Holidaze Sweets

Holidaze Sweets


having the leisure to just make dessert
instead of a whole holiday dinner,
I took my time figuring out what to do
had a lovely box of pears
I could not eat before they spoiled,
decided to do a pear/almond tart
the internet is a wonderful and distracting place
I found many variations on this theme
deciding to take the best of several recipes
I poached the pears in marsala wine
with cloves and cinnamon
instead of just sugar water
made the almond filling
rather than take short cuts
OK I took one short cut
I didn’t grind my own almond flour
butter, eggs and almond flour
with a bit of almond extract
resulting in a moist almond custard
cookie like filling
could have use marzipan and eggs
but perhaps too sweet with the pears
great under apples
next my favorite short crust with butter
flour, powdered sugar, and an egg
an egg yolk should be added
to the crust, but I just use
the whole egg
what can you do with just one egg white?
in the spirit of the most frequently repeated recipes
added almond flour to the crust
to glaze or not to glaze
that was the question
the suggested glaze was apricot jam
but I had all this nice poaching water
with pear syrup and spiced marsala
added a bit of the jam, more wine
and more sugar
reduced the mixture
made a small tasting sample
might give up dinner
and eat tarts instead

©2010 Sandy Vrooman

Almond Pear Tart

had a couple of hours between activities
and decided I wanted to make a tart
having a short crust in the freezer
(doesn’t everyone?)
some ripe Bartlett pears
and almond nut butter
I set out to see if I could fake
a French tart
mixed three quarters of a cup of nut butter
with an equal amount of sugar
and added an egg
a dash of booze, in this case rum
no need for butter as the almond paste
already had oil
Bartlett pears are not really good for cooking
you can’t poach them, they fall apart
Comice or Anjou pears can be poached
adding a delicate flavor for the pears
and creating the glaze one sees on tarts
I carefully sliced and arranged my raw pears
over the almond filling I had created
baked for about 50 minutes
one can glaze a hot fruit tart with jelly or jam
being fresh out of apple jelly
I melted down some ginger chutney
and brushed it over the tart
I’m thinking of peanut butter and apples
maybe two eggs in the nut layer
to make it lighter

©2010 Sandy Vrooman

Short Crust for Tarts

where to start on this one
I guess by talking about gluten
this is the stuff most prevalent in wheat
your outcome depends
on how you treat the dough
when you knead dough
you create long chain molecules
of gluten, most desirable
when making bread
but would make a pie crust or cookie
with a tough texture
to maintain flakeyness
you need a very light hand
short crust or any crust
involves quick breaking down
of solid lumps of shortening
shortening is “cut” into the flour mix
I do this by hand either
with two knives, one in each hand
running the knives across each other
there is also a pastry cutting tool
and food processors
sort crust is made with butter
flour and some powered sugar
after the cutting results in
a mealy like texture, mix in one egg
(or if you are a French chef, egg yolk)
there are many recipes on the net
if the butter is really soft
chill the dough before using
pat, do not roll into a tart pan
for fruit tarts, prebake about 15 min
for quiche, this is not necessary

©2010 Sandy Vrooman