Les Etapes De La Recette Du Gateau Basque Tradionnel

 Basque cake is a combination of cake and pie encasing thick pastry cream or black cherry jam which usually comes with a topping of sour cherry sauce. This is a translation of a traditional recipe in French. I love Google Translate!

Préparation : 40 minutes

Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cuisson : 30 minutes
 Cooking time: 30 minutes
Température 180° // Thermostat 6 Temperature 350° / / Gas 6

Ingrédients :
Ingredients:
- 200 grammes de beurre fin - 3/4 cup of butter 
- 4 jaunes d'œufs et 2 œufs moyens (55-65) - 4 egg yolks and 2 medium eggs (55-65)
- 200 grammes de sucre cristallisé - 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 400 grammes de farine type 55 - 3 3/4 cup of cake flour
- 3 grammes de sel de Bayonne - 1/2 teaspoon of salt Bayonne (Kosher Salt)
- 8 grammes de poudre à lever (levure chimique 1/2 sachet) - 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup jam & 3/4 cup pastry cream to fill the cake

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep at hand.
Working in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until smooth. Add the eggs & egg yolks and beat another 2 minutes or so, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture may look curdled, but that's OK. Then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in two or three additions, mixing only until they're fully incorporated into the dough.
Place a large sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper on your work surface and put half of the very soft and sticky dough in the center of the sheet. Cover with another piece of plastic or wax paper, then roll the dough into a circle just a little larger than 8 inches in diameter. As you're rolling, turn the dough over and lift the plastic or paper frequently, so that you don't roll it into the dough and form creases. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
Put the dough on a cutting board or baking sheet and refrigerate it for about 3 hours or for up to 3 days.
When you're ready to assemble and bake the gateau, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Generously butter a 2-inch high, 8-inch round cake pan.
Remove the layers from the refrigerator and let them rest on the counter for a couple of minutes before peeling away the plastic or paper. Fit one layer into the pan — if it breaks, just press the pieces together. If there's a little extra dough running up the sides of the pan, you can either fold it over the bottom layer or cut it so that it's even. Spoon some of the jam or pastry cream onto the dough, starting in the center of the cake and leaving one inch of dough bare around the border. Add more filling if you don't think it will squish out the sides when you press down on it with the top layer of dough. (I find that 3/4 cup is usually just the right amount, but if you're using a very thick jam, you might want a bit more.)

For the Pastry Cream Filling
500 ml/ 1 pint full cream milk
1 egg and two egg yolk
2 tbsp dark rum
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
100 g/ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
50 g/ 8 tbsp plain flour, sifted

Prepare the cream filling. In a saucepan, bring the milk to soft boil with the vanilla seeds. Add the sugar, whisk for 30 seconds. Add the sifted flour gently, whisking away to avoid any lumps for 2 minutes. You can take the saucepan on and off the heat a few times. Add the egg and yolks, one at a time, whisking away until the cream has thickened, about 2-3 minutes (low heat). Take off the heat. Finally, add the rum and mix well. Set aside to cool completely.

Moisten the bare ring of dough with a little water and then top with the second piece of dough, pressing down around the edges to seal it. If you'd like, you can work your finger between the top dough and the edge of the pan, so that you tuck the dough under a little. Because of the softness of the dough and the baking powder, even if you only press the layers together very lightly, they'll fuse as they bake. And, no matter how well you press them together, it seems inevitable that a little of the filling will escape.

Brush the top of the dough with a egg glaze and use the tips of the tines of a fork to etch a cross-hatch pattern across the top.

Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes before carefully running a blunt knife around the edges of the cake. Turn the cake over onto a cooling rack and then quickly and carefully invert it onto another rack so that it can cool to room temperature right side up.

 

Banana Cream Pie with Crystallized Ginger

Sitting on my counter is the just perfectly ripe bananas for something. I was reading my numerous cooking magazines and thought why not banana cream pie. Most recipes go for the Betty Crocker style. I thought why not add candied ginger and freshly grated nutmeg to the pastry cream.
Oh, my it really kicked it up several notches. This recipe is a spin off of a Bon Appetit's recipe.
You will need a prebaked pie shell. I always use my grandmothers recipe of never fail pie crust. It is one of my earlier posts.

After the shell has cooled paint the shell with 2 ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate and 2 teaspoons of oil. Let chill completely. The pastry cream is very easy. For my mother's day I received an electric hand blender. It makes quick work of whipping cream and mixing the pastry cream. I like a sauce pan with rounded corners too.

