Apple Almond Galette to celebrate my new cookbook (giveaway)
The kettle is on and the table is set. It’s finally time to share with you a project I’ve been working on for a little over two years.
I’ve filled notebooks with scribbles and lists, developed hundreds of recipes, and picked the best ones to test and include. I’ve proofed many drafts of the manuscript and styled food for hundreds of photographs.
I’ve been anticipating this day for a very long time: the moment when The Simple Bites Kitchen launches into the world and you all are invited to join me in my kitchen.
Friends, today is the day! Keep reading to learn more about my new cookbook and upcoming book tour. I’m also sharing a seasonal recipe from the book – Apple Almond Galette – and giving away five copies to you!
The Simple Bites Kitchen cookbook
The Simple Bites Kitchen is dedicated to you, my readers. Without you, and without this space, there wouldn’t be an opportunity for another cookbook. It has been your loyal readership and encouragement over the past seven years that spurred me to create the collection of new recipes.
As you know from reading along over the years, my kitchen is a place where our family gathers, cooks together, and celebrates everyday life. In The Simple Bites Kitchen, I bring my love of whole foods to the table in a collection of 100 wholesome recipes drawn from my experience as a mom and a seasoned cook.
The recipes are brimming with fresh, seasonal ingredients that are easy to come by. They feature simple instructions, inspiring you to cook with confidence knowing you’re providing your family with healthy and great-tasting meals.
The Simple Bites Kitchen also includes recipes to keep your preserves pantry well-stocked all year long, kitchen tips, simple tutorials, and ideas for homespun hospitality.
The chapters are:
- Nourishing Breakfasts
- Wholesome Lunches and Snacks
- Homegrown Vegetarian
- Fresh-Air Gatherings
- Everyday Suppers
- Simple Bites Staples
- Preserves Pantry
I know well the challenges that come with feeding a family and tackle them head on by providing lunchbox inspiration, supper solutions and healthy snack options in this book. The recipes are nutritious, fairly easy to make, and approved by my kids (important!).
While Brown Eggs and Jam Jars featured quite a few celebrations like picnics, harvest dinner, holidays…., this second cookbook covers the basics in-between those wonderful life events. It’s about how we eat from Monday through Friday: simple, healthy, fast – but never boring.
One more thing: Kids in the Kitchen is a big part of this cookbook. Each chapter features a recipe that my kids love to make on their own, such as Noah’s French Toast with Cinnamon Maple Butter, Vietnamese Summer Rolls, and One-Pot Shrimp and Pea Orzo. Sparking your child’s curiosity in cooking at a young age can lead to a lifelong interest in healthful eating and unprocessed foods.
If you’re looking for inspiration and encouragement for feeding a family, The Simple Bites Kitchen is for you. As of today, is available in bookstores across North America and online in the links below.
- Canadian readers: Order online from Indigo.
- US readers: Find it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
- UK readers: Find it on Amazon.
The Simple Bites Kitchen Canadian Book Tour 2017
I’m going coast to coast with this book, hitting major cities and a few personal spots. I hope you’ll come out and say hi if I happen to be near your town. I’d love to connect!
- October 3rd. Toronto, ON – Penguin Offices, 6-7:30pm
- October 14th. Montreal, QC – Appetite for Books, 2-4pm
- October 21st – Ottawa, ON – Red Apron, 3:30pm – 5pm
- November 5th – Smithers, BC – Two Sisters Café, 2-4pm
- November 6 – Vancouver, BC – PRH offices. 111 Water Street, Suite 310 6-7:30 Drop in.
- November 8 – Calgary, AB – The Cookbook Co. Cooks, 6:30-8pm
- November 20 – Halifax, NS – The Independent Mercantile Co. 6 – 7:30pm
Mark your calendars, friends.
Apple Almond Galette
I had to share a recipe from the cookbook, and since our Thanksgiving is just around the corner, this tart feels like the perfect fit. We’ve recently been to a local orchard to pick apples and I have heaps and heaps of them around, just waiting to be turned into a rustic galette such as this.
This seasonal tart is often my go-to dessert for family dinners when I’ve volunteered to bring something sweet. I keep 1-pound packages of puff pastry in my freezer and I always have a drawer of apples in my crisper, especially in fall. The frangipane freezes well, too, so I often make a double batch and tuck away half for another time.
Ingredients
- 1 pound puff pastry thawed overnight in the refrigerator«
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter softened
- 2/3 cup raw cane sugar divided, plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
- 2 medium eggs
- 1/2 cup ground almonds
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 4 large Granny Smith apples or Russet
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter melted
- 2 Tablespoons sliced almonds toasted, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- On a lightly floured counter, roll puff pastry into a roughly 11- × 16-inch rectangle approximately 1/8 inch thick. Transfer to the baking sheet and place in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the softened butter and 1/3 cup of the sugar. Add 1 egg and beat until smooth. Stir in the ground almonds and flour until a smooth paste forms. This frangipane may be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.
- Peel and core the apples, then cut into quarters and slice into 1/4-inch wedges. Tumble the apples into a medium bowl and toss with another 1/3 cup sugar and the nutmeg.
- Spread the almond frangipane over the puff pastry, leaving at least a 3-inch border on all sides. Arrange the apple slices over the frangipane, overlapping and tucking them in close together.
- Fold the sides of the puff pastry up and over the apples in an easy, free-form way, making an edge of at least 2 inches. The beauty of a galette is that it doesn’t have to look perfect. Pinch the pastry folds firmly together to seal them.
- Brush the apples with the melted butter. Lightly beat the remaining egg and brush it over the puff pastry. Sprinkle everything with the remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, until the pasty is golden and the apples are soft when poked with a fork. Cool slightly, then sprinkle with almonds and serve warm. The galette is best enjoyed on the same day it is made.
Nutrition
The Simple Bites Kitchen Giveaway!
Thanks to my wonderful publishers at Penguin Canada, I have five copies of The Simple Bites Kitchen to giveaway to my North American readers.
To enter: please leave a comment on this post and tell me one thing you like to cook or bake in fall.
*** This giveaway has ended. The winners are: Sarah, Nancy, Anne, Matt and Laura Mayne. You have all been notified via email. Congratulations! *
That’s it! Giveaway ends on Tuesday, October 10 at 9am. The five winners will be announced here on this post, as well as directly via email. Good luck to all.
Recipe excerpted from The Simple Bites Kitchen: Nourishing Whole Food Recipes for Every Day. Copyright © 2017 by Aimée Wimbush-Bourque. Photos copyright © Tim and Angela Chin. Published by Penguin, an imprint of Penguin Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Fall= butternut squash galette
I love to bake tarts, pies and desserts in the fall. Nothing like that cool weather to get the oven and kitchen warmed up!
With Fall comes cooler weather so I get excited to heat up the oven again! Apple pie is at the top of my list!
I love to make anything Pumpkin, especially pumpkin roll. But stuffing is one of my other fall favorites too,
Brussel Sprouts! Steamed for my hubby and roasted for me. Actually any veg roasted…carmalized and yummy.
I love making different kinds of bread. There is nothing like bread fresh out of the oven with lots of butter!
My family and I love to bake apple scones during the fall months.
Love your recipes and blog! This apple gallete looks delish and a perfect accompaniment for the fall casseroles I love to put together. Thanks Aimee for your lovely and loving work!
I LOVE to make hand pies.
Apple or pear sauce! It’s easy and makes the house smell wonderful!
muffins, with streusel topping, perfect for coffee breaks!
I love making home made applesauce!
I love making soup this time of year along with anything apple ? or pumpkin ?! Apple pie has to be at the top!
Compost cookies to use up Halloween treats
I like to bake things with apples, especially an apple coffee cake. Mmmm.
Fall cooking has me leaving the BBQ behind and getting back into some comfort food faves. Soups, stews, pasta, and the like. We always come back to a particular recipe for fish stew that’s lightly spiced with curry and finished with some wine and cream. It’s rich and super easy (a one pot wonder)…and now I may need to go and buy ingredients for it!
I always bake cinnamon rolls in the fall
Fall is my favorite season, especially for food! I love roasted butternut squash soup, so easy and so good!
It’s nothing fancy, but I love to take the apples from the yard and preserve them for pies and applesauce! And of course, anything pumpkin flavored.
Soup! Love me some warm soup and fresh baked bread or cornbread this time of year.
I love to make apple pies in the fall. And soups- ALL THE SOUPS! 🙂
A fall favourite for our family is an overnight pumpkin french toast!
Pear gallete. So scrumptious!
I have a recipe for a butternut squash, chicken, quinoa stew that is to-die-for! It is my favourite go to recipe for fall. Warm and cozy for those chilly days but hearty enough to fill up my husband in one bowl! ??
I love baking my grandmother’s recipe for apple cake. My kids love it too 😉
I love to cook apple or berry crips in the fall!
I like to make a Japanese dish of sweet potato, rice, and forbidden rice.
With the return of cooler weather I resume baking bread on a regular basis.
I love to make applesauce and pumpkin muffins in the fall.
I love to bake anything with apple, especially apple cake. The smell in the house is just so great!!
As the weather cools off, I love to return to my oven and roast root vegetables tossed in oil with some seasonings. I put a risotto in there too while I’m at it. I love a meal that doesn’t require me standing at the stove!
It is soup season. And bread fresh out of the oven!
Slow cooker vegetarian chili of all kinds, chock full of root vegetables, beans and aromatic herbs and spices. I look forward to your Halifax visit!
When the weather turns a little cooler, we make our award-winning family chili recipe!
Congrats on your book’s release!
Fall is all about apples. I love to make a quick batch of applesauce, apple pies, and baked apples. Congratulations on the new book! And just to keep things interesting… hopefully a move!!
In the fall I especially look forward to making applesauce and apple crisp, pumpkin pancakes, soups and roasted squash and barley risotto. Yum!
Love to make a big pot of soup!
I love baking with pumpkin! I make waffles, pancakes, breads, muffins, soup. I just made some pumpkin steel cut oats that were great.
It looks like a gorgeous book! I started following your blog recently, after our family spent the summer in Nova Scotia, and somehow I stumbled upon some of your postings about your Maritime road trips. (Our hearts are there as well now! I forwarded your post about relocating to my husband who responded “who is this ghost family that is living our life?!” I love cooking, but not kids in the kitchen, although ideally I love them getting the experience, I just have to keep finding balance between kid cooking and mama cooking 😉 You are inspiring me.
We had the first of many stuffed Delicata squash last night!
I love roasting chicken in the fall. Really brings back school time memories of coming home after school and setting up for a big Greek family supper!
Fall means soup to me! and homemade apple sauce from our tree!
My mom’s recipe of pumpkin cake that we bake in maple syrup cans. Makes nice round slices to eat slathered with butter. Yum!
Apple everything and any kind of soup you can imagine?
Pumpkin everything, I roasted and pureed a giant butternut squash on the weekend and already made muffins, soup, smoothies, risotto and oatmeal with it, gnocchis are up next 🙂
I am a big fan of fall! I love to make apple butter in my slow-cooker with freshly picked apples from one of the local orchards.
Roasted vegetables of all sorts! ?????
I love to make a biscuit topped chicken stew. My thyme plant is huge and the herb just adds that perfect flavor to such a warm, comforting dish.
I love to make jam with season fruit and my family loves when I bake cookies. Just yesterday I combined these two loves and made thimble cookies 😉
I like to bake muffins in the fall; they feel cozy and comforting.
Apple Caramel Pie! ?
Pumpkin and chocolate bread pudding! ?