RPS addict: February 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Raspberry Jam-Filled Ebelskiver

What is Ebelskiver you ask?
well according to wikipedia its a traditional Danish pancake in the shape of a sphere. But to me its a pan that was on sale at Williams-Sonoma and I was inspired to make these yummy treats!
Please enjoy :)

(Adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen)

What you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 eggs, separated
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for cooking
Just under a cup of raspberry jam
Maple syrup

What to do:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks with milk and 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Add to the dry mixture. Mix well.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Then, fold the whites into the batter in two portions.

Now you’re ready to start cooking. Melt a little bit of butter in each well of the pan over medium heat. When the butter is hot, drop 1 tablespoon of batter into each well. Then add one teaspoon of jam each, followed by another tablespoon of batter. Cook for about 3-5 minutes until the bottoms are golden-brown and slide easily off the pan. (You may have to nudge them a little bit at first.) Gently flip each one over - I used chopsticks to do this - and cook another 3 minutes.

Let ebelskiver cool for a minute or two on a plate before eating – that jam gets hot! In the meantime, repeat steps above until batter is gone. Serve with maple syrup.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Chemex Coffeemakers

The Old Faithful Shop blog recently wrote about their first shipment of the Chemex Coffeemaker, and I've been thinking about them ever since. There's a coffee shop nearby that makes coffee using these, swirling hot water around and around ever so skillfully and slowly over the coffee into the filter . The folks at Old Faithful tell us Chemex Coffeemaker inventor Peter J. Schlumbohm applied his vast knowledge of filtration and extraction from his work in laboratories crafting a vessel to pour the perfect cup of joe. Apparantly, the angles for the drip, thickness of the filter paper and the air vent chamber allow coffee to brew in a specified time and release gases that are usually trapped in by other brewing methods. This results in a smooth, bitter-free cup in less than four minutes.