Strawberry and Rhubarb

Continuing the strawberry theme, I have to tell you about this strawberry-rhubarb pie! 

I've always loved the tang of fresh rhubarb and it goes really well with sweet strawberries. We are finally getting the fresh local strawberries from our local farm stand. It's been an unusually cool spring, so many things are slower in ripening than usual. So glad to be able to enjoy the superior strawberries that are grown at this Laguna farm.

One of the fun things about this pie is that the parts that make it up can be made in advance and then the pie assembled the day you plan to serve it...even right before you serve it (almost). This makes it a great dessert for a dinner party or just for a busy day. The filling can be made up to three days in advance, the crumb topping can be made two or three days ahead, and the blind baked pie crust can be made a day or two before. The filling can be kept in the fridge and the other two components can be saved in an air-tight container at room temperature.

The other great thing about this is that everyone seems to love it...even people who don't particularly love rhubarb. The sweet strawberries and the cooking mellow out the rhubarb just enough that everyone can enjoy it. It also looks pretty and special with the bright filling and the alluring crumb topping. Add to the fun by whipping some cream so that you can add a scoop when serving. Of course if this is a pie meant to impress, you can pipe whipped cream starts along the edge of the filling, too. If you do that for 4th of July in the U.S., add some fresh blueberries on each whipped cream star and you have the national colors.

Do try this delicious pie! It makes me smile when I think of it...and eat it.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Streusel Topping

Serves 8

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling 
Makes enough for one shallow 8-inch pie

Ingredients:
3 cups rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
 2 3/4 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped or sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot.
Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pot.
Simmer for another 5-10 minutes until rhubarb is soft and filling has thickened.
Cool and use right away, or put into a covered container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bring slowly to room temperature before using in the pie.

Blind Baked Pie Crust

Use your favorite recipe for a single crust pie, or do as I do and use a single crust from a refrigerated pie crust. I like Pillsbury ReadyCrust.

On a floured surface roll the pie out (if needed) to fit an 8-inch pie tin. Transfer the crust to the tin by draping it over your rolling pin. Fit the crust into the pie tin and crimp the edges, trimming excess crust as needed. Cut a piece of parchment paper or foil to fit the inside of the pie tin and place it loosely over the prepared crust. Fill with pie weights, or do as I do and fill it with dried lentils. Save the lentils to use the next time you need pie weights. They are very inexpensive and sit close enough to each other to do a great job of keeping the crust from getting over bubbly. Bake in a preheated 435 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the lentils cool before removing them carefully and either discarding them or saving them for next time. If the crust still seems a bit raw, put it back in the oven for another minute, then cool crust in pie tin on a wire rack.

Streusel

1/4 pound, 1 stick, 4 oz, 8 tablespoons butter or margarine, very cold
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup old fashioned oats

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment,

In a large bowl mix together the flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture forms clumps.

Put streusel on the baking sheet and break up the clumps a bit so none are bigger than bite sized. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Streusel should be medium to dark brown but not burnt. Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and let streusel cool .

Making the Pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Put the pie filling, at room temperature, in the blind baked, cooled, pie shell. Level with an offset spatula. Liberally sprinkle the streusel over the filling. Bake the pie in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Serve at room temperature or cold. Store leftovers, if any, at room temperature or in the fridge.

Mother's Day Breakfast Super Pancake

Being away from my kitchen on Mother's Day seemed strange, but fortunately my daughter's family was fine with me making a super sized Dutch Baby with berries for breakfast, so I still got to bake. BTG-guy made bacon and Raine manned the powder sugar sieve. It was delicious and easy. If you just do it with blueberries, it's even easier...we used blueberries and cubed strawberries.

I've now made this dish using four different ovens and I have to say that knowing your oven makes it easier to bake this. You want to know how quickly your oven gets to the heat needed for the recipe. If it takes a long time, don't put the pan with butter into the oven at the start. Wait until the oven is at least half way heated. If it heats up quickly, put the pan in at the beginning. Keep an eye on the butter. It's OK (delicious even) if the butter browns a bit, but you don't want to burn the milk solids...yet you still want the baking pan sizzling hot.

I had to remove the pan because the oven heated slowly and the butter browned before the oven was hot enough. As a result, the pan cooled a bit, so the pancake was a bit less puffy, although still delicious.

For toppings, more berries are great. Maple syrup is good. Traditional takes on this include just powdered sugar sifted on top and both sifted powdered sugar and lemon juice on top. Could be great with whipped cream, too. For dessert, a scoop of vanilla ice cream would be divine.

Dutch Baby with Strawberries and Blueberries

Serves 5-6

5 tablespoons butter (or non-dairy margarine or 'butter')
6 large eggs
1 cup milk (or nut milk)
1 cup all-purpose flour
dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a few drops lemon oil (optional)

1/2 cup fresh strawberries, washed and drained and cubed to about the size of the blueberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries, washed and drained and picked over for stems or over-ripe berries
1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)

More berries for on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

As oven preheats, put the butter in an ungreased 9x13-inch baking pan and place in the oven, just until the butter is melted. (Mine started to brown slightly at the edges)

Place the eggs, milk, flour, salt and vanilla, (and lemon oil, if using) in a blender and process until smooth. Scrape down the sides, if needed, and process again for a few seconds.

Pour the batter into the hot baking pan, over the melted butter. Sprinkle with the strawberries, blueberries and with the sugar (if using).

Bake, for 20-27 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Pancake will puff up, but will sink down again as it cools once removed from the oven.

Serve at once. Can sprinkle with powdered sugar, with lemon juice, or serve with maple syrup and/or more berries.

Note: you can make this without berries, too, and it will still puff up gloriously and taste wonderful.

Rhubarb Adds Zing To This Crostata

 We're at the beginning of berry season, with local, divine strawberries easily available and the first of the blackberry types due locally in a couple of weeks.

When strawberries are so plentiful and ripe, I love to make a strawberry-rhubarb pie or crostata. You don't need a lot of rhubarb to add a nice zing to the filling. Yesterday morning I made a crostata (a rustic pie made by rolling out a circle of dough larger than the diameter of the pie. Once filled, the extra pastry gets folded over the filling) with a pint of strawberries and one long stalk of rhubarb. I cut all the fruit in a large dice. It only made four servings, but that was just right since Sweetie is still watching his calories and losing weight. We each had a serving for breakfast yesterday while it was warm, and ate the other two servings today for breakfast, warmed slightly in the microwave.

Use your favorite pastry for this. I used Pillsbury ReadyCrust from the refrigerator section of the market. If you look at the flaky crust in this photo you'll understand why I often use this ready made pie dough instead of making my own. Quick, easy and wonderful flaky pie crust...what's not to like? I baked it on a pizza pan but you can use a cookie sheet or similar pan. I like to use a pan without sides because I think the crust browns better all over that way.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crostata

Elle's recipe

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, drained, hulled and cut into large dice
1-2 stalks fresh rhubarb, washed, ends trimmed, cut into smaller dice (about 1/4-inch)
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon (less if freshly grated) nutmeg

1/2 box Pillsbury ReadyCrust or any pie dough for 1 crust pie
sanding sugar (optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the rack in the middle or lower-middle part of the oven.

In a large bowl, thoroughly but gently mix the strawberries, rhubarb, flour, cornstarch, sugar, salt and nutmeg.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to an 11 to 12-inch diameter circle. Transfer to a sheet pan, pizza pan, cookie sheet or similar flat metal pan.

Mound the contents of the bowl in the middle of the dough circle. Spread out to a single layer, making sure that there is at least an inch of uncovered dough at the outer edges. Fold the uncovered dough up and over the fruit mixture. If you have a smaller quantity of filling, there will be more pastry over the filling (as happened with my crostata); if you have more filling, the pastry over the filling will not cover as much of the filling. It's all good!

Optional: Brush the pastry lightly with water using a pastry brush and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until filling is bubbly and crust has browned. Remove pan to a wire rack to cook for at least 10 minutes, then cut in portions and serve.

Fresh Strawberry Quick Tartines

In ancient days when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Sunset Magazine had a recipe that I immediately took to and make to this day...many years later. This was long before the term 'tartine' was heard anywhere outside of France. They called it something else, but that name has been lost in the mists of time.

When fresh strawberries finally make their spring appearance, I always have this delightful snack, either as a light breakfast or at tea time. It goes together quickly if you have the ingredients on hand. I recently discovered Kite Hill brand 'cream cheese' which is made from almond milk and is delicious and dairy free. You can, of course, use regular cream cheese or any of the other burgeoning selections of non-dairy and vegan 'cream cheeses'.

Be sure to use the best strawberries you can find because that is the dominant flavor. We have just started getting local strawberries so that's what I used.

Fresh Strawberry Tartines

For each of two tartines:
1 english muffin, split and toasted
1-2 tablespoons cream cheese, either dairy or non-dairy...use the one you like best
3-4 fresh strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon fresh orange juice or 1 tablespoon orange marmalade

Take each warm, toasted muffin half and spread each with half the cream cheese. Arrange the strawberries in a single layer on top of the cream cheese. Then either sprinkle each with half the orange juice, or spread half the marmalade on each, over the sliced berries.

Eat at once!

Simple and delicious...and now you can make this treat whenever the strawberries are ripe.

BTW, Sweetie and I are fine. I've been hearing the siren song of the spring garden every day, so time has been spent weeding and planting and working on the irrigation system (and enjoying the blooms and fragrances) instead of sitting at the computer. Happens every year. *Happy sigh* I've also been sneezing and sniffling and fighting weeping, itchy eyes and runny nose as the grass allergies have kicked in from all the time spent outdoors. Have done a lot of weed-eating work, too, so serves me right I guess.

Pancakes and Berries

The big, fat olallieberries are almost finished and with the heat starting up today by tomorrow or Sunday they will all be overripe or dried up.

That was certainly an incentive to pick a few baskets of them to take to the trainers at the gym and a few more baskets to use here at home. I even froze a basket full on a cookie sheet, then transferred them after they were frozen to a storage freezer bag for later use.

