Bakewell Tart/Pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

When I saw that this month's Daring Bakers' challenge was a tart, I laughed out loud. I had plenty of practice making tarts last month, so I sure was ready for this challenge! This recipe sounded delicious as I love anything almond flavored, and this tart had almond both in the pastry dough as well as in the frangipane. Some call this a tart, some call it a pudding, I would actually call it a cake-tart. The frangipane did turn out semi-spongy, but I couldn't see any resemblance to a pudding. Whatever you wish to name it, it paired mighty well with both blueberry preserves and Nutella.

Thanks, Jasmine (Confessions of a Cardamom Addict) and Annemarie (Ambrosia and Nectar) for hosting this month!


Bakewell Tart/Pudding

Ingredients:
Sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe below)
Frangipane (recipe below)
1 cup blueberry preserves OR 1 cup Nutella, warmed
Bench flour

Directions:
1. Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatized for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to ¼ inch thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the center and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll.
2. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.
4. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of preserves or Nutella onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart.
5. Smooth the top and put into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.
6. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.


Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1-2 tablespoons cold water

Directions:
1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt.
2. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
3. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
4. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.


Frangipane
Ingredients:
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 tablespoons flour

Directions:
1. Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in color and very fluffy.
2. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle, but that's alright.
3. After beating the eggs in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again.
4. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look and retain its pallid yellow color.

Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

Like I promised, this will be my last post from the baby shower series. Inside the boxes set on the table were these adorable cupcakes as shower favors. Since the mother-to-be is expecting a boy, I decorated the cupcakes by placing little blue fondant animal cut-outs in the middle of the chocolate frosting.

One thing to note about this recipe is that it does double very well. Cooks Illustrated recommended making two separate batches and baking each separately as to not compromise the cupcakes' rise. Another tip for cupcakes is to refrigerate them unfrosted overnight, then let them come to room temperature before frosting and serving. This helps give cupcakes that moist texture that make biting into a cupcake so enjoyable.


Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 F degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogenous and thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.
7. Frost with chocolate cream frosting, recipe below.


Chocolate Cream Frosting
Ingredients:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 2/3 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup

Directions:
1. Break up chocolate and pulverize in food processor until it is the texture of coarse sand.
2. Bring heavy cream to a boil, and with machine running, pour hot cream over the chocolate. Add corn syrup; process until just combined.
3. Turn mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until spreadable, stirring with a wooden spoon every 15 minutes; about 1 hour.

Nutella Tartelettes

Am I still posting about that baby shower I catered? Yes, and hang tight, I'm almost done. After this, there's only one more post left, I promise.

This Nutella tartelette was truly decadent, filled with three varying layers of chocolate. First, Nutella lines the bottom of the tartelette shell. Next is a dark chocolate pudding, and finally, the tartelette is topped with a dark chocolate ganache. This was not the design of the original recipe, but I decided to mix things up a bit. Actually, the truth is, my pudding didn't turn out quite right (I manhandled it and also overcooked it just a tad), and I had to serve something presentable to the ladies at the shower, so on went the dark chocolate ganache topping. After tasting it myself, you couldn't even tell the pudding was a little off.

If you're a dark chocolate lover, then oh boy, you definitely want to try making and eating this tartelette. Be sure to watch the time when you're baking the tartelettes, and you'll be on your way to rich, chocolatey bliss.


Nutella Tartelettes
adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme

Ingredients:
2/3 cup Nutella
4 3/4 oz bittersweet chocolate
7 tablespoons butter
1 large egg, room temperature, stirred with a fork
3 large egg yolks, room temperature, stirred with a fork
2 tablespoons sugar
4 baked tartelette shells (recipe below)

Directions:
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 F degrees.
2. Spread the Nutella evenly over the bottom of the crust and set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter separately - either by using a double boiler or in the microwave. Allow both chocolate and butter to cool slightly.
4. Whisk the egg into the chocolate, stirring gently in circles and taking care not to agitate the mixture as you don't want to beat air into the ganache. Little by little, stir in the egg yolks, then the sugar. Finally, still working gently, stir in the warm melted butter. Pour the ganache over the Nutella in the tart shell.
5. Bake tart for 11 minutes. Center of tart will not be completely set, but that's how it should be. Remove the tart from the oven, and cool on a cooling rack to room temperature.
6. Additional step: If the pudding turns out too hard and crumbly looking, simply add a layer of dark chocolate ganache to hide the flaws. It's definitely still edible, and the extra layer of chocolate will add to this tart's decadence.


