Beth Cato's Blog, page 80
September 21, 2016
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
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This pear galette is maple-infused majesty, a pie without a pie pan! Modified from the fantastic cookbook MAPLE by Katie Webster.
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 to 6 Tablespoons ice water
1 vanilla bean OR 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
1 egg, lightly beaten
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!
September 20, 2016
At Novelocity: 5 Ways the Great British Bake Off Teaches You To Be a Better Writer
I am rather… fond of the Great British Bake Off. Therefore, it’s only right that I use the show as the basis for some writing advice in a post online over at Novelocity.
Find out how GBBO teaches you how to be a better writer, and always be wary of soggy bottoms.
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September 18, 2016
Sunday Quote has read many books about ol’ Teddy
“When I hear of the destruction of a [bird] species, I feel just as if the works of some great writer had perished.”
~Theodore Roosevelt
September 15, 2016
BREATH OF EARTH: Bestseller on Nook!
This was a glorious surprise this week: Barnes & Noble says Breath of Earth is a fantasy/scifi bestseller on Nook! Look at the company it’s keeping!
It’s the first time I have had the term “bestseller” attached to any of my works. I’m chuffed!
#SFWAPro
September 14, 2016
Bready or Not: Double Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Chewy. Dense. Loaded with peanut butter in the dough and in the candy morsels. These cookies have it all going on.
I used creamy-centered peanut butter M&Ms for this (yay, clearance shelf) but you can also use tried-and-true Reese’s Pieces, or mix of peanut butter and chocolate chips. Just having a slight touch of chocolate in these cookies really makes the peanut butter flavor pop.
You’ll need to smash the dough balls flat before baking; these won’t spread at all, really. They will likely be even denser if you use all rolled oats. I like to use a mix of oats. That way some blend, and some stay chewy.
If you’re not in the mood for oatmeal cookies, I have a recipe for regular double peanut butter cookies, too–and these are a favorite because they are great to ship!
Modified from Crème de la Crumb.
Bready or Not: Double Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
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Peanut butter in the dough, peanut butter in the candy morsels: these deliver the nutty flavor in a lovely way. These are ideal cookies for the peanut butter lover! Modified from Crème de la Crumb.
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup oats, rolled or quick (or a mix)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 white sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Reese's Pieces or similar (or mix of peanut butter chips and chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until they are fluffy. Mix in the peanut butter, followed by the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Fold in the Reese's Pieces.
Use a scoop to dole out the dough onto a cookie sheet. The dollops stay fat, so flatten them by hand or with a glass. Bake teaspoon-sized scoops for 11 to 13 minutes.
Let them cool on the sheet for about 10 minutes, then move them to a rack. Store in an airtight container.
OM NOM NOM!
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September 12, 2016
Bready or Not Guest Pat Esden with Old Fashioned Blueberry Cake
I’m happy to welcome Pat Esden to Bready or Not again. You might recall she visited last year to share a recipe for Popovers as she celebrated the release of her first book, A Hold On Me. Today she shares a quintessential Maine recipe for Blueberry Cake! Her second book, Beyond Your Touch, is a new adult paranormal romance that came out August 30th. We’ll start things off with an interview to learn about her Dark Heart series.
You sent a lovely blueberry recipe. YUM. Can you explain how this ties into your books’ world?
Both A HOLD ON ME (Dark Heart book #1) and BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (Dark Heart book #2) are for the most part set on the Maine seacoast, a prime area for both commercial and wild blueberries. The main character, Annie Freemont, and her family often have blueberry muffins for breakfast. The cake recipe I’m going to share is something they’d have at teatime for sure.
Also Annie’s love interest, Chase, is a blueberry fanatic. He was born in Maine, but was kidnapped as a child and raised in the djinn realm until he escaped in his late teens. During his years of captivity, Chase often went hungry. As a result, having edible berries growing right outside his cottage is not only a tasty treat for him, it’s also emotionally comforting. In reality, he’s a bit of a blueberry glutton.
You do a great job of capturing the new adult voices in A Hold on Me and Beyond Your Touch. Do you have advice for other writers who are working on voice in new adult fiction?
New adult is a category of fiction where the main character and point of view are a person or persons between the age of nineteen and twenty-six. It’s not a novel written through the eyes and sensibilities of someone looking back on that stage of their life. It’s that sensibility that is most vital to remember when you’re writing new adult. The motivations and choices of people in that age range will vary, but they are not the same as a younger teenager who has less life experience in general or an older person who has more experience. It’s important for a writer to put themselves in the mindset of being that age and to look at each choice and reaction the character(s) make to be sure they are appropriate for a new adult.
What has been your greatest challenge in working on your Dark Heart series?
The Dark Heart series consists of three novels. The biggest challenge for me has been swapping between books during the various editing and marketing stages. For example: in the middle of drafting book 3, I received notes from my editor on book 2. I had to put book 3 aside for a month to do edits on book 2. Once book 2 was turned in, I went back to book 3. But I had to swap again and focus on book 1 when it was released. LOL. It’s crazy making!
Thanks again!
Thank you as well. I love visiting.
Old Fashion Blueberry Cake
Ingredients:
2 eggs separated
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1-1/2 cups fresh blueberries
Beat 2 egg whites until stiff, and set aside.
Cream together shortening, vanilla, sugar, and two egg yolks.
Sift flour and baking powder together. Add to cream mixture alternating with milk.
Fold in egg whites and blue berries.
Pour into 9” pan (greased and floured) and sprinkle top lightly with sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
This is a traditional New England dense desert or breakfast cake. Just a touch lighter than pound cake. No frosting needed.
BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (book #2 Dark Heart series) was released August 30th
She wants more than he can promise.
His desires could lead to betrayal.
But without each other, neither can survive the dangers ahead.
Annie Freemont knows this isn’t the right time to get involved with a man like Chase. After years of distrust, she’s finally drawing close to her estranged family, and he’s an employee on their estate in Maine. Though she never intended to stay on the estate for long, her father’s illness and the mysteries surrounding her family made leaving impossible. And now with the newfound hope of rescuing her long-missing mother, Annie’s determined to be involved with the family’s plans one way or another.
If only she could keep her mind off Chase and focus on the impending rescue. But there’s something about the enigmatic Chase that she can’t resist. And she’s not the only woman. Annie fears a seductive stranger who is key to safely freeing her mother is also obsessed with him. As plans transform into action and time for a treacherous journey into a strange world draws near, every move Annie makes will test the one bond she’s trusted with her secrets, her desires—and her heart.
PAT ESDEN is an antique-dealing florist by trade. She’s also a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.
Her new adult paranormal novels, A HOLD ON ME (book #1 in the Dark Heart series) and BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (book #2 Dark Heart series) are available from Kensington book. REACH FOR YOU (book #3 Dark Heart series) will be released in 2017.
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September 11, 2016
Sunday Quote wants summer over with
“I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”
~Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Stories
September 7, 2016
Bready or Not: Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
As you might have noticed, I am gradually reposting all of my Holy Taco Church recipes here on Bready or Not. I knew I needed to move this cookie recipe forward in the queue when I was emailed by a woman who was dismayed the HTC website was gone and she needed this recipe again.
She described them as by far the best chocolate chip cookies she had ever made. There’s just something magical about the combination of bacon and chocolate. I’ve worked that alchemy in some other recipes like chocolate-covered bacon toffee (aka BACON CRACK).
Here, the combo plays well together in cookie form. The addition of the bacon fat infuses dough with savory flavor. It’s amazing that the single tablespoon of fat makes such a huge difference.
These are not cakey, soft cookies. They are crisp and chewy–more like the old Fanny Farmer recipe cookies my mom used to make me when I was a kid. Except with added bacon.
Try this out. Maybe you’ll join the club that thinks these are the chocolate chip cookies of all time!
Modified from the recipe at Something Swanky and originally posted at the Holy Taco Church.
Bready or Not: Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies
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These chocolate chips cookies are infused with bacon fat AND bacon to grant them a complex salty-sweet-savory flavor and crisp, chewy texture. Makes 55-60 teaspoon-size cookies. Originally posted at Holy Taco Church. Modified from Something Swanky.
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 Tb bacon fat, solidified
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (about 4 thick strips) cooked and chopped bacon
additional sea salt for tops
Beat together the butter, bacon fat, brown sugar, and white sugar until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to form the dough. Gradually mix in the chocolate chips and then the bacon.
Chill the dough for a minimum or two hours, covered with plastic wrap, up to a few days.
Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Use a teaspoon scoop to dole out dough onto a pan and sprinkle a little extra sea salt over the tops to add some savory oomph. Bake for 10-12 minutes; let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transition to a rack.
Recipe will make 55-60 teaspoon-size cookies.
OM NOM NOM!
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September 5, 2016
Enter to win a copy of Breath of Earth!
I’m in a perpetual state of homesickness for Central California, so it makes me especially happy that Kings River Life Magazine back home has read and reviewed my novels. That continues with Breath of Earth–a book set in 1906 California, with a few mentions of the San Joaquin Valley.
KRL not only gave my book a warm review, but they are also sponsoring a giveaway. Head over there and leave a comment or enter by email. You have until September 10th!
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September 4, 2016
Sunday Quote survived August
“To talk about a book is one of the greatest joys that life can offer.”
~Haruki Murakami
