Cranberry and Apple Normand Tart

Posted November 22, 2015

Filed under dessert, fruit, Large round mold, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, Tarts and Pies, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

I never have to pleasure to host Thanksgiving, because I am in charge of Christmas dinner every year, but also because my sister-in-law, the only born American in our family, wants to make sure that by hosting it, it will be a true one, with a Turkey, and the potatoes and the dressing.

So this leaves me with making appetizers, desserts and sometimes sides. Every year, I scratch my head trying to figure out what I will be bringing. I have yet to think about the appetizers, but I think that I know what I will be bringing: Feuille d’automne, Tart Tatin and Apple and Cranberry Normand Tart.

This evening, I would like to share with you the Apple and Cranberry tart that I will be serving. It is very different that anything I have eaten before, but it is very good, very filling however. The great part about this dessert is that you can substitute the apples with any fruits that strike you fancy. The recipe was adapted from a recipe from Stephane Glacier called Tarte Normande.

Ingredients for a large tart of about 12-16 persons:

Ingredients for the pie shell:

250 gr. of flour
188 gr. of butter at room temperature ( should be soft to the touch).
7.5 gr. of salt
50 gr. of milk
10 gr. of egg yolks
15 gr. of sugar

Ingredients for the apple mixture:

1000 gr. of apples peeled and sliced in 8.
80 gr of butter
120 gr. of brown sugar
1 tbsp of cinnamon

Ingredients for the normande filling:

also 1 cup of cranberry

225 gr. of eggs
275 gr. of sugar
38 gr. of sugar
190 gr. of melted butter

Ingredients for Mascarpone Whipped Cream

2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 of a mascarpone container ( if you do not have container, substitute with 1/2 cup of cream cheese).
seeds of a vanilla bean, or 1 tbsp of vanilla extract.
2-4 tbsp of sugar.

You will want to get the pie crust done first. In a mixer place the flour, salt and soft butter and mix well until you have a crumble texture.
Then add the other ingredients and mix well until you have an even texture dough.
Place the dough into a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the apples. Peel and slice the apples and set them aside.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter and when the butter is sizzling, add the sliced apples.
Then add the cinnamon and the sugar and bring to boil.
Cook the apples for 10 minutes. Then pour the apples into the large round mold and place them into the oven at a temperature 450 of for another 10 minutes.
When the apples have cooked, remove them from the oven and let them cool.
Take the dough out, place it in between two roulpats (or in between 2 plastic wrap if you do not have a roulpat) and roll it out in a 12-14 inch circle. Place it back into the fridge to cool before placing it into the tart pan.
Meanwhile, prepare the mixture that you will be drizzling over the apples. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the normande filling. Set aside.
Take the dough back out, and gently peel the pie crust off the roulpat and place it onto the grande round ( if you do have a grande round, use a 12 inch round tart mold) that you would have placed onto a medium perforated sheet. Pat the dough down to make sure that it is fitting perfectly inside the tart pan. With a fork, prick the dough all over.
Drain the apples from its juice, and spread them out evenly onto the pie crust.
Disperse 1 cup of fresh cranberries on top of the apples.
Pour the normande mixture over the apples, and cook the tart for 50 minutes at 350.
Prepare the mascarpone whipped cream. In a mixer, place the cream, the vanilla seeds and the sugar, and beat the cream until it is getting thicker, but it is still runny. Add the mascarpone cheese, or the softened cream cheese and beat until it makes hard peaks. Place the cream into a container and keep it cool until you are ready to serve the pie.
Let the tart cool completely before eating. Serve with Mascarpone Whipped Cream. Yum, Yum!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Cranberry and Apple Normande Tart

Servings: 12-16
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: Moderate
Print

Ingredients for a large tart of about 12-16 persons:

Ingredients for the pie shell:

250 gr. of flour
188 gr. of butter at room temperature ( should be soft to the touch).
7.5 gr. of salt
50 gr. of milk
10 gr. of egg yolks
15 gr. of sugar

Ingredients for the apple mixture:

1000 gr. of apples peeled and sliced in 8.
80 gr of butter
120 gr. of brown sugar
1 tbsp of cinnamon

Ingredients for the normande filling:

also 1 cup of cranberries

225 gr. of eggs
275 gr. of sugar
38 gr. of sugar
190 gr. of melted butter

Ingredients for Mascarpone Whipped Cream

2 cups of heavy cream
1/2 of a mascarpone container ( if you do not have container, substitute with 1/2 cup of cream cheese).
seeds of a vanilla bean, or 1 tbsp of vanilla extract.
2-4 tbsp of sugar.

You will want to get the pie crust done first. In a mixer place the flour, salt and soft butter and mix well until you have a crumble texture.
Then add the other ingredients and mix well until you have an even texture dough.
Place the dough into a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the apples. Peel and slice the apples and set them aside.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter and when the butter is sizzling, add the sliced apples. Then add the cinnamon and the sugar and bring to boil.
Cook the apples for 10 minutes. Then pour the apples into the large round mold and place them into the oven at a temperature 450 of for another 10 minutes.
When the apples have cooked, remove them from the oven and let them cool.
Take the dough out, place it in between two roulpat, or in between 2 plastic wrap if you do not have a roulpat, and roll it out in a 12-14 inch circle. Place it back into the fridge to cool before placing it into the tart pan.
Meanwhile, prepare the mixture that you will be drizzling over the apples. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the normande filling and set it aside until you are ready to use it.
Take the dough back out, gently peel it off the roulpat, and place it onto the grande round ( if you do have a grande round, use a 12 inch round tart mold). Pat the dough down to make sure that it is fitting perfectly inside the tart pan. With a fork, prick the dough all over. Drain the apples from its juice, and spread them out evenly onto the pie crust.
Disperse 1 cup of fresh cranberries on top of the apples.
Pour the normande mixture over the apples, and cook the tart for 50 minutes at 350.
Prepare the mascarpone whipped cream. In a mixer, place the cream the vanilla seeds and the sugar, and beat the cream until it is getting thicker, but it is runny. Add the mascarpone cheese, or the softened cream cheese and beat until it makes hard peaks. Place the cream into a container and keep it cool until ready to serve the pie.
Let the tart cool completely before eating. Serve with Mascarpone Whipped Cream. Yum, Yum!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Le Marceau or Scrumptious Chocolate Cake

Posted March 23, 2014

Filed under Cakes, chocolate/ candy, dessert, Fancy European Desserts, Fleximolds, Large round mold, Mousses, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, stainless steel cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

I should have posted this dessert months ago, but time has been so scarce that it is seeing only the light of the day today. I know many of you have asked to get this recipe, so here it is;-) A Vos fourneaux mes chers amis!!!

On birthdays, we are expected to invite the whole family over to celebrate the event. I never understood why, but I have gone along this tradition ever since I have been married to my husband. So since I am to cook, and since we are celebrating someone special, i always always ask what my husband, son, or daughter wish to eat on their special day.

When my oldest child Lisa turned 18 this year, she requested the following : Beef Wellington, Macaroni and Cheese Appetizers, a chocolate dessert and anything in between. I figured the rest out making sure it would please her. I think we had macaroni and cheese appetizers bites, mini crab cakes, truffle flavored potatoes, green beans and a very very yummy dessert.

She loves chocolate mousse and love decadent desserts like me so i thought i would bake a cake out of the wonderful book of Stephane Glacier called Le Marceau from hi s beautiful bool called Tartes, Gouters, and Entremets.

I adapted his recipe since it was designed to make 4 cakes, and not everything turns out the same with American ingredients and ovens.

Chocolate Cake:

57 gr. of yolk
50 gr. of sugar
20 gr. of dark chocolate cocoa
29 gr. of flour
57 gr. of egg whites
12 gr. of sugar
20 gr. of butter

Praline Crunch:

175 gr. of pralin ( recipe here).
63 gr. of milk chocolate
8 gr. of hazelnut oil to be found at the fresh market ( or any fancy grocery store)
125 gr. of feuillantine ( very thin waffer from France, if you do not have any, you may replace with cigarette russes ( it will not be as good, but it will work).

