Cranberry Crackle Tart—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

I made our Tuesdays With Dorie recipe for Thanksgiving.  Normally we would post on Tuesdays, but since this one was so close to the holiday, we were given permission to post after the day.  The color is off on my photos as most of them were taken in a hurry while the tart was sitting at the dessert table.  I took a few at home right after it baked, too.    I should have taken more time for better photos because I loved the way the tart looked. 

First I made the crust with Dorie’s Galette Dough (page 420 of Baking Chez Moi).  I made this dough twice over the holiday and love how it rolled out nicely and didn’t stick to the counter.  The tart was easy to make, it was just a meringue with cranberries folded in to it.  Some raspberry jam was spread on the bottom of the tart before added the meringue.  The tart is then baked low and slow for an hour and it had a great crackled top.  I admit to tasting one bite of the tart and I really liked it.  I could have easily eaten more of this tart, but didn’t for  my health’s sake.  Now for fun, I want to make cranberry meringue cookies with raw honey. 

This was a perfect holiday tart and would be even better for Christmas, I think.  You are in luck, Dorie posted this recipe on her blog a couple years ago--Cranberry Crackle Tart.  I personally think if you like great baking, you should get Dorie’s book, Baking Chez Moi.  We won’t be posting recipes in the group and they won’t all be available online.  Add this book to your wish list if you don’t have it yet.

Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam and Rhubarb Walnut Loaf—Secret Recipe Club

Betcha anyone coming over here from the Secret Recipe Club that knows me well is shocked that this is my pick for the month and it’s not dessert!  Here’s the deal—I made three recipes from my blog assignment this month and chose the one I liked the most to feature here first.  I liked all three recipes from Isabelle’s blog, Crumb.  I am so happy that I took the time to make these Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam.  I had them in mind the whole month and just kept not getting it done. 

In the meantime, after spending Mother’s Day weekend with my parents in Idaho, I brought home a bunch of rhubarb from their garden.

Mom and I were having loads of fun trying to take a selfie before I left.  Some of them were pretty funny.

My parents just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 16th!  Anyway, their yard and garden is beautiful and they have 3-4 big rhubarb plants.  I got to bring home a bunch.

How cool is this pvc pipe planter?  They made holes all along the top, filled them with dirt and planted things like lettuce and herbs.  They’ve done that all along fencing in their yard.  No weeding!

I could post more pictures, but I’ll spare you too many more.  I just wish I could be like my parents and have a yard and garden like they do!

Back to the rhubarb—I scoured Isabelle’s blog for any rhubarb recipes and found this Rhubarb Walnut Loaf.  I decided that it wouldn’t be too difficult to make gluten free and made it. 

Here’s how I changed it to be gluten free and with a few other changes.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Walnut Loaf, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2/3 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned coconut milk

zest of 1 lemon

1  1/2 cups diced rhubarb

2  1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Premium Gold ancient grains blend with xanthan gum)

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

juice of a lemon

1 tablespoon toasted unsweetened coconut.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together the brown sugar and coconut oil.  Add the egg and mix well.  Stir in the vanilla and coconut milk.  Zest and juice the lemon.  Stir the zest into the wet mixture.  Save the lemon juice for the glaze.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.  Fold in the rhubarb and nuts.    Pour the batter into a 9x5 loaf pan that his brushed with coconut oil.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Whisk together the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and lemon juice and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour the glaze over the loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Cool on a wire rack.

Stay tuned for the red lentil patties and tomato jam, I’ll get to it soon.  It might be the first time in my blog’s history that I didn’t blog for a whole month.  I need to make up for lost time.  A bit more of the month went by and I still kept thinking about the lentil patties with homemade “catsup”.  I looked through Isabelle’s blog again, just for the heck of it and found these Cherry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars and felt like making them.  I made a few changes, using gluten free oats, brown rice flour, cranberries, sunflower seeds, almond milk, etc.  If you want my version of the recipe, let me know.  They were a good snack throughout the last week. 

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I didn’t think I was going to get the lentil patties made.  I knew if I made them they would only be something I would eat and no one else around here, but a couple days ago, I just decided to get it done last Thursday, the boys’ last full day of school.  I started with the Spicy Tomato Jam.  Super easy and very tasty!

Spicy Tomato Jam, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 small shallot, finely minced

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

14 ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Saute the shallot and ginger in olive oil for a couple minutes.  Add the garlic and mustard and saute until fragrant.  Chop the tomatoes, or pulse them in a food processor.  Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat and cook uncovered for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened like jam.  Let the jam cool, then spoon into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. 

This really has great flavor and a nice, perfect kick.  You can add a little more or less red pepper to your taste.  Isabelle used red pepper flakes.  I prefer the ground kind.  This tomato jam would be good on so many things.  After the jam was done, I made the patties.  I had bought some garam masala, which I had never used before, just to make these.  I’m glad I did! 

Since I was the only one eating these, I made just a few of them and have done so a couple times with the patty mixture in the refrigerator ready to make more.   I think I’ll fry off the rest of them, which I’ve done in coconut oil, and freeze them.  I made them gluten free by using rice flour instead of all purpose flour.

Red Lentil Patties, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1  1/2 cups red lentils

3 cups water

1 small shallot, finely minced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 teaspoons garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

coconut oil, for frying

In a large saucepan, bring the lentils and water to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are soft, 15-20 minutes.  Drain lentils well.  In a skillet, saute the shallot in olive oil for a few minutes.  Add the garlic, cumin, and garam masala.  Cook and stir a few more minutes.  Remove from heat.  In a large bowl, combine the lentils, sauteed ingredients, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and cilantro.  Form into balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Lay them in a skillet that is heated with a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and flatten them to about 1/4 inch thick.  Fry the patties for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve them warm or at room temperature with the spicy tomato jam. 

These really were quite simple to make and I’m so glad I found the time to do so!  You know, a couple years ago, I got the pleasure of filling in for a missing Secret Recipe Club assignment and made some delicious marbled choco banana muffins and granola from Isabelle’s blog.  What I wouldn’t give for one of those muffins now!  I also just realized and had thought I had been assigned Isabelle’s blog before, but knew I’d filled in once, so I didn’t question it until now—I have also already had an actual assignment for Crumb and I made a couple more things--Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake and Sweet Potato Falafel!  I knew something seemed off, but didn’t question it.  Oh well, I am super glad I got to find more yummy things on Isabelle’s blog!  We need to have a talk with “the powers that be” who make these assignments. ;  )

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Bars

After making these Raspberry Streusel Dessert Bars back in April and then making them at least 3-4 times since, I kept thinking about chocolate (surprise!).  After making some homemade strawberry jam a few weeks ago, it came to me that these bars would be so good made with chocolate and strawberry jam—like a chocolate covered strawberry in dessert bar form.  So I set out to see what I could come up with.  And I love it when something turns out great on the first try!

I just made these yesterday after taking a Facebook friends poll over which kind of chocolate people prefer on chocolate covered strawberries.  Dark, semi-sweet or milk?  Then I started having some say their favorite is white chocolate on strawberries—okay, I’ll have to try another bar, but for now, for these bars, I went with semi-sweet.  They are sure easy to make and certainly taste like chocolate and strawberries.  I call it a win!

Chocolate Strawberry Dessert Bars, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 cups (240 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 cup (40 grams) natural cocoa powder

2/3 cup (133 grams) granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup strawberry jam (homemade is best!)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Ganache:

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons strawberry jam

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9 inch baking pan with non-stick foil.  Spray lightly with cooking spray.  In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt.  Pulse to combine.  Add the vanilla and pieces of butter.  Pulse until it is all combined and resembles coarse, wet sand.  Put about 2/3 of the mixture into the baking pan and spread evenly, pressing down slightly.  Spread the strawberry jam over the bottom crust.  Then sprinkle the chocolate chips over the jam.  Finish with sprinkling the remaining crumb mixture over the top and press down slightly.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and let sit until cool.

Remove the bars from the pan using the overhanging edges of the foil.  Cut into 16 bars.

Make the ganache.  Put the chocolate in a medium sized heatproof bowl.  Put the jam and cream in a glass measuring cup or bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds, just as it begins to bubble up (watch that it doesn’t bubble over, could do in 15 second intervals if you’re worried).  Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate chips and let sit for a minute.  Stir the now melted chocolate and strawberry cream together until smooth.  Let the ganache sit for 20-30 minutes so it thickens slightly.  Put the ganache into a zip top plastic bag, then snip the corner off and drizzle over the bars.  Let sit until somewhat hardened on the bars.

These would be good and pretty with a fresh slice of strawberry on the tops of each, but I didn’t have any fresh strawberries at the time. 

Raspberry Streusel Dessert Bars

These Raspberry Streusel Dessert Bars were fantastically delicious!  They are perfectly buttery with just the right sweetness and a bit of tartness from the raspberry jam.  I made them last week for book group after seeing them on my friend, Amanda blog, Amanda's Cookin'.  She made them with a combination of raspberry jam and cherry jam.  The only reason I only used raspberry was because I didn’t have any cherry jam. 

I have since bought some and am ready to make these bars again.  They were so good.  A couple of the ladies at book group were eating them and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how good they were.  These bars could be called “Better Than……Dessert Bars” because the “Oh my goodness” eyes-rolled-to-back-of-head looks I was getting while we tried discussing our book for the month, Memoirs of a Geisha and watching the movie were just that---“better than…..” you know.  One of the ladies eating a bar started with the “Oh my’s” and told another, “You just wait until you try them, you’ll see.”  When the other finally had one, she reacted the same way.  It was pretty funny.

I will say, they are definitely SO good.  Make them.  You’ll see.  You’ll want to take them somewhere where others will help you eat them or give them away, because if you don’t, you’ll end up eating far more of them than you intended!

I made them pretty close to Amanda’s recipe, but did make a few little changes, besides the jam. 

Raspberry Streusel Dessert Bars, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Amanda’s Cookin’ Cherry Berry Streusel Dessert Bars

2  1/2 cups (300 grams) unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup (133 grams) granulated sugar

1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 cup (320 grams) raspberry jam*

Icing--

1 cup (110 grams) powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with non-stick foil (or spray pan with cooking spray).  In bowl of food processor, add the flour, salt, and sugar.  Pulse to combine.  Add the almond extract, vanilla, and cubed, cold butter.  Pulse until coarse crumbs are formed.  It will seem “dry”, but put 2/3 of the mixture into the prepared baking pan and press it down evenly.  Reserve the rest of the crumb mixture.  Spread the jam over the bottom crust in the pan.  Sprinkle evenly with the remaining crumbs and press down slightly (all of the jam will not be covered completely).  Bake in oven for 40-45 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.  Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.

For the icing, combine the powdered sugar, almond extract, and melted butter.  Begin stirring and add one tablespoon of milk at a time until desired consistency to drizzle over the bars.  Cut the bars in to individual squares, then drizzle icing over each.  Let set for a while until it hardens slightly.

*If you don’t like the seeds in the jam, and don’t have seedless jam, you can heat the jam slightly, then push it through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.

These are perfect for taking to any kind of function as they travel well, the icing dries nicely so they could even be stacked, and they will be loved by everyone!

TWD—Baking With Julia—Strawberry Rhubarb Hungarian Shortbread

For Baking With Julia today we made Hungarian Shortbread (pages 327-328).  First things first was to make a rhubarb jam.  I really need to get a rhubarb plant (or two) so I can readily have my own on hand.  It is hard to find in stores around here, even when it is in season.  A couple weeks ago I saw it at a grocery store I don’t normally go to and I knew it wasn’t at the ones I do usually go to.  So I went back to that store to get the half pound of rhubarb that I needed.  When I’d seen the store’s supply before, it was plentiful.  The trip where I actually needed to buy some there was three little stalks left that weren’t that pretty.  sigh

I bought what was there and had to cut off quite a bit of it that wasn’t usable.  After all was said and done, I only had five ounces of rhubarb and I needed eight.  (I decided to halve the shortbread recipe when I saw that it took one pounds of butter and four egg yolks!)  It was a good thing when I saw the lame rhubarb that I also grabbed two pounds of strawberries.  So for this jam I used rhubarb and strawberries and it made a lovely jam. 

The shortbread was easy to make and fun to grate after it was frozen for a short time.  Kevin saw me doing it and couldn’t figure out what in the world I was grating—he thought it was cheese.

The first layer of shortbread is grated into the pan and pressed down slightly.  Then the jam is spread on it and the second layer is grated over that. 

As soon as the baked shortbread came out of the oven, you are instructed to heavily dust it with powdered sugar.  I kind of think just a light dusting would have been fine. 

Okay, so just for the heck of it while I was spreading on the jam, I decided to only do half of it with the strawberry rhubarb jam and a opened a jar of fig preserves that I have had in the cupboard and spread that on the other half. 

I have to say, the shortbread is super sweet.  Maybe it was just because I tasted it after serving everyone some homemade ice cream on Monday, which was also super sweet.  I actually only tasted it and no one else has had a chance to taste it yet.  I’m going to have to take the rest of the week off from baking or something—or give some of the stuff away that we have around here right now!

If you want to make this shortbread, check out our hosts’ posts (ha—a rhyme!) for the week.

Lynette of 1 Small Kitchen and Cher of The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler... are the hosts.  You can check out all the other Hungarian Shortbreads here at the Tuesdays With Dorie website, too.

TWD—The Final Recipe! Kids’ Thumbprints

Here it is—the last post for Tuesdays With Dorie!  Kinda sad, I know.  Our last recipe and guess who hosted this one?  Dorie Greenspan herself!  I’m sure she’ll have the recipe for these fun cookies posted on her blog.  Peanut butter and jelly—a classic kids’ favorite.  Everyone knows I love cookies, so how fun to end on such a high note for me and with a good little cookie!  These were simple to make and taste great. 

You can use any jam or preserves you’d like (or that kids would like).  I used some lingonberry jam (from IKEA and my friend, Julie!) and some blackberry jam, that Julie also gave me when she came and visited from Kansas this past summer.  Thanks, Julie!

The Kids’ Thumbprints are perfect for cookie trays and parties as they are small and the recipe makes a lot.

I took them, along with a bunch of other cookies I’d made, to our family Christmas Eve celebration.  Besides jam, you can also play around with what goes in the middle of the thumbprints and what goes better with peanut butter than chocolate?!  So I made some of those, too.

The classic Hershey’s Chocolate Kiss would be great in the middle, too.  After spending time rolling small amounts of dough into balls, and then dipping them in a frothy egg white, and then chopped nuts, I became a little lazy (though I still had plenty of thumbprint cookies), I started just making the traditional crisscross peanut butter cookies with the rest of the dough.

I ended up with a lot of peanut butter cookies from this recipe and they were all good.  And this is for you especially, Kayte, my favorite version were the ones with the jam in the center!  (You thought I was going to say chocolate, I know it!)

I really will miss the weekly TWD posting and the visits to some favorite blogs.  But the end of TWD doesn’t mean I won’t go to those blogs anymore and a bunch of us will be back together in February as we begin another quest to bake our way together through another of Dorie’s treasures, Baking With Julia.

A special thanks to Dorie for supporting this group and often baking along with us.  Also thank you, Laurie, for starting the group, letting it grow as big as it did and for all the others who worked hard each week to keep us going!