Bakewell Tart

I love bakewell tart! It just reminds me of childhood. The buttery pastry compliments the sweet jam and that almond flavour that I just can’t quite describe but is so amazing!

My grandma is out of hospital, and she seems to feel much better, but it can’t hurt to bring her a sweet treat to make her feel even better. When I was half way through making this, I realised that my grandpa doesn’t like almonds that much, but when I gave it to them, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy it! It seems we have a convert!

I went to work today, expecting to be able to say goodbye to Jasper, my favourite puppy, a dachshund, who’s owners were supposed to be picking him up tomorrow, only to find out they came home early from their holiday, so he was already gone! *sigh* no matter, hopefully he’ll come back to the kennels soon!

INGREDIENTS:

For the shortcrust pastry

• 175g plain flour
• 75gchilled butter
• 2-3 tbsp cold water

For the filling

• 3-4 tbsp raspberry jam
• 125g butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 50g flaked almonds

For the icing

• 80g icing sugar
• 2½ tsp cold water

METHOD:

1. To make the pastry, put flour into bowl and rub in butter with fingertips until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add water, mixing to form a soft dough. (you could also do this in a food processor)

2. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and put into a tart tin. Leave in fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

4. Prick and line pastry case with baking paper and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 15 minutes, then remove beans and paper and cook for a further five minutes to dry out the base.

5. For the filling, spread the base of the flan generously with raspberry jam.

6. Melt butter in a pan, take off heat and then stir in sugar. Add ground almonds, egg and almond extract. Pour into tart tin and sprinkle over flaked almonds.

7. Bake for 30 minutes, covering if the top browns too fast.Remove from oven and allow to cool.

8. Meanwhile, sift icing sugar into bowl. Stir in cold water and transfer to a piping bag.

9. When tart is cool, pipe icing over in a zig zag pattern.

ENJOY

Triple Chocolate Tart

HI GUYS! Thank god it’s the Easter holidays! And it means both of my sisters are home from university! I love it so much when i’m not alone at home all the time.

So as per, for Easter sunday I was put in charge of dessert making, and alongside a fruity crumble, I thought something rich and chocolaty would suffice.

Needless to say it did.

Its rich, chocolate taste and crumbly pastry makes it a real crowd-pleaser, and it is soooooo easy to make, so i think its a real winner! definitely try it!

INGREDIENTS:

• 175g plain flour
• 40g cocoa
• 75g caster sugar
• 125g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed, plus extra for greasing
• 1 large egg
• 100g milk chocolate
• 100g dark chocolate
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp icing sugar
• 300ml double cream

For decoration:

• 100ml double cream
• 100g white chocolate

METHOD:

1. To make pastry, put flour, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt into a food processor and pulse to combine. Add butter and whizz until pastry resembles breadcrumbs. Switch to a lower speed and add egg. Blend until pastry just comes together, then tip out onto lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Shape into ball and wrap in cling-film, then chill for 30 minutes.
2. Flour a clean work surface and roll out the pastry to 1/2cm thick, 30cm wide. Line a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin with pastry, leaving an overhang. Lightly press the pastry into fluted edges and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C. Prick pastry base with fork several times and line pastry base with nonstick baking paper and baking beans and blind bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove beans and baking paper and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes, until the pastry is set and sandy to the touch. Rest for 5 minutes, then trim the edges. Set aside to cool.
4. Meanwhile, put the milk and dark chocolate in a bowl over pan of hot water. Add vanilla extract and leave to melt slowly, then stir to combine, until the chocolate is thick and glossy. Leave to cool a little.
5. Whip the cream with the icing sugar, until soft peaks form, then fold in the melted chocolate. Pour the mixture into the tart case and chill for 2 hours, or leave overnight, to set.
6. To make white chocolate swirls, melt 50g white chocolate over boiling water at a very low heat, then allow to cool slightly, put in a piping bag, and pipe shapes onto non stick paper on a tray and chill until set.
7. For the white chocolate cream, whisk 100ml double cream until soft peak stage. Add in 50g melted white chocolate and fold in (i added pink colouring to mine to make it look pretty). Chill for 20 minutes, then put in a piping bag and pipe swirls around tart. Put white chocolate swirls into the cream.

ENJOY

 

Raspberry meringue pie

IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY ON SATURDAY!!!! YAY for birthdays! I just love my birthday, it’s so exciting, plus when it’s over it’s only a really short wait until christmas! Happy times!

And my grandparents got me an ice cream maker, so when i make some i’ll be sure to share it with all of you!

It’s starting to get cold now, so this dessert is fab served warm and followed by a hot chocolate, or a coffee, or a tea i suppose, just a nice hot drink, but I think that the hot chocolate compliments the tangy raspberry flavour!

Also, another great thing about this recipe is that you don’t need a blow torch, because some recipes say that you should blow torch the meringue, but this one just goes in the oven. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

• 375g pack sweet shortcrust pastry
• 400g raspberries, fresh, or thawed from frozen
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 125g caster sugar
• 4tbsp cornflour
• 3 egg yolks
• 50g butter
• 3 egg whites
• 175g caster sugar

RECIPE:

1. Line the flan tin with the pastry, prick the base with a fork and chill for at least 20 minutes.
2. Set the oven to 200°C/392°F/Gas Mark 6 and put a baking sheet inside. Line the pastry case with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Place the tin on the hot baking sheet and cook for 12-15 minutes, then remove from the oven. Lift out the parchment with the baking beans and return the flan case to the oven for 3-5 more minutes, or until it’s a light golden colour and cooked through.
3. Turn the oven temperature down to 160°C/320°F/Gas Mark
4. To make the filling: Tip the raspberries into the bowl of a food processor, add 150ml (½pt) water and whizz to a purée. Strain mixture through a sieve into a saucepan, discarding the seeds. Stir the lemon juice and caster sugar into the mixture and whisk in the cornflour.
5. Place the pan on the hob and stir until the sugar dissolves, increase the heat and bring to the boil, beating well to avoid lumps as the cornflour thickens. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then the butter. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and spread it out evenly.
6. To make the meringue: Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually whisk in the caster sugar, a spoonful at a time, to give a meringue. Spoon on top of the raspberry mixture, and spread it out carefully, swirling it into peaks, taking care not to press out too much air.
7. Return the pie to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the meringue has set and is just starting to tinge in colour, then remove from the oven.
8. Leave the pie to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Flat apple tart

Ahhhh Autumn, the season of falling leaves, cold fingers, and lots of yummy food! We had lots of apples left from the end of summer, and since my folks were coming over… well, this happened, as per usual- I can’t keep out of the kitchen.

Not only is it Autumn, it’s also November, and on the 7th, it’s my birthday!!! I love birthdays, not just my own, it’s my best friends’s birthday in two days, and I’m probably more excited for hers, I just can’t wait for her to open her presents!

You should have seen the speed that it disappeared from the plate, I blinked and it was all gone! It’s the perfect dessert, and it goes well with ice cream, cream or custard, or all three! (That’s a Dickens trait, they like to have it with everything possible, my family)

INGREDIENTS:

• 375g pack puff pastry- You could make your own, but that’s just faff that isn’t necessary
• 5 large eating apples
• juice of 1 lemon
• 25g butter, cut into small pieces
• 3 tsp vanilla sugar
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 tbsp apricot conserve

METHOD:

1. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Roll out the pastry and trim to a round about 35cm across. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and coat in lemon juice. Spread over the pastry to within 2cm of the edges. Curl up the edges slightly to stop any juice running off.
3. Dot the top with the butter cubes and sprinkle with the sugars. Bake for 15-20 mins until the apples are soft and the pastry is golden and crispy.
4. Warm the conserve and brush over the apples and pastry edge. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream, cream or custard.

ENJOY!

Caramel apple tart

Yummy yummy yummy I’ve got caramel apple tart in my tummy! This caramel apple tart is so delicious, and if you are shorter for time, you can just buy dessert pastry instead of making your own.

Dinner party again, so I thought this would be a fab recipe to impress the guests with, neither of us were disappointed!

The season for apples is upon us aswell, so i needed to take advantage of the huge amount I have at my disposal.

INGREDIENTS:

For the pastry:

• 250g plain flour
• 110g butter
• 80g sugar
• 1 large egg

For the filling:

• 140g golden caster sugar
• 6 eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges
• splash apple brandy (optional)
• 248ml carton double cream
• 4 egg yolks, beaten

METHOD:

1. for the pastry, put the butter and flour into a food processor and whiz to combine.
2. Add the sugar.
3. Mix in the egg and then chill.
4. Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C. Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface until just thicker than a £1 coin. Use to line a 23cm deep tart tin, allowing the spare pastry to hang over the edges. Line the tart with greaseproof paper and baking beans, then bake for 15 min until golden around the edges. Remove the beans and continue to cook for 5 mins until the base in golden brown. Remove the tart from the oven and leave to cool. Reduce the oven temperature to 160C/ fan 14C.
5. Meanwhile, tip the sugar into a large frying pan over a high heat. Cook the sugar until it dissolves, bubbles and caramelises. (when doing this, don’t stir the caramel, but shake the pan occasionally to redistribute the sugar) Carefully tip the apple wedges into the caramel and toss until coated. Splash in the brandy, if using, then cook the apples for 2-3 mins until just starting soften and the caramel has dissolved in the apple juices.
6. Turn off the heat and remove the apples to a bowl. Pour the cream into the pan then, holding a sieve over the pan, strain in any juices from the apples. Gradually whisk the caramel sauce into the beaten yolks. Arrange the apples over the base of the tart, pour over the custard, then bake for 40 mins until the custard is just set. Leave the tart to cool, then use a knife to cut away the spare pastry and neaten the edges.

ENJOY

Yummy chocolate and raspberry tart

I love raspberries. LOVE them! Especially if they’re then combined with the most genius invention on the planet to date. Chocolate. So this tart is perfection, absolutely no doubt about it.

I am at my Bonne mami’s house in Belgium, and made this for dessert after a barbecue, it’s absolutely baking! Real shocker for Belgian weather!

It can be done in a round tin too, but I love the way it looks in a long thin tin, I just think it adds extra class!

INGREDIENTS:

For the chocolate pastry:

• 175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 25g good quality cocoa powder
• 50g icing sugar
• 100g chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 medium free-range egg yolk
• 4 tsp cold water

For the filling:

• 150ml whole milk
• 500ml double cream
• 65g golden caster sugar
• 300g good quality dark chocolate (ideally 70 per cent cocoa solids), broken into small squares
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g fresh raspberries, plus extra to serve (optional)

METHOD:

1. For the pastry, sift the flour, cocoa powder, icing sugar and a pinch of salt into a food processor. Add the butter and whizz until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Beat the egg yolk with the water and add to the food processor, then whizz until the mixture starts to stick together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Shape into a ball, wrap in cling film, then chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
2. Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll it out thinly on a flour-dusted surface. Use it to line a 25cm, 4cm deep, loose-bottomed tart tin. Trim the pastry edges, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. (or use a rectangular tin)
3. Put a baking sheet onto the middle shelf of the oven and preheat to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6. Line the pastry case with a sheet of crumpled baking paper and a thin layer of baking beans or rice, then blind bake on the preheated baking tray for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans/rice and blind bake for 5 more minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool and crisp. Turn the oven down to 170°C/fan150°C/gas 3½.
4. For the filling, put the milk, cream and sugar into a pan and slowly bring to the boil, stirring gently. Take off the heat, add the chocolate squares and stir until smooth. Cool slightly, add the eggs and vanilla extract, then mix together well.
5. Scatter the raspberries in the tart case. Pour over the filling, carefully slide the tart back onto the baking sheet in the oven, then bake for 20-30 minutes or until the filling is cooked but still slightly wobbly. It will continue firming up as it cools. Remove and leave to cool somewhere cold (but not in the fridge) until set. Serve cut into thin slices.

If you have any left over pastry and filling, you can make an additional mini tart, just make sure to watch it when it’s cooking, as it may need less time!