Raspberry Jam and Apple-Tart for a Hobbit's Uninvited Guests

“What’s that? Tea! No thank you! A little red wine, I think for me.”
“And for me,” said Thorin.
“And raspberry jam and apple-tart,” said Bifur.
“And mince-pies and cheese,” said Bofur.
“And pork pie and salad,” said Bombur.
“And more cakes – and ale – and coffee, if you don’t mind,” called the other dwarves through the door.
“Put on a few eggs, there’s a good fellow!” Gandalf called after him, as the hobbit stumped off to the pantries. “And just bring out the cold chicken and pickles!”

~ The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkein

I had a couple favorites at Dessert Club Lit Night, and this was one of them.  As you can see, it's a simple, straightforward tart recipe.  Not too many ingredients.  But when they're awesome, like butter, sugar, and apples, you don't need much else.  

Poor Bilbo.  Dwarves showing up and making demands.  But you have to admit, they have good taste.  

Raspberry Jam and Apple-Tart (print recipe)
Serves 8

1 1/4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
7 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and halved
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving

Combine flour, 8 tbsp. butter, and salt in a food processor and pulse until pea-size crumbles form, about 10 pulses. Drizzle in 3 tbsp. ice-cold water and pulse until dough is moistened, about 3—4 pulses. Transfer dough to a work surface and form into a flat disk; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Unwrap dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, flatten dough into a 13″ circle and then transfer to a 11″ tart pan with a removable bottom; trim edges; chill for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375º. Working with one apple half at a time, thinly slice into sections, keeping slices together. Press sliced apple half gently to fan it out; repeat with remaining apple halves. Place 1 fanned apple half on outer edge of the tart dough, pointing inward; repeat with 7 more apple halves. Separate remaining apple slices. Starting where the apple halves touch and working your way in, layer apples to create a tight rose pattern. Fill in any gaps with remaining apple. Sprinkle with sugar and then dot with remaining butter. Bake until golden brown, 60—70 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat apricot jam in a small saucepan until warmed and loose; pour through a fine strainer into a small bowl and set aside. Transfer tart to a wire rack; using a pastry brush, brush top of tart with jam. Let cool completely before slicing and serving with whipped cream.

Recipe from Sara Moulton via Saveur.com, and Dessert Club member A.M. 

Salted Almond Praline Tart

 Here's the creation that WON "Pies & Tarts" night at Dessert Club, which is no small feat.  But it was pretty awesome.  I think the Salted Almond Praline, that went on as a garnish, and was both addictive and super easy to make, was the kicker that pushed it over the edge.  Stunning with creamy almond-scented filling, fresh raspberries, and spicy-salty crust and praline, I humbly admit it did stand out. 

Better Homes and Gardens teamed up with the Almond Board of California for a "Crowd-Pleasing Almond Dishes" contest, and you guessed it, this was one of the winners.  So now it's a two-time award winner.  So you should make it this week.  And maybe every week after.  Definitely for your next recipe contest.  Yum.

  
Salted Almond Praline Tart (print recipe)
Makes 12 servings

Almond Crust:
2 1/2 cups broken cinnamon graham crackers (or cinnamon Teddy Grahams)
1 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup softened butter

Almond Tart Filling:
12 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 1/2 oz. white baking chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup light sour cream
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 egg and 1 egg yolk

Salted Almond Praline:
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup sugar
2 T melted butter
1 T water
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt

Garnish:
Whipped cream
Fresh raspberries

1.  Preheat oven to 325F.  Prepare crust:  In food processor, combine grahams, almonds, and sugar.  Cover; process until finely ground.  Add butter.  Pulse to combine.  Press into bottom and sides of 10-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom.  Chill 15 minutes.  Place on foil-lined baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned; cool.

2.  Prepare filling: In saucepan combine 8 oz. cream cheese and white chocolate.  Stir over low heat until melted.  In bowl beat remaining cream cheese on medium to high for 30 seconds.  Beat in sugar until smooth.  Beat in melted mixture until combined.  Beat in sour cream and extract until combined.  Beat in egg and yolk until combined Pour into crust.

3.  Bake in 325F oven 35 minutes or until center is nearly set when gently shaken.  Cool on rack 30 minutes. Loosen crust from side of pan, but do not remove.  Chill at least 2 hours. 

4.  Make Salted Almond Praline: Heat oven to 325F.  Line a baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  In bowl combine 1 cup sliced almonds, the sugar, melted butter, water, cinnamon and salt.  Spread evenly in pan.  Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely on rack.  Break into pieces.

5.  Remove tart from pan.  Top with whipped cream, Salted Almond Praline, and raspberries.  Serve.

Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, July 2012

Frozen Pistachio Pie

Here's the "gadget" treat I made for Dessert Club.  I had a set of six mini tart pans, so I just adapted it to tarts instead of a big pie.  I searched high and low for a recipe that inspired me.  I had it narrowed down to these and these (I still want to make both.) 

Then I found this one.  Ordered myself some pistachio paste.  (And a back issue of KAF The Baking Sheet which has more recipes I can make with it.)  I just loved the idea of chocolate crust with purely pistachio cream filling.  And, ahem, I wasn't the only one who loved them.  These were a very closer runner up in the always-competitive Dessert Club vote.  Yum! 

And a side note: you know I love yellowy-greens - these were such an awesome color!

Frozen Pistachio Pie (print recipe)
Crust:
1 prebaked Chocolate Cookie Crust

Filling:
2 large whole eggs
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
4 ounces (1/2 cup) pistachio paste
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Chopped pistachios, for garnish

1.  Make and cool the crust.

2.  For the filling, beat the eggs, yolks and confectioners' sugar together in the top of a double boiler.  Cook over simmering water, stirring constantly, until thickened and the temperature reaches 165 degrees F.

3.  Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the pistachio paste.  Set over a pan of ice water to cool, stirring occasionally.

4.  In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream and then fold it into the cooled egg mixture.  Spoon it into the prepared crust, sprinkle with chopped nuts and freeze for at least 6 hours, until firm.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Peach and Raspberry Crostada

A few weeks ago I was having some girl friends over for dinner. Old friends from grad school that I was more interested in catching up with than necessarily impressing. But of course there had to be dessert. I wanted something kinda rustic and summery. Like something you'd find at a farmer's market. Something without pressure. A great time to try my first galette. Which, I have learned after further research, is something else! This kind of pastry is called a crostada.

I had peaches and raspberries on hand, and I literally wanted to put them in a crust and bake it. Unfortunately I got a little concerned when I checked some recipes - mostly about overly juiciness of fruit making crust soggy - so I decided to go with this one from Dorie Greenspan who takes several precautions to avoid the problem. First, she brushes the dough with jam to make a bit of a seal between the fruit and the crust. Next, she sprinkles on some graham crumbs to absorb some juice if necessary. And finally, she pours in a little simple custard to hold the fruit together and keep it from all getting too messy. Plus it adds a little creaminess that goes delectably with the fresh fruit and perfectly crispy crust.
In the end, it actually was impressive. For a minute I felt like one of those model hostesses in Martha Stewart throwing together that perfect "effortless" summer dinner party. In reality it was a much more regular gathering, but dessert was great. Really great.

Peach and Raspberry Crostada (print recipe)
Pastry Dough:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 T) very cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon size pieces
2 1/2 T very cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
About 1/4 cup ice water

Filling:
2 to 3 T jam or marmalade
2 T graham cracker crumbs
About 6 firm peaches*
About 1 pint raspberries*
3 T unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Coarse sugar for dusting

1. Make the Dough: Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with the metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don't overdo the mixing - what you're aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 3 T of the water. Then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn't look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface. Shape into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

2. Roll the dough into a large 1/8-inch-thick circle. Using a pastry wheel or a paring knife, trim the dough to a 13-inch diameter. Using a cake pan as a template and the tip of a blunt kitchen knife as a marker, lightly trace a 9-inch circle in the center of the dough - this is the area for the filling.

3. With the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula, spread some of the jam over the circle - how much you use depends on how much jam flavor you want. At least cover the circle enough to get a "seal." Sprinkle over the crumbs, adding a little more than 2 T if you think you've got particularly juicy fruit. Put a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper over the dough and refrigerate it while you prepare the fruit.

4. Peel or blanch the peaches, then halve and pit them. Rinse the raspberries thoroughly and lay on dry paper towels. Gently pat/dab with more paper towels to dry them as much as possible. Arrange the peaches on the dough, cut side down. Sprinkle the raspberries all over, within the 9-inch circle. Gently lift the unfilled border of dough up and onto the fruit. As you lift the dough and place it on the filling, it will pleat. Freeze the crostada for 15 minutes to rest the crust. Heat the oven to 425F.

5. Brush the dough very lightly with a little water, then sprinkle it with coarse sugar. Bake the crostada for 25 minutes, or until the crust is brown and the fruit soft.

6. Meanwhile, make the custard. Whisk together the melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl. When the crostada has baked for 25 minutes, remove it from the oven (leave oven on!) and carefully pour the custard around the fruit. Depending on how much juice has accumulated and how much space you have between the fruit, you may not be able to pour all the custard into the crostada, but even 2 T can give the right effect. Pour in as much custard as you can, then carefully return the pan to the oven.

7. Bake for another 12 to 15 minutes, or until the custard is set - it shouldn't jiggle when you gently shake the pan. Cool the crostada on the baking sheet on a rack for 10 minutes. Carefully slide a small baking sheet or cake lifter under the crostada and slip it onto a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or room temperature.
*Other fruits you could use: 10 apricots, 8 to 10 nectarines, 8 to 10 firm plums or 2 stalks rhubarb.

Recipe adapted from Baking: From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

Double Citrus Tart

Here is the first Dessert Club winner! I didn't take nice photos of all the desserts before they were dug into, but it's the last one on the left here:

A creamy lemony-orangey, bright-and-happy filling in an out-of-this-world gingersnap crust. I am not surprised it won. Everything on the counter was fabulous, but among all the sweetness, this sweet-tart tart was in a class all its own.

Double Citrus Tart
1 1/2 cup crushed gingersnap cookies
5 T butter, melted
2 T brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs, separated
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 T sugar
Garnish: fresh mint leaves, lemon/orange slices

1. Preheat oven to 325. Stir together first four ingredients. Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch round tart pan; set aside.

2. Whisk together sweetened condensed milk, orange juice concentrate, lemon juice and egg yolks until blended.

3. Beat egg whites at medium speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form; fold into condensed milk mixture. Pour into prepared crust.

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or just until filling is set. Remove to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cover and chill at least 4 hours. Remove sides of pan from bottom and place on a serving dish.

5. Beat whipping cream and sugar at medium speed until stiff peaks form. Dollop around edges of tart; garnish, if desired.

Recipe from Shanna S.