Lake Lure Cottage Kitchen

Following other bloggers brings rewards.  This Raspberry Jam Shortbread Tart is a delicious reward.  Originally posted by The Café Sucre Farina, I saw it on Pinterest and knew I had to try it.  It was just as satisfying as I expected.  The crumbly shortbread crust is enhanced with almond flour.  Almond flour adds such a wonderful flavor profile to a shortbread tart.

It is also important to use a good quality raspberry jam for the filling.  I used this one.  Thank you Chris for this great recipe.  Now, with the leftover bag of almond flour I am going to make some Financiers.

RASPBERRY JAM SHORTBREAD TART

• 8 ounces butter softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup almond flour
• ¾ cup raspberry jam 

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.
2. Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat until creamy. Add vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Add the all-purpose and almond flours and mix on low speed, just until flour is incorporated and large crumbles start to form.
3. Spray a 10-inch tart pan with baking spray or grease well and press one half of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Wrap the remaining dough in plastic wrap and freeze while bottom crust is baking, (no longer than 15 minutes).

4. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is just beginning to firm and turn pale golden brown at the edges.

5. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the tart to cool for 10 minutes, then spread the raspberry jam/preserves evenly over the crust, leaving a 1/4 inch border around the edge without jam. (see notes above for a pretty presentation tip)

6. Remove the remaining dough from freezer, and with your fingers, sprinkle it in big crumbles over the jam to form a topping.

7. Return the pan to the oven and continue baking until topping is firm, crisp and lightly golden in color, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, then dust lightly with powdered sugar, if desired.

8. Use a sharp knife to cut into small wedges. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or frozen custard, if desired.

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I have a very good friend with a large garden.  She recently shared some of her bounty with me. The blackberries were plump and ripe, so I made this amazing tart with a rosemary flecked crust. There is something about the rosemary that marries well with berries.

I love making free form tarts.  The rustic look appeals to me. These blackberries were juicy and full of flavor.  When you use top notch ingredients you can’t go wrong.

Enjoy this Blackberry Tart on a summer evening with ice cream, preferably on a screened porch overlooking a lake.  Fireflies and screen doors add to the ambience.

BLACKBERRY TART (I halved this recipe because I had only 1 pint of blackberries)

I dare anyone to tell me that they wouldn’t love to eat a combination of buttery flaky pastry with caramelized onions and crispy bacon.  The current contest on the FOOD52 website is to present your favorite appetizer to share with friends.  This is not my recipe.  It belongs to Cathy of the blog Bread-and-Milk.   I didn’t enter the contest, but I did decide to be a recipe tester.  I guess you can figure out why I chose the Onion and Bacon Tart to test. My middle name should be “Tart”, but not in the pejorative sense.  Whether sweet or savory, some of my favorite eats have been tarts.

When I first read the recipe for this tart, I thought there was way too much filling for the size of the tart pan.  But after the onions were caramelized to a deep golden brown, they had melted to just the right amount.  There is a small amount of egg and cream to bind everything together so that the filling is lusciously rich.  I do need to mention the pastry also.  It has more butter in it than what I would normally use.  But the finished pastry is very sturdy.  That is just the results that work for this appetizer.  You can pick up a small slice and eat it out of hand.

The slice shown on the plate could easily be divided into two pieces and served on a platter to be passed around.  It would be a neat two bite appetizer.  But I was not hosting a cocktail party, so David and I enjoyed this savory tart with a green salad for dinner.  I love testing other people’s recipes.  It forces me to follow a recipe as written and suspend judgement.  In this case, Cathy knew exactly what she was preparing and I was happy to follow her lead.  Go on over to Food52 to see all of the wonderful appetizer recipes.

ONION AND BACON TART

With Thanksgiving approaching, I wanted to share a few dishes that have been on my table and on my blog in the past years.  These are recipes that have worked well for me and I am sure they will add a special punch to your usual menu.  Notice that I am not including a recipe for turkey.  I would not presume to tell you how to cook your turkey.  Everyone has their personal idea of the best way to do that.  Let’s start with appetizers.  Because there is a huge meal waiting in the kitchen, appetizers should be light.  These Candied Spiced Almonds require a little attention upfront, but can be made way in advance.

I always love homemade savory shortbread crackers and the addition of dried cranberries to these appetizer rounds make them perfect for the holidays.  The recipe for these Chipotle Cheddar Cranberry Nut Wafers can be found here.

If you prefer your sweet potatoes as a first course, this Creamy Sweet Potato Soup is sure to be a hit. It is easy too.  The sweet potatoes are cooked in the microwave and the mixture comes together smoothly with an immersion blender, although you could puree it in a blender or food processor.

Leek and Artichoke Bread Pudding makes a great dressing if you do not stuff your bird.  It is an Ina Garten recipe and you can make it ahead of time.  Bacon can be substituted for the pancetta or you can leave it out all together if you have vegetarians at the table.

This Cranberry-Lime Chutney is definitely a new take on cranberry sauce.  It is a combination of fresh cranberries, lime, apples, onion, raisins, pecans, and lots of spices.  It is best made ahead of time.

Instead of a green bean casserole, try these Green Beans Gremolata.  This dish is best made with the thin French Haricot Vert.  They have been readily available in several supermarkets that I visit.  They are usually found in a cellophane bag. The beans are cooked quickly and then tossed in a mixture of garlic, parsley, parmesan and pine nuts.

This Maple Glazed Acorn Squash with Sausage, Apple and Sage could almost be a meal on its own.  But it would certainly look pretty on the Thanksgiving table.

Instead of an apple pie you could make an Apple Bundt Cake.  This spice cake with a caramel frosting is a snap to make and there is a good tip on how to turn your cake out of the bundt pan easily.

If you are in a hurry you could make this Pumpkin Dump Cake.  For a while this cake was on my DIL’s family Thanksgiving table every year.  I first made it for Kristen for her birthday and she loved it so much that she shared it with her family.  They adopted it for Thanksgiving.

Instead of that apple pie you could make this free form Apple Crostata.  This is one of my favorite desserts.

Enjoy the preparations and fun of the Thanksgiving holiday.

One of the things to love about Winter is that it is citrus season.  Oranges, lemons, tangerines and blood oranges brighten the produce aisles of the supermarkets.  I usually have an orange for breakfast.  But for a bit more decadent way to enjoy citrus try this smooth chiffon pie with a bite from the gingersnap crust.  It brightens even the most gloomy of days.

We are beginning a kitchen project this week.  We have been slowly updating what we found when we bought the house in Florida.  We updated the appliances a few years ago and added new countertops.  The previous countertops were the same faux wood as our cabinets.  Not pretty.  We chose Corian.  We have granite in Lake Lure, but Corian seemed the right choice for Florida.  Our current project is to reface all of our kitchen cabinets, replacing the doors and adding a few pull out shelves.  Here is how the kitchen looks now.

The new cabinets will be off white, creamier than what you see here.  The style is Shaker with a beadboard insert.  The installers will be here Thursday and Friday and should be able to finish the job in just those two days.

The cabinet over the dishwasher will have glass doors.  I am anxious to see the results.  I will give you an update when it is all put back together again.  In the meantime, I will be making a pot of soup before the work begins.  I was told that we could still use the kitchen and it made sense to have soup in the fridge to reheat for dinner each night.

I will also have this tart lemony pie with a hint of orange zest to dig into.  I plan to add this to my list of Florida desserts.  I usually make key lime pie for guests, but this lemon chiffon pie is a good alternative.  By the way, the background for my pie is a Downton Abbey wrapping paper available at World Market.  I was immediately attracted to it before I even knew its provenance. This year’s episodes of Downton Abbey are riveting.  What will happen to Mr. Bates?  Will Lady Mary find happiness?

LEMON CHIFFON GINGERSNAP PIE (Williams Sonoma)

1 1/4 cups gingersnap cookie crumbs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar divided
1 package unflavored powdered gelatin
1/8 teaspoon Kosher salt
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, strained
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  In a bowl, stir together the crumbs, butter, and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar until the crumbs are evenly moistened.  Pat the crumb mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and all the way up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan or dish.  Bake until the crust is firm, 5-7 minutes.

Pour 1/4 cup cold water into a saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin.  Let stand until the gelatin softens and swells, 5-10 minutes.  Stir in the 3/4 cup granulated sugar, salt, lemon juice, orange zest, and egg yolks; the mixture will be lumpy.  Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until the gelatin melts and the mixture thickens, 6-8 minutes.  Do not allow the mixture to boil.  Set the saucepan in an ice bath until the mixture is cool to the touch.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, whip the cream and confectioners’ sugar on medium-high speed until thick, soft peaks form.  Spoon the whipped cream into the gelatin mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula until smooth.  Pour into the prepared crust, smoothing the top.

Refrigerate the pie until chilled and firm, 3-4 hours.  Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

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