Pear Galette with Whole Wheat Crust

WOW! Two months ago was my last post here. Seems like eternity... But I am back! With more energy after a good vacation, positive thoughts, new culinary experiences and a lot of tasty recipes.  With a slogan "Eat local and seasonal" I want you to try this wonderful recipe - Galette. What kind of summer without a crispy home made fruit galette?! Especially when there are so many choices of fruit, berries and other seasonal tastiness. This time I had couple of sweet pears and thus my choice was clear. An advantage of the recipe is a great combination of healthy ingredients with sweet juicy taste. If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake, this is exactly what you need. By the way, you can also try sugar-reduced version of Apple Flower Tart or sugarfree Pear Almond Tart. The first step to improve your nutrition plan is to substitute white flour with whole wheat flour. And therefore these recipes serve perfectly to #eatyourselfslim

Ingredients
180g whole wheat flour of your choice
80 g unsalted cold butter
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp ice cold water
5 medium pears
1 tbsp Demerara Black Sugar
½ Teaspoon Cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg
1 tbsp hazelnuts

Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl and whisk together. Cut the butter into cubes, then add to the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or just put these ingredients into a kitchen machine. Add 4 tablespoons of ice cold water and stir in. Add the additional tablespoons of water if necessary for the dough to hold together. Shape into an circle and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for minimum 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Peel and slice the pears 0.5 -1 cm thick. Place them in a bowl adding lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and mix well. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Roll into a large circle, rolling from the middle out, rotating the dough every few rolls. Lay the dough onto a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can also roll the dough out directly on the parchment paper, then move the parchment paper and dough to the cooking sheet.

Place the pears on the dough starting from the center and leaving 5 cm border around the edge. Gently fold the edges towards the center. Meanwhile beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water. Brush the dough with beaten egg-water mix.  The pears should not be brushed. Just sprinkle them with some Demerara sugar and hazelnuts. Bake for 30 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Important is to make sure that the bottom is baked. So if needed, extend the baking time depending on galette size and oven properties.

Let it cool on the baking sheet and enjoy the summer treat with a perfect cup of coffee!

Bon Appétit!

Apple pie with crispy filo pastry

Home made pies - what can be better?! It reminds me of those weekends in my childhood, when mother baked and the charming smell made me wake up... It is an opportunity to spread pleasant flavor around and enjoy the moment we are in.

Of course, I usually advise to prepare everything on your own. Then you know what you combine in the recipe and you are sure that artificial flavors and ingredients are avoided. But when you are in a rush and have only twenty minutes, you can always choose this magic and easy recipe with Filo pastry.

Filo (from Greek "leaf") is typical type of dough usually used to make baklava. This is product number 1 (after dried dates, of course), that I usually buy in Turkish shops here:) To tell the truth it can be used for sweet pastry, as well as for salty pies or little snacks. 

Ingredients:

filo pastry - about 10 sheets
2 big apples
3 tbsp raisins
Christmas spices (or mix of ground cinnamon, anis, cloves etc.)
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp almond leaves

When working with filo, make sure the surface is clean and dry. The pastry should be kept in the fridge in vacuum package, and if taken out  - should be covered by wet towel and not kept reachable to fresh air. It gets dry very fast and might crack before you prepare the pie :) But no stress. It is not a big deal. You will definitely handle it.

Before putting everything together wash the apples and cut them thin. Pour some lemon juice that will save them from getting darker. Soak raisins in hot water for 15 minutes and drain them well. Take about 6 sheets of dough and put them on the baking paper. Make first layer from apples in the center. Put the raisins and spices on the apples. Make one more layer from apples and spice them.

Melt some butter and oil the ends of the filo sheets and using your hands form some folds around the apple layers as shown below.

The rest of the sheets take together and butter the upper sheet and only ends of the other sheets as possible. Form the top of the pie and put it on the apples. Put almond leaves all over the pie for extra nutty note.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C.

Here you go. Perfect, easy and tasty pie! And the biggest benefit - quickly:)

Apple flower tart with cinnamon

When the holidays with a big variety of fatty food are left in the past and cold winter already there in the window, the only escape seems to be impossible. But we sometimes overreact a lot. A sweet-home-atmosphere is always a good escape. Especially when with light cinnamon flavor:) Apple tart means - minimum dough and maximum apples. Therefore it is a good choice of dessert at any time. Apples are available all year long and the recipe is absolutely easy. So let's start.

Ingredients:

3 middle apples

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp coconut oil (may be any other kind of healthy oil you have - walnut, flax seed etc.)

1/2 middle-sized mashed banana

1-2 tbsp cold water

1 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp brown sugar

1/8 tsp grated nutmeg

pinch of salt

Tip!

The traditional recipe of a crust is high in saturated fat from butter and sugar. Therefore I strongly advise to use substitutes instead and as a result reduce unhealthy empty calories. Banana is a good alternative to sugar, when mashed. Extra virgin oil and some water will replace butter and add healthy fats.

In a bowl mix both types of flour, salt and grated nutmeg. Add oil and mashed banana. Add one tablespoon of water so that the dough stays together when pressed. If it seems too dry add another tablespoon of cold water.

Mix well and form a ball. Wrap it with plastic foil and put into a fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180° C.

A tart pan 24 cm in diameter would be just perfect for this pie. As I'm only planning to buy one, I used a pizza form and made the pie flatter. Tasty, anyway!

In case you are lucky to have a fluted tart pan, make bigger amount of dough in order to decorate a pie with nice curly sides. In both sides, butter the pan well in advance.

