Salted chocolate caramel tartlets

Talk about perfect timing: the fall issue of my favorite food magazine arrived one day after I’d opened a jar of dulce de leche just to eat a spoonful of it (just ONE, guys, I swear). :)
Since I could not eat the remaining contents of that jar – wanted to, but couldn’t – I’d already started thinking of something to make with it; that was when, flipping through the beautiful pages of the magazine, I saw these tartlets – filled with dulce de leche and topped with ganache, they were just what I needed.
I know that not everyone likes salt in their sweets – my sister had her tartlet without salt – so consider it an optional addition.

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So you don’t think I’ve forgotten about the “The Hunger Games” trilogy: after reading the first two books in a very short period of time, I’ve been procrastinating like hell with “Mockinjay” – is it just me or this book is boooring? :/

Salted chocolate caramel tartlets
slightly adapted from the always wonderful Donna Hay Magazine

Pastry:
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
½ cup (45g) cocoa
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (78g) icing sugar
pinch of salt
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (127g) unsalted butter, cold and chopped
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon iced water

Filling and topping:
1 cup dulce de leche
1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
120g (4oz) dark chocolate chopped
sea salt flakes, for sprinkling – I used Maldon

Start with the pastry: place the flour, cocoa, icing sugar, salt in a food processor and blitz to combine. Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the egg yolks and vanilla, then the iced water and process just until a dough starts to form. Transfer to a large piece of plastic wrap and bring the dough together with the tips of your fingers. Shape into a disk and wrap in the plastic. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
Lightly butter six 8cm tartlet pans. Divide the pastry into 6 parts. Between two pieces of lightly floured baking paper roll each piece of pastry into a rough circle then line the pans, removing the excess pastry. Prick the pastry with a fork then freeze for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil (or use nonstick foil) and cut roughly into six squares; place the foil squares, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. And here is the very best part: Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then carefully peel off the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. Bake the crusts for 10-15 minutes longer or until cooked through. Cool completely in the pans.
Divide the dulce de leche between the pastry cases and, using the back of a spoon, spread evenly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place the cream in a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy. Spread the tartlets with the ganache and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set. Sprinkle with salt to serve.

Makes 6 – I made the exact recipe above, used 9cm (3½in) tartlet pans and got 10 tartlets; I first divided the pastry in 8 parts, then rerolled the scraps once to get two more tartlets

Blackcurrant-sour cream coffee cake

I have just watched "The Amazing Spider-Man" and even though I think that the "amazing" of that title is a bit too presumptuous I liked the movie: it's a really good cast, far better than the first Spider-Man movie directed by Sam Raimi. But Raimi had Willem Dafoe as the villain, and Willem Dafoe as the villain is just perfection; actually, Dafoe as anything is perfection. :)
In a perfect world, Andrew Garfield's Spider-Man would be directed by Sam Raimi.

Well, the world is not perfect but this cake is: the batter is delicious and the sour cream makes the cake extremely tender; I used blackcurrant preserves here because I'd bought a jar of it on a whim but any flavor will do: use your favorite.

Blackcurrant-sour cream coffee cake
slightly adapted from the wonderful Food & Wine

2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream*
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup blackcurrant preserves
confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour a 25cm (10in) Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl. Add the sour cream and vanilla. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated – batter will be thick.
Spread all but ½ cup of the batter into the prepared pan. Using the back of a spoon, make a trough in the batter, all the way around the pan. Mix the preserves with the reserved batter and spoon it into the trough.
Bake the cake for about 1 hour, or until it begins to pull away from the pan and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, remove the pan and let cool completely.
Sift with the confectioners' sugar and serve.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 8-10

Easy double choc brownies make happy coworkers

My idea was to bring brownies to work but had so much to do I was running out of time to actually bake them – that was when I turned to the cookbook for all things sweet, which I have baked very delicious things from. When I’m pressed for time and can’t go to Eat Your Books or flip through my cookbooks I go straight to Bon Appétit Desserts and up until now I have been extremely happy with that.

These brownies are easy, the recipe calls for simple ingredients that are mixed in one saucepan and you can even make them without the white chocolate – that was something I added to jazz the brownies up a little. Totally optional – and a hit with the coworkers.