One of the great things about them is that they are ready to use after being picked...just a quick rinse is needed. We also have strawberries from our garden (a few) and from the roadside stand on Hwy. 12 (a lot) so on Monday morning I made pancakes from the Joy of Cooking cookbook, changing it a bit to make it dairy free and to use some whole wheat flour. About a half pint of the olallieberries went into a pot with an equal amount of sliced strawberries and some brown sugar and water to make a sauce. It simmered away while I made the pancake batter and chopped some walnuts.

Because I was a little short of the needed amount of soy milk, I added some yogurt (yes, I know it is dairy but for some reason I can tolerate yogurt), so I also added some baking soda to the dry ingredients. That made for tender, delicious pancakes that became nice and puffy as they cooked. Each pancake had about a half dozen fresh olallieberries plunked on after I put the pool of batter in the pan. When the pancake was turned to cook the other side, those berries were cooked, too.

So to serve there were two good sized pancake with berries embedded in them, a topping of more fresh olallieberries and strawberries, a good dollop of the berry syrup, including cooked berries, and a nice sprinkle of chopped walnuts. It was amazing! Nothing else was needed. The pancakes soaked up the sweet-tart berry juices and the walnuts gave it all a little crunch. You could also use blueberries or raspberries or any combination that pleases you...peaches and blueberries anyone? Summer fruits really get the creative juices flowing.

Happy summer! Don't these look delicious? The syrup really added another dimension.

Wheat Pancakes with Berries
based on recipe in Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 pint fresh olallieberries, rinsed and drained
1 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed, drained and hulled, then sliced
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
Berry Compote (recipe follows)

In a large bowl combine the flour, whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
In a small bowl rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar looks damp like sand at the beach. Combine this sugar with the dry ingredients.

In another medium bowl combine the eggs, melted and cooled butter or margarine, milk, and yogurt.

Combine the wet mixture with the dry mixture, stirring only long enough to dampen all the dry ingredients. This short mixing will make the pancakes more tender.

Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle or heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat and grease lightly with butter or margarine. When a water drop sizzles, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ladle batter onto the cooking surface, spreading it with the cup if needed to make a pancake about 4-5 inches in diameter. Place 5-6 olallieberries on each pancake circle. When the small bubbled begin to burst around the edges of the pancakes, use a spatula to look under the pancake at the edge. If it looks golden brown or browner, flip over with the spatula quickly so that the berries stay with the batter.
Cook on the second side for a few minutes until a peek under shows that the pancake is browned on both sides.

Serve at once with the berry compote, fresh berries and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts.

Berry Compote
In a small saucepan combine 1 cup olallieberries (or blackberries or blueberries), 1 cup sliced strawberries, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 1/4 cup water. Cover and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2 minutes, then remove cover and simmer until syrupy. Watch once cover is removed and stir as needed to keep fruit from scorching. Serve with pancakes, waffles or over ice cream or yogurt.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie A Different Way

I love Strawberry Rhubarb pie. There is something magical about the combination of the sweet, sweet strawberries and the very tart rhubarb. I've made this pie many times, usually with a top and bottom crust.

This time I decided to only have a bottom crust and to do a streusel topping. I used the streusel recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham. It was early last week when a good friend gave me freshly cut rhubarb from her garden and when we purchased three pints of local, just picked strawberries at the farm stand. In the early evening I started cutting up the berries and rhubarb and realized that Sweetie, who had had gum surgery that afternoon, wouldn't be able to enjoy the pie (he healed well and is doing just fine).

Since Sweetie really loves pie I decided to figure out a way to make the pie later in the week. The problem was that I had already prepped the fruit and it would likely spoil if I waited. Normally I put the unbaked crust in the pie pan, put in the uncooked filling, top it with the second crust, seal the edges and flute it, cut a few vents in the top and bake the pie. This time I would need to make the pie a different way. A search of the Internet gave me the solution: cook the filling and use it later. That worked really well. I am indebted to the blogger on Bewitchin Kitchen for this cooked pie filling. You can find her post here.

We had guests on Friday from Hawaii and on Saturday I was getting ready for guests from Australia, but on Sunday morning after the local fire station pancake breakfast I was finally able to make the pie. I only made one error...I used a pie pan for a deep dish pie and only had filling for a standard depth pie. I had already blind baked the crust in the deep dish pie pan before I realized that. The solution I came up with was to put in the filling, top it with already baked streusel, bake it at 350 degrees F just long enough to finish cooking the crust and to heat up the filling, then use a sharp knife to cut the crust on the side, using the nice crisp edges to edge the pie at filling level. It looked a little bit weird, but it tasted just fine, so no one seemed to mind. When you make it, remember to do the pie shell in a shallow pie pan (unless you have doubled the filling recipe).

No only does this pie taste incredible, but the filling is really pretty. Expect raves. Use the freshest berries and rhubarb available. Because there is still some tartness to the filling, you could put a puff of freshly whipped cream on the side of each slice to tone it down...and that looks pretty, too. Alternately you could increase the sugar in the filling recipe. This is a full flavored filling. If you don't care for the flavor of rhubarb (I know some folks don't), just use more strawberries!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling 
Makes enough for one shallow 8-inch pie

Ingredients:
3 cups rhubarb, sliced into 1/2-inch pieces
 2 3/4 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped or sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot.
Cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring constantly so that it doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pot.
Simmer for another 5-10 minutes until rhubarb is soft and filling has thickened.
Cool and use right away, or put into a covered container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bring slowly to room temperature before using in the pie.

Blind Baked Pie Crust

Use your favorite recipe for a single crust pie, or do as I do and use a single crust from a refrigerated pie crust. I like Pillsbury ReadyCrust.

On a floured surface roll the pie out (if needed) to fit an 8-inch pie tin. Transfer the crust to the tin by draping it over your rolling pin. Fit the crust into the pie tin and crimp the edges, trimming excess crust as needed. Cut a piece of parchment paper or foil to fit the inside of the pie tin and place it loosely over the prepared crust. Fill with pie weights, or do as I do and fill it with dried lentils. Save the lentils to use the next time you need pie weights. They are very inexpensive and sit close enough to each other to do a great job of keeping the crust from getting over bubbly. Bake in a preheated 435 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the lentils cool before removing them carefully and either discarding them or saving them for next time. If the crust still seems a bit raw, put it back in the oven for another minute, then cool crust in pie tin on a wire rack.

Streusel

1/4 pound, 1 stick, 4 oz, 8 tablespoons butter or margarine, very cold
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup old fashioned oats

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment,

In a large bowl mix together the flour and brown sugar. Cut in the butter until mixture forms clumps.

Put streusel on the baking sheet and break up the clumps a bit so none are bigger than bite sized. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Streusel should be medium to dark brown but not burnt. Remove baking sheet to a wire rack and let streusel cool .

Making the Pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 
Put the pie filling, at room temperature, in the blind baked, cooled, pie shell. Level with an offset spatula. Liberally sprinkle the streusel over the filling. Bake the pie in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Serve at room temperature or cold. Store leftovers, if any, at room temperature or in the fridge.

First of the Strawberries - Breakfast Tartines

We have been waiting and waiting for our local strawberry vendor to open his stand on Hwy. 12. Some years he has strawberries in April, but this year it was just a week ago that we heard he had started to open. The first three pints were eaten as is...just wonderful, juicy, amazing strawberries. Now we are starting to get creative. I've added sliced strawberries to my morning cereal and added diced strawberries to a salad.

This morning I took a slice of a baguette about the same size as an English muffin and sliced it in half lengthwise, toasted the halves in the toaster, then spread on some Kite Hill brand almond fresh cheese, topped that with sliced strawberries, drizzled on some honey from my neighbor's hive, and finished it with finely chopped toasted walnuts. A delightful take on a tartine and a great breakfast! There were leftover sliced berries, so they went into a small bowl with a dollop of soy creamer. Couldn't leave those berries uneaten.

Spring Warmth with Strawberries and Rhubarb

It is truly spring. Usually this is a non-event as spring arrives in Northern California most years in February or March, but this year our spring has been more like the ones I remember from my childhood in Virginia. The nights stayed very cool and we had significant rain right up into May. So this year April showers really did bring May flowers. Many of my flowers are just now starting to bloom and the cool weather has keep the roses going with the flowers staying on the shrubs longer while new buds begin to form.

Our little lambs are getting bigger. Earlier in the week one of the younger set got his head stuck in the fence and tonight one of the older set became stuck. Since he has actual horns it was tougher to get him back through, but Sweetie did it and then the little fellow ran away to his mom. The photo of lambs on this post is actually from the flock of a friend...her lambs are white while 'mine' are black. They aren't really mine since they belong to our neighbors, but since they are in our pasture and we see them every day and give them water and sometimes some hay, I feel a little like they are ours, too.

One of the treats of spring is the coming of strawberry season. It started really late this year, too. Finally we are getting some warm days, so the strawberries at our local farm stand are plentiful, juicy, fragrant and all together wonderful. Often we just eat them right from the container, but sometimes I feel like baking using them.

A great pairing with strawberries is rhubarb. It sort of looks like red celery and it is pretty tart, but that tartness is magic combined with strawberry sweetness. I put them together in a tart for a family dinner on Friday. If you have puff pastry in the freezer, plus the usual baking staples and some sliced and ground almonds and some citrus, you can put this together in no time and bake an impressive dessert...it's delicious, too.

I actually combined two recipes for this. A few pages further into Annie Rigg's Summer Berries Autumn Fruits cookbook, there is a recipe for a strawberry-rhubarb compote over brown sugar meringues, so I took the cooking method for the compote and used it for the tart fruit. It worked really well and I was left with enough syrup to boil down for a drizzle over the served slices of tart. The almond and orange flavors go so well with the sweet-tart strawberry rhubarb combo. The crust adds crispness and flakiness. There were actually a couple of pieces left over, so Sweetie and I had them for breakfast the next morning...heaven!

Strawberry Rhubarb Almond Tart
From Summer Berries Autumn Fruits by Annie Rigg
Serves 6-8

1-2 slim-stemmed rhubarb stalk(s)
1 cup granulated sugar
three strips orange peel (each about 1/2 " X 2 ")
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise or
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 x 14 oz package store-bought puff pastry
(I used 1 of 2 sheets in a Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry box, thawed)
2 tablespoons milk or soy milk
1 medium egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 rounded tablespoons sliced almonds

For the frangipane
2/3 cup ground almonds
3 tablespoons softened non-dairy butter or real butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 medium egg
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Rinse the rhubarb under cold running water and trim the ends. Cut each stem into lengths of about 1 1/2 inches. Put the sugar, orange peel and vanilla in a saute pan and add 3/4 cup cold water. Bring slowly to a boil to dissolve the sugar. Add the rhubarb and cook over low heat 2-3 minutes or until rhubarb is softened. Remove from heat. Add the strawberries, stir and let sit while you prepare the tart shell.

Lightly dust the work surface with flour and roll out the pastry into an oval or rectangle until pastry is about 1/16th-inch thick. Use a large knife to trim and neaten the edges. Carefully slide the pastry onto a large parchment-lined baking sheet, brush the milk or soy milk around the edges of the pastry, and crimp and fold over to create a border. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes while you make the frangipane.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put all the frangipane ingredient in a mixing bowl and beat well until smooth.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and spread the frangipane over the pastry, leaving a 1/2 inch border all the way around as it will spread slightly during cooking. Drain the cooled rhubarb and strawberries from the syrup and scatter the rhubarb and strawberries evenly over the tart. Brush the edges of the tart with the beaten yolk and scatter the tart with the sliced almonds.

Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and cook for another 20-25 minutes. The frangipane will be golden, the pastry crust crisp, and the fruit tender.

Best served warm on the day it is made. You can take the syrup remaining after the fruit is removed and, over low heat, reduce it to a thick syrup for garnishing the tart slices.

At Last

Yesterday was exactly three month since my cataract surgery on the second eye and a day past 16 weeks since the first cataract surgery. During those 16 weeks I couldn't really drive due to double vision, which is usually corrected with glasses. At first it was because I was healing from the surgeries, so no glasses could be ordered. It takes a little while for the eyes to get to the point where the eye doctor will write a prescription. I had figured on about three weeks for the glasses to be produced but instead they had to be sent back a number of times, so it ended up being 9 weeks on top of all those weeks of healing! Poor Sweetie had a lot of extra driving to do, even though I curtailed my social schedule a lot on optional visits and events.

At last the glasses I tried on this Monday were correct. Not perfect, but correct enough for driving and general wear. Not as good on the close work, but I have readers and, frankly, couldn't imaging sending them back again. The optometrist was probably even more upset than I was and did a terrific job of nagging the lab, but apparently the lab had new people who messed up, trouble with machines breaking and terrible quality control. The optometrist has switched now to a new lab for their current and future orders, thank heavens.

So here they are. They look exactly like my old ones. The new frames I picked out were part of the production problem, so the gave me, no charge, frames like my old ones, plus my old frame to keep (which is unusable because we messed up the screw area when we removed one of the lenses after the first surgery so I could use them for the other eye. Sorry if that doesn't make sense, but trust me, it's all good.

To celebrate I went to lunch and a movie with my good friend Barbara. Saw a sweet flick called 'I'll See You In My Dreams' about friendship, love, loss and karaoke. On the way home I though about all the lovely berries and apricots in the kitchen and decided to see if I could adapt the 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake to a vanilla cake with fruit. A surprise for Sweetie for dessert, right?

First I helped him with fitting and securing the second new post of the front porch, then watered a couple of plants in the garden which were wilting in the heat despite the overnight and early morning light rain (rain in June...so unusual for us), and checked out the color of the stain I'll use on the whole porch once the new section is installed. The new stuff will replace the 30 year old deck that has led to the old front porch since before we moved in. The joists underneath are dry rotted here and there, too, so it will probably be some time in July before all that stain goes on.

Finally I was able to get in the bake center and make the cake. Amazing how quickly it all went together. I diced an apricot and some strawberries into a small dice and added a handful of blueberries to the mix, then measured and stirred the dry ingredients and sprinkled some of that over the fruit and tossed it a bit. In another bowl I whisked together egg, oil and milk then added a splash of vanilla. The fruit was tossed into the dry ingredients, the wet mixture went on top of that and it was all stirred together with a fork. That batter went into a Pyrex bowl which I had buttered lightly. The bowl went into the microwave (on high) for five minutes.

That's it! Turned it out to cool, added sliced strawberries when it was time to serve and added scoops of vanilla soy ice cream to the bowl at the last minute. Delicious! You couldn't really taste the apricot because the blueberries and strawberries were more dominant flavors. The cake was a moist sponge and went perfectly with the fresh berries and ice cream. I'm going to try this again with other flavors. Sweetie had two servings, so I know 'he who doesn't like cake' will eat it anyway...and enjoy it.

5 Minute Apricot Berry Mug Cake

A variation of a recipe from Don Fulton
Serves 1-2

(I doubled the recipe and cooked it in a Pyrex bowl big enough that the mixture didn't go over the sides, although it did reach the top edge during baking...then settled down to about an inch below the edge)

4 tablespoons self-rising flour

4 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon orange zest

dash ground nutmeg

dash salt

1/2 apricot, diced small

1/4 cup strawberries, washed and diced small

1/4 cup blueberries, washed and picked over for debris

1 egg

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons oil

a small splash of vanilla extract

1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Sprinkle some of the dry ingredients over the fruit and toss lightly. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix together in another bowl the egg, the milk and oil and mix well. Add the vanilla extract, and mix again. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix well. Pour the batter into a lightly buttered large mug.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high). (If doubling the recipe as I did, use a larger container and cook for 5 minutes on high.) The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed! Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from apricot berry cake at any time of the day or night!

I served the cake in bowls with lots of sliced fresh strawberries and a small scoop of ice cream, but the cake all by itself is delicious! 
The photo suffers from being taken at night, but I wanted you to see the inside to see how moist and spongy it is.

Pink, Rich And Oh So Strawberry...What a Cake!

The traditional Mother's Day dessert when I was growing up was strawberry shortcake. There was yellow cake, fresh sliced strawberries and plenty of whipped cream. If we didn't have it for Mother's Day...sometimes the berries ripened a little late...we would have it for Mom's birthday toward the end of May. That combination of cake, strawberries and cream has always reminded me of my Mom.

This May the Cake Slice Bakers, baking from the wonderful The Southern Cake Book by Southern Living, had a number of choices but the immediate choice for me was the decadent Strawberry Mousse Cake. It has all of the features of the traditional strawberry shortcake, but in form that is more layered and more sophisticated. I baked it in a heart shaped pan to honor my Mom, who used to bake my birthday cake in a heart pan. The strawberry mousse filling was new to me and was really a key part of the recipe.  I know that I'm going to use it again, maybe with a blackberry puree instead of the strawberries. That would make a great filling for a spice cake when blackberries are in season.

The cake if a butter cake made from scratch and because you leave out the yolks of the eggs, it is a white cake. In the photo in the book it looked a bit dry, but I tried half the recipe out early as a coffee flavored cake and it was very moist. When I made a half recipe for the layer cake it was just a bit dryer, but that may have been because it was made in thin layers instead of a thicker loaf cake. It was still delicious and went really well with the soft and just sweet enough creamy mousse filling. For the icing I went with a traditional buttercream instead of the icing given in the recipe. Once you have had the silky smooth, rich wonderfulness of true buttercream, an icing of butter and confectioners sugar just doesn't cut it unless you are in a hurry. My daughter was here, too, so she was able to see how easy it is to make real buttercream as long as you have enough time.

I loved this cake. It was very rich, so slices were thin. Half a recipe (which is what I have given below) worked perfectly. There were even left overs for later. The pink mousse matched the pink buttercream and it looked just perfect on my grandmother's fluted glass cake plate. This recipe is going into the keeper file for sure!

Be sure to check out the other Cake Slice Bakers posts (see below recipe for links) to see which cake they made and how they made it their own. Hope you had as happy a Mother's Day as I did.

Strawberry Mousse Cake 
based on a cake in The Southern Cake Book
Serves 5-6

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 egg whites
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or butter two  8" diameter cake pans. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with a stand mixer, until mixture is fluffy. Gradually add egg whites, on-third at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans, smooth the top with a spatula and rap the pans against the counter top twice, sharply, to dislodge any air bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 20-25 minutes, turning the pans half way around about half way through the baking time. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean when cake is done. Remove to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes, then run a knife around the pans to loosen the cake and turn the cake out, cooling cakes right side up.

When completely cool, split cake in half horizontally, then fill with Strawberry Mousse (recipe below). Chill cake for 1 hour to firm up filling.

Frost top, then sides with Strawberry Buttercream, then chill cake at least an hour to firm up buttercream. Let cake sit at room temperature for about 1/2 hour before serving for best flavor. Garnish with fresh strawberries, flowers, or your choice of decor.

Strawberry Mousse

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup water
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream

Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl; let stand 5 minutes to hydrate gelatin.

Process strawberries and sugar in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape down sides as needed. Transfer strawberry mixture to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add gelatin to strawberry mixture, stirring constantly until gelatin dissolves. Cover mixture and chill about 20 minutes, until mixture is consistency of unbeaten egg whites. Stir occasionally to chill mixture evenly.

Beat whipping cream at low speed until foamy, then increase speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into strawberry mixture until well blended. Chill, covered, for 20 minutes, or just until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape when mounded. Use as filling for the cake above. Any leftovers can be enjoyed as a dessert. Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

Strawberry Buttercream

2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
12 tablespoons (1 ½  sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup fresh strawberries, cap removed and finely chopped

1. Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water (but don’t let the bottom of the bowl touch the water) and whisk gently until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are hot, about 3 minutes.

2. Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk on medium speed until cooled, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddles and beat in the softened butter a few small pieces at a time, and continue beating until the buttercream is smooth, about 6 – 10 minutes. Once the buttercream is smooth, add the finely chopped fresh strawberries, beating until everything is smooth again. It may take 5-10 minutes of beating.

3. Put half the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Use an offset spatula frost the top of the cake, then pipe rosettes of buttercream on the sides of the cake and decorate as you like. Any leftover buttercream can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

This is a half recipe. If you prefer to skip the mousse, double the buttercream recipe and use to both fill and frost the cake.

Here are the other Cake Slice Bakers posts to view:

An InLinkz Link-up

Last of the Strawberries in a Tart

I am ridiculously spoiled, and I admit it. Because we have a local farmer who plants different varieties of strawberries, including late season ones, and because we have had a looooong warm autumn, last Friday we were able to purchase fresh local strawberries. It was also the week when I cleaned out the freezer and found a disk of tart dough. However, with Thanksgiving weekend taking up my time, no tart was made until this week.

If you have tart dough ready and a packet of ground blanched almonds, too, this tart is absurdly easy. If not, make some tart dough and chill it, then get out the food processor, blanched almonds and a bit of sugar and make the almond meal. I used the stand mixer version of the almond cream since I already had ground almonds handy, but if you have made the almond meal in the food processor it would be sensible to also make the almond cream in the processor.

You can use any kind of fruit in this tart. The original recipe in Dorie Greenspan's book was for poached pears, a lovely fruit at this time of year. I can almost taste this made with fresh apricots in the summer, and blueberries would be good, too.

Since I used a smaller tart pan, I had about 1/4 cup left over almond cream, but Sweetie took care of that for me. He does loved his nuts.

Not only does this tart look good, but the combination of sweet fruit, rich almond cream, and buttery, flaky crust is divine. This would be a pretty dessert to serve with coffee during the holidays, so take a break from the bustle and shopping, invite a few close friends over for tart and coffee or tea, relax with friendship and good conversation. You'll be glad you did.

French Strawberry Tart

based on a pear tart in Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From my home to yours

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup ground blanched almonds

2 teaspoons all purpose flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough, partially baked and cooled

(I used a 6-inch tart shell, unbaked, which worked fine)

1 pint fresh strawberries, washed, dried, hulled and cut in half

Confectioners sugar for dusting

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Put the butter and sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and process until well blended. Add the flour and the cornstarch and process to blend, then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds more, or until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and process just to blend.

OR Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with a whisk attachment until mixture is smooth and satiny. Add the ground almonds and whisk on medium speed until well blended. Add the flour and cornstarch and whisk briefly to blend, then add the egg. Whisk on medium until the almond cream is homogeneous. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and whisk just to blend.

Fill the tart shell with the almond cream, spreading it evenly with an offset spatula. Place the halved strawberries in a nice pattern on top of the cream, starting at the outer edge of the tart shell.

Bake the tart on the prepared baking sheet for 50 - 60 minutes, or until the almond cream puffs up around the fruit and browns. Transfer the tart to a rack to cool to just warm or to room temperature before removing the sides of the pan.

Right before serving, dust the tart with confectioners sugar.  Makes one tart.

Strawberry Moon

Summer is still with us, in warm breezes and hot afternoon sun, sultry evenings on the porch, and ripe fruit, too.

On this past Saturday, plain Jane strawberries were transformed by my amazing daughter into boozy, juicy Moonshine Strawberries by the judicious addition of some Strawberry Moonshine, a bit of sugar, and a touch of lemon zest.

On Sunday we enjoyed a summery dessert of butter pound cake slices, softly whipped cream and some of those slightly softened and decadent, just-sweet-enough strawberries. The alcohol had dispersed by then but it added a hint of daring to this lovely dish. There was a tang of lemon here and there to add interest.You could make this with peaches or nectarines, instead and it would still be wonderful.

Moonshine Strawberries Shortcake

2 pints hulled, sliced strawberries
1 shot glass of Strawberry Moonshine
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon zest
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pint heavy cream
1 loaf pound cake

Combine the strawberries, moonshine, lemon zest and sugar. Let sit in the 'fridge overnight.

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters or whisk, whisk the cream until soft peaks form. If desired, add a bit of sugar towards the end.

When ready to serve, slice the pound cake. Place a slice on each dessert plate, spoon on some of the strawberries and their juices, dollop on some whipped cream and put a bit more of the strawberries on top. Serve at once.

Fresh Strawberries Fill a Rolling Pin Cookie

Back when I was in college, my boyfriend's mom would sometimes interrupt our study time with something home baked. She was an excellent cook and baker, so I looked forward to the interruption. Besides, we were usually pouring over thick history books about 'Westward Expansion' or something and it was nice to take a break from that.

One time she had baked a lovely cookie that had a cherry baked in the middle. The cookie was crisp around the edges, soft in the middle and then you bit into the juicy cherry in the center...memorable! I didn't have much time for baking at that point in my life, so I never asked for the recipe. Wish I had.

Sweetie came home a couple of days ago with three pint baskets of gorgeous strawberries...the first of our local ones. They are not as sweet, nor as juicy as the ones that come later, in May especially, but they are still delicious. I decided that I wanted to make a cookie similar to the one I remembered so well, but with thinly sliced strawberries in the middle.

