Happy Easter! Carrot Layer Cake with Crushed Pineapple

Carrot-cake-with-crushed-pineapple

Photo credit: Dawn Ballenger

 

From Corks &  Cake contributor, Dawn Ballenger:

This is an unusually moist and delicious cake I made recently.    A friend asked me to make a carrot cake for her husband’s birthday dinner.  I think I’ve made 1 or 2 carrot cakes in my life because it is not one of my favorites.

I searched my books for a recipe that seemed interesting and found it in one of John Folse’s cookbooks, The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine.    This is a four layer cake with a zippy pineapple filling between the layers. I dyed coconut shavings for the garnish on the top.  Enjoy!

From John Folse, The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cuisine 

Ingredients for Cake:

  • 3 cups grated carrots
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1½ cups vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 3 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 T. pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour 4 (9-inch) cake pans.  Set aside.  In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar and oil until well blended.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, whisking after each addition.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Add dry ingredients to egg mixture, a little at a time, blending well.  Fold in carrots, vanilla, and pecans.  Once blended, pour batter evenly into pans.  Bake 30-40 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

Ingredients for Filling:

  • 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2½ T. cornstarch

In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients.  Bring to a low boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly — 5 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Remove cakes from baking pans and spread pineapple filling between layers.

Ingredients for Icing:

  • 3½ cups powdered sugar
  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1¼ tsp pure vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and beat until smooth.   Cover cake with cream cheese icing and serve.

Optional:  add a drop of food coloring of your choice to unsweetened coconut flakes for garnish.

Happy  Easter!

Jelly-Beans-Easter

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

 

 

Return to Downton Abbey with Crumpets & Scones

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Yes, Lords and Ladies, Downton Abbey returns tonight on PBS at 9 pm (ET). But you knew that, right?

Mary and Branson with babies

Lady Mary and Branson with their respective aristocratic progeny, baby George and Sybbie.
Photo credit: Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

IMG_1305

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

I’m a big fan of the show (and a bit of an Anglophile) so to get in the spirit of the thing, let’s have tea and crumpets, I mean, scones.

What is the difference between a crumpet and scone, you might ask? I did a little research (source: M. Skylar Ezell) and discovered that scones are a flaky pastry whose origin dates back to the 1500s in Scotland, while crumpets are likely to be Welsh in origin. The earliest known crumpet recipe was in British entrepreneur Elizabeth Raffald’s cookbook “The Experienced English Housekeeper” in 1769.

You may have butter, jam or other spreads with your scones or crumpets. And while scones can either have currants or other dried fruit in them, crumpets do not. For a delectable treat with your tea, serve scones warm straight from the oven, with jam, soft butter, and clotted cream.

Classic Cream Scones

Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

I tested this recipe for Classic Cream Scones from Smitten Kitchen and they were fab.I didn’t add the optional currants or dried cranberries and they were delicious plain and with butter and jam.

Tune in tonight and come back to Corks & Cake for more Downton Abbey-esque food fun!

That new-fangled electric mixer should make her life easier.

That new-fangled electric mixer should make her life easier.  Photo credit:  Carnival Films & Television for MASTERPIECE

“Those dripping crumpets, I can see them now. Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, flaky scones. Sandwiches of unknown nature, mysteriously flavoured and quite delectable, and that very special gingerbread. Angel cake, that melted in the mouth, and his rather stodgier companion, bursting with peel and raisins. There was enough food there to keep a starving family for a week.”
Daphne du Maurier – Rebecca

A Traditional Christmas Panto

IMG_1241

Pantomime is an eccentric British theater institution.  Usually performed at Christmastime, pantomine (slang, panto) emerged during the Restoration with roots in the commedia dell’arte of Italy.  By the beginning of the 19th century, this wonderfully strange, campy, corny, quirky mix of musical comedy and fairy tale had become a tradition.

