Frenchdressing -- Bienvenue! I've enjoyed your blog, too! I envy your life in France - but I do try to go once a year. Your tarte tatin looks wonderful. It is one of the first things I seek when I land in France, after a salade chevre chaude or a crispy confit de canard. I want to try your recipe soon ... je ferme mes yeux et j'imagine... :)

You could make a strawberry rhubarb cake, with the amounts you have I'd make half a recipe and bake it in a square 8 inch pan. Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake Filling: 3 c Sliced fresh or frozen rhubarb, 1 inch pieces 1 Qt. Fresh strawberries, mashed 2 tb Lemon juice 1 c Sugar 1/3 c Cornstarch Cake: 3 c All-purpose flour 1 c Sugar 1 ts Baking powder 1 ts Baking soda 1/2 ts Salt 1 c Butter or margarine, cut into pieces 1 1/2 c Buttermilk 2 Eggs 1 ts Vanilla extract Topping: 1/4 c Butter or margarine 3/4 c All-purpose flour 3/4 c Filling: In a large saucepan combine rhubarb, strawberries and lemon juice. Cover and cook over medium heat about 5 minutes. Combine sugar and cornstarch; stir into saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until thickened; remove from heat and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat buttermilk, eggs and vanilla; stir into crumb mixture. Spread half of the batter evenly into a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish. Carefully spread filling on top. drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over filling. Topping: Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat; stir in flour and sugar until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over batter. Lay foil on lower rack to catch any juicy fruit spillovers. Bake at 350 degrees, for 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan. Cut into squares. Yield: 16-20 servings. Or use the fruit and make a topping for cheesecake, I did that a little while ago and everyone loved it, as long as everyone loves cheesecake. I'm at work, but I'll try to post the recipe tonight. Annie

Two thoughts I have about your comment. Tricia: 1. You have demonstrated that it is possible to give negative opinions without being nasty. For some, that is a new concept. 2. You have paid me the highest form of compliment: you assumed that I can accept negative comments without getting all worked up. I appreciated that very much. I have said it before, no matter how good you are, there are no ideas which will be pleasing to all. I am not here for the praises, although I do enjoy them, I post on other forums where I get enough of them. Learning and sharing is very important to me. I have learned a lot from negative comments. Most of the time when I make something, I have the bad habit of experimenting with an idea/ideas/new ingredient/strange food. Regarding this particular creation, as I said, it is to play with ideas to minimize tart's/pie's watery filling and uncooked dough problems. The other idea is to see what if I don't use sugar and butter for the apple filling, and no powdered sugar for the topping, will it taste bad? The use of crescent pastry is also because crescent dough has significantly less Fat/lard. IMHO, the tart tasted very good. Will I make it for guests? No. I will add one cups of butter and one cup of sugar. That's what people expect. Thank you Tricia. dcarch

As others mentioned, the easiest way is to use an existing recipe and adapt it for the best blend of art (your changes) and science (established ratio of ingredients). Sarah Phillips - author of "Baking 9-1-1" and the great web site - http://www.baking911.com/ - made 100 different attempts before she came up with a low-fat White Cake recipe she liked. I made a form I use for creating new recipes, or for altering existing ones. I may have several pages of changes for the same recipe using this form before I am done. The form is divided into two columns. On the left side I'll place the original recipe (hand-written or a photo-copy), or sometimes I'll photo copy it on the back of the form if it's large). I may be adapting it to have high-fiber, low-fat, sugar-free, gluten-free, wholegrain, etc..., or it will be my first attempt, if it's an original recipe. On the left side I add my notes, after making the recipe, in boxes marked: -Ingredient changes (I made from the original recipe.) -Results - this is where my training as a Foods Judge comes in handy and I'll judge my recipe by those standards. -Next time - notes about changes I need to make or options I can use for the same recipe. I usually don't make more than three significant alterations on any one try. It's also beneficial to know some food science. For instance: -Additions of cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg ADDED TO THE DOUGH should be kept to around 1/4-teaspoon per cup of flour in yeast bread because too much can be detrimental to yeast growth. Now you know why the cinnamon is applied to the dough and rolled-up, not added to the dough in large amounts. -Bread dough characterized as sweet, salty or low absorption may require a special kind of yeast called Osmotolerant Instant Active Dry Yeast. Another helpful hint when making sweet breads and you don't have an osmotolerant instant active dry yeast product is to add 1/4 t. ascorbic acid or 3 t. lemon juice to assist in the rising. You'll also note sweet breads often call for more yeast because of the slow rise. -Adding an acid (ascorbic acid, lemon juice) to yeast breads that contain wheat germ, or whole wheat flour (which also contains wheat germ) will aid in preventing glutatione from forming, which can damage the gluten. Short heavy loaves of 100% whole wheat bread are a sign of gluten damage. -Just how much sugar CAN you add to a yeast bread before you damage the gluten? Two tablespoons of sugar per cup of flour is about the maximum you can add without major gluten damage. -How much milk or dry milk powder is too much in yeast bread? Milk affects the volume, symmetry, cellular structure, and texture. If the loaf looks more like a roller coaster ride, then there is too much dairy. You can overcome some of the effects of large amounts of dairy by scalding milk (which alters that protein in the whey of the dairy product), or using Special Dry Milk Powder from King Arthur Flour. -If you reduce the salt in a yeast bread recipe, you should also reduce the amount of yeast because salt regulates the yeast. So a general rule-of-thumb, if you reduce the salt by 50%, then reduce the yeast by 50% as well. -There is generally a ratio of ingredients used in most types of baking that is already well-established in the world of food science. There is generally a proportion maintained between ingredients that are tenderizers (fat and sugar) and those that are structure builders (flour and eggs). For instance, a standard plain cake has, by measure, one-third as much fat as sugar; two-thirds as much milk as sugar; and about three times as much flour as liquid. When I developed gluten-free cookie recipes, I first formulated a basic cookie recipe, and then made other changes to make many kinds of cookies from the same base recipe. I didn't have to reinvent the recipe each time, just alter it. You can also follow bakers' percentages for bread making. Following the same percentages you can make one loaf, or a recipe for 10 loaves. It's also good to know how much flour there is in different amounts of dough: 2-1/2 cups flour = 1-pound loaf 3-cups = 1-1/2-pound loaf 4-cups = 2-pound loaf -When you reduce fat and sugar you will be sacrificing tenderness, so find foods that may be substituted for those. For instance: *Whey-based milk substitute powder has a shortening effect on baked goods, so you can add it and reduce fat. *You can generally use 25% less coconut oil than butter or shortening and get the same effect. *Use Sweet Dairy Whey powder (not to be confused with whey protein powder) and you can significantly reduce the amount of sugar. -You don't always have to change the ingredient to change the recipe. When making bread if you add the fat early in the recipe it has a shortening effect on the gluten. The result is a closed-grain crumb, almost cake like, and a shorter loaf. Add the same amount of fat later, after the gluten has developed, and you'll get a higher loft and a more open crumb. Neither is right or wrong, but you'll get a different texture. Closed grain if you are going to use it for sandwiches dressed with mayo, and an open crumb for toast for all those openings for butter and marmalade to settle into. -Egg whites are drying, so when you try to lower fat and use egg whites only, you may have to add another ingredient to make up for effects found in the egg yolks. Yolks contain lecithin which have an emulsifying effect you can't get with whites. -Make low-fat baked goods in small amounts because they don't keep as well as those with fat. So instead of a 9x13-inch pan, make a recipe in a loaf pan or 8-inch square to avoid dried-out leftovers. -If I think I'll need to taste a batter that contains raw eggs, before I bake it, I'll use reconstituted pasteurized whole egg powder, or powered egg yolks or egg whites to avoid a food safety issue from tasting raw eggs. And a million other little things that come in handy with altering or creating recipes. -Grainlady