“The secret lies in the love and the effort the maker puts into the creation. It really is a simple dessert to make. There’s nothing to it.”
Maria Olivas
It was one of those obsessive days, a ‘have to bake with plums’ sort of a day! Had a nice bag of pretty plums in the fridge, the last of the stone fruit season here in North India, and I was desperate to bake them into a ‘tart’ of some sort! The plums eventually found a happily ever after ending in this pretty and pretty delicious fruit bake – a Vanilla Almond Frangipane Plum Tart.The lad has been whining forever …. no dessert for SO many days Mama! I’ve been busy with life which is racing away. We had guests at home and the Mango Frozen Yogurt was turning out to be a GREAT hit, so I made it for dessert every other day. It’s a winner but the lad couldn’t have some as he had the viral fever, his throat very scratchy and flu like symptoms persisting!I was inspired by the lovelyMeeta’s recent post Apricot & Pistachio Frangipane Tart which led to an illogical urgency to make it right away. Ah, the power of food blogs! I had galette or crostata thoughts initially, but my newly acquired square tart pan from Victoria’s Basement in Sydney was begging to be used! I adapted the filling from Making Life Delicious.
Frangipane is a filling made from or flavored like almonds. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. An alternative French spelling from a 1674 cookbook is franchipane with the earliest modern spelling coming from a 1732 confectioners’ dictionary. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.
The tart was wonderful in every way. An easy and deliciously crisp base, the pastry and frangipane that got made in a heartbeat in the Thermomix, paired with fruit that were singing the stone fruit anthem! I attempted to add some ground oats in the pastry … goodness me, that worked really well! These are the last few days of stone fruit here and sadly I watch the availability dwindling. Desperately try to hang on to a season that ends with heart break for me … a long wait to next year! The colour play of plums, peaches, cherries, mangoes etc is pure inspiration for me!The muscovado sugar I used in the frangipane was part of a foodie gift parcel I received a few days ago from a sweet reader of my blog, Sheetal. I used that in place of brown sugar and have to say it added great depth to the flavours. The raw sugar lent colour and rustic sweetness to the custard, enhancing the flavour of the vanilla bean. NICE! Thanks a million Sheetal.Sheetal was curious as to how to use raw sugar or muscovado. So was I! A first time ingredient experience is exciting stuff for the baker in me. {Her package included a tin of good quality cocoa and a new variety of locally available baking chocolate}. She wrote, “Deeba, everytime you post a recipe, I so want to have a bite of it :). I really hope you bake something with the stuff I send you. I know I still will not be able to taste but promise I will make the same at home and get a taste of you :)”Hope you’ll be able to make this delicious tart Sheetal. You can pair the frangipane with apples or pears in case you can’t find plums. Figs would work well here too. If you plan on using berries, demerera or vanilla sugar might work better …Do you like the colours? I loved the deep reds of the plums, and sealed with the apricot glaze made it even prettier. The pâte sucrée with oats was a successful experiment as I wanted to add some healthy grains to the pastry; turned out crisp and delicious. It tasted great on the day I baked the tart, and surprisingly tasted very good chilled out of the fridge the next day too!
[print_this] Recipe: Vanilla Almond Frangipane Plum Tart
Summary: An easy and delicious tart – a crisp base paired with a vanilla almond frangipane and sweetly tart plums! Ground oats in the pastry worked really well!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 60 minutes Ingredients:
8-10 small ripe plums, each sliced into 6 sections
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 tbsp apricot jam, melted
Pâte Sucrée
150gms plain flour
50gms oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1/8 tsp salt
100gm unsalted butter, chilled, diced
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Vanilla Almond Frangipane
1 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup muscavado sugar
70gms unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp almond extract
Pinch of salt
Method:
Pâte Sucrée
Whiz the plain flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder and scraped vanilla bean in the processor. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}
Add the chilled butter and whiz briefly until you get a crumb like mix. {Thermomix: Speed 10, 15 seconds}
Add the vanilla extract and egg and briefly pulse till it begins to come together {Thermomix: Speed 6 / 10 seconds}
Turn onto work surface and pat together into a ball, handling the dough as little as possible. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes to help the dough relax.
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Roll out the dough and lne the tart pan. Patch any broken bits with leftover dough.
Bake blind {line the unbaked shell with aluminum foil and place bean/pie weights on top} for 8 minutes. Remove weights and foil and continue to bake for a further 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t over brown.
In the meantime, make the vanilla almond frangipane
Whiz the whole almonds, muscavado sugar, flour and salt in the processor until the almonds are pulverised. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}.
Add the butter,egg, vanilla bean and almond extract and blen until smooth. {Thermomix: Speed 6/ 20 seconds}. The frangipane is ready, and can be stored in a zipbag overnight in the refrigerator if desired.
Lower the oven temperature to 180C.
Assemble the tart
Turn the frangipane into the baked crust {I turned it into the hot shell and it turned out fine}, spread uniformly with an offset spatula.
Arrange plum slices over the top, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake for 30 minutes, until the frangipane is fluffy looking and firm to touch.
Remove from oven and immediately brush the top with the the melted apricot jam {this seals the moisture in and keeps the fruit looking good}.
Serve warm or at room temperature … or even chilled!
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”
Wayne Dyer
July has been a LONG tiring month, with most of the family getting hit by viral fever. Our little new pooch added to the general madness & mayhem, yet the Daring Baker in me stood up and did a happy jig when I saw this months challenge – Fresh Frasiers.
Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.
For the uninitiated {that includes me when I first read about the challenge}, it certainly wasn’t Frasier, the American sitcom, which was my first thought. A traditional Frasier is crème mousseline (pastry cream with extra butter) and strawberries sandwiched between two sheets of heavily imbibed sponge (genoise) cake, and it is topped with either a sheet of red or green almond paste or Italian meringue. I googled for some background and found a little information …
During the springtime, french pastry chefs make this cake to take advantage of the fresh strawberries (“fraises”) that are abundant during this season.
Charming indeed, like everything French! Mr PAB is in France {Toulouse} at the moment for an aircraft delivery and has me simmering with envy. He is absolutely enjoying the beautiful country, the food & wine, the culture etc, and mails me a few pictures everyday …. I couldn’t accompany him because of my little new pup!! She’s as cute as a button, full of beans and more naughtier than I could ever imagine. For the record, my herbs and other plants are history! She loves greens & looks at me with the whites of her eyes showing while chomping them, especially my oregano!!Back to business... Frisiers are said to be traditional French strawberry & cream dessert. In my case, I had to wander far from traditional as we are long past strawberry season here in India. Stone fruit are in season, and … … my best bet was mango since they have flooded the market unbelievably. As far as the eye can see, you find baskets and handcarts piled HIGH with this luscious fruit. I paired my frasier with a pistachio marzipan as almond paste isn’t available in India. Besides, pistachio pairs beautifully with mango. It is my favourite nut & offers great play of colour! {Not here eventually as humidity played spoilsport}July is my Dad’s birthday month, so the cake challenge was greeted with open arms. Maybe I got too enthusiastic because I was left doing it all from scratch. My trusted Thermomix {I love this kitchen machine} is my BFF! It blitzed the pistachios into marzipan without a whimper, and then faithfully plodded on to make the crème patisserie. Where can I have home made pastry creme turned out in 7 minutes without as much as a stir? I love it!!Also, I was extra ambitious and thought of doing a mango mirror. To cut a long story short, the weather was so hot and humid that the mirror eventually slid right off, melting bit by bit. Much to my horror, it took a chunk of the marzipan with it too. The cake was later covered with vanilla cream.I made a somewhat similar Mango Bavarian Cream Cake in July last year {pictured above}, and it held up beautifully. So much for my adventurous spirit this time. I salvaged whatever I could of the cake, stuck it right back into the fridge and cooled my heels. It was cut later that night and though it was delicious and light, I think it’ll give you less heartache if the weather is cooler. I intend to have another go at this beautiful cake {and technique once the weather cools down}.Thank you Jana for a refreshing summer challenge. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the refreshing & pretty frasiers the other daring bakers have risen to this July!
[print_this]Recipe: NAME
Summary: These recipes have been adapted from the cook book Tartine by Elisabeth M Prueitt and Chad Robertson, the chefs and owners of Tartine, a beloved San Francisco bakery.
Prep Time: 4 hours Total Time: 4 hours
Preparation time: The traditional recipe can be made in stages. As a whole the recipe requires at least 4 hours of time, and 4 hours of refrigeration, BUT the cake, pastry cream and syrup can be made days ahead of assembly to help ease the time burden. Once these three are made, the cake will take about half an hour to assemble followed by 4 hours of refrigeration.
Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly.
Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Refrigerate for up to four days.
Crème patisserie / Pastry Cream – Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1/2 tablespoon water
1 cup low fat cream
Method:
Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a stand mixer add the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine. Add the eggs to the sugar and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
When the milk is ready, gently and slowly while the stand mixer is whisking, pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick, just about to boil and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
Thermomix:Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Cook at 100C/ Speed 5 / 7-8 minutes}. Transfer to a heat proof bowl, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Proceed.
Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for up to five days.
In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften.
Put two inches (55 mm) of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
Measure 1/4 cup of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
Heat the cream until it is 120 F (48.8 C). Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches.
In a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.
Simple Syrup – Ingredients:
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup water
Method:
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly. Transfer to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.
Pistachio Marzipan – Ingredients:
Makes 142gms, enough for a 9″ disk
From Cake Bible by Rose Berenbaum
1/4 cup pistachios, roasted at 180C for 5-7 minutes
Scrape as much skin off the pistachios as possible. Process them in a food processor until a smooth paste is obtained. {Thermomix: Speed 10 /5-7 seconds. Repeat 2-3 times}.
Add sugar and process until well blended. {Thermomix: Speed 10 / 10 seconds. scrape the sides}
Add the corn syrup and glucerine and process for another 20 seconds, until well blended.{Thermomix: Speed 10 / 10 seconds. scrape the sides} The mixture will appear dry, but a small amount pressed between your fingers should hold together. If it seems too dry, add more corn syrup, 1/4 tsp at a time.
If you wish a deeper green, add a drop or 2 of green food colouring. Process until the marzipan has a smooth dough like consistency. Knead briefly until uniform in colour. You can use the marzipan at once, but its easier to work with if you rest it for an hour.
Mango Mirror – Ingredients:
2 medium ripe mango, coarsely chopped
70g sugar 100 ml water
2 Tbsp lime juice {you can use lemon juice}
2 Tbsp water, extra
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin several drops of yellow food coloring
Method:
Place mango flesh, sugar, and 50 ml water in saucepan. Cook over low heat, crushing the flesh with back of a spoon to start juices flowing.
Simmer for 10 minutes. Pour through a colander and drain into a bowl. Do not press down the pulp too much or your mango mirror won’t be shiny because of the pulp.
Place lime juice and extra water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy.
Put the mango juice into a pan and bring to a simmer. Pour over the gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve. Tint to desired color with yellow food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell).
Fraisier Assembly:
Components:
1 baked 8 inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
1 recipe pastry cream filling
⅓ cup simple syrup or flavored
1kg mangoes, peeled, diced into 1/2″ pieces
1 recipe pistachio marzipan
Method:
Line the sides of a 10-inch (25 cm) spring form pan with plastic wrap. Do not line the bottom of the pan.
Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
Pipe cream in-between strawberries and a thin layer across the top of the cake.
Hull and quarter your remaining strawberries and place them in the middle of the cake. Cover the strawberries and entirely with the all but 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of the pastry cream.
Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
Lightly dust a work surface with confectioners’ sugar and roll out the almond paste to a 10-inch (25 cm) round 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of pastry cream on the top of the cake and cover with the round of almond paste.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes: The gelatin will continue to stiffen day by day. The longer you let your finished cake sit, the more firm it will become. Also, it’s worthwhile assembling the cake on the platter it will be displayed on. Plcae the bottom layer on the platter, then affix the dessert ring / cling wrap lined spring form pan around the bottom layer. It saves the hassle of trying to move the cake after assembly.
[/print_this]
“You see things and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’”
George Bernard Shaw
It’s July with the Secret Recipe Club and the inspiration behind this great idea continues. This month I was assigned to secretly invade Kims blog @ Everyday Mom. Kim has a delicious blog and for an everyday Mom {read 24 X 7} like me, it was an instant connect.I loved reading her posts, seeing how she involves her sweet kids in the kitchen, looking into her CSA box, seeing how she uses what turns up including these beautiful garlic scapes. That was what I intended to make for the SRC, but my next visit to Kims threw me right off course!
What did I see here? Ablueberry cobbler? The passionate fruit baker in me was completely inspired and a cobbler it was going to be. No blueberries here in India, so a quick stock check brought up apricots and plums; on a whim I decided to throw in some frozen strawberries too. I cut back on the cream in the topping as I had less than half a carton on hand, and I added some almonds to up the ‘healthy’ factor… the cobbled bit was basically a happy result of whatever I had in the larder. My frequent impulsive dashes to the bazaar are now limited thanks to this pooch!She’s a full time job and is more full of beans than I could ever imagine. A plum rolled out of my bag in the kitchen and it caught her naughty little eye in a flash. There was a mad dash to the garden …… where she had a plum party! Off she was, tossing it, attacking it, licking it…and then making a meal out of it! This is where the rest of my time goes these days; behind the lens as she is too cute not to click!!You might need a wait a little longer for the recipe, inspired completely by Kim, as I committed a guest post to my dear talented friend Sukaina @ Sips & Spoonfuls for the 18th of July, not realising that it was the SRC posting date.
The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
So here I am killing 2 birds with one stone, or make it 3 maybe? Sukaina has eyed my pots, pan and knives for long, and invited me to do a guest post for her. I couldn’t help but create a post for her around my favorite vintage pans.Coincidentally, she is hosting the Monthly Mingle this month and her theme is Stone Fruit {my favourite} so the recipe is an entry for the Meeta’sbrainchild as well. You will need to catch the recipe there, and I have to say it’s well worth it. One so you get to discover her beautiful blog, and secondly of course because this cobbler turned out to be delicious in every way!Food blogging, food cultures, cusines and food props have made life so much more interesting. Sukaina is food writer and photographer living in Dubai, creates magic with her camera. She longs to come over and join me in food prop shopping, much like Shulie @ Food Wanderings and of course my twin sistah Jamie @ Lifes A Feast. Please do head across to Sips & Spoonfuls to get a taste of this good cobbler indeed, full of all the goodness and deliciousness that stone fruit offers, the juices that oozed over absolutely delightful. The sweet tartness of the fruit, the nuttiness of the almond meal in the topping enticing the palette … all good stuff! As the lad said, “This is REALLY good Mama; can I have more?” Scrape, scrape scrape … the teen just helped herself to seconds! Find it HERE!
Junes Daring Baker challenge of Baklava reignited the pastry baker in me. The success of home made phyllo won me over, and soon enough I made another batch of dough. This time it ended up rather deliciously in a Cherry Phyllo Pie.Summers in North India are treacherous for home bakers like me. By the time the heat and dust kind of kill you, the monsoon comes along to completely take the remaining ‘pastry happiness’ away. Making pastry at home slowly shifts to the back burner waiting for cooler days to return before I attempt to make puff pastry and shortcrust etc. I am still amazed at why I didn’t get to making phyllo at home earlier. This is a summer pastry for a country like ours. Light, crisp, versatile, delightful … amazing stuff! Thanks to the good Greek food blogger Peter @ Kalofagas, I’m now a phyllo convert. I forgot to take a picture of a rolled out phyllo sheet the last time, & was a bit embarrassed when Peter asked for one, so I set off again. Not sure if this is thin enough on the roll, but this was about how thin I could get it. A box of cherries in my fridge, I just knew what I wanted to make with the phyllo, a cherry pie. It was going to be set in a dessert ring, and would also use my last stash of brandied burgundy preserved cherries from last year, and leftover nut mix from last months baklava. I must admit I’m getting a teeny bit better at clearing the fridge and putting leftovers to productive {read delicious} use. This pie was one such experiment … YUM!! The combination of fresh cherries with the brandied burgundy cherries offered a divine twist to the pie, highlighted by the nut mix which offered wonderful texture and contrast to flavours. Once it cooled down to room temperature for 4-5 hours, it sliced well. The top layer was buttery crisp {though my lattice kind of stepped off in all its crispness… lol}, and the lower layers were soft and addictive. Thank you Peter for the push in the right direction, and happy birthday too! It’s a coincidence that I’m posting a phyllo pie on your big day!Oh and before I go, you must meet someone. We’ve welcomed the sweetest little pooch into our home today, a ‘cute as a button‘ cocker spaniel pup. Meet Coco. All of 42 days old, naughty, intelligent, playful … C U T E!!
[print_this]Recipe: Cherry Phyllo Pie
Summary:I This is a summer pastry for a country like ours. Light, crisp, versatile, delightful, and ended up in a equally delightful cherry pie.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients for Phyllo Cherry Pie:
1 portion phyllo pastry, recipe below
500gms fresh cherries, pitted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
Juice of 1 lime
3/4 cup mixed nut meal {I used walnuts, pistachios, almonds chopped fine with 3 tbsp sugar from here}
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled
Method:
Toss the pitted cherries with the brown sugar, cornflour and lime juice in a pan and gently simmer for 7-10 minutes until soft. Remove the cherries from the liquid, and reduce the liquid till thick and syrupy. Pour over the cherries and cool completely.
Line a baking sheet with foil, place an 8″ dessert ring {or springform ring} on it, and bring the foil up the outside to seal the sides.
Brush the base with melted butter, and place a sheet of phyllo on it. Brush the sheet with melted butter and repeat 3 times, using 5 sheets.
Sprinkle over 1/4 of the nut mix. Turn half the cherry mixture {I tossed mine with preserved cherries} over this, and sprinkle over another 1/4 of the nut mix.
Repeat with 5 more sheets of phyllo pastry, remembering to brush with butter each time, then 1/4 cup nut mix, remaining cherry mix, remaining nu mix… and then 5 more layers of phyllo. Brush the top most layer generously with melted butter.
Bake for 1 hour. Allow to stand at room temperature and cut when completely cool.
Phyllo Dough:
Dough can be made a head of time and froze. Just remove from freezer and allow to thaw and continue making your pie. I made it 2 days in advance I stored it in cling wrap in the fridge.
Ingredients for Phyllo Pastry:
185gm all purpose {plain} flour
1/8tsp salt
1/2 cup less 1 tbsp water, plus more if needed
2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 tsp cider vinegar, {could substitute white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar, but could affect the taste}
Method:
In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt. Mix with paddle attachment.
Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough, if it appears dry add a little more water. Change to the dough hook and let knead approximately 10 minutes. You will end up with beautiful smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, knead approx. 20 minutes.
Remove the dough from mixer and continue to knead for 2 more minutes. Pick up the dough and through it down hard on the counter a few times during the kneading process.
Thermomix: Place all ingredients in the bowl of the TM. Process on Speed 6 for 7 seconds. Then knead on bread setting for 3.5 minutes. Turn onto counter, roll into a neat ball.
Shape the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil
Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest 30-90 minutes, longer is best {Mine rested for 2 days and it was still perfect}
Rolling your Phyllo**
Remove all rings and jewelry so it does not snag the dough**Use whatever means you have to get the dough as thin as you can.
Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk slightly smaller than a golf ball. While you are rolling be sure to keep the other dough covered so it doesn’t dry out. Be sure to flour your hands, rolling pin and counter. As you roll you will need to keep adding, don’t worry, you can’t over-flour.
Roll out the dough until it is as thin a circle as you can it. Don’t worry if you get rips in the dough, as long as you have one perfect one for the top you will never notice.
When you get it as thin as you can with the rolling pin, carefully pick it up with well floured hands and stretch it on the backs of your hands as you would a pizza dough, just helps make it that much thinner. Roll out your dough until it is transparent. NOTE: you will not get it as thin as the frozen phyllo dough you purchase at the store, it is made by machine
Set aside on a well-floured surface. Repeat the process until your dough is used up, about 15 sheets. Between each sheet again flour well. You will not need to cover your dough with a wet cloth, as you do with boxed dough, it is moist enough that it will not try out.
Trim each circle to size using the dessert ring and a pastry wheel.
“The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.”
Henry David Thoreau
Inspiration comes in strange ways. I’m racing with the wind, time is no longer my friend, the hands of the clock whiz by at a dizzy pace … and the pressure of baking macarons for our baby, MacTweets appears to be a lost case. Then uncannily enough I get a direct message on Twitter from Shulie, my sweet talented friend from Food Wanderings asking if I’d like to do a guest post for her on macarons. I want to say yes but I know I can’t manage it.I should say no … but predictably, I say, “Yes of course, sure!”How ambitious of me! Didn’t realize that Shulie is doing a series on macarons on tree nut free macarons. Blimey! With the current humidity and high heat here in North India, where the monsoons are knocking on the door, I wonder what I was thinking. In good times, with perfect weather, I can barely find my feet with normal almond meal macs! Have you met Shulie @ Food Wanderings … an immensely talented and wonderful food blogger of Indian Jewish descent, born and raised in Israel, who now lives in the US. She is fun, has a wonderful style of writing and a knack of blogging the ‘right’ things {read the most delicious coffee ice cream recently posted}. She loves food photography and styling to the point of ‘silliness‘ and I begin to wonder if she’s another long lost twin!She promised to come down to India to buy pots and pans after I blogged about vintage pots & pans from my favourite little shop in New Delhi. It’s another passion we share … pots, pans, cookbooks, accessories, food culture. Shulie confesses to possess ‘many other food quirks’ and that gladdens my heart. She’s a lot like me! Mac time! I bravely peeped into my freezer to see what it held for me. Black sesame seeds. Should I? The devil may care attitude kicked in, and I threw a 1/4 cup of black sesame seeds into the Thermomix with 1/2 a cup of sugar! Left the feet to fate … time to think of pairings with fruit to fit the macarons intoMacTweets. The theme this month – FRUIT, not a difficult task for fruit passionate me.Black sesame seed macarons sandwiched with fresh cherries in a dark chooclate ganache were the happy ending of my mac-adventure this time, colours inspired by the tea set I found in a night market in HKG last month.
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for the next challenge. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
This post featured in the Foodbuzz Top 9 on 5th July 2011 via @ foodwanderings. “Today’s Top 9: July 05, 2011
The best of 2,261 posts from the Foodbuzz Community, as chosen by our editors and users. You’re looking at #3!”
“Food imaginatively and lovingly prepared, and eaten in good company, warms the being.”
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
{Warning: This is a LONG post. The recipe can be found at the bottom…}
Third time lucky? Yes indeed! We landed up in Sydney yet again, taking in the early morning fresh air and happy to be Down Under. It’s a vacation we look forward to and enjoy it in the truest sense of the word. A vacation here means friends, fun, food … This time our friend Ulyana was waiting with the B52 – her newest indulgence and obsession {in her words, Google it mate!!}! She’s a lively one, a Ukrainian to boot, talented beyond belief, jovial, full of life … and races through each week waiting for Friday! We’ve known her for over 20 years and she exudes enthusiasm in every breath! She loves baking and this time charmed us with an almond cake with no butter/fat added. How does one describe the lightest and sweetest cake ever, a cake disappeared really quick? There was something about it … the texture, the sweetness, the natural flavours of almond meal, gentle yet so addictive that is was difficult to stay away.Catch the recipe at the end of this post! And if you are wondering what the sketch in the collage below is about, it’s the church in Ukraine that Ulyana was christened in. It’s an oil she had on her wall that the daughter decided to replicate in charcoal while we were there, done in the midst of all the baking and merriment. She did a beautiful job of it, and her charcoal was eventually framed and stayed in Sydney, as a gift for our gracious host!Back to the cake … we left it sitting on the counter and drove downtown. No visit to Sydney is complete without a visit downtown, so we got to the city asap. The spectacular views of the Opera House knock you off your feet. We were still pretty jet lagged but one step on the Rocks and it was magic! A flood of memories came tumbling in … we’d been here before! Just dug out the kids pictures when we were there in 2004 … {in 2009 as well} Hungry the minute we reached, we headed for Circular Quay – food first. Must have been the best batter fried fish and chips we’ve had in ages. I think the fish was barramundi, a local fish – FAB! The lad was quite adventurous and went for a baby octopus salad as a side. Hats off to him for even trying it, though he looked definitely queasy after downing half of it! The kids had a blast with the gulls and then we were tempted to stop by the very inviting Sydney Guylian Belgian Chocolate Café … DROOL! What’s not to love about SO MUCH CHOCOLATE! Too full to eat any more, we had flat whites and lattes, while the kids dipped strawberries into decadent dark chocolate fondue. As the sun set, we soaked in the the different hues the iconic Opera House offered, walked around immersed in the beautiful views of the Harbour Bridge, the aborigines playing the didgeridoos, native music, the trapeze artists, watching in amazement at the Vivid Sydney Festival of lights … beautiful city this!{We were back soon to take a boat ride down to Manly for the Food & Wine Festival there. That’s another post, but I was sorry to have missed Shaz as I later realized she lives 4 beaches down from Manly. LOVED talking to her on the phone though … it was like we’d known each other for AGES. Yay for food bloggers and the connect!}Stopped for a delicious Thai dinner on the way home, and came back to the cake, ready and waiting. As we sat there polishing of the last crumbs of this fantastic cake, I’m glad I grabbed the camera just in time to get a few pictures of a cake that was gone in a matter of hours … We’re back home now, the pictures bringing alive memories of indulgent days spent eating and drinking … vintage cheese, bruschetta, grilled portabello mushrooms, Uzbekistani pulao, Thai Laska {which was a killer}, chilli con carne, meatballs with gravy, Teriyaki chicken, home made sushi … Tell tale signs of an indulgent holiday announced themselves and it’s time for a diet! The daughter kicked into her dieting diva mode immediately, so I have made Ulyanas almond cake twice already. {Minor changes – ground whole almonds with some sugar instead of almond meal and a sprinkling of slivered almonds on top.}
[print_this]Recipe: Almond Cake
Summary: A delicious to the last crumb almond cake … moist and addictive, yet with no added fat.
Prep Time: 25 minutes Total Time: 75 minutes Ingredients:
5 eggs, separated
200gms sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
225gms almond meal
1 tbsp brandy
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp baking powder
Method:
Preheat oven to 170C. Grease and line a 7″ round tin.
Beat yolks with half the sugar until light and fluffy. {In stand mixer for 10-15 minutes}. Mix brandy and almond extract in a small bowl, and drizzle in bit by bit while the yolks are mixing.
Add cornflour, continue beating, followed by baking powder and a pinch of salt.
Add the almond meal, and continue to mix. The batter will get firmer and firmer.
Beat the whites separately with the remaining sugar, and add by the spoonful to the dough like batter with the machine running.
Bake for about an hour. Take out of oven, remove the sides and leave on rack for 10 minutes. Carefully remove bottom, and allow to cool completely.
Sift over with icing sugar if desired, slice and serve.
