Long time no see...

It's been a long time since I've updated my little blog.  I didn't bake much, so didn't have much to share.  However, I was inspired on my trip to Hong Kong and Thailand.  Mango tarts I made this weekend...inspired from a trip to the Mandarin Cake Shop.

Mini Mango tarts

Blueberries!!

Highbush blueberries

After eating my friend’s freshly picked blueberries last summer, I knew I had to go this year. We lucked out over the weekend as it was overcast when we got to the farm. The first thing I thought of when I got to the farm was that highbush blueberry plants are so pretty. Different shades of red, purple and blue. I have to say, out of all the berries I picked this summer, blueberries are the easiest and the least effort. I didn’t get too much, just under 7lbs but ate lots of berries while picking away.

Fresh berry tart

I really didn’t mean to make tarts but my mom requested it as we had relatives in town for dinner. It was yummy but I rather eat the berries fresh. I’ll save the store-bought berries for cakes and tarts.

Laziness...

Since I got back from Europe, and had a disastrous attempt at making chocolate macarons, I haven’t been motivated to bake. I finally got back into the swing of things last weekend when I bought a case of mangoes. I had so many ideas on how to use the mangoes but have only managed to make mango tarts. Honestly, it was too hot to do anything this week with the mini heat wave we experience in Toronto. And somehow, I managed to catch a cold…so a valid excuse to be lazy!

My Obsessions

I’m obsessed with Swiss Rolls and tarts, partly because I really like eating them. Plus I’m still trying to perfect my swiss roll making skills. Last time, I made the most delicious sponge but was able to roll it nicely into a tight roll. This time, it looked perfect but the sponge lacked the texture I desired. I guess more trial and error until I made the perfect roll.

Tarts on the other had is much easier. One of my faves is the apricot tart, made with an almond filling. Tarts on the other had is much easier. One of my faves is the apricot tart, made with an almond filling.

Gotta go enjoy the last little bit of the long weekend, and hopefully pick up some alphonso mangos which I confirmed are on sale in Torono.

Project: Plums

I was quite upset at myself for missing out on apricot season at the Farmers Market so I've decided to move my focus towards apple season. I want to make apple pie. The only time I made apple pie was when I took a baking course at George Brown. My sister loves apple pies, so I normally just eat the pies she bakes; although she hasn’t made it in awhile and she’s now out in Quebec City.

When I came across Aran’s blog, I realized I’ve been ignoring all the end of summer fruits at the market – plums! Since I couldn’t wait until Wednesday, I picked up my box of black plums from Costco…I know, I feel bad they’re from California and not Ontario. I’m hoping to go to the market on Wednesday to get a different assortment of plums to try out various recipes. Hopefully I didn’t miss the plum season as well. In the end, I couldn’t work with her recipe since the Muscovado sugar I bought had harden.


I ended up making the plum and almond tart from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert. I couldn’t locate my fluted tart tin so baked them up in 4” tart rings. They were delicious but I overbaked them by 5mins so they were very crispy when they came out of the oven. I had a tart this morning and it softened overnight.
I found my 9½: tart ring last night so I decided to bake another tart tonight. It puffed up nicer than the smaller tarts; next time I’ll have to use four instead of six rings. I still have a more plums and bookmarked a few more recipes to try as project plum continues.

Comfort snacks

It’s time to test out new recipes from the stacks of cookbooks on the shelf but before all that I’ve decided to make some old favourites.

Mango Tart

Mango and coconut cake

Carrot muffin

Old favourites

Of course I had to test out my new tart rings. I’ve been craving apricot tarts, so whipped some up using my tart rings. I didn’t really do a good job with lining the dough in the ring. While the tarts were baking in the oven, I found this demo of how to line the tart ring. I guess I have to bake some more tarts.

I also decided to try to recreate my fave version of egg sandwich. I guess there’s still a long way to go before I perfect it.

Sunday breakfast

It seems I only bake when we have people over. Still, I was lazy and settled on making something simple – fruit tart. I had extra pastry cream and tart shells so I made mango tart for breakfast. I love mangoes and especially mango tart.

Happy New Year!

My New Year's resolution is not to procrastinate. As a result of waiting until the last minute to complete my December DB Challenge, I didn’t end up finishing. I did start and baked/prepared all the parts up to the ganache and icing for the French Yule log but never got around to finishing it. When the posting date arrived, I was too tired to complete the challenge.

Instead of finishing my Yule log, I revised some old recipes. I have to say my Chocolate Swiss Roll is beginning to look like one. I picked up some pointers from a Japanese food blog to lightly cut into the sponge before rolling to “release muscle” as translated on Babelfish. I was a little heavy handed and cut too deep but it still look pretty good. I’m happy with the result and when I burn off the calories from the whipped cream, I look forward to making it again.

I also prepared a berry tart to share with friends for a potluck. I love making pastry cream and the pairing of it with berries and chocolate is delicious!

Weekend baking

I haven’t have been baking as much as I would like as I’ve been learning to cook. I had thought I would have more time to bake during the week but after making dinner I’m pretty much beat. So baking is left for the weekend.
Last weekend I did try out a few recipes. I’ve been craving apple tart from this store by work but thought since I had apples in the fridge, why not make my own. I found a quick puff pastry recipe on line, whipped up some pastry cream then assembled the tarts. Somehow it didn’t turn out as I planned. I didn’t have any apricot glaze or jam of any type so there was no glaze. I don’t think I had enough pastry cream either...I guess it’s back to the drawing board. Maybe I won’t be lazy next time and put in the effort and make puff pastry. The quick puff pastry just doesn't taste the same.

Boy do I love making pastry cream...and I love eating it. Instead of using my tried and true recipe, I tried the recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. The difference is this one uses egg yolks. My recipe uses whole eggs and whipping cream so it’s richer.

Pastry Cream – Makes about 2 cups
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted
1½ tsp pure vanilla extract
3½ tbsp

1. Bring milk to boil in saucepan. Meanwhile, in medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about ¼ cup of the hot milk – this will temper, or warm, the egg yolks so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, constantly and making sure to get to edges of pot, bring mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from the heat.
2. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in butter a little at a time, stirring until fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky. Scrape pastry cream into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap on top of cream to create airtight seal. You can store in fridge or to cool it quickly put in bowl of ice.

Of course I didn’t only make apple tarts.

My cousin came over and we made gluten free banana loaves, we misread the recipe and put in a tad too much salt, so it was salty banana bread. I think the recipe also needs more banana to give it more moisture...it was a bit dry the next day.

To cap off the weekend, I whipped up a batch of chocolate crackle cookies to send off to a friend in HK via her husband who was in town. I hope she and her daughter enjoys it. Of course this was all last weekend and being Saturday again – I have to decide what to make this weekend. I do need to get to the grocery store though as I’m all out of sugar!

Back to Baking

I finally started baking again last week as our kitchen is now completely reno free. Tomy put in the finishing touches by putting up the backsplash.

I love pistachios so when I saw the recipe for White Peach and Raspberry tart with pistachio frangipane in Regan Daly’s "In the Sweet Kitchen", I was excited to try it out. I was even more excited to take a pic of the tart that I forgot to serve it with the raspberries – oops. My mom called to tell me she loved the tart but I found it so-so. The pistachios didn't wow me in the tart. I prefer basic frangipane with almonds.

I also tried Rei’s recipe for banana chiffon with great success. I was excited when the cake didn’t sink this time. It was fluffy and light - just how chiffon should be. Thank you Rei for sharing her recipe.

Since we had our first official guests over at the condo this weekend, I decided to make something different for them to try – macarons. I was worried it wouldn’t turn out, but thankfully it did. I just need to work on my piping skills to pipe out more uniform macarons. The first tray was good then it went downhill. I guess I’ll just have to make more macarons for practice. Another thing I need to work on is piping out the buttercream. I can’t figure out how much to pipe on in order for the buttercream to properly fill out between the two shells. I guess practice makes perfect.

Edit Note: My friends are too kind. After trying the macarons I realize it's too hard from storing in the fridge. I hope I had it out at room temperature long enough when I served it last night. I will have to revert back to my more sable buttercream recipe that keeps at room temperature.

Fresh Berry tarts

I have been baking yet not posting since we since don’t have internet at the condo. It’s really my own fault as I couldn’t decide which company I wanted to go with. After weeks of going back and forth, we...well "I" finally decided. So we’ll be getting it by the end of the week! Being the first day of September, let’s reflect on something summery.

I had lots of sweet fresh berries this summer but didn’t have a chance to bake with them with all the craziness of moving and planning. With the extra dough remaining from the apricot tarts, I decided to use it to make berry tarts. I picked up some blueberries, raspberries and strawberries from the supermarket. Being this late in the summer, they weren’t that sweet yet it’s perfect with the combination of pastry cream on the tarts. I had some cherries in the fridge which I dipped into milk chocolate to make them prettier. I love making tarts – I think my favourite is still mango tarts. I must not overdose on tarts.

Thank You!!!

Welcome to Crazy for Sweets, a journal to share my sweet adventures from my new kitchen and daily life here in Toronto.

I would like use my first post to thank my Aunt Nancy and Aunt Cindy & family. They flew into Toronto to attend my wedding. With all the last minute details for the wedding, I did not have a chance to spend time with them. I did manage to whip up some Apricot tarts before they left. I know they both enjoyed the tarts.

The recipe I used is from the Pie class I took George Brown. Using the full recipe, I can make enough dough to freeze for other uses.

Here’s the recipe:

Sweet Dough (yields 4 - 7” tarts and more)

Unsalted Butter 454g
Sugar 230g
Eggs 2
All Purpose Flour 230g
Pastry Flour 454g

1. Cream sugar and butter with a paddle until lightly fluffy.
2. Add eggs and mix for 30 seconds and scrape sides of mixing bowl.
3. Sift all purpose flour and pastry flour together.
4. Add to mixing bowl on 1st speed until well incorporated.
5. Let pastry dough rest for 2 hours in fridge. This can be kept in freezer for about one month. Freeze the dough flat so it thaws easily.

Filling (enough to fill 10 – 3” tarts)

Almond Paste 170 g
Unsalted Butter (soften) 135g
White Sugar 70g
Whole Eggs 120g (about 2 extra large eggs)
Pastry Flour 30g

1. Place the almond paste, butter and sugar into a small mixing bowl with a paddle. Mix on 1st speed until blended. Scrape bowl.
2. Turn mixer to 2nd speed until light and fluffy. Scrape bowl.
3. Turn mixer to 1st speed and add the eggs slowly until incorporated. Scrape bowl.
4. Add the flour on 1st speed and mix until just incorporated. Scrape bowl,
5. Turn mixer on to 3rd speed and mix for 30 seconds. This is to ensure all the ingredients are fully incorporated. Remove from mixer and scrape bowl.

Assembly

1. Use piping bag or spread in filling into each tart shell.
2. Arrange fresh or canned apricots on top of filling.
3. Bake the tarts at 400F for approximately 25 minutes are until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool.