There's not much in this life I enjoy more than strolling and sniffing out the week's new treasures at an open-air market, careening from one deceivingly innocuous stall to another, only to find each brimming with seasonal jewels from the land and the sea.
It's that time of year— that time when just about every berry you can imagine is in season. When roadside stands are overflowing with all types of fresh fruit. Just this past weekend I found, tayberries, black, golden and red raspberries, pink gooseberries, wild blueberries and tiny black currants, it was pretty great!
All those berries got me to thinking that a simple berry tart would be great for bringing along to summer picnics and potlucks! So, I whipped up these simple berry tarts and I just knew they'd be something you guys would want to know about!
You'll need:
— 12 sheets phyllo pastry, thawed
— 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted {approximately}
— 1/2 cup graulated sugar {approximately}
— 1 recipe pastry cream
— assorted fresh berrries {your choice}
— confectioners sugar for dusting {optional}{This recipe yields 24 tarts, if you'd prefer 16 use only 8 sheets and store the remainder of the phyllo and pastry cream well wrapped in the refridgerator for up to 5 days.}
Here's how:
1. Make one batch of pastry cream. Refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo pastry on your work service and using a pastry brush, brush with butter then sprinkle with sugar and follow with 3 more sheets {cover the remaining with a damp cloth}.
4. Use a bowl with an approximate rim diameter of 4" placed upsidedown as a guide and cut 8 rounds. Discard the scraps and repeat.
5. Gingerly fit each round into a lightly greased muffin tin. Repeat.
6. Scoop approximately 2 1/2 tablespoons of pastry cream into each shell.
7. Sprinkle with fresh berries.
8. Store leftover pastry cream or phyllo in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
9. Bake for 10-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and crispy.
10. Cool on a wire rack.
11. Dust with confectioners sugar and serve immediatley.For a tasty stonefruit alternative, skip the berries and replace with a pitted & quartered fresh apricot and sliced skin-on almonds. Enjoy!
{photos by Michael Graydon, styling by Nikole Herriott for Oh Joy}
for the love of pie: katie & nathan williams
Hello!
Welcome to my new guest series!
FOR THE LOVE OF PIE — a series that celebrates the simple things.
An old family recipe,
a new addition to your recipe box
or a well-loved classic.
Stories about some of my very favourite people
baking up some of their very favourite pies, tarts, tatins and flans.Once a week we’ll be writing about pie,
talking about ice cream
and baking with the intent of sharing.
And it’s going to be good.
‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹‹
First up, Nathan & Katie!
I can’t remember exactly when we met,
but I remember liking them straight away.
I liked their aesthetic
and the small snippets of their life
they shared on hearblack.
I liked their honestly
and how in love them seemed.
So when in April of last year
they asked me to be a part
of the premier issue of Kinfolk,
it took me less than a minute to think it through.
I knew I’d join in straight away.Now in their 3rd volume,
Kinfolk continues to amaze me —
it’s an ongoing collaboration that I’m proud to be a part of.Find out a little more and the recipe below.
xo, nps: the images in this post were shot by the talented parker fitzgerald. he has a way of capturing moments that’s difficult to describe — SO beautiful. thanks parker!
pps: and thanks to mathew and emma for the pretty new sidebar & buttons.
Who?
Katie & Nathan WilliamsWhere?
The Oregon CoastWhat kind of pie? Why?
Classic Apple Pie. It’s not too sweet, so we get away with an evening treat and a guilt-free breakfast the morning after.Best served with?
Creamy vanilla ice cream in the evening, lightly-sweetened whipped cream for breakfast, or just copious amounts of ice cream either way.
Recipe:
Classic Apple Pie (or Tart) from David Tanis, A Platter of Figs2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for sprinkling
½ pound (2 sticks) cold butter, in thin slices
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten, plus enough water to make ½ cup
8 medium crisp apples, about 3 pounds
1 cup sugar for the glaze, plus extra for sprinkling on apples
1 cup waterPut the flour, butter, and salt in a bowl. With your fingers, work the butter into the flour until it looks mealy, with some large flecks of butter remaining. Pour the egg-ice water mixture into the bowl and quickly knead the dough for only a minute or two, until it comes together. It will be soft, a little sticky, and, though gathered together, a little rough looking.
