TWD - Flaky Apple Turnovers, Michelle Obama's Arms, Chocolate Souffle, How to Talk to Bears, and Assaulting Sarah Palin

"Honey, no pressure but I just told everyone in my office you were making apple turnovers tonight. They are so excited to taste them tomorrow." Greeeeaaattt.

Anyway, this week's Tuesdays with Dorie was Flaky Apple Turnovers. I was very excited because I love a good turnover. (Hell, I love a bad turnover too . . . he he.) However, in the end, it was more like pie than a turnover. But very good. I had no problems with the dough-making. I blended everything with my fingers, as I do for most doughs like this. It was still a little crumbly when I divided it and pressed it into a rectangle, but it came together nicely.

I made the dough Monday night, let it rest overnight, rolled it the first time Tuesday morning, let it rest, and then rolled it last after dinner. Let me tell you . . . if I rolled dough like this daily, I would have arms twice-as-nice as Michelle Obama's arms. Good grief, it was hard work. But that's the problem with butter-rich dough. It firms up intensely when chilled but won't roll unless chilled, which makes it harder to roll. It's a vicious cycle.

For both the first and second roll-outs, I rolled it between two pieces of wax paper, which worked fairly well and kept the mess to a minimum. Whenever I roll dough with flour, I get as much flour on myself and the floor as I do on the counter and the dough. So, wax paper works well for me. I also use a handleless, uncontoured rolling pin, which I think works much better than a pin with handles. (You can see it in the apple peel picture above, just to the left of the apples. It is one of my favorite kitchen things.)

Speaking of the apple peel picture (pay no attention to the green beans on the right - they were for dinner . . . but green bean turnovers sound interesting, no?), I took that picture for two reasons. First, I love peeling apples and I'm always sad to throw away the peels. Isn't there some recipe that uses apple peels as the main ingredient? Second, I was convinced at this point that four Fuji apples was wayyyyyy too many apples. And it was. I probably could have been fine with just two apples.

After rolling out the dough, I cut it with my four inch tartlett pans. They have scalloped edges which I thought would make the turnovers extra pretty. Well . . . sort of. I put too many apples in and that kind of stretched the dough too far, so "pretty" was relative. Here they are after forming but before the egg wash:

I didn't dot the apples with butter (mostly because I forgot) but, seriously. Did this recipe need MORE than the three sticks of butter in the dough? I don't think so.

Mine baked for less than the 20 minutes called for, but my oven runs hot so I count on less baking time in general. They got a huge vote of approval from myself, my fiance, and his office mates. They were very pretty in the end:

I still have dough and apples left over. I can't handle another arm work out, though, so I think I'm going to put the apples in a pie plate, make loosely formed circles with the dough and put them on top and then bake it.

Oh, by the way, I did make the Chocolate Souffle last week, but was so busy I forgot to post about it. Here is the picture:

It turned out pretty well, despite the fact that I beat the eggs a smidge too long. But, in my defense, I was distracted by talking to my dad on the phone. He called right in the middle of the egg beating. Ordinarily, I would have not answered the phone, but they just got back from 10 days in Alaska, during which time they stayed in a Bear Lodge. And by Bear Lodge, I mean a place that you have to fly a bush plane to get to that is designed to put you right in the middle of bear country.

I was distracted by my dad telling me how they had to take a class in "How to Talk to a Bear." Apparently, if you meet a bear on the path, you are supposed to avoid eye contact and sweet talk them. "Nice bear, pretty bear, good bear."

I think anyone would have been distracted from egg beating while hearing that story.

Also, they went to Wasilla but didn't meet Sarah Palin, which is a good thing since I would have had to fly to Alaska to bail both my parents out of jail for assault if they had met her.