Apple Galette

I do love a good pie, but if the pie crust isn't quite right it spoils the pie for me. When I was in college I worked as a waitress in a little cafe. One of the items on the menu was pie. The woman that made the pies could not make a pie crust if her life depended on it. They were always too thick and tough. Nobody ever ate them; they would eat the filling and leave the crust behind.

Now my mother on the other hand is a master at making pie crust. Her crust always turned out nice and flaky. So it is a good thing that I had her to teach me the art of making a pie crust and not the lady at the little cafe. The carb person that I am thinks that the pie crust is one of the most important things to the pie.

These days I am always on the look out for new ideas when it comes to pie crust. The more flaky and tender the better the pie. I was at our public library looking for a new recipe on pie crust and found an interesting book on that subject. I have since returned the book and have forgotten to write down the name of the book and author, so I apologize for not having the name of the cook book.

I was looking for a recipe for a crust recipe so I could make a galette. I have never really heard of this dessert before I started blogging. The first time I saw a picture of a galette I thought they were quite unique. So of course I wanted to try to make one.

The recipe I found for the crust was buttery and flaky and easy to make. It did turn out to be a little time consuming, but I thought the end result was worth it. I just wanted a simple filling for my galette and decided to go with apples. The focus I thought should be on the crust, not so much the filling for this post. My galette was not as pretty as some of the pictures I have seen of them, but it was very tasty. We loved the cinnamon and apples with the buttery crust.

Recipe:
Quick and Easy Flaky Pastry
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup A/P flour
pinch of salt
a little cold water

Butter: Because the butter is going to be coarsely grated, it needs to be almost frozen, so measure it out, then wrap in foil and place it in the freezer for 30-45 minutes. If it is too soft it won't grate properly.

Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Take the butter out of the freezer using a coarse side of a grater and grate the butter into the flour.

Take a palette knife or fork and start to distribute the grated butter into the flour. When the flour and butter is distributed completely sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cold water all over continuing mixing with  the fork. Finish with mixing with your hands at the very end. If you need a little more water add it to the mixture.

Make dough into a ball place in a baggy and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Then roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch. Place filling in center of the crust and fold the edge toward the center of the filling.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until crust is golden brown and filling is tender.

Apple filling (Dawn's recipe)

4 cups apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar

This is a simple  filling to compliment the buttery flaky crust of the galette. I love a brown sugar crumbly topping and since this recipe did not include this I decided to add brown sugar to the filling itself.

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You Call These Pretzels?!?!

I was considering not posting this particular recipe, but I will get back to this in a bit....

Soft pretzels, they are the best. You know the ones that you can buy at the malls or.... They are warm and chewy and are covered with just the right amount of the coarse salt. I love the chewiness of the pretzel, which is probably the thing I like the most about them.

I tried making them a few years ago and they did not turn out at all. I had baked them and the chewiness was not there. Then I read a blog about homemade bagels and they said that you had to boil the bagels before you baked them in order to have that chewiness. I thought if it works for bagels it should work for pretzels. So yes I had to try making homemade pretzels again.

I thought I had found the secret and this time my pretzels would turn out just like the one that I love to buy. Wrong! They did not quite turn out to be that good. I can't say that they were horrible or not edible because we ate some after they came out the oven and I did enjoy them to a point. But they just didn't taste like the pretzels that I am accustom to. The pretzels were too heavy, it was more like eating bread. I think that they would have made excellent bagels rather than the pretzels.

Now I will get back about to the statement that I started out with in the beginning of  my post. I was not going to add this recipe to my blog, since I was not thrilled with the pretzels. I had mentioned this to my daughter that I wouldn't be adding this recipe at this time. And her comment to me made me change my mind. My daughter said that part of baking or cooking is experimenting and sometimes it just is not going to turn out the way you planned it to.

I am sure most or even all of you reading this have had a recipe not turn out the way that you had planned it to. So yes I am posting my pretzel "experiment" to my blog. Maybe someone will read this and they will have the perfect pretzel recipe and they will share it with me. Please!

