A Couple of Quickies

I have made a few goodies around here in the past few days.  None of them is really an entire blog post unto themselves.

Well, the Dutch Apple Pie would have been, had I actually remembered to take pictures along the way.

So here's where it starts, another explicitly laid out recipe.  Why is it Dutch.  Das goot question?  I have no idea.  Neither do any of my Dutch friends.  I had assumed we called it Dutch because Oma Breedyk made it. Other than that, I've got nuthin'.

It all starts with good pie crust.  Always important to begin at the beginning.

Good apples are important too.  For this endeavour, I used Ida Red.  Definitely would not recommend Macs here.  They just get mushy and then you lose your WiFi signal because you are holding onto it funny.  Just not a good idea.

Slicing the apples into an even thickness is also important.  Save the crunchy apples for eating out of hand.

Beat the egg, cream, and sugar together.  At this point, there are two paths.  On the first path, you cook up the custard ingredients ahead of time and then pour them over the apples in the crust then toss the whole thing in the oven.  On the second path, you mix the custard ingredients quickly together and then pour them, uncooked, over the apples and toss the whole thing in the oven. Keep in mind if you do it this way, you will need to stir quickly and pour even more quickly, as the sugar will settle.

The path you choose, grasshopper, is up to you.

Either way, you will need to cook this sucker for a while.  I generally only make the unbaked version, and it takes over an hour to bake.

When you take it out of the oven, the middle will still look jiggly and unset.  Don't worry, as it cools, it will set up nicely.

And here it is, in all it's glory.  A little heavy on the cinnamon this time.

Yah, definitely a little heavy on the cinnamon.

Mini-pies take considerably less time to bake, but are equally delicious.


So, you're not up for pie baking but need something to impress?  Try these.

Take your average almost four year old birthday girl.

And a very few simple ingredients.

One box of angel food cake mix and one 19 oz can of crushed pineapple, juice and all, dumped into a green melamine bowl, in perfect harmony. This is where the fun part begins.

The acid in the pineapple reacts with the angel food mix and poof!  Bubbles and boils and certainly no troubles.

Then scoop them into cupcake liners and bake away.  350 F for half an hour or so.

And that's it.

You wanted something more?  Sorry, you've come to the wrong place, Jose.

We also made some mini ones.  They didn't take quite as long to bake.  Probably more like 15-20 minutes.

We decorated them in gummi butterflies and flowers, in honour of the birthday girl.  Before the gummi addition, they are Weight Watcher friendly, at less than 2 points apiece.  After the gummi?  I really have no idea.

They will last on the counter for a few days.  After that, the texture begins to get a little questionable. But not to worry, you will probably scarf these puppies down before that becomes a real issue. 1. 2.

A Couple of Quickies

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