Julia Childs Dessert Food

JULIA CHILD'S REINE DE SABA (QUEEN OF SHEBA) CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set the oven rack in lower middle level.
• In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate in the rum or coffee. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cut butter into.
• pieces and cream it. When soft and fluffy, add sugar and beat 1 minute. Beat in egg yolks until well blended.
• In another bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Beat in cream of tartar and salt and continue beating until soft peaks are formed. Gradually beat in 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff, shiny peaks are formed. Blend melted chocolate and coffee or rum into yolk mixture, then add almonds and almond extract.
• Stir a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate using a rubber spatula. Scoop the rest of the whites over chocolate and, alternating with sprinkles of flour, rapidly and delicately fold in the egg whites. Turn batter into buttered and floured 8-by-1 1/2-inch round cake pan, tilting it in all directions up to the rim all around. Set in preheated oven. Bake 25 minutes.
• Cake is done when puffed to the top and a toothpick inserted 2 to 3 inches from edge comes out clean. The center should move slightly when the pan is gently shaken. Remove pan to a rack and let cool 15 minutes. Unmold onto rack. Let cool 2 hours before storing or icing.

RECREATE JULIA CHILD'S SEXY PEAR TARTE (TARTE AUX POIRES) FROM THE NEW JULIA DOCUMENTARY

Steps:

• Pears Quarter, core and peel the pears. Cut them into ⅛ inch lengthwise slices. You should have about 3 cups. Toss the pears in a bowl with the sugar and cinnamon and arrange them in the prepared pastry shell. Custard Beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until mixture is thick, pale yellow, and falls back on itself forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Beat in the flour and cream. Finally add the Cognac. Pastry Dough Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9 inch removable tart pan. Place flour in a bowl of a food processor. Mix in the sugar and the salt. Rub the butter and dry ingredients together rapidly with the tips of your fingers or a fork, until a dough forms. Form again into a ball, and chill for several hours until firm. Mold the pastry in a removable-bottomed tart pan. Add pears and bake in the upper third of a preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the pears start to color and are almost tender. Remove from the oven and let cool while preparing the custard. Top pears with custard and return to the oven for 10 mins or until cream begins to puff.

JULIA CHILD'S BERRY CLAFOUTIS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a medium-size flameproof baking dish at least 1 1/2 inches deep.
• Place the milk, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour in a blender. Blend at top speed until smooth and frothy, about 1 minute.
• Pour a 1/4-inch layer of batter in the baking dish. Turn on a stove burner to low and set dish on top for a minute or two, until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat.
• Spread berries over the batter and sprinkle on the remaining 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter and smooth with the back of a spoon. Place in the center of the oven and bake about 50 minutes, until top is puffed and browned and a tester plunged into its center comes out clean.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving. (Clafoutis need not be served hot, but should still be warm. It will sink slightly as it cools.)

BEST-EVER BROWNIES FROM BAKING WITH JULIA CHILD

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°. I bake them at a lower oven temp of 330°.
• Sift the flour and salt together; set aside.
• Melt the butter and chocolate together in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently and keeping a watchful eye on the pot to make certain the chocolate doesn't scorch (Alternatively, you can melt the ingredients in the top of a double boiler over, not touching, simmering water.) Add 1 cup of the sugar to the mixture and stir for half a minute, then remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
• Pour the mixture into a large bowl.
• Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a bowl and mix or whisk by hand just to combine.
• Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don't set from the heat.
• Fit the whisk attachment to the mixer and whip the remaining sugar and eggs until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes.
• Using the rubber spatula, delicately fold the whipped eggs into the chocolate mixture.
• When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the dry ingredients.
• Pour and scrape the batter in to an unbuttered 9-inch square pan.
• Bake the brownies for 22-26 minutes, during which time they will rise a little and the top will turn dark and dry.
• Cut into the center at about the 22-minute mark to see how the brownies are progressing: they'll be perfect if they're just barely set and still pretty gooey.
• They're still awfully good on the other side of set, so don't worry if you miss the moment on your first try.
• Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack.