White Peach, Pecan, and Muscovado Galette

white peach, pecan, and muscovado galette | apt 2b baking co
white peach, pecan, and muscovado galette | apt 2b baking co
white peach, pecan, and muscovado galette | apt 2b baking co
white peach, pecan, and muscovado galette | apt 2b baking co

Have you seen the July issue of Bon Appetit? It has a killer photo by Michael Graydon and Nikole Herriott of a luscious bluebery galette with a melty scoop of ice cream on top, a perfect July cover if you ask me. There was even a little web exclusive that explained how they chose the perfect vanilla ice cream for the cover, Breyer's Vanilla Bean if you were wondering. 

It's been a long time since I've baked anything from Bon Appetit, but that cover looked so good (and the crust looked a little unusual) so I flipped through the mag and discovered it was full of ground pecans, then later realized that the same info was on the cover too (doh!). Pun...intended. The dough came together easily, although it was very delicate to work with and tore a bit as I was moving it around my cutting board and on to the baking sheet, but good news - it patched well, and it doesn't really matter if your dough isn't perfect when you are making a galette.

Instead of the blueberries, I used a couple of super ripe white peaches and a handful of white currants I had around (the currants are totally optional, but provided a nice tart burst). The fruit was super sweet and juicy so I sprinkled the dough with about a tablespoon of flour and tablespoon of muscovado sugar, then sprinkled another tablespoon or so of sugar on top, brushed the dough with egg wash, and baked it until it was golden and juicy.

It was what I like to call an easy summer dessert situation.

White Peach, Pecan, and Muscovado Tart

adapted from Bon Appetit's July 2015 issue

The original recipe calls for bit of cinnamon in the crust (1/4 teaspoon) and a blueberry filling which I imagine is also quite delicious. I used light muscovado sugar to sweeten this tart, I like India Tree, but light brown or granulated sugar will work as well. Check out the link above for the original blueberry filling.

NOTE 9/2/2015: The original recipe calls for 4 tablespoons of water to be added to the dough, but you may need a little less. Start with 2 tablespoons, then add more bit by bit until the dough easily sticks together when squeezed. 

Crust

1/2 cup pecans

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Filling

4 medium white peaches

small handful white currants (optional)

3 tablespoons muscovado sugar, or more to taste

1 tablespoon all purpose flour

pinch salt

1/2 lemon

1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

turbinado sugar, to finish

Preheat oven to 350°. Toast pecans on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until fragrant and slightly darkened, 10–15 minutes; let cool. Pulse the pecans in a food processor until they are coarse meal. Add flour, sugar, salt,  and pulse combine. Add butter and pulse until the butter is mostly worked into the dough, with a couple of pea-sized pieces remaining. 

Transfer the dough to a large bowl and drizzle with 4 tablespoons ice water (see note above) and mix gently, adding another tablespoonful of water if needed, just until mixture comes together. Gently pat dough into a 6"-diameter disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour.

To assemble and bake: Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pit and slice the peaches into 1/4-inch slices. Roll the dough out to a roughly 12-inch circle, 1/8-1/4-inch thick and transfer it to the baking sheet. Sprinkle the flour and one tablespoon of the sugar over the top. Arrange the peach slices on top of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border around the edges. Sprinkle the currants over the top, along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of salt. Squeeze the lemon over the top. Fold the edges of the dough over the fruit and chill the galette until the dough is firm, about 15 minutes. 

Brush the chilled dough with egg wash, sprinkle with turbinado sugar, and bake the galette until deep golden brown 30-40 minutes.

white peach, pecan, and muscovado galette | apt 2b baking co

Apricot, Walnut, and Lavender Cake

ottolenghi's apricot walnut lavender cake | apt 2b baking co
ottolenghi's apricot walnut and lavender cake | apt 2b baking co

The apricots in New York are amazingly beautiful (and plentiful!) this year,  actually all of the fruit this year has been amazing which is a surprise after the long winter we had...So naturally, I bought a ton of them, then needed to use them up quickly as they ripened all at once. I have been meaning to make this cake from Plenty More since the book came out in the US last year, and when I saw on instagram that my pal Laura made it (combined with my over-ripening apricots) I was spurred into action.

Making this cake requires the use of both a food processor (to grind the nuts) and an electric mixer (to mix the batter), which normally would turn me off because I am a one appliance at a time kind of cook. BUT! This cake is totally worth the dishes. It is dense and nutty, punctuated by sweet and tart apricots and gently floral lavender buds. It's also the kind of cake that is delicious the next day, so feel free to make it the day before you serve it. 

It has been an Ottolenghi inspired month over here. Check out the Nutella and Halvah Babka I made for Food52 using Ottolenghi's Krantz cake dough HERE.

Apricot, Walnut, and Lavender Cake

from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi

makes one 9-inch cake

This is one of those recipes that was so obviously written with gram measurements that the cup measurements are a bit awkward (like 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) so I have just included the grams below. The recipe has been posted in a couple of other places online so if you'd prefer the cups just search around a little. Also, the recipe calls for superfine sugar, but I made this cake with granulated sugar and it worked great, I might even cut the sugar 50g or so next time I make it. I also added a bit more salt to the recipe as the original only called for 1/8 teaspoon which felt a little skimpy for my taste.

185g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
2 tablespoons walnut oil
220g superfine sugar
120g ground almonds
4 large eggs, beaten
120g ground walnuts
90g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1½ teaspoon lavender flowers, fresh or dry
1/2 teaspoon salt
600g (about 15) apricots, halved and pitted

For the icing
50g icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat the oven to 375ºF. Line the base and sides of a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and lightly butter the paper.

Put the butter, oil, sugar and almonds in the bowl of a mixer and beat on a medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs bit by bit, making sure each addition is well incorporated before beginning the next, then fold in the walnuts, flour, vanilla, lemon zest, a teaspoon of lavender flowers and salt.

Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Arrange the apricot halves skin side down and slightly overlapping all over the top of the cake, taking them right to the edge.

Bake for 70-80 minutes – cover with foil if the top starts to brown too much; also, note that when you insert a skewer to test for doneness, it will come out a little sticky because of all the moisture in the apricots.

While the cake is baking, whisk together the icing sugar and lemon juice until you have a light, pourable icing (adjust the amount of sugar or juice slightly, to suit your tastes). Let the cake cool for 15 minutes then drizzle the icing over the top. Sprinkle over the remaining lavender flowers and set aside to cool completely before slicing.

ottolenghi's apricot walnut and lavender cake | apt 2b baking co