Baker's Theory

Lemon Sheet Cake

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My dad was visiting town and he loves lemon flavored desserts as much as I do, so I made this cake so we could relish in lemony sweetness together! This cake is very lemony. I like an equal balance of sweet and acidic when it comes to lemon desserts. 

Oh, and I finally got some buttermilk. No more lemon-in-milk-because-I-don’t-have-the-buttermilk-Ree-calls-for-in-the-recipe, ironically. It probably would have been fine in this case since it’s a lemon cake. But I took the recipe the Pioneer Woman has for chocolate sheet cake and I transformed it into my own citrusy cake. 

*FYI, using self-rising flour is a nice little time saver for cakes. It already has the leavening agent in it. If you don’t have it, though, I’d use a ratio of 1/2 tsp per cup of all-purpose flour. 

I like when the lemon glaze hardens and adds a slightly crisp texture to a soft and dense cake. I wish I had some lemon twists to garnish with!

I wondered out loud whether I should garnish this with a raspberry sauce, but then Jim said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” He’s so smart. I love him. Though I am wondering about that raspberry sauce now…

Lemon Sheet Cake by Baker’s Theory

Ingredients

For the cake

2 cups sugar
2 cups self-rising flour*
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup buttermilk

For the lemon glaze

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp fresh lemon zest

Serves 24

Instructions

For the cake

Grease a jelly roll pan and preheat the oven to 350F. 

Combine sugar, flour, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

In a small pot, melt butter with 1 1/2 cups water and lemon juice. Pour into mixing bowl with sugar and flour, combining with a whisk. Then add the buttermilk, vanilla, eggs plus yolk, and lemon zest. 

Pour batter into pan and bake for 20 minutes. Cool completely. 

For the lemon glaze

Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest together until thick and syrupy. When cake is completely cooled, spread glaze over it evenly. Chill in refrigerator to harden the glaze, about one hour. 

 

Monster Cookies

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The refrigerator was starting to get weighed down with butter, so I thought I would help offload some of it with cookies. Originally I was going to go for the standard chocolate chip cookie, which I’ve gotten from Allrecipes and absolutely love. But on a whim I decided to mix things up a bit. I had peanut butter and mini M&Ms. Why not offload the pantry too? So the result was these monster cookies, which aren’t really monstrous at all. They’re about the size of a silver dollar. (Not to be confused with a silver dollar pancake! That would be a regular cookie size in my opinion!) A coworker of mine called them “cookie vitamins” because they were so small, you could take them like a handful of vitamins. Whatever you call them, smaller cookies are cuter and you can feel less guilty eating them! This batch yielded about 50 mini cookies and 24 regular cookies. 

Monster Cookies by Baker’s Theory

Makes about 48 regular cookies or 100 mini cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, softened 
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
1 tsp sea salt
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini M&Ms

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. 

With a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Add in the eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth. Scrape in the baking powder solution, and add salt. 

Add the flour one cup at a time, mixing between additions. 

Fold in the peanut butter and add chocolate chips and M&Ms. 

Roll or form into balls or cubes (about the size of a nickel in diameter for mini cookies or 1″ in diameter for regular cookies), and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You should be able to fit 25 mini cookies on the sheet or 12-16 regular cookies on a sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes. 

Smashed Brussels Sprout Salad

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I think everyone should put their salads on display in a trifle bowl. They’re so bright, colorful, and full of texture. It should be appreciated! 

I’ve been in need of some greens to counteract all the sweets I’ve made lately, and this hit the spot. I roast Brussels sprouts in the oven and then smash them flat, making it easy to secure them in the trifle bowl. Then I add caramelized onions, hangover kale, a sliced honeycrisp apple, toasted walnuts, and shaved parmesan. Top it with a lemony dressing and you’ve got one beautifully layered and delicious salad. 

If you’re charged with bringing the salad to a party, I highly recommend this! You can make it ahead of time or serve it warm. 

The hangover kale in this recipe is one of my go-to recipes for any sort of vegetable. It is essentially preparing vegetables aglio e olio style: garlic, olive oil, chili flakes, and Parmesan. It’s classic and you can’t go wrong with it. I make it on its own all the time. I got the inspiration from my favorite restaurant in Saint Paul called Mucci’s. They use pancetta and its fat in their hangover kale, and they use fresh chiles. It’s seriously delicious. 

Pro tip: Use a potato peeler to shave a wedge of Parmesan. 

Smashed Brussels Sprout Salad by Baker’s Theory

Ingredients

For the Brussels Sprouts Layer

8 oz frozen Brussels sprouts
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

For the Caramelized Onions Layer

2 medium yellow onions
2 tbsp butter

 

For the Hangover Kale Layer

8 oz fresh kale leaves, stems removed
4 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Juice from 1/2 fresh lemon

For the Apples, Walnuts, and Parmesan Layers

1 honeycrisp apple
6 oz whole shelled walnuts
2.5 oz shaved Parmesan cheese

For the dressing

Juice of 1 large lemon, no seeds
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

 

Serves 8-10

Instructions

For the Brussels Sprouts Layer

In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and toss sprouts until evenly coated. Spread onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Take out of oven and smash either by hand or with a potato masher. Transfer into trifle bowl. 

 

For the Caramelized Onions Layer

Slice two medium yellow onions and saute in a pan of hot butter. Stir as needed. Don’t over stir or you will prevent the onions from caramelizing. It should take about 20 minutes to caramelize. Transfer to the trifle bowl.

 

For the Hangover Kale

Boil salted water in a medium pot. When boiling, add kale and stir until just cooked, about 2 minutes. Kale will shrink down when boiled. Remove with tongs and either shock kale in an ice bath or spread out onto a cookie sheet to cool. 

In a medium skillet, heat olive oil. When oil is shimmering, add garlic slices until golden and beginning to turn brown. Do not burn. Working quickly, add the chili flakes and stir, and then add the kale immediately after. (Waiting too long at this step makes it difficult to breathe in the kitchen from the chili!) Sautee until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and toss with Parmesan. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over it. Transfer to the trifle bowl. 

For the Apples, Walnuts, and Parmesan Layers

Slice the apple in thin, 1/8″ slices, and sprinkle with lemon juice to keep fresh if not serving immediately. This will prevent the apple from oxidizing. Arrange in trifle bowl.

 

On a small, parchment-lined baking sheet, arrange walnuts in a flat layer. Toast at 350 F for 8-10 minutes. Transfer to the trifle bowl. 

Either purchase pre-shaved Parmesan or using a potato peeler, shave Parmesan off the wedge until you have about a looseley packed cup. Arrange in trifle bowl. 

For the dressing

Whisk lemon juice, oil, and salt in a bowl. Either pour over the trifle or serve on the side. 

 

Winter Citrus Salad

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Oh gosh, you guys. This is a yummy one. My lovely friend, Lauren, made this salad for me and I was in heaven immediately. I do not normally like pomegranate seeds, but they were absolutely perfect with this salad. Combined with the mint, this is such a fresh flavor for a snack, breakfast, a party app, dinner side, or dessert! And it’s wonderfully colorful. I love when foods can be decoration, too. 

The most important (and admittedly tedious) part of this salad is cutting the fruits. You peel the oranges and grapefruits with a knife to get rid of all the pulpy exterior, then you cut between each individual slice. You know how each slice of orange or grapefruit has a skin surrounding it? That’s what you want to cut out! 

Winter Citrus Salad

Ingredients

1 grapefruit
1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon, no seeds
Juice of 1 lime
3 tsp sugar
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
2 tbsp fresh mint, stems removed and minced

Serves 3-4 (Definitely recommend doubling or tripling if making for a crowd)

Instructions

Cut off the tops and bottoms of the grapefruit and orange. Cut off the peels so that barely any pulp is showing. 

Using the fruit’s pulpy veins to guide you, cut the fruit slices out of their veins so they are freed of their casings. Place the fruit slices in a serving bowl. Squeeze the remaining juice out of the fruit that is leftover once you’ve cut all of your slices. 

Add lemon and lime juice over your slices. Sprinkle with sugar, pomegranate seeds, and mint. Stir to combine and serve!

 

How to Make Jam

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Homemade jam is my jam. You control how much sugar is in it, and you know exactly goes in it! It also makes a wonderful gift, along with homemade butter and bread.

Once you learn how to make jam, you can make jam from just about anything. My friend Lauren made me fig jam and spiced pear jam for Christmas last year. 

It’s super easy and it lasts a long time. The essential ingredients are some kind of citrus fruit, sugar, and your desired fruit for the jam. Citrus contains pectin which is a natural gelling agent. Pectin is mainly in the citrus peel, but is also in the juice. The more pectin your jam has, the more gelatinous it will be. You can also buy pectin at the store and add it in lieu of citrus. Another good gelling agent is cornstarch, and you can add it to your jam if it’s too runny for your taste. 

The basic ratio is this: 2-3 cups fruit, 2 cups sugar, juice of one lemon, and a pinch of cornstarch (1/4 tsp). The more fruit you use, the thicker your jam. 

Some jams I’ve made lately are strawberry, raspberry, and cranberry orange. You can top cheesecakes or tarts with them, spread them on toast, or add them to a charcuterie board. 

Cranberry Orange Tart made with Cranberry Orange Persimmon jam!

Basic Jam Recipe by Baker’s Theory

2 cups berries
2 cups sugar
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp cornstarch (optional)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, mash berries with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch (if using) on low heat. Raise heat to high once the consistency is to your liking. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly. Then allow to boil for a full minute without stirring. Remove from heat. You can strain the seeds with a fine mesh colander if desired. Or you can transfer directly into hot jars* and seal shut. Refrigerate and use within a month. 

*You can heat treat glass jars by pouring boiling water in them, then pouring out the boiling water just before you add your jam to the jar. You don’t need to do this if you’re going to be consuming the jam immediately, such as a cheesecake topping or a tart. 

Chicken Parmesan

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The night Jim and I first started playing music together, we had chicken Parmesan for dinner made by his mom, Jane. Now we celebrate the anniversary of that day by playing Chopin’s Cello Sonata together (Jim plays the piano and I play the cello) and we have chicken Parmesan for dinner. 

Some tips for breading the chicken: Cut the chicken breasts thin–maybe 1/2″ thickness. Also, spread your breadcrumbs out on a baking pan and lay the chicken pieces in it. This helps get an even coating on the chicken and allows you space to finish dredging them in egg. 

I made a quick homemade tomato sauce for this, but you can just as easily use a jar or two of your favorite tomato sauce!

Chicken Parmesan Recipe by Baker’s Theory

Ingredients

For the chicken

1 1/3 lb chicken breast*, sliced thinly into 8-9 pieces
Salt and pepper for initial chicken seasoning
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 cup regular breadcrumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tbsp butter, divided
Fresh and sliced mozzarella

Also

Tomato sauce (see below for recipe) 

1 lb cooked spaghetti

1/2 cup grated Parmesan, for topping

Serves 8

Instructions

For the chicken

Slice the chicken breast into thin, mini breasts. You should have about 8-9 mini chicken breasts. Sprinkle them each with salt and pepper. Put flour in a shallow dish. Drop the chicken in the shallow dish of flour, coating each piece with flour. Set chicken on a plate.

In a medium bowl, beat two eggs with 1/4 cup milk. 

In a large rimmed baking pan combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, Italian seasoning, salt, and garlic powder. You can use your hands to mix it up so the mixture is consistent. 

Dredge each chicken piece in the egg mixture, then drop onto the breadcrumbs in the pan. Do this for each piece of chicken until they are all in the pan. Turn the chicken in the breadcrumbs, making sure they are coated completely in breadcrumbs. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350. 

Heat 1 tbsp of butter in a medium skillet and fry the breaded chicken breasts in batches, just long enough to get a golden crust on both sides of the chicken. Use about 1 tbsp of butter per 3 mini breasts. 

Transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet and top with fresh mozzarella slices. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Serve chicken atop al dente spaghetti and cover in tomato sauce (see below) and more grated Parmesan cheese. 

 

For the tomato sauce (makes 8-10 servings)

1 medium onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
4 tbsp butter
1 28 oz can pureed tomatoes
1 28 oz can (San Marzano) whole peeled tomatoes
1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp white sugar
2 cups water or chicken broth

 

In a large Dutch oven melt butter. When bubbling, add onion and garlic, stirring for 3-5 minutes, until onions are soft. Pour in both cans of tomatoes. Add Italian seasoning, tomato paste, salt, sugar, and broth. Cook on medium-low heat, covered for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally so it does not burn. With a hand blender, puree the sauce until smooth and no pieces of onion or whole tomato are visible. Taste for salt, adding more if needed. 

Ladle over cooked chicken breasts and pasta. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. 

Swedish Meatballs

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Swedish meatballs with egg noodles here! I was so excited when Jim said he’d never had them before because he’s kind of a basic eater and GUESS WHAT. HE LIKED THEM. Granted, for the rest of us food snobs, Swedish meatballs are hardly exotic, but you know that exciting feeling when you introduce someone to something new and they like it?! I’m on cloud nine right now! He calls this dish “Mr. Meatball.”

These are traditionally served with mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce, but egg noodles work with beef stroganoff, so I figured this was close enough. And I checked Cub for lingonberry sauce–$8! Whoa. So I had some leftover homemade raspberry jam and liked it paired with this dish instead!

Swedish Meatballs Recipe by Baker’s Theory

Ingredients

For the meatballs

2 slices of white bread, crusts trimmed
1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream
1 1/3 lbs ground beef (fat content of your choice)
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 scant tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
2 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 cup warm water
Vegetable oil for pan

For the sauce

3 tbsp salted butter
1/2 medium onion, sliced
4 oz portobello mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
Salt and pepper as needed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan for topping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. 

Soak bread in milk or cream in a large bowl for about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, add ground beef, egg, salt, pepper, and brown sugar, mixing by hand. Slowly pour in water in thirds. Meat will absorb the water and you should still be able to form balls.

Roll 1 1/2″ wide balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Should make about 24-30 balls.

Heat a heavy bottomed non-stick pot or pan (bearing in mind you will make the sauce in it) with a thin layer of vegetable oil. When oil is shimmering, add about 1/3 of the meatball batch, rotating on the sides to get a golden brown crust. Transfer back to the cookie sheet. Finish frying the rest of the batch, transferring back to the cookie sheet once braised. 

Place the sheet in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.

For the sauce, use the same pot meatballs were braised in. Melt butter and add onion, stirring occasionally until onions are browned. Add mushrooms halfway through browning onions so they turn golden. Toss flour over the onions and mushrooms, stirring quickly to coat them in flour without causing them to burn. Quickly add heavy cream, sour cream, and milk, stirring vigorously with a whisk. (You may also add 1 cup of chicken or beef broth if you’d like your sauce to be thinner.) Reduce heat to low to avoid boiling the dairy. Add in Worchestershire sauce and stir to incorporate. Add salt and pepper as desired. Add meatballs back into sauce. Top with grated Parmesan.

Serve over 1 lb cooked egg noodles or mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce or raspberry jam!

*To make raspberry jam, mash 12 oz fresh (and rinsed) raspberries with the juice of 1 lemon plus its zest and 2 cups of white sugar in a medium-sized, heavy bottomed sauce pan. Bring to a boil for a full minute without stirring. Then remove from heat and strain the seeds using a fine mesh strainer or cheese cloth, capturing the gelatinous jam and discarding the seeds. Transfer to a hot glass jar (preheat the jar with boiling water, then dump out the water before putting in jam) and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before using. 

You can use the same recipe to make strawberry or cranberry jam. You can also use orange instead of lemon–both are high in pectin and will cause natural gelling. 

 

Lemon Tart

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Jim is always chiding me for not liking any dessert that doesn’t contain chocolate, and my only retort (no pun intended) is that I love lemon desserts. This lemon tart is beautifully bright in flavor and color! And while lemon is traditionally a summer flavor, I am just fine with it year round, especially when it comes in the form of a luscious, sweet and acidic pastry. I brought this tart to work this morning and it was gone within the hour! 

Ingredients

For the tart shell

10 tbsp softened salted butter
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
Water, as needed

For the lemon filling

Zest of 1 large lemon
Juice of 1 large lemon (without seeds)
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 egg yolks
Pinch of salt

Instructions

For the tart shell

In a medium bowl, combine butter, flour, and sugar by hand or with a hand mixer. It will be crumbly, but if you press it together with your fingers, it should start to stick together. Add a few drops of water if you need it to stick more. 

Press the dough into 9″ tart pan, poke a few holes in the bottom of it with a fork for ventilation, and bake at 350 F for 10 minutes. 

For the lemon filling

Vigorously whisk (by hand or with a hand mixer) zest, juice, sugar, and yolks. Add the zest directly to the yolks. Add a pinch of salt and mix once more. Then pour the filling into the baked tart shell. (It doesn’t have to be cooled.)

Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting or topping with powdered sugar, if desired. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sheet Cake

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This cake is up there with the Matilda Cake for my favorite desserts. It’s a variation on the Pioneer Woman’s Texas sheet cake combined with my mom’s classic peanut butter frosting. It is dense, sweet, and very chocolatey, and on top of all that, it’s peanutty! Could it get any better?? 

The peanut butter frosting is very forgiving–it’s a 1:1 ratio of peanut butter to powdered sugar combined with a bit of whipped cream. 

The hashmark chocolate ganache tops it all off and is my mom’s signature design to this dessert, though she does it with much more flair than I do! That is just Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate with more whipping cream. For our next house, I need to get a tap for heavy whipping cream. 

As a general note, I have found in my research that it is best to add vanilla and chocolate to the “fats” of your dessert. This is because fats coat the tongue, so you want the prominent flavors to be in that coating. Therefore add your vanilla directly into the egg yolks and the chocolate into the butter! 

A helpful tip for getting your ganache (or any frosting) into a pastry or Ziploc bag is to shove the bag into a tall water glass and pull the edges over the rim. Then spoon or pour your ganache or frosting into the bag. This way keeps your bag upright and minimizes the mess!

 

Ingredients

For the cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup 2% milk plus 1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 sticks butter
1 cup hot water
2 tsp powdered coffee (optional)
1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa

For the peanut butter frosting
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar

For the chocolate ganache
4 oz Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

For the cake
Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside. 
In a separate bowl combine milk, lemon juice, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside. 
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and add water to it. Remove from heat and add in cocoa and coffee, if using. 

When combined, add the butter-cocoa mixture to the flour-sugar mixture. Then slowly add the milk mixture too. 

Whisk until combined. Pour batter into a jelly roll pan lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. 

Allow to cool completely before frosting. 

For the peanut butter frosting
With a hand or stand mixer, whip cream until soft peaks begin to form. Add the peanut butter and continue whipping. Slowly add sugar until the consistency is mostly firm, but can drip still. You may not use all 2 cups. Spread over cooled cake.

For the chocolate ganache
Melt chocolate in microwave in 20-second intervals. After the first two rounds, add whipping cream and continue microwaving in 20-second intervals until you can easily stir the melted chocolate and it’s a rich, dark brown color. Do not burn! 

With a pastry or Zipbloc bag lining a water glass, pour ganache into bag and seal. Snip a corner and create first vertical and then diagonal lines with the chocolate over the peanut butter frosting. 

 

Note: You can serve it right away, but the cake cuts most easily after it has chilled for an hour or two! I’d recommend cutting it with a pancake flipper and wiping it off (aka, gobbling up the cake/frosting stuck to the knife) clean between each cut. 

This is different from the Pioneer Woman’s recipe in a couple of ways:

1. I don’t have buttermilk on hand. I just don’t. I probably should given how much I bake and cook, but I seem to get by just fine with slightly acid milk (milk+lemon). Maybe some time I will do a side-by-side comparison. 

2. The reason buttermilk or acidic milk is called out in the recipe is to create a reaction with the baking soda. If you ever made a volcano in science class, you might remember that adding an acid (buttermilk) to a base (baking soda) will cause a pretty quick and fizzy reaction. This reaction is the release of carbon dioxide, or air bubbles. These bubbles are what lift the cake up so its fluffy and tall (well, tall-ish. It is a sheet cake!) I don’t want this reaction to happen until the cake is in the oven and beginning to warm up and rise! That is why I don’t combine the baking soda with the acidic milk until just before we pour the batter into the pan, whereas the Pioneer Woman recipe says to do it at the beginning. Who knows if it makes a difference? I’m probably just proud of my volcano experiment. 

3. I add coffee powder to the cake. It does not have a distinctive coffee flavor; the coffee just enhances the chocolate-y-ness of the cake!

4. The frosting recipe is my mom’s! 

Caramelized Mushroom and Onion Tart

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I think my fascination with tarts is coming to a close soon. I’m sure it’ll make a resurgence after I’ve had some caloric recovery time from the holidays! I can only eat so much creamed cheese before the new pants I got last week won’t fit anymore. 

Anyway, the gist of it is this: 

First, the crust is more ground up pretzels (I think stores need to start selling bags of those) with grated parmesan, flour, cream, and butter. 

The filling is creme fresh, brie cheese, and yes, more parmesan. 

The topping is caramelized onions and mushrooms cooked in butter, garlic, and Worcestershire sauce. 

Savory, creamy, sweet, salty, and yummy! I like this flavor combo! 

Ingredients

For the crust

1 cup ground pretzel

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp flour

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/2 tbsp heavy cream

For the filling

5 oz creme fresh (2.5 oz sour cream + 2.5 oz cream cheese is an okay substitute)

4 oz brie cheese, rind removed

3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

Truffle salt or oil (optional)

For the topping

1 medium yellow onion

2 tbsp butter, divided

8 oz portobello mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

 

Instructions

For the crust

Combine all ingredients by hand until dough is soft and malleable. Press into an 8″ tart or springform pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F. Cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes. 

For the filling

Using a hand mixer, mix the creme fresh, brie, and parmesan together until well blended. Add your desired amount of truffle if using. Spread over slightly cooled crust. 

For the topping

Caramelize onions by slow cooking them in 1 tbsp butter in a heavy bottomed pan on low heat for about an hour. Stir often enough so onions do not burn, but not so often that they don’t brown. 

Arrange caramelized onions over the filling. 

In the same pan, melt the remaining butter. When hot, add the portobello mushrooms and garlic, stirring until mushrooms are shrunken and golden. Add Worcestershire sauce and continue stirring for another 2-3 minutes. 

Spoon the mushrooms over the caramelized onions. 

Remove tart pan wall and serve.