Apple & Almond Bear Claw Pastries

When I decided to make these bear claw pastries from the Hummingbird Bakery 'Home Sweet Home' cookbook I didn't really check the recipe that closely and just assumed they would be fairly easy to make. However, when it actually came down to it, they were a little more tricky than first anticipated.

When thinking of pastry, I was thinking of the Danish kind but that turned out to be incorrect. The pastry here is made with milk, sugar, butter, salt, yeast, egg and flour. The mixture also had to be left to prove which was not what I was expecting.

When the dough had proved, the recipe requires it to be rolled out into quite precise rectangles. I did have to wrangle with it a bit as the dough kept springing back when I rolled it which I don't think is quite right. I also found it quite difficult to shape and seal the pastries and as a result they were all slightly different sizes. Given all this I was quite expecting a disaster when they came out of the oven but they actually looked rather better than expected, puffing up nicely and browing on top with the egg wash. 

Inside the pastry is a filling of apples, butter, sultanas, light brown sugar, cinnamon and cornflour. On top is a sprinkling of sugar and some flaked almonds which were added before baking. The finishing touch is a drizzle of icing over the top when cool. And how did they taste?...much better than expected! Kind of a bready/pastry outer with a sweet filling. Apparently these are found in traditional bakeries in America and are often eaten for breakfast with coffee. I think I could quite happily consume these for breakfast on a regular basis...but probably only if they didn't take quite so long to make! However, the bear claw finish is very cute and was achieved by cutting into the pastry along a short edge. I used scissors and cut in about a centimetre.

These pastries are my entry into this month's Alpha Bakes, hosted by Ros over at the More than Occassional Baker and Caroline at Caroline Makes. Ros is hosting this month and the letter is 'A', so this is a double whammy with apples and almonds!

Chocolate & Ginger Tarts

Who can resist the lovely glossy lure of chocolate ganache! Combine it with pastry and preserved ginger and you've got a special treat. These lovely little tarts will earn you brownie points with your loved ones...or you could just save them all for yourself ;-)

The pastry was an interesting recipe containing flour, ground almonds, icing sugar, salt, unsalted butter, vanilla seeds and an egg yolk. Once baked it held together well and it was nice and light. The tart cases were blind baked with baking beans but if you don't have beans you can use rice. To more easily line each case with baking parchment, scrunch up the parchment before lining as this means it sits more easily inside the case.

 

I've used this muffin pan method before to make Mini Mississippi Mud Pies and it does give you nice little tarts but the effect is rather rustic...but this is an Edd Kimber recipe and Edd's tarts were rustic too!

Preserved Stem Ginger in Syrup is easy to find at the supermarket, I picked some up at Tescos. Each little tart has a secret cache of finely chopped ginger hidden at the bottom and chocolate and ginger are perfect partners.

The filling for the tarts is a classic chocolate ganache. The ganache included the addition of light brown muscovado sugar, this always gives a little bit of a fudgy taste and it also gives sweetness which cuts through the dark chocolate to provide balance. Once ready 40g of unsalted butter was added to the ganache, when mixed in this gives a lovely glossy finish.

The easiest way to fill the tart cases is to transfer the prepared ganache into a measuring jug and then pour the required amount into each one. The pastry recipe made 12 cases but mine were quite large so I only had enough ganache to fill 10 cases fully and I would have liked to have filled these 10 a little more!

To give an extra special finish to the tarts I used a little edible gold leaf on the top of each one. You can get edible gold leaf from most cake decorating shops or websites, mine came from Surbiton Sugarart.

You can buy it as a sheet or flaked in a little pot. It is reasonably expensive with the pot above costing £4.35 but it does add that extra sparkle to a special bake.

These tarts neatly fit into two baking challenges this month. The first is We Should Cocoa, with usual host Choclette from Choc Log Blog taking a break it's hosted by Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes this month. We Should Cocoa was co-created by Chele at Chocolate Teapot and the theme this month is 'Chocolate and Ginger'.

The second challenge is Classic French, again hosted by Jen from Blue Kitchen Bakes. This challenge aims to help us tackle a different French classic each month, this month the theme is Chocolate Ganache...so again these fit in perfectly!

Ingredients

275g plain flour
25g ground almonds
50g icing sugar
1/2 tsp salt
175g unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk
1-2 tbsp ice-cold water
1 vanilla pod (seeds)
4 pieces of preserved stem ginger in syrup, finely chopped

Chocolate Ganache

225g dark chocolate
185 ml double cream
45g light brown sugar or light brown muscovado
40g unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

Makes 12

Start by making the pastry and preheating the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. The recipe suggests making this by hand...but I cheated and used a food processor...you could obviously do it either way. I put the flour, icing sugar, almonds and salt into the food processor and then added the cubed unsalted butter. Then whiz the mixture until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. At this stage add the egg yolk and ice-cold water and whiz again. The initial recipe suggested a tablespoon of water, however I found I needed two. Turn out the pastry on to the counter and then bring together by hand. Squash into a disc and then wrap in clingfilm before putting it into the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.

