Classic Apple Pie

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a fabulous apple pie recipe to share with you all! I never had to worry about cooking Thanksgiving dinner until a couple of years ago when we moved away from home. And this year was the very first time I'd attempted my own apple pie. My mom ALWAYS made apple pie for Thanksgiving, but last year I decided not to do it (again, because of that tricky crust recipe of hers!). It just wasn't Thanksgiving without apple pie. So a few weeks back, when I found that awesomely easy pie crust recipe, I decided to also try out the apple pie recipe in my cookbook. It. was. delish!!! I was going to just make this pie instead of pumpkin this year, but my kids all begged me to make both. So both it is!

Ingredients:
2 pounds McIntosh apples (4-6), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4" thick
1.5 pounds Granny Smith apples (3-4), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/4" thick
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 recipe double-crust pie dough, bottom crust fit into pie plate
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Adjust oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and heat the oven to 500 degrees. Toss the apples with 3/4 cup of the sugar, flour, lemon juice, zest, salt, and spices, and set aside.

Roll out the top crust to a 12-inch circle. Spread the apples in the unbaked pie crust bottom, mounding them slightly in the middle. Lay the top crust over the apples, seal and crimp the edges, and cut four vent holes in the top. Brush the crust with the egg white and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the oven temperature to 425 degrees. Bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet, reduce the oven temperature again to 375 degrees, and continue to bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown, 30-35 minutes longer (**at this point, I suggest covering the edges of the pie crust with foil, but the recipe doesn't say that**). Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temperature before serving.

What's your favorite kind of pie?

Double-Crust Pie Dough

We're on the countdown to Thanksgiving now!! I've got 3 great posts lined up for you this week, and we'll be doing it a bit differently. Instead of the typical Monday, Wednesday, Friday line-up, I'm going to post Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday instead. :-)

For years, I've been trying to make pie crust. My mom has a fabulous pie crust, but whenever I try her recipe, it's been a total flop. Last Thanksgiving I was in tears (seriously...) because the pie crust was just horrendous. It was either too flaky and wouldn't roll out without crumbling or it was too tough. My sweet hubby suggested I look in our trusty America's Test Kitchen cookbook to see if they had a pie crust recipe instead. SCORE! This is SO easy, especially compared to my mom's recipe. Apparently my mom is the only one that can get her recipe to turn out perfectly. ;-)

Ingredients:
2.5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
8 tablespoons Crisco, cut into 1/2" pieces and chilled
12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces and chilled
6-8 tablespoons ice water

Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top and process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the ice water over the mixture. Stir and press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together.

If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does.

Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4 inch disk. Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it out and fitting it into a pie plate.

To make ahead: The dough can be refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the frozen dough thaw on the countertop until malleable before rolling.

Stay tuned for a fantastic apple pie recipe tomorrow!

New Year's Eve Snack Ideas

It's been crazy around these parts! Take today, for example. The day started off with an earthquake and ended with a trip to the ER with my 3 year old (she sliced her lip, and luckily she's fine and didn't need stitches). It'll stay crazy for me until the 14th of January, but then I hope to return to normal. Whew.


Are you wondering what to serve for New Year's Eve? Oh, and can you believe 2009 is over?!

Here are some quick and easy snack ideas!
Cream Cheese Tuna Spread
Roasted Red Bell Pepper Dip
7 Layer Bean Dip
Guacamole
Veggies (and/or chips) with Ranch Dip
Veggies (and/or pita chips) with Wanna-be Hummus
Deviled Eggs

Want a main course instead?
Baked Potato Bar
Tacos/Nachos/Tostadas/Fajitas
Chili and Cornbread
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Cafe Rio Sweet Pork
Gnocchi
Taco Soup

Want to really impress your guests?
Lasagna
Chicken in a Basil Cream Sauce

Don't forget the Martenelli's! It wouldn't be New Year's (for us, anyway) without it!

Here's to a truly wonderful 2010! Thank you all for making this blog such fun for us!

Sweetheart Cookies

This is my mom's recipe. She makes a huge batch of these every single year around Christmas. It's one of the things that makes me feel closer to home when I make them because they were such an integral part of our holiday season.

It's such an easy recipe. And it's fabulous to let your kids help you make. My kids just love sticking their little thumbs into the dough balls to make the hole for the jam. I let them have at it this time, so our cookies turned out really flat, but we all had fun, which is all that matters.

You can use any flavor jam you'd like to fill these with. I always use strawberry or raspberry, but that's only because my oldest daughter will scoff at any jam that isn't one of those flavors. :)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
jam

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolk and mix well. Then add flour. Mix gently until combined. Pick up some dough and try to roll it into a ball. If it doesn't come together and breaks apart, add a tablespoon or 2 of milk and mix until combined.

Chill for 2-3 hours. Remove from fridge and let sit on counter for a few minutes to soften. Then roll into 1 inch balls (ours were a lot bigger than that because my kids insisted on doing that part themselves. Don't worry if yours are larger -- that'll just mean they'll end up being flatter after they bake) and place 2 inches apart (more than 2 inches if you make larger balls). Using the end of a wooden spoon (or the thumbs of your kids), press a hole into each dough ball.

Then fill each hole with jam.

Bake at 350 for about 13 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. They're supposed to hold their shape and be dainty and cute. But I love these imperfect cookies my 3 sweethearts and I made! :)

Anyone have any fun weekend plans?
I'm baking tomorrow -- bread, rolls, etc.
Fun, fun!

Sausage Egg Casserole

My mother-in-law makes this casserole on Christmas morning. It's so simple and yet very tasty. It does take a little while to cook, but it's perfect for making on Christmas because you throw it in the oven when you wake up, and it's ready about the time you're done opening presents. If I make it on any other day, I'll start it on the stove top and then finish it in the oven to cut down on the cooking time. How I love one-pot-wonders!

You can change it up easily, too. Add some diced onion to the sausage while it cooks. Use a different flavor sausage. Add potatoes. You really can do lots with it. I love it how it is, though, so I haven't strayed from the original recipe. I'm a sucker for tradition.

Ingredients:
12 eggs
1 package bulk maple sausage
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can milk
cheddar cheese, shredded

Skillet Method

Brown sausage in a large skillet. While sausage cooks, beat eggs, seasoning with salt and pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soup and milk . When sausage is cooked through, pour eggs into skillet, stirring to evenly distribute sausage.

Stream soup into skillet and do NOT stir! You want to leave large pockets of the soup throughout this casserole -- it will NOT taste as good if the soup is fully incorporated.

Top with shredded cheese.

Now you just cook it the same way you'd cook an omelet. Run your spatula around the edge and tilt the pan to let the runny egg underneath. Once it's more solid looking on top, pop it in the oven at 350 to cook the rest of the way, which takes around 15-20 minutes.

Oven Method

Do it the exact same way, only transfer sausage to a 9x13 pan instead of leaving it in the skillet. Then top with eggs, soup and cheese. Bake at 350 for about an hour. You may need to cover it with foil to prevent over-browning.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I was trying to decide what yummy dessert I wanted to make for Thanksgiving. Since it was just our little family this year with no extended family around, I couldn't make all my favorites because we'd never eat that much. I decided the choice was between cheesecake and pumpkin pie. Then I realized I didn't have to choose -- I could combine them!

Yum!

I took parts of my favorite cheesecake recipe and parts of my favorite pumpkin pie recipe and mixed the key elements together. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, because I'd never done it before, so when we got together with friends that night for dessert and people told me how good it was, I was very relieved. :)

This is the perfect way to use up that small can of pumpkin leftover in your pantry. Or, if you have the larger can, use part of it in this recipe and the rest to make Pumpkin Cake Squares!

Ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
1 pound cream cheese, softened
1 16 ounce can pumpkin
1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Press along bottom and sides (it'll only go up about 1 inch) of a spring-form pan. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar.

Combine remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth.

Pour batter into pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Refrigerate at least 8 hours before serving.

Did you make any fantastic desserts for Thanksgiving?
Do tell!

Pumpkin Cake Squares

This yummy recipe came from my Taste of Home magazine. The original recipe was to make a cake roll, but I didn't feel like fussing with rolling, unrolling, frosting, rolling again.....So I just made them into quick-and-easy squares. Oh. My. Goodess. So yummy! The entire batch was gone in less than a day!

I've had a can of pumpkin in my pantry for quite a while now that I wanted to use up, and this was the perfect way to do it. This recipe doesn't call for a whole can, but there's the perfect amount left over to make a pumpkin cheesecake out of (recipe coming hopefully next week!), you could add it to pancake batter, waffle batter...the list goes on!

Ingredients:
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2.3 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt

For frosting:
6 ounces cream cheese, softened and cubed
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

Line a 15x10x1 inch baking pan with parchment. Coat with cooking spray. (If you're having trouble getting the parchment to stick, use cooking spray or a little butter as "glue" to hold it to the pan.)

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs for 3 minutes. Slowly add sugar, beating for 2 minutes. Add pumpkin and almond extract.

Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Fold into pumpkin mixture.

Spread batter evenly into pan.

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes. While cake cooks, combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla and powdered sugar. Blend until smooth. Remove cake from oven. Cool for 5 minutes, then invert onto a kitchen towel that is sprinkled with a little powdered sugar. Peel off paper. Transfer cake to a large platter and frost that baby! Cut into squares (I got 12) and refrigerate for 1 hour.