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5 Ingredient Friday: Cherry Pie

July 8, 2011 by 2 Comments

This week’s 5 Ingredient Friday recipe was inspired by my Fruit Share from the CSA.  I got some sour cherries and I figured the perfect way to use them would be for Cherry Pie.  I wanted a recipe that was not very difficult and that didn’t require too many ingredients. I found a recipe on the Food Network’s web site and I saw that it had a lot of good reviews, so I figured I’d try it.  For this one I used refrigerated pie dough because I was short on time, but you can feel free to make your own if you want (although this wouldn’t be a 5 Ingredient recipe then! :) ) The original recipe calls for an optional ingredient, almond extract, but I’m not a fan of that stuff so I did not include it. So that’s how I got it to be 5 Ingredients.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups fresh or frozen tart cherries
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Your favorite pie crust or pie dough recipe for 2 crust pie
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, to dot
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, to sprinkle

Directions

Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the cherries lose considerable juice, which may take a few minutes, remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Add the almond extract, if desired, and mix. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool. If the filling is too thick, add a little water, too thin, add a little more cornstarch.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Use your favorite pie dough recipe. Prepare your crust. Divide in half. Roll out each piece large enough to fit into an 8 to 9-inch pan. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top crust on and flute the edge of the pie. Make a slit in the middle of the crust for steam to escape. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Heat until the cherries lose a considerable amount of water

Add in the sugar & corn starch mixture; It will start to thicken

Prepare your pie crust in the dish

Pour filling into pie shell

Dot with butter

Place top crust on; fold it over and seal

Flute the edges

Cut some slits into the top to allow steam to escape

Bake for 50 minutes at 375 degrees

The middle of the pie; it held together very well

Let me just say how it was so hard to wait until dessert to try this pie. It was sitting there taunting me all day long. The pie was absolutely delicious. I loved how it turned out. It was the perfect sweetness, and it had a wonderful consistency. It was truly a very simple recipe to follow. The recipe online mentions that it’s an intermediate level, but I don’t agree with that. It was very easy! The filling thickened up perfectly and I didn’t have to make any changes to the recipe.  I think you could probably use this recipe as a guide for any fruit based pie – I would probably just adjust the sugar. If you’re using Raspberries or Blueberries, they aren’t going to be as tart as sour cherries, ya know?

This is the perfect pie to take to a summer barbecue!

Filed Under: 5 Ingredient Friday, Dessert, Desserts, Food Network, Recipes · Tagged With: , , , ,

Cupcake Monday: Pamcakes Encore!

July 4, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Happy 4th of July! Welcome to our final installment of Cupcake Monday! Last week we reviewed Whipped Bakeshop in Fishtown.  This week it’s a Pamcakes Encore! We reviewed Pamcakes several weeks ago and they were such a hit, we went back for more! Click here to vote for Pamcakes for BEST CUPCAKES! They certainly got our vote!

I wanted to try some of the new flavors of cupcakes this trip. We got four new flavors, and then two of our favorite flavors from before – Triple Chocolate Threat and Pucker Up! Click here to see what we had to say about them! We just couldn’t resist those cupcakes!

First up - Lemon Razzle Dazzle - Lemon Speckled Cake, Sweet Raspberry Buttercream

I chose this cupcake because I absolutely loved the lemon cupcake from the last visit, and the raspberry buttercream piqued my interest.  As usual, the lemon cupcake did not disappoint.  It had a very good, powerful lemon flavor that really resonated on my taste buds.

As for the raspberry buttercream, I’m really on the fence about it. I didn’t love it, but I didn’t dislike it. I feel that a better take on this cupcake could possibly be the lemon cupcake, a raspberry filling and a lemon buttercream garnished with a fresh raspberry. I just felt like the cupcake lacked the “razzle dazzle” that it could have. But I am happy that I got to try this new cupcake and taste a raspberry buttercream. I give props to Pam for coming up with new and interesting flavors! I think this cupcake definitely has potential.

Second – Black & White – Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and Star Sprinkles

Since I picked up these cupcakes over the 4th of July weekend, I needed to get a festive cupcake!  This is pretty much your basic cupcake, but with some star sprinkles. I figured it was okay to get this flavor since this is one we didn’t try the last time.

