Szarlotka!

Remind me…what’s that character trait associated with people of Polish descent? Wit? Ingenuity? Wisdom? Whatever other stereotypes my people have acquired over the centuries, after this week’s project, I’ve no doubt that Baking Geniuses must be (or deserves to be) on the list somewhere near the top. This week I’m making Szarlotka, a traditional Polish apple cake, and along with recipe elements that always excite me, like using lots of butter and being pretty straightforward, Szarlotka comes with an added bonus. For now I’m going to keep it a secret, but if you read all the way through, you’ll see what I mean.

I found the recipe here, and the most challenging aspect of this process by far was converting all of the metric units into their corresponding Imperial lengths and volumes. It is paradoxically incredibly logical and confoundingly annoying to me when European recipes measure their dry ingredients by weight instead of by volume. I’ve heard this approach does great things for consistency in baking iterations and recipe replication, so I bit the bullet and got out my trusty food scale to make sure I remained loyal to this recipe’s instructions. ( I’ve also included approximate conversion to the ‘Murican system for my more patriotic and/or xenophobic readers.)

So. First step was to assemble the ingredients and get all of my measurements straight. Here are the figures I was able to convert: Oven Temp = 350 F, Flour = 2 ¼ cups, Butter = 14Tbsp(!), Sugar = 1 cup, Pan Size = 8x11.5 inches (but we’re using 4oz containers so this one's irrelevant).

As the years pass,I've noticed that the more I practice my knife skills, the faster apple preparation becomes. Acquiring the right tools also helps a ton. Here I have my corer, peeler, and slicing knife.

Doing her 4oz Kitchen mascot duties, Daisy takes advantage of a moment when my back is turned to hop up onto the counter and investigate. Apparently cats do not like apples. Huh.

Once they're peeled and sliced, the apples get a healthy dose of cinnamon and brown sugar, along with water and lemon juice, and then go into the oven for a lil' minute to start the softening process. My kitchen smelled awesome for the remainder of the night.

Witness: The Dough Ball - heart of this recipe. Once all the dough-related ingredients were combined in the food processor and then unceremoniously dumped out onto a floured surface and equally-unceremoniously balled up, this was the result. Now we're getting close to the Bonus Surprise -- the next step of the recipe told me to chop this baby in half and freeze one part for later...

Then the un-frozen half was rolled out, cut, and fit into the baking dishes. The recipe originally called for what converted to a 8.5x11 inch pan, which doesn't commonly exist in American cooking, but since I was improvising anyway, this didn't matter. In retrospect, I do think I could have rolled the dough quite a bit thinner in order to fill more dishes and leave more room for fruit fillings and toppings. Next time, it will undoubtedly be better. (But this time was still pretty okay). 

Hrmm...At this point, we're not sure how this is going to turn out and getting a little warm under the collar – not in the angry sense but more in the “oh crap, filling is going to spill out all over the bottom of my oven and set off the smoke alarm…again” kind of way. I didn’t think very carefully about the height requirements of my baking dishes when I opted for tart dishes over jars for this recipe. 

Actually, that’s not true. I was thinking Szarlotka would behave more like a pie (despite the fact that “cake” is in the recipe title and I’m an English major, so you’d think I’d have the hang of the ol’ "close reading" thing by now), so I deliberately chose the wider, shallower vessels. This may have been a  grave error. But we’re committed at this point, so it’s straight on til morning with The Plan. I commence to fill the dishes with the apple cinnamon mixture and hope for the best.

Sidebar: I ended up with lots more filling than dish space, so I was finally able to utilize both the half-sized pie dish I bought at an art fair a few weeks ago AND the extra store-bought pie dough left over from Hoosier pie that’s been creepin’ in my refrigerator for the last three weeks.  Here is a Bonus Pastry spontaneously spawned (gross) out of this recipe – apple pie with star cut-out crust (because we’re fancy here in the 4oz Kitchen) waiting for his turn in the oven.

Okay, back on track. 

Once the bottom layer is baked and the apple filling is in place, it's time for the special secret surprise twist...are you ready? So, we go back to the freezer and get that other ball of dough we wrapped up earlier, remember? Then...brace yourself...go find your cheese grater and go to town on that frozen pastry! 

That's right, we get to grate the dough into shreds, and then sprinkle the delicate, sweet, buttery dough morsels over the waiting apple filling like delicious, fluffy, edible snow. 

Look like hash browns, right? But this is so much better. Dziękuję, Poland, for introducing me to this revolutionary new technique. 

The shaved dough is sprinkled on top of the apple filling layer before the whole pastry is placed back into the oven for another 45 minutes for the filling to soften and the topping to brown.

When they come out of the oven, the szarlotka are golden brown and crispy on top, and sweet and gooey in the middle -- this is pretty close to the perfect fall dessert, and after tasting one, I'm decidedly jealous of Polish natives who get to eat this on a regular basis. The tart dishes ended up working out after all, though I imagine a 9x13 pan would also do just fine to contain these puppies. And don't forget the final steps listed in the recipe (not pictured here because they're best when done just before serving): dusting the szarlotka with powdered sugar and then topping the pastries with fresh made cinnamon-infused whipped cream. 

And my ad-lib apple pie didn't turn out too bad either. He's small and cute...and he made his own caramel, so who's complaining? Nie Mnie!