Savory is Sweet with Puff Pastry

I realized recently that I have a foul proof, crowd pleaser appetizer recipe that I hadn't yet shared with you. Yes, its savory but every bit as sweet.

I would like to share with you a recipe I found on the Food Network website. I have been making this recipe for years so much I know it by heart. This is a perfect recipe when the girls come over for brunch, a great side to bring to a dinner party and it was even a hit with the guys at our Super Bowl party.

The recipe for this Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tart is simple and so delicious just wait til you see peoples faces when they take the first bite. Oh so savory goat cheese with the sweetness of the onions paired with the mushrooms all on a flaky puff pastry! Yum!

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tart

 

 Bon Appetite!

Decorating with Nostalgic Candies

Hi Everyone, 

Lets start with decorating. Decorating is by far the thing I love most about baking. Adding candies to the top of cupcakes, topping a tart with thinly sliced fresh fruit, making candy flowers to garnish a wedding cake; all of which are ways to put your own touch on your wonderful baked goods.

Now, you can do this with your own recipes or store bought items. The only thing that's important is that it looks and tastes delicious! Whenever I am out, at the corner store, a candy shop, I will even go out of my way to go to the grocery store in Japan Town just for different or old fashioned candies.

Here are pictures with some of my favorite decorating candies, Necco Wafers and colorful chocolate candies!

Traditional Necco Waffers

Flower Buttons and Pastel Chocolate Candies from Miette

Lime and Lemon Candies from a British Candy Shoppe

The final product! Meyer Lemon Cupcakes for a friends baby shower party for one of her girl friends. Half the fun of decorating is color coordination. The mother-to-be is keeping with gender neutral colors so that's what I did too. Although the chocolate candies have dusty pinks and blues there are also yellows and greens to offset the standard "its a boy" and "its a girl" colors.

Minis perfect with a Necco Wafer on top

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes!

Happy Baking!

Gifts from the Heart and your Oven

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas is almost here and once again I seemed to have made it and ready to celebrate! As you know last year I made several cookies and decorated boxes and also made chocolate caramels and coconut macaroons. 

This year I wanted to stand out. I made Merry Berry Pie in a Jar. I saw this blog post for great homemade wedding guest gifts. Check it out here. The important thing to remember is that you can make these with store bought pie dough and canned pie filling. It's up to you what you make of it.  Here is my version:

Alex Wenton Photography

Foolproof Pie Dough
From America's Test Kitchen 
Makes 1 9-inch pie 
Will make 4-6 4 oz mason jar pies. Double the recipe if making 4-5 16 oz mason jar pies.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening , cut into 4 pieces
• 1/4 cup vodka , cold
• 1/4 cup cold water

Instructions

• 1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
• 2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. (Note: the dough for me was very wet but still turned out great.) Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Alex Wenton Photography

Cherry Pie filling:
Recipe by Sandra Lee
Will make 4-6 4 oz mason jar pies. Double the recipe if making 4-5 16 oz mason jar pies.

Ingredients

• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 12 ounces frozen mixed berries, drained
• 1 tablespoon Kirsch (or amaretto liquor)
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• (I added dried cranberries, candied ginger pieces and cinnamon to taste)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine cherry pie filling, mixed berries and Kirsch or desired liquor. Set aside. 

  Further directions from GreenWedding.com: 

• Press the unrolled dough bit by bit into the jars a bit at a time (not too thick!) until the jars are lined with the dough up to the rims. Reserve some dough for toppers. Next, fill jars nearly to the top with filling of choice.

Alex Wenton Photography

• Roll out reserved dough to roughly 1/8 inch thick and cut out 6-8 of your shape of choice. Place the filled jars on a sturdy cookie sheet and place into oven.

• Bake at 325 degrees for roughly 30-35 minutes (for the smaller jars) and 50-55 minutes (for larger jars) or until dough becomes a light golden color. 

• At that time, arrange the dough shapes on the pies, brush the hearts with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake an additional 10-15 minutes until dough is golden brown all the way around the jars. If needed, place foil over the tops of the jars to keep the hearts from burning.

• Remove and let jars cool on a rack. Decorate with ribbon, tags, or labels on lids as desired! Have fun with it!

Alex Wenton Photography

Happy Christmas and bake on!
~Sarah

A French twist on your holiday dessert

We made it through Thanksgiving and I am already craving turkey dinner again! Here is a great dessert idea for your holiday dinner table and it will look great next to mouth watering prime rib.

I have to admit, I prefer tart crust over pie crust only because it seems hard to screw up. A tart crust puts a great twist on the American pumpkin pie dessert, simple yet elegant. This recipe for Pumpkin Pie Tart was everything perfect - far from a soggy mess.  

Tart Shell:

Recipe by Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone  

Makes 1 9-inch tart shell

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup butter at room temperature, cut into small pieces
• A mixture of 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons water

Prepare Tart Shell:

Stir the flour, salt, and sugar together in a bowl, then work in the butter with two knives, your fingers, or a mixer until it makes fine crumbs.  Don't let it become completely smooth, though.  Stir in enough vanilla-water to pull the dough together.  Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. - You can also do this step ahead and store in the freezer until you are ready to bake. Defrost fully in refrigerator.

To line the pan, roll the dough out into a 9-inch circle then set it in the pan.  Using the heel of your palm, press the dough up the side.  If some pieces are too long, break them off and add them, as needed, to areas that are too short.  The sides should be about 1/4 inch thick, rise 1/4 inch above the rim, and be slightly thinner at the base of the pan.  This way, when the dough slumps during the baking, this shallow space will be filled evenly instead of being overly thick and under baked.  Carefully set the tart shell in the freezer to harden.

Bake Tart Shell:

Tart shells are nearly always pre-baked before filling.  To pre-bake a tart shell, preheat the oven to 400.  Place the frozen shell on a sheet pan and bake until set and lightly browned, about 25 minutes - 15 min worked fine for me.  Check it several times for swells and prick any large bubbles with the tip of a knife. - If tart begins to brown too quickly put a piece of foil over shell and continue to bake checking regularly.

Pumpkin filling:

Recipe by Epicurious.com  

• 1 1/2 cups pure pumpkin (from a 15-ounce can; not pie filling)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Pinch of ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/3 cups heavy cream  

Fill and bake tart: 

Whisk together pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt in large bowl. Whisk in eggs, then cream. Pour filling into cooled tart shell and bake until puffed about 1 1/2 inches from edge and center is just set, 40 to 45 minutes. (Cover edge of tart with foil if browning too quickly.) Cool in pan, about 2 hours. (Tart will continue to set as it cools.) 

Remember, have fun baking this holiday season. 
Bon Apettit!

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/350585?mbid=ipapp 

Some Cheesecake to go with that Turkey?

The holidays are here and I am ready to go! Well, I was ready late September but some say that's a bit early to be dreaming about pies, turkey and eggnog.  I disagree.

This is just my house but lets face it, sometimes the pumpkin pie resembles a soggy mess and tastes like pumpkin puree straight out of the can. Good thing Mom brought her famous apple pie.

My solution this year, to make something different! My favorite recipe for a holiday cheesecake would be Pumpkin Cheesecake with Marshmallow Topping. Everyone loves a good cheesecake with a good graham crust. No one likes a soggy mess!

Dont worry about dark spots or cracks because this will be covered with fluff in no time. 

You can even take a torch to the fluff to give it a nice caramelization.

Top with a nice garnish. Here I did a piece of candied ginger since there is ginger in the crust.

Happy holiday baking to you all! I hope this season brings you tasty treats and time with family!

Know any graveyard cake diggers?

Halloween is my favorite holiday for two reasons, the spooks and the treats. Why else? Now, as an adult as much as I would love to put on a costume and go trick'r treating, bringing home a pillow case full of candy that would be absolutely (totally awesome) against any kind of Halloween rules there are. Kids do have all the fun and it wont be until I have some kiddies of my own that I, or they will be able to go candy crazy!

For Halloween I made a spooky graveyard cake with sugar cookie headstones and iced sugar cookies. The graveyard cake is deliciously moist pumpkin cake with chocolate ganache frosting. Both, are very easy, I promise. I used this Martha Stewart recipe here. I was going to make my favorite sugar cookies anyways so I made the headstones with that recipe rather than the shortbread cookies offered. You can do either one though. The sugar cookies recipe is listed below.

This sugar cookie recipe will serve as your go-to sugar cookie recipe for any holiday cookie shapes you want to use. The recipe is from a friend of mine, she uses a cream cheese frosting that is absolutely delicious, so its best to spread a thin layer on if you want it to dry all of the way. Otherwise you can cover each layer with parchment paper to keep them pretty.  

Seasonal Sugar Cookies

from Kelley M.

time 12-18 min
yield Makes 2 batches for 1 frosting 

Ingredients
Cookies:
1/2 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 - 2 1/4 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt

Frosting:
8 oz Cream Cheese, cold
1 stick Butter, room temp
1/8 tsp salt
3 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla

directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment.  
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Blend in egg and vanilla.
4. Sift and add flour (add additional 1/4 cup depending on consistency), baking powder and salt.
5. Roll into ball and chill.
6. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick and cut out shapes. Keep cool as you go.
7. Bake for 12-18 min until light golden and cool completely on rack before frosting.
8. To make the icing, mix all ingredients in mixer fitted with paddle attachment and separate into bowls and add coloring. 

Happy Halloweeeeeen! 

My Favorite Little Cakes - Friands!

America has the cupcake, France has the fancier and Australia has the friand. I love, love, love bite size cakes. The almond meal makes these afternoon cakes moist, flavorful and perfect with espresso. These can easily be baked in mini cupcake tins or muffin tins. I have a special friand tin that gives them the oval shape. I hope you give these berry friands a shot for your next brunch. recipe is below. Bake On!

Friands
from Modern Classics Book 2 by Donna Hay

125g butter
1 cup almond meal
1 2/3 cups icing sugar, sifted
3/4 cup plain flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

5 egg whites
1/3 cup fresh raspberries, blueberries or sliced strawberries


Preheat the oven to 180C (350). Place the butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook until melted and a very light golden color. Set aside.

Place the almond meal, icing sugar, flour and baking powder in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the egg whites and stir to combine. Add the butter and stir to combine.

Grease 10 x 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins [of course, if you have friand tins, you might as well use them]. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the mixture into each tin and sprinkle the berries over the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and springy to touch but moist in the center.