bakewell tarts

Mixed Berry & Lemon Verbena Pie

05.07.2011 58 Comments

One of the great redeeming qualities of the Spring and Summer heat in South Carolina is the abundance of berries and stone fruits. Every Saturday at the farmers market, I load up on local peaches, plums, and berries. I know berry season only has a few more weeks so I am baking, cooking, freezing blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries by the pound. Many pounds actually.

My favorite way to eat them is simply not to mess up with them too much…Cut up with with a little lemon juice and creme fraiche. Sometimes vanilla bean ice cream. Lately it’s been with lots of lemon-lavender ice cream though. A whisper and a soft cloud with every bite. Sometimes, it’s simple compote with some honey and lemon-thyme or lemon verbena and we have that with a few shortbread cookies for dessert or a snack.

And then there are pies. Many days. Many pie days. Indeed. You know, with a nickname such as Tartelette that there are going to be quite many pies made around our house. I don’t know. It’s a never ending world of never ending possibilities. I always love seeing other people pie creations. They inspire. They make me hungry and then they make me head back into the kitchen to bake more pie…!

When I caught a glimpse of the Twitter conversation that Shauna, Garrett, Irvin, Justin and Ashley were engaged in one evening, I knew good things would ensue. Within a few short minutes, lots of people started telling them about their favorite pies, tarts, crust and fillings. I got hungry. Again. And decided to head to bed before being tempted to make a pie at two in the morning! I woke up to a delightful and spontaneous virtual Pie event taking place July 5th. I told you these guys were up to plenty of good.

So if you see an avalanche of pies on food blogs, Facebook and Twitter today, do not turn away. Do not worry about the state of the world. If anything it just became sweeter. Just give in. Read for a while and then run to make a pie!

I made one of my favorite pies. A simple mixed berries pies served with whipped cream and a bit of powdered sugar. I added some lemon verbena to the fruits and that pretty much sealed the deal for us. Different. Intoxicating and perfectly soft on the first bite. Evocative on the last.

Pies. People. Make pies…

I am heading out to Salt Lake City today where I will be teaching a workshop organized by Heidi of Foodie Crush, then heading out to Park City, to take part in Evo 11 conference. The line up of panels, workshops and speakers is pretty amazing and inspiring. You can follow along on Twitter with the hashtag #evoconf.

I have to take work with me (proposals and assignments are never truly on hold) but I do plan on taking plenty of notes and pictures to share as much information as possible when I head back. Have a great week!

Mixed Berry Pie:

Makes one 9-inch pie

Ingredients:
For the crust (pate brisee)
2/3 cup millet flour
1/3 cup superfine white rice flour
1/4 cup sorghum flour
(or you can use 1&1/4 cup all purpose flour instead of the 3 flours mentioned above)
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
8 tablespoons butter, very cold and cut in 1/2 inch dice
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup ice water
1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water (to brush on the top crust)

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the millet, rice and sorghum flour. Add the powdered sugar and mix. Add the cold butter and mix with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the water, one tablespoon at a time and mix until the dough comes together in a ball. Flatten into a disk in between your hands and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes (you can make it the day before too)

For the filling:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries (cut in half or quarters – depending on size)
1/2 cup blackberries
1 cup raspberries
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon fresh chopped lemon verbena (optional)
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot

Directions: Place all these ingredients into one large bowl and mix together well. Let set for 20 to 30 minutes.

When ready to bake the pie, preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle.
Divide the pie into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Roll the larger ball to 1/8-inch thickness on a floured work surface. Place in your pie plate and trim the excess all around the pan. Add the fruit mixture and spread out evenly on the bottom and pressing them down slighly. Roll the second ball of dough to also 1/8-inch thick and cut 1/4-inch strips from it. Layer them on top of the pie. Brush with the egg wash and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Tartelettes a la rhubarbe: Rhubarb Tartelettes

11.05.2010 77 Comments

With our schedules packed to the gills I often wonder if I can make a post "short and sweet". Sweet? Yes I can! Short? Yeah….not likely. I may start thinking I don’t have much of a story to go along with a post and three paragraphs in, I realize I will never have nothing to say. Why? Because I love to listen and pay attention.

