ORANGE TIAN - THE DARING BAKERS

Every month I tell myself to start baking for the Daring Bakers' as early as possible, but as usual, I end up getting caught up by time and never manage to embark myself on that monthly journey into a new baking frontier before the very last moment (generally a few days prior to the deadline)...

The 2010 March Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jennifer of "Chocolate Shavings" who chose "Orange Tian" as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

I was really looking forward to making that "Orange Tian" as not only did it sound interesting, but also because it seemed not too rich and spring-like. Now, that winter has ended, we crave lighter desserts and shun away from the heavier versions on which we splurged during the cold season

Ducasse's "Orange Tian" recipe was very easy to prepare, but it was nonetheless time consuming. After two days of marmelade-, pâte sablée- and caramel-making we were finally able to indulge ourselves in the most delightful and refined fruit dessert that I have ever made.

At first, I wanted to make my tian with blood oranges, but as my favorite supermarket had none on sale, I had to take Navel oranges instead. So, I followed the recipe to the letter. I only added my personal touch to the pâte sablée which I flavored with ground Mahlep, a Turkish and Greek spice.

This dessert is really exquisite, not too sweet and so fresh. The oranges bring a wonderfully fruity touch, the cream filling is very delicate tasting and the sweet and buttery pastry crust (pâte sablée) brings a marvelous as well as contrasting flakiness to the whole. A perfectly balanced dessert. Divine!

Many thanks to Jennifer for making me discover this "Orange Tian" that is an excellent after dinner treat...

~ Orange Tian ~

Preparation time:
Pâte Sablée - 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake
Marmalade - 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch

Orange segments - 20 minutes, overnight to sit
Caramel - 15 minutes, overnight to sit
Whipped Cream - 15 minutes
Assembling - 20 minutes
Freezer to Set - 10 minutes

Equipment required:
• Cookie cutters . Ideally, you should have about 6 cookie cutters to build the desserts in and cut the circles of dough (see photo). The cookie cutters will be the size of your final dessert, so they should be the size of an individually-sized tart mold. If you don’t have round cookie cutters you could use an individually-sized cheesecake mold wit hout its base.

• A food processor (although the dough could be made by hand too)
• A stand-up or hand mixer
• Parchment paper or a silicone sheet
• A baking sheet
• A rolling pin

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PÂTE SABLÉE

Ingredients:
2 Medium-sized egg yolks at room, temperature
6 Tbs + 1 Tsp (2.8 oz/80g) Granulated sugar
1/2 Tsp Pure vanilla extract

1/4 Cup + 3 Tbs (3.5 oz/100g) Unsalted butter, ice cold & cubed
1/3 Tsp (2g) Sea salt
1 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbs (70z/200g) All-purpose flour
1 Tsp (4g) Baking powder
1 Tsp Ground Mahlep

Method:
1. Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
2. In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
3. Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
5. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle. 6. Using your cookie cutter, cut out circles of dough and place on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

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ORANGE MARMALADE

Ingredients:
1/4 Cup + 3 Tbs (3.5oz/100g) Freshly pressed orange juice
1 Large organic orange
Cold water to cook the orange slices
5 g Pectin
Granulated sugar (use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked)

Method:
1. Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
2. Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
3. Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.
4. Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).
5. Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
6. In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
7. Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

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ORANGE SEGMENTS

Ingredients:
8 Organic oranges.

Method:
1. Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

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CARAMEL

Ingredients:
1 Cup (70z/200g) Granulated sugar
1 1/2 Cups + 2 Tbs (14oz/400g)

Method:
1. Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it. Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice.
2. As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments (Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon - about 10 minutes. You can then spoon it over the orange tians).

Tip:
Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!

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WHIPPED CREAM

Ingredients:
1 Cup (7oz/200g) Heavy whipping cream (35% fat)
3 Tbs Hot water
1 Tsp Gelatine powder
1 Tbs Confectioner's sugar
1 Tbs Orange marmalade (see recipe above)

Method:
1. In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream.
2. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute.
3. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream.
4. Then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks.
5. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.

Tip:
Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.

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ASSEMBLING THE DESSERT

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Method:
1. Line a small tray or baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone sheet. Lay out 6 cookie cutters onto the parchment paper/silicone.
2. Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
3. Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.
4. Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter (Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps and that they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart).
5. Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
6. Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough. Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream).
7. Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
8. Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.
9. Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold.
10. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cookie cutter, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

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Etant donné la longueur du texte original, je n'ai malheureusement pas pu faire une traduction française de ce billet et je m'en excuse auprès de tous mes amis lecteurs et blogueurs francophones!

C'est pourquoi je vous suggère de vous rendre sur le blog mentionné ci-dessous. Vous y trouverez cette recette en version française.

Chez Isa de "Les Gourmandises d'Isa" (Canada)
Chez Isabelle de "Eat My Cake Now" (France)