No bake key lime pie (tarte au citron vert sans cuisson)

Samedi passé, pendant que je déambulais les rue de Paris en solidarité avec les femmes du monde entier, mes enfants et moi (et le chat George) avons présenté ma tarte au citron vert sans cuisson (no bake key lime pie) sur l'émission "Les Carnets de Julie" sur France 3. Bien que Thierry Marx n'aime pas les citrons vert, ma tarte a reçu des compliments. Cette tarte est tiré d'une recette dans mon livre Let's Cook with the Zazoo!, un livre de recette pour aider les enfants à apprendre l'anglais en cuisinant. 

No bake key lime pie

La Key lime pie vient des îles Keys en Floride et utilise les citrons verts locaux. Il est presque impossible d’en trouver en France, mais les citrons verts sud-américains font très bien l’affaire. L’autre ingrédient principal est le lait concentré sucré. La pâte est normalement constituée de « Graham crackers », une sorte de biscuits très secs et peu sucrés. Puisqu’on les trouve difficilement en France, je les remplace par un mélange de spéculoos et petits beurres.   L’authentique Key lime pie est faite de crème cuite aux œufs. On utilise les jaunes pour la crème et les blancs pour faire une meringue. Dans cette recette adaptée, je n’utilise pas d’œufs pour faire une sans cuisson pour les enfants (et les adultes).

Pour la La pâte

100 g de speculoos

100 g de petits beurres

100 g de beurre ramolli

Préparer la pâte en écrasant les biscuits puis en mélangeant les miettes obtenues au beurre.

·         Foncer un plat à tarte (ou un moule à manqué) avec le mélange. On peut utiliser ses mains ou une spatule en silicone pour bien aplatir les miettes au fond et sur les bords du moule.

·         Réserver au frigo pendant une heure. 

Pour la crème

1 boite de lait concentré sucré (=400 ml)

Le jus de 4 citrons verts  (=120 ml)

Le zeste d’un citron vert

250 ml crème entière

·         Fouetter le lait concentré sucré avec le jus des citrons. Lorsqu’elle commence à épaissir, ajouter doucement le lait et le zeste, puis continuer à fouetter pour obtenir une crème lisse et consistante.

·         Répartir uniformément la crème dans le fond de tarte. Remettre au frigo pour au moins une heure.   Servir avec de crème la chantilly vanillée faite maison. 

banana bread (vegan and gluten free)/ Cake banane (vegetalien, sans gluten)

Sometimes you want to bake something, but you look around your kitchen and don't have all the ingredients. That's why this is the perfect recipe. You can mix and match ingredients, use up old bananas, apples, various types of flour...

Pantry banana bread (adapted from the fresh loaf) - vegan and gluten free

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) oil, melted butter (half apple sauce)   
• 3 black bananas (they can be frozen and defrosted in the microwave)
• 3/4 cup (100g) sugar (brown, white, honey, maple syrup)  
• 1 1/2 cups (200 g) all-purpose flour ( mix of white, whole wheat, spelt, buckwheat, einkorn whatever...) 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
• chocolate chips, cranberries, raisins, chopped apples...
• a dash of cinnamon

Mash the bananas up. Mix everything together in a bowl. Put in a loaf pan.

Bake at 325°F (165°C) for about 60 minutes. to make muffins, reduce baking time to 25 minutes. 

Cake banane du placard

• 1/2 tasse (120 ml) d'huile, le beurre fondu (moitié compote de pommes) d 
• 3 bananes noires (ils peuvent être congelés et décongelés au micro-ondes) 
• 100 g de sucre (vergoeise, cassonade, blanc, miel, sirop d'érable) 
• 200 g de farine tout usage (mélange de blanc, de blé entier, d'épeautre, sarrazin petit épeautre, peu importe ...) 
• 1 cc de bicarbonate de soude 
• 1 cc de sel 
• 2 cc d'extrait de vanille (ou sucre vanillé)  
• pépites de chocolat, canneberges, raisins, pommes hachées ... 
• une pincée de cannelle 

Écraser les bananes. Mélanger le tout dans un bol. Mettre dans un moule à cake.

Cuire à 325 ° F (165 ° C) pendant environ 60 minutes. Pour faire des muffins, réduire le temps de cuisson à 25 minutes.

Ice Cream Birthday Cake / Gateau à la glace

My little boy turned 4 while we were on vacation. An August birthday could be sad with no friends around to celebrate. I wanted it to be special and there's nothing more special in the summer than ice cream and nothing better for a birthday than a cake. So we made ice cream birthday cake.

I've made it a couple of time before using chocolate and vanilla ice cream along with oreo cookies. This time, we decided to go chocolate free since one of the two children who could come to the party doesn't like chocolate. 

Ice cream cake entails 3 main steps, but takes a bit of time due to the freezing process between steps. 

But it's really easy and you can make it with any flavor ice cream you want and with any cookies.

For Max's birthday cake, he chose strawberry ice cream, blueberry ice cream and speculoos cookies.

All of the ice creams were store bought, but you can use homemade. 

Ingredients : 

1 liter blueberry ice cream

1 liter strawberry ice cream

1 package speculoos cookies, crumbled

1 container whipping cream (crème fleurette)

candies, sprinkles, extra cookies for decorating

prepare a round silicon pie mould; line it with plastic wrap, with enough hanging over the edges to be able to wrap the ice cream layers once they are in place.

in a bowl, crush the cookies

Using a wooden spoon, crush the ice cream enough to make it spreadable. Spread it in the pie mould and cover with cookie crumbs. 

Place in the freezer for about 2 hours (or longer) until it is frozen. 

When the first layer is set, soften the second ice cream. Carefully spread it on top of the first ice cream layer. Cover it and put it back in the freezer. 

When the second layer is set, prepare your whipped cream (with sugar and vanilla to taste). Make sure the whip cream is fairly stiff. 

Take the ice cream layers out of the pie mould and put them on a plate that can go into the freezer (I made a plate out of cardboard covered in plastic wrap). Spread it evenly all over the ice cream cake and decorate. 

Put back in the freezer until ready to serve ! To cut, dip the knife in a glass of hot water. 

Spéculoos-plum pie/ tarte spéculoos prune

The last thing you want to do in a hot summer day is bake a complicated dessert so there is nothing better than an easy and delicious summer pie to go with your cold ice cream. The sweet Speculoos cookies absorb the sour juice of the plums creating  a delicious balance of sweet and sour

Ingredients 

about 1 pound (500 grams) of plums - any kind but preferably sour ones sliced in half and pitted (I used a mix of mirabelles, reine claude and sour purple plums) 

a pack of speculoos cookies

1 pie crust, homemade or store bought

10 pats of butter

3-4 tablespoons of sugar (I used raw sugar) 

 

prepare the pie crust in a pie plate; blind bake is desired. 

cover the crust with a layer of speculoos cookies

place the plums on the speculoos layer,  skin side up so the juices soak into the cookies, 

cover the entire pie with fruit

sprinkle sugar evenly on top of the fruit 

place pats of butter on top of the pie

 

bake on 375°F (180°C) about 30 minutes until the fruit starts to caramelize. 

 

Ingrédients

environ 500 grammes de prunes - toutes sortes: mirabelle, reine claude, président - coupées en moitiés et dénoyautées

un paquet de spéculos 

1 pâte à tarte 

10 noisettes de beurre

3-4 cuilieres à soupe de sucre roux

Étaler la pâte a tarte dans une moule à tarte

Y mettre une couche de spéculos 

Poser les prunes sur les spéculos, peau vers le haut pour que les speculoos absorbe les jus

Parsemer le tout de sucre

Mettre les noisettes de beurre

Enfourner pour 30 minutes environ à 180°C jusqu'à ce que les fruits commencent à se caraméliser

 

 

Key lime pie / Tarte au citron vert des Keys

There are lots of problems with making American food in France. One of them is taste buds.

American food tends to be a lot sweeter than French. I've noticed this little by little over the past 15+ years. And as my taste buds adapt, all of my original recipes just seem too sweet and cloying.

So I've struggled with finding the right balance for the key lime pie for a long time. It's one of my favorite desserts, but somehow it's just always too sweet. I was always scared to cut out too much sugar in the meringue...until yesterday. And I finally found the right balance.

The original recipe I used comes from the back of a graham cracker box and is glued into a 20 year old recipe notebook I have. For the meringue, I use the recipe for Soft meringue 1 in the Joy of Cooking. The recipe calls for a half cup of sugar. Little by little, I've cut it down to only 1/4 cup which still might be too much.

The English version of the recipe can be found on the my American market blog. They also published a French version be publishing the French version

Bon app'!

 

Rhubarb season is here !

The sun is finally shining here in Northern France. That means it's strawberry season. And nothing goes better with strawberries than rhubarb(or maybe fresh whipped cream).



photo courtesy of my big sister, Mel.

Rhubarb is a plant that grows wild. The leaves are toxic so you should only eat the stalks. According to Wikipedia, rhubarb was introduced to the United States in New England which explains why my New England born mother made pies out of it every summer.
I always looked forward to my mother's strawberry-rhubarb pie (Brooke Dojny has a good one in her New England cookbook). But I'm partial to the crumble version because the crumble is nice and crunchy where pie crust can get soggy. It's the perfect mix of sweet and tart.

If you are in the Lille area, I can recommend  La Ferme du Paradis in Seclin for pick your own strawberries, rhubarb and much much more.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumble

English version originally published on the My American Market blog

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar (I use raw organic sugar like blonvilliers)
• 3 tablespoons flour (whole wheat, plain or gluten free) 
• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 3 cups diced rhubarb
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (I use sucre graeffe)
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup rolled oats (or millet flakes for gluten free)
• 1 tsp ginger or cinnamon (or both!)

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix white sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, strawberries, and rhubarb. Place the mixture in a 9×13 inch baking dish.
3. Mix 1 1/2 cups flour, brown sugar, butter, and oats until crumbly. I use my hands, but you may want to use a fork or a pastry blender for this. Crumble on top of the rhubarb and strawberry mixture.
4. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and lightly browned.
Bon App'!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fraise-Rhubarbe Crumble
version anglaise publiée sur le blog My American Market

ingrédients:
• 200 g sucre  (j'utilise de la cassonade bio genre blonvilliers)
• 3 cuillères à soupe de farine (de blé complét, blanc ou sans gluten)
• 3 tasses de fraises fraîches tranchées
• 3 tasses de rhubarbe coupée en dés
• 190 g de farine
• 200 g vergeoise (j'utilise sucre Graeffe)
• 225g beurre
• 150 g flocons d'avoine (ou flocons de millet pour une recette sans gluten)
• 1 cuillère à café de gingembre ou canelle (ou les deux!)

préparation:

1. Préchauffer le four à 190 degrés C.

2. Dans un grand bol, mélanger le sucre blanc, 3 cuillères à soupe de farine, les fraises et la rhubarbe. Placer le mélange dans un plat de cuisson.

3. Mélanger 90 g farine, la cassonade, le beurre et l'avoine pour obtenir consistance grumeleuse. J'utilise mes mains, mais vous pouvez utilier une forchette ou un pastry blender. Parsemez le les fruits avec du crumble.

4. Cuire 45 minutes dans le four préchauffé, ou jusqu'à ce que croustillant et légèrement doré.

Bon App '!

La Vraie Recette Américaine de la Key Lime Pie de Floride !

Article du blog My American Market

 

La recette originale de la Key Lime Pie (tarte au citron vert) vient de Floride, et plus précisément d’un large archipel appelé “The Keys” où pousse une variété de citrons verts bien spécifique. Auparavant, ces fameux citrons verts (limes) représentaient un élément essentiel dans la vie des marins, qui en consommaient de grandes quantités pour lutter contre le scorbut, une importante carence en vitamine C.

L’histoire raconte que la recette aurait été élaborée pour les pêcheurs qui n’avaient pas beaucoup d’aliments frais à bord de leur bateau. Les avis divergent sur la présence ou non de la pâte ou sur ce qui recouvre la tarte (meringue, crème fouettée ou crème glacée), en revanche, tout le monde est d’accord sur le fait que la tarte était faite avec du lait concentré en boite et non du lait frais, car le lait concentré ne pouvait pas tourner.

Les citrons verts des Keys (key limes) sont généralement plus petits et un peu plus acides que les autres variétés de citrons verts, mais introuvables en France. Mais les citrons verts du Mexique feront très bien l’affaire pour cette délicieuse recette que Rebecca a bien voulu partager avec nous !