Once the pastry is ready, take it out of the fridge adn leave to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Whilst it's resting, lightly grease a 12-hole muffin pan. Lightly dust your work surface with flour and then roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3-4mm (I used spacers). Using a 10cm circular cutter, cut out 12 discs of pastry, you may need to re-roll a couple of times. Put each disc into one of the holes in the muffin pan and press in gently. Then line each tart with baking parchment before filling each one with baking beans. If you don't have baking beans you can use rice.. Bake for 12-15 minutes, then remove the parchment and beans and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until golden. Leave to cool in the pan before filling. Be gentle when removing from the muffin pan.

Finely chop the preserved ginger and sprinkle in the base of each tart. Next make the chocolate ganache by finely chopping up the chocolate and putting it in a bowl. Then put the double cream and light brown sugar in a small saucepan and heat on medium until just coming to the boil. Pour this cream mixture over the chocolate and leave for two minutes until gently stirring together. Add the butter and stir to combine, you should end up with a lovely glossy, silky ganache.

Finally, pour the ganache into each tart case, I used a jug for ease. Allow to set for one hour before serving. You can then add a little more chopped ginger on top and/or some edible gold leaf. This goes really well with whipped cream.

* Adapted from Edd Kimber's Say it With Cake.

Olympic Park Apple & Blackberry Picnic Pies

*Ahem*...in my best Marks and Spencer's voice...this isn't just a picnic pie...it's an Olympic Park picnic pie!

I've been lucky enough to enjoy some of the action in the Olympic Park this week and I wanted to soak up the atmosphere by enjoying a picnic in the park after a spot of athletics on Monday morning. So I packed up my sandwiches, crisps and other picnic goodies and as a tasty treat I made these pies to take too. I loaded them up in my Olympic regulation sized bag and took them to the park for lunch. I was a bit worried they wouldn't make it in one piece when my bag went through the scanner and was deemed to be suspicious, after a bit of rooting around from a rather dashing army man my pies were cleared!

The action in the athletics stadium during the morning was amazing and the atmosphere electric! After the excitment of the morning we found a spot for our picnic and spread the picnic blanket, we were even overlooking 'Gloriana' on the lock. I am happy to report the pies were in one piece and were really tasty. The pastry was sweet and soft and the classic combination of apple and blackberry can't be beaten. So all in all a success!

 

The recipe for these pies came from Bakingmad.com. I slightly misread it and added the demerara into the pastry which should acutally have been sprinkled on top. I also found that the flour and butter was a bit dry and didn't bind together in a ball so I added in an egg yolk. It worked well and it was a good pastry. It was however a little difficult to get them out of the muffin tin at the end, a number broke, so obviously I had to eat them then and there! ;-) If you were to make these I'd recommend not making the pastry too thin as they may then be less liable to breaking upon removal. I'd also add more filling next time as I was a bit weary of over-filling. Finally, I might also up the blackberries in the recipe.

These pies would taste delicious warm straight from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream! I'm entering them into this month's Tea Time Treats hosted by Kate at What Kate Baked and Karen at Lavender and Lovage. These Olympic Park Pies are particularly apt as Kate was a cloud wrangler in the Olympic opening ceremony no less!

We had the most amazing day at the Olympics, it has truly lived up to it's billing as the 'Greatest Show on Earth'. We even managed to catch a glimpse of Andy Murray, Greg Rutherford and Laura Robson at the BBC. In the evening we were also lucky to see some beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade where we enjoyed another pie or two!! ;-)

Ingredients

350g plain flour
225g cold butter, diced
100g golden caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1 egg beaten
6 tbsp demerara sugar

Filling

2 cooking apples
150g blackberries
2 tbsp golden caster sugar

The recipe suggests putting the flour and butter into a bowl and rubbing them together...being a bit lazy I used a food processor, either is fine! Then add in the sugar and a pinch of salt. The original recipe only called for the golden caster sugar...I also added the demerera by accident but it tasted really good...so again your call. The pastry should come together in a ball, so I add an egg yolk to bind it but maybe see how your pastry goes. This recipe produces a rich sweet shortcrust pastry, especially with the addition of the egg. The pastry should then be wrapped in clingfilm and chilled for 30 minutes.

To make the pie filling, peel, core and chop the apple and pop it into a saucepan with the golden caster sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. Heat gently until the apples begin to soften and then add the blackberries and leave on the heat for another 5 minutes. Whilst the apple and blackberries and cooking, lightly grease a muffin tin. I made 12 pies but the recipe says it makes 18.

When the pastry has chilled for at least 30 minutes, roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut out 12-18 7.5cm circles and then 12-18 6cm circles depending on how much pastry you have and how many pies you are making.

Gently use the larger circles to line the muffin tin holes before spooning in the filling. Dampen the edge of the pies before pressing on the smaller circles to form lids. I did not cut any holes in the top of the pastry. Brush the tops of the pies with beaten egg and then put in an oven preheated to 200c/180c fan/gas 6. They take around 20 minutes to bake and should be golden when done. Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before VERY gently removing from the tin. Enjoy!

* Adapted from www.bakingmad.com