Apple Butter Hand Pies

I would not put this recipe in the Easy category, but I still recommend you try it! This is like a pastry or turnover, a cookie-like crust with an apple butter filling. I made two batches of these, and the first was a little tricky, but I got a feeling for how the dough behaves so the second batch was much easier. Here's what I learned to share with you so it will be easier on your first go round! You really have to work quickly with this soft dough when rolling and filling it because it rapidly becomes too pliable when the fat warms up. For this reason, also be sure to turn off any above the counter lights because they may work against you. I had this problem the first time, so I just stopped mid-rolling and threw it in the fridge for a few more minutes. When I got it out again I was prepared to work much faster and without the bright lights. Also, I doubled the recipe but only used half the lemon zest called for, and still found the lemony scent and flavor to be almost too much, so in the recipe retyped here I took the liberty of halving the amount. For the first batch, which I made at my mom's house, I had a 4 1/2 inch round cookie cutter available but preferred to use one a bit smaller, and I used about the same smaller size for the second batch too (I used the rim of a large cup actually). Each batch made 22 hand pies. Last tip: do not worry if/when (really, when) the dough cracks and stretches open while folding them over; the filling will not run out, bubble over, crack much further, or burn. It will be completely fine.

Apple Butter Hand Pies
Recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Makes 14
(recipe easily doubled)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups Apple Butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter and 1 cup sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg to the sugar-butter mixture, and beat until just blended.

Add cream cheese, buttermilk, and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt, and add to the cream-cheese mixture. Beat until completely blended. Transfer the dough to a piece of plastic wrap, and using your hands, press the dough into a 1-inch-thick patty, wrap well, and refrigerate for at least one hour. If preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored at this point for up to one month in the freezer.

Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4 1/2-inch-round biscuit cutter, cut seven circles out of the rolled dough. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting, and chilling process with the remaining half of dough.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 2 tablespoons apple butter onto one half of each circle of dough. Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, spread out apple butter. Keep apple butter on half the circle, and spread until it is about 1/2 inch from the edge, making sure apple butter is not completely flattened. Quickly brush a little cold water around the circumference of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the apple butter, creating a semicircle. Seal the hand pie, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the hand pies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Remove the chilled hand pies from the refrigerator, and lightly brush with cold water. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar generously over the pies, and place pies in the oven to bake. Bake until the hand pies are golden brown and just slightly cracked, about 20 minutes. Remove the pies from the oven, and let stand to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I think the one on the upper right must have just fallen off the cooling rack.......

Apple Butter

If you want your home to smell absolutely delicious for an entire day (or two!), make some apple butter this fall! I love making recipes like this. It's one of those that people remember their parents or grandparents making when they were young, sometimes in huge cast iron pots in the back yard. Other people say "you can MAKE apple butter??"

Slather it on toast, swirl it into oatmeal, make a little sandwich with cream cheese and apple butter, put it on pancakes or biscuits, or make Apple Butter Hand Pies - recipe coming up next!

Note: when sharing apple butter with your friends who have small babies, and you pack it in baby food containers, please do them a favor and label the containers!! Sorry for the tummy ache Emmy :o(

Apple Butter
Recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Makes about 2 cups

6 1/2 lbs apples (I used McIntosh and Granny Smith), peeled, cored, and quartered
1 cup sugar
2 T. apple brandy
1 cup apple cider
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. ground cardamom
1/4 t. ground mace
1 large cinnamon stick
1 pinch ground cloves
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 t. ground ginger

Combine all of the ingredients in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Place mixture over medium-high heat, and simmer, covered, stirring often with a large wooden spoon to prevent scorching, until the apples are broken down and saucy, about an hour.

Now, either:
A) Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook for at least 2 1/2 more hours, stirring often until very thick and dark.
OR:
B) Heat oven to 200 degrees. Uncover pot, transfer to oven, and cook overnight until very thick and dark.

Let stand to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to one month in the refrigerator or up to 6 months in the freezer.

This pot started out filled to the brim with apples!

Spinach Dip Olé

I don't have a picture of this recipe, but I do have a picture of the man who requests it every time I see him! Here he is with Erol at the cabin that weekend, enjoying their favorite pasttimes of laughing and eating:

I got this recipe from Anna, my friend and former co-worker, and I've also seen it other places so I don't know where it originated. Anna had a good point when she mentioned that this recipe is so simple because it uses whole packages of only four ingredients, so it's a cinch to shop for and no leftovers of ingredients. You'll rarely have leftovers of the dip too because it's so good! Serve it with sturdy crackers like melba toasts or sliced baguette, toasted or not. You could add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste, but I thing these are unnecessary because of the salsa.

Spinach Dip Olé
one 10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
one 16oz jar salsa
one 8oz package cream cheese, cubed (more like pinched off into the bowl)
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

Combine all ingredients and pour into a shallow baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees for aprox 35 minutes until bubbly and top is brown. Serve with bread, crackers, or chips.

Cracker Bits

These are a yummy snack for anytime! My grandma has a similar recipe using oyster crackers, and my sister has also done a similar thing with broken pieces of large hard pretzels. Everyone always loves this kind of snack!
Cracker Bits
recipe from Paula Deen

2 (10 1/2-ounce) boxes cheese crackers (recommended: Ritz Cheese Bits, not peanut butter flavor)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 (1-ounce) package salad dressing mix (recommended: Hidden Valley Original Ranch)
1 heaping tablespoon dried dill
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon celery salt

Place the crackers in a large sealable freezer container. In a bowl, mix the oil, salad dressing mix, dill, garlic powder, and celery salt. Pour this mixture over the crackers, cover the container, and invert it to coat the crackers with seasoning. Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, turning the container every so often to keep the crackers coated. Let the mixture come to room temperature before serving. Store in the covered container in refrigerator.

