I know, I said I was done with apples but I could not resist this one. I was looking through a notebook I have had since my teen years (and I won’t tell you how long ago that was). Apparently, I have always been fascinated with desserts because I have a full collection of recipes cut from various magazines. At the time, I was not concerned with where I found them, I therefore do not have a source to cite.

This cake is pretty easy to make, although slightly heavier than the one I made a couple weeks ago. One of my tasters mentioned she could taste the eggs but nobody else did. Maybe she was extremely sensitive to eggs. Let me know if you notice something similar. Anyway, I would not recommend having this cake as dessert after a good meal, it is too heavy. Instead, this is good for afternoon tea, coffee break... you know, indulgent moment.

You could easily replace the apples with pears, I can already taste it and it would be fantastic! If using canned half pears, remembers to put the curved half down onto the bottom so that it shows when turning your cake upside-down.

My challenge this week: to make brioche, you know, that sweet, light and fluffy bread one eats for breakfast. So I looked online for a recipe. Frankly, I should have looked first through my cookbooks because the plethora of recipes out there is overwhelming. But I picked one that said it was easy...

And I followed the recipe word for word, I did not get impatient, I did not skip any step. I was proud of myself. And yet, the result was so disappointing. Mind you, my daughter loved it, she kept eating it, she even took some of it to school today. My husband loved it too, he even compared it to something his mom makes, and he has only the highest compliments for his mom’s cooking.

But I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the taste, the look or the texture of it. The dough looked weird and never rose. The bread itself was dense and looked more like a cake than bread.

So I decided to make another one. I looked at other recipes to see if they were doing this differently. I looked through a book I have on breads and one thing struck me. It mentioned that for brioche, you could just mix all ingredients, like the recipe I used mentioned, HOWEVER, the dough then needed to rise for 12 hours!!!!! 12 Hours!!!! The recipe mentioned 2 hours! And I believe that this was the problem.

Thus, I mix the ingredients, same ingredients, in a different way. And I have to say, the result is spectacular. The dough did rise, the bread looks like a bread and tastes fantastic too. Now, remember, I used the same recipe as the day before (except the butter was softened instead of melted). I just changed the way I mixed the ingredients and I got a totally different result.

Here is my modified recipe.

I'm sure you're getting tired of apple recipes. So am I but I still have apples to use up. However, I promise to try something new next, not apple-related, and keep my other apple trials for later on... PROMISE!!!
For this recipe (found in the "Great American Home Baking" recipe collection), I used an apple that is sweeter than the Wingate but a bit more tart than Golden Delicious. It is an apple that tastes good eaten, baked or in a sauce. The name I had was "Samoa" but I can't find it in the apple directory, unfortunately...

This cake is light and fluffy and delicious, without being too sweet. The apple taste is subtle and I could probably have put more of them. One thing I noticed was that the apples sank to the bottom of the cake, not the complete bottom, mind you, but enough to not have a clearly-defined layer of cake underneath the layer of apples. Now, the only way I did not follow the directions was that I didn't wait for the apples to be completely cooled and they were probably not drained properly. Would that lead to them sinking? Other than that, the cake rose fantastically. It's always iffy when using fruit as it can make the batter heavier and prevent it from rising. But I am really happy with the results here. A light cake, but still moist.

And in the series “how to use all these wonderful apples”, here is another attempt at cookies. This time, I used Winesap apples. They are tart, and delicious!!! This recipe called for only one apple, so I have plenty leftover.

The recipe I used was from a French recipe website that I love, but like my previous attempt at apple cookies, the result seems to be light-years away from what the recipe leads me to believe, although there were no pictures here, so maybe not.

Would I qualify this recipe as a success? I am not sure. My daughter LOVED it, so I guess it is a resounding yes from her. My husband said he was indifferent to them, but I noticed he didn’t eat a second one after the first try. As for me, my first reaction was “yum!”, however, after the 4th cookie (over a period of 4 hours!!!! Not all at once!), I was not so enthused anymore. So, here are some thoughts about this recipe.

• First of all, is it normal to preheat the oven at a higher temperature than what you will be using it for? If yes, what is the purpose and effect? The recipe called to preheat the oven at 400º but to put the cookies in at 350º.
• Next, it says the recipe was for 15 cookies but I ended up with 36!!! Now that is a huge difference! And yet, I followed directions. It mentions using a “coffee spoon” (which is the spoon you use to stir your coffee) to put mounds of dough on the baking sheet. Now of course this could be linked to my next note...
• I think the apple I used was way too big. I mean, afterwards, looking at the apples I had in the basket, I had one that was almost twice the size of another. Same type of apple though. So, when a recipe calls for “one apple”... well, it’s kinda vague. 
• So, I had lots of apples. This could explain that I had more “dough” than the recipe led me to believe. This could also explain why the dough was so crumbly. I couldn’t form nice-looking mounds of dough (which led to misshapen cookies). And why, the cookies feel soft the next day and fall apart.
• Finally, I would reduce the amount of cinnamon, it is way too strong. It is also too sweet, so I’d reduce the sugar and probably replace by brown sugar, as someone recommended in the comments for that recipe. However, with this type of apple, you can really taste (texture and taste) the apples. Definitely a recipe to try again.
  

In order to save money during this government shutdown, I refuse to buy snacks. So, instead, I try using what I have in my pantry and fridge to satisfy sweet tooth and munching craving.
I asked my daughter to look through my collection of cookie recipes and pick the ones she wanted me to try. She picked these Vanilla Bites, from the Great American Home Baking collection.

I just love the smell of fresh bread, but I didn’t want to make my regular country bread, I wanted to try something else. Many years ago, I subscribed to one of these mail-order recipe collection, “The Great American Home Baking”. I have the whole collection, four full binders, but I admit, I rarely made anything out of this collection... and yet, I’ve always been reluctant to get rid of it. I thought it was time to finally use them. So I went through the first category, “Biscuits and Rolls”, and selected their Sweet Breakfast Rolls.

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs active dry yeast
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup warm milk
• 4-4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 6 tbsp softened butter
• 2 large eggs
  

For the glaze:

• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp water
  

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp of sugar in warm milk. Let stand until foamy.
2. Mix together flour, cinnamon and salt (use a whisk, it does the same work as sifting while mixing all dry ingredients).
3. Beat the butter and sugar into the yeast mixture. Use the hooks of your stand mixer. Stay at medium speed. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then, at low speed, add the flour mixture, ½ cup at a time, until a soft dough forms.
4. On a floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic (5-10 minutes), adding more flour (on the surface, the dough and your hands) as necessary to prevent sticking. Place dough in a large greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover loosely with a damp towel, let rise in a warm place until double in size (1 hour to 1 ½ hours).
5. Grease a baking sheet (I used parchment paper but that might explain my results, see below). Punch down the dough. On a floured surface, knead dough for 1-2 minutes. Roll the dough into a long rope OR if you’re having difficulties with rolling dough into ropes, like me, cut the dough in half, to make more manageable ropes. Cut the rope(s) in 16 equal pieces. Roll them in your hand and shape them into oval buns.
6. Place the buns 3” apart on the baking sheet. Cover loosely with a damp towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled (about 30 minutes).
7. Preheat the oven at 425º. Brush the rolls with the glaze (one egg beaten, with water). If you want, you can also sprinkle the top of the rolls with granulated or coarse/pearl sugar.
8. Bake the rolls until lightly golden. The recipe mentions 6-8 minutes. After 8 minutes, my rolls still were not golden, so I added 2 minutes. This might account for the bottom of the buns being a bit darker and harder (although not noticeable when eating the bun), unless it had to do with using the parchment paper instead of greasing the baking sheet...
9. Let it cool on a wire rack.
   

Makes 16 rolls.

Have you ever noticed how, when you get interested in something, all of a sudden you see that something everywhere? I got interested in apples and all cooking shows, blogs, etc., seem to be bursting with apple recipes. Granted, ‘tis the season, but still...

So, one of these cooking shows, “Kelsey’s Essentials” (not one I watch religiously but that I enjoy when I catch it), had this easy apple and pear pie. I decided to make it today, using the McIntosh apples I bought last week.

The dough for this pie is a store-bought fillo dough, not one made from scratch. I feel like I’m cheating, but I was also curious to taste an apple pie with fillo dough. I never had that. And I can say the result was EXCELLENT!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 fillo dough sheet (there are two in the package), thawed.
• 2-3 apples, depending on the size
• 1-2 tbsp of butter, melted
• 2 tbsp of light brown sugar (dark brown or regular sugar can be used too)
• ½ tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tbsp of honey, warmed
  

Preparation:

1. Cut your apples in small slices. Don’t worry if they are not perfect or if they break, you’ll need these little pieces. Sprinkle some lemon juice on them to prevent browning.
2. Preheat your oven at 400 degrees.
3. Sprinkle some flour on your work surface. Spread the sheet of fillo dough on it. Sprinkle some flour on top. Using your rolling pin, blend in the creases. 
4. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the dough onto the baking sheet.
5. With a fork, pierce the dough, forming a square ½ inch from the edge of the dough. Then, prick the dough throughout the inside of the square, like for a regular pie. This prevents the dough within the square from rising. The edges will rise, forming the crust of the pie. Make sure you prick in the corners of the square too.
6. Then, place your apple slices inside that square. Start at one corner and place them in a line towards the opposite corner on a diagonal. Repeat the process on each side until the whole square is filled. Use smaller pieces to fill in the spaces. Try and make it look as attractive as possible. Keep your slices tight and close to each other.
7. Brush the apples with the melted butter. Not too much! The original recipe called for 3 tbsp. I have leftover butter. So I reduced to 2 tbsp, but it’s still too much. You just need to wet the apples.
8. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on the apples. It is up to you how much you want. Again, the original recipe called for much more than what I listed and I did not use it all. It does bring color to the pie but you don’t want the apple taste to be overwhelmed.
9. Put in the oven for 15 minutes.
10. Put the honey in a microwave safe bowl and warm for a few seconds. Brush the honey on the apples and edges and put in the oven for an additional 5 minutes.
11. Let it cool on a cooling rack.
12. Serve with some mascarpone, whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
    

Before I start on this one, I would like to say it is important to have the right tools to bake. I mean, sometimes, you can substitute something for something else, but as I found out with this recipe, using a round 9" cake pan instead of the 12" pie pan required by the recipe was not a good idea, in terms of appearance (taste was fine). So be warned, the pictures do not do justice to the pie and a large pie pan is now on my wishlist...

For the dough, I used this recipe by Chef Simon. This is a basic pâte brisée. Amazingly enough, there is no sugar in the dough. Now, I don't know, if I had used a proper pie pan, if that would have made a difference, but here, we really wanted a bit more sweet. This is a dough meant to be used with a humid filling, sweet or savory. I forgot to brush the top of the dough with milk or eggs, so it does appear a bit pale.

As for the apples, I know they were not of the Delicious kind, but rather a type that was more for baking and sauces. They were really not attractive apples (but fine-tasting nonetheless). They were quite large and that combined with the smaller pan size explains why the placement of the apples looks a bit messy.

I did bake the pie for 5 minutes more than the 20 minutes recommended but there was still a slight crunch to the apples. It was good but I didn't know what the final product was supposed to look/feel like.

A friend of mine was there and she mentioned never having seen an apple pie like that, being used to the typical American pie, covered with dough. I will definitely redo this one though, working on presentation as well as improving the taste as much as I can. It was a pretty quick recipe to make, so definitely one to keep.