Walnut Pie Bars

We’ve had a few very warm days here, it was too hot inside to turn the stove on! I was happy it cooled down a bit so I was able to bake these Walnut Pie Bars! These bars were so yummy, similar to pecan pie but maybe even a bit better! Sweetened with coconut sugar and maple syrup to make it a tiny bit healthier. If you like pecan pie you will definitely love these Walnut Pie Bars!!!

Walnut Pie Bars

For the bottom layer:

• 1 3/4 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3/4 cup cold butter

For the walnut layer:

• 2/3 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 maple syrup
• 2 cups roughly chopped walnuts

-Line a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 F.

-Mix the flour with the honey and the butter until it resembles fine crumbs. You can also use a food processor if you prefer.

-Press the crumb mixture evenly into the prepared baking pan. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the edges are starting to brown. Remove from oven and pour on walnut topping while still hot.

–For the walnut topping:

-Mix together the flour and sugar well. Whisk in the Maple syrup, eggs, vanilla extract and salt. Let stand while bottom layer prebakes, stirring it occasionally.

-Mix in the walnuts and pour over the still hot prebaked bottom layer. Return the pan to the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until filling is set.

-Let cool to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator for several hours before cutting into bars or squares.

Enjoy!

Ursula

xox

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Maple Nut Tart

We love using maple syrup as sweetener in baked goods. The combination of mixed nuts and maple syrup is especially delicious! If you like pecan pie, you will love this Maple Nut Tart!

Maple Nut Tart

Flaky Pastry

• 2 cups white spelt flour
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup ice-cold water

Maple Nut Filling

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup mixed coarsely chopped nuts

For the Pastry:

– In a medium bowl, combine flour, honey, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and mix with your hands until crumbly. Add water, a little at a time, mix only until well combined. Press dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the Maple Nut Filling:

– In a bowl whisk together the eggs, maple syrup, coconut sugar, melted butter and vanilla until well blended. Add the mixed nuts.

– Line the bottom of a 11-inch tart pan with parchment paper, butter the sides. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to fit into your tart pan.

– Pour the maple nut filling into pastry.

– Bake in preheated 375 F oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and filling is set.

– Let cool before removing from tart pan.

Enjoy!

Ursula

Plum Tart / Zwetschgenwaehe

Love this time of the year with all the peaches, plums and fresh apples locally available. I’ve felt like making a traditional Swiss Plum Tart. Simple way of using any kind of fruits. Flaky, buttery crust, plums, cinnamon and I added a small Canadian touch by using maple syrup-simply delicious!

 

 

Plum Tart / Zwetschgenwaehe

Crust:

• 150 g white spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 75 g butter, cold, cut into small pieces
• 3 – 4 tbsp cold water

Filling:

• 2 tbsp ground hazelnut or almonds
• 8 – 9 plums / Zwetschgen, cut into 1/4
• 100 ml cream
• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp cinnamon

 

-In a  medium bowl add the flour and salt. Mix in the butter with your hands until  small crumbs form, add 3 tbs of water, mix until well combined, adding more water if needed. Do not knead to long. Refrigerate for 30 min.

-Grease and flour a 26 cm tart or pie form. Preheat oven to 375 F (convection setting).

-Roll out dough and fit into prepared tart form. Sprinkle evenly with the ground nuts.

-Whisk together the cream, egg, maple syrup and cinnamon.

-Arrange plums and top with the cream.

-Bake in preheated oven for about 30 min.

-Dust with some icing sugar, can be served with whipped cream.

 

 

Simply delicious!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streusel-Topped Strawberry Galette

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend!

It is raining like crazy today so we will spend the weekend mostly inside. It has been dry and hot and the rain is very much needed.

We’ve bought a lot of local strawberries which we mostly eat just like that but I also like to make a dessert with it. This recipe for the Streusel-Topped Strawberry Galette is adapted from Canadian Living. It turned out wonderfully and it was so delicious! I definitely will try it with other fruits as well.

 

 

Streusel-Topped Strawberry Galette

Pastry:

• 2 1/2 cup white spelt flour
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup cold butter cubed
• 3/4 cup ice water

-In a bowl, mix together flour, honey and salt. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until crumbly. Drizzle with water, mixing with a fork until dough comes together, adding more water if needed. Shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Almond Streusel:

• 1/2 cup white spelt flour
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup cold butter cubed
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds

-In a bowl mix together flour and honey. Using your fingers, rub in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the almonds, set aside.

Filling:

• 800 g strawberries hulled and halved
• 2/3 cup strawberry jam
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp coarse sugar, optional

-Mix together strawberries, jam, honey and cornstarch, set aside

-On a large piece of parchment paper, roll out dough to about 43 cm circle. Transfer dough with paper to a large baking sheet. Sprinkle dough with ground almonds, leaving a 8 cm border. Scrape strawberry mixture onto almonds.

-Fold over pastry edge. Sprinkle streusel over strawberries.

-Mix egg yolk with 2 tsp of water, brush over pastry. Sprinkle with coarse suger if desired. Bake in 375F/190C preheated oven 50 to 60 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tip: Feel free to use all-purpose flour and sugar, using the same amount.

Beautiful Peonies blooming in our garden!

 

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apple Rose Tart

Happy Family Day!

So nice to have an extra day off! Family day is a statutory holiday in Ontario and other provinces in Canada. It has been a sunny weekend, unfortunately it is raining and foggy today. Perfect for relaxing at home, I’ve had an earache for most of last week, but I think it is starting to get better now.

I finely took the time to make an apple rose cake, it is so pretty and it was really delicious with the walnut and maple crust. It would also be delicious with hazelnut or almonds.

 

 

Apple Rose Tart

Walnut Crust:

• 1 1/2 cups ground walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups spelt flour
• 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp butter, soft
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Filling:

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla sugar

Apple roses:

• 4 medium red and/or yellow apples, thinly sliced

 

-Line a 9-inch tart/pie form with parchment paper, grease the sides.

-Whisk together the butter, egg and maple syrup, add vanilla and a pinch of salt. Fold in the nuts and spelt flour until well combined. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

-Place the thinly sliced apples in a medium saucepan, cover with water and lemon juice and let simmer for a few minutes until pliable.

-Roll dough out directly on tart form, if you have a removable bottom. Cover sides evenly by hand.

-For the filling: whisk together all ingredients and pour into tart form.

-For the roses: on a large plate or cutting board take a few, five for example, apple slices and lay them slightly overlapping in a straight line, then from the opposite side start rolling up tightly. Place into tart form. The more apple slices you take, the bigger the roses get. Have fun making different sizes, as you like.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Bake for about 30 minutes.

 

Enjoy! Have a great week!

Ursula

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linzertorte aux amandes

Happy Friday!

I hope everyone had a great start into the new year! It is still freezing cold here and snowing almost everyday. Staying warm and cozy inside with a warm cuppa and a slice of something freshly baked like this almond Linzertorte. I call this the sweet delicate cousin of the original Linzertorte;) Made out of mostly: almonds! The original Linzertorte has a jam filling. If you like almonds, you will love this one!!

It is a very soft almond dough, which makes it a little tricky to roll out or form any decorations, you’ll definitely need some patience, but otherwise it’s a simple recipe.

 

 

Linzertorte aux amandes

Ingredients:

• 150 g butter, soft
• 150 g sugar, or honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg
• pinch of cloves
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 150 g blanched ground almonds
• 150 g unbleached all-purpose flour

-In a medium bowl mix together butter, sugar and salt. Mix in the egg. Add the cloves, cinnamon, almonds and flour. Mix until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Filling:

• 75 g butter, soft
• 75 g sugar or honey
• 1 lemon, zest and juice
• 150 g blanched ground almonds
• 1 egg white

-In a small bowl mix together the butter and sugar. Add the lemon zest and juice. Mix in the almonds and egg white.

 

-Preheat oven to 350 F/180C. Grease a 22 cm Springform or pie dish.

-Take 1/3 of the dough and roll it directly on your Springform bottom, or use your hands to fit into the pie form. Taking some more dough for the sides if needed. Spoon your filling evenly into the form. With the rest of the dough you can roll it out on a floured baking sheet and then refrigerate to make it more workable. Cut out some shapes or shape it by hand.

-Bake for about 40 minutes. Cover with aluminium foil if it gets to dark. Let cool completely.

-Dust with some icing sugar if desired.

-Recipe is adapted from my 1982 Betty Bossi book, Kuchen, Cakes & Torten

Enjoy!

Have a lovely weekend!

Ursula 

 

 

Follow me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

Forest Berries Meringue Pie/Waldbeeren Meringue Kuchen

Happy weekend everyone!!

