Category Archives: Fruit

A Profusion of Pears and Spices

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Autumn pears star in these cheesecake-like bars.

That’s just what you’ll find in these creamy-dreamy “Pear Cream Cheese Bars with Macadamia Nut Crust.”

They’re potent with ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon and coriander — a whole teaspoon of each. Whoa!

The fact that they’re so spice-heavy shouldn’t come as a surprise — not when the recipe comes from a cookbook with the name, “The Spice Kitchen, Everyday Cooking with Organic Spices” (Andrews McMeel) by Sara Engram and Katie Luber with Kimberly Toque. Engram and Luber have their own line of spices. And Toque was an assistant test kitchen chef at Lawry’s.

My friends who sampled the bars found the amount of spice overwhelming. I didn’t mind the pronounced flavor, except that it did make it very hard to actually taste the pears in these treats.

Next time, I think I would cut the amount of spice in half, which is how I’ve adapted the recipe below. Feel free to cut the spice amounts even more if you prefer.

The bars have a great interplay of textures — a crisp, nutty cookie foundation, then an almost cheesecake-like middle, followed by slices of fresh pears, and a quite sweet, thick layer of crunchy streusel on the very top. The flavor is reminiscent of a heady pear spice cake in a whole different guise.

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An Autumn Apple Treat

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A crust to bring tears to your eyes. And a filling with a secret ingredient.

We all know it’s what’s on the inside that really counts.

But boy, what’s on the outside sure can titillate, thrill and work us into a frenzy, too.

Oh, come on. You know I’m right.

Take this “Open-Faced Apple Galette with Quince Paste.”

What attracted me in the first place to this recipe from Flo Braker’s “Baking for All Occasions” (Chronicle Books) was what was inside. After the rectangular galette emerges from the oven with its filling of sliced apples, walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and allspice, it cools just until you won’t burn your fingertips. Then, you carefully slip tiny pieces of sweet, deep, rose-colored quince paste between the apple slices.

The quince paste, which you can pick up in the cheese section of any well-stocked grocery store, not only adds color, but a brighter, more complex autumn flavor to this wonderful rustic dessert. I loved the interplay between the sweet-tangy, tender apples (I used Pink Lady ones) and the sticky, gooey sugary quince with its subtle acidic note.

The recipe calls for Golden Delicious, but I used Pink Lady apples.

Yes, I loved the inside. But boy, let me tell you about the outside, too.

It’s a beaut.

Braker, who lives in Palo Alto and has been teaching baking for 35 years, sure knows how to put together a crust.

If there ever was such a thing as a perfect crust, this could be it. It’s very buttery, so crisp it shatters when a fork cuts through it, and so multi-layered flaky that my husband thought it nearly bordered being puff pastry’s more svelte cousin.

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Discover the Produce Peddler in San Francisco and San Mateo’s Thriving Downtown

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Fresh, organic Yolo County Farms' produce now featured a select neighborhood corner stores in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Brian Collentine)

Corner markets aren’t the first places you’d normally seek out produce — unless you need something basic and fast.

Brian Collentine is seeking to change that.

When the economy fizzled, the freelance creative director found he had too much time on his hands. So he came up with the idea to set up displays of fresh, organic produce and flowers inside San Francisco neighborhood bodegas where you’d normally be hard pressed to find a squishy onion amid the six packs and cigarettes.

Instead of jumping in cars to shop at supermarkets miles away, city dwellers in certain parts of the San Francisco now can walk around the corner or a mere block away to buy just-picked potatoes, peaches, and figs from Yolo County farms.

Read more about Collentine’s fresh and delicious endeavor in my story in the October issue of San Francisco Magazine.

While you’re perusing the magazine, also check out my other story on San Mateo’s lively downtown, which has managed to thrive when other downtowns on the Peninsula have suffered untold business closings this past year.

Fancy soap from a 1905-era hardward store in San Mateo.

With its sprawling 70 blocks, downtown San Mateo is an intriguing mix of centuries-old businesses (Wisnom’s hardware store opened its doors in 1905) and new, unique attractions. It’s where both YouTube and Napster got their starts, too.

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All that Jazz (Apples)

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Have a slice. Go on. You can.

Delicate, vibrant berries and juicy, plump stone fruit steal the thunder in summer.

So much so that we almost forget how delightful biting into a crisp, wine-y apple can be.

I was reminded of that when a 40-pound box of Jazz apples arrived with a big clunk on my doorstep as a sample.

Who needs to go to the gym, when wrestling this heavy crate into the house was exercise enough for the ol’ biceps? My neighbors loved me for sharing the wealth. After all, who can resist a sweet-tart apple that squirts juice from the first snappy bite?

Jazz apples are available year-round. A cross between the tart Braeburn and sweet Royal Gala varieties, Jazz apples are grown in New Zealand during our spring and summer, and in Washington state during fall and winter. You can find them in both organic and non-organic versions at Safeway, Whole Foods, Mollie Stone’s, and many other grocery stores.

Jazz apples that make your appetite sing.

I enjoyed many a Jazz apple just out of hand. But I also set some aside to make a most wonderful apple cake. The recipe, “Babette Friedman’s Apple Cake,” was published last year in the New York Times.

It was my friend, Marvin, who first brought this recipe to my attention. As a food writer at the San Jose Mercury News, I used to fondly refer to Marvin as my “Number One Fan in Southern California,” because each and every week, he would go online to read the food section diligently. Invariably, he’d send me an email afterward to let me know how much he enjoyed a particular story. He’d also send me links to other recipes he had tried and loved. A movie buff, who is retired from that Tinsel Town industry, he would send me recommendations for obscure, interesting foreign flicks, as well. And when my parents passed away, it was Marvin who sent me some of the most thoughtful and touching words of comfort.

So when Marvin sent me this apple cake recipe, I knew it as worth trying. Marvin doesn’t like baked goods that are too sweet, especially ones with fruit. Instead, he likes the true flavor of the fruit to shine through.

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