Three Birthdays, One Tart : Recipe for Baked Yogurt Berry Tart

It's lovely when a plan comes together perfectly. Aparna, Arundati, Arundhati, Arundathi (yes, they are three different girls with same name and different spellings) and me, started a little baking group to egg each other to bake and write about it, not that Aparna needs any egging on. We've christened it The Sisterhood of The Traveling Cake Tins and each month we bake something together. 

Behind the beautiful posts, what you wont see is some frantic activity on our (secret) FB group page, where each of us spams recipe links, where to source ingredients, what to substitute, what to do when something seems to be going wrong and of course, pictures and commentary at every stage of the recipe. This time was no different. Also, seeing my post about this exciting group, Monika asked to be a part of it too and now we are six of us.

We decided to bake something to commemorate the legendary Julia Child's 100th birthday. In my early years of food blogging, I won the book 'My Life in France' for showcasing the best marketplace, and this foodblogger shipped this book to me all the way from Switzerland. I've read the book many times and it's never failed to inspire me on how Julia found her life's calling in her 40s, how she had never been interested in cooking until then, how she went on to write the most applauded cookbook of her times and went on to make the most watched cookery show of her time. 

This is a simple recipe, by French cooking standards. I used a simple mix and 'press-into-tin and bake' crust recipe over one that needs resting and rolling. The filling itself it extremely easy-just good yogurt, eggs, sugar, flour topped with fruit and nuts of your choice. I was telling my fellow group members how this makes a perfect breakfast recipe, minus the crust. 

Coming to the other two birthdays, it is the husband's birthday today and we did a little 'cake' cutting ceremony over our morning tea and had it for breakfast. It is also India's 65th Independence Day which makes this dessert fit three special occasions beautifully.

Recipe for baked yogurt berry tart with oatmeal crust
Serves 12-16

For the oatmeal crust:
Adapted from here

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal flour (lightly roasted and powdered the oats)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
100 grams butter, melted and cooled (but still liquid)
1 egg beaten-to seal crust once nearly baked

Line a 9" pie tin with a detachable base or a regular pie tin lined with foil. Grease the foil. 

In a large bowl, mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, salt till combined. Add melted butter and gently bring together everything. Tip this onto the pie tin and smoothen with fingers to line enter base and the side of the tin, pressing down with a flat bottomed cup to even it out and chill in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes.

Preheat oven at 170 C (325 F).

Place a rack in middle of oven and bake this crust for 20 minutes, until nearly golden.
Remove and brush with beaten egg all through and bake again for 5-7 minutes. This prevents the crust from becoming soggy.

While the crust is baking, prepare the filling.

For the filling (adapted from Julia Child's recipe for Tarte Au Yogurt)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
3 eggs
2 cups yogurt (I used Danone-regular fat, after lightly tipping out any whey on the top, no need to drain)
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour

1.5 cups berries or sliced peaches or nectarines (I used dried wild blueberries and cranberries, rehydrated and drained)
1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 3-4 minutes till pale and thick. Lightly fold the yogurt and vanilla extract into this until mixed. Sieve the flour into this gently, folding it into the mix in batches. Once the crust is baked, pour the mix into it, it will reach almost to the top of the pan. Once you arrange the fruits in the center and nuts around the circumference, the tart is ready to go into the oven for 40 minutes at 170 C (325F), until lightly golden around the edges.

Unmould with the foil or from the detachable base and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or so. Peel off foil and place on a cake tray, slice into wedges. Once such tart will yield 16 slices.


PBS is celebrating Julia Child’s 100th birth anniversary with a “Cook For Julia” right through this week and you can join them by cooking any one of Julia Child’s recipes. The deadline to join the party is 15th August, Julia’s birthday.

Posts by the others in my baking group:

Aparna's Yogurt Tart with Orange and Pistachios

Arundhati's Cherry Berry Yogurt Tart

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Fruit Cake for Christmas - Two versions (With eggs and Eggless)

What's Christmas without Fruit Cake? As a child, my mom would buy the most delicious Plum Cakes from a cake-seller who would come to their bank each year. These fruit cakes are no replacement for those childhood memories of rich-dark cake, but do come close nevertheless.

I have been making Fruit Cake for Christmas since the last five years, but not putting down the recipes in one place always made me hunt high and low for the perfect recipe for me, weeks before Christmas. The perfect recipe for me would be low on butter or oil and also an eggless recipe that tastes as good as the eggy one, if not better.

The eggless version, I got inspiration from Anushruti's Divine Taste. The idea of using smoothly mashed potatoes in place of eggs was a first for me. And since it worked beautifully for her, I had no doubt that it would for me too. I am glad to report that my eggless version is yummier and softer that the one with eggs.

The recipe with eggs is adapted from Raaga's blog. I used the same recipe last year too, with much success.

Both recipes have a common starting point which is soaking the fruit a few days ago and then making the caramel a few hours before starting the final cake making.
Although, fruitcake covered with white frosting is popular, i have never been a fan of any kind of icing or frosting, whose only purpose is to send us on a sugar overload. So here are the two recipes that I have used this year with much success.


Prepare in advance
3 cups of mixed dried fruits, citrus peels (raisins, apricot, fig, currants, tutti fruitti, glaced cherries soaked in 1 cup rum with 1 tsp cinnamon powder - for one week-1 month

[Chop the apricot, cherries and fig into small pieces before soaking] I use half this fruit (two cups) per recipe - so 4 cakes for this quantity of fruit.
One batch caramel - reqd per recipe that makes two 8” cakes.

Making caramel

Place ½ cup sugar in heavy bottomed pan. Keep ¾ cup water to boil on the side. On a low heat, let this melt. When it is melting, stir it until it is dark brown in colour. Once sugar has reached this stage, carefully add the boiling water little by little stirring well, until you get a smooth caramel syrup. You can make this ahead as it needs to be completely cool before using in recipe.

Recipe for Christmas Fruit Cake using Eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 cup oil
1 cup fine sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp mixed fruit essence
3 eggs
¼ cup mixed nuts and seeds (chopped)
3 tbsp Cointreau or Limoncello (optional)
2 cups of soaked fruit

Directions
Grease two 8” round tins and line with parchment paper. You can also bake in multiple foil tins for gifting away smaller cakes. Baking time will be less in case you are using smaller foil tins.
Preheat oven at 175 C.
In a large bowl, beat together oil, sugar, cinnamon and ginger powder, vanilla essence and 3 eggs.
Add the cooled caramel. Whisk well.
In a large dish, sieve the flour, soda, baking powder and instant coffee powder.
To the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients in batches, folding well to incorporate.
Once nearly done, add 2 cups or half the soaked fruit, nuts and the liquor. Mix well and pour equally into the two greased tins.
Bake for 30 minutes at 175 C and another 15-25 minutes at 150 C covered by foil.
Test the center of the cake if it is done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Remove along with paper onto a cooling rack.
Poke holes with a skewer or toothpick and pour two tablespoons of rum or any other liquor. Once cooled, cover with parchment paper and keep in a tin. Repeat the rum-soak every other day for a week or so (optional)



Christmas Fruitcake - Eggless version / Low fat version

Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 cup finely mashed potatoes (pressure cook 3 medium potatoes. Remove skin when cool and mash with fork, removing any lumps) Bring to room temperature.
1 cup yogurt plus keep ½ cup yogurt if batter too thick
½ cup oil
1 cup fine sugar
Caramel made using ½ cup sugar and ¾ cup water
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp mixed fruit essence
3 tbsp Cointreau or Limoncello (optional)

Directions

1. Grease two 8” round tins and line with parchment paper. You can also use multiple foil tins for gifting away smaller cakes. Baking time will be less in case you are using smaller foil tins.
2. Preheat oven at 175 C.
3. In a large bowl, whisk well the oil, yogurt, mashed potato, sugar, caramel, spices and vanilla.
4. In a large dish, sieve the flour, soda, baking powder and instant coffee powder.
5. To the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients in batches, folding well to incorporate.
6. Once nearly done, add 2 cups or half the soaked fruit, nuts and the liquor. Mix well and pour equally into the two greased tins.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 175 C and another 15-25 minutes at 150 C covered by foil.
8. Test the center of the cake if it is done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Remove along with paper onto a cooling rack.
9. Poke holes with a skewer or toothpick and pour two tablespoons of rum or any other liquor. Once cooled, cover well with parchment paper and keep in a tin. Repeat the rum-soak every other day for a week or so (optional)

Tip

For both versions, let the cake sit overnight before slicing or it may be very crumbly.

So Merry Christmas to all of you. Eat all the good stuff in moderation and save yourself from guilt pangs. Revel in the festive spirit and close 2010 on a high.

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Homemade granola, at last - with homemade applesauce

 

 

I am not a big fan of store bought cereals. However I do stock whole wheat flakes and unsweetened cornflakes for breakfast in a hurry. Buying boxed cereals with sugar and salt overload are totally avoidable as the first meal of the day. Oats is another regular during breakfast hours. That is one thing the husband has mastered in microwave cooking - Oats, frozen peas, masalas of choice, water and microwave for 4 minutes or so - for a bowl full of fibre, protein and good carbs. I prefer my oats slightly sweetened with jaggery, cooked with milk and cinnamon. When I saw this recipe for granola on Nigella Lawson's show - combining cereals with nuts, seeds, spices - I knew I had to try this. But it turned out to be one of those ideas that keep sitting on the back burner - waiting for the right moment, to be explored. Early this week, sufficiently inspired, I went to the store and bought the necessary ingredients - Oats, cornflakes, apples, sesame seeds for the rest of the stuff I already had at home.

 

Ever since the waxed, coated and 'sitting in cold storage for god knows how long' apples from US and NZ have flooded the markets, I have totally given up apples. I hate the shiny waxy skin, I hate the pasty texture and total lack of taste. But Shimla apples are another breed altogether - they are the perfect combination of juicy, crisp and sweet and I bought 2 kilos. The timing was perfect as I could use a couple of them to make applesauce to hold the garnola together. [Recipe for applesauce at the end of the post]

The resultant breakfast in a bowl is very high in fibre from the whole grains and wheat germ, the sesame seeds are rich in calcium, iron, vitamin B1 and zinc. The taste is absolutely superlative with subtle sweetness from natural sugars in jaggery, honey, apple and the spicy sweetness of cinnamon. Try this once and I guarantee you will never buy the cardboard shards sold in the name of Muesli in supermarkets here.

 

 

Here's my recipe - adapted from Nigella Lawson's - Andy's Fairfield Granola

 

Special equipment
Pressure cooker if making applesauce at home (preferable for quickly stewing apples)
Two large baking trays atleast 9X9

 

Ingredients
500 g Rolled oats ( I used Saffola brand)
2 cups unsweetened corn flakes or wheat flakes
1 cup wheat bran ( I used Baggrey's )
100 g sesame seeds (or roughly 1/3rd cup)-lightly toasted in a wok for 1 minute
1/2 cup - mixture of almonds, sunflower seeds, walnuts, cashews - chopped in bits

 

1/2 cup jaggery dissolved in 1/2 cup water
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sunflower or any neutral oil
1 cup applesauce or make your own from 2-3 apples (Recipe below)
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp dried ginger powder
1 tsp salt

 

1 cup mix of dried apricot bits / raisins / sultananas or any other dried berries

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 200 C.
2. In the largest bowl you have, mix the oats, wheatflakes, nuts, toasted sesame seeds.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the jaggery water, honey, oil, applesauce, ground ginger and cinnamon and salt.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients in the large bowl and mix with two serving spoons or with your hands, until the spices and liquids have thoroughly coated all of the cereals and nuts.
5. Line the baking trays with aluminium foil.
6. Distribute the granola mix between the two trays, pressing down well.
7. Bake each tray for around 30 minutes at 200 C - keeping a watch that the granola is not burning. If it is browning too fast, turn the tray and reduce the temperature to 175 and bake till quite crisp.
8. Once cool, break into bits or crumble, mix up the dried fruit and store in airtight container.

 

To serve
2 handfuls of granola or 1/2 cup with a cup of milk and some fresh fruit if you like

How to make applesauce

• Wash, peel and core 2-3 good apples.
• Chop into medium pieces and pressure cook with 1/2 cup water, either directly in the cooker or in a bowl for 5-7 minutes. ie. After three whistles, keep on sim for 5-7 minutes.
• After a few minutes, open cooker, remove the stewed apples and mash with a back of a ladle or in food processor.
• This will yield over a cup of applesauce.
• If you dont have a pressure cooker, follow the process in a saucepan with a fitting lid. Simmer for 20-30 minutes till apples are totally soft and then mash.

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Apple Fig and Poppyseed Muffins

Weekend is here. My weekend mornings are no different from weekday mornings. My toddler hasn't yet figured out the weekend business so it's business as usual for us. Last night we forgot to leave the basket out for the milk, so the milkman rang the doorbell at 6 am so that the cats don't get to the milk before me. His intentions were good, but that meant my son woke up with the sound of the bell and dragged me out of bed too. S had left really early for his long run - that left the two of us to fend for each other for the next couple of hours. 

Sometimes, I just throw whatever is on hand when I get a craving to bake something. Sometimes, I prepare the ingredients over a few days and finally get compelled to use them in something. This morning, it was the second situation. I'd finely chopped up some figs a couple of days ago. Yesterday I brewed some strong fruit infusion (Twinings Strawberry and Raspberry), chopped up an apple and soaked the chopped apple and figs overnight in the tea.

This morning, it was time to put them to use. I recently bought this lovely little book called the Muffin Bible. No fancy author here, just a compilation of several very doable recipes. I'd bought to gift Arundati on her birthday. As luck would have it, we could not meet up that day and then when I called her last week, she said she already had that book. Trust a food blogger to have the best and most useful cookbooks on her shelf already! I'd already flipped through the book the very night I'd bought it. Needless to say right? The recipe I've adapted from is the Almond-poppyseed muffins.

Apple, fig and poppyseed muffins

Makes 1 dozen 

Ingredients

8 dried figs, chopped finely

1/2 apple, chopped finely

1 cup strong tea (made from 2 tea bags, fruit infusions or any other)

2 tbsp yogurt or 1 egg

1/2 cup sugar, coarsely ground

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup sunflower oil

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp poppy seeds (the dark variety)

1 cup Maida (all purpose flour)

3/4 cup Atta (whole wheat flour)

1/4 cup Makkai ka atta (corn meal)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Preparation

Soak the finely chopped figs and apple in the tea. Cover and keep for a couple of hours or overnight.

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 200 C. Line a 12 muffin pan with paper liners or oil them well.
2. In a large bowl, beat the yogurt (or egg) along with sugar and salt well. 
3. Whisk the oil into this. Add the milk and mix in the poppy seeds.
4. Sieve the flours with the baking powder and soda a couple of times.
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Do not over-mix or beat this. 
6. Add the soaked fruits and the half cup of tea that will remain behind.
7. Spoon the batter into the liners until 3/4th filled.
8. Bake at 200 C for 20-25 minutes. Test with a knitting needle / spaghetti if the centers are done. If not bake for 3-4 minutes and check again.
9. Remove the muffins and eat warm.

Notes

• Some ovens can accommodate not more than 9 muffin tin. In that case bake 9 muffins and once done, bake remaining 3 in a second batch or bake a small cake in a small tart tin or so.
• I have soaked the fruit in flavoured tea for added flavour. You may choose to omit the soaking stage, add the chopped fig and apple as it is, but use 1 cup milk instead.
• You can also soak the fruit in 1/4 cup rum + 3/4 cup warm water if you prefer a fruit-cake like taste.

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Going down memory lane with icecream and recipe for Fig and Vanilla Icecream

"As a kid, the only thing I really cared about was candy. Candy is the only reason you want to live when you’re a kid. Ages zero through ten, candy is your life, there’s nothing else. Family, friends, school…they’re only obstacles in the way of getting more candy."

Jerry Seinfeld

I can say the same thing about ice cream.

As a child, my love for ice cream was pretty intense. More so because I was not allowed to eat it as frequently as I'd have liked to. I was predisposed to getting a nasty cold every now and then. The fact that my people thought eating ice cream led to colds did not help. Exam times, school competitions, all such times were strictly no-ice cream times. I wont say I was obsessed with ice cream the way Jerry was with candy. But being denied something makes you want it more. That's what happened to me.

My first favourite among ice creams was strawberry - no fancy schmancy REAL fruit ice cream - the pale pink synthetic colour and flavour of Amul suited my tastebuds just fine. Next in line came Tutti Frutti - which is it's mild orangey flavour and the colourful fruit bits (coloured and candied dried papaya for all we know) was pleasing to the eye as well as palate.

My aunt used to make these ice creams with seasonal fruits like Chikoo, Mango, Custard apple and also with those ice-cream mixes that were common in supermarkets as we were growing up. Those days, any guests coming to her place would unashamedly poke their head into her freezer to check if that aluminium dabba in which she usually freezed the good stuff was around!

Then entered Baskin Robbins. Probably that time I was low on my ice cream phase and don't recall any big favourites with them.

My short stay in the US made me a big fan of Perry's Death by Chocolate - my tastebuds could not believe that such a decadent icecream could exist. Then of course there was Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia and more such exotic flavours that made me regret that my stay in US wasn't long enough. On second thoughts, I'm happy today I gave all those excess calories a miss.

From US when we moved back to Bombay, we settled into ice cream land - Juhu - the place where Natural's Ice Cream was born. The ice cream of Juhu scheme. Anyone who has tasted Naturals will vouch for the real good taste that comes from fresh natural ingredients. Their home delivery box on any fruit ice cream will read just three ingredients: Milk, fruit and sugar. I trust them. My favourites here were the papaya-pineapple and real strawberry. When it comes to ice creams, I'll mostly go with fruit flavours or butter scotch. I'm not a big fan of chocolate in ice creams, I can eat chocolate by itself, thank you.

Today, I have all the freedom to eat ice cream as and when I please. The husband has nothing but words of encouragement when I say "I feel like having an ice cream today". Last week we shared a Willy Wonka Chocolate blast at the Cream Stone, which made me feel guilty as hell :(

There are some things you want to make more often, but we don't get around to making them. Making ice cream at home is one such thing for me. In all these years of frantic cooking, I've made kulfi twice and ice cream twice, including this one. I'll probably make it more often, now that I've almost cracked the jinx. 

I came to know after 5 years of being married to S that his favourite flavour in ice creams was Fig and Honey, which is why they say marriage is a process of continuous discovery of each other :) I saw him poking his head into the Baskin Robbins counter a few days ago searching for this flavour that was out of stock or something like that - which is when the idea of making this cropped up in my mind. And I wanted to start using the vanilla pods that I'd bought in Munnar on my holiday there in April. So this was a fantastic experience for me, handling real vanilla for the first time.

Since this can be made using basic household equipment, more ice cream lovers can try this out. So here's the recipe for the eggless fig vanilla ice cream - no ice cream maker required.

Fig and Vanilla Ice cream

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

12 dried figs

1" vanilla pod

800 ml milk ( I used toned 3%)

1/2 tin condensed milk (200g)

6tsp sugar or more to suit your taste

1 tbsp cornflour

Directions

• Soak the figs in hot water for 3-4 hours till plump and soft. Grind to a rough puree, using some of the soaked water if required. If some pieces of fig remain, it is fine - it will fun biting into the little chewy pieces later!
• In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine all but half cup of milk, condensed milk and sugar. Bring to a simmer.
• Slit the vanilla pod with the tip of a sharp knife - scrape out the seeds into the simmering milk. I added the empty pods into the milk too, to use any seeds that got left out inside. [If using extract, add in two teaspoons of extract after removing the mixture from the flame.]
• Mix the cornflour in the reserved half cup cold milk and add to the simmering mixture. Bring to a boil. The simmering milk will thicken as the cornflour gets cooked.
• Add the fig puree at this stage. Stir / whisk well and remove from flame. [If using vanilla extract, add at this stage.]
• Cool the content of the pan and pour into two plastic icecream boxes. (I used two old ice cream containers 500 ml each)
• Turn your freezer's setting to maximum and keep the boxes in the freezer for 4-6 hours.
• When the ice cream is nearly set, remove the contents of boxes into a large bowl and churn with an electric hand blender till soft and creamy, around 6-8 minutes.
• Return the content to the boxes and freeze again.
• You can repeat the same procedure after 3-4 hours and freeze for a creamier texture.

If you don't have an electric hand blender, use your food processor or else a wooden spoon to beat the mixture manually.

Taste: The ice cream was mildly sweet and very rich in flavours - vanilla with its intoxicating sweet aroma and the figs with their natural sweetness and textures. The combination worked beautifully for us. The condensed milk almost made up for the absence of the eggs - providing the rich creamy taste.

I used regular 3% milk, but you can use whole milk for better taste and more creaminess.

The only other ice cream on this blog is the Mango-coconut ice cream, which you might like to try if the mango season is still on in your part of the world.

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Pumpkin Date Cake

Since Christmas, actually since December, I've been on a baking spree and the reason is a certain person - a young woman who is here to take care of my son for some hours each day - it has freed  some hours to do the things I like or to do just nothing - which was completely impossible for the last one year since Atri was born. So I'm back to baking for the few friends I have here, for my wonderful neighbouring aunty-uncle and for my little one of course. He is quite the foodie and shows sincere appreciation for everything his mom cooks up. After devouring Shammi's carrot-banana cake on his first birthday, he quite liked it that he got a new cake to eat on his 13th month birthday. The rum-soaked Christmas cakes I baked was out of bounds for him as I didn't want him getting hooked on to Old Monk this early in life - although some of my relatives and friends think otherwise.

He has been eating Pumpkin puree since he started on weaning foods six months ago, hence the familiar taste of pumpkin in this cake along with iron-rich dates that play the role of natural sweetener, replacing most of the sugar in this one. Hope you and your little ones enjoy this.

Ingredients and directions

Preheat the oven at 25o Celsius.

In a bowl mix well the following:

1 cup pumpkin - date puree (2 cups golden pumpkin cubes and 10 dates, pressure cooked and pureed)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp yogurt

1 tbsp vinegar

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

Sift the following together:

1 1/2 cups flour or 1 cup plain flour & 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp ginger powder

Optional : Some chopped dried fruits or nuts, I used some chopped dried fruits soaked in juice (1/4 cup)

Gently mix the sifted dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Pour into a well oiled 8" square tin, or line a muffin tin with paper cups and fill upto 3/4th (makes 12 muffins).

Bake at 175 Celsius until a tester comes clean; 30-40 minutes for cake and around 20 minutes for muffins.


Cool on a rack and cut into slices. Serve with coffee or tea. Great when served for a kiddies' party too.

And that's me enjoying a slice of cake with my tea!

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