Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Game Day Sopapillas

February 5, 2018Miscellaneoustortilla; cinnamon; honey; friedRuth Wendel

Hi all! Hope you all enjoyed your SuperBowl Sunday- or at least enjoyed spending time with friends and family, regardless of the outcome of the game! My husband and I invited my family over to watch the game together, and I decided to try out an old recipe that my Mom had from when we lived in Papua New Guinea: homemade sopapillas. Super simple and delicious! Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Tortillas:

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter or margarine (keep it cold!)
2/3-3/4 cup cold water
lots of vegetable oil for frying

Toppings:

1/4 cup granulated sugar mixed with 2 tsp cinnamon
Honey
Powdered sugar

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Sprinkle in the water a little at a time, tossing with a fork until the dough is just moistened and still crumbly.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface (I kneaded it in the bowl a bit first so it made less of a mess).

Knead the dough until it’s smooth. You don’t want to feel lumps of butter or flour.

Form the dough into a ball and set it aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, heat 3 inches of oil over medium heat (I heated mine to about 300° before I started frying). Roll the dough out into a 1/4″ thick rectangle (or rectangle-ish thing) and cut it into 2″ squares.

Drop one square into the oil to test the temperature. The square should float to the top and the oil should start bubbling right away. When the oil is the right temperature, drop 5-6 squares into the oil and fry, gently turning them with a slotted spoon to brown evenly until they’re puffed and golden, about 2-4 minutes. Continue frying in small batches.

Drain the sopapillas on a paper towel to remove any excess oil.

While they’re still hot, dredge them in the cinnamon and sugar mixture, or top with honey, cinnamon and sugar, and powdered sugar to taste.

Enjoy, everyone!

Apple Everything

September 18, 2017Miscellaneousapple; cider; donuts; apple crispRuth Wendel

Hi all! Time for fall blogging part two. We covered pumpkin goodies last time, so today we’re talking about everything to do with apples. My sister was in town this weekend to run an inflatable 5k race with me (it was awesome, by the way!), and my nephew wanted to go apple picking with her, so it was a perfect excuse for me to share some new apple recipes.

We visited our local farm stand and walked through sunflower fields, some very sincere pumpkin patches (if you don’t get the reference, you should go watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”), and then headed for the apple trees. The farm somehow managed to trim the trees to grow straight up instead of out this year to discourage tree climbing… I guess they’re on to me. My family had to improvise to get the higher apples since we’re all on the shorter side, but we made it work!

Once we finished our apple picking, we got fresh apple cider at the farm stand and headed home to make some delicious food. First, we decided to make apple crisp, using my great-grandma’s recipe with a small change.

Apple Crisp Ingredients:

6-8 apples, cored and sliced
1/2 cup butter, chilled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup oats (not in Grammy’s original recipe, but I think the oats make it so much better)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Slice the apples fairly thin and small, so that it’s easy to scoop them out of the dish when serving. You can also dice the apples if you prefer. We left the skins on because I think it gives the apple mixture a great color, but you can peel the apples if you like.

Arrange the apples in a baking dish. Depending on how many people you’re serving and how many apples you use, the size of the dish can vary. I usually use an 8×8″ dish, but this time we used an 8×10″ dish since we were feeding more people.

Using a pastry cutter, combine the rest of the ingredients to make the topping mixture. The pastry cutter will help ensure that you get small chunks of butter evenly mixed in with the topping, which will melt in the oven and create a delicious topping.

Sprinkle the topping over the apples, and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Serve the crisp with ice cream or whipped cream, and enjoy!

Next up, I tried my hand at making apple cider donuts. The farm stand where we go for apple picking always serves yummy apple cider donuts sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, so it was a bit of a competition to see if I could make my donuts at least as good as the farm stand donuts. I’m happy to say they turned out to be delicious- I’m probably biased, but I actually preferred them over the farm stand donuts. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cardamom
ground ginger to taste (I used ~1/8 tsp)
1/2 cup apple cider
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease your donut pan. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then, add the wet ingredients and mix with a hand mixer until fully combined.

