Vive la France!

Right when I feel like I'm off my game, it comes back around.

Voila! Une tarte aux pommes.

This better get me an A+ in french.

Tarte aux Pommes
adapted from the one and only Julia Child
Makes one 10-inch tart

Crust from Gluten Free Canteen

125 grams brown rice flour
75 grams gluten-free oat flour
50 grams white rice flour
50 grams tapioca starch
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
114 grams ice cold unsalted butter
86 grams ice cold shortening
100 grams of ice water, more or less

Due to the fact that I have a wimpy food processor, I make my pie crusts the old fashioned way.

Whisk together flours, starch, sugar, and salt. Cut in butter and shortening with a pastry cutter. Once the mix looks like little peas, gradually add water a couple tablespoons at a time. It's best to mix the dough with your hands. Once it holds form and isn't too crumbly, pat into a disk and chill for half an hour or so.

Preheat the oven to 350 while the dough chills.

Roll out the dough until it's roughly an 1/8 of an inch. Press into a 10-inch tart pan and prick the bottom crust with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Filling

4 pounds of baking apples (I used gala)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup brandy, rum, or cognac (1 teaspoon vanilla extract if you're a twenty-year-old)
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon zest

apricot glaze (see below)

Peel and core the apples. Slice into 1/8 inch thickness. Toss three cups worth with lemon juice and sugar in a bowl and set aside.

Place the rest of the apples in a large sauce pan. Cover and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes. Add apricot preserves, alcohol (or vanilla), sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Mash together until it has an applesauce-like texture. Bring to a mild boil and remove from heat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour the applesauce mixture into the half baked tart shell. Arrange the sliced apples over the surface. Bake for half an hour, or until apples edge are golden brown.

Apricot Glaze

1/2 cup apricot preserves
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine sugar and preserves in a small sauce pan. Simmer for five minutes until heated through. Brush over tart when its fresh from the oven.

Hate to toot my own horn, but je suis la merde.

The contents of my cupboard, in a pot.

Look at this sad, sad bowl of soup. If anything says "Hey, I'm a college student," it's this.

Even a mountain of cheese couldn't disguise its pitifulness.

I could easily make this entire post one big whine session about sleepiness, too many papers, and the dropping temperature. But that would be silly. I have an awesome new job that is worth the early hours, a challenging but interesting major, and plenty of sweaters. So I'm going to put a sock in it.

However, this awesomeness was not enough to motivate me to put on pants without a drawstring and walk over to Kowalski's. Yikes, this soup isn't the only sad thing about my night. 

I'll call this I've Put Off Grocery Shopping For One Day Too Many Soup. It consists of: 1 14oz can of crushed tomatoes, half an onion, one clove of garlic, one stalk of celery, vegetable stock, gluten-free pasta, fresh spinach, and fresh thyme. Oh, and a generous amount of parmesan cheese (which was really the only thing I could taste).

Tomorrow I'll get my act together and put on pants that aren't lined with fleece. I'll be making a tarte aux pommes for french class! 

Glazed Gingerbread Scones

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I sit in on a cinema class as a notetaker. It's a pretty good deal, seeing that I get paid to watch movies. Today we watched an Akira Kurosawa film, which was interesting, but I struggled to keep up because I had two classes before and was feelin' a little drowsy.

I experience a strange phenomenon during movies. Only under certain circumstances, though. It typically occurs when I'm in a theatre-like setting. From time to time, I experience a moment of pure clarity. It's as if I'm transported out of my body and suddenly I see everything and how it all connects. I think it has to do with the act of sitting down and doing nothing but watching the screen. This makes particular sense because of how over-stimulated we are these days (is your blackberry/iPhone/smartphone next to you right this moment?). I believe that when my mind is taken away from it's constant analyses, it finally takes a deep breath. The consequence of this is that I frequently blank out on good-sized chunks of movies, but I can deal with that.

Today during the screening I came to a realization that I'd been both consciously and subconsciously fighting off for the past few months. It's been building deep inside me for some time now... it was bound to come to the surface eventually. As hard as it is to come to terms with, I hope that it sticks with me for my own sake.

Enough of this psychological babble. I made scones! Again!

Glazed Gingerbread Scones
inspired by this recipe
makes 10-12 little scones

1 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup molasses
5 tablespoons butter, ice cold

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Whisk together flours, starch, xanthan gum, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat together brown sugar and egg. Add milk and molasses. Combine until smooth and uniform in color. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Cut butter into dry ingredients using a pastry blender. Once chunks are no bigger than pea-sized, fold in wet ingredients. Fold until dough just comes together. Chill for about 15 minutes.

On surface dusted with millet flour, pat dough into a disk a little more than half an inch thick. Cut dough into desired scone shapes (I did circles using the lip of a jar). Place on a parchment covered baking sheets and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean from the center.

This, and family, is what makes the holidays awesome. I could do without the cold.

[Insert profound quote about failure here]

I've read more tutorials on how to make macarons than any other confectionary. Everyone has something different to say. Age you eggs whites for two days... don't age them at all but microwave them for twenty seconds. Dry your almond meal out for a week. Let the macarons form a shell before baking. On, and on, and on...

Then you get in to all the technicalities of what makes a "good" macaron. Jeesh. 

I'll admit I was a little intimidated when I decided to take on this finicky treat, but it's hard to resist the challenge. The fact that macarons are naturally gluten-free is an added bonus! 

I had kind of prepared myself for failure with this first batch. Not only because it was my first try, but also because I made a few missteps in the process; I only aged my egg whites for about twelve hours, my sifter kept getting clogged with almond meal, and I'm not experienced in making meringue. 

Didn't leave enough space between the shells when I piped the first batch and the surfaces cracked and fell as soon as I took them out of the oven.

Sigh.

Second batch wasn't as tragic, but the shells fell and crackled in the oven and the feet spread out too far. 

I'm all about learning from my mistakes, but I just realized that 

I wasted half of a fresh vanilla bean. Bummer.

I don't feel too defeated, I assumed that my first run wouldn't be a success. Even though I feel as if I've read every macaron blogpost out there, if anyone has one they swear by I would be more than appreciative if you pass it on! 

Spinach Artichoke Macaroni and Cheese!

So many papers to write, so little time!



Spinach Artichoke Macaroni and Cheese
adapted from this recipe
serves 6-8

1 pound gluten-free pasta (I used Tinkyada shells)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons brown rice flour
1 tablespoon potato starch
1/2 cup white wine (if you're not a minor like I am)
2 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup quartered artichoke hearts, canned or jarred
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups cheese blend (I used Trader Joe's Quatro Formaggio)
1/4 cup bread crumbs (optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Cook pasta to package instructions until al dente. Be aware of when you cook your pasta, since gluten-free can become gummy. I started mine once my onions and garlic was cooked through.

Add olive oil to a large pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic. Sauté until very soft, approximately ten minutes or so. Stir in flours and cook for 2-3 minutes. Whisk in milk. Once bubbling, add nutmeg, spinach, and artichokes. Allow to simmer until spinach is bright green, about five minutes. Stir in cheese and cook until just melted. Add sauce and pasta to a baking dish. Season to taste. Sprinkle with cheese and bread crumbs if desired.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese has browned on top.

Bound to please all of your friends and family!

Cardamom Cranberry Tea Bread

Seems like fall is attempting to fight winter's cold, and fall is winning today. Casper and I are hanging out in the kitchen with the windows open; I'm doing some reading for my ethics course and he's chasing my iPod plug-in around the floor. I feel like Minnesota is toying with me a bit, trying to act as if I'm not about to get an icy cold slap in the face within a week or so.

No one likes a tease, Minnesota. 

The day has been filled with typical weekend activities: sleeping in, grocery shopping, cleaning, baking. My cashier at Trader Joe's told me she once had a dog named "Galena." Wasn't sure how to feel about that one.

I currently have a tea bread loaf in the oven, and I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I'm trying out a previous failed recipe that I posted a couple weeks ago. I'm determined to make it work! Especially now that I can measure my flours, thanks to the awesome food scale my family gave me for my birthday! 

Cranberry Cardamom Tea Loaf

Makes one loaf

adapted from kumquat

Success!

I love quick breads. They make breakfast awesome.

5 ounces of this AP flour mix

4 ounces gluten-free oat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup fresh cranberries

1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom, and salt.

In a separate bowl combine butter, brown sugar, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. 

Fold wet ingredients into dry. Don't over mix. Fold cranberries and ginger in.

Pour batter into a greased 8-inch loaf pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or toothpick comes out of the center clean.

Perfect for the holidays!

Autumn Rice Pudding

I sincerely apologize if posts have been a little weak the past few days. I've been pretty drained.

But, the weekend is upon us and I only have to work tomorrow morning, which will allow me to catch up on some much needed snoozing!

After waking up to little snow flurries this morning, I decided today would be a day of comfort food. When I got home from classes I made a big pot of pumpkin chili and whipped up a new rice pudding recipe for dessert. 

I kind of wish this poetry paper would write itself so I can curl up under a blanket with some tea and watch a period film, because this dreary weather is only acceptable when it occurs in the moors of the english countryside. 

Autumn Rice Pudding

Serves 3-4

1 cup dry short grain brown rice

1/2 tablespoon coconut oil (or your own preference)

1/2 cup apples, chopped into bite-size chunks

1/2 cup pecan pieces

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/3 cup sugar

Cook rice to package instructions. 

Add oil to a small pot and place over medium/low heat. Add apples, pecans, and spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until pecans are fragrant. 

Whisk together milk and cornstarch. 

Combine rice and milk mixture. Fold in apples and pecans. 

Easy as that!

I'll also take this weekend to produce some quality photos... yikes.