(photo courtesy of Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs)
Last weekend Shane and I met his parents for lunch to celebrate his dad’s birthday. They’d seen an article about Dorie Greenspan in their newspaper (The Standard Times, for you locals – the article is also online here) and thoughtfully, brought it to share with me. Later, when we got home, I sat down to read the article, and really enjoyed it. Dorie visited the author’s home and cooked a few recipes from her new book, Around My French Table, with her while they discussed Dorie’s background, her hopes for the new book and even our “little” baking group (Dorie had very kind words to share), among other things. I definitely recommend checking the article out if you have a few minutes.
The thing that struck me most about the article, though, was the author’s comment about Dorie’s “humble, charming, sunny persona” – she couldn’t have been more spot-on. Last week I was fortunate enough to meet Dorie at the lovely RJ Julia Bookstore in Madison, CT, where she spoke about life in Paris and read from the new cookbook. Afterward she signed our books and chatted with each of us like we were old friends. After reading the stories and baking the recipes from Baking: From My Home to Yours for years, I knew Dorie would be delightful, but her warmth and genuine happiness upon meeting each of us blew me away. It was a real treat.
Dorie made us delicious sable cookies!
(poor quality iPhone pic, but a favorite anyway)
Another highlight of the night was meeting Dorie’s delightful husband, Michael, as well as fellow Tuesdays with Dorie bloggers Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs, Audrey of Food From Books, Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet, and French Fridays with Dorie blogger Rebecca of Cooking Lucia Cara. Lots of thanks to Nancy for being the driving force behind the trip to Madison, CT and to Mary for her hospitality.
Ok, finally, on to this week’s recipe, which was selected by Whitney, April and Elizabeth of Celestial Confections: cranberry lime galette. I love galettes – they’re basically rustic, no-fuss pies. When I read through this week’s recipe though, I was bit concerned about how tart it might be with fresh cranberries and lime juice and zest. Early reports rolled in that the galette was delicious, but quite tart. I didn’t want to sit out, nor did I have time to fuss with trying to sweeten up the recipe, so I just winged it with my own adaptation. My filling consisted mostly of apples (Gala and Granny Smith), some dried cranberries, lemon juice and zest, brown sugar and some fresh ginger. I used half of Dorie’s single crust pie dough recipe to make a mini galette, which I baked for about 30 minutes. When it emerged from the oven I brushed the fruit with some of the leftover cranberry filling from last week’s shortbread cake (hence, the pinkish/red color) for more cranberry flavor as well as a bit of warmed apricot preserves for shine.
I loved the crust portion of the galette – Dorie’s pie dough recipe continues to be a favorite in the flavor category. The filling was tasty- a nice combination of flavors, but a little dry. Next time I might dot the fruit with butter before baking and see if that helps. This time, though, a big scoop of french vanilla ice cream did the trick 🙂 Because the original recipe received such positive reviews I plan to make it soon too, I just need to find some tasters who will appreciate the tartness.
Thanks to Whitney, April and Elizabeth for hosting this week! They’ll share the recipe on their blog today or you can find it on pages 364-365 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Dorie is indeed a true gem. So great that you got to meet her. And as for your galette – stunning!
Look at how pretty your crust is!!!! With a little tweaking I’m sure you’ll have the perfect fall-flavored galette. Love your post about meeting Dorie – it still brings a smile to my face!
Great post…I think the night was so special because we got to meet each other and dorie too! I will have to try the galette with all apples…nice work.
Beautiful, Tracey… and I’m so happy you and the others got to meet Dorie! 🙂 She’s a doll!
You made a beautiful galette and met Dorie. This is some month. What do you do next?
I think that it is Dorie’s personality that shines through in her books and puts them above many of the others.
Oh how cool! Glad you could meet her, nice bake too
Your apple version sounds wonderful too!
How fun to meet Dorie and fellow bloggers. I’m jealous!
I love both of the pictures! I’ve posted the one of all of us on my bulletin board – smiling like crazy every time I look at it.
I need more crust practice…I still find it slightly intimidating. (Ok, very.) I’m not sure the tart cranberry/lime flavors are for me, but the apple certainly is!
Again I say how lucky y’all were to meet up and meet Dorie. Lucky!!
Your little galette is lovely. It was pretty tart, but o so tasty!!
This galette opens up a whole new world of desserts. So many fillings, so little time!!!!
i wish i got to see DG 🙁
i was @ the madison signing!!
i felt so fortunate to be @ rj julia’s!
dorie is just great…charming, interesting, modest, funny & of course the perfect baker & chef!!
i did hear her mention that a group of bloggers was in the audience! sorry that i did not meet you & the other bloggers…that would have been fun!
tracey, your galette looks magnificent!
@Linda – So sorry to have missed you at the signing! Perhaps another time 🙂
Your galette looks so pretty – apples would be perfect to balance out the tart cranberries. And I am so jealous you got to meet Dorie AND some of the other bloggers! Wish I could have been there!
Holy moly (sp?) Tracey – that is a beautiful galette! Seriously, I’m curious why mine exploded like it did. But I can always try another one – SO happy that you and Nancy were able to go to the book signing. What a special treat for you all! AND to meet one another in person!
Dorie really does seem like she’d be a nice person. I hope I get to meet her, and some other TWD members someday!
Your galette looks lovely. The cranberries are definitely tart, but maybe you could reduce the cranberries and increase the apples. I think the jam added some nice sweetness too.
What a pretty galette, looks delicious and not dry at all!
wow awesome u got to meet dorie 🙂
the galette looks beautiful with the blushing red! yum!
Everytime I read something Dorie has written, I just picture her to be this kind soul. I’m so glad that so many have confirmed just that.
Your galette looks so good! My favorite part is of course the crust. I LOVE Dorie’s crust. It browns perfectly and tastes wonderfully. A+
So much fun to hear about the trip and see the photos…next time I will make it…just could not miss Matt’s big signing week and all. Anyway, thanks for sharing about it all with us. Your galette looks really good, I love the idea of apples!
It’s so cool that you guys got to meet each other & Dorie. She really is very charming and seems so thrilled to meet everyone. =)
I’m glad the ice cream helped with the galette. I’ll make it at some point, but it just didn’t happen this week.
I was so happy for you all that you were able to meet Dorie and chat with her. You just know she’s a lovely person from interacting through the group, but it sounds like she even exceeded expectations. Not surprising!
Your galette looks stunning with your impromptu leftover jam glaze. I’m sorry it wasn’t everything you were hoping!
I’m still a little jealous of everyone that got to meet Dorie. sigh
😉
Glad you got to!