It was the right thing to do. When my dad and I stopped into the new 9 Bean Rows location in Lake Leelanau and saw their bakery case full of homemade French pastries, he said he thought that we should sit at a table and enjoy one right then. Amen.
I had an apricot pinwheel and this sticky-chewy-buttery masterpiece got us talking about how it would be easier to turn down other pastries in the future, now that we have had the best.
Did you notice the green magazine cover called "Edible Grand Traverse" in my photo (above)? I love this free foodie magazine that is printed by region (I found Edible Seattle in Washington) and spotlights the best and brightest in food and farms. Look for one in your area.
There are a lot of croissants and pastries in the world and I give you my word, the pastries at 9 Bean Rows rival the best I have ever had.
I also wanted you to see baker Jen's beloved baking books. This is the well worn library of a master. The most tattered cover belongs to The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg. If you want to learn the craft, I would start here.
On the coldest of winter days in Michigan (-8 degrees, without wind chill, this morning!), we often find ourselves planning an escape to a warmer climate. I walked through the family room this morning and noticed how the aqua blue in this map matched my turquoise throw on the couch. I knew this would be a pretty vignette to showcase the sweet treat I made yesterday - chocolate-dipped apricots.
Eating a varied diet and fueling ourselves with nutrient rich food is important to me. I think eating a dried apricot or two a day can only make us all healthier. And you know how I feel about chocolate.
I have wanted to explore making chocolate-dipped fruits for a while now and having put it off, I feel quite dumb now that I know how easy it is.
I mixed equal parts (about a 1/4 cup each) of milk chocolate chips and semisweet chocolate chips in a glass bowl. I microwaved the chocolate in intervals of 30 seconds, stirring in between sessions. When the chocolate was smooth and blended, I dipped (and spread with a spoon) each dried Mariani Apricot. Then I placed each chocolate-dipped apricot on a wax paper covered plate and set it in the refrigerator. 3 ingredients (all available at Target), a microwave and a refrigerator are all you need to make this sweet treat.
If you are having friends over for Book Club or Cards, make them a plate of Chocolate-dipped Apricots for a healthy and delicious treat on a cold winter day.
Nope, it's not an egg yolk...it's an apricot! It was Fourth of July weekend and we wanted to get out of the house and spend the morning at the farmer's market, but not before some coffee!
The luck was that there were still "9 Bean Rows" apricot pinwheels left at The Pedaling Beans coffeehouse in Lake Leelanau. Yum yum yum yum yum. I recently watched a baking show on making croissants from scratch and I can honestly say that it's never gonna happen. Baking these kind of pastries from scratch is just too labor-intensive for me, so I will leave it to the experts!
All summer long, the 9 Bean Rows bakery drops off fresh croissants on certain days of the week (Weds, Fri, Sat?). If you want to make sure that you get one, you can call and place your order ahead of time. When the shipment comes in, they dole out the pastries into the pre-order bags. That's why I felt lucky that there were some left when we came in on this particular Saturday!
On other days I have placed an order, and there is something wonderful about walking up to the counter and seeing a bag that says, "Anne Reeves" on it. It just makes me feel smart...and still pretty lucky.
A hot latte and a fresh apricot pinwheel...this is a moment of delight.
Ahhh...the simple joy of eating sugar-packed apricots in the middle of Winter. I really think you should try this simple process sometime in August, so that you can pat yourself on the back next February.
First wash pint-size glass Ball jars and lids in the dishwasher and then place them on a clean dishtowel nearby.
Mix 2/3 cup of white sugar with 2 teaspoons of Fruit Fresh. Wash 1 quart of fresh apricots, slice them in half, remove any bruises and remove the pit. Mix the apricots with the sugar/preservative mixture and let stand for 10 minutes while the sugar dissolves. Gently fit the apricot halves into each jar and pour in any sugar syrup that pooled around the fruit. Leave about 1/2 inch of head space, so that the fruit has room to expand as it freezes. Place the lid on the jar, screw on the top and freeze.
I labeled my jars with these darling labels from Lilly Pulitzer. Even apricots wanna be super cute!
Fresh apricots, vintage Pyrex and BBC's drama, Cranford (starring Judi Dench), playing in the distance - now that is my idea of a fun Summer evening. The kitchen faces West and the sunset was almost the same shade as my jam - simply gorgeous.
I make jam with Ball's No Cook Freezer Jam Fruit Pectin - the same way I made my strawberry jam here. Can jam be too good? We have eaten all of the strawberry jam that I made in June...three big batches of it! Next year, remind me how fast it goes!
