tarte bourdaloue

I am often convinced that I should have been Donna Hay. As much as I love my family, my friends and my cat, surely I was destined to be born ten years earlier; to create her wonderful recipes and cookbooks and run her painfully tasteful general store. Baking, and shooting in remote, beautiful location. Eating macarons and surrounding myself with pretty things.

But if there's one other woman whose life I want to live, if only for a day, it would be Maeve O'Meara. Now there's a dream job-- not only traveling to the most beautiful parts of the world, but eating her way through them, meeting the finest chefs, and taking home their recipes.

I recently came across the cookbook companion to her French Food Safari. It's a wonderful collection of recipes--both savoury and sweet-- that are simple, delicious and contain basic, easily attainable ingredients.

I don't think I can go past anything pear related when I'm on the hunt for a Autumn or Winter desert recipe. And despite not really feeling like going to the effort of making pastry, this is such a simple recipe as it requires no blind baking, but still creates a beautifully golden, crumbly pastry.

Ingredients
Recipe from Pierrick Boyer as featured in 'French Food Safari'

For shortcrust pastry:
250 gms plain flour, sifted
200 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup caster sugar
pinch salt
3 egg yolks

For poached pears:
400 gms white sugar
500 mls water
5 cardamom pods
2 star anise
4 firm-ripe pears, peeled, cored and quartered

For frangipane:
40 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature
40 gms caster sugar
40 gms almond meal
1 small egg
2 tbsps cream

For the pastry, place the flour, sugar, salt and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on a low speed until incorporated. Add the egg yolks, increase the speed a little, and mix until a nice dough forms. Shape into a disc, wrap in plastic, and chill for one hour.

Next, poach the pears. Combine the sugar, water and spices in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce the heat, add pears, and gently simmer for about 15 minutes, until pears are just tender. Remove the pears from the syrup to cool. I then continued to simmer the liquid for a further ten minutes until slightly thick and syrupy.

Now that the pastry has rested, lightly butter a round, 22cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Roll the pastry out until about 3-4mm thick on a lightly floured surface, or between two sheets of baking paper. Gently lift the pastry into the prepared tin, and press into the base and sides, trimming off any excess.

Preheat the oven to 170C.

To make the frangipane, place the butter and sugar in a small bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in the almond meal, the egg, and then the cream.

Spoon the frangipane into the uncooked tart shell and arrange the pearsover the top. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until both pastry and fragipane are golden brown. Allow the tart to cool in the tin before trying to remove it, and then lightly brush the top of the tart with the spicy syrup to make the tart beautiful and glossy.

This tart will be fine to serve the following day, but after that, the moisture from the pears begins to soften both the frangipane and the pastry, so it really is best eaten as soon as possible.

I imagine this would be just as wonderful with apples, or apricots or peaches. Fragipane tarts are a classic dessert for good reason-- they're just so delicious, and simple. It's taken me a while to rediscover pears-- one of my favourite fruits-- this season, but I know this will spark my annual obsession. And who can ever have enough pear in their lives?

Recommending baking soundtrack: Songs: Ohia - Magnolia Electric Co. 

peanut butter & chocolate ganache tart

This recipe marks a reunion of sorts. Despite the last recipe I posted being from Australian Gourmet Traveller, we’ve actually had months apart. Admittedly and perhaps unsurprisingly, I make more or their desserts than anything else. Most of my favourite issues of this, my cooking bible, have been those that have had extensive dessert features, or even one impressive, towering cake, and the last few issues just… haven’t really beckoned me. And then last week from across the supermarket, I saw a glossy cover featuring double chocolate lamingtons and fell in love all over again. I’ve missed you in my life, AGT.

This recipe sure is a way to make up for lost time. Much the same as the raspberry and rhubarb tart, it’s by no means difficult. No fancy ingredients or techniques, just time and patience.

The recipe suggested serving this with caramel popcorn, and I gasped in delight when I saw the pictures, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do this. It seemed too much, even for me. I could, however, strangely convince myself that homemade peanut brittle was a better option, which is insane considering the increased sugar content and addition of butter, but I still maintain that this is a better choice.

Ingredients
Recipe from March 2012 issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller

For pastry:
250gms plain flour
60gms brown sugar
120gms cold butter, chopped
3 egg yolks

For filling:
150gms crunchy peanut butter
200gms unsalted peanuts
200gms caster sugar
100gms butter, chopped
90mls pouring cream

For whipped chocolate ganache:
330mls pouring cream
300gms dark chocolate, chopped
4 egg yolks
1 ½ tbsps caster sugar

For the peanut brittle:
275 gms caster sugar
1/4 cup water
25 gms butter
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

For the pastry, process the flour, brown sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and process until mixture resembles fine crumbs, and add egg yolks. Process until combined and sandy-looking. Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and bring together with the heel of your hand. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour to rest.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thick, large enough to cover the base and sides of a tart tin of your preferred shape. I used a fluted rectangular tin, measuring about 30cm x 15cm. Lightly grease tin and place pastry in the tin, trimming the edges. Refrigerate to rest for a further hour. Preheat your oven to 180C.

Line the pastry with baking paper and pastry weights, and blind bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove paper and weights and bake for a further ten minutes or until dry and crisp. Allow to cool completely, and then carefully spread the base with peanut butter.

