Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Swisskaese]

The crust was fine, but not really outstanding, IMHO. Overall the tart was delicious. I forgot to point out that I cooked the filling with 3 lemons worth of zest, which I strained out at the end.

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I used my grandmother's butter crust recipe. I thought all those pinenuts were a bit extravagant for the guests I was making this for. Is that ugly?

[Megan Blocker]

The crust was fine, but not really outstanding, IMHO. Overall the tart was delicious. I forgot to point out that I cooked the filling with 3 lemons worth of zest, which I strained out at the end.

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I used my grandmother's butter crust recipe. I thought all those pinenuts were a bit extravagant for the guests I was making this for. Is that ugly?

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Yes, Michelle - you're a TERRIBLE person!

Hey, don't spend the money on those who will appreciate something cheaper. That's my philosophy!

^You make me want to get one of those special pans and start making madeleines too! They're beautiful!

Thanks, Ling! You should - they're SO delicious and easy. I got the pan for about $10 at Bed Bath and Beyond, though I'm now lusting after a slightly more expensive one from Williams-Sonoma.

[CanadianBakin']

^You make me want to get one of those special pans and start making madeleines too! They're beautiful!

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I'm pretty sure I saw them at The Gourmet Warehouse for about $13 I think. They are just a regular pan without non-stick coating. I've seen the silicon ones at Home Sense.

[Ling]

^Thanks for the tip! I've never made madeleines before but they look so elegant.

[Ling]

Today I got treated to this incredible "Chocolate Tasting for 2" and another peach cobbler and ginger ice-cream dish at The Bearfoot Bistro. Those desserts brought a nice end to our 8 hour eating extravaganza!!

The chocolate tasting comprised of a dark chocolate mousse and a white chocolate terrine with dark chocolate base. I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate, but it was served with a blood orange compote and blood orange chip that lent bitter/sweet/sour tones to the terrine and it really worked for me.

The peach cobbler was served in a tiny cast iron pan. You could smell the vanilla and butter as soon as the plate hit the table. Oh man...that was so good! My friend took pictures and I'll get them from him soon.

[Stephanie Wallace]

The Chinese New Year collection from L.A. Burdick arrived at my house yesterday. So far I have tasted the Lapsang Souchong and Cashew Sesame. The smoky Lapsang aroma was incredible!

[Rehovot]

We're finishing up the last (sob) of a Lemon Chiffon Cake with Herme's Lemon Cream recipe, inspired by this thread.

The cake has terrific flavor, but was probably denser than it should have been, since the egg whites weren't that stiff, and they all rose to the top and created this odd egg-white layer on top.

But I beat the egg whites by hand, got more of an arm workout than I expected to, and gave up too soon, I guess.

Topped with mascarpone and lemon cream, it still tasted lovely... Thanks to you all for delivering inspiring pics.....

Wow, the Burdick chocolates look excellent! Are those mice in the middle?

[Ktepi]

A licked spoon of not-yet-frozen bacon ice cream, which if the texture comes out properly will be one of the best ice creams I've made. It tastes like butterscotch!

[sugar plum]

Today I got treated to this incredible "Chocolate Tasting for 2" and another peach cobbler and ginger ice-cream dish at The Bearfoot Bistro. Those desserts brought a nice end to our 8 hour eating extravaganza!!

The chocolate tasting comprised of a dark chocolate mousse and a white chocolate terrine with dark chocolate base. I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate, but it was served with a blood orange compote and blood orange chip that lent bitter/sweet/sour tones to the terrine and it really worked for me.

The peach cobbler was served in a tiny cast iron pan. You could smell the vanilla and butter as soon as the plate hit the table. Oh man...that was so good! My friend took pictures and I'll get them from him soon. 

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Ling,

I'm so looking forward to the pics from BB! I haven't been in about a year and a half and I'm going to have to live vicariously through your experience. One cannot afford such meals all the time! I just looked back at our menu (which I saved, of course) and for dessert we had a frozen orange mousse with cinnamon pepper shortbread. Can't wait to hear more about your 8 hour experience there!

[miladyinsanity]

But I beat the egg whites by hand, got more of an arm workout than I expected to, and gave up too soon, I guess.

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Been there, done that. I still don't know how to beat egg whites with the KA, so I haven't yet made a chiffon cake.

[Ling]

^Hi! My friend has the dessert pics, but if you would like to read more about my experience at The Bearfoot, here is the link.

lots of pictures including pictures of me shucking oysters!

(I got to saber a bottle of bubbly and got treated to all this fabulous food and oysters!)

[Ling]

I had dinner tonight at Parkside in Vancouver.

I took my parents out for dinner, and we "shared" 4 desserts--2 orders of sticky toffee pudding. (My parents left most of the desserts for me, knowing how much I love sweets. )

Sticky toffee pudding with ginger rum ice-cream (my favourite of the three)

Chocolate pots de creme with brandied cherries

Sorbet (mango, raspberry, marscapone)

[Chufi]

I made this tart yesterday.. I am quite proud of it because i sort of made it up myself. It's a shortcrust shell (baked blind), filled with lemon/amaretto/vanilla pastrycream, topped with vanilla poached quinces and quince/red wine jelly.

It was very good.. the only thing wrong with it was that I had liked the jelly to be more, uhm, jellied.. it was too runny. But still delicious

[miladyinsanity]

Frozen custard. Salty, frozen, chocolate custard. It is not definitely not ice cream. Good, but not ice cream.

I think I'm going to the PMS thread to cry.

[Patrick S]

Great-looking desserts, Megan and Klary.

I made another tart, the caramel custard tart from The Secrets of Baking. I used the pate sucre recipe from Cook's Illustrated's perfect lemon tart recipe. I like this tart dough pretty well, though it has a habit of slumping down a little when it is blind baked, making the tart a little shallow. My MIL was literally raving about how much she liked this tart. I thought it was delicious too!

[Gifted Gourmet]

The beauty of making a finely prepared pie lies in the artistry of making a perfect crust, no? Yum! Patrick, you have outdone yourself yet again ...

[A Patric]

Dear all,

Speaking of (your) pies, which I have to say all look delicious!...

I made a pumpkin pudding which was pretty similar to a standard pumpin pie only without the crust, with half the sugar and with a twice the cinnamon. It is sweet enough to be eaten for dessert, but could also pass as a side dish with roasted turkey or other foul.

Of course the idea popped into my head as to whether such a thing exists as a chocolate-pumpkin pie? Has anyone ever tried such a thing?

Sincerely,

Alan

Edited February 5, 2006 by A Patric (log)

[Ling]

I defrosted a brownie from the freezer...that was good. Also had an apple turnover from Costco...bleah. Now I'm eating a handful of those Valrhona fevres.

[sazji]

Quince pie. I love quince and they are plentiful here; I'd read about mixing them with apples in pie but always wanted to try an all-quince pie. It was experimental...quinces take a lot more cooking than apples, so I tried doing a cooked filling, which I simmered for about 10 minutes, till they were getting tender. I added a few cloves and (really) a bay leaf to the filling, which was inspired by the fact that quince paste is generally packed in layers separated by bay leaves.

However, after an hour of cooking, the fruit at the center still was not tender. I covered the pie with foil, and went another 20, and it seemed to have softened. The crust had overbrowned but I loved the color of the fruit. However the quince at the center was still tough... But around the edges it was delicious. I'm going to try it once more, and braise the fruit (as they do here for the traditional quince dessert) in a very small amount of syrup, minus any thickeners, till very nearly done. I have two quinces left so I may try a shallower tart.

[Ling]

Made my own puff pastry using MobyP's demo.

Baked pain au chocolat this morning using Valrhona Guanaja. These were incredible! Best pain au chocolat I've had to date.

Here are my Portuguese custard tarts. The taste of the wheat flour in the custard is different. I messed this up though...they souffled too much in the oven. These are crappy (fault of the baker, not the recipe!)

Edited February 7, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Megan Blocker]

Beautiful pain au chocolat, Ling. Wow. I am SO coming to your house when I finally make it to Vancouver.

I just stopped at a bakery near my apartment for a cup of coffee (I am home early because I had to go meet a friend on the West Side to retrieve my cell phone from her ), and they had the most delicious sample out - it was a sort of tea cake with a maple frosting. To DIE for.

Edited February 6, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[Ling]

^Thanks, Megan! You are welcome anytime. I will feed you well.

I was in a bit of sour mood b/c I was unhappy about the Portuguese tarts (they tasted OK...I still had four of them! ) so I just pulled a pan of brownies out of the oven. Did the usual Valrhona ganache, and then I melted a bit of goat milk caramel with some heavy cream and drizzled them over top.

I felt a little better after I had a few brownies.

Edited February 7, 2006 by Ling (log)

[sazji]

Did a quince tart this time, cooking the quinces almos completely tender before laying them into a baked tart shell with some ground hazelnuts in the dough. I topped it with the same sort of "custard" that goes into a breton apple tart (egg, sugar, flour, cream) but next time I'm going to do a flourless one to make it a bit lighter. It is still delicious though.

Edited to say that the brownies look evil, Lorna, and I mean that in the best way of course.

<a href="http://photobucket.com"><img src="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b60/sazji/MVC-155S.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

Edited February 7, 2006 by sazji (log)

[sazji]

Great-looking desserts, Megan and Klary.

I made another tart, the caramel custard tart from The Secrets of Baking. I used the pate sucre recipe from Cook's Illustrated's perfect lemon tart recipe. I like this tart dough pretty well, though it has a habit of slumping down a little when it is blind baked, making the tart a little shallow. My MIL was literally raving about how much she liked this tart. I thought it was delicious too! 

Looks really beautiful. Considering it slumps, how do you keep the edge so even? I assume you are filling the shell with rice/beans/pie weights? I have a slumpy but delicious tart dough recipe that contains ground walnuts (I sometimes substitute hazelnuts), and the directions suggest letting it slump just a bit over the edge of the pan. I find it tends to "cut itself off" over the edge of the pan and drop in quickly-congealing blobs on the bottom of the oven (That's just Lurch getting his share, I figure,) and the result is a fairly even edge; but it's messy.

[sazji]

(Quince Tart)

It was very good.. the only thing wrong with it was that I had liked the jelly to be more, uhm, jellied.. it was too runny. But still delicious 

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When you poach the quinces, did you add the seeds to the poaching liquid? They are loaded with pectin, I'd think enough to make things gel quite well (maybe even more than you might want!)