Strawberry Tarts : Tarte aux Fraises

I pretty much like anything when it comes in a “mini” form like these Tarts aux Fraises.  Mini Strawberry Tarts would make a perfect Valentine’s Day dessert.  I found the recipe in my copy of My French Kitchen by Joanne Harris.  She is also the author of the book Chocolat that was also made into that wonderful movie starring Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche.

The cookbook is filled with wonderful photos and French recipes.  This one caught my eye because the pastry crust calls for ground almonds.  I have a lot of almond flour because I stocked up back when I was living my obsession of learning how to make French Macarons.  The almond flour I needed for the macarons wasn’t always easy to find so whenever I saw it, I bought it. I have 2 and a half bags of the stuff so I am happy to now have another use for it and I can start to use up my supply before it expires on me.  And actually, there really is something nice about the flavor of something made with ground almonds. 

Almond Pastry

1 1/3 cups flour

1/2 cup (2 ounces) ground almonds (almond flour)

3/4 cups (  1 and 3/4 sticks of butter, cut into small pieces)

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 to 3 large egg yolks, beaten (I used 3)

Filling

1/2 cup red currant jelly

2 pounds strawberries, washed and cut into small pieces.

For the pastry, mix the flour and ground almonds in a bowl.  Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles coarse bred crumbs.  Mix in the brown sugar.  Add the egg yolks until the ingredients come together into a ball of dough.  Lightly knead the dough on a cool, floured work surface to ensure the pastry is evenly blended.  Wrap and chill in the refrigerator to rest for 40 minutes.

Lightly butter your tart pans if you are making mini tarts.  This recipe will also make a crust for a 10-inch tart.  Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface.  Gently line your pan with the pastry dough and place in the refrigerator to chill and relax for 20 minutes. 

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Line your pastry shells with parchment paper.  (I took the tart pan and traced the bottom of it with a pencil onto the parchment paper and then cut the shape out with scissors.  Turn the parchment paper over so that the lead from the pencil does not come in contact with your food.)  Fill your tart with dried beans or pastry weights and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove the paper and the beans, reduce the heat to 300 degrees and bake for and additional 25 minutes until the tart shell is golden and set.  Caution:  if you are using the mini tart pans and not the 10 inch tart pan size, watch your tarts so that they do not overcook or burn.  I would suggest you check on them after 10 to 15 minutes or so and keep your eye on them. )  Remove from the oven and cool.

Gently heat the jelly in a small saucepan over low heat or use the microwave and stir after 30 second intervals.  Mine was melted after the second 30 seconds. 

Carefully release the  cooled tart shell and transfer it to a large flat plate.  The pastry is fragile!  (I actually left mine in the tart pans until it was time to serve them.)  Pile the strawberries into the pastry tart shells.  Spoon the warm jelly over the strawberries and coat them evenly.  Let them set for 1 hour before serving. 

Serve with  vanilla ice cream or whipped cream,  Bon Appetite!

 

Sartori Espresso BellaVittano Cheese

  I tried a new kind of cheese today.  It’s American made by a family company in Wisconsin called Sartori Cheese.  They have several varieties and flavors but the one I fell in love with today was their award winning Espresso BellaVitano .

Each wheel of this lovely cheese is  hand rubbed with freshly roasted espresso!  It sounds like the oddest combination…coffee and cheese…but it works and it’s delicious. 

The flavor reminds me of one of my favorite cheeses Parrano.  It’s similar to a nice Parmesan but this one has a slightly softer feel and it’s a bit creamier and then the subtle espresso flavor puts it over the top.  Delicious and not overpowering.  It’s a great flavor combination.  I am looking forward to pairing it up with something made out of chocolate.  Also, it would be nice with a glass of red wine.

Looking for something new?  If you are a coffee and a cheese lover, you can’t go wrong with this one.  

Carolina Cakes From Our State Magazine

 

This is one of my favorite magazines.  It’s called Our State and each month it is filled unique articles and  gorgeous photos about the people, places and most importantly the food you can find here in North Carolina.  I spotted this month’s issue at the checkout stand at the Harris Teeter yesterday and tossed it in with the rest of my groceries without really reading what was on the cover.  I saw the picture of the layered cake and figured it would be an issue that I would enjoy.  So last night, after cutting a new batch of fabric squares for the my next Rag Quilt (my newest crafting obsession, might as well ride it out before it passes), I sat down for a few minutes to look at my new magazine.   

That gorgeous cake on the cover wasn’t anything close to what I thought it was.  That is a shot of a  Maple Syrup and Country Ham Cake.  Mmmm hmmm.  What do you think?  Could you eat this?  Could you serve this at your next party?    This is served with a Red Eye Gravy Drizzle!!!

