Daring Bakers - Lemon Meringue Pie

It’s Daring Baker time again!  December was a bit of a rough month for me with way too many doctor appointments and holiday commitments, but I was determined to bake again in January!  I love the Daring Baker challenges, as well as the camraderie that goes along with this group.  Go here to visit the other Daring Bakers. 

This month our challenge was Lemon Meringue Pie. I’ve made some pie crusts before, but I really haven’t made many pies. My mom and my aunt are the pie makers in my family. I’m more the one that brings creme brulee to every gathering. But, I love Lemon Meringue and so was very much looking forward to this challenge.

For the full recipe, visit Jen at the Canadian Baker.

Lemon Meringue Pie

First, the crust. I’m a hand person when it comes to making crust. I know a lot of people do them in food processors, but I want to be able to look and feel the butter and how small it’s getting. I’ve done mine with my hands before, this time I used a pastry cutter.

Being winter in Minnesota, my house is very dry. The recipe called for 1/3 cup of water. I added about 1/2 cup, but I was a little nervous about adding it since I didn’t want to overmix the pastry. Even with the extra water, my dough was a little dry.

It rolled out fairly well. I could see nice chunks of butter, but parts stuck to the counter and it didn’t necessarily make it to the pie pan all in one piece. A little patchwork and we were good though.

Someday, I will invest in pie weights. Until then, it’s whatever looks old in the cupboard.

The lemon curd was super easy to make! I’m not sure why I thought that would be labor intensive. Boil water, add cornstarch and sugar, temper in eggs, add lemon juice.

The meringue whipped up perfectly. I admit, after reading others posts about weepy meringue and the meringue needing to go on top of hot filling, I smudged the directions a bit. I didn’t let the filling cool completely, just the amount of time it took me to make the meringue.

And still, it wept. I had incredibly tasty lemon meringue soup. I’m sad it looks so horrible because it tasted delicious! Possibly some of the best lemon meringue pie I’ve ever had. It even kept for four days before I threw it out! I will definitely make this again, but I’ll most likely make the meringue first and make sure it goes over a HOT filling.

Daring Bakers October - Bostini Cream Pie

It’s Daring Bakers time again!  We all make the same recipe and post on the same day.  This month our selected item was the Bostini Cream Pie.  I described it as a deconstructed Boston Cream Pie.  I liked it because it was fancy and fun, slightly decadent but not too rich.  And, you can make the majority ahead of time which can be key.

I brought this dessert to a gathering at my brother’s house.  I wasn’t sure everyone would enjoy it, but I knew there would be enough people there that I wouldn’t come home with extras.  Turns out, most everyone loved it!  Including my 3-year-old niece! 

For the full recipe, visit Mary at Alpineberry.

Bostini Cream Pie

First, I had to decide how I was going to plate this dessert. Everyone had ideas and I liked a few of them, but my main concern was cost. I didn’t want to buy 12 dishes to bake the cakes in, and then another 12 dishes to serve the Bostini’s in. I finally settled on custard cups that I could first bake the cakes in, then serve the Bostini’s in so that they would make a kind of tower. I have some gorgeous heart shaped dishes that would have worked had this been Valentine’s Day. I checked Williams-Sonoma. $10 for a custard cup! No thank you. Martha Stewart came through for me at Macy’s with 6 oz. ramekins - $4 per cup, $48 spent.

My plan was to make everything on Friday night, and then assemble the Bostini’s at my brother’s house. Next up, bake the cakes. I’ve never made a chiffon cake before, but I will definitely make one again. I think the key to folding in the egg whites is to do them in stages. I usually do it in thirds. That way nothing is overwhelmed. The chiffon cakes were perfect. They came together easily, were super moist, and the orange flavor was perfect.

The custard also came together easily. I wasn’t sure how thick I wanted the custard. I wanted it creamy and with some consistency, but not too set. I was planning on spooning it into the cups, so I didn’t need it too thick.

The chocolate glaze is where I fell down. I was planning on making it at my brother’s and thought I had grabbed the stack of Daring Baker print outs. Instead, I grabbed a stack that included the first page of the Daring Baker printout, and then a bunch of other recipes. I combined the butter and the chocolate and I’m pretty sure the sauce broke. Oh well, no one noticed but me. But, the sauce isn’t very pretty.

The assembly!
Custard in the cup -

Cake on top of the custard -

The finished Bostini Cream Pie!

Daring Bakers - Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

I had a dream one night about a tart with a chocolate layer on top of a caramel layer.  I don’t normally dream about desserts, but I knew I had to search out a recipe for this one.  I looked, but didn’t find anything that matched what I saw in my head.  And then, the August Daring Bakers challenge was announced and it was the tart from my dream! 

The only thing I needed to buy for this recipe was a tart pan. I went to Williams Sonoma because I wanted a nice pan. Cost - $18.00

I was making this for a family gathering. I made the crust Wednesday evening, then baked the tart Thursday evening. I was rushed and it showed in the final product. It tasted good, but I knew it could be better. Because the crust recipe makes enough for three crusts, I jumped at the chance to make it again for a barbecue. This time I took my time, corrected my mistakes and voila! It turned out so much better.

For the full recipe, visit Veronica or Patricia.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

The crust is a chocolate shortbread pastry that was made the day before, then refrigerated. First step, grind the hazelnuts.

