FiG TART

Thank god september has finally come and you know what this means? It means FiGS (drum beats)!!!!!!! Yes I am excited. Figs are probably my favorite fruit (tough one considering I am a fruit lover and there's soooo many incredible fruits out there). Did you know that fig trees had genras? True story. A femal fig tree can't have fruits if there is not a male fig tree near by. How romantic, eh!?

This fig tart is fresh, light, summery and super easy! The cream base is made of mascarpone and the dough is just crunchy enough. A poem. This pictures are from the small version I made (a nice little tartelette) but the recipe works for a big yummmy one.

iNGREDiENTS:

• 10 figs
• 250 gr mascarpone
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoon cane organic sugar
• 1 pie dough (recipe over here)

RECiPE:

• Preheat oven at 200°C (390°F)
• Flour your counter and roll out the dough. I used a rectangle mold (find it more classy) but it works just as fine with a round classic one.
• Put your dough in your mold on top of a parchment paper (so it won't stick and it'll be easier to take out once it's baked)
• Make some holes in the dough with a fork or a knife. Cover with another parchment paper and spread some beans or rice on top. Bake the dough for 10 minutes.
• Take the beans and parchment paper out and bake for another 15 minutes. The dough must be cooked, a little brown but not too much. 
• Leave pie shell to cool.
• Prepare the cream by mixing: mascarpone + sugar + heavy cream + beaten egg white.
• Clean and cut figs in half.
• Spread mascarpone cream onto cooled pie shell.
• Add figs on top the nicest way you can.
• ET VOiLA !

SALTED CARAMEL MOLTEN CAKES

I am not gonna lie. This recipe is absolutly decadent. But oh god so easy and so good :)

 

I am not using here a classic caramel sauce but some kind of dulce de leche (or an acceptable version of it). To people who don't know what dulce de leche is, (damn! they must be so miserable) we do say it's like some sort of caramel. Well, it is made with sugar and milk so I guess it does make sense but dulce de leche is more thick then any caramel. The texture is so great. You can eat dulce de leche with crepes, with flan (my favorite), with a banana or just from the jar (mmh acctualy maybe that's my favorite). Good luck with not eating all the jar once you start! Anyway, Argentinan people eat dulce de leche all the time with everything. I don't think they realise a dessert can be made without it but eh, how can we blame them?

Dulce de leche is not the easiest thing to find so this dessert is more of a sweet condensed milk version but the result is really good anyway. You can do this recipe with real dulce de leche and end up with a blow minding (and browner) dessert. I prefer to eat them cold because you can really taste the caramel better but hot with some vanilla icecream is totally acceptable !


iNGREDiENTS:
-make 8 indivudual medium size cakes or 15 smaller ones- (I recommand the big ones)

• 300 gr dulce de leche (or a can of sweet condensed milk)
• 70 gr butter
• 80 gr sugar
• 100 gr all purpose flour
• 4 eggs 
• a good pinch of flaky sea salt
• a few raspberries for decoration  (optional)

RECiPE:

• If you are making your own Dulce de leche, place the sweet condensed milk can in a pressure cooker full of boiling water and cook for about one hour. Be sure that the can is always cover with water, adding some if needed while it cooks. If you don't have a pressure cooker, a huge pan of water will work just fine.
• Preheat oven at 200°C (390°F)
• In a bowl, blanch eggs with sugar.
• Add flour and fleur de sel. Beat again.
• Mix butter with 250 gr of dulce de leche and then add to the batter.
• Spread batter into individual silicone molds. (up to 3/4 of the mold).
• In the center of each cake, spread a teaspoon of dulce de leche (using the 50 gr left).
• Bake for about 10 minutes. The center should stay very soft, almost uncooked. 
• ET VOiLA ! 

RED FRUiTS TiRAMiSU

Classic coffe Tiramisu is one of the best Italian desserts, that's no news. Today I felt like a more fresh and summery version. There is still creamy and delicious mascarpone and ladyfinger biscuits but I droped coffee for raspberry coulis and added red fruits. If you like Tiramisu you have to try this recipe, it is unbelievably creamy yummy and delicate. I am making undividual portions here but a big one works as fine.

iNGREDiENTS:
-serve 4-

• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 2 eggs (2 whites and 1 yolk)
• 80 gr icing sugar
• 1/2 cup of Blueberries
• 1/2 cup Strawberries cut in pieces (keep entire ones for decoration)
• 1/4 cup  + 130 gr Raspberries
• 30 gr sugar
• 16 ladyfingers biscuits

RECiPE:

• Start by making the coulis:
• In a saucepan over medium high heat, add 130 gr raspberries + 30 gr sugar + 3 tbsp water. Cook for 10min, crushing raspberries. Taste and add sugar if needed. This will depend on the acidity of your raspberries. Reserve.
• In a bowl, beat mascarpone + icing sugar + one egg yolk.
• In another bowl, beat 2 egg whites until frothy.
• Add beaten egg whites to mascarpone mixture.
• Dip fingerlady biscuits into cooled raspberries coulis (be careful not to break them)
• Here I am making individual servings but you can also make a big one. In that case just assemble the tiramisu like you would with a classic coffee one (only adding some fruits in the middle)
• If you are making individual servings:
• In your serving glass assemble tiramisu: first biscuits (press them well against the glass) then a bit of mascarpone mixture, then a bit of red fruits and finish covering with mascarpone again. 
• Repeat 4 times. 
• Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours. (It's even more delicious after a night in the fridge but don't leave it longer because there is some uncooked egg in there)
• Decorate with fresh fruits on top (and maybe a mint leaf) before serving.
• ET VOiLA!

FLORENTiNES

This recipe is based on Ottolenghi's florentine recipe. It is incredibly easy and goes perfecly with chocolate mousse or any ice cream or sorbet. It's perfect if you don't have the time to make a complicated dessert but still want to bake something. You can prepare them a few days in advance and store them in a airtight container. Plus, it's very light, the orange zest gives a great flavor and you can even try to convince yourself it's pretty healthy!

iNGREDiENTS:

• 2 egg whites
• 100 gr icing sugar
• 250 gr flaked almonds
• grated zest of 1 orange

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 150°C (300°F).
• Stir all your ingredients in a bowl: egg whites + icing sugar + almonds + zest.
• Dip you hand in a bowl of water and pick up portions of the mix to make little mounds on a pre-oil parchment paper. Be sure to spaced them apart (like for cookies).
• Dip a fork in water and flatten each biscuit very thinly. Make them as thin as possible without creating too many gaps. (about 8cm in diameter)
• Bake for 12 minutes or until the biscuit are golden brown.
• Allow to cool and remove biscuits gently with a palette knife. 
• ET VOiLA !

TAPiOCA iN COCONUT MiLK

I first ate this dessert a few weeks ago. It's very light and delicate. Perfect choice after a heavy dinner and more original then a classic rice pudding. You can also add cubes of fresh mango to give it a more fruity and fresh flavor. I personally like it better the simple way. This may not look yummy to you so you will just have to trust me when I tell you it's delicious ! (and super easy to make!)

iNGREDiENTS:
-serve 4-

• 50 gr tapioca (as small as you can get)
• 300 ml (1 cup + 1/4 cup) coconut mik
• 275 ml (1 cup) milk
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 vanilla bean
• 6 tbsp coconut chips

RECiPE:

• Stir together in a bowl: coconut milk + milk + vanilla seeds (cut your vanilla bean in half lengthwise and remove seeds). Set aside. The milk will get a nice vanilla flavor.
• Put some water to boil in a pan over hight eat. Once it's boiling, add tapioca and reduce the heat to medium high.
• Cook until the tapioca becomes translucent (about 10 minutes for me but it depends on the tapioca you bought. just check the package. The tapioca needs to be soft).
• Drain tapioca and pass it under cold water so it will stop cooking.
• Add tapioca to milk and stir.
• Add 3 tablespoon of sugar and stir again. Taste. If it's not sweet enough add one more tablespoons of sugar or more according to taste.
• Place in the fridge for a few hours.
• Dress the tapioca into individual cups and sprinkle with coconut chips.
• This recipe is even better the day after (in that case, wait until the dressing to add the coconut chips.)
• ET VOiLA !

