As much as I love cream, I tend to make substitutions or remove heavy cream entirely when I can (pastry creams, curds and sauces). If I'm eating cream, it's going to be in whipped cream frosting or icecream and maybe a tiny sliver of whipping cream pound cake or else I feel kind of guilty. When I decided to substitute the cream for milk, I knew it wouldn't be as decadent or rich and that I've possibly converted it from blanc-manger to milk jello, but I did save a lot of calories from saturated fat! Surprisingly the milk jello wasn't so bad...ok, that's what I wish was true. I really didn't like the crumbliness of the ground almonds, but maybe it would have been different if I used cream. I don't think this even counts as a TWD anymore and I wasn't even going to blog about it, but I was too proud of how it didn't fall apart from unmolding because I forgot to grease.
Thanks so much to Susan of Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy for choosing this recipe! You can find the recipe on her blog or in Dorie's book. Don't forget to check out the TWD blogroll!
The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.
I'm not a huge fan of crusts or tarts in general so I quartered the crust and thirded the frangipane. Luckily, I had the right amount of everything because it gets kind of annoying when the small containers start to take over the fridge. I used strawberry jam for 2 tarts and left it plain for one tart because I wasn't sure how much I would like the strawberry and almond together. I remember making frangipane with TWD and really enjoyed the almond filling. Instead of creaming, I used a mini attachment for my handmixer that works like a food processor since there was so little filling and I didn't want the ingredients to stir around the bottom of the mixer bowl. This is how Dorie makes it and it's great because there is no curdling. You're left with a nicely emulsified thick almond cream. The bakewell tart didn't really change my mind about tarts, but I'm more of a cake and cookie girl.
I was so excited when this recipe was chosen because it finally gave me the excuse to make a crumb cake! I've bookmarked so many, but never got to making any of them because there was always something else I had to try instead. Plus, I was a little worried about the crumb topping turning all soggy on me. I was kind of rushed when I was making this and somehow I poured 3/4 cup of buttermilk after reading 1/2 cup. Luckily the batter was so thick and it all worked out in the end! Also, cranberries have less moisture than blueberries so I guess the extra liquid was ok. I omitted the spices and added 1/4 tsp of almond extract. The combination of cranberries and almond was really nice and next time I'm going to add more of each, since you can't even tell I added cranberries along with a dash of cinnamon. The sourness of the cranberries helped to cut some of the sweetness in the topping, which was a really nice contrast! I loved making this because I love cake batter, not uncooked though, just looking at how incredibly smooth and creamy it is. Umm the truth is.. I'm not a batter licker and it's not because of the raw eggs, but the raw flour. Maybe it just brings back childhood nightmares about oatmeal or cream of wheat..haha. I threw all the crumb ingredients together (minus 2 tablespoons of butter and brown sugar, which I added at the end because I forgot) in the stand mixer and mixed it using the paddle attachment because I was too lazy to clean the food processor. The only problem was I was left with something that looked more like wet sand than coarse crumbs. I had a feeling my sand would just melt into the batter so I squeezed a handful of it and dropped it on top to form as many large clumps as possible. The crumb topping was a hit and dangerously addicting!
Thanks to Sihan of Befuddlement for choosing this recipe! The recipe can be found on her blog and here. Don't forget to visit the TWD Blogroll!
Still suffering from the aftermath of holiday eating, I decided to omit the tart shell and just bake the filling with pears. Baking just the filling in a tart pan without actual tart dough would probably start a fire in the oven and since I don't have a tart pan to begin with, it was my chance to use my brand new ramekins from Christmas! Halving the recipe, I managed to fill 2 ramekins with the almond cream, although after seeing the filling rise up like a cake in the oven, I should have divided the filling among 3 or 4. This mini filling job was perfect in my sort of 'food processor' attachment of my handmixer. I didn't have any canned fruit and I was too lazy to cook fresh ones so I threw in some defrosted raspberries. I was only able to carefully pick out a few whole ones and the rest was mush.
The almond cream was absolutely delicious! I'm so glad Dorie picked this recipe, because it's something that looks sophisticated (maybe not mine..haha), but easy to make.
Thanks to Dorie for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her site and in her book Baking: From my Home to Yours Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!
