Awesome Apple Galette

I'd originally planned to make a recipe for a brown butter apple tart from Bon Appetit for Thanksgiving, but my lack of a tart pan foiled my plot. Instead, I wheeled out an old favorite, a Galette de Pommes au Calvados from Gourmet magazine. I made this recipe to the letter when it was published in 2003, and it knocked the socks of any ordinary apple pie. While the recipe as it is written is heavenly, I've been making cheater's versions of it ever since.

What makes my tarts "cheater's versions?" Well, for one, I almost always swap store-bought applesauce for the homemade variety in the original recipe. And if I am super-lazy, I just use a frozen puffed pastry in lieu of the made-from-scratch all-butter pastry dough. Plus, I never have Calvados on hand (who does?), so I use good old American bourbon in the applesauce. Even with my shortcuts the tart's still delightfully delicious. This dessert isn't super-sweet, so the leftovers (if there are any) are great for a (semi) decadent breakfast.

Here's how I made my simplified tart this year:

Apple Galette
Adapted from Gourmet
Serves 8+

All-butter pastry dough
1 1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons good-quality bourbon
1 3/4 lb Gala apples
1/3 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons apple jelly
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons Calvados
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: parchment paper; a large baking sheet (at least 14 inches wide)

1. Heat the applesauce, zest and cinnamon in a small sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool.
2. Roll out all-butter pastry dough (or frozen pastry dough) on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a rough 16-inch round (1/8 inch thick), then transfer carefully to parchment-lined large baking sheet. Loosely fold in edge of pastry where necessary to fit on baking sheet, then chill, covered loosely with plastic wrap, 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 425°F.
4. While pastry is chilling, peel and core apples, then cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices. Toss slices with lemon juice and 1/3 cup granulated sugar.
5. Put baking sheet with pastry on a work surface and unfold any edges so pastry is flat. Spread applesauce over pastry, leaving a 2-inch border, and top sauce with sliced apples, mounding slightly. Fold edges of dough over filling, partially covering apples (center will not be covered) and pleating dough as necessary. Dot apples with butter, then brush pastry edge lightly with water and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar. Bake galette in middle of oven until pastry is golden and apples are tender, 40 to 45 minutes.
6. While galette is baking, melt apple jelly (apricot will do in a pinch!) in a very small saucepan over moderately low heat, stirring.
7. Slide baked galette on parchment onto a rack, then brush with melted jelly and cool.
Serve galette until warm or room temperature with freshly whipped cream.

The Perfect Peach Cobbler

We ended up with a surplus of peaches after a photo shoot last week. The food stylist on set had mentioned that she preferred cobblers to pies, which got me thinking. Digging around on Epicurious.com, I came across this straightforward recipe for peach cobbler, and decided to give it a whirl. The recipe is easy-as-pie (pardon the pun!), and the results we delicious, but not too sweet. I might even agree with the stylist: I might like cobbler as much as pie, if not better. I also want to note that baking mediocre peaches turns them into something really spectacular. I've got a pile of mangoes to tackle next, any ideas?

The Perfect Peach Cobbler  

From Gourmet magazine 

Ingredients 

6 large peaches, cut into thin wedges

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

For biscuit topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Cook peaches:
Preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Toss peaches with sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a 2-qt. nonreactive baking dish and bake in middle of oven 10 minutes.

3. Make topping while peaches bake:
Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.

4. Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Bake in middle of oven until topping is golden, about 25 minutes. (Topping will spread as it bakes.)

The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar?

Last week, I made some lemon bars for my sister's boyfriend's charity event. I didn't have a lemon bar recipe handy in any of my cookbooks, so I searched Epicurious.com. When presented with an option named The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar, I figured that must be the way to go. The resulting bars were quite tasty, but the ultimate? I don't know about that. Good enough to share? Certainly.

I doubled the recipe to fill a 9" x 13" glass baking pan. I also skipped the straining of the curd after reading in the comments section that many other testers skipped this step. I'd say the texture did not suffer as a result of the lack of straining. I general, I liked how the shortbread maintained some dryness without being too dry. Do note that they need some time in the fridge to cool -- more than an hour would be ideal.

The Ultimate Lemon Butter Bar
From Epicurious.com from Rose's Christmas Cookies

Shortbread Base:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter (cold)

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

1 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour

Lemon Curd Topping:

4 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar 

3 fluid ounces (use a liquid measuring cup) lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2 1/2 large lemons) 

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (softened) 

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons lemon zest (finely grated) 

2 tablespoons powdered sugar for dusting

Equiptment::
8-inch by 8-inch by 2-inch baking pan, preferably metal (if using a glass pan, lower the oven temperature 25°F.), bottom and two sides lined with an 8-inch by 16-inch strip of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Directons
1. Cut the butter into 1-inch cubes, wrap it, and refrigerate.

2. In a food processor with the metal blade, process the sugars for 1 minute or so, until the sugar is very fine. Add the butter and pulse in until the sugar disappears. Add the flour and pulse in until there are a lot of little moist crumbly pieces and no dry flour particles remain.

3. Dump the mixture into a plastic bag and press it together. Remove the dough from the plastic bag and knead it lightly, until it holds together.

4. Place oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 325°F.

5. Pat the dough into the prepared pan. Use a fork to prick the dough all over.

6.  Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the top is pale golden (do not brown).

While the shortbread is baking, prepare the Lemon Curd Topping.

1. Have a strainer, suspended over a bowl, ready near the range.

2. In a heavy non-corrodible saucepan, beat the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon until well blended. Stir in the lemon juice, butter, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 6 minutes, until thickened and resembling hollandaise sauce, which thickly coats a wooden spoon but is still liquid enough to pour. (A candy thermometer will read 196°F.) The mixture will change from translucent to opaque and begin to take on a yellow color on the back of a wooden spoon. It must not be allowed to boil or it will curdle. (It will steam above 140°F. Whenever steaming occurs, remove the pan briefly from the heat, stirring constantly to prevent boiling.)

3. When the curd has thickened, pour it at once into the strainer. Press it with the back of a spoon until only the coarse residue remains. Discard the residue. Stir in the lemon zest.

4. When the shortbread is baked, remove it from the oven, lower the temperature to 300°F., pour the lemon curd on top of the shortbread, and return it to the oven for 10 minutes.

5. Cool the lemon curd–topped shortbread completely in the pan on a wire rack. Refrigerate the pan for 30 minutes to set the lemon curd completely before cutting into bars. Place the powdered sugar in a strainer and tap the strainer with a spoon to sprinkle a thick, even coating, entirely covering the lemon.

6. Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the pastry on the two sides without the aluminum foil. Use the foil to lift out the lemon curd–covered shortbread onto a cutting surface. Use a long, sharp knife to cut the shortbread first in thirds, then in half the other way, and then each half in thirds. Wipe the blade after each cut.

Chard and Ricotta Tart

Here's an interesting dessert for you to try: A chard, raisin, pine nut and ricotta tart. I recently made this recipe from David Tanis's Heart of the Artichoke and Other Kitchen Journeys and was pleased with the results. While chard may sound like an unlikely candidate for a dessert ingredient, Tanis revelas it is a traditional ingredient in sweets in the South of France and Italy. Sure enough, my sister who spends each summer in Nice, immediately identified this unusual tart as similar to a traditional Niçoise dish.

The pastry puffs up quite a bit making it more cake-like than what I would normally label a tart. Overall it's not too sweet and it tastes just as nice the day after as it did the day I made it, making it a perfect mid-morning treat with some coffee. Tanis recommended serving it with mint tea, which I did for our guests.

Side note: I couldn't resist photographing it on these Provençal linens from Williams-Sonoma, which were a wedding gift from my sister and her boyfriend. Aren't they lovely?


Chard and Ricotta Tart
From David Tanis's The Heart of the Artichoke

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon milk
Grated zest of ½ lemon

For the filling:
1 large bunch Swiss chard, trimmed, ribs discarded, and cut into ½-inch-wide strips (about 4 cups)
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of ½ lemon
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
½ cup golden raisins, soaked in warm water until plumped
¼ cup pine nuts

Directions:
1. For the dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the flat beater, mix the dry ingredients on low speed. Add the butter and mix for about 2 minutes more, until crumbly. Add the egg mixture and the lemon zest and mix another minute, or until you can pinch the dough together. Turn the dough out and form 2 balls, one twice as big as the other. Chill for at least an hour.
2. For the filling: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Blanch the chard for 1 minute; drain well. Let cool, and squeeze out any liquid.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the ricotta, egg, sugar, lemon zest, and spices.
4 . Dust a pastry cloth with flour and roll out the larger dough ball into a circle 2 inches larger than the diameter of your 9- or 10-inch springform pan. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin, then carefully unroll it over the pan and gently press it into place, so that it comes about 2 inches up the sides of the pan. Expect the dough to be pretty soft; if it tears, just press on a scrap to cover any holes.
5. Drain the raisins, mix them with the greens, and spread over the dough in the pan. Pour the ricotta mixture over the greens and smooth out. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the ricotta.
6. To make the lattice top, roll out the second piece of dough into a 1/8-inch-thick rectangle. Cut the dough into ¾-inch-wide strips. Fashion a lattice top by alternating crosswise and lengthwise strips. Leave a gap of ¾ inch between strips running in the same direction. Fold the edges of the bottom crust over the ends of the lattice strips.
7. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the crust is golden. Cool on a rack before serving.