Or, how about this one.  It’s called The Nabs Cake.  Now, for everyone who wonders what the heck a “Nab” is, let me educate you much as I needed to be educated once upon a time.   From what I can tell, and it’s actually my daughter who informed me, “Nabs” are Southern slang for  those orange cheese and peanut butter crackers that you have probably been giving to your kids as a snack all these years.  My daughter was babysitting and the Mom she was sitting for told her that when the kids got hungry to just give them a pack of “Nabs” and something to drink.  Well, the babysitter called me later in a panic to ask me what “Nabs” were.  Heck if I know!  You better just ask the kids and let them tell you.    The kind we always buy are the Lance Toastchee crackers.   I wonder though if they are called Nabs all around the South or just here in North Carolina?  Anybody out there familiar with “Nabs”? 

The Pimento Cheese Cake (cough, cough, gag, gag,)  :)  Okay, enough said.  I can’t even go here.

   

The Krispy Creme Cake  Now, if calories were not such an unwelcome yet important part of my world, this might be a possibility. 

And now for the grand finale, I give you The Pepsi “N” Peanuts Cake.    I can’t say that I am not intrigued and would love a bite before I plunged ahead and made a whole cake.  Did you know Pepsi was invented in North Carolina?

I love how creative each of these cakes are and I also love how they identify which ingredients used are from North Carolina.  Need something unusual to take to that Superbowl party this year?  Any one of these just might be the ticket!

All of these recipes are available on the Our State North Carolina magazine website.  Just click on any of the cake names here and you will be linked to the recipes.  Bon appetite y’all!

Rag Quilt

Can you believe it? I actually made this rag quilt! I was so excited to post it here today. And it only took me about a week to do it. I saw one on Pinterest last week and decided to give it a try. Very fun and easy to do .

These are the photos that I spotted on Pinterest that inspired me to give it a try. They are from the blog icanteachmychild.com and you can find an easy to follow tutorial on how to make one for yourself. Aren’t they beautiful? I just love the gray and yellow one. And the other one is sweet for a baby. The tutorial there is great and I found all the instructions easy to follow. I also watched a video called Beverly’s How To on youtube because I always seem to do better if I can watch someone else do something first and I also picked up a lot of great hints there. One of the best hints was to pick up a pair of the Rag Quilting Scissors. They have a spring in the handle that helps make it easy to do the mega amounts of snipping you have to do the get that ragged edge. I found a pair at Jo-Ann Fabrics today. They are pricey at $21.99 for a pair but somehow I ended up with 40% off so that made it less painful.

Of course, the most fun part of any sewing project is picking out the fabric. I found 5 patterned fabrics that I thought would go well together and then later after I decided I wanted my quilt to be bigger, I went back and purchased a couple more yards of the solid green fabric you see in the finished quilt. The second most fun part is washing the quilt when you are done and pulling it out of the dryer and seeing the edged all “ragged”. Cute.

I wanted a puffy quilt so I made the one that sandwiches a piece of batting in between each fabric square. The quilt in the youtube video just used a soft flannel. I also used regular fabric and it “ragged” just fine. I think flannel “rags” a bit easier but I am very happy with how mine turned out just using regular fabric.

There is something about that aqua blue fabric next to that green fabric that I just love.

The size I ended up with would be what I would call a lap quilt size. Perfect for keeping warm while watching TV or to use when curled up with a book. It would make a good quilt to use while studying which is why I think I am going to take this over to my daughter who is away at school.

Here is a photo of the back side of the quilt. One side has the “ragged” edge and this side is smooth like a traditional quilt.

And here it is folded in half and set across the foot of a bed. I am a sewer with very basic skills and if I can do this you can too! Watch the video and take a look at the tutorial and you just might find yourself at the fabric store this weekend. That is where you will probably find me. I am definitely making more of these.

I am linking up to 2805's Potpourri Friday party today and

I am linking up to the “Get Your Brag On” Party over at Gluesticks

Can’t Get Enough

I can’t seem to get enough of the following:

1.  Downton Abbey-  I found this quite by accident this past summer when the temperatures were blasting and I wanted something to watch in the comfort of the air conditioning.   I found the first season on Netflix and I watched the entire first season and patiently waited for season two to start on Sunday nights on PBS.  You can watch it on Sunday nights at 9PM on PBS.

2.  The Chicken Noodle Soup at Chik-fil-A -  It’s made with white meat chicken, I think a bowl cost something like $2.50, its full of carrots, and it’s delicious. 

3.  KMS Hair Play Spray-  I LOVE this stuff!  It’s a dry spray that perks up your hair.  If you have somewhere to go in the evening after a long day, give your head a spray and finger fluff your hair and you’ll be amazed at how much this perks up your hair.  Lock it down with some regular hair spray and you are good to go! 