Young Queen Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret performed in these musical comedy stage productions around Christmas and New Year’s, as pantos were a big part of their holiday celebrations at Windsor Castle, where they lived after evacuating from Buckingham Palace during wartime.

John, Joe and I attended our first Christmas panto in England at a village theater in the north.  Pantomimes rely heavily on audience participation (that’s a main part of the fun) and when the lead character called for a TALL volunteer, we pushed John into the fray. He played a door and a Christmas tree, much to his chagrin and our glee.  Later on in the village, we passed two children in the shops who pointed at John and said, “Look mummy!  It’s the door!”

JP endures the indignity of being a prop in the 2008 panto in England.

JP endures the indignity of being a prop in the 2008 panto in England.

Back at home in Maryland, we have the beginnings of a new Christmas tradition with our friends, Chris and Adrienne Harrington.  The British Players (formerly The British Embassy Players) mount a Christmas pantomime production at the Kensington Town Hall each year.  This year was Cinderella, a traditional British panto directed by Charles Hoag.  Chris purchased a passel of tickets for several friends and their children and away we went.  After the play we adjourned back to our house for dessert and hot chocolate.

I arranged an assortment of cookies and treats in various shapes, sizes, and flavors beforehand on the buffet, making sure to include everyone’s favorites. The spread featured delightful options like chocolate cookies on Christmas, adding a festive touch to the holiday dessert selection.

Christmas dessert display

I knew I wanted an abundance of offerings but couldn’t make it all, of course, so I baked some homemade cookies and bars and rounded it out with my favorite seasonal treats from Trader’s Joe’s.

Homemade:

Dried Cranberry and Chocolate Cookies

Dried Cranberry Chocolate Cookies

These are everyone’s absolute favorite cookie. I think I made at least 9 dozen throughout the Christmas holiday to eat and give as gifts.

Chinese Chews

I found the recipe at one of my new favorite blogs, She Wears Many Hats.  This is a vintage recipe, dating back to the 1900s, but no one seems to know why they are titled ‘Chinese.’  Some recipes call for dates and walnuts, but I followed She Wears Many Hats and made these with just pecans.  They were like a blondie without chocolate.  Chewy in a good way with lots and lots of brown sugar.

Chinese chews (pecan bars)

I made a batch of Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles for those who don’t like chocolate or nuts.  I can’t say I was blown away with them (why are sugar cookies so hard to get right?) so no recipe to recommend.

From the store:

We love Trader Joe's.

We love Trader Joe’s.

(Left: Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes with Chocolate and Hazelnut. (Top to bottom: Trader’s Joe’s English Toffee, Trader Joe’s Caramels with Fleur du Sel, Trader Joe’s Jo Jo Cookie Assortment (like chocolate-covered Oreos).

And Walker’s Shortbread (our favorite at Christmastime.)

Everyone at our house gets shortbread in their Christmas stocking.

Everyone at our house gets shortbread in their Christmas stocking.

Christmas cookies

Dessert buffet

We decorated the front porch with candy canes, garland and mini trees.

christmas lights and candy canes

And a lovely guest brought the cutest miniature mince pies–an English tradition!

Classic mini mince pies

Classic mini mince pies

Another lovely friend brought a big bowl of Chocolate Mousse and the children had hot cocoa with mini marshmallows and candy canes.

P1010068Santa made an appearance.

santa

We had some savory treats also (because I like salty and crunchy better than sweet.)

Keeping it English, I put out a Stilton and a 5-year aged white cheddar (both from Trader Joe’s cheese section.)

We passed around a bowl of Spiced Pecans and a bowl of smoked almonds, both excellent with the various sparkling wines we served.

Schloss Beibrich Sekt is a wonderful sparkling wine from Germany.  A great buy.  Michelle Brut from Columbia Valley in Washington State another lovely find!

Schloss Beibrich Sekt is a wonderful sparkling wine from Germany. A great buy. Michelle Brut from Columbia Valley in Washington State another lovely find!

Spiced Pecans

And let’s not forget my favorite potato chip:  Kettle Brand Salt and Pepper Chips. Because it’s not a party without a potato chip, in my opinion, but are kettle chips healthier than the others?

We served an assortment of beverages, including lemonade, Pellegrino, Coke and Diet Coke, Capri Suns for the kids, white and red wines and IPAs for the adults.

I had planned to offer coffee and put out the china cups and saucers beforehand, but we totally forgot to brew it or offer it.  Since the play didn’t wrap up until 9:30 pm, this was a late party and no one asked for coffee as I’m sure they wanted to go to sleep at midnight with visions of sugar plums in their heads.

Tree at the Kensington Armory

The marvelous tree at Kensington Town Hall, large and festive.

Hope everyone had a happy Christmas!  Thank you, Chris and Adrienne for the panto tickets and the lovely new Christmas tradition.

Cheers,

Rebecca

Peanut Butter Cookies with Bourbon Vanilla Sugar (Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013)

Lovely cookies on my favorite Herend platter.  Fancy!

Lovely cookies on my favorite Herend platter. Fancy!

I was pleased to take part in the 3rd Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year.  This is like the old-fashioned cookie exchanges, except it’s all organized online (thank you Lindsay and Taylor of Love & Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen) and you are matched with bakers from all over the country who send you presents!  What could be more wonderful than that!

Cookie Exchange Present

More wonderful than that is that the Cookie Swap is also a fundraiser for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer and this year bloggers raised close to $15,000 just by baking and sharing cookies!

The way it works is you bake 3 dozen cookies (from a recipe in your repertoire that you haven’t published before) and mail a dozen each to your matches.  Then 3 other blogger-bakers send you their cookies.  It’s fun to wait for the mail and see what cookies you are going to get and where they are coming from. (NOTE: Each participating blogger contributes a small participation fee which goes to the nonprofit as a donation.)

My cookie matches were:

Laura Holko from A Healthy Jalapeno,  hailing from Connecticut

Willow Arlen from Will Cook For Friends, hailing from Michigan

Donna Elick from The Slow Roasted Italian,  hailing from Arizona.

I made my favorite peanut butter cookie for them which comes from The Best 150 American Recipes: Indispensable Dishes from Legendary Chefs and Undiscovered Cooks by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens. (One of my favorite cookbooks; so oft-used its pages are splattered, smeared, sticking together, and falling out.  That is serious love, my culinary friends.)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter cookie ingredients

 

I love this cookie for its full-on, authentic peanut butter taste and the fact that it only uses 4 ingredients (!) and no flour.  If you’ve got peanut butter, sugar, an egg, and some baking soda, you can make this cookie, even during one of the busiest holiday times of the year.

Peanut Butter Cookies

This cookie recipe is so simple, you only need 4 ingredients.  It’s a go-to in our house, especially during the holidays when I am crazy busy, want to bake for the kids, but don’t want to think too hard about it!  Rolling the cookies into balls before your smash them with the tines of a fork is a perfect task for little hands who want to help.

From The 150 Best American Recipes,  Indispensable Dishes from Legendary Chefs and Undiscovered Cooks, Fran McCollough & Molly Stevens, Houghton Mifflin, New York, 2006.

Source:  Gourmet

Cook:  Mom-Mom Fitch

Ingredients

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Jif or Skippy)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

makes about 4 dozen cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack in the middle level.  Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. (NOTE: I love my Silpat baking mats.)

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and sugar until well combined.  In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg, then beat it into the peanut butter mixture along with the baking soda until well combined.

Roll teaspoons of dough into walnut-size balls and arrange them about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.  With the tines of a fork, flatten the balls to about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, making a crosshatch pattern.  Bake the cookies in batches until puffed and pale golden, about 9 minutes. (They might look underdone but they are not.  Any longer in the oven and they will dry out.)

