I know Schabach's in New York offered Calville Blanc on Bud 9 this year. Not sure if David has it for 2014 but you can call him. Of course this would be a bare-root tree but Bud-9 is a fairly precoccious. His phone number is 585-798-6198. A local chef in my area wrote an article in the newspaper a few years ago about always picking Calville Blanc at a local orchard. He had pictures of the apples and mentioned how wnderful they are for cooking. I recall the shape of the apple was very distinct in his photo. These posts make me really want to try this variety cooked! Sounds really special. So far my favorite cooking apples that have a distinct flavor are NW Greening and Regent for pie. Of course many apple varieties are great cooked, but these two have a very distinct flavor that I enjoy. Calville Blanc will now be added to my list to try.

What you are describing is EXACTLY what we had at the Adobe Grand Villas in Sedona a few weeks ago. The chef there, who is outstanding, took phyllo dough, and used a scalloped edged cookie cutter, or must have used a sharp edged scalloped cutter with a circle form to use as a model, and he cut out the phyllo dough into circles. He then put them into pam sprayed mini cupcake/muffin tins, with the homemade tart sweet tangy lemon curd in them and baked them. The Phyllo dough was cooked, but "just", and they were lightly crisp and wonderful. The lemon curd was delectible and cooked well, perfectly. I have no idea what temperature he baked them at.. but, my guess would be 350. After they were done, he sprinkled them with powdered sugar and served them on silver trays. They were garnished with a slice of fresh strawberry, a thin, but nice slice, not a half or third, more like a fourth or fifth of a berry's slice, laying right on top, with a tiny little basil leaf at the top. The flavors of the tart lemon with the strawberry and basil was FANTASTIC!! Amazingly fantastic. My husband would have never ever in a bazillion years eaten them had he known that was basil.. to him, basil is SAVORY and not a herb to mix with sweet. And, he was almost embarrassing the way he gobbled them up!! I wish I had taken a picture of them.. they were so pretty and so good. He probably used three or four sheets of phyllo before cutting the circles. And, I would guess you'd need to spray or butter the tins fairly well to get the phyllo to "stick" and stay in the muffin tins. I don't know if you should try this the first time out for serving to guests, but give it a shot. It looked fairly easy to me, and the results were incredible!! Let me know if you try this!! Also.. when I make Lemon Tassies.. I use the cream cheese dough and then load them with lemon filling. Yummie in the tummie and very, very easy. They are soft and moist and delicously rich. The phyllo dough ones were far superior for light and crispy and wonderfully tart, tangy, and wonderful.

Another who purged the corn syrup! I know we used it a lot when I was younger-- but popcorn balls is the only recipe I remember using it in. I would make my own-- there are many recipes out there using either sugar and water or brown sugar and water. Some add cream of tartar. I have never made my own so I can't speak to which is best. I wouldn't try maple syrup-- as Mtn said, the flavor is stronger and the consistency is much thinner. This recipe sounds wonderful-- and while indulgent, it is more of a special treat. I say that but I've been craving french toast off and on for YEARS but I've never given in. I really need to watch my empty calories always -- and I much prefer my carbs in a rye toast form-- or sourdough. I'd make it for guests though!

Aw, Kate, that looks like a winner! I just used all my apples for applesauce, but I'm bookmarking this one for fall. You said that maybe it needed a touch more spice, cinnamon to the browned butter? Went ahead and googled the recipe and one blogger said she was going to serve it with cinnamon ice cream. Yep, I think that would work, don't you? :) CathyinSWPA