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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The Perfect Sugar Cookie - Or Not

I have found the world's most delicious sugar cookie.  It isn't a sugar cookie in the conventional sense that you whip up butter and sugar, etc. and then chill it and attempt to work with cold dough that invariably falls apart and you have to re-chill in order to make it bake up properly.  Or that you have to ice it in order for it to taste like much of anything.  No, these little wonders escape that fate.

Here they are, ostensibly shaped like oak leaves. Use your imagination, OK?  At any rate, E2 was helping and having a fantastic time, so it doesn't really matter what shape they came out as.  I didn't ice this batch, having used up my maternal patience for the day.  They still tasted absolutely delicious.

Light, flaky, buttery, flavourful.  Don't let the colouring fool you - that's a bit of a blunder on my part.  These are to die for.

Roll-Out Cookies

1 cup          unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups  white sugar
1                egg
2 t              vanilla extract and/or almond extract combination
2 3/4 cups  all purpose flour
2 t              baking powder
1 t              salt

cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and extract(s).  Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add to butter mixture.  Knead in a small amount of colouring, if desired.  DO NOT CHILL DOUGH.  Roll out onto floured surface, to approximately 1/8 inch thick, working in batches as necessary.  Bake cookies on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 F for 6-7 minutes or until slightly browned

Makes several cookies, perhaps 2 dozen, if you can keep from eating them along the way. 1. 2.

The Perfect Sugar Cookie - Or Not

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Pumpkin Spice Cake

In the original recipe, the word 'luscious' is used.  And they couldn't be more correct.  This is originally a Kraft Cooking recipe.  It is the best magazine I don't pay for.  Anything that begins with a cake mix and four eggs, how can you go wrong.
I did make a few modifications for the sake of my sanity.  I didn't have any Cool Whip in the house, so I used some whipping cream instead.  And I was too lazy to use pecans on the top, so I omitted them.  Ditto with making four layers instead of just two.  It was a huge hit at Saturday night's food fest.

Here is the link to the Kraft site where the recipe is house ('cause I'm still too lazy to type it out here)

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake

http://www.kraftcanada.com/en/recipes/luscious-four-layer-pumpkin-cake-88186.aspx 1. 2.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

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Pie

E2 is really enjoying her brother being away at school during the day.  She also has moments where she would probably enjoy it if her little brother would go away, too, but he's a little young for college just yet.

In preparation for some company tonight, we were baking and cooking fiends yesterday.  Helping in the kitchen is perhaps her favourite activity in the whole world.  Aside from maybe driving her brothers crazy.

My aunt offered us a plethora of blackberries from her property this year.  Being good and frugal (cheap?) like we are, we accepted.  I have no idea what to do with blackberries, really.  But given the shortage of cherries in our area this year, I figured maybe I could make them stand in.  And stand in they have

This is my version of blackberry pie.  Please ignore the small drip.  I should have taken a photo from the other side and then you would have never known.  But here I am, warts, pie drips and all

Elyza also made a pie:

It had to be EXACTLY like mommy's pie.  Criss-cross top and everything.  They devoured it last night with the babysitters.

What, we left the house unaccompanied by children?  Is that possible?  A story for another day.

Here is the recipe my family uses for pie crust.  It is unique in the it uses milk instead of water.  And that it makes about 600 lbs of pie crust.  And that we have no idea who Margaret is.  Rumour has it she was a neighbour, but only my grandmother might know and that is a three house conversation I am just not prepared to have today

Margaret's Pie Crust

5 cups   all purpose flour
1 t         baking powder
1 lb       lard (chilled is best, cut into small pieces)
1 T       salt

1 egg     beaten
1 T        white vinegar
enough milk to make one cup

Start with only 4 cups of the flour and the rest of the dry ingredients.  I am lazy and put it in my stand mixer.  Gradually add the cut up pieces of lard.  You can use vegetable shortening if you must, I won't tell.  But I think the lard gives it a better texture.  Slowly pour in the milk mixture.  Then add as much of the last cup of flour as needed to make the dough the right consistency.  That is, moist, stuck together, but not sticky.  Be careful not to overmix.  That is the death of pie crust.

Chill before using.  It will keep up to two weeks in the fridge if you keep it in a tightly sealed bag or container.  Let it sit on the counter ten minutes or so before attempting to roll out on a well floured surface.

This is E2's take on the whole experience:

Maybe just on life period.  She is a little bit different 1. 2.

Pie

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