Grilled Brie & Cranberry Sandwich

Like any good student, when it's time to write a paper or do some serious studying, I am able to come up with a handful other things I simply must do. My favorite distraction is, of course, cooking. After all, you do have to eat! A recipe that I've been wanting to try usually pops into my mind and I just have to have it; no focusing can be done on school work until I've had sustenance to get me through.

It's finals week. You can imagine my list of recipes I've just got to make!

Today's (first) distraction was inspired by a recipe for a brie grilled cheese sandwich with cranberry sauce I saw on Pinterest (another great distraction). And wouldn't you know it, I have some Cranberry Sauce in my refrigerator right now. Simple and delicious combo. But I warn you, it's also a little bit addictive...


Grilled Brie and Cranberry Sandwich
Brie (enough slices to cover the bread)
Cranberry Sauce (enough to spread a thin layer over cheese)
Bread (I used whole wheat pita pockets, sides separated
Butter

1. Spread a thin layer of butter on the outside of each slice of bread.

2. Place a layer of Brie on half of sandwhich. Top with a thin layer of cranberry sauce.

3. In a skilled over low heat, place the sandwhich, in a frying pan, buttered side down. Cook until golden brown, then flip.

4. When both sides are golden brown and cheese is melted though, it's done!

One whole pita pocket is likely enough for 2 people; they are kinda big - and messy.

Enjoy!

Orange Anise Sweet Bread

Okay, so it's really Pan de Muertos (Day of the Dead Bread), but I made it a little late, so now it's just a tasty sweet bread. And if you don't put the traditional skull and cross-bones on it, it's just an unassuming little loaf of bread, tantalizing you with its orange and sugar glaze... Perfect for a cold fall evening, especially if served with a mug of Mexican hot chocolate!

I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com but after reading through the reviews, made a few tweaks that I thought would improve the final product. Oh, it sure is tasty, especially if you dig in while it's still warm. And the great thing is, you can make two loafs, one for eating right away, and one for serving a little later, so no one will know you already had some!

Note: I found the beginning was slightly quick-moving, so it helped to have the ingredients pre-measured so I could just tip them in as needed.

Orange Anise Sweet Bread
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. milk
1/4 c. warm water
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3 c. all-purpose flour, 1 c. separated out
1-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. anise seeds
1/4 c. white sugar
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2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten
2 tsp. orange zest

Orange Glaze
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 c. fresh orange juice
1 T. orange zest
2 T. white sugar - for sprinkling

1. Heat milk and butter in a sauce pan over low heat on the stove, until the butter melts. Add the warm milk. Remove from heat and add the warm water. Mixture should be around 110 degrees. If it's too hot, just let it sit a minute while you prep the next 5 ingredients.

2. In a stand mixer, combine 1 cup of flour, yeast, salt, anise and sugar. To these, add the milk and butter mixture. Add the eggs and orange zest, combining well. Slowly tip in the rest of the flour; dough will be soft.

3. At this point, I'm hoping you have a stand mixer with a kneading attachment (it looks like a hook). One of the ways I hoped to eliminate the second-day dryness people complained about was using the mixer to knead the bread rather than kneading it by hand (which I'll admit, I do find fun). Less flour should equal a more moist bread. Switch to the kneading attachment and let the machine do the kneading for 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

4. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap (to prevent the top from drying) and set in a warm place to rise. (I placed mine in front of a space heater - worked great!) You want it to double in size; this should take 1-2 hours.

5. After it has doubled in size, punch the dough down. This means pulling the plastic wrap back and punching the center of the dough with your fist once. (I had to call my mom to find out how you 'punch' the dough.) Place the wrap back on and let the dough sit for five minutes while it relaxes - it should have immediately sunk down when you punched it.

6. Shape the dough into one giant round loaf, or two equally portioned loafs (I did two loafs myself), and place on a baking sheet, covering loosely with plastic wrap. For this rise, I lightly sprayed the 'dough' side of the plastic wrap to prevent it from sticking to the buns when I pulled it off - worked great! Let rise for about an hour in the warm spot, until almost double in size.

7. Bake as is on sheet at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Don't open the oven during baking or pull pan out as large temperature changes will cause yeast dough to go flat! (I learned that the hard way a few weeks ago.) When golden brown, remove pan from oven and let cool slightly before brushing with glaze. Sprinkle with 2 T of sugar.

To make glaze: in a small saucepan, combine 1/4 c. sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Bring to a boil over medium heat and boil for 2 minutes. Brush over top of bread while still warm. Sprinkle glazed bread with sugar. Leftover glaze is great for dipping the bread into as well :)

Enjoy!

Whole Wheat Flatbread Gyros - California Style

"Delectable Cate, what do I do with all this leftover Italian Sausage?" I can just hear you asking me as you put away the leftovers from those Flatbread Pizzas you made after the last post. I know because I was asking myself the exact same question. Fortunately for you, I have an answer. And it will use up those leftover tomatoes, too! As for the other ingredients? They're all simple things you're likely to have on hand.

I was amazed when I made these, and couldn't wait to make them again (I even considered having one for dinner after eating one for lunch... is that wrong?) A great gyro is, well, wonderful. I love them. It's possible someone might say these aren't real gyros, and I won't argue; I haven't had enough of them to consider myself an expert. But these are definitely worth trying - to use up that Italian sausage if for no other reason!

Whole Wheat Flatbread Gyros - California Style
1/4-1/3 cup low fat sour cream or fat free plain Greek yogurt
1 small garlic clove, minced
about 1 tsp finely shaved onion slice, minced
1/4-1/2 tsp dried dill (to taste)
pinch salt if desired
Whole wheat pita flatbread (2)
Cucumber spears
Tomato spears
Ground sweet Italian sausage, browned
Fresh spinach
Avocado, sliced

1. Mix the sour cream or Greek yogurt, garlic, onion, and dill together. Add salt to taste if desired. This is a quick tzatziki sauce!

2. Spread the tzatziki sauce on a flatbread and top with remaining ingredients. Fold/wrap in half.

Enjoy!

Flatbread Pizza

Okay friends, I know it's been waaaay too long since I've posted anything on here. And I'm pretty sure I may have said that last time - and maybe even the time before that... broken record here? I promise I won't say it next time (even if it happens to be true)! Why has it been so long since  I've posted anything? Well, I quit my job, moved, and now am now a full-time grad student. A wee bit of change. And it was a crazy busy summer summer studying for the GRE to get into school, too (7-10 grade math = not fun)! Of course, I figured that as a student I'd have plenty of time for cooking and blogging... apparently I was a little off in my calculations in that department. I've had a little bit of fun with some recipes, but I'm afraid my writing skills have been spent on research papers, literature reviews, and article analysis. Suffice to say, I'd much rather be blogging about food. Lucky for both of us, this weekend I invented something fabulous and tonight I have some time to write about it!

My new favorite kitchen staple is the whole wheat pita flatbread. It is so versatile and delicious; dip it in hummus, spread it with cream cheese... the options are limitless. And as a bread product, it's really pretty healthy. So, my new invention with it? Pizza. You can really choose your favorite pizza toppings with this one, but these particular toppings were fabulous, easy, inexpensive (I am now a student, after all) and a great combo together. Give it a try and let me know what your favorites are!

A note on a few of the ingredients: The whole wheat pita flatbread I have been using is the Alexis brand (available at your local Fred Meyer - if you're in the Northwest) and is the type of flatbread you would wrap around a Greek gyro. For the Italian sausage, I used sweet, but feel free to try mild or spicy if you prefer (or use sweet and just add extra red pepper flakes!). Also, many stores will make their own version of Italian sausage, I've used these with great success, so give them a try if you'd like (I particularly like the Metropolitan Market brand!) Be careful of using a link Italian Sausage as they often contain more fat than a ground sausage. French sheep feta is a much milder version of feta and is quite enjoyable, adding a hint and depth of flavor without being overwhelming (I found it at Fred Meyer, packed in smaller quantities for less than the other feta cheese).

Flatbread Pizza
Whole wheat Pita Flatbread (4)
Ground Italian Sausage, sweet
1 Tomato
Mozzarella Cheese, grated
French sheep feta (optional)
Fresh spinach
Red pepper flakes
1 small can tomato paste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bottle tasty red table wine (okay, a splash for the sauce, the rest is for drinking with the pizza - or while cooking...
Italian seasonings
pinch of fennel seeds, crushed between fingers

1. To make pizza sauce, blend the whole can of tomato paste, splash of red wine, Italian seasonings, and crushed fennel seeds on very low heat. It will remain very pasty (thus the very low heat). If you don't want to use red wine, feel free to use tomato juice from a can of chopped/diced tomatoes (juice from a whole can will still leave it very pasty). Just stir around until very aromatic - you don't want it to burn to pan.

2. If you are good at cooking two things at once, brown the Italian sausage while making the tomato paste. If not a multi-tasker, brown the sausage after making the sauce.

3. Spread the sauce on the flat bread and top as desired with toppings.

4. Broil until cheese is melted. Don't close the door to the oven and don't walk away - it never fails that you forget or it cooks faster than you think and they burn. Just stay there and watch. It only takes a minute or two. Maybe three. And the sauce is just enough for 4 pitas, so if it's not just you eating, you really don't want to burn them!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Bruschetta

What could be better on a warm summer evening than a fresh dessert - with the crispness of mint and the sweetness of berries on your tongue? This weekend I was taken in by all the summer fruit in the store and came home with piles of strawberries, peaches, pineapple, grapes, mango, and ... I can't remember everything I had! My mind set to work on how I could use all this fruit before it was too late. We'll start with dessert first. Inspiration number one: Strawberry Blueberry Bruschetta with Mint and Salted Caramel Sauce.

Turns out, it was just as good as I hoped it would be. The mint and salted caramel are such an interesting, complex combination of flavors; it's a great brunch, afternoon tea accompaniment, or summer dessert in the evening. Give it a try for yourself!

Strawberry Bruschetta
(Quantities can easily be adjusted for need/taste)
1 cup strawberries, diced
1/3 cup blueberries, cut in half
3 mint leaves, chopped
salted caramel sauce (recipe below)
Baguette, sliced

1. Slice baguette into about 1/3-1/2" slices, brush one side with olive oil and broil on high until golden.

2. Wash and cut strawberries, blueberries and mint, and mix in a small bowl. When cutting strawberries, it's important to remember to cut the pieces small - if they are too big, they will tend to fall off when you try to eat it!

3. To serve, spoon the berry mixture on the slices of bread and drizzle the salted caramel sauce on top.

Salted Caramel Sauce
1 cup sugar
2 T light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. fleur de sel
1/4 cup sour cream

1. Add the sugar, corn syrup, and water to a medium saucepan and stir gently to combine. Set the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the mixture registers 350 F on a candy thermometer (if you don't have a thermometer, cook until the mixture is amber in color).

2. Turn off the heat and slowly add the cream (the caramel will bubble up quite a bit, so be mindful) and then the fleur de sel. Stir in the sour cream until the mixture is smooth. Allow to cool before using. May be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Dipping S'mores

No mess. No fuss. No fire. No smoke. No mosquitoes. Now you can have the deliciousness of s'mores any time of the year, any time of day, any time you want. All you need is four ingredients and a microwave.  Sound too good to be true? Well, today is your lucky day because this is real, people! You can see the picture for proof! Whip a batch of this up and you might thank me - or hate me - for introducing you to the sinfully delectable gooeyness of Dipping S'mores. Dip away, my friends!

Dipping S'mores
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (will be too sweet if you use milk chocolate, but don't be afraid to use a good quality chocolate here!)
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff (estimate works)
graham crackers, enough for dipping (so a lot)

1.  Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a microwavable dish (a pie plate works great, and can be used for serving as well). Microwave 1-2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate chips are melted.

2.  Drop marshmallow fluff on top by the tablespoon and microwave about 30-45 more seconds, until fluff is softened.  Stir in until mixture looks 'swirly.'

