Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping

It's apple and pear season and so this week the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers baked another apple-y/pear-y dessert.   Last fall, I baked the Pear Tart with Crunchy Almond Topping recipe, but the pears I had on hand were brown and icky on the inside when I cut them up so I ended up using mostly apples.  It was delicious, but this year, I was luckier in my pear selection.

The tart is Dorie's basic sweet tart dough for a base, with a filling of diced pears that have been sautéed in butter with a little sugar added to caramelize them and a little brandy to add some kick.  The tart is topped with a very simple topping of sliced almonds, egg whites and confectioner's sugar.

One of the many reasons that I am a fan of Dorie Greenspan and her cookbooks is that the fun she has when baking is apparent in the way she writes her recipes.  She tells you, for example, that the best tool for mixing the topping is to use your fingers.  How wonderfully satisfying it is to play with food!

Everything went together well and we enjoyed this delicious tart with a little scoop of ice cream.


Check out the blogs of other Tuesday with Dorie bakers here.

And one last thing:  I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention that yesterday UPS delivered my copy of Dorie's Cookies!  I am absolutely grinning with excitement as I anticipate baking all of the wonderful recipes in her new book.  Yayyyy!!!

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Custardy Apple Squares

The local apples are just coming in and they seem especially delicious this year.  Or maybe I'm forgetting that here in upstate New York we have absolutely terrific apples.  At any rate, I'm happy to be baking with them.

This week I made Dorie Greenspan's Custardy Apple Squares.  It's sort of a cake however there is very little cake batter and lots of thinly sliced apples.  The only tricky part is slicing the apples but this time I used a madeleine so it wasn't tricky at all.


Here are the ingredients, all assembled.
(I did add rum, which didn't make it into the photo!)



And the final product, out of the oven and ready to serve.

My husband was hosting a meeting at our house last night and this was perfect:  seasonal, not too heavy, pretty to look at, and went well with tea.