Tag Archives: holiday baking

Invisible Apple Cake

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A Healthyish addition to your holiday dessert list

I give you here a very well-vetted and pretty darned healthy apple dessert for your holiday baking repertoire. Elsewhere in the googlesphere it is known as thousand apple cake, or if you are feeling fancy, “gâteau invisible aux pommes.” It resides squarely in the Bring It! wheelhouse because it is easy to make, easy to bring and easy to serve. Plus, it’s made of 70% fruit, so it’s definitely on the healthier side of the dessert meter.

Basically, we’re mixing thinly sliced apples, barely binding them with a custard, and baking them into a loaf. You can top it with a cinnamon oat crumble before baking, or simply dust the loaf with powdered sugar after it’s baked.

The version here comes mostly from El Mundo Eats, along with my slackerized ingredient options in quotes. As long as you have apples you likely have the rest of the the fixin’s. Using oat flour makes a tasty gluten-free version, and Vegans—I know you’ve got the substitution magic for this!

I’ve seen variations with a slightly higher ratio of custard, and white vs brown sugar. The only hard and fast rules here are the apples: they should be a sweet variety and as thinly sliced as you can manage. I had to make this a bazillion times to get a decent picture of it because it kept getting eaten up too quickly (another reason for calling it invisible?)

In the version pictured I used Lucy Glow apples, which are pink on the inside. That explains why the cake looks a little like layers of bacon vs apples. I assure you, however, this baby is all about apples. Enjoy it and happy holidaying!

Ingredients

  • 2 lb (900 g) Gala apples or another sweet apple.
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • ½ cup (70 g) coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
  • ⅓ cup milk, room temperature
  • 3 tablespoon (30 g) coconut oil or butter, melted if in solid state
  • ¾ cup (82 g) oat flour (or all purpose flour)
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder

Cinnamon Oat Crumble (Optional)

  • ½ cup instant oats (45 g)
  • 3 tablespoon (30 gm) coconut oil or butter
  • 2 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 1 pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350

Line a9” x 5” ish loaf panwith parchment paper.(I also grease the parchment for insurance. Not everyone does)

Peel the apples. Or not. I have done both ways and either is fine. The key here is thinly sliced apples. Use a mandoline (carefully) or slice each apple as close as you can to the core on all 4 sides, then slice each piece to 2 mm thin. Place slices into a large bowl.

Combine the wet ingredients. Add eggs and sugar into another bowl and whisk like you mean it for a few minutes, until pale. Add in the rest of the wet ingredients—sugar, milk and coconut oil or butter— and mix well.

Add dry ingredients. Combine flour and baking powder and whisk together. Then add it to wet ingredients and combine well.

Pour the thin batter into the bowl with apples. Gently fold everything well with a spatula, trying to make sure each apple slice is coated with the batter. Now spoon the mixture a bit at a time into the loaf pan, arranging the apple slices as you go. Make sure to also spoon in the batter in between and lightly press to accommodate everything. Pour any remaining batter on top.

Cinnamon Oat Crumble (optional)

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well using a spoon. Sprinkle evenly on top of the apple mixture.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350ºF (175ºC) on lower ⅔ rack for 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Check it at 50 minutes if you are not using the crumble topping.  

Remove from the oven and leave for 10 minutes before removing the cake out of the pan. Cool completely before slicing. This, my friends, is key. Even better, refrigerate it for several hours or overnight before slicing. Serve with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.

P.S. If you’re already in pie mode, may I suggest Joni Mitchell Apple Pit, Knock Out Vegan Pumpkin Pie or the ever-stunning Pilgrim Pie.

Nutrition (with topping)

Calories: 226.2kcal | Carbohydrates: 31.9g | Protein: 3.6g | Fat: 10.9g | Saturated Fat: 7.7g | Cholesterol: 33.8mg | Sodium: 72.4mg | Potassium: 173mg | Fiber: 3.2g | Sugar: 17.2g | Calcium: 47.1mg | Iron: 0.9mg

Coo Coo for Koulourakia

Today I am getting my Greek on. I have exactly zero Mediterranean blood in my veins, but I have some in my heart. This thanks to my favorite Greek friends, who are warm and sometimes fiery; they are generous in spirit, passionate in their beliefs and above all FUN.

One of my faves recently enlisted my son in making a mega batch of traditional Greek cookies, Koulourakia. Seeing them in the kitchen together via Facetime, working on the cookie-production line, made me smile. It reminded me of being in the kitchen with my own mom.

As we have documented here on this blog, Nina was not invested in cooking unless the cooking was collateral necessity for some messy crafting or shenanigans that brought together kids or grandkids. Despite her own holiday baking ennui, she encouraged us to pursue our own culinary itches, which were usually things that bore little resemblance to the magazine pictures that had inspired us. Cases in point: rock-hard pretzels from ZOOM (the show not the app), a gloppy soft cheese “pine cone” flavored with bacon bits and studded with almonds, dentally challenging popcorn balls, and so, so many more.  

My point is….Nina had her priorities straight. Our holiday kitchen experiments brought us together in one place. The only really important part about the holidays are the people—the family you are born into and the family you grow into. If you’re living a rich life, that family ends up being big and varied and sprinkled all over the country, if not the globe.

That is why seeing the kitchen production half a country away inspired me to try out the Koulourakia recipe I’ve been eyeing (and trying to pronounce) for quite a while. The cookies did not disappoint and will be a holiday staple here. They are sturdy, keep well, travel well and as a bonus are both nut-free and Vegan. They’re low-key addictive—not quite as sweet as a cookie, and less of a commitment than a muffin, making them the perfect late morning or mid-afternoon accompaniment to a cup of something comforting. Book group? Cookie exchange? Hostess gift? Holiday snack arsenal for unexpected guests? Yes and yes on down the line.

There are admittedly many versions of Koulourakia, using seasonal flavors and sweeteners, or butter vs olive oil. I went with Mina Stone’s favorite orange- and cinnamon-flavored version, from her book Lemon, Love and Olive Oil, (purchased at the always magical Woody’s Mercantile). She does the pro option of brushing the tops with honey water and pressing the cookies in sesame seeds. Other versions skip the honey wash and simply roll the rope in sesame seeds before forming the cookies into a circle. You do you, preferably in a messy kitchen with good company and an excellent playlist!

       Koulourakia, Colorado version

Koulourakia

From Lemon, Love and Olive Oil

 Ingredients

The Wet Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (120 ml) light olive oil or vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup tahini (120 ml)
  • 1 cup (240 ml) orange juice
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

The Dry Ingredients:

  • 4 cups (480g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Topping:

  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • ½ cup water
  • ½  cup sesame seeds

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 °F, 180 °C

Line 2-3 baking trays with parchment paper.

Make the Cookie Dough:

  • Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.
  • Combine all of the wet ingredients in a large bowl and whisk them together. Add the dry ingredients in 2-3 batches and whisk together. Switch to a spatula and mix until a smooth soft dough, adding another spoonful of flour if it’s too sticky. Cover loosely with a towel and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.

Make the Cookies:

  • Take about a tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball. Roll the ball into a 5-inch (12-13 cm) long rope. Shape it into an S or into a circle.
  • Dissolve 1 Tbsp honey in 1 cup water. Form the cookies on the baking tray, brush tops with honey/water mixture then press each cookie into sesame seeds and replace on sheet. Alternatively, roll the rope in the sesame and then place on the prepared baking pan. 
  • Bake the cookies 13-15 minutes, until golden brown on the bottom and lightly toasted on top). Cool on rack.
  • Transfer the cookies to cookie jars or to an airtight container and store at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Serve with cozy bevvie of choice, or go full Greek and shake up a cold frappe. It’s totally a thing.

     Traditional yodeling marmots and Koulourakia unite!