Sprinkle the dough with a little flour and pat into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
Divide the pastry in half (there will be enough for 2 tarts; you can freeze one half for later). Roll out the pastry to a rectangle, approximately 11 by 16 inches.
Transfer the dough to a baking sheet and let it relax, then trim the edges to fit the pan with a little going slightly up the sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Peel the apples and cut into quarters. Remove the cores and use to make glaze as follows: Combing the 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water with the cores. Stir at first to dissolve sugar, then simmer to a thick syrup. Strain and reserve. (Or use honey or a good apricot jam, thinned, for a glaze.) Slice the apples as thin as possible. Arrange the apple slices over the pastry, overlapping them like cards in solitaire. At this point the tart can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up for up to 8 hours.
Preheat oven to 375˚F. Sprinkle the sugar generously over the apples and bake until they are beautifully browned and the pastry is crisp, about 45 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Just before serving, reheat the glaze. Slide the tart from the pan onto a cutting board. Paint the apples with the warmed glaze. Slice and serve.
I love this fudge, I truly do. This has been my go-to recipe for years and years ever since I found it in one of mother’s old magazines and I don’t know how I ever lived without it before. You see, I’ve always found store bought fudge too sweet to the point where my teeth felt like it wanted to explode through the roof of my mouth and impale my brain.
Which is why I preferred making it from scratch, even though caramelising sugar properly and fishing out my candy thermometer was always a bit of a pain. Using condensed milk erases that tedium and you’ll always end up with a smooth fudge that’s not too sweet. In fact it’s very hard to bugger this fudge up I promise you, even if you’re the type who gets scared by cooking sugar (provided you follow the instructions of course). Just add the ingredients, stir until thickened and done!
You could change this fudge up in so many different ways so let your imagination run wild. Want some hints? Change up the dried fruit and nuts or omit it altogether. Dark chocolate, milk or white, flavoured chocolate… your choice! Add spices, citrus zest or ambrosial flavours such as rosewater or orange blossom water. And who could forget, BOOZE (but not too much otherwise the fudge will set too soft).
Here I went with a classic but a goody: chocolate, coffee, dried cranberries and flaked almonds. And for an extra touch and because I’m currently obsessed with using it in everything, vanilla salt.
Easy Chocolate and Coffee Fudge with Vanilla SaltIngredients
1 x 395g tin of condensed milk
80g unsalted butter
200g light brown sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla salt (recipe below)
1 shot of espresso (or 1 Tbl of instant coffee granules)
2 Tbl golden syrup
180g dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup of dried fruits / chopped nuts of your choice (I used 2/3 dried cranberries and 1/3 flaked almonds)Method
Grease and line a 20 x 15cm tin with baking paper leaving an overhang.
Place condensed milk, butter, sugar, salt, coffee and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is glossy and sugar has dissolved (do not boil whatsoever).
Increase the heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer while stirring (there’s gonna be a lot of stirring involved here!).
Continue to stir and cook for about 6-8 minutes until the mixture has thickened and it ‘comes away from the sides’ (check out the video below as a guide). Fudge is ready when a teaspoon of mixture forms a soft ball when dropped into cold water.
Remove from heat and working quickly, add in the finely chopped chocolate, cranberries and nuts, stir until chocolate has melted then spoon into the tin (work fast otherwise the mixture might seize. Not that it’s the end of the world because it’ll still be delicious).
Smooth the top and let cool for 30 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge until firm. Use the baking paper overhang to lift the fudge out of the tin and cut into squares, slabs or fingers (you choose). Store fudge in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Vanilla Salt
1 vanilla bean, halved, seeds scraped
1/2 cup of Maldon sea salt flakesMethod
Place salt in a shallow dish and add the vanilla seeds. Using your fingers, rub the seeds into the sea salt flakes, making sure it’s evenly distribute.
Inhale your fingers and linger in the delicious scent.
Store salt in an airtight glass jar with the seeded vanilla pod. As you need it, top up with more fresh sea salt flakes and give the jar a good shake to infuse it with the vanilla pod.
Use it in desserts in place of regular salt or sprinkle it over candies, chewy caramels (my fave), brownies, cakes, tarts – you get the picture!
Print these recipes.
Finally, just in case you’re not sure what the fudge looks like when it’s ready, check out this riveting video below (i.e. me trying to stir with one hand and trying not to drop my camera in the other). It’s 30 seconds of awesomeness.
And what the heck is playing on the tv in the background?
My recipe stories seem to fall into a predictable rut: I had to feed a few people. I needed something easy and simple, and so this recipe was born. But honestly, that's the way I cook. I look for recipes that give maximum pleasure at the lowest common denominator of work, ingredients, and convenience. The results don't always bear talking about, but this recipe — oh, this one does. A moist cake with a crumb that's almost creamy, swirled with cinnamon, and juicy with small bites of apple. It will take you 10 minutes to make, and regardless of whether my story gets old, this recipe never will.
I am cooking this week for a group of scientists doing research in snowy Colorado, and it's great fun to have a week where I do almost nothing but cook. The first night we were here, I needed a quick, simple dessert. I had all the makings of a yogurt cake, like this simple, favorite recipe. But I have been craving spring's sweet fruits and berries. They're not really around yet, of course, but I wanted a bite of fruit. So I turned to apples.
Over-wintered apples are always available, and I love their mild sweetness and brightness when cut up very small and baked in a cake. They are juicy little pops of fruit. I also craved cinnamon, and so I spread a crumbly mix of cinnamon and brown sugar through the middle and over the top of this cake. This created a cinnamon streak running right through the cake, and a dimpled, puckered top filled with brown sugar glaze.
The beautiful thing about this cake, besides its moist lusciousness, is that it all mixes up in one bowl, and you don't even need beaters. It's only mildly sweet, too; much of the sweetness comes from the apples.
In fact, I came downstairs the morning after I made this, and found only a corner or two remaining. My crew had evidently decided that this was good for breakfast as well, and attacked it with considered purpose. There are only a few moist crumbs left, two days later, but they are just as delicious as when I took the cake out of the oven.
Apple Yogurt Cake with a Cinnamon-Sugar Streak
serves 8 or more1 1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt, well-stirred
2/3 cup olive oil
1 lemon, juiced (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 small tart apples, such as Granny Smith, about 1 1/2 pounds
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch freshly ground nutmeg
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softenedHeat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking pan with baking spray or olive oil.
Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl. Peel and core the apples, and chop into chunks about 1/2-inch across. You should end up with 3 1/2 to 4 cups of apples. Stir the chopped apple into the liquid ingredients.
Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon right into the liquids and stir just until no lumps remain. In a small separate bowl, mix the remaining 2 teaspoons cinnamon with the brown sugar and butter.
Pour half of the batter into the cake pan. Sprinkle the batter with half of the cinnamon-brown sugar mixture, dropping it on the batter in small lumps. Spread the rest of the batter over top, and sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-brown sugar.
Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, covering with foil at the end if the top is browning. When a tester comes out clean, transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve the cake warm or at room temperature.
This keeps very well for several days, and it gets even moister as it sits, due to the apples.
More Apple Desserts from The Kitchn
Pictured above, left to right:
• Sticky Spiked Double-Apple Cake with a Brown Sugar-Brandy Sauce
• Rosemary Apple Turnovers with Honey
• Spiced Apple Cider Sorbet(Images: Faith Durand)
The Story #1:If enough people email me to make a recipe for something, I get around to it. But really, these cupcakes were brilliant. They are not an overly sweet cupcake and perfect for a special occasion.
Story #2:
Coffee. I don’t drink it, so this cupcake made me nervous. I went to the grocery store, it took me 10 minute to find the coffee aisle (I swear they were hiding in from me!) and then I stood in the aise for another 15 minutes not understanding ANYTHING. Instant, granules, cappuccino, macchiato, Nestle, Folgers, singles… None of it made any sense. I even got desperate and called my coffee drinking friends, but they failed me as well. When I finally decided on a kind, there were no directions on the bottle! If they print direction on Pop-Tarts, why are there not directions on instant coffee?
Well thanks to google, I figured it all out.
When photographing food, no detail is overlooked, from the angle of the camera to the position of the smallest portion of food on the plate. Food photography is all about visually enticing your senses, to make you drool and your belly rumble in reaction to the glorious images of succulent gastronomic delights! (Kitchen Aid Giveaway Below)!
For those who are trying their hand at food photography, here are some simple but effective tips on how to elevate your ordinary food photo to a mouthwatering shot:
1. Pay attention to your lighting – the most delicious food will not be worth looking at if your lighting is all wrong or isn’t enough to illuminate the scene. Provide adequate and even lighting, using natural or studio lights. Studio lights would give you total control but you can also use indirect sunlight (window light is often used) to achieve a cozy, natural atmosphere with your setup.
2. Shine light with a soft box – a soft box is a lighting device which provides muted and even light to your food setup, making the food look more appealing. It gives light without you having to worry about awful hard shadows or blown out highlights.
3. Use a small ISO setting – the smaller the ISO number you use, the finer and smoother the image quality of your food shots. ISO 100 is usually adequate. Just remember that the smaller the ISO number, the more light you will need.
4. Experiment with Manual mode – as much as possible, stay away from using your camera’s Auto mode. If your camera has a Manual mode, use it whether it is a Canon or Nikon, a DSLR or a point-and-shoot. With this mode, you have more control over your camera’s exposure settings so you can achieve the effect you want.
5. Show some style – gone are the days when food photography was all about simple close-up shots of the food. Now, the food shots are being primped by food stylists and photographers by adding the elegant settings where the food is presented. Classy silverware, gorgeous plates, and all kinds of table props are used to accentuate the overall shot.
6. Mind your background – food photos are not just all about the food but also what’s surrounding the food in the image frame. If you are shooting cookies and there are messy looking crumbs in the background, or a chocolatey stain on the tablecloth beneath the plate, these can truly spoil the shot. People like to see pretty food photos with a tidy setting, and not as if it’s the aftermath of Cookie Monster’s visit.
Featured BloggerI’d like to give a shout-out to Chef Dennis of askchefdennis.com for his simple yet thorough explanation of what Google+ is all about and how it can benefit us food bloggers. A very well-written, easy to understand, and enticing read!
Giveaway ClosedThank you so much for participating. You must do all in order to be entered for the giveaway, we just launched so we need as much help and support as possible. We are still fixing some bugs, so if you are having a cropping issue when uploading photos, we are working on this now, however, it will look perfect when published. If you have any error messages or any problems uploading, please let us know and we’ll have our development team o it ASAP. Thank you so much for your patience. Giveaway Closes July 31st. Winner Announced August 8th. (recipe below)
1. Please Like our Facebook Page Here
2. Sign up as a user in our gallery (submit one recipe and one photo)
3. Follow Us on Google Plus (if you have an account)
4. Add Us as a Friend (but don’t unfriend us if you don’t win the giveaway, that would make us very sad). When you add us as a “Friend” it goes to one of the founders “Marie Cinq-Mars” (personal profile) previously (myfudo.com). Facebook changed the rules to where personal profiles can’t be connected to their fan pages (Yumgoggle’s fan page). When adding Yumgoogle, it now goes to the Founder’s personal facebook, hopefuly in the future FB will allow their users to link both.
5. You must subscribe to our rss feeds. (The Blog) The Gallery
6. Please comment and let us know you’ve done 1-5 =)
The Perks of Having a KitchenAid
Tiramisu Macaron’s
- 325-watt mixer with 10 speeds; 5-quart stainless steel bowl
- Tilt-back head for easy access to mixture
- 1 piece pouring shield with large chute for adding ingredients
- Includes flat beater, dough hook, and wire whip
- Measures 14 by 8-2/3 inches by 14 inches; 1-year warranty
Adapted from Kim at Macaron Fetish
MACARON SHELLS
- 1 room temperatured egg white(39-40g)
- 50g icing sugar
- 30g ground almond
- 30g castor sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of colouring in powder (you could also use cacao powder or matcha powder, ground coffee in this recipe)
Directions
1. Put ground almond and icing sugar along with the ground coffee in a food processor or a small blender. Blend them finely.
2. Sift the blended mixture and set aside
Blended and sifted ground almond, icing sugar & ground coffee
3. With an electric beater, Beat the egg white, start from low speed and increase slowly to maximum speed. Beat until frothy (you will see lots of fine bubbles)
4. Now it’s the time to add in the castor sugar, add half of the sugar, continue to beat in maximum speed for around 2 minutes, add in the othe half, continue until you get very stiff peak.
5. Mix the dry ingrediants into the eggwhites. This process is called Macaronage. Start folding with a rubber spatula. When you get smooth shiny mixture, stop folding, lift the mixture with spatula, if the mixture falls back slowly in the bolw means you’re good to go. You could also check if the lines formed from the liften mixture, they should slowly disappear in within 30 seconds. At this stage you’re good to go. Do not over fold, it will be too liquid and becoming very hard to pipe.
6. Line the baking tray with the parchment paper.
7. Fill your piping bag , pipe your macaron (about 2 cm diameter) it should spread a bit as it settles. The point should slowly disappear if the mixture is the right consistency.
If not you could hit the bottom of the tray to smooth the point out)8. Let your macaron sits for about 30minutes. This will depand on the humity in your house and the day. Try touching the macaron softly, after 30mins. it should not stick to your hand.
9. Heat your oven to 150 C on the (heating on the top only). When the oven is ready, put your macaron at the very bottom shelf. Bake for 12 minutes, check them in the mid time of 6 minutes, the feets should already start forming. Turn the baking tray to the opposite direction to allow even baking. When the 6 mins is up, change the heating setting of your oven to Bottom only. This will help cooking the macaron and rise the feet more. Bake for another 6 minutes. You can test if the macaron is cook, touch softly on the shell and when the macaron doesn’t slide on the feet, it’s cooked. if it’s not add another 1 mins each time and check.
10. Let the macaron cool down before removing them. You could wet your working area and slide the baking sheet on it to speed up the cooling process, but do not let it sit there too long, if not the macarons will become soggy. Other wise you can leave them cool at room temperature and remove them.
FOR THE COFFEE CHOCOLATE GANACHEIngredients
- 1 teaspoon ground coffee
- 50g dark chocolate (chopped finely)
- 10g liquid cream
Directions
1. In a small pot warm up the cream, until it boil lightly.
2. Remove the pot from heat. Add in chopped dark chocolate & ground coffee.
3. Stir and mix until you obtain a shiny, smooth consistency.
4. Fill up your macaron shells and enjoy!TIPS
1. Whenever you could, age the egg white in room temperature. I had tried age egg whites and room tempeature egg whites, I see no difference apart than age egg white achieve stiff peak easier. It doesn’t affect the macaron.
2. Weight the egg whites. As the dry/wet ratio is very important.
3. Underfold will result in no feet, rough looking macarons. Makesure you fold sufficiently but do not overfold. I would say about 50-60 strokes.
4. If you use food colouring, the macaron tends to take longer to dry and form a shell, so you might have to leave them drying a bit longer.
5. I only use powder food colouring as it doesn’t add anymore liquid to the mixture. Also the colour is more intense.
6. Don’t forget the dollop of mascarpone cheese!
Photography Data:
Featured Photographer
Ruth Black
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adam In today's market, one of the hardest tasks for a commercial photo studio is to set your work apart from anyone who owns a decent camera. Our challenge is to show others what we can do - through building brands and ideas, creating feelings and often a lifestyle through our images.