Chinese Almond Cookies

Reading can be inspiring. I recently finished reading The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama and I was inspired to bake Chinese Almond Cookies. These are similar to cookies you might receive at the end of a Chinese meal, perhaps with an orange that has been cleverly shaped to make it easy to eat the segments, perhaps all by itself. These days you are more likely to receive a fortune cookie, but the Almond Cookie, with a whole almond in the middle and a sort of crumbly texture and shiny top are what I remember being the end of a meal many years ago.

The book actually takes place in Japan, but the protagonist is a young Chinese man, sent to the Japanese beach house that his family has gone to for many years. He has been quite ill and so time at the tranquil beach town is seen as a way to allow him to heal. It becomes a kind of coming of age story as the young man Stephen learns from the Japanese man who cares for him and for the garden, plus he learns about himself from interacting with people in the town and up the mountain. All of this takes place in 1937 and 1938 as Japan invades China and, through a succession of successful campaigns, is headed towards Hong Kong where Stephen is from and where his mother and younger sister still live. I highly recommend this book. 

I might have cooked or baked something Japanese, but Stephen is Chinese and so my thoughts went there.

I hope you enjoy these delicious cookies. Do allow time for the dough to chill. I used the method of forming the dough into balls and placing them on a greased sheet pan to chill rather than shaping after chilling. Either way will work. I was picky and weighed each ball so that they would be similar in size (18 grams), but it isn't necessary. I didn't realize how much they would spread. Perhaps bake them in three batches instead of two? That would allow more space between them so that you end up with true circles. Mine ended up touching other cookies, sometimes in two places, which made some of them more of a triangle!  They taste wonderful either way.

The glazing with egg is an important part of the process. It secures the almond and gives the top a shiny look and helps with browning.

I also made half the recipe since I don't need four dozen cookies, but I'm including the full recipe for you.

Chinese Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups almond flour, lightly packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
• Pinch kosher salt
• 2 large eggs, divided
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Thinly sliced almonds, for decoration

1. Beat the almond flour, salt, and butter:

Place the almond flour, salt, and butter into an electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. The mixture will become coarse and chunky looking.

2. Add one of the eggs and the almond extract:

Mix them in on low speed until just incorporated.

3. Add the flour, sugar, and baking soda:

Sift the flour, sugar, and baking soda and add to the mixture. Mix on low speed until just combined.

4. Chill the dough:

Take the dough and flatten it into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator for two hours to chill.

5. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

6. Beat the remaining egg:

In a small bowl, beat the remaining egg.

7. Flatten the balls of dough onto the cookie sheet:

Take pieces of dough and roll them into balls about 3/4 inch wide. Place them on the sheet about an inch apart and then press them down slightly with your palm to make a coin shape.

8. Press the slivered almonds into place, and paint the cookies with the egg:

Press one silvered almond into the center of each cookie. Then, using a pastry brush or your finger, paint each cookie with the egg. (This will give the cookie a lacquered appearance once it bakes).

9. Bake:

Bake at 325°F for 13 to 15 minutes, until the edges just begin to tan. Cool on the sheet on a wire rack.

Gotta Love Those Blondes

A number of years ago I baked a recipe for Blondies with lots of yummy stir-ins. Over the years I made variations on that recipe and named them things like Dirty Blondes and California Blondes. This week I made a variation of Raspberry Blondes for a tea party and they were as yummy as that first batch so long ago. This variation had fresh raspberries, but it also had pecans, white chocolate and dark chocolate chips, and both almond extract and vanilla extract. I've grown weary of finding new names for each variation, so let's just call these Bohemian Raspberry Blondes, since that's the first thing that came to mind.

Here is the full recipe using the 9" x 13" pan:

Bohemian Raspberry Blondes 
makes 24

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or non-dairy butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup dark chocolate chips 
1/2  - 1 pint fresh raspberries, rinsed and dried lightly with a paper towel (don't crush) (use enough to cover batter with about an inch between berries)

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter and sugar together in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and sugar are blended and completely melted and starting to bubble gently. Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond extract and salt. Slowly whisk the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the eggs just until combined. Whisk in the flour and baking powder to form a loose batter. (Make sure the batter is cool before stirring in the remaining ingredients, otherwise the chocolate will start to melt before the bars are baked.)

Stir the nuts, coconut, and white chocolate chips and chunks into the cooled batter. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Distribute the raspberries over the batter as evenly as possible. Pour the remaining batter over the berries and smooth with a spatula.

Bake until the top is shiny and slightly crackled and feels firm to the touch, 30 – 35 minutes. Start checking at about 28 minutes. A wooden skewer inserting into the batter should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cut into bars and serve.

Note: if you line the pan with foil (by taking the empty pan, turning it upside down, and molding foil over the whole outside, then turn right side up and fit the foil into the pan, smoothing, especially at the corners) it will make it easy to remove the baked and cooled cookies for cutting. If you do this, be sure to coat the foil with the cooking or baking spray once it is fitted into the pan, before adding any batter.

Smaller Batch
Since I made the recipe for a small tea party and since I've been working on reducing my sugar intake (and temptations full of sugar) I actually also reduced the recipe by half and baked it in an 8" x 8" square pan, lined with foil, then given a coating of baking spray. I thought that it would bake more quickly than the larger pan, but I think that changing the pan size meant that the batter was a bit deeper, so the baking time was only about 5 minutes less. I say 'about' because I had to keep adding time and, frankly, I got confused by the last time I added, so I'm guessing on the timing. You can still count on testing it with a toothpick. When inserted in the center, the toothpick should come out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Give it a try at about 28 minutes and keep trying every couple of minutes until you get those crumbs. Sorry I can't be more exact.

Bohemian Raspberry Blondes 
makes 16

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or non-dairy butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2  teaspoon salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1  cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup white chocolate chips 
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 pint fresh raspberries, rinsed and dried lightly with a paper towel (don't crush)

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a foil lined 8 x 8 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter and sugar together in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and sugar are blended and completely melted and starting to bubble gently. Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond extract, vanilla extract and salt. Slowly whisk the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the eggs just until combined. Whisk in the flour and baking powder to form a loose batter. (Make sure the batter is cool before stirring in the remaining ingredients, otherwise the chocolate will start to melt before the bars are baked.)

Stir the nuts, coconut, and white and dark chocolate chips into the cooled batter. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula. Distribute the raspberries over the batter as evenly as possible. Pour the remaining batter over the berries and smooth with a spatula. You may sit a bit of some of the berries above the batter.

Bake until the top is shiny and slightly crackled and feels firm to the touch, 28 – 35 minutes. A wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into the batter in the middle should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cut into bars and serve.

Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

It's appropriate, I think, that the beginning post for my year leading up to 20 blogging years should be for a recipe that reflects both my experience gained while blogging, and the state of my memory almost 20 years into it. I wrote down the ingredients and measurements for this recipe, but, with my older brain, can't remember where I put it. The recipe will be from memory and I think that you can rely on everything except the amount of liquid, mostly because the photo part of my memory still works for much of it, so I remember the onion and garlic part, the herbs part, the blender part which includes the parmesan and pine nuts and red wine vinegar. Can't quite picture the adding of the milk. Read the recipe to see how we are going to work around that.

The usual pasta sauces here are my favorite zucchini-based tomato pasta sauce and also Costco pesto in a jar. A recent gift of already roasted and prepared red peppers led me to thinking about trying a red pepper pasta sauce and I'm glad I did. I looked at about six different recipes for that kind of sauce on the Internet, and then borrowed from them to create my own recipe. Some of the Internet recipes used fresh roasted peppers and some use the kind of red peppers that come in a jar. I think that for most recipes either will work, so if you don't have fresh roasted red peppers, try this with the kind in a jar, O.K.?

Red Pepper Pasta Sauce

Good for 3-4 servings of pasta

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 onion (I used yellow), peeled, thinly sliced, then roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons minced mixed herbs - I used fresh flat-leaf parsley and fresh basil
1 cup red bell pepper - roasted, peeled, core and stem and seeds removed (can use jarred, drained)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts (I toasted them in the same skillet as the onions, after the onions were done)
milk
salt and pepper to taste (about 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper)

In a large skillet, heat one (1) tablespoon olive oil until shimmering. Add the onions and reduce heat to medium. Stir to coat the onion pieces with oil and continue to cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Onions will become translucent and begin to brown. Don't burn them.

Add the garlic and lower heat to medium-low. Stir into the onions and cook, stirring very often, for 2 minutes.

In a blender that has a lot of power, or in a food processor or Vitamix, place half the onion mixture, half the herb mixture, all of the red bell peppers, half the Parmesan cheese and the 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar. Process/blend on high until the mixture begins to look smooth (time varies by machine). 

