Day 2 of Shelter in Place. I receive a text from a friend that the supermarkets are a little calmer than yesterday. That’s my cue to head to the market to pick up a few items. Nope, not gonna go crazy, just need a few staples like flour, yeast, butter, and milk. Since we will be “cocooning” I wanted to do some baking. Sounds like a plan, right?
Apparently, everyone else wants to too.
Not a bag of flour of any kind on any shelf in the 3 grocery stores I tried. Wow. I’m dumbfounded. I couldn’t find yeast either. I feel like we are in pioneer living mode. All good, time to improvise.
So I grab the next best thing, a bag of marshmallows. I have Rice Krispies at home, just got more butter, and maybe I’ll make them happy Rice Krispies with some sprinkles. A little bit of fun and cheeriness to offset our Coronavirus blues.
I know what you are thinking…oh please, a recipe for Rice Krispy Treats?
Not just Rice Krispy Treats. Nope, not the “look on the side of the cereal box recipe” but Smitten Kitchen’s version which a friend from Tennessee renamed “Damn good, Double Buttah R-aah-ce Krispy Treats”.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen. In the 3jamigos archives find it here.
Like the Big Fig Newton….here’s the hard part BROWN BUTTER This added step elevates Snap, Crackle and Pop’s version to a whole new level. That…and oh, twice the amount of butter. Just trying to be transparent folks.
Melt butter over medium heat, keep an eye on it. The butter will foam and as it gets hotter the milk particles will brown. Keep a close eye so it doesn’t burn and stir constantly.
Look at those nice brown bits that are just flavor bombs! So delicious!
I added happy sprinkles but sadly, they melted. My advice is to wait until you pour the mixture into the pan to shape and cool, then go crazy scattering sprinkles on top.
BRAG ALERT!
Upside to shelter at home…Hubby just made me a cookie box to transport goodies to friends and family functions after we get through this! So excited, box has a sliding lid and dividers for different kinds of cookies. Hmmm,not my birthday but I’ll take it.
I visited my town library recently and requested the cookbook Midwest Made by Shauna Sever. This is a feeble attempt to be more discriminating before buying another cookbook. The librarian cheerfully responded with, “we can order that from Amazon for you! The book will be sent directly to you and you can then keep the book for any length of time. When you are good and ready, return it to the library.
You’re joking, right? Nope.
Two days later, I found a brand spanking new copy of Midwest Made sitting on my front doorstep. I broke open that puppy and started scanning the book for recipes I wanted to try.
I started with her Jammy Winter Fruit and Brown Butter Bars (will post soon). The cookie dough, studded with walnuts and oatmeal, serves as both the base and topping. It’s a keeper. But the filling, an apple and pear jam, didn’t stand out. I would try a berry jam or use tart apples next time to bump up the flavor.
On the other hand, the Donut Loaf was a straight winner! Initially, the 2 teaspoons of nutmeg threw me for a loop, not my favorite spice. But multiple positive reviews convinced me to take the donut challenge. I’m glad I did. Think giant powdered sugar donut but sliced from a loaf. The inside of the loaf is moist, tender with a nice crumb with just a bit of density like a cake donut. The outside makes me feel like a kid again, a flurry of powdered sugar with every bite.
The recipe is pretty much a classic loaf bread cake. Cream butter and sugar. Add just a quarter cup of the flour mixture, beat and then add eggs one at a time. I’m not sure why she adds a small amount of the dry ingredients before the eggs, maybe it prevents the batter from curdling after adding the eggs. Just a guess. Add the dry ingredients by alternating with the buttermilk. The process results in a fine crumb, tender cake-delicious. I used freshly grated nutmeg for the cake as recommended. It wasn’t overpowering but surprisingly subtle.
Powdered sugar donut of your childhood back as an easy to make Donut Loaf
Course Cake, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Donut Loaf, Loaf bread
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray for pan
2 3/4cupsunbleached all-purpose flourspooned and leveled
2 1/2teaspoonsbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1teaspoonfine sea salt
2teaspoonsfreshly grated nutmeg
14tablespoonsunsalted butterat room temperature
3/4cupplus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1teaspoonvanilla extract
3large eggsat room temperature
1cupwell-shaken buttermilkat room temperature
To finish:
1cuppowdered sugarsifted, plus more as needed
2tablespoonsunsalted buttermelted
Instructions
Position a rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 325°F. Spray a 9x5-inch light-colored metal loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and line it with 2 perpendicular strips of parchment paper — 1 cut skinnier to fit lengthwise across the bottom and up the 2 short sides, 1 to fit crosswise and up the 2 longer sides. Cut the strips long enough to have a few inches of overhang on all sides.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in 1/4 cup of the flour mixture. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and stir in the remaining flour mixture and buttermilk in 5 alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Finish folding the batter by hand to make sure everything is incorporated — the batter will be very thick.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until the loaf is golden with a couple of cracks on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 60 to 75 minutes. Let cool in the pan set over a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use the parchment paper to lift the loaf from the pan. Let rest for another 30 minutes.
When the loaf is cool and firm enough to handle, but still slightly warm, sift the powdered sugar all over a large rimmed baking sheet (keep the sieve handy). Peel the parchment from the cake. Gently turn the loaf over in 1 hand, using part of your forearm to support it. Using a pastry brush, brush the bottom of the cake with some of the melted butter. Carefully set the loaf, right-side up, in the powdered sugar. From there, brush the long sides with the butter, turning the cake from side to side to coat in sugar, then brush and coat the short sides. Lastly, brush the top with the butter, grab a handful or two of sugar from the tray, deposit into the sieve, and sift sugar generously over the top of the loaf. Roll the entire loaf in sugar once more so that it resembles a giant powdered sugar donut. Carefully transfer the cake to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving, touching up the loaf with a quick sifting of sugar as needed.
Notes
Nutmeg: Freshly grated makes a difference.
Is it A Cake Or A Ginormous Muffin! (Blueberry Muffin Cake)
A friend mentioned she was making her daughter’s favorite cake, A Blueberry Muffin Cake for her birthday that day. She asked “I think I found the recipe on 3Jamigos, didn’t I?”
I had to tell her there wasn’t a Blueberry Muffin Cake on my site. I try to tempt her with the Blueberry Boy Bait Cake or Ottolenghi’s Blueberry Lemon Almond Cake on 3jamigos but to no avail, her response was “Too bad, it’s really easy and super tasty, I’ll have to look for it”.
Challenge accepted
Ok, she didn’t challenge me, but my curiosity was peaked so I googled Blueberry Muffin Cake. 1.01 seconds later, an array of recipes popped up on my feed. A quick perusal landed me on a Blueberry Muffin Cake by Fine Cooking. It not only looked yummy but seemed pretty darn easy to make too. I saved the recipe thinking I would try it one of these days. Well, what should appear in my feed that very day? A message from my favorite strawberry purveyors, P and K Farms, “no strawberries yet but we have blueberries this weekend!” No brainer, making Blueberry Muffin Cake after a trip to the Farmer’s Market.
Essentially it is a muffin batter, easily whipped up in one bowl and baked in a springform pan. The recipe starts with melted butter, no creaming butter and sugar together which makes this incredibly easy. The cake is not too sweet, tender with a nice crumb and peppered with blueberries. Perfect for a weekend breakfast or brunch or for an afternoon tea or coffee break.
The cake calls for a generous 2 cups of blueberries. Which makes this cake a very berry delight. I added lemon zest for a bit of zing. Almond extract would also work well as an added dimension of flavor. Things to remember, don’t over mix your batter once you start combining the dry and wet ingredients. You can substitute other fruit like raspberries, strawberries, diced peaches, or nectarines. Really, you could knock this cake out in minutes, its that easy. So what are you waiting for? Go make this cake.
4oz.1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly; more for the pan
9oz.2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4cupsgranulated sugar
2tsp.baking powder
1tsp.kosher salt
1/2cupwhole milk
2large eggs
1tsp.pure vanilla extract
3/4lb.2 cups fresh blueberries
Confectioners’ sugarfor dusting (optional)
Instructions
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round springform pan.
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add lemon zest to dry ingredients, stir to combine. In a small bowl, whisk the butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Using a silicone spatula, stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Gently fold in the berries.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly. Tap the pan on the counter once or twice to break any air bubbles.
Bake until golden-brown and a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes (if the top gets too brown, tent with aluminum foil).
Cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes. Run a paring knife around the edge of the cake and remove the side of the pan.
Transfer the cake to a serving plate and serve warm or at room temperature with confectioners’ sugar sifted over the top.
Notes
Use raspberries, blackberries or cut diced strawberries instead. Stone fruits would work. Omit lemon zest, add 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
Kentucky Butter Cake (AVERYbody Should Have a Go To Cake)
I hosted a postcard session a couple of weeks ago and as an enticement, I provided “snacks” for it. Snacks in my book aren’t just a bag of chips and a bowl of dip, nope. I mean to ask people to write and decorate a gazillion postcards, ya gotta have mouthwatering, lip-smacking, delicious food. Am I right?
That day the weather was a chilly 55 degrees (remember we are talking California), so I made Sam Kass’ slow-roasted pork.Just salt and pepper the meat, slide it into the oven and fuggedaboutit. When it is done, shred and serve. So darn easy and yummy. I put out corn tortillas, guac, onions and salsa for taco “fixins” to go along. For those who didn’t want tacos, I made CRAZY GOOD OOEY-GOOEY Mac and Cheese. So hard to pick which way to have my pork and eat it too.
No Dessert?
I didn’t have time to make dessert (I know, blasphemous) but luckily my friend’s daughter called while we were hard at work and volunteered to make dessert for us. Yippee! So sweet of Avery! She arrived with a luscious Kentucky Butter Cake that was moist, buttery, sweet…downright delicious. Oohs and aahs prevailed from all, including my kids who added: “this is the best cake ever”. I immediately asked for the recipe.
Impatience got the better of me so I googled Kentucky Butter Cake and quite a few recipes popped up on my feed. I picked a recipe (using the scientific eenie-meanie-miney-moe method) from the blog, Cookies and Cups, and added a couple of tweaks from the blog Spicy Southern Kitchen.
I baked it, I glazed it, I cut it, I served it…to a resounding chorus of…
It’s OK, but Avery’s was much better
Repeated, ad nauseam …
I no longer like Avery. Actually I no longer like my family, Avery is okay.
Just kidding. I got on the horn and called S (her mom), where’s the recipe?! Her reply was, “I sent it to you days ago”. Oops, my bad…there it was buried in my inbox.
I noticed Avery’s baked at 325, mine at 350, used sour cream instead of buttermilk, and had WAY more of that delicious butter sugar glaze.
The version I used was like the “cooking light” version. If you didn’t just have a bite of the original, it was perfectly acceptable. If you put them side by side, fuggedaboutit. Hands down Avery’s version comes out on top.
Cooking Light
I have included directions for Avery’s version and my “cooking light” version (for transparency’s sake). A couple of tweaks could bring mine closer to Avery’s. But then, you might as well just make Avery’s version. Your family and friends will be eating out of your hand.
Instead of that cup of low-fat buttermilk, use sour cream. Yep, the start to a richer, moister cake.
Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then alternate flour with liquid (start and end with dry ingredients). You’ll end up with a fluffy but substantial batter.
Bake the cake at 350 and you will get a nice brown crust, at 325 the cake will be lighter in color. I would definitely bake the cake for less time if you use 350 degrees. Take the cake out and let it cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan to prevent sticking and then put it back in the pan for its luxurious bath of butter sugar syrup. It will be easier to remove later, trust me, no actually, trust AVERY.
Use a skewer or skinny chopstick to poke holes ALL OVER the cake. Pour the sugar-butter glaze over the cake, don’t be afraid, it will absorb all of it easily. Let the cake sit a spell, remove from the pan and dig in!
This is a pic of my “cooking light version” which had considerably less glaze and cooked at a higher temp. With Avery’s (yeah, that cake-baking brat again) you could see the glaze that had soaked into the cake, dreamy and delicious.
