Mini Dutch Apple Pies

 I'm a sucker for individual desserts. And, I know I'm not the only one, since they always seem to disappear before my eyes when I bring them places (or from the kitchen table). And what better thing to miniaturize than one of the all time classic desserts - apple pie? 

Homemade Apple Chips

Are you ready for a recipe with one ingredient? Yes, one. I promise. One. And no special tools. No fancy techniques. But really: deliciousness.

Dutch Apple Pie - Happy Pi(e) Day!

Happy Pi(e) Day! I have so many more things to share with you in the coming weeks, but I had to offer you a delicious pie recipe for this holiday. For those of you who aren't math geeks or pie enthusiasts, today, March 14, is celebrated as Pie Day because the mathematical approximation of the digit π. And why would you want to celebrate Pi without Pie? 

Caramel Apple Pie Cookies

Deep dish pizza is a pretty popular food in many parts of the country. Deep dish cookies? I'm thinking they'll catch on soon. Especially if they're filled with flecks of diced apple, caramel, and oh, is that a hint of bourbon? I think it is. 

Rustic Apple Tart

Sometimes I spend 6 hours trying to make caramel. Sometimes I follow recipes that include melting and whisking and separating and beating and boiling. These things generally happen on Sundays. But sometimes, it's a busy Friday afternoon, I have a drawer full of apples, and ten other things to do. This is when you throw together a rustic apple tart. And serve it to oohs and ahs. 

Double Apple Bundt Drop

I drop things. I break things. I forget things. I lose things. Sometimes I break things and then lose them. I'm looking at you, one earring.
Anyway, it was just one of those days, and I made a cake. And it smelled delicious. And I was pretty sure it was going to taste delicious. And then I dropped it.

Apple Galette

As I mentioned yesterday, the Jewish high holidays are coming up and apples - a signature food for the holiday - are everywhere! And here they are for you again today in this pretty and sweet apple galette.

Rosh HaShanah Desserts

A week from today, at sundown, is the Jewish holiday of Rosh HaShanah. Marking the new year, Rosh HaShanah is one of the most important days in the Jewish calendar. And, like all Jewish holidays, it's marked with a celebration of food! There are some weird food customs, such as eating/having on the table the head of a fish/sheep (we prefer to dissect jelly fish). Pomegranates are popular, as their seeds are said to correspond to the number of commandments. There are also several foods that are good omens for the new year based on their names, like carrots, gourds, leeks, beets, dates and - fenugreek. What? Yeah I don't know either. And there is the seminal classic - apples and honey - to guarantee a sweet new year.

Well, only a few of those ingredients interest me. So, here are some suggestions for the upcoming holidays:

1 - Apple Pie

2 - Carrot Muffins
3 - Honey Cake

4 - Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Meringue

5 - Alsatian Apple Tart

6 - Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake
And I'm not done yet! Check in later this week for a sweet apple galette, and a delicious chocolate babke. I know I'm going to be eating for three days straight - are you? PLUS - I have a birthday coming up soon, and some interesting childhood photos to share. Stick around - it's going to be a fun week!

Hello Apple Pie

Holy apple pie Batman! Did you know that there was no (successful) recipe for apple pie on this humble blog? Well, I am here to fix that. Also to give you pie. Which is fixing that. Sometimes I think I could be stranded on a desert island and entertain myself purely through the strange wanderings of my mind. Although I'd rather be on a dessert island.

Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Meringue

About a month ago I decided I was bored of apple cakes. They're all the same, with chunks of apple and a cinnamon flavored cake batter, moist but tending toward soggy after a few days.
Well I spoke too soon. This apple cake is nothing short of a revelation - with grated apple moistening the cake batter evenly with no heavy chunks, and - oh! - a delicate brown sugar meringue topping, providing a crisp lid to the cake and a sweet counterbalance to the dish.
The cake itself is not too sweet, which is perfect for the light and sugary meringue - plus the gooey layer that forms between the two.
You could whip out the food processor if you'd like, but apples are so easy to grate (unlike those stubborn potatoes) and the recipe only calls for two so I went straight for the box grater.

Note: Come back later this week for a Baking and Mistaking first - an exciting guest post!

Tip of the Day: Opt for apples that are relatively firm for easy grating - and I would go for a sweet variety like Golden Delicious.

Recipe: (from Food52)

Topping:
2 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tbsps water

Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 large apples, peeled and grated
1/2 cup raisins - options
2 cups flour

Topping:
Place egg whites, brown sugar and water in the bottom of a double boiler - with enough water underneath to touch the bottom of the bowl.
Over high heat, beat with an electric mixer until peaks form, 3 to 5 minutes. Set aside.
Cake:
Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in egg yolks and beat until combined.
Stir in the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, grated apple and raisins if using.
Fold in the flour until just combined - don't overmix.
Spoon batter into greased 9x9 inch baking pan. Spread meringue evenly over the top.
Bake on 350 F for 35 to 45 minutes.

Apples and Tarts

I know, I've been neglecting you, and I can't promise it won't happen again. My life right now is a whirlwind of finals and moving boxes and carpet samples and storage spaces and paint strips and graduation portraits.

But there's always time for dessert, right?
Well there was time on my mom's birthday, where the complete failure of the babke was mitigated only by the simple deliciousness of this apple tart. One of the things I love most about tarts - of which I've been on a sort of kick lately - is the complete ease of the dough. After you make it, just press it in to the bottom of the pan - no rolling, no measuring, no ripping holes.
OK so maybe you can kind of see my fingerprints, but that's all going to be covered up with this incredible filling soon. And unbelievably simple too. Starts with sliced up apples, which I hopelessly attempted to arrange in some attractive design.
After failing at that, I simple poured on top the mixture of cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla and baked. Voila.
Much easier than a babke.

Tip of the Day: Freezing the tart dough before baking ensures you don't need to use weights in the pan when baking it empty - known as baking "blind."

Recipe: (from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours)
Alsatian Apple Tart
Note: I used Rich's Whip topping in place of the heavy cream and it worked out fine. You could probably also sub milk/soy milk if you desire (though it might not be as rich).

Tart Dough:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tbsps) frozen butter or margarine
1 egg yolk

Filling:
1 pound apples - about 3 medium apples (I used Golden Delicious)
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3/4 tsp vanilla

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse to combine.
Scatter pieces of the butter over it and pulse until it is cut in and small pieces of dough form.
Break up the egg yolk and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.
Pulse until the dough forms clumps and then turn out the dough and knead to combine any dry ingredients that weren't mixed in.
Press the dough into the bottom of a 9 inch tart pan.
Freeze for 30 minutes, and then fit a greased piece of foil against the dough and bake for 25 minutes at 375 F. Let cool.

Peel, core and slice the apples. Lay them in the tart shell in overlapping concentric circles.
Whisk together the cream, sugar, egg, yolk and vanilla, and pour over the apples.
Bake the tart at 375 F for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the custard looks set. Let cool.

You get an Apple Pie!

Ah, the joys of baking with flour. Well, truth is I'm about to embark on a collection of recipes that I made pre-Passover, pre-tree, pre-stress. Well not really pre-stress. But you get the idea.
I have a handful of desserts that I have yet to share with you, but that's about to change.

Let's get started: everybody gets an apple pie!
Longtime readers may remember that I tried this way back in the dark ages - with canned pie filling and horrible photos. But now I'm at it again - this time with delicious (if I do say so myself) photos and homemade filling. But I start the same way: with store bought mini pie crusts.
They are so adorable, and really not too expensive (they come in a pack of 6) that I simply can't resist. And why should I? (You can also find mini frozen pie dough crusts in most supermarkets.)

I filled each crust with the pie filling, and topping with a crumb crust. I was a little nervous about the crust before, since I've had some bad experiences with apple pies and crumb crusts before.
But my fears were unfounded, and they all came out of the oven crispy and delicious looking. I'm getting hungry as I type.
Well not all of them actually - I ran out of crust for the 12th pie, so I just sprinkled a little brown sugar on top and stuck it in with the rest.
Since it obviously isn't fit for company, I got to eat it right out of the oven. Too bad.

These pies were to bring to my friend Rachel's apartment for a meal. Which ended up being in the back of the cab during Snowpocalypse 2010. I'm sure everyone appreciated the effort.

Tip of the Day: If you're looking for a really quick dessert that still looks like you put in effort - fill each mini pie crust with sliced strawberries and top with whipped cream.