Let cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer with a metal spatula to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

I sprinkle mine with a little turbinado sugar or bourbon vanilla sugar when they are warm.

Bourbon Vanilla Sugar

I packaged those babies up and mailed them off.

IMG_1172

 

Here’s my favorite trick for packing material.  Shred those interior design magazines (the colorful pages) you were going to recycle.  Be sure not to use your husband’s shredded credit card offers or he will have a fit. Ha.

In return for my participation, I received some wonderful cookies and recipes:

Fruitcake Cookies, Alice Seuffret from Dining with Alice, hailing from Minnesota

Cranberry-Almond Biscotti, Becky from Rose & Henry, hailing from Iowa

Nonna’s Russian Tea Cakes, Emily Voigtlander from The Answer is Always Pork, hailing from California

 

Cookie Swap 2013

 

This project was great fun and reminded me almost daily of my dearly departed Mom, who used to bake prodigiously at Christmas and always had a plate or tin of homemade delicious cookies at the ready for guests, friends, visitors, children, and really anyone who gave her a hand and who she thought deserved a cookie.

Thank you the organizers and brand partners of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 for such a wonderful experience and opportunity.

Shout outs to: OXO, Dixie Crystals Sugar, Gold Medal Flour, and Grandma’s Molasses.

And one last note.  In the midst of all this baking and receiving, we had our first snow in the mid-Atlantic (which is normally very mild.)  A look out of our second-story guest bedroom window before I went down to get to the nitty-gritty of baking cookies:

First snow mid-Atlantic 2013

 

Happy Holidays!

My Vintage Kitchen Column for OKRA magazine: Cardamom Sour Cream Pound Cake with Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

Cardamom Sour Cream Pound Cake with Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

Last month for my assignment as the Vintage Kitchen columnist over at OKRA magazine, I tested an old Alabama recipe for Cardamom Sour Cream Pound Cake with Burnt Sugar Ice Cream.

The recipe came from Sook’s Cookbook, Memories and Traditional Receipts from the Deep South which I came across in a box at an estate sale.  The cookbook is a compendium of old recipes from the Faulk family of Monroeville, Alabama.  Sook Faulk was Truman Capote’s great aunt and her special fruitcakes are immortalized in Capote’s lovely and sad short story “A Christmas Memory.”

Compiled by Marie Rudisill, Sook’s niece, the recipes date as far back as 1836 in plantation record books.  Marie and Truman started work on the cookbook in 1947 but put it aside until 1972 when they collaborated again, mostly by phone.

Marie wrote a great deal about the characters in the Faulk household:  the cook, Little Bit; Corrie, the housekeeper and sometime cook; Sem Muscadine, another cook and handyman; and Truman, Aunt Jenny, and Aunt Sook.

Truman Capote's Aunt Sook, as illustrated by Barry Moser.

Truman Capote’s Aunt Sook, as illustrated by Barry Moser.

 

The cookbook is a charmer and the pound cake and ice cream recipes were fantastic!   I will definitely be making these again.  Pop over to OKRA, the digital magazine for the Southern Food and Beverage Institute (SoFAB), and check it out.

 

 

Joe’s Favorite Oreo Ice Cream Cake

 

Some people are natural bakers.  They like the methodical approach proper baking requires:  careful measurement, exacting technique, and strict attention to time, temperature, and humidity.

I was never like that.  I was afraid to make bread because the yeast would never proof. About 10 years ago, I purchased a Julia Child limited edition Kitchen Aid stand mixer (part of a fundraiser for AIWF Friends of Julia Child’s Kitchen at the Smithsonian) and vowed to try to be a better baker.

That is a funny way to start this post, however, because this recipe has little to do with baking!  Not only is this cake frozen but there is also very little homemade about it.  So why am I sharing it, you ask?  Because it is a favorite among children and my son especially requested it for his 11th birthday.  I also made it for Allison’s little girl’s birthday.  It is a popular dessert and quite easy.

