I’ve posted a chocolate bakewell tart once before on this site, but I have never had the “regular” version.  A traditional bakewell tart contains a shortcrust pastry, filled with some kind of fruit, and topped with frangipane.  The frangipane filling is light and spongy, flavored mostly from the almonds.  For the Daring Bakers challenge, we had to include the shortcrust pastry and frangipane but could use whatever fruit filling we wanted.

I decided to make a rhubarb compote to fill my tarts.  We were watering some plants for some friends that are out of town and noticed that they had a meyer lemon tree.  Since there happened to be a ripe one, and I already knew I liked the combination of Meyer lemon and rhubarb, I brought it home and added its juice and zest to the rhubarb.  I also ended up flavoring the rhubarb with lavender by adding a few stems while it stewed.

The almond frangipane is really pretty sweet, so the rhubarb compote was a good match as the tartness helped to cut the sweet filling.  Still, it was almost too sweet for me, and I’m glad I decided to halve the recipe and make small tarts instead of a large pie-sized tart as the orginal recipe called for.  And I’m definitely looking forward to eating the leftover compote on pancakes (like this morning) and ice cream.  Overall, I enjoyed the flavor of these tarts, and it was nice to have a challenge that was interesting but a bit more relaxed and not too involved.  Thanks to Jasmine and Annemarie for hosting, and don’t forget to check out the blogroll to see what everyone else was up to!

Rhubarb Bakewell Tarts

Adapted from Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict

1 recipe shortcrust pastry (see below)
about 2 cups rhubarb compote (see below)
1 recipe frangipane filling (see below)
a couple tablespoons slivered almonds

Roll out the pastry for the tarts and place in tart pans. Freeze the crust for at least fifteen minutes. Preheat oven to 400 F. Spread about a tablespoon of rhubarb compote on the bottom of each tart. Top with the frangipane so that the pans are about 2/3 full or a little more. Spread to the edges of the tart so it seals over the rhubarb.

Bake for about fifteen minutes. When the crust is starting to puff and barely golden, pull out and top each tart with a few slivered almonds. Bake another five minutes, until the filling is lightly browned.

Let cool a few minutes before removing from the pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Shortcrust Pastry

1 c flour
2 T sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 stick (4 T) butter, cold
1 egg yolk
1/4 t almond extract
1-2 T cold water

Sift together the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Beat the egg yolk and almond extract. Mix into the flour and butter. Add the water a little at a time just until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.

Lavender Lemon Rhubarb Compote

This ends up with about 3 cups of compote, more than is needed to fill the tarts.  Leftovers are great on pancakes, ice cream, by the spoonful, etc.

4 stalks rhubarb, cut in 1/2″ pieces (about 4 cups)
1 T Meyer lemon zest
1/4 c Meyer lemon juice
3 stalks of fresh lavender

Mix the rhubarb, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Tie the lavender stalks together and place in the pan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the rhubarb starts to break down and release its liquid. Remove the cover and continue to simmer for 15 minutes or so, until it’s thickened up and the rhubarb has broken down.

Frangipane Filling

6 T (3/4 stick) butter, softened
3 oz. powdered sugar
2 eggs
1/4 t almond extract
3 oz ground almonds
1 T flour

Cream together the butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and almond extract.  (The filling will look “curdled”, but that’s as it should be.)  Stir in the almonds and flour until mixed well.

You might also like:

• Rhubarb Meyer Lemon Scones
•  Ginger Rhubarb Tarts
• Rhubarb Apricot Galette
• Jammin’ Chocolate Tarts

The Daring Bakers recipe this month, hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks was strudel, and while the original recipe was apple, we were allowed to fill it however we wanted.  I decided to do a savory version, based on a filling from a mushroom barley pie from Smitten Kitchen.  It turned out pretty well, although the filling could use a little more oomph.  Matt suggested it needed sausage, which I think would be a good idea.

The strudel dough was actually easier to make than I was expecting.  You just mix flour and salt, water, oil, and a bit of vinegar.  The dough has a very nice feel and is easy to knead — not sticky at all.  However, stretching it was a little harder.  I pretty easily got it out to about a foot by a foot.  But, as I continued to stretch it, it started to get holes, especially on the edges, and I never was able to get it as big as the 2 foot by 3 foot recommendation.  This may partly have been because the directions suggest stretching it on a floured tablecloth, but I don’t have any tablecloths, so I just used my kitchen counter.  At any rate, it was still tasty, but I think it would’ve been better if it had been thinner.

I’m not sure it’s quite worth the trouble of making the dough again, but I did like the concept and the filling, so I think I might try it again sometime, but take the easy way out and just use pre-made phyllo dough or even puff pastry.

It was definitely a fun challenge, and thanks again to Linda and Courtney for hosting!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Mushroom Barley Filling

Adapted from the Smitten Kitchen, originally from Gourmet, November 2008

This makes about 1/3 more filling than you really need for the strudel, but it’s also good on its own. I’m planning to add I added the leftovers from ours to a quiche tomorrow the next night.

3/4 c pearl barley
olive oil
1 large or 2 small onions, sliced in half moons
1 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic
2 T red wine vinegar
1/2 lb spinach, torn in pieces
1/2 c swiss cheese, grated

Cook the pearl barley: rinse the barley, and put it in a small saucepan. Cover with water up to about an inch above the grains. Add a generous pinch of salt. Cover, and simmer about 20 minutes, until tender, but still with some bite.  Drain.

Meanwhile, cook the onions in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until they’re beginning to caramelize. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and a pinch of salt. Cook until the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the red wine vinegar. Add the spinach and cook just a minute or two, until it wilts. When the barley is done, stir it in too. Taste and adjust seasoning, keeping in mind that cheese will be added. Allow to cool, and then stir in the swiss cheese.

Strudel Dough

Adapted from Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 c all purpose flour
1/4 t salt
7 T water
2 T olive oil
1/2 t apple cider vinegar

Stir together flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. In a small bowl, mix the water, olive oil, and vinegar. Stir in to the flour mixture on low speed. Once the dough comes together, switch to the dough hook and knead for a few minutes, until you have a ball of dough that still has a somewhat rough surface.

Knead by hand on an unfloured surface for a few minutes, until the dough is pretty smooth. Let rest for at least 30 minutes, longer if possible. (I only let the dough rest about 40 minutes, and I had a hard time stretching it as much as I wanted. I think waiting an hour to an hour and a half would probably help the gluten relax and solve this problem.)

Flour a large work area, or spread it with a floured tablecloth. Roll out the dough as thin as possible. Then, begin to stretch it by hand, first by picking it up and allowing the weight of the dough to stretch itself for you. When it gets too big to stretch this way, put it down and use your hands to stretch it. (I don’t really have any tips on this, since I didn’t get it to work all that well either. The good thing is, it turned out ok anyway.)

Assembling the Mushroom Barley Strudel

1 recipe mushroom barley filling
1 recipe strudel dough
3 T melted butter
1/4 c panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
2 T parmesan cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spread the dough gently with melted butter, being careful not to rip it. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Spread the filling in a strip down one edge. Roll up the dough from that end, and then shape it into a circle. Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese. Bake for another 10 minutes or so, until golden brown. Let cool a few minutes before serving in slices.

For this month’s Daring Baker’s post, the theme was cheesecake, and we could modify the basic recipe as much as we wanted.  Oh, the freedom!  I wanted to make something special for Easter, after having given up sweets for Lent, and I found this brownie mosaic cheesecake from Smitten Kitchen — regular cheesecake with chunks of brownies mixed in, and a chocolate graham cracker crust.  I planned to use the base recipe from Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake, chosen by Jenny Bakes, our host this month, but mix in some matcha green tea powder, which I’ve been wanting to try, and chunks of brownies as in Deb’s version.  I ended up using a base recipe more like Deb’s — when I got ready to make the cheesecake, I realized I’d forgotten to buy heavy cream, but if you want to try Abbey’s cheesecake, you can get that version from Jenny’s site.

Matcha is a very finely ground ground green tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony.  Lately, it’s been popular in baked goods for its vibrant green color.  As it turns out though, it’s incredibly expensive (if anyone knows a cheaper place to buy matcha online, please let us know in the comments!).  Instead, I ended up buying Double Green Matcha Tea from the Republic of Tea.  It’s in individual tea bags and is a combination of matcha tea and regular green tea.  I then ground it up more finely in our coffee grinder, but I still couldn’t get it as fine as real matcha, which I think is why the final cheesecake has visible flecks of tea in it and is only slightly green.  The tea only subtly flavors the cheesecake, but I think the bitter note helps to cut the richness of the cheesecake, and I really liked the addition.  For the brownies, I just used a mix, since they were only a small part of the final product, I didn’t think it was worth making them from scratch.

And finally, thanks of course to Jenny for hosting, and be sure to visit the blogroll on the new Daring Bakers’ site, to see what everyone else whipped up!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Matcha Brownie Mosaic Cheesecake

Adapted from the Smitten Kitchen

For the cheesecake:
3 8-oz packages of cream cheese
1 c sugar
4 large eggs
1 t vanilla
3 bags Double Matcha Green Tea

For the crust:
10 oz chocolate graham crackers
10 T unsalted butter, melted
2/3 c sugar
1/4 t salt

About a half batch of chocolate brownies, cooled
1/4 c chocolate chips (optional, for swirl on top)

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

For the filling: Cream the cheese in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. On low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla and sugar. If you want to do the swirled filling, take out about a quarter of the filling at this point. Melt the chocolate chips and allow them to cool a bit. Meanwhile, empty the tea out of the tea bags, and grind it up more finely either in a mortar and pestle or a coffee grinder (both work about the same). Add the ground tea to the remaining filling. To the reserved filling, stir in the cooled chocolate. Set aside.

Make the crust: Finely chop the graham crackers. Stir together with the melted butter, sugar, and salt. Press into the bottom of a 10″ springform pan, baking sure to reinforce the corners so it doesn’t leak. At this point, you can either fill and bake immediately, or chill the crust and fillings (separately) up to 24 hours.

Cut the brownies into small cubes (an inch or so on a side). Scatter them over the bottom of the prepared crust. Pour in the green tea filling. If including the swirl, carefully pour in the chocolate filling on top. Use a knife or a skewer to create the swirled design in the top of the cake.

Place on a cookie sheet (in case of leaks) and bake at 350 F for about 45 minutes. The center should still be a bit wobbly when it’s done. Note: baking in a water bath is supposed to help prevent cracks, as is turning off the oven and cracking the door to let the cheesecake cool more slowly. I didn’t do either, and my cheesecake is a bit cracked, but I really don’t think it matters. If you really care, you could also top it with some kind of ganache or glaze (though in that case, the swirl on top is kind of pointless).

Allow to cool completely before serving.