Finish off your week of baking with these bright bars!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
For the filling:
5 eggs
1½ cups sugar
¾ cup lemon juice (from about 4-5 lemons)
2 tablespoons lemon zest (from about 4-5 lemons)
Pinch kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup all-purpose flour
Method:
1. Liberally grease a 9×13 inch baking pan with a little bit of the softened butter. Preheat the oven to 350°.
2. To prepare the crust: In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, mix the softened butter, powdered sugar and kosher salt on high until well combined. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough begins to just stick together and clump up. Press the dough mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan with your hands. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until just starting to brown.
3. Meanwhile, make the topping: In the same mixing bowl, mix together the 5 eggs, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, a pinch of kosher salt and baking powder on medium-high speed until well combined and pale in color. Add the flour and mix until smooth.
4. After the crust has baked, remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 325°. After the crust has cooled in the pan slightly, pour the topping in and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until set. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for at least 20 minutes. Cut into squares and top with powdered sugar, berries, lemon zest, and/or mint leaves, if desired.
Accented by a creamy, chocolatey Nutella filling, these lovely shortbread cookies from Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa are always a hit.
Ingredients:
½ cup whole hazelnuts
¾ pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
3½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup chocolate hazelnut spread, such as Nutella
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Place the hazelnuts on a sheet pan, roast for 10 minutes, and allow to cool. Place the nuts in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse until finely ground.
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and granulated sugar together on low speed until they are just combined. Stir in the vanilla and almond extracts plus 2 teaspoons of water. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt and then, with the mixer on low, add it slowly to the butter mixture. Add the hazelnuts and mix on low until the dough comes together. Dump onto a floured board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
3. On a floured board, cut the dough in half and roll each piece ¼ inch thick. (Be sure it’s not thicker.) Cut 36 (2¾-inch) rounds with a plain or fluted cutter. Use a ¾-inch cutter to cut a small circle out of the middle of half the cookies. Place all the cookies on sheet pans lined with parchment paper and chill for 15 minutes.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating once, until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread the Nutella thickly on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the tops of the cutout cookies lightly with confectioners’ sugar and place them on top of the Nutella, dusted side up.
This rustic fruit tart is fragrant with cinnamon, sugar and toasted hazelnuts.
Ingredients:
1 ball Butter Pie Dough, chilled (see recipe)
2 Gala apples
1 red d’Anjou pear
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Hazelnut crumb topping (see below)
Topping:
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, thoroughly cooled
⅔ cup sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch pieces
Method:
1. To prepare the topping: Place the toasted hazelnuts and sugar in a food processor and pulse until the nuts are well chopped. Add the flour, salt, and cinnamon and pulse again to mix. Remove the lid and scatter the butter over the dry ingredients. Pulse until the mixture resembles medium-fine crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°. Peel, halve and core the apples and slice into ¼-inch thick pieces. In a bowl, toss the fruit slices with the sugar and cinnamon.
3. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry into a 12-by-14-inch rectangle and transfer to a large rimmed baking sheet. Decoratively arrange the fruit slices over the pastry to within an inch of the edge. Top the fruit with the hazelnut crumb topping and spread out in an even layer (you may have leftover topping). Fold the pastry edge up and over the fruit to create a 1-inch border.
4. Bake the galette for about 1 hour, until the pastry is nicely browned and crisp and the fruit is tender. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the galette cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
This simple, extraordinary all-purpose pie dough can be used in both your sweet and savory baking.
Ingredients:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
14 tablespoons cold butter (salted or unsalted), cut into tablespoon-size pieces
½ cup ice water, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons more, as needed
Method:
1. In a large chilled bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Sprinkle butter over the flour. With a pastry blender, or your clean, cold hands, mix the butter into the flour mixture until the ingredients look like cracker crumbs with lumps the size of peas.
2. Sprinkle ½ cup ice water over the dough, and stir it in with a fork. Squeeze a handful of dough with your hand; it should keep together and feel moist. Add additional ice water as needed until dough holds together and you can gather it up to form a ball.
3. Place the ball on a lightly floured work surface and cut into two equal pieces. Form each into a chubby disk, and wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
4. To roll out the dough, remove from the fridge and place on a lightly floured work surface. Let the dough rest at room temperature for a few minutes, until soft and easy to roll. Dust the top of the dough with flour to prevent sticking, and roll the dough from the center in all directions, into a circle about 2 inches larger than your pie pan or tin. Carefully drape the dough over the rolling pin and gently fit it into the pan. (For a double crust pie, roll out the second disk of dough.) Follow your pie, tart or quiche recipe from there!
