Terra Americana

This is another deliciously simple recipe from Dorie.  My mother has started making the recipes out of this book.  She is enamored with the "a little of this and a little of that" style, as am I. 

The caramel-like quality of the filling is rich and satisfying.  The sweet creamy baked apple crust makes it light and refreshing.  I can't wait to try this particular tome with different types of nuts and dried fruit, perhaps some agave nectar and maybe even pears.  I don't believe it will ever get old.  You might come for brunch one day and enjoy it with filled with figs and filberts, topped with fresh yogurt.  Next Christmas eve it could make an appearance full of dates, almonds and apricots, garnished with creme fraiche and a side of shortbread.  The options are endless.

2 Cortland apples
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries
1/8 cup Local Honey
1 tbsp Russian Mulling Spice
1/8 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 lemon
4 tsp butter or Earth Balance (soy butter)

Preheat oven to 350f.  Peel apples 1/2 way down.  Core apples.  Mix nuts, raisins and apples with honey and spice.  Rub peeled parts of the apple with lemon.  Fill apples with fruit and nut mixture.  Place apples and peels in a baking dish.  Pour juices in the dish.    Top each apple with tsp butter.  Place the remaining tsp butter in the juice.


Bake for 50 to 70 minutes, basting the apples every 15 minutes with the pan juices. Apples are finished when they are cooked to your liking.  Serve hot or at room temperature.  Eat as is or topped with ice-cream, yogurt or cream.

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table.

More from this classic cookbook:

• Cocoa Sables
• Coconut Friands
• Long and Slow Apples
• Crab & Grapefruit Salad

Photo Credit: Julie T Cecchini

I love yogurt, I love tarts and I love seasonal fruit.  But, I could not get my act together with this one. It is partly due to the fact that I have decided to revisit all of the ancient receipts in our collection, looking for ways to improve the techniques as well as make them healthier.  So over the past couple week my kitchen has been a sweet shop and any cravings I had have long been satiated.

Now that's have finally gotten to it, I am not sure what the hold up was. The flavors are so subtle and luscious on a flaky crust.  I did not expect baking yogurt to yield such a creamy base for fruit.

It is a beautiful ode to the fresh flavors of summer.  The perfect addition to a family picnic or, as my sister who was gifted with the beauty tells me, perfect for a summer breakfast treat.

This is what I did to cut down on sugar and make it gluten free.

• 1/8 cup Xylitol
• 1 egg
  
• 1 cup Yogurt
• 2 tbsp Orange Vanilla Sugar
• 1/4  cup Arrowroot
• 1/2 cups blueberries
  
• 1 cup sliced peaches
  
• 1/3 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds)
• 1/4 recipe gluten free Flaky Crust

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar for 3-4 minutes till pale and thick. Lightly fold the yogurt and vanilla extract into this until mixed. Sieve the flour into this gently, folding it into the mix in batches.

Spread crust into a tart pan or plate.  If you line the plate with parchment it will make your life easier.  Put parchement on top of the crust.  Top that with pie weights or beans.  Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Once the crust is baked, pour the mix into it, it will reach almost to the top of the pan. Once you arrange the fruits in the center and nuts around the circumference, the tart is ready to go into the oven for 40 minutes at 170 C (325F), until lightly golden around the edges.

Unmould with the foil or from the detachable base and chill in the fridge for 2 hours or so. Peel off foil and place on a cake tray, slice into wedges. Once such tart will yield 16 slices.

More recipes for this delicious book:

• Chocolate Truffle Tartlets

• Lemon Loaf Cake

• Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

• French Apple Tart