Black and Blueberry Mini Galettes

I'm on the galette bandwagon. Sweet or savory, I'm in love. They are rustic, which I like to think of as easy and imperfect, but still lovely and delicious. I love my shortcuts so I start with some pre-made pie crusts. Pillsbury. You will find these in the refrigerator section near the biscuits and stuff. I didn't really follow a recipe for this, I just looked over the Internet at some different recipes and based this off that. I'll do my best to give the "recipe" here. I used black and blueberries, but you can use any berries you wish. Also, I used fresh blackberries, but used frozen blueberries. You can really use whatever fruit you prefer such as raspberries or peaches.

rus-tic [ˈrəstik]
1. Having the simplicity and charm that is considered typical of the countryside
2. Charmingly simple or unsophisticated

ga-lette[gah-LEHT]

1: a flat round cake of pastry often topped with fruit

2: a food prepared and served in the shape of a flat round cake <a galette of potatoes>

Individual Berry Galettes

Ingredients:
2-3 cups berries, rinsed
2 Tbls sugar + more if needed
2 tsp cornstarch
2 thawed pie crust circles
Coarse sugar to sprinkle crust
Milk to brush on crust
Vanilla Ice Cream for serving(optional)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Add your berries to a bowl. Add 2 Tbls. sugar, or more if you are using tart berries. Up to 1/4 cup of sugar total can be added. Add cornstarch to berry and sugar mixture and gently mix well. Allow to rest. Meanwhile, you want to find a round bowl or similar tool. It should be able to make 4 smaller round circles from your pie crusts. I used a 350 ml, 5 1/2 inch wide Rubbermaid container.

Cut out four pie rounds. Leaving a one inch margin around the edges, spoon berries into each individual pie round. Fold up the the sides, pinching together when necessary. Perfection in this step is not needed. Your goal is just to keep the berries supported. Brush a little milk on the folded edges of the crust and sprinkle with coarse (raw) sugar. Bake for 10-15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 40 minutes. Times and temps may vary slightly depending on your oven. Please watch these, check them often. Lay a piece of foil over the top if the crust is browning too fast. Once the berry juice starts bubbling they should be almost done.

Sunday Brunch

       

This week we decided to start out our day of football fun with a brunch!

Just something a little different from our typical football menu!

Menu

Bagels & cream cheese

Sausage  Casserole

Fruit

Cake Doughnuts

Mimosas

Screwdrivers

Chocolate milk

Orange Juice

There were 14 of us, 8 kids and 6 adults. We ate all the casserole and doughnuts, so I think it was a perfect amount. I've been wanting to make these doughnuts for a while now. I had two different recipes. A Wilton recipe from the donut pan itself and one from Family Circle magazine. I tried the vanilla Wilton recipe and the Chocolate FC recipe. I preferred the FC recipe for reasons of taste &  ingredients. I felt the Wilton doughnuts were too dry and I didn't like that they called for cake flour as opposed to all-purpose flour. Here, I will include the recipe of the winner of this Good Things Simple doughnut war. Drumroll please....



  The winner is....

Family Circle's Chocolate Cake Doughnuts!

Here's the recipe:

1 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teas. baking soda

1/4 teas. salt

1/2 c. low-fat buttermilk

1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar

1 egg

4 teas. unsalted butter, melted

1 teas. vanilla extract

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Coat doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl whisk buttermilk, sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; whisk until blended and smooth. Spoon batter into a large resealable plastic bag. Cut off the corner and squeeze batter into prepared indents, about 2/3 the way full.  Smooth tops. Bake for 13 minutes, until doughnuts spring back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on rack for 3 minutes, then carefully turn out directly onto rack to cool.

Chocolate Glaze:

In a bowl combine 1 c. powdered sugar, 1 tbls. unsweetened cocoa powder and 2 tbls. milk. Stir until smooth. Dip cooled doughnuts into bowl and allow excess frosting to drip back into the bowl. Add toppings or sprinkles at this point. Allow to chocolate glaze to set.

Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole

2 pkgs. Farmer John (breakfast) Sausage Links (found near the bacon)

3 c. Ore-Ida frozen shredded potatoes

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 c. butter, melted

12 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 c. onion, finely chopped

1 (16 oz.) tub small curd cottage cheese

8 lg. eggs

1 tsp. sage (optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 13x9 inch baking dish. Place the sausage, onion, and bell pepper in a medium skillet and cook (while crumbling the sausage) over medium heat. Drain, set aside.

In the baking dish, add the potatoes and melted butter, stir to combine as best as you can. Press the potatoes evenly to line the baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes. This is your "crust."

Meanwhile, mix the sausage, onions, peppers, cheese, cottage cheese, spices, and eggs in a large bowl. Pour it over the baked potato mixture.

Return to oven and bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes before cutting.

Total cooking time is 1 hour 10 minutes. Serves 12.

We eat this often, but always on Christmas morning, hence the name!