Almond molten cake

On a recent trip to France I acquired a new recipe for little almond molten cakes, they are truly delicious (sceal of approval by my "almost" 4 years old friend who has a sweet tooth).
Here is this super easy recipe, impress your guests with it:

Almond molten lava cakes
For 4 people
Ingredients
100 gr  Almond meal
100 gr  Powdered sugar
70 gr   Unsalted butter, melted
6 TBSP Heavy whipping cream
1          Egg
1          Yolk
A few drops of bitter almond extract

Method
Mix dry ingredients, add eggs, then butter, cream and extract
Pour in buttered individual molds (ramequins 3 cm / 1 1/4" high - 8 cm / 3 1/4" accross)
Place in refrigerator for at least 30 min, they can be prepared a day ahead.
These will be cooked at the last minute, so 20 min before serving place in pre-heated oven 180 C/356 F and bake for 10 to 15 min (each oven is different so you should check after 8 minutes), it is baked when the sides have a firm cake look but the center is still a little runny.
To unmold place a plate on top of your ramequin and invert, leave the ramequin for a couple of minutes to give a chance to the cake to fall on the plate.
Serve warm

Fruit crisp

Here is a simple, healthy and tasty dessert to make on cold winter nights that will get the thumbs up from everyone.

Fruit crisp

Ingredients for topping
1 1/4  cup rolled oats
1 cup packed Brown sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter 
3/4 cup almonds toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 Lemon juice

Fruits of your choice
I like using apples & pears cut in small chunks, blueberries and raspberries picked in the summer time and frozen.

Method
Mix and spread the fruits evenly into an oven proof serving dish.
Mix all ingredients of the topping and spread evenly over the fruits.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 375 F for 45 mn

Serve hot

Rhubarb and strawberry tart

The rhubarb plants my friend gave me last year are thriving.
This acid plant is usually paired with strawberries to mellow it out, I like this combination and decided to make something out of it for a simple dessert between friends.

Rhubarb and strawberry tart
For a 23 or 26 cm tart pan (9 or 10 inches)

Pastry
Ingredients
125 gr unbleached white flour
62.5 gr butter (cold)
45 gr cold water
1 pinch of salt

Method
Mix all ingredients, either by hand in a bowl or in a mixer, don't over work the dough or it will be too hard once baked, when it forms a homogeneous mass, form a ball, roll it on a lightly floured work surface and fold it as if you are making puff pastry or croissants, wrap it in cling film and place in the refrigerator to cool down for at least 1h, when ready to use roll out the dough and line a tart pan. 

Tart

Ingredients
1 pint of strawberries
A few stalks of rhubarb, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch or so long sticks
3 Tbsp Almond meal (to absorb moisture from fruits)
Sugar to taste

Method
Sprinkle almond meal over pastry dough, place rhubarb and strawberries over in chosen pattern, sprinkle sugar to taste.
Bake in 390 F pre-heated oven for about 30mn to 40mn (depending on your oven).
Serve warm as is or with whipped cream for extra indulgence.

Mardi Gras - Part 2 - Crêpes / Crêpes Suzette

While the galettes are savoury the "crêpes" are typically sweet, served with a sweet filling.
Here is a recipe that I modified to make it lighter.

Crêpes
For about 20 crêpes 9” diameter
Ingredients
1 ¾ cup All Purpose Flour 250 gr
2 Egg 2
2 cups Milk 500 ml
1 Tbsp Sugar 1 Tbsp
1 pinch Salt
Flavour with 1 Tbsp Rum or Kirsch or Orange flower water or/& vanilla
Alternate recipe: substitute half of the milk with a light blonde beer, it will make for lighter crêpes

Method
In a bowl measure the flour, slowly add the milk and whisk until you obtain a smooth batter without lumps, then add the eggs and continue whipping.
Then add the sugar, salt and flavouring of choice.
Mix until all combined and no lumps.
Rest for at least 1 hour.
Pour a ladle full of batter into a preheated oiled crêpes pan (non stick if possible), swirling the pan to coat the bottom evenly with batter.
Cook over medium heat a minute or so, until the sides of the crêpe come loose from the bottom of the pan, turn over for half a mn or so and set aside on a plate placed over a pan of hot water and cover with plastic wrap to keep the crêpes warm, repeat until all the batter is gone.
Serve with various fillings. 

Filling suggestions
Sugar, lemon, jam, chocolate, cooked banana and orange…

Variation on crêpes Suzette
Ingredients for the sauce for 15 crêpes
1.5 oz Sugar 42 gr
6 oz Butter 170 gr
1 tsp Orange zest 1 tsp
6 fl oz /12 Tbsp Orange juice 180 ml
6 Tbsp Grand Marnier 90 ml

Method
Sprinkle sugar evenly on the bottom of a preheated pan over medium heat, do not stir.
When the sugar begins to caramelise add the butter, then the orange zest and juice and let the sauce thicken.
Then add the Grand Marnier (or Cointreau or Curaçao blue) and flame it.
Place a crêpe in the skillet and cover it on both sides with sauce, fold in a triangle and reserve in a hot dish, continue covering all the pancakes with sauce.
When all done pour the remainder of the sauce over the crêpes and serve hot. 

Galette des rois

In France 6th January marks the celebration of Epiphany, the coming of the 3 kings or the Three Magi: Balthasar, Melchior and Gaspar bringing offerings to Jesus Christ, and as most traditions in France we celebrate with food, in this case it is the Galette des Rois. 

The bakeries go crazy over this and you can find galettes from December until February, the quality varies greatly, but if you are lucky to have tasted a good one you will remember it forever. I have this taste lodged in a corner of my memory and every year wait in anticipation to have a slice or more. 

Since moving to the US it is more difficult to find a galette des rois and this year I finaly decided to make it. 

It is basically an almond filling (Frangipane) encased between 2 sheets of puff pastry.

Galette des Rois

For a 10" galette 

Puff pastry (see recipe here)

Frangipane (see below)

Ingredients for Frangipane

3.5 oz / 100 gr Sugar
3.5 oz / 100 gr Almond powder / almond meal (you can make it yourself by finely grinding the almonds)
3.5 oz / 100 gr Butter at room temp.
2 tsp Corn startch (increase if you increase the rum)
A few drops of almond extract
2 Tbsp Rum
2 Eggs
100 gr Pastry cream (see recipe here - do not put whipped cream)

Method
Mix Sugar, almond, butter, corn startch, almond extract, rum then add the eggs.
When all blended add the pastry cream.

Assembling and baking the “galette des rois”
Split the dough in 2 equal parts, roll out 1 half while the other stays in the fridge, form a 10 ½ " circle (use a sharp knife to cut the dough, it will help it to rise nicely), lay it on a Silpat and chill while you roll out the second circle (slightly larger than the first one as you need to allow room for the filling).
Take first circle out, spread it with Frangipane (almond filling), leaving 2” without filling on the edges, brush water on the edges and place second circle on top of the filling and seal the edges by pressing them, it is really important to seal the edges properly or the filling will escape when baking.
Make a small hole in the center for the steam to escape and decorate the top of the dough with a sharp knife (beware not to cut through the dough completely).
Regrigerate for 30mn.
Brush with egg wash and bake in preheated oven for 30 to 45 mn at 370 F / 187 C depending on your oven (it's better to over bake than under bake). To know when it is baked lift the bottom and it should be golden and dry, it soggy return to the oven.
Serve slightly warm. 

A summer fare...

What better excuse than a birthday to organise a little get together and share some home made food?
Top it up with fantastic summer weather and you got it all!







On the menu of this simple brunch:






Vegetarian quiche









Crab quiche









Home smoked Alaska salmon - Poached Alaska salmon












Grilled vegetable terrine









Garden baby greens salad









Mini brioche (a lighter version than this one) - Check back for a future post with this recipe









Cheese board
And to conclude a raspberry bavarois/bavarois aux framboises - Check back for a future post with this recipe

Strawberry fields...forever...

It is the season again, the lovely fruity strawberries are back in full force.
I recently made this simple and tasty version of strawberry tart.
Have fun making it and sharing it.



Strawberry tart –Tarte aux fraises
For 1 x 10 ½ inch tart pan

Ingredients
Half the recipe of short dough/pâte sablée (see separate post)
½ pound Fresh clean strawberries
Bavarian cream (see separate post – Pastry cream + whipped cream)
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Method
Roll out the dough thinly enough (1/8 inch) and line the tart pan, blind bake in pre-heated oven 375 F for 20 to 25 mn depending on your oven, it will be baked when the colour is golden brown, beware not to over bake it.
When baked and cooled down cover the bottom of the tart with Bavarian Cream and arrange the sliced strawberries around the tart.

Tip
Assemble the tart as close as possible to the serving time. Sprinkle a dusting of confectioners sugar before serving. Tart shell and cream can be made a day ahead, store shell in an air tight container.

Bavarian cream

Bavarian cream

Pastry cream/crème pâtissière
Ingredients
½ pint / 240 ml Whole milk
½ oz / 1 ½ Tbsp / 15 gr Cornstarch
2 oz / 4 ½ Tbsp / 57 gr Sugar
1 pinch of Salt
1 Egg
¼ tsp Vanilla extract
2 oz / 2 Tbsp / 27 gr Butter (can be omitted for a lighter cream)

Method
Bring milk to a boil.
In a separate bowl hand whisk the cornstarch, sugar, salt and egg until you obtain a smooth texture. Pour 1/3 of the hot milk over the mixture while whisking rapidly, then pour this mix back into the pan of hot milk over medium heat and whisk constantly until it thickens and looses it’s starchy taste. Add the vanilla extract.
At this point you can add the butter and stir until it has completely dissolved.
Pour the pastry cream in a bowl and let cool before refrigerating.

Whipped cream
Ingredient
3 fl oz / 6 Tbsp / 90 ml Heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp Vanilla extract

Method
Whip the cream and vanilla to stiff peaks.

To obtain the Bavarian cream simply fold the whipped cream into the chilled pastry cream.

Sablés aux noisettes/Hazelnut shortbread cookies

In Pike Place Market (Seattle) there is a French bakery, Le Panier, they make all sorts of delicious "patisseries", while there last week end we bought some hazelnut shortbread cookies and we liked them so much that I decided to recreate them at home. I used a recipe my brother gave me for lemon "sablés" (will be posted later) and changed it as follows...

Sablés aux noisettes
For 50 or 60 cookies, depending on the size and shape
Ingredients

200 gr unbleached all purpose flour
100 gr hazelnuts (whole)
100 gr confectioners sugar
200 gr butter at room temperature (like an ointment, very important, it shouldn't be too cold nor melted)
A few drops of vanilla extract


Method
Gently toast the hazelnuts in a pan on medium heat to enhance their taste, then while they cool, in the bowl of a mixer (Kitchen aid) measure and sift the flour, add the sugar and the butter in small pieces, then add the vanilla (to taste).
Now the hazelnuts should be cooled enough to be grounded, not too much, as you want to have big chunks to bite in.
Add them to the bowl and using the paddle, blend all until you obtain a dough (like pastry dough), when it sticks all together stop and place on a sheet of plastic wrap and shape as you want (a round log or a long rectangular log). Put in the refrigerator for 30 mn to 1 hour until cold and solidified.
Take out and cut into thin or thick cookies and place them on a cookie tray covered with a silpat/parchment paper.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 400 F for 10 mn or a little longer if thicker cookies, they should not brown and will spread a little while baking and once they have cooled down they will harden.
Enjoy these treats with a cup of coffee or tea.

Tip: you can also freeze part of the log and have fresh cookies for these unexpected guests anytime

Cardamom yogurt cream

A few years ago while still living in Ireland I tasted a very unusual and flavourful refreshing dessert cream infused with cardamom, I was given the recipe and never made it and forgot about it. Then last week while flicking through my recipes I found it again and decided to make it. Enjoy this very easy recipe with a fresh fruit salad of orange and kiwis. Prepare the cream one day ahead as it needs to chill.

Cardamom infused yogurt cream

1 jello mold is best

Ingredients

225 ml / 8 oz Milk

200 ml / 7 oz Cream

200 gr / 7 oz Sugar for more flavour you can substitute with honey

8 cardamom seeds hulled and grounded with a pestle and mortar (it is very advisable to use whole rather than already ground cardamom as the flavour will be more intense)

3 rounded tsp powdered gelatin (I yet have to try this recipe with agar agar)

4 Tbsp cold water

425 ml / 15 oz Plain yogurt

Method

Pour milk, cream and sugar in a stainless saucepan with the ground cardamom on low heat, stir until the sugar is melted and the liquid is warm to touch.

Turn off the heat and set aside to infuse.

Pour the gelatin in a small bowl containing 4 tbsp of cold water and let it "sponge".

Then pour over the gelatin and stir some of the infused mixture then gradually add the rest of it.

Beat the yogurt lightly until smooth then add it to the cardamom/gelatin mixture.

Pour all in a Jello mold, cover and place in the refrigerator for several hours until set (preferably overnight).

Succés au Chocolat - "Chocolate success"

On Christmas day I promised you the recipe for the cake in the photo, well finally it has arrived.
It is my version of a famous french cake called: Succés au Chocolat. It is made of 3 components: a layer of chocolate ganache encased between 2 hazelnut cakes then covered in a chocolate glazing.
It is easier to make than it seems. The first step is making the cakes, then the ganache then the glazing.


Succés au chocolat
2 spring form baking tins 24 cm/9" in diameter
2 small cooling racks (not smaller than 9" in width and length)
1 plate/dish larger than the cake diameter
1 serving plater

Hazelnut cakes
Ingredients
8 eggs
400 gr sugar
200 gr melted unsalted butter
200 gr ground hazelnuts (or almonds - almond meal) I usually ground the hazelnuts rather than buying them already grounded, it stays fresher that way.
4 TBSP all purpose flour

Method
Separate the egg whites from the yolks (you can use the yolks in a custard) and whip the whites till firm, then add the sugar (like you would do for meringue).
Then gently fold in the melted and cooled down butter, the ground hazelnuts/almonds and finally the flour.
When all well integrated pour half into each greased baking tin that you have previously lined with baking paper.
Place in pre-heated oven at 385/390 F and bake for 20 to 30 mn (depending on your oven), the outside should be crispy and dry and the inside moist but cooked.
When baked turn upside down on a cooling rack and remove the baking paper (if you wait it will stick and will be very hard to remove), let the cakes cool.

Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
200 gr dark chocolate (it is best to use chocolate that has a cocoa content of 60% or more)
200 gr heavy whipping cream
30 gr honey

Method
Chop the chocolate into smaller pieces and place in a saucepan in a hot water bath (bain marie) then let it melt.
In a separate saucepan bring the cream and honey to a boil then let the liquid cool down.
Once the chocolate is melted and cooled down a bit add the cream/honey mix while mixing continuously, at first it will kind of solidify but keep adding the liquid and stirring vigorously then you will obtain a smooth and shinny cream like chocolate ganache. Let it cool down at room temperature till it starts "gelling" a bit.

Chocolate glaze (glaçage au chocolat)
Ingredients
90 gr extra dark chocolate (more than 70% cocoa content)
90 gr normal dark chocolate (minimum 52% cocoa content)
125 gr unsalted butter

Method
Cut chocolate in smaller pieces and place in a saucepan in a hot water bath (bain marie), add the butter and let it all melt.
This will be done last and after the cake has been assembled as it has to be poured hot over the cake.

Assembling the cake
Place 1 hazelnut cake upside up on a cooling rack, spread the chocolate ganache evenly on top of it then place the second cake on top of the ganache and place it all in the fridge or freezer for faster result to cool down, the ganache will start getting harder but not too hard (like butter left out of the fridge for 30mn).
At that point take it out and place the cooling rack with the cake on top of the large plate and pour over it the warm/hot glaze/glaçage it should be quite liquid, it will spill over (thus the larger plate) and spread it evenly with a long spatula, cover the sides and smooth them too.
At this point you can delicately remove the cake from the cooling rack using a large spatula (or 2) and place it on a serving platter (it can be a little bit tricky so if you don't feel confident enough wait till the chocolate glazing has cooled down to move the cake and use the left over glaze to touch up). When all the cake is covered place in the fridge and let it cool down till the chocolate solidifies.
Keep it in the fridge and bring it out 1h before serving it.
In my opinion this cakes tastes best the day after making it so plan ahead. It's great for special occasions and tastes totally delicious.
You can also freeze it properly wrapped and use in a couple of weeks, just make sure to take it out of the freezer 24h before using it to thaw properly in the fridge.

Bon appétit and bonne année!

Seasons greetings

Today is only the photo of our Christmas dessert (not the traditional yule log or "bûche de Noël) but a delicious hazelnut and chocolate cake, to follow will be the recipe.

Merry Christmas to all of you my readers.

Best pumpkin pie ever

At Thanksgiving my neighbour and friend gave me the most delicious pumpkin pie, it was made with Kabocha squash following this recipe. I highly recommend it, it is very light and creamy. I have yet to make it but have found the kabocha squash at our local co-op and plan on trying it some day.

Melting Honey and Almond cakes

Bees are amazing little creatures, they work incessantly to collect pollen from all the flowers that will ultimately become delicious honey. I grew up watching my Dad take care of his honey bees, I forgot about them a little as life went on until my last visit to France this past Spring when it was time to collect the honey made by those wonderful workers. Out of 10 hives we collected about 80 kilos of the golden liquid, this was a lot of honey. If you are ever so lucky to have that much honey here is a very nice gluten free cake that you could try, but you don't really need that much honey.

Melting Honey and Almond cakes
For about 40 mini muffin tins or 1 circular 24 cm / 9" diameter spring form
Ingredients
125 gr / short of 9 TBSP Unsalted Butter
70 gr / 1/2 cup & 1 Tbsp confectioners sugar
30 gr / 3 full Tbsp corn flour
30 gr / 3 normal Tbsp rice flour
105 gr / 2x1/3 cup raw almonds finely grounded
100 gr / 2 heap Tbsp lavender honey (if no lavender honey is available any other one will do too)
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

Method
Mix egg yolks and softened butter.
Add honey, flours, almond powder and confectioners sugar, mix all well.
Whip the egg whites till stiff and delicately incorporate them to the mixture.
Pour in the moulds, you could also use 1 big circular pie dish, it is best to use silicon moulds, if not line your tin with parchment paper.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 C / 340 F for 25 to 30mn (depending on the size of the mould you are using, smaller = less time)
When baked let the cakes cool down for 5 or 10 mn before removing from the silicon molds, with the spring form it will be easier and you won't need the rest time.

This is delicious served with a hot fruit salad of honey glazed pineapple and pink grapefruit (add the grapefruit to the pan at the last minute so it doesn't over cook but just warms up and flambé with brandy before serving).

Chocolate or Lemon?

Time goes by very fast and Autumn is now definitely here, good bye warm sunny days, hello wet grey days. I see one definite advantage of this seasonal change, we can now indulge with less guilt in delicious comfort food again. And the first thing that came to my mind for a dessert was "chocolate" but at the same time I wanted the tanguiness of lemon to remind us of the summer warmth, so not wanting to decided on either flavour I made the two flavours and ended up with 24 mini tartlets. Since I wanted to reduce the guilt factor I made them gluten free. Here is my recipe, it is only in metric I still need to convert it to cups and spoons, to be followed...
Mini Orange flavoured Chocolate pies and Mini Lemon pies
For 24 mini tarlets
Pie crust
Ingredients
30 gr Amaranth flour
80 gr White rice flour
65 gr Millet flour
75 gr Almond flour
40 gr Confectioners sugar
1 egg
125 gr cold unsalted butter
1.5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Van Houten) (this is for half of the dough)

Method
Mix all dry ingredients then add egg and butter, either by hand or better in a stand up mixer, it is best to work fast and not overwork the dough as the butter will start softening fast.
Once all ingredients are mixed split the dough in 2 and wrap one half in clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour to cool down, with the second half quickly mix the cocoa powder (I did it with a spatula) and wrap in a clingfilm and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
When it is cold enough place your dough ready to roll out between 2 sheets of cling film (this is the only way you will be able to roll it out effectively), roll it out thin then peel off the top sheet of cling film and using a 3 inch (7.7 cm) round cookie cutter start cutting the dough.
Delicately peel off each circle of dough and place them in each of the mini tartlet pans, pressing them down and removing excess dough with a knife.
When all the pans are full place them on a baking tray in the pre-heated oven at 350 F/176 C for 10 to 20 mn (depending on your oven), once cooked delicately remove them from the pans and place them on a wire rack to cool down.

Fillings

.

Orange flavoured Chocolate cream / Ganache au chocolat à l'orange

Ingredients

100 gr chocolate (I used Ghirardelli 60% cocoa bittersweet chocolate)

100 gr heavy whipping cream

15 gr honey

Zest of 1 orange

A few drops of natural orange extract

100 gr heavy whipping cream whipped with

A dash of cointreau

1 tsp of confectioners sugar

.

Method

Bring the cream and honey to a boil then set asside to cool down

Melt the chocolate in a Bain-Marie (hot water bath), adding the orange zest and extract

When the cream has cooled down start incorporating it to the chocolate, it is important that the cream is not hot, otherwise the chocolate will curdle

Once all incorporated you should obtain a smooth glossy chocolate cream.

By now the cream should be cool and you can incorporate the whipped cream, it will make for a lighter filling.

.

.

Lemon curd

Ingredients

2 lemons juice and zest

2 eggs

74 gr sugar

28 gr butter

.

Method

Mix Lemon zest, sugar, lemon juice and eggs and place container over a hot bath (Bain Marie), cook while whisking frequently for about 15 mn untill the cream sets, remove from the bain Marie and when it has cooled down a bit add the butter and whisk until all melted.

Set aside in the fridge.

.

.

Assembling the tarlets

One hour before serving fill the tarlets with their respective fillings and place in the refrigerator to cool down.

.

Bon appétit

Raspberry frenzy

While there are still raspberries on the bushes it is time to make a variation of Tiramisu, with raspberries, it is totally rich and decadent but SO good.




Raspberry Tiramisu
For 8 to 10
Ingredients
2dl heavy whipping cream
250 gr mascarpone
250 gr low fat quark
A couple of drops of vanilla extract
120 gr sugar (I use icing sugar)
Biscuits cuiller/ladyfingers (I use sponge roll base - see separate recipe)
500 gr raspberries (I freeze them before to prevent smashing them too much)
1 cup orange juice
1 dash Cointreau

Method
Whip the cream, not too hard
Add Mascarpone, Quark, sugar and vanilla to the whipped cream, then pour in half of the raspberries and gently fold them into the mix.
Place the sponge cake at the bottom of a deep serving dish
Soak the cake with a mixture of orange juice and a dash of Cointreau
Mix the other half of the raspberries into small pieces (still frozen) and pour them over the sponge cake, then cover all with the cream mix.
Place in refrigerator for a couple of hours, or over night, the taste will be even better.

Tip: I was once hosting a party of 100 and made this dessert in advance of time and froze it, it came out perfect on the day of the party (after thawing of course...)

Sponge roll/Gâteau roulé

A very handy and quick to make Sponge roll

Ingredients
For a 30 x 20 cm / 12 x 8 inches pan
2 eggs, separated
6 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp flour (I usually do 1/2 with regular flour and 1/2 with corn starch to make an even lighter cake)

Method
Beat the egg whites stiff
Mix very well the egg yolk and the sugar until you obtain a whitish and creamy mixture, then add the flour and finish by folding in the egg whites very gently
Pour the mix in a parchment paper lined roll pan spreading evenly
Bake in pre-heated oven at 210 C/410 F for 10 to 20 mn depending on your oven

Tip: When cooked if you intend to use this cake for a rolled cake turn it over on a damp towel and remove the parchment paper and cover with the damp towel to keep the cake moist, it has a tendency to dry out very quickly.
In my family we have always used this base to make the Christmas log cake.

Perfect summer dessert

Time goes by very quickly and I find it hard to make 2 posts a week as I would like to. So before this week is totally over, here is a new recipe. This is a very easy dessert and totally in season and there is no baking involved. It's a recipe I got from my Mom on this last trip to France, the great thing about it is it's an ice cream so you can make it in advance and it won't spoil, you can have it in your freezer for this unexpected last minute dinner. With this dessert I can guarantee that your guests will be impressed, so simple yet so delicious.

Strawberry Vacherin / Vacherin à la fraise

For 8 people

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

4 Tbsp sugar (not too full)

350 gr Crème Fraîche (sour cream)

1 small bowl of fresh organic strawberries crushed

3 egg whites whipped

3 Tbsp icing sugar

5 or 6 small meringues (when in a rush I use Trader Joes's meringues)

Method

Hand mix Egg Yolks, 4 Tbsp sugar and crème fraîche, then add the crushed strawberries.

Whip the egg whites till they are firm then add the 3 Tbsp of icing sugar.

Fold in the egg whites to the mix of egg yolks/sugar/cream/strawberries.

Pour in a Charlotte mold (or Jel-Ring mold) a layer of the mix, then roughly break some meringue on top, then pour another layer or cream mix, then meringue, then cream mix, ... to the top of your mold, tap the mold a little to release some of the trapped air, close and place in freezer.

This can be enjoyed on it's own or with a fresh strawberry coulis.

Rhubarb crumble version 2

My European tour is keeping me very busy and away from the computer, which I guess is a good thing, but I don't have time to make any post, so before this month ends I thought I had to publish at least one post.
Yesterday I made for my friends in Switzerland the following version of

Rhubarb and Strawberry crumble
For 6 people
Ingredients
6 rhubarb stick
6 strawberries
200 gr almond powder
100 gr spelt flour
140 gr sugar
100 gr butter
1 TBSP lemon juice (approx.)

Method
Peel and dice the rhubarb, clean and dice the strawberries, place all in an oven proof dish or in individual ramekins.
Mix by hand almond powder, spelt flour, sugar, butter and lemon juice and place the mix on top of the fruits.
Place in pre-heated oven at 190 C for 25 mn or so
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or alone).

Secret Ingredient: Lemon - Part 3

To finish this meal with a lemon twist I made a Gluten Free Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble with a dash of Meyer lemon.




Rhubarb & Strawberry Crumble
For 6 large individual portions
Ingredients
80 gr Amaranth flour
80 gr Quinoa flour
100 gr Ground Almonds (not quite as a powder to give a bit of crunch)
200 gr Organic Cane Sugar
90 gr unsalted butter
6 large fresh rhubarb stalks
9 strawberries
Heavy whipping cream


Method
Peel the Rhubarb stalks and dice
Clean and dice the strawberries
Place rhubarb and strawberries in individual ramekins

Prepare the crumble:
Mix all the flours, almonds, sugar and butter in a bowl using a fork or in a mixing bowl using the large paddle, add the juice of 1 Meyer lemon.

Place even amounts of the crumble on top of each ramekins.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 210 C/400 F for about 25 mn
Half way through the baking time pour a couple of TBSP of heavy whipping cream on top of the crumble and finish baking.

Serve with a swig of heavy whipping cream and enjoy warm.