TWD: A Tourtely Apple Tart & Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp

We've had a run on totally awesome Tuesdays with Dorie recipes the past two weeks. This week, Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose A Tourtely Apple Tart. Before that, Sarah of Teapots and Cakestands chose Strawberry Rhubarb Double Crisp.

Both were so good, both made me want to eat the whole thing BY MYSELF.


The apple tart was interesting in that we cooked the apples down first, almost to a "thick applesauce" stage. The tart shell was like a shortbread cookie, so light and sandy.


Almost like a giant apple-filled cookie. TEEE-riffic!

The only downside... my overly browned edges. Next time I will cut the blind baking down to half or maybe even eliminate it all together.

Moving on to the rhubarb crisp...


(Be still my rhubarb-loving heart.)

I was over the top in love with this crisp. Even though I consider myself a rhubarb purist and usually scoff and anything "strawberry rhubarb", I have to say this dessert might have made me a convert. I think it helped that the rhubarb was the star of the show, not giving way to the usual attention hog in strawberry rhubarb desserts, the strawberries.


This crisp will definitely make an appearance in my kitchen again.

Great job, Jeanette and Sarah, on the fabulous picks. If you'd like to see the recipes, check out their blogs (see links in first paragraph of this post), or check out Dorie Greenspan's book "Baking, from my Home to Yours".

Rhubarb and Custard

I'm not sure if I've mentioned how much I love rhubarb.

Well, I'll mention it now. I love rhubarb.

As I was leafing through "COOK with Jamie" by Jamie Oliver, I stopped dead in my tracks (figuratively) at the recipe for Rhubarb with Custard.

After a quick read of the ingredients, I already knew I would love this dessert.

And I did. Love it, that is. I. Loved. It.



Not only was it absolutely fabulous as-is, it was a bonus three-for-one recipe. I ate some of the rhubarb with ice cream (some by itself, even) And then, on one of Jamie's suggestions in the book, I took the surviving custard and turned it into ice cream. All I had to do was throw the custard in my cheap-o ice cream maker with a little crushed up peppermint and voila! Peppermint ice cream!


A lot of bang for the buck, if you ask me.

Here's the recipe. Make it! You'll thank me.

Rhubarb with Custard
From the book COOK WITH JAMIE by Jamie Oliver. Copyright (c) 2007 Jamie Oliver. Used by permission of Hyperion. All rights reserved.

1 3/4 pound rhubarb, washed and cut into 3 inch pieces
4 tablespoons superfine sugar
zest and juice of 2 oranges
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 Proper Custard recipe (see below)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the rhubarb pieces in an ovenproof dish or pan, with the sugar, orange zest and juice and the grated ginger sprinkled over the top. Cover with foil and cook in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until the rhubarb has softened. The cooking time will depend on the variety and thickness of your rhubarb, so trust your instincts and keep checking it. Meanwhile, make your custard. Once your rhubarb is cooked, taste it to see whether you think it's a little tart - it may need a bit more sugar.

Serve the rhubarb either in a big serving bowl or in individual bowls, with a generous amount of your delicious homemade custard.

Proper Custard

2 cups plus 3 tablespoons whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 vanilla bean, scored lengthwise and seeds removed
8 large free-range or organic egg yolks

Mix the milk, cream, 4 tablespoons of the superfine sugar, the vanilla bean and seeds together in a saucepan. Bring to the point of boiling, then remove from the heat and leave for a couple of minutes to cool slightly - this will also allow the vanilla flavor to infuse.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar until pale. Remove the vanilla bean from the milk mixture, then ladle a little of it on to the egg yolks and whisk immediately. Add the remaining milk a ladleful at a time, whisking in well before adding the next. Pour the egg mixture back into the warm saucepan and cook very gently for a few minutes, stirring all the time using a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon. After a matter of minutes the yolks should cook just enough to thicken the custard and make it shiny - you should be able to coat the back of a spoon with it.

Once you've reached this point, take it off the heat immediately. If you cook it too fast, for too long or on too high a heat, the mixture will probably scramble. But don't worry; if you start to see flecks or lumps of egg in your custard, pull it off the heat right away and pour it into a cold saucepan to cool it down a little, then strain the custard through a sieve into a clean pitcher. Served hot or cold, it's delicious.

P.S. If you want to warm up cold custard, it's best to place it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water - this way it won't curdle.

Recipe notes:
- I didn't have fresh rhubarb, so I settled for frozen, it was still delish. I let the rhubarb thaw completely and drained off all of the liquid before starting.
- I used my Vanilla Bean Paste by Nielsen-Massey (LOVE that stuff!) since I didn't have any vanilla beans.
- I used regular granulated sugar.
- I refrigerated both parts overnight. I tend to prefer cold custard.

I wanted to mention that there were a lot of fantastic looking recipes in the book. Gotta love Jamie!

Martha's Rhubarb Tart with Lemon-Yogurt Mousse

Happy National Pi Day!! Yep, it's official, today, March 14 is National Pi Day, in honor of the lowly number, pi (you know, 3.14 etc., etc.... get it? 3/14 is March 14?). For those of you that might have replaced this little tidbit of information with something more useful, pi is used when calculating the area of a circle.

