Posts tagged ‘blue berries’
Recipe of the Week – Mixed Berry Tart
(From the Dessert Collection at emealsforyou.com)
Mixed Berry Tart
During a quick trip to New Jersey last week I got into a discussion about recipes and how Charlie Trotter, of Chicago fame, once said he never strives to make the same recipe exactly the same each time. The reasons for this is the ingredients might change, or if you cook like me, adverse to measuring, you may add more or less of something. The other topic that came up is “cooking like a French farmer’s wife”, this means using ingredients you have on hand. With this in mind we had a dinner party Sunday night, comfort food really: pot roast, roasted potatoes and carrots. For dessert I had some berries in the frig and decided to make a cake using them. Borrowing the basic recipe for a Cranberry Cake on the site at emealsforyou.com, I made the cake without the cranberries and used the berries. A quick dusting of finishing sugar and we had a spectacular, both visually and taste-wise, finish to a good, cold-weather meal with friends.
Mixed Berry Tart
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 8 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1.5 | cups | sugar, granulated |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped, toasted |
| 2 | large | egg, lightly beaten |
| 1 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
| 0.75 | cup | butter, salted |
| 1 | cup | mixed berries |
| 4 | Tb | apricot jam |
| 1 | spritz | PAM |
| 1 | Tb | sugar, finishing |
Place nuts in a large bowl and pour 1/3 of the sugar over the top; mix. Mix the slightly beaten eggs, the remaining sugar, the flour and the melted butter together. Pour over the nuts and mix. Spray PAM in a 9-inch springform pan and add the mixture. Bake in a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt the jam in the microwave, pour over the berries. Arrange the berries on top of cooled cake. Sprinkle the finishing sugar over the top just prior to serving.
More like this at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – Date and Nut Bread
From the Breads Collection at emealsforyou.com
Date & Nut Bread
Driving to NJ this week to pick up my mother-in-law and bring here back to Cincy for a visit. As I plan the meals I decided that one of the breakfasts would be a variety of breads and muffins; served on the deck in the morning sunshine. There is something relaxing about idling over a second cup of strong coffee and enjoying sweet breads adorned with a bit of butter or some creamy cream cheese.
The good news is I can make these ahead and simply pop them into a plastic baggie and then into the freezer to be rapidly thawed and served almost warm later in the week. I bake them in 4 inch springform pans so that I can take just the right amount out of the freezer and keep the rest for a later time. I think I will make some banana muffins, blue berry muffins and maybe a few palmiers just for grins.
Date & Nut Bread
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 10 |
| Category: | Breads |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 1 | cup | Dates, dried, chopped |
| 1 | cup | walnuts, chopped |
| 0.33 | cup | karo syrup, dark |
| 1.5 | tsp | baking soda |
| 0.5 | tsp | salt, kosher |
| 3 | Tb | butter, unsalted |
| 0.75 | cup | water |
| 2 | large | egg |
| 0.75 | cup | sugar, granulated |
| 0.5 | cup | flour, whole wheat |
| 1 | cup | flour, all-purpose |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 81/2 X 41/2 X 3 inch loaf pan.
Put dates, walnuts, baking soda, salt, karo syrup and butter in a bowl. Heat water to the boil and pour on top of date mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Beat eggs and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the flours and stir. Add in the date mixture and stir until well blended. Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake 40 -50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Slide a knife around pan and invert over a serving plate. May be frozen.
Find the recipes for the muffins, the palmiers and more at emealsforyou.com.
Recipe of the Week – De-constructed Hazelnut Cheesecake
I made this for the dinner party last week; I wanted something special but that wasn’t hard or long-winded in its preparation. It takes a couple of easy recipes and combines… them adding some berries along the way. Apparently it was a hit as 7 out of the 9 people chose this over the baked pear with blue cheese fondant. Okay, reading that last line sounds a little uppity but really both desserts are easily made and served. The point being that something can look great, taste great and still require only as much work as making chocolate chip cookies and your guests will appreciate it more.
To prepare this dessert start by making half of the cheesecake recipe found on emealsforyou.com; just change the serving number to 6 on the sidebar. Take the cheesecake out of the oven just when the cheesecake is set but has not started to brown. Next make the hazelnut tuilles. All can be refrigerated or even frozen prior to the day you will serve them. Mix some berries in a bowl with a little sugar and set aside.
To assemble: place a dab of the cheesecake on a plate, place one hazelnut tuilles on top of the dab. Now with a melon baller or just a small spoon scoop out 3 small round balls of the cheesecake and place on the tuille, spoon a small amount of the berries over the cheesecake balls. Repeat for the next level and finish with a tuille. Spoon any berries leftover onto the plate.
Cheesecake
| Complexity: | Easy |
| Serves: | 6 |
| Category: | Dessert |
| Meal: | other (General) |
| 24 | oz | cream cheese |
| 4 | large | egg |
| 2 | large | egg, whites |
| 1 | cup | sugar, white |
| 1 | tsp | vanilla |
Have everything at room temperature. Mix together until very smooth. Pour into a springform pan, place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Turn off oven and let cheesecake sit ( in oven) for 1 hour. This is best if made the day before and refrigerated over night.
Recent Comments