Chocolate Cranberry Tart

Can I be honest and say, sometimes I run out of ideas for desserts and my brain goes down the usual path of all my favorites like chocolate, caramel, Oreo, cupcakes, candy . . . chocolate again.  This was where I was last week until three bags of cranberries fell out of the freezer onto Matt’s foot. He might have voiced some discontent about it. But at that moment, inspiration hit me and I’m pretty sure everything he said blurred to a carnival-like distortion like you see in movies.  

I wasn’t paying attention (sorry, Babe), I was busy thinking cranberry curd and working through the recipe in my head. So to alleviate our overfilled freezer and Matt’s frustration of something always falling out when he opens the freezer the door, I made some cranberry curd. Okay, a lot of cranberry curd— I have enough to eat it by a few dozen spoonful and to spread it on more than a few slices of toasted pound cake.

A few notes:

• If you love cranberries like I do, stock up now. Pretty soon you won’t see fresh cranberries anymore and you’ll have to wait until Fall comes around once more. Fresh cranberries can be frozen and will keep up to nine months and can be used without thawing.
• To create the ruffling I used Wilton’s tip 104. For the pan I used a 4x14inch tart pan, but a round 9inch tart pan will work just as well.
• The cranberry curd can be made five days in advance and kept refrigerated with a piece of plastic wrap laid directly on the surface.
• Make sure to keep a close eye on the meringue when brulee-ing it. The meringue quickly goes from golden to burnt in a matter of seconds. I actually open the broiler door every 30 seconds to check on it.

Chocolate Cranberry Tart

Preparation: Lightly cover pan with bake spray. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Ingredients:

For the Chocolate Tart Shell  recipe and instructions click here.

Cranberry Curd

• 6 egg yolks, room temperature
• 12 oz Cranberries
• ¾ cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons of butter, cut into pieces

Meringue

• 3 large egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch  salt

Directions:

To make cranberry curd:

1. Whisk egg yolks and transfer to a saucepan; set aside.
2. 2. Place cranberries, water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat and lightly stir until the cranberries pop and sugar completely dissolves. Add in butter and stir until melted and combined. Transfer mixture to a food processor or blender and puree. Push pureed cranberry mixture through a strainer. Set mixture aside to cool from hot to warm, about 10 minutes.
3. Gradually pour warm pureed cranberry mixture into saucepan with egg yolks, while continuously stirring until everything is combined. Return combined mixture to stovetop over medium low heat. Cook and continuously stir mixture until it is just barely thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 6-8 minutes. Push mixture through strainer one last time to catch any curdled eggs. Use immediately or cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

To make meringue:

1. Place egg whites and sugar in a stand mixer bowl. Place bowl over a pot of simmering water, Heat and whisk continuously until mixture is heated to 150 degrees F.
2. Transfer mixture to stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Add in pinch of tartar, vanilla and pinch salt into mixture. Turn mixer on at medium speed and beat for 2 minutes then turn mixer up to high and continue beating until mixture becomes glossy and forms stiff peaks.
3. Fit a pastry bag with tip 104 and fill it with meringue.

Assembly:

1. Fill chocolate crust with cranberry curd. Use an offset spatula and smooth out top of curd to an even finish.
2. Pipe meringue on top of cranberry curd layer.
3. Place fully assembled tart under broiler for about 1-2 minutes or until meringue tips turn golden. KEEP A CLOSE watch over the tart as the meringue goes from golden to burnt in a matter of seconds.

Mini Berry Tarts

Yeah, I’m whining. I know you aren’t suppose to on a blog, but I’m a rule breaker. My point is I’ve been a little light on the postings, but I also figured everyone is a little fatigued on baking themselves and on all the butter and sugar calories that go with consuming it. 

Well since we are officially pass the first week of January, can we please resume our regular addiction? 

Yes. Fantastic-because I have a belt buster coming up this week. 

Until then I’ll go with these mini berry tarts to ease you back into our sweet routine. 

A few notes: 

• For the tart shells I used a premade brand from here. They are surprisingly really good. I was expecting something chalky, they weren’t. They are made to go sweet or savory, so dust your tart shell with powdered sugar for a sweeter flavor (and they look really pretty lightly covered with it). I love them, and wow, what a time saver. Along with that they are very inexpensive. If you prefer to use a homemade tart shell, click here for a step-by-step picture tutorial to making it.
• I used pastry cream for the filling, but I think next time I will use lemon curd instead for a stronger tart-like punch. For a lemon curd recipe click here for a step-by-step picture tutorial to making it.
• The pastry cream and lemon curd (if you decide to use this instead) can be made in advance. The mini tarts should not be assembled until day of for best results. But if you do need to assemble the tarts ahead of time, I recommend pouring a thin layer of chocolate on the bottom of the tart shell and let it dry. Then pipe the pastry cream or lemon curd on top of it. Doing this will prevent the tart shell from becoming soft or soggy.
• For ease of preparation, fill a plastic Ziploc with the filling and cut the corner off to pipe filling onto tart shell.
• Alternately, to avoid making mini tarts, follow the tart shell recipe from here and for a 9 inch tart pan.

