Thanksgiving | (Part 2) Apple Rose Tarts & Pumpkin Cake Tarts

 

Continuing with my theme of using ingredients I had on hand, I also made apple rose tarts and pumpkin cake tarts for Thanksgiving (for co-workers, Friendsgiving and the actual family get-together). Although quite simple in theory, the apple tart in particular can be labor intensive if you hand slice your apples like I did. I think I told myself I was practicing my knife skills . . . but I would recommend using a mandolin slicer if you've got one!

The apple tarts are inspired by my baking friend Anjali, who in turn was inspired by a Pinterest post. The crust is a Pâte Brisée, and the rose is made from thin slices of Gala apples, coated with some sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and melted butter.

I also added an apple compote (using Golden Delicious apples) underneath the rose to add flavor and moisture, which I think makes a big difference. After baking, I brushed with some apricot nappage for a glaze.

 

 

The pumpkin tarts use a Pâte Sucrée crust, baked with the same pumpkin brown butter cake batter I used for my Thanksgiving cake.

 

 

After baking, I leveled the top of the tart-cake, brushed on the brown sugar simple syrup, and then topped with mascarpone mousse.

Both were tasty treats and great for gifting. My personal favorite is the apple tart!

Thanksgiving | (Part 1) Pumpkin Brown Butter Cake

For Thanksgiving this year, I made a pumpkin layered cake, inspired by . . . ingredients on hand. I recently moved, and while I am excited to have a more functional oven and kitchen, I haven't had time to organize the pantry or find all of my tools. Looking at what I had (canned pumpkin, nuts, butter, sugar, mascarpone mousse for Friendsgiving tarts), I decided to make this cake with brown butter sage pumpkin layers, butterscotch pecan filling and mascarpone mousse frosting, with white chocolate leaves and cake crumbs for decoration.

The brown butter sage pumpkin cake comes from Martha Stewart, the butterscotch pecan filling comes from annie's eats and the mascarpone mousse is one of my favorites from Extraordinary Desserts that I've used multiple times.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake with Butterscotch Pecan Filling

Makes one 9" cake, or 12 cupcakes

Filling: 

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Small squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional, helps prevent crystallization)
• 1¼ sticks (5 oz.) unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped toasted pecans

 Cake: 

• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup fresh sage (chiffonade)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

Also make mascarpone mousse (or any other frosting such as buttercream) and a simple syrup (try brown sugar).

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make the cake: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl; let cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, and sage-butter mixture. Add flour mixture; whisk until incorporated. Pour batter into floured pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until done (about 60 minutes, or when a cake tester comes out clean). Cool, wrap and chill in refrigerator or freezer.
3. Make the filling: Warm heavy cream in a small saucepan (do not boil). In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice and stir with a whisk to combine (add water as necessary to resemble moist sand). [Note: If you're comfortable making a wet caramel, consider skipping the lemon juice. I added too much and ended up with a citrusy filling instead of a true butterscotch flavor.] Heat until sugar caramelizes into a golden amber color. Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully add the heavy cream slowly, whisking constantly to incorporate. Whisk in the butter, a couple cubes at a time, stirring to incorporate completely before adding the next portion.
4. Cool the butterscotch in the refrigerator at least 45 minutes, until the mixture is no longer warm and has a slight chill.  Place the chilled butterscotch in a stand mixer bowl and beat for about 2 minutes, until it has thickened and lightened. Fold in the chopped pecans.
5. Cut cake into 3 layers. Brush cake layers with brown sugar simple syrup, spread filling, repeat, and cover cake with mascarpone mousse. Freeze until ready to decorate and serve. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Mendiant - Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to present something along the lines of individual plated desserts versus a single cake. It was a lot more work, but a fun way to make use of my pastry school education. Plus, I needed to make up for the time that my pumpkin chocolate tiramisu failed to make it to the holiday gathering (in retrospect, that recipe I used was all sorts of wrong).

This dessert has a base disc of flourless hazelnut chocolate cake, a layer of pumpkin pastry cream, a layer of pumpkin-chocolate crème légère (basically the pumpkin pastry cream mixed with melted chocolate, frangelico and whipped cream), and a topping of mascarpone whipped cream. On the side is a cranberry compote, made with whole frozen cranberries, sugar, lemon juice, frangelico and a little corn starch to pull it together.

The dark chocolate cage was the most involved step. Fortuitously, my dad had 3" PVC pipe lying around, so we sawed that into short rings for holding the cylindrical shape while the tempered chocolate set. Family teamwork!

I'm only calling this a mendiant because that is the name of a similar dessert we made in pastry school. Obviously it is not the same as the chocolate confection also known as the mendiant, but I have yet to figure out a better name.

Pumpkin Chocolate Tiramisu - Happy Thanksgiving!

This three-layer tiramisu is a holiday variation of the traditional tiramisu, using pumpkin, chocolate and amaretto instead of espresso and rum. Based on a Cook's Illustrated recipe, and inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe, the mascarpone layers are flavored with pumpkin puree, with the middle layer additionally flavored with melted chocolate. The ladyfingers are brushed/dipped with cocoa and amaretto. The top is dusted with cocoa and cinnamon, with chocolate decorations.

This recipe creates a very light and soft mascarpone layer. For a denser, thicker cake, use less whipping cream.

Pumpkin Chocolate Tiramisu
Serves 10-12

Ingredients

* 9 tablespoons amaretto
* 6 large egg yolks
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1/3 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 lbs mascarpone cheese (about 3 8-oz. tubs)
* 1 1/2 cup heavy cream
* 36-48 ladyfingers
* 1 to 1 1/2 cans pumpkin puree (15-22 oz.)
* 6 oz. semisweet chocolate
* 3 tablespoons cocoa + 1 tablespoon for dusting
* 1 cup hot water
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for dusting

Directions

1. Stir hot water, cocoa and 5 tablespoons amaretto in bowl until cocoa dissolves; set aside.
2. Beat egg yolks in a standing mixer (whisk attachment) until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow (1.5-2 minutes), scraping down the sides. Add remaining 4 tablespoons amaretto and beat until just combined (20-30 seconds). Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until smooth (30-45 seconds). Transfer to a large bowl.
3. In the same mixer bowl, beat 3/4 cup heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into mascarpone mixture. Fold in pumpkin puree.
4. Combine chocolate and remaining 3/4 cup heavy cream, and microwave until chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth. Transfer 1/3 of the pumpkin mixture into a separate medium bowl, and fold in chocolate mixture.
5. Cover bottom of pan or baking dish with ladyfingers dipped in cocoa-amaretto mixture (dip each side very quickly). Top with pumpkin mixture. Add another layer of ladyfingers, and top with pumpkin-chocolate mixture. Add another layer of ladyfingers and finish with remaining pumpkin mixture. Combine 1 tablespoon cocoa with cinnamon and dust over top.

Unfortunately, the tiramisu did not survive heavy Thanksgiving road traffic and accidents. Fortunately, we made pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing as back-up!

UPDATE: I've been asked about my pumpkin cookie recipe, so here it is. I arrived at this recipe through experimentation after tweaking a couple other recipes. Hope it works well for you all!

Rolled Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
20-24 cookies

Ingredients

* 2 3/4 cup flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ginger
* 1/2 teaspoon cloves
* 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
* 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
* 2/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 egg

For the icing (makes 1 cup) - from Martha Stewart:

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg and continue beating until incorporated.
2. Sift/whisk dry ingredients together in medium bowl. Then add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture in two to three portions, beating after each addition until just incorporated.
3. Fold in pumpkin puree. The cookie dough should still be thick.
4. Divide the dough into two portions, wrap in plastic wrap, and flatten into discs. Chill dough overnight or place in freezer for at least a couple hours.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
6. Remove chilled dough from fridge/freezer, roll out to 1/8-1/4 inch thickness, cut into desired shape with cookie cutter, and place on lined, non-stick baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookie will not brown much at all, but should spring back slightly when pressed with finger.
7. As the cookies are cooling, prepare the brown butter icing: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling occasionally until nut-brown in color (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat, pour butter into bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind. Add sugar, vanilla and milk to brown butter, stirring until smooth.
8. After the cookies have cooled, dip and twist the surface into the icing. Allow the icing to set -- it won't quite harden, but it will develop a dry surface.

Tips for success:

• Work quickly, and keep the unused half of the cookie dough chilled while working with the first half. 
• When rolling out the dough, place the dough between two sheets of waxed paper dusted with flour. Sandwiching between wax sheets helps prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin and otherwise making a mess. I would also suggest dusting the dough disc with flour. Also, consider taping the bottom sheet of wax paper to the table to avoid slipping and sliding. 
• Use non-stick foil (my recommendation) or parchment paper to line the baking sheet.
• Be liberal with the spices.
• Consider doubling the icing recipe to make the icing dipping process easier.
• The icing may separate -- stir to re-emulsify, and add a little extra milk if necessary to thin the consistency.

Spaghetti Cupcakes - Trick or Treat!

The idea for these spaghetti cupcakes comes from the book Hello, Cupcake!, and I was inspired after seeing my sister-in-law make them for April Fool's Day. Instead of using canned frosting, I decided to better complement the strawberry jam (the marinara sauce) with white chocolate flavoring.

This white cake is filled with strawberry meringue buttercream, and topped with a thin layer of white chocolate whipped ganache, and then covered with white chocolate buttercream noodles. White chocolate and butter both have a pale yellow color, so that no food coloring needs to be added to mimic cooked noodles.

A Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolate serves as the meatball, tossed in low sugar strawberry preserves (the low sugar variety has a more realistic red shade than regular preserves). Finally, grated white chocolate serves as the parmesan cheese. By the way, I love Ferrero Rocher chocolates. I'm going to have to try a cupcake version of them one day.

These "trick" cupcakes were complemented by my pumpkin cupcakes as the "treat." Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes - Thanksgiving Part 1

You know that yummy sweet-savory buttery goodness that lines the layers of a cinnamon bun? Well, imagine that captured in a cupcake! Here, browned butter is incorporated into a pumpkin-sage cake, with browned butter icing on top. I've made the icing into a thicker consistency so that it holds form (for easier transport to Thanksgiving dinner). However, with the addition of more milk, this icing can drip off the edges of the cupcake for a nice gooey effect as well.

I have been working on my chocolate tempering work, so these cupcakes are topped with a bit of white chocolate flair.

Pumpkin Cupcakes - Happy Halloween!

For the office Halloween event this year, I handed out chocolate chip walnut cookies and these pumpkin cupcakes—with cream cheese buttercream and handmade marzipan pumpkins—in lieu of the usual candy fare.

Hm, well, that's not entirely true. I admit I put out some Almond Joys and Snickers to get rid of the surplus from my Costco variety pack, after having picked out all the Crunch and Twix for myself =)

These cupcakes were made at 2am once again, but well worth it to see the trick-or-treaters at work look so eager and happy. I never received cupcakes for Halloween as a kid, but I guess I like to hand out what I would have liked to receive!