Bready or Not Original: Apple Calvados Galette
This Apple Calvados Galette is a perfect dessert for one or two people. Plus, it’s rustic and pretty to behold!
Calvados is an apple brandy made in Normandy. The price point of it can vary quite a bit. Feel free to use another kind of apple brandy in the recipe.
The delicious, original aspect of this treat is that you use the calvados to make a quick stovetop jelly that you then coat the apples with at the end of the bake time.
The alcohol flavor doesn’t linger. What you get is a concentrated sweet flavor of apples, right atop the fresh apples.
The baked galette keeps for days wrapped up in foil in the fridge. A quarter slice is the perfect amount for breakfast or dessert, and it’s not anywhere near as bready and dense as a full piece of pie.
Bready or Not Original: Apple Calvados Galette
Equipment
- baking sheet
- parchment paper
- basting brush
Ingredients
Galette
- 1 single-layer pie dough store-bought or homemade
- 4 medium apples such as Gala, Fuji, and Ambrosia
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/3 cup calvados or other apple brandy
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar packed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze
- 1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 Tablespoon maple sugar or turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 400-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pie crust to about a 10-inch diameter circle. Transfer it to the baking sheet and set in fridge while the other ingredients are prepared.
- Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples, placing them in a large bowl. Pour in the lemon juice, calvados, cornstarch, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Toss the apples to coat them completely.
- Pull out the chilled crust. Begin to arrange apple slices in the middle, fanning them out and stacking them, but leaving a 2-inch border of dough around the outside. DO NOT DISCARD THE LIQUID IN THE BOWL! Once the apples are arranged, fold the dough over to partially cover the apples.
- Start baking the galette for 15 minutes. While that is cooking, pour the leftover liquid into a small pot on medium-high. Stay close to the stove and stir liquid often. As soon as it gels, which is right at right about boiling temperature, remove it from heat. Set aside.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350-degrees. Bake galette for another 20 minutes.
- Pull out the galette. Drizzle the gel over the exposed apples in the middle of the galette then use basting brush to coat every nook and cranny. Measure out maple syrup. Use same brush (no need to wash it) to coat the top crust, then sprinkle maple sugar or coarse sugar over it to add a crystalline crunch.
- Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until apples in middle are fork-tender.
- Let cool slightly before cutting–a pizza cutter is ideal. Leftovers can be kept wrapped up in foil in the fridge for days.
*OM NOM NOM!*
Bready or Not Original: Pumpkin Pie Biscotti
The 2020 pumpkin theme ends with a perfect fall treat: Pumpkin Pie Biscotti.
These things are dangerously good, and yes, they really do taste like pumpkin pie–in crisp, crunchy form.
I always keep pumpkin kernels around. I always use them in my Healthy Breakfast Cookies and in other things I make for myself, including salads. Use unsalted ones, if you can, or reduce the salt in the recipe.
Like all biscotti, these are great not simply because they are delicious, but because they should keep quite well if kept in a sealed container.
Enjoy these twice-baked treats with your hot drink of preference and feel appropriately autumnal.
Bready or Not Original: Pumpkin Pie Biscotti
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter half stick, softened
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 1/4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted pumpkin kernels also called pepitas
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend the butter, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt, until smooth and creamy. Mix in the egg and pumpkin puree. Gradually mix in the flour followed by the pumpkin kernels.
- Divide dough in half. Place each piece spaced out on parchment. Dough will be very sticky, so shape with plastic spatula or greased or floured hands into 1-inch high flat rectangular logs.
- Bake biscotti for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Use a long bread knife and slice down--don't saw--into long, even cookies. Space out cookies upright, if possible, or lay on sides.
- Bake for another 25 minutes; if cookies are laying on sides, flip them to other side halfway through. Set out on stove or counter to cool and dry for several hours.
- Melt chocolate in microwave or using a double-boiler on the stove. Drizzle chocolate over the ends of the biscotti and set again on parchment to set.
- Store biscotti in sealed containers at room temperature for days or weeks.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Pumpkin pairs with cream cheese in this delicious Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes.
No need for extra sugar or frosting on top. These are delicious all on their own!
