Now that President's Day is almost upon us, I have to finish blogging about our holiday party! My part of the menu (my husband handles most of the savory items) focused mostly on baked goods. In contrast to prior years, I avoided almost anything that was chilled and frozen -- for no reason other than I was out of fridge and freezer space. The sole exception was a batch of salted caramel ice cream, which I doled out in tiny scoops. It was so successful that I think I'll start offering multiple flavors of ice cream at the party -- perhaps with sauces and crunchy toppings.
I always try to have a few gluten-free items on the menu, so this year one of them was a Cranberry Curd Tart from The New York Times with a crust made from ground hazelnuts and rice flour. I made the curd a day ahead. First, I cooked cranberries with sugar, orange juice, and orange zest until the cranberries were soft. Using a suggestion from some of the online comments to the recipe, I used an immersion blender to blitz the mixture until it was smooth before I put it though a sieve; some bakers had commented that it was otherwise very difficult to get the mixer through the sieve and others complained about the faint color of the curd. Then I added butter, followed by tempered eggs and egg yolks, cooked the curd until thickened, and put it in the fridge to chill.
Before I made the curd, I had to pick over my cranberries and I had tossed out quite a few -- enough that I was afraid that I might not have enough curd. So instead of making 10-inch tarts, I decided to make 9-inch tarts (I had doubled the recipe and was planning to make two tarts). To make the crust, I creamed butter with sugar, and added a mixture of toasted hazelnuts, rice flour, and salt that I had ground in the food processor. I pressed the mixture into the bottom of two 9-inch fluted tart pans and had so much left over that I was able to make five additional 4-inch crusts. I docked the crusts and froze them before baking. After the crusts were cool, I poured in the chilled curd and baked the tarts until the curd was set. I had enough curd to fill two 9-inch tarts and two 4-inch tarts.
This tart was really lovely. Although it had a bright red color and cranberries were the main ingredient in the curd, the cranberry flavor was surprisingly subtle. The orange flavor was more prominent and several people asked me what was in the tart because they couldn't tell. The hazelnut crust was extremely sweet but I really liked it -- I have to admit that I snacked on the extra tart crusts and ate them like cookies. And I think that the sweet crust is a very nice pairing with the curd. I stored the tarts at room temperature as directed and didn't have any problems with the crust becoming soggy. My only complaint about the tart is that the curd wasn't actually attached to the crust. While everything looks cohesive in the photo above, you could easily just lift the curd right off from the crust. But this didn't affect the taste, so it didn't bother me too much. I would definitely make this tart again, although I might cut down on the orange juice and zest a little to try and let the cranberry shine through a bit more.
My personal favorite item from the party was the pretzel linzer cookies. I also loved the whiteout cake, the orange and star anise shortbread, the pecan blondies, the honey, macadamia and coconut caramels, and the homemade Biscoff. The Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies, Baked sweet and salty brownies, and squash on toast remain perennial favorites with our guests at the party, and this year the hot cheese olives, pecan pie truffles, stuffed dates, and tomato soup with grilled cheese were also big hits. The complete list of recipes from the holiday party menu is below.
Recipe: "Cranberry Curd Tart" from The New York Times.
Baked Goods:
I always try to have a few gluten-free items on the menu, so this year one of them was a Cranberry Curd Tart from The New York Times with a crust made from ground hazelnuts and rice flour. I made the curd a day ahead. First, I cooked cranberries with sugar, orange juice, and orange zest until the cranberries were soft. Using a suggestion from some of the online comments to the recipe, I used an immersion blender to blitz the mixture until it was smooth before I put it though a sieve; some bakers had commented that it was otherwise very difficult to get the mixer through the sieve and others complained about the faint color of the curd. Then I added butter, followed by tempered eggs and egg yolks, cooked the curd until thickened, and put it in the fridge to chill.
Before I made the curd, I had to pick over my cranberries and I had tossed out quite a few -- enough that I was afraid that I might not have enough curd. So instead of making 10-inch tarts, I decided to make 9-inch tarts (I had doubled the recipe and was planning to make two tarts). To make the crust, I creamed butter with sugar, and added a mixture of toasted hazelnuts, rice flour, and salt that I had ground in the food processor. I pressed the mixture into the bottom of two 9-inch fluted tart pans and had so much left over that I was able to make five additional 4-inch crusts. I docked the crusts and froze them before baking. After the crusts were cool, I poured in the chilled curd and baked the tarts until the curd was set. I had enough curd to fill two 9-inch tarts and two 4-inch tarts.
My personal favorite item from the party was the pretzel linzer cookies. I also loved the whiteout cake, the orange and star anise shortbread, the pecan blondies, the honey, macadamia and coconut caramels, and the homemade Biscoff. The Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies, Baked sweet and salty brownies, and squash on toast remain perennial favorites with our guests at the party, and this year the hot cheese olives, pecan pie truffles, stuffed dates, and tomato soup with grilled cheese were also big hits. The complete list of recipes from the holiday party menu is below.
Recipe: "Cranberry Curd Tart" from The New York Times.
Baked Goods:
- Basel Leckerli, Pfeffernüsse, Springerle, Biberle, and Elisenlebkuchen from Classic German Baking by Luisa Weiss (see this post from January 10, 2018).
- Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jacques Torres (see this post from July 11, 2008).
- Sweet and Salty Brownies from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (see this post from December 5, 2010).
- Bakehouse Pecan Blondies from Zingerman's Bakehouse by Amy Emberling and Frank Carollo (see this post from December 27, 2017).
- Homemade Biscoff (Belgian Speculoos Cookies) by Stella Parks (see this post from December 25, 2017).
- The Whiteout Cake from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (see this post from December 31, 2017).
- Orange and Star Anise Shortbread, Amaretti with Honey and Orange Blossom, and Spiced Praline Meringues from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (see this post from February 6, 2018).
- H-Bars by Victoria Weisenberg, from Holiday Cookies: Prize-Winning Family Recipes from the Chicago Tribune for Cookies, Bars, Brownies and More (see this post from August 6, 2015).
- Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting from Baked Occasions by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito (see this post from March 1, 2015).
- Salted Chocolate-Caramel Bars from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (see this post from November 27, 2016).
- Lemon Ginger Bars from Bake! by Nick Malgieri (see this post from September 25, 2013).
- Pretzel Linzers with Salted Caramel from Smitten Kitchen Every Day by Deb Perelman (see this post from February 7, 2018).
- Cranberry Curd Tart from The New York Times.
- Honey, Macadamia and Coconut Caramels from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh (see this post from February 6, 2018).
- Apple Cider Caramels from King Arthur Flour.
- Pecan Pie Truffles from The New York Times (see this post from January 14, 2018).
- Maple Pecan Fudge from Leite's Culinaria.
- Salted Caramel Ice Cream from The New York Times.
- Smoked Salmon Spread (the filling from this recipe for Mini Smoked Salmon Croque-Monsieur from Food & Wine).
- Tomato Soup from Ree Drummond (served with miniature grilled cheese sandwiches).
- Hot Cheese Olives from The New York Times.
- Bobby's Pimento Cheese from Paula Deen.
- Dates stuffed with Parmigiano-Reggiano and wrapped with prosciutto.
- Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Squash on Toast from The New York Times.
- Leek Confit from epicurious.com (served on toasted baguette slices with crumbled bleu cheese).
Comments