3.  Serve in dish if desired, but I also found it worked great to pour it into a small crock pot to keep the mixture warm and melted. This works especially well if you don't plan on devouring it all at once (just be sure to stir it every now and then as the bottom gets pretty hot!) This method works great on the patio with an extension cord. :)

Enjoy!

Cherry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These are quite possibly my favorite oatmeal cookie. For all those raisin-haters out there (of which I am not one), just bake your mom a batch of these and she might start using cherries instead of raisins in her oatmeal cookies. The recipe is easy and quick, but be aware - it makes a large quantity of dough so you'll be baking cookies for awhile! (I was thinking of halving the recipe next time to see how that turned out.)

The batter is thick, so you'll definitely want a Kitchen-Aid or something heavier duty than your arm or a hand-held mixer. The original recipe I tweaked said to lightly grease a cookie sheet; I used parchment paper and it worked great.  I've also found quite frequently that I am able to use a sheet of parchment twice when baking cookies, so give it a try if it's not looking burned after the first batch!

Cherry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cherries (about 9 oz) - or slightly more never hurt anyone!
about 1 cup white chocolate chips

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cut a few sheets of parchment paper to the size of your cookies sheets.

2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and baking soda; stir in the rolled oats.  In the electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in 2 batches, mixing well after each addition.

3. You will have a  very stiff dough - that may try to pop out the top of the mixer! Mix in the cherries and white chocolate chips until just incorporated.

4. Scoop the dough out in rounded tablespoons and place on the cookie sheet. Slightly flatten with the bottom of a cup so the cookies are even in height/flat on top.  The cookies do not spread out much, so you may place them fairly close together; because they don't spread out much, if you don't flatten, they will likely be uncooked in the middle! I also found that I had to sometimes roll or pinch the dough to get it to adhere and make a 'ball' of dough that didn't crumble.

5. Bake 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheet if necessary for even baking. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Lime Cake with Coconut Frosting

I am in love.  It's true.  I find myself wanting to bake all the time and make scrumptious things; the slightest reason to make something and I'm off to the kitchen!  With whom am I in love, you may be asking?  Well, with what might be the more appropriate question.  It's a cookbook. Weekend Baking by Sarah Randell.  She's British (I think) and has you tipping in and whisking about!  I'm pretty sure she means add and mix - or at least that's what I do and it seems to be working.  Anyway, it's a great cookbook with thoughtfully paired flavors - not your regular run-of-the-mill recipes that you see everywhere.  And the recipes are pretty simple, because who wants to spend your weekend working on a complicated recipe?

This particular recipe is one I've made 4 times.  Well, twice really; the second time I made 3 cakes.  It's deliciously limey and fresh.  The cake itself is a little on the sweet side, which pairs perfectly with the less sweet, but very coconutty frosting.  It's paradise in a slice.  Literally.

Lime Cake with Coconut Frosting
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups self-rising flour
3 eggs
finely grated peel of 2 limes

Lime Drizzle
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
freshly squeezed juice of two limes


Coconut Frosting
6oz. cream cheese, room temperature
5 T coconut cream (I also used coconut milk, and reduced on the stove to cream)
2 T confectioners' sugar
grated peel of 1 lime (use a zester, if you have one, rather than a fine grater)

a 7-in. round, deep cake pan, lightly buttered and baselined with baking parchment

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare the pan. If your pan is not deep, I found that lining the sides with parchment that stuck up over the edges slightly helped the cake rise straight as well as kept the edges from getting too dark.

2.  Combine the first 5 ingredients in a large bowl with an electric mixer and beat until combined.

3.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake in preheated oven for about 50 minutes - check 10 minutes early as mine have sometimes finished that quick! Bake until cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake.

4.  While the cake is baking, make the lime drizzle sauce: sift the confectioners' sugar into a bowl and stir in the lime juice. Set aside.

