Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Apple Fritters


 I made Pioneer Woman's Apple Fritter's the other day...they were a huge hit with everyone and were eaten as fast as I could make them!  I recommend them to everyone and my own personal suggestion is to roll them in cinnamon and sugar as shown here and serve them with a custard dipping sauce!
 





Find the recipe HERE

Monday, October 18, 2010

Spiced Apples and Dumplings

Spiced Apples and  Dumplings


My father brought over about 10-15 pounds of Arkansas Black apples the other day and I am still working my way through them!  I had an old recipe laying around that I had made a long time ago, from Joy The Baker, that used berries and so I decided to play around with it and adapt it to use with apples.  I kept the dumpling recipe the same, except I doubled it.  The apples are reminiscent of apple pie filling, except with a thick juicy sauce for the dumplings to cook in.


  

Peel your apples, I peeled and sliced mine into a solution of water and Fruit Fresh, but lemon juice and water would work too!  Drain before using apples.


Cook your apples until fork tender....not all the way tender because they still have to cook with the dumplings and you don't want them mushy.


 I used a scoop to portion out the cookie dough (a Pampered Chef size medium). The I sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar.


 The cooked dumplings kind of mush together but are easy to separate for serving.



 These apples and dumplings would be amazing with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or maybe a drizzle of caramel sauce (or both) but I like to keep things simple!


Spiced Apples and Dumplings


Adapted from Joy the Baker 

 10-12 medium apples (I had a few large thrown in too), peeled, cored and sliced thin
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/4 cups apple cider (I used Simply Apple juice)

2 cups all-purpose flour (level cups)
4 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

2 tablespoons sugar + 1 tsp. cinnamon
Wash, peel and core your apples, then slice them thin (like you would for a pie).  Place them in a deep heavy bottom pot (I used a dutch oven).  Mix the next 6 ingredients together and pour over apples in pot.  Toss to combine and then pour in the apple cider (or apple juice).  Cook over medium low heat until you can just pierce them with a fork and the liquid is bubbling and thick. (If it looks like there isn't enough liquid, add some more cider).  

In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in melted butter and buttermilk until a soft, moist dough forms. Portion out scoops of dough, (I think I fit about 10 in my dutch oven) and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the dumplings.  Cover with a tight-fitting, heavy lid or cover tightly with heavy duty foil. Cook 10-15 minutes or until dumplings are set and dry to the touch.  Serve warm.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Danish....Revisited

I made these little beauties the other day......they were so much better than my first attempt...much more flaky.  I made an assortment of blueberry (filled with my homemade blueberry jam) and also cherry and apple. These were snapped up almost immediately! 


 These were made from the same recipe I used previously over at Joe's Pastry.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Summer's Bounty

Wow, it's been a while since I posted, hasn't it? I haven't felt much like taking pictures and blogging while I bake this past summer but I'm hoping with the cool weather and the plethora of pumpkins and apples we have around here, I'll be able post more and more.

This past summer I canned cherry jam, blueberry jam, brandied cherries and concord grape jelly. The only one I took pictures of was the grape jelly, which I did in early September. Here are a few pics:


Half a Bushel of Concord Grapes from Tontitown, Arkansas


The grapes chopped up



Be sure to strain your grape juice or you'll have tartaric crystals in your jelly!




Cooking the strained grape juice into jelly!




And we have grape jelly! I think I ended up with somewhere around 10-12 half-pints!






Find the recipe I used here:

Grape Jelly

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Danishes and Snails: My First Attempt




I think it went pretty well!

This recipe came from Joe Pastry and it turned out absolutely perfect the very first try! I took his advice and very easily quadrupled the recipe and I still have 2 lbs in the freezer just begging to be rolled out and turned into more delicious pastries!

This isn't my first time working with laminated dough....I regular make croissants and pain au chocolate for my family but I've always wanted to make danish from scratch and I am just so surprised at how EASY it turned out to be! Joe Pastry is so amazingly clear and helpful that I am now a fan for life! I must admit, I cheated a little and used pie filling for the danishes but it was the flavor I like and wanted and they came out wonderfully. If you do the same, put the pie filling through and sieve and just used 3 -4 cherries per danish and 2-3 slices of apple and a small spoonful of the cherry or apple pie filling "juice". I doctored the apple pie filling up with some extra cinnamon and nutmeg as well. And the icing for both pastries was just powdered sugar, vanilla and a little hot water. For the snails I mixed in a little cocoa with the powdered sugar before I added the vanilla and hot water and it was perfect.

I sent this beautiful tray of Apple and Cherry Danishes and Chocolate Iced Chocolate Chip Snails over to the hospital for a lucky group of nurses and doctors and they all loved it. As a matter of fact a doctor wanted to PAY ME to make her some more! What a compliment!