(KBB # 7) Colourful Birthday : Apple Tart with Almond Nougatine

Yiippeeee!!! Happy 1st anniversary KBB (Klub Berani Baking is Indonesian Baking Club where a bunch of Indonesian ladies gather and daring ourselves to try new recipes every 2 months)! Through KBB, we share recipes and make friends. And to celebrate KBB 1st anniversary, they gave us 3 special options for the challenges : COOKING, BAKING and FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY. It's up to us which one we want to choose.

I chose 2 challenges to join, BAKING and FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY. And here's my entry for BAKING competition.



My entry for FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY competition, here.

Apple Tart with Almond Nougatine
adapted from Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz (the original recipe is Rhubarb Tart with Almond Nougatine)

The Dough :
6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for the nougatine topping)
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt



The Filling (dita's version) :
1/2 stick butter
4 apples, peeled and cored
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
a pich of ground black pepper
a pinch of ground nutmeg

The Almond Nougatine :
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sliced almond

Directions :
To make the dough :
1. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Butter the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
2. With an electric mixer or by hand, beat the butter with the sugar until no visible lumps of butter remain. Beat in the egg yolks. Add the flour and salt and mix at low speed until the dough begins to come together.
3. Gather the dough and press it evenly over the bottom and halfway up the sides of the prepared pan. Use the heel of your hand. (Dust your hand with a bit of flour if the dough is sticking to them). Put the pan in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
4. Position the oven rack in the center of the oven and pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

To make filling :
4. Melt the butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat.
6. Add brown sugar. Cook until thick grainy sauce forms, about 1 minute.
7. Mix in apples. Cook until apples are tender and sauce is reduced to glaze, tossing often, about 7 minutes.
8. Mix in spices. Cool filling at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

9. Remove the springform pan from the freezer (dita-prick the base of the pastry with fork several times) and line with foil. Pour in a single layer of pie weight, dried beans or raw rice. Bake the dough for 20 minutes (dita-15 minutes). Remove the pie weights and foil and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more, until the dough is browned. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Do not turn off the oven.
10. When tart shell has cooled, spread the apples filing in it.

To make the almond nougatine :
11. beat together the egg whites, brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork. Stir in the almonds. Spread the nougatine evenly over the tart.
12. Bake the tart for 40 minutes (dita-30 minutes), until the nougatine is crisp and browned. Cool the tart on a wire rack for 15 minutes. To serve, remove the sides of the springform pan.



Serving : serve with vanilla ice cream or grand marnier-flavored whipped cream, or simply eat by itself.

Take a seat and please enjoy the step by step video ;)

Cooking Friday # 5 : Glazed Apple Lattice Coffee Cake

I saw this coffee cake at Patricia's, my sweet foodie blogger buddy. Yes, it was love at the first sight. I never knew Glazed Apple Lattice before, so that was just my first time ever. And I was just so curious to try the recipe out. With that lattice top and the drizzle of the icing, it was just so pretty!

So I e-mailed dear Pati, asked a few things and I told her this would be great for my 5th episode of cooking podcast project "COOKING FRIDAY".

Just don't get fooled by the long list of ingredients. This delectable and fragrant coffee cake does take a bit of time to prepare, but is actually quite easy to make, and well worth the effort. The recipe itself is very detailed and well explained. It calls for orange zest but since I didn't have one, I substitute it for keylime zest.

When I made this, actually it wasn't really perfect at proofing stage. The dough didn't rise perfectly and doubled in volume. I doubt it and thought, "this is not gonna work!"

But to my surprise, when it came out from the oven, this coffee cake turned out so wonderful and rise perfectly (at least to me...hahaha), not to mentioned the fragrant of the cake hhmmm....makes my mouth watering!

Thanks for sharing, Patricia. The result was superb! I never expected the combination beetwen cardamon, nutmeg and cinnamon could be so delish!



Glazed Apple Lattice Coffee Cake
source : Bon Appetit, Oct 2007 via Patricia's



Dough:
2 tablespoons warm water (40 to 46ºC/105ºF to 115ºF)
1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast

½ cup (120ml) whole milk
6 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons (70g) unsalted butter, diced, room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 2 ¼ cups (280 to 315g) all purpose flour

Filling:
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) unsalted butter
6 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 ¼ pounds (565g) Golden Delicious apples (about 3 medium), peeled, cored, quartered, cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (dita-I used keylime zest)
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Nonstick vegetable oil spray or vegetable oil
1/3 cup finely crumbled vanilla wafer cookies or soft ladyfingers



Glaze :
1 ½ cups powdered sugar (dita-I only used 5 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons (or more) orange juice (dita-I used keylime juice)

Start with the dough: place 2 tablespoons warm water in small cup. Mix in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 6 minutes.

Stir milk, sugar, butter, and salt in medium saucepan over medium-low heat just until sugar dissolves and butter melts (mixture should be just warm). Scrape milk mixture into large bowl; cool to lukewarm if necessary. Whisk in yeast mixture, egg yolks, orange peel, and spices. Add 2 cups flour; mix with rubber spatula until dough comes together. Turn dough out onto floured work surface. Knead until smooth and silky, sprinkling with more flour by tablespoonfuls as needed, about 6 minutes – it’s a very tender dough, delicious to work with. Place in clean large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and kitchen towel. Place in warm draft-free area (I use my microwave oven); let rise until light and almost doubled in volume, about 2 ½ hours.

Now, the filling: melt butter in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar. Cook until thick grainy sauce forms, about 1 minute. Mix in apples. Cook until apples are tender and sauce is reduced to glaze, tossing often, about 7 minutes. Mix in all grated peel and spices. Cool filling at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours.

Place large sheet of foil (dita-I used parchment paper) on work surface; spray with nonstick spray. Turn dough out onto foil. Roll out to 14x12-inch (35x30cm) rectangle. Sprinkle cookie crumbs in 4-inch-wide (10cm) strip down center, leaving ½-inch (1.25cm) border at top and bottom. Arrange apples with any juices atop crumbs. Starting ½ inch (1.25cm) from each long side of apples, cut straight to edge of dough at 1-inch (2.5cm) intervals, making about 13 strips on each side. Fold dough strips alternately and on slight angle over filling, forming lattice. Seal open ends of dough.

Slide foil with dough onto large rimmed baking sheet; trim foil overhang. Cover cake loosely with plastic and towel. Place cake in warm draft-free area; let dough rise until light and puffy, about 1 ¾ hours.

Preheat oven to 190ºC/375ºF. Bake cake uncovered until golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.

For glaze:
Mix powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons orange juice in small bowl to blend, adding more juice by ½ teaspoonfuls if too thick. Drizzle glaze over cake. Gently run spatula under cake to loosen from foil. Cut crosswise into slices. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8-10 servings

Previous episodes :
1. Cooking Friday # 1 : Pie Crust
2. Cooking Friday # 2 : Banana Cake
3. Cooking Friday # 3 : Elmo Pizza (Baking with Kids)
4. Cooking Friday # 4 : Banana Chocolate Chips Cookies

German Apple Cake

Bikin cake dengan bahan dasar buah-buahan selalu menyenangkan buat gue. Atau sayur-sayuran, ini juga menarik buat gue. Seperti carrot cake dan cupcake timun yang pernah gue bikin. Beda aja rasanya dan gak membosankan daripada sekedar cake coklat doang atau vanilla aja tanpa embel-embel variasi rasa yang lain.

Suatu hari pas lagi blogwalking, baca-baca cerita orang tentang the Famous German Apple Cake. Penasaran aja pengen nyoba. Sayang si empunya cerita gak menyertakan resep. Jadilah gue googling around cari tau seperti apa gerangan si Apple Cake ini. Resep yang gue coba kali ini, gue ambil dari Allrecipes. Ini resep paling simple di antara beberapa resep yang gue kumpulin. White sugar gue ganti pake light brown sugar. Kalo bikin cake yang base-nya sayuran atau buah, gue lebih prefer pake brown sugar, wanginya lebih enak. Toppingnya gue modif pake streussel, lagi males makan yang pake olesan-olesam cream (males makan apa males bikin?).

Gatau deh, sebenernya German Apple Cake itu kayak apa rasanya? Kira-kira gini gak, Sheil? ;).



German Apple Cake

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups apples - peeled, cored and diced

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9x13 inch cake pan.
2. In a mixing bowl; beat oil and eggs with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat well.
3. Combine the flour salt, baking soda, and ground cinnamon together in a bowl. Slowly add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix until combined. The batter will be very thick.
4. Fold in the apples by hand using a wooden spoon. Spread batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until cake tests done. Let cake cool on a wire rack. Once cake is cool serve with a dusting of confectioners' sugar or with a Cream Cheese Frosting.

Source : Allrecipes