Rosemary Apple Pie/Crumble

After many months since last posting (oops) I thought I would resurrect this blog with some baked goods. Below you will find a recipe for a delicious rosemary-apple pie/crumble.

It is a great way of using rosemary in a dessert to spice (herb?) it up! But because both the rosemary and the apples I used were foraged, let me give a bit of context to that.

Three things you might already know about me:

1. I love being outside
2. I hate wasting things, or seeing wasted items
3. I find satisfaction in creating good things on minimal budgets
Add all this together and you have a pretty good combination leaning towards food foraging.

My friend took this photo today while we were foraging blackberries to make yet another crumble

I also take glee in being somewhat mischevious, and so when my former neighbours emailed me last weekend to ask if I wanted to join them in sneakily picking some apples from the back garden of my old house, the answer was an automatic yes. Together, we went into the abandoned garden and picked a large bag of apples. That same afternoon, on my way home, with my apples in tow, I grabbed a few handfuls of fresh rosemary from a rosemary bush that was taking over the public bike path. (At that particular moment, I had not yet planned this dessert.) And to top it all off I also passed a big bin of apples that people were giving away, and so I added a couple of those to my pile. 

The next day, I decided to try mixing the rosemary and apples into a pie or crumble. I used this recipe (http://mysecondbreakfast.com/rosemary-apple-pie-recipe/) as my model, though I modified it a little bit. I'd recommend looking at the recipe link if you want more specific instructions!


Step 1: The pie crust
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon rosemary, chopped finely

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter (cut into thin cubes)

~5 tablespoons of cold soy milk

Mix in order given, cutting the butter in with a pastry cutter, fork, or clean fingers. Before adding the milk, your pastry should have the texture of wet, coarse sand. Add the milk slowly, and once it holds together when you pinch it between your fingers, don't add any more milk! (You could also use dairy milk; the original recipe calls for that, but I had soy milk on hand!)

Place the pastry in the fridge for a few hours before rolling it out. (I let mine sit overnight, since I might the pie crust at 9pm and didn’t want to wait up to bake.)
When you're ready to roll it out, if you're like me and you don’t have a rolling pin, you can use a clean wine bottle. :D 

Step 2: The Apples filling
- washed, (mostly) peeled, and sliced the apples until you have a big bowl of them
-flavour with cinnamon, the juice of half of lemon, a  dash of nutmeg, splash of vanilla extract, a crack of sea salt, and some sugar; toss it around in this mixture. 

Step 3: The topping
This is an alternative to topping it with another pie crust, though you'd be welcome to do that!
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup (30g) brown sugar (I used less)
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons rosemary, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter (I considered coconut oil for this, since that's what I normally would do for crumble, but I decided to not add in another flavour...maybe next time!)

You can either make a regular sized pie with this crust or you can do as I did and make little pies in muffin trays. 

I put some coconut oil on the muffin tins so that the crust did not stick, and then rolled it out with a wine bottle and cut it with a large beer glass I have on hand. (Hmmm. I didn’t notice all these alcohol usages before writing it out like this.)

I placed the circle cut outs in the muffin tins, filled it VERY HIGH with apples....

 

...and then put the crumble on top. :D

I topped it with a few pecan pieces and then put it in the oven. I baked it at 180 Celsius for about 20 minutes. 

They were delicious! They really held their shape and the pie crust was quite tasty, with the rosemary giving a nice flavour to all of it.  Voila!

Bon appétit! 

Tofu-Chocolate Mousse (Vegan)

Tofu Dark-Chocolate Mousse on top of an Almond Oat Coconut Crust.

This is a great and easy option for a delicious vegan-friendly dessert!

I'm not vegan (I'm vegetarian), but I love finding/creating recipes that are vegan-friendly. I especially love when it's packed with protein and I can justify indulging in a post-workout chocolatey snack...but that's besides the point. 
This Tofu-Chocolate Pie was inspired/adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's recipe.

It's absolutely delicious, easy to make (requires a blender/food processor), and few people will ever guess it's vegan!

As with most of the baking/cooking I do, this "recipe" is very forgiving. Feel free to experiment with it.

The Chocolate Mousse

- One bar of dark chocolate, cut into small pieces and melted (I used Green and Black's organic 80% dark chocolate and melted it in the microwave in a bowl.) You can use milk chocolate if you want, but then keep in mind it will not be suitable for any vegan individuals.
- One brick of tofu (I used silken tofu; you could use a firmer tofu and it would in turn be a firmer pie)
- Sweetener as desired (I added a sprinkle of icing sugar; I think date syrup or agave nectar would work well but I didn’t have these on hand. You could also use honey but, again, then it's no longer vegan!)
- A large splash of milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
- A splash of pure vanilla extract
- A dash of cocoa powder


Blend together until totally smooth. Add a dash more of milk if it is not blending well. It should still be quite thick!
After it has blended, either scoop it out into a container/bowl and let it sit in the fridge OR add it on top of a pie-crust of your choosing. (See below for the last minute almond crust I made.)

THAT'S IT! No baking, etc. Just put it in the fridge to help it settle/harden, and take out right before serving. If you want to decorate it, consider any/all of the following: almond pieces, chocolate shavings, raspberries ...mmmmmmm.

Please note: my father is an adamant chocolate-lover and a general hater-of-tofu and he loved this recipe!

Almond Crust (Optional) :
Using an almond crust adds a nice nutty flavour to the chocolate experience, as well as some extra protein!
I threw it together in a last minute fashion when I decided I wanted the mousse to sit in something to give it a bit more structure. Here's what I used:

- Almonds (I took a few handfuls and ground them using a mortar and pestle)
- A small handful of oats (maybe about 2 tbsp?)
- About 2-3 tbsp of wheat flour
- About 2-4 tsp of coconut oil
- 3/4 tsp of cocoa powder
- The tiniest pinch of salt

Blend this together in a food processor/blender until it is all smooth. Play with the consistency by adding more flour/oats (if it’s too wet) or coconut oil (if it’s too dry) until you can press it into a pie plate. Spread it out with a spoon/knife and then just press the rest with clean fingers, spreading it around to cover the entire plate. I just covered the bottom of the plate (rather than the edges) but you could try to build up an actual crust if you want.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 6 minutes, making sure it browns but does not burn. Let it cool before adding the chocolate mousse and then put the whole thing in the fridge. I like to let it sit for 3+ hours before serving; it can sit overnight without problems!
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Graham Cracker Crust: 

I also did a version of this using a graham-cracker crust with butter (not vegan!) In this version I used a harder tofu (firm) and milk chocolate. Can you see the difference?