Pierre Hermé's "Financiers"

I've been eyeing the recipe for Financiers in my Pierre Hermé cookbook for a long, long time. This is a treat I've had in France a few times, but not enough to be a real pro at what they should taste like. And usually they are not made of chocolate, but there seems to be nothing wrong with a chocolate financier! So my intrigue was at a high, all I needed was an excuse to bake them. My excuse? My French class was hungry for a treat. Enough said.

Basically, they are a chocolate almond cookie. The name translates more or less to "banker", because the pastry shop where they originated catered to many of the "financiers" in the bourse district of Paris. They are traditionally shaped like a bar of gold, but now you see them baked in boat-shaped molds. I used a baking pan with multiple mold shapes (flowers, hearts, bundts, etc.) and they turned out great.
Because of the almond flour, they are very moist and can be kept at room temperature for a number of days. Easy to make, yummy to eat...my kind of treat!

Ingredients:
3 /12 ounces (100 g) bittersweet chocolate
3 lg eggs
1/2 cup plus 1 Tb. sugar
1 cup finely ground almond powder or finely ground blanched almonds
1 stick plus 1 Tb. unsalted butter at room temperature
1/3 cup plus 2 Tb. tepid water
1/3 cup plus 2 Tb. all purpose flour, sifted

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour molds (rectangular, boat shaped, something that holds about 3 Tb. water. Adjust cooking time if you have different sized molds). Place molds on jelly roll pan.

Melt chocolate in bowl over and not touching simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. It should be just warm to the touch when you use it.

With an electric stand mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar and almond powder together on medium-high speed until it is pale. Reduce speed to medium, add butter in 4 or 5 peaces and beat until just incorporated. On low speed, add chocolate and mix to blend. Add the water, increase speed to medium, and beat until it comes together.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour. (This batter can be kept covered airtight in the refrigerator for a couple days).

Spoon batter into molds until they are almost filled, and bake for 15 - 18 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a cookie rack and cool for 3 minutes, then remove cookies from the molds. Cool them airtight to room temperature.

Optional: add a sprinkling of cocoa powder or confectioner's sugar

Chocolate Tart with Salted Butter Caramel

I noticed a few years ago that the salted butter caramel rage had hit France with a vengeance. You could find it everywhere: from Pierre Hermé and Ladurée's macarons to Berthillon's ice cream, everyone had this flavor in their repertoire. And they still do, it's extremely popular over there, and will probably remain so since it's soooo delish. It's just catching on in the U.S. (we're always a few years behind France in all things hip and trendy). In fact, I noticed that Starbucks even has a salted butter carmel hot chocolate...which kind of scares me yet intrigues me at the same time....don't know if I should try it or run from it.

So I was invited to a friend's for dinner tonight and was in charge of all things sweet. It's my favorite contribution, of course, and I wanted to do something that would please all ages, since 50% of us were under 5. So I went to my old Bon Appetit magazines and found this yummy looking tart that seemed almost like a candy bar, with its caramel and chocolate combo. I had all the ingredients. Had the time. Had the patience for caramel....so I went for it.

The tart in itself is super easy to make. You only bake one thing: the crust. And the crust is very yummy with the little bits of cocoa nibs (which are probably not necessary if you don't have them or want to invest in them). The hardest part is the caramel, but that's not even hard, you just have to be sure not to burn it. I take it off the stove when it is uniformly amber in color, about 7 - 9 minutes into its boil. The final result of this tart is not unlike a snickers bar without the nuts. It's sweet, but daaarn good. The caramel, if you cook it correctly, will be soft and perfect under the very nicely softened layer of chocolate ganache. The tart is good, damn good. In fact, we scarfed the whole tart down in a matter of minutes, it's pretty addictive. It was requested to go in my "repertoire"...and so it shall. The only thing I would change would be to add just a bit more fleur de sel, the salt did not come out as much as I would have liked.

