BAKED APPLES WITH HAZELNUTS, MAPLE CREAM + CREME FRAICHE

Last month I decided to say no to refined sugar for the time being, just to give my belly a break. I LOVE sweet treats and tend to go a little overboard when surrounded by tempting sugary concoctions. In years past, I've taken white sugar out of my kitchen for long stretches of times (for years, in fact) and I'm amazed at how much better I feel when I do.

Deprivation is not an option for me, so I get a lot of joy from playing with alternative sugars and whipping up natural sweets.  Honey, coconut and date sugars are always wonderful, and a jar of maple cream, recently to given to me by my awesome neighbors Rich and Caitlin, begged to be put to good use. I like to think of maple cream as nature's caramel! These baked apples, sweetened with the maple cream, satisfy my sweet-tooth while keeping my belly happy. I hope they warm your bellies too.

You can serve the apples as dessert of course, or you could eat them on top of a bowl of oatmeal for
breakfast.

INGREDIENTS
{printable recipe}

• 6 apples: pink ladies and honey crisps are wonderful here
• 1/2 cup crushed toasted hazelnuts (toasted pecans or walnuts are also great)
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• zest of 2 small lemons
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, sliced into 6 pats
• maldon flaky sea salt 
• for topping: maple cream, creme fraiche ( for making your own creme fraiche, try this easy recipe), heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel the upper 5th of your apple. Use a pairing knife to cut out the core - you want to cut a wider opening at the top, tapering down to the bottom of the apple. Place cored apples onto a baking dish or cookie sheet. If one of your apples won't sit up straight, slice a tiny bit off the bottom to give it a steady base.

Stuff apples with crushed hazelnuts. In a little cup or bowl, combine maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest. Scoop a spoonful or two of this tasty liquid over each hazelnut-stuffed apple. Place a pat of butter onto the top of each apple. Sprinkle on some flaky salt.

Place stuffed apples into the hot oven. Cook for 25-35 minutes until the sides of the apples have a little give when you press with your fingers. I like my baked apples pretty firm and just cooked through, not at all mushy.

While the apples are baking, scoop creme fraiche into a little pitcher. Use a fork to whisk in just enough heavy cream make the creme fraiche a pourable consistency.

Serve apples warm with a pitcher of runny creme fraiche and a ramekin of maple butter (amazing stuff!) or another pitcher of maple syrup to scoop over the baked apples.

Serves 6

RUSTIC APPLE TART

Simple pleasures. This is what it's all about for me these days. When P, the kids, and I were on the road last year, slowness was our theme. Action and adventure does not describe our travel style - we had tons of family time and savored it deeply. I really believe the serenity of our time away added years back onto my life.

I am trying to figure out ways to integrate this attitude into our American lives. Lilah still finds great happiness in imaginary play and collecting twigs and flowers. Otis now goes to our local middle school and only gets in the car once in while.  Paul and I are trying to limit our commitments and spend lots of time at home enjoying our kids. Little things.

What does this have to do with food? In our family, where much of life revolves around eating, this means taking time to harvest blackberries and picking apples with friends on their bucolic land in West Sonoma County.

Rach and Justin invited a slew of us to spend the day with them. It was true Indian summer. The leaves had started falling, a bit of crispness cooled the air while still being warm enough for kids to swim, pluck juicy concord grapes from the vine, and pick apples... Life is good.

I like how uncomplicated this apple tart is - just apples on buttery pastry with a sprinkle of sugar. Simple pleasure. But I also enjoyed gussying this apple tart up a little bit with a drizzle with Homemade Caramel Sauce and voila .... Caramel Apple Tart, anyone?

INGREDIENTS adapted from David Tanis' Platter of Figs
(printable recipe)

• 1/2 recipe flaky pastry dough
• 2-3 pounds apples 
• 2 tablespoons Turbinado sugar 
• Homemade Caramel Sauce (optional, but highly recommended)

Prepare your dough as per the instructions here. A couple of notes:

First, you only need half of the recipe for the pastry dough for this recipe. Have fun making a tart of your choice with the other half.

Second, please don't roll the dough too thin or the edges get pretty charred before the apples can cook all the way. (Tanis suggests rolling the dough into a 16x11 inch rectangle. I had more success when I made a thicker 11x6 inch oval of dough.)

Place the rolled out dough (on a parchment-lined baking sheet) into the fridge while you prep your apples.

Preheat oven to 375.

Peel and core apples and slice them thin. Take the prepared dough from the fridge. Lay the apples on the dough in long layered rows. ( If you aren't going to serve your tart until later, Tanis suggests covering the prepared tart in the fridge for up to 8 hours.)

Sprinkle Turbinado sugar over the apples and pastry. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the apples are tender.

We found the tart to be most delicious when served warm and drizzled with caramel sauce. When we ate the leftovers, we'd quickly warm up a slice in the oven before noshing.

Enjoy!

What else is cooking?

• Monika's awesome short film about making apple tart
• Emma's quince and apple pie
• Adrianna's spiced apple chips
• Caitlin's pear tart

BREAKFAST POLENTA WITH BUTTERED APPLES AND HAZELNUTS

After eating dreamy breakfast polenta at Bather's Pavillion in Sydney, I had to make it myself. Polenta usually gets relegated to lunch or dinner, but it makes a really good breakfast porridge. So many ingredients can top the polenta... berries, pears, nuts of all sorts. And if you are wanting a less-sweet breakfast, poached eggs and aparagus would be tasty here as well.

In honor of all the apple orchards we've seen across New Zealand, I made simple, baked and buttered apples, inspired by Elizabeth David. I couldn't resist adding locally harvested hazelnuts from the Nelson Saturday Market.

If you are in need of a holiday breakfast, this belly-warming dish could easily serve a crowd.

Pink Pearl Apple Crisp

What are those? I asked as my friend bit into her golden apple revealing the bright pink flesh underneath. Pink Pearl was the answer.

The texture and flavor of eating these stunners fresh doesn’t live up their breathtaking look. So I tried baking them. I was certain they would brown with cooking like all other apples, but no….


Ingredients

6 cups Pink Pearl apples, sliced
1 cup flour (Pamela’s Bread and Flour Mix is my favorite)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
light shaving of nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar
8 tablespoons unsalted butter

Slice apples and place in 7 ½ x 11 inch baking pan.

Mix all dry ingredients. Cut up butter and use a fork to integrate, creating a nice crumbly mix of butter, flour and sugar. Spread topping over apples.

Bake in 375 oven for 30-40 minutes, when top is browned and apples are tender.

Serve warm, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Serves 6