Thursday, March 3, 2011
You know when you finally convince yourself to buy that special, expensive ingredient and as soon as you place it in your pantry it just sits there...to special to be used. That happens to a lot of the things I buy. As you can probably attest to, baking isn't exactly the cheapest hobby. Over the next few weeks I'm forcing myself to suck it up and use some of my coveted ingredients that have been sitting around. In the next few weeks expect to find a dessert incorporating the chestnut cream I bought on my last trip to Paris that I just haven't had the heart to use yet. But for today, the star of the dish is the almond meal that was tucked away in my refrigerator.
The recipe is a combination of the shortbread crust from my favorite lemon bar recipe and the almond cream (frangipane) recipe from the (equally coveted and rarely used) Tartine cookbook.
Raspberry Frangipane Slice
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cups almond meal
1/2 cup sugar
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
pinch of salt
1/4 cup raspberry jam (or as desired)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 inch baking pan. Combine the flour, powdered sugar, and the first amount of butter. Pat dough into prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the frangipane topping. Beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugar and mix to incorporate. Add the almond flour and beat until thoroughly combined. Add the salt, almond extract (if using), and egg and mix until incorporated. Add the milk and beat until light and fluffy.
Spread raspberry jam (or any flavor that you like) on the warm crust. Pour the frangpiane mixture on top of the jam layer and spread evenly with an angled spatula, making sure to cover the jam completely.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Halfway through baking sprinkle sliced almonds on top of the frangipane if desired. Cool completely before cutting to serve.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Thursday, January 14, 2010
In Anaheim now as I type this, getting ready for a fun weekend at Disneyland. As another birthday nears, I'm thankful for having a sister and friends who are always exciting and young at heart, to remind me not to worry about growing up too fast. I doubt I'd ever have as much fun here without them, I wouldn't know where to start. This weekend is a reunion for my sister and I with our childhood friend from Las Vegas who has always been there for me to talk about all things food. So now after all these months I finally get to treat her to something more than a pretty picture and decided to whip up these blondies last minute (a little too last minute considering I was a few minutes late for work due to the delay). But it was worth it, especially to wake up and hear her and my sister last night take a bite of one as I laid half asleep in the other room. My biggest worry was that they would harden up once they were cool, but a quick sneak into the kitchen to rip off a corner of one and savor a bite proved that they remained irresistibly tender and delicious, even straight out of the refrigerator. Must have been Disney magic. White Chocolate Toffee Blondies 2 cups all-purpose flour Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking pan and put it on a baking sheet. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate and toffee. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best you can. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies comes out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up. Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2-1/4 x 1-1/2 inches.
adapted from Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used white chocolate)
1 cup butterscotch chips or Heath Toffee Bits (I used 1/2 cup toffee bits, plus a roughly chopped Heath bar for extra texture)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
I love how my new camera can make even the most disappointing attempts look deliciously mouth-watering. The recipe for Millionaire's Shortbread seemed simple enough: buttery shortbread crust, creamy dulce de leche center, and smooth chocolate on top. Unfortunately for me, despite my many victories in much more complex areas of baking, these basic treats had me stumped. First, there was my use of an 8x8 inch pan instead of a 9x9 inch, which left me with a slightly too overwhelming shortbread base. Then my compulsive need to achieve a darker, more caramel colored dulce de leche, which required more cooking time, but ultimately left me with only a small amount of nearly unspreadable sauce. Finally, there was the fact that I couldn't find the kitchen scale amidst all the Christmas-prep chaos in order to properly measure the chocolate because the recipe I found gave the amount in only ounces and grams. So I eyeballed both the chocolate and the butter that I needed to melt into the topping and was left with a not so flawless finish. (However, this mishap I grew to overlook as the swirled chocolate on top looked so charmingly homemade)
I certainly would like to try it again, especially since I hate to leave such "defeats" unresolved. But for now, the end product is edible and really, I just wanted to take my new camera for a spin.
Millionaire's Shortbread recipe from Joy of Baking
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