Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Apple Pie Baked In Apples

This is one of the first recipes I saw on Pinterest and thought "awesome idea"!  So it ended up being one of the first dishes I made during my "must create stuff from Pinterest" phase I went through last month (and, ahem, am still going through).

I did cheat a bit though. This also fulfilled my Operation Pantry Project as my Mom's niece had sent us some wonderful jarred homemade apple pie filling. To say it went perfectly in this dish was an understatement. The filling was so flavorful and it made putting this creation together quick and easy.

I did have a bit of trouble with the pie dough staying at the top of the apple while cooking (you can see how some of it slide down the side to the bottom). I think next time I need to make the dough strips smaller?

This was a fun dish to make and also made quite a nice impression for dessert. And I'd suggest showing folks your "before" cooking apple as that really does look impressive!

Not sure where the original idea came from as there seem to be pins from many different sources.

APPLE PIE BAKED IN APPLES

4 Baking Apples
Apple Pie Filling (your own or premade)
Pie Crust (Homemade or Pre-Made)

Pre-heat over to 375 degrees.

Cut off the top of the apples and discard. Cut slivers off the bottom of the apple (be careful not to cut too much) so that the apple sits squarely. Carefully remove the inside of each of the four apples with a spoon or melon baller so that you don't puncture the peel (you want to make a bowl for the filling to reside in).

Spoon your apple pie filling into the apple bowls.

Roll out pie crust and cut into strips. Cover top of the apple in a lattice pattern with the pie crust strips.

Place apples in an 8x8 pan. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the apples are soft. Serves 4

Note: I used granny smith apples. I set them on the counter at the grocery store to make sure that they were almost flat. People gave me looks. They were just a "bit" tough, so I may experiment with other types of apples or longer cooking times.

Note: Some of the recipes talk about using the innards from the apples you've scooped out and cutting up additional apples to make your own pie filling. Since I already had pie filling, I didn't use the inards of the apples. I threw that away. I know, wasteful. You are a better person than I if you can use it.

Note: I actually had a bit of leftover pie filling after filling the two apples so I took the leftover dough, pieced it together and made a free form tart. I'm thinking you could do the reverse...make these if you find you've made too much pie filling for your apple pie.

Note: I used pre-made pie dough. I bought a "natural" brand instead of my regular Pillsbury brand. It was dry and immediately cracked when I unrolled it. Next time I'll  either make my own dough or use Pillsbury.

Note: I made the lattice a bit thick and the ones on the end actually slide down the side of the apple. On one of the apples, I had used a bit of the sticky apple pie filling, smeared it around the top of the apple thinking this would hold the pie dough in place but no deal. Not sure what I can do to keep the dough from sliding down?

Note: Though I saw longer cooking times for the recipe, my pie crust was done way before these longer times. I think the apple would have benefited from a longer cooking time but I also didn't want the apple to be mush.

We really enjoy these and I suspect a good deal of that was the awesome apple pie filling from my Mom's niece. I need to make these again. Which mean someone needs to send me some more pie filling (hint hint :)

 

 

Blueberry Mousse from Sandra's Easy Cooking

Valentines Day found Mr. L and I getting home late and having a late dinner. We had decided to stay home and cook not only because it was less expensive and less of a hassle, but because we could watch our diets and not over do. Mr. L fixed me a wonderful dinner of sauteed scallops and his spicy string beans, a dish he first made for me when we started dating.

And then we both collapsed on the couch to watch some tv completely forgetting about dessert. There might have been some champagne involved in this forgetfulness.

So I didn't do my part of our Valentines dinner until several days later when I made this little Blueberry Mousse I found on Pinterest. When I saw this I figured it would be the perfect dessert for Valentines Day (or an anniversary, special occasion, etc). Because I knew I'd have limited time that evening to make something fancy this seemed like a quick and easy dessert to put on the table. The fact that it wasn't full of calories and wouldn't interfere with some pieces of dark chocolate that might have been received on said Valentines Day was also a plus. Oh and I figured it would go well with champagne.

I had found these small, heart, spring-form pans at Target which I used for the mold. The original recipe from Sandra's Easy Cooking blog just had hollow heart molds. Though my mold turned out perfect, it did have that spring-form pan at the bottom which was impossible to get the mousse off of without destroying the shape. No matter, we just ate off that!

The ingredients for this were pretty simple...heavy cream, blueberries, a bit of vanilla flavored yogurt and some stevia. You can find the recipe here:

BLUEBERRY MOUSSE

This was so simple that I'm sure it's going to become a regular dessert and not just be brought out on special occasions. Thanks to Sandra's Easy Cooking for this wonderful idea (and many more, check out her blog for some great recipes).

Photo from Mr. L's iPhone.

 

Sweet and Saltines

Sometimes you just need something that is sweet, salty and quick to make. It helps if you already have all the ingredients in your pantry. This is one of those little treats.

It comes from the Home Cooking With Trisha Yearwood cookbook. And if you are like me, you probably have the required ingredients on hand right now...saltine crackers or graham crackers, butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips.

I've made these with both saltines and graham crackers. This photo was made with graham crackers.

SWEET AND SALTINES
(Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood)

40 saltine crackers
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/3 cups)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large jellyroll pan with aluminum foil and the saltine crackers.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly. Put the jellyroll pan into the oven and watch closely. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife. Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Serves 20 (uh yeah, not even close)

Note: Instructions for the recipe state you can substitute graham crackers for the saltines like I did. It will make a sweeter snack. Use 1 stick of butter instead of 2 for a crunchier, saltier snack. I used 1 1/2 sticks. Because of the lesser amount of butter, be prepared for things to get a bit crumbly.

Note: Use anywhere from 35 to 45 saltine crackers, depending on the size of your pan. When I used graham crackers, I just made sure the bottom of the pan was covered, I don't bother to count how many I used.

Note: The recipe calls for semisweet chocolate chips but you can use milk chocolate. I figure I might try this with butterscotch chips.

A nice quick snack when you don't feel like really baking or going to the store for more ingredients.

Halloween - October 30, 2011

I haven't had a lot of time this year to make Halloween treats, so I'm making a big list of what I want to try out next year, and these little Rice Krispie Pops are at the top of the list. I think they make a perfect Halloween treat that isn't too scary or gross for the younger children in your family. And hey, I think the grown-ups will like them too!

They come from a blog called Hungry Happenings which you really must check out. Beth has some wonderful treats posted on her blog that would make any Halloween party a success. Seriously, you'll get lost looking at all the amazing Halloween dishes shes concocted. I dare you not to swoon over the Chocolate Caramel Apple Cats! Decorating a quesadilla with a Halloween stencil? Awesome! Like me she is a huge fan of Halloween and the food, decorations and projects Beth posts on her blog will keep me busy all year.

And if that wasn't enough, she wrote a book on Halloween food! How cool is that? Her Hungry Halloween book shows you how to have a Movie Monster Party (I've already bought the mold to make the Abnormal Brain), A Bewitched Buffet (Gotta try to make the Crackling Crackers and Full Moon Dip) and a Dead Mans Dinner (The Tuna Melt is cute!). But my favorite from the book has to be the Werewolf Won Tons. They would be perfect for Halloween or for your next Twilight movie watching party!

Do check out the Hungry Happenings blog here and check out Beths wonderful Hungry Halloween book here. To find directions to make the Googly Eye Rice Krispie Treat Ghost Pops go here. But be careful...you may end up making Halloween goodies through Christmas!

Toasted Marshmallow Shake

 

The real reason I bought Spike Mendelsohn's The Good Stuff Cookbook is because it had a recipe for something that just curled my toes when I thought about it. A Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake. When I bought the cookbook last year, I set it aside, just waiting for the summer months to try, what I was sure, would be a delicious treat.

I made this the first time on the 4th of July. It was pretty much the only thing we had for several hours that day as our power kept going on and off. Luckily I was able to get these milkshakes on the table so that my family didn't starve. Maybe it is a good thing that we didn't have power, or I might have continued to just make these milkshakes all night long and we never would have gotten to dinner. This really is one dang good milkshake. I loved the toasted marshmallow flavor coming through mixed with the brand of vanilla ice cream I used. Having a toasted marshmallow floating on top was just the icing on the cake so to speak.

But...I did have some problems when I made this shake a second time. Problems that didn't happen the first time, because I didn't really follow the directions the first time I made these. My issues on the second batch?  1. Shake was too thin  2. Blending for 5 mins (yes FIVE minutes)  3. The end result looked dirty brown  4. It didn't all fit in the blender to blend.

Now the first time I made these shakes, I didn't measure and added quite a bit more ice cream (which made it much thicker than the recipe). I didn't blend five minutes (too worried about the power going out). I didn't toast the marshmallows as much (see difference in the two photos) and I only had about 10 ounces of marshmallows (though it barely fit, I was able to get it all in the blender.). My first shake was thick, looked like a nice shake and had, for me, a perfect toasted marshmallow flavor. The next time I made the shake, it was very thin, had a quite over powering toasted marshmallow taste and didn't look quite as nice.

I'll be honest though...I preferred the first shake to the second, but I'd still drink the second in a heartbeat. I think it all comes down to how you like your marshmallows toasted. I don't like mine too dark...I kinda like a nice golden tan all over. I know others prefer the dark almost burnt kind of toasted marshmallow. And of course there are those that prefer to catch their marshmallows on fire and have a black burnt mess. Whichever version you like, you can make this milkshake.

TOASTED MARSHMALLOW SHAKE

• 1 16-ounce bag jumbo marshmallows
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups creamy vanilla ice cream
• 1 tablespoon sour cream

 Preheat the broiler.

Reserve 4 marshmallows for garnish. Spread out the remaining marshmallows on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place the sheet under the broiler and cook, stirring once or twice, until completely charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Repeat with the remaining four marshmallows, but cook just until toasted slightly golden, about 1 minute. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Add the milk, ice cream, sour cream, and burnt marshmallows to a blender. Blend for 5 minutes.

Pour into four 8-ounce glasses and garnish each glass with a golden marshmallow. Serves 4.

Note: The first time I didn't have a full 16-ounce bag of marshmallows. I didn't know that some brands also come in a 10 or 12 ounce bag and just bought a bag without looking. This worked out well because no way could I get the milk and all the ice cream PLUS a full bag of marshmallows (even toasted) into my blender! The second time I made the shakes I actually had to add the marshmallows in batches which might have effected the end product.

Note: I used Häagen-Dazs Five Vanilla Ice Cream (it's pretty much my go to vanilla ice cream these days). I'm not sure if the first shake I used less milk or more ice cream but I do know that having more ice cream made a thicker, more traditional shake. The second shake had almost a chocolate milk like consistency.

Note: Checking online with others who had made this shake, you need to be really careful to let your marshmallows cool before adding. If they are still hot, they will melt the ice cream and make a thinner shake. I let them cool the same amount of time on both shakes so I don't think that was my problem in the second shake being thinner consistency.

Note: I didn't bother holding out four marshmallows for decoration. I just made sure four marshmallows were sort of "alone" on the pan and they got as dark as any of the other marshmallows. You do need to watch them as they go from "white" to golden very quick. The first batch I had all the marshmallows sort of dumped on the tray and I ended up with a  gooey mess ( let them cool first before transferring). The second batch, I made sure no marshmallow was touching another marshmallow and I got a nice dark golden color all around (that would be the photo below).

Note: Again, I think the trick here for best flavor is to toast the marshmallows the way you would if you were sitting around holding a marshmallow on a stick over the campfire. The darker toast on the marshmallow, the more pronounced the flavor will be.

Note: There is nothing wrong with a brown colored shake :)

Note: Blend five minutes? FIVE MINUTES? I wish Spike had let us know why. Very few of the folks that I read that tried this recipe actually blended for the full five minutes. I saw no difference in blending for say, 2 minutes to the whole five. On the second batch, I thought maybe blending that long would thicken up the shake but that didn't happen. I say blend a good two minutes and if all the little marshmallows bits are incorporated, no need to blend further (and if anyone out there has an answer for the five minutes, please let me know, I really am curious).

Note: I love the fact that I can "toast" marshmallows in my oven. Oh the possibilities!

Loved this Toasted Marshmallow Shake. Loved love loved it. And it's a shake that I can make year round. I really am looking forward to the dead of winter, when it's cold and rainy and there is a fire in the fireplace and I'm drinking this shake instead of having a hot cocoa!

 

 

Easy Ricotta Dessert Creme

Years ago when the South Beach Diet was all the rage I bought many of their cookbooks. The first "phase" of the diet had a wonderful little dessert that I made quite a bit....ricotta cheese with a bit of non-sugar sweetener, some vanilla extract and chopped nuts. It was a great way to get rid of that sweet craving after dinner without too much damage (i.e. too much sugar or calories).

I still make that little dessert every once in a while, but since it was in the first phase of the program, fruit wasn't allowed so I never added it. I had a 'duh' moment when I saw this recipe in the Plugged In cookbook by Lara Brody...just add fruit to the mix to make a quick dessert!

I don't know about you, but I always seem to have a bit of leftover ricotta cheese after I've made some recipe...this is a great little way to use it up.

EASY RICOTTA DESSERT CREME

1 cup ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons honey

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

2 to 3 drops pure almond extract, to your taste

Fresh berries of your choice

Place all the ingredients except the berries in a blender, cover, and blend on medium speed until smooth. Refrigerate for 1 hour, then spoon over the berries and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Note: I added fresh peaches to the blueberries instead of using all berries. I used all 3 drops of the almond extract.

Note: I was lazy and didn't bother putting everything in a blender. I just mixed it well by hand. I had no problem with the texture.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Since I wasn't interested in making tarts for Flag Day during the A Strawberry A Day challenge last month, I figured I'd make some cupcakes. I'd had such good luck with the Mocha Cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes cookbook, I checked to see if it included some sort of strawberry type cupcake. Martha didn't disappoint.

These cupcakes came out very light and with enough strawberry flavor that you tasted the strawberries but it wasn't overly sweet. Though I didn't top them with Martha's recommended Strawberry Meringue Buttercream (I used a cream cheese recipe I found online that included fresh berries), the combination of the cake, frosting and strawberries made for a delicious dessert after a heavy meal. I really enjoyed these. They went well the next day with some tea so I'm thinking I may have to make these next time I have a tea party.

These weren't that complicated to make (some of the cupcakes in the book can take a ton of time and energy to complete) and the result was better than most of the more expensive cupcakes I've bought at fancy cupcake stores.

 

STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES
(from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 large whole eggs plus 1 egg white
1 cup milk
2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries (about 20)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add whole eggs and the white, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until well combined. Fold in chopped strawberries by hand.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto rack and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 1 day at room temperature in airtight containers. Makes 34 cupcakes.

Note: She gave instructions to frost with a pastry bag to make a nice peak of frosting and then to add thinly sliced strawberries on top. Since I was traveling with these cupcakes I just frosted them flat and put a flag in the middle.

Will definitely make these again next year when fresh strawberries are in season.

A Strawberry A Day - June 27 - Strawberry Fools

Nice little quick dessert that I can put together anytime I have any strawberries on hand.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Monday June 27, 2011

Beat the Monday blues with a quick dessert; Try the 10-minute berry-chocolate fools on page 120.

This actually was pretty quick to put together. I think if I ever made this again, I wouldn't even bother measuring anything. Basically you just macerate some berries in sugar, add some melted chocolate to sweetened whip cream, layer and you have dessert.

BERRY-CHOCOLATE FOOLS

Toss 1 quart quartered strawberries with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar in a bowl. Beat 1 cup heavy cream with 2 tablespoons confectioner's sugar until soft peaks form. Melt 2 ounces finely chopped semisweet chocolate in the microwave and cool slightly; fold into the whipped cream. Layer the cream and berries in glasses.

Note: I used semisweet chocolate chips in this and didn't bother to finely chop them. The photo of the dessert in the Food Network Magazine seemed to have more swirls of chocolate (almost like they never mixed the chocolate with the whipped cream) so they either poured the chocolate between layers or really didn't mix it into the cream at all.

This was a great use of the last of some almost-passed-their-prime strawberries and some leftover chocolate chips. I enjoyed this but I think Mr. L, who for some reason has basically sworn off strawberries of late, had the last word...he wanted to know if there were seconds...which means it must have been good.

A Strawberry A Day - June 17 - Strawberry Ice Pops

I know I have some really nice Tupperware Popsicle molds somewhere in my garage but when I looked of course I couldn't find them. I knew I could just use some dixie cups but I wanted that old time look to the pops. Thus I made a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond to see what they had.  I came across several inexpensive types of molds and bought a couple of different ones to work with.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Friday June 17, 2011

Make Ice Pops for the weekend: Puree 4 cups berries, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup orange juice; freeze in pop molds.

Couldn't be simpler to do. Next time I might add a bit more sugar (again, strawberries from Farmers Market weren't very sweet). Except for not being sweet enough for me, these were a nice little after dinner treat on a warm summer day.

You'll notice the strange pop mold here, It came in a "four part" container and has "sippy straws" so that as the juice melts into the handle you can sip the liquid. Kinda thought that was cool. It cost around three bucks. Bed Bath and Beyond near us had at least four different shapes (though mostly geared towards kids) of pop molds (even push up pop molds which I remember from my childhood). I also, with the last leftover puree I had, added some to a few dixie cups and stuck a popsicle stick in them so I wouldn't waste the leftovers.

The molds I bought that I thought I would be showing you in todays post, didn't make it past the censors. See, they were "missile pop" shaped. And while taking the photo I noticed that they just seemed like a big red, er, "not safe for a family blog" form, if you get my drift....

A Strawberry A Day - June 15 - Strawberry Breakfast Shortcake

Todays A Strawberry A Day dish for June was making a strawberry shortcake for breakfast.

FOOD NETWORK INSTRUCTIONS:

Wednesday June 15, 2011

Have a strawberry shortcake for breakfast: Fill a split corn muffin with sweetened ricotta, honey and sliced strawberries.

Not bad having dessert for breakfast. The corn muffins I had were a bit sweet. I added just a bit of sugar to the ricotta and drizzled this with a bit of special honey I bought from Filoli Gardens (which had somewhat of a flowery taste). Alas, the strawberries I used weren't sweet enough for me, I wish I had maybe let them sit with some brown sugar for a bit before adding them to this dish.

But again, dessert for breakfast was perfect on a hectic day!