Easy double choc brownies
slightly adapted from the magnificent Bon Appetit Desserts: The Cookbook for All Things Sweet and Wonderful

140g (5oz) dark chocolate, chopped – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 cups (400g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
1 ¼ cups (230g) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 32x22x5cm* (13x9x2in) metal baking pan with foil, leaving overhang. Butter the foil.
Stir dark chocolate and butter in heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool 15 minutes. Whisk in sugar and vanilla, then whisk in eggs and salt; stir in flour just until absorbed. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Spread batter in prepared pan.
Bake brownies until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan.
Cut into bars and serve.

* I made the exact recipe above using a 20x30cm (8x12in) pan

Makes 20

Orange cardamom pound cake with candied orange peel + a question

I made this cake months ago but waited until now to publish it to avoid bothering you with my too-much-candied-orange-peel drama. The recipe was a simple orange cake – which is something I love – spiced with a bit of cardamom – which is something I’ve learned to love – and I just added the bits of candied peel because I no longer wanted to look at them every time I opened my fridge. So it is completely up to you to decide how you want to bake this cake – I just urge you to do it, because it is delicious and oh, so tender.

And speaking of pound cakes, I’m looking for a good 9x5in loaf pan and would love to know there’s a brand you would recommend; I’ve browsed some at Amazon but haven’t chosen yet – your opinion would be very useful to me. Thanks!

Orange cardamom pound cake with candied orange peel
slightly adapted from the great The Art and Soul of Baking

Cake:
2 cups (240g) cake flour*
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
¾ cup (1½ sticks/170g) unsalted butter, softened
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup sour cream**
1/3 cup drained and chopped candied orange peel (optional – recipe here)

Glaze:
1 cup (140g) confectioners’ sugar
½ to 1 tablespoon orange juice, or more if necessary

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F and position an oven rack in the center. Butter a 21x11cm (8½x4½ in) loaf pan and line with baking paper; butter the paper as well.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar, zest and cardamom until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with the spatula.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Scrape the bowl occasionally. On low speed, add the sifted ingredients in three additions alternating with the sour cream in two additions (begin and end with the dry ingredients). Stir in the candied orange zest (if using). Transfer batter to prepared pan, smooth the top then bake for 45-55 minutes, until firm to touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer to a rack to cool completely. When cool, remove from the pan and peel off the paper.

Glaze: sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl and gradually add the orange juice, stirring until desired consistency. Pour over the cooled cake. Set aside for 30 minutes before serving.

* homemade cake flour: 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons corn starch

** homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 6-8

Apple and cinnamon tarte fines

I’m not a very huge fan of animated movies but I do have a few favorites: “Finding Nemo”, “Mulan”, “Spirited Away” and “Kung Fu Panda” – the hubby loves the latter, too, and last night we watched "Kung Fu Panda 2" together. I have to say that choosing Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman as the voices of Po and Shifu was a really bright idea – they’re perfect for the roles. And my favorite actor is so complete and talented that he kicks ass even as a cartoon. :D
Even thought the hubby and I thought the first movie was better, we both enjoyed “Kung Fu Panda 2” a lot, and at the end of the movie Joao looked at me and smiled: I was crying like a baby. :D

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This tart, though simple and with 5 ingredients only, was a huge success with my sisters-in-law: they loved it. This is more an assembling job than a recipe, but due to the nice comments I got for it I decided to share it with you.

Apple and cinnamon tarte fines
from the always delicious and gorgeous Australian Gourmet Traveller

350g puff pastry sheet
2 small Granny Smith apples, unpeeled
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 220°C/428°F and place a baking sheet in the oven while it’s heating.
Trim pastry to a 23x25cm (9x10in) rectangle, place on a piece of baking paper (I used foil) and prick all over with a fork.
Thinly slice apples on a mandolin to 2mm thick and arrange over pastry, overlapping slices and leaving a 5mm border. Combine sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, scatter half over apples. Dot apples with half the butter, then transfer pastry and baking paper to heated oven tray and bake on top shelf of oven until pastry begins to brown, 8-10 minutes. Scatter with remaining cinnamon sugar, dot with remaining butter and bake until apples are tender and browned on edges and pastry is dark golden and crisp, 10-15 minutes.
Cool slightly on the sheet over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer the paper with the tart to the rack. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6