Cherry Amaretto Bakewell Tart

Hi friends. Again, I'm sorry for the lengthy time in between posts, but 2017 was a BUSY year! I bought a house, and more importantly got married in December of 2017! Life has been so wonderful to me and I'm so thankful for what the past year has brought!

Currently my now husband (!!!!) Lee and I, are planning a trip to Peru for this summer. Machu Picchu is at the top of my bucket list. Pretty surreal I'm crossing that off. We are beyond excited. I'm also headed to Las Vegas at the end of this coming week for the first time! We have all sorts of adventures planned, and I wouldn't want our first year of marriage, or honestly any year of our marriage to be any different!

Now onto the important stuff. Cherry. Amaretto. Bakewell. Tart. I've had an obsession with the Great British Baking Show, or the Great British Bake Off for a hot second now. The 2016 winner, Candice Brown, is honestly everything I want to be when I grow up. She's beautiful, ridiculously talented, and generally seems like the most pleasant person.

This recipe comes from her cookbook Comfort: Delicious Bakes and Family Treats. I had never made a bakewell tart before, and it's a traditional English tart made with a layer of shortcrust pastry, a layer of jam, and then a layer frangipane. In this case, the jam is an Amaretto cherry jam and the frangipane has a little splash of Amaretto too. Oh and it's topped with beautiful flaked almonds for a nice toasty crunch. It's wonderful, and decadent without being too rich. Also, amaretto. Just. It's everything. More things should have amaretto. Without further ado, here's some beautiful pictures and the recipe.

Quick note: the recipe will be in metric units as the book was written and published in London. If you don't already have one, get yourself a kitchen scale! It makes things so easy!

Cherry Amaretto Bakewell Tart

Short Crust 

• 100g turbinado sugar
• 100g unsalted butter
• 4 egg yolks
• 175g plain flour
• 25g ground almonds
• pinch of salt

Jam

• 200g frozen cherries
• 100g turbinado sugar
• 2 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
• grated zest of 1 lemon

Filling

• 120g unsalted butter, softened
• 120g turbinado sugar
• 1 tbsp Amaretto liqueur
• 2 eggs
• 120g ground almonds
• pinch of salt
• finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 30g flaked almonds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉.
2. For the short crust, beat together the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy and pale. Beat in egg yolks, followed by flour, ground almonds, and salt. Bring together with your hands to form a ball of dough. Flatten into disc and wrap in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface to 3-4mm thick. Lift with a rolling pin and drape into a 9 inch loose-bottomed fluted tart tin. Gently press the pastry into the flutes and remove the excess pastry so it is just at the top of the tin. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork.
4. Line the pie with parchment paper and fill with dry beans, or blind baking beans. Blind bake the crust for 15 minutes then remove the parchment paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes until set and golden. Set aside to cool. Leave oven on, but turn the temperature up to 375℉.
5. Next up, the jam. Place a plate in the freezer. Put the frozen cherries, sugar, Amaretto, and lemon zest in a small sauce pan. Set over a low heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Turn up the heat and allow to bubble away for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then test to see if it has set. Remove the pan from the heat and spoon a blob of hot jam onto the frozen plate. Leave for a few seconds, then run your finger through the jam - if the surface wrinkles, the jam is ready. If it doesn't, return to the heat and bubble for a further 5 minutes, then test again. Set aside to cool.
6. For the frangipane filling, beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the Amaretto and eggs, then mix in the ground almonds, salt, lemon zest and flour.
7. Up next, assembly! Spread the cherry jam evenly in the baked pastry crust. Top with the almond filling and level out with a spatula. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the filing. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the filling is just set and the almonds look toasted and golden. Cool before serving.

Browned Butter Brown Sugar Cookies

FRIENDS. IT. HAS. BEEN. TOO. LONG. Like over a year long. Apologies about that. I know I've neglected this space, but my personal life has been off the chain crazy.

Lemme tell ya what's going on:

1. I GOT ENGAGED! To the most wonderful human. Pictured in Churro Waffle Sticks With Chocolate Sauce. We're planning a December 2, 2017 wedding. I couldn't be more excited.
2. I got a dog...and a cat. Check out the Insta for those fools. 
3. I also started a new job. With some pretty rad humans, doing some pretty rad stuff. 
4. I'm trying to buy a house with aforementioned fiancé!
5. Just life in general, yo.

