classy cupcakes

I’m a few days late for daring bakers, I realize. But that’s a-ok because I’m back to spoil you with yet another cupcake recipe, hooray!The important part: The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.The not-quite-as-important part: I went back to Martha for this tiramisu recipe since quite honestly my meager baking supplies and money really inhibited this sort of decadent dessert. I wanted to modify it then, so I could actually do the challenge instead of crapping out (a new resolution if you will). And I love cupcakes. And reading Martha Stewarts Cupcakes. When I saw these… Let’s just say that I was beyond exciting. I made little ladyfinger cookies as an accompaniment to the mini cupcakes and they all seemed to get good reviews even through various mishaps so... You should try them. As soon as you locate some mascarpone cheese (one of my new favorites to be sure).
Be warned – these cupcakes were enough to make me break my good-eating streak so bake with caution! They are a very adult desert – not too sweet and a bit delicate with the subtle layers of airy vanilla cake, bittersweet coffee glazing, light whipped cream/mascarpone frosting, and the slightest touch of dark chocolate dusting on top. Glorious! The dark chocolate ladyfingers completed the dainty tea-party mood and let me just say that they were perfect dipped in the frosting, coffee, left over ladyfinger batter… Yeah I broke my good eating habits pretty hard with these.


If you’re wondering why the ladyfingers look weird… Well it’s because my little hand-mixer can’t get stiff peaks if it’s life depended on it! That fact is basically the worst and I shudder to try to make more egg/meringue-y desserts. Which is sad, because they’re all so delightfully airy. In any case, if you want ladyfingers to be like little soft cookies, then follow my “special” method and get your mix up to soft peaks. I suggest you do the regular way anyway to make up for my failures.
Keep calm & carry on – make these cupcakes and feel classy if only until you realize you’ve eaten 15.

Tiramisu Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes 18 regular cupcakes, lots of little ones.
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tbsp vanilla
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 3 large whole eggs plus 3 egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• Coffee-Marsala Syrup
• Mascarpone Frosting
• Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix milk and vanilla and melted butter and let stand 15 minutes.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk together whole eggs, yolks, and sugar. Set mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water, and whisk by hand until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from heat. With an electric mixer on high speed, whisk until mixture is fluffy, pale yellow, and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface for several seconds when whisk is lifted.
3. Gently but thoroughly fold flour mixture into the egg mixture in three batches; stir 1/2 cup batter into the strained milk mixture to thicken, then fold milk mixture into the remaining batter until just combined.
4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until centers are completely set and edges are light golden brown, about 20 minutes (about 10 minutes for mini cupcakes). Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.
5. To finish, brush tops of cupcakes evenly with coffee syrup; repeat until all syrup has been used. Martha’s serious about using all the syrup. Those little cupcakes will soak that stuff up no problem just go at it. Allow cupcakes to absorb liquid 30 minutes. Dollop frosting onto cupcakes; refrigerate up to overnight in airtight containers. Dust generously with cocoa powder just before serving.

Simple Coffee Syrup
(adapted from Martha Stewart’s Coffee-Marsala Syrup)

Ingredients
Makes enough for 18 cupcakes. (or a lot of mini cupcakes)
• 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons freshly brewed very strong coffee (or espresso)
• 1/4 cup sugar

Directions
1. Stir together coffee & and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Paint over cupcakes.

Mascarpone Frosting
- From Martha Stewart Cupcakes

Ingredients
Makes about 2 cups.
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions
1. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately.

Chocolate Ladyfingers and Cake Rounds

Ingredients
Makes lots of little ladyfingers
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for dusting
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 7 large egg whites
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 large egg yolks

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, cocoa powder, and salt into a small bowl.
2. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 2/3 cup sugar, whisking until stiff, shiny peaks form, about 5 minutes. Whisk yolks with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Fold yolk mixture into whites, then fold in flour mixture in 2 additions.
3.Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Draw lots of little 2" circles, then flip parchment over. Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Starting in the center of each circle, pipe a spiral, leaving a 1-inch border around inside edge of circle. Bake until springy to the touch, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer parchment with rounds to a wire rack, and let cool. Use immediately.

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A Charming Couple

…Better late than never? The July Daring Bakers’ Challenge was due to post… Oh three days ago. But that’s ok because the cookies are here and ready to go! First off:

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
Secondly… I call these charming cookies because… Well they’re just that. Charming. I wouldn’t call them gorgeous – they aren’t the sort of showstopper cookies you’d want to serve at a party. But they are tasty, and they have that sort of homeliness that would be very comforting and lovely on a bake sale table. Or in my stomach.This Daring Bakers’ Month I decided to do something different by trying to follow the recipe exactly, without trying anything fancy or messing up. That way if people don’t like it they can’t blame me I can easily go back to the recipe and try to figure out what went wrong. And things went wrong with this. Not huge things, just little things I wasn’t expecting. The Milano cookies were tasty except I felt that there was way too much lemon extract in the actual cookies and then the added orange zest I felt was overkill on the citrus. And I love citrus as much as I love sugar and blue skies. If I were going to try this recipe again, I would probably lesson both the vanilla and the lemon extract because the batter was super alcoholic… As a college student I’m usually all for that but personally it just didn’t work for me in these cookies. That being said, they are much tastier on Day 2, perhaps because the flavors have melded a little better, or perhaps because I like them better frozen. Either way they’ll be eaten pretty quickly.
The mallow recipe itself left a lot to be desired for me. The cookie recipe was fine, the cookies are tasty and biscuit-y, though perhaps a little more crunch would be nicer. The marshmallow recipe, although fun to make in that reminiscent s’mores flavor sort of way, didn’t make nearly enough marshmallow to top the cookies – as you can see from the pictures, there’s a little squirt of marshmallow on my cookies in an attempt to spread it around as much as possible, but it didn’t work. I have plain chocolate covered biscuit cookies. It was a little disappointing.My biggest bone to pick is with the chocolate covering – I don’t know about other Daring Bakers out there, but I used the vegetable oil as suggested in the recipe and the chocolate absolutely refuses to harden or even solidify so these cookies are like the stink bombs of cookies – they get chocolate everywhere and it takes way too much time and energy to try to get all the sticky chocolate off of every surface in the kitchen. Or your hands. Or your clothes. Or your hair. It’s out of control. I froze them for 3 hours to no avail so I’m guessing there’s something up with the vegetable oil. Next time I would try melting wax with the chocolate to give it that chocolate-covered candy feel. The chocolate recipe also didn’t make enough chocolate – I almost had to triple the original chocolate recipe to adequately cover all of my cookies. Frustrating, but all in all still tasty as long as you’re wearing clothes you don’t care about.It was a fun challenge regardless of all the “hardships” encountered – and since I followed the recipe basically to a T, feel free to try it out by following the Daring Bakers link here.

Ps. Please vote for my cupcake at IronCupcake:Earth! Thanks!

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Dark Chocolate Goodness

Wow, where did the time go? All of a sudden it's almost April, spring break is over, and I'm in the home stretch of my freshman year of college... Yikes. And yikes for this post being so overdue. I don't really have an excuse for that - life is crazy, sure, but the older I get the more I realize that life will be crazy now and forever. Amen. (Yes, that was a Catholic joke/reference. I'm Irish... forgive me). Now I just have to get to a point where I can manage the frenzy enough to buckle down and get my stuff together. Bear with me, at times I can be a slow learner, especially when it comes to time management. In any case, seeing these cookies a month later makes me want to make them and eat them all over again. Tasty isn't enought to describe them - they're rich, decadent, and everything you need when the economy is (still?) failing, tuition is increasing at a scary rate, and financial aid gets cut. Actually, I think I'll go make them right now...

In other news, this post-spring break era of the semester means that I baked cupcakes gallore and the Daring Bakers March Challenge is coming up! So get excited! But onto the good stuff:

Dark-Chocolate Cookies

Modified from Martha Stewart's Cookies "Milk Chocolate Cookies"

Yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients

1 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

8 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (I used Chirardelli's 70% bittersweet cocoa chips), 4 oz. coarsely chopped, 4 oz. cut into 1/4" chunks

1/2 c. unsalted butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl

2. Melt 4 oz. coarsely chopped chocolate with the butter in a small heatproof bwol set over a pan of simmering water; let cool slightly. I used the microwave but I wouldn't suggest this method as I like the added control of the simmering pan of water.

3. Put chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. If hand mixing, I suggest tag-teaming the mixture on this one. It's more fun and less pain that way.

4. Roll dough into 1" balls, drop dough onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies are flat and surfaces crack, about 15 minutes (cookies should be soft). Let cool on parchment on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days. Technically. Unofficially according to the Bf and me, these cookies are good any time. Seriously. They're super tasty. Go make them.

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Chocolate + Hearts = Life

The cookie madness continues, this time with a tasty remix of your standard cut-out cookie. They've got a hint of cinnamon going on which I was a little wary about at first but after tasting them I have to admit that the cinnamon became a magical little ingredient. It just adds an added dimension of flavor to these pretty simple chocolate cookies that bumps the tasty factor up a notch. I think the beauty of this cookie lies in the simplicity of it. They aren't saturated with flavor but they aren't some tea cookie either. The cut-outs aren't the prettiest cookie, even when heart shaped, but they've got that good homey hand-crafted feeling going on. The imperfect aesthetic in these cookies gives them a certain comforting charm, like the kind of cookies your grandma would make for you when you would come to visit. As lactose intolerant as I am, I have to admit that these cookies would be absolutely perfect heated up in the microwave with a cold glass of milk.

