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Recipes - Desserts

Apple Caramel Pie

More apples! I am so definitely still in an “apple everything” frame of mind! It’s October, y’all, and there are beautiful Granny Smiths, Gala, Braeburn, and Fuji apples everywhere!  I say, and say again, “Bring them ON!”  Today’s  rich  apple pie recipe is from  a “Taste of Home” magazine’s special Fall baking issue, and it is just in time for our cooler October evenings.  You won’t go wrong investing time in preparing this one for your family.

To be honest, there is a good bit of prep work for this dish, but,  take it one step at a time and you’ll be removing this fragrant pie from the oven in no time. Today, I used both Granny Smith and Gala apples today because I had both on hand. I also used lemon juice instead of the lime juice called for in the recipe. Prepare the apples and toss them with the juice, spices, flour and sugar then get your pie crust made. You will need to follow the instructions and amounts given for the 2-crust pie as listed in the recipe; don’t skimp or you won’t have enough dough for both crusts. The butter in the dough makes for a deliciously tender crust for spiced apples piled high, topped with a second crust and drizzled with a rich caramel sauce.

Baker’s Tip:  Use a box grater and grate the butter for the crust; the photo above is one stick of butter grated; you’ll need one more stick.

Make the topping when the pie has finished baking and slowly pour it over the top crust then bake the pie a few minutes longer. I’m sure you’ve already decided to serve this one still warm, with individual scoops of country-style vanilla ice cream, and you are spot-on with that choice. Nothing’s better on a chilly Fall evening! Enjoy!

Apple Caramel Pie

Ingredients

6 cups sliced peeled tart apples
2 T. lemon or lime juice
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 t. salt
Pastry for a double crust 9” pie (see below)
2 T. butter, chopped

Topping Ingredients

2 T. butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 T. heavy cream
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

Directions Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, toss apples with juice. Combine the sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt; add to apples and toss lightly. Set aside.

Prepare pie dough and line a 9” pie plate with bottom crust and trim even with edges; fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter. Place top crust over filling. Trim, seal, and flute edges, cut slits in top pastry. Brush the top crust with an egg wash (egg yolk and water, beaten).

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and apples are tender. Prepare topping by melting butter in a small saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and cream; bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add chopped pecans, and pour mixture over top crust; bake pie for 2-3 minutes longer or until bubbly. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Note: Recipe ingredients for a double crust 9” pie: 2-1/2 cups flour, 1/2 t. salt, 1 cup cold butter, grated, and 2/3 cups ice water

Directions Combine flour and salt and stir to sift. Cut in the cold butter with your fingers, working fast. Add ice water and toss with a fork just until the dough pulls away from sides of the bowl. Separate into two discs, wrap each disc in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours. Chill your rolling pin also.

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler

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You will love this dish for several reasons, the first being that you likely have everything you need to prepare it already sitting on your pantry shelves. NO extra trip out to the store means you can think it and bake it within an hour’s time! The results are huge, so do get started soon.

The spices in the cobbler whisper October’s name: cinnamon, nutmeg, and ground cloves. You know how good this will be just thinking about that combo, right? Finding yourself smack in the middle of Fall usually means one thing in the kitchen, and that is pumpkin! There’s enough pumpkin purée in the dish to provide that special autumnal flavor and the spices are a nod themselves to our cooler temperatures.

I was a little leery of the recipe’s instructions for pouring hot water over the topping before baking but was totally delighted with the results. As the water incorporates into the batter while baking, a rich creamy caramel sauce results, perfect for spooning over each serving.  That saucy caramel is one of the best things about the dish.

The second reason I love this recipe (and many thanks to friend Micki Welsh for finding it and knowing that I would enjoy it!) is that it is a snap to make. You will need three bowls for the dry, wet, and topping ingredients but there is no need even for your hand mixer. Simply combine wet with dry ingredients then sprinkle over the topping; add the hot water, and into the oven it goes.

Do try this one when cooler weather rolls around. If you are a pumpkin person (and I know many), you will be delighted by this cobbler. You will also find that a scoop of rich country-style vanilla ice cream is the only accompaniment you’ll want. Add friends and family and it’s Pumpkin Heaven, y’all!

Pumpkin Pecan Cobbler

Ingredients

1 cup plus 3 T. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3/4 cup sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. ground cloves
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1-1/2 t. vanilla

Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and spices in a large bowl and stir to combine. In a smaller bowl, combine pumpkin, milk, butter, and vanilla. Combine wet ingredients with dry and stir to blend all thoroughly, forming a thick batter. Scrape into an 8” baking dish with high sides.

Topping Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1-1/2 cups very hot water

Directions. In small bowl, combine the sugars and the pecans. Sprinkle on top of the batter in the baking dish. Slowly add the hot water, do not stir. Bake for 40 minutes or until the middle of cake is set. Cool 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with vanilla ice cream and additional pecans, chopped coarsely.

 

 

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Yesterday’s abundance of sour cream and several cups of frozen summer blueberries in the fridge and the freezer led me to this great recipe on the “allrecipes” web site. The cake did an on-point job in meeting my needs: enough to serve eight after eating two pieces after supper and saving a 3-slice hunk of it for breakfast the next day. I knew when I sliced the cake tonight that it would be even better the next day, after the streusel mixture set. Normally I don’t have any luck with streusel toppings but it helped that this streusel swirls into the middle and the top layers of batter. An overnight rest made for a fabulously chewable streusel cake with coffee yesterday

I used my stand mixture up to the point of folding in the berries. My berries were flash-frozen from the summer so I sprinkled them with a T. of flour before adding to the batter to prevent dreaded ‘purple stain batter’ syndrome! Other than that, make strictly as is. Don’t over bake; an hour and 2 minutes was perfect. I covered it lightly with a dish towel and inverted it onto my serving plate after 45 minutes.  The only thing to really watch, other than having everything in place before you begin, is to allow your butter to soften to just the right texture before beginning.  As soon as the cold is off of it is just right.

The powdered sugar goes on in a fine mist. Combined with the snowflakes on the serving plate and the powdered sugar, it almost felt winterish in the kitchen on blueberry streusel day. It’s definitely worth a trip to your freezer to see if you have summer berries lurking there!

Blueberry Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1-5/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 9-inch Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the batter just until blended. Fold in blueberries.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan. In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle half of this mixture over the batter in the pan. Spoon remaining batter over the top, and then sprinkle the remaining pecan mixture over. Use a knife or thin spatula to swirl the streusel layers into the cake.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted into the crown of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Invert onto a serving plate, and tap firmly to remove from the pan. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

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Bakery Miscellaneous

Apple Crisp

Oh, geeze, is it really almost October?  Somehow, yes, indeed, ‘Truly Autumn’ is upon us and there is no better time to begin baking up Apple Everything!  Our cooler nights and mornings are perfectly suited to warm Apple Crisp tonight and then cold Apple Crisp the next morning so  gather your apples while you may and get started! Apples of every stripe will be everywhere soon and apples do so definitely deserve their own season! Apples & Autumn are the best of partners!

Today I used Granny Smith apples and a recipe from my sister’s “Deli & Delights” cookbook.  I love the texture of the crust on this one, it is more pie crust than sweet cobbler topping, and, pairing it with the just-tender apples has you thinking apple pie and ice cream in no time! There are no oats in this crisp topping; the butter provides the flakier crust. A simple filling is all you need: tart apples, sugar, and a whiff of cinnamon is just right.  Add a T. of lemon juice if using sweeter apples. Prep time is minimal: prepare the apples and blend with the filling.  Place into baking dish, make your crust topping and sprinkle it over the fruit, then drizzle the crumbs with melted butter, and you’re all pau and done!  Now just allow it to cool, if you can.

Vanilla ice cream is my favorite accompaniment for any warm fruit crisp and this one is wonderful as well for breakfast, served cold, with just 2 T. of sweet cream poured over.  Make up a larger version if you’re counting on it for breakfast!  We are definitely talking Apple Autumn Delight here, folks!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients

6 cups apples, peeled, cored, sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

TOPPING

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 egg
1/2 stick butter, melted

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Combine apples, sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl; stir. Place in a lightly sprayed 9×9” baking dish. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder in medium bowl.  Add the egg; stir and press egg into dry ingredients, forming crumbs.  Sprinkle this mixture over apples in baking dish.  Drizzle the melted butter over the crumbs and bake 45 minutes or until browned and apples are tender.  Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.

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Recipes - Desserts

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

First Scoop!

The best thing about a Rhubarb Crisp is adding fresh strawberries to the mix and today’s crisp proved no exception to this rule of thumb. You’re getting the sweet and the sour in each bite, guaranteeing satisfaction for all.  Tart and sweet, creamy and crumbly, this dish has it all.  I used my sister, Mamie’s, recipe, listed in her cookbook, “County Seat Deli & Delights” and altered it only by omitting the lemon juice in favor of orange zest and 1/2 cup of fresh orange juice as Ina Garten’s online recipe calls for. I also used my favorite Amish fruit thickener, Clear-jel by name, but you can certainly use cornstarch easily to thicken the filling also and I listed the cornstarch here. This is an awesome recipe, Mamie, and many thanks to you and Rosie!

The crisp topping I made exactly as listed as I never seem to have any luck using rolled oats in toppings. The butter, melted, is drizzled over the topping and not chunked up in the dough as most cobbler recipes instruct. This topping so deliciously delivers a great texture contrast to the soft fruit and it bakes up beautifully golden brown, rich with butter. The only difference in my book between cobblers, crisps, and crumbles is in the use of butter and whether you want a chewy topping or a biscuity one. The main thing you do with all of them is to sweeten, sometimes tarten, your fruit and make the topping that offers the best contrast and texture, and, geeze, what a great way to enjoy an abundance of summer fruit.

Of course you serve this dish with vanilla ice cream, preferably while the crisp is still warm. I guarantee you won’t find a more satisfying way to brighten any still hot September day. Enjoy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp

Ingredients

Combination of 6-7 cups rhubarb, cut 1″ pieces, and strawberries, stemmed and quartered

FILLING INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar
3 T. cornstarch
4 T. water
2 t. orange zest
1/2 cup orange juice

TOPPING ingredients

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1-1/2 sticks butter, melted

Directions Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9×13″ glass baking dish. Zest orange. Squeeze oranges to equal 1/s cup  juice.  I needed 2 oranges for this. Combine the rhubarb and the strawberries and orange zest in large bowl then place inside prepared baking dish. Set inside oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Prepare the filling ingredients by combining the sugar, cornstarch, water and orange juice in a medium saucepan, bringing just to boiling. Remove from heat and pour this mixture over the hot fruit. Return dish to oven.

Make the topping by combining the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl. Stir to blend. Add the eggs and stir until clumps begin to form and mixture pulls away from the bowl; use a fork to further cut the eggs into the dough until you have clumps. Drop this mixture by spoonfuls over the fruit; I usually squeeze 2 tablespoons in my hands and add these heavier pieces first then scatter any smaller crumbs evenly over the top. Slowly drizzle the melted butter over all and bake for 45-50 minutes. DO serve this warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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