Christmas Fruit Mince Pies

With aromatic Quick Mincemeat ready in my refrigerator, Fruit Mince Pies were the obvious way to enjoy it!  If you love these pies, please do make your own mincemeat as its very little effort and is infinitely tweak-able. Once this is ready, these pies are easy, quick and fun to put together. Spicy, plumped up dried fruit and candied peel in a flaky pie crust. Obviously rich, these are better bite-sized. Unless you are someone like me, you will make them look pretty too! Cut out the pastry to make stars and snowflakes, bring the festive little treats to the Christmas table!

Three days is all you get to use up the mincemeat without alcohol! And then hasten to roll out some quick pie crust. The crust here has very little sugar, perhaps better with all the sweet fruit in the mincemeat. But a less rich (but sweeter) crust like this one in the Bittersweet chocolate mousse tart should work just as well. I like to pre-bake the crust to ensure its properly baked and satisfactory before I put in the filling, re-warm briefly and serve. This also gives you the option to bake the pastry well ahead of time, the better if yours will be a busy Christmas. Of course, you may not get the applause you deserve as the snowflakes or stars on top may topple any moment, but yes, your fruit will be soft and the pastry will taste fresh! 

Ingredients : 

Mincemeat - 1 cup (depending on the size of your pies)

Pie crust : 

Flour : 175 grams

Butter : 113 grams, cubed and chilled till very cold

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Powdered sugar - 1/2 tablespoon

Ice cold water - 2 tablespoons (plus 1 tablespoon if needed)

Freshly grated orange zest - 1 teaspoon (optional)

Cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

Equipment : One Small and another large metal bench scraper. Chill these at least for 15 mins.  Alternatively you could use a food processor. 

A rolling pin.

A mini muffin tray, star / snowflake shaped cookie cutters in suitable sizes. Round or fluted cookie cutter according to the size of your muffin tray.  (Test with some roti atta to be sure about the sizes!)

Pie weights or kidney beans. Small squares of aluminum foil

Cling film

Special instructions : Work in a cool kitchen.

Method : To make the pie crust : 

Mise en place.

Whisk the orange zest into the cold water. Let this remain in the freezer till you use it. Do not leave it too long or it will freeze! Keep the extra tablespoon water in another cup in the freezer. 

Sift together the powdered sugar, cinnamon and salt. Transfer the flour mixture onto your kitchen counter. 

Dump the cold butter on the flour. Toss the pieces in the flour so that the flour coats it. 

Using the bench scraper, briskly cut the butter into the flour till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. This will take a couple of minutes.

Make a well in the middle of the flour. Take 2 tablespoons cold water from the freezer and pour into the well. Gently gather the flour into the water using your fingertips. The dough will begin to come together. 

If you pinch some dough between your thumb and forefinger, it should hold together and not crumble apart. Though the mixture may look dry-ish at this stage, it will come together well. Add more of the chilled water just half a teaspoon at a time if the mixture doesn't hold when pinched. Remember, excess water will make the pastry tough. 

Once you have added the needed amount of water, divide the flour mixture into two portions.  Smear each portion gently once across the counter with the heel of your hand. Gather it back, the pastry will be smoother now. 

Flatten, wrap it in the cling film well and refrigerate for at least half an hour. Overnight is fine too.

When ready to bake : 

If the pastry is very firm, leave it (still wrapped) on the counter for 15-20 minutes or till firm but malleable enough.

Flour your counter very lightly. 

Gently roll out the pastry about 3-4 mm thick. Cut out the circles. 

Slip them in gently into the muffin molds, taking care not to stretch it or it will shrink later. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for an hour or overnight to suit your schedule. Cut out stars or snowflakes with the remaining pastry. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with cling film and refrigerate. 

Pre-heat oven to 190 C/ 375 F. Remove cling film, place squares of foil inside the cups, put some kidney beans to weigh them down and bake for 18-20 minutes or till light golden and crisp. Bake the star cut outs separately. Store airtight till needed.

To serve: Place a teaspoon of mincemeat in the pastry cups ( I have gone overboard!). Top with the cut outs, heat in a pre-heated oven for 2 minutes. Serve warm. 

Owning a Kitchen Aid is every baker's dream and I hope my wish is fulfilled this Christmas! Kitchen Aid India plays Santa and I am sending these pies to the Kitchen Aid Christmas Blogger Contest.  Listening Santa? 

Get a special ‘Christmas Frosting Kit’ as gift with purchase of the iconic KitchenAid 4.8 L Tilt Head Stand Mixer from 1st-31st December 2014, and make delectable memories this Christmas. For more details, visit www.christmas.kitchenaidapac.com #KitchenAidTurnsSanta”

Crème Patissière Tartlets

Pie crust and me seem to be liking each other after all! The Chocolate Mousse Tart we made for the Daring Bakers challenge gave me a boost of confidence with pie crusts. Also gave me a sweet pastry crust a bit less buttery. Strange as it may seem, intense buttery tasting bakes aren't quite my thing. This crust is as buttery as I can take (lesser would probably make it a cracker, so hardly dessert), but still, bite-sized please!

 Though I was happy with the light and flaky crust of the Chocolate Mousse Tart , the sogginess of it after it was baked with the filling was a put off. I have tried painting the crust with egg wash, but it did not seem to retain the crispiness fully. So this time, I wanted to bake a tart, bake it fully till light and crisp, then fill it to be eaten straightaway! Then happened these. Little buttery crispy tartlets filled with lightened and chilled vanilla bean pastry cream or Crème Patissière. If you love buttery tarts, this is a dessert you will love!

Please do not go by the length of the recipe below. Its fairly do-able, if you plan ahead and split the work over 2 days.

I have made the pastry and frozen in smaller portions in plastic wrap, placed in an freezer safe container. Thawed it in the refrigerator, still fully wrapped in a box. I have used a quarter of the recipe below to give me about 8 small tartlets. 

It is about keeping your ingredients COLD. Cold butter, ice cold water, cold tools, a cool marble counter, rolling pin. This is to help prevent the butter from melting, keeping it in bits and pieces even after the pastry is rolled out. The butter melts in the oven creating pockets in the pastry - your flaky layers. Working quickly, handling the dough gently throughout helps keep it tender.  Start with less water and add more if needed as more water can make your pastry tough

Ingredients:  

Egg yolk - 18 grams / 1 large
Granulated or powdered sugar - 5 tablespoons/ 70 gm / 2½ oz ( I powdered granulated sugar after weighing)
All-purpose flour - 1¾ cups (420 ml) (250 gm) (8¾ oz)
pinch salt
Diced Cold butter (diced and then chilled), cut into 1/2'' cubes - 125 grams / 9 tablespoons / 4 ½ oz
Ice Cold water - 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 ml) ( I used 2 1/2 tablespoons,will add a teaspoon of vanilla next time and chill the water)

Directions:

For the pastry : Cube the butter first and then chill it, so that its really cold. Chill your pastry cutter or metal  bench scraper or knives. Have a largish flat box with a lid ready. Just in case you need to refrigerate the flour-butter mixture in between.

1. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and sugar together with a teaspoon of the water until pale and fluffy, for about 2 minutes with a fork. Set aside.

2. Sift the flour and salt together into a mound on a work surface.

3. Scatter the diced butter over the top of the flour. Quickly toss the butter in the flour so it's all coated. Then using your pastry cutter or bench scraper, cut the butter till you have a  flour mixture with some small and some slightly larger pea sized bits of butter. Work quickly but decisively. If you feel your butter going soft, try refrigerating the entire mixture in the metal bowl covered for sometime till the butter is cold again.

4. Gather the flour mixture into a mound and make a well in the center.

5. Pour the egg mixture and the rest of the water into the well. Working quickly, incorporate the wet ingredients into the flour, first with your fingertips then with a bench scraper until just mixed but not brought together.

6. Gently gather dough together into a rough ball between your palms. If it stays together, it is sufficiently moist. If it doesn't stay together, add a teaspoon more water and repeat the process.

7. Using the palm of your hand, push away from you to smear the dough across the work surface, gather it up and repeat until it comes together into a smooth, soft ball. ( I smeared the dough in parts smearing each part only once gently) You aren't kneading, you are using the smearing action to bind the elements of the dough without developing the gluten in the flour. The dough ball shouldn't spring back when pressed. 

At this point, I have wrapped the dough in cling film and refrigerated it overnight.( At this stage, you can freeze the pastry in smaller portions as needed, wrap really well in plastic wrap and put in a freezer safe container, thaw still wrapped in the fridge over night before proceeding) After resting the dough, place it on the counter for sometime if its not malleable enough to roll. This may take upto 1/2 an hour if its cold, keep checking now and then. If it gets too soft or starts oozing butter when you roll, cover and put it back in the fridge to firm up sufficiently again, about 10 minutes.

8. Lightly grease a 6 or 8 small holed muffin tin, mine is hardly 1/3 cup capacity. Lightly flour your work surface. Do not do this next to your hot oven or gas stove as it will make the butter melt. Using gentle pressure, roll the dough out to about 3mm thick circle Excessive pressure while rolling will make the flaky layers disappear! Cut into five or six  3'' circles (according to the size of the hole) with a sharp round cookie cutter. Press the circles gently into the muffin holes, prick all over the bottom with a fork. Use the scraps to roll out 2 more. Cover airtight and refrigerate for about 1 hour or more.

9. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F. Place the muffin tin in the oven straight out of the refrigerator. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or till light golden and crisp. Err on the side of over baking, but do not burn or let them turn dark golden. The baking time depends on the thickness of the crust. Let cool slightly. Gently remove the shells and cool on a rack completely.

You can at this point, store them in an air tight box for 2 days, though I find them best the day they are baked.

For the pastry cream : I have used pastry cream and whipped cream in the ratio of  2:1. Alter it to your preference. Or simply fill the tarts with chilled pastry cream.

Whipped cream, fairly stiff, but not very stiff - 1/2 cup ( I have used sweetened) Please read note.

Julia Child's Pastry cream recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Whole milk - 1 cup / 240 ml
Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Egg yolks - 54 grams / 3 large
Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup
All-purpose flour  - 24 grams - 3 tablespoons
Unsalted butter - 15 grams / 1 tablespoon (another 15 grams for a more luxurious cream)

• Suspend a fine meshed strainer over a medium sized heat proof bowl. Set this near your stove. Have a spatula ready nearby.

• In a small saucepan, combine your milk and vanilla bean flecks (if using extract instead, don’t add it yet). Heat the milk and vanilla bean till just before the boiling point. Turn off the heat.

• In the bottom of a heavy saucepan, off the heat, beat or whisk your egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar.  Whisk in the flour until fully incorporated. (recipe directs to whisk till it forms ribbons, I have simply whisked)

• Whisking the whole time, drizzle the hot vanilla-milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about 1/4 of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin stream, whisking constantly.

• Bring the saucepan to your stove and heat it over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it begins to bubble. Once bubbling, whisk it for 1 to 2 more minutes, then remove it from the heat. Immediately stir in vanilla extract (if using) and butter until combined. Press through the strainer.

• To cool your custard quickly, place the saucepan in a larger bowl of ice water that will go halfway up the sides of the saucepan (i.e. water should not spill in) and stir the custard till its cool. Press press wrap to the surface, chill till needed. You could refrigerate this for upto 3 days.

• Gently fold in the whipped cream into the cooled pastry cream. Keep this covered and chilled until serving time.
•  Just before serving (a minute before I mean) fill in the tart shells, garnish as you like it. Serve immediately!
  

Please note : I had made the pastry cream already with only 2 tablespoons of flour as I did not want it very thick ( I was wrong of course). If using the cream for lightening with whipped cream, I will add 3 tablespoons next time. Since I have used sweetened whipping cream, the result was a tiny bit on the sweeter side. Will use a tablespoon less in the pastry cream next time. If using unsweetened heavy cream, sweeten it to taste, keeping in mind the sugar in the pastry cream.

I have also whipped the cream to the just soft peak stage (wrong again!), and then folded it into the less thick pastry cream which is why its a little runny. Do whip the cream to slightly stiff peaks and use the 3 tbsp flour in the pastry cream.

Though I am not a raving fan of pastry cream, I loved it with the whipped cream folded in, giving it a lovely, rich, vanilla flavor and texture. I shall be using it again as it actually made me eat a couple of buttery tartlets! As for the pastry, use your favorite sweet pastry crust. Chocolate pie crust will work great too, will add orange zest to the pastry cream in this case. Or may be coffee! This recipe is just an idea.

One the side, Cakes And More crossed a million visitors! Thanks so much for your encouragement, for helping me get here!

Paneer Tikka Tart

Like me, if you had thought that a tart concept can be done with either with home made/ store brought old fashioned buttery crusts or phyllo pastry or puff pastry, you will be happy to know that you can make something nice with the humble yeast dough as well. Meaning, you don't have to slave over making phyllo or puff pastry (or be lucky enough to easily buy them) or master the art of baking the perfect pie crust and still get away with making something that classifies as a tart and a pretty good one at that. Without having to plan ahead for it. As in you can get up in the morning or come back from work and still decide to bake yourself a tart. Easy and quick.

I have realized that when you bake something like a pizza or tart with a slow-risen base like Peter Reinhart's pizza dough, you can get away with minimal and the simplest of toppings as the very flavorful base takes center-stage here. And when you bake with the faster ones, you are better off allowing the topping to take center-stage. Bake with a flavorful base and flavorful toppings, danger is you will end up making it every now and then, for very given excuse. Did I tell you that Peter R's crust has become a real real favorite with me and have made it at least about 5-6 times by now?

When Madhuli invited us to bake tarts for an event at Chef At Large, I wanted to play around with a quick yeast dough base and top it with something delicious and indulgent too - the festive air squarely to blame. Hmm... may be a tart topped with mint and coriander chutney, loaded with some flavorful paneer tikka? Why not? A bit of work with the tikka and some time to marinate the cheese and veggies, but the dough is a breeze as always these days with my bread machine! 

The paneer tikka turned out good and I had a tough time keeping the kids away till I put it all together and took the mandatory pics, but it sure made me happy! This said, the base and the tikka is only a suggestion, feel free to use your favorite pizza base and your favorite tikka topping!

Paneer Tikka Tart

You will need :
One recipe pizza base (recipe below)
Paneer Tikka
Coriander and mint chutney - 4 tablespoons plus more to serve on the side.

Getting ready : To make the tart, make sure the paneer and veggies are marinated and ready to go on the tawa before you make the dough. Generously grease your baking tray or trays with oil. I place my pizzas and tarts on the back of my 9'' square/round tins, for ease to slice them later.

Paneer Tikka : Adapted from a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe. Good quality paneer, needless to say makes a lot of difference. I used Nandini, Milky Mist is supposed to be good too. Do use home-made paneer if you have it on hand. Do not cube the cottage cheese too small or it will be difficult to thread the cubes through a skewer or flip them when directly placed on the tawa.

Ingredients:
Cottage cheese/ paneer - cut into 3/4'' cubes - 200 grams (about 1 1/2 cups)
Green or colored capsicum, cubed - 3/4 cup
Onion, peeled and cubed - 1 cup (divided use)
Firm plum tomatoes, de-seeded and cubed - 1/2 cup

For the marinade: Please vary the amount of spices to taste and preference

Fresh, thick hung curd or ready set curd - 6 tablespoons
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Ginger, freshly grated - 3/4 teaspoon
Garlic, freshly grated - 1 teaspoon
Chaat masala - 3/4 teaspoon
Tandoori masala - 1 teaspoon
Kasuri methi, crushed - 1 heaping teaspoon
Gram flour - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste (go easy, the chaat masala is quite salty)

More oil for grilling the paneer and vegetables

Procedure : Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade in a wide bowl, gently toss in the paneer and capsicum cubes to coat with the marinade well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. You could toss in the onions and tomatoes later (after you fish out the paneer and capsicum), there will still be marinade left. I did not add them earlier as they will leave out more water, wanted the paneer generously coated with the marinade.

Heat a non-stick pan, brush oil generously using a silicon brush. Thread the paneer and the vegetables through skewers (or just place directly, flipping now and then using 2 spoons) and cook on medium-low heat, turning them to cook all sides till a nice golden and done (this will not take more than a say, 3-4 minutes) Do not over-cook as this will make the paneer tough. Reserve.

Coriander and mint chutney
Fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped - 1 1/2 cups
Fresh mint leaves - 3/4 cup
Green chillies - 3-4
Sugar - a tiny pinch
Lemon juice - to taste
Salt - to taste

Blend everything using little or no water. Check and adjust seasoning. Reserve.

Tart base, adapted from Purple Foodie original recipe from Popina Book Of Baking  I have used yogurt in place of the egg, stepped up on the salt and yeast, and added a bit of garlic to the base.

Pizza dough base:

All purpose flour / maida - 220 grams
Instant yeast - 1 1 /4 tsp ( if using Active dried yeast, proof first and then carry on)
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Extra virgin olive oil (or any flavorless oil like sunflower or canola oil) - 2 tablespoons
Garlic, grated - 2 pods
Yogurt - 1/4 cup OR 1 Egg
Warm water - 70 -80 ml (start with the lesser amount, add remaining, by the teaspoon if needed)

Procedure : Mise en place. Sift together the flour and salt. Take the oil and garlic in a small pan, warm the oil. Take off the heat. If using crushed garlic, you can discard it once the flavor is infused into the oil. Take the warm water in a wide medium sized bowl, mix together all the dough ingredients and knead to form a soft, smooth dough, about 8-10 minutes. If using a bread machine dump all ingredients together and knead on dough cycle for 10 minutes.  Lightly grease your dough rising bucket, place the dough in it, turn it once to coat the dough with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in volume, about 40 minutes to one hour.

Towards the end of the rise period, pre-heat oven to 190 degrees C / 375 degrees F. Gently punch down the dough, divide into 2 equal portions. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Roll one portion of the dough about 5-6mm thick and about 7 '' inches in diameter. This will give you a slightly crisp, bread-y base. Place the rolled dough on the greased tray. Spread about 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons chutney and place about 1/4 cup cubed onion on it evenly. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or till the edges turn a nice golden brown. If you bake longer, the base will be crunchy-crisp. Remove from the oven, cool for about 10 minutes. Brush with more chutney, top with half the warm paneer tikka, sprinkle some chaat masala, cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Repeat with the other portion of dough. I bake simultaneously in my microwave and OTG.

Make ahead : Make the chutney, marinate the paneer and veggies. Refrigerate both. Make the dough when needed and you are ready to go!

The paneer-tikka tart is Yeast-spotted!!

Rustic Apple Galette - A Guest Post By Sweatha Pai

Experiments, emotions and experiences with food - Sweatha Pai has it all for you! Her yummilicious blog -  Tasty Curry Leaf. An extremely avid baker with a vast repertoire of mouth-watering egg-less and vegan bakes, desserts, yeasted bakes and a whole lot of Middle eastern cuisine, her space tempts you to try them all! Did I just stress Middle Eastern? Wait! There is Turkish, Vietnamese, Korean, Mexican, Italian, English and American to name a few cuisines she dabbles in. Well! That leaves very little of global cuisine she hasn't tried yet! Mind you, all of these are egg-less and some even vegan!

I bet her family just doesn't know what boring and mundane means when it comes to food! You bet I also don't want her to know what I cook for my family everyday - yaawn!! So the next time you feel adventurous and want to try something new, you know where to head to!! I have drooled over her Herbed Sour Cream Biscuits,  Oatmeal Crisps, and Caramelized Onion , Rosemary And Tomato Flatizza .. these have to be tried!

Do read the err...personal mail she has written to her blog here
 
Ooops! Sweatha is supposed to do the talking here! Here she is tempting you with a delicious cinnamon laced Apple Galette, made all the more tempting as its easier too! Thanks Sweatha for your very generous and kind words for me, not sure if I deserve all that, but you sure made my day!

What do you cook for a baking and dessert queen? When you see that she is an expert baker and dessert specialist and has conquered some of the excellent cakes and bakes in her blog, what would you cook/bake for her when she has invited you for a guest post?

Actually I was ready when Suma invited me for a guest post. The first idea was obviously a cake. A simple eggless chocolate cake for Cakes n More. Then  as usual I had the doubt.A simple chocolate cake for a person who has conquered exotic breads and bakes!. Of course it will be good, but is it enough? Matt Preston boomed in my head, "Is this dish enough to take you to next level?" "Is this dish worthy of Cakes n More standards?" Racking my brains I decided a galette is my safest bet. Its rustic,can be made slightly roughly without the decorative rules that come with a pie and its perfect for the dessert queen and also perfect for me on a chilly night.And as usual my amateurish clicking skills can be forgiven as well.

A galette is a general term in French cuisine covering most thick round flat breads or free form crusty cakes.It is definitely similar to Italian crostata and can be called haphazard pies.These days of course the term refers to rustic pies with a rich and flaky crust stuffed with fruit or veggies,the common and popular one being apple galette. Basically, you are making a rustic or free style pie using buttery pie crust.I have also baked an apple galette for dear Suma with little variations here and there. You do not need to know rocket science to make a galette, except of course little of pie science.

Ingredients:
Crust:

All Purpose Flour: 1 cup
Salt: 1/8 tsp
Cold Cubed Unsalted Butter: 1/3 cup or round off 6 tbsp (5 tbsp and 2 tsp)
Ice Cold Water: 2 to 3 tbsp

Filling: 
Apples: peeled,cored and thinly sliced : around 1.5 cup or 2 apples
Brown Sugar: 2 tbsp divided
Lemon Juice: 1/2 tsp or a big squeeze of lemon for tossing with the apple slices
Cinnamon: 1/4 -1/2 tsp as per taste
Powdered Ginger: 1/8 -1/4 tsp as per taste
Fresh grated nutmeg: a pinch or more as per taste
Almond powdered: about 1 tbsp (optional)


Preparation:
For the crust, mix together flour and salt and cut in cubed butter with a fork and mix in till it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add in 1 tbsp water at a time and mix in till the flour is moistened.

Here the key thing is you should not overwork the pastry. Try mixing the butter gently with a fork or just your finger tips and add just are minimum of water as needed to moisten the flour. There should be water to support butter as a binder but just enough.Also make sure the butter and water are ice cold. This is needed to prevent the development of gluten in the flour. Gluten will make the crust tough. Overworking the dough or warm ingredients will produce a tougher or crusty crust. We want a soft, slightly crumbly,flaky and buttery pie crust.

Once the dough is formed wrap it in plastic and refrigerate it. It can stay in the refrigerator for maximum 3 days. In case you are not baking the tart/galette/pie immediately, it can be frozen for upto 2 months.

While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Slice the peeled and cored apples, toss it with lemon juice to prevent darkening and then mix it in with 1 tbsp of brown sugar, powdered spices and almond meal or flour or powdered. 

Almond meal is completely optional. I just added it to absorb extra juices if any overflow during baking. You can use flour,cornstarch arrowroot powder etc instead or completely leave it out. Let it sit for sometime while the flavours are mingling.Always do the taste test and adjust the sugar and spices to get what you like.

Take out the dough, divide it into two balls, refrigerate one while working on the other.

On a lightly floured surface or  plastic sheets, roll out the dough gently into a circle of about 1/4 inch thickness. Once this is done, transfer it to the lined baking sheet and start layering on the apple slices in whatever way you like leaving an inch or half  around the edges free.You can go for nice designs while layering like arranging in overlapping concentric circles or whatever way you prefer.

Once done, fold the edges inward on top the fruit. Sprinkle little brown sugar on top and dot it with additional butter if you like. Once this is done you can brush the folded edges with milk/melted butter and sprinkle some more brown sugar on top. 

Repeat the steps with the second dough ball as well or freeze it for later use. One galette serves 2 or just 1 if you are a dessert person!You can even go for smaller galettes which is what I did with my other dough ball and got two bite sized galettes.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F or 180C for about 30-35 minutes or more until the pastry is golden brown, the fruit  bubbles and a warm aroma of comforting baking spreads all over. The mini ones took barely 25 minutes to finish. So just keep an eye on from the 24th minute onwards.

Take out cool completely or till you can control yourself. Then attack.

Oops I forgot to tell you about the sauce. Its a simple custard sauce using ready made custard powder. Something quickly put together when you are in a hurry to consume the galette. I just followed the instructions that came with the packet and within minutes it was ready. But of course the barring one, the galettes were over within minutes my daughter set her eyes on them. She did not even need the sauce. 

Galettes can also be served along with the usual accompaniments of ice cream,whipped cream or even dessert sauces or simply glaze with jam and serve. 

"Will this dish take me to a higher level? " Matt booms. "Yes of course, I definitely believe so Matt if you excuse the use of  custard powder. Now its upto you Suma." 

 

Eggless Apple Pie - My first!

I just can't wait to show you my first Apple Pie! Well, my first pie ever to be precise! I had bought a pie tin and tartlet molds years ago without even the faintest idea as to what I would do with them. But of course never got to baking a pie for some reason I don't really know. Until I started to look for new things I can try. A pie seemed a good idea, specially since I had some Granny Smith apples in my fridge. I am the fruit eater in the family and have to generally push hubby and kids to eat fruit. But when I save fruit for a specific purpose, I have a tough time keeping them from eating it:). And my kids complain that 'I don't let them eat even something like a healthy fruit'! This in the context that my kids keep raiding the fridge for chocolates, butter or cheese slices which I painstakingly hide from their prying eyes. They do get away with eating some of these things, with and without my knowledge...sometimes with a chastising mini lecture and sometimes to allow some small kiddie indulgences..

The only time I ever tasted an apple pie was at a well known restaurant here and I must say, it did not really leave me wanting to go back there for more. And to think we ate the pie on the recommendation of the staff there!! And of course it also put me off the idea of me wanting to bake one at home. The home-made pie however, made a nice change from the regular tea-time treat, the buttery and crumbly-crisp shell a perfect contrast in texture to the slightly tart, soft, cinnamon flavored apple filling. An enjoyable treat if you love the cinnamon-apple combo...