For me, this is one of the most representative pies of the fall season! Of North American origin, it is traditionally made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Its spicy scents will perfume the…]]>
Pumpkin Pie
For me, this is one of the most representative pies of the fall season! Of North American origin, it is traditionally made for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Its spicy scents will perfume the whole house while it is cooking. This dessert, served with a touch of whipped cream is totally irresistible. I first tasted pumpkin pie a long time ago, in an American family, and I found the consistency very (too?) surprising. Coming back to it today and making it myself from fresh pumpkin, I’ve become a total fan!
Ingredients
Sweet dough
- 210 g flour
- 35 g powdered sugar
- 25 g almond powder
- 125 g soft butter
- 50 g eggs
Pumpkin Cream
- 450 g cooked pumpkin flesh
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (397 g)
- 2 eggs of 60g each
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon gingerbread mix
- 1 good pinch salt
Instructions
- Start by preparing the sweet dough. You'll only need half the dough, but it's easier to make the whole thing. You can freeze the other half! Place all ingredients except the egg in a bowl or in the bowl of a food processor.
- Beat with the leaf of the robot (this is the K) until the butter is incorporated.
- The whole thing looks like sand. At this point, add the beaten egg.
- Turn on again just to incorporate the beaten egg but no more! Place the dough in cling film and chill.
- This is the pumpkin used in this recipe. I found a small one. You can take a larger one and use only the amount indicated in the recipe, to put the rest in a soup for example.Note from Bernard:Small precision on the pumpkin. If you can't find a classic pumpkin, you can use pumpkin. Its rather floury flesh is perfect but the pie will be a little bit sweeter. I also tried it with butternut squash from Provence. Its flesh is juicier and you'll have to put an extra egg in the recipe, but it works just as well! So don't panic if you can't find a little pumpkin.
- Cut it in half.
- Remove the seeds with a spoon.
- And put the two pieces face down.
- Put in a preheated oven at 180°C.
- Bake for 45 minutes. The pumpkin is all softened and well cooked!
- Let it cool, faces up this time.
- Remove the flesh with a spoon.
- Keep 450g (do what you want with the rest).
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Lightly flour it and place it on a piece of baking paper (it's easier!). Start rolling it out.
- Put a piece of baking paper in the bottom of the pan. I used a pan with a removable bottom for ease. Take a mold of 18 or 20cm. This will just change the thickness of the cream.
- Place the dough on the pan.
- Fill it well (darken it) with dough.
- Remove excess dough with a roller or knife.
- It's ready! Chill while you prepare the rest.
- Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk over the cooled pumpkin flesh.
- Puree with an immersion blender. You can also blend the pumpkin flesh alone (cooked) in a conventional blender and place the 450g in the bowl with the sweetened condensed milk.
- Here are the spices.
- Pour in the salt, spices and add the eggs.
- Mix well with a whisk.
- Pour the mixture into the pan. You can also pre-bake the dough in the pan. It's up to you!
- Bake at 185°C for 35-40 minutes.
- Let cool and serve with a little whipped cream (not a must)! As the pie cools completely, it will turn into a sort of light syrup on the surface that will make it very shiny.
Nutrition
Serving: 8peopleCalories: 393kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 9gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 434mgPotassium: 440mgFiber: 1gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 5406IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 213mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Santa's stuffed boots
I went to Strasbourg and loved the pastries. One of them, Christian, offers incredible gingerbread that I rushed to taste. One of them had this exact boot shape. I took some time to redo them from what I remember. I filled these bunches with an almond and walnut paste with Grand Marnier (the alcohol evaporates during cooking to leave a delicious taste). The dough itself is full of irresistible things. Upon arrival, Santa Claus boots that will be ideal to get in the festive mood of the holidays!
