Bready or Not: Maple Pear Galette
It’s my husband’s birthday, so I’m sharing a dessert that he looooves.
This recipe laces maple sugar into every layer: the galette dough, the thick maple paste for the pears, and as a golden accent and perfect crunch for the top of the galette.
This is remarkably easy to make, too. Peeling and coring the pears is the biggest hassle. I made the dough a day ahead of time, which made the assembly part go pretty fast.
I modified this recipe from one found in this incredible cookbook called Maple by Katie Webster. Seriously, if you love maple used in dishes for any meal of the day, get this cookbook!
This galette is one of the three recipes I melded together to create my Maple Apple Pie (aka Voltron Pie). Specifically, I tweaked the maple-lemon paste for the filling and ported it over. I’m pretty certain that such a potent maple mix can improve anything. Maybe it can inspire world peace. I dunno.
In the case of this galette, though, I say give a piece a chance.
Bready or Not: Maple Pear Galette
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour divided, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons maple sugar divided
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 - 6 Tablespoons ice water
- 1 vanilla bean split open and scraped out, or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 ripe pears peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 tablespoon maple sugar, and salt. Add butter and work into dough so that the butter is down to pea-sized chunks. Add just enough water to incorporate as dough, smearing butter chunks in the process. Shape dough into a disk and shroud in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 30 minutes, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Place parchment paper on a large rimmed baking sheet.
- In a large bowl, gently stir together the vanilla (bean or extract), lemon juice, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1/2 cup maple sugar; it will form a thick paste. Gently stir in the pears to coat. Expect the mixture to become more liquid as it sits with the pears in it.
- Use flour to lightly dust a large work surface. Roll out the dough to at least a foot diameter circle. Transfer it to the prepared parchment paper on baking sheet; the dough might hang over the edges for now, but that's okay.
- Arrange the pears in a circular pattern in the center; leave a 2.5 to 3-inch border. Scrape the rest of the maple paste over the pears. Fold the dough inward, with the center still exposed. Brush the egg over the top and sprinkle on the maple sugar.
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles. Let cool before cutting.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Maple Apple Pie
This pie is my own original creation. I hacked together three existing recipes and amped up the maple to make something totally new. When I told my husband about how I melded everything, he said, “Oh, so it’s a Voltron pie.” That’s now our nickname for this Maple Apple Pie.
Maple sugar is the key ingredient in every step, but it’s just enough to embody the flavor without it going overkill. I highly recommend buying a big ol’ container of maple sugar–trust me, if you want to follow along with my recipes, you’ll go through it eventually. This is the brand I use:
The most amazing thing about this? The filling sauce. I borrowed and modified it from a pear galette recipe (which I’ll feature this fall) from the cookbook Maple. It’s really more like a paste in texture, grainy and strong with a lovely combo of maple and lemon. You’ll want to lick the bowl.
This pie smells glorious. It’s like autumn, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And the taste… well. My husband adores my Caramel Apple Pie and considers it his all-time favorite.
Or it was, until he had Voltron Pie.
That’s right. This maple-filled pie is the new champion in the Cato household.
Bready or Not: Maple Apple Pie
Ingredients
Crust:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon maple sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter 1/2 cube, cold
- 2 Tablespoons avocado oil or canola oil
- 3 - 5 Tablespoons ice water
Filling:
- 4 - 5 Granny Smith apples
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or a vanilla bean, scraped
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup maple sugar
Crumb topping:
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup maple sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick , cold
Instructions
- Combine crust ingredients. Work in butter until it is just pea-sized, and use only as much water as needed to make the dough cohesive. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or a few days.
- Roll out dough to equal thickness and place in pie dish. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze while preparing the filling, or freeze for several days.
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Peel and core apples and slice to 1/8s or smaller. Toss them in a light dusting of flour to prevent sticking. Place apples in pie crust on a cookie sheet.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the vanilla extract, lemon juice, flour, and maple sugar; it'll form a thick maple paste. Set aside.
