everyday-wonders.com :: comments on: Daring Bakers and the Orange Tians, posted March 28, 2010

Daring Bakers and the Orange Tians

It's not possible, but it seems like every month the 27th of the month comes faster than the previous month.

The 2010 March Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse's Cooking School in Paris.

photographs of grapefruit marmalade on a spoon and stacked cookie cutters

Until this month I had no idea what a tian was, but that's one of the reasons I love participating in the Daring Bakers' challenges and this month's challenge was all about learning something new: new type of dessert and new techniques.

The challenge was pretty involved with lots of component recipes and I could not help but make a few minor tweaks to the recipes involved; the main tweak was making a grapefruit marmalade instead of an orange one.

Orange Tians

Directions:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.
Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snugly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Caramel

Ingredients:

200g sugar
1 5/8 cups orange juice

Directions:

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl - you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

Orange Marmalade

Ingredients:

7 Tbsp orange juice
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slices
5g pectin
sugar, the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Directions:

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar.
In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

Orange Segments

Ingredients:

8 oranges

Directions:

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

Pate Sablee

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks at room temperature
40g vanilla sugar
100g unsalted butter
2g salt
200g all purpose flower

Directions:

Put the flour, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogeneous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees.
Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a 1/4 inch thick circle.
Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp hot water
1 tsp gelatin
1 Tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 Tbsp orange marmalade

Directions:

In a small bowl, add the gelatin and hot water, stirring well until the gelatin dissolves. Let the gelatin cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream.
Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high.
Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatin slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks.
Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

Categories: Food
Places: USA
Recipes: Dough, Preserves, Tians

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comments

Talia
March 28, 2010 at 18:37:20

Your tian looks lovely with the two colors and the photos with all the light streaming in give it a very dreamy quality!

Suzy
March 28, 2010 at 18:52:09

Your photos are gorgeous. Very elegant and tranquil, and your tians look delicious!

Y
March 28, 2010 at 18:58:35

Love the colours in your photos. Also, that grapefruit marmalade looks fantastic!

Natalie
March 28, 2010 at 20:52:07

Thank you, Ladies, for your lovely comments.. I'm so glad you've found the images enjoyable :)

Stephanie
March 28, 2010 at 21:13:51

Your tian looks amazing! I love the color contrast with the grapefruit. I also never heard of tian before this month, but I'm definitely a fan!

Mary
March 28, 2010 at 21:58:32

Your photos are lovely, and your bicolored tians are too. And that grapefruit marmalade--I may just have to make some!

chef_d
March 29, 2010 at 00:45:35

Wow your tians look so pretty!

Meeta
March 29, 2010 at 00:52:00

So simply elegant and lovely! grapefruit and oranges a delicious pair and simply perfect for the tian!

Lisa
March 31, 2010 at 21:44:50

Your double citrus colored tians and photos are stunning! Awesome marmalade too! Beautiful job!!

Julia @ Mélanger
April 4, 2010 at 04:02:53

Just beautiful, as always. I love the pink hue of your photographs.

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