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Apricot Frangipane Tart

Friday, July 16, 2021

Buttery flaky pastry filled with a sweet almond mixture topped with ripe apricot halves-a perfect dessert for high summer when apricots are at their peak with rich colour, sweet scent, and slightly soft. Apricot and almonds are a match made in heaven and this tart makes the most of both of them. For something a little more indulgent, serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of crème fraîche.
Frangipane is a mixture of butter, eggs, ground almonds, sugar, and sometimes a small amount of flour. Substitute other nuts (pistachios or hazelnuts) for new flavours if desired. According to Bakepedia, Frangipane is named after 16th century Italian nobleman Marquis Muzio Frangipani, who invented a bitter almond-scented fragrance that was used to perfume gloveswhile he was living in Paris. French pastry chefs were inspired and invented the recipe, which became a classic.

Pastry	Almond Filling & Topping
180 g Plain flour 50 g Almond meal 100 g Butter, cubed 30 g Vanilla sugar 1 Egg, large	150 g Butter, softened to room temperature 20 g Vanilla sugar 100 g Castor sugar 2 Eggs, large 150 g Ground almonds 20 ml Amaretto (or 1 tsp Almond extract) 8-10 Apricots, halved and stoned 2 tbsp Apricot jam Thyme leaves, to garnish Powdered sugar, to garnish

To make the pastry, either rub the flour, almond meal and cubed butter together using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs or briefly process them in a food processor until just rubbed in. Add the vanilla sugar and mix, then add the egg and process until the mixture just holds together. Do not over work as it will make the pastry tough. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the pastry out on a floured surface and use it to line a 24cm / 8-inch tart pan. Prick the base of the pastry using a fork then chill the pastry for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190C7375F. Line the pastry case with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or uncooked rice. Place in the hot oven and bake blind for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is set and pale brown. Remove the pie weights/rice and paper and return to the oven for about 5 minutes until the base is cooked.
For the filling, cream butter, vanilla sugar and castor sugar. Add the eggs and whisk together, then mix in the ground almonds and amaretto until fully incorporated.
Spoon the almond mixture onto the pastry case and arrange the apricot halves, cut side up, in circles on the top of the almond filling. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the filling is set and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Warm the apricot jam over a low heat then pass through a fine sieve. Brush the warm apricot jam over the top of the fruit to glaze. Garnish with fresh apricots and thyme leaves. Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

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Classic Pain de Mie / French Sandwich Loaf

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Pain de mie (literally means crumb bread) is a fine-crumb, soft tender French sandwich bread baked in a special bread pan with a lid, which keeps the loaf from crowning, giving it a flat surface and square-edged slices and keeps the crust as thin and soft as possible. The main difference between pain de mie and regular white bread is that pain de mie uses milk, whereas most white bread recipes call for water.
If you don't have a pullman pan, just cover a normal bread pan first with a piece of baking paper, then with a heavy baking tray as the weight to hold it down. Besides sandwiches, this bread makes amazing toast, grilled cheese, and French toast.

7 g Active dry yeast
320 ml Whole milk, lukewarm
550 g All-purpose flour
1 tbsp Raw sugar
1 tsp / 7 g Sea salt
3 tbsp / 42 g Butter, at room-temperatur

Dissolve the dry yeast in warm milk and set aside for 5 minutes. Place flour, raw sugar, and salt in the bowl of your mixer fitted with a dough hook.
Add in milk-yeast mixture and mix at low speed for about 1-2 minutes. Then increase the speed to medium and knead for 4-6 minutes.
With the mixer running at medium speed, add the butter one tablespoon at a time. Once all of the butter has been incorporated into the dough, stop the mixer and turn out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise for about 2 hours until double in volume.
Gently deflate the dough and shape into a ball. Cover with a plastic wrap and set aside to rest for 15 minutes. Grease a 26x12x9cm pullman loaf pan with butter. Set aside.
Pat the dough out into a rectangle. Roll it up just like you do the jelly roll and pinch the seam together. Place into the prepared loaf pan with seam side down. Cover loaf pan with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for about an hour until almost 2 inches from the top rim of the loaf pan.
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Remove the plastic wrap and cover the loaf pan with its lid. Bake for about 30 minutes in the center of hot oven.
Open the lid and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

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Matcha Spelt Madeleine

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

These buttery sponge cakes are traditionally baked in scallop-shaped Madeleine moulds. Like all the delicate sponge cakes, they have a moist and tender crumb that are best eaten the day they're baked. Classic madeleines are made with sugar, flour, melted butter and eggs, often flavoured with vanilla or lemon. I gave these classic French tea cakes a twist by adding matcha tea powder and dipping them in melted chocolate.

2 Eggs
30 g Caster sugar
50 g Organic agave powder
90 g White spelt flour
10 g Matcha powder
1/2 tsp Baking powder 100 g Butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus extra for greasing 100 g Dark chocolate, optional

Whisk together the eggs, sugar and agave powder in a bowl until light and frothy, about 5 minutes. In another bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, matcha powder and baking powder together.
Sift flour mixture into the egg mixture, then pour melted butter around edge of batter. Quickly but gently fold butter into batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.
Brush the madeleine tray with melted butter then shake in a little flour to coat, tapping out the excess. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, filling 3/4 full. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the mixture has risen a little in the middle and is fully cooked through. Transfer the madeleines to a wire rack and leave them to cool.
Place chocolate in small microwave-safe cup. Microwave on medium for 1-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate has almost melted. Dip each madeleine into melted chocolate, coating bottom third part of the cookie. Shake off excess chocolate and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Dust with a bit of matcha powder if desired. Madeleines are best eaten the day they're baked.

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Blueberry Hazelnut Friands

Friday, August 08, 2014

A friand is a French term for a bite-sized almond cake typically made in an oval shape, but suitable for a muffin pan too. They are a great way of using up leftover egg whites and other than almonds, you can also use hazelnut or pistachio meal.
This recipe uses a mix of confectioners' sugar and powdered agave (I ordered mine from Amazon), a natural sweetener made from dried organic agave syrup. Its consistency is very similar to confectioners' sugar, but much sweeter and contains 25% less calories than sugar. If you plan to use only confectioners' sugar, increase the amount of sugar to 100 grams.

100 g Butter, melted and cooled
40 g Organic powdered agave
50 g Confectioners' sugar, plus extra for dusting
40 g White spelt flour
80 g Ground hazelnut
4 Small egg whites
80 g Fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Grease eight non-stick standard-size muffin or friand holes. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
Sift the powdered agave, confectioners' sugar and flour into a bowl. Stir in ground hazelnut. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until just frothy. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Gradually add egg whites, stirring with a spoon until combined. Stir in melted butter to form a soft batter.
Divide the batter among the muffin holes and sprinkle a few of blueberries over each cake. Bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm to the touch and golden brown.
Cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

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Chocolate Cups with White Chocolate Pastry Cream

Monday, July 21, 2014

Pastry Cream, a very versatile cream used to fill cakes, pastry shells or as a filling for those cute chocolate cups. It is quite simple to make at home, and can be easily flavoured many different ways including chocolate, coffee, with liqueurs, lemon or any extracts, although vanilla remains the most common.

300 ml Whole milk
1 Vanilla bean, split and scraped
3 Large egg yolks
35 g Green bean starch (or cornstarch)
0,2 g Pure stevia extract powder (or 50 g sugar)
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp Orange liqueur, optional
100 g White chocolate, cut into chunks
Dark chocolate cups
Fresh berries
Lemon balm

In a saucepan, heat the whole milk, vanilla bean and seeds over medium heat until simmering.
Combine the cornstarch, stevia extract powder, salt and egg yolks. Once the milk has come to a simmer, remove the vanilla bean and add 1/3 of the milk into the egg mixture and whisk until combined and smooth.
Now return it to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Whisk it constantly for 3-5 minutes until thick. Remove from the heat and add in orange liqueur if using and white chocolate chunks. Whisk until smooth. Press a plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until well chilled. Fill the chocolate cups with the pastry cream and garnish with berries and lemon balm leaves.

