Category: Dessert Recipes
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, room temperature 2 sticks
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Grease an 8-inch cake pan with removable bottom, and then line with parchment paper cut to line the bottom and grease it to prevent the cake from sticking.
Beat 4 egg yolks and 1 cup sugar in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment until doubled in volume. Start adding room temperature butter in four installments while beating until thoroughly combined.
Turn the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture. Continue beating until cake batter is very smooth and well combined.
Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan, and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat one egg with 1 tablespoon water to make egg wash. Brush the top of the cake with egg wash. let it rest for 2 minutes and apply egg wash again for a thicker coating.
With the back of a knife decorate all around with cross hatching or whatever pattern you may desire.
Bake in a preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cover with foil if browning too quickly. Sliced into wedges to serve.
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup dark corn syrup
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup pecan halves
- Enough pastry for single crust pie
In a mixing bowl beat eggs with a fork or an eggbeater.
Add sugar, flour, and salt and mix to dissolve.
Add corn syrup and melted butter, mix well.
Pour the mixture in 9-inch pastry-lined plate.
Arrange pecans on top of the mixture in a desired pattern. And Cover edges with foil.
Bake in a 350º oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the knife-inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool, cover and refrigerate for a few hours before serving with whipped cream.
- 2½ cups heavy cream
- 1½ cup whole milk
- ⅓ cup ground rice
- ⅓ cup ground almonds
- ½ cup cooked white rice processed with ½ cup water in a food processor
- 1 4 oz can condensed milk
- 1½ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons almonds, lightly roasted, peeled and crushed
In a bowl, soak the ground rice, and ground almonds in ½ cup milk and set aside.
Add heavy cream, and remaining 1 cup milk to a large heavy saucepan and heat until it comes to a simmering boil.
Lower heat immediately, and let it simmer to reduce and get thickened
Stir the ground rice and ground almond mixture and add to the simmering cream while stirring to avoid lumps.
Continue to simmer for a few more minutes. before adding cooked and processed white rice, condensed milk, and sugar while stirring to ensure that the sugar dissolves completely. Continue stirring while cooking on very low heat to prevent sticking to the bottom and burning.
Once it reaches a creamy, thick, (not too thick)or desired consistency, sprinkle ground nutmeg , and crushed almond and stir well to meld the flavors. Remove from the heat and allow the kheer to cool to room temperature.
Serve as a dessert in individual bowls or decorative glasses.
Crust for the Tart:
- 2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
Frangipane:
- 2/3 cup finely ground almonds
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 6 tablespoons unsalted, room temperatuer butter
- 1 large room temperature egg
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar for topping
- 2 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
Crust for the Tart:
In a food processor, add 2½ cups all purpose flour, 2 sticks room temperature butter, and powdered sugar.
Process to combine. It will come together as crumbly dough.Tranfer to a parchment paper and bring all the loose flour to form a smoother disc. Wrap and regrigerate for 30 to 40 minutes.
Frangipane:
Meanwhile, process the frangipane ingredients in a paste and set it aside.
Cut an x on top of each peach and drop them into enough boiling water to cover them. After 1 minutes transfer into an ice bath( bowl of ice water). usually peel literally falls off the fruit. If not use a knife to remove the peel. Cut thin slices and discard the seeds.
When ready to assemble, remove the dough from the refrigerator and knead a little and roll to fit the cake pan. If the dough is a little hard to work with just fit it by cutting rolled dough into manageable size pieces. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm it up. I put mine in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Remove cooled crust lined cake pan from the refrigerator and evenly spread the frangipane paste in the bottom using and offset spatula or a dinner knife.
Arrange peach slices in your favorite design. Evenly sprinkle sugar on the top.
Bake in a preheated 325°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it does not overbrown.
Remove from the oven and let it come to room temperature. Since it is a removable bottom, extra care is necessary when transferring to a rack to cool.
Apricot Glaze:
In a small sauacepan, heat apricot glaze stirring until it is loosen up with no lumps making it easy to spread with a pastry brush.
When the cake comes to room temperature generaously apply apricot glaze and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours, before cutting into it.
- 4 Firm Pears (Bosc, Anjou, or Bartlett) peeled and stems attached
- 2½ cups red wine (Merlot)
- 2½ cups water
- 2 pieces cinnamom
- 4 whole cloves
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
Peel the pears. Use a melon baller to scoop the core of each pear from the bottom. Make sure to leave the stem attached.
In an appropriate sized Dutch oven, add red wine, water, cinnamon, cloves, and sugar. Stir well.
Add the pears and heat until the liquid comes to a simmering boil.
Cover and let the pears simmer in wine sauce for, at least, one hour.
Remove from heat and carefully transfer pears to a serving bowl leaving all the sauce in the saucepan.
Return the saucepan to the heat and continue simmering the mixture on medium heat until it is reduced to a glaze consistency.
Strain through a sieve and discard the solids.
To serve pour the glaze on individual servings.
A scoop of ice cream, or whipped cream on the side is a great way to serve this simple, and yet an exotic dessert.
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 Cup confectioners sugar
- 2/3 Cup almond powder
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup superfine sugar
- 2 to 3 drops desired food color, gel color
Filling:
- 1/4 cup butter cream, jam, ganache, or any desired filling ,your preference.
13×8 BakingTray (2)
Piping bag
Stand mixer
food processor
preheat oven to 300°F.
Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper and set aside.
Measure confectioner sugar and almond powder in a bowl by spooning into a measuring cup and leveling off with a knife. Whisk to combine.
Using fine mesh sieve, sift confectioner sugar and almond powder and discard impurities. Whiz the dry ingredients in a food processor and sieve again. Repeat the process one more time to get very refined dry ingredients.
In a stand mixer beat egg whites and salt until frothy. Start adding sugar and continue to beat until the meringue reaches soft peak stage. Add desired gel food color at this point. Continue to beat until meringue reaches stiff peak stage.
Transfer the stiff meringue on top of the dry ingredients. Start folding carefully to prevent deflating the egg whites. Folding is done by cutting the mixture vertically through, bringing the spatula across the bottom of the bowl and up the nearest side pressing gently. Fold until thoroughly incorporated. Do it by turning the bowl and scraping down the bowl until mixture is free of lumps. You will know that it is ready when it drizzles to form thin ribbons which do not break when you make a figure 8 with it.
Fit the pastry bag with round, #12 tip and fill the bag with the prepared batter.
Use some of the batter under each corner of the parchment paper to keep it in place in the baking tray.. Start piping uniform 1 ¼ inch circles on the prepared baking tray, 12 on each tray. Firmly tap the tray on the work surface to remove any bubbles. Let the cookies stand at room temperature for 2 hours or more for the shells to dry out.
Bake on a double baking tray to prevent burning. Bake for in a 300°F oven for 15 to 17 minutes turning half way through for even cooking. Bake one tray at a time and remove to a rack to cool completely.
Pipe filling onto the back of half the shells and use the other half to make a sandwiches.
They are best consumed within 24 hours at room temperature. Can be refrigerated for 2 to 3 days in an air tight container. Can be frozen for longer, but better to freeze the shells without filling in an air tight container. When ready to use, remove from the freezer ahead of time and then assemble with desired filling to serve.
- 2 cups pitted dates finely chopped
- 3/4 Cup boiling water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 1/2 ounces room temperature butter cut in chunks
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Cup Dutch cocoa powder
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 ounces dark milk chocolate finely chopped
Preheat oven to 325° F.
Put finely chopped dates in a large bowl.
Add boiling water and baking soda, stir well.
Add 6½ ounce chunks butter and stir. Set aside for 20 minutes until butter melts.
Add sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar. While stirring add four eggs and continue to stir to incorporate eggs in the mixture.
Add Dutch cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, vanilla, and finely chopped milk chocolate and stir to blend all the ingredients.
Line your baking tray with parchment along the length and width making a cradle to make it easy to lift the brownies out to a rack. Pour the batter into parchment lined, greased baking tray and bake in a 325° F. preheated oven for 50 minutes.
When done, remove from the oven and let it cool before cutting into desired sized pieces to serve.
Can be served sprinkled with powdered sugar, with ice cream, whipped cream, or fudge sauce.
Can be refrigerated in a container with a tight lid and use as needed.
Crust:
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup sugar
- Pinch Salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 egg Yolks
- 2 cups flour
Filling:
- ¼ cup sour cherry jam, or any jam you desire
Frangipani:
- ⅔ cup blanched toasted almonds
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ teaspoon almond extract
- 6 tablespoons unsalted, room temperature butter
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon rum optional
Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Crust:
Add chilled butter, and ⅔ cup sugar to the bowl of a food processor, and process until combine.
Add salt, vanilla extract, 2 egg yolks and process again.
Add flour, one cup at a time, and process to form a dough.
Remove the dough to a plastic wrap and press to form a smooth disc using the wrap without touching the dough.. Chill the dough for, at least, 30 minutes.
Roll the dough out to ⅛-inch thickness, and line a 9-inch removable bottom tart pan with pastry and press in the bottom and into the fluted edges.
Overhang can be removed by running a rolling pin over the edge of the tart pan to get a smooth edge.
Prolonged working with the dough makes it soft and it should be returned to the refrigerator to firm up before baking for better end result.
Remove from oven and place on a rack to bring it to room temperature.
Sour cherry jam:
Stir the sour cherry jam in a small bowl until it is very smooth. Set aside.
Spread well stirred sour cherry jam in the bottom the pastry lined tart pan evenly and smoothly.
Frangipani:
Meanwhile, prepare frangipani paste by grinding almonds and sugar in a processor until it becomes a powder.
Add teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon almond extract, 6 tablespoons room temperature butter, 1 large egg, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 tablespoon rum, if using.
Spread frangipani paste over the layer of jam in the tart pan and smooth it out using an offset spatula.
Place the tart pan in a baking tray, and bake in a 350° F preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes. If it starts to overbrown, cover with foil until it bakes for the requied amount of time. Once ready, remove from the oven and set aside until it comes to room temperature.
Glaze:
To make the glaze, sift 1 cup powdered sugar to remove lumps.
Add lemon juice in very small amounts while stirring to mix to prevent the glaze from thinning out too much. Once the glaze is at a right pouring consistency, squiggle over the tart and let it set before cutting into wedges to serve.