While tart is cooling, roast the peanuts for about 5 minutes until golden. Chop coarsely.

For the filling, stir sugar and 80mls water in a small saucepan over medium heat until dissolved. Increase heat and bring to the boil without stirring until mixture is a dark caramel colour. Remove from the heat and add butter, cream and 1 tsp sea salt—it will bubble away quite furiously at this point. Return to a low heat, and stir for a few minutes until smooth. Stir in peanuts, and allow to cool for about 15 minutes before spreading mixture into tart shell over the peanut butter. Refrigerate until set, approximately 3 hours.

For whipped chocolate ganache, stir cream and chocolate in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl over simmering water for about 5 minutes, until thick and pale.
Remove from heat, fold through the chocolate and cream mixture, and whisk in an electric mixer until cooled, about 5 minutes. Pour into the tart shell over the peanut-caramel mixture. The mixture will be quite runny, but will set in the fridge after about 3 hours, and will be this delicious mousse-y consistency. I had 2 cups of this beautiful stuff leftover. I’m sure you won’t be complaining, but you could halve the mixture if you like and should still have plenty.

While tart is in its final stages of setting, make the peanut brittle. Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar has dissolved, and then increase heat to high, brushing the sides of the pan down with a wet pastry brush to stop any crystallisation around the edges. Cook without stirring until mixture is a dark caramel, remove from heat and stir through butter. Return over a low heat and stir for a minute until thick and smooth. Stir through peanuts, and pour onto prepared baking tray. Allow to set-- this will only take an hour or so.

Remove tart from the fridge about fifteen minutes from serving. Smash peanut brittle into smaller pieces, and scatter generously over the tart. After a while out of the fridge, the peanut caramel filling will start to ooze a bit, so it’s not the best for travelling, but it’s still delicious at room temperature, just as it is straight from the fridge when the caramel is wonderfully chewy.

My grandmother used to make a peanut and caramel slice with a biscuit base that I simply couldn’t get enough of as a child. I’m sure grandmothers all over the country made this slice, or a version of it. Whilst I never really saw her make it, I knew it was pretty easy for her to make given the frequency that I seemed to be eating it, but as much as I loved it, I never thought to make it myself after she passed away. I hadn’t tasted her peanut slice in over ten years, but as soon as I took one bite of this slice, I thought of her. And sure, I’ve gone way over the top with the moussey ganache and brittle, but the essence of what made my grandmother’s slice so wonderful is here. I wonder what she would think.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Strand of Oaks – Leave Ruin.

rhubarb & raspberry meringue tart

This recipe isn't for the faint-hearted, or for those wanting something sweet in a hurry. It is by no means complicated, and it is so simple to make this tart look beautiful. But the constant chilling-cooking-cooling is incredibly time consuming, and you'll easily spend the better portion of your day on this baby. But honestly, it was absolutely worth every minute of my time. Rhubarb, raspberry and meringue. Can you honestly be surprised?

It's quite funny how these days, everyone is a food critic. Much the same as wine, the more people are exposed to different varieties and learn what they like, the more they feel comfortable in saying what's no good, or that something is unbalanced, or lacks acidity, or needs more sweetness. And whilst I laugh, I actually think it's a good thing! Why eat food that's simply ordinary? Why not explore other options and expose yourself to something new? Gosh, if I didn't have the varities of food that I currently do in my life, I would be a very different (and likely bitter) person. And if people weren't having such an increasing interest in food and trying more non-conventional recipes, regardless of their potentially snooty opinions as a result, we would have a much harder time finding the range of ingredients we do in a standard supermarket these days.

So, forgive me for sounding pretentious when I say this, but this tart has everything a dessert should. The very little amount of citrus rind the filling has is just the right amount to cut through what may have otherwise been a very sweet dessert. It's not sickly, at all. The almonds in the base add the perfect amount of crunch. And oh, that pillowy meringue… I was tempted to toast it, but it was simply too fluffy and white and pristine to touch.

Ingredients
Recipe from March 2011 issue of AGT

For the pastry:
180 gms butter, softenend
40 gms pure icing sugar, sieved
2 egg yolks
250 gms plain flour

For the frangipane:
75 gms butterm, softenend
80 gms caster sugar
70 gms almond meal
1 tbsp brandy
2 eggs
50 gms blanched almonds, finely chopped

For the filling:
1½ bunches rhubarb (about 6 stems), trimmed, sliced into 4cm pieces
250 gms raspberries
150 gms caster sugar
Finely grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

For the Italian meringue:
175 gm caster sugar
2 eggwhites
pinch of cream of tartar
For the pastry, beat butter in an electric mixer until pale, and then add icing sugar and beat until combined. With the motor running, add yolks one at a time, followed by 1 tbsp chilled water. Sieve flour over and stir to just combine. Lightly knead on a work surface then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, approximately 1 hour.

For frangipane, beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale. Add almond meal, brandy and eggs and stir to combine, then stir through chopped almonds. Refrigerate until chilled, approximately 1 hour.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 30cm round. Line a buttered and floured 22cm diameter, 5cm-deep cake tin with a removeable base. Trim the edges, prick base with a fork and refrigerate to rest for another hour.