4.   Sirius Radio-  The mini van died last month.  Right before Christmas the transmission blew.   I wanted another mini van but my family intervened and said absolutely not.  It was time to move on.  So now I am now driving a new vehicle (and it’s not a mini van and I am learning to love it) that just happened to come with a 6 month subscription to Sirius Radio.   So many choices of what to listen to!  It makes me happy.

5.   My new treadmill- It’s been a rough couple of months and somehow, somewhere I hurt my back and back trouble is something I’ve never had to deal with before.  Well, I am on the mend after being a very good patient and attending all of my physical therapy sessions.  Decided a treadmill would be a nice replacement for the stationary bike that was collecting dust and serving as a clothing hanger in the corner of the bedroom.  I never liked riding that bike but I am enjoying the treadmill. 

6.  Red Dragon Cheese-  This is so good.  It’s a Cheddar that is made with ale and mustard seeds.  Very flavorful and delicious.  I know I’ve mentioned it before but I kind of forgot about it and recently re-discovered it.

7.    My Kindle Fire-  I love it but why can’t I find a cover/case for it that I like?   I love browsing and shopping for books online at Amazon with it, obsessively checking my email,  reading blogs and doing web searches while I am watching TV.  I am currently reading a Kindle Single called “My Seinfeld Year” by Fred Stoller.   He played an annoying boyfriend of Elaine’s in one episode and also wrote an episode as a writer for the show one season.  If you google his image you might recall seeing him.  He’s played quirky characters in other shows.  He ‘s what you would call a struggling actor but his quick little book is an enjoyable read especially because it gives you a glimpse on what it was really like on the set of Seinfeld.   If you are a Seinfeld fan and you have a Kindle you might want to give it try.  And the best part, it only cost $1.99.   

8.   French Lemon Cake-  This is a recipe worth making.  I made two of them last weekend.  Did you know you can get a bag of  12 lemons from Harris Teeter for $1.97?!  Anyway, use fresh lemon juice if you can for this cake.  It’s amazing.  We ate the first one before the weekend was over.  I sent the other back to school with the college student daughter.

9.  Quilts on my bed-   Something about cotton quilts stacked high. I have four on it right now.

10.  Wine and cheese, and cooking classes at Southern Season-  I took another class last night on cheese with a couple of very fun people.  We got to taste wine, sample some new cheeses, and then went out afterwards and enjoyed a cocktail, split an order of sweet potato fries, and split an order of pork belly sliders.  Ok, here is where I remind myself of why I sometimes think of myself as a “reluctant” foodie.  The sliders arrived and mine looked suspect.  I took off the top bun and picked at the chunk of meat.  I pulled off a few threads of pork and the rest of the chunk jiggled.  It was basically a 2” x 2” cube of fat with a couple of mini streaks of meat.  I should have known and embraced  the pork belly for what it was. It was pork belly!  What did I expect?   In the end, there was no way I was going to eat that cube of jiggilyness.  Did I mention that I liked the bun?  And the sweet potato fries…I had more than my share.  Delicious.

Castle and Cottage Is Having a Giveaway

Castle and Cottage is giving away this great Farm House Sign! 

Or you can select this personalized sign with your family name and year on it if you are the lucky winner.  This is a great giveaway!  Stop by and give Paula a visit at her blog Castle and Cottage to enter.

Her signs are amazing.    And I highly recommend that you take a few minutes and browse some of her work on her shop's website castleandcottagesigns.com.  Of course, some of my favorites are the French signs like this one here below:  You can take a peek at some of the other French signs here. 

Tres belle, oui???

Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cake

As I was searching the recipe index of my blog this morning because I had some extremely ripe bananas that I didn’t want to waste, I realized that my recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Snack Cake was not listed there even though I was sure that I had posted the recipe to my blog once upon a time. It turns out I did post it way back when I was a novice blogger, so much of a novice that I didn’t even know how to upload photos yet but there it was….a sad little post from June 23, 2009, in plain ordinary text,with no bells, no whistles, and saddest of all, no pictures.

This recipe is so good and I make it so often that it deserves renewed attention. It’s a favorite around here.
Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
1/2 cup butter ( 1 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs 
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup apple sauce or sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 very ripe bananas)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


Cream the butter and gradually add sugar. Add bananas. Add eggs. Mix well.
Combine flour and baking soda and add to the creamed mixture. Add the apple sauce or sour cream. Add the vanilla. Mix well but do not over beat.

Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch square baking pan. (I have a square stoneware baking pan that I just love to use for this, but any square pan will work. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips till well covered. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Use a tester to make sure it is done in the middle. Cool. And enjoy. I hear it’s delicious with a tall glass of ice cold milk. Me…I like it with a hot cup of tea.
I am linking up this post to Sweet as Sugar Cookies Blog where you can find lots of other great recipes.