Re-Post: Butterscotch Eggnog

Last December I made an insanely delicious twist on a traditional eggnog from Melissa Clark's "A Good Appetite" column. Clark intriguingly described her nog, "The smoky Scotch made the eggnog more complex and gave it a savory taste, which went nicely with the caramelized flavor of the brown sugar." She more than delivered on her promise: It was delicious, heavenly, smoky and rich, but light--you could eat it with a spoon it was so wonderfully thick. Give it a try this holiday season!

Note: When I halved the recipe it still made much, much more than we needed to serve five people. Since it is such a rich, concentrated dessert, you can definitely serve more than a dozen people with the recipe below.

Butterscotch Scotch Eggnog
From The New York Times

12 large eggs, separated
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus pinch
2 cups whole milk
1 cup smoky Scotch whisky
1/2 cup brandy
2 cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Grated nutmeg

1. In a large bowl, combine the yolks, brown sugar, vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using an electric mixer beat on medium-high speed until thick and dark golden, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly drizzle in the milk, Scotch and brandy. Transfer to the freezer to chill while preparing the rest of the eggnog. (Or refrigerate for at least 2 hours before completing.)
2. In a medium bowl, whip the cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Set aside. In another medium bowl, using clean beaters, whip the egg whites and pinch of salt on medium-high speed, adding the sugar by tablespoons until soft peaks form.
3. When ready to serve, pour the yolk mixture into a large punchbowl. Fold in a small amount of whipped cream to lighten it, then fold in the remaining cream. Fold in the egg whites. Generously dust the top with nutmeg; serve immediately.

Yield: 12+ servings

Photo: Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Brilliant: Stump de Noel

I had a little chuckle two years ago when Food + Wine magazine featured a "stump de Noël" (a cheeky twist on the classic Bûche de Noël). The stump cake had been made for a feature by the folks behind the Brooklyn bakery Baked. So, when I saw a Stump de Noël Bundt Cake Pan in the Williams-Sonoma I knew exactly where they'd found the inspiration for the cake mold. Upon closer inspection, I saw that Williams-Sonoma is also offering a cake mix from Baked to make their version of the cake. I was pleased to see that they'd given a nod to original creators of the stump de Noël.

I am planning to make my own classic Bûche de Noël this year, and I even swore to myself that I'd attempt the meringue mushrooms -- I'll let you know how it goes!

UPDATE (Dec. 2012): With the holidays around the corner, this post has popped up again as a popular post. Unfortunately, the pan is no longer available. A representative from Nordicware tells me the Stump De Noel pan was an exclusive with William Sonoma, which is now discontinued. It looks like there are a few used ones floating around on e-commerce sites, if you're still looking for one. Or you could follow the directions to make the original (more complicated) version by Baked.

The Best Cake Ever

My little sister asked me and I were chatting about making cake the other day, and I was reminded of the best cake I'd ever made, it was a recipe from the A16: Food + Wine cookbook, and it was hands-down the best cake I have ever made. Yes, I have eaten more divine confections from bakeries or restaurants or other more able bakers, but this is the tastiest cake I ever managed to whip up myself. It's flavor is sophisticated and not-to-sweet, and it is criminal that I didn't blog about it when I made it!

A word about the recipe: Both times I made it the cake needed to cook longer than the allotted time in the recipe, so be sure to check with a toothpick to make sure the center is fully cooked before pulling this one out of the oven. 

Pistachio and Almond Cake with Orange Salad
From A16: Food + Wine

Cake:

1 1/3 cups unsalted shelled pistachio nuts

1 1/3 cups blanched whole almonds

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar

3 lemons

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 eggs

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon "00" flour or all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Citrus Salad:

3 blood oranges

2 Valencia, navel, or blood oranges

1/4 cup orange marmalade

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

Unsalted shelled pistachio nuts

1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 300°F. Butter a 4-by-8-inch loaf pan. Then, using a sifter or a fine-mesh strainer, dust it with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. In a food process, combine the pistachios and almonds and pulse until finely ground. Set aside.

3. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Grate the zest from the lemons directly into the bowl. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla just until incorporated. On low speed, gradually add the nuts and mix just until incorporated. Then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition just until incorporated. Stir in the flour and salt and mix just until incorporated.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, run a paring knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake sides, invert the cake onto a plate, and lift off the pan. At this point, the cake can be served warm or allowed to cool completely before being sliced and reheated.

5. To make the orange salad, cut a slice off the top and bottom of 1 orange, stand the orange upright, and cut downward to remove the rind and pith in thick strips. Cut the orange crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices, capturing any juice. Repeat with all of the remaining oranges. Set the oranges slices aside until needed.

6. Gently heat the marmalade in a pot over low heat for about 3 minutes, or until syrupy. Add any captured orange juice along with the lemon juice to the marmalade. Remove the pot from the heat and add 1 to 2 tablespoons water to think the marmalade to the consistency of a vinaigrette. Let cool.

7. To serve, preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut the cake into generous slices and place on a baking sheet. Bake the slices, turning them over once, for about 5 minutes, or until warm and slightly toasted on both sides.

8. Place 4 or 5 orange slices on each plate and drizzle generously with the marmalade syrup. Place the warm pieces of cake next to the orange slices and top with a dollop of yogurt and a few pistachios. Serve immediately.

Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart

My little sister also made this super-simple dessert (also from the New York Times). It was a nice, light finish to the meal -- not too sweet and not too rich. Mark Bittman titled the column about the recipe "Cake, Tart, Frittata: Call It the New Baking," which was an apt description for this hard-to-categorize dessert.


Pan-Baked Lemon-Almond Tart Time
From the New York Times

4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup sliced almonds, more for garnish
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 tablespoons butter
Powdered sugar, for garnish.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine eggs, sugar, salt, ground almonds, cream, sliced almonds, lemon zest and juice.
2. Melt butter in an 8-inch ovenproof skillet over low heat; when foam has subsided, add almond mixture to pan, tilting pan to distribute batter evenly. Continue to cook tart on stovetop until edges just begin to set, then put pan in oven and finish cooking, about 10 to 15 minutes more.
3. When tart is done, put it in broiler for about a minute or until just golden on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and sliced almonds. Serve.
Yield: 4 servings.

Tested: Oatmeal-Almond Crisps

A while back I bookmarked Everyday Food's Oatmeal-Almond Crisps as a recipe to try, and this past weekend, I made them. The recipe is definitely a keeper, but be warned, when the recipe writers say "cookies are fragile," they're serious--these things break easily. However, it's forgiveable because they are super delicious.

Notes: My dough wasn't coming together very well, so I let it sit for ten minutes or so, so that the oats could absorb some of the moisture. After a while the dough stuck together on its own. Also, I added about a 1/4 cup of chopped dried apricots to the recipe--I might even up the quantity next time, since the apricot added a nice hit of fruity flavor. Also, I don't own nonstick cooking spray, so I sort of just smooshed the cookies flat with the back of a spoon, which was fine.

Oatmeal-Almond Crisps
From Everyday Food

1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups rolled oats, (not quick-cooking)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
Nonstick cooking spray
1/4 cup chopped dried apricots (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Mix in oats and almonds.
3. Drop mixture by level tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.
4. Spray the underside of a metal spatula with nonstick cooking spray, and use to flatten cookies into 2 1/2-inch disks.
5. Bake until golden, 14 to 16 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheets. (Handle with care; cookies are fragile.)

Tested: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

I told you that I wanted to make the Chocolate Crinkle Cookies Nicole wrote about on her blog Little Brown Pen, but I didn't quite manage to get them made in time for our holiday party (alas!). Instead, we brought them to a friend's fete the next night, and she immediately knew what they were. "Crinkle cookies!" she laughed. I was thrilled to have brought her a treat she knew and loved.

The cookies are simple to make and look great when baked. I refrigerated the dough overnight so it was well-chilled and also used a melon baller to scoop out the dough, which made for very evenly-sized cookies.

My only regret is that I didn't use a higher quality cocoa powder for the recipe. I was shopping at Fairway and had to opt for Hershey's, which was all the store had. I think they'd be even better made with delicious chocolate powder as the base. A little investigating also revealed some recipes for Crinkles that use butter, so next time I might try using melted butter in place of the vegetable oil for a richer, more refined flavor.

Butterscotch Scotch Eggnog

When I read Melissa Clark's "A Good Appetite" column about an eggnog with a twist in early December, I made a mental note that it might be a nice holiday dessert to try. My boyfriend is an eggnog lover, but I've never been a big fan, and I thought an eggnog made with real eggs might change my mind. Clark described her twist on a traditional nog, "The smoky Scotch made the eggnog more complex and gave it a savory taste, which went nicely with the caramelized flavor of the brown sugar." Yum, right?

