almonds

Rhubarb Frangipane Pie: GF of Course!

 

Another week, another rhubarb pie.  This time I went with almond; a frangipane layer under the rhubarb but it’s quick to make and blends in: you won’t see it  when you bite into this luscious pie.  This is easy to make even though it has several steps.  Keeper recipe!

The GF crust will work for any pie you wish and the sugared topping is a great look and a crunchy sweet treat.  This pie does has several steps but each one is easy.  This was my first try at a two crust pie and I have to say the top crust was very flaky and tasty. I am now wondering why it took me three plus years to attempt a double crust.  Apple pie coming our way this fall with two crusts for sure!

 

Angie’s GF Rhubarb Frangipane Pie

Crust:

2 ¼ c brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

¼ cup sweet rice flour

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

12 Tbsp. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

2 large eggs

4 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Directions: Spray 9 or 10 inch metal pie pan with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into two equal balls with your hands. Put each on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust balls some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes while you chop the rhubarb into ½ inch chunks.

Frangipane Filling:

2/3 cup almond meal

1/3 c sugar

6 tbsp. butter at room temp

1 large egg

1/2 tsp. almond extract

1 tbsp. rice flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix the almond meal and sugar in your stand mixer on low, add the butter, cream well, use spatula to make sure the butter gets down and fully integrated into the mixture and then add egg and almond extract, mix and add the flour and cinnamon.

Rhubarb filling:

5 cups cut up fresh rhubarb

3 tbsp. tapioca flour

¼ tsp. salt

Zest of one orange (optional)

2 tbsp. sugar

1 or 2 tsp. of milk to brush on for a glaze

Raw sugar to sprinkle on top

——–

In large bowl: place rhubarb, add tapioca flour, salt, plain sugar and orange zest. Stir with spoon to coat.

Assembling the pie:

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Roll out one pie crust between the two sheets of wax paper, try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! I use a pie bag my sister gave me; works fantastically with gf crusts. Peel off one side of wax paper and place in pie pan, centered.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.

Spread frangipane filling on the bottom of the crust.  Fill with dry rhubarb mix.  Roll out other pie crust. Place gently on top of pie, crimp around edges. Cut a few vent slits in the top crust. Brush top crust with milk, sprinkle heavily with raw sugar.

Place on baking sheet to catch drips (I have a pie drip pan I love!)  Bake 20 mi, rotate it half way through so the back and front are the same level of golden. Lower heat to 350 degrees.  Bake for 30-40 min until crust is golden and you can see the filling bubbling.  Cool on rack for at least 1-2 hours before serving. rhubarb frangipane pie 001

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

This recipe is a blending of one I found on splendidtable.org with my favorite crust recipe out of Annalise Roberts cookbooks with my own small changes to create a pie to my taste buds happiness.

Cherry Frangipane Tart – Cherrylishous!

Cherries are a Drake family favorite.  I have one sister who seems to live on sweet cherries all summer long.  I love them myself; a bowl of sweet and tangy cherries for dessert is the best! Once I made a whole dinner with cherries of one form or another in every recipe. Rave reviews from everyone.

Pies should be made with sour not sweet cherries.  Not sure why, cause you gotta add sugar anyway but it is the way of the cherry.  I love sour cherry pie…but, I never ate cherry pie as a kid because I couldn’t trust my mom to pick out any worms she saw in the home grown cherries she used for pies.  So I cheated myself out of many slices of delicious cherry pie.  This past summer I picked a lot of sour cherries and pitted them all.  One pie for now and the rest measured and frozen.  No worms, I promise!

At Christmas I made this yummy frangipane tart (almond tart) full of cherries for my family.  Yes, I used some of my frozen ones. Somehow I forgot to share it here on my blog.  Since it is the week we celebrate President’s Day [think George Washington and that cherry tree] it seemed appropriate to pass it on to you all.  Besides it is my “Year of the Pie” and tarts count! I totally want to make it again soon. Hmmnn, think there is one more bag of cherries in my freezer… christmas baking 2015 015

The recipe comes from my new bestie gf baking book; Gluten-Free Baking Classics The Heirloom Collection by Annalise Roberts. I didn’t change it at all.  Perfection with cherries. I am telling you, this cookbook is worth buying just for the pie section!

christmas baking 2015 012christmas baking 2015 013christmas baking 2015 014

Cherry Frangipane Tart

Crust:

1 c plus 2 tbsp brown rice flour mix (at bottom of recipe)

2 tbsp sweet rice flour

1 Tbps. granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp salt

6 Tbps. cold butter cut into 6 chunks

1 lg egg

2 tsp fresh orange or lemon juice

Spray 9 inch metal tart pan (with removable bottom) with cooking spray, dust with white rice flour.  I actually used a ten inch ceramic tart pan; worked fine too. Use the tart pan you have.

