These lovely spiced buns are easy to make in just a few hours.
Traditionally served on Good Friday in the UK, they are a spring treat that will fill you kitchen with yeasty, spicey aromas and are wonderful with a large pat of butter, just out of the oven.
Makes 12
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup whole milk
1/3 unsalted butter, cubed
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
Topping
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Glaze
1/4 water
1/4 cup sugar
A mixer makes this recipe easy but it can be done by hand also.
Directions
Proof the yeast in two tablespoons of warm water.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 1 1/2 cups flour, sugar, the proofed yeast, orange zest, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cardamom at low speed until combined.
In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until a food thermometer registers 120 to 130 degrees or until the butter is melted and the milk begins to froth. With mixer at low speed, add milk mixture to flour mixture. Increase mixer speed to medium, and beat for 2 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk; beat at high speed for 2 minutes. Gradually add remaining 2 1/2 cups flour, beating until a soft dough forms.
Using the dough hook attachment, beat at medium-low speed until dough is smooth but sticky… about 8 minutes.
Spray a large bowl with cooking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
Before rise After rise
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Punch dough down; turn onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 12 pieces. Shape each into a ball and place 2 inches apart of prepared pan.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
To make the crosses
For topping, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, 1/4 cup water and oil until smooth. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a small round pastry tip. Pipe a cross over each bun.
Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. While baking prepare the glaze.
Mix 1/4 water and 1/4 sugar in a small pan until just boiling. Brush the glaze on the buns. Serve warm!
Five good reasons to switch up your traditional homemade holiday gifts from cookies to granola.
It couldn’t be simpler to make and your kitchen will smell like orange, cinnamon and toasted nuts and coconut for days.
It’s the perfect gift to go low- to no-waste by buying ingredients in bulk with your own containers, sourcing local like my neighbour’s walnuts, and packaging in use-again Mason jars labelled with easily washed off http://www.wineglasswriter.com Wine Glass Writers.
Granola has a longer shelf-life than cookies and it’s filled with healthy ingredients like nuts, seeds, grains and dried fruit.
It’s amazing as a breakfast cereal or sprinkled on yoghurt.
Invite over a group of friends and make a really really large batch (like 64 quart jars), put on some Christmas tunes and drink a little wine or cider.
Christmas Granola recipe
Ingredients for six cups of granola (just multiply everything for bigger batches)
Four cups quick or old-fashioned, uncooked oats
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts or a combination of all three
1 tablespoon wheat bran
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1/4 raw unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup of local honey
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups dried cranberries
Ingredients for many batches of this recipe and some of the jar decorating supplies.
Easybaking directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 F. (We also used our wood fired oven. If you are lucky enough to have one… fire it up to pizza-baking temperature or very hot, burn down the coals and then remove and cool to about 180 C… basically the temperature you would use to make bread.)
Use your oven or if you have one, granola bakes well in a wood-fired oven.
Mix all the ingredients together except the dried cranberries, (which are added after the granola is toasted) in a large bowl. Spread the granola onto cookie sheets or other suitable baking pans.
Bake for 40 minutes stirring the granola every 10 minutes so it toasts evenly. The granola should be a nice even toasted brown colour when its done.
Cool and then add the dried cranberries and mix.
Decorate your jars
Cut squares of a Christmas fabric to cover your jar lids, tie on some greenery or berries with raffia and label the jars with handy dandy Wine Glass Writers. Christmas scents will hit you as soon as you open the beautiful re-useable containers.
This lovely coffee cake is easy peasy and makes the most of your spring rhubarb bounty. The crumble is elevated with the addition of coconut. The recipe is divided into three parts: the crumble, fruit and the cake. You will need a 9-inch round or square springform pan to ensure your cake will be easy to remove.
Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 9-inch round springform pan and line with parchment paper.
Crumble
120 grams (8 1/2 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 tsp salt
Place all the crumble ingredients in a large bowl and use your hands or a wooden spoon to mix. Set aside.
Fruit
260 grams of fresh garden rhubarb (about 2 or 3 medium stalks) cut into 1 cm slices.
260 grams of fresh garden organic strawberries, hulled and sliced 0.5 cm thick
2 packed tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup tapioca flour (or cornstarch)
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla bean paste of scraped seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod
1/8 tsp salt
Place all the fruit ingredients in a medium bowl, toss and set aside.
Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature, cubbed
1 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 large room temperature eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl and set aside. Place the butter and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment and beat for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bowl when necessary. Add the vanilla extract followed by the dry ingredients and beat just until combined.
Some assembly required
Pour the cake batter into the lined cake pan and smooth out the surface. Spoon over the fruit mixture and then sprinkle evenly with the crumble mixture.
Bake for about 70 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cover with tin foil for the last 15-20 minutes of baking so the top doesn’t get too dark. Cool completely before removing from pan.
Just a few tropical ingredients are needed to make a delicious treat that although extremely good are a rather poor substitute for being on one of Hawaii’s beautiful islands. I brought the mac nuts, flaky sea salt and Kona honey home with me but your local honey will make a fine substitute and the nuts are readily available at the grocery store.
Love, love coconut. You?
Cream, vanilla bean, macadamia nuts, coconuts, Kona honey, butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and flaky Hawaiian sea salt are the yummy ingredients.
Ingredients
Makes 18 or more if you cut them into smaller pieces
1 cup macadamia nuts
2/3 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
7 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp heavy cream (I use lactose-free for the Handyman and it works just fine)
4 1/2 Tbsp good local honey
1/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
Scraped seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod
1/4 tsp flaky sea salt
Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper, making sure the paper rises about 1 1/2 inches over the edges of the pan, set aside.
Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and roast for 7 minutes. Spread the coconut out on a separate baking sheet and toast for just 2 minutes. Place the nuts and coconut in a medium heatproof bowl and set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, then add the cream, honey, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla seeds and salt. Stir until combined, then increase the heat to medium. Bring to a boil. Do not stir. Continue to boil until the temperature reaches 253 to 255 F on a candy thermometer… the top end of firm ball stage. This takes between 12 and 20 minutes. Remove from heat immediately — move fast, as the temperature of the caramel will continue to rise. Pour over the nuts and coconut. Then pour into your lined square pan and flatten with a spatula.
A candy thermometer is a must here. Pour into a parchment-lined 8-inch pan.Wait an hour for it to firm up…catch a sunset?Cut the slab in half and then each half into 8 rectangles. You can then cut the rectangles into three if you want smaller treats.If you are gifting the caramels, wrap them in parchment.These caramels keep well so can be savoured during many sunsets. The caramels will keep for 2 weeks at room temperature or a month in the fridge. Store in an airtight container.
With all the flavours of Guadeloupe like rum, lime, vanilla and coconut, this is a tart to make on a cloudy November day.
Tourment d’amour, a tart-like cake that translates into the “agony of love,” has a back story that goes something like this. A Guadeloupe island woman with a French flair invents the best tart you’ve ever tasted in anticipation of her lover’s safe return from sea. Dude is a bit late showing up from his fishing to eat this world-ending tart so she freaked and took her own life when he didn’t arrive on the day he said he would. He shows up, finds her a goner and an even bigger tragedy, the tart very stale. Although the story is sad, the treat is anything but. I made it for the Handyman husband. He was in luck as was I. He arrived home from the hardware store just as they were coming out of the oven. No Tourment… just the love.
Guadeloupe is a French island so while the flavours (vanilla, coconut, lime and rum) are pure Caribbean, the base components (pâte brisée pastry, pastry cream, and Genoise sponge cake) are classic French. For that reason, the recipe is mildly challenging, but like the story goes, sometimes love hurts a bit. The end product is a sweet, tropical treat encased in a flaky pastry crust—with a creamy coconut jam center.
Makes seven to eight 4 ½-inch tarts
Coconut Jam ingredients
Coconut Jam: ½ cup sugar ⅓ cup coconut water 1¼ cup shredded coconut ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
Pastry dough ingredients
Short Crust Pastry Dough (Pâte Brisée): 1½ cups all-purpose flour 3½ ounces unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces Pinch of salt Ice water
Pastry cream ingredients
Pastry Cream: 2 cups milk ½ vanilla bean, cut lengthwise and seeds scraped out ¾ cup sugar, divided roughly in half ⅓ cup cornstarch 2 eggs ½ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg 2 tablespoons rum
Genoise ingredients
Genoise Sponge Cake 1 cup flour, sifted ⅔ cup sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 tablespoons butter, melted Zest of one lime
Directions
Coconut Jam
Add sugar and coconut water to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then stir in coconut and vanilla. Set aside and allow to cool.
