Black Forest Gâteau - Magic Recreated!

Back at home, as we grew up, certain celebrations were never complete without exotic cakes. Be it a birthday, an engagement, a wedding, a felicitation or the dozen anniversaries, cakes were an integral part, though not in the strictest traditional manner. And certain cakes were always more preferred than the others. At home, people were unreasonably biased towards the Pineapple Creme, the Triple Chocolate Truffle, the Genoise, the Red Velvet and of course, the hands-down favorite : the Black Forest cake, also referred to as the Black Forest Gâteau, due to its undeniable rich, creamy, melt-in-the-mouth experience. 

Therefore, when I was shipped off to the other side of the world, my hopes were pretty high that the Cakeland adventures would continue to unfold on an all-the-more grander scale. Big time FAIL. There proved to be absolutely no signs of my favorite pastries and cakes, and the occasional rare ones that I did manage to stumble upon required that both the eater and the eaten be loaded; the former with dough and the latter with enormous amounts of cream and fat. Hence, we bought nondescript cakes from the supermarket bakery for friends' birthdays, and so very often, fearing the diabetes-inducing-cream more than the cost, tricked the birthday buddy with a single cupcake (which would comfortably feed a party of five anyway). But, that was not enough for Mr. I-am-a-Gourmet Graduate. I had to keep my cake-tooth alive and kicking, and that's when all the baking started. Two years down the line, the efforts clearly show, and I try very hard to make sure that they do.

So, a few days ago, when we were planning a low-key birthday celebration for the person who is my longest-lasting friend, roomie and sous-chef in the US, I could find no better occasion to put all my efforts into the third attempt at making the perfect Black Forest. A favorite German dessert, the traditional Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, as it is called in its native place, consists of several layers of chocolate cake soaked in Kirsch (a cherry derived liquor), whipped cream, cherries and chocolate shavings. Every mouthful is a new revelation. 

It took four hours, a load of cream and a lot of patience to achieve the final product; an effort that was worth every drop of sweat (Well, not exactly. It is freezing here). Unfortunately, I couldn't use the Kirschwasser, as I had to keep the cake alcohol-free, and hence, it technically cannot be called a Kirschtorte. But it was just as heavenly, all the same (You can ask the birthday boy for the attestations). To me it was next best to what you can get at the Hot Breads bakery, 5 minutes from my house at Kilpauk, in Chennai.

BLACK FOREST GÂTEAU (Serves 4)
Set-up Time : 15 minutes + 20 minutes + 10 minutes

Experiment Run-Time : 60 minutes baking + 60 minutes cooling
Aesthetics : 15-30 minutes depending on skills

The Shopping List

          Set 1: The Cake
          All Purpose Flour : 1.5 cups
          Unsalted Butter : 1 stick
          Eggs : 2 large (or) 3 small
          Sugar (Brown preferred) : 1 cup(packed)
          Granulated Sugar : 1/2 cup
          Cold Milk : 3/4 cup
          Cocoa Powder (Dutch process) : 3/4 cup
          Vanilla Extract : 1.5 tsp
          Baking Soda : 1/4 tsp
          Baking Powder : 1/2 tsp

          
          Set 2: Kirsch Replacement

          Cherry Syrup : 1/3 cup (From a can of Maraschino cherries)
          Coffee Powder : 1 tsp

          Set 3: The Best-Part

          Heavy Whipping Cream : 2 cups
          Vanilla Extract : 1 tsp

          Icing Sugar : 1/2 cup
          Maraschino cherries : a dozen, 
          (removed from syrup and thoroughly rinsed)
          Dark Baking Chocolate : 3 oz bar 
          (I used Ghirardelli's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate)

Methodology

a. The Cake

1. Grease a 9 X 5 X 3 loaf pan with butter and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter until it is fairly soft. Add the sugars gradually, whisking at medium speed, followed by the eggs, milk and vanilla extract.

3. Place the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa in another mixing bowl and whisk gently until combined.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking continuously until they are well blended and evenly moistened.

5. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the oven for 60 minutes, until a knife inserted at the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove onto the cooling rack and allow it to cool for 30 minutes.

