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.

Lucky Leaf Pie Fillings—Delicious Treats and a Giveaway!

Blueberry Meyer Lemon Cream Meringue Cups

So many treats, so little time to tell you about them.  But you must know, so here it is. 

The folks at Lucky Leaf were nice enough to send me more canned pie filling—and a couple other things, too.  I had fun playing around with different recipes to use the fillings.  One of my favorite things about their pie fillings is that they are not made with high fructose corn syrup.  So they are kind of like me making a similar thing from scratch at home.  Sometimes we just need a little less fuss in life and sometimes I want to make a really yummy treat to share, but don’t have the time to turn fresh fruit in to pie filling.  Another thing I love about the Lucky Leaf premium pie fillings is that you can use them for SO much more than pie!

In fact, with the fillings they sent me to try out, I didn’t make pie with any of them.  As you can see in the first picture, I used the blueberry filling to top some fancy, but super easy meringue cups filled with Meyer lemon whipped cream.  The meringue cups are so simple and are fat free and gluten free.  So besides the dollop of real whipped cream, flavored with Meyer lemon, they are a great, indulgent treat without too much alarm for ruining your new year’s diet resolution.  Loved these!  I love their recipe for Baby Blueberry Pies, which are similar to the mini blueberry pies I made last time they sent me some fillings.

Applesauce Spice Muffin with Apple Pie Filling and Whipped Cream

Next up I made some simple homemade muffins with applesauce and spices, perfect for cold weather!  These were topped with some whipped cream, Lucky Leaf apple pie filling (which I really like and was filled to the brim with apples) and a drizzle of caramel sauce.  Lucky Leaf sent me some recipes for ideas to use with their fillings, like this one, I got the idea from their Apple Spice Babycakes which are cupcakes made with a boxed spice cake and topped with vanilla ice cream and the apple pie filling.  While I’m not against boxed mixes and have used them plenty of times in my life, I wanted to try to make things that were from scratch.   The boys ate these up!

Finally with some strawberry pie filling, I also made something similar to a recipe they suggested for some Strawberries & Cream Chocolate Muffins.  Instead of making these with a chocolate cake mix, I made my favorite healthy, whole grain, no egg banana muffins, then I swirled in some strawberry pie filling and some Nutella to kick them up a bit!

Strawberry Nutella Banana Muffins

Check out all the recipes at Lucky Leaf!  I got the recipe for the meringue cups from Holly at Phemomenon.  She made them with a Meyer lemon custard, I just stirred some Meyer lemon juice into some whipped cream.   The muffins were my own recipe.

If you want any of the recipes I have made, let me know and I’d be happy to send them to you.  I need to finish up this post and offer a giveaway to you from Lucky Leaf!  They sent me along with some pie filling a bunch of other things for giving away treats to loved ones and they want to send a reader of my blog some, too.   There’s recipe cards and bags and cupcake holders and all kinds of things for you to be able to give away some goodies.  I love the Lucky Leaf slogan—Good Things Come to Those Who Bake.

If you’d like a chance to win, leave me a comment telling me what you favorite kind of fruit pie is.  For a second chance to win, leave me a separate comment after visiting the Lucky Leaf Recipes Page telling me which recipe you’d make first.  This giveaway is only for U.S. residents (or with a U.S. mailing address) and will end on Wednesday, February 13 at 6 p.m.  A winner will be chosen at random from the entries and notified that evening, so make sure you have a way to be reached in your comments.

Check out their Twitter page and all the yummy things at #LuckyLeafLuckyMe.  You can also like them on Facebook and for even more deliciousness, follow them on Pinterest.  Hey, you can follow me on Pinterest, too, at Baking and Boys!

Raspberry Almond Meringue Cake (Gluten Free)—Secret Recipe Club

It’s not a secret anymore!  Today is the November reveal day for Group A in The Secret Recipe Club.  The club has gotten so big that there are now four groups that each post on certain Mondays of each month!  It is fun to be assigned (randomly) a different blog each month—some you already know and some are new to you/me.  It’s a great opportunity to find new recipes and try them out.  Enough chit-chat you’re thinking.  Fine, I’ll get to this month’s blog/recipe!

The blog I was secretly assigned this month is Dee’s blog, Deelicious Sweets.  This was a newly discovered blog for me and I was happy to spend time browsing around.  Dee and her husband and two kids live in St. Louis, Missouri and she used to have a baking business called Deelicious Sweets, but needed to put that aside to be more available as a wife/mother, so she started a blog to share all her sweets and recipes with the world.  But she doesn’t only post sweets because I just saw a new post for some great looking tomato soup as well as other great looking savory food. 

There were a number of recipes I wanted to pick to make, but settled on this Raspberry Hazelnut Meringue Cake (except I couldn’t find hazelnuts around here close by, so I used almonds).  The cake intrigued me with it being a meringue and I loved the look of it with so many fresh raspberries.  It’s gluten free as well, since there is no flour in the cake.  It’s simply egg whites, sugar, some flavoring and ground nuts.  My cake is not as thick as Dee’s since the recipe says to use 8 inch round cake pans and I only have 9 inch pans.

 

I could have pressed the top cake down onto the bottom more, but I didn’t want to smash those beautiful red raspberries.  As I mentioned, since I couldn’t get some hazelnuts, I used almond meal that I already have.  The recipe with the hazelnuts, has you roast them to get the skins to peel off, then grind them up in the food processor.  My method of just using almond meal/flour worked great and was not as time consuming.  Though I do think hazelnuts would have been delicious!

The cake is chilled for an hour before serving, which just happened to be the amount it got in the refrigerator when I made it, but I think it could and should be chilled for even longer.  Maybe the meringue is supposed to be crispy, but I liked when it was chilled for a couple hours and made it just a little less crispy.  The most difficult part of the whole cake was slicing it nicely without the whipped cream and berries sliding out.  But that didn’t stop it from tasting great!

Here’s the recipe as I adapted it, but be sure to check out Dee’s cake made with hazelnuts and her blog for a lot more “deeliciousness”!  Dee got this recipe from a 2001 publication of Baking—Easy To Make Great Home Bakes.  She found it at an antique mall to add to her cookbook collection.  I love that kind of thing—even though 2001 would not be considered antique. ;) 

Raspberry Almond Meringue Cake, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, from Deelicious Sweets

1 cup almond meal/flour (100 grams or 3 1/2 ounces)

4 large egg whites (130 grams or 4  1/2 ounces)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams or 7 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

1  1/4 cups heavy cream

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 pints fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Butter the bottom of two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans and line  with parchment paper.  Butter the paper and sides of the pan.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and salt with the wire whisk attachment on high speed until they form stiff peaks.  While they are beating, add two tablespoons of the sugar.  Once they have formed stiff peaks, turn off mixer and fold in the remaining sugar a few tablespoons at a time with a rubber spatula.  Then fold in the vanilla and almond meal.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and spread level.

Bake for 50-60 minutes for the 9 inch pans or 1  1/4 hours for the 8 inch pans.  If the meringue seems to be browning too much, cover it lightly with foil.   Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes then carefully run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen.  Transfer to the rack to cool completely.

While cake is cooling, beat the cream on high speed, add the powdered sugar gradually as well as the vanilla and continue to beat until fluffy.  Spread half of the whipped cream in an even layer on one meringue round.  Top it with half the raspberries.

Place the other meringue cake on top of the cake layered with whipped cream and berries.  Spread the remaining cream on top and arrange the rest of the raspberries over the cream.  Refrigerate for a few hours, covered with plastic wrap.   Slice with a serrated knife. 

Baked Alaska with Chocolate Chip Cookie and Chocolate Ice Cream—A Guest Post by Me at Cookie Madness!

Check out my first ever guest post at Cookie Madness!  Anna and her family are on a vacation.  First they are spending a few days in Seattle, then they are surprising their 9 year old daughter and going on an Alaskan Cruise.  I’m sure it will be so fun, what more, since they are from Austin, Texas and have been having a super hot summer, I know they’ll love the cooler weather.

Just for fun, I volunteered to do a guest post for Anna while she’s gone and she took me up on the offer.  Then the decision on what to make and post quickly came to mind—Baked Alaska!  I’d never even eaten one before much less made one, so this turned out to be a fun challenge for me and I’ve now discovered yet another dessert I really like!   I went a little non-traditional and made mine with chocolate chip cookie on the bottom, but I think it will be fun to try it with different kinds of cake (traditionally it’s made with a sponge cake).  I think brownies would also be good!  The flavor possibilities are also endless.  And my favorite part was the meringue—It tasted like ooey, gooey toasted marshmallow.

It was fun for me to get to post for Anna while she’s away, so thank you, Friend, for letting me play!  Go check out the post on Anna’s blog for the recipe!  Adding to my wish list—a kitchen torch!