Butlers Bell Blog

I used pre-made chocolate tart shells for this recipe, but will make handmade ones for future.  The key lime curd is perfect, sweetly tart and the chcolate cookie tart shell is a wonderful accent.

For the filling:

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 C. Sugar
• 1/3 C. Key Lime Juice
• 2 oz white chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature cut into small pieces
• 12 - 2.5″ chocolate tartlet shells

Fill a saucepan with 1″ water and heat to a simmer.  Meanwhile, in a metal bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until well blended and light yellow.  Whisk in the key lime juice. Place the bowl over the simmering water.  Stirring constantly, heat until the curd is thickened.

Remove from heat.  Add the white chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.  Add butter one piece at a time, incorporating each piece before adding the next.

Pour into the tartlet shells, smoothing the surface.  Chill about 4 hours to set.  Bring to room temperature to serve.

Can garnish with candied key key lime zest or cacao nibs.

Pumpkin Smoothie

• 1/2 C Pumpkin Puree, chilled
• 1/2 C Lowfat Vanilla Yogurt
• 4 slices Peaches, frozen
• 1 small Granny Smith Apple, peeped, seeded and sliced
• 2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

• 6 oz Neufchatel Cheese (American Style) or Cream Cheese
• 1 C. Frozen Spinach, thawed and chopped
• 10 oz jar Artichoke hearts, drained well and chopped
• 1/4 C. Mayonnaise
• 1/4 C. Sour Cream
• 1/3 C. Shredded Parmesan
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/8 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• pinch of salt
• Sweet Paprika, garnish

Squeeze liquid out of spinach and artichokes.  Warm Neufchatel cheese in microwave until hot and soft.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients.  Sprinkle paprika on top.  Can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.  I like to  serve it with pita chips.

If you’ve spent much time making cookies, you’ve probably had a batch that spread more than it should have.  Here are 4 causes of cookie spread:

1. When mixing the fats and sugars, don’t over-mix. The idea here is just to incorporate these ingredients, not to incorporate air. Over-mixing will incorporate air, which is the leading cause for cookie spread. When combined, it should look like wet sand.
2. Too much leavening. If you add too much baking soda and/or baking powder to your cookies, they will generate too much air and cause cookie spread. (Also, there will be a chemical taste to the cookies.)
3. Greasing (or over greasing) the baking sheet. The slick surface provides no resistance to spreading of the dough as it heats.
4. Low oven temperature. Fats melt before starches and proteins set…you get the picture.
5. Uneven mixing.  If you have part of the batch that spreads, while the rest are beautiful,  this is the result of uneven distribution of ingredients.  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl a couple of times during the mixing process so that there is not unincorporated ingredients left at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

In the first months of 2008, I had the opportunity to volunteer on the set during the filming of Writer/Director  Daniel Millican’s latest film titled, “The Imposter”.  I joined them after they had already been filming for a week or so and they were really in need of someone dedicated to providing craft services (snacks and beverages) and meals, which is right up my alley.  I was so happy that I could lend a helping hand to this project and I met a lot of wonderful people during that time.

The film is a modern day prodigal son story set in Christian music industry.  It stars Kevin Max (dc Talk), Kerry Livgren (Kansas, Proto-Kaw), and Jeff Deyo (formerly of Sonicflood).  The movie was filmed in the DFW area and will premiere Sunday October 12th through Thursday October 16, 2008 at Studio Movie Grill’s Plano, Arlington, Lewisville and Copperfield locations.

For more information about the film, or to purchase tickets for those of you who are in the DFW or Houston area, visit www.TheImposterMovie.com.  Also, discount tickets are available for groups of 10 or more by contacting me at TheImposterMovie@gmail.com

Raspberry Napoleon

A napoleon is a pastry also called Milles Feuilles, meaning a thousand layers in French.  It refers to the puff pastry that is traditionally used to sandwich layers of pastry cream.  The top layer of puff would be covered with two flavors of fondant with a feather design.

I used layers of phyllo instead of puff for this one, folded whipped cream into the vanilla pastry cream and added some ripe raspberries.   A light sprinkling of powdered sugar on top, instead of fondant.  The plate decoration is creme anglaise and raspberry coulis.  It makes a refreshing dessert for a hot summer evening dinner party.

Hello!  I am Chef Mary and this is the official blog of Butler’s Bell.

My plan is to post cooking tips and recipes in this blog, as well as let you know what is going on at Butler’s Bell.  If you have a question about an ingredient or method that you have seen in a recipe or cooking magazine, please ask and I’ll do my best to answer your questions here.

Happy cooking!