Meanwhile, for baked rhubarb and raspberries, preheat oven to 175C. Place rhubarb in a baking dish large enough to fit snugly, scatter over raspberries, sugar, lemon rind and juice. Cover with foil and bake, turning rhubarb once, until tender, above 15 minutes. You want the rhubarb to still hold it's shape! Set aside to cool.

Drain syrup from the rhubarb mixture and and place in a small saucepan over high heat, reducing it to about 125 mls. This should take about 5-10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Return 50 mls to the rhubarb mixture, and set aside the remainder to use when serving.

Line the tart case with baking paper and pastry weights, or uncooked rice or beans. Blind bake the tart case until light golden, approximately 15 minutes. Remove paper and weights and bake until golden, about another 5-10 minutes. Spoon the frangipane into tart case and bake until frangipane is golden and set, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool until just firm, then remove tart from tin and cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, for Italian meringue, combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and brush down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to remove any sugar particles. Increase heat to high and cook until syrup reaches 121C on a sugar thermometer. Meanwhile, when syrup reaches 110C, start whisking eggwhites and cream of tartar in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually pour the hot syrup over eggwhites in a thin stream, whisking continuously until cooled, thick and glossy, approximately 10 minutes.

Spoon the rhubarb and raspberry mixture over tart. Transfer meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe in swirls. From here could brown the meringue with a kitchen torch, but the beautiful pure white meringue peaks looked too perfect for me to want to touch it. Serve with the remaining syrup.

Yeah, forget what I said about it being time consuming. Just make it. It's perfect. Take a weekend at home and do a step every couple of hours and thank me for the motivation on your Sunday afternoon of bliss.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Bowerbirds - The Clearing. Oh, how I love the Bowerbirds.

fig & raspberry bakewell tart

As much as I miss my dear friends and small family, there are certainly perks of living in a new, larger city. An abundance of choice of farmer's markets is one of those perks, and one that I'm not taking for granted. I know it's a much more common thing to buy directly from the supplier these days than what is was five years ago for many people. I also know that the whole city-farmers markets 'trend' has been written about to no end, so I won't go there. What I love the most is how it's changed the way I bake. I'm searching for recipes to utilise what produce I'm buying, rather than lusting over a recipe and letting it dictate what I'm buying. I don't feel as swept up in chasing ingredients. There are elements of calm in cities.

On a tangent, I must stress how much I have fallen in love one particular new ingredient, not sourced from any farmer's markets - ground. vanilla. bean. Having faith in Equagold, and experiencing low stocks of vanilla bean paste, I purchased this far superior product from a local deli. Needing only 1/4 tsp to substitute a whole vanilla bean, it's incredibly economical. It's flavour is also intense, and oh-so-perfect in shortcrust pastry. I've been putting it in almost everything I'm baking over the last few months, and am still so giddy with lust for it. If you are lucky enough to encounter it, buy it.

This recipe utilised a bounty of figs and fresh raspberries purchased at a recent farmer's market visit. It's wonderfully simple, requiring only a food processor to mix the pastry and the filling. Rasberry coulis is not essential, but you'd be crazy not to.

Ingredients
Recipe from December 2010/January 2011 issue of delicious.

For shortcrust pastry:
1 2/3 cups (250g) plain flour
40g icing sugar
1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean, or 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
125g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg yolk

For filling:

100 gms unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
100 gms almond meal
1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean or 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1/4 cup brandy
1 cup raspberry jam
8 figs, halved
125 gm punnet raspberries, plus extra to serve
1/4 cup icing sugar
Double cream, to serve

For the pastry, place the flour, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and butter in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs. Add the egg yolk and 2 tablespoons iced water, then whiz until the mixture comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll out pastry and use to line a 33cm x 12cm rectangular loose-bottomed tart pan, trimming to fit. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C. 

Line tart with baking paper and fill with pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove paper and weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool in tin. 

Place butter and caster sugar in a food processor and whiz to combine. Add egg, almond meal, vanilla seeds and 1 tbsp brandy, then pulse to combine.

Spread half the jam over the base of the pastry case, then top with the almond mixture. Arrange the figs, cut-side up, on top of the filling, gently pressing down. Scatter fresh raspberries on top if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the filling is set and golden. Cool slightly. 

Meanwhile, blend the raspberries to a puree. Place raspberry puree in a pan with the icing sugar, 2 tbsp brandy and remaining jam, then cook over low heat, stirring, for 1-2 minutes until thickened. Cool slightly. Garnish with extra raspberries, and when ready to serve, to with raspberry puree and a dollop of cream.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Alela Diane - To Be Still. 

strawberry tarts

Sometimes, I have great difficulty choosing my favourite fruit. I've always been a strawberry person from a very young age. As a little girl, I would choose strawberry flavoured things over any other - milkshakes, ice creams, candy, you name it. I would be absolutely delighted when my mother allowed me to choose absolutely anything from the specialty bakery we frequented, as I would always, always choose a strawberry tart. But as I've gotten older and strawberries have gotten firmer, paler and sometimes even fuzzier, peaches, raspberries and even ugly duckling pineapple have fought and won my affections. Strawberries sometimes slipped into the back of my mind.

Last week, I bought a five-dollar punnet (obscene, I know) of strawberries and all of the reasons why I loved them rushed back to me, quickly. Each one was perfect, soft, juicy and made me wonder what I was ever thinking to choose any other. Each one cemented strawberries as my all time favourite fruit. I adore strawberries. I always will. Swoon.

Ingredients (makes 8)

Recipe from March issue of delicious

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup icing sugar

100 gms chilled unsalted butter, chopped

2 vanilla beans, split, seeds scraped

1 egg

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 tbsps red currant jelly

250 gms mascarpone cheese

500 gms strawberries

For pastry, place flour, 2 tbsps icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and half of the vanilla seeds, then whiz until mixture looks like sandy crumbs. Add the egg and process until mixture comes together in a ball. Shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 180C and grease eight 10cm wide, 2cm deep loose-bottomed tart tines. Divide dough into eight portions, roll to about 5mm thick and line tins. Chill for a further 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, for the toffee glaze, place caster sugar in a small pan over a low heat with 2 tbsps of cold water. Stir until sugar dissolves, then increase heat to medium-low and cook, without stirring, for 5 - 6 minutes until golden caramel. Remove from heat and carefully add 1/2 cup water. Return to medium-low heat, add red currant jelly and stir to dissolve. Cool to room temperature. 

Remove tarts from refrigerator, line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove baking paper and weights and bake for a further 5 minutes or until pastry is a deep gold and is evenly dry. Cool in tins on a wire rack. 

Combine mascarpone with remaining icing sugar and vanilla seeds. Fill cooled tart cases with mascarpone mixture, top with berries and drizzle with toffee. Eat ASAP!

As I was making these and keeping them all to our household, I filled each tart shell as needed to keep the pastry fresh and crisp. The toffee mixture can be kept covered, at room temperature and the tart shells in an airtight container for a few days. It's quick and easy to make each tart up as needed and it's certainly worth it if you're serving eight people at once. 

You could try this with raspberries or even cherries... but you probably shouldn't.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Beach Fossils - What a Pleasure. 

tim tam tarts

Tarts have recently become my most adored sweet treat. Let's face it - a good pastry can make almost anything more desirable. Tarts have this on their side, but I also find them slightly more attractive than a closed in pie. Where these tarts are lacking in the pastry department, they make up for it with a much adored 'Australian' staple: a Tim Tam crust.

As I was making these for my family for our small Australia Day gathering, I made the ganache filling out of 70% Valrhona, a decision I certainly don't regret... but these tarts were intense! You will definitely need a generous amount of raspberries to cut through the richness, as if this is possibly a bad thing. I do, however, think these would be amazing with milk chocolate.

Ingredients (serves four, but is easily to multiply)
Recipe from February issue of delicious


200 gms packet Tim Tams

30 gms unsalted butter, melted and cooled

200 mls pouring cream

200 gms dark chocolate, chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

Raspberries, cocoa and ice cream (or cream), to serve. 

Grease four 8cm loose-bottomed tart tins. Place Tim Tams in a food processor and pulse until in fine crumbs. Remove three tablespoons of the soil and set aside for when serving. Add the melted butter to the food processor and pulse to combine. Press mixture into the bases and sides of the tins - it will work out to be about 2 tbsps mixture per tin. There's really no better way to do this than with your fingers, starting in the middle and working your way to the sides of the tin. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160C. Place the cream in a saucepan over a low heat and bring to just below boiling point. Remove from the heat and add chocolate, stand for a minute to allow it to start melting, then stir until completely smooth.

Cool mixture for about 15 minutes, then add yolks and vanilla and stir to combine. Pour into the tart cases, and bake for 15 minutes until just set. Cool tarts completely in their tins before removing. If you're serving them at a later time, chill them before removing, it will make it a heck of a lot easier as they can be quite crumbly.

To serve,  top with berries and dust with cocoa. Serve with the reserved Tim Tam soil and vanilla ice cream or cream.

I hope my readers had a lovely Australia Day, wherever you are.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer. 

peach melba tart

I'm an unashamed Autumn/Winter-person. That doesn't necessarily mean I love extremely cold weather, given a Brisbane Winter hardly reaches below 10C. I do, however, loathe the humidity, squinting, and sunburn that Summer generally involves. As the years pass by, I think I'm becoming more tolerant and can now appreciate more daylight hours. I accept that beautifully thick rhubarb stems are less readily available. I'll even admit that lemon lime & bitters tastes better on a warm Summer's afternoon. But what I really miss during my favourite cooler seasons are raspberries. And peaches. And this Summer, haven't the raspberries been spectacular?

Ingredients (generously serves 6)
Recipe from delicious. More Please

For pastry:
1 2/3 cups plain flour
2 tbsps icing sugar
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
180 gms chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 egg yolk

For filling:
3 ripe peaches
200 mls pouring (thin) cream
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
2 eggs, plus 1 extra yolk
1/4 cup caster sugar
250 gms raspberries

2 tbsps flaked almonds, toasted
icing sugar, to dust

For the pastry, process flour, icing sugar, vanilla seeds and a pinch of salt in a food processor until there are no lumps. Add the butter and process until sandy. Add the yolk and 1 tbsp chilled water, processing until the mixture comes together in a smooth ball. Remove pastry from food processor (kneeding a little if necessary), cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

Grease a 12x35cm loose-bottomed tart pan. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to 3 - 5mm thich and use to line the pan, pressing gently into the base and sides. Trim to fit, then chill for 30mins.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with pastry weights (or uncooked rice/beans/lentils) and blind bake for ten minutes. Remove weights and baking paper and bake for a further 5 minutes until pastry is golden and dry. Reduce the oven to 170C.

For the filling, blanch the peach halves in a large saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute. Remove, allow to cool slightly, peel, then place on some paper towel and gently pat dry.

Heat the cream and vanilla pod and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat until just below boiling point. Gently whisk the eggs and extra yolk with the sugar in a large heatproof bowl. Slowly whisk the hot cream mixture into the whisked eggs. Remove vanilla pod.

Place the peaches, cut side down, in the tart shell and scatter with half the raspberries. Slowly pour the cream mixture into the tart shell, and bake for 30 - 40mins until the custard is set. Cool slightly, then dust with icing sugar and serve with a scattering of flaked almonds.

I freaked out a little in finding that my tart had set so soon - after about 20 minutes! So please keep a good eye on it during the cooking period to avoid the disappointment of over cooked or even burnt custard. delicious also suggest using Careme vanilla bean sweet shortcrust pastry, as they do quite often throughout this book, and doing so would make this simple recipe even quicker. Sounds good to me!

Recommended baking soundtrack: Thee Oh Sees - Warm Slime. 

chocolate hazelnut tart

Sometimes, life just gets in the way. I'm into my second week of a new job in a new city. I've reminded myself of how to utilise public transport again after I broke up with buses over ten years ago. I'm also doing surprisingly well navigating the roads without GPS! November certainly was a month of new experiences. And now a mere three hours away from December, I am left with no more excuses. So over the weekend, I finally test drove my 'new' oven.  I think it's the beginning of a good relationship.

In my absence in both baking and blogging, I've still been hoarding recipes - magazines and cookbooks aplenty have been covered in post-it notes and ideas squirreled away for a moment when I finally had time to myself. One book full of many recipes such as these has been delicious' "More Please". Broken into seasons - much like another of my favourite cookbooks from the past year or so - it's overflowing with must-try recipes, both sweet and savoury... And takes a lot of wow factor for me to lust over a savoury recipe. First cab off the rank is this modest hazelnut tart.

My grandmother used to make a delicious peanut & caramel slice which I still often crave - and this tart is like a modern day version of that very slice, with the very welcome addition of dark chocolate. It's simple to make, especially if you are willing to pay a little more and buy the Careme pastry (which is truly delicious). Be aware it does take a while to set post-oven. I ended up chilling mine a little out of impatience.

Ingredients
Recipe from "delicious. More Please"


300 gm packet Careme dark chocolate shortcrust pastry (or see delicious for a basic chocolate pastry recipe)
1 cup thickened cream
60 gms unsalted butter
1/4 cup glucose syrup
1 cup caster sugar
2 1/3 cups hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
50 gms dark chocolate

Allow pastry to thaw (approximately 1 - 2 hours at room temperature) and then roll out to 5mm thick. Line a 28cm loose-bottomed tart pan with your rolled pastry and chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180C.

Line the pastry with baking paper, fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice and blind bake for ten minutes. Remove baking paper and bake for a further five minutes until pastry has dried. Leave to cool while you make the filling.

Place the cream and butter in a small saucepan pan over medium heat and bring to just below boiling point. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the glucose syrup and 1/3 cup water in a medium saucepan, then sprinkle with the sugar. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved and the liquid is clear.
Increase the heat to high and cook, without stirring, until a golden honey colour. Remove from the heat, then carefully whisk the cream mixture into the toffee - it will foam up a little. Return the pan to a low heat and stir to dissolve any hard toffee bits. Add the nuts and cook for a minute. Pour the mixture into the tart shell and bake for about 20 minutes until the tart filling is firm. Remove from the oven and cool before removing from tin.

Just before serving, melt the chocolate and drizzle over the tart.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Andrew Bird - Useless Creatures. 

mint chocolate tarts

To say that I love the combination of mint and chocolate would be an understatement, a love my sister and I have always shared. I adore mint slice biscuits, but something is... missing with them. I eat them in enjoyment, but could never put my finger on why I was always a little disappointed, or what I would change about them.

I have also, more recently, fallen in love with Christine Adams, responsible for the wonderful desserts at Neil Perry's Rockpool restaurants. This is mostly due to her six page dessert spread in this months Australian Gourmet Traveller, but also because she has helped me find the elusive something missing from mint slice. Ooziness. Simply put, they're not generous enough. Mint slice give you the flavour, but not in the quantity I need. I want oozy but still slightly firm mint. I want a thicker coating of soft dark chocolate. This tart, my friends, is all of these things and more, and it's such a well written and simple recipe.

Ingredients (makes 6 small, or 12 slightly smaller)
Recipe adapted from September issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller


For pastry:
200 gms unsalted butter, softened
140 gms pure icing sugar, sifted
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
200 gms plain flour
30 gms Dutch-processed cocoa

For mint fondant:
200 gms fondant, coarsely chopped, softened
10 mint leaves
3 - 4 drops mint oil or extract

For ganache:
70 gms softened butter
285 gms Valrhona Guanaja (or the best quality 70% cocoa solid you can afford) chocolate, finely chopped
310 mls pouring cream

For the pastry, preheat oven to 180C. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer until pale and creamy (4 minutes). Add yolk and vanilla and mix until combined. Sift flour and cocoa together, add to butter mixture and mix until just combined. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, then knead lightly to combine and form into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled (1-2 hours).

Divide mixture into 6 or 12, depending on size of tart tins you're using, then roll out each piece on a lightly floured bench to 3-4mm-thick and line twelve 6cm or six 9cm tartlet cases sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Trim edges, refrigerate until chilled, then prick bases and blind bake until set (10-12 minutes). Remove paper and weights and bake until for 8 - 10 minutes, until pastry is cooked on the base. Cool on a wire rack, then remove tart tins.

For mint fondant, process fondant and mint in a food processor until smooth. Transfer to a heatproof bowl, cover with foil and melt over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat, add 1-1½ tsp water to thin to pouring consistency, then add mint oil drop by drop to taste. Divide among tart cases and stand at room temperature until set.

For ganache, beat butter in a bowl with a spatula until soft and creamy. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set aside. Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan and pour over chocolate. Stand for a minute, then stir slowly with a spatula until melted and smooth. Add butter a little at a time, stirring gently until incorporated, then pour into tart cases over fondant. Stand for about an hour or until chocolate has set.

The result is simply beautiful-- it's so nice to get a fleck of fresh mint in the fondant, and the soft just set shiny-ganache is beautiful with the crispy shell. Keep in mind the strength of the mint has to compete with the double chocolate, so I made it quite strong for this reason, which I was very happy with. I just adore everything about this recipe, and imagine it becoming a regular rotation in my sweets schedule. I do have to share it with my sister, after all. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Benoît Pioulard - Temper.

chouquette: a review

I don't usually do reviews. I feel somewhat uncomfortable about taking photos in restaurants - mostly due to my camera being so old, me never deleting photos, and the reload speed unbearable as a result of both! - and I also have a terribly sparse and sporadic memory, so by the time I sit down to write my experiences, the finer details are a little faded. Also, how many synonyms for "lovely" could there possibly be? 

It's been a while since I've blogged, but not baked. I seem to have many excuses, including working on and  submitting assessments coming close to 25 000 words and baking for and hosting my sister's baby shower. So today when my better half and I headed to New Farm to visit Chouquette, I figured now is as a good time to come back into orbit of the blogosphere. Ugh, I hate that word. A dear friend and coworker of mine recommended this tiny, character-riddled patisserie months back, but I've just never found the time or opportunity to visit. It took Australian Gourmet Traveller to mention in its 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide for me to make it a priority. 

We arrived around 10:30am to find this little cafe bustling, all seats taken, and very shortly a line out the door after us. We were served by friendly, efficient and patient staff, and each chose two treats, which was hard only because of the variety and quality on display. We then ducked off to New Farm park to enjoy the morning and our bounty of goods. My first course: a macaron. Of course. 

Chocolate macaron - $2.70

I should have placed this baby next a 50c piece to show its size - it was huge! More importantly, it was delicious - slightly crispy, chocolatey and chewy. Despite sharing a little, what impressed me most was my ability to eat it all. It wasn't sickly sweet like macarons can be. 

Tarte au chocolat & Tarte au citron - $6 each

After a break, a walk and a coffee, we went halves in a tarte au citron and tarte au chocolat. The pastry on each was beautiful and crispy. The lemon tart was rich and eggy, and the chocolate ganache filling was velvety smooth. Despite my boyfriend's resistance to eating aluminium foil ("It's silver leaf!", I tell him through laughter), we were both in heaven. 

I will definitely be back to Chouquette, but will plan to arrive a little during weekends. I appreciate and admire cafes and restaurants that cook a batch and simply sell out if there's high demand, rather than churning out a product en masse and have an abundance of stock in cabinets. It makes you appreciate acquiring something special. My macaroon left two lonely ones behind, and they were all out of chocolate eclairs, so if you're after something in particular best get there early. 

Chouquette

19 Barker St New Farm QLD 4005

07 3358 6336

Wednesday to Saturday - 6.30am to 5.00pm

Sunday - 6.30am to 12.30pm

feature: la fête nationale - vanilla brûlée tart

There's only one thing that could make a crème brûlée more desirable. Crisp, golden pastry. Thanks once again to Bourke Street Bakery, I've found something I was previously lacking in my life, without even realising it.  This heavenly creation takes the concept of the classic French dessert, and enhances the experience by a delicious, dark and flaky pâte brisée, with a hit of tart strawberry puree. If you can't visit one of their bakeries to try the real thing, re-creating it at home is the next best thing.

Similar to their flourless chocolate cake, Bourke Street deliver a quite involved recipe. The benefit of this is in the results-- if you follow this recipe down to each detail, you really will come so close to their gorgeous creation, it will surprise you. It's not difficult, but takes patience and is really best if you start this more than 24 hours before.

Ingredients (makes 20)
Recipe adapted from Bourke Street Bakery: The Ultimate Baking Companion


For strawberry puree:
250 gms strawberries, washed and hulled
120 gms caster sugar
For crème brûlée:
720 mls pouring cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
10 egg yolks
80 gms caster sugar

extra caster sugar, for burning

1 quantity pâte brisée (see recipe in BSB), used to line 20 8cm round fluted loose-based tart tins.

To make the srawberry puree, put the strawberries and sugar in a food processor and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

To make the crème brûlée custard, put the cream into a saucepan. Scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean into the cream and add the bean. Bring to the boil over a high heat. As soon as it boils, remove from the heat and set aside to infuse to ten minutes.

Place the egg yolks in a large stainless steel bowl and use a whisk to combine. Add the sugar and continue whisking for about 30 seconds or until sugar has dissolved.

Pour the slightly cooled cream through a fine sieve, discarding the vanilla bean, the pour cream into the egg mixture, stirring well to combine.

Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water, and continue stirring with a whisk for about 10 - 15 mins, or until the mixture is smooth and thick, scraping down the bowl regularly with a rubber spatula. It is important to keep stirring at all times or the mixture will curdle.

Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk briskly for about 2 mins to cool it quickly. Over the next hour, whisk mixture every ten mins until cooled.

Use a rubber spatula to clean the sides of the bowl thoroughly and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the mixture, to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate overnight to set.

Follow direction in Bourke Street Bakery: The Ultimate cooking companion to prepare and bake 20 pastry cases.

To assemble tarts, spoon about 3/4 tsp of strawberry puree in the centre of the base of each tart shell. Pipe the custard into each shell with a piping bag fitted with a plain 1cm tip. You should slightly overfill each. With a small palette knife, scrape the custard to sit flush with the top of the tart shell. Refrigerate for 4 hours.

Sprinkle 1 tsp caster sugar onto the top of the custard and burn with a culinary blowtorch until caramelised.

I caramelised half of my tarts, saving the rest of the filled tarts in an airtight container in the fridge until needed, leaving them up to a few days. The pastry will soften but is still utterly delicious. If you caramelise all of the tarts at once, it's best to eat them fresh as the lovely crack of the brûlée will soften in the fridge over time.

You'll also have a hole lot of strawberry puree remaining, so you can half the quantity if you like, but it tastes delicious on just about anything and is a very handy thing to have in the fridge. You could also freeze and use for later, if you like.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Coralie Clément - Toystore.

golden raspberry custard tarts

Early yesterday morning, when most people were still in their warm, warm beds, I was skipping breakfast (I never EVER do this), fumbling to find car keys, and driving through the cold and darkness of 6am. And now, when most people are working or resting hangovers, I'm here eating raspberry tarts. It all evens out, really.

The insane starting hour was to get to Eumundi Markets at a reasonable time before the masses do. And there are masses. A mission intended for scooping up some baby clothes for my sister turned out to be unsucessful, but quickly turned into a very fruitful food shop. It was here that I tasted probably the best strawberries I've had in recent memory, and picked up some beautiful slut red (Nigella's words, not mine!) and golden yellow raspberries.  

The flavour of golden raspberries is really much the same. A little less sweet maybe? So, to use these lovelies at their very best, I've whipped up some simple tarts to make my favourite day of the week even sweeter. You can, of course, use regular raspberries. Or strawberries. Or whatever!

Ingredients (makes 12)

For pastry cases:
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
185 gms cold butter, chopped coarsely
1 egg yolk
2 tsps iced water

For custard cream:
1 cup full-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped)
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tbsps cornflour
1/3 cup thickened cream, whipped

For raspberry coulis:
100 gms raspberries
1 tbsp icing sugar

2 punnets (approximately 60) fresh raspberries
icing sugar, to dust optional)

To make cases, process flour, sugar and butter until crumbly. With motor running, add egg yolk and enough water to bring ingredients together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and then refrigerate for 30 mins.

Meawhile, to make custard cream, combine milk and vanilla (paste or whole pod and seeds) in a small saucepan and heat over a low to medium heat until it just reaches the boil. Remove from heat.

Beat egg yolks, sugar and cornflour until thick and pale. Gradually pour hot milk mixture into eggs, whisking continuously so eggs do not scramble. If using an electric mixer, simply leave motor running.

Return custard to saucepan, and gently heat, stirring continuously, until mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Pour into a large heatproof bowl, cover the surface with glad wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

Grease 12 capacity cupcake tins. Roll out half the chilled pastry on a lightly floured surface until about 3mm thick. Cut out 12 x 7.5cm rounds and press rounds into holes of tin. Prick bases of each with a fork. Repeat with remaining pastry and refrigerate for 30 mins.

For raspberry coulis, puree raspberries and sugar together until smooth. Strain mixture through a fine sieve into a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200C/190C fan-forced. Bake cases for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Stand cases in tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Fold whipped cream through cooled custard in two batches. Once cases are completely cooled, spoon a small amount of coulis between each. Top with custard. Decorate each tart with raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar if you fancy.

Note: A good raspberry sauce (such as Cuttaway Creek) or jam will work just as well if you don't want to make a coulis.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Horse Feathers - Thistled Spring.

rhubarb & custard crumble tart

There are few things I love more than custard. So when I found out that my boyfriend - while we were in our courting days - hated custard, I felt like he'd slapped me. How can someone hate custard? I soon thereafter discovered he was basing this statement on his only experience with custard... the carton variety. Gasp! 

Surely a distaste for something so heavenly is negotiable, right? So shortly after, I made (really, I did force him to) try fresh, homemade vanilla bean custard. And he changed his mind. Of course. 

Since then - and it has been a while now - I make custard based desserts as much as possible. Baked custards, crème brulée, custard tarts, custard tea cakes, cupcakes, whatever I can. This lovely tart combines two of his and favourite things. And it's pretty amazing.

Ingredients

Recipe taken from Delicious June 2010 issue (which, on a tangent is perfect)

For tart:

1/2 cup caster sugar

2 eggs, plus 3 yolks

Finely grated zest of 1/2 orange

1 tbsp cornflour

300 mls thickened cream

2 vanilla beans, split, seeds scraped

400 gms rhubarb, chopped

20 gms unsalted butter, chopped 

1 sheet frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed

For topping:

1/2 cup plain flour

50 gms unsalted butter, cold and chopped

2 tbsps brown sugar

For filling, combine half the caster sugar with eggs, yolks, zest and cornflour in a bowl. 

Place cream and seeds of one vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Slowly pour hot cream over egg mixture, stirring. Return to a clean saucepan over a low heat and cook, stirring constantly until custard has thickened slightly (about 5 - 6 mins). Strain custard into a jug, cover surface with glad wrap to prevent a skin from forming, and refrigerate until needed. 

Preheat a baking tray in an oven at 200C/180C fan-forced. Place the rhubarb in a single layer in another baking dish with remaining caster sugar and vanilla seeds. Dot with butter, drizzle with 1 tbs water and add vanilla pod. Roast for 15 mins until rhubarb is tender but keeps its shape. Carefully remove rhubarb pieces and set aside, reserving juices. 

Use pastry to line a 21cm loose-bottomed tart pan and prick base with a fork. Line with baking paper, and fill with pastry weights (or uncooked rice). Bake for 10 mins on hot baking tray. Remove the weights, and bake for a further 5 mins until pastry is crisp and golden. 

Meanwhile, for the crumble, place the flour and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add butter and rub with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir through brown sugar. Scatter over a baking tray.

Pour cooled custard into the pastry case, then arrange the rhubarb on top. Place tart on the heated tray and return to the oven with the crumble topping. Bake both for 12 - 15 mins, shaking crumble tray throughout, until tart filling is just set and crumble forms golden clumps (it will harden upon cooling). Cool tart slightly before removing from the pan. 

Serve warm or at room temperature, scattered with the crumble topping and drizzled with reserved rhubarb juice. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Songs of Green Pheasant - Songs of Green Pheasant. 

neenish tarts: a dedication to baby showers & my dear friend hannah

My sister is pregnant! At her last check-up, her baby was the size of an avocado and this just excites me so gosh darn much. To make things even more wonderful, I recently got my hands on a copy of AWW's 'High Tea'. This book is pretty much my planned menu for my sister's baby shower. Yes, the whole book. I'm quite confident in saying I'm more excited than she is.

So, to slightly alleviate some of my over enthusiasm, I made some neenish tarts. For a reason I can no longer remember, they remind me of my dear friend Hannah. So Hannah and little avo, this recipe is for you.

This recipe is slightly adapted version of AWW's, only because I make my tarts with real whipped cream rather than a mock, butter-based cream. It's up to you.

Ingredients (makes 24)

For pastry cases:
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup icing sugar
185 gms cold butter, chopped coarsely
1 egg yolk
2 tsps iced water

For filling:
2 cups thickened cream
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup strawberry jam

For icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
15 gms unsalted butter, melted
2 tbsps hot milk
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
pink food colouring

To make cases, process flour, sugar and butter until crumbly. With motor running, add egg yolk and enough water to bring ingredients together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and then refrigerate for 30 mins.

Grease two 12 capacity cupcake tins. Roll out half the pastry on a lightly floured surface until about 3mm thick. Cut out 12 x 7.5cm rounds and press rounds into holes of tin. Prick bases of each with a fork. Repeat with remaining pastry and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 200C/190C fan-forced. Bake cases for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Stand cases in tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

For filling, divide jam evenly between cases. Whip cream with icing sugar until stiff peaks form. Spoon cream into cases on top of jam, leveling with a palette knife.

For icing, stir icing sugar and butter together. Gradually add milk, stirring until you get a thick paste. Divide icing mixture evenly into two small, heatproof bowls. Stir cocoa powder through one mixture, and a drop of pink food colouring through the second half. Stir each bowl over a small saucepan of simmering water until icing is spreadable - this won't take long.
Using a small palette knife, spread pink icing over half of each tart, and chocolate icing over the remaining half. Doing the chocolate icing last, I find it easier to ensure the diving line is nice and neat, cleaning up any stray pink.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Bowerbirds - Hymns for a Dark Horse