peach butter crust tarte

okay, i'm a bit late with this post. however, seeing as peach season is just behind us, there still must be a few still readily available at reasonable prices. i'm sure it can be made with drained canned peaches, too, if fresh ones aren't available or are prohibitively costly. better yet, use frozen sliced ones which are available at some supermarkets in the freezer section.

the filling for this tarte consists of nothing much more than peaches, some sugar and flour. that's it, besides a sprinkling of cinnamon and splash of amaretto or peach schnapps liqueur if you like. using the dough recipe in my previous post, the pastry can be made in the morning and refrigerated, with the rest of the recipe finished later on. the most tedious part, though very simple, is removing the skin from the peaches.

this tarte is, in my opinion, at its best once it's been refrigerated. the delay seems to improve the flavour and texture of this easy-to-make dessert.
hope you like it.....


peach butter crust tarte

serves 6 to 8

ingredients:

1 pastry recipe

6 to 8 good sized peaches, skinned & sliced thinly (see this post)
3 tbsp flour
8 tbsp sugar
1 - 1 1/2 tbsp amaretto or peach schnapps (optional)

cinnamon

crushed amaretti cookies, optional

method:

preheat your oven to 375F.

skin and slice your peaches (approx 1/4" thick). place them in a medium sized bowl.

add the sugar and flour to the peaches. add the amaretto or peach schnapps, if using.

stir well. they will look thickly coated at first.

wait 10 minutes or until you see the juices develop.

place the peaches carefully into the chilled pastry in the tarte pan.

place the tarte on a lined baking sheet in order to avoid any possible spillage during baking.

sprinkle with cinnamon if desired and crushed amaretti (almond) cookies.

bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

remove from oven and let cool completely.

refrigerate and serve.

enjoy!

no roll pastry dough for tart(e)s

not everyone is so adept in the kitchen. a close friend of mine, for example, shouldn't be allowed into any kitchen let alone her own; she is simply a baking disaster. though she tries, pastry is not her forte. i've witnessed it and it's not pretty. while i try not to laugh, it's impossible. as she stares at me with this "what did i do wrong now" look on her face, i just roll my eyes and say, "move over, lemme do it {....again}. i then whisper in her ear, "next time buy it at the store and pretend you made it." she isn't amused and flings pastry dough at me that is stuck to her fingers like mortar.

this pastry is one even she can't screw up. let me rephrase that: yes, she can but it's much harder to do since all is done in a food processor and the dough is patted into the pastry and not rolled out. it's simple and fast and pretty much idiot proof provided you measure correctly, don't over process and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS {my friend always thinks she can do it "her way" LOL}.

one important thing about pastry dough - especially those for tart(e)s & pies. chilling your finished — rolled & fitted — pastry for a good 1/2 - 1 hr before baking usually retards the process of shrinkage once in the oven. just an extra tip....

no roll (butter) pastry dough

makes enough for 1 9-inch tart(e)

this can be made with the addition of ground almonds and almond extract or with vanilla beans and a bit of vanilla extract. adjust it according to your filling. the pastry can also be made without any flavourings at all. while it is made with butter, margarine can be used instead but it must be the kind which comes in blocks or rectangles and is solid.
ingredients:

1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c ground almonds or the beans on 1 vanilla pod*
1/3 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp almond extract or vanilla extract*
1/2 c butter or margarine (cold)
1 egg yolk

*optional — you can omit these items and make a plain crust.

method:

place the flour, ground almonds or vanilla beans if using, salt & sugar and extract in the food processor and pulse until blended. this can be done in a bowl, by hand, also if you don't have a processor.

add the butter which you have cut in small pieces. make sure it is still cold.

process by pulsing, or use a pastry cutter if doing it by hand, until it is incorporated and is sandy. don't overprocess.

add your yolk and pulse only until you get a ball of dough. do the same by hand but with a wooden spoon.

chill the dough for 15 minutes.

place the chilled dough in an ungreased tarte pan with a removable bottom.

press it in with your fingers and make sure to go up the sides of the tarte tin.

fill with the filling you like and bake at 375F. see here for an example.

sweet memories

growing up with my european parents often meant eating foods or dishes that you would never see on the tables of my canadian friends whose families were more or less north-americanized by at least 2 generations. i knew my friends thought we were weird from the faces they made when, on occasion, they would stay for supper. no, the food wasn't bad at all — it just wasn't the "meat and potatoes" they were used to. how embarrassed i was, thinking my friend was probably sorry s/he accepted the invitation and would never talk to me again ;) hamburgers and hotdogs didn't often grace our table. no, i got things like a green salad with escarole/frisée and arugula alongside this kind of sweet-sourish fresh apricot custardy tart .... and that wasn't part of dessert but rather what went with the salad for part of a summer meal. as i child, i just didn't appreciate it.

one thing my parents, like many europeans, were big on when it came to baking was hazelnuts. with their very distinctive flavour, they showed up in many a thing from chocolate confections to cakes & breads/pastries and cookies.

hazelnuts, unless you buy them already skinned can be a real pain to prepare; i still have vivid memories of my mother roasting and then rubbing these little almost dried chickpea looking nuts with a tea towel -- sometimes pounds of them before the holidays -- to remove their dark brown papery skins. what work it was for something to be gobbled up in a fraction of the time it took to remove their outer coatings.

a while ago, i happened across a recipe for a cookie from one of my favourite {french} foodstylists-now-baker, florence edelmann, which is exactly the same as i remember eating on special occasions. they are sugary, crispy and full of hazelnut flavour. to be honest, all you need is just one or two of them to feel satisfied.

in the end, all i have to say is -- sugar fiends -- these are a definite "must try" if sweet things are up your alley & you like the taste of hazelnuts! not only are the following croquants aux noisettes terribly simple to make, they taste incredibly good, look like you spent a lot of money on them and store for a very long time without any deterioration to their texture or flavour. all this from very few ingredients!



croquants aux noisettes
sugary crispy hazelnut cookies

makes 18 cookies

ingredients:

1/2 c hazelnuts (whole) [70g]
6 tbsp flour [40 g]
1/2 c + 1/3 c minus 1 tbsp sugar [160 g]
1 pkg vanilla sugar - NOT vanilla extract
1 egg white

method:

preheat the oven to 400 F (200C) and line TWO baking sheet with parchment paper. you must use two sheets or bake one batch and then the next as the cookies need space on the baking sheet. they will spread out as they bake.

divide the hazelnuts equally. grind 1/4 c with 1 tbsp of the sugar until it is fine (i.e. almost powdery). be careful not to overprocess the nuts or they will become oily.


chop, by hand, the other 1/4 c. do not chop the nuts finely - you want a coarse texture.

place the nuts and sugars in a medium sized bowl.

stir to blend and add the egg white.

mix it until it is blended.

add the flour and stir to combine until you have a type of (sand-like) dough. don't overmix.

divide it into 18 equal portions.

using a tablespoon, place the cookie dough on the baking sheet - 9 per baking sheet, WELL spread out.

bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes - they should be lightly golden brown.

the undersides should be golden.

very important: let them cool several minutes on the baking sheet so they do not fall apart. they will be fragile at first but firm later. move them to a cooling rack after ~ 10 min.

these cookies stay crisp and store very well — umm, if you have any left later, that is!

enjoy!!

mmmmuffins

breakfast.

break fast ....

i've never been one of those people who wakes up hungry. even after a full night's sleep, food isn't the first thing on my mind. no, my number one priority, after battling with the "snooze button" on my alarm clock for 20 to 30 minutes every morning, has always been caffeine — and lots of it. i need to work for my appetite to be awoken in the mornings. to this day, it amazes me how people wake up ravenously hungry .... some of them ready to bite your head off until they've sated their appetites. maybe i'm strange but the sight and smell of food in the early morning even makes me feel nauseated :o

in my feeble attempts to mend my ways (ahem....i mean become more health conscious) and eat breakfast every morning, i've been on my bran muffin "kick" — a mouth full of bran cereal is enough to choke anyone to death, so one might as well get it in a more palatable form :)

muffins.

ok, muffins and i have never had a great love affair ..... especially healthy ones. one day, a while back, i came across a recipe which looked decent. i was leary of the results the first time i tried this recipe; low-fat stuff usually tastes like crap. these, however, are pretty damned good for what they are in terms of ingredients. they make anywhere from 8 to 12 and freeze great in ziploc sandwich bags to grab for the those busy mornings when you're on the run. give 'em a try to see for yourself — and remember: these ones won't leave that big stain of grease on your napkin!


walnut & date bran muffins

makes 8 to 12, depending on size of muffin tins

wet ingredients:

1 c applesauce
1 egg
2/3 c {clabbered} soymilk or milk*, or buttermilk
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
1/4 c molasses or sorghum or brown rice syrup
1/4 c oil
1 tsp vanilla

*if clabbering the soymilk or milk, you will need 3 tsp of white vinegar. if using buttermilk then you don't need to do this.

dry ingredients:

1 c all purpose flour + 1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all bran (cereal)**
1 tsp baking soda (not baking powder)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger powder

1/2 - 2/3 c chopped walnuts
1/2 - 2/3 c chopped dates (i use ~10 to 12 dates)

**you can use any bran cereal, as long as it's 100% bran

method:

preheat oven to 375F and grease or line muffin tins.

if you are not using buttermilk, then you need to clabber your soymilk or regular milk. this means you are adding an acid to it (vinegar) which will thicken the milk and make it react with the baking soda to make the muffins rise during baking. note that when you clabber soymilk, it does not thicken as much as regular milk; it still works fine however.

place the soymilk or milk in a bowl and add 3 tsp of white vinegar. let it sit while you measure the dry & wet ingredients.

after you have measured all the ingredients, the mixture will have thickened and will appear curdled. this is what you are looking for.

mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside.

mix all the wet ingredients and stir to combine. add the buttermilk or the clabbered (soy) milk and stir again.

add the wet mixture to the dry and stir to combine. make sure to stir it well but do not overmix.

add the walnuts and chopped dates and let the mixture sit for a minimum of 5 minutes. this is important: you need the bran cereal to absorb some of the liquid.

after 5 minutes, measure out equally into muffin tins and bake for 30 to 35. turn down the oven to 350 during the last 10 minutes.

let cool or eat warm. these can be frozen for later use.

enjoy!

full of beans

often seen at picnics, get-togethers, potluck dinners and bbq's, bean salads are popular because they keep well and are very simple to make. they are also very inexpensive, can be made the night before (they should be to improve flavours!), and do not deteriorate quickly as do many other salads.


there really aren't any hard & steadfast rules for making a bean salad — it is essentially just a mix of your favourite beans, vegetables and salad dressing. the only real rule is to let the salad marinate for a few hours so the vegetables and beans can absorb the flavours of the marinade you are using. i tend not to go too heavy on the vegetables and prefer a balanced dressing, and not one which is highly acidic.

served in small portions, the following will stay good for at least a full week. the salad tastes best served at room temperature. if the flavours have faded a bit over the following days, you can perk things up by adding a bit more of "this and that" before serving.


marinated bean salad

makes enough for 6 - 8 people

ingredients:

19 oz can mixed beans (or your fave)

1/4 - 1/2 large green pepper
2 - 3 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1/8 - 1/4 red onion
4 - 6 tbsp corn

2 - 3 tbsp olive oil
2 -3 tbsp vinegar (reg white or apple cider)
1 -2 tbsp honey*
1/4 tsp each garlic & onion powder (or 1 clove chopped garlic)
1/4 tsp salt - or more
1/8 tsp black pepper

chopped parsley or coriander (optional)

*can use brown rice syrup (vegan) or regular sugar also.

method:

drain and rinse the beans and set aside in a strainer so all the water runs off.

meanwhile, prepare the vegetables: thinly slice the green pepper and red onions, chop the sun dried tomatoes and measure out the corn. place the vegetables in a bowl.

add or change the vegetables as you like. some people typically add cooked green (haricot) beans as a standard.

add the drained beans to the vegetables and then add the dressing ingredients. mix everything together and add the parsley or coriander if using.

let the salad marinate for a few hours on the counter. the cold of the fridge tends to slow the absorption process so let it marinate first.

simple, quick and easy

enjoy!

banana business

it goes without saying that there are probably a million or more recipes for banana breads around — everyone having his/her own favourite version. banana bread is something which i only really make whenever i have bananas that are fully ripe or over-ripened and while it's not an item i'd runnnn to the kitchen to bake on a regular basis, it is one of those staple kind of any-time-of-the-day snacking cakes, good for mid morning coffee breaks or late night kitchen raids which i do enjoy baking a few times a year.

the following recipe, which comes from a friend, is as particularly good as it is surprising since there are no dairy products in it or is there very much fat to speak of. in fact, it only uses 1/3 c of oil for a whole loaf. most of the moisture is provided by the bananas themselves and the honey content. the loaf will stay perfectly good for up to 5 or 6 days, if well-wrapped. it can be sliced and frozen for longer keeping if you like.

if you're organized, this recipe shouldn't take much time at all to throw together. having things premeasured and the baking pan ready saves you a lot of time. in terms of ingredients, i've added pecans and chocolate chips to the recipe; you can use either, both or none at all and just serve it plain. if you don't have pecans, you can use chopped walnuts. the recipe also uses part whole wheat flour — so, if you're thinking, "yuck!", don't ..... it's quite the opposite. it's healthier and tastes just as good as using only all purpose flour.


no nonsense banana bread

makes 1 loaf

ingredients:

1 c wholewheat + 3/4 c AP flour (or 1 3/4 c all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

2 large bananas, very ripe (or 3 small-ish ones)
2 large eggs (or egg replacement)

1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c honey (or brown rice syrup)
1/2 c (soft) brown sugar, packed

optional:

1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
1/3 - 1/2 c chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

method:

in large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and soda and salt. set aside.

peel and mash the bananas in another bowl. add the eggs and mix all together well.

in another bowl, mix together the oil, honey and brown sugar. it is easiest to measure the oil first and then the honey - it will slip right out of the measuring cup. at this point, you can mix this into the eggs and banana mixture or keep it separate. either way works. just make sure there are no hard bits of brown sugar (that won't dissolve) as you want the mixture to be uniform. if your brown sugar is not fully soft, you can microwave it (covered) for 15 to 20 seconds first to soften it up.

measure out the nuts and chocolate chips, if using.

before mixing everything together, preheat your oven to 325F and well grease a regular sized loaf pan (approx 8" x 5").

mix the wet ingredients into the dry and combine until all is blended together. do not overmix.

add the nuts and chocolate chips and pour into your greased pan (or muffin pan).

bake at 325 F for approx. 1 1/4 hrs or until the center is cooked -- test with a toothpick.

let cool for at least 20 min before removing.

stays good for several days and can be sliced and frozen.

enjoy!