Its a Pie! Its a Bar! What is it??

Ah Mom, she is such a wonderful lady.  Helpful, caring, funny.  And the provider of some of my favest recipes!!  Today we will be tackling Apple Bars.  Super easy, so flavorful.  And they make a TON!    She said so, and it is true!

Once again, my handy little helper will be modeling today's tasks.  In her pajamas.  It was that kind of day!!

 Start with this oh-so-easy and OH-SO-TASTY dough.  Mix up 2.5 cups of flour, 1 T of sugar and 1 t of salt.  Cut in 1 cup of shortening.  It is VERY important it is shortening.  Do not sub butter or margarine, it won't taste right.  Add 2 egg yolks (remembering to save the whites!!!) and 1/2 cup of water and mix it into a ball.

Cut that ball in half like so.

 Roll out half of the ball to fit a 12 x 18 " jelly roll pan.  Then sprinkle 1.5 cups of crushed cornflakes over dough.  It sounds TOTALLY crazy but it soaks up all of the juices and you never remember that they are even there!  It is a very important step (that Lucy and I almost forgot and had to go back and do after we put in the apples...I do not advise that).

We have one of these handy apple core-er and slicer thingies.  I LOVE IT. So did Lucy.  She was able to do it all herself, except for putting the apple on and taking the core off.  I highly recommend it, they are super cheap (I think mine was about $15 at Menards or Fleet Farm) and I use it a lot.  Then again, I love apples and baking!!  But one pie/crisp/batch of applesauce and this thing pays for itself.

Ok, infomercial over. 

Isn't she just the cutest?  By the way, this is not a crappy picture, I was playing with photoshop.
So, get those 10 apples peeled, cored and chopped up.  Add 1.5 cups of sugar and 1.25 t cinnamon. 

  

Spread the apples over the dough, roll the other half of the dough out then cover the apples. 

Remember those egg whites?  Beat them and brush them over the dough.  It makes the dough oh so crisp and lovely and I would argue the second most important thing about this recipe.  Throw that bad boy in a 350 oven for an hour.  They were so good....I forgot to take a picture!!!  Whoops!  Believe me, these are awesome and go fast!

I should also note that I like a little frosting (what, more sugar??), so I made a simple glaze (also from Mumsy's book) of 2 t water, 2 T butter, 1.5 c powdered sugar and 1 t almond extract.  I tell ya, that almond extract MADE the entire thing for me.  How many times have I said that now?  Maybe the almond extract is the #1 key.....

Guess you better make them for yourself and find out!!!
 

Super Blogger Alert!

Wow, can't stop me from blogging, can ya?  Sorry, I tend to get crazy around the holidays and then take FOREVER to recover.

Well, let's get going on something easy.  Something even a 4 year old can do!  Something you can do WITH a 4 year old and just sit there and drink coffee.

A few years ago, my mom gave my sister and me a recipe book, filled with family recipes and faves.  Do any of you have this?  It is fantastic and I love that it is all written in her hand with her notes.  Anyway, we are taking some recipes from that there book and putting them HERE!  First up, Hello Dolly Bars.  As you can guess, this is an oldie but a goodie.  Yup, prolly has some trans fats.  Oh well, you cannot eat these everyday anyway and it only makes a little.  Perfect!

Do any of your moms use TBO?  It stands for Taste Bud Orgasm, and then she pulls a Meg Ryan.  Slightly embarrassing when you are 20 and out to lunch with your mom and your college roommate.  Kind of hilarious now.

First off, take a whole bunch of graham crackers and grind them up.  Also, melt a stick of butter (my mom used margarine; feel free but YUCK).

 (I melted my butter in my glass baking dish).  Layer your crushed up graham crackers (1 cup) on top of your melted butter.  Then layer on the coconut (1 cup) the chocolate chips (1 cup) and nuts (any kind, I used almonds, 1 cup).

Pour a 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk over the WHOLE thing, throw it in a 350 degree oven for a half an hour and voila!

