Dessert recipes from Nicola Lamb’s Sift

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Our cookbook of the week is Sift by British pastry chef Nicola Lamb.

Jump to the recipes: fruity marshmallows, miso walnut double-thick chocolate-chip cookies, and caramel-poached oranges with sabayon and langues de chat.

Asking “why” has served Nicola Lamb well. The pastry chef, recipe developer and writer trained in renowned New York and London bakeries, including Dominique Ansel and Ottolenghi. Looking at baking through a lens of science helped shape her approach to learning and sharing her craft.

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Lamb poured her knowledge into her cookbook debut, Sift (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, 2024), an extension of the pastry education she provides in her weekly newsletter, Kitchen Projects. From caramelization and lamination to gluten development and the Maillard reaction, she explains the hows and the whys before diving into the recipes.

“What’s so interesting is that science sounds intimidating, I suppose, in a way, and like it’s not for everyone. But I don’t think people realize that bakers and pastry chefs, we’re talking within the terms in this book in a very casual way. We’re talking about gluten development. We’re talking about what those strands are doing. That’s not a conversation reserved for just a certain portion of pastry chefs,” says Lamb from her home in London, England. “That is so normal.”

At the beginning of her career, Lamb never felt embarrassed to ask questions. “I had to go in from a place of complete ignorance, almost. I didn’t go in pretending I knew how to do something because the reality is, I’d never mixed a brioche before, and I wasn’t about to pretend I knew how to do it. It was really just a way of learning.”

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At Dominique Ansel, none of the recipes had methods, the idea being that if you didn’t know how to make something, you would ask a chef. “Going to find my chef meant that I had to ask, and it suited me because it meant that every time I had to ask, and every time I learnt more.”

Lamb turned to books such as Paula I. Figoni’s How Baking Works (2010) and Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking (2004) to continue learning outside the kitchen and gain a deeper understanding. Building her knowledge helped her understand why some recipes are the way they are, how to create her own swaps and anticipate what will work and what won’t.

In baking, specific reactions happen no matter what, says Lamb. Sugar plus heat equals caramel. Flour plus water equals gluten. Learning a set of rules and how to disrupt them was key. However, Lamb highlights that just because she understands the rules doesn’t mean she can think up a recipe that magically works — but it does help her approach developing them differently. Lamb recounts a ginger cake recipe in progress. To achieve a rich ginger flavour with tea, she needed to remove some of the water, which she did by reducing the amount of egg.

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“You can start doing these little sums in your mind, and you’ll notice that, for the most part, cakes that have a lot of sour cream or yogurt usually have less eggs. And all the author or recipe writer is doing is swapping the moisture around. And so, that was very telling and helpful to me when I started learning that because then you can create your own swaps and understand what’s going to work and what’s not.”

Lamb moved to London from the seaside city of Brighton at 18. Baking started as a hobby she half expected to be interested in for a while and then move on, but The Great British Bake Off showed her it could be a job. She was hooked when she started working in kitchens, which she immediately loved. “I found that there was always so much more to learn, and I still feel like there’s still so much to learn.”

Sift is the book Lamb would have wanted when she started baking professionally roughly 10 years ago. She remembers wondering why she had to go to one source for the facts and another for modern recipes. In Sift, Lamb marries the two. The first section focuses on the “building blocks of baking,” including in-depth examinations of flour, sugar, eggs and fat — the second centres on 100 recipes organized by time commitment.

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As someone who went to pastry school for two months before realizing she was learning more in kitchens, Lamb wanted to make the underpinning principles and techniques more approachable to bakers of all levels. She always found it strange that in school, there was often a divide between the tone of the textbook and the teacher who brought it to life.

“So much of learning is how that teacher is telling you — it’s how that information is presented. And so, that’s why I wanted to try and make it a fun textbook,” says Lamb. “It’s this funny mix, I suppose, of having very technical information, but at the same time a voice that’s telling you, ‘Don’t be stressed.’”

Recognizing that so much of learning is someone showing you for the first time, Lamb approached writing Sift as if she were at the reader’s side, adding cues along the way. When creaming the butter with the sugars for her miso walnut double-thick chocolate-chip cookies, Lamb advises they should be mixed well but still “a little fluffy.” When cutting her fruity marshmallows, she suggests wiping your knife in between slices and oiling it for ease if it isn’t very sharp. And when pouring in the sweet wine to make her caramel-poached oranges, she warns that it will froth, split and seize.

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“I loved writing this book, and I loved putting all the facts in there, but sometimes I wish I could just be next to everyone in the kitchen and hold their hand and just go and show them.”

FRUITY MARSHMALLOWS

Makes: 16-20 marshmallows

Equipment: 8-inch/20-cm square pan

7 gelatin leaves (I use Dr. Oetker Platinum)
60 g (2) pasteurized egg whites
70 g (5 tbsp) any fruit purée, e.g., black currant or passionfruit (see note)
Pinch of flaky sea salt
1 g (1/4 tsp) citric acid (optional — helps add acidity)
50 g (3 tbsp) water
150 g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
125 g (6 tbsp) liquid glucose

Plus:
Cornstarch and powdered sugar, to dust

Step 1

Bloom the leaf gelatin in a little cold water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out and put in the bowl of a stand mixer with the egg whites and fruit purée. Add the salt and citric acid, if using.

Step 2

Mix together the water, sugar and glucose in a saucepan. Heat until it reaches 244-250F (118-121C). Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy. When the sugar reaches the correct temperature, decrease the whisk speed to low and gently drizzle/pour the syrup down the side of the mixer bowl. Once it is all incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and whisk for 10 minutes, until the mixture is fluffy and volumized and only just warm to the touch.

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Step 3

Pour into a square pan lined with greased parchment paper and allow to set completely at room temperature.

Step 4

To cut, dust your board with a mixture of 40/60 cornstarch and powdered sugar, then turn out the marshmallows from the pan and remove the paper. Dust the top and then cut the marshmallow mixture into squares: 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches is a cute size. Make sure you wipe your knife in between cuts — if your knife isn’t super-sharp, you might also want to oil your knife. Once cut, dust each mallow.

Step 5

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days, in the fridge for 2 weeks or the freezer for 3 months.

Note: For plain marshmallows, use water instead and reduce quantity to 30 grams.

MISO WALNUT DOUBLE-THICK CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES

Makes: 5 huge cookies

Miso walnuts:
50 g (3 tbsp) mirin rice wine
40 g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar
50 g (3 tbsp) white miso
100 g (1 cup) walnuts, toasted

Cookies:
90 g (6 tbsp) butter, softened
80 g (6 tbsp) light brown sugar
80 g (6 tbsp) granulated sugar
50 g (1) whole egg
220 g (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
3 g (1/2 tsp) baking soda
4 g (1 1/4 tsp) flaky sea salt, plus a sprinkle on top
260 g (9 1/4 oz) dark chocolate, chopped

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Step 1

To make the miso walnuts, heat together the rice wine, granulated sugar and white miso over medium heat. When boiling, add the toasted walnuts and mix together, cooking for 2 minutes more over low heat, until thickened. Remove from the pan and let cool completely before using.

Step 2

To make the cookies, cream the butter with the sugars until well combined but not aerated — it should look a little fluffy.

Step 3

Add in the egg, scraping down as needed to make sure it’s evenly combined. Sift the dry ingredients together, then fold them into the emulsified butter/egg mixture. Add the walnuts and stir to break them up a bit before mixing in the chocolate.

Step 4

Form into loose 180-g (6 1/3-oz) balls, keeping them looking and feeling airy!

Step 5

At this stage you can chill the dough overnight if you like, or you can bake right away. I didn’t notice a super significant difference.

Step 6

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 7

Spread the balls of dough on the baking sheet. Bake for 18 minutes (though you could do 16 minutes or up to 20 minutes to suit your taste!). Sprinkle a little extra salt on top, if desired, then let cool completely on a cooling rack. Ideally, enjoy while still a little bit warm, but they are just as good completely cooled! The texture will change from gooey to more firm.

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Note: You can, of course, make these into smaller portions! Just adjust the baking time accordingly — I suggest 9-12 minutes for half portions.

CARAMEL-POACHED ORANGES WITH SABAYON AND LANGUES DE CHAT

Serves: 4

Caramel-poached oranges:
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) oranges or mandarins
200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
110 g (1/2 cup) water
75 g (1/3 cup) sweet wine aperitif/sweet wine (I use Lillet)

Langues de chat:
40 g (3 tbsp) butter, softened
55 g (7 tbsp) powdered sugar
Zest of 1/2 orange (optional)
30 g (1) egg white
45 g (1/3 cup) all-purpose flour
10 g (1 tbsp) cornstarch
Pinch of flaky sea salt

Sabayon:
45-50 g (about 3) egg yolks
30 g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
75 g (1/3 cup) sweet wine aperitif/sweet wine (I use Lillet)
Pinch of fine salt

Plus:
Toasted sliced almonds, to decorate

Step 1

To prepare the oranges, remove the peel and pith and slice into 1/2-inch rounds. Set aside.

Step 2

To make the poaching syrup, put the sugar in a pan with half of the water and stir until it is all dissolved. If the sugar grains are on the pan’s edge, use a pastry brush dipped in water to remove them or it can cause the mixture to crystallize when heating. Alternatively, place a lid on the pan for the first 3 minutes of heating. Heat the sugar/ water over high heat until you get a dark caramel, 5-8 minutes. If preferred, you can make this as a dry caramel.

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Step 3

Once the mixture is a dark golden, turn off the heat and add the remaining water and the sweet wine, bit by bit — it will splutter, split, and seize! Just add little bits at a time and, if it doesn’t all dissolve, heat gently while whisking. Bring the liquid back to a boil, then add your fruit. Simmer for 1 minute, then pour into a heatproof container to cool completely. The oranges can be made 3 days in advance, kept in the fridge.

Step 4

For the langues de chat cookies, by hand or in a stand mixer, mix the butter and powdered sugar together until well combined, as well as the zest, if using. Add the egg white, little by little — it can be a bit hard to combine, so do it slowly. If you add too much and it splits apart, you can warm up the bowl slightly, then beat it until it comes together. Finally, stir in the dry ingredients.

Step 5

Preheat the oven to 375F (190C). Pipe long, thin cookies onto parchment paper, then bake for 5-7 minutes or until just turning golden at the edges. Let cool on the sheet. The cookies can be made in advance and kept in an airtight container for 3 days.

Step 6

For the sabayon, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar over a bain-marie over medium high heat until frothy. Once a foam begins to form, whisk in the sweet wine and salt and keep whisking until it is thick and can hold its own shape, about 10 minutes. As soon as it is ready, remove from the heat so it does not overcook. The sabayon should be used immediately while warm.

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Step 7

To serve, spoon the caramel oranges into individual bowls/dishes — a coupe shape works well — with a spoonful of caramel syrup. Spoon the sabayon on top. If desired, prepare the dessert in heatproof bowls, then grill for 30 seconds-1 minute, until the sabayon is browned in spots. Decorate with toasted sliced almonds. Serve with the langues de chat. This dessert can also be chilled and served cold — the sabayon will set into a very light mousse.

Notes: The caramel poaching technique can be used for other fruits — you may need to add more liquid to cover larger fruits, like peaches. Check for readiness by piercing the fruit with the tip of a sharp knife. There should be no resistance.

Turn the poaching liquid into a sauce by adding equal parts heavy cream, then bring to a boil and reduce until thick.

Recipes and images excerpted from Sift, copyright ©2024 by Nicola Lamb. Photographs copyright ©2024 by Sam A Harris. Illustrations copyright ©2024 by Nueker. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

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