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Dear Bill
Would the CTI Bake-off Winners be willing to post their recipes?
Dear Reader,
Here is a link to the recipe for the winner (Kate Jordan):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pineapple-Upside-Down-Pumpkin-Gingerbread-350121
Runner up Matt Jacoby's entry had three parts - poached pears, frangipane, and shortbread crust.
You can cook each however you like. Here's how he did them:
Pears peeled and cored, cut in half and poached in pinot grigio, sugar,
lemon juice, cinnamon, peppercorns, cloves, salt, and vanilla. When they're
still firm, but provide little resistance to a knife or skewer, cool in
poaching liquid. Then slice on bias 1/4" thick.
For the shortbread crust, combine 1 egg yolk, 2 Tb cream, and 1/2 tsp.
vanilla extract. Put dry ingredients (1.5 c. flour, 0.75 c. sugar, 1/4 tsp.
salt) into food processor and pulse to mix. Add small chunks of butter (10
Tb. total) and pulse until crumbly. Finally, add the liquid ingredients
mentioned above and pulse just till combined. Wrap dough in wax paper and
refrigerate at least one hour. When done, roll out and use to fill pan.
Blind bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
Frangipane can be purchased, but its easy enough to make using 4 ounces
blanched slivered almonds, 1/2 c. granulated sugar, 1/8 tsp. salt. Process
these in food processor until as fine as possible. Next process in 1 egg
plus 1 egg white, 1/8 tsp. almond extract, and 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract.
Once these are combined, add 6 Tb. softened unsalted butter and process
until smooth.
To combine, put frangipane into shortbread-lined 11-inch tart pan. Smooth
surface. Place fanned out pear slices on top (make sure they are patted very
dry with paper towels). Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until
golden on top. Cool to room temperature and enjoy.
Here is the recipe for the 2nd runner up, courtesy of Dan Bluestein:
My starting point for the scones was this recipe:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mini-Star-Anise-Scones-233695
and my simple modifications to that recipe to get what I ended up with:
a) Yellow raisins (the recipe didn't specify but I thought they'd fit
better with my vision than dark ones)
b) Before starting, soak the raisins and half of the lemon zest (about 1
tsp) in whiskey (I used Maker's) with 4 dashes of Peychaud's bitters--I
just used enough to cover them in a bowl, it was probably about 3oz.
They soaked about 2 hours, then I strained them out.
c) Use only about 1/4 tsp of star anise (I only had enough star anise
seeds for that much--maybe it'd be better with more?)
d) Add 2 tsp of absinthe (I used the St. George stuff from Alameda) to
the wet ingredients
e) Add 2 tsp of the whiskey/bitters that the raisins were soaked in to
the wet ingredients
f) Add 1 tsp each of absinthe and the whiskey/bitters mix to the cream
before brushing it on top of the scones
g) We didn't have any raw sugar so I used the brown/white sugar that
comes in a green bag from Trader Joe's to sprinkle on top
h) Drink the rest of the whiskey/bitters while scones are baking