rustic apple pie

I don't remember much from math, but I do remember 3.14 (a.k.a Pi and the best excuse to make pie today).

So, Joanne Chang is the author of this amazing cookbook, Flour. I've made the Homemade Pop-Tarts from her book, which is constructed with the most perfect pâte brisée. I'm telling you, it's incredible. That's all I can say. Wait, no, I can say more. It's flaky, buttery, not too sweet, and oh-so-orgasmic. Yes, let me repeat that. Orgasmic. Needless to say, it's a go-to recipe for the rest of my life.

There's really only one kind of pie I make. Apple. It's not your traditional apple pie, but rather more rustic and way less complicated. There's no blind-baking and, surprisingly, no pie dish. This is probably the easiest homemade pie ever, and I can't believe I'm sharing all of my secrets right now. I swore I would take this one to the grave with me. Oh well. For the sake of butter, I'll let you steal this from me.. as long as you tell your grandkids where you got it.

So, here's the story. Basically, one day I was thinking about how traditional apple pies have a distinct end crust. Some people like that sort of thing, but I wanted to create a pie with a little bit of apple in every bite. This the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night...Literally. I distinctly remember not sleeping that night in anticipation. I wanted it to have the mind of a turnover and yet maintain the essence of a pie.

It was then that I recruited Joanne Chang's scrumptious pâte brisée for such a mission. And that's how the Rustic Apple Pie was born. Welcome to the world, you beautiful creature.

Rustic Apple Pie
Yields one pie to the face

INGREDIENTS
3 medium Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored, and cut into roughly 1/2-inch slices)
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pâte Brisée (see recipe below)
1 egg, lightly beaten
sparkling sugar (optional, but recommended!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Pull out the pâte brisée from the refrigerator.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, use a spoon to combine apple slices, sugars, flour, and cinnamon. Make sure the apples are evenly coated.

3. Lightly dust a large working surface and rolling pin with flour. Unwrap the pâte brisée onto the working surface.

4. Roll the pâte brisée out until about an even 1/4-inch thickness (or desired thickness). 

5. Have a parchment-lined baking sheet ready. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough to the parchment-lined baking sheet: Roll most of the dough onto the rollin pin. Then carefully lift it on top of the baking sheet. Unroll the dough from the rolling pin.

6. Once the dough is positioned onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, arrange the apple filling. Make sure all the apple is in there! See how I do it below.

7. It doesn't matter where you start on the dough, but just begin folding it over the apples. I like a little bit of apple to still peak out. The exposed apple will also help with ventilation of the pie, so it has some room to breathe. Each time you fold it over, make sure to press the down in areas where dough is overlapping so that it sticks together while baking. 
8. Brush the crust with the egg wash. Then immediately sprinkle with sparkling sugar.

9. Bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is just golden brown.
10. Allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes until cutting and serving. (It's best to allow the filling to set up a bit.)
11. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.


Pâte Brisée
Recipe by Joanne Chang
Makes about 18 oz. of dough

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
2 egg yolks
3 Tbsp cold milk

DIRECTIONS
1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt on stir speed for 10 to 15 seconds or until combined.
2. Scatter the butter over the top. Mix on stir speed for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, or just until the flour is no longer bright white and holds together when you clump it and lumps of the butter the size of pecans are visible throughout.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and milk until blended. Add to the flour mixture all at once. 
4. Mix on stir speed for about 30 seconds, or until the dough just barely comes together. It will look really shaggy and more like a mess than a dough.
5. Dump the dough out onto an unfloured work surface, then gather it together into a tight mound. Using your palm and starting on one side of the mound, smear the dough bit by bit, starting at the top of the mound and then sliding your palm down the side along the work surface, until most of the butter chunks are smeared into the dough and the dough comes together. Do this once or twice on each part of the dough, moving through the mound until the whole mess has been smeared into a cohesive dough with streaks of butter.
6. Gather up the dough, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and press down to flatten into a disc about 1-inch thick. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using. (** I did not wait 4 hours before using it. Maybe 1 hour, at most. You can use once it's firm and relatively cold.) The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

