First Apples of the Season - Yellow Transparent Crumble

Sorry I have been absent for so long...   Corningware411 has been keeping me uber busy and there have been some "challenges" going on since returning from the Snake River.

But that is not what this post is about... This post is more exciting than that; for it has finally happened!  The very first apples from my parent's trees have arrived.  The time is NOW for the Yellow Transparent.  A very small apple with very BIG flavor...

The only problem with them is that they cook down into applesauce very easily, so though they are one of the most flavorful of tart apples, they don't hold up well in pie. (that title really belongs to the Newtown)  But if you don't mind slightly saucier apples, they work great for things like Buckle, Crisp, Crumble, Grunt, Slump, Pan Dowdy and Brown Betty.  Oh yes...  and that is exactly what I am gonna do....  Wait!  I am not making all of them, just the Crumble.

I think of all of the above, the Crumble is my favorite.  The oatmeal in the topping makes me feel like it's somewhat healthy.  True, it's a stretch, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

If you are using Yellow Transparent apples for this, you will need 2 extra cups, simply because they cook down so much.  With most other apples, except maybe Gravenstein (which it's still a little early for), you will only need 4 cups.

Yellow Transparent Apple Crumble

1/3 cup AP Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
4 TB Unsalted Butter
6 cups Yellow Transparent Apples, diced (or 4 cups of Newtown/Winesap/Stayman/Suncrisp)
1 TB Lemon Juice

Preheat the oven to 375F degrees and butter an 8 or 9 inch round baking dish.

Combine Flour, Oats, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon and Salt in a small bowl, tossing to combine.

Add the Butter....

and work it into the mixture with your fingers until crumbly.

Peel, slice and dice the apples, then toss with lemon juice to prevent browning.... (some apples brown significantly faster than others, as is apparent with the Yellow Transparents).

Pour apples into the dish.

Sprinkle the crumble topping all over.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Cool to room temperature before serving. (I actually like it warm, over Ice Cream.  Alas, I was out.... Poor planning on my part)

Be that as it may, the tart apples are an excellent foil for the sweet crunchy bits on top.
It may not be very pretty, but it sure is tasty!  Even without the Ice Cream.



Mangia!!
~~

Flour Power - Grinding Almond Flour

Something has been tugging at my subconscious over the last week.  I am sure the seed was planted when I made Maple-Nut Macaron and, having Maple Butter-Creme remaining, Dios Torta.  Both of which contained Walnut "flour", though the Macaron could have just as easily utilized Almond Flour or Hazelnut Flour.  Thus, I began contemplating Nut Flour.

True, you can grind nuts fairly finely in a food processor, if there is enough sugar to prevent "butter" from forming as the oils are released and the nuts heat up.  The chopping of the blade and the swirling around the processor bowl causes a lot of friction which heats the nut's oils.  But what if your recipe is devoid of confectioners' sugar?  Well, there is the smashing method for the softer nuts, like Walnuts and Pecans, wherein you place nuts in a zipper bag and crush them, like cookie crumbs, with a rolling pin.  This too causes some friction and actually squeezes the oil out of the nuts leading to a slightly "sticky" nut flour/meal.

And that is the underlying problem... 

True nut flours are light and airy, just like wheat flour (thus the term "flour") and neither the crushing method nor the processor method make fine, fluffy "flour" out of nuts.  They really produce more of a "meal".  This is not really an issue for me, in most cases.  I tend to use nut meal a lot as a coating instead of bread crumbs, but sometimes you NEED the flour.  So how do you get it?

You can buy it, of course, if you can find it.  There's nut "meal" a plenty on the market, but the finer ground flour can be troublesome to track down.  It's available on the internet, but I get tired of having to "order" everything ALL the time simply because I cannot find a local distributor.  I am one of those people who needs to see, smell and touch what it is I am purchasing when it comes to food.  Nuts go stale fairly quickly after shelling & grinding, and I don't want to end up with a 15 lb bag of stale flour.

For the home cook who doesn't need 15 lbs of flour at a time, there are the nut graters... Not grinders, but graters.  (available on Amazon)  Composed of a fine grating cylinder ensconced in a plastic housing with a hand crank and a hopper for gravity feeding that can clamp to your counter.  You feed the nuts into the top, crank the handle and fine nut flour drifts out the side and into your bowl.  I decided that it was kind of a uni-tasker, as Alton puts it, so moved on to other pursuits.

Then, the other night, I awoke from a dream at 3:30 in the morning, completely gobsmacked by the implications of my subconscious nighttime revelation.  I've noticed that I often experience food related epiphanies in the middle of the night.  (yes, I do dream about food.... a lot... when I am not dreaming about computer geek stuff)  The point is, that I woke with a single thought in my head.

"HEY, I have a rotary grater for Parmigiano-Reggiano!"

Satisfied, that I had solved one of the "great mysteries of the baking universe" and restored peace to the kitchens of the world, I returned to my slumber.

Thus it was, the next morning, armed with raw almonds, a cheese grater and a lot of elbow grease, I manufactured my own Almond Flour.  (technically, I should have blanched them first, but Almonds don't have the extremely bitter skin that Hazelnuts have, so I didn't worry so much about it)

Almond Flour

What you need:
Almonds (or other nut of your choice)
Rotary Cheese Grater (with the fine cylinder attached)
Elbow Grease
Zipper Bag for storage

It helps if you know how much flour you are gong to need, by weight.  Since the whole almonds would weigh the same amount.  That is the nice part about weights in baking.  If your recipe is based on volume measurements, like most American recipes, you are going to have to kind of guess a little.  1 cup of whole almonds will be almost 1 3/4 cups of almond flour due to the amount of "air" you are incorporating into the finished product. (I need 200 grams or 7oz of flour, so I grabbed 200 grams of whole almonds)

Cold, not frozen, nuts work best, as there will still be some heat produced by the spinning grater drum. (it's primarily a precaution)

So, simply fit the smallest grater blade into your rotary grater.

Add almonds.

Press down gently on the arm and turn the handle. (and turn and turn and turn and turn and turn and re-fill the hopper, and turn and turn and turn)

Yes, it's a little bit of work, but it only took about 10 minutes of grating to produce 7 oz (200g) of Fluffy, Light, Finely ground Almond Flour!

As opposed to the much coarser "meal" you often find in the grocery store... (even though it is often labeled as "flour")

Since the flour will begin to go rancid quickly after being so finely ground/grated, I suggest moving it to a zipper bag and storing in the refrigerator or freezer until needed. (even if it's only overnight, 'cause fresh is always best)

Now I'm ready for another Torte.

Mangia!!
~~

A Sandy Bottom Isn't Always a Bad Thing - Pâte Sablée

Pâte Sablée, French for Sandy Dough, is VERY different from the other 2 types of pastry dough. It is remarkably similar to a shortbread cookie dough. The 3 commandments kind of get thrown out the window on this one... It's the Rebel of the bunch. But there is a method to the madness. You need soft butter to cream with the confectioners' sugar, and you need the confectioners' sugar or the pastry will be tough. The cornstarch in the confectioners' sugar actually tenderizes the dough a little.

The resulting dough is extremely sticky and must be refrigerated before it can be used. It is also virtually impossible to roll out, thus must be pressed into the pan that it will be baked in. AND it must be at least partially baked before being filled.

The texture, unlike the flakiness of Pâte Brisée or the crispiness of Pâte Sucrée, is very tender and grainy or "sandy", thus the name. And to be honest the method of construction is just like the process used to mix most cookie dough.

Pâte Sablée

4 oz (113g) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup plus 2 TB (4 oz) (115g) Confectioner's Sugar, sifted after measuring
1 Large Egg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups plus 1 TB (7 oz) (200g) AP flour
1/2 cup (1.7 oz) (50g) Almond flour or finely ground almonds (I used Chestnut flour instead, cause I had it)

Place soft butter in a medium bowl and sift powdered sugar over the butter.

In an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add egg and salt and beat until combined.

Whisk the Flour and Almond Flour together.

Then slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture,

mixing until just combined

Using a spatula, cause it's kind of... OK, it's REALLY sticky, dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap.

Fold the plastic over and smoosh (that is a technical term) the dough as flat as possible.

Wrap completely and chill for at least 4 hours.

When Ready to use, you will have to warm it up slightly, press it into your tart pan and re-chill it for 30 minutes before blind baking.