Peach-Raspberry Slab Pie

I just love peach pie, and I've been intending to try my hand at making a slab pie for some time.  I was planning my desk's annual Labor Day indoor cookout (gotta find some way to shake up holidays at work), and I wanted a summery dessert that would feed a crowd.  A slab pie is essentially a sheet pan pie, made bigger and flatter so it will feed many and takes less time to make.  So the thinking goes.

I found it just as laborious as making a traditional pie, and kind of a pain.  It started out well when I rolled out the bottom crust easily despite the big dimensions the recipe called for.  But then when I rolled out the top crust the dough started tearing, and I started grumbling.  And by the time I sliced all the peaches and then assembled the whole thing, I was tired.  Why does anyone assume a slab pie will be easier?  It's a huge, double-crust pie.  I've made easier tarts and crostatas.  I did like the combination of raspberries with peaches.  The sides and corners were nice and flaky, but the bottom crust in the middle was unfortunately soft.  The slab pie wasn't bad, it just didn't blow me away.

I liked these much better.  I used the leftover dough another day to make hand pies filled with berry jam and Greek cream cheese.  I just winged it, but they came out great.  I'm still holding out hope for doing one more summery peach pie, but I better act fast -- apples and pumpkins are already threatening to take over!

Looking for more peach goodness?  Try White Peach and Prosecco Gelatina, Lattice-top Peach Pie, Peach-Vanilla Bean Cobbler with Sugar Crunch Lattice, or Peach and Plum Crumble.

Chocolate-Raspberry Roulade

This raspberry roulade is a thin sheet cake spread with raspberry jam and whipped chocolate ganache, sprinkled with fresh raspberries, then rolled up and drizzled with chocolate.  It's the chocolate lover's alternative to yesterday's Blueberry Roulade, and the ganache is crazy good.

You'll want to plan this cake in advance, since the whipped chocolate ganache needs to be chilled for hours. It can also be made a few days in advance.  I've been leafing through Alice Medrich's Bittersweet, and I like her explanations for why chocolate behaves in a certain way, or her adaptations when using a chocolate with a higher or lower cacao percentage.  One thing Medrich points out for this recipe is not to worry if the melted chocolate and cream look too soft to spread, because it won't stiffen until it's whipped -- and it will stiffen more after it's chilled.

I'm going to miss farmers market berries when the cold hits!

Out of these three roulade combinations I've posted, my favorite has been raspberries and cream.  Because I like raspberries more, and the plainer whipped cream really lets the subtle summery flavor shine through.  But this whipped chocolate ganache is so good I'm bookmarking it for other recipes, like piping on top of cupcakes or using as a filling between cake layers.  Use a quality chocolate to really appreciate the flavor.  I used Callebaut.

Blueberry Roulade . . . or make it Raspberry!

This is so good, so easy, and so versatile I've made it three times in the past week now.  And Labor Day will be four.  No, I didn't polish them all off myself, but they were a hit at an intern's farewell party and then a beach picnic.  Nobody believes me that they're a cinch to pull off.  "It's just a sheet cake," I say, "filled with cream and jam and fruit and rolled up."  "Rolled up?" they ask.  "How do you roll up a cake?"

The cake itself is almost fat free -- no butter or oil in the recipe, just eggs.  There's the cream in the filling, but it still comes off feeling light.  And that was really welcome after the ultra-rich Pecan Bars I made last time.  This is just what a summer dessert ought to be, seasonal fruit in a cake that doesn't weigh you down.  And the cake is easy, going something like this: Beat eggs with sugar, then fold in flour with other dry ingredients, scrape into a pan, and bake.

This blueberries and cream variation was really good, but my favorite was the raspberries and cream version.  Dress the cake simply with a dusting of confectioners sugar, or pipe whipped cream on top.  Another possibility?  Come back tomorrow to see how to make this into a Chocolate Raspberry Roulade with whipped chocolate ganache.

Ruby Cake with Hidden Chocolate and Raspberry Filling

I made this cake for a potluck at work, and at the end of our glutton-fest and my shift I placed the leftovers in my covered portable cake dome and left it on my desk.  I thought it would be safe there from the daytime shift, and my colleagues could eat the rest the next day.  When I returned that next day and looked at my desk, I was amused to find there was less cake than I remembered!  I put it back out on the communal table, and a few minutes later I saw a higher-up (who shall not be named) pass by and cut a piece, then shove it whole into his mouth.  Hmm ... maybe that explains the cake shrinkage.

The Ruby Cake is a buttery bundt with a dense and moist crumb, and a bit of tang from some sour cream.  It gets its name from a hidden filling of raspberry jam and chocolate.  I'm not sure whether it's the nature of this cake, or if I was too careful with keeping the filling away from the walls of the cake pan so it wouldn't burn, but the filling takes up very little of the cake.  Plus it rose up through the batter while baking.  I simply wanted more of the chocolate and raspberry.

Clockwise from top left: the cake batter; piping in circles of batter; digging a trough and adding jam to it; topping the jam with chopped chocolate.

I LOVE this beater attachment.  If you have a stand mixer, get one of these beaters that scrapes the bowl as it mixes.  No need to stop the mixer and scrape the bowl periodically.

Next, more circles of batter are piped on top, then smoothed. In the final step, a chopstick is inserted into the batter in swirling motions to distribute the chocolate and raspberry filling.

I have to say I think you can dispense with the piping bag and circles, and just scoop the batter in.  The extra steps -- scraping the batter into a bag, piping the batter, then washing the bag later -- seemed unnecessary.

Bundts also call to mind this baking pan I saw recently at the Museum of Science's exhibit on Pompeii.  This is what I would have used in Roman times!

For me this cake was good but not amazing, though that could change by doubling up on the chocolate and raspberry next time.  But that's just my opinion; you might also want to ask the person involved in the cake's disappearing act.

This post was shared with:
Tea Party Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweets for a Saturday
Themed Baker's Sunday

Two-tone Linzer Hearts

Every year the twin sister pesters me to make linzers around Christmas.  I think she now expects them around Valentine's Day, too!  I've done linzers a couple times on this blog before, but when I saw these beautiful Chocolate and Vanilla Linzer Hearts on Butteryum I had to make them.  I can just hear the sister complaining about changing up her favorite recipe, but I think she should count herself lucky that she gets any cookies.  I mean, how many people send you linzers without fail every year?

I used my usual King Arthur Flour recipe with the hazelnut dough, but adapted Butteryum's idea to make half of the dough chocolate.  Guittard cocoa powder gives it an intense, chocolatey hit that mortal cocoa powders might not.  The chocolate cookie is further contrasted with the hazelnut layer by a shower of snowy confectioners sugar.  And the little cutout chocolate hearts are pretty darn cute.  I think the sister will enjoy these anyway.

This post was shared with:
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Tea Party Tuesday
Sweet Treats Thursday
Sweets for a Saturday

Raspberry Crumb Bars & Citrus Bars

These raspberry crumb bars got inhaled here at home and will be making a repeat appearance, but those citrus bars?  Never again!  It's not that they weren't good, because what lemon bar isn't good?  Especially one with the addition of lime?  But where the raspberry crumb bars were relatively simple and fun, the citrus bars demanded more elbow grease and then ran into technical issues.

The raspberry crumb bars involved making an almond-y dough that would serve as both the base and topping.  The base gets baked briefly in a cookie sheet lined with parchment, then cooled and spread with jam.  Then the remaining dough is scattered on as a topping and baked.  When cool, a bench scraper works well as a cutter.  They were bagged with the citrus bars as thank-you gifts to volunteers at an event I organized and excitedly received.

The citrus bars?  This one photo speaks to my stress with this recipe.  There were lots of lemons and limes to juice, and the limes took more work.  And then I used a rimmed cookie sheet as directed for the base, but the dough came up to the rim, leaving no room for the pourable fillling!  So I moved and pressed the partially baked dough into this 9x13 pan and the rest into an 8x8 square pan, and poured the filling on top.  It worked, but some dough pieces floated to the top and it wasn't attractive.  But confectioners sugar covers up all sorts of ugly, so I was still able to gift them.

Now I did make this once before, halving the recipe and baking it in this 9x13 pan and it worked out just fine, if you want to try it.  But I'd had enough with this try, plus it's a heart attack special with the 8 eggs, pound of butter, and 4 cups of sugar (which I cut down to 3 cups without a problem).  But I really recommend those raspberry crumb bars!

Has Anyone Seen My Linzer Cookies?

Photo updated December 2012

I can finally publish this post now that my sister knows I sent her a package of linzer cookies.  Bad news is, she still hasn't received them, and I sent them by priority shipping over a week ago!  I told her that some neighbor has to be chewing on them now.  At least I have this photo here, so she can see what her batch looked like.  (I don't think she'll find that funny.)  Hazelnuts give the linzer cookie its great flavor, sweetened by raspberry jam, and cutout centers make them fun.  I bake them for her every year, but they can be a pain to make.  But this year, I have a recipe resulting in less swearing and other language not in the spirit of the holidays.

This King Arthur Flour version calls for hazelnut flour (essentially smushed-up nuts), eliminating the need the grind up my own nuts.  Never mind cracking them, like the first time I made these cookies.  Not fun.  It also doesn't call for repeatedly freezing the dough like my old Martha Stewart recipe.  Really, who has freezer space to devote to sheets of cookie dough, anyway?  As for the taste and texture, they're really so similar I might not be able to tell the two recipes apart in a taste test.  My vote is for this simpler one!  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Vols-au-vent

I've learned how to make puff pastry!  I have to admit that while I'm snobby about some baked goods, like a prejudice against storebought frozen pie crust, I've always fully supported buying frozen puff pastry.  It's laborious to make, and the stuff in the freezer case is pretty good.  This month's challenge called for making vols-au-vent.  They're the round cases of puff pastry, and the fillings were up to us.  I chose Blackberry Mousse, and Warm Brie with Raspberry.

The mousse wasn't the best I've ever had, so I won't post the mediocre recipe, but it did look pretty. The brie vols-au-vent were delicious, and the flavors were offset with tart and slightly sweet raspberry.  I was afraid a slip-up in technicalities might result in flat puff pastry, but these rose nicely.  The hardest part was beating the cold butter flat.  Sometimes you see TV chefs whip out a rolling pin and bang something around, and they talk about how stress-relieving it is.  Not for me!!  I had to use serious muscle to beat the cold, hard stuff into submission, and was glad the neighbors weren't home to hear the racket.  It also made everything else on the counters clang, and I can't say I'll be abusing butter with a rolling pin the next time I have a bad day.

The rest of the process went like this:

 A basic dough without butter is quickly whizzed up in the food processor.

The dough rolls out nicely.

You roll out the four corners to create flaps, with the center remaining thicker and slightly raised.

That is ONE POUND of butter.  Which equals 4 sticks.  This is not for dieters.

Fold a flap over to begin making your "butter sandwich."

Get the remaining flaps as well.

Then roll it all out.  You can kind of make out where the sticks of butter are.  They shouldn't be poking through like that, but it's hard to work it in evenly.  And it turned out all right.

Fold the sides in like a letter.  This is what's called a turn, the first of six to incorporate the butter evenly.  You roll it out again and repeat.

Bakers poke holes in the dough when resting it to remind them how many turns it has undergone.  Here, the three holes represent three turns.  It's imperative that the dough remain cold and not start oozing butter or sticking, and that you brush off excess flour.

You can attempt two to four turns before sticking it in the fridge.  I made it to four, but it was starting to get melty so I quickly stuck it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, I rolled the dough through the final two turns, for a grand total of six.

You cut out small rounds of dough, and then poke holes in half of them.  I didn't have a cutter small enough for the holes, so here I used a cannoli mold.

The rounds make up the bases of the vols-au-vent, and you poke them with a fork for steam to escape.  The rounds with holes make up the sides of the upper half.  The cutouts can be saved for another use that doesn't require high rise, or saved as caps to top the filling with.

They're brushed with egg wash, and for the first part of their stay in the oven they're covered with a silicone mat.  The light weight helps them bake up evenly, and they come out beautiful and golden.  On subsequent uses I found that waxed paper wasn't ideal and stuck to the dough, so a silicone mat or parchment paper is better for the sheet pan.

Look how tall and flaky this beauty is!  Stay tuned . . . I'll tell you what I did with the leftover dough!

THE CHALLENGE
The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Puff pastry (aka pâte feuilletée) is something most of us usually buy at the grocery store,

Thumbprint Trios

These are fun to make, and to eat. They're three thumbprint cookies stuck together and filled with different jams -- strawberry, raspberry, and apricot. I also like how easy they are, and how decorative they look for the holidays.

Trios from Gourmet (December 2007)
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (½ lb) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
About 2 tbs each of seedless raspberry jam, apricot preserves, and strawberry preserves

Whisk together flour and salt. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until very pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes, then beat in egg and vanilla. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches just until a dough forms. Divide dough in half and form each piece into a 6-inch disk, then chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 1 hour.


Preheat oven to 350° with rack in middle. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.


Roll 3 separate level teaspoons of dough each into a ball, then flatten each ball slightly (to 1 inch wide and less than ½ inch thick). Arrange them in a triangle with edges touching in center.










Then make a deep indentation in the center of each round with a wooden spoon handle. Make more cookies, arranging them 1 inch apart on baking sheets.










Fill indentations in each cookie with about 1/8 tsp jam (each cookie should have 3 different fillings).




Bake until cookies are baked through and golden brown on edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Bake more batches on cooled baking sheets lined with fresh parchment.

Dough can be chilled up to 2 days. Cookies keep, layered between sheets of parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.

It's Almost Christmas: Linzer Cookies

My sister pleads with me to make these throughout the year, but they're a bit labor-intensive so I only make them before Christmas. The hazelnut dough lends a bit of spiciness, the red raspberry jam makes them festive, and the snowy dusting of confectioners sugar reminds me of Christmas. I bake the cutouts from the middle as bonus bite-sized treats. I also give them away as holiday gifts in colorful Chinese take-out boxes I get from the party store. They won't fail to please!

Linzer Hearts from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Instead of hearts, I use a round cookie cutter and holiday-themed mini cutters

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

1 cup (4½ oz) blanched hazelnuts

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large egg yolks

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

½ tsp freshly grated lemon zest

½ cup raspberry jam, for filling

¼ cup confectioners sugar, for dusting

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a food processor, pulse hazelnuts until finely ground. Whisk the ground hazelnuts into the flour mixture; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, vanilla, and lemon zest; beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With mixer on low speed, add hazelnut-flour mixture, and beat until just combined, 10 to 15 seconds.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, divide in half, and shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

Remove one disk of dough from the refrigerator, and let stand until softened slightly. (This will help keep the dough from cracking when rolled.) On a large piece of parchment paper lightly dusted with flour, roll dough to 1/8-inch thickness. To prevent sticking while rolling, occasionally run a large offset spatula under dough, and add more flour to the top or bottom of dough. Transfer parchment paper and dough to a baking sheet; freeze until firm, about 20 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough. (You can stack the parchment and dough.)

Preheat the oven to 325°. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove one sheet of dough and parchment from freezer; working quickly, cut into heart shapes with a 3-inch cookie cutter. Cut out center from half the shapes with a 2-inch cutter. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer open hearts to prepared baking sheets, about 1½ inches apart; freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. (You can bake the cutout centers for bite-size cookies, or reroll them to make the larger hearts.)

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are crisp and lightly golden all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. (Cooled cookies can be stored overnight in an airtight container at room temperature before filling.) Spread the flat sides of the whole hearts with about 1½ tsp jam. Sift confectioners sugar over the open hearts. Just before serving, top open hearts with jam. Cookies should be eaten the day they're filled.

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.