This wasn’t a traditional crust recipe, it had more of a cookie dough like consistency until the cake flour was added.

The next day, I rolled the crust out and pressed it into the pan. Off to the oven!

I caramelized the sugar using the dry method first. It would have been fine except the pan I used wasn’t wide enough. I think. Either way, the sugar didn’t fully crystallize and I rushed it and added the cream which wasn’t room temp so it seized.

Try #2 with the alternate caramel method worked perfectly and my cream was room temp this time. But, I didn’t let the caramel cool before adding in the egg/flour mixture. Consequently, it went into the oven a little too hot and never really set.

The chocolate mousse didn’t turn out so well either. I cooled the chocolate too much. When I folded it into the whip cream it froze into little chocolate chips. Bah. It tasted good though!

On Saturday I made the tart again, this time cooling the caramel before adding the egg/flour mixture, and not cooling the chocolate so much. Perfection! I also made sure to roll my crust a little thinner so my layers could be more even.

Raspberry Tart

My parents live on a lake and so, end up entertaining quite a bit during the summer.  Everyone loves to come out to the lake, go on a boat ride and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  For this gathering, she needed a dessert.  I recommended a raspberry tart.  I do love my chocolate, but I love lighter, fruity desserts for summer and since they have a raspberry patch, what better?  It ended up that someone else brought dessert to the gathering, so I made the tart this past weekend.  This tart turned out perfectly!  The crust was easy to work with, it was not labor intensive, it looks gorgeous and tasted even better.  We had the neighbors over and the guys, after declaring the tart perfect, had seconds.

Raspberry Tart
Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine

For crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 to 3 tablespoons cold water

For filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, beaten lightly
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
1 tablespon water
2 - 3 cups raspberries, picked over

Make crust: In a food processor*, blend together flour, sguar, and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons water and toss utnil incorporated. Add enough remaining water if necessary until mixture begins to come together, but is still crumbly. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out crust until large enough for an 11-inch tart pan. Press crust evenly onto bottom and sides, patching as needed. Prick the crust with a fork, then place in the freezer for five minutes. Line the dough with aluminum foil and weigh it down with pie weights or beans (or rice if you’re in a pinch like we were). Bake in middleof oven until golden, about 30 minutes.

To make the filling, in a bowl with an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg until smooth. Add flour and blend mixture well.

Pour the filling into the warm crust, spreading evenly, and bake in middle of oven until set, about 15-20 minutes. Cool the tart in its pan on a rack.

In a small saucepan, heat jam with water over moderate heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove pan from heat and cool jam slightly. Arrange raspberries decoratively on top of tart and brush gently with jam.**

* If you are lazy like me and hate washing food processors, you can easily do this with a pastry cutter or by hand.

** Try to keep the jam only on the tops of the raspberries. Anywhere it touched the cheesecake it stained. While not a big deal, it definitely marred the perfection.

Daring Bakers - Strawberry Mirror Cake

The Daring Bakers challenge for July was a Strawberry Mirror Cake.  It looked beautiful and didn’t look terribly complicated, but the directions were long!  Since my July has been crazy, there was really only one Saturday where I could take the time to make the cake.  So, I read through the directions several times and then tried to estimate how long each component would take.  Overkill?  Possibly, but at least I was prepared!

 There were a few pieces of equipment I needed to buy to make the cake.  I had a jelly roll pan, but it was too small so I bought a new one.  I also bought an offset spatula, stainless steel bowl and a cardboard circle.  Total cost - $28.00.

 Normally when I buy groceries for a recipe there is meat and cheese and herbs and what not involved.  I was pleasantly surprised at my short grocery list!  Total cost - $18.56.

For the full recipe, visit Peabody here.

A Strawberry Mirror Cake consists of two layers of cake, with two layers of strawberry bavarian cream, topped with a strawberry mirror. I used to assist cooking classes at a small cooking school and for a long time, I assisted mostly baking classes. Because of that, I’ve been exposed to most baking techniques. I’ve made both pastry cream and bavarian cream before, but the mirror part was new. I had faith though!

The bavarian cream before the red food coloring. I’m not sure if I added the hot milk into the eggs too fast, but my bavarian cream definitely has lumps. I ran it through a sieve which helped, but it wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. Luckily, I made bavarian cream relatively recently and knew that everything has to be smooth before you try to fold the whip cream in. If not, it’s never going to be smooth.

My cakes! I baked them in an 11 x 17 jelly roll pan, then cut out the 8″ circles. I used a serrated knife to cut them out, but thank goodness they were going to be covered in frosting since they weren’t pretty. Very tasty though. My dog and I munched on the extras all afternoon.

Step one in assembly. Aluminum covered cardboard in the springform pan, with the first layer of cake.

Step two. Cover it all in bavarian cream!

Steps three and four. Add another layer of cake, cover with bavarian cream again!

I love my new offset spatula. It’s so fabulous to frost with.

After this, I poured the mirror on and then chilled for several hours. Turns out, the mirror is basically strawberry jello! I laughed when I realized that. It’s a really cool effect though.

I brought this cake to a dinner party and didn’t bust it out of the springform pan until I was there, so no fancy decorating. Luckily, the mirror didn’t break and it came out almost perfectly! Everyone loved it, and a few went back for seconds. This was the perfect dessert for a barbecue - light, creamy, and tastes like summer!