These cookies were also sent to the Bf in the Valentine's package of love and in the two days between receiving these cookies and contracting some downright nasty salmonella/bronchitis, he managed to eat a neat little package of these and promptly gave them a thumbs up. If you really can't stand the plain simplicity of the cookie as I made it feel free to add some colorful sprinkles before baking. I think they could hold up with frosting or even in ice cream sandwiches too. Their simplicity makes the versatile so don't hate on them! Also, a word of advice: don't hand mix with this recipe - it's absolute death. I'm pretty sure I have carpel tunnel.



Chocolate Cookie Cutouts
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies
Yield: 3 to 4 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 c. plus 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c. sifted confectioners' sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Optional: sprinkles for loveliness

Directions
1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl. (I didn't do this because as a poor college student sifters aren't in any sort of budget. And if they were the money would promptly go to studio supplies anyway. That being said, I would highly recommend this step anyway)
2. Put butter and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 1 hour or overnight.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill in freezer 15 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Using your cookie cutter of choice (Martha recommends a 3" cookie cutter), quickly cut out shapes from dough. If dough begins to soften, chill it in freezer 3 to 5 minutes. Re-roll and cut scraps. Transfer shapes to prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Brush flour from shapes. Sprinkle away now if you're into that sort of thing. Chill in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Bake cookies until crisp, about 8 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week according to Martha. I don't know about you, but my cookies don't last a week at any temperature...

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The Mistake That Went Right

It turns out this week of cookies has been prolonged to a week and a half. Oh gosh. I have to apologize and I hope I can make it up to you... With lovely cookies! Hooray!

These cookies are supposed to be those "soft and chewy" chocolate crackles compliments of Martha's cookie book... But that depended on baking powder and I had only baking soda. I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference untill the cookies started spreading out like crazy and i was left with a panful of flat chocolate and powdered sugar. In Victoria's Secret terms, think more of a sports bra compared with the B-cup these cookies are supposed to be. The issue at hand was that this travesty happened at 2am and I had to mail the Bf his valentine's day package the next day so I went with it regardless - heart shaped cookie cutters to the rescue! In any case, I ended up with a cookie thats more of a combination of crisp, chewy, and full of chocolatey goodness. And decidedly "Brietarded" in their character. Hope you'll find them as tasty as the Bf did...

(Flatty) Chocolate Crackles

adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies

Yield: about 5 dozen

Ingredients

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 70% bittersweet chocolate chips, unchopped. I'm lazy like that)

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch-process if you're a Martha purist...)

2 tsp. baking soda (use baking powder if you want your cookies to be B-cup, use the baking soda if you'd like to try my trainer version)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/3 c. whole milk

1 c. granulated sugar

1 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring (I used a microwave, not going to lie...). Set aside and let cool. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

2. With an electric mixer (or by hand if you want to be unfortunate like me), beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 - 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla, and then the melted chocolate. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk. Divide dough into four equal pieces. Wrap each in plastic; refridgerate until firm, about 2 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Divide each piece into sixteen 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in confectioners' sugar to coat. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

4. For my flatty cookies, bake 10 minutes rotating halfway through until cookies look pretty solid. Take the sheet out of the oven, count to ten, then take a cookie cutter (if you want them to look pretty at all) and cut out your lovely shapes. Transfer to wire racks, dip in some more powdered sugar when cooled for looks, then feed the scraps of leftover cookies to your hungry pre-med friends. Or anybody. The scraps are tasty too, trust me.

5. For Martha's real version, bake until surfaces crack, about 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

6. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature. Martha says for up to three days, but they're good way past that. Can cookies even go bad?

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Cake + Chocolate Chip Cookies = Madness

Though this isn't the first time I've ever baked for a long distance package, it's defintely the first valentine's day away from the bf. Well technically it's only the second v-day but that's not the point. Basically this whole week has been full of happy couples holding hands around campus and various fliers and coupons and sales letting me know that yes, this Saturday is one of those Saturdays you don't want to be alone on. And yes, I am a little bitter about it. So I harnessed that bitter energy and went all out on a bake-athon to create sweetness for valentine's day. After all, I've been slacking on fattening up the significant other. Not as easy as you'd think from 600 miles away. That combined with the almighty stress that is school. In case you were curious, in my world, stress equals hardcore baking. I whipped out the brand spanking new Martha Stewart Cookies book and went for the four recipes that seemed the most comforting and tasty. Eating my feelings through tester cookies? No, never. Not me. Anyway, that means that the rest of the week will be cookie week! Get excited.




