Araxi Lemon Tart - another Alpha Baker paean to mixing bowls

I really should look up paean to check it means what I think it means. Whatever, we did use an awful lot of mixing bowls again. Despite all the washing up, this tart was pretty straightforward and pretty delicious too.

At first I couldn't remember whether I'd already made the pastry or not. And it wasn't because my dementia was playing up again. It's because Rose's pastry methods don't vary much (weigh butter, cut up and refrigerate; weigh flour and whisk with salt...etc) and I was remembering the biscuit dough I made last week. No matter, because it was no bother to make except for zesting the lemons (which I find a bit annoying). And it was really delicious dough - a definite 10 on the raw dough scale.

Since this bake-through is coming to an end very soon I've been thinking about the things I've learnt through the experience. Patching together my holey pastry case calmly and serenely I realised that I haven't learnt to stop making the same mistakes over and over; or to miraculously change personality and become more painstaking. In fact I've learnt to perfect those mistakes - so I know just how to deal with them and am confident that the finished product will turn out to a standard I will be happy with - most of the time.

This time I perfectly botched filling the pastry case and had to patch it together...again.

I don't like wasting perfectly good food to blind bake pastry but I'd cleaned out the pantry recently and cavalierly thrown out my 'blind baking chickpeas'. Now I have 'blind baking rice and chickpeas'. I really should get some pastry weights.

The tart filling is also easy-peasy to make although requiring multiple bowls and, yes, a sieve as well. It's only eggs, sugar and lemon juice mixed with whipped cream. You're meant to leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to separate. I put mine in the fridge and five minutes later this is what the mixture looked like. That was separated enough for me and my impatience.

My experience of baking is that a lot of time is spent preventing mixtures from separating, not encouraging them to do so. So my question is, was this recipe a mistake, in a good way, like the story of tarte tatin, which burnt on the stove but actually turned out to be a great success? 

Next week the Alpha Bakers are making Brandy Snap Cannolis. Oh dear, I suspect this might turn out to be a humidity-led fail.

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Giant pain in the neck jam cookie

I'll say upfront that this giant jam cookie is delicious. And also that the biscuit dough is easy to whiz up in the food processor. But, other than that, it's just a big pain in the neck to make. 

I think the problem stems mainly from the fact that, when it comes to roll out the biscuit dough, it goes from fridge cold to a warm glue-like substance in the blink of an eye. Although I also have to mention the other significant challenge in this recipe, which is that the instructions have multiple descriptions of inverting dough onto trays and then re-inverting on to other trays and so on. Eventually I lost sense of whether we were left to bake two rounds of dough or two trays stuck together. 

This is not the recipe for the impatient, intolerant and generally irritable baker, but it will definitely suit those bakers who like nothing better than fiddling around with decorating biscuits or little cakes. And good luck to them.

For the most part I ignored the instructions and just tried to cut out two biscuit dough rounds and stick them together. Unfortunately the extremely sticky dough made it a less straightforward enterprise than I had hoped. The 'round' pictured below stuck unmercifully to the bowl I used to cut out the shape. Even a couple of sojourns in the freezer couldn't loosen the dough from its death grip on the bowl edge and eventually I had to scrape it off and stick it back together. 

I was a bit cannier when cutting out the second round and left the gladwrap on the top of the dough when I cut the shape. 

I could not have been more surprised when, after many trips to and from the freezer, I managed to get the two rounds stuck together and the little star shapes cut out and stuck on in the right place.

The biscuit dough was a very simple mix and not very sweet. I wasn't sure how it would taste but combined with the reduced berry jam it was just like a little jam tart (a sweet pastry with a jam filling). It's a really great combination of flavours and I'm wondering if you could make this into little tarts. It might be easier than struggling with the rounds. I was a bit impressed with the final product though... and that, my fellow bakers, is how you get sucked in.

Next week the Alpha Bakers are making the Araxi Lemon Cream Tart.

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Bright and sunny Lemon Curd Raspberry Pielets

A quick pictorial post on these very delicious and easy (and not too time consuming, all things considered) pielets. From the bottom up we have: sweet pastry, lemon curd, lemon curd flavoured whipped cream and fresh raspberries. I haven't had time to try them on anyone else but my bet is they'd wow a crowd. And I got to use my new teeny tiny brioche shapes which I found, where else but in the local Asian grocery. Happy days.

