A couple of weeks ago, I made a recipe that required a few sheets of phyllo dough and then I was stuck with an open roll in the fridge. What to do? What to do? Well, this for one…

Now, you can make this recipe as written, making one galette of each or you can just double the ingredients for the kind of galette you want to make and make 2 of those. The 5 sheets of dough, 1 apple, squirt of lemon and 1 tbsp of butter will make two galettes, no matter which variation you choose.

Apple, Rosemary & Gruyere Galette vs. Apple, Pecan and Cinnamon Galette
5 sheets phyllo dough, thawed
1 apple (I used a gala)
squirt of lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar + 1 tsp cinnamon mixed together
1 handful pecans (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp chopped, fresh rosemary
1 tbsp honey
1/3 cup gruyere, grated
1 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Lay one piece of phyllo down on a work surface. The long way. You know, horizontally. Cover the other pieces you are not using with a damp paper towel to keep them from drying out. Brush some melted butter on the dough. Sprinkle one half with the cinnamon sugar and one half with a little cheese — just a little.

Add another piece of phyllo down and brush with butter and sprinkle each half. Keep doing this until you’ve used all 5 pieces of dough. Cover with your damp towel.

Next, slice your apple up and squirt with a little lemon. Dived your apple slices in half. To one group, add about 1 tablespoon of your cinnamon-sugar mixture and the pecans. To the other half, add the honey and the rosemary. Toss both to combine. Do the best you can with the honey — it doesn’t really want to toss.

Now, cut the phyllo in half, vertically, seperating into the cinnamon sugar side and the cheese side. Mound the apple-pecan mixture in the middle of the cinnamon sugar dough and the apple-rosemary mixture in the center of the cheese dough. Bring the sides up. It will not cover the filling, just come up the sides a bit.

Brush each with remaining butter and sprinkle a little cinnamon-sugar and cheese on the respective tops.

Into the oven with them! About 30 - 35 minutes.

Let them rest for a moment or two and then nom-nom-nom-nom-nom!

I had a hard time picking my favorite. I think the cinnamon-sugar one would be great with a little vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream and the cheese one…hmmm…maybe a balsamic reduction drizzle? Hell, they were good just as they were from the oven.

Okay, this will probably be the last post until next week. Wedding-Sunday is fast approaching! Everything seems to be going well and, dare I say it, to plan.

eeek!

The other day I was tempted at the checkout by the latest issue of “Everyday Food.” I used to have a subscription but then I forgot to renew and now I only get the magazine, well, when I’m tempted at the checkout.

This month, there’s a big tostada on the cover. Okay, you are coming home with me! But inside, there was an article on baking mix (recipe below) and all the wonderful things you can bake with it. One of these things is Oatmeal Blondies, which I made. They turned out really good. The whole pan was gone in a day and a half.

The only challenging part was that I got halfway through making the recipe and realized that I didn’t have enough oatmeal. I had about a 1/2 cup and I needed 3/4 cup (well, the recipe says 1 cup, with a 1/4 of that for the top. I was going to use walnuts, so really, I was only short about 1/4 cup).

After sighing, and looking around and not wanting to go out I…..I…..used a packet of Trader Joe’s Blueberry Instant Oatmeal for the missing 1/4 cup.

::ducks::

Yeah, that’s what I said! And it turned out fine. Now, I’m not recommending you do the same, but in an emergency, we do what we have to do. I’ll make these again the right way but I think I’ll add some dried blueberries because, uh, the blueberry flavor was really tasty!

Baking Mix
I halved this from the original
3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tbsp salt

Mix it all together. Done. Store what you don’t use in an airtight container.

Oatmeal Blondies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups baking mix
3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped roughly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a little non-stick spray in an 8-inch square baking pan (you can also butter the dish as in the original recipe (OR). Line bottom and sides with a strip of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Now, you can butter the paper as the OR says or you can use non-stick spray or you can forget to do either like I did. For me, it was fine with just the paper, as I was all about not following the OR too much.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat until combined. With mixer on low, gradually add Baking Mix; mix just until combined. Mix in 3/4 cup oats. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Press batter down into pan. The OR said to spread. My mix was all crumbly — perhaps it was the blueberry flavoring? It didn’t spread — it pressed. Sprinkle with walnuts, pressing gently to adhere. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pan 30 minutes.

Using overhang, transfer blondies (still on paper) to a wire rack to cool completely. Place on a cutting board (peel off paper); using a serrated knife, cut into 9 (OR says 16 — ha!) squares. Store blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or freeze for up to 2 months. You will eat them all within 2 days, don’t worry.

