Gâteau Breton (RHC)

I've been taking a little break from weekly baking because it's been a bit of a challenge for me, weight-wise,  to have such delicious treats in the house constantly. Unlike many of my fellow HCB and ABC bakers, I haven't masted the math of dividing the recipes into smaller proportions so I usually end up making the full size called for in the recipe. I think my husband and I need to start having more dinner parties and "book club" meetings so I can share more of these sweets with family and friends.

But, as always, the kitchen beckoned me back and I went a little crazy baking this past weekend. I wanted something quick and easy and light - it's supposed to be 100 degrees today...eek! - so made a Gâteau Breton from Rose's Heavenly Cakes (page 69). I also made some amazing Sugar-Crusted Popovers from a David Lebovitz recipe. I love his blog!

Other than toasting and grinding the nuts - I hate dirtying my food processor just to grind up a bit of nuts! - the Gâteau Breton was really easy to make. It was similar to shortbread but not as buttery or dense. The recipe said it would get more like a shortbread the day after it was made, but I didn't really find that to be true (or maybe I was expecting it to get a lot more dense than it did). Mine stayed pretty much the same as the day it was made with more of a crumbly texture but not cake-like either. I guess it was kind of in between a dense cake and a shortbread. The recipe called for higher fat, European-style butter...I only had a small bit of that type of butter left so I used what I had and then just regular American-style butter. So, perhaps if I had used all higher-fat butter, the texture might have more closely matched the recipe's description. I'll probably make this again for a dinner party since it can be made the morning of and then just sit on the counter, so I'll go for the fancy European-style butter next time and see if it comes out differently.

The flavor was very nice - light with almond and rum undertones...yum. I also added some lemon zest because...well, most things are just better with some lemon zest! It was delicious on its own, but also would have been nice with some lemon or raspberry-flavored whipped cream or even a scoop of ice cream.

mise en place

creaming the butter and sugar - it was gorgeous - fluffy and bright yellow

adding the flour

the finished batter was very thick and dense

the batter is spread into a pie tin, brushed with an egg wash and scored with fork tines

baked to a golden brown. It was gorgeous and smelled wonderful!

now...a bite...yum!

Bye for now...