A love letter.

Dear Cardamom,

You make me weak in the knees. One whiff of your spicy goodness sends me straight to a land of Christmas cheer filled with mouth-watering images of my mother's famous pfeffernusse cookies. YUM.

Basically? You rock my world.

Thanks for giving me an early taste of the holidays. Keep up the good work!

Your most loyal devotee,

Rachel

I wish there could be Smell-o-Vision for this.

Trust me. Make this for yourself and someone special.

Dollop a bit of whipped cream and drizzle some caramel sauce on top, and feel (and smell!) the love.

Spiced Apple Galette


1 prepared pie crust for a single-crust pie (I used Trader Joe's brand -- I highly recommend it!)
3 1/2 cups peeled and cored apples - sliced about 1/8 inch thick
(NOTE: You'll want to use apples with a little more body so they won't get mushy - I used equal parts Arkansas Black and Jonagold apples.)
Juice of half a lemon
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 1/2 tbsp butter - diced
Course sugar (turbinado sugar) for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and coat with cooking spray.
With a rolling pin, roll out dough into a 13 inch circle. I actually rolled out the dough directly on the cookie sheet, but feel free to work on a floured surface and then transfer the rolled dough to the prepared sheet.
In a large mixing bowl, combine sliced apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, flour, and spices. Add more sugar to taste if desired.
Using your hands, scoop out and arrange apple filling on the dough - starting in the center and working out - leaving a 2" border.
Fold the remaining dough over the apple filling in large pleats, applying a bit of pressure to seal the folds.
Dot the apples with half of the bits of butter, and melt the rest in the microwave.
With a pastry brush, brush the crust of the galette with the melted butter, and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Drizzle any remaining butter over the apples.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until apples are tender and crust is golden. A bit of the juices from the apples might ooze out the bottom - but don’t fret!
Let stand about 10-15 minutes out of the oven before serving. Or, if you're slightly impatient like myself, you can slice into it right away and get a mouthful of molten apple!