blueberries – Wait…are those…cookies?!

September 4, 2021

Gratitude & summer cobbler

Hello from the long weekend!

Summer cobbler for you today – I found a glut of blackberries on sale at the market so of course had to get them… plus more pluots! I’ve been lucky to find those also continually on sale, and since those aren’t something I’d ever be able to find frozen (like blueberries or something) I almost always will get them. Plus, their season is so short!

I’m breathing a large sigh of relief this weekend – the Caldor fire came extremely close to camp, and it’s really only through the insanely hard work of the firefighters and some natural advantages (lots of granite) that we came through relatively unscathed. Not fully out of danger yet as there are plenty of spot fires nearby still and the fire is in no way majority contained, but I’m still feeling mostly just a huge weight off. It feels at this point as if we’ve come through the worst of it. Regardless, it was a super stressful week and I’m looking forward to some chill time this weekend.

A few photos of the best place, just because.

and a throwback to the very first time tiny me went to Two Sentinels!

This weekend is off to a great start with an early run, coffee and baking! I love my quiet Saturday mornings. Plus, this morning is foggy in the city and we know how much I love that ;) aaaand my quiet morning rolled right into a pizza lunch with a bestie so this weekend day keeps getting better.

This cobbler is one of those easy summer desserts that is heavy on fruit (as I firmly believe ALL summer desserts should be) – it comes together really quickly either by hand or with a food processor. I actually prefer cutting in the butter by hand as I find it relaxing, and it also means I don’t have to wash out my food processor!

I hope your long weekend is full of relaxing and fun, whatever that looks like for you! Mine has friends, fave human, lots of exercise and reading (ha – not shocking)! Sending happy long weekend vibes from my kitchen to yours.

Pluot and Summer Berry Cobbler with Poppyseed Biscuits

A perfect use of those late summer berries! Whole grain, refined sugar free and full of fruit – this uses blackberries, blueberries and pluots for an easy cobbler that comes together in a flash. Yield: 1 8-9″ cobbler; serves several! A Wait are those Cookies original.

for the biscuits:
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 oat flour
1/4 c rolled oats + more for sprinkling
⅔ cup medium-grind cornmeal
1 tbsp coconut sugar
1.5 tsp poppyseeds
1 ½ tbsp baking powder
¼ teaspoon sea salt
4 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tbsp whole milk yogurt
⅔ cup half and half (or heavy cream) + more for brushing
1 tsp coconut sugar for sprinkling over the tops

for the fruit:
4 large pluots, cut into ~1″ pieces
2 c blackberries
1 c blueberries
juice and zest of one lemon
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp maple
1/4 water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For filling, in a large bowl, toss together pluots, berries, lemon zest, and juice. In a small bowl, whisk together tapioca starch, extracts, maple, and water, then pour over the fruit. Allow mixture to stand while making the biscuits.

For the biscuits: in a large bowl, stir together whole wheat flour, oat flour, cornmeal, 1/4 c oats, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in the butter and either using a pastry cutter or your fingers, work it into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly and resembles coarse sand (basically, you want little butter pieces evenly distributed throughout the dry ingredients). Add in yogurt and half and half, stirring until the dough just starts to come together. This dough is a little on the slightly sticky side, so you’ll make drop biscuits out of it – no need to roll it out.

Scrape filling into a 2 1/2-quart baking dish or very deep pie plate (whatever fits!) You should be able to get about 8-9 biscuits out of the dough – scoop up large spoonfuls of dough, roughly shape into rounds, and arrange them on top of the filling. Brush with extra half and half, and sprinkle with oats and coconut sugar. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until filling is bubbling and biscuits are golden. Serve warm or at room temp; store leftovers in the fridge overnight.

February 6, 2021

More citrus! Shocked? I thought not.

Wow jeez apparently all I make anymore are citrus galettes! We both love them, they’re fast and easy, and citrus is perfect right now.

This week was a little better on the autoimmune front. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but at least better for the moment. I took a sanity break/mental health day on Thursday and C and I went up for a skiing day trip! Super fun, it felt so good to be back on skis. Haven’t done that much driving in a looooong time, but the Prius handled itself admirably in the snow AND a long fun day was followed by a faceplant into a carnitas burrito and a giant plate of nachos. Win win win all around.

I’ve also been swimming in the Bay lately! I LOVE IT. It’s very cold obviously – wet suit necessary – but omg. It feels so good. Maybe I’m just a freak of nature but I really like cold water. I’m not far from Aquatic Park either so it makes for a great lunchtime break.

very red little ice blocks pretending to be feet

I love living in the Bay for that reason: skiing one day, swimming in the bay the next. It is so worth the ridiculous rents… mental health > high rent, always!

But anyway. Back to the topic at hand: galette! Hopefully you’re not sick of seeing yet another iteration of citrus galette…. I swear they’re delicious. This one had a hull breach, as you can see… but I like when they’re less than perfect. I use a jam that is only fruit-sweetened, so this little guy is technically free of added sugars, wooo! It’s also full of whole grains. I posted the link to a gluten/grain free crust too, if needed – I love that one too, it comes together really easily in the food processor.

Happy weekend! I hope yours is full of outside time and sunshine.

Grapefruit, Blueberry & Hazelnut Galette

Refined sugar free and whole grain! If you need a grain and gluten free crust, I like this one. I used two small grapefruit for this – you might be able to get away with one large one and more blueberries. Lightly sweet and perfectly citrusy! Yield: 1 galette, serves several. A Wait are Those Cookies original.

for the crust:

1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/4 c hazelnut flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
4oz/1 stick of unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2-3 tbsp ice water

In a food processor, pulse together whole wheat flour, cornmeal, hazelnut flour, and sea salt. Add in cubed butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand. Add vanilla & almond extract, and then the ice water. I typically add three tbsp water, pulse a few times, then add more if need be, 1tbsp at a time, stopping just when the dough starts to come together. Turn it out onto a board and knead it into a ball. I like to roll it immediately since it’s most pliable – typically I haven’t had trouble with this dough sticking or cracking if rolled immediately. I roll it between two sheets of parchment paper and use the bottom one to bake the galette on; makes an easy transferral method between cookie sheet & cooling rack. If you’re not rolling immediately, stick it in the fridge on a plate. Can be made ahead the night before if need be. If you are rolling immediately, roll it out into a circle about 1/4″ thick.

for the filling:

2 grapefruits, peeled & sliced crossways
1/2 c wild blueberries (mine were frozen; no need to thaw)
2 tbsp apricot jam (I use St. Dalfour’s, which has no added sugar – just fruit juice)
milk/half and half for brushing

Preheat the oven to 425. Spread the apricot jam over the middle of the dough, leaving a 1″ border, then pile on the sliced grapefruit and blueberries. Fold up the sides of the dough over the fruit. Brush the dough with milk or half and half. Pop in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving. Store leftovers in the fridge overnight – it’s great for breakfast :)

August 29, 2020

Camp + Pie

Hi friends :)

More pie! Told ya I’d be on the pie train for awhile…. this is a little camp love in pie form. The place that holds a not insignificant piece of my heart in its high Sierra beauty and the faces of my camp family.

Spent a great weekend up at camp with C awhile back but I don’t think I ever shared pictures – here are a few faves. Replacing the siding on one of our original buildings (they date to 1936 when the camp was built) plus some of Mother Nature’s most gorgeous looks.

I decided last night it was high time to make a camp-themed pie, and it turns out intricate pie crusts are the perfect activity for a smoky Saturday morning. Unlike some of my other fancy pie crusts, I did this one without drawing a template first – proof positive that pie dough is more forgiving than you think!

But back to pie. This one is full of late summer peaches and wild blueberries, plus a hefty dose of fresh ginger for a spicy kick. I added dark rye flour to the crust for a twist on my standard whole wheat crust – I love rye, and so does C, so this is a nice spin on the usual. Not overwhelming, but a subtle little somethin’ somethin’.

