Black Cherry Almond Tart with Nutmeg Whipped Cream

I must confess, sometimes I am a bit resentful that we live in a tiny apartment with no yard, not enough privacy, and very little space.  It hits me the most when I am desperately trying to shove all the pots into the kitchen cupboards.  It's bad, I turn into a crazy person.

I have become completely enthralled with an entertaining-cooking youtube channel called Entertaining With Beth.  "She", as Hillary and I refer to her, is incredible.  The quality of video is comparable to a show you would find on the Food Network. On her channel she not only shows you how to make her dishes, but how to entertain, including: how to plate the food so it looks beautiful, how to set up decorative table decor, when to serve what, and event timing.  It is wonderful.  It makes me want to throw sophisticated food parties with sophisticated people.  Unfortunately our tiny apartment throws off the ambiance of it all.

That being said I wouldn't change it, our life is a journey, and this apartment is part of it.  Someday we will have a home perfect for hosting dinner parties and holiday celebrations, but for now we have what we have, and I actually like it that way.  It just means I can practice making the food until we can fit more than 4 people comfortably in our house.

I basically got the recipe for my tart from Beth.  I changed the recipe for her Fig Almond Tart to be more my style, but used roughly the same method.  I changed out the figs for black cherries, and doctored up the whipped cream using nutmeg. Oh my it turned out delicious!

 Black Cherry Almond Tart with Nutmeg Whipped Cream

Serves 8

For Crust:
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp ice water
1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
4 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp almond extract
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cubed

For Filling:
7 ounces almond paste
¼ c sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 stick salted butter, room temp
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/3 cup flour
1/2 Cup pitted black cherries,
¼ sliced almonds

For whipped cream:
3 tbsp powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tsp nutmeg

 

Method: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl of a food processor combine flour, salt and sugar and pulse until combined.  Add butter cubes a few at a time, pulsing quickly until dough resembles a coarse meal. Beat egg together with water. Add egg mixture, slowly, pulsing just until dough comes together.  Turn out onto a floured surface and roll into a ball and then pat down into a disk.  Wrap disk in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or pop in the freezer for 10)

Meanwhile, beat together almond paste, sugar and salt in a mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, then almond extract, scraping down the bowl. Add flour and mix on low until just combined.

Roll out dough onto a floured surface until about ¼ inch.  Transfer to a removable bottom, non-stick tart shell and fit into pan.  It’s okay if it falls apart, just press it into pan, making sure the dough feels evenly distributed.  Trim top edge of dough so that it is flush with the pan’s rim.  This will give you a nice finished edge once the tart is baked. Place tart in the freezer for 10 mins to firm up before adding filling.
Pour filling into pan.

Pit cherries and arrange in a circle around tart, as well as place a few in the middle. Top with sliced almonds.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45mins just until browned and a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely.  Remove tart from tin and dust with powdered sugar before serving.  Serve with homemade whipped cream. (Whip ingredients together until soft peaks form.)

Bon Appetit

      

Chocolate Dipped American Macaroons

Compared to French Macarons these American Macaroons were a piece of cake! They took all of 15 minutes to make.  On top of that this recipe is almost guilt free for me.  The nutrient content in the ingredients is quite high, and makes me actually feel good about what I am consuming. Imagine that! That being said I don't recommend going crazy with them, eat a few not the whole batch, it is a dessert after all! :D Get ready for the super simple:

Dark Chocolate Dipped American Macaroons:

Ingredients:

 

1 heaping Cup finely Shredded Coconut (unsweetened)

6 Tbsp. Almond Flour
1/4 Cup warmed Coconut Oil
2 Tbsp. (real) Maple Syrup or raw honey
1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method:


In a large bowl mix together the coconut, and almond flour. Add the coconut oil (should be liquid), syrup or honey and vanilla.  Mix until well combined. Put parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Use a small scooper or you hands to make 24 equal sized balls, and set each one on the prepared cookie sheet.  Put in the freezer for a few minutes so the oil can firm up in them.  Meanwhile in a sauce pan on a low heat, warm up chocolate, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Remove macaroons from the freezer, and dip each one quickly into the chocolate, and put it immediately back onto the cookie sheet. When all the macaroons have chocolate bottoms, drizzle them all with the remaining chocolate.  You can pipe the chocolate onto them, or use a spoon. Put them in the refrigerator until the chocolate hardens and keep them cold until ready to eat.

Blueberry Muffin Macarons (and more!)

Yes...more macarons :) This time we made delicious blueberry muffin macarons, and chocolate peanut butter!  We are working on coloring the shells naturally and it is proving to be quite difficult.  The middle of our macarons have beautiful colors to them, but we will get the shells right, eventually.  We have the flavor down that's for sure.

Blueberry Muffin Macarons:

I love the beautiful speckled shells

And for the Peanut Butter Chocolate:

We used chunky peanut butter in the filling recipe, great texture!

I hope you have fun experimenting with your own fun macaron flavors, just follow the recipes for the chocolate and vanilla shells on the two posts before this, and mix things into it! The filling is where you can really go nuts! Happy baking :)

Perfect for afternoon tea!

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Espresso Bean Macarons

Today I had a party all by myself in the kitchen.  I had so much fun creating the first successful batch of French Raspberry Cream Macarons that I had to do it again.  So Hillary (my baking partner in crime) came over and we tried again with slightly different ingredients; well it was somewhat of a disaster, a delicious but ugly disaster.  So today I avoided doing my last bit of homework to satisfy my obnoxious need to prevail.  And what do you know, I whipped up a great batch of chocolate macarons.  The filling is really where you can get creative with these cute cookies.  Yesterday Hillary made a vanilla bean creme filling that was simply amazing.  Today I made a slue of fillings, but the chocolate espresso bean filling with the chocolate shells was my favorite.  Okay, now for the recipe:

Chocolate Espresso Bean Macarons

Macarons:
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
 
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
5 tablespoons granulated sugar

Espresso Chocolate Creme:

2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp finely ground espresso/coffee beans (I used a French Roast)
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp water plus more if needed

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F

Beat egg whites and sugar for 8-10 mins. 

TIP: #1 egg white should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.

TIP#2 Sift almond flour, powdered sugar (confectioners), and cocoa powder. Add salt. You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

Fold flour/sugar/cocoa mixture into the egg white mixture.

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macarons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macarons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.

TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!

Bake for 18-20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

Meanwhile mix the filling. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar ground beans and cocoa powder. Add water until a thick but creamy consistency is achieved.
 

Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)

Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. 

Bon Appetit!

French Raspberry Cream Macarons

Delicate, adorable, and delicious, these French Raspberry Cream Macarons were fun, and somewhat simple to make.  There were a lot of steps, but if followed closely, you too can make these beautiful macarons on the first try (like I did, yay!). I adapted the recipe from Entertaining with Beth, a great Vlogger on Youtube. You can play he video below to see her methods.  I did things a bit differently for mine, which the written recipe will reflect.
 

We love our local farmer's market, but one thing it's missing is a great bakery booth.  One of my wonderful and most endearing friends Hillary and I, will be attempting to start producing and selling pretty little desserts that use organic, local, fresh, healthful ingredients.  We want to use many ingredients that are being sold at other booths around the market.  What a fun way to use our passion for cooking, baking, and health, while bringing in a little extra cash.

French Raspberry Cream Macarons

*makes 24 completed cookies* 

Raspberry buttercream with a hint of orange

INGREDIENTS
3 Egg Whites (free range eggs)¼ tsp cream of tartar (2 ml) * You can omit if needed, just may take a bit longer to reach stiff peaks but the recipe will still work)
¼ cup evaporated cane juice (organic sugar) (50 g)
 
2 cups organic confectioners sugar (200 g)
1 cup almond flour (120 g)
pinch of salt


RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM
½ cup salted butter (120 g)
1 cup organic confectioners sugar (75 g)
1 cup (150 g) fresh raspberries, worked through a sieve to extract 3 tbsp of juice

5 drops orange extract

Berries from a wonderful organic farm down the road!

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 275-300 degrees F

Beat egg whites and sugar for 8-10 mins. 

TIP: #1 eggwhite should be room temp. To create room temp eggs, submerge in warm water for 5 mins.

Whip until they form a peak that stands upright.

TIP#2 Sift almond flour, and powdered sugar. What remains will be the larger lumps of almond pieces. Just discard those, or use them to snack on :) You want a really fine powder mixture to create a smooth and pretty on top to your cookie.

Fold flour/sugar mixture into the egg white mixture. 

TIP#3 This is where all your hard work can really go wrong. Under mix and your macaroons will be lumpy and cracked when the bake with no feet, over mix and your macaroons will be flat and won't have feet, the mark of a well-made macaron. 65-75 turns of your spatula when folding is about the right amount of time.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

TIP#5: tap the pan hard at least 2-3 times to release the air bubbles. This will prevent the tops of your macaroons from cracking.

TIP#6 Let them sit out for 20--30 mins, or up to an hour if you want. This will allow them time to dry out a bit before hitting the hot oven. They should be "tacky" to the touch, but not stick to your fingertips. This is another important step to assuring your macarons develop feet! When they dry out they can't spread out in the oven, and are forced to rise up. That's what creates the feet!

Bake for 18-20 mins. DO NOT UNDER BAKE, even if they look done! Otherwise they will stick to your tray.

Pretty brown eggs

Meanwhile mix the buttercream. Whip butter with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Slowly add sugar. Then place sieve (if you do not want seeds) on top of a bowl the same size. Work raspberries through the sieve with a spatula, pushing them through, mashing them around until you extract their juice. You want 3 tablespoons of juice.

Add juice to buttercream, along with the orange extract, and whip until combined. Transfer to a pastry bag, fitted with a small tip (about ¼ " in diameter)

Reverse cookie shells on their backs, and pipe a small mound of filling on one of them. Top with the other shell.

If not eating right away, keep refrigerated. 

This beautiful plate came straight from Paris, thanks Hillary!

Bon Appetit!

Lasagna Mania!

So many tasty layers!

Hello, hello! I am happy to report that I'm proud of myself.  I finally accomplished a daunting culinary feat that I have wanted to try for a while.  I made pasta from scratch! Luckily it was surprisingly easy, just a bit time consuming.  And of course I used them in the most delicious way I know how: in LASAGNA! It took me a long time to complete the finished product, but goodness gracious was it worth it!

The way I came up with this recipe was by combining several different recipes, to make one cohesive dish. It is quite a large recipe (serves 24) so feel free to cut it in half or in quarters.

To make the noodles I did close to what this man did:  And I have to say it felt really neat being taught by an  Italian chef, plus he's completely adorable!  HINT: I recommend making the lasagna in this order:  sauce, cheese, then noodles.

 LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twG7PCPDPEE 

For The Pasta:

5 cups flour
2 tbsp olive oil
6 to 8 eggs
2 tsp salt
*Extra flour if needed

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Thoroughly knead dough together.  Roll it out by hand or with a pasta roller. For extra help watch and follow the video above. Boil rolled out and cut lasagna dough for 30 seconds to 1 minute, transfer to a cold water bath until ready for use. 

For The Bolognese Style Sauce:

1 large onion, diced
8 cloves of garlic, finely minced
2 carrots, peeled and thinly chopped
2 stalks of celery, thinly chopped
Salt and pepper
6 tbsp butter

2 pounds ground meat, turkey thigh works well

1 cup dry white wine

2 cups whole milk
Salt and Pepper throughout 

56 ounces (or about 4 pounds) crushed tomatoes, or excellent quality pasta sauce (you cheater!), or a mixture of the pasta sauce and crushed fresh tomatoes.

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Step 1: Cook prepared vegetables, seasonings, and butter for about 6 minutes, or until slightly soft.

Step 2: Cook ground meat in with the slightly cooked veggies, until almost all of the raw coloring is out.

Step 3: Pour in wine and let simmer until all the alcohol scent is evaporated out, test this by smelling it, about 7 minutes.

Step 4: Slowly incorporate in the milk while stirring, the mixture should be lightly boiling.  

Step 5: Add salt and pepper to taste throughout the cooking process. Add tomatoes and let simmer for about 5 minutes, or until completely cooked.
  
 *Add rux (equal parts oil & flour combined) into bubbling sauce if too thin. Add water if too thick.

For The Cheese Layers:

8 oz GOOD QUALITY Parmesan cheese(not the powdery stuff),grate 
8 oz fresh mozzarella, broken up 
16 oz full fat ricotta
4 oz cheddar, grated
Plus 2 oz cheddar, sprinkled on top
4 eggs
1/4 cup parsley, minced 

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Grate Parmesan and Cheddar, break up Mozzarella into little bits, and stir in Ricotta, eggs and prepared parsley. Keep mixture cold until ready for use. 


For The Lasagna:

To Assemble and bake:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Over the bottom of a deep baking dish(or two), smear a layer of sauce. Top with a layer of pasta. Spread a layer of the cheese mixture, then a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles going the opposite direction as the first layer of noodles. 

For example: ll = ll = ll = ll

Spread a sauce layer, then a pasta layer. Continue this pattern until you are almost at the top of the baking dish, lastly finish with a cheese and sauce layer, topped with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese to finish.  
  
Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes.

Serves 24

Bon Appetit!

  

This Is What I Do

Lately my days have been filled with crafting, crafting, and more crafting!  From Save the Dates for our wedding, to numerous Preschool crafts, I have been a busy lady.

Speaking of Preschool crafts, I don't think I have talked much about what I do on a day to day basis.  I am full time student, hopefully graduating later this year.  My ultimate goal is to get my BS in Human Development, (my focus is Child Development), and to get licensed as a teacher in my state.  I want to be a kindergarten teacher.

Right now I also work part time at a "Playschool."  A playschool is just a cute name for a daycare that focuses a little on the actual academics of the children's education; mostly the children learn through play.  While I know play is a very important aspect of child development, (especially in the social and physical categories of development), I am convinced that our facility needs more structure. We, the "teachers", need more time to teach the children proper school etiquette, and basic material. I want to teach more lessons, and actually put lesson plans that I have had to create for my schooling, into practice. The problem is, there is a shortage of materials I can use to put lesson plans together at my work. This creates a lot of outside work for me, (and often a lot of extra expense), which I have to take care of in order to prepare the curriculum and activities.

Trips to the library, craft stores, internet and book research, preparing the outline for the lessons, prepping the activities, gathering supplies...it all takes so much time.  It is difficult for me to balance school and  be the best I can be at my job.

 

Regardless, I keep on trying to come up with a happy medium that works for me.  School always comes first, but if I only implement a few new ideas at my work a couple times a month, so be it, that's how it is going to be, and I am almost satisfied with that. I know an improvement, even if small or made slowly, is still an improvement.

This week a few nice things happened: I finished with one of my finals super early, and my tax returns came!  Because of this I was able to make a very in depth craft, that will help me create more structure during circle time, and foster more learning.

 My Circle Time Felt Weather Board

Learn the days of the week, notice the changing weather, and temperature recording! 

Happy Little Faces!

 

It is so neat that felt sticks to felt.

If you remove all the weather objects, you could tell fabric stories on the board too!

I Scream You Scream We All Scream For Ice Cream...and Updates!

Recipe Below :)

It's been far too long since my last post and so much has happened while I have been away! The planning for our Christmas themed wedding is underway, and we have started booking all sorts of wonderful arrangements for our special day. We have done everything from reserving our venue, selecting a photographer, deciding on the wedding cake design, and I have even found my dream wedding dress!  We are in the midst of finishing our Save the Dates, coordinating with musicians, and so much more.  I will have to backtrack to tell you all the details in future posts. 

*Tip: use an old ice cream container to store your homemade ice cream

Valentine's Day has come and gone, but this year I bought Jake(...well it was sort of for me too) an ice cream maker.  Dangerous, I know.   I like ice cream to be chock full of delicious bits and bobs, basically the longer the description of the ice cream, the better.  I created this recipe in hopes of concocting  the most delectable flavor, so I basically threw in all my favorites. If you have an electric ice cream maker, get ready for:

  Chocolate Caramel Cookie Custard Ice Cream...With Salted Peanuts 

Ingredients:



1 1/2 C organic whole milk

2 C organic whipping cream

1 ounce baker's baking chocolate (one square)

1 C evaporated cane juice (or other organic sugar)

1/4 C water

1 tbsp butter 

3 free range egg yolks

1/2 C salted peanuts

1 C organic "Oreos" (I like Newman-O's) with chocolate filling
*Optional: caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, chocolate caramel crumble candy (recipe below), extra peanuts

How To:

1. Stir milk and whipping cream together in a tall mixing bowl, put in refrigerator.

2. In a pot, on a low heat, melt the chocolate 

3. Pour in sugar, water, butter, and increase the heat, to medium/high, mix.

4. Continue to stir rapidly until the mixture has been bubbling for 3-5 minutes

5. Remove from heat and let cool 2 more minutes (do not let it cool all the way)

6. Stir in egg yolks

7. Remove the milk mixture from the refrigerator and pour in the warm chocolate mixture, whisk until the two are completely combined.

8. Put the bowl into the freezer for 1 hour

9. In a separate bowl, slightly crush the cookies, and stir in peanuts, put into the freezer, and wait to mix this into the ice cream batter

10. Set up your electric ice cream maker

11. Pour batter into mixer and churn according to your ice cream makers directions (before you do this you may need to strain your batter through a fine mesh strainer to avoid any egg white that may have made it into your ice cream)

12. During the last 5-10 minutes of churning pour in the prepared cookies and peanuts

13. Serve or freeze until ice cream is at the right constancy

*Tip* I save old ice cream containers so that I can save any extra ice cream I make. 

*Extra* If you have caramel or chocolate sauce handy (or you can make your own) you can mix this in at the end with the cookies and peanuts. I count the bubbling chocolate mixture as chocolate caramel. I also mixed in chocolate crumble candy to this batch. (Recipe below)

*For a 1 quart ice cream maker



 Bon Appetit!

I mixed in Chocolate Crumble Candy to this batch: 1/4 C whole milk, 3/4 C sugar, 1 tbsp butter, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 ounce baking chocolate. Stir constantly on medium high heat for about 10 minutes. Mixture should be bubbling for the last 5 minutes. Cool completely in a bowl, then crumble into finished ice cream.



When it comes to ice cream, small jars are a nice way to store the correct portion size Pin It Ya'll

Enjoy!