Add the pine nuts, the rest of the onion mixture and herb mixture, the rest of the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon milk. Process, adding additional milk by tablespoons until mixture easily processes and becomes smooth. Err on the side of less milk because you will be able to add hot pasta water if sauce is too thick when combined with the pasta. You just want enough liquid so that the sauce blends continuously in the turned on blender. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Process another few seconds to blend in the salt and pepper. Taste again. If needed, process in a small amount of additional red wine vinegar to make the sauce piquant, not bland.

In a large pot of salted water, cook 8-10 oz. of  your favorite pasta according to package directions (I used fresh cheese tortellini, but most pastas will work), drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Return pasta to pot, add the sauce and stir to coat pasta. If too thick, add additional pasta water, a little at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Pass additional Parmesan, if desired, at the table.

 

Nineteen Years Of Food Blogging

In October of 2006 I had no idea that food blogging would become one of the most enduring parts of my life. It seemed like it would be fun...and it has been. I thought that it would give some scope to my creative hobbies...and it really has done that. I imagined that it would encourage me to try different foods, recipes and techniques...all of that has happened through blogging about food.

Many of the bloggers that I 'met' in the early years have moved on to other pursuits, but I still find it a pleasant challenge to try new recipes and to tweak old favorites. Then I take photos and write up a blog post so that I can share it all with you, dear readers, including any who just happen to stumble on Feeding My Enthusiasms.

A couple of tips: if you are reading this on your phone, scroll down to the last shown post. Below that it should give you an option to see the web view. Take that option and you'll have access to some extras - the Index, which is accessed by clicking on the food photo in the right hand section, and also the list of years of posts. Try using that to look at posts from a few years in October...or November since that will be here soon. Many of the recipes highlight seasonal foods and ways of cooking so in late October and on into the winter you'll find stews and braises, more baking, and more chocolate!

Do try out the Index. It has the usual A-Z format, but also three focused indexes; one for bread, one for cake, and one for cookies.

If you're a long time reader, thank you for staying on the journey with me! If you are new to the blog, welcome. Check out the index and give a recipe a try if you find one that sounds interesting to you. If you see one that sounds like a fairy tale, you've come upon a story from the Land of St. Honore'. St. Honore' is the patron saint of bakers, so this imaginary land is filled with bakers.

For those of you keeping up on my life beyond food, my injured foot is better but I'll be getting an MRI soon to see if something beyond basic PT would be helpful. Sweetie and I finished the sunspace project, so we are buttoned up for the winter there and the china cabinet is back where it belongs. The area around it is bright with new, shiny white paint, too. Next door at the fire station they are beginning a remodel that will probably take at least 6 months, so they brought in a portable which will have both some sleeping quarters for the fire fighters and an office for the chief since his will get torn up. We have a ring-side seat to it all as well as, probably, a lot of noise to look forward to. 

Now I begin the year of blogging leading to year 20. Bet it's going to be fun for all of us!

Bring On the Bruschetta!

The tomato season is winding down. There are still plenty of unripe green tomatoes, mostly small one, on the tomato plants, but the days are getting shorter and cooler, so it takes a long time for the green ones to ripen.

I decided to use two of the medium to small ripe ones tonight to make bruschetta since the best bruschetta are made from the best tomatoes.  Sweetie and I each had two and they were wonderful! I did end up with garlic breath since the topping is made with raw garlic, but it's worth it for the flavor.

You can toast the bread on a grill, which is the traditional way, or you can toast it in a cast iron fry pan as I did. The edges of the bread might get a bit burnt before the softer bread is toasted, but it didn't seem to harm the toasts, nor the flavor. I used the whole tomatoes, including the skin, seeds and juices, but you can skin the tomatoes and then discard the seeds and gel holding the seeds if you want a fancy topping. Either way you will get the full taste of summer...garlic, tomatoes, basil and olive oil, plus a touch of balsamic vinegar. If you skip the vinegar you might want to add a touch of salt if the tomatoes are really ripe (as they should be for this recipe.) Don't wait much longer...soon the only tomatoes available won't have the flavor and juiciness of vine ripened summer tomatoes. 

Bruschetta for Two

4 thin slices flavorful, firm bread
1 medium to large fresh, ripe tomato (I used a medium red Costalutto and a small yellow-orange tomato)
2 tablespoons best quality olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic
3-4 leaves fresh basil
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (or some salt, to taste)

Brush a bit of olive oil on the bread slices. Toast the bread slices to a golden brown color. If possible, use a grill to toast them.

Chop the tomato into very small dice and place in a medium bowl, keeping as much tomato juice as possible with the tomatoes. Add the rest of the olive oil, mince the garlic and add, finely chop the basil and add it to the bowl. Stir in the balsamic vinegar until everything is combined, and let the mixture sit until it's time to serve the bruschetta.

When you are ready to serve the bruschetta, warm the toasts, place them on the serving platter. Stir the tomato, oil, garlic and basil together.  Top each toast with 1/4 of the tomato mixture. If you have a few tiny basil leaves you can garnish the bruschetta with them. Add salt and pepper to taste...although you may not need any. Serve at once.

Spice Layer Cake for the Autumn

Finally we were able to reschedule the missed dinner with our Healdsburg friends. The yogurt cake was long gone, but I found a recipe in a King Arthur Baking email that was perfect for dessert.

The cake is a pumpkin spice cake. Now, don't groan about the way the pumpkin spice has taken over the season. This cake was more a spice cake with a tiny bit of pumpkin flavor. The original recipe was for a fairly thin cake with a cream cheese frosting and it was sized to serve a crowd...like four dozen folks!

I decided that we didn't need that much cake for four people, so I halved the recipe (and replaced the oil with melted butter because I like that better) and baked it in a 9-inch by 13-inch pan. That still made a fairly thin layer, so I decided to divide it by three. I stacked two of the three layers, with my own version of cream cheese frosting in the middle and on top. The remaining third and the rest of the frosting will be used later for a dessert for another friend or friends.

My frosting recipe is their recipe with the addition of two tablespoons sour cream. It gives the frosting a nice tang that helps offset the super sweetness of the confectioners sugar.

Do try this cake. It's moist and mildly spicy, with the cake not very sweet and the frosting sweet but tangy. It's an indulgence, but you can have small pieces as I did and still have a satisfying dessert.

Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 1 - 9-inch by 6-inch layer cake, plus a single 9-inch by 6-inch cake layer

Ingredients

·      Pumpkin cake:

·      ½ cup melted butter, cooled

·      ½ cup brown sugar

·      ½ cup granulated sugar

·      2 large eggs

·      ½ cup pumpkin purée

·      ½ teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ teaspoon baking powder

·      1/4 teaspoon salt

·      ½ tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

·      1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

·      ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts 

·      ½ cup golden raisins

 

·      For the frosting:

·      8 ounces cream cheese

·      4 tablespoons softened butter

2      2 tablespoons sour cream

·      2  tablespoons maple syrup

·      2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

·      ⅛ teaspoon salt

·      

·      Procedure

·      This cake is moist and delicious, similar to carrot cake but with a fall flavor. The rich cream cheese frosting will also remind you of carrot cake—which isn’t a bad thing! Do toast the walnuts before using them; toasting brings out their nutty essence.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan; or line the pan with greased parchment.

Beat the cooled melted butter and the sugars together until well blended.

Beat in the eggs, then the pumpkin purée.

·            Stir the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spice into the wet ingredients, then stir in the flour, beating gently to combine.

      Stir in the nuts and raisins.

      Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

      Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it onto a rack to finish cooling; or leave it right in the pan, if you’ve lined the pan with parchment.

      When ready to assemble, remove the cake from the pan if not already done, turn cake right side up, and use a sharp knife to divide the cake into three 6-inch x 9-inch pieces. Reserve one of the pieces for another use.

      Place one of the pieces of cake on a serving plate or platter. Spread frosting over the whole layer and smooth. Place the second layer over the first. Spread more frosting over the top, swirling a bit once spread. If desired decorate with fall colored decorations or with toasted, chopped walnuts. Serve in 2-inch by 2-inch pieces (approximately).

 

To make the frosting: Beat the cream cheese, butter  and sour cream together.

Beat in the maple syrup, then mix in the confectioners’ sugar and salt. Adjust the consistency of the frosting with additional maple syrup or confectioners’ sugar, if necessary; it should be nicely spreadable.

Frost the cake. Once the frosting has set somewhat, cut into squares and serve.

A Touch of Cardamom and Cloves

You might think that since I write a food blog that I eat gourmet food all the time. Nope. We mostly eat fairly simple foods and a lot of them are on repeat. Grilled chicken thighs and grilled fresh zucchini yesterday for dinner, and turkey chili for dinner tonight...like that.

Where I find myself playing around is often in baking, but, in order to not get any heavier than I already am, I'm only baking when I can share it with others...and leave them the leftovers. That way I get to taste what I bake, but I keep the calories down.

