DESSERTS TO DIE FOR II

Extraordinary Blackberry and Lime Tart

For the crust
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
¼ cup almond flour
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick + 1 tbsp unsalted butter, very cold, cut into pieces
1 egg yolk, lightly whisked

To make the crust, put the flours, icing sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.
Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is coarse, around the size of oatmeal and/or peas.
Add the egg yolk a little at a time, pulsing after each addition and then processing in 10-second pulses once the whole egg has been added until the dough forms clumps.
Turn the dough onto a flat work surface and lightly knead the dough until all dry ingredients are just incorporated.
Butter a 9 inch fluted removable-bottom tart pan. I used smaller tart pans of various sizes.
Press the dough into the pan evenly. Freeze for about an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit it tightly against the crust.
Bake for 25 minutes. 15 minutes for the smaller ones.
Carefully remove the foil, and press the dough down gently if it has puffed using the back of a spoon.
Return it to the oven for another 8 minutes, or until it is beautifully golden brown.
For the lime cream:
1 cup sugar
Grated zest of 4 limes
4 eggs
¾ cup lime juice (4 limes)
2 sticks + 5 tbsp (10.5 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces
For the cream:
Before you start the lime cream, have a candy thermometer, a strainer and a blender at hand.
Simmer a little water in a saucepan.
Put the sugar and lime zest in a large heatproof bowl.
Off the heat, rub the mixture together with your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and aromatic.
Whisk in the eggs and then the lime juice.
Set the bowl over the pan of water and whisk continuously until it reaches 180°F
As it gets close to temperature it will start to thicken. This can take up to 10 minutes, so be patient!
Remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the blender.
Discard any solids. Let the cream stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes, or until it cools to 140°F.
Turn the blender(or food processor)on high, and add the butter a few pieces at a time.
Scrape down the sides to incorporate the butter.
Keep the machine on for 3-5 minutes once the butter is in to ensure a perfect lime cream
Pour into an air-tight container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours (it will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days).
Assembly:
When you are ready to assemble the tart, whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell.
Serve the tart or refrigerate as needed.

Chocolate Bailey’s Pound Cake
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
4 heaping tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups sifted cake flour
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
3 TBSP Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325F. Cream the butter, shortening, and sugar well. Beat in the eggs. Sift the dry ingredients together. Beat the flour mixture, 1 part at a time, into the butter mixture, alternating with the milk, until just blended. Add the vanilla and Irish Cream and mix. Pour into a greased 8-inch tube pan lined with waxed paper(I skipped that part). Bake for 1 ½ hour.
Serves 16-20
Bailey’s Caramel Topping

2 cups sugar
½ cup water
1 ½ TBSP light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream plus 1 TBSP
1/8 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream plus 1 TBSP
2 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature

To make the topping:
Put the sugar, water and corn syrup in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, stir just to combine the ingredients and then put the pan over medium-high heat. Heat, without stirring , until the caramel turns deep amber, 5-10 minutes. Combine Bailey’s(1/8 cup) and Cream together. Take the pan off of the heat and, standing back from the saucepan add the cream mixture and butter. When the spatters are less vehement, stir to calm down the caramel and dissolve any lumps. Add in the 1 TBSP of Bailey’s and whisk until incorporated.

Gooey Chocolate Cake
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 ounces coarsely chopped milk chocolate,
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogeneous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)
Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates

Chocolate Stout Crème “Brew”lee

4 ounces heavy whipping cream
4 ounces Double Chocolate Stout(I used Young’s)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks

Preheat oven to 250F.
Place chocolate into a medium bowl.
Heat cream and beer until it reaches a boil. Remove immediately and pour over chocolate. Let rest for 2 minutes and whisk together.
Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a separate bowl. Slowly pour hot cream/chocolate mixture into yolk mixture while whisking the whole time.
Pour brewlee mixture into 4 ramekins. Bake in a water bath 1 hour 20 minutes. Remove from bath and set out to come to room temperature.
Put brewlee’s into fridge overnight.
To serve, sprinkle sugar on the top of the brewlee and caramelize with a blow torch…or place under broiler for same effect

Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie-Cake
For The Dough
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3 1/4 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
For The Apples
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (I used Pacific Rose and Pink Lady)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 cup moist, plump raisins (I used golden)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar, for dusting

To Make The Dough: Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice - the dough will probably curdle, but don’t worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3 1/4 cups of the flour, mixing to incorporate it and scraping down the bowl as needed. The dough is meant to be soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra 1/4 cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)
To Make The Apples: Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about 1/4 inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice - even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that’s fine - and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon, and/or lemon juice if you like.
Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a 9×12-inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it’s a little more malleable, you’ve got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan - because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven’s heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about 1/4 inch thick - you don’t want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that’s fine; if it doesn’t that’s fine too.
Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenly across the bottom.
Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you’ve got a 1/4 to 1/2 inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don’t have that much overhang, just press what you’ve got against the sides of the pan.)
Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.
Bake for 65 to 80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You’ll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest

Colossal Double Chocolate White Chip Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
Gradually stir in flour mixture,
Stir in milk, semi-sweet and white chocolate chips.
Drop by level ¼ cupfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Allow cookies to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack.