Individual Sized Fruit Tarts

For Special Dinner I made 72 individually sized fruit tarts that seemed to go over pretty well so I thought I would post the recipe. It is adapted from Joy of Baking to make 72 cupcake tin sized tarts. I multiplied everything by five, expect that I changed a couple of quantities to improve on when I made it last year. You can read Joy of Baking for in depth instructions, but I will list my ingredient amounts below.

Sweet Pastry Crust:
7 1/2 cups all purpose flour
5/8 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar
5 large eggs, lightly beaten

When forming the crusts roll out small balls of dough and line muffin tins with them. Due to the high fat content of the pastry dough the crusts should slide out of the tins easily when cooked.

Pastry Cream:
6 1/4 cups milk
2 tablespoons vanilla
12 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
10 tablespoons all-purpose flour
10 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup liqueur (Brandy) (optional)

Apricot Glaze: (optional)
2 1/2 cups apricot jam or preserves
5 tablespoons Brandy or water or combination of the two (can also use other liqueurs)

Topping:
Seasonal mixed fruit, such as raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, kiwifruit, plums, pineapple, melon, etc.

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Tasty DIY granola bar

Adapted from 101 cookbooks , an awesome food blog, for a cbae style kitchen
http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/video-big-sur-power-bars-recipe.html

Tasty Power Bars !!!

1 T oil, to grease the pan
1.5-2 c (walnuts, almonds, pistachios, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc)

~1 c dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, other chopped dried fruit)

2/3 cup (unsweetened) shredded coconut
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups unsweetened crisp brown rice cereal
3/4 c honey
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

optional add-ins (chocolate chips, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan with the oil. If you like thick power bars, opt for an 8 by 8-inch pan; for thinner bars, use a 9 by 13-inch pan.

On a rimmed baking sheet toast the nuts, seeds, and coconut for about 7 minutes, until the coconut is deeply golden. Toss once or twice along the way. Mix the oats, toasted nuts, coconut, and the cereal, together in a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the honey, sugar, salt, spices (if using) and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly as it comes to a boil and thickens just a bit, about 4 minutes. Pour the syrup over the oat mixture and stir until it is evenly incorporated.

Spread into the prepared pan and cool to room temperature before cutting into whatever size bars you desire.

Makes 16 to 24 bars.

Grush's Peanut Sauce

1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp heat (Sriracha, cayenne, red pepper flakes, etc)
hot water

Mix all the ingredients other than the water in a small bowl.
Add more of each ingredient to taste.
Slowly add in hot water until you reach a saucy consistency.

Makes: ~1 cup

Welcome!

Hopefully from time to time Columbae peeps will post some recipes and other peeps will read some posts when in need of inspiration.