Salted Caramel Apple Pie

 Salted Caramel Apple Pie

via Relish

Recipe by Four and Twenty Blackbirds Bakery

Nothing says fall like the smell of a delicious apple pie baking in the oven. This was an impulse baking decision for our Annual Family Pumpkin Party this past Sunday! And let me tell you is was sooooo good. I'm not a big fan of pie but even I enjoyed this pie. This recipe was easy to make and a crowd pleaser. Perfect for Thanksgiving! I hope you give it a try.

ingredients:

Pie Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
8 to 10 tablespoons ice water mixed with 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Salted Caramel:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt (Maldon flake is a good choice)

Apple Filling:
5 to 6 medium to large apples (Crispin, Granny Smith, Cortland)
Juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup raw sugar (castor or turbinado)*
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice*
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 to 3 dashes Angostora bitters*
2 tablespoons flour

directions:

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan.

To make pie crust, combine flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. (To mix by hand, cut butter into flour mixture using a pastry blender, two knives, or your hands.)

Add water mixture a little at a time, while pulsing, until dough forms a ball. Divide into 2 discs, wrap in plastic and chill 1 hour or more.
Roll out one disc to fit pan. Place in bottom of pan, allowing sides to overlap rim.

To prepare salted caramel, cook sugar and water together over low heat until just dissolved. Add butter and bring to a slow boil. Continue cooking at a low boil until mixture turns a deep, golden brown color. Be careful not to burn caramel—remove from heat before it smokes or turns very dark.

Remove from heat and immediately add heavy cream. Mixture will bubble and steam. Be cautious, as sugar will be very hot. Whisk mixture together over low heat and sprinkle in sea salt. Set aside.

To prepare apple filling, core, peel and thinly slice apples. Combine with lemon juice and remaining ingredients.

Place half the apple filling in pan. Pour half the caramel over top. Layer remaining apple filling and then caramel.

Roll out remaining pie dough and cut into strips. Place in a lattice pattern over apples. Crimp edges of crust. Brush with beaten egg and lightly sprinkle with sea salt and sugar.

Place pie on a baking sheet and bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325F and continue baking 25 to 35 minutes. Test doneness of apples with a long toothpick or small knife. They should be just soft. Let cool at least 1 hour before slicing.

my changes:

Carmel Sauce: 

I had a bag of individually wrapped caramels on hand. So instead of making the homemade sauce I went the semi-homemade route and melted the bag of caramels in a double broiler with about 1/3 cup heavy cream and just added in the salt. It was delicious!

Time Bake: 

I think the pie needs to bake longer at the 375 temp. Mine didn't have the golden crust like I had hoped for after cooking the pie for the longest amount of time the recipe called for. I had to pull it out of the oven despite being slightly undercooked because I was late for the party so I had to make do. 

ingredients:

I left out any ingredients with an (*) bc I didn't have the item on hand.

Homemade Blueberry Biscuits

HOMEMADE BLUEBERRY BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Pinterest
source: The Simple Cook Blog

ORIGINAL RECIPE
Biscuits: 

2 Cups Flour
1 Cup milk
1/3 Cup sugar
5 T of butter (frozen)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 oz of blueberries (fresh or dried)

Glaze: 
1 Cup of powdered sugar
1/8 Cup of water
1 tsp of vanilla
½ tsp of lemon juice 

Directions: 
Freeze butter. 

Preheat oven to 450F. Mix salt, sugar, flour, and baking powder in a bowl and sift. Add the cold milk into dry ingredients and mix. As dough begins to form, use a cheese grater to grate your frozen butter evenly over dough. Fold dough, and knead… repeat until all butter is spread evenly throughout dough. Fold in the blueberries. Gently pull of chunks of dough and pat to form biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or cake pan.

Place in oven and bake for about 7-12 minutes (until golden). Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave, and paint finished biscuits with pastry brush. Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl, and drizzle Biscuits with a fork.