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Pommes Duchesse

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Pommes Duchesse, also known as Duchess potatoes, are basically some puréed potatoes that includ egg yolk, butter and seasonings. They can be simply shaped into a mound with a spoon or piped through a pastry bag into various shapes. The edges of the piped potatoes are crisp after baking, while the interior remains soft and creamy. Serve duchess potatoes as a side along with a good portion of meat.

400 g Potatoes, peeled, roughly chopped
1 Egg yolk
50 g butter, melted
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt and white pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring it to the boil. Boil for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain. Transfer to a bowl. Mash with a potato ricer or using a large metal spoon, press potato through a fine sieve into a bowl. Add egg yolk and half the butter. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
Preheat oven to 220C/428F. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Spoon the potato mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe swirled rosettes onto the prepared baking sheet. Drizzle remaining butter over potato. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

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Provençal Tomatoes

Thursday, June 30, 2011

These easy-to-prepare juicy tomatoes are stuffed with a spicy mix of chilli peppers, finely chopped garlic, herbs and then a layer of grated Parmesan. They are delicious as a side dish or served on a bed of salad as a light lunch.
Recipe adapted from Essen und Trinken

3 Fleshy beefsteak tomatoes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Small green chilli pepper, cut into rings
3 Thyme sprigs
1 Rosemary sprig
1 clove Garlic, minced
25 g Fresh grated Parmesan
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp Balsamic bianco
50 g Arugula
50 g Radicchio, sliced

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Thinly slice the chilli peppers into rings. Remove leaves from thyme and rosemary sprigs. Discard stem, and chop the leaves.
Cut the cores from the tomatoes, and cut them in half crosswise. Place the tomato halves in a baking dish. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly mulled black pepper.
Place the chilli pepper rings, minced garlic, and chopped herbs on the tomato halves. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan over and bake for 15 minutes or until they are tender.
Whisk together the Balsamic bianco, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. In a large salad bowl, add in arugula and sliced radicchio. Drizzle in the prepared dressing. Toss gently until combined.
Remove the baked tomatoes from the oven, drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Serve on a bed of prepared salad.

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Fresh Fruit Tartlets

Monday, April 04, 2011

Those mini fresh fruit tartlets have a sweet pastry crust that is filled with a rich hazelnut cream and topped with fresh fruit. Dust the fruit with powdered sugar before serving or glaze with apricot glaze to give the fruit a bright shiny finish.

Sweet Pastry Crust	Topping
250 g Pastry flour 60 g Caster sugar 1/4 tsp Salt 125 g Butter, cut into small pieces 1 Egg yolk 2-3 tbsp Cold water	85 g Butter, softened 85 g Powdered sugar 1 Egg 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract 85 g Ground hazelnut 8 tbsp Chantilly cream Seedless grapes Strawberries Powdered sugar

Heap the flour on a work surface and make a well. Put in butter, salt, sugar, and egg yolk. Using your fingertips, mix all the ingredients together. Add in cold water and work until the dough begins to hold together. Shape each into a ball and wrap with a plastic film and chill for half an hour.
Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer in the bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the ground hazelnut and beat until it forms a smooth paste. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease four 12cm tartlet tins with butter and sprinkle them lightly with flour. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and divide into four equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion of pastry into a 16cm circle. Line the tins with pastry and prick several times with a fork.
Divide the hazelnut mixture into 4 pastry cases and smooth the top. Put the tart tins on the hot baking tray and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Lift the tart and base from the tin and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.
Spread two tablespoons of chantilly cream on top of each tartlet. Arrange the fruit on top. If desired, dust with powdered sugar before serving.