Strawberry Pistachio Towers Recipes

Steps:

• Make the dough: In a food processor, pulse to combine flour, salt and sugar. Add butter and cream cheese and pulse until lima-bean-size pieces form. Drizzle in lemon juice and 3 tablespoons/45 milliliters ice water, then pulse just until dough comes together, adding another tablespoon/15 milliliters of water if dough looks dry. Pat into a disc, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
• Make the strawberry compote: Combine approximately 2/3 of the strawberries in a small pot with the lemon juice and 1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar to taste, depending on sweetness of the berries. Cook over medium heat until strawberries start to break down and juices are thick and syrupy, about 12 minutes. Let cool. Compote can be made up to 5 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.
• Make the frangipane: In a food processor, process 3/4 cup/100 grams shelled raw pistachios and remaining 1/2 cup/100 grams sugar until finely ground. Add butter; pulse until combined, then add 2 eggs, the brandy, the lemon zest and the almond extract (if using), and pulse until smooth.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Dust a work surface with flour. Roll out dough to a 16-inch circle (it will be just slightly thicker than 1/8-inch), then transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Leaving a 3-inch border around the edges, spread the frangipane filling evenly over dough. Using a slotted spoon, dollop strawberry compote over frangipane, spreading any syrup gently so the compote and frangipane remain in separate layers, then fold dough edges up over the filling. About 6 to 8 inches of the filling should be exposed.
• In a small bowl, whisk remaining egg with 1 tablespoon cold water, then brush over the dough. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and chopped pistachios. Bake until edges are deeply golden, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, top with remaining halved strawberries and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Steps:

• Line a standard 5-by-9-inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides. Pulse pistachios in a food processor until coarsely chopped (some will break down to a coarse grind). Transfer to a small bowl; do not wipe processor clean. Place strawberries and 3 tablespoons sugar in processor; puree until smooth and transfer to a fine sieve set over a bowl. Stir puree, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.
• Combine egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Beat on high speed (or vigorously by hand) until pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes. Transfer bowl to a larger bowl of ice water; stir until mixture is very thick and cool, about 3 minutes.
• Beat together cream and vanilla in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Whisk 1/3 of whipped cream into egg mixture, whisking until smooth, then fold into remaining cream with a rubber spatula just until thoroughly incorporated.
• Pour 1/2 of cream mixture into strawberry puree. Gently fold together until thoroughly incorporated, then pour into loaf pan and smooth top. Fold pistachios into remaining cream mixture and pour evenly over strawberry cream; smooth top. Fold plastic wrap over surface and freeze at least 12 hours and up to 3 days. To serve, peel plastic from surface. Invert pan onto a cutting board. Unmold semifreddo, remove plastic, and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch-thick slices.

Steps:

• Make wafers:
• Preheat oven to 325° F. and spray a heavy or non-stick baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper.
• Rub off loose skins from pistachios and in a food processor grind nuts with granulated sugar. In a bowl whisk together pistachio mixture, flour, and salt and whisk in whites, butter, and vanilla until combined well. Drop rounded teaspoons batter 5 inches apart onto baking sheet and with back of a spoon spread into 3 1/2- to 4-inch rounds. Bake wafers in middle of oven 8 minutes, or until golden.
• Working quickly, transfer hot wafers with a thin metal spatula to a rack to cool completely. (If wafers become too crisp to remove from baking sheet, return to oven 1 minute, or until heated through and pliable.) Make more wafers with remaining batter in same manner, spraying or re-lining sheet for each batch. Wafers may be made 2 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature. Makes 16 to 20 wafers.
• Into a chilled bowl scrape seeds of vanilla bean and add cream and granulated sugar. With a whisk or an electric mixer beat mixture until it holds stiff peaks. Whipped cream may be made 2 hours ahead and chilled, covered. Whisk cream briefly before using.
• Just before serving, assemble mille-feuillantines:
• Put a wafer in center of each of 4 plates. Spread about 2 tablespoons whipped cream on each wafer, leaving a 1/4-inch border, and top with half of strawberries. Put another wafer on top of strawberries and top in same manner with remaining cream and strawberries. Dust 4 wafers with confectioners' sugar and put on top of desserts. Garnish each mille-feuillantine with a strawberry and sprinkle plates with pistachios.

Steps:

• Place milk in a saucepan. Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape beans into milk along with the pods. Heat to a boil stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Meanwhile whip yolks and sugar until thick. Remove vanilla pods from milk as it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and ladle enough of the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring well to warm it and make it more liquid. Add this mixture back to the saucepan and stir constantly until it reaches a simmer and is thick. Allow to bubble, stirring for 1 full minute. Pour into a glass or stainless bowl, cover and refrigerate until cold. (May be done a day in advance.)
• Draw a 10-inch diameter circle on paper as a guide. Place parchment baking paper over the guide. Soften almond paste with mixer on low speed. Add egg white and mix thoroughly. Using a pastry bag fitted with a star tube, pipe the macaroon mixture around the circle in rosettes. Prepare almond cake.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix both flours and the 1/2 cup sugar together and set aside. Whip egg whites until they form medium peaks. Add the 3 tablespoons sugar and continue to whip until well incorporated. Adding by thirds, shake in the flour sugar mixture. Fold in until incorporated. Starting at the center, pipe the almond cake batter inside the macaroon rosettes to create a solid base. Bake on lower shelf of oven until base is cooked and rosettes are starting to brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Diplomat Cream and assembly: 2/3 recipe pastry cream 1 cup whipping cream 1-ounce pistachio paste 1 to 1 1/2 pints fresh strawberries Apricot glaze Handful unsalted pistachios
• Whip cream to soft peaks. Stir pastry cream until smooth. Stir pistachio paste into pastry cream then fold in whipped cream. Spread onto cooled tart base inside the macaroon rosette border. Arrange whole or halved strawberries on top. Glaze with apricot glaze using a pastry brush and sprinkle pistachios on top.

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Oil and line the base of a 23cm cake tin. Put 200g of the pistachios in a blender, and whizz until it looks like ground almonds.
• Whisk the sugar and eggs together with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy - this should take about 5 mins. Add the olive oil, continually whisking, then fold in the ground pistachios, cornmeal or polenta and baking powder with a pinch of salt. Fold in the strawberries, then scrape into the tin. Roughly chop the remaining pistachios and scatter over the top.
• Bake for 50-55 mins until golden and risen. Leave to cool in the tin to room temperature before transferring to a cake stand or plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve with crème fraîche or yogurt and extra strawberries.

Steps:

• Prepare the cake: Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-x-5-x-3-inch loaf pan.
• Grind the pistachios in a food processor just until they resemble coarse meal. Be careful to not grind them into pistachio butter. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and pulse until combined.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, then, with the mixer still running, slowly stream in the sugar. Cream the butter and sugar together until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Occasionally stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing. Add the vanilla and almond extracts.
• With the mixer on low speed, add half the flour mixture, then the milk, and finally the remaining flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Finish mixing the batter by hand with a rubber spatula. Make sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
• Pour batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes. Cool 15 minutes in the pan, then remove the cake to a rack to cool completely.
• Prepare the strawberries: Combine sugar, lavender and vanilla seeds in a mortar and grind with a pestle until the lavender is broken up into fine bits and the sugar is fragrant.
• Hull the strawberries and slice in half if they are small, or in quarters if they are larger. Combine the sliced berries and sugar mixture in a bowl and stir gently. Let macerate for at least 15 minutes at room temperature before serving.
• To serve, slice the cooled cake into thick pieces and top each slice with a generous spoonful of berries and their juices. Top with whipped cream. Extra cake keeps in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out puff pastry to a 12-by-16-inch rectangle. Transfer to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and trim to make a neat rectangle. Freeze until firm, 10 minutes. With a fork, prick pastry all over. To prevent pastry from rising, top with a sheet of parchment paper and stack another rimmed baking sheet on top. Bake until light golden, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine 1/4 cup pistachios and sugar and process until pistachios are finely ground. Sprinkle mixture on pastry, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Bake until pastry is deep golden and pistachio mixture begins to turn golden, 15 to 17 minutes. Roughly chop remaining 1/4 cup pistachios. Remove sheet from oven; arrange strawberries on pistachio mixture, overlapping slices. Brush berries and border with jam and sprinkle chopped pistachios on border. Serve warm or at room temperature.