The chocolate cupcake was delicious and moist. The vanilla buttercream was pretty good, but could have used a little more vanilla flavor. Perhaps some vanilla bean would have added a little bit more flavor to it? I added in a little bit of vanilla bean to my vanilla buttercream the last time I made it and it made a world of a difference. At any rate, this cupcake was still divine and I wouldn’t pass it up if someone brought it to me!

Third – Ice Cream Sundae – Chocolate with Vanilla Buttercream, Chocolate Ganache & Sprinkles, topped with a Cherry!

There’s really no way I could have left the shop without this Ice Cream Sundae Cupcake! It looks absolutely amazing!! I love the look of it. What a great idea, and Pam executed it perfectly. Mr. Curly Fry claimed this cupcake when he saw it, and he said it tasted like he was eating an ice cream sundae. The cherry brought the perfect amount of tartness. The chocolate cake was very moist, and the chocolate filling gave it that “hot fudge” punch. This cupcake was definitely a home run and be sure to get to Pamcakes as soon as possible so you can taste this cupcake.

Last but not least – Peanut Butter Cup – Double Chocolate Chip Cake, Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting, Peanut Butter Cup Topping

I love Peanut Butter, so when I saw this cupcake in the case I knew I had to get it. It was absolutely heavenly. The chocolate cupcake was so moist and flavorful, I wanted to cry. And the frosting – I have no words. I have never tasted a Peanut Butter Frosting that was quite like this before. It was out of this world. The frosting was definitely plentiful! I felt like I was eating some peanut butter fudge on top of my cupcake. It was soooooo good. I didn’t want the cupcake to disappear. But that’s what happened after a few bites.

So needless to say, this was my favorite cupcake out of this bunch. The Ice Cream Sundae cupcake was a close second. But as I said before, none of the cupcakes from Pamcakes disappoint. They are truly the best cupcakes in Philadelphia and we’ve tried a lot of them! So Pamcakes will definitely be my go-to cupcake shop when I need cupcakes for any type of occasion…or even if I just want to get cupcakes, just because!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to follow Pamcakes on Twitter and “Like” their Facebook Page.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Philadelphia · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

5 Ingredient Friday: Cookies & Cream Pudding

July 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

This week’s 5 Ingredient Friday is something that is quick and easy to put together! It’s a great go-to dessert for the summer when it’s hot and you don’t want to turn on the stove or oven.  I love all things Cookies & Cream, so I love this Cookies & Cream Pudding! It’s just something that I threw together in a pinch one time when I knew I wanted something for dessert, but didn’t want to bake anything.


Ingredients

  • 1 box Chocolate Instant Pudding (any size, I only had a 5.1 oz box on hand)
  • 1 box Vanilla Instant Pudding (I used a 3.4 oz box)
  • Milk
  • 10 – 12 Oreos
  • Cool Whip

Preparation

Make the chocolate instant pudding according to the directions on the package. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Make the vanilla instant pudding according to the directions on the package. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Put the oreos in a food processor or a blender (my Vitamix worked great for this!)

Blend until they are fine crumbs.

This is what it should look like

Reserve 1/4 cup of the oreo crumbs to use when you put everything together.
Right before serving, mix together the vanilla pudding and the rest of the oreo crumbs.


Shortly before you’re ready to serve the dessert, take the chocolate pudding, vanilla + oreo pudding, oreo crumbs and cool whip and layer them in a dessert dish or parfait glass.  I spooned in the chocolate pudding, then oreo crumbs, then Vanilla + oreo pudding, then cool whip, chocolate pudding, vanilla + oreo, and cool whip. I sprinkled the oreo crumbs on top.  You can do it any way that you want – be creative!


Here’s what the middle looks like:


You can get creative! Use different flavors of pudding. I think a butterscotch pudding would be good with vanilla! Then you can add in some chopped up Heath bar or something like that. Or if you have some fresh raspberries on hand, that would be very good paired with vanilla and lemon pudding!

 

Filed Under: 5 Ingredient Friday, Dessert, Desserts, Recipes · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Cupcake Monday: Sweetbox Truck

June 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Welcome to Cupcake Monday! Last week we reviewed the one and only Pamcakes located in Rittenhouse Square. This week we’re taking a look at the Sweetbox Truck.  The Sweetbox Truck is a mobile gourmet cupcake truck in Philadelphia specializing in premium ingredient cupcakes.  They are in Love Park every Tuesday from 11am to 3pm and in University City and Drexel Thursdays or Fridays (it’s usually TBA). You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter to see where they will be next!