My Changes:
**Instead of 1 cup milk I did: 2/3 cup buttermilk and 1/3 cup milk
**Since the recipe didn't specify a size, I made mine about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2-1inch thick. I would go smaller next time.
**Mine took 15min to bake. They were still a tad doughy so I painted on the melted butter and placed back in the oven for an additional 2-3min (total bake time 18min). They were perfect! I then reapplied the butter. Cooled for 5-10min on a rack then drizzled the glaze.
** Remember, the less you handle the dough, the fluffier the biscuits will be!!

THESE ARE AMAZING! My husband told me A+ and it takes a lot for him to rate something that high! We will definitely be making these again! Don't you love the cheese grater idea for the butter?! GENIUS! I hope you try them and enjoy them just as much as we do!

Amazing Soft Pretzel Recipe

The BEST Soft Pretzel's

via Anne's Eats Blog

Sometimes pregnancy cravings can lead to wonderful life changing things... like these AMAZING soft pretzels!! I usually always trip up with homemade doughs but this one went perfect and was pretty simple. If you like Auntie Anne's Pretzels like I do... then these are right up your alley! Here's how you make them...

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 package active dry yeast

22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups

2 ounces unsalted butter, melted

for finishing:

Vegetable oil, for pan
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon water (or melted butter)
Pretzel salt

directions:

Combine the water, sugar and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. Add the flour and butter and, using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl and then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and sit in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly brush with the vegetable oil. Set aside.

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan.

In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined half sheet pan.

Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water using a large flat spatula. Return to the half sheet pan, brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

I brushed a little extra melted butter on top after they came out of the oven :)

These are SO good and they make the house smell amazing too!
ENJOY!

Apple and Oats Muffins

Here is another great weekend(or anytime really) muffin recipe! I like it because I already had everything on hand. No special trips to the store required. The original recipe seems pretty healthy but then i jazzed it up a bit to my families liking. And they sure liked them!!

Apple and Oats Muffins

via City Hippy Farm Girl (with my twist)

ingredients:

(original)

2/3 cups softened butter

3/4 cup raw sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole oats

1 1/2 cup self raising flour 

2 eggs

3 grated apples

(my version)

2/3 cup softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup instant oats

** I didn't have any self raising flour so i found its equivalent online**

1 1/2 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

3 grated apples (I used gala bc thats all I had)

directions:

Cream buter and sugar together. add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Spoon mixture into muffin cups (remember to spray down if not using muffin liners). Sprinkle with a little extra raw sugar (i sprinkled the tops with my favorite Trader Joes Apple Cinnamon granola for a little crunch). Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25min. 

optional:

I decided to sweeten things up a bit by making a simple powder sugar glaze:

1/4 cup powder sugar 

add a tsp at a time of milk or water until desired consistency.

Then i sprinkled a little cinnamon on top of that.

enjoy.

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

Need something yummy to kick off your holiday weekend...

how about these?

so easy. soooo good!

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

by Smitten Kitchen

ingredients:

5 TBSP unsalted butter (room temp)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

3/4 sour cream or yogurt (i've used applesauce too)

1/2 tsp lemon zest (still good if left out)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 fresh blueberries (if frozen do NOT thaw)

directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add egg then sour cream and zest. Put flour baking powder baking soda and salt into a sifter. Sift 1/2 dry ingredients over the batter  and mix. Add the second half of the dry ingredients into the batter and mix until flour is gone. Fold in blueberries gently. Dough will be thick! fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake until tops are golden (about 20 min).

optional:

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 TBSP flour

2 TBSP COLD butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix all together with either a dough cutter or fork until crumbly.

Add a spoon full of mixture over each muffin.

Enjoy!!

2+3=5

Well i am getting spoiled for my birthday this year! LOTS of new camera gear which I am SOOO very excited about. 

I'll now be equipped with:

1. a new very stylish camera strap!!

2. new batteries

3. new battery grip!

4. new flash diffuser

and...

5. new light reflectors

i love my birthday.

My Kitchen

Jackie's KITCHEN STUFF

Since I got to work on a food project for my sister in law Britta i had a little fun with my camera and my kitchen. I photographed mostly favorite elements of my kitchen.

To be honest, i dont really love my wisk BUT i just thought it was a cool photo.
...