Clafouti!

Black sweet cherries are my favourite!

At this time of year you can get them at any grocery store or even better, at a farmer's market.

I have a clafouti recipe, which I have been using for years and I couldn't find it! So I used a recipe from Epicurious.

Cherry clafouti
recipe adapted from here

65gr white sugar
30gr all purpose flour
2 eggs
150gr milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange zest
1/4 tsp salt
250gr sweet cherries, pitted
10gr butter in bits

* Preheat oven to 200oC.
* Mix sugar, flour, eggs, milk, vanilla, orange zest and salt together, until smooth.
* Arrange the cherries in a buttered deep baking dish and pour the custard over them.
* Bake for 25 minutes until the top is springy.
* Sprinkle the top of the clafouti with some sugar, dot it with the butter and broil it until the top is caramelised. Or you can use a kitchen torch, like for a creme brulee.

I dusted the top with confectioner's sugar to make it prettier, but you can omit that.

Really tasty and fragrant!

Louise

Sugar cookie recipe!

I make sugar cookies all the time.

I use a recipe which I have adapted to my liking over the years.

These cookies hold their shape and you can add any kind of flavour. You can tint them in your colour theme. Decorate them with sprinkles, RI, buttercream!

Endless possibilities!

Sugar Cookies (basic)

250gr butter
250gr white sugar
500gr all purpose flour
1 egg
a little vanilla

* You beat the butter with the sugar and add the egg.
* Then add the vanilla and last the flour.
* Mix until just combined.
* Use in any way you want!

Louise

Blondies! I think ....

I like brownies a lot. So it is rather natural for me to try and make some blondies. It is considered to be the white brownies, right?

Blondies

recipe adapted from here

6oz. white chocolate (I found a white chocolate bar with Oreos and mixed in)
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
7oz. sweetened evaporated milk
dark chocolate chips

* Preheat oven to 180oC.
* Melt butter and chocolate over low heat until melted and combined.
* Let it cool slightly and then whisk in the eggs lightly beaten and vanilla.
* Then add flour, baking powder, salt.
* Stir until mixture is smooth.
* Pour into a springform pan and bake for 20 minutes.
* As soon as you take it out of the oven, immediately pour the milk all over the blondies.
* Sprinkle the chocolate chips generously and let it cool.

It is so tasty.... Out of this world! Trust me, you have to make it!

Louise

Salted caramel chocolate tart!

Chocolate... Caramel... Salt in the caramel....

Really, isn't this one of the most beautiful combinations ever?

Salted caramel chocolate tart

recipe adapted from this lovely blog

Cookie Crust:

7,5 oz all purpose flour
1 oz cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2,5 oz confectioner's sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Salted Caramel:
2,25 cups sugar
3/4 cup glucose syrup
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1,5 cups evaporated milk
1,5 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Ganache:
4 oz chocolate

1/2 cup evaporated milk

Preheat the oven to 180oC.

(crust) 

* Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt. 

* In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar. 

* Add in the egg yolks and vanilla, and mix until combined. 

* Little by little, add the dry ingredients until incorporated. The dough may look crumbly, but it should come together easily when you pinch it between your fingers.

* Press the dough out into a tart pan. Prick all over with a fork, and pop into the freezer for 10 minutes. 

* Cover the bottom with cling film, add dry beans and bake for 15 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack. 

(caramel)

* Place the sugar, glucose syrup and salt in a saucepan over medium heat. 

* Stir a  little, then don't stir for the remainder of the cooking process. The sugar first turns clear, then it starts to bubble and darken. 

* Once it looks like caramel, stir in the butter. Be careful, it might sputter. 

* Remove it from the heat and add the milk and vanilla. Be careful!

* Pour the caramel into the crust and place in the fridge for about 3 hours, until set.

(chocolate ganache)

* Heat the milk and pour it over the chopped chocolate. 

* Let it sit for a minute and then stir until smooth. 

* Pour the ganache over the caramel and refrigerate for a few hours until set.

If you want, you can sprinkle some sea salt on top!

The crust is very good. Crumbly, but not soft or hard. Just the way it should be!

Don't you just love the way the caramel oozes?

The salted caramel is essentially a butterscotch, which I had made before, so no surprises there.

Amazing!

Louise

Daring Bakers - June 2013!

Another month, another delicious challenge!

This month it was pies, pies, pies!
The chalenge was hosted by Rachel from pizzarossa and we were asked to make one or all of the four pies Rachel suggested!

I chose to make the Crack Pie, because I had made a salted caramel chocolate tart and pasta flora (as we call it) tart with jam a while ago.

Crack Pie

This is a recipe that you have to make in two parts. First the crust, then the filling and you will see why.

First:
Oat Cookie Crust

125g unsalted butter, room temperature, divided (85gm & 40gm)
70 gm brown sugar, divided (50 gm & 20 gm)
30 gm white sugar
1 large egg
80 gm old-fashioned oats
70 gm all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt


* Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 33x22x5cm baking pan with parchment paper and butter it.
* Combine 85 gm of the butter, 50 gm of brown sugar and the white sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
* Add the egg and beat for about 1 minute, until it is light and fluffy.
* Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended.
* Dump the oat mixture into the baking pan and press out evenly to the edges.
* Bake until light golden about 18 - 20 min. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cookie cool completely.
* Using your fingertips, crumble the cookie a into large bowl - there should be no pieces of cookie remaining. Add the remaining (45 gm) butter and (20 gm) brown sugar. Rub in with your fingertips until the mixture is moist and sticks together when pressed between your fingers.
* Transfer cookie crust mixture to a pie dish. Using your fingers, press it evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish.* Prepare the filling.

Second:
Filling

170 gm white sugar
100 gm brown sugar
8 gm dry milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
115gm unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
100ml heavy whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar for dusting

* Preheat the oven to 180°C. If possible, use bottom-only heat, or the filling may brown too quickly.
* Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt together in a bowl.
* Add melted butter and whisk until blended.
* Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended.
* Pour filling into crust.
* Bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 160°C and continue to bake until filling is brown on top and set around edges but center still jiggles slightly.
* Cool pie completely in pie dish on wire rack. Chill uncovered overnight.
* Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into thin wedges and serve cold.

The cookie baked. It was softer than I thought it would be, but it was ok.

I lined my pie dish with parchment paper. Don't do it. It stuck and I couldn't get the pieces out easily....

Ready for the oven.

Out of the oven. I think I overbaked it...

Slices of heaven!


Now for the comments...
Why had I not heard of this pie before? No, really, why? I was literally going in and out of the kitchen binging on this pie.
I know it is not pretty. G. was skeptical, because he didn't think it would be tasty. He ate half of it...

It is like eating caramel or some sort of candy bar. I think it is my Nr. 2 favorite tart to eat, after my salted caramel one.
I am definately making it again, but I will try to bake it less time, just to see if it will turn out prettier.

Thank you Rachel! The challenge you hosted was great!

By the way, I thought that the crust recipe would make great cookies, just by itself, right?

Louise

Pasta-less lazagna!

I was surfing around on the Internet the other day with nothing specific in mind, just on the general subject of the South Beach Diet.
I saw many recipes and the general idea was that you try to replace carbs, ie. pasta with vegetables, especially courgettes.

One of my very very favourite recipes is, what I call, the Garfield lasagna!!!

So, I decided to give it a twist....

Pasta-less lasagna

ingredients:
courgettes, enough to make layers on the deep dish you will use
mince meat sauce, any kind you like or you can make it yourself
low - fat yellow cheese, again use your favourite
low - fat cream cheese, to your liking

There is really nothing to it. You prepare them the regular way! Just have the ingredients ready and start assembling.

Cut your courgettes thin, I used a mandoline.

Spray a non-stick pan with olive oil and cook the courgettes.

Layer them in your baking dish.

Add a layer of meat sauce.

Then some yellow cheese and some cream cheese (not shown).
Once you have finished layering, bake the lasagna in a preheated 180oC oven for at least 40 minutes.

Ready!

The layers turned out well and the taste was very good. It could use a little more salt!
There was more liquid than I liked, so next time I will salt the courgettes and let them drain, before I cook them.

Louise

Daring Bakers - May 2013

So, another month, another challenge!
Oh, I really did enjoy this one!

It was hosted by one of my favourite food bloggers Korena from Korena in the kitchen.

Our challenge..... Swedish Prinsesstårta !!!!
A really impressive dessert, that you can play a lot with and make endless flavour combinations.
I had seen this before, but I thought it was intimidating, because of the process. I was wrong. It is worth it!

It is a dessert that you "build", in this manner, from top to bottom:

• Marzipan
• Sponge cake
• Whipped cream
• Custard/pastry cream
• Sponge cake
• Custard/pastry cream
• Raspberry jam
• Sponge cake

These are the layers for the traditional cake. Yet, we were able to get creative!
At first I thought of chocolate. Well, I always think of chocolate first for every challenge and how I can make a chocolate dessert...
I did use some white chocolate this time, but what essentially made me go the way I went, was the apple - thyme jam I made a couple of days earlier. I thought apple - cinnamon - custard.... Great!

So, here is mine:

• Marzipan egg-free
• Cinnamon sponge cake
• Whipped cream unsweetened
• White chocolate custard cream
• Cinnamon sponge cake
• White chocolate custard cream
• Apple - thyme jam
• Cinnamon sponge cake

Let us start....

White Chocolate Custard

240ml heavy cream, divided
4 egg yolks
15 gm cornstarch
30 gm granulated white sugar
1 tsp vanilla vanilla extract
150gr white chocolate melted

- Whisk together the cornstarch, sugar and egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 120 ml heavy cream until smooth.

- In the mean time in a saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining 120 ml of heavy cream and the vanilla extract and bring just to a boil. Add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the bowl with the egg mixture to temper the eggs.

- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens and comes to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. I didn't have to pour my custard through a mesh sieve because luckily it was smooth!

- Pour the custard into a bowl and press a piece of cling film directly onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until completely cold. I made it a day earlier and kept it in the refrigerator. 

Cinnamon Sponge Cake

4 large eggs
225 gm granulated white sugar
70 gm all-purpose flour
65 gm cornstarch
5 gm baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon

- Preheat the oven to 180°C with a rack in the lower third of the oven. Thoroughly butter a round pan, line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper, then butter the paper. Dust the buttered pan with flour (i didn't do the breadcrumbs). Set aside.

- Mix the eggs and granulated white sugar and beat on medium-high speed until the eggs are tripled in volume and very light coloured and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The mixture should fall from the beaters in thick ribbons. 

- Sift the flour, corn starch ans baking powder into a bowl, add the salt and then sift the flour mixture over the whipped eggs. With a balloon whisk, fold the flour into the eggs until blended. Once mixed, the batter should be quite thick and smooth.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread it out evenly, and bake for about 40 min until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few crumbs sticking to it.

- Let the cake cool in the pan for 5 min, then remove it from the pan, invert it onto a cooling rack and peel off the parchment paper.

Marzipan egg-free

115 gm white almonds
225 gm icing sugar
60 ml corn syrup
15 ml lemon juice 

- Put the almonds and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to break and mix the almonds.

- Add the corn syrup and pulse again to combine. Do not be afraid of how the mixture looks, just keep going.

- With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the lemon juice. Stop when the mixture starts to come together and looks like a dough.

- Knead the marzipan into a ball. Wrap in plastic and chill for a couple of hours.It is enough to cover the cake and nibble as you assemble it.....

Whipped cream

2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream, chilled
1 tsp white granulated sugar

I always use a chilled mixing bowl and whisk before I make my whipped cream.
Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and continue whipping the cream until stiff. Be carefully to stop when it is stiff. If you over-whip, you get butter. Put it in the fridge until ready to assemble the cake.

Now for the critical part: assembly!

- Cut the sponge cake in three disks and reserve the middle disk for the end.
- Put one disk on your serving platter.
- Spread it evenly with the apple - thyme jam.
- Spread half the chocolate custard over the jam in an even layer, but don't go all the way  to the edges.
- Top the chocolate custard with another layer of cake.
- Spread the remaining custard evenly over it.
- Reserve ½ cup of the whipped cream and pile the rest into a mound on top of the custard. Spread it with an off-set spatula at an angle to shape the whipped cream into a dome, piling it up in the middle of the cake.
- Place the third disk (the middle one) on top of the whipped cream. Gently tuck the edges of the cake layer into the whipped cream, so that there is a smooth dome on top.
- Take the rest of the whipped cream and crumb-coat the cake.
- Put it in the fridge for a while to help it set.
- Roll the marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar in a circle large enough to cover the cake.
- Cover the cake carefully, smooth the marzipan and cut the excess at the bottom of the cake with a sharp knife.
- Decorate and put it in the fridge again for a couple of hours.
- Take it out about 30 min before you serve it.

This is the jam layer.

This is the white chocolate custard.

This is my dome...

Covered....

Ready!

My comment on this is that I will make it again for the next family lunch. I am already thinking:

• Modelling white chocolate
• Milk chocolate cake
• Whipped cream unsweetened
• White chocolate custard cream
• Milk chocolate cake
• White chocolate custard cream
• Salted caramel
• Milk chocolate cake

 (I am drooling...)


Thank you Korena for giving us a real challenge!!!


Louise