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ed with nonstick liners or parchment paper 6 bake the macaroon for 5 minutes remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 f once the oven is up to temperature put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes or lightly colored 7 cool on a rack before filling theoretically this yields 10 dozen macarons my own attempts yielded 2 dozen filled sandwiched cookies p s when i m not baking i m writing romance under the name zoe archer please pre order my book half past dead and keep me in almond flour posted by lamonkeygirl at 4 24 am 44 comments wednesday july 8 2009 old world and new it s been what a month since my last post life has a habit of making itself known and with deadlines vacations and sundry other events there just hasn t been time even when it comes to my daring bakers post but i ve taken my machete to the overgrowth of obligations and carved a swath of time to post now hopefully my db license won t be revoked for the month of june the db challenge hosted by jasmine and annemarie was the storied historical bakewell tart also known as a bakewell pudding though the two are rather different from each other i quote liberally from our hostesses bakewell tart history and lore flan like desserts that combine either sweet egg custard over candied fruit or feature spiced ground almonds in a pastry shell have mediaeval roots the term bakewell pudding was first penned in 1826 by meg dods 20 years later eliza acton published a recipe that featured a baked rich egg custard overtop 2cm of jam and noted this pudding is famous not only in derbyshire but in several of our northern counties where it is usually served on all holiday occasions by the latter half of the 1800s the egg custard evolved into a frangipane like filling since then the quantity of jam decreased while the almond filling increased this tart like many of the world s great foods has its own mythic beginnings or several mythic beginnings legend has it in 1820 or was it in the 1860s mrs greaves landlady of the white horse inn in bakewell derbyshire england asked her cook to produce a pudding for her guests either her instructions could have been clearer or he should have paid better attention to what she said because what he made was not what she asked for the cook spread the jam on top of the frangipane mixture rather than the other way around or maybe instead of a sweet rich shortcrust pastry case to hold the jam for a strawberry tart he made a regular pastry and mixed the eggs and sugar separately and poured that over the jam it depends upon which legend you follow regardless of what the venerable mrs greaves cook did or didn t do lore has it that her guests loved it and an ensuing pastry clad industry was born the town of bakewell has since played host to many a sweet tooth in hopes of tasting the tart in its natural setting bakewell tarts are a classic english dessert abounding in supermarket baking sections and in ready made mass produced forms some sporting a thick sugary icing and glazed cherry on top for decorative effect for this quintessentially old world dessert i decided to pair it with the fruits of the new world recently my husband and i had the incredible pleasure of visiting glacier national park in montana situated along the continental divide no place could more represent the bold pioneer spirit of america than this incredible glacial valley with its snow topped mountains its cold deep lakes its evergreen and deciduous forests in addition to spectacular scenery this part of the country is known for its wild huckleberries they grow in such abundance you can find huckleberries in just about everything jam jelly preserves candy muffins lotion candles i bought myself a jar of huckleberry preserves admittedly in the kalispell airport since i ran out of time during the trip itself with the express interest of putting them in my bakewell tart home again i made the tart post haste in order to achieve an authentic old world appearance i baked tartlets in pastry rings as they baked the apartment filled with the exotic but comforting aroma of almonds and once removed from the oven and the pastry rings i couldn t contain my pleasure the tartlets looked gorgeous exactly like the kind of pastry someone would have eaten a hundred and fifty years ago and the taste z is often vocal with his praise of my baked goods but he declared the bakewell tartlets to be wonderful he s never said that before and i had to agree the short crust was flaky the huckleberries provided some new world zest and life and the almond frangipane baked up into a luscious golden sponge with perfect tooth and light but substantial crumb z announced that the tartlets were a keeper and i fully intend to make them again the old world and the new coexist perfectly within the realm of the oven bakewell tart makes one 23cm 9 tart prep time less than 10 minutes plus time for the individual elements resting time 15 minutes baking time 30 minutes equipment needed 23cm 9 tart pan or pie tin preferably with ridged edges rolling pin one quantity sweet shortcrust pastry recipe follows bench flour 250ml 1cup 8 us fl oz jam or curd warmed for spreadability one quantity frangipane recipe follows one handful blanched flaked almonds assembling the tart place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface if it s overly cold you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm 1 4 thickness by rolling in one direction only start from the centre and roll away from you and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll when the pastry is to the desired size and thickness transfer it to the tart pan press in and trim the excess dough patch any holes fissures or tears with trimmed bits chill in the freezer for 15 minutes preheat oven to 200c 400f remove shell from freezer spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base top with frangipane spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes ed note i baked the tartlets for a total of 25 minutes five minutes before the tart is done the top will be poofy and brownish remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking the finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned poofy and a bit spongy looking remove from the oven and cool on the counter serve warm with crème fraîche whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish when you slice into the tart the almond paste will be firm but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough sweet shortcrust pastry prep time 15 20 minutes resting time 30 minutes minimum equipment needed bowls box grater cling film 225g 8oz all purpose flour 30g 1oz sugar 2 5ml ½ tsp salt 110g 4oz unsalted butter cold frozen is better 2 2 egg yolks 2 5ml ½ tsp almond extract optional 15 30ml 1 2 tbsp cold water sift together flour sugar and salt grate butter into the flour mixture using the large hole side of a box grater using your finger tips only and working very quickly rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs set aside lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract if using and quickly mix into the flour mixture keep mixing while dribbling in the water only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough form the dough into a disc wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes ed note after i had chilled my dough i cut it into smaller pieces and rolled them to fit my pastry rings frangipane prep time 10 15 minutes equipment needed bowls hand mixer rubber spatula 125g 4 5oz unsalted butter softened 125g 4 5oz icing sugar 3 3 eggs 2 5ml ½ tsp almond extract 125g 4 5oz ground almonds 30g 1oz all purpose flour cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition the batter may appear to curdle in the words of douglas adams don t panic really it ll be fine after all three are in pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again with the beaters on spoon in the ground nuts and the flour mix well the mixture will be soft keep its slightly curdled look mostly from the almonds and retain its pallid yellow colour posted by lamonkeygirl at 8 26 pm 3 comments sunday june 7 2009 climbing the mountain or why i don t bungee jump another greatest hits from the vault it s part of the human experience to try and push oneself to new heights most of the time often we find ourselves settling into routine because it s comfortable familiar easier than taking chances or moving beyond the realm of the known i m sure even astronauts sometimes say oh look the earth from space again sigh there are others who continually strive for new experience to challenge themselves some of those people are admirable others slightly insane i m looking at you wilderness survival guy on the discovery channel while i long for adventure i m also constrained by my own sense of practicality as well as knowledge of mortality so while it sounds intriguing you won t find me base jumping storm chasing street luging or going to wal mart the day after thanksgiving i spend my days writing about death defying adventure so for myself i adhere to a slightly more feasible less life threatening list of culinary challenges the prospect of making cupcakes no longer thrills me though i definitely enjoy the end result on this list of challenges are such daunting mt everests such as puff pastry dacquoise croissants and pâte à choux am i fan of the éclair the cream puff the profiterole not especially but i needed to make pâte à choux because in the words of george mallory it s there i was also pleased when learning of this month s db challenge that there were multiple components to the éclair recipe therein lies the more esteemed aspect of the pastry chef s art anyone can bake a cake and make a simple powdered sugar buttercream but pâte à choux pastry cream and chocolate glaze all held the possibility of failure and thus challenge what did i learn from this experience the mountain is much smaller than it had looked at the base granted it wasn t a completely smooth climb fraught with occasional stumbles and slides but when i reached the summit i could bask in the glow of my accomplishment éclairs with butterscotch pastry cream and chocolate glaze i even delivered éclairs to my friends which for me is a sure sign of success the two different cakes i made for last month s challenge were not distributed to the public because i was mortified by the utter failure of the glaze rendering gateaux that were delicious but aesthetically displeasing in fact the hazelnut gateau went straight into the garbage in a fit of pique but not so with the éclairs i stood on the mountaintop and hoisted my flag announcing that i d made it so how do i get down from here posted by lamonkeygirl at 5 56 pm no comments tuesday june 2 2009 maturity reader in an attempt to get myself ready for bathing suit season i m taking a temporary hiatus from baking don t despair however i m posting some of my greatest hits about baking dating to before i maintained this blog so sit back and enjoy this journey into the delicious past the process of retrospection is one in which we begin to engage early in life when we re children we often ask our parents about what we were like as babies the teen years are often marked with a disgust and dismissal of our childhood even as we cling to small talismans of those first years or invest in them a kind of kitchy reverence who amongst us hasn t pondered the manifold mysteries of the kroftt superstars especially whilst under the influence of controlled substances not i of course but those are external factors a fascinating aspect of growing older is observing our internal changes why something that once seemed so pleasing or wonderful to us is now appalling or vice versa food is one of the best indicators of these changes one day we wake up and smoked gouda cheese is suddenly delicious but uncooked pop tarts are not again this might change under the influence of certain controlled substances as a child i had a boundless appetite for sweets i used to be able to eat in one sitting two full sized candy bars and drink an entire soda and not feel like purging afterwards it also helped that i had the metabolism of a bee and could cram fistfuls of rolos into my mouth without gaining a pound the thought is less than appetizing now also the metabolism has slowed considerably since then which is not helped by my journeys into gourmandism in my childhood anything chocolate especially milk chocolate was my favorite a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting was the height of gastronomic pleasure gradually however my love of intensely sweet desserts waned until one day i discovered that my favorite desserts involved the salty sweet flavors of butterscotch and caramel the innovation of adding salt to caramel was a revelation the perfect sharp note that helped ground the fancies of caramelized sugar the bliss of heaven tempered by earthy reality this month the db challenge was a caramel cake with browned butter caramel frosting i was ready to embrace the mature me to ensure that all facets of my personality were satisfied i made sure to liberally salt the frosting with kosher salt i also added some toasted pecans as a garnish a touch which the young me would have sneered at the cake was baked up as cupcakes to be served at p s birthday dinner and also to give to l for her birthday present fitting that this cake the signifier of maturation was to be served for several birthdays but yet in the shape that evoked the innocent years of childhood the verdict the cake was moist and had a pleasing dense crumb without being heavy the caramel flavor of the cake was however muted but the frosting ah the frosting it won acclaim from both birthday girls as well as other friends sweet but perfectly mitigated by the salt i could have eaten it alone with a spoon and in a moment of weakness i did just that when alone with some leftover frosting it was also liberally smeared upon some chocolate chip pumpkin bread z and i were rapturous there was actually a little bit of cake batter left over from the cupcakes so i caved my less mature side and baked up a tiny cake that looked exactly what i wished had emerged from my ez bake oven twenty five years ago all the cakes that did come out of the ez bake resembled burnt little pucks so now i have my retribution take that hasbro perhaps not the most sophisticated and adult decision but if we can t indulge our childish whims every once in a while then what s the point of getting older posted by lamonkeygirl at 12 16 pm 1 comment wednesday may 27 2009 in search of ...