Apple Cranberry Galette - Tuesdays with Dorie

I have never made a galette before; it's a wonderful type of pastry to make - so easy and quite pretty, I think, with its pleated border. I used a pizza pan to bake it on, just rolling the dough over the rolling pin and placing the pastry on the pizza pan by unrolling the dough from the pin. The pan also has a natural 1-1/2 inch border so I used it as a guideline for making the folds.


Cranberries alone are a bit tart for my taste so I chose sliced apples and cranberries in a compote, mixed with sugar, water, honey, about 3/4 tsp. of squeezed of lemon juice, and a dash of cinnamon. I got the idea for the compote from Epicurious.


The dough was nice and easy to roll but stuck awfully on the silpat the first time, so that means using a lot of flour. The galette is in the oven right now. Tomorrow I'll get my taste testers' comments.


Later - it's baked perfectly, except some of the fruit on the very top is a bit dry so I am applying some Dr. Oetker's glaze over the fruit.


The verdict today: fabulous pastry but the fruit mix was not liked. It was too sour and needed more sugar. My next fruit galette will not have cranberries; I think my best recipe for apple filling so far is Chef Bo Friberg's in my November 2 post.


Elizabeth of Celestial Confections chose this week's treat. Here's the link to her blog and the recipe: http://celestialconfections.blogspot.com/. Here's to many more galettes! Thanks Elizabeth.

Not-Just-for-Thanksgiving Pear Shortbread Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Monday night - I have just finished grating the dough disks and mixing the pear filling in a skillet. The P&Q is just the right place to get great ideas for the weekly Tuesdays with Dorie bake; this week I read about grating dough. It is so much better than trying to get rolled out pastry discs to fit the pan.

For the filling I cut up two large Boscobel pears, quite finely, then added 3 ozs. brown sugar, 1-1/2 TBS. flour, 1 TBS. lemon juice, a dash of ground nutmeg, a dash of ground cloves, and a couple of pinches of salt to a skillet and stirred them a bit, then added the pears. Cooked mixture gently over a medium heat until it started to bubble (it took about 7 minutes to bubble). Now it's cooling - I hope it's not going to make the cake mushy, but here's hoping.

Tuesday and one cake slice later. This is a delicious cake, a bit like a crumb cake in texture but very rich because of the butter. The pear filling is very good and not too sweet. Any stone fruit compote or preserves would be good with this; and apples with some cranberries, but not a whole cranberry filling.

Jessica of "Singleton in the Kitchen" picked this week's treat for us. Thank you, Jessica; it's a great cake. For the recipe check out her blog.

[Note to self: next time leave the freshly grated pastry out on the shelf for about 15 minutes; do not put back in fridge. This way the dough won't be too cold and take about 50 minutes to bake; it should be more like 35 - 40 minutes.]

Lemon Meringue Nests and Apple Hand Pies

I've been pretty busy these past two weeks, making pastries for a reception at my church. All in all I prepared around 200 mini pastries; it felt something like a teach yourself pastry school course as I tried a couple of different items I had never made before.

The first pastry was the Meringue Lemon Curd Nests, adapted from a recipe by Chef Gordon Ramsey in BBC Good Food.

Meringue Recipe

3 egg whites

1/2 teasp. lemon juice

3/4 cup of fine sugar (ground regular sugar in the coffee grinder)

Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Tip the egg whites and lemon juice into the clean bowl of a food mixer. Whisk until the whites double in volume and hold a peak when the whisk is drawn through them. Keep the whisk running and add the sugar a tbsp at a time, incorporating completely before adding the next. Whisk until all the sugar has been added and the whites are glossy.
Place a square of baking parchment on a large baking sheet. Pencil 20 circles, about 1-1/2 to 2 inches each, onto the parchment (or place a second sheet of parchment with drawn circles under the top sheet). Spoon the meringue into a 14-inch piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle (no. 3 is a good size) and pipe concentric rounds to fit each drawn circle, piping two or more rings around the edge to form a nest. Place in oven, leaving oven door slightly open by inserting the handle of a wooden spoon it it. Bake for 3 hrs until they are crisp and lift off the paper easily. Leave to cool completely.

Filling

Make lemon curd mixed with whipped cream.

Spoon small amount of the curd-cream into each meringue nest. Delicious!

The next treat was apple hand pies. I used a pie pocket maker 3 inches in diameter to cut the pastry and fill the pies. This is a wonderful tool as it makes really neatly shaped pies.

Apple Filling Recipe

(from The Professional Pastry Chef, by Chef Bo Friberg*)

About 7 Granny Smith apples

10 ounces granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

4 teaspoons lemon juice

Peel and core the apples. Chop approximately 2/3 of the apples into 1/2 inch pieces.

Place the chopped apples in a saucepan with sugar, water, and lemon juice. Adjust the amount of sugar according to the tartness of the apples and your own taste. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until the apples have broken down and the mixture starts to thicken.

Chop the remaining apples into 1/4 inch pieces and add to the mixture on the stove.

Continue cooking the filling until the apple chunks are soft and the filling has reached a jamlike consistency, adding a bit more water if it seems necessary. Let cool at room temperature, then store, covered, in the refrigerator. Add nuts, or raisins, currants or dried cranberries.

Pastry

Make favorite all butter pastry.

Roll out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut as many rounds as will fit. Sprinkle pie pocket maker lightly with flour. Fill each round of pastry with about a TBS. of apple filling and insert into pie pocket, closing very lightly. Remove apple pastry from pocket. Make a couple of small knife inserts into pie so air can escape while baking. Use egg wash over the top side of each pie.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes or a bit less. (These pies freeze very well, unbaked; when needed they can be baked straight from the freezer.)

Tip: Very important - use only the first round of pastry cut outs - the dough on subsequent rounds will shrink in the the pie pocket and the pies will open while baking. The leftover dough from each first round can always be used for something else.

Work quickly; only cut one circle at a time for each pie. Use needle, not knife for pricking. Use egg wash to help close edges as well as over tops. Must prepare well beforehand so pies can sit in freezer at least overnight.

The reception guests thoroughly enjoyed both these treats - I will be making more of them coming up Thanksgiving visits and Christmas Holiday visits.

*The Professional Pastry Chef:Fundamentals, by Bo Friberg, is an absolutely fabulous baking volume. I would highly recommend it for a treat-yourself purchase.

Daring Bakers - October - Doughnuts

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I am so excited - my freshly deep-fried doughnuts are cooling off on a rack and I've just consumed one. It is quite delicious, a cakey doughnut, with a half cup of ground unsalted peanuts included in the flour. I'm going to sprinkle finely ground sugar over them just before serving.

Admittedly the deep frying was a bit nerve wracking; I shut the cats in the bedroom (in case they got any ideas about tripping me up in the kitchen) and managed to burn my left index finger with just a spot of hot oil. I'm too nervous to take the pan off the stove until it's all cool - pouring two jugs of iced water in has helped a bit but I'm still not lifting that pan. However, the whole challenge was really fun and not too difficult. I would definitely like to try doughnuts again.

Thank you, Lori. This is a really great pick for our October challenge.

The recipe is from "Chocolate Passion" by Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty, slightly adapted, thus:

Peanut Doughnuts

3-1/2 cups cake flour (not self rising)

1 cup unsalted cocktail peanuts

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons salt (I cut it to one teaspoon)

3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

vegetable oil for frying

1. In food processor, combine 1/2 cup of the flour with the peanuts. Process for 20 to 30 seconds, until coarsely chopped.

2. In large bowl, using a wire whisk, stir together all the dry ingredients, including the chopped peanut/flour mixture.

3. In medium bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil and vanilla extract until blended. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the milk mixture into it. Using a spatula, stir the mixture until it forms a soft, moist dough. Dust work surface with flour. Scrape the dough onto the work surface and lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour. Gather the dough into a ball and knead it gently 5 to 6 times, until smooth. (Do not over-handle.)

4. Dust a large baking sheet with flour. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet. Dust your hands with flour and pat the dough into a circle that is about 11 inches in diameter and 1/2-inch thick. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place the baking sheet with the dough on it in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, until firm.

5. Using a 2-1/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut rounds from the circle of dough. With a floured 1-inch round cookie cutter, cut a hole from the center of each doughnut. Unsing a floured spatula, transfer the doughnuts and the doughnut holes to a waxed paper-lined baking sheet.

6. Gather the scraps of scraps of dough together, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Pat the scraps into a circle 1/2-inch thick and make more doughnuts as above. Cover the doughnuts and refrigerate for up to 6 hours, until ready to fry them. Let the chilled doughnuts stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before frying.

Fry the doughnuts

1. Pour enough oil in a deep-fat fryer or 10-inch, high-sided skillet to come up a depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil to 375 degrees F. Using a spatula or slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts three at a time into the hot oil. Fry one minute at a time on each side (a bit less, I think), until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, remove the doughnuts from the oil and transfer to paper towels to drain. Set the doughnuts on a wire rack to cool. Fry doughnut holes six at a time, for about 45 seconds each.

Make a chocolate glaze and sprinkle with chopped peanuts, if desired. (I did not do the glaze as I enjoyed the cruller like consistency of the plain, sugared doughnuts.)

Double Apple Bundt Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

This is a nice, easy, comforting cake to make, the type of cake to prepare in rainy weather or after having a rough day.

I managed to get some apple butter at a supermarket in Brooklyn Heights, however, it's a health apple butter with only apple juice and apple sauce. -I don't go for health foods, but I didn't see a nice, buttery, apple butter alternative. It's very dark and tastes a bit acidic; hopefully it won't spoil the taste of the cake. I used Golden Delicious for the grated apple; and I halved the recipe for a 6-cup bundt cake.

It baked for about 45 minutes and seems to be the right consistency. The smaller bundt cake shape is rather pretty, and should cut into about 8-9 slices if I'm not too generous. I've sprinkled it with caster sugar.

Lynne of "Honey Muffin" chose this week's cake. Thank you, Lynne. I think it's going to be a keeper. Readers will find the recipe here .

The verdict? Some of my taste testers loved it, a couple of others would have preferred it with a ganache or some kind of frosting on top; we had some cream cheese in the refrigerator and one of the guys spread his slice of cake with cream cheese - quite a good idea, I think. I really enjoyed my slice and would say it's a lovely breakfast type cake.

Tarte Fine - Tuesdays with Dorie

This is a really nice tart. One of my group quipped that it was "Apple Pizza" and yes, it is in a way, a very delicious pizza. There were very few slices left when I took the picture and that was only 10 minutes after I set the plate out.

I used Granny Smith apples and made some "Rough Puff Pastry" from a recipe in Epicurious. The Granny Smiths were a bit sour so next time I make this I will use Golden Delicious or some other type of sweeter pie apple. The puff pastry came up really well, but it's not that much easier to make than classic puff pastry - it involves grating frozen sticks of butter into the flour in the beginning instead of wrapping some dough around a block of butter, but it still takes 4 turns and lots of refrigeration. (I have discovered a "VahChef" demonstration on u-tube showing what looks like a very good method of making classic puff pastry; it will be nice to give it a try.)

The tangy apricot glaze gave the tart a good finishing touch and I provided a small bowl of cream as well, but most of the group preferred it without cream.

Leslie of Lethally Delicious picked this weeks treat and the recipe is on her blog. Great choice, Leslie! Thank you.

Daring Bakers - Decorated Sugar Cookies

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

In keeping with our spring theme, I have chosen some Biblical verses and sugar cookies that suit the season:

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land...

I think this is one of the loveliest of Biblical passages, from The Song of Solomon, Chapter 2, verses 11-12. I wanted the 16th century English so I copied the passage from my Great-Grandmother's King James Bible. Grannie MacMillan was the Scottish grannie, who came from Motherwell near Glasgow. I like to picture her reading these verses so many years ago.

I ordered copper cookie cutters from Coppergifts.com - a turtle and a flower shape. (I have learned that the turtle was actually a turtledove in Hebrew, but the translators of the KJB read it as a turtle! When I was a child I always used to marvel that the spring could be so wonderful that a turtle could sing.)

Packaged royal icing powder from N.Y. Cake made an excellent outlining and flooding icing and coloring by Chefmaster proved to be the best brand. It gave a deep, dark brown for the turtle markings, without having to add too much liquid. Some of the others, like Wilton, took just too much liquid or powder before they became anywhere near dark enough.

This was altogether an enjoyable project and a good learning experience. I have plans now for Christmas and Easter decorated cookies.