Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

We eat well at the beach. Anywhere, really, but at the beach especially.

It helps that your internal clock switches to "vacation time" as soon as you come over the bridge into Newburyport. Whether you're there for the night, a weekend, or your summer vacation week, there's something that's just different about time spent on the water.

And, how can food not play a huge role in that, when each day starts with a "committee meeting" to decide on the day's culinary adventure? Most often it's breakfast in (unless someone suggests Mad Martha's...and the wait's not too long), lunch out (but a grilled ham and cheese at home works, too), and dinner in (well...what does the Plum Island Grille have for specials?!). Grocery lists are drafted, reservations made, plans set.

It's a lazy, comfortable, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of time - is it any wonder it's one of my favorite places to be?!

We'll next be there for Easter weekend, and we have a fabulous menu planned.  Can't wait to share it with you!

This apple crisp is by far the best I've ever had. Most crisps tastes pretty much the same to me - not much distinguishes one from the next. Until now. The orange and lemon put it truly over the top. And they aren't just background flavors; they compliment the apples perfectly while standing on their own, as well.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 5 pounds McIntosh or Macoun apples
• Grated zest of 1 orange
• Grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 T freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 T freshly squeezed lemon  juice
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3/4 C light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 C oatmeal
• 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9 by 14 by 2-inch oval baking dish.
2. Peel, core, and cut the apples into large wedges.
3. Combine the apples with the zests, juices, sugar, and spices. Pour into the baking dish.
4. To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.
5. Place the crisp on a sheet pan to catch any juices and bake for 1 hour or until the top is brown and the apples are bubbly. Serve warm.
 

Bourbon and Southern Comfort Balls {aka Schweddy Balls}

I love when two seemingly unrelated experiences collide - you're left with something both comfortable and traditional while at the same time totally unexpected.

First and foremost, I remember making whiskey balls with my mom when I was little. It's such an easy recipe that I could pretty much make them myself, and I was always allowed to have one ball before we put them away to "cure."  They tasted a lot like the whiskey-soaked cherries from my parents' Manhattan's, and I loved them - if not the taste, then the feeling that I was being let in on some grown up secret.

On the other hand, there's SNL's Schweddy Balls skit. We knew we were true regulars at Family Pizza in Springfield when we mentioned schweddy balls to Dawn, our favorite waitress, and she rolled with it. It's become a long-standing joke amongst us and the cause of many laughs since then.

So, we had the thought this year to make some schweddy balls of our own. I found a recipe that tastes just like I remember - though we made ours with bourbon and, in an ode to Gramp, Southern Comfort. We gave two bags (ball sacks, of course) to Dawn just before Christmas. It was awesome to see her reactions: surprise, hilarity, and real friendship.

Cheers!

Ingredients:

• 1 C semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 C white sugar
• 3 tbsp. corn syrup
• 1/2 C bourbon OR Southern Comfort (or rum)
• 2 1/2 C crushed vanilla wafers
• 1/3 C confectioners sugar AND/OR unsweetened cocoa

Method:

1. Place chocolate chips into a microwave-safe medium bowl. Heat in the microwave for 1 minute, stir and then continue to heat at 20 second intervals, stirring between each, until melted and smooth. Stir in sugar and corn syrup. Blend in alcohol of choice. Add crushed vanilla wafers. Mix until evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate until firm.
2. Roll the chilled chocolate mixture into bite-size balls. Roll balls in confectioners sugar, unsweetened cocoa, or a mixture of both. Store in a covered container for a week before serving to blend the flavors.

Source: All Recipes

Fancy Chocolate-Dipped Oreos

One of my very favorite food blogs is The Italian Dish. I love her photos and the stories she tells about her travels, her family, and they food they enjoy. Her Classic Pumpkin Roll was a huge hit at Thanksgiving, and it was her post about meat grinding that prompted me to ask for a meat grinder for Christmas.

Elaine, the blogger at The Italian Dish, details everything about these dipped cookies right here on her site. She includes step by step photos, as well as links to purchase the mold and the transfers. The girls and I gave them a shot on cookie day, and they were fun and easy to make. There are a ton of different transfer designs that would be fun for different holidays and birthdays.

The Christmas transfers are super cute - we used the gingerbread men, snowflakes, and Santa hats.  I also did some with just Christmas sprinkles, which turned out well, too.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Brian and I hosted a pumpkin throwdown back in October - any recipe made with pumpkin was fair game. I chose these pumpkin spice latte cupcakes and they were definitely a 'grown up' treat, a little spicy and not too sweet with a strong espresso flavor.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp. espresso powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• ½ cup coffee or espresso, for brushing

For the frosting:

• 2¼ cups heavy cream, chilled
• ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar

For finishing:

• Cinnamon
• Prepared caramel sauce

 Method:

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Stir together and set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixture on low speed, add the flour mixture in two additions, mixing just until incorporated.
4. Fill the cupcake liners about three-quarters full. Bake until the cupcakes are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes.
5. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pans. While the cupcakes are still warm, brush them two or three times with the coffee or espresso, allowing the first coat to soak in before repeating. Let cool completely.
6. To make the frosting, place the heavy cream in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-low speed at first, gradually increasing to high speed. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar gradually. Whip until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over-beat.
7. Use a pastry bag fitted with a decorative tip to frost the cooled cupcakes. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and drizzle with caramel sauce. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate.

Source: Annie's Eats

Pumpkin Roll

My second Thanksgiving dessert was a much smoother process than the apple galette, and it was a nice alternative to pumpkin pie. I had never made a roll, so had no idea how easy it would be to put together.

Things go quickly once the roll comes out of the oven, so I don't have any photos of getting the cake out of the pan and rolling it up in the towel, but the original post on The Italian Dish has some if you want to check them out.

I often learn as much from the reader comments on a recipe as I do from the original cook's post, and so always make a point to skim through them. I am so glad I did - one of the gals who commented on this recipe gave a tip for a less messy way to get the finished cake onto the tea towel. I've incorporated her comments in my instructions below.

Ingredients:

Pumpkin Roll

• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on baked roll)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup pumpkin puree

Cream Cheese Filling

• 1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Method:

 

Pumpkin Roll

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with parchment or wax paper. Grease and flour paper.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.)
5. Immediately run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake and dust cake liberally with powdered sugar. Cover cake with clean tea towel. Place another cookie sheet (upside down)over towel. Holding everything together, flip over.  Lift off the jelly-roll pan; because of the parchment paper, the cake should just fall right out. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

 

Cream Cheese Filling

1. Beat cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth.

 

Assembly

1. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Re-roll cake.
2. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour.
3. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired.

Unroll cake...

...spread cream cheese filling...

 

...re-roll, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Apple Galette

I wrote recently about my challenges as a baker. Case in point:  I made this dessert twice on Thanksgiving - not because I needed two of them, but because in the first attempt I underestimated the value of using parchment paper, as instructed. My blunder left me with too-few apples for a second attempt - thanks to my neighbor Maria for coming to my rescue with a couple of apples she had on hand!

The second time was a charm, though, and this was a quick, easy - but equally as tasty - alternative to a traditional apple pie. And it was beautiful! 

This was the first attempt - notice the lack of parchment paper. It stuck like glue to the pizza stone - and I was so sure the stone would make the bottom perfectly crisped, etc. It looked beautiful (and tasted delicious, I have to confess), but couldn't be removed from the stone with anything but a large spatula and a lot of scraping. Not good.

For a dessert, this was my kind of recipe - the woman who wrote it used terms like "about," "around," "some," and "sprinkle." I didn't measure carefully, but this is what I did...