5.  To make the frosting, combine the first three ingredients in an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. (If you are reducing coconut milk to make the coconut cream, it will take almost a whole can of coconut milk to get 5 tablespoons and will take a bit of time!  It's probably the most time-consuming part of making this otherwise quick cake! Feel free to do this step ahead of time and refrigerate the cream in an airtight container a day or two in advance.) Refrigerate icing until needed.  Allow a few minutes for the frosting to warm before spreading on cake - doesn't take too long to be spreadable though!

6.  When the cake is done baking, remove it from the oven and with a fine skewer, make holes all over the cake, about 1-inch apart, that reach down the bottom of the cake.  Spoon the lime drizzle over the entire cake, allowing it to soak in.  Let the cake cook completely in the pan on a wire rack.

7.  Once cold, pop the cake out of the pan, remove the parchment paper, and spread the frosting over the top. Sprinkle with the lime peel.

Enjoy!

Sweet Chili Stir Fry

A wonderful discovery - made the first time out of leftovers! Discoveries don't get much better than that. How many times do we find ourselves staring into the depths of the refrigerator, wondering what we can make for dinner? The second time it was perfected (with more vegetables).  Behold, I share with you Sweet Chili Stir Fry!!

Sweet Chili Stir Fry
3/4 large red bell pepper, large dice
1/2 large orange bell pepper, large dice
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
3 scallions, 3greens ends only, chopped into 1-inch sections
1/2 chicken, boned with meat chopped into bite-size pieces
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced length-wise into eighths
3 cups diced broccoli
1/3 cup sweet chili sauce, or to taste
Soba noodles (about 3 cups, cooked)
2 T olive oil

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat, add broccoli and cook for a minute, then add bell peppers. When bell peppers.  After a minute, add the rest of the vegetables. 

2.  When tomatoes and cucumbers start to look tender crisp, add the noodles, 1/4 cup water, chicken, and chili sauce.  Cook a minute or so more until noodles are warm and al dente.

Enjoy!  (Pairs well with a Riesling wine.)

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Trying to find the best teriyaki place? It's most likely that you'll get as many answers as people you ask.  Now you don't have to leave home to get it! This was a sauce originally designed for chicken wings, but I find there isn't much meat on a wing - and their kinda messy.  I used this sauce for chicken legs as well as chicken breasts and both turned out great.  The recipe makes quite a bit and it keeps for a few weeks in your fridge.

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce
1 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup grapefruit juice
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
3 T rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 fresh, hot red chile, seeded and de-ribbed (use both halves for a spicy sauce!)
5 garlic cloves, halved
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed with the side of a large knife
cilantro and sesame seeds to garnish

1.  Roast your chicken in the oven as normal (rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake at 350 until thickest part reaches 160 degrees - I'm assuming you're using chicken pieces, not a whole chicken!).

2.  While chicken is cooking, combine the ingredients in a large saucepan. Simmer over low heat until sauce is slightly thickened.

3.  When chicken comes out of the oven, put it in a bowl large enough to cover the chicken with sauce.  Pour enough sauce over the chicken to completely cover all the pieces.  Let the chicken marinate for 5 minutes.  If using chicken breasts, you might want to cut the meat into smaller pieces to get better coverage.  Remove  garlic, pepper and ginger and store remaining sauce in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

4.  Place pieces of chicken on a platter and sprinkle with cilantro leaves and sesame seeds to garnish.

Enjoy!

Rice Krispie Cake

Ever wonder what you can take to a party that no one else is going to bring - or if someone else does bring the same thing how you can guarantee that yours will be the one that everyone eats?  Well, this is THAT THING. It's fun for kids and delicious for adults. It's quick and easy to make and ready to eat a few minutes later.  It's a classic favorite kicked up with a little sweet and a little salty. It's a party all by its self. It's.... a Rice Krispie Cake!

I made this for my Super Bowl party and it was definitely a favorite on the table - by kids and grownups alike!  While I used a chocolate/butterscotch/peanut theme, you can really use whatever combination of flavors you'd like. The premise is still the basic Rice Krispie, but you add one flavor of cereal, broken pretzel sticks, a baking chip, a candy if you'd like (such as M&Ms) - get creative.  Some combinations could be:

• Captain Crunch, peanut butter chips, M&Ms (plain or peanut) or Reese's Pieces, pretzel sticks

• Fruit Loops, white chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows, pretzel sticks, (drizzle melted semi-sweet chocolate on top!)

