Apple Pie Calzone with Salty Honey Caramel Sauce

You've never seen the word Calzone used so liberally until now.  What some may call a "giant hand pie," I call a Calzone.  Cuz why the hell not?  It's my kitchen after all.  And it certainly looks like a Calzone.  

I've moved on from galettes.  And by that I mean, I've started folding dough in a different way.  Because really, this is just a cousin to the galette.  It's pie dough, fruit, little sugar.  Like the lazy man's pie.  Or should I say the lazy Ann's pie?  (I shouldn't).

Blueberry Lime Galette

Hi!  I'm Annie and I'm a liar!  I'm lying to your face.  This galette is a sham!  Ok remember when I made an Apple Galette and then also when I made that Cranberry Cocoa Galette?  Annndddd how I sorta cheated and used a pre-made store bought pie crust?  Well, I did it again.     

It's just SUCH a perfect quick treat.  You can literally have this in the oven in 10 mins with only a single bowl used.  You can't beat that!  And it's a great way to use up leftover fruit if you're like me and buy 4 pints of blueberries just for kicks.  Throw 'em in a pie shell and you got yourself dessert.  

I'd like to think of myself as a bit of a Galette Whisperer.  I just get them on a deeper level.  They're under-utilized and under-appreciated and I won't stand for it dag-nabbit!  

And besides, if you tell someone you made a galette they're all like "Oooo, how fancy!" and you can casually say "Oh it's just a french pastry.  No big deal."  It's our secret, y'all.  Just you, me and the internet.  

Here's the recipe!  

Blueberry Lime Galette

Ingredients
9-inch store-bought (or homemade) pie round, room temperature
2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons sugar plus 2 teaspoons
1 teaspoon cornstarch
juice of half a lime
zest of half a lime
1 egg

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a large baking sheet with silicon mat or parchment and place the 9-inch pie crust in the center of the baking sheet.  Set aside.    
2.  In a medium bowl, combine the blueberries, 2 tablespoons of sugar, cornstarch, lime juice and lime zest.  Gently toss together to combine.  Pour the mixture into the center of the pie round, leaving about a 2 inch border of crust.  Begin folding the dough over the blueberries, overlapping as you go until you've formed a tightly sealed package.  
3.  In a small bowl, add the egg and a splash of water.  Whisk with a fork to combine.  Brush the egg wash over the crust of the galette so it's thoroughly coated.  Sprinkle crust with remaining teaspoons of sugar.  
4.  Bake for about 45 minutes until crust is golden brown and center is bubbly.  Allow to cool on a baking sheet on a wire rack until room temperature.  Slice and serve! 

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Cranberry Cocoa Galette

More galettes!  Full disclosure, I make galettes because I'm too lazy to make pie.  And that's the truth.  I just have more confidence with galettes.  You sorta can't mess them up.  Except you probably could a little, I'm sure.  If it's possible, I'll find a way.

So does it go without saying that I totally cheated on this one and used store-bought crust again?  I think you can just assume that's what I'm always doing at this point.  It's not that I don't enjoy time spent in the kitchen (I'd be way off course with a baking blog if I didn't enjoy it), but some nights I can't commit to the the kind of time needed for a homemade crust.  I mean, who will watch all the TV?!  Think of the TV!    

And what's even lazier about this galette is that cranberries don't need any peeling, coring or chopping. I think I had this baby in the oven within 5 minutes.  I think I'll start only using fruits that require no preparation now.  So that leaves me with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and..... peas?  Maybe not my best idea.  

However, being that most of my experience with cranberries growing up was canned and cylindrically shaped, I still like to think this is quite a sophisticated dessert.  It's just subtly sweet with a bite from the cranberries and cocoa.  Sprinkled with a little powdered sugar, it practically screams Christmas.  Or, "cheater!" with the pie crust and all.  

Here's the recipe!  

Ingredients: 

1 round of store-bought pie crust (or use your favorite recipe!) 

2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cold salted butter, cut into small pieces

powdered sugar, for dusting

Instructions:  

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon baking sheet and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine the cranberries, cocoa, and sugar.  Stir to coat berries.  

3.  Unroll your dough onto the baking sheet and pile the mixture into the center of the dough, leaving about 2 inches around the perimeter.  You may have just a bit of the mixture leftover (I did).  Working your way around the dough, overlap the dough and pinch together until you've formed a tight parcel for the berries (see pictures above).  

4.  Dot cubes of butter over the top of the cranberries.  Bake for 40 minutes, turning the pan once or twice while baking.  Crust should be golden brown and filling will be bubble out.  Allow to cool completely.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.  

Enjoy!  

Recipe barely adapted from A Thought For Food    

Easy Apple Galette

So when I call this thing an "easy" Apple Galette, that's major code for "cheating on the pie crust."  I'm just not even a little bit sorry that I used store-bought crust here.  It was a busy day, I needed a quick dessert to serve 5 people and the crust got smothered in apples and butter and sugar.  If you can't get on board with that then what can you get on board with?

Obviously, you can make your own crust here if you had a few extra minutes and some patience.  In fact, I've made several other galettes using Martha Stewart's recipe (though it makes two rounds of dough) with great success.  But I had no extra minutes and zero patience and guess what?  No one was the wiser and everyone loved it.  

So being an impostor is worth it. Cuz I'll just never be one of those women (why do I feel weird calling myself a woman?  I'm still just a girl right?) who can go for a 3 mile run and look pleasantly dewey and refreshed or the type of woman who can just wear shorts in public, or the type of woman has regularly scheduled dental check ups.

I just don't have my act together enough to whip up some pie dough amidst a busy afternoon and lots of Law and Order to be watched.  So this is a free pass to cheat occasionally.  And use your free time to go for a run or have a dental check up or wear shorts in public.  Actually, don't wear shorts.  You're ruining it for the rest of us.  

Here's the recipe!

Ingredients: 
1 prepared 9 inch pie round
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
4 Tbsp granulated sugar

Instructions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.  Set aside.  
2. Place pie round in the center of the baking sheet.  Begin arranging the apples in overlapping concentric circles, beginning on the outside, leaving about an inch of dough along the edge.  There's really no right or wrong way to do this.  You're just looking to get apples in the dough and leave dough overhang to create a neat package.
3.  Once your apples are arranged, beginning folding the dough up and over the apples, overlapping dough and slighting pinching seams to form a tight package for the apples (see pictures).
4.  Brush or drizzle the melted butter over the apples and crust.  Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar over the crust and 2 tablespoons over the apples. 
5.  Bake for about 45 minutes, rotating the pan every 15 minutes until apples are baked and crust is golden brown.  Serve with fresh whipped cream or ice cream.  

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen