Pear Tart

'Look, mama! Autumn kissed the leaves!', exclaimed my observant child. Evening walks lend themselves a view long forgotten, when taking them with a child. Colorful red orange hues on maple trees, newly labeled as 'autumn kissed'...that's one to remember!

Recently, my lovely neighbors dropped off a couple of large bags of plums and pears--mmm, another sign of autumn. After 'tiring' of several pears a day for what felt like forever and three days, I decided it was time to do more with them. I found a pretty tempting tart at mytartelette.com This gal, by the way, is amazing! The food styling/ photography, the recipes, the humor...fantastic!

I made her frangipane tart, but to my dismay, due to constant distractions and over eagerness...it flopped. Big time. With another notch of culinary disaster under my belt, I took the extra tart dough and tried again. This time I made a sour cream based filling and added Helene's honey roasted pears on top.
Wow! The tart was impressive, somewhat. My son gasped and said, 'Mama, it's sooo purdy! I don't want it. It's too honey-y and pear-y'. A self proclaimed food critic, who doesn't need to taste it in order to come to a conclusion...and so, we move on. It was not only pleasing to the eye, but also to the palate!

The sour cream base is quite versatile. It can be altered to accommodate the moment, as well as seasonal fruit!

Pear Tart

Sable dough and honey roasted apples

by Helene Dujardin, mytartelette.com

Sable Dough

1 stick (115 gr) butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup (93 gr) powdered sugar

1 large egg

1 1 /2 cups (188gr) flour

2 tablespoons (20 gr) cornstarch (makes for a lighter crumb)

pinch of salt

In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix until combined.

Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and mix briefly to incorporate.

Dump the whole mixture onto a lightly floured board and gather the dough into a smooth ball. Do not work the dough while in the mixer or it will toughen up. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

When the dough is nice and cold, roll it out on a lightly floured board or in between the sheets of plastic. You will need half the amount of dough to make the tartelettes.

The other half can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen, well wrapped for up to 3 months.

Cut out rounds with a 3 inch pastry ring. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes. Let cool

Honey Roasted Apples:

4 medium apples

1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350F.

Peel core and cut the apples in thin slices.

Lay them on a couple of parchment paper lined baking sheets and drizzle at will with the honey.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until golden. Let cool

Sour Cream Filling

adapted from Tanya Belt, Allrecipes.com

3/4 cup sugar *
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 pinch salt
1 egg, beaten
1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, flour, spices, and salt.

Add sour cream, mix until smooth.

Beat in egg, and combine until smooth.

Pour filling into cooled prebaked tart shell.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Let cool.

Arrange roasted pears on firm and set filling.

Store in refrigerator, covered.

*Pears and apples have been used interchangably. I roasted pears, under the premise of Helene's honey roasted apple recipe.

* I made an 8 inch tart and increased baking time.

* I will definitely decrease the sugar in the filling, due to the sweetness of the pears and honey.

Simple Biscuits

With intermittent chilly mornings and the scent of autumn in the air, busy weekday mornings yield a need to slowdown and sometimes pause on weekends. Saturday morning equals biscuits, to be enjoyed with jam, creamy country gravy, and even alone! Mmmmm....a great way to end the week and prepare for the week ahead!

This anytime biscuit recipe is a bit on the simple side, no rolling, no cutting, no chilling. Drop biscuits are the easy way to go! Let go of your fears and let go of the Pillsbury dough boy's hand, you can do this all by yourself or with the help of curious little hands! Not only will you be filled with pride, but your body will also thank you for not filling it with harmful preservatives!

I came across this recipe via Cook's Illustrated. With the recipe, came a magnificent tutorial on the need for clumped butter in the batter. When your butter clumps, it's a good thing! You're on the right path, so keep going!

Simple Biscuits

adapted from Cooks Illustrated, December 2007

2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder, aluminum free

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon table salt

1 cup cold buttermilk

1/4 cup cold milk

8 tablespoons margarine, melted and slightly cooled

plus 2 tablespoons melted margarine for brushing biscuit tops

Preheat oven to 475 degrees

Whisk dry ingredients, first 5 ingredients, together in a large bowl, set aside.

Combine buttermilk and 8 tablespoons of melted margarine, stirring until large clumps form.

Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula just until combined and batter pulls away from sides of bowl.

Using a greased ice cream scoop or greased 1/4 cup dry measuring cup scoop an equal and level amount of batter onto either a parchment or aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Space biscuits about 1 1/2 inches apart.

Bake until tops are golden brown and crisp, 12-14 minutes.

Brush biscuit tops with remaining melted margarine.

Cool on wire rack, serve warm.

Makes one dozen biscuits. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Reheat in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes, for best results.

* It's very easy to over mix. Over mixing will result in a tough heavy biscuit

* You can omit 1/4 cup milk, I found it made the biscuit heavy and pleasingly dense. That is how the original was written, but I wanted a lighter result.
* Adding 1tsp onion powder, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese to dry ingredients and sprinkling with salt and old bay seasoning on baked tops, renders a close cousin to a biscuit served at a certain restaurant known for it's crustacean logo.

* Other variations include adding bacon and cheddar cheese, or rosemary and parmigiana cheese to name a few.
* Amend to your taste and get creative!

My Helper

Here are some examples of my son's ideas for the pumpkin mousse photos

Pumpkin Mousse

Autumn's on it's way...I can smell it in the early morning when I go to bed, and later in the early morning when I rise! The leaves are beginning their ascent into the height of nature's fiery trail. I am so excited! Yes, Autumn is one of my favorite seasons.

Transitions are slowly under way, not only with the seasons, but with Life. My son started preschool and his transition from little boy to big boy has begun. Having my little one with me for four years, I grew accustomed to having my shadow with me wherever I went. Mornings are now mine. Though I have reclaimed them, it feels strange, sometimes empty, and a bit lonely. I know he will only be away for a few hours, and we get to share the rest of the day together, but you know, four years is a long time. Reacquainting and reclaiming myself as a woman and as an individual will take some time.

My transition has begun.

On a lighter note, my apologies to my readers for not posting. There are no excuses and fortunately no major horrific events that prevented me from doing so! I enjoyed the remainder of summer by taking camel rides, going to the state fair, farmers markets, cooking out, and complaining that it was too hot. There you go, honesty, that's what it's all about!

I leave you with a pumpkin mousse recipe I found and tried via thenibble.com and of course, made some changes along the way. It was creamy, fluffy, yet rich without that feeling of heaviness and guilt. Perhaps one could say it's an adultified pumpkin pudding. I can see this being a great filling for a pumpkin mousse pie! Diana, this one's for you!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Mousse
adapted from thenibble.com

1⁄4 cup dark rum
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 cup heavy cream

Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer.
Pour rum into a small, heat-proof bowl, then sprinkle in the gelatin.
Place bowl in a pot and pour simmering water in the pan, reaching to half the height of the bowl.
Stir to dissolve the gelatin, remove bowl from heat and cool to room temperature.
As the gelatin cools, Place a large mixing bowl over pot of simmering water, constantly beat eggs until thick and reaches 160 degrees. *Do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water.

Gradually beat in the sugar and continue until the mixture is lemon colored and sugar dissolved, about 5 minutes.
Stir in pumpkin and spices, add gelatin mixture.
In a separate bowl, using clean beaters, whip the cream until stiff.**

Gently fold it into the pumpkin mixture.

Refrigerate mousse for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.
Makes 6 servings. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator for 2-3 days.

* If bowl is partially submerged you will create scrambled eggs due to the higher heat at the bottom of the bowl

**Over whipping heavy cream will yield butter, you may want to save that act for pumpkin butter

***I used light rum, instead of dark, it was all I had on hand--not in my hands, just in case you were wondering!

Blueberry Cake

Tacoma's Tuesday afternoon farmers market was a goldmine! It yielded a beautiful bounty of brightly colored berries, tempting tomatoes, and plenty of tiny pretty potatoes. We brought home blueberries, of course, fingerling potatoes--of which the name grossed out J., and other assorted goodies. Bacon flavored hummus by Sound Bites was claimed by me, and a delicious creamy honey lemon goat cheese was claimed by J. He LOVES goat cheese! He's expressed his affinity for it before, but the honey lemon combo was what won his heart and tummy over. I'm slowly learning to appreciate it, so I give him a 'cheesy gold star'. When we saw the berry stand, he quickly spotted the berries and loudly declared, 'we get these, mama, for my blueberry breakfast cake.' How could anyone resist those beautiful brown eyes, the quick thinking, and little hands holding a half pint of breathtaking blueberries?

That night I made his blueberry breakfast cake. It really is an anytime cake.

It's simple to prepare and quite unpretentious. It's not too sweet, has fruit, and I so do not feel guilty for serving this for breakfast with a cup of milk! Perfect!

Blueberry Cake

adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice, orange juice works well
1 teaspoon zest

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

8 ounces sour cream

1 cup blueberries, preferably fresh

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep pan of choice with a light coating of cooking spray or butter.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mix sugar and zest, until well incorporated and aromatic. Add butter and combine to sugar mixture. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
Add whisked flour mixture, alternately adding sour cream.

At this point, the cake batter is super thick. Evenly spread batter into pan.

Very gently, fold in blueberries.

(I found it was easier this way, instead of risking blueberry bleed in the transfer of the batter.)

Bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Baking time may need to be altered depending on size of pan.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Allow cake to cool completely. Dust with confectioners sugar

* The original recipe was a lowfat lackluster caloric waste. Using whole eggs, regular sour cream, and adding the zest and juice gave it a boost in flavor and visual appeal--a fluffy and tasty well risen cake.

* I have tried both lemon and orange juice/zest. Lemon was my favorite.

* I 've also tried frozen berries and it was a relative disaster. The frozen berries made the cake very dense and had a tendency to fiercely stick together.

Mandarin Orange Frozen Yogurt

Hot, hot, hot! This heat is beautifully unbelievable! I appreciate the change, but I do not wish to have it last any longer. As of now, I welcome and am ready for my daytime highs of 65 degrees! Enough said about mother nature's offerings...

To combat the heat, I looked to divine inspiration for something different, creamy, cold, and satisfying. As I waited for an idea to come, I perused the pantry and fridge. Nothing, no ideas. The day came and went, and nothing. Wednesday morning, and it arrived--mandarin orange chunks, in a creamy yogurt sweetened with honey and spiced with cardamom.

Hmmmm, worth a try...I mean, I had to try it. I asked for inspiration, and was given inspiration. I researched some possibilites to increase the creaminess without having to add heavy cream, whole milk, or other sinfully delicious fatty necessaries. One common thread I encountered was using whole milk yogurt, and draining the extra moisture for at least 6 hrs. I tried it, and I liked it!

The end product...a trifecta of exotic summery bliss!

Mandarin Orange Frozen Yogurt

16 ounces plain whole milk yogurt
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup honey

1 cup mandarin oranges, canned and drained

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Pour yogurt into a cheesecloth lined colander and cover with cloth. Let drain at least 6 hours to overnight. This will permit extra moisture to drain, leaving you with a concentrated creamy and dense whey.

Carefully pull up cloth and place yogurt into a medium bowl.

Add honey, cardamom, and zest. Stir. Add oranges. Mix until well combined.
Let mixture rest for several hours to overnight, to infuse flavors.

Place in freezer for several hours until desired consistency.

Makes about 3-4 cups.

* I roughly chopped oranges. If you'd like an uninterrupted oranginess, puree oranges and remaining ingredients.
* I churned yogurt mixture in an ice cream maker for about 45 minutes, and had a rather tough time getting it to a firmer consistancy. After freezing it for a couple of hours it was soft, but firmer

Good Morning!

"Mama, my tummy is hungry for blueberry muffins with sprinkles".
Good morning to you too, my little one! What a lovely wake up call at 5:43am. A request for blueberry muffins with sprinkles...SPRINKLES? I know many who love the look of sprinkles, but I do not do sprinkles. I don't have any sprinkles. Where did he get the idea for sprinkles?

After my first cup of coffee and halfway into the muffin batter, I asked my child, 'what sprinkles do you want on your muffins, honey?' He calmly replied, 'the white ones, the crumbs ones. I like crumbs, mama.'
Now that made more sense, a crumb topping. Kinda sophisticated for a 4 year old, if you ask me. I have not made a blueberry muffin with crumb topping. Pumpkin, cinnamon, apple muffins, yes...blueberry, no. I quickly filtered thru my recipes, both hard copy and bookmarked.

Finally, I settled on a light slightly crunchy crumb topping. The end product, a wonderfully aromatic way to say, 'good morning' as well as a fluffy, tasty, pretty blueberry muffin. I knew it was a hit when I heard, 'I love my mama's muffins!'
What a way to start the day!

I found this wonderful recipe for blueberry muffins about 2 years ago at simplyrecipes.com. I halved the recipe, which yielded 12 standard sized muffins, and used frozen lemon zest. ( I find it so very painful to throw away lemon, lime, and orange peels away....all those precious oils can't be wasted! It's sacrilege) The recipe was practically followed as written. It is a solid recipe!

*I must add that you must make sure NOT to over mix batter and make sure your baking powder has not expired--6 months maximum from opening date.
I can guarantee you, you will have inedible blueberry scented bricks.

Blueberry Muffins
simplyrecipes.com
(posted as halved from the original)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
3/4 cup plain yogurt ( I used whole milk plain yogurt)
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

3/4 cup blueberries
1/2 tablespoon flour ( if using defrosted frozen blueberries)

"Sprinkles"/Crumb Topping:

Martha Stewart Living, May 2009

2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 - 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
pinch of salt

Adjust the oven rack to the middle part of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Crumbs:
In a medium bowl stir sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add cold butter using fingertips, fork, or pastry blender. Manipulate mix until it resembles crumbs. Set aside.
(You may need to add more flour, depending on weather/moisture, and temperature)

Muffins:
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest beating until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one.

Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. (At this point your batter will look fluffy)

Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat.

Fold in the berries.
If you are using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour. *

Use a standard 12-muffin muffin pan. Coat each muffin cup lightly with olive oil or grapeseed oil using a pastry brush, or with a little butter. Or use one of those convenient vegetable oil sprays.**
Distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, as with crumb topping. Bake until muffins and topping are a light golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick to make sure the center of the muffins are done.
Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

*I used frozen berries. I did not rinse or flour, but rather quickly folded in the berries to prevent them from sticking to eachother and to prevent them from wanting to sink to the bottom.

**I used paper muffin liners and sprayed the inside of the liner