But since calculating areas of circles is booooor-ing, let's talk about something more fun... like P.I.E., pie!

It was love at first sight when I saw the Rhubarb Tart with Lemon-Yogurt Mousse in last month's Martha Stewart Living magazine. And when I saw that the recipe called for peppercorns along with salt and cinnamon, well, I figured it more than qualified for this month's "You Want Pies with That?" theme. For this month we were to emphasize herbs and spices in our choice of pie. (Thanks to Elizabeth of Cake or Death for chosing the theme.)

As for the tart, I'll spare you all the gory details, but let's just say the rhubarb component bombed... twice. The recipe calls for cooking a sugar water solution to a light amber color and *twice* I ended up with a pan full of nasty sugar crystals.

You know the old saying "fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me". I was not about to try this recipe (and waste another 2 cups of sugar) a third time. On to plan "B".

I ended up winging the rhubarb part, pulling ideas from various recipes. Happily, it turned out delicious and I was able to use the same spice blend.

The cornmeal crust was good and went together without incident. Also, the lemon yogurt mousse... no problems there.


Well, except when I tasted my little sampler tart (I had a little extra of each part and so made a little mini tart in a ramekin), I thought the yogurt mousse overwhelmed the rhubarb topping. And since I absolutely adore rhubarb, I removed about half of the mousse from the crust.


Mmmm, my favorite part. The rhubarb...


Smooth it out, and all that's left is the tasting.


Aaaaand, I'm here to report that it was divine. The yogurt mouse was mellow and creamy, perfect for the just slightly chunky, tart-sweet rhubarb. I really enjoyed the cornmeal crust too, it was almost cookie like and just a little sandy textured. I'm glad I halved the mousse, it was just the right amount, in my opinion.


You can find the original recipe ----> here. If you try it and you get the rhubarb part to work, please let me know how it was. It sounds wonderful and I'm sad it didn't work for me. For my rhubarb topping, see the recipe below.

No-Bake Rhubarb Pie Filling

1-1/2 pounds frozen rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces, thawed, drained and liquid reserved
1 C. sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 stick cinnamon
2 shakes of pepper from your pepper shaker
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg or 5-6 passes of whole nutmeg over grater
1 tsp. brandy
1 tsp. vanilla
3-4 Tbsp. cornstarch, depending on how thickened you like your filling. I used 4.

Measure out liquid reserved from thawed rhubarb. If needed, add enough water to measuring cup to make 1/2 cup liquid total. If you have more than 1/2 C. rhubarb liquid, you may want to use additional cornstarch.

Place well thawed rhubarb in bowl and sprinkle sugar over. Let sit for 10 minutes. Sprinkle ground cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and cornstarch over rhubarb and toss gently to mix. Add mixture to a large sauce pot. Add remaining ingredients and stir.

Heat on medium-high heat until bubbling, stirring constantly. Lower the heat to low and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until rhubarb is fork tender and mixture is thickened, about 5-10 minutes. Remove pot from heat and let mixture cool. If you like your topping more chunky, try not to stir after this point.

Remove cinnamon stick and discard.

Place filling in a container and chill until cold. (Overnight is best.) Gently spoon filling on lemon yogurt mousse that has been chilling at least 4 hours, or better yet, overnight. Chill until serving time.

OK, take care folks and happy baking!

TWD: Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

I owe a serious “Thank You” too all of the hosts at Tuesdays with Dorie who have chosen fruit desserts from Dorie Greenspan’s book “Baking: From my Home to Yours”. When I thumb through a baking book, I’m drawn like a magnet to the cookie and chocolate recipes. But no more. My eyes have been opened to the wonder of fruit desserts.

This week’s TWD recipe was Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler, chosen by Amanda from “Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake”. Just so you know, rhubarb pie is my all time favorite… grandma’s rhubarb pie anyway. So, I was looking forward to this week’s recipe.

By the way, I found out that my cheap-o cherry pitter works pretty slick!


The cobbler didn’t disappoint… I really enjoyed it. I was afraid the ginger would overpower, but it proved to be a very nice addition. It was just right.

I made a few small adjustments. I added a pinch of cinnamon to the filling. Also, I didn’t roll the topping into golf-ball sized balls, or any size balls for that matter. Rather, I patted it out, cut the topping into chunks and dropped them on top by spoon (I can’t wait to see what the direction-followers’ cobblers look like… undoubtedly prettier than mine.)


I also didn’t peel the rhubarb… I didn’t want to lose the ruby-redness of the rhubarb (and I’m lazy).

About 35 minutes into baking, the top seemed brown enough, but the filling hadn’t bubbled up onto the top yet, so I laid a piece of foil over top and baked another 10 minutes. It was just right… I had some bubbling up onto the top, the topping was a nice golden brown, and the rhubarb was soft and tender.


I was bummed I didn't get any shots of the plated cobbler. I took it to a cookout and didn't want to look like a goob taking a million pictures of dessert, lol.

Thanks Amanda! I loved it!

Up next? Summer Fruit Galette.