It seems that my pumpkin theme most years needs at least one cream cheese and pumpkin pairing. This one fulfills that requirement this year, and in a delicious way.
These cupcakes are light and airy with a bright flavor of pumpkin and spice, with the cream cheese adding wonderful sweetness.
This recipe makes two dozen. It’s certainly faster to bake up if you have two pans, but that is by no means required. One pan will do the job.
One warning about these things: they are so light and airy, it is easy to eat several at once. But because they are pumpkin, that makes them healthy, right? Just, uh, ignore that sugar and oil…
Bready or Not Original: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cupcakes
Equipment
- 1 or 2 cupcake/muffin pans
- paper cupcake liners
Ingredients
Pumpkin batter
- 15 ounces pumpkin puree
- 2 cups white sugar
- 1 cup canola oil
- 4 eggs room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- nonstick spray
Cream cheese filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
- In a big bowl, beat together pumpkin puree, sugar, and oil. Beat in eggs one at a time.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Gradually blend into the pumpkin mix.
- In a small microwave-safe bowl, carefully warm the cream cheese a touch, just to make it soft enough to mash. Stir in the white sugar and egg until it is cohesive; it's okay if there are still some small chunks of cream cheese.
- Place paper liners in the muffin pan (or two pans, if available). Apply nonstick spray in each liner. Add pumpkin to fill each liner about 1/3; a teaspoon scoop is useful for this. Add some dollops of cream cheese into each. Add layers of pumpkin batter to cover.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a middle cupcake passes the toothpick test. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then gingerly use two forks to pry out each cupcake to set on a rack to cool more. Place in sealed container in fridge to store.
OM NOM NOM!
Judith Starkston’s Of Kings and Griffins is out today!
The Phoenix area is home to a lot of awesome authors, and Judith Starkston is among them. Her Tesha historical fantasy series is unique because it’s inspired by the Hittite Empire. Yes, we’re talking ancient history, an era usually ignored these days except for a few brief mentions in school history class.
The 3rd book in the series, Of Kings and Griffins, is out as of today. I read it as an early draft and I’m excited to see how it is in final, polished form! This is a book that works well as a stand-alone. You can grab it in ebook or paperback at Amazon.

I do highly recommend the whole series, though. Start with Priestess of Ishana (in ebook and paperback) and continue from there. If you love historical fiction as I do, you’ll appreciate some fantasy-tinted insights into a time and setting we know little about. If you want to know more about the actual history that inspires her books, her blog is a great resource.
[Book links above utilize the Amazon Affiliate program.]
Read MoreBready or Not Original: Pumpkin Spice Espresso Cookies
These Pumpkin Spice Espresso Cookies look a perfect autumnal orange and taste like fall, too–with an added kick of espresso.
I love pumpkin recipes that use a whole can of puree. No messing with leftovers, y’know? This recipe will use a full 15-ounce can!
The pumpkin flavor comes through in the baked cookies, too, along with warm spices and coffee.
Expect a texture that is light and cakey in the mouth, and slightly tacky to the fingertips. That’s pretty common with pumpkin cookies–or ones with applesauce, and this recipe includes both.
I stored these cookies in the fridge because I live in Arizona and my kitchen is warm through fall, but these should keep fine at room temperature elsewhere.
The recipe does make about 50 cookies, but as light and delicious as they are, they might not last that long at all.
Bready or Not Original: Pumpkin Spice Espresso Cookies
Equipment
- tablespoon cookie scoop
- parchment paper
- waxed paper
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 15 ounces pure pumpkin puree
- 2 cups light brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter (4 Tablespoons) room temperature
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 2 Tablespoons half & half or milk
- 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons espresso powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- turbinado sugar for top
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, pumpkin, brown sugar, butter, and applesauce. Add the half & half, pumpkin pie spice, espresso powder, and vanilla, until well combined. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to dollop dough onto the parchment paper, spacing out to allow for slight spread. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over the tops.
- Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the tops are dry and set. Move to a rack to completely cool.
- Cookies will be slightly tacky, as many pumpkin cookies are, and should be stored with waxed paper between the layers to prevent them from sticking together. Store in a sealed container at room temperature or in the fridge.