Ingredients
- 90 g candied orange peel
- 90 g candied lemon peel
- 150 g chopped almonds
- 90 g nuts
- 45 g hazelnut powder
- 325 g flour
- 5 g potash diluted in 10g water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon powder
- 1 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1/2 teaspoon 4 spices mix
- the zest organic lemon
- the zest organic orange
- 100 g brown vergeoise
- 200 g honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 15 g water
Almond and walnut paste with Grand Marnier
- 80 g nuts
- 150 g almond powder
- 125 g sugar
- 90 g Grand Marnier
- 40 g glucose syrup
Icing
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 40 g water
Decoration
- 300 g tempered chocolate
- 2 candied cherries
- 20 almonds without skin
Instructions
- Put the candied orange and lemon peels in a blender to reduce them to small pieces.
- If you have chopped almonds, blend them to reduce them more finely.
- It looks like a very coarse almond powder.
- Also grind the nuts into a coarse powder.
- Put everything in a container or in the bowl of your food processor.
- Add flour, salt and spices.
- This is the potash. It is really the leavening agent used in gingerbread from the East and Germany. I bought it on a vegan website. I put you the link HERE !
- Pour 5g into a small container and add the 10ml of water. Mix until completely dissolved.
- Add the zest of one orange and one organic lemon to the container.
- Pour the brown vergeoise, honey, liquid vanilla and the 15g of water into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. On the picture it looks like butter, but it's really honey that I was offered!
- Pour into the dough and mix until you have a homogeneous paste.
- With everything in it, the dough is already delicious. Well, the potash gives a funny smell that will go away when cooking.
- Set aside. For the almond paste, mix the nuts to obtain a nice powder.
- Mix the almond powder and nuts.
- Add the sugar.
- Pour the Grand Marnier.
- Finish with the glucose syrup.
- Mix well. The smell alone is delicious.
- For the boot, I drew on a cardboard and cut it according to the shape I remembered. You can of course make any shape you want!
- Roll out the dough fairly thinly (5mm thick), making sure you have enough surface area for one bundle.
- Spread a second layer of dough with the same surface.With the blade of a knife, without incising, mark the dough. Put almond-nut paste (the layer is 3-4mm) leaving 1,5cm before the edge of the bundle.
- Place the second layer of rolled out dough.
- Place the stencil on the dough and cut the dough this time.
- And here is a nice boot!
- Do the same for all the dough and almond-nut paste. Place the bundles as they come on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- For the decoration, just like at Christian's, I put half a candied periwinkle and 5 raw almonds.
- Bake at 155°C on fan heat for 27-28 minutes. In fact, the firing depends totally on the size of your subject.
- The boots must be well cooked. The smell during cooking is just crazy.
- For the icing, mix the water and powdered sugar. This one is very fluid. Apply with a brush on the surface.
- Do the same for all the gingerbread.
- Return to the oven, this time at 90°C for 12 minutes (still in a revolving heat).
- For the finishing touch, temper the chocolate you have chosen. For the method, it's HERE!
- Dip the top of the boot to make the cuff or do it with a brush.
- I also brush the entire underside of the boots.
- Let the chocolate set. The boots are ready. Now let it sit for a day or two to allow the fragrances to develop even more! If well packaged, these cakes can be kept for a long time.
Nutrition
Serving: 4stuffed bundlesCalories: 1445kcalCarbohydrates: 230gProtein: 21gFat: 65gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 9gMonounsaturated Fat: 30gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 0.01mgSodium: 1051mgPotassium: 892mgFiber: 16gSugar: 135gVitamin A: 50IUVitamin C: 39mgCalcium: 298mgIron: 8mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Bourdaloue Pie
Here is a simple recipe. If, like me, you choose to make your own poached pears in syrup, then it will take a little longer. But other than that little bit of extra time, the pie is really simple to make. A pie made of a crispy sweet pastry, a soft almond cream and a creamye and finally melting pears. All this with the scent of butter, vanilla and amber rum… I wonder how we can resist any longer and not rush to the kitchen to try it! This pie has nothing to do with the 17th century churchman Louis Bourdaloue, but with the Bourdaloue street in Paris where this pie was invented in the 19th century by a pastry chef…
Ingredients
Sweet dough:
- 210 g flour
- 125 g cold unsalted butter
- 35 g icing sugar
- 25 g almond powder
- 50 g beaten egg
- vanilla powder
Almond cream:
- 100 g almond powder
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 100 g melted butter
- 1 egg
- 10 g cornstarch
- vanilla powder
- 20 g amber rum
Pears in syrup:
- 4 large pears
- 750 ml water
- 350 g sugar
- 1 vanilla bean
- the juice of half a lemon
Instructions
- You can buy canned pears in syrup for this recipe. However, since I like to do things myself (whenever possible), I make my own pears in syrup.Peel the pears.
- Put the water, sugar and split vanilla bean in a saucepan on low.
- When the sugar is melted, even if the syrup is not yet boiling, add the pears (still whole!) and sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon.
- Put on moderate heat with a lid and let cook for 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the pears!!). Turn off the heat and leave in the syrup.
- When the pears are soft, let them drain and set aside for the rest of the recipe.
- Prepare the sweet pastry. Put all the ingredients except the egg in a bowl or in the bowl of the food processor.
- Beat with the food processor (it’s the K) until the butter is incorporated.
- Add the beaten egg at this point.
- Switch on just to incorporate the beaten egg but no more!
- Put the dough on parchment paper.
- Put another sheet on the dough and roll out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 2-3mm. This way, no extra flour is added and the work surface and rolling pin stay clean.
- Place a pastry circle (22X2,5cm) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Take good care of make a right angle in the angle of the circle with the plate.
- Cut the excess dough with a knife, going from the inside of the circle to the outside with a short gesture.
- Repeat around the circle, pinching and lowering the dough to obtain a perfect angle of dough.
- This way the circle is perfectly dark (filled with dough).Prepare the almond cream. Put in a bowl, ground almonds, icing sugar, cornstarch and soft butter.
- Add the rum.
- Mix and add the egg.
- Mix well.
- Add vanilla powder. Mix and set aside in a cool place.
- Heat the oven to 180°C. We have two options here:-Cover the sweet dough with almond cream and pears and bake directly. This works but the following method is even better!-or for an even more extra-crisp dough, bake the dough in a flour sack (see recipe for Raspberry Tartlets) or use parchment paper lined with peas. In the latter case, cook the dough for 15 minutes using the chosen method (peas or flour sack).Remove the pastry circle and brush it with egg white to waterproof the bottom of the pie.
- Return to the oven for 5 minutes, then remove again. Pour in the almond cream.
- Add pears in syrup (2 or 3 pears depending on the size of the circle used).
- Then return to the oven to cook the surface of the pie. The cooking time depends on the oven. Mine is not powerful, so I have to let it cook longer.
- The only requirement is that the entire surface be golden brown. It takes about 30 minutes with monitoring and adjusting. Remove, unmold carefully and let cool on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Serving: 7peopleCalories: 533kcalCarbohydrates: 105gProtein: 4gFat: 18gSaturated Fat: 10gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 65mgSodium: 376mgPotassium: 206mgFiber: 5gSugar: 69gVitamin A: 518IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 89mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Montecaos of Fatiha
First delight of my culinary experience at “Délice de la Casbah”. I would like to warmly thank Fatiha who was kind enough to share her knowledge and her delicious recipe with me. The “montecaos” are large, very crumbly, sandy cakes. They can be kept for a long time because they do not contain eggs or butter.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190°C.Place the almond powder, powdered sugar and flour in a large bowl.
- Add the liquid vanilla and baking powder.
- Start drizzling in the oil while stirring.
- Depending on the flour and almonds used, you will need to add more or less oil, and you should stop adding it as soon as the dough can be put in a pile.
- Take a handful of dough in the palm of your hand.
- Roll into a ball between the two hands.
- Then, still between the two hands, form a kind of "spinning top" as shown below. I had a little trouble at first to get this characteristic shape but I finally succeeded by curling both hands, that is to say by rolling the balls quickly between the two hollowed out palms (as opposed to flat hands).
- Add a pinch of powdered cinnamon to the top of each montecao.
- Bake for about 30 minutes at 190°C, keeping an eye on the temperature.
- Store in a safe place in a box. The montecaos can be kept for a long time because they do not contain eggs or butter.
Nutrition
Serving: 60montecaosCalories: 73kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 1gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0.02gSodium: 63mgPotassium: 11mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 3gCalcium: 13mgIron: 0.3mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!