Posts from the ‘Fruit Desserts’ Category

Dec 17

Crinkle Cookies, Decorating And More Stuff

I have no idea where time is going, it’s already the end of the week, Christmas is a week from today. I haven’t really done anything except make a few gift baskets, I still have so much to do, I am way behind schedule. Honestly, this year is very hard, I am trying, but my heart is not in it. I did sign up for Secret Santa/Wino on a wine blog I follow, The Drunken Cycalist and got a lovely gift. Jeff organzes this every year and this time I decided to participate. It was fun and I get to try some great wine. Thank you to Allison who sent me this wonderful gift. I have not opened the wine yet, waiting to make the right meal to pair with. That prickly pear jelly is so good, must find it.

Secret Santa gift, wine, sausage, candy, jelly

I have been baking, I made some gift baskets, have a few more to make, had our block association Holiday party and baked for that also. Last year I made fruit cakes and loved the recipe so I made them again this year, I really soaked them with the reserved cognac syrup. So delicious.

fruit cakes

Made some thumbprints, again same recipe as last year. They are delicious.

Chocolate thumbprint

I am adding some cookies to my holiday repertoire I mentioned the biscotti in a previous post along with Pecan Chewiess and Vanilice. I also decided to make chocolate crinkle cookies. I think they look so beautiful and I love anything chocolate. They turned out so good, it’s another recipe from Fida at Sweet and Savory Pursuits. The cookies are as light as a feather and so delicious, I have linked to the site so you can try the recipe, It’s wonderful. I also made my cardamom, orange and chocolate ribbon cookies.

Packing the cookies

Last but not least I started to decorate, I dragged multiple boxes of decorations upstairs and started unpacking and one of the first things I came across were Izzy and Nando’s Holiday Stockings. It made me so sad, I hung them on the mantle like I do every year. My sweet little dogs will always be with me in spirit.

decorated mantle.

I hope you all have a great weekend and get all of your holiday shopping, baking and decorating done. Are you the very definition of organization and efficiency? Have you done all of your shopping and decorating or do you make a mad rush to finish it all just in the knick of time?

Nov 13

124 Comments

Fall Apple/Pear Tart For Fiesta Friday #94

I have been a tart making mad woman lately. I feel like I always am elbow deep in dough and honestly, I love it. Making pies and tarts is one of my favorite things to bake. There is something about the flaky buttery pastry crust with some sort of filling whether it be sweet or savory that just feels like home and comfort. I had to make some tarts for an office potluck (sort of early holiday) party and made extra so I could bring to the party. I am bringing an apple and pear tart decorated with fall leaves. I used a different method than making an apple pie for this tart, I wanted it to have a crisp crust and it had to be able to be eaten standing so no juicy piece of apple pie for this event. I blind baked a rectangular tart shell and oven roasted some apples and nicely ripened pears in poire william and brown sugar letting them get nicely soft. The fall leaves were also baked ahead and placed on the tart half way through the baking process. It really turned out nicely.

Thank you to Angie@Fiesta Friday for hosting and our co hosts this week are Judi @ cookingwithauntjuju and Stef @ The Kiwi Fruit. Thanks for hosting and I hope you all enjoy the tart.

Pie Dough

Julia Child makes a 9 inch double crust pie or 2 9 inch tarts

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

6 oz good unsalted butter (I use Irish butter – Kerry Gold very cold

4 tbs shortening cold

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup ice cold water

Place flours and salt in mixing bowl, whisk to combine. Cut in the butter and shortening with pastry cutter so that it resembles course crumbs. Pour in the water and mix just to combine with a fork. Gather the dough and divide in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and press into a disk shape. Refrigerate at least an hour or overnight.

blind bake tart shell

Blind Bake

Pre heat oven to 400 degree’s.

Roll dough, I like it pretty thin. Cut off a little bit of each disk so you can make the leaves and set aside. Place in the tart pan, prick bottom with fork and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Line baking sheet with parchment, place another piece of parchment on the frozen tart and weigh it down with pie weights or beans whatever you use. Bake for 20 minutes watching that it doesn’t brown to deeply. Remove from oven, let cool for about ten minutes and remove the pie weights. Let the tart shell cool on a rack.