Short Crust Pastry Dough
Sift flour and salt into to the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add one to three tablespoons of ice water, and pulse until it comes together (dough should stick together when you pinch it with your fingers). Wrap with plastic and chill for at least an hour. Meanwhile, butter and flour seven to eight 4 ½-inch pans and then set aside.
On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough out with a rolling pin to about ⅛-inch thick. With a fork, make small holes in the dough. Cut the dough into circles a about an inch wider than the pans, and then carefully transfer the circles to the pans, lightly pressing the dough into the edges. Roll a rolling pin over the top of the pans to remove any excess dough. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
To blind bake: Preheat oven to 350° F. Add coffee filters or parchment circles to the pans and fill with pie weights (to prevent dough from puffing up). Place tart pans on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly golden. Remove pie weights and papers, and set aside.
Pastry Cream
In a medium sauce pan, add milk, half the sugar, and vanilla bean seeds and pod, and then simmer on low. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk eggs, remaining sugar, and cornstarch until the mixture becomes pale yellow in color and ribbons when you drop a spoonful of it back into the bowl.
Once milk begins to boil, remove vanilla bean pod with a slotted spoon and then pour about a third of it into the egg mixture, stirring constantly. (This step is important to a good pastry cream. By tempering the egg mixture with this small amount of warm milk you will avoid having the eggs scramble.) Add mixture back into the sauce pan and continue to whisk until it starts to boil. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg and rum. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap that touches the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate until ready to assemble the tarts.
Genoise Sponge Cake
In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add eggs and sugar and mix on high speed for 10 minutes. Reduce to medium and mix for another 10 minutes. Stir in lime zest. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in sifted flour. Carefully fold in melted butter and vanilla extract until incorporated (do not over mix).
Some assembly required
Preheat oven to 350° F. Place pastry cream back into a stand mixer fitter with a paddle and beat until smooth again. Spoon equal amounts of coconut jam onto the bottom of each tart shell.
Divide pastry cream evenly among tarts, smoothing it overtop the jam.
Then spoon cake batter on top, completely covering the pastry cream.
Bake immediately (so you don’t lose the airy quality of the batter) for 25 to 30 minutes (rotating pans halfway through) until cake topping is lightly browned.
Just saying, I think if it were me I would have waited 10 minutes and eaten them all myself.
Inspired by fond memories growing up in Quebec sugaring-off every spring, this salted maple pie is much, much tastier looking than its humble appearance would suggest. It’s like the sugar on snow served up beside a roaring fire outside the sugar shack only better because it is hugged by a flaky all-butter crust.
All-butter crust…because it’s the only way to go
Ingredients for one 9″ crust
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces (use European butter if you can find it…it has a higher butterfat percentage which makes for a flakier crust)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons ice water
In a food processor, pulse the salt, sugar and 1 1/4 cups flour to combine. Add butter and pulse until largest pieces are pea-size. Transfer to a medium bowl and freeze about 5 minutes. (You can of course work by hand if you don’t have a food processor, using a pastry blender.)
In a small bowl, combine vinegar and water and sprinkle over flour mixture; toss with a fork to incorporate. Knead until dough comes together with just a few dry spots remaining. Flatten into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic. Chill at least two hours or overnight if possible.
Let dough sit at room temperature 5 minutes to soften. Roll out on a lightly floured surface, rotating often and dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, to a 12-inch round. Fold dough in half and transfer to a pie plate. Lift up edges and allow dough to slump down into dish. You should have about a 1-inch overhang. Fold edges under and crimp. Place pie dish on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and freeze 15 minutes. This step is important to preserve your pretty crimps. Full disclosure, as you can see by my finished pie I forgot this step and kind of lost my crimps. Kind of crimped my style.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly coat a sheet of foil with nonstick spray and place in pie crust, coated side down, pressing into bottom and sides. Fill with pie weights (or dried beans or rice) and bake until edge is pale golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool for five minutes or so and then carefully remove foil and pie weights and cool on a wire rack.
Maple pie ingredients
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup real Canadian maple syrup, buy local if you can…I used Maple Roch from Summerland
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs plus one additional egg yolk at room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extra or vanilla bean paste
one 9-inch blind baked and cooled all-butter pie crust
1 large egg, beaten
flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350F
In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and maple syrup. Whisk in the brown sugar, cornmeal and salt. Crack the eggs and yolk into another bowl and add the cream and vanilla and whisk to combine.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the maple mixture and whisk to combine.
Place your pre-baked pie shell on a parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the pie edge with the beaten egg. Pour the filling into the pie shell until it reaches the bottom of the crimps.
Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the edges are puffed and the centre jiggles only a bit when shaken. It will set more as it cools.
Cool for a good 4 hours and then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Naramata pears and a lovely Chardonnay from Naramata Bench winery Singletree make a poached pear dessert that is both elegant and easy to make.
The aromas of pears poaching in fresh orange juice, orange zest, vanilla beans, Chardonnay and just-picked Naramata pears smells like fall preserving at its best. Add in the ginger and cinnamon scents coming from the gingerbread in the oven and you have an irresistible combination.
This poached pear recipe uses 24 pears and makes four freezer bags worth of desserts that can be thawed, warmed and served with my gingerbread, a sponge cake, or with sweetened mascarpone cheese, candied almonds, over ice cream or simply on its own.
Best served with warm pears and warm gingerbread. Spoon some of the poaching syrup over the gingerbread and add a dollop of whip cream.
Vanilla Naramata pears in orange wine syrup
Use local organic pears if you are lucky to live where they grow.
Ingredients
24 small to medium just-ripe pears
4 cups (1 litre) Singletree Chardonnay or a dry, light wine like a Pinot Blanc
2 tbsp grated orange rind
2 cups freshly-squeezed orange juice
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, cut into four pieces
Vanilla beans are like gold these days Each bean was $9.
Instructions
Wash pears and peel leaving the core and stem intact. Immerse in ascorbic acid water (I used Fruitfresh) to keep the pears from turning brown.
In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the wine, orange rind, juice and sugar. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, add vanilla pieces and gently boil for 5 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, ease pears gently into the syrup. Cover and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, gently rolling pears over a couple of times. Pears should not be soft but should show some resistance. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool.
Pack 6 pears and 1 piece of vanilla bean into a freezer bag and cover with 2 cups of syrup. Squeeze out air, seal and place on a baking sheet so pears remain in a single layer in the bag. Freeze. Remove from baking sheets once frozen hard.
Gingerbread
This traditional gingerbread fills the kitchen with its spices. It freezes well if wrapped and sealed in an airtight bag.
Ingredients
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup applesauce
1 farm-fresh egg (from your own chickens if you have them!)
1/2 cup softened butter
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350F and butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
In the bowl of a mixer, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt.
In another bowl, combine molasses, hot water and applesauce. Using mixer on low speed, pour molasses mixture into the dry ingredients all at once and beat. Add egg and butter and beat until combined. Increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.
Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in pre-heated for 55 minutes to one hour, or until toothpick inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes, remove from pan and serve with a vanilla Naramata pear in orange wine syrup and a dollop of whip cream.
This cake is a sunny little gem to serve on a hot summer day. It’s dressed up for a party with candied lemon, a rich buttercream flecked with vanilla bean and the surprise of a hit of flavour in the black tea buttercream filling. I’ll have an iced black tea with lemon and lots of ice in a frosty glass to go with it please.
There are five steps to making this triple layer six-inch cake: candied lemons, lemon butter cake, Swiss meringue buttercream, black tea buttercream and vanilla bean buttercream.
Candied lemon ingredients
2 lemons, thinly sliced and seeded
1 1/2 cup sugar
Directions
Prepare an ice bath and set it aside.
Place 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Blanch the lemon slices in the boiling water for about a minute, then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to the ice bath.
Reduce the heat to bring the water to a simmer. Add the sugar and stir to dissolved. Return the blanched lemons to the pan and simmer for about 30 minutes. Place the lemons on a wire rack to drain. Let them dry completely on a piece of parchment pater for 2 to 4 hours, or overnight.
Lemon butter cake ingredients
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large egg yolks (thanks to my chickens!)
1 cup buttermilk
Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour three 6-inch cake pans and set aside.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
Place the sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and rub them together with your fingers until fragrant.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar mixture and mix on medium-high until the butter is light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl.
Turn the mixer to medium-low and add the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time. Scrape the bowl.
Turn the mixer to low and add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on medium for no more than 30 seconds after the last bits of flour are incorporated.
Evenly divide batter among the three pans and bake for 22 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Let them cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes before removing from the pans.
Black tea infusion
1/2 cup granulated sugar
5 black tea bags
Directions
Place one cup of water and the sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to maintain a simmer and add the tea bags. Simmer for about 8 minutes. Remove the tea bags and continue to cook until the syrup has reduced to about 1/4 cup, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. You will be adding 3 tablespoons of this infusion to some Swiss meringue buttercream to make the filling.
Vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons egg whites
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 cups unsalted butter (very important that it be at room temperature or it won’t combine properly) cubed
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Directions
Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer. Whisk them together by hand to combine. Make a double boiler by filling a medium pot filled with water over medium-high heat. Place the mixer bowl on top of the pot. The bottom of the pot should not touch the water.
Whisk intermittently and heat the egg mixture to 160F (candy thermometer) or until it is hot to the touch. Carefully fit the mixer bowl onto the stand mixer and whip with the wire attachment on high speed for 8 to 10 minutes, until it holds medium-stiff peaks. The bowl should be back to room temperature at this point. Stop the mixer and swap out the whisk attachment for the paddle.
With the mixer on low, add the cubed butter, a few tablespoons at a time then the vanilla. Once incorporated, turn up the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the buttercream is silky smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.
Black tea buttercream
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix 1 1/2 cups of the buttercream until silky smooth. Add 3 tablespoons of the black tea infusion and mix until combined. Transfer to a separate bowl and set aside. Wipe out the mixer bowl.
Vanilla bean buttercream
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the remaining Swiss meringue buttercream with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
Talk about sticker shock. Vanilla is going up in price and vanilla bean paste is expensive but goes a long way and can easily replace vanilla beans in your recipes.
Some assembly required
Level your cakes and choose a layer for the bottom. Spread on half of the black tea buttercream with an offset spatula. Top with the next layer of cake and repeat with the remainder of the black tea buttercream, ending with the third layer. Frost the cake with the vanilla bean buttercream and decorate with candied lemons.
The honey for these deliciously sweet and tangy tarts is as local as I can get it. It comes from Tim Bouwmeester, owner/operator of Desert Flower Honey on the Naramata Bench (next to Hillside Winery). Buying local is always a good thing. Buying honey locally is an even better thing.
Bit of a honey rant
Most honey comes from China, where beekeepers are notorious for keeping their bees healthy with antibiotics banned in North America because they seep into honey and contaminate it; packers there learn to mask the acrid notes of poor quality product by mixing in sugar or corn-based syrups to fake good taste.
None of this is on the label. Rarely will a jar of honey say “Made in China.” Instead, Chinese honey sold in North America is more likely to be stamped as Indonesian, Malaysian or Taiwanese, due to a growing multimillion dollar laundering system designed to keep the endless supply of cheap and often contaminated Chinese honey moving into North America, where tariffs have been implemented to staunch the flow and protect its own struggling industry.
All the more reason to pick up some local honey next time you are at the farmer’s market.
The recipe is in three parts: Pastry to make the crusts, the filling and whipped cream for topping the tarts.
Pastry ingredients
You will need eight 3 3/4-inch mini tart pans with removable bottoms.
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2″ pieces
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp. ice water
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine flour, butter, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles pea-sized balls. Add egg yolk and ice water and pulse just until the mixture comes together and forms a ball. Don’t overdo it or your pastry will be tough.
Divide the dough into eight small balls and roll each out into a circle with a rolling pin on a lightly floured board. Place your rolled out circles inside the tart pans and using your fingers press the dough up the sides of the eight 3 3/4-inch pans. Place the pans on a cookie sheet and bake about 12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
Filling ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. corn starch
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. lime zest
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter cut up
1 Tbsp. local honey
1 cup sour cream
Directions
In a medium saucepan stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the heavy cream, lime zest and lime juice. Cook and stir over medium heat until gently boiling. Cook and stir another few minutes until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and honey until the butter is melted. Stir in the sour cream. Spoon filling into baked tart shells. Chill at least an hour.
Whipped Cream ingredients and directions
Makes about 4 cups. (Halve the recipe by reducing the cream to one cup leaving all the other ingredients the same if you only want enough to finish off these tartlets.)
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup icing sifted icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
dash of salt
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl with the whip attachment and beat on medium until soft peaks form.
Some assembly required
Either add a spoonful of whipping cream to the top of tarts or fill a pastry bag and pipe the whipped cream on for a fancier tart. Garnish with some lime zest.
Pack 6 pears and 1 piece of vanilla bean into a freezer bag and cover with 2 cups of syrup. Squeeze out air, seal and place on a baking sheet so pears remain in a single layer in the bag. Freeze. Remove from baking sheets once frozen hard.
Directions
Filling ingredients
naramata-blend 