National [Apple] Pie Day

Last Monday was National Cherry Pie Day.  But after searching the house for cherries, I was easily  convinced that apple pie would work just as well.  I was so excited to try out this pie crust recipe from MADE.  But I had no eggs in the house.  So I looked on the back of the Crisco package and found this recipe:

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup well-chilled Crisco. (well, mine wasn't WELL chilled.)
4-8 T ice cold water. (I used only 4 T.)

Mix the flour and salt and then cut the Crisco into the mix until it is well mixed.  They said coarse crumbs with pea sized pieces, but really its until the Crisco is well mixed into the mix.  Then I measured out 8 T of water. (Why don't they just say 1/4- 1/2 cup instead of 4-8 tablespoons?)  I poured it in in little bits and massaged the mix until it stuck together.  It ended up being about 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup if you're not a crazy recipe maker.)

Dana of MADE says that overhandling pastry is bad, so very gingerly shape into two balls, flatten them to about 2 inches thick and put them in the fridge.  The recipe said for 30 minutes.  I didn't time it, I just put it in until our apples were ready.

We used Betty Crocker's recipe for the apples mix:

• 3/4 c sugar (wow!  that's too much for us, I used 1/3 cup and it tasted fine.)
• 1/4 cup flour (this helps it to solidify, so your pie isn't so runny.)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (If you're a cinnamon lover or even liker this is not going to be enough cinnamon for you.  I just poured cinnamon in until it looked good, or as Kewpie said, "It's brown now.")
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg (I followed this one, and couldn't taste it, so maybe a pinch more would have been good.)
• Dash of salt (It wasn't enough.  Needed a dash more, I'd say.)

Once that's all mixed together, add the apples.  (about six large ones if you're using fresh or two cans if not.)

Then we grabbed our dough out of the fridge and rolled it out, remembering Dana's warning to not handle it too much.

It should be about two inches larger than your pie tin.  Place the bottom crust in the tin, make sure it fits well and run a knife around the edges to cut them off.

Pour the apples in, and lay the top crust on.

When you cut off the edges on the top piece, give yourself about 1/4 inch overlap.  Fold that under and then you have some dough to make cute little ridges around the pie.



Cutting little bird marks in the pie helps the crust to not puff and bubble weird.  But if you like that puff and bubbling, then don't cut the cute little bird marks.

I also like to sprinkle a little sugar on top.

Some people brush the top with milk or egg to brown it better.  I didn't, and it seemed to brown fine to me.

It helps to cover the edges with tinfoil or one of those fancy-dancy pie crust shields, so the edges don't burn.

Then it goes in the 425 degree oven and you wait.  And wait.  40 to 50 minutes of waiting.

When it's been about 35 minutes, take off the shield or foil so the edges can brown.  When it looks golden and bubbly, then it's DONE!

Waiting worth while.

Acorn Squash Salad--for those squash dislikers like myself

I have never liked Squash.  We aren't friends.  I've heard about how cheap and healthy it is for you, but really, squishy squashy slimy just doesn't appeal to me.  But occasionally I try again.

There was acorn squash on sale at the grocery store in the fall, and I dutifully bought one and baked it and discovered that with brown sugar and cinnamon and baked until it wasn't slimy, it wasn't bad.

So every one in a while, I'll buy an acorn squash, bake it, cut it up for my girls to eat and feel like a good mom.

Let's be honest about something here.  I'm not a chef by any means of the word.  But the Man is artistic by nature and he loves to create in the kitchen as well.  Sometimes I feel like I've got to get out there and show some creative cooking spirit just to keep up.  I mean really, I do have about 30 years more experience cooking than he does.

Today I felt a creative urging and the munchies at the same time, so instead of wandering over to my sewing machine, I looked in the fridge.  There was that acorn squash I'd bought a while back, and I really should do something with it before it goes bad.  Does it go bad?

A long time ago, I read a post at Two Peas and Their Pod about a butternut squash salad, and I thought.  Hmm, we've got lettuce.  I should try that.

So I sliced up the squash into bite sized chunks.  I've heard that you should bake the whole squash for a little while to soften it before you cut into it.  I believe it.  It was pretty hard, and difficult to chop.  But I managed.

Then I scooped the seeds and goop out.

It's important to chop them into somewhat the same sized pieces because then they'll bake at the same rate, and you won't get some that burn and some that are still crunchy.

I lay the chunks out on a cookie sheet, sprayed them generously with oil, and then sprinkled them with cinnamon and brown sugar.  Also generously.  Can't have too much cinnamon and brown sugar in my mind.

Then I baked them at 350 F for about 40 minutes.  The last ten minutes I occasionally poked a fork into a thicker piece to see if it was soft.  I wanted them not crunchy, but not mushy, so I kept my eye on them.

Meanwhile, I separated the seeds from the goop, spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet covered with foil, sprayed them down with oil too, and sprinkled them with course salt.  I popped those in the oven until I could smell them--about 10-15 minutes.

