by Aimee on December 6, 2009
So this last week has been a whirlwind. The tradition in my house is to put up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving. What started out as a simple holiday tradition, turned into an all-out clean-fest of the garage which had been sorely neglected in the last year. A week later, we have a *moderately* clean garage and festive house covered in lights, at least on the inside. I’ve been all over creation looking for the right *priced* extension cords to aid in trimming the outside of the house in jolly luminosity only to find after purchasing my prized extension stakes that 1. they aren’t long enough and I don’t have a three prong extension cord to extend the extender and 2. there’s no switch, something lazy me wanted. So, like Scrooge, I’m in the dark…though only on the outside.
But that’s not why you’re here! You want mouth-watering recipes that celebrate those spices I mentioned earlier. Believe it or not, I’ve been planning this little theme for a while, and I had baked this wonderful Cinnamon Milk Tart some time ago. I found this recipe in Nancy Silverton’s Pastries From The La Brea Bakery
, which is a seriously good book despite it’s loathsome lack of bakers porn.
Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Cinnamon,
Milk,
Spices,
Tart
by Aimee on April 28, 2009
Shesh, has another week gone by already? Some weeks I’m not all that jazzed about the TWD selection, sometimes I’m in excitement mode, and then there are weeks where I’m neither jazzed nor excited. This week initially started out jazzed, then turned lukewarm. When I initially heard the title, “Chocolate Cream Tart” (selected by Kim of Scrumptious Photography) I got excited because who doesn’t get excited when they hear the word, “chocolate”. Then I looked at what was entailed, don’t ask me why, but the technique seemed like a bit of a let down. I have no idea what I expected when I heard “Chocolate Cream Tart”, but I do know it didn’t involve what sounded like a glorified chocolate pudding thrown in a tart shell. Well, sometimes it’s good to have low expectations, or none really to speak of. This was PHENOMENAL! Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Chocolate,
Coconut,
Cream,
Recipe!,
TWD
by Aimee on January 6, 2009
Wow, Tuesdays With Dorie is one year old. It seems like it’s been around for ages. Although that’s about how long I’ve been baking so go figure! Looks like the grand dame herself chose this week’s treat. The French Pear Tart is courtesy of Dorie Greenspan and it’s a fine, fine tart if I may say so. Actually it was absolutely di-vine when it first came out of the oven. It was one of those taste experiences that reminds you of why the store bought stuff is c-r-a-p and why you keep baking. But alas, as with life, the peak of this tart is too short but more on that later.
As you may be sick of hearing, I don’t have a food processor. Necessity is not only the mother of invention but also learning new techniques in the kitchen! Guess what I learned how to do…blanch almonds! Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Almond,
Pear,
TWD
by Aimee on September 26, 2008
My kingdom for a … food processor/standing mixer??? I’d be hard pressed to make a decision on that one, if I had the money. Not to pick on the noble blender, but when it comes to performing tasks the right tool can make all the difference. I am a baker on a budget. My budget being virtually nonexistent, I actually made my first pie crust with the attachments from my hand mixer. While getting my MacGyver on can be a thrill, sometimes it’s just a plain drag.
For example, when the Plum Tart with Walnut Cream recipe called for walnuts to be ground into a “coarse powder” I had to entrust this task to my poor, overworked blender. As anyone who’s ever tried it can tell you, chopping nuts into a powder regardless of how coarse it might be isn’t easy to do with a blender. Nuts have a habit of becoming more like a paste on the bottom and large-ish chunks on the top. So what really was a simple recipe that could have been whipped up in a matter of minutes in a properly equipped kitchen, ended up taking me over an hour(s?). Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Baking On A Budget,
MacGyver Baking Tip
by Aimee on September 23, 2008
No, this isn’t some far off desert wasteland or a new image back from one of the Mars Rovers. This is the reason why I should always use my rolling pin when making any kind of crust.
This was the pâte sablée shell I made for Clotilde’s delicious Plum Tart with Walnut Cream. Très délicieux! (Sorry folks, I don’t speak French. Babel Fish is your friend.) The technique suggested to create the tasty tart shell called for “using the heels of your hands and your fingers” to press the dough into your tart pan. I’m guessing that someday scientists will link this ability to some French genetic marker because this Polish Princess just doesn’t have the knack. So instead of a nice, lightly golden tart shell I ended up with this blasted and barren landscape that could probably give Death Valley a run for its money on most depressing vista. Click to continue…
Tagged as:
Fruit,
Nuts,
Oops!,
Tarts
