Tag Archives: sweets

Brian Boitano’s Pear and Almond Crostata

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1 (8-ounce) package Cream Cheese (softened)
2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 tablespoon All-Purpose Flour (plus more for dusting)
2 Eggs (divided)1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 (7-ounce) packages of Almond Paste
4 Pears (peeled)
2 tablespoons Raw Sugar
1 pint Vanilla Ice Cream (optional)
1/4 cup sliced Almonds (toasted)
8 fresh Mint sprigs
Divide each package of almond paste into 4 equal portions. Dust a work surface with flour and roll each portion into a 6-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick.
ingredients

Place 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese filling into the center of each round. Spread the filling out in an even layer, stopping about 1/2 inch from the edge of the round.
ingredients

Cut each pear in half and remove the seeds and fibrous spine using a paring knife or melon baller. Cut each half into 5 slices. Fan out 5 of the pear slices on top of the filling in the center of a round. Gently fold the edges of the almond paste over the edge of the filling all the way around. Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat with the remaining ingredients, filling both sheets.

Whisk together the remaining egg and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl until well blended. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush each crostata with the egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake the crostatas until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Serve each crostata on a plate with a small scoop of ice cream, if desired, and garnished with sliced almonds and mint.

Helpful Tip:
1. Try this recipe with different fruit or berries. When using berries, combine with cornstarch to thicken the excess liquid.

Killer Key Lime Pie – Serves 8, Terry

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1 block of cream cheese 8-ounce — softened
1 can of sweetened condensed milk 14-ounce
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup of Nellie & Joe’s Famous Key West Lime Juice
1 graham cracker crust  9-inch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat softened cream cheese until creamy (by hand or mixer). Add sweetened condensed milk, and beat to mix. Add egg yolks, and beat to mix well. Add lime juice, and beat again.

Pour filling into crust and smooth over. Set filled pie on baking sheet and place in pre-heated oven.
Bake 10 minutes, until filling begins to set.

Remove pie, cool on rack briefly at room temperature, then place in  refrigerator and chill at least an hour until well set.

Note: “The key to this recipe is the juice,” Tipton says. “Do not use regular lime juice.” Tipton says he has found it in several stores in the valley, sometimes in the ‘mixers’ section’ often next to Rose’s lime juice.  Do not use Rose’s.“

Raspberry Tart – Laura Calder

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  • 1 cup milk
  • half of a vanilla bean
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 1 tablespoon framboise liqueur
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1 pound fresh raspberries
  • 1 9-inch/23 cm cookie crust, baked
  1. Put the milk in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean, scraping the seeds into the milk, then drop in the pot. Heat to a simmer, remove from heat, cover, and set to infuse 10 minutes.
  2. Beat the yolks with the sugar until pale. Beat in the flour. Pull the vanilla bean from the milk and whisk the milk gradually into the egg mixture. Pour back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook one minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the framboise. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. When chilled, whip the cream and gently fold it in.
  3. Spread the pastry cream evenly in the base of the tart. Arrange the berries neatly over top.

Auntie Gretchen’s Flakiest Pie Crust Ever

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2 crust pie
2 c. instant flour
1 tsp salt
2/3c + 2 tbsp shortening
2 to 2 1/2 tbsp water

pie shell
1 c. instant flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3c + 1 tbsp shortening
4 to 5 tbsp water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening. Add water, one tbsp at a time, mixing it with a fork. Roll out dough. The 2 crust pie is filled and baked according to pie directions. The pie shell is docked, filled with beans on parchment and bake at 475 degres for 8-10 min.

shortbread

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Amy Voigt’s
1 c soft butter
cream with 5/8 c sugar (this is 1/2c + 2 tbsp)
mix in 2 1/2 c sifted flour

chill then pat to 1/2 ” thick, cut into shapes
bake @ 300 on ungreased sheet for 20-25 min

Grandmother Chisholm’s
cream 1 lb butter cut in 6 c flour, 1/2c rice flour and 1 c sugar
Pat into round shape, bake 30 min at 325  or 45 min at 300

My version:  The Edinburgh Book of Plain Cookery Recipes
1-1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup rice flour
8 ounces butter
1/2 cup sugar

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer, paddle until the dough clumps together, press in to 1 or 2 cake pans (I like 1 for thicker shortbread, Stepahnie uses 2 8-inch pans).  Prick with a fork to decorate if you wish.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until cooked through and lightly browned.  Cut into appropriate sized pieces while it’s still warm, and allow to cool completely before removing it from the pans.
good

the great unshrinkable sweet tart shell

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Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

My favorite part about this shell recipe and technique is that it doesn’t require pie weights. How cool is that?!

Makes enough for one 9-inch tart crust

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons; 4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg*

1. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt together in the bowl of a food processor. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. (You’re looking for some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas.) Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses–about 10 seconds each–until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change–heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. Chill the dough, wrapped in plastic, for about 2 hours before rolling.

