#77 :: Fruit Tarts

I tried out this recipe for the Great American Bake Sale coming up on May 30th. These tarts turned out sooo good that I'm definitely going to make some for the sale! I'm going to try them with other fruits as well....the recipe calls for apple, which I think would be amazing....but we had raspberries right there, and that's what we tried first. Blackberry, strawberry, blueberry....so many choices, and I bet they're all dee-lish!

Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• Sugar, for dusting
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and quartered (*we used raspberries instead)
  
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Apricot jam
• (*we added some whipped cream topping as well)
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Crimp seams of puff pastry together with fingertips. Dust both sides of pastry with sugar. Using a rolling pin, roll pastry in each direction to close seams. Using a sharp pizza cutter (and tracing a small plate) cut out 2 circles of pastry. (*I used a cereal bowl, pressed it onto the puff pastry like a cookie cutter, and I got 4 tarts out of 1 puff pastry sheet). Place pastry circles on a chilled sheet pan and let cool in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Using a vegetable peeler cut wafer thin apple slices. Put apple slices in lemon-juice-spiked water. (*If you're using berries, no lemon water is needed -- it just keeps the apples from turning brown)

Flip pastry circles over on the sheet pans and poke them with a fork to provide an outlet for steam. Put parchment paper on the pan underneath the pastry circles. Sprinkle pastry with sugar and arrange apple slices on top.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Poke the crust; if it feels soft it needs more time in the oven.

Microwave some apricot jam for 30 seconds. Dab (don't brush) the jam on the tarts. Cool tarts at least 4 hours and seal in a resealable plastic bag. Serve at room temperature or heat in the microwave and top with ice cream.

Makes 2 servings.

Recipe from Good Eats on Food Network

Star Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

#1 :: Mini Beef Wellingtons

So to start the blog, I'm going to cover our New Year's Eve appetizer spread. I was a little nervous cooking 4 new dishes that I had never cooked before, but they all came out amazing! I saw these 4 recipes on different Food Network cooking shows, and decided I could handle doing them all. It was a "big bite to chew" for my first project!

Here's the first dish... Mini Beef Wellingtons!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds beef tenderloin, cut into 24 (1-inch) cubes
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1 large *shallot, finely chopped
  
• 2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

* I substituted 1 small bunch of green onions instead of shallots

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Pat the beef dry with a paper towel and season all sides with salt and pepper. Quickly sear the beef on 2 sides only until deep golden brown, about 4 minutes total; do not overcook. Transfer to a plate to cool.

Add the mushrooms and cook until beginning to brown and release liquid, about 5 minutes. Add the shallots and continue cooking until mushroom mixture dries out, is golden brown and shallots are soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Preheat to the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

On a work surface, roll 1 sheet of puff pastry to a 10 by 14-inch rectangle. Put teaspoon-sized mounds of mushroom mixture on the pastry, evenly spacing them in 4 rows of 3. Top the mushroom mound with a piece of beef, seared side up. With a sharp knife, cut the pastry into even squares around the meat and mushrooms. Working 1 at a time, pull 2 opposite sides of pastry up over each beef piece, then fold the ends over the top to make a packet. Invert and arrange the packets seam side down on the baking sheet and press them lightly to seal the pastry. Repeat with the remaining beef, mushrooms, and pastry.

Bake the Wellingtons until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven to a serving platter and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 24 servings.

Recipe from 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network.

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Reviews (the first thing people said when they tried it):

Chris - "Those are going to be gone."

Jeremy - "Wow!"

Jamie - "These are amazing!"