Fruit Tarts

I had a hankering for individual fruit tarts that I made years ago for Christmas desert.  I searched my blog and didn't find a thing.  Then I searched my kitchen book (where I write menus of past events) and again came up empty.  After looking at a few cookbooks, I still couldn't find a recipe that I might have used.  After that, I decided to wing it a bit.  

I have 6 individual tart pans that are a perfect size.  

First I made the dough and baked the shells.  In a food processor, combine 1 Stick Unsalted Butter (cut into cubes) with 3 oz Cream Cheese.  These can both warm up for about 15 minutes so they are cool but not soft.  To this add 1 tsp Sugar and 1/2 tsp Salt.  Add 1 Cup Flour and blend until a ball is formed.  No not over mix. 

Preheat oven to 350.  Divide the dough into 6 pieces.  Give and take until they look about even.  With floured fingers, gently press dough into the tart pans so the dough along the sides is fairly even.  Know that the dough will stick into the corner so press there and up the sides.  It's pretty forgiving.  Pierce with a fork along the bottom.  Place into hot oven for about 18 minutes until golden brown (and fragrant).   Remove from oven and let cool.

To make the lemon curd, to a bowl, add 3 Egg Yolks and beat til pale yellow.  Add 3 TBL Fine Sugar and beat until ribblons form when removing the beaters.  Zest 2 Lemons straight into the bowl.  Juice the 2 Lemons and beat in 2 TBL of the juice (taste to see if you want more and add accordingly.)  Place the curd in a small pan and while stirring continually, heat over low heat until it warms through and is thick.  Once it's resembles smooth pudding, remove from heat and put the curd in a clean bowl to cool.  

NOTE: For fine sugar, beat granulated sugar in a food processor.  I prepared a 1 LB bag of Sugar for my various needs and I store it in the bag it came in.  You can buy Caster Sugar but it's very expensive. 

To this point, all of this can be made ahead.  Assemble when you are ready to serve.  Place a tart pan on a plate and top the shell with curd.  Add fruit of choice and serve at once.  It's a delicious dessert any time.

For GF use GF flour when making the shells.

Nestle's Mini Skillet Cookies

Have you ever gone to a restaurnant and ordered a hot cookie and it came served in a mini skillet?  I knew we would have fun with the mini skillets I gave to my son for Christmas!  We were at Costco and my son wanted to buy a tub of Nestles Cookie dough.  First, it was larger than we would eat in a month.  Second, I told him I didn't think it had real butter and in reading the label, I was right.  Third, it was $7, not a bad price, but I already had all of the needed ingredients at home.  

I offered to make the cookie dough which I store in a plastic container so he could bake the mini skillet cookies when he wanted.  We've made 3 skillets twice so far and I think we have enough to make 3 more, if not 3, then 2.  The only thing that would make it better is to place a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on top when serving!  But this is an awesome dessert!

Preheat oven to 375.  Lightly grease each skillet with a thin coating of Crisco.  Make the Nestle's cookie dough using the recipe found on the package.  Scoop about 1/2 Cup of dough into each skillet and press with the back of a spoon to even it out.  They will rise when baking.  Bake for about 12 minutes and reduce the heat to 350 to let them finish cooking.  Mine seemed brown on the edges and still light in the middle, so I decided to reduce the heat for an even bake.  Let rest for no more than 5 minutes and enjoy with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream or a cold glass of milk!

Fresh Pumpkin Cupcakes

I love baking with fresh pumpkin.  Though I've only done it once, I prefer it to canned pumpkin.  The color is just gorgeous.  After buying souped-up Candy Apples at the NC State Fair, I decided to make cupcakes this weekend and decorate them in a variety of ways.  






Yesterday, I removed seeds and peeled the skin away from the pumpkin using a sharp knife

and then cut the flesh into large chunks.  I steamed the Pumpkin for about 10-15 minutes til tender and then once cooled, pressed the chucks through my ricer.  If you don't own a ricer, you can always mash.  This made enough for 24 Cupcakes, I froze 2 cups for a Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie, and still have enough to make cookies or pancakes.  A medium Pumpkin netted about 5 Cups for Pumpkin and cost $3 at a farmers stall.

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a mixing bowl, add 2 Sticks Butter (Room Temperature).  Add 1 1/2 Cups Fresh Pumpkin, 1 tsp Vanilla, and 1 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar.  Mix until smooth.  

To a bowl add 2 3/4 Cups Flour (NOTE: this will vary depending on how wet the batter is and how humid it is), 1 Tbl Baking Powder, 3/4 tsp Salt and 2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice.   Stir with a wire whip to combine.  Measure out 3/4 Cup Milk.  Add flour and milk to pumpkin mixture, alternating, flour and milk, beginning and ending with the flour.  

In a separate bowl, beat 3 Eggs until combined, add 1 1/2 Cups Sugar and mix on high until light ribbons and fold into batter.   

Ready muffin tins with foil liners.  Using a scoop, fill tin 2/3 full.  Place in hot oven and immediately reduce oven to 350.  Bake for 20-22 minutes.

Let cool before icing.

For Meringue Icing.  Set up double boiler using a bowl that will fit into a pot of simmering water.  To the bowl add, 3 Egg Whites, 1/2 Cup Cold Water, 1 tsp Cream of Tartar, and  1 TBL Sugar.  Place bowl into the pot and using a hand mixer, beat on high for about 15 minutes til whites "cook" by warming and hold their peak when you remove the beaters.  Once firm peaks are formed, remove bowl from the pot and place in an ice bath to chill.  Beat every few minutes until cool.  

Fill a pastry bag fitted with the desired tip and frost the cooled cupcakes.   Top as desired.  I used a variety of small candy as well as toffee peices and sprinkles.  

Homemade Caramel

This recipe come from a dessert found in Gourmet March 1997.  The dessert is wonderful but I have been wanting to double the Caramel to have on hand for other uses.  My son has wanted me to buy prepackaged Apples with Caramel ($1 each) for his school lunch so I decided to make my own.

This is such a delicious caramel recipe that I hope you give it a try!  It's wildly fun to make.  It definitely falls into the category of "I can't believe I just made this!!"

For the purpose of just making caramel, this recipe is doubled and can easily be cut in half.  Do all the measuring first because you will not have time once you get going.

• Measure 2/3 Cup Sugar directly into a thick bottom saucepan.  I use All-Clad.

• Measure 1 Cup Light Corn Syrup into a 1 Cup Measuring Cup and have a rubber spatula set out.    

• Measure 1 1/3 Cups Heavy Cream into a 2 Cup Measuring Cup.  

• In a small dish, combine 2 tsp Corn Starch with 2 Tbl Water.  

• Have at the ready a Candy Thermometer, a bottle of good quality Vanilla, and a measuring spoon.

First, place the pan with Sugar over moderate heat and stir with a fork until it melts.  This will take about 5-7 minutes.  At first, it will appear lumpy but as it melts it will get smooth.  Caution: IT IS VERY HOT!

Continue to cook without stirring and swirl the pan until it turns a golden brown color.  





Add Corn Syrup, scraping with the rubber spatula to get it all.  Boil over moderate heat, stirring with a wire whip until well combined.  This will take some effort.  Don't give up even though it looks like a lump of golden brown candy in the corn syrup.  Again, as it melts, it will combine to a smooth consistency.

Place candy thermometer in the saucepan.  Add Heavy Cream to caramel.  It will steam, so use a mitt for pouring.   Boil, stirring occasionally,  and cook until the thermometer reads 210 degrees.

Stir Corn Starch mixture into the caramel.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring with a wire whip, the entire time.  Remove from heat.  When caramel stops bubbling, add 1 tsp Vanilla.  As the caramel cools it will firm up but still remain runny.

Dip Apple Wedges into Caramel for a snack or dessert, top Apple Pie Ala Mode, serve warm on a Sundae Bar, or just ladle over Vanilla Ice Cream.  Either way, it's delicious and you won't believe you made it!!

Homemade Mozzarella

My sister, D, gave her daughter a cheese making kit a few years ago and they have been making Mozzarella Cheese from scratch since.  I finally bought a kit and am going to give it a go.  I am really excited and hope you are, too! 
First step is to find "Pasteurized Milk" since I can't use Ultra-Pasteurized Milk." I found the grocery about a mile from my house sells pasteurized whole milk, so I bought it yesterday.

Yeah!  This morning I made the cheese.  First I had to watch a video a number of times because there are critical steps of stirring, timing, and temperature to be mindful of.  The kit I have is from Ricki Carroll, about $25 online.  It will turn 40 gallons of milk into cheese.  Each gallon makes about 16-20 ounces of finished cheese, though that is a rough estimate without weighing it.  If you venture into this, you will find that you work with One Gallon of Whole Milk at a time.

Pictured is the finished product ready to eat.  Next time I know to pull the cheese more times than I did to make it more elastic and therefore more stringy.  I also learned to have an ice bath ready so once the cheese is formed to my liking, I have it ready.  My first two balls were still warm and flattened as they cooled on a plate.  I decided to eat one of those "mistakes" first.  All in all, it took me longer than the 30 minutes but next time will be faster.  And all and all, it is delicious!!

Craisin White Chocolate Coconut Cookies

It wasn't the best day to bake since it's still humid and it wasn't as cool as I like, but for some reason I decided I wanted to make chewy cookies by using coconut.  I looked at the ingredients I had on hand and settled on White Chocolate, Craisins, Nuts, and of course, coconut. The results were scrumptious! 
NOTE: Butter is VERY expensive now but I still prefer to use UnSalted Butter in my cookie recipes.  If you are unable to do that, you can use margarine or even a stick of each. 
In any event which ever you choose, it should be cool but not soft.

Preheat oven to 375.  Cream 2 Sticks of UnSalted Butter with 3/4 Cup Sugar and 3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar.  Add 1 1/2 tsp Pure Vanilla and combine for another 20 seconds.  Add 2 Eggs, 1 at a time and cream until just combined.  Add 1 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Baking Soda and 1/2 Cup Oatmeal and combine for another 20-30 seconds.  Add 2 Cups Flour and cream until dough comes together.  Rough chop 2 Ghirardelli White Chocolate candy bars.  Rough chop 1 Cup of either Walnuts or Pecans. Add the following to the dough by hand, white chocolate, nuts, 1 Cup Craisins, and 1 Cup Coconut.  Scoop onto sheet pans and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Eat while warm!

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas

Here is one of the ideas I have used in the past for the Sweet Treat Day.  I provide all the dry ingredients plus Madagascar Vanilla to bake something.  In this case, I like to use my Goo-Goo Bar recipe.  The Sugars are in 1 bag, the Flour, Salt, and Baking Soda is in 1 bag, and the Chocolate, Nuts, and Coconut is in 1 bag.  I include a recipe and all they need is 1 stick of Butter and 1 Egg.



My son writes a message to the teacher on the back of the recipe.  I buy small handled bags and I glue the recipe onto scrapbook paper.  I top it with colorful tissue to make a simple festive gift.  The Vanilla is the most expensive part at $8 at World Markets, but my guess is the entire gift is around $12 each.  This price allows me to thank more than just his teacher and recognize their endless efforts.  Once the Goo-Goo Bars are gone the teacher can still enjoy the Vanilla!
FYI- Goo-Goo Bar recipe is in my dessert section!!

Teacher Appreciation Week Gift Ideas

It's Teacher Appreciation Week for our school district.  It's nice to say thank you to your child's teacher without giving a coffee cup or a picture of your child.  I tend towards consumables because they can be enjoyed and in this case, re-created next year.  I like things that give lasting joy as well.
If you are stuck for a clever idea here's one you may like.  It's a Strawberry Pot filled with Herbs.  There are 2 sizes of pots and this one is the largest.  It has 9 holes and I like to finish the top with flowers.
To make this, begin planting the two bottom holes.  Place the roots on the inside and feed the herbs through getting them to stand upright.  Add dirt.  Plant the next herbs in the same fashion, adding dirt last.  Continue working your way to the top.  Add a 4" flower to the top.  Add dirt to fill it in and water well without a dish.
Here in the deep south where the sun is strong, I place mine on the steps to the kitchen from our carport.  This way it gets several hours of morning sun as well as several in the afternoon.   It needs to be watered each day and I rotate the pot 90 degrees upon watering.
What a treat it is to step outside the door with scissors and return with a fistful of herbs.  Some herbs that do well are chives, oregano, basil, parsley, lemon balm, thyme, sage, and lemon thyme.  See what's available and go for it.  You can even include a recipe using multi herbs with a note from your child on the back.

Mom's Butter Crunch

As far back as I can remember we gave our elementary school teachers (grades K-6) gifts at Christmastime. Since there were so many of them in any given year, we always helped in some way to get the gift together.  The youngest kids either measured chocolate or ground the nuts.  We didn't have food processors so we had to grind our nuts in a gadget that was a jar fitted with a grinder.  The top was loaded and the nuts ground as you turned a crank.  It took hours but the nuts were a wonderful consistent size perfect for topping butter crunch.  We used to watch tv and grind the nuts.  I remember my hand used to get tired from turning the crank.
There are many variations of butter crunch today.  I favor the recipe I grew up with.  It's tender and has just the right ratio of candy to chocolate to nuts.  If you are going to make this, I highly recommend you purchase a good candy thermometer.  Interestingly, I have had trouble making it everywhere I have lived since leaving NY.  Relative humidity is likely the biggest culprit, but for some reason, this year, it turned out perfectly!   This recipe dates back to at least the 1960's.
Butter a sheet pan lightly and set it on a trivet or hot pad of some sort.  Add ice water to a measuring cup for testing and have it near by.

In a non-reactive saucepan with a thick bottom (such as All-Chad) add 1 Stick of Butter, 1 Cup Sugar, 1/4 Cup Water and 1/2 tsp Salt.  Attach the candy thermometer to the pan using the clip.  Heat mixture over medium heat, bubbling, until it reaches 290 degrees F (Soft Crack).  You need to stir this just about the entire time.  Use a wooden spoon instead of a metal spoon because it won't transfer heat to your hand.  As it nears 280 begin testing small amounts by dripping the candy into the water.  Once it cools, about 15 seconds, eat the drops testing it until it is tender and crunchy. The last 10 degrees go quickly so continue to do this until it is ready.  The toffee should be a golden brown color.  Remove the candy thermometer from the pan and carefully pour out onto the sheet pan and tilt the pan every which way to get a shape that is a consistent thickness.

Caution, candy making is dangerous as it is VERY HOT.  Warn your family not to touch the sheet pan once you've poured the candy.  Let cool entirely.  Heat 12 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate (such as Nestle's Semi Sweet Chips) in a saucepan over very low heat just until melted.  Spread 1/2 of it onto the toffee.  Top with 1/2 Cup Ground Walnuts and push slightly into the chocolate.  Once cool, turn over the toffee using an off set spatula and repeat using the remaining chocolate and another 1/2 Cup Ground Walnuts.  Once cooled completely, break the toffee by hand.  Store in an airtight container.  Thanks Mom!

Teacher Gift Ideas

When it's teacher appreciation week I usually have lots of people to thank.

Here are some of my teacher gift ideas:

Put together ingredients to make something and include Madagascar Vanilla, (World Markets).

I like to give Goo Goo Bars (recipe on this site). I put together 3 small plastic bags with 1) The Sugars, 2) The Flour/Salt and Levening Agent, and 3) The Coconut/Nuts/Chocolate. I glue the printed recipe to scrap book paper and have my son write a note on the back and sign his name. I tie this to the bag and stuff with colorful tissue. Cost around $12-14.

I make homemade Wheat Pasta and include 4 oz of Homemade Pesto. I glue the printed recipe to scrap book paper and have my son write a note on the back and sign his name. I tie this to a bag and stuff with colorful tissue. This has to be refrigerated. Cost Under $5.

Homemade Granola (recipe on this site). I glue a printed recipe, for instance a Fruit and Yogurt parfait, to scrap book paper and I have my son write a note on the back and sign his name. I tie this to a bag and stuff with colorful tissue. Cost, under $5.

For a large group, I bake cookies on a stick and have my son help decorate them. I make an arrangement with the cookies in a clean clay pot using styrofoam in the bottom. Nothing says thank you more than seeing a child carrying this arrangement, proud they had a part in it. Cost under $10.

Get a small strawberry pot and fill each hole with a different fresh herb. Many times each herb can be broken in half and used to fill 2 pots. Plant flowers in the top. They'll have to water each day but will have fresh herbs all summer long. Cost around $15.








My sister has made fresh salsa packaged in nice jar (recipe on site) and included freshly baked chips from a local retaurant. The salsa needs to be refrigerated and it usually has about a 1 week shelf life. Cost $6-8 depending on the jar.

Put together the dry ingredients for pancakes (recipe is on this site).  All they need to add is Buttermilk, an Egg, and Oil.  I like to mix the flours adding either wheat or buckwheat.  I print out the recipe and attach it to scrap book paper.  My son writes a note on the back.  I place it in a handled bag along with a pint of Fancy Grade Vermont Maple Syrup which I purchase directly from Therrien's Sugar House, Brattleboro, Vermont.  You can call Kim directly, (802)257-4013.

I love consumables because it allows teachers to take a break and that's what it's all about! That says thank you!