gras carnival staple. This one was given to me by my pastry teacher Bill Hamilton. This is from the late Myriam Guidroz, a longtime food columnist for The Times-Picayune.
Basic King Cake Dough (enough for 2 cakes)
1 envelope dry yeast ½ cup sugar
¼ cup warm water 2 egg yolks
½ cup milk 2 whole eggs
1cup (2 sticks) butter 4 cups (approximately) unbleached flour
Mix yeast with the warm water. Stir 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 teaspoon flour into the yeast and set aside. By the time you have measured the other ingredients, the yeast should be beginning to bubble and show signs of life.
Bring milk to a boil and stir in butter and sugar. Pour into a large bowl; the mixture should be lukewarm. Beat in egg yolks, whole eggs, and yeast.
Beat in approximately 2 cups flour until the dough is fairly smooth, then gradually add enough additional flour to make soft dough that you can form into a ball. Knead it, by hand or machine, until smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a bowl, turn the dough once or twice in it to grease it lightly all over, cover with a cloth and leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size, about 1½ to 2 hours.
Pat the dough down and cover the bowl with a damp towel, wrap plastic film over that, and refrigerate until the next day. This recipe makes enough dough for 2 King Cakes. Extra dough can be frozen, or you can make two cakes and freeze one (to use, thaw frozen cake and reheat 10 minutes in a 375-degree oven).
Filling for 1 King Cake
½ recipe King Cake dough (above)
1 (16-ounce container) apricot preserves
8 ounces cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 whole eggs
¼ cup milk
1 plastic baby (traditional)
16 ounces confectioners’ sugar
Colored sugars: purple, gold, and green
Remove dough from refrigerator. With well-floured hands, while dough is firm and cold, mold into a long sausage shape. Using a floured roller on a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 30- by 9-inch rectangle as thin as a pie crust. Let the dough rest.
Mix cream cheese with sugar, flour, egg yolks, and vanilla. Spoon an inch-wide strip of fruit filling the length of the dough—about 3 inches from one edge. Spoon the cream cheese mixture alongside the fruit about 3 inches from the other side. Whip whole eggs and milk to make a simple egg wash and brush both sides of the dough with it. Fold one edge of the dough over the fillings, then fold the other edge over the first edge. Gently place one edge of the filled roll onto a greased pizza pan or large cookie sheet. Ease the rest of the roll onto the pan, joining the ends to form a circle or oval. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes. Brush again with egg wash and cut deep vents into the cake.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour at 325 degrees, just until cake is well risen and golden. When cool, you can insert the plastic baby into the bottom of the cake. After cake cools, ice with confectioners’ sugar mixed with enough water to make a spreadable paste. Then top with colored sugars.