Mini Berry Tarts

Ingredients: 

Tart Shell 

• Click here for the recipe.
• For a worthy pre-made tart shell recipe click here.

Pastry Cream 

• Click here for the recipe

Lemon Curd 

• Click here for the recipe

Assembly: 

Dust tart shell with powdered sugar. Place pastry cream in a plastic bag and cut the corner off. Pipe a tablespoon of pastry cream into tart shell. To

Mixed Berry Crumble

I have a slight affinity for berries-can you tell, e.g. Mini Mixed Berry Pies, Mixed Berry Smoothie. You know what I love about them? They are the perfect balance between two of my favorite contrasting flavors: sweet and tart.  

Aside from that, not much needs to be added to perfectly ripened fruit. You would think that for someone who consumes processed sugar like an SUV with 10 mpg, a fruit filled dessert would be last in line for consumption.

Wrong. Although, hmm . . . wonder if that has more to do with the limited seasonality of them. Surely, I can’t be the only one who wants what they can’t have. And when that “can’t” becomes readily available all measures of self-control—well that’s, the sentiment of those will power.

Here’s to getting all mixed up with some summer berries.

A few notes:

• This recipe is highly adaptable, so use whatever berries you have on hand or swap one berry portion out for another depending on your availability.
• Variations: It occured to me after this came out of the over that I should have thrown some figs in there-yum. I’m going to try that next time. I didn’t this time, but I have in the past added a little of creme de casis during the cooling period to give the berry mixture some added dimension.

Mixed Berry Crumble

Ingredients:

Berry Mixture:

• 2 teaspoons water
• 2 tablespoon cornstarch
• ¾ cup sugar
• 6oz  raspberries
• 8oz blackberries
• 8oz lb blueberries
• 1 lbs cherries, pitted

Crumble mixture:

• 1 cup flour
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoon chopped almonds, toasted
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons applesauce
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Instructions:

1. Add water and cornstarch in a bowl and mix to combine. Place cornstarch mixture, sugar and all berries in a large 10in skillet over medium high heat. Stir mixture and heat until it starts boil. Pour mixture into a 9×13 pan and set aside to cool completely.

2 Add remaining dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add applesauce to mixture. Add in butter and use a pastry blender or two forks and cut butter into mixture. Sprinkle mixture over cooled berry mixture. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 30-35 minutes or until filling is thick and bubbly and topping is golden brown. Remove from oven; let cool for 20 minutes.

Mini Mixed Berry Pies

This is round two of these Mini Mixed Berry Pie. The first round was a fantastic flop. This time  I made sure not to overfill the wells and I added a bottom crust and changed out a full top crust for a lattice one and yay – success!

Okay, so the lattice is not perfect, but who cares because the pies are awesome! It’s not often that I scarf down my baked goods straight from the oven, but this one was an exception. I couldn’t resist the sweet smelling berries and the flaky pie crust.

A few notes:

• You can make this as one large 9-inch pie or you as minis. If you make the mini pies you will need to make two batches of the pie crust. Do not double the recipe!
• The pie crust is from Alton Brown. It’s hands down the best crust I’ve had!
• The recipe calls for lard, so if lard is not your thing you can trade it out for some Crisco.
• Your palate your preference – use any berry combination you prefer or whatever is in season for your area.
• The pies are not actually baked in the cupcake liners. They were placed in the liners afterward for portability.

Mini Mixed Berry Pie

Crust adapted from Alton Brown | Makes 8 mini pies or one 9-inch pie

Preparation: Heat oven to  375 degrees F. Lightly butter the muffin pan wells and then dust with flour.

Ingredients:

Alton Brown’s Pie Crust:

• 3 ounces (6 tablespoons) butter, chilled
• 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lard, chilled
• 6 ounces (approximately 1 cup) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 cup ice water, in spritz bottle

Pie Filling:

• 1 cups blueberries
• 1 cups raspberries
• 1 cup blackberries
• 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ginger

Instructions:

Making the crust:

1. Cut butter and lard into small pieces and freeze for at least 15 minutes or overnight.
2. Place flour and salt in a food processor bowl and pulse 2-3 second bursts, 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until the texture looks mealy.  Add lard and pulse for another 3 to 4 times. Remove food processor lid and spritz surface with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Spritz more water and pulse 3 to 4 times or until mixture holds together when squeezed. Place mixture in large zip-top bag, squeeze and form dough into a ball and then flatten out ball into round disk pulse on and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Lightly butter and flour muffin wells. Place prepared muffin pan in the refrigerator to chill.

Making the filling:

1. Place pie-filling ingredients in a bowl and toss to combine.

Assembly:

1. Remove dough from refrigerator. Lightly cover work surface with flour and turn out dough on to it. Roll out dough to an 1/8 inch in thickness and use a 3-inch round cutter to stamp out rounds. Place rounds in muffin wells.
2. Fill wells with pie filing three-quarters of the way up the crust.  Dip fingers in cold water and gently run it along the edge of the crust.  This will help the lattice strips stick to the bottom crust.
3. Using a scalloped pastry cutter cut 5-inch strips. Arrange strips into lattice design and press ends of strips into crust wall to hold in place. Brush top of lattice strips with milk and dust with granulated sugar.  Return pan to refrigerator for 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 375 degrees (F) for 20 minutes.  Let cool on a wire.

Frozen Reeses Peanut Butter Pie

I’ve been in a lazy funk, by that I mean I’m just can’t seem to muster up the energy lately to get this growing butt of mine motivated to get back in my running routine. So with that comes peanut butter desserts and lots of if it.

The reason being – I can’t eat it! And as many of you know baking is my addiction, so fat or skinny, tired or not, baking happens because it makes me happy. Eating it does as well, but since I’m trying to find some measure of self control, baking something I can’t eat will certainly offset my lack of physical activity. Luckily, I know many peanut butter loving people that I can happily bake for. Yay and thank you for that! And hey, I even made it a low fat, fast and easy dessert recipe-so get baking!

These two things seem to be the recurring theme this last week or two, but get ready for caloric comeback in just a few days. I”m crossing my fingers that it will coincide with me regaining my energy level for a nice long run, after what I am predicting, will be a an eating fest. Well, that is, if concept to reality is a success for the envisioned dessert.

A few notes:

• I used Cool Whip for the whip cream portion, because it’s lower in calories and also shortened the prep time, but using homemade whip cream will work just as well.
• If you have a peanut allergy, try substituting Nutella for the peanut butter.
• I made this recipe in three 4 inch mini springform pans, but it can just as easily be made in a 9 inch pie pan or cake pan.
• I threw in some crushed Reese’s for extra flavor and for added texture-of course, if you don’t have any on hand or to keep the dessert even lower in calories you can bypass this portion of the recipe.

Frozen Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie

Makes one 9 inch pie or three 4 inch mini pies. Preparation: Lightly butter springform pan if it is not non-stick. If you do not have a springform pan line a cake pan with a piece of lightly buttered foil leaving a one inch over hang around the edges for easy pie removal or alternately use a traditional pie pan.

Ingredients:

• 24 oreo cookies, crushed
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 2 ½ cups Cool Whip
• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• ½ cup confectioner sugar
• ½ cup crushed Reeses Peanut Butter Cups

Instructions:

Oreo Crust:

1. Place Oreos in a food processor or blender and pulse until cookies are finely crumbed. Alternatively, place Oreos in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.  Mix in the melted butter and then firmly press crumbs into pan to create a crust. Bake crust at 350 degrees F for 7-10 minutes.

Reese Peanut Butter Pie Filling:

1. Place peanut butter and confectioner sugar in a pan over low heat and stir until combined and peanut butter is melted. Set aside for five minutes to cool. Gently fold in peanut butter mixture into Cool Whip until combined. Gently fold in crushed Reese’s pieces into peanut butter Cool Whip mixture.
2. Pour mixture into Oreo crust and freeze for 3 hours. Garnish with caramel and chocolate drizzle (for added decadence rim with chopped Reese’s pieces).

Mixed Berry Pie - Fail

Ah, bummer. But instead of completely chucking it, I thought it might be fun to share this epic fail and if nothing else the picture serves as an almost perfect visual description of my brain on a Friday night at the end of the work week-all messy, over baked, and undone.

So, what happened aside from late night baking gone bad? I over filled the wells and not having a bottom crust to seal the top to it-not a good idea. All that delish berry filling came seeping and overflowing up the sides like an angry pie.

And as many of you know, I’m a stubborn mule so stay tuned for a successful round two of Mini Mixed Berry Pies.

Individual Banana Cream Pie

It’s been a while since I made a banana cream pie. In fact it’s been years. I’m not sure what really made me crave it all of sudden. Now I’m a little obsessed with it.  I actually made it twice this weekend, partly because I ate 1/3 of the pie and then dropped the piece that was perfectly sliced for the picture. Getting a perfectly sliced piece wasn’t easy, especially since the filling is a custard and that does not usually go hand in hand with nice clean cut lines.

Now, you know me and pretty food-I’m a perfectionist. Okay, I’m anal. I wanted to find a solution to serving Banana Cream Pie that didn’t require the steady precision of surgical tools for a perfect slice. My first thought was to add more cornstarch to firm up the filling, but then I realized more cornstarch would yield a rubbery like filling. So I decided to ditch the pie pan for some individual servings.

The only problem was I didn’t have enough individual pie pans, so I used cupcake liners instead and you know what? I’m so glad I did! Let’s face it, it’s hard to turn down anything from a cupcake liner—goodness can always be found between the pleats.

A few notes:

• If you do not have food processor, a blender will work just as well to process the custard filling.
• I added coconut and pecans to the graham cracker crust for added flavor. Of course if you are not a fan either, you can easily omit those portions and decrease the tablespoons of butter from 8 to 6. If you are using coconut and pecans, make sure to toast them for about 5-7 minutes or until golden for added flavor.
• The filling can be made one day in advance and assembled the night before, any earlier and the filling starts to darken like bananas do when they age.
• To finish the Banana Cream pie you can drizzle caramel sauce like the picture or drizzle chocolate sauce-your palate, your preference. For the whip cream piping along the edge, I used Wilton’s tip number 199.

Individual Banana Cream Pie

Makes approximately 14 individual pies

Preparation: Fill cupcake pan with liners. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ingredients:

Coconut and Pecan Graham Cracker Crust:

• 1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs
• ½ cup sweetened coconut shreds, toasted
• ½ cup pecans
• ½ cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons butter, melted

Banana Cream Pie Filling:

• 1 ½ bananas, 1/2 banana for divided use
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup corn starch
• ½ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• ¼ kosher salt

Instructions:

Coconut and Pecan Graham Cracker Crust:

1. Place graham cracker crumbs, toasted coconut shreds, toasted pecans and sugar in a food processor bowl and pulse to crumble. Alternatively, you can place all ingredients in a baggie use a rolling pin to crumble the mixture.  Add melted butter and mix to combine.

2. Place 1 ½ tablespoon of graham cracker crust mixture into bottom of cupcake liner. Use the bottom of a glass to press mixture down. Bake crust for about 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

Banana Cream Pie Filling:

1. Place all ingredients in food processor bowl or blender and process to combine. Pour mixture into a saucepan over medium heat and cook until mixture starts to bubble, making sure to constantly whisk. Continue to cook mixture until it thickens, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Assembly:

1. Pour mixture banana cream filling over crust and into liner about 2/3 of the way up. Using the remaining bananas, place one layer of sliced bananas on top. Place a thin second layer of banana cream filling on top of bananas. Drizzle caramel sauce on top and pipe whip cream as desired.

Lemon and Raspberry Tart

I’m excited to be featuring this recipe as a guest post over at Simple Bites for Aimée Wimbush-Bourque. If you haven’t been there you are in for a treat.  Part of a larger network, Simple Bites, is built on the idea of helping to bring family together through simple meals with wholesome recipes and tips for meal planning.   

Head on over and see for yourself why Simple Bites was declared by Canadian Weblog Awards as Best New Weblog.

Well if you follow me you knew this couldn’t be too far behind after I minified the classic French potato side dish, Pommes Anna.  Trade out the savory portion for some apples caramelized in sugar and butter and you have what you see here.

I love this dessert; it’s simple in flavor and technique. I haven’t made this in awhile and when I initially planned on making this I remembered why I hadn’t made it in a while. The last time a Tarte Tatin came out of the oven Matt wasn’t into it, in fact he wouldn’t even try it. Aside from being super picky he doesn’t like baked fruit in chunks and the presentation was less than appetizing to him.

Um, I won’t tell you what his description was, but here’s what a classic Tarte Tatin looks like – are you seeing it? Once he said it, I kind of agreed with him, so this time around I was determined to make a better looking Tarte Tatin.

I’m not sure this is all that much better, but it was much more appetizing in looks to the both of us. And of course all the same simple flavors of this rustic dessert was uncompromised.

A few notes:

• Use a mandoline or a vegetable peeler to make paper thin slices. If you use a mandoline I recommend wearing an oyster glove on the moving hand, so that if for some awful reason your fruit or vegetable should disconnect from the gripper while in motion, you won’t get sliced up.
• Make sure to use crisp apples and not mealy ones. I used Honey Crisp apples for this recipe, but as always your palate your choice.
• For another seasonal variation try making a Persimmon Tarte Tatin.
• This is drippy when baked, so make sure to place a bake sheet underneath to catch any dripping, otherwise you will have a smoky kitchen and fire alarms going off.
• To shortcut the recipe by one step use store bought puff pastry. I had frozen pate brisee, so I  used that.
• Tarte Tatins are best served the day they are made. They are also great served along side a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Apple Tarte Tatin

Makes 8 individual Tarte Tatins

Preparation: Heat oven to 500 degrees F. Butter bottoms of muffin tin holes. Line bakesheet with parchment and set aside.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized apples
• 2 tablespoons of lemon
• 3 oz. butter
• 3 oz. granulated sugar, plus 1 oz for divided use
• Pate Brisee or store bought puff pastry

Instructions:

1.  Core and peel apples. Cut apples in half vertically. Slice cut apples into paper thin pieces with vegetable peeler or a mandoline.  Toss sliced apples with a lemon juice to prevent browning.

2. Place 3 oz of sugar in a saucepan over low heat. Using the handle of the pot swirl the sugar every once in awhile. The sugar will start to turn amber around the edge of the pot as it does continue to swirl the pot until the white sugar disappears into the melted amber colored sugar.  Turn off the heat and remove the pot. Pour 1 tablespoon of caramelized sugar into bottoms of muffin tins.  Place apples slices in a circular pattern with each slice overlapping one another.  Arrange second layer working in the opposite direction of the first; continue until muffin hole is almost filled. Leave ¼ inch space from top for pastry dough.  Cover pan with foil and place in the oven for about 10 minutes until apples soften.

3. Remove pan and sprinkle remaining sugar on top of apples and then place a 2-3 small dots of butter on top. Lastly, cover tops with pastry dough.  Turn oven down to 450 degrees F and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.

4. Allow tarte tatin to cool for 2-3 minutes. Run a knife along the edge of pan to release the sides and then place parchment lined bakesheet directly on top of muffin pan and holding both pans together quickly flip it over so that the bakesheet is the bottom. Sharply tap pan muffin pan for the Tarte Tatins to be released.

Pumpkin Pie Tart

Growing up  my siblings and I weren’t allowed to eat many desserts. But there were always those certain times of the year like the holidays and birthdays that dessert came without the usual begging and pleading.

So pumpkin pie during Thanksgiving was always a highlight. And since no one really liked it but me, (how opportune was that), I developed an overindulgent habit for it that is still with me today.

That said, when I make pumpkin pie I make a lot so I’ll have leftovers. The recipe I use is simple and basic. The filling is from the back of  Libby’s Pumpkin Puree can—I’m not kidding. I’ve tried many variations throughout the years and still love this one best. I’ve made some minor changes and added a pate brisee for the crust (an all butter crust).

In the crust is my secret ingredient, as my friend Jenny calls it, it’s so minor I’m a little embarrassed it’s even referred to as that. In any case, the secret is I sprinkle finely grinded pecans with some cardamom on top of the rolled out crust.  Then I give it one last roll over with the rolling pin before fitting it in the tart pan. This slight touch gives the whole pie an added depth of flavor.

A few notes:

• You can use a 9 inch deep pie plate or six 4 inch tart pans as I do.
• The crust can made, fitted in the pan and covered and refrigerated up to 3 days in advance.
• The whole pie can be assembled 2 days in advance and kept loosely covered and refrigerated.

Pumpkin Pie Tarts

Ingredients:

• ½ portion of pate brisee
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s Pumpkin Puree
• 1 cup of evaporated milk

Instructions:

1. In a bowl add sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and eggs, mix until blended. Add pumpkin puree to mixture and mix until blended. Slowly and gradually add in evaporated milk. Pour mixture onto unbaked crust.
2. For a 9 inch pan: Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake at 40-50 minutes or until knife comes out clean after being inserted in the center of the filling.
3. For 4inch tart pans: Bake in a 425 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F and bake at 15-20 minutes or until knife comes out clean after being inserted in the center of the filling.
4. Let cool completely. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Adapted from Libby’s