About the Time I Made My Own Birthday Cake

About the Time I Made My Own Birthday CakeWe use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

Let’s have a talk about baking cakes, specifically this layered Momofuko birthday cake.

So, how did I come about baking this pretty and scrumptious cake? I was recently watching the Netflix show, Chef’s Table.  They came out with a new season of just pastry chefs!  I was so excited because I love baking (and not so much cooking!).

The first episode was about Christina Tosi who creaked the Milk Bar empire in NYC.  In her show, she was making her famous birthday cake.

I have never baked a layered cake.  Never from scratch nor from the box.  I have always wanted to bake a layered cake but never had the correct supplies.   I knew that if I was going to attempt to make a layered cake that this would be the one!  Look at it – the perfect birthday cake!  A Funfetti inspired, cream cheese frosted, naked layer cake!

Her cakes are naked cakes, which means they are not frosted on the outside.  This is perfect for me – one, because I don’t love frosting (and frankly the reason why I never make cakes nor cupcakes) and two, you don’t have to fret over perfecting your frosting until its smooth on the outside because it doesn’t need it!

So I set out to bake this cake.  I purchased her cookbook, Milk.  Everywhere that I was reading the reviewers were talking about how “difficult” this cake is.  I thought, okay, challenge accepted!

Yes, you need some supplies. Such as a quarter sheet pan.  And a 6″ cake ring.  And acetate strips.  Well, I already had acetate.  I need a quarter sheet pan for my little steam oven anyway.  And so really all I needed was 6″ cake ring.

You also need several ingredients that are harder to find.  You need glucose.  I actually just substituted 2 tsp corn syrup instead since it is hard to find.  You need grapeseed oil – I have seen it in several stores, so not that hard to find.  You need citric acid (which can be found in the canning section of your grocery store).  Instead of citric acid I used about 1/4 tsp of fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice. You need clear vanilla extract – which, by the way, is not vanilla extract but instead clear vanilla flavor!  Yes, fake vanilla flavor (that seems to be the secret to creating your own funfetti cake!)

Okay, so you need a few specialty items.  Well, fine.  In reviews I was reading, people were complaining about needing specialty items.  Well, do you want to make a cake that tastes really good or not?

Next, I was reading about how difficult it was because it has four parts to the recipe.  The cake.  The soak. The frosting. The cookie crumble.  Well, break it up into parts!

 

To make it easier, I would recommend splitting it into two days – bake the cake and the cookie crumble on day 1. On day 2 make the frosting and the milk soak.  Then you assemble your cake on day 2.  Place it in the freezer overnight (or for up two weeks) as recommended.  Then on day 3, take it out several hours before your event.  Really, it’s not that difficult to make, especially if you spread it out over a few days.

I had a little left over cake so I made a mini 3″ cake too! Isn’t it adorable??

The cake itself is very moist.  In between the layers is the cream cheese frosting and cookie crumble.  The crumble adds an extra crunch with a hint of salt in this sweet cake.  On top of the cake you put the cookie crumble, as pictured below.

I felt like it needed a little extra impact so picked some I put garden roses on the top. (also, note the differences in the pictures between an iPhone and a DSLR!).  Doesn’t it look pretty?  Well, it tastes as good as it looks!

My final thoughts – this cake was really tasty!  I have never had an American-style cake as good as this one – and seriously, I don’t really like “normal cakes” and I don’t like frosting.  This cream cheese frosting was the bomb.  The cake was really moist.  This is traditional funfetti taken to the next level.  If you want to impress your party goers at your next birthday party, serve them this cake.  If you can’t make it yourself, Milk does ship nationwide.

Get the cookbook and the recipe for yourself below.  I’m so excited to try her other recipes too!

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PS – I wasn’t paid to make this cake or review the recipe/cookbook.  I just enjoyed it and wanted to share it with you all!

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An Easy Berry Lemon Mascarpone Tart

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This berry lemon mascarpone tart is perfect for hot days and also for entertaining guests!  It is so easy to make!

My cousin’s wife found the recipe and introduced me to it – so far to date, only one person has not liked it! I just had to share it with you all because it is THAT good! Oh, did I mention it was easy to make? I know I did. I just wanted to make sure you knew that.

This tart uses a graham cracker crust – which is appealing to many as opposed to the plain pie/tart dough crusts (confession – I don’t like crust normally and usually just eat the filling, but I did eat this crust!)

The recipe is an adapatation of this Nerds with Knives Recipe and this Foodie Crush recipe.

For the Graham Cracker Crust:

  • 1.5 cups (7oz) of crushed graham crackers
  • 6 tbsp (85g) melted unsalted butter
  • 3 tbsp (34g) brown sugar (light or dark)
  • 1/4 tsp salt

For the Filling:

  • 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
  • 2 tbsp powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup lemon curd
  • zest from half a lemon
  • juice from one lemon (preferably one Meyer lemon)

For the topping:

  • use whatever berries look good to you! Takes about 1 pint strawberries, 1 pint other berries.
  • Sprinkle the top with the remaining zest from the other half of the lemon
  • Garnish with mint leaves

Directions

For the crust: (You can use a rectangular tart pan, square, or round – so long as the bottom is removable!)

  1. Preheat oven to 350F (or 325F convection oven).
  2. Combine crushed graham crackers, salt, sugar and melted butter in a food processor.
  3. Place crumbs into tart pan and evenly spread the crumbs.  Press them down to make a compact layer.  You want the crust to be about 1/4″ thick – so you may not use all of the crumb mixture.
  4. Bake crust until it’s golden brown and aromatic, approximately 8-10 minutes. Take out from oven and let crust cool completely before filling. You may make it a day ahead of time and keep wrapped up at room temp.

For the filling

  1. Beat the whipping cream and cream cheese together on high speed until soft and creamy, takes a few minutes.
  2. Add the mascarpone cheese and powdered sugar and beat until mixed well.
  3. Add the lemon curd, lemon zest, and lemon juice and mix until just combined.
  4. Scoop the mixture onto the cooled tart crust and level it with a spatula.  Hold a little bit back in reserve – that way you can have some to hide some mistakes while spreading (I may have dragged a bunch of graham cracker crumbs onto the filling at one point – but you can’t tell because I saved some filling to I could hide my mistake!)
  5. Chill in refrigerator for about 3 hours (or overnight!).
  6. Place berries and garnish on top just before serving.
  7. Serve chilled (I ate it after it had been out for 1.5 hours – it was still scrumptious! Although I preferred it straight out of the fridge)

This tart can be made a day in advance.  Or you can make the crust in advance and the filling the day of your event.  It just has to chill a few hours.  Add the berries at the last minute – you can do whatever fruit you want.  This tart is simply scrumptious!  If you want your fruit to look shiny like pastry shops, you can make a simple syrup by taking apricot jam and watering it down- then brush it on the fruit.

This is a great dessert to bring to parties.  It is light and refreshing – perfect for the hot Summer months that are coming soon!

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Mini Easter Basket Cakes

mini Easter basket cake. mini Easter nest cake. Cake is a French almond yogurt cakeWe use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

I made these mini Easter basket cakes and am so delighted with how they turned out – I just had to share them!

mini Easter basket cake. mini Easter nest cake. Cake is a French almond yogurt cake

They are so cute and pretty easy to make – you just have to have the correct pan, that’s all!

Easter basket cake

I had received a little basket pan as a gift last year – these are supposed to be for strawberry shortcakes but I think they look pretty cute as Easter baskets! mini Easter basket cake

I filled each little basket with some Robin’s eggs and a little Lindt chocolate. mini Easter basket cake. mini Easter nest cake. Cake is a French almond yogurt cake

I sprinkled them with a little powdered sugar so you can see the basket pattern better!mini Easter basket cake. mini Easter nest cake. Cake is a French almond yogurt cake

French Yogurt Lemon Cake (recipe adapted from NY times)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup canola oil

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees ( or 325F convection oven).  Butter the pan and place in the freezer.
  2. Combine the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, place the sugar and zest in a bowl and rub the sugar and zest together with your fingertips.  Do this until the sugar is moist and aromatic.
  4. Next, add the yogurt, eggs and vanilla to the sugar bowl.  Mix until it is well combined.  Then add the dry ingredients.
  5. Add in the oil by folding it into the mixture.  Your batter will be thick with a slight sheen.
  6. Take the pan out of the freezer, and fill each of the baskets about 3/4 of the way full.  Place in oven and bake about 20 minutes, or until cake becomes golden brown and a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool. Remove from pan.

You can just make this in a loaf pan too instead of the basket pan. Bake instead for about 50 minutes.

mini Easter basket cake

Now it can be a little dry – I would actually recommend serving it with some fresh fruit.  While the robins eggs are cute, I don’t think they will actually go well with the cake!  It would also go well with some lemon curd!  I love using the Lindt chocolates – see my Easter sweets bar here.

You can get the basket pan here or at Amazon!

Easter Nest Desserts, Easter nest treats, easter nest cake, easter cake, easter basket dessert

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Easy Fall Dessert- Apple Rose Puff Pastry Recipe

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I saw these cute apple rose puff pastry tartlets online and thought, well now, I must give it a try!

They are called apple roses because they look similar to a rose, not because they taste like rose!

These were actually surprisingly easy to make.

They would go well for any Fall parties you have planned and they would also work well for Thanksgiving! 

I have included a recipe and some pictures with the tutorial – forgive the poorer quality of the pictures, I had put this on my insta-stories and a lot of you wrote comments to me so I thought I would include a blog post about it!


Apple Rose Puff Pastry Recipe – get printable version here

Ingredients – makes 12 roses

1 package (2 sheets) Puff Pastry

4 apples (preferably red apples to make red roses, but I used a mixture of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp)

2 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon)

Flour, for sprinkling the counter

about 4tbsp Granulated sugar, for sprinkling

about 3 tbsp ground cinnamon

powdered sugar, caramel, or salted caramel for sprinkling on top

A little bit of butter to grease your muffin pan.


Directions


1. Thaw two sheets of puff pastry (1 package) at room temperature. This should take about 30 minutes.


2. Prepare a microwave safe bowl with water (enough to cover your sliced apples) and the lemon juice.


3. Cut your apples in half and remove the core.  Cut the apples into very thin slices, about 1/8” thick. 


4. Leave the peel on so you can get the red or green color for your roses.  Immediately place your slices into the lemon juice water bowl so they do not brown.


5. Microwave the apples in the bowl for about 3-4 minutes, so that the apples are soft enough so that when you roll them they do not break.  Alternatively, you can simmer the apple slices in the lemon juice water on a stove pan for a few minutes.  If your apple slices break when bending, cook a little longer.

6. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.  Grease a muffin pan with butter.

7. On a lightly floured counter, roll out the puff pastry to about 9×12 inches.  Then cut the dough into six strips, about 2 x9 inches. 


    8. Next, drain the apples. If they are still wet you may pat them dry on a paper towel. 

9 . Arrange the apple slices on the dough so that they are overlapping each other.  They should overlap each other by about 50%.  Make sure the skin side of the apple sticks a little bit out of the dough strip (this is what will become “the rose”).

10. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (I do not give you an amount, please sprinkle with your desired sweetness). 

