Today I made the Blueberry Cornmeal Tart that Alison Roman recently posted.
It is delicious. I like how blueberries and cornmeal compliment each other and I like the crunch of cornmeal in the crust. I used Bob’s Red Mill stone ground medium grind.
I like how the vinegar in the filling mitigates the sweetness. However, the filling is pretty sweet. Those of you who prefer your sweets not very sweet might want to cut down on the sugar in the filling.
This is a very easy tart to make. I’m terrible at rolling dough so I appreciate a press in crust.
I appreciate that Alison Roman has included metric weights.
Apricot/cherry mega turnover. A 6x9” turnover with 500g. of fruit. The cherries were pitted but left whole, the large apricots were cut in sixths. This permitted the fruit to retain their shape but also
allowed them to bake and remain firm. The pastry had a wash of heavy cream and a sprinkling of sugar. This is a nice size pastry for two people although you could squeeze out six servings if need be…but then there won’t be any for breakfast the next morning.
Today’s scone bake was an experiment in using cake flour.
I chose from five different scone recipes which referred specifically to cake flour. They were all very similar - the outlier was a Food52 recipe omitting the egg. That’s the one I followed, making a half batch for four medium-to-large scones.
These had very little rise, but enough puff and spread to still be eye appealing. The crumb was very tender, and in nice contrast to the crust. If anything, they were a little sweet for my taste (I topped with raw sugar in addition to the amount called for in the recipe), and I’ve made a note to reduce the sugar next time I make them, which I will.
For comparison, next experimental bake will be a cake flour scone including the egg.
My breakfast picnic was delayed 48 hours due to weather, but my olive oil cake lasted only 36 hours. Thus, an orange olive oil cake redux.
This time I reduced the sugar by 15%, cut the baking soda by 50%, increased the flour by 2%, and lowered the temp from 350 to 325. The 6” cake (half recipe) took 50 minutes to bake. While there was still a little sinking, it was noticeably less.
We like this cake. I agree that the orange flavor is more pronounced on the 2nd day.
Ok, Nancy’s are better imo. I think lemon zest is nicer than dried ginger, which feels unnecessary when you have candied ginger. I also like the higher quantity of candied ginger. And even the sugar I think works because it emphasizes the ginger. I could probably get away with a little less sugar, but knowing how much people adore these as is, I’m not sure it’s worth it. The Zingerman’s aren’t bad by any means, but Nancy’s are better.
Peach/raspberry cobbler, biscuit topping. The raspberries give the peaches a nice hit of tartness. These are individual servings and have about two peaches each and a smattering of raspberries. Brushed the tops with buttermilk and sprinkled with turbinado sugar.
Fortuitously, I’m planning to make an apricot/blackberry slab pie later this week. I wonder what advice you might have for me in terms of friendly flavors for the fruit (lemon would be my go-to, but something different might be better here)? Also: how much liquid do apricots throw off? Less than peaches, right?
Yes, usually less than peaches but I once made a tart of apricots with cherries in the center and the apricots gave off a lot more liquid than I anticipated. I think your idea of lemon sounds good…maybe just zest? Will you be slitting the surface to let out some steam?
Not baking right now with fruit ( eating and jamming with it), but did replenish the emergency freezer cookie supply. This recipe https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/chewy-oatmeal-mm-cookies/ but with Reece’s Pieces with pretzel inside! Tasted pretty good to me…