You could go out and buy an Oreo Ice Cream cake from Baskin Robbins or the grocery store but this semi-homemade one is much better than those.  The cookies and ice cream taste really fresh.

 

Oreo-cookies

Cookies and milk, anyone?
Photo credit: Allison Beuker Photography

I pulled this recipe from The Kitchn blog, an excellent resource and one I read frequently.

Here is the original recipe which I adapted just slightly.

Ingredients

  • One 14.3-ounce package Oreos (regular/original), about 36 cookies, reserve 8 for garnish
  • One 15.25-ounce chocolate cake mix (I used Betty Crocker’s Triple Chocolate Fudge, baked as directed on the box.  You will need 3 eggs, 1/2 C. vegetable oil, and 1 1/4 C. water)
  • 2 quarts vanilla ice cream, very soft
  • 1/2 cup chocolate sauce, plus 3 T. for drizzling (Hershey’s Syrup works just fine)

Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by lining it with plastic wrap (bottom and sides).

Bake the chocolate cake as directed on the box. (Or you could buy a cake if you want to keep it really simple).

 

Who wants to lick the beaters? Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich.

Who wants to lick the beaters?
Photo credit: Rebecca Penovich

Roughly chop or crumble the Oreo cookies into quarters or smaller bite-sized bits. (I put the cookies in a gallon-size Ziploc bag and go over them with a rolling pin.) Crumble the cake into a large bowl, and stir in about 1/3 of the crumbled sandwich cookies.  Add  1/2 C. of chocolate syrup to the cake and cookie mixture.

Bake cakes in 9-inch rounds. Photo: Rebecca Penovich.

Bake cakes in 9-inch rounds.
Photo: Rebecca Penovich

 

Dump in about 2/3 of a quart of very soft vanilla ice cream, and stir gently but thoroughly until the cake and ice cream are well-combined. Press this mixture into the bottom of the springform pan.

Cookies and cake!  What could be better?

Cookies and cake! What could be better?

 

In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1 1/3 quarts vanilla ice cream with the remaining 2/3 of the crumbled cookies.  Press this on top of the cake mixture in the springform pan; it will come nearly up to the top of the pan.

Cookies and ice cream mixture.

Cookies and ice cream mixture.

 

Cover the cake pan and freeze for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.

Smooth the top then it's ready to back in the freezer.

Smooth the top then it’s ready to back in the freezer.

When ready to serve, let the cake sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes, and run a knife around the inside of the cake pan. Open the springform mold gently; it should release easily from the slightly melted cake.  Pull away the plastic wrap.

Place cake on festive plate and garnish with the 8 reserved Oreos.  I stand them up on their side and place around the cake like a clock face.  Drizzle the Hershey’s syrup over the ice cream cake in a criss-cross pattern.  (Hold the syrup bottle high over the cake and move your hand back and forth quickly.  Pretend you are on Top Chef!)

 

Artful drizzle. Photo by Rebecca Penovich.

Artful drizzle.
Photo by Rebecca Penovich

 

Serve in wedges with ice cold milk.  Sing Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to you!  Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!

 

Trader Joe’s Mini Croissants: C’est Bon!

Deliciousness, with our favorite jams. Photo by John Penovich

Deliciousness, with our favorite jams.
Photo by John Penovich

Sunday breakfast couldn’t be easier or more delicious.  Especially when you have these babies in your freezer.

If you have noticed the tag cloud on Corks & Cake, you will have seen Trader Joe’s popping up here and there.  That is because we love Trader Joe’s!   There are so many delicious products there, both fresh and frozen, that will make your life easier and your mouth happy.  You could plan a whole party, from flowers to appetizers to main course to dessert and make it all from one shopping trip to Trader Joe’s.  That is of course, if your Trader Joe’s also sold beer and wine.  Unfortunately, here in Maryland due to our complicated county and state liquor laws (antiquated), we can’t buy wine at Trader Joe’s so it’s not a one-stop party shop.

