June 25, 2009

Strawberry Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Just posting some pictures of my completed work with a few notes. I'm not going to repost the different recipes needed because, unfortunately, I wasn't too impressed with the product! The crust is basically made of a shortbread dough. We had our pick of fillings so I just used some of the strawberry freezer jam I had just put up. Then the frangipane seals it all in. I don't believe I've had frangipane before but that's probably because I'm not a fan of almond and it has both almond extract and ground almonds in it. There's also a lot of egg involved so it's rather "squidgy", as the DB website puts it.

June 24, 2009

Frozen Mocha Pie

I can't honestly recall where this recipe originated from but it's a good one! It's a super easy dessert to make with the only trick being that you do have to make it ahead of time. This is no last-minute idea, alright? So, let's get down to the nitty gritty...
  • 1 chocolate cookie pie crust
  • 8 oz. cream cheese
  • 2/3 c. chocolate syrup
  • 14 oz. sweetened, condensed milk
  • 2 T. instant coffee, dissolved in a bit of hot water
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
Beat together the cream cheese, syrup, milk and dissolved coffee until smooth. You want to make this as consistent a texture as possible. Fold in the whipped cream and pour into the prepared pie crust. Freeze overnight before serving! Use a serrated knife to help cut through the frozen pie - it works better.

Possible substitutions:
I didn't actually have quite the right ingredients to put this together last night so I made a few changes. The recipe is pretty forgiving so go ahead and experiment!
  • used a graham cracker crust instead
  • used 1/3 c. sugar-free chocolate syrup + about 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • beat in about 12 oz. or so of whipped topping that I had already in the freezer
Note: If you pull it out of the freezer too soon, it'll be looking more like this when you eat it. Equally yummy but much softer.