Rákóczi túrós

A Hungarian "cheesecake" with a shortbread crust and meringue topping.




Rákóczi túrós

Dough (Rick's Shortbread from Flour Bakery cookbook)
1 cup (2 sticks/228 grams) unsalted butter, room temp
75 g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
1 cup (120 g) cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Cream butter and sugars on medium speed for 5 min, or until light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat at medium for 2-3 min until thoroughly combined. In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, salt. On low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and mix for about 15 seconds, or until the flour mixture is totally incorporated and dough is evenly mixed. Scrape dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, wrap the dough in plastic wrap to form a disk. You may also divide this into two disks if you plan to make two 9X9 tarts later. Refrigerate 30 min (keeps for up to 5 days, take out 20 min at room temp before using).

Filling
100 g granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
225 g farmers' cheese (I used queso fresco)
225 g quark (Vermont creamery)
80 ml sour cream
40 ml mascarpone cheese
2/3 cup raisins
zest of 1/2 lemon, grated

Meringue
2 egg whites
30 g icing sugar
apricot jam

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll chilled dough into a squarish piece about 1 cm thick. Fit it into the bottom of a 9x9 glass Pyrex baking dish. Dock the surface several times with a fork. Bake on center rack 20 min or until top is lightly golden. Spread with a layer of apricot jam.

In a large bowl cream the yolks with the sugar until well incorporated. Mix in the the cheeses, lemon zest, sour cream, mascarpone, and raisins. It will be a little crumbly.

Spread the cheese mixture over the base and bake until set at 350F (about 50 minutes). Reduce the oven temp to 320F. Whisk the egg whites until stiff (add sugar when whites are foamy). Gently fill a piping bag with meringue (be careful to not deflate) and pipe meringue into a grid on the surface using a rose tip. Using a small spoon, drop apricot jam in the grid squares. Bake for 20 minutes until just lightly dried. Let completely cool and cut into squares.

Notes for next time:
-make turo from scratch (texture of queso fresco was too dry, quark was too moist), use 500 g turo, 100 ml sour cream
-for topping, use 50 g granulated sugar with 2 egg whites for a stiffer meringue

Ispahan cupcakes

Strawberry Green Tea & Chocolate Macarons

Tiramisu Cake

Black Sesame Macarons

Green Tea White Chocolate Ganache Macarons

Green Tea White Chocolate Ganache Macarons

For the shells:

Equipment
large mixing bowls, preferably glass (Pyrex)
hand mixer
medium-mesh sieve
rubber spatula
kitchen scale
large piping bag (16 inch)
large round piping tip (about 1/2 inch diameter)
Silpat non-stick baking mat (11.5 x 16.5 inch)
aluminum baking sheet (12 x 17 inch)

Ingredients
100 grams almond meal (I use Bob's Red Mill)
120 grams confectioners sugar
2 egg whites (65 grams)
33 grams granulated sugar
1 tablespoon green tea powder, for dusting

Place sieve over large mixing bowl on top of a kitchen scale. Add 100 grams of almond meal and 120 grams of confectioners sugar. Using a rubber spatula, pass the mixture through the sieve (you should have about 90 grams of almond flour after the coarse pieces have been sifted out). Set aside.

Measure out 33 grams of granulated sugar into a small bowl. Separate two egg whites into a large glass mixing bowl (be careful to make sure the mixing bowl is free of grease/oil). If your egg whites look overly large or small, check the weight on the kitchen scale (you want about 65 grams).

Prepare a Silpat-lined baking sheet and piping bag fitted with large round tip. Twist the end of the piping bag near the tip and secure with a paperclip for easy filling later.

With clean beaters, use a hand held mixer to mix the egg whites on low for 1 minute or until foamy. With the mixer on medium-low, gradually add the granulated sugar. Once sugar has been added, turn the speed up to medium-high and whip to stiff peaks. Take care not to overbeat so you don't end up with dry egg whites.

Add almond meal mixture to stiff egg whites. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the almond meal mixture. Start slowly and mix just until the two are moistened and even. You can control the consistency of your shells depending on how thoroughly you mix. For stiff, chewier shells, mix less; for runnier, smoother, lighter shells, mix a little more (a word of caution though - batter that is too runny is pretty hard to pipe).

Spoon the mixture into prepared piping bag. Twist top closed. With tip pointing vertically upward, remove paper clip and gently squeeze batter out to the top. Pipe shells 1.5-inches in diameter on Silpat, taking care to space shells at least 0.5 inches apart to prevent them from spreading and fusing into each other.

When shells have been piped, rap the baking sheet several times on the counter to smooth them out and remove air bubbles. Using a sieve, dust green tea powder over the top. Let the macarons dry before baking. They should feel smooth and not stick to your finger when you touch them (this takes 30 - 60 minute, depending on the humidity).