When I was a little girl, maybe three or four years old, I was on the train with my mom actively listening to a conversation between the 2 ladies seated on the same banquette. I think I made them uncomfortable listening to them with such purpose that at the next stop, they moved to the banquette right behind us. Not even five minutes went on that I turned around, tapped on one of the ladies’s shoulders and exclaimed " Parle plus fort, j’entends pas!". "Speak louder I can’t hear!"

I remember to this day what they were talking about. Embroidered handkerchiefs. See? I register everything. Down to the scent of the rhubarb tart my grandmother used to make for us in the summer. Since this year’s first ventures and posts with rhubarb, I have had a craving for Grandma’s rhubarb and custard tart and a couple of attempts left me seriously bruised in my hopes of finding that elusive scent. That one enticing flavor I could not pinpoint until last week when I was organizing the spice cabinet and exclaimed out loud "Je sais! C’etait de la cardamome!" (I got it! It was cardamom!)

I have made her tart twice in tartelettes format (and plenty of other sweet treats) since I spotted local rhubarb at the farmers market (more fragrant and tart than store bought) and each time that precious scent of cardamom permeated the air and everything around the house transporting back to the days she was still around. The woman knew her tarts, that’s a fact. Apples were a fruit of choice but her custard rhubarb pie was something to come home to. Always. A slice of her tart and you will remember it forever.

Where am I going with all this "remembering this" and "nostalgia that"? Well, this coming Thursday is my birthday and I can’t remember for the life of me what I did last year to celebrate. I know what I made to celebrate (blogs are precious tools for that!) but can’t figure out if we stayed in and went out. How much Champagne did I have to completely forget?! Ha! I also get nostalgic around this time which was the perfect opportunity to make her famous pie. I made 8 small ones. Bill had one. That leaves one for every day of the week that I am celebrating being a year older.

This year, we are starting the celebrations tonight with dinner. Tomorrow with drinks with friends and more celebration on the due day, Thursday. I figured it would be a sure way to remember next year what I did if I packed the week with plenty of opportunities to ~~create memories~~ find trouble. Eheheh! Right now I am knee deep in strawberry jam with the 20 pounds or so that Fanny and I picked up at Ambrose farm yesterday. The house smells divine. I did put a couple of bowls aside to mix with creme fraiche and serve along side the tartelettes. The resulting scene this morning (yes, tarts for breakfast!) was as delicious as it tasted.

I will do my best to save one for Thursday, the actual birthday. They are so good as they are with cardamom in the dough and custard and softly poached pieces of rhubarb. Not sure I can make them last.

Rhubarb Tartelettes

Makes eight 3-inch tarts or one 9-inch tart.

For the crust:
5 tablespoons (70gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 egg yolks
pinch salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup (80gr) brown rice flour
1/2 cup (60gr) millet flour
1/4 cup (30gr) sorghum flour
1/4 cup (40gr) corn starch
(or 1.5 cups of all purpose flour if not using gf flours & cornstarch)
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup cold water (optional if the dough seems too dry)

For the filling:
3 eggs
1 cup (200gr) sugar
1 cup (250ml) creme fraiche (or sour cream)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Poached rhubarb

Prepare the crust:
In a mixer, whip the butter on medium speed until light and airy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time and beating well after each addition. Mix until incorporated. Add the cardamom, salt, and all the different flours, and the xantham gum and mix briefly. Add some water, one tablespoon at a time if the dough feels too dry. Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured (use more rice flour) board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350F and position a rack in the center.
When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between two sheets of plastic to fit your prefered pie pan or eight 3-inch tart rings. If the dough tears while you roll or/and transfer into the pan, just patch it with your fingertips. Line the dough with a piece of parchment paper, fill with pie weights or dy beans and par bake for 10-15 minutes until almost completely baked. Remove the weights and parchment paper. At this point you can refrigerate the baked crust for up to 5 days before using.

Prepare the filling:
Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the center.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar until the mixture is pale and airy. Add the creme fraiche and cardamom and whisk until well blended.
Divide the poached rhubarb pieces (you may not need the whole quantity but you can freeze it for up to 3 months if needed) at the bottom of each pre baked shell and divide the filling accordingly. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden.
If you have leftover filling, place in a baking cup and bake alongside the tarts. Bonus baked egg custard!

——————————————————————————–
Le P’Tit Coin Francais:

Tarte a rhubarbe:

Pour une tarte ou 8 minis

Pour la pate:
70gr beurre mou, non sale
3 jaunes d’oeuf
pincee de sel
pincee de cardamome
80gr farine de riz brun
60gr farine de millet
30gr farine de sorghum
40gr de maizena
(ou de 210gr de farine blanche)
1/2 cc de gomme de xantham

Pour la garniture:
3 oeufs
200 gr sucre
230 gr creme fraiche
1/2 cc cardamome

Preparer la pate:
Dans le bol d’un mixer, battez le beurre pendant 1 minute. Ajoutez les jaunes d’oeufs un a un, tout en melangeant bien apres chaque jaune. Ajoutez le sel, cardamome et les farines sans gluten, le sel et la gomme de xantham. Melangez brievement et verzes le contenu sur un plan de travail. Ramassez en boule et metter au refrigerateur pendant une heure.
Prechauffez le four a 180C et positionnez une plaque au milieu.
Etalez la pate sur un plan de travail legerement farine (farine sans gluten de preference), ou entre deux feuilles de papier sulfurise. Foncez en un plat a tarte (mini ou pas), mettre une feuille de papier sulfurise dans le fond, et des pois/riz. Faire pre-cuire 10-15 minutes. Sortez la tarte du four et laissez refroidir.

Preparer la garniture:
Dans un grand bol, fouetter les oeufs et le sucre jusqu’a ce que le melange blanchisse. Ajouter la creme fraiche et la cardamome et battre jusqu’a obtention d’un melange homogene.
Placer des morceaux de rhubarbe au fond des tartes, ajoutez assez d’appareil a garniture pour les recouvrir et faites cuire 20-25 minutes a 180C.

Cherry Bakewell Tartelettes With Cherry Pit Ice Cream Milkshakes

27.06.2009 113 Comments

June has definitely been a strange month starting by my baking the latest Daring Bakers challenge the first week it was revealed. That has not happened in almost two years but there are too many work deadlines this month to monkey around with all forms of important business. Work and Daring Bakers that is. These Bakewell Cherry Tarts served with Cherry Pit Ice Cream Milkshakes don’t monkey around either.

Oh yes, even after all this time I still take my DB very seriously!! Our challenge this month was to make this traditional British tart and beside the three key components of the shortbread pastry crust, preserves and frangipane filling, we were pretty much let loose to do as we desired. If you have been catching my latest Daring Bakers challenges, when I am given this much freedom, my mind goes in overdrive and the kitchen turns into super porduction for a few hours. All around me usually rub their hands knowing there will be an abundance of desserts for the next few days while B. sighs as he approached the scene of the crime.

This time, I decided to throw myself a real challenge. To only make one possibility. How did I do? Well, I thought everything was groovy, sticking to my one idea of cherry preserve and almond frangipane. Then my brain got a little looser and I had this urgent craving to make cherry pit ice cream while pitting a few boxes of cherries for jams. Summer is here, I am jamming people and stone fruits are definitely high on my list. I like to get the darkest one I can find for jams, makes the finished color really pretty.

Having made Bakewell tarts before, I wanted to fiz things up a bit and serve them with tiny milkshake shots. I have had cherry pit ice cream on my mind ever since Shuna from Eggbeater posted about it last year. I am not going to get into the whole controversy of using pits in ice creams (or jams for that matter). Shuna wrote three very detailed posts about it so please read them well if you are interested in the topic.

All I can say is I did not hear a peep out of my guests when dessert came around. I think that means they’ll be back, ahahah!

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.

Cherry Bakewell Tartelettes:

Notes: The only change I made to the recipe given by our hostesses was to prebake the tart shells before filling them with jam and frangipane. The high ratios of butter in both the crust and filling can hinder the crust from baking all the way through while your filling overcooks.

Makes ten 3-inch tartelettes.

Sweet shortcrust pastry:
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
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

Frangipane:
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds (or other nut of your choice)
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Jam or preserve of your choice
Prepare the dough:
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.

Prepare the frangipane:
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.

Assemble the tartelettes:
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 pans, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Place the tarts on a baking sheet line with parchment paper and chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

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.

For the milkshakes: process about one cup of the cherry pit ice cream (or you favorite one) in blender with enough milk to achieve milkshake consistency. Serve in glass shots alongside the tarts.