Pretzels (Adapted from Crust Bread to get your teeth into by Richard Bertinet)

4 teaspoons yeast
7 to 8 cups flour
4 teaspoons salt
2 1/4 cups water
1/2 cup milk
3 1/2 teaspoons butter
1 egg mixed with a pinch of salt (1 hour before you need it, to make an egg wash)
a little vegetable oil
a little coarse salt such as kosher, for sprinkling (I used sea salt)

To make

Mix all the ingredients together in your mixing bowl. The resulting dough will feel very stiff. Cover the bowl with a baking cloth and let it rest for 1 hour.

Very lightly flour your work surface. Divide the dough into 12 pieces.

Roll each piece with your fingers until it is around 8 inches long. Form into a heart shape by bringing the 2 ends to the center, crossing the right end over the left, bringing it back underneath, then laying the ends either side  of the point of the hear.
Lay the pretzels on a greased baking tray and let rise, uncovered for 45-60 minutes.

Bring about 2 quarts of water to a boil. Cook pretzels for 30 seconds on each side. Use a slotted spoon and take out and let them drain.

Glaze with egg wash and sprinkle immediately with coarse salt, pressing it down into the dough a little.

Put them back on the grease pan and put the pretzels into the preheated 450 degree oven. Bake for 10-13 minutes until they are golden brown.

(Note: This dough was also used for bagels. I think this would make an excellent bagel).

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Pumpkin Puff Pancakes with Absolute Best Pancake Syrup

Back in August I posted a recipe for apple walnut pancakes. At that time the Blonde Duck from aduckinherpond.com posted a comment that asked me what was next - pumpkin pancakes. When I read her comment I thought pumpkin pancakes, now really is there even a thing like that. I had never eaten them and never even heard of such a thing.

I thought that some day that I would look for a recipe for these so called pumpkin pancakes. The thought of these always stayed in the back of mind. And now that it is the pumpkin season I became quite intrigued by the thought of pumpkin pancakes until I knew that I had to find the recipe and give them a try.

 I have to say that they are one of the best pancakes I have ever eaten and anyone in my family that ate them agreed with me. The pumpkin and the cinnamon are a great combination in these pancakes which make them fantastic. Who knew pumpkin would taste so wonderful in a pancake.

I served the pumpkin pancakes with syrup that is called the absolute best pancake syrup which also has a little bit of cinnamon in it. (I am not sure where the recipe came from for the syrup). Yum, what a great combination this made. I am sure that I will be serving these pumpkin pancakes for a long time to come.

So thank you Blonde Duck for leaving me that comment and putting pumpkin pancakes in my head. I am so glad that I tried them! Also I would recommend visiting aduckinherpond.com, I am sure you will leave her blog with a smile on your face.

Recipes:

Pumpkin Puff Pancakes (Adapted from Cooks.com)
1cup sifted flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 slightly beaten egg yolks
2 tablespoon melted butter
2 stiffly beaten egg whites

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Combine milk, yolks, pumpkin, and butter. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until flour is moistened. Fold in egg whites. Use approximately 1/3 cup batter for each pancake. Makes 8.

Absolute Best Pancake Syrup
1/2 cup butter
1cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
Bring butter, sugar, buttermilk, vanilla extract, corn syrup, and cinnamon to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Once simmering, whisk in baking soda, and cook for 10 seconds before removing from heat. Serve warm. (Make sure you have a large enough saucepan, because the baking soda will cause the syrup to foam up).

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Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Our kids were all home for dinner this last Sunday; plus my son's girl friend and my daughter's boy friend. That made eight of us around the table for dinner. We had purchased two lovely whole chickens and thought that would be a good start for dinner.

I had never roasted a whole chicken before; and with the whole family at home I thought it would be a good time to do it. Usually I cut chicken up and make fried chicken, but I have always wanted to try roasting a whole chicken with some different herbs for flavoring. So Sunday was the big day for that.

While grocery shopping the previous day, Mike and I were looking at the herbs trying to decide what would be good for this new adventure when I noticed a packet of herbs from Schilling. It is the one of those packets that has all the herbs measured out for you and all you have to do is mix them up and add it to whatever you are making. You probably have seen them in your grocery stores by where you live.

Well we decided to take our own herbs and do it on our own. So we mixed rosemary, paprika, coarse ground pepper, salt together along with minced garlic, and olive oil. This mixture made the chicken tasty, although I thought it might have been a bit more flavorful. I am not sure if it was the olive oil, but the chicken was very moist and juicy.

