There are total of four layers in this tart and I’m not counting the tart crust as a layer. At the very bottom there are honey roasted salted peanuts covered with fleur de sel caramel. Then goes a layer of barely sweetened tangy sour cream-cream cheese mousse followed by the milk chocolate pastry cream. The egg whites left over after making pâte sablée and pastry cream were turned into Swiss meringue topping and then blow-torched. It tasted fantastic. Every layer is equally thin (well, except the Swiss meringue) and harmoniously compliments each other. The filling is sweet and salty, and creamy; the crust is buttery, chocolaty, crispy and tender.

Some components can be made in advance, but the assembled tart should be enjoyed (and it’s pure enjoyment) the same day it is put together.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who hasn’t celebrated their Thanksgiving yet! And I’m off until Saturday. I’ve got a lot of catch up to do visiting your blogs, guys. I haven’t had a lot of time lately, so - my apologies.

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Everyone who bakes regularly once in a while faces a problem of utilizing cake scraps after leveling layers, or/and some chocolate ganache-glaze leftovers. The most efficient and easiest way to get rid of them all at once is to make the dolce salami. This is not a classic Italian recipe required egg yolks but it makes no less delicious salami. The formed log can be popped in the freezer and kept there well for about a month guarantying you always have something for your unexpected guests (don’t we all love them). There’s no need to defrost the salami before serving; it doesn’t freeze rock-hard and softens fairly quickly at room temperature. Cut it into slices with a sharp knife, put a kettle on and, by the time it boils, the salami will be good to go.

The ingredients below are mostly for a reference. Feel free to substitute for different nuts, fruits, and flavorings suiting your own taste.

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A pumpkin pie that I would love is an ongoing project. I’ve tested dozens of recipes but haven’t yet found the favorite one. As soon as I hit it I’ll certainly share my discovery with you. Meanwhile, there’s a whimsy but tasty alternative. Caramelized phyllo rounds (or it can be any other shape appealing to your eye) can be made a day in advance and they would still preserve their crispiness if you store them in an airtight container away from moisture. But the whole stack shouldn’t be assembled more than 2-3 hours in advance to ensure crispy pastry. I served the napoleons with caramelized spicy-salty walnuts, candied ginger, and some maple syrup drizzled over.

Also there’s a thought worthy to be mentioned. I found that the baking of phyllo flattened under a weight is a great solution when the store bought phyllo pastry turns out to be too dry and too fragile (due to improper storage, I suspect) to be used for any other baking needs requiring rolling-shaping. Nothing has to be wasted, it still can be transformed into delicious stuff. There are thousands of possible filling variations as well as presentation options.

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Or, I probably should say “the perfect gingersnaps”, because they definitely are! The recipe is from Alice Medrich, so their deliciousness didn’t catch me by surprise. The cookies are crispy outside, chewy in the middle, loaded with fresh and candied ginger; so pleasantly warm! They are my carb servings which combined with low-fat cottage make a perfectly balanced meal (still on the diet… sort of). Suddenly, this cottage thing seems more appealing.

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Don’t be surprised it wasn’t served with ice cream. See, I need to shed a couple of pounds here - I am trying to squeeze into this party dress by the end of the month. So, the dish is basically my diet food – less fat, more vitamins. If you are favoring traditional views you can top the crumble with a scoop of vanilla or orange ice cream. But the yogurt actually turned out pretty tasty, and it was good with the crumble, as well as on its own.

Does anybody else think that food blogging has an inevitable weight-gaining side-effect?

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Farmers’ markets smell like apples. It’s impossible not to buy some when you are there. What’s more difficult is to resist the temptation of buying more apples than you actually need – happens to me all the time…

The strudel is one of my favorite ways to utilize these fruits. I stuff the strudel generously with finely chopped (never grated and squeezed) apples, kirsch-soaked raisins, crushed gingersnaps, and sugar. Some chopped toasted pecans or walnuts would be a nice addition to the filling if you are lucky and none of your family members suffer from nut allergies. I never leave all the filling juices behind, but spoon them over the apples. I like my filling succulent and caramelly, soft but yet with some texture present in the apples and not dry and gummy with barely recognizable ingredients. The sauce itself is also quite memorable. If you want you can make a sour cream sauce as well (for color contrast) and plate the strudel. But we ended up by pouring more cranberry sauce over the slices, anyway; the tiny pretty dots were not enough.

The recipe is adapted from the “Bon Appétit”.

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