Pink Macaroons

I finally found a good recipe. One that really works - consistently works. An Italian meringue base (egg whites whisked until bubbly, then add soft ball stage sugar water slowly down into the egg whites while whisking) adds stability. Cook in a convection oven (low around 160C), cook until you can pick up the macaroons freely off the sheet pans.

Small things make all the difference! Macaroons are so fickle it's awfully nice to find a reliable recipe!

Raspberry and Bittersweet Chocolate Tart

A friend had their birthday last week, and he loves chocolate. I wanted to make something that I hadn't made before, something that used both fruit and chocolate. This tart seemed like the answer. It is a simple tart made with very high grade ingredients.

A simple ganache made with a bittersweet chocolate with 72% cacoa, raspberries were squished on the bottom, the ganache poured over the top and then a little decoration and that was it.

I simply used some left over bittersweet chocolate and a hand made chocolate piping bag (made with parchment paper) to pipe the decoration onto a sheet of parchment which I then froze.

Simple, rich, elegant. Recommended - a heavy dose of sweetened whipped cream on the side.

Creme Fraiche and Berries Tart

A tasty tart, but when I made it it was a rather ugly tart. It has a simple pate sucree base, some blackberry jam on the base, blueberries and raspberries are then placed on top. On top of al this you make a blackberry compote and pour that on top, pour on the creme fraiche and broil in your oven until it looks like a creme brulee.

It was a popular tart (although I did forget to put the blackberry compote into the tart but served it on the side). And it was a savory/sweet tart that requires very ripe, fresh fruit for it to really be any good.

I want to make my own creme fraiche next. I just found a recipe for it, and i have a recipe to use it in...

Strawberry, Raspberry and Balsamic Vinegar

Yet another jam with strawberry's in it. This is a beautiful rich spread with strawberry's, raspberries, lemon, balsamic vinegar and sugar. Such a simple combo, but it leads to a really beautiful color and tasting spread.

Great on a rich rye, the flavor holds its own.

Mini Mix Tarts Cranberry, Raspberry, Pear, Ginger and Clove

I had a lot of cranberries left over from the bundt cake and so I decided to make a small tart using them and some pears that had lingered a tad too long in our kitchen. I also had a smidge left of the pate sucre, so I simply rolled it out, popped it in small tart pans, and baked them until golden brown. 

The filling was stewed pears, cranberries, raspberries, a little bit of finely chopped ginger, a splash of pear liquor, some cloves, a bunch of sugar and a thyme sprig that was removed once I had finished simmering the filling. The consistency was like that of a jam, and so I added a little bit of corn starch to thicken it. I popped it into the ready shells, garnished with finely chopped ginger and a sprig of thyme. Easy as that. 

The tarts were well, tart but the combination of the sugary, buttery sucre meant that they weren't an unpleasant tart. I was quite pleased with these. 

More Tarts: Quince and Raspberry Tart

We've been using a really nice book at school for our tarts. It's called "Mes Tartes" by Christine Ferber. It's divided into seasons, which is great because it gives me an indication what is in season. So on the weekend we went to another farmers market, this time the University district's one and we bought the majority of the ingredients there, including the crazy colored eggs (the yolks were incredibly vibrant - a deep orange color and so it made the custard a really bright yellow!).

 

This tart is called 'My Father's Quince Tart with Raspberries and Kirsch'. Quite a bit of prep, you make a pate sucre, blind bake it for 15min, then you poach pieces of quince in a sugar lemon syrup until they are just tender. Then you line the base with fresh raspberries, and make a custard out of egg yolks, sugar, kirsch, milk and cream. Pour this over the raspberries, then place the sliced quinces on top and bake. I did have an issue with time on this one, she says to bake it for 40min, but mine required longer then that. So make sure to check for the custard setting in the middle of the tart. 

Cheese Cake with Raspberry Coulis

Sorry it's taken me so damn long to post - I have been baking really! 

A tasty smooth rich cake with a bit of 

a kick from the coulis this was a delectable cake!

