The Apple of My Pie

Continuing to use the plethora of apples I have, I made apple pie.  This is probably one of the first recipes I ever made "from scratch".  Well the filling at least.  I am still intimidated by making the crust myself, so I bought one. 

The recipe I use was adapted from Paula Dean:

I like to use a mix of different kinds of apples, since it adds to the texture and taste.  I also like Paula's recipe, because it focuses on the Apples.  When you buy a pie at the store, there is so much "juice" with the apples, sometimes that gunky stuff overpowers the apples.  When you mix up this recipe, it makes a nice juice on its own, and when you add the flour, it helps to bind the apples a little, but its still 90% apple.  The lemon helps the apples from browning, and gives it a nice bright flavor. 

Normally, I make a lattice top, which gives it an impressive look, that's really not that hard. 

After seeing a pie on another site that used cut out stars for the crust, I wanted to try it, but since apple pie says fall to me, I used mini leave cookie cutters and layered those on top, overlapping a little.

 

It took a little more time, since I had to re-roll out the scarps to have enough to cover the pie, but I was very please with it, and it looks so pretty.  

I do think it would be prettier with a darker filling, maybe for a blueberry or Cherry pie.  The color of the apples and the crust make it a little blending. 

Spiderman, Spiderman...

...Does whatever a Spider can.


I'll be honest, I had to ask my husband how to finish that.  I'm a girl.  I was raised with my one sister, by my mother... we didn't really do Spiderman. 


Care Bears, Rainbow Bright, My Little Pony, these were things we watched, played with.  So whatever persuaded me to make Spiderman cookies for my friends son, I don't know, but it involved me asking my husband if the round cookie cutter I smashed looked like Spiderman's head.  But I am please with hoe they came out, and I am  sure any little boy will love them!

The eyes were harder than I thought they would be.
By the last one, I think I got it right.

A Bushel of Apples

I love going apple picking in the fall.  We drive out to an orchard in Berlin, MA and they drive us in a hay wagon to the picking orchard.  We got the "big" bag of apples.  It says it's about 20 pounds.  It's actually a 1/2 bushel. 

It's so much fun to pick them, walking up and down the rows, looking for  ripe apples.

We picked a bunch of different varieties: Macintosh, Gala, Honey Crisp, Golden Supreme, and Cortland.  My favorite from last year, Macoun, wasn't ripe yet.  I've been making pies for the last few years, and I like to use a mix of apples, rather than just one kind. 

I think this is Macintosh.

Though, with so many apples, I need to do something other than just make pies (even Dan who loves pie so much it's often requested instead of Birthday cake can't take that much!).  The first thing I made was Applesauce in the Crock Pot, since I wanted to use it to make Pork Chops for dinner.  I used a recipe I found on A year of Slow Cooking.  I only have a 6 quart pot, so my apples took about 4 hours on low, rather than 6.  I also used an immersion blender to smooth it out a bit, since I don't like chunks.  It was very good. 

Currently in my pot right now is the makings of Apple Butter.  This also got really good reviews on
A Year of Slow Cooking.  I added the juice of half a lemon, to help keep the color, and give it a brighter flavor.  I also followed her recommendation to use less sugar.  I used 3/4 cup brown, and half cup white. 

This takes a while, 8 hours, then another 6, so I'll update later with the results, but I am pretty sure they will be great. 

I still have half a bag of apples, so I'll probably try the recipe I used for the Strawberry Cake.  And at least one pie.

I have a lot of cookies coming up soon, since apparently September and October are popular months for birthdays, and I have some cupcakes coming up too.

Gala apples

iPod Cookie

One of my co-workers saw my little blog here with some of the cookies, and immediately asked if I would be willing  to do something for her daughter's 7th birthday.  She had this idea of doing an iPod or iPad, since her daughter said that is what she wanted as a gift (and she was obviously not getting one for a 7 year old, lol).


I thought about it a little, thinking about what I would want to do, and how I would do it, and then I agreed.  I was nervous, since it would be the first time I would have to make something look like something specific, and also the first time I would be doing a big cookie.  It had to be big, since I needed room to do details. 

