If you have some mulberry trees in your neighbourhood, you could try to collect some of the fruits and bake this classic mulberry pie.
You will need about 2 L of mulberries. Your fingers will get quite coloured by the juice, it takes a few washes to wash off, otherwise use thin nitrile or latex gloves.
Ingredients:
For the short crust pastry.
The quantity below can be a bit tight (you have just enough), so feel free to increase it by half to give you some space to move, that new quantity is noted into bracket.
100 g of butter softened (or 150 g)
200 g of plain flour (or 300 g)
some cold water, about 1/2 glass (about 3/4 of a glass)
For the filling:
around 2 L of fresh mulberries
4 tablespoons of flour
4 tablespoons of white sugar
Whipped cream – for serving
Method:
1. Prepare the shortcrust pastry
Place softened butter cut in cubes and flour together in a bowl. Rub the soft butter and the flour together until all of the butter sticks to the flour. Add water little at the time to obtain an homogenized ball. If you have put too much water, add 1 teaspoon of flour at the time. Wrap in cling-wrap and rest for at least half an hour at room temperature before using.
If you want to see pictures and tips, consult my page dedicated to shortcrust pastry.
2. Clean the mulberries gently and drain. Remove all the stokes.
The harvest
Cleaning
Cleaned
3. Mix to the mulberries, the flour and sugar.
4. Divide the dough in 2 pieces, one slightly larger than the other. This will be the bottom part. Roll the dough (you will know when to stop, the dough should not be forced, it will spread under the push of the roller to its final size). Place the dough over the tart tin. If you have only little extra, do not remove it, if you have plenty extra, cut the pastry 2- 3 cm away from the edge.
5. Place the fruit mix in the pastry. Level.
Fold back the edges. You could very well choose not to place a lid and eave it as such, it would be beautiful. I like this as a pie. Roll the second part of short crust pastry. Using the point of a knife, cut a disk of diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of your pie. Using a kitchen brush (use your fingers if you do not have any), brush the top of the lower pastry with milk and then place the disk over the top of the pie. You can decorate with lines or other patterns traced with your pointy knife as wished, ensure you do not cut through. Brush the top of the pie with milk or with eggwash (a beaten egg with drop of water).
Bake in preheated oven at 170 °C until golden. Allow to cool partly before serving. Serve with whipped cream.
Pear and almond are so good together. This tarte is not only very easy to make, it presents well. The recipe is from Donna Hay, with a few twicks in the method. This tarte has no shell, it is a cake with the fruits placed on top. The shape of the tin makes it (plus it is good!)!
Ingredients:
90 g of soft butter (I use salted butter)
90 g of brown sugar (1/2 cup)
2 eggs
120 g of almond meal (1 cup)
40 g of plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon rind (decrease to 1 if you prefer the lemon flavour to be softer)
2 pears (I used Corella, you can use Packham, Williams would work well, but not too ripe)
90 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
raw sugar for sprinkling
Method
Preheat oven to 160°C. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until just combined. Add the eggs, almond meal, flour, baking powder and lemon rind and mix until just combined.
Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 9.5cm x 33cm loose-bottom fluted tarte tin. Here, you may want to use baking paper to cover only the bottom of the tarte tin, this will make the transition to the serving dish easier.
Place the pears and extra brown sugar in a bowl and toss to coat. Press the pears into the tart mixture and bake for 35–40 minutes or until golden brown. You may not be able to place all your pieces of pear.
Sprinkle with raw sugar and allow to cool in the tin.
This lemon curd tiramisu is a fresh tangy delightful dessert! Just writing about it makes me smile. This dessert happened just one day while wanting to do a tiramisu which is not coffee based.
The recipe is super easy. Serves 12. Depending on the dish you use, you may have a bit of leftover of the lemon curd or mascarpone mix.
a few tablespoons of a liquor (fruit based) if desired.
Tip: if you don’t have any sugar syrup, dissolve 1 cup of white sugar in 1/4 L of water in a saucepan (roughly 1 cup), let it reduce until syrupy, it will keep for month in a glass bottle. You can make larger batches. You can use it for a number of desserts, cocktails (ti’punch for example) or sorbets.
