Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• Cinnamon
• 8-10 apples

Preparation time
45 minutes

Preparation

• Fill an 8 or 9 inch pie plate with peeled sliced apples.
• Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and egg together.
• Place the egg mixture over the apples.
• Pour the melted butter over the flour mixture.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Cook at 350 F (175 C) degrees for 35 minutes or until apples are soft (Test them with a knife)

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 large pears
• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 pinches of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoon butter

Preparation time
15 minutes

Preparation
First peel the pears and cut them half, remove seeds and slice them. Put the sliced pears in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Cook over low heat until tender. Preheat oven at 300 degrees. With butter grease some individual serving bowls (oven proof).

In a mixing bowl, stir eggs, milk, whipping cream and cinnamon. Pour mixture into each bowl and Place a couple pear slices in each bowl. Bake for 1 hour. Serve warm.

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 pound blueberries
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup flour
• 5 tablespoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation time
40 minutes

Preparation
Mix the flour, brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Melt the butter and add it to the flour mixture. Stir this thoroughly and make it as granular as possible. Once you have a fine crumby texture put it in the refrigerator for 2 hours. This will be the crust and the top layer of the tarte.

Put the blueberries in a pan with the white sugar and cook it over a low heat for 10 minutes. Spread a thin layer of dough in the pie pan evenly over bottom. Then carefully spread the blueberries over the crust. Cover the layer of blueberries with the remainder of dough. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and bake at 350° F (175° C).

Ingredients

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons anise seed
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation time
20 minutes

Preparation

• Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Cream shortening with sugar and anise seeds until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in flour and brandy until well blended.
• Turn dough out on a floured board and pat or roll to 1/4 or 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into shapes (the fleur-de-lys is traditional).
• Dust with a mixture of 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon.
• Bake at 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves: 4

Ingredients
For the filling

• 2 1/4 cups milk with a slice of lemon zest
• 1/2 cup (heaping) finely ground semolina
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 Tbsp. butter

For the coating

• 3/4 cup finely ground dry bread
• 1 beaten egg
• 6 Tbsp. Butter for frying
• powder sugar to sprinkle

Preparation time
40 minutes (needs to be refrigerated for 24 hours)

Preparation

• Warm up the milk in a nonstick pan and when it starts to boil add the semolina flour a little at a time and mix using a wire whisk.
• Once the semolina is added continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture starts to thicken.
• Remove the pan from the stove and add the sugar, the butter and the egg yolks.
• Wet a smooth surface with water and place the mixture. Flatten it down with a large wet knife or a glass.
• Cut the semolina mixture into disks using a glass. Use the excess to make other more rounds.
• Dip the disks into the egg and then coat them with bread crumbs.
• Melt the butter in a medium non stick pan. Fry the disks a little bit at the time on both sides. Be careful not to burn the butter. In case it gets brown change the pan with new one.
• Place the disks on a paper towel to eliminate the extra butter and serve them on a plate sprinkled with powder sugar.
• Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder through a fine mesh strainer.
• Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

For the cream

• 40 cl milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 90g sugar
• 50g flour
• 1 vanilla bean
• optional: 100g dark chocolate

For the puffs

• 75g flour
• 60g butter
• 2 eggs
• 10cl water
• 5cl milk
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 pinch salt

Preparation time
35 minutes

Preparation
To make the cream: put the milk, the split vanilla bean (and the grated chocolate if desired) in a pot and bring to a boil. During that time, put the egg yolks and the sugar in a bowl, and whip for about 5 minutes (until smooth and almost white in color). Add the flour, and mix again until smooth. Slowly pour the boiling-hot milk while stirring until smooth. Put the mix back in the pot, put the pot on medium heat, and stir constantly until the cream boils. At first boil, take the cream out of the heat and let it cool.

To make the puffs: Put water, milk and butter (cut in pieces) in a pot. Add the sugar and the salt, and bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Take out of the heat and slowly add the flour, while stirring, until the dough is smooth. Put the pot back on the heat and stir constantly for about one minute, then take out of the heat. Add the eggs one by one, stirring constantly until the dough is smooth. Pre-heat the oven at 220 C (430 F). Put the dough in a pastry pocket, and make 3cm-wide puffs, separated 4cm from each other, on a pastry sheet. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the puffs are brown and puffed.

To stuff the puffs: when the puffs and the cream have cooled, put the cream in a pastry pocket and fill the puffs with the cream.

Serves: 6

Ingredients
Poached Pears

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups white wine or white grape juice
• 3 cups water
• Zest of 1 orange, in 1 by 3-inch strips
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 8 whole cloves
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 slightly underripe Bosc pears, peeled and cored, with stems intact

Chocolate Sauce

• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup Fra Angelico liqueur
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 8 ounces shaved semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

• 1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream or low-fat frozen yogurt, softened, for serving

Preparation time
35 minutes

Preparation
This classic French recipe stands a poached pear in ice cream topped with chocolate sauce like a sundae. A low-fat frozen yogurt can also be used. Use a tall, elegantly shaped, and long-stemmed poaching pear like the Bosc.

To make the poached pears, combine all the ingredients except the pears in a nonaluminum Dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the peeled pears, stem side up, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pears are just tender. (Ripe pears will cook much quicker.) Remove the pears from the poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and regfrigerate for at least 2 hours. The poaching liquid can be stored and reused.

To make the chocolate sauce, bring the cream, liqueur, sugar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and cover. After 3 minutes, blend in the chocolate until the sauce is smooth. (The sauce can be prepared several days ahead and chilled.)

To assemble, warm the chocolate sauce, if chilled, over low heat or in a double boiler. If it is too thick, add a few drops of cream. Place a large spoonful of vanilla ice cream in each dessert cup. Stand a chilled pear in the ice cream and spoon the warm chocolate sauce over the pears. Serve immediately.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 store-bought puff pastry sheets

Filling cream

• 125g butter
• 125g sugar
• 125g ground almonds
• 3 eggs

Preparation time
30 minutes

Preparation
Puff pastry is too difficult to make at home and can be bought frozen at the supermarket; it must be thawed before you start preparing the galette. Some pastry shops also sell their own puff pastry, which of course will taste even better.

Preheat oven to 230° Celcius (450° F). To make the filling cream (called “frangipane”), mix the sugar and butter and beat until smooth. Add the almonds and the eggs, and beat until smooth again (this can be done in a food processor). On a slightly floured cold surface, cut 2 circles the size of dinner plates out of the puff pastry. Put one of them on a floured baking sheet. Spread the frangipane cream on the circle, starting from the center, up to 2cm from the border. Brush water on the edge around the cream and place the second circle on top of the first one. Press all around the edges to seal them together.

If desired, you can decorate the galette by drawing patterns with a fork and brushing the top with an extra beaten egg.

Bake the galette for 25 to 30 minutes at 230° Celsius (450° F) until brown.

Recipe for: 1 tart

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons golden syrup
• 2 ounces fresh white bread crumbs
• rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 5 ounces rich shortcrust pastry

Preparation time
35 minutes

Preparation
Put the syrup into a saucepan with the breadcrumbs, lemon rind and juice and heat gently until just melted. Cool.

Roll out the dough on an 8 in. pie plate. Pour the syrup mixture. Roll out the dough trimmings and cut into long narrow strips. Form a lattice pattern over the filling.

Bake in a 400°F (200° C) oven 25 to 30 min. until the pastry is lightly browned.

Serve hot or cold.

Recipe for:  1 pie

Ingredients

• 1 – 9 inch unbaked pie shell
• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup walnuts

Preparation time
20 minutes

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In medium saucepan, melt chocolate and butter or margarine over low heat. Stir in coffee, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour filling into pastry shell. Top with walnuts.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until center is set. Cool.