With the reserved dough use cookie cutters in the shape of leaves and press out an assortment of leaves at least 1 dozen or more. Place on parchment lined baking sheet, brush with egg wash and place in freezer.

Reduce oven to 375 and bake the leaves for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. let cool on rack.

Apples and Pears

2 apples peeled cut in half and cored

2 pears peeled cut in half and cored

1/3 cup Poire William or pear nectar, apple cider or combination of all or some

1/3 cup brown sugar

pinch each of cinnamon and nutmeg

Butter a baking dish and place your pears and apples cut side down, pour in the liquid and sprinkle on the brown sugar. Dot with some butter. Bake for about 40 minutes, the pears and apples should be soft but not mushy.

Drain off the liquid and reserve for later and let the fruit cool to room temperature.

Baking the tart

Place the pears and apples in the tart shell, whisk 1 1/2 tbs of corn starch, or flour, cinnamon and nutmeg with the reserved liquid. Pour over the fruit and place in the 375 degree oven. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven and carefully place the leaves on top of the tart, return to the oven for another 20 minutes or until golden brown.

To finish the tart I heated some apricot preserves and brushed the leaves so they were lovely and shiny.

Oct 20

114 Comments

Halloween/Samhain And A Triple Layer Apple Cake

Decorating my mantle for Halloween

I love Halloween/ Samhain, it’s huge in my neighborhood. Children walk en masse trick or treating, there are theatrical productions, music like the Dead Zombie Band playing on the street. Everyone dresses in costume here and has a wonderful time. We have a doggie costume contest called The Great Pupkin at Fort Greene Park (I miss dressing the pugs), people decorate their homes. I kid you not when I say Halloween is huge in Clinton Hill see this article in the Daily News.

My stoop

All month horror films (mostly not very good ones) are shown on TV, some of you who know me are aware that I am a fan of horror films, always have been and I look forward to seeing some of my favorites on Halloween. Two I love!

Mia Farrow-Rosemary’s Baby-Polanski is genius

Bela Lugosi Dracula

To celebrate the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter or the dark months, the literal and original meaning of Samhain, I made an apple cake. I know, there is a plethora of apple recipes out there right now along with pumpkin but thats ok, right, it’s apple and pumpkin season. This cake has been in my repertoire for years, it is the simplest and best apple layer cake recipe I have found. It is from Martha Stewart. The cake is shown with a brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream (yum) but I am making a cream cheese frosting. I have made this cake many times and vary the way I use the apples. Sometimes I follow directions grating 2 and dicing 2, sometimes I make applesauce from all 4 apples or at times I will grate all 4. For this cake I made applesauce which is my favorite way of prepping the apples for this cake. It is nicely spiced, moist and has a wonderful texture, I love it with either the Brown Sugar Buttercream or Cream Cheese Frosting any way you make it it is a wonderful way to celebrate apple season.

Apple cake

Three Layer Apple Cake

Martha Stewarts Everyday Food with John Baricelli

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

3/4 tsp salt

2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

4 apples peeled and coursely grated (or you can grate 2 and dice 2) If you make applesauce the yeild is about 1 1/2 cups from 4 apples)

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degree’s. Butter 3 8 inch round cake pans place parchment round in each butter again and dust with flour.

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger and salt. In large bowl whisk butter, sugar and eggs until well combined, fold in the grated apples. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined Divide batter among the prepared pans.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes before inverting onto cooling rack. Cool complettely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature

8 oz unsalted butter softened to room temperature

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 tbs half and half or whole milk

3-4 cup confectioners sugar

Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy and completely incorporated, add 2 cups of the confectioners sugar the vanilla and 2 tbs of the milk or half and half and beat. Add another cup of confectioners sugar and more milk continue to beat adding sugar and milk as needed until it reaches spreading consistency.

Aug 20

96 Comments

A Theraputic Tart

Peach and blackberry therapy pie

I have been absent for a while, a few weeks. Honestly, it has been very hard coping and adjusting and I was not doing well. I have felt uninspired and have not cooked at all for almost 3 weeks. Today though I started reading posts from you all, I have a back log and will try to get to them all, I may not be able to but I will try. Your blog posts inspire me and I actually felt better today after looking at some of your wonderful recipes and stories. It will take me a few days to catch up and I am looking forward to all the good reads.

So today I made a tart. Saturday for only the second time this summer I went to the farmers market and I thought seeing all the gorgeous summer produce would inspire me. I bought tomatoes, peppers, peaches, nectarines, Japanese turnips and a few other things. They sat in a bowl on my table until today. I decided I better start cooking again and the peaches were in danger of going bad so I made a peach tart I also threw in a few blackberries that I had in the freezer. I like to think of this as therapy, making myself get back into the kitchen was good for me. The peaches were amazing, tart and sweet at the same time, perfectly ripe and juicy.

The pie dough is my go to basic recipe from Julia Child. It has never failed me.

Julia Childs Pie Dough Recipe

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 tsp salt

6 oz cold butter cut into cubes

4 tbs cold shortening or leaf lard

1/2 cup ice water

Whisk salt and flour together, add the butter and shortening or lard, using your hands or pastry cutter work into the flour until it resembles crumbs with pieces of the butter the size of peas.Alternately you could use your food processor pulsing it. Add the water and mix with a fork until combined. Don’t over work. Gather it with your hands, divide into two discs and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate overnight or for at least an hour.

The fruit filling is simple I used 5 peaches and a handful of blackberries, peeled and sliced the peaches, added 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tbs flour and a pinch of salt and cinnamon.

If I were making pie I would not blind bake but for the tart I did. Blind bake the crust, line with parchment, weigh it down with beans or pie weights put it in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, remove the parchment and pie weights and bake another 10-15 minutes, it should be blonde only ever so slightly brown. Add the fruit, I like to make a lattice top, place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes, lower the oven temp to 375 degrees and bake for about 45 minutes until its golden brown and bubbly. Oh, don’t forget to put an egg wash on the lattice top and sprinkle with a little sugar before baking.

Jun 24

80 Comments

Nando’s Wheels A Backyard Redux And A No Recipe Crumble

Pets on wheels from Red Flyer Facebook site

I follow a blog Lessons From A Paralyzed Dog, Sharon who authors the blog is one of the sweetest most caring individuals I know, she cared for her sweet Sophie for many years and she is an inspiration.

Nando as many of you know who follow this blog is very old and has many health issues. The most recent is a degenerative disc disorder that has left his hind legs almost paralyzed. He can barely stand at times and falls continuously when he is trying to do his favorite thing in the world, eat. Recently Sharon posted on her blog information about a program that loans wheelchairs to handicapped pets. How brilliant is this idea, wheelchairs are very very expensive and for many it’s something that is unattainable. Harlan from Red Flyer, The Handicapped Pets Community initiated this great program to help pet parents obtain one of these wheelchairs at no cost, you only must return it when done.

I sent the wonderful people at Red Flyer Nando’s dimensions now I just wait for Nando’s wheelchair. It will make such a difference for him when he eats. He can no longer stand for more than a few seconds at a time while eating and because of this he has become discouraged and doesn’t eat as much. He is losing weight which is not good. I will post some photo’s when Nando gets his wheels. If any of you know of someone not using their pet wheelchair ask if they will donate to pets in need, contact Harlan on Facebook use the link I provided in the previous paragraph.

Before- weeds, way too many shrubbery

My Garden

I think I have mentioned before that I am not a gardener, don’t have a green thumb and systematically destroy almost every plant that I put in the good earth with exception of my roses which for some reason have defied the odds and are gorgeous and healthy and of course the many varieties of weeds that I can’t kill no matter how hard I try. It was pretty early for my weeds to grow so huge but they did so I put a message out on a neighborhood message board Next Door Clinton Hill asking if anyone knew someone who would clean up my backyard. The good people at Root and Stalk answered my request, Jessica is the plant whisperer and she and her team came over to assess my mess. She was very kind and didn’t say what she probably thought about my lack of gardening prowess but she gave me some solutions that I really liked. Several of the excess shrubs were re-homed, she and her team also repositioned much of what I had planted to better spots in the garden. It really does pay to have an expert (if you are not one) do it right. We still have some finishing touches, some additional annuals and perennials to plant but already it is a huge improvement and I love having a backyard I can use. Now I will get a new grill and some additional seating and I’m set.

Problem #1- Weeds out of control huge overgrown ugly weeds. Jessica has planted ground cover, thinned out some of my overgrown shrubbery, dug some up and is giving them a new home somewhere else, I seriously over did it with shrubs. She planted some gorgeous pots of flowers, made a raised bed with my herbs and climbing hydrangea, planted perennials and annuals and my garden looks just beautiful. I had a problem with weeds in between my blue stone patio so they planted creeping thyme.

Problem #2- mosquitoes Well I have a major mosquito problem, hundreds and thousands maybe millions of them and I refuse to use mosquito spray it’s poisonous so I just didn’t use my backyard starting the end of June until around Thanksgiving. Thats not acceptable. Jessica said to put fans in the back yard which I will do but there is already a huge improvement after she got rid of my weeds and multitude of shrubs.

Almost finished planting

Pretty pots with flowers

More flowers in pots

raised bed with herbs and climbing hydrangea

Mixed Fruit Crumble

I had some nectarines that I got at Food52 from Frog Hollow Farms, they are a once a year indulgence for me and boy are they delicious (I get 3 lb nectarines and 3 lbs peaches, seriously they are amazing). I ate what I could and the rest were getting too soft so I decided to make a crumble. I also had some frozen raspberries and blackberries that I got from the green market so I put them all together in a buttered 8×8 square pan. The crumble is simple, oats, spelt flour, pastry flour (ratio’s are equal parts oat and spelt and a smaller amount of pastry flour) butter approximately 2 oz (4 tbs), pinch of salt and about 1/4 cup brown sugar to taste. Mix it all up it should be crumbly but not dry, it should clump together. Butter your baking dish add the fruit and sprinkle with some sugar. Cover the fruit with the crumble mixture, drizzle with a little honey and bake at 375 until browned and bubbly. Serve with heavy cream or ice cream. Delicious. NOTE: You don’t have to use spelt flour you can use any combination you like, sometimes I use barley and oats sometimes regular AP flour and oats, You can customize to your taste.

Mar 22

135 Comments

Orange Angel Food Cake, Whipped Cream Frosting And Berries For Fiesta Friday #60

This is a very special Fiesta Friday, we have new digs, I mean this is exciting our own space for the party, check it out!! Angie@The Novice Gardener has surprised us all with this gorgeous new home for our party. Thanks so much Angie!!! This weeks co hosts are Tracy @Scratch It Cook and Nancy @Feasting With Friends.

For this special party in our new home I am bringing cake, a light as a feather angel food cake flavored with the zest of a mandarin orange, I frosted the cake with an orange scented whipped cream frosting and loaded the top of the cake with fresh berries sprinkled with some orange scented sugar. Can you tell I am a fan of orange.

Angel Food Cake

James McNair

2 cups egg whites at room temperature
1 1/2 cup sugar divided
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cake flour
zest of 1 orange (I used a mandarin)

Pre heat oven to 325 degree’s. Place egg whites in a scrupulously clean bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat the eggs until frothy and add the cream of tartar. Continue beating on medium high until egg whites are billowy, now add 3/4 cup sugar a tabelespoon at a time beating continuously. Beat the whites until they are somewhat stiff and hold shape when you lift the whisk, add the zest and vanilla and beat just until combined.

Place a sieve over a bowl and add the flour, sugar and salt and sieve twice. Sift over the beaten egg whites and gently fold in. Make sure all the dry ingredients are mixed into the whites. Place in your 10 inch tube pan with removable bottom. Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and tester comes out clean. Cool the cake upside down the angel food cake pan has feet that it rests on. Let cake cool completely. Run a small flexible offset spatula around the cake the outer edges and around the tube. Gently push the bottom up and then turn cake upside down and run the spatula or a knife around the edges of the bottom of the bottom to release the cake. Store in air tight container until ready to use.

Whipped Cream Frosting

James McNair

generously frosts a 9 in cake

1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 cups Heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
orange liquor like Grand Marnier or orange extract to taste

Place metal bowl and wire whisk beater or beaters in freezer to chill.
In a small saucepan combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch whisk until mixed. Slowly whisk in 1/2 cup heavy cream whisk until smooth. Place on medium heat and stir constantly to prevent scorching at the bottom stir constantly until mixture thickens and almost comes to a boil. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside stirring occasionally until it reaches room temperature. Make sure it is completely cooled before adding to the heavy cream..Very Important!!!
In the chilled bowl combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and the vanilla beat with the chilled whisk of your stand mixer or your hand held mixer until the cream begins to hold shape, it will still be rather loose. While still beating add the powdered sugar mixture a little at a time. Beat just until the mixture forms stiff peaks when the beater is raised and is spreadable, be careful not to over beat. Use immediately.

Fruit:

Blackberries

Raspberries

Strawberries Blended into a coulis.

Orange sugar- orange zest and sugar to sprinkle on fruit

The strawberries were just not good enough to put on the cake so I made a coulis by blending the strawberries with a little orange sugar and 2 tbs mandarin orange juice.

Dec 2

125 Comments

Homemade Labneh With Roasted Fruit, Walnuts And A Honey Thyme Drizzle

Labneh

I love a challenge and when I heard that Chobani was asking home cooks to develop recipes for their “Made With Chobani” challenge I was inspired to create a recipe for them. I am a big fan of yogurt, I eat it every day and I am also a big fan of Chobani, it’s thick and creamy and delicious. I want you to know that I am NOT being compensated in any way for this, I am simply doing what I love to do, cook and meet a challenge and the opinion is completely my own.

They said the recipe can be a meal, appetizer or dessert. I used Chobani plain yogurt (4% milk fat) to make a healthful dessert that is not just delicious but it would make a lovely light dessert for the holidays. I adapted a recipe for homemade Labneh from one I found on Food52, roasted some seasonal pears and some grapes, toasted some walnuts, drizzled all of this with a simple honey thyme syrup and garnished with pomegranate arils.

What is Labneh, well it’s very simple, it’s yogurt cheese. When I say simple I really mean it, all you need is a good quality yogurt, like the Chobani yogurt I used, some lemon juice and a pinch of salt. No cooking required you only need to mix the lemon juice and salt with the yogurt and strain through a piece of cheese cloth or muslin. Labneh can be used with either a savory or sweet dish. for a savory use of Labneh drizzle with some olive oil, sprinkle some sea salt, dukkah, zaatar, herbs whatever you like. I used whole milk yogurt in my dish, it’s a bit of an indulgence for my Holiday Table but this cheese can be made with low fat or even “Zero” fat yogurt with the same creamy delicious results.

Labneh after 12 hours draining

Homemade Labneh

Serves 6-8

12 Oz Plain 2% or 4% Fat Greek Yogurt

1/2 – 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

pinch of sea salt

Mix yogurt, lemon juice and salt thoroughly. Place strainer over a bowl and drape with cheese cloth, place yogurt mixture into the cheese cloth and fold over so the yogurt is covered. Refrigerate 12-24 hours. At 12 hours the labneh will be somewhat firm and spreadable and at 24 hours it will be even thicker. It’s wonderful either way.

Roasted Fruit

Fruit and Walnuts

4 ripe pears peeled, cut in half and cored ( I used bosc)

1 small bunch red seedless grapes (removed from stem) approximately 2 cups

1 tbs butter

2 tbs organic sugar

1 1/2 cup walnuts

Pomegranate arils for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degree’s. Butter a rectangular baking dish and place pears and grapes in the dish. Sprinkle with the sugar and bake uncovered for 30-45 minutes, the fruit should be tender. Remove from oven. Place walnuts on baking sheet and toast in the oven at 375 for 15 minutes approximately, you will know they are done when you can smell the walnuts be careful and watch the nuts they can burn quickly.

Honey Thyme Drizzle

1/4 cup honey of your choice

1/3 cup juice from cooked fruit

2 sprigs thyme

pinch of sea salt

Add the honey, juice and thyme sprigs to a small saucepan and simmer gently for 15 minutes, remove thyme sprig and remove from heat. If your fruit does not give off 1/4 cup of juice substitute another type of juice or water . You will need approximately 1/2 cup of the syrup.

A bowl of goodness

To Serve:

You can set out on a platter or serve on individual plates. A slab of labneh surrounded by the roasted fruit, toasted nuts and drizzled with the honey thyme syrup, scatter some pomegranate arils over the fruit before serving.

Light, festive and delicious

Nov 14

113 Comments

Apple Cider Applesauce Coffee Cake For Fiesta Friday #42

Applecider Applesauce Cake

I am re posting this recipe, I make it every year when apples hit the market. It is hands down my favorite apple cake. I know there are a million recipes out there for apple desserts, well my friends here is one more. I found this recipe years ago in Martha Stewart Living. The cakes is so moist and beautifully spiced, the crumble topping kind of melts into the cake as it bakes.

I decided that I would bring this delicious apple cake to Fiesta Friday #42, Angie@The Novice Gardener has outdone herself this week not only is she hosting this party but she brought the most beautiful, mind blowing dessert ever. The co hosts this week are Tracy @Scratch It and Stephanie @The Cozy Cook.

APPLE CIDER APPLESAUCE
1 pound juicy apples (Macintosh work very well) peeled. cored and cut into quarters
1/4 cup apple cider
1 tablespoon sugar, you can use white, turbinado or brown your choice
pinch of salt
Clean, peel, core and quarter the apples. Add to a medium saucepan. Add the cider, sugar and salt and boil until apples are soft. Remove from heat and mash (I used a potato masher) keep some small chunks of apples. Set aside to cool.
THE CRUMBLE TOPPING AND CAKE
The Crumble Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
1/4 cup old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted pecans chopped (If you have a nut allergy the nuts can be omitted)
The Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves (Optional, I didn’t use, really don’t like cloves)
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup apple cider applesauce
2 small juicy apples (Macintosh work very well) peeled and sliced
1/2 cup toasted pecans chopped OPTIONAL
Make your crumble topping. In small bowl combine the butter, sugar, oats,flour, cinnamon, salt and pecans mix with fork or by hand to combine. Set aside.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat your tube pan with cooking spray or vegetable oil. (I recommend using a non stick pan) Sift flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Cream butter and white and brown sugar in your electric mixer until smooth about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time make sure egg is incorporated before you add another one. With mixer on low add the applesauce and then the flour mixture. Mix just until combined. Add the optional chopped pecans and fold in.
Pour batter into oiled pan. Place apple slices on top of cake tucking some into the batter,sprinkle on the crumble topping. Bake for 60-70 minutes check by inserting cake tester (I used a bamboo skewer) near the middle of the cake and it should come out clean. Remove from oven and let cake cool in pan on wire rack.
Remove from pan and if you do not serve immediately wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until ready to serve. NOTE: if you make in a bundt pan like I did it could take some coaxing to get it out of the pan when cooled. It could be easier to remove from a tube pan because it does not have all the grooves that a bundt pan does.

Fiesta Friday

Oct 24

118 Comments

More Inspiring Food, Spiced Swiss Chard Cobbler And Vanilla Autumn Spice Mix For Fiesta Friday #39

swiss chard cobbler

Here are two great recipes chosen at random from the recipes you left for me. Spiced Swiss Chard Cobbler from Three little halves and Strictly Delicious wonderful Vanilla Autumn Spice Mix. Both recipes are amazing. I love swiss chard and this creamy savory cobbler is absolutely delicious, the cornmeal biscuit topping goes perfectly with the spicy filling. The Vanilla Autumn spice mix will get a lot of use this Holiday Season, I love to bake and I love warm fragrant spices so I was so excited that this was the random pick this time. I used the spice mix for simple baked apples, a recipe on Food52. A light and delicious sweet treat that is so very seasonal.

I brought these wonderful dishes to Fiesta Friday, now this week is very special. First of all it is Angie@The novice gardeners birthday, a warm congratulations and Happy Birthday to Angie and secondly, I am co hosting this week with one of my favorite bloggers Sue@birgerbird. This promises to be a great party with lots of delicious food.

Delicious

Vanilla Autumn Spice Mix

Baked apples

Fiesta Friday

Sep 28

125 Comments

Apple Pie

Apples

I felt the need to post a dessert recipe, it’s not earth shattering or different it’s as American as apple pie, well, it is apple pie. Simple and delicious, a touch of Americana. The recipes I have posted lately have been wholesome and healthful and thats really good, I love that, but my real love is baking and I have not really been doing that lately. Maybe when the weather turns cooler I will feel more inspired to crank up the oven and bake something. To inspire myself I just got the new cookbook from Zoe Nathan, Huckleberry, it’s beautiful, droolworthy and yes, very inspiring. I hope to share some recipes from the book with you, I have already chosen several to make immediately.

Every year when apples hit the green market one of the first things I like to make is apple pie. It’s an American classic and is still one of my all time favorite desserts. Buttery flaky pie crust and sweet/tart apples scented with warm spices, cinnamon and nutmeg. Served warm with a scoop of ice cream I am in heaven. There’s a million and one recipes for apple pie, it a classic dessert and this is probably no different than most but I wanted to post as a tribute or an homage to Fall and apple season. I use several different types of apples in my pie, cortland, honey crisp, winesap,macoun,ginger gold,pink lady and always one granny smith, I don’t use Macintosh or apples with a similar texture they tend to turn mushy. Honestly, I forget what I got this go around but they looked good and I am sure they will make a great pie. Cut the apple slices fairly thin but not so thin that they will turn to mush but I do want them soft and well done. I like to use both granulated and brown sugar, a pinch of sea salt, some flour to thicken and a splash of apple cider. it’s not aggresively spiced just enough for a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. I use 6-7 apples for a deeper pie dish and 4 or 5 apples for a normal size pie dish.

Juilia Childs Pastry Dough

Makes enough dough for a double crust 9 inch pie

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cake flour

1 tsp salt

6 oz cold unsalted butter cut into tbs size pieces

4 tbs shortening or leaf lard cold ( I weighed and used 2 oz of shortening or lard)

1/2 cup ice cold water

You can make this either by hand or in the food processor. To make by hand, put flours, salt, butter, lard or shortening into mixing bowl, use pastry cutter to combine until it resembles pea size crumbs. Add water mix with fork, gather with your hands, divide dough into a 2 discs and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Your dough may be pretty moist, thats ok don’t add more flour.

In Food Processor, add the flours, salt, butter and shortening or lard into the bowl of the processor. Pulse a few times until the mixture resembles pea size crumbs. Add the water and pulse a few times until it becomes a cohesive dough. Divide dough into two discs and wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

about this thickness

My apple peeler

Apple Filling:

6 apples, I like an assortment and always have 1 granny smith in the mix – peel, core and slice

1/3 cup brown sugar firmly packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

3-4 tbs flour (You can also use cornstarch or tapioca)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

juice of half a lemon

Note: Try to get the apple slices about the same thickness, doesn’t have to be perfect but if most of them are it cooks more evenly in the pie.

Add everything to a mixing bowl, stir gently to combine and set aside. Add the lemon juice to the apples as you slice, it will keep them from turning brown. You can adjust the amount of sugar to your personal preference.

look closely you can see the little pieces of butter in the dough, makes it extra flaky!

Making the Pie:

Have your 9 inch pie dish ready, take out one disc of dough and roll out to a thinish round, make sure your work surface is well floured as is your rolling pin. Roll dough onto the rolling pin and gently lay into the pie dish. Add the apples and put a few dots of butter. Roll out top crust following the same procedure and lay on top of the apples. Crimp the edges, cut a few vents, decorate if you like, brush with egg wash or cream and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake in a pre heated 375 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until it’s golden brown and bubbly. Note: leave the overhanging dough on the bottom crust, trim after you lay top ccrust on and fold under then crimp, This will give a good seal so that most of the juices stay in the pie.

Apple pie right out of the oven

The pie was wonderful but I could have added a bit more flour to the filling. The apples were really juicy and the juice was not thickened quite enough. It’s almost impossible to gage really. You could do the Julia Child method and let the apples rest in a bowl and whatever juice comes off drain before baking. I didn’t do that and had quite a bit of excess juice, but I never really do that for apple pies. The flavor was great and the crust was so flaky and tender.