autumn is apples.

I recently had the pleasure of working with Chelsea Fuss, of frolic! blog and photographer, Lisa Warninger. I developed a gluten free apple tart recipe and styled if for a Thanksgiving shoot we did a few weeks ago. It's the perfect little bite of Autumn, give it a try.

Rustic Caramelized Apple Tart 

w/Honey Crème Fraîche

Serves 8

Ingredients:

APPLE FILLING:

4 tart apples, peeled, cored & thinly sliced

5 Tbsp maple sugar, white, or brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

squeeze of lemon

2 Tbsp butter 

PASTRY:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar, plus pinch for dusting

10 Tbsp butter chilled & cubed

1/4 whole milk

2 Tbsp cold water

1 egg white

CRÈME FRAÎCHE:

5 oz. crème fraîche

1 tsp honey

Preheat oven to 400˚

Toss sliced apples with 5 tbsp sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom in a large bowl. Over medium high heat, melt 1 Tbsp of butter. Saute apples until soften and caramelized, 8-10 mins.

Meanwhile make the pastry by combining rice flour, potato starch, xanthan gum, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Pulse and slowly add cold, cubed butter. Drizzle milk and process until dough pulls together, adding cold water as needed. Transfer pastry to a work surface. Form into a ball and roll in between pieces of parchment paper to a 12” circle. Transfer to a cookie sheet.

Spoon apples over pastry leaving a one inch edge. Fold edges up over the filling. Pour any remaining pan juices over the apples and pad with the remaining 1 Tbsp of butter. Brush edges with egg white and dust with sugar. 

Bake 35-40 mins until golden and crisp. 

While pastry bakes, combine crème fraîche and honey.

Let tart cool at least 15 mins. Serve warm or at room temp, with a generous spoonful of creme fraiche.

Enjoy!

chocolate mousse, in a pie.

Chocolate Mousse Pie: grain & dairy free.

Serves 8

Ingredients:

CRUST:

2 cups almond flour, or any nut four

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp coconut oil, melted

1 egg

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE:

8 oz. semi-sweet or dark chocolate

3 eggs

2 cans coconut milk, chilled

3 Tbsp honey

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350˚

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Add oil, making sure it’s at room temperature before stirring in egg. Press dough into a pie dish.

Bake 12-15 mins. until golden brown.

While pie crust bakes, prepare mousse. In a double boiler melt chocolate, reserving a small square for garnish. Stir 1 egg and 2 egg yolks into melted chocolate. In a separate bowl whip egg whites to a stiff peak. Fold egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Drain any liquid from the chilled coconut milk, so only the cream is left. Whip coconut milk, honey and vanilla, until thick and fluffy. Fold 2 cups of whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Set remaining whipped cream aside for topping.

Let pie crust cool completely before filling with mousse. Top pie with whipped cream, adjusting the sweetness if desired by adding more honey. Shave reserved  chocolate and sprinkle on top.

Chill until ready to serve.

love & a lake.

This week will be our one year anniversary at the family lake house. This year has been filled with so many memories, and many of them have been at that very house. Waking up to the birds gossiping, glistening reflections of water & light on my bedroom walls, and seductive smells of coffee, commence many of my mornings on East Phillips Lake. 

This weekend was a spontaneous trip for me. The idea of tranquil waters & fresh surroundings lured me north, Friday evening. From riding up as a backseat passenger in my parents' car, to dangling my toes off the boat into the crisp Sound waters, & belly laughing on a couch filled by three, nostalgia lingered all weekend long. We read magazines on the dock, drank wine at sunset, and conversed about everything from decorating, food, investments, & love. 

Our final day concluded with "our fish monger" coming in from an early morning on the water, flaunting a beautiful rainbow trout in his net, and grin on his face. This is the part where I should mention, the prized seventeen inch scaly body, {which may, in time, turn into twenty + inches, when recounted by any true fisherman.} 

The sight of the silvery skin, immediately got my epicurean wheels turning. I proceeded to the kitchen, to whisk up garlic aioli, fried farm eggs, & a lemony, butter herb filling for our guest protein. We grilled the skin crisp, before taking our lake-view breakfast seats to feast on the day's winnings.  

 

{It was the perfect meal.}

 

  

we grew a garden.

spring has sprung.

floral crown.

chair affair.

{before.}

 

&

  {after.}

a makeover.

five dollars never looked so good.

 

 {after.}

 {before.}

happy new year.

starting off 2012 w/ a yummy breakfast in bed.

{bird in a -polenta- nest, crispy bacon.}