Mini fruit tarts - berries and vanilla

It's been a while since my last post, but I've been soo busy these days. My big day is almost 3 weeks apart and I have to spend more time focusing on it.

Recently I've been in a short holiday to Italy, from where I bought nice little tart tins. I could't wait to get home and try them. One of my favorite desserts are mini tarts.  

I love mini tarts because they are so easy to make and really delicious.  And because they are so colorful they work on every occasion. Imagine them on a brunch ;)

The tart shell can be used as the foundation for many desserts. The part that I like the most is that you can simply press the dough into the tart pan with your hands and not use a rolling pin (sometimes after using the rolling pin the dough is too thin and is so hard to put it on the pan). Another great thing is that you can make double quantity and store half of it in the freezer up to one month.

Here is the nice recipe that I found. Try it and let me know what you think :)

INGREDIENTS:

For Tart Shell - for 10 mini tart shells

• 6 tablespoons (3oz. or 85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

For filling - I used vanilla pudding. Just follow the instructions on the package.

For decorating- I used fresh raspberries , blackberries and green mint.

DIRECTIONS:
Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
On low speed, beat for about a minute until the mixture is smooth and combined. 
Add egg yolk and beat for half a minute.
Then add flour and salt (all at once) and beat until the dough just begins to come together. Avoid over mixing.
Divide the dough into 10 little balls.

Next, just take one by one the dough balls and place them in the center of your tart tins and start pressing them down and around with your fingers, making them as even as you can.
Avoid making the corners too thick. 
The dough is soft and moist, very easy to press and spread around.

Freeze the tarts for at least an hour. (You can be keep the dough frozen for a month)
On the day you are ready to use it, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Take the frozen tart shells and poke them with a fork a few times.

Bake the tart shells in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until it reaches a  golden brown.

If  browning too fast and you can use  a little foil to cover up in the last few minutes.

My tart shells . I just took  them out of the oven

After the tart shells are cooled completely, fill them with  1-2 tablespoons of vanilla pudding (follow the instructions on the package) and then decorate them with berries and fresh green mint.
Enjoy!

Baby Thomas watching where mommy puts those yummy tarts

Photos by Emi Trasnitu

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Tiramisu with fresh strawberries

It's  such a nice and hot Friday and I decided that I want to surprise my hubby with a great and refreshing desert for all the hard work that he does every single day. 

I didn't want to spend too much time preparing something in the oven, so I tried this tiramisu recipe that doesn't need baking.

I decided to adapte it, to make it quickly. I had one hour to make a little shopping and to buy the missing ingredients for my recipe and then to get to work! And I did it! In 25 minutes I had prepared the amazing tiramisu.  It's so simple and delicious!

Here is it!

INGREDIENTS: 

• 180 ml of brewed coffee  
• 30 ml Amaretto liqueur 
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar 
• 200 ml whipping cream( fresh and very cold ) 
• 250 g mascarpone cheese, at room temperature 
• 200 g lady fingers 
• 2 tablespoons cocoa 
• 300 g strawberries 

DIRECTIONS:

Prepare a round and high (at least 10 cm) form with a diameter of 17 cm.
Brew a cup of coffee and let cool; stir in the liqueur.

Beat whipping cream to stiff peaks.  Add powdered sugar and mix.

Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and beat for 2 minutes. Divide it in 3 equal parts.
Dip the lady fingers one by one , on both sides,  in the  coffee and then  put them on the bottom of the form.

 Cover with a part of  the cream and sprinkle with  cocoa.

Soak another portion of biscuits in the coffee , then put on a layer of cream  and sprinkle with cocoa.

Repeat one more time for the last layer.

Slice strawberries and place on dessert before serving.

Cool for at least 4 hours or overnight. 

PHOTOS BY EMI TRASNITU

Fluffy currant muffins

This time I tried a nice and simple recipe made with ONLY 4 INGREDIENTS!
It's a currant muffins recipe, perfect for sunny and hot days.

I know that many people don't like red currants because they are sour, but in a nice and sweet batter they work perfectly! I find this a perfect combination of sweet and sour, one of my favorites!

And now the simple recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

• 250g red currants
• 4 eggs
• 185g sugar
• 165g flour

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare muffin tin for 12.
Separate egg white from yolk.

 Place the egg yolks and 90g sugar in a bowl and beat over hot water to a creamy batter.

 Than whip the mixture over an ice bath cold.
 Beat the egg white with 95g sugar, until stiff.

Add the creamy yolk to the egg white and sieve flour over the creamed mixture and blend lightly.

Pour 1 tablespoon dough into each cup of the muffin forms.

 Sprinkle half of the red currants , cover with the rest dough and then sprinkle the other half of fruits.

Bake at 350°F for about 20 minutes. Check it from time to time, because in my oven in 15 minutes was ready.

I just took the muffins out of the oven

You can dust with powder sugar  at the end.

PHOTOS BY EMI TRASNITU

Double - crust apple and raisins pie

Apple pie?
Yes, of course!

I know that now it's not the time for apple pie, but with all these delicious apples at the markets I can't help myself. You can serve it at room temperature and with some vanilla ice-cream and this makes it a summer treat:)

 My mom used to make apple pies all the time when I was little, but different from this one and now I really wanted to try a new version. The result: both are good and delicious, but my mom's is the best!

For my pie I used 4 different types of apples, to get a super-duper aroma. I used Pink Lady, Jazz, Golden and Braeburn. But you can go for any kind of apples you like.

Because I'm a raisins lover , I also used them in my pie. You can also use dried cranberries.

The design wasn't that great, but soon I am planning a berry pie and I hope it will look better.
And now the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

For Pastry:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons cold butter, cut up
• 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 6 1/2 tablespoons ice water

For Apple Filling:

•  2/3 cup sugar
•  1/3 cup cornstarch
•  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•  1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
•  1/4 teaspoon salt
•  3 1/2 pounds Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Braeburn and Jazz apples, each peeled, cored, and cut into 16 wedges
•  1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
•  2 tablespoons butter, cut up
• 1/2 cup raisins

•  1 large egg white, lightly beaten
•  1 teaspoon sugar

DIRECTIONS:

 To prepare pastry: 

In food processor with knife blade attached, blend flour and salt. 

Add butter and shortening, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until large moist crumbs just begin to form. I had to use more water then in the recipe ( I added 5 tablespoons more)

Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger. 
Flatten each into a disk; wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. (If chilled overnight, let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.)

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 Place cookie sheet on rack in lower third of preheating oven to bake pie on later.

 To prepare apple filling:

 In a bowl, combine sugar with cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Put the apples in a large bowl and add the sugar mixture and lemon juice, and toss to coat evenly. 

On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll larger disk of dough into 12-inch round. 

Ease dough into 9 1/2-inch deep-dish glass or ceramic pie plate.

Gently press dough against bottom and up side of plate without stretching.

Trim dough edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. 
Spoon apple mixture into pie crust and add the raisins; dot with butter. 

Roll remaining disk for top crust into 12-inch round.

Center round over filling in bottom crust.

Trim pastry edge, leaving 1-inch overhang; reserve trimmings. Fold overhang under;

Bring up over pie-plate rim and pinch to form stand-up edge, then make decorative edge. Brush crust with some egg white. 

Reroll trimmings.

Cut short slashes in round to allow steam to escape during baking.

 Brush cutouts with egg white, then sprinkle crust and cutouts with sugar.

 Bake pie 1 hour 10 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with knife through slits in crust. 

To prevent over-browning, cover pie loosely with tent of foil after 40 minutes. 

Cool pie on wire rack 3 hours to serve warm. Or cool completely to serve later.

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