A Delicious Dessert That's Easy

It sounds very fancy. A dark chocolate gnoche tart with cardamom and a Graham Cracker crust sprinkled with cocoa. To top it all off, it's decorated with raspberries. Yep, that sounds pretty complex, but the authors of the new cookbook A Couple Cooks, promise it's anything but! Sonja and Alex Overhiser stopped by Tonia's Kitchen  to talk about his delicious dessert and how simple it is to make. Both told Tonia it's essentially chocolate and cream melted together for a delicious combination. To make it really fancy, but still very easy, finish it with edible gold dust! You'll be golden to anyone who tries this!

A Unique Apple Tart

   

This involves Brandy and Apples. A delicious treat indeed says Yankee Magazine Senior Food Editor Amy Traverso, who wrote the newly-revised Apple Lover's Cookbook. She came by Tonia's Kitchen to share a great idea for French Apple Tarts with Phyllo dough. This being in the French tradition,, Amy told Tonia she uses black pepper, along with ginger to create this special dessert. Dressing the Phyllo dough gives it a very inviting appearance that looks fancy, but is actually very easy to create.

For the apple filling:

• 4 Tbsp. butter
• 5 medium apples (peeled, cored and sliced in to 1/2 inch slices)
  
  
  
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (or a lighter 18 or 10% cream mixed with 2 tsp. of cornstarch)
• Optional: splash of brandy (or whiskey or rum)

For assembly:

• 5-6 sheets phyllo dough (thawed)
• 2 Tbsp. melted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

 

• Prepare the filling: Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Cut your peeled apples in to quarters, remove the core, then slice into 1/2-inch slices. Add apple slices to your pan and cook, stirring, until apples are tender. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Add brown sugar and cream. Stir to combine. Allow mixture to cook, bubbling, until sauce reduces and thickens slightly. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature (or make ahead and refrigerate until ready to assemble).

  

  
  
• To make tart: Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt butter and have a pastry brush ready. Have a damp, clean tea towel handy. Brush your pie plate with a bit of melted butter. Remove thawed phyllo from fridge. Take one full sheet and brush lightly with melted butter. Keep the remaining phyllo covered with damp towel while you aren't working with it. Drape the phyllo sheet over the pie plate. Don't try to press it down at this point, as it may tear. Butter another sheet of phyllo and lay it over the bottom sheet at an angle to the first one. Repeat with a third sheet of phyllo, buttering and then laying it over the pie plate at an angle to the first two. At this point, you should have covered all of the pie plate. If not, add another layer.
• Gently press down in the center of the pie plate to make a cavity. Using kitchen scissors, trim the excess phyllo to within 1 inch of the edge of the pie plate. Reserve scraps. Add your cooled or refrigerated apple filling to the pie plate. Fold the edges of the phyllo in towards the filling to make a neat edge. Brush with melted butter. Take the reserved phyllo scraps and one piece at a time, scrunch them up and place on top of the filling until the top is covered (you may need to use an additional sheet of buttered phyllo to cover it all). Dap lightly over the scrunched up phyllo with butter. Place pie plate on to a baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes. Be sure to watch closely near the end to ensure the phyllo doesn't burn. It should be a lovely over-all golden color. As the filling is already cooked, you don't need to worry about the apples being cooked. Just be sure the phyllo is cooked and golden.
• Transfer pie plate to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before eating. Lovely served with vanilla ice cream.

Real French Desserts Are Decadent

  

 

And this one doesn't disappoint. We're talking about a French Lemon Tart done in the authentic French Tradition. Susan Herrmann Loomis, who wrote the new cookbook Plat Du Jour: French Dinners Made Easy, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her recipe for the amazing, citrusy dessert that comes out super creamy and sweet. Susan told Tonia she takes eggs, sugar and flour along with lemon juice and other ingredients to create a sort of lemon curd, which is then placed in the pastry. It's rich, it's creamy and most of all, it's delicious! This of course is only one recipe in the multitudes she offers, and you can find out more, not only about the food, but Susan's travels, philosophy and general musings on her website 

EQUIPMENT: food processor, one 10½-inch (27 cm) removable-bottom tart pan, double boiler or a nonreactive metal bowl over a pan of water
PREPARATION TIME: 20 minutes
BAKING TIME: 12 to 15 minutes
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: simple to medium (the only trick is rolling out the pastry)

For the pastry:
1½ cups (200 g) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
7 tablespoons (105 g) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 7 pieces
⅓ to ½ cup (80 to 125 ml) chilled water
For the lemon cream:
7 tablespoons (105 g) unsalted butter
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
¾ cup (185 ml) fresh lemon juice (from about 3 large lemons)

Zest of 1 lemon, minced (about 2 teaspoons zest), preferably from an organic lemon

Make the pastry: Place the flour and salt in a food processor and process to mix. Add the butter and process until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. With the food processor running, drizzle in the water and process just until the mixture comes together; stop before it forms a ball. The pastry should be quite damp. Turn it out onto a work surface, form it into a flat disk, cover, and let sit for 1 hour. Roll it out and fit it into a 10½-inch (27 cm) tart pan, then refrigerate for 1 hour, or freeze for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C).

Prick the bottom of the pastry all over with the tines of a fork, then line it with aluminum foil and weight it with pastry weights. Bake in the center of the oven until the pastry is golden around the edges and on the bottom, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the aluminum foil and the weights from the pastry, and return the pastry to the oven to bake until golden all over, about 10 additional minutes. Remove the pastry from the oven and let cool.

Make the lemon cream: Place the butter and sugar in a double boiler set over medium heat so the water is gently boiling, and stir until the butter is melted. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition so they are thoroughly blended into the butter and sugar. Add the lemon juice, whisk, and cook, stirring gently, until the mixture is thickened, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the double boiler from the heat, then remove the top pan holding the lemon cream and let it cool to room temperature. Stir in the lemon zest. If you have made this the day before serving, transfer it to an airtight container and refrigerate. Remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you assemble the tart, so the lemon cream is spreadable.

If you have made this the day that you’re planning to serve it, spread the pastry with the lemon mixture and refrigerate for at least 2 and up to 3 hours before you plan to serve it.

Fig This!

  

And with the Fig, we also add some walnuts and turn it all into tasty tartlets. Grace Wells, who edited the Pillsbury Big Book of Easy Baking with Refrigerated Dough stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about a recipe for Gorgonzola, Fig and Walnut Tartlets. Grace told Tonia it's far easier to make then the name would indicate. In fact, she says this was a standout at Pillsbury's 40-minute bake-off competition. Serve as an appetizer or enjoy as a snack!

Recipe

Gorgonzola, Fig & Walnut Tartlets

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust, softened

6 dried figs or pitted dates, coarsely chopped

1 TBSP packed dark brown sugar

1/8 to 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

1 TBSP honey

Heat oven to 425. Unroll pie crust on work surface.  Using 2 inch cookie cutter, cut 24 rounds from pie crust, rerolling crust scraps if necessary. Gently press 1 round in bottom and up side of each of 24 ungreased mini muffin cups.

In small bowl, mix figs, brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts. Spoon slightly less than 1 tsp. fig mixture into each cup. Break up any larger pieces of cheese. Top each tartlet with slightly less than 1 tsp. of cheese.

Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Remove tartlets from pan to serving plate. Drizzle with honey. Serve warm.

Excerpted from PILLSBURY THE BIG BOOK OF EASY
BAKING WITH REFRIGERATED DOUGH © 2014 by Pillsbury. Reproduced by permission
of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.

It's Sort of Like a Pizza

  

...but it's not! Instead we're talking about a a different kind of tomato pie, a delicious, easy-to-make Roasted Tomato Tart.  Everyday with Rachael Ray Magazine Executive Food Editor Nina Elder told Tonia's Kitchen abut her super simple, but gorgeous to look at tomato tart.  You won't believe it only has five ingredients.  Nina told Tonia that she begins with Pie Crust, Shredded Pecorino Cheese, baby tomatoes, olive oil and basil.  Nina then starts by rolling her pie crust (this can be bought ready-made) onto parchment paper into a desired shape. Add the cheese and half tomatoes (cut side up), drizzle oil over the cheese and tomatoes and fold the edges of the crust over so that it resembles a rustic tart. Brush the crust with the olive oil and bake at 425-degrees until golden and the cheese is bubbling...then top with basil.  It's delicious and it really brings out some wonderful summer flavors.

Comment dit-on French Lemon Tart en anglais ?

 

 

This one's pretty decadent. We're talking about a French Lemon Tart done in the authentic French Tradition. Susan Herrmann Loomis, who wrote the new cookbook Plat Du Jour: French Dinners Made Easy, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her recipe for the amazing, citrusy dessert that comes out super creamy and sweet. Susan told Tonia she takes eggs, sugar and flour along with lemon juice and other ingredients to create a sort of lemon curd, which is then placed in the pastry. It's rich, it's creamy and most of all, it's delicious! This of course is only one recipe in the multitudes she offers, and you can find out more, not only about the food, but Susan's travels, philosophy and general musings on her website