Crostata (tart)

The November 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge.



I have been missing out on the past few DB challenges some due to my illness, then a short vacation and some cause of the floods. But I am back now and hope to stay in.
I was quite busy this month and was not really wanted to do any baking as I was going through some problems with family and my best friend.
My 3 year old niece was diagnosed with diabetes just a week back and due to some spouse issue with my friend we had to end our friendship so I was really upset and stressed due to these things specially my niece watching her get her shots 2 daily is really hard. =(
Especially since she was always with me while backing and she loves chocolate cake after putting off the challenge I finely managed to do it just yesterday. Which actually helped me relax...i guess baking for me is a therapy.

Now for the challenge..


We were given 2 versions of pasta frolla to choose from, the challenge was to use the recipe provided and lots of variations were allowed for the filling.
I chose the 1st version of pasta frolla, I didn’t have any problem with the dough, infect it was really easy and turned out great.
The filling I used was of almond paste and cream cheese with fresh fruits of kiwi and pomegranate.
I blind bake the crostata first and the baked it again with the almond past filling...all the time my little niece was helping me…the crostata came out very good my family loved it (I managed to get few pic’s) infect its already gone. =D
I’m very happy about it!..Thanks Simona and The Daring Bakers for such a great challenge.


Recipe here:

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Mango Epidemic: 2

Hazelnut Tart with Mango Mousse

Here is my second from the Mango Epidemic series, I have made tarts before but I wanted to make something with nuts, so I came across a recipe in dessertfirst I liked it so though to try it,

I used hazelnuts instead of macadamias nuts blended everything in the processor I used a bit more sugar then the recipe calls for, made the tart a day before and refrigerated it ‘cause it’s so hot here everything just melts and it’s really hard to handle pastry dough. Then next day after baking the tart shells blind I made the mango mousse with fresh mango puree and fresh dairy cream, filled the shells and let them set all the time my little niece was following me around like Mary’s little lamb, she helped me sprinkle the grounded nuts on top of the tarts. As always I usually give the first try to my mom, she is not much of a mango mousse or hazelnuts fan but in this case she says she loved it. =)