I do find that the straight whole wheat pastry flour crust is slightly easier to handle, so if you’re new to pie crust or maybe just not feeling it, using all whole wheat is awesome too.

As per usual, I’m 100% sure this is going to be eaten tonight with ice cream – I’m an a la mode girl, for SURE – and tomorrow morning for breakfast, because is it even worth making pie if you don’t eat it for breakfast?! Nope, I think is the answer you’re looking for.

I hope everyone is staying safe, what with everything going on in the world right now. Sending pielove from my corner of the internet straight into your kitchens :)

Gingery Peach and Wild Blueberry Pie on a Rye Crust

Nothing like late summer pie. Wild blueberries, peaches, and fresh ginger in a dark rye and whole wheat crust. A Wait are those Cookies original. Yield: 1 9″ pie; serves several.

for the crust

1.5 c whole wheat pastry flour
1 c dark rye flour
1 scant tsp fine sea salt
8oz unsalted butter (2 sticks), cubed & cold
2 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 tbsp ice water

for the filling

4-5 peaches, sliced
2 c wild blueberries
2 tsp fresh ginger, finely minced
2 tbsp maple
1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 tbsp tapioca starch
zest & juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, stir together all the filling ingredients. Let sit while you make the dough.

In a food processor (or by hand, but I actually love using the food processor for this dough; it comes together in a snap and keeps it from getting overworked), pulse together flours and salt. Add in cubed butter, and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add in ice water – I start usually with four tbsp, then add a tbsp at a time until the dough comes together in a ball.

Turn it out onto a floured surface, divide it in half and and roll it out – I prefer to roll and then chill, since the dough is easier to work with that way. You’ll roll out a circle that’s slightly larger than the top of your pie plate, to make for crimping excess. Lay the dough into the dish, tucking the edge underneath and crimping it as desired. Do whatever you want with the top crust! Shapes, traditional top crust, lattice, whatever. Once the bottom crust is in, stick the whole dish into the freezer for 5-10 minutes while you roll out the top (helps prevent shrinking). No need to cover since it’s not in there very long.

Preheat the oven to 425, and bring out the chilled bottom crust. Pile in the fruit, lay on the top crust, and dot the fruit with butter. Brush the top crust with an egg wash and sprinkle with a little coconut sugar if you like (I like the color). Bake for 10 minute at 425, then lower the temp to 350 and bake another 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is bubbly. Remove from the oven and let cool before slicing and serving.

August 9, 2020August 9, 2020

Bluebs for Fogust

Hi blog friends –

Full transparency: I’ve been hit by a case of the covid/state of the country blues lately, and am not in the best headspace ever, at the moment. That being said, I’m going to keep this short, focus on pretty, delicious things, and then go clean the crap out of my apartment to make myself feel a bit better.

These bars are really good though. Perfect for a late summer dessert, or even for the times when you have blueberries that are just past perfect – maybe you don’t want to eat them out of hand, but they’re still perfectly good? Yep. These bars are a great vehicle for that. I love them for their simplicity, dietary restriction friendliness, and overall ease. Not to mention you can use whatever you have on hand, which is always a winner.

They’re gluten & grain free, refined sugar free, dairy free, vegan & paleo, making them suitable for just about everyone (sorry to my nut free friends out there; next time!)

C and I ofc ate them for dessert last night with ice cream – definitely recommend. Equally good for breakfast by themselves though, so keep some leftovers!

Fogust is definitely in full swing, and the dahlias are still gorgeous – I checked on them last Thursday, just to see… I just can’t stay away.

Sending love from my kitchen to yours! Happy baking :)

Sesame Ginger Blueberry Crumble Bars

Gluten and grain free, refined sugar free, dairy free, vegan & paleo. Something for everyone! Excellent alone or with ice cream, perfect for a late summer dessert. Nutty, slightly spicy, and naturally sweet. A Wait are Those Cookies original. Yield: 1 8 or 9″ pan of bars; serves several.

