Thanks again for the wonderful comments regarding my blog! Why do a blog? I have a few friends that are doing blogs, and I follow many blogs online. I get a lot of inspiration from them and I think of the blog community as a group of friends sharing their ideas and making them their own! It's wonderful! Who knows what will come of it, or how many things I can talk about, or how long it will last? But for now, It's fun, I'm enjoying it and I hope you are too!!!
Ok, so...on to business!
This week has been pretty low-key for us, but I still found some time for cooking and baking. I had some apples
left, but not enough to make the chutney that I wanted to make, so I made an apple tart from my absolute FAVORITE cook, Ina Garten. It was incredibly good, and it's beautiful to boot!
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| French Apple Tart |
French Apple Tart
For the pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
12 Tbsp. (1 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup ice water
For the apples:
4 Granny Smith apples ( I used Cortland)
1/2 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) cold, unsalted butter, small diced
1/2 cup apricot jelly or warm sieved apricot jam
2 Tbsp. rum or water
For the pastry, place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter, and pulse 10-12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas.
With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball.
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Roll the dough slightly larger than 10x14 in. using a ruler and a small knife, and trim edges. Place dough on prepared sheet pan and refrigerate while you prepare the apples.
Peel the apples and cut, core, and slice into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place overlapping slices of apples diagonally down the middle of the tart and continue making diagonal rows on both sides of the first row until the pastry is covered with apple slices. Sprinkle with the full 1/2 cup sugar and dot with the butter.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the pastry is browned and the edges of the apples start to brown. Rotate the pan once during cooking. If the pastry puffs up in one area, cut a little slit with a knife to let the air out. Don't worry! The apple juices will brown in the pan, but the tart will be fine! When the tart is done, heat the apricot jelly together with the rum or water and brush the apples and the pastry completely with the jelly mixture. Loosen the tart with a metal spatula so it doesn't stick to the paper. Allow to cool and serve warm or at room temperature. ENJOY!! :)
Every Fall, I make these wonderfully delicious cookies from Paula Deen. I highly recommend you try them! They are so delish that it's probably a good thing I only make them once a year, but my family sure does look forward to them! Here is the recipe:
Paula's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies~
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract - Brown Butter Icing, recipe follows
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease 1 or more cookie sheets. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, shortening, and sugar in a bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and beat until mixture is light in color. Add buttermilk. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice; stir into creamed mixture. Fold in oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, and vanilla, blending well. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto
Brown Butter Icing:
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3 cups sifted powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 to 4 tablespoons water
In a small saucepan heat the butter over medium heat until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in 3 cups sifted powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in enough water (3 to 4 tablespoons) to make an icing of drizzling consistency. Drizzle on warm cookies.
Yield: enough to ice 5 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
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| Paula's Loaded Oatmeal Cookies |
Tip of the week:
If you are like me and use buttermilk for baking, get frustrated when you have a recipe you want to make, but don't have the buttermilk...never fear!!! Freeze it!!
Just pour your buttermilk into ice cube trays...(they will be anywhere from 1 1/2 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp) and Freeze!!
When you are ready to use, just take out what you need and let thaw. Whisk or shake in a jar to incorporate, and it's ready to use! These "cubes" should last about 3-5 months.
Vintage treasure of the week:
My second vintage treasure is this beautiful enamel bowl that belonged to my Grandmother on my Mom's side. Her name was Margaret Heinkel and she was a wonderful cook!!! My mom says I'm just like her. I take that as a HUGE compliment as she is almost Saint- like in my book. She had 4 children. Two had Muscular Dystrophy and were in wheel chairs. She took care of them all by herself along with the other kids, while my Grandpa worked. She cooked and baked, canned and stored everything she could from my Grandpa's garden. It is very interesting that I work with adults with special abilites, and do many of things she did...I hope I make her proud. Whenever I use this bowl, I think of, and feel incredibly close to her.
This week has had many ups and downs for me, but I feel so grateful for my family and friends who continue to uplift and love me for me...Thank you.
What do you own that brings back memories of a loved one?
Love to you all...
Kerry :)