Mix dry ingredients in bowl of stand electric mixer.  Add butter and mix until crumbly and resembling coarse meal.  Add egg and juice.  Mix until it comes together into big chunks.  Shape into a ball with your hands. Put it on a crust sized piece of wax paper (14 x 14 inches more or less), flatten the crust ball some; put on top of it another piece of wax paper and chill it all in your fridge 15-20 minutes while you make the filling.

Roll out pie crust between the two sheets of wax paper; try to get the thickness even, no thick middle! My sister Karen gave me a pie bag last year and I love it for an even thin crust.  You can get one on line from King Arthur Flours.  Peel off one side of paper and place in pie pan, centered.  Remove other slice of wax paper.  Crimp edges all around.  Bake 15 minutes at 375 degrees, cool before filing. Crust can’t be hot or the almond and butter filling will melt when you spread it over the crust!

Filling:

½ c unsalted butter

½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup almond meal

1 tbsp. brown rice flour mix

1 tbsp. Amaretto

1 tsp. almond extract

½ tsp. salt

3 cups pitted sour cherries

Beat butter and sugar in bowl of large mixer until pale and fluffy. Add egg and other ingredients except cherries; beat it all together with a mixer at low speed until well blended.

Put tart together:

Fill cooled crust with frangipane mixture spread over bottom of the baked tart crust.  Then spread the pitted cherries evenly over the top. I put them on, one at a time to make sure they looked the best I could do.  No “just dump them” for this tart…

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 40-50 minutes, until tart is puffed and light brown across the whole surface.  Take out of the oven and cool at least 1 hour before removing the side ring.   Serve warm or close to room temperature. christmas baking 2015 015

Note: if you use frozen cherries; measure and weigh frozen. Let them defrost, pat off excess moisture and spread them over the filling.

Brown Rice Flour Mix (same as King Arthur GF Flour Mix)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch

1/3 c tapioca flour

Almond Cloud Cookies…Delightful

Sometimes you feel like you gotta have a cookie and nothing store made will do.  This basic recipe from the King Arthur website will show you how easy it is to make scrumptious gluten free cookies; these are flour free; made with almond paste, sugar, egg whites, almond extract and some powdered sugar.  So simple even a 7 year old can make them.  No fancy molding, shaping or rolling out.  No tricky flours to mix, no meringue to whip.  Simple blending, measure it with your tablespoon; shape quickly by pressing with three finger tips and bake. The cookie dough spreads out as it bakes so don’t worry if it looks like an artless clump on your baking sheet.  It will flatten and round into an attractive cookie.

Almond cloud cookies have a delicate crunch to them, deeply almond in flavor.  They look very pretty with the powdered sugar on top.  I find them somewhat addictive; can’t eat just one cookie. Yes….an almond cloud is a very descriptive name for these delightful treats.

I used ¾ cup white sugar and they were quite sweet enough for me. I also sprinkled the baked cookies with sifted powdered sugar after they came out and cooled a minute or two right on the baking sheet. Don’t leave them there more than a couple more minutes or they will be hard to lift off the baking sheet. If you are more cautious in  your use of sugar leave that stop off. I cut the sugar down in the dough to 3/4 cup but did sift some powdered sugar on top; makes the cookies even more attractive.

Great recipe; definitely planning to make it again for company and maybe for Christmas. No flour needed; just lots of almond paste! I measured mine on a small kitchen scale to make sure I had the right amount of that pricey ingredient.  You can make your own you know: l did last holiday season – very easy and I loved the fresh flavor of my very own batch: https://myworldwithoutwheat.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/almond-paste-holiday-joy/

seafood pasta and swordfish 017seafood pasta and swordfish 018seafood pasta and swordfish 019seafood pasta and swordfish 021seafood pasta and swordfish 023

Almond cloud cookies  makes about 21 cookies.

INGREDIENTS

10 ounces almond paste

¾-1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, lightly beaten

1/4 teaspoon gluten-free almond extract

1/8 teaspoon extra-strong bitter almond oil

Confectioners’ sugar for topping

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two rimmed baking sheets.

Blend the almond paste, sugar, and salt until the mixture becomes uniformly crumbly; this is best done in a stand mixer.

Add the egg whites gradually, while mixing, to make a smooth paste.

Stir in the flavorings. I left out the almond oil; didn’t have any; fine without it.

Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto the prepared pans. I did eight to a pan. Sprinkle the cookies heavily with confectioners’ sugar, then use three fingers to press an indentation into the center of each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and let them cool right on the pan for 4-5 minutes. I froze some and stored some in my cookie jar.  They stayed a bit soft making them easy to enjoy a couple days later…I was afraid that they would become tooth breakers upon sitting a while.  Nope…still perfect. Get your cookie with these charmers…you won’t regret it.seafood pasta and swordfish 027

Apricot Tart….Summer’s Bounty Perfected

July is apricot season. Whether you say it with a long or a short a (growing up with a whole orchard of them we said a long A) they are wonderful to eat out of hand or in a pie.  I didn’t have enough for a pie but there appeared to be enough for a tart.  These beauties were very large and perfectly ripe; not mushy though.  I got them from the produce store that just closed on Main Street.  I will miss their excellent produce……

apricot 001

I created this tart recipe to showcase these juicy golden fruits of summer’s height.  My family absolutely adores apricots so I was pretty sure this would go over great.

shrimp with herbs, apricot tart 003

I tried to cut it straight across; got kinda wacky warped in the moving to a plate; delicate crust this time but oh so tasty!

The crumb topping was already made and stored in my fridge so I just needed to make the shortbread cookie tart crust and it went together very rapidly. I think it looks fancy but in reality it is very simple to put together; no pie crust rolling either!  My version isn’t overly sweet; you can add a couple tablespoons of sugar; toss the apricot halves in it before you lay them on the crust.  I like it tart because apricots are tart and I wanted to taste that essential apricot flavor and recreate my memory of the zingy apricot pie my mom made many July’s ago. The almonds add to the crunch and they pair perfectly with apricots. It was a memorable dessert this past weekend.

neighbors, apricot tart 023

extreme close up!

neighbors, apricot tart 022

All ready for baking

neighbors, apricot tart 025

Ready for slicing and eating!

Sweet Cookie crust

Place the following in a stand mixer bowl and combine

1 cup GF flour (recipe below)

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp. cinnamon

Add 5 tbsp cold butter, cut into 6-7 chunks.  Mix on low until the butter is all blended in leaving just crumbs.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tbsp water.  Blend well. I have left out the vanilla and it is fine that way as long as you put in the cinnamon.

Pour the crumbs evenly into a 14×4 inch rectangular tart pan with a removable bottom or a nine inch round tart pan – sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread it up the sides a bit.  Press in gently so it is a cohesive crust but do not push really hard or it will be like concrete when you finish baking it! I like my rectangular tart shape; it gives the result a fancy, almost professional look. And it’s shape makes it so easy to slice for serving.

shrimp with herbs, apricot tart 003

Brown Rice Flour Mix  [makes 3 cups] 
2 c brown rice flour (finely ground)

2/3 c potato starch – not potato flour

1/3 c tapioca flour

FYI: this mix is identical to the King Arthur GF all purpose flour but much cheaper if you make it yourself

Crumb topping

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c granulated sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until fat crumbs form.  For this recipe they can be somewhat bigger crumbs: let them get the size of big peas but don’t over-mix or you will be stuck with a squishy dough; not a good thing…

=====

Filling:

8 to 10 large ripe apricots

1-3 tbsp sugar

¾ cup crumb topping

¼ tsp. almond extract

¼ cup sliced almonds

Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the crumbs with the almond extract and sliced almonds; I did it in the slightly dirty bowl I made the crust in.  Cut the apricots in half, pit them. Lay the apricots cut side down; in pairs down the top of the crust. I left very little to no space between them. If you do a round tart you can just space them out to fill the circle nicely. If your apricots aren’t large you may well need 4 to 6 more to fill the space.  If you desire extra sweetness gently stir them to coat with 2-3 tbsp. granulated sugar first.  I didn’t use the extra sugar, tart is my preference.

Then sprinkle the crumb topping all over the tart. Try to keep it in the tart:   Finally, sprinkle one tbsp. granulated sugar over the tart.  Bake for 50 to 60 min until bubbly and the crumbs are getting light brown.  Place on a wire rack and cool before slicing.

I think it would be fantastic with vanilla ice cream if you go in for that sort of delightful excess!  I don’t think it will keep more than two days.  I doubt it will last that long at my house. Too delectable for we Drakes; like a siren song; the call of an apricot tart….

Fruity Winter Tart

Well, this is my winter dessert Chopped blog post (Food Network show)…. I have some fresh cranberries, two almost ripe pears, one ripe apple, leftover crumb pie topping and slivered almonds.  What to make? I didn’t have a recipe that suited those specific ingredients so I threw together this pretty tart with the three fruits for a filling and a very easy topping.  Cranberries are good for you and they add a sparkling flavor to the apple/pear mix.

winter fruit tart 010

This turned out quite good, there is a crisp cookie crust covered with a mixture of sweetened fruits and a crumb and almond topping.  We had slices of it still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream tonight; perfect. Someone had seconds! I restrained myself.  Besides, I had a bigger slice of tart. And yes, the person having seconds, he does not need to avoid wheat but this tart made him want more!

This is a simple recipe; toss the fruit with sugar and flour.  And it looks like it came from the bakery.  If you make this tart I promise you no one will even believe it is GF.  They will just beg for seconds or thirds! I can’t wait to bake it again.

Note: we ate the rest of it today, still got but I think it is at best optimal flavor while still slightly warm.  I plan to try variations on it using other fruits; maybe blueberries instead of cranberries.  But it turned out great for a first time ever recipe.

winter fruit tart 003 winter fruit tart 004

Winter Fruit Tart

Start by making a gf cookie crust and the crumb topping.

Cookie crust

Place the following in a stand mixer bowl and combine

1 cup GF flour (recipe below)

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp cinnamon

Mix well, add 5 tbsp cold butter, cut into 6-7 chunks.  Mix on low until the butter is just crumbs blended in.

Add 1 tsp. vanilla extract and 1 tbsp water.  Blend well.

Pour into a ten inch tart pan that was sprayed with cooking spray.  Spread it up the sides ½ an inch.  Press gently in so it is a cohesive crust but do not press really hard or it will be like concrete when you finish baking it!

Crumb topping

Put all four ingredients in the same mixing bowl you made the bottom crust in and mix well with mixer paddle until crumbs form.

¾ c brown rice flour mix

½ c sugar

½ tsp xanthan gum

1/3 c cold butter cut into six chunks

You will use a heaping ½ cup of the crumbs. Put the rest in a tightly sealing glass container and store in the fridge for your next pie/tart. It should keep for several weeks.

Almond Topping: mix well

½ cup crumb topping

¼ cup slivered almonds

Heat the oven to 375 degrees while you make the filling.

Filling

1 baking apple

2 nearly ripe Bartlett pears

1 cup raw cranberries

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tbsp. gf flour mix

¼ tsp. cinnamon

Peel, core and slice thinly the cooking apple and core/slice the two pears, put in a mixing bowl with the washed cranberries.  Be sure to pick over the cranberries and remove any soft or iffy ones.  Add the sugar, flour and cinnamon, mix with a spoon to coat the fruit.

winter fruit tart 005winter fruit tart 006

Pour into the crust.  Sprinkle the tart with the almond crumb topping.  Place in the oven and bake 40-45 minutes or until bubbly, lightly browned and a fork goes through the apple slices easily.  Cool at least 20 minutes.  Serve warm or cold.  Enjoy!

winter fruit tart 009winter fruit tart 010

Brown Rice Flour Mix
2 c brown rice flour (finely ground)

2/3 c potato starch – Not potato flour!

1/3 c tapioca flour