Apple and Berry Galettes

Spring has finally come to Boston; it came slowly and tentatively, but I think I can safely say it is actually here. Precipitation no longer carries the chance of being snow. It's windy and still chilly, but the wind has finally lost its bite. I've gotten used to it still being light outside after I finish my dinner, and I love waking up to sunlight streaming through my windows (well, on the three days of the week when it actually is sunny).

Of course though, Boston couldn't go into spring without a bit of mockery; it also happens to be final exam season. I'm taking a break from working on a Spanish paper right now to do this post (As you might guess, it's not going as fast as it should be...hence the posting two days late).

Anyways, I made these galettes on a spring day a week or two ago for a brunch with designers at the newspaper. There's nothing particularly remarkable about them--I mean, they're delicious, but they're not creative or innovative or particularly unique.

But that's okay, because that wasn't what I was looking for. I like that it's humble and simple, letting the few basic ingredients shine through, making it a perfect treat to enjoy on a sunny, slightly cold, very busy, cheerfully spring-like Sunday afternoon.

Enjoy!

Caroline

Apple and Berry Galettes

Click here for the printable recipe.
Yields: 4 Galettes | Adapted from The Candid Appetite

Ingredients
For the Crust
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, cold and cubed
½ cup buttermilk, very cold

For the Fruit Filling
1 cup berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries
4-5 medium apples, cored and thinly sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
2 teaspoon lemon juice, divided
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Assembly
1 egg
1 tablespoon buttermilk
¼ cup raw sugar, for sprinkling (granulated can be substituted)

Directions
Make the crust. Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the cubed butter, and either with your hands or in a food processor (NOT with your hands IN the food processor!), work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Mix in the buttermilk 1 or 2 tablespoons at a time, adding just enough so that the dough comes together. It should be very crumbly.

Gather the dough together and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour, or overnight.

Mix together the apples, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and the cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the berries, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Place one piece of the dough between two pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap. Roll the dough into about a 10-inch circle.

Take off the top piece of wax paper, and lay the circle on a greased baking sheet. Peel off the other piece of paper. Arrange about ¼ of the apple slices on top of the dough. Add about ¼ cup of berries. Fold the dough around the fruit.

Repeat for the other 3 pieces of dough.

Refrigerate the galettes for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Whisk together the egg and buttermilk, and brush the mixture over the crust of the galettes. Sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Let cool and enjoy!

Apple Crisp

Food blogs are kind of like the fashion catalogs of food--you're supposed to always be a season or two ahead. In August, while everyone's still in shorts and eating barbecue food, J. Crew is already selling their new fall sweaters, and the food bloggers are already cooking things with pumpkin. Well, I'm pretty bad at both kinds of planning ahead. I never seem be able to post "seasonal" things. I'm still making

blueberry scones

in September, or

pasta with fresh basil and avocado

in February, and

cinnamon apple

desserts in April.

Anyways, I had planned to be timely with this post; we had gone apple picking back in September, and I was super excited about writing a cute fall post, but somehow or another that didn't happen. The photos never got uploaded, the recipe languished in my Google Docs, and before I knew it, it was October and people were making black and orange things. Well, I've finally gotten around to writing up this post, and I'm sure apple crisp is just as good in November as September.

I considered dressing up this recipe, adding candied ginger or maybe pears, but I decided to stick to the bare minimum and just appreciate apple crisp for the simple, yummy thing it is. This is one of those recipes that seems to magically take a few very basic ingredients and turn them into something delicious.

Begin making this deliciousness by peeling some apples.

Then, in your roommate's boyfriend's red mixing bowl and with your roommate's boyfriend's super nice silicon spatula, mix together the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Set that aside and secretly resolve to never give back the spatula.

To make the streusel topping, mix together the flour, oats, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the cubed butter and use your hands or a pastry cutter to work it into the flour.

You'll get something that looks like wet sand. Mix in the chopped nuts.

Then place the apples in a greased baking pan, top with the streusel, and pop it into the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the topping is golden brown. And that's it!

Make this today. Even if everyone else is already doing things with pumpkins or even cranberries. Even if you're reading this in April and you're supposed to do things with cute pastel colors.

Love,

Caroline

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.

Apple Crisp

Adapted from

The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

For the Filling:

3 cups apples, diced (about 6 medium apples)

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Topping

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

⅓ cup oats

6 tablespoons butter, cubed

¼ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Directions

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Mix together the apples, ½ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Set aside.
6. Mix together the flour, ¼ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup white sugar, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and oats.
8. Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your hands or a pastry cutter. Mix in the pecans.
10. Pour the apple mixture into a greased 8x8 baking pan or pie plate. Sprinkle streusel on top, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown. Let cool and serve.

Cinnamon Apple Graham Cracker Muffins

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I spend way too much time reading food blogs. Wayyyyyyy too much. And I've read more than my share of posts on fall recipes. In addition to all the cinnamon-y apple-y pumpkin-y goodness, they all have another thing in common: discussion of this aforementioned goodness always seems to center on two things, weather and smell. It seems food bloggers will preface their recipes with talk about how they're preparing for the upcoming cooler weather or how good the food makes their kitchens smell.

Well, let me tell you, I didn't make these muffins for either of those reasons. I made these muffins because my brother is a butthead. You see, a while back I had made this cheesecake. This incredible banana cheesecake, baked in little glass dishes with caramel drizzled on top.

But my brother wouldn't eat it.

He wouldn't so much as give it a single lick, and told me that he had eaten cheesecake 3 months ago and didn't want any more. Nevertheless, I took pity on the picky butthead that is my brother, and decided to make him muffins. And voila! These graham cracker apple muffins were born.

