Caramel Apple Pie

A few weeks ago I posted the apple pie recipe I have been using since I was 12 years old. I think that this caramel apple pie has caused me to modify the recipe that has been my tried and true for the past 24 years! (And yes, if you are capable of adding you can figure out my age.)

This pie was technically a hybrid pie. The crust is from my original pie recipe. I couldn't bring myself to add vinegar and refrigerate when I didn't have to, and I figured why change a good thing. The filling though, this will definitely be included in my apple pies from now on. Cooking the apples definitely softened them, and the spices, vanilla, and cream work together beautifully. The small bits of toffee don't hurt either.

The next time I make an apple pie I will be using my original recipe to make a top and bottom crust, and I will be using this filling recipe with the toffee bits. I don't think I will be using the full struesel topping because it is unnecessary, but I won't know that for sure until I make this recipe again. I think I can handle that challenge. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Pie

Source: Food Network

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
5-7 tablespoons water

Filling:
6 cups Granny Smith apples
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons heavy cream
4 tablespoons butter

Struesel Topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
3 ounces toffee chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Crust:
Mix flour and salt together with fork. Cut shortening into mixture with pastry cutter until dough forms balls. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time; mix with fork until flaky. Pack into a ball, divide in half, and roll out. Put into pan, cut dough slightly larger than the pan, fold edges under and flute.

Filling:
Peel and slice apples. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and add apples. Toss to mix. Add vanilla and cream. Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add apple mixture and cook approximately 8 minutes to soften apples. Turn into pie shell.

Struesel Topping:
Combine the flour and sugar. Mix in butter with fork until coarse crumbs. stir in the toffee chips. Sprinkle over pie.

Bake on 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 45 minutes longer.

Makes one 9-inch pie

Apple Pie a la Mode

Did you ever have to take a home economics class in junior or senior high? I did. In both. And while I excelled at baking and managing my checkbook (go figure), I seriously failed at sewing. Tank top too small, shorts way too big. But I digress. Apple pie is what we are focusing on here, not the not so great junior high flashbacks.

One of the great things to come out of 7th grade was getting this apple pie recipe. Yes, when I was 12 years old I learned this recipe and have used it for all of my apple pies since. (Although you'll be reading in a few posts that I am going to be sprucing it up from here on out.) It has a flaky crust and a not overly sweet apple filling, a winning combination! Enjoy!

Apple Pie

Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening
5-7 tablespoons water


Filling:
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
8-9 Granny Smith apples

Core, peel, and slice apples. Mix in a large bowl with sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix flour and salt together with a fork. Add shortening and mix with a pastry cutter until dough forms balls. Add water 1 tablespoon at at time and mix with a fork until flaky. Pack into a ball, divide in half; roll out. Cut bottom crust and set in pan. Fill with apple filling.  Roll out other half of dough.

If making a one piece top crust: Cut top crust and lay over pie. Fold crust under and pinch together with bottom crust. Flute edge and cut slits in top crust.

If making a lattice top crust: Cut rolled out crust into strips. Lay strips over pie in alternating pattern. Pinch lattice strips together with bottom crust. Flute edges.

Bake on 400 degrees F for 15 minutes, then 350 degrees F for 30-40 minutes.

Makes one two-crust 9-inch pie

Mini Caramel Apple Pie

Mini desserts are just so cute! And around the holidays it is so much easier to swallow (pun intended) a sweet dessert if it is small and bite sized. These were fairly easy to make. I think the most time consuming part was peeling and grating the apples. They were delicious, especially with a bit of ice cream on the side right after they came out of the oven. Mmmmmm! Enjoy!

Mini Caramel Apple Pies
Makes 12 servings (I actually got a bit extra)

2 refrigerated pie crusts (for 9-inch pie)
4 large tart apples, peeled and grated
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
 
Topping:
4 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish:
caramel sauce/ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan.

Unfold piecrust and cut dough into 12 equal pieces and line each muffin cup.

In a bowl, combine the apples, sugar, cinnamon, and oats. Fill each crust to the top with the apple mixture. Bake for 20 minutes.

To prepare the topping, combine cream cheese, sugars, and vanilla in a bowl and beat until well blended.

After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and spread the topping on the mini pies. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Bake 5 minutes longer, or until the edges are golden brown.

Daring Bakers - Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

What perfect timing for a daring bakers challenge! I have put off baking goodies for most of this month because we've been watching our waistlines. I also knew the holidays were coming up and there would be plenty of excuses for me to bake. I was so excited that I would be able to use this challenge in my Thanksgiving festivities!

I made both a Caramel Apple Crostata and an Apple Cranberry Crostata. They were both easy to make and delicious! Even though they look very similar to my traditional apple pies the crust is very different. While my usual pie crust is light and flaky, this crust is more dense like a shortbread. It was delicious but it definitely tasted like shortbread to me and since I love my pie crust recipe I probably won't make a crostata like this again. When I make another it will be filled with pastry cream and fresh fruit which I think will go wonderfully with the shortbread.

For the crust, I used the first version of the pasta frolla that was offered to us in this challenge. If you'd like the recipe, email me. I did have to add a teeny bit of water after everything was mixed together because it seemed a tad bit dry like things were not going to mix/stick together well.

I added cranberries to half of the apple mixture and I drizzled caramel over the other half of the mixture once it was in the tart shells. I also chose to make two of the crostatas with a lattice top and two with a star cut out of dough. They turned out great! Enjoy!

Caramel-Hazelnut Mini Tartlets

The second I saw this recipe I knew it was destined to be in my kitchen. The thought of a shortbread type dough, caramel, hazelnuts, and chocolate was a combination I knew would be pointless to resist. It was a few months though before I found the time or opportunity to actually bake them, but it was definitely worth the wait! 


Although the original recipe said to blend the dough in a food processor, I ended up using a pastry blender, similar to making a pie crust, since my food processor is teeny tiny and I can't stand using it. I also found that it was easier to divide the dough evenly if I slightly rolled a ball and put it in each muffin tin, then went back and with a floured tart shaper, smooshed the dough into the tart shape.

Doesn't that caramel look amazing? I love the way brown sugar and butter look together when they are beginning to melt and combine. Kind of goofy, I know, but oh well.

It was an interesting process trying to husk the hazelnuts. I read online that if you bake them at 350 degrees for about 5-10 minutes and then dump them in a cloth towel and vigorously rub them together the husks will just fall off. Well, that wasn't exactly my experience. I did get a good arm workout though! As you can see, some of the husks came off but eventually I just gave up and chopped them into pieces anyway. It is a bit messy when you spoon the caramel into the tarts. It is easier if they are sitting on a wire rack and then you can wipe off any runoff before you put them on a pan to put them in the fridge.

It sure doesn't look like there are many of them when there are about 30 on a serving platter, but be ready for them to be gobbled up quickly. Enjoy!

Caramel-Hazelnut Mini Tartlets
Source: Epicurious

Crusts:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 tablespoons chilled whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
---
1 cup hazelnuts, husked and toasted

Butter 30 metal or silicone mini muffin cups. Blend flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter and blend until mixture resembles course crumbs. In a small bowl or cup, stir together 5 tablespoons whipping cream and vanilla; add to dough mixture until it begins to clump together. (Add more cream by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry).

Divide dough evenly between the 30 muffin cups. Press 2 teaspoonfuls of dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of each prepared mini muffin cup or press with a floured tart shaper. Pierce tartlet crusts with a fork. Freeze for 30 minutes (or cover and refrigerate for up to one day ahead).

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Bake frozen crusts until golden and baked through, about 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool crusts in muffin cups 10 minutes. Carefully loosen from muffin cups, transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Place 2 to 3 hazelnuts in each crust.

Caramel Filling:
1 1/3 cups golden brown sugar, packed
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons whipping cream
---
3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, 2 tablespoons water, and salt in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to boil; boil about 2 minutes without stirring (mixture will bubble up and thicken slightly). Remove pan from heat. Add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously); stir until smooth.

Pour caramel into 2-cup measuring cup; cool 10 minutes. Spoon caramel over hazelnuts in crusts, filling crusts almost to top. Refrigerate until caramel begins to firm up slightly, about an hour.

Melt chocolate in double boiler or microwave. Drizzle melted chocolate over top of tartlets. Chill until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

**Mini tartlets can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated. Let tartlets stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.**

Triple Coconut Cream Mini Pies

While trying to decide what to make for a small get together I was having I ran across this recipe and I knew immediately that this would be what I was going to bake for dessert. There were two reasons for this, the first and most important being that over a year ago my husband and I got our hands on a magazine that showcased the best desserts in Seattle and this was in there. We tried many, and I mean many of the other restaurants, cupcake bakeries, and dessert shops, but we had yet to make it to the Dahlia Bakery to try the famous Triple Coconut Cream Pie. The second reason was that I was looking for something that I could serve in individual portions instead of one large dessert where half would be left when everyone was gone and I would be forced to eat it all by myself.

These mini pies really were the perfect size. The coconut pastry cream was so rich that having only a small portion of it really made it quite manageable. This was my first time purchasing an actual vanilla bean and now I know why I don't do it often. They are fairly expensive but I figured I'd splurge for this dessert. I did have a few issues with baking them but nothing that I wasn't able to work out. In the original recipe for the pastry crusts it was unclear to me whether to leave the chilled dough in the pan while baking or to move them to a cookie sheet. Well, let me just say that it is a good thing that I set the timer for only half the required baking time because when I opened my oven and saw them laying as flat as a pancake I realized my error. I was able to scoop them up with my spatula and then reform them into the muffin tin, stick them back in the oven, and they turned out fine. There was a momentary sense of panic at the time though! I also had no dried beans or pie weights so I just used parchment paper with rice poured on it so that the bottoms wouldn't puff up and it would hold it's general shape.

I found that one batch of the pastry crust made enough for nine small pies, but one batch of coconut pastry cream and one batch of the whipped cream actually made more than enough for the nine pies. I ended up making another half batch of pastry crust and using the leftover coconut cream and whipped cream to make 2 more 4-inch pies (that was after eating a few spoonfuls of the coconut pastry cream out of the bowl). Now all that's left to do is to head down to the Dahlia Bakery to compare pies. Enjoy!

Triple Coconut Cream Mini Pies
Source: MyRecipes.com

Coconut Pie Shells (can freeze unbaked, formed pastry shells for a few weeks)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Mix together flour, coconut, sugar, and salt until combined. Add butter and blend in with pastry blender or two knives until butter forms little peas. Add water a tablespoon at a time, blending with a fork after each addition just until dough hold together.

Turn crumbs onto counter, form into a ball, and divide into 9 equal parts forming each into a small disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Upwrap rounds; working with one disk at a time, set on a lightly floured surface, and roll dough into a 5-inch circle using short strokes from the center outward (about 1/8" thick). Transfer dough to brioche mold (or muffin pan), letting it fall into place (if you push or stretch the dough it will shrink back when baked). Trim overhang flush with edge (I didn't do this for the muffin pan). Prick bottom lightly with a fork. Repeat with the remaining rounds. Chill unbaked pie shells for 1 hour before baking.

Put an oven rack in the lowest position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lay a sheet of parchment paper in each pie shell and fill with dried beans or pie weights (I used rice). If using brioche mold, put shells on a cookie sheet; if using a muffin pan, leave shells in muffin cups. Bake until medium golden, about 10-12 minutes. Remove beans and parchment paper; return to the oven. Bake until bottoms of crusts have golden brown patches, about 10 minutes. (Mine were done after the first 10-12 minutes baking so I didn't need to remove the paper and rice and bake them longer.) Cool completely before filling.

Coconut Pastry Cream (can be made ahead and refrigerated up to two days)
2 cups milk
2 cups sweetened finely shredded coconut
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Put milk and coconut in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean and add both seeds and bean to the saucepan. Bring mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour. While whisking, drizzle about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture into egg mixture, then slowly whisk the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking, until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble (about 4-5 minutes). Remove from heat, stir in butter, and discard vanilla bean.

Spoon hot pastry cream into a bowl and set in a larger bowl filled with ice and cold water, stirring occasionally, until cooled to room temperature. Remove bowl from ice water bath, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface (to prevent a skin from forming) and chill until cold, at least 3 hours.

Whipping Cream and Garnishes
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
-----
1 - 3oz. chunk of white chocolate
1 cup unsweetened "chip" coconut (found at natural food stores) or 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut,
          toasted (toast coconut in a 350 degree oven until golden, about 5-10 minutes)

Assembling the pies:
Carefully remove pie shells from the brioche mold or muffin pan. Spoon chilled pastry cream into shells, filling each a little more than halfway (I went all the way to the top of the pastry crust).

With an electric mixer, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla until it holds stiff peaks. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (no. 6) with whipped cream and pipe a double layer of cream onto pies, or simply spoon it on. (The pies should look like little beehive hairdos.)

With a vegetable peeler, scrape wide curls or shavings from the chunk of white chocolate. Sprinkle curls or shavings over pies, dividing evenly, and top with toasted coconut. Serve immediately. (You can fill the pastry crust with the coconut pastry cream hours before and just add whipped cream and garnishes right before serving.)

Chicken Not-Pie

April Fool's 2010 can be counted as a success! Don't you love the look on your husband's face when he just put something in his mouth that he was not expecting. I love trying to find a good food fool for at least one of our meals on April Fool's Day. Last year it was ice cream sundaes that took on the appearance of taco salad bowls followed by a meatloaf with mashed potatoes that looked like an iced sheet cake. Yes, both the food and the order of food last year had to do with April Fool's. This year I was planning to do another main dish and a dessert but time just got away from me. Plus, logistically I figure that if they already know the prank for the first part of the meal it kind of takes the fun out of the second part and it's a bit of work to connive and plan in secret and pull these things off.

This year I found a website that had many, many, many (did I already say many) fun ideas on ways to dress up your meal for April Fool's. Some were dinners, some were breakfasts, but most were desserts that were made to look like breakfast and dessert. By the way, even though the breakfast pranks look really fun I still have yet to make one. There is something that feels inherently wrong about serving my family pound cake for what is supposed to be one of their healthiest meals of the day. You could surmise that we don't have any sugary breakfast cereals hanging around our pantry and you'd be correct.

Let me introduce you to this year's April Fool's food prank, Chicken Not-Pies!

It might look like an uninteresting, completely bland and boring chicken pot-pie, but au contraire. It still has a flaky pie crust for the top, just like a regular pot-pie but the filling is where we steer away from the norm. Instead of a gravy base with chicken, peas, carrots, corn, and potatoes, we have a vanilla pudding base with candy and fruit pieces mixed in. The chicken is replaced with pieces of white chocolate bar, the corn and carrots are shaped pieces of starburst, the peas are shaped pieces of jolly rancher chews, and the potatoes are small pieces of bananas.

You might be thinking, okay that looks neat but I bet it tastes terrible. I thought the same thing but it is surprisingly good. It's not like creme brulee or anything (which by the way I have never made nor eaten so I wouldn't technically know what it tastes like), but it is pleasantly nice. The veggies are a bit chewy for my taste but the flavors actually mixed pretty well. A bite consisted of a bit of crust, a bit of pudding, and a bit of fruit flavor. Not too bad once you got used to the chewy vegetables. Maybe if vegetables always came in this form more kids wouldn't have an aversion to eating them!

If you want the recipe you can click the link here. There are many other fun fake-out foods to peruse as well. Enjoy!