“Bring Some Chocolate Home…”

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Three types of chocolate plus melted toffee bits on the top nestled in a chewy cookie will satisfy even the strongest chocolate craving.

When traveling from the tiny bush village of Point Hope to the big city of Anchorage, it is customary to bring home produce or other items that are difficult to find in the village.

Standing in the produce section of our favorite Anchorage grocer surrounded by a bounty of colorful, crisp, juicy offerings such as asparagus, leeks, zucchini, avocados, and mangoes, I call Jack to see if there is anything special he wants me to bring back. “Bring Some Chocolate Home,” he requests (demands). Knowing I still have ten pounds of chocolate chips to use up in the next two-and-a-half months, I respond as my students do to me in their cute, slightly cheeky way: “Nope.” Poor guy was suffering not only from a lack of chocolate, but from a lack of freshly baked goods as well due to my absence of several days.

So, this delicious, chocolate-stuffed, brownie-like cookie is dedicated to Jack. When I asked him what he thought of this recipe, he merely pointed to his empty plate indicating a request for another. That’s my Jack.

Triple Chocolate Toffee Almond Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup dutch pressed cocoa
dash salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tbsp Penzeys double vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup crushed toffee bits
1 cup chopped almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa. Set aside.
In bowl of stand mixer, blend together butter, sugars, and vanilla.
Gradually stir in flour mixture into butter mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits and almonds.
Drop dough by tablespoons onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Baked for 10 minutes.
Cool on wire rack.
Store in airtight container.

Venison Broccoli Stir Fry with Brown Sugar & Soy Sauce

Posted on January 13, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Tasty, quick, easy and attractive, beef (or wild game) and broccoli is a dish almost nobody doesn’t like. Here’s our twist on a classic favorite.

More than half-way through our year in the Arctic, our freezers remain abundantly stocked with Alaskan seafood and wild game. Featured in this dish is a lean, tender cut of Sitka black-tailed deer. Asian-style stir fry such as this is perfect for days when you want something quick but delicious.

Most recipes for this dish call for corn starch. For a cleaner taste and presentation while still achieving the thick broth desired for this dish, try substituting rice flour for the corn starch. A generous drizzle of sesame oil toward the end of cooking really brings this dish together. As we live far from a well-stocked grocer, we used powdered seasonings.

Venison Broccoli Stir Fry

Ingredients: (for two servings)

1/2 pound lean, tender wild game or beef, cut into slender 2″ strips
1 tbsp rice flour + 1/2 tbsp rice flour, separated (or use corn starch)
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp olive oil
a scant 1/2 tsp powdered garlic
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
3/4 cup onion, chopped very coarse
frying oil such as light olive oil
2 cups broccoli florets
sesame oil
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

In a bowl, combine venison strips, 1 tbsp rice flour, water, olive oil, garlic and ginger. Mix thoroughly so that each meat strip is thoroughly coated with mixture. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce and brown sugar. Set aside.
In a wok or large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add venison, stirring continuously for about 2 – 3 minutes to sear and lightly cook through. Remove venison to a bowl and set aside.
Add a little more oil to the pan and add the onions. Stirring frequently, cook until onions just begin turning translucent but are still fairly crunchy. Add broccoli and continue stir frying till broccoli begins to turn bright green, adding a little more oil if necessary.
Add venison, sesame oil, sesame seeds and brown sugar and soy sauce mixture, stirring quickly to thoroughly mix ingredients together. Cook just long enough to reheat venison.
Serve immediately on a bed of steaming rice.

Gluten Free? Low Carb? Whatever! Just Eat These Fudgy Chocolate Meringues!

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Fudgy meringues with a crispy, melt in your mouth shell will have you attending “Meringues Anonymous” if you’re not careful!

How can four little ingredients be so good together? The combination of the crispy exterior and the moist chocolate middle sans flour resulted in an entire batch of fifteen cookies disappearing in just over 24 hours. I wish I could tell you we had guests…

Although airy and relatively low on calories compared to most confections, these meringues did not come about due to New Year’s self-promises centered around slimmer waistlines. The ignoble truth is that after creating crème brûlée, another custard dish and any number of ice creams, we had on hand countless extra egg whites and, according to Jack, “egg whites, fish and beer are three items that can be consumed without fear of weight gain.”

These meringues are quick and easy to make but do require an overnight stay in the oven to finish drying in order to create that crispy exterior.

Fudgy Chocolate Meringues

Ingredients

3 egg whites
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp dutch processed cocoa
1/2 cup smashed chocolate chips (Place chips in a Ziploc bag and smash with a meat tenderizer)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
Place egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Place bowl on top of pot of simmering water, for a double boiler effect.
Whisk eggs and sugar for a couple of minutes until sugar is just dissolved.
Place bowl back on stand mixer. Mix on high speed until eggs are thick and glossy and hold soft peaks.
Sift cocoa onto egg mixture.
Mix on high speed until cocoa is just incorporated.
Fold smashed chocolate chips into egg whites.
Use a cookie scoop to drop batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Cookies should puff up and may crack.
Remove cookies and leave oven door open to cool down.
Place cookies back in oven, close oven door and let cookies sit overnight.
The next day, cookies will be cooled completely and can be easily removed from parchment paper. Store in airtight container.

Deep Fried Parsnips – World’s Best Bar Snack?

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Crispy, salty, sweet, sprinkled with a little parmesan cheese and dusted with a couple of grinds of pepper, on a fry-crazy evening, we served these classic bar snacks along with deep-friend fish & chips. No one had to be scolded to eat their vegetables!

Bill Briwa, chef-instructor at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, calls deep fried parsnips “The World’s Best Bar Snack.” After frying up a batch, we think he’s got a good case!

We used a vegetable peeler to achieve the very thin ribbons of parsnips desired for this dish. In his instructional materials accompanying The Everyday Gourmet: Rediscovering the Lost Art of Cooking, (produced by The Great Courses) Chef Briwa employs a mandolin. A little care and a very sharp knife could achieve the same effect. The key is to cut the parsnips thin.

The other secret to ensuring that these snacks come out right every time is to make sure your oil isn’t too hot. It doesn’t matter whether you use canola, light olive oil, peanut oil or another oil suitable for deep frying, but don’t allow the temperature to climb above 300 degrees F. Parsnips have a lot of sugar; they’ll burn before they become tender at higher temperatures.

This makes them a logical appetizer to cook up with a meal of fish & chips. As the oil heats up to 300 degrees F, place the parsnips in. The temperature will drop a little at first, and that’s OK. It only takes a couple of minutes for them to become golden brown and crisp.

When they’re done, turn them out onto paper towels to drain off the oil and sprinkle a little salt over them. They’d be good served just like this, but to create a snack people can’t get enough of, add a little parmesan cheese. You can warm up a bowl in a countertop oven, place the drained, salted parsnip chips in the warm bowl, and gently toss them with grated parmesan, letting the warmth soften the cheese so it better adheres to the chips.

The final step is to turn the parsnips out onto serving plates in a nice, tall haystack. Hit it with a couple of grinds of pepper and serve. The cold beers should already be poured!

Pretzel Rolls for Sandwiches to Look Forward To

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Chewy and deliciously salty, these pretzel rolls are ready for turkey sandwiches, complete with deli mustard and homemade ginger-pear cranberry sauce.

While most people roast a turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas, Jack and I decided to make a turkey for going back to work after our winter break. We have plenty of recipes stockpiled for tasty meals featuring leftover roasted turkey. These pretzel rolls make lunchtime sandwiches something to look forward to.

Bread Machine Pretzel Rolls

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast
1 3/4 cups milk
2 tbsp olive oil
coarse sea salt
2 tbsp salt
1/2 cup baking soda
16 cups water

Directions

Place first 5 ingredients into baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Insert pan into the oven chamber. Select dough cycle.
Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface.
Divide dough into 8 pieces.
Roll dough in to balls. Flatten slightly and let rest while you prepare pretzel bath.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large pot, boil 16 cups water and salt.
When water is boiling, stir in baking soda.
Place 4 dough balls in boiling water for 30 seconds. Flip dough balls and continue to boil for 30 more seconds. Remove from water with slotted spoon and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Repeat with remaining 4 dough balls.
Sprinkle each roll with coarse salt.
Slice two slashes into each roll with a very sharp knife.
Bake rolls for 20 minutes. Pretzels are finished when they are a rich dark brown.
Let cool for a couple of minutes on baking sheet. Finish cooling on wire rack.

Whaler’s Stew with Beef or Wild Game: A Hot, Filling Meal on a Cold Winter Day

Posted on January 3, 2014 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Ladle out a bowl, mug or thermos of hot, hearty stew to fuel up for wintertime activities or for just enjoying a movie by a cozy fire.

