Apple Nougatine Tart

"Apple Nougatine Tart"... Doesn't that sound delicious already?! This tart is about as wonderful as its name sounds. You will have to put some effort into this, but it's totally worth it, I swear! The home-made flaky crust is divine. Store-bought dough just wouldn't do. Caramelizing the apples takes a bit of patience and effort, but it's quite a joyous thing to do and what you get out of it is a mouth-watering filling. Good news: The crunchy almond topping is really easy to make. Just mix the ingredients, spread on your tart and you're good to go.

Recipe

(from the lovely Tartine by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson)

Flaky Tart Dough (Recipe yields two 25cm tart or pie shells):

1tsp salt

150ml water, very cold

455g flour

300g butter, very cold

In a small bowl, add salt to the water and stir to dissolve. Keep very cold until ready to use.

To make the dough, put flour in a large bowl. Cut the butter into pieces and scatter over the flour. You can rub it together with your hands or pulse this in a food processor. When the mixture forms large crumbs and there are still butter pieces the size of peas left, add the water-and-salt mixture and knead with your hands or pulse again in the food processor until you have a more or less smooth dough. It's no problem if there are still butter chunks left. 

On a floured surface, divide the dough into two equal balls and shape each ball into a disk. Wrap in cling film and cool for about two hours or over night. You can freeze one of these and use it another time.

Preheat the oven to 190°C. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out on a floured surface. Lift and rotate the dough every few strokes to discourage sticking and work quickly. Transfer the disk to a tart tin (25cm diameter) that is lined with parchment paper.

Cover the dough with parchment paper and then with beans or chickpeas and blind bake for about 25 minutes, until lightly brown. Take out of the oven, remove the parchment paper with the beans or chickpeas and bake for another 5 minutes until golden brown. Then, let cool completely.

For the filling:

1.6kg apples (I only had 1kg, but that was no problem, I had enough filling in the end.)

55g butter

70g sugar

a pinch of salt

lemon juice and grated zest of half a medium lemon

Preheat the oven to 170°C and have the tart shell ready.

To make the filling, halve, core, peel and slice the apples, mixing them together in a large bowl. Have an empty bowl ready for the sautéed apples. Sauté the apples in 3 or 4 batches, depending on how large your pan is. Divide the butter and the sugar into the number of batches you think you'll need for sautéing.

Melt the butter in your sauté pan over high heat. Add the sugar and allow it to caramelize; the mixture will darken as it caramelizes. If the sugar is caramelizing unevenly, stir with a wooden spoon; otherwise, just let it cook. Carefully add the apples to your pan an a single layer and sauté until soft, turning a few times with the spoon. You want about half the apples to become very soft and the other half to hold their shape. The timing depends on the types of apples and the thickness of the slices. When the apples are ready, transfer to your bowl.

Don't clean the pan between the batches; the sugar and bits of apple in the bottom of them pan will caramelize and add more flavor. Melt more butter, add sugar and caramelize again. It won't take as long as the first time. Repeat until all your apples are sautéed. When all the apples are cooked, deglaze the pan by increasing the heat to high and letting it become very hot. Add a few large spoonfuls of water and scrape up the caramel and bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the juices reduce and then pour them over the apples.

When all the apples have been cooked, mix them well with lemon juice, zest and salt and pile them into the pre-baked pastry shell. Smooth the top of the apples with the back of the spoon.  

For the topping:

100g sliced almonds

100g sugar

2 large egg whites

a pinch of salt

To make the topping, combine the almonds, sugar, egg whites and salt in a small mixing bowl and stir well. Using a spoon, spread the topping evenly over the apples. 

Bake the tart until the topping is browned, about 30 minutes. Then, let cool completely before serving. The tart will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Caramel Brownies

I know, I know... I said, I wouldn't write about the weather anymore. But, seriously, guys... I can't take this any longer! It's rainy and grey, it's windy and it's waaaay too cold for May! At least, I had Ina over for lunch today. She totally managed to lighten up my mood. Though, at some point, she said to me: "Katrin, what are we going to do if there is no summer at all this year?!?" - "I don't know." I said. "Eat brownies?!" And that's exactly what we did. Sunshine or rain, there's always comfort in brownies...

Recipe

(from: LEMENU 5/2013)

150g butter

300g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

5 eggs

225g sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

200g flour

40g cocoa powder

100g fudge, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line brownie tin with parchment paper or grease well. The recipe calls for a tin of either 25x25cm or 28x22cm. I used my 23x18cm brownie tin plus a 20cm cake tin.

Slowly melt butter and chocolate over low heat, let cool a little. In a large bowl, beat sugar, salt and eggs with an electric hand mixer until fluffy and pale. Add the chocolate and mix well. Then, sift in flour and cocoa powder and mix well. Fold in the fudge.

Fill your batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes. Let cool, then cut into squares. You can sprinkle them with coarse sea salt before serving if you wish.

Espresso Hazelnut Cake

I've been trying to make an effort and drink less coffee this week... Well, let me tell you what happens when I cut back on coffee: It leads me to baking a cake that is soaked with coffee. Espresso and roasted hazelnuts are the perfect flavor combination. Chocolate, of course, goes really well with those two. And the sweet sugary coffee glaze that is poured over the cake just after it comes out of the oven intensifies the coffee flavor and gives this cake wonderfully moist consistency.

Recipe

(slightly adapted from Betty Bossis Kuchen Cakes & Torten)

200g sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 large pinch of cinnamon

200g ground hazelnuts (I roasted whole hazelnuts and then ground them in my food processor)

150g dark chocolate, chopped

300g flour

1 sachet of baking powder

200g butter, melted and cooled

4 eggs, beaten

2.5dl strong coffee, cool

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 30cm cake tin with parchment paper and grease with butter.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, salt, cinnamon and ground hazelnuts. Sift in flour and baking powder and mix. In another, smaller bowl, mix butter, eggs and coffee. Then, add this to the other mixture and mix well with an electric hand mixer until well combined. Then, pour into your prepared cake tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes. Until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

For the glaze, mix 50ml cool coffee with 125g icing sugar and pour over the cake while it is still hot. Of course, a chocolate frosting would also be a good option here.

Rhubarb Almond Cake

Yes, there's rhubarb in this cake. I know you can't really see it on the pictures. It's the same sad story every time. You buy these beautiful pink stalks of rhubarb, and then you peel them and maybe there's a hint of pink left. Well, this time, this hint of pink turned into a brownish color while making the rhubarb compote the recipe requires. But, even though this cake is not a total highlight colorwise, it's wonderfully moist and tasty. I really like the combination of rhubarb and almond. So, all in all, still a winner and certainly a perfect Sunday tea cake.

Recipe
(from: The Hummingbird Bakery - Süsse Sünden)

For the rhubarb compote:
4-5 stalks of rhubarb, cut into pieces of about 2cm
70g sugar
20g butter
50ml water

For the dough:
190g soft butter, and some more for greasing the cake tin
190g sugar
3 eggs
140g flour, plus some more for the cake tin
1 tsp baking powder
50g ground almonds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
25ml milk
100g rhubarb compote
15g slivered almonds

For the compote, put rhubarb, butter, sugar and water into a bowl. Boil up, then slightly reduce the heat and let simmer until the rhubarb is soft. Stir occasionally. It won't take that long. Take away from the heat and let cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (convection oven 150°C). Grease the cake tin (20 - 25cm) with butter and dust with flour, or line with parchment paper.

For the dough, mix butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs, one by one, and mix on middle speed. Scrape down the bowl occasionally. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, almonds, cinnamon and ginger. Add half of the flour mixture to your fluffy mixture and mix. Add half of the milk, mix again. Scrape down the bowl. Repeat with the rest of the flour and the rest of the milk. Then, fold in the rhubarb compote.

Fill the dough into your prepared cake tin. Sprinkle over some slivered almonds and bake the cake in the middle of the oven for about 50-60 minutes. Test whether it's done with a wooden skewer. If it comes out clean, the cake is done. Take out of the oven and let cool.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

It's been a while since my last peanut butter post but lately, I've been having a craving for it. So I went and bought a jar of peanut butter, took one of my new beloved cookbooks off the shelf and made some cookies. Watch out guys! Peanut Butter is back! And it joined forces with cocoa powder. A combination which gives these cookies an oh-so heavenly full flavor. They have a crackling sugar coat and a wonderfully dense texture... with crunchy peanut pieces here and there. I give up - peanut butter won me over yet again.

Recipe
(from: The Hummingbird Bakery - Home Sweet Home)

170g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
115g butter, soft
120g crunchy peanut butter
120g caster sugar, plus 40g extra for rolling
90g soft light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line two or three baking trays with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. In another bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and both sugars with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, scraping down the bowl as you go. Add the vanilla extract, mix again. With the speed on slow, add the dry ingredients and mix until combined and the dough is formed.

Put the extra caster sugar in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 4-5cm ball (I made them a bit smaller) and roll each ball in the caster sugar to coat. Place the dough balls onto the prepared baking trays, keeping them about 4cm apart. Flatten a little with your hand.

Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cookies have a crusty surface and have cracked. They are rather soft when you take them out of the oven, but the get more firm when cooling down. Don't overbake - as ususal, I overbaked the first batch, they were much too hard after cooling down.

Pea Soup with Mint

I don't know whether I should trust that sunshine yet... Well, I won't say much about the weather anymore. I've been reading my past ten posts or so and it's something like "Yay, the sun is shining!" alternating with "Oh, it's cold and gray!". Anyway, this delicious soup here's got the color of spring: green. And the mint is the little something that turns it from ordinary into special.

Recipe
(from: Tibits at Home)

2 onions
2 twigs of peppermint, washed and chopped
400g frozen peas
200g potatoes, peeled, cut into 1cm dice
3 tablespoons olive oil
700ml vegetable stock
50ml heavy cream
sea salt
pepper

In a large pan, heat olive oil. Gently roast the onions together with the peppermint. Then, add potatoes and peas. Roast for about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable stock and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes.

Then, purée. Strain trough a fine sieve if you want to (I didn't). Add cream and bring to a boil again. Take away from the heat. Season with salt and pepper. Decorate with some mint leaves. You can serve this soup hot or cold.

Rhubarb Jam with Dried Apricots

"Bye bye wintercoat"... Ok, guys, I take it back. It's April 20, early in the morning - and it's white outside! But even snow can't bring me down these days. My holidays just started and I'm looking forward to a relaxing week. Be sure I'll be spending some time in the kitchen, too. There are lots of bookmarked recipes lying on my bookshelf, waiting to be tested. But first, here comes the recipe for the rhubarb jam I made two weeks ago.

Recipe
(original in German: here)

125g dried apricots
2 dl water
750g rhubarb
1kg jam sugar
juice from one lemon

Soak the apricots in 2dl water for at least 6 hours (or overnight). Then, drain and cut into small pieces. Keep the water.

Wash the rhubarb and cut into small pieces. Put into a large pan. Add the apricots, the water, jam sugar and the lemon juice. Bring to boil and then, let simmer for about 4 minutes while constantly stirring.

Test whether the jam has reached the desired consistency by putting a little drop of it onto a plate. If it's not flowing anymore it's fine. Otherwise cook a little longer.

Fill the boiling jam into cleaned, preheated glasses and seal them. Then turn them upside down for about a minute (kills the fungus spores) and then turn around again and let cool.

Lemon Cake

Now there we go! Sunshine - all day long! Bye bye winter coat! I spontaneously thought that lemon cake is just the right choice for such a day. So here it comes without further ado, an easy, no-fuss recipe from Trish Deseine's wonderful and always reliable I love Cake.

Recipe
(from Trish Deseine - "I love Cake")

50g soft butter
150g sugar
2 eggs
125ml milk
150g flour
1 sachet baking powder
1 lemon, grated zest and juice (and juice of one more lemon)
2 teaspoons sugar for the glaze
(icing sugar for dusting if you want to)

Grease a cake tin of about 22-25cm and line with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

In a bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer until fluffy. In another small bowl, mix eggs with the milk and beat with a fork. In another small bowl, mix flour and baking powder.

Now, add egg-milk-mixture and flour to the butter-sugar-batter, in small batches, alternating. Keep beating until you have a smooth batter. Add lemon zest. I also added a bit more lemon juice.

Fill the batter into you prepared tin and bake for about 45 minutes. Take the cake out of the oven. Now,  mix the juice of one lemon with the remaining sugar and soak the cake with it. If you like, you can also dust it with icing sugar. I made this pattern by cutting out little butterflies from a parchment paper. Then I covered the cake with the parchment paper and dusted with icing sugar.

Raspberry Oat and Nut Bars

I spent most of this Sunday in the kitchen... Spring still seems a long time coming. It's grey and cold and I think we're all longing for sunlight. Well, at least, baking never fails to cheer me up. Actually, I wanted to bake a rhubarb cake today, but sometimes, I spontaneously change my mind and somehow, I ended up with these nutty fruity chewy gooey bars. I used the rhubarb to make jam instead (recipe to be posted soon). But first, here comes the recipe for this wonderful treat. WARNING: These bars here have absolutely nothing to do with healthy granola bars. They're awfully sweet and sticky - and awfully good!

Repice
(from: Ottolenghi - The Cookbook)

Base:
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g unsalted butter
60g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
80g whole rolled oats

Filling:
220g raspberry jam

Topping:
50g flaked almonds
70g pecan nuts, roughly chopped
70g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
70g Brazil nuts, roughly chopped (I had none, so I used macadamias instead)
100g unsalted butter
75g caster sugar
40ml milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease a 20cm square tin (I used my brownie tin) and line with parchment paper.

To make the base, sift together flour and baking powder. Add the butter, sugar and salt and rub everything together with your fingertips to form crumbs. Stir in the oats. Spread this mixture over the base of the prepared tin; don't press down too much, so the base remains light. Bake for about 20 minutes or until light brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little, then spread with the jam.

For the topping, place the nuts into a large bowl. In a small saucepan, heat up the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla essence. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then pour the mixture over the chopped nuts and stir together. Pack the nut mix evenly over the jam and return to the oven for 30 minutes, until the nuts have turned a nice golden brown.

Leave to cool, then remove from the tin and slice into bars or squares.

Chocolate Muffins

I found the perfect pastime for this grey and rainy (even snowy...) Easter weekend: I added a recipe index to my blog! I have now successfully sorted, listed and linked all my sweet recipes. Check out the new buttons just below my blog-header! And, since today the sun is shining, I finally get to go out for a walk! So I'll add the list of savory recipes later this week. I also intend to add a new "about" section and a list of useful links... But, one thing at a time. For now, I give you the recipe for these chocolate muffins I made for my family. And you can also see the result of Friday's egg-coloring session. Aren't they beautiful?! Almost too pretty to eat.

Recipe
(from: Trish Deseine - I love Cake)

225g soft butter
225g sugar
4 eggs
225g flour
4 teaspoons cocoa powder, dissolved in 4 teaspoons hot water
1.5 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a muffin tray with paper cases.

With an electric hand mixer, mix all the ingredients for the dough in a large bowl until well combined. Fill the muffin cases with the dough. Now, here comes the thing: the recipe is actually intended for about 20 cupcakes... However, I somehow ended up with 12 muffins because they rose much more than I expected... If you intend to bake cupcakes and decorate them with chocolate glaze, don't overfill the cases! Trish writes in her book that you should fill about two thirds of the paper cases, I'd say, you could even fill them with a little less dough. As you can see, I overfilled them a bit, so I skipped the whole glaze and just left those cupcakes as they are and called them muffins ;-) I am going to give you the recipe for the glaze anyway, so you can choose what you like best. I just dusted them with icing sugar and cocoa powder.

ingredients for the glaze:
200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
100g butter
4 teaspoons water

Melt chocolate and butter either in a small saucepan or over a hot water bath. Stir well so that you have a smooth mixture. Let rest for a few minutes until it is a little thicker. Spread on your cupcakes.