Fig Tart with Almonds

There has been a glut of fruit this year and I could'nt resist buying a whole load of figs from the supermarket. Then I was left with the dilemma of what to do with them. I found this recipe in an old Italian cookery book ( the Italians are so good at making pastries and desserts) so made this delicious tart.
Also my gorgeous girlfriends were coming round for coffee - so what better to have with a freshly brewed espresso!

If you like you can make your own pastry using the recipe below or you can buy some ready made sweet shortcrust pastry which makes this a really quick tart to put together. If you are going to use shop bought pastry you can skip the next bit of the recipe.
You can also use this same recipe but instead of figs you can use plums, apricots, greengages or any other stone fruit.

To make the Pastry case

This recipe will make enough for 2 x 9 inch tarts but you can always freeze half for later.

250g/9oz butter -slightly softened
250g/9oz caster sugar
500g/1llb 2oz flour
a pinch of salt
2 whole eggs and 1 yolk

Put the butter into a bowl with the sugar and mix to incorporate using a wooden spoon. Mix in the flour and salt with your fingers but don't knead it just work it gently through your fingers. Add the eggs and mix gently with your hands until the mixture just comes together and you can form it into a ball. Add a little flour if the dough seems too wet or a bit of cold water if it is too dry.
Divide the dough into 2 balls and flatten them slightly. Wrap in greaseproof paper and place in the fridge for about half an hour to an hour. The pastry will keep in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze for later if you are not using it all.

To line the tart tin.

 
You will need a 9" tart tin.

Remove the disc of dough from the fridge once it has had its resting time.
Sprinkle your work surface with a little flour. Place the disc on the surface and lightly roll out to 3mm about an eighth of an inch slightly larger in diameter than your tin. Lightly flour your rolling pin and roll up the pastry around the pin. Lower the pastry into the tin and unroll it from the pin as you do so.
Press the pasty down into the base of the tin. Roll you rolling pin over the top of the tin to trim off any overhanging pastry.

Now you need to bake the case "blind" which means you bake it without any filling.

Line the case with baking parchment and fill with some baking weight or you can just use some dried beans which you can keep for baking next time.
 Place in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes until you can see the edges of the pastry turning a pale gold.
Remove the beans and the paper and prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. This stops the bottom of the pastry case from puffing up and not leaving any room for your filling. Put the pastry case back in the oven until the case in lightly brown and dry so that you dont end up with a soggy base for your tart.


For the Tart

10 ripe figs
4 tablespoons jam - you can use plum, apricot or fig
150g/6oz skinned almonds, halved
3 tablespoons demerara sugar


To assemble the tart.
Trim the figs and cut in half.
Spoon the jam over the bottom of the cooked pastry spreading it with the back of your spoon. Lay the figs cut side up over the jam. Scatter with the almonds and sprinkle with the sugar
Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes until the figs are golden and softened.

Gooseberry Pie

My next door neighbours have just bought me the biggest bag of gooseberries freshly picked from a bush in their garden so I have just made two gooseberry pies out of them. Although gooseberries are quite tart they are delicious in a pie served warm with custard.

I had about 3lbs of gooseberries so I made two  pies and gave one to my neighbours. To make one pie halve the recipe which should serve about 6 people.


1.4 kg/ 3lb gooseberries washed and topped and tailed.
220g/ 8oz demerara sugar ( you can add more to taste if the berries are too tart)
4 dessert spoons of cornflour
4 tablespoons elderflower cordial
Beaten egg for brushing the top

Shortcrust pastry
For pastry use half the amount of fat to flour. I use plain flour and butter.
For my two pies I used 450g/1 lb flour and 220g/8oz of butter.

Sift the flour and into a bowl and add the butter cut into small cubes. Quickly rub the fat into the flour using the tips of your fingers. Add 3-4 tablespoons of ice cold water and work it into the crumbs until you have a soft dough.  Roll the dough into a ball and wrap in cling film. and chill in the fridge for about half an hour.

 To make the pie.

Put the gooseberries in a large bowl and sprinkle over the sugar, cornflour and elderflower cordial. Stir together and allow to stand to allow the fruit to sit for about 10 minutes. Pour the fruit into your pie dish. Dot with a little butter.
Preheat the oven to Gas 6/200 degrees centigrade. Brush the rim of the pie dish with water and stick a strip of pastry all the way around the edge of the dish.  Brush the strip of dough with water so that your pastry lid will stick to it.Roll out your dough and cover the fruit with your pastry lid. Brush your pie with beaten egg.
Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes then turn the heat down to Gas 5/180 degrees centigrade and cook for about 30 minutes until the fruit is cooked through and bubbling.

Apple Compote with a Cinammon Custard

I made this for dessert at the weekend when we had some friends for dinner. I wanted something light and fresh as too often puddings are too heavy and stodgy. I made this in individual glasses as often presentation is a problem when making this sort of dessert and it is so much nicer to serve them individually.

Sponge Layer

Some ready made trifle sponges or madeira cake
3 tablespoons of Marsala or sherry

Apple Compote

4 large cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced ( place the apples into cold water with some lemon juice after you have peeled them to stop them turning brown.)
3 tablespoons caster sugar

Cinnamon Custard

400ml double cream
1 cinnamon stick
8 eggs (yolks and whites separated)
80g caster sugar

Ground cinnamon

6 glasses or pretty trifle dishes to serve

 

Place a layer of sponge in the bottom of each glass and  sprinkle with the alcohol.

For the apple compote place the peeled and sliced apples and the sugar with a tablespoon of water into a pan and cook over a low heat until the apples are soft. When cool divide amongst the glasses.

For the custard put the cream into a pan and add the cinnamon stick. Heat until the cream begins to simmer. Remove from the heat and allow to infuse for half an hour.

In a bowl stir the egg yolks and sugar together.

Remove the cinnamon from the cream and return the cream to the heat. When the cream is warm add the eggs and sugar and stir continuously until the custard thickens. Pour over the apple layer in the glasses. Sprinkle the top with some ground cinnamon. Cool and refrigerate.

This is delicious served with some crisp biscuits.

Chocolate and Amaretto cake with Raspberries

I made this cake at the weekend for my daughter's 17th Birthday. We were having the family over for Sunday lunch so I wanted something that would double up as a dessert too.

There was 9 of us for lunch so I made a starter of Halloumi cheese wrapped with parma ham and vine leaves and baked in the oven which we had with some warm pitta bread and hoummous.

For main course I made a leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic which I basted with white wine and honey so by the time it had finished cooking it had made its own gravy.

I served this with some crisp roasted garlic and rosemary roast potatoes and a medley of green vegetables including asparagus, green beans and baby lettuce which I cooked in a little white wine and stock until the vegetables were tender.

We then had the cake for dessert with some pouring cream.

 

I doubled this recipe but it was a huge cake and I do still have half left!

 

Ingredients

Serves 8

 

9oz/225g unsalted butter - this needs to be really soft as you will cream all the ingredients together in one bowl.

9oz/225g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
9oz/225g caster sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2oz/ 50g cocoa powder

For the filling

10oz/250g mascarpone cheese

10floz/300ml double cream - lightly whipped

2oz/50g caster sugar

1teaspoon vanilla extract

2fl0z/60ml amaretto liquer
8oz plain chocolate -melted over hot water and allowed to cool slightl

raspberries and chocolate nibs to decorate.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade/ 350 degrees farenheit/gas mark 4. Butter two, 20 cm/8" round sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment.

 

To mix the cake you can use a bowl with an electric whisk or an electric mixer. Sift the flour cocoa powder and baking powder into the bowl, then add the softened butter,sugar and eggs. Mix together until well blended but do not over mix as then your cake will not be light. Divide the batter between the tins and level the top of the mixture. Bake for about 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean with no uncooked batter.

Loosen the cakes by running a knife around the edge of the tins and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

To make the filling place the mascarpone into a bowl and beat it to soften it slightly. Fold in the double cream, sugar and vanilla extract and the cooled melted chocolate.

To assemble the cake cut the two cakes in half horizontally to make four layers. Place one cake on a plate and sprinkle with the amaretto. Take about a quarter of your mascarpone cream mixture and spread it over the base cake. Place the second tier on top. Repeat the process with the other cake layers. Spread the top of the cake with your mascarpone cream and decorate with raspberries and chocolate nibs. Chill for about an hour before you are ready to serve.

Blueberry Bundt Cakes

I bought some bundt cake tins a while ago and had not got round to using them. I felt like baking something nice on this very rainy day so decided to make some blueberry bundt cakes.
It took a while to perfect the mix and balance of flavours but I think they have come out great.
The first batch I made stuck to the bottom of the tin even though I had thoroughly greased and floured the tin. It was a bit disappointing but my daughters still managed to eat the stuck on bits with a spoon straight out of the tin!
When making the second batch I said a little prayer before putting them in the oven. Again they came out of the oven smelling really good and evenly risen. This time I decided I would allow them to cool in the tin before turning them out and they came out perfectly. So my tip is let them cool down first!!!

Makes 12 bundt cakes

120g/ 6oz blueberries
150g/5oz butter - softened
400g/14oz caster sugar
2 eggs lightly beaten
300g/10 oz plain flour -sifted
225ml/ 8floz buttermilk
1tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Icing
juice of 1 lemon
100 g of icing sugar -sifted

Cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs a little at time until they are incorporated into the mixture and then add the buttermilk and vanilla extract.

Fold in the flour and the bicarbonate of soda and then gently fold in the blueberries.

Pipe or spoon the batter into the prepared tins and bake in a preheated oven, 180 degrees centigrade/ gas mark 4 for 15 to 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Allow to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack.
To make the icing blend the icing sugar with the lemon juice until you have a smooth but not too runny icing. You may need more or less icing sugar to get the right consistency.

Allow the cakes to cool completely before drizzling with the icing.

Orange, Cinnamon and Rhubarb Crumble

Orange,Cinnamon and Rhubarb Crumble

Serves 6

2lbs /800g rhubarb -washed and cut into 2" pieces
2oz /50g caster sugar
juice and rind of 1 orange
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
8oz /200g plain flour
4oz/ 100g butter
2oz/50g caster sugar
2oz/50g porridge oats

Method

Place the prepared rhubarb into a deep ovenproof dish. Sprinkle with the caster sugar, the orange rind and juice and the teaspoon of cinnamon.

To make the crumble place the flour in a bowl and add the butter cut into small cubes. Rub the butter into the flour until you have a breadcrumb texture. Stir in the caster sugar and the porridge oats and sprinkle over the rhubarb.

Place in a hot oven gas 7/250 degrees centigrade for about 40 minutes until the topping is brown and crunchy and the rhubarb is tender.

Serve with custard, fresh cream or ice cream.