TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Cherry Crumb Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi
by Dorie Greenspan

This tart was an all day affair to put together - but with a little advanced planning it can be made over a few days if need be.

There are several ways to pit a cherry if you don't have a cherry pitter - from using a knife to using a paperclip - just do a Google search. Here, I used a decorating tip. Worked great - took me about twelve minutes to pit a pound of cherries. Next time I would pit them inside of a bowl to capture the juices.

Pitting cherries can be quite messy - this method seemed to have minimal squirting when done slowly.

If you want a less messy and faster way to pit cherries, you can lay the cherries out on a rimmed cookie sheet or on a board, and place a piece of parchment over them, and tap them lightly with a mallet, as shown in this video. Your cherries won't stay whole (many of mine did not anyway) as Dorie prefers, but for this dessert, I really don't think it would matter all that much.

After partially baking the crust, and letting it cool to room temperature, it is filled with an almond or hazelnut filling made from butter, sugar, nut flour (I just ground up some hazelnuts), cornstarch, egg, and kirsch (or vanilla extract) - I subbed cassis. The pitted cherries are placed atop the filling and baked until the filling puckers up all around the fruit.

If cherries are unavailable, I'm sure any fruit, from blueberries to peaches would work here. 

A streusel topping made from sugar, orange zest, flour, salt, cardamon, butter, and vanilla extract, is sprinkled over the top and baked once more until lightly golden.

Dorie recommends serving this at room temperature the same day it is made. Her husband however, prefers it cold from the fridge, and I agree with him. I thought it was really good cold - so this would make a good candidate for a make ahead dessert.

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blogs. You can find the recipe on page 148 of Baking Chez Moi, or over at Google Books.

You can check out my fellow baker's results, by clicking here for a list of their links.

TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Cranberry Crackle Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi
by Dorie Greenspan

This cranberry crackle tart may look fancy, but really, it is unbelievably simple.

The filling is made up of just two egg whites and some sugar and salt, and whipped until soft peaks are formed. Then fresh cranberries are carefully folded in. Next time, I would add more cranberries.

The meringue mixture is placed in a pre-cooked tart shell made with a sweet tart dough that has been spread with jam - Dorie suggests chunky cherry, raspberry, or strawberry. I used a sour cherry and rhubarb jam.

I used the back of a spoon, by pressing it into the filling and lifting up, to give it it's fluffy, swirly texture. 

It may not look like much, even Dorie mentions in the book that this tart is homey looking. 

This made for a nice light dessert after our always, overabundant Thanksgiving meal. Everyone said they enjoyed it - I may have liked it more if I used more cranberries and jam. I found it to be rather bland. 

Visit my fellow bakers to see how they fared with this recipe by clicking here.

It is the rule of TWD not to post the recipes here on our blogs. However, the recipe can be found online here.

TWD: Alsatian Onion Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Michel Richard

Well, this has the appearance more like a pizza than a tart - at least in my mind. When I think of a tart, I conjure up images of dough that has been pressed into a tart pan, and after baking, it comes out with beautiful ruffled edges.

OK. So looks aren't everything.

Taste. This does have taste going for it. It was quite delicious. 

This was very easy to make. You start with preparing the base (I did this while my onions were cooking) by rolling out puff pastry dough (yes - puff pastry - no tart or pizza dough here) until it is very thin, about an eighth of an inch, but no more than a quarter of an inch, and using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into a circle (I'm sure any shape you choose would work), about twelve inches in diameter.

The dough is pricked all over with a fork, this will keep the puff pastry from, well, puffing... it's all about the flavor. The dough is then refrigerated until you are ready to top it with the onion mixture.

The onion mixture is made from four very large onions that have been diced. I only used three, and was in a hurry, so I sliced the onions instead of dicing, and had more than enough. The onions are cooked in chicken broth until very soft, and then cooled, at which time you add a few tablespoons of heavy cream (I used half and half) and salt and pepper.

The recipe calls for slab bacon to be diced and par-boiled. The store I went to does not have slab bacon, so I purchased thick-cut bacon slices - which worked just fine. I skipped the par-boiling of the bacon, and cooked it up normally (undercooked it a bit), then diced it. 

