Bits of summer + blackberry hazelnut galette

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi! Remember me? The girl who used to blog round these parts? I'm sneaking in with a few photos and a recipe for something tasty and to say hi. Hi! I hope your summer has been grand.

Mine has been very full and very good: recipe writing, live music and birthday celebrations for the books, day trips further into the mountains, evenings spent contra dancing and plenty of coffee shop sitting with friends. I'm feeling nostalgic for it and it's not even gone yet. I can't help but think it's been one of those seasons I'll look back on and think "oh, those were the good ol' days."

 There hasn't been much interesting baking going happening here lately, as I've spent most of my time in the kitchen working on recipes for my book. This galette is one of the few extra things I've baked, and oh, it was good. I made it about a month ago now, with the few handful of blackberries we found, mixed in with some store bought ones. This hasn't been the summer of wild fruit, that's for sure. Hardly any to be found round these parts. I'm a little bit in love with the flavor combination of blackberry + hazelnut + thyme. I'd never topped my desserts with fresh herbs before, which is a shame, as it's really delicious. I'll take herbs with of all my sweets now, please and thank you!

Blackberry Galette with Hazelnut Crust and Thyme

 For the crust:
(from Martha Stewart)

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 cup ground toasted, skinned hazelnuts 
Salt 
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces 

1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water 

Pulse flour, hazelnuts, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. Drizzle 1/4 cup ice water evenly over mixture, and pulse until it just begins to hold together (dough should not be wet or sticky). If dough is too dry, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse

Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Let stand for 10 minutes before rolling.

 For berry filling:

2 cups blackberries

1/4 cup sugar 

3 tablespoons flour 

3 tablespoons ground hazelnuts 

raw sugar 
fresh thyme

Preheat oven to 400.

Stir together blackberries, sugar, ground hazelnuts and flour in a medium bowl. 

 On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to baking sheet.
Spread berry mixture evenly over the dough to within 2 inches of the edge.
Fold the edge of the dough up over the plums to create a 2-inch border. Sprinkle with raw sugar. 

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the fruit is soft and the crust is browned.

 Allow to cool, serve with fresh thyme.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

If you are still looking for a last minute addition to your christmas table, may I suggest a citrus tart, cranberry orange shortbread, chocolate pavlova or spiced maple glazed pecans?

I hope you all have a lovely holiday, filled with love, warmth and too much sugar.

xo,
Hannah

recent moments

happy weekend, friends! any exciting plans? i'm going to bake cookies, wrap christmas presents, hunt down twinkling lights on houses, enjoy cups of tea and generally bask in the beauty of these last cozy days of december. see you soon!

Fall

Savoring the last days of fall...




In the park...



With my family.



It’s been a good day.

Plum Berry Crisp plus tips on freezing berries!

You have no idea how good it feels to finally be back here, sharing a recipe with you. My life has been all sorts of crazy lately. Soon after I got my camera back from the repair place (it was gone nearly 20 days!!), we had company staying with us and then my sweet puppy Otis was bitten by a rattle snake.



Since then, it has been non stop Otis care, doing everything we can to get him well. At first his prognosis was not good at all - we were all prepared for the worst. But this crazy dog has too much life in him, the rattle snake wasn’t enough to bring him down. He’s home now, and expected to make a full recovery. It’s so incredible to be able to write out those words, we were so sure he wasn’t going to make it. We should probably rename him miracle!



In all the hullabaloo, the month of July passed me by in a blur. Only today have I had the time to get in the kitchen and bake up something new. I wanted to use what was in season, so I picked up a bunch of fruit from my local orchard. Blackberries, blueberries and plums galore.



This crisp is a celebration of August, with its late summer fruit, and a dash of cinnamon in the topping to hint at fall. It’s sweet, and a little tart, it may be my new favorite crisp recipe, the berry and plum combination is incredibly tasty.



Plum Berry Crisp
adapted from Epicurious

For filling
1 1/2 pounds purple plums, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I used white sugar, as I was out of brown, you could cut down on the sugar if your fruit is super sweet!)

For topping
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into bits and softened
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in upper third.
Toss together all filling ingredients in a 2-quart shallow baking dish and bake 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, blend together all topping ingredients in a bowl with your fingertips until butter is evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly.
Stir fruit filling, then sprinkle oat mixture over it and bake until topping is crisp and golden and fruit is bubbling, about 30 minutes.



I have tons of berries left, so I thought I’d share my tips for freezing them fresh. I meant to take pictures but, well, I forgot!


