Coffee Butter Cream
Cream ¾ cup butter, add 1 cup sifted powdered sugar and 2 egg yolks, and beat the mixture well. Use an electric heater, if possible. Stir in ¼ cup triple-strength coffee and 1 tablespoon kirsch. If the cream separates, beat in 2 or 3 teaspoons hot water to rebind it.
Mocha Butter Cream
Melt 2 ounces sweet baking chocolate and ½ cup butter over hot water. Add ½ teaspoon each of triple-strength coffee and vanilla and 1 ½ cups powdered sugar, and stir the cream until it is smooth.
Jourkonfekt
Boil together 1 cup each of sugar and water for 5 minutes. Add the juice of ½ lemon. Stir 1/3 cup rice flour or potato starch to a paste with ½ cup water and pour it gradually into the sugar syrup, stirring constantly over low heat until the mixture is thick and transparent. Remove the paste from the heat and add the grated rind of ½ lemon and ½ cup slivered blanched almonds. Flavor the paste with 1 teaspoon lemon, pineapple, or raspberry extract, or rose water, and color it with a few drops of suitable vegetable coloring. Beat the paste well and turn it out onto a pastry board heavily dusted with sifted powdered sugar. Roll out the paste into a rectangle 1 inch thick, dust it with powdered sugar, and cut it into small squares. Dry the squares in a very slow oven (200° F.) for about 15 minutes, until they feel solid to the touch.
Kassanien (Chestnut Balls)
Slit the flat sides of 1 pound chestnuts and boil the chestnuts in water to cover for 10 minutes. Peel and skin the hot nuts and boil them in milk to cover until they are soft, about 20 minutes. Drain the nuts and press them through a sieve.
Cream ¼ cup butter with ¼ cup powdered sugar. Stir in the puréed chestnuts. 1 tablespoon heavy cream, 3 tablespoons Cointreau, and ½ teaspoon vanilla. Some chestnuts are mealier than others; add more sugar or more Cointreau as necessary to make a very thick paste. Chill the paste overnight. Sugar your hands and roll bits of paste into balls the size of chestnuts. Roll the balls in a mixture of 2 tablespoons each of cocoa and powdered sugar. Store them in a cool place. Makes 24.
Jourbrot
A Jourbrot is traditionally made from a loaf of the long narrow Kastenbrot, sliced lengthwise. The slices are filled with salty pâtés and other fillings, and the reshaped loaf is iced and decorated with piped rosettes of anchovy cream and with nuts and radishes as elaborately as a Torte.
The Kastenbrot is not obtainable here, but a Jourbrot can be made from any firm white bread. The fillings that follow are sufficient for 12 slices measuring 7 inches long by 3 inches wide by ½ inch thick. Use day-old bread, free of crusts. Lay 3 slices end to end on a tray or long board, butter them, and spread them thickly with pâté de foie gras with truffles. The layers of filling should be as thick as the bread. Cover with 3 more slices end to end, butter them, and chill.
Mix 4 hard-boiled eggs that have been pressed through a ricer with ¼ cup soft butter, 2 white onions, chopped fine, 2 tablespoons chopped chives, 4 tablespoons mayonnaise, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread the second layer of bread with this mixture.
Cover with 3 more slices of bread, butter them, and chill again. Mix 6 ounces caviar with ½ pound softened cream cheese and spread the third bread layer with this mixture. Cover with the remaining 3 slices of bread and chill.
Whip 1 pound softened cream cheese with 2 ounces anchovy paste. Spread the loaf thickly with this anchovy cream and press 1 cup toasted salted almonds, chopped, on the four sides. Decorate the top with rosettes of anchovy cream piped through a pastry tube and with a dozen rolled anchovy filets. Sprinkle with unpeeled chopped radishes. Garnish the platter with parsley.
The Jourbrot should be about 4 inches high. When it is thoroughly chilled, it can be cut into ¼-inch slices—about 80—which should then be eaten with a fork. The fillings can be varied to include smoked salmon, ham, chicken, and the like.
Pinterest
