Fruit Tarts

Fruit Tarts!  These are one of my favorites. These say summer to me even when it’s cold outside!  When I need a reminder of the goodness of summer, I make a fruit tart. Although, I have to admit that they are the best tasting when all the berries are in season. But don’t let that stop you.  Tarts are so fun to make. You can make so many different designs and use so many different fruits that you can let your creativity go wild and still fit it into any season!   This recipe comes from Joy of Baking, and is absolutely Delicious!

Sweet Pastry Crust:

1 1/2 Cups (195 grams) All Purpose Flour

1/8 tsp. Salt

1/2 Cups (113 grams) Unsalted Butter

1/4 Cup (50 grams) Sugar

1 large Egg, slightly beaten

Pastry Cream:

1 1/4 Cups (300 ml) Milk

1/2 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise

3 Large Egg Yolks

1/4 Cup (50 grams) Sugar

1/8 Cup  (20 grams) All Purpose Flour

2 Tbsp. (20 grams) Cornstarch

3/4 Tbsp.  (10 ml) Liqueur (Grand Mariner, Brandy or Kirsch) Optional

Apricot Glaze (Optional)

1/2 Cup (125 grams) Apricot Jam or Preserves

1 Tbsp. Grand Mariner, or water, or combination of the two (can also use other liqueurs)

Topping:

2-3 Cups Mixed Fruit

Sweet Pastry Crust:

In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Don’t over mix or the butter will separate and lighten in color. Add flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Don’t overwork or pastry will be hard when baked.

Flatten dough into disk, cover with  and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.

Have ready an 8 – 9 inch (20 – 23 cm) tart pan with removable bottom. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into an 11 – 12 inch (28 – 30 cm) circle that is about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness). To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pan, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. The pastry should be about an inch larger than pan.

When the pastry is rolled to the desired size, lightly roll pastry around your rolling pin, dusting off any excess flour as you roll. Unroll onto top of tart pan. Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan). Gently lay in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. With a thumb up movement, again press dough into pan. Roll rolling pin over top again to get rid of any extra pastry. Prick bottom of dough (this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights, rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface. Bake crust for 20 to 25 minutes until crust is dry and lightly golden brown. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

Pastry Cream:

In a medium-sized stainless steel bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.) Sift the flour and cornstarch (corn flour) together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste. Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean on medium heat until boiling. (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.) Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.) Remove vanilla bean, scrape out seeds, and add the seeds to the egg mixture. (The vanilla bean can be dried and placed in your sugar bowl to give the sugar a vanilla flavor. This sugar can then be used in baking where you would like a vanilla-flavored sugar, e.g. pies, cakes, cookies.)

Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly. When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 – 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the liqueur (if using). Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Cool. If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days. Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

Apricot Glaze:

Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water (if using) in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps. (If using, add the liqueur at this point.)  Let cool until it is only slightly warm.

Variation: If glazing strawberries, raspberries or any other red fruit you can make a red currant glaze. Gently whisk 1/2 cup (125 grams) of red currant jelly over medium heat until melted. Let cool slightly and then lightly glaze the fruit using a pastry brush.

 

To Assemble Tart:

To remove the tart from the fluted sides of the pan, place your hand under the pan, touching only the removable bottom not the sides. Gently push the tart straight up, away from the sides. The fluted tart ring will fall away and slide down your arm. If you want to remove the bottom of the pan, run a knife or thin metal spatula between the crust and metal bottom, then slide the tart onto a cardboard cake round.

Spread a thin layer of apricot glaze or melted chocolate over the bottom and sides of tart 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.

To decorate the tart you will need 2 to 3 cups (480 – 620 ml) of mixed fresh fruit (such as berries, bananas, oranges, kiwifruit, plums, pineapple, and melon). Prepare the fruit by gently washing and drying. Peel and slice the bananas, plums and kiwifruit. The strawberries will need to be sliced also. Arranging the fruit on the tart 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.

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 tart 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.

This fruit tart is best eaten the same day as it is assembled. Cover and refrigerate any leftovers.

Serves about 8 – 10 people.

Strawberry Shortcake!

That time of the year, when everything seems to come back to life. The trees, the birds, the sights and sounds and the lushness of spring.  Strawberries are on sale in the stores, and I couldn’t resist!

Cream Puffs!

