Cranberry Crackle Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie - Baking Chez Moi

Cranberry Crackle Tart

This tart is the reason I love Tuesdays with Dorie.

It has meringue.

You might think I'm excited about the recipe because I love meringue.

But it's quite the opposite. I hate meringue. (It's this sweet, sticky cloud that gets in the way of the lemon filling in a lemon meringue pie). And that's why this group is awesomesauce.

Tuesdays with Dorie makes you bake things outside your taste and comfort zone. If you know me, you know my comfort zone is Bundt cakes, scones, muffins, and Jello. Never, ever meringue. But since this is Recipe #2 of Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking Chez Moi edition, it was time to settle in and get those eggs to room temperature to whisk, whisk, whisk!

By the way, I'm so excited to see so many friendly faces from the first round of Tuesdays with Dorie!! This is a fun baker's reunion! And I'm looking forward to meeting the new faces too! :)

First, you make sweet tart dough and put it into the tart shell or pie tin. Um, I seem to have moved my rolling pin someplace very very safe and secret...and can't seem to find it. So, garbanzo beans to the rescue! Yes, I was even too lazy to get out the step stool to grab the bottle of vodka on the top shelf of the cabinet!

Dorie reveals her new technique - that I LOVE. Instead of making the dough, forming into a disc and chilling it for a couple hours, THEN rolling it out (which is a pain because it is hard and cold).... Dorie now makes the dough, forms it into a disc and rolls it out between sheets of parchment paper while still soft! Brilliant! She does chill the dough in the pie or tart shell before baking or using it.

I made a 4" tart and a few mini tarts (I used 1/2 a recipe of sweet tart dough). I did make a two egg white meringue and tossed some of it because I know it is difficult to whip up just one egg white - at least two eggs work better.

A layer of jam is placed at the bottom of the shell and the meringue with cranberries it layered on top.

My tart shells got a little too brown, but they were tasty!


The tart bakes at 300 degrees for an hour (mine baked for less time because they were smaller).

I'm not sure if this is how the meringue is supposed to turn out. The crackle top was tasty, but, as I said before, not a fan of the meringue so I didn't care for the eggy middle. I did enjoy the added cranberries - that was a tart treat amid all that meringue.

The mini minis had very little eggy meringue inside and were mostly crackle crunch (so I liked them best!).

We aren't publishing the recipes on Tuesdays with Dorie...but this recipe happens to be online at The Splendid Table and on Dorie's website.

Check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers and their creations here!

Happy Thanksgiving! - mary the food librarian

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club, Megan from My Baking Adventures chose Lemon Meringue Cupcakes on page 142 of Martha's book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book

I made half the recipe in minis (about 48 cupcakes). My torch was unavailable (don't ask) and my whisk was missing (again, don't ask). So I opted for a quick cream cheese frosting. I want to try them again with the proper meringue.

The combo of Meyer lemon zest and a dollop of lemon curd...delicious!

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! I'm sure you'll see lots of yummy torched meringue!

P.S. On the Ides of March, I wish my friend Jun a happpppy birthday!

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, page 142

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe, but you can find this one on Martha's website here. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has this book in their collection.

Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Linda of Tender Crumb decided on Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie on page 337 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Have you checked out my friend Linda's blog, Tender Crumb? She's well on her way to being a superstar pastry chef! Everything she makes is yummy and pretty. And, as I learned after a trip with JustJenn, two food bloggers should not shop at Surfas together...it is simply an exercise in enabling. Linda is a UCLA Bruin too (Sproul Hall rocks!) Awesomeness!

I had some issues with the cream. You need to get it to 180 degrees....but I was using "new math" or something and only got it to 150 degrees.

First, my digital thermometer didn't work (hum, digital thermometers need batteries...duly noted). Then, I tried to use a candy thermometer and "manual/non-digital" thermometer. But I couldn't get it up to 180. Sure, I got thickness. Dorie says the filling "will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks." Dude, I had more tracks than Sid & Nancy. But I only had 145-150 degrees.

As I was trying to hold the metal pan over a double boiler with a potholder as well as the thermometer with the left hand, and whisk with my right hand, the pan kept moving around...letting out some of the steam. I was getting such a facial. Who knew the spa qualities of this dessert?!

Finally, after 12 minutes, I had a thick cream that tasted good and gave up on the temperature. It was cooked and wouldn't kill anyone, I decided! :)

I found that I wanted to make just a small dessert so I deconstructed it and laid some graham crackers on the bottom, the cream and a little meringue that I piped out and broiled a bit.

Thanks Linda for a fun pick! I'm going to try it again and make the full size dessert!

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Dorie's book, page 337, Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Linda's blog, Tender Crumb: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie