Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[etalanian]

Sorry, no pics, but tonight I made an apple and fig crisp for a dinner party. Served it with Skyr Icelandic yogurt. Love all of the local apples we have to choose from.

Eileen

[Ling]

Another beauty!  I love nut tarts.  They're my absolute favourite desserts.  Quite honestly, I'd rather have that tart than the ring!  What kind of crust did you use?  A nut crust?  Do you have a recipe for the tart that you'd care to share?  I know you often just wing your desserts (I wish I had that kind of creativity), but I may as well ask!

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Well, the inspiration came from the caramel nut tart in Suzanne Goin's Sunday dinner at Lucques book, but you're right, I just winged it. So basically, I made some pate sucre, lined the tart pan and weighted it, then baked it at 375 for 15 minutes and then took out the weights and baked it until the bottom was golden brown (another 10 minutes or so.)

I caramelized some sugar (about 4 cups? This is for 2 tarts) and then when it becomes a medium golden brown (the recipe says 310 degrees but I'm not sure what mine was, I just kept it on the stove until it looked right), add heavy cream (perhaps 1.5 cups?) and a stick of butter. I reduced it the mixture a bit over low heat. Then, I added several pinches of salt (I just kept tasting it until I thought there was enough.)

I sprinkled some salt on the nuts, then toasted them in the oven (about 4.5 cups of nuts, mostly macadamia, pinenuts, and walnuts, plus a few pecans) and stirred that into the caramel. Then I poured the caramel nut mixture into the tart shells. I remember Suzanne's recipe saying you had to refrigerate the tarts, but I didn't and they sliced nice and neatly the next morning.

I served them with Valrhona sauce and the vin de noix cream (Abra gave me a lovely bottle she made and I used perhaps a tablespoon or two in the whipped cream.) But the tart is delicious on its own!

Some minor differences between what I did and what Suzanne's recipe says to do...she uses more sugar and no butter in her caramel. I had to use the butter to temper the sweetness. I also used more nuts and more salt so the tart was more "nutty" as opposed to super sweet from the caramel. My version is plenty sweet already, though!

I apologize I don't have exact proportions for you, but I did have about a 2/3 cup of excess caramelly nuts, which I just spread on the excess pate sucree I baked. Good snack!

Edited October 14, 2007 by Ling (log)

[Abra]

I am so happy to see that vin de noix being put to good use, and I can't wait to try whipping it into some cream myself!

[Lindacakes]

I made the yogurt herb bread from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest last night -- after reading about it on another thread.

Extremely easy and very tasty.

[monavano]

Apple fritters with caramel crunchies.

[kbjesq]

Yesterday, I made Mollie Katzen's banana bread - with chocolate chips. Yum. Then, I made a loaf of simple white bread in the Zojirushi Bread Machine. Just throw the ingredients in there, turn it on, and a couple of hours later, done.

If you haven't tried these King Arthur Bread Bags, they really do work - bread stays fresh for days.

[abooja]

I made bagels and pain au levain yesterday, both Jeffrey Hamelman recipes. Finally, success in two areas of bread baking (bagel making and sourdough bread) that have eluded me until now.

-- Lisa

[jumanggy]

Ling: I love the jeweled top of the tart, it's so Byzantine-esque.. (Beautiful ring, too!)

Kim: Drooling over your pics, especially the brownies. I dream of smooshing them up in my hands and stuffing myself.

Tri2Cook and Rob: Great-looking cakes, I love those mirror-y glazes (although I'm aware that it's not exactly a chocolate mirror glaze, you guys do it so well)!

Mona: I am HYPNOTIZED by your fritter pic! The caramel looks like a cave's crystal formation. Gorgeous!

Lemon Layer Cake from Cook's Illustrated

Pineapple Upside-down cake, because you have to (at least) once in your life!

[GTO]

Mark - You know how I feel about those cakes already. (Strongly!)

Mona - I haven't had apple fritters for YEARS. Absolutely gorgeous.

I made Polenta Biscotti with Pistachios & Cinnamon today - Kinda going for that Autumn feel.

[monavano]

Thanks everyone. I get a little intimidated to post pics in this thread because all of your baking is gorgeous. So professional.

The fritters were so easy and FUN to make. They hit the oil and POOF!

I have to admit that the caramel was supposed to be cages to put over the fritters (was just playin' around) but they broke apart. Made a nice seasonal presentation tho.

Edited October 15, 2007 by monavano (log)

[MelissaH]

i've just finished baking four cakes - lumberjack, pear and ginger, lemon and almond, and passionfruit and coconut.....

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What's a lumberjack cake?

MelissaH

[whisks]

i've just finished baking four cakes - lumberjack, pear and ginger, lemon and almond, and passionfruit and coconut.....

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What's a lumberjack cake?

MelissaH

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it's a cake with dates and apples in it and a caramel/coconut topping

[Domestic Goddess]

I bought a bag of apples at the street market and found out that although they were crisp, they lack sweetness and flavour. So, I did the next best thing...

Apple Pie

[Pille]

I am on the third curd cheese and apple souffle from Pille's Nami Nami blog. They are soooo delicious! Thank you so much for posting the recipe, Pille.

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You're welcome, Marigene! I'm so glad you like these It's a typical Estonian dessert, especially now when there are so many apples to eat!

Marlene - that's a beautiful molten chocolate cake!!! Love the oozing centre!

A friend of ours baked a tarte tatin in our kitchen on Sunday, and I was eating leftovers yesterday Tonight I made black chokecherry muffins:

[Edited to add a photo of chokeberry muffins]

Edited October 16, 2007 by Pille (log)

[layla17]

I'm currently making a delicious (hopefully) pound cake. mmmm...mmmm I love the buttery-goodness!

[John DePaula]

Not too long ago, I made a Raspberry-Fig Crostata from Julia Child's book Baking with Julia. It has a toasted sesame-almond crust that's easy to work with (i.e. easy to patch) and delicious. You can sub just about any combination of fruits and it's still wonderful.

This recipe can be found online: Raspberry-Fig Crostata

[lexy]

Banana bread, with dark chocolate chunks and cinnamon:

Recipe here.

[jgarner53]

Well, other than work, I'm working on a shortbread recipe for my boss. Orange blossom and lightly salted. The first batch had great texture, but not enough orange blossom flavor, so I upped it and added a bit more salt. I'll bake some off tomorrow to see how they are. The dough was tasty!

Wish I had the time to bake for fun for myself!

[hosinmigs]

We went apple picking last weekend, which here in MD, is on the late side. The pickins was slim. But, I found a few tart pink ladies and granny smiths, so I decided to try out a new recipe and go for an quick apple strudel from Cooks Illustrated.

First lesson, check oven before timer with new recipe. I turned the crap out of the phyllo. ugh. My wife still ate it though!

Maybe I'll just go with the old standby next... uuummmmmm ppppiiieeeee

[Ce'nedra]

Made dessert finally! The results were ok I guess...Apple, Cinnamon & Sour Cream Cake -it tasted pretty yum yum in my tum but was a tad dry (doesn't look all that nice too OH WELL!)

[hosinmigs]

Banana bread, with dark chocolate chunks and cinnamon:

Recipe here.

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Now there's a banana bread I might eat.

[hosinmigs]

Mark - You know how I feel about those cakes already. (Strongly!) 

Mona - I haven't had apple fritters for YEARS. Absolutely gorgeous.

I made Polenta Biscotti with Pistachios & Cinnamon today - Kinda going for that Autumn feel.

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By the way, how do you guys take such beautiful food photos? I must be missing the set up. Any tips? I'm sure there's a forum dedicated to this, but the search function of egullet and I don't always agree on what's relevant.

[GTO]

Hosinmigs - Thank you!

It's practice. Practice, good equipment and I'm a photography student, lol.

Basic tips would be things like: Lighting - Make sure you've got plenty, natural light too if possible.

Composition - Get in close, but no too close. You want to make it look as though you could reach in and grab it.

Colour - The eyes love colour. Choose ones that compliment each other - Choose a nice plate and maybe have a nice mat or cloth underneath.

(Link to my Blog and Flickr in signiature.)

Edited October 18, 2007 by GTO (log)

[gfron1]

Host's note: I sent Hosinmigs HERE for previous topics on photography where he can ask more questions if interested.

[eskay]

Cookies! Fruity oatmeal cookies. I had mentioned to a friend that I had a hankering to make oatmeal cookies, and in short order I found myself with a recipe that looked promising. I added a bunch of different kinds of dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, apples, apricots) that I had lying around, and I think they turned out pretty well.