“La Key Lime Pie est une délicieuse recette, facile et presque inratable. La partie la plus compliquée de cette recette est la meringue. Si vous laissez la tarte une minute de trop dans le four, la meringue commencera à brunir, et même si ça sera toujours aussi bon, le résultat ne sera pas aussi joli. Si vous voulez une recette réussie garantie, vous pouvez tout simplement remplacer la meringue par de la crème fouettée.”

Rebecca Grossberg

Ingrédients de la Key Lime Pie américaine

Ingrédients pour le fond de tarte de la Key Lime Pie :

• 250 g de biscuits Graham Crackers (ou équivalent type Petit Beurre ou Speculoos)
• 45 g de beurre fondu

Ingrédients pour la crème au citron vert ou “lime cream” :

• 3 jaunes d’oeufs
• zeste de 2 citrons verts
• 1 boîte (400 ml) de lait concentré sucré
• jus de 4 citrons verts (150 ml)

Ingrédients pour la meringue :

• 4 blancs d’oeufs
• 25 g de sucre (ou moins selon vos goûts)
• 2 ml de vinaigre blanc (ou comme dans la recette traditionnelle, ¼ de cuillère à café de cream of tartar, c’est à dire de l’acide tartrique, ingrédient assez peu courant en France mais qui est généralement disponible en pharmacie)

Préparation de la Tarte au Citron Vert américaine :

1. préchauffe le four à 180 °C.
2. prépare la pâte en concassant les biscuits (comme pour une base ou fond de tarte à Cheesecake) puis mélange les miettes obtenues au beurre fondu.
3. plaque le mélange biscuits / beurre au fond d’un moule à manqué souple (ou encore mieux, un moule à charnière) à l’aide d’une spatule ou des tes mains, et place la pâte au four pendant 8 minutes pour qu’elle pré-cuise.
4. pendant ce temps, tu peux préparer la crème au citron vert qui servira d’appareil. Bats les jaunes d’oeufs, le lait, le jus de citron vert et les zestes jusqu’à ce que le mélange devienne mousseux.
5. retire le fond de tarte du four, verse la lime cream dans le moule et enfourne de nouveau pour 8 à 10 minutes, jusqu’à ce que la crème prenne une apparence solide.
6. en continuant de surveiller le four régulièrement, prépare la meringue. Bats, à vitesse moyenne, voire lente, les blancs d’œufs, la vanille, le sucre et le vinaigre blanc (ou cream of tartar si tu t’en es procuré) dans un saladier en verre. Tu dois obtenir un mélange blanc nacré, brillant et qui forme des pointes lorsque tu retires les fouets.
7. couvre la tarte avec de la meringue à l’aide d’une spatule en silicone (ou d’une grande cuillère). Commence par déposer délicatement la meringue sur les bords extérieurs de la tarte afin de former un cercle, puis en répétant l’opération vers son centre jusqu’à ce que la crème au citron vert soit totalement recouverte.
8. remets au four jusqu’à ce que la meringue devienne légèrement ferme, mais avant qu’elle ne soit trop dorée.
9. place le moule au frigo et laisse refroidir au moins 2 heures avant de démouler et servir la tarte.

Enjoy!

Key Lime Pie Original Recipe: A Sweet Trip to Florida

The original recipe for key lime pie comes form the Florida Keys. Limes were an important part of life for English sailors who ate citrus fruit to fight off scurvy.

According to the Wikipedia article and this interesting article on epicurious.com, the key lime pie may have originally been made for fisherman who didn’t have many fresh ingredients. The original recipe supposedly comes from a woman named “Aunt Sally”. Although no one agrees on the crust (was there any?) or the topping (meringue, whipped cream or ice cream?), everyone agrees that the pie was made with canned, not fresh, milk because canned milk couldn’t spoil.

Key limes are smaller and more acidic than standard limes. They are also tangier and have more of a pucker in cooking and cocktails.

Although key limes aren’t available here in France, the ones from Mexico make a decent substitute. And if you really can’t find fresh limes, you can try prepared juice like Pulco. Although it’s not as good as fresh squeezed juice, reducing the sugar to a minimum helps bring out the tanginess of the limes.

“Key” lime pie is simple, delicious, and almost foolproof. The hardest part about this pie is the meringue. If you keep the pie in the oven just a minute too long, the meringue will start to brown. It’ll still taste good, but just won’t be as pretty. For a foolproof version, skip the meringue and top with fresh whipped cream.

Key Lime Pie ingredients

Pie crust:

• 250 grams Graham Crackers (or 125 grams each Petit Beurre and Speculoos).
• 3 tablespoons (45 g) melted butter

Lime cream:

• 3 egg yolks
• zest of 2 limes
• 1 can (about 14 oz / 400 ml) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2/3 cup (150 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes)

Meringue topping:

• 4 egg whites
• ¼ cup (25 g) superfine sugar (or less)
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar or white vinegar

Directions to make a Key Lime Pie:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180 °C).
2. Make the pie crust. Crush the cookies and added the melted butter. Pat the crust into a pie plate (I use my hands, but you can also use the back of a spatula). Bake the pie crust for about 8 minutes.
3. While the crust is baking, make the filling. Beat the egg yolks, condensed milk, lime juice and zest. Beat until it is a little frothy. Remove the crust from the oven and pour in the batter. Bake for another 8-10 minutes, until the filling begins to set. In the meantime, make the meringue.
4. Put the egg whites, vanilla, sugar and vinegar (or cream of tartar) in a glass bowl. Beat on low-medium speed with an electric mixer until the mixture is white and shiny and forms peaks.
5. Cover the pie with meringue. Take a medium sicilcone spatula (or spoon) and put dollops around the outside edge of the pie, making a circle of meringue. starting from the outside in, put dollops of meringue until the pie is covered. Bake for another few minutes until the meringue starts to set but before it starts to turn brown. Put in the refrigerator to cool for a couple of hours before eating.

Globalization, one cupcake at a time.

And as I typed this post, I ruined the cupccakes I had in the oven. 

American diner in downtown Lille; American cupcakes in London; French raclette in London; French pastries in London...what's the world coming to? Such an amalgamation of food spreading across the world...and thank goodness! 

As an expat American living in France, I am more than happy to welcome the mixing of culinary cultures especially when it means I can easily find a good burger or cupcake or cheddar cheese just around the corner ! 

I was in London recently with my two kids and my parents. The main aim was of course food, with the secondary aim of spending time in an English speaking environment so my bilingual kids would have a couple days of pure English. But back to the food....

The longer I live in France, the more "at home" I feel in England. And how couldn't I with the explosion in the number of food trucks serving Mexican food and hot dogs, the Wholefoods market on Kensington High Street and the cupcake fad! (Please don't mention the Starbucks on every corner!). And in the middle of it all, my daughter spotted Les Merveiulleux de Fred," just like around the corner from our house". I explained to her that we obviously hadn't come to London for French food, but American food was ok. (I even saw a tartiflette truck near the South Bank).

Back "home" in Lille, there is a newish American diner that even serves Welch's grape soda (for 3€ a can!) and I even saw a hamburger and bagel Greg's Cantine Mobile, a food truck the other day. I haven't tried it yet but yippee!!! And that's without mentioning the cupcakes and carrot cake served at Elizabeth's in the Vieux Lille. 

Some places to get "American" food in  Lille: 

Lille :American style food

Elizabeth's , 71 rue Basse, for cupcakes and other American type cakes

HD Diner, 12 rue Royale, for good hamburgers, milkshakes and a semi-authentic diner experience.
Le Cut has amazing but expensive hamburgers
Taco Memo on rue Gambetta has decent burritos.

As unFrench as frosting

I didn't think it was possible. I don't like to generalize but French kids just don't like frosting.

But the kids at Suzanne's birthday party did ! and so did I....

My favorite cupcake recipe comes from the Primrose Bakery cookbook. I adapted it to the French products and taste, as below. You can make these cupcakes chocolatey by adding a couple spoonfuls of cocoa powder or lemoney with a bit of lemon juice. But they are best eaten plain with some delicious frosting which I also adapted accordingly.

Bon app'!

Cupcake party June 2013

 

Brown sugar pie/ Tarte au chuc

Lto R : vergoeise brune, blonvilliers, sucre graeffe

I was in Paris a couple weeks ago with a dear old friend. And we had coffee, delicious cheese and a very special baguette with another dear friend who just happens to be my kitchen maven. She mentioned the famous brown sugar pie they eat up here in the North of France which got me thinking...so I combined two different recipes and worked with what I had in my fridge (hence the buttermilk instead of plain milk).

The tarte au sucre is an famous Lille dessert that you can find at any good brasserie. I can highly recommend the tarte au sucre served at La Ducasse, a traditional Northern brasserie in Lille.

This is also the perfect time for a little lesson on sugar. From left to right: Béghin Say saveur  vergeoise brune, Béghin Say blonvilliers, and sucre graeffe. So what’s the difference?

Vergeoise (exists in light or dark brown) are similar to the soft brown sugar you can find in the US. But, not quite. Like American brown sugar , this sugar is refined or partially refined sugar with the molasses added back in, making it dark and soft. The vergoeise you find in French supermarkets is cane sugar with caramel color and inverted sugar syrup added back in. It tastes good.

The sugar in the middle is what some people call cassonade. It’s “raw” sugar which is cane sugar with some molasses still in it.   

The last bag is a Belgian sugar called sucre graeffe. It is made from beet roots, has a slightly vegetable odor to it. But it’s sweet and moist. In Belgium they call it cassonade, but in Northern France it’s called vergoeise.  You can use either the first or third  sugars in place of American brown sugar. Personally, I tend to use the sucre graeffe because it’s more local and natural.

So this one’s for you Deb! Hope you like it...

Crust

2 eggs

200 g (7 oz) flour

100 g (3.5 oz) almond powder

2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

100 ml (about 3.5 oz) buttermilk, milk or cream

100 g (7 Tbs) butter

Filling:

2 eggs

2 tablespoons creme fraiche

120 g (about 4 oz)light brown sugar (vergeoise)

50 g (3.5 Tbs) butter

80 g (about 3 oz) granulated sugar

1. Mix all the ingredients together for the crust. Use a wooden spoon or your hand. Let it sit in the fridge for a good hour. Put the dough in a pie plate, using your hands to push it into place

2. Beat the eggs and the creme fraiche. Spread it on top of the dough. Sprinkle the brown sugar on top and put little pieces of butter. Cover with granulated sugar.

3. Bake for 15 minutes in a 220°C (425°F) oven.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pâte

2 oeufs

200 g farine

100 g poudre d'amande

2 

c à c p

oudre à lever

pincéé de sel

100 ml lait, crème liquide ou lait battu

100 g beurre

crème:

2 oeufs

2 c à s creme fraiche

120 g vergeoise

50 g beurre

80 g sucre cristal

1. Mélanger tous les ingrédients pour la pâte, avec une cuillire en bois ou les mains. Laisser réposer dans le frigo pendant 1 heure. Avec les mains, aplatir la pâte dans une moule à tarte. all the ingredients together for the crust.

2. Battre les oeufs et la creme fraiche. etaler sur la pâte. PArsemer de vergeoeise, des noisettes de beurre et le sucre cristal.

3. Cuire pendant 15 minutes dans un four préchauffé à 220°C .

chocolate-pecan meringues / Meringues chocolat-noix de pécan

It's that time of year again...the time when American, non-religious Jews in Lille try and figure out how to handle Passover. And I have to say, this whole taking pictures while cooking thing isn't really coming naturally to me. Here is a picture of where I was in the recipe when I realized I was supposed to be taking pictures. Oops.

Apparently, Passover is an issue for lots of people in France. The New York Times published an article about it just last week. Although Passover has never panned out for me in France, my mother's chocolate meringue cookies usually do (except when it's damp or rainy which it's not today!)

So in honor of Passover (known as Pâque Juive in French), here are my favorite Passover cookies. I wish I'd had them for my flash-seder last night (45 minutes supermarket to table). They are something similar to cookie chocolate mousse...and they obviously have no calories!

Chocolate Pecan Meringue Cookies
Good for Passover and all year

4 egg whites
1 tsp. vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 to 1 c. sugar
2 1/2 bars 64% chocolate (about 500 grams)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c chopped pecans

1.Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large glass bowl beat egg whites until foamy.
3. Add vinegar and salt.
4. Continue beating until the whites are stiff, then gradually add the sugar and keep beating until very stiff.
5. Fold in the melted chocolate, vanilla and pecans using a spatula. Do not mix!
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes.
The cookies will look shiny on top.

