Zhuzhed up Apple Galette
If you need one more Thanksgiving dessert, I’ve got a galette for you. I’ve made the apple galette recipe from Zoë Francois several times over the past few years. It’s simple to make and the layer of almond cream underneath the apples zhuzhes it up quite nicely. During the holidays you can zhuzh her up even more with sugared cranberries on top. About a month ago I had this vision of using pink apples in the galette. Wouldn’t she be pretty in pink? Of course, she would. But I never did come across pink apples in Manzanita. But then when we were in Seattle last month, I had an epiphany! I should pick up some pink apples while in the big city!
Blueberry Nostalgia
Blueberries fill me with nostalgia this time of year. My husband and I and blueberries go way way back. When we were dating I’d buy blueberry cheesecake ice cream, the September monthly special at Baskin Robbins, and make an ice cream pie for his birthday. When we moved back to the Pacific Northwest, blueberry picking became an annual tradition for us. Now that we no longer live near blueberry fields, we are making up for it by eating as many blueberries as we can in one summer. Because you too should be enjoying blueberries, I’m sharing my latest bake with you: a blueberry cheesecake galette.
Fall baking: Cue the apples and pumpkin
I have slowly and a bit reluctantly let go of summer, inched into the fall season, and started dreaming of fall baking complete with warm spices, apples, pumpkin, pears and maple-flavored everything. I mean, isn’t that what fall is all about? (Okay, maybe some football too.) In my divine order of fall baking, apples come first. After all, apples are equated with teachers and back to school. I also happen to live in the beautiful state of Washington, where apples are aplenty; the state produces over half the Nation's domestically grown apples. Or maybe apples reign first for me because I refuse to give into the societal pressure related to pumpkin spice lattes re-joining the Starbucks menu in late August. Hold on pumpkin, wait your turn. My first little fall baking task was the Zoë François Apple Almond Galette. However, I’m proud to say that I waited until the calendar officially declared it was fall and then the very next day, I baked a pumpkin chocolate snack cake.