Baked, Crispy, Hallow Shells.  Sweet, Creamy, smooth,  rich & thick  Vanilla and Chocolate Pastry Cream!  And lightly sweetened billowy clouds of whipped cream! Yumm!! Am I making you crave Cream Puffs?  Mark (Mr. Fire) has been requesting these for a while.  He likes pastry type desserts. Cream Horns, Puff Pastry, Pies, Cream Puffs, Eclairs, you get the idea.  Delectable Dessert!  And that it was!

Choux Pastry

200 grams Milk

80 grams Butter, cut into pieces

140 grams Flour

200 grams Eggs (4-5) I used 5

2 tsp. Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees F.

2. Cut butter into small cubes (This will make melting faster)

3. Sift the flour.

4. In a medium saucepan combine milk, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a rolling boil. Add all of the flour all at once. Turn heat to low and cook stirring constantly until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. This is an important step, as it dries the mixture out before adding the eggs.  Let mixture cool slightly in the bowl of a stand mixer running on low for 2-3 minutes.  Beat the eggs together in a bowl until well mixed. Adding a little bit of egg at a time, beat the mixture until the egg is completely incorporated before adding more.  Please don’t rush this step. The choux pastry dough is ready when it pulls away from the side of the bowl. This could take up to 10 minutes.   Spoon dough into a pastry bag, and pipe puffs onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Mist dough lightly with a spray bottle of water.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. When they get brown, turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more.  Puffs should be golden brown, crisp and dry and sound hallow inside. Cut the top of a puff if needed to ensure they are hallow and cooked through. (It’s ok to have a little bit of dough moist, you can pull the dough out of the inside.) Let cool completely. Store unfilled Cream Puff shells in an air tight container or freeze them until needed. Fill with pastry cream or/and whipped cream and  powdered sugar.

I like the recipe for Pastry Cream from Joy of Baking.  I made two batches of pastry cream one vanilla and one chocolate by adding 2 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Whipped Cream

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 cup Sugar (You can use powdered sugar, but you will need to sift it first.)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

In a medium bowl,  beat whipped cream until semi stiff. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fleur De Sel Caramel

Smooth, Soft, Silky, Melt in your Mouth, to die for Caramel!! You haven’t lived until you’ve made homemade caramel!! I really have no words to describe it, and it’s addicting!! Very Addicting!!

Fleur De Sel Caramel

slightly adapted from: Foodbeam

360 grams Sugar

140 grams Light Karo Syrup

40 grams Water

6 grams Fleur de Sel (Salt)

140 grams High Quality Salted Butter

400 grams Heavy Cream, scalded

1 Vanilla Bean, Split open and seeds scraped into cream

Line a 9X9 inch pan with aluminum foil, leaving over hangs so you can take the candy out of the pan when cooled and ready to slice. Spray lightly but throughly with non-stick spray and set aside.  Measure out all of your ingredients and set out within easy reach.  Combine Sugar, Karo Syrup, Water and salt in a high sided stainless steel saucepan. Stir briefly to loosen and melt sugars together. Cover with a lid, and over moderate heat, bring to a boil. Meanwhile, pour heavy cream with vanilla seeds in a small saucepan and scald. Keep warm. When the lid on the sugar mixture is nicely covered with condensation, remove the lid and set aside. (This step helps wash any sugar crystals on the side of the pan to be washed down, to help prevent it from crystallizing). Cook, without stirring until the contents of the pan are a light amber color. (DO NOT, STIR FOR ANY REASON!!) Remove from heat and add the scalded cream and the butter. When you add the cream the mixture is going to bubble up, which is why you want a high sided pan. Also, you should have long sleeve shirt on and wear mitts, just to be on the safe side, as sugar burns are extremely painful). Stir until completely incorporated. Put the mixture back on the stove and cook, until it reaches 252 degrees. (Do not turn heat up too high. I used my burner at about 60% which was slightly over the number 4 on my electric range. Your burner could vary. My point is, you shouldn’t really have to stir your mixture, if you are at the right temperature, and heat semi-slowly. I kept a whisk at hand, and checked by stirring, every so often, to make sure nothing was sticking).  Remove from heat, and pour into prepared pan. Let set at room temperature about 3 hours. Remove Caramel from pan, and cut into squares or fingers to serve.

We stored ours in ziplock baggies, cutting the caramel into long chunks to be cut further at the time of serving.) Store in the refrigerator or freezer.

The first time I made this, I cooked the Caramel to 248 degrees, but found it to be too soft. (Really good, but I wanted mine a little firmer).  This time I cooked it to 252 degrees and took it off the burner, and whisked it vigorously to help cool the mixture down a little. The top temperature my caramel reached was 253 degrees. I found this to be perfect consistency for our liking.

Dutch Apple Pie Tart

I love Dutch Apple Pies with their crumbly, caramel- y, toppings. The taste of cinnamon bursting through with  the apples. I have made this tart several times, as my family requests it quite regularly. I’m always happy to oblige their requests as this is one of the best Dutch Apple Pie Tarts I’ve ever had.  I do not recall where I got this recipe, I believe it was at a blog. Where ever it came from, it is good and worth making!

UPDATE 9-16-10**  I finally found where I got this recipe!!  It’s from: My Baking Addiction. Head on over there and check out the blog, you won’t be disappointed!

Dutch Apple Pie

Pie Crust:
I love this pie crust, it is so easy to work with and comes out perfect every time I use it.
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Butter
1/4 Cup Ice Water
In a bowl (or food processor) combine flour, salt and sugar, mix well. Cut butter into slices and add to the flour. Cut butter in until you have pea size crumbles. Add 1/4 cup Ice water, and mix just until it starts to come together. Gather, dough, smooth into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. (I usually give this about 30 minutes in the refrigerator before using, and it works great.) Roll dough big enough to a 9 inch tart pan. Blind bake the crust for 7 minutes at 375 degrees with pie weights. (Or use rice, or beans as pie weights).

Apple Filling
4-5 Large Apples, peeled and sliced thinly (I used MacIntosh)
2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Butter
2 Tbsp. Water
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/8 tsp. All Spice
1/8 tsp. Cardamom

Granola Strudel Topping:
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Granola
1/2 Cup Butter, softened

Put sliced apples in a bowl, add lemon juice and stir well coating the apples well. Transfer apples to the tart pan, and set aside. In a saucepan, combine butter, water, sugars, cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom and heat until melted. Stir. Turn heat to low and let simmer for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, combine Granola topping ingredients, except butter, and mix well. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until mixed well.
Pour the Pie filling ingredients over the apples in the tart pan. Crumble the topping over the apple and spice mixture, covering the tart well. Bake in a 375 Degree oven for 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Remove from oven to cool.
This is really good  served warm,  or cooled completely. Serve with ice cream if desired.

I like baking mine a little bit longer, so the top gets nice and crunchy!  These disappear fast!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our house to yours!  I Hope  you have a nice Easter and get to spend it with your loved ones!

Lemon Meringue Tart!!

This tart is a combination of two recipes. The crust is a cookie based crust which paired nicely with the Lemon Bars Filling from Thomas Keller’s book: Ad Hoc at Home. It is a beautiful book with down to earth, make at home recipes. I can see that I will be using it a lot!
This was absolutely delicious. Everyone went back for seconds, as I cut small pieces. We had eaten quite a nice dinner at my daughter’s and everyone was stuffed. It didn’t seem to matter as the tart was too good to leave at  just one piece! If you like lemon pie, this recipe is for you!

Crust:
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 Egg
1/4 tsp. Almond Extract
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Cream of tarter
2 Cups All purpose Flour

In a food processor, pulse sugar, powdered sugar and butter til creamy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until a smooth dough is formed. Chill 15 minutes, wrapped in plastic wrap. After dough has rested and is firm, I rolled my dough out slightly and then pressed the dough into my tart pan. Poke holes in dough at different intervals. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 8-10 minutes. Turn pan and bake another 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is lightly browned. I flattened the dough down with a small spatula, making it ready for the filling. (The dough does puff a little bit.) Cool crust completely.

Lemon Filling:
1 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
6 Large Eggs
6 Large Egg Yolks
1 1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar
9 Tbsp. Unsalted butter, cut into small chunks, at room temperature

Combine the lemon juice, eggs, yolks, and sugar in the top of a double boiler or in a large bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and holds the shape when the whisk is lifted. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter bit by bit. Strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer into the crust. Shake the pan gently to distribute the filling evenly. Cut a piece of parchment paper the size of the pan, spray it with nonstick spray, and lay it over the lemon filling. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least several hours, until frozen solid. (I froze my tart for about 2 hours, took it out for transport to my daughters. I piped the meringue (recipe follows) over the lemon curd. Used a torch to lightly toast the meringue, and put it back in the freezer until serving time.

Meringue:
1 1/4 Cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Plus 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
1/4 Cup plus 1 Tablespoons Water
3 Large Egg Whites, at room temperature
Pinch of Salt

Combine 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and water in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat to 220 degrees F., stirring at first to dissolve the sugar. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until they begin to look foamy, then gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and whip until whites form soft peaks. With the mixer running, slowly add the sugar syrup, pouring it down the side of the bowl to avoid the whisk. Continue whipping until stiff peaks form and the bowl is cool.

Makes about 3 1/2 Cups.

Apple Crisp & Cinnamon Ice Cream

I thought a good Cinnamon Ice Cream and the crisp would go quite nice with each other. Apple Crisp is Soooooo Easy. Really, 10 minutes and your house will be smelling like Autumn Comfort!!! uh, even if  it’s spring. Who can resist the smell?   If your making the Ice Cream with it, Consider doing the Ice Cream the night before, and  finishing it up in the morning.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 1/2 Cups Half & Half
1 Cup Sugar
Mix together in a sauce pan on medium heat, until steaming.
In the meantime, in a 2 cup measuring cup, place 5 egg yolks, and beat for about 2 minutes until light and lemony colored. Scoop 1 Cup of the milk mixture and whisking constantly, add the milk to the egg yolks. Pour the yolk mixture back into the pan and cook the mixture until slightly thick and coats the back of a spoon.  Add 1 1/2 cups of Heavy Cream, 2 tsp. Cinnamon, and 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract. Stir well. Cool completely and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, or overnight.  Pour the mixture into your ice cream container, (stir in a cup of Hershey’s Cinnamon chips here too, they’re wonderful in this) and mix according to manufactures direction. Serve with Apple Crisp.

Apple Crisp

Here’s how I make my Apple Crisp. It’s easy, fast and yummy!!
Take 4 large apples, peel, core and cut into desired slices. Take 1 Tbsp. Lemon juice and coat the apples with the lemon juice, stirring till well mixed. Spray an 8X8 pan with cooking spray, pour in the apples. Sprinkle apples with a 1/2 cup of raisins, if desired.   In a Medium bowl, combine 3/4 cup Brown sugar, 1/2 Cup All purpose Flour, 1/2 Cup Oats (or use Granola if you’de like, I did, it’s extra yummy) 1 tsp. Cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg and 1/3 cup of softened butter. Mix well, until mixture resembles small peas. (I use my hands, and just work the mixture with my finger tips.) Sprinkle over apples and Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until crisp is browned and apples are tender. Serve Apple Crisp warm with Cinnamon Ice Cream. Doesn’t get much better than this!!

Peanutbutter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I found this recipe years ago in a magazine  and have been making them ever since. They have never let me down. They come out perfect every time! Crisp around the outside, nice and soft, and chewy in the centers.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
by: Hershey’s
1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter
1/2 Cup Shortening
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup Packed light Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 1/2 Cups Flour, All Purpose
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
2 Cups (12 oz. pkg.)Hershey Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, beat butter, shortening, , peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and eggs on medium speed of electic mixer until well blended.
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until flour mixture is fully incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Apple Turnovers!

Apples are all American Comfort food, they are so versatile in the fact that they can be used in so many different ways. This is my Apple Turnover Recipe. I like making my own puff pastry, but you can buy store bought with just (well, almost) as favorable results. If you need a puff pastry recipe I have one here.   Increase the filling ingredients and make a full size apple pie with this filling too. Yum!

Delectable Dessert’s  Apple Turnovers

Puff Pastry
2 Apples, peeled, cored & diced
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp. Cinnamon (I like Cinnamon)
Dash of Nutmeg
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
Pinch of Salt
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp. Flour
3 Tbsp. Kraft Caramel Bits
3 Tbsp, Heath Milk Choc. Toffee Bits
5 Tbsp. Golden Raisins

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Peel, core and dice 2 apples. In a mixing bowl, mix the apples with the lemon juice until well coated. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and pinch of salt; stir well. In a skillet, melt 2 Tbsp. of butter; add the apple mixture and saute’ until apples are tender and release their juices. Sprinkle the flour over the apples and stir until mixture thickens. Remove from heat.  In a mixing bowl, mix the apple mixture with the Caramel bits, toffe bits and raisins. Mix well.  Roll puff pastry to 1/8 inch. Cut pastry into squares about 4X4 (Or whatever size you want). Spoon some filling into the center of your square and fold over to make a triangle. Seal edges. Place pastries on a non-stick cookie sheet (or Silpat). Brush with milk and coarse sanding sugar, and bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.   Makes 4-8 turnovers, depending on size.