Yield 3-4 dozen
NOTE: These come out best when made on a dry day.

Méringues au chocolat et noix de pécan
Bon pour la Pâque Juive et toute l'année

4 blancs d'œufs
1 c à café. vinaigre
1/4 c à café sel
100 -200 gram sucre selon gôut
500 grams chocolat patissier 64%, fondu
1 c à café vanille
125g c noix de pécans grossièrement hachées

1.Préchauffer four à 350. Laver soigneusement les plaques à biscuits ou les graisses en ligne avec
papier sulfurisé.
2. Dans un grand bol en verre, battre les blancs d'oeuf  jusqu'à ce que mousseux.
3 .Ajouter le vinaigre et le sel.
4. Continuer de battre jusqu'à ce que les blancs en neige deviennent fermes, puis ajouter graduellement le sucre. Continuer à battre en neige très ferme.
5. Incorporer doucement, sans mélanger, à l'aide d'un spatule le chocolat fondu, la vanille et les noix de pécan en utilisant soit une spatule6. A l'aide d'une cuilliere à café, faire des tasde pâte sur une plaque recouverte de papier cuisson. Cuire pendant 10 minutes. 

Les cookies aspect brillant sur ​​le dessus.

Recette pour 3-4 douzaines
NOTE: Les méringues sont meilleur lorsqu'elles sont faites par temps sec.

American chocolate chip cookie / cookie aux pépites de chocolat

Ok, so let's get this started. I've been thinking about this blog (was supposed to be a book!) for about 3 years now. And since it's finally floating out in the blogosphere, and there have been a dozen hits over the past two days, it means someone is either interested in what I have to say or the search engines accidentally landed on my blog while looking for "how to French kiss" or "flat buns".

The story of American recipes adapted to France all started with the tollhouse chocolate chip cookie that I wrote about back in 2007 (ugh!). I just couldn't figure out why the foolproof black on white and yellow tollhouse recipe wouldn't work. After years of perfect cookies, suddenly they were flat and greasy.

So through lots of trial and many dozen over-baked and flat cookies, I found four little tricks:

1. extra flour
2. cold cookie dough
3. short baking time
4. patience...

I've found that the best chocolate chip cookies happen when you are patient which is really hard for me. If you decide to use the tollhouse recipe, add an extra 1/4 cup of plain flour to the recipe or replace a 1/4 cup of plain flour with whole wheat flour. It will balance out some of the extra fat in the butter (since French butter has a higher fat content that American butter).

Here is my adapted version of the traditional Tollhouse recipe found on the back of Nestlé semi-sweet morsels. I also cut the sugar because French people tend to find the original recipe too sweet. The recipes follows in French.

Chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups (350) all-purpose flour (or 2 1/4 cups plain flour plus 1/4 cup whole wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
• 1 cup (225 g) salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup (90 g) granulated sugar (such as sucre roux)
• 3/4 cup (150 g) packed brown sugar (such as sucre graeffe)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or vanilla sugar)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (250 g) chocolate chips (or chopped 64% chocolate)
• 1 cup  (100 g)chopped nuts (VERY OPTIONAL - I HATE nuts in my cookies)
• a dash of cinnamon (optional but delicious!)

Method:
Cream the butter and sugars in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix well until smooth. Place the dough in the refrigerator for a good hour or more. Form balls of cookie using 2 teaspoons. Make nice round balls, flatten them a little with the back of a spoon and place in the oven.
Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 8 minutes or a bit longer for crunchier cookies.
Recipe makes about 5 dozen depending on how much raw cookie dough you eat.

Cookies aux pépites de chocolat
Ingrédients:
• 350 g de farine tout usage (ou 2 1/4 tasses de farine ordinaire, plus 1/4 tasse de blé entier)
• 1 cuillère à café de bicarbonate de soude
• 1 cuillère à café de sel de mer (en option)
• 250 g beurre salé, ramolli
• 90 g sucre (tels que sucre roux)
• 150 g vergeoise  (comme sucre Graeffe)
• 1 cuillère à café d'extrait de vanille
• 2 gros œufs
 • 250 g pépites de chocolat (ou 64%)
• 100 g noix hachées (TRÈS EN OPTION - Je DÉTESTE noix dans mes cookies)
• une pincée de cannelle (facultatif mais délicieux!)

Méthode:

Battre le beurre et les sucres dans un grand bol. Ajouter les oeufs et la vanille. Bien méanger. Ajouter les ingrédients secs et bien mélanger jusqu'à consistance lisse. Placer la pâte au réfrigérateur pendant une bonne heure ou plus. Former des boules de pâte  à cookies à l'aide de 2 cuillères à café. Faire des boules rondes, aplatissez-les un peu et mettre au four.

Cuire au four à 375 ° F (190 ° C) pendant 8 minutes.
Selon la quantité de pâte crue que vous mangez, cette recette fait 5 douzaines de cookies .

Kid friendly pumpkin bread

Here’s a kid-friendly version of pumpkin bread (adapted from a recipe in The Joy of Cooking) Great for involving your children in bringing a taste of Thanksgiving to your family’s French home away from home. You would be surprised at how many Thanksgiving staples you can find in France, including cranberries both dried and fresh. Most other staples can be bought from My American Market. The Recipe makes one 9 x 5-inch loaf and can be made with cooked & mashed squash, yams, or sweet potatoes. This recipe is adapted from The Joy of Cooking. I've cut out all the non-kid friendly ingredients and adjusted the quantities where needed. 


Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.
Whisk together:

• 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

Combine in a small bowl:

• 1⁄3 cup milk
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat in a large bowl until fluffy:

• 6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup sugar plus 1⁄ 3 cup packed brown sugar

Beat in one at a time:

• 2 large eggs

Add and beat on low speed just until blended:

• 1 cup Libby’s Pure Pumpkin Pie Filling

Add the flour mixture in 3 parts, alternating with the milk mixture, beating on low speed or stirring with a rubber spatula until smooth and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Fold in:

• 1⁄3 cup chocolate chips
• 1⁄3 cup dried cranberrieshttp://www.americancommunityinfrance.com/blog/kids/pumpkin-bread/

Pour mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a rack for 5 to 10 minutes before unmolding to cool completely on the rack.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

*This article originally appeared in the My American Market newsletter

non-graham cracker crust

Graham crackers are an all American favorite, despite the fact that they are dry, crumbly and tasteless except for the cinnamon grahams covered in sugar. And it’s no surprise since they were created as a dietetic food. I once found graham crackers imported from Thailand at the Chinese owned in my Lille neighborhood; they were along side the Arm and Hammer baking powder imported from Hong Kong via Trenton, New Jersey. The crackers were so expensive that I put them away “for a special occasion”. But they went stale before I got around to using them. So, I was forced to find alternatives to graham crackers. 

 

 

English friends swear that digestive biscuits are the right alternative, but I find them to be too grainy and nutty tasting. Through a lot of trial and error, I found a suitable replacement for graham cracker crust – half petit beurre cookies (little butter cookies) and half speculoos cookies. Speculoos, which is a dry cinnamony cookie, are readily available in Northern France where they originated. They echo the Spanish influence via the Belgian royalty that once controlled all of Flanders, of which Lille was the capital. Similar cookies exist under the name of Bastogne. Unlike “real” (traditional?) graham cracker crust, this recipe does not include sugar and the amount of melted butter is reduced to balance out the sweeter and fattier cookies, neither of which is particularly dietetic.  I use this crust for key lime pie and cheesecake.

Non-graham cracker crust

100 grams petit beurre

100 grams speculoos  

3 T melted butter

1. Using a food processor, mixer or hammer and plastic food storage bag, crush the cookies into fine, homogenous crumbs.
2. Melt butter in the microwave for about 45 seconds or until it is completely melted.
3. With a large spoon (silicone spatula works best) in a large bowl, combine butter and cookie crumbs.
4. Line pie plate with parchment paper (you will be thankful for this step later).
5. When thoroughly combined, press crumbs down on bottom of prepared pie plate. Firmly pack down on the bottom and edges of pie plate.
6. Bake on 350F for 8 minutes.
7. Fill pie as directed.