Hamster Haiku

Endlessly circling

I run toward my destiny

Dawn's glow is my guide

Apple Galette for Pi Day

March 14th, as every math student knows, was Pi Day, so to celebrate I made an apple galette. These pies without a pie pan are easily made at home or in a dutch oven when camping. I would recommend that you have some experience cooking in a dutch oven before making this, though.

Any recipe for a basic pie crust is acceptable for this recipe. for my crust I used:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
8 tablespoons (1/4 lb.) butter, chilled and cut into cubes
4-5 tablespoons apple jack (apple cider if you are a minor), chilled

Combine the flour, salt and sugar in large mixing bowl. Add the chilled butter and with a pastry cutter or your fingertips cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the apple jack or cider (you can also use cold water) one tablespoon at a time and stir the mixture until it just comes together as a dry but sicky dough. You may not need the fifth tablespoon of liquid. Form the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Store in the refrigerator for an hour to let the dough fully hydrate and the butter firm up again before rolling.

While the dough is resting, it's time to make the filling. I used the following:

2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and each cut into 12 slices
2 pink lady apples, peeled, cored and each cut into 12 slices
1/2 cup chopped and toasted walnuts
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated if possible
2 tablespoons butter

Melt the butter in a 12 inch nonstick frying pan over medium heat. When the butter stops foaming, add the apples and cook, stirring often until softened and slightly browned at the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Add the brown suger and nutmeg and stir until the liquid is syrupy and bubbling, about 5 minutes. Stir in the walnuts and remove from the heat.(Fig. 1) Set this aside to cool until the dough is ready.

Figure 1 - Apple and Walnut Filling

After the dough has chilled for an hour, roll it out on a lightly floured work surface until you have a 16 inch round. Either line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it well and carefully transfer the pie crust to the baking sheet. Pour the apple mixture onto the center of the crust, making a mound that is about 8 inches across and 2 inches high. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the apples, forming pleats as you go around and leaving a four inch wide opening at the top. Beat one egg in a bowl and brush this egg wash over the dough to create a nice brown crust. Bake in a 375 dgreee oven for 45 minutes. Use the parchment paper to help transfer the galette to a cooling rack. (Fig. 2) After 30-45 minutes transfer to a large plate for service.(Fig. 3) This dish can be served slightly warm or at room temperature and it goes great with homemade vanilla ice cream. Enjoy.

Figure 2 - Galette Cooling on Wire Rack

Figure 3 - Ready to Eat !

Five Minute Fun Foam Frame

This is a a project that comes in handy when you need to make some sort of display or an inexpensive keepsake for an event. I have used these frames many times for Cub Scout banquets as place cards and for the cast board at my son's plays. They are fast to make, easy for kids to do (an adult probably needs to do the knife work), very inexpensive and parents always love to take home pictures of their kids from events.

For each frame you will need two pieces of 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" fun foam. At the hobby store I go to you can usually find these bundled together in a package of 40-50 already cut to size and in various colors for around $5.00. You also need a set of markers made specially for drawing on fun foam, usually sold right next to the fun foam at the store. Also required is a good razor blade type craft knife, hot glue gun, pencil and a ruler. (Fig. 1)

Figure 1 - Materials Required

These frames are designed to hold a 4x6 picture. Start by drawing a rectangle whose edges are 1 3/8" in from the long direction of the foam and 7/8" in from the short dimension. This will leave an opening slightly smaller than the photograph. Use your craft knife to remove this rectangle intact. You will need it later. (Fig. 2)

Figure 2 - Remove Rectangle for Picture.

Turn the piece of foam with the rectangle cut out over so that any pencil marks made during the previous step will be hidden. Now use the markers to create some sort of border pattern around the edge of the frame. For this one I did a sort of leaf and vine thing. You need to create a border such that there is a continuous line that runs around the outer edge touching the edge at several spots. Some examples of different frames are shown at the end of this post. Using the line you have drawn around the edge of the frame as a guide, use the craft knife to cut away everything beyond it. You will end up with a piece that looks like the one below. (Fig. 3)

Figure 3 - Design Drawn and Edges Removed

Hot glue the frame face to another piece of fun foam of a complimentary color. The picture can either be taped to back of the frame face before gluing it down or the frame can be flexed and the photo slid in afterward. ( Fig. 4)

Figure 4 - Frame Face Attached to Back

Now take the leftover rectangle cut from the frame face and cut it in half diagonally. Hot glue the two pieces together to make one right angle triangle. (Figs. 5,6)

Figure 5 - Cut Rectangle in Half

Figure 6 - Glue Halves Together

Measure over about 4 inches and up 1 inch from the lower left corner of the triangle as shown above and make a mark with the pencil. Draw a line through the lower left corner and that point and make a straight cut along it. (Fig. 7)

Figure 7 - First Cut of Frame Stand

Now mark a point about 2 1/2" from the lower corner and another about 2" from the top corner. Cut straight line through these points. (Fig. 8) This will give you the shape for the stand of the frame. Hot glue it to the middle of the back of the frame. The frame can be made to view either horizontally or vertically depending on your picture. (Fig. 9,10)

Figure 8 - Second Cut of Frame Stand

Figure 9  - Glue Stand in Place

Figure 10 - Finished Frame

Below are a couple of other designs I have done using this technique. The third picture is from a play my son Matthew was in last summer. After the last performance I attached the stands so that the parents could take them home.