Lemon Tarragon Teacake

Teacakes. Is it not the most adorable word? It conjures images of flowery tablecloths, delicate china and smiling aunties.

Tarragon is a social chameleon. The Gatsby of herbs. It gets along just as well in sweet dishes as it does with its more common savory partners. This recipe demonstrates the former. Lemony, sweet and dense, Lemon Tarragon Teacake is the perfect showcase for tarragon’s delicate, mellow flavor. Confectionery sugar creates a nice crisp top.

For the full herb garden effect, try it with lavender, chamomile, jasmine or a similar floral tea.

Lemon Tarragon Teacake – serves 10

2 T lemon juice
2 eggs
1/4 C canola oil
1 C sour cream
3 C confectionery sugar
2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3 T chopped fresh tarragon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium size bowl, combine lemon juice, eggs, canola oil and sour cream. Mix in confectionery sugar 1/2 cup at a time.

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold in the fresh tarragon

Pour into a metal loaf pan and bake for 55 -65 minutes until a wooden tooth pick comes out clean.

Coconut Curry Brownies (that happen to be Lactose Free)

This idea came to mind the other day when I was trying to think of what to do with some leftover Thai curry paste. We’d had our fill of savory-spicy applications, so I thought using it in something sweet might be interesting. Chocolate takes on spice very well and coconut goes nicely with curry and chocolate, so I decided to develop a brownie recipe using all three.

I also decided to cocofy it, thereby unendairying it. I just made up those words, but what I mean is that in this recipe, typical dairy based baking ingredients are replaced with coconut milk and coconut oil. I chose to do this in order to achieve the rich coconut flavor that complements chocolate so well. The fact that it’s lactose free is a happy and delicious accident.

These turned out to be dense and moist, with a decadent coconut flavor and a mild finish of curry spice. If you’re not into spice in your brownies, you may omit the curry paste. I suppose.

Lactose-Free Coconut Curry Brownies – yields 2-3 dozen, depending on the size of the brownies and the brownie pan.

1 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 C coconut oil
1 can (14 ounces) coconut milk, full fat recommended
1 t Thai red curry paste
2 eggs
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C flour
1 C unsweetened, shredded coconut

In a large bowl, combine the coconut oil, cocoa and coconut milk, wetting the cocoa powder (this will prevent a cocoa powder sandstorm when you use the electric beater in the next step).

With an electric beater set to medium beat until smooth. Add the sugar, eggs, curry paste and flour, beating on medium until combined. Stir in shredded coconut.

Pour into a greased, 10 x 13 inch rectangular brownie pan or 9 x 9 inch square brownie pan for higher brownies Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes for the rectangular pan, or 25-30 minutes for the square pan, until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for at least one hour before cutting into squares.

Ingredient Origins (this time they’re not so local, but at least they’re still keeping with the minimally processed, less than five ingredients, requirement): Equal Exchange cocoa powder – Dominican Republic, by way of the Netherlands, Organic coconut oil – Colombia, Coconut Milk – Thailand, Cage-free organic eggs – New Hampshire, Sugar – unknown, Flour – Vermont, Shredded coconut – Oregon.

Apple Pie

Who doesn’t love apple pie? Especially this time of year when the apples are fresh and sweet. I got the apples for this pie at a local orchard. Normally I like to use McIntosh apples for pie, but I heard recently that Northern Spies are good for pie because they keep their shape well. This turned out to be true – the slices even stood up to a good toss with the other filling ingredients without breaking.

Another ingredient to note is honey, which I added to the pie filling. I debated whether it would add too much moisture, but in the end decided the flavor would be worth it, and it was. When my husband tasted the pie, he guessed right away that there was honey. It added a nice richness. I chose not to add spices like cinnamon this time because I didn’t want to detract from the apple flavor.

This pie turned out to be light and satisfying, and not at all filling. That may be because I didn’t add butter to the filling as is usually done. The result was an almost refreshing apple pie.

Apple Pie – yields 8 slices

Pie Pastry:

1 1/2 C flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter, ice cold and diced
7 – 9 T ice cold water

Pie filling:

6 – 8 pie apples, peeled and sliced
1/4 C flour
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
2 T honey

Start with the pastry dough so that it can rest in the refrigerator while the filling is made. Blend flour and salt in a large bowl. Drop ice cold butter into the flour and either cut with a pastry blender, or blend in a food processor until it it has the consistency of large crumbs. Add the water one tablespoon at a time, lightly tossing until just incorporated. Form a ball out of the dough, cut it in half and refrigerate 10 – 15 minutes.

Peel and slice apples while the dough chills. Add flour, sugars and honey and toss until the apples are evenly coated.

Take dough from refrigerator and, on a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to somewhere between an eighth to a quarter of an inch thickness and about 10-11 inches in diameter. Lay the bottom pastry in a 9.5 inch pie plate. Place a pie bird in the center (Or make a cone out of tin foil. Pie birds are good to use in liquidy pies with top crusts because they allow a channel for steam to escape without causing the crust to leak or the filling to overflow). Surround the bird with an even layer of the apple filling.

Gently fold the top pastry into quarters to find the center. Unfold. With a knife, make an X in the center of the pastry. Carefully slip the bird’s head through the X when placing the pastry over the top of the pie. Seal the crust by brushing a light coat of water around the lower pastry. Remove excess dough around the rim. Crimp the edges. I do a press and fold method – press with the right thumb, fold with the left.

Seal the bird into the pie with some of the excess pie dough. I made him a little scarf with a fringed edge. And he thought he was going someplace cold. Ah birds…

Bake in 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the crust is lightly browned and starts to look like pastry and not pastry dough.

Allow to cool for a 2-3 hours before slicing.

Ingredient origins: The flour came from Vermont. The salt – who knows? It was another regrettable Costco purchase not to be repeated. The label says Cargill of Minnesota, so there’s no way for a consumer to know the precise origin of this product. (Cargill is the same industrial food giant responsible for knowingly selling a slurry of slaughterhouse waste and ammonia labeled as “Chef Selection Angus Beef” frozen hamburgers to consumers, according to the New York Times.) The butter came from Maine. The apples came from a nearby orchard. To be honest, I’m not sure the origin of the sugars. I purchased them a while ago and immediately stored them in glass jars on the counter top, tossing the packaging. The honey also came from Massachusetts.