- In another small bowl, combine the topping ingredients. Use a fork and knife to reduce the butter to pea-sized chunks.
- Return to the maple sauce. Give it a good stir, and drizzle thick syrup all over apples. Cover evenly with crumb topping.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the apples are tender when stabbed with a fork.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Pie
I attend the Nebula Awards in a few days. I don’t expect to win, but the whole thing is freaky and exciting and a cause for celebration. Therefore, I am sharing a special recipe for Snickerdoodle Pie.
That’s right. Snickerdoodle Pie. It happens to be a photogenic pie, too, so brace yourself for an onslaught of pictures.
In all honesty, it would be faster to make Snickerdoodle Cookies than to make this pie. The thing is… this pie is awesome. It looks and tastes like you made an extra effort.
It really does taste like a giant Snickerdoodle, too. I used my tried-and-true pie crust recipe, which is reposted below, but you can use a store crust or your own reliable recipe.
It’s kind of weird how perfectly Snickerdoodley this is, even for being so thick. It’s kind of magical, if magic involves cinnamon, sugar, and cream of tartar.
My husband adored this pie. The slices were great straight out of the fridge, but he experimented and found out it’s even better reheated in the oven. Wrap up a slice in some foil and warm it just enough to caramelize the sugar crust some more. Yum!
This is a special occasion pie. A birthday pie. A holiday gathering pie. A hey-I was-nominated-for-an-awesome award pie.
Plus, if you have pie, you’re a winner no matter what!
Modified from the Taste and Tell Blog and the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book 16th Edition.
Bready or Not: Basic Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, cold, cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup ice water
Instructions
- Make dough hours in advance or the night before. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add in the cold butter cubes, and either use a pastry blender or pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the butter is pea-sized.
- Pour in the cold water and pulse/mix together until the dough forms a loose ball. I like to use my hands at this point. The dough may be sticky, but it will firm up well.
- Pour dough onto a floured surface. Divide into two balls and fallen them into discs. Wrap each disc in parchment paper, then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour before placing in pie dish, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Roll out the refrigerated dough into a 12-inch round. Press it into a 9-inch dish, trimming the excess and pinching the edges. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and freeze at least two hours before using, or keep frozen up to three months.
Bready or Not: Snickerdoodle Pie
Ingredients
- 1 single unbaked pie crust
- 1 Tablespoon raw sugar or coarse sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon divided
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons water
- 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract divided
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk or almond milk
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. In a bowl, combine the tablespoon of coarse or raw sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Brush the 1 Tablespoon of melted butter on the bottom of the pie crust, then sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the butter. Set aside on a cookie sheet.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, 1/4 cup butter, water, corn syrup, and remaining 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the brown sugar. Let everything boil for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and set the pot aside to cool.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the 1/4 cup softened butter until it's creamy. Add the 1/2 cup of white sugar, powdered sugar, baking powder, salt, and cream of tartar until it's just mixed. Beat in the egg and the remaining 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Slowly beat in the milk. Add in the flour until it's just incorporated.
- Spread the cookie dough mixture evenly in the pie crust. Get the saucepan, and slowly pour the syrup over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Cover the edges of the pie with foil or a pie shield; bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil/shield. Continue to bake about 20 more minutes, until the top of the pie is puffed and golden brown--and looks like a snickerdoodle! Use the toothpick test in the middle of the pie to make sure it's done.
- Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. The leftovers are good cold, but are even better if warmed in the oven or toaster oven. Reheat a slice wrapped in aluminum foil at 375-degrees for about 10-12 minutes; it'll get warm through, and caramelize the top.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Appeltaart
I love my traditional Caramel Apple Pie recipe, but this deep-dish apple pie is something extraordinary! It uses a springform pan.
Brace yourself for a lot of pictures. This is one of those rare times when my end result looked exactly like the photo in the magazine.