2. To roll the dough: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Roll out chilled dough on floured sheet of parchment paper to 12-inch round, lifting and turning dough occasionally to free from paper. (Alternately, you can roll this out between two pieces of plastic, though flour the dough a bit anyway.) Using paper as aid, turn dough into 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; peel off paper. Seal any cracks in dough. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch. Fold overhang in, making double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork.

Alternately, you can press the dough in as soon as it is processed: Press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides of the tart shell. You want to press hard enough that the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that it loses its crumbly texture.

3. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

4. To fully or partially bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crust about 10 minutes longer to fully bake it, or until it is firm and golden brown, brown being the important word: a pale crust doesn’t have a lot of flavor. (To partially bake it, only an additional 5 minutes is needed.) Transfer the pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature, and proceed with the rest of your recipe.

Do ahead: The dough can be wrapped and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, the flavor will be fresher bake it directly from the freezer, already rolled out.

* Updated 2/4/09: In response to concerns (including mine!) about this crust crumbling easily when rolled out, I found that using the whole egg instead of just the egg yolk holds it together better, making it easy to roll out in one piece.

from the smitten kitchen blog

Sticky Toffee Date Cake

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1 pound dates, pitted and chopped
2 teaspoons baking soda
For the Cakes
8 ounces butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3¼ tablespoons baking powder

For the Sauce
½ pound butter
1 cup brown sugar (8 ounces)
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9-inch-round cake pans or 20 muffin tins.

Place the dates in large saucepan with 3½ cups cold water. Bring to boil, stirring a little to break up the dates. Then leave to simmer for 1 minute before removing from the heat. Stir in the baking soda (which will cause the mixture to bubble up).

Cream the butter and sugar together in a food mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, occasionally scraping down mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract and then the flour and salt and mix briefly to give a lumpy dough.

Next, add the warm date mixture in two batches. Scrape down the sides of bowl in between mixing. The dough will now be quite watery but don’t worry! Finally add the baking powder (this will bubble up also).

Pour the batter evenly into the two pans or muffin tins. Bake for about 30-40 minutes for cake pans and about 20 minutes for muffin tins. Test if they are cooked with a small knife or toothpick, it should come out clean when cakes are done.

Meanwhile, to make the sauce, combine the butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil and then reduce to simmer gently for a minute or two until thickened and well blended.

When the cakes are done, poke little holes all over with toothpick, this will enable the sauce to be absorbed more easily. Pour the caramel sauce over cakes while both are still warm and leave to soak for about 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out upside-down onto serving plates (the bottom is the most sticky bit!).   (Yield: 2- 9″ Cakes)

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Ginger Spice Cake With Warm Cranberries – Tyler Florence

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Cake:
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter — melted
1 cup buttermilk

Warm Cranberries
2 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup dried cranberries
2 cup water
2 cup brown sugar — packed
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup whipped cream — for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar — for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit the pan bottom and place it inside; then spray the paper. Set aside.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg, molasses, sugar, and melted butter until thick. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat for 1 minute after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the cake’s structure. Mix until the batter is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth down the top of the batter until even. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, combine the ingredients for the cranberries in a large pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan, and then slice it in wedges. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve with warm cranberries and whipped cream.  Ginger Spice Cake With Warm Cranberries – Serves 8

As soon as I turned the page and saw that thick wedge of ginger spice cake lightly dusted with powdered sugar, snuggled up with a heaping spoonful of warm cranberries and soft pillow of whipped cream, my mind drifted off to a cozy mountain cabin warmed by the spicy aroma of ginger, cinnamon, cloves and allspice wafting from the kitchen…

Terry’s notes:  Although this cake has Thanksgiving and Christmas written all over it, I made it a little earlier in the holiday season for a German Novemberfest party. I actually doubled the recipe and made two cakes – one for Novemberfest and the second for a CAbi party the next day. I used 8-inch cake pans instead of 9-inch, so my cakes were a bit thicker and took about 10 minutes longer to bake. I also simmered the cranberries an extra 10-15 minutes and added a few tablespoons of Luxardo Cherry Liqueur during the last 5 minutes of simmering.

 

Chocolate Shortbread Tart Crust

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chocolate pumpkin tart featuring chocolate shortbread crust

1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, cold

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. Pulse to combine.

Cut butter into several pieces and add to flour mixture. Pulse until mixture is sandy and butter is well-incorporated.

Pour crumb mixture into a 9 or 10-inch tart pan (or 4 individual tart pans). Press firmly up the sides and into an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Crust can be filled without pre-baking.

For a baked crust, bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until firm. Allow to cool before using.

Makes 1 9 or 10-inch tart.

From Baking Bites blog