Pastel de Nata

Bom dia! Having recently returned from Portugal, I’m here to share my experience with pastel de Nata (pastel is the singular of pasteis), the classic custard tart seen everywhere in this small country.

This being our first visit to Spain’s petite neighbor, we enjoyed many experiences in spite of weather that was all over the place. We had coolish days with spurts of wind and rain and occasionally sunny breaks interspersed. So windy in fact that mid Portugal sustained damaging winds with many trees blown over or snapped off, metal road signs twisted into pretzels and debris strewn here and there. Our planned train trip from Lisbon to Porto was canceled (all trains going north were affected) but fortunately there were buses aplenty that got us to our destination in almost the same amount of time as the train. Gotta love it!

As many of you well know, I’m a huge fan of custard in most any form so I knew that when we were planning this trip to Lisbon and Porto, I should search for a class experience to learn the secrets of this delectable treat. And so I signed up for an afternoon session at Lisbon’s Nat’elier.

Turns out the shop was just a few blocks walk from our AirBnB so Steve and I decided to check it out a couple of days before my class.

The case was chock full of pasteis (plural of pastel) in different flavors ranging from the traditional to a take on the currently popular Dubai chocolate bars; apple crumble, tiramisu, crème brulée and cherry were just a few of the many other options. The space is airy and open with seating on the main floor as well as on a wrap around sort of balcony offering a great view of the main space. There’s a robust coffee and drinks menu as well.

I chose the traditional pastel and Steve the Dubai version along with an espresso. I foolishly went with an over the top hot chocolate with whipped cream and caramel which made me wonder if I’d even want dinner ((I don’t indulge very often!)

The pastry was crispy, flaky and delicious; the custard smooth with a hint of cinnamon. Steve’s Dubai tart had chocolate hidden under the custard and pistachio cream dolloped on top.

There happened to be a class going on that afternoon - we could see the activity through the windowed teaching kitchen at the back of the shop. My turn would come in a couple of days.

Whereas the class we had witnessed was chock full (I think they take a maximum of 12 in a class), my class had three attendees - Ulrich from Germany, Michi, a pastry chef from Japan and myself. The space is laid out simply with a couple of work tables, all essential tools, a sheeter, mixer, oven etc.

Our chef Adriano had come to Lisbon from Brazil and was able to speak English as well as some Japanese. Michi didn’t speak any English, while Ulrich spoke it fluently. Interesting how one can communicate even when not knowing a particular language. Somehow it just works.

We all went through the steps of creating the laminated dough. One surprise for me was the fact that we used margarine instead of butter in the puff pastry. Our chef explained that because it’s more “plastic”, it’s easier to create the finished dough in a relatively short period of time without the usual rests in between the folds and turns. It also stands up well to high oven heat. With a bit of online reading I found that some pasteis are baked in as high as 800ºF/400ºC ovens!

SIDE NOTE: the recipe we were given at the end of class uses butter in the puff. Every other recipe I’ve looked at on line does as well. Also - one can use a high quality all butter puff from your local grocer if you prefer not to make your own.

Another eye opener was making the base dough by hand, kneading for a good ten minutes then starting the beurrage after only a short rest period for the dough. Certainly different than the way I’ve been making puff pastry for years! I guess you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

I’ll give you more detail about ingredients and the process in the upcoming post when I share my “at home” adventures with making pasteis.

For this class, we enveloped our margarine in the dough . . . .

. . . . then rolled it out long, did a three fold, rotated 90º, rolled out again and did another three fold, all back to back without resting. I was amazed at how smoothly it rolled out without any resistance.

Then, placing the dough with the long edge facing us, we gave the surface of the dough a light brush with water (helps the layers stick) and starting by rolling the leading edge over tightly. Continuing on, we then rolled it into a snug log. We wrapped the logs and refrigerated them for 10-15 minutes as the oven heated to 500ºF.

Lightly oil or butter the tins. Slice the log into pieces as wide as the height of the tins then place them cut side up in the tins.

Next we dipped a thumb in water and pushed down directly into the center of the dough. Push firmly to flatten the bottom then work the dough evenly up the sides to create a rim just over the edge.

We had made a big batch of custard a little earlier in the class - made with 2% milk, cinnamon stick and some lemon peel first brought to a boil. Reduce heat to low as you add a flour/sugar mixture, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Then cook over medium heat until thickened a bit (it should leave a trail when lifting the spoon) then set aside to cool to room temperature. Egg yolks shouldn’t go in when the mixture is boiling hot - add the yolks to the base custard mixture right before filling the shells. I’m told this lends itself to a nice silky custard that isn’t too firm or flan like.

Fill each shell with custard almost to the top.

We each made four (there was plenty of dough left that our instructor used to created palmiers). Bake at 250ºC/480ºF for 5-6 minutes then rotate trays and bake another 10-12 minutes until set.

The well browned tops are a sign of a well baked pastel - if the center wobbles a bit, bake a couple minutes more. Let cool briefly then remove from the tins. HINT - more about my experience with this in the next post!

After class we were invited upstairs to a sitting area to enjoy our freshly baked pasteis along with a coffee beverage of our choice.

Next up we’ll see how my experience at home went! I didn’t want to overwhelm you all in one go so stay tuned . . . . adventures await.

A little taste of Portugal

Steve and I recently returned from Portugal where we spent time in Lisbon (6 nights) and Porto (5 nights). We enjoyed our stay in spite of weather that was quite variable - from brief torrential rain showers and wind to occasional blue skies and sunshine with temps in the mid to high 50s. At least there wasn’t any snow!

Check out Steve’s blog for LOTS of detail on what we saw and did.

The ubiquitous custard tarts - pasteis de Nata - were all over the place and we tried them at a handful of bakeries and cafes. All a bit different in their flavors and textures but generally pretty tasty. The highlight for me was taking a hands on class in making these little delights at Nat’elier, a shop right in the heart of Lisbon’s old quarter not far from our AirBnB. We even got certificates to prove it.

Here’s the group - Michi from Japan, our chef instructor Adriano from Brazil, Ulrich from Germany and moi.

The class was well orchestrated, interesting and offered a couple of unexpected variations on ingredients and process. Now I’m poised to make my own version soon which I’ll share in a separate post.

Below are a few images of things we enjoyed (mostly food related of course).

We paid Nat’elier a visit a couple of days before my class so we could test out the product.

Dubai version on the left and traditional on the right

Architecture abounds. One day we visited the Jerónimos Monastery in Lisbon’s Belém neighborhood - what a marvel of design and structure.

Central courtyard in the cloisters

Tiles and tile work are also HUGE around the city - here are just a couple of examples of tiling in the monastery . . .

While randomly strolling one can always find flowers . . . .

The image above shows you a perfect example of the street surface in many parts of Lisbon - small, square stones laid by hand. They can be very uneven and slippery when wet so it pays to be careful!

Bakeries are everywhere . . . . .

Chock full of cookies

In Porto we met up with our British friends, Richard and Pauline (remember - Steve has written about all of our adventures). The WOW (World of Wine) was quite a place and lots of fun. Our lunch there at Root and Vine was delicious - I had been craving lighter, fresher dishes after some meals on the heavy side and this quinoa salad was just the ticket. Citrus, nuts, sun dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds, lovely greens . . . YUM.

Our hotel in Porto had a wonderful breakfast spread . . . .

One could also get made-to-order omelettes or choose from hot dishes like scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon.

Richard celebrated a birthday during our stay and he was supplied with a lovely Happy Birthday breakfast treat that morning.

We enjoyed dinner a couple of nights at the hotel as well. I had a delicious apple tart for dessert one evening - right up there with The French Tarte’s!

Now we’re back in the land of snow and ice and look forward to spring.

I’ll get to work on my pastel de Nata project/post and be back with you before too long (I hope).

ice and snow along our roofline

Chocolate and pistachio (a match made in heaven): Caramel pistachio ganache tarte plus one more

I admit I’ve been on a bit of a pistachio kick lately. Pistachio millionaire’s shortbread and pistachio amaretti just to name two. I’ve made the amaretti a few more times lately - so, so delicious and pretty straight forward to boot. And the best thing is they hold beautifully in the freezer!

Pistachio amaretti

When I contemplate dessert ideas for a dinner gathering with friends (thanks Shirley!), a tarte (of course) is usually at the top of my list. How about caramel pistachio chocolate ganache - well that was easy!

First - a quick aside, health wise. Nuts are a favorite of mine, and I keep a stash of lightly seasoned, toasted mixed nuts on hand, usually walnuts, pecans and/or almonds. Along with my morning latte, I can jump start my day with fresh fruit, a small bowl of said nuts, some cubes of cheese and a small energy bite (almond butter, honey, toasted old fashioned oats and finely chopped dark chocolate). What a great way to fuel up for my mid morning exercise classes at our local fitness club - they lift my spirits every day!

OK - let’s get to work. This caramel-y, nutty, chocolate-y tarte is an amped up version of the chocolate ganache tarte which I have oft mentioned over the years. I posted specifically about the pristine all-ganache version on November 25, 2023 (click on the post in the right sidebar if you’d like to read about it.)

It’s a great dessert basic which comes together in a straight forward fashion. I keep it au naturel most of the time but when I want to add something to the flavor profile, bring in some crunch and dress it up, I go with a bottom layer of caramel and nuts in a blind baked pâte sucrée au chocolat shell (or choose a basic pâte sucrée). The ganache is then poured over and chilled to set then garnished with a little Chantilly cream and additional candied nuts (or however you might like to add your own touches).

Pouring the ganache - this one’s from a few years back with mixed nuts/caramel in a pâte sucrée crust

I’ve created a PDF for you which includes recipes for the chocolate dough, the ganache filling, my base caramel recipe plus guidelines for quantities of the components for different sized tartes. It’s all there for you.

For planning ahead, you can blind bake your tarte shell even a couple of days ahead and hold it in the freezer until you’re ready to proceed. I always have my house made caramel sauce in the fridge so I’m set there, but you can opt to use a decent store bought version. Have your choice of lightly toasted nuts ready - do that ahead as well since, once toasted, they’ll be fine in a covered container at room temp for several weeks.

On a caramel note - if I’ve EVER purchased store caramel, it’s been a long, long, long time! I did a quick look for highly recommended brands and it looks like Coop’s, Williams Sonoma and Trader Joe’s do a pretty good job. You definitely want something that isn’t too runny and those three are touted as thicker than many others. Look for good ingredients like cane sugar, cream, butter, maybe vanilla, a little sea salt. I avoid high fructose corn syrup at all costs.

Moving on . . . . fill the tarte shell early in the day of your event.

Below are an 8” tarte (used my 200 mm ring) with a couple small 65 mm / 2.5” ones on the side (extra for Steve and myself!). The caramel pistachio layer is spread in the baked tart shells with the mise for the ganache in the foreground.

For this I used a scant cup of toasted pistachios and a scant 3/4 cup caramel which works for either an 8” or 9” tarte. Here I simply kept a small amount aside for the two minis.

For the ganache heat the cream to a boil, pour over the chocolate and butter and blend. Blend in a teaspoon of espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water. Remember the recipe here.

Pour somewhat slowly as to avoid air bubbles. If they do happen, I pop them with the tip of a sharp knife. Let cool at room temperature for an hour or so. You don’t want to refrigerate immediately when the filling is still pretty warm - you’ll get unwanted moisture droplets forming on the surface. Not good. Then refrigerate for at least an hour to fully set the ganache. You can let it be in the fridge for several hours if needed before doing your final garnish.

As in this case, when preparing for a dinner gathering, I garnish the tarte an hour or two ahead - sprinkle on some chocolate crumbs leaving a bare edge for a nice piped ring of Chantilly. Lightly dust the crumbs with confectioner’s sugar for a light snowfall look. Hold in the fridge until 20 or so minutes before serving.

Once sliced, top each serving with an additional dollop of Chantilly and some lightly candied, chopped pistachios. So good.

The diners loved it!! It was a perfect end to Shirley’s “shrimp in purgatory” served over pasta along with a lovely side salad.

But . . . . . . before I go, one more chocolate pistachio creation. Using my go-to financier recipe, I subbed ground pistachios for half of the almond flour, made the base mixture and refrigerated it overnight. When it was time to bake, I finely chopped ~120 g 61% Guittard chocolate discs and blended them into the batter.

Blended and ready to pipe

You see my favorite mini muffin sized silicone molds below, filled about 2/3 - 3/4 full.

Bake at 375º 15-18 minutes. Let rest a few minutes then turn out of the molds and let cool.

I froze some for later enjoyment - I do that a lot - then garnished a half dozen with dark chocolate ganache and a fine sprinkle of pistachio crumbs. Steve and enjoyed two and the remainder went to accompany some vanilla-buttercream-topped pear almond teacakes as a gift for friend Kim S.

May 2026 bring peace, joy and quietude - and plenty of baked treats for those you love!

Laminated pastries - what fun you can have!

I love both the process of making laminated dough as well as the variety of treats one can create with it. Through the summer months I don’t do much in that particular realm (just doesn’t seem quite right), but once autumn/early winter rolls around, it’s a new ball game folks!

Of course the standards are always on the table, my favorites being croissants, pain au chocolat, and croissant aux amandes. It’s often when I have a croissant class coming up (as I did in November), that I start making completed dough as well as portions of detrempe with which the students can work. They leave class with fresh croissants (and sometimes pain au chocolat) plus their own half batch of completed dough to play with at home.

Here’s my standard croissant dough recipe. For those of you familiar with the process, I’ve been playing around with the folding steps. I was taught in pastry school (whoa - going on 20 years ago!) that croissant dough is put through three 3-folds (also referred to as business letter folds). For awhile now I’ve been doing a 4-fold (or book fold) and a 3-fold and calling it good. But lately I’ve added a 2-fold at the end of that process. I like the way the layers come out. Don’t be afraid to play around with it.

A past project - looking good!

As a result of preparing for the class, I was left with some 1/2 portions of dough in my freezer (never hurts to make extra!). It was definitely time to use those babies up. NOTE: yeasted dough can be frozen, but it’s best to use it within 4 weeks or so. Much longer and the yeast sort of dumbs down and the rise isn’t as good.

As some of you may realize by now, I prefer my treats in smaller portions - you know that “everything in moderation” mantra I swear by. I aimed for three different laminated pastries, each version made using a half portion of completed dough.

Technical steps coming up!

For this project I initially intended to veer away from the standards (like pain au chocolat) but since I have a stash of chocolate batons on hand, I thought it best to use some of those for one of the three versions. For the other two I chose classic “Danish” and some twisty spiral knots.

Let’s go through the steps of each (I’ll try to keep it succinct!)

For standard Danish one would typically cut six ~4”x4” squares from a 1/2 portion (rolled out 8”x12”). To yield 12 smaller pastries I rolled the dough out to 9”x12”, cutting 3”x3” squares as seen below.

Pipe a round of crème d’amande in the center.

/

Fold the corners into the center and press them down to hold them in place.

Don’t be afraid to push down in the center pretty firmly. Lightly brush with egg wash.

It’s important that laminated dough not rise at anything warmer than 78ºF. If too hot, the butter leaches out during the rise and the bake. I create a warm moist environment (yeast loves that!) either in my turned off oven with a pan of hot water in it or under an overturned clean tote bin with cups of hot water tucked next to the sheet pan(s).

Below is one example of my proof set up - my tote is large enough to stack 2 half sheet pans (using three wooden blocks) and have room on the side for a couple of cups of hot water to provide moisture. Here the bottom pan holds croissants and the top pain au chocolat - you can see the condensation inside the lid. Works great!!

Proof box set up

Let the pastries rise about 2-2.5 hours. Look for a more pudgy appearance and more visible layers.

Top them with an additional dollop of crème d’amande, some apricot jam, crushed almond slices and a sprinkle of raw sugar. Give them a second egg wash.

Start the bake at 400º - I always check at 10 minutes in and will reduce temp to 375º if browning seems to be going too fast. Total bake time is typically 20-25 minutes. Here my jam sort of slid off - next time I’d mix the jam and crème d’amande together, both to protect the jam from burning (Susan - you should have known better) and keeping the filling more in the center. Invariably the corners do open up some but, believe me, the end result doesn’t suffer.

Oh yeah!

For my twisty spirals I decided on a hazelnut orange filling. For my 1/2 portion of dough I blended 42 g / 3 tablespoons soft unsalted butter with a large pinch salt, zest of an orange and 66 g / 1/3 cup brown sugar (light or dark - you decide).

I rolled the dough out to a 9”x18” rectangle and crumbled the filling mixture over one half. TIP: I didn’t do this here but, when you have a crumbly filling, it helps to blend in a bit of egg white to give it some cohesion.

Fold the bare half of the dough over the filling covered half and lightly go over it with the rolling pin to press things together. I end up with a 9”x9” -ish square.

I wanted a yield of 12 pastries so I cut 3/4” strips and twisted and knotted each. Every time I do this it comes out a bit differently. Play around with it.

Egg wash, let rise a couple of hours. You should appreciate more fullness as they’ve risen. Lightly egg wash a second time.

See that Pudginess?

Bake at 375º about 20-25 minutes. I brushed ‘em with some vanilla simple syrup just out of the oven.

Last but not least - pain au chocolat. Normally a p.a.choc is about 3” wide (the width of the batons used) and a half batch of dough yields six standard sized pastries.

To go for a smaller, narrower version, I cut my batons down to 2”, allowing me to get 9 portions out of the half batch of dough. To achieve that, roll the dough out to a touch over 6” wide and about 15” long

For each pastry rectangle you want enough length of 4.5 to 5” to form a decent log. Place one baton piece across one end, just in a bit from the edge. Roll that edge over the baton then place the second baton (or pieces placed together) tucked up against the dough/first baton. Get it? Then roll it up into a snug log.

It’s important that the visible cut end of the formed roll be face down on the sheet pan - enough to keep the pastry from rolling open during baking. Don’t worry - it does happen, but they still taste good!

Below is the side view of the finished shaped logs - you can see how the end edge is just underneath. If you roll it back too much, the whole thing will unfurl during rising/baking; roll it more forward and that cut end will open right up.

Here they are after a 2.5 hour rise. More pudgy and the laminations more visible. The dough takes on a softer more supple look and when you jiggle the tray a bit, the pastries also jiggle. It takes practice - eventually you just know.

Bake at 400º about 20 minutes. A bit of unfurling but not bad at all. You want the visible edges to be lightly browned (not pale). A sign of a well baked pain au chocolat or croissant is it’s lightness when picked up. If it feels heavy, it’s not done inside.

Okay! So much for that project. It’s pretty wintery here in west Michigan.

Like fluffy cotton balls

Recent snow and more to come

A bit of holiday cheer for you. Until next time - happy baking!

Shortbread gift boxes

Happy Halloween!

This one’s a quickie to say hello and wish all of you continued enjoyment of this autumn time of year. I know there are many Halloween lovers out there too!

Steve and I visited nearby Frederik Meijer Gardens a couple of nights ago to see the pumpkin walk through the woods - very cool and fun, especially for the kids. There were lots of folks out on a beautiful evening, not too cold and with a clear starry sky. My most beloved time of the year.

I had hoped to share a recent cake baking project here but, alas, even though it sounded good up front (a Norwegian twist on a honey almond cake), the end result was, in my humble opinion, THE most boring cake I’ve ever eaten. Enough said. I’ll just have to jump to a new project . . . . hmmmm, what might it be? I’m overdue for the next FAVE post so I’m chewing on the possible topics. Stay tuned.

In the meantime I’ll share a few photos of past pumpkin bakes. Steve prefers to keep pumpkin at a very far distance from his mouth so it’s not a regular ingredient in my larder. But it’s kinda de rigueur, especially leading up to T-day, don’t you think?

Pumpkin custard tarte with sesame brittle

Pumpkin scones

Pumpkin financier

Pumpkin pecan Danish

I’ve got my thinking cap on! Until next time.

Steve and I under the spooky lights

Chocolate tahini tartelettes

My oh my these are tasty. (Remember those pistachio tahini shortbread I wrote about in August?) Here’s another recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book “Sweet” in which the filling incorporates flavors that marry so deliciously - dark chocolate, tahini and honey.

Invariably at this time of year (baking season!), I go through my supplies and ingredients with an eye to using some that often sit patiently waiting in the cabinet. As it turns out, this summer I had just refreshed my larder with the likes of sesame seeds and tahini as well as a fresh jar of local raw honey from Melody Bee Farms. Even though their shelf life is great, it’s good to start thinking of the delicious treats that might ensue.

This is a three component project (not including garnish) - a classic pâte sucrée crust, blind baked, then a dollop of tahini-honey topped by a lovely chocolate mousse filling baked in the shells. For garnish I whipped up a caramel mascarpone cream and sprinkled on some toasted sesame seeds and a few chocolate pearls.

For planning purposes, you can make the pâte sucrée ahead, line your chosen rings or tins and hold them in the fridge a couple of days or in the freezer for several weeks before blind baking and proceeding with the fillings. It’s all about making things a bit easier folks!

When you’re ready for the full project, blind bake the shells at 350ºF.

Here’s the full recipe PDF. NOTE: for this trial I used 2/3 recipe of the chocolate mousse filling since I was making a smaller number of tarts. The full recipe calls for 3 eggs so don’t let the 2 eggs in the photo below confuse you.

My house chocolate is Guittard’s 61% Lever du soleil in disc form so, since the recipe here calls for a darker chocolate, I picked up some 70% Lindt at our local supermarket. It’s pretty good and worked well here.

The mousse filling is four simple ingredients - chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs. Voila!

I melted my butter and chocolate in a 4 quart Pyrex in the microwave using bursts of medium power and stirring until melted. You can also place the two in a heat proof bowl over a water bath and slowly melt. Let the mixture cool while you whip the eggs and sugar on high speed for 10 minutes until nice and pale, foamy and tripled in volume.

Then fold the whipped egg/sugar gently into the chocolate/butter mixture in two additions until well combined. My 4 quart Pyrex was able to accommodate the volume (remember I made a 2/3 recipe mixture here).

Beat the tahini and honey about 3 minutes to thicken. Here’s the full recipe again.

Chocolate/butter and egg/sugar Waiting to be combined plus tahini/honey at the ready

Have your cooled shells standing by and increase the oven temp to 400ºF. Place a tablespoon of the tahini mixture in the bottom then either pipe or spoon in a generous mound of mousse. You want them to bake up puffy (they will deflate once cooled as is true for most baked mousse fillings).

Ready for the oven

Bake about 9-10 minutes until the top looks matte (not shiny) and a crust has formed. The center should still be gooey.

Let the tartelettes cool completely then gently remove from the rings. Note the deflated filling below.

A nice swirl of caramel mascarpone, a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds and a few chocolate pearls did the trick.

Yum!

Of course Steve and I enjoyed a taste test and saved a couple in the fridge for another day. A few friendly folks were on the receiving end of the remaining treats. We can’t eat everything can we??

We’re finally seeing some brilliant autumn color - it’s hit or miss but the hits are gorgeous. Even a few simple fallen leaves on the walking path offer a rustic artful display.

I love it so!

Hmmm . . . . . what’s next?

Crostata della Nonna (and one more)

Continuing on my Italian kick, this crostata is as classic to Italians as apple pie is to Americans. Based on another recipe from the book “Dolci” by Renato Poliafito (remember the peach semifreddo?), the name is literally translated as “grandmother’s tart”. A tender, buttery, hint of lemon short crust, a pastry cream filling topped with a lattice of the same crust. Oh my.

A quick note on vocabulary. I’ve seen this type of tart referred to as either a crostata or a torta with some differences in the variables that make it what it is. Some say a crostata may have a more chunky fruit filling and no top crust, similar to a French galette or may be filled with pastry cream and topped with a lattice crust (as in this case). Torta might refer to either a cake or tart-like creation that can be either sweet or savory. In Spanish torta refers to a crusty roll or bread sandwich.

Not too gloss over it too much but I don’t think I’ll worry about which word I use, especially with regard to Italian pastries in the tart family. If you travel a fair amount, you’ll find similar treats in other countries in Europe, Scandinavia and beyond - everyone has their own take on a good thing!

Now back to our topic - just two components and a pretty simple assembly (the lattice can be a bit tricky), the pasta frolla dough bakes up light and tender, a true match for the luscious pastry cream filling. The full dough recipe makes about 750 g of dough of which you’ll use about 450 g, give or take. It’s somewhat akin to my favorite Breton dough but even a bit more ethereal.

Both components can be made a day or two ahead. Then it’s a matter of assembling and baking. I won’t go through the steps for the dough here - just check out the recipe. Any extra dough can go to making cookies (end of post!).

I used my favorite recipe for the pastry cream - 500 ml whole milk, 100 g sugar, 5 yolks and 50 g corn starch (or a mix of 32 g cornstarch and 18 g flour), 1.5 teaspoons vanilla, 40 g unsalted butter.

Heat the milk with half of the sugar. In a separate bowl blend cornstarch/flour, the other half of the sugar with the egg yolks, whisking until well blended. Temper the hot milk into the yolk mixture then return all to the pan. Continue to cook while whisking constantly until thickened and see a couple of “blub, blubs on the surface. Then blend in the butter and vanilla.

I line a quarter sheet pan with plastic wrap (long enough to bring up over the cream), transfer the hot cream to the pan, spread into a layer (more surface area, quicker cooling) then cover with the plastic as you expel any air bubbles. Chill in the fridge until cool.

You’ll most likely use about 2/3 of the cream, but you could always bake up some choux puffs and fill ‘em right up with what’s left.

Heat your oven to 350ºF. Line a half sheet pan with parchment. Have a 9” tart ring at hand. Using about 280-300 g of chilled pasta frolla, roll the dough out to a thickness of about 3-4 mm, lightly flouring the work surface and lifting the dough periodically to keep from sticking. Line the tart ring, creating a rim along the top of the ring. Prick the bottom all over with a fork.

Remove the pastry cream from the fridge and give it a paddling in a stand mixer to smooth it out. Spread the cream into the lined ring to just below the top edge of dough. Smooth the top. Save any extra cream for another use.

Using another 170 g or so of dough, roll it out and cut strips about 3/4 - 1 “ wide. The dough is fragile so if it gets too warm and difficult to handle, place the strips on a sheet pan and pop them in the fridge to firm up.

I’m sure many of you are expert pie makers and can whip off a woven lattice crust licket-y split. It takes a bit for me. I didn’t even try to weave them - just laid some across the cream then the rest at a bit of a diagonal. You can see my patching here and there - it’s OK - it all comes out in the end. Seal the dough strips along the edges.

Bake at 350ºF for about 40 minutes until the dough is golden and the pastry cream is set.

Let cool, gently lift the tart ring off and give it a nice dusting of confectioner’s sugar for that extra special look. It does something for it don’t you think?

Rustic and ready

So delicious as an accompaniment to afternoon tea or coffee or for a simple, yet tasty dessert. Maybe a few fresh berries on the side?

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for 3-4 days.

I had planned on a separate post on occhi di bue (bullseye cookies) but thought I’d just tack on a few images for you here. Made with the same pasta frolla dough, simply roll out the dough, cut your desired size rounds then, with half of those rounds, cut out a center bullseye (re-roll the center cutouts for more cookies or bake them for snacks!)

Bake at 350º F about 20 minutes. Let cool then spread a thin layer of apricot jam (or other jam of your choice) on the full rounds, pop them back into the oven for 5 minutes or so to set the jam. Then top with the bullseye rounds. Cool and give them a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Enjoy!

Until next time (waiting for the autumn colors to burst forth)!

This one’s from 5 years ago at this same time of year. Back then we were deep into Covid and Steve and I wanted to get out of the house. We took a drive to see some autumn color and stopped at Meinert Park, a Muskegon county park on Lake Michigan. Of course I had to put my toes in the water!

AAAAHHHHH!

Why I love Paris

I’m working on a couple of additional Italian treat posts, but first I want to take time to share some images and thoughts about the City of Light where we’ve been spending the past 9 days. For us it’s not Michelin starred restaurants or la haute couture but the day to day life, the history, the monuments, the parks, the light, the art, the wine, the flowers, the ever changing variety of cuisines from all over the world . . . . . and even more.

We envy the neighborhoods (quartiers) in every arrondisement that offer within easy walking distance most everything you might need on a daily basis; the parks and green spaces where families and friends can enjoy the fresh air and the children run and play; the transit system that can take you from one end of the city to another in less time than it might take us to drive several miles round trip to our favorite cheese shop (or many other things in Grand Rapids). The societal camaraderie in general here is refreshing and healthy.

And, on an eco-friendly note, our friend Marie B. shared with us that pollution is down 40% in Paris due to limiting cars in the city.

You can also read more about things we experienced through Steve’s blog here.

Following are a variety of images from Paris that demonstrate what it is about this place that draws us in. There’s always something interesting around a corner or an unexpected find to surprise you.

FLORA AND PARKS (in no particular order)

A bit of green space at Place de L’Hôtel De ville, 4th arr.

Florist shop near Le Bon Marche, 7th arr.

Just a small part of Le Jardin de Luxembourg, 6th arr.

Playing petanque in Le Jardin de Luxembourg

Florist shop near Le Jardin de Luxembourg

Le Jardin des Plantes, 5th arr.

Les Jardin des Plantes

Le Jardin des Plantes

Lovely natural garden near Le Petit Palais, 8th arr.

Vineyards near Musée de Montmartre, 18th arr. (the only vineyards actually in the city)

Everyone’s out in the park on a Sunday afternoon, near our AirBnB in the 12th arr

Walking along Le Promenade Plantée, 12th arr.

In the courtyard at Musée Jacquemart-André, 8th arr.

CULINARY AND PASTRY TREATS and a bit more (again, in no particular order)

The following images are from outings that occurred over a series of days, focused mainly on our lunches out and afternoon coffee and treats. Our evening meals were either at home prepared by chef Steve using roasted chicken plus fresh veggies and potatoes, all purchased at the local Place d’ Aligré market (literally just outside our door). We also enjoyed Vietnamese, Algerian and classic French cuisines at nearby eateries.

Chocolat chaud, macaron au passion, praline chocolat at Foucher, 7th arr. (Steve had espresso)

On one outing we had lunch at Café du Trocadero - Steve a tasty chicken salad and I a classic goat cheese/greens/tomatoes/carrots/cuke/walnuts arrangement.

My salade au chèvre chaud, delicious and filling

Below is our shared dessert - pâte sucrée crust, layer of crème d’amande baked in, topped with crème de pistache and fresh raspberries. It reminded me of a non-pistachio version I make. Good!

Tarte au pistache et framboise at Café du Trocadero, 16th arr.

Savory galette artisanal (classic Breton buckwheat crepe with ham, egg, cheese), Breizh café, 18th arr.

Classic Flan Parisien, Musée d’Orsay café, 7th arr. (not as good as The French Tarte’s!)

pâtisserie Gosselin, near the Orsay (we tried paris-Brest and Religieuse au café)

Wine and cheese tasting at Ô Chateau, 1st arr.

A nice Rosé, La Vieille Tour, 5th arr. (just off rue Mouffetard)

Plus . . . . .

Fresh baguettte

And . . . . . .

Soupe à la oignon (classic French onion soup!)

Le Gouter (afternoon snack time): èclair au café, brioche feuilletée, espresso, cappuccino, at Blé Sucre, 12th arr.

After initial days of cool temps and rain showers on and off, we enjoyed our first afternoon “sitting-out” coffee experience at Blé Sucré (above) as the weather had turned sunny. Since it was just around a corner from our AirBnB, we opted for another round of treats at the end of our stay.

