This week the Tuesday’s with Dorie group is playing with more cranberries. The two most quintessential November ingredients to me are winter squash and cranberries. They bookend the month; pumpkins show up in full-force for Halloween and cranberries seal the deal as the crown jewel of the Thanksgiving table. Sadly, the last week of November feels like a lost cause, dominated by Christmas, it might as well be rolled into December. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

I’m thouroughly enjoying November right along with this Cranberry Lime Galette (gah-LEHT). A galette is basically a free-form rustic pie and both sweet and savory fillings are common. This one is definitely sweet, but the cranberries aren’t sugared into submission. Rather they hit your mouth with a puckery tang that is carefully tempered by sweetness and softened by the rich buttery crust. The dueling taste of floral and bitter linger from the lime zest while ginger pipes in with just a touch of heat. If your taste buds have been bored, jolt them back to life with a slice of this.  

Cranberry Lime Galette

Snuggled in with the fresh cranberries are dried cranberries and fresh apple. Additionally, ground nuts and a touch of breadcrumbs add body and help to thicken the filling. As is often the case, I didn’t have a few of the called-for ingredients. I used dried figs rather than dried cranberries which worked really well, but the pear I substituted for the apple turned out to be a weak point. Once cooked, it was so soft it got lost in the filling. Next time I’ll go to the store for a nice crisp apple that will hold up during cooking, something along the lines of Cameo, Honey Crisp, Empire, Jonathan, Fuji, Rome, or any other apple that isn’t likely to be reduced to mush when exposed to the toasty oven environment. Next time I will also just do a rough chop on the nuts rather than mincing them down to a fine texture. I think the added crunch and more prominent flavor would complement the cranberries. 

Galette ingredients

In addition to my convenience-motivated substitutions, I added a little spice just for the fun and flavor of it. The filling was spiked with ½ teaspoon of freshly ground allspice and I also mixed a bit of allspice with sugar for dusting the crust. Allspice combines the flavor and aroma of nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, along with a peppery note in one handy little berry. Check out our Spice Library to learn more about this magnificent spice. 

Grinding allspice berries

As luck would have it, I had a pie crust in the freezer ready and waiting. So rather than make Dorie’s Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough, I used my pie crust made with butter and some spectacularly decadent Mangalitsa lard I rendered. The sisters that write Celestial Confections, chose this week’s recipe and have posted the recipe for the Cranberry Lime Galette as well as Dorie’s crust. The link at the end of my post will take you there. 

Cranberry Lime Galette

Though a galette boasts the rustic, hand-made look, it still requires rolling out pastry dough. Don’t let this dissuade you from making home-made crusts. On a side note, when making pie dough, if you have a food processor, use it. When rolling out dough, give it enough time in the fridge to become well chilled. Then place it on a lightly floured work surface and roll from the center to 12:00. Spin the dough ¼ turn and roll again from the center to 12:00. Repeat the rolling and spinning adding a dusting of flour on or under the dough as needed if it starts to stick. I find a bench scraper to be invaluable in this process. A large spatula will work as well. Slide the blade under the dough to release it from the work surface if it sticks between rolls. Then spin the dough a quarter turn and toss a little more flour down. Before you know it you will have a nice big round of dough ready to be filled. 

French rolling pin and bench scraper

I use a straight French rolling pin. Gale Gand mentioned this was her favorite style of pin on her Food Network show, Sweet Dreams, back in the day. I bought one and love it. Tapered wood pins are another popular style of French rolling pins, but I’ve not had the chance to try one so I can’t tell you how they compare. 

In all of my enthusiasm to get the dough filled and in the oven, it wasn’t until assembly was complete that I noticed a most unfortunate oversight. 

Ready for the oven - not so fast...

See the little bowl of what looks like it might be crumb topping? It’s actually the breadcrumb mixture that was supposed to have been spread on the dough before adding the fruit. Damn. What folds up, unfolds, so I carefully unfolded the dough, scooped up the filling, spread the breadcrumbs and then put it back together. The galette was no worse for the wear and into the oven it went. 

If you are looking for a slightly less obvious pie for Thanksgiving embrace the punchy-tartness of cranberries and give this Cranberry Lime Galette a try. Just save yourself some grief and remember to put the breadcrumbs in before you get it all assembled! 

Recipe Links 

• Cranberry Lime Galette and Good for Almost Everything Pie Dough

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Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 152 recipes completed 69 to go!

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie resulted in forced creativity. Sometimes creativity comes from an inspired idea and other times it’s just a necessity to compensate for a missing ingredient, often rooted in the lack of desire to go to the store and purchase said ingredient.

In reading over this week’s recipe it was clear that the 2 tablespoons of dark rum was a key flavor of the finished product. After a thorough inspection of my hooch collection, my suspicion was confirmed; I didn’t have dark rum. A slightly annoying problem because I can’t just add dark rum to my grocery list, in Washington State acquiring such a substance means a special trip to a state-run liquor store. A task I wasn’t willing to add to my day, so I began working on a creative solution.

Dark rum has a spicy rich flavor which brought allspice immediately to mind as a good alternative. Rather than just adding ground allspice I thought I could achieve a deeper flavor by infusing it in the hot milk called for in the recipe. Because I was going the spice route I decided to boost the suggested pinch of coriander and infuse it along with the allspice. I made  half a batch of custard, so for 1 cup of milk I used 1 teaspoon each of whole allspice and coriander seeds that were simply crushed to open them up. After heating the milk to just below a boil, I removed it from the burner, added the crushed spices, covered the pan, and let it infuse for 10-15 minutes. Once strained, I moved on with the recipe as written.

The aroma wafting from the milk was a heady spicy sweet scent that assured me my Toasted-Coconut Custard Tart wasn’t going to be lacking in any way by the absence of dark rum. The flavor combined with the creamy custard texture reminds me of eggnog. This would be a fantastic holiday tart. The color of the custard is a bit unfortunate, but draped with a blanket of billowy white whipped cream, it’s hardly a problem.

Whenever a recipe just uses coconut flakes I never pick up much coconut flavor, but find the real contribution of the coconut to be textural. I found this to be the case here as well especially because the allspice flavor was so dominate. I only added the coconut to half of the individual tartlets I made and prefered the no-coconut version. I wish I had thought to add the coconut to the crust, where I think it would have been better represented. Next time.

A quick note on the crust, it’s a pâte sablée style of crust which is very buttery and crisp much like a shortbread cookie rather than a pie crust type crust. With the aid of a food processor it’s a snap to make and this style of dough is simply pressed into the tart pan rather than needing to be rolled out.  If you are looking for a versatile tart dough, Dorie Greenspan has the recipe posted on her site as part of her French Pear Tart recipe. I was a little short on butter and added in some of my home-rendered lard, I keep on hand for pie crusts, with great results.

Thank you to Beryl of Cinnamon Girl for this week’s recipe pick. Visit her blog for the Toasted-Coconut Custard recipe. I think I will be making my allspice version again during the holidays.

Over 350 baking bloggers are baking our way thorough Dorie Greenspan’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. 115 recipes completed 106 to go!

What better way to welcome fall than to cook a whole pumpkin? I felt so seasonal arriving at a party this weekend offering up a cooked pumpkin filled with tasty stuffing; and what a great presentation for a buffet table.

photo by David Peterman

This is the first filled pumpkin I have ever baked and I learned a few things in the process. I was inspired after reading Doire Greenspan’s post on her filled pumpkin, so off to the farmer’s market I went. I chose a 9 pound Cinderella Pumpkin from the abundant selection. The round squat structure looked well suited for my plans and the lovely orange skin with a yellow blush was cheerful and festive. There is something exciting and fun about hauling a large pumpkin home.

Cinderella pumpkins have a much more solid network of flesh and seeds in the middle compared to the stringy mess that hides inside carving pumpkins. It scoops out just as easily and I did have to remind myself to leave the flesh in place; thin walls are great for carving, not such good eating.

The filling was inspired by what I had in the kitchen, which is why this recipe is so great. You can take the filling in all kinds of directions and not worry too much about following a recipe. Just keep building and tasting until it seems like enough volume to fill the cavity. I used cubes of bread, onion, garlic, apple, hazelnuts, gruyère cheese, sage, allspice, salt, pepper and a bit of cream. The filling was moist, but not wet. I filled the pumpkin and baked it in a pre-heated cast iron dutch oven that I lined with a layer of foil and parchment paper to act as a sling for easy removal after baking.

After 1 1/2 hours in a 350 degree F oven, it wasn’t making enough progress so I boosted the oven temp to 400 and removed the lid to the dutch oven.  Thirty minutes later I was beginning to smell the pumpkin aroma and I peeked under the pumpkin lid. Much to my surprise it was filled with bubbly, watery liquid. My delicious filling was swimming in pumpkin juices. The pumpkin was cooked; I was running out of time before needing to head to a party with the pumpkin, so I thought I would just roll with it. The untested foil and parchment sling was quite effective and I was able to lift the pumpkin out of the dutch oven, but spilled hot pumpkin juice on myself, then as I set the pumpkin on the counter the juices promptly began running out and onto the floor. Well, at least the filling is no longer swimming in liquid so one problem was solved. After giving the filling a stir and a taste, I was pleasantly surprised that the bread cubes were holding together and it tasted pretty darn good. By the time it was served at the party it had set up even more, no doubt due to the additional juices that drained out onto the floor mat of the car during transit, and everyone really liked it. The pumpkin meat was scooped off the walls and mixed in with the filling as people served themselves.

photo by David Peterman

I suspect cinderella pumpkins are just juicy pumpkins and not the best choice for this type of filling. A rice filling could have taken advantage of all the additional liquid. With a dryer style of squash this would be an outstanding dish. Though I seasoned the filling well, it wasn’t quite enough once the pumpkin was mixed in, so next time I will salt and pepper the inside of the pumpkin before adding the filling. With this one experience I am already hooked on cooking in a pumpkin pot and will continue to refine the process. By January everyone I know will be groaning when I show up  with another pumpkin pot.

