A Lifestyle Guide for People with Allergies and Food Sensitivities

Subscribe
Give a Gift
Back Issues
Articles
Recipes
Products
Retailers
Resources
Events
Letters
Advertise
Contact
Customer Service

Sign up for our E-Newsletter
Email:  

Fruitful Baking
Relax and enjoy the aromas of the season

The wind is rising and the temperature is dropping. It's time to put a few logs on the fire and snuggle up with a cup of hot tea and a plate of homemade goodness. There's nothing like the rich flavor of fall fruit, tucked inside warm pastry and baked to bubbling sweetness, to ward off evening's chill.

Autumn's choice picks -- fresh apples, cranberries, pears, plums, pumpkins -- provide warm nourishment for body and soul. That's why harvest baking is the ultimate comfort food.

Apple Charlotte
Serves 6 to 8
A charlotte is a golden-crusted dessert made by baking thick fruit compote in a mold that is lined with buttered bread. Originally created as a way to use leftover bread, some historians think that this sweet dish took its name from Queen Charlotte, who was known to support apple growers.

4 tablespoons soft butter
4 pounds Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced
Salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup apricot jam, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 slices gluten-free sandwich bread, crusts removed
1/2 cup clarified butter
2 cups whipped cream
Confectioners' sugar
8 sprigs fresh mint

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter a 6 to 7-cup charlotte mold with 1 tablespoon soft butter. Line sides and bottom of mold with parchment paper. Make a template of the bottom to help you cut pieces of bread to fit in.
2. In a large sauté pan, over medium heat, melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Toss in apples. Sprinkle with a little salt. Cook for 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, grated orange rind, 1/2 cup of apricot jam
and vanilla. Continue to sauté until apples are golden, about 4 minutes.
3. To assemble, brush both sides of bread slices with clarified butter. Using the template, cut buttered bread into pieces, enough to fit bottom and top of mold. Line bottom first, then sides of mold with bread slices, pressing bread slightly to adhere to sides of mold. Spoon a third of apple mixture into bottom of mold. Place some buttered bread scrap, if any, over apple mixture. Continue layering apple mixture and bread, having apples as the last layer. With back of a spoon, press mixture into mold. Place remaining circle of bread on top of apple mixture and again press top firmly. Put a piece of buttered parchment paper over top to prevent it from over-browning.
4. Place mold in oven. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Several times during baking, use back of a spoon to press mixture firmly. Remove from oven and rest for 1 hour. Run a knife around edges of pan and un-mold onto a dessert platter.
5. Warm remaining apricot jam in microwave or stove. Brush charlotte with apricot glaze. Slice into individual servings. Place each piece on a serving plate. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream, confectioners' sugar and
fresh mint.

Other recipes in this article:
Apple Kuchen
Cranberry Pear Galette
Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Gluten-free Butter Cake
Pumpkin Flan
Ginger Pumpkin Flan
Coconut Pumpkin Flan
Pumpkin Spice Donuts
Pumpkin Gobs
Ruby Pears
This is an excerpt of an article featured in the Fall 2006 issue. To read the article in its entirety, click here and purchase the Fall 2006 issue. 

Home | Subscribe | Give a Gift | Customer Service | Back Issues | Articles | Recipes | Products | Privacy Policy | FAQs | Advertise | Contact

Living Without is a lifestyle guide to achieving better health. It is written with your needs in mind but is not a substitute for consulting with your physician or other health care providers. The publisher and authors are not responsible for any adverse effects or consequences resulting from the use of the suggestions, products or procedures that appear in this magazine. All matters regarding your health should be supervised by a licensed health care physician. Copyright 2008 Living Without, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.