Another day - èclair chocolat et tarte au citron (reminded me of The French Tarte’s!)

Of course, I had to throw this one in . . . . . .

We all know what this is!

STROLLING AND DISCOVERY (once again, in no particular order)

This one was unexpected. When in Paris we typically stop on rue Monge at Pâtisserie Pascal Pinaud where I did two stages (internships) in 2007. The last time we stopped there was back in 2022 when Pascal’s wife was still manning the counter.

This visit we were surprised to see a new look and new name, now called Maison Monge. The shop is definitely refreshed from the days I recall - new faces, newer/cleaner look, more open and inviting. They have some outside tables for morning coffee and pastries or enjoying a lunch time baguette sandwich or slice of quiche. The range of breads and pastries looked good (sorry - forgot to take an inside picture!)

We popped in and talked briefly with the man who seemed to be in charge - I tried my broken French, he did speak some English. Turns out that Chef Pascal has retired! The fellow I just mentioned says he’s in touch with Pascal by phone to receive tips and guidance about the shop’s operations. They just opened three weeks ago! Bon chance I say!

Maison Monge, 5th arr. New owner, new look

We did try an oranais, one of Steve’s favorite pastries made with Danish type dough with a filling of pastry cream and apricot. We gave it a thumb’s up. Once again, I forgot to take a picture, but here’s a version I made a while back that will give you an idea (whoops - should have been in the pastry section!). Oh well.

Oranais

Next up was one of those “what’s going on here” as we approached a number of white tents like you might see at a craft fair in the USA. Much to our surprise it was a VERY cool vintage furniture market (brocante) and definitely not one of the often grungy flea markets/rummage sales (know as vide greniers) that one often sees here and there around Paris.

We certainly are in no market for furniture but the quality of what we saw was quite stunning. Below is just one “room” set up that could certainly appeal to many who fancy vintage stuff or retro looks.

Vintage furniture market, rue des Fossés Saint-Bernard, 5th arr.

Interior of Saint Medard church, 5th arr

Love the light and shadow on the seating

Fountain at the base of rue Mouffetard, 5th arr.

Typical market

Crossing the Seine on Pont Marie to Isle St Louis, 4th arr.

Les Bouquinistes along the Seine

My favorite statue at Le Grand Palais, 8th arr.

A beautiful day for a stroll in Père Lachaise cemetery, 20th arr.

Grave of Frederic Chopin in Père LaChaise Cemetery

Vivant Denon - the bouquet of flowers caught my eye - one of the first curators of the Louvre; has a wing named after him

A visual of a few monuments in Père Lachaise - gives some sense of the topography - you really gotta be there

Lovely house boat along the seine

Line six metro crossing the seine; near the Eiffel Tower, 7th arr

What better way to end this post than with . . . . . . .

Le Tour Eiffel, 7th arr.

Again

And one more!

I hope to be back with you with more baking adventures in the next several weeks. Enjoy!

Pistachio amaretti

Hi all. I’m publishing this post from Paris!!!

After my recent semifreddo post I still have a few things up my sleeve whilst on a bit of an Italian tangent. One of them is amaretti, a delectable meringue based cookie that’s not only easy to make but delicious to boot. Interestingly, when I put amaretti into Google translate from Italian to English it gives me “macaroon” (like our coconut macaroon). There’s also amaretti morbidi which translates to “soft macaroon”. If I translate macaron from Italian to French, Italian to English, French to Italian, English to either French or Italian it all comes out as macaron. Curious, eh?

Let’s just say that the word “macaroon” for me will forever mean the coconut one that many Americans know and love. Otherwise “macaron” goes for anything almond-meringue-y-like, whether it be French, Italian or some other nationality.

Amaretti’s ingredients are indeed very similar to those of French macarons, the ever popular colorful sandwich treats, save for the fact they contain a bit of wheat flour in addition to almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, egg whites and nuts. The process is less fussy than the classic macaron and the batter comes together quickly. No resting times or waiting or special mixing methods. I like that.

Here’s a bit of back story.

One of my favorite books

I purchased this book back in March, 2010 while I was in Paris for a month or so. I was taking French language classes at L’Alliance Français, attended a croissant class at Le Notre, went to Mulhouse to visit my friend Misato, attended the civil ceremony for friend Val’s marriage - all good stuff. That was the year of the volcanic eruption in Iceland - my return home was delayed a few days so I was able to tack on a day trip to Giverny (lovely!) and a small group tour of a well known Paris pastry shop showing us the ins and outs of macaron making. Sometimes it pays to have travel plans change!

What attracted me to the book was not only the inclusion of assortments of petite treats (love ‘em all!) like choux, tartelettes, sablés, meringues and small cakes such as moelleux and financiers but also instructions/patterns for making your own boxes (I loved shopping at BHV in their craft/paper department).

A lovely assortment of biscuits from the book’s pages

My notes on a number of the recipes I tested indicate that I had made these pistachio amaretti (as well as the box to contain them) to take along to a celebration at Val’s parents’ home after the civil ceremony. Even though the book is in French, the amaretti are truly Italian in nature.

The page in question

Here’s the process: in a medium bowl blend 150 g / 1.5 cups confectioner’s sugar, 100 g / 1 cup almond flour, 30 g / 1 ounce either lightly toasted/cooled, chopped pistachios or crushed sliced almonds and 50 g / slightly mounded 1/3 cup all purpose flour. Here’s the recipe in printable PDF form.

In a separate bowl whisk two large egg whites to soft peaks then fold gently into the above ingredients in 2-3 additions. While the recipe calls for blending in a tablespoon of pistachio paste, I added just a bit of extra ground pistachios instead - it worked just fine. As you see below, the batter is rather rough and tumble.

Scoop small boules onto a parchment lined sheet pan - I use a tablespoon sized scoop - and roll in additional confectioner’s sugar. Yield should be around 25-30 small cookies.

Press a pistachio half in the center of each cookie.

Bake at 300º F for about 20 minutes, rotating the tray half way through.

Let cool and enjoy! They have a delightfully crisp exterior and chewy interior. They’ll be fine in a container in the fridge for a number of days, although I tend to freeze them and pop out a few to enjoy when the mood strikes. They’ll remain very happy in there for several weeks.

I’ll be back again in a while - enjoy autumn!

florist shop sidewalk display in Paris

Caramelized peach semifreddo

Hello from autumnal west Michigan! It feels so good to be away from the seemingly weeks and weeks of heat and humidity. My baking juices have been flowing - yippie!

Peaches have been around for a few weeks now and are ever so delicious. In addition to the mixed fruit galette I shared with you recently, I’ve made a peach cake for a cousin’s gathering a couple of weeks ago, I have peach ice cream in the freezer and just baked a peach/blueberry custard tart to share with neighbors.

My favorite stone fruit vendor

This post has been underway for awhile after my discovery of the book “Dolci!” by Renato Poliafito at our local library. Hence I’ve been off on an Italian tangent with this delicious semifreddo (I’ll have a few other Italian bakes to share with you in the coming weeks.)

As a bit of back story, let’s not forget that my first foray into professional pastry school was at Apicius in Florence, Italy back in early 2006. By the way, at the end of this month it’ll be TWENTY years since I left my medical career - wow!

At Apicius I enjoyed the basic pastry program and had hoped to continue with a second semester, but, alas, the proposed summer session wasn’t going to happen. As Steve and I contemplated our next move, he so wisely said “If you want to learn pastry, why not go to Paris?” And the rest is history as they say.

Like a big sparkler

Let’s get back to the task at hand. I recently taught a French macaron class to a couple of teenagers (good fun!) which meant I had to have egg whites on hand a few days ahead so they could age in the fridge. When I need egg whites, I look for something tasty to make using the yolks. Semifreddo (Italian word meaning half-cold) is just one of those. Basically a still-frozen (not churned) egg/sugar or Swiss meringue base to which whipped cream is added, it can take on many flavor profiles.

For the base mixture: option one is a sabayon/zabaglione made with eggs + yolks (or all yolks) + sugar + a flavoring liquid such as a nut liqueur/fruit juice/Marsala/Champagne or a fruity white wine; option two is a Swiss meringue base to which one can add fruit purees, melted chocolate and/or ground nuts to name just a few.

Both options end with folding in whipped cream and the whole shebang is frozen in a plastic-wrap-lined loaf pan.

Cover with the plastic and into the freezer

An alternative is to spread the mix into shaped flexi-molds of choice for an interesting single serving approach. The below image gives you the general idea. Top with fresh fruit or coulis plus a crunchy crumble and you’re good to go.

Waiting for garnish

Let’s go over the process. This is a plan ahead-er for sure. Just be organized and you’ll find it’s pretty straight forward. Peaches diced, sautéed and cooled; base mixture whisked/heated over bain marie and fully cooled; cream whipped; then it all gets combined, spread into a pan and into the freezer. Here’s the full recipe PDF.

Lightly oil a 9”x5” loaf pan and line with plastic (the oil keeps the plastic in place) so that it overhangs the edges by 2-3 inches.

For the peaches I peeled/large diced 4 ripe peaches. Sautéed in a bit of sugar, butter and a splash of lemon juice to cook off the liquid, then stir in a couple of drizzles of my homemade caramel at the end makes for a tasty addition to the base.

Bubble . . . bubble

Transfer the peaches to a 1/4 sheet pan in a single layer and let cool fully. If not using soon, cover and refrigerate.

Make the sabayon by whisking 2 large eggs, 3 yolks and 100 g / 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a medium heat proof bowl over a bain marie. Whisk with vigor until the mixture pales, thickens and ribbons off a spatula or bowl scraper, about 5-8 minutes. It should reach 170ºF. Place directly into an ice bath and let cool completely, whisking occasionally.

Whip 360 ml / 1.5 cups heavy cream to medium soft peaks.

Components ready

Blend the whipped cream into the cooled base then fold in the peaches.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan. Fold the plastic wrap over the surface, smooth down to eliminate air bubbles then place into the freezer for at least 4 hours. I made mine a couple of weeks before actually serving and enjoying it. Make ahead - gotta love it!!

When it came time for the first taste, I opted for an ice cream scoop approach. I admit I might have been in a teensy bit of a hurry and this is an easy way to enjoy - a scoop into a bowl, topped with toasted sliced almonds and/or oat crumble, a few blueberries and a drizzle of caramel - YES!

The remainder went back into the freezer until I got my wits about me.

The next time I was feeling a bit more relaxed so took time to lift the semifreddo out of the pan, slice it and top with the same garnish of crumble, blueberries and caramel - never gets old.

I was left with enough to empty the loaf pan and press the remaining mixture into one of my decorative silicone molds (photo earlier above). Covered with plastic wrap and back into the freezer (again!) where it’s at the ready for another round of goodness.

A quick note - I would typically decide ahead of time whether I want to make a full loaf (e.g. sliced and garnished for a dinner party) or opt for the silicone individual portions that can be popped out and served singly or with just a handful of folks. It’s all in the planning.

OK - enough of the semifreddo. Here’s the peach cake I mentioned earlier. The recipe is the same as one I posted back in late August of 2023 as mini cakes - this time I went with a 9” springform.

Hmmmmm . . . . what should go on top??

I topped it with my favorite caramel mascarpone cream plus a drizzle of caramel over all. I don’t have a photo of an individual portion (we were at my cousin’s cottage and it just didn’t happen), but I also made a blueberry sauce to top it. Boy oh boy was it good!

Happy baking and enjoy autumn!

Along my walking route

Sour cherry and farmer’s cheese tart

As a result of my mid-summer browsing in the baking and pastry book section at our nearby East Grand Rapids Library, I discovered an intriguing Nordic collection of very interesting baked goods. It reminded me so much of our trip back in the spring of 2022 when we enjoyed a variety of delicious treats throughout Scandinavia (and elsewhere!).

Just one of the many options in Nevada Berg’s “Norwegian Baking”, this recipe gave me a great excuse to use some of this year’s tart cherries now resting in my freezer. I was so taken by the offerings in the book that I purchased my own copy using an early August birthday gift card. Yes!

This treat combines a sweet pastry dough and a sour cherry compote made by combining cherries and sugar, cooked to thicken. Then there’s a layer of farmer’s cheese (a somewhat-drier-than-ricotta curd-y product). Although one can make farmer’s cheese at home, I opted to purchase a farmer’s cheese from California which I found at our favorite Cheese Lady shop here in GR.

Starting the assembly

Here’s the full recipe PDF. A bit about the dough - the pastry for this one is much like a typical pâte sucrée, so common in French tarte recipes. I sub whole wheat pastry flour (also known as graham flour) for about a third of the all purpose - love the whole grain nuttiness it imparts.

I’m a big fan of Bob’s Red Mill but learned not too long ago that they’re no longer making whole wheat pastry flour. I found a milling company, The Birkett Mills, in NY state and ordered a quartet of 4 pound bags at a pretty decent cost, even with shipping.

Pay attention to the shelf life of this type of flour - whole wheat doesn’t keep as long as all purpose. But remember you can freeze it to prolong its freshness. I shared one bag with sister Joyce and I’m getting close to using up another. For the remaining 2 bags my autumn plans are robust for making a variety of tart and cookie doughs that I can hold in the freezer until ready to bake (including homemade graham crackers!).

As for butter, one thing I’ve noticed in many Scandi recipes is the use of “lightly salted” butter. I’ve begun to keep a Danish creamery style salted butter on hand for just such occasions. I also keep my eyes open for sales on Kerry Gold or Land-O-Lakes salted “extra creamy”. These salted butters are also great for a variety of cookies, especially classic shortbread or cookies that offer caramel-y or chocolate-y flavors. My mouth is already watering!

For this tart two thirds of the dough is rolled out to line the bottom and sides of a 9” springform pan. Cherries and crumbled cheese go in . . . . . .

Filling all in

and the other third of the dough is rolled out, cut into strips and latticed on top. Seal the edges with your fingers.

Brush with a bit of milk, sprinkle with raw sugar and bake at 350ºF for about 45-50 minutes.

Cool in the pan about 15 minutes, release and remove the outer ring then let cool completely.

For my unadorned first small sample taste I thought the dough was wonderful but the filling perhaps a bit dry. Steve disagreed. For a more composed offering, our enjoyment of the first full slices was of course accompanied by vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of caramel. What can I say - it never gets old.

The good news - the flavors and textures continued to improve over the several days that this tart can remain covered in the fridge. Yay!

Lest you think all we do is eat dessert, think again! I space my projects out so we have small portioned treats every now and then. Taking desserts to family gatherings, sharing goodies with neighbors or the staff at our local health club and/or freezing the end results for a later date are great ways to avoid over indulging.

With a focus on moderation, regular exercise, using good ingredients, a diet that incorporates fresh fruits and veggies (local whenever we can) and excellent locally raised poultry (just to name a few), we’re doing our best to stay healthy. Gotta do it!

Autumn is coming!

This past weekend we enjoyed a lovely afternoon, a delicious supper and evening at the Lake Michigan home of one of my many cousins. After what has seemed like weeks of heat, humidity and not so great air quality, our group of twenty was so ready for the gorgeous weather, cool breezes, warm sun, beautiful waves and . . . . ahhhhh, the sunset.

Fulton Street Market and a mixed fruit galette

It’s that wonderful time of year! Hurray!! It’s happening at our local Fulton Street Market where we find all manner of beautiful fruits and veggies. And there’s more to come before the chill of autumn arrives.

Not only a feast for our tummies, the gorgeous natural colors and hues are a feast for the soul and the eyes as well.

Nyblad farms is one of our favorite vendors, especially for stone fruits like the plums above and peaches below.

Sweet cherries were going strong but alas are finished for the season. But I now have a nice stash of pitted tart cherries in my freezer for upcoming projects. Yay!

Tortoise and Hare offers beautiful, fresh and delicious veggies, herbs and greens.

OK! Let’s do some baking! Since I had some of my favorite pâte brisée handy in the freezer, I decided to whip up a lovely rustic mixed fruit galette using peaches, plums, blueberries and raspberries. I’ve written about galettes on and off over the years but it never hurts to focus on what summer’s bounty has to offer.

Heat the oven to 400ºF while you proceed with preparation and assembly. I bake my galette on a sheet pan placed directly on my heated baking stone.

For a finished galette of about 9”, roll the dough out to an approximately 10-11” round to give yourself enough to pleat the edges up around the fruit. The dough should always be cool yet malleable. NOTE: Pâte brisée is generally a bit stiffer than a more flexible pâte sucrée, but be patient with it and you’ll be happy with the end result (such a delicious dough!).

I use about 4 cups of fruit - I had a couple of peaches, four small plums and added frozen blueberries and raspberries to reach that goal. I toss the fruit with a few tablespoons of sugar mixed with half as much flour (I tend to go light on the sweetening - sometimes you just have to experiment).

DO NOT mix your fruit until you’re ready to load it onto the dough, particularly if using frozen fruit. If it sits too long, it’ll become juicy and may lead to soggy dough.

I mix a tablespoon each of raw sugar and flour (or almond flour) to sprinkle over the dough - it helps protect that bottom.

Ready for assembly

Gently place your fruit in a pile in the center of the dough, then carefully start pleating the dough up around the fruit.

Once the pleating is complete I take both hands and encircle the galette with my palms, giving it a nice squeeze to help set the pleats.

Brush the dough edges with a little milk and sprinkle raw sugar over them. I keep a mix of raw sugar and golden cane sugar on hand (I often add some coriander and a bit of freshly grated nutmeg) - love it with all kinds of fruit.

If for some reason, your oven isn’t ready yet, pop the tray with the assembled galette into the freezer to hold it until you’re ready to bake (once again - helps avoid a soggy bottom). Pâte brisée is one of those doughs (like puff pastry) that likes going directly from a cold freezer into a hot oven.

Bake at 400º F about 30-35 minutes. I check after the first 10 minutes or so and as the baking continues, if the edges look too brown but the fruit isn’t bubbly yet, I’ll turn it down to 375º. You want golden brown crust, bubbly fruit.

Once out of the oven I drizzle some caramel all over.

As is our wont, Steve and I enjoyed a slice topped with a bit of my homemade vanilla ice cream - so simple and delicious! That crust - oh my!

I’m currently working on a couple of tart related posts - an Italian crostata and a Nordic terte (tart) that I hope to share in the next week or two. Good stuff.

Schools around here are back in session this week - hard to believe it!!

Until next time.

Love the markings on these maple leaves

Pistachio tahini millionaire’s shortbread

I have always and will forever continue to love shortbread cookies. Back in my childhood days the Lorna Doone brand was a fave, but, as I look at the ingredients today, I won’t go near them (say NO to high fructose corn syrup!).

Here I’m taking the opportunity to try an amped up spin on a delicious cookie base, and I’m going for it!

This is another delight in a line of inspirations from Yotam Ottolenghi’s “Sweet”. It’s my take on his middle Eastern twist on millionaire’s shortbread. Millionaire’s is traditionally created with a baked and cooled shortbread base topped with a layer of caramel which is then spread with melted chocolate. A quick search tells me that this three layered treat is believed to have originated in Scotland and, due to it’s sweet richness, someone dubbed it “millionaire’s”. I reviewed a number of recipes, many of which use sweetened condensed milk to create the caramel layer. Finding that particular canned product WAY too sweet for my tastes, I looked for other ways to create a not-too-over-the-top tasty caramel-like component.

Here’s where Ottolenghi comes in - he omits chocolate and combines a layer of halva (a Middle Eastern tahini based confection) topped with tahini caramel to set off his cookie base. I went for my own mish-mash - O’s base (to which I added coriander sugar) and a homemade tahini halva layer made with honey rather than granulated sugar. I then topped it with a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache and sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Yup.

Right here is my recipe PDF which also includes a second shortbread base option (I used that one on my second trial of the recipe). I’m giving you the ingredients with weights in the narrative below. Go ahead and skip all of that if you want to go directly to the recipe.

First up - the base. For those of you in the know, a basic shortbread recipe is classically 1 part sugar/2 parts butter/3 parts flour by weight e.g. 75 g sugar, 150 g butter, 225 g flour. That’s what I used to make at Gracie’s back in the day. Sand diced cool butter into the sugar and flour then press into a 8”x8” pan. Once baked, I’d sprinkle some raw or sparkling sugar on top and cut it into short batons to accompany a chocolate pot de crème or post dinner coffee. A tasty, tender end result.

There are many shortbread variations out there - here’s my mini shortbread primer to give you a sense of some of them. They’re all delicious, each offering a slightly different texture and taste.

the French Tarte’s shortbread assortments

Naturally I HAD to try “Sweets” recipe in which the big difference is melting and cooling the butter a bit before mixing. The beauty of a shortbread recipe is the option to make it ahead - you can store it in the fridge covered for several days or freeze well wrapped for a couple of weeks before proceeding with the additional layers.

The recipe calls for 40 g each of confectioners and granulated sugars (80 g total); 35 g cornstarch; 170 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 255 g flour. The cornstarch and confectioner’s sugar help to create a tender end result. In place of the plain granulated sugar I used a mix of coarse raw sugar and golden cane sugar mixed with coriander. I used a Danish lightly salted butter and added 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla bean.

Line an 8” square pan with parchment (enough to let it extend over the edges). Heat oven to 400ºF (this temperature caught my eye - much higher than my usual 300-325ºF baking temp for shortbread).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, briefly hand whisk the sugars and cornstarch together then, using the paddle on low, drizzle in the melted butter to combine. Blend in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon ground vanilla bean (OPT), the flour, a large pinch of salt and mix until the dough comes together.

Press dough into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

Bake at 400ºF and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely before proceeding.

For my second layer I checked out a few make-it-yourself halva recipes rather than purchasing a mass produced version. Halva is a fudge like confection made with sesame paste (tahini) and sugar. I opted to use honey in place of sugar since it offers a bit more in the “healthy” department - it’s a simple sugar (fructose) and tends to have a slightly lower glycemic index (doesn’t amp up you blood sugar quite as much as cane sugar). Plus it contains a mix of amino acids, minerals, iron and zinc. But let’s be clear - it is still sweet. Check out the recipe PDF for the halva process.

Spread a thin layer over the cooled shortbread. Chill for an hour or so. The image below is my second trial using my standard shortbread base recipe (except using melted rather than cold, diced butter) in a 9”x9” pan for a slightly thinner base.

Spread a thin layer of ganache over the tahini layer and sprinkle with lightly toasted chopped pistachios. Chill to set the ganache.

Slice into squares or batons or whatever shape you’d like. These keep extremely well in a covered container in the fridge over 1 to 2 weeks. The tahini layer does tend to “ooze” a bit at the edges but it certainly doesn’t detract from the wonderful flavors and textures.

Give ‘em a try - it’s worth it!

My go-to honey vendor at our Fulton Farmers Market

Enjoy what’s left of summer - it may go on longer than we think!

Mid-ish summer check in

Hi all. Hope you’re staying cool and beating the heat the best way you can. I long for those perfect Michigan summer days that bring fresh breezes, crystal clear blue skies and low humidity. They seem few and far between this season.

I’m working on a couple of posts featuring goodies that incorporate tahini, honey and chocolate and hope to share them with you soon. I’m taking it slowly but surely - steady wins the race, right? But wait! I have a few summer treats that I’ll share with you now.

For July 4th I made my favorite tarte au citron and topped it with whipped cream and raspberries.

For serving I made a simple blueberry topping to dollop on each slice. Cool, creamy and delicious!

Picnic style!

In spite of the heat, we did have a day (or two) that actually lent itself to croissant making. I was prepping for a private croissant class with a soon-to-be junior in high school who has her sights set (possibly!) on pastry school. I hadn’t baked croissants for some months and it felt good to get the feel once more for the process of the beurrage and laminations. Here they are all proofed - check out those layers!

For a recent group dinner with some of our exercise buddies, Steve made a load of delicious panko crusted chicken tenders with roasted little potatoes. Host Shirley provided appetizers and made a lovely fresh green bean salad. I went with freeform cherry/berry puff tartes. Michigan tart cherries are available and blueberries are coming fast and furious. I love using the fruits when fresh but have also been getting freezer stock ready for autumn and winter projects.

I rolled out two 1/4 batches of puff (~300 g), using my 4”x11” tart form as a guide. I trimmed the edges away leaving a border outside the form to build up the edges. I saved the scraps to bake separately for my top decor. A slit at each corner allowed me to turn the edges over to create a thicker border.

After lifting the form out of the way, press down the turned in edges to create the rim. Then score lightly with a paring knife just inside the inner edges. This gives you some demarcation when baking and subsequently filling. Prick all over with a fork. I lightly brushed the puff with milk and sprinkled raw/golden cane sugar mix all over. I hold the puff in the freezer as my oven heats to 400º (remember - cold dough into hot oven - better puffing!)

Bake the unfilled puff at 400º about 20-25 minutes until nicely browned. If you’re a plan ahead-er, you can do this a day or two before and hold the baked puff in the freezer. Remove it when ready to add the fruit and pop into the oven.

Bake the edge scraps too - use for top decor if you wish.

I placed blueberry filling down the center then the cherry filling along the sides. Place into a 325º oven for 10 minutes or so to refresh the puff and set the filling.

Once cooled I placed the “scrap” strips diagonally across, crushed some of the extra baked scraps to sprinkle over all, then a nice dust of powdered sugar just because.

When baking free form puff shapes, I love the longer narrower versions like these - when slicing across, each serving has the benefit of TWO edges of puff (and the end portions get THREE!). So delicious with the fruit. Love that!

Serve slices with a dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and a few fresh blueberries sprinkled on top.

Finally, as often happens, I had egg whites in the fridge that needed to be used. Guess what - my favorite financiers were the choice once again. I had prepared a smallish batch of lemon curd for a lemon Swiss meringue buttercream (another good use for egg whites!). There was some left so I added about 3 tablespoons of that into my citrus zested financier batter after it had chilled overnight.

After piping the batter into muffin sized silicone molds, I topped each with an additional dollop of the curd and a few fresh blueberries. A top sprinkle of a mix of golden cane, coarse raw sugar with coriander finished ‘em off.

Bake at 375º about 25 minutes until golden brown. Let ‘em cool about 10 minutes then release from the molds and finish cooling on a wire grid.

Remember that lemon buttercream I just mentioned? I piped a swirl on one freshly baked cake so Steve and I could trial it. Yum. The rest went into the freezer ungarnished for more fun later.

Delicious!

Stay cool everyone! Until next time.

Here are a couple of images from our recent trip to visit family in New England.

Lovely window box in Chester Connecticut

Sunset near BAngor Maine

And finally - a recent daylily sighting. Cheers!

More fun with teacakes

This was a spring project that I’m just getting around to writing about. At this moment it’s HOT, HOT, HOT here, and it seems like I should be writing about summer fruits and cool/easy to make goodies. But here goes!

Have some egg whites in the fridge? Time to use them up? Let’s make some teacakes! Very similar to financier, this base recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book “Sweet” and is a good one for creating different flavors. Here’s the recipe PDF which includes citrus and chocolate cake versions.

Made with egg whites/sugar/butter/all purpose and almond flours, unlike financier there’s no need to brown the butter - you simply melt it and let it cool a bit before proceeding with the recipe. Easy peasy.

I’m not here to go through all the steps but simply to share the above versions with you to get your own creative juices flowing. This time I added 4 g (2 standard teabags worth) of ground Earl Grey tea to the melted butter, worked the zest of one orange into the sugar and added a teaspoon of coriander to the dry ingredients before proceeding with the recipe.

I baked ‘em up in my favorite square savarin style silicone molds and, once cooled, filled some of the wells with orange white chocolate ganache and some with dark, both left over from a recent class project.

Here’s a mini ganache primer for you. Remember - ganache keeps well in the fridge for some weeks.

I rewhipped some vanilla caramel Swiss meringue buttercream that I had taken out of my freezer the day before. I also made a small batch of a 3 part cream to 1 part dark chocolate ganache that, once chilled, would be whipped up for garnish. Such fun!

Once the ganache wells had set, I played some mix and match with the toppings. The dark-chocolate-welled cakes got a swirl of vanilla caramel buttercream and the white-chocolate-welled a swirl of whipped dark chocolate ganache.

I love a little crunch to my creations so topped them with Valrhona crunchy pearls that I had snagged on sale through Bake Deco (all things baking and pastry!). White on top of whipped dark and dark on top of vanilla caramel. Matches made in heaven.

Here’s a cross section for you - the white welled version smeared but the dark welled gives you a nice vision of what you’ll be biting into. They look like little google-y eyed sea creatures. See the flecks of Earl Grey?

While the teacakes appear dense, they’re quite light and oh so delicious.

I shared these treats with folks at our exercise facility - working hard does deserve a little reward now and again don’t you think? Yummy.

Now go have some fun with your own versions.

Ending on a horticulture note - after all the many days, months and years I have walked along the same path, I had never seen this one before. Growing just alongside the path, branches hanging somewhat over and immature berries scattered on the ground - hmmmmm! The berries look like a ripening blackberry sort - I went to my helpful PlantNet app and confirmed that this is Morus Nigra or black mulberry. Don’t ya just love discovering new things! Supposedly one can eat them, but I’ll leave them for the birds and other creatures who may enjoy them.

Stay cool! Until next time.

French Tarte Faves (FTF) No. 5: New and improved lemon ricotta cake

When I started planning this one, I wasn’t thinking FAVE. But after all the work I did on it (and the delicious end result), I think it deserves to be one - BIG TIME! I’ll give you fair warning - lots of stuff coming up. Oh boy!!

I’ve never written a post specifically about this cake, but I have included images of it on and off in some of my update posts over the years. At my Pawtucket RI shop I would regularly make petite versions as part of various treat assortments. It certainly takes me back.

Of a different time

Recently while going through some old files, I discovered my spring 2014 issue of “Edible Rhody” in which the recipe was published. Whoa!

As a quick aside - Edible publications are focused on all things food-related from different locations around the USA. I always enjoyed the Rhody version when we lived there, and the whole Edible series is still alive with seasonal print editions, podcasts, online missives and various events here and there. Check out the Edible Community here.

The recipe from another time

I cannot tell you where/when I first conjured this one up (probably reading through an Italian baking book), but I CAN tell you that I thought it was delicious from the first bite. Aside from its lemony-ness, it offers a tender, almost creamy texture with a light airy-ness that’s hard to describe.

Back in the day

Fast forward to now! Recently I received a catalog from King Arthur Baking Company with a recipe for - you guessed it - lemon ricotta cake. The link takes you directly to their website for the base recipe for an 8” cake (it includes a 1.5 times recipe enough for three small bundt cakes (and of course they also have a set of three six inch mini Bundt pans for purchase if you’re of a mind.)

What struck me about the KA recipe is that, first of all, the ingredients are essentially the same as the recipe I’ve used over the years save for a few variations in portions - more flour and sugar and less butter - but otherwise identical in terms of what you need to have on hand to make it.

Second is the use of “00” flour, a popular Italian flour traditionally used for pizza and pasta dough. It’s more finely milled, ostensibly giving the cake a more tender texture. Third is the baking temperature - 400ºF (unlike the usual 350ish for many cakes).

I decided to do a side by side test comparing my recipe of old with the KABC one. I admit that there are times when I still prefer to write things out by hand - you’ll see below a quick comparison of ingredients for the two versions.

I won’t bore you with all the details (warning - more of that coming up), but I made a full recipe of each, dividing each batter between a 6” round cake pan and petite silicone flexi-molds.