Ingredients: Crust

1 ans 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbs Sugar

Pinch of Salt 

1/2 stick melted unsalted butter

Ingredients: Cheesecake

Four 8 oz boxes cream cheese, at room temp.

1 and 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

4 large eggs at room temp.

1 and 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream. 

Ingredients: Coulis

1 pint fresh raspberries (or frozen just make sure they are partially thawed)

3 Tbs. sugar (or more to taste)

Method: Crust

1. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Make sure the sides of the pan are 2.75 inches high. 

2. Wrap the bottom of the pan in alumininum foil. 

3. Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt toether in a medium bowl. 

4. Pour over the melted butter and stir until evrything is uniformly moist. 

5. Scrape the ingredients into the tin. Pat an even layer of crumbs on the bottom of the pan and about half way up the sides. 

6. Put the pan in the freezer. 

7. Preheat the oven to 325F. 

Method: Cheesecake

1. Put a kettle of water on to boil.

2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat the cream cheese on medium speed for 4 min. 

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

4. With the mixer running on medium, add the sugar and salt. Mix for another 4 min until the cream cheese is light. 

5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. 

6. Beat in the vanilla. 

7. Scrape the sides and bottom. 

8. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full min. before adding the next egg. 

9. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and ad

d the cream (sour of heavy whipping cream). 

10. Place the foil wrapped springform pan into a large roasting pan. 

11. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the batter bowl. 

12. Pour the batter into the springform. 

13. Place th roasting pan in the oven, and pour enough boiling water into it so that the boiling water comes half way up the sides of the springform. 

14.  Bake for 1 hour 30 min.

15. Turn the oven off, and prop the door open with a wooden spoon. Leave the cheesecake in the oven for another hour. 

16. Pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform out and remove the foil. 

17. Let the cheesecake come to room temp. 

18. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 

19. When ready to serve remove the sides of the springform, and cut the cake. 

Method: Raspberry Coulis

1. Place the berries and sugar in a blender and whir until pureed. Add more sugar if needed. 

2. Strain the coulis through a sieve and serve on top of cheesecake. 

Taken from Dorie Greenspan "Baking: From My Home to Yours" pp. 467 and 235-7. 

Raspberry Yogurt Cake - Part 1 of the Yogurt Cakes

Raspberries are here! They are in season and they are tasting mighty fine. As such - I had to do some more baking with them. Although not the prettiest cake this cake was seriously moist and tasty. It had pockets of fresh raspberries which disintegrated into little jam like nuggets just bursting with raspberry flavor. A very nice cake indeed!

Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp.
1 and 3/4 cup sugar
2 Tbs. orange juice
1 tsp almond extract
1 cup of low fat plain yogurt
1 tsp. grated orange zest
3 large eggs at room temp
1.5 cups fresh raspberries

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Grease a bundt pan.

3. In a large bowl whisk 2.5 cups of flour, salt and baking powder together.

4. In a stand mixer using the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy.

5. Add the orange juice, almond extract and orange peel to the butter mixture - beat together for 30 seconds.

6. Add one egg at a time, beating for 30seconds between each egg.

7. Mix in the yogurt.

8. Add the dry ingredients until they are barely blended.

9. In a separate bowl put in the raspberries and add 1/2 a cup of flour. Mix together.

10. Fold in the berries with the rest of the batter.

11. Put the batter in the bundt pan and bake for 1hour and 10 min. The cake is ready when you place a thin knife through it and it comes out clean.

12. Serve!

Taken from the July 2008 "Bon Appetie" p. 63.

Lisa's Lemon Raspberry Desserts

This was a wonderful idea from Lisa my co-worker who suggested the wonderful combo of lemon cream, berries and tuiles.

Ingredients: Tuiles
1/2 cup cake flour
2/3 cup icing sugar
2 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

Ingredients: Lemon Cream
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)
2 sticks + 5 Tbs. of butter, at room temp, cut into 1 Tbs pieces.

Ingredients: Accoutrement's
3 punnets fresh organic raspberries
a couple of tsp. worth of icing sugar

Method: Tuiles
1. Cut out a cardboard stencil of the size of the tuiles you wish to make (mine was around 12cm x 5cm).
2. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment, and trace the stencil onto the paper.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
4. In a large bowl whisk together the flour and icing sugar.
5. Add the egg whites and vanilla extracts and whisk until smooth.
6. Whisk in the melted butter until well blended (the batter should look smooth and shiny).
7. Use around 1 Tbs. of batter for each tuile. Place the batter in the center of the stenciled shape and spread with a metal spatula.
8. Bake for around 7-9 min or until the edges have a deep brown color and the center is still pale.
9. Remove carefully (these are remarkably thin) from the parchment paper and let cool on a wire rack.

Method: Lemon Cream
Have an instant read thermometer, a strainer and a blender at hand.
1.Bring a few inches of water to boil in a saucepan.
2. Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl (that will fit inside your saucepan of simmering water). Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, and very aromatic.
3. Whisk in the eggs, and then add the lemon juice.
4. Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid.
5. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180F whisk the lemon cream the whole time.
6. Once it has reached 180F, remove it from the saucepan of simmering water and strain it into the blender. Throw away the lemon zest.
7. Wait until the temperature of the lemon cream is 140F before turning the blender on.
8. Once it is 140F, turn on the blender, and proceed to feed the butter into the lemon cream 5 Tbs at a time. Make sure you periodically scrape down the sides of the blender.
9. Blend for 3 min. on the highest setting - this makes the cream light and airy.
10. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Method: Assembly - to be done as close to serving time as possible
1. Place 1 tuile on a serving plate.
2. Spread around 1 Tbs. of the lemon cream on top.
3. Halve some raspberries and arrange them around the edges of the tuile.
4. Place another tuile on top and repeat.
5. Place another tuile on top, and then place the lemon cream on top. Instead of halving the raspberries for this final layer, simply stand them up (like the photo).
6. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve!

Taken and adapted from: Williams and Sanoma "Essentials of Baking pp. 136-7 and Dorie Greenspans book "Baking: From My Home to Yours" pp. 331-33.

Apple and Raspberry Pies

This recipe makes 6 small, slightly sweet, slightly tart mini pies. The combination of slightly stewed apples and raspberries makes for a interesting filling that is less sweet then the conventional apple pie filling.

Ingredients: Shortcrust pastry

2 cups plain flour

3 Tbs. sugar

150g cold butter, chopped

3 Tbs. iced water

Ingredients: Filling

3 large cooking apples (granny smith, fuji) peeled and chopped

1 cup frozen or fresh raspberries

1/2 cup sugar

squeeze of lemon juice

3 cloves, 1 stick of cinnamon

1/2 a lemons worth of lemon zest

1.5 Tbs. cornstarch

1.5 Tbs. cold water

Method: Pastry

1. To a food processor add the flour, sugar and butter and combine until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

2. Add iced water until a smooth dough is formed.

3. Remove from the food processor and knead for a little bit on the bench and then roll it into a ball and wrap in plastic.

4. Refrigerate for 30 min.

Method: Filling (make while the pastry is in the fridge)

1. In a medium saucepan, put the apples with the lemon juice (add perhaps 1 Tbs of water as well), add the cloves, and cinnamon stick. Cook over medium heat for around 10 min.

2. Add the raspberries, lemon zest and sugar and mix until the sugar has dissolved.

3. In a small bowl combine the cold water and corn starch.

4. Add this corn starch to the apples and raspberries and continuously mix until the mixture has thickened.

5. Set aside to cool down.

Method: Assembly

1. Grease 6 muffin tins and preheat the oven to 400F.

2. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured bench to 1/8 inch (3mm) thick.

3. Cut out a circle and fit this into the muffin tins.

4. Evenly divide the filling between the tins.

5. Cut out from the pastry tops to the mini pies, and using a pastry brush wet the sides of the pie bases and attach the pie tops on top (squeezing the pastry together with your fingers and pinching the pastry so that it sticks together).

6. Cut a small slit in the top of the pie.

7. If you like you can whisk an egg in a small bowl and, using a pastry brush, brush on the egg wash and then you can sprinkle some brown sugar.

8. Bake for 20-25 min until the pastry is golden.

Taken from Donna Hay "Modern Classics book 2" pp. 157 and 160.

Raspberry Sorbet

This was surprisingly easy to make, even without an ice-cream maker. It is slightly sweet and slightly tangy. It is best to leave it at room temp. for around 15 min. before attempting to serve it.

Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
23 oz fresh or frozen raspberries*
1/4 cup lime juice

Method
1. Place the sugar and water in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir without boiling, until the sugar dissolves.
3. Increase the heat, and bring to the boil for 1 min.
4. Set aside to cool.
5. Put the raspberries in a food processor.
6. Press the raspberries through a sieve, until you extract around 1.75 cups worth of puree.
7. Combine the fruit puree, sugar syrup and lime juice.
8. Place in a metal bowl or cake tin. Cover and freeze for 1 hour.
9. Beat with an electric mixer or a whisk, and return the the freezer.
10. Repeat 3 times hourly until the sorbet is thick and smooth.

*You can also try:
peach sorbet: 6 peaches, which should be 2.5 cups of puree (add 1/3 cup lemon juice).
mango sorbet: 14oz fresh mango, which should yield 2.5 cups of puree (add 1/2 cup lime juice).
strawberry sorbet: 1.75lb. fresh strawberries, which should yield 2.5 cups of puree (add 1/2 cup lime juice).

From: Donna Hay Modern Classics Book 2: Cookies, Biscuits + Slices, Small Cakes, Cakes, Desserts, Hot Puddings, Pies + Tarts. pp. 102-3

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte

This is a strange one. It is at once sweet (due to the thick layer of jam) and yet strangely savory in the cheese portion. It is very easy to make, and you can use low fat versions of the cheeses as I did, and it sets just as well.

Ingredients: Crust
1.75 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ingredients: Filling
1/3 cup of thick berry jam (I used raspberry jam, with some fresh raspberries thrown in as well)
9 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
8 ounces cottage cheese, at room temp.
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of freshly grated cinnamon
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs at room temp.

Method: Crust
1. Butter a 9 inch springform pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Place on a baking sheet.
2. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse just to blend.
3. Toss in the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Stir the egg yolks and vanilla extract together with a fork, and add to the flour/butter mixture.
5. Pulse until the dough forms clumps - but not a single ball.
6. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead to get the dry ingredients integrated.
7. Press into the springform pan. The crust should come up the sides around 1.5 inches.
8. Refrigerate for at least 30min.
9. Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 375F.
10. Fit a piece of buttered aluminium foil against the crust, covering it completely.
11. Fill the crust with dried beans or with rice and slide the baking sheet with the pan into the oven.
12. Bake for 20min, then carefully remove the foil and weights and bake for another 5 min.
13. Transfer to a rack to cool.
14. Lower the temp. of the oven to 350F.

Method: Filling
1. Stir the jam and spread it over the bottom of the crust (it's quite alright to do this when the crust is still warm). It was at this stage I also added fresh raspberries, I simply put them on top of the jam and then squished them down with the back of a fork.
2. Put the cream cheese and cottage cheese into the food processor and process, scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times, for 2 min.
3. Add the sugar, salt and spices, and process for another 30 seconds.
4. Add the eggs and process, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl some more. Process for 1 min.
5. Pour the filling over the jam layer.
6. Bake for 60-70 min, or until the filling is uniformly puffed and no longer jiggly.
7. Gently transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool to room temp. During this time, the cake will lose its puffiness and will collapse to forms a thin layer of cake.
8. Run a blunt knife between the crust and the sides of the pan, then open and remove the sides of the springform.
9. If you like you can dust the slices of cake with icing sugar.

Once again this is from the amazing book by Dorrie Greenspan "Baking: From My Home to Yours" pp. 240-3.