Bavarian Apple Torte....fall on a plate.

 Bavarian Apple Torte!  The perfect way to use your fall apples.

Bavarian Apple Torte

 Crust:

½ C. butter

1/3 C. granulated sugar

¼ tsp. vanilla

1 C. all-purpose flour

Filling:

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ C. granulated sugar

1 egg

½ tsp. vanilla

1/3 C. granulated sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

4 C. apples, peeled and sliced (Granny Smith or other tart apples)

¼ C. almonds, sliced and sauté in butter until golden

Preheat the oven to 450˚ F.

For the crust:  Cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Blend in the flour.  Spread the dough onto the bottom and 1 ½” up the sides of a 9” spring form pan. 

For the filling:  Combine the cream cheese and sugar.  Mix well.  Add egg and vanilla.  Mix well and pour into the crust.  Combine the sugar and cinnamon, and then toss with the apples.  Combine well.  Arrange the apple slices in a circular pattern over the cream cheese layer in the pan.  Bake torte for 10 minutes at 450˚F.  Reduce the heat to 400˚ F. and continue baking for 25 more minutes.   Loosen torte from rim of pan.  Sprinkle top with sliced almonds which have been sautéed in butter. 

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Best when served the same day it is made  

A is for Apple

Fall is my favorite season.  

I love fall crisp apples fresh from the tree; pumpkins, squash, gourds;

 crunchy red leaves underfoot;











and lots of black-eyed Susan's and lemon balm in my garden (and sometimes on my cakes.  They're organic).

I LOVE FALL!

I always make this yummy apple dip when the first new apples are available.  It has a hint of maple syrup and just a touch of brown sugar.  And who doesn't love cream cheese?

Is it healthy?  Of course not, but who cares!?!  It's dessert.  

When my girls were little, I used to pack single portions of the dip in little disposable condiment cups with lids (like ketchup comes in), then I tossed sliced apples in ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh in the USA) to keep them from going brown and put them in plastic baggies.  Then into the girls lunch boxes it all went. Rumor had it that their apples and dip could be traded for anything in the lunchroom.  I don't think my girls traded much though.  That dip was just too good to trade for anything!  

It's still a big hit at our house.

Fall Apple Dip

8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar
2 Tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Mix cream cheese until smooth.
Add the sugars and maple syrup and blend.
Whip in the cream just until the dip is creamy and smooth.

Serve cold with crisp fall apple slices.
This makes about 1 1/2 cups of dip.

Warm cereal for cold mornings

I love to breakfast on steel-cut oats and long cooking multi-grain hot cereals on cool mornings. But they have a long cooking time and are not convenient when everyone is trying to get out the door on an early schedule.

This technique will solve the time-crunch problem on busy fall and winter mornings.  My friends Cindy from my knitting group and Becky from Vintage Mixer both use a similar method to make oatmeal.  I adapted the short cut instructions on the back of the McCann's Steel Cut Oats can.

Here's what you do:

The night before you want to serve the oats:

Measure out 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil.  I like to add a pinch of salt to the boiling water.  Add 1/4 cup of cereal and stir in. Let the cereal cook for 4-5 minutes.  I like my oatmeal creamy so I simmered mine for 7 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and refrigerate the mixture overnight. In the morning,  remove the oatmeal and either heat it in the same pot or heat it in the microwave.   This makes one generous individual serving.  I make two servings for B and I.

We  put the oatmeal in our bowls, sprinkled some brown sugar, spooned on some applesauce and a few chopped roasted pecans and then topped it with a dollop of cream.  We were inspired by Das Cafe's 5 grain oatmeal.   You could cook the cereal with milk or almond milk instead of water, and serve it with fresh fruit. Add some honey or agave... whatever you like.

This is so good and easy on a busy morning.
Try it and experiment with your own version.  You can't go wrong.

Fun in the Sun....

I've not been here at the blog for a while.  We've been busy.

 

There's been beekeeping, berry picking (and eating of course), jamming, some really good summertime menus, a bit of vacationing which included yarn and knitting of course,  there was some reading on the veranda.

It was hard to concentrate on anything but the Pacific view, but we managed to tough it out and sit on the veranda quite a bit, morning, evening, and through one slightly foggy afternoon.

There was some wallpaper stripping going on (and a lot more of it that has to happen, unfortunately).

There was even a summer birthday, which is new for our family.  It's fun to add son-in-laws and some new summertime celebrations.
I hope your summer is going as well as ours.  I'll be back.  I'm off for a bit again.

Lemon Meringue Pavlovas

Remember that Lemon Curd?  It's the filling in this dessert.

Have you ever eaten a Pavlova?  It's generally accepted that this dessert was invented when a famous Russian ballerina named Anna Pavlova visited New Zealand on a worldwide tour in the late 1920's, (although Australia claims it was invented in their country). It's basically a meringue base with whipped cream and fresh fruit on top.  The filling is put in a day or so early to give it time to soak into the meringue.  The Pavlova is soft and "pillow-y" when served instead of crunchy.  It's a little piece of heaven in my book.

Quite a few years ago, I had to serve luncheon to a very  large group of church women and I was given a tight budge to work with. What dessert do you serve to 90 women when you're on a budget?
It was Easter and eggs were on sale in all of the markets so I decided to make Pavlova.  But Pavlova only uses egg whites and you have egg yolks left over.  With 90 servings, I had A LOT of yolks left over, and what would I do with that many yolks?  So I made lemon curd and made it into a mousse with a smaller amount of whipping cream folded into the curd.

 I stretched that budget quite a bit farther because I needed less whipped cream to fill the meringues.  They turned out delicious!  I served them with a berry sauce made with frozen berries because fresh fruit wasn't in my budget.  I had many, many requests for the recipe.

I made these for a dinner party last week and topped them with fresh berries.  I layered the cream and curd rather than folding it together.  Either technique works and both the sauce or the fresh fruit are equally delicious.
You can also pipe the meringue into one big circle and cut individual wedges but I like to make personal meringues.  The components can be done ahead of time too, which makes these perfect for a crowd.

I think Ms. Pavlova would approve.

  Pipe one circle like this...And then pipe one circle around the outside of this circle to make a cup.

 After baking.

 These meringues can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 weeks.

Personal Lemon Meringue Pavlovas with Berry Sauce

                                                                  

                                                                             Bonnie Barker

Meringues:

6 egg whites

Pinch of cream of tartar

1 1/4 cups of white sugar

Preheat oven to 250° F.  
     Whip egg whites on high speed until foamy.  Add cream of tartar and mix well.  Add sugar, 1 Tab. at a time (if you add the sugar to quickly, the weight of it will deflate your meringue).  Once the sugar is incorporated, continue to whip until the egg whites are shiny and hold a very stiff peak.

     Place the meringue in a pastry bag and pipe eight 4 inch circles (I piped 3 1/4 inch).  I draw the circles upside down on parchment paper and then turn it over and pipe the meringues.  

     Bake for 1-2 hours until the meringues are dry and crunchy.  Turn the oven off and let them cool in the oven.

 

Makes 8 4-inch meringues

Lemon Curd:

2 cups sugar

12 eggs yolks

 1 cup lemon juice

 2 tablespoons lemon zest

½ cup(1 stick) butter, cut in pieces

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Wash and zest lemons.  Extract lemon juice.  In a heavy-bottomed, non aluminum pan, stir egg yolks with sugar. Whisk in lemon juice.  Cook on medium-low heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat and whisk in butter.  Strain through a chinois.  Add lemon zest. 
Cover surface with plastic wrap. 
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 
Can be kept in fridge up to 3 weeks. 

This curd is great to spoon over angel food cake, pound cake, or scones.  Experiment with combinations of fresh citrus juice for variety (do not use bottled lemon juice).  It will keep for up to a week in your refrigerator.

*To make this into the Mousse you will use for the desert you will need:

 1 c. heavy whipping cream

Whip the cream until it is very stiff.  Take about 1/3 cup of cream and carefully fold it into the curd.  Add this to the cream and fold in to lighten the mixture.  Now fold the rest of the cream into the lemon curd being careful not to stir and deflate the cream.

Mixed berry sauce:

1 Tab. butter

3 c. berries

1/2 C. sugar

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (I grate my own but powdered is fine)

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

     Heat the butter in a large pan until bubbling.  Add the berries and sauté" until they start to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add sugar and juice and cook until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes.  Add spices and mix.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Refrigerate.

To assemble:

Place a small dab of curd on the bottom of the meringue to stick it to the bottom of the plate.  It will slide around the plate if you don't. 

Spoon lemon curd into the meringue and drizzle berry sauce over. 

You may want to spoon a small scoop of whipped cream on top and garnish the whole thing with some fresh berries.

You can also pipe one large circle of meringue and cut it into wedges to serve.

Favorite Things...Lemon Curd.

It's gray, it's dreary, and it's cold.  I'm craving light and warmth; something to bring a little cheer to the February blahs....

So I made Lemon Curd.   That's logical, right?  It reminds me of spring, maybe because it's yellow (daffodil yellow) and bright, both in taste and in color.  This recipe has so many uses.  In fact, my next post has a recipe which will feature lemon curd, so make some and come on back.

Did you know that the white pith under the yellow outer skin is bitter?  Try to zest only the outer yellow layer, not the white part; leave that part on the lemon.

After zesting, poke a tiny hole in the lemons with the tip of a sharp knife and microwave on high for 30 seconds to break down the membranes holding the juice.  You will increase your juice yield dramatically. Zest first; heat last.  Warm lemons are hard to zest.

 Juice the lemons and strain the juice to remove seeds and membranes before using.

 Stir, stir, stir (or use a double boiler) so you don't make scrambled eggs

When a recipe says to cook until the mixture coats the back of a spoon and leaves a trail when you run a clean finger through it, this is what it should look like.  The proper cooking term is nappe'.

Cold cubed butter ready to add to the cooked curd.   Add it after taking the curd off the cooking heat.

Strain the curd before serving to remove the chalazae (those little white attachments that hold the yolk to the white). Most recipes say to strain through a chinois (also called a china cap) which is a very fine mesh strainer.  I have one but prefer to use my small holed strainer because I like the particles of lemon zest left in my curd.   It doesn't make sense to add it and then strain it out.

 Press a piece of plastic or cling wrap onto the surface of the curd while it's cooling.  This will prevent a "skin" from forming on top.

Refrigerate until it's needed for another recipe (like the one coming next) or before serving.  

Curd is wonderful spooned over pound cake, served with berries, or even spread on toast or muffins.

It would make anything taste better.

You can also use this recipe and substitute other juices for the lemon juice.

Bonnie's Favorite Lemon Curd

2 cups sugar

12 eggs yolks

1 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons lemon zest, yellow part only

½ cup(1 stick) butter, cut in pieces

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Wash and zest lemons.  Extract lemon juice.  In a heavy-bottomed, non-aluminum pan, stir egg yolks with sugar.  Whisk in lemon juice.  Cook on medium-low heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon and a finger run through it leaves a trail in the mixture.  Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla.  Strain through a chinois or strainer.  Add lemon zest and stir. 

Cover surface with plastic wrap. 

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before eating or using in a recipe.  

Homemade Granola

My girls have been raving about their homemade granola for a long time.  When I asked for the favorite recipe, Erin said, "Oh I just throw in this and that.  Whatever you like".  But she suggested that I start with this one and Rachel seconded the motion.

So today we made this slightly sweet, crunchy granola in our kitchen.

We started with the Smitten Kitchen recipe and changed it up a bit.  It was determined by what we had in the pantry (or the lack thereof).  Am I "smitten"?  YES I AM.

I like that this granola is chock full of nuts and dried fruit.  The recipe calls for olive oil, which is healthy oil so I like that too.
Just a note here; I thought the olive oil might impart too strong of an "olive-y" flavor but it doesn't. You won't discern any difference between the olive oil and soy oil which is used in many commercial recipes.

I had some beautiful Pure Vermont Maple syrup that I bought as my "souvenir" from a trip to Vermont (it's a luxury).  But I also remember Erin saying she liked honey in it so I replaced about 1/4 cup of the syrup with clover honey.  I also chopped up some dried mangos and apricots to add with the suggested dried cherries.  And lastly, I don't like walnuts so I substituted pecans.

Our version is delicious.  I had to keep swatting hands away from the sheet as it was cooling.  This might be a staple in our house.  And I think I'll make it just the same next time.

Click on the link above for Deb's Original Recipe.