Vegan Apple Tart

Sometimes, in order to love one ingredient or dish more, you have to move outside of your comfort zone and allow yourself to be challenged in the kitchen. I’m often pleasantly surprised when I do this. I discover that I’ve stretched my skills from one level to another and then another, yet always realizing that I will likely never reach that apex of culinary expertise – which is a good thing if you ask me. You see, there’s just always more to learn, to explore, to mine from something as simple as an apple or a pie.

A few days ago, I came across the idea of making a pie quite differently than I had approached it in the past – the idea was to use phyllo (or filo) dough instead of the pie dough I am so used to making every year. But I changed my mind. Instead of making the recipe I had discovered, I settled instead on making an apple tart – something I had never done before, but was only too happy to try. I decided to give myself one teensy break, though – I’d use pre-packaged phyllo dough.

I don’t normally advocate using ingredients or parts of recipes that you can make yourself, but I’ve made phyllo dough once, and let me tell you – if you’re not experienced at it, it can take you a goodly amount of time to roll it out. If you ever have the time and the inclination, I’d heartily recommend you try making it at least once. At the very least, you will come to appreciate the hard effort that goes into making those mysteriously flaky desserts.

Apple Tart
This recipe is based upon the Apple Crumble Tart on Allrecipes.com

• 1/2 package frozen puff pastry sheets (phyllo or filo), thawed (check the ingredients to ensure it is vegan)
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter, melted
• 3 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped or sliced
• 3/8 cup (or 6 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
• 3/8 cup (or 6 tablespoons) chopped blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup white vegan sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons butter, chilled
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

About two hours before you are going to start working on your recipe, take your frozen phyllo dough out of the freezer to allow it to thaw. You are going to use only one half of the package for this recipe.

Phyllo dough

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Chop your blanched almonds. Don’t worry about making it too uniform. The almonds will get broken down further in a few steps.

Chopping blanched almonds

In a small bowl, mix flour, almonds, sugar and cinnamon together. Add chilled butter and vanilla extract. Cut together with a pastry blender until small crumbs form.

Mixing crumble topping for apple tart

Unfold pastry and place one to two sheets at a time on a large, ungreased baking sheet or on a silicone baking mat on a baking sheet. Brush every one to three sheets with melted vegan butter.

(If you don’t have a pastry brush, I highly recommend that you get one. I didn’t have one on hand, and I can tell you it’s not an ideal way to spread the vegan butter on the phyllo dough – a brush is going to be far easier!)

Spreading butter on phyllo sheets

Chop or slice your apples. This is really a matter of preference.

Sliced Granny Smith apples

Then arrange the apples in the center of the pastry, leaving a 1/2 inch wide border of pastry.

Adding apples to phyllo dough

Spoon almond topping gently over the apples, being careful it doesn’t spill over the edges of the pastry.

Apple tart about to go into the oven

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

That was easier than I thought!

I had a piece a few minutes after it had come out of the oven, and wow – it was delicious. I am definitely going to be making this one again – sweet, crunchy, flaky – what more do you need?

Yum!

Tip: When you store this, the phyllo dough will no longer be very crispy. To crisp it up again, place a serving on a piece of foil then let it toast in your toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes.

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Easy vegan apple turnovers

Over the last few days I have been thinking about and eating these apple turnovers, and realizing how perfect they are – and how much like apple pie they taste. Of course, they should. Instead of phyllo dough, these are made with pie crust, and the filling is pretty much the same as apple pie: apples, cinnamon, sugar, a touch of flour and a pinch of salt. It’s like a portable apple pie, except you probably won’t make it five feet to your destination before these are done. In fact, you’ll probably stop and just be in the moment, letting the flavors and textures filter through your mouth. Then you’ll wish you had another one like I do right now. How I could go for another right this very instant.

Easy Apple Turnovers
Makes approximately one dozen apple turnovers

Pastry Crust (for a two-crust pie)
This is a revised version of the two-crust recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling

• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped or sliced
• Cinnamon
• Sugar
• Flour
• Pinch of salt

In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients for the pie crust, then cut in the vegan butter until it is well incorporated.

Making the crust

Sprinkle the cold water over the dough one tablespoon at a time, mixing with a fork until the dough begins to cling together and leave the sides of the bowl. If the dough seems too moist just add in a little more flour.

Adding water to pull the dough together

With your hands, form the dough into two balls, then press each down a little so they are more in the shape of a disk. Cover them individually with plastic wrap, or put them into a plastic bag that can be sealed and place in the refrigerator for about half an hour. This will help to make the crust more flaky, as well as make it easier to roll out.

Pie dough!

As your dough is chilling, peel, core and chop your apples. In these pictures I have four apples, but I discovered that I was very much overestimating! Two apples should be sufficient for this recipe.

Peeling and cutting apples

Once your apples are chopped or sliced (sliced might actually be easier for making the turnovers), sprinkle them with cinnamon (not too much – maybe 1/4 teaspoon), sugar, flour and a pinch of salt. You don’t need much of each – just use your judgment and remember that you can always add more, but you can’t take away.

Tip: Note that the purpose of the flour is to help the juices of the apples to thicken as they are released in baking.

Spicing up the filling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take one disk of dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it out. You may roll it out into a rectangle then cut equal-sized large squares or you can use a very large round biscuit or cookie cutter to cut each piece.

I used a large round cookie cutter - the largest I have

Place a few apples on top of each piece of dough, then fold it over. If it cannot easily seal, you may need to remove some of the apples.

Press the edges together, and fold over and press (this will help to avoid the apple liquid from leaking out and sticking to your pan – although some will still invariably leak). Score the top of each turnover with a knife to allow the steam from the apples to escape during baking. Place each on a cookie sheet.

Forming the turnovers

Once each turnover is formed, place them in the oven and bake for about 35 – 40 minutes or until golden on top. Allow to cool, then serve.

Apple turnovers!

Do you ever make turnovers? What is your preference for filling or dough?

Mmmmm....

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Baked apples

I am a big fan of apple crisp – the sweet, crunchy topping with the tender, juicy apples – but sometimes I just don’t have the right amount of apples or time on my hands. And sometimes I don’t really want to make all that extra effort of peeling and cutting up the fruit. I decided to try to find a recipe that would allow me to make apple crisp on a smaller scale and that would still have the taste of crisp without too much extra effort.

This baked apples recipe is so versatile – it’s hard to mess it up. Make it yours – add raisins and walnuts, or bake it in apple or orange juice. It’s really up to you what the final dish will be. Plus it’s great for breakfast or dessert.

Baked Apples
This recipe yields four servings.

• 2 apples, cut lengthwise and cored
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Cinnamon
• Dash of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons vegan butter
• Raisins or nuts, optional
• 1 cup water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your apples by cutting them in half. You can also peel your apples if you do not like the skin, and you can also discard the stem.

Cut your apples in half

Core your apples with a melon baller. It might not be entirely even, but that’s okay because you’re going to cover it up with topping.

Coring apples with a melon baller

Mix all of your dry ingredients together. Note that since this is a small batch, I didn’t measure out the cinnamon. I just sprinkled in a little bit (probably about 1/4 teaspoon).

Mixing the dry ingredients together

Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, add the vegan butter and incorporate with your bare hands. It should become a crumbly mixture, yet still a little moist.

Mixing in the vegan butter

If you want to add in nuts or raisins, now would be a good time to add those. Just mix them in with a spoon or with your hands.

Place the apple halves in a deep dish and spoon the topping onto each apple. The topping should cover as much of the top of the sliced apple as possible.

Adding the topping to the apples

You can add the raisins and nuts on top of the topping, but when I did this it did dry out the raisins a little bit.

Add the water to the baking dish (don’t pour on top of the apples), cover with foil and put in the oven for about 30 minutes. The apples may not be entirely done at this point, so remove the foil and bake for another 10 or 15 minutes. Check with a knife to see how soft the apples are. If you need to continue baking them, allow them to bake for 10 or 15 minute intervals.

Once done, allow them to cool for a few minutes and then serve. You can serve with a vegan ice cream, vegan whipped topping or just by themselves.

Yum - the taste of apple crisp without too much effort!

I do admit that the apples didn’t seem to bake long enough. I think that next time I might try increasing the oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or I might try to bake for a little longer. Still these turned out really nicely, and I liked the addition of walnuts and raisins.

Do you ever make baked apples or apple crisp?

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I love it when I see a new Daring Bakers challenge that allows for easy veganizing and gives me a chance to try something truly new. This month’s challenge was all about the phyllo dough – you know, that paper-thin (or thinner than paper-thin) stuff you buy in boxes in the frozen foods aisle at your local grocery store. As with pretty much most challenges, we had to make the dough. The other stuff, the filling, was a piece of cake.

Before I launched into making the strudel, which is a good afternoon’s project by the way, I decided to see if there were any good videos on how to make it. Sometimes you need real time footage instead of photographic play by plays, but I was amazed and discouraged! When I did a search for “apple strudel video” all I came up with was a focus on the filling and then they used the stuff you buy at above said aisle in above said food store (shame Paula Deen, shame!). I finally came across a video that showed me exactly what I wanted to see and I was ready to rock.

Aside from substituting vegan butter for regular butter and brandy for rum, I followed this recipe exactly.

Apple Strudel

from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum (or brandy)
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) vegan butter, melted, divided
• 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
• strudel dough (recipe below)
• 1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking) Note that I used three Granny Smith apples

Mix the rum or brandy and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

Heat three tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands).

Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself.

Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel Dough

from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

• 1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed.

You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.

Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.

Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric.

Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.

Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands.

Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time.

Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Making this recipe was a good challenge for me, although I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be trying it again any time soon. I’m not big on nuts in desserts, and I’m not a huge fan of this type of pastry, however it was delicious and if you like flaky pastries filled with fruit, this dessert may be a good project for you. It’s rich, though, and high in calories (I don’t know how many calories, but believe me, one taste and you’ll know that it’s packed with them), so keep that in mind when you’re having a slice or two or three (I believe I had three yesterday).

One warning: if you store this, it will likely loose its flakiness, which is one of the things that makes it so appealing in my opinion. It’s best eaten on the day it’s made, so be sure you have family or friends around to share in the goodness.

If you were to ask me what my favorite pie was, I’d probably give you a few answers like blueberry, cherry, and chocolate. But what usually comes up on top is good old homemade apple pie. Perhaps it is because of the spices, or the flaky pie crust, or that when I’m eating it I know that it must be fall.

I’m typically not very good at making pies. I think the primary difficulty for me is the pie crust. Pie crust is tricky for me because you have to make sure it’s not too sticky or too dry, and you have to be able to roll it without ripping it or turning it into a shape that doesn’t quite go with a round pie pan. I’ve been practicing lately, though, and what you’re going to get here is my second successful try (yes the first was also successful) at apple pie. Of course, my mini apple pies were also quite successful, if I do say so myself.

Apple Pie

Pastry Crust (for a two-crust pie)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 4 to 6 tablespoons cold water

Filling

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 cups apples (8 medium), peeled and sliced

Note – if you like a spicier pie you can increase the cinnamon and nutmeg to 1/2 teaspoon each.

For the crust:

In a medium-sized bowl add your 2 cups flour.

Then add the salt.

Mix together. I personally like using a whisk because I’ve found it mixes more thoroughly than just a spoon.

Next cut in the vegan butter with a pastry blender or a couple of knives.

For this recipe I’m using Earth Balance Buttery Sticks. I actually really like using stick butter if it’s available because it means I can be lazy and follow the measurement guides on the wrapping. Usually when a recipe calls for 1/3 cup of butter I have to figure out how many tablespoons it is since I typically have the Earth Balance or Soy Garden that comes in a tub.

Once you’re done cutting in the butter it should be pretty crumbly and look similar to this:

Sprinkle the mixture with 1 tablespoon of water at a time and mix with a fork. You don’t want to add too much water, so it’s best not to dump it all in at once.

Once the pastry seems wet enough, but also not too dry, you can finish mixing it together with your hands.

Gather the pastry into a ball then divide it in half. Shape them into two flattened rounds, wrap each individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for about half an hour. Refrigerating the pastry makes it much easier to roll out, and it also makes the pastry more flaky once it’s baked.

Once it is ready to roll out take out one of the rounds, and place it on a floured surface. Sprinkle some flour on top as well.

Begin to roll out the dough.

Roll out the dough to a size that is at least an inch or two larger than your pie pan.

Carefully remove the pastry dough from the floured surface, being careful not to tear. Here I am using my rolling pin.

Place it into a pie pan, and press against the bottom and side of the pan. If you have areas of the pan that are not covered you can use extra pastry dough to fill them in.

Cut the excess dough from the pie pan and reserve.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

For the filling:

In large bowl, mix sugar, 1/4 cup flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon salt.

Again, I’m using a whisk to make sure this is well mixed.

If you have not already done so, prepare your apples.

I am using locally grown apples from my community supported agriculture group, and to be perfectly honest I don’t know what these are. They are on the sweeter side, though. If these were tart apples I would probably use closer to 1/2 cup of sugar.

Mix the apples with the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Add the apples to the pastry-lined pie pan.

I decided to do a lattice for the top of this pie. It’s not as hard as you would imagine, but it probably does take a little longer to put together than if you were to just put a single layer of pastry on top.

The first thing you do is roll out your remaining dough, then cut into thin strips – depending on how perfect you want this to be you can get as specific on the width as you want, or if you’re like me you’ll just eyeball it. My strips were probably about 1/2 inch width or a little smaller.

Take half of your strips and lay them evenly on top of the filling that is now on the bottom pie crust.

On one far edge of the pie pan fold over every other strip, then take a fresh strip and lay it near the edge of the pie pan and fold the strips back over.

Fold over the other remaining strips of dough, and lay a fresh strip of dough on top, and fold the strips back down. Keep repeating this and ideally you will have a perfectly woven pie crust.

Once you have finished weaving, cut the over hanging pie crust strips flush with the edge of your pie pan, then push together the layered pieces of crust to ensure that it stays together when you slice the pie after it has baked.

Bake for about 40-50 minutes. Check on the pie after about 30 or 35 minutes and turn it if it seems to be getting too brown in the back. You can also alternatively put tin foil around the edge of the pie to make sure the edges don’t burn, then when you have about 10 or 15 minutes left of baking time you can take the foil off to ensure the edges get fully baked.

Take it out of the oven when it is done and let it cool, or you can serve while it is still warm.

By the way, you may have extra pastry dough left over. You can use it to make mini pies, or you can be lazy and indulgent and roll it out, slice it up and bake it as is. Yum. Pie crust.

I always seem to like to do things the hard or more complicated way, but it is usually worth it in the end. The first time I did this type of lattice pie crust I was pleasantly surprised at how it turned out, and I thought, hey – this isn’t as hard as it looks. It’s truly not that time consuming either, even though when you present it to your friends or family they’ll likely wonder how you had time to put it together.

The pie itself tasted really great. The spices were pretty light and definitely not overwhelming, and the apples were very nice despite the fact that they were not tart like apple pie apples are usually supposed to be. I’ll probably make this again since it isn’t that difficult to make. I will say that this pie could have probably used another apple or two, but still, it was pretty close to fantastic.

Ever since I saw what this month’s challenge would be with the Daring Bakers, I kept trying to decide if I would do it or not. It wasn’t so much because it was challenging and time consuming. It was more about the fact that I’ve already gained a couple of pounds recently and it was clear this was going to be a calorie-filled pastry. Sure, I can share my creations with other people, but usually my husband and I willingly devour what we make.

As you can guess, I caved and spent much of yesterday working on this recipe.

I didn’t alter the recipe too much, but I did cut it in half because of the ridiculous amount of butter, which translates into a ridiculous amount of calories.

Unfortunately, I don’t have blow-by-blow pictures, but I’ll supply you with a video at the end that was shared with the Daring Bakers when we first learned what our fate for June would be.

Vegan Danish Braid

Danish Dough

• 1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 2 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp. marmalade
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Butter Block (Beurrage)

• 1/2 pound (1 stick) cold vegan butter
• 1/8 cup all-purpose flour

Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a whisk. Add sugar, marmalade, and vanilla extract, and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a well. Make sure that the “walls” of your well are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the well. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the well, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature or refrigerate if too runny.

After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and 1/4 inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, 1/4-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns (honestly, I didn’t, but I am thinking I did maybe up to six turns). Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Apple Filling
Makes enough for two braids

• 1 Fuji or other apple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 – 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

Assembly

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Proofing and Baking

Spray cooking oil onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.

Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

The dough actually didn’t rise, but I think that is because I didn’t put all the liquid into the dough when I was mixing it, so some of the yeast didn’t make it into the final dough. As a result, it wasn’t as flaky as it might have been if it had risen.

For the filling I actually used two different jams – black currant on half and peach on the other. I probably used 2 – 4 tablespoons of each, and both sides turned out well.

Overall this was good, and I got a good verdict from my husband. I may attempt this again at a time when I’m super skinny and the extra calories won’t matter. :)

Since I didn’t supply step-by-step pictures, here is a video that shows another method on how to make the pastry (disregarding the eggs and dairy, of course).

You can also watch this retro video of Julia Child and another baker making a Danish braid.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) season is soon upon us again, and we cannot wait. We’ve been members of a local CSA for several years now, and finally this year we decided to just purchase the fruit share. Twice. We love fruit – that fruit from Hepworth Farms – so much that we decided to get twice as much.

In the meantime we rely on our local Greenmarket in Union Square. We bought so many apples a few weeks ago that we’re overloaded. We do love apple crisp, though, and we’ve had it a couple of times already.

Apple crisp is one of the best things ever, ever! It’s got crunchy and salty and spicy all rolled into one. We make it so often, but rarely tire of it, and when we have other fruit around we make several different varieties (it is great with peaches, nectarines, and plums).

This is also a recipe that is hard to mess up. If you tweak ingredients, it probably will still taste great.

Apple Crisp

• 6 – 8 apples, peeled, cored, then chopped into large pieces
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 2 cups vegan butter

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a large baking pan, and then add your chopped apples as they are ready. I don’t ever measure out a specific amount of chopped apples. I just usually add apples as I am peeling and chopping them until the pan is nearly full, but still has room for the mixture of other ingredients. Pour the water over the apples.

In a large bowl stir together all of the dry ingredients. Cut in the vegan butter, and if necessary use your hands to make sure everything is well mixed. Once it is ready, spread it evenly over top of your apples that are already in the pan.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 40 minutes.

This is amazingly good. Every time I make it though, my husband says that I should double the topping. For him, this is the best part:

For me, though, I think that it needs a good balance of the apples and the topping. Both feel as if they are lacking something if the other is not there.

One thing that I’d like to play around with that I haven’t yet is altering the sugar part. I think that the brown sugar definitely needs to stay, but there is so much of it. Maybe do 1 cup of brown sugar, and add in sweet some other way – perhaps a sweetened applesauce or mixing in a little stevia… I’ll let you know how my experiments go!

Last weekend I purchased a few apples from the farmers market in Union Square, and had a couple of large ones left this weekend. Usually when I have a bunch of apples on hand I’ll make apple crisp, but I wanted to do something different. Considering I only had two apples, I couldn’t make a full apple pie, so I decided to try making single-serving pies. I had no idea if it would turn out okay, but hooray – they’re great!

I’ve decided I want to expand my apple horizon, and try some other varieties. I’ve only really been acquainted with the standard grocery store apples – Golden Delicious, Granny Smith, and Fuji, among others. It’s high time that I branch out (no pun intended).

The apples that I purchased last weekend are called Idared, or Ida Red. They are a cross between the Jonathan and Wagener varieties, and have a mostly sweet flavor with just a hint of tart. They are supposed to be great when baked, so I forged ahead with making these little pies.

Mini Apple Pies
This recipe makes approximately 6 mini pies the size of medium-sized muffins

For the crust:

• 1 cup white all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp. butter I used Soy Garden
• 2 Tbsp. cold water

For the filling:

• 2 large baking apples, peeled and sliced into small pieces
• 1/3 cup sugar I used turbinado
• 1/8 cup white all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• dash of salt

In a medium-sized bowl put 1 cup of flour. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender/cutter until the mixture has small lumps. Sprinkle the cold water over the flour and butter and stir together until the dough pulls together and away from the sides of the bowl. If the mixture doesn’t seem to be doing this you can add another tablespoon of water. Roll the dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, then place it in the refrigerator for 20 or 30 minutes so it becomes firm. This will make it easier to work with.

Mix together all of the filling ingredients except for the peeled and sliced apples. After they have been mixed add in the apples (or vice versa depending on your bowl situation) and stir until the dry ingredients have been well incorporated with your apples. Set aside.

Preheat your oven to 345 degrees Fahrenheit.

Take your dough out of the refrigerator and split into two. On a floured surface roll out the dough until it is thin (not too thin otherwise it will tear).

Use a small bowl as a guide and slice around the bowl like so:

Then take the circle of dough and press it into your muffin pan:

Score the bottom of the dough with a fork a few times. Fill the dough with the apple mixture so that it comes over the top of the pan (when the apples are baking they will loose a lot of their water and sink down).