The tart was now ready for assembly! The pastry is first topped with the onion mixture, then the bacon is scattered over the top and pressed into the onions a bit, to help keep them from burning too much while baking. I had some diced jalapeño left over from the chili I made the night before, so I tossed those on as well - a good call if I do say so myself - it provided a nice spicy kick that I love. The tart is baked in a three-hundred and fifty degree oven until golden brown.

This was delicious, and would make for a lovely appetizer; though it can't really be made ahead of time for the bottom crust gets a bit soggy after sitting. It is easy enough to throw together at the last minute if you make the onions, cook the bacon, and prep the dough ahead of time - then assemble and toss it in the oven just before serving.

I was thinking a rectangular shaped tart would be pretty...

Don't forget to check out the results of my fellow bakers also! You will find their links by clicking here, or by going to the Tuesdays with Dorie website and looking for the BWJ LYL: Alsatian Onion Tart link. 

TWD: Summer Vegetable Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan

Phyllo/fillo/filo, however you want to spell it, it translates to leaf in Greek. As you can see, it is tissue paper thin of unleavened flour dough that is stacked in several layers to get a crisp and flaky crust.

You often see it used in Middle Eastern dishes, such as spanakopita - those spinach filled triangles, baklava - the nut filled pastry covered in honey, and one of my favorite dishes, bastilla (spelled several different ways) - the chicken and almond dish covered in phyllo and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Using phyllo at home, I can take it or leave it - more likely to leave it. It is a pain to work with. You have to keep the sheets that you are not working with covered with a damp towel or they will dry out rather quickly and become unusable. And the sheets being tissue thin, they tear easily. You definitely need some patience to work with phyllo; and if you don't use it all, you can't refreeze it - it becomes brittle. So you have to use it up within two weeks time.

The filling for our tart is made from sautéed vegetables (onion, bell pepper, and mushroom), garlic, thyme, and goat cheese - my favorite! The recipe instructs you to gently stir in the cheese to the cooked filling to warm it up a bit, but not actually melt it. I opted to crumble the cheese over the phyllo before filling, and then again on top. I also added thyme, salt, and pepper to my cheese.

This tart has wonderful flavor, though next time I would opt for your typical tart/pie crust. I felt the phyllo was to light for the heaviness of the vegetables.

Success meter (1-3): 2.5

You start out by brushing clarified butter (I sprayed olive oil for this tart) on to the sheets and giving them a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.

Here you can see just how thin the sheets of dough are. You continue the process of buttering and peppering your sheets one at a time until you have a total of eight layers.

All eight layers completed. Time to pre-bake the crust. This bakes for about ten minutes or until golden brown.

Fill with the sautéed vegetables and it's ready to serve. Personally, I don't find the crust visually appealing. It looks like parchment paper if you ask me.

Look at all those flaky layers.

I made a single serving as a trial run and found it awkward to handle the tart with the edges hanging so far over the pan. I also used butter (not clarified as the recipe instructs) this round to coat the sheets of phyllo. The butter version came out a bit more bronzed than the tart above sprayed with olive oil.

Anyone else's book falling apart from so much use?

Don't forget to browse the TWD LYL: Summer Vegetable Tart link, for other versions of this tart from all of the talented bakers in our group!

TWD: Baked Yogurt Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan

This cake was a breeze to put together (especially since I had pie dough in the freezer) and it's so beautiful. Too bad it was lacking flavor, as is the norm with a lot of the recipes in this book.

This tart consists of eggs, sugar, non-fat yogurt, vanilla and flour, then topped with fruit and nuts. I was thinking - there is not much going on here in the flavor arena - maybe I should add something. Granted the recipe calls for two tablespoons of vanilla, that should give it a nice nuance of sweetness, and with the tangy-ness of the yogurt, I forged on as directed.

As I was licking the bowl and spatula clean of the last remnants of the deliciously soft, sweet, tangy batter, I was sure this was going to be a fabulous dessert. Unfortunately, the sweet vanilla and tangy flavor of the yogurt is lost after baking, resulting in a bland tart. (I should have gone with my gut instinct and added some lemon zest or Frangelico to the batter.)

I don't know why, but I envisioned this as having a custard like texture, when in fact it is more cheesecake like. This could have been a really good low-fat, mock cheesecake if it just had some punch to it. Made even less fattening if baked crustless in ramekins instead of a tart shell. I think this is worth playing around with.

With some flavor enhancement to the batter this could be a winner. Maybe even coating the bottom of the tart shell with lemon curd or slices of mango before adding the filling, that would be nice too.

Success meter (1-3): 1

Don't feel you need any artistic abilities to make this. The recipe instructs you to just toss the fruit on and sprinkle the outer edge with the nuts.

My tart pan was only about one-inch deep, so I had some extra batter which I filled a ramekin, sans crust - it turned out quite cute. :)

Please do stop by the Tuesdays with Dorie website to get the links of all the talented bakers in the group. I can assure you, you will find all kinds of adaptations to this recipe, both beautiful, and I'm sure some will be found delicious as well.

TWD: French Apple Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Leslie Mackie

This is a stunning dessert that is easier than it looks to achieve - you just need to allocate a full day to make it or you can get a head start by making the tart dough up to five days ahead, and I don't see any reason why you could not make the filling the day before - cover and refrigerate it. I would bring the filling to room temperature before placing it in the crust.

The filling is a simple compote (aka applesauce) made of apples, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and to thicken the compote, a bit of flour and breadcrumbs. Yes, you read that right - breadcrumbs. I never before have used breadcrumbs as a thickening agent. We learn something new everyday.

I was going to skip the addition of the crumbs, for the recipe calls for "fresh fluffy bread crumbs" which I interpret to be made from white bread, and all I have is whole-grain seeded bread and was not about to buy a whole loaf of white for one slice.  I then heard that the crumbs help soak up the juice of the baked apples and decided to go ahead with using my whole-grain bread (don't want a soupy tart now) after reading another baker from our group used her homemade half-white/half-wheat bread and it turned out fine, as did mine.

Should I make this again I would brush the finished tart with some apricot glaze to give it a little shine. The apple design has a dehydrated, unrefined look to it which I think is why I keep calling it a rustic apple tart instead of French apple tart. 

Leslie (the contributing baker) states, "This tart is at its prime ever so slightly warm or at room temperature."  I find this true with just about any baked good. I enjoyed my slice at room temperature and it was good. I was going to send the rest into work but forgot to tell the hubby to take it, and then I forgot to take it in with me. Darn. Now I have to eat it.

The following day I had myself another slice (or was it two?) and had a few bites cold and then the remainder went into the microwave for about ten seconds just to warm it ever so slightly. Personally - I think it tastes better the following day and the next.

I have about a third of the pie left so I thought I would toss it into the freezer and see what happens. Wouldn't it be fabulous if this could be made ahead and frozen! You can buy completed pies and cakes in the freezer section of the grocery store, so why would it not work at home?

Success meter (1-3): 3

(Edit: I forgot to mention that after baking for the alloted time the tart was not browning, so I placed it under the broiler till the edges of the apples were nicely colored.)



Note: My apologies for the poor quality of some of the photos. By the time the tart was baked it was getting dark. Some shots where taken in the kitchen and others in the back room; hence the color differences.



Fold your dough into quarters (fold in half, then in half again) for easy transfer to your tart pan or pie plate.

You don't have to buy pie weights - you can use beans or rice.

 

A melon baller makes coring apples a snap.

The filling consists of apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, bread crumbs and lemon juice.

Mash the apples to your desired consistency.

I floated the apples for the topping in lemon water as I sliced them to keep them from turning brown.
Pat dry before slicing.

This is a great recipe to pull that mandoline out of storage.

After filling the tart shell arrange your apple slices in a circle atop the purée.

To form a rosette you need to cut your apple slices paper thin in order for them to bend slightly.

Brush the finished tart with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

 

    

At the last minute I thought a sprinkle of cinnamon would be pretty...

Should you want to make this fun and tasty recipe, you will find the original recipe on the blog of our host of the week: Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen or you can purchase the book Baking with Julia, there you will find the recipe on page 379.

Do make sure and check out my fellow baker's take on this recipe. There are always interesting variations from ingredients to finishing techniques.