So, it's not you readers, it's definitely me. I absolutely would like to post more here in the future, and I'm going to do my best to do so. Let me know some baked goods, or neat ingredients you'd love to see in this space!

Without further ado let's talk about these cookies.

Browned butter. A most magical amber substance that greatly improves any baked good. I promise. Technical explanation: butter that has been melted to the point that water cooks out and the milk solids begin to toast. It has this delicious nutty flavor and can absolutely be paired with savory and sweet dishes. But we're going to focus on the sweet here. Because I do what I want. 

Seriously browned butter is good with anything. Especially vanilla beans and brown sugar. And that's what is happening in this recipe.

These cookies are best described as an incredibly rich, deep, sugar cookie. They speak to me. With their crunchy exterior, gooey inside, and intense, complex flavor. And the best part? They're pretty dang easy to make. So I'm going to stop rambling here and just get to the recipe, because you NEED 'EM.

Browned Butter Brown Sugar Cookies

• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
• 2 cups light brown sugar (divided)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 vanilla bean
• Splash of vanilla extract 

1. In a medium sauce pan place 10 tablespoons of butter. Bring heat to medium high and melt the butter. Once it melts, keep swirling the pan and cook about one to three minutes longer until the color is caramel brown and the smell is nutty. Pour into a bowl and add the remaining cold butter to the browned butter. This butter mixture needs to cool for 15 minutes or so before it can be used. 
2. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup of brown sugar with the ¼ cup of granulated sugar. Mix thoroughly making sure there are no lumps and set aside. You will roll the cookies in this before baking.
4. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.
5. Once the melted butter has cooled, mix in the remaining brown sugar and salt in a stand mixer. Make sure it is fully incorporated.
6. Use a rubber spatula and scrape down the bowl then add the whole egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and vanilla bean. Mix to combine.
7. Scrape the bowl again and add in the flour mixture. Mix until fully combined.
8. Take a 2 tablespoon ice cream scooper to form the dough balls. Roll into balls. Once formed, roll the dough in the brown sugar and granulated sugar mixture.
9. Keep the dough a few inches apart on the sheet pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes. 
10. Let sit on the pan for five more minutes then transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature (but they are very delicious eaten while still warm).

Churro Waffle Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

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It's been a long time, my friends. Much too long. I've missed you, and I hope you've missed me. I'm marking my return in the most beautiful of ways. With waffles. On National Waffle Day. YAS.

If you know me even a little bit, you know that I have a fairly scary obsession with waffles. I celebrate waffle related holidays three times a year: International Waffle Day (March 25th), Galentine's Day (Feb. 15th), and National Waffle Day (August 24th). It's something I take very seriously, and you should too because, well, waffles make things better. They have little pockets to hold in the happiness. They're so delightfully crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

When I stumbled upon a recipe involving churros in a waffle iron there was simply nothing I could do. It was like God was forcing my hand to make them. PLUS, this recipe involves ganache. You guys already know about my obsession with ganache right?! 

Basically, this is a regular churro dough, or a pâte à choux (AKA cream puff dough). You cook it on a stove, and then cook it a second time either in the oven, oil, or in this case a waffle iron. No raising agent is used, rather a high moisture content creates steam to puff it up. Science. Then these babies are covered in butta (YAS) and then smothered in cinnamon sugar (YAS YAS!). 

If that's not enough to sell you on it then, there's no hope for you. For the rest of you, HAPPY NATIONAL WAFFLE DAY!

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Churro Waffle Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

Batter

• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 large eggs

Topping and Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup
• Nonstick spray
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions: 

1. For the batter: In a small saucepan, bring water, butter, salt, sugar and cinnamon to a simmer over high heat. 
2. When butter has melted and sugar has dissolved, lower heat to medium, add flour and stir quickly. The batter will come together quickly. Continue cooking for 1 minute.
3. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool 5 minutes before adding eggs. Add eggs one at a time and stir until each is completely incorporated. The batter will be very stiff.
4. For the topping and chocolate sauce: Mix together cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and set aside. In a saucepan over low heat, combine cream, chocolate and corn syrup. Stir frequently until it begins to melt. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Set aside.
5. Preheat waffle iron (set to medium if settings are available). Coat both sides of iron with nonstick spray. 
6. Place about 1/4 cup of the batter in lines on the iron. Close iron and cook for about to 5-10 minutes. 
7. When finished, brush with butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm with chocolate sauce. 

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Bonus! Boyfriend enjoying the waffle goodness.