Sage and Apple Fritters (SRC)

There are some food combinations that just work - think peanut butter and chocolate, tomato and basil, lemon and blueberries to name just a few.

Well, you can now officially add sage, apple and maple syrup to that list.

Because WOW. So yummy!

This isn't my invention, though. Credit must go to Helen from Casa Costello, whose blog I was assigned for this month's Secret Recipe Club.

Helen had my blog back in May and made my Thumbprint cookies, and I remember then flicking through her recipes and looking forward to getting her blog sometime.

Helen is from the UK and mum to 3 girls. She is a self-described 'massive foodie' and has been working with food and cakes since she was since 16.

Speaking of cakes, Helen is also a fantastic cake decorator and shares lots of her creations on her #BakeoftheWeek challenge. My boys particularly liked this Police Car Cake. Gorgeous isn't it?

When it came to choosing a recipe I took ages to decide, but I knew I wanted something pretty simple and of course, it had to be gluten and dairy free (or easy to convert). I loved the sound of Helen's Walnut and honey granola and Scrambled eggs with style. And this Lemon Frangipane Pie looks fabulous.

In the end though these Apple fritters with sage were calling my name. I've never used sage in this way before. Typically I only use it in stuffing at Christmas time. Which probably explains why it was so hard to find at the shops right now, no one else uses it much either!

My husband eventually found a little pot of sage that Mr 7 immediately took outside and replanted into a bigger pot. It's still very young but we got enough off it for this recipe and 2 perfect little leaves for garnish.

I've always loved fritters, especially tuna and corn fritters, but the rest of family doesn't share my same level of enthusiasm.

That may have changed with this recipe!

Apple, sage and maple syrup are a match made in heaven.

I made only a few changes to the recipe to suit our way of eating - using gluten free flour, non-dairy milk and frying in coconut oil. I also reduced the sugar and am glad I did because between the apples and maple syrup I found them very sweet!

All 3 of my boys loved these and were literally licking their plates clean. Mr fussy-5 even ate an extra sage leaf (covered with maple syrup) and declared it 'really yummy.' So huge for him to eat something green voluntarily even if he did have to smother it in syrup!

These would be perfect for a weekend brunch and will definitely be on the menu at our place again.

Sage and Apple Fritters
Adapted from Apple fritters with and without sage

2 large red apples
125g gluten free plain flour
1 ts baking powder
1/2 ts salt
1/2 ts cinnamon
2 ts rapadura sugar (or sweetener of choice)
150ml rice milk
1 large egg
6 sage leaves
coconut oil for frying

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar.

Peel the apples and chop into very small pieces. Add them to the dry ingredients and toss to combine.

In a small jug beat together the milk and egg together then pour into the flour and apples and mix well. Finely chop the sage leaves and stir through.

Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large heavy-based frypan over medium heat.

Dollop in spoonfuls of mixture and flatten out into pancake shapes.

Cook until gold brown then flip and cook on the other side until cooked through.

Remove and place on a rack while you cook the remaining fritters.

Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup.

Makes 10 fritters.

Thanks for a great recipe Helen! I will definitely be making these again.

An InLinkz Link-up

Apple Pie Cookies (SRC)

What a month it's been! We moved into our new house exactly 2 weeks ago and while we still have a few boxes around, it's feeling more and more like home. I love our new oven and induction cooktop but as we don't have an induction suitable frypan it has made cooking dinner a little challenging.

But today of course is all about the Secret Recipe Club, a dedicated band of bloggers who are assigned a blog each month to secretly peruse and cook from, with everyone posting their recipes on the same day. Today is reveal day for group D.

This month I was assigned The Spiffy Cookie by Erin. In a funny coincidence she had my blog just last month! Erin has a PhD in microbiology (just like my husband), loves the combination of peanut butter and chocolate and her favourite meal is dessert.  I know I say it every time but I was really spoilt for choice when it came to recipes.

Erin recently did a round-up of her top 10 peanut butter and chocolate recipes which included a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cake that had me drooling over the computer!

Her Steel Cut Oatmeal with Bananas and Cobbler Topping looks like just the thing to pimp up our regular porridge and her Spiced Pear Smoothie sounds delicious. To round out breakfast how about baked eggs with a crispy hash brown crust?

We had most of a box of apples to use up though so I started searching for apple recipes and came up with some beauties like Homemade Apple Jelly, Apple Walnut Pancakes and just last week this Apple Pecan Praline Bread. One that really jumped out at me though were these Apple Pie Cookies which were just so cute! All the best bits of apple pie but in cookie form which I knew my kids would love. Genius right?!

I played around with a few ingredients to suit our dietary requirements but I think these are pretty close to the original and they were AMAZING. Apple pie is one of my favourite things but I don't tend to make it very often. These little cookies had all the same flavours and were exactly like mini apple pies. The recipe made 24 and they were gone in a day. As you can tell it was very hard to stop at just one!

Apple Pie Cookies
Adapted from Dorothy Kern's Dessert Mashups via The Spiffy Cookie

Base:
100 g butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup ground almonds
1 cup spelt flour
1 egg
2 tbs coconut sugar
1 ts vanilla extract

Filling:
5 granny smith apples (peeled, cored and finely diced)
1/3 cup water
1 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts ground cloves
1 tbs coconut sugar
1 tbs spelt flour

In a large bowl cream together the butter and coconut sugar, then add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Fold through the flour and almond meal until incorporated into a thick dough. Spoon the mixture onto plastic wrap, wrap well and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the apples. Peel, core and finely dice the apples. Place in a medium pan with 1/3 cup water and the spices and cook over low-medium heat until just tender. Drain and place into a heat proof bowl. Sprinkle over the coconut sugar and flour and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 x 12 hole mini muffin pans.

Place a tablespoon of dough into each muffin hole and press over the base and sides creating an indent for the filling. Spoon a teaspoon of apple filling into each cookie.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out and dusting with icing sugar. Delicious warm from the oven.

Makes 24 cookies

Thanks for a great month Erin! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Spiced Apple French Toast (SRC)

This month for Secret Recipe Club I was lucky enough to be assigned Couscous and Consciousness by Sue. I've long admired Sue's gorgeous blog and it is packed with clean, beautiful food. Sue practises and teaches yoga, eats a mainly vegetarian diet and cooks from scratch using local and sustainable ingredients. I was really spoilt for choice this month and in fact I had a really hard time choosing what to make!

We're not quite in stone fruit season yet so her Crisp Pork Belly with Sweet Peach Salsa will have to wait until closer to Christmas. The Felafel with Tahini Flatbread looked like a great twist on something we make pretty often. And next time I'm baking for a crowd I will definitely be trying out her Chocolate Beetroot Cake.

In the end though I couldn't go past this simple but amazing Spiced Apple French Toast. I mean, what could be better for a lazy Sunday morning breakfast than that? In her post Sue says her ideal morning involves getting up at 10 and then heading back to bed with a cup of tea and a stack of cookbooks. Sounds like bliss! On the Sunday morning that I made this I was up at 5.15am to study before the kids got up and cooked to the sounds of cartoons on TV. Still bliss but a little less relaxing than Sue's morning!

Spiced Apple French Toast 
Slightly adapted from Couscous and Consciousness

2 slices day old bread
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (I used rice milk)
1/2 ts vanilla extract
butter for frying
2 red apples, cored and sliced thickly
50g butter
2 tbs rice malt syrup (or brown sugar, honey etc)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
a handful of raisins

In a wide shallow dish, place the eggs, milk and vanilla extract and beat together with a fork until combined. Add the sliced bread and leave to soak, turning halfway through while you prepare the apples.