LEMON, ALMOND & RED FRUiT CAKE

I made a brunch for 15 people this week-end! I wished I had more time so I would have made descent pictures and video recipes but this is the only recipe that will come out of this well acclaimed brunch. (And i'm not bragging. I mean I am but i'm just trying to truly transcribe the general mood of the event :p) This time, brunch rimed with garlic potatoes, tomato beans, bagels, scones, pancakes, granola, brioche and more. I know it's cruel to just talk about it but I'll make a brunch section one day I promess!

So let's talk about this cake. Almonds brings a very dense and comforting texture. It's very moist, flavorful and it changes from the usual tea cakes. Instead of one big cake you can also make individual ones. In that case, you will make about 8 small ones with this recipe and the cooking time will be about 30min.

iNGREDiENTS:

• 250 gr butter
• 280 gr sugar
• 100 gr flour
• 250 gr ground almonds
• 5 eggs
• grated zest of 2 lemons + 60 ml of juice
• 150 gr red fruits (I used a frozen mix but you can use only raspberries or blueberries if you like. and fresh is always better of course)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 170°C (350°F)
• Mix flour and ground almonds and set aside.
• Using an electric mixer, or by hand, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Break eggs and mix lightly in a bowl.
• Gradually add beaten eggs to sugar and butter mixture, beating well until each little addition of eggs.
• Add almonds and flour mixture. Stir.
• Add lemon zest + lemon juice + fruits.
• Butter a bakingpan and fill with cake batter.
• Bake for about one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean of the middle of the cake.
• ET VOiLÀ!

CHOCOLATE FONDANT

 I'm really sorry to inform you that I can't post a video recipe this week. And I'm really happy to inform you that I decided to post something anyways.

 So today, I choose to make a very classic but "never a disappointment" recipe: Chocolate fondant! As you can guess, this is not the healthiest dessert you can have but sometimes bad is good (as long as you don't eat the entire cake on your own! And i'm not giving you a bad idea here. I said I'm not!).

This great recipe is based on Pierre Hermé's recipe. I figured Pierre (let's pretend I can call him that, just because we're both french) was the person I could count on to present you my first chocolate post. I added caramels (you will soon realize I put them anywhere I can) and some nuts. (chocolate that goes with nuts inside works as well. In that case don't add the tbsp of nuts)

iNGREDIENTS:

- serve 8 -

• 250 gr dark chocolate ( not less then 85% cacao)
• 250 gr butter at room temperature
• 200 gr cane sugar
• 4 eggs
• 70 gr all purpose flour
• 6 caramels
• 1 tbsp of nuts (cut in tiny pieces)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 180°C (350°F)
• Melt your chocolate and leave to cool.
• In a mixer, mix butter and the sugar at medium speed during 4 minutes.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing one minute between each egg.
• Add chocolate, caramels (cut in small pieces) and the chopped nuts to the batter. Stir.
• Add all purpose flour and stir again.
• Put the batter in your prepared baking pan and give the top some uniformity with your spatula. (here I used a rectangle baking pan to bring some originality - I usually only use it to make tarts-. But a round classic one will make the cake a bit lighter which is not bad. It's your choice!)
• Bake for 30 minutes, until the cake gets lightly  bigger and that the top is a bit crackled.
• Leave to cool and take out of the baking pan.
• ET VOiLÀ !

This cake goes perfectly with some vanilla ice cream.

CHOUQUETTES (CHOUX PUFFS)

  

In France you can find Chouquettes in most bakeries. They are fluffy, delicious and not complicated to make. It's basically "pâte à choux" (puff pastry) with pearl sugar on top. Plus, once you know how to make the choux, you can use them for Profiteroles as well (you know, with vanilla ice cream inside and chocolate sauce on top).

iNGREDiENTS:

-makes about 40 choux-

• 125 gr of water
• 125 gr milk
• a pinch of salt
• 25 gr sugar (organic cane sugar is the best)
• a pinch of vanilla sugar
• 100 gr butter
• 140 gr all purpose flour
• 4 eggs
• pearl sugar (you can buy some in a bakery)

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 175°C (350°F)
• In a saucepan boil: water + milk + sugar + salt + butter.
• Stir in flour and cook for two minutes.
• Transfer to the mixer with the paddle attachment and mix for three minutes. (by hand works as well)
• Add the eggs, one at a time while you keep mixing.
• Scrape into a piping bag, fitted with a 12mm nozzle. And pipe little balls, around 3cm wide and 2cm high over a baking sheet. If you don't have a piping bag, you can just use a plastic one (used to froze food) or make little balls with 2 spoons. In that case, pick up the dough with one spoon and scrap it onto the baking sheet with the other.
• Sprinkle with pearl sugar. Be generous as some will fall off as the puff up in the oven.  And press them in gently so they stick to the dough.
• Bake for 35mintues or until the puffs are lightly golden-brown.
• ET VOiLA!

APPLE TARTE TATiN

The best dessert in the world is not that complicated!

iNGREDiENTS:

• A pie dough (recipe here. It's really not complicated to make your own and much better then a bought one.)
• 200 gr cane organic sugar (preferable but not essential)
• 80 gr of butter
• 6 big apples (If you like the contrast of sweet and sour the "canada" variety is great. If not "pink lady" is nice too)
• 3 tbsp of orange-flower water.

RECiPE:

• Start by making the dough (recipe here)
• Preheat your oven at 180°C (350°F)
• Peel the apples, and halve and core them as well. This is how i make it in the video but if you prefer a thinner TATiN (like in the photographies, cut them in 4 pieces.)
• Put them in a bowl with a tablespoon of sugar and the orange-flower water. Leave it to infuse while you make the caramel.
• Over medium eat, melt the sugar and butter in a pan. Don't be scared to let the caramel get to a nice dark color but be really careful not to burn it. The timeliest between this two moments is thin.
• Add the apples to the caramel and leave them to cook for 10min on low eat.
• Put the apples inside a 20cm mold. Cover with the caramel.
• Cover the mold with the pie dough, folding the edges of the dough inside the mold.
• Bake for about 40min at 180°C (350°F)
• Don't wait for the Tatin to get cold to take it out of the mold. Put a plate on top of the mold and turn it around. The Tatin should fall easily from the mold.
• Serve with a dollop of crème fraîche or with vanilla ice-cream and eat immediately.
• Apple Tarte Tatin can be frozen but it's tastier to eat it just out of the oven. ET VOiLÀ !

LEMON TART

This lemon tart is quite easy to make and has always the must terrific effect on guests!
Check out the video recipe:

You can also find the video recipe of the pie dough. 

iNGREDiENTS:

• A pie dough (recipe here)
• 130 gr cane organic Sugar (preferable but not essential)
• 4 eggs
• 60g creme fraîche (heavy cream)
• 3 lemons (grated zest + juice) I also like to add the zest of half a tangerine.

RECiPE:

• Preheat your oven at 200°C (390°F)
• Stir the sugar and lemon zest (and tangerine if you are using some) together so it will infuse and get a nice flavor.
• Flour your counter and roll out the dough. Here, I use a rectangle mold but it works just as fine with a round classic one.
• Put your dough in your mold on top of a parchment paper (so it won't stick and it'll be easier to take out once it's baked)
• Make some holes in the dough with a fork or a knife. Cover with another parchment paper and spread some beans or rice on top. Bake the dough for 10minutes.
• Take the beans and parchment paper out and bake for another 5 minutes.
• In a mixing ball, stir together: the sugar and zest mixture and the eggs.
• Beat until it's foamy. About 5 minutes.
• Add the creme fraîche and lemon juice and mix again.
• Pour this preparation on the pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.
• The top must get darker. Let cool and take out of the mold.
• ET VOiLÀ!

PiE DOUGH

You can use this recipe for any kind of sweet tart but you can also use it for a vegetable tart. Just substitute the sugar by any herb that you like.

iNGREDiENTS:

• 100 gr of butter
• 175 gr all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (organic cane sugar if possible)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 60 ml of buttermilk (or 2 tablespoon of heavy cream)

RECiPE:

• Cut the butter into small pieces and leave it to cool in the fridge.
• Sift together in a mixing ball: flour + sugar + salt. (if you don't have a mixing ball you can just use your little hands. Just be sure to have all your ingredients at room temperature)
• Add butter and keep mixing for a minute or two.
• By hand pinch flat any large pieces of butter that remain.
• Add buttermilk and keep mixing until the dough comes together, about 30 seconds.
• The dough should be tacky but not sticky.
• Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for a least one hour before rolling out.
• ET VOiLÀ!

I like to double the recipe and froze the dough so i can have some whenever I need.