apuginthekitchen

Oct 19

Online Bake Sale – Helping A Friend And Fellow Blogger In Need

When I first saw the post from Suzie whose wonderful blog Two Dogs In The Kitchen outlined a chain of events that had recently transpired my heart sank for her. Suzie was elated at the birth of her first grandchild but the joy was clouded by sudden and unexpected health problems. Please read the link to her blog, you will see what has happened to her. Suzie’s good friend Veronica knew that she needed help, she didn’t ask for help, but Veronica knew she needed it.

She came up with a brilliant idea to have an online bake sale, the proceeds will help defray the catastrophic cost of her medical care, I donated a cake (my apple cider applesauce cake)that will be auctioned in November and other food bloggers, bakers and friends have also donated items. If you would like to donate a baked good for the sale please contact Veronica (links are below). Suzie recently lost her job and is uninsured ,we all know how high the cost of medical care is, it can literally bankrupt you. She needs surgery to remove her gall bladder once she recovers from Pneumonia.

If you would like to donate baked goods or buy something from the online auction it would be greatly appreciated here is the link to her blog, Veronicas Cornucopia you can leave a comment or email her directly, vraklis@yahoo.com this will help Suzie pay for her mounting medical bills. All you talented and wonderful cooks have to do is let Veronica know what you will donate and after the auction you will be told where and to whom you will send it to. Very easy and this will help Suzie a lot!!

We food bloggers are a generous and tight knit community, all you have to do is bake and we all love to do that, right? Thanks so much and even if you don’t donate or purchase something from the online bake sale, send your well wishes to her she is amazingly cheerful despite the circumstances. Thanks so much!

Oct 18

34 Comments

Award And Paying It Forward

Thank you!

You know what, these awards may not be James Beard awards but because they are awarded by fellow bloggers, culinary birds of a feather, at least to me it means a lot. What does it mean, well, someone reads or browses or notices my little blog, for that I am so grateful. it also means that someone may like what I am doing and that makes me feel good. So I want to thank Julia, from In a Small Kitchen whose lovely blog always inspires me and awarding to me the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.

I have to admit I am not always good at following up on things and in the past others have given me these awards, I am thankful, but unfortunately forgot to post it and for that I am sorry. Sometimes things happen, I get busy and things slip my mind, that doesn’t mean I am not grateful just forgetful.

So here are 15 bloggers I admire and am in turn awarding this to, but really there are much more than 15. More than likely most of you have received this before but thats ok, just know that you are followed, appreciated and read.

The Solitary Cook

Dabblings and Whimsey

Vina’s Delicious Recipes

Glutten Free Happy Tummy

Healthy Green Kitchen

Two Dogs In The Kitchen

So it’s more than 15, I admire so many I couldn’t stop!!

Here are 7 things about me that you may not know (or maybe you do):

1. I work in Real Estate, primarily Historic homes in Brooklyn, NY

2. I am an animal lover and advocate for animals

3. I am hopelessly disorganzied at times

4. Love to cook but because I live alone I don’t cook that often for myself (I do cook every day for my dogs though).

5. I travelled extensively in Europe and Africa, living in several different European countries

6. I hate unloading the dishwasher, but like loading it (Weird right?)

7. I LOVE horror films my absolute favorite genre!

NOTE: The bloggers named above are not required to re-award unless you want to, have the time and feel compelled.

Oct 18

22 Comments

Bake Together-Caramelized Pecan Sweet Potato Skillet Souffle

Sweet Potato Skillet Souffle

This months Bake Together with Abby Dodge is a skillet souffle, Abby’s beautiful caramelized pear souffle was the base recipe and as always we are given creative license to make it our own, I used the basic recipe switching pecans for pears and sweet potato puree for the mascarpone, I made a few other little tweaks to the recipe and I must say this is like a super light pecan pie. It was not without mishaps, I had to make it three times, the first time I burnt the pecans (multi tasking doesn’t work when you have time sensitive food on the stove) the second time I didn’t burn the pecans but I caramelized the pecans in the brown sugar and found that when the souffle was done the brown sugar and pecans turned to hard candy, it was overcooked. To remedy this I roasted the pecans in the butter, added the brown sugar, syrup and rum and just let it sit until I was ready to put the souffle in the pan. This yielded the gooey caramel sauce i wanted.