What I LOVE about the Rustic Apple Pie:
-Easy for anyone despite baking experience.
-Very adaptable. (I've added cranberries and almonds to this during the fall. But honestly, I still like it best just the way it is.)
-Every bite has a little apple.
-Ratio of crust to apple.
-Year-round staple. It's appropriate for any time of the year. (Because what's more American than apple pie?)
-Tart of the apple. I purposely made this not overly sweet. (I've test-baked a lot of these pies with different apple filling variations. I find that the simplicity of just cinnamon, rather than overdoing it with other spices, allows the apples to stand out.)
-Having the last bite be as good as the first (except the fact that it's the last).
-Imperfectly perfect.
-Not labor-intensive.
-Glittering, semi-crunchy, sparkling crust! Holy goodness!


Congratulations to anyone who just noticed that I spelled out EVERYTHING. Because that's what I truly love about this Rustic Apple Pie.

Happy 3.14 to all the nerds, pie makers, and pie consumers everywhere today! P.S. I am all of the above.

chunks and chips cookies

I hope you just got really excited from reading the subject to this post. Here's the deal: the chunks are chocolate and the chips are potato. Now let me break down my salty-sweet concoction into a recipe for you so you can make your own batch. This is for all the people who already saw my cookie-making on Insta and think I'm sending these to you. Love you, but no.

Chunks and Chips Cookies
Yields about 20 cookies
Adapted from Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white, granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 oz bittersweet chocolate (the good stuff), chopped into chunks
1 cup potato chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. To the butter and sugar mixture, add the egg and vanilla and beat on low. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula and remix to make sure that everything is well-combined.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix on stir speed until it just comes together. Do not overmix.
6. Add chocolate chunks and potato chips. Fold together or mix on stir speed for a few seconds.
7. Onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, portion out 1 1/2-inch, rounded scoops of the dough (I use a small  cookie scoop) and space them 2 inches apart.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned, rotating the sheet halfway through the bake time.
9. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a couple minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack or eat while they're still warm! 

And because my blog is about baubles and baked goods and I've been slacking on the bauble-sharing these days..

necklace: Baublebar (and this one)

I decided that my cookies and I should be twinning today! :)

soft pretzel bites with dipping sauce trio

I woke up this morning to learn that my dear Russell Westbrook has to undergo knee surgery. This was is very upsetting. I thought to myself: how am I going to bounce back from this? Hours and hours later, I'm still not sure. But to keep my mind off the fact that my favorite NBA player will not be continuing for the remainder of the playoffs, I went straight to the kitchen.

In my attempt to turn my Friday into a happy one, I decided that it was only appropriate to celebrate National Pretzel Day today. I was passing through one of my favorite blogs, and came across a soft pretzel bite recipe I just had to try. So, I did.. And also made a trio of dips to go with them. If you don't already have Two Peas & Their Pod on your Google Reader, Feedly, whatever.. get it on there immediately!

Soft Pretzel Bites
Recipe by Two Peas & Their Pod
Yields: Too many to count, about 5-6 dozen

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 package) active dry yeast
6 Tbsp (3oz) unsalted butter, melted
2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour (4 1/2 cups was perfect for me)
vegetable oil (I used canola)
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp cold water
coarse sea salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Combine warm water, light brown sugar, yeast, and butter into bowl of a stand mixer. Mix with dough hook, then allow to sit for about 5 minutes until yeast has bloomed.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Pour dry mixture to wet mixture and incorporate on low speed. Increase speed to medium for 3-4 minutes until dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. If the dough appears wet, add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time. Remove dough from bowl and place on unfloured surface. Knead the dough into a ball with your hands.
3. Lightly grease a bowl with vegetable/canola oil. Place dough ball into greased bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow to proof for about 1 hour in a warm spot. Dough should double in size before using.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
5. Remove dough from bowl and place onto a flat surface. Divide the dough ball into 8 relatively equal pieces. The best way to do this is to cut it like a pie-- in half, then in quarters, then in eighths. Roll each piece into a long rope and cut into about 1-in pieces. It isn't important to be exact.
6. Boil the 3 quarts of water in a large pot. Once boiling, add baking soda. Please make sure you are using a large enough pot because water will vigorously boil and foam up once baking soda is added.
7. Add cut dough pieces to boiling water solution. Boil for about 30 seconds, and then remove with a large slotted spoon. Place all boiled pretzel bites onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You will have a lot of pretzel bites, so I needed to bake them all in 2 batches. 
8. On another parchment-lined baking sheet, place as many pretzel bites as you can without them touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Repeat this process with the remaining pretzel bites that could not fit on the 1st tray.
9. Allow baked pretzel bites to cool on a baking rack (or directly on the baking sheet is fine).
10. Serve with your favorite dips.

 

With all these pretzel bites, it's great to have dip choices..

Here's a trio that will hopefully satisfy your sweet, savory, or spicy cravings. Enjoy!

Ginger Honey Mustard Dip

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup whole grain dijon mustard

1/4 cup honey

1/2 tsp ground ginger

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients together and serve! Duh.

 

Sriracha Ketchup Dip

INGREDIENTS

2 Tbsp ketchup

1/2 tsp siracha

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine ingredients. If you prefer more spice, add more sriracha. But this was a good balance for me.

Nutella and Peanut Butter Dip

INGREDIENTS

Nutella 

Peanut Butter

DIRECTIONS

1. This is the easiest dip of all. Just scoop out some Nutella. Then, drizzle some peanut butter directly on top. I use natural peanut butter (where peanuts are the only ingredient), which tends to be a little more liquid-like, so it works well for this.

cheddar jalapeno bagels w/sun-dried tomato + herb cream cheese spread

I'm not sure what planet I've been on lately. Perhaps one where I'm too busy spending all my money and forgetting I have a blog to tend to or something. My bad.

But to make it up to you (by you I mean whatever loyal, occasional, or drive-by followers I may have), I will share this recipe. Bagels. Wait, let me rephrase that. Cheddar jalapeno bagels. Wait wait, there's more. Sun-dried tomato and herb cream cheese. Oh yes, this is next level Sunday Brunch. Whip up a mimosa with this and you're good to go. Okay, allow me to introduce you to a flavor explosion..

Cheddar Jalapeno Bagels
Yields 8 Bagels

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 1/2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
2 tsp (1 packet) active dry yeast
1/4 cup room temp water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup diced jalapenos (I eliminated the ribs and seeds of the jalapeno to keep the bagel itself pretty mild)
1 egg, lightly beaten
topping: extra shredded cheddar cheese, jalapeno slices (for the slices I cut straight down into the ribs and seeds which will add a spicy kick to the top)

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together bread flour and salt. Set aside.
2. In a liquid measuring cup with lukewarm water, dissolve sugar. Then add yeast. Do not stir. Allow yeast to bloom-- this will take about 5-7 minutes.
3. Once yeast has bloomed, make a well in the dry ingredient mixing bowl. Gradually add water and yeast mixture into the well. Use a fork to incorporate the dry with the wet. At this point, it will look kind of shaggy and super dry. 
4. Turn out the dough onto a flat surface. Begin kneading the dough. Add some of the reserved room temp water to help moisten the dough if necessary. I ended up using about 1/4 cup, but add more or less as needed. Knead for about 7-8 minutes until the dough is relatively smooth and elastic. If you punch your finger into it, the dough should spring back. At this point, slightly flatten the dough, add diced jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese to center. Fold the dough over and knead everything together for a couple more minutes until it looks like the jalapeno pieces and cheese are distributed well.
5. Dust out any leftover dry that may have stuck to the sides of your medium mixing bowl. Lightly grease that same bowl with olive oil. In order to avoid over-greasing, I pour just a little bit onto my fingertips, then spread into the bowl.
6. Place the dough back into the greased bowl and allow to rise for about 1 hour in a warm spot. It's ready when it looks like it has doubled in size.

7. Dust a little bread flour onto your flat surface. Flip the dough out of the bowl. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. The best way to do this is to cut it like a pie.

8. Shape each section into a round ball. Use your finger to make a hole in the middle. Then set aside onto a large parchment-lined baking sheet. Allow the shaped bagels to rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. 

9. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
10. In a large pot of boiling water, boil the bagels--about 45 seconds to 1 minute on each side. You can boil the bagels in batches depending on the size of your pot. I was able to fit about 3 or 4 at a time. Remove the bagels from the boiling water and set back onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.

11. Brush an egg wash (the light beaten egg) onto the tops/sides of all the bagels. Add extra shredded cheddar and sliced jalapenos to the tops (I might have also added a little Parmesan also because I was low on cheddar.)

12. Bake for 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Herb Cream Cheese Spread

INGREDIENTS
8oz. regular cream cheese spread (full fat, low fat, whatever you deal with)
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp roughly chopped fresh parsley
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp roughly chopped fresh basil
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes, drained

DIRECTIONS
1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and mix together well with a spatula.
2. Once all the ingredients are evenly combined, use the spatula to transfer the cream cheese mixture to a nice dipping bowl. Or do as I do-- throw it all back into the cream cheese container. Top with extra chopped herbs and/or sun-dried tomato if you like.
3. Done! Put the lid back on the cream cheese container and refrigerate any leftover.

 I really need to start hosting Sunday Brunch..

.. because, seriously, this platter is so share-worthy.
I had brunch by myself but that's okay. It was still scrumptious. Totally hit the spot. Nom.

 

(p.s. do you see that melted cheddar in the middle?! ^^ YUM.)

sticky buns galore

DISCLAIMER:
If you are counting calories, do not continue reading. Also, if you don't believe that all things taste better with butter and sugar, then this recipe may disgust you. And, one more thing.. I cannot assure you that this isn't a jump on the diabetic train.

Okay, let's get to the good stuff.

Dare I say, I know how to make me a good sticky bun. My interest in making sticky buns all began a few years ago when I watched an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay featuring Joanne Chang. From that moment on, I knew I could never make cinnamon rolls without a sticky goo.

Years ago when I started this sticky bun mission, I found an A-MAZ-ING brioche dough recipe here. The yield for the original recipe was way too much for me. However, in my attempt to halve the recipe, I realize now I totally don't know how to do math. Duh, 3 teaspoons equals 1 tablespoon. 1 1/2 is half of 3, not 2 1/4. Wow. I don't even know how that happened. I have no excuse for how I messed that up. But you know what? It ended up working out just fine.

So here's how I make my sticky buns:

Sticky Buns Recipe
(yields about 24)

Brioche Dough
(adapted from Artisan Bread in Five)

INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp granulated yeast (1 packet)
2 1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey, melted butter, and lukewarm water in a 5 quart bowl (I use a stand mixer with paddle attachment)
2. If using a stand mixer, switch to dough hook and mix in flour. This can also be done with a spoon in a regular bowl. Mix until flour is just incorporated.
3. Cover the bowl (not airtight) and allow to sit at room temperature for about 2 hours.
4. Wrap the dough up with plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator to chill. The dough can be used as soon as it's chilled and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

**NOTES
I use a stand mixer now because I've become dependent on that gem. However, when I first made this, I alternatively used the bowl and spoon method. Honestly, go with whichever you prefer. The outcomes are exactly the same, in my opinion.
The key is to not over mix. However, I want to stress that incorporating the flour well is very important.  If there are lumps in the dough, those lumps will harden after it rises and even more after it's chilled. I advise adding the flour a little at a time, but still.. I think lumps are pretty much inevitable without over-working the dough. The upside is, the lumps have no impact on the outcome of the dough after it's baked. I do my best to make sure the dough is as smooth as possible when I roll it out, but I think I'm just personally irritated with the idea of lumpy dough.
I usually make this dough the night before I want to make sticky buns. Because of the time it takes for the dough to rise and chill, doing everything in one day is just too much even for me. So, chilling time is usually overnight for me. When I open the refrigerator in the morning, my wrapped dough looks more like an inflated pillow. Don't be alarmed. That's just the yeast still working. Once you unwrap the dough it looks normal.

Prepping the brioche dough: Once the brioche dough is all set and ready to use. It's time to roll that baby out. You will need lots of all-purpose flour handy to prevent your hand, board, rolling pin-- everything- from sticking. All-purpose flour will be your best friend guaranteed.

You can use the whole batch of dough at once, use only half, a third, whatever floats your boat. I use it all because my friends hate when I don't make nearly enough. I never measure the dimensions of my dough rolled out. But a good rule of thumb is to start from the center and roll outwards. You want to roll the dough into a rectangular shape, about an even 1/4" thickness all the way around. The dough shouldn't be too thin, because it will be more difficult to roll up once the filling is in there.

Cinnamon Roll Filling

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix light brown sugar and cinnamon together. Or if you don't want to waste a bowl to mix these in, just dump the light brown sugar and cinnamon straight onto the dough and blend together.
2. Spread all over the rolled out brioche dough, leaving about a 1/2" border around. Although I tend to only leave that border only along the sides where I begin rolling and where my rolling will end. 
3. Additional filling ingredients are optional. I love using some chopped nuts or diced apple. If you do want to add something extra, center it along the length of the roll. Do not spread it all over-- I've done that and the rolls won't be as easy to roll or cut up. 

**NOTES
This is the about the proportion I use to fill the whole batch of brioche dough rolled out in one rectangular sheet. However, more/less of this cinnamon-brown sugar mixture may be needed depending on the surface area of the dough you are place it on.
I use quite a bit of cinnamon with the brown sugar because, as it cooks, they will caramelize quite nicely and that cinnamon sugar will combine with the goo. It's best to use your own judgement.

Rolling the cinnamon rolls:
1. Start from one end (one of the longest ends) and start tucking in the dough.
2. Continue rolling and tucking underneath. The dough should be rolled up as tight as possible. The tighter it's rolled up, the better the filling will stay inside.
3. Once you get to the end, I use a pinching technique-- pull the loose end over to complete the roll and pinch it closed. It should stick. (It sticks better if there is little to no flour on this end.)
4. Now, let this hang out while you get the goo ready.

The Goo

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp whipping cream

DIRECTIONS
1. On medium-high heat, melt the unsalted butter in a saucepan on the stovetop.
2. Stir in the light brown sugar. As this mixture heats, it will bubble. Continue gently stirring for about 2 minutes.
3. Lower the heat to about medium and add the honey and whipping cream. *
4. Stir until consistency (about 1-2 more minutes)

5. Turn of heat and remove saucepan from stove. Add in optional toppings as desired.

**NOTES: I use the whole batch of goo for one baking dish. However, I end up with more sticky buns than will fit in the dish. So, double the batch of the goo or do as I do and make it twice for 2 variations.

>>Variations
Apple Goo: 1 1/2 cups diced granny smith apple
Orange Pecan Goo: 1 tsp orange zest + 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice (*add this at step 3) + 1 cup chopped pecans

Sticky Bun Assembly: 
1. Pour the complete goo mixture into a baking dish.
2. Spread the goo along the bottom of the dish evenly.

3. Cut the cinnamon rolls-- about 3/4". If the dough seems too sticky to cut through, at a little all-purpose flour to your knife. I never have a problem with a super sharp knife though.
4. Then, spread the cinnamon roll slices out onto baking dish, leaving a little room in between each and not pressed up against the sides of the dish. They will rise and poof when baked.
5. With your fingertips, press down on the center of each roll. This will help them them bake at an even level or else the final product will have protruding middles.

6. Pop them into a preheated 350 degree F oven for about 22 minutes or until they begin looking golden brown on top. The cinnamon sugar swirl should look less sugary/coarse and more liquidy and caramelized.

7. Once they are done baking, pull the dish out of the oven and let them cool for 3-5 minutes. When serving, flip the rolls over and spoon extra goo from the dish over each of the rolls so it can drip in between all the crevasses of the swirls.

Apple-Stuffed Sticky Buns with an Apple Goo:

Sticky Buns with an Orange Pecan Goo:

Dive in and eat one right away-- they are the best when they are warm, the goo is still gooey, and the brioche is perfectly tender.

I don't make these sticky buns all the time. I think they are so great, because they are really a treat. I only make them about once or twice a year. These sticky buns are filled with so much sugar and butter, which is why they are so delicious. I strongly believe in indulging, but that's always best (and to me, even more satisfying) in small doses. If you are craving something sweet, this never fails.