Cathy Katin-Grazzini
These recipe excerpts are from Cathy Katin-Grazzini’s new book, Love the Foods That Love the Planet. Reprinted with permission from Health Communications, Inc. Photography by Giordano Katin-Grazzini.
Say goodbye to eco-unfriendly heavy pastry and laminated doughs that are loaded with butter and refined carbs. These delightful apple pastries are simply apples wrapped in a bit of leavened whole-grain dough. Pretty Apple Packets are elegant enough for company, and a green choice for breakfast, brunch, afternoon tea, or dessert. Making these pastries is a playful activity to share with a friend on a rainy day.
Apples grown in U.S. orchards carry a climate footprint of 0.11 kg CO2eq per kg, with only 6% due to emissions from synthetic fertilizers, 6% from in-field bacteria, and 5% from draining wetlands for farming, 57% from the use of farm machinery, 18% from the application of pesticides, and 5% from irrigation.
Apples’ Climate Pressures
Any food that features a carbon-sequestering tree fruit is a boon for the environment. Apples are grown in over half of America, but 63% of the yield comes from Washington State. The Pacific Northwest is facing hotter daytime and nighttime temperatures and more intense heat waves and wildfires, all exacerbated by climate change. Fruit trees like apple trees require cooler evening temperatures to repair and recover. Warmer temperatures negatively affect fruit size, taste, and stability. Like cherry growers, apple growers are employing misters, sunshades, and fruit coatings to mitigate excessive heat.
Pretty Apple Packets
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup apricot paste from 1 cup unsulfured dried apricots
- 1/3 cup apple glaze from a 12-ounce carton frozen apple juice concentrate, defrosted
- 1/4 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon, freshly ground
- 1 cup unsweetened soy milk, warmed to body temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon ground or whole vanilla seeds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 to 3 baking apples (I used pink Lucy Roses for their pretty pink flesh)
- Juice from 2 lemons
Directions
01
To make the apricot paste, put the dried apricots in a small bowl, cover with water, and microwave for 2 minutes. Alternatively, simmer them in a small saucepan on the stovetop for 5 minutes. Cool. Add the fruit with some of its soaking water to a high-speed blender and puree into a smooth, soft paste with the consistency of jam.
02
To make the apple glaze, empty the contents of a frozen concentrate carton into a small saucepan. Simmer on low until about half the liquid has evaporated. Allow it to cool. The consistency of the apple reduction should be thin enough to easily apply with a pastry brush. If it overthickens, stir in a teaspoon of water. Any extra glaze can be frozen for up to 3 months.
03
Use a coffee grinder to grind a Ceylon cinnamon quill into a fine powder.
04
Pour the soy milk in a medium ceramic or glass bowl and whisk in 2 tablespoons of apricot paste, vanilla, and ground cinnamon. Microwave the bowl for 30 seconds, or in a small pot on the stovetop, warm slightly to body temperature. Overheating will damage the yeast. Stir in the yeast and wait for 10 minutes for it to activate.
05
Using a Danish dough whisk or a wooden spoon, mix in just enough flour to create a soft, slightly tacky dough. Use a clean hand to knead the dough in the bowl for about 8 minutes. The dough should be smooth. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap, place it in a warm corner, a proofing box, or in an oven with a proofing setting. Allow the dough to rise for 1 ½ to 2 hours, during which it will inflate but not double in size.
06
Wash, quarter, core, and cut the apples into ⅛-inch slices.
07
Put lemon juice in a microwaveable bowl and gently stir in the apples. Zap the bowl in a microwave for 2 minutes, or gently simmer on the stovetop for 5 minutes until the apples have softened just enough to become pliant.
08
Preheat the oven to 350°F and position a baking rack on the middle shelf.
09
Divide the dough into nine equal pieces. Keeping the rest well covered to prevent drying, roll the first piece out to 1/8 inch in thickness.
10
Use a sharp paring knife and ruler to cut out a 4-inch square. Wrap the scraps in plastic and reserve them for later.
11
Move your knife 1/2 inch in from the perimeter and cut right angles at each corner. Each “L” should have “legs” about 1 1/2 inches long (see diagram to the right). Gently lift up each corner to free it from the surrounding dough. Soon we will very gently lift and stretch these thin attached corner strips of dough over the fruit to make pretty dough ribbons to enwrap the apple slices.
12
Spread a thick layer of apricot paste over the dough surface. Lay down about 6 apple slices, staggering them on the dough platform and applying a thin coat of apricot paste between each slice as you overlap them.
13
Pick up two dough corners from opposite sides. Very gently stretch them out, up, and over the fruit and pinch them together to seal the “ribbon.” Now pick up the other two opposing dough corners and do the same. Because this dough is whole grain, it is fragile and can tear easily. Don’t fret if any of your ribbons break. Just use a little extra dough to patch and smooth the patch.
14
Repeat Steps 9 through 13 until all your dough and apple slices are used. There should be 8 to 10 of them, depending on the dough’s thickness.
15
Transfer each apple packet to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spacing them an inch apart.
16
Bake them for 10 minutes, then remove the baking sheet and apply a generous amount of apple glaze over the fruit and dough.
17
Return to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and apply a second generous coating of apple glaze.
18
Return the tray to the oven for a final 10 minutes of baking. The packets are ready when a knife easily penetrates the apples and the dough is golden. Remove from the oven and brush on the third and final coat of apple glaze.
19
Transfer the pastries to a cooling rack.
20
Pretty Apple Packets are best served warm with your favorite warm beverage.