We were supposed to go to dinner last week in Healdsburg at a friend's house, and so I made a cake to take and share. Unfortunately there was a last minute change of plans related to Sweetie being on the board of the local fire district. After his meeting we gave in and had a slice of the cake, with the hopes that we would be able to share the rest with our Healdsburg friends.  I'll be able to bake something else later this week if all goes well and we have dinner in Healdsburg.

So the cake is a new recipe for me from the Substack of David Leibowitz. It's a fig and yogurt cake. I did make a couple of changes but I'm sure it was delicious the way it was written, too. I substituted a bit of sour cream for some of the yogurt because I wanted it just a bit richer. The recipe calls for five-spice powder as flavoring and I don't care for that. I decided to use a touch of cardamom and a bit of ground cloves instead. Those flavors went really well with the fresh figs that top the cake. The amounts used may seem to be too little, but these are both robust flavors, so a little goes a long way.

This is a single layer fairly rustic cake, but it is moist, not too sweet, and really delicious. The yogurt and the fruit allow it to stay moist a while, too, so you can enjoy it for a number of days. 

This cake has almond flour along with some all-purpose flour. If you are gluten sensitive, you could use almond flour and a gluten-free flour mix like King Arthur Baking One-to-One gluten free mix. No fresh figs? Fresh plums or apricots or nectarines would work well here, too. 

You could probably use poached pears, although I haven’t tried them. If you do, you should probably cut them into very thick slices after poaching so they stay moist due to the long-ish baking time.

 Due to the nut flour, this cake is quite hearty, not airy. Thanks to the oil in the nuts, it’ll keep nicely for 3 or 4 days at room temperature under a cake dome or well wrapped. The cake is just fine to serve on its own, but is also great with vanilla ice cream or a puff of whipped cream...which is how I served it, although I didn't get a photo of that.  A few poached or roasted figs with some of their liquid also pairs nicely with the cake.

 Fig-Yogurt Cake

8 servings

 Adapted by David Leibowitz  from the Fig, Yogurt and Almond Cake by Yotam Ottolenghi

200g (7 ounces) unsalted butter, cubed, at room temperature

200g (1 cup) granulated sugar, plus 2 teaspoons granulated sugar or 1 tablespoon turbinado (coarse) sugar crystals, for sprinkling over the finished cake

3 large eggs, at room temperature

100g (7 tablespoons) Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a scant 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

180g (1 3/4 cups) almond flour

100g (scant 3/4 cup) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder, preferably aluminum-free

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

10-12 fresh or frozen figs (if using frozen figs, don’t defrost them first)

 

1. Line the bottom of a 9-inch (24cm) cake pan with a round of parchment paper. Butter the sides of the pan or coat with nonstick spray.
2. Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, beat the butter and 200g (1 cup) of granulated sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Stop the mixer, then add the eggs one at a time, mixing them in on low speed, stopping the mixer after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix in the yogurt and extract.
5. Whisk together the almond flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and five-spice powder in a medium bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top.
6. Quarter the figs and place the figs in concentric circles, cut side up, around the top of the cake.
7. Bake the cake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325ºF (170ºC) and bake the cake until it just feels set in the center, about 40 minutes longer.
8. Remove from the oven and place the cake pan on a cooling rack. Let cool a few minutes, then run a sharp knife around the outside of the cake to loosen the sides of the cake from the pan. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top of the cake.
9. To remove the cake from the pan, it’s easier to do while the cake is still slightly warm. Run a knife again around the outside of the cake, and place a dinner plate upside down on top of the cake pan. Holding the cake pan and the plate firmly in place with both hands, turn both over simultaneously and the cake will release. (If it’s a bit stubborn and doesn’t come out easily, you can place the cake in a warm oven for a few minutes or set it over the low flame of a gas burner for a few seconds.)
10. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake, invert a serving platter over the bottom of the cake, then turn the cake and the platter over simultaneously.

Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese

I know that a lot of people rely on the internet for finding new recipes, which is fine, but I love cookbooks, so I'm always on the lookout for one that will have a number of new-to-me recipes that sound delicious.

A few days ago I was in one of our independent bookstores and found a great cookbook on the sale table. It's The Great British Baking Show Favorite Flavors book and I'm sure that I'll be making and posting more of the recipes in the future. As I paged through the book, there were at least a half dozen that sparked my interest. Last night I made the recipe that sealed the deal for me actually purchasing the book.