Take dough out of the fridge and make a thin layer in the tart pan.

Wash the apples and peel them. Slice thinly. Put all over the dough layer in a nice flower-form manner beginning from the sides and moving to the centre.

Mix nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the apple flower.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until the dough is golden brown and the apple layer begins to get softer and a bit darker.

Whole wheat persimmon pie with caramel topping

"Fruit of the gods" from Latin. Japan's national fruit. It's all about persimmon. A cute orange fruit that is rich in vitamins A, B, C, a good source of fiber, antioxidants; contains such minerals as sodium, magnesium, calcium and iron. Are you still hesitating? No way. Because I'm introducing a healthy pie recipe. Especially good fro those who are fed up with usual apple pies and think they can't be surprised anymore... NO! I can surprise you. Believe me. Get ready to bake a miracle ;)

Tip!
To turn bitterness into sweetness put the persimmon into freezer for about an hour and then let it thaw out at room temperature. You will get a sweet ripe soft fruit.

And here is the recipe itself.
Ingredients:
2 persimmons
4 eggs
250 g whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
10 tbsp ice cold water
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp whisky
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
7 toffees
sprinkle of salt

The main part of the pie has to be put into the oven immediately after preparing. That will ensure that your pie will come up. Therefore you have to prepare everything in advance so that you don't find yourself stuck in the middle because you can't find a measure cup to measure flour ;) So preheat the oven to 180°C. Take your baking form and  its bottom with melted butter. Wash 2 nice autumn-colored persimmons and cut them into pieces. Make a persimmon layer at the bottom of the form and leave it aside.

Now we are ready to make a pie itself. It is an old recipe from my mother who got it from her mother and the good thing is that its unique. It can be baked with a wide range of fruits and berries as well as a salty type with cheese of vegetables or even meat. So let's learn the basics.

Separate egg whites from egg yolks. Mix 4 yolks with 2 tbsp of brown sugar. Use a mixer for the best result. While mixing pour one by one 10 tbsp of ice cold water. Don't stop mixing it. Add sifted flour mixed with baking powder portion by portion. The original recipe comes along with white flour but I prefer whole wheat. You can also use white and whole wheat flours in proportion 50:50. Put this bowl aside.

Take egg whites, add a sprinkle of salt and beat egg whites until stiff. It is best to begin at a slow speed and gradually move up to high when beating egg whites. The texture of egg whites is right if you can turn the bowl upside down without a disaster ;)

The next step is to add egg whites into your yolk-flour mixture. Add at first half of the whites, carefully mix it all but try to keep the light air texture. Then add the rest and mix it all. Pour the mixture over the persimmons into your baking form and put the form into the oven. Now don't come closer to the oven for 20 minutes. It is a rule. Your pie is rising and don't even dare to intervene.
This is a perfect time to prepare the caramel. In a little saucepan warm chopped toffees with milk at low heat stirring all the time. Pour 1 tbsp of whisky to add some extra flavor. Cook the caramel at low heat for about 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes of baking time have passed you can check the pie with a wooden stick. If it's comes out wet leave the pie for another 5-15 minutes. When it is ready open the oven-door and let the pie rest for a while so that it can keep the form. Carefully turn the form upside down so that the persimmon pieces are on top. Pour caramel topping over it and enjoy the flavors, tastes, textures and lovely autumn. Serve warm - tastes unbelievable.

And remember - everything is good in moderation ;)
Bon appetit! 

Cheesecake with pear slices - low-fat and sugarfree

I barely know a person who hates cheesecakes. And the one who adores them is me:) As I'm crazy about healthy lifestyle I've practiced a lot to make a perfect healthy cheesecake: delicious, low-fat, high-protein and just perfect.

Here it is: the queen recipe of cheesecake.
The ingredients are quite simple:

3 middle-sized bananas
100 g almonds
30 g butter
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
1 vanilla pudding powder
1/3 cup raisins
1000 g low-fat cottage cheese
3 eggs
1 sweet pear

Tip! Most of the recipes are full with an enormous amount of sugar and empty calories. Therefore I've searched for healthy substitutes to make pies and other bakery a part of my healthy lifestyle. More information about the substitutes you will find in one of my following articles.

Before we start we have to preheat the oven to 180°C. Then take a 20-cm spring form and brush its bottom and sides with melted butter. For the crust make almond flour. Place almonds inside a food processor, coffee bean grinder or blender. Pulse until you get a fine, grainy consistency. In a bowl mix almond flour, butter and 1 mashed banana. If you want to have a sweet crust you can add some extra sugar of honey. Press the mixture into the bottom of your form. Bake it 10 minutes until the color is golden-brown.

In another bowl beat the cheese with 2 mashed bananas. Add vanilla pudding powder to ensure the smooth texture. Then add into the mixture raisins (previously soaked in the hot water), honey, cinnamon, vanilla seeds. If you want to check if it's enough sweet for you this is the moment to do it;) Add 3 whole eggs and mix it all thoroughly. Pour the filling onto the base. Peel the pear and cut it into slices. Decorate the cheesecake with pear slices. Cover the form with aluminium foil and bake in the preheat oven 15 minutes. Then decrease the heat to 150°C and bake another 50-60 minutes. 10 minutes before the end take the foil off and let the cheese become golden-brown.

Let the cheesecake cool down (I know its hard, cause it smells so good:) and take it out of the form.

Make a break and enjoy. A perfect combination with a home-made hot chocolate or a latte macchiato.