Béa's Apple and Pear Verrines

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Today's recipe is a delicious apple and pear dessert which I've promised you in my last entry.   The author of the recipe, Béa got inspired by Irish pie served with vanilla custard and turned into French verrines. The dessert is made of four layers: apple and pear purée, sautéed apple pieces, crème anglaise and millet crumble. 

The recipe might seem a little bit long, but don't get discouraged. It certainly requires a little bit of work and leaves tons of dirty dishes, but overall it's not complicated. And anyways, it's absolutely worth it!!! The combination of apples and vanilla custard is perfect. 

If you don't need your recipe to be gluten free, you can use all-purpose flour in place of millet flour and oats in place of quinoa flakes. Enjoy!!!

Apple and Pear Verrines with Millet Crumble and Vanilla Custard
Serves: 6

APPLE AND PEAR PURÉE:
2 sweet apples
2 ripe pears (preferably Forelle or Bosc)
½ lemon (finely grated zest and juice)
1 cinnamon stick
½ vanilla bean
¼ cup blond cane sugar
¼ cup cold water

Peel, core and dice the fruit. Split open vanilla bean and scrape out seeds. Place the fruit, vanilla bean and seeds, lemon zest, cinnamon stick, sugar and water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the fruit is soft. Discard the vanilla bean and cinnamon stick. Puree the fruit. Add the lemon juice.

CRÈME ANGLAISE:
1 ½ cup whole milk
1 vanilla bean
5 large egg yolks
3 tbs blond cane sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Split open vanilla bean, scrape out the seeds. Place the vanilla bean and the seeds and milk in a pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, making sure that it doesn't overflow. When it starts to boil, remove from the heat, cover and set aside for 15 minutes.
In a bowl of a mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar until light and pale. Add the cornstarch and mix well. Strain the milk using fine sieve. Pour slowly into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Return to the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the cream thickens (5-6 minutes). Do not let to boil!!! Once ready, remove the vanilla bean, transfer to a bowl and leave to cool stirring occasionally.

MILLET CRUMBLE:
3 tbs millet flour
3 tbs quinoa flakes
3 tbs almond meal
20 g walnuts
15 g shelled pistachios
3 tbsp light Muscovado sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 ½ tbs unsalted butter, chilled

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roughly chop the walnuts and pistachios. In a bowl, combine the millet flour, quinoa flakes, almond meal, walnuts, pistachios, sugar and vanilla extract. Add butter and work with your fingertips until crumbles form. Spread the crumble over the baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Once lightly browned, remove from the oven and leave to cool.

SAUTÉED APPLES:
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large tangy and sweet apple (ex. Pink Lady)
1 tbsp blond cane sugar
Lemon juice

Peel, core and dice the apple. Melt the butter in a frying pan. Add the apple and sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Drizzle with lemon juice and leave to cool.

Divide the pureed fruit among 6 glasses. Layer with the sautéed apples. Cover with vanilla custard, sprinkle with the millet crumble, and serve.

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Berry and Apple Cake

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Do you freeze summer berries when in season to use them later? I usually do. I love to have some on hand  to use them in cakes and desserts all year round.

I wasn't sure how the Berry Apple Cake would work with the frozen fruit, as the original recipe only mentioned fresh berries, but I decided to give it a try. It turned out the cake needed much longer baking time, but other than that it worked out perfectly well. It came out light and fluffy. The apples were almost impalpable, but they gave the cake really nice moisture making it even more delicious. It's a really nice, straightforward cake, perfect with a glass of milk or afternoon tea. Tastes best the first day when you bake it.

The original recipe comes from Ready, Steady, Bake cookbook, here's my slightly modified version.

Have a nice weekend everyone,

Berry and Apple Cake


Makes 12 pieces

150 g soft unsalted butter
220 g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250 g self-rising flour, sifted
160 ml buttermilk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large apples
300 g berries of your choice

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly grease an 8x12 inch (20x30 cm) baking pan. Line with baking paper.

Peel and core the apples, then cut into very thin slices.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually, beating well after each addition. Stir in the buttermilk, vanilla extract and flour.

Spread half of the batter over the base of the baking pan. Arrange the apples on the top, then cover with the remaining batter. Smooth the surface.

Scatter with the berries. Bake 40 minutes (longer if using frozen fruit) or until cooked and golden.

When the cake cools down, cut into squares to serve.

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Apple and Olive Oil Cake

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A few kilometers from Quebec City, there is an island named Île d’Orléans known for its numerous orchards. We went there apple picking last month. 

The orchard we visited offered two kinds of apples: Empire and Cortland. We picked up a little of each kind. I've been cooking with them these days almost all the time. Some of the recipes I made were: Apple Cinnamon Muffins, Cranberry and Apple Crumble, Apple and Olive Oil Cake (today’s recipe), Apple and Berry Cake and Apple and Pear Verrines. Next, I’m going to make szarlotka (a traditional Polish Apple Cake) and probably a few other delicacies with apples as a main ingredient. 

 

One of the recipes that I would like to recommend you is Apple and Olive Oil Cake from my favorite food blog, La Tartine Gourmande. I baked the cake twice, once following exactly Béa’s gluten-free recipe and second time using all-purpose flour. To be honest, we didn't like the bitter aftertaste in the gluten-free version of the cake. The all-purpose flour version, on the other hand, was absolutely delicious!!! The cake turned out light and fluffy and the apple inside were mouthwatering. 

Here's how I made the cake, for the gluten-free version check Béa’s blog here.


Have a nice day everyone!!!


Karo

Apple and Olive Oil Cake

1 tbsp butter
3 medium-sized apples
½ cup blond cane sugar + 2 extra tbsp for the apples
1 vanilla bean
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil
200 g all-purpose flour
65 g almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder

Peel and core the apples, then cut into thin slices.

In a frying pan, heat one tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add sliced apples, 2 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla bean together with the scraped out seeds. Cook for 5 minutes or until the apples are soft. Discard the vanilla bean. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Grease a 10-inch round mold.

In a bowl combine flour, almond meal, and baking powder. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir in olive oil and flour mixture. Stir in apple slices. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted inside comes out clean. 

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Apple and Cranberry Crumble

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I made today's crumble from what I had on hand: apples which we have picked up in an orchard earlier this month, fresh cranberries, and little bit of freshly squeezed orange juice (orange juice goes so well with cranberries!!!). I covered it with delicious topping made with my favorite nuts- pistachios.

The crumble turned out perfect, not too sweet, not too acid, exactly how I like it. I usually don't follow any proportions when making desserts like this, but this time I have written down the exact amounts of all the ingredients to share the recipe with you and also, to be able to make it exactly the same again. Hope you'll enjoy it!!!

Have a nice week everyone!!!

Karo

Apple and Cranberry Crumble

Makes 6 individual crumbles

FOR THE FRUIT MIXTURE:
150 g cranberries
3 medium-sized apples
2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
70 g blond cane sugar

FOR THE TOPPING:
125 g all-purpose flour
100 g sugar
40 g pistachios, roughly chopped
115 g butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Peel, core and dice the apples.

In a bowl, toss together apples, cranberries, orange juice, and sugar. Divide between 6 small ramekins.

To make the crumble topping, in a medium bowl combine flour, sugar and chopped pistachios. Melt the butter over medium heat. Heat until it starts to boil, then pour over the flour, sugar and pistachios mixture. Stir with a spoon until the mixture forms crumble. Sprinkle over prepared fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the fruit mixture starts to bubble and the top is golden.

Serve warm.

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