Be aware that the baking chips will melt when you mix them in, so if you use chocolate, you'll have brown smudges all throughout (might not look so good!).  Also, if you use a chocolate cereal, be careful if it's chocolate coated for the same reason! Below is the recipe and candy combo that I used (add-ins are flexible, you can increase or decrease to taste).  Another thing that is unique about this Rice Krispie treat is the shape - it's molded in an angel food cake pan. To serve, slice with a sharp knife. Make a double recipe to make a taller 'cake' that is the height of a normal angel food cake.

Rice Krispie Cake
4 cups Rice Krispies cereal
2 cups Cinnamon Toast Crunch
4 T butter
1 whole bag mini marshmallows
1/2 - 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
1 small bag (snack size) regular M&Ms
1 cup Peanut M&Ms
1 cup pretzel sticks, broken in half

1.  Spray an angel food cake pan with Pam or other cooking spray and set aside.

2.  Melt butter in a large pot on the stove on medium heat, add the marshmallows; reduce heat if necessary to prevent marshmallows and butter from burning.  Stir constantly.

3.  When marshmallows are completely melted, remove from heat and add both cereals. Stir quickly to coat cereal evenly.  Add the rest of ingredients and stir until just combined. Careful to not over stir so candies do not melt - otherwise colors will melt and smear on the cereals!

4.  Pour cereal mixture into angel food cake pan and gently pat down into pan to ensure it takes on the shape of the pan. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan, then turn out onto plate for serving. Slice pieces of cake to serve when completely cool.

Enjoy!

Personal French Apple Tarts

It has truly been too long since I have last posted a Delectable Cate recipe!  It's not that I haven't tried - I did!  I had one much anticipated recipe over New Years and it was a complete and utter fail.  In fact, I had been so excited and it was such a disappointment that I didn't even really want to cook for a week or two after that.  But, this recipe is such an excitement that I just can't wait for you to try it and tell me what you think!

One of my favorite aspects of this recipe (aside from the deliciousness, of course) is that you can half the recipe and make two tarts when don't want a large dessert with lots of leftovers.  And it's a pretty quick and simple recipe, so you don't have to spend all afternoon in the kitchen preparing dessert.  It's also versatile; you could serve it for a breakfast treat, for afternoon tea, or add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it's a great dessert in the evening! Voila!

Personal French Apple Tarts
2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, quartered
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 T fresh clementine juice
2 T unsalted butter
1 frozen puff pastry sheet (from a 17 1/4 oz package), thawed
2 T peach or apricot jam

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Thinly slice apples about 1/16 of an inch or slightly thicker (I prefer them a little thicker rather than thinner, but you may need to have a little extra apple on hand, so be prepared if you slice them too thick!).  Transfer slices into a heat-proof bowl.

2.  Bring water, sugar, clementine juice (may substitute with lemon juice if clementines are out of season), and butter to a boil in a small sauce pan, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Pour sauce over apples and stir so apples are well-coated.  Let apples sit in sauce until wilted (my slices never wilted, so I let them sit for about a minute). Drain apples in a colander set over a bowl, reserving the liquid

3.  Roll out pastry dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch square and cut into 4 6-inch squares. (If only making two, cut half of the dough, and fold the other half back up in wax paper and re-freeze.)  Place squares onto a lightly buttered baking sheet (emphasis on 'lightly' as too much butter will burn the bottoms of the tarts - you could even try using parchment paper instead of butter!) and top with overlapping apple slices. Bake in the middle of the oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes - be careful not to overcook!

4.  Boil reserved liquid in a saucepan along with the 2 tablespoons peach or apricot jam until reduced to about 1/3 cup, then brush or drizzle on the baked tarts.   If serving with ice cream, you might want to double the sauce recipe and use the extra sauce as topping over the ice cream as well.

Enjoy!