A is for St Anne and for Apple Tart

France, the 'Eldest Daughter of the Church' has always had a special connection to St Anne, since it's earliest days.  If you have ever watched the 4 part documentary Eldest Daughter of the Church (which I high recommend) you will see it begins with St Anne ~ her venerable body being carefully transported from the persecution in the Holy Land, in a boat with Sts Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, Martha and other notable New Testament people.  They have been cast out by their persecutors into a boat with no oars and by the grace of God, arrival safely to the shores of France.  This country was to be the final resting place for St Anne and devotion has spread out from there to all parts of the world, notably Canada, where her greatest shrine stands, in La Côte-de-Beaupré.

Since St Anne's feast day falls in height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, where fruit is abundant and enjoyed, it comes as no surprise that fruit tarts are a tradition for her feast.  There would be great spiritual symbolism as well, St Anne is the 'fruitful, flowering vine of Jesse' and Mary is the Immaculate  'fruit of her womb'.  Her tomb in Apt, France had been engraved with this symbolism as Frances Parkinson Keyes points out in her book, "St Anne, Grandmother of Our Saviour":

"This design is still visible, in exacly the same form wherein it was graven so many centuries ago. It consists of the flowering branch of a tree, interlaced with a vine bearing both foliage and grapes. To look at it is an experience so moving that, months after gazing at it, this chronicler finds it impossible even to write of it without profound emotion. For it reveals, unmistakably, that when the stone slab was carved, even as now, men and women were reverently reciting the litany which begins:

"St Anne, Grandmother of our Saviour, pray for us." And continues: "St Anne, Root of Jesse, St Anne, Fruitful Vine....pray for us."

St Anne's tomb engraving.

So I have made for my family today a fruit tart ~ an apple tart.  Apple is a very good choice of fruit for St Anne because Eve in the Garden of Eden, corrupted the apple, whereas Mary is the 'new Eve' who restores what is corrupted and Mary is the fruit of St Anne's womb..I think of the typology of the two Eves and think ~ apple.  

I wanted something that was delicious and healthy.   So I found a lovely recipe that is gluten-free with minimal sugar, using hazelnut meal for the crust/base and agave nectar and apple cider with the apple filling.  My husband said, 'well I really enjoyed that', so I think it is a good recipe, just the perfect amount of sweetness and worth trying.  The recipe was adapted by Tamara Duker Freuman at her website here.

APPLE HAZELNUT TART

Flourless Hazelnut Tart Crust

1.5 cup Hazelnut Meal

6 Tbsp of powdered sugar (I used rapadura)

2 Tbsp of butter at room temp 

1 1/2 Tbsp of cream

I just kneaded the ingredients together, popped the bowl in the fridge for 15mins, then pressed the dough into 9" tart dish.  I pre-baked the pie crust in the oven at 375 degrees (for Australia, that would be 190 degrees), for about 5mins or so and then removed it from the oven, ready to fill with the apple filling

Apple Filling

2 lbs (1 kg) Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced into 1/2" wedges

1/4 cup agave nectar

3/4 cup apple cider

I placed the apple slices into a large frypan, drizzled the agave nectar over the apples and poured in the apple cider.    I popped the lid on the frypan and let the apples cook for about 10-15mins (the time depends on whether you want the shape of the slices kept or you are happy to to let the apple go to mush ~ I did the later).  I then removed the lid and let all the liquid evaporate and then spooned the filling into the tart dish.

I then put the tart into the oven at the same temperature as before and cooked for 25-30mins.  Once out of the oven, I let it cool so that it was mildly warm and served with whipped cream.  I cut the pie to serve 8.

Happy St Anne's Day!

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Scapular Cookies for Our Lady of Mt Carmel

This is my fourth year of making scapular cakes for the feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel and I have in turn been greatly inspired by other ladies creations in the last couple of years, so that my creation for each year, changes slightly with the continued inspiration I receive with ladies sharing their edible scapulars.

I was greatly impressed with Jackie Rosario's Children's Scapular Cake this year and I love Ruth's Scapular Brownies from last year. So this year I wanted to mix the two ideas together as well as keeping it simple for myself with very busy days at present. So my scapular cookies are made from store bought chocolate chip cookies and are particularly for mothers who want to whip up something quickly and on the run, rather than putting in the extra time of personal cooking. (Of course you could bake chocolate cookies if you wanted to.)

It was easy and quick to cut a rectangle out of each cookie.

The other nice thing with using cookies, they are nice and flat, very much like the thickness of a good, strong scapular!

I used store bought blue and white icing sugar tubes and black licorice straps. I used a stanly knife, with a very sharp blade for cutting the black straps of licorice into long scapular straps.

This is the image of the Children's Scapular that Jackie Rosario had used, it is a really lovely image for a brown scapular.

I used the blue icing sugar first and drew the 'M' ~ then I used the white icing to place in the 'A' between the M. I found this really easy and not terribly time consuming, I ended up making 12 scapulars and the icing work was not tedious.

...and they tasted fantastic!!

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St John the Baptist ~ Locusts and Honey

For the feast of St John the Baptist this year, we wanted to focus on the two staple foods he had lived on ~ locusts and honey.
I had bought last year a Nordic Ware Bee Hive Pan since I have a son born on the feast of St Ambrose (bee hive is one of his symbols) and I would say that this is one pan you can put to good use throughout the liturgical year as many saints were associated with bees..St Rita of Casica another and all the eloquent, "honey-tongued" preachers of the Church.

I used this lovely Carmel Banana cake recipe for the beehive, but any good cake recipe will do, of course a recipe that has honey in it, even more appropriate.

I poured the yellow icing sugar mixture over the top and made sure it ran down both sides to the bottom, so no join can be seen where the two halves are brought together. The bees are in the mold, you only need to colour the bees.

Here are some of our edible locusts, all lined up on our tray!

I bought some crunchy caramel sticks, they have that bit of 'crunch' like a locust would have as well as some 'ooze' (the caramel) they would have as well.

I cut each stick in half and made sure that I shaved a little more off to create an angle as you can see above.

I used one bag of pretzels.

So basically, it is the crunchy caramel stick, pretzels broken like you see above, pecans and a tube of black icing sugar.

My 'glue' to put the locusts together is icing sugar, a little water and yellow and red food dye to create an orange colour that goes well with the colour of the pretzels.

So I 'glued' a pecan on the back, for the locusts back wings folded together.

Then I 'glued' on the locusts legs.

Then 'glued' a peacan on the sloped front of the caramel stick for the head and with the black tube, created the pop eyes of a bug.

Awww, how can anybody eat that cute little critter?

Oh my goodness, a plague of them here!

They weren't an expensive endevour either, I bought the caramel sticks for $4 ~ that gave me up to 48 locusts. One bag of pecans, one bag of prezels, a little icing sugar and that was it!

Happy Feast Day!

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The Cloak of St Martin Cake

St Martin of Tours is a well known European saint whose feast day is known simply as Martinmas Day. Wikipedia has this to say:

"St. Martin's Day (or Martinstag or Martinmas) is November 11th the feast day of St Martin of Tours who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me."

The cake I made above was inspired by this little image below from Heraldry of the World.

I used a simple recipe for a plain loaf cake:

PLAIN LOAF CAKE

2/3 c. butter

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. flavoring extract

2 eggs, beaten

1 2/3 c. plain flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. milk

Cream butter, sugar, and flavoring together until light; beat the eggs and add to mixture. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together; add alternately with the milk. Beat 1/2 minute or about 30 strokes. Bake in an oiled and floured loaf-cake pan 40 minutes at 350-375 degrees.

I added a few drops of red colouring to the cake as well.

Here it is, straight out of the oven.


Notice how I have cut the cake, each piece is thinner at one end, wider at the other.




I then proceeded to ice the cake with icing, made from icing sugar, a little butter and boiling water, I added a few drops of red colouring. I iced both pieces, top and sides.

Here is the cake iced. I've used licorice straps, ($2 a bag) cut thinner with scissors, I just copied the pattern in the image further above, very simple. I used wider straps for the cloaks cords on either side, once again, just being guided by the image.

A close up of the licorice straps.

The sword I made from cookie dough, using the recipe below. Eitherwise, to save time, just find a toy sword amongst the children's toys and use that instead, or even just a nice, big kitchen knife.

PLAIN COOKIE RECIPE

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup plain flour

Pinch salt

65g butter (2.29oz)

1/4 cup sugar

1 small egg ~ milk (if too dry)

Method: 1.Mix butter and sugar till light and fluffy 2.Add egg, flour and salt, mix well. If mixture is too dry then add some milk. 3.Knead lightly and roll out on a floured board as thinly as possible. 4. Cut out into the shape of a sword, use a ruler for the sides. 5. Bake in a moderate oven 350°f (180°c) for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

I just used some of the left over icing for the sword and used a few lollies and some licorice for suitable decoration.

