TWD- Cherry Nectarine Pie

What is it about baking in someone else's kitchen that makes you feel out of sorts? We're visiting family and we're staying at my parent's. For some reason, I cannot bake very well in my mom's kitchen. Cooking is ok, just not baking. Things turn out like this and this. So sad.

I wasn't sure how this week's TWD for Blueberry Nectarine pie would turn out, but I thought pie doesn't have to rise. I should be ok. I opted for cherries because, well, I like cherries more.

The fruit is cooked in sugar, flour and lemon zest for a few minutes until it's syrup-y and the fruit is soft.

Pour it in the pie crust, top with the other crust and pretend you know how to crimp the edges.

The recipe says to bake 30-40 minutes. Mine took almost 40 minutes. Maybe not the prettiest pie. It was hard to make the edges look good because it's baked in a cake pan. That's my excuse.

This recipe was really fantastic. The cherries were juice and a little tart, and the nectarines added some more tartness. I probably should have used a little more sugar, but paired with ice cream, this was delicious.

Hilary and Liz have the recipe!

TWD- French Strawberry Cake

This week's TWD is for French Strawberry cake, a light genoise cake filled with macerated strawberries and covered in cream. The recipe is very straightforward and easy. 

"A génoise cake is an Italian sponge cake named after the city of Genoa and closely associated with Italian and French cuisine that does not use any chemical leavening, instead using air suspended in the batterduring mixing to give volume to the cake."

It's baked in a single layer, and then torted:

There's nothing I dislike more than torting a cake. I never do it if I can help it. If I want layers, I'm more than happy to bake them in separate pans. I only got two layers from my attempt to tort this.

This was delicious and fresh- perfect for a summer BBQ! Check out  Sophia of Sophia’s Sweets and Allison of Sleep Love Think Dine for the recipe!

TWD- Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte

I'm finally back to TWD! This week Amy of Food, Family, and Fun chose the Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte. Let me just first say I'm out of town and I'm without the following luxuries:

• 8" springform


• food processor


• plates and forks from this century- just kidding, mom! (kind of)

Anyway, this was fun and easy to make. Without the smaller pan, my layers were thinner. And without a food processor, my arm did a lot of beating. And without attractive plates... well, you'll see what that resulted in. I did mine this morning so it was ready to unmold before dinner, and ready to be eaten after dinner.

I made the raspberry ice cream as described in the recipe for one of the ice cream layers, and a chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered peanuts and fudge ribbon for the other. I'll admit that I rushed putting on the second ice cream layer, hence the uneven layers (hey, we were going to eat lunch at my favorite Mexican place!!).

I used a warm towel to unmold; apparently, I took too long cutting the other pieces before taking a pic of the slice- this baby melts fast!

We ate the torte with this view:

A very yummy, easy dessert! I'd love to try it with coffee ice cream or vanilla ice cream with Heath bar chunks. Click here for the recipe. Happy Tuesday!

TWD: Summer Fruit Gallette

Ok, so I tried the Summer Galette. I made mine with plums, which were very good. I had to make it in phases because I had a baby shower last night. So before the shower, I made the pie crust and blanched and peeled the plums, and finished it when I came home. I put too much water in the crust; it was really sticky. Needless to say, it didn't roll out and fold over well. And I wasn't sure from the directions if I was supposed to cut the plums in pieces or leave them whole. By the time I finished and got it into the oven it was almost 10 so I didn't make the custard. We ate it with cinnamon ice cream, which was really yummy. The pie crust is the best I've ever tasted. I'm for SURE making something else with it!!


Summer Fruit Galette
Good For Almost Everything Pie Dough for a single crust
2-3 tablespoons jam or marmalade
about 2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs
Fresh summer fruit: about 10 apricots, 8-10 nectarines, 8 ripe but firm peaches, 8-10 firm plums or 2 stalks rhubarb
Decorating (coarse) or granulated sugar, for dusting

For the Custard
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Center rack in the oven and preheat to oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment (see below) or a silicone mat. To make it easier to move the pie dough onto the baking sheet, roll the dough between sheets of parchment paper (in which case, you can use one of the rolling sheets to line the baking sheet) or wax paper or plastic wrap. Alternatively work on a well-floured surface, taking care to keep the dough moving by turning it and flouring the surface often. Roll the dough into a large 1/8 inch thick circle. Using a pastry wheel or a paring knife, time the dough to a 13 inch diameter. Using a cake pan or a pot lid as a template and the tip of a blunt kitchen knife as a marker, lightly trace a 9 inch circle in the center of the dough- this is the area for the filling. With the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula, spread some of the jam over the circle- how much will depend of the jam flavor you want. Sprinkle over the crumbs, adding a little more than 2 tablespoons if you think you’ve got particularly juicy fruit. Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over the dough and refrigerate it while you prepare the fruit.
Wipe the apricots, nectarines or plums clean with a damp towel and cut in half; discard the pits. Blanch peaches for 10 seconds in a pot of boiling water, transfer them to a bowl of ice water to cool, then slip off the skins. Halve and pit the peaches or peel rhubarb to remove the strings, and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces.
Arrange the fruit on the dough, cut side down if using stone fruits, then gently lift the unfilled border of dough up and onto the filling. As you lift the dough and place it on the filling, it will pleat. If you’re not in a rush, freeze the galette for 15 minutes to give the crust a rest.
Brush the dough very lightly with a little water, then sprinkle it with a teaspoon or two of sugar. Bake galette for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the fruit is soft.
Meanwhile, make the custard. Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl; set aside until needed. Remove the baking sheet from the oven (leave the oven on), and carefully pour the custard around the fruit. Depending one how much juice has accumulated and how much space you have between the fruit, you may not be able to pour all the custard into the galette, but even 2 tablespoons can give the right effect. Pour in as much custard as you can, then carefully return the pan to the oven. Bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the custard is set- it shouldn’t jiggle when you gently shake the pan. Cool the galette on the baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes.Very carefully slide a small baking sheet or cake lifter under the galette and slip the galette onto a rack to cool. The galette can be served when it is just warm or- my preference- when it has reached room temperature. Dust with confectioners; sugar just before serving.
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Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough
For a 9 inch Single Crust
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks very cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp size pieces
2 1/2 tablespoons very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
About 1/4 cup ice water
Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing- what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 6 tbsps of the water- add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto a work surface. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap it. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling (if your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge).

Blueberry Muffins

I bought blueberries for my daughters a couple weeks ago and they LOVED them. I'm talking, scarfing them down by the handful; the container I bought, hoping it would last a couple days, lasted exactly 10 minutes. So I bought some more again last week (TWO containers this time), happy that I'd found something healthy they liked. But when my husband gave the berries to them for breakfast a few days ago, nothing! The baby spit them out and Beansy said, "What's this? I don't like these!" So I decided to disguise them in blueberry muffins. I had this BH&G recipe on hand so I decided to try it. The fresh blueberries were really great, but I'm not so sure about the recipe. The texture was moist and and had a firm crumb, but I like my muffins sweeter; these were a little bland. I think increasing the sugar to 1 cup, or adding a crumb topping would make these a lot better:

Blueberry Muffins
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
3/4 cup milk (don't use skim)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
Coarse sugar (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease twelve 2-1/2-inch muffin pan cups. Set aside.
2. Stir together flour, the 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of dry mixture; set aside.
3. Combine eggs, milk, and butter; add all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries.
4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each almost full. If desired, sprinkle tops with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated oven 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups. Makes 12.

My helper: