Apple Ricotta Tart

It is definitely fall. Leaves are changing color, the air is getting crisper, and apple trees all around carry their beautiful red fruits. We are lucky to have several apple trees in our garden, so there is no shortage of apple pie, apple compote, apple chips, and apple pancakes in our kitchen right now.

An apple tart looks a little more elegant than it's rustic cousin the good old apple pie. I love them both. This tart here has a delicious ricotta cream layer, seasoned with some lemon zest. It makes the tart very fresh and light tasting. Sprinkled with some brown sugar, the apples get a nice caramelized touch. It tastes best slightly warm with some freshly whipped cream.

Apple-Frangipane Galettes

Baking with apples makes some of my most favorite pies and pastries. They are also easy available year round, although usually best in late fall. Here I made galettes, which are very easy to make pastries. They are free form and have a rustic look to them. That makes them also perfect picnic food.

The apples are arranged on top of a creamy frangipane layer, which is an almond cream, either made with marzipan or ground almonds. You should use tart apples, like Elstar or Golden Delicious to have a perfect match between the sweet and sour components.

Apple Cake with Almond "Bee-Sting" Topping

Apple pie or cake is one of our familie's favorite Sunday treats. Luckily our apple trees were bursting full of nice apples. So, besides a lot of pies we made some juice, compote and also dried them for snacking. Most apples can also be kept for several month, if stored in a cool dry place, like a basement.

I often make apple pie with a streusel topping, this time I changed it to a "bee-sting". A bee-sting is a caramelized almond topping, with butter and cream. It is similar to a florentine cookie, and very delicious. For the apples I would suggest to use a mix of tart and sweet apples. Boskop and Elstar are some good choices.

Daring Bakers: Biscuit Joconde Imprime with Apple, Lemon and White Chocolate-Rosemary Entremets

This month for the Daring Bakers we made a special french dessert. It is called a Biscuit Joconde Imprime Entremets. When I was first reading it I had no idea what it is, but a look at the pictures clarified it. I always admired these kind of desserts and wanted to make it for a long time. It makes a great presentation for a cake, and looks very elegant. I will definitely make them again, since you can get really creative with the flavor combination.

A Biscuit Joconde is a kind of sponge cake which is flexible and can be wrapped around a cake. The impreme means that a pattern is printed on the biscuit. This is done buy using a different color of dough first, letting it cool, and then apply the Joconde dough, before baking. An Entremet is a cake which consists of several layers. This is where the Joconde is wrapped around.

My Entremet consisted of the following layers: First a layer of sauteed apples cooked in wine and calvados, spiced with some vanilla, which was then thickened with corn starch. Next I added a layer of lemon curd. After cooling I made a layer of White Chocolate Mousse with a hint of Rosemary, which matched good with the apples. The top layer was a glaze of mango puree, which gave a beautiful color.

Unfortunately my Biscuit Joconde got a little dark. It is very important to closely watch it in the oven, as it browns very fast. The recipe makes a whole big sheet, so you can freeze some for another cake.

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Apple Cranberry Pie

Apple pie season has arrived in our home. This is my sweetheart's favorite pie. No matter what other elaborate cakes or tarts I made, in the end he would always request a good old apple pie. I am used to making my pies in a springform, but I just got a beautiful pie dish on the weekend and was eager to try it out.

I found the recipe on the website of the Gourmet Book Club, which always had great recommendations on beautiful and useful cookbooks. This recipe is from the book Rustic Fruit Desserts by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson and is originally for an Apple Blackberry Pie.

I still had a lot of cranberries from our recent visit to the cranberry festival, and decided to use those instead of the blackberries. The cranberries gave the pie a great tartness and it was really delicious. After reading all the good reviews of the book and the great tasting pie I ordered the book today and anxiously waiting for its arrival.