6. Carefully remove the cake from the pan and allow it to cool for an additional thirty minutes. This way the cutting would be easier and a lot less messier.

b. Kirsch Replacement

1. Dissolve the coffee powder in a 1/4 cup of hot water.

2. In a pan combine the cherry syrup and the coffee solution and allow it to come to a boil.

3. Remove from heat and cool the syrup to room temperature

c. For the Topping

1. In a mixing bowl, place the sugar, the vanilla essence and the heavy cream.

2. With the help of an electric mixer, whisk the cream continuously until stiff peaks are formed. The colder the cream, the sooner it will reach this consistency. I took a whole 20 minutes to reach this stage. Something was not right with either the cream or my watch.

3. Divide the whipped cream into four equal portions and refrigerate until ready for assembly.

4. Drain the cherries fro the syrup and wash them several times in cold water. I prefer them to be devoid of the cherry syrup, which may impart a medicinal flavor to the cake if used in excess.

5. Roughly chop 8 of the cherries and cut the rest into halves. Refrigerate until ready for assembly.

6. Grate the baking chocolate (a potato peeler works amazingly well) onto a clean plate and refrigerate immediately

d. Assembly

1. With a long serrated knife, remove the top and sides of the cake until you are left with a rough cuboid. Save the cake crumbles for a quick dessert that I would be posting soon.

2. With the help of the knife, cut the cake into two horizontal layers. You may attempt to do three, but the slices may them become too thin.

3. Place the bottom layer on the cake tray/pastry stand. I secured it to the bottom of an aluminum foil covered board with the help of a small amount of whipped cream.

4. Generously brush the Kirsch replacement over the bottom layer of the cake. Be careful not to overload the cake with the syrup. Around 3-4 tablespoons should suffice.

5. With a spatula, spread one portion of the whipped cream on the bottom layer.

6. Sprinkle with the chopped cherries.

7. Place the second layer on the first one and repeat steps 4 and 5.

8. Use the third portion of the whipped cream to evenly coat the sides the cake. I found this a bit tricky and it really helps if the cream is cold.

9. Pour the final portion of the whipped cream into an icing bag and pipe small meringues on the top of the cake. Carefully top each meringue with a cherry half.

10. Finally, sprinkle the grated chocolate on the top. I also used a spatula to pat some onto the sides, but this has to be done with caution so as not to disturb the whipped cream covering.

11. Refrigerate the cake for 4-6 hours for the flavors to soak in completely. I froze the cake overnight and thawed it in the refrigerator for 4 hours prior to consumption. It tasted fabulous.

 
This is what I would consider to be my greatest achievement yet, as a baker. I was on cloud nine, the friends were happy and the birthday babie's face thankfully remained cream-free. I even managed to irritate half-a-dozen people, messaging them pictures of the cake from every possible angle. The cake was a success, and I am going back to it sometime soon, to make it even better. Maybe I will use the actual Kirschwasser or maybe I will try a different substitute. It was even suggested to replace the cherries with strawberries. While that may no longer be a Black Forest Gâteau, I am sure it would be just as much as fun to bake and enjoy! 

Chocolate Pancakes - Some Mardi gras Indulgence!

The post is obviously late, for Mardi gras was two days ago! But, how can I post a recipe before I have experimented it out and what better day to indulge on pancakes than Shrove Tuesday? 

With Lent, the annual period of penance, vow and fasting, around the corner, traditional Christians change gears to consume simpler meals, adopt vegetarianism (or at least abstinence from red meat) and spend a considerable part of the days in praying for forgiveness and reflecting on the sacrifice of Christ for redeeming humankind. So, in a final attempt to stock up on fats and other gastronomic delicacies, before the commencement of the 40 day fasting period on Ash Wednesday, they have a ball of a time finishing up all the rich and fatty food-stuff at home. The celebrations reach a pinnacle of Shrove Tuesday, the day preceding the Lenten season, variously known as Pancake day, Fat Tuesday and Mardi gras. 

The association of pancakes with this Christian celebration goes back to medieval Ireland, a country with a sizable Catholic population, where some clever bakers made it a practice to clean out their larders and pantries of eggs, milk and butter by making stacks and stacks of pancakes on Fat Tuesday and inviting customers to have a go. The tradition stuck on and today, it is not a surprise for people to be more aware of Pancake day than Shrove Tuesday. Pancake races are held at various locations in the commonwealth countries and people eat the delicacy by the tonne. 

So last Tuesday, with true Lenten spirit, in an attempt to follow the 40 day fatty-food-abstinence for spirituo-vanity reasons, I thought I should whip up some pancakes too. And what followed was several rounds of soft-fluffy pancakes and 8 hours of sound sleep!

CHOCOLATE PANCAKES (Makes 8-10 Pancakes)
Set-up Time : 10 minutes

Experiment Run-Time : 3 minutes per pancake

The Shopping List

          Set 1: Dry ingredients
          Wheat Flour : 3/4 cup
          All Purpose Flour : 1/2 Cup

          Cocoa Powder : 4 tsp
          Ground Cinnamon : 1/2 tsp
          Baking Powder : 1.5 tsp
          Brown Sugar : 1 Tbsp
          Salt : a pinch
          Vanilla Essence : 1 tsp
          Fresh Ground Flax Seeds : 1 Tbsp

          

          Set 2: Wet Ingredients

          Milk : 1 cup
          Yoghurt : 2 Tbsp
          Vanilla Essence : a few drops

Methodology

1. Place all the dry ingredients (except the flax seeds) in a mixing bowl and with a whisk or with your fingers, mix them together until they are well-combined.

2. Add the yoghurt and slowly add the milk, gently whisking as you do so. Add sufficient milk to form a batter of pouring consistency. When you let the batter drop from a ladle, it should fall in ribbons.

3. Before giving a final whisk, add the vanilla essence and the flax seeds. Mix one last time to evenly distribute the final ingredients.

4. Place a non-stick skillet on the stove and when sufficiently hot drop a half cup of batter at the center of the skillet. If the batter was made right, it would spread just a little to give a pancake of about 5 inches diameter.

5. When you notice bubbles on the tops surface, flip the pancake and cook the other side for 30-45 seconds. Remove from the skillet and stack it up one on top of the other. Serve hot.

Stacks with Caramel Ice cream

I had my pancakes in short-stacks of three with chocolate syrup, powdered sugar and whipped cream. For the cream, I sort of lost patience when it took nearly 15 minutes of whisking cream to form peaks, but the effort was so worth it. Some of the batter even survived for the next day, when I made myself a couple of pancakes and topped them with my oh-this-is-unbelievable homemade caramel ice cream. You could also try it with some fresh berries, yogurt or honey. So much for my Lenten fast.

Apple Raspberry Crumble - scrumptiously crunchy!

This weekend was what I would call to be a very productive one. I managed to catch up with a dozen episodes of some of my favorite serials, read some boring journal articles and designed an experiment, slept for 8 hours every day and yet found time to make ice cream, lunch, dinner and finally, the crowning glory of the weekend - the apple raspberry crumble.

I love crumbles, and the best one that I had sampled was made with homemade blackberry preserves and was served with a dollop of blackberry ice cream at an inn at Mammoth Caves, KY. It was F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C! I knew that I was never going to be able to recreate that magic at home, but ever since that, I wanted to bake my own crumble.

It was a normal Sunday evening, and my room mate, as always, had slept throughout the previous night, the morning, and the afternoon. So, when he presented his scraggly self to the kitchen, random-room-mate-talk turned towards how the apples that he had bought did not live up to his sophisticated standards. Given that, and my mind's immense capability to see a dessert in everything and everything in a dessert, it took all but two seconds to decide what I was going to do with the final few hours of my weekend - get down to make that dream crumble!

APPLE RASPBERRY CRUMBLE (Serves 9-10)
Set-up Time : 15-20 minutes

Experiment Run-Time : 30 Minutes of Baking 

The Shopping List

          Set 1: For the Finger-Licking Filling
          Apples, Any kind : 4 large

          Raspberries : 1 cup, I used frozen
          Ground Cinnamon : 1/2 tsp
          Granulated Sugar : 2 Tbsp
          Lemon juice : 1 Tbsp
          Vanilla Essence : 1 tsp

          

          Set 2: For the Crunchy Topping

          All-Purpose Flour : 1 cup
          Salted Butter : 1/2 cup
          Brown Sugar/ White Sugar : 1/2 cup
          Oats : 1/2 cup (I used maple-brown sugar flavor from Kroger)
          Corn flakes : 1/3 cup (Any other cereal would do)
          Baking Powder : 1 tsp

Methodology

1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F

2. If using frozen raspberries, give them 20-30 minutes to thaw out before you put them into the filling. 

3. Peel the apples. Core them, if you have an apple corer. Else, cut them into small pieces, taking care to dispose of the stem and the seeded portions. 