Aw, look at that lonely little cookie. Anyways, this first recipe, compliments of Martha herself, is the traditional chocolate chip cookie with a cake-y twist. Since I can't resist anything with the word cake in it, naturally I had to test these out. And I've found that things that are traditional with a snazzy twist are just plain tasty. And lovely. As well as snuggly and exciting all at the same time. Oh, I sense symbolism. No worries that's about as deep as I'll get. Back to the sugar. These cookies have a little less sugar and butter in them to get a thicker and fluffier texture than your standard tollhouse result. As a result they're a little less sweet than I'm used to, but I have to admit that Martha did good on this one.

Onwards to the good stuff...

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
14 tbsp (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract (add an additional tsp. if you want to follow my "always add extra vanilla rule)
2 large eggs
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (use mini chocolate chips for the best cookies. trust me)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Whisk together flour and baking soda in a bowl
3. Put butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. I did it all by hand. I don't recommend it.
4. Reduce speed to low. Add salt, vanilla, and eggs; mix until combined, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets (lined with parchment paper if you'd like), spacing about two inches apart. Bake until cneters are set and edges are colden, 10 - 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.

6. Let cool on baking sheets 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks; let cool completely. Eat and be merry!

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Tuiles, Raspberries, & Flan, Oh My

This is my first month as a Daring Baker, and I have to say that January's challenge already put me outside of my comfort zone. I'm really used to making hearty desserts so I found the crazily delicate tuiles required a bit of work. I chose a sweet recipe and made up something light and airy to compliment the tuiles. The recipe, combined with my insane love of lemon with everything and a hint of summer (aka raspberries), led to free form tuile bowls with lemon flan and raspberry compote. I loved the combination of organic shapes and summery flavors playing off of the deariness that is upstate New York in January.




Tuile Bowls
Following is a recipe taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck.

Yields: Approx. 6 ramekin size bowls
Note: I tripled the original recipe so that I had plenty of batter to work with and it was the perfect amount.
Prep time: batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

Ingredients:

¾ cup softened butter (not melted but soft) – took 8 seconds in my microwave

1 ½ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

A little more than 1/8 tsp of vanilla extract

6 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork

¾ cup sifted all purpose flour
Oven: 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed), cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Or, use a food processor.

Note: If using a mixer or hand whisk be careful not to over mix! I can’t stress this part enough. The first round of me vs. tuile batter began with me looking too long at the directions while the kitchenaid kept on a-paddling and it ended when my batter ended up looking more like loose cellulite than a paste. Not pretty. I highly suggest the food processor myself. It ended up looking smooth and lovely.

Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as a butterfly

Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. I used a piping bag and a plain tip to pipe the desired shapes instead, reverting back to my cake decorating nature...

Bake in a preheated oven (350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies around the cup/ramekin/dish/whatever used to make the flan in so that the flan will sit right in there.

These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, I baked them one "bowl" at a time to allow myself plenty of wiggle room for shaping. You could perhaps put them in the oven to warm them up again. That’s what was suggested, I personally haven’t tried that. The warmth should theoretically keep the cookies malleable.

Lemon Flan with Raspberry Compote
Raspberry Compote

modified from Martha Stewart's Cranberry Compote; see link above

Yield: Loads and Loads. Feel free to cut the recipe down by half at least. I just like using the compote on other baked goodies.

Ingredients ½ lemon
Peel from 1 navel orange
Juice from ½ navel orange
6 2/3 cups (24 ounces) frozen raspberries
1 cup sugar (or less if you want the compote to be less sweet. Not a huge deal)

Directions

Grate zest from lemons. Cut 1 lemon in half, and squeeze juice from 1 half into a saucepan. Peel orange, and cut in half. Add peel to pan, and squeeze in juice from half the orange.

Add raspberries and sugar, and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Cook until raspberries are thawed and soft, about 15 minutes.

Lemon Flan

modified from Epicurious; see link above
Yield: Six

Ingredients

3 tablespoons juices reserved from compote
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Peel from 1/2 lemon (yellow part only; removed with vegetable peeler in strips), coarsely chopped
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Preparation
Spoon 2 teaspoons liquid from fruit compote into each of six 3/4-cup ramekins or custard cups.
Place ramekins in 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Cover and refrigerate remaining fruit compote overnight.
Combine milk, sugar, lemon peel, and salt in medium saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Uncover and let milk mixture steep at room temperature 1 hour.
Return milk mixture to simmer. Strain into small bowl; discard lemon peel.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk eggs and egg yolks in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk warm milk mixture into egg mixture.
Divide custard among prepared soufflé dishes. Pour enough hot water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of soufflé dishes. Bake custards until centers are set and thin knife inserted at edge of dish cleanly separates custard from dish, about 45 minutes.Remove flans from water. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate flans uncovered overnight.

Run small thin knife around flans to loosen. Invert each flan onto tuiles. Spoon fruit compote and syrup over and around flans and serve with lemon slice garnish.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

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