If you are like us, you have tons of bananas on your kitchen counter top. Maybe you have one of those nifty banana hangers, but you still have lots of bananas. What can you do with tons of bananas (well, 3)? Make banana bread! Especially if you go to the store and buy more bananas because you think you are out, only to come home and see that there are five, hanging right there and looking at you all accusatory-like.

What then? Well, you wait for three of them to get all dark and past their prime, and then you laugh wickedly as you mash them up in a little bowl. Ma-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Victory is mine!

Er, okay then. The topping for this bread is inspired by my favorite scone at Bakery Bar — the fennel seed and raisin scone. If you don’t like fennel seeds, you should probably not use them here…

This is a pretty standard banana bread recipe. I typically replace the oil with apple sauce when I make any quick breads. If you are not into that sort of thing, just use the same amount of vegetable or canola oil for the apple sauce listed below.

Banana Bread with a Brown Sugar & Fennel Crust
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup apple sauce
3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup walnuts
2 tbsp golden raisins
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp fennel seeds
Non-stick canola oil spray

Set oven to 350 degrees and spray a loaf pan with no-stick spray. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and fennel seeds. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Add apple sauce, mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until combined.

Fold in dry ingredients and nuts. Pour into your loaf pan and sprinkle with the raisins.

Top with the brown sugar and fennel mixture and give the top a quick spray with canola oil.

Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check after 45 minutes. Use a toothpick or knife. You want it to come out fairly clean. If not, back in for a few more minutes. Mine ending up baking for about 55 minutes. You will be greatly tempted not to, but let it cool about 30 minutes before slicing.

So, you might notice that some of the raisins got all dark. The first time this happened to me I was all sad, thinking I had burnt the raisins. Well, don’t worry! Even though they get a little toasty, they taste just fine!

I have always been fruitcake-curious. So, this year, I decided what the hell, I’ll make one. The recipe is Alton Brown’s Free Range Fruitcake. And I made a special trip (to Trader Joe’s) for all the dried fruit and everything. We had the rum and the brandy already. Go figure.

This is a Part I, as I will have to baste the fruitcake(s) with brandy every 2-3 days for the next 2-3 weeks. How fun! It’s like an ongoing project with alcohol.

AB’s Free Range Fruitcake
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup currants
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped (I used dried peaches)
Zest of one lemon, chopped coarsely
Zest of one orange, chopped coarsely
1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
1 cup gold rum (I used dark rum)
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 sticks (not cups!) unsalted butter (that’s 10 tbsp)
1 cup apple juice
1/4 tsp ground cloves (or 6 whole cloves, ground)
6 allspice berries, ground (I had whole allspice berries but I was too lazy to clean out my coffee grinder,and grind them, so I just skipped them)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup toasted pecans, broken
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, broken
Brandy for basting and/or spritzing

Combine dried fruits, candied ginger and both zests. Add rum and macerate overnight, or microwave for 5 minutes to re-hydrate fruit. I went the microwave route — it worked fine!

Place fruit and liquid in a non-reactive pot with the sugar, butter, apple juice and spices. Bring mixture to a boil stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. At this point, I must confess, I grabbed a spoon and tasted it. Wow. It was so good! I was on the phone with my mom at the time (who likes fruitcake, btw) and told her how good it was as well. She is looking forward to trying some when she is here for Christmas.

So, remove your pot of fruit, rum and butter from heat and cool for at least 15 minutes. (Batter can be completed up to this point, then covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before completing cake.) Heat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine dry ingredients and sift into fruit mixture. Quickly bring batter together with a large wooden spoon, then stir in eggs one at a time until completely integrated, then fold in nuts. Here, I used half toasted hazelnuts and half pecans. About 1/2 cup total.

Spoon into a 10-inch non-stick loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. But here’s the thing — I had enough batter for 2 loaf pans! They each got filled up about 2/3’s of the way but it would have been way too much for one pan. If you’ve got a huge loaf pan, you might be fine with just one. Since my loaf pans were of the slightly smaller variety and not filled all the way up, mine were done in about 42-45 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting toothpick into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done.

If the toothpick (or knife) does not com out clean, bake another 5-10 minutes, and check again. Remove cake(s) from oven and place on cooling rack or trivet. Baste or spritz top with brandy and allow to cool completely before turning out from pan. My cakes came out pretty easily. I ran a knife around the edges and the used a metal spatula to start lifting up from the sides and loosening the cakes from the bottom. Then I turned them upside-down and out they came.

When cake is completely cooled, seal in a tight sealing, food safe container. I am using freezer bags. Every 2 to 3 days, feel the cake and if dry, spritz with brandy. The cake’s flavor will enhance considerably over the next two - three weeks. Come Christmas time, you will have one tasty, boozey cake! Hooray!

