Makes one 23cm (9” tart) One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows) Assembling the tart Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish. When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough. Jasmine’s notes: Prep time: 15-20 minutes 225g (8oz) all purpose flour Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes Jasmine’s notes: Prep time: 10-15 minutes 125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.
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. This dessert is a sweet shortbread crust filled with a layer of preserves and then topped with a layer of frangipane. There is a bit of a semantical debate whether this is a tart or pudding... some call it tart, (most) British call it pudding...Whatever this dessert is called, it was worth making two attempts.
My first go around with this recipe I followed the recipe exactly, but it turned out like soup. So disappointing- especially after going to so much work to make homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. But, that in itself was a bit of a resurrected disaster. I got distracted, I think I added too much sugar or fruit, got distracted again and burnt it. ---sorry folks not going to post the recipe. After recovering from that mess, I pulled the tart out of the oven and it looked beautiful! Yay! I started to cut into it and it was still runny...So I stuck it back in the oven for another 15-or 20 minutes with foil on top so it wouldn't burn. I pulled it out and took pictures. Beautiful eh? Looks tasty?
Well, not after cutting into it... Everything ran together.
So, I decided to give it a second go, and this attempt worked much better and the frangipane set up beautifully.
For the second tart I did things a little bit differently. I spread a thin layer of jam (yes the strawberry rhubarb jam) on my blind-baked crust, and then put it in the freezer. I then layered a citrus curd over the top of the frozen jam, and then put the frangipane on top. The results were pretty good. The layers complimented each other and the tang of the citrus helped offset my overly sweet jam and the sweetness of the other elements.
And here is the recipe.Bakewell Tart…er…pudding
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).Sweet shortcrust pastry
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extractFrangipane
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Daring Bakers June 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Yup, thats what I do.
M. has been really interested in what people do for work lately. Lately he will ask where someone is and then say they are at work. Such as "Where is Daddy?" Then a second later he will say "He's at work. He keeps the water cleeeeen". We have talked about Grandpas and Grandmas and Uncle Mike and just about everyone else he knows and...me. I explained that I get to take care of him and baby A. and take care of things around the house, etc. etc. Well a couple of days later it came up again. He said, "Mommy's at work." So I asked him "What does Mommy do for work?" He answered, "Love me."
Yup...the best job in the world.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
June 2009 Daring Cooks Challenge
For the June 2009 Daring Cook’s challenge Jen, of Use Real Butter, introduced us to her family’s recipe for Chinese dumplings/pot stickers. This was a fun challenge for the month and one that I will be coming back to in the future. I made these little dumplings in bulk because they are so yummy. They freeze wonderfully and make for a really easy meal. We tried out all three methods for cooking them, boiling, pan frying, and steaming. All delicious, but the crunchy pan fried potstickers were our favorite. I made both the pork and shrimp recipes that Jen provided and now that I have those in hand I feel more apt to experiment with other fillings. The possibilities are really endless. Just check out what the other daring cooks are creating.
Here is Jen’s wonderful recipe.
Chinese Dumplings/Potstickers
Time: Prep for the filling takes me 30 minutes. Rolling and wrapping several dozen dumplings takes me 1 hour by myself. Cooking: When steaming, I can cook a dozen at a time in about 10 minutes. Potstickers: 15 minutes per 2 dozen determined by the size of your pan. Boiling - 6 minutes per dozen or so depending on size of pot.
pork filling:
1 lb (450g) ground pork
4 large napa cabbage leaves, minced
3 stalks green onions, minced
7 shitake mushrooms, minced (if dried - rehydrated and rinsed carefully)
1/2 cup (75g) bamboo shoots, minced
1/4 (55g) cup ginger root, minced
3 tbsp (40g) soy sauce
2 tbsp (28g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch
OR
shrimp filling:
1/2 lb (225g) raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
1/2 lb (225g) ground pork
3 stalks green onions, minced
1/4 cup (55g) ginger root, minced
1 cup (142g) water chestnuts, minced
1 tsp (5g) salt
3 tbsp (40g) sesame oil
2 tbsp (16g) corn starch
Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.
dough: (double this for the amount of filling, but easier to make it in 2 batches - or just halve the filling recipe)
2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (113g) warm water
flour for worksurface
dipping sauce:
2 parts soy sauce
1 part vinegar (red wine or black)
a few drops of sesame oil
chili garlic paste (optional)
minced ginger (optional)
minced garlic (optional)
minced green onion (optional)
sugar (optional)
Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly
Make the dough. Place the flour in the work bowl of a food processor with the dough blade. Run the processor and pour the warm water in until incorporated. Pour the contents into a sturdy bowl or onto a work surface and knead until uniform and smooth. The dough should be firm and silky to the touch and not sticky.[Note: it’s better to have a moist dough and have to incorporate more flour than to have a dry and pilling dough and have to incorporate more water).
Forming the dumplings. Knead the dough about twenty strokes then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes. Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strips about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape the strips into rounded long cylinders. On a floured surface, cut the strips into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle (you can shape the corners in with your fingers). With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc. Take care not to roll out too thin or the dumplings will break during cooking - about 1/16th inch. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each wrapper and fold the dough in half, pleating the edges along one side. Keep all unused dough under damp cloth.
To boil: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add dumplings to pot. Boil the dumplings until they float.
To steam: Place dumplings on a single layer of napa cabbage leaves or on a well-greased surface in a steamer basket with lid. Steam covered for about 6 minutes.
To pan fry (potstickers): Place dumplings in a frying pan with 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil. Heat on high and fry for a few minutes until bottoms are golden. Add 1/2 cup water and cover. Cook until the water has boiled away and then uncover and reduce heat to medium or medium low. Let the dumplings cook for another 2 minutes then remove from heat and serve.
To freeze: Assemble dumplings on a baking sheet so they are not touching. It helps to rub the base of the dumpling in a little flour before setting on the baking sheet for ease of release. Freeze for 20-30 minutes until dumplings are no longer soft. Place in ziploc bag and freeze for up to a couple of months. Prepare per the above instructions, but allow extra time to ensure the filling is thoroughly cooked.
To serve: Serve dumplings or potstickers hot with your choice of dipping sauce combinations.
Monday, June 8, 2009
More to come...
Longwood Gardens is absolutely amazing... lots and lots of pictures to share... soon...
