Utah! Moms Night Out - Bring Your Kiddos & Decorate Cookies with Me!

What would you say, if I told you, you could bring your kids to

decorate some fresh baked, homemade sugar cookies - for free?

What if, added to that, you got to meet some other

amazing moms and bloggers?

What if I said that it was in a shopping area that is quite possibly the cutest and most charming shopping area in all of Utah?

What if on top of it all, it was in a darling kitchen store,

there would be refreshments - and you could get a buy one item,

get a second item half off discount?

What if you got to learn more about the most inspiring and amazing conference this summer while you were at it?

Does it all sound too good to be true? It's not!

I really hope to see you at Lorken Food Finery

at Gardner Village (in West Jordan) tonight

for the SL Edition of the Moms Who Make It

Conference pre-party tweetup and hype event.

See the page here on Facebook!

TWD: Perfect Party Cake... Again

Sorry for the poor picture quality! The lighting was terrible at my parents house.

I have been waiting for the day when someone would choose for us to make the Perfect Party Cake for Tuesdays with Dorie and this week, Carol of mix, mix... stir, stir was finally the one to make this the recipe of choice.

I was a Daring Baker when we made this cake last year. I made it then with the buttercream, orange, dulce de leche and strawberries. It was amazing and didn't really give me too much trouble with anything. I didn't have any trouble with the cake layers this time either, and really liked using the lemon in it.

Perfect Party Cake for Daring Bakers

Though I could have finally tried these as cupcakes this time (DB's had to be layered cake) I was making the cake for my Dad's birthday and he expected a birthday cake. He is dieting, so we rationed portions accordingly and rather than make the butter-laden (if oh so dreamy) buttercream frosting and instead of using the sugary jam, I opted to make a fudge frosting from Nick Malgieri since Dorie mentions the recipe for this cake originally came to her from Nick. The frosting recipe is from his book, The Modern Baker. The frosting is creamy, dreamy, and not too sweet. Just a mixture of melted chocolate, butter, corn syrup, vanilla and cream.

My Dad had a small slice of his cake and enjoyed it, but overall, the cake was a little too dry with this fudgey frosting instead of the jam and buttercream. As long as I had a big glass of cold milk though, I didn't mind.

It tasted pretty much like a big slice of my favorite black and white cookies! Which was actually why I tried the frosting. Next time, I may try this again, with filling the inside with chocolate buttercream or something and keeping the jam in the mix as well.

Make sure to see how the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers did this week!

Chocolate Fudge Icing
From The Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, very soft
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan and whisk well to mix. Place over low heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl to cool to lukewarm, about 110 degrees F.

Add the cooled cream mixture to the melted chocolate and whisk until smooth. Distribute the butter in a small pieces all over the chocolate mixture, then whisk it in smoothly. Whisk in the vanilla. Cool the icing until it is firm enough to spread.

Daring Bakers in June: Bakewell Tart... er... Pudding

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

A little history provided by the hosts of this month's challenge:

This tart, like many of the world's great foods has its own mythic beginnings…or several mythic beginnings. Legend has it in 1820 (or was it in the 1860s?) Mrs. Greaves, landlady of The White Horse Inn in Bakewell, Derbyshire (England), asked her cook to produce a pudding for her guests. Either her instructions could have been clearer or he should have paid better attention to what she said because what he made was not what she asked for. The cook spread the jam on top of the frangipane mixture rather than the other way around. Or maybe instead of a sweet rich shortcrust pastry case to hold the jam for a strawberry tart, he made a regular pastry and mixed the eggs and sugar separately and poured that over the jam—it depends upon which legend you follow.

Regardless of what the venerable Mrs. Greaves’ cook did or didn’t do, lore has it that her guests loved it and an ensuing pastry-clad industry was born. The town of Bakewell has since played host to many a sweet tooth in hopes of tasting the tart in its natural setting.

Bakewell tarts are a classic English dessert, abounding in supermarket baking sections and in ready-made, mass-produced forms, some sporting a thick sugary icing and glazed cherry on top for decorative effect.

So, you know what they say about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions? That is what this month's challenge was a bit of for me. Procrastination galore. The Bakewell Tarts we were given to make are made up of three components. None of them too difficult at all.

You have a sweet shortcrust pastry, a layer of jam, and a top of an almond cream mixture called frangipane. My good intentions were to make my own jam, since I usually make several kinds each year (strawberry, peach, pear, plum, blackberry, cherry). Well... not only didn't that happen for me this month, but I have been pretty much completely out of my homemade jams and need to get to work. The only one I had on hand during the challenge was a strawberry vanilla one that I haven't perfected yet - it is very fresh, bright and yummy tasting, but it didn't set right and is also too runny.

So, there go my good intentions - I used Simply Fruit Seedless Black Raspberry Jam for my jam layer - it was absolutely delicious! It is one of the jam flavors/varieties I am hoping to make this year. For the challenge I made 6-inch mini tarts. I just happen to like a more of a crust-to-filling ratio than the 9-inch tart would have allowed.

We really enjoyed this tart and I will make these again I am sure. It didn't take too long to put it together either, so it is a treat I could toss together at most any time. I really hope you give this a try! Next time I plan on making the whole cherry jam, cherry on top, frosted version - that should be really sweet!

Bakewell Tart / Pudding

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)

15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose i

n colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Tweet Up Party and Sweet Tooth Fairy CUPCAKES!

Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcake Flavors Shown:
Double Chocolate Fudge, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Black & White, Key Lime,
Chocolate Vanilla, Toasted Coconut, Red Velvet, Orange, Strawberry Shortcake

This past Tuesday night I was lucky enough to have a really great friend who was willing to watch the boys for me while I trekked on down to Orem for a preview of the catering we will be having at the upcoming Moms Who Make It Conference - being held July 16 at Noah's in South Jordan - more about the catering soon!

Just after the catering taste testing at Utah Celebrations Catering, we headed down to the Sweet Tooth Fairy in Provo. It is this adorable, comfy and yet chic bakeshop where they make cookies, cake bites, brownies, wedding cakes, and of course, cupcakes! In fact, they were even featured on Rachael Ray. All the gorgeous creations you see above were goodies that were provided for all the moms who attended this fun mom's night out. Lucky, lucky us!

This little get together was, of course, to help promote the conference and tell more Moms all about it. We ate cupcakes, we talked, we shared stories, we laughed, we sympathized, we tweeted, and most importantly we all heard more about the inspiration behind the upcoming conference - which is basically how to be empowered and inspired to take the hard things that come our way in life, and not let them define who we are.

Among those in attendance were @jylMomIF, @emihill, @evonnesell, @ajpassey,
@petit_elefant, @inevergrewup, @keepingupwmom, @sweetlifeinthe, @momswhomakeit, and of course the genius behind the event, Quinn @createdbymom as well as her product manager, Crystal. Needless to say, with this group of incredible gals, it was a blast and I was so glad I made it!

This conference really isn't to be missed, and since the organizers were savvy enough to break it up into portions, for those of you that can't make it to the entire day, you can still at least join in for a part of it (though, if at all possible, you should take the day for yourself - your family will be better for it).

It's Nie Nie's Birthday!
Get Your VaNIElla Squared cupcakes!
This Saturday, June 27

The cupcakes were heavenly and so is Megan, owner of the Sweet Tooth Fairy. In fact, if you live in Utah anywhere even remotely near Provo - then you really should go to their shop this Saturday and buy yourself some cupcakes - especially the VaNIElla ones. (Actually, they ship, so order some cupcakes!)

That name isn't a typo either. This Saturday is the one and only Nie Nie's birthday and to celebrate the Sweet Tooth Fairy is donating ALL PROCEEDS from sales of their renamed vanilla cupcakes - Nie Nie's favorite - to her family and the Arizona Burn Center. If you haven't ever read the NieNie dialogues, then you really should. When I grow up, I want to be as inspiring and wonderful as NieNie.

Obviously, this cupcake was mine - you'll have to get your own!

Stay tuned for details on another Tweet Up Party
to be held in Salt Lake County on Tuesday, June 30th!

TWD: Dacquoise with Caramelized Bananas and Cocoa Cream

Check out our swanky new logo! Jaime of Good Eats n’ Sweet Treats told her friend Lisa of Surviving Oz and this is one of the versions she created (there is another color variation). Don't you just looooove it!

Sheesh. This was almost the Tuesdays with Dorie challenge that didn't happen. It would have been the first one I've missed since I joined over a year ago. I had all good intentions of making the recipe exactly as it was in the book, but as you can see, that didn't happen.

This week's hostess was Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen where you'll find the recipe for the Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise - my subs are all detailed below.

What did happen was a lot of planning, then a lot of Father's Day stuff, then remembering Monday afternoon that I still hadn't made this yet!

There was quite the discussion between me, as well as a few friends on Twitter last week all about this week's dessert - Maria, Clara, Janet, Natalie, Rebecca, Kayte, Tania, Nancy, FujiMama, and Sarah - first, who in the TWD crew was planning to go for it this week and second, what I could sub the pineapple for. I didn't have pineapple, and I don't like pineapple. I wanted to try this so, I wanted something I would actually want to eat.

We discussed the possibility of strawberries - and though most of us agreed that it would probably be quite tasty - at some point I got the idea to use bananas - specifically banana slices with some caramelized sugar on them, my personal favorite - as the topping. Replace one tropical fruit with another! It ended up being the perfect substitute and we all loved it.

Nancy was kind enough to let me know the weight of the dry ingredients for the actual dacquoise (193 grams) so making a half recipe was simple enough at that point (96.5 grams).

I traced a 3 6-inch circles on my parchment on one sheet and put the dacquoise mixture into a piping bag and piped the circles (fairly thick - they were almost 3/4-inch tall). Where I messed everything up was when I put them in the oven. I had been using the oven for something else and was too impatient because it was still too hot. My discs sort of melted down into the thin layers you see, which I really have no idea if it is normal or not, but there you go. Either way, I let them bake the alloted amount of time with the oven now cooled to the correct temperature until I basically thought they were done. They were quite possibly more crunchy than they should have been, but with the cream filling it was a nice contrast.

I also obviously replaced the filling. I wanted something simple, fast and light so I just made a simple cocoa whipped cream. It is just a combination of 2 cups heavy cream + 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder + 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar = beat until as thick as you want - it is great for a light frosting on other cakes too - especially chocolate!

After searching online and finding a post at Zoe Bakes about dacquoise (and also a very helpful tweet from Zoe herself about not assembling the components too early before serving since it would get soggy) that really this was something that you can make and use as a filling between cake layers. Who'd a thunk it!? Not me. Maybe next time, when I actually don't mess up the temperature, it will be even better!

Don't forget to check out how the other TWD Bakers fared this week - check the blogroll!

Moms Who Make It Conference - Get Ready to Attend Utah!!

This may very well be the most important post I have written in a while - please, please do yourself a favor and read about this conference because it is something you really won't want to miss!

I recently got to preview the facilities for the upcoming Moms Who Make It Conference being held July 16 in South Jordan (UT). I am lucky enough to be one of six blogger mom's who are 'Backstage Bloggers' for the conference and we are here to tell you all about what this event is going to be and why you really need to make the effort to get yourself to this event.

I'm in amazing company, because aside from the two women who are working hard for all of us to put this event together - Emily of Georgie Tees fame and Quinn at CreatedByMom.com - I am getting to spend time with these amazing ladies:

April of Sweet Life in the Valley

Evonne of Sell...Party of 3

Joanie of Keeping Up With M.O.M.

Lauren of Supermom Central

Vanessa of I Never Grew Up

I also had the pleasure of meeting the one and only Mandy of The Potted Pansy, who brought all the gorgeous flowers you see in these photos!

The venue for the event is a place called Noah's and it is amazing. Seriously, I just wanted to move in!

Think I am exaggerating? All the pictures you see here are from our preview tour - these beautiful rooms are where you could hang out, relax, learn and really take the entire purpose of this event's theme to heart:

Get Inspired,
Leave Empowered,
Change Your Life for the Better

Just so you know, the cost of this event, compared to others you might see out there, is minimal and do you know why? Because the creators of this event at CreatedByMom.com are more interested in helping you than anything else. Seriously. These ladies are passionate about what they are doing here and you owe it to yourself to attend the conference - even if it is just for a little while - and find out more. They are putting their hearts and souls into this for all Moms!

In fact, this event is important enough that rather than go on and on and on - and I could, believe me - I'm going to just tell you to click here and read all about it - especially the fact that there is a HYPE PARTY to help get excited about the event on JUNE 23 at Sweet Tooth Fairy in Provo - check out the Facebook page! - come have fun and some cupcakes and find out what it is all about!

Just click the annoucement above to see all about the sweet tooth fairy!

There are mini classes, key note events, luncheons and dinners and so many wonderful things that you should find out about it straight from the source where you can get your tickets to this one-of-a-kind event!

I'll see you there - I'll be the quirky one who is probably laughing at a really bad joke I made myself. 'Cause you know that's just how I roll.

Want your very own badge for your blog or site to help hype the event - please please feel free to take one of these!

SMS: Butterscotch Cashew Bars

To all the dad's out there today, I hope you are having a great day, relaxing with your family and enjoying some time together.

This week's recipe choice for Sweet Melissa Sundays, was hosted by Pamela of Cookies with Boys.

The timing for this recipe couldn't have been more perfect for me. Since it is Father's Day, I try to make the day all about Dad (my hubs in this case) and what he likes.  It just so happens that desserts like this are his favorite (just after vanilla ice cream and huckleberry pie mind you).  

In fact, the most response I get from my husband to anything I make now is usually, "It needs nuts."  Not even joking.  I guess since he has been eating what I make for close to 11 years now he has become a bit used to it.  He also knows that unless he gives me his honest opinion, even if it hurts, that he will be in trouble with me.  

I don't always add nuts to everything just for him, but today is his day, so these Butterscotch Cashew Bars are completely perfect.  They were also super easy and fairly quick to make.

The only change I made the recipe today was to use some golden syrup I had on hand.  I forgot that I was out of corn syrup and thought it would make a nice substitution, which it did.

Make sure to check out the other SMS Bakers.

Get the recipe here.

BBA #5: Casatiello

The Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge continues this week with Casatiello - I don't know exactly how to pronounce it, but I do know how to eat it - warm, quickly and often. It is tender, buttery and flavorful and was fun to make.

This bread was really pretty simple to make and even simpler to enjoy. I decided not to fiddle with the formula and ingredients too much at all. I decided to make mini versions as single rolls in paper cups - which made about 30 rolls.

For the special ingredients that I didn't have on hand, which for me were the salami and cheese, I decided to head to our local Italian grocer and specialty shop @CaputosMarket mainly because when I think of really great ingredients and help, especially if the ingredients I am looking for are European in any way, they are my go-to place.

I was so glad that I went there because, as you may remember from my review of Spark, I have never really tried salami before. I really liked the Creminelli brand and was so excited to find out that they originally got there start there at Caputos in the basement. So, I scored 4oz of the Casalingo salami. Talk about being on a roll with some great customer service at stores lately though! I actually got to do a little taste test of three of the salamis before I decided on the one I got. Then, I needed cheese recommendations, and had already decided I wanted some kind of fontina or something. I tasted three or four cheeses before settling on an aged fontina. They both had really great flavor that worked really well together. Of course, without some help from the guy at Caputo's, I wouldn't have known that.

TWD: Honey Peach Ice Cream

The recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie this week, chosen by Tommi at Brown Interior is for the Honey Peach Ice Cream. I have had my eye on this ice cream ever since I got the book. I really wanted to wait until local peaches were really in season here in Utah, but since we are to the recipe already, I decided to find the very best options I could. I headed on in to Whole Foods to find out if there were any decent peaches to be had - and I am so glad I did.

I really didn't want this recipe to disappoint me by having to use something else or something that just wasn't good at all. In fact, it was really important to me because my very first memory of homemade ice cream was when I was probably about 10 years old and we were visiting some friends here in Utah (we lived in Wyoming at the time). It is one of my fondest memories because it was a gorgeous, really warm, summer day - the perfect (no wind) kind of weather we never had back home. We played outside all day and had the most awesome time with water fights, trampolines, tag and all that. The day was all topped off with homemade peach ice cream. The funny part is, I couldn't tell you what we had for dinner, but I still remember that ice cream.

So, back to Whole Foods. I asked one of the produce guys if he had tried any of the peaches they had in stock. He mentioned that the only peaches he thought were any good there that day were some organic white peaches. I was going to take his word for it, but before I knew it, he was going through all the peaches, cutting me slices of each of the kinds in stock and letting me have a little testing to make sure which ones I wanted. I can't remember the last time I had that kind of amazing service!

I actually did go with the organic white peaches, as well as a few yellow peach slices that I had in the freezer. The custard for the ice cream was easy to make and was creamy, peachy, smooth and delicious. Definitely a keeper, and I can't wait to make them when the peaches are really in season here.

SMS: Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds. Even the name is genius! You know, I can't really say that all chocolate chip cookie recipes are created equal. I also can't say for sure, but I am fairly certain I have never had a chocolate chip cookie with almonds, toasted or otherwise, in it.

What I can say, without any doubt at all, is that this week's recipe, as voted upon by myself and my fellow bakers - which is being hosted by Lorelai and Melissa Murphy herself, is in now in the top three of my very favorite chocolate chip cookies (rounding out the top three would be the NY Times chocolate chip cookies and the ones at Paradise Bakery).

The recipe is really quite easy and friendly to put together. While there are some extra steps involved - toasting almonds, chopping your own chocolate, chilling, rolling logs, cutting, etc. - it is oh so worth it. I actually did the recipe + half and ended up with three nice logs of cookie dough. I baked one, gave one to some friends that let us crash their family dinner as a last minute hostess gift, and the other is happily nestled in my freezer - waiting until I have another immediate craving.

The toasted almonds really set this recipe apart and are amazing in the baked cookies. That said, let me just tell you what my favorite part was. In fact, I have a little bit of a terrible confession to go along with it.

In high school I don't recall that I ever ate lunch in the cafeteria - in fact, I'm not sure that I ever even went to lunch in the cafeteria. We were allowed an open campus for lunch and always visited a variety of places. Probably the strangest lunches I ever ate though were when we went to grocery store. It is a rather awful testament to my sweet tooth that on more than one occasion we would buy a tube of cookie dough, cut it open and eat it for lunch.

Obviously, I never went through a real healthy eating phase. That said, I rarely want to eat cookie dough anymore. That is, until today.

I knew these cookies were going to be amazing because one little taste of the dough and for the very first time in years I really just wanted to grab a spoon and dig in!

Make sure to check out the Sweet Melissa Sundays blog and bakers for more cookies and a post with Melissa's pictures.

BBA #4: Brioche - Middle Class Loaves and Cinnamon Brioche Cupcakes

I guess when it comes to my brioche I am a middle of the road, middle class kind of gal. What I really loved about this week was the explanations and options for the brioche and what they could be used for.

I really want to try making a tart or something with some brioche dough some time, since it is mentioned in the book that it could work.

For this week's Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge we were tasked with making brioche. Luckily I have made brioche a couple of times before, so I had a decent idea of what to expect. What I didn't expect was how much nicer and easier this recipe would come together. The dough was soft, silky and buttery smooth.

I made two loaves from the recipe and used the third portion to make 12 cinnamon rolls/cupcakes. The bread was tender, delicious and very light - especially for all that butter and eggs!

You can check out the challenge page on Pinch My Salt for more bakers and brioche this week!

TWD: Parisian Apple and Peach Tartlets + Homemade Rough Puff Pastry

Tuesdays with Dorie this week is hosted by Jessica of My Baking Heart. Jessica chose the Parisian Apple Tartlet. This dessert couldn't be simpler to make... so leave it to me to try to complicate it!

The recipe only calls for a 4-inch round of puff pastry, half an apple, some brown sugar and some butter. Easy, peasey. On top of that Dorie says you can use apples, peaches, pears, plums or apricots to make these. I decided to make two with apple and two with peach.

I added a little extra brown sugar, just because that's how I roll. The pastry was flaky, tender, buttery and the best I've ever had. The fruit was just so-so for me. Of course, that is in large part due to the fact that I am not a big fan of baked apples. I am a fan of baked peaches, but the only peaches at the store were small and not very ripe. They really didn't stand up to the potential of the tartlets.

These were too fun and easy to just set the recipe aside though. DH really liked the apple tarlets, and I will definitely be trying these again when peach season really rolls around here.

Dorie suggests that if you can find all-butter puff pastry, it is the way to go. The thing is that when I searched for all-butter puff pastry a while ago, the only place that I found it was at Whole Foods. It was, if I remember correctly, around $10 for a very small package. I just couldn't bring myself to pay that when I have seen so many delicious looking recipes for a "rough" homemade version of puff pastry which only called for four ingredients that I ALWAYS have on hand - butter, flour, water and a little sea salt. Add to that the fact that we made the danish dough for Daring Bakers a while back and it seemed that it was a similar technique.

So, I made my own rough puff pastry and now, honestly, I don't know that I'll ever buy puff pastry again. It was a bit of work, but totally worth it and what work there was was actually pretty fun.

After all, I think it was pretty fun to pile equal amounts of flour and tiny cubes of butter in the middle of my counter top, plus a sprinkle of sea salt. Then I got to play with my food by crumbling, rubbing and mixing it all together by hand. Dump in some ice water in and mix some more and knead to make a nice dough ball.

After that it was just a matter of patience while the dough chilled in the fridge before rolling it four more times. Yup, four times. They are called turns. As in roll, then fold like a letter, then turn the dough, roll it again, fold it again and more time to chill. Repeat the rolling and folding two more times, then chill a bit more, and voila! You have rough puff pastry.

Make sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll for more lovely tartlets!

For the rough puff pastry recipe go here (there is video also). It can also be found in Pastry by Michel Roux.