Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Pink Grapefruit Tart

Pink grapefruit tart from Dorie Greenspan's Baking Chez Moi is the chosen recipe for the online baking group Tuesdays With Dorie this week.

This recipe has four components.  I used a couple of shortcuts because I was pressed for time.  First you need a tart crust.  I substituted a store bought pie crust.  Next there is the lemon - almond cream.  This is a simple mixture of butter, brown sugar, almond flour, lemon zest, and egg.  Then there is the grapefruit cremeux, a wonderful cooked custard.  I left out the Campari and wasn't able to think of a good non alcoholic substitute in the short time I devoted to this project.  Finally you top the tart with grapefruit segments.  I used jarred fruit brought to me by the family's shopper.

The lemon - almond cream and the grapefruit cremeux both require chilling, as does the completely assembled tart.  If I make this again I will map out the time needed for all the parts before I start, working backwards from the time I want to serve the tart.

It tastes pretty good, and would be even better with a home made crust and an additional flavoring in the cremeux.




Monday, February 9, 2015

Marquise au Chocolat

This week the Tuesdays with Dorie online baking group made Marquise au Chocolat from Baking Chez Moi.

This rich, frozen chocolate mousse was fun to make.

The recipe calls for raw egg yolks.  There was an outbreak here of Salmonella linked to eggs, so to be safe I researched how to cook the egg yolks.

After melting butter and chocolate in a metal bowl over hot water I used the same set up to cook the egg yolks and sugar.  It was a bit tricky to stir continuously so the eggs wouldn't turn scrambled and check the temperature with the thermometer at the same time.

I may have beaten the egg/sugar mixture too long after removing it from the heat.   It got thick and sticky like melted marshmallows that have cooled a bit.  I was still able to mix it in with the chocolate and butter.

Heavy cream is not sold here.  I whipped up some whipping cream (33% mf) and folded it into the other ingredients.  Then I froze it in a loaf pan as written in the recipe.

It tastes divine.