Triple Berry Pie

My colleague at the office loves pie so I set out to bake a perfect summer pie to take in for her birthday celebration. I had some blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on hand and they made the sweet summer triple berry pie. 

I first made a traditional pate brisee crust using the food processor.

Then I made the berry mixture and savoured the amazing jammy mixture that would fill the pie. 

Top crust went on and I used a spoon to make a simple patter around the edge of the pie. 

Triple Berry Pie

Ingredients:

Pate Brisee crust (split in two for a double crust pie)

7 C. fresh or frozen berries

1 C. granulated sugar

1T. lemon juice

4 T. cornstarch

2 T. butter

1 egg white beaten with a fork

Directions:

Add the berries, sugar and lemon juice to a large saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until they are warm and juicy, about 5-10 minutes. Spoon out about 1/2 C. of the juice from the pan into a bowl and mix in the cornstarch. Continue simmering the pot of berries and add in the cornstarch mixture slowly. Gently stir the mixture until thickened, about 2-5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. 

Remove from heat and pour the mixture into an unbaked pie shell. Top with the second crust, finish the edge and prick the top for steam to escape.

Brush a thin layer of the beaten egg white on top of the crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes. (check 1/2 way through and add foil to keep the crust from burning.

Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream!

Meringues to Eton Mess

My inspiration to make meringues again was two-fold. First, my mum was visiting and was dreaming of Eton Mess, which she had last enjoyed on a trip back to England.  The second reason, is that I was recalling this idyllic food stand we visited in Covent Garden in London last summer and the dreamy piles of perfectly pink meringues. So, on a recent visit from mum, we decided that our dessert one evening would be Eton Mess.  

We made the incredibly easy meringue and spooned it onto the Silpats creating the fun little peak.

They bake at a very low temperature and we let them cool and dry. 

The last time I made meringues, we created little fruit bowl nests. This time, we broke up the pretty peaked meringues and made lovely Eton Mess parfaits.

Recipe for Meringues

Ingredients:

4 XL egg whites

1/4 t. cream of tartar

Pinch of kosher salt

1 C. granulated sugar or caster sugar, divided

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. In an electric mixer using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar and salt on high speed until frothy. Add 2/3 C. of the sugar and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/3 C. sugar into the meringue. Pipe or spoon onto the baking sheets.

Bake for two (2) hours or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and leave the meringues in the oven for four (4) hours or overnight. 

For Eton Mess, mix with chopped berries (strawberries are traditional, but blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are great) and fresh cream made from heavy whipping cream whipped with a bit of powdered sugar and vanilla 

Lime Mascarpone Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

This is my kind of jello. I have never much cared for actual Jell-O growing up and have always preferred more creamy gelatin desserts like this panna cotta. I was locked up inside one weekend this past summer when we had a hurricane rolling through, so I decided to make an amazing dinner for Miss A and I along with this yummy dessert. 

The recipe called for pouring it into small champagne glasses. But, I much prefer the look of the panna cotta displayed on its own outside of the confines of a glass. I've had all kinds of little stainless steel molds, so I tried a few different ones.  The one that worked the best is the small brioche mold.

I love mascarpone cheese. It just looks so velvety.

This was the mascarpone-gelatin mixture with some grated lime peel.

I filled up the molds and ended up having to use one glass. Then, they chilled for the afternoon while we watched the storm brew outside.

My final product all speckled with grated lime peel.

I made the warm raspberry sauce to pour over the panna cotta and it was a perfect combination of cold and warm on a stormy day.

Recipe for Lime Mascarpone Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

From Bon Appétit

Ingredients:

6 T. fresh lime juice, divided

1 1/2 t. grated lime peel

1 t. unflavored gelatin

1 1/4 cups whipping cream, divided

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese or cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar, divided

1 T. butter

1 1/2 6-ounce containers raspberries (about 2 cups)

1 lime

Directions:

Combine 1/4 cup juice and peel in small saucepan; sprinkle gelatin over. Let stand 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup cream to gelatin mixture; stir over low heat just until gelatin dissolves. Remove from heat.

Whisk mascarpone and 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl; gradually whisk in remaining 1 cup cream until smooth. Whisk gelatin mixture into cream mixture. Pour into 6 widemouthed Champagne glasses, small wineglasses or small molds. Chill until set, at least 4 hours or overnight. If you used tin molds, run the outside under warm water (but not hot) and turn them out on the plate.

Sauce:

Stir remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice, 1/4 cup sugar, and butter in large skillet over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, about 3 minutes. Cool 2 minutes. Fold in berries; spoon over desserts. Grate peel from 1 lime directly over desserts.

Raspberry and Red Currant Crumble Tart

I think I visited the farmer's market at least three times wandering past the stands with the pints of beautiful shiny red currants. I would ponder different uses of them, come home and research some recipes and I just didn't want to settle on using them to make jam. I decided that I had to bake with them. I didn't want to make a boring pie with such an exciting fruit and I had just made a cherry pie. So, after a few suggestions to mix them with raspberries, I settled on making a raspberry and red currant tart. I didn't want to just make one big impersonal tart, but instead I made tartlets with their own little collection of red currants and raspberries meant for individual enjoyment. Plus, this isn't just any tart, it's a crumble tart with a custard filling.

I had the fruit in my kitchen for a few days before I made these and was just taken aback by its beauty and vibrant color.

And, when baked inside these amazing oatmeal and almond tart shells that I made, I knew this dessert would be one to remember. This tart shell will probably be one that I make again for other fruit tarts. It's a combination of ground almonds, oats, brown sugar, flour and butter. After I ground the almonds, it was very easy to make and even easier to work with. I spooned it into the tart shells and used the same spoon to flatten it up against the sides and bottom. These were baked first and then I flattened them back down after baking make sure they filled the shell and made room for the filling.

After I washed and prepared the fruit, I put several red currants and raspberries in each shell, covered it with a custard batter to finish off the filling and it was topped with a crumble topping of almonds, flour and sugar.

While they baked the kitchen smelled of warm sugar, cooked berries and custard. Yum....I'm glad I had an extra one for us to sample! I thought the heavy use of ground almonds and sugar with the custard filling would be too rich, but it ended up being the perfect sweet compliment to the tart tastes of the red currants and raspberries. This was perfect warm out of the oven on its own or would be fantastic with fresh warm custard or vanilla ice cream.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Curd!

Curd is such a strange name for this thick and velvety lemon spread. I would much prefer to call it lemon butter as it's so smooth and buttery (and because it's made with about a stick of butter) with perfectly tart and perfectly sweet lemon taste. I've made lemon curd previously and have had it at a few tea rooms since so I thought I'd try to make some again and see if it turned out as well as the one we tried at the Crown & Crumpet last fall.

It's made on the stove top and I just used a saucepan vs. using a double boiler and made sure I didn't leave it on the heat without stirring for more than a few seconds. It's important to use real lemon juice and the recipe I made used the juice of about four fresh lemons. Once you squeeze the lemon juice, it's very easy to make and doesn't take long at all. I cooked the lemon juice, sugar and egg yolks (which help to thicken it) on the stove top until the sugar was dissolved. I took it off and added the butter a piece at a time until it was completely melted. Most recipes tell you to put the curd through a strainer and I just about skipped this step, but it was worth it to strain it to make the final product nice and smooth.

~~~~~~~~Then, I simply covered it with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to cool. The plastic wrap keeps it from hardening and forming a skin on top and it worked out well.

The next morning we used the curd as a spread (along with strawberry preserves) for scones at breakfast. It was a hit! Audrey loved it too!

~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

The recipe made about two cups of lemon curd and we had so much leftover so I decided to make some lemon curd tartlets. I cut the pastry dough with a round scalloped cookie cutter and used a mini muffin pan with a this handy tart tool to push them nicely in the pan to form the tart shell. I baked the pastry for about 10 minutes and let them cool.

Then, I put a teaspoon or so of lemon curd in each tart shell and topped with a yummy fresh raspberry. I've made these tartlets using a rum custard before and have used pomegranate seeds and raspberries for decoration. What a versatile spring treat from breakfast to dessert!