0 A Must Try Apple Pie

I love apples! I eat an apple every day. (After all, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.) 

I love the crunch and juiciness, the heartiness and ease of apple-eating! This season is apple's prime time and there are so many great varieties on the market.  I don’t know if you have had a Honey Crisp Apple but they are all the rage!  We have been marveling at our house at all the new varieties that are popping up lately. 

There are a couple of interesting NPR segments about the Apple industry.  Click HERE  or HERE if you want to listen/read the recent segments about the Apple industry. 

These next few weeks, pies will be made by many people – as Thanksgiving is such pie-holiday! So, I thought this recipe would be a good one to share.  My mom has been making this apple pie for events lately and I’ve been the lucky recipient of a leftover slice here and there!  This one is a winner.  I asked her to teach me how to make it and in the translating of the recipe I realized that she has combined a couple of different recipes - Southern Living and Trisha Yearwood.  The result is this incredible deep dish, made in a skillet, two-crust pie with a gooey caramel bottom. 

  

Mom has tried it with apple pie filling instead of fresh apples, and a combination of the two.  Using canned is far simpler, as the peeling of the apples is the biggest chore of the pie, but we like the fresh apples better.  It’s less mushy.  We didn’t make our own crust, but rather used purchased pie crust dough.  (I really like the flavor of the Trader Joe’s or if you don’t have that, you can use the Pillsbury crusts found in the refrigerated section in the red box).

Deep Dish Skillet Apple Pie

2 refrigerated pie crusts- ready to be used

1 stick butter

1 cup brown sugar

4 pounds tart apples (peeled and sliced)

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp flour

1 egg white

2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Peel and slice apples.

In a mixing bowl place apples, cinnamon, sugar and flour and toss well to coat.

Preheat oven to 350˚.

Place butter and brown sugar in skillet on top of stove on medium heat, let melt, swirling with wooden spoon until fully melted.  Remove from heat. 

Carefully drape one of the pie crusts into the skillet filled with brown sugar/butter sauce. (I know this seems counterintuitive to place this over the goo, but it is correct).

Immediately spoon all of the apples on top of the crust.  Cover with the 2nd pie crust and crimp the edges with your fingers to seal along the edge. 

Whisk egg white in a small bowl until foamy.  Brush egg white over the entire top of the pie.  

Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp. sugar.  Cut a few small slits into the top of the crust dough.  

Bake for 1 hour. 

Let sit for a few minutes to set.

Serve slices with vanilla ice cream.  

I wanted to snap some photos in the daylight but this was the last
slice of pie remaining when I got a chance to photograph it.
You can see the goo in the pan from the brown sugar butter sauce.

I made this for Bible study this week in honor of my friend Kristin's birthday because I knew
she likes apple pie.  I offered her the various candles from my bin and she chose
the 1 and 7, representing 17.  She thought this would be a good year to do again. :)
(We had to hold up the candles since they wouldn't stand alone in the pie.)


Happy apple eating and pie baking! 

P.S.  WARNING: I'm not sure that the adage "an apple a day" applies to apples doused with butter and sugar and hidden between 2 pie crusts.  You'll have to eat a raw apple for that promise to be valid. 

Detail: A Must Try Apple Pie

0 Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

We just had our fall Social Work department dinner last weekend. As we were signing up for what we would bring, I pleased to see that Debbie signed up for her Pumpkin Cake.  It wouldn't be the fall supper without it.  It is a tradition.  It is so delicious.  It's the most moist, perfectly pumpkin, slightly cinnamon-y cake with lick-your-fork cream cheese frosting.  I anticipate it every time.  I had never tried to make it myself…until this week. What was I thinking?

When I asked her for the recipe to the cake she recited the ingredients and proportions.  I was impressed.  When I asked her for specific directions for making the cake she replied, "You make it like you make a cake! You know: cream the first few ingredients, add the dry, just make a cake."   Debbie is a no-nonsense woman.  She is practical, intentional, and wise.

She always brings the unfrosted cake, along with a container of cream cheese frosting already prepared and frosts it on location.  How smart is that? No worrying about the frosting getting messed up, or the cake getting smashed in transit. (This cake doesn't require the "melding" time of having the frosting on for a day or so because this cake is so moist.)

After frosting the cake she handed the bowl to my husband for licking clean,  knowing his intense love for cream cheese frosting.  She just knows.  I'm telling you, the woman is wise. (This post was another day she spoke wisdom in my life that I wrote about.)

After eating a slice on Friday night, and wishing for another slice, I decided to make it as soon as I could buy a can of pumpkin at the store this week.  Lucy and I made it together and I told her my plan was to send a slice to each of the kids' teachers.  That way I could bless the teachers and restrict my eating of it to a couple of slices!  I knew I would whittle away with a slice here, and a bite there, and a fork-full here all week if I didn't ship it off.  

Lucy and I made the cake.  It is really fast to put together.  Yesterday I sliced pieces and put a "Happy Fall! We are thankful for you! love, The Hunts" post it notes on the containers.  My kids took them to their teachers.  Hopefully they felt the love and gratitude we tried to channel into the cake!

This recipe is so simple, it's hard to believe.  It is so good.  

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

from Debbie Simpler

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 can pureed pumpkin

2 cups flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350˚.

Place oil, eggs, and sugar in mixing bowl.  Blend well.  Add pumpkin.  Blend well.  Add dry ingredients.  Mix thoroughly. 

Grease and flour Bundt pan (or use my favorite- Baker’s Joy)

Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes depending on your oven.

Test for doneness with toothpick.  It should come out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Using a table knife shimmy around the edges.

Turn cake out onto cooling rack. 

Cool well.

In the meantime make the frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz. block cream cheese, softened

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

4 cups of powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix together the cream cheese and butter until thoroughly blended. 

Add powdered sugar.  Mix until smooth.  Add vanilla. 

When cake is cooled frost cake.

 

 If you are excited about Pumpkin season, check out these Pumpkin Muffins, or this Pumpkin Syrup for Coffee, or these Pumpkin Whoopie Pies that I wrote about in years past.  And if you have a Trader Joe's in your city, just walk in the door and you will be inspired- pumpkin butter, and breakfast  bars, pumpkin bread mix, herbal tea, and pumpkin cranberry scone mix. Of course I couldn't resist buying several of these items.  

I hope you can find a reason to make a Pumpkin Cake (or two) this season! 

 

Detail: Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

0 Favorite Black Bean Soup

Hooray! It's Soup Season! I love soup!!! Every week during the cold months I try to make soup, hoping it will last a few meals in our home.  We have recently added this to our favorite soup rotation of Tomato Basil, Baked Potato, DIY Tortilla & Tortellini Soup.

This is my favorite Black Bean Soup Recipe I have found. I'm not sure why we love it so much, but we do.

Maybe it's because when it's cooking on the stove, it makes the house smell like a Mexican fiesta, and my girls yell down from the top of the stairs (which is the spot where smells from the kitchen are most pronounced, oddly enough) and ask, "What are you cooking, Mom? It smells sooo good! Are we having tacos for dinner?"

Or maybe because it is a meatless meal, which I prefer, and yet one that Dave, who prefers a meaty meal, calls "hearty and delicious".

Or maybe because my son, who is the only non bean-fan in our house tasted it yesterday and said, "you are right, it's good.  I like the flavor, I just don't like the texture of beans". This was a big step in the right direction.  I declared, with elation..."Oh, you are on the verge!"  We are standing on the precipice of bean-dom with this guy, y'all!

(Another hopeful moment regarding this advancement was last night, when we had Greek for dinner and he was devouring the Hummus and commenting on how much he loves it, I reminded him, "you do know that hummus is made of garbanzo BEANS, right?")

Black beans are a favorite food of mine, but when it comes to soup, it's never been my favorite soup.  I like it, but if I am at a restaurant, it's not the soup I typically order. I think because it is sometimes so pureed, and I like hunks of something in my soup, and sometimes is thick and gloppy.  Also, I usually want rice or cornbread with a bowl full of beans!

This Bean Soup recipe is from Bon Appétit magazine from 2004, that my friend Gretchen passed along to me a couple of years ago.  It is a really nicely balanced soup, as some of the soup is pureed for thickness, but some beans are still intact. (I have added an additional carrot, and more beans – and therefore a little more chicken broth – to the original recipe.)

I love sour cream dolloped on all things black bean, and my girls definitely want it on this soup. But the recipe calls for garnish of green onion, cilantro and feta cheese. Brilliant idea, Bon Appétit. The feta is so delicious.  I think it really takes the soup to the next level. I highly recommend you try it topped with feta.

Black Bean Soup with Jalapeño
adapted from Bon Appétit magazine

2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1 to 2 tsp. chopped jalapeno chile with seeds, divided
3 15-16 oz. cans black beans, undrained
1 15 oz. can petite diced tomatoes in juice (or you can use 2 cans if you like more tomatoes)
2 cups chicken broth

Chopped fresh cilantro
Chopped green onions
Crumbled feta cheese

Chop onions, carrots and garlic.

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat.  Add onion, carrots, and and garlic; sauté until vegetables begin to soften, about 6 minutes.  Mix in cumin and 1 tsp. jalapeño.  Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring soup to boil.  Reduce heat tot medium, cover, and cook until carrots are tender, about 15 minutes.

Transfer 3 cups of soup to a container/blender and blend until pureed smooth.
(I love using my immersion blender, and if you have ever tried to puree hot soup in your traditional blender and it exploded and made a mess, you'll understand why this speedy, tidy and simple blender solution is such a winner!)