My recipe baked with less rise (less flour, less rise) and a lovely browned edge, whereas the KABC recipe reached quite a height and depth of color.

The texture of mine came out dense, tender, moist and almost custardy with a nice lemon flavor.

The KABC version has what I would consider a more typical cake texture - larger crumb, a bit drier at first, but the moisture actually improved over a couple of days. Delicious lemon flavor too.

Both cakes benefit from the lovely lemon glaze that is brushed on after the bake.

Since Steve and I felt it best not to indulge in ALL of the end results, I sliced some of each version and added some berry mascarpone to one of them. Those goodies went to cousin Jen and her husband Scott.

Of course (me being me), I decided to create a new version starting with my “old” one as the base. I nearly doubled the flour, combining mostly “00” plus some almond flour, decreased the butter by just a tablespoon and the salt to 1/4 teaspoon, added vanilla and kept the other ingredients the same. The goal? Perhaps to come up with the best of both worlds. Here’s the PDF of the new version.

Feel free to gloss over the text below. I know I get carried away sometimes:-)). Remember, not only is this for all of you, it’s a great way for me to chronicle my adventures.

The mise

Planning ahead: (isn’t it wonderful to be organized?)

• 8” springform pan, butter bottom and line with parchment. Butter sides and sprinkle with coarse raw sugar for a nice hint of crunch to the edges (yum!). Remember - here’s the full recipe.

• 155 g / 11 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp (cube up while still cold - it’s easier).

• One cup whole milk ricotta: I put a strainer nested on paper towel over a bowl then put the ricotta in the strainer to drain off some of the liquid. It can sit out while you’re getting everything else ready.

• In a medium bowl whisk together 130 g / 1 cup “00” (or all purpose) flour, 35 g / 1/3 cup blanched almond flour, 8 g / 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt and set aside.

• Three eggs have to be separated. Like the butter, it’s easier to do that when they’re cold. Since yolks shouldn’t sit out too long (they start to dry and shrivel), I usually do the separating soon before I start my batter process. Whites can sit out for awhile and actually whip up better when not so cold.

• Put 150 g / 3/4 cup granulated sugar in a medium bowl and zest the lemons into the sugar - rub the zest into the sugar to release the oils, enhancing the flavor.

• Have a tablespoon lemon juice and a teaspoon vanilla extract available.

• For glaze (after the bake): 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar; some raw sugar for sprinkling on top if desired.

The steps:

1. Heat oven to 375ºF.

2. With the paddle beat butter, sugar/zest at medium-high for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl.

3. Add egg yolks one at a time, scraping down after each.

4. Blend in ricotta, lemon juice and vanilla.

5. Add dry ingredients and mix on low until blended.

6. In a clean bowl whisk the three egg whites to soft peaks, abut 2-3 minutes. Then blend into batter in three additions until incorporated.

7. Place batter into prepared pan and smooth top.

8. Bake 55-65 minutes, rotating pan 180º half way through. A tester inserted should come out clean. Look for a golden, nicely browned surface and a firm feeling when you lightly press on the cake in the center. If browning too quickly, tent with foil - remember every oven is different!

Pan prep

Ready to blend in whites

Final batter

Ready for the oven

All baked up

Place pan on a wire rack set into a half sheet pan and let cool about 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring, place another rack on top of the cake and flip it over onto the second rack. Remove the bottom pan and parchment then flip back over.

Make glaze by adding 2 tablespoons lemon juice to 3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar. Pour/brush gently over the top and let dribble down sides. Sprinkle raw sugar over surface. Place in the oven 4-5 minutes to set the glaze.

Oh so good!

Once cooled I topped with a light layer of whipped caramel mascarpone cream and a smattering of blueberries.

This. Cake. Is. Delicious. Wonderful texture, dense yet light in the crumb, lemony with a wonderful crunch from the raw sugar.

I gave half of it to our neighbor whose husband recently came home after a long hospitalization/rehab stint. Steve and I had no trouble enjoying what was left over the course of several days (it keeps very well in the fridge.)

Wait! I’m not finished yet! I had a request to bake some treats for cousin Mary’s book club gathering so, for the second round with the “new” recipe, I baked another batch as individual cakes (my fave). Baked in silicone molds, they don’t get quite as browned as batter baked in a metal pan but that’s OK. Baking time is less for the smaller cakes so keep an eye on things. The yield is around 30 cakes for the welled oval molds that I love.

Once cooled, I applied the glaze and sprinkle of raw sugar.

I made a lightly gelled berry coulis and filled the center wells with that. I had to set aside a couple for taste testing by - guess who?!

Then a nice swirl of mascarpone cream . . . . .

and a bit of color with fresh berries.

The timing of this project happened to be perfect for Memorial Day weekend too - I had plenty to share with visiting niece Rachel and her husband Steve as well as with the more extended family at Clear Lake.

THE END.

Summer is moving in so enjoy it!

Weigela varietal

French Tarte Faves (FTF) No. 4: Tarte aux noix et au caramel

Wow! My last FAVES post was over four months ago!! Well here’s No. 4 in the line up - my caramel nut tarte.

I see these FAVES as a way of doing a deeper dive into some of my favorite bakes. Read/scroll through as you wish. This one includes the nitty gritty details of figuring out ingredient quantities for different sized tartes as well as changing up the nuts you might want to use for your own version. You can even opt for chocolate dough too!

Mind you, I haven’t made this particular FAVE for quite some time. The caramel nut tarte was a staple for me back in our Providence days, particularly in my shop where I sold individual sizes, made full sized versions for special orders/holiday times and even petite ones for yummy treat assortments.

As I searched through my posts and photos, I found this one from back in autumn 2022. I think that’s the last one I made! It’s all gussied up with crème Chantilly and sesame brittle and boy was it good.

An autumn wonder!

Of course I do realize it’s spring, a season when our baking (and eating) thoughts are more likely to turn to citrus and fruity, lighter fare rather than nuts and caramel. But, since Steve requested a caramel nut tarte for his April 25th birthday dessert, what could I do but comply.

On a side note, while in Lyon on our recent France trip, we passed a pastry shop where Steve spied a tarte écureuil in the window. Écureuil is French for squirrel - awww, how clever - a squirrel tart! Get it - nuts, squirrels - hah! When we went in to purchase a small one, Steve asked for a “tart squirrel” and the woman behind the counter laughed and understood right away. Even though the tart was shallower and more meagerly filled than the one I typically make (and not nearly as good I must say), the birthday dessert idea was launched.

Petite versions from my archives

The process is a good one for planning ahead. Three components make up this creation: dough, filling and a mix of lightly toasted nuts all of which can be prepared and stored separately until you’re ready to go. Here’s the recipe PDF including all the components in one document. I’ll go through the steps below.

Since I was making so many different sizes of this tarte back in the day, being little Miss detail, I created a list with the portions of each component I would need for each size plus the number of different sizes that one recipe of filling would fill. Yes, I know what you’re thinking . . . . .

Let’s review the components.

I typically use a favorite pâte sucrée d’amande for this tarte. I can make a batch (or 2 or 3) of dough ahead and refrigerate or freeze it. I can even go so far as to think about what sizes of tarte I might want to make, portion out the necessary dough and have it at the ready (as you’ll see in a bit).

The dough is straight forward to make, either using a mixer or by hand. If I’m doing a single batch, I often just do it by hand using a medium mixing bowl. First cube up 137 g / 9.5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter and set aside as you prepare the other ingredients. You want the butter to remain cool so don’t dilly-dally. You can also do that part ahead, hold the cubed butter in the fridge then take it out 10-15 minutes or so before you want to mix everything.

Weigh out 227 g / 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, 85 g / 3 ounces (a generous 3/4 cup) powdered sugar, 28 g / 1/4 cup almond flour and place them in the mixing bowl along with a scant 1/2 teaspoon fine salt.

Have one large egg and a teaspoon vanilla extract ready on the side.

Now work the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until you achieve medium fine crumbs. You can still see some butter pieces in the image below. NOTE: if opting to use a mixer, set it on low and let the paddle do the work. I find it takes maybe 4-5 minutes to get to the nice crumbled butter stage.

Add the egg and vanilla, toss it up with the fork to get the mix started. I then switch to my fingers and a bowl scraper to toss and smear the mixture until it comes together in the bowl. If you’re making one full size tarte, divide the dough in two and wrap one half to freeze for later. Chill the other half for a good couple of hours or overnight.

I planned a small version for the birthday dessert - on the right below is a 140 mm (~5.5”) ring and the 110 g of dough needed to line it. The other two I’ll freeze for the next round.

Remember - full recipe here!

The day you wish to proceed, make the caramel/butterscotch filling. NOTE: you can make this a couple of days ahead, keep it refrigerated then gently warm it for use.

Mise for caramel filling

Place 140 g / 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, 200 g / 1 cup dark brown sugar, 110 g / 1/3 cup honey and 50 g / 1/4 cup granulated cane sugar in a medium saucepan. Melt on low then increase the heat, bring to a boil and simmer a couple of minutes.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble!

Take the pan off the heat and blend in one tablespoon vanilla and 45 ml / 3 tablespoons heavy cream. Careful - it’s hot! Transfer to a stainless bowl and set aside until you’re ready to assemble/bake.

For the nuts, choose your favorites. I like a 5-nut mixture but you can use only pecans for example or create your own mixtures. For a full size 9” tarte I use about 4 cups of nuts. A cup of nuts generally weighs anywhere from 4 - 5 ounces depending on their size, but don’t get hung up on weights here - precision isn’t that important. Simple measures will do the trick.

Here’s my usual mixture: 1.5 cups / ~210 g whole natural almonds; 1.5 cups / ~170 g walnut halves and pieces; 1/2 cup / ~66 g hazelnuts, 1/4 cup / ~32 g pecans, 1/4 cup / ~32 g pistachios. Depending on the size of the tarte you’re making, you might coarsely chop the nuts for smaller sized tartes so they tuck into the space better.

A bit more about nuts: I generally use raw nuts and lightly toast them before use to bring out their flavor. Since some nuts tend to burn faster than others, I toast almonds and walnuts at 325º - 350ºF about 10 minutes then decrease to 300º - 325ºF for pecans, hazelnuts and pistachios for 8-10 minutes. Back during my Rhode Island shop days, I would toast up a whole bunch of nuts and keep them in a covered container, using them as needed over time. Once nuts are toasted, their shelf life is longer than when raw. If I’ve opened bags of raw nuts and haven’t toasted them, I then freeze them until I need them for their intended purpose. I hope that makes sense!

