Peach Fig Tart Recipe

I recently went fruit picking and got some amazing peaches! They were so juicy, sweet, and flavorful. Baking peaches doesn’t do their delicious flavor and texture justice. So i was looking for a recipe with minimal cooking required, and what recipe is better than a fruit tart?!

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Oven: 400 F and 350 F

Bake time: 5 min and 15 min

Ingredients For Pastry Cream:

• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tbs corn starch
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp maple extract
• 2 medium peaches
• 5 large Figs

Ingredients For Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick softened butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg

Ingredients for glaze:

1/4 cup fruit jelly of your choice

2 tbs water

Directions:

In a saucepan bring the milk so a simmer over medium high heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together. Add the cornstarch and flour to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until you get a smooth paste. Remove the milk from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. If any curdling does occur just pour everything through a strainer. Pour the egg mixture with milk back into the saucepan and stir until thickened under medium low heat. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour into a clean bowl and cover the skin of the cream with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Refrigerate until you have baked your crust and sliced your fruit.

To make the crust, place the softened butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer or wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix to combine. Add flour and salt and stir in slowly with a wooden spoon (don’t break you electric mixer for this) until a pasty dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and form into a thin disk.  Place in the freezer for 15 minutes while you slice your Peaches and figs.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a tart tin with a removable core with cooking spray lightly. Quickly press the dough into the tin as evenly as possible. Place the tin into the freezer while your oven preheats. Poke a few holes with a skewer in the center of the dough. Bake the cooled dough for 5 minutes at 400 F then reduce your oven to 350 and bake for 15 more minutes.

Cool the baked crust completely before adding the cream.

To assemble, first remove the removable center from underneath the crust carefully. Spread the pastry cream into an even layer all over the inside of the crust.

In a small glass bowl mix together the jam and water and microwave for 30 seconds on high.

Design the tart as seen in the photos or the way you like with sliced fruit. Brush the glaze on top of the fruit Enjoy!

 

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Lavender Chocolate Eclairs

Detailed Recipe for lavender eclairs. These are a lot better than anything you will find in a store. They are not the easiest thing to make, But the end result is beautiful and delicious.

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white flour

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 large egg for egg-wash

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 tsp dry lavender or 1 tbs fresh lavender leaves and/or flowers

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons white Flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Few drops of blue and red food coloring to make purple (If Yo Feelin Fancy)

Dark chocolate for dipping

Directions:

1. To make the choux pastry Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat add the butter and water and stir until everything is melted and simmering. Remove from the heat.
3. While the butter melts add the flour, sugar and salt to a small bowl and whisk thoroughly
4. Add the flour mixture to the saucepan (off of the heat) and stir vigorously until a ball of pasty dough is formed.
5. set aside to cool for about five minutes.
6. Add the eggs one at a time (THIS IS IMPORTANT) stir completely before adding in the second egg. Stir well.
7. Transfer the dough to a pastry bag. Pipe about 5 inch long 1 inch wide strips onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Pipe as evenly as you can.
8. Bake the piped dough in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Then lower the oven to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes before removing them to cool.
9. To make the pastry cream heat the milk up in a small saucepan over medium low heat with the lavender.
10. Add the 3 egg yolks, cornstarch and the 1/4 cup sugar to a medium bowl and mix well for 2 mins.
11. Slowly add little by little the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture while whisking vigorously. Pour all of the milk into the yolk mixture. Whisk vigorously to infuse the lavender into the mixture.
12. Pass the mixture through a sieve into the saucepan again To remove the bits of lavender.
13. Add the food coloring if using. Stir constantly over medium low heat until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat. Set aside to cool.
14. put the pastry cream into a plastic zip lock back and cut a corner off.
15. To pipe the cream into the eclairs poke a hole into each end of the eclair with a skewer and wiggle it around to make space inside the pastry for the cream.
16. Pipe the cream into the eclairs through both sides. This is very important or the eclairs wont have cream all the way through.
17. Melt the dark chocolate in a large bowl and dip the tops of the eclairs in the chocolate.
18. Enjoy!!!

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Strawberry Apricot Soufflé Recipe – Easy Soufflé Recipe

The Souffle!! Every chef’s nightmare. Or is it? Turns out a souffle isn’t as hard as you think. If you can make custard and beat egg whites to stiff peaks, YOU CAN MAKE A SOUFFLE! That doesn’t mean you wont impress your friends by making one. This one of a kind Summer Apricot Strawberry Souffle is out of this world. And with some technique. I’ll give you some tips for the perfect easy souffle, your first time:

• Butter your ramekins with a pastry brush brushing from the center of the bottom of the dish to the edges in a swift motion. you want vertical stripes of butter going up all around the inside of the dish.
• Place a baking sheet in the oven and put the ramekins over it. you don’t want to risk ruining your perfect souffle by digging your oven mitt into it.
• Eat them right away! Serve your souffles on a plate straight out of the oven.
• Fold in your egg whites slowly and carefully. you don’t want to get rid of those bubbles! the are what make the souffle rise!
• Be confident!

Oven temp: 375 F

Baking Time: 17-18 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup milk (1/3 cup each serving)

3 eggs

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 tbsp flour (2 tsp each serving)

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch (1/2 tbsp each serving)

6 tbsp sugar (2 tbsp each serving)

Softened butter for ramekins

Sugar for dusting ramekins

One medium apricot pureed, or 1/4 cup apricot jam (1 1/2 tbsp each serving)

4 medium-large strawberries pureed or 1/4 cup strawberry jam (1 1/2 tbsp each serving)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 F. In a small pot over the stove heat milk until simmering over medium low heat. In a medium bowl, separate egg yolks from egg whites of every egg and place egg whites in a clean metal bowl. Add 2 tbsp of the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until pale and light. Add cornstarch and flour to the yolks and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Slowly drizzle small amounts of milk at a time into the egg yolks while whisking. Return the yolk mixture the pot of milk and whisk vigorously over medium low heat until the mixture thickens. Mix in the fruit purees or jams and cool in freezer to get it colder quickly.

In the metal bowl beat with an electric mixer of whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. slowly add the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar while beating until stiff peaks form.

Mix in one-third of the egg whites into the custard cooling in the freezer. Then fold in slowly the next third, it’s okay if there is a little bit of egg white lumps going through the mix. Then carefully fold in the last third of the whites. This time be extra careful not to knock out any air that you whisked into the egg whites.

Set the mixture aside and grab your 3 ramekins. with a pastry brush, paint the bottom of the first ramekin with butter, then paint up the sides vertically. in straight lines, so that the souffle rises correctly. do this all around the inside and bottom of each ramekin. Pour in about 1/4 cup of sugar into the first ramekin and turn it to make a coating of sugar all over the butter. do this over the next ramekin so the access sugar falls into the ramekin. do this with all of the ramekins.

Slowly fill each ramekin with the batter with a little more than the rim. with a butter knife or a straight edge wipe off the access to level the rim off. Each ramekin should be filled to the brim. Place the ramekins onto a baking sheet far apart from each other and place them in the oven quickly. Bake the souffle for 17 – 18 minutes, until they have HOPEFULLY, rose one or two inches over the brim. SERVE RIGHT AWAY, with chocolate sauce or just by themselves. Enjoy!!

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Artisan Fruit Tart Recipe

Right in time for summer! All the best fruits are at their peak. Juicy fruit of your choice on an incredibly smooth pastry cream, all inside a thin flaky pastry crust. So easy and inexpensive for a crowd! Artisan just means handmade from start to finish. Impress your friends with this fantastic dessert!

Oven: 400 F and 350 F

Bake time: 5 min and 15 min

Ingredients For Pastry Cream:

• 1 1/3 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 tbs corn starch
• 2 tbs flour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients For Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick softened butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg

Ingredients for glaze:

1/4 cup fruit jelly of your choice

2 tbs water

Enough of the fruits of your choice to cover the custard on the tart

(Soft fruits and berries only, do not use apples or pears) Strawberries, plums, cantaloupe, sectioned oranges, etc. Try using dried fruit like figs and/or dates!

Directions:

In a saucepan bring the milk so a simmer over medium high heat. In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and egg yolks together. Add the cornstarch and flour to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until you get a smooth paste. Remove the milk from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. If any curdling does occur just pour everything through a strainer. Pour the egg mixture with milk back into the saucepan and stir until thickened under medium low heat. Stir in the vanilla extract. Pour into a clean bowl and cover the skin of the cream with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Refrigerate until you have baked your crust and sliced your fruit.

To make the crust, place the softened butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer or wooden spoon until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix to combine. Add flour and salt and stir in slowly with a wooden spoon (don’t break you electric mixer for this) until a pasty dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and form into a thin disk.  Place in the freezer for 15 minutes while you slice your fruits.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a tart tin with a removable core with cooking spray lightly. Quickly press the dough into the tin as evenly as possible. Place the tin into the freezer while your oven preheats. Poke a few holes with a skewer in the center of the dough. Bake the cooled dough for 5 minutes at 400 F then reduce your oven to 350 and bake for 15 more minutes.

Cool the baked crust completely before adding the cream.

To assemble, first remove the removable center from underneath the crust carefully. Spread the pastry cream into an even layer all over the inside of the crust.

In a small glass bowl mix together the jam and water and microwave for 30 seconds on high.

Design the tart the way you like with sliced fruit. Brush the glaze on top of the fruit Enjoy!

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Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream

Their is nothing in the world as comforting as a rich creamy bowl of fudge brownie ice cream. This is arguably the best ice cream in the world. No actually, hands down, this stuff is the best in the world. And if you’ve got an ice cream machine it’s pretty dang easy to make too.

Ingredients:

1 Batch The Best Fudge Brownies (Or you can use a box of fudge brownies)

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups milk

6-8 egg yolks (6 at least)

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder (Hershey’s Special Dark work fine)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

In a large bowl whisk 1/4th cup of sugar with the egg yolks until no more sugar is visible.

In a medium pot over medium low heat dissolve the remaining 3/4 cup sugar and the cocoa powder into the heavy cream and heat until simmering.

Slowly drizzle a small amount of the heavy cream mixture into the egg yolks while whisking vigorously, and keep slowly adding until the egg yolk mixture is thin. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and mix continuously over low heat until the mixture has thickened.

Once it has thickened, strain the mixture back into the bowl and add your milk, salt, and vanilla extract. Follow your manufacturer’s directions on you ice cream machine to freeze to your desired consistency.

Or if you don’t have an ice cream machine just put the entire bowl into your freezer for about 1 1/2 hours. Then take it out and blend it with a hand held blender, or mixer and freeze for another 1/2 an hour. Repeat the process every half an hour until your desired consistency is reached. Enjoy!

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Blueberry Waffle Ice Cream Recipe

A delicious rich creamy buttermilk ice cream base with blueberries and chopped up toasted blueberry waffles going through! An amazing experience of dessert and breakfast flavors! With fresh fruit too, just in time for the summer!!

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

8 egg yolks (use 12 if you want it unbelievably rich)

2 cups buttermilk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

5 frozen blueberry waffles

1 1/4 cup blueberries (frozen will work)

Directions:

Add the heavy cream and all of the white sugar to a large saucepan and set over medium low heat.

While the heavy cream mixture comes to a boil add the brown sugar and egg yolks to a bowl and whisk until super smooth.

When the saucepan is simmering take it off the heat and drizzle a little of the heavy cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk quickly.

Add a little more slowly while whisking constantly, then add the mixture back to the saucepan with the remaining heavy cream and with a wooden spoon mix constantly over low heat. heat the mixture until if you coat the wooden spoon with it and leave a trace with your finger you can see the trace clearly. 

Then strain back into the large bowl and mix in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, and salt.

Refrigerate until completely cool. While the mixture is chilling toast your waffles until completely hard but not burnt. Chop into half inch pieces.

 

 

 

 

When the ice cream mixture is completely cold, add it to a pre-frozen ice cream machine and follow the manufacturer’s directions to freeze. Just before the mixture reaches the point of soft serve, add in the blueberries and chopped waffles. (If you don’t have an ice cream machine (like me) place the ice cream mixture while still warm directly into the freezer for one hour and a half. Then blend the slightly frozen mixture with an electric mixer until completely smooth. Then freeze for another half an hour and repeat the process of blending and freezing until the mixture is at a soft serve consistency. Then add in the blueberries and waffle chunks. Place into a plastic container and freeze.) Enjoy!!

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Super Fluffy Banana Cake / Cupcakes Recipe

This recipe is great way to use up some old bananas while entertaining guests. The lightest and fluffiest cake, absolutely nothing like regular rock hard banana bread! It can be made in two 9 inch rounds, a bundt cake pan, or even cupcakes!

Oven: 325 degrees F

Pan: two greased 9 inch round cake pans, a bundt cake pan, or lined cupcake tin.

ingredients: 

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar (separated)

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

5 eggs (yolks and whites separated)

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (I used 3 large bananas)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt and set aside.

In a super clean metal bowl add the egg whites and cream of tartar. Reserve the yolks in a large bowl for the wet ingredients later. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and foamy, about 2 minutes. Then slowly start to add only a half cup of sugar to the egg whites while beating on high. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form.

Add the mashed banana, vanilla, remaining 1 cup of sugar, and oil to the reserved egg yolks. Mix well with a spatula. 

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl as well and mix until no lumps remain. Now you will incorporate the egg whites with a technique called folding them in. First take about one third of your beaten egg whites and add it to the wet ingredients, Stir slowly, scraping the sides constantly until no white remains visible. Then add another third of the egg whites  but this time take your spatula and scrape it around in between the bowl and the batter and bring it up in the middle and then scrape again and again until barely any whites remain visible. Do not stir or you will deflate the eggwhites. Fold in the last third of egg whites the same way.

If you are using a 2 cake pans, grease with butter and flour then divide the batter evenly between them. Do the same if you’re using a bundt cake pan. if you’re making cupcakes, scoop out the batter evenly with an ice cream scoop into paper lined cupcake tins. Bake if using cake pans 35 to 45 minutes. If your using a bundt cake pan bake 45 to 55 minutes. If you’re making cupcakes bake 25 to 35 minutes.

 Check with a cake tester to see if the cake is still wet and raw. Once baked, cool for about half an hour before running a knife around the cake and invert on to a plate. Frost or glaze with the glaze or frosting of your choice. Enjoy!