What to Bake this Eid? 'Apple Pie' Tarte Tatin and Why?

What's not to love about the classic flavours of sweet cinnamon and apple?

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Guest Post By The Halal Gourmet: The Trial of the Tarte Tatin

Today I'm delighted to be bringing you a guest post by Umm Haneefah also known as The Halal Gourmet  who specialises in French cuisine within the limits of Allah i.e. no pork, wine etc.

Cooking up classy dishes like confit de canard salad and encouraging a sophisticated palate in the fussiest of eaters - children, with her squid cucumber lime muffins you will find something for everyone and then some.
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What started out as delicious dalliance in the thick of apple season, with loads of butter and sugar, became an emotional rollercoaster that turned into a trial from Allaah, Azza wa Jal (The Mighty & Majestic).

Tarte Tatin: the Upside-Down Apple Cake that nearly turned my life upside down.

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Peach Brioche Rolls

Peach Brioche Rolls:  Dark glaze, crunchy sugar coating, soft and fluffy interior bursting with peach.

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My First Crème Caramel/Flan/Caramel Custard

As-Salaamu Alaykum,

Crème Caramel, A French classic that is sweet, soft, smooth and so satisfying!

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Mini Vanilla Custard Slices

As- Salamu Alaikum / Greetings Reader,

My sincere apologises to any of my instagram followers who saw my pic of these mini vanilla custard slices many days ago now and have been waiting to hear more about them, well let me tell you they didn't take all this time to eat, they were gone within 24 hours = proof you need to make these delicious treats sometime soon, yes preferably when the sun isn't on show like it is here today here in the north of England, mashaAllah / As Allah Willed.

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'Easy' 2 Layer Mille Feuille

As-Salamu Alaikum Sisters / Greetings Reader,

I know, i know...i said i was taking a blogging break BUT i just couldn't keep myself out of the kitchen (never thought i would be saying that) and so sharing this easy 2 layer mille feuille recipe was inevitable.

As you may be aware from previous posts, i have struggled recreating mille feuille - one of my most favourite bakery staples.

I discovered a while ago that most premade pastry contains alcohol (Haram/Unlawful to consume in islam) and while one may argue until the cows come home that the alcohol evaporates upon cooking i wanted to make sure i was using a completely halal product from the start.

So i got on my 'high horse' that would be me sat on the sofa writing an email to 'Jus-Rol' and i am pleased to report their frozen puff pastry blocks at the time of response and me writing this post (you never know things can change in an instance so please please always read the indredients list before purchasing) don't contain alcohol and are suitable for vegetarians, yippeeee!

On to my rough around the edges recipe/guide to making easy 2 layer mille feuille.

Easy 2 Layer Mille Feuille

Ingredients

500g frozen jus-rol(can be any brand of choice) puff pastry block - defrosted in fridge overnight
Jam of choice
400ml  double cream (i used 500ml and had some leftover) - whipped

Method

1. Pre-Heat Fan Oven to 200C
2. On a lightly floured surface roll out your puff pastry block until it's about 50 x 35cm 1/4cm thick.
3. Divide in half (a ruler and sharp knife come in handy for this) and place each half on it's own lined baking sheet and bake for on 2 middle racks your oven for 15-20minutes or until light golden in colour (you may wish to rotate the baking sheets half way through so you get even cooking and colouring)
4. Remove puff pastry halves from oven, prick each, all over with a fork and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To divide up equally, place one puff pastry half on top of the other, trim any curvy edges and divide up (ruler and serrated knife) into 6 pairs each puff pastry pair being about 4-5cm wide and 15cm in length.
6. To fill, spread jam of choice on each pastry 'bottom' half, pipe or spoon on whipped cream and place second pastry half on top. Dust with icing sugar and keep chilled until ready to serve.

Note: Make sure the flat side of bottom pastry half is on face down i.e. touching serving plate, so you top the rough side with jam and then make sure the flat side of top pastry half is facing up so it can get a nice dusting of icing sugar and this way the mille feuille not only look prettiest but they are more stable.

How To Make Crème Pâtissiere / Pastry Cream / Thick Custard

As-Salaam Alaykum, Greetings Reader,

Crème Pâtissiere / Pastry Cream / Thick Custard is used in many desserts such as fruits tarts, vanilla custard slices and my childhood favourite good ol' jelly and custard!

Like all good food, homemade always tastes better so it is worth adding this recipe to your collection.

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How To Make Vanilla Rough Puff Pastry From McDougalls Puff Pastry Mix

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Take 2&3 - Vanilla Custard Slices (slow progress)

As-Salam Alaykum  / Greetings Readers,

Since Take 1, I have made the Vanilla Slices again and again, each time something didn't go quite right or I'm just aiming too high above home baking standards.

