Sunny-Side Up Apricot (Plum) Pastries

These became plum pastries for me,  as apricots will not be found in our grocery store or markets for another nine months.  And oddly enough it has been warm enough here to keep the plum and peach season lasting a bit longer than normal. No complaints here.   Although I do lose the effect of sunny side up "eggs" as intended.  

This recipe was the first in our puff pastry month with Tuesdays with Dorie.  I had all intentions of making the puff pastry myself, especially after reading the recipe as it seemed no harder and less fussy than croissant dough.  But I decided to take it easy, stay on schedule and use some of the local, awesome puff pastry dough from Grand Central Bakery.  

Overall, this turned out well, and with a few minor changes I might make these again.  I would cut the circles larger and roll the dough out less as I feel these were rolled too thin.  I would use a smaller fruit to help the ends puff up more.  I would continue using the pastry cream recipe with vanilla beans and maybe double it as it was so tasty.  I would pull the skins off the poached  fruit to help with appearances (no effect on taste).  And I would heavily sugar the rolling surface; I only lightly dusted mine, and the pastry could have stood up to more. 

I am looking forward to the second puff pastry recipe in a few weeks.  My dough scraps are in the freezer, waiting. 

Rhiannon

French Apple Tart

This is a gorgeous tart.  And if something can taste gorgeous as well, this tart does.  The recipe reads something similar to an open faced apple pie, starting with pastry dough as a base and blind baking it in the pan.  But then it starts to deviate, with roasting the apples and creating the filling separately.  As I learned with Blueberry- Nectarine Pie, this step is often utilized by pie makers as well, in order to properly adjust the filling for flavor and set prior to baking the pie.  Then the crust and filling are topped with thinly sliced apples brushed with butter and sprinkled with sugar.

It all sounds so simple when I write it out like that, but in reality this creation took me three days to make.  Day 1, I made the dough.  Day 2, I made the filling.  Day 3, I did the blind baking and assembling of the tart.  This three day spread actually made this tart enjoyable and exciting to make.  Had I made it in one day, I think I would have been overwhelmed by all the steps, albeit simple steps.

A few deviations of note: I used whatever apples I had in the fridge (Gala? and Fuji?) and they were old and battered.  The recipe calls for Granny Smiths which I used for the top only.  This worked out fine, probably a bit sweeter.  I also used whole wheat bread crumbs for the "fresh, fluffy breadcrumbs".  No harm there either.   And alas, I am a week late for the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group.  I'll get on target soon, maybe next week with foccacia...


Making the filling:

my random apples

apples with sugar and cinnamon

roasting the apples

WW breadcrumbs

mashing the baked apples

the filling

Prepping the crust:

making the "ledge"

trimming

the french touch

bean pie weights

blind baked

Putting it all together:

filled

1st layer

2nd layer and rosette

And Rhiannon...

Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

For this post, my blog should be named "Baking with Quinn", Rhiannon's older brother.  This simple recipe was one my son could almost do on his own.  Almost.  It did require him to wash his hands multiple times about which he was not too excited; he would have preferred to keep them eggy and buttery and sugary.  So here he is mixing the shortening with the flour and sugar, some of which would become the crumb topping.

And here he is beating the eggs.  He preferred using a spoon and a fork for this.

And fast forward a few steps (literally a few, as there weren't too many steps to this recipe) and here he is filling the muffin tins.

After 25 minutes in the oven, here they were ready to eat.  Simple, easy muffins.  Simple flavors, too.  Nothing extraordinary but solid.

He didn't even make a big mess:

We did this recipe while on a weekend away to Central Oregon with some friends.  My friend Mark volunteered to clean up some of the mess we did make.  And Rhiannon got some much needed time in the dry desert.

For the recipe check out Alisa's blog at easier than pie.

Popovers

Popovers proved to be pretty darn easy.  Pour ingredients into blender.  Pour mixture into muffin tins.  Bake.  Eat.  (It only could be made easier with an immersion blender, of which I will most certainly use next time.)

But even with this simple recipe, I managed to have challenges, primarily with the bake times and temps.  The recipe calls for baking for 25 minutes at 425 followed by 15-20 minutes at 350.   And no opening the door, ever.  Well, my oven has a not-so-great window to see in and at about 23 minutes these did not look poofed up high enough (as much as I could tell).   So I extended the bake time to 28 minutes and at that time I realized my mistake by ever so slight smell of burnt dough wafting through the house.  I quickly turned the heat down but the damage was done.  The outer crust was a bit crispy and burnt.  The insides were not so custardy, but they tasted fine (the insides only).  My husband managed to eat 4 in one sitting so they obviously were not that bad.  And one could tell what they were  supposed to be like.

So next time, I will trust the recipe and my oven and my immersion blender...










And here is Rhiannon, excited for her popover; this is the first recipe she has been able to eat!

For the full recipe check out the following hosts' blogs:
Vintage Kitchen Notes
Bake with Amy