Cinnamon rolls with life changing buttercream frosting

So clearly its been a long time since I have blogged, but what can ya do? Ive had parties and speedo runs and events galore! Plus I went home for a week for the holidays.....amazing! It was during my trip home that I first made these delicious cinnamon rolls. While in Texas, I met up with someone who I have known for a very long time. While I have always considered him to be a very important person in my life, we hadn't talked in a while. When he found out that I baked alot, he mentioned that he had wanted to learn to make cinnamon rolls from scratch.....and I was happy to oblige! While catching up etc, he asked me how I got in to baking and why I enjoyed it and it took me a while to figure out the honest answer. For the most part, baking has always been an outlet for my stress. Whenever there is something going on in my life or in my head, when I bake, all of that melts (pun intended!!) away. Should I move or should I stay, should I say this or not, how do I feel about this, that, or the other? All of the stressful thoughts in my head kinda disappear while I'm watching my cream whip or my sugar turn into caramel. So that's part of it. But I think the part that I really enjoy the most is giving my sugary treat to someone and seeing the look on their face after they take a bite or seeing how excited someone can get when its time to eat (like my friend who was like a little kid on Christmas day when these guys came out of the oven!!!). It makes me happy to make other people happy and baking allows me the opportunity to give the people in my life something that can bring a smile to their face or erase a bit of a bad day.

So keeping both of those things in mind, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, when I was in a bad mood, I decided to re-create these rolls in my own kitchen....its super tricky to bake in an unfamiliar environment so doing it on my own turf was sooo much easier! I also strayed a bit from Paula Dean's recipe......I had some butter cream frosting in my freezer that was left over from a bridal shower that i had done some baking for.....so I put that on the cinnamon rolls instead of using the glaze that Paula suggested.....and it was the best decision of all time!! My roommates threatened anarchy if I didn't take the rolls to work to get them out of the house (new years resolutions and all) so I loaded up a tupperware and took them to work with me where they proceeded to sit in my office and tempt me all day long. Luckily, I have a ton of coworkers who are happy to help get rid of treats!! So here is the recipe and steps....Enjoy!

Ingredients

Dough: 1/4 ounce package yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup scalded milk....I used warm milk and it worked just fine!

1/3 cup butter or shortening

1 tsp. salt

1 egg

3 1/2 - 4 cups flour....WTF does that mean Paula? I explain below!

Filling: 1/2 cup melted butter, plus more for the pan

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

3/4 cup raisins, walnuts, or pecans (optional).....I detest raisins but I did use chopped walnuts!

Glaze: 4 tablespoons butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-6 tablespoons of hot water

Directions
In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside. In a large bowl mix milk, sugar, melted butter, salt and eggs. Add two cups of flour and mix until smooth. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle.

**This recipe says 3 1/2 to 4 cups of flour so how do you know how much is enough? I started by adding a full 3 1/2 cups and then added more flour one tablespoon at a time. You will know that you need more flour because as you are mixing, the dough will appear to be stringy and sticky....so keep adding until it doesn't look stringy anymore. I added nearly 4 cups to mine and the dough appeared to be smooth....see pictures below.

Knead dough on lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes. Place in well-greased bowl and let rise until doubled, usually 1 - 1 1/2 hours.

Size of dough before rising:

Size of dough once it had risen and doubled in size:

When doubled, punch down dough. Roll out on flour surface into a 15x9 inch rectangle.

Spread melted butter all over dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over buttered dough. Sprinkle with walnuts, pecans, or raisins if desired.

Look at all the sugary, buttery goodness!!!!

Beginning at 15 inch side role up dough and pinch edge together to seal. Coat bottom of baking pan with butter and sprinkle with sugar.

**I coated the pan with butter and sugar in Texas the first time I made these and it kinda burned, so I didn't do this step this time around and they were perfect. I just sprayed the pan with cooking spray and I had no issues!

Cut into 12-15 slices. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the pan and let rise until dough is doubled, about 45 minutes. They will get slightly squished and out of the roll shape during the cutting, but it's easy to roll them back up. And once they bake, you wont notice the shape anyway!

Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes or until nicely browned.

So as I said above, I had some left over butter cream frosting that I used for my batch.

Here are the directions for Paula's glaze that got with this recipe:

Meanwhile, mix butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. Spread over slightly cooled rolls.

Since the recipe for the frosting that i used is from a book, I'm not going to post it online. I will tell you though that it is the greatest baking cookbook of all time!!! I used the Crispy Magic Frosting recipe from Joanne Chang's "Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery and Cafe." I recommend this book to anyone who loves to bake!! And you can find the recipe for the icing there as well!!!

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Flour/Joanne-Chang/e/9780811869447/?itm=1&USRI=flour%3a

OK, done with the plug! Here is how my rolls turned out...once topped with icing and more walnuts!!!

Gooey and delicious!

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/view2/cinnamon_rolls/

I'm always looking for a good recipe to try, so if you have one, or a suggestion, send it my way!

I know I know I know........Caramel Brownies

I know. Its been a very long time since I have posted something delicious on the blog. I have gotten snide comments and some hate-mail about it, but life gets in the way sometimes. I have moved apartments, been to Europe, gotten in to grad school and all sorts of other stuff. So while you may think Im just being lazy, I can assure you that thats not the case. I have made several things recently that I wanted to share.....So here goes......

Because of all of the changes and hectic-ness that has gone down in the past month or so, my baking has slipped to the sidelines. But the demand by others to make yummy things combined with my desire to bake has made for some rushed confections due to lack of time. So here is the truth: Sometimes the Baketress uses boxed mixes.....GASP......I know I know.....But sometimes, Betty Crocker does a damn good job with mixes so what can ya do? One day after being super busy in the afternoon, I realized that I had nothing to bring to a dinner party that my BFF was throwing. So on my way home from running errands, I picked up a boxed brownie mix and decided that I could just jazz it up....and jazz it up I did!!!

I made the brownie mix according to the box recipe but added some chocolate chips and walnuts
to the batter, then baked it up according to the directions. While it was baking, I decided to make a caramel sauce to go on top. I used the caramel recipe from the "My Masterpiece" post and it was perfect to go on top of the brownies.....which I then topped with more walnuts. Because I put the caramel on pretty much as soon as the brownies came out of the oven, it sealed in the gooey-ness of the brownies, which happens to be my favorite part!!!

The caramel pretty much makes itself. If you leave it alone and just follow the heating directions (see the other post for the recipe), it just bubbles and boils and then all of a sudden, turns from white to a beautiful amber/gold color....lovely. Here are some photos of that:

All in all, a boxed mix combined with some extras makes for a pretty delicious dessert....and a great breakfast for that matter......

Wedding yumminess

So my sister just got engaged (woo) and I decided that I needed to make something wedding-y. The attempt at a wedding cake of sorts is pending (especially since my sister told me that she didn't think I could do it....I never liked her!) but for now, the first thing I thought of was Mexican Wedding Cookies!! I haven't had these cookies in forever, so I have no clue why they popped into my head, but after making them last night, I remembered how amazing they are. If you have never had them (also quite similar to Russian Tea cookies which are traditionally eaten around Christmas time....or so I'm told) you really should give them a try. They are not your typical chewy cookie. They are flaky (not dry at all) and buttery and covered in powdered sugar. You cut up the pecans really small, so they are present in every single bite!! Plus, they are pretty much the easiest thing Ive ever made....which makes the co-workers think I'm even more of a culinary genius than I actually am....but I wouldn't dream of telling them that they are giving me more credit than I deserve!! Even better....I got this recipe from Paula Dean (via the Food Network website) who is pretty much my idol!! Paula told me to roll the cookie dough into crescent shapes before baking, but I didn't go that route. Starting the cookies at 9 pm is ill-advised since they take 40 minutes to bake so I decided that I didn't really need crescents and round cookies would do. Sorry Paula....but they are still yummy!!So here is the recipe below....make and enjoy!!!!

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/mexican-wedding-cookies-recipe2/index.html

Chocolate Chip Cookie Battle: Contestant #1

So a couple of posts ago, I reached out to folks for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and got some good suggestions. I grew up with the recipe on the back of the Toll House chocolate chip bag, and while it has served me well for 20+ years, I thought it was time to test the other chocolate chip waters. Enter Martha Stewart's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe as contestant #1 in the battle for the title of "The Baketress' Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie."

To that end, here are my thoughts on Martha's recipe......AWESOME!! These cookies are pretty amazing....sorry Toll House. The batter is light and fluffy and delicious. I'm a big fan of slightly undercooked cookies, making them kinda gooey and soft in the middle, and these do not disappoint. The one major difference between these cookies and the original Toll House is this:

Toll House uses 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar
Martha uses 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and 1 cup or brown sugar

Who knew that such a slight change could make such a difference. Another difference is that Martha's recipe says to beat the butter mixture for about a minute before adding the eggs. This makes the batter light and fluffy and it still remains moist enough to take on the dry ingredients without needing extra moisture. It also helps get rid of that grainy sugar feeling that the Toll House dough usually has.....the texture of the dough is important because I eat more raw dough than I do actual baked cookies. By the way...whoever started that vicious rumor that you can get salmonella from raw cookie dough is a liar. Ive been eating it for over 20 years (in large quantities mind you) and Ive never gotten sick....NEVER!!

So without further ado, here is the recipe for some excellent cookies. I give it a 9!!! Try them yourself and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
1 cup(s) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup(s) granulated sugar
1 cup(s) packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon(s) salt
2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cup(s) (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies

My masterpiece!!

After last weeks disappointing showing, I figured I needed to post about an outstanding success. Granted I made this before I started the blog, but quite frankly, I don't care.

A good friend graduated from the School of Education at Harvard recently and when you drop that kind of cash money on school, you deserve a damn good graduation party when you finish. Enter my BFF Caroline who is the greatest hostess and party planner/thrower of all time.

With her school themed party planned, I set out to make a delish confection for the festivities. I tend to google recipes all the time at work (don't tell the boss man) and I stumbled upon this little gem. It is a dark chocolate cake with a salted caramel filling and a chocolate ganache frosting. And it is a delight!! Ive never made my own caramel before this, so I was a little nervous that I was going to end up with 3rd degree burns or something, but it turned out to be really easy...and it pretty much makes itself. All you have to do is watch it and all of a sudden it turns to this beautiful amber color then you add some cream and boom.....its caramel!!

I made the caramel and the ganache ahead of time and other than the ganache needing to be heated a little bit before I was able to use it, it kept perfectly! Here are some artistic photos of my cake taken by BFF Caroline. I believe this creation was how I earned my newest nickname....THE BAKETRESS.

Recipe follows.

Ingredients

CARAMEL FILLING
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1/4 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Large pinch of fine fleur de sel* plus additional for assembly

*A type of sea salt; available at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores

** I used regular salt and it turned out just fine!!!

GANACHE FILLING AND FROSTING
1 1/2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 cups heavy whipping cream

CAKE
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup hot water
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee
1 1/4 cups almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped

Preparation

CARAMEL FILLING
Stir sugar, 1/4 cup water, and corn syrup in deep medium saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium; cover pan and cook 4 minutes. Uncover; increase heat to high. Boil without stirring until syrup is deep amber, occasionally brushing down pan sides with wet pastry brush, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add cream (mixture will bubble). Whisk in butter, then crème fraîche, lemon juice, and pinch of fleur de sel. Cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temperature before using.

GANACHE FILLING AND FROSTING
Place chocolate in large bowl. Bring cream to simmer in medium saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate; let soften 1 minute. Whisk until chocolate is smooth. Cool, then cover and chill overnight. DO AHEAD Ganache can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled. Bring to room temperature before using.

CAKE
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line bottom of each with parchment paper; butter paper and dust pan with flour.
Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into large bowl. Add milk, eggs, and melted butter. Using electric mixer, beat at low speed until blended. Increase speed and beat 2 minutes. Stir 1 cup hot water and espresso powder in small bowl to dissolve. Add to batter; beat until blended (batter will be thin). Divide batter between pans (about 3 cups each).
Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 32 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks 10 minutes. Cut around cakes; turn out onto racks. Peel off parchment and cool completely.
Using long serrated knife, cut each cake horizontally in half. Place 1 layer on platter; spread with 1/2 cup room-temperature ganache. Spoon 3/4 cup ganache into pastry bag fitted with 1/4-inch plain round tip. Pipe ring of ganache around edge of layer. Spread 1/4 cup room-temperature caramel filling evenly inside ring. Sprinkle caramel with large pinch of fleur de sel, then 1 tablespoon almonds. Top with second cake layer, ganache, ganache ring, caramel filling, fleur de sel, and almonds. Repeat with third cake layer. Top with fourth cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining ganache over top and sides of cake. Press remaining almonds onto sides. DO AHEAD Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover with cake dome and chill. Let cake stand at room temperature 1 hour.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2008/09/chocolate_cake_with_fleur_de_sel_caramel_filling#ixzz0v5R0OjOF

Epic Fail

You see those lovely french chocolate macaroons to the left.....those arent mine. Thats the picture I got from Google and have no resemblance whatsoever to the ones the came out of my oven last night. What happened in my kitchen last night in my first attempt at french chocolate macaroons was an epic fail....EPIC.

I blame my sister for this. I was all set to attempt something a bit more manageable (i.e- less potential for a screw up) when she showed me the William-Sonoma receipe website. And of course these little guys caught my eye, so I put my other project on the back-burner for this.

In my recent quarter-life crisis, a series of fortunate events led me to book a flight to Paris in September with my brother and sister, then meeting Mom and Grandma in Barcelona a few days later. In celebration of that, I thought the macaroons would be an excellent thing to make for the blog. But I was wrong.

French macaroons are WAY different than the coconut version I grew up on. The are light, but crunchy cookies sandwiched between a creamy ganache filling. They can be many different colors or flavors, from the ordinary (chocolate, vanilla, coffee) to the interesting (rosewater, pistachio, etc). Armed with my excitement for going back to Paris in a few months and my new blue Kitchen-Aid mixer (thanks mom), I was ready to attempt this French treat. I really thought I was doing an ok job too. I had to blanch my own almonds because my local grocery store didnt sell them already blanched, but the was no biggie. Just pour boiling water over the almonds and let sit for a minute. Then rinse with cold water and peel off the skin.....easy. I made my ganache and put it in the fridge to cool....no issues there. The cookie batter seemed to be coming along just fine....stiff peaks formed in my egg whites, I thought I was home free. The I tried to put the batter into a bag to pipe onto the cookie sheet and things went downhill- quickly. Instead of being dough-like, I had a chocolatey soup that ran out of my piping bag so fast that I got it all over the kitchen. Once I finally gained some control and got a pan in the oven, I noticed that they were not baking up at all, just hardening. When they came out, they were flat, hard, and stuck to the parchment paper.....not good. Then I tried to put a batch into a muffin pan, thinking I could salvage the mess. Those turned out better, but still not presentable. I ended up with something that resembled a brownie which I frosted with the ganache. They tasted great, but looked like a kindergarten kid made them.

There was a split second when I decided I was going to swear my roommate to secrecy about the whole incident and not blog about it. But then I decided that the blog wasn't about making things perfectly every time, but experimenting, playing, and, at times, screwing up royally. I need to let go of the idea that everything has to be perfect. I'm allowed to screw up...in baking and in life. So below is the recipe I attempted last nite (courtesy of William-Sonoma). You are welcome to try it out and let me know how it goes, but as for me and my house, we will steer clear of french macaroons for a bit!!

Ingredients:

For the macaroons:
1/2 cup blanched whole almonds
1 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. granulated sugar

For the filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
5 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of an oven and preheat to 400°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.To make the macaroons, in a food processor, combine the almonds with 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar and pulse until finely ground. Add the cocoa powder and the remaining 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar and pulse until well blended.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the egg whites and salt on medium-high speed just until the whites form soft peaks when the beaters are lifted. Add the granulated sugar and beat just until the whites form stiff peaks when the beaters are lifted. Using a whisk or a rubber spatula, gently fold in the almond mixture.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe out 1-inch-diameter mounds about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, until the tops are cracked and appear dry but the macaroons are still slightly soft to the touch, 6 to 8 minutes.

Transfer the cookies, still on the parchment paper, to barely dampened kitchen towels and let cool for 5 minutes. Carefully peel the paper off the macaroons, transfer to wire racks and let cool completely. (The macaroons can be made 1 day in advance and stored in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container.)

To make the filling, in a saucepan over high heat, bring the cream just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Add the chocolate and butter and whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until the filling is firm enough to hold its shape when spread, at least 30 minutes.

If desired, transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain tip. Pipe the filling, or spread it with a table knife, generously on the flat side of half of the macaroons. Top with the remaining macaroons, flat side down, pressing together gently to form sandwiches. (The cookies can be stored in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.) Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Adapted from Luscious Chocolate Desserts, by Lori Longbotham (Chronicle Books, 2004).

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Hello All!! So its time for my first official recipe post! Chocolate and raspberry happens to be one of my fave combinations, so I found this recipe on epicurious and decided to give it a try. It turned out to be delicious!! The crust is kinda crunchy like a cookie and is chocolatey and sweet, but adds a nice little crunch in contrast to the creamy filling. Generally, when I bake, I try to incorporate booze, so for this recipe, I added my favorite liquor (Chambord- a sweet raspberry liquor) to the raspberry filling....I highly recommend it!! If you go this route, make sure to add a bit more jam than the recipe calls for to counter the extra liquid.....nobody wants soupy raspberry filling. Anyway, Im still experimenting with how Im going to set up my posts, but for now, the actual recipe is below with my comments/suggestions/experiences added in. I hope you enjoy it much as my coworkers and I did!!!

Hailey

Ingredients

Crust
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons cold water
1 large egg yolk

6 tablespoons raspberry jam

Chocolate Filling
1 cup whipping cream
4 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 1/2-pint baskets fresh raspberries
1 teaspoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Preparation

For Crust:

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt in medium bowl. Add butter and rub in, using fingertips, until mixture resembles coarse meal. add water and egg yolk and mix in with fork until well incorporated. Gather dough into rectangle chill 20 minutes. (Can be prepared 4 days ahead. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Comments: This is similar to making pie crust from scratch. I mixed the dry ingredients and then cut the butter into tablespoons and then cut those into fourths. When it says "rub in" it means just that....take a chunk of the butter and roll it between your fingertips and it will break into smaller pieces of butter while getting coated with the dry ingredients. Keep doing this until the chunks of butter are about the size of a pea. Generally when you think you are done, keep going. There will inevitably be pieces of butter that you missed that are still quite large. Also, I had to add about 2 teaspoons of water extra to make the dough come together. If you decided that the amount of water in the recipe is not enough for your dough, be sure to add more water in VERY small amounts. It doesnt take much water to make a big difference, so if you add to much, your dough will become way to moist and will be sticky and hard to roll out. The dough should just barely come together into a ball and should show some cracks, which is what you want.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter and flour 13 3/4 x 4-inch rectangular pan with 1-inch-high sides and removable bottom. Roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 15x6-inch rectangle. Peel off 1 waxed paper sheet. Invert dough into prepared pan, press evenly to fit. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes. Peel off second waxed paper sheet. Trim edges.
Line crust with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake until crust is set, about 12 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake until crust just begins to darken around edges, piercing with toothpick if crust bubbles, about 12 minutes longer. Remove from oven; maintain oven temperature. Spread jam over bottom of crust. Bake until jam is set, about 3 minutes. Transfer pan to rack; cool completely.

For Filling:

Bring cream to boil in heavy small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer chocolate ganache to bowl and refrigerate until chilled but not firm, about 45 minutes or less
Using electric mixer, beat ganache until very thick and semifirm. Spread ganache over jam in crust. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Refrigerate.) Arrange raspberries atop ganache. Stir powdered sugar and cocoa in bowl. Sift over tart.

Comments: You can tell when the ganache is getting to the thickness you want because it will start to hold the wave pattern from the mixer. As for sifting powdered sugar and cocoa onto the top, the moisture from the chocolate and from the refrigeration absorbed all of the sugar I sifted on my tart. If you decide to add this decorative touch, make sure you do it right before presenting/serving.