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 Luscious Pastry

Tag Archives: baking

Brandy, you’re a fine bar (such a FINE bar!)

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious desserts

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

70's pop music, another recipe with alcohol, apple brandy, apple cobbler recipe, apple pie bars recipe, baking, Looking Glass

Too healthy, must add sugar.

With winter winding down, we wanted to make one more scrumptious, comforting apple dessert before the warm weather arrives. The result: Brandied Apple Cobbler Bars with Dulce de Leche Drizzle (recipe follows). Made with a buttery shortbread crust, fresh apples, and a generous amount of Calvados (apple brandy.)

And despite what you make think, we did not choose to create a dessert featuring brandy just so we could post a link to a Looking Glass video from the 70’s.

Okay, yes, we did. Do not skip:

Luscious just watched that awesomeness 20 times in a row. Poor Brandy– dead-end job as a cocktail waitress and long-distance boyfriend with extreme commitment issues. Not, you know, that the Luscious girls, would, uh, have any experience with that sort of thing whatsoever. Ahem, let’s just move on to the bars. The apple cobbler bars that is, not the 2nd rate bars full of redneck alcoholics where Anne-Charlotte Brandy worked.

BRANDIED APPLE COBBLER BARS with DULCE DE LECHE DRIZZLE recipe
Tastes like the best apple pie you’ve ever had (seriously), in a portable finger food format that’s perfect for parties or outings. The creamy dulce de leche topping makes a superlative stand-in for ice cream.

For the crust
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
3 sticks salted butter, cold

For the filling:
3 tablespoons butter
8 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
(We used a mix of tart Michigan McIntosh and Pink Ladies. Make sure at least half your apples are firm apples like Pink Lady or Braeburn)
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Calvados
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sour cream
2 heaping tablespoons orange marmalade

For the dulce de leche: 
One 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons Calvados

What to do:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Simmering dulce de leche

Start with the dulce de leche— it takes a while but it’s easy. Don’t be tempted to use a can of ready-made dulce de leche, it will be too thick and we think it tastes a little weird anyway. Remove the label, and puncture or slightly open the lid. So it doesn’t explode, you know? Place the can in a small saucepan and add water to  about 7/8 the way up the sides. Simmer for about two hours, until thickened and light brown in color.

While the dulce is makin’, get going on the crust and streusel topping. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the butter into small pieces, and cut into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter or your fingers. You can also use a food processor, but don’t over mix:  it’s done when it looks like crumbs, it shouldn’t be smooth. Reserving about 2 cups for the topping, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool for a few minutes before topping with filling.

Now for the filling!

For the filling, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the apple slices and toss to coat with the butter. Cover and cook for 5-7 minutes, until apples start to become tender. Remove lid and add raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and calvados. Cook until liquid is thick and syrupy, then pour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Let cool for a few minutes, then stir in flour, sour cream, and orange marmalade.

The cooked filling, ready to go into the crust.

Pour over crust and spread evenly, then top with the reserved streusel mixture. Bake into the oven for 35-40 minutes. Allow to cool for several minutes before drizzling with dulce de leche.

Now turn your attention back to the dulce de leche. Pour about 1/3 cup into a bowl, reserve the rest for another use. Stir in cinnamon and Calvados, then drizzle over the cooled pan of bars.

Allow bars to cool and firm up in the fridge for an hour or two. Cut into bars, and bring a few to somebody you want something from.

Eat.

Not ready for our close-up

14 Thursday Jan 2010

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious desserts

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

baking, Farrah Fawcett, humor, Luscious Pastry, photo retouching

Luscious Pastry will be guest-starring at Violet Crown Supper Club again today!  Stop by 1916 Redlands anytime from 4:30-6:30 this evening to grab some of the Fried’s stellar take-out fare, and don’t forget dessert: Jennifer and Anne-Charlotte baked up a big batch of their Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars with Sea-Salt Caramel, which they are now calling Dulcitas, for short.  We think the Austin-American Statesman put it nicely when they described them as “a savory bar topped with chocolate dulce de leche, a drizzle of caramel and a sprinkle of salt.”  

Yes, this is the cookie that won the big Statesman cookie contest,  even garnering a picture on the front page of the Food section! This has been a big problem for the Luscious gals, because Jennifer is really sick of listening to Anne-Charlotte whine, moan, and complain about what a terrible picture it is. It use to be said that a lady should only appear in the newspaper 3 times: when she is born, when she dies, and when she is standing around looking like a total goofball and holding a big platter of cookies. Anne-Charlotte is on track with this, as you can see:

Who is that freak with the cookies?

 

Jennifer got tired of telling Anne-Charlotte “You don’t really look like a dork in real life, um, all that often,” and finally suggested that some light re-touching of the photo might make Miss ACP feel a whole lot better. The Luscious blog agrees, so as a special favor we gently made some light photographic tweaks that diminished some of the effects of harsh lighting and the deer-in-the-headlights-because-I-don’t-get-out-much facial expression. Here’s the new photo, see if you can spot the subtle airbrushing:

all better now!