If you’ve never made a stew, or if you haven’t cooked one up in a while, the heart of winter is the perfect time. We’ve been using this basic recipe for years, varying the ingredients with what we have on hand. Different iterations have featured beef tri-tip, moose, elk, caribou, and even bowhead whale. Sweet potatoes, other potatoes, brussels sprouts, corn, tomatoes and other vegetables feature nicely. A favorite of ours is parsnips, which add a distinctive flavor that goes well with beef and wild game. While corn starch or all purpose flour are traditional thickeners in stews – and perfectly fine – we use rice flour. It dissolves easily, is virtually without flavor and thickens without becoming pasty.

Rather than provide specific amounts of ingredients for this delicious meal, we recommend taking a loose approach. A volume ratio of about three to one vegetables (combined) to meat works well, but there’s no need to measure or to be overly exact.

Whaler’s Stew

Ingredients (Each vegetable is optional and could be omitted while increasing the amount of other vegetables or substituted for something else.)

lean, boneless meat such as chuck steak, tri-tip, or a similar cut from wild game. Cut into cubes or chunks.
olive oil
onions, chopped coarse
garlic, minced or chopped fine
red wine or sherry (optional)
beef bouillon (or vegetable bouillon, or water) – enough to just cover all ingredients when combined. We use Better than Bouillon.
carrots, sliced into discs
russet or Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes or yams, cubed
parsnips, chopped coarse or sliced into discs
mushrooms, chunked
brussels sprouts, cut in halves or fourths, depending on size
tomatoes, diced
sweet corn
seasonings: sea salt or smoked salt, pepper, thyme, bay leaf, sage, cloves

Directions

In a large bowl, add meat, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
In a heavy skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. When skillet is hot enough to make the meat sizzle, add it, stirring and turning to sear meat. Reduce temperature and continue cooking meat through, about 6 minutes.
Add onion and additional oil, if necessary. Add a splash or two of sherry or red wine (optional). Stir until onions become barely translucent but are still crunchy.
Stir in garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
Stir in seasonings and add bouillon mixture or water.
Add potatoes and any other slow-cooking vegetables such as sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Stir in rice flour – a little at a time to prevent clumping – to achieve desired thickness. Start by adding a total of 1 tbsp, wait a few minutes as broth thickens, and continue adding to desired thickness.
Add additional vegetables, adding corn last as it doesn’t need much cooking time. Simmer till vegetables are tender, tasting and adjusting seasonings as necessary.

Alternatively: Place vegetables, (except corn) in individual bowls – each to its own bowl. Mix thoroughly with olive oil, salt and pepper. Keeping vegetables separate according to their kind, place them all on a heavy, oiled baking sheet and roast them at 400 degrees F, checking and removing each type of vegetable as it is done and setting them all aside in a large bowl. This ensures that all vegetables are cooked to the right consistency, and the roasting brings out sweetness. Cook meat as above, set aside with the oil it cooked in, and then add all ingredients to a large pot to finish cooking. Add the corn last. Vegetables can be grilled in this fashion too. It’s a little more effort, but it makes a difference.

Individual-Sized Beef Wellingtons for Two

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

This classic presentation serves well as the entrée for any special meal. And where did the name originate?

There are two classic ways to serve Beef Wellington. Created from a cut of filet mignon weighed in pounds, it makes for a centerpiece as impressive as whole salmon, striped bass, loupe de mer, or a whole roasted turkey. There is a definite Wow factor with food done large. These are the kinds of presentations that prompt guests to spontaneously break into shared applause – gratifying to any chef.

This stacked beet salad, made from roasted beets and homemade goat cheese, goes nicely with beef.

But equally appreciative responses can be elicited with individual-sized presentations. Just as a handsomely baked 15-pound salmon, perhaps stuffed with shrimp and garnished with sliced lemons and fresh fennel draws the focus to the center of the table, a perfectly poached 12 ounce trout adorned with fiddle heads and a side of freshly cut asparagus inspires individual applause and equally broad smiles. There is something wonderfully intimate about being served with an individually prepared whole fish, a cornish hen or small game bird, or a perfectly done melt-in-your mouth individual Beef Wellington.

Living in a “dry” (no alcohol permitted) village in Arctic Alaska is a considerable hardship at times. A Malbec, a Malbec, our kingdom for a Malbec! We made do with wild cherry sparklers from our SodaStream.

And the origins of this dish? Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, was reputedly a big fan of beef, mushrooms and pâté cooked in pastry. Another claim is that the dish was named in honor of Wellington, New Zealand. To us, the theory that this dish was named for the Duke of Wellington seems the more plausible. Arthur Wellesley was a field marshall whose troops defeated the army of Napoleon Bonaparte resulting in the collapse of Napoleon’s empire and his exile. Wellesley’s status as a conquering hero earned him royalty status as the First Duke of Wellington. Chefs sometimes name their creations after people they admire, and there was a similar French dish at the time that British chefs may have felt merited appropriate modification and renaming.

Beef Wellington for Two

Ingredients

2 cuts of filet mignon, about 3/4 lb. each, brought to room temperature. The better the grade of beef, the better this dish will be.
duxelles – (a mushroom paste: see recipe below)
enough puff pastry to wrap each filet
enough prosciutto to completely wrap each filet
flour
whole grain Dijon mustard
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 sheets of plastic wrap large enough to wrap each Beef Wellington
parchment paper

Preparing the Filet MIgnon

Place filets in a bowl one at a time. Drizzle with olive oil and turn to completely coat filet while adding pinches of salt and pepper so that all sides are seasoned. Set filets on cutting board.
Add light olive oil to a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Use tongs to sear all sides of filets. This takes about 20 – 30 seconds per side – a total of about 2 – 3 minutes. Do not overcook, but make sure all surface areas are seared.
Save the remaining oil to sauté the duxelles.
Let filets cool.

Duxelles

Ingredients

1/2 lb. shitake mushrooms chopped fine (or any firm mushroom). We use dried shitakes which reconstitute nicely, store forever, and retain lots of flavor.
1 shallot, chopped fine (Penzeys dried shallots work well)
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine (Penzeys dried garlic is excellent)
1 tbsp whole grain Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried sage
1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil (Or sear the filet first and use the remaining oil to sauté the duxelles in the same pan)
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

Place mushrooms, shallot, garlic, thyme and sage in a food processor and pulse till finely chopped.
Place butter and olive oil in a pan over medium heat till butter is melted or add butter to oil remaining from searing beef and use that. Add mushroom mixture, reduce heat and sauté for approximately 8 minutes, until most of the liquid is evaporated and mixture is the consistency of a damp paste. Mix in salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Prepare the Beef Wellington

On cutting boards or table, lay out two sheets of plastic wrap sufficiently large to wrap each Beef Wellington.
Arrange prosciutto on plastic wrap making sure there is plenty of extra plastic wrap all around. Overlap prosciutto as necessary to ensure that it will completely cover the filets.
Use a spatula to cover prosciutto with duxelles.
Cover each rested filet with a 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of whole grain mustard – a sparse coating.
Place filets atop prosciutto. Using plastic wrap to keep things tight, wrap beef in prosciutto, making sure everything is tight and sealed.
Place prosciutto-wrapped filets in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. This will help the prosciutto to stay in place when the plastic is removed.
After 30 minutes, remove filets from refrigerator.
Preheat over to 400 degrees F.
Lightly dust cutting boards with flour and arrange puff pastry sheets sufficient to wrap each filet.
Remove plastic from filets. (This may be easiest done with scissors.) Place filets on puff pastry and fold or roll up pastry so that filet is completely encased. Brush egg wash onto pastry edges to help get a good seal.
Place parchment paper on baking sheet. Turn encased Beef Wellingtons seam side down and place on baking sheet. Make 2 slashes on top of pastry to allow steam to escape.
Brush egg wash on pastry and place in pre-heated oven.
Bake for approximately 40 minutes, checking toward the end to make sure pastry does no overcook. Beef should have an internal temperature of 125 degrees F.
Remove from oven and allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy with a fine Malbec, Zinfandel or Cabernet!

Sweet Nosh – Homemade Lemon Curd and Almond Scones

Posted on December 29, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Creamy, sweet lemon curd is the perfect partner to a freshly baked almond scone for a light breakfast or an afternoon nosh. See lemon curd and scone recipes below.

Any excuse to make lemon curd is a good excuse. I’ve been playing around with a lemon lava cake recipe and decided the ingredient it needed is lemon curd. With the lava cake in mind, I whipped up four cups of this zesty conserve, which happened to be more than my recipe required. What to do? Enjoy the tangy, sweet, creamy curd with a freshly baked batch of almond scones.

I’ve made many iterations of scones in my kitchen, but lemon curd seemed to fit with savory almond flavor as opposed to blends of fruits or other sweet ingredients.

The curd is a cinch to make. The Meyer lemons that grow in our backyard in Sacramento would have been the choice ingredient, but even without our favorite Meyers on hand in our Arctic kitchen, we can make a darn good curd with Nellie & Joe’s brand lemon juice and Penzeys dried lemon peel. The small scones, too, are a snap to make. The time it took from gathering pantry ingredients to pulling freshly baked scones from the oven was only about half an hour – about as long as it takes to have a first cup of Joe and get fully awake on a leisurely weekend or holiday morning.

Pantry Lemon Curd

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp Penzeys dried lemon peel
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice
pinch salt
1/4 lb unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions

In a medium bowl, mix together lemon peel and sugar.
Whisk eggs into sugar mixture, one at a time.
Whisk in lemon juice and salt.
Pour mixture into a medium pot. Add butter in pieces.
Cook over low heat until thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and let cool before serving with fresh-baked almond scones hot from the oven.
Store any leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator.

Snack-Sized Almond Scones

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
healthy pinch salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp frozen butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Using a cheese grater, grate butter into flour mixture. Stir until butter is well dispersed in flour.
In a second bowl, whisk together whole milk, buttermilk, egg, and extract.
Pour wet ingredients into dry. Stir together.
Stir in almonds. Dough will be sticky.
Coat your hands with flour and divide dough into thirds.
Flatten each third into a disc about 1-inch tall. Place 3 discs apart on parchment-covered baking sheet. Cut each disc into fourths, but do not separate. This will allow the scones to be broken easily when they are finished baking.
Bake for about 15 minutes. Scones will be very lightly browned when done.
Serve with hot tea and homemade lemon curd.

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies Featuring Alaskan Wild Blueberry Jam

Posted on December 28, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

Two thin, crispy cookies sandwich delicious homemade Alaska blueberry jam. This “anytime” cookie is too good to reserve for holiday cookie trays!

When we received a Christmas package from our friends at Alaskagraphy, we knew that these crispy vanilla cookies would be the perfect canvas for the flavor-packed wild blueberry jam they included. Experiment with your own jam creations!

Swiss Spitzbueben Cookies

Ingredients

5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
1 egg white
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Alaskan blueberry jam, or jam of your choosing
2 tbsp confectioners sugar, for dusting

Directions

In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter until soft and fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until completely mixed.
Add egg white. Beat until completely mixed.
Add flour. Mix until flour is incorporated completely.
Turn dough out onto plastic wrap. Cover tightly and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll dough out on parchment-covered surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.
Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Keep in mind that you need two cookies for each sandwich and the top cookie needs to have a smaller shape cut out in order for jam to show through.
Bake cookies for 6-8 minutes. Cookies should just brown at bottom edges.
Jam needs to be thick. If it is runny, cook down jam over medium heat for a few minutes. Spread jam on bottom cookie and place second cookie with cut-out atop first.
Dust cookies with powdered sugar when cool.

Recipe makes approximately 1 dozen spitzbueben.

Rustic Pear Gallette with Whole Wheat Blend Crust

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Jack & Barbra Donachy

The sweet secret to this gallette is a generous layer of homemade cloudberry jam beneath the pears No cloudberries? Try raspberry, blackberry or apricot jam.

A gallette is a beautiful dessert that can whipped up on short notice – a perfect answer to a seasonal abundance of fresh fruit. During the summer, we made a delicious strawberry-port gallette with sliced almonds in the galley of our sailboat. Since it is wintertime, we decided to make the gallette a bit more full-bodied by adding wheat flour and some cornmeal to the crust. We happened to have pears on hand, but many other fruits readily lend themselves to this recipe. Enjoy a slice of pear gallette with a side salad, a favorite cheese and a freshly brewed cup of tea for a satisfying lunch in any season.

Rustic Pear Gallette

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup coarse cornmeal
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup buttermilk (we made this from powdered)
2 tablespoons cloudberry jam, or jam of your choice
2 D’Anjou pears, thinly sliced
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp granulated sugar mixed with a pinch of ground cinnamon

Directions

Mix together flours, sugar, cornmeal and salt in a medium bowl.
Using a pastry blender, mix in cold butter. Continue mixing until cold butter is the size of peas.
Slowly mix in buttermilk. Stir with rubber spatula until dough forms into a ball.
Wrap dough in plastic and chill for about 30-45 minutes in refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the size of a baking sheet.
Place chilled dough on center of parchment paper.
Roll dough to about a 15-inch circle. This is a rustic dessert, so no need to be a perfectionist here.
Brush the entire rolled dough with jam.
Arrange pear slices atop dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
Fold border over pears, pressing down any folds of dough.
Brush dough with egg.
Sprinkle dough and pears with sugar and cinnamon mixture.
Bake gallette 40 – 45 minutes, until dough is golden brown and pears are soft.
Serve warm or at room temperature.