Gougeres

[Jenise]

Regarding Howie's rcp - Aren't coarse salt and fleur de sel exact opposites in texture?

No: both are coarse. Kosher would be coarse but uniform, where fleur de sel would be irregular since it's hand-harvested and unprocessed.

Ah...thank you, Jenise. For some reason, I thought fleur de sel was very fine, not course. But I know what you mean, natural crystals vs. processed crystals.

[Jenise]

The intro to this recipe says, "Mark Bittman, the Times food columnist, described this cake as a "perfect clafoutis". But neither looking at it nor eating it would I have recognized it as such in that most clafouits I've had were made in tart forms and custard. The least appealing to me of those could have been called fruit quiches, if such a term existed. This is nothing of the sort but rather, baked and released from a spring-form pan it consists of stratified, wafer-thin layers fresh apple bonded together in a rich, vanilla-bean laced moist cake batter that turns a beautiful, caramelized mahogany during baking. It's simple and elegant, the kind of fruit-based dessert I never feel guilty about serving, needing nothing but a dusting of powdered sugar to be complete.

Another big plus: it's desperately easy to put together. A bowl, a whisk, a spatula and a spring form pan are all the tools you need, and from start to finish you should have this in the oven in about 15 minutes--even less if you're a whiz at peeling and slicing.

Originally printed in 2004 from a Mark Bittman article about Seattle chef Scott Carsberg (chef/owner, Lampreia) "Seattle Grown, Italian-flavored".

8 tblsp unsalted butter, plus additional for greasing the pan
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
4 medium Granny Smith apples
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
Confectioners sugar

Heat the oven to 375F. Line the base of a spring form pan with parchment, then smear the bottom and sides with a thick layer of butter. Dust with flour, turn the pan over, and tap lightly to remove excess flour. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Set aside.

Split the vanilla bean. Scrape out and reserve the seeds; put the pod in the butter.

Using a whisk, beat the eggs in a bowl and add half the sugar. Continue to beat while lowly adding the remaining sugar until thick--the batter should form a ribbon when dropped from your whisk. Add the vanilla bean scrapings.

Peel, quarter and core the apples, then slice thinly, about 1/8".

Remove the vanilla pod from the butter and stir the butter into the batter. Combine the flour and baking powder, and stir into the batter along with the milk. Finally, stir in the apples, coating every slice. Pour the batter into the prepared pan using your fingers to pat down evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes, then rotate the pan. Bake for another 25 minutes or until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is brown on top.* A thin-bladed knife will come out clean when it is done--cool for 30 minutes. Best served while still warm.

*After the first 25 minutes, my cake was already the mahogany color I boasted of so I laid a piece of foil on top to prevent further browning. When I make this again, and I will!, I'll start it with the foil on top and then remove it at the halfway point so as not to inhibit crustiness along with that well-developed color.