adapted from Samantha Seneviratne

1 cup/130 g ap flour
½ cup/60 g whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons/140 grams cold unsalted butter (1¼ sticks), cut into small (1/4 to 1/2 inch) pieces, & placed back in the fridge til just before you're using them
4 tablespoons/60 milliliters ice water
1 large egg, lightly beaten, for brushing
Sanding sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
 
For the apples:
Slice 4 medium or 3 large apples into thin slices. Mix with:
Juice of ½ lemon
75 g brown sugar
Zest of a lemon
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon TKI Pie Spice or Speculaas Spice
 

Whisk the flours, sugar, and salt together.Toss the butter in the dry ingredients, then press the pieces of butter til flat (yes, this is a less fussy version of Stella Parks' pie dough). Make a well and pour the water into it, then knead the dough together until it just coheres. Flatten into a disk and refrigerate for at least an hour.

While the dough is resting, peel, quarter, and core the apples. Mix the lemon, sugar, and cornstarch, as well as whichever spice blend you'd like (we must confess to a preference for the Speculass Spice here) together in a large bowl. Add the apples to the mixture and stir gently until all pieces are coated. We like to add an extra apple because we like to stuff the galette, but you do whatever works for you.

Flour your rolling surface and roll the galette into a rough 13" circle. Leaving a 2+" margin, mound the apples in the middle or arrange them into a design of your choosing. Fold the edges over the top of the galette, brush them with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar, if using. Pour any remaining liquid from the apples in the very center and pop the galette into the oven on a parchment covered half sheet pan. 

Cook at 400 degrees for 55 minutes.

Serve with Crème Anglaise or vanilla ice cream.

These cookies make perfect use of our vanilla sugar. I've used weights here because it's so much faster and more efficient. A decent kitchen sale will run you $12-$20. Go for it!

375 grams flour (sub a 1-1 gf, if desired)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
100 grams white sugar
100 grams dark brown sugar
1/2 lb (227 g) softened butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Vanilla sugar for rolling

Combine the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until the mixture pales. 2-4 minutes in a mixer. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down sides between each addition. Beat in vanilla and almond extracts. Add flour in two additions. If using wheat flour, mix just enough to thoroughly combine, as any more will toughen the cookies. If you use gluten free flour, don't worry because there's no gluten!

Refrigerate dough for at least an hour (overnight is best). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill a small bowl with vanilla sugar. Roll dough into large marble sized balls and roll those balls in the sugar until they're completely covered. Place on a cookie sheet and press into 1/4 inch discs with the bottom of a glass. Bake 10-12 minutes, til just brown around the edges. 10 minutes will get you a softer cookie, 12 a crisp one.

Or, what to do with all of those end-of-summer squashes.

It's fall here in the Pacific Northwest. All of a sudden, after the hottest summer ever recorded here. The grey and the rain are a welcome blessing. And with that weather comes the desire for soups, puddings, and a move away from the cold, crisp foods of summer. Kheer is perfect for this time.

Kheer - serves 4
1/4 cup arborio or jasmine rice, soaked and rinsed
16 ounces of coconut milk
2-4 tablespoons of sugar (I used 2 1/2)
1+ cup water
a pinch salt
3/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds, ground
1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional)
2 tablespoon roughly chopped almonds or pistachios (I omitted these this time)

Add the rice, coconut milk, water, and salt to a large-ish saucepan. Cook until rice is still chalky in the middle. Add the sugar and spices. Cover and turn down the heat to low. Check every 5-10 minutes, stirring. If it becomes thick enough for you and the rice isn't cooked through, add a half cup more water.

Serve topped with the chopped nuts, if using, and/or chopped peaches or berries.

Perhaps because I'm not eating anything with added sugar right now, I found myself thinking wistfully about a chocolate cake I made two weeks ago. It was a Valentine's Day cake for my family, and although I'd originally planned to make a heart-shaped one, when the moment came that seemed precious and twee. Instead, I made up a peanut butter ganache, a chocolate frosting, and three layers of moist chocolate cake. The moist (sorry to use that abhorred word twice!) part is worth mentioning because that tends to be the Achilles' heel of gluten free cakes, of which this was one. For the record, I don't believe in sifting. (CLICK THE TITLE FOR THE REST OF THE RECIPE)

I absolutely love coconut burfi. Sweet, toothy, and easy. The depth of flavor comes from the interplay between the coconut, pistachios and cardamom.

2 cups dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups whole milk
10 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon cardamom
1/3 cup pistachios, roughly chopped

 Soak the coconut in the milk for 1-12 hours, then add it to a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan and add the condensed milk. Cook for 30 minutes at a low bubble, stirring, then add the cardamom. Cook until the mixture is reduced by about 1/3 and pulling away from the edges of the pan. Stir in the nuts and spread mixture in a buttered pan at least 9 inches across, or on a piece of parchment. Let cool enough to cut, and then cut into diamonds. 

If you don't consume the entirety within two days, please refrigerate.

I’ve made tons of squash soup lately, but I can’t resist buying squash this time of year. So I bought a gorgeous Cinderella squash, orange and squat and lovely. And I cut it in half, put it in a pan with an inch of water (cut side down) and roasted it til soft. Took it out, drained the water, turned the halves over and let them cool. Then I scooped out the seeds and cut off the skin and put the squash in a container in the fridge. What next? Pie, that’s what. No, really. You'll love it. And it's far better for you than most of the pumpkin pie recipes floating around out there. Also lighter.

Either make a crust or buy your favorite pre-made crust. Pre-bake it or you’ll end up with a soggy mess. Consider a nut crust, if you're making one; the nuts give a textural contrast to the filling.  

(Click post title for entire recipe.)