Category Archives: vanilla

Jack is Cooking Blueberry Almond Tarte

Posted on by under almond meal, almonds, blueberry, butter, eggs, flour, fruit tart, hazelnut, rum, sugar, vanilla
Well Hello Internet!
I made a delicious blueberry almond tarte for thanksgiving this year.  I felt there needed to be something besides pumpkin and pecan pie.  So i made this delicious creation instead.  
It is very simple to make. There are basically only two elements that need making, and that is the crust, and the Crème d’Amandes.
you will also need:
Blueberries (1 pint)
Almond Slivers
a 9 inch tarte ring
You can use any crust you like pre made or otherwise, but i like to make a hazelnut crust, which is excellent for any sweet crust.
Here is my recipe for hazelnut crust (this will make about three 9 inch tarts) 
125 grams powdered sugar
250 grams butter
3 eggs (room temperature)
300 grams flour + a little extra
150 grams hazelnut meal
75 grams almond meal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1.  Cream the butter and the sugar in a mixer.
2. Add the eggs one at a time until full incorporated into the butter/sugar
3. Mix in the flour, hazelnut meal, and almond meal.  it is possible that the dough will still be a little wet, so just add in a little more flour until the dough holds together in a ball.
4. Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour).  This dough can be frozen, and used at a later date.
While the Crust is Chilling you can make the Crème d’Amande.
For one 9 inch tarte you will need this:
165 grams butter
165 grams sugar
165 grams Almond Meal
2 eggs (room temperate)
30 grams corn starch
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (or 1/2 a vanilla bean scraped out)
30 ml Goslings Rum (or other dark rum)
1. Cream the butter, sugar, and almond flour.  
2. Add Eggs one at time.
3. add corn starch
4. add vanilla and rum, and mix until fluffy.
This can also be put in the fridge and or frozen until the time you want to use it.
To make the Tarte:
(preheat oven to 375°)
1.  Roll out the crust, and place in tarte ring.
2.  Fill evenly until with the crème d’amandes. (you don’t want to fill it all the way up.  about 80%.  There will be displacement!!)
3.  Artfully place the blueberries on top of the crème d’amandes, but do not push them down.  just let them rest on top for now.
4. take the almond slivers and place them around the edge of the taste, on top of the blueberries.  if you desire you may also put them in the middle.  
5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, or until the top is nicely golden.  You will notice that the blueberries have sunken into the crème d’amandes,  which is exactly what should happen!

When it cools remove it from the Tarte Ring

And Serve it warm with whipped cream

There is no way this cannot be delicious!

Jack is Cooking Peach and Berry Pie

Posted on by under almonds, blackberry, blueberry, butter, cinnamon, flour, gooseberry, granola, nutmeg, peaches, Pie, pie crust, rum, sugar, vanilla

Well Hello Internet!

Since yesterday was the hottest day of the year (i think it got up to 108°  –  which as a LOST fan obviously holds some special significance…)  I decided that i should turn my oven on to 400° and make a pie.  An extremely Delicious, gooey, oozing pie filled with very delicious Ingredients.

it all started because i found a Peach in my fridge.  Peaches are my absolute favorite fruit, and after eating it for breakfast, i just had to have more.  I hadn’t baked anything in a while, so i figured i would make a pie.  but that’s not all i found in the fridge, there were a few blackberries also!  This got my mind gears moving and i decided that i would make a Peach and Blackberry Pie.

However, since I had eaten all of the peaches and blackberries in my fridge I would have to go buy more.  So I braved the heat, and walked to Union Square market to buy some more Peaches.  Upon arriving I encountered more berries than I could walk away from, and so along with the Peaches and Blackberries i had set out for, i returned home with blueberries and gooseberries.  (GOOSEBERRIES!)

Delicious Fruit

and Baking Ensued!

Here’s what you will need to make this pie – and you should definitely make this pie.

for the Crust (Pâte Brisée)- from Julia Child:
2 cups A/P flour
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Sugar
1 and 1/2 stick (6 oz) chilled butter – cut into small cubes
4 tbspns chilled vegetable shortening
1/2 cup of iced water

For the Filling:
7 or 8 Peaches
8 oz blackberries
8 oz blueberries
8 oz gooseberries (stemmed)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tbspn corn starch
2 tsp vanilla extract
the inside of 1/2 a vanilla bean (optional, but steps it up a notch)
3 tbspns Rum

For the Crumble
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 tspn nutmeg
3/4 cup granola
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Cold Butter

preheat oven to 400°

To make the Crust
Put all the ingredients except the water into a bowl, and cut the butter and shortening into the flour until it resembles a texture similar to oatmeal.  don’t overmix the butter in, just get it to this crumble state.  (later i will do a post purely on Pie Crusts)

Add half of the water in, and mix until it just comes together.  if it is still very dry slowly add a little bit more water, but depending on the humidity of the day you will use more or less water.  (since it was VERY humid yesterday i used very little water at all)

once the dough has come together in a flaky ball, take walnut sized pieces smear them with the heel of your hand against the counter.  this will finish the mixing of the butter and the shortening.  gather all the dough together and wrap it up and chill is for an hour.

Next! prepare the fruit!

Peel and slice the peaches (this is a tedious, messy operation), put them in a bowl with the rest of the fruit, and add all the rest of the ingredients, and mix it up gently, as you don’t want to destroy the lucious berries.

the fruit!

Now, since that probably took about an hour, take the chilled dough out of the fridge and roll it out on a floured board, and place it into your pie container.  Add the filling to it.  don’t worry if its overflowing a little bit.  LET IT OVERFLOW!

put this in the fridge while you make the crumble.

to make the crumble (this ones easy!):
add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix (with your hands!!!!) until crumbly.
put it over the filling

before baking
(as you can see i actually made two…. but the ingredients listed here are only for one!)

place it on a tray and cook it first for 20 minutes uncovered.  then cover with tinfoil and bake it for another 25 minutes.  finally remove the tinfoil and bake it for a further 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes.

and then:

yummmmm

and then

want to eat

 and then

must. wait. 30. minutes 
and then yes you can eat it, and just look how delicious and gooey and sticky and scrumptious this is…
and save some for somebody else!

mmmmmm……..

Jack is Cooking French Toast

Posted on by under bread, cinnamon, eggs, milk, vanilla
Well Hello Internet!
The other morning i made French Toast for breakfast.  it is super easy to make!  here’s what you’ll need:
Eggs (2 for 4 or 5 pieces)
milk
vanilla
cinammon
bread (preferably a little stale)
now then there are probably precise measurements that you are supposed to use, but i kind of do it by eyeball.  the way i like to do this, is to crack the eggs onto a plate.  but don’t mix them yet.  then i pour some milk onto the plate until the milk makes a full circle around the eggs.  then i put what i imagine to be a teaspoon of vanilla.  the cinnamon, i put enough to put a dusting over the yellow of each egg.  then i take a fork and whisk it all together.
after that take the bread and let it soak in the egg mixture.  if the bread is less stale it will absorb it all pretty quick, so you don’t have to do it for so long.  the more stale the bread, the longer you should soak.
in a frying pan melt some butter.  once its nice and melted put the bread in and start to fry it!
When the bread gets nice and golden on the bottom its time to flip!
when its golden on the other side its done!
i like to put a little butter on top and lots of maple syrup.  i LOVE maple syrup.  with pancakes and french toast and waffles i like them to be swimming in maple syrup.  
mmm mmm delicious!

Jack is Cooking Pecan Pie

Posted on by under agave, eggs, how to make pecan pie, pecan pie, pecans, salt, sugar, thanksging, vanilla
Well Hello Internet!


Since tomorrow is thanksgiving, tonight i am making pecan pie!  A whole lot of pecan pies!
these ingredients are enough for 3 pies

9 eggs
2 1/4 cup of sugar
2 cups of agave nectar
3 teaspoons of vanilla
3 pinches of salt
4 cups of chopped pecans
1 cup of whole pecans
3 pie crusts (i used gluten free pie crusts)

ok so i mixed everything except the pecans together in a big bowl:


this is what it looked like when everything was mixed.  make sure all the sugar and eggs are mixed in!


then i added the chopped pecans, and really mixed those in too.


you gotta keep mixing!  it will separate!

anyways,
while i was mixing i put the pie crusts in the oven for 5 minutes to precook them.
when i took them out i poured the filling in and then made some patterns with the whole pecans:


i baked it for 45 minutes at 350°
it may take a little longer, or a little less based on your oven, but if you poke it with a fork, it should be pillowy, but firm.  imagine an omelette filled with sugar and pecans!  😀



But wait!  Didn’t I say that I was making three pies?

I decided to get a little creative and I made two more pies with the remaining pie mixture, combining it with pumpkin pie!

I used just a canned pumpkin pie mix and folledthe directions on the can. Luckily both pies cook the same amount of time!

The first pie, I made a ying yang.  I used parchment paper to create the division while pouring.






I baked this one first for 15 minutes at 425. Then I remove the parchment paper. The pie was now firm enough p remove it but not too firm:  then I turned the oven to 350 and baked for another 25 minutes


The second pie was kind of a swirl. I poured the pecan mixture into the pumpkin mixture, and then swirled!  here’s how it came out:

I call it the milky way pumpkin-pecan pie!

Here’s both:

And here’s all the pies!!


Oh man 4 pies!  I think well have to eat one tonight… They are irresistable!


happy thanksgiving!


mmm mmmm delicious!