The Daring Bakers make crostata

This month's challenge was to make a crostata dough and fill it with our choice of anything at all. Time ran out on me, as it usually does, as I really wanted to make a savoury one. I did manage to make 2 small crostate, but I'll definitely have to come back to this one, especially as I still have some of the pastry in the freezer. The first one I made, shown above, was blind-baked and  filled with passion fruit curd and topped with raspberries. It tasted like summer, which is a treat, considering it's been alternating between freezing rain and snow here for the last 24 hours. You can find the recipe for the passion fruit curd here. 

The other one I made was filled with homemade applesauce and fresh blackberries. I find that a very English combination, but it was fantastic in the pasta frolla crust. I actually liked the crust better in this one--it was not as crisp and flaky, but very tasty from the filling. I topped it with a lattice and sprinkled it with raw sugar. I served this with whipped cream on the side, but it didn't need it at all. I had some warm and some cold and liked it both ways. 

Before topping and baking

Blog-checking lines:
The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

After a bite or two

Full challenge PDF here. Thanks for a great challenge, Simona! Take a look at the Daring Kitchen to see a slideshow of all the lovely crostate this month.

Marie-Helene's apple cake

This was the first thing I baked in the oven in my new place. I thought and thought about what I wanted to make first. The more I thought, the harder it was to choose just the right thing. In the end, I had a huge bag of apples and an apple cake recipe on the list for French Fridays with Dorie. This is only my second recipe with the group, as there is no requirement to cook along every week. I am the slacker sort, so I have been picking and choosing to make only what I can eat/have time for. I am so glad I made this recipe, though, as it was delicious. So delicious that I made it twice. This is the second one above, for which I browned the butter and replaced the rum with Amaretto. It was a much nicer colour than the first one, but also significantly sweeter. I used the same apples for both--a mix of Empire and Cortland, so not sure why it was so much sweeter--more than a few tablespoons of Amaretto would account for. Anyway, it was fantastic, and luckily I sent lots of it home with a friend, or I would have eaten the entire thing. Here's a picture of the first one, made before I realized my oven runs 50℉ lower than the temperature gauge indicates:

Check out the 'Leave your Link' feature on the spiffy French Fridays with Dorie site to see how the other bakers fared. Oh, and if you're looking for the recipe, it's in the book. We've been asked not to publish recipes from this book, and you can hardly blame Dorie, with her recipes burning up the blogosphere.

Apple pie!

Okay, if there were an award for lame posts, I'd surely win it with this one.   Even though apple is my favourite kind of pie, and I could quite easily give up all other pies for apple (if such draconian measures were ever necessary),  I didn't love it as much as my usual apple pie, or as much as mom's apple pie. I made this pie in September, so I can't remember what kind of apples I used, but I piled them high in the crust. Once baked, the crust was still high, but the apples had all shrunk to a thin layer, leaving me with more of an air pie than an apple pie. This was probably my fault, as I hate crunchy apples in pie and tend to make very thin slices. This pie was very lemony, which I liked, but, like the pumpkin pie, it's not going to replace my usual recipe. It's funny that the last two picks have been for pies that I love and I haven't done so well with them. Must try harder. I wanted to make a mini pie with some crust I have left over, but the wacky world of substitute teaching is busy this week. I had an early morning call yesterday, and am booked for today and tomorrow as well. I'll be back on Wednesday with the Daring Bakers' reveal, though. :)

Tall pie, plopped on front step for quick photo.

This week's recipe was chosen by Emily over at Sandmuffin, so click on over to her site for the recipe. As always, visit the TWD page to see the rest of the tasty links.

TWD: Tarte Fine

Today’s oh-so-fine tart was selected by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. She always has gorgeous stuff on her blog, so pay her a visit for the recipe. I wonder if she figured out a way to incorporate chocolate in this recipe… I never leave my TWD baking till the last minute, well almost never, cause I did this week. And, wouldn’t you know it, today was the grimmest, greyest, rainiest day in a series of grim, grey, rainy days. So, I feel I didn’t do justice to this week’s pick, but it was still delicious, and I’ll be making it again and again, maybe even with rhubarb for Valerie's birthday! ;)

In my defence, I did use homemade puff pastry and crab apple jelly. The puff pastry was a bit tired, though, having been hanging around for a while and in a few different freezers through the trials and tribulations of yet another Mary Mary move. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to Saturday, when I can officially stop living out of a suitcase, after 3 months of it. Oh, the tart! Along with old puff pastry, I didn’t read the directions very closely, so I sliced the apple quarters crossways and neglected to leave a border around the edge. I put extra butter and sugar on top but not underneath, skipped the egg wash, blasted the apples with my torch after baking for extra browning and glazed generously with the crab apple jelly. Then I marched it out to the sheltered front step to catch the few rays of light that could penetrate the pelting rain, for a photo. Then the whole thing disappeared. Weird, eh? I think I’ll go have a little lie-down now.

Kuchen Borracho (Drunken Cake)

How could I resist a recipe with a name like that? This is a cake from Chile, and its name reflects its Germanic origins. Kuchen borracho consists of three layers of buttery cake and two layers of apples and cream. Oh, and rum! It's another winner from Warm Bread and Honey Cake, the same book I wrote about here and here.

I had kind of a tiring week at work, and am having trouble finding time to bake and write about it. I also didn't get a job I had applied for, which wasn't that unexpected, but it was still disappointing. I had a telephone interview a couple of weeks ago, and it was a bit of a fiasco. First of all, I forgot all about it, and was shopping when my phone rang. It was a blocked number, so I ignored it, thinking it was some kind of sales call. The phone rang again, and, atypically, I answered it. *(%#%@! It was the interview! She was quite understanding and offered to call me back in an hour, so I headed home, a journey that would normally take about 45 minutes. Of course, it took ages that day, and when she called back I was speedwalking through the downtown core. I couldn't bring myself to ask her to call again, so the interview started. I thought it was going well, but it was hard to hear with buses and transport trucks whizzing by. The man yelling obscenities right beside me didn't help either. I tried walking faster, so was slightly breathless by the time I reached my building. Eager to get inside my apartment, I got in the elevator....and promptly lost the signal and cut her off. How embarrassing was that? She was persistent and called me back for the fourth time to finish the interview. And that was it--I never heard back. I started a few emails, but wasn't sure what to say, not wanting to remind her of all the things that had gone wrong during the interview.  Anyway, I finally wrote to her the other day, and she forwarded me a copy of the gentle rejection letter she had sent me a week earlier. So now, it must seem to her that I am incapable of using both a telephone and a computer! But really, I never got that email. I suppose I should be more upset, but I find this pretty funny. I definitely need to practice my interview skills, though.

This cake dirtied all my bowls, but it was worth it. Apparently it keeps for 4 days at cool room temperature, but I don't think I'll be able to test that, though it is a big cake (about 4 pounds). I had a slice when it was still warm from the oven, and another for breakfast. It's got fruit, so I think it's ideal breakfast food. It would also be perfect with an afternoon cup of coffee or tea. Enjoy!

Filling
1lb 7oz tart apples, prepared weight (about 5)
2¾ oz/generous ⅓ cup granulated sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
3½ fl oz/½ cup heavy cream
(I added half a nutmeg, grated)

Cake
10½ oz/2 cups all-purpose flour
2½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt (heaping, for me)
5½ oz/scant 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 eggs, lightly beaten
5 tbsp rum
5 tbsp water
(I added some Extrait antillais, which is rum, vanilla, mace, sapote and tonka bean; vanilla extract is a good alternative)

Grease and flour a 9" springform pan--it needs to be at least 2¾" tall. Preheat the oven to 325℉/160℃.

Peel and core the apples, cut each into 8 parts and thinly slice. Combine the sliced apples with the cream and sugar, and nutmeg, if using.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Cream the butter, add the sugar and beat until creamy. Add the beaten egg in four batches, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Fold in the flour in 4 batches, adding the rum and water with the third batch. (I did 3 additions of dry, alternating with 2 additions of the wet). Gently fold in the last of the flour mixture and stop mixing as soon as it is incorporated.

The batter needs to be divided evenly to create the layers in the cake, so it's best to weigh it. Weigh 11½ oz of batter into a bowl, and then transfer it to your prepared pan. Level it with a spoon or offset spatula. Add half the apple mixture (11½ oz--I eyeballed this: no more clean bowls) and spread it evenly, leaving about ½" free space around the edge of the pan. Weigh out and add another 11½ oz of the cake batter and level. Repeat with the rest of the apple mixture and the last of the batter. Your pan will be very full, but the author assures us it will not overflow during baking. Mine didn't, even though my springform was only 8¾".

Level the top and bake for 1½ hours, until a skewer comes out clean. (Mine never came out clean, but it was obvious that it was the cream and not cake batter stuck to it). I baked mine for 1¼ hours, but I think the oven may have been at 350℉. Oops. Cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then loosen the edges carefully before releasing the sides. Cool completely on a wire rack.

The verdict: It was great! The batter smelled and tasted very boozy, but the finished cake only has a hint of rum. The nutmeg was perfect with the creamy filling, and I'm sure other apple pie spices would be great. Cardamom, anyone? I used Granny Smith apples because they were on sale, but I am not fond of them. They were still a bit crunchy in the the finished cake, and I hate crunchy apples in desserts (unless they're raw). I did slice them quite thinly, but next time I'll use another type of apple.

Expect some rhubarb recipes next week, as it's FINALLY ready at my mother's. I'm heading up for a Mother's Day visit and what better time to raid the garden.

Breakfast of .... the under-employed?

Sometimes being a supply teacher is a good thing: you get some calls, there is no prep work, no marking and you get paid for it. On the other hand, there are 2000 elementary supply teachers in my board, and 2500 teachers with contracts. That means that there is not a lot of work. I haven't had a call yet this week, in fact. Some of my fellow supply teachers are really organized and get up very early and get ready, just in case someone calls. I do it a bit differently. I stay up till 2 or 3 am and sleep until the phone rings, or noon, whichever comes first. I live downtown and the schools I'm registered with are in walking distance, so it's not hard to get there in a hurry. But, coffee and breakfast usually get lost in the rush to get out the door. So, when there are no calls, I can have a very leisurely breakfast. Especially when it's -20℃ and windy, like today.
I decided that I wanted some chaussons aux pommes last night. Now, chaussons are just fancy French apple turnovers with applesauce in them, but the name makes me nervous because it sounds like another dish that took me months to live down. Once upon a time I worked in a hotel and it was my job to come up with specials for the cafe, using whatever needed to be used up. One day that was some chicken, so I hunted around and came up with some demi-glace, mushrooms, tomatoes and everything else I needed for sauce chasseur. That's hunter's sauce, because I suppose hunters can find those ingredients in the forest. That's why they're hunters and I'm not. Anyway, it all tasted great, but I got the name mixed up and called it chaussure sauce, much to the amusement of the francophones in the kitchen. Chaussures are shoes, so I made chicken in shoe sauce. Yum. Now chausson means slipper, and they are usually a kind of half-moon shape. I (wisely, I think) decided to stay away from any more footwear-themed food and made triangular turnovers.

The night before, I made a pot of applesauce with a bag of Macintosh apples that had been lurking in the produce drawer for a while. I don't peel or core, but just washed and quartered them and packed them into a pot with some brown sugar, cardamom, true cinnamon sticks and fresh ginger. After they have turned to complete mush I put them through my food mill. I love my food mill--it's way better than a food processor or blender for this sort of thing, and the fact that it takes all the skins and pips out is a bonus.

I also had some puff pastry left in the freezer from this bit of fun, and I don't want to leave it for another month while I'm in Montreal. I'll be in Montreal for all of February and the first week of March training English teachers. This is a real job, unlike supply teaching: I'll have to get up and dressed every day for a whole month! Unfortunately I'll have no kitchen while I'm there, so no cooking. That makes me a bit sad, but restaurants in Montreal are fantastic, so I'll make do. Anyway, I'm trying to get ahead with my Tuesdays with Dorie and Daring Bakers' projects before I go. What does this have to do with the turnovers? Not much, so I'll get back on topic.

I rolled out the puff pastry and cut it in circles and filled each with a bit of the applesauce. I brushed the top with egg white (should have been yolk, but I had a spare white in the fridge), and sprinkled them with some sanding sugar left over from Christmas baking. Then, about 25 minutes in a 400℉ oven and breakfast was ready. And it's not even 2:00 yet. Yay me!

They were delicious! I only baked 2, cause I'm not a total glutton, and having 4 more in the freezer is my kind of insurance. See you Tuesday with some Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes, or some variation on them.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Tatin

I have joined the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group just in time for their second anniversary. To join this group you need to have:

a) a blog

b) Baking: from my home to yours, by Dorie Greenspan

Well, I have the cookbook (of course, my friends and family are saying), and now I have Mary Mary Culinary too! The rules of the group are simple: each week, one of the bakers on the blogroll selects a recipe, and we all bake it and post on Tuesday. I'm not sure if I'll be able to bake every week, and will have to sit out if there are raisins involved, but I'm excited. I've had this book since it came out and only tried a few recipes, so only 297 or so to go.

This week was hosted by Laurie over at slush and the Tarte Tatin recipe was one of two that the group members voted to make for the anniversary.  The other was the cocoa-buttermilk birthday cake, but I made that for my sister-in-law's birthday in December, so Tarte Tatin it was. Glad I got to make the one I voted for. :) I made my own puff pastry on Sunday and made the tarte for dessert tonight.

I started by caramelizing the apples in butter and sugar. It took a long time--about 10 minutes after I took this picture. I wanted the caramel good and dark.

Guess I forgot to take any pictures of my lovely puff pastry, but here's the finished tarte! You can also see the partially eaten tourtière (French-Canadian meat pie) in the background. It was a 'keep your fork, there's pie' sort of dinner.

It was pretty yummy with some crème fraiche.

Who knows what next Tuesday will bring?