In a shallow frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter, and as soon as it starts to sizzle add the syrup and cinnamon and allow to bubble away for a minute or so. Add the apples and raisins and saute for 5 to 10 minutes, until the apples are tender but not collapsing. Remove from pan and set aside.

Return the pan to the heat, add some extra butter and once sizzling, add the bread to the pan. Cook until golden on one side, then flip over and cook the other side.

Remove the French toast to a serving platter, and spoon the warm, caramelised apples and raisins over the top. Serve immediately.

Serves 2

An InLinkz Link-up

Applesauce Oatmeal Bars (Secret Recipe Club)

Yay, Secret Recipe Club time! This month I was assigned A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures by Christie and I spent many hours perusing her blog trying to narrow down what to make. Christie pretty much grew up in the kitchen and describes it as her zen place. Her recipes are fun and creative with a healthy twist, which suits me perfectly!

I was in the mood for something sweet this month, and luckily Christie's blog didn't disappoint. She has tons of amazing recipes including some seriously impressive macarons with classic flavour combinations like Pistachio and Salted Caramel as well as some a little more out there. Anyone for a Pepperoni Pizza Macaron?!

In the end I was really tempted by her Cranberry Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies (and I have bookmarked them to try later), but I went with the Applesauce Oatmeal Bars. I love a good apple slice and have made something similar before using apple pieces. This version intrigued me because it used pureed apples instead and even better, I had everything on hand to make it immediately.

I made a few small changes like making my own apple sauce, replacing the butter with coconut oil to make it dairy free and using dextrose and rice malt syrup to lower the fructose content.

And how did they taste? Delicious! Like all the best bits of an apple crumble but in bar form.They disappeared in record time, and in fact I was lucky to get a photo! My boys loved it for afternoon tea and then breakfast the next morning, but it would actually work beautifully as a dessert, served warm with lots of custard.

Applesauce Oatmeal Bars
Slightly adapted from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures

3 cups apple puree (see note)
2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups wholemeal plain flour
170 g liquid coconut oil
1/2 cup dextrose
2 tbs rice malt syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Line the base and sides of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with baking paper and set aside.

Combine oats, flour, rice malt syrup, vanilla extract, spices, bicarb soda, salt and butter. Use a fork to combine the mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. It will appear quite dry but it should clump together when sqeezed.

Press 2/3 of the mix unto the bottom of the prepared tray. Spread on the apple puree then sprinkle the walnuts and top with the remaining 1/3 oat mixture.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before carefully lifting out of the tin using the baking paper. It will be easier to slice when completely cool.

* Note - Christie used bought apple sauce in her recipe and includes instructions for draining it. I made my own apple puree by peeling, coring and slicing 6 large granny smith apples, and steaming them until tender. Then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth and allow to cool before using.

An InLinkz Link-up

Spiced Apple Baked French Toast (Secret Recipe Club)

My blogging has been a bit sporadic lately but there is no way I would miss the Secret Recipe Club! This month I was assigned A Cook's Quest by Jenn. She and I seem to have a very similar outlook on food and what we like to feed our families. I love that there was a good mix of healthy and not-so-healthy recipes. Everything in moderation!

We love Mexican food around here so my first pick from Jenn's blog was going to be her Mexican Lasagne. But then I saw her Apple and Spice Baked French Toast and couldn't go past it!

Breakfast here tends to be pretty straight forward - lots of porridge, muesli and toast. On weekends we might do pancakes or bacon and eggs but that's about it. One of my favourite desserts is bread and butter pudding and this baked french toast is pretty much the same thing with the addition of apples and spices. Love it.

Spiced Apple Baked French Toast
Adapted very slightly from A Cook's Quest

1 loaf French bread
8 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup cream
1 cup sugar, divided (I used dextrose to cut down on the fructose)
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
6 Granny Smith apples
2 tablespoons butter
Cream and maple syrup to serve

Grease a 9 x 13 inch glass pan with butter. Slice the bread into 1 inch slices and place in the dish, packing the pieces quite tightly together.

In separate bowl, use a whisk to beat together the eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, milk, cream and vanilla. Pour one-half of this mixture over bread.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and layer them over the top of the bread to cover. Pour the leftover milk mixture evenly over the apples.

In a small bowl mix the remaining 1/2 cup sugar with the spices and sprinkle evenly over the top of apples. Dot with small pieces of butter, cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 160 degrees fan-forced. Uncover the dish and bake for 1 hour. It should be risen and browned and smell amazing. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

To serve, slice into squares (and if you're feeling really indulgent drizzle with maple syrup and cream). Be prepared not to be hungry for the rest of the day!

We LOVED this. It was a bit like having dessert for breakfast so in future we will definitely be saving it for special occasions like birthdays or Easter!

I actually made only about 2/3 of this recipe and it made a huge amount which we ate over a couple of days. Half the recipe would be plenty for most families. My favourite bit would have been the sweet and spicy apples on top. Could not get enough! Next time I will layer some apple slices in amongst the bread and also add some spices into the custard mixture to really boost the flavour. Thanks for a great recipe Jenn!

BWJ - Upside Down Mini Apple Cakes

So yesterday I went to the supermarket specifically to get rhubarb. I came home with bread, lemons, broccoli and a bag of spinach ... and no rhubarb. I really hope other people do things like that! There was no way I was going back there with 2 ratty kids so I made do with what I had, and that meant apples.

I made 12 little cakes using a large hole muffin tray. I put a little blob of butter in the base of each and topped it with a slice of gala apple then spooned the batter on top.

I ate 1 (ok, 2!) warm from the oven and they were absolutely divine. The creme fraiche (or greek yoghurt in my case) made for a lovely moist and slightly tangy cake which paired beautifully with the sweet apple. They may have made out of a mistake but they were a definite winner!

To see the real recipe for Fresh Rhubarb Upside Down Baby Cakes make sure you visit out host Erin of When in Doubt.

BWJ - French Apple Tart

I'm not off to a great start with BWJ this year, seeing I completely forgot about the last one (seriously how did the 8th of January come around so quickly?!) and only just scraped in with this one!

I knew there was an apple tart coming up so I bought 2 bags of green apples assuming they would last. When I got ready to bake however, I realised there was just 1 lonely apple left and this recipe would require some major tweakage (that's totally a word).

I think the beauty of this tart lies in the swirled apple slices on top so that's what I save my apple for. Rather than trying to sub another fruit for the filling, I went with a frangipane filling as I happened to have some almond meal. Apple and almonds are a great combination so I knew whatever happened this tart would at least be edible!

The taste test ...

Flaky buttery pastry topped with smooth almondy frangipane and fragrant apples. There really is no way this could be bad. I'm really keen to try the original version with the apple filling but this was a great substitute. Seeing as this tart bears little resemblance to the original I have included my recipe below.

My apologies to Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen for not making the actual tart. It's now on my to-bake list!

Mini Apple Frangipane Tarts
Makes 2 x 4 inch tarts

Pastry
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1 pinch salt
1 ts sugar
120g cold butter, diced
1-2 tbs cold water

Filling
25g almond meal
25g sugar
25g butter, at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1/2 ts vanilla extract

Topping
1 granny smith apple
1 tbs melted butter
1 tbs honey, warmed

To make the pastry - combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips, being sure to leave some pea-sized bits. If the butter starts to get too soft, place the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes. Once the butter is rubbed in add 1 tbs of the cold water and start to bring the dough together. If the mixture is too dry add extra water just a few drops at a time. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to approx 5mm thick and fit into 2 x 4 inch tart pans (there will be dough left over). Place the pans in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsisus.

To make the filling mash the butter together with the sugar and almond meal then stir in the egg yolk and vanilla. Set aside.

Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes or until dry to the touch and very lightly golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before spooning in the filling and smoothing the tops.

Slice the apple into thin wedges. Lay the slices across the top of each tart and brush with melted butter.

Reduce the oven temperature to 170 degrees and bake the tarts for approx 25 minutes or until the pastry and frangipane are golden brown and the apples are tender. Remove from the oven and brush with warmed honey.

Serve just warm.

Sunday Baking - Apple Streusel Slice

This slice combines all the best parts of an apple teacake, a coffee cake and apple crumble. Could it get any better??

I took this to an Easter morning tea while it was still warm and it was fabulous. Luckily it also freezes and thaws really well and a quick zap in the microwave brings back some of that fresh apple taste. A real treat for morning tea or a lovely dessert served warm from the oven with a big scoop of vanilla icecream and some caramel sauce.

Apple Streusel Slice
Recipe very slightly adapted from Taste.com.au

Base
180g softened butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 ts baking powder
1 ts ground cinnamon
2 large granny smith apples (peeled, cored and diced)

Streusel topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1 ts ground cinnamon
30g softened butter

Preheat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a deep 18cm x 28cm slab pan and line with baking paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream butter and caster sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Sift flour, baking powder and cinnamon over butter mixture and fold together using a large metal spoon. Spread mixture evenly in prepared pan. Top with apple.

To make the streusel topping, combine brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl. Rub the butter into flour mixture with your fingertips until it clumps together. Crumble the streusel mixture evenly over the apple.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. It will also start to pull away from the edge of the pan. Allow to cool in pan. Cut slice into squares and serve.

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Apple crumble is one of the easiest and tastiest things you can make for a quick dessert. And of course the bonus is that it makes a great breakfast the next day! 

Rather than make a standard apple crumble or crisp, I was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's version as we just happened to have one last lonely pack of frozen cranberries leftover from Christmas.

Cranberry-Apple Crisp

Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours, p422

Topping

3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1 ts cinnamon

1 ts ground ginger

125g butter, chopped into small pieces

Filling

4 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into a fine dice

1 cup frozen cranberries

1/2 cup sultanas

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbs plain flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Spray a 1.8 litre baking dish with oil and set aside.

To make the topping, combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs and is clumping together.

To prepare the filling, combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into prepared baking dish.

Spread the topping evenly over the fruit filling and bake for approx 1 hour or until the top is a deep golden brown and the fruit is bubbling up around the edges. Allow to cool slightly before serving with ice-cream or custard. Enjoy the leftovers (if there are any!) for breakfast the next morning.

Serves 6-8.

This was really, really good! Such a shame we can only buy frozen cranberries for a few weeks a year because they add such a special quality to things like this. Definitely a winner.

TWD - A Tourtely Apple Tart

This week Jeanette of The Whimsical Cupcake chose Dorie's Tourtely Apple Tart. I took a few shortcuts with the recipe so not surprisingly I didn't end up with the slim and elegant tart Dorie describes in the book!

Basically the filling for this tart is apples cooked down with brown sugar, nutmeg and apple cider with a little browned butter thrown in for good measure. I didn't have enough apples on hand so I threw in a couple of pears as well. I used apple juice instead of apple cider, a sour cream pastry rather than Dorie's always awesome sweet tart dough and left out both the raisins and almonds.

The verdict? Fabulous. While I'm sure the original is even better this was delicious. But then again I love apple pie of any variety. With a scoop of icecream on top it was the perfect comfort food on a cool and wet day. My apologies for the awful photo. It was late and dark and this was the best of a truly terrible bunch.

Thanks to Jeanette for a great pick this week. Make sure you check out her blog for the recipe and the TWD blogroll to see how everyone else did.

On another note, my big boy is turning 2 tomorrow! Watch this space for some birthday pics including what I hope will be an awesome birthday cake!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine

This week Leslie of Lethally Delicious chose Dorie's Tarte Fine for TWD and I'm so, soooo grateful. Not only was it delicious it is one of the easiest recipes ever!

