Worth Their Weight in Gold: Financiers

I'd been wanting to add financiers to my repertoire for a while, and Aisha from A Piece of Cake told me about this recipe for Raspberry Financiers.

I only had one tray of the mini-muffin molds the recipe calls for, and didn't want that single tiny tray baking by itself for 30 minutes, so I also used 10 tartlet molds measuring 1¾ inches across and ½ inch deep, and they worked well (same amount of time in the oven). If you have rectangular molds, you can bake them in their traditional shape resembling gold ingots. They are tasty, and perfect for teatime!

Little Next Door's Raspberry Financiers

Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes plus chilling time for the dough
Servings: Makes 2½ dozen

• 4 egg whites
  
• 1¼ cups powdered sugar
  
• 11 tablespoons butter
  
• ½ cup flour
  
• ½ cup almond flour (I just ground up blanched almonds very fine in a food processor)
  
• ½ pint fresh raspberries

1. Combine the egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl. Place the bowl over a similar-sized saucepan to form a bain-marie or double-boiler filled with gently simmering water. Stir the egg whites and sugar with a whisk just until the whites warm slightly and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside.
   
2. In a small saucepan, cook the butter over medium heat until it begins to brown and gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat to prevent the butter from overcooking. Set aside, but keep very warm.
   
3. In a large bowl using a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, begin whisking the egg white mixture at low speed. With the mixer running, gently add the flour, followed by the almond flour, and mix just to combine. Add in the warm butter in a thin stream, mixing at low speed until it is incorporated. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and continue to mix 10 seconds more to ensure the batter is completely combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight.
   
4. Heat the oven to 325º. Spray or butter a tray of miniature muffin molds (our molds measured 1¾ inches wide by ½ inch deep). Fill the molds two-thirds full with batter, and place a fresh raspberry on top of each. Place the tray in the oven and bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining batter.
   

Strawberry Scoops

I made this earlier last week, when my college friend came to visit with her husband and kids. The looks on the girls' faces when I said I made them ice cream was adorable, and I let the older one turn on the machine and attach the paddle. Now my friend is all psyched to buy her own ice cream machine!

Strawberry Ice Cream from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book

3 cups strawberries (I used frozen strawberries without syrup, thawed)

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups half-and half

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Puree the strawberries with the salt in a food processor. There should be about 2 cups of puree. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs until thickened and pale yellow.

Bring the half-and-half to a simmer in a heavy medium saucepan. Slowly beat the hot half-and-half into the eggs and sugar. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from heat and pour through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Cool slightly, then stir in the puree, cream, and vanilla. Refrigerate overnight.

Freeze in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Lattice-top Cherry Pie

It's not hard to do. Really! I'll even show you how to weave the lattice.

After you roll out your bottom crust and tuck it into your pie plate, roll out your top crust (the instructions say to roll it to a 12x10-inch rectangle, but I could never roll out a perfect rectangle; could you?) and cut it into eight strips with your pastry wheel or a knife. I didn't bother measuring, hence the uneven strips. Use the long strips for the center of your pie, and the shorter strips for the sides. Lay five of them vertically across your pie plate.

Then fold down strips 2 and 4, and lay another strip horizontally across the middle. Fold strips 2 and 4 back up. Then fold down strips 1, 3, and 5, and lay another strip horizontally across the top of the pie.

Next, fold up strips 1, 3, and 5, and lay the last strip horizontally across the bottom of the pie. Fold the strips back down, and trim off any overhang with a small knife. You're done!

Final tips: Wear an apron or old shirt when you're pitting those cherries, unless you don't mind red stains on your shirt. I also used regular cherries I found at the supermarket, instead of hunting for sour cherries as the recipe calls for. Still tastes good!

From Ken Haedrich's Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie

Lattice-Top Deep-Dish Sour Cherry Pie

All-Butter Pie Pastry, Double Crust (recipe follows)

For the filling

6 cups fresh sour cherries, stemmed and pitted

1 1/4 cups plus 3 tbs sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Grated zest of 1 lemon

2 tbs cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the glaze

Milk or light cream

Sugar

• Prepare the pastry as directed, making half of it just slightly larger than the other. Shape the larger half into a disk and the other half into a square. Wrap the pastry as usual and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour.
• Roll the disk of pastry into a 13 1/2-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Gently tuck the pastry into a 9 1/2-inch deep-dish pie pan without stretching it, and sculpt the overhang into an upstanding ridge. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
• Place the cherries in a large bowl. Mix the sugar and cornstarch together in a small bowl, then stir the mixture into the fruit. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Set aside for 10 minutes to juice. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Roll the remaining pastry into a 12x10-inch rectangle. With a pastry wheel or pizza cutter, cut the pastry into 8 lengthwise strips, each 1 1/4 inches wide. You should have 8 strips measuring 12 inches long and 1 1/4 inches wide. Set aside.
• Turn the filling into the chilled pie shell, moistening the rim of the shell slightly. Smooth the top of the filling with a spoon or spatula. Dot the filling with the butter. Then follow the instructions at the top of my post for weaving the lattice. Trim the strips, then pinch the end of the strips into the edge of the pastry. Lightly brush the pastry strips with milk and sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar.
• Place the pie on the center oven rack and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and rotate the pie 180 degrees, so that the part that faced the back of the oven now faces forward. Just in case, slide a large aluminum foil-lined baking sheet onto the rack below to catch any spills. (Really do this! The boiling-over is almost inevitable. In fact, do it when you first put the pie in.) Continue to bake until the top is golden brown and any visible juices bubble thickly, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and let cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

All-Butter Pie Pastry (double crust)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

About 1/2 cup cold water

• Put the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse 7 or 8 times to cut the butter in well. Remove the lid and fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting it up from the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle half of the water over the dry ingredients. Pulse 5 or 6 times, until the mixture is crumbly. Fluff the pastry and sprinkle on the remaining water. Pulse 5 or 6 times more, until the pastry starts to form clumps. It will look like coarse crumbs. Empty into a large bowl. (If you don't have a food processor, roughly follow the same instructions using your pastry cutter.)
• Test the dough by squeezing some of it between your fingers; if it seems a little dry and not quite packable, drizzle a teaspoon or so of cold water over the dough and work it in with your fingertips. Using your hands, pack the dough into 2 balls, as you would pack a snowball. Knead each ball once or twice, then shape into a circle and a square and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight before rolling.

I used the leftover dough and set aside some of the cherry filling to make this personal-sized cherry tart.