While that all was baking, I got my salad ready.  Pretty simple:  lettuce and grated cheddar.  Didn't really have time or the interest in anything else.  I thought the squash would be flavor enough.

And the dressing?  Somewhere I got it in my mind that vinaigrette is simply oil, vinegar and something sweet.  So I put olive oil, white vinegar and brown sugar together in a bowl and whipped it together until it blended, and then dashed some serious cinnamon ontop and mixed it again.  (Like I said, can there be too much cinnamon and brown sugar?)

The Man, (who doesn't like just anything) loved it.  He said it had just the right amount of different textures.  Soft squash, crunchy seeds, lettuce, cheese.  And the flavors were balanced too:  salty seeds, sweet dressing savory squash and cheese.

Well what do you know?  I made something creatively good to eat!

3 minute 3 ingredient Fudge

This is straight from V and Co via MADE.  We aren't mint people here, so when V and Co posted it, I wasn't interested, but when Dana suggested how to be creative with it, I had to try it out.  Who doesn't like lots of chocolate and nuts that doesn't take more than three minutes to make?

It really is as simple as it looks.I used 4 ingredients:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag Milk Chocolate Chips
1 bag some other kind of chips (peanut butter, butterscotch, dark chocolate, etc.)
Nuts of your choice.

Pour the chips and milk into a bowl and microwave until the chips are melted. Dana suggested doing it in 30 second bursts so as to not burn the chocolate, and she did have me scared, but after the first batch, I wasn't patient enough, so I did it for a minute and then twenty second bursts.

I dropped just one chocolate chip when opening a bag, and immediately Xena Warrior Princess was there to pop it in her mouth.  How did it get all over her clothes?



When the chips are melted and it stirs up rather smooth, pour it into a casserole dish. If you like it thick, use your 9x9 pan. They're pretty rich, though, so I think the larger pan would work too. I had a difficult time cutting into the first batch, because I'd waited until it was hard. The next batch, I let it cool for about ten minutes, and then pressed lines into it with a cutting board. Then I let it harden up completely so that it was easy to pull those little squares out.

Sorry, no more pictures of the finished product.  They have this strange ability to call my name, and if I look at them any more, the neighbors won't get any.

TOTALLY RECOMMEND! (and I'm not usually an all caps person.)

English Toffee (known in my family as Almond Roca)

Someone needs to explain to me the difference between toffee and roca, because I couldn't.  Growing up, this was my signature Christmas treat.  I was the expert and I always made it for the family.  And the family loved it.  My sister would beg for me to make some, as soon as the hint of Christmas was in the air.  I don't know why it's only a Christmas treat either, but maybe because it's indulgent to eat this much sugar, butter and chocolate, and Christmas is a time to indulge.  Something about this mixture makes it impossible to eat just one piece.  Mmmmm.

It's super simple:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 T corn syrup (makes it all stick together better, but it's not necessary.  I rarely make it with corn syrup because I don't have any.)
About 1 bag of chocolate chips or four squares of baker's chocolate.
as many nuts as you'd like.  We prefer walnuts, but the recipe calls for almonds (hence the name, Almond Roca.)

 





Some things that are helpful to prepare ahead of time are the chopped nuts.

Here's my setup:  I prepare a pan with wax paper spread over it. I use my largest cookie sheet.  I also have a small glass of ice water next to my stove. (I'll explain why in a moment.)  Then I'm ready to get started.



Combine the sugar, butter and corn syrup in a pan and bring to a boil on low. Boil on medium stirring constantly until it turns amber colored.

This is where the ice water comes in.   Whenever you think/hope it's done, drop a few drops in the water. If, after a few seconds, those drops are crunchy, then it's done. If they're still chewy, keep stirring.

When it's done, act quickly. Spread quickly over the wax paper until it is as thin as you can get it. It will harden quickly. Then set it aside.




Melt your chocolate. I usually melt 1/2 bag of chocolate chips at a time by pouring it in a bowl and microwaving it for 30 seconds and then stirring and microwaving it 30 seconds more and then stirring until it's smooth looking. (Best not to burn your chocolate in the microwave.)

Then I can dump the whole bowl onto the toffee and spread it around until it's the desired thickness (the thicker the chocolate the better in my book.) Quickly sprinkle the nuts over it, and then put the pan into the freezer. (The more quickly to harden the chocolate.)

Once the chocolate is hard, flip the whole slab over. I do this by placing another sheet of wax paper on it and flipping. Then I melt the second 1/2 of the chocolate chips, dump them on, sprinkle with nuts, and return to the freezer.

As soon as the chocolate is hardened, break into small pieces and eat.

I made this on a date with a dentist once, and he kept going off about how bad this is for your teeth. I didn't care, because it is SO GOOD. Needless to say, we had different priorities, and the relationship ended there.

Enjoy!