I ran out of time to take them out of the moulds. Never mind. Next week we're making Fudgy Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.

Almost Perfect Savoury Cream Puffs

About ten years ago I attempted to serve Terribly Impressive Chorizo Puffs* to friends who had come to dinner. This was not long after I'd moved to hot, humid Darwin. I'd made them successfully several times previously (in another more temperate climate) so I wasn't worried. But they flopped terribly (and not so impressively). It was mortifying (picture little soggy blobs). After some research I concluded that humidity was the enemy of choux pastry and wiped it off my baking list. However ten years on and I'm induced to try choux pastry again through the Alpha Bakers. And, lo and behold, it seems that the problem was mine rather than the climate. A fact slightly mortifying in itself... 

So there are plenty of reasons for me to view this recipe with disdain but, because my puffs actually worked, I have only warm feelings towards the choux and all of its relatives. I haven't filled my puffs yet but I'm planning to dip the tops in chocolate ganache and fill them with sweetened cream. I've had a lovely and highly competent university student working with me for the last two weeks and I think he deserves a cream puff-thank you morning tea this Friday. 

I have some of the choux mixture left in the fridge and today I'm off to buy some chorizo sausage. Those little chorizo puffs really are very delicious and ten years is a long time to wait. 

*From Jill Duplex's book New Food which was central to entertaining in my student days. Jill is a master in inspiring cooks to expand their repertoires. The first book of hers I bought was called I Hate to Cook which was aimed at tricking nervous cooks into making more sophisticated food. Similar to Rose in that one minute you're thinking 'I'll never be able to make, for example, Kouign Amann', and next minute you're whipping them up at the drop of a hat. Okay it would have to be a very long probably multi-day drop, but you get the idea.

I think previously I've made the choux paste completely by hand. I just remember mixing furiously when adding the flour, then the egg to the liquid. This time I used the food processor to mix in the egg, In my current state of choux smugness, it all seems very easy. 

This dough was very sticky and a little bit stuck on your finger can go a long way as I discovered...on the laptop, the bench, the tap, the oven, the laptop again... I'm fairly sure the insides of my laptop are filled with flour already so I don't want to add anything else. One of the perils of using an eBook.

Of course, my puffs would never win a beauty pageant. My aversion to piping anything unless I really have to, remains strong. I dibbed these out using two teaspoons and then smoothed them over with a finger dipped in water. The raw blobs are pretty uninspiring but it's surprising how they puff up and start to look almost perfect (in their mother's eyes).

I was very careful to cook the puffs long enough to really dry them out. After the initial baking period I poked a little steam hole in the side of each one before I put them back in the oven to dry. No soggy blobs for me.

Next week we're making Cream Cheese Butter cake. This has to be good.

Breakfast Chocolate Ganache Tartlets

The Alpha Baker's task this week was to try out the Chocolate Ganache Tartlets from the Baking Bible. Turns out they're delicious, tiny little chocolate gems. They're not really for breakfast unless you're trying to get them finished to take to work and you absolutely need to carry out quality control.

The pastry for the tartlets was a straightforward sweet pastry, except (of course) the beurre noisette it called for. I had no time or energy to make beurre noisette this week but I did have a tiny amount left over which gave the rest of the ordinary butter I used a little extra flavour.

I didn't have any mini brioche tins either so I used my mini cakes tin. That left me in a quandary about how to shape the pastry cases. In the end I tried two different ways - one by rolling and cutting out a circle (the curly ones) and the other by pressing a ball into the tin (the straight ones). The cut out cases are prettier but the press-in method was easier. For those of us in the tropics, handling pastry is an invitation to soggy pastry after about one minute, and it was impossible to make little crinkles in the sides, as suggested in the recipe. 

When I was making the ganache filling (which involved the microwave and did not involve any sieving, both contrary to instructions), I happened to spy a bottle of Frangelico in the pantry. So I added a dash and when I wasn't sure I could taste it, I added a couple more.

Armed with a new piping kit and a misplaced sense of confidence, I attempted the simple rosette of ganache in the pastry cases. Unfortunately the ganache in the bottom of the piping bag was initially too cold and left the rosettes with a flat top. I did manage to pipe out one nice-looking rosette before the ganache warmed up under the pressure of my hands on the piping bag, turned to liquid and started spurting out of the tip in a most unattractive way.

These little beauties were all packed up to take to work but I forgot to take them out of the fridge when I left. What a shame. There was nothing to do but eat them myself.

Next week we're making Lemon Icebox Cake which should do nicely as my contribution to the Biggest Morning Tea morning tea at work this week.

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Rugelach and Schnecken

Schnecken. What a great word. I just had to make this entertainingly named variation on the Rugelach: not only for the opportunity to say 'schnecken' a lot but also because I thought the shape might come out better. I was marginally right on the latter. I just don't seem to have the knack with these biscuits. I've made them as Christmas biscuits for several years and mine always look like they've been dragged behind a truck. They do taste lovely though.

Part of my problem might be the amount of this absolutely delicious dough I 'sample' before it gets to the rolling out stage. I think of it as a cheesecake dough. 

I blithely measured out the filling ingredients and mixed them together only to discover I was meant to keep the fruit and nuts separate. 

I think my main problem with these (which I keep repeating) is to pay too little attention to rolling out the dough to the right thickness and size. I probably need to refrigerate it for longer periods in between each step too, to take account of the heat.

The slightly more respectable-looking schnecken waiting for their turn in the oven.

Na na. Na na. Watch out! It's the Crab-elach monster!

Next week we're making crumpets, for something a bit different.

Hungarian Raisin (Sultana) Walnut Tartlets

This last week seemed to be the longest, slowest week, so when I saw Marie's weekly round-up on Friday (as it was in Australia) I was surprised to find it wasn't still Wednesday. Yes, I really missed the boat on posting about this recipe. It was such a tiring week that I have to confess that the Hungarian Raisin Walnut tartlets were not put together with a lot of care.

They turned out pretty well, all things considered. The eggy filling is really delicious - I could have drunk it with a straw - although it was pretty sweet combined with the sultanas and walnuts, and the tartlets were quite large. I liked these best when they were warmed through and drizzled (saturated) with cream, when they tasted more like a pudding. I was surprised they didn't have any spices in them (since they're part of the Hungarian Christmas repertoire) and I guess you could try some cinnamon and nutmeg. 

No prizes for this pastry work but luckily Rose's pastry is slapdash-proof. I'm not sure why but I found the flavour of the pastry really came into its own when combined with this filling.

These are sultanas, which are not raisins in Australia but seem to be raisins in the U.S. This Easter I made Kulich (Russian Easter bread) from a Canadian recipe which specified raisins. I wasn't sure what to use so I put in Australian raisins (which refer to the largest, sweet dried grapes) and they were really too big and sweet - I should have used sultanas. So I used sultanas here and I think it was the right decision.

I was happy to be using walnuts again since I had such a big bag of them which is gradually whittling away and freeing up some fridge space.

The tarts are very easy to put together, especially when you ignore the complicated instructions for preparing the walnuts and just roast them, crush them a bit with your hands and throw them in. The filling is also very easy-care and I just used the stick blender to mix it (so lazy was I feeling).

I over-filled the tarts (even though Rose warns us not to let the filling leak under the pastry) but I baked these in a silicone mould so they weren't difficult to remove. I do recommend putting less filling into the moulds, if you're going to try them.

I found the muffin-size tarts to be a little overwhelming after a couple of bites so I tried them in mince pie-size. Despite overfilling them also (so they leaked all over the oven) they turned out nicely and provided just the right combination of sweetness and pastry for me. I sifted some icing sugar over them mince-pie style and it felt a little bit like Christmas.

 Next up we're making Rugelach.

My kind of (Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse) Tart

This is my kind of tart. Hazelnuts, chocolate, cream cheese, praline. Could there be a better combination?

Hazelnut and chocolate are one of my favourite food matches. In this tart it's combined richly but not excessively sweetly with a creamy cheesecake-type filling and topped with a chocolate Frangelico ganache. It is absolutely delicious and not at all tricky or time consuming (I know! Hard to believe, huh?).

This recipe calls for shop-bought hazelnut praline paste. I have never heard of or seen such a thing (that I can remember) so I made some praline and added in a bit of oil to make it into a paste, as Rose suggested. (Yes I made toffee and it went fine.)

I had a moment of panic in my local small supermarket when I thought they were out of blanched hazelnuts. Lucky I found the last lonely packet on the shelf. Let's hope they stock up again. Otherwise future projects will be made with hazelnuts with skins because there is no way I'm standing over a pot of boiling hazelnuts. I have my limits.

Actually I needed more than one packet but I manage to eek it out to make enough praline for the tart base and the mousse filling. 

I was surprised that the base worked so well since the mixture turned out so wet. It seemed pretty unlikely that I'd be able to press it into the tart tin smoothly but, lo and behold, it worked! I was just congratulating myself (well the cat doesn't provide much positive reinforcement) when I noticed that some of the sugar in the small processor bowl had whizzed itself out into the big bowl during the base whizzing procedure. It was quite a lot. Damn. I gingerly peeled off the gladwrap, sprinkled the recalcitrant sugar over the base and sort of massaged it in with a fork. I could have taken out the mixture, mixed it in properly and put it back but somehow that didn't seem like an attractive option... 

Amazingly it seemed to be okay. The gods of cooking were feeling kind that day.

After last week's mediocre efforts I tested the oven and found the heat was fluctuating. I monitored the heat while I baked the base and it may have overcooked a little on the sides but it was mostly fine. It's quite an unusual base - a wet mixture, a cakey texture when baked, and then you press it down to compact the puffiness. 

The mousse filling was so ridiculously easy to mix I even had the energy to put the beater blades in the fridge to cool before whipping the cream.

Mmmm, looks delicious. I wonder how it'll taste? And, more to the point, I wonder why the Frangelico bottle is wearing that rather snazzy rope belt? Does everyone's Frangelico bottle sport the same natty (knotty) nautical style?

I didn't make the chocolate ganache by Rose's exacting and probably superior method. Instead I blasted the chocolate and cream at intervals in the microwave and stirred. It looked pretty good. And anyway there was Frangelico.

Next week the Alpha Bakers are making Coconut Cupcakes with milk chocolate ganache.

Lemon and cranberry (sunburst) tart tart

The photo of the Lemon and Cranberry Tart Tart in the Baking Bible is one of the prettiest in the book, in my opinion. The tart is primarily lemon with sunbursts of red from cranberry sauce. I've been waiting to make it since the Alpha Bakers started a year and a bit ago. Needless to say I wasn't confident that my cack-handed decoration skills would achieve the same level of beauty. 

Actually when I took my mini tarts out of the oven I looked at them and thought 'yes!'. Then I checked the photo in the book and thought 'ah...no'. I hadn't reproduced the cranberry fireworks of the original. But mine were still quite pretty so I wasn't too disappointed. The tart was also delicious and the unusual combination of lemon curd and cranberry sauce is inspired. I only wish I'd used more of the cranberry in the tart.

Rose's instructions for making pastry in the food processor invariably ask the baker to pulse the butter until it's the size of small peas. My impatient hand generally pulses straight past small pea stage to minuscule crumbs. This time I slowed down and gave peas a chance. Boy, was I peas'd to see those pea-sized lumps and now my mind is at peas.

Terrible puns aside, I was pleased to be using up the bag of mega-expensive frozen cranberries I have in my freezer from a previous baking project. Until I measured out 50g. Only about 550g to go.

I need to confess that I didn't make the lemon curd this week. Before Christmas I made lemon curd for some lemon jammies biscuits I made as gifts and I had a reasonable amount left over. This is my first week back at work and I was quite relieved to have one of the tart components already made, even though it might be a bit different to Rose's recipe. Because I only had a limited amount of curd I decided to make a couple of small tarts rather than one big one.

The pastry for this tart is a lovely almond-based sweet pastry and is very soft and buttery. Unfortunately this doesn't make it easy to roll out and you can see my first disastrous attempt to roll out and fill the tart tins. Hmmm... back to the fridge.

You are in a beautiful garden... There is no pastry...

Even after a night in the fridge the pastry melted really quickly in the heat of my kitchen. I worked a bit faster for the second one and it was slightly better looking. I made 3 tart shells from the pastry but I could only fill two with curd.

Straight from the oven and even my decorations on the edges of the pastry are looking quite pretty.

Next week we're making the perennial favourite, chocolate chip cookies.