Caramel Apple Tartlets with Walnut Crumble

This is a very meaningful recipe to me; it's been my go-to dish for various important moments in my life, from being the winning dessert at the 2011 Share Our Strength Great American Baking Contest to, as of October 11, being featured on CBS Better Mornings Atlanta. It is so comforting and is the epitome of this time of year, so I hope you love it just as much as I do.

I start with my basic pie crust. Yes, you can buy a roll at the store and cut it into rounds, but why do that if you can make your own? It's surprisingly easy and can be made in minutes. I use butter, not shortening or lard, because it is much more flavorful and is still pretty flaky and light. Again, always use unsalted butter so you can regulate the salt content. I cut it into rounds that fit a mini muffin tin, and mine needs to be about 2 1/2 inches in diameter to reach the top. Yours may be different, but it should be close to that so that you keep the balance of flavors and the bite-size portions.

Now for the apples. I cut mine in a very small dice so that they cook perfectly and you bite into more than one piece when you eat the tartlets. To add a punch of flavor, I toss them in some sugar and fall-esque spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. This part smells SO good by the way. If you are feeling a little daring, splash in a few spoonfuls of apricot brandy. It is my secret ingredient and gives it a complex flavor without overwhelming the apples. You certainly don't have to do this, but it does add something special.

After piling the apples into the tartlet shells, I drown them in caramel sauce, the same one used in my Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns. It bakes into the tartlets and perfumes them with that sweetness unique to caramel. I drizzle more on after they are cooked, but adding some before baking flavors the whole tartlet and gives it a delicious stickiness.

But where are the walnuts? They are a crucial part of this recipe, and I pile them high on top of the tartlets in two ways. The crumble has chunks of walnuts as well as walnut flour. Walnut flour can be difficult to find and very expensive, but it is so easy to make your own. Simply grind up some walnuts in a food processor or chop them very finely by hand until powdery. Just make sure that they are cool when you do this or you will end up with walnut butter (think peanut butter made with walnuts). I also mix in some chopped walnuts to add crunch and nuttiness.

This is by far one of my favorite recipes. It reminds me of some of my favorite cooking experiences, and it just tastes fantastic. It is perfect for fall because I associate apples, walnuts, caramel, and all those delicious spices with this time of year. They are the perfect size, too, since they are so small. The flavors are simple yet sophisticated, and they are all wrapped up in one perfect bite!

Tartlets:
1 Recipe Pie Crust (See Below)
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Cloves
3/4 Cup flour
1/2 T Walnut Flour
1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts, Toasted
7.5 T Butter
2-3 Golden Delicious Apples
3/4 Cup + 3 T Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Vanilla Bean or 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Apricot Brandy, Optional
4 1/2 T Sugar
Pinch Salt

Pie Crust:
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Salt
1 Stick Butter, Chilled
1 Egg Yolk

Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the butter and pulse until small pieces remain. Combine the egg yolk with a tablespoon of cold water and add in. Pulse until it begins to form a ball, adding more water as necessary. Chill.

Roll out the pie crust and cut into 2.5" circles. Place in a greased mini muffin tin and chill.

Combine 3/4 cup brown sugar, the heavy cream, vanilla extract or vanilla bean pod and seeds, and 3T butter in a small pot. Bring to a boil and cook until thick, stirring constantly. Set aside to cool; remove the vanilla bean pod, if using.

Combine the flour, remaining brown sugar, 3T sugar, walnut flour, and salt. Add 4.5T butter and the chopped walnuts. Chill.

Core, peel, and dice the apples. Toss with the brandy (if using), remaining sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Place a spoonful of apples in each dough-lined cup. Drizzle with caramel and top with some crumble. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Cool completely, then drizzle with more caramel.

Makes 20

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns

Everyone loves a good cinnamon bun. The combination of warm, soft bread and sweet, sticky cinnamon filling is prefect on a cool Fall day, and it is made even better by mixing in some pumpkin. First, we need to distinguish between sticky buns and cinnamon buns. Sticky buns are cinnamon buns baked in a pool of caramel and then drizzled with even more of it after they are baked. cinnamon buns are served plain or with that delicious sugary icing. My pumpkin cinnamon buns have elements of both; I don't bake them in caramel, but I do douse them with a few spoonfuls of mock caramel sauce.

The caramel sauce for these treats is not real caramel. Real caramel is tricky and dangerous; to make it, you boil sugar and water until amber and then whisk in cream and sometimes some other minor ingredients. It burns easily and you can get burned easily as well. Overall, it's just not much fun to make but definitely worth it, so I decided to make a topping that tastes just like it but is much faster and less painful. Instead of boiling the sugar and adding the cream, I combine brown sugar, cream, and butter and boil them all together. The brown sugar gives it color and a complex flavor from the molasses, and the butter gives it a nice richness. The cream, of course, makes it creamy and velvety. Best of all, you don't have to watch it constantly and add ingredients at just the right moment since you just let the mixture boil until it thickens.

My favorite part of both cinnamon buns and sticky buns is the bread. Yes, it is bread; it has yeast and lots of flour and is kneaded. That, to me at least, is bread. Don't be intimidated, though, because this bread is exceptionally easy to make. It only proofs (rises) twice, and both times are relatively short. This is proof (no pun intended) that not all breads require hours slaving away in the kitchen.

And finally, we have that signature swirl. Yes, the streusel. The main reason most people eat cinnamon buns and sticky buns. That spiral of yumminess and cinnamon and sugar and all that is good in this world. So simple, yet so good. The streusel perfumes the whole bun with cinnamon and gives it an extra punch of flavor. Honestly, I can't see pumpkin without cinnamon. The two just go together so well, so I actually doubled the amount of streusel the original recipe called for (don't judge me for that until you try it).

2 1/4 tsp Yeast (1 Packet)
4-5 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/3 Cup Milk
4 T Butter, Melted
6 T Butter, Chilled
2 T Butter
1 1/4 Cups Dark Brown Sugar
1 1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
5 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Cream
2/3 Cup Chopped Toasted Pecans, Optional

Combine the yeast, 1 tsp sugar, and 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let stand for five minutes. Add 3 cups flour, pumpkin, milk, melted butter,  2 tsp sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary, leaving 1/2 cup.

Grease a large bowl and add the dough, turning to coat. Cover with plastic and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled.

Meanwhile, combine the remaining sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and chilled butter.

Roll the dough out to an 11x15" slab. Spread on the streusel and sprinkle with pecans, if using. Press lightly to adhere and roll up to form a 15" log. Cut into 12 slices.

Place the slices in greased muffin tins, cover, and let rise for 25 minutes. It can be chilled overnight at this point.

Heat the oven to 375F and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from tins immediately.

Bring the remaining brown sugar, cream, and butter to a boil in a small pot, whisking until the sugar dissolves. Boil, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 8 minutes. Cool and drizzle on the buns.

Makes 12
Recipe Adapted from Back to the Cutting Board

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

It's official: the first signs of fall have reached the South. It may be 80-something degrees in the afternoon, but it is frigid in the morning (well, if you count 50 degrees as freezing) and leaves are beginning to fall from the trees. I've been baking cinnamony and pumpkiny and cranberry-y things for a month now and it finally feels justifiable.

To celebrate, I made a batch of buttery shortbread studded with creamy white chocolate and tart cranberries. They melt in your mouth and are deliciously crumbly, and they have all the good things of shortbread plus all that's good about fall. Another bonus is that, because they are shortbread and not sugar cookies, there are no eggs. All that means to me is that I can eat the dough without worrying about salmonella and that fun stuff.

Want to know the key characteristic of shortbread? Let's ask our good friend Paula Deen. Enough said. There is a LOT of butter in this recipe, but that is what makes them melt in your mouth, and it also gives the cookies wonderful flavor. Since there are no eggs, butter is the primary source of moisture; you want a dry, crumbly cookie, but you want a cookie, not streusel. Without this ungodly amount of butter, you would just be baking mounds of coffee cake topper. That's delicious and all, but I want a cookie and I want it to taste good.

These cookies are what is commonly known as slice and bake cookies, which means that you roll the dough into a log, chill it, and slice it into coins. You can make the logs as big or as small as you want, but I make mine about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and slice them about half an inch thick. This size allows them to bake perfectly and have the best texture without becoming too dark.

What makes these cookies unique is the smattering of dried cranberries. You can get dried cranberries pretty much anywhere now, and for good reason. They are pleasantly chewy and tart, and they complement the flavors and textures of both the white chocolate and the shortbread. I don't bother chopping mine for this recipe since they are cut when I slice the logs of dough; this cuts down on time and the varied sizes of cranberries gives the cookies a rustic look.

My white chocolate cranberry cookies couldn't be simpler, and they taste so good!  The flavors are simple and shout elements of fall. I like to make them in bulk and keep them in my freezer because both the dough and the cookies freeze spectacularly, but they are usually gone within hours anyway.

2 Sticks Butter, Softened
1 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Cups Flour
1 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the vanilla and salt, then add the flour. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries.

Split the dough in half. Place each half on a sheet of plastic wrap and roll into two logs about 1 1/2" in diameter, sealing the ends of the plastic. Chill until cold, about 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 350F and line cookie trays with parchment.

Slice the dough into 1/2" rounds and place the coins on the prepared trays. Bake for 8 minutes or until just golden around the edges.

Makes 28
Recipe Adapted from www.theendlessmeal.com