One of my happiest childhood memories is of baking tarte aux pommes with my mother. I wouldn’t necessarily eat it- for many years I was much more a fan of la tarte a la noix de coco -  coconut tart. Mmmh. I’m smiling happily just thinking about it :) My mother is a terrific baker, but her tarts are fantastic. She has the crust-to-filling ratio down to a science, knows the exact thickness the crust should be for each area (top, bottom, angles, sides, corners)…

Recently when I was home, my mother suggested we make tarte aux pommes together. Naturally, I was ecstatic – we had spoken of it in the past few months but had never gotten around to it. After we made the tart together – I was watching with even more avid interest than before- she kindly wrote down the recipe for me (“From an old maïzena (a cornstarch brand, I can’t remember the name now) recipe, I think” she tells me). Herein I shall share this delicious tart recipe. The best part? It’s so incredibly simple, and so good.

A quick note: The pictures here are from my recreation of it a few days later (we had some leftover tart dough). I used the leftover dough to make the minis and made a new crust for the large tart. You’ll notice that the colour is much lighter and the texture seems more crumbly and frail- that would be of two major changes. I used soy butter in place of real butter- much to my mother’s dismay, the French feel strongly in needing real butter for pastry- and potato starch in favour of corn starch. Both were delicious, just different- it’s difficult to compare.

You’ll be surprised at how few ingredients are in this- the filling is so simple, but the baked applesauce is delicious, and the texture of the apple slices on top, divine. So good!

Traditional French Apple Tart

Adapted from my mother’s recipe, from a maïzena container, long ago

Ingredients (makes one large 9-inch tart):

• 130 grams unsalted butter, semi-chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used soy butter)
• 4 egg yolks (cage-free, brown, organic eggs)
• 14 soup spoons (my mother was very insistent on using this! “Americans never use the right spoon measurements”) granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic AP flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch (for a more crumbly consistency, try potato starch)
• 1/2 – 2/3 jar of unsweetened, all-natural applesauce (depending on your preference)
• 1-2 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored, sliced very thinly (my mother used Granny Smith; I used Pink Ladies)

Process:

1. Place butter (cubed) and sugar in a large mixing bowl using a pastry cutter (not sure what to call this… my mother kindly gave me one… it’s plastic, round-ish (with an inward area), and hand-held) to cut the butter into the sugar.
2. Once these are well mixed together, crack in the egg yolks and cut the yolks into the butter-sugar mixture using the same round baking tool. Pour in vanilla and mix until the whole mixture has a brownish colour.
3. Sift together the flour and corn or potato starch into a small bowl. Pour into the liquid mixture in 2-3 batches, mixing together efficiently (still with the round thing) but being careful to NOT overmix. The more you mix, the tougher the dough will get.
4. Once the dough is in a ball and has reached a good texture (a bit sticky, but not falling apart by any means) – you can add milk if the dough is too dry and a bit of flour if it is too sticky – set aside and butter your tart pan.
5. Preheat your oven to 360 degrees F.
6. Place the dough in the middle of the pan, and use the heel of your palm to press it up into the sides of the pan, making sure it’s evenly distributed onto the sides.
7. Spoon the applesauce into the tart pan until it is about 70-75% of the way full. Then layer on the apple slices in a flower or row pattern.
8. Bake the tart for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the apples are slightly crisped on the edges. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes, then serve warm with cinnamon and vanilla ice cream; OR, allow to cool overnight and eat at room temperature (or chilled)- it’s delicious any way you have it!

Honestly, this is a terrific thing for snack, dessert, breakfast… try all of them! You can try other starches, other flours… you could probably make this one vegan, perhaps even gluten-free! I shall experiment more later. :)

PS if you’re confused about the other, odd-looking tarts… those are coconut. It’s just two egg yolks, 1/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of coconut, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I should have removed them from the oven a bit earlier, but… still good!

Yes, I realize they’re a bit overdone and not all that original, but that’s beside the point :). So we held a tropical, Hawaiian-themed Fourth of July picnic at work… and it was a potluck… and so of course I was expected to come bearing sweets. I decided upon the obvious but simple (I was seeing Eclipe with my sister and very close friend the night before and thus needed a do-ahead recipe) and settled on these pineapple cupcakes. They were rather good! There was some confusion, however, as to their assembly: to make transportation easier, I opted to bring the icing (which was, admittedly, fairly runny- more of a glaze than an icing, really) in a small bowl and allow everyone to dunk their cupcakes individually. Unfortunately, despite my having labeled ‘cupcakes!’ and ‘dunking station!’ few seemed to ice their cupcakes. But this is okay – those who understood it, enjoyed it (and ended up with some very sticky fingers aftward). Should you follow this recipe, I’d suggest removing the wrappers prior to dunking… or baking in silicone cups and not worrying about baking cups alltogether.

Tropical Pineapple-Coconut Cupcakes

Adapted from Pineapple Meringue Cupcakes at A Good Apetite

Ingredients:

• 3/4 heaping cup AP organic flour
• 1/2  heaping teaspoon baking powder (make sure it’s fresh!)
• 2 tablespoons soy butter, room temperature/ soft
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg (cage-free, brown)
• 1 teaspoon 2x extra strength vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• Just under 1/4 cup organic skim milk
• 1/8 cup apricot nectar
• 1 small can pineapple pieces (small) in juice (NOT syrup)
• 1/3 cup shredded coconut

Icing/Glaze Ingredients:

• 1 box jell-o vanilla instant pudding mix (weird, I know)
• 1/3 cup low-fat smart balance sour cream
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 tsp 2x extra strength vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon apricot nectar
• 2 tablespoons organic skim milk
• 1/4 cup pineapple chunks in juice (not strained)

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 36 muffin cups with liners
2. Briskly cream together the soy butter, sugar, egg, & vanilla extract until light & fluffy. Then beat in the milk and apricot nectar.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the liquid mixture in 2-3 portions, being sure not to overmix.
5. Fold in the pineapple and coconut until just mixed. Do not overmix!
6. Fill the muffin tins until they are about 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden brown.
7. For the icing, combine all ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Chill glaze thoroughly before dipping cupcakes. Top with fresh pineapple chunks and toasted coconut for decoration.

They’re cute, and rather good, if you’re the tropical sort, so try them out! They’re certainly convenient for potlucks or transport if you ice them separately, and for those who catch the hint, dunking stations are quite a bit of fun… interactivity + food = stupendous :).

I fear the titles for these may be becoming increasingly long, but this happened to be a rather complicated cake, so I’ll consider it apt. :) For Office Birthday Cake #2, I had wanted to make something incredibly different for the non-chocolate folk as well as for those who didn’t want so rich a cake (my brownie cakes tend to be incredibly rich and fudgy, which I will admit is not for everyone) and thus thought that a vanilla-based cake would be a smart bet. However, leaving it at that would be boring, and I had been wanting to experiment with pineapple… thus this came about. It was absolutely a hit, and devoured as proudly as the other cake in the office. The boyfriend really enjoyed this one and has requested an encore performance, so I’ll make it again some time, perhaps with some slight variations (as I seem to be incapable of making exactly the same thing twice).

Tropical Pineapple-Vanilla Cake with Fresh Coconut, Mango Glaze, and Mango Whipped Cream

So, again, I shan’t give the exact recipe, but I will tell its contents. The vanilla cake has pineapple tidbits (very small pieces) and chunks (larger pieces). Any moisture used in the cake batter was substituted in favour of pineapple juice. I added 1 cup of fresh shredded coconut to the batter as well. I placed four pineapple rounds in the bottom of a springform pan, upside-down-cake-style, with some brown sugar for browning, then poured in the batter. Once baked, I flipped over the cake and allowed it to cool on a rack while I prepared the glaze. The mango glaze is simply blended mango pulp (Ataulfo) and 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar. Mango is a very thick fruit, so it barely needs any help. You could add a bit of ptoato starch if your mango glaze seems runny. I spread this over fairly thinly onto the cake, then stuck the coconut on while it was still very sticky. The cake was then chilled overnight to ensure the mango would fuse into the cake. The mango whipped cream follows the same process as the blackberry whipped cream, but with mango in the berry’s stead. I piped this (shell-shape) onto the top in circles, but you could decorate in whatever fashion you wish!

Here’s a simplified version of the ingredients:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix (choose one with no trans fats! or take the long route and take a traditional vanilla sponge cake recipe)
• 1 can pineapple chunks in juice
• 1 can pineapple tidbits in juice
• 1 can pineapple rounds in juice
• 2 cups flaked coconut
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 heaping cup organic canola oil
• 1/2 carton small organic heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp powdered sugar
• 3 large Ataulfo mangoes, chopped into large cubes

Process:

• Mix vanilla cake batter as directed, but do NOT add water or any other liquid other than oil- substitute all water called for in recipe (or milk) for pineapple juice
• Mix pineapple tidbits and chunks into cake mix along with 1 cup of the shredded coconut
• Generously butter a 9-inch springform pan
• Cover the bottom of the pan with a light layer of brown sugar, then place pineapple rounds on top with another small sprinkling of sugar
• Pour batter on top and bake as directed for a normal vanilla sponge cake
• Remove from oven, flip over, and cool on a cooling rack
• Place 2 mangoes’ worth of cubes in a blender or food processor with powdered sugar; blend until smooth glaze consistency
• Spoon and spread glaze over cake until even; then arrange remaining coconut on top as desired (I did sides and outside of top)
• Blend remaining mango chunks until a smooth glaze forms
• Beat heavy whipping cream by itself or with a sprinkly of granulated (not powdered) sugar as directed in blackberry whipped cream recipe
• Fold in mango puree to whipped cream, then pour into a pastry bag or tube
• Pipe mango whipped cream onto cake in desired fashion; then chill cake thoroughly

It was delicious, incredibly moist, and very good. I’m usually against pineapple, but I liked the cake and was not bothered by the pineapple texture (my usual qualm). It fell apart as you ate it, and the coconut added a very nice sweetness that went splendidly with the vanilla, giving the cake a decidedly island attitude.