Mousse au chocolat:

20 gr. of water
100 gr. of sugar
67 gr. of yolk
100 gr. of eggs
235 gr. of chocolate ( preferably 65% cocoa (I like Ghiradhelli)
340 gr. of heavy cream

Vanilla Syrup:

125 gr. of water
100 gr. of sugar
2 gr. of vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze:

125 gr. of heavy cream
100 gr. of Syrup ( 60 gr. of sugar, 40 gr. of water brought to boil)
25 gr. of glucose or corn syrup
300 gr. of dark chocolate chips such as bittersweet Ghiradhelli.

First we want to prepare the cake so that it will completely cold when we will assemble to cake.

Beat the egg whites with 12 gr. of sugar until they are forming hard peaks. Set aside.
Place the egg yolks in a kitchen mixer and beat the egg yolks with 50 gr. of sugar until they are foamy and have doubled in volume. Set aside.
Place the butter in a small bowl and microwave for 30 seconds or until it is completely melted. Set aside.
Add 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture carefully so as not to deflate the egg whites.
Mix the flour, cocoa and add it to the egg white/ egg yolk mixture.
Add the rest of the egg whites to it.
Slowly mix in the melted butter.
Pour the batter into a medium round that you would have placed on a medium perforated sheet, and cook in a warm oven of 320 for 20-25 minutes (or until the tooth pick comes out clean).
When the cake is cool. Unmold it from the round mold.
Slice it in half and set it aside.
Let’s do the syrup as well since it needs to cool: place 100 gr of sugar, 125 gr of water, and 1 tbsp of vanilla extract into a small saucepan and bring to boil. When it has, turn the heat off and set it aside to cool.
Let’s prepare the Praline Crunch: Place the chocolate into a small bowl and microwave it for 60-90 seconds or until it is melted and fluid.
Pour this chocolate into a kitchen mixer. Add the pralin, the hazelnut oil and the feuillantine and pulse a few seconds so as to make a paste like texture.
Place the metal round onto a medium silpat that you would have placed on a perforated sheet.
Pour the praline croustillant inside the metal round and spread it out evenly. Place it in the fridge to cure.
Prepare the mousse: in a small saucepan place the water and 100 gr of sugar and cook over high temperature. Cook until you are starting to see large bubbles or your thermometer is showing 118c.
Mix the egg yolks, and eggs into a kitchen mixer until they are becoming foamy. Slowly pour the syrup while you are still beating the eggs. And beat on high until the mixture has cooled down completely.
Set aside.
Meanwhile place the chocolate into a medium sized bowl and cook for 90 seconds to 2 minutes until it is melted and free if lumps. You may need to add 30 more seconds to get to the right consistency. Set aside.
In another kitchen mixer, beat the cream into a soft peak whipped cream.
With a spatula carefully fold in the whipped cream into the chocolate.
Whisk the mixture to get an even mixture.
Add the egg mixture and mix well until the mixture is homogeneous.
Yeah, now it is time to assemble the cake!! With a spatula, spread a bit of the mousse atop of the pralin layer.
Pour the syrup into a rectangular cookie sheet and soak up the cake with that syrup. You will need to either turn the cake, or pour some on top of the cake to make sure that the cake is throughly soaked with that syrup.
Place one cake on top of the mousse. Press hard so as to glue the cake to the mousse.
Top the cake with 1/2 of the mousse.
Place the other half of the cake.
Cover the cake with the remainder of the mousse.
Place the cake in the freezer to set at least one hour.
Meanwhile prepare the chocolate glaze. In a microwavable container, pour in the cream, syrup, and the glucose and cook for 1 minute in the microwave or until it is hot. Pour the mixture over the chocolate chips that you would have placed into a bowl. Let the mixture sit for a while to let the chocolate chips melt on their own.
After 1-2 minutes, start stirring. Let the mixture cool a bit before glazing the cake.
Place the cake onto a cooling rack, and pour the ganache over the cake.
Collect the ganache that dripped down and pour it over the cake again. Be careful to only use “clean ganache” without cake debris so that the cake will look shiny and even.
Place the cake into the fridge to cool.
Decorate the cake as you wish. I used vanilla flavored macarons;-)
Et voila!!! Miam , miam. Definitely one of the best cake I have ever made!!! Merci Stephane!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Raspberry and Rose Napoleon

Posted October 7, 2013

Filed under What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

I love living here in the States. I love the weather, the people, the opportunity, everything.

If there is something that I miss, though, it is my family. Luckily as a teacher I have my summer off which gives me the time and opportunity to travel. So every year for the past 10 years, Lisa, Theo and myself ( or les Trois Mousquetaires, as we like to call each others) we travel, visit family and sightsee France and Europe.

This year it was the surrounding of Paris with all its beautiful cattles: Fountainebleau, Chantilly, VilleComte…
and Berlin. If our trip is different every year, there is one thing that stays constant, it is our usual lunch at La duree. We have made it our yearly treat. we love to go there because the setting is beautiful, the food is wonderful and it is just fun to be there;-). Plus the desserts over there are always out of this world!!!

I am sure that you can already guess what i order each time?!? Yes, it is chocolate, of course. My dessert this year looked like this… pretty?! right;-)

Theo ordered a very fancy ice-cream, and lisa ordered a rose and raspberry napoleon.

I did not say a word when she ordered that dessert because i did not want to dissuade her from her choice, but I did not think that she would like the rose flavor since she does not like my rose macaron. But to my surprise, she loved it, loved it.

Well this Sunday, for our dessert treat I decided to make that for our dessert. I somewhat followed the recipe that Stephane Glacier propose in his book Tartes, Gouters, et Entremets, but I changed a few things to make it easier.

This dessert looks very hard to make, BUT IT IS NOT so I hope that you will give it a try. It is worth it. Yes!!!

Proof??? my daughter asked I made two so that she would not have to share hers;-)

Ingredients for a square for 4 people:

1 puff pastry package thawed at room temperature for 40 minutes.
1 box of raspberry box of about 6 oz.
1/4 cup of granulated sugar for the puff pastries.

Ingredients for the Creme Patissiere, or Pastry cream:

250 gr. or 1 1/4 cup of whole milk,
3 egg yolks,
40 gr. or 3 tbsp of granulated sugar,
10 gr. or 3 tsp. of flour,
10 gr. or 3 tsp. of corn flour,
a pinch of salt,
1 stick of butter.
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of rose extract.

Place the puff pastry sheet on the roulpat and with a rolling-pin, spread the dough out to make a rectangle of 13″ by 9.5″.
Place the pastry onto a silpat that you would have previously placed on a perforated sheet. With a fork, prick the pastry.
Place another silpat on top, and place it in the fridge. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes to an hour.
Turn the oven to 356.
Remove the pastry from the fridge. When the oven is at temperature, place another perforated sheet above the silpat to prevent the dough from rising when it will cook in the oven.
Bake the puff pastry for 30 minutes. It should be golden.
Remove the puff pastry from the oven.
Turn the oven to 450.
Sprinkle some sugar all over the baked pastries and when the oven is at 450, place the pastry back into the oven for 6-7 minutes or until the sugar has completely melted and has become caramel. Be careful to watch that the sugar is not burning.
While the puff pastry is cooking, prepare the mousseline cream.
In a small saucepan warm up the milk and bring the mixture to boil.
Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the mixture becomes whitish.
Add the flour and the corn starch to the eggs and mix.
Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture and stir.
Place the milk/ egg mixture back onto the stove and cook until the mixture is bubbling and is becoming really thick. Remove the pastry cream from the stove, place it into a bowl, add the vanilla and stir well.
Cover it tightly with a plastic wrap and let it cool.
When the cream is completly cool, place it in kitchen mixer. Add the soft butter and whip until the mixture is fluffy. Add the 1/2 tsp of rose extract. Set aside.
Remove the pastry from the oven, and let it cool completly.
Let the puff pastries cool completely before assembling the dessert.
With a sharp knife, cut each pastry into 2 rectangles of 9″ by 6″.
Place one rectangle on a plate, and place rasberries all around the rectangle. Pipe the cream inside the rectangle of raspberry. Place a few more rasberry in the middle of the rectangle to create leverage for the top tier of the cake.
Top the cream with another rectangle of cooked pastry.
With the piping bag and the small round tip, pipe the cream all over the second rectangle.
Place another rectangle atop the cream.
Cut a waxed paper, or aluminium a bit smaller than the top rectangle.
Lay it on the top puff pastry, and with a powdered sugar sifter, sprinkle some sugar for decoration. Add a few fruits et voila!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!

Les Tendresses… or Chocolate Darlings

Posted August 2, 2013

Filed under Cakes, dessert, Fancy European Desserts, Fleximolds, Recipe with Demarle Cookware, What's Up in Cecile's Kitchen

Two weeks ago I went to the Demarle Convention in Santa Ana. As a consultant for the company I always get energized by going to such event. I connect with other consultant and we share tips and ideas on becoming more successful.

They are so many meetings, workshops and speakers that I always learn so so much. The event usually last 4 days. Even though it is meetings and workshops for 4 days, it is much fun because it is a bit of ” me time”;-), no husband to answer to, or children to take care of. Nice!!!

Four days in between girls would have been nice on itself, but to top it off the company hired a World Known Chef of the name of Stephane Glacier to do several cooking workshops during the event. What a treat! We learned so much!!!

Today i would like to share with you one of the recipe he was so courteous to share. It is a quick recipe, very easy to make, to adapt and to dress up. In my eyes, a winner.

Ingredients for 12 mini desserts:

190 gr. or 6.7 oz. of almond powder ( 3/4 cup)
190 gr. or about 6.7 oz of sugar (3/4 cup)
190 gr. or about 3 eggs
100 gr. or about 7 tbsp. of butter
25 gr. or about 1 oz. of flour (1 tbsp + 2 tsp)

For the chocolate Ganache:

100 gr. or about 7 oz. of heavy cream
15 gr. or about 0.5 oz. of honey
100 gr. or about 7 oz. of chocolate chips ( preferably European or Ghiradhelli)
15 gr. or about 0.5 oz of butter

Soaking Syrup:

200 gr. or about 7 oz. of water
100 gr. or about 3.5 oz of sugar

Turn the oven to 400.
In a regular-sized bowl, mix the almond and the sugar.
Then add the eggs a bit at a time. Add the flour and the melted butter. Don’t over beat!
Pour the content of the bowl into a large ziploc bag. Cut the corner of the bag with scissors and fill in the flexipan of your choice. I used the doughnut tray.
Place a silpat flat to cover the flexipan. ( it will prevent the cake from rising too much).
Place the flexipan onto a medium perforated sheet and cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Then turn the flexipan around to even out the baking and cook for another 10-12 minutes.
While the darlings are cooking, prepare the ganache and the syrup.
In a small saucepan, cook the water and the sugar until the sugar has dissolved. ( if you want to add a yummy orange flavor, add a tablespoon of the Blood orange olive oil in the syrup if you do not have orange extract).Set aside.
Place the chocolate chips into a small bowl. Then microwave the cream and the honey for 1 minute and pour the hot cream over the chips. ( Add 1 tablespoon of orange flavored olive oil again in the ganache to flavor it).Let it sit a while.
With a small whisk, mix the cream slowly to make the ganache. Add the soft butter and let the mixture cool at room temperature.
When baked, remove the flexipan from the oven and let it cool before removing the silpat and unmolding the cakes.
Dip the warm cakes into the syrup and place them onto a cooling rack to drain and cool.
Pour the ganache into a piping bag and pipe rosette on top of the litlle cake. Et voila!!! Un vrai Delice;-)