Apple Pie

Simply Delicious

This is the best apple pie I've ever had! The crust is flaky and buttery and the apples in the filling are perfectly tender and engulfed in a silky carmel like sauce. When you take your first bite, your eyes get a little wide and then you can't help but smile and exclaim WOW! Thanks to my friend Judi for sharing this recipe with me and allowing me to share it with all of you.

Granny smith apples are piled high in a homemade pastry shell.

A lattice top is weaved over the apples

And a wonderful yet simple sauce made of brown sugar and butter is poured over the top.

The glaze makes for a gorgeous crust once baked.

This pie is so pretty and rustic not to mention delicious.

Cut a slice and enjoy! 

Here's the recipe as it was given to me. Leave a comment if you have any questions.

Apple Pie

Crust:
Combine melted 1 cup butter in a pan add 2 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar. Stir in 6 tbs ice cold water. Roll into 2 balls and store in fridge for 4 hours. take out 10 minutes before ready to roll them into crust.

When making pie heat oven to 425. Prepare bottom crust to pan. Place 6 small granny smith cored, peeled, and slice apples in pan. make latticed top. In a sauce pan melt 1/2 cup butter and add 3 tbs flour, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar and heat to boil. Pour over pie.  Bake in over at 425 for 15 minutes. Turn heat down to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.
 

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Yes, I've done a few cranberry dessert posts lately. That would be due to the Costco-sized bag of cranberries sitting in my refrigerator. I just felt compelled to make cranberry flavored treats. But, this is the last cranberry concoction because they are now happily tucked away in the freezer so they can be pulled out come turkey day.

Crisps of any kind are so simple and quick to make. Take your favorite fruit (in season is best) and toss it with a little flour, sugar and spices (or citrus). Pour it into a pan...

 Top with a golden layer of oats, brown sugar, pecans (opt.) and butter.

Bake until golden brown - Let cool slightly - Top with vanilla bean ice cream - Devour

Cranberry Apple Crisp
Source: Taste of Home
Ingredients
3 cups chopped peeled tart apples
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

TOPPING:
1-1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Directions
Combine apples, cranberries, sugar and flour. Pour into a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish. In a bowl, mix topping ingredients until crumbly; sprinkle over apple mixture. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until fruit is tender. Yield: 6-8 servings.

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My Notes:
I roughly chopped the cranberries in a food processor. I also added a little vanilla to the filling.

For the crust, I added cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and allspice. I think spices go really well in a dessert like this.

Blueberry-Pear, Cherry Almond, Peach, Triple berry (raspberry, blueberry and blackberry)...would all be delicious fruit to use too!

Apple Cranberry Custard Vanilla Cream Tart

This tart is just delicious! It's loaded with all the wonderful, aromatic spices and flavors of fall.

A spiced graham cracker crust is filled with a delicious vanilla custard that's laced with simmered apples and cranberries. To top it all off, a creamy crowning of freshly whipped cream.

  

Below is the crust already baked and filled with the cranberry apple custard. 

Then it gets finished off with freshly whipped cream. I grated nutmeg on top for a final last touch.

 Between the vanilla custard and the whipped cream, this tart is so luscious and creamy. And the simmered apples and cranberries pair so well with the spicy graham cracker crust. This is one of those desserts where all the flavors and textures come together perfectly.

With the holidays and family gatherings ahead, this is a must make dessert!

Apple Cranberry Custard Vanilla Cream Tart
Source

Crust
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) graham cracker crumbs 

Pinch each ground nutmeg and cloves

1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, melted

Custard:

1 cup 35% whipping cream 

3 egg yolks 

1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar 

1/4 cup (50 mL) all purpose flour 

Pinch salt 

1 tbsp (15 mL) butter

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

Apple Cranberry Mixture:

2 tbsp (25 mL) butter 

2 apples, peeled, cored and diced 

1/2 cup (125 mL) fresh or frozen cranberries, coarsely chopped

2 tbsp (25 mL) granulated sugar 

1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon 



Vanilla Bean Cream:

Half vanilla bean or 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

1 cup (250 mL) 35% whipping cream 

1 tbsp (15 mL) granulated sugar
Cooking Instructions

In bowl combine graham crumbs, nutmeg, cloves and butter until moistened and pat evenly into bottom and up side of 9-inch (23-cm) tart pan with removable bottom or pie plate. Bake in preheated 350ºF (180ºC) oven for about 10 minutes or until firm. Let cool. 


Custard: In saucepan, bring cream to gentle boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, in bowl, stir together egg yolks, sugar, flour and salt to form a thick paste. Pour in half of the cream and whisk to combine and become smooth. Whisk in remaining cream and return to saucepan. Cook, whisking over medium heat for about 5 minutes or until very thick. Scrape custard through fine mesh sieve into bowl and whisk in butter and vanilla. Place plastic wrap on surface and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until chilled.



Apple Cranberry Mixture: In large non-stick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add apples, cranberries, sugar and cinnamon and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes or until apples are softened. Let cool to room temperature. Stir apple mixture into chilled custard and scrape into prepared pie shell. Smooth top. 


Vanilla Bean Cream: Using small paring knife, scrape seeds out of vanilla bean and add to cream and sugar. Whip cream to stiff peaks. Spread cream decoratively over top of custard mixture and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. (Make ahead: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.)

Servings: 8

Preparation Time: 20 Minutes
Cooking Time: 25 Minutes
Refrigeration Time: 1 to 2 Hours

My Notes:

I added ground toasted pecans to the crust, along with a pinch of ground nutmeg, ground ginger and all spice. The crust is delicious!

I added a few more cranberries to the filling and took out one apple. I was in the mood for more of a cranberry dessert. I used a food processor to roughly chop the cranberries and added a tablespoon or two more sugar since they are so tart.

Morning Muffins

If you're looking for a healthy way to start off your morning, look no further than these Fiber Rich Muffins. I was making a bowl of Hodgson Hill Multi Grain Oatmeal and spotted this muffin recipe on the back. I decided to whip some up so I could have a quick and healthy snack for the next few mornings.

These muffins are loaded with shredded carrots, diced apples and blueberries along with some other healthy grains and ingredients. 

I substituted applesauce for the vegetable oil and brown sugar for the white. I also added a handful of blueberries.

For a healthy muffin, packed with lots good-for-you-stuff, these are pretty tasty. They're perfect for a quick bite in the morning and are quite filling with a cup of hot coffee!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

These unique cupcakes were in the October issue of the Rachael Ray magazine. There was something appealing about them, so I decided to whip up a batch today. Moist apple and spice cupcakes get a glorious crowning of rich caramel frosting. What's not to like?

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Here are the grated apples getting ready to be mixed into the brown sugar and spice batter.

I used my new grater from Ikea and the apples were a whiz to slice. Plus, there's a handy bowl to catch everything.

The cupcake liners are filled almost to the top and go into the oven for 25 minutes.

They didn't puffy up like regular cupcakes, probably from the heaviness of the apples, but they did turn a nice caramel color.

After the cupcakes cool, they get a generous topping of caramel frosting.

I love the sweet salty combo, so I sprinkled some flaked sea salt on top of mine. I also grated some fresh nutmeg on a few and that was tasty too!

I'll post the recipe soon. If you have a copy of the magazine, these are definitely worth making!

Valentine's Breakfast

My family and I enjoyed a relaxing day in for valentine's. We started the morning off by cooking a healthy breakfast together. We put on classical music and whisked up some whole wheat, honey and oat pancakes and scrambled some eggs.

My husband happened upon this Kodiak Cakes Flapjack and Waffle Mix at the grocery store. My favorite part about the healthy mix is the simple ingredient list and the fact that you only have to add water to make them.

We thought some ground cinnamon, applesauce and a splash of vanilla would be a tasty addition to the mix and it was! This Santa Cruz applesauce is really good. 

These turned out amazing! Very fluffy, moist and a really great hearty flavor. The applesauce on top was an experiment, since we weren't using butter or syrup and it was really good, honest. 

These pancakes were healthy, tasty and better than any sugar laden ones fried in butter you would get at a restaurant. The topping of applesauce and fruit was a delicious substitute for butter and syrup. We bought two boxes of pancake mix and a package of applesauce and we will be making these again very soon.

Whole Wheat, Oat and Honey Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Kodiak Cakes flapjack and waffle mix

1 cup water

1 container applesauce

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

Whisk ingredients until just incorporated. Follow directions for cooking on back of flapjack mix package. Top with a dollop of warm applesauce and fresh fruit. Enjoy

2-Layer Apple Oatmeal Crisp

I never make apple desserts, not because I don't like apples, I just never use them in baking. So, I decided to make an apple crisp. I don' think I've made any fruit crisps either, but I wanted to try something simple and good. I turned to allrecipes.com to search for recipes. I browsed through apple crisp recipes and settled on this one for an oatmeal crisp.

It turned out really good, although a little sweet. It made the house smell wonderful as it baked. The thing I liked about this recipe was that it had a bottom and top crust made from streusel. The apples were spiced perfectly with cinnamon and it was wonderful, warm out of the oven with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top.

Brown Sugar and Oat Streusel

The apple crisp, dotted with butter, ready to go in the oven


I served the apple oat crisp, crumbled in martini glasses with a scoop of ice cream and a fresh grating of nutmeg.

This crisp comes together really quickly and bakes up in 40 minutes.

Apple Oatmeal Crisp

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 scant cup all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 T butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour, salt and melted butter. Mix until crumbly. Place half of crumb mixture in pan. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with cinnamon, top with remaining crumb mixture and dot with butter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

* A mix of red and green tart apples would be good in this to cut down the sweetness of the streusel.