You see we're moving house on Thursday and chaotic doesn't even begin to describe the state of our place at the moment. Apart from almost everything in the kitchen being packed already there is barely a clear surface to put a pan down on. So a recipe that calls for pre-bought puff pastry, a few apples, an egg and some sugar was heaven sent.

This is one of those desserts that looks really impressive but takes literally minutes to prepare. In my case an extra 5 minutes was needed to hunt through a box for a pastry brush!

In spite of all that I still managed to burn it (and then carefully crop that bit from the photo). Our oven has developed a nasty hot spot that will singe things into oblivion if you don't carefully turn the tray a few times during cooking. Which I of course forgot to do. Blame the pregnancy brain.

The taste test ...

Utter perfection. Flaky butter puff pastry topped with slightly tart apples and a crispy scattering of sugar. Delicious warm from the oven or at room temperature hours later with a big scoop of vanilla icecream.

This time next week we will be all settled in our new home. Fingers crossed the new oven will be better than the old!

You will find the Tarte Fine recipe at Lethally Delicious. Thanks Leslie!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

This week's Oatmeal Breakfast Bread was another hidden gem. Well not hidden exactly, but I had certainly never noticed it until it was picked by Natalie of Oven Love!

It also falls into the ugly but delicious category because try as I might I could not get a decent photo.

Let me just say that I loved this bread. Made without any butter it is incredibly moist from the apple puree and buttermilk and the house smelt amazing while it was baking. Because it was so moist it was a little hard to tell when it was done but in the end it was perfect. I used raisins and dried apple in mine and it was fabulous.

I found the streusel topping a little hard to manage, as in most of it fell off every time a slice was cut. Next time I might skip the topping altogether so that I can toast a piece straight from the freezer.

Thank you to Natalie for hosting this week. Wonderful choice! Make sure you check out her blog Oven Love for the recipe.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Apricot Bread Pudding

This week Elizabeth of Cake or Death? chose Dorie's Apple-Apple Bread Pudding and it was the perfect pick given the freezing cold weather we've been having (well freezing for Brisbane anyway). Is there anything more comforting on a cold night than bread pudding?

We've had a lot of rich food recently so I tried to cut the calories a bit with this one, without sacrificing taste of course.

Rather than caramalise the apples I simply stewed them with water and cinnamon. The gala apples are so sweet at the moment they really don't need any added sugar.

We can't get apple butter here so I used a 100% apricot spread instead.

I also used low fat milk and reduced the amount of cream.

As for the bread, I found something called Scone Toast at the supermarket which seemed ideal. I always leave the crusts on.

The result? A creamy, delicious bread pudding that we all loved! Definitely didn't miss the extra butter, sugar or cream. With a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top this is the quintessential winter dessert.

Thanks for a great pick Elizabeth! You can find the recipe on her blog under today's date.

TWD 2nd Anniversary - Tarte Tatin

This week marks the 2nd anniversary of Tuesdays with Dorie! Two years ago I didn't have a blog and had only just discovered that food blogs even existed. It didn't take long for me to stumble across the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers and to want a piece of the pie. And shortbread. And cheesecake. (Oh, the brown sugar apple cheesecake!)

Laurie's idea to bake her way through Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours was a great one. So many of us have cookbooks that sit on the shelf despite our best intentions to use them regularly. Baking and blogging together has been a fabulous experience for me and I am looking forward and letting us all have a turn selecting a recipe was inspired. I am number 133 in the list (we are up to 96 now) so I still have a little wait for my turn.

In honour of the anniversary we voted for our recipe this week and I was thrilled the Tarte Tatin won out! (I made the Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake for my 30th last year). As I mentioned a few days ago I am taking a baking hiatus for January, but I couldn't let this one slip by so I made it for our New Year's Eve dinner.

First off, the actual dinner was spectacular! We made a slow roasted pork belly with caramelised vinegar, sauteed pears and potatos and baby broccoli. Honestly if I ordered this in a restaurant I would have been thrilled. The photo really doesn't do it justice. You'll just have to trust me!

I was a little worried about making the tarte tatin but it was a breeze. I used a square baking dish so I didn't even have to trim my pastry sheet. The caramel cooked up beautifully, nothing burnt and it turned out of the dish easily as well. The only problem came with the eating...

The taste test

It was SOOOOOOO sweet. As in tooth-aching, I-don't-think-I-can-eat-my-whole-piece sweet. Which is such a shame! I did in fact manage to eat my piece but I didn't have any for breakfast the next day as I was hoping to. Hubby didn't mind though, he polished off the rest in no time flat.

Still, I can say that I have mastered the Tarte Tatin and now I know I can do it, I will be making it again, just with less sugar! (I have since looked at some other tartin recipes and they all use less than half the amount of butter and sugar as this one).

Thank you Laurie! I am proud to be a part of this fabulous group of bakers and I'm looking forward to another great year!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cran-Apple Crisps

Well, first thing you'll notice is there are no cranberries in my crisps. I've bought frozen cranberries many times and although we are only 52(!) days away from Christmas, there were none to be found.

By the way, a big thank you to Laurie for being flexible with this month's posting days. I am saving the Chocolate Caramel Chestnut cake for my dad's birthday next week!

Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef chose Dorie's Cran-Apple Crisps this week and without the cranberries I don't know if I'm a good judge of these or not. Basically it was just an apple crumble. Tasty, but usually our fallback dessert if we haven't planned ahead.

The taste test ...

Like I said, your standard apple crumble. I'm sure the cranberries would elevate this to something more special and give a great contrast with the sweet crumble topping. Oh well, we did enjoy it with a big scoop of vanilla icecream. An easy Saturday night dessert! I'll stock up on cranberries next time I find them just to pop into something like this.

Thanks Em! You can find the recipe (and no doubt some gorgeous photos) on her blog.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Flaky Apple Turnovers

This week Jules of Someone's in the Kitchen chose Dorie's Flaky Apple Turnovers and boy was I worried. Pastry and I are very rarely on speaking terms. Don't get me wrong, I love eating it, it's just making it that drives me crazy. In fact whenever there is pastry to be made, N conveniently makes himself scarce! But ...

This was without doubt, the best pastry I have ever made. EVER!

I had the same issue as a lot of others with my mix being quite dry and crumbly but after its rest it came together beautifully. And it was even delicious raw, I kept snagging pieces as I worked.

We were in the midst of moving furniture the day I made these so while I made a full batch of dough, I only rolled 4 turnovers plus a mini apple pie and froze the rest. I got a little impatient with the rolling out (ie. my arms got sore). So I cut out 3" rounds from the dough and rolled each one out to 4 1/2" individually. Much easier!

The taste test ...

Fantastic! This was the pastry so many recipes had promised but none had ever delivered. Crisp, flaky and delicious. I used a mixture of fuji apples, slivered almonds and raisins to fill these but you really could use anything you liked. The perfect afternoon or anytime treat. I think this will be my go-to pastry from now on. Thanks Jules!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Applesauce Spice Bars

This week's TWD was picked by one of my favourite bloggers, Karen of Something Sweet by Karen. She chose Applesauce Spice Bars and I really loved the sound of them - fruity, spicy and with a caramel topping. Luckily I wasn't disappointed in the taste either.

I think I underbaked these slightly but it didn't do any harm other than make them really hard to cut. I think I also under-did the topping as it never really firmed up (which would make it absolutely delicious on vanilla icecream!).

The taste test ...

De-lic-ious. I wasn't expecting it to be so cakey but I guess these are cake bars rather than a slice which would tend to have a crunchier base. Next time I would chop up the raisins and add a bit more spice. I probably would still double the topping (as I did this time) but would only use half on the bars and save the other half for dessert. Definitely a winner!

Make sure you visit Karen's blog for the recipe and no doubt some gorgeous photos as well.