L'Amour de Tarte

How to Turn Failed Tart into Cookies

2010-04-12T08:26:00.000+12:00

I heard once that you can't consider yourself a proper baker until you've failed. As so much of my baking is experimental, failures happen more often then I would like. Most of the time everything is ok, still edible - just needed a dash more of this and a bit less of that - I'll know for next time, and always tweak recipes before I post them.

However, sometime things go bad, they just fail - no way to recover and they are not enjoyable to eat. This was the case when I found myself with a large chocolate mousse tart (that I had made so many times before without fail!) The eggs weren't large enough and the chocolate had a different composition to what I usually use. The result was a very dense (solid) chocolate tart. A tiny slice was eaten, and was far too heavy. I have had failures before, and discreetly crushed the pie up in a bowl added a bit of this and that and voila - cookies!

I thought as I may not be the only one with failed pies, and other baking; It might be nice to show how to turn failed, or mediocre baking into fabulous cookies!

Now as the size and texture of the failed baking will vary you will need to use a bit of interpretation with the quantities below

Ingredients

1 x Failed Baking, crushed/broken up/blended

~100g Butter, melted (depends on how much butter is in the failed baking)

~1C Raw Sugar (depending how sweet failed baking is)
~2x Eggs (more of less depending on quantity of failed baking)

~3C Oats (more of less depending on quantity and consistency of failed baking)

~1C Flour (essential for failed baking without much flour, chocolate tart etc)

Optional

Dried fruit

Nuts

Seeds

Coconut

Chocolate

Citrus Zest

Cinnamon - other spices

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs - add to failed baking. Then add the oats and flour, one at a time, you want to keep an eye on the consistency and texture of the mix; You want to end up with a texture that will clump together.

Once mix forms clumps add optional ingredients.

Shape into balls and place on a tray.

Bake for ~20min at 180C

Enjoy with a glint in your eye in the knowledge that you have made something lovely out of something not so lovely!

Easter Bunny Pie

2010-04-06T00:15:00.000+12:00

It was a very lovely weekend, doing just what was needed and nothing more. The weather was quite mild for Australia, beautifully Autumn with browned leaves being blown about; waking up to rain pouring outside the bedroom window. I look forward to Easter for many reasons, but one of the most delicious is Easter Bunny pie...

Happy Easter 2010

2010-04-05T07:16:00.000+12:00

Some of our delicious homemade hot cross buns...

Baked Banana Tart

2010-03-26T11:44:00.000+13:00

The freezer seems to always have ripe banana's in these days. Just between you and I - I'm beginning to think someone in the house buys them just so they'll get too ripe to eat and I'll bake them into something! I usually make a loaf of healthy banana bread, no sugar, eggs, white flour or butter. When I pulled out all of the banana's from the freezer on Sunday, it was clear there were simply too many for banana bread.

I remembered a recipe I'd seen for baked banana pie, so went through my recipe collection and found it. This pie was a very nice way to use up bananas, the original recipe calls for you to slice banana's and lay them on the pie base before pouring the mix over, as frozen ripe bananas don't slice well I mashed them and added them to the mix.

Ingredients

1 x Pie Shell, pre-baked

Dark Chocolate

100g Coconut, shredded and toasted

60g Raw Sugar

50g Butter, melted

40g Flour

4 x Eggs

200ml Milk

3 x Bananas, mashed

Melt enough chocolate to brush over pie base.

Mix coconut, sugar, butter, flour, eggs, milk and bananas.

Pour banana filling in pie shell.

Bake at 160C for 55min.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2010-03-10T17:03:00.000+13:00

I love Carrot Cake, When you take a piece and hold it up to your nose, you close your eyes and smell sweet, cinnamon, creamy and comforting. You take a small bite, your mouth is filled with moist dense cake crumbs, you taste carrot and cinnamon, and the fluffy, creamy icing thats slightly tangy on your tongue. You open your eyes and see the next wonderful bite ready to be taken...

I really enjoyed this Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe, so much so that I made this at the start of the week, rather then waiting for the weekend. I made a couple of changes with the recipe, I halved the sugar in the cake, and used raw sugar. I also substituted half the flour with wholemeal. I found the cake delicious and the wholemeal flour gave the cake a lovely moist wholesome flavour.

Thank you to Julie at 'A Little Bit of Everything' for hosting this week, please visit Julie for the recipe and also the other SMS bakers to see how they got on.

Chocolate Pastry - Tart of Currants and Quatre epices Mousse - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2010-01-11T09:49:00.000+13:00

A lovely chocolate piecrust to start the new year with. I thought a white chocolate mousse filling with quatre epices would go nicely with the chocolate pie crust.

SMS Chocolate Pastry

1 cup plus 2 tsp Flour
1/3 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 tb Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tb cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup Cold Solid Vegetable Shortening
3-4 tb Ice water

In a large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa sugar & salt. Toss the butter into the flour mixture. using a pastry blend, cut the butter into the flour until it is the size of large peas.

Pinch off small pices of the shortening into the flour mixture and toss to coat. Using the pastry blender, continue cutting the butter and the shortening into the flour mixutre, until they are the size of small peas.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixutre. Pour about half of the water into the well, and, with a fork, pull the flour into the well. Continue mixing until the dough just comes together. Add more water if needed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gather the dough into a ball. Flatten it into a round disk, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hr before rolling it out.

Roll out the dough to fit into the 9-inch or 10inch pie plate. Pop into the freezer for at least an hour, or or until frozen.

Preheat oven to 180C, pop the pie straight into the oven from the freezer - this stops the pastry from shrinking. Bake for 15-20min.

Quatre Epices White chocolate mousse

1/2 Cup Currants, soaked in rum overnight.

Dash of Allspice, ground
Smidgen of Cinnamon, ground
Smidgen of Nutmeg, ground
Smidgen of Cloves, ground

100ml Milk
1tsp Gelatine
4tsp Water
220ml Single Cream
200g White chocolate

Mix gelatine with water and leave to dissolve. Heat milk gently, add the four spices, then stir in gelatine mix.

Break chocolate into small pieces in a heat proof bowl. Pour over hot milk mix, stir until blended. Cool to room temperature.

Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mix.

Spread currants into baked pie shell and pour mousse over the top. Chill to set.

Enjoy!

Sad Red Strawberry Pie Re-visited

2009-11-04T21:47:00.000+13:00

Firstly, apologies for the complete lack of blogging last month, it was a very hectic month to say the least.

The Sad Red Strawberry Pie got created when I got back from a visit to Sydney at the beginning of the year after spending some time with a wonderful and very lovely man who lives there. Life being what it is I have spent this year in New Zealand and he has spent this year in Sydney.

Visiting Sydney last week I ended up going for an unexpected job interview, and then being offered the job in Sydney, so I have decided to take it! Which means a lot of things to sort out before moving overseas in less then a month.

Last Sunday we had a wonderful lunch at the new house with a lovely bunch of folks, to finish I couldn't think of a more appropriate dessert then to make the Sad Red Strawberry Pie - to celebrate the end of sad strawberry farewells :)

A Feast for the Eyes

2009-10-06T17:40:00.000+13:00

Since starting this blog earlier in the year I have had a growing interest in food photography.

Recently I had a wonderful opportunity to be involved in shooting the dishes for the online menu at Mon Ami Cafe, this was a great chance to learn a lot about food styling, food photography and a lot about lighting and its effect on dishes and moods.

Here is a selection of shots of the lovely food made by Francois...

Crumble Photo's - Not quite Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-10-05T15:11:00.001+13:00

I didn't get to the Sweet Melissa Sunday's Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble this weekend,
but here are a couple of photos of a delicious Chocolate Banana Crumble from the photo shoot I was on this weekend at Mon Ami Cafe.

(Yes, we do get to taste these afterwards, and this was simply delicious!)

Caramalised Onion and Chedder Savoury Muffins - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-09-27T15:55:00.000+13:00

I love savoury muffins, one of my favourite weekend cafe breakfasts is nothing more then a flat white coffee and a freshly baked savoury muffin! This weeks Sweet Melissa recipe was simply delicious, what a better pairing for savoury muffins then a gourmet twist on the old favourite combination of cheese and onion.

The caramalised onions are naturally sweet, but I added a spoonful of treacle to enhance the sweetness and also add a nice earthy flavour. Luckily I had some lovely purple sage growing in the garden I was able to add to the muffins.

I took these tasty treats with me to a friends birthday BBQ and they seemed to go down quickly.

Thanks to Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen for picking this weeks recipe, you can find the rest of the bakers at Sweet Melissa Sundays.

Orange Scented Scones - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-09-20T05:35:00.000+12:00

Gosh I've been so busy with Pies lately that I've neglected my lovely Sweet Melissa Baking group!

Orange Scented Scones sounded like a lovely easy recipe that couldn't go terribly wrong. Now I did want little scones but the mix was a bit wet and these came out looking a bit more like cookies. I should have added more flour, but was sticking to the recipe (for once!)

If you would like the recipe please visit Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery

These tasted ok with some lovely Seville Orange Marmalade and whipped chocolate cream, but when it comes to scones, I'll be sticking to Lemonade Scones - can't be beaten for simple, delicious, light, flaky scones.

Mighty Mighty Market Pies

2009-09-12T14:22:00.000+12:00

The Market was wonderful, I managed to sell all the slices of pie and got to go home early! It was a really fun afternoon. My little cards I got printed with a link to L'Amour de Tarte blog came in the post the day before - which was very lucky! Quite a few of them got taken, so welcome to anyone who is visiting after the Market!

Here are some pictures of the lovely pies and the stall.

Crepe Tart - Market

2009-09-11T16:44:00.000+12:00

Here are some pictures of the lovely crepes that went into the Crepe Pie - Enjoy.

Bacon, Egg and a few secret ingredients Pie

2009-09-11T13:19:00.000+12:00

Growing up watching my Dad make rows and rows of pies in the Bakery, I never really thought about making them that much, it seemed like such a natural thing, I never really put too much stock in recipes. Dad used to make amazing Bacon and Egg pies, which I loved to eat some mornings with a good squirt of Tomato Sauce on top!

I have made my own changes to the basic recipe, I have put the tomato sauce in the form of tomato chutney and used fennel seeds to give it a pleasant hint of aniseed.

1x 25x25cm Square Tin
400g Short Pastry
1x Sheet Puff Pastry (enough to cover top of pie)
1x Onion, diced
1 Cup Tasty Cheese, grated
1/2 Cup Vinegary home-made Tomato Relish (if using store brought, tip into a bowl and mix with malt vinegar until nice and tangy)
9x Eggs
500g Smoky Bacon, large dice (Kelburn Butcher do the best bacon I've ever tasted)
1/2 Cup Cream
Fennel Seeds
Salt
Pepper

Roll short pastry out to cover the bottom of the greased pie tin.
Sprinkle with fennel seeds.
Spread onion and cheese over pie base, top with tomato relish.
Break six of the eggs over the base of the pie, leave whole, salt and pepper to taste.
Spread bacon over the eggs.
Mix remaining eggs with cream, salt and pepper and pour over bacon.
Add puff pastry to top of pie and seal edges.
Make cuts in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.
Brush pie shell with milk and sprinkle fennel seeds over the top.
Bake at 190C for 30-40min until golden and knife comes out clean.

Market Update - Menu

2009-09-01T16:20:00.000+12:00

After much debate, I have finalised the pies for the market stand next weekend;

Chocolate Mousse & Orange Blossom Tart
Chocolate Hazelnut Pavlova Tart
Lemon and Sugar Crepe Pie
White Chocolate, Frangipane and Berry Tart
and a classic Kiwi Bacon and Egg Pie...

I have decided to go with tried and true, I figure there will be lots of time for the others later on (such as the mango caramel tart! - shh)

Simple Chocolate Fruit Tart

2009-08-30T16:48:00.000+12:00

A tart that the children would like... I have so many idea's when it comes to tarts and pies for adult taste buds, it is so easy to forget the simple taste buds children have. It was nice to think in plain uncomplicated flavours again, and what is more simple and delicious then a simple chocolate and fruit tart.

1x Pie Shell, parbaked.
200g Chocolate
200ml Cream
Fruit/berries to decorate.

Melt the chocolate and cream for the ganache in a saucepan, chill.
When ganache is firm beat until fluffy.
Spread into cold pie shell.
Decorate with fruit/berries, chill until ready to eat.

Chocolate, Praline and Hazelnut Tart

2009-08-27T21:51:00.000+12:00

A chocolate themed cooking competition at Mon Ami, a tart of course, but which one?! After reading some wonderful things about a dark chocolate tart with praline I thought this one might be a lovely idea for the competition.

Alas it only came second, but was a delicious tart nevertheless.

Ingredients
1x Pie Shell, parbaked

160ml Cream
40ml Milk
200gm Chocolate (61% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling
150gm Hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
175gm Caster sugar
300ml Cream
400gm Dark chocolate with whole roast hazelnuts, finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling

Combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan,
stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil, cook until dark caramel in colour (4-5 minutes), pour over nuts.
Stand until cool and set (8-10 minutes), process in a food processor until finely ground.
Bring cream to the simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat,
add chocolate, stir until smooth, remove from heat,
stir in two-thirds of praline mixture (reserve remaining to serve).
Spoon into pastry case, smooth top, refrigerate until just set (1½-2 hours).

Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan, bring to the simmer over medium-high heat.
Add dark chocolate, remove from heat, stir until smooth.
Spread over tart, refrigerate until just set (45 minutes-1 hour).

Cut into wedges with a hot knife and serve immediately scattered with reserved praline.

First ever market stand!

2009-08-25T14:44:00.000+12:00

Cuba St in Wellington, NZ is quite well known as one of the funkiest and quirkiest streets in the city. One of the biggest and most fun days in the Capital is the Cuba St Carnival which gets bigger every year! One of the stars of Cuba st is Mighty Mighty, which is one of those places that sums up Cuba st and NZ without even trying.

Once a month Mighty Mighty dedicate half of the floor space to have a market, which I have picked up some very nice little treasures! After having a lovely chat with the organisers last time I was there, I thought it would be fun to have stall and sell slices of pie :) This means I will get to make a few new pie ideas from my notebook (which has now surpassed the 40 ideas mark) but also to remake a few favourites! So on the 5th of September I will be at the Mighty Mighty Market seeing if anyone wants to buy a slice or two of pie...

Chocolate, Butterscotch and Rosewater Birthday Cake

2009-08-20T10:50:00.001+12:00

A while ago one of my friends from work asked me if I would like to make a cake for her partners 30th Birthday, for about 60 people!! So of course I said I would love to! It took a few weeks to decide which flavours would work.

After a couple of trial runs we eventually decided on a layered chocolate sponge cake. The layers were drizzled with a butterscotch rosewater syrup and filled with a butterscotch mousse filling. The cake was then topped with a generous layer of whipped dark chocolate ganache.

White Chocolate and Berry Tart.

2009-07-29T13:58:00.000+12:00

I wanted to take a couple of tarts with me to the snow this weekend, so I thought a nice frangipane tart is always a crowd pleaser. White chocolate and red berries is a natural match and would also go superbly with the frangipane mix.

1x Pie shell (21cmx2.5), par-baked

2Cups Berries (I used Raspberries and Boysenberries)
60g White chocolate
2Tbs Cream
1tsp Rosewater
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs, lightly beaten

Melt chocolate and cream in a bain-marie until combined, remove from heat and add rosewater.
Brush over tart shell. Chill until set.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs.
Spread frangipane mix over the chocolate in tart shell.
Place berries on frangipane mix.
Bake at 180C for 60min.

Cosy Winter Pie

2009-07-27T14:44:00.000+12:00

I thought of this combination after stumbling across a recipe for Gajar Halwa and thought the flavours sounded delicious. A sweet wholemeal pie shell with this wonderful carrot mix and topped with a creamy rice pudding. What a delicious comforting winter pie. As I was heading to the mountain and snow this weekend I thought this would be the perfect pie to take along. Now some might argue that Gajar Halwa is not the correct name for this dish, but that is what the internet said and who am I to argue with the internet ;)

1x Pie shell (Sweet wholemeal pastry with cinnamon)

Gajar Halwa
20g Butter
4x Cardamom Pods, lightly crushed
3 Cups Carrot, grated and packed
1x Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1tsp Rosewater
4Tbs Hazelnuts, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg, grated

Rice Filling
400ml Milk
65g Arborio Rice
Zest of one Lemon
1x Vanilla Pod
115g Unsalted Butter, softened
50g Sugar
2x Eggs, separated.

Gajar Halwa
Melt butter and add cardamom pods, fry for a few minutes before adding the carrot.
Fry until dry and then add the milk.
Cook for 10min or until really thick and mix begins to come off the sides of the pan.
Add the hazelnuts and cook for a couple more minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the rosewater and nutmeg.

Rice Filling
The day before...
Pour the milk into a saucepan, add rice, lemon zest and vanilla pod.
Bring to the boil, stirring.
Lower the heat and cook gently, uncovered for about 45minuites or until the rice has absorbed the milk.
Remove from heat, remove vanilla pod.
Cover the pan and leave in a cool place overnight.
The next day
Beat butter and 25g sugar together until light and fluffy, add yolks.
Mash the rice with a fork and beat into the creamed mixture.
Whisk egg whites until stiff, beat in remaining sugar and fold into the rice mix.

Assembling the pie.
Spread the Gajar Halwa over the base of the tart shell.
Pour over the rice mix and level the surface.
Bake at 180C for 30-35min until filling is set and puffed.

Cinnamon Cherry and Ginger Mousse Tart

2009-07-18T17:12:00.000+12:00

Another delightfully winter pie, delicious dark chocolate pie case with tangy spiced cinnamon cherries topped with an intense ginger infused mousse. Perfect for a cosy night in with a chilled glass of mead.

There may look to be quite a few ingredients but it creates a earthy, tangy slightly sweet cherry mix which compliments the lightly sweet, creamy ginger mousse beautifully.

1x Chocolate pie shell, 20x5cm, baked and brushed with melted dark chocolate.

3 Cups Cherries (Sweet)
3Tbs Port
3Tbs Water
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Star Anise
2 Cloves
Pinch Salt
6 Twists Pepper (from grinder)
1Tbs Treacle
1tsp Red wine Vinegar
1tsp Rosewater
1tsp gelatin/agar

4cm piece Ginger root, peeled and grated.
300ml Cream
1tsp Ginger powder
1Cinnamon Stick
2Tbs Sugar
2 Eggs, separated

Day One
Combine cherries, port, water, cinnamon, star anise and cloves in a saucepan, simmer gently for 10min.
Add salt, pepper, treacle and vinegar, simmer for a further 5min.
Whisk in rosewater and chill over night.

Combine cream, ginger root and ginger powder in a saucepan and heat very gently for 20min.
Pour into a glass jar with a cinnamon stick and chill overnight to infuse.

Day Two
Drain the liquid from the cherries into a saucepan and heat gently, dissolve gelatin and then add cherries. Leave to cool.
When cool pour into pie shell and chill for an hour.

Pour the ginger infused cream through a sieve, add egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and beat until smooth and glossy.
Fold egg whites through ginger cream 1/3 at a time.
Pour onto chilled cherry mix and chill for a further few hours or overnight.

Classic Bakewell tart with Cherries - Daring Bakers

2009-06-30T09:01:00.000+12:00

"The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England."

After much experimenting lately I wanted to do a fairly classic tart. Sometimes we spend so much time looking for new and exciting things, it becomes comforting to have something familiar and traditional. We crave something reliable, something habitual. I made a Bakewell Tart with Black Doris Plum Jam and Sweet Red Cherries pushed into the frangipane filling.

1x Pie Shell (21cm x 2.5cm)
1 Cup Black Doris Plum jam
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs, lightly beaten
12 Cherries

Par-bake pie shell for 12min.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs.
Heat jam slightly and spread over the base of the pie shell.
Top with frangipane mix.
Push cherries lightly into frangipane mix.
Bake for 60min at 180C.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea, while thinking about your next adventure.

Butterscotch Souffle Tart with Caramalised Cashews - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-06-21T16:56:00.000+12:00

This weeks Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was Butterscotch Cashew Bars. I thought this would translate well into a delicious light butterscotch tart with caramelised cashews.

1x Pie Shell (21cmx5cm), parbaked
1/2 Butterscotch Sauce Recipe Below (1Cup+extra for pie shell)
2Tbs Flour
3x Eggs, separated
pinch of tartar
120g Cashew Pieces
1Tbs Demarera Sugar

Pour enough butterscotch sauce to cover the base of the pie shell.
Add egg yolks and flour to the remaining butterscotch sauce, mix.
Whisk egg whites and tartar to stiff peaks.
Fold the egg whites into the butterscotch mix 1/3 at a time.
Tip butterscotch mix into the pie shell, bake at 180C for 35-40min, until centre is set.
Put cashew pieces into a dry non-stick pan and lightly toast.
When toasted sprinkle with demarera sugar and cook until sugar has melted and coated the cashews.
Spread onto a tray lined with baking paper, and separate into small pieces, cool.
When tart is removed from the oven, sprinkle over the caramelised cashews so they sink into the tart.

Butterscotch Sauce

450g Sugar
50g Liquid Glucose
150ml Water
100g Butter, cubed and chilled.
3x Eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of milk

Combine sugar, glucose and water in a small non-stick saucepan. Heat gently until everything has dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil.
Cook until the syrup turns a rich brown colour.
Whisk in the chilled butter, leave to cool for 5-10min.
Whisk in eggs, may need to gently heat the pan.
Pour into a sterilised jar to keep.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-06-14T19:30:00.000+12:00

As I have been away for the last two Sundays I have missed out on participating in Sweet Melissa Sunday's. These cookies sounded delicious, and although they are clearly not a pie they were cute enough to make it here. If you are after the recipe be sure to check out http://sweetmelissasundays.wordpress.com/ you can also find the other wonderful bakers there.