Andyboy Cooks!

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Fresh Raspberries

 

I decided to whip up a dessert last night, saw this on foodgawker and thought it looked nice. It was terrific and the only change that I made was using raspberries instead of strawberries (they were on hand). The recipe came from Former Chef.

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Fresh Raspberries

1 Sweet Tart Dough (see below)
8 oz good dark chocolate
8 oz Heavy Cream
2 baskets fresh rasperries

Tart Pan with removable bottom

Once the tart shell is cooked and cooled, heat the cream in a heavy bottomed pot, just until it gets very hot; do not boil. Put the chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot cream over it. Whisk until all the chocolate is melted. Yield is approximately 2 cups.

Pour the chocolate into the baked tart shell and chill in the refrigerator for about 1/2 an hour until it is almost firm. Place the raspberries across the top of the tart. Cover with glaze if you want, especially if you are making a day in advance.The glaze keeps the fruit looking fresh and moist and keeps it from drying out in the refrigerator. An easy glaze can be made out of melted and strained apricot jam.


Sweet Tart Dough


1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp Sugar
12 Tbsp Butter (1 1/2 sticks, cut into 1" pieces)
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp cold water
1/4 tsp. salt (only use if you are using unsalted butter)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Directions for making in food processor
Fit bowl with metal blade. Add flour, sugar and butter to bowl (add salt if butter is unsalted). Put on the lid and process in short bursts, about 10 times to break up the butter into the flour. Mix the egg yolk and water in a small bowl and with the processor on, pour the egg/water mix through the tube in the lid into the bowl. Keep mixing until the dough forms into a ball inside the bowl. Remove and form into a small cake.

If you don’t have a food processor and want to make it by hand, that works too. Just follow the same steps you would for pie dough; cut the butter into the flour and sugar, working it through by hand until it becomes like coarse meal or breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg/water mixture with a fork until it’s incorporated and the dough comes together in a soft ball.

At this point you can press the dough into the tart pan, or roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Once rolled out, put it in the pan and press the dough into the edges, pulling off any excess.

Because the filling for this recipe is not cooked in the tart shell, the crust needs to be fully baked by itself. To keep the center of the crust from puffing up and cracking during baking, you’ll want to weigh it down.

Cut a piece of parchment paper or foil to fit the bottom of the tart pan. Tip; fold a square in 1/2 and then 1/2 again to make a smaller square. Cut from edge to edge in a semi-circle equal to 1/2 the diameter of your pan.

Pierce the bottom of the dough with a fork and put the paper on top.
Weigh down with pie weights or beans.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges of the crust begin to color. Remove from oven, and carefully remove the paper and beans. Put the tart back in the oven and bake until crisp and golden, about another 8 minutes. Remove and let cool. Fill.

Lime Cheesecake topped w/ Lime Curd - A Daring Bakers Challenge!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

This month's challenge was, as you can see, cheesecake. I had never made one before but I love cheesecake and have wanted to make one for some time so this was a terrific opportunity. I decided to use a 6" springform pan as opposed to the standard 8" pan as I wanted to make a smaller but taller cake. This made me a little nervous, convincing myself that the centre of the cake would be undercooked, but I tacked on about ten minutes of extra cooking time and it came out beautifully. I was surprised at how light a homemade cheesecake is compared to the dense slices you get at a restaurant.

I'm a bit of a curd nut and I tend to make one whenever an opportunity presents itself. I decided to keep this Daring Bakers Challenge very simple, as the last two desserts that I made were fairly elaborate (by an amateurs standards, that is) and what better way than to make a simple lime cheesecake with a clean and delicious lime curd on top. The curd had a nice sour bite to it and contrasted very well with the creaminess of the cheesecake. As for the crust, you can see that it's a little thicker around the edges making it lean inward toward the middle. No big whoop. Just something to note for next time.

I had a ball making it and it was a big hit with the family. Thanks to Lisa and Ivonne over at the Daring Bakers for another terrific challenge!

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake

Crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Lime Curd

4 eggs
2/3 c. fresh lime juice
3/4 c. granulated sugar
6 tbsp. butter
2 tsp. finely grated lime zest

1) Whisk together first 4 ingredients in a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly for 12 minutes, or until thickened.  Take saucepan off the heat and stir in the lemon zest

2) Pour carefully through a wire mesh strainer and into a bowl.  Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.

 

Homestyle Apple Pie

Sadly, my grandmother passed this past Saturday so I decided to have a night honouring her memory by cooking some of the dishes she used to make. I decided on Pot Roast for dins and Apple Pie for dessert (with a glass of tomato juice to start things off - I think it's an Irish thing). I found this recipe over at Fabulous Foods and it turned out really well. You may notice by the photo that my camera & photostudio lights are a bit on the fritz but I'm in the process of getting that repaired. I've also included a step by step photo instruction at the very bottom of the post (something I plan on doing for most recipes in the future). Try this apple pie recipe - you won't be disappointed!

Mile High Apple Pie

Ingredients:

Double recipe of basic pie dough
10 medium sized baking baking apples (most any variety with the exception of Macintosh will do), peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 egg, beaten

**Aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning

Instructions: Make pie dough. Set aside. (Click for recipe and instructions.)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Peel, core and slice the apples. Mix sugar and spices together. Pour sugar mixture over fruit and stir until well mixed and coated. Set aside.

Roll dough and line the bottom of a 9" pie pan. Roll out dough for top, and don't forget, with all those apples, you'll have more area to cover than with the average pie. Make it large!

Fill pie shell with apple mixture. Dot with pats of butter. Cover with top dough. Brush pie with beaten egg. Loosely cover pie with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning and bake for twenty five minutes.

Remove foil and continue to bake for another twenty minutes or until nicely browned. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before serving.

Individual Chocolate Valentino Cake, Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream in a Dark/White Chocolate Cup, w/ Raspberry Coulis.

 

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

The February Daring Bakers Challenge was Chocolate Valentino cake! I had never heard of it before and was pretty excited to get it going. A traditional Valentino is in the shape of a heart but I decided to pass on that and go for an individual portion. The challenge called for a pairing with vanilla ice cream, and this was the one bit I wasn't that jazzed about being that I don't own an ice cream machine and would have to do the whole manually. It can be done, and the instructions are below. I was diligent about the process and unfortunately it still turned out a little icy, but it was still tasty. I also decided to throw in a raspberry coulis (raspberries and chocolate - tough to beat). The recipes are below as well as an instructional video on how to make a chocolate vessel!

Chocolate Valentino

Preparation Time:  20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe

Preparation Time:  5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.



Making Ice Cream Without a Machine

1. Prepare your ice cream mixture, then chill it over an ice bath.

2. Put a deep baking dish, or bowl made of plastic, stainless steel or something durable in the freezer, and pour your custard mixture into it.

3. After forty-five minutes, open the door and check it. As it starts to freeze near the edges, remove it from the freezer and stir it vigorously with a spatula or whisk. Really beat it up and break up any frozen sections. Return to freezer.

4. Continue to check the mixture every 30 minutes, stirring vigorously as it's freezing. If you have one, you can use a hand-held mixer for best results, or use a stick-blender or hand-held mixer.

But since we're going low-tech here, you can also use just a spatula or a sturdy whisk along with some modest physical effort.

5. Keep checking periodically and stirring while it freezes (by hand or with the electric mixer) until the ice cream is frozen. It will likely take 2-3 hours to be ready.


Raspberry Coulis

Ingredients

2  cups  fresh or frozen raspberries
About 1/2 cup sugar
About 1 tbsp. lemon juice


Preparation

1. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring raspberries and 1/2 cup sugar to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to thicken, about 15 minutes.

2. Press mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, using a spatula to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard seeds and skins. Stir in 1 tbsp. lemon juice. Taste and add more sugar or lemon juice if you like. Serve coulis warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Vessels

Delicious Pear Pie

 

 

Here's a nice little pear pie that I found here and decided to try. I have to admit - this one was a bit of a cheat. I saw that they had frozen pie crusts at the store and I wanted to give them a shot and see if they were any good, and this seemed to be a good opportunity. It was pretty good to be honest and i will certainly use them in the future if I'm in a pinch or, more likely, feeling a little lazy.

Everything thing went well with the pie except that it seemed finished after about 45 minutes instead of the full hour that the recipe calls for. Some of that can be attributed to my oven being different from the writer of the recipe, but not enough to shave off one quarter of the cooking time. So if you decide to give this one a shot, keep that in mind. Here is the recipe (from Honey & Jam).

 

Delicious Pear Pie
 
Ingredients:

1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
3 or 4 pears - peeled, cored and cut in half
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten


Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Press the pie pastry into the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Flute the edges. Place the pear halves cut side down in the pie crust with the small ends toward the center.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the butter and sugar together until smooth, then beat in the eggs one at a time until light and fluffy. Stir in flour and vanilla. Pour over the top of the pears.
4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, until pears are soft and custard is set in the center. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Jewish Apple Cake

   

I've been eyeballing this cake recipe for some time now so I thought I'd have a go at it. It was a really nice and light apple cake which would be ideal for breakfast or an afternoon snack (perfect with coffee or tea). I got the recipe from Pete Bakes and you can find it here.