quick apple triangles

Making apple pies (and eating them) is a big part of enjoying fall,

after all we need to do something with all the apples we bring back from the orchard!

But sometimes, it is just too much time and effort.....

These triangles are fast and easy,

they can be a great way out of bringing pie to Thanksgiving!

They can also be made with leftover phyllo dough

from making Feta triangles,

there seems to be always more dough than filling,

so I make the main course and desserts all at one!

It is just phyllo dough, apple, lemon, sugar, cinnamon, a little flour, and butter.

The night before, put the frozen phyllo dough in the fridge for thawing,

the most difficult part of this recipe,

it requires planning!

Peel and cut apples into small cube (1/4 to 1/2 inch)

smaller makes it easier to fold the dough.

Sprinkle some lemon juice on the apples (fresh or bottle is fine)

In a little bowl, mix 3 parts sugar 1 part flour and a good helping of cinnamon,

then add it to the apple, mix well and let it rest for 30 minutes,

while you go check your favorite social media,

or have a coffee/tea break, no pressure!

After this little interruption, turn on the oven to 375,
take the phyllo dough out of the fride, and carefully open the layers.
Usually they come in thin rectangular sheets,
work wit just one at a time.
Fold it in half twice to a long rectangle,
put some apple mixture in a corner (a little more than I did on the pic!)
and start folding and flipping the dough until you have a triangle,
surprisingly fast and easy after the first few.
If some apples escape after the first turn,
just put them back in.

Once your baking sheet is full of triangle,

melt some butter and brush it on top of the triangles

and sprinkle some turbinado sugar (optional).

Bake 20 minutes or until golden.

Wait a couple minutes and transfer them on a cooling rack

and enjoy while warm and crunchy.

They can also be warmed up in a toaster oven

but no microwave (they become soggy!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

a new favorite: apple baked donuts

This year has been a great apple season, a friend of mine goes to the orchard every week end, and she brings me back bushels of apples, so many, very delicious apples. We have been eating them fresh, but also I bake with them.

Many harvest cakes have been eaten, recipe here, and a few Alsatian pies have been devoured, recipe here. Well I made a new favorite: apple baked donuts. Technically they are more like cakes than donuts, since they are not fried, but with the donuts pan, and the icing they are donuts like! And there are no actual apple in it, just apple juice or cider, but it is so very good, and the juice also come from the orchard, so it is a fruit, right?!

I followed this recipe, it is easy and perfect for afternoon snack or Sunday breakfast, as they are fast to make, slightly longer than making pancakes, just so much more special, at least that is what my family says!

Happy day!

my latest version of our favorite apple cake

I am revisiting our family favorite fall cake:

apple cake or as we call it at home harvest cake!

By changing the pan (and the amount of the dough)

I change the cake:

this one is like an easy apple tart.

It does look different depending on how the apple slices are arranged on top of the dough:

But it tastes just as good as the original harvest cake,and the perfect cake to make at the last minute,it takes longer to heat up the oven to 350 than making the dough!
for this larger pie pan:3 eggs150g of sugar150g of AP flour1.5 tsp of baking powder0.5 tsp vanilla0.5-1 tsp cinnamon3 tbsp of milk 150 g of melted butter
mix together, one after the other,pour into greased pie pan,and arranged the sliced apples (1.5 apples for this size)

bake for 30-35 min at 350,enjoy warm or cold.
We also make it in a loaf pan:

harvest cake



Happy thanksgiving!

brie and pear tart

With my new baking corner, it is the perfect time to try some new recipes. A few weeks ago, I saw this cool apple brie tart by Jenny Steffens Hobick  and decided to make one too.

I turned out pretty nice, but we (especially the kids) felt like  something was not quite right. So I tried again (after all I am a scientist, I am persistent!) this time with half brie and half comte (one of the cheese I use for gougeres). After eating it all, "we" decided the cheese was not the problem, the apple was!

(uncooked mixed cheese-apple tart)
Then I remembered I use pears often in appetizer with cheese. Well 3rd time is definitively the charm: brie pear and puff pastry are the way to go!

Happy baking!

an updated version of the harvest cake, apple goodness

With all the apples we have been getting from the orchard, I have been baking a lot of harvest cakes. The kids are eating them like crazy, the cakes barely last a day! So I started making double batches in the hope I would be able to have some, coming back home after a long day at work...

Well when I changed the pan, it felt not quite right. So I changed the recipe with less butter and apple cider instead of milk. I think I like it even more than the original recipe!

Ingredients 4 eggs 200g of sugar (7 oz) 200g of flour (7 0z) 2 teaspoon of baking powder cinnamon 1 stick of melted butter (salt) 3 Tablespoon of apple cider 3 large apples, thinly sliced. Mix everything together in order, one at a time! Bake at 375 for about 30-35 minutes, until golden-brown.

Eat warm or cool, depending on your preferences, or if you want to make sure there is cake, warm is definitively better!

It is a disappearing cake, I see more baking in my future...
Happy baking!

apple embroidered pillow

I finished my apple embroidered pillow in time!

I was getting concerned that I was not going to make it!

Well I knew I would finish it,but in time to go to the park to take pictures,that was less certain!

with French cidre (from Normandie, not Bretagne... but yeah cider!),

apples and harvest cake.

The cross stitched pattern from Madame La Fee

was long but not too difficult,

with the proper glasses!

I must admit I was looking forward to have it complete!

I was able to find in my "collection" the perfect print:

a thimbleberries apple print from 2004!

I remember buying it when Miss C. was a tiny baby!

I used the print to frame the embroidery (a little too small for a pillow)

and for the back.

Then Mon Cheri and I went to the park to take pictures....

with pillow, blanket, cake and cider!

I think people look at us a little funny,

since there is a no picnic policy right now!

Luckily the pictures turned out really nice,

and we had a nice walk around the pound.

Cakes like to go on walks too!😜

Happy day!