I know I will roast whole chickens again and maybe mix up the herbs a little to try a new flavor. It is so easy to do and the results are delicious.

Recipe:

Rosemary Roasted Chicken

2 1/2 to 3 lb. chicken
4 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Get your chicken ready for roasting. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well. Add olive oil and mix so all dry ingredients are mixed into the oil. Take a basting brush and cover the whole chicken with the mixture. (We used the left over olive oil mixture with and coated potatoes that were cut into chunks and roasted them. They were very good also). Bake chicken for about an1 hour, or until done.

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Starbucks Pumpkin Scones

If you have read my blog at all you know that I love to make breads. A couple of months ago I made my first scones, they were the blueberry ones. Most of my family loved them, so I decided that I had to make more scones.  So I have been looking for a recipe for scones that would be appealing to my family.

Most everyone in the family likes pumpkin and since it is the season for pumpkin and spices I have been looking for a pumpkin scone recipe. I went to our local library and have been paging through recipe books for a pumpkin scone. I never dreamed that it would be that difficult to find a pumpkin scone recipe in a recipe book. Who knew?

Finally I decided that maybe the internet would be a better choice for finding that perfect recipe. Guess what... I found the perfect pumpkin scone recipe. It was waiting for me at www. food.com.

When I saw the recipe I knew that it had to be the one that I would make. Mike is one that doesn't like scones too much, he thinks that they are a little on the dry side. Well the recipe that I found had icing on them, so I knew that this would make them a little more moist. Actually it has two kinds of icing so that was even better.

As these scones baked it sent the fragrance of pumpkin and cinnamon throughout the house. I couldn't wait until they would cool so I could put the icing on them and have a taste. They were worth the wait; my family loved the flavor of these scones.

The cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger paired quite nicely with the pumpkin. The cinnamon and the nutmeg in the icing topped off the scones perfectly. They were really quite simple to make. I hope you will give them a try.

Recipe:
Starbucks Pumpkin Scones (Adapted from food.com)

Ingredients:

Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
7tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
6 tablespoons cold butter
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons half-and-half (I used 2 percent milk)
1 large egg

Powered Sugar Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1tablespoon powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk (I used 2 percent milk)

Spiced Glace
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whole milk (I used 2 percent milk)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch ginger
1 pinch ground cloves

Directions

To make the scones:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Using a pastry knife, fork, or food processor, cut butter into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter are obvious. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half, and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form the dough into a ball.
Pat our dough onto a lightly floured surface and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle (about 9 inches long and 3 inches wide). Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal portions. Cut those three slices diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. Scones should begin to turn a light brown. Place on wire rack to cool.

To make the plain glaze:
Mix the powdered sugar and 2 tbsp milk together until smooth.
When scones are cool, use a brush to paint plain glaze over the top of each scone.

As that white glaze firms up, make the spiced icing:
Combine the ingredient for the spiced icing together. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone and allow the icing to dry before serving (at least 1 hour).

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Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

I never ate sweet potatoes when I was younger. I can remember going to my Grandma's house for dinner and she would make sweet potatoes. The ones that had the pineapple mixed in with the sweet potatoes and the marshmallow baked on the top. I am sure some of you recognize these sweet potatoes.

I turned up my nose at the sweet potatoes my Grandma made. Now that I am older and wiser I love to eat sweet potatoes. Maybe not the ones with pineapple and marshmallows, but I do love the taste of just plain sweet potatoes. They are very healthy for you and the flavor is great.

While I was looking at one of the Kraft food & family Deliciously Simple. Everyday Magazines  we have at our house I found a recipe for twice-baked sweet potatoes. After reading the recipe I thought it would be a recipe that I might try. It is not as healthy as eating the sweet potatoes with nothing on them, but I was sure that it would be flavorful.

Boy was I correct on flavorful. This recipe was delicious to say the least. Mike, who does not touch sweet potatoes, actually liked these. I had made these sweet potatoes as a side dish to go along with some Italian sausage; but as I sat and ate them I thought I should have served it as a dessert. They were that tasty.