Buy at least three of these babies and put them in your freezer.

Buy at least three of these babies and put them in your freezer.

These mini-croissants are incredible.  Really, you won’t believe that they didn’t come from your best French bakery.  They do require some forethought.  The night before you want to serve them (at least 7-9 hours), take them out of the package and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Cover them lightly with a clean dish towel and place on the counter so they can rise overnight.  And rise they will.  In the morning they will be all light and puffy, almost doubled in size.

Brush lightly with egg wash for a glistening finish. Photo by John Penovich

Brush lightly with egg wash for a glistening finish.
Photo by John Penovich

Preheat your oven to 350°.  Brush the croissants lightly with egg wash.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with your favorite preserves, jams and soft butter.  We are partial to Dickinson’s Marion Blackberry Preserves.

Our favorite blackberry jam.

Our favorite blackberry jam.

Wait for the satisfied oohs, ahhs, and mmmmms from your beloved.  Serve with hot coffee and English Breakfast tea.  A perfect petit dejeuner.

 

 

 

 

Corks & Cake Entertains: Lemon curd tartlets with blueberries and mint

Lovely spread

Lovely spread

Our friend, Laura, throws a great party.  And she does it often.  The food and drinks are always good and the atmosphere convivial and casual.  One of the best things about her entertaining style is that she doesn’t wait to have a reason to entertain–no big occasion or anything.  She usually says, “Gee, I haven’t seen you guys in a while; come over, bring the family, and hang out.”

The kids will watch a movie on the deck via an outside projector and the adults will sit around the fire pit and nosh and quaff.  And somehow Laura never seems to break a sweat, even with three kids to contend with, including one adorable 3-year-old handful.  Okay, how does she do it? She plans thoughtfully but not obsessively.  She’ll think about one or two things to make from scratch, like fresh mozzarella pizzas on the grill using Trader Joe’s pizza dough or the Barefoot Contessa’s delicious feta and tomato bruschetta.  The rest of the menu she’ll round out with good cheeses, crackers, crudité and a nice dip from Trader Joe’s fresh case.  Guests can bring something if they want, or just bring themselves if they didn’t feel like cooking or didn’t have time.  No pressure and no expectations other than to relax and have a little conversation among friends.

The Friday night before Mother’s Day was one such occasion.  Just for the ladies, Laura hosted a Stella & Dot trunk show.

stelladot invite

Stella & Dot is a San Francisco-based, woman-owned jewelry and accessories company.  They’ve got lovely stuff.  Their business model is ‘social selling,’ which means a ‘modern-day Tupperware Party with bling.’ I didn’t take any photos of the bling because I was busy mingling and trying on. However, if you’re interested in the Invest Diva experience, you may want to explore specific reviews of Invest Diva to get insights from others who have attended similar events or engaged with their services.

Stella & Dot turquoise studs.  Photo by Rebecca.

Stella & Dot turquoise studs. Photo by Rebecca

So, back to the food.

I made these little lemon curd tartlets with blueberry and mint.

Photo by John Penovich on iphone.

Photo by John Penovich

I know those look like black olives, but trust, me they are blueberries.  I picked the mint from our backyard and stuck the littlest leaves in the curd before walking the plate up to Laura’s house.  They were good.  Not too sweet and just tart enough with juicy lemon flavor and a smooth curd  to play off the flaky crust.

I hadn’t made lemon curd before although I love lemon desserts.  If it’s on a menu at a restaurant, lemon tart is what I’m ordering!  I read through a few recipes and settled on this one from my clippings file from Gourmet 2007.  I chose it because it didn’t call for a double boiler and other recipes called for using the whole egg or for whole eggs combined with additional separated yolks.  I knew I wanted a smooth curd, and nothing too ‘eggy.’  I love the consistency of hollandaise sauce so it seemed right to go with a lemon curd recipe that just utilized the yolks.