It might not be pretty but it is SO GOOD.  Let it cool completely before breaking in and it will be nice and set up.  Otherwise it will fall apart on you a bit!  It tastes like a homemade candy bar. 

*thunk, thunk* Is this thing on?

Cooking, who doesn't love cooking? Ok, plenty of people, and I am one of them. But I love to bake and I am like to cook when it is something new and 6pm is hounding me.

So, with that, I am going to start this someday fabulous blog with a recipe....a baking recipe. Because I am like that! Get used to it!!

Oh, and please, no mocking of my picture comment skills.  I am sure I will get the hang of it, someday, but for now, some are captions on each picture.  Well, you will see soon enough!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away and my mad skillz are known throughout the family, so I am allowed to bring dessert this year! DESSERT! It is the holy grail, behind turkey and gravy, which is usually the host's gig. And, as the alcohol infused whipping cream on top, I get to bring pumpkin pie! So, I am sharing here with you the completely delicious pie I will be baking and sharing this year.

I know, I am nothing if not giving.

So, let's start out. Please note, I got this recipe from America's Test Kitchen and follow it almost to the letter. Except that I am currently off vanilla extract, and totally on ground vanilla beans.  Oh, and I forgot to get fresh ginger from the store, which they said made this pie wonderful (whoops).  But other than that, the letter, people!

To start, take your dough and let it defrost.  No, I am not making my own dough.  I was going to, and then I forgot that I was going to, and it started to snow A LOT, so I decided that making my own was not in the cards.

Use of a pretty pie plate is always encouraged.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Next up, open up yer can of pumpkin (yes, can. According to the Gods, ie America's Test Kitchen, canned in this case is just as good as baking your own and then blending it.  And According to me, who in the last 10 days has made one pie with canned and one with my own, canned was EVEN BETTER) and put it into a heavy saucepan.  Drain the candied yams

 I like to use real maple syrup (I imagine ATK feels the same way, being from Vermont and all)

 So, put the punkin, potatoes, sugar, syrup, salt and spices in a heavy saucepan.  Put it on medium high 5 - 7 minutes until it simmers.

 Meanwhile, mix up the cream, milk, eggs, yolks and vanilla into another container (I like my liquid pour thingy)

Open up your pie dough

and put it all nice and pretty into your pie pan

Line with foil and fill with beans or pie weights

Put it on a rimmed sheet on the lowest rack position in the preheated oven for 10 minutes

After 10 minutes, take out the beans and foil and bake 5 or 10 minutes more.

 Now, back to the pumpkin.  It should be simmering (if you look closely at this picture, there is a geyser of steam)

 For the next 10 - 15 minutes, you should stir a lot (ATK says constantly, but I don't have that kind of attention span), pressing the potatoes against the sides to mash them up.  I use a masher, but to be honest, a whipper works best.

 Cook it up until the lumps are gone (mostly gone is how far I can get) shiny and thicker.

 Add the cream egg mixture and stir it up

Gorgeous!

Now put it through a sieve

Push it through with a spatula

Keep going, even when you only have thick goop left

And remember to scrape off the outside....the smell will be distracting you but do not waiver from your mission!

 Yumm!  Whisk it up again

 and pour it into your gorgeous, empty pie shell

Bake for 10 minutes at 400, then turn the oven down to 300 and bake 20-35 minutes.  Mine took about 45, I think my oven is a few degrees off!

Voila!

America's Test Kitchen Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe
1 c heavy cream
1 c whole milk (I used 1%, just do not use skim)
3 large eggs plus 2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract (I used 1 t powdered vanilla; looks like loose vanilla beans)
1 (15 oz) can of pumpkin
1 c drained candied yams from 15 oz can (oops, I use the whole can!)
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c maple syrup
2 t grated fresh ginger (I used 1/2 t ground dried....conversion is 1/4 t ground to 1 t fresh)
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg (I used freshly grated)
1 t table salt

Enjoy!