Recipe:
Mini Apple Pies

12 mini graham cracker crusts (mine are Keebler)
1 egg yolk
3 golden delicious apples, cored and diced
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Lay the crusts out on a baking sheet. Beat the egg, and brush the crusts with it.
Bake at 375 F for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Stir together the apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice.
Let sit 20 minutes in the fridge. (Can skip this step)
Divide apples evenly among crusts.
Beat together the butter, flour, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon, until crumbly.
Add in more flour if needed. Crumble over apples.
Bake at 375 F for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.

Apple Cinnamon Bundt Cake

Everything's better in a bundt. Right? No decoration needed, one pan, done. The only bad thing about bundts? They have to come out. Of the pan. That doesn't always work too well. And in that respect, bundts have not been my friends lately.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I"ll begin.

This is a simple, rustic recipe for apple cake. It begins with, as all good apple cakes should, fresh, cored, peeled, chopped apples. Four to be exact.
There used to be more apple, but I had to try a few pieces to make sure it was good. A piece from each apple of course. Turns out, I probably should have tried more.
Because once I'd mixed up everything else - eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (say that in one breath) - it became apparent that there was a very large amount of apple for not much batter.
But, rather than attempt to rectify the situation, I forged on instead. And was rewarded with a beautiful smelling kitchen. And a cake that did not appear to want to leave it's cozy home.
After a brief argument [ahem, disagreement] with my mother over the best time to "decant" - while it's hot or while it's cold, I ran a knife around the edge of the cake and flipped it over, holding my breath.
After some slight coaxing and tapping there was a plop, and out popped my cake, with a few dents and bruises that remain cleverly hidden in this photo. Why I bothered to cleverly hide what I then openly shared is a question for another time. I'm complicated.

Tip of the Day: After consulting numerous internet references, the war wages on: remove a bundt when hot or cold? Experts urge both, I remain confused, Mom still thinks she won. Anyone care to weigh in?

Recipe: (adapted from The Food Librarian)

4 large green apples [I would recommend cutting 4 large apples and then eating 1]
2 eggs
3/4 c oil
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda

Peel, core and dice the apples.
Beat the eggs and oil together until foamy.
Stir in the sugar and vanilla.
Add in the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda.
Mix until just combined, then stir in the apples.
Pour into a well-greased bundt pan, and bake on 350F for 40 to 50 minutes, or until tests done.

The Lost Desserts

Sometimes I made a dessert, and it's delicious, and it's pretty and it all get's eaten (very rarely does this not happen), but I don't run to blog about it. Instead, the pictures sit on my hard drive, the recipe wanders around in my browser history, and I never quite get the push to share them with you.

So recently while I was going through my picture files, thinking about what to share next, I figured it was time for a little fall cleaning. Now keep in mind, these weren't bad. The complete disasters in my life I run to share with you. These were good. Just not too exciting.

First up: Apple Pie Bars.
I made these in July. I know, July! Remember that? Weird.
Anyway, these were a variation on these Strawberry Pie Bars. Because I'm lazy and all-around uninterested in hard work, I used a can of apple pie filling for the center. Don't knock it.
They were tasty. After about 36 hours, they started to get a little soggy, when the apple pie filling seeped in the crust and filling. They were still tasty, but they kind of needed a fork to eat, instead of just hands.

Next up: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I made these on September 4th. Ah the good old days. It was the weekend before I started school, and I had no idea what the year would bring.

Well now I know. And it's tough.

I honestly can't even remember what these muffins were like. They probably weren't bad. They probably weren't amazing either, or I doubt I would have forgotten them. I'm pretty sure those are my teeth marks, so I definitely ate one.

And finally: World Peace Cookies.

I know, I know, those of you who have heard of or made Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies, are probably shocked to see them on my list of blah desserts. After all, they are said to cure international disagreements.

Ok, here's the thing. They were delicious. Really. But they weren't all that appetizing looking, and not one person at the meal I brought them to ate one, and the pictures I attempted to take just never turned out right.

So, yeah, maybe I'm a little bitter. Maybe I'll try these again someday. Maybe I should stop whining. But hey, this is my blog. If I can't do it here, where can I do it?

Ok, I'm done complaining. I'll give you all the recipes I've mentioned, for those of you that are so inspired by my description of these items that you can't wait to try them for yourself.

Tip of the Day: Oh, where to start. Practice makes perfect?

Recipes:

Apple Pie Bars: (adapted from the Field Guide to Cookies)
Crust:
6 tbsps butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Filling: 1 can apple pie filling, diced.

Streusel:
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
6 tbsps cold butter

Crust: cream butter and sugar together until well mixed. Add egg and mix to combine.
Gradually mix in flour, baking powder and salt.
Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan, and 1/4 inch up the side.

Spread the filling evenly over the crust, stopping 1/2 inch from the edge.

Streusel: Combine sugar, flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter until mix is crumbly.
Sprinkle evenly over the filling.

Bake at 350F for 35 minutes until golden brown.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins: (via Wikibooks)
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla

Stir together the flour, chocolate chips, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
Make a well in the center, and pour in the egg, milk, oil and vanilla.
Stir until all ingredients are moistened.
Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full.
Bake at 400F for 20 minutes.

World Peace Cookies (Dorie Greenspan)
11 tbsps (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or a generous 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Beat the butter on high until light and fluffy.
Add in the sugars, salt and vanilla and beat until mixed.
Pour in the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Cover the mixer with a damp towel and pulse for a few seconds at a time until integrated.
Continue to mix until flour is fully mixed in. The dough will be crumbly and you'll worry these cookies will never come together. Mix in the chocolate bits.
Turn the dough out on to a surface and divide in two. Form two logs of approximately 1.5 inches in diameter. Yes, I used a ruler. No, you don't have to.
Place in fridge (I used the freezer because these were hard to slice) for a couple hours.
Slice in to 1/2 inch rounds, and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Bake on 325 F for 13 minutes. Cool on baking sheet.

Oh no, apple pie

A friend of mine told me recently that she reads my blog just to see the mistakes. And while (I hope) she was kidding, I don't want to disappoint.
Now, right about here, is where I should put a picture of the apple pie I made.
But I can't. It's just too painful.
Something went wrong. And I don't know what. The recipe was simple: I took a graham cracker pie crust, some apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour and salt, and a topping of butter, brown sugar, flour, oats and salt.
Sounds good right? Right. What went wrong? You tell me.
It started off pretty well, with 5 apples, peeled and cored. And no, those chocolate chips in the background aren't for this recipe. But wouldn't that be interesting....?(Pretend there are five here.)
I used granny smith, but plenty of different kinds of apples will work, and, if you'd like, you can use two or three different kinds to mix things up.
So anyway, in apple pies in the past, I have diced up the apples, but I figured I would make some nice little thin slices here instead. And eat a couple along the way. Step two complete, with no apparent problems. Next I tossed them with the flour, sugar, lemon juice and salt. And ate a few slices. And then, even though I wasn't supposed to yet, I dumped it all in the waiting crust.

Now, I'm what you might call a paranoid baker. If something seems a little off, perhaps a little strange, I start to worry. If the amount seems wrong, or if it doesn't smell the way I think it should, or if it looks a funny color, I start to panic. And, most of the time, everything turns out ok in the end. And sometimes, it does not.

After I placed the apples in the crust, I realized I had alot left. Like, alot. And while I didn't have a problem eating a few more slices (clearly), I did think for a minute. Is this the right sized crust? Did I layer the apples right?
But, I piled them slightly convexly (is that a word?) and set about for the next step. Which was, of course, making the topping. A pretty simple mix - 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 sticks butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup quick oats and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Now the recipe that I was sort of pretending to follow said I should cut the butter into the flour, and then add the remaining ingredients. But, well, I'm not exactly the queen of patience, so I just mixed together all the dry ingredients, and then cut the butter in to that. And by cut, I mean used my hands. As I was doing this, I thought the butter seemed so be a little much, but I checked, and double cheSo, after I mixed the topping together, I sprinkled it evenly over the pie. And I stuck it in the oven.
As I mentioned earlier, I am not known for my patience, and I always end up - despite my mother's urging to the contrary - checking the oven before anything is done.
(Side note: oh how I wish my new oven had a window.)
Anyway, about a half hour in to the hour long cooking time, I took a quick peek. And....oh.
The carefully placed topping had completely melted down the slope of the pie, dripping off the edges of the crust and pooling on the (thank goodness I put it there) baking sheet underneath.
I watched in abject horror as my pie appeared to melt off and brown in all the wrong places. I could even see apple sticking out! Oh no!
Well, as this pie was supposed to serve as a dessert for my friends, I had no time to make something else, and I brough it anyway.
After I picked off the pieces of the top that had slid down, it looked basically presentable, but I certainly wasn't hopeful.
And as we cut into it, the pie that should have been crisp and delicious, was liquidy and didn't hold together.
From this, I have drawn two conclusions:
1 - the convex nature of the pie made the topping slide off when heated.
2 - the topping had a too high butter content that made it melt.
So, notes for the future, and one (slightly) redeeming factor: the whole thing got eaten anyway.

Tip of the Day: If a recipe doesn't work, don't get discouraged! Sometimes, you've done something wrong, sometimes it was the recipe, but either way you can remember what happened and use it in the future.

Recipe: I'll share the original recipe I used here, but there definitely need to be adjustments!
Graham cracker pie crust
4 to 5 apples
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 teaspoon salt

Peel, core and slice the apples, and mix with the lemon juice, sugar, flour and salt.
Cut the butter into the flour, and mix in the brown sugar, oats and salt.
Fill pie crust with apples, and top with mixture.
Bake on 375 F for 55 minutes.

Apple Pie Bars

These apple pie bars were (I'm told) delicious. And so simple. Because I totally cheated. And you can too. I started this simple, delicious dessert with the oatmeal crumb base from my raspberry bars, and added about 1 tsp of cinammon. After pressing between 1/2 and 2/3 of the mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, I took a can of apple pie filling, and chopped the apple pieces into a fine dice, which I then sprinkled over the base, and topped with the remaining crumbs.
Mmmmm here's a close up.Sure, you could probably also make this recipe with real apples, and some sugar, flour and lemon juice - but that's for you adventurous folk. Anyway, back to the recipe. I then stuck this in a 350 F oven for 30 to 35 minutes and .... apple pie bars! Just imagine them warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum.

Tip of the Day: If you're really in a rush, you can throw your crumb base ingredients in the food processor for a few quick pulses. But I always prefer it by hand. Just take off your rings first!

Apple Streusel Cake

Apples, cake, cinnamon, crumbs - what more could a girl want? A scoop of vanilla ice cream, maybe.
I was looking around for a cake recipe that, of course, included only ingredients I could currently find in the house - and I stumbled across this recipe for Quick Apple Streusel Coffee Cake on the food network website and I thought I'd give it a shot. I feel like I don't do many cakes here - I do alot of cookies and cupcakes and muffins - but I only have a few cakes - and most of them focusing on the decorating aspect.
Cake are great because they're often less time consuming and difficult - one pan, in the oven, and you're done! Of course, there are plenty of difficult cakes out there as well.

Back to this cake - it was pretty good, sweet and light, with the right balance of apple to cake. The topping wasn't as crumb like as I would have thought - it ended up being more of a crispy layer on top than a traditional crumb cake. It was still good, but if you wanted to change you could probably double the amount of butter in the topping to 4 tablespoons.
Happy eating - and if you have any great and simple cake recipes send them my way!

Tip of the Day: In recipes calling for apples, try using two or three different types for variety in the dish.

Recipe: (from foodnetwork.com)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 tsps baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups chopped Granny Smith Apples

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsps butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, milk and shortening.
Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry ingredients, and stir until combined.
Stir in the chopped apples.
Pour the batter in to an 8 inch square pan and bake at 400 F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Cheating is worth it!

These were soo good, and so simple...because I cheated the whole way through!
These are individual apple pies I made for a dinner I attended - 18 mini pies! - and they were a big hit, I served them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - delicious!
Anyway, while everybody loved this dessert, nobody knew how little of it I made from scratch.
I baked these little pies in store bought graham cracker crusts, these were Keebler brand. I saw them in the store and they were only about $2 for 6 crusts so I had to buy them for some future dessert idea. Well that time came! The instructions say to brush the crusts with some beaten egg yolk and bake for five minutes before filling. I did this, but I'm not quite sure if it made much difference.
However the night that I baked these, I was a little bit in a rush and didn't quite have the time to make the filling from scratch....so I used apple pie filling. Don't throw rocks at me, we all have our weak days!
Anyway, the pie filling worked great, I divided 2 cans of it among the 18 shells.
Then, I made a quick crumble topping out of 3/4 cup of dark brown sugar, 3/4 cup flour and 1/3 cup of butter, mixed together by hand and sprinkled on top of the pies.
I baked them on 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes.
They looked great, tasted great, and were so simple to make!

Tip of the Day: Crumb toppings are simple to make with a quick pulse in your food processor, but work just as well well crumbled together by hand.