Apple Pie #1

Apple Pie - made September 23, 2021, adapted from The Sensible Mom 

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

8 tablespoons vegetable shortening, well chilled (place in freezer 15-20 minutes before using)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, well chilled and cut into 1-inch pieces (place in freezer 15-20 minutes before using)

5 to 6 tablespoons ice water

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt
2. Scatter the vegetable shortening over the flour mixture and using either two butter knives, a pastry cutter or your hands, cut the shortening into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
3. Scatt the butter over the coarse flour mixture and repeat the same process.
4. Sprinkle ice water over the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time. Press the dough together with a spatula after each tablespoon. Stop adding ice water once the dough has come together.
5. Divide the dough evenly in half. Flatten each half and shape into disks. Wrap the disks tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
6. When ready to use the dough, remove from refrigerator and let sit for 10 minutes. Place on a large piece of parchment paper and roll out in a round shape to 1/4" thickness. Handle the dough as little as possible. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Filling

3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3 large Cortland, McIntosh or Braeburn apples, peeled, cored and sliced

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Place a rimmed baking sheet on oven rack in the lowest position in oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, toss the apples with 3/4 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Set mixture aside.
3. Place one rolled out dough in bottom of pie pan. Pour the apples onto the unbaked bottom crust, mounding in the middle. Lay the top crust over the apples, trim excess pie dough around the edges and seal and crimp the edges.
4. Cut 4-5 vent holes in the top of the pie crust. Brush the top crust with beaten egg white then sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of sugar over the crust.
5. Place the pie on the hot baking sheet then reduce the oven temperature to 425 degrees F. Bake at this temperature for 20-25 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown. Then rotate the baking sheet and reduce temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake another 30-35 minutes, until the top crust is a deep golden brown and the apple juices are bubbling. Remove pie from oven and let cool before serving.

I love apple pie. You'd think I know how to make one from scratch after all the years of baking. But I rarely bake pies, partly because it's not a dessert I can easily share with others, either in care packages or, even pre-pandemic and pre-retirement, in the communal kitchens at the companies I've worked at.

The other reason is I'm one of those people who suck at making pie crust. My pie crust making is everything all the pie recipes warn you against: don't overhandle the dough or you'll get tough crusts. You know how you supposedly get better at something the more you practice? HAHAHAHA *wipes tears*.

I suppose I could use that as an excuse of why I can't make a decent pie crust since I rarely bake pies from scratch. But I really want to learn. So I'm trying again. I'm going to number my efforts so I can keep track how many times and how long it's going to take me.

I got off to a dubious start with this first attempt. I didn't actually intend to make a Dutch Apple pie. I was trying for the traditional double crust pie. Except my pie dough just wasn't coming together and was still too dry and floury. Then I accidentally knocked part of the crumbly dough off the counter and ended up with just over half of the pie crust still sitting on the counter. The rest was scattered on the kitchen floor. Sigh.

But no need to let (yet another) mishap stop me. So I swept the floor and soldiered on with the surviving pie dough. It wasn't enough to make a double crust so I ended up making a rather thick bottom crust. 

The Dutch Apple Crumb topping is from 5 Boys Baker

The Dutch Apple Crumb topping is from 5 Boys Baker

1 cup flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup cold butter, cubed

Cut all ingredients together to form a streusel with coarse crumbs. Squeeze handfuls of the streusel together and scatter evenly over the top of the pie. 

It was a good way to save the pie and it turned out to be amazing with the filling. The filling was also quite good. The bottom pie crust? Yeah, not so much. It's not that it was too tough, although I can't claim it was that flaky either. But because I was so afraid of over-handling the pie dough that I didn't roll out the crust enough and it was a bit thick. 

So I would say this pie only half turned out. I used a combination of Granny Smith apples and Envy apples and the filling was amazing, not too tart and not too sweet, with the streusel topping adding some crunchy texture.  

I still haven't conquered pie dough but I'm feeling confident about my pie filling skills. Back to the pie dough drawing board because, as you can imagine, a crustless pie is mostly just a cobbler and I already know how to make cobbler, lol.

Apple Blondies

Apple Blondies - made September 25, 2021 from Num's the Word 

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 cups apples, diced (I used Granny Smiths)

1 cup chopped walnuts, optional (I left out)

Topping

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing briefly until just combined. Add vanilla and beat until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Add to butter mixture in 2 additions, mixing briefly after each addition, just until combined. Do not overmix. Fold in apples and walnuts, if using. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
4. In a small bowl, mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over batter.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool before cutting and serving.

This is a good recipe for autumn if you want something apple-y but don't want a more traditional dessert of apple pie.

I like to use Granny Smith apples for most apple desserts. Granny Smiths are tart and their tartness helps offset the sweetness of whatever dessert you're baking them in.

The batter will be thick and the easy part of this dessert is you don't have to cut the apples into (too) small pieces or dice them into even pieces, something I'm spectacularly bad at.

Not only are these easy to make but they're also delicious. It's hard to overbake these since the apples release so much moisture into the blondies. You don't want to underbake them too much either or they'll be soggy.

The only thing I didn't love about these is the top gets a little crusty so it was hard to cut cleanly without the crusty top breaking off into jagged pieces. But still, the flavor and texture make up for it.

Sausage Spinach Quiche

Sausage Spinach Quiche - made September 22, 2021 from Miss in the Kitchen

1 refrigerated pie crust

1 pound sausage, casings removed, sausage crumbled

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup diced onion

2 teaspoons minced garlic

3 cups chopped baby spinach

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1 1/2 cups shredded smoked gouda cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Unroll pie crust and press into a pie plate. Prick the bottom and sides of the pie crust with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven and lower temperature to 325 degrees F.
2. In a large skillet, cook sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up the larger pieces; set aside.
3. Add olive oil to a medium skill and cook onions and garlic, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add spinach and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt until well combined. Add shredded cheese, sausage and spinach mixture. Stir until well combined.
5. Pour into pie shell and bake for 50-55 minutes or until center is set. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

I'm not even going to bother with a humble brag - I can cook! At least this time with this recipe. I was trying to use up the rest of the bag of spinach I had on hand, not to mention another pack of sausage links (yes, I bought them from Costco which means I have multiple packs for future cooking endeavors).

This is an inadvertently gluten-free quiche. I say inadvertent because I bought the pie crust ready-made from Trader Joe's and I only saw the gluten-free version in the refrigerator case. The TJ's cashier assured me they have the gluten version but I was checking out by then and didn't want to go hunting for it or have the TJ's employees go to the trouble of finding it for me. So gluten-free it is.

This was so easy to put together and pretty tasty. I generally like quiche anyway so my taste bud-bar is low. The tricky thing with quiche is you definitely don't want to overbake it or the eggy custard will be rubbery. The picture of the slice below might look a little runny but that's partly from the melted cheese (smoked Gouda for the win) and partly because the quiche was still a little warm when I took the picture. So this is the texture I prefer.

Bakery Review: Brooklyn Cupcakes

Brooklyn Cupcakes - ordered August 20, 2021 from Goldbelly

Besides doing my own baking, I'm still dedicated to trying out small business bakeries. Since I'm not traveling at the moment and can't visit them in person, the site Goldbelly.com has been a great way to do my virtual bakery travels.

It can be a bit pricey though so I'm always glad when there's a sale. In this case, Goldbelly was offering 20% off at one point and Brooklyn Cupcakes had free shipping. So I tried not to calculate how expensive each jar still was and instead egged myself on with "support small business". That usually does the trick and let's face it, it doesn't take much for me to click on the "order" button. 

Brooklyn Cupcake offers a variety of flavors of basically cake-and-custard in a jar. I'm not a big custard person but thought I'd try it. I went with the Samoa flavor. From their website, it's described as "chocolate cake topped with signature coconut cream cheese frosting layered with coconut custard (Flan) and caramel drizzle topped with toasted coconut."

You can see from the pictures that the 6 jars arrived well-packaged and, even shipped in the warm temps of summer, also arrived fresh and intact. I put them in the refrigerator and had one every day or two. Even after a week in the fridge, each jar was still "fresh" and the cake part wasn't dry.

Surprisingly, it wasn't too sweet either (although remember that my sweet tooth has a high tolerance) and I have to admit, the custard, cake and frosting combination worked really well. Thumbs up for Brooklyn Cupcakes. Now I have my beady eye on trying out some of the other flavors, in case there's another sale.

If you don't want to wait for a sale, you're welcome to use my referral link on Goldbelly. You get $15 off your first order of $50 or more. (Full disclosure, I get $15 off too. I am not affiliated with Goldbelly or Brooklyn Cupcakes.)

Sweetened Condensed Milk Brownies

Sweetened Condensed Milk Brownies - made September 22, 2021 from Raspberries and Kohlrabi

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup (76 grams) unsalted butter

2 1/3 cups (400 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup (53 grams) brown sugar

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (60 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (21 grams) dutch process cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking paper with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the sweetened condensed milk and butter together, whisking to combine. Once butter has melted and mixture is smooth, remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Continue stirring until chocolate chips have completely melted, whisking to combine. Cool slightly.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together brown sugar, sugar, eggs and egg yolk on medium-high speed until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Stir in the cooled chocolate mixture, mixing to combine.
4. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt, mixing until just combined. Pour batter into prepared baking pan. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting.

These brownies are dense, rich and fudgy, almost sticky which I blame (or credit) to the sweetened condensed milk. 

If that's the kind of texture you like, almost like a baked fudge rather than a dense brownie, then this is the recipe for you. I tried it as I was sending it in military care packages overseas and figured the sweetened condensed milk as an ingredient would help preserve the brownies for their journey.

It still doesn't unseat my favorite brownie recipe though as it was a bit sweet and a little rich for me. If you like your brownies more chocolaty than sweet, you might try to substitute some of the semisweet chocolate chips for an ounce or two of unsweetened chocolate.

Snickerdoodle Bars

Snickerdoodle Bars - made September 21, 2021 from Who Needs a Cape?

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup butter, softened

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Topping

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and brown sugar until well combined and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add the flour mixture, mixing until just combined and no flour streaks remain. Do not overmix. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
4. In a small bowl, stir together granulated sugar and cinnamon until well combined. Sprinkle evenly over top of batter, covering completely. 
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Edges should be golden and center set. Cool completely before cutting.

I'm working my way through my pinterest boards, trying to clear out recipes I pinned so long ago that I could've sworn I'd made them already; they've been on my boards for so long that they've become familiar without my actually trying them.

This was one of them. I like snickerdoodles and often mail them in care packages, especially for Soldiers Angels. Snickerdoodle bars capture a similar flavor but are easier to package and ship and presumably fare better in mailing since they're less prone to drying out.

I deliberately underbaked these by a minute or so, mostly to make sure they were moist and wouldn't dry out in mailing. They had a "fudgy" texture which worked well with the cinnamon sugar flavor. For the purists, this isn't strictly a snickerdoodle as it doesn't have cream of tartar. But they were still good nonetheless and I'm glad I finally made them.

Butter Coconut Bars

Butter Coconut Bars - made September 18, 2021 from Cookies and Cups

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 cup butter, melted

Coconut layer

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 cups sweetened, flaked coconut, divided

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13" baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Crust: In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and butter. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees F. Transfer the pan to a wire rack.
3. Coconut layer: while crust is baking, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs, vanilla, sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, flour and butter until smooth. 
4. Stir in 3 cups of the coconut and spread the mixture onto the warm crust. Sprinkle the remaining cup of coconut evenly on top and bake for 25-30 minutes or until edges are lightly golden and the center is set. Cool bars completely before cutting.

At first glance, this had all the hallmarks of what I like in a bar cookie: butter crust, coconut filling. Plus I've had great success with past recipes from Cookies and Cups.

So I was a little surprised that I didn't like these as much as I expected. I followed the recipe exactly, including the baking time of the bottom crust  but I think that's where I went wrong. My oven tends to run on the cool side so I should've baked the crust longer. I think that would've given it a more crisp texture rather than a dense, underbaked one.

The coconut layer wasn't as sweet as I would've expected, considering the sweetened condensed milk. It was still good and nicely chewy but neither the butter flavor or the sweetness of the coconut came through very well.

The other place where I messed up is I didn't read the directions properly. You're supposed to only fold 3 cups of the coconut into the filling then sprinkle the 4th cup over the filling as topping. That would've toasted the coconut garnish and likely provided more flavor and texture contrast. I clarified the ingredients slightly to make it more obvious in case you're like me and tend to skim the directions. "Divided" should be the tip-off that you don't add all 4 cups into the filling layer. Oops.