So, for a pretty easy yet impressive dessert, I highly recommend this one. Plus, it's trendy now, you could be hip like Starbucks!

You can find the recipe at Bon Appetit's web site, Epicurious. com.

Tarte Tatin

Tarte Tatin is the fancy French way of saying "Upside Down Apple Pie". This pie has four ingredients: puff pastry, apples, sugar and butter, and it is one of the most common desserts in all of France. You can order this in Paris restaurants or enjoy it in country homes. The best thing about it is it's simple, anyone can make a tarte tatin. I learned how to make this tart from the family I lived with when I was in France as an undergrad, "Madame" used to make these in a matter of minutes, or so it seemed. She had that Frenchy-french way of whipping all sorts of goodies up in no time.

Now that it's the fall, and apples are plentiful and the temperatures are dropping, it seems like a great time to whip up a nice, warm tarte tatin. I made one for my family last weekend, and my children loved it, my husband was reminded of the tarte tatin he had on a trip to Paris, and I was feeling rather guilty for all the butter and sugar involved. But 'tis the season, so they say.... we must eat tart.

Ingredients:
4 granny smith apples
3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup if you want less sugar)
3/4 stick unsalted butter
1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted

Use a 9 or 10 inch oven proof saute pan (with sloping sides).
Peel, core and slice apples in quarters.
Melt butter in the pan, then add sugar. Remove pan from heat, and place apples cut side down on top of the butter/sugar mixture. Pack them in tight, and cut small pieces of apple to fill in any gaps.
Replace on heat and let sugar carmelize to a golden amber.
Meanwhile, cut a circle of puff pastry about one inch wider than the pan.
Once apples are carmelized, place the puff pastry on top of the apples and roll the overhand in (it's ok, it will shrink).
Preheat oven to 350. Place pan in oven for 30 - 40 minutes, until puff pastry is golden brown.
To serve, carefully and quickly flip the pie over on a serving platter (holding pan with one hand, platter with the other).
Serve with vanilla ice cream or creme fraiche. Use cinnamon if you like it!

Homemade Cinnamon Bread...yummmm

After what I would call a humongous hiatus from my kitchen due to some of the worst months of my lifetime, I seem to be trying to make up for lost time at record speed. I was in the kitchen most of the last few days, making everything from bread to pie to homemade tomato sauce. And what they say is true, it is so incredibly therapeutic. Not good for the waistline, but therapeutic nonetheless.

Yesterday was a chilly day here in Cincinnati, and with the fall chill always comes my desire for homemade bread. My Peter Reinhart book The Bread Baker's Apprentice gets its greatest workouts in the fall and winter months, when I'm dying for the smell of yeasty bread wafting through my house, and especially for that of cinnamon. Better than the best air freshener, that's for sure. So yesterday I cracked the sucker open once again and decided to try Reinhart's recipe for cinnamon bread. Well, technically his recipe is for Cinnamon Raisin Walnut bread, but I have picky toddlers in my midst, those who thumb their noses at any foreign objects in their otherwise uniformly smooth bread dough. So I forwent the fun stuff and kept it to the basic cinnamon.

This recipe was easy. I mean Eeeeeassssy. Throw ingredients in your Kitchenaid mixer, blend, rise, done. Of course, I have a Kitchen aid mixer, so that helps enormously with the toughest part: kneading. But really, the recipe is neither difficult nor time consuming and the results are, well....my family of four has already eaten 1 1/2 loaves of this stuff, and it has been less than 12 hours since it was baked. There you go, we are gluttons...but only for the good stuff.

Cinnamon Bread (A Variation of Peter Reinhart's Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread):

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
4 tsp. granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 Tb. shortening or butter, melted
1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temp.
3/4 cup water, at room temp.

for cinnamon swirl:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tb. ground cinnamon

For cinnamon topping:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tb. ground cinnamon

Stir together the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer (or by hand if you don't have an electric mixer). Add the egg, shortening (butter), buttermilk and water. Stir together or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment until the ingredients form a ball. Adjust with flour or water as necessary.

Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter, begin to knead. Or, with an electric mixer, use the dough hook. Knead by hand for about 10 minutes, by maching for about 6 - 8 minutes. (If you want to add raisins and nuts add them during the final 2 minutes of the mixing, you may need to add them by hand to evenly distribute them.)

Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it to coat it with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Mix your cinnamon and sugar together and set aside. Roll the dough pieces out into two 5 x 8 inch rectangles. Sprinkle 1/2 the cinnamon and sugar mixture on each rectangle. Tightly roll up the dough, from the short side up, pinching tightly after each roll. Place loaves in lightly oiled loaf pans and mist the tops with spray oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Proof for 60 - 90 minutes, or until the dough comes up above the lip of the pan and is about doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350. Place loaf pans on a baking sheet, but be sure they are not touching.

Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the pan 180 degrees and continue to bake for about 20 - 30 more minutes. The finished bread will be golden brown on top and on the sides and will make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

Immediately remove the bread from the pans, brush melted butter on top, and roll them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. This gives them a wonderfully sweet crunch.
Let cool for about an hour before serving.

Daring Baker's Challenge for September: Lavasch Crackers

Ok, so no, these are not my crackers. But wow, they do look nice! Sowhere's the photo you ask? I took photos, I swear I did!! They are sitting in my husband's camera in his office. I've waited all weekend, and finally decided I'll just have to be a slacker daring baker and just post without the photos. When they come home, I will post them! In the meantime, here's my story:

This month's challenge came from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. Man, can he ever explain how to do bread. I have made multiple recipes from this book, and he really holds your hand from beginning to end. Thus producing lovely bread!

On the other hand, lavasch crackers were not really my thing. No, I didn't dislike the recipe, (I hate when posters moan and groan about a recipe...they should just get over it and on with it). It's the sweet tooth in me, I just get more excited about a recipe that makes me lose sleep at night and anticipate how it will turn out. This recipe not a showstopper, however it was a very reliable and "baker-friendly" recipe, a good one to have on hand if you ever want to make your own crackers. I guess that's the thing...I kind of find it easier to purchase the crackers and make the dip! Although our hostess, Shel, did give us the added bonus of making our own vegan (read: no animal product) spreads. I made white bean hummous and tapenade.

Here is the recipe for the Lavasch:

The key to a crisp lavash,...is to roll out the dough paper-thin. The sheet can be cut into crackers in advance or snapped into shards after baking. The shards make a nice presentation when arranged in baskets.

Makes 1 sheet pan of crackers

* 1 1/2 cups (6.75 oz) unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend (If you use a blend without xanthan gum, add 1 tsp xanthan or guar gum to the recipe)
* 1/2 tsp (.13 oz) salt
* 1/2 tsp (.055 oz) instant yeast
* 1 Tb (.75 oz) agave syrup or sugar
* 1 Tb (.5 oz) vegetable oil
* 1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb (3 to 4 oz) water, at room temperature
* Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

1. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

2. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bre … ong-Enough for a discription of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

or

2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

4. For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors.

or

4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

6. When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

Daring Baker's Challenge for August: Eclairs au chocolat!!

I almost fell off my chair when I found out that this month's DB challenge was CHOCOLATE ECLAIRS. I love all things French, and I especially love all things Pierre Herme! Since I bought his book I have amazed myself at how wonderful his recipes turn out. Needless to say, this challenge wasn't for every-day eclairs, it was for PIERRE HERME eclairs! It's like having a French pastry shop in your kitchen!

One thing you have to understand about eclairs. A French eclair is a delicate pastry filled with wonderful pastry cream. Chocolate ones are filled with chocolate pastry cream, coffee ones are filled with coffee pastry cream. These should not be confused with the Dunkin Donuts huge bavarian cream filled "eclair". No no no, that will not do! I saw so many DB folks filling their eclairs with bavarian cream and just thought NO!!!....you must use the fabulous pastry cream by Pierre Herme!! If you make it, you'll know why...

Anyway, long story short, I made the recipe and had no troubles whatsoever (lots of folks had problems with the "puff" part). I made both chocolate and coffee eclairs. For the coffee ones, I just made a vanilla pastry cream but added 3/4 cup espresso to it, and used a coffee glaze (espresso mixed with confectioners sugar). With my extra egg whites, I made chocolate macarons, just for a 1-2 French whammy.



I served these at my birthday party and people were asking me who did the catering. They were the first thing devoured from the buffet table! That's when you know you have a hit!!!

So a huge thank you to Tony Tahhan and to MeetaK for this fantastic challenge, I think everyone is a lot more comfortable with French pastry now!!

Here's the recipe, fear not its length!!

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)


• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.

French Fruit Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Go to any patisserie in France and you are sure to see these amazing-looking fruit tarts in the window. They look so complicated, so fancy and so impossible to recreate, but in reality....they are easy as tart. Bwa hahahahaha.

Seeing all the great fruit in the grocery store these days, I decided it was high time I make one of these fruit tarts. So I got the fruits that I usually see most ofen in France: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and kiwi fruit.

First I made the crust. This is a wonderful shortbread crust, but it is not tough and has a great crumb. It is not overly sweet so it doesn't take over your tart. It's quite the perfect tart dough.

While that was baking, I made the vanilla pastry cream. The trick here is to be sure not to scald your milk, or you will have clumps in your cream. Also be sure to gradually add your eggs so they won't cook in the hot milk. Otherwise, as long as you keep your eye on it and don't overcook, the vanilla pastry cream is really simplet to make and takes no time at all. I refrigerated that overnight, and the following day I put it all together before leaving on a cookout with friends. They ooh-ed, the ahh-ed, they ate and ate and wanted more. It was really a success. So much so that I think I should make this one a summertime staple, and I think it would make great little mini tartlets for a reception, or similar.

Bon appetit!!

For the Tart Dough:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
9 Tb. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the pieces of unsalted butter over the top of the dry ingredients, and pulse until the butter is cut in and the mixture looks like coarse meal. Break up the yolk a bit before you add it to the food processor, and then add it and process in long pulses until the dough comes together, you will hear the noise of the motor change.

Buttter a 9 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. You want to keep it crumbly here, it doesn't have to be perfect. Freeze crust for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a piece of aluminum foil and fit it (buttered side down) over the crust. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet, bake the crust for 25 minutes, then remove the foil. Continue baking until the crust turns golden brown (don't let it burn!) about 8 - 11 more minutes.

Let cool. You can do this and store it up to 5 days before you need to serve it.


Vanilla Pastry Cream:

2 c. whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. cornstarch
1 1/2 pieces of vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract)
3 1/2 Tb unsalted butter, but into pieces and at room temp.

Boil the milk and the vanilla (if using beans, scrape the seeds into the milk and include the pods)in a small saucepan. As this is heating, in a medium saucepan whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornstarch, until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 3/4 cup of the hot milk in order to warm the yolks. Continue whisking as you slowly add the rest of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and whisk constantly, bringing it to a boil. Keep mixture at a boil, continuing to whisk, for about 1-2 minutes, and remove from heat.

Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter until they are fully incorporated. The pastry cream will be smooth and silky, not clumpy. Scrape cream into a bowl and let it cool off. You can place a piece of plastic wrap right on the surface of the cream so you don't get a skin. Refrigerate until it is cold and ready to use. You can keep it for up to 3 days.

Assembly:

When you are ready to serve your tart, pour the cooled pastry cream (give it a pass or two with a whisk to incorporate it again) into the tart shell. Add fruits of your choice (I find that berries or fruit that isn't too juicy works the best) over the top. If you want a glaze, use about 1/3 cup of jelly of your choice and one teaspoon of water, boil it, let it cool, and using a pastry brush "paint" your fruit.