Method
For the lemon curd:
Melt the butter with the lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan. Add the lemon zest. In the meanwhile, beat the eggs slightly in a large bowl. Once the butter is melted, slowly transfer the liquid hot mixture to the eggs while whisking continuously. The mix will start thickening, transfer back to the saucepan and place on low heat until it thickens but without reaching boiling point. Transfer to a clean bowl. The mixture will thicken further when cooling down. If you have cooked the curd too much and got a little bit of scrambled eggs, pass it through a sieve.
For the tiramisu:
Choose a dish wide enough and tall enough to enable the layering. At least 12 cm high to allow for consistent layers.
If you have a kitchen Aid or similar, it is time to get it out, if not, a whisk will work perfectly. Mix the mascarpone and egg yolks until smooth and fully combined. Whip the cream to soft peaks, adding the sugar slowly towards the end. Combine first 1/4 of the whipped cream with the mascarpone, then combine the rest.
In a deep plate, mix 1/4 cup of hot water with 1/4 cup of sugar syrup and our chosen spirits (2 tbsp).
The bottom layer is made with the savoiardi. One at the time, place a biscuit in the syrup mix for 5 seconds until moist but not crumbling ad transfer to the bottom of the dish. Repeat to cover the bottom, you will most likely need to cut the biscuits to size to fit the corners or fill up the voids.
Cover with mascarpone, about 1.5 cm thick. Now, add a layer of lemon curd (1 cm thick maximum).
Repeat the biscuit layering stage making sure you soak them before placing them down. If you run out of the soaking liquid, make a new quantity. Add a layer of mascarpone, then a layer of lemon curd. This second layer of lemon curd can be thicker (up to 2 cm). Now place the remaining of the mascarpone mix on top in a little dome structure, using a round knife or chop stick , lightly swirl through the mascarpone layer with the lemon curd right underneath.
Toast some almond flakes in a frypan or under the grill (don’t forget them!) and place on top of the tiramisu. Don’t forget that this steps makes the dessert happen!
Tip: if you have too much mascarpone mix, place in ramequins and cover, keep in the fridge, it will make a nice little treat for someone in the coming days. Lemon curd keeps in the fridge in a plastic box for a week or so.
This chocolate mousse is “mmm’, how to tell you: worth a trip to the fridge in the middle of the night, melty, luxious, tasty, addictive, …you get it?
On its own it is quite strong , served with a little nut crumble and fruit mix, it is perfect!
The recipe is very close to the French recipe for little pots of chocolate cream. I intend to serve it like this next time I make it.
It contains both eggs and cream and of course good quality chocolate. The recipe is extracted and adapted from Simply the Best by Valli Little.
Ingredients
55 g caster sugar
2 tbs brandy or liquor of your choice (omit if you want)
125 mL of water (1/2 cup)
200 g dark chocolate
3 eggwhites
185 mL (3/4 cup) thickened cream
Method
Break the chocolate in pieces and place in the food processor, blend into small pieces.
In a small saucepan, heat up the sugar, water and brandy to boiling.
With the blender’s motor running, add the hot liquid to the chocolate and blend until all melted and combined. Stop the blender.
Add at the same time the cream and egg whites. Blend 10 to 15 seconds (max) until just combined. Here you have to trust the recipe as it is so counter-intuitive for a mousse, but trust me it works. If you blend for too long (I did it once), your cream will not set properly.
Pour into a container, cover or close the container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
To serve, warm up spoon with hot water, with the spoon, make a quenelle and place it on a plate.
Ideas for serving:
Instead of placing the cream in one container, divide it in small individual ramequins (small bowls). Serve with a dry biscuits.
This is a great dessert that can be done early and only requires last minute plating. The mousse is shiny and just exquisite!
Serves 6
All the ingredients can be prepared in advance and stored separately.
For the chocolate mousse
Ingredients
55 g caster sugar
2 tbs brandy or liquor of your choice (omit if you want)
125 mL of water (1/2 cup)
200 g dark chocolate
3 eggwhites
185 mL (3/4 cup) thickened cream
Method
Break the chocolate in pieces and place in the food processor, blend into small pieces.
In a small saucepan, heat up the sugar, water and brandy to boiling.
With the blender’s motor running, add the hot liquid to the chocolate and blend until all melted and combined. Stop the blender.
Add at the same time the cream and egg whites. Blend 10 to 15 seconds (max) until just combined. Here you have to trust the recipe as it is so counter-intuitive for a mousse, but trust me it works. If you blend for too long (I did it once), your cream will not set properly.
Pour into a container, cover or close the container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
For the nut crumble
Ingredients:
10 macadamia raw
1 tbsp of brown soft sugar
2 tbsp of plain flour
15 g of soft butter
Method:
Place all the ingredients in a small food processor. Process until crumbly.
Place on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray
Insert into the oven at 160°C, toast until golden
For the raspberry coulis
Ingredients:
3/4 cup of frozen raspberries
1/4 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp water
Method:
Blend the raspberries, water and sugar until smooth. Adjust the sweetness with more sugar if needed. I prefer not to add much sugar as there will already be some in the nut crumble and chocolate mousse.
To Serve
Use a warm spoon to scoop a clean quenelle of chocolate mousse, place the nut crumble soil, then the coulis.
The avocado chocolate mousse is often loved from vegan people or adept of the raw diet. Most of the recipes use raw cacao powder. This is where it gets confusing for the majority of us. See below for definitions.
A few definitions
In English language the words cacao and cocoa refer to two different products. Just reminding you here that in most Latin languages, the translation for “cocoa” is “cacao”!
Here are the adopted definitions (not by me, by all):
English Word
French word
Definition
Definition (francais)
Cacao
Cacao cru
Powder made from the bean of the cacao pod. The beans have not been roasted.
Cacao cru ou «non torréfié», la poudre resulte du broyage des feves de cacao (pas de fermentation, et torrefaction).
Cocoa
Cacao
Powder resulting from grinding cacao beans which have been roasted. Light brown colour. In Australia, this is the most used form of cocoa powder. In France and possibly some parts of Canada, dutch cocoa is mostly used.
Poudre de cacao naturel ayant subi les procedes de fermentation et torrefaction. De couleur brun pâle. Ce cacao est plus acide et amère que la poudre de cacao alcalinisé. Son goût est par contre plus fruité. C'est la forme principalement utilise en recettes dans les pays anglophones.
Dutch cocoa (e.g. VanHouten, Blooker, Fry's)
Cacao hollandais ou cacao alcalinise
cocoa beans that have been washed with a potassium carbonate solution, to alkalise the pH and to neutralise their acidity. The powder is dark brown in colour.
Poudre de cacao naturel qui a subi une alcalinisation. Le cacao est moins acide et sa couleur plus foncee. En France, c'est le cacao le plus utilise dans les recettes.
Got it?
Ingredients:
2 large ripe avocados
1/2 cup of maple syrup
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of raw cacao
Note: if you prefer using a good quality chocolate, you will need close to 200 g, melted. You will end up with a higher volume of mousse. Note that couverture chocolate will harden, better stick to the 70% Nestle supermarket version. In that case, remove the maple syrup.
Method:
Place everything in the food processor and blend on high speed until processed and smooth. If you think the mousse is too thick, add a little water at the time.
Place in individual ramequins and refrigerate until use.
Note: this mousse can also be used to fill raw chocolate mousse tarts
Raw chocolate mousses, left one using a dark cooking chocolate, right one using cocoa powder (the one using raw cacao is not pictured here, it is similar to the right one, maybe a bit lighter in colour).
This chestnut raspberry tiramisu is born from having chestnut, raspberries and raspberry coulis and mascarpone. It is not strictly speaking a tiramisu, but as I was looking through an Italian cookbook, it seems that desserts made out of mascarpone are called tiramisu, hence the name.
The previous day or in the first part of the morning, you need to prepare the pastry dough and the jellified coulis.
I used a pull apart cake tin and silicone (for the jelly) of 19 cm diameter.
Ingredients:
Pastry disk:
60 g soft butter
15 g icing sugar
15 g almond meal
1 teaspoon of raspberry liquor
70 g flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
You will have just enough for the disk.
Raspberry coulis:
500 mL of coulis passed through a sieve (i.e. close to 750 mL not sieved)
3 1/2 leaves of gold strength gelatine ( use 3 leaves for 500 mL as a reference)
Chestnut fill/mousse
250 g chestnut puree, unsweetened (if it is already sweetened, remove the sugar syrup below)
1/2 cup sugar syrup
400 g mascarpone
about 75-100 g broken down frozen (leave them frozen) raspberries
90 g softened (not melted!!!) butter
Gelatine (here we don’t need as much as if fully liquid), 4 leaves. Now, you may need to adapt this quantity, I did not put any in mine relying on the butter and mascarpone, but has to use the freezer to make it just solid enough even so, it has no holding when it starts to unfreeze, this is why I advise adding gelatine.
Method:
For the short crust pastry, mix all ingredients together, make sure it is well mixed without overworking the dough thought. Wrap in cell film an rest for a while (3-4 hours or overnight) in the fridge. Heat up oven to 170°C. Roll the dough quite thin (3 mm) over a sheet of baking paper, use the bottom part of the round tin to cut out the circle base, trim excesses. Place that sheet of baking paper and circle of raw dough. on a baking sheet and with a fork make small holes all over. Bake it to a beautiful golden colour. Remove from the oven, transfer on a cooling rack by sliding the baking paper.
For the soft raspberry jelly: place leaves of gelatine in cold water. Warm up the coulis, remove from the heat. Drain the gelatine from the water and mix with the coulis with a whisk until fully dissolved. Using the silicone mould (you can use any other mould of similar size, it is easier if a bit smaller than larger), line with wrap film (use butter to help it stick to the tin walls. Pour the coulis and place the whole thing in the fridge overnight or for a few hours.
Chestnut mousse : to prepare just before assembling. Place leaves of gelatine in cold water. Warm up sugar syrup. Drain the gelatine from the water and mix with sugar syrup until dissolved. Place with chestnut puree, soft butter and mascarpone. Mix well. Add the raspberry pieces.
Construction time: the disk at the bottom, the jellified raspberry coulis over the disk, then the mascarpone-chestnut-raspberry mousse. Cell wrap on top and in the fridge!
Allow to set for 4 hours.Check 1.5 hour before serving, if not set yet, you may want to place it in the freezer for a bit.
How to call a dessert which is no exactly what you intend to do? Lets call this one a chestnut raspberry tiramisu.
The background
I had all these chestnuts I wanted to use. The kids and I got excited and after having eaten a whole bad of them somehow, the second bag was going untouched for a while. This is a classic situation in a family, isn’t it? So I used most of them to make a chestnut puree. I had in mind to do a beautiful chestnut raspberry layered cake. I also had this great pot of mascarpone in the fridge and had been going through the cookbook “80 Authentic Italian Sweet Treats, Cakes and Desserts” by Laura Zavan.
Now, a very important factor, it is very cold in my kitchen at the moment (for those who don’t know, we have been going through renovations). It would have felt like around 5°C when I prepared the dessert wrapped in many layers.
The process….
I created a short crust pastry, let it rest for a while in the fridge, though I could have left it on the kitchen bench considering the freezing weather this weekend. I rolled the dough quite thin (3 mm), baked it to a beautiful golden colour.
I used a raspberry coulis I had in the freezer to create my bottom “layer”. Obviously I needed to add some gelatine. I prepared that step at the same time as the dough. My advice to you is check your volumes and don’t put too much gelatine. It was a bit too jellified to my taste.
I wanted to obtain a chestnut mousse but using the mascarpone. I mixed 250 g of chestnut puree, initially 200 g of mascarpone, 50 g of softened butter. At this stage, I realised I had not though it through well enough and that my dessert was not going to be what I intended. I used the rest of the mascarpone (400 g total), some sugar syrup (I keep some handy in the kitchen) and 50-100 g of pieces of raspberry frozen. I was betting on the mascarpone and butter to set.
Construction time (a bit like leggos!), the disk at the bottom, the jellified raspberry coulis over the disk, then the mascarpone-chestnut-raspberry mousse. Cell wrap on top and in the fridge!
I didn’t know if it would have set overnight but after a few hours, it had not moved and I was running out of time. I placed the dessert in the freezer where it set just on time.
Result:
In the end, it was quite good. Next time, if there is one, I would add a little gelatine to the mascarpone.
I had also prepared a backup dessert, a chocolate cake with roasted strawberries. As a result, we had plenty to chose from and a fair amount of left overs. Did you know, some desserts freeze really well? You can have a nice finish to your meal in no time!
This recipe is the one I grew up with and cook for my family. The recipe calls for beer which lighten the batter and allows for thin crepes. The alcohol disappear during cooking.
I recommend a crepe pan. I have tried in other
Crepe pan
fry-pans, I can tell you, it is not easy because of the high edges and because your pan must strictly be not sticky and not scratched.
The crepes recipe below calls for a resting time of 2 hours, if you don’t have that time in front of you, it will also work, the crepes will be thicker. If you have no beer or prefer not to use beer, use water and milk. Crepes are very forgiving in terms of ratios. Careful not using only milk or your crepes will be brittle. If you increase the quantity of eggs, your crepes will be quite thick and filling.
Ingredients:
This will easily serve 4 people for dessert. Left overs can be covered and placed in the fridge.
500 g of plain flour
4 eggs (depending on size)
1 beer (300 ml)
1/2 cup oil (sunflower)
1/2 L milk
water
Method:
Place the flour in a large bowl, make a hole (we all it a well in French) in the middle and place in it, the eggs, oil, beer and milk.
Mix with a whisk until smooth. You may have a few small lumps, don’t worry to much at this stage. The batter will be quite thick, you want to make it thinner by adding water, the consistency must be the one a drinking yogurt.
Let it rest for at least two hours.
Get yourself ready to cook, things can go quickly, get organised, everything must be in close reach.
To cook, use crepe pan (s). Heat up the pan, when hot pour 2/3 of a ladle in the pan, by turning your wrist (while holding the pan), spread the batter over the bottom of the pan. Pour out the excess if too really too much. Pop any bubbles if they form.
Cook until the sides are brown AND the bottom is fully dry (no wet spots), turn over, cook for a bit less. Transfer to a plate.
Now 3 MAJOR tips:
The first crepe if most of the time a write off (for the cook)
If you pan needs a bit of greasing, cut a potato and stick the section cut at the end of a fork. Place the flat edge in oil then “paint” the bottom of the fry-pan. This method will limit the amount of grease you use and avoid using multiple absorbent paper sheets. If you have a piece of lard, it works perfectly well too.
Tip – use a cut potato to grease your pan
The heat under the fry-pan will need adjusting, somewhere between low and high. It will take a few crepes to get there.
To serve
The most simple fillings are:
white sugar with (optional) a dash of lemon juice (yum!)
soft brown sugar
jam
honey
lemon curd
chocolate / Nutella.
One crepe recipe which became quite famous is “Crepes Suzettes”, this requires a little more work.
Many of you would have seen crepes filled and then folded in two and then further folded to form a triangle. This is not the case everywhere. In my family, we rolled them, much more fun especially when you are a kid!
Keep the crepes warm by covering them with some aluminium foil and placing them in a warm oven (switched off).
I was watching Masterchef the other night and Nigella (Lawson) had included in a challenge a coffee pannacotta. I am not a coffee fan, but I do like a nice pannacotta from time to time. This chai pannacotta is great! It is simple to make and apart for some cooling time, quite quick too. The recipe is adapted from Valli Little book “Home Cooking”.
Plan to make it at least 4 hours before serving to ensure it sets.
I used a chai tea mix, but if you don’t have access to a good chai tea, you can make your own.
Makes 4.
Ingredient:
300 ml milk
3 teaspoons of good quality chai tea. To make your own combine 1 cinnamon quill, 6 cloves, 6 cardamon pods, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp mixed spices, 1 tbs black tea leaves.
55 g caster sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scrapped. I alternatively used ground vanilla beans (1/2 tsp)
3 leaves of gelatin gold strength
300 ml thickened cream, whipped to soft peaks
To serve: rhubarb compote or chocolate sauce, poached fruits would also work very well.
Method:
Place the milk, chai tea, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat up on slow heat until sugar dissolves. Brings to a small simmer and allow to cook for a few minutes (3-5). Remove from the heat an leave to infuse.
In the meanwhile, break the gelatin leaves an place in a bowl with cold water to soften. 5 minutes is enough. Squeeze out the excess water and add to the warm milk mix, stir and make sure it is fully dissolved.
Pass through a thin strainer and let to cool close to room temperature (or you whipped cream will liquefy if incorporated in too hot a liquid).
Fold the whipped cream into the cooled mixture. I like using a very wide whisk holding it on its size and turning the mixture gently from bottom up (like if inserting egg whites).
Pour into 4 darioles or silicone darioles moulds. Place in the fridge.
To unmould, if using rigid darioles moulds place the base of the dariole mould quickly in hot water, then turn over the serving plate. Wih silicone darioles, you can use a sharp knife around the edge, turn over the serving plate and “massage” the bottom until the pannacotta gently pops on the plate.
A real chocolate mousse is light and airy. The chocolate mousse is made only from eggs and good quality cooking chocolate. There is no sugar, no cream! Chocolate mousses for cakes are different and would include whipped cream. You will find this recipe with small variations on pretty much every French chef website.
Make it at least 4 hours before serving as it needs to set in the fridge. You can make it the day before if you want. You can put the mousse in individual ramequins or serve it as one dish to share.
200 g dark cooking chocolate (I like to use 70% but it may be a bit strong for children, use as a minimum a 50%+ chocolate)
6 large eggs separated
10 cl milk (preferred) or water
Method
Melt the chocolate with the method of your choice. For non-couverture chocolate, I would typically break the tablet in chunks in a bowl, add the milk or water and microwave for 2 minutes on 50 or 70% power depending on the strength of your microwave. It is important that the chocolate does not burn. Once melted, mix until silky smooth. If using couverture chocolate you will want to melt it in a bain Marie (once melted add the milk) and ensure your eggs are at room temperature. The role of the milk is to make it easier to mix in the egg whites.
Add one egg yolk at the time and mix well.
Beat the egg whites to snow quite firm and insert them by folding them into the chocolate slowly.
Transfer to a bowl or individual ramequins, cover with cell wrap and place in the fridge. The mousse will settle in the fridge.
Remove from the fridge 20-30 min before serving (in summer 10 min is enough), serve with a madeleine or other plain biscuit.
This lemon and lime tart is a recipe from Julie Goodwin from the first serie of the Australian Masterchef. Julie ended up winning the competition, you can follow here progress on her website.
The tart is tangy, the lime softens a bit the flavour. I have done it a number of times, sometimes adding a soft meringue on top.
The pastry can be prepared a day ahead if required.
pinch of salt (not necessary if you use salted butter)
½ cup icing mixture – I used icing sugar, it works perfectly well
100g butter
1 egg
Filling
½ cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
¼ cup lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 cup caster sugar
2/3 cup thickened cream
5 eggs, lightly beaten
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan forced). Grease a 25 cm fluted, loose-based flan tin.
Place flours, salt, icing mixture and butter in a food processor and process until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the egg and process again until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn out onto a board. If the dough seems very dry and crumbly, add a teaspoon of cold water and briefly knead it in. Wrap in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to about 5 mm thick. The pastry is very short – it will be very difficult to move in one piece. Tear pieces from the pastry and bit by bit, cover the base and sides of the flan tin. Press the edges of the pastry pieces together, taking care to keep it the same thickness throughout.
Put a sheet of baking paper into the flan tin and fill with baking weights or rice. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights and bake for a further 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
Combine the lemon and lime juice, sugar and cream in a bowl. Whisk in the beaten eggs a bit at a time until it is mixed. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 25 minutes or until set. Refrigerate until needed.
I decorated with mint leaves from the garden and candied lemon and lime slices.