Rich, moist, buttery, everything delicious in a bundt cake
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Bundt cake, Kentucky Butter Cake
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour5 minutesminutes
Ingredients
CAKE
1cupbuttercubed at room temperature
2cupsgranulated sugar
4eggs
1tablespoonvanilla
3cupsall-purpose flour
1teaspoonsalt
1teaspoonbaking powder
1/2teaspoonbaking soda
1cupsour creamor 1 cup buttermilk
BUTTER GLAZE
1/2cupbutterdeb version (which really isn't enough syrup) 1/3 cup
1cupgranulated sugar3/4 cup sugar
1/4cupwater2 Tablespoons water
1tablespoonvanilla2 teaspoons
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325°F/165°C (Deb's version 350, start checking cake at 45 minutes)
Grease a 10″ bundt pan with butter or shortening very liberally. Dust the pan with flour and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar with mixer until light about 2 minutes
Add eggs one at a time and mix well after each addition
Add vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and mix to combine about 1 minute
Add flour and sour cream or buttermilk, alternating. Start with flour and finish with flour
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for ~65 minutes until a toothpick entered into the center comes out clean.
When the cake is done make the glaze. Combine all ingredients into a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir continuously until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Do not bring to a boil.
Remove cake from pan and then put it back in pan to glaze cake. This helps keep the cake from sticking after glaze.
Poke holes all over the warm cake using a knife or skewer or skinny chopstick and pour the glaze evenly on the cake while still in the pan.
Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and then invert the cake onto a serving plate.
Make this cake a day in advance, so the syrup has time to infuse the cake.
Before going full force into Christmas mode, a recap of Thanksgiving is due. Turkey Day was spent at my brother’s house in The City with aunties, uncles, cousins, and friends. Potluck style, the spread is a mash-up of classic Thanksgiving dishes and Chinese dishes adapted for the holiday.
Our table would not be complete without sweet rice stuffing –Gnaw Mai Fanand Cousin Gary’s Sweet Potatoes (yep the classic copious amounts of butter and brown sugar, topped with mini-marshmallows). Our contribution to the annual feast was PIES and for forty-plus people. That’s a whole lotta pie. Lucky for me Jamie was home. Yay. Reinforcements.
It’s Pie Time
Have you ever noticed, Thanksgiving dinner is texturally (besides the turkey) a toothless delight-stuffing, yams, corn casserole, carrot pudding, overcooked green bean casserole…you know what I’m talking about. The traditional desserts are a plethora of orangey-brown tones-pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and pecan pie. The only reprieve is a dollop of whipped cream on every slice. Kinda monochromatic.
Well, we fixed that this year. Not the soft foods just the dessert color palette problem. We still made Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie but we then finished with a color flurry-Purple Sweet Potato Pie, Apple Tart (don’t peel your apples), and a Cranberry Curd Tart. Splash!
For the Cranberry Curd Tart, two recipes stood out (ok, they were the first two after Googling). David Tanis’s recipe in the New York Times and the Cranberry Curd Tart from the blog Blossom to Stem. A flip of the coin, Blossom to Stem won. It is a beautiful blog, craft cocktails, and delicious food, check it out.
Let’s Talk Crust, Crust, Baby
The crust, all butter, flour, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and orange zest. The powdered sugar makes a tender crust by lowering the protein content of the dough. Melted butter means no waiting for the butter to soften. I am a believer in using melted butter for crusts. I learned this from making Alice Medrich’s BOSS Lemon bar recipe. Bake it until a nice golden brown. The finished crust is sweet, citrusy, and tender. Love it.
The curd starts with cooking the cranberries in orange juice until they burst then passing the mixture through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin. Don’t have a food mill? Make the curd and strain it. A little more elbow grease (ok, more than a little) without a food mill but doable.
Voila, a gorgeous ruby red cranberry curd-sweet, tart, and delicious.
The curd will thicken as it cools so make sure the crust is baked before finishing the curd. Quickly pour the curd into the crust and slide it into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool the tart at room temp for an hour and then into the fridge it goes to set.
Garnish with pomegranate seeds or candied cranberries and serve with a ubiquitous dollop of whipped cream or if you like, a meringue (nope, not me).
Make this tart and bedazzle your family and friends this holiday season.
Additional time to prep curd and bake 25 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour20 minutesminutes
Servings 8Servings
Ingredients
For the crust
1cupall-purpose flour
1/4cuppowdered sugar
1/4teaspoonkosher salt
1/2cupunsalted butter1 stick
1/2teaspoonvanilla extract
zest of one orange
For the cranberry curd
12ouncescranberriesfresh or frozen
juice of one orangeApproximately 1/2 cup
1 1/4cupssugar
2whole eggs
2egg yolks
1/2cupunsalted butter1 stick
1teaspoonvanilla extract
1tablespoonorange liqueursuch as Grand Marnier (optional)
Instructions
Make the crust
Preheat oven to 350°F. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and salt to a small bowl and whisk together. Melt the butter in a small saucepan (or in the microwave), add the vanilla extract and orange zest to the butter and stir, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir together until thoroughly moistened.
Press the dough evenly along the bottom and sides into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Make the cranberry curd
Heat the cranberries and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until the cranberries split. Strain through a food mill or fine mesh sieve and discard the skins.
Return the strained cranberry mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, and orange liqueur (if using) to the pan and give everything a good stir. Heat gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 170°F on an instant read thermometer (about 8-9 minutes). Immediately strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and pour into the prepared crust. Bake (still at 350°F) until the curd is set (it should jiggle but not slosh), about 10 minutes.
Let cool at room temperature for about 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill. Serve this chilled or at room temperature.
I’m pretty jazzed, a friend is gifting me a fig tree! She took a cutting, threw it in dirt and whaddya know, it grew into a full-fledged tree. I’m going to be really embarrassed if it doesn’t survive on my watch. Farmer Deb is not a moniker associated with me.
I am content to be the recipient of anyone else’s green thumb bounty. This includes figs, which I adore. Until my little tree matures, I will happily take extra figs off your hands. Put that right in the box, next to the “what am I going to do with all these” zucchinis and persimmons.
Yep, bring it on.
Lucky for me, Snookies brought me a couple of generously filled baskets of green and purple figs. After popping a couple of them into my mouth (yum), I got online to FIG-ure out delicious ways to use these little bad boys.
A Fig & Honey Tart from The Little Epicurean caught my eye instantly. The tart is as beautiful as it is delicious AND it is pretty darn easy to make. Your friends and family will be SO impressed. Word.
To start the crust is very easy to work with. Don’t be intimidated by the whole pie crust thang. The addition of almond flour and sugar creates a tender, cookie like crust that oozes with buttery goodness. A couple of interruptions had me taking the dough in and out of the fridge before finally fitting it into the tart pan and baking it off. If the crust gets a little soft, toss it back in the fridge. By the time I rolled out the dough and placed it in the pan, talked to Jamie on the phone for a bit, it was getting pretty soft. I ended up pressing pieces into the pan, worked like a charm.
The filling is stupid easy. Combine cream cheese with honey and sugar, give it a good mix and that’s it. I added a teaspoon of vanilla to add depth. Quarter the figs and place in concentric circles on top of the filling. Dust with raw or Demerara Sugar. Go to the garage and grab your blow torch and caramelize the sugar. Drizzle honey over tart and sprinkle chopped pistachios on top. I used hazelnuts cuz that’s what I had on hand, Yums.
In a food process, combine flour, almond flour, salt, and sugar. Pulse to mix.
Add cold butter. Pulse 4 times at 3 second intervals to lightly mix together the ingredients. Add egg yolk and pulse until dough begins to come together.
Dump the dough onto a clean working surface. Gather the dough together and push into a ball. Flatten dough to about 1-inch thickness.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until well chilled.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll dough out on a lightly floured work surface. Press dough onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on wire rack to room temperature before filling with cream cheese.
Filling
Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and honey. Mix until combined. Spread cream cheese filling into cooled tart shell.
Arrange cut figs on top of cream cheese filling. Cover with plastic wrap and keep chilled in the fridge until ready to serve.
Before serving, sprinkle with Demerara Sugar and caramelize.