While visiting my family over the holidays I whipped up a batch, halving the recipe since there were only five of us. (The recipe still made much more than we needed to serve five: I'd say the full recipe could serve closer to 18-20 since it is a rich, concentrated dessert.) It was delicious, heavenly, smoky and rich, but light--you could eat it with a spoon it was so wonderfully thick. I didn't even use any fancy Scotch, just what was left of bottle of Cutty Sark and some Johnny Walker to make up the rest of volume. If you're looking for a creamy winter dessert, this recipe is a winner.

Butterscotch Scotch Eggnog
From The New York Times

12 large eggs, separated
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus pinch
2 cups whole milk
1 cup smoky Scotch whisky
1/2 cup brandy
2 cups heavy cream
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
Grated nutmeg

1. In a large bowl, combine the yolks, brown sugar, vanilla and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using an electric mixer beat on medium-high speed until thick and dark golden, about 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly drizzle in the milk, Scotch and brandy. Transfer to the freezer to chill while preparing the rest of the eggnog. (Or refrigerate for at least 2 hours before completing.)
2. In a medium bowl, whip the cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Set aside. In another medium bowl, using clean beaters, whip the egg whites and pinch of salt on medium-high speed, adding the sugar by tablespoons until soft peaks form.
3. When ready to serve, pour the yolk mixture into a large punchbowl. Fold in a small amount of whipped cream to lighten it, then fold in the remaining cream. Fold in the egg whites. Generously dust the top with nutmeg; serve immediately.

Yield: 12+ servings

Photo: Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Cranbery Cookies

My favorite Christmas cookie? It's not what you'd think. My mother makes these cranberry cookies every holiday season. They're an unusual cookie: They're not too sweet and have a consistency almost like a small cake, rather than a cookie. I made them myself last week for a cookie swap with my fellow ShelterPop bloggers, and, if I do say so myself, they came out perfectly. Personally, I like one with my second cup of coffee mid-morning. Don't skip the brown-butter glaze--it makes the cookie!

Cranberry Cookies
from Betty Crocker’s Christmas

1 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened (margarine may be used)
¼ cup milk
2 Tb orange juice
1 Tb. grated orange peel
1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour (up to half may be whole wheat—try to fine “white” whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking soda
2-2½ cups coarsely chopped cranberries (frozen ok—chop while frozen)
1 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts)
Browned butter glaze (at bottom)

1. Heat oven to 375o.
2. Mix sugars and butter, then stir in milk, orange juice, egg (and orange peel).
3. Stir in remaining ingredients and drop by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheet.
4. Bake until light brown, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Cool slightly and then spread with glaze.

Browned Butter Glaze
1. Heat 1/3 cup of butter over low heat until golden brown; cool slightly.
2. Stir in 2 cups of powdered sugar and 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla.
3. Beat in 2 to 4 tablespoons of hot water until smooth and of desired consistency.

Marcus Samuelsson's Apple Cake

'Tis the season to be cooking, so I've got tons of recipes to post from the last two weeks. First up is this awesome apple cake from Marcus Samuelsson's new cookbook New American Table. (I spied the recipe in a recent issue of House Beautiful, but I found it online on NPR's website.)

I made the apple cake last week for a special occasion weeknight dinner. It was super-easy to make and very tasty. Serve it with fresh whipped cream or vanilla icecream, if you're feel like dressing it up a bit. And be sure to eat the leftovers for breakfast with your coffee--yum!

Marcus Samuelsson's Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 Granny Smith apples
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
1 large egg
1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup half-and-half
2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and coat with the bread crumbs.
2. Toss together the granulated sugar and brown sugar. Set aside.
3. Peel and core the apples, then slice one apple into 16 wedges. Combine the cinnamon and 1/3 cup of the sugar mixture in a medium bowl. Add the apple wedges and toss to coat. Roughly dice the remaining apple.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the remaining sugar mixture on medium speed until light, fluffy, and lemon colored, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour and baking powder. Slowly add the half-and-half, and mix until combined. Fold the diced apple into the batter.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Arrange 14 of the apple wedges fanned along the outer edge of the pan and place the 2 remaining wedges in the center. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the center is golden brown.
6. Remove from the oven to a wire rack to cool completely. Run a small offset spatula around the edges to release the cake from the pan and remove the springform. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, then cut into 12 wedges.

Photo: House Beautiful

Sunset magazine's Gingerbread Cake

A conversation about cakes over the weekend reminded me of an amazing gingerbread cake my cousin Katherine made while I was visiting California for the holidays. the recipe came from Sunset magazine, and the cake was moist, rich and super ginger-y. So, I looked it up and sure enough Sunset's got the recipe online right here. I think I'll give this recipe a try in the coming weeks.