It’s a photogenic pie, isn’t it?
This Appeltaart is as delicious as it looks, too. My husband and my dad are hardcore apple pie lovers. It’s probably one of their all-time favorite foods. This pie rated VERY highly for both of them.
The directions look long, but really, it’s not an intimidating pie. I know a lot of folks hate rolling out pie crusts–well, this is the recipe for you! You press most of the dough into the pan and then slice strips for the lattice on top.
The original recipe had raisins in it–which was blasphemous to my family. I omitted the raisins and added more cinnamon.
It would be easy to modify the recipe more. Add a drizzle of caramel or dulce de leche. Try adding some nutmeg, cloves, or cardamom. Or if the making the lattice top worries you, tuck that dough away for other purposes, and throw together a crumb topping. Or instead of cutting strips for the lattice, roll out the dough and use small cookie cutters shaped like leaves or other things.
Whatever you do, I bet you’ll be amazed at the Appeltaart. This will be the showcase for your holiday dessert table… and something special to make all year round.
Modified from a recipe in Martha Stewart Living magazine; also online.
Bready or Not: Appeltaart
Ingredients
Dough
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for surface
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, cut into small pieces, plus more for pan
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Filling
- 2 1/4 pounds Granny Smith apples peeled, cored, and cut into chunks (6 cups)
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 3 teaspoons cinnamon
- pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour plus more as needed
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
Instructions
Dough:
- In a bowl, stir together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar. Add the butter and work it in until only pea-size pieces are visible.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, water, and vanilla, then pour into the dry mix. Mix until the dough makes a ball. Form about two-thirds of the dough into one disk and remaining third of dough into another disk. Separately wrap each portion in plastic wrap. Refrigerate them until firm, about 1 hour.
Filling:
- Toss together the apples, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and 1 1/2 tablespoons flour. Set aside but stir every so often as you make other preparations.
- Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Prepare a 9-inch round springform pan by cutting parchment paper to fit the circle inside. Use butter or Pam to adhere the parchment in the pan, then fully grease the top of the parchment and the sides of the pan.
- Lightly flour a surface. Take out your large dough disk and roll it out. It's okay if it's fragmented. Take the pieces and press them into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Sprinkle some flour over the dough.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the apple filling into the crust; you'll discard any leftover juice. Roll out the other dough disk to be about 1/4-inch thick. Use a pizza cutter or knife to cut the dough into thick strips. Lay half of the strips over the filling, then do the other half crossing the other way. Press the edges of the strips into the crust at the sides.
- Lightly beat the egg and brush the lattice with the egg wash.
- Bake the pie until the crust is golden brown and apples are tender when stabbed with a fork, about 1 hour 10-20 minutes. Check it at the 40 minute point and cover it with foil if it starts to look too dark.
- Let it cool on a wire rack until sides of tart pull away from pan, about 30 minutes. Unsnap the springform pan and remove the side circle; keep the appeltaart on the base for convenient serving. Let it cool for an least an hour before cutting in.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Peppermint-Brownie Pie
You could just make normal brownies, sure, but it’s an indisputable fact that everything is better in pie form.
Back in March, we were in Tucson for the Book Festival on Pi Day. To my amazement, pie was hard to find. We ended up driving a good distance to a Village Inn, where they had already run out of most pies. Our selections ended up being fine, but my husband was tormented by a tabletop ad for a mint brownie pie that was not available.
“Don’t worry,” I told him. “I’ll make one for you.”
This ended up being more of a challenge than I expected. I ended up looking at a number of recipes until I found a good base recipe to modify. I wanted a strong mint flavor and for it to not necessarily LOOK Christmassy. I wanted a pie that could be made year-round.
I already had some York Patties stashed away, courtesy of post-holiday clearance sales, so I had the very candy to mix into my recipe, too.
The end result was peppermint-brownie perfection. I used my homemade pie crust (shown below as well) and was pleased that the brownie contents didn’t make the crust get soggy or hard.
If you love mint brownies, if you love pie, welcome to your new bliss.
Modified from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.
Bready or Not: Basic Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, cold, cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup ice water
Instructions
- Make dough hours in advance or the night before. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add in the cold butter cubes, and either use a pastry blender or pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the butter is pea-sized.
- Pour in the cold water and pulse/mix together until the dough forms a loose ball. I like to use my hands at this point. The dough may be sticky, but it will firm up well.
- Pour dough onto a floured surface. Divide into two balls and fallen them into discs. Wrap each disc in parchment paper, then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour before placing in pie dish, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Roll out the refrigerated dough into a 12-inch round. Press it into a 9-inch dish, trimming the excess and pinching the edges. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and freeze at least two hours before using, or keep frozen up to three months.
Bready or Not: Peppermint-Brownie Pie
Ingredients
- 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick, cut into pieces for quicker melting
- 1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa sifted
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp espresso powder optional but awesome
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup York Peppermint Patties chopped
- 1 pie shell make your own or use a store bought crust
Instructions
- Set out the pie crust atop a cookie sheet. Chop up the York patties and place half of them in the crust.
- In a medium sauce pan, place the milk, butter, and cocoa powder. Warm on low heat. Stir occasionally so the mixture doesn't stick and scorch. Remove from heat when all ingredients are melted and mixed together fully. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees.
- In a large bowl, lightly beat the three eggs. Temper them by adding a couple spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture and mixing. Do this three times. Finally, stir the remaining chocolate into eggs.
- Add the flour, espresso powder, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Pour brownie batter into the pie shell and then top with remaining chopped York Patties.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes on the cookie sheet, until a knife in the center comes out clean. Let set to cool for several hours. Store covered with foil in the fridge.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Quick Apple Pie
I’m all about making goodies from scratch, but sometimes speedy shortcuts are the way to go. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, after all.
This apple pie comes together in about ten minutes. The big shortcut element is a can of pie filling. Mind you, I haven’t used pie filling in about a decade, and I was amazed at how much faster the process went. Peeling, coring, and slicing apples takes up time.
I used a Comstock apple caramel can. I did miss the firmer texture of fresh-cut apples, but the overall pie was just fine.
My husband described it as being “like a big oatmeal-apple cookie.”
I used my homemade crust recipe–shown below–but use a store-bought type if you need to. It’s holiday time. Time is precious.
Pie is precious, too.
Modified from Caramel Apple Crumble Pie at Averie Cooks.
Bready or Not: Basic Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, cold, cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup ice water
Instructions
- Make dough hours in advance or the night before. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add in the cold butter cubes, and either use a pastry blender or pulse the ingredients in a food processor until the butter is pea-sized.
- Pour in the cold water and pulse/mix together until the dough forms a loose ball. I like to use my hands at this point. The dough may be sticky, but it will firm up well.
- Pour dough onto a floured surface. Divide into two balls and fallen them into discs. Wrap each disc in parchment paper, then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least one hour before placing in pie dish, or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Roll out the refrigerated dough into a 12-inch round. Press it into a 9-inch dish, trimming the excess and pinching the edges. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and freeze at least two hours before using, or keep frozen up to three months.
Bready or Not: Quick Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick, melted
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon heaping
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt optional and to taste
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 21 ounce canned apple pie filling
- 9 inch frozen pie crust homemade or store-bought
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Set out the pie shell on a cookie sheet.
- In a large microwavable bowl, melt the butter. Allow it to cool for about 5 minutes, then stir in the sugars, vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt. Whisk in the egg until batter is smooth.
- Add the flour and oats until just combined, then gently fold in the apple pie filling. Pour everything into the pie shell; it will come up to the brim.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until top has set. Allow it to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing.
- Pie keeps for days, covered by foil in the fridge.
- OM NOM NOM!
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