Falling into Apples

There is a social media post challenging people to post something they hate that everyone else loves, have you seen it?

I think peanut butter and chocolate is one of the worst food combinations. I also think pumpkin spice is extremely over rated. Every time you turn around something that shouldn’t has pumpkin spice on the box!

During the fall months I would much rather a hot apple cider than a pumpkin spice latte. Give me apples and cinnamon over pumpkin any day!

I love salted caramel too – I have loved it for a long time – before it became a “fad” food. I also love it with apples and this Salted Caramel Apple Crumb pie is a winner!

Usually I like a double crust apple pie served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, but for this pie I wanted more texture to go with the salted caramel. A crumb topping was the way to go! I also chose to put the caramel on top of the crumb topping after the pie had cooked. I wanted to ensure the flavor would be prominent and to keep the bottom of the pie from being too soggy with extra moisture in the center.

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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil (trust me! Pies bubble over.)

Use your favorite pie crust recipe or a store bought crust. Place the pie crust into a deep dish pie plate. Crimp edges with your preferred method. I like using my fingers.

A batch of salted caramel either homemade or store bought. You can even use a jar of dulce de leche and add sea salt to taste. This will be added after the pie is done cooking.

7-8 good size apples of your favorite variety, peeled and sliced. Granny Smiths work really well because the tartness helps balance with the sweetness. Add sliced apples to a large bowl. Coat with 1/4 cup lemon juice. Add 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/4 AP flour, 1/4 tsp. salt and 1 1/2 tsp. apple pie spice. Mix well and pour into pie shell making sure to level the apple mixture.

In another large bowl add 1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1 cup of packed light brown sugar and 1/4 tsp. salt. Mix until all combined. Use hands to break up the crumble topping and place on top of the apple mixture.

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Bake for roughly one hour until crust and topping have browned and the juices from the pie a bubbling. If you need to cover the crust edges with foil to keep from over cooking and/or burning, do so.

Once cooked remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes before adding the salted caramel. The longer you let the pie cool the more the caramel will stay on top of the crumb topping and will be harder to spread – depending on your caramels consistency.

IMG_2358It smells so amazing when it is done! Salty, Sweet, Gooey, Crunchy goodness. My four favorite food groups covered! This fall favorite will be a great addition to your Thanksgiving desserts or just because!

Enjoy!

Crack is Whack!

14330005_541525546054478_6368766877253801155_nMost people associate this recipe with the holidays. Actually, I feel that a lot of people associate homemade baked goods with the holidays in general. Whether it be that holidays are special so people make homemade treats to spoil their loved ones or that we take a little more time around the holidays to do special things – like bake from scratch. This recipe is definitely in the top 15 of “What My Grandma Use To Make.”

This is a spin on “Christmas Crack” that uses saltines and sometimes nuts. This version uses honey graham crackers and toffee bits, along with the traditional butter, brown sugar and chocolate chips.

I stumbled across this version when the other half of my baking brain posted it on Twitter,14322483_541525449387821_271727704957805018_n and am I ever glad I did! This is such a quick and easy recipe. Six ingredients for this version – S-I-X! This and the fact that I almost always have these items in the house make it deadly, but I know how addicting it is … so I most likely share it each time I make it.

Speaking of sharing … this would be a perfect item to bring to a cookie swap or to make as part of a goodie platter. DO IT! You won’t regret it … unless you eat most of it, then you might!

Click here for the recipe from the original source.

Summer is approaching!

It has finally stopped being winter, but I best not say it too loud or it may snow again. It has happened before – that is, it has snowed in the summer before – this is Maine after all.

I was driving to work one morning after dropping my daughter off to school and noticed a homemade stand at the end of a drive way – RHUBARB for sale! I made a note to go back the next day and purchase some from this honor system stand. I love the tartness rhubarb brings to a dish. It is great for pies, jams and my all-time favorite – a church recipe book find – Rhubarb Jiffy Delight (you know the one! Rhubarb, strawberry Jell-O and cake mix dumped into a casserole dish).

My daughters are a huge fan of the old standby Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, so I decided I would treat them, along with my mother and grandmother, to this sweet, yet tart dessert over our long holiday weekend. I didn’t have a lot of time to make this so I opted for a store bought, refrigerated pie dough and I have no shame or apologies for doing so. I thought to make this pie a little more fancy I would do a lattice top instead, that way you can see the gorgeous filling! I also opted to use a non-tapioca recipe. I have used tapioca for many recipes – including my sour cherry bars, but the texture for me is always an issue. The recipe I used didn’t include tapioca, but did use light brown sugar as a sweetener which gave it a nice warm flavor, along with the cinnamon! It is definitely a keeper recipe!

Filling:
3 1/2 c. rough cut rhubarb (around 1/2 in thick)
3 1/2 c. hulled and halved strawberries (if you use frozen strawberries your pie will be juicier)
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tsp. cinnamon1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

13307268_492807374259629_9106570730030854361_nDirections:
Using a 9 in. deep pie plate,  put in bottom crust leaving around a 1/2 in. over hang. Mix all ingredients into a bowl and toss lightly to combine. Spoon filling into the pie plate. Roll out top crust larger than your pie plate to ensure you have enough strips for the lattice ( 12-14 needed). I rolled mine out on parchment and used a pizza cutter to cut my strips. I gently starting latticing being careful not to get the filling all over the top part of the strips. Once latticed, I gently tucked and rolled the edges of the top and bottom crust together, ever so gently pinching them to keep the rolled edge look. I brushed the top with an egg wash (1 egg and a tbsp. of water) to help it turn golden brown. I set this on a parchment lined baking sheet and cooked at 400 degrees F for 25 minutes and then reduced the heat to 350 degrees F and continued to cook for another 1 hour and 30 minutes or until it is golden brown and bubbling. You will want to let this sit until room temp. before cutting into and as with most pies – a scoop of vanilla ice cream tastes great with it! Enjoy!

Halloween Is Around The Corner

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Strawberry Shortcake

It is October and for our family that means several birthdays and Halloween. My girls love to dress up and role play. They play house, school, weddings – you name it they create it. I adore this about my girls. I am thrilled that my almost 12 year old plays young for her age. This is partially due to the fact that we sensor / shelter her from a lot of today’s media and partially due to being a big sister and best friend to her almost 8-year-old sister. Some days I am torn over this … am I sheltering her too much? These lingering questions all fade away when I see how advertising in today’s society is focusing on over-sexualizing EVERYTHING!

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Snow White and Cinderella

I am not a perfect parent, nor do I pretend to be. I do however pride myself in letting my girls be little kids. I am perfectly fine that they still think Miley Cyrus is in her “Hannah Montana” phase, that they play dolls and enjoy mothering them, and they enjoy a good princess and/or fairy movie.

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Tinker Bell and the White Witch of Narnia

Halloween has recently become a hard holiday for my oldest. She is in that in between stage with her body … not quite a child, but definitely not a teenager. She has never intentionally wanted to be anything at Halloween that is sexual, but as anyone who has ever “Googled” a Halloween costume can tell you – there is a sexy version of almost everything. Case in point – the Sexy Pizza Rat costume. Seriously! It exists. Now that she no longer fits in child size Halloween costumes, one would think that the teen costumes wouldn’t be risque, but that unfortunately isn’t the case. Most everything is low cut or too short. So we end up improvising.

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Cowgirl and Indian Princess

I love Halloween because it keeps my creativity flowing. I love creating either the costume itself or items to go with it. My oldest has really raised the bar at times with what she wants to be and if she wants me to make it. When she was too young to trick-or-treat I would do co-ordinating costumes for us and then go to my moms house and her other grandmothers house for photos. We have gone as Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin and Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts. As she got old enough to go trick-or-treating she has been going with her best friend. We get together as families and walk around the same neighborhood each year. We have a blast! Kailee has been princesses and animals, witches and more. My favorite one that I made was the White Witch of Narnia.

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Young Maleficent

So, as each Halloween rolls around, I hope that my kids still want to be kids and dress their age (and not just for Halloween). This year she is debating on being a peacock or Queen Susan from Narnia.

12065782_414331258773908_4098726853279398467_nEasy Monkey Bread
2 cans Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls
1 bag chopped pecans (optional)
10 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 c. light brown sugar
2/3 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon

12079125_414344275439273_7941216974119773686_nPreheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bunt pan or 2 loaf pans. Sprinkle pan with a handful of nuts if using. Put brown sugar and butter into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir to combined as butter melts. Once the butter starts to melt turn heat to low to keep the sugar from burning. Once the mixture is completely combined pour a few spoonfuls over the nuts. Set remaining sauce to the side. Unwrap cinnamon rolls (you won’t need the icing for this recipe). Cut each roll into four  pieces and set aside. Pour white sugar and cinnamon into a large Ziploc bag and shake to mix. Roll gently each piece of cinnamon roll and put into bag. Gently shake pieces to coat in C&S mixture. Place piece in pan to coat the bottom. Once you have a layer, add another layer of nuts and gently pour remaining C&S mixture over the pieces. Now mix your brown sugar and butter mixture and gently pour over the entire dish. Be careful as you need to give it time to drip into the empty spaces. Place dish on top of a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes. The dough will expand while baking so some pieces may jump ship from your dish if you are using loaf pans. The sugar will be extremely hot so make sure you wait a little before turning the dish out onto a serving plate or dish. 12096071_414344328772601_5296295506606273997_n