Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Ling]

Here's the lemon meringue pie:

I had a slice of pie and 2 slices of cake--after a nice light dinner of turkey, roast pork, stuffing, scalloped potatoes...you know, the usual sides. My tummy sure looks round right now.

Edited November 6, 2005 by Ling (log)

[spaghetttti]

^

Lorna, your lemon meringue pie looks gorgeous! Do you happen to have a photo of a slice?

[*Deborah*]

A small slice of pear tart with thyme-infused sauce anglaise (made by yours truly):

Today I hope to make a more photogenic tarte, as I didn't get very good photos of that one.

Edited November 6, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Ling]

^

Lorna, your lemon meringue pie looks gorgeous! Do you happen to have a photo of a slice?

←

No, sorry! I'll remember to take a picture next time. BTW, the crust on my pie looks all jagged because I did a pastry leaf border but turned the leaves inside, facing the meringue. It doesn't look too pretty from the angle in the picture, though.

Dessert today was the last slice of cake. The pie was finished last night.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Ling (log)

[CanadianBakin']

Tonight we had Alice Medrich's Best Cocoa Brownies, which are delicious, and Trish Magwood's Mini White Chocolate Cheesecakes which weren't bad but I think I would use my own cheesecake recipe next time but still bake and garnish them as she suggests. If you click on the photo she shows the tops dipped in Dulce de Leche and topped with a rasperry. They look very pretty.

[*Deborah*]

OK so yesterday was a bit of a bollocksing of a pear tart: I had intended to make this Pear and Almond Tart, and serve with a thyme-infused sauce anglaise, for a not-too-sweet or rich finale to a homemade pasta extravaganza. I left myself without enough time, though, so I put my poached Boscs on a plus-ou-moins Jacques Pépin's Mémé's Apple Tart crust (plus butter, minus Crisco, plus some slivered almonds in the gaps between the pears). I didn't rescue it quite soon enough from the oven, but it was OK if a bit bland...the pears were not very flavourful, IMO. I liked the custard sauce quite a bit, thyme in the milk and sweetened with honey.

Today, I wanted to use the crust I had made yesterday but didn't have time to blind bake etc., so I bought and poached some new pears, Bartletts, I believe, and blind baked and did that whole thing, and then put the almond filling and then my pears.

Today's tart is much prettier (although I didn't get the pears to line up quite as perfectly):

But I found it really sweet. And wished that I had some of that custard leftover, I think I'll have to make some more, it would have worked even more nicely with this one.

Long story long, as usual...

[Stephanie Wallace]

Browned butter ice cream with raisins macerated in brandy and vanilla. The motor on my ice cream maker died; I had to break out the spat and immersion blender combo. Ugh.

[K8memphis]

I had something really awesome last night. It is from RLB's book. I have had a hard time with her "Bible" because I read that book cover to cover and her lofty attitude has always outweighed the intrigue to try her formulas.

However, my kid turned 26 and she loves chocolate. So I did the Chocolate Flame Oblivion Truffle cake, the flourless one with the raspberry sauce. I used her white chocolate ganache too. The ganache, while uber light, was oompfy enough to pipe with too.

The cake was truly heavenly. It baked up perfect as written--it was a nice height due to the added raspberry. I foil lined a regular 3x8 inch cake pan but I had a six inch and an eight inch board underneath that to ensure easy removal. The six inch kind of held up the eight inch so it just fell out of the pan-no problem-o. I did trim a tad off the 8-inch board. I used an upside down saucer to get the edges pressed around real accurately--no holes in the foil. The foil was sprayed with Pam and I pressed out all the wrinkles around the sides with a smooth glass before putting in the batter. I had it in the freezer for an hour before de-panning for further insurance.

The birthday girl said it tasted like Paris nice complement for her old Mom. Oh yeah and I served it with vanilla ice cream. It truly melted like a fine raspberry truffle.

Thank you, Rose.

[Megan Blocker]

Here's the lemon meringue pie:

I had a slice of pie and 2 slices of cake--after a nice light dinner of turkey, roast pork, stuffing, scalloped potatoes...you know, the usual sides.  My tummy sure looks round right now.

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Gorgeous, Ling! Nothing like a well-earned food baby.

Deborah, that tart is beautiful! Well done.

Edited November 7, 2005 by Megan Blocker (log)

[*Deborah*]

Cheers, Megan. It's one of those things that I thought was hard which isn't really, just a little time-consuming.

[Patrick S]

A small slice of pear tart with thyme-infused sauce anglaise (made by yours truly):

Today I hope to make a more photogenic tarte, as I didn't get very good photos of that one.

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Actually, your tart looks great.

I made a pear cake this weekend, also with a creme anglaise (vanilla in this case), that is not nearly as pretty. The cake is topped with pear slices, brushed with butter, and sprinkled with 1/4C raw sugar before baking. It was good, but not so good that I'll make it again.

I also made some tart apple jellies this weekend, from a recipe in the latest Bon Appetit. Again, these were good, but not so good that I'll make them again. The flavor is great, but the texture is something like solidified apple sauce -- the recipe uses unpeeled apples that are cooked, pureed, and then cooked some more with liquid pectin.

[Ling]

I think both your tarts look beautiful, Deborah!

[*Deborah*]

Heh, I felt so Lorna-ish, making two similar things two days in a row so I could compare them well, it wasn't my initial intention, but that's how it ended up.

Having the right pear makes a difference...the Bartletts were a little too sweet, but the Bosc I had I guess were a bit too green, as they weren't sweet enough. Sigh. I guess you should poach an extra so you can taste test it, I would have added a smidge more sugar on top of the first one, and increased the nuts-to-sugar in the second one!

Anyway, I reckon I'm peared out for a while. Yesterday I also made my Guinness spice cake (well, Epicurious' Gramercy Tavern Guinness cake), for a birthday in the office, that looked quite good, and I expect it to be tasty as usual.

[K8memphis]

Gosh, I wish I could still eat as much pastry as you guys & maintain my weight. Ling, how do you do it, scalloped potatoes & stuffing too???? Where's the >> I'm fainting << smilie face??? Well, maybe a better, as in more realistic comment would be, "Enjoy it while you can!!!"

Deborah, I love the pear tart picture where the two sets of pear slices marching up the edges made me think me of the steps of Montmartre.

And the browned butter ice cream sounds wonderful--all of it sounds wonderful!!! Lemon meringue, white chocolate cheesecake sure no problem, mini is the only way to go.

Patrick, I made 24-Hour Apples before from PH and that was what that was like too, glorified applesauce. It was good but...'so what' kind of.

anyway...Happy eating, you all.

[Daniel]

Lemon Macaroons... Left over cookie shells for...????

Edited November 9, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Patrick S]

I made this pastry cream "baklava" after seeing the recipe on this blog. I followed the recipe except that I added some vanilla and a vanilla bean to the syrup.

[M. Lucia]

^Oh my!!!

Tonight dessert is espresso granita with cocoa whipped cream.

Someone keep me away from the leftover whipped cream.

[spaghetttti]

Wow, Patrick..that's just beautiful! Such a clean, neat cut...was it easy to achieve?

[Patrick S]

Wow, Patrick..that's just beautiful!  Such a clean, neat cut...was it easy to achieve?

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It was a little bit of a pain, but not too bad. If the knife is too dull, you'll squish the pasty cream out. Once its baked and cooled, and the pastry cream layer if firmer, you can go through the cuts again and make them a little smoother.

[tejon]

I don't have dessert at home often, but tonight was child-free dinner with the husband so chocolate and sugar were in order. Choux puffs with Amaretto pastry cream and dark chocolate ganache on top. Simple, but very good

[Ling]

Gorgeous, tejon and Patrick!

I had peanut butter swirl brownies. And a few shots of Amaretto. Comfort dessert + alcohol is a good end to a long, blustery day in Vancouver.

[Moopheus]

I made chocolate pudding yesterday--real pudding, not from a box. Just plain chocolatey, creamy goodness.

[Chufi]

Dutch Gevulde speculaas (spicy buttery pastry with almond paste filling)

[Ling]

That looks so good, Chulfi! I confess I haven't looked in the Dutch Cooking thread yet, but I will after work. I don't know anything about Dutch baked goods...I'm hoping the recipe for the Gevulde speculaas is in the thread.

[NYC Mike]

No pics sorry, just can't figure out how to make it look as good as it tasted.

I just made a batch of very tasty flourless peanut butter cookies, ate the whole bunch with the three kids and half gallon of milk.

Child free dinner tejon, nice!! I wish!