Sour Cherry Pie Filling
July 23, 2009 at 3:58 pm | Posted in pies & tarts, sweet things | 22 Comments
My freezer becomes a bit neglected in the summer. Actually, I cram a whole lot of stuff into it, but apart from ice cream, not a whole lot of stuff manages to find its way back out…intentionally, that is. The other day, after a couple of quarts of frozen chicken stock decided to fling themselves from the freezer when I opened the door (ouch–my foot!), I decided to do a little root-around in there, and I came across my neglected pie dough “collection.” I am often making mini pies and tarts, and stashing what remains from a whole batch of dough in the icebox. If you’re reading this blog, why do I bet that you do, too?!?
I thought that a smart way to use up some of these frozen bits and pieces would be to combine them with something fresh and in season. Sour cherry time is here, although it’ll be over before I can blink, so I knew I had to get myself to the Greenmarket ASAP. I broke out my cherry pitter, and made up a recipe of Nick Malgieri’s “Once-A-Year Cherry Pie” filling. Rather than using his crust, I eeny, meeny, miny, moe’d my dough collection and used some hazelnut linzer scraps that I brought home from work ages ago. You could use a regular sweet dough or a flaky one…heck, probably even a chocolate dough, if you like that combo. Go see what you have hiding in the freezer!
Sour Cherry Pie Filling – makes enough for a 9-inch pie
from a recipe by Nick Malgieri
3 pints fresh sour cherries, stemmed, rinsed and picked over
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
-To make the filling, pit the cherries over a bowl. Use a cherry pitter, or slash the side of each one with a stainless steel paring knife and squeeze gently to extract the pits. Put the cherries in a bowl as they are pitted.
-When all the cherries have been pitted drain the juices from the bowl into a non-reactive saucepan and add 1 cup of the cherries and the sugar. Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is melted and the mixture is very liquid–about 5 minutes.
-Combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl and whisk the cherry and sugar mixture into it. Return to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat, until it comes to a boil thickens and becomes clear. If it does not become clear, continue to cook over low heat an additional few minutes until it does.
-Pour into a large bowl and stir in the remaining filling ingredients, except the cherries then add the remaining cherries.
-Now you are ready to use it as a filling for your favorite pie dough! Bake until the filling bubbles and the dough is golden, at whatever temperature you normally use for your particular dough.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Blanc-Manger
July 21, 2009 at 1:16 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 34 Comments
Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy went midevil on us this week and selected Raspberry Blanc-Manger for TWD. It’s been awhile since I’ve had such a sophisticated dessert here! Time to class up this joint! Blanc-manger is actually something I had never eaten before tonight, because it contains gelatin, which (since I don’t eat most meats) I try my best to avoid. After some initial hesitation and thoughts of skipping this week’s recipe, I got my hands on a Kosher vegetarian gelatin called KoJel, so I gave it a go.
Blanc-manger may have its roots in the Middle Ages, and may have historically been prepared with chicken (what?!?!– did you read the link?), but the modern-day version is basically almond milk and whipped cream set in a mold with the aid of gelatin. I scaled back Dorie’s recipe to just a third, and made two individual portions in ramekins. I folded a combination of fresh raspberries and red currants into the mix before chilling it, and served it with a raspberry coulis. While I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this dessert at first, it is light as a feather (although not low-cal in the least) and absolutely delicious with the berries and currants. Quite beautiful, too, I think.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy. Don’t forget to scan the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Marbled Lemon-Blueberry Butter Cake
July 20, 2009 at 2:41 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 27 Comments
I really look forward to Cake Slice time every month. The best part, of course, is getting to eat homemade cake!! But the second best part is getting in a little decorating practice. I always keep it simple, mainly because I don’t have the finishing skills to make it fancy, but simple suits me best anyway. One thing I’ve discovered is that a few easy to crank out gumpaste or fondant flowers can make even a mediocre frosting job look pretty good!
I was a little on the fence when I saw we’d be making this particular cake, though. It felt like we’d just done the Triple Lemon Chiffon…although looking at my archives, I now realize that was back in March. My, how time flies– I guess we are due for another lemon cake!
This one’s a different animal from the chiffon altogether. You can tell it’s a butter cake, with its nice tight crumb…it is definitely lemony, which I loved (although I do admit to never measuring zest, and may have been heavy-handed). The frosting is a really rich buttercream…but the kicker is the homemade blueberry jam in the middle (and in the marble). How perfectly summery!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our sky-high cakes this month.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brioche Plum Tart
July 14, 2009 at 1:35 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I’ve been itching to make a tart with the gorgeous summer fruits that are popping up at the Greenmarket. Thanks to TWD and Denise of Chez Us, I got the push I needed this week…albeit in a slightly different direction. Rather than a pastry dough, the tart shell here is made from brioche. It’s pressed into a ring and topped with jam, fruit and nuts. Juice from the jam and fruit seeps into the brioche while it bakes. The end result is a really classy tart that temporarily turned my teensy-weensy Manhattan kitchen into a European bakery! By the way, this particular brioche recipe is the easiest I’ve ever made. The butter is melted, and all the ingredients are basically chucked into a bowl at once and mixed. (I’m thinking cinnamon rolls may need to start making more frequent appearances at my breakfast table!)
Although Dorie intends this tart to be a breakfast or tea-time treat, due to my work schedule this week, we enjoyed ours for dessert. As you can see from the picture, I made a couple of indiviual tarts so I wouldn’t have soggy leftovers. One night I used some little purple plums, hardly bigger than golf balls. They softened up quickly in the oven, which is good because the brioche browned awfully fast! The next night, I pressed out a couple more shells and used sweet cherries instead. With a little vanilla whipped cream, both were good, but I think I liked the cherry tarts better…next time, I should give it a go with apricots and a bit of my homemade jam!
The recipe, of course, is in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and is also on Chez Us. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll and Denise’s post over at Chez Us!
Easy Apricot Jam
July 8, 2009 at 8:57 pm | Posted in jams & preserves, sweet things | 34 Comments
First I pickled…now I jam. I think I’m really just looking for excuses to use these cute little French jars. Actually, a recent comment from fellow blogger Joy of Hot Oven, Warm Heart, coupled with finding the cutest little soft apricots at the store the other day, had my one-track mind thinking about pretty much nothing but homemade jam.
The first time I made my own jam was probably about five years ago. I belonged to a CSA, and in the summer months I was taking home bags full of peaches, nectarines and plums each week. Now that’s no hardship, but it was too much for two of us to possibly consume in a week’s time, so I decided to take up canning my own jam. I bought a canning kit, a big pot, a bunch of Ball jars and a couple of books and went to town. My kitchen that summer was like Mr. Wizard’s lab, with bubbling pots, thermometers, sterilized tongs…it was a lot of work, and I was giving away jam to anyone who would take it.
Since that summer, I haven’t been lucky enough to have abundance of stone fruits fall into my lap, so now I’m preserving the easy way, with less sugar and smaller quantities of fruit that yield just enough jam to be eaten up over the course of a couple weeks. The smaller amount of fruit is much easier to work with; it’s also much easier to judge when your jam has gelled. No need for pectin (which I don’t like working with anyway) or water bath processing…just store the finished jam in the refrigerator and use within two weeks. I think that little Ball/Mason jars or French canning jars with rubber seals are downright adorable, but you can recycle store-bought jam jars or just use an airtight container for this type of preserving as well.
If you want, you can also infuse your jam with background flavors during cooking time. A whole cinnamon stick or half a vanilla bean would be great additions to apricot jam. I actually threw a fresh bay leaf into mine while it cooked down. Sounds a little weird, but I remember a pastry chef at an old job poaching whole apricots in a syrup infused with fresh bay. You hardly know it’s there, but it gives a very subtle savory backnote that plays nicely with the sweetness. If you do something like this, just fish out whatever whole spice you’ve added before storing your jam, or the flavor may get too intense while it sits.
Your homemade jam will be the most delicious thing to ever hit your toast, crumpets, crêpes, or (OMG) your PB&J! I haven’t had any consistency problems with this method (because it’s easy to test and correct), but if you ever make jam– whether it’s the easy way or the water bath-processed method– and it sets up loose, don’t throw it out. Runny jam becomes such a perfect fruit sauce for ice cream, yogurt, pound cake, etc, that you can pretend you meant it to be that way!
Easy Apricot Jam— makes 2 1/2 cups
adapted from Cooks Illustrated (July/August 1998)
Note: To prep your apricots, wash, peel (this is optional…personally, I like the skins and leave them on), halve and pit them. Then slice them very thin. You want to wind up with 1 pound of fruit after prepping.
The jam will continue to thicken as it cools, so err on the side of undercooking. Because of its reduced sugar amounts, this jam cannot be canned.
1 pound prepared fruit, about 3 cups
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
– Set a bowl over a larger bowl of ice water; set aside.
– In 10- or 12-inch skillet, bring fruit, sugar, and lemon juice to boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly and skimming foam as necessary, until mixture begins to look syrupy and thickens slightly, about 5 minutes; remove from heat. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon fruit mixture into bowl over ice water; allow to set for 30 seconds. Tip bowl 45 degrees to one side; jam should be a soft gel that moves slightly. If mixture is liquid and runs to side of bowl, return skillet to heat and cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes longer; then repeat test. Save the ice bath to cool the finished product.
-Cool jam to room temperature (over the ice bath) before serving or transferring to a clean glass jar or airtight container (you can sterilized first with boiling water, if you are so inclined). It will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to two weeks.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies
July 7, 2009 at 1:09 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 42 Comments
As a child, there were a few movies I was a bit obsessed with…so you don’t think I’m too demented, I won’t mention that as a six-year-old I could recite lines from The Elephant Man or pretty much the entirety of Mommy Dearest. Instead I will tell you that I’ve seen On Golden Pond, starring none other than Katharine Hepburn, more times than I can count. So for years I’ve known what a wonderful actress she was, but until Lisa of Surviving Oz chose Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies for TWD, I did not know that she was also an accomplished brownie-baker. (By the way, our guest hostess Lisa designed our fantastic new TWD logo, which you can see over there in my sidebar.)
These dark, deeply chocolate brownies are made with cocoa powder and lots of bittersweet chunks. They’re on the thin side, and since they have very little flour (one of Miss Hepburn’s tips for good brownies), they are really fudgy. I know that some people fervently oppose nuts in brownies, but I’m a die-hard with-walnuts fan, so I was glad to see them here. I also liked the strong hit of coffee from the espresso powder in the recipe, but I left out the suggested cinnamon so I wouldn’t have too many competing flavors. After reading a comment from Caitlin, I cut back on the butter by a tablespoon, and they were still wonderfully rich. A half-recipe baked up nicely in a loaf pan, although these were so good, we could easily have polished off a full batch!
The recipe, of course, is in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but she also has it here on NPR’s site, and Lisa of Surviving Oz has it as well. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Perfect Party Cake
June 30, 2009 at 1:21 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
Like many of you, I’ve made the Perfect Party Cake before, but it was so good that when I saw that Carol of mix, mix… stir, stir picked it for TWD, party or no party, I was happy to give it a second go! Since I had stayed pretty true to the original last year, this time around I thought I’d switch up the flavors a bit. Instead of using lemon zest and juice, I put almond extract in the cake itself and matcha powder in the buttercream frosting (I just added both flavors to taste). I skipped the jam component and sprinkled toasted sliced almonds over each layer. Good, good stuff!
The original cake is made from two thicker layers that are halved to make a four-layer cake…I simplified things a bit here, and just baked three thinner ones and used them as-is (or as-was, I guess). After making it twice now, the cake doesn’t seem to be an incredibly high-riser…but it was soft, moist and had a great fluffy texture both times, so I’m assuming that’s the norm. Dorie herself weighed in on the TWD site with some tips to achieve party cake perfection– check them out here.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read mix, mix… stir, stir (Carol always has some cool tricks up her sleeve, so definitely check her post out). Don’t forget to scan the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in June: Bakewell Tart
June 27, 2009 at 1:32 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things | 40 Comments
June’s Daring Bakers’ challenge is Bakewell Tart, brought to us by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. This traditional English tart consists of a sweet shortcrust pastry, which is spread with jam or curd and topped with almond frangipane.
The day before this challenge was announced, I had gotten strawberries and rhubarb as part of my weekly Greenmarket haul. I made them into a compote with my morning granola in mind, but after reading the challenge, I knew it would be perfect for the jam component of the tart. This was pretty easily assembled, and tasted great (especially with whipped cream)! Next time, I’ll use a tart ring with higher sides, so I can fit in more frangipane– I love that stuff!
Check out of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar for the Bakewell Tart recipe, and visit the Daring Kitchen site to see what everyone else is up to!
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.
Cookie Carnival: Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
June 24, 2009 at 8:46 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, events, sweet things | 25 Comments
It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in The Clean Plate Club’s Cookie Carnival. I saw this month’s recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies in a recent issue of Martha Stewart Living, and they were too cute to resist! I have been gorging myself silly on fresh strawberries since the end of May, so I had plenty on hand to whip these up a couple of weeks ago.
These cookies come together without much fuss, but I do have a couple of pointers. They are pretty much just little biscuits, but the addition of fresh strawberries makes the dough quite wet. To make it easier to handle (and to prevent too much color from bleeding into the dough), after tossing the diced strawberries with sugar and lemon, I left any accumulated juice behind before mixing the berries in. I was a little scared of the large amount of heavy cream in the original recipe, so I replaced half of it with buttermilk, and it worked just fine. Keep a close eye on the cookies near the end of baking time…any strawberry bits on the bottom will start to caramelize if they are taken too far.
They really do taste like little shortcakes! Nice and soft, but a sprinkling of sanding sugar gives them a bit of crunch on top. Do take the advice written in the recipe, though, and eat these soon after they’ve cooled. I did save a few overnight in a container, and by the next day, I would have to say that they had gone from nice and soft to sad and soggy.
Strawberry-Shortcake Cookies– makes about 3 dozen
adapted from Martha Stewart Living, June 2009
Steph’s Note: You can replace half the amount of cream with buttermilk.
12 oz strawberries, hulled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 cup heavy cream
sanding sugar, for sprinkling
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.
-Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes (start checking at 20 minutes!). Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool.
-Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise
June 23, 2009 at 4:45 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 35 Comments
Wow. I almost thought this Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise wasn’t going to get done, but I really wanted to give props to Andrea in the Kitchen and the Aussie contingent of TWD, so I busted the recipe out this morning.
If you’re wondering what exactly this is, it’s a cake made from layers of crisp almond-coconut meringue. It’s filled with a softly-whipped white chocolate ganache and pineapple slices. Sounds good, right? It’s not hard to make, but there’s a fair amount of wait-time involved, so it did take awhile from start to finish. I made a half recipe of the meringue layers and a just third of the ganache.
I totally of get a kick out of how retro this thing looks. I know that dacquoise meringue is used as a building block for many classic French desserts, but I think this particular cake looks like it belongs at a 70’s dinner party, which instantly makes me love it! I do have to admit that since I just assembled it about an hour ago, my dacquoise is still sitting in the fridge– uncut and untasted. I have taste-tested all the components separately, though, and I do think the final product will be a hit! I’m looking forward to a chilled slice tonight…probably with a few raspberries thrown around the plate.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Andrea in the Kitchen. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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