I learned from my previous experience making donuts that it’s easier to pipe the batter into the donut pan to get more even-sized donuts, so my sister was in charge of piping batter into the donut pan.

She was also in charge of holding the bag of batter while the donuts cooked!

Bake for ~10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the donut comes out clean. Hint: The donuts stayed a fairly pale color, so don’t wait for them to get brown or else they’ll probably be very overcooked. Let the donuts cool in the pan for 3-5 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. These donuts were so good, even without topping. You could taste the cinnamon right off the bat, but then the cardamom came through after a few seconds, and during the whole bite, you had the warm spice from the ginger- all complementing the tart flavor of the apple cider. So good.

Now for the toppings. We definitely had to make a cinnamon and sugar topping for some of them to copy the farm stand topping, and I also decided to make an apple cider glaze for some, just because I thought it sounded delicious.

Apple Cider Glaze:

1 cup cider
1 cup confectioner’s sugar

Boil the cider in a small saucepan until it’s reduced down to 1/4 cup. Hint: it doesn’t really thicken, so don’t be looking for a specific consistency- if you think it’s done, just pour it into a small measuring cup to confirm that it’s down to 1/4 cup.

Whisk in the powdered sugar until it’s completely dissolved.

And now, it’s assembly line time. Much like the pumpkin donuts from the last blog, I set up my line so that there would be minimal dripping and overall messiness. Dunk the donuts in the glaze so that they’re covered, then remove them from the glaze with a fork or your fingers, letting excess glaze drip back into the pan, and lay them on a baking sheet covered with wax or parchment paper. This glaze recipe made enough to cover 12 donuts. It was absolutely delicious- it had a tart taste at first which really accented the flavor of the apples, but then had a sweet finish.

Cinnamon and Sugar Topping:

4 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Melt the butter in a small bowl. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a different bowl. Dunk the donuts in the butter, making sure that the whole donut is covered, and then roll the donuts in the cinnamon and sugar mixture. This mixture made enough to cover 8 donuts, so if you’re planning to top more donuts with this, I would make 1.5 times more of this recipe, or even double it.

And now it’s time to eat! These donuts went really fast- there were no leftovers at all! I hope you guys give these recipes a try, since they were seriously delicious. Happy baking!

Homemade Pumpkin Donuts

September 10, 2017Breads, Miscellaneouspumpkin; donut; cream cheese; frostingRuth Wendel

Hi, friends! Happy September! Even though it’s still technically summer, I’m getting really excited about all of the fun that fall brings. Apple picking, pumpkin carving, corn mazes… the list goes on! Right around this time of year is when all the “pumpkin flavored ____” starts being offered, and I am not complaining even a little about it. I have my pumpkin spice coffee creamer in the fridge and my pumpkin Kleenex boxes sitting in the bathroom right now (no shame!). As my husband and I were thinking about what to do with our day, I suggested apple picking and getting some apple cider donuts, but he came up with a WAY better idea- making my own pumpkin donuts! I’ve never made my own donuts before, so that made the idea doubly exciting. Off we rushed to Target to pick up the last donut pan in stock, and then headed back home for me to try my hand at it. I’m pretty excited about how they turned out, so I had to share the recipe!

This recipe makes 12 donuts. The glaze recipe makes enough to cover about 8 donuts, and the sugar mixture recipe makes enough to cover all 12.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- (Hint: if you don’t have pumpkin pie spice in your pantry, as I don’t, use this conversion instead: for 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice, use 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp allspice. For this recipe, since you need 1.5 tsp of the mix, I just put a little extra of each spice in).
1 cup (8oz) pureed pumpkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 325°. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and set it aside (this will be for putting hot, freshly topped donuts on). In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice until there are no clumps. Then, add in the pumpkin puree, eggs, milk, and butter. Mix with a hand mixer on low speed until it’s fully mixed. You’ll end up with a lovely orange colored batter.

NOTE: be warned that one can of pumpkin is usually 15 ounces, rather than the 8oz that you need. Don’t use the whole can or else you’ll have way too much pumpkin and a really wet dough!

Now, it’s time to fill the donut pan! On my first go with filling the pan, I think I filled them a little too full- you want the batter to be a little lower than level with the surface of the donut pan.

Bake 13-15 minutes, until the donuts spring back when you gently touch them, or until a toothpick inserted in the donut comes out clean.

These come out of the pan super easily, so while the donuts are still piping hot you can flip the pan upside down and turn the donuts out onto a cooling rack.

Now for the toppings! For both my glazed donuts and my sugared ones, I had an assembly line going: first the donuts, then the dips, and then the lined baking sheet so that I could dip and place the donuts without too much back-and-forth action. The glaze assembly line is shown below.

Cream Cheese Glaze ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp milk

Mix all the ingredients together using a hand mixer, starting on low speed and increasing to high speed to incorporate air, until all ingredients are well mixed. If you want the glaze to be firmer, you can add more confectioner’s sugar- if you want it to be looser, you can add more milk. Be careful with the amount of milk you add, though. A little milk goes a long way in changing the consistency of these glazes!

Dip as many donuts as you want into the glaze. You can dip only one side in so that it’s like a frosted donut (this glaze doesn’t harden, so it really is like frosting!), or you can do what I did, and coat the whole donut in the glaze. I will say, since the glaze stays soft, it makes the donuts a little harder to eat if they’re totally covered in the glaze… but who cares. It’s delicious, and you can lick your fingers after.

Cinnamon and Sugar Topping:

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Melt the butter in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar. Dip as many donuts as you want in the melted butter. Make sure to get the sides of the donut, too, so that the cinnamon/sugar mixture sticks to the sides of the donut. Then, toss the donuts in the cinnamon and sugar mix until they’re fully coated.

And that’s it! You can eat the donuts hot, or you can let them cool and set a little bit. They’re delicious either way! I can say first-hand, a donut pan is a worthwhile purchase, and I highly recommend giving these a try! Happy fall!

S’mores Dip… Yeah, I Said It

June 17, 2015Miscellaneouschocolate; marshmallow; graham cracker; s'moresRuth Wendel

Hi friends! I hope you’re all having a stellar June, and congratulations to all the high school graduates! Today, the recipe is a remake of a favorite summer dessert- s’mores! I’ve been seeing this recipe pop up all over Facebook, and I knew I had to give it a try and share it with my non-Facebook readers. This is seriously one of the simplest recipes you’ll find. Let’s dig in!

Ingredients:

10 oz bag of marshmallows (the medium/large marshmallows work well)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 bars Hershey milk chocolate
Any other chocolate you have on hand and want to use
1 package Graham crackers

A note about the chocolate- it really doesn’t matter what type you use. I used a mixture of three different chocolates (Hershey milk chocolate, Hershey Bliss milk chocolate, and semisweet chips), and it was delicious because the flavors mixed into a really yummy deep chocolate. If you only have chocolate chips on hand, that will work well too! This is a flexible recipe.

Pour the chocolate into the bottom of an aluminum pie dish, or another pie dish that you may have on hand. Arrange the chocolate into a single layer so that it evenly melts.

Arrange the marshmallows in concentric circles on top of the chocolate.

Now, put the dish in the oven to broil. I used a low broil setting to simulate slow toasting over a fire! After the marshmallows are toasted nicely, turn the oven onto 350°F and leave the dish in just until the chocolate is melt-y. You’ll be able to see if it’s melted through the marshmallows, so no worries about that! When you’re satisfied with the condition of your chocolate and marshmallows, take it out of the oven and… voilà!

Use your Graham crackers (or a spoon, whatever!) to scoop the yummy dip, and enjoy! This serves a ton of people, so this is a great dish for a summer party! Just a note, this dip also keeps well for a few days. The chocolate does re-harden, but you can melt it again or just eat it with hardened chocolate. I did both, and it was delicious! I hope you give this summer fun recipe a try. Happy baking!

My Hiking Fuel

June 1, 2015Miscellaneousgranola; trail mixRuth Wendel

Hey friends! Happy summer! I hope you’re all out enjoying some gorgeous June weather! Last week, my fiancé and I headed to Mt. Monadnock for some hiking. First, however, we made some delicious granola trail mix to keep us going the whole way up the mountain! Here are the ingredients for the baked granola:

Ingredients:

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup sweetened coconut
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

First, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

Now, mix the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl and pour them over the dry ingredients. Mix the wet and the dry ingredients together until they’re fully combined.

Pour the mixture onto a large baking sheet lined with wax paper or a silicone baking mat, so that the mixture is in a single layer.

Bake the granola at 350ºF for 20 minutes, tossing the granola with two forks (or whatever you want to use) every 5 minutes so that it all browns evenly.

After 20 minutes, the granola should be delicious and golden brown!

Let the granola cool, and then you can mix it with whatever other trail mix goodies you enjoy! We mixed ours with dried sweetened cranberries and M&Ms, but it would also be delicious with raisins, chocolate chips, peanuts, pretzels…the list goes on!

And for your viewing pleasure, here are pictures from the top of Mt. Monadnock.

I’d say it was worth the climb! I hope you all enjoy your summer, and give this recipe a try! Happy baking!

Oven-Roasted Fancy Fries

May 18, 2015Miscellaneouspotato; roasted; garlic; Parmesan; rosemaryRuth Wendel

Hi friends! Happy May, and happy college graduation to my friends! I have a super simple but delicious recipe for you today, for gourmet roasted French Fries! Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients:

4 white potatoes, washed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

First, preheat the oven to 450ºF. Cut the potatoes into wedges (you should get about 8 wedges per potato).

Combine all of the other ingredients into a simple sauce, and toss the potatoes in the sauce until they are fully coated.

Arrange the wedges on a baking sheet so that they are all on one side. Bake them in the oven on one side for 20 minutes, and then flip all of the wedges onto the other side. Put the baking sheet back in the oven, and bake the flipped wedges for another 10 minutes. When they come out, they should be crispy and browned!

Even though this recipe is really quick and simple, it’s absolutely delicious! These fries are great on their own, and also stand up nicely to condiments like ketchup and mustard. We had these with salmon for dinner, and are also having them with a roasted chicken- they really are a nice side dish for just about any meal! Enjoy!

Gameday Sweets and Savories

February 1, 2015Miscellaneouscinnamon; pizza; puff pastryRuth Wendel

Hey all! Who’s excited for the Superbowl?!? I know I am (although my favorite team isn’t in it this year)! I’m also really excited for the Superbowl snacks– and this year I have two fantastic gameday recipes for you! This is a double recipe post, with a great recipe for quick cinnamon rolls and easy pizza rolls! Here are the ingredients:

Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 sheet puff pastry, very cold (you can find this in the freezer section at the store)
Butter or margarine, to spread over pastry

First, combine the brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon in a mixing bowl. Unfold the puff pastry and roll it out on a floured pastry board until it’s about 18 inches long and wide. Then, butter the pastry lightly. Pack the brown sugar mixture onto the pastry.

Gently, roll the pastry into a log.

Cut the log into small circles, and lay the circles down on a greased baking sheet (or a silicon baking mat, like I did). Hint: Make sure the pastry is super cold while you’re doing this, or else it will fall apart. If it gets warm, stick the log in the freezer wrapped in plastic wrap for a few minutes until it’s cold and firm again.

Bake in a 400ºF oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Then, let the pastry cool on the baking sheet.

Now for the pizza rolls!

Pizza Rolls:

1 sheet puff pastry, very cold
3/4 cup marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Chopped pepperoni, to taste (I used turkey pepperoni)

Basically, same drill as the cinnamon rolls. Roll out the pastry on a floured board, and then spread the marinara sauce the sheet. Sprinkle the cheeses on top of the sauce, and then sprinkle the pepperoni on top.

Roll the pastry up. Warning, this log will be much thicker than the cinnamon one! Cut the log into small circles, and bake in a 400ºF oven for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Then, let the pastry cool on the baking sheet.

And there you have it! Two delicious snacks that are huge crowd-pleasers, just in time for the big game! I would recommend serving these fresh and hot, so pop them in the oven just a few minutes before the guests show up and you’ll be all set. Happy baking, and may the best team win!

Santa’s Coal

December 25, 2014Miscellaneouspopcorn; peanut butter; chocolateRuth Wendel

Hi friends! Merry Christmas Eve! I have some awesome news for everyone- I’m engaged! That’s right, the same guy who has appeared in a few of my posts put a ring on it!

That kept me occupied for several days, but I finally have some time to post, just in time for Christmas. If you’re strapped for a snack to bring to the holiday party tomorrow, I’ve got the perfect, quick, easy, DELICIOUS snack! It’s Muddy Buddy Popcorn (aka Puppy Chow Popcorn, aka “coal”). Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3/4 bag semisweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar

First, pop the kernels, either in an air popper or in a pan on the stove. Then, melt the peanut butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave, and pour it over the popcorn. With a spoon or spatula, toss the popcorn so that the peanut butter coats the kernels

Now, melt the chocolate chips, 30 seconds at a time, stirring between each 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate over the popcorn and toss again until the popcorn is completely coated in chocolate.

Now, sprinkle powdered sugar over the entire bowl and toss so that each piece of popcorn has some powdered sugar on it. If you want the popcorn to become white, it’ll take a lot of powdered sugar, so I just added about two cups.

At this point, you can either eat it, or bake it to make it crispier. Bake it in an even single layer on a baking sheet covered with wax paper at 350ºF for about 5 minutes. Now, eat it or package it to make a cute little party favor or gift! I gave this to my future in-laws (!!!), and I really liked how the little jar favor looked! Enjoy!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and that you remember the true reason for Christmas. God bless you!

It’s All in the Apples!

October 9, 2014Miscellaneousbaked apple; oats; cinnamon; fallRuth Wendel

Hello everyone! Happy autumn! Today’s post is all about the joys of fall and the delicious food that can be made- particularly baked apples! I went apple picking with my family this past weekend, and decided to make my own recipe for baked apples, so I seriously just winged it and threw a bunch of ingredients together. The results were nothing short of awesome, I have to say. True to my style, this recipe is ridiculously simple but so scrumptious. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

4 fresh apples (I used Macintosh, but I think any variety would work fairly well)
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves (for aromatics, not really taste)
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cold butter, cubed
Pinch salt (a little less than 1/8 tsp)

You will also need an 8×8″ baking dish and 1 cup of water for later.

First, core the apples, but DO NOT core them all the way through. You’ll need the bottom of the apple to remain intact or else your filling will fall out. Partial coring is a process, but once you get the hang of it, you can whip through those apples! Here’s how I did it:

First, take a paring knife and run it in a wide circle around the stem part of the core. Then, take a spoon and, using the cut circle, scoop out the top part of the core. This will require some force, but when you hear the core cracking, you’ll know it’s ready to be removed.

Once you have that top part of the core cut out, you can either use a knife for the next layer of the apple, or an apple corer. Remember, only cut down part of the way! After you’ve made another guideline circle with your knife or corer, go back in with the spoon and scoop out the rest of the core.

Your finished product should look something like this (by they way, it’s very rewarding when you finish coring those apples!):

Now it’s time to make the filling! Combine all of the listed ingredients in a mixing bowl, and mix them with a pastry cutter (a spoon works too, but I wanted to crumble the cold butter so that it would delicious and melty in every apple, instead of clumping and being stuck in just one apple). If you use a spoon, make sure that your butter becomes crumbly- this is why having cold butter is so crucial! It’s much easier to break up cold butter than room temperature butter. Your hands are a pretty fail-safe tool, too! When your filling is done, it should look like this:

Now it’s time to stuff the apples! At this point, just put the filling in and smush it down with a spoon, packing as much of the filling in as possible. Here’s why: the filling tastes like the topping on apple crisp, a.k.a. the best part of the apple crisp. So, why wouldn’t you want to get as much of that goodness into each apple as possible? You will probably have a little topping left over, depending on the size of your apples, so feel free to either make more apples or sprinkle the leftovers over your baked apples!

Place the stuffed apples in the baking dish and pour 1 cup of water around the base of the apples. This will help the apples to steam and bake, instead of roasting and drying out.

Bake the apples in a 375ºF oven for about 45 minutes, until the filling is a beautiful dark brown and the apples are starting to split. The apples’ color will have paled into a more pink color, and the skins will be wrinkled.

And now, dig in! These are absolutely delicious with vanilla ice cream (what isn’t?), or by themselves. This recipe just screams “autumn” to me, and I love it! I certainly hope you’ll give it a try. And just so you can see what a Northeast fall looks like, and why I’m so crazy about it, here are a few pictures from our excursion to the farm for apple picking!

As you can see, I’ve got it pretty good living in the Northeast! No fall season is prettier than in my area. I hope that this recipe gives a little of that autumn joy to you, and makes your day brighter. Happy baking!

A Taste of Rome

August 15, 2014Miscellaneouspie; raspberry; peachRuth Wendel

Hello friends! I hope your last few weeks of summer (sorry to remind you!) are going well! All of my friends are going back to school now, but luckily, one of my friends is still here! We took advantage of our extra time at home to bake some delicious desserts- from authentic Italian recipes! My friend spent a semester abroad in Rome, and came home with a cookbook created by her Italian program director. This cookbook is definitely one of a kind, because the translation to English is a bit rough- some of the recipes call for a “knob” of butter, and others don’t tell you what temperature or time to cook the dish for. We decided to just go for it and see what happened, and the results were divine, to say the least.

Our creation didn’t have an official name from the cookbook, so we’ll call it a Raspberry Jam Tart. We also made a Peach Cinnamon Tart, but I’ll get to that later! Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients/Materials:

2 eggs
2 cups flour
1/3 cup softened margarine
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup jam of any flavor (we used raspberry to start)
10″ pie plate, buttered and floured

In a pie plate or on a large flat surface, pour the flour out and make a well in the middle of it. Put the eggs, margarine, sugar, and baking powder into the well. It might spill out a bit, but that’s just fine! Mix those ingredients with your hands, kneading the mixture into a dough. It may get a little messy, but that’s all part of the fun!

When the dough has formed, take 1/3 of the dough and set it aside. Roll out the other 2/3 to 1/8″ thickness, and until it fits in a 10″ pie plate. (Tip: to get the rolled dough into your pie plate without it breaking, roll it up over your rolling pin and then unroll it into the pie pan.)

Next, spoon the jam into the bottom of the tart dough, just until it covers the bottom of the pie plate. We had the privilege of using my mom’s homemade raspberry jam (and later her homemade peach cinnamon jam), but any other jam will work just as well. Cut the excess dough from the sides, so that there’s a very small edge of dough above the jam. This excess dough can be put with the other 1/3 of the dough that you set aside.

Roll out the other 1/3 of the dough and cut it into 1/4″ strips. Lay some of them horizontally along the pie plate, and some of them vertically, so that you have a lattice design on the tart. (Hint: we didn’t bother doing the fancy weaving for a real lattice, but it looks exactly the same when it comes out of the oven!)

Put the tart in the oven at 400ºF for 23 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown. I know 23 minutes is a strange amount of time, but trust me on this one. When it comes out of the oven, let it cool a bit and then dig in! This tart is absolutely gorgeous, and just as yummy as it looks!

My friend and I had leftover dough, so we made a Cinnamon Peach Tart. It’s the exact same method, except we used a buttered 9×5″ baking pan and my mom’s peach cinnamon jam. It honestly tasted like a heavenly peach cobbler.

It was such a pleasure to bake with my friend, and to try my hand at some amazing Italian desserts! Believe me, the tarts are already eaten, and we’ll be baking plenty more desserts before school starts again. I hope you love this recipe as much as I did, and as the Italians would say, Ciao!

Baking and Breaking Bread

Yummy Creations that Inspire Community

Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Game Day Sopapillas

Apple Everything

Homemade Pumpkin Donuts

S’mores Dip… Yeah, I Said It

My Hiking Fuel

Oven-Roasted Fancy Fries

Gameday Sweets and Savories

Santa’s Coal

It’s All in the Apples!

A Taste of Rome