Silpat – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-45: Raspberry Tartlettes

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 1, 2019October 29, 2020all-purpose flour, almond paste, at work, baking cups, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, butter, cut in, dessert, dough, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, fruit, garnish, gluten-free, Grand Marnier, grated, liqueur, mint, nuts, party food, pastry, pastry cups, pie crust, powdered sugar, raspberries, Silpat, snacks, strawberries, tart, tart pan, tartlette, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipping cream

I’ve used this project as an excuse to make dishes to share at work before. This time, I made 16-45: Raspberry Tartlettes for a quarterly staff meeting. I had a colleague that was interested in trying vegan recipes and another that required gluten-free dishes, so I tried to incorporate both in this attempt.

I had originally bought tartlette tins for 5-20: Golden Cheese Tartlettes, and I’m just glad I’ve finally found another use for them. There’s also 16-9: Raspberry Tart, if you’re looking for something a bit larger, but in the same ballpark.

Did you notice that there already was a #45 for Group 16? 16-45: Colonial Apple Cake is also 16-45. Good job, Simply Delicious. 🙄

15-26: Strawberry Pastries

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods November 11, 2019July 30, 2020chilled, cold desserts, custard, dessert, dough, dusted, Easter, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, fruit, granulated sugar, half-and-half, pastry, powdered sugar, puff pastry, sifted, Silpat, sliced, spring, strawberries, summer, untested, vanilla bean, vegetarian, wax paper, whipped, whipping cream

Still working my way through the backlog–we’re up to Easter with 15-26: Strawberry Pastries. Strawberries start to creep up everywhere in the springtime, and this dessert dish is a pretty classic use of them. 🍓

This recipe suggests using vanilla custard, but I’ve seen other similar recipes use fillings like Bavarian cream or crème fraîche. This is essentially a fancier version of strawberry shortcake (which often uses whipped cream), so I suppose it’s all dependent on how heavy or light you’d like to go with it. 🍰

16-33: Crispy Almond Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 20, 2019October 29, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, American, at work, butter, cakes, chilled, crispy, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, food processor, garnish, gift ideas, granulated sugar, honey, light corn syrup, melted, party food, peeled, pie crust, Silpat, sliced, springform pan, strawberries, tart, tart pan, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

I made 16-33: Crispy Almond Cake last September to pair with 16-26: Elegant Almond Cake as a breakfast treat for my work colleagues. This one was the less fancy of the two, but still went extremely well with some coffee on a Wednesday morning.

This title card blurb mentions that versions of this almond cake can be found all over the United States–Google doesn’t seem to want to confirm that claim for me. Searching almond cake results in several iterations of a Spanish flourless almond cake influenced by the Jewish tradition of Passover. Interesting, but none of them look like this recipe.

A search for almond tart (see 16-26: Elegant Almond Cake for my argument that these two dishes are tarts, not cakes as Simply Delicious claims) comes much closer–here’s a very similar version (with video!) from Martha Stewart herself.

17-30: Stollen

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 20, 2018December 24, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, biscuits, breads, brushed, butter, cake yeast, candied, Christmas, dessert, dough, fairly expensive, fairly hard, fruitcake, garnish, German, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, kneaded, maraschino cherries, melted, milk, mixed fruit, orange peel, powdered sugar, proofed, raisins, Silpat, snacks, untested, vegetarian, winter, yeast

Still catching up on a few old ones–but maybe you can file this one away for later on this year. 17-30: Stollen is a traditional German sweet fruit bread that is typically eaten around Christmas time. After two back-to-back years of holiday treat bundles comprised of multiple Simply Delicious creations (good way to burn them off quickly), I’ve pretty much finished off that type of recipe…at least when it comes to baked goods.

Stollen isn’t a Simply Delicious creation–Wikipedia has a pretty extensive entry on it. There’s some other pretty solid recipes out there as well, if you’d like to compare them to this one. I find comparing multiple versions (from trustworthy/reputable sources) of a well-known dish helps me understand what’s essential about it (what I find common amongst all the recipes) and what’s up for interpretation (where they differ). 🇩🇪🎄

16-8: French Apple Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 5, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, American, apples, apricots, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chilled, cored, cut in, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, French, fruit, granulated sugar, individual, jam/jelly/preserves, party food, pie crust, pies, Silpat, sliced, tart, tart pan, Thanksgiving, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian

It’s the first days of spring, but I’m still catching up on old posts. Consider it “spring cleaning.” Here’s one from Thanksgiving 2017, 16-8: French Apple Pie. In 2016, I went all out for Thanksgiving and made most of the entire meal from Simply Delicious recipes. We had alternate plans for 2017, so only an easy-to-prepare ahead of time dessert was needed.