 

Come get your Dulcitas today friends, and email yummy@lusciouspastry.com if you want some set aside for you– selling out is a distinct possibility.

Luscious gets lucky.

29 Tuesday Dec 2009

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious holiday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

baking, humor, new year's day, scones

As a tiny child, Anne-Charlotte was taught that the eating of  black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day is imperative for good luck. Forgo the BEPs, and you better set your expectations for a spectacularly crummy year. This may sound like a silly Southern superstition, but consider the evidence. Late last December, Anne-Charlotte went to New Zealand and FORGOT that can of black eyed peas she meant to pack for New Year’s Day, and look what happened this year: the whole economy went completely to hell and Farrah Fawcett died. (Anne-Charlotte would like to apologize to everyone, especially Ryan O’Neal.)

So this year, to try to set things straight, Anne-Charlotte told Jennifer about her, um, idea that they should cook up a giant pot of excellent black-eyed peas, and Luscious Pastry could offer them for New Year’s Day, and it would be really funny in a politcally incorrect sort of way if they called them Anne-Charlotte’s The South Shall Rise Again Black-Eyed Peas. Oh dear. Jennifer gently explained that this was a very bad idea because A: that is a terrible name, what the hell are you thinking? B: black-eyed peas are, while tasty, not dessert, not Pastry, and not particularly Luscious; and  C: you can’t bring Farrah back.

 So in the end, Anne-Charlotte apologized for including a vaguely  offensive phrase on the blog that, rather than being funny, will in fact cause the Luscious site to get search engine hits from every lunatic skinhead in Alabama (although we expect a Bama-wide surge in political progressiveness and baking as a result), and suggested that Luscious just bake some scones. Now that sounds lucky. This weekend, you can usher in 2010 with a favorite from 2009: Luscious Cinnamon-Eggnog Scones. The eggnog season is almost over friends, and that means this is your last chance for these divine scones until next winter.  Mmmm, what a luscious beginning for a new year!
Half-dozen fresh-baked Cinnamon Eggnog Scones:  $9. Throw in a jar of Luscious Chai for just $9 also. Order at yummy@luscious.com.

And, here’s a little something for good luck…

That’s “Luscious” not “Lushes”

17 Tuesday Nov 2009

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious holiday

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Austin, baking, bourbon, hangovers, pecan pie, Thanksgiving desserts

Luscious wants you to learn from our mistakes, hence this advice: do not try to purchase your Halloween costume at Target on October 30th. Unless, that is, you enjoy listening to “White Christmas” on a 90 degree day while sadly digging through a forlorn pile of Halloween gear that’s been dumped in the corner to make room for… Christmas decorations?  Pardon our dismay, dear Target, Walmart, and Lowes, but could you let us get one toe out the door to trick-or-treat before beating us over the heads with flocked artificial trees? Did you forget that we’ve actually got another holiday first? Remember Thanksgiving??

Luscious, naturally, has not forgotten Thanksgiving, and not just because we love pie. The Luscious Pastry gals have taken stock of some of the things for which they give mucho thanks. Of course they’re thankful for all the regular stuff like their families and friends and oxygen, but here’s the interesting bits:

Jennifer is thankful for:
– Surviving junior high school
– Living in the ATX, yo!
– A smokin’ pair of green bandana wedge sandals recently purchased for $7 -SCORE! 
– Anne-Charlotte, even though she’s both a redneck AND and an uptight yuppie

Anne-Charlotte is thankful for:
– Jennifer, even though she’s both a Californian AND a yankee
– Bourbon
– the fact don’t that her parents don’t read this blog
– Tammy Wynette and George Jones, in that order 

Actually, bourbon almost didn’t make the list, because last Saturday night, one of our Luscious heroines was reminded that the amber libation can be both a friend and an enemy. But the following Sunday morning’s activity provided her with these two revelations:

1.
If you are to awaken with the sensation that a railroad spike is being driven through your temples, and your husband for some reason suddenly decides, for the first time in 6 months, that the whole family needs to get up and go to church RIGHT NOW, well, you should just get out of that bed, put on some lip gloss, get over there and shake hands with all the elderly churchgoers, and sit quietly in the pew concentrating on the parts of your body that don’t hurt, like your toes and elbows. Because then you’ve won the unspoken argument about whether or not you should get to go out with the girls, and you have also proven what a badass you are.

2. Bourbon can’t hurt you if it’s baked into a pie. 

It’s a fact that pecans have a special affinity for the flavor of fine bourbon, and the whiskey provides a subtle counterpoint to the brown sugar that forms the base of pecan pie filling. Add a little chocolate, and that’s one Luscious pie. Consequently, we’re offering the following for Thanksgiving:
– Chocolate-Infused Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie  ($21)
– Gingered Pumpkin Tart, a sumptuous version of the classic ($21)
– Bacon Cheddar Muffins, so good they’ll make your turkey weep with jealousy. ($12 for a big batch)

If you’d like to grace your Thanksgiving table with one or more of these fine items, place your order at yummy@lusciouspastry.com. We’ll be taking orders right up until late evening on Monday, Nov 23rd. Pick up will be Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 25, or we can arrange delivery for a teensy charge.

Luscious: the 4-letter word edition.

25 Thursday Jun 2009

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious desserts, Luscious holiday

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Austin, baking, gourmet, hot weather, humor, July 4th

 

photo by Jack Wayne Cooksey

Red, White, and Blueberry. Photo by Jack Wayne Cooksey

Yeah, it’s hot.

“How hot is it?”  Well, Luscious is gonna tell you.  Basically, it’s hot as hell. It’s so hot that the when the weather channel switches to the local Austin forecast, instead of a little sun picture, they now show a drawing of a person engulfed in flames. It’s so hot that you could get away with dressing like those trampy chicks from “Rock of Love” by blaming it on the heat. (Luscious already tried this and it worked great! Well…okay, it wasn’t Jennifer.) It’s hot enough to peel the goddamn paint off the goddamn walls. It’s definitely hot enough to get away with swear words in a blog. It’s WAY too hot to bake. Unless a person’s f**king crazy…or they’re Luscious.

After all, our favorite temperature is 350 degrees, especially when there’s butter and sugar involved. So with all this gorgeous summer fruit to be had and the Independence Day weekend coming up, Luscious figures it’s our birthright as U.S. citizens to crank up the AC and bake cobblers all damn day if we want to. And yum, we want to!  Fellow Americans, we are taking orders for star-spangled cobblers…and cookies! The details:

Luscious 4th of July cookiesThe cobblers ($14) are full-size– about 6 big servings, and the flavors, mmm… Ginger Peach or Berry-Berry-Berry.  Luscious knows that a cobbler’s best friend is homemade ice cream, so we’ve got that too: Honey-Vanilla by the pint ($5), friends. That should be enough  scrumptiousness for one week, but remember we’re crazy: we are also offering sweet star-shaped sugar cookies by the dozen ($6)– perfect nibbles for fireworks-gazing.

To order or inquire about our 4th of July cobbler, ice cream, and cookies, email us at annecharlottep@gmail.com by Tuesday, June 30th. All orders will be available for pickup from 4-6pm at Anne-Charlotte’s on July 2nd (or we can work out other arrangements– whatever it takes to get you your Luscious.)  Jeepers, we almost forgot to tell you– drop by your own 8x8ish pan for your cobbler, and we’ll knock a buck off the price. We’re environmental like that.

One last, very sincere note. Luscious Pastry is off to an amazingly successful start, and we are so, so grateful to everyone who has been supporting us by eating our goodies or reading the blog or cheering us on. Wow, we love you, too! Truly.

Cat on a Challah Tin Roof

17 Wednesday Jun 2009

Posted by lusciouspastry in Luscious desserts, Luscious gifts

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Tags

Austin, baking, challah rolls, dessert, humor

Yes!  Luscious Pastry will be at Violet Crown Supper Club this Thursday. Since our corn muffins were a hit a couple of weeks ago, we’re going the bread route again this week with challah rolls: Jennifer’s homemade challah dough, baked as yummy rolls, perfect with Joel’s soups and veggies. Anne-Charlotte is really excited about the challah rolls, because she’s been looking forward to cracking jokes like “Our rolls will make you hollah!” and singing her own made-up Jewish-and-bread-themed lyrics to “Hollaback Girl”. The next time you see  her, you should quickly stick your fingers in your ears– you’ve been warned, okay?

Luscious Lemon-Blueberry Parfaits

Luscious Lemon-Blueberry Parfaits

This week’s sweet treats are taking the form of chilled Lemon-Blueberry Parfaits. Billowy swirls of cool lemon custard atop blueberry compote are an elegant antidote to these crazy hot temps. Lounge around in your sweltering house while wearing only a silky slip and slowly eating one of our cool creamy parfaits, and you will feel just as languidly sexy as Jessica Lange in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, especially if you bitch at you husband in a southern drawl between bites.  He’ll probably like it, even more so if he’s eating a parfait, too.

FATHER’S DAY– LAST CHANCE
Speaking of HOT! We have a few things still available for father’s day weekend:
– one mini Mahogany bundt cake
– 12 pecan pie bars
– 12 dulce de leche bars 

email us at apatterson@southerncombustion.com to order. 

COMING SOON Fourth of July cobblers and a Luscious t-shirt contest! 

 

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The Luscious Blog

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