I clipped this recipe, Trompe L’oeil “Egg” Lemon Pudding (yes, clipped, like from the actual magazine) because it looked awesome.  The photo of the pudding and yellow curd in an egg shell looked just like a real poached egg.  you can go to see the complete trompe l’oeil dessert photo.)

(Can we have a moment of silence for the dearly departed Gourmet magazine?  Why oh why Conde Nast did you kill it?)

Lemon Curd Tartlets with Blueberries and Mint

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Trader Joe’s Gourmet Pie Crust, defrosted (you can certainly use your favorite recipe for pâte sucrée here but I took a shortcut!)

Lemon Curd:

  • 1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 3 large egg yolks
  • 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted better, cut into small pieces

Garnish:

  • Fresh blueberries, washed and dr
  • Fresh mint leaves (the tinier the better)

MAKE PASTRY SHELLS:

  • Preheat oven to 400.
  • Lay out 1 pie crust on parchment paper and stamp out circles of dough with 2 in. cutter (I used a small juice glass.)
  • Press dough circles lightly into 2 mini-muffin pans (you will get about 18-20 circles from one crust so your second pan will not be full)
  • Blind bake the pastry shells for 20 minutes until golden brown.  (NOTE: Usually with blind baking you should put pie weights on the pastry to keep it from puffing up too much.  Again, I took a shortcut as the bling party time was approaching.)
  • Let pastry shells cool on the counter while you  make the lemon curd.

MAKE LEMON CURD:

  • Whisk together zest, lemon juice, sugar, and yolks in a 1- to 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan. Add cold butter and cook over moderately low heat, whisking frequently, until curd is thick enough to hold marks of whisk and first bubbles appear on surface, about 4 minutes.
  • Force lemon curd through a fine-mesh sieve into another bowl, scraping bottom of sieve, then transfer to ice bath and stir frequently until cold. Cover surface of curd with wax paper and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

ASSEMBLE TARTLETS:

  • Pop the shells out of the mini-muffin pans with a butter knife.  Arrange shells on a clean baking sheet so you can begin filling them.
  • With a small spoon, fill the shells with about a 1/2 tsp. of lemon curd filling.
  • When all shells are filled, garnish each with a blueberry and mint leaf.

Warning: Cookbook Rant Ahead!

DSC_0063

Photo by Allison Beuker.

RANT ALERT:

5 signs that the baking cookbook you are reading is terrible:

1) Comes with an insert from the publisher about all the errors, including inconsistencies in weights of flour and sugar (making every recipe you want to try involve a math problem); AND the recipe yields for no fewer than 5 recipes are incorrect; AND adjustments are required in technique for 2 recipes INCLUDING the basic vanilla buttercream that is a linchpin in most of the frostings.

2) Requiring a 6 x 3 round cake pan when the standard round pan in most all kitchens is 8″ or 9″. That might not be a big deal but the batter recipes are all formulated for 6″ and no notes about what to do volume-wise if you want to make a 9″ layer cake. Arrg.

3) The first step in the recipe is to look at ANOTHER cake recipe in the book and bake that and freeze it. Then the next 18 steps are make simple syrup, lemon curd, lemon buttercream, slice your 6″ cakes into 4 layers….(head spinning now.)

4) Most of the recipes require you to start 2-4 days ahead. (What?!)

5) List of NECESSARY equipment according to the REQUIRED reading in the intro includes: heavy-duty stand mixer w paddle and whisk attachments (check), microwave (check), medium and fine mesh sieves (well, one of of 2 check), bain marie (I can makeshift one, check), double-boiler (nope but could try to makeshift one), several heatproof rubber spatulas (have only 2, check), a supply of disposable cardboard cake boards (WTF!), a spackle blade (WTF!!), and the absolutely essential revolving cake stand with a note from the author that no way, no how will your cake look like the picture unless you have one of these to cut your layers and frost/spackle.

O good God–forget it!