a whisk and a spoon

Tuesdays with Dorie: All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie

Wasn’t I just whinging about having too much kitchen crap?  Know what did I do right after that?  I bought a new half-size deep dish pie plate!  Makes a lot of sense, right?  Oh bother…at least I think it will get good use.  In fact, I was able to use it right away for this All-American, All-Delicious Apple Pie that Emily of Sandmuffin picked for TWD.

I haven’t made a double-crust apple pie in a few years, and this one was so good (the “all-delicious” is an apt description) that it actually made me feel a little sad thinking about what I’ve been missing.  This was a true deep-dish pie– it was positively stuffed with apples.  In mine, I used a random mix of red and green apples that my husband and I proudly picked ourselves during an orchard outing to Warwick with the in-laws a couple of weeks ago (I probably have enough apples in the fridge to make 20 pies!).  I also used flour to thicken mine, although the recipe calls for tapioca…I didn’t want to buy any, but an equal amount of AP flour worked just fine. 

These last couple of pie-crusted treats have turned me on to a bad little habit…purposefully leaving myself one last mini-slice to have for breakfast with a cup of coffee.  Very naughty.

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Sandmuffin.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Caramel Pumpkin Pie

It wouldn’t normally occur to me to eat pumpkin pie before Thanksgiving, but when I read that Janell of Mortensen Family Memoirs chose Caramel Pumpkin Pie for TWD this week, it sounded like a pretty tasty idea!  I wouldn’t say that I have a “favorite” pumpkin pie recipe…I think I just haven’t cooked enough turkey day dinners out on my own yet to have found my idea of squashy perfection (although I’ve rarely met a pumpkin pie I didn’t like!).  I am doing dinner here at the house this year, though, so I’m counting this as research.

This twist with this pumpkin pie is that half the sugar is taken to a dark caramel.  Between that and the rum that’s added, you get a darker custard and a very different taste than with regular pumpkin pie.  I know better than to mess with holiday traditions, so maybe that’s not for everyone, but my husband and I just loved it.  Can’t wait to polish it off tonight, chilled, and with a big plop of whipped cream!

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Mortensen Family Memoirs.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Fold-Over Pear Torte

Wow…it takes a move to make me realize just how much kitchen crap I have.  Seriously, boxes and boxes of stuff I never touch.  I have an 11-inch square pan that I used once eight years ago!  I have five flats of unopened Ball jars (was I thinking I’d be the next Smucker’s or something??).  A lot of it went into storage when we moved to Sydney four years ago, and it didn’t come out when we moved back. Until now.  My latest project is sorting though it…what to keep handy, what to put in the basement and what to say goodbye to.  Housing Works has already gotten three boxes full!

One thing I’ll never give up is my six-inch springform, which I found just in time to make a half-size of the Fold-Over Pear Torte that Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen chose for TWD this week.  This was the first recipe in a long time where I didn’t know what the heck I was making!  I couldn’t really tell by reading the recipe how it would turn out, and there isn’t a picture in the book for a visual clue. 

After muddling through and crossing my fingers, here it is in a nutshell: fresh pear chunks, nuts and dried fruit are suspended in a rummy custard-like batter, and the whole thing is encased in flaky pie dough.  It’s assembled in a springform for high sides to hold all that fruit and custard.  It may look like a deep dish pizza, but it tastes like pure autumn.  A delicious surprise out of the oven!  

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Laws of the Kitchen.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Fine

So, our move is done, and we are now residents of Fort Greene, Brooklyn!  Thanks for all the good wishes in your comments last time.  Apart from a couple chunks taken out of a hall wall by a dresser, all went surprisingly well.  We have moved five times in four years, so I’m pretty good at packing up by now, but I’m looking forward to not doing it again for at least another ten years!  Now to finish tackling the home improvements…

These Tartes Fines were the last TWD project to come out of my old apartment oven.  I had some puff pastry in the freezer already, so they were fast and so simple to crank out, which I really appreciated last week. (Thanks, Leslie!)  If you have made other puff and apple desserts, then you will know what a great combo these two things are.  Really browned and crisped puff is the way to go.  If you have either a little apple butter or almond frangipane hiding in the fridge, then a schmear underneath the apples is a nice extra touch. 

For the recipe for this super easy, yet totally elegant dessert, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Lethally Delicious.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!