I don’t work very far from Love Park so I figured I’d take a walk down there to try out some cupcakes. There is a menu on their facebook page that is quite impressive, but I was sad to find out that they only carry about 5 or 6 any given day. Their prices are very reasonable ~ $2.50 per for the “Everyday” cupcakes (Red Velvet, Vanilla 2 and Chocolate Vanilla) and then some specials are $2.50 and some are $2.75.

The flavors that were available the day that I went were Red Velvet, Chocolate Natural Peanut Butter, Vanilla2,  Chocolate Raspberry, classic Chocolate Vanilla and Cookies n Cream. I picked out three flavors to try.

First up – Vanilla 2 – Classic Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcake with a Sweet Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

This Vanilla Cupcake was pretty moist and had a lot of flavor. The buttercream was sweet and it was definitely plentiful, which is always good in my book. I felt like it had a bit of a cream cheese tang to it, but I’m not sure if that was just my taste buds playing tricks on me or not.

Overall, it was a good cupcake that tasted good. It’s one of those safe cupcakes, if you know what I mean. It definitely gets extra points because of the amount of icing! ;)

Next – Chocolate Natural Peanut Butter – Ghirardelli Chocolate Cupcake with a Natural Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

I wanted to try a cupcake that was different than my normal list of flavors that I try. So I figured I’d go for the Chocolate Cupcake with Peanut Butter Buttercream. It’s kind of funny because growing up my Aunt would occasionally make a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting for someone’s birthday. I would always get upset because to me that is not real birthday cake. Real birthday cake is vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream icing on it – not that whippy fake icing that you can find on some grocery store cakes! So I had to chuckle when I saw this cupcake flavor and I knew that I had to try it for my Aunt (R.I.P.).

The chocolate cake was soft and moist, and it had a nice flavor to it. The icing was light and fluffy. I felt that the icing could have had a stronger peanut butter flavor, but maybe she didn’t want to go overboard.  I thought that the chocolate chips gave it a very nice touch.

Last – Cookies n Cream – Ghirardelli Chocolate Cupcake with a Cookies and Cream Vanilla Buttercream topped with a Mini Oreo

As you already know, I’m a huge Cookies n Cream fan so that cupcake will make my list whenever it’s available. I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely love the flavor. Whenever I get a milkshake anywhere, it’s got to be cookies n cream. Have you ever had cookies n cream fudge?! It’s to die for. (look at the picture here) So when I saw it on the menu at Love Park, I knew I had to get it. The cupcake was the same as the other chocolate one that I had – it was soft and moist and it had a great flavor to it. The buttercream was very good and it worked very well together with the chocolate cupcake. Out of the three buttercreams, the cookies n cream buttercream was my favorite. It had the perfect sweetness and it just worked.

So the verdict is the cupcakes were good. Not the best that I’ve had, but they were a close second! There is definitely a lot of potential -  I think the biggest drawback is the small number of cupcakes available on a daily basis. But I understand that they are a mobile truck and they don’t have as much storage, etc. I would say they come 2nd runner up in the Cupcake Monday competition so far.  Pamcakes is on top, with Sweetbox Truck being second, Brown Betty being third, and Tartes is in last place.

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Cupcake Monday: Pamcakes

June 13, 2011 by 8 Comments

Welcome to Cupcake Monday! Last week we reviewed Tartes in Olde City. This week it’s all about Pamcakes. I’ve heard great things about this cupcake shop located at 404 South 20th Street in Rittenhouse Square. After reading many more raving reviews about Pamcakes, I finally took the time to stop by there.  And now I ask myself this question – why did I wait so long to go there?!

I didn’t want to walk that far in very hot weather with cupcakes, so I ended up driving. I had to park a few blocks away. I would say the biggest draw back is the location. It’s in a residential area so it’s all street parking.

I walked in and was very impressed with the selection of cupcakes. I wasn’t sure how many I was going to choose, but I figured I shouldn’t get too many. I usually pick up about four to taste-test, but looking at the wide variety, I couldn’t pick just four. I picked out five. And now I regret only getting five!

First up – Vanilla Lovers – Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cake, Creamy Vanilla Buttercream

I chose this flavor because I like to compare your basic cupcake flavors when I try them from different cupcake shops. So I knew that I wanted to try your basic vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream icing.  The cake was very moist. It was light and fluffy. The buttercream icing was right on point – slightly hard to the touch, but creamy once it hits your taste buds. There was a generous amount of icing on the cupcake as well, which always goes over well with me.

Second – Triple Chocolate Threat – Chocolate Chip Studded Chocolate Cake with Creamy Chocolate Buttercream

If there is anything with all chocolate, you know I will pick this flavor! Mr. Curly Fry saw this one and immediately placed dibs on it. However, he did let me taste it! The cake was nice and moist, and had a nice rich chocolate flavor to it. The chocolate buttercream was delicious as well – slightly hard to the touch, yet it just melts in your mouth. This cupcake was definitely a winner in our book. How can you go wrong with the triple chocolate threat? You can’t!

Third – The Classic – Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cake, Creamy Milk Chocolate Buttercream

This is another one of those classic cupcakes that you just have to try. It’s your delicious vanilla cupcake with chocolate buttercream icing.  As expected, the cake was moist, soft and fluffy. The thick chocolate buttercream icing had the perfect sweetness to it. Pam definitely doesn’t jip you on the icing, either. Mr. Curly Fry said that it took him back to his younger days when he used to eat the TastyKake Chocolate Juniors. Do you remember those? So you know she’s doing it right when it takes you back to something you always loved as a kid.

Fourth – Pucker Up – Lemon Speckled Cake, Vanilla Cream Filling, Tangy Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

So…as you see there are two pictures for the Pucker Up! Cupcake – that’s because this bad boy has a filling! I took a bite of this cupcake, and I swear to you I thought I had died and gone to heaven. The flavors hit you from every side. The cake was jam packed with lemony goodness. The Vanilla Cream filling had the perfect sweetness. It was all complemented by a Tangy Lemon Cream Cheese frosting that almost had me in tears of joy. This cupcake was very flavorful and had Mr. Curly Fry thinking about the Lemon Danishes he used to eat when he was a kid. Again, this took him back to his younger days and he was raving about how delicious it was. And as usual she didn’t skimp  on the icing. I think she has captured my heart! :)

Last, but certainly not least – Cookies & Cream – Vanilla Cookie Crumb Cake, Vanilla Cream Filling, Creamy Vanilla Buttercream, Cookie Crumb Topping

There are two pictures again, so you know this means there is a filling in the Cookies & Cream Cupcake! The Vanilla Cookie Crumb Cake was bursting with flavor. If you were doing a blind taste test you would definitely know that it was a Cookies & Cream cupcake. The cake was nice and moist. The bonus was the Vanilla Cream filling that was inside. It was truly a delicious cupcake. The Vanilla Buttercream was accented with some Cookie Crumb topping. This was definitely a perfect choice for an Oreo lover!

We’ve tried many cupcake places here in the city, and Pamcakes are hands down the best cupcakes we’ve had.  Everything about them is right on the money. The cake is moist, the icing is the perfect sweetness, not to mention plentiful. Every cupcake that we tasted was jam packed with flavor. All of the cupcakes are reasonably priced. I could honestly go back to Pamcakes and get 5 different flavors and feel confident that I will love them all. (Which I will probably be doing.. :) )

Be sure to follow Pamcakes on Twitter and “Like” their Facebook Page.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Philadelphia, Reviews · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cupcake Monday: Tartes

June 6, 2011 by 3 Comments

Welcome to Cupcake Monday! Last week it was all about the Brown Betty Boutique. This week we’re reviewing the cupcakes from Tartes, which is located in Olde City at 2nd & Arch Street. This is one of those little places that I learned about through reading about cupcakes in Philadelphia. If I hadn’t been researching, I wouldn’t have come across this place. It’s a tiny little pink shack and you have to order from the window.

It was a very hot day and I wasn’t about to walk a mile in 90 degree heat with cupcakes, so I ended up driving. I was able to get a parking spot on the street that was pretty close to the bakery. So I walked up to the window and looked at the menu. They only had 4 cupcakes available – Chocolate, Vanilla, Red Velvet and Carrot Cake. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like Red Velvet, so I ended up getting two chocolate, one vanilla, and one carrot cake. She had to go in the back to get them, so you couldn’t see what they looked like first.

There were many people online that commented on the fact that the service at Tartes wasn’t all that friendly. I tend to agree with them, but since I knew what I was going to run into, I wasn’t surprised. It’s their decision how they run their establishment, I can’t control that. But I can control where I go back to in the future.

First up – Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla icing. I was a bit let down because I thought that the Chocolate Cupcake would have chocolate icing, but it had vanilla. We didn’t think the chocolate cake was all that moist, so that was a bit of a let down. The icing – I was pretty disappointed in the icing. It was very heavy on the butter. It was on the whippy side and was definitely lacking sugar. It just wasn’t sweet enough.

Next – Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla icing. The vanilla cupcake was moister than the chocolate cupcake, but I’ve still had better. The icing was the same as the icing on the chocolate cupcake – waaaaaaaaaaaay too heavy on the butter and definitely lacking sugar. It’s a shame they were generous with the icing when I didn’t care for it. I guess that’s usually how it goes, eh?

Last – Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing. This cupcake was hands down the best out of them all.  The cupcake had a lot of flavor – it was very moist due to the raisins, little bits of carrot, and small pieces of nuts. It had the perfect amount of spice. And the icing…it had just enough sweetness and it was a nice and fluffy icing. It just complemented the cupcake so well.

Out of all three cupcakes, the only one I’d want again was the Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing. It was out of this world. It’s a shame the others really weren’t that good. But I guess if at least one was good, the trip was worth it.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Philadelphia, Reviews · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Leftover Buttercream Icing

June 2, 2011 by 1 Comment

Have you ever baked a cake or cupcakes and had buttercream icing leftover once you were done with the cakes? What did you do with it? Throw it out? You don’t have to do that anymore!

I ran into this “problem” when I tested out a couple of new flavors of cupcakes/ buttercream icing. The icing flavors were out of this world, and I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. It was so delicious and creamy, I could have eaten that stuff with a spoon like it was ice cream. It was that dangerous!

So what I did was pipe the icing on wax paper on either a plate or cookie sheet, threw it in the freezer to harden up, and then placed it in a freezer bag. Then I just put the bag in the freezer and I’d take out an icing swirl here and there when I was in the mood for something sweet (or an icing fix). That was  much better than eating it out of a bowl like ice cream!

Pop these suckers in the freezer

 

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Random · Tagged With: , , ,

Cupcake Monday: Brown Betty Boutique

May 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Every Monday is going to be “Cupcake Monday” for the next 5 weeks.  How bad can that be? I’m all about trying out different cupcake shops and so I’ve been having so much fun doing the taste-testing from all of the different places around the city. Starting on July 4th it will be all about Frozen Yogurt for a month long Frozen Yogurt taste-test. And I’m definitely up for the challenge!

As you know I’ve already reviewed several cupcake establishments in Philadelphia (and the surrounding area) already. You can check out the reviews here…

This week we are going to take a look at Brown Betty Dessert Boutique.  They have 3 locations here in Philadelphia. I got the cupcakes from “Brown Betty Petite” located in Liberty Place which is 1625 Market Street. Their main location is at Liberties Walk which is located at 1030 No. 2nd Street. Their third location is another “Brown Betty Petite” which is located in Rittenhouse Square (269 So. 20th Street).

Brown Betty Boutique was named after their mother/grandmother, Elizabeth Ruth Hinton (friends and family called her Betty or Liz). She was quite the baker and she always had something baked when visitors would come over. According to their web site, most of their cupcakes are named after women in their family. She was known for her high, moist pound cakes back in the day.

So it should come as no surprise that Brown Betty’s cupcakes are made from a pound cake, so it’s not your typical light and fluffy cupcake. But it was still good, none the less. We picked up four flavors to taste-test.

  • Hattie Don’t Play (Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Icing)
  • Sallie’s Sourcream (Vanilla Pound Cake with Vanilla Icing)
  • Sing Little Alice (Chocolate & Vanilla Cake Swirled + Matching Icing)
  • Betty’s Buttermilk (Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Buttercream)
Hattie Don't Play
 

First up – Hattie Don’t Play – as I’ve said before, Mr. Curly Fry loves chocolate, so I always have to get at least one cupcake that is made of everything chocolate!  This was probably one of our favorite cupcakes out of them all. There was a very good amount of chocolate icing and it had such a nice flavor. We’re not used to such heavy cake, so it was a bit hard to swallow at first. It may be best paired with a good cup of coffee.

