How to Present Your “Last Hurrah” Peaches of the Season

August 28, 2011 by 5 Comments

Chocolate Tart with Peach-Flavored Pastry Cream Decorated with Liqueur-Marinated Peaches

I enjoy writing this blog, but I would enjoy much more if you would send me requests. For instance: would you like to read  about how to work with chocolates and recipes using chocolates, rather then what I wrote here? It takes me the same time to write about things that you are interested to read or learn about as compared to what I think you may be interested to learn. 

I love to teach, coach and educate. Why not take advantage of it?

I cannot get enough of the summer fruits. I always buy a ton of them when I am going to the market, because I feel as if they are conversing with me: “Take me. Take me! You will not regret it!” And you know what, they are right. Even dough when I get home, I do not know what to do with them. If I want to place all the fruits that I purchased during a single visit, into the refrigerator, I would need to take out everything else and leave just the fruits.

Since that is not possible, I also create myself a problem, because I refuse to throw out food (this feeling of refusing to throw out food is a remnant from my childhood, when we had periods when it was nearly impossible to get any food and we went to bed hungry. The truth of the matter is that my parents gave us, kids, whatever they were able to get, and they went to sleep hungry most of the nights – but this is another story for another time), so I have lots of jams, fruits preserved in alcohol, or just frozen fruits in a plastic bags, ready to be used in the entire winter.

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Filed Under: Baking, Recipes, tarts and pies, Tips, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , ,

Easy, No Bake, Delightful Dessert for These Scorching Days

July 18, 2011 by 2 Comments

Flakey tart shell with cream cheese filling that is topped with blueberry compote

If you recall we were experimenting with the ratios of two types of flours (cake and all-purpose) in the preparation of tart dough shells for the summer about a month ago. If you want to refresh your memory, please click here. Also, I do not want to mislead you, but if you did not prepare pre-baked tart dough in June, then you will need to bake it now.

I hope you were with us in June and your freezer is filled with pre-baked tart shells, or at the least with “ready-to-be-baked” tart dough. However, it is never too late. Better late then never. Unfortunately (or fortunately for some of us) the heat wave is here to stay. I must tell you that for me heat wave is great, because I am suffering from a severe form of rheumatoid arthritis and I cannot tolerate cold (cold I mean like even in the 60s), but never mind that; this blog is not about me – it is about enjoying what we do, or what we want to do and learn what did not master yet.

This is July in New York City, in Hartford, in Boston, in Philadelphia and in DC.  What you expect? It is in the 90s for the entire week. There will be some thunderstorms with great humidity, as well so we can save some money by no need to visit a health spa for the steam room.

If you think that the weather wizard forgot about the Midwest; think again. OK. Lets stop taking about the weather and make a nice refreshing dessert in our cool, air-conditioned kitchen. If you will read this post to the  end, I will have a surprise for you.

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Filed Under: Baking, How to, Recipes, Science of Baking, tarts and pies, Tips, Tutorial Tagged With: , , , , , ,

A HEALTHY DESSERT UNDER 30 MINUTES

July 4, 2011 by 2 Comments

What a beautiful day today! The sun is shining, the sky is bright blue and there is this gentle breeze, just enough for flying the flags that decorate the many homes around us.

By now, Ken is pretty much used to the idea that the entire country is celebrating his birthday. For years, we were always envious, but concurrently happy for him, having fireworks around the country, music and dancing events everywhere and sizzling hot dogs, hamburgers and juicy stakes on BBQ grills, that we could smell the aromas even through the computer. What luck to be born on July fourth.

It is also a great time to take advantage of the many summer fruits displayed so attractively in Supermarkets, Farmer’s Markets, and at the kiosks and stands of individual farmers that you have to hold yourself not to grab one peach or apricot and bite into it while the juices are running down at the side of your mouth (although that may not be a pretty picture). Today, however, is the day when you want something red, white and blue and that is what I created for our birthday guy.

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Four Steps for Ready-Made Desserts for the Entire Summer

June 30, 2011 by 2 Comments

 

A two-layers tart; usually not used with fruit fillings

Hi, I am back. I trust every body is doing fine and you all enjoyed some great fruit tarts for the weekend?

So lets continue with our tarts preparation.

I like desserts that are easy to prepare, but not if it is on the account of quality or taste. That is why I am spending more time than usual on tarts (and I will continue with this topic through a few more posts). I’d like you to understand and appreciate this form of desserts; it is the most misunderstood baked dessert.

There is no need to buy those ready-made, mud-tasting pie crusts from the freezer section of the supermarket, when all you need is maybe 4-5 ingredients, a food processor, bowls, rolling-pin, a saucepan, a strainer, foil and parchment papers and a radio to put on your favorite music so that you can roll the dough to the rhythm of the music.

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Filed Under: Baking, desserts, Ingredients, Recipes, tarts and pies Tagged With: , ,

How to Create Impressive Desserts for the Entire Summer in 2 days

June 22, 2011 by 2 Comments

Welcome to Summer! I love summer, because I love the long sunny days, I like bright blue skies and I love all the fruits of the summer.

 

Apricot Tart, with the Pate Brisee (Flakey) Recipe; flours: cake- and all-purpose flour in a ratio of 1:1

Make Ahead Desserts for the Entire Summer – Then Relax and Serve or Setup a Buffet

The first thing we need to think about is what type(s) of desserts we want to make this summer. I learned a long time ago (actually from my Mom) that planning ahead saves time, reduces waste and minimizes potential errors, which at times maybe costly. In my opinion, the desserts of the summer have to be light and refreshing, taking advantage of the many seasonal fruits on the market, need very little work, can be prepared ahead, not adding heat to the home, use ingredients that are readily available and lastly should not forget the taste.

Did you guess what fits all the above? If you guessed TARTS, you are a winner.

Why tarts?

  • Tart dough provides the best base for the presentation of summer fruits
  • Easy to prepare
  • We can prepare a number of tart doughs simultaneously, using different recipes and freeze them for later use
  • With a frozen, pre-baked tart base we are always ready for unexpected guests
  • Tarts are lower in calories (it only has a base, no tops like pies do and they are usually filled with fruits)
  • Even people on gluten-free diet can enjoy it because you can make the tart dough with almond -, coconut-, or tapioca flour and if needed, you can add chickpea-flour for strength.

Please stay with me through this series, because we will have a lot of fun while learning new preparation methods; and the best part of this series is that you will have a variety of nearly ready-made desserts for the entire summer with very little work (except initially).

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Filed Under: Baking, desserts, How to, tarts and pies, Tutorials