Editing to add Leslie's (The Vine and the Branches) beautiful Cloak of St Martin cake, a beautiful creation!

Wishing everyone a blessed Martinmas!

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October 13th - The Miracle of the Sun

Today is one of the Fatima days (13th October) but one of special importance as it was the last of the six apparitions and the one where Our Lady delivered her promise ~ a great miracle ~ the miracle of the sun.

Here is part of the report from the Lisborn newspaper O Seculo (that was incidently a pro-government, anti-clerical paper)

"From the road, where the vehicles were parked and where hundreds of people who had not dared to brave the mud were congregated, one could see the immense multitude turn toward the sun, which appeared free from clouds and in its zenith. It looked like a plaque of dull silver, and it was possible to look at it without the least discomfort. It might have been an eclipse which was taking place. But at that moment a great shout went up, and one could hear the spectators nearest at hand shouting: "A miracle! A miracle!

Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bareheaded, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws---the sun "danced" according to the typical expression of the people.

Standing at the step of an omnibus was an old man. With his face turned to the sun, he recited the Credo in a loud voice. I asked who he was and was told Senhor Joao da Cunha Vasconcelos. I saw him afterwards going up to those around him who still had their hats on, and vehemently imploring them to uncover before such an extraordinary demonstration of the existence of God.
Identical scenes were repeated elsewhere, and in one place a woman cried out: "How terrible! There are even men who do not uncover before such a stupendous miracle!"

People then began to ask each other what they had seen. The great majority admitted to having seen the trembling and the dancing of the sun; others affirmed that they saw the face of the Blessed Virgin; others, again, swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some said they saw it change colors successively...."

I hestitated to post this cake because my skills are not crash hot but I then I thought at least the idea is conveyed, I am sure that other ladies could do great justice with this idea!

I wanted to recreate this:

"others, again, swore that the sun whirled on itself like a giant Catherine wheel and that it lowered itself to the earth as if to burn it in its rays. Some said they saw it change colors successively."

I used a Marble Cake recipe.

250g (8.8 oz) butter, at room temperature
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
125g (1/2 cup) sour cream
2-3 drops pink liquid food colouring
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs milk

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C. (356 F or moderate oven) Brush a round 20cm (7.87 inches) (base measurement) cake pan with melted butter to grease. Line the base and side with non-stick baking paper.

Use an electric beater to beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until combined. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and stir until just combined. Add the sour cream and remaining flour, in batches, and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among 3 bowls. Add a few drops of pink food colouring to 1 portion and stir to combine. Combine the cocoa powder and milk in a small bowl and add to another portion of batter. Stir to combine.

Place alternate spoonfuls of the 3 batters into the prepared pan. Use a spoon to swirl the colours together to create a marble effect. Use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To ice the cake I made up a simple mixture using icing sugar and milk. I covered the cake in this uncoloured icing, see the photo above.

Then I took the four icing colours and placed a drop and with a clean finger, spread it around in a circle, starting from the center and working out to the edge and down the sides. Unfortunately I was almost out of yellow, I would have liked to have used more of that colour for a nice balance.

This would be a lovely cake to eat while watching the movie, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima the children also had alot of fun making the spinning, colourful sun.

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Our Lady of the Pillar Cake

Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, a beautiful, ancient apparition where Our Lady did not decend from heaven but bilocated to St James in Spain before her own death. Kathyrn from UK Bookworm has a lovely blog posting with more details of this incredible story.

Here is the wooden statue of Our Lady and the Child Jesus sitting up the jasper pillar (now covered in precious metal) that Our Lady gave to St James in Spain.

Here is the recipe for our cake:

SWISS ROLL

Melted butter, to grease
4 eggs, separated
125g (4.4 oz) white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour, sifted
Icing sugar, to dust
480g (1 1/2 cups) Hero Raspberry Swiss Preserve, warmed, strained

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. (356 F) (moderate oven) Brush a 24 x 30cm (base measurement) Swiss roll pan with melted butter and line with baking paper.

Use an electric beater to beat egg yolks, sugar and vanilla in a bowl until a ribbon trail forms when the beater is lifted.

Use clean beaters to beat egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into yolk mixture. Sift over flour and use a metal spoon to gently fold until combined.

Pour into prepared pan. Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven. Cover with baking paper, then a damp tea towel. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

Dust a piece of baking paper with icing sugar. Remove tea towel and paper from sponge and turn onto icing sugar. Spread with preserve. Starting with the short edge and using the baking paper as a guide, firmly roll up sponge. Wrap in baking paper and place, seam-side down, on a baking tray. Set aside for 30 minutes to set. Dust with icing sugar.

I made up some icing using icing sugar and milk, added a few drops of yellow colouring and piped the scrolling pattern onto the cake.

You can keep this easy if you like and buy a swiss roll, if time is pressing!

Here is our Our Lady of the Pillar craft, if you would like to see how we made this, click here.

Happy Feast Day!

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Tonsure of St Francis Cake

Yesterday morning I went to a garage sale. I was very fortunate to pick up a 9cup Nordicware Bundt pan for $1! I always like those moments, because often there is something about the timing of finding these treasures.

I looked at that Bundt pan and thought about the feast of St Francis that was going to be on the following day and I recalled to my mind this famous painting of the great saint:

If you were to play a Catholic version of a word association game and someone was to say to you, "Tonsure!" would you say, "St Francis!!" ? I think I would! Out of all the saints that had a tonsure I think St Francis would be one of the most famous and most memorable.

So what is a tonsure? Here is the explanation at Catholic.org

But to be brief, a tonsure was often a rite among religious monks as a symbol of their renunciation of the world and it's allure. There is this biblical reference to a tonsure in the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 18:18:

"And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cen'chre-ae: for he had a vow."

Here is a close up of our beautiful San Damiano Crucifix, that we bought for our ds 14, who took St Francis as his confirmation saint a few years back.

Here is my very simple recipe for the Tonsure Cake, use any sort of ring cake mould you may have.

185 grams (6.5 oz) butter, soften

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup of caster sugar (fine, white sugar)

3 eggs

2/3 cup of milk

2 cups self-raising flour

5 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/ Heat the oven to moderate. Grease your ring cake.

2/ Beat butter, essence and sugar in small bowl until light and fluffy; add eggs, one at a time, beat until combined.

3/ Stir in milk and sifted four and cocoa; spoon mixture into prepared pan.

4/ Bake cake in moderate oven for about an hour (I cooked it for about 50mins) Stand cake in pan 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool.

Icing:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon butter
2 or 3 tablespoons water

Pour icing mixture over the cake and then lastly I grated some dark chocolate and covered the warm icing mixture in grated chocolate to give the texture of short hair.

All done and ready to eat tonight with the family!

This can be a quick and easy cake to use for any of the saints who had tonsures...ones that come to mind are St Anthony and St Thomas Aquinas. There are probably many lesser known saints that had tonsures, so this cake may be a great way to remember them in a meal on their feast day if you have a particular devotion.

Happy Feast Day! St Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

Oh....I had to come back and add this cute photo! My dear daughter who helped me make this cake, wearing a Catholic Cuisine apron!

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St Rose of Lima Cookies

I had left over cookie dough from our cooking for St Augustine and St Monica's double feast, so I wondered what I could create with such a small amount for St Rose's feast tomorrow. I naturally was thinking about St Rose's symbols of a crown of thorns and roses...

Here is a lovely image of St Rose wearing a crown of thorns, which was part of her penitent life...

Which were really mystical roses in the eyes of her Heavenly Bridegroom...

I knew that I had a cookie cross cutout to use, so I decided on cross cookies with a wreath of thorns and roses encircled within.

The cookie recipe I used was this one:

Heat the oven to 315F (160C)
Beat together 4 oz (125g) cubed butter and 1/2 cup (125g/4oz) caster sugar until creamy.
Add 1 egg and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence and beat well.
Sift 1 cup (125g/4oz) plain flour & 1 cup (125g/4oz) self-raising flour & fold to form a soft dough.
Roll out dough and cut out cookie.
Bake for 10/15mins until lightly golden. Cool on wire rake until firm.

I saved a bit of dough for each cross cookie and rolled out a very thin strip to use for making the crown of thorns, I wanted them to have a lovely three dimentional look.

Here is my cooked cookie, the crown of thorns turned out well.

Here is a close up above and below is the little iced roses I made with a small icing tube of red icing, any floral color would do.

All dished up on favourite my 'Peirre de Ronsard Roses' serving plate!

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