Red and Blue Fruit Tarts

PRINT Red and Blue Fruit Tarts Yield: 2 8†long tarts # of Servings: 12 Ingredients: 12 oz Puff Pastry  or 1 box store bought frozen puff pastry 1 egg, lightly beaten ½ recipe Pastry Cream¼ cup heavy creamor, Mascarpone Filling:  8 oz mascarpone, room temperature â…“ cup (2.3 oz / 65 g) granulated sugar…

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Red and Blue Fruit Tarts

Blueberry and strawberry pastry on wood board.

There was a strawberry farm on Martha’s Vineyard that grew the most amazing strawberries. Thimble Farms’s berries were the essence of the perfect strawberry – fragrant, juicy, and sweet. During the peak berry season, I would drive the Seven Layers van over there and pick up a few flats (12 pints) for our strawberry desserts.…

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Strawberry Galette

PRINT East 62nd Steet Lemon Cake Yield: 1 galette # of Servings: 8 to 10 Method: Creaming Ingredients: 1 recipe Pâte Brisée Filling:  ¼ cup (1.75 oz / 51 g) sugar 3 tbl (.8 oz / 22 g) ground almonds 3 tbl (1.1 oz / 31 g) all-purpose flour 1 ¾ lb (680 g) fresh…

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Strawberry Galette

PRINT Bread Pudding Yield: 1 galette # of Servings: 8 to 10  Difficulty: Creaming Ingredients: 1 recipe Pâte Brisée Filling:  ¼ cup (1.75 oz / 51 g) sugar 3 tbl (.8 oz / 22 g) ground almonds 3 tbl (1.1 oz / 31 g) all-purpose flour 1 ¾ lb (680 g) fresh strawberries1 , sliced…

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Strawberry Galette

Strawberry galette with flaky crust.

I love galettes but had doubts about one made with strawberries, worrying that they would lose their structure and turn to jam. However, those doubts were totally unfounded, as this Strawberry Galette is a fabulous dessert. The sliced strawberries soften but remain intact, and the baking process intensifies their flavor immensely. I stuck with the…

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Bread Pudding

Homemade bread pudding with powdered sugar.

Bread pudding is a wonderful comfort food dessert, but it is not as straightforward to get right as I initially thought when I started testing recipes. I assumed you just needed to make a custard, pour it over some day-old bread slices with dried fruit in a baking dish, and bake it in a water…

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Chocolate and Caramel Éclairs

Chocolate and orange eclairs on a plate.

Éclairs are among the finest examples of French Pâtisserie. In the classic Chocolate Éclair, a crisp choux pastry shell is filled with a luscious vanilla pastry cream and covered with a bittersweet chocolate glaze. In the Caramel Éclair, a variation picked up from my Patisserie Lanciani days, the pastry cream is flavored with coffee essence,…

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The Friday Baking Project
Chocolate and Caramel Éclairs

PRINT Chocolate and Caramel Éclairs Yield: 12 éclairs Serves: 12 Difficulty:  Advanced Ingredients1 recipe Pâte à Choux1 recipe Pastry Cream 1 cup (8 fl oz) heavy cream Ganache Icing½ cup heavy cream4 oz chocolate, 61% to 64%, wafers or chopped 2 tsp light corn syrup Coffee Flavoring:2 tsp powdered instant espresso, or powdered instant coffeeHot…

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Mocha Pecan Torte

A chocolate cake with a decorative design on top.

In this Mocha Pecan Torte, flavorful pecan flour replaces the almond flour often used in French-style chocolate cakes and tortes.  The mocha glaze, crafted with milk chocolate and coffee, beautifully complements the tortes dark chocolate interior, resulting in a unique and delightful taste sensation. The key ingredient is the pecan flour, also known as pecan…

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The Friday Baking Project
Mocha Pecan Torte

PRINT Yield: 1 8†cake Serves: 10 Method:  Modified creaming Difficulty:  Moderate Ingredients6 oz (170 g) 60% to 64% chocolate, wafers or chopped6 oz (170 g) unsalted butter, cut into six pieces, room temperature 4 large egg yolks, room temperature ½ cup (3.5 oz / 99 g) sugar 1 cup (3.25 oz / 93 g)…

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