We were invited to Rosh Hashanah dinner the other night and I volunteered to bring dessert. It’s usually a no brainer since our host LOVES Lemon Bars. But then I remembered I had promised to post Mrs. S’s Pecan Tartlet recipe. The Lemon Bars would have to wait for another occasion.
Mrs. S, for all of you that have not read my Toffee Bars post (hint, hint), is my baking muse and mom of my BFF, Joy. Every Christmas, since I met Joy in middle school, I have been the lucky recipient of a plate of Mrs. S’s holiday cookies. They were delicious and beautiful. She was meticulous and something of a control freak (I can SO relate) so she would shoo us out of the kitchen when she started her holiday baking. Occasionally she would let us help with just the finishing touches, placing the pecan halves in her chocolate thumbprints or rolling her meltingly tender almond crescents in powdered sugar. But mixing the cookie dough itself, nope, that was her domain.
My Favorites
Her Toffee Bars and Pecan Tartlets. When I became interested in cooking and baking and not just eating, I asked for her cookie recipes and she was gracious enough to share them with me. For Mrs. S making these cookies became second nature. Details and how-to’s were committed to memory, not to paper. Over the years I have figured out the little extra steps she took that elevated her cookies, especially her Pecan Tartlets, above the rest. I’ve also added my tweaks to make the process easier and faster.
How-Tos:
The tart crust is butter and cream cheese-based and similar to a cookie dough. It does not include any liquids so it won’t shrink much. I make the dough in a food processor, much like tart dough. The dry ingredients are placed in the food processor bowl and pulsed a couple of times to combine. The original recipe includes up to half a cup of sugar in the dough, way too much. I often don’t add any sugar but if you like a sweeter crust, add a MAX of 1/4 cup. Note that the more sugar you add, the quicker you will need to roll out the dough as the sugar makes the dough stickier and tougher to work with. Add the butter and cream cheese and pulse until the dough just starts to clump. Do not overprocess. Gather the dough and chill for approximately 2 hours.
You could scoop out dough, roll it into balls and press each into tiny muffin tins which is pretty easy, but then you wouldn’t get those cute scalloped edges. Mrs. S’s method was to roll the dough out approximately 3/16 inch thick and cut it with a flower petal cookie cutter. I know, lots of work but, look at how nice they look. The genius of using the petal cutter is the shape makes it very easy to press the dough into the muffin tins.
Next Step:
Make the filling while the dough chills in the fridge. Here’s the cheat. Pour the filling into a squeeze bottle. I replace the top with the lid from the honey I buy at TJ’s. The spout is bigger which allows the filling to flow easily…a nice squirt into each muffin cup. How EASY is that? Ingenuity being the mother of invention, my cheapie wine opener works perfectly for pressing the dough evenly into the muffin tin.
Fill the tarts to where the petals meet and sprinkle the pecans on top. Walnuts or a mix of different nuts would be delicious too. Follow the baking instructions. When slightly cooled, dust the tarts with a nice layer of powdered sugar.
Enjoy these little bites of bliss. Don’t wait until the holidays to make them!
Bite-sized pecan tarts, sweet, nutty and delicious!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cookies, holiday baking, Mini Pecan Tarts, pecans
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
35 minutesminutes
Equipment
mini-muffin tin
2 inch petal cookie cutter optional
Ingredients
Cream Cheese pastry
Mix together:
3ouncecream cheese
1stick buttersalted, or if using unsalted add 1/4 tsp salt
1cupall-purpose flour preferably Gold Medal but any will work
Filling
Blend together:
1tablespoonsoftened butter
1cupfirmly packed brown sugarlight brown sugar
1egglarge
1teaspoonvanilla
1cupchopped pecanssubstitute mixed nuts if you like, walnuts
Instructions
Dough
Original instructions: Combine well and refrigerate. Cut into small circles and press into mini-muffin tin.
My instructions: Mix the dough in a food processor. Place flour in fp bowl. Add butter and cream cheese to flour. Pulse mixture just until it begins to clump. Do not overprocess. Pour onto wax paper or plastic wrap and pat into a disc shape. Chill for at least 2 hours.
On a lightly floured surface, roll pastry out to 3/16-1/4 inch thickness. Cut into small circles. I use a petal cutter 2.5-inch or a plain round 2-inch cutter. Press circles into ungreased muffin tins. Chill muffin tins while making the filling.
Filling
Blend filling ingredients well. Pour into a squeeze bottle. I use a plastic TJ honey container that has an opening about 1/8inch. This is a quick way to fill the muffin tins. You could use a spoon.
Fill prepared muffin tins about 3/4 full. Allow filling to settle slightly. Fill each muffin tin to the top with finely chopped pecans (about 1 cup) Chill.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 250 degrees and bake 20 minutes longer. Allow tarts to cool and carefully remove from tins.
Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar while still warm. Allow to cool before removing from tins.
Notes
There aren't instructions for the prepared muffin tins. I'm guessing at lightly greased. I generally don't grease the tins and occasionally I lose a tartlet to sticking but for the most part a little pry with a thin bladed knife and the tarts come out of the pan.
Almond for Pie! Cherry Slab Pie with Marzipan Crumble
Right next to my favorite strawberry stand at the farmer’s market is a cherry stand. A couple of weeks ago was their last time at the market for the season. So, of course, I couldn’t resist and loaded up on cherries hoping to savor the last pick of the season.
Which meant I was constantly tossing unadulterated cherries into my mouth. Around the 50th cherry, the thought-there must be another way to enjoy these bad boys, danced through my head. Coincidentally, a post from Ipso Fatto appeared in my inbox for a luscious-looking cherry slab pie. Fortuitous or can Google read minds now. Hmmm.
The recipe is originally from Vintage Baker by Jessie Sheehan. This is not the first time I have tried one of her recipes. I also posted her Butterscotch Potato Chip Balls that are, in a word, scrumptious. She also has a blog, Jessie Sheehan Bakes, which I have added to my blogs to follow. Plenty of photos and helpful notes to go along with her well-written recipes.
Did not even know I had a cherry pitter…go figure, another kitchen gadget, makes me so happy.
Do not get freaked out by the word PIE. The crust for this slab pie is made in the food processor and pressed into a removable bottom pan. No rolling here! Very easy. The dough is made with regular flour and almond flour (which helps keep the crust tender), butter, an egg yolk, and sugar.
Pulse ingredients in the food processor until it just starts to come together. Do not over-process. If you pinch the dough and it stays together, stop.
Press the dough into a springform pan. See, EASY.
The crumble is made with almond paste to amp up the almond further. Ahhh, cherry and almond, like Fred and Ginger, a spot on flavor combination.
I made half the recipe which is the best way to resist the temptation of eating an entire slab pie. An excellent strategy for me of little self-control. I used a 9 inch round springform pan which worked perfectly.
This pie is delicious, the buttery crust and marzipan crumble all supporting the star of the show-juicy sweet cherries. If only cherry season was a little longer, sigh.
3/4cupunsalted butter, chilled165gms, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1tspalmond extract
1 egg yolk
1/4cupcold water
Marzipan Crumble
1cupall-purpose flour140gms
7 ouncesalmond paste
2/3cupgranulated sugar130gms
1/2cupunsalted butter, chilled110gms cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Cherry Filling
10cupspitted cherries, fresh or frozendo not throw
3/4cupcornstarch105gms
2cupsgranulated sugar
1/4tspsalt
2Tlemon juice
1/2tspalmond extract
Sliced almonds for sprinkling
Almond Glaze
1cupconfectioners' sugar120gms
1/4cupheavy cream60ml
1/8tspalmond extract
Vanilla Ice Cream!
Instructions
Piecrust
Preheat oven to 400 degreesGrease 13x9x2 inch pan with non-stick cooking spray or softened butter, line bottom with parchment paper, grease paper. Set aside.
Combine AP flour, almond flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Pulse to combine ingredients. Distribute butter on top of the flour mixture and pulse until coarse crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces.
Combine almond extract, egg yolk and 1/4 cup cold water. Add liquid mixture to food processor and continue to pulse until the dough begins to clump. Do not overdo it! Transfer the dough into prepared pan, press it evenly onto the bottom and two thirds up the sides. Wrap pan in plastic wrap and place in freezer while you make the crumble and filling.
For the Crumble
Add flour, almond paste and granulated sugar to food processor bowl. Pulse to combine. Add butter and process until it comes together in one mass. Remove from processor and break in bits. Cover and wrap and store in freezer until needed.
Filling
Combine cherries, cornstarch, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add lemon juice and almond extract and stir well.To assemble pie, pour cherries into pie crust. Top with crumble and sprinkle sliced almonds on top.
Bake 80-90 minutes, less for fresh cherries, rotating the pan after 30 minutes and tenting with foil so it doesn't brown too much. Pie is ready when the filling bubbles thru the center.
Glaze
Combine powdered sugar, cream and extract in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Drizzle on pie.
Serve with Vanilla ice cream, that's an order.
Notes
This recipe can be halved, which is what I did. Weigh ingredients if possible for accuracy. For the egg, one large egg is about 3 tablespoons. Beat egg and mesure out 1-1/2 tablespoons for half recipe.Half recipe can be baked in a 9 inch springform pan.Baking time will be shorter, start checking at 50 minutes.
You Say Crisp, I say Crumble, Either Way, it’s Berry Delicious (Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble)
On my recent foray to the Farmer’s Market I came home with not only strawberries and blueberries but rhubarb too. I thought about making a pie but I wanted something a little easier and quicker to make but just as tasty.
Ideas started running through my head, how about a crisp or crumble? The vision of a sea of lightly sweetened fruit capped by cresting waves of oatmeal, nuts, sugar and butter. I dove in.
I could adapt my apple crisp, which is yummy-licious, but I did a quick digital walk online and found a Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble on Epicurious. It looked really tasty to me. A crumble is essentially the British version of a crisp. Best of all, the recipe called for hazelnuts. Lately I have found myself drawn to recipes that incorporate those tasty filberts. They’re super crunchy and buttery with a unique flavor that is hard to describe. Pecans, my usual go-to nut, are milder and softer while hazelnuts are bold and assertive. It doesn’t get swallowed up by other ingredients, but acts as a nice foil. But that crunch, oooh, love it.
Though the recipe calls for strawberries and rhubarb, I threw in blueberries for good measure. Rhubarb adds a nice tart punch to the berries. When you dig into the crisp, the berries will be sweet, the rhubarb-tart, and the crumble-buttery, and thanks to the hazelnuts-crunchy. A nice contrast to the soft, juicy berries. Want it less tart? Add more berries and less rhubarb. In a pinch, you could substitute pecans or walnuts. BUT hazelnuts are so good. I use to toast my own but that’s a lot of work. I get toasted, skinned, hazelnuts from TJ. It’s worth it. Grab small handfuls of the crumble and squeeze it together before sprinkling it on the fruit. The chunks of crumble help prevent it from sinking into the fruit.
Last but not least, don’t forget the vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, the perfect finishing touch.
Combine flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to blend. Add butter. Rub in with fingertips until mixture sticks together in clumps. Mix in oats and nuts. DO AHEAD: Topping can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill.
Preheat oven to 375°Butter 11 x 7 x 2- inch glass baking dish or any 2 quaert baking dish. Place 1/2 cup sugar in large bowl. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; whisk to blend well. I used 1 tsp. vanilla paste instead.
Add strawberries and rhubarb to sugar in bowl; toss well. Pour fruit filling into prepared baking dish. Compress oat topping in hand to form clumps and then sprinkle evenly over filling.
Bake crumble until filling bubbles and topping is crisp, about 45 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes. Spoon warm crumble into bowls. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.
Notes
It's hard to chop hazelnuts without them rolling all around. I throw them in a plastic bag and lightly roll over them with my rolling pin.Really, too tart? Use more berries and less rhubarb. But if you like a hit of tartness in random bites, keep all of the rhubarb in the recipe.To make this Vegan, you can substitute coconut oil or a light mild olive oil for the butter in the crumble in a 1:1 ratio. If you try this, I need a report back please!