4. In a large pot, place the apples, the ground cinnamon, the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla essence. Add 2 Tbsp of cold water and gently mix the ingredients so that the apples are evenly coated.

5. Cover the pot and place it on the stove. Cook the apples on medium-high heat for around 15 minutes until they are soft and gooey. Cool the filling for about 15-20 minutes. I just put mine in the freezer for 10 minutes.

6. In a separate mixing bowl, place together all the ingredients in Set 2. Now, using your fingers, mix the ingredients together, incorporating the butter into the mixture, while breaking down the corn flakes and oats into smaller particles. This is easily, the best part. In about a minute, you should have a crumbly mixture in the bowl, that is just as good when eaten raw as it is when baked!

7. Grease an 8X8 baking pan with butter and carefully empty the cooled apple mixture into the pan. Distribute the raspberries evenly among the apple filling.

8.  Once the filling is evenly laid, start sprinkling the crumbly topping mixture over the apples and raspberries. The given measurements are sufficient to make a quarter-inch deep topping. If required, gently even out the topping with your fingers.

9. Place it in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown on top. I broiled the crumble for the last 3-4 minutes. You should just about be able to see the fruit juices bubbling away at the sides.

10. Remove from the oven and cool it on the rack for 10-15 minutes before you launch your attack.

I had never baked a crumble before, but this was unbelievably simple and fool-proof. Even a middle-schooler would be able to whip up this delicacy in no time. Even my eternally-sleepy room-mate was all awake and alert, and watched on with rapt attention as I mixed up the topping. I guess there is something in a dessert that awakens the sleeping soul - mind, body, tongue and all! So, at midnight, on a Sunday, we sat down to enjoy the fruits of our labor (yes, staring at the food being prepared is labor enough for my roomie). We topped the warm crumble with the caramel ice cream (recipe coming soon) that I had whipped up yesterday, and I am still trying to recollect what followed that!

Chemmeen Thenga Paal Curry - when Malabar beckons!

I am NOT a fish person. I was not even a meat person. Until a few years back, I was happy and contended with curd rice and fried  bhindi while my family feasted on Karuvaadu (pickled dried fish), Kaadai (a game bird) and the choicest of parts from a well fed goat. I even went on a successful stint of vegetarianism for two-and-a-half years, something that my mother still regrets. Of course, there were times (not during my veg stint) when I never turned down any noble soul who fed me sumptuous Chicken Biriyani or Aatu Kaal Paaya. But I am NOT a fish person. I had never ever ever fallen for seafood, until I visited my cousins in Kerala on the pretext of needing a quiet place to prepare for my GRE. They lived in a very peaceful neighborhood in Ernakulam and I got all the calmness that the world could give. But I also got hot, freshly cooked Kerala Saapaadu with plenty of puttu, kadala, pulisseri, meen, chemmeen and kozhi. I never bothered about the fish, but the the rest were truly out of the world! Coconut or no-coconut, the Malayalis know how to live life king-sized (atleast at the dining table) and I was living it every single day. That trip opened a lot of doors. My GREs went well, I got hooked onto Malayali food and when I landed up in the US, I decided that I had to make my own, if I ever had to experience those king-sized meals again.

So, a couple of weeks ago, when I opened my freezer to see a packet of frozen shrimps staring down at me, I decided that the time was right to recreate some of the magic. Chemmeen or prawns are easily the best part of their cuisine. I am sure that most of the Malayalis would object and take the side of Neimeen and Matthi (types of fish) or Erachi (beef), but since I eat neither, to me the pinnacle of their non-vegetarian gastronomic experience is the Chemmeen. Put together with the unanimous flag-bearer of  Kerala's kitchens, Cocos Nucifera, commonly known as the coconut, it makes a dish so irresistible, that to me, life's journey would be quite be flavorless if one had not succumbed to this. Presenting, a marriage truly solemnized in the heavens - Chemmeen Thernga Paal Curry (shrimps cooked in spicy coconut milk).

CHEMMEEN THENGA PAAL CURRY (Serves 4-5)
Set-up Time : 10 minutes excluding shrimp thawing time

Experiment Run-Time : 30 Minutes

The Shopping List

          Set 1: Knife-Skills
          Onion : 1 large, sliced thinly

          Green Chilies : 4, slit lengthwise
          Ginger : 1 inch, finely minced

          

          Set 2: For the Gravy

          Shrimps (frozen/fresh) - 500 gms 
          (I used one bag of frozen shrimps - 31-40 count)
          Tomato paste : 3 Tbsp or 2 fresh Tomatoes finely chopped
          Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
          Red Chili Powder : 1/2 Tbsp 

          Coriander Powder : 1 Tbsp 
          Tamarind Paste : 1/2 tsp 
          (1/4 tsp if you manage to get authentic Kudampuli*)
          Thick Coconut Milk : 1 cup 
          (or use 1 cup dried coconut ground to a paste with 1/4 cup water)
          Coconut Oil : 2 Tbsp (I use good old Parachute!)
          Salt : as per taste

          

          Set 3: Thaalippu

          Mustard Seeds : 1 tsp
          Fenugreek Seeds : 1/2 tsp
          Curry Leaves : a strand

* Kudampuli, more commonly known as the Brindleberry or Malabar tamarind or Gambooge, is a fruit that grows on the south-west coast of India and is often used in Malabar cuisine to spike up the sourness in dishes. Like other such exotic condiments, it does impart its own unique taste to the dish, however, it can easily be replaced with tamarind if not available.

Methodology

1. If using frozen shrimp, make sure you leave it out at room temperature for a sufficient time to thaw out. Once it is thawed, depending on where you bought them, you may need to clean the shrimps, remove the exoskeleton, and relieve the gut from the shrimp. Rinse multiple times in cold water and keep aside.

2. In a deep pan, add the coconut oil and heat it on a stove. When the oil's aroma reaches your nose, add the mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves.

3. As the curry leaves start crackling, tip in the sliced onions, slit green chilies and minced ginger. Cook on a medium flame until the onions turn transparent. 

4. At this stage, add the spice powders, stirring the onions continuously so as not to burn the powders. Follow them with the tomato paste and a half cup of water (Omit the water if using fresh tomatoes). Continue to stir until the mixture thickens a bit and the raw smell of the tomatoes disappears. 

5. Dissolve the tamarind paste in 1/4 cup of water and add it to the mixture. Let it come to a vigorous boil.

6. Carefully add the cleaned shrimps to the pan followed with some salt. Reduce the flame and allow the shrimps to cook in the gravy. Shrimps cook fairly fast and hence 6-7 minutes should be sufficient.

7. Finally, pour in the coconut milk/ coconut paste and mix it well. Add water, as required, to attain the desired consistency. When the curry is just on the verge of boiling, turn off the heat. Overheating, especially with coconut milk as an ingredient, may spoil the taste of the dish.

8. If desired, fry a few curry leaves in coconut oil and pour it over the curry for garnish.

I ate my Chemmeen Thenga Paal Curry with hot white rice and Malabar Parotta last week. The parotta-curry combination was especially nostalgic, rekindling the memories of some of my days at Ernakulam. And it refrigerates very well too, though I would not recommend it for a second day's lunch back home in baking-hot Chennai (the sub-zero temperatures, here in Cincinnati, makes it impossible for food to spoil quickly). A word of advice : do not skip or scrimp on the coconut oil. Canola/ Vegetable/Peanut oils don't even come close. Also, use the larger shrimps for a better sense of taste (31-40 count is pretty good). Other than that, you are welcome to add your own tweaks on the recipe. And, I kinda lied when I said that I am NOT a fish person : I loved their Karimeen Polichathu (but just that). But that story still has time to be told!

Reminiscing Chennai # 1 - Egg Puffs

     
Ask any guy or girl who had had the opportunity to enjoy life as a Chennai-based high-school kid in the  90's and early 2000 era, and some of their best memories are bound to include roadside bakeries where they had shared hot tea, cakes and egg puffs with their friends with some equally hot high-school gossip after the schools closed for the day (But of course, there are bound to be some outliers who shot straight from school to IIT classes, followed by AIEEE/AIMS classes and a dozen different tuition centers, to whom the bakeries were nearly nonexistent). The tea usually contained enough sugar to keep your pancreas working hard for the next 16 hours and the puffs were sufficiently spicy to ask for another helping of the tea. And when you get back home, the sugar-high tries to keep you awake while the buttery puffs coax you to go to bed and the whole evening passes in a daze of formulae, force-diagrams, conversion reactions and irritating botany.

Six years later, after 4 years of college and 2 years of graduate school, one girl studying at the University of Cincinnati, probably yearning for one of those dazed evenings, demands her friends that the only gifts that she required for her birthday were some egg puffs and some chicken biriyani among other equally simple requests. A year later, on her birthday, we succeeded in fulfilling her yearning for egg puffs and all it took was a mere 45 minutes.   

Making egg-puffs at home is a simple task, a cake walk if I may. The real pain in making puffs is the preparation of the puff-pastry, which involves folding and refolding the dough a hundred times and consumes butter by the tons, not to forget the workout that your arms are bound to get. But, these days, ready-made frozen puff-pastry sheets are available in the freezer-sections of your day-to-day supermarkets and once you stock up on a couple of packets, it is pretty easy to bake puffs of your choice and slip back into the old times while you bite into one of them, albeit with the latest article on Multi-Phase Flow from the Journal of Fluid Mechanics in your other hand!

EGG PUFFS (Serves 12)

Set-up Time : 5 minutes excluding sheet thawing time

Experiment Run-Time : 45 Minutes

The Shopping List

          Set 1: From the Supermarket (Walmart works!)

          Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry sheets - I packet of 2 sheets

          Set 2: The Stuffing

          Eggs : 6 large

          Onion : 1 large, cut lengthwise into thin strands 

          Tomato paste : 3 Tbsp or 2 fresh Tomatoes finely chopped

          Ginger Garlic Paste : 1 Tbsp

          Red Chili Powder : 1/2 Tbsp (0.75 Tbsp if you like it spicy)

          Coriander Powder : 1 Tbsp (1.5 Tbsp for the spicy version)

          Cumin Powder : 1.5 tsp

          Garam Masala/ Kitchen King : 1.5 tsp

          Vegetable Oil : 1 Tbsp

          Pepper Powder : 1 tsp

          Salt : As required 

Methodology

1. Take out the frozen puff pastry sheets from the package and thaw them separately for one hour at room temperature.

2. Boil the eggs in water for 20 minutes. Cool them, peel the shells and cut them into halves. Try to keep the cuts pretty so that there is an equal amount of yolk in both the halves. Spread them on a plate, cut side up and sprinkle them with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Keep the egg-halves aside aside.

3. We are now going to make a basic onion-tomato masala for the stuffing. Place a kadai on the stove with some oil and once it heats up, add the ginger-garlic paste to the hot oil. Sauté gently as the paste sizzles in the kadai.

4. Once the raw smell of the paste disappears, add the sliced onions and continue to fry until the onions are near translucent. 

5. One by one, add the dry masala powders except the Garam Masala/ Kitchen King, to the onions, incorporating them well with the mixture. Follow it immediately with the tomato paste, half a cup of water and salt. (If using fresh tomatoes, omit the water and sauté them until the tomatoes becomes mushy).

6. When the mixture thickens, add the Garam Masala/ Kitchen King and mix it well. Continue to heat it on a low flame until it reaches a solid consistency. Cool the mixture for a few minutes. 

7. Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

8. As the masala cools off, transfer the thawed pastry sheets to a well floured surface and open them out. Cut each sheet into six rectangles and space them evenly on the surface

9. Divide the cooled masala into 12 generous portions and with a spoon coated with oil, place one portion on the center of each divided puff pastry sheet. 

10. Quickly press one egg half onto each masala bed, cut side down, and as shown below, bring the diagonally opposite edges of the puff pastry sheet over the eggs, fastening them together with a little water.

11. Once you are done with all the 12 portions, transfer the puffs to a greased cookie sheet or baking tray and carefully place them in the oven. You may also bake them in two separate batches if you are not able to do do it all at once.

12. Bake the puffs for 20 minutes or so until they rise up nicely and turn golden-brown on the top. 

13. Take them out of the oven (with mittens of course) and transfer them to serving plates. Serve hot with ketchup if desired.

     
The puffs were a great hit at her birthday party (given that there were only six of us). I tried it again, later for a Christmas-Eve lunch and found that the magic still held. They disappeared within no time and I did not get a single bite. Ever since, I have continued to bake a  single puff for myself whenever I felt the need to sink my teeth into one. Like I said, they make filling evening snacks on a day when you have nothing more to do than stare at your lab notes!