The trick to these apple tarts is thinly and evenly slicing the apples. That and the judicious use of cinnamon sugar above and below the apple slices. And using cooking spray on the apple slices before baking to seal in moisture. And brushing honey over the tarts when they are warm from the oven to make the tarts shiny. Ok, so there are a few tricks.
This is a super easy dessert: brownie batter baked in a pie shell. It sounds like not much, but people love it served warm with ice cream. Maybe you have had brownie pies before, but do try this especially good version.
Imagine a pie that has the flavor of brownies, but the texture of pecan pie. That is chocolate chess pie. Now, imagine that pie, served warm, with a scoop of coffee ice cream (pareve).
Sounds delicious, right? The best part is that it is ridiculously easy.
I made the Hi-Rise Cornbread from Maggie Glezer’s Artisan Bread Baking Across America. Instead of making two pan loaves, I made two free form challahs and the above bread–kind of a yeasted fruit kuchen or a sweet focaccia.
The Hi-Rise cornbread base has fresh corn and cornmeal in it, and it is lightly sweetened with locally produced blueberry honey and enriched with olive oil. The topping is blueberries and sour cherries, with a light sprinkle of cinnamon sugar.
It is fabulous warm from the oven, and SPECTACULAR reheated in the toaster oven. This is a bread meant to be toasted to reach its full crunchy corny potential. And roasting is just the best thing to do to fresh fruit. (more…)
This isn’t the Daring Bakers challenge. This is a swan pavlova made from a recipe by Stephanie Alexander (or here, via Nigella).
Why a swan? Well, the dessert honors Anna Pavlova, who was famous for her performance of The Dying Swan ballet (clip of her performance of this ballet on YouTube). She loved to watch swans and kept them at her home (rare clip of Pavlova at her home, with her swans). Want more YouTube on Pavlova? Here are some more pictures and information about her. (more…)
I made an interesting recycled cake recipe from the second volume of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking: La Charlotte Africaine.
Basically, you take 8 ounces of melted chocolate and combine it with an equal weight of crumbled cake scraps and beaten eggs. It is a bit of a pain in that you need to beat the yolks and whites separately. Ideally, you bake it in a charlotte mold, but I used a 6″ cake ring.
After much dilly-dallying, I finally got around to making the coffee cake recipe from Dan Lepard’s book, Baking with Passion (coffee layer cake with mascarpone cream, p. 103). The recipe was originally from David Whitehouse, who once ran a pastry shop called Leamingtons of Richmond. (more…)
As a general rule, Passover desserts are either the kind that do not need flour to begin with, or are the type that have been converted for Passover use by swapping out the usual flour for potato starch and matzoh cake meal. The chocolate cake here represents a third sort: a baked good that is supposed to be made with potato starch.
This is Julia Child’s Le Glorieux, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two. It is a genoise type of cake that is made with potato starch. A large amount of melted butter and chocolate is added to make this a light, but rich cake. (more…)
As I’ve said before, Passover desserts fall into two camps: (1) recipes that are not based on flour and need little or no changes to work for Passover, and (2) recipes that are based on flour and need to be converted to work with potato starch and matzoh cake meal.
Generally, flourless desserts are a safer bet. But, sponge cake and chiffon cakes are a holiday tradition.
In the past, I have not had spectacular success with this kind of recipe. This year, I think I am finally making headway.
I have not yet made this, but I am posting a link anyway just because it just sounds so good and so different, and it is not tagged as a Passover dessert.
Karen, of Citrus and Candy, has a few flourless cakes. There is the requisite chocolate cake (this one with hazelnuts). And there is a recipe for the classic orange cake. But, what really intrigues me is the Flourless Apple and Almond Tea Cake from The Cook’s Larder in Sydney, Australia. Okay, it is a little late in the season for apple cake, but this cake has maple syrup (or honey) and ginger and apples and almonds! I think this is one of the most popular cakes at The Cook’s Larder.
Pragmatic Attic 