Recipe Revisit: Bakeapple Blossoms (with White Chocolate and Maple Fleur de sel)

An update on a crowd favourite!

A simple shortbread cookie filled with a slightly tart bakeapple filling.

Every now and then I look through some of the older recipes here on my blog and I am a little disappointed with how underwhelming some of the photos are.  Many of these recipes were posted well before hubby and I had decent camera gear and good photo editing software, hence the poor lighting, bad colour, and unsharp images.  And every time I look through those old posts, the Type A personality (the one I try so poorly to hide) nags at me incessantly to redo the photos on nearly every single recipe posted before 2011.  But there are so many new and exciting recipes out there to play with, that I really can't see myself going back and pouring over all of those old ones.  That being said, there are some of those old recipes I go back to time and time again because they are crowd pleasers, old favourites, or just downright delicious :)

One of the most popular recipes on Sweet Treats by Dani is #51) Bakeapple Blossoms and its one I make over and over and over again.  I originally posted the recipe back in 2009 - before hubby was officially hubby, before our little cookie monster was even on our radar, before our first mortgage, and before decent camera gear and photo software.  It has always bothered me that such a unique and popular recipe had such mediocre pictures, so I gave Ms. Type A her own way this time.  I whipped up a new batch, put on some finishing touches, and snapped some new and improved pictures.  What do you think?

Then

Now

Bakeapple Filling

Ingredients

1 cup bakeapples
1/4 cup water
7 tbsp sugar (adjust according to the tartness of your berries)
2 tsp corn starch

Steps

-Boil berries with 3/4 of the water. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
-Push the cooked berries through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds.
-Whisk corn starch into remaining water. Add cornstarch mixture and sugar to berries.
-Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool completely.

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/8 cup butter, softened 
2/3 cup sugar 
1 tsp vanilla 
2 cups flour 

Steps

- Combine butter, sugar and extract in mixer bowl and beat until creamy. 
- Add the flour, scraping often until well mixed. 
- Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Work together with hands upon removing from refrigerator.
- Heat oven to 350°F. 
- Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place them on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet. 
- Use a tsp measure to make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
- Fill the indentation with a small dollop of your fruit filling.
- Bake for 14 - 18 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. 
- Place cookies in wire rack and cool completely.

*Drizzle with melted white chocolate and add a sprinkle of maple fleur de sel, if desired.

Printable Recipe :)

#90) Coco Chai Rooibos Chiffon Cake with Maple Meringue

Inspiration, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is "the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative."

For the first installment of Anna's Bake Off, Anna Olson has asked her fans to make her Earl Grey Chiffon Cake with Maple Meringue (or add your own creative flair).  She also asked that we keep tea time in mind for our photos and talk to her about what inspires us.  

Well, I went the creative route and made a couple little changes to the recipe.  First of all, I halved the cake recipe as husband and I have no will power whatsoever and would devour the entire thing between the two of us. I used David's Tea Coco Chai Rooibos (amazing!) as the flavor base for the cake, used some vanilla sugar I had kicking around, and I traded out the lemon zest for orange zest.  I also added some sugar shards as a garnish to finish it all off.

As for my inspiration, well, can you see the springtime tea pot in the background there?  Well that springtime tea pot represents my spring baby, who made his début just 10 weeks ago.  In such a short time this little bundle has changed my life incredibly and he has come to inspire me in so many ways.  His adorable giggles are proof that I can do the hardest job in the world and that alone inspires me to throw myself headfirst into any other challenges that come my way.  Boiling syrup - why not?  Making meringue - no problem!  This kid's momma can do anything :)  (Well, she can try to anyway)

Just an FYI - this was my very first attempt at a chiffon cake and seeing as I had never made one before, I didn't have the proper tube pan in the kitchen.  Although the end product was delicious, because I couldn't cool the cake upside down, there was a certain airiness missing.  So my advice to all you chiffon cake newbies - get the right pan!

Coco Chai Rooibos Chiffon Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2  tsp Coco Chai Rooibos loose tea
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp  boiling water
4 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup + 2 tbsp pastry flour
1/2 cup sugar, seperated
1/4 cup vanilla sugar
1 1/4 tsp  baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 egg yolks, room temperature
1/2 tsp finely grated orange zest
1.5 oz  milk chocolate, chopped and melted

Steps

- Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Keep an 10-inch tube pan ungreased.  (I used 8-inch round pan - not the best idea I ever had)

- Steep the tea in the boiling water, until the water cools to room temperature.  Remove tea diffuser.

- Whip the whites with the cream of tartar until foamy, then add 2 tbsp of the sugar and continue whipping until the whites hold a medium peak.  Set aside.

- Sift flour, remaining sugar, vanilla sugar, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl or into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment.  Add cooled tea, vegetable oil, egg yolks, vanilla and orange zest.  Whip this mixture on high until it is thick, about 4 minutes.  Add the melted milk chocolate and whip in on low speed.  Fold in half of the whipped egg whites by hand until they are incorporated, then fold in the remaining whites (the batter will be quite fluid).

- Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top of the cake springs back when gently pressed.  (With the right kind of pan...) Invert the cake pan onto a cooling rack and cool the cake upside down in its pan.  To extract the cake, run a spatula or knife around the outside edge of the cake, then tap the cake out onto a plate.
Maple Meringue

Ingredients 

2  egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp  cream of tartar
2 tbsp sugar
3/4 cup  pure maple syrup

Steps

- Whip egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy, then add sugar and whip to a soft peak.  

- Bring maple syrup to a boil and cook uncovered and without stirring until it reaches a temperature of 242 F (softball stage) on a candy thermometer.  

- While beating on medium speed, carefully pour maple syrup into meringue by pouring it down the side of the bowl (this will help prevent splashing of hot syrup) and continue whipping until mixture has cooled but is not quite room temperature, about 3 minutes.

- Use a spatula to spread the meringue over the entire surface of the cake (use a small spatula or butter knife to frost the cake inside the center hole).  

Sugar Shards

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

Steps

- Combine sugar and water in sauce pan.  Heat and stir on medium-low until sugar is dissolved.

- Boil, uncovered, on medium-high for 5-10 minutes, without stirring, until deep golden brown color.

- Pour onto greased baking sheet and let cool for 20 minutes.

- Use knife to break into shards. 

- Use tongs to garnish cake with shards (to avoid pesky finger prints on your pretty sugar shards).