Pear croustade with lemon pastry and almonds

After I finished making these tarts – and took a bite out of one – I immediately thought that this would be a great recipe for those of you who are beginning to bake: no equipment required – just a bowl and a fork to make the pastry – and no specific baking pan either. And there’s another good aspect for my Brazilian readers: since pears are in season, this is a delicious and budget-friendly dessert. :)

Pear croustade with lemon pastry and almonds
from here

Pastry:
1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices
¼ cup (or more) whipping cream

Filling:
450g (1 pound) firm but ripe Bartlett pears, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
450g (1 pound) firm but ripe Bosc pears, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
¼ teaspoon (generous) ground nutmeg
whipping cream (for brushing)
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

For pastry: whisk flour, sugar, lemon zest, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter; using fingertips, rub in butter until coarse meal forms. Drizzle ¼ cup cream over; toss with fork until moist clumps form, adding more cream by teaspoonfuls as needed if dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour (can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling out).

For filling: preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Mix all pears, sugar, flour, lemon juice, lemon zest, and nutmeg in large bowl to coat. Roll out pastry on sheet of floured parchment paper to 35cm (14in) round. Transfer crust on parchment paper to baking sheet. Mound pears in center of pastry, leaving 5cm (2in) plain border. Fold pastry border over pears, crimping slightly. Brush pastry edges with cream; sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Bake croustade until filling bubbles and almonds are lightly toasted, about 1 hour. Cool slightly. Serve croustade warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Serves 8 – I halved the recipe above and made two small croustades (used Packham pears)

Lemon cream éclairs

Do you remember my complaining about the eggy smell on my profiteroles? As I wrote on that post, I tried adding vanilla extract to choux pastry and I think it worked well!

Since I’d already made profiteroles, I used the pastry to make éclairs this time – and you can blame the lemon filling on me. ;)

Lemon cream éclairs
from Australian Gourmet Traveller

Choux pastry:
½ cup (120ml) water
3 ½ tablespoons (50g) unsalted butter
½ cup + ½ tablespoon (75g) all purpose flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
½ cup (120ml) whipping cream, chilled
½ cup lemon curd*
icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.
Place the water and butter in a medium saucepan over high heat and cook until butter is melted and the mixture is boiling. Add the flour and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth. Cook, stirring over low heat, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and place in an electric mixer. Gradually add the eggs, beating well between each addition, until well combined – you might not need to add all the third egg - lightly beat the last egg and add it gradually to the mixture. Add the vanilla and mix well.
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe 5cm (2in) lengths onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and deep golden. Cool on wire racks. Carefully peel off each éclair from the baking paper.
Place cream in a medium bowl and whip until firm peaks form. Gently fold in the lemon curd. Transfer the mixture to a piping bag with a small nozzle.
Cut the éclairs in half horizontally and fill with the lemon cream. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

* 1/3 of the lemon curd recipe on this post yields ½ cup – the only thing I did differently was adding finely grated lemon zest after passing the curd through a sieve

Makes about 40

Rocky road cupcakes

When I saw these cupcakes on DH magazine, I though they were chocolate cupcakes. But I was wrong – they were rocky road cupcakes! With marshmallow and Nutella... Yum. :D

It was like the first time I heard “Crazy” on the radio – I could’ve sworn it was Moby...

Rocky road cupcakes
from Donna Hay magazine

250g unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups + 2 tablespoons (274g) caster sugar
4 eggs
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
¼ cup hazelnut meal*
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup (240ml) milk
200g dark chocolate, melted – I used 70% cocoa solids
12 large marshmallows
½ cup store-bought chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella)

Whipped chocolate cream:
2 cups (500ml) whipping cream
3 tablespoons icing sugar
½ cup (45g) cocoa powder + extra for dusting

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs and beat well. Sift over the flour, hazelnut meal and baking powder and beat until combined. Fold through the milk and chocolate and spoon the mixture into two 6-hole 1-cup capacity muffin pans lined with paper cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked when a tested with a skewer. Allow to cool slightly. While still warm, make a hole in the center of each cupcake using a serrated paring knife. Remove the cake center and set aside. Fill each hole with 1 marshmallow and 1 teaspoon chocolate hazelnut spread. Press the centers back into the holes.

To make the whipped chocolate cream, place the cream, sugar and cocoa in a non-metallic bowl and whisk until soft peaks form (I did not understand this “non-metallic” issue; used a stainless steel bowl and it worked fine). Spread the whipped chocolate cream over the cupcakes with a palette knife. Dust with a bit of cocoa powder and serve.

* I used almond meal (ground almonds)

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above and got 12 cupcakes, using 1/3-cup (80ml) capacity pans; because my pans were smaller I added 1/3 of one marshmallow + ½ teaspoon Nutella to each cupcake

White chocolate, cranberry and Cointreau truffles

Before I got married, people used to tell me that brides never eat during the wedding – they are too busy walking around, talking to guests, thanking for presents...

I might not have eaten tons of food during the wedding but not because I was terribly busy. I did talk to everyone and it was wonderful to see all those dear faces on such a magical day for me, but that was my day and I wanted it to be about things I like doing. That’s why I danced a lot – so much my shoes were off by the end of the night – and enjoyed the moment with Joao to the fullest, with a slice of cake and ice cream on the side.

The catering company we hired prepared a snack box for us to take to the hotel – that was so nice! There were a lot of sweets in the box and they were delicious – I could enjoy the ones I hadn’t eaten during the wedding. :)

I am telling you all that because my Brazilian buddy Fernanda is hosting an event about wedding sweets and candies, which is something absolutely traditional here in Brazil.
I’m taking part on the event with these truffles; the ones I had on my wedding were plain, with just a touch of brandy, but I wanted to add an unusual ingredient for Brazilians that goes so well with orange – cranberries.