Place rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 300 F. Bake macaron shells for 18 minutes. Remove Silpat from baking sheet and let macarons cool completely on the counter before removing/storing.

For the ganache:
60 grams white chocolate
2 teaspoons green tea powder
100 grams heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat the white chocolate in a small bowl until just melted (I used the microwave - two 30-second intervals, stirring after each). Add green tea powder and whisk to combine. Boil the heavy cream (1-2 minutes in the microwave should do it). Pour over the white chocolate mixture and whisk slowly to combine. Soften the butter (10 seconds in microwave) and whisk into the white chocolate mixture. Cover and chill until ganache is firm (at least 1 hour).

Assembly:
Match shells by size and line them up in pairs on cool baking sheet. Spoon chilled ganache into plastic piping bag with a 1/2-inch hole cut in the tip. Fill shells with about 1 teaspoon of ganache each.

Storage:
These macarons taste best after chilling in the fridge overnight, and brought to room temperature just before serving.

French Pear Tart inspired by Dorie Greenspan

What fruits can possibly be in season in the middle of winter? Bosc pears from the Ratty, of course! A lot of us might get turned off by their ugly brown skins and sometimes too-hard-to-bite-into textures (just give them two days by your heater vent or next to that borderline mushy banana), but don't pass up these ugly ducklings just yet! With a rejuvenating skin-peel and a soak in a hot boozy syrup, followed by a nestling in buttery vanilla almond cream, even these eyesores can become magnificent swans of fragrant pear-y goodness.


shhh...they don't know you are conspiring to eat them.



Overall, a lovely tart. 90% based on Dorie's recipe, the booze was my addition. Future endeavors may consider:
-cutting the sugar a bit in the almond cream (maybe to 1/2 cup)
-swapping vanilla for almond extract in the filling
-more pears? perhaps under the almond cream
-more crust on the bottom, less on the sides

French Pear Tart
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's recipe
Makes 16ish servings, depending on how many request seconds

For the pears:
4 smallish medium bosc pears, firm but ripe, peeled, stemmed, and sliced in half
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup amaretto

For the almond cream:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
scant 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup ground blanched almonds
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract
1 partially-baked 9-inch tart (pie) shell, made with Sweet Tart Dough (recipe follows), at room temp
reduced pear poaching liquid, for glazing (optional, recipe below)
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Bring the 4 cups water, 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and amaretto to a boil in a saucepan just large enough to hold the pears. Add the pears to the boiling syrup, lower the heat so the syrup simmers and gently poach the pears until they are tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 minutes. Cool the pears to room temperature in the syrup (I left them overnight on the counter - they were still warm the next morning and the amaretto flavor was nicely infused).

To make the almond cream: Put the butter and sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and continue to process until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch, process, and then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the rum or vanilla and process just to blend. If you prefer, you can make the cream in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl with a rubber spatula. Spread the almond cream evenly over cool pie crust with a spatula and refrigerate until chilled (I did 30 min in the freezer).

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Core the pears (pull the stringy part out as you core). Pat the pears very dry with paper towels so that their liquid won't keep the almond cream from baking.

Take the chilled cream and crust out of the refrigerator. Thinly slice each pear half crosswise, lift each half on a spatula, press down on the pear to fan it slightly and place it, wide-end toward the edge of the crust, over the almond cream. The halves will form spokes.

Bake the tart for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the pears and browns. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature.

Prepare a glaze by bringing the pear poaching liquid to a boil, reducing it to a syrupy consistency (about 5 min on high, check it periodically to make sure it doesn't start caramelizing too much). Brush the glaze over the surface of the tart. Dust with Confectioners' sugar.

Storing: If it's convenient for you, you can make the almond cream up to 2 days ahead and keep it closely covered in the refrigerator, or you can wrap it airtight and freeze it for up to 2 months; defrost before using. You can also poach the pears up to 1 day ahead. Once you've baked the tart, you should be prepared to enjoy it that same day, although chilled leftovers are pretty scrumptious out of the fridge.

Sweet Tart Dough
(also Dorie's)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (4 1/2 ounces) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the workbowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely. Stir the egg, 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 forms clumps and curds. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface.

Very lightly and sparingly knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing. (note: I did this by hand with a pastry cutter - getting an even dough was a challenge - the dough was still dry after adding the egg yolk. I ended up adding 1 tablespoon of heavy cream to make it come together)

Butter the tart pan and press the dough evenly along the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To 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 and fit the foil tightly against the crust. Bake the crust 25 minutes, then carefully remove the foil. Bake for another 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack; keep it in its pan.