Classic Apple Pie

This is the first and only apple pie recipe I have ever used, from one of the first cookbooks I ever bought: Mrs Fields Cookie Book. It turns out great results every time, so I never bothered looking for another one. People like to complain about making pie crust, but I have literally never had a problem with this recipe. Note that like other recipes in this book it calls for salted butter.

Crust Ingredients

3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 c salted butter, chilled
6-8 Tbsp ice water
1 large egg, beaten
1 Tbsp sugar

Filling Ingredients

4 cups thinly sliced apples (4-6 peeled apples; you can use Granny Smith, Cortland, Macintosh, or other sturdy baking apples)
1 c white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 c salted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

Crust Steps
I use a food processor to make pie crust and always have. Cut in the butter using short pulses, and after you add the water let the processor run until it starts to come together.  

1. Mix flour and lemon zest together with a wire whisk in a medium bowl. 
2. With a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter until the dough resembles coarse meal. 
3. Add ice water and blend until the dough can be gathered. 
4. Divide dough in half and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or waxed paper. Chill for 1 hour or until firm. 

Pie Steps

1.  Combine sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch in a large bowl. 
2. Add the apples and stir until they are well coated with the sugar mixture. 
3. Preheat the oven to 400F. 
4. On a floured surface , use a floured rolling pin to roll out one piece of pie crust into a circle 11 inches in diameter. Place the crust in a pie plate. Trim excess dough if needed, leaving about 3/4" over the edge of the plate. 
5. Spoon in the filling. Sprinkle butter pieces on top (I have lately started skipping this step and can't taste any difference). 
6. Roll out the second piece of pie dough and place over the filled pie. Fold overhanging top crust over the bottom crust and crimp together (make it pretty if you want). 
7. Brush the top crust with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar (you can use white sugar or demerara). Cut steam slits in the crust. 
8. Place pie on center rack of oven and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the heat down to 350 and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove and allow to cool on a rack. 

Goes great with ice cream or whipped cream. 

Cinnamon Scones

I don't know how long I've had this recipe or where it came from originally; I grabbed it from the old Cooking Light community forum. (RIP, my favorite Internet sites of the 00s.) I do know that it has been a favorite here ever since it debuted. These are so good that I very rarely make other scones. I make them in a food processor up through adding the cinnamon chips; it makes cutting in the butter very easy.

They have whole wheat flour and oatmeal; they're practically healthy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter - cut into pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients until the dough is crumbly. Fold in the cinnamon chips. Add the buttermilk and stir lightly until the dough comes together to form a ball. Don't overwork the dough.
3. On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into a large circle about 2 inches thick. Cut the dough into wedges with a knife; do not separate the wedges. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. (Or you can do what I do, and just form the circle right on the baking sheet, because moving it afterward is a huge pain.)
4. Transfer dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 22 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned.
5. After cooling, separate wedges with a serrated knife.

makes 8 scones

Chicken Tikka Masala

A new recipe we tried this week, this is easy as advertised and absolutely delicious! Note that you can adjust the amount of cayenne to taste; I used 1 tsp, and it was about as hot as I find comfortable. Great on a cold Boston night.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 to 2 teaspoons ground cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large white onion diced
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup heavy cream
15 ounces tomato sauce
2 large chicken breasts
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Combine all spices together in a small bowl. 
2. Add the diced onion and butter to a large pot over medium heat and cook until onions are translucent, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes. 
3. Add garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently so as not to burn. Add more butter if needed. 
4. Add half of the spice mixture and stir to combine. 
5. Add tomato sauce, heavy cream, and the remaining spices and stir to combine.
6. Continue to cook over medium-low heat until sauce thickens, stirring frequently,10-15 minutes.
7. While the sauce is cooking, slice chicken breasts into two filets each, creating four equally sized pieces, season the chicken with salt and pepper.
8. Add vegetable oil to a large pan and cook the chicken breasts over medium heat until golden brown on both sides and the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F. 
9. Chop the chicken into chunks and add it to the sauce, then let lightly simmer for a couple of minutes. 
10. Serve over basmati rice with naan.

New England Molasses Gingerbread Cookies

Another standard member of my repertoire ever since it was published, lo these many years ago. These are, quite frankly, amazing, and the recipe is large. I usually only make one batch of these every holiday season, and dole out a few in every box of cookies I give away.

They freeze very well, although be careful of the shapes you choose if you're planning to do that -- I love making these in snowflake shapes, but they tend to lose a point or two. 

Here is a link to the source.

Cookie Ingredients

6 cups (about) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons water
1 teaspoon baking soda

Icing Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Water
Food coloring (optional)
Decorations (such as colored sugar crystals)

Instructions
These are the original instructions, to which I have only added numbers for readability. Personally, I do not fuss around with waxed paper, nor do I have the fridge space to tuck sheets of cookies away while they await their turn in the oven. My cookies have never seemed to suffer for this shoddy treatment.

1. Combine 5 1/4 cups flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in medium bowl; whisk to blend well. 
2. Using electric mixer, beat butter and shortening in large bowl to blend. 
3. Add 1 cup sugar, molasses, and lemon peel and beat until smooth. 
4. Beat in egg and buttermilk. 
5. Stir 2 teaspoons water and baking soda in small cup to blend; beat into butter mixture. 
6. Beat in flour mixture in 2 additions. Stir in more flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until slightly firm dough forms. 
7. Divide dough into 3 equal parts. Shape each into disk. Wrap disks and chill until firm enough to roll, at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Soften slightly before rolling out.)
8. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between sheets of waxed paper to 16x12-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting paper to smooth out wrinkles. Using 4- to 5-inch cutters, cut out boy and girl gingerbread people. Pull away excess dough around cutouts; flatten, wrap, and chill excess dough. Slide rimless baking sheet or inverted baking sheet under waxed paper with cutouts and chill until firm. Repeat with remaining dough disks, refrigerating cutouts on waxed paper on baking sheets. Roll out excess dough and make more cookies, using all of dough. (Cutout cookies can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; keep chilled.)
9. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Using thin metal spatula, lift chilled cookies off waxed paper and transfer to baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until darker at edges and just firm to touch in center, about 12 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely. Bake remaining cookies, 1 sheet at a time.

For icing:

1. Sift powdered sugar into medium bowl. 
2. Mix in lemon juice and corn syrup. Mix in enough water by teaspoonfuls to form smooth icing soft enough to pipe but firm enough to hold shape. Divide into 3 or 4 portions and tint with food coloring, if desired.
3. Spoon icing into pastry bag (or bags if using more than 1 color) fitted with small (1/16- to 1/8-inch) plain tip. Arrange cookies on work surface. Pipe icing onto cookies in desired patterns. Apply decorations as desired. Let cookies stand until icing is dry. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Store cookies airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

Hello! I've been neglecting this space lately, but since it's the holidays and I always make this recipe, I thought it would be nice to post here. Unfortunately I don't remember where it came from -- Bon Appetit, probably, it's from a time in my life when I used that a lot.

Sweet and Spicy Nuts

1 C sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 large egg white
6 C unsalted nuts - walnuts, pecans, natural almonds, cashews

1. Preheat to 325. Grease 2 jelly roll pans,
2. In small bowl, stir first 5 ingredients together. In large bowl, with wire whisk, beat egg white until foamy. Stir nuts into egg white. Add sugar mixture; toss until nuts are thoroughly coated.
3. Divide nuts between jelly roll pans, spreading evenly. Bake 25-27 minutes or until golden brown and dry, stirring twice. (Check on them, you may need to rotate pans, one of mine gets done quicker than the other). Transfer nuts to wax paper to cool.
4. Store tightly covered at room temperature up to one month.

Cinnamon Puffs

King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

Muffin pan

Ingredients

3 c (12 3/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

1 c (7 oz) sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

1 1/4 c milk

5 1/3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Topping:

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F.

1.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

2. In another bowl, beat the eggs slightly, then add the milk and melted butter.

3. Add the wet mixture to the well in the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened.

4. Line or lightly grease 12 muffin cups. Fill about three-quarters full.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until muffins are golden and springy when touched.

6. While the muffins are baking, combine the sugar and cinnamon topping in a small, shallow bowl. When the muffins come out of the oven, let them cool just until you can pick them up. Dip the tops in the melted butter, then into the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Blackberry Cream Cheese Crumb Cake

Only time for a quick post today, so I'm going to link to the very thorough write-up over at Sally's Baking Addiction. This cake is fantastic, and it came together so quickly and so easily I was astonished at how well it turned out. It is also very photogenic! I served it after a casual dinner, but my spouse will tell you it makes a great breakfast.

One of these days I will have the equipment to make pretty blog posts, too, but for now I will content myself with keeping a record of great new things I've tried recently.

Open-Faced Jerk Vegetable Sandwiches

This is an oldie -- I still have the physical clipping from Cooking Light -- but I haven't made it in a while. It's an excellent light recipe to make in the summer. A quick saute for the vegetables and a quick run under the broiler is all the heat you need. It's also flexible; you can use literally any vegetables in this, although you should make sure that they'll all cook in roughly the same amount of time; save the carrots and butternut squash for another day.

Ingredients: 

• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 1/2 cups (1/8-inch-thick) diagonally cut zucchini
• 1/2 medium onion, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
• Cooking spray
• 3 tablespoons mango chutney
• 1 teaspoon light mayonnaise (Note: I don't use this, and I don't know why anyone would, but if it sounds good to you, hey, go for it.)
• 4 (2-ounce) slices diagonally cut French bread
• 3 ounces thinly sliced Muenster cheese, cut into 1/8-inch-wide strips
• 1 cup gourmet salad greens (I normally just use spinach.)

Instructions:

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add zucchini, onion, bell pepper, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon olive oil; seal and shake well to coat. Let stand 30 minutes, or refrigerate overnight. (If you're pressed for time, it's still quite good even if you make it right away.)
2. Heat remaining 1/2 teaspoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add vegetable mixture, and sauté for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and begin to brown. Remove from heat and keep warm.
3. Preheat broiler.
4. Combine chutney and mayonnaise. Arrange bread slices on a baking sheet. Broil 1 minute or until lightly toasted on each side; remove from heat. Spread each slice with about 1 tablespoon chutney mixture; top evenly with cheese. Broil 1 minute or until cheese melts. Place 1 cheese toast on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup greens and 1/2 cup vegetable mixture.