Carrot horn rolls

Let me start by saying these cookies have the silliest name: horn rolls. Really? At first I thought it was a mot-à-mot translation from Romanian and had a good laugh with my hubby, but it turns out that's what they call them. Still silly, but if you have a better name for them, please let me know. Until then, let's prepare our ingredients, shall we?

Ingredients:

250 g all purpose flour

125 g mascarpone

100 g caster sugar

40 g finely shredded carrot

1 large egg

5 g orange zest

3 g baking powder (roughly 1/2 teaspoon, if you are a fan on the imperial system)

pinch of salt

fruit preserve (jam) of your choice

1 egg yolk

powder sugar

Directions:

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, the orange zest and the shredded carrot and mix well, using a rubber spatula. Gradually add the flour mixture. You have now reached the point where you need to get the spatula out of the way and start using your hand(s). Knead the dough until it's soft and does not stick to your hands, form a ball, cover it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for about half an hour. Meantime clean the flour from the kitchen counter, table, floor, and your pet, if you happen to own one. Preheat your oven to 180ºC (350ºF) and place rack in center. Line your tray with baking paper. You might still have some flour on your face and, of course, your clothes. I always do. Ask your husband to open than preserve jar, you won't be able to do it and ladies must not spew profanities, goddamned jars! As you can see, those 30 minutes are now long gone, so get the dough out of the fridge.

Dust some flour on a wooden surface and roll the dough into a circle 0,5 cm (0,2 inch) thick. Using a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the disk into 8 equal-sized wedges. If you want the horn rolls to be a little smaller (mine were close to ginormous), cut the dough into 10 wedges. Or, even better, cut the dough in half and roll each piece into a 0,3 cm thick disk. Then cut six wedges out of every disk. There's not much science here, so feel free to divide the dough as you like, keeping in mind that smaller horn rolls need to be watched closely toward the end of the baking time (smaller amounts of dough need a shorter baking time).

Put the jam (I used quince preserve on half of them and strawberry on the other half) on each triangle, not too much because it will ooze out. Starting at the wide end of the wedge, roll the dough into a crescent shape. Brush the pastry with the remaining egg yolk and bake for about 25 minutes or until the top and the bottom are golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack and dust with powder sugar.
As you can see in the picture above, I only have seven horn rolls in the tray. That is because I ate one before taking the picture. I am like that, you know?

Recipe slightly adapted from Laura Adamache.

Peach galette

What do you think about galettes? I always find them better looking than tasting, but it's worth the fuss of making one just to see how good it looks in the end. And, once it's done, you'll like the taste of it, too. You might like it a lot, actually, because I'm the weird one, I know.

So, take a deep breath, clear you schedule for the next two hours and let's go!

Pie crust

First you have to decide which crust you prefer: pate brisée or pate sucrée. As the name suggests, pate sucrée is sweeter than pate brisée (which is fragile and bland, if you ask me), I am a fan of pate sucrée, but here are both recipes, please choose one.

Pâte brisée

350 grams (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

220 grams (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

60 - 120 ml ice water (1/4 to 1/2 cup)

Directions

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, and pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 10 to 15 seconds. Add 60 ml (1/4 cup) of water and process until the dough begins to clump, but does not yet form a ball. If the pastry does not hold together when you squeeze it between your fingers, just add a little more water, one tablespoon at a time. Check the consistency after each tablespoon you add. Try not to process for more than 30 seconds.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide it and form two discs. Wrap each disc in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pâte sucrée

350 grams (2 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) sugar

2 large egg yolks

220 grams (1 cup) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

60 ml ice water (1/4 cup)

Directions

Place the flour and sugar in the bowl of your food processor, and pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 10 to 20 seconds.

In a small bowl, lightly beat egg yolks and add ice water. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and pulse until the pastry starts to come together. If the pastry does not hold together when you squeeze it between your fingers, just add a little more water, one tablespoon at a time. Try not to over process.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface. Divide it and form two discs. Wrap each disc in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Both pie crusts are enough for two 22 cm (9 inch) galettes or a larger galette which I have forgotten to measure before eating it. Sorry.

Now that you have chosen your favorite pie crust, it's time to prepare the filling.

Ingredients

4 large ripe peaches (ripe, but not mushy) cut into wedges. Don't bother peeling the peaches, just wash and pat dry them using a kitchen towel.

4 tablespoons granulated sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of your fruit)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

ground seeds of 1 cardamom pod (optional)

Combine peaches, sugar, cinnamon and ground cardamom in a bowl, spread the mixture evenly over the dough to within 5 cm (2 inches) of the edge. Arrange all the peach wedges if you have OCD. Fold the edge of the dough up over the peaches to create a border.

Bake at 180 ºC (350 ºF) until juices are bubbling and the crust is golden, 35 to 40 minutes if you have two small galettes or 50 to 60 minutes for the larger version.