Nichole's Birthday - Automne Apple Cider Cake

I fell in love with a gorgeous photo a friend posted on her Pinterest site. Immediately I was dreaming of birthday cake, even if my birthday was still two weeks away! I was intrigued by the whole wheat pastry flour, and the rustic finished product I would savor in the end.

I started tweaking the recipe : Carmel OUT, I'm not a big fan, well, maybe I'll keep half the carmel to please my guests. Apples IN, What?! and apple cake with no apples? There must be some mistake. I'll keep the applesauce the original recipe calls for and add... three apples. I mean really, how can you enjoy an apple cake if there aren't at least a few chunks of home grown apples in each slice?

 Automne Apple Cider Cake

1½ cups (250 g) light brown sugar
¾ cup (160 g) canola oil
¾ cup (130 g) unsweetened applesauce
½ cup (80 g) caramel sauce or less ;)
2 tsp (càc) vanilla
3 eggs
1½ cups (350 g) buttermilk*
2 cups (260 g) whole wheat pastry flour
1¾ (175 g) cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp (càs) baking powder
1½ tsp (càc) baking soda
1½ tsp (càc) cinnamon
½ tsp (càc) salt
3 apples

APPLE CIDER FROSTING
7 1/2-8 cups (1 k) confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup (3/4 d'un brique) butter, softened
1/2 cup (23 cl) apple cider (pommes préssées) or apple juice (jus de pomme)
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 F (170 C).

Chop the apples in bite-sized chunks.

In a very large bowl, beat sugar and oil together with an electric mixer until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add applesauce, caramel and vanilla, beat for 30 seconds, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the buttermilk. Then add slowly the dry ingredients : whole wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, and continuing to beat until well combined.

Grease and flour two (8 or 9 inch) round cake pans and set aside. Pour batter into prepared cake pans and bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle of each cake comes out clean, about 35-40 minutes. Set aside to let cool for 10 minutes, then gently loosen cakes and turn out onto a cooking rack; set aside to let cool completely.

APPLE CIDER FROSTING
Beat sugar, butter, cider, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Arrange one cake on a large plate and spread about 1 cup of the frosting evenly over the top. Arrange second cake on top then frost top and sides of entire cake with remaining frosting. Set aside at room temperature or in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to allow frosting to set before serving.

Makes a tall 2-layer, 8-9 inch round cake.

*faites votre buttermilk maison en adjutant une cueillir à soup et demi de vinaigre d'alcohol à 350g de lait 5minutes avant d'ajouter à la préparation.

(adapted from A-Hint-Of-Honey, merci Pinterest for this birthday inspiration)

Waldorf Salad On Croissant

I used non GMO (OMG) chicken breasts. It always feels good to do something healthy for my body once in a while.

Serve on croissants sliced in half to make the perfect brunch sandwich.

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup (75 g) sliced almonds
1 celery stalk
1 cup (1/2 grappe) white grapes
1 granny smith apple
1/2 cup (25 cl) crème fraiche*
1 tbsp (càs) dijon mustard
salt
cayenne pepper (piment d'espelette)
12 croissants

Dice the chicken breasts and sauté in olive oil. Chill.
Toss with diced apple, sliced celery, and halved grapes.
Mix dijon mustard into sour cream and pour over the salad.
Sprinkle with almonds and cayenne pepper.

*The closest thing to real crème fraiche is light sour cream. Some recipes call for mayonnaise or fromage blanc. I thought mayonnaise sounded too heavy this morning, but you can probably do a mixture of any or all of these creamy sauces depending on the flavor you're looking for.

Food Is Art - Pomegranate Salad

"You first taste your food with your eyes"

Dress up a simple meal. Serve your drinks in stemware and serve your salad in your juice glasses. Why not? Set out the nice tablecloth you rarely use and suddenly excitement will be teeming through your veins!

Pomegranate Salad
pomegranate fruit
granny smith apples
arugula leaves (roquette)
feta
white wine vinegar
*optional foie gras

How To Prepare A Pomegranate
Slice off the end at the navel. Immerse the fruit in a bowl of water. Gently peel the tough skin off revealing the fragile fruit. Harvest the unblemished fruit jewels for your salad. Eat any nicked jewels immediately. Store unblemished fruit jewels for several days in a sealed container in the fridge.

All Happiness Depends On A Leisurely Breakfast - Apple Brie Croustillants

"All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast." ~John Gunther

This recipe was a total failure! Perhaps if in it's recitation I do not find the key to success, you, my readers, may find a light hearted comedy...

So, one fine morning I had invited some friends over for a brunch. I wake up early with a twinkle in my eye. I love preparing quiches, all sorts of quiches and tartes salés as the french call them. My friends rave over them. Earlier in the week a beautiful recipe article caught my eye, with gorgeous photos of mini-quiches in phyllo shells. What a fun variation, I thought.

So when Saturday morning came around I was in a delightful mood, flitting about my mini kitchen and sculpting my phyllo dough into triangles and layering them in muffin pans.

My hubby came to my aide dicing the apples, while I whipped the quiche batter together. Then I layered the diced apple, quiche batter, and brie - just as I had seen in the artistic photo layout. And, up! the tray of Apple-Brie-Croustillants went straight into the oven. Fifteen minutes later, the time recommended by the darling deceptive recipe, the quiches were still liquid. Note-to-self, thirty-five minutes is a more appropriate cooking time.

Placing the brie on top was a great idea, it melted into the quiche itself while the exposed edge was bubbly golden and crispy. They were gorgeous. The triangles of phyllo dough gave them the appearance of artistic mayhem!

Then, the time came, to take them out of the muffin cups. But these mini quiches would not be de-molded. The quiche batter soaked into the phyllo dough and baked into the muffin cups. Becoming one with the muffin tin. As it were, I had lined several of my muffin cups with parchment paper. Brillant for cleaning the muffin tin, and taking nice photos, but impossible if you actually expected to eat your Apple-Brie-Croustillants! Once again the quiche batter had soaked into the phyllo dough and promptly fused with the parchment paper.

One by one, my guests unwrapped their little morsels of mayhem ... Good thing we had all morning to sit and chat and laugh at the paradoxically inedible beauty placed before us. Of course all parts not fused with parchment paper were delectable!!! The Brie was a perfect paring with the granny smith apple and the crusty bits of phyllo dough decorating the top were tantalizing.

The big question remains ... how do you bake these babies so that the batter doesn't soak through the dough and mess everything up. This weekend I'm going to try it again. This time I'll layer twice as many layers of phyllo dough and I'll prebake the crusts before filling them. Wish me luck!

Apple Brie Croustillants

10 phyllo dough shells
1 granny smith apple
5 eggs
1 tsp (càc) Dijon mustard
1/4 tsp (càc) salt
Pinch of freshly ground pepper
Pinch of ground nutmeg
4 oz (100g) Brie

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Arrange phyllo shells in the muffin tins. *Lots of layers, prebake them.
Peel and dice the apple.
Whisk eggs, mustard, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a large measuring cup. Pour the egg mixture over the apple. Place a chunk of Brie in each shell.
Bake until the egg is set, the Brie is melted and the phyllo is golden around the edges, about 15 I mean 35-40 minutes.

***Second take. I layered three phyllo shells and prebaked them. They appeared to be solid shells ready to fill, but it didn't help. The batter still soaked through and stuck to the pans, or soaked through and fused with the parchment paper. ;( Maybe five or six layers would work? Or maybe I just need to use normal pie crusts like I always do for my quiches? Would puff pastry dough work?

Nutrition information per serving (serving size: one quiche): 39 calories; 2 grams fat (1 gram saturated, 1 gram monounsaturated); 39 milligrams cholesterol; 3 grams carbohydrate; 0 grams added sugars; 2 grams protein; 0 grams fiber; 65 milligrams sodium; 20 milligrams potassium.

Gourmet Is Finding Beauty In Simplicity - French Apple Tart

This is one of my most frequently shared recipes!!!

Everybody wants to cook French pastries but nobody wants the hassle. This recipe is an Old World Classic and it's about as simple as they get. Guests will be ushered in the door by the sweet scent of pastry wafting through the house. This tart smells like home.

So when I host conferences on French culture I love to have our guests carry in traditional French desserts to share, and this recipe is always on the menu. It's absolutely gorgeous, the ingredients are simple, it requires no special baking tools, and you don't even need any special pan.

I made this tart from two fresh apples from my friend's orchard in Alsace. All needed to complete it was a fresh ready-made pie crust from the refrigerated section, a jar of apple sauce, and a sprinkling of sugar.

Here's how it's done...

Choose ready made pie crusts of raw dough ready to unroll. Unroll the fresh dough onto a large flat pan, either a pizza pan or a cookie sheet will do.

Peel the apples, and slice them in half, cut out the cores. Lay the apples core side down and slice vertically in very thin slices.

In the middle of the pie pour the jar of apple sauce in one big puddle. Leave an inch and a half dry crust around the edge.

Then starting on the outside of the circle place the apple slices in a circular pattern, working toward the center.

Fold the dry edges of pie dough over the apples. It's okay if it doesn't lay flat, the ruffle effect adds to the beauty.

Sprinkle sugar over the top of the apples and the crust.

Bake at 325°F (200°C) for 15 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool before serving. This pie is often served chilled.