As written, this recipe is a Tart Tatin, which is sort of an upside down pie, with a rough puff pastry top that becomes the bottom of the tart. It is savory, but there is some sweetness from the apples and the shallots. The blue cheese brings home the savory as does the garlic. the thyme adds a wonderful herbal note. If I make it again I'll add finely chopped toasted walnuts, because the finished tart would have been even better with some walnuts, in my opinion. I'll also cut back some on the butter and oil because I found it overly oily. Just in case you think that it isn't worth making, I should tell you that Sweetie thinks it might be the best thing I've ever baked. Of course I had him at 'blue cheese'!

Because the puff pastry I thought I had in the freezer ended up not being there, and because I didn't have the time to make rough puff and I did have pie dough on hand, I used regular pie dough for the tart and it worked fine. I also didn't use all the blue cheese, nor all the apples and I also used fewer shallots than called for. What this meant was that I had a single layer tart. The original was probably thicker and that's why more fat, cheese, apples and shallots were needed. I liked it as a single layer tart, especially with the pie dough crust. I also skipped the balsamic drizzle, but kept the parsley.  I'm going to give you the original recipe below, but feel free to use pie dough and/or half the fillings if you like. Also feel free to toast a couple tablespoons of walnuts and chop them up and sprinkle them over the tart when you have turned it out onto the serving plate. Not only are walnuts and blue cheese a classic match-up, but the crunch should be great with the soft cheese, fruit and shallots. I plan to that next time.

Savory Tart Tatin with Apples, Shallots and Blue Cheese
Serves 4-6

For the rough puff pastry 
200g plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
175g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
4 tbsp chilled water
1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

For the topping/filling
40g unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
400g banana shallots (1bout 12 small shallots), peeled and halved lengthways, root end intact
2 Braeburn apples, cored and cut into eighths
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp golden caster sugar (I used turbinado sugar)
1 thyme sprig, leaves picked, about a teaspoon
150g blue cheese (such as Stilton) crumbled
salt and black pepper to taste

To serve
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1.) Make the rough puff pastry. Mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Lightly rub in the butter with your fingertips, just enough to knock the corners off the butter pieces - it should still be in a rough dice. Pour in the chilled water and vinegar and quickly mix with a palette knife (small offset spatula works) to bring the dough together in a ragged ball, adding more water if needed.

2.) Lightly flour the work surface, tip the dough out of the bowl and flatten it into a square. Roll out the dough to a rectangle that is three times as long as it is wide - about 36cm x 12 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top third down to the middle and the bottom third up to cover it, to create a three-layered square of dough. Wrap the dough and chill it for 1 hour.

3.) Lightly flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a rectangle, this time about 45 x 15 cm, with one of the short ends closest to you. Fold the top edge down to the middle and the bottom edge up to meet it in the middle. Turn the dough 90 degrees clockwise and fold the dough in half, much like closing a book. Wrap and chill for another 1 hour, or until you're ready to bake.

4.) Make the tipping. While the pastry is chilling, melt 15g of the butter with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large flying pan over medium heat. Add the shallots, cut side down, and cook without stirring for 3-4 minutes, until golden. Turn the shallots over and cook the other side for 2 minutes, until lightly colored. Using a fish knife or palette knife, remove the shallots to a large plate and season well with salt and pepper.

5.) Heat another 15g of butter and the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. Add the apples and cook each side for 2 minutes, until lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 1 minutes. Remove the apples to a plate.

6.) Assemble the tatin. Spread the remaining butter over the base of the ovenproof pan or skillet and scatter with the caster sugar. Place the shallots and apples in the pan (they don't have to be neatly arranged) and scatter with the thyme and half the blue cheese.

7.) Lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the pastry and cut it into a 28-30 cm disc (about 3mm thick). Lay the pastry over the shallots and apples and tuck the edges down the inside of the pan. Chill for 20 minutes while you heat the oven to 200 degrees C/180 degreed C fan/Gas 6.

8.) Cut a steam hole in the top of the pastry and place the pan over medium heat on the stove for 2 minutes, until the edges of the pastry start to sizzle and bubble. Then, transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden all over.

9.) Meanwhile, bring the balsamic vinegar to the boil in a small saucepan over medium heat until reduced by half. Removed from the heat and leave to cool.

10.) Leave the baked tart to rest in the ovenproof pan or skillet for 2 minutes, then place a board or serving plate on top of the pan and carefully flip the pan over to turn out the tart. Drizzle with the reduced balsamic vinegar and scatter with the remaining blue cheese and the parsley, to serve.