Tarte Poire Noisette (Pear Tart with Hazelnut Cream)

Tarte aux poires et à la noisette sounds like a fancy-schmancy dessert but really, it's just a French tart made with hazelnut cream and ripe pears. That's about it. The only other embellishment is that I enhance the flavor of the nut cream with a little green anise.

Green anise seeds are usually infused in tea as a medicinal treatment for children's stomach aches. It's a pretty common remedy in Northern Africa. I love the sweet fragrance and the strong notes of licorice. You don't have to add the aromatic seeds to the nut cream but I think they pair wonderfully with pears.

Being French, it still is really remarkable to me that in America, French sounding names make products sound more luxurious (and expensive). I've even seen some products that have names that don't make sense in French, but I guess evoke a sense of elegance. Now that I've let you in on the secret, don't be fooled by fancy French names anymore! However, if you prepare this recipe for your friends or family, make sure that you use the French name to impress them. Better to be the "fool-er" than the "fool-ee!"

Galette Des Rois a la Pistache (Pistachio Kings Cake)

This Galette des Rois (Kings' cake) is filled with a sweet pistachio mixture. The traditional Epiphany dessert is made with almond cream, called frangipane, so this was an obvious substitution. The green pistachios give the treats a nice color contrast, and work well with the flaky crust.

I got some Harry Potter fèves last time I went to Paris, which you can see in these pictures. The girls are obsessed with the series, so when I brought them out for the photos they went nuts. If you were to serve individual sized galettes, as I have done here, you should hide a fève in one of the dishes and let each person choose a plate at random. Just make sure to hide the fève well so that the naughty ones who peek can't figure out where you hid it. Whoever finds the fève is Queen or King for the day!

Chocolate Orange King Cake (Galette des Rois)

La galette des Rois, or king's cake, is made every year to celebrate Epiphany. For those who don't know, epiphany is a Christian holiday that celebrates the Magi visiting baby Jesus. January 6th is the official day of Epiphany, but in France, we usually celebrate it on the Sunday between the 2nd and the 8th.  

This delicious treat is a flaky puff pastry with a sweet filling. The traditional filling is a simple almond cream, or frangipane, but this year I felt like a change. To the basic frangipane recipe I added melted chocolate and Grand Marnier (or orange extract for the kids).

Before serving, it's customary to hide a small figurine in the galette. Whoever gets the piece with the figurine is king (or queen) for a day. In reality, the winner is anyone who gets to have a slice of this delicious dessert.

Frangipane Petit Four with Raspberry Mascarpone Frosting

We hosted another tea party yesterday and I made some polenta tartlets and individual apricot pies. I had some leftover dough and almond cream from each, so I combined the two and baked them until they became dry. The result was similar to a "petit four sec". I had made eggplant rollups for dinner as well, so I used the leftover mascarpone to make a butter cream frosting which I then smeared onto each petit four. It worked like magic.

If an almond cream tart and a polenta tartlet had a baby, my frangipane petit four would probably be the result. Improvising with leftovers is a lot of fun. Sometimes it doesn't work out, but when it does, the result is true culinary innovation.  If you have no other use for the leftovers, it's the perfect time to experiment and be creative.

Apricot Tart with Almond Cream and Kaffir Lime Ginger Glaze

I was in the mood to bake today. I thought about making apple tartes amandines but everyone said they were bored with this flavor. So to please the whole house, I paired the almond cream with fresh ripe apricots. In France, you would order "une tarte amandine aux abricots, s'il vous plait!" in a patisserie (bakery). You probably won't learn this phrase in any French for tourists books, but I'm telling you, it's essential for your survival .

For the glaze, I had Laura's apricot pie jelly, a few kaffir lime leaves left that I did not used for my sweet and sour pineapple soup and some fresh ginger. It gave a nice kick to the apricot.

I know what you're going to say about my family. How spoiled are they?