After Three Months Away...

            I can’t believe it—my last blog post was over three months ago! How time flies. Since July, I have studied for and taken the LSAT, participated in four different belly dance performances, taught burlesque classes (and choreographed a piece for my students for the studio’s upcoming open house), written articles for the OC Register, and started teaching religious education again. I’ve also done a lot of pleasure reading, which has been amazing. There was some baking as well, but for the most part, I was too tired to experiment with anything new. I even resorted to cake mix on a couple of occasions, which was intensely satisfying.

            Another thing that has happened since my last post is Rubbing Sugar has turned one year old! I can’t help but beam with pride when I look back at my very first blog post and recipe for baklava. I never imagined so much would have happened in the last year.

            When thinking of a recipe for this post, I considered making a big birthday cake. What could be more appropriate for a blogiversary? But to be honest, there are times when I would gladly choose pie over cake, and this happened to be one of those times. So I will be sharing my recipe for apple galette, which is like apple pie’s low maintenance sister. I swear I looked at over ten recipes to come up with this recipe, and then it took two tries to get it just perfect. (Many of these pictures are from my first attempt.)

            First I used Gala apples, but the acidic zing and crunch of Granny Smiths was much more satisfying. I found that when making the crust, you really have to be careful with not overworking the dough. I recently bought a pastry cutter and was so excited to use it, it resulted in overzealous butter cutting. The second time I made the galette, I just used a sharp knife to hack at the butter chunks until they became small nuggets. This time, the crust was flaky, buttery, slightly crunchy heaven. The walnut meal scattered beneath the apple slices is really just delicious insurance—protection against a soggy bottom crust.

            A couple things I love about galettes—you don’t have to worry about making it look perfect, and it can be eaten sliced like a pizza with your hands once it has come to room temperature. As just about every galette recipe states, this baked good is supposed to be “rustic.” It doesn’t need to formed into a flawless circle, the crust doesn’t need to be crimped, and no one will fault you for not taking the time to arrange the apple slices in concentric circles (although it does add some aesthetic appeal). And if the apple juices leak out of the crust during baking, it simply adds character. And lastly, I love eating with my hands. That’s why God gave us fingers, yes?

Apple Galette

Crust:

2 c. flour

3 tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 sticks, butter, cold and cut into cubes

4-5 tbsp. ice water

Walnut filling:

1/4 c. walnut halves

1 tbsp. brown sugar, lightly packed

Apple filling:

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced into ¼” slices

3 tbsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. allspice

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. butter, cut into pieces

1 egg, beaten

1 rounded tbsp. apricot preserves

1. First make the crust. Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Cut in the stick and a half of butter with a sharp knife until you have a shaggy, crumbly mixture, with roughly pea-sized chunks of butter. Pour in four tablespoons of water, stirring with a fork. If the dough is still too dry, add in the last tablespoon of water. Bring the dough together with your hands, wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate it for about 50 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the walnut filling. Combine the nuts and brown sugar in the bowl of a food processor and process until the walnuts are ground into a chunky rubble. Set aside.
3. Next, toss the apple slices together with the lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix in both sugars, the spices, and flour, and combine it gently with the apples until they are evenly coated.
4. Then, take the crust dough out of the refrigerator. Roll it out into a large, roundish shape on a floured board, turning and flipping it every so often to make sure it doesn’t stick.
5. Transfer the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and preheat the oven to 400º F.
6. Sprinkle the walnut and sugar mixture into a circle at the center of the dough, leaving a couple inches of dough bare on all sides.
7. Arrange the apple slices over the circle of walnuts. Fold the dough up over the edges of the apples and then carefully pour whatever excess juice remained at the bottom of the bowl over the apples.
8. Dot the apples with the remaining pieces of butter. Lastly, brush the beaten egg over the crust. Bake for 45 minutes.
9. After removing the galette from the oven, combine the apricot preserves with a touch of water and microwave it in a small bowl for about 30 seconds. Mix it until it’s smooth and then brush the preserves over the apples for an extra sheen.
10. Let the galette cool for about 20 minutes. Slice and serve the galette warm or at room temperature.

A Mad Tea Party

It’s time for a tea party! The 7th Annual Mad Tea Party, to be precise…hosted by A Fanciful Twist. I am just one of many lucky guests. Stay as long as you wish – I hope you feel welcome and enjoy your time with me. And as always, I have left a recipe for you at the end.

Beneath the trees of my little garden, amongst the flowering summer blossoms, there was a tea party set for two.

The kitchen had been whipped into a frenzy, leaving the aroma of oranges and caramelized sugar to float by on the warm breeze.

But with a little bit of fairy dust everything was finished just in time.

A pretty fox came to tea and a happy bunny joined her.

And plenty of delicious treats made the table overflow…There were cinnamon orange tartlettes, topped with sticky sweet pieces of freshly candied oranges.

Straight-from-the-oven scones, made with love and given a generous helping of cream and jewel-toned jam.

But best of all were the buttery financiers…fragrant, nutty, and topped with summer peaches.

And, of course, a few paper cranes folded up with a dream and a wish.

There was plenty of lemonade to go around, cold and bubbly and sweet…we never did find out what was in the teapot…

But we filled the day with laughter and nibbles and stories galore. In the end, it was wishes of bon voyage, as Little Miss Fox scampered off to catch her plane to France.

Financiers are French teacakes, so named because they resemble gold bars and had been popular in Paris’ financial district…or so tradition (aka Wikipedia) tells me. Although originally made with almonds, I chose to make them with walnuts because the first time I made them—on a summer afternoon last year with the aforementioned Miss Fox—there were no almonds in my pantry.

Peach and Walnut Financiers (Yield: 3 3x5” mini loaves)

9 tbsp. butter, cut into 1” pieces

3/4 c. walnuts

1/4 c. flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3 egg whites, whisked lightly

1 tsp. vanilla

1 medium-sized peach, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 400º F.
2. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a small bowl in the microwave. Using a pastry brush, spread an even coating of the melted butter into three mini loaf tins. Place the pans in the freezer until your batter is ready.
3. Place the remaining butter in a small sauce pan and melt over medium-high heat, allowing the butter to melt and then brown until it smells aromatic and the solids become golden brown. Take the pan off the heat and allow it to cool slightly.
4. While the butter cools down, place the walnuts, flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor and let it run until the ingredients become a fine, uniform meal. Pour the food processor’s contents into a large bowl.
5. Whisk the egg whites and vanilla into the nut mixture, then pour in the butter, making sure to scrape in all the browned bits at the bottom of the pot. Whisk the batter until it just comes together.
6. Take the prepared loaf tins from the freezer and divide the batter evenly amongst them.
7. Slice the peach into 1/4” wedges. Fan several slices, forming a layered row of peaches, over the top of each financier.
8. Place the loaf tins in the oven and bake the financiers for 10 minutes.
9. Keeping the oven door closed, turn the oven off and leave the cakes for five more minutes, or until the financiers are a dark golden brown and the edges are firm to the touch.
10. Remove the financiers from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Dust them with a little bit of powder sugar before serving.