Why I Like to Bake...

There is something so fulfilling for me about baking. The precision of measuring the ingredients, the tactile nature of dough that is often rolled or pinched or shaped, and the beauty of the presentation. I think I love baking because I like to create beautiful things. There is almost a formality of in baking- which I also enjoy. Below is my homage to Martha. I love her work and aspire to be a mini-Martha. Note the cookbook that my friend, Brandy got for me. She had it signed by Martha herself.

What's A Must in Your Crust?

Since I have started on this pie mission, I have had to make a decision about the kind of fat I use in my crust: butter? Crisco? lard? oil? Now pie crust is both a science and an art. I could go into the different fat properties like melting point etc but I've decided that I prefer butter for my crust. In fact, I use the Martha Stewart Pate Brisee recipe. I think you could argue that lard or Crisco are much easier to work with because they are more solid than butter at room temperature. I have good friends that swear by an oil crust as the flakiest. The main reason I use butter is that I think it simply tastes the best - as a plain ingredient and in the crust. I like the taste of butter and it just seems like a clean and pure ingredient. What is a must in your crust? Do you have a treasured recipe with butter or lard or oil or Crisco?

The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts...

...all on a summer's day. Ah, I wanted to make a simple but beautiful summer dessert for two dear friends who came for dinner. I chose the raspberry tarts from my pies and tarts book and they were lovely. The crust was quite soft and easy to make. First, I had to mess up and add twice the amount of butter...so I promptly doubled the recipe. I used my tart pans and baked the shells fully. Then I put a layer of raspberry jam and a layer of chocolate and butter followed by topping them with fresh raspberries. I think nothing is more elegant and simple than fresh fruit on a tart. Not only were they easy to make and beautiful to look at but they tasted delicious! I think I will be making a lot of tarts in the future!

The girl and the figs...

The pie mission I am not only includes pies but also tarts and seeing these beautiful fresh figs, I could not resist the chance to make a fig galette. This recipe has a pate brisee crust - baked and folded in a rustic tart manner. The base is a ricotta with cardamom and orange and honey. The crust was baked, topped with the ricotta mixture and baked again. Finally fresh figs were added and drizzled with honey. The result was spectacular to see and to taste! Ah the beauty of ripe, fresh fruit. This was a complete success from start to finish.

Cherry Is So Very....

ok. I think cherry pie isn't my favorite pie. I bought the cherries fresh from the farmer's market and pitted them all by hand. My fingers have never looked so grubby! I made the dough which was a bit harder to handle than normal- would crack. After I made the lattice, I wished I had made thick and thin strips for contrast...next time. The pie tasted good but it was kind of one note: cherry. This was the first fresh cherry pie I have ever had, I think. It was a bit runny but again, fresh cherries, very little starch. Next, please.

Me vs. the Banana Cream Pie

And I won...after three rounds. I have been making my own pie crust in the last year or so but I have mostly made it for fruit pies and for pumpkin pie. Fruit pies don't have you fully bake the crust in advance as this banana cream pie does. I decided that I want to be an excellent pie baker and I am going to make all of the pies in the Williams-Sonoma Pies book. So, when I made my pate brisee and baked it in the pie plate in the oven, it shrunk from the edges and looked terrible. I repeated it and it again, slipped down. I then changed pie plates to my favorite red pie plate with a substantial ridge to which I made a thicker crust. That did it. I made the delicious custard and put in the bananas and topped it with a rum- whipped cream. My mom said this pie crust was the best she has ever had... even better than my Great-Aunt Mary or Great-Aunt Marie. Well, I aspire to become one of the pie making queens like my Aunt Mary and Aunt Marie- so that made me feel really good. One pie down, many to go.

Sometimes I want to make complicated things

so I indulged myself this week and bought two cookbooks: Hello Cupcake and Tartine. Sometimes I really like spending a lot of time crafting, creating and working on the details. Tartine looks like a pretty complicated dessert book and Hello Cupcake has all of these crafty cupcakes. I think I will learn a few new techniques. I really like the presentation of the cupcake book although it doesn't look as tasty as the Tartine. Fun fun fun!