This week, for the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from Baking Chez Moi, we made what I think I’ll be making a lot of over the summer: berry “gratins”. Typically associated with a savoury dish topped with cheese, this dessert version uses an pistachio cream for the crispy “gratin” part which is spread over the top of the berry base. the pistachio cream is a riff on traditional almond cream (used in Galette des Rois) but I only had almonds on hand so that’s what I used. I think any nut flour would work, to be honest.
Dorie calls for the cream to sit in the fridge for 30+ minutes before you spread it on the berries but I think next time I might try spreading it on the berries before I refrigerate it – it’s quite stiff and paste-like and I found it a bit challenging to get it spread over the entire surface of the berries.
I actually used frozen berries that were not quite thawed in this recipe (just blueberries) and they worked beautifully. Any berries would work here as well as summer stone fruits. Again, I think I see a lot of this in my future…
I was initially worried that the almond cream didn’t cover enough of the berries but in fact it was the perfect amount. I love the colour of the berries peeking out and the fact that it’s not completely covered with “gratin” makes it actually quite a light dessert. Perfect for in-season fruit but also for wintertime with frozen fruits. I’m a fan!
Get the recipe for Dorie Greenspan’s Pistachio and Berry Gratins on p 345 of Baking Chez Moi.
Tuesdays with Dorie participants don’t publish the recipes on our blogs, so you’re encouraged to purchase Baking Chez Moi for yourself which you can do on Amazon (this link should bring you to the Amazon store in your country) or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us, baking our way through the book!
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Looks good. This is an easy recipe to make small or large. It was not a hit in my house.
That’s too bad. We loved it!
Yes please more of these before you head off to France. 🙂
🙂
It’s good to know this works with frozen fruit too. I agree that you can use other nut flours – the nut flavour didn’t stand out at all to me.
I don’t think it’s meant to overpower the fruit. I do need to try with pistachios!
Your version looks delicious! I did wonder how it would work with Almond cream and it sounds it works out beautifully.
Oh I think any nut cream would work!
You are right this will be perfect for all the summer fruit. My husband really liked this one.
So easy, too!
Whatever you did, they turned out to be the right approach for this beautiful gratin!
Thank you so much!
Your photo is gorgeous – it looks as if I could spoon the berries off the screen.
Why thank you!
i see a lot of these in my future, too! your purple berries do look really pretty in your white dishes.
Don’t they? <3