The cream cheese gave the sweet potatoes a creamy texture and an all around good flavor. The touch of brown sugar and cinnamon gave a little bit more of sweetness to the potato. The pecans gave it a little crunch.

I did modify the recipe on a couple of things though; it called for Neufchatel cheese and fat free milk. I have never used Neufchatel cheese (1/3 less fat than cream cheese) before so I decided to use cream cheese. As for the milk instead of fat free I used 2 percent. So if you want a little less fat in your sweet potato I would recommend that you use the Neufchatel cheese and fat free milk.

If you like sweet potatoes or even if you don't like them you have to try this recipe. You will fall in love with the flavor of this twice-baked sweet potato.

Recipe: (Adapted from the Kraft food & family DELICIOUSLY SIMPLE. EVERDAY Magazine)
Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes (1 1/2 lb.)
2 oz. (1/4 of 8 ounce package) cream cheese (or Neufchatel cheese)
2 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup pecan pieces

Heat oven to 425 degree F. Cut potatoes lengthwise in half; place, cut-sides down, in foil-lined 15x10-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until tender.

Scoop out centers of potatoes into bowl, leaving 1/4-inch thick shells. Add cream cheese, milk, sugar, and cinnamon to potatoes; mash until blended.

Spoon potato mixture into shells; top with nuts. Bake 8 minutes or until potatoes are heated through and nuts are toasted.

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Warm Caramel Bananas

Since I have started writing this blog I keep my eyes open for new and delicious recipes. If I can find recipes that are simple and fast it makes it all the better. When you work as many hours as I do there isn't always a lot of time for baking and cooking during the week.

So when I found the recipe Warm Caramel Bananas in a (Kraft food & family Deliciously Simple. Everyday magazine) I thought it was just what I was looking for, simple, delicious, and fast. Now this recipe is not something I would have considered making before I started writing this blog;  so I was stepping out of my cooking comfort zone.

This is one of the reasons that I have enjoyed writing a blog;  it has taken me to new levels of baking and cooking. I have enjoyed making new things that I would not have tried in the past.

The recipe is simple to make and does not have a lot of ingredients, but I believe it is one of those comfort foods that everybody would enjoy. The caramel is light and not too heavy and tastes amazing with the bananas.
The nuts add a little crunch that is very pleasing to the dessert. And the chocolate I think tops off everything, really doesn't chocolate make almost everything taste better.

Recipe:  (As found in the Kraft food & family Deliciously Simple.Everyday Magazine)
Warm Caramel Bananas

2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
2 medium bananas peeled
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Melt butter in large skillet on medium heat. Add sugar; cook until melted, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low. Gradually add sour cream; cook 1 minute.

Cut bananas in half lengthwise and crosswise creating 4 half slices each. Add banana slices cut sides down, and pecans to skillet. Cook 1 minute or until bananas are evenly coated and tender, basting occasionally with sauce.

Spoon bananas into 4 dessert dishes; top with remaining sauce from skillet. Drizzle chocolate on top of bananas.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave. I melted them slowly in the microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring them after each 30 seconds so that they will not over cook.

I altered this recipe in a couple of ways. The recipe called for peanuts which I did not have so I substituted pecans and it called for a square of Baker's chocolate which I did not have so I substituted that with the chocolate chips.

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Basil-Buttered Salmon

A couple of years ago our kids bought us a George Foreman Grill for Christmas. When we opened up the present Mike wasn't quite sure if he would like it, but I was thrilled. I had wanted a George Foreman Grill for some time.

Once we used it, Mike fell in love with cooking on this grill; needless to say I don't usually do much cooking on it. I do have to say that I love the food that comes off the grill though. Also I know that it is somewhat healthier than frying the same food.

One of our favorite food items to make on this grill is salmon. Normally we have the salmon with a little lemon juice along with some Mrs. Dash (the original version). It is very tasty made this way, but I thought it would be a good thing to change things up a little bit.

The recipe I found was actually called Basil-Buttered Steaks. I found this recipe in a book called Better Homes and Gardens Fresh Fish Cook Book. It called for halibut, salmon, shark, or swordfish steaks. I had salmon in the freezer, not the steak variety just smaller slices of salmon. Which worked just fine.