Classic Pot Roast

From the "All-Purpose Cookbook": Joy of Cooking! I love this cookbook. I googled this recipe so I might copy and paste the recipe (I cheat, I know), and didn't find it, but found a really cool blog that seems kinda similar to mine (as in lots of crazy pictures of each step): The Joy of the Joy of Cooking. Definitely gonna have to check that one out more later, I only glanced through.

So this recipe is for your basic pot roast, nothing extraordinary but very delicious and exactly what you want pot roast to be. You never know where inspiration is going to come from, and I got the idea to make this for dinner from the show Desperate Housewives last week; there were several references to pot roast and it sounded good to me!

Beef Pot Roast
from Joy of Cooking

3 to 4 lb chuck, shoulder, top or bottom round, brisket, blade or rump
Flour
2 T. vegetable oil
1 carrot
1 rib celery
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
1 small onion
2 cups vegetable stock or part stock and part dry red wine
1 bay leaf

Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy stockpot. Dredge the meat in flour and brown on all sides. Roughly chop the carrot, celery, green pepper and onion, and add to the pot when the meat is about halfway browned. When the meat is browned, spoon off excess fat and add the stock (or stock and wine) and bay leaf. Cover and bake 3-4 hours in a 300-325 degree oven, or simmer on the stove. During this time, turn the meat several times and, if necessary, add hot vegetable stock and salt and/or pepper.

I made this one day to have for dinner the next - I let the big pot cool a bit after cooking and then just stuck it in the fridge, and the next day I took out the meat and cut a few slices, just what we'd eat that night. I put the slices in a small saucepan with some juice from the large pot and heated it up on the stove.

I served it with little potatoes that I cut and roasted with olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest and rosemary. Usually I think of potatoes as something that takes a long time to cook, but I cut them small and under the broiler they took just a few minutes. Just enough time to heat up the pot roast.

I added a new tag called "DINNER" and will go back and add that to the appropriate recipes to make searching for dinner ideas easier on this blog.

Chocolate Cream Pie

One day at home I decided I'd like to make a simple chocolate pie, so I searched the net for a recipe that used ingredients I already had. I got frustrated quickly, even though I have a pantry stocked for baking. But this recipe I can make anytime, with the exception of the Oreo Crust because we don't usually have those on hand. A regular pie crust is perfectly fine; the Oreo Crust just puts it over the top. Everyone's pantry is different, but I think it's more likely that someone will have a can of sweetened condensed milk on hand than a quart of heavy cream. Since I made this pie a couple of different ways, I can offer some optional ingredients because I know it will work either way, and I want to keep it simple and try to avoid trips to the store.

I used my sieve, or mesh strainer, twice in this recipe: once for the egg yolks before they were added to anything, and then again for the entire mixture before it goes into the crust. I ALWAYS sieve eggs before adding them to any cream or custard pie, like pumpkin, coconut, etc. I absolutely hate those little globby bits in the egg and find it necessary without a doubt to remove them. Have you ever noticed one in a forkfull of pumpkin pie? They don't just melt away! Yuck! Secondly, when making a custard on the stovetop, you always run the chance of curdling the eggs, resulting in little globs of cooked egg inside the mixture. Sieving after cooking ensures a super smooth and creamy pie every time. Call me anal, but I promise I'll never make you eat the glob!

Chocolate Cream Pie with Oreo Crust
recipe adapted from recipezaar.com

1 2/3 cups water
3 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa (I only tested with Dutch, but will work with regular cocoa powder)
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (optional, but this adds richness)
1 (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional, and won't make the pie taste like coffee, only gives it a richer flavor overall)
1 (9 inch) Oreo pie crust

Put the 3 egg yolks in a sieve and press through into a small bowl. In a medium saucepan, whisk the cornstarch and cocoa with the water until smooth. Sir in sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, and chopped bittersweet chocolate, and cook on medium until chocolate is completely melted and the mixture becomes quite thick, stirring constantly. Stir in 2 tablespoons butter, vanilla, and instant espresso powder. Press through a clean sieve into the baked and cooled pie shell, and chill in the refrigerator for 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream.

Oreo Pie Crust
recipe adapted from epicurious.com

21 Oreos (about a row and a half)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter pie dish. Finely grind cookies in a food processor. Add butter and process until mixture is evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides of prepared pan to form thin crust. Bake crust 5 minutes. Transfer crust to rack and cool completely. Can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.

It was a Messy Kitchen weekend!

I am so backed up on this blog!! There is always a lot of cooking going on around here!

But let me just tell you about our awesome weekend - we went with 6 of our friends to a cabin at Deep Creek Lake and had the best time, and of course, had a lot of good food. A highlight for Erol was seeing his old kegerator again, which the Nelsons and Garcias brought with them! Eric had it filled with Sierra Nevada Anniversary Ale. We ate meatball subs, Marcelo's grilled chicken thighs (sorry, I cannot spill his secret recipe), bacon and eggs for breakfast, real s'mores around the campfire, etc. These were my contributions, and I will be posting the recipes although unfortunately I do not have pictures for most of them:

Spinach Dip Ole

Onion Dip

Chocolate Pie with Oreo Crust

Monkey Bread (aka Bubble Bread)

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars

Brie en Croute