A Tale of Two Pies

In preparation for Thanksgiving I made a conscious decision to make the best pie crust ever. Usually I think I am, and then I realize I haven't. Or sometimes, (just sometimes!) I have used the pre-made pie shells. It's really not worth it.

I turned to the Tartine bakebook to test out their dough.  I have a problem with waiting -- you might call me impatient -- so when I saw that I had to refrigerate the dough at least an hour before baking I almost changed my mind. I overcame,  and made it anyway and refrigerated, but not before making a little cinnamon pie for the taste test. (5 inch spring form pan, press the dough in, add bits of butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bake until golden brown). Tasted good.

Then I got bored with it and the dough sat in the fridge for about 5 days.

Then I got inspired and decided to test out two pies. One is a pear ginger pie that I sampled at Mission Pie a few weeks ago. I am NOT a fan of fruit pies. I can manage apple pie but that is about it. So, it was going to be interesting, this pear ginger pie, if only to get it out of my consciousness. 

The second pie is a take on my annual Thanksgiving pie that I make. The almond cream apple tart. I wanted to make it a bit easier and more like an apple pie (the original is an open-faced tart and has an almond-custard like thing in the bottom made with eggs and butter and then apples are layered on top). I wanted to try spreading marzipan on the bottom of the pie crust and then topping with a traditional apple pie filling and covering with crust).

Pear-Ginger Pie Test Run

I rolled out a small round of dough and placed in a 5 inch spring form pan. Added in a mixture of comice pears, finely chopped candied ginger, sugar, flour and a dash of salt. Then I topped with a traditional crumble of butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon...I also added salt to this. Baked at 425 for 5 minutes then down to 325 for 10 minutes. (Tip: don't use a spring form pan for this. the butter from the topping leaked through the pan and then into my oven and I had a nice smokey thing going on in my apartment).

I guessed on all measurements and oven times and temps since I was making a tiny pie. But it came out great! I was surprised that I really, really wanted to eat it. The comice pears became so creamy and the ginger lost it's bite when it has when raw. I was a little heavy handed on the butter ratio in the crumble topping but it was pretty yummy. I also might add a little less candied ginger for a larger version. Not everyone likes ginger.

The Fillings

Assembled

Apple-Marzipan Pie Test Run

When I realized that a tube of marzipan was $6 I decided to make my own. It's just sugar and almonds after all. I put a handful of almonds and white sugar into the food processor and blended, and blended.....AND blended. When is it going to make almond butter? I decided to add a drizzle of almond extract to get it to stick. Good and bad decision. It bound everything together but I think my extract was old and it tasted more like alcohol than like almond (tho there is no alcohol in the brand that I have). I par-baked a little pie crust in the 5 inch spring form, cooled it then pressed in the marzipan. I topped that with a traditional apple pie filling of granny smith apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, sugar, flour and a bit of salt. Then covered with another layer of dough. I baked it at the same temp and time as the pear pie as they went in the oven together. 

I wasn't really into this pie. 1) I didn't cook it long enough. 2) The marzipan was a little dry. 3) It just wasn't really exciting. I'll stick with my original.

Finished

The Insides

Carmelized Pear and Almond Cake

This year I realized that the pear tree in my backyard actually produces some tasty fruit. In previous years the pears have been small and hard. This year I decided to let them hang on the tree a bit longer and it turns out though they are small, and though they are still a bit hard, they are really super sweet and clean tasting.

I kind of made up my own recipe by melding two I came across. I sauteed the sliced and peeled pears in Czech butter and brown sugar until they became soft and caramelized. Then I made a batter of equal weight eggs, cake flour, caster sugar and butter (188 g) and some salt, baking powder and almond and vanilla extract to taste. The batter was the most velvety smooth I have ever seen. I buttered and lined five 4" spring form pans. Placed the sauteed pear slices in the bottom with some of the caramel sauce and then added a layer of roasted almond slivers. Then I topped it off with some batter and baked for about 40 minutes. To serve I flipped them upside down and released them from the form. Upside down cake!



The cake has a really tender crumb with a slight hint of almond, the topping is ridiculously tasty and leaves a nice nutty butter note on the tongue. If I try this again I might reduce the amount of sugar in the cake and add some almond flour in place of cake flour. I think the cake could also benefit from some citrus to cut the richness.

Plums in my Backyard

They seem to be early this year, but here they are and I feel obligated to use them in some way. I am not really a stone fruit fan. Only eating nectarines while growing up and that still being very hard for me. But as I get older my tastes and tolerances change.

With a simple recipe found on line I made a Pflaumen Kuchen, or plum cake. In the Cuisenart went flour, baking powder, a bit of sugar, salt pulsed until pea like then some heavy cream and an egg is added. Press the crust into the pan, decorate with plums and bake. Remove, and top with heavy cream whisked with sugar and an egg to make a simple custared.

Pflaumen Kuchen

Plum Cake

Next came the galette. I had some pate sucree in the freezer. Rolled into 5 little rounds, topped with fruit and brushed with an egg wash and sugar and baked until golden brown and bubbling, then sprinkled with confectioners sugar, which disappears into the hot fruit.

The Galette

Brownies, Lemon Squares and Apricot Jam

Brownies
This past week I decided to try two more recipes in the Tartine bakery cookbook. On Wednesday I made brownies (page 160). The recipe billed them as "fudgy brownies" and I was excited because homemade brownies are never quite as good as brownies from a box. I selected 70% cocoa, bittersweet chocolate from El Rey. Being from the East Coast, I usually work with Callebaut purchased from Whole Foods. Here on the West Coast El Rey is king (that's a pun). I'll be honest, I started taking pictures and then forgot to take them about half way through.

One pound of chocolate melting in butter

Five eggs beat with sugar

And whipped until light and battery with a very small amount of flour.

The melted chocolate added to the egg sugar and flour

So, these brownies were more like "souffle" brownies instead of "fudgy" brownies. They were light and airy and literally melted in your mouth. The edges were a but drier than the middle, and warm the middle was almost uneatable...almost. A spoon helped. To me, they were a lot like a flourless chocolate cake in taste and texture. They were ten times better after about an hour in the refridgerator. Next time, I might choose a different kind of chocolate. Probably not one that was 70% cocoa. After just two brownies I was flying high on caffeine. My neighbor Tom, who gets most of these baked goods, ate 9 in a row. I have no idea how his heart did not blow out of his chest. He liked them, but boys who like chocolate are easy. Tom's rating: "Amazing...never made it to the fridge."

Lemon Squares
Around this time of year, my other neighbor Patty, brings me bags of meyer lemons from her mom's tree in Santa Cruz. I love lemon squares, so on Thursday, I decided to try out Tartine's Lemon Bars on Brown Butter Shortbread (page 149). They say that by baking the crust until it's golden brown makes for a more buttery flavor. I was making these for a dinner party and I worried that the host would think that I cooked them too long and wrecked them, but still decided to serve them. The other noticeable difference is more custard, requiring 6 whole eggs and an additional yolk and one cup of lemon juice. My favorite recipe calls for just 4 eggs and a 1/3 cup lemon juice. You see the difference?

Lemons come from trees!

Butter for the crust

Pressing the crust into the dish

And that's it. The bars were good. I felt that the custard was a lot like custard and not like lemon squares. When they first came out of the oven I smelled eggs, which is never a good sign when you are making a dessert. When warm, the filling had almost a metallic taste to it. When cooled, they were fine. The book recommends chilling them before cutting. I tried that and they were almost impossible to get out of the dish because of how hard the crust set up. I am waiting for Tom's rating.

Apricot Jam
It's apricot season and luckily we get them here in California. At Lulu's a few weeks ago, we made an apricot jam for the cake we were making. I am not a jam/jelly person but this was pretty amazing. It was so good, that after 5 hours of cake making I came home and made biscuits so I could put the jam on them. Lulu had instructions for this jam, but it looked pretty easy so I tried it out today. I had 2 pounds of apricots which I pitted and chopped and let macerate in sugar for about an hour. Then I added some lemon zest and cooked the fruit down until it started to resemble jam-ness. At some point the apricots started smelling like tea. Like iced tea. When I stirred, there was some carmelizing going on at the bottom of the pan. *shakes head* I don't want carmelized apricot jam! Oh and I added too much lemon zest. Damn. Oh well, I'll eat it, I'm sure.

Apricots macerating in sugar

Chiffon Cake with Italian Meringue

On Memorial Day Lulu and I joined forces and made a chiffon cake, soaked in kirsch, brushed with bitter almond simple syrup, layered with homemade apricot jam and frosted in Italian meringue.

I don't have pictures of the process because I was slightly self-conscious to bust out the camera. I did, however, get shots of the end result. I will say, tandem baking was so awesome for the following reasons:

1) It kept me from eating embarrassing amounts of batter
2) I learned some new stuff
3) Four hands are better than two
4) When you're afraid to do something, or don't want to, you can make the other person do it

Yay!

Cake and Jam

The insides

The Donut Muffin

The Donut Muffin is one of my favorite sweet treats. I discovered it at the farmer's market at the Ferry Building about two years ago where it is sold by The Healdsburg Bakery. Several times after that first encounter, I made pilgrimages to Healdsburg just for The Donut Muffin. A few months ago I found the recipe on line and this morning I decided to try it out.

First I measured 6 cups (6 cups!) of flour and sifted it with baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Nutmeg is the secret ingredient that makes it taste like a donut. If I had to analyze it, donuts are fried in oil, oil can have a nutty flavor hence the addition of nutmeg. It gives it that donut tang. I might have also just made that up.


Next I creamed 12 oz of butter

With almost 2 cups of sugar

Then I added in the dry ingredients alternating with milk and buttermilk to make a soft batter

I spooned about a half cup of batter into a buttered and floured muffin tin and baked for 35 minutes

When they came out they were beautiful with perfect muffin tops

After they cooled a bit I brushed on melted butter to simulate the "friedness" of a donut

And then rolled it around in cinnamon and sugar

The Donut Muffin