Recipes

From the pig roast. Here you go, folks. In case I haven't been crystal clear, if I post a baking recipe, you can pretty much assume monkeys could have made it successfully. I am no baker but I sure am having fun trying this summer. Pix of both dishes are below in slide show.

Peach Blackberry Tart
Make oatmeal-cookie crumbs by blending cookies in a processor until finely ground.

Crust
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups oatmeal-cookie crumbs (made from about 32 crispy oatmeal cookies)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2/3 cup peach or apricot nectar
5 tablespoons sugar
5 teaspoons cornstarch
2 2/3 cups coarsely chopped peeled peaches
1 1/4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cups large blackberries

For crust: Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 10-inch-diameter fluted tart pan with removable bottom with nonstick spray. Mix cookie crumbs and melted butter in medium bowl until moist clumps form. Press dough evenly over bottom and up sides of prepared pan. Bake until dry, about 10 minutes. Cool crust completely. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with foil. Let stand at room temperature.)

For filling: Whisk nectar, sugar, and cornstarch in heavy medium saucepan until smooth. Add half of peaches and lemon juice. Using potato masher, mash to coarse puree. Simmer over medium heat until mixture is thick, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Fold in remaining peaches. Spread filling evenly in crust. Arrange blackberries around top edge of tart. Refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 6 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Bridget Notes: I pushed extra peach parts through sieve to get juice for nectar, as the peaches were really juicy. For crust, I added extra butter as the crumbs didn't seem to be staying together. In tasting, the crust was a bit too buttery (Not by joe's standards) so I'd go back to regular. I omitted 2 TBL of sugar in filling as I don't like tarts that sweet and the peaches were already very sweet. I added vanilla to filling. I used wild berries which were tiny so I just polka dotted the top. I added some fresh whipped cream. Shockingly I didn't have time for proper chilling so I threw in freezer for an hour and it worked like a charm. I didn't have tart pan so I used regular spring form

Pecan Bars (Cook's Illustrated)
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup, packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans
6 TBL unsalted, cold, butter, cut into small pieces

Filling
4 TBL unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBL Bourbon
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 3/4 cups pecans, toasted and chopped coarse

1. Heat oven to 350. Spray 9 inch square baking pan with nonstick spray. Fold two 16 inch pieces of parchment paper and lay in pan perpendicular to each other. Spray them and push into corners.
2. Place flour, baking powder, salt, brown sugar, and pecans in food processor. Process until it resembles course cornmeal. Add butter and pulse until the mixture resembles sand. Pat mixture evenly into prepared pan and bake until the crust is light brown and springs back when touched (about 20 minutes)
3. For filling: While crust bakes, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, bourbon, and salt in a medium bowl until just combined. Add egg and whisk until incorporated
4. Pour filling on top of hot crust and spring the rest of the pecans over the top. Bake until the top is browned and cracks start to form across the surface 22 to 25 minutes. Coon on wire rack, remove from pan and cut into square

Bridget's Notes: I added fresh rasberries to the top of the filling before I baked and in my opinion, they made the dish great. A bit of tart with the uber-sweet and looked pretty. i also goofed and used dark corn syrup -didn't notice big problem. We didn't have bourbon ( sorry Barb and Jason, we left in the city!) so I used Jack Daniels. I used 2 TBL as I like the boozy taste -per CI instructions :-). I didn't have square 9 inch pan so I used my 13 x 9 pyrex. was worried but all was well. We don't have food processor here (but we will after this recipe) so I used the blender on crust. Not so fun. Not recommended.

Joanne had some great recipes, including a BBQ sauce that the men in my life can't stop talking about so I will try to post those later.