Dutch Apple Pie

Dutch Apple Pie combines the best of both worlds: the even slices and crust of the Apple Pie and the delicious crumb topping of the Apple Crisp.

Many, including me, prefer making apple crisp when they are in a rush – this can be solved by purchasing frozen pie crusts and thawing them ahead of time. However, some also make apple crisp for the sole reason of that sought-after golden crunch: the brown sugar and oats Crumb Topping that layers Apple Crisp and probably gives both of its names; the American name “Apple Crisp” and the British “Apple Crumble.”

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Apple Blueberry Crisp

Blueberries added with apples make a great twist on the classic apple crisp.

If you want the recipe to make more, then increase the amount of apples and blueberries, and put it in a 9×13 dish instead of the smaller pan.

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Ingredients:

Topping

⅔ cups flour

½ cup oats

⅔ cup brown sugar

¾ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup cold unsalted butter

Filling

4 apples

3 cups blueberries

1 teaspoon cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup flour

¼ cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 tablespoons melted butter

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

Mix together flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor, or bowl. Add in chunks of cold butter and process or manually cut in the butter until it is small crumbs. Set in fridge until needed.

For filling, core, cut, and peel apples, and put them a large bowl. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Stir flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, melted butter, lemon juice, sugars, milk, salt, and vanilla in a small bowl until combined. Pour mixture over apples, and toss to coat completely.

Place apple mixture in an 8×12 pan, and sprinkle all of the crumb topping over it, evenly, until completely covered.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 – 40 minutes until mixture is bubbling, and topping is brown.

If you are serving this recipe to more than 6 people, then add 3 more apples to the mixture, and increase the amount of blueberries, and then put the mixture into a 9×13 pan. Bake longer than usual.

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Molasses Marble Cheesecake

This cheesecake is great for the holidays, and has enough cheese in it for any cheese eater. Molasses is marbled into the filling to achieve the festive splash of brown, and the crust is made by crushing/processing molasses cookies.

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Ingredients:

 

For the Crust:

7 molasses cookies, hardened

1 tablespoon butter, melted

 

For Filling:

4 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened

¾ cup sugar

2/3 cup sour cream

½ cup half and half

3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

¼ cup flour ½ teaspoon vanilla

1/8 cup molasses

¼ teaspoon salt

 

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For crust, put molasses cookies in food processor, and process until it is all crumbs. Add in 2 tablespoons of butter, melted, until crumbs hold together well by pressing. Press crust material along the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.

Beat together the cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Then add in flour, salt, sour cream, half and half, eggs and yolk, and vanilla. Pour mixture into spring-form pan.

Then pour molasses on top, and swirl it in with a knife to achieve a marbled look.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then set oven to 350 and bake for 50 minutes

Then turn off oven (DO NOT OPEN OVEN), and let sit in cooling oven for an hour or so. Then take out of oven, and let sit on cooling rack until cooled off enough to put in fridge. Refrigerate at least 6 hours before consuming.

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Pumpkin Pie From Scratch

It’s time for the holidays; and Pumpkin Pie is a perfect dessert for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.

It is also as good as any pie for any special occasion. This recipe is ‘from scratch’ because I link to one of my posts explaining how to make the pumpkin puree from scratch instead of using store-bought canned pumpkin.

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Ingredients:

14 oz of Pumpkin Puree   (See my post on how to make pumpkin puree from scratch!)

1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon pumpkin spice

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon salt

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust

 

NOTE:

If you really must, then you can use 1 can of canned, pre-made, factory-processed pumpkin.

 

DIRECTIONS:

If you want to make your own pureed pumpkin, follow my instructions here. If not, then just buy a can of pumpkin and continue:

Set oven temperature to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl whisk together the spices and salt. In a large bowl, beat together pureed pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, and eggs. Then dump in the spices, and stir in well.

Pour mixture into an unbaked pie crust, and bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Then set oven temp to 350, and bake for another 45 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Remove from oven, and rest for an hour or so, then place in fridge, and cool for another 6 hours until cold.

Serve with whipped cream.

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Apple Blueberry Layer Pie

This Apple Blueberry Layer pie I made for a PI Day contest a while ago, so I engraved the Pi symbol engraved on the top of the crust. The Blueberries are layered on-top of the apples so as to show through the symbol Pi because of its great contrast to the Pie crust.

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But apart from PI day, this is an very delicious twist on your everyday Apple Pie.

See recipe below:

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Ingredients: (makes one largish regular pie)

2 frozen pie crusts (or homemade)

2 cups of frozen blueberries

3 Granny Smith Apples

3 McIntosh Apples

2 teaspoons cinnamon

⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

½ cup sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ cup flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Sugar for garnish

1 egg white

NOTE:

It would be best to have a deep-dish pie pan for this recipe.

 

DIRECTIONS:

Place a room-temperature unbaked pie crust onto a pie pan, as shown. Leave the second pie crust on the counter to reach room temperature while you prepare the pie.

Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Peel, core, and slice the apples, or use a very handy machine to do it for you. Toss the ‘peeledcoredsliced’ apples and lemon juice in a large bowl. Cut large pieces with a knife until all pieces are evenly sized.

Throw the flour-spice-sugar mixture over the apples, and toss to coat the apples completely.

Throw the apple mixture into the pie crust-filled pan.

Prepare the two cups of frozen blueberries by placing them in a colander and rinse thoroughly. Pat dry with paper towels. Even if you have fresh blueberries, you could also do this to wash them.

Evenly layer these blueberries over the top of the apples.

Now you may preheat the oven to 425 degrees. (Fahrenheit)

Place the other room temperature pie crust over the top neatly, and, using a fork, press across the circumference of the pie pan, pressing the top pie crust into the bottom crust.

Optional: Using a stencil, or your own brain, carefully cut the Pi symbol (rather largely) out of the top pi crust. You can use the cut-out crust as extra decoration on the top of the pie crust if you want to.

Beat an egg white until a bit fluffy. Spread this lightly over the top of the finished pie crust. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar.

Place pie in preheated oven (425) and bake for around 40 minutes, or until crust is golden, and fruit mixture is boiling.

Remove from oven, take a nice picture, and serve. Or, as I prefer, cool in fridge completely before serving.

NOTE:

Having the pie crust defrosted completely to room temperature is important. If it is not at room temperature, it is going to be alot harder to place in the pie pan, because it will crack all over the place.

Usually with recipes, you’ll see instructions at the very beginning to preheat your oven. But with a long recipe, like this, I find it is about half an hour or so to prep, so your oven will just be wasting energy. Because of this, you’ll only need to preheat your oven in this recipe 10 – 15 minutes before you’re ready to bake. It preheats at 425 degrees. See directions.

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SOME OTHER PICTURES:

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