A Pumpkin Pot

Much like a soup pot, you can base this dish on what you have on hand. Just build enough filling for the volume of your squash or pumpkin. Here is what I used for a 9 pound pumpkin.

4 cups stale bread cubes from a rustic, hearty loaf of bread*
1 medium onion, diced
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, cubed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds, crushed
3/4 tsp. allspice, ground
1/2 tsp. salt, more to taste
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted and rough chopped
3 ounces gruyere cheese, cubed
3/4 cup cream

Cut a lid in the pumpkin by carving around the top. Position the knife blade to create an inward angle so the lid won’t fall right through the hole. Scoop out the seeds and connective matter, but unlike preparing a jack-o-lantern, don’t scrape the meat off the side walls, that part is dinner!

Measure out a piece of foil long enough to lay across the bottom of the dutch oven and come up beyond the height of the side walls by three to four inches on each side. Cut a piece of parchment the same size. Set both aside.

Preheat oven and dutch oven pan (without the foil and parchment liner) to 375 degrees F.

Over medium-low heat, sweat the onions until translucent. Add the apples, garlic, cumin, allspice, salt and sage and sauté another minute or two. Remove from heat and add the bread cubes and hazelnuts and stir to combine. Adjust seasoning as needed. Mix in the cheese cubes and cream.

Sprinkle the inside of the pumpkin with salt and pepper and then stuff the cavity with the filling. Place the lid on the pumpkin. Lay out the piece of pre-measured foil, lay the piece of pre-measured parchment paper on top of the foil, then place the pumpkin in the center on top of the parchment paper. Give the foil/parchment sling a test by grabbing the excess material on either side of the pumpkin and lifting up. If the pumpkin feels stable enough use this sling to lift the pumpkin into the hot dutch oven. If you don’t have confidence that the sling will hold, reinforce it with another layer of foil.

Carefully remove the hot dutch oven from the oven. Lift the pumpkin sling and place it in the hot dutch oven. The pan is hot - be very careful not to touch it! Fold the excess foil and parchment across the top of the pumpkin and place the lid on the dutch oven. Place the pot in the oven to bake for 2-2 1/2 hours. During the last 30 minutes of baking you can remove the dutch oven lid and the pumpkin lid to brown the tip layer of stuffing. Once the pumpkin flesh is tender when pricked with the tip of a knife and the filling is bubbly and hot, it is ready to be removed from the oven.

Ready a serving platter. Carefully lift the cooked, very hot, pumpkin out of the dutch oven using the foil/parchment sling and set it on the serving platter. Using a sturdy spatula lift up one side of the pumpkin and slide the foil and parchment out from underneath then do the same on the other side. To serve, scoop some of the pumpkin meat from the walls up with the filling.

*If you have a fresh loaf of bread, you can “stale” the bread by laying the cubes on a sheet pan and baking them in a 250 degree F oven for 20-30 minutes until they feel dried out. They should develop a dry crust, but not become brown.

I hear plum cake and just can’t help but to think of little Jack Horner.

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum,
And said, “What a good boy am I.”

photo by David Peterman

There is no need to stick one’s thumb into this cake for a plum, as they are perched right on top and get beautifully caramelized while baking. I embraced fall and selected Italian Prune Plums that are now showing up at the farmer’s markets in my area. They are small little gems, so I decided to make small little cakes to suit them.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie baking group selection of Dimply Plum Cake was selected by Michelle of Bak-en. I can’t say this is a recipe that ever jumped out at me when flipping through Dorie’s book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, and it just proves that personal biases can lead one to miss out on some great things. Though it is difficult to select a recipe that is less interesting when there are dozens of recipes that are highly enticing on other pages, I will try to remember to expand my interests now and again just to see what surprises await.

This cake is interesting in that it is “hearty,” as in a bit dry and crumbly, but oddly in a good way. For me it worked in the mini-muffin format, but I am not so sure how I would feel about it as a plated dessert requiring a fork. Though served warm with a little vanilla ice cream could be another magical surprise. As a mini-treat the solid structure of the cake makes it easy to eat from the hand and would be an excellent nibble to serve at a party of finger food or for an afternoon tea. This recipe gave me great inspiration to make all sorts of cakes in mini-muffin tins with a delicious dollop of something paced on each one. I think a cardamom rosewater cake with a dollop of thick fig jam in the center would be delightful.

I knew I wanted to add a hazelnut garnish, but never like to garnish with something not in the dish, so I added 1/3 cup of chopped hazelnuts to the cake batter. The garnished nuts were given a little bath of simple syrup before placing them on the cakes and baking. The hazelnuts worked really well adding a nutty flavor and the crunch was lovely in contrast to the baked plum. The other deviation I made was adding a 1/2 teaspoon of allspice in addition to the cardamom. I have been reading a lot about allspice lately and just couldn’t resist adding a touch. I had a tendency to want to fill the muffin tins a little too full and it worked better when the cake did not rise over the top of the mold, so half-full of batter is all that is needed. Of course for the tiny cakes the baking time is reduced, I pulled them out after about 18 minutes.

photo by David Peterman

Allspice has been my spice obsession of late. Allspice is the dried berry of a large evergreen tree called Pimenta dioica that grows in Jamaica, West Indies, and Central America. Jamaican allspice has been long held as the premier product for its higher essential oil content which is primarily made up of eugenol. The name comes from the spice tasting like a combination of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Allspice crosses between sweet and savory cooking beautifully. It is an essential ingredient in Jamaican jerk seasoning as well as being  used frequently in curries, pickling, and even ketchup. The warm sweet aromas of course are a natural match to sweets and baked goods. I tossed a few berries in a pot of potato leek soup over the weekend with delicious results.

I highly recommend buying whole berries and grinding them as needed to best preserve the flavor and aroma of the volatile oils. Whole berries also makes it easy to infuse the flavor of the spice in soups, mulled wine, spiced cider, and poaching liquids for fruits, where the ground spice would make the liquid cloudy and less visually appealing. If your interaction with allspice has been limited to holiday pumpkin pies, I hope you will explore the warm peppery flavors it can bring to all sorts of dishes.

More delicious cookies are piling up in the kitchens of the Tuesdays with Dorie online baking clan. This week we indulged in Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. Oh yes, it was off to the candy isle to stock up on a big carton of whoppers!

photo by David Peterman

I love malt and whoppers so I knew these would be a big hit with me, though I also know from experience that desserts with candy mix-ins run the risk of being cloyingly sweet. I am not a fan of the sickly sweet stuff, so I hedged my bets with extra bitter 70% dark chocolate chunks in place of the bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips that Dorie calls for. I am happy I did. The cookies are rich and chocolaty, and the sweet hits of melted malt balls are nicely tempered by the bitter chocolate chunks. Additionally, I topped them with a light sprinkling of Murray River Flake Salt as a final counterpoint to the sweet candy and a flavor enhancer to the chocolate.

The biggest factor for these cookies slipping from “ooh-ahh” reviews to “eh” is baking time. They are a bit of a cakey cookie and the difference between soft and gooey or dry and cakey could be as little as an extra thirty seconds to a minute in the oven. Error on the side of underdone and they will be “ooh-ahh”‘ good.

photo by David Peterman

So now that I have a big jar of leftover malt powder in my cupboard what do I do? Oh, sure I could make more cookies, but it’s not like the extra whoppers are going to even last until tomorrow, so I thought I had better come up with another plan. My need for a future-use plan is due to the last time I had a jar of malt; it languished in the back of my cupboard for about five years and the remaining contents was so rock hard I finally tossed it out a few months ago. Feeling a bit guilty, I decided to put it behind me and move on. Then this recipe comes along forcing me to face my demons! I vow to use the entire jar of malt and not let a single bit go to waste. Or should I say every bit will go to waist!

The first thing that came to mind is a spicy malted hot cocoa. Like it or not the air is starting to have that crispy nip of fall, at least here in the Northwest where we never really even had summer this year, and hot cocoa is one of my favorite cold weather treats.

Wed. 8/17 – I have updated the recipe now that I have been drinking it for a few more days. I decided it needed more malt and more cocoa.

Spicy Malted Hot Cocoa Mix
1 cup malted milk powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all the ingredients together and mix well. Store in an airtight container.
To make a spicy hot beverage, heat one cup of milk and whisk in 3 Tablespoons of Spicy Malted Hot Cocoa Mix. Relax and enjoy.

This has a pretty good kick, so if you don’t like spicy cut back on both the ancho chile and cayenne pepper. Hot cocoa is the perfect place to use a high quality dutch processed cocoa powder if you can. After tasting this, I am not the least bit worried about that extra malt powder languishing in the cupboard this time. I may even need to buy another jar before the winter is over.

Thank you to Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart for this week’s recipe selection. You can find the recipe for Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops in Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: From My Home to Yours.