Signs of autumn - part one
Monday, October 27th, 2008In other countries there are the falling leaves that fill the pavements with a wonderful variety of colors, and tell everyone that autumn is here. In Israel there are other signs, the first of them I run into each year, is a sign for me that the summer heat is finally behind us. Sometimes it’s the first rain, that makes me notice that seasons have changed, other times it’s when I wake up in the chilly early morning hours, looking for my blanket. But above all those, there is one thing, that when you see it filling up the stores, you no longer have any doubt about it - that would be the “Krembo” (which means “cream inside”). The Krembo is made of a cookie base, on top of it there is a vanilla flavored egg-whites foam, and all this is coated with a layer of chocolate. There are other variations for the filling besides vanilla, the most popular among them being mocha.
There are quite a few Krembo recipes all over the net and then some more in cookbooks, but none of them tempts me more than this original one. Yes, the store bought ones, wrapped with a thin layer of aluminium foil, the same one that a single taste from it fills your mouth with a tender silky cloud of goodness. Personally I prefer my Krembo vanilla flavored, but here in Israel, debates can go on and on about which is the best flavor - vanilla or mocha.
Somewhere along the way I found out that the Krembo’s filling is made out of unbaked egg-white foam. The disaster! I immediately stopped eating them, and haven’t for a really long time. Luckily I became interested in the pastry world a while back, it was then that I discovered that the egg-whites are being heated before beating them, to a temperature that kills most bacterias that can potentially reside in them. This revelation made me better my ways again, and so Krembo reappeared in my menu occasionally.
So, in honor of the most welcome autumn, here is a Krembo recipe, that is very close to the original one. I made the cookie base out of crashed petit-beurre biscuits, which I mixed with melted butter and with a little orange juice. They turned out yummy, with a delightful orange aroma. For the filling, I followed a recipe published by “Feldman”, a company that produces Krembo, and it turned out exactly like the original one. Finally, I also used Feldman’s recipe for the chocolate coating, although it turned out way too thick, so I diluted it with some oil. It turned out softer than the store bought one, but far better, because of the use of a good quality chocolate.
Some notes and tips about the Krembo:
* I made the base cookies too small, and so they weren’t able to hold the right amount of filling. I made them about 4 cm in diameter, and I recommend making them about 6-8 cm length diameter.
* The best way to fill the cookies is to pipe the filling upon them. It’s quite easy, not to worry. Just hold the piping bag straight above the center of the cookie, and press it until the whole cookie’s base fills up. Then slightly lift up your hand and pipe another layer, and so on, until there is enough filling on the cookie.
Not in a piping mood? Simply take a spoonful of filling and place it on top of the cookie. Then use the spoon to neatly arrange the filling.
* How do we coat the Krembos? By simply dipping them inside the chocolate mixture.
Krembo / Inspired by a recipe by “Feldman” company
For 40 small Krembos or 30 medium onesIngredients:
For the cookies:
170 gr petit-beurre biscuits
100 gr butter, melted
2-3 Tbsp orange juiceFor the filling:
5 egg-whites
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp gelatin powder
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extractFor the coating:
300 gr bittersweet chocolate
100 gr butter
Vegetable oil, for diluting the mixtureDirections:
1. Prepare the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. Crash the biscuits in a food processor. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly and moist. Add in 2 Tbsp of orange juice and mix until homogenized. Then check if the dough is now firm enough in order to take a small bit and make a sphere out of it that will hold its shape. If not, add another Tbsp of juice, otherwise skip it.
3. Roll out the dough, and cut cookies from it, using a cup or a round cookie cutter.
4. Place the cookies on a pan lined with baking sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling: In a double boiler heat together egg-whites and sugar while stirring, until most of the sugar melts (60C temperature, if you have a sugar thermometer). Remove from heat.
6. Place the gelatin in a small bowl, along with the water. Let stand for 15 minutes. Place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, and then stir the mixture. Beat the egg whites mixture and add the gelatin and vanilla extract to it. Keep beating the whites until the mixture cools down and the foam is stable and stiff (stiff peaks).
7. Pipe the filling on top of each cookie (see tips). Freeze the uncoated Krembos until you finish preparing the coating.
8. Prepare the coating: Melt together the chocolate and the butter. If you’re doing it in the microwave, make sure to do it in 30 seconds intervals, in order to not burn the chocolate. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes. Now is the time to dilute the mixture, by adding in some oil. Add in the vegetable oil, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the coating is thin enough to allow us to dip the semi-frozen Krembos in it. Dip each Krembo in the coating, and place to dry on a baking sheet. Keep them in the refrigerator, and take them out a few minutes before serving.