Tart Pastry
adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions:
1. Whisk together yolk, cream, and vanilla in small bowl; set aside. Pulse to combine flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade.
2. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.
3. With machine running, add egg mixture and process until dough just comes together, about 25 seconds.
4. Turn dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Unwrap, divide dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll out between lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to 4-inch rounds. (If dough is soft and sticky, slip onto baking sheet and refrigerate until workable, 20 to 30 minutes.)
6. Transfer dough to tart pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling over 4 tartelette pans with removable bottom. Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough with one hand while pressing dough into corners with other hand. Press dough into fluted sides of pan. (If some edges are too thin, reinforce sides by folding excess dough back on itself.) Run rolling pin over top of tart pan to remove excess dough.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to fill 4 tartelette pans with dough.
8. Set dough-lined tartelette pans on baking sheet and freeze 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Take dough-lined tartelette pans out of freezer, press 4-inch square of foil inside frozen tartelette shells and over edges and fill with pie weights. (Beans or rice may be used as a substitute.)
10. Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil and weights by gathering edges of foil and pulling up and out.
11. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Set baking sheet with tartelette shells on wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Fruit Tartelettes

At the baby shower I catered, I provided two options for dessert and the popular option was the fruit tartelette. It being almost summer, and summertime bringing fresh berries probably contributed to the majority's choice.

Making the tartelettes became a day-long event for me as I've still got a lot to learn about making pastries. One rookie mistake I'll never make again: forgetting to line the tartelette shells with parchment paper before baking with beans as pie weights. What happens when you forget the lining? The beans sink into the dough, and you've got to individually pick out the beans while you're left with a tartelette shell filled with many little bean-shaped holes. I didn't plan on spending Friday night picking out beans from the shells dough, but if you know me, you'll recall I've done more daring things.

The tartelettes shaped up nicely in the end, and thanks to the poll results from my Twitter followers, I made the exact quantity of fruit and Nutella tartelettes needed, and the Nutella version will be the subject of my next post.


Fruit Tartelettes
adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
Frozen tartelette shells (recipe below)
Pastry cream (recipe below)
strawberries, washed and sliced
blueberries, washed
Apricot Glaze (recipe below)

Directions:
1. Remove the tartelette from the fluted sides of the pan, by placing your hand under the pan, touching only the removable bottom not the sides. Gently push the tartelette straight up, away from the sides. The fluted tartelette ring will fall away. If you want to remove the bottom of the pan, run a knife or thin metal spatula between the crust and metal bottom.
2. Spread a thin layer of apricot glaze over the bottom and sides of tartelette to prevent the crust from getting soggy. Let the glaze dry between 20 - 30 minutes. Spread the Pastry Cream into the tart, filling about 3/4 full. Level with an offset spatula.
3. To decorate the tartelette you will need 2 to 3 cups of prepared strawberries and blueberries (you may use other fruits like kiwi, pineapple, oranges, melons). Arranging the fruit on the tartelette can be done either randomly or in concentric overlapping circles, starting at the outside edge. Try to cover all the pastry cream with fruit so that no pastry cream is showing through.
4. After arranging the fruit, rewarm the glaze, if using, and gently brush a light coat on the fruit. Do not put it on too thick or it will look like Jell-O. Try not to get any glaze on the tartelette shell. The idea is to make the fruit look shiny. If not serving immediately, refrigerate. Take out about 30 minutes before serving to give the fruit and cream a chance to warm to room temperature.
5. Fruit tarts are best eaten the same day they are assembled. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.


Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
2 cups half-and-half
1/2 cup granulated sugar
pinch table salt
5 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Heat half-and-half, 6 tablespoons sugar, and salt in medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.
2. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and whisk until sugar has begun to dissolve and mixture is creamy, about 15 seconds. Whisk in cornstarch until combined and mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 30 seconds.
3. When half-and-half mixture reaches full simmer, gradually whisk simmering half-and-half into yolk mixture to temper. Return mixture to saucepan, scraping bowl with rubber spatula; return to simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until 3 or 4 bubbles burst on surface and mixture is thickened and glossy, about 30 seconds. Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer mixture to medium bowl, press plastic wrap directly on surface, and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 3 hours or up to 48 hours.


Tart Pastry
Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1. While pastry cream is chilling, whisk together yolk, cream, and vanilla in small bowl; set aside. Pulse to combine flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade.
2. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.
3. With machine running, add egg mixture and process until dough just comes together, about 25 seconds.
4. Turn dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Unwrap, divide dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll out between lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to 4-inch rounds. (If dough is soft and sticky, slip onto baking sheet and refrigerate until workable, 20 to 30 minutes.)
6. Transfer dough to tartelette pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling over 4 tartelette pans with removable bottom. Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough with one hand while pressing dough into corners with other hand. Press dough into fluted sides of pan. (If some edges are too thin, reinforce sides by folding excess dough back on itself.) Run rolling pin over top of tartelette pan to remove excess dough.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to fill 4 tartelette pans with dough.
8. Set dough-lined tartelette pans on baking sheet and freeze 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Take dough-lined tartelette pans out of freezer, press 4-inch square of foil inside frozen tartelette shells and over edges and fill with pie weights. (Beans or rice may be used as a substitute.)
10. Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil and weights by gathering edges of foil and pulling up and out. 11. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Set baking sheet with tartelette shells on wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.


