Browsing Tag

fruits-and-berries

Breakfast/Brunch

Gravenstein Apple Jam

Gravenstein Apples are some of my favorites. They are “old school”, “antique” variety, allegedly from Denmark in the late 1700s so I am always super-happy when I find some. Thankfully, my local orchard does have a limited amount of Gravenstein trees, so when I went up to the farm a few weeks ago to PYO, I got some. And to make them last longer, I made Gravenstein Apple Jam. It’s seriously like having apple pie for breakfast on my toast, but it would also be great in oatmeal (like a make-your-own Apple Crumble!) and really, who wouldn’t want apple pie or apple crumble for breakfast!

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Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Braided Puff Pastry Apple Strudel

Just seems like a week ago when I drove from Munich to Innsbruck to have “homeland” Apple Strudel. Oh wait, that was just last week!

If you follow me on social media, you know that almost every time I am in Munich, a friend of mine and I do this crazy drive just for a piece of strudel, aka The Strudel Run. Sometimes in addition to Austria, we end up in Italy or Lichtenstein or Switzerland, but it’s always an adventure. Often, you’ll see that I hashtag my posts with #bergblicksteuer, and I suppose I should actually explain that so here goes: “Berg Blick Steuer” translates to “Mountain View Tax”. A number of years ago, on a Christmas Strudel Run with some additional adventurers, the topic of conversation was “Taxes that Germans Pay, that others don’t” — examples are Kirchensteuer (Church Tax), Luftsteuer (literally, “Air Tax”; a commercial tax if a sign extends into public space off your property), Hundesteuer or even Pferdesteuer (Dog or Horse Tax — we would call those permits or registration fees, but not taxes). Anyway, when the view of the mountains came into sight, someone made the off-handed comment like “Well, I see that we paid the Mountain View Tax”, and #bergblicksteuer became a thing.

Train of thought: Strudel > Strudel Run > View of the Alps > Berg Blick Steuer!

This is a pretty straight forward recipe, easy to make because I used store bought puff pastry. The recipe is actually for two strudels, but you can either halve the filling recipe, or make both and freeze one of the strudels (they freeze really well; reheat from frozen loosely wrapped in foil for 25 minutes at 350F). Or just eat both. They are delicious with vanilla custard sauce (my favorite), ice cream or whipped cream.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Spiced Plum Jam

Somehow, even though the days are still warm, it feels like the inevitable march toward autumn has begum. I am not complaining as I love autumn; it’s my favorite season by far. With it come late summer and autumn foods. Apple picking has started (!!!) and other stone-fruits are plentiful. Enter dark red, tart and sweet plums. I decided to make some jam to preserve their flavor a little longer, and I think that it turned into one of my best jams in a good long while.

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Appetizers/Starters, Dinner, Savory Snacks

Wild Mushroom and Bacon Turnovers

Sometimes when I am in Maine, I can be found in the woods, foraging for things, be it blackberries or mushrooms. I have been foraging for chanterelle mushrooms since I was a young child, so please don’t follow my lead on doing this activity unless you know what you are doing. Then again, making these turnovers is highly recommended. They are delicious with all sorts of mushrooms, including ones that you find at the shops or farmers markets. I made them with the intent to be appetizers, but they’d also be great as lunch, a light dinner, or even a breakfast or brunch item. They are buttery and savory and a little bit bacony — all good things for me!

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Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Blueberry Milleswirlie (Sourdough)

Who wants breakfast? Recently, I filled my freezer with wild Maine blueberries — it is the season after all — Copeland Hill blueberries from family friends, The Warrens. And because I can’t just let an entire freeze of blueberries just sit there and tempt me, I made these “cinnamon roll” style blueberry swirls? And why “Milleswirlie”? Well, mille is thousand in Italian, and there are lots and lots of swirls — thus lots and lots of blueberries.

Blueberry Milleswirlie = Mille happy taste buds!

(PS: There is a little bit of store-bought blueberry jam in this recipe. It’s actually optional, but if you have ever baked with wild blueberries before, they can remain somewhat runny — in a gloriously delicious kind of way, but nevertheless a bit annoying when trying to roll the rolls. While I did use a corn starch slurry to help with binding, the pectin that is in the jam also helps.)

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