Sallie's Sourcream
 

Second up was Sallie’s Sourcream – Don’t let the blue icing fool you. It was still a vanilla buttercream icing. Again, the cake was on the heavier side and it was okay, nothing to write home about. I didn’t really get that much of a vanilla flavor, but it wasn’t bad.  The icing was average as well. I usually like more icing on my cupcake since I’m such an icing lover. And I didn’t get that vanilla punch when I tasted the icing.

Sing Little Alice
 

Next up was Sing Little Alice – I was looking for another cupcake with chocolate icing, and this was the closest I could get. It was a marble cupcake and the icing was chocolate and vanilla swirled. This cupcake seemed very heavy to me and was a bit on the dry side. I love the idea of it, and I do like how they carried that into the icing. It’s probably just the icing lover in me, but I think a little extra icing would help move the cake down your throat a little better.

Betty's Buttermilk

Last up was Betty’s Buttermilk - This was the lemon pound cake with lemon buttercream. There was not enough lemon for me. The cake had a very faint lemon flavor to it, and the icing didn’t taste all that lemon-y to me. I really think they need to take the icing up a notch – some lemon zest in the icing as well as more lemon juice.  I was disappointed at the lack of icing on it as well, It was just a very thin spread. When you have such a heavy cake, you need more icing. I really felt jipped!

So as you can see, Hattie Don’t Play was the winner out of the four cupcakes. It had the perfect ratio of cupcake to icing. The icing had the perfect sweetness.  It was definitely worth trying it, even if they do make a different kind of cupcake.

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Philadelphia, Reviews · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Rhubarb-Raspberry-Strawberry Galette

May 16, 2011 by 1 Comment

I got some Rhubarb in my first CSA box this past week so I knew I had to make something with it. I’ve never had it before, but I know that it’s usually paired with Strawberries. I was all set to make a Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp that I saw in the Food Network Magazine, but then I saw an email in my inbox from Fine Cooking. It was a recipe for Rhubarb-Raspberry Galette. I really liked how they were little individual desserts. So I decided to give this recipe a whirl. I had both raspberries and strawberries, so I used some of each. I cut down the amount of rhubarb since I wasn’t sure if I would like it since I’ve never had it. I didn’t want it to ‘ruin’ the recipe.

Rhubarb-Raspberry Galette

For the dough:
10 oz. (2-1/4 cups) all-purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
6 oz. (12 Tbs.) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup ice water
For the filling:
1-1/2 lb. rhubarb
1 cup raspberries
3 Tbs. flour
1 to 1-1/4 cups sugar
Melted butter for brushing
Sugar for sprinkling

To make the dough 

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt; cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the ice water and toss just until the mixture holds together. Be careful not to overmix. Press the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with kitchen parchment. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the chilled dough into a 14-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet and refrigerate while preparing the filling.

To make the filling

Trim the ends of the rhubarb and, if the stalks are more than 1 inch thick, cut them in half lengthwise. Cut the stalks into 1-inch-long pieces. In a large bowl, gently toss the rhubarb and raspberries with the flour and sugar. Let stand until moist, 5 to 10 minutes.

Heat the oven to 400°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature until it’s just pliable, about 5 to 10 minutes. Gently spread the fruit in the center of the dough, leaving a 2-inch margin around the edge. Carefully fold the edge of the dough over the fruit, pleating it as you go. Brush the edge of the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit is soft and bubbling, 45 to 55 min. Set on a rack to cool slightly.

 


Dough is ready to chill in the refrigerator

Rhubarb, Raspberries & Strawberries

Up close & personal

All lined up ~ waiting to go in the oven

The finished product

My thoughts…

This is an example of how not every recipe that I try works out very well. LOL! Now as you can see mine definitely didn’t turn out looking like the picture on their web site, lol! But I did the best that I could do given the humidity and all of the jazz.  Truth be told, I really dislike making my own dough and rolling it out, etc. I  just don’t like doing it because it seems like something always goes wrong! Looking back, I should have made them a little bigger. I had to put the dough back in the fridge for a bit after cutting out the rounds because it was so warm. I think I also let the fruit mixture sit too long with the flour & sugar because it looked like it had too much juice in it.

These really didn’t turn out all that well. They opened up a bit and the filling came out some. I tasted part of one and I thought that the rhubarb tasted pretty good. I can totally see how those flavors go together.  But I will be honest – we did not eat them. The trash can did. So while it wasn’t a successful recipe for me, at least I got a blog post out of it! :) I still have some rhubarb left that I threw in the freezer for another day. I think I will try to make that Rhubarb Crisp I was talking about earlier. If only I hadn’t changed my mind… ;)

Filed Under: CSA, Dessert, Desserts, Fruit, Recipes, What's in the Box? · Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

A trip over the bridge to Jilly B’s Boutique & Treats

April 27, 2011 by 3 Comments

I had an appointment at Bernard’s  Salon and Spa in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I arrived a few minutes early and I noticed that a few doors down there was this cute little boutique called Jilly B’s Boutique & Treats. I had a few  minutes to kill before my appointment, so I figured I’d browse around. When I first walked in I noticed my favorite – CUPCAKES!! I’m always up for trying cupcakes from different places so I wanted to pick up a few. They also had frozen yogurt with many different flavors and toppings, chocolate covered pretzels, candy, cookies, beverages and other treats.  They also sell other things such as aprons,  accessories, gift baskets, jewelry, vases, stationary, etc.

The staff was very nice – I was asked if I needed help with anything and I appreciated that. I love when the workers interact with the customers and genuinely show interest.  I mentioned that I had an appointment a few doors down but I’d definitely be back to buy somethings.

I decided that I was going to pick 4 flavors of cupcakes. It was VERY hard to narrow it down, but I did. Here’s what I picked:

The flavors that I chose were Cookies n Cream, Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream, Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream and Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream.

Now let me start off by saying that I had to pick flavors that would interest both myself and my other half. Although I’d love to eat all 4 cupcakes myself, that was just not something that would be good for my waistline! Mr. Curly Fry is into chocolate big time – so I knew I was safe going with a few cupcakes that involved chocolate in some way, shape or form.

Cookies n Cream Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream and an Oreo garnish:

I’m a sucker for all things Cookies n Cream so when I saw this cupcake I just knew it was going home with me.  It was a pretty good cupcake – the cupcake itself didn’t wow me like I thought it would. It was a vanilla cupcake with oreo crumbs throughout. It was generously topped with some Vanilla Buttercream. The Vanilla Buttercream was good, but not the best that I’ve had. I felt like it was missing something. I think vanilla bean added in would have gone perfectly in the buttercream. Another suggestion would be to top it off with Oreo Buttercream icing – that always wins me over!

Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream:


When it was time to break out the cupcakes for the tasting, Mr. Curly Fry went right for this one.  I barely got a bite of it! The cupcake was very good – nice and moist. The Chocolate Buttercream was outstanding – definitely the best icing out of the bunch. It was the perfect sweetness and it just left me wanting more.

Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream:


This Cupcake had the Chocolate Buttercream on it as well, so you should know that I barely got to taste it! Mr. Curly Fry gobbled this one right up. The Chocolate Buttercream was the star of the show yet again! The Vanilla Cupcake was good – I definitely can’t complain. But out of the Chocolate Cupcake and the Vanilla Cupcake we would pick the Chocolate one, hands down.

Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Buttercream:


Part of me actually regrets choosing this flavor. It had the exact same icing as the Cookies n Cream cupcake, and by the time I got to this one I was kind of over the Vanilla Buttercream. I *almost* chose the Carrot Cake Cupcake, but decided against it since Mr. Curly Fry doesn’t like that flavor. But now I wish I got that one. I’m confident that it would’ve had a Cream Cheese icing of some sort on it and it would have been a change for my taste buds. But aside from that, the cupcake was good.

So it seems that the stars of the show were the Cupcakes with the Chocolate Buttercream – next time I’m in that shopping center I’ll pick up a few of those for Mr. Curly Fry and I’ll pick up a few new flavors to try myself.  I will also be picking up some of that Frozen Yogurt to taste.

Checkout their store menu so you can see everything they have to offer.

Check out Jilly B’s on Facebook!

STORE ADDRESS
100 Springdale Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

STORE HOURS
Sun, Mon, Tue: 11:00am – 8:00pm
Wed, Thu: 10:00am – 9:00pm
Fri, Sat: 10:00am – 10:00pm

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Dessert, Desserts · Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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