Honey Apple Pie

So my mum was visiting for a few weeks and stocked us up with fresh apples and awesome cider. A great way to move into a new house, if you ask me. She bought a bag of fancy Macs and utilitarian Macs. Well, why go through the trouble of buying utilitarian Macs if you're not planning to make a pie, right? So we got into the new house and decided, on our second day, to do just that. But I had neglected to pick up any sugar or brown sugar. All we had was some raw honey. So, we looked up the exchange and decided to kind of just wing it.

Woah.

This pie has a distinctive taste--it's definitely honey in there--and is not too sweet. We didn't have any cinnamon, so we made do with only a bit of nutmeg. The honey seemed to really bring that flavor out! It was great! Like I said, we made it with McIntosh apples, but we saw some people had made something similar with Granny Smiths which are very tart. (Although, they also had brown sugar in theirs, so that would sweeten it up quite a bit.)

I started out with this crust recipe--which is the only one I ever use. It's the best, quite frankly. And sorry, no pictures! I was too excited!

Ingredients:
6 to 8 medium McIntosh apples, peeled and sliced
1 c. raw honey (if it's not raw, it's more runny, so maybe do a bit less than a cup, but not much)
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. flour
butter

Directions:
1. Make crust. Preheat oven to 425.
2. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients except butter together. (I let mine sit while I roll out my pie crust so the flavors can blend a bit.)
3. Pour into pie shell. Dot with a few small tabs of butter. Top with top crust and cut some vents in the top. Cut and seal the edges.
4. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40 to 50 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Whoopie Pie Classics

This recipe is a recipe (I've indicated my variations), I found on allrecipes.com. The cookies are excellent and easy and the filling is light and fluffy and not too sweet. I've also made them as red velvet whoopie pies by adding a 1 oz. bottle (or more) of red food coloring. This yields about 3 dozen whoopie pies.

COOKIE -

1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sour milk (I use plain yogurt)
4 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa)
1 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water
2 tsp. baking soda

FILLING -
1 1/2 cups shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tbs. vanilla extract
2 egg whites, beaten (I use reconstituted powdered egg whites)

DIRECTIONS -
1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F. Cover cookie sheets with parchment.
2. Make cookies. In large bowl cream shortening and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla and yogurt. In separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and salt. Sift together with a whisk and stir into shortening mixture. Dissolve baking soda in hot water and gradually add to shortening mixture until thoroughly combined. Drop onto prepared pans using a medium-sized cookie scoop.
3. Bake in oven 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
4. Prepare filling. Cream together shortening, powdered sugar, and flour until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk and vanilla until well mixed. Fold in egg whites.
5. To assemble whoopie pies, put 1-2 tablespoons of filling on a cookie and top with another cookie.

These are best if individually wrapped and refrigerated to set up the filling, but are delicious at any time!

First Apple Pie of the Season

It just doesn't seem like fall until I make an apple pie. It's funny, 'cause it's not even the first pie I think of when people ask, "what pie reminds you most of fall?" The answer to that would be pumpkin. And other pies trump apple in other seasons: winter is mincemeat, spring isn't pie at all--it's blueberry cheesecake--and summer is strawberry-rhubarb pie. And yet, a good apple pie--though humble and "ordinary"--is awfully hard to beat. And it's funny, 'cause I always forget that until I make one and take a bite out of it. Like this one I just made. I dipped into a piece of that warm apple pie with a pinch of ice cream on the tip of my fork and popped that in my mouth and I thought, "Man! Apple pie is so dang GOOD!"

I have no picture yet of this particular pie--mostly because when I put the top crust on part of the lettering stuck to the countertop. It was going to be so cute, too! *sigh* I guess I'll have to make another. Poor me. Poor husband! Poor dinner guests.

This is mostly my mum's apple pie filling, plus the cloves. And as a general rule, I do not measure out my spices. I just shake them in until I think it's going to taste good. (This usually results in more spices.)

Mum's Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients:
6 c. apples, peeled and sliced (about 6-8 whole apples)
2/3-3/4 c. sugar
2 T. flour
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
dash of salt

Directions:
1. Mix apples and sugar. Let sit 30 minutes. (This is just about how long it will take for you to make your crust made and rolled out.)
2. Mix with other ingredients and let sit 5 minutes. (Enough time for you to roll out a top crust and cut out a design.)
3. Dish into prepared pie shell. Lay top crust and brush with milk.
4. Bake at 425 for about 45 minutes.

Mrs. Powell's Pie Crust

This recipe makes a lot--between four and five separate crusts (two double-crust pies and one one-crust pie with the leftovers). So it's great when you have a lot of pies to make at once (can you say THANKSGIVING?!) Otherwise you may want to divide it in half.

Pie Crust:

4 c. flour

1 tsp. salt

1 Tblsp. sugar

2 c. shortening

1 c. cold water (you may need a little more)

1. Mix salt, sugar, and flour. Cut in shortening. Add water and blend together with a fork until all dough is moist.

2. Turn out on floured surface (dough may not be holding together very well yet, but with kneading, it will). Knead five or six times. (The less you handle the dough the more tender the crust will be.)

3. Divide into four pieces; each will make a separate pie crust.

Four a double-crust pie, I recommend cutting out the vents in the top before putting the top crust on. It makes it a lot easier! Brush with egg wash or milk (I use milk). You may also sprinkle with a little sugar to give it a bit of a sparkly look.

Mincemeat Pie

This is Nana Conner's mincemeat pie recipe, and it is dang good. For those of you who aren't familiar with mincemeat, I will warn you it is an intense flavor, and as for making it, it takes quite a bit of chopping. If you have a blender though, you can do it without a grinder, which is what I did.

This is cut WAY down--enough to make one pie. It also makes it kind of hard to give exact amounts on some things, but here are approximations (without a grinder):

1 c. cooked beef (NOT ground beef; I used some steak cuts)

2 c. apples (about two good-sized braeburns)

1/3 c. suet (just ask for it at the butcher's), cut into slices and blended fine in blender

about 1/2 lb. raisins, blended in a blender (they don't need to be as fine as the meat)

Cut the beef into small strips and shred in a blender. Dice the apples fine. (These two steps take the longest, but after that it's pretty easy.) Mix together in a large mixing bowl with the suet and raisins.

Mix with:

about 1/3 c. vinegar

1 T. molasses

Sprinkle in:

cloves

nutmeg

allspice

ginger

cinnamon

1 c. sugar

salt

I just sprinkled and stirred, sprinkled and stirred until it smelled like mincemeat.

Cook all together in large, deep skillet until apples are tender but not mushy.

You can can it for months I guess, but since I just made enough for one pie, I put it into jars and let it sit in the fridge for about a week like Aunt Rinda said to. It came out great!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

We love whoopie pies--who doesn't? Ever since Mal had a pumpkin whoopie pie when she worked in Bar Harbor, I've searched for a good recipe, but never found one until this. It's wonderful! This recipe is taken from http://www.familyfun.com/.

PUMPKIN CAKES:
2 eggs
2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

FILLING/CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar

Instructions:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the eggs, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture a half cup at a time, blending each time until smooth.
Drop a heaping tablespoon of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, using a moist finger or the back of a spoon to slightly flatten each mound. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar a half cup at a time, until the frosting is spreadable.
To assemble the pies, turn half of the cookies bottom side up and spread a generous amount of cream cheese frosting on each one. Top them with the remaining cookies (turned right side up). Makes 2 dozen whoopie pies.

The Best Cherry Pie Ever

Can she bake a cherry pie? Yup! I'll warn you right now that if you use this recipe you'll never buy another can of cherry pie filling in your life!

1 1/2 cups sugar (use only 1 cup if you wish)
3 T cornstarch
2 [14.5 oz.] cans red tart pie cherries (fruit packed in water--NOT pie filling)
1/4 tsp. red food coloring (opt.)
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 T butter
2 crusts for a 9" pie

Preheat oven to 400. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from one can. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and half of the sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Remove from heat. Gently stir in remaining sugar, cherries, extract, and food coloring. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Dot with butter. Adjust top crust, seal and vent. Bake 45 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble through the vents in top crust. (This is important--if it isn't bubbling through the vents a little it won't be thickened up enough.) If necessary, you can cover the edges with foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning of the crust. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack before slicing.

Pecan Pie

Does anybody really like any other kind of pie, or do they just say other kinds to be different? Be truthful world! Pecan is King! Here's another label recipe this time from the Karo syrup bottle. I always look for the recipe that uses the most pecans. :)

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup--light or dark
2 T butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups pecans
1 (9-inch) unbaked deep-dish pie crust

Preheat oven to 350. Mix sugar and eggs together. Add corn syrup, butter and vanilla, stirring until blended. Stir in pecans and pour into pie crust.
Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted 1" from edge comes out clean. (This is the classic test for doneness in this type of pie, but when you see that it's puffed up all the way across, it's done.) Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

My oldest daughter's favorite. We can't get fresh rhubarb where we live, but by this time of year it would be frozen anyway even if we could. Don't overdo it on the sugar--a little tartness is good!

3 cups rhubarb, cut up
2 cups strawberries, sliced
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 egg
1 T butter
pastry for a 9" double crust pie

Mix sugar, flour, and egg together. Stir in rhubarb and strawberries until well coated. Turn out into pastry-lined pan and dot with a butter, then cover with other pastry. Make slits for steam to escape. Bake in a preheated oven at 450 for 15 minutes, then turn oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Pineapple Pie

My mother-in-law always made this pie and it's the easiest of the easy.

Ingredients:
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. sugar
2 T cornstarch
a dash of salt
1 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, undrained
Pastry for a 9" two-crust pie

Directions:
Mix all of the ingredients together except pastry. Pour everything into an unbaked pie shell cover with the top crust. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. That's it!

ONE-PIE NEW ENGLAND PUMPKIN PIE

This is my favorite pumpkin pie recipe and it comes from the back of the One-Pie Pumpkin can. I've often thought I should put together a cookbook called "The Back of The Box Recipes"--they're some of the best!

Ingredients:

1 cup Sugar

1 tbsp. Cornstarch

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Ginger

1/2 tsp. Nutmeg

1/2 tsp. Salt (Scant)

1 can ONE-PIE Pumpkin (or any 16 oz. canned solid-pack pumpkin)

2 Eggs (beaten)

1/2 tbsp. Butter (Melted)

1/8 cup Moasses

1 1/2 cups Milk or 1-12 oz. can Evaporated Milk

Directions:
Sift Sugar, Cornstarch, Salt, Cinnamon, Ginger, & Nutmeg together. Mix this with contents of one can ONE-PIE Pumpkin. Add Eggs, beaten, Melted Butter, Molasses, & Milk. Add a dash of Lemon Juice (if desired--I do not). Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry dough, pour in contents. Preheat oven & bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Then reduce temp. to 350 & continue to bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack.

Pie Crust with Butter

This pie crust comes out light and flaky. The key is to make sure the butter is very cold and the dough doesn't get over-kneaded.

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. salt
1 t. sugar
1 c. diced butter (COLD)
1/2 c. icy water

1. Mix the flour, salt, and sugar together. Add the butter and mix until rough crumbles form. Add water and mix until dough doesn't quite hold together.
2. Turn contents out onto lightly floured surface. Knead until dough just holds a ball form. Wrap well, and put in fridge for 30 min.-1 hr.
3. Take dough out just before use. Roll out on large sheet of waxed paper to avoid excess flour in the dough, which will cause it to be tough.

Yield: 2 pie crusts

Whoopie Pies

A real New England treat--the easy way. Make sure to cool the cookies completely before filling and wrapping.

Preheat oven to 350.

Cookies:

1 cake mix (any chocolate or devil's food)

1 3 oz. package of instant chocolate pudding

Prepare cake mix according to directions on box, but using 3/4 cup of water instead of listed amount. Beat 1 minute. Add instant pudding and beat 1 more minute.

Using a small cookie scoop, place cookies on parchment-lined pan about 2" apart. Bake at 350 for 14 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched. Let set on pan 1 minute, then remove to rack to cool.

Filling:

5 Tbs. flour

1 cup milk

1 cup white sugar

1 cup shortening

2 tsp. vanilla (try substituting 1/2 a cup or so of peanut butter--YUM!)

In a medium bowl, beat filling ingredients except shortening. Add shortening and beat until fluffy--about 5 minutes.

Spoon a dollop (I love that word) of filling onto a cooled cookie and top with another cookie a la the picture. (Just a web picture, but they look just the same.)

Whoopie pies should be wrapped in plastic wrap and refridgerated--if they make it that far!

Really Easy Truffles

I've been meaning to post this since February, but just haven't gotten around to it. Mike and I had a little V-day dinner date and made these for our dessert. They're so easy! Also, it makes a lot, so you'll want to try it out like this before you try to double it.

Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
3 c. confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 c. semisweet chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until well blended. Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla until no streaks remain Refrigerate for about one (1) hour. Shape into 1-inch balls.

We rolled ours in chopped nuts, confectioners' sugar, and cocoa. You could also of course, flavor them with any kind of extract (mint, almond, etc.) and dip them in hardening chocolate.

Rhubarb Crunch

Jym sent me a package with a big bag of rhubarb in it. I immediately called up Grammy Alexa to get the recipe. She's never tried this particular one, and it's still cooling on my stovetop, but it looks like it came out great! It's not a crumble-top recipe, so it's probably more like lemon squares.

Ingredients and Directions:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter, softened
Large T. confectioner's sugar

Combine to make crust. Press into 8" by 8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

2 eggs, well-beaten
1 1/2 c. sugar
2/3 t. baking powder
1/2 c. flour
Dash of salt
2 c. chopped rhubarb
Strawberries, if desired. (This is almost always going to be desired, so it's more like, "if available.")

Mix to make filling. Pour into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes.