Edible Gifts | Finding Feasts

Apple Galette aka The Easiest Apple Tart Ever

Apple Galette aka The Easiest Apple Tart Ever is a recipe that you will use continuously from this point on … I promise!

A lot of people feel there is too much time and effort needed in making their own pastry, let alone a flaky pastry, but, being a rather lazy cook myself I know that this one will turn you into a pastry maker forever.

The pastry is done in a food processor in under 1 minute. It is then pressed into a ball and placed into the fridge till you are ready to roll it out and add the filling… See! So incredibly easy. You really can’t mess this pastry recipe up.

Once you’ve got the pastry, the filling combinations are endless; peach, berries, rhubarb, whatever.

If you want to make a savoury filling, say a mushroom galette, then omit the sugar and use half a whole wheat flour for added savouriness. Cook down the filling so as to not make the pastry soggy, making sure the filling is completely cold before placing on the pastry and cook for the 40 minutes or so.

Tip: cover the base of the rolled out pastry with a thinnish layer of flour that will absorb any excess liquid from your filling.

This is an amazingly simple recipe for an end result that is an incredible centrepiece.

Happy pastry sculpting, Blondie 🙂

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Sweet Dill Pickled Pine Mushrooms

Click image for this Sweet Dill Pickled Mushroom recipe

Sweet Dill Pickled Pine Mushrooms… What better way to store your freshly foraged wild mushrooms for a long time than pickling them?

I love a sweet pickle, always have, so I naturally gravitate to this pickling liquid but there are plenty of methods of pickling and flavour combinations that you will develop your very own favourite pickling brine in no time.

Enjoy! Blondie 🙂

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Omenakakku – Mini Finnish Apple Cakes

Omenakakku – Mini Finnish Apple Cakes – Last weekend I found a bag of mixed apples in the fridge. Like a blank canvas the ideas started flowing. Maybe a crumble, crepes or a pie, I just couldn’t decide. Asking around I got strudel, apple sandwiches and crumble again. So many choices! Finally I decided to go back to my roots and whip up a Finnish Apple Cake.

The Finnish version doesn’t seem to be too different to a standard cake, maybe apart from the sour cream, but it certainly is a delicious treat and this particular recipe is now next to my Pulla recipe for sweet treat recipes to have on hand.

Overall, this isn’t an overly sweet dessert and the texture is soft, moist and dense without being too heavy.

Nauttia! Blondie

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Chunky Oat & Raisin Cookies

Chunky Oat & Raisin Cookies … Who can resist a cookie, especially a large cinnamon and nutmeg scented one with sweet raisins dotted throughout? Certainly not me.

I don’t really have a sweet tooth and a mid morning snack is usually of the savoury kind but these have really been hitting the spot of late – a nice coffee and half of one of these cookies has been the perfect 11:00am breather.

A really nice idea is to keep some for yourself and then give the rest as gifts… maybe friends, your neighbour or your kid’s school teacher?

Share the happiness… Blondie

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Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Easter Eggs

Click image for recipe – Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Eggs

Chocolate Dipped Marshmallow Easter Eggs … Looking for bright and colourful ideas for Easter this year lead me to find these gorgeous little things at Kitchen Simplicity. These are incredibly simple to make – once you work out how to mould them, and they look so divine!

Cheri says to wet your hands so as to make the forming of the eggs easier. I went the latex glove route, just to be sure, wet them and then dove into the mixture….

OMG! It was like dealing with some hyper viscous, glue demon. I could not get it off my hands, there were strings of marshmallow flying around the kitchen and no sign of the Rice Bubbles even coming close to forming a ball.

About to give up and go the way of Cheri’s other idea of forming a slice rather than going through the work of making eggs; I decided to take off the gloves, get my greased spoon and use plastic wrap to control the unruly Rice Bubble mixture (inspired by Heston Blumenthal’s scotch egg recipe that I had watched the previous night – thankfully!) and it worked – beautifully!

I will definitely be doing these again next year, maybe with white chocolate and different food colourings for a more rainbow look.

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Mini Pecan Tartlets

Pecan pies are like an old friend you haven’t seen for a while but have fond memories of the times you had together.

My first pecan pie memory is with my uncle. We had just traversed across to Kareela Hutte through an absolute blizzard from Antons at Thredbo ski resort, we couldn’t see the tips of our skis it was the worst snow conditions I had ever been in. We were frozen and sore from being on such an extreme incline for so long and just desperately trying not to get blown down the mountain. That pie was the best darn pie I had ever had… I don’t even remember what else I had for lunch that day, just that pie.

Although there are a thousand different recipes for Pecan Pie I have a couple of little differences in this recipe to a ‘standard’ one. Firstly the pastry is a cookie dough so you don’t need to blind bake the case but you still end up with a flaky, slightly crumbly texture, which we all love in a tart! Secondly, I use maple syrup instead of corn syrup – It may not be the healthiest dish but you may as well keep it as simple and clean as possible.

Reconnect with old friends… Blondie

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Chilli, Lemon & Smoked Paprika Flavoured Salt

Finding Feasts - Flavoured-Salt

Spice up your Christmas with this chili, lemon and smoked paprika salt rub.

I always buy store rubs and spice mixes but it never occurred to me until very recently that I could make my own. I was at our local fair in October and it was there that I came across the most divine smoked sea salt rub!

Our family eats quite a fair bit of chicken so I am forever looking at new ways of adding flavour to the Sunday roast.

I had a packet of sea salt flakes sitting in the cupboard so when the weekend came I got inventive. This rub has a beautiful smoky paprika aroma and I guarantee it will make a roast chicken taste amazing!

Bella

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