I’ve already covered a similar recipe to this one: 16-15: Tarte Tatin. Consider these a smaller, more rustic version. In regards to authenticity, as long as it’s apples on top and crust on bottom, it counts as a French apple pie according to Wikipedia. 🍏🇫🇷

17-16: Whole Wheat Baguette

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 26, 2018August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baguette, baked goods, bread series, breads, breakfast, butter, dairy-free, dinner, dough, egg-free, fairly hard, French, French bread, garlic, inexpensive, kneaded, proofed, side dish, Silpat, sliced, untested, vegan, vegetarian, wheat germ, whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour, yeast

Here’s a simple whole wheat bread recipe. 17-16: Whole Wheat Baguette has “baguette” in the name, but you could use this same recipe to make buns, rolls, sandwich bread, or any other shape you prefer. This is more of a utilitarian recipe more than anything else–nothing fancy here.

Baguettes are indeed long, thin loaves of French bread (French bread being a type of dough, not a type of shape). I made short, thin individual loaves instead, which the Wikipedia article I linked to calls demi-baguettes, although mine are probably even shorter than that. I thought individually-sized ones might be an interesting experiment instead of one or two long loaves.

9-16: Individual Salami Pizzas

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses February 24, 2018July 5, 2020Alfredo sauce, all-purpose flour, barbecue sauce, canola oil, Cheddar, cheese, Colby Jack, cornmeal, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, green onions, herbs and spices, individual, Italian, kneaded, leeks, lunch, melted, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, olive oil, oregano, Parmesan, party food, pepperoni, pesto sauce, pizza, salami, salt, shredded, Silpat, sliced, snacks, tangy, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yeast

Simply Delicious has several takes on pizza–we’ve covered quite a few already including 13-11: Vegetarian Pizza, 1-9: Four Seasons Pizza, and 5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake. There’s even 11-4: Calzone with Seafood if you like your pizza folded in half with toppings on the inside. 9-16: Individual Salami Pizzas is probably one of the more “traditional” pizza recipes so far.

It’s recommended to make this for something like a kid’s party, since it’s pretty tough to find a kid who will say no to pizza. I was a teacher for several years, ran a meal program for a school for a year or two, and I’m here to tell you that pizza (in whatever shape/form/capacity) was always a crowd pleaser for young and old.

17-10: Poppy Seed Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 23, 2018August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, anise, baked goods, breads, buns, butter, cheese, cumin, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly hard, granulated sugar, grated, inexpensive, kneaded, milk, parchment paper, poppy seeds, proofed, rolls, salt, sesame seeds, side dish, Silpat, untested, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

One of the last entries from the Baked Goods chapter, 17-10: Poppy Seed Bread is essentially white bread with a sprinkling of poppy seeds on top. Simply Delicious shows it as a loaf, but I chose to make it into rolls/buns–since you’re already topping the bread with seeds, it makes it very reminiscent of sesame seed hamburger buns. 🍔

Even 20+ years later, most mentions of poppy seeds inevitably end up referencing this Seinfeld gag, where Elaine’s love for poppy seed muffins keep causing her to test positive for opium on a work-administered drug test.

This often leads to the question: Can poppy seeds really affect a drug test? And the answer, according to the New York Times, is actually “Yes!” 🤔 You’d have to eat a LOT of them (much more than what the recipe for this bread contains) to have it show up at levels that would cause alarm–but the claim does actually have merit.

17-23: Mocha Éclairs

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 2, 2017September 5, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, boiled, brunch, butter, chilled, chocolate, choux, coffee, cored, cornstarch, creamy, crispy, custard, dark chocolate, dessert, dough, éclairs, egg yolks, eggs, fairly expensive, filling, folded, French, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, hard, icing, lactose-free, MD2017, melted, milk, mocha, Mother's Day, party food, pastry, pastry bag, pastry cream, piped, powdered sugar, profiteroles, salt, Silpat, sliced, slit, stiff peaks, temper, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

As part of my Mother’s Day brunch this year (MD2017), I wanted to push my limits by attempting some of the hardest pastry recipes in the book. I tested my skills not only with 17-44: Homemade Danish Pastries, but with this recipe as well, 17-23: Mocha Éclairs. My mom always referred to éclairs as something that challenged her when she was learning to cook and bake, and that a well-executed one was something that really impressed her. With that in mind, I knew this recipe was a must-do.

I may have to make a few adjustments to Simply Delicious‘ version of the recipe–first of all, there’s no chocolate listed anywhere in this recipe, and it’s advertised as “mocha”, which is coffee AND chocolate. We may have to do something about this “slicing the tops off” idea as well.

17-39: Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 20, 2017September 20, 20204-6-09 dinner, all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, basil, biscuit cutters, biscuits, butter, buttermilk, cookie cutters, cut in, Dijon mustard, dough, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, flute, green onions, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, minced, parchment paper, parsley, ranch house, revisited, salt, scallions, shortening, side dish, Silpat, snacks, vegetarian

If you’re looking for a relatively easy homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe, 17-39: Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits isn’t a bad choice. I made these once before for a dinner I made about 8 years ago. I remember thinking they were very bland as written–hence my notes written on the front and back about adding more salt. After following my own suggestions this time around, they’re much improved.

I didn’t make these for any particular dinner or reason this time around, but they still made decent snacks and accompaniments to meals throughout the week.

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