After looking in lots and lots of cookbooks it became clear that her cookies were not the usual kind at all. It didn't help that I wanted to include almonds and  maybe some lemon curd. Long story short, I started with an unusual spice cookie recipe and went on my own merry way. Although this dough isn't difficult to work with, you will give your rolling pin a workout by the time you are done.

One of the unusual things about this recipe is that it takes brown sugar, dark corn syrup and butter and boils them together for 2 minutes. Another unusual thing is that there are no eggs. I enjoyed figuring out how to change the recipe by eliminating the spices and adding vanilla extract. It already had the ground almonds and almond extract I wanted and some rum that mostly cooked off.

You could probably make these by wrapping some of the dough around a whole strawberry, but I wanted a cookie version of hand pies. I used a large cutter for starters, 4-5 slices of strawberry for each cookie and about 1/2 teaspoon of purchased Meyer lemon curd. I sealed between the top and bottom cookie with egg wash, then pressed down all around with a fork to seal it even better, cut a slit in the top, brushed egg wash over the whole cookie and sprinkled the middle with sparkling sugar. These cookies were so large that you really only needed one, but they smelled so great while baking that it was hard not to eat more than that.

In the end, it worked out to be just what I had in mind. The outer edges and bottom of the cookie were crispy, the inner cookie soft, but chewy with a true almond flavor, and the strawberries barely cooked, soft and juicy and fragrant and there was just a hint of citrus.

Next time I might try it with granulated sugar instead of the brown sugar for a more delicate cookie flavor but otherwise I'm very happy with this experiment. Since the strawberry season is just starting I'm sure I'll make 'em again, especially since they are perfect for taking on a picnic.

Fresh Strawberry Filled Rolling Pin CookiesBased on 'Swedish Spice Cookies' in Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great CookiesMakes 10 filled 3" cookies

2/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter
6 oz. (scant 1 1/4 cups) blanched almonds
2 cups unbleached flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dark rum
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
about 1/4 cup prepared lemon curd
6-8 fresh strawberries, washed, dried, hulled, and thinly sliced
egg wash of 1 egg beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon water
about 1 tablespoon sanding sugar

Place the corn syrup, sugar, and butter in a saucepan. Place over moderate heat and stir occasionally until mixture comes to a boil. Let boil for about 2 minutes. Then set aside to cool to tepid.

Place the almonds in a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade. If desired, you can lightly toast the almonds in the middle of a 350 degree F oven for 10 - 12 minutes and then let cool before putting into the food processor. I made my cookies with untoasted almonds.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Place 1/4 cup of the mixture in the food processor with the almonds. Process the nuts and flour mixture for about 30 seconds, until fine. Add to the dry ingredient mixture in the bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine.

When the sugar/butter mixture has cooled to tepid, add the rum, the almond extract and the vanilla and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the flour/nut mixture in the bowl then stir or beat with the mixer until a dough forms.

Spread out three 12-inch lengths of plastic warp or wax paper, and place about one-third of the dough on each piece. Fold the sides of the wrap over the dough, flatten each piece slightly, and refrigerate the packet for an hour or more, and up to a week if you wish. If it has been refrigerated for more than an hour, it will be too firm to roll out; it should stand at room temperature for about a half hour or more, until it can be rolled out.

When you are ready to bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator long enough ahead of time so that it can be rolled out. Flour a pastry cloth and a rolling pin. Adjust two racks to divide your oven into thirds and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment, foil with the shiny side up, or silicon baking mats.

To roll out the dough, unwrap on piece of the dough and place it on the floured cloth. Roll out the dough carefully until it is very thin and even all over. Try for about 1/8 inch thick. During rolling, turn the dough and re-flour cloth and pin as necessary.

To make large cookies as I did, cut with 3-inch round cutters. I was able to get about 5 rounds from the first rolling out of one piece of dough, but this dough is easy to reform into a ball and then re-roll for more rounds. Once you have gotten some more rounds from the first piece, add what is left to the second piece, continue rolling out the dough and cutting out rounds and repeat with the scraps and the third piece. I used the final scraps to make a small plain cookie...this dough is too yummy to waste any.

Place half the rounds on the prepared sheets. Place 1/2 teaspoon lemon curd on each in the center and spread out, leaving at least 1/4 inch border plain. Place 4-5 strawberry slices in the center over the curd. Brush the egg wash around the plain border and top with another cookie dough round. Press gently around the border to seal, then seal fully by pressing with the tines of a fork. Use a sharp knife to make a slit in the center. Repeat until you have about 10 filled cookies. Brush egg wash over the tops of each, then sprinkle the centers lightly with sanding sugar.

Bake the prepared cookies for 5 minutes in the preheated oven, then switch the pans, top to bottom and bottom to top, plus have the side of the sheet that was toward the back of the oven face toward the front. (This is probably not necessary if you have a true convection oven.) Bake for another 5 minutes, then check to see if cookies are golden brown. If not, bake another minute or two.

Remove from oven to a cooling rack for 2-3 minutes, then use a spatula to lift the cookies onto the cooling rack itself. Let cookies cool before eating or storing. Centers will get softer if cookies are not eaten the same day. Store, covered, in the refrigerator...if there are any left. I warn you, they smell irresistibly good while baking.