Small-batch baking: pies, cakes, cookies, bread and bread rolls, etc.

[OlyveOyl]

Pear custard tart, two small pears, lightly poached and then sliced, were added to the unbaked tart crust. After ten minutes or so, I poured over half beaten egg, 5/6T milk and a little sugar. A sprinkling of crushed toasted hazelnuts was also added.  Baked for another 15 minutes, served with a scoop of sour cream.

[heidih]

14 minutes ago, OlyveOyl said:

Pear custard tart, two small pears, lightly poached and then sliced, were added to the unbaked tart crust. After ten minutes or so, I poured over half beaten egg, 5/6T milk and a little sugar. A sprinkling of crushed toasted hazelnuts was also added.  Baked for another 15 minutes, served with a scoop of sour cream.

Lovely simplicity. No spices?. Love a hint of cardomom with pears.

[OlyveOyl]

There was a little ginger and nutmeg in the custard, cardamom would have been nice but I didn’t think of it!  Next time…I have more pears ripening. I failed to mention that there was a layer of finely crushed amaretti cookies along with some hazelnuts under the pears.

Edited March 22, 2023 by OlyveOyl
Additional details (log)

[heidih]

1 hour ago, OlyveOyl said:

There was a little ginger and nutmeg in the custard, cardamom would have been nice but I didn’t think of it!  Next time…I have more pears ripening. I failed to mention that there was a layer of finely crushed amaretti cookies along with some hazelnuts under the pears.

There are many tyoes of pears and some are very subtle so bringing out the pear and using spice as nuance is a balance. To me, just the amaretti might be enough. I miss my pear trees... Shared freely with neighbor who taught me baked with butter & cardomom.

[OlyveOyl]

I agree that it is nice to taste the pears and not be overwhelmed with strong flavorings. We did enjoy it as it was but always nice to experiment with new flavorings.

[OlyveOyl]

Silky steamed stovetop custard flavored with lemon and orange peel, small piece of stick cinnamon and a small section of star anise.  The flavorings steeped in the warmed milk for about a half hour, then combined with the egg and strained into the ramekins.  As these are shallow, they steamed for a short period of time.  With thanks to Kerry Beal for her demonstration of removing bubbles with a massager, I “borrowed” my husbands and applied it to the side of the Pyrex cup which worked very well to eliminate bubbles prior to steaming. I’ve also used it for chocolate pots de crème successfully.

[OlyveOyl]

Raspberry tart with a hazelnut sweet pastry crust. This is a 7.5” tart that I baked in a glass tart mold instead of my usual loose  bottom aluminum mold.  It will probably be a bit of a challenge getting a slice out of the mold, a little sour cream or ice cream will be on the side.

[ElsieD]

I made these today.  They are meringue "nests" filled with lemon curd, vanilla whipped cream on top.  These were a trial run to see if I'd like to make them for Easter.  I think they would make a pretty Easter dessert with the meringue nests piped, as opposed to blobbed, and some pretty colored Easter eggs atop the whipped cream.  Or, maybe forget the cream, and just use the eggs?

[Tropicalsenior]

37 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

just use the eggs

I would just use the eggs. These are awfully pretty.

[heidih]

I would enjoy both - just maybe candy eggs as decor more around. I would not stress on meringue being perfect - a nest is for eggs. I'd do the traditional dyed coconut green with the little colored eggs- very minimally around edge.

[rotuts]

@ElsieD 

 

Id do them just a you have .

 

maybe add a 'peep '

 

and a raspberry sauce.

 

for flavor and color

[ElsieD]

19 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@ElsieD 

 

Id do them just a you have .

 

maybe add a 'peep '

 

and a raspberry sauce.

 

for flavor and color

What is a peep?

[Tropicalsenior]

2 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

What is a peep?

Aren't they those disgusting little marshmallow chickens?

[Smithy]

8 hours ago, ElsieD said:

What is a peep?

 

8 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Aren't they those disgusting little marshmallow chickens?

 

Of course we have a topic about this!

 

Peeps: Marshmallowly Goodness

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by Smithy
spelling (log)

[rotuts]

of course eG would have a thread or two

 

they are ' chicks '

 

and when fresh ,

 

one,  possibly no more than two  

 

are tasty and seasonal .

[ElsieD]

I had never heard of peeps.  I need to get out more.

[kayb]

19 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I had never heard of peeps.  I need to get out more.

Not really. They’re gross.

[OlyveOyl]

Espresso custard with a dusting of cocoa and espresso powders. One extra large egg, 3/4 cup milk, sweetener, 1 rounded teaspoon Medaglia d’Oro. Steamed stove top until just set.

[ElsieD]

I made something called Chocolate Dulce Puddle Cakes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers.  This was definitely more fudgy than the cakes pictured in the book.  I made the mistake of dusting the pans in black cocoa so that outside of the cakes were rather bitter.  I used 60% cocoa and thought the cakes needed more sugar than the 1 tablespoon it called for.  I also thought it could have used more dulce de leche.  I won't make this, as written, again.

[Tropicalsenior]

I made a batch of herbed muffins using this recipe. I only made half a recipe and baked them in my mini muffin tin. Haven't tried them yet but they look okay to me.

I was out of bread to have with spaghetti tonight.

[ElsieD]

Crema Catalan:

[Smithy]

39 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Crema Catalan:

 

That looks delicious. Have you posted a recipe above? If not, can you point to a recipe?

[ElsieD]

11 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

That looks delicious. Have you posted a recipe above? If not, can you point to a recipe?

 

https://www.carolinescooking.com/crema-catalana/

 

This is a link to the recipe I used.  I did have to add more cornstarch than the recipe calls for to get it to set.  I didn't measure how much, but I did at least double it.

[ElsieD]

It was John's birthday today so I made a small batch chocolate layer cake, mug shown for size comparison.  

[FauxPas]

52 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

It was John's birthday today so I made a small batch chocolate layer cake, mug shown for size comparison.

 

Happy Birthday to John! Did he enjoy the cake? How many layers?