Dessert disaster that I've had recipe requests for . . .

(Lovely berry picture c/o my friend: Google Images)

Yes, you read it right. I decided to make a super simple Berry Galette from the Joy of Cooking Pie & Tart Cookbook my Mom gave us and completely messed it up! The cookbook provides a variety of pie and pastry crust recipes at the beginning and then gives a suggestion of which to use with each recipe in the book. For this particular recipe they suggest substituting cornmeal for some of the flour in the pastry dough. Since that already cut down on the amount of "regular" flour I was using I decided I'd use rice flour for the rest so it was gluten free. This is always an experiment with new recipes so I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. The fatal error came when I somehow mis-read 1/3 cup water for 3/4 cup water and ended up with REALLY moist dough! After adding a lot more flour, powdered sugar and cornmeal I created a somewhat workable consistency and threw it in the fridge to harden up. The extra moist dough did not make it easy to roll and transfer to the baking sheet but after piecing it together we finally cooked and had a finished product. I wanted to throw it away but Mark insisted on finishing and serving it; now I've just finished baking a second one (with the left over dough) and have recipe requests. I'm sure when the directions are followed appropriately it is a very easy and delicious summertime dessert!

So, here's the recipe:

"Half-Covered Berry Galette"

Pastry Dough:

Using a large rubber spatula mix the following ingredients in a large bowl:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

**they suggest increasing the powdered sugar to 1/6 cup and substituting 3/8 cup cornmeal for 3/8 cup flour***

Quickly(to prevent softening) cut 1 stick of cold, unsalted butter into small pieces. Add the butter to the dry ingredients and cut with a pastry blender (or 2 knives) until the butter is in pea sized pieces.

Add 1/8 cup shortening, cutting it into the mixture as you did the butter. Do not let the mixture soften and begin to clump.

Drizzle 1/6 cup plus 1/2 tablespoon ice water over the mixture and cut with the blade of the rubber spatula until it looks evenly moistened and begins to form small balls. Press down on the dough with the flat side of the spatula and if the balls of dough stick together you have enough water. (If they don't add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon additional ice water). The dough should look rough. Press the dough into a flat disk, wrap it tightly in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

(picture c/o: Cheryl Gater)

Half-Covered Berry Galette:

-Position a rack on the lower 1/3 of the oven and preheat to 400 F.

-Roll dough into a 13-inch round on a well floured surface. Carefully slide onto a cookie sheet(rimless sheet makes things easiest, I used a pizza pan).

- Arrange 1 1/2 to 2 cups berries in the center of the dough (leaving a 2-3 inch border of dough).

-Scatter 2 tablespoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter (cut into small pieces) over the top of the berries.

-Fold the border of the dough over the fruit, forming a pleated half cover (leaving the fruit exposed in the center). Lightly brush the dough with milk and sprinkle with 1-2 teaspoons sugar.

-Bake until golden brown, 25-35 minutes.

-Let cool on rack.

-Serve warm or at room temperature.

And as always, enjoy! :-)

An additional note about hard boiled eggs

Straight from the chef himself:

Bring the eggs up to room temperature before dropping in boiling water to help prevent as much thermal cracking :-) -Michael

Hard Boiled Eggs

Hard boiled eggs you say? Yes! I doubt I'm the only one who has hard boiled eggs before and gotten so frustrated peeling them as chunk after chunk of egg stays on the shell, that I end up taking brownies instead of deviled eggs to the cookout they were for.

Well, this post is a tribute to my brother-in-law Michael who gets all the credit for making my life of hard boiling eggs a lot easier!!! So here's the trick . . .

In a large pot bring water to a boil. Gently add eggs. Boil eggs for 12 minutes (cooking time may very slightly depending on how many eggs you have, I usually cook 6). While the eggs are cooking make an "ice bath" in a large bowl (simply fill a large bowl with ice and water). After 12 minutes, drain the water and rinse the eggs twice with cold tap water. Then place them all gently into the ice bath and let them sit until cooled. Once cooled take out of ice bath and peel. You will have perfectly cooked, easy to peel hard boiled eggs . . . and will be much more willing to volunteer bringing deviled eggs to your upcoming holiday cookout!



On a side note, we recently began getting farm yummy fresh eggs from a guy Mark works with and no longer have to buy them at the grocery store! :-) As much as I couldn't stand our chickens growing up I never imagined being so happy to not have to buy eggs from the store.