This weekend I went to the market and innocently bought the larger size of peach basket thinking “Hey! We can totally use that up! No problem! Easy peasy!” Yeah, I’m so naive sometimes.

By the time I was walking away from the stall, I already knew I’d have to get creative to make sure that none go to waste. But, I like a challenge, and these peaches are pretty tasty, so I thought I’d use some up by making a pie. I’ve made pastry before, and I’ve made tarts, but I’ve never made a pie, so this was going to be something new — not necessarily impossible, but new. No worries though, ’cause I knew Fanny Farmer had my back.

I’ve also had an awful lot of candied ginger on hand for a while, and since peaches an ginger are pretty tasty together, I thought I’d adapt the recipe for ‘Fresh Peach Pie’ and make it my own.

Oh. My. God. It smelled so good coming out of the oven that the BF & I couldn’t wait to try it. Little did I know that pies don’t set until they are cooled, and cutting into it too soon meant the filling pooled in the pan. That’s why the photo above has flat pastry and fruit all over the plate.

Please don’t base your decision to try this pie on my badly styled photo — make this pie ’cause it’s totally worth it :-)

The Recipe:

Makes one 9-inch pie

Pastry
2 1/2 cup / 350g / 625mL flour
1/2 tsp / 2mL salt
3/4 cup / 185mL butter
6-7 tbsp / 90-105mL cold water

Filling
4 cups / 1L peeled & sliced fresh peaches (approximately 10)
1 tbsp / 15mL lemon juice1 cup / 200g / 250mL sugar
4 tbsp / 60mL flour
1/4 cup / 60mL chopped candied ginger
milk for brushing (optional)
sugar for sprinkling (optional)

vanilla ice cream for topping (optional)

How-To:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F) / 220 degrees (C)

Begin by making the pastry: mix the flour and salt together. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives. Continue to cut and mix until the butter is about the size of peas. (It will have an uneven texture, but go for averages.) Sprinkle the water onto the mixture one tablespoon at a time and mix in. Do not use all the water if you don’t have to — you only want to use enough for it to hold itself together when pressed into a ball.

Divide the dough in two, and chill one half. With the other half, roll out flat enough to fit a 9 inch pie pan with a little folding over the edges. Place in the fridge if hot in your work area.

Make the filling: Mix the peaches and lemon juice together. Cover with the sugar, flour and candied ginger, and stir to combine.

Pour the peach filling into the pie crust. Roll out the other half of the pie dough flat enough to cover the pie. Place on top of the filling. Crimp the edges with a fork or with your fingers and slice vents in the top to allow the steam to release when baking. Optional: brush with milk and sprinkle the top with sugar.

Bake at 425 degrees (F) / 220 degrees (C) for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees (F) / 180 degrees (C) and continue to bake until golden brown on top — approximately 30 – 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

I’ve made this cake a couple of times now, and each time I’ve been impressed. The biggest reasons being that it stays moist and fresh tasting for days and it tastes good. Surprisingly good — I mean, it doesn’t look like much, and reading the list of ingredients, it doesn’t sound so exciting. But the almond flavour is strong without being over powering, and the brown butter flavour adds a deep richness. Yum.

Not only does it taste good, it also goes so nicely with fresh fruit in the summer. I’ve also made it with the caramel and roasted pears that the original recipe recommends, and loved it with that too, which makes this a very versatile all-seasons cake.

Another reason why you should like this cake? It uses up 9 (!) egg whites — and as someone who always uses up way more yolks than whites, this is a very good thing.

Oh! and don’t let the multiple steps and seemingly convoluted process intimidate you — when you follow the instructions through, it’s actually a pretty easy cake to make.

The Recipe

Originally found in Fine Cooking magazine
Makes one 10-inch cake

1 cup / 250mL whole almonds
10 tbsp / 150mL unsalted butter
3/4 cup / 185mL sugar
1 cup / 250mL cake flour
2 tsp / 10mL baking powder
pinch salt
2 tbsp / 30mL dark rum
1 tsp / 5mL vanilla extract
1/4 cup / 60mL full-fat sour cream
9 egg whites
3/4 cup / 185mL sugar
1/4 cup / 60mL sliced almonds

How-To

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) / 180 degrees (C). Grease a 10 inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Spread the whole almonds on a baking sheet and roast in oven until toasted, approximately 7-8 minutes. The almonds will be fragrant and not too brown. Shake the pan every couple of minutes to ensure you don’t over cook the nuts and that they toast evenly. Allow to cool.

In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook until you see brown flecks on the bottom — this will take 7-8 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Scrape all the brown flecks from the saucepan and set aside to cool.

Pulse the whole almonds with the first amount of sugar in a food processor until finely ground. Pour into a second medium-sized mixing bowl and mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to combine.

Add the rum, vanilla and sour cream into the butter and stir to combine well.

In a third bowl, that is very well cleaned of any oil or grease and is very dry, beat the egg whites. Begin with your mixer’s slowest speed, and slowly increase the speed after they start to foam, until you’ve reached medium-high speed. Once the egg whites barely hold a shape, slowly add the second amount of sugar. Continue beating at medium-high speed until the egg whites hold soft peaks.

Spoon a large dallop of the egg white mixture into the butter mixture and combine well.

Carefully fold half of the almond mixture into the rest of the egg whites, then fold in half of the butter mixture. Again, fold in the remaining almond mixture and finish by folding in the last of the butter mixture.

Pour the batter into the springform pan, make the top pretty and even, and decorate the top with the sliced almonds.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. The cake will be risen and a deep golden colour. The top will spring back when pressed lightly.

Allow to cool until warm to touch (20-30 minutes), then run a knife around the outside of the pan. Remove the outside ring of the pan, then flip the cake onto a rack. Remove the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper, then gently flip to right-side-up onto your serving pate.

Shown above with fresh cherries and dusted with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

A few weeks ago, I decided I wanted to make a strawberry tart/pie. Believe it or not, in spite of strawberries being one of my favourite fruits, I’ve only eaten strawberry pie once or twice in my life and this seemed like the perfect time to remedy that.

I looked up examples online, and quickly saw that there were as many versions of Strawberry Pie as there are people making them. (A lot.)

My first idea was to make one with a custard filling… but that would mean using egg yolks… which would leave me with more egg whites. (Eep!) So I started rethinking this project. What about a strawberry tart with both chocolate on the inside and on the outside? Still beautiful to look at, and maybe even a little bit more yummy.

The first time I tried making a crust, I figured I’d use a regular pastry, reduce the amount of flour and replace it with cocoa. Technically it was fine — it didn’t spread in weird ways or do anything strange or unexpected — but flavour-wise, well, it just wasn’t all that spectacular — you couldn’t taste enough of the chocolate to make it worth the trouble (and when it’s hot and/or humid, pastry can be a bit of a trouble!) I guess there’s a reason why you don’t see these things around much.

It then dawned on me to make a cookie crust — a chocolate shortbread that’s yummy, and good at holding its shape would be perfect.

And you know what? It was a success! What’s great about these is that they look really impressive, but in fact are really easy.

So without further ado, here’s how to recreate the  chocolate & strawberry yumminess:

The Recipe:

makes six 3 inch / 7.5cm tarts or one 9 inch / 23cm pie

For the crust (based on a cookie found on Epicurious)
1/2 cup / 125mL unsalted butter
1/4 cup / 60mL sugar
3/4 cup + 2tbsp / 120mL flour
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 tbsp / 30mL cornstarch
1/8 tsp / 0.5mL salt

For the filling
4 oz / 130g dark chocolate
2 tbsp / 30mL heavy (35%) cream

For the topping
sliced strawberries
aproximately 2-3 tbsp / 30-45mL balsamic vinegar or Grand Marnier

dark chocolate to drizzle (optional)
whipped cream (optional)

How-To:

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F / 175 degrees C

Whip the butter until creamy, then add the sugar and continue whipping until combined. Measure on top of the butter, the flour, cocoa, cornstarch and salt. Mix with the butter and sugar mixture until well combined.

The texture will be crumbly and dry so make sure it’s of uniform colour and that there’s no dry ingredients left at the bottom of the bowl.

If using a pie plate: spoon all dough into the plate and chill (in fridge or freezer) until very cold

If using tart tins: divide dough equally between tins and chill in fridge or freezer until cold.

When chilled, use a chilled spoon or your hands and press the dough evenly into the plate or tins — return to freezer as necessary (I did this on a hot day, it might not otherwise be necessary). It’s easier to spread the dough when it’s very cold.

Bake until dry to touch and edges are beginning to brown. Approximately 18 minutes for the tarts, longer for a pie crust.

To fill the crust:

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and add the cream. Stir to combine.

Pour  chocolate mixture into baked crust(s). (If making tarts, divide evenly).

Place strawberries in a bowl, and toss with balsamic vinegar or Grand Marnier. Immediately begin arranging the slices on the chocolate — start at the outside and work towards the centre.

Optional: melt more chocolate and drizzle on top (this is your chance to get in touch with your inner Jackson Pollack).

Also optional: top with a dollop of whipped cream prepared to your liking.

Enjoy!

Notes:

You can make the tarts crusts and freeze them unbaked for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to use, simply let them defrost at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then cook as above. Fill with whatever you want!

Ever wonder what it’s like to eat a cloud? I can’t say from personal experience, but I imagine it must be a lot like eating some of this: light and fluffy.

This is a perfect hot weather dessert, when you still want something sweet, but there’s no [bloody] way you want to turn on an oven. All it takes is a couple of minutes, so it’s also a perfect last-minute dessert.

The Recipe

from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Hom
makes 4 servings

1/2 lb / 225g Ricotta Cheese
1 cup / 250mL roughly chopped strawberries
1/4 cup / 60mL strawberry jam (I used some Strawberry – Black Pepper Jam here, but any type will do)
1/2 cup / 125mL whipping cream (35%)

How-To

Whip the ricotta cheese until light and fluffy — aproximately 2 minutes. Fold in the strawberries and the jam.

In a seperate bowl, whip the cream. Fold into the fruit and cheese mixture and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Notes

• If you’re making this ahead, keep the fruit and cheese mixture separate from the whipped cream. Whip the cream at the last minute, then fold into the other mixture just before serving.
• Other fruits can be substituted for the strawberries, just use the same fruit-jam as fruit you choose to work with.

I’ll admit it. I like dessert. I like it a lot. And this is one of my favourites.

That sets the bar pretty high, I know. But here’s the deal: these Pots-de-Cremes are rediculously easy to make; can be made ahead; are perfect for fancy or casual occasions; and taste chocolatey, creamy, and delicious.

Really.

The Recipe

From Food & Wine
makes 8 servings

10 ounces / 285g milk chocolate, chopped
3 ounces / 85g bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup / 250mL milk
1 cup / 250mL heavy cream
1/4 cup / 60mL sugar
5 large egg yolks
Crème fraîche, yogurt or whipped cream, for garnish

How-To

Combine the chopped chocolates in a heat-proof bowl and set aside.

In a medium-sized pot, bring the milk, cream, and sugar to boil, whisking constantly. The sugar will dissolve.

In a separate heat-proof bowl, whisk the egg yolks together. Slowly pour in half the hot cream mixture while continuing to whisk.

Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the hot cream mixture. Heat over medium heat stirring with a large spoon until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. This will take approximately 4 minutes (The trick here, is that you don’t want to cook the eggs before the rest of the mixture. If it hasn’t thickened enough in 4 minutes, the temperature hasn’t been hot enough — turn it up a bit and stir until your mixture coats the back of the spoon.)

Pour the custard over the chopped chocolate, and let sit for 2-3 minutes to melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth.

Transfer to a blender, if using, or use a hand blender, and puree until smooth (30 seconds to 1 minute). Some bubbles will appear.

Pour into 8 ramekins or cups, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until 15 minutes before serving.

Before serving, top with a dollop of crème fraîche, yogurt or whipped cream.

Perfect Pairings

• Maury (wine)
• Port (wine)
• Guiness or other dark stout (beer)

Enjoy!

When I was little, strawberries were my favourite fruit. They were only in season late in May, until early July and back then, it was hard to find them out of season (don’t I sound old now!)

Nowadays, despite the temptation, I try to hold off buying them in February since they’re really not worth it (no flavour) but last week I couldn’t hold back any longer. They’re still not as good as they will be in a few weeks, (when I have all sorts of plans for jam and other treats) but these were a very yummy start to the season to come.

No, that’s too tame a description. I’d say that those strawberries and these strawberry shortcakes melted my butter. I can’t wait for the next chance to eat more — it’s like spring has sprung and summer is on its way!

Rather than follow one single recipe for all of the components, I pieced together a few. Here goes:

The Recipes

Makes 6 servings

Cream Biscuits
from Ezra Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups / 375mL flour
1/4 tsp. / 1mL salt
4 tsp. / 20mL sugar
2 tsp. / 10mL baking powder
6 tbsp. / 90mL cold butter in small pieces
3/4 cup / 185mL cream (heavy / 35%)
Additional sugar for sprinkling on top.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F) / 200 degrees (C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix together dry ingredients in a large bowl: flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Cut in butter until the pieces are the size of small peas. It is important for the butter to stay as cold as possible, as this is what makes the biscuits flakey — put the mixture in the fridge or freezer to cool it down if necessary.

Add the cream *minus 1 tbsp. / 15mL* and stir briefly until it is combined with the mixture. It might be necessary to use your hands to get it completely mixed in. If so, try to get them cold with cold water first — you don’t want to melt the butter!

Turn out on to a flat surface and roll out to approximately 3/4 inch / 2cm thick. You can cut into 6 circles, or what is easier and less wasteful, divide with a knife into six similarly sized pieces (you will likely get 2 rectangles, and 4 triangle shapes).

Place the shapes on the prepared sheet, and brush with the remaining tablespoon of cream. Sprinkle with sugar (this is a great time to use vanilla sugar if you have any!)

Bake for 16-18 minutes — the biscuits will be golden when done.

Strawberries

1 quart / litre strawberries
aprox. 1 tbsp. / 15mL suga
1 tsp. / 5mL balsamic vinegar

Combine all ingredients together, stir, and let rest for approximately 1/2 hour.

Whipped Cream

3/4 cup / 185mL cream (heavy / 35%)
1 tbsp. / 15mL sugar
1 tsp. / 5mL vanilla

Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and whip until desired texture has been reached.

How-To

Once each of the above elements is ready, split open each of the biscuits open, layer the strawberries, then the whipped cream. Top with the other half of the biscuit (sandwich-style) and dust with powdered/icing sugar.

Enjoy!

It was the boyfriend’s birthday last week, which calls for a cake. He decided that he wanted a carrot cake. It sounds simple enough, but there are so many different kinds, and everyone has a version that they think is best.

He and I each fall squarely in the opposite sides of this debate: I’m a ‘kitchen sink’ version kind of girl who thinks the cake is best when it includes not only carrot, but also crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins, and nuts. He, on the other hand, is a purist who believes carrot cake shouldn’t have multiple components that may or may not confuse or distract the pallet with different flavours — it should be carrots, and maybe nuts, only.

Even though I was the baker, this time he was the birthday boy, so his version won (what my baby wants, my baby gets ;-) It turns out that this cake was so good, I hardly missed the raisins/pineapple/coconut that wasn’t there.

The size of this cake is great if you’re not planning on sharing with many. It produces between 6-8 servings, depending on how you cut it.

The Recipe

Adapted from Fine Cooking
Makes 1 half- sized double layer cake

Cake:
1 cup / 250mL flour
3/4 tsp. / 4mL baking soda
1 tsp. / 5mL cinnamon
1/2 tsp. / 2.5mL nutmeg
1/4 tsp. / 2mL ground ginger
1/2 tsp. / 2.5mL salt
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup / 125mL vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup / 250mL brown sugar
3/4 tsp. / 4mL vanilla
1 1/4 cup / 325mL grated carrots (approximately 3 large)

Icing:
8oz / 250g cream cheese
3/4 cups / 180mL butter
2 tsp. / 10mL vanilla
1/4 tsp. / 2mL salt
approximately 2 cups / 500mL icing sugar

How To

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F)

Grease and flour 8×8 inch square pan; line bottom with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together dry ingredients: flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Stir in nuts and set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix together oil and eggs. Add in brown sugar and vanilla and stir to combine well. Finally, add in the carrots and mix to coat evenly.

Add the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet (oil-egg-carrot mixture) and mix well. Do not over mix as this will develop the gluten and make your cake tough– only combine until you have a smooth batter (as smooth as a carrot batter can be,) then stop.

Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cake should be dry to touch and a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then should be removed from pan and allowed to cool on a rack.

Icing:

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in vanilla and salt and mix to combine. Slowly add in icing sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble

Slice the cooled cake in half so you have two rectangle shapes. Place one on your serving platter. Top with approximately 1/3 cup / 90mL icing and spread to distribute evenly on the top only. Place the second layer of cake on top, and apply a crumb-coat of icing to the cake. (A crumb-coat is a thin layer of icing that ‘glues’ down the crumbs from the cake.) Chill for 20 minutes. Use the remaining icing to decorate the cake as desired.

Perfect Pairings

• Coffee
• Lemon-based Tea

Thoughts

When spreading icing, it should be near room temperature or else it will look a little grainy (even though it’s not actually.)

This cake is difficult to achieve a true crumb-coat with — I found the crumbs poked through the icing regardless, but it’s worth a try just the same.

The cake is very moist — it would probably be safe to reduce the oil to 3/4 cup / 180mL .

I’d like to introduce you to my new favourite citrus fruit: the meyer lemon. It tastes like a cross between a lemon and an orange or tangerine and I lurve it! I’ve noticed over the past year that it’s not available full season here, so keep this in mind for the late winter/early spring season. I know — that’s just probably not quite when you want to eat frozen treats, but it’s really refreshing, and combined with a warm chocolate desert, it would be delicious.

This recipe came about as a synthesis between two other favourite recipes: Smitten Kitchen’s Whole Lemon Tart — I love that the recipe uses the whole lemon — and David Lebovitz’s Strawberry Frozen Yogurt — last summer I made up so many variations of it with different fruit and it was great each time.

So with that said, keep in mind that what I’m sharing is a first attempt — and a delicious one at that. Aside from my thoughts below, I think that next time I’ll cut up the fruit into smaller pieces before blending in the food processor — this time there were pieces of zest that did stay a little large.

If you give this a try, let me know how it goes — I’d love to hear your thoughts too!

The Recipe

Makes 1/2 litre

2 meyer lemons
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp limoncello
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (3.8 or so %)

How To

Cut the lemons into slices or wedges and remove the seeds. In the bowl of a food processor or blender, mix the sliced lemons (yes! peels and all), sugar and limoncello.

Let sit for 1 hour (to let the sugar dissolve), stirring every now and then. Blend until there is a fairly smooth texture, and let sit for another 1/2 hour.

Optional at this point: chill until cool.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Thoughts

• This comes out a little tart, so if you prefer a sweeter treat, add more sugar.
• If you can’t find/don’t want to use meyer lemons, you could use other citrus fruit of similar quantities — combinations I’m thinking of trying include: lemon-lime; orange-lemon; something-grapefruit… but I haven’t yet, so let me know how it goes!
• If you do use other citrus fruits:
  • adjust the sugar accordingly,
  • be sure to remove the pith (white stuff between the inside fruit and outside zest) otherwise it will turn out bitter

Some friends and I get together every month or so for an evening of trying new recipes. This month, there were a few birthdays around the table, so I volunteered to bring a cake (I love an excuse to bake a cake!) As the meal we would be eating beforehand would be large, I decided to make a smaller, single tier cake. I wasn’t sure how tall it would get, so I used a springform pan — in retrospect, a regular round pan of the same circumference would have been fine.

The cake itself is a little on the dense side, but with a light flavour. The cream-cheese based icing actually brings out, rather than competes with the orange.

To decorate, I used candied orange peels — I couldn’t find any that weren’t covered in chocolate, and when I sliced them, the chocolate mostly came off. What little chocolate that was left on the orange peel became the chocolate flakes on the cake :-)

Yay for friends birthdays and excuses to bake cakes!

The Recipes

A variation on “Orange Cupcakes with Vanilla Creme Icing”
from Food & Drink, Spring 2010

Cake:
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (sifted before measured) cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange zest

Icing:
1/2 cup cream cheese
3 tbsp butter
3 tsp honey
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
2 cups icing sugar (approximately)

Decoration:

Candied orange peel (optional)

How To

Cake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F)

Grease a 9 inch spring form pan (a smaller pan would also be okay, but adjust baking time accordingly).

Beat butter for 1 minute, then add sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.

In a seperate bowl, mix together dry ingredients: sifted flour, baking powder, and salt.

In another bowl, combine milk and orange juice — you might expect it to curdle, but it won’t.

Alternately mix in half the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar/egg mixture and stir, then add half the liquid, and again, stir together. Repeat with remaining dry and wet ingredients. Finally, stir in the orange zest.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 25-30 minutes. The cake should be golden coloured, and firm to the touch; a toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the middle. Remove the sides of the pan and cool on a rack.

Icing:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in butter, and mix until combined. Beat in honey, vanilla & salt. Gradually add in enough icing sugar to reach desired consistency.

Pour on to cake, and spread to cover. Decorate as you please. Oh how pretty :-)