More apple recipes! 🙂 Yes, ’tis the season and seeing I love baking with apples so much, I thought that I would make this tart. Also, my dad will be here this evening, and he loves these French custard-style pies / tarts a lot. I browned the butter for the custard first, which gives it a lovely nutty flavor. Yum!
It’s apple picking season in New England. Definitely an autumn activity. I didn’t go this year, but I did find some amazing little heirloom apples at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. I love little apples. Not necessarily crab apple sized, but 2-3 inches. Perfect for snacking and baking. You don’t need heirloom apples for this recipe (plain old granny smith will do), so don’t think that you have to find a farmer’s market near you to make them — though in general, I think that you should always go to farmer’s markets if you can. These blondies are a little fragile, so be careful when cutting.
Back from my travels / vacation and somehow it has dramatically become autumn here in New England. Not complaining as fall is my favorite season. And with that, it’s time for autumn flavors. And it’s Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday, so even more of an excuse to have these flavors. Maple. Cranberry. Pecan. These cookies *might* actually be healthy for you, though lots of sugar and butter. Not too sweet, very soft. Quite lovely. And perfect for fall.
So here we are on the day before I leave on vacation and I have half a dozen bananas that need eating. Or using. Or something. I suppose that I could just stick ’em in a ziplock bag and make banana bread later, but even though it is a wildly busy day, making banana bread was a bit of a creative outlet, so I stopped everything that I was doing and made this. Threw in some frozen cranberries too. Somewhat ironic that I am making something very autumn-ish on the last official day of summer, but whatever.
What makes you think of Middle Eastern food? For some reason (maybe not even close to being based in reality), plums, cardamom and pistachios all make me think of Middle Eastern cuisine. And I’ve been doing so much reading on Syria and Turkey and such that apparently I have those flavors on the mind. Clearly shortbread isn’t Middle Eastern though! These came out well though; a great combination.