DAMSON AND FRANGIPANE TART

acthiessen — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 10:19:00 +0000

Damson and frangipane tart recipe | Hello Victoria

As I mentioned in the lemon tart recipe post, one of my favorite cookbooks is by the Bouchon Bakery. It contains a recipe for a plum tart that uses a wonderful pâte sucrée crust, and frangipane filling. I made it before as a thank-you for some plums I was gifted, and have loved the combination ever since. Frangipane works well as a base for almost any fruit, especially stone fruit. So when we were given a load of damson a week ago, it was the first recipe I wanted to try.

Now, a word of warning here. Unless you’re a masochist for baking (like me!), I won’t recommend making a damson tart. Instead, use any larger plum, or even nectarines, or peaches. The amount of wedges you need to cut from the tiny damsons is ridiculous and takes ages. However, if you’re like me, and have more damsons than you can eat (and a lot of free time), why not?

You can even use the frangipane and pâte sucrée crust combination with other fruit. In the past, I have used poached pears, blackberries, and blueberries. Anything will be beautiful. And I don’t just mean flavor, but these tarts always look gorgeous. Especially this damson tart.

While the endless rings of tiny pieces to cut is silly to make, it looks really pretty – no?

Damson and Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

5-6 large plums or 10-15 damsons
Pâte Sucrée:
188 g plain flour
23 g icing sugar
47 g icing sugar
24 g ground almonds
113 g unsalted butter room temp.
0.5 vanilla bean split openseeds scraped out
28 g eggs about 0.5 of a large egg
Frangipane
73 g almond meal
7 g plain flour
73 g unsalted butter
73 g icing sugar
44 g eggs about one egg

Instructions

For the pâte sucrée, sift together the flour, ground almonds, and 23g icing sugar. Add any of the almond that doesn’t pass through the sieve back into the mixture.
Beat the butter and vanilla seeds until light in colour and soft, and then sift in the remaining icing sugar. Whip the sugar with the butter until light and fluffy.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until it resembles a sort of wet sand. Tip the bowl out onto your work surface, and press together.
To make sure all of the vanilla and sugar is evenly mixed, you will use a technique called ‘fraiser’ or ‘fraisage’. Use the heel of your hand to smear the mixture together on the table, then scrape it off the table, fold it over itself, and continue smearing until it’s evenly mixed (see image above).
Pat the dough into a disc, and wrap in cling film, Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
While the dough is chilling, prepare the frangipane.
Sift the almond meal and flour together. Break up any remaining lumps of almond meal in the sieve, and add all of it into the flour. Whisk together
In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter until very soft. Sift in the icing sugar.and beat together until light and fluffy.
Add the flour mixture in two additions, and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add the eggs, and beat until smooth. Set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C), grease and line a tart pan with a circle of parchment paper.
To roll out the dough, place the disc between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out until it is large enough to fit your tart pan and lay inside.
Press the dough into the corners and fluted edges of your tin, then trim the edge either with your fingers, or by rolling over with your rolling pin,
Fill the tart with the frangipane, either with a piping bag, or by spreading an even layer over the bottom.
Slice your fruit into wedges, about 0.5cm thick, depending on the fruit being used. I probably sliced the damsons thinner as I needed so many pieces.
Arrange your slices of fruit in concentric circles, slightly overlapping each piece with the next. When you finish the outside edge, start a new row, slightly overlapping with the first. Repeat to fill the middle of the tart.
Bake the tart in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until the crust has browned, and the filling is set.
Allow to cool before trying to remove from the tin.

NANAIMO BARS (A CANADIAN TRAYBAKE)

acthiessen — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 21:48:00 +0000

Nanaimo Bars recipe | Hello Victoria

I’m starting to realize that I can’t do everything by hand. And I don’t mean that in the sense of handmade… but that sometimes, you just need machine power when baking. Case in point – these Nanaimo Bars.

When I was studying pastry in Vancouver, our course had us doing almost everything by hand. Whether that was whipping cream, or making meringue, there were a few things that we did with our Kitchenaid mixers. One of the few things we did with a machine was an Italian meringue – and I resigned myself to not making them while living in this tiny flat. (I also resigned myself to not making marshmallows while here, as it’s pretty much the same process.)

As I couldn’t bring my Kitchenaid mixer from Canada, and had no room to put one here even if I did, I didn’t bother to buy a hand mixer. Maybe it’s because once you go to Kitchenaid you never go back? Or perhaps my hand mixing at school had made me cocky? Bah ha ha, you puny machines – look at the strength of my arms!!! Mwah ah ah…

But seriously – if I could whip cream by hand, and make meringues (just not Italian), why did I need a hand mixer? Well folks, creaming butter, that’s why! It is easy to do when you’re just softening it for cookie dough, but trying to incorporate air and make it fluffy?! My upper body strength has its limits. So the next time I need to make a fluffy layer, I may just review my aversion to hand mixers.

For anyone not already aware, Nanaimo bars are something from the West Coast of Canada (named after the city of Nanaimo). They are so ubiquitous that as a child I thought they were as common as chocolate chip cookies. It’s a crust of digestive/coconut/nut/chocolate, covered with a buttery custard layer, and topped with more chocolate. Normally the crust contains graham crackers, but over here I substituted them with digestive biscuits.

I personally was never the biggest eater of Nanaimo bars, as I found them too sweet/rich as a child, but homesickness has crept in. Either then or my new Canadian coworker, lamenting the lack of these delectable bars, persuaded me to break out the old wooden spoon.

Maybe you will too? Or do you have one of those fancy hand mixers?

Nanaimo Bars (A Canadian Traybake)

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 15

Total Time 1

Servings 8 x 8″ Square Tin

Ingredients

Base Layer:
0.5 cup unsalted butter
0.25 cup sugar
5 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg beaten
1.25 cups graham cracker/digestive biscuit crumbs
0.5 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup coconut
Second Layer:
0.5 C unsalted butter
2 tbsp + 2 tsp whipping cream
2 tbsp custard powder
2 C icing sugar
Third Layer:
114 g dark chocolate
30 g unsalted butter

Instructions

Melt first three ingredients over a bain marie*.
Add the egg, and stir until it has cooked and thickened.
Remove from the heat, and stir in the crumbs, and nuts.
Press firmly and evenly into the pan. Chill in the fridge while making the second layer.
For the custard layer, cream together the butter, custard powder, and icing sugar, until light and fluffy.
Add whipping cream, and whip until light. Spread over first layer, and chill until firm.
For the chocolate topping, melt the butter and chocolate together over a bain marie, being careful not to overheat.
Remove bowl from the heat, and allow to cool. Once cool, but still pourable, spread over the custard layer, and chill to set.

Notes

*Bain marie is a fancy way of saying hot water bath. It is used to describe cooking items in the oven surrounded by water (to ensure even cooking), or cooking items in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. In our case, it means the latter.

Almond – Hello Victoria

DAMSON AND FRANGIPANE TART

Damson and Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

Instructions

NANAIMO BARS (A CANADIAN TRAYBAKE)

Nanaimo Bars (A Canadian Traybake)

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes