Sour Cherry Strudel

Sour Cherry Strudel (from about.com)

Strudel Dough:
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cold butter
Melted butter
Flour for rolling
Cherry Strudel Filling:
8 cups washed, stemmed, pitted sour cherries
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (optional)
1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar or to taste
Garnish:
Confectioners' sugar for dusting

In a small bowl, mix water, vinegar and salt. Place flour in a large bowl and cut the butter in as for pie dough. Add water mixture and stir by hand for about 5 minutes or until dough becomes smooth.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding as little extra flour as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest 1 hour.

Meanwhile, prepare the cherry filling by combining the cherries, lemon rind, if using, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cover a large table with a clean cotton tablecloth (it will become stained from the fat in the dough, so use an old tablecloth). Sprinkle the cloth generously with flour. Place the dough in the center of the cloth and brush it with melted butter. Roll the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness.

Begin stretching the dough either over the backs of your hands or palm-side up, whichever works best for you. Work quickly, continually lifting the dough and stretching it by pulling your hands apart until it is almost paper thin and drapes over the sides of the table. See Serbian Cheese Strudel Making to get the idea. Using kitchen shears, trim off the thicker outer edges of the strudel dough.

Place rack in middle of oven and heat to 400 degrees. Brush the dough liberally with melted butter. Place the cherry filling along one long edge in a 3-inch-wide strip, 2 inches from the edges.

Use the tablecloth to roll the strudel away from you, jellyroll fashion, until it is completely rolled. Brush the top of the strudel with melted butter. Cut into sections that will fit your baking sheets and tuck in ends of strudel.

Place parchment on baking sheets and transfer strudel sections to them, seam-side down. Bake 10 minutes, reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until strudel is crisp and golden.

Remove from oven, cool slightly and then cut on an angle into slices. Dust with confectioners' sugar. You may also cool completely to make the slicing easier and then rewarm in a microwave. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve as is or with a dollop of whipped cream or scoop of ice cream.

David Lebovitz's Toasted Almond Candied Cherry Ice Cream

Three things taste like almonds in this ice cream: the almond-infused custard with a faint hint of almond extract, the toasted almonds themselves, and the candied cherries.


The cherries from the jar, we feared, were not the sour cherries that the recipe called for so a lemon was hastily grated and squeezed into the syrup to up the tangy ante. It turned out that yes Morello Cherries are indeed sour cherries, but the extra zing only made this ice cream vanish from the bowl ever faster.


Recipe credit to David Lebovitz in that lovely ice cream book of his, The Perfect Scoop.

Dorie's Pear Tart, Take Two

European butter produced a wonderfully light, flaky, verge-of-burnt brown crust.


Changes from Dorie's recipe:
-in frangipane: ground toasted almonds instead of ground blanched almonds, almond extract instead of vanilla
-in crust: European butter (85% butterfat)
-in poaching syrup: 1/4 cup bourbon
-glaze: reduced bourbon/lemon/pear poaching syrup

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.

Raspberry Macarons and Cake Pops

Look at that reflection in the table! How adorbs is he?

Macarons, like you and me, are unique. One of these raspberry macs went surfing in the California sun and the other sat at home snacking in front of Food Network. Both, however, were delicious in their own way.

Some macarons are too sweet, but these combine the complex bittersweetness of quality dark chocolate and the bright floral tang of raspberries. We found freeze dried raspberries at Trader Joe’s; if you cannot get your hands on these, you can try freeze dried strawberries or concentrated raspberry jam or coulis in the ganache and omit the raspberries from the shells.

Chocolate raspberry ganache (fills 20 macarons)
100g dark chocolate, finely chopped
100g heavy cream
30g butter, room temp
10g raspberry powder (ground freeze dried raspberries)

Shells (makes 36-40 shells)
90 g almond flour
120 g confectioner's sugar
35 g granulated sugar
70 g egg white (2 large whites)
2 g raspberry powder, plus more for dusting


For ganache: Heat cream in microwave until just about to boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk slowly until smooth. Add butter and raspberry powder, and whisk til smooth. Cover with plastic wrap directly on the surface and refrigerate til just stiff enough to pipe.

For shells: Pulse almond flour, confectioner's sugar, and raspberry powder in food processor until very finely ground. Sift the powder with a medium-mesh sieve, discarding the almond bits and raspberry seeds that don’t fit through; whisk to blend. With oil-free beaters and a clean metal bowl, whisk egg whites until white and frothy, and add granulated sugar 1 tablespoon at a time while whisking on medium high speed until egg whites have stiff peaks. Fold 1/2 of the dry ingredients into the meringue until just incorporated. Add the remaining dry ingredients and fold 15-20 times to make a lava-like batter. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe 1.25-inch circles onto a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Rap them a few times to wake up the neighbors, remove air pockets, and flatten any stubborn bumps. With a fine mesh sieve, dust the tops with raspberry powder. Let rest until dry to the touch (about 45 minutes, longer on rainy days). Preheat oven to 300F with the oven rack on the lower third. Bake macaron shells on the lower third of the oven for 18-20 minutes, until the center ones don't wobble when nudged. Remove Silpat onto the table and allow shells to cool 30 minutes before removing.

Assembly: Match them based on size and fill with ganache. Refrigerate or freeze immediately and allow them to get happy overnight. Allow to rest at room temp (30 minutes if from the fridge, 2 hours if from freezer) before enjoying.

It appears that cake pops are harder than macarons to make. These are the only two that did not fall apart and end up on the table. We suspect it's because we used homemade cream cheese frosting to make the cake balls, and this may have been less sticky than the trans-fat laden Betty Crocker frosting that the recipe called for. Or maybe we're just nooby when it comes to cake pops. The latter is highly probable. :D

The Ultimate Banana Cream Pie

Banana cream pie is already up to no good, so it wouldn't hurt to make it naughtier...

...by adding salted caramel and two types of shaved chocolate! But the food nerds think....

...there's STILL room for improvement. :D Updated, ultimate ultimate version coming in the near future. Stay tuned!

Green, Purple, and Orange Salad

Gotta take advantage of the stone fruits while they're in season.

Green, Purple, and Orange Salad

mixed greens
sliced green bell pepper
sliced cucumber
feta cheese
plums
apple cider vinegar
olive oil

Mix up the veggies, fruit, and cheese and drizzle with olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

White Chocolate Mousse Fruit Jewel Cake

Fluffy buttery vanilla cake filled with creamy white chocolate mousse and fresh grapes, frosted with crème chantilly and garnished with almonds, pistachio brittle, caramelized hazelnut powder, fresh figs, and grapes.

I'm usually a very modest person. But another one of my virtues as a human being is that I am honest. And it would be a violation of the moral fiber of my very soul to say that this little cake is not the most adorable little gem of a cake I had ever seen get created from my two hands. (I have submitted the previous sentence to the writers of the SAT for their writing improvement section). I simply adore natural decorations on a cake (translation - this person is too lazy/nooby to decorate cakes otherwise). Just look at the gorgeous villi-like innards of the figs contrasting with the shiny jet black skins, the little veins of the translucent grape flesh, and the organic shards of the nuts and iridescent caramel (mais non, I did not plagiarize from an anatomy text). I made the butter cake part ages ago and froze it. Then I split it in half - this was a genius maneuver because it enabled me to dodge my knack of mutilating soft cakes while sawing them into layers. I cheated on the white chocolate mousse too - it was made by pouring 1 cup hot cream on 2.5 oz of chopped white chocolate, stirring to melt, and then chilling the ganache and beating it til soft peaks formed.

Please let me redeem myself by telling you about the grapes. Those grapes were individually hand selected and peeled, cut in half, and seeds removed. The pistachio brittle and hazelnut caramel powder were made by pouring caramel over the nuts, letting it cool, and breaking it up. For the powder, I used the food processor to blast the brittle to smithereens. The outside of the cake is just lightly sweetened whipped cream (it sounds fancier when you call it crème chantilly), stabilized with "Whip-It." The almonds conveniently cover all the imperfections.

I learned a trick to making the cream smooth while frosting the outside! I don't actually think it's a trick...I'm pretty certain all legit cake decorators would roll their eyes upon hearing my profound discovery of dipping the spatula in a vat of hot water while smoothing the cream. Genius, huh?

Believe it or not, there are improvements I would make to this cake. The white chocolate mousse could be more legit. Although it was super simple to make, I thought the flavor was lacking in something. Maybe I would add some malted milk powder to it or use a mousse recipe with egg yolks. The crème chantilly, however, cannot be improved - kudos to whichever cow made that cream and the Hawaiian farmer who made that sugar. Oh, and I guess the matchmaker behind that happy marriage should get some credit too. I only used figs and grapes because all the other yummier fruits got eaten. If I could have my way, the cake would be filled with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, would be 3 layers tall, and would be topped with mango, kiwi, strawberry, and blackberry slices. Kind of like a fruit tart. It would be gorgeous! But I shall stop right there because I think I hear some sniffling coming from the fridge, and you know I hate to hurt cakes' feelings. Perhaps we can console it by devouring another slice...

Raspberry Slump

We saw this blackberry slump recipe in Saveur and fell in love. Sadly, our slump kinda slumped too much and didn't overflow like the model in the original picture. The raspberries were from Costco. We bought a pack of 6, ate two, fridged 2, and froze another 2 boxes. They. Were. Divine! Especially the slightly defrosted ones. Costco is just so awesome.

A list of our favorite things to get from Costco:

1. frozen blueberries

2. multigrain bread, the one in the green bag

3. dog food

4. shampoo

5. fish oil

6. wine

7. plastic wrap

8. nuts

9. raspberries!

A list of least favorite things to get from Costco:

1. milk. Seriously, who can drink milk that fast? Rather, whose fridge is big enough to fit 2 gallons?

2. romaine lettuce. unless you have a rabbit or two at home.

3. apples. they shouldn't be the size of softballs.

4. clothes. they never fit. I'm not sure what possessed me on the day I decided to try on a snow white costume that was designed for someone half my age, but a man walking by thought it'd be funny to ask, "Is that your wedding dress??" Unfortunately, a witty comeback escaped me as I pathetically struggled to regain circulation from the suffocating netting.

Anyway, this slump was amazing! Not sure why it's called a slump. Maybe it helps to lower expectations, so it tastes yummier. The concentrated tangy sweet baked raspberries and the buttery crumble topping were perfect complements to the white-wine flavored vanilla butter cake underneath. The wine flavor was my favorite part of the slump. I want to try adding wine to other butter cake recipes! Or perhaps a wine chiffon...mmmm

Raspberry Slump (adapted from Saveur)

2 1⁄4 cups flour
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter,
cut into 1⁄2" cubes, chilled,

 plus 8 tbsp. melted and
more for greasing
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt
1⁄2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 lb. fresh or frozen thawed raspberries
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. To make crumb topping, combine 1⁄4 cup flour, 1⁄4 cup sugar, and 2 tbsp. chilled and cubed butter in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture takes on texture of coarse bread crumbs, about 10 seconds. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oven to 350°. Grease eight 6-oz. ramekins with butter and dust with flour; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk remaining flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large measuring cup, whisk together melted butter and wine; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together remaining sugar, vanilla, and eggs until pale and thick, about 2 minutes. Add wine mixture to eggs and whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide batter between ramekins and top each with berries. Sprinkle reserved crumb topping evenly over berries. Put ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 1 hour. Transfer to a rack and let cool for 20 minutes; serve with scoops of ice cream on top.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

Tartine Tarts

Apple nougatine tart, based on the recipe from the Tartine Bakery book. It is a flaky all butter crust filled with caramelized granny smith and golden delicious apples, tossed with a teeny bit of cinnamon and the juice of a lime (the recipe didn't call for cinnamon and used lemon instead of lime; I used lime just because I was lazy and didn't want to go hunting for a lemon). The tart is topped with an almond nougatine (what the heck is that?) which is made from sliced almonds, egg whites, sugar, and salt. Couldn't be easier!

The trick to a flaky crust? Cook's Illustrated will tell you to use shortening and vodka...but seriously, how are you supposed to bake when you are tipsy and suffering cardiac arrest from trans fats. Listen to Martha Stewart, or Tartine Bakery, and use all butter! The key points:

- Cut butter into 2 cm cubes and freeze for 10 min while you put flour in food processor

- Weigh all ingredients

- Use ice water

- Pulse butter and flour very briefly until you have fat pea-sized clumps. Peas are big! Don't be fooled by their unassuming name. None of this pea-wee nonsense. Fat peas!

- Pour the bare minimum of water in all at once and pulse very briefly until it just starts to clump - Don't wait for it to form a ball in the processor! Squeeze together, and if it holds, you're golden. If it doesn't, sprinkle on a little more water.

- Dump the dough out into a bowl, squeeze once into a dense flat disk, cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for a good hour.

- Roll out into disks, and fill tart pans. No stretching the dough! It will shrink when it bakes.

- FREEZE again for 15 minutes, then bake immediately from the freezer in a 385 degree oven with coffee filters weighted down with beans for 25 minutes, then remove weights and bake until golden, at least 5 minutes.

The complete recipe is in Tartine's book. First you peel and core the apples, and then slice them 1/8-1/4 inch thick (I think it's ok if they are different thicknesses because the texture difference is nice). Working in batches, melt 1 Tbsp butter and 2 tsp sugar in large heavy bottomed pan over high heat until sugar starts to caramelize. Add apples, cook until apples soften - remove to a holding bowl. Repeat for all apples, and then toss everything with the juice of a lime or lemon, zest, some salt, and some cinnamon (Tartine did not call for cinnamon). Layer the apples neatly into the shells; it's ok if the apples are still warm. For the topping, mix egg white, sugar, toasted almonds, and pinch of salt until well blended. Spread evenly over tarts. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until topping is just golden and you are salivating. The combination of the buttery flaky crust, tangy sweet caramelized apples, and toasted sweet and savory almonds is amazing.

Too many pictures of the same thing? I think so. But I couldn't resist! This mango tart is very simple. Just Tartine's pastry cream and fresh sliced manila mangoes (I am in love with these! They have a silken texture and an incredible floral, nutty, milky fragrance). Tartine's pastry cream is unique in that it uses whole eggs and milk, rather than egg yolks and half-and-half, so it is lighter and the vanilla flavor is brighter. Next time I might reduce the sugar a little because this was a teeny bit sweet, but delicious. (can't say no to custard!) I didn't have vanilla beans, so I used some vanilla paste.

Fruit tart with mango, strawberries, and bluberries