11. Fold the bottom part of the dough up.

12.  Starting from one end, carefully roll the dough, keeping the apple slices in place.  Seal the edge at the end of your roll with a little water if it doesn’t stick.  Place in a regular muffin cup.  

13.  Do the same for all of the roses.  Bake for about 40 minutes until cooked.   IF the apple start to burn on the top (about 30 minutes in), cover loosely with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes.

14. These are best eaten warm.  They can be stored in air-tight container for 2 days at room temp or in the refrigerator for 3 days.  You may always warm them up just before serving (and it is encouraged).
15. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or your favorite (salted) caramel!

I chose to garnish mine with salted rum caramel (not one that I made, one I purchased from a favorite store in the Napa Valley).  But you could always serve with ice cream!

Where I Party 


http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/

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Spooky Ghost Hot Chocolate – Halloween Drink Ideas

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Happy Ghoul-a-ween!

These ghosts are haunting my hot chocolate mugs and they can easily haunt yours too!

Last year I shared this recipe at Katherine’s Corner as a guest post, but I thought many of you may have missed it so I decided to repost it here.

Ghost Hot Chocolate - Halloween Drink Party Ideas

Get the printable recipe here


Ingredients

4 large egg whites

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

candy eyes


Supplies

Electric Mixer

Piping Bag and Piping Tip (I used Ateco tip #806)

Silpat or parchment paper


Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 200F.  Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.
  2. In a large bowl preferably with an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla on medium speed just until frothy.
  3. Next, gradually add your sugar while the mixer is mixing, little bits at a time until the sugar is all gone.  Now increase the mixer speed to medium-high.  Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.  This takes around ~6-8 minutes.  
  4. Now, fill your piping bag with a spoon.  Next, pipe swirls of meringue onto your baking sheet. To pipe, just place your tip perpendicular to the baking sheet and gently squeeze, lifting the bag up slowly to create layers.  Then at the end, do a little swirl to give the ghost a cone top! Next, add two candy eyes to each ghost. There is no “perfect” ghost, they are supposed to be spooky and uneven!
  5. Ghost Hot Chocolate - Halloween Drink Party Ideas

    Ghost Hot Chocolate - Halloween Drink Party Ideas

  6. Bake in the oven for about 1 hour or until the meringues and dry and feel hard to the touch.  Turn off the oven and allow to continue to dry in the oven.  Once cool, you may enjoy!
  7. Fill your mug with hot chocolate and simply place on top!

The ghosts will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days!  Perfect to make ahead of time! 

I confess, I had them up as decor way longer than 3 days.  I did not eat them, but I had tucked them into my Halloween village and used them as decorations.  I would not advise eating them if you keep them out that long, but they do make cute decorations if you have extra!

I had so much fun with these, maybe I’ll make some more again this year…

Ghost Hot Chocolate - Halloween Drink Party Ideas

Children, both big and small are sure to love these treats!

Check out my other Halloween Treats (no tricks involved) 

Chocolate Cat Hazelnut Macarons

Pumpkin Spice Macarons

I have added some Halloween Favorites to my Curated Shop, check it out!

Where I Party 


http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/

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Pretty Salted Caramel Apple Pie and Recipe

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A pretty salted caramel apple pie is what I have in my mind today.  I love apple pie.

It might be my favorite pie.

 I wanted to try making a lattice top pie – I had never done that before! I watched this video on how to do it!

Then I thought, oh let me add some pretty roses from the garden to the top of my pie.

Don’t the roses look pretty? I had to make sure I shook all of the little bugs off!

Maybe one or two got out… who knows…

Then I thought, how can I improve my apple pie? How about…. drizzle some homemade salted caramel sauce on it.

Oooh, yes. Here it is. Still hot from cooking on the stove.

Go ahead and drizzle that all over the top.

The BEST apple pie recipe: (printable version here)

For the dough:

    • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
    • 1 tsp. salt
    • 2 tsp. granulated sugar
    • 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
    • 3 to 4 Tbsp. ice water

For the filling:

    • 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch
    •   thick
    • 2 lb. Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
    • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
    • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
    • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
    • 1/4 tsp. salt
    • 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
    • 4 tsp. cornstarch
    • 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
    • 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
    • 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

To make the dough  (Now, if you are going to do a lattice top, you need to double the recipe): In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, cut out as many leaves as your heart desires. Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes (I actually did not do this step this time and instead cut them out and immediately put them on top of the apples).

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, then gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

To get the Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe, click here.

It is from David Lebovitz.

I did not have salted butter so I added 1 tsp of salt to my caramel.

The salted caramel was delicious! DELICIOUS.  I used it in my latte the next day – yum! Oh, also tastes good with vanilla ice cream.

I’d love it if you’d pin this:Pretty Salted Caramel Apple Pie and Recipe

 

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Delicious Peach Pecan Crumble Crisp Recipe

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Hello, lovelies! 

Are you all enjoying this Summer?

I am! Our peach trees are exploding with peaches – we have peaches coming out of our ears! 

So what do you do with the excess peaches… bake them!

This post may contain affiliate links.

This isn’t your average peach crisp recipe.

I added some pecans into the crunchy crisp – which typically are associated with Fall foods. 

I thought, hmm, Georgia is known for peaches and pecans, so let’s try them both together!

I was pleasantly surprised! It was a hit!

Peach Pecan Crumbly Crisp Recipe

Filling 

Approx 5-6 cups of sliced and peeled peaches (about 6 medium peaches, I used about 10 peaches as they were very small)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tbsp granulated sugar*

Topping

3/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted pecans, chopped or halved
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened or melted


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8-9″ baking pan or pie pan.
2. Make your filling by combining the peaches, flour, salt, vanilla and sugar. Use a spatula to gently mix together as you don’t want your peaches falling apart! Pour into your prepared dish.
3. Prepare your topping by combing the sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon and salt. Mix those together. Then add in the pecans.  Pour your butter on top and mix until it is a crumbly mixture (it will turn to a darker color as the butter absorbs into the ingredients)
4. Evenly spoon the topping onto your peaches.  Bake for about 35-45 minutes until the mixture is browned on top and the peaches are bubbling at the edges.
5. Allow to cool.  This tastes best when it is warm served with vanilla ice cream, hint hint. If you have some leftovers the next day (the horror! You didn’t eat it all the first day?) just heat it up either in the toaster oven or in the microwave.

Bonus tips:

If you are peeling a lot of peaches like I did, you want to prevent the peaches from going brown. I toss my peaches with Fruit Fresh.

You can also used canned peaches.

You could always add more or less pecans as you wish.  

This was delicious and the topping could be used for any crisp – berry crisp, ooh, APPLE crisp! Now I am drooling…

peach pecan crumble crisp recipe

Sharing a few of my favorite pie dishes as well…

Where I Party


http://peoniesandorangeblossoms.blogspot.com/

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4 Summer Treat Recipes

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

In this Post – Dessert Recipe Ideas for Summer

Let’s get this party started! I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend.  I know a lot of kids are out of school this week and last week. Here are some treat ideas to try at home!


Simply Stacie shared a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cupcake Recipe. 

Bombshell Bling shared a No-Churn S’mores Ice Cream Recipe.

The Country Chic Cottage shared Bite-Sized Indoor S’mores.

From Playdates to Parties shared dairy-free Raspberry Coconut Pops.


We love all of your posts and enjoy visiting you – there is something for everyone at this party!

Don’t forget to check out our Thursday Favorite Things Pinterest Board 


I pin my features for the week to our board as well as many others! Make sure your posts have a high quality pin that screams “pin me!”


The party is starts on THURSDAYS at 6AM PST! 

Please take the time to stop by ALL of your hostesses!

Thursday favorite things hostess

nina CollageThursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

angelina collage

Thursday Favorite Things blog hop co-hostess 

If the link party doesn’t load right away, just click “An InLinkz Link-up” Below.


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A French Strawberry Cake – Fraisier Recipe

We use affiliate links in our posts and our site. This means if you make a purchase using these links, we may earn a small commission. You don’t pay a cent more than you would otherwise! Our full disclosure is available under About.

In this post: a Fraisier recipe which is a French strawberry cake. This post contains affiliate links.

I made a Fraisier once again this year!  The Fraisier is my favorite French dessert… what’s not to love about a strawberry cake?

 

We took the cake outside and ate it next to the blooming lavender!

On to the recipe – adapted from Laduree and Cakelets and Doilies.

This recipes makes either one 9″ cake or eight 3″ cakes.

This recipe has to chill overnight so you need to make it ahead of time. (Or make it very early in the morning so it can chill all afternoon)

Here is the printable version of the recipe.

Almond Génoise Cake

50 g (3 1/2 tbsp) butter , unsalted

200g (1 2/3 cup) cake flour

  6 eggs

200g (1 cup) granulated sugar

50g (1/2 cup) ground almonds or almond flour

1 1/2 tbsp butter

Making the Génoise cake

  1. Melt the 1 1/2 tbsp butter and using a pastry brush, butter your cake pan.   Place the cake pan in the fridge to allow the butter to harden.(notes – if you are making mini cakes, you will want to bake your cake in a 12×8 rectangular cake pan)
  2. In a small saucepan, melt the 50g of butter over low heat.
  3. In a large heatproof mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and the sugar.
  4. Preheat oven to 340F.  Place your heatproof mixing bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk until the mixture is warm, thick and pale, and the mixture has tripled in volume (approximately 122F).  Then remove from the heat and keep mixing until the mixture is cool (notes – I could not get this thing to triple over the simmering water. So I just heated it, while stirring constantly, until it was 122F and then attached it to my kitchenaid mixer and let it whisk until it tripled in volume and the mixture was  completely cool).
  5. Once completely cooled down, fold in the sifted flour into the mixture.  Then fold in the ground almonds.  And then the melted butter.
  6. Lightly flour your cake pan and tap out an excess. Then immediately fill with batter and place in the oven. Bake for approximately 30 minutes.

Kirsch Syrup

100mL (1/2 cup – 1tbsp) water

100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

40mL (2 1/2 tbsp) kirsch liqueur (see notes below about kirsch)

Making the syrup

Combine the sugar and water into a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir until the sugar dissolves. Allow to boil for just 5 seconds. Remove from the heat, let it cool, then stir in the kirsch liqueur.

Crème Mousseline

350g whole milk

100g granulated sugar

1/2 a vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped for inside beans/seeds

4 egg yolks

35g plain flour

200g unsalted butter, softened

1tbsp cherry liqueur (optional)

Making the creme

  1. Place milk, vanilla bean and scraped seeds into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Then remove from heat and set aside.
  2. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until mixture is pale yellow.  Mix int the flour until well combined.
  3. Remove vanilla bean pod from milk mixture.  Then pour the hot milk into the egg mixture, constantly whisking to combine.
  4. Then pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and place over high heat.  Whisk constantly until it is thickened, smooth, and glossy.  Then remove from heat and transfer pastry cream to a plate. Immediately cover with plastic cling wrap and place into the freezer to cool but only for 10 minutes.  Do not allow it to freeze (If you don’t put the cling wrap on immediately, the pastry cream will get a film on it that’s lumpy and gross and you will have to strain it out later, so don’t miss this step)
  5. While the cream is in the freezer, beat your butter until creamy.  Then when the pastry cream is about room temperature, add the cream to the butter and mix until while combined.   Add the liqueur.
  6. Spoon the mousseline into a piping bag with 1cm piping tip.

Strawberry Gel

250g strawberries, washed and hulled

2g agar agar (or 1 tsp)

Blend the strawberries to a puree. Strain to remove the seeds – Place puree in sauce pan and sprinkle over the agar agar. Heal until boiling and stir until agar to dissolve.  Pour onto parchment paper and spread evenly. Place in fridge to set.

Assembly

1 pound of strawberries, cut in half and with the green tops removed.  (Save your cutest strawberries for the top and set them aside.  Also, smaller strawberries look cuter in the cake and are more sweet.  When you cut the berries, you want them to all be the same height).

Cake mold(s)

Assembling the cakes

Take your cooled sponge cake out of the baking pan. Optional – you may cut it in half so that you can have a layer on top and a layer on the bottom. I did not do that this year but I preferred it better so next time I will do it!  Now find your springform pan and place a circle of plastic cake wrap.  Then put the sponge cake.  Brush the cake with the kirsch syrup.  Arrange the strawberries around the edge of the cake ring with the flat edge facing the outside.  Pipe or spread the creme mousseline over the strawberries.  Then place another layer of sponge cake on top.  Put the gel on top.  Place in the fridge overnight. The following day, dip a strawberry into the kirsch syrup and put on top just before serving. Confession – I ate this cake several hours later after it had cooled. I am unsure if it really has to wait overnight.

Assembling the Fraisier: line your springform with strawberry halves. The pour the rest of the strawberries in the center. Then spread the mousseline cream evenly.

Materials I used to bake Le Fraisier (affiliate links)

Stand Mixer

Hand Mixer (I did not use it this time, but I will next time!)

Plastic cake wrap

Scale

Food coloring

Cake Sheet pan

3″x3″ Cake molds

9″ spingform

9″ cake pan

 So I’ll admit how I messed up.

The strawberry gel did not set how I wanted. I placed it on the foil and then it stuck to the foil.

Next time I either recommend placing in on parchment paper OR if you do the two laters of cake, just pour it directly onto the cake. I could not pour it directly on the cream here as it would have melted!

 But that’s okay. It still tasted pretty dang delicious!

We had a nice little evening here enjoying our cake al fresco.

Do you ever eat in your own garden?

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Meyer Lemon Tart

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One of the things I love most about living in California is the ability to walk out to our garden and pick fresh citrus during the middle of Winter!
We have a Meyer lemon tree and it is *wonderful*.

Meyer Lemon Tart

 

Last year I attempted to make this tart and it was a fail. We didn’t properly plan for a freeze and the lemons were ruined. I tried to use them anyway and it just did not work.

This year though… we prepared for the freeze. So, this tart is a year in the making!

 

Tart dough (recipe from David Leibovitz, I recommend reading his recipe on his site – it’s funny)

90 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

150 g (5oz, or 1 slightly-rounded cup) flour

  1. Preheat the oven to 410º F
  2. In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.
  3. Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.
  4. When done, remove the bowl from oven (and be careful, since the bowl will be hot and the mixture might sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula OR transfer the dough to your mini tart pans. It doesn’t matter the size of your tart pans. Save a raspberry size piece of dough and set it aside.
  6. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, pat it into the shell with the heel of your and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold.
  7. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork about ten times, then bake the tart shell in the oven at 410F for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.
  8. Remove from the oven and if there are any sizable cracks, use the bit of reserved dough to fill in and patch them.
  9. I find it best to pinch off a small amount of the reserved dough, roll it gently between your fingers to soften it, then wedge it into the cracks, smoothing it gently with your pinky.
  10. Let the shell cool before filling.

Lemon Cream from Pierre Herme

200 g whole eggs (which is about 4 eggs)
240 g granulated sugar
160 g fresh squeezed Meyer lemon juice
zest from about 4-5 lemons
300 g unsalted butter, room temperature and cubed (I used 1 1/2 sticks butter which is less)

  1. Rub the zest with the sugar using your finger until the sugar is moistened with the lemon zest.
  2. Next, preferably on a double boiler, combine the sugar, eggs and the lemon juice.
  3. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches about 185F. You must do continue stirring as this keeps the eggs from scrambling.
  4. Strain the mixture into the blender and let cool to about 155F.
  5. In the blender, add the butter a couple of pieces at a time.  The mixture will lighten in color as you blend.. Continue running the blender for several minutes until it is light in color and airy.
  6. Pour the mixture into prepared crust and refrigerate.
  7. Served cooled. Tastes best served the same day.

 

I reduced the amount of butter for the lemon cream by almost a stick and I couldn’t even tell…

I think that it made it a bit more tart compared to the original (had the original in Paris!)

 

This tart was nice and refreshing. It is nice balance of tartness and sweetness. I do suggest using Meyer lemons and not substituting for “regular” lemons.

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Chocolate Orange Ganache Macarons

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If you regularly read my blog, you know that I *love* macarons.  I tried one many years ago and was in love.  Then one day several years ago, my Dad and I decided we were going try to bake them.

Of course we couldn’t just make one, we made a whole day of it…  We made 6 flavors and about 600 macarons.

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chocolate orange ganache macarons recipe

Since then, I have been practicing and baking them with all sorts of different flavors.  Today I present to you the chocolate orange ganache macaron!

You know those little chocolate oranges that you wack on the table to break the orange apart that are popular at Christmas? That is what inspired this flavor!

The oranges and satsumas came from my garden… that is what I love about California. The rest of the country is covered in snow and we can walk outside and pick fruit!

(I used oranges for the flavor and satsumas and oranges for the photoshoot)

Chocolate Orange Ganache Macarons

If you’ve never made macarons before, let me tell you, these are very finicky cookies. In fact, the French don’t consider them cookies at all, they are actually considered little pastries (as I was told by a Parisian in one of the patisseries, or rather, scolded, for thinking they were cookies).

 

Here are a few tips…

Never make them on a rainy day.  They will not turn out.

When you are folding your almond flour into the meringue, you have to get it just right.  The right consistency is like that of molten lava.

You have to have a scale to weigh your ingredients. The tbsp and cups do not work.

You have to be in the right mood. Seriously. If you are stressed, they will not turn out because you will mess something up in the process.

Chocolate Orange Ganache Macarons

Materials needed: (affiliate links are used for your convenience)

    • a food scale (yes, you need this. I use this one)
    • a piping tip and piping bag (I like the ateco #806, I use these tips and piping bag)
    • Food coloring (the gels or dry powder works best, not the liquid store stuff)
    • A macaron template
    • food processor (I use this one)

Chocolate Macaron Shells (get the printable recipe HERE)

260g almond flour

250g powdered sugar

15g cocoa powder

210g granulated sugar

210g egg whites
brown food coloring, *optional*

1.  Mix almond meal, cocoa powder, and the powdered sugar in a food processor. Be careful not to grind too long, otherwise it will form a paste.

2. Sift the almonds, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Set aside.

3. Weigh out granulated sugar.

4. Weigh the egg whites.  Beat them slowly on a low speed until foamy. SLOWLY add the granulated sugar to the egg whites as you beat.  Once all mixed, increase speed to medium and beat until a firm meringue forms.  You want a firm meringue with glossy peaks but not stiff peaks.  They should defy gravity and remain in the bowl if you turn it upside down.  If you tilt your bowl to the side and they are sliding out, keep beating.

5. Add the food coloring gel and mix.  To make mine a richer brown color, I used “chocolate brown” food coloring.

6. Then fold in 1/3rd of the almond/sugar mixture into the meringue with a silicone spatula.  Once combined, add another third of the almond mixture. Add last bit.  This batter requires more deflation during this step since it creates such a poofy meringue.

7. Add the batter to a piping bag.  Pipe in rows using your template onto parchment paper.

8. Pick up the pan and beat until the counter.  The cookies need to rest on the counter between 30-60 minutes.  They are ready to go in the oven when they are dry to touch (the shell shouldn’t stick to your finger)

9.  Set the oven to 300F.

10. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes one sheet at a time. They are done when they look kind of matte and seem firm when you lightly tap on them.  You can always rescue a slightly overcooked one with the maturation process that comes later, but you cannot rescue an undercooked one!!

11.  Remove from paper once completely cool. If they stick they stick to the paper, they aren’t cool yet.

 

Chocolate Orange Ganache Filling (adopted from this French website)

150g dark chocolate, finely chopped

100g heavy cream

zest of one orange (or clementine/satsuma)

50g of fresh squeezed orange juice

 

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the zest of one orange.  Do not let it boil, just when it starts to steam.  Leave it to infuse for 30 minutes.  I turned it off the heat and covered the saucepan while it infused.

2. Place the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.

3. After 30 minutes, bring the cream just to a simmer (just to get the cream hot enough to melt the chocolate)
4. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute. Then, gently stir the chocolate and cream until the chocolate has melted. Do not whip it, you want to gently stir it as not to add air into the ganache. Next, add the orange juice and gently mix in until combined.
5. Next, pour into a dish and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before placing in your macaron shells. You can store the ganache in the fridge for longer (I do not know how long, probably until the cream expires?)

Assembly
Either pipe or spread the ganache over one macaron shell, then place another on top. Store in an airtight container for 24 hours in the fridge. Take them out of the fridge 2 hours before eating them. Resist the urge to eat them immediately – I promise they will be better on the second day!
*note* You can use either fresh orange, clementine, or satsuma for these cookies – they will all taste good!

 

Chocolate Orange Ganache Macarons

I thought these were a great alternative to the peppermint chocolate ganache to make for the Christmas holidays as I know there are quite a few peppermint haters.

This is a great website with lots of info on Macaron Troubleshooting!

Chocolate Orange Ganache Macarons

They are really really good.  You can’t eat just one.

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Peppermint Chocolate Ganache Macarons

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When I was thinking of what to bake for this year’s holiday dessert, I was actually inspired by Trader Joe’s Candy Cane Jo-Jo’s. Never had them? They are like Oreos but with flakes of candy cane in the filling. So I thought, how I can French-it-up?

And the peppermint chocolate ganache macaron was born.

These are seriously the best macarons I have *ever* made.

Materials needed: (affiliate links are used for your convenience)

    • a food scale (yes, you need this. I use this one)
    • a piping tip and piping bag (I like the ateco #806, I use these tips and piping bag)
    • Food coloring (the gels or dry powder works best, not the liquid store stuff)
    • A macaron template
    • food processor (I use this one)

I also couldn’t stop taking pictures of them.

Peppermint Chocolate Ganache Macarons
Chocolate Macaron Shells (get the printable recipe HERE)

260g almond flour

250g powdered sugar

15g cocoa powder

210g granulated sugar

210g egg whites
brown food coloring, *optional*

1.  Mix almond meal, cocoa powder, and the powdered sugar in a food processor. Be careful not to grind too long, otherwise it will form a paste.

2. Sift the almonds, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar. Set aside.

3. Weigh out granulated sugar.

4. Weigh the egg whites.  Beat them slowly on a low speed until foamy. SLOWLY add the granulated sugar to the egg whites as you beat.  Once all mixed, increase speed to medium and beat until a firm meringue forms.  You want a firm meringue with glossy peaks but not stiff peaks.  They should defy gravity and remain in the bowl if you turn it upside down.  If you tilt your bowl to the side and they are sliding out, keep beating.

5. Add the food coloring gel and mix.  To make mine a richer brown color, I used “chocolate brown” food coloring.

6. Then fold in 1/3rd of the almond/sugar mixture into the meringue with a silicone spatula.  Once combined, add another third of the almond mixture. Add last bit.  This batter requires more deflation during this step since it creates such a poofy meringue.

7. Add the batter to a piping bag.  Pipe in rows using your template onto parchment paper.

8. Pick up the pan and beat until the counter.  The cookies need to rest on the counter between 30-60 minutes.  They are ready to go in the oven when they are dry to touch (the shell shouldn’t stick to your finger)

9.  Set the oven to 300F.

10. Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes one sheet at a time. They are done when they look kind of matte and seem firm when you lightly tap on them.  You can always rescue a slightly overcooked one with the maturation process that comes later, but you cannot rescue an undercooked one!!

11.  Remove from paper once completely cool. If they stick they stick to the paper, they aren’t cool yet.


Peppermint Chocolate Ganache
1 cup heavy cream
9 ounces dark chocolate chips (or bittersweet chocolate, chopped)
1 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 tsp – 1 tsp peppermint extract
1/4 tsp salt
crushed candy canes in a separate bowl

  1. In a sauce pan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat (the purpose of this is to get the cream hot enough to melt the chocolate!)
  2. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for a minute.
  3. Add the peppermint, salt, and butter. Whisk until glossy and smooth. (If you like your ganache more pepperminty, add 1 tsp, if less, then add 3/4 tsp)
  4. Cover in plastic wrap and chill for about an hour  (If you chill it too long until it is hard, that’s okay, just use a spoon to whip it up and it will get soft again!)
  5. Once chilled, scoop the ganache into a piping bag with a round tip.  Pipe on one of side for the macaron at the edge.  Place the other macaron shell on, sandwiching the ganache in the center.
  6. Roll the macaron in the crushed candy canes in the bowl so that they stick to the ganache!
  7. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate! These taste best served the next day, so resist the urge and let them rest overnight! They will keep for several days in the fridge in an airtight container.

I feel like I could sell these they were so good!

 

 

I’ve included some outtakes from this photoshoot.  Chloé the cat decided to do some photobombing and I thought I’d share…

***Jaws Theme Music Starts***

 

 

Why yes, I’l take a lick of the candy cane…

She left… then came back for another round. “What?” she says??

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Pumpkin Tart Recipe

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A pumpkin tart! Every Thanksgiving for the past several years, my husband and I have attempted to make pumpkin pie from scratch. I mean, like FROM SCRATCH… like grow the pumpkins in our garden, roast the pumpkins, harvest the fruit, make our puree, and then bake a pie (with homemade pie crust, of course).

And EVERY YEAR we have failed… I don’t know what happens. The thing explodes. It cracks on top. Or it’s too watery. I don’t know.  I don’t get it. We can make pecan pie, apple pie, and shoot, even lemon meringue pie *from scratch* without difficulty. So I don’t know why the pumpkin pie is so elusive.

So I thought, wait a minute. I can bake tarts. Why not… make a pumpkin tart. 

A delicious pumpkin tart recipe

 

So we set off on a mission to make our own pumpkin tart from scratch.  I used the standard French tart dough recipe below that is very easy to make and found a promising looking recipe on Martha Stewart (of course).

A delicious pumpkin tart recipe

And guess what?! We nailed it on the first attempt! WHAAAT? Take that, pumpkin pie!  And honestly, this tastes exactly like a pumpkin pie.

So what’s the difference between the pumpkin pie and pumpkin tart?  They taste the same. But the pumpkin tart has more crust than the pumpkin pie. Granted, tart crust is tastier than the pie crust.  I suppose I could have made the crust thinner if I wanted.

A delicious pumpkin tart recipe

Would I make this again? YES! Plus, it’s cuter than a pumpkin pie.

Tart dough (recipe from David Leibovitz, I recommend reading his recipe on his site – it’s funny)

90 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

156 g (5oz, or 1 slightly-rounded cup) flour

  1. Preheat the oven to 410º F
  2. In a medium-sized ovenproof bowl, combine the butter, oil, water, sugar, and salt.
  3. Place the bowl in the oven for 15 minutes, until the butter is bubbling and starts to brown just around the edges.
  4. When done, remove the bowl from oven (and be careful, since the bowl will be hot and the mixture might sputter a bit), dump in the flour and stir it in quickly, until it comes together and forms a ball which pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch (23 cm) tart mold with a removable bottom and spread it a bit with a spatula OR transfer the dough to your mini tart pans. It doesn’t matter the size of your tart pans. Save a raspberry size piece of dough and set it aside.
  6. Once the dough is cool enough to handle, pat it into the shell with the heel of your and, and use your fingers to press it up the sides of the tart mold.
  7. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork about ten times, then bake the tart shell in the oven at 410F for 15 minutes, or until the dough is golden brown.
  8. Remove from the oven and if there are any sizable cracks, use the bit of reserved dough to fill in and patch them.
  9. I find it best to pinch off a small amount of the reserved dough, roll it gently between your fingers to soften it, then wedge it into the cracks, smoothing it gently with your pinky.
  10. Let the shell cool before filling.

Pumpkin Filling (recipe from Martha Stewart)

15 ounces (1 can) pumpkin puree

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1tsp coarse salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

2 large lightly beaten eggs

  1. Preheat oven to 325F.  Whisk together all of the ingredients.
  2. Pour into your prepared pie tart crust.
  3. Place dish on a rimmed baking sheet.  Bake, rotating halfway through, until filling is set and slightly puffed but still a little wobbly, approx 55-60 minutes.
  4. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Refrigerate uncovered for at least 6 hours. Serve chilled, with whipped cream or ice cream! It will keep for 2 days.

I use my AWESOME instant whipped cream maker to make the whipped cream.  I *love* that thing.

A delicious pumpkin tart recipe

I decorated it with some pumpkin seeds too.  You can impress your friends with this pumpkin tart, and frankly, I thought it was easier to make than the pumpkin pie (no explosions this year!).

A delicious pumpkin tart recipe

 

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The Best Apple Pie Recipe

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I am sharing with you today my FAVORITE apple pie recipe.  I have been making this recipe for several years and I still think it is the best apple pie recipe EVER!

The BEST homemade apple pie recipe - seriously, I have been making this for years and get rave review from everyone!

Granted, in general, fresh homemade apple pie is usually always good, but this one seems to be better.  I think it has to do with precooking the apples.

The best homemade apple pie recipe - the top crust was made with Fall cutouts!

Doesn’t it just look delicious and put you in a Fall mood? Now imagine yourself enjoying the pie… do you like yours with ice cream or whipped cream?

The best homemade apple pie recipe - seriously, I have been making this for years and get rave review from everyone!

The BEST apple pie recipe: (printable version here)

For the dough:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. granulated sugar
  • 16 Tbs. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch dice
  • 3 to 4 Tbsp. ice water

For the filling:

  • 2 lb. Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch
  •   thick
  • 2 lb. Honey Crisp apples, peeled, cored and cut into slices 1/4 inch thick
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
  • 4 tsp. cornstarch
  • 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 egg white, beaten with 1 tsp. water
  • 2 tsp. granulated sugar

Directions:

To make the dough  (Now, if you are going to do as many cutouts as I did, you will want to double the dough recipe): In a food processor, pulse the flour, salt, and granulated sugar together until combined, about 5 pulses. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Add 3 Tbs. of the ice water and pulse 2 or 3 times. The dough should hold together when squeezed with your fingers but should not be sticky. If it is crumbly, add more water 1 tsp. at a time, pulsing twice after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, divide in half and shape each half into a disk. Wrap the disks separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out half of the dough into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Fold the dough in half and then into quarters and transfer it to a 9-inch deep-dish pie dish. Unfold and gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the dish. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

On a large sheet of lightly floured parchment paper, roll out the remaining dough disk into a 12-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Using leaf pie cutters, cut out as many leaves as your heart desires. Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes (I actually did not do this step this time and instead cut them out and immediately put them on top of the apples).

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a large Dutch oven, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and cornstarch. Set over medium heat, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are just tender but not mushy, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until the liquid has thickened and become glossy, 5 to 7 minutes more. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and let cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven, place a baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Let the pie shell, lattice top and leaf cutouts stand at room temperature for 5 minutes. Transfer the apple filling to the pie shell, then gently invert the lattice top over the pie. Trim the edges flush with the rim of the dish and press the top and bottom crusts together to seal. Brush the underside of the leaf cutouts with egg wash and gently press them onto the edges of the piecrust, overlapping the leaves slightly. Decorate as desired with the remaining leaves. Brush the entire top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with the granulated sugar.

Place the pie dish on the preheated baking sheet. Bake until the crust is crisp and golden brown, about 1 hour, covering the edges with aluminum foil if they become too dark. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 1 1/2 hours before serving. Serves 8.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen.

 

Here’s a look at the pie just before it headed into the oven…

…and here it is fresh out of the oven! The smell is intoxicating.

The best homemade apple pie recipe

I actually shared this recipe on the blog several years ago, but I thought I’d give it a little photoshoot refresh.  However at that time I did a lattice top with these leaf cutouts. The cutouts in the pictures in the post are much easier to do than the cutouts in the pictures of the old post.  In the old way the dough would rip when trying to transfer it to the top of the pie.

The best apple pie recipe - seriously, I have been making this for years and get rave review from everyone!

 

Oh yum, just before eating… hot apple goodness oozing out… I like my apple pie with a touch of vanilla ice cream.  Or homemade cinnamon ice cream. My mom votes next time we try it with homemade salted caramel ice cream. Doesn’t that sound delicious?

One last look at the pie, yum yum!

If you are interested in the piecrust cutters, I used these ones here from an earlier year.  These ones here are similar and cheaper.

The best apple pie recipe - seriously, I have been making this for years and get rave review from everyone!

 

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Peach Clafoutis Recipe

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I have said it before and I’ll say it again: we have peaches coming out of our ears. So that means I have been busy baking up a storm using all of the peaches!

Now, I have been wanting to try to make a clafoutis because it sounds so fancy.  It is pronounced kla-foo-tee.  But guess what? It is SUPER EASY to make.  I feel like the name is deceiving for that reason!

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Now, for the recipe, I simply used Julia Child’s recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  She used other fruit but I substituted peaches. It was tasty!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar, divided
  • 3 eggs
  • 1tbsp vanilla
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 3-4 ripe peaches, sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F
  2. In a blender, blend the milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, and flour.  
  3. Then, pour about a 1/4 inch layer of the matter into a lightly buttered baking dish (a cast iron pan works the best!). Place over heat for 2-3 minutes on the stove top until the batter sets up in the pan. 
  4. Remove from the heat and then spread the peaches evenly over the batter.  Pour the remaining batter on top.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/3 cup sugar on top of that (I only sprinkled part of it as it seemed like a lot of sugar).
  5. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  The clafoutis is done when it is puffed and brown. Plunge a knife in the center and if it comes out clean you are down!
  6. Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

If you have never had a clafoutis it is kind of like a pancake/flan batter with fruit cooked in the middle.

You can impress your friends by making this dish – it sounds so fancy but it is SO EASY to make that  a beginner could make it! 

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