Okay, so I’ll probably do a mini-update each week on my fruitcakes basting until Christmas. Stay tuned…

Monday night, the WCC round-up* will be up but for now…it’s cookies. I altered a recipe I found at the Whole Foods web site to include matcha (powdered green tea). Where can you get matcha? Try here!

I rolled them out and used my new, cool Halloween cookie cutters for some great shapes — a bat, a ghost, cat, jack o’lantern and a witch boot. But, you could also just roll the dough into two logs, chill and slice into rounds. That would work just fine too.

I really liked the fact that this recipe calls for brown sugar. I think that it held up to the green tea taste really well.

Green Tea Halloween Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp matcha
1/2 tsp non-aluminum baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
2-3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp granulated sugar

In large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well blended.

In a separate bowl combine flour, matcha, baking powder and salt; then, with mixer at low speed, beat into butter mixture to blend well. If mixture is a little dry, add 2-3 tablespoons milk until it comes together. Form dough into two balls. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Sprinkle unbaked cookies with a little granulated sugar.

Place about 1–1/2 inches apart on ungreased, parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake 10–12 minutes. Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container. Or use shot glasses and stand the up on your dining room table for a photo…

* If there are any stragglers, you have until 4PM PST, to get me your entry.

Sugar High Friday, hosted by Cream Puffs in Venice is all about figs this month. Awesome. I really like figs. For this SHF I turned towards perhaps the perfect cookbook for this event — The Girl and the Fig cookbook, one that I really like. In fact, I’m trying to finagle my way into lunch or dinner there next time we’re near Sonoma. But, back to SHF, I’m going to guess I’m not the only one who makes something out of this book given the theme. We’ll see…

Anyway, this was wonderful! A lot of steps, but it makes a great Saturday afternoon project. I did halve the recipe (I used a square 8 inch X 8 inch baking pan) and still ended up freezing about half of it for later snacking — it’s very rich.

Warm Fig & Thyme Crisp with Fig Syrup
Pastry:
2 cups walnut halves
6 tbsp + 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 1/2 cups AP flour
3/4 lb (3 sticks) unsalted butter, thinly sliced
3 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks

Jam:
2 1/2 pounds dried figs (I used about half dried figs and half fresh figs, which, for my halved recipe turned out to be 1 8-oz bag of dried figs and 1 pint of fresh figs)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
zest of 3 lemons
1 bunch thyme, tied with twine
3 tbsp lemon juice

Port-Fig Syrup:
2 cups Port
5 dried Black Mission figs, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
1/2 cup sugar

Pastry
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind the walnuts (until medium-fine) with the tablespoons of sugar and set aside. Don’t worry, you’ll come back to them, but not until you’re ready to assemble the crisp. Next, mix the 3/4 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, salt, baking powder and flour until well combined. Add the butter and mix until the mixture clumps, about 2 minutes.

Add the vanilla and egg yolks to the mixture and mix for 40 seconds. Pack two-thirds of the dough into the bottom of a 9 X 12 inch ungreased pan and bake until it’s lightly golden — about 25-30 minutes.

Jam
To make the Jam, combine the figs, sugar, lemon zest thyme and lemon juice and pour in enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Don’t be shy with the water. I was kinda skimpy and had to add more water half way through cooking. Go ahead and really cover everything from the beginning.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the figs are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove the thyme. Puree the mixture in a food processor.

Syrup
Heat the figs, port, cinnamon and clove in a pan over medium heat and reduce to about 1/2 cup. Strain the sauce, pushing on the figs to get as much juice out as possible. Whisk in the sugar and serve.

Assembley
Spread the jam evenly over the baked dough.

In a bowl, crumble together the remaining third of the dough with the walnut and sugar mixture. Sprinkle this mixture over the jam and bake for about 50 minutes. (If you make a half recipe in a smaller pan, give it about 35 minutes).

Cut into pieces and serve warm with vanilla ice cream (or frozen yogurt) and drizzle with the port sauce. So amazingly decadent! And delicious!

Thanks again to Ivonne for hosting and coming up with a tasty theme! I can’t wait to see all of the fig recipes.

I have been meaning to make a blueberry pie all Summer — in fact, I have always wanted to make a blueberry pie. Unfortunately, I hadn’t done so yet but then I came across some tasty looking berries at Limbo and was inspired. Sure I was hot and yes, I was kind of lazy. That’s when I decided a blueberry crumble would be just as good. It was. Was there really any doubt? Nope. So, grab yourself some blueberries, a lemon, some assorted crumble accoutrements and you’re all set.

And, as if that was not enough, as an experiment, I mixed up some plain, non-fat yogurt, seeds from a vanilla bean, a little sugar and some cinnamon and threw it in the ice cream maker. I didn’t strain it or anything, just mixed it all up and that’s it. I ended up
with some pretty tasty non-fat frozen yogurt for the top of the crumble.

Blueberry-Hazelnut Crumble
Slightly based on a crumble recipe from the Whole Foods web site
2.5 cups blueberries (about a pint)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse the berries and drain thoroughly. Put the blueberries in a mixing bowl and add lemon juice, sugar and one half tablespoon of flour. Set aside until you are all ready with the crumble topping.

In a food processor, pulse together the remaining ingredients until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Okay, fine, course breadcrumbs made of butter, oats, sugar and nuts.

Combine, and pour the blueberries into four 1 1/2-cup ramekins. You could, of course, just make one big crumble in a 9-inch pie pan. Next, cover the berries with the topping and bake for thirty minutes until the top has browned and the fruit is bubbling.

You may have a little topping leftover — just store it in the fridge and make yourself another small, single-sized crumble one night after work. Shhh!

Can be served hot or at room temperature. Goes very well with ice cream or frozen yogurt — store bought or experimental.

Coming up also this week: a fish dish with olives, capers and…bacon (!) and September’s Weekend Cookbook Challenge from one of my most favorite cookbooks of all time.

I love these muffins — for they helped me use up some zucchini and the pepper and parmesan is a nice change from the typical zucchini bread spices. Also, sliced in half with a sausage patty in between makes a great breakfast!

You could also easily turn this into zucchini bread, just start checking on it’s doneness after about 35 minutes or so. If I had to guess, I’d say 45 minutes for bread.

Zucchini Basil Muffins
Adapted from Gourmet Magazine
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp double-acting baking powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable shortening, softened
1 tbsp sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (add more if it doesn’t seem moist enough — I think I used somewhere between 1/2 - 3/4 of a cup)
1 1/4 cup coarsely grated, well-scrubbed and drained well zucchini (about 2 medium)
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil leaves
2 tbsp + 2 tsp Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, 2 tablespoons of cheese and the pepper.

In a bowl cream together the shortening and the sugar, beat in the egg and the buttermilk, beating until the mixture is combined well. Then, stir in the zucchini and the basil. I find it helpful to drain the zucchini before adding to the mix by gathering it in a tea towel and squeezing, squeezing and squeezing.

Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture, stir the batter until it is just combined, and divide it among your buttered (or canola oil sprayed) muffin cups. Sprinkle a little of the remaining cheese on the top of each muffin and hit it with a little oil spray.

Bake the muffins in the middle of a preheated 400 degree F oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean, turn the muffins out onto a rack, and let them cool.

As mentioned earlier, for a tasty breakfast sandwich, halve the muffins horizontally, spread one of the cut sides with a little Dijon mustard, and add a cooked and browned vegetarian sausage patty. Maybe even throw on a few leaves of spinach. Go crazy.

As the title suggests, this is a recipe by Ina Garten. I saw her make them last week and immediately went to see if we had all of the components on hand. We did, except for some peanuts. No problem though, as we had some trail mix in the fridge. Trail mix with peanuts! Just sorted some out of there and I was good to go.

When I made these, I did a half recipe of what’s listed below. I found that the half size fit well in a square, brownie-shaped pan. Use really good jam — we used this homemade stuff we get at the open produce market on Hawthorne. I forget the name right now, as we just always call it Produce Pete’s — but I know that’s not it. But there’s a “P” in there somewehere.

Barefoot Contessa’s Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) raspberry jam or other jam
2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don’t worry if all the jam isn’t covered; it will spread in the oven.

Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool and cut into squares.

I originally envisioned this post for Weekend Cookbook Challenge 17, but I didn’t get it up in time. Most of this week (in the evening) has been devoted to working on the wedding website with jwa. Happily, save the date cards went out last Thursday. Well, at least the main bulk of them — there’s a few still lingering on the dining room table while we locate addresses.. Hopefully, those will make it out this week.

But, let’s move on. This recipe is from Everyday Italian and it turned out pretty well. The texture is a little different due to the cornmeal but once you get used to that, it’s really quite good. In addition to the almond paste, I also added about a teaspoon of almond extract, based on the recommendations from reviewers on the site.

Almond Cake
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup almond paste, cut into half-inch pieces
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, plus more for dusting
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
4 egg yolks
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan with vegetable spray or you could also butter and flour the cake pan. Your choice. After you decide that, in a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, cake flour and baking powder and set aside.

Then, using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and almond paste on high speed until smooth, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and slowly add confectioners’ sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined and light and fluffy.

Raise speed to high and add the vanilla and almond extracts, whole eggs and egg yolks, 1 at a time. Mix until well combined. Reduce speed to medium and add the sour cream and dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a spatula.

Bake in the lower third of the oven for 35 minutes, or until the cake is golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool. Remove from pan and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Let cool a few minutes and dive in!