While growing up in Switzerland, we used to spend a lot of time in the forest. With family or with school. They have nicely looked after hiking trails. There is just something calming and peaceful about it. We would also often look for and find a lot of blueberries and strawberries! Now these are sweet memories:)

I’ve had a lot of raspberries and we are still picking some strawberries in our garden. We used to have blackberries but after getting hurt (scratched) a lot, we had enough and we dug the plant out…but I tell you that is a stubborn plant, it keeps on growing back…My brother in Switzerland has a thorn-less blackberry plant!!! That is the most amazing thing. Haven’t seen this here so far.

For this berry pie I used a mix of what I like to call forest berries (Waldbeeren): blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. Deliciously melt in your mouth meringue filling! Totally worth trying out! Feel free to use your favorite pie crust recipe.

 

 

 

 

Forest Berries Meringue Pie

Pie crust:

• 200 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 100 g butter, cold, cut into very small pieces
• 2-3 tbsp honey
• 1/2 lemon, zest
• 1 egg

-Mix together flour and salt, add butter and with a pastry blender or your hands mix until crumbly.

-Add lemon zest, honey and egg. Knead only until it holds together. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

-Preheat oven to 375F/190C

-Grease a 9-inch pie form. Roll out dough to fit form. Prick dough with a fork. For blind baking I cover bottom with parchment paper, then as a weight I pour some legumes like dry chickpeas over paper. Bake for about 10 minutes then remove paper with legumes and lower oven temperature to 350F/180C and finish bake until golden brown.

Meringue:

• 3 egg whites
• 1 pinch of salt
• 150 g sugar (I used honey)
• 500 g berries of your choice (I used blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)

-Beat egg whites with salt until peaks form, add half of the sugar, beat until shiny then add rest of sugar until stiff.

-Mix half of the meringue with the berries. Fill into baked pie crust. Then top with remaining meringue.

-Bake in 375F/190C oven for a few minutes until golden brown.

 

 

Hiking in the Swiss Alps 2016

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Wishing you all a happy weekend!

Ursula

 

 

 

 

You can find me on Instagram: @littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

Maple Walnut Tarts

Happy Sunday everyone! Here in Ontario Canada we are enjoying a longer weekend because of Family Day Monday! The weather is above average, warm and sunny, perfect to go for a walk or run. We are spending some quality time with my mom who is visiting from Switzerland.

One of the things I grew to love since coming to Canada is Maple Syrup. I can’t wait for the Maple Syrup season to begin!

The Canadian province of Quebec is by far the largest producer, responsible for 75% of the world’s output. Vermont is the largest producer in the United States generating about 6% of the global supply.

 

 

Love the combination of Maple Syrup and Nuts!!

 

 

This recipe makes enough for a 9-inch (about 23cm)pie dish or 12 3 1/2-inch (9cm) tart pans.

 

Maple Walnut Tarts

Pastry 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup ice-cold water (approx.)

 

Walnut Filling

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

 

-Preheat oven to 425F (220C)

Pastry:

–In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add water 2 tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork. Add a little more water if necessary. Press mixture into 2 flat disks. Wrap in plastic foil or waxed paper and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Filling:

–In a bowl, beat together eggs, syrup, brown sugar, melted butter and vanilla until just blended.

-On a lightly floured board, roll out pastry disks. Cut into 5-inch (12cm) circle. Line 12 tart pans or a 9-inch round pie dish with pastry.

-Divide walnuts and maple syrup mixture equally among tart shells. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is soft set.

-Let stand 15 minutes before removing from tart pans. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

The recipe is adapted from the Get Cracking cookbook.

 

 

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No-Bake Fruit Pie with Coconut Milk Custard

Happy Weekend everyone!

This is an other no bake dessert. The crust is made out off nuts and dates-that’s all! Filled with my Coconut Milk Custard, which I used in a previous recipe, Coconut Custard mini tarts with mixed berries, and topped with fruit of your choice…so delicious and healthy:) I will definitely make this again.

 

 

Prepare Custard in advance.

 

No-Bake-Fruit Pie

Crust:

• 1cup Medjool dates
• (if you use other dates, soak them in water first to soften a bit)
• 3cups mixed raw nuts

-Grease a 9-inch pie dish.

-In a food processor grind nuts and dates until finely chopped. It should stick together. Spread evenly into pie dish.

 

Coconut Custard:

• find recipe here: Coconut Custard mini tarts with mixed berries

-Prepare Custard ahead.

 

-Fill pie with the Coconut Milk Custard and top with fruit of your choice. I used Blueberries, Kiwis and Orange-Segments.

-Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, it will be easier to serve.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

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