Little Green Apples in My Cake - Apple Cake with Bourbon Sauce

This delicious apple cake is courtesy of Linda Monforte, one of the ladies from the church we attended when I was a child.  It is my favorite apple cake.  Granted, she did not pour bourbon sauce over it when bringing it to church potlucks, but I think it is a welcome addition to this delectable apple cake.

I find my favorite apples for this cake, even though they are not necessarily green, are Braeburns or Winesaps, as they seem to hold their shape a little better when cooking in the batter.  This is one of my strange quirks.  I like my Pie apples tart and cooked completely and my Cake apples a little sweeter and to have some tooth to them, so I know they are there.  I think it has to do with the nature of the two desserts.

With Cake, the cake itself is soft and spongy, so the apples cannot be cooked to mush or the whole thing would just be a soggy mess.  A little tooth to the apples lends interesting texture that helps to bridge from the spongy cake to the crunchy nuts. 

In Pie, the flaky pastry crust lends the contrast to the softer, completely cooked apple filling.  If the apples are toothy, or worse, still crunchy, then you end up with a big slice of "ewww!" on your plate that NO amount of cheddar cheese, caramel sauce or ice cream can fix.

Not that I am opinionated or anything.  ;-)

Linda Monforte's Apple Cake

2 large Eggs
1/2 cup (118ml) Light Oil (such as Safflower)
2 cups (400g) granulated Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 cups (250g) AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Salt
1 cup (110g) Pecans, chopped
4 cups (500g) Braeburn Apples, peeled, cored and chopped (about 4 apples)
Bourbon Sauce (see below)
Whipped Cream

Butter and Flour a 13x9 inch baking dish. (it's vintage Corningware P-21 for me, but a Pyrex dish will work too)

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees
In a small bowl, combine Flour, Baking Soda, Cinnamon and Salt; whisking to combine.

In a medium bowl, combing Eggs, Oil, Sugar and Vanilla, whisking well until homogeneous.

Toast the Pecans for 8 minutes in the oven, then give them a nice rough chop.

Peel, core and chop the apples, then place them in a large bowl.

Pour both the Flour mixture and the Egg/Oil mixture over the Apples.

Fold them all together until there are no dry spots, then add Pecans and fold until well dispersed.

Pour the batter into your prepared Baking Dish.

Smooth the batter out a little, so it's level.

Bake for 45 minutes to 55 minutes.

Until all nicely browned and delicious looking, or until a toothpick comes out with only a few moist crumbs.

Place on a rack and allow it  cool while you make Bourbon sauce.....  OK, it's really more of a Bourbon Caramel Sauce, but, well...  It's a saucy caramel. (in more ways than one)

Bourbon Sauce

1 cup (200g) Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup (100g) Brown Sugar
2/3 cup (156ml) Water
4 oz (113g) Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks
1/4 cup (59ml) Bourbon (I like Maker's Mark)
1/3 cup (78ml) Heavy Cream

Combine both Sugars and Water in a medium saucepan set over medium flame.

Stir until the Sugars dissolve and the syrup comes to a boil.

Place a thermometer in the syrup and bring to 300 F Degrees.

When the caramel hits 300, remove from the heat and stir in the butter with a whisk (

Once the butter has melted into the caramel and there is no further risk of crystallization,

remove the sauce from the heat and add the Bourbon and Heavy Cream. (careful, it will bubble and steam again

Pour into a heat proof pitcher and allow the caramel to cool.

Serving.....

Once the Apple Cake has finished baking, and has cooled to room temperature, cut 3-inch square pieces and place on a plate,

drizzling liberally with warm Bourbon Sauce...

and top with whipped cream... Oh yeah, baby!
 

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!!
~~

Elfin Pies - Pecan Tassies

I love making tassies around Christmas.  Their diminutive stature makes me think of elves.   (Yes, I really am just a big kid)  They equate to about 2 bites, which makes them the perfect size for kids and adults alike.  On top of that, they are just plain cute.... You know, like "chubby cheeked baby" kind of cute.  Though I would strongly discourage pinching the tassies.
 
Normally, I make Lemon tassies, cause I am a sour puss.  This year, however, I was in the mood for Pecan ones.  I have a sneaking suspicion this is due to the lack of Pecan pie at Thanksgiving.  Thus I have not consumed my traditional 1 piece of Pecan pie this year.

The crust for Pecan Tassies is really more of a cookie, thus it's extremely simple to prepare.  Granted, pressing it into the little muffin tins is a little time consuming, but it's not really all that bad.  I do feel I should mention the wooden "Dough Pusher" things.  I am all for kitchen gadgets that make your life easier, but I have one of those things, and never use it.  The dough always sticks to the thing, no matter how well I flour it.  Nope.... don't like it at all. By the time I get done fighting with it, trying to make it work, I could have just done it by hand in 1/2 the time.  Thus I just use my fingers. Besides, I like to feel how thick the sides and bottom are on each one.  I guess I am just one of those people who needs to "feel" my food. :)

Pecan Tassies

Crust:
6 oz (170g) Cream Cheese
1 cup (227g) (8 oz) Unsalted Butter
pinch of Kosher Salt
2 tsp Granulated Sugar
2 1/2 cups (320 g) (11.3oz) AP Flour

Filling:

4 oz Butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (200g) (7oz) Sugar (or 3/4 cup Brown and 1/4 cup Dark Brown depending)
1 large Egg
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
2 cups Pecans, broken

Beat Cream Cheese, Butter, Salt and Sugar in the bowl of your mixer, until light and fluffy.

Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour.

Continue mixing until a soft sticky dough is formed.

Gather into a ball and flatten slightly,

then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to firm it up.

Place melted Butter, Egg, Sugars, Vanilla extract, and Kosher Salt in a medium glass pitcher.

Mix well, with a fork, until thoroughly combined, then set aside.

Spread the Pecans out on a sheet pan and toast in a 350 degree oven for 8 minutes.

Break up the Pecans into pieces and set aside.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and break of .5 oz (15 g) pieces then roll them into balls and plop them in the holes of your mini-muffin tins. (this will make 2 batches of 24 tassies)

Press in the center with your thumb to make an imprint in the middle.

Use your index finger to gently press the dough up the sides of each mini-muffin depression.

Fill each tassie shell with broken pecans.

Spoon (or pour) about 1 TB of the mixture over the top filling about 3/4 full (I overfilled mine slightly... oops)

Place in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until the crusts are golden brown. (They puff in the oven, thus the warning about only filling them 3/4 full)

Remove from the oven and let set for 10 minutes in the pan. (just long enough for the gluten to set in the dough but no longer or they will begin to stick to the pan)

Using an off-set spatula to gently lift each tassie out of the pan.

Place on a cooling rack until they come to room temperature.

Place in a tin and store in the refrigerator until ready to consume. (but remember to leave a couple for Santa's Elves on Christmas Eve)

Mangia!!
~~