White chocolate, cranberry and Cointreau truffles
adapted from here

300g good white chocolate
¼ cup (60ml) whipping cream
1 ½ tablespoons of Cointreau or other orange flavored liqueur
½ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
1 teaspoon grated orange zest or rind
½ cup (70g) icing sugar

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler (bain-marie).
Warm the cream in a saucepan or microwave but be careful not to scald.
Add the warm cream to the chocolate (still in the double boiler) and mix together until evenly combined.
Remove from heat, add the Cointreau, cranberries and the grated zest and beat the mixture until smooth – chocolate will look curdled, don’t worry. Just beat well until glossy again.
Cover and refrigerate the mixture until it has set, 4 hours or overnight – remove mixture from fridge 10 minutes before rolling the truffles.
With a small spoon or cookie scoop roll small balls of the mixture.
Dust the truffles by rolling them in icing sugar and refrigerate again until hard.
Place into small paper or foil cases to serve if desired.

Makes 25-30

Lemon meringue cake

The fun, adorable and sweet Susan is celebrating her first blogiversary and she’s throwing a party to celebrate it!
I want to be a part of it, so this is what I’m bringing – a light (not as in “low fat”, of course), refreshing and very lemony dessert, that resembles a pavlova. I hope she likes it!

Meringues are “tricky little buggers” - as Jamie would say - so it’s really, really important to keep the oven temperature correct and stable. An oven thermometer is extremely useful here.

If you want to enter Susan’s Blogiversary Bash, too, there’s still time - she’s taking entries till midnight (details here). Did I mention she’s giving away lots of gifts? ;)

Lemon meringue cake
adapted from here

Meringue shell:
4 egg whites
¾ cup (150g) sugar
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Filling:
1 egg
¼ cup (50g) sugar
3 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/3 cup (80ml) water
¾ cups (180ml) whipping cream – it should be very cold
1 ½ tablespoons sugar

Garnish:
½ cup shaved white chocolate – use a vegetable peeler to get the curls

Preheat oven to 250ºF (120ºC).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Beat egg whites in an electric mixer until frothy. Slowly beat in sugar. Continue to beat until egg whites are thick and glossy and stand straight up when beaters are lifted out. Beat in lemon juice.
Draw a 10-inch (25cm) round on the parchment-lined baking sheet and scoop mixture into round, spreading meringue mixture to the sides to make a shell. The sides will be about 2- inches (5-cm) high. It should look like a pie shell. Bake for 1½ to 2 hours or until lightly browned and dry – if the oven temperature rises too much, open its door and hold it a bit open using a wooden spoon. Close it again once the temperature gets right. Turn oven off and leave for about 4 hours to cool.
Whisk together the egg, sugar, lemon juice and zest together in a heavy pot to make filling. Combine cornstarch and water in another bowl then stir into lemon mixture.
Bring to boil over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick. Remove from heat. If lumpy, pour through a strainer into a separate bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap into the surface of the lemon filling to prevent a film from forming, and refrigerate until firm and cold.
Remove lemon mixture from the refrigerator and break it with a fork or metal whisk.
Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue beating until firm. Fold in lemon mixture.
Spoon lemon filling into meringue shell, spreading evenly. Scatter with white chocolate shavings.

Serves 8

Caramel-dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel

Cookies, cakes, bread. I do love baking. But I also love making candy and working with chocolate as well. There was an Easter, a couple of years ago, when I made almost 50 chocolate Easter eggs. Some of them had creamy and gooey fillings, like this heart shaped chocolate I posted last year. YUM!

I printed a recipe for tangerine truffles but the result was a much too soft, messy – although quite delicious – mixture; something impossible to be shaped into balls. As I was determined to make truffles that day, I started searching the net and Epicurious came to the rescue.
These looked and sounded amazing enough to make me forget the tangerine fiasco.

I hadn’t tried salted caramel till then – even though I’d seen it popping around on some food blogs – and that stuff is so good. The truffles were great and the salty touch is an unusual surprise.

Both the truffle mixture and the shaped balls must be refrigerated for quite a while, so plan ahead.

Caramel-dark chocolate truffles with fleur de sel

560g (20oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, divided – I used 51% cocoa solids
1/3 cup (67g) sugar
2 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
¼ teaspoon fleur de sel
½ cup (45g) unsweetened cocoa powder
additional fleur de sel

Place 224g (8oz) chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, occasionally brushing sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides and swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and ¼ teaspoon fleur de sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Place cocoa in bowl. Using 1 tablespoon truffle filling for each truffle, roll into balls, then roll in cocoa. Arrange on baking sheet. Cover; chill overnight.

Line a 32x22x5cm (13x9x2-in) baking sheet with foil. Place remaining 336g (12oz) chocolate in medium metal or glass bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is melted and smooth and thermometer inserted into chocolate registers 46ºC/115ºF. Remove bowl from over water. Working quickly, submerge 1 truffle in melted chocolate.
Using fork, lift out truffle and tap fork against side of bowl to allow excess coating to drip off. Transfer truffle to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining truffles. Sprinkle truffles lightly with additional fleur de sel while coating is still wet. Let stand until coating sets, at least 1 hour. (Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)*

*I decided to temper the chocolate so the coating would be firm and the truffles could be kept in room temperature. If you decide to do that too, don’t roll the truffles in cocoa powder (skip that part). Just make the balls, refrigerate for at least 4 hours and dip directly into tempered chocolate.
To learn how to properly temper chocolate, click here.

Makes about 32 – I halved the recipe and got 14 truffles