Apricot Glaze
Ingredients:
1/2 cup apricot jam or preserves
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
1 tablespoon water

Directions:
1. Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted.
2. Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps. Add the liqueur at this point. Let cool until it is only slightly warm.

A Catered Baby Shower

Here are a few shots from the baby shower I catered last weekend. That's right, I don't just bake these days, I do catering too! After the success of Jenn's bridal shower, I kept thinking about how much I enjoyed every aspect of throwing it - working with others in planning and the coordination of food and logistics. What I loved most was that in helping, the guest of honor was left worry-free from the painstaking details needed to make the event successful.

My involvement in the shower kept coming up in conversation from time to time, so when my co-worker told me the news that he and his wife were expecting their first this summer, he had the grand idea of having me cater his shower. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into, but I jumped at the chance to flex my planning skills.

They wanted an outdoors seated lunch which took some time confirming a venue, but in the end it worked out nicely on the rooftop of a Columbus Circle apartment. What did I come up with in terms of food, you ask? This.



















































































My test run included half a steak roll and half a lobster roll, but the final menu only had full lobster rolls. Below is my menu, and I will have detailed posts on the baked goods in the near future.

Hors D'oeuvres
Smoked Salmon Mousse in Cucumber Cups
Prosciutto Cantaloupe Crostini

Salad
Field Greens and Basil with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Parmesan Crisp

Main Course
Lobster Rolls with Root Chips

Dessert
Fruit Tart/Nutella Tart

Favor
Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache

An Unbirthday Shower

It's been a while since I posted the monogrammed sugar cookies, and I promised to go into details of my sister-in-law Jenn's bridal shower, so here they are.

Jenn wanted to use the shower to celebrate the people around her who have helped shape the woman she's become. While we picked an Alice in Wonderland theme because of her deep love of the story, it also worked out to be a big unbirthday party for Jenn and all her friends.

All the decorations were taken care of by Cheryl, and she did a fine job from designing all the tags to making custom streamers to fit the occasion. Food was done by yours truly, and we had a variety tea sandwiches and stuffed mushrooms, and a chocolate raspberry cake to finish with.

Probably my favorite part of the shower was the time spent dressing up Jenn paper dolls in wedding garb uniquely designed by each of us. This was a different take on the typical toilet paper wedding dress game, and it was refreshing to have a creative outlet in this way. Everyone participated and there were some stunning designs!

Now the bridal shower has gone, and it's time for the actual nuptial celebrations. I'm heading out this morning to St. Thomas for the wedding, and I know everything will turn out great. Jenn, I love you, and I'm so excited for you and Chris! Congratulations!

Strawberry Cheesecake

I'm still in St. Thomas where my sister-in-law just got married, and what a gorgeous wedding it was. She certainly made a beautiful bride in her lovely Vera Wang dress, and the scenery at Villa Botanica was perfect. It's a little ironic I'm writing about her in this post because not only does she have a traumatic cheesecake story, but she's allergic to strawberries. It's sad, and I wish she could have enjoyed this me. (I've briefly mentioned her story before, and it involves a sincere attempt at cheesecake using cheddar cheese.)

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was a bit easier than the previous ones, and I kept things fairly simple. The strawberry topping was an easy addition to a plain cheesecake, and it made for a classic dessert that Tim certainly enjoyed. He said he loved the creaminess of the cheesecake, but I'd say it was a bit too dense for my taste. I recently had my first taste of Eileen's Special Cheesecake, and I absolutely loved the light and airy texture of Eileen's.

I once said that I'm not really a cheesecake fan, but all this exposure to cheesecake is changing that. Perhaps I'll continue to make them as my inclination towards them grows. Tim, you'd like that now, wouldn't you?
The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.
Strawberry Cheesecake
adapted from Abbey's Cheesecake

Crust Ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake Ingredients:
24 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon Cointreau (optional)

Topping Ingredients:
1 pint strawberries, cleaned and stemmed
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into a springform pan. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and Cointreau and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter.
6. Chop 1/3 pint strawberries in small pieces.
7. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine cut strawberries, sugar, and vanilla. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in a blender to make a sauce.
8. Slice the remaining strawberries, and combine into sauce. Decorate top of cheesecake with strawberries, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.