Return puree to the pot.  Simmer soup until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.  Season to taste with salt, pepper and remaining 1 tsp. jalapeño, if desired.

Ladle soup into bowls. Top with cilantro, green onions and feta cheese (or sour cream if you'd rather).

Dave told me the other day, when we were making Tomato Basil Soup, that he has been craving soup and that his love for soup seems to be ever-increasing.  This was music to my ears! He likes soup and has been supportive of my cold-months soup crusade for years, but now, he's begun to crave this mainstay.

P.S. If you were looking for a kitchen gadget to add to your Christmas wish list, the immersion blender is a lovely tool to have in your kitchen and much-appreciated in a recipe like this!

Detail: Favorite Black Bean Soup

0 Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

In the last post I wrote about our love for pumpkin spice everything. Since then, I have been working on making pumpkin spice whoopie pies in my kitchen.  My new friend, Hannah, from church, made them for an event in September and we were all wowed by them.  Have you ever made Whoopie Pies? I hadn't. She told me they were simple– a Rachael Ray recipe from online.  I added it to the top of my "to make list".

Then, I was in Anthropologie a week or so after that, looking for a birthday gift and saw a big table stacked with the YUMMIEST CANDLES I HAVE EVER TASTED  SMELLED, a huge bowl of adorable turquoise and red kitchen timers, and piles of cookbooks. I smelled every candle (and resisted eating them):  Angel Food Cake, Apple Brown Sugar, Pumpkin Souffle, Whipped Cream and Pear...

And pulled a few cookbooks to peruse, plopped into a nearby gazillion dollar arm chair and thumbed through the cookbooks.  One was a cookbook from an American bakery in London with an entire chapter devoted to Whoopie Pies. It was inspiring and beautiful and seemed so very practical. A Whoopie Pie--what a fun treat.   It’s a hand-held individual cake. It’s like a cup cake, but easier to frost and less messy to handle.

So after this experience, I was all-the-more motivated to make the pumpkin whoopie pies. Hannah was right.  They were simple to make and REALLY yummy! After my first batch, I had a few things I wanted to see if I could tweak, so I made them again and I am not sure that my alterations accomplished much. (Except that I got to take this batch #2 to my Monday class and offer some homemade goodness to my students).

The first time I made them, I felt that they were too puffy, which I thought could have been about scooping them too small.  In my research of the significance of Whoopie Pies, I kept reading that one of the novelties of them is their largeness – of which mine didn’t qualify. I tried in batch #2 to make them larger, which made them a smidge flatter, and certainly more “traditional” but also much harder to eat, as they were too big for single servings.  I also found the first batch to be sticky. I don’t remember Hannah’s being sticky at all. So I thought I would brilliantly dust them with powdered sugar. Which looked lovely and made them not stick… for about an hour until all of the powdered sugar melted into the cake.  Sigh.

I am still learning about these little treasures and want to make a whole variety of different flavors. I don’t quite yet know which cake recipes can transfer well into Whoopie Pieness, but I would love to find out.  I suspect it needs to be a firm enough cake to be picked up and handled.

Speaking of learning…I read that Whoopie Pies originated in New England and are the official treat of Maine.  I love that.  I want an official treat of my state.  Do you know your state's "official treat"? Rumor has it that they were called whoopies because when men would open their lunch pail, and see that their wife had put one in it, they would exclaim, “WHOOPIE!”.  There is also a belief that they were made from leftover cake batter (I guess when there was too much to fit in the pan) and they would just make a couple of little "pies" out of it.  [When I told Dave this, he asked, "why would you EVER have any extra cake batter".  He thinks if there wasn't a pan big enough, he would have gladly eaten the batter].

Here they are:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
adapted from Rachael Ray

1 1/2 sticks  (6 ounces) unsalted butter, 1 stick melted, 1/2 stick softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup canned pure pumpkin puree

1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp plus 2 pinches salt

1 2/3 cups flour

Cream Cheese Filling: (this is double of her recipe on the frosting.  I'd rather have extra than skimp)

8 ounces cream cheese, chilled

2 cups confectioners' sugar

(Add a little orange zest for some extra pizazz.)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour.

Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon, drop 12 generous mounds of batter, spaced evenly, onto each baking sheet. Bake until springy to the touch, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, cream the softened butter with the cream cheese. Add the confectioners' sugar and the remaining 2 pinches salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; mix on low speed until blended, then beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Spread the flat side of 12 cakes with the cream cheese frosting. Top each with another.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away!  I'm looking forward to eating pumpkin goodies, of some form.

Lucy and I gathered our branches and made our Thankful Tree today (an annual tradition). We'll continue to add our paper leaves in the coming days, with a record of things for which we are grateful.  I am so glad to have a visible reminder of GRATITUDE in this season. 

Detail: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies