Caramel Apple Pie

Ahh I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week!! Obviously apple pie is a staple dessert on most American's Thanksgiving table but this ooey gooey twist on the traditional version is a must try. I do love Thanksgiving but I think I'm more excited this year because it means that Christmas is right around the corner. I think we are going to have more fun this year than ever before because Owen is excited for Santa and all the things that come with the holiday season.

Ingredients:

2 lbs or 6 Cups of Apples - Peeled, Cored & Diced Small

1/2 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Flour

1 Tsp Cinnamon

2 Tbsp Skim Milk

1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp Squeezable Caramel Ice Cream Topping 

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter

Pre-made Roll out Pie Dough or a Pre-made Pie Crust

Adapted from: http://www.midwestliving.com/

Start by preheating your oven to 350. If you are using a pre-made pie shell take it out of the freezer, if you are using the roll out dough make sure it's close to room temperature before trying to put it in your 9in pie plate. In a large bowl stir together the sugar, 1/4 cup of the flour and cinnamon.

Peel, core, and dice your apples into small chunks. Toss them into the sugar mixture making sure they coat completely. Pour the apples into the prepared pie dish.

In a small bowl whisk the milk with 2 Tbsp of the caramel ice cream topping and drizzle it over top of the apples.

Now it's time to make the crumble topping. In a medium bowl combine the remaining cup of flour with brown sugar. Using the back of a fork or a pastry blender cut the butter into the dry mixture until coarse crumbles appear. Spread the topping out over top of the apples for a complete layer.

Lightly cover the pie with tin foil leaving the top open a little. Place the pie on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 30-35 minutes until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes at least before drizzling the remaining caramel ice cream topping over the entire pie. Just like every other apple pie this one tastes great warm with cold creamy vanilla ice cream and more caramel sauce. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

It's Secret Recipe Club time again and this one is the last one we will be participating in since we will be taking a break from the blog at the end of the year.  This month its Jessie Weaver's blog - a grace filled life of faith, family and food.  Jessie writes about a little of everything - spiritual things, parenting, books she has read and food she makes. I especially liked her monthly book reviews.  I have always wished I could read 4 or 5 books a month like she does. Usually I get to read a few pages a night before falling asleep so it takes me all month to read one book.

When I saw that her husband's favorite cookie  was the iced pumpkin cookies and it was pumpkin season I knew that would be my choice.  They did not disappoint!  They are soft and chewy and the brown sugar icing makes them very sweet which goes well with the pumpkin cookie.  Even though we are definitely a "chocolate" family everyone liked them.

Ingredients:
Cookie:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie)

Icing:
1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix together in a small bowl the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a medium bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes).  Add egg, vanilla and canned pumpkin.  Mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined.

Drop rounded teaspoons onto the prepared cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Make icing by combining the butter, milk, brown sugar, confectioners sugar and vanilla extract.
Beat until smooth and the right consistency for spreading on the cooled cookies.

Enjoy!!

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White Chocolate Blueberry Macadamia Nut Cookies

This month for Secret Recipe Club we were assigned 2 Cookin Mamas. They are a mother/daughter duo just like Nicole and I are and are both living in Florida. I have looked at their blog many times since they were assigned us two months ago so I was very happy when we got them this month as our assignment. They had a bunch of great things I wanted to make like the Healthy & Fruity Waldorf Salad which reminded me of what my grandmother used to make and the Banana Upside Down Cake which looked delicious.  But I decided to try the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies because I've never made anything with Macadamia nuts before and I haven't made cookies in a while. The family loved them. They make plenty of healthy dishes to try but you know how I love desserts.  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening (I substituted cream cheese)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 oz. white chocolate chips
5 oz. macadamia nuts, chopped
4 oz. blueberry craisins (I added to recipe)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease sheets lightly.
In a large bowl beat butter and cream cheese until creamy.  Gradually add sugars and beat until well mixed.
Continue beating while adding the egg and vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add this mixture to butter/sugar mixture and continue beating until well mixed. Stir in white chocolate chips, chopped macadamia nuts and blueberry craisins.

Drop by rounded teaspoons 2" apart on prepared cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on cookie sheets and then move to racks.

Enjoy!!

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Peach Pound Cake

Its 88 here and I'm still in the summer mood.  I like cooking apple and pumpkin things when its cooler so I'm still making summer dishes.  A few weeks ago we went to Alstede Farms and picked some peaches with the two grandchildren. They had signs posted everywhere not to eat the peaches while out in the field but how do you tell a 18 month old and a 2-1/2 year old they can't eat a peach until its paid for when there are thousands of them are hanging from trees in front of them. They each had one they picked. When it was time to get back on the tractor to go back to the farm stand and pay for our peaches it was obvious to anyone that looked at them that they had eaten a peach in the field from the peach juice all down the front of their shirts.  There is nothing better than fruit picked fresh off the tree.  Apple picking time will be here soon!      

This recipe is from Gonna Want Seconds but I changed the quantities as my bundt pan is a 10 cup and not a 12 cup like her recipe and I put a crumb topping and powered sugar over top instead of a glaze.

Ingredients:
crumb topping
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp unsalted butter
cake
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
sprinkling of sugar for top of cake
4 tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 10 cup bundt pan with PAM cooking spray.  Make topping first by combining flour, sugar and butter.  I like just using a fork to combine everything.  Pour into bottom of prepared pan.

Make cake by beating butter until smooth in a stand mixer bowl.  Add sugar and beat at medium speed for 5-7 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time.  Mix flour, salt and baking soda into another bowl.  Add to butter mixture, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

With mixer on low, stir in vanilla and peaches until just combined.  Give the batter one final stir with a spatula to make sure the peaches are mixed through.  Pour batter into prepared pan filling 3/4 of the way up.  Bake
for one hour and test with a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake.  If no batter comes up and the skewer is clean the cake is done.  Cool on wire rack for 10-15 minutes and then invert onto a cake plate.  Some of the crumb topping might stay in the pan but you can just pick if off from the pan and put onto the top of the cake.

Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Enjoy!!

Toasted Coconut Key Lime Pie

Yummm!! I can honestly say without any regret or guilt that I ate about half this pie myself and loved every bite. The toasted coconut on top of the bed of freshly whipped cream with the smooth tart filling and the sweet crumbly graham cracker crust makes for the perfect bite. It's not a very hard pie to make and it's a great dessert for a warm evening so give it a try before the summer is gone!! 

Ingredients for Pie:

14 oz can Sweetened Fat Free Condensed Milk

14 oz can Unsweetened Lite Coconut Milk

3 -5 Limes (1/3 Cup Fresh Juiced and 1 Tsp Zest)

7 Large Egg Yolks

Ingredients for Topping:

1 Pint Cold Heavy Cream

2 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 Cup Toasted Coconut

Adapted from: http://www.marthastewart.com/

Ingredients for Crust:

1 1/4 Cup Graham Cracker Crumbs

1/3 Cup I Can't Believe it's Not Butter - Melted

1/4 Cup Sugar

Pinch of Salt

Keebler.com

Preheat the oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs with sugar and a pinch of salt. In small microwave safe dish melt your butter or margarine. Pour the butter into the bowl with the crumbs and mix until just combined. Transfer the crumb mixture to a 9 in pie place.

Using the back of a fork push the moist crumbs into the bottom and up along the sides of the dish until it seems to be set and firmly packed. Bake in the oven 6-8 minutes until light brown. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes before filling.

In a large bowl pour in the coconut milk, condensed milk, lime juice and egg yolks. Using a whisk combine everything together until it's smooth. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. Take one of the limes you juiced and zest it over top of the pie before placing it in the oven for a little extra lime flavor. Reduce the oven to 350 F and bake about 40 minutes until the pie is just a little wobbly in the middle.

Let the pie cool for an hour or so on a wire rack and then in the fridge for 1-2 hours. While the pie is cooling you can make the whipped cream and toasted coconut. In a stand mixer bowl that has been in the freezer for about 10 minutes whip the cream and sugar together on a high speed until stiff peaks which should take about 3 minutes. In a small pan over low heat toast the coconut until it is just crisp and golden brown. Spoon freshly whipped cream over top of the pie before serving. Sprinkle with toasted coconut. Slice and Serve!!

Enjoy!!

Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/

Sticky Toffee Pudding

For this month's Secret Recipe Club we were assigned Searching For Spice.  Corina is in the UK and loves cooking with different spices. She cooks all kinds of Mexican, Indian and Thai food. I immediately look at the desserts because that's what I love to make and eat. Sticky toffee pudding is an English dessert which we had while in London two years ago and we also had a delicious version of the pudding in the Grand Cayman Islands.  So when I saw that was one of her recipes I picked it immediately as I was always going to make it once I got home from vacation. They call it a pudding but this is more like a cake that you soak with caramel sauce so its soft but not really a pudding at all.  And since the recipe makes extra sauce you have to put ice cream on top so you can pour the sauce all over it.  I know I will be making this again.  Corina uses European measurements so I changed things up a little.  I also added chopped dates which she didn't because her husband didn't like them.      

Ingredients:
CAKE
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 ounces Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
1 cup hot water
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature

SAUCE
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray PAM around a 2-1/2 quart baking dish.  Place chopped and pitted dates in a bowl, pour hot water over them and let soak for 15 minutes.  Stir in baking soda.

Beat together with a mixer on medium-high speed the butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy about 3 minutes.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

Reduce speed to medium and beat in eggs one at a time until thoroughly mixed.

Reduce speed to low and add 1/2 of the flour mixture, beating until combined.  Add the date mixture and then the remaining flour mixture. Beat until just combined.  Transfer batter to prepared dish.

Bake until cake is puffed and springs back in center when gently pressed with a finger about 25-30 minutes.

While cake is baking, make the sauce.   In a saucepan combine the butter, brown sugar and heavy cream. Bring to a boil over high heat.  Do not let the sauce boil over.  Stir frequently until the sauce thickens and darkens about 4 minutes.  

Remove cake from oven and pierce holes all along the edges and middle.  I used one chopstick and that was the perfect size to make holes for the sauce.  Pour half of the hot sauce over the cake and let soak for 20 minutes.

Serve cake warm with remaining warmed sauce poured over ice cream.  Cake and sauce can be stored at room temperature for one day.

Enjoy!!



Linked at: http://www.thecountrycook.net/

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