I just want to give a shameless plug for Abby’s new book, Mini Treats & Hand-Held Sweets I made her triple threat chocolate squares and they are so good, rich and fudgy I recommend you get this book, I want to make every single recipe.

Sweet caramel pecans

3/4 cup pecan halves

3 tbs butter

2 tbs firmly packed brown sugar

1 tbs Lyles golden syrup

1 tbs dark rum

Melt butter in non stick oven safe 8 inch saute pan, add pecans and saute for 2 minutes or until you can smell the nuts, add the brown sugar, rum and golden syrup stir to combine spread the pecans evenly in the pan and let sit until you are ready to add the souffle.

Souffle

2 large eggs at room temperature separated

1/4 cup sweet potato puree

2 tbs heavy cream

1 tbs brown sugar packed

2 tbs flour

pinch of salt

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees, wash sweet potato or yam, wrap in foil place on baking sheet and bake for 40-60 minutes depending on the size of the potato. You will know its done by pressing on it with your finger and it will feel very soft. Remove from oven and let cool.

When potato can be handled comfortably blend in food processor or blender until very smooth

Make the souffle

In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks, sweet potato puree, heavy cream and vanilla until well blended and smooth. Add the flour, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and salt and whisk until well blended.

In a (very clean) medium bowl ( you can use a stand mixer, if you’d like. I did.), beat the egg whites with an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment on medium speed until the whites are frothy, 30 – 45
seconds. Increase the speed to to medium high and beat until the whites are very foamy and barely soft peaks. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar, increase the speed to high. Continue beating until the peaks are glossy and
form soft, floppy peaks (see pic above). Scrape the beaten whites into the yolk mixture and gently fold until just blended.

Heat the skillet (with the pecans) over medium low heat. Gently pour/scrape the souffle mixture into the skillet and smooth the top. Reduce heat to low and cook until the edges begin to look dry, 3 to 4 minutes.

Using a potholder, slide the skillet into the oven and bake until the top is puffed, golden brown and the center springs back when lightly pressed, 5 to 7 minutes. Working quickly and using potholders (the
handle is super hot), move the skillet to a wire rack (or cool stovetop and dust the souffle with a light coating of confectioners’ sugar. Gently place the serving plate on top of the souffle and invert. Carefully
lift off the skillet. Using a small serrated knife, cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Oct 16

22 Comments

My Meatloaf is a Whole Foods Finalist!!

Meatloaf Plain And Simple

I was absolutely thrilled to see that my meatloaf recipe was chosen by the very nice folks at Whole Foods as a finalist. This is one of my favorite comfort foods and a real nod to my Mom who inspired this recipe. If you are so inclined and would vote for me here is the link. The other recipe is from one of my favorite cooks, Lapadia and her meatloaf roulade is amazing. Thanks so much Whole Foods for choosing my loaf and if you choose to vote for me, thank you very much!!

I posted the recipe here about a month ago if you would like to give it a try, it is really delicious.

Oct 8

20 Comments

Brandied Fig And Walnut Loaf

During fig season I always buy a lot of them, not just because I love them and eat them fresh, but I have to make a batch of brandied figs also. As I have said before, I don’t can or preserve so I make a few batches of brandied figs and store them in the refrigerator until I am ready to make the loaf. I like to let them sit in the jar for at least 2 weeks so they become soft and take on the flavor of the brandy or cognac. I use Martha Stewarts easy banana bread recipe as a base for just about every loaf I make, I simply sub different types of fruit, I altered the recipe for the banana bread a bit adding spices. It’s moist, gently spiced and really delicious and the perfect accompaniment to a cup of tea.

This recipe makes 1 loaf

1/2 cup 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup brandied figs chopped and slightly mashed, I added a tbs of the brandy syrup to the figs.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup full fat sour cream
1/2 cup toasted walnuts rough chop

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Chop your figs and set aside. Toast your walnuts and give a rough chop.
In large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until fluffy with mixer either hand held or standing using a paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time beating with each addition. In small mixing bowl add the flour, baking soda, salt and spices whisk to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter and egg and stir to combine. Add the figs, sour cream,vanilla and walnuts stir to combine and put in your loaf pan. Bake for 60-70 minutes. Tester or toothpick should come out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes turn out onto cooling rack, brush the top of the loaf with some of the fig syrup and cool completely before slicing. Enjoy!

Brandied Spiced Figs

1/2 cup brandy or cognac

1 1/2 cups water or apple cider

2 cups sugar (If you use cider reduce sugar to 1 1/3 cup)

1 cinnamon stick

2 slices orange peel

4 whole allspice

24 oz fresh figs (1 1/2 lbs)

Bring everything except the figs to a boil, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 30 minutes or until reduces by a third. Wash figs and cut in half and place in reduced syrup, let steep in the hot syrup for 30 minutes covered. Spoon the figs into sterilized jars packing tightly pour enough of the syrup to cover the figs completely, put lids on and refrigerate.

Oct 1

25 Comments

Simple Concord Grape Jam

Grape Jam on buttered english muffin

The last two weekends at the farmers market I have found plentiful amounts of concord grapes, it’s that time of year you know. I love them, eating them right off the stem sweet and tart at the same time and an intense burst of concord grape flavor. I bought a lot of them, really way too many to eat so I decided to try my hand at making jam. I have never canned or preserved anything before, one day I will, but not this time, so this jam has to be used fairly quickly within a month or so but honestly, it’s so good it didn’t last more than a week. I sterilized some canning jars poured the hot jam in the jar, sealed and refrigerated it overnight, by the morning it was thick rich intense grape jam. I have become somewhat obsessed with making jam now, giving jars to my daughter to take home for the kids and they are really enjoying it. This weekend I made a spiced plum jam following a recipe from Hannah and her beautiful blog, Blue Kale Road, it is amazing and you should try it. Back to the grape jam though, it’s so easy to make, and you can make it in small batches. This is going to make a really good PB&J sandwich.

Ingredients:

2 quarts (about 8 cups) concord grapes, cleaned and removed from stems

4 -4.5 cups sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Add grapes, sugar and lemon juice to a medium saucepan mash the grapes to release some of the juices. Bring to a boil on high heat, when it comes to a rolling boil reduce heat to medium and let simmer uncovered for about an 1-1 1/2 hours. You will notice it is thickening and it will coat your spoon. Drop some of the jam onto a saucer and if it thickens it’s ready.

simmering grapes

While the grapes are simmering sterilize your jars and lids, let them boil for 15 minutes, remove to a clean tea towel to dry. When the grapes have finished cooking take a large non reactive bowl, I used an 8 cup heatproof glass measuring cup place a sieve on top and carefully pour the grapes into it. Stir it so that the liquid drips into the bowl, stir constantly and scrape the bottom of the sieve from time to time.

Strain it well

All you want left is the skin and seeds, push the pulp through, there will be very little left in the sieve.

See not much left only seeds and skin

Place the liquid back in the saucepan and simmer on medium for about 15 minutes. Pour into sterilized jars, screw lids on tightly and let sit until it reaches room temperature. You then refrigerate overnight or several days. It will become very thick and jam like.

Sep 27

25 Comments

Meatloaf Plain And Simple

Meatloaf the ultimate comfort food

Ahh… Meatloaf, in my humble opinion just about the ultimate comfort food. So simple to make and so delicious and leftovers make a truly wonderful sandwich. This is my take on my Mom’s meatloaf, it was always tender and juicy and so delicious. I used ground pork and beef, freshly ground bread crumbs, vegetables (carrot, celery, onion and parsley) ground in the food processor and sauteed green pepper and mushrooms. I also add worcestershire sauce, heavy cream, and eggs. How easy is it to mix it up, plop it in the pan, shape and bake. No muss no fuss. I had to top it with ketchup, I am a huge fan of the stuff, you can make home made ketchup but I used plain old Heinz. I love serving this with creamy mashed potatoes and a vegetable side, and I am flooded with memories every time I take a bite. Gotta love meatloaf!!

1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef (85%)
1 large stalk celery
1 small onion or 1/2 medium
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley with the tender part of the stems
1 small size carrot peeled
1 small ripe tomato pureed in blender
1 pepper I used cubanelle but a small green pepper is fine chopped into small pieces
6 white stuffer mushrooms gently cleaned and chopped into small pieces
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons heavy cream (OPTIONAL)
1 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste
ketchup to glaze

Break up bread and pulse in processor until they are crumbs, set aside. Add celery, onion, carrot and parsley to processor and pulse until ground (not pulverized), set aside. Chop green peppers and mushrooms, place small saute pan on med high heat, add a little olive oil, first put the peppers in and saute until they begin to soften, add the mushrooms and saute both until they are softened and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Chop a ripe tomato into chunks and puree in the blender.

In large mixing bowl add the meat, ground vegetables, sauteed green peppers and mushrooms, tomato puree, worcestershire, eggs, cream, bread crumbs and salt and pepper. NOTE: to test for seasoning I microwave a spoonful to make sure that it is seasoned correctly. Mix well. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

Lightly oil a baking pan, plop the meatloaf into the pan and shape into loaf. Pour some ketchup on top and spread on the loaf Bake for 60-70 minutes until done. Let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.

Sep 19

37 Comments

Apple Cider Applesauce Coffee Cake

I make this recipe every year during apple season, it’s hands down one of my favorites. The cake is so moist and the aroma when baking is heavenly. I like to make homemade apple cider applesauce for the cake, it’s so easy and I think it really adds to the flavor of the cake, but using commercially made applesauce is perfectly acceptable. I saw this recipe in Martha Stewart Living magazine about 6 years ago. It’s loaded with apples, spices and is utterly delicious. I can’t wait for the apples to arrive at the farmers market this will be the first thing I make. My family loves it as do I. It keeps well and even tastes better the next day.

APPLE CIDER APPLESAUCE

1 pound juicy apples (Macintosh work very well) peeled. cored and cut into quarters
1/4 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon sugar, you can use white, turbinado or brown your choice
pinch of salt

Clean, peel, core and quarter the apples. Add to a medium saucepan. Add the cider, sugar and salt and boil until apples are soft. Remove from heat and mash (I used a potato masher) keep some small chunks of apples. Set aside to cool.

THE CRUMBLE TOPPING AND CAKE

The Crumble Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted pecans chopped (If you have a nut allergy the nuts can be omitted)
The Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves (Optional, I didn’t use, really don’t like cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup apple cider applesauce
2 small juicy apples (Macintosh work very well) peeled and sliced
1/2 cup toasted pecans chopped OPTIONAL

Make your crumble topping. In small bowl combine the butter, sugar, oats,flour, cinnamon, salt and pecans mix with fork or by hand to combine. Set aside.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat your tube pan with cooking spray or vegetable oil. (I recommend using a non stick pan) Sift flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Cream butter and white and brown sugar in your electric mixer until smooth about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time make sure egg is incorporated before you add another one. With mixer on low add the applesauce and then the flour mixture. Mix just until combined. Add the optional chopped pecans and fold in.
Pour batter into oiled pan. Place apple slices on top of cake tucking some into the batter,sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake for 60-70 minutes check by inserting cake tester (I used a bamboo skewer) near the middle of the cake and it should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cake cool in pan on wire rack.
Remove from pan and if you do not serve immediately wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until ready to serve. NOTE: if you make in a bundt pan like I did it could take some coaxing to get it out of the pan when cooled. It could be easier to remove from a tube pan because it does not have all the grooves that a bundt pan does.

Sep 18

23 Comments

Fig And Goat Cheese Tart

Figs are in season and then they are gone like a flash. I wanted to take advantage of the beautiful fresh figs available in a recipe using Mosto Cotto syrup. It’s delicious, and can be used in both sweet and savory recipes. I used it as a syrup to pair with a buttermilk panna cotta and as a glaze for ribs. It’s so versatile. For this recipe I steeped fresh mission figs in Mosto Cotto with black peppercorns, orange and cointreau. I wanted the figs to retain their shape and texture so instead of poaching in the syrup I steeped them for a few hours. The figs were soft but firm enough to retain their shape and the flavor of the syrup permeated each fig. I then sliced them, and reduced the syrup by about half and used it as a glaze for the figs. The tangy goat cheese only slightly sweetened with honey and the figs steeped in delicious Mosto Cotto syrup is delicious. I made a traditional pie dough because I wanted something flaky and a bit more delicate than a tart dough, I used my go to recipe from Julia Child. This would be equally delicious though in a more substantial tart crust or even puff pastry.I created this recipe when I was asked to do a guest post for Marx Foods, who carry Mosto Cotto, and I happily agreed to do so. I will always keep a bottle in my pantry, it’s just that good. The beauty of this tart is how easy it is to prepare. It really takes almost no time at all to put together, and makes a lovely not too sweet dessert or put a slice or two of prosciutto di parma on top for a nice lunch. NOTE: If you can purchase Mosto Cotto I highly recommend but if you can’t use wine, the Mosto Cotto is made from Montepulciano grapes from the Abruzzo region of Italy and also Amarena Cherries, try to find a wine using those grapes if you can (Montepulciano d’Abruzzo) for the syrup if you cannot then use a good red wine it will be fine.

Figs and Syrup

1lb (6-7 fresh ripe figs)

1/2 cup Mosto Cotto Syrup

1/2 cup sugar

2 strips (approx 2 inches wide) orange skin- careful not to include the pith

3 whole black peppercorns

1 tbs cointreau

Bring mosto cotto, sugar, orange rind, peppercorns and cointreau to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. While it’s simmering slice the figs in half and place in heat proof bowl. Pour the hot syrup over the figs and cover. Let sit until it reaches room temperature.

Making the tart

10.5 oz soft goat cheese (chevre) at room temperature

1 heaping tbs honey (I used peach blossom)

Favorite pie dough, tart crust recipe. (You could also use puff pastry for this)

Juilia Childs Pastry Dough

Makes enough dough for a double crust 9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp salt

6 oz cold unsalted butter cut into tbs size pieces

4 tbs shortening or leaf lard cold

1/2 cup ice cold water

You can make this either by hand or in the food processor. To make by hand, put flours, salt, butter, lard or shortening into mixing bowl, use pastry cutter to combine until it resembles pea size crumbs. Add water mix with fork, gather with your hands, divide dough into a 2 discs and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

In Food Processor, add the flours, salt, butter and shortening or lard into the bowl of the processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles pea size crumbs. Add the water and pulse a few times until it becomes a cohesive dough. Divide dough into two discs and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Blind bake your pie dough, I like to use a rectangular shape for this tart, either use a fluted rectuangular tart pan or a small 1/2 sheet pan. Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out your dough to fit into the tin, prick with fort multiple times, ( chill in refrigerator at least 20 minutes before baking) place a piece of parchment on top and add pie weights or beans.Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove parchment and weights and bake again for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool. While the pie crust is cooling slice the figs into thin slices approximately 1/4 inch thick, set aside. Pour the remaining syrup into sauce pan, removing peppercorns and orange zest and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and reduce by 1/2 (It takes about 10 minutes) or until syrup thickens. Let cool.

Place goat cheese in mixing bowl add honey and whip until fluffy.

Smooth onto tart, arrange figs on top and brush some of the reduced mosto cotto syrup over the fruit. Serve as is or it’s delicious to lay a slice of prosciutto di parma on top.

Sep 13

21 Comments

Chocolate Brown Butter Hand Pies With Banana Hazelnut Filling

Chocolate Brown Butter Hand Pies

Every month I look forward to Bake Together, Abby always comes up with a delicious recipe to challenge and entice. Septembers Bake Together is a party, to celebrate the release of Abby’s new cookbook, Mini Treats & Handheld Sweets ~100 Delicious Desserts to Pick Up and Eat! The pie dough is amazing, it’s really adapted from a cookie dough in her book. There is brown butter and brown sugar and each pie is filled with a delicious fruit filling. I took Abby’s wonderful recipe for Brown Butter Apple Hand Pies and added my own touch, I thought it would be fun to make a chocolate crust filled with banana’s and hazelnuts with a hint of orange, a bit of a change from your traditional filling. Abby’s pie’s were rectangular I decided to go for round, using a fluted cutter. The banana mixed with the nuts, brown sugar and orange zest is delicious.

For the chocolate brown butter dough
16 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup (7 ounces) firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup+ 1 tbs unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup natural cocoa powder

Filling

4-5 medium size ripe but firm banana’s chopped into small pieces

3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup brown sugar not packed

1/2 tsp orange zest

Make the filling right before you are going to assemble the tarts, place chopped banana, hazelnuts, orange zest and brown sugar in a bowl and toss to combine, the brown sugar should coat each piece of banana.

Make the dough
Put the butter in a large saucepan. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until nutty brown and the milk solids are dark brown, 6 to 7 minutes. Slide the pan from the heat and add the brown sugar, and salt. Stir until the sugar is almost dissolved, then set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Using your fingertip, check the temperature of the batter—it should be warm but not hot. If it’s hot, set the pan aside for a few more minutes before continuing with the recipe.

Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until well blended. Add the flour and cocoa and stir until a smooth, soft dough forms.

Arrange two pieces of plastic wrap on the counter and scrape the dough onto the center of one. Divide the dough in half (about 14 3/4 ounces each) and put half on the second piece of plastic wrap. Using the plastic as a guide, shape both into 5-inch squares.Wrap in the plastic and set aside at room temperature until firm enough to roll, about 3 hours. (You can pop the dough into the refrigerator for a hour or so, but you don’t want the dough to be too chilled. It would be impossible to roll.)

Assemble and bake
Line two cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick liners. Put the egg and water in a small bowl and, using a fork, mix until well blended.

Working with one piece of dough at a time on a lightly floured piece of parchment (this dough is soft, so the parchment is a must for successful rolling), roll out to a rectangle slightly larger than 9×15 inches. Using a sharp paring knife or a fluted roller and a ruler, trim the edges to get a neat 9×15-inch rectangle, then cut into 3 x 2 1/2-inch rectangles (for a total of 18 rectangles). Arrange the pastry rectangles about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets and cover with plastic. Roll out and cut the second piece of dough as you did the first one. NOTE: I made round pie’s so I did not make an even rectangle.

Uncover the dough on one of the cookie sheets. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the filling onto the center of each rectangle and spread down the center, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the edges. Using a small pastry brush, brush the edges of each rectangle with egg wash. Lay the remaining rectangles over the filling. Using the tines of a fork, press (or crimp) the pastry edges to seal. Lightly brush the top of each hand tart with egg wash. Using the tip of a small, sharp knife, cut 2 small slits in the top of each hand tart to let steam escape. Sprinkle the tops with some of the turbanado sugar and slide the cookie sheets into the fridge while the oven heats up. (NOTE: because I used fluted rounds I brushed the edge of each with the egg wash, laid the top on and gently pressed all the way around to seal)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake on center rack in oven for approximately 20 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes on pan then remove to wire cooling rack. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream.