Easy Mini-Apple Pie

Santa was very good to me this year.  One of his hits was a coveted set of Le Creuset Mini Round Cocottes.  I put them to good use immediately to create a yummy Christmas dessert.  These can be made in any small bakeware.

Easy Mini-Apple Pies

(makes 2)

1 sheet defrosted puff pastry

1 large red apple, chopped

1/8 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 tbs butter, cut into chunks

1 tbs butter, melted

Allspice

2 tbs maple syrup 

Fresh whipped cream (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine the apple, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Stir well.  Divide into baking dishes.  Top with cold butter.

3.  Cut the puff pastry large enough to hang over sides of baking dish.  Place on top off dishes and crimp dough along the edges of the dish.

4.  Baste the pastry tops with melted butter.  Sprinkle with allspice.  Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

5.  Remove from oven.  Crack shell in the middle and pour one tablespoon maple syrup into each pie.  Top with whipped cream and enjoy.

Kahlua Butter Cream Frosting

This past weekend, my dad celebrated his 62nd birthday. We held a surprise party Friday night and a family dinner Saturday night, complete with ten pounds of clams, a shrimp salad with a homemade blue cheese dressing, and parmesan garlic toast. My mom really dusted off her cooking skills for the family dinner. I wanted to lighten her load and make dessert. Seeing as how there was a birthday and all, I made a devil's food cake, my father's favorite.

Butter cream frosting was the natural compliment, seeing as how my father loves butter creams. Apparently, so does my husband. Once the mixture was set aside to cool, I couldn't keep him out of the butter cream mixture. He must have ate two cups of the final product. I married a sugar fiend. The kahlua adds a wonderful coffee flavor to the frosting, but you can use orange extract, almond extract, bourbon, coconut extract, and so on.

Kahlua Butter Cream Frosting

8 egg yolks

2/3 cup sugar

4 tbs kahlua

3 sticks butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla

1. In a double boiler over boiling water, combine the egg yolks, sugar, and kahlua. Whisk until the mixture becomes thick and has a pale, even color (5-10 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool.

2. In a mixer bowl, combine the butter and vanilla. Mix with the electric mixer until the butter is very fluffy.

3. Slowly incorporate the kahlua mixture into the butter. Mix until well blended. The frosting is now ready to use.

All Purpose Caramel Sauce

My kitchen seems to be constantly sticky as I make batch after batch of this stuff for gifts. I've drizzled it over sliced apples and topped those with warm, toasted almonds to create easy caramel apples for a work shin-dig. I've slathered a gift cheesecake with the stuff. On top of brownies, over a banana split...Caramel sauce makes everything better.

Caramel Sauce

makes three 6 ounce jars

3 cups white sugar

3/4 cup water

12 ounces heavy cream

3 tsp lemon juice

2 tbs pure vanilla extract

3 tbs butter

1. Place a two quart pot over medium heat. When warm, add the sugar and water. Stir until well combined.

2. Let the combination simmer but not boil, for 30 minutes or until the sugar looks like a dark, golden amber. Do not stir! Every five minutes, gently swirl the pot around.

3. When the sauce has turned color, turn the heat very low. Add the cream. It will bubble like crazy. Stir very well but do not try to stir in the stuff that has hardened around the sides. This stuff is basically rock candy and will only make your sauce chunky.

4. Add the lemon juice and vanilla. Keep stirring until well combined.

5. Remove from heat. Over a bowl or Pyrex measuring cup, strain the sauce using a fine-mesh sieve. Stir the butter into the bowl until melted.

If you are giving these away as gifts, you can put the sauce into the small glass canning jars and a) run them through a hot water bath to make the lid pop down for presentation purposes or b) just put the lid on because it has to go into the fridge either way.

For home use, I just stick it in a squeeze bottle and try to keep myself away from the apples.

This sauce will keep for about a month well-refrigerated.

Mango Papaya Goodness

My mom stopped by recently and said, "You're looking slim!" Those words were enough to make me fall down and kiss her feet. Not really, but they did confirm what I already knew...Smoothies are waaaaaay better for you than ice cream.

Since I've been on my "smoothie a day" kick, I've noticed a marked improvement in my digestion and energy level. I've also determined that almost anything can be blended into something wonderful-tasting.

Tropical Fruit Smoothie

1/2 papaya, deseeded and scooped out

2 mangoes, skin and pit removed

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup orange juice

1. Put everything into the blender and blend until mostly combined.

2. Add ice to the top. Blend until smooth.

3. Enjoy the taste of the tropics. Try not think about how far the fruit travelled.

Caramel Corn

I had a terrible sweet tooth last night. Caramel corn seemed like the only answer which was quite surprising as I haven't made caramel corn in almost a decade. This recipe doesn't keep...you'll have bowl of concrete if you let it sit overnight. I suggest that you pop in a good movie, gather the family around the popcorn bowl, and eat every last bite.

Caramel Corn

3/4 cup corn kernels, popped (I like to filter out kernels that don't pop)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup honey

1 stick butter

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla (I like Madagascar Bourbon vanilla)

1. Put the popped corn into a large, paper grocery bag. Set aside.

2. In a 2 quart microwave safe bowl, plop in the brown sugar, honey, and butter. Microwave on high for two minutes. Stir. Repeat twice. Sugar should be dissolved.

3. Remove from microwave and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

4. Pour the topping over the popcorn. Wrap the top tight and shake well for a minute or two.

5. Microwave the entire bag on high for two more minutes. Remove and pour into a bowl.

I like to eat the corn after it has sat around for about 30 minutes and has had a chance to cool down.

Baklava Petals

This is another treat prepared for my friend's wedding. With Greece being a stop on their Mediterranean honeymoon, baklava was a natural addition. While it looks complicated, it is actually quite easy and can be completed in about 1.5 hours.

I needed a way to deliver single serving pieces that wouldn't require utensils and also wouldn't leave my guests with sticky hands and determined that mini-phyllo cups were the solution.

My father, a lifelong baklava hater, scarfed down 17 of them after being coerced into trying one. He described them as, "light, flaky, and missing the overwhelming sweetness of most baklava". If Mikey liked them, so will you.

Baklava Petals

makes about 120

Cup Ingredients and Instructions:

1 package phyllo, thawed
1 stick butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease mini-muffin cups.
2. Wet a clean kitchen towel. Ring it out so it is just damp. Fold in half and place near your workspace. Remove phyllo from package. Place sheets between the towel halves.
3. Remove a sheet and place it on a cutting board.
4. With a brush, drip some of the butter across the phyllo sheet. Working gently, spread the butter out until most of the sheet, especially the edges, has been lightly coated.
5. Place a new phyllo sheet on top. Repeat steps until there are 7 sheets stacked. Do not butter the final sheet.
6. Smooth your hand over the sheets, lightly pressing them together.
7. With a pizza roller, cut the phyllo into squares (about four fingers wide).
8. Press the squares into the muffin cups and bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in the tins. Keep oven on.

Syrup Ingredients and Instructions:

2.5 cups of sugar

1/2 cup warm water

Juice of one lemon

A few strips of zest from the lemon

4 cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

2 tbs rosewater

1. Combine syrup ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil.

2. Stir to dissolve the sugar.

3. Reduce heat and simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

4. Remove from heat and strain out solids. Set syrup aside to cool.

Filling Ingredients and Instructions:

1 lb walnuts, finely chopped

6 tbs sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

a pinch of cardamom

1. In a large bowl, stir together filling ingredients.

2. Spoon filling into phyllo cups to their natural fill line.

3. Bake at 350 F for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and pour a bit of the syrup over the tops.

5. Remove finished baklava from mini-muffin tins about 3 minutes after the syrup has been poured on top. Any more than that, the syrup will cool too much and you'll have to break your cups out of the tins.

6. Put into individual muffin cups or just serve as is.

Dessert Snapshot - Lime Coconut Cake

With loads of leftover fresh coconut leftover from making coconut milk, I set out for something to do with all that coconut meat. Fortunately, my favorite blogger had recently posted an excellent option, lime coconut cake. As it is a very dense, rich cake, I suggest serving small slices much unlike the one pictured here.

The recipe can be found halfway down this page on Loving Rice.

Dessert Snapshot - Flip-Over Apple Cake

This is another wonderful recipe from Dishing Up Vermont. Recently, I have been reading a lot about the history of the apple. With apples on my mind, and a desire to make something warm, I embarked on an apple cake. I modified the recipe by using some brown sugar in place of white sugar. I wish that I would have substituted more but am recording the recipe as I made it. This cake is so terribly simple that, while it baked, I whipped up some ginger spiced pecans and molasses whipped cream to finish the cake with. David thought it was so good, he was unapologetic about seconds.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the baking pan

4 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 cup white sugar

1 tbs brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Generously grease the bottom and sides of a cake pan.

2. Melt the butter over a medium flame. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

3. Toss the apples with the cinnamon and brown sugar.

4. Place the apples in overlapping, concentric circles on the bottom of the cake pan. Make a second layer as necessary.

4. Sift the white sugar and the flour into a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the egg and melted butter just until combined. Fold in the walnuts and continue to mix until smooth.

5. Pour batter evenly over apples.

6. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for 45 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

7. Let cool in the pan, on a wire rack, for 15 minutes.

8. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake onto a serving plate.

7. Serve with whipped cream, ice cream, or other toppings as you desire.

Dessert Snapshot - Peach Pie

It's peach season here in Utah and the local peaches are plump, juicy, and sweet. David's been begging me to make peach anything, preferably cobbler. However, I'm a pie crust master. If I am going to make anything, I'm going to make sure that it includes my crust. David ended up lucking out, though. You see, the neighborhood bishop lives behind us and his wife adores me. She talks to me over the fence for hours about gardening and about our common garden enemy, the raccoon. This translates into delicious baked goods. Not only did she give us a whole loaf of fresh baked whole wheat bread, she also gave David a big scoop of her peach cobbler right when it came out of the oven. Needless to say, David spent yesterday in dessert heaven. It was well deserved payment for all the hard work he put into prepping the yard for winter.