Pumpkin Pie Jack-o’-Lanterns

My friend Isabel (aka Grushenka of Grushenka i Alyosha) came over today, ostensibly to study physics, but really to bake and play some Beatles Rock Band.  She is a pie baker, and I am in love with my new non-stick cupcake tins, so we decided to make miniature pumpkin pies in the cupcake tins, which we intend to bring to our Russian-folk-song-singing club/group/thingy.  And, in honour of the approaching festivities of next weekend (i.e. Halloween), we gave the pies miniature stems and faces so that they looked like jack-o’-lanterns (ok, in retrospect it might’ve been wiser to draw those on with frosting for better accuracy). After a taste test, we agreed that these were absolutely delectable, and would make an excellent dessert for any fall gathering.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

Pumpkin Pie Jack-o’-Lanterns
Crust
3 c flour
2 sticks (16 tbs) unsalted butter
ice water

Filling
1 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can of pure pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Chocolate chips, for decorating

1. Prepare the pie crust: chop the butter into 1/4″ pieces. In a large mixing bowl, cut the butter and flour together until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Adding the ice water 1 table spoon at a time, mix with the flour-butter mixture until the dough holds together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
2. Prepare the filling: in a large mixing bowl, blend together the cream cheese, pumpkin, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and beat until smooth.
3. Preheat the oven to 350oF. Roll out the dough to about 1/16″ thickness. Using a nonstick muffin tin, cut circles large enough to fill each cup. Line the muffin tin with the dough circles. With the extra dough, make the stems, and press into the dough-lined cups to attach. Fill each 3/4 full with filling and decorate with the chocolate chips. Bake 18-20 minutes, until the filling is set and the crust is golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely, then remove from the cups, taking care not to break the stems in the process.

Makes about 16, using full size muffin tins

Jackie and Jillian’s Apple Pie

Over the weekend, my friend, Jackie, and I decided to go on a weekend adventure upstate to pick some apples and get fresh air.? We realised that we do not really do all that much on weekends, so we made it our goal to have some adventures, like going to the NYC Medieval Festival a few weeks back.? Anyway, after some apple baseball and corn maze, we ended up with 42 lbs of apples and 3 pumpkins, which is a rather ridiculous amount of produce, but hey, you only go apple picking once a year! When we returned home, we decided that it might be fun to bake an apple pie.? Jackie had the brilliant idea of putting a J on the top for our names!

apple pie

Jackie and Jillian’s Apple Pie
For the crust
10 tbs cold unsalted butter
6 tbs cold vegetable shortening
2 2/3 c all-purpose flour
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbs ice water

Filling
6-7 apples, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
4 tbs butter, melted
2 tbs flour
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Cut the butter and shortening into 3/4″ pieces. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter and shortening pieces over the mixutre and toss with a fork to combine. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter and shortening in until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of large peas. Drizzle the ice water over the mixture and toss with the fork until the dough is evenly moist and comes together in a mass (but not a ball). Transfer the dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 6″ disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375oF. Roll out each of the disks to about 1/8″ thick. Line a greased pie plate with one dough round and refrigerate.
3. In a large bowl, mix the apples, butter, flour, sugars, cinnamon and lemon juice. Pour into the pie plate. Cover with the remaining dough round and pinch the edges of the dough rounds together to seal. Prick the top layer of dough all over with a fork.
4. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes, until the top is golden and filling is bubbly. Remove from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

Makes 1 pie

Bakewell Tart

In honour of my sister’s Columbus Day visit, I decided to make a full-size version of the Bakewell tartlets. This time, instead of a marzipan topping, I used a powdered-sugar based glaze. The recipe was basically a modification of the recipe for the tartlets.

bakewell tart

Bakewell Tart
Shortcrust Pastry
2 c (12 oz) all-purpose flour
3 oz butter
3 oz shortening
6-9 tbs ice water

Filling
Rasberry jam
2 sticks (1 c) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 c flour
1/4 c finely ground almonds
2 tsp baking powder

Glaze Topping
2 c powdered sugar
Water

1. To make the shortcrust, sift the flour into a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it forms coarse crumbs. Pour the ice water over the mixture, tablespoon by tablespoon, until it begins to come together. Shape into a disk and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
2. Preheat the oven to 350o. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out to 1/8″ thick. Line a greased 10″ tart pan with the dough round.
3. Prick the bottom of the shell all over with a fork (to prevent puffing), place in freezer for 5 mins, then prebake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature.
4. Meanwhile, make the filling. Beat the butter with the sugar until creamy, then add the eggs and almond extract. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour together with the baking soda and ground almonds. Beat this into the butter mixture until fluffy.
5. Spread a thin layer of raspberry jam in the bottom of the shell, then spoon the filling mixture on top. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top is are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
6. Finally, make the glaze. In a large bowl, mix together the powdered sugar with some water. Continue to add water until the glaze is thick but pourable. Pour over the top of the cooled tart and smooth with an offset spatula.

Makes one 10″ tart

Raspberry and Fig Galette

Here is the dessert that I made for dinner with the parents. As you may be able to surmise, it was a relatively Provencal-themed dinner. Fall is such a great time to make produce-centric things, because of all of the harvests. I went to the Union Square Greenmarket for a lot of stuff, since I think it is probably the best-stocked farmers’ market around. Every time I go there, it is a culinary adventure for me. The vendors have such a diverse assortment of products, and I just love how fresh everything is! I’m not exactly a proponent of buying “local” or buying “organic” but I am a proponent of buying FRESH, and you cannot beat a farmers’ market for that. To be honest, my local grocery store is pretty much rubbish, anyhow, especially for buying produce – sure it’s cheap but when you get home and realise for the umpteenth time that you’ve ended up with something mouldy and you have to throw it out, it becomes less worth it.

Anyway, galette! A galette is traditionally either a round, flat, crusty cake or a sort of open-faced buckwheat crepe. This galette is basically a hybrid of the two – replaces the crepe part with a lovely, crusty pie crust.

rasberry fig galette

Raspberry and Fig Galette
For the pastry
5 tbs cold unsalted butter
3 tbs cold vegetable shortening
1 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbs ice water

For the filling
12 figs (any variety), stemmed and quartered vertically
1/4 c light brown sugar, packed
2 tbs all-purpose flour
1 tbs fresh lemon juice (strained)
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbs granulated sugar
1 egg beaten with 1 tbs heavy cream
1 1/2 c raspberries

1. Cut the butter and shortening into 3/4″ pieces. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter and shortening pieces over the mixutre and toss with a fork to combine. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter and shortening in until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs the size of large peas. Drizzle the ice water over the mixture and toss with the fork until the dough is evenly moist and comes together in a mass (but not a ball).
2. Transfer the dough to a work surface. Shape into a 6″ disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until well-chilled, at least 1 hour.
3. Position a rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven, preheat it to 400o and line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper.
4. Dust a work surface and rolling pin with flour. Roll out the chilled dough into a round about 13″ in diameter. It will be about 1/8″ thick. Trim off raggedy edges so that it becomes an even 12″ round and put it on the prepared pan. Leaving 2″ border, sprinkle 1 tbs flour and 1 tbs granulated sugar over the prepared pastry.
5. In a large bowl, toss together the figs, brown sugar, 1 tbs of the flour, the lemon juice, the almond extract and the vanilla extract until all ingredients are well-mixed. Put the filling in the centre of the pastry, keeping it off of the border. Fold the border up and over the filling, forming little pleats around the edge and leaving the centre open. Brush the dough with the egg mixture, then sprinkle with 1 tbs granulated sugar.
6. Bake for 25 mins. Remove from the oven, scatter the raspberries on top, and then sprinkle with 1 tbs granulated sugar. Continue to bake until the crust is golden brown and the raspberries are beginning to soften, 8-12 mins. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. This can be served either warm or at room temperature.

Makes 1 galette

French Apple Tart

It’s Rosh Hashanah, so of course, that calls for a Rosh Hashanah dinner party (which, for my friends and me, is very similar to our Passover dinner party, with even less religion because Rosh Hashanah does not have fun games like the afikoman hunt). We even reprised much of the menu, although this time, I was less involved in the cooking due to my immense amount of work this week. Given the fact that I have this lovely little baking blog going, I was only assigned dessert – I chose to make an apple tart [in a pie plate, though – less clean up] for several reasons:

1. It contains apples, which are symbolic of a sweet (a.k.a. good) new year.
2. I like tarts better than pies.
3. The top is pretty and fun to make.

apple tart

French Apple Tart
*Contains 3 parts: pastry, filling and topping

Tart Pastry
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c cold unsalted butter, cut into 3/4″ pieces
2 large egg yolks
1 tbs heavy cream

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixtur and toss with fingers or a fork to coat in the flour. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in the butter untill the mixture forms coarse crumbs about the size of peas.
2. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks with a fork, then stir in the cream until well-blended. Drizzle this over the flour mixture and stir with the fork until the dough is moist and comes together in a smooth, well-mixed mass.
3. On a work surface, shape the dough into a 6″ disk. Wrap in lastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 45 mins or up to overnight.
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Lightly dust the work surface and a rolling pin with flour. Roll out the chilled dough into a round about 13″ in diameter and 3/16″ thick. Work quickly to prevent the dough from becoming too warm.
5. Line a 9 1/2″ tart pan with a removable bottom with the rolled out dough and freeze crust until firm, about 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 400oF. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork all over and line it with foil and fill with dried beans, uncooked rice or pie weights.
6. Bake the crust until it dries out, about 15 mins. Remove the weights and foil. Lower the oven temperature to 350oF and continue to bake the crust for about 5 mins longer, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove and let cool completely.

Filling
5 apples (2 lbs), peeled, cored and cut into 1″ pieces
2 tbs sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp fresh lemon juice, strained
1 tbs unsalted butter, melted

1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375oF.
2. Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir together the apple pieces, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, and melted butter until well mixed. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan.
3. Bake the apples until they are soft, about 20 mins, stirring once about halfway through. Remove from the oven and scrape the apples into a bowl. Using a spoon, mash the warm apples until there are only a few chumks left and they resemble chunky applesauce. Let cool to room temperature and spread in the prepared crust.

Topping
2 c (1/2 lb) peeled, cored, thinly sliced apples
1 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 tbs sugar
1/4 c apricot preserves

1. Arrange the apple slices in 2 circular rows on the filled tart pan, slightly overlapping them to cover the filling completely. Drizzle with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
2. Bake the tart until the apple slies are soft when pierced with the tip of a knife or a toothpick and the edges of the crust are browned, 45-50 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
3. In a small pan over medium heat, warm the apricot preserves until melted, about 3 mins. Strain through a medium-meshed sieve and, using a pastry brush, brush the apple slices with the preserves. Unmold the tart and serve at room temperature.

Makes one 9 1/2″ tart