Asian Pear Tart with Pâte Brisée Filling

 

Our church has been continuing to bless us with fruit and today Asian pears got to take the spotlight. I've never baked with them before but my first thought was to make a tart. I made a rich pastry crust, filled them with a pâte brisée filling and topped them with Asian pear slices. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar and enjoy!

God Bless,

Sandra xoxo

Rich Pastry Crust

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1-2 tablespoons milk

Stir together the flour and butter. Cut cold butter into the flour until mixture resembles course crumbs. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add one egg and one tablespoon milk. Slowly stir mixture together until it forms a ball. If necessary, add the additional tablespoon of milk. Divide the dough into four parts for individual shells or don't divide it for a 9" tart shell. Roll out the dough and press into tart shells. Prick the dough with a fork and/or use pie beads to keep the shells from bubbling. Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Pâte Brisée (Almond Cream)

3/4 cup almond flour

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 teaspoon flour

3/4 cup butter, room temp

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients. In a stand mixer, or hand mixer, cream together butter and vanilla until soft and fluffy. Add in dry ingredients. Add egg. 

Assembling

When the shells are done baking (should still be light colored), remove from the oven and fill with the almond cream. Arrange pealed and thinly sliced Asian pear slices on top. Bake at 325 F for 35-40 minutes or until the crust and filling are golden brown. 

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love everything about fall…the cooler weather, the candles, red and yellow leaves, and all the yummy goodness of spiced cakes and cookies! 

Our church’s ladies’ Bible study started this week which seemed like the perfect reason to whip of a batch of pumpkin cupcakes to share! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did…I mean, “they” did 😉

God Bless,

Sandra xoxo

Pumpkin Cupcakes

3 cups sugar

1 cup oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 1/3 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup water

15 ounces pumpkin

In stand mixer, cream sugar and oil together, then add eggs, vanilla and pumpkin. In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients. Alternately, add flour mixture and water until all is gone. Grease a muffin pan, or use cupcake papers, and bake at 400° F for 15 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. This is a large batch so you will need to make several pans of cupcakes, or bake in a baking pan as a cake. 

Top with cream frosting!

 

Sourdough Apple Spice Cake Roll

Nothing quite says fall like pumpkins...wait...apples! I saw this delicious recipe for a Sourdough Pumpkin Roll over at Farmhouse on Boone and I couldn't wait to make it. I've been making sourdough on a daily basis for a year now (see how to make sourdough starter here) and, as a person being gluten-free for 10 years, I've been able to tolerate wheat if it's fermented. So, this recipe appealed to me because of my love of pumpkin, fall, fermented wheat and all things delicious!

 I started making the recipe, only to realize that my new obsession with homemade pumpkin lattes had depleted my stash of pumpkin...sigh. But not to be discouraged, I did have applesauce on hand and so my pumpkin roll instantly became an apple roll, and who's to say it isn't every bit as delicious, or even more delicious, if you're in an apple-loving mood? 

I basically followed the recipe how it's listed, but since I was using applesauce instead of pumpkin, I scaled back the sugar a bit since apples are much sweeter. We try to stay away from overly sweetened foods to fine tune our taste buds to the richness of food in their natural state.

From our kitchen to yours, happy cooking!

             God Bless, 

                Sandra xoxo

            Apple Cake

            1 cup flour

            1/2 cup applesauce

            1/2 cup sourdough starter

            1 teaspoon cinnamon

            1/2 teaspoon salt

            3 eggs

            2 teaspoons vanilla

            1/3 cup maple sugar (or 1/2 cup regular sugar)

            1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix the first three ingredients together. Cover with a dishcloth and allow to ferment 12-24 hours. Add the remaining ingredients to the mixture and bake at 375 F on a parchment lined 10x15" baking sheet for 15 minutes or until done. 

As soon as it comes out of the oven, place a dish towel over the cake and flip the cake onto the towel being careful to not tear the cake.  Roll it up in the dishcloth until cool.

            Filling

            8 ounces cream cheese

            1/4 teaspoon butter

            1/4 cup maple syrup

            1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add in the maple syrup and vanilla. Unroll the cake and evenly coat the entire cake with the filling. Roll it back up. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Chocolate Mousse Domes

 

I have been binge watching Baking Championship shows, which I find so completely inspiring! On one of the episodes, they made mousse domes and I immediately knew I needed to make them. However, it wasn't immediately that I was *able* to make them. Fast forward nine months, and here they are!

        Cookies Base:

        56 g almond meal

        125 g flour

        75 g butter, softened

        75 g brown sugar

        1/2 tsp vanilla

        1 tbsp milk

Mix together and chill dough for 30 minutes. Using a lightly dusted working surface, roll out the dough to 1/4" thick. Cut out 12 circles the same size as the base of your mousse molds. Bake at 350 F for 8-10 minutes, or until light golden brown. Cool completely.  

Chocolate Mousse: 

        90 g milk

        90 g heavy cream

        4 eggs yolks

        190 g semi-sweet chocolate pieces

        1 package gelatin (7 g)

        35 g water

        100 g sugar

        50 g egg whites, whipped to stiff peaks

        150 g cold heavy cream, whipped to stiff peaks

Soften the gelatin in 35 g of cold water. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and cream to a soft boil. In a separate bowl, stir together the eggs. Slowly add the hot milk to the eggs while stirring constantly. Put the milk and egg mixture back in the saucepan and stir until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatin. Cool completely.

For the meringue, bring the sugar and water to a boil and cook over medium heat until it reaches the soft crack stage. Slowly incorporate the sugar mixture down the side of your mixing bowl, while continuously beating the egg whites at high speed. Mix until the meringue cools to room temperature.

Gently fold the whipped cream and meringue into the cool chocolate mixture. Lightly oil the silicone dome molds and fill with mousse. Freeze three hours.

Mirror Glaze recipe here. 

To assemble:

Top a small bowl with a cookie rack. Pop a mousse dome out of the mold and place it over a cookie base centered on the cookie rack above the bowl. Pour the cooled mirror glaze over the dome, allowing the excess to drip into the small bowl. Continue until all cookies are coated, reusing the extra mirror glaze as needed. Edge with chopped almonds if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Enjoy!