Lately I’ve been purchasing almonds, walnuts and pecans at Costco for a very good price. I tend to use less of hazelnuts and pistachios so I buy smaller bags of those at Trader Joe’s. If TJ’s doesn’t have raw nuts in stock, on occasion I buy their unsalted, dry roasted versions. Just sayin’.

We’ve talked about dough, caramel filling and nuts - now let’s do this. When you’re ready to actually make your tarte, roll the dough out to about 4 mm thick and line your chosen ring (s). Place the lined ring on a parchment lined sheet pan, prick the bottom all over with a fork and place it in the freezer while you heat the oven to 350ºF.

One example of a lined tarte ring

When the oven is ready, remove the lined ring/sheet pan from the freezer, line the ring with parchment paper and fill with dried beans or ceramic weights.

Lined and weighted

Bake for 15 minutes with weights, remove from the oven and lift the parchment and weights out. The crust should be starting to set but won’t be fully baked yet. The bottom will still appear “doughy”.

Partially baked after weights removed

Place back in the oven for another 5-10 minutes until the dough is set, golden and appears dry (see below). Cool on a wire grid.

Measure out your chosen nuts and portion out the caramel filling. Below are the components for the small tarte I made for the birthday boy. For this size I use 1/3 cup caramel and 2/3 cup nuts. You should be able to appreciate the blind baked crust being set, dry and lightly browned.

Blend the caramel into the nuts and fill the tarte shell evenly.

Ready for the oven

Here’s the age old reminder - every oven is different. Depending on the size of the tarte, the bake time will vary. I look for the caramel to become bubbly and call it a day. This may take about 20 minutes and up for larger tartes. The main thing is just keep checking!

Just out of the oven, filling bubbly

Let cool on a wire rack. The bubbly-ness will subside as it cools. Gently lift the ring off after the first 10 minutes or so, then cool completely.

I did a followup baking session recently to use up the dough/nuts/caramel that I had already prepared. I made three different sizes (180 mm / 7”; 160 cm / 6.3” and 120 cm / 4.7”) - with an eye to giving the two larger ones to a couple of our neighbors who I felt needed/deserved them. The smallest one I saved for us. They were the perfect sizes to use up the ingredients I had. Love it!

Ready for filling

All baked up

As if you haven’t had enough already - another delicious way to use up ingredients is to fill a blind baked shell about 2/3 full with the caramel/nut mixture (eyeball it), bake that and cool completely. Then pour a 1:1 dark chocolate ganache over it and let cool until set. You can’t beat it. Oh my.

For a large tarte I’d make the ganache somewhere in the realm of 100-150 ml cream and 100-150 g chocolate which should be plenty. You can eyeball how much you want to pour over the nut filling, even leaving some nuts peeking out. And if you have extra? Fridge the leftovers and use later as desired (macaron filling anyone?)

Steve and I enjoyed his birthday version with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream over a petite slice (remember, everything in moderation). So good. This tarte keeps well over 2-3 days, covered at room temp.

Nothing fancy but deelish!

We are now enjoying the most beautiful sight from our north facing window.

Flowering crabapple

Up close and personal

Take care until next time.

Flora and fauna around Annecy

The town of Annecy, France has been on my visit wish list for a while now. Having seen pictures of it here and there in recent years, I felt the need to experience its beauty. Located on Lake Annecy in eastern France fairly close to the Swiss border and not far from Geneva, it sits in the Alps within a reasonable drive/train trip to well known Chamonix and Mont Blanc.

While we didn’t make it to Chamonix, Steve and I were fortunate to spend a few nights in Annecy over the Easter weekend (very busy with LOTS of tourists) before heading back to Paris for our flight home. As you see in the header photo, the natural beauty is gorgeous. Below are a few images of just a bit of the flora and fauna we saw.

Red crested pochard

I had never heard of nor seen a pochard - we saw many of the red crested member of the species swimming around near the shores of the lake. The male is above and, as is often the case, the female (sorry no photo) is rather drab brown.

We also saw Eurasian coots a plenty. We had trouble getting a decent photo - they kept turning their backs on us. Below is a good image from Wikipedia to give you a great look. Not the most exotic looking water bird but still one we’ve never seen before.

Every where we traveled in France we were treated to many examples of spring floral beauty. Annecy and its environs were no exception.

This next one was along the trail at Gorges du Fier just outside of Annecy (you can read more about our adventure there on Steve’s blog). I wasn’t sure what this was when taking the photo but, using my handy PlantNet, I learned it’s Euphorbia (wood spurge) - has an alien, outer space vibe going.

We are now safely home. I’m working on a new FAVE post and hope to have it ready soon. Meanwhile, our own spring flowers welcome us.

The tulips had already started poking through the ground when we departed on March 28th. I thought for sure we would miss them but . . . . they waited for us!

Here’s a small weeping cherry just outside our front door.

Hope to be back with you soon. There’s more to life than just baking!

La Praluline de Pralus

Thanks to blog reader Pete, Steve and I popped back over to Vieux Lyon on our last full day in the city. Our goal - to stop at the Pralus chocolate/pastry shop to purchase La Praluline de Pralus. The link should take you to the shop page in English if you’re interested in reading more about François Pralus, a winner of France’s coveted Meilleur Ouvrier de France, MOF (essentially a best in their field designation).

Having been generally disappointed with the various praline rose items we tasted (except the tarte from Paul Bocuse), I was given a push by Pete to give La Praluline a try. OK! We headed over the river to the old town on Good Friday afternoon - LOTS of folks out and about on a beautiful sunny day.

Photo compliments of Steve Soper

These babies were literally flying out the door of the shop. We could see the ready and waiting inventory both on the front counter as well in the back kitchen. The sales folk were efficient and friendly, one being the wrapper/bagger and one taking payment with barely a moment to spare until the next customer stepped up.

Once I opened the package I found an informative insert all about this regional specialty. A buttery brioche loaded with chopped pink pralines which, at Pralus, are made with BOTH almonds and hazelnuts chosen from the best producers. I’m in.

Looks like some kind of meteorite or moonscape!

We shared a small slice mid-afternoon just to get a taste (didn’t want to spoil our appetite for dinner, don’t ya know). Crunchy, buttery and delicious.

Just loaded with pralines rose

Due to the brioche butteriness, this keeps well for several days and doesn’t mind a short warm up in a medium oven for a few minutes. If you’re ever in Lyon, give it a try.

Here’s another vision of spring to make you smile.

Pralines rose de Lyon

I’ve been vaguely aware of these traditionally Lyonnaise treats but never really made a point of familiarizing myself with them and how they might be used in the baking and pastry world. I don’t really recall seeing them used during my pastry training at Le Cordon Bleu Paris but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any lurking around.

These things are EVERYwhere in Lyon! Basically pink-red tinged sugar coated almonds, my first taste of a morsel from the sac on the right (from C-Gastronomie, a shop just around the corner from our AirBnB) was less then exciting - too sweet, kind of soft and not crunchy and crisp as I had expected. Remember French burnt peanuts? I used to love those!

Me being me, I had to buy another bag to make a comparison. The sac on the left is from Paul Bocuse’s shop at Lyon’s foodie nirvana, Les Halles de Paul Bocuse - other then different words on the ribbon and package, they look exactly the same. My side by side tasting indicated they were indeed the same. My cross section showed me that the almond inside is about the same size and the coating about the same thickness. There must be a large production facility somewhere that churns these babies out.

I was more intrigued by the pastries that are made using these pralines rose than the candy itself. We’ve seen MANY shops selling praline rose tartes, sablés et brioche de St-Genix all of which incorporate them into the final product.

Where to start. My first trial was from Boulangerie Ferriandière just a few blocks down from our AirBnB. We went in to purchase a loaf of bread (delicious by the way) and there I saw both individual brioches with pralines rose and larger brioches de St.-Genix. I went for the single. Not much to look at really.

I must admit that brioche in general can be pretty boring - I was hoping for the best. Check out the inside.

Hmmmmm . . . . not much going on in the praline rose department

I was right - it had little to recommend it from the praline standpoint. I found only a few small pieces of praline and the brioche itself was dry. I admit this was a pathetic attempt at investigation into the brioche side of things. Typically I take all my own photos but this time here’s a Wikipedia image of the larger version - it at least gives you sense of it. We saw a number of people strolling around with these, tearing pieces off as they went. Hmmm. . .

Credit to Wikipedia for this photo

Next - Steve and I returned to Les Halles de Paul Bocuse and spied a number of tartes à la praline rose from the likes of P.B.’s and Richard Sève’s pâtisseries. We purchased a couple of individual tartes for tasting purposes.

Paul Bocuse version

I did some research on the making of said tartes. Sève’s site/recipe (in French) claims that they make “la Véritable Tarte à la praline”. Here’s the link to the recipe in French - very detailed. They highlight the fact that they make their own pralines rose in copper equipment, coating them and then crushing them just so for their tartes.

The tarte process: in a nutshell it consists of a blind baked pâte sucrée crust and a filling made with equal weights (200-250 g each for a 8-9” tarte) of crushed/chopped pralines rose and heavy cream plus vanilla. Bring the cream with the seeds from one vanilla bean to a boil, then stir in the crushed pralines and let cook about 5-10 minutes. Pour that into your cooled blind baked crust and bake for 5 minutes at 200ºC. Let cool and refrigerate overnight before serving. Sounds pretty straight forward, right?

If you want to make your own pralines rose, you first roast the almonds then coat them in sugar syrup that has a red coloring added. The nuts ultimately become coated with a hard sugar coating to create the outer shell. As I read about the process, it’s not unlike caramelizing hazelnuts and almonds to make praliné paste used in many pastry applications.

Of course, if you wish to purchase already made pralines rose, Sève recommends theirs. Bien sur! But . . . . when we looked at the shop to buy a bag of their’s - none to be had!

Let’s talk tarte tasting! The appearance of les tartes à la praline rose from the two shops is quite different as is easily seen below. Bocuse’s tart shell is deeper and the filling is smoother and less chunky while Sève’s shell is more shallow and full of praline pieces.

As I cut into each, the texture of Bocuse’s filling is thicker, almost custard like, while Sève’s is thinner and more jammy/chunky. Bocuse’s crust is snappy and crisp while Sève’s is softer in texture.

Over all Steve and I preferred Bocuse’s version. The crust certainly won me over and the filling had a lovely unctuousness without being too sweet.

Now for the big question - will I make this when we get home?? We’ll see. I’d love to reproduce the Bocuse filling but not necessarily with the red coloring. I’m very curious about the simple mixture of finely chopped caramelized nuts and heavy cream as a filling. Hmmm . . . . maybe I’ll pursue it. Time will tell.