During Take 2 - I changed the crème patissiere / pastry cream as I wanted more of it so I simply doubled the recipe quantities i used in take 1 thinking I would get the same consistency but I was wrong, it became too rich through too many egg yolks and too thick due to too much plain and corn flour.

The photos above are from Take 3 - I chose to follow a different recipe altogether for the crème patissiere and I didn't any many adjustments! and I'm happy to say it was just right.

Making the puff pastry dough from a packet mix as worked well in both Take 2 and .

Notes to self before Take 4:-

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  Decide the dimensions of my final sheet(s) before baking which depends on how many and how big slices i want to achieve.
  


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  Don't over or undercook the pastry.
  


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  Don't flatten the baked pastry sheets straight away after baking, wait until they have cooled.
  


• 
  
  Work on the consistency of icing, not too runny or it will drip, drip, drip!
  


• 
  
  Find my missing or buy another small pastry bag with small circular tip for piping chocolate onto icing.
  


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  Stock up on Chocolate and/or Nutella use this pastry project as an excuse to your husband and children why you need to eat more chocolate and your not sharing. LOL
  

Recipes on how to make Vanilla Puff Pastry From McDougalls Puff Pastry Mix and Vanilla Pastry Cream to follow shortly.....

Take 1 - Vanilla Custard Slice [Mille-feuille]

 Asalam Alaykum / Greetings Dear Readers,



My 100th post! i finally made my favourite pastry Alhamdulillah: Vanilla Custard Slice, i made 4 large. 8 mini versions would have been nice but bigger was better in this case.



Remember a while ago, i discovered that pre-made pastry sheets contained alcohol or at least the one i came across did. So, in order for me to avoid that and to still 'cheat' a little, i made my puff pastry from a packet mix, this one to be precise:

and i don't really feel like i cheated as i had to do most of the hard work i.e. rolling the pastry, folding, repeat x 6! but it did help me cut the boring corner of, weighing the ingredients & cutting chunks of butter/vegetable fat into pieces!



Mille Feuille is french in origin, who would have guessed?! usually consisting of 3 layers of puff pastry alternating with 2 layers of filling.



I and probably many other Brits, consider this particular type with the 2 layers pastry, 1 layer of custard, to be a British pastry as it is available in just about every bakery you walk into in the UK, that's if you get in there before it's sells out!



The classic vanilla flavouring in this pastry, simply works. It's savoury notes help balance out just some of sweetness in the custard and the icing.



Also the Feathered Icing you see on the top is a relatively new technique to me and i have to say I'm impressed at how it lifts desserts up from average looking to fancy.



Usually to make the chocolate part of  feathered icing you would first make the very thick white glace icing, mixing in a little bit of melted butter to give it a shiny finish. Portion a small amount off into another bowl, add in a few drops of chocolate essence and there you have it BUT i didn't have any chocolate essence, so what to do? Nutella to the rescue! i added a couple of teaspoons along with a drop of water to thin the icing out just a little.



All you have to do then is spread using a palette knife, the white glace icing over the tops of each pastry. Fill a small piping bag with your chocolate icing, i used one fitted with a tiny circle nozzle but you can make a disposable one out of baking paper if your skilled enough, I'm not.



Pipe lines of chocolate icing across the white icing . Then all you need to do is drag a skewer through all the lines, instead of working from right to left you move the skewer from top (where the white icing starts) to the bottom. I'm not really good at explaining am i? so here, you can see the same technique being used on a cake.



I wasn't 100% happy with how these vanilla custard slices turned out, the ratio of custard/ creme patisserie to pastry is usually bigger. That being said, i had no complaints from the husband or child that taste tested and even had requests to make them again, which i plan to do in the near future in sha Allah and at that point i will post my recipe and more pictures, showing how to make the pastry etc



I'd be interested to know, what is your favourite bakery item and when did you last treat yourself to it?

Mint Chocolate Madeleines

Earlier this week i mentioned my trouble baking Madeleines, it's not that I haven't made them before but well i was out of practice and had forgotten which recipe I previously used. 

This is one of the reasons I started to blog so I would have a log of all my favourite baking recipes without having to search in cupboards and draws for that printed recipe you know you had but it's not in there now, dilemma.

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Homemade Baguettes

Most authentic French baguette recipes I come across on the internet or in my baking books take far longer to make and bake than this one I’m sharing today. My husband being from Algeria, the French influence on the culture and cuisine of his home country is evident even 50 years on from the country’s independence.

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