For the pastry cream: 3 large egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, a pinch of salt, and 2 cups of whole milk are added to a sauce pan. Whisk until well incorporated. Place on the stove and bring to a rolling boil; whisking all the time. Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons of vanilla, a lot of freshly grated nutmeg and 3 teaspoons of crystallized ginger. Cool until lukewarm and then add three sliced bananas. Refrigerated until cold.

For the whipped cream I added 1 pint of cream into a bowl. Whipped until thickened and then added powdered sugar and vanilla to taste. Whip your cream until well set.

With a piping bag add the whipped cream to the cold pie. Then toast some sweetened coconut and top pie.

Anisette Biscotti

The secret to delicate & fragile biscotti is to use cake flour. This is the best recipe I have found for biscotti. It will make about 50 biscotti depending on how thin you slice them. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3 cups of cake flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
3 ounces of sliced almonds
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 teaspooon of anise extract
1 teaspoon of anise seeds
3 eggs



Place the butter and the sugar in a mixer and mix until well incorporated. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Shape the batter into two logs and bake for thirty minutes. Then using a serrated knife, slice the baked logs on the diagonal every 1/2 inch. Bake for another twenty minutes longer, until the biscotti are dry and crisp !


Started a herb bed that has french tarragon, lemon thyme, thai basil, dill, rosemary, and all kinds of lovely herbs!

 

Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin pie is really comforting in the fall. I suggest serving this with maple syrup sweetened whipped cream. This recipe is similar to the Libby's Pie recipe off of the can. The difference is I add vanilla, one extra egg, five spice powder and a little less salt. It is delicious.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of cloves
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
3 large eggs
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin
1 can of evaporated milk

1 unbaked 9 inch never fail dough pie shell

Mix all the filling ingredients in a food processor and pour into the pie shell. Bake for 55 minutes in the lower third of your oven.

Tegolino or Tuiles

With just a few ingredients you can make one of the tastiest cookies. They are a little temperamental. You must make sure the batter is the right consistency. If you like you can use a template to make them perfectly. I did not have a template and mine turned out just fine. You will need a silicone baking mat. Start by preheating your oven to 375 degrees.


3 ounces of all purpose flour
3 ounces of cake flour
6 ounces of powdered sugar
6 egg whites (3/4 of a cup)
4 ounces of melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Finely chopped almonds

In a food processor, place all the ingredients and pulse until well mixed. Pour half a tablespoon full of the batter on the Silpat and sprinkle lightly with the chopped almonds. It is very important that the dough should not be thicker then 1/16 of a inch. Bake until they are browned lightly. Remove the pan from the oven and place the cookies on a rolling pin to establish the tile shape. They will crisp up fairly quickly, so you must do this right away.

Now you can enjoy the cookies! There is a lot of variations to this cookie. So add grated orange zest to them which is quite nice. You can even make cocoa tulies by replacing 1 ounce of the cake flour with 1 ounce of cocoa powder.

 

Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Roasted garlic becomes a magical thing when roasted in the oven. Add it to mashed potatoes and well you just have to try it. Left over mashed potatoes are great for all kinds of uses. Or even just heated up in the microwave.

2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes
1 whole garlic bulb
salt to taste
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of half and half
freshly ground black pepper


Begin by heating your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the garlic bulb in half and place on a sheet of foil. Now drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven. This will take about thirty minutes to turn a lovely golden brown.

In a large pot for the potatoes, filled with cold water, add the potatoes quartered. Bring to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes. Now drain the potatoes and put them through a potato ricer. If you like chucks of garlic you can add them in as is or conversely you can put them through the ricer too. Now add the half and half, butter and salt & pepper. Top with fresh chives.

If you want you can skip the half & half and butter. For an alternative you can add extra vigin olive oil. This is equally as good.

German Apple Cake

Fall is in the air and the apples have come to market. There is nothing like warm apple cake with vanilla ice cream and carmel sauce. The cake is very simple to make. It stands on it's own with a hot cup of tea too! You must serve it warm, so if it cools, microwave it for a minute or two. Lovely fresh candied nuts would really throw this over the top!

 I added a new blog link from the UK.
Check out Dan Lepard's apple pastry recipes.

3/4 cup of flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 large granny smith apples
2 eggs
grated zest from one lemon
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup dark muscovado sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter melted
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of fresh nutmeg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 tablespoons of dark Jamaican Rum

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8 inch spring form pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Peel the apples and cut slice them on a french mandeline on the thicker side.
Pour the juice and lemon zest over the apples. Now set this aside. In a bowl beat the eggs with a whisk and add the sugars. Mix until well incorporated. In a seperate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices. Stir into the eggs; alternately the flour and butter mixture. Now add the vanilla, rum and apples. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes.