Apple Pie

I finally baked an apple pie from scratch.  I've tried it before and it just didn't turn out very good.  This one came out great!  We didn't have vanilla ice cream to eat with it, so I made a vanilla whipped cream to dollop on top of the warm slice of pie.  Perfect! 

Pie Crust

taken from Simplerecipes.com

Ingredients

All Butter Crust for Sweet and Savory Pies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 6 to 8 Tbsp ice water

1 Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. Note that too much water will make the crust tough.

2 Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, shmoosh the dough mixture into the table top with the heel of the palm of your hand a few times. This will help flatten the butter into layers between the flour which will help the resulting crust be flaky. You can easily skip this step if you want. Gently shape the dough mixture into two disks. Work the dough just enough to form the disks, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

3 Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

4 Add filling to the pie.

5 Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork. Score the top of the pie with four 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.

Apple Pie filling

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (15 ounce) package double crust ready-to-use pie crust (I used the above crust recipe)
• 4 large red apples, cored and thinly sliced (I used Granny Smith & Gala red apples)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Stir in white sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and water. Bring the syrup to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar, then remove from heat.
3. Unroll pie crusts, press one into a 9-inch pie dish, and place the apples into the crust. Unroll the second crust on a work surface, and cut into about 8 1-inch wide strips. Criss-cross the strips over the apples, or weave into a lattice crust. Crimp the bottom crust over the lattice strips with your fingers. Spoon caramel sauce over pie, covering lattice portion of top crust; let remaining sauce drizzle through the crust.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake until the crust is golden brown, the caramel on the top crust is set, and the apple filling is bubbling, 35 to 40 more minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing. 

Whipped Cream recipe 

taken from www.joyofbaking.com/breakfast/HotChocolate.html

1/2 cup (120 ml) cold heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated white sugar

In your mixing bowl, place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. If you have time, cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. When chilled, beat the mixture until stiff peaks form. The whipped cream will keep in the refrigerator for a day or two.

 

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Here is a great recipe for Pumpkin Bundt cake.  I've made this recipe twice in a bundt pan, once in a 9x5 loaf pan, and a couple of times in mini loaf pans.  Every single cake comes out so moist and they smell so good!  Sifted confectioners sugar or a vanilla frosting work really well with this cake.  

Pumpkin Cake II

taken from allrecipes.com

This recipe makes one 10 inch bundt cake or two 9x5 loaves

 

-Ingredients-

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

-Directions-

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan. Sift together flour, soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Add nuts and pumpkin and blend until smooth. Pour batter into greased 10 inch tube pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and finish cooling. Dust with confectioners sugar before serving.

 

Apple Walnut Bread

Here is a great Apple Walnut Bread recipe.  The bread comes out so moist and has a sweet flavor from the apples and a slight crunch from the walnuts.  A great recipe for the Fall season!  

Apple Walnut Bread

Recipe Yields Two 9x5 inch loaves

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 3 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups peeled, cored and cubed apples
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, stir together oil, applesauce, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, sift together flour cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Gradually stir flour mixture into wet ingredients, mixing just until combined. Fold in apples and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. 
   
   
   
   
   
   (love the visible chunks of apple)
   
   
   
   

Halloween Wish

I hope you all had a fun Halloween! 

King Kong Favor Bags

I made these for my dad's 62nd birthday.  His favorite movie has always been the original King Kong, so I went with that as a theme for these simple favor bags.  Inside, I baked a mini chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting, and big rice crispy treat squares.  My dad was very happy with them.  =)  Happy Birthday, pops! 

Lego Cakes

I was asked to make a Lego cake for a 9 year old boy's birthday party.  I was really excited to do a Lego cake!  I baked chocolate cakes in a 9x5 loaf pan, and placed frosted regular sized cupcakes on top.  My husband helped me figure out the placement of the cupcakes, and from there I was able to complete the other two cakes.  There are lots of great looking Lego cakes online, it looks easier than it is... but I had a lot of fun. 

Baseball Birthday Party

Here are some pictures of the cupcakes and cake I made this weekend, for my nephew Jakob.  =)  I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and a single layer vanilla cake with vanilla frosting colored blue for the Birthday boy.  =)  My fondant decorations looked great on top of his cake. 

Baseball Fondant Decorations

Hello.  I am working on some baseball fondant decorations for my best friends son, Jakob.  I am hoping to make a mini cake for him and 48 baseball cupcakes. I'll post the final outcome this weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!  =)

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, just for the heck of it.  I used the frosting recipe behind the Hershey's Cocoa box.  The cake recipe can be found on my "Devil's Food Cake" post.

Cat Favor Bags

I made these for my mom's birthday last year, in July.  I filled these simple cat favor bags with miniature cakes, and rice crispy treats.  She loved them.  

Carrot Cake

I made a Carrot Cake for Easter.  It looked and tasted great!  I find this cake to be so much better served cold, straight from the refrigerator. 

Recipe found here.

Buttercake with Vanilla Frosting

Here's a cake I made for my nephew Jakob.  Just because.
  

Bowling Favor Bags

Here are some favor bags I made for my cousins birthday dinner.  Inside the bag, were rice crispy treats and a mini chocolate cake with blue sprinkles. 

Devil's Food Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Tonight I baked a Devil's food cake with vanilla bean buttercream frosting and drenched it in a chocolate ganache.  The Devil's food cake turned out very fluffy and had a slight sweetness.  I should've made a double batch of the vanilla bean buttercream frosting but didn't.  This was the first time I made a chocolate ganache sauce... it was simple and tasted really good!  So the only thing I would do differently is make more of the frosting.  Here's the recipe for the Devil's food cake, the vanilla buttercream frosting and the chocolate ganache recipe is below. 

Chocolate Ganache:
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels 

Heat cream and butter in a saucepan until melted and remove before it starts to boil.  Place chocolate morsels in a small bowl and pour cream on top. Let sit for a few seconds and whisk by hand until completely incorporated and smooth.  Let cool until thick and pourable.  The ganache can take a bit to thicken. You can make it before the buttercream, to save time. Just use a wire whisk to stir it every few minutes and keep it smooth.

 

Peanut Butter Munchies

I have been wanting to try this recipe for a while now.  They came out pretty good.  I didn't have unsalted butter, so I made sure to add a little more sugar to the recipe to balance the salt out.  The cookies are time consuming, but I think people would appreciate them.  I got the stamp of approval from my husband.  Recipe found here.

 

Streusel Coffee Cake

I found a recipe for Streusel Coffee Cake at About.com  The cake tester showed the cake was done at 25 minutes, but maybe I could've left it in the oven for a few minutes longer.  It has a great coffee cake taste!  I added a glaze to my finished cake.  Yummy!

(I added a glaze)

Hot Chocolate with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

It was 10pm and my husband was going to be up late working (from home) and we were in need of some sugar... so I whipped up some hot chocolate & vanilla bean whipped cream.  I love how the melted whipped cream makes the chocolate so creamy!!  Not too sweet either. 

Hot Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

First start with the Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream

1/2 cup cold heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar (I used vanilla bean sugar from BEANILLA)

In a bowl, place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine.  Cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. 

Hot Chocolate

2 1/2 cups whole milk

5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 - 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)

Place the milk and semisweet chocolate chips in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until the chocolate has melted.  Let it simmer. 

Once the hot chocolate is done, pull your whipped cream bowl from the refrigerator and whisk the mixture until stiff peaks form.  

Pour the hot chocolate into two cups and pipe or spoon the whipped cream.  You can garnish the whipped cream with shaved chocolate, cocoa powder or even marshmallows.  

Makes 2 1/2 cups