Although the muffins were not planned for, they are everything a muffin should be: sweet, lightly spiced, warm, fluffy, and soft, with a crisp graham cracker crumb topping. A secret to making this muffins is cooking the apples before adding them to the batter. This releases their juices, increases their sweetness, and infuses them with the cinnamon flavor. I hate it when there's chunks of half-cooked sour apples in baked goods.

So make them today. They're easy, tasty, and will make picky twelve-year-olds happy. Oh, and they're all autumn-y and will make your kitchen smell good and all that stuff.

-Caroline

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.

Graham Cracker Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Adapted from

Michelle’s Tasty Creations

Yields: 12 Muffins

Ingredients:

For the Muffins

1 ½ cups apples, peeled and chopped

2 teaspoons cinnamon

¼ cup brown sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

⅓  cup granulated sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 cup whole milk

⅓ cup vegetable oil

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Topping

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup graham cracker crumbs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons  butter, melted

Directions

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. In a microwavable bowl, mix together the apples, cinnamon, and sugar. Microwave for about 1 ½ minutes or until apples are soft, stopping every 30 seconds to give them a stir. Let cool.
6. Mix together the flour, salt, granulated sugar, baking powder, and graham cracker crumbs.
8. Mix together the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla. Mix in the cinnamon apple mixture.
10. Add the dry ingredients, and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
12. Spoon the batter into a greased muffin pan.
14. Make the crumb topping. Mix together the flour, sugar, graham cracker crumbs, and cinnamon. Mix in the melted butter, and stir until the mixture looks like coarse wet sand.
16. Sprinkle the topping on top of the muffins, and bake the muffins for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.

Cinnamon Crumb Surprise

There are few things better in this world than a wonderfully fragrant cinnamon crumb bread stuffed with a surprise layer of cinnamon-infused apples.

During my daily course of perusing through blogs, I've encountered quite a number of posts that reference this holy and mystic book called

The Cake Bible

. The name sounds highly appealing, especially for a cake-lover like myself. (I have a few cake recipes up my sleeve, but I was too excited with this recipe so the others will wait.) Rose Levy Beranbaum is the author of this fabulous cookbook, and it turns out she has another book called

The Bread Bible

-- which is where this recipe comes from.

My eyes lit up the moment I saw the name of this recipe. Cinnamon plus crumb plus surprise? Those three words are all I need to hear to be convinced that I need to recreate this in my own home kitchen.

And I'm so happy, too, that I did. It's these kinds of recipes that end up in your baking repertoire, and I'm glad that I now have an excellent cinnamon apple bread recipe that will stay in my recipe book. This recipe is made in a bread pan, but it uses cake flour, which makes for a delightfully light and airy loaf in pairing with the cinnamon crumb. I hope you enjoy!

Love,

Monica

*

First make the crumb top and filling. The original recipe called for walnuts, but I used pecans and it worked perfectly well. The image on the top right corner shows the 1/2 cup I reserved for the filling. To the rest, I added the butter and flour. I did not add vanilla, but you may do so at this point if you wish.

The cake layer. At first the mixture will be dry, but after adding the egg mixture and mixing for a little longer it will turn magically moist. The image on the bottom right corner shows the final mixture before pouring into the pan.

All you have to do for assembly is pour a little batter, then layer with the reserved 1/2 cup of cinnamon crumb filling, then a layer of plump apple slices, then the rest of the batter, and the crumb topping to finish.

Click here for printable recipe of Cinnamon Crumb Surprise

.

Cinnamon Crumb Surprise

“Topped with fragrant cinnamon crumbs, this golden loaf has a hidden treat in the middle: a tart layer of buttery apple slices, nestled inside a layer of cinnamon crumb. Perfect with a cup of coffee, tea, or a glass of cold milk

.”

From

The Bread Bible

Yield: 1 loaf

Cooking Time: 50 – 60 minutes

Equipment

: 9 x 5 inch loaf pan, bottom greased and lined with parchment paper, then sprayed or greased and floured. If using a non-stick pan, no need to line the pan.

Crumb Topping and Filling

Ingredients

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar

3/4 cup pecans

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsifted cake flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F 30 minutes prior to use. Adjust oven shelf at the middle level.

Make crumb mixture

:

In a food processor, pulse the sugars, pecan, and cinnamon until the nuts are coarsely chopped. Reserve

1/2 cup

for the filling. Add the flour and butter to the remainder and pulse briefly just until butter is absorbed. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up, then use fingertips to form coarse, crumbly mixture for topping.

Apple Filling and Butter

Ingredients

1 heaving cup of sliced apple

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 egg

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup sifted cake flour

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 + 1/16 teaspoon (scant 1/4 teaspoon) salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Directions

Prepare filling and mix the batter

:

Just before mixing batter, peel and core apple. Cut into 1/4-inch thick slices, and toss with lemon juice.

In a medium bowl, lightly combine egg, yolks, and about 1/4 of the sour cream and vanilla.

In a mixer bowl, combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend. Add butter and remaining sour cream and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium-high speed and beat for 1 minute to aerate and develop the structure, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

Gradually add the egg mixture, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients. Scrape down the sides.

Pour about 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with the

reserved 1/2 cup crumb mixture

and top with apple slices, arranging them in two rows of overlapping slices. Pour the rest of the batter over the fruit and spread evenly. The batter will be 3/4 inch from the top of the pan. Sprinkle with the crumb topping.

Bake for 50 - 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool, serve, & enjoy!

Note

: It is fine to use all-purpose flour; the bread will have a firmer texture.