Cut the excess dough, but don’t do what I did in the following picture. I should have left more dough, so I’d say leave a centimeter of dough on the outside.

Now cut a smaller circle of dough and put it on top of your pie. Pinch the top dough together with the bottom dough (the centimeter part). Score the top with a knife. If you get really creative you can cut little leaves out of your scraps of dough and place those on top. They may fall off, though, so you’ll need to make sure they are secure (gently mashing the ends into the top pie dough).

Continue doing this process until you’ve run out of enough dough or apple filling. There is bound to be leftovers of both so you can just bake the remaining apples in a separate pan, make a pie with no top pie crust, or make a small apple crisp after all.

Place the muffin pan in the oven, and place a sheet of aluminum foil on the rack below to catch any liquid that may fall from the pan. Bake for about 35 minutes, and check to make sure the apple pies are done.

Once they are done take them out of the oven and let them sit for about 15 or 20 minutes so they get cool enough to handle. It’s not easy taking these little pies out of the pan so you may have to be careful while coaxing them out with a knife.

Now you can serve with some vegan clotted cream (I’d suggest doing more cream cheese than butter) or just eat the little things plain.

I’m not that good at making pies but these turned out so well. It’s probably a more intensive process to make a bunch of little pies than one big pie, but they are so cute and it’s such a good idea for serving to guests. Of course, it’s great for making just for yourself. It’s also a good way to not feel guilty about eating a whole pie (or two or three) by yourself.

They looked at each other now, husband and wife, with such a depth of feeling that the eight feet separating them shrank to nothing. Then, slowly, with a darkling gleam in her eye, Mrs. Marquis raised her plate above her head…and let it drop. A canvasback bone flopped free, the stewed apples few straight up, and the plate blew into a dozen pieces scattered across the red linen tablecloth.

-The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Edgar Allan Poe has always been one of my favorite poets. His poems, while dark and often morbid, have a certain draw to them. I guess I am not much for flowery poems – anyone can write that sort of thing – but Poe’s poems are other-worldly and mysterious. So when I saw that there was a novel out there to be consumed that had Poe as one of its main characters, I had to grab it. I’m glad I did. This fiction of crime was written in a style that is more reminiscent of authors who wrote novels decades ago, and it had very unexpected twists. Poe was an interesting fixture; he seemed like one of those guys in high school or college that just doesn’t fit in, but goes on to amaze people later in life. He was not the main character, however. That was left to an older, charming man (Gus Landor), who, sadly, probably never existed in real life. This murder mystery was an easy read, and hopefully we’ll see Poe and/or Landor again. Good job, Mr. Bayard. I’m sure to read more of your novels.

Last evening when I was making the stewed apples I kept referring to them as stewed tomatoes. My husband couldn’t resist, so for at least ten minutes I kept arguing with him that I had never made stewed tomatoes and that “tonight is the first time I’ve ever made stewed tomatoes!” He kept proclaiming that we eat them all the time, and that he had just made some last week (which he had).

Finally I realized my error, and while funny, hopefully I won’t repeat it here.

I looked online at several different versions of stewed apples, but the recipe that follows is an approximation of what I wound up doing.

Stewed Apples

• 5 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and thickly sliced
• 3 Tbsp. butter (I used Soy Garden)
• 3-4 Tbsp. sugar (I used organic turbinado sugar)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• A dash of nutmeg
• 1 cup water

In a large pan (frying pan would do), melt the butter. Add the apples and saute for a few minutes over medium heat. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg and stir together. Add the water, and when the mixture starts to boil lower the heat and let the water reduce to a syrup. Continue cooking until the apples are at a consistency that you prefer. Mine were still a little crunchy when I finally stopped cooking them, but some were also mushy.

This turned out better than I thought it would. I have never been a big fan of eating sweet items at a meal, unless it is breakfast or time for dessert. So what I wound up doing was put this on top of some bread that I had made over the weekend (which I’ll share later). It was really good – similar to putting applesauce on bread.

Even though I enjoyed it, I’m not sure I’ll go to the trouble of making this again. Usually when I use apples in recipes, they wind up in apple crisp, salsa, or smoothies. Or I just eat them plain or with peanut butter. Still, I’ll continue to enjoy my stewed tomatoes, er, apples for the next day or two.