Recipe: Caffe Latte Inglesa

Recipes title

Caffe Latte Inglesa

Recipe By: AMYCAKES aka Amy Handler
Serving Size: 4

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup double-strength espresso
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup eggs (4 large)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream

Cook the sugar and water in a stainless steel saucepan until all the water boils out and the sugar becomes a rich orange-brown. Pour it hot into four custard cups, carefully, to avoid drips on the sides of the cups, so it evenly covers the bottoms of the cups.

Let it harden.

Meanwhile, slowly bring the coffee and sugar to a simmer.

Mix the eggs, salt and cream, and stir them in together.

When the custard mix is hot but not yet thickening, strain it through a fine mesh or cheese cloth to remove any cooked egg and all the coffee grounds.

Pour it into the custard cups and set them in a basin of hot water. The water should come to the height of the custard.

Place the basin in a 325 degrees F oven and bake for about 45 minutes. The custard should skin, but beneath the skin it will still be loose in the center, though firm on the edges when it is time to take it out. Let them finish cooking as the waterbath comes to room temperature.

To take the custard out of the cups you must first break the seal all around the top. Then invert them on plates and they should slide out, though they may need a smart rap to start. The caramel juice should surround them.

Serve with sable cookies.

Checker Board & Bull's Eye Cookies

Recipe By: AMYCAKES aka Amy Handler
Serving Size: 24

6 ounces sugar
12 ounces unsalted butter
1 pound flour
2 ounces cocoa powder
3 Tablespoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons heavy cream

Make the vanilla dough:

Blend 3 ounces (6 Tablespoons or 3/8 cup) of sugar with 6 ounces (1-1/2 sticks) of the butter. Add 9 ounces of the flour.

Blend it until it lumps up. Add enough vanilla to bind it together. Roll it between two sheets of waxed or parchment paper to 1/4 inch thickness and chill.

Make the chocolate dough:

Blend the remaining butter (6 oz), sugar (3 oz), flour (7) and cocoa (2 oz), as before. Use the cream to bind it. Roll and chill as before.

Cut three 1 inch strips from each dough (using about 1/4th of your supply) and make two stacks so the colors are sandwiched. Wrap the stacks tightly, and chill again. Use some of the trimmings to make a 3/8 inch diameter snake of both colors. Wrap each snake twice, in more dough, so the colors contrast. These are your Bull's Eye Cookies. Let them firm up in the refrigerator, before slicing off the logs into cookies.

Go back to your stripes. Unwrap the bars so you have a solid side up on both. Trim the sides to sharpen and straighten them. Cut the bars in thirds the long way and again sandwich them using the two bars in alternate layers. You ones again have two bars. In one, all the corners are chocolate and in the other all the corners are vanilla.

Roll the remaining dough to half its current thickness and wrap each bar in the color that contrasts with its corners.

While they are chilling, Mix all your scraps and roll them thin. Give each bar another skin. Chill.

Slice the cookies off the bars at 1/4 inch apiece. Lay them on papered half-sheets , 2-1/2 to 3 dozen per pan.

Bake them at 400 degrees F, about 10 minutes.