For the berry filling

1/2 bag (~1 c) frozen wild blueberries
1/2 pint fresh blueberries
zest & juice of one lime
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp tapioca flour
1/4 c chia seeds
1 tbsp vanilla

In a small saucepan, heat berries, lime zest and juice, maple, sea salt, and tapioca until the berries have popped and the liquid is just barely boiling, 10ish minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in chia seeds & vanilla; let cool.

For the crust & crumble

2.5 c almond flour
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt, heaping
3 tbsp maple
5 tbsp melted coconut oil
1/2 c chopped pecans
1/4 c unsweetened coconut
3 tbsp black sesame or toasted sesame seeds
3 tbsp crystalized ginger, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 and line some kind of 9” pan with parchment – this is the least fussy recipe ever, so square, round, tart pan, etc – whatever you have is fine! I used an 9” pie plate. In a large bowl, stir almond flour, vanilla, salt, maple, chopped walnuts and coconut oil together. Reserve a heaping half cup and stir in the sesame, coconut and ginger (this will be the top bit) – set aside. Press the rest of the dough into the base of the pan, and bake for 12-15 minutes until set. Remove from the oven and top evenly with blueberry chia jam. Crumble the rest of the reserved topping on the berries, and bake for another 23-25 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown and the berries are bubbly. Remove and let cool completely before serving. It’s also fabulous cold – I made mine the night before serving, refrigerated overnight and served straight out of the fridge – highly recommended. Leftovers keep well covered in the fridge for a day or two but I dare you to have any ;)

August 2, 2020September 28, 2020

Happy Fogust!

Hi Friends!

I love fogust. Hiking through Glen Canyon this time of year with the trailing little fog tendrils is the BEST. Not to mention – we did Twin Peaks this morning and it felt like hiking into the cloud layer, it was so foggy. Nice and humid – good for the skin, and to wake up – we literally rolled out of bed and into this hike. Not mad. Today’s included 10 pushups every mile for just under 6 mi – highly recommend.

Especially when there is galette waiting at home for breakfast! I love eating this with coffee. It’s literally the best of all possible worlds. I add barely any sweetener to it – only a sprinkle of coconut sugar at the end. It’s PERFECT for stone fruit season, which is peaking just about now it seems like – we’ll have great fruit for awhile yet, but it’s quite literally unbeatable at the current moment.

I was also lucky enough to get a shipment of a friend’s homemade apricot jam, yaaass!!!! I love having friends with fruit. I now have several jars of jam waiting in the wings – some of it went in here, to great effect – some of it will go on toast, I’m 1000% sure, and the rest, well…. we’ll just see ;)

As per usual, this did double duty last night for dessert and for breakfast with eggs+salad this morning – I am currently obsessed with trying rye in everything, just in case you hadn’t noticed. German rye bread is a fave of ours, and I find that rye works really well in a bunch of different dessert applications, especially when paired with fruit. It’s pretty subtle – more so than say, eating rye bread – the flavor is noticeable, but doesn’t smack you over the head with it.

Let’s see, what else.

Ooooh! The dahlias are INSANE right now, look! Just look at them! How incredible are these?! The mind boggles. I’m so lucky I live within walking distance to the Dahlia Garden in Golden Gate Park – I go over frequently to check on them.

On that note, happy Fogust! I hope you and yours had a relaxing weekend, hopefully involving dessert and summer fruit bounty.

Peach, Apricot & Blueberry Galette with a Rye Crust

Refined sugar free and whole grain. Peeerrrfect for late summer stone fruit bounty – use whatever looks good! Proportions will pretty much stay the same. There is barely any sweetener added – just a finishing sprinkle of coconut sugar – so make sure you fruit is nice and ripe. Yield: 1 galette, serves several.

for the crust:
3/4 c dark rye flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/4 c almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
4oz/1 stick of unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
2-3 tbsp ice water

In a food processor, pulse together rye flour, cornmeal, almond flour, and sea salt. Add in cubed butter and pulse until it resembled coarse sand. Add vanilla & almond extract, then the ice water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough starts to come together. Turn it out onto a board and knead it into a ball. Flatten slightly and stick it into the fridge while you cut up the fruit (can be refrigerated up to several days if you want to make it in advance).

For the fruit:

peaches, sliced (I used probably ~5)
heaping 1c blueberries
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp tapioca starch

1/4 c apricot jam (preferably homemade by a friend ;)

In a large bowl, toss together sliced peaches, blueberries, lemon zest/juice, and tapioca.

Preheat the oven to 425. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Spread the jam in a thin layer over the middle of the dough. Pile the fruit in the center, leaving a border of about 3″. Fold up the sides of the dough over the fruit. Brush the dough with an egg wash and sprinkle with a little coconut sugar. Dot fruit with butter if you like, though it’s not strictly necessary. Pop in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving. Store leftovers in the fridge overnight – it’s great for breakfast :)

July 19, 2020

summer shortcakes

Hi friends!

It’s shortcake time, because summer is for shortcakes. They’re perfect with all the fresh berries and stone fruit at the markets right now, and they can be made in about 20 minutes. Winning!

These are cornmeal and rye, since over here we are obsessed with all things cornmeal and rye. Highly recommend with vanilla ice cream, though whipped cream would be equally excellent . These are equally good with strawberries and blueberries, but I’m pretty sure peaches would be fantastic too. Basically, they’re adaptable and delicious no matter what you do with them or how you serve them.

In fact, we ate them for brunch this morning and there may or may not have been ice cream involved then too. Although to be fair, we had eggs and greens too because, balance. Ha! Took a smallish hike this morning too – it was nice a foggy cool, perfect city summer. These shortcakes go amazingly well with coffee, might I add.

It’s also dahlia season! One of my absolute faves, and they’re just going gangbusters over in the Dahlia Glen at GGP – if you live locally, def go check them out. Hmmm what else. Roasted veg! Always pretty.

Going to keep it short today because it’s Sunday and I can feel a nap coming on. Happy weekend, blog friends!

Berry Shortcakes on Cornmeal Rye Biscuits

Whole grain & refined sugar free. I much prefer a biscuit to a shortcake, so here we are. These are one of my favorite summer desserts – so easy, so delicious. Plus, you can use literally whatever fruit looks good at the market. Yield: 6 biscuits. Adapted from the NYT, here.

1/3 c dark rye flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
4 tsp baking powder
pinch of sea salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 c buttermilk (or plain yogurt thinned w/ milk, which is what I used)

Preheat the oven to 450, and line a baking sheet with two layers of foil.
In a food processor, pulse together rye, whole wheat, cornmeal, baking powder and sea salt. Pulse in butter until the mixture is uniformly crumbly and looks like wet sand. Turn everything out into a bowl, and stir in the egg and buttermilk (or yogurt) – I like to use my fingers for this – I find it keeps me from overmixing. The dough should come together enough pretty easily. Turn it out onto a marble pastry board or a lightly floured countertop, and pat it into a 1/2″ thick layer. Cut into rounds or squares – if you don’t have a biscuit cutter, a cookie cutter works well too, or a glass. Just make sure whatever you use is sharp – a sharper edge means higher rising biscuits! Pat the scraps back together to cut the last few – you should be able to get 6 out of this.

Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheet, sprinkle with a little coconut sugar, and bake for 14-15 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack to cool before serving.

Serve with freshly cut fruit, and ice cream! Or whipped cream, or coconut cream, or whatever. Anything and everything is good here.

June 22, 2020

never enough stone fruit

Summer stone fruit!! Is totally the best!! I loooove the market bounty right now: basically anything you pick up is going to be delicious, and shine in whatever context you put it in.

Galettes are one of my favorite blank canvases for fresh produce: they are fruit forward; the crust can be whatever you want it to be (grain free? sure! gluten free? absolutely. whole wheat & cornmeal? done. herbs? why not!) and nearly any fruit works. They also make an amazing breakfast as well as dessert. Not to mention, they’re supremely unfussy and relaxed.

This one highlights some great peaches I picked up at the market, plus some blueberries that were slightly less than stellar (baking them totally takes care of that), plus rosemary that had been hanging out in my fridge and needed to be used – I love love love rosemary in my desserts, so that was an easy sell for me; also I hate wasting food in any way so odds & ends tend to find their way into dessert.

It’s pretty indicative of my week/weekend/week that I started this post 48 hours ago and am just now finishing it…. HELLOOOO DEADLINES nice to see you. I definitely worked pretty much all weekend so dessert had to be fast, which this one was. It was a great mental break to bake while it was foggy out, early Saturday morning. That is my preferred baking time (though obviously I love to bake so any baking time is good baking time).

reality. baking + monitor with work on the other side

Very short today because I just finished 11+ marathon hours of interview prep for the project we’re shortlisted for, and I’m dead. But I couldn’t leave this undone, plus dinner is in the oven so I have some downtime for a minute before I go back to work.

I hope your week from here on out is smooth sailing! Do yourself a favor and make galette, you’ll seriously thank yourself later.

Peach & Blueberry Galette with a Rosemary Cornmeal Crust

Whole grain and refined sugar free. A rustic galette with a crunchy cornmeal crust – great for all that summer fruit bounty! Yield: 1 galette; serves several. A Wait are those Cookies original.

for the crust:
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c cornmeal
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary
4oz (1 stick) of unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp ice water

In a food processor, pulse together whole wheat flour, cornmeal, sea salt & rosemary. Add in cubed butter and pulse until it resembled coarse sand. Add vanilla and ice water 1 tbsp at a time until the dough starts to come together. Turn it out onto a board and knead it into a ball. Flatten slightly and stick it into the fridge while you cut up the fruit (can be refrigerated up to several days if you want to make it in advance).

For the fruit:

4 peaches, sliced
1/2 c blueberries
2 tsp tapioca starch
1 tbsp maple

In a large bowl, toss together sliced peaches, blueberries, tapioca and maple.

Preheat the oven to 425. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until it’s about 1/4″ thick. Pile the fruit in the center, leaving a border of about 3″. Fold up the sides of the dough over the fruit. Brush the dough with an egg wash and sprinkle with a little coconut sugar. Dot fruit with butter if you like, though it’s not strictly necessary. Pop in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is lightly browned. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving. Store leftovers in the fridge overnight – it’s great for breakfast :)

June 7, 2020

summer is for stone fruit

Hi internet friends.

It’s been such a week… I don’t even know where to start with everything. I am doing my damndest to show up, learn, educate myself, listen, and give back – though somehow it doesn’t ever quite feel like enough. But I feel that the least I can do is continue to offer a place to inspire baked goods made with love, to send a little peace out into the world from my corner of the internet.

Today’s baked thing is a cobbler I made for the weekend, with perfect summer fruit and easy drop biscuit topping. It’s whole grain, refined sugar free, and very nearly lactose free – not to mention pretty infinitely adaptable: the flours are very flexible, if you only have one or the other OR decide you don’t want to use either (no judgement here, obviously); the fruit can be swapped around depending on what you have and what looks good in the market.

I’ve never really baked with white nectarines before but I can definitely recommend them – I left the skin on since I felt they might have a tendency to disintegrate. C looooved them – I caught him searching around in the dish a little to find more of them, ha! To be fair, I was on the lookout for extra ginger so it all worked out. This was great for dessert with ice cream and a Marvel movie, and def excellent for bfast this morning as well. No complaints.

Keeping it short today – there is a lot out there to absorb. I hope everyone is doing well – enjoying whatever weather you have and the gorgeous summer produce season!

Nectarine & Berry Cobbler with Whole Wheat, Oat and Ginger Biscuits

A Wait are those Cookies original. Yield: 1 8″ or 9″ cobbler, definitely serves several but also makes excellent breakfast leftovers (and/or just make it for breakfast instead). Fruity, summery & easy.

For the biscuits:

1c whole wheat pastry
1/2c oat flour
1 tbsp maple
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled & cut into chunks
3 tbsp ghee (or three more tbsp butter)
3/4 c whole milk plain Kefir (or buttermilk, or thinned out yogurt)
handful of crystallized ginger

For the filling:

~5 smallish white nectarines, sliced (I leave the skin on)
2 pints blackberries
1 pint blueberries
2 tsp tapioca starch
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp vanilla
pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine sliced nectarines and berries in a deep 8×8″ pan (mine holds quarts) or a 9×9 dish, or a small casserole dish, OR a pie plate… basically whatever, as long as it’s deep 2 Mix together tapioca starch, water, vanilla and sea salt and pour everything over the fruit. Let sit while you prep the biscuit dough.

In a large bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder & soda, salt, and cinnamon. Cut in the butter with your fingers until everything resembles coarse sand and there aren’t any big chunks left. Stir in the maple, kefir vanilla, and ginger pieces until just combined – be careful not to overmix, since nobody likes tough biscuits!

Drop evenly sized biscuit dough blobs onto the fruit, sprinkle with a little coconut sugar, and bake for 35-40 min, until the biscuits are lightly browned and the fruit is bubbling.

Serve with ice cream! Duh. Or eat it for breakfast. Keeps well overnight in the fridge, in its dish covered with foil.

view from above. note the empty coffee cup…

August 31, 2019

Late summer desserts should by all means be messy & delicious

Hello friends!

It feels like it’s been ages – such a busy summer. Tomorrow is September already!! I can hardly believe it.

I took advantage of a crop of slightly below-par blueberries (as in, I was finding they were a bit too squishy to want to eat out of hand but were perfect for jammy goodness) to make these super simple blueberry crumb bars. Essentially they’re made of two very basic essentials: blueberry chia jam and almond flour dough. They take only about 30 min to throw together and bake, and they are GREAT with ice cream, just saying. The general consensus was that they were like pie, only not pie, and very easy pie at that.

Also, they can feed all your friends! Free of the glutens, the grains, the lactoses, and the refined sugars – everyone will love you. Just don’t feed them to your friends who are allergic to nuts, that would be no bueno.

Perfect late summer eats, when it’s hot and you want something to use up the absurd amount of fruit you’ve just bought at the market. No? Just me? I know you do it too…. summer fruit is too good to resist.

(those are spoon marks, btw, not bite marks.. just in case you were wondering, we ate it straight out of the pan with spoons because, why not?)

I’ve been enjoying a ton of nice walks – mostly home from work – but I still get some great views and it’s great to move around after sitting all day. There have been some beautiful sunsets visible from my apartment too!

A few photos of life lately…

fullsizeoutput_26f2

fullsizeoutput_26c7

I hope you’re kicking back and relaxing this holiday weekend! I may have more baking on tap, we’ll see we’ll see ;)

Happy Saturday!

Blueberry Hazelnut Crumb Bars

Gluten & grain free, refined sugar free, and lactose free! Paleo, basically. Perfect use of a crop of late summer bloobs… yield: 1 8″ pan, serves several. A Wait are Those Cookies original.

For the blueberry filling

2 c blueberries (I used a combo of fresh & frozen)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp tapioca flour
1/4 c chia seeds

In a small saucepan, heat blueberries, cinnamon, sea salt, and tapioca until just barely boiling, 5-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chia seeds; let cool.

For the crust & crumble

2 c almond flour
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp maple
3 tbsp melted ghee
1/3 c chopped hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 and line some kind of 8” pan with parchment – this is the least fussy recipe ever, so square, round, tart pan, etc – whatever you have is fine! I used an 8” round cake pan. In a large bowl, stir almond flour, vanilla, salt, maple and ghee together. Reserve half a cup and stir in the hazelnuts (this will be the top bit) – set aside. Press the rest of the dough into the base of the pan, and bake for 12-15 minutes until set. Remove from the oven and top evenly with blueberry mixture. Crumble the rest of the reserved hazelnut crumble on the top of the blueberries, and bake for another 23-25 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown and the blueberries are bubbly. Remove and let cool completely before serving. It’s also fabulous cold – I made mine the night before serving, refrigerated overnight and served straight out of the fridge – highly recommended. Leftovers keep well covered in the fridge for a day or two but I dare you to have any ;)

August 27, 2016November 7, 2016

The only acceptable summer blues

Hi! I made galette again because it was so good last time I just couldn’t stay away. Besides, it’s still gloriously late summer so I will stay happily buried in late summer fruit desserts until seasonality dictates otherwise.

These are the only acceptable kind of summer blues!

I also sojourned up to Portland for a minute last weekend and caught up with all the PNW buds and did ALL the EATING. No really. ALL of it. Rather glad to be back to eating my kale and eggs, I will say — love traveling and love eating but omg I need a break after awhile! So now I’m back and galetting around, blah blah the usual.

I may have gone a little overboard in my excitement of finding an enormous (2 pound!) clamshell of organic blueberries at whole foods for a reasonable price…. apparently they disappeared about 2 hours later too so obviously it was meant to be and my excitement is warranted. There were 2 full cups of blueberries in this thaaang, which meant that I was more than slightly concerned with its structural integrity. However! The crust held its own (barely) and all the goodness stayed contained within its slightly leaky exterior. Galette structural engineering for the win.

For those who love lemon and blueberry, this is for you. Flaky crust, jammy blueberries and tart lemon curd. Late summer shenanigans don’t get much better than this! Messy, beautiful and delicious, just like summer should be.

Grain Free Blueberry Galette with Lemon Curd

Grain free, gluten free, paleo, and refined sugar free! Easy to put together and obviously delicious or I wouldn’t be shoving these photos into your inbox. Yield: 1 largish galette; about 9″ across. Serving size is up to your discretion… like the last one, this one was dessert and breakfast with a bit of leftovers for 2. No shame.

For the crust:

I used the same one as I did for the last peach galette I did; but omitted the almond extract.

1.5 c almond flour
1/2 c tapioca starch/flour
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
6 tbsp salted butter
1 eggs, divided
1/2 tbsp coconut sugar
scant tbsp vanilla extract (yes, that is a tablespoon!)

Glaze:

1 tbsp coconut sugar for sprinkling over the crust
1 egg, lightly beaten for the egg wash
a few small chunks of butter to dot the top of the fruit

For the paleo lemon curd: I used meyer lemons for this recipe here from What the Fork blog (which was absolutely delicious); any lemon curd recipe will work just fine; here is a traditional one that I made a billion years ago that is also spectacular (just excuse the horrendous pictures). Make this a day before (or earlier in the day) so that it has time to cool completely before you put it into the galette. It will thicken / not run all over the place, and you’ll thank your foresight.

For the blueberry filling:

1.5 c fresh blueberries
2 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tbsp coconut sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the crust: In a food processor or high-power blender (I used a Vitamix), pulse almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, and butter, and pulse to combine until it looks like coarse meal. Add in egg, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract and pulse just until combined. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a disk and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to overnight.

While the crust is chilling (or a day before, which I found to be easier), make the lemon curd! See links for recipes.

Once the dough has chilled, toss the ingredients for the filling into a large bowl: blueberries, tapioca, coconut sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice; toss to coat and incorporate.

Preheat the oven to 375, and roll out the dough into a circle between two pieces of parchment. It should be uniformly thick; about 1/4″ but no thinner. Slide the dough and the bottom piece of parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Spread a thick layer of lemon curd in the middle of the dough, leaving about a 2″ border all around. Pile the blueberry filling onto the lemon curd, and carefully fold the edges of the crust up around it, sealing any cracks that happen. Some juices will probably leak out when you bake it, but that’s no big deal. Brush the crust with the beaten egg wash, and sprinkle with a bit of coconut sugar. Dot the tops of the blueberries with a few small chunks of butter. Bake for 35-40 minutes – mine is usually always perfect at 35; the crust should be lightly golden and firm to the touch.

Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes; then slide the whole piece of parchment+galette onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Serve with extra lemon curd and vanilla gelato! Galette leftovers keep on the counter overnight and make a fabulous addition to breakfast; if you keep leftovers any longer I would store them in the fridge. Store any leftover lemon curd in the fridge!