Apple Pie

There is no better smell coming out of a hot oven than apple pie...crisp granny smith apples, melted cinnamon and sugar, with a flaky crust wrapped around it. There's something so classy to me about serving just a basic apple pie. If your having a more formal type of dinner you can put a lattice crust on top and sprinkle it with raw sugar. I had my parents over for dinner lastnight and decided to dress it down a bit so I made a flat apple pie, simply by rolling out the crust on a cookie sheet, placing the apples in the middle and then folding up the sides.

Apple Pie

For the crust:
From Betty Crocker, 1969
*if making a top for your pie...double ingredients for 2 crusts

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Crisco
3 to 4 Tablespoons cold water

Add flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter or fork until there are no chunks left. Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time until all flour is moistened and dough cleans from the sides of the bowl.

If your making a double crust, divide dough in half. On a floured surface, roll dough out somewhere between 1/4" and 1/8" so that it is 2" larger than your pie tin if your using one. Fold dough into quarters and transfer to pie tin or a cookie sheet for the flat apple pie.

Apple Filling:
adapted from Pioneer Woman

4-5 small peeled and sliced apples (Granny Smith work the best!)
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
juice from 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 stick butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel skin from apples and punch out core with an apple corer. Cut apples in half from top to bottom and thinly slice apples, about 1/4". In a large bowl, stir together apples, flour, lemon juice, sugars, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour apples into pie tin and add the top layer of crust, being sure there is some type of vent for steam to escape. Alternatively, place apples in the middle of crust rolled out crust for the flat apple pie and fold over edges.

Dot top of pie with butter and bake for 40 minutes, or until the filling is golden and bubbles.

Enjoy!!

Spiced Brown Sugar Body Scrubs

The bride and I made these delicious body scrubs for her bridal party. The are easy to make and add a special personalized touch. And the scent is out of this world nummy! I placed them in 16 ounce canning jars and placed labels with directions and a short poem on top of the lid. For a final touch we glued ribbon on top to the lid with a bow.

These body scrubs would make perfect Christmas gifts for friends or coworkers. They are cheap to make but very impressive.

Spiced Brown Sugar Body Scrubs
Adapted from C&H Sugar.com

1 cup - C&H® Dark or Light Brown Sugar
1 cup - C&H® Pure Cane Sugar
¾ cup - safflower oil
2 tsp. - cinnamon, powdered
2 tsp. - ginger, powdered
2 tsp. - nutmeg, powdered
1 16 oz. - glass container with lid

In a medium-sized bowl, combine all ingredients until thoroughly blended. Be sure to break up any lumps from the brown sugar or from the spices. Spoon into the glass container and secure with lid.
Directions for use: Scoop a teaspoon or two of the scrub on your hands and gently massage in circular motions onto your skin. Leave on for 3 to 4 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. The scrub will tighten on your skin.

Banana Oreo Delight

So, I needed a dessert I could throw together at the office today during my lunch break for my boss's birthday. This is actually the same as an Oreo Dirt Cake but with Golden Oreos and pudding. And you know what? It tastes just like banana creme pie! So I suppose we could make this Cheater Banana Pie too! No baking required and obviously easy enough to assemble anywhere.

Banana Oreo Delight

1 Package Golden Oreos
1 Large package Instant Banana Pudding
1 - 8 ounce package Cream Cheese
2 - 8 ounce tubs Cool Whip
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup melted butter

Place Oreos in a gallon baggie and crush with a rolling pin into fine bits. Put 1 cup aside. Mix remaining Oreos with 1/2 cup melted butter and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan. With a mixer, blend cream cheese until smooth. Add 1 1/2 tubs of Cool Whip and powdered sugar. Spread over Oreos. Make banana pudding according to package directions and spread pudding over top of cream cheese mix. Spread the rest of the Cool Whip on top of the pudding. Last, sprinkle the rest of the Oreos on top. Allow to refrigerate for an hour before serving.

Enjoy!!!

Crowd Pleasing Potato Salad

I've been making a lot of potato salad lately...primarily for graduations or groom's dinners...and this recipe was passed to me from a dear friend who is 75. It was her mother's recipe and it is definitely a crowd pleaser. Add your favorite vegetables or mustard for a personalized flavor. I make the recipe times 4 for the graduation party...which fed about 50 people! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Potato Salad

1 egg
1/3 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon corn starch
1/3 cup sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon mustard
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream or half and half

5 medium potatoes, boiled and cut into bite size pieces
4 eggs, hard boiled
2 stalks celery
1/2 red onion
6 large radishes

Cut potatoes in half and place in a large pot with boiling water. Allow to boil about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your potatoes until the potatoes are tender when poked with a fork. The fork should easily slide into the potato.

In another sauce pan, place 4 eggs and cover with water. Put on a medium high heat until water starts to boil. Turn off heat and let eggs sit in water for 20 minutes.

In a sauce pan, whisk 1 egg. Add vinegar, corn starch, sugar, salt and pepper, mustard and water. Whisk together and turn heat onto medium. Continue to stir for about 5-8 minutes until mixture starts to thicken. Take off heat and allow to cool. Once sauce is cool, whisk in cream or half and half and put in refrigerator to cool and set.

Chop potatoes into bit size pieces. Also chop onion, radishes, celery and eggs and add everything into a large bowl. Pour sauce mix over the top and stir until everything is well coated. Chill before serving.

Enjoy!

200 Cupcakes and a Gorgeous Wedding!

Guess what? I baked 200 cupcakes in two days...then I frosted and decorated 200 cupcakes in 4 hours and put them out on a table for 150 guests...and I lived to tell about it!


I never would have guessed how much work goes into planning a wedding and how much preparation goes into planning one's cupcake display.

I think I tested about 10 different cake batters to find one that would be just right...and I gained about 10 pounds doing it...oh the sacrifices a person makes for their profession!



I wanted to do a few different cupcakes to ensure there was something for everyone at the wedding...some people prefer chocolate...others vanilla...

I ended up making four different cakes: Lemon and Lemon Creme Frosting, Angel Food Cake with a pudding center and Blueberries, Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and a Shortbread Cake with Crushed Nilla Wafer Crust, Raspberry Cream Filling and a Mascarpone Cream Cheese Filling.

My kitchen has a permanent layer of powdered sugar on it now. I think I will be scrubbing for days to get everything clean again.

On Thursday I did the shopping and baked the lemon, chocolate and shortbread cupcakes and ended up completely gutting my fridge to make room for them. On Friday I baked the angel food cakes, whipped up and bagged the frosting and fillings and decorated the cake stands.

Saturday I went to the reception hall and started decorating! I think I slept a total of 8 hours over 3 nights and the only thing that kept me away was adrenaline and Caribou Coffee!



I've already posted the Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting...you can find that here. For the wedding I just sprinkled shaved chocolate on top of the frosting.

As for the rest of the recipes...I will get them into their individual posts tonight hopefully!

Have a happy day!!

Attempt #1: Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been working hard to find delicious replacements for my daughter, who is allergic to dairy and eggs we've just found out. My current mission is to find a good cookie minus the butter and egg that still tastes good...and without using soy products. I bought some Earth's Balance Vegan Buttery Spread...but haven't been able to bring myself to use it...so I probably just wasted $5!

So this is cookie attempt #1...which is okay but not quite what I'm looking for. I attempted to replace the fat with mashed banana...but it seems to be giving the final cookie an altered after taste that is just not characteristic of a good chocolate chip cookie. So I'm going to try a few more adjustments and I'll keep you posted. The cookies were very good...the kids loved them...just not quite on the cookie-exchange level good.

Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 bananas, mashed

1 cup peanut butter

2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons rice milk

2 1/2 cups oatmeal

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place bananas in a large bowl and mash into a soupy consistency. Add peanut butter, vanilla, and rice milk and stir until thoroughly combined. Add oatmeal, flour, sugars, baking soda and chocolate and stir again until combined.

Using a 1 tablespoon cookies scoop, place a scoop of cookie dough in palm of hand and roll into balls. Then roll in sugar and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Smash down slightly with a cup or make Criss-crosses with a fork.

Bake for 11-13 minutes until cookie is slightly brown on edges.

Enjoy!

Turtle Cupcakes

Warning: This cupcake may contain extreme amounts of all around goodness that will cause the corners of your mouth to point upward in a huge smile all day long! This cupcake is so stinkin' sweet it is hard not to love it...

Turtle Cupcakes

1 recipe chocolate cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting
1 1/2 cup crushed pretzels
1/2 chopped pecans
11 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
Caramel Apple Dip


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 30-36 cupcake tins with cupcake wrappers.

Place pecans in a food processor and pulse them for about 3 seconds just to get a rough chop started. Then add pretzels and continue to pulse. You want the pretzels to be a little chunky...definitely do not turn them into a powder!

Pour pretzel and pecans into a bowl. Add melted butter and sugar and stir until combined. Scoop a rounded tablespoon of mixture into each cupcake wrapper and lightly press to bottom to form the crust.

Prepare chocolate cake as directed. Scoop cake batter on top of pretzel crust so your cupcake liners are about 3/4 full. Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes...until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

Completely cook cupcakes. Using a handheld apple corer, cut a hole in the middle of the cupcake. Place Caramel Apple Dip in a piping bag with a large round tip. Fill hole in the cupcake with caramel.

Prepare frosting as directed by recipe. Place in a piping bag with a 1M star tip and pipe frosting on cupcakes making sure to cover the caramel. Sprinkle with chopped pecans if desired.

ENJOY!!