Rhubarb and cream cheese hand pies. The pastry is great and I might skip the cream cheese if I make them again. I am more of a filling than a crust person, but these are easier to grab and eat. For a family gathering today. https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/06/rhubarb-cream-cheese-hand-pies/
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They look very good.
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Such a great combo and those look scrumptous!
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I made Edd Kimber’s Far Breton yesterday.
It is delicious. The flavors play well together and I really like the texture. It is like a claufoutis, but a bit firmer.
I didn’t have Armanac on hand so I used Courvoisier. I bought fancy French prunes to use in this dish.
Those of you who like your sweets not very sweet will enjoy this dish. The sweetness is so restrained that I had a slice for breakfast.
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Szarlota (aka as Polish Apple Pie) recipe from Baking with Dorie. The pastry part was done totally in the food processor. Pastry contains baking powder so it puffs up while baking. 1/3 is saved for topping. Pastry is rolled into a 14" circle between sheets of parchment and refrigerated for 20 minutes and then inserted into a 9 " springform with some going up the sides. I had a lot of trouble doing this. A mixture of apples, brown sugar, flour and lemon juice and raisins(cranberries) is mixed well and poured into the shell. The 1/3 saved pastry is grated and scattered on top. Baked. DH said it is better than apple pie and i was surprised it turned out looking beautiful. P.s. i liked it too. I used gala apples
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I didn’t realize that pastry was in her book! I ate a lot of szarlotka when I lived in Poland. Now I want to bake this!
Smitten Kitchen has a recipe.
The Russian and Ukrainian sharlotka I’ve seen— including Deb’s— is a sponge cake, while the Polish one @Stef_bakes made seems to involve rolled out pastry and crumb topping (grated pastry in this case).
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What isthe texture like on this? I love the ingredients but fear it willbe too pudding-like.
I don’t know why Deb struggles to classify this and dismisses it being a cake based on not containing butter and milk. It’s a sponge cake. Sponge cakes at their simplest contain nothing but sugar, eggs, and flour— no butter and no liquid.
It’s moist because it has a ton of apples, and apples are a bit pudding-like when baked and in such large quantities, so you might not be into it in that sense, but the batter itself is not pudding-like.
You can see a similar recipe to Deb’s here but it’s got a bit more flour and baking powder (which isn’t really necessary in sponge cake, but it’s insurance and can give loft given all the apples in there weighing it down). It calls for the same amount of apples, but it does specify that they should be small, whereas Deb calls for large ones.
It might give you an idea if the texture is to your liking. It’s quite airy and fluffy.
Natasha uses double eggs and fewer apples. So this is even lighter:
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I think Kari was inquiring about the texture of the far breton that maccrogenoff posted avout further above.
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Ah, you’re right. Thanks!
@LulusMom1 do you like clafoutis? Far Breton to me is very similar and I really hate clafoutis, so I’m not a fan. If you like clafoutis odds are you’ll like it.
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It’s not soft like pudding.
I cut it into squares and I’m eating it with a fork.
Mine is firmer than a claufoutis, but as the edges were quite brown I might have baked it longer than Kimber intended.
For the record, I love claufoutis.
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With advanced apologies for the plug, I would love to get your opinions, bakers: Stand Mixer: Cuisinart v. KitchenAid
KitchenAid Tilt head Buy an extra bowl
I keep the 4 attachments in the bowl, the mixer is the only item that gets to live on the counter.
I still have the 1st one … I nagged my mother to buy it for me, still worked after 45 years, still have it on a back shelf. Bought a new baby blue anniversary model that caught my eye.
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What are the pros or cons of the tilt head compared to the lift bowl? Or compared to the Cuisinart? Maybe we should take this over to the other thread…
Thanks to the inspiring posts of @NannyBakes and others, I’ve been dabbling with tarts.
Starting small, this is a 4” tart with a rolled sugar crust from Tony Clark’s New Blueberry Hill Cookbook. Buttery and crumbly, I like the crust recipe quite a bit.
The filling was modified from a recipe found in Pamela Z. Asquith’s Fruit Tart Cookbook (with a nod to @Vecchiouomo): 2 parts grated Honeycrisp apple, one part apple jelly, a pinch each of lemon zest, cinnamon and salt. I finished the tarts off with a light apple jelly glaze after baking.
I’m pleased with how they came out: a sweet, crumbly crust to offset the slightly tangy filling. I feel they need a third element, however, and I’m not sure what that might be. Either something solely decorative (almond half?), or possibly something which adds a third texture. I tried a bite with amaretti crumbles, and liked the added texture, but found the amaretti cookies too overwhelmingly sweet here. Maybe just a scoop of vanilla ice cream?
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Easy suggestion: nuts of choice. I like walnuts, pecans and pistachios all more than almonds, but I admit I use sliced almonds atop tarts quite a bit bec of availability, cost and visual appeal.
Walnuts or pecans might be good choice with this particular filling - thank you!
