Posts Tagged ‘apples’

My only notable New Years resolution this year involves perhaps the holy grail of baking.

Perfect pie crust.

Now, those close to me will scratch their heads and say “But, I thought you didn’t even like pie?” (cue the dramatic music) Yes, it’s true, pie is probably my least favorite dessert. I love filling and very little crust. I’m not a fan of a double-layered pie with thick edges and a barrage of flaky shell, so I mostly avoid it. However, I’m also oddly stubborn in the fact that I hate disliking ingredients, dishes, etc. I love being an incredibly unpicky eater, so I constantly try foods I dislike to see if my taste or opinion has changed. I love tarts and quiches, so this year, my hope is to reconcile with pie and not only practice it constantly, but try to perfect what is the perfect pie crust to me.

So when I recently picked up “The Modern Baker” by Nick Malgieri (amazing book, by the way), I was immediately drawn to this recipe. It has a simple sweet pie crust for the bottom, a yummy tart filling of sauteed apples and sour cream custard, and then a crumbly, almost streusel topping. Half pie-half crumble, I thought it would be the perfect transition into pie zone.

And it truly is a wonderful mix of baked goods. Pie meets crumble meets coffee cake even. The pie dough cut easily (even if I overbaked it slightly – but baby steps, folks!), the filling was incredibly tender, moist, and just sweet enough, and the topping was a cinnamon-sugar crumble delight. The whole pie is actually quite subtle (aka not too sweet) when you first taste it, but if you let it sit overnight and allow the flavors to meld and marinate a bit, it’s 100 times better the next day. And yet, for my first pie, I think it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

The butter is gone.

Disc o’ dough.

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Happy Halloween, everyone! This is my favorite day of the year and despite being in a near diabetic coma based on the amount of caramel apple suckers I’ve eaten lately, I’m still managing to chow down on these amazing confections I made yesterday for work.

I was going back and forth all week about what to make, debating between silly bat-shaped cookies and spiders with black licorice legs, or just going with some really good fall flavors and adding my own dark sense of humor. Thankfully I chose the latter because in the end, you can make these cupcakes any time and they’re still amazing, with or without Halloween frills.

The recipe for the cake is actually from my college’s cafeteria (yes, really!). One of the most beloved things in our caf were these pumpkin bars with this incredible cream cheese frosting and when I was a senior I got the recipe so I could recreate them even after graduating. Super moist and pumpkin-y without being overwhelming with the most perfect whipped cream cheese frosting… gah. I just love them. So here they are, and I send a warm thanks and Happy Halloween to the cafeteria ladies of Cornell, who happily gave me this recipe ages ago and I just now get to share on this All Hallow’s Eve.

As for the frosting, I wanted to combine my two favorite flavors with these cupcakes, so it was either pumpkin cake with apple cider frosting, or vice versa.  Since the Cornell pumpkin cake called to me, apple cider cream cheese frosting it was.  It’s super easy and quite possibly the tastiest frosting I’ve ever had. Just reduce some apple cider (get the best you can find) and pour the syrupy, reduced goodness into some cream cheese frosting.  Voila, Halloween perfection!

This past weekend I went home to celebrate my mother’s birthday and have a mini vacation to celebrate autumn in Kansas City, one of my favorite things in the entire world.  I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at Union Station, Pierpont’s for lunch, the KC Renaissance Festival (in full garb as my sisters and I used to work there), Vaughn’s Apple Orchard, Weston Red Barn Farm, and made butternut squash soup plus baked apples with vanilla ice cream for dessert. A whirlwind weekend, but perfect from beginning to end.