My Daughter's Pate de Fruits -- yummy!

For those of you who don’t know, my daughter Alexis is an excellent baker! I was so very impressed with her Pate de fruits -- they were exceptional! Alexis was kind enough to send a box to my chef, Pierre, who agreed that they were delicious. If you want to see more of my daughter’s incredible baking visit:

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Here is the excerpt directly from her blog

It's Todd's birthday

October 25, 2007

Todd: a friend of the show (since forever!)

He rejected my raisin bars...so everyone else got them...boss Liz's family likes the ones from Nancy Silverton (they are kinda like spicy, fancy  Pop-Tarts...I think you could leave off the frosting just 'cause it takes away from the look of them, in my humble opinion...although I am sure it tastes good) Jennifer and Martha like the Deborah Madison version...I don't know -- I tasted the Deborah Madison bars -- very good...I will taste the other today...

So, back to Todd...
I sent him a FedEx package, which, of course, he is not home to receive...
In it are two small kitchen items (recommended by others but untried by me) and a box chock-full of homemade pate de fruits.

They are passion fruit flavor (which, with my luck with Todd, he probably detests!) and are very sour and kinda like very fancy Sour Patch Kids (one of my favorite candies). I had never made them before and they require some weird ingredients (like tartaric acid!). Luckily, I was able to get Martha to pick some up for me Tuesday evening and the resulting jellies are fantastic!!

Here is the jelly out of the pan after setting -- the pan was lined with parchment (I unmolded it onto some slippery paper; DO NOT do this -- use parchment!).

Cutting them up -- this is the part that stuck to the paper. Ugh! Soooo annoying!

Sugaring the squares

After sugaring

First layer in box -- the pieces are separated by a long ribbon of cellophane to prevent sticking (I did this accordion style, so the ribbon goes up between each piece, doubles back under the next piece and then up again between the next.

The top layer

Martha loved them, Paulie loved them, I loved them. Todd will hate them WHATEVER! They are my new favorite thing to make!

I got the fruit puree from a website called L'Epicerie -- they have every flavor imaginable!
In fact, you can get all the "weird" ingredients you need to make the jellies on this site. I got the recipe here  (scroll down to see the recipe).

I doubled the recipe and didn't really change anything except I would recommend sifting the granular pectin before adding it, as mine clumped and I had to put the mixture through a sieve in the beginning and then add more.

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Comments

[Your Bangkok Fan]

Wow...it really looks great. I'll be surprised if Todd doesn't love it! Now I'm inspired, not to make the Pate de Fruits of course (as I think I can never find all the ingredients), but to have a blog like this.

Hope you're doing fine with your new hip anyway.

[Stef in Seattle]

I think your daughter is absolutely amazing... You both are incredible! I listen to her show daily, read her blog... and am both inspired and tickled all the time. You, Martha... nurture that homemaking side of me.. and Alexis.. she brings out the young, modern woman in me... You both are soooo different, yet perfectly compliment each other.. Thanks for being you (two!).

Kind Regards,
Stef Shroyer

[Trish]

Alexis is definitely your daughter! Forget the Tartaric acid; grams and buckets scared me off. If she had not given sources, I would not know where to even start looking for the ingredients. They look delicious though and you can't go wrong with fruit. Well, I could!
Trish

[Shelagh]

Fun entry!
I would have chosen red currant, mmmmm one of my favourite flavours but had Alexix sent that package to me, I would have been thrilled with passionfruit!!

[Nina]

You inspire my yearning of having a daughter who listens. Please send your secret.

[Bipolar Christy]

A long time ago, Alexis baked some oatmeal cookies and almond biscotti for me. They were amazing! I've never had anything like them before or since...

[Bethie]

Wow!
I'm not to making pate de fruits yet, I'm more a cookie baker. :) They ,look amazing, so perfect too! I appreciated Stef Shroyer's post.

[Dayami]

Love love your daughter! I love to see the way she packages everything so beautifully.
tfs ;)

[Noreen Hasior]

Would you please share more of your Polish traditions and recipies? I think that Polonia would take it an run with it.
Thanks.

[Cenk]

Hi Martha - Didn't know you had a blog! I just learned through Matt's blog. The fruit pate looks very similar to a delicacy I came across at Nicky's wonderful blog Delicious Days - it is called Membrillo. It is made entirely from quince and sugar. You've got to try it sometime. Here is the link:
http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2006/11/16/membrillo/

[Osvaldo]

Hello Marta
Tell me if you know mica tartaric acid was used alone or in solution at 50%
I apologise for the translated text automatically, but do not know the English