Creme Brulee

So easy and so good!  Who knew?  And why didn’t you tell me? 

This month’s baking challenge was creme brulee and was chosen by Michelle of One Ordinary Day.  The creme brulee recipe she chose comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I loved this recipe.  The hardest thing about it is the waiting, for it to bake and then chill for several hours.  Oh, and did I mention that there was fire involved?  There is!  I had an ol’  kitchen torch that wasn’t working so well so my honey and I took a little trip to Home Depot and came home with Taluela the Torch or as I fondly call her T.  :) 

 

I made two versions, a vanilla bean (the round dish) and a cinnamon. Both were very good and am not sure I can pick a favorite.  I’m thinking I’d like to try a spiced version next.  What flavor would you make?  Oh, wait! You need the recipe, right?  Hop on over to Michelle’s for it and be sure to also check out Monica’s version.  I wouldn’t be surprised if you found some chocolate involved in one of theirs.

Lesson #182

Test the level of your fruits’ sweetness prior to using them in a recipe that only calls for 2 tablespoons of sugar.  ‘Cause if you don’t, you might end up with a very pretty but NOT very tasty Strawberry Galette.  :(

I learned my lesson.  I made an apple galette  last night and had to add more sugar.  No photos of that one the kids were standing at the ready with plates and spoons.  :)

Strawberry Galette adapted from Eat & Be Happy 

Ingredients

Pastry
1 2/3 cups plain flour
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
150g or 5.3 oz unsalted butter, cubed  
2 to 4 tbsp iced water

Filling
2/3 cup ground almonds, lightly toasted (I ground my almonds in the food processor)
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pint of strawberries
2 tbsp sugar (check the sweetness of your strawberries and add to taste)

1. To make the pastry Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Rub the cold butter in until a loose mixture forms. Add the cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until a loose dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least an hour.  Or buy it like I did.  :)
2. To make the filling Combine the ground almonds and flour; set it aside. Take the stems off the strawberries , halve them and gently combine them with the sugar.
3. Preheat the oven at 200C or 392F. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll the pastry out into a 9 inch circle. Spoon the almond mixture into the centre of the pastry. Spread the almond mixture evenly, leaving a 3 inch border. Place  the strawberries on top of the almond filling. Wrap the pastry edges over the strawberries. I brushed mine with some cream and sprinkled turbinado sugar for added crunch.
4. Bake the galette for about 20 to 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.  Top with some lightly sweetened whipped cream. Serves 6

Calling All Banana Lovers!

Oh, my goodness have I got a banana recipe for you!  Banana beignets.  Ever heard of them?  I hadn’t until  Maranda at Jolts & Jollies made them and then I couldn’t stop thinking about them.  I never blog about a recipe the same day I make  it but these, oh, I couldn’t keep these from you a moment longer. I also wanna apologize for the less than stellar photos but I had the kids gathered around me wanting to eat them hot and I’m still trying to figure out my camera’s manual setting.

A coupla notes about the recipe.  Besides being insanely delicious(the beignets)  the batter is super easy to make.  BUT I’m not gonna lie, I needed another pair of hands once I started frying. You could go it alone but I found things went smoother once I called in reinforcements.  Another thing, your first coupla beignets aren’t going to look like much but that’s okay ‘cause they’re gonna taste just as good as the pretty ones.  The pretty ones?  Those will be the last few batches you make as you get the hang of things.  The recipe called for rolling the beignets in cinnamon sugar but  I only did half of them and used powdered sugar on the other half.  (The kids were all over the powdered sugar ones.)  Almost done and I’ll let you can get to makin’ these for yourself.  The recipe calls for banana extract.  If you have it, use it and really kick up the banana goodness!  :)

Click here for a printable recipe.

Quick & Easy

Here’s a quick and easy dessert you can make when that last minute invite comes through and you don’t want to go empty handed.

I’ve made similar brownies before but found this idea for the base on a blog recently.  (I apologize for not remembering which one.  Let me know if it was YOU and I’ll update my post with a link.)  The other blogger just layered graham cracker squares on the bottom instead of making a graham cracker crust.  Doesn’t get any easier. I like easy.

Quick & Easy S’mores Brownies

• One box of your favorite brownie mix
• One box of graham crackers
• One bag of marshmallows

Grab desired pan and line with aluminum foil.  Once lined layer with graham crackers. Prepare your brownies according to the box directions and pour into pan.  Set timer for 5 minutes prior to the recommended bake time to allow for the addition of your marshmallows.  When the timer goes off quickly top brownies with marshmallows and put back into oven until marshmallows are puffy and browned, 5 minutes or so.  Once out of the oven I added more graham cracker squares to the top and allowed to cool.

Note:  You don’t need the whole box of graham crackers or bag of marshmallows.  Add as much or as little as desired. You could, if so desired make homemade brownies instead of a box mix and you could get even crazier and use homemade graham crackers and marshmallows.  I’m not that crazy.  :)

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Hope everyone is enjoying their three day holiday weekend!    :)

Lesson #127

Okay, folks today’s lesson is #127.  When you are getting all of your ingredients prepped and ready for a recipe put up the unnecessary ones.  Why?  So that smaller ingredients like 2 tsps of vanilla don’t get hidden behind your giant canister of flour.

The answer is yes.  Yes, I did forget to add in the 2 tsps of vanilla called for in my recipe.  Yes, the bars were still good but you (I)could tell there was something missing. Or that they needed something more.  With that thought in mind I sprinkled some coarse sea salt on top.  It helped but they still weren’t “right”.   I didn’t take any photos but my final solution was to top the bars with vanilla ice cream and some salted caramel sauce.    Better!

Today’s lesson was brought to you by me but the recipe was brought to you by Lori from Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness.  For those of you that haven’t met Lori I suggest you hop on over, grab this recipe, and take a look around.  Lori is as real as it gets.  I’m in awe of all that she makes.  I admit I’m picky and don’t know if I would like it all but I like that she isn’t afraid to try new things.  When I think of daring, I think of Lori!

Jumping on the Cobbler Bandwagon

I’ve seen a lot of good looking and yummy sounding cobblers go around the blogosphere this summer but had yet to make one. That changed after I found some good looking peaches at the grocery store the other day and then saw Keeley’s apple cobbler post. 

I took Keeley at her word when she said her recipe could be  adapted to suit any fruit and used my peaches. The recipe below reflects my changes to her recipe.   I’d like to mention one thing about the cobbler,  during the course of baking the butter floated to the top.  I got a little freaked out thinking I goofed but after the cobbler baked for the full 45 minutes the butter had settled back.

Thanks, Keeley!  Your cobbler got a thumbs up from my gang! :)

Peach Cobbler, adapted from My Life on a Plate

3/4 stick of butter, melted (6 tablespoons, please use real butter)
3/4 cup self-rising flour (if you don't have any, make your own)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
3/4 cup milk
3 to 4, peaches peeled, cored, and sliced*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour melted butter into the bottom of a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. 
Whisk together the flour, sugars, and spices.  Whisk in the milk.  Pour this batter over the melted butter.
Spread peaches evenly over the batter.  Do not stir.  Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.  Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

*Note:  Next time I would cut my fruit into thicker pieces.  I’d like my fruit to have more bite to them.  After baking for 45 minutes they were mushy, tasty but mushy.

Puff Pastry

It’s that time of the month when Michelle, Monica, and I share with you what our baking challenge was for the prior month.  If you hadn’t picked up on it.  We’ve been taking a little longer than a month to bake and blog about our experiences.  Last month’s challenge was chosen by yours truly and I’m certain you’ve figured out by my post’s title that it was puff pastry, homemade puff pastry:)

This is another example of how awesome our little CB group has been for me!  On my own I probably would have never given puff pastry a try but with the pushing encouragement of Monica & Michelle I can scratch if off my list .   I’m hoping through our post we are encouraging you to get out of your comfort zone and give these recipes a chance.  None of them have actually been difficult but for some reason they seem like it thus putting off a lot of bakers.  If I haven’t said it before or made it clear I’d be happy to answer any questions you have and I’d be willing to bet that Monica and Michelle would as well! 

I’m not sure I was 100% successful.  My puff pastry didn’t seem to puff as much as I thought it should or would.  Still, it tasted pretty good. 

The puff pastry recipe makes two 11x15 inch rectangles; with mine I made two mini-ish  banana tarts with salted caramel and palmiers.  Unfortunately, I goofed with the tarts.  The recipe called for bananas that were not overly ripe.  I guess mine weren’t ripe at all because they got harder after they were baked, not warm and gooey.  The salted caramel and some vanilla ice cream saved the tarts from being inedible but they were still a huge disappointment.   The second recipe I tried was, Ina’s palmiers.  These turned out more like I had hoped and were very good.  Before I forget, I want to make it clear that I messed up the banana tart.  It wasn’t the recipe and I will be making it again. I’ve given you the links to the recipes I used but please note I used Smitten Kitchen’s salted caramel recipe for the banana tart and I added a tablespoon of cinnamon to 1 cup of sugar for the palmiers.

Homemade Puff Pastry
from The Art & Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet
4 1/2 sticks (18 oz) cold unsalted butter
3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 oz) very cold water
1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

Cut the butter into 3/4-inch cubes.  Transfer the cubes to the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the flour and salt to the bowl also and use your hands to mix briefly, until the butter is coated with flour.  Put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.  Combine the water and vinegar in a measuring cup and chill this mixture in the fridge for 20 minutes as well.

After 20 minutes, remove the mixer bowl from the fridge and attach to a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix on low speed for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.  You want the butter to break into smaller pieces of varying sizes (the largest about 1/2-inch square); be careful, however, not to over-mix - if the butter is too small, it will be unable to form flaky layers in your puff pastry.
With the mixer still on low speed, slowly add the water/vinegar mixture to the bowl, drizzling in different points around the bowl.  When the dough begins to come together in large chunks (within about 10 seconds), stop the mixer.  The dough will be slightly moist but it will not look smooth.  Turn the contents of the bowl onto a floured work surface.

Use your hands to shape the dough into a rough rectangle about 6 x 8 inches and 1 1/2 inches thick.  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 14 x 16-inch rectangle.  You can flour the dough a bit if necessary, but brush the excess flour away once you've finished rolling the dough out.  Fold the dough into thirds like a letter.   Start with a narrower side facing you and begin by folding the bottom third up.  Next, fold the top third down to complete the "turn."

After you complete the first turn, roll your rolling pin across the top of the dough gently 1 or 2 times, just to fuse the dough.  Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  You'll want to repeat this process 2 more times - to create three turns total.  Continue to chill the dough for 30 minutes between turns.  Once you've completed all 3 turns, chill the dough (wrapped in plastic wrap) for at least 1 hour before using.

The dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen (double-wrapped in plastic wrap) for 4-6 weeks.  Thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator. 
Makes 2 1/4 pounds of dough

Don’t forget to check out Monica and Michelle’s puff pastries!

Razzleberry Lemon Custard Tart

How about a recipe?  It’s been awhile.  :)  I found this gem at Lick the Bowl Good. I’m certain most of you have taken a gander at Monica’s blog but if you haven’t yet you are missing out on a delicious blog! 

I pretty much followed the recipe as written. I did have to use a 10 springform pan instead of the 9 inch as I didn’t have one. Or it could just be that my baking pan situation is out of control and I can’t remember that I have one.  My other change was swapping out the blueberries for raspberries and blackberries. If you’ll notice from my photo I probably should have gone with a smaller pan.  Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it until after I had already pre-baked my crust and poured in the custard.  It also didn’t help that my blackberries were HUGE!

Razzleberry Lemon Custard Tart, adapted from Lick the Bowl Good (printable recipe)

• 3 cups fresh or frozen berries (1 pound, I used a combination of raspberry & blackberry)

Shortbread Crust:

• 1 stick plus 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Lemon Custard:

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• Zest and juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup juice)
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Drain the blueberries in a strainer set over a bowl. Preheat the oven to 400°.

For the shortbread crust:  Using your fingers, combine the butter, 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1 & 1/2 cups of the flour and blend together until coarse crumbs form (You can use a pastry blender to incorporate the ingredients or a food processor works well too). Pour the mixture into an ungreased nonstick 9-inch springform or cake pan (If you do not have a 9 inch I suggest going with a slightly smaller pan and baking for a little longer.) and press down evenly to form a crust. Bake the shortbread crust until lightly golden, about 20 minutes.
Remove the shortbread from the oven and reduce the temperature to 325°. Scatter the drained berries evenly over the baked shortbread.

For the lemon custard:  Beat the eggs with the 3/4 cup of sugar until thick and pale yellow. (Here’s where I always stray from the recipe.  I mix the zest with the sugar, giving it a stronger lemon flavor.) Whisk in the lemon zest, the lemon juice, and the 1/4 cup of flour. Pour the lemon cream over the berries.
Bake the tart until the custard is set, about 30 minutes. (See note below) Let cool completely, then dust with powdered sugar. (I forgot to.)

NOTE:  It may take longer than 30 minutes to bake.  The top of the custard doesn't brown much so it's hard to tell if it's done, but it shouldn't be wet and liquidy. The custard is done when it firms up in the center. I gave my pan a gentle shake to check.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the four of us might have polished this off in one day. Maybe……  :)