Also, I like the look of the black iPods more than the white ones (though my sister's white iPhone has me considering it...) but a lot of black icing doesn't always taste very good (and it makes your tongue black).  So, I decided to make a chocolate cookies with a little black coloring to darken it, and use the cookie itself as the background color. 


Since the cookie was large (5 x 8 -ish) I was able do make larger buttons and hand decorate them using food color pens.  Obviously, I did the easier ones, but I was real happy how they came out.  I did wish I had a finer tip black one to do some smaller details, but all in all, I think you can tell what they are.  (sorry for the blurry pictures)

My co-worker was thrilled.  I was thrilled she was thrilled.   Her daughter was really excited... and that's what matters.

Oh and my favorite app button:

White Cats

Just a quick picture of some cookies I did over the weekend for my Aunt's birthday.

She has 2 little fur-babies, Duke and Daisy, and I did my best to copy their likeness into cookie form.
Duke has blue eyes, while daisy has greenish yellow ones, and bushy tail.

Happy Birthday, Auntie!

Savoring the Last Bit of Summer

I can't believe that it's September and, regardless of what the calender says, summer is over. 

Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits, and the end of summer signifies the end of the best of the fruit.

I made this cake after seeing it on Pinterest.  The original recipe comes from Gourmand Recipes.  I didn't have everything called for, so I adapted it a bit.  This is incredible simple... one bowl is all you need.  This would also be good with apples, I think, maybe with some cinnamon added. 

Strawberry Cake: recipe adapted from Gourmand Recipes

1.5 cups all purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
.5 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
10-12 strawberries, halved

Preheat oven to 325

Prepare a 8 or 9 inch cake pan (I like to use the wrapper from the stick of butter used, to coat the bottom and sides, then flour the pan

Mix all ingredients, except Strawberries until well combined, 2-3 minutes

Pour mixture into prepared pan

Top with strawberries, cut side down

Bake for 40-45 minutes

Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan, and cool on rack.

Serve warm, with butter... yum

It's not overly sweet, and was good for breakfast or for a snack with tea.   Enjoy!

Cannoli Cupcakes

When I made the Flag Cake for my dad's July 4th birthday, my sister (hey, May!) was so impressed, she requested I make something for her birthday as well.  Now, this may seem like just a regular request, but it's a big deal, considering she always prefers Cannoli for her birthday, or, occasionally as a kid, edible dirt.  I was honored.

So I thought about all the super cool/impressive things I could make... maybe something with fondant, or lots and lots of pink.  Lots of layers!

Then I found this post on Beantown Baker (another local sweet enthusiast) for Cannoli Cupcakes.
PS... check out her blog... she does a TON of cupcakes, and other adorable baked goods.

I immediately knew that these would be what I made.  Combining her favorite dessert, with the cake I wanted to make her.  Perfect!

I followed Jen's (the Beantown Baker) steps and recipes exactly.

She used Martha's Yellow cake recipe.  I had never made a cake or cupcakes from scratch, so I was a little nervous, but I had faith in Martha (and Jen) and they came out light and fluffy. 

I then cut out a cone from the middle (to allow for ample cannoli filling) and dipped the tops of the cupcake in chocolate ganache.   (Please ignore the lack of photo... it was hot and sticky in my kitchen and I was trying to hurry to get them back in the fridge.

I made Cannoli filling using the recipe posted by Beantown Baker, and it was delish.  I did use about half as much orange zest as it called for, since I wanted a real light flavor.  My sister would (and did, with leftovers) eat this with a spoon.

I piped on the cannoli filling like frosting, first filling the cone, then the top.  Topped with mini chocolate chips....adorable!

Just a little tid-bit I looked up:
More than one cannoli is not "cannolis.  "Cannoli" is the proper plural, and "cannolo" the singular.
Fun Fact!


Since I didn't know if there would be people who didn't like cannoli (gasp), I also made a chocolate buttercream, and used that on half. 

Since it was SO humid out, I used half butter, half shortening to help it keep its shape.  I piped cute roses on top. 


Both went over really well, and I was so pleased with them.  My sister took a bite, found the extra filling in the middle, shrieked a bit, then was speechless, which is saying something if you know Mary.  That's about the highest honor I could have expected... and was quickly told it would never happen again :-p

Happy Birthday, Mary... love you!

I don't know why I thought to take it sideways....