The salmon was moist and flavorful. The herb butter that was used to baste and garnish the salmon was a snap to make and oh so tasty. I know that I will be using this recipe for a long time to come.

The fish was cooked on our George Foreman Grill, but the recipe called to have it prepared under a broiler or on an outdoor grill.

Even though the dollop of Basil-Butter looks thin and runny on this picture, it was very creamy and thick. I didn't take time to cool the salmon when putting the butter on it, so it started to melt. The salmon looked and smelled so delicious we couldn't wait to eat.

Recipe: (Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Fresh Fish Cook Book)

Basil-Butter Steaks

1/2 cup butter softened
1 tablespoon snipped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1 tablespoon snipped parsley
2 teaspoon lemon juice
4 salmon steaks cut 1 inch thick about 2 pounds

1. For butter mixture, in a small mixing bowl combine butter, basil, parsley, and lemon juice. Mix till well blended.
2. Place the fish on a greased rack of an unheated broiler pan. Lightly brush fish with some of the butter mixture. Broil 4 inches from the heat for 5 minutes. Then using a wide spatula, carefully turn fish over. Lightly brush with more of the butter mixture. Broil for 3 to 7 minutes more or till fish is done.
3. To serve, dollop remaining butter mixture on top of fish. Makes 4 servings.

To grill: Prepare Basil-Butter Steaks as directed above, except brush grill rack with cooking oil. Place fish on rack. Lightly brush fish with butter mixture. Grill fish on an uncovered grill directly over medium-hot coals for 5 minutes carefully turn fish over. Lightly brush with more butter mixture and grill for 3 to 7 minutes more or till fish is done. Dollop remaining butter mixture on top of fish.

For George Foreman Grill: Prepare Basil-Butter as directed above. Heat George Foreman Grill until heated and light turns off. Brush grill with virgin olive oil. Brush salmon with the Butter-Basil and place that side on the grill. Once the salmon is on grill brush the top of the salmon with the Butter-Basil as well. Our pieces of salmon were about a 1/4 pound each and were grilled 4 to 6 minutes. Time will vary with the size of fish you are preparing.

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Apple Bars

My family loves to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, birthdays, and the list goes on. My sister in law had a birthday last week; it was one of the big ones. It was the big five oh. Yeah she turned 50, which meant that we had to plan a party for her.

Now don't get me wrong I love these family get togethers; they are a ton of fun. We get together for the day and visit and eat. What could be more fun?

While we were planning my sister in law's party we decided to bring her favorites. Of course we had birthday cake. My oldest sister always makes the birthday cakes, her cakes are always wonderful. We decided to bring some bars along with the cake.

So I offered to make my apple bars. My sister in law loves these bars and often will request that I make them when we are having a gathering. These apple bars are made in a jelly roll pans so they make a lot of bars. Yes, they are a little time consuming, but I think they are well worth the time to make.

These are very tasty from the buttery pastry to the apples. The cinnamon can be smelled throughout the house while they are baking. I like to use Macintosh apples; I think they bake up very well in these bars.

Recipe:

Apple Bars
Ingredients for the crust:
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter
3/4 cup of milk

Mix the flour and the salt together. Cut in butter as you would for a pie crust and then add the milk and the beaten egg. Divide the dough into 2 equal balls. Roll out on heavy floured surface as the dough will be rich, to the size of the jelly roll pan.
Spread the rolled dough out onto the jelly roll pan.

Prepare the apples for the filling.

5 lbs of apples (I like to use Macintosh) thinly sliced.
1 heaping cup of sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 heaping tablespoons of flour

Mix the above ingredients together and spread over the dough in the jelly roll pan. Place the other rolled out ball of dough over the apples and press the edges together. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Icing: I just mix up a powder sugar icing, I really don't measure the ingredients for this. So I will guess at about what I use.

About 1/2 cup of powder sugar
1/4 teaspoon of butter
1 dash salt
Enough milk or warm water to make a thin consistency

You will want your icing to be quite runny so that you can drizzle it over the bars. I like to drizzle the icing over the bars immediately after they come out of the oven.

Oh by the way we did have other things besides dessert. We did bring healthy things to eat as well; such a vegetables and fresh fruit ....

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