Ingredients:

•  4 apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• sprinkle of cinnamon
• 2 T brown sugar
• Peel of about a quarter lemon
• Juice of about a quarter orange
• Pinch of salt
• 2 T butter, small diced
• 1 egg, beaten with a splash of water
• 1 prepared pie crust - I used Pillsbury
• Sugar, for sprinkling
• Parchment paper!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Toss apples in a large mixing bowl with next 5 ingredients, through salt.
3. Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
4. Roll out pie crust to about 1/8" thickness.
5. Place pie crust on parchment lined cookie sheet.
6. Pile apples on top of crust.
7. Dot with butter.
8. Fold crust up over the apples - you will not cover all the apples. No need to be fancy, just fold the crust onto itself until all is pulled up.
9. Brush crust with egg mixture and sprinkle all over with sugar. Bake about 35 minutes or until nicely browned.

This is my second attempt right before it went into the oven...again, notice the parchment. 

Strawberries and Cream

The orange dreamsicle cake was such a hit that I wanted to try other combinations. Last week, it was strawberries and cream. As I suspected, it was like eating strawberry shortcake, only better! This is such a quick and easy dessert, and everyone loves it. Best of all, the combinations are endless and you really can't go wrong.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18 1/4 oz.) white cake mix
• 1 (3 oz.) strawberry Jell-o
• 1 C boiling water
• 1 (3 1/2 oz.) box french vanilla instant pudding
• 1 C milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 (8 oz.) container Cool Whip

Method:

1. Set out Cool Whip to thaw.
2. Prepare cake mix according to directions for a 9X13 pan.
3. After the cake is done, remove from oven and poke holes throughout cake with a fork.
4. Prepare the Jell-O with 1 C of boiling water. Pour over cake.
5. Allow to cool 30 minutes or overnight, covered tightly and stored in fridge.
6. In a large mixing bowl, mix together pudding and milk. Stir in extract. Mix well.
7. Fold in Cool Whip.
8. Spread over cake and chill additional 2 - 3 hours before serving. Serve with fresh strawberries.
9. Store tightly covered in fridge.

Source: Food.com

Orange Dreamsicle Cake

What better way to top of Sue's birthday dinner of Tuscan Chicken with Lemon Couscous than with this dreamy, creamy Orange Dreamsicle Cake? There's  nothing like homemade birthday cake - and this one is definitely a winner.

Ingredients:

• 1 (18 1/4 oz) box orange cake mix
• 1 (3 oz) box orange Jell-O
• 1 C boiling water
• 1 (3 1/2 oz) box instant French vanilla pudding
• 1 C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
• 1 Tbsp orange zest

Method

1. Set out Cool Whip to thaw.
2. Prepare cake mix according to directions for a 9X13 pan.
3. After the cake is done, remove from oven and poke holes throughout cake with a fork.
4. Prepare the orange Jell-O with 1 C of boiling water. Pour over cake.
5. Allow to cool 30 minutes or overnight, covered tightly and stored in fridge.
6. In a large mixing bowl, mix together pudding and milk. Stir in extracts and zest. Mix well.
7. Fold in Cool Whip.
8. Spread over cake and chill additional 2 - 3 hours before serving.
9. Store tightly covered in fridge.

Source: Food.com

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Yesterday we celebrated Brian's mom, Sue's, 65th birthday. It was a great day to be out on the deck and I think Sue had a great time celebrating with her friends and family.

In addition to jalapeno poppers and Swedish meatballs, a number of new apps graced a table laden with goodies, and I'll post the recipes for them this week. 

But, no birthday is complete without CAKE - so let's start with that!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Red Velvet Cake
1 (18.25 oz.) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.5 oz.) package instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
1 oz. red food coloring
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 C water
1 T distilled white vinegar
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour pan(s) or line muffin tin(s) with paper liners.
2. Mix together cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, oil, food coloring, water, vinegar, and cocoa. Pour into prepared pan(s).
3. Bake according to package directions. (I made about 6 dozen mini cupcakes, and they baked for approximately 14 minutes.)
4. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 C butter, softened
2 C sifted confectioners' sugar
1 t vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until well combined. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.
2. Store in the refrigerator after use.