1. wash and dry the berries throughly

2. lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet

3. freeze for about 2 hours

4. remove from freezer, place in zip lock bags

5. put them back in the freezer

6. enjoy a taste of summer even in the dead of winter!


Freezing them on the cookie sheet is the most important part, that way you don’t have big clumps of berries in your freezer. You can remove the amount you want to use without having to defrost the whole bag!

Baked Kale Chips and other things.

You know how I’ve been pretty bad about updating this here blog lately? Yeah. Sorry about that. I have lots of excuses, but the truth is, I hit a bit of a creative wall a week or so ago and needed some time to step back, refocus on what I’ve been doing, and really thinking about how I want to move forward. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about everything, this blog, my passions and everything that goes along with that.



The conclusion I’ve come to is that I love this, this space here, and most of all I love taking pictures of food. There’s few things I love to spend my time on more. I’m know that this is what I want to do for a living. Not immediately, of course, I don’t have the experience, skill level or the technical knowledge yet. I’m not sure what to do to move forward, but I’m working on it. I don’t know if the answer is art school, an apprenticeship, or something else entirely. All I know right now is that I do want to move forward. I have to believe I was given this passion for a reason.

It’s both scary and exciting to finally say it out loud, to tell all of you like this, definitively. I’ve struggled with feeling legitimate, like this photography thing was just a hobby that I’d one day move on from. I haven’t though. It’s this thing that both frustrates me and invigorates me, I figure that’s probably a good place to be. If you have any tips or words of wisdom for me, please leave them in the comments!

I didn’t think all of that was going to come out when I sat down at the keyboard, and I’m so tempted to delete it all, but since it did, I guess it’s time to hit the publish button!

Oh, this recipe? Just something I made this evening to munch on. After seeing recipes for kale chips here and here, I knew I had to try them. Delicious! Try them out for yourself!



Baked Kale Chips

1 bunch of kale
olive oil
coarse salt

Tear kale into small, bite sized pieces.
toss with olive oil, and salt.
Spread onto lined baking sheet and bake at 350° for 12 minutes, or until crisp.

Hello World! How are you doing? I must confess, I have no deliciousness to show you today. I’ve been baking, but it’s all been posted here before. I’ll bring you something new soon, I promise. But until then, here’s a random little ramble.



I’m so excited about planting a spring garden! I’ve been flipping through seed catalogs like a mad woman. So many choices, so much possibility. I’m the most excited about my herbs - I really love growing herbs. What’s your favorite?

I was in the grocery store yesterday, looking for blood oranges (which i didn't find!) when I stumbled upon this little display of potted herbs. They were from a local farm - I just had to buy one. I picked hyssop, because I love the name, and the bright green color, even though I have no idea what to do with it. ha! Any suggestions?




I’m learning to crochet. I’ve never been all that interested in it, but one day about a month ago I found this afghan pattern and fell in love. It’s so charming and modern looking, nothing like the idea of crochet I had in my mind. I wanted to be able to make it. So I bought some crochet hooks and yarn, and I’m on my way. So far I can only do a chain stitch and single crochet, but I’ll get there eventually. I love learning new things!



Have you checked out the blog So Good & Tasty? It’s pretty new to me, I’m smitten! I adore Jacqui’s homey photography and delicious looking recipes. You should head over there, I know you’ll love it just as much as I do!

I do believe that's all I have to say today. Have a lovely day!

Sometimes a girl has got to just buy herself some flowers.

My Christmas was wonderful, I got those lovely bowls in the picture above from my sister. I love them!

I can't wait to start the new year with new recipes, and a brand new commitment, a new years resolution of sorts. I'm going to be participating in project 365 starting January 1st. I'm excited and nervous, and hoping that blogging about it will keep me from quitting early on, haha! I can't wait to see how my year evolves.

I should have some brand new exciting recipes up soon, I can't wait to share them with you! Happy New Year, everyone!

The winner of my cookie scoop giveaway is Kyrie of are so happy. I hope you get lots of use out of it, making cookies with your adorable daughters!

It was so much fun to read all your favorite cookies, there were so many oatmeal entries! I have to agree, I love any kind of oatmeal cookies. Several of you asked if I’d made the New York Times cookie, I haven’t, that’s one of the recipes I printed out and didn’t get to, I’m going to try it after the new year though, I’ve heard it’s excellent.

I was hoping to have other goodies to post this week, but sadly my oven is on the fritz. I’m not sure what’s wrong with it, it’s just not heating properly. So until I get that fixed, no new recipes. Terribly sad.

So, until then I’ll just show you other things! Like these adorable spoons and plate that I just got from Anthropologie.





The spoons are small and lovely, the green shade on the plate is so perfect. I can’t wait to use it for a slice of cake or pie.

Also, It snowed the other day, and it was beautiful. It was an early snow for Georgia, and although it melted it no time, it was a delight.





I love how snow completely changes the landscape, covering the barren branches in glimmering crystals, like the prettiest christmas tree you’ve ever seen. It certainly makes the winter months more bearable.

I do believe that's all I've got to babble about. Tell me, how's your day been?

I’ve been thinking a lot about traditions and family lately. This always comes to mind during the holiday season. You see, I don’t have a lot of extended family. It’s just my parents, siblings and I. I’ve never had big family dinners to go to, Christmas time isn’t filled with traveling and visiting. I’ve never woken up on Christmas morning to my grandmothers signature breakfast, or made my great aunts famous sugar cookies. I don’t have recipe books filled with page after tattered page of age old family recipes, passed down through the generations.

Sometimes I wish I did. I think, wouldn’t it be great to sit around a table, surrounded by grandparents, aunt, uncles and cousins? It would, of course, but that’s just not the hand I was dealt in life.

I was given an amazing, loving family though. I was placed here on purpose. I live in this house full of laughter and singing. Our Christmas mornings are small and happy, filled with smiles and thanks. We make our own traditions, like our silly gingerbread houses, handmade ornaments and my brothers goofy santa hat, and although they aren’t decades old, they mean something to us. And that’s what matters, right? So, although there’s a part of me that longs for a huge extended family and the traditions that come with that, I remind myself that it’s what you do have that counts, and I’m beyond blessed.

Thankful.

I have so many things to be thankful for.

Psalm 136:26
Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.

I’ve spent today preparing for the tomorrows festivities. I’ve made pecan pie, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole.

The pecan pie is the only thing I’ve tasted so far, and it’s delicious! Here’s the recipe if you’d like to make one for yourself. Of course, it’s loaded with corn syrup, but once a year is okay, right? It’s totally worth it.

Happy thanksgiving!

Delicious Southern Pecan Pie

3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place pie shell in a 9 inch pie pan.
In a medium bowl, gently beat eggs. Stir in sugar and flour, then the syrup, butter and vanilla. Fold in pecans. Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes; knife inserted in center of pie should come out clean.

Pumpkin Bread with Brown Butter Glaze

Hello Blogland! I’ve missed you! I never meant to be gone so long, I had lots of stuff planned for last week, but things went a bit awry.

Last Wednesday my mom, sister, my moms friend, her daughter and I went on a nice little trip to the Smoky Mountains. I had planned on baking several things and blogging about it while I was there, but the internet connection at the cabin wasn’t working! So instead, I decided to just relax and enjoy my short time there.





The Smokies are so beautiful this time of year, mountains look like they are on fire from all those beautiful leaves.





Thursday we headed to Cades Cove, one of my favorite places on earth. It’s a stunningly beautiful, all the little churches and cabins. If you ever have a chance to visit, you should. It’s a little tourist-y, which I usually detest, but you totally forget that other people are around while you’re there.


It was a great time, laughing until our sides hurt, staying up too late, eating a lot of great food. I can’t wait to do it again.



I got back into the swing of things today, by making this amazing Pumpkin Bread with Brown Butter Glaze. It’s probably the best pumpkin bread I’ve ever had, so tender and moist. And because I’m sort of obsessed with brown butter right now, I threw together a frosting-like glaze for the top. The bread is great without it, but I think the glaze adds an unexpected element that really brings it to another level, more cake-like. If you glaze it while it’s still warm the brown butter flavor seeps into the bread, it’s heavenly.



Amazing Pumpkin Bread

2 Loaves

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp ground cloves

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup butter, really soft
3 large eggs

1 16 oz can of pure pumpkin

1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F and spray two medium loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the wire whisk attached, dump in the sugar. Take the butter and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, so that it is half melted. Dump it into the sugar. Add the eggs. Cream these three ingredients together on medium speed for about 2 minutes or until fluffy. Add the pumpkin and combine well.
4. In three batches, add the dry ingredients and mix gently until each batch is just incorporated. Scrape the sides between each batch.
5. Pour half of the batter into a one of the prepared pans. Fold the pecans into the remaining batter and then pour it into the other prepared pan. Bake side-by-side for about one hour or until an inserted knife comes out clean the top is golden.

Browned Butter Frosting

1/2 c. butter
2 c. powdered sugar
1-3 Tbsp. milk

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter, and let it cook till it’s a delicate brown color. Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, combine powdered sugar with browned butter. Add 1 Tbsp. milk. Add more milk as needed to reach spreading consistency.