I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and were able to spend quality time with family and friends.  This Thanksgiving I thought about how blessed I am in so many ways.  I also thought about how there are so many people who struggle to put a meal on the table every night and I spend hours going through cookbooks and food magazines trying to find new inspiration and ideas to make because I am bored with the same meals every week.  Let us all remember how fortunate we are that we can be creative with food and be passionate about this hobby that is food blogging.

After so many heavy carbs and overstuffed meals, I was craving something a bit lighter and more refreshing.  This Lemon Tart is really just a glorified version lemon bars, but the best lemon bars you have ever tasted.  In my mind, nothing bad can come from something that starts with a simple, buttery shortbread crust like this tart does.  Topped with light refreshing lemon custard and berries, this tart is just so fresh tasting and beautiful to look at with the bright berries contrasting the pale yellow lemon custard.

The combinations and variations you could do with this tart are really limitless.  If you would prefer, you could use oranges or limes instead of the lemons to make the custard filling.  You could top your tart with a strawberry syrup or simply with whipped cream.  Or you could really emulate the traditional lemon bars by simply dusting some powdered sugar over the top once the tart has cooled.  Any way you choose to modify it, this Lemon Tart is a truly satisfying crowd pleaser.

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I know that fall doesn’t officially start until next Saturday, but in my kitchen it was pumpkin, pumpkin and more pumpkin last weekend.  All of the recipes that I made each only called for about 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree, but I couldn’t stand to throw any of it away, so I just kept baking until it was all used up!  That means a week of pumpkin-only recipes!  I figured you might need some new ideas to play around with before Thanksgiving rolls around anyway…..

My best friend since 7th grade, Nikki moved out of state last Saturday and so we went out for dinner with a few girlfriends to wish her well and came back to my house for dessert.  I wanted to make something from the new cookbook by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito called Baked Elements.  I have the other two Baked books and so I was so excited to receive a copy of their latest book to review.

The cookbook is organized by their favorite 10 ingredients, such as chocolate, caramel, booze and peanut butter.  There are so many amazing recipes from this cookbook that I will be sharing with you in the weeks to come because I literally want to make every one of them!  The book is filled with beautiful photos that will make you drool and a witty introduction to each recipe draws you in even more.  Whether you own Matt and Renato’s first two books, Baked Explorations and Baked:  New Frontiers in Baking, I highly recommend you pick yourself up a copy of their latest book.  How great would a set of all three of the Baked books be to give as a gift??

I saw a recipe in this book for Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, and although I am not a cheesecake lover, I do enjoy the combination of pumpkin pie flavors with cream cheese, so I decided to use some of the recipe components and put my own spin on it as well.  I wanted to make a tart because I am a sucker for graham cracker crusts.  I also love the combination of pumpkin and cinnamon so I decided to base my tart on a cinnamon graham cracker crust.  I like my graham cracker crust to almost be thicker than what is inside it, and this recipe gave me just that.

The filling for this Pumpkin Cream Cheese Tart is a layer of spiced pumpkin whipped with cream cheese and topped with a traditional cream cheese frosting.  The result will remind you of a pumpkin pie with the smooth consistency and perfectly spiced flavor, but the cinnamon graham cracker crust will trick you into thinking you are eating a full-blown cheesecake.  Call it cheesecake.  Call it a tart.  I don’t care what you call it, just call it made.

for the crust, process graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter until combined

press into greased tart pan and bake

for the pumpkin filling, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth

in a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice

add pumpkin mixture to cream cheese and beat to combine

pour into crust and bake

make cream cheese topping and spread over pumpkin layer, refrigerate, cut and serve

*A copy of Baked Elements was provided to me by Stewart, Tabori & Chang (Abrams Publishing), but all opinions are, as always, my own.

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Last week I shared one of my favorite ways to whip up a quick last-minute dessert by using phyllo cups.  The desserts I shared with you were these springy Lemon Curd Tarts.

Today I want to share another easy filling that you can add to these cups.  I am like most other people in that I love Nutella, so when a found a recipe for a Chocolate Hazelnut Tart, I was just waiting for an excuse to make it.  The recipe was actually for a 12-inch tart, but I did not have time to make a crust on this particular day, so I cut the filling recipe in half, filled the phyllo cups and topped each one with a toasted hazelnut.  The tartlets were perfect for a little one-bite fix!

The filling requires no baking and really couldn’t be much simpler.  Literally 5 ingredients and 5 minutes later and you will have a thick and creamy Nutella filling that will satisfy any sweet tooth.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Tartlets

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: no-bake dessert chocolate nutella tart filling

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Ingredients (15 tartlets)

• Pre-made phyllo dough cups (found near pie crust in frozen section at most grocery stores)
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp Nutella
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 15 toasted hazelnuts (for garnish)

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and cornstarch to combine.

Combine remaining ingredients (EXCEPT toasted hazelnuts) in a small saucepan.

Turn heat to medium and whisk in the cornstarch mixture.

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes after boiling point.

Remove from heat and pour into phyllo cups using a teaspoon or small cookie scoop. Top each tart with a toasted hazelnut.

Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour.

Recipe adapted from Food Network Magazine

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in a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 1/4 cup cream

combine all other ingredients (except toasted hazelnuts) in a  small saucepan

whisk in cornstarch mixture

bring to a boil and continue stirring until thickened, about 2 minutes

pour filling into phyllo cups, top with toasted hazelnut and refrigerate

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A couple of ingredients that immediately invoke panic in me are yeast and egg yolks.  Not just raw egg yolks, but when you are making a custard or pudding-type dessert, and you have to temper egg yolks.  Yep, it sends a bit of a chill down my spine.  I am so afraid of ending up with scrambled eggs or cooked egg chunks in my dessert.  And who wants scrambled eggs and lemon together?  Not me.

Thankfully my mom was in town last week and she helped my conquer this irrational fear I have of cooking egg yolks.

My mom has made many a curd in her day, so she assured me that I wouldn’t end up with an omelet if I attempted to make lemon curd.  And so with a confidence boost from her, I successfully made my own lemon curd!  Now I am already dreaming up other flavors of curd that I can’t wait to try:  lime, clementine…..

We all can use shortcuts from time to time and pre-formed phyllo cups are one of my favorite tricks.  Already baked and perfectly crispy, the sweet or savory filling possibilities are unlimited for the shells.  By simply filling the shells with lemon curd and topping them with a blueberry, the color and texture contrasts were great and the flavor combination was so fresh and perfect for spring.

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Lemon Curd

by Mercedes Porter

Keywords: dessert spread lemon filling spring

6023300

 

Ingredients (1 1/4 cups curd)

• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, frozen and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Instructions

Place lemon juice, sugar and salt in to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and egg yolks. Slowly pour lemon mixture into eggs whisking constantly to temper. Return mixture to saucepan and heat over medium-low heat stirring constantly until mixture is thickened. It is thick enough when you can drag a spatula along the bottom of the pan and it leaves a trail.

Remove from heat and stir in butter until melted and combined.

Pour curd through a fine metal sieve into another bowl.

Press plastic wrap directly against surface of curd and refrigerate at least an hour before serving.

Recipe adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book

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