Sweetness & Joy

And, I'm back in the game

After a long fight, Click finally threw in the towel back in February :(

So much has happened, and I haven't had a camera!!

For now, I am trying to reconstruct the blog... Not sure about staying here at Typepad, but we shall see.

Stay Tuned Dahlings ;)

President Pie-sinhouser

I wanted to make pie. Apple pie. And I wanted said pie to look super cute and be handy to eat. Eureka!
I'll make mini apple pies!
And they'll just be the cutest, most delicious mini-pies ever!
And it won't be hard at all, because apple pie is an american classic, and no classic can be that difficult, right?

Hurumph...how wrong I was....
The final result was great, but the road to pretty mini-pies is always under construction-at least in my kitchen.

I must let you know, this was not only my first attempt at mini-pies, but my first attempt at homemade pie in general. (Though frozen pies and I go waaay back, it really had no bearing on this endeavor here)

So, I did some research. After much trolling of the internet, I combined the following 3 recipes/methods to create these works of art (or so I hoped they would be):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/super-apple-pie-recipe/index.html
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ApplePie.html
http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/apple-pie-filling.htm

1st up-the easy part:

Beauty

Thesuspects

I got these apples from The Fruit Exchange in Chelsea Market-they were so fresh the entire office smelled like apples, even double bagged! I used Honey Crisp, Breaburn, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith; the Granny's were the only ones to be a total PITA, fyi....
I employed the method of cutting, adding sugar & spice (and everything nice ;) then draining for an hour or so, then making a thick reduction of the juices:

AppleMix

Reduction

By the time I mixed the ooeygooey sauce back in with the apples, the wonderful aroma of apples had penetrated every pore of my body...
I'm convinced it was this euphoric state that caused the next step of actually assembling the pies to be met with hurried exuberance...
I wanted to eat apple pie soooo badly, I did not take too much care in sealing the edges, and I completely forgot to brush the tops with eggwash-or even sprinkle any sugar on them!
The results of my first tray are seen here:

Images-1

Actually-I'm not really censoring them...
I just didn't take any....
They looked dry and flat and very unappetizing; however, they tasted fine (you can be sure I double-checked that, maybe even triple and quadruple if you must know)...
But I knew I could do a much better job, if I paid attention and tried to ignore the dizzying scent of apple goodness...
So the next day, I did this:

Shells

these were better from the start. I made a bigger bottom, and made sure the were way taller than the cups.

Filled

after I filled each one, I was careful to seal, seal, seal  (more on this in a bit), cut slits, and give a nice brush of eggwash, then some sugar, and into the oven.

Here's how they looked:

Finished2

Now, for all the time I spent sealing and sealing, and sealing, some of them still leaked. Though these pies were super fabulous (moist too, even with the spillage), I found out later I should be eggwashing the top and bottom together...doh!
I'm pretty sure I knew I should do that, but I didn't really know-if you know what I mean....
ahhhh, well....next time, for sure!
And yes, there will be a next time because these were soooo good, they were gobbled up very quickly...
Almost too quickly, seeing that I spent the better part of an hour building each one-but hey, mini-apple pies-ACCOMPLISHED!!

President Pie-sinhouser

I wanted to make pie. Apple pie. And I wanted said pie to look super cute and be handy to eat. Eureka!
I'll make mini apple pies!
And they'll just be the cutest, most delicious mini-pies ever!
And it won't be hard at all, because apple pie is an american classic, and no classic can be that difficult, right?

Hurumph...how wrong I was....
The final result was great, but the road to pretty mini-pies is always under construction-at least in my kitchen.

I must let you know, this was not only my first attempt at mini-pies, but my first attempt at homemade pie in general. (Though frozen pies and I go waaay back, it really had no bearing on this endeavor here)

So, I did some research. After much trolling of the internet, I combined the following 3 recipes/methods to create these works of art (or so I hoped they would be):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/super-apple-pie-recipe/index.html
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ApplePie.html
http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/apple-pie-filling.htm

1st up-the easy part:

Beauty

Thesuspects

I got these apples from The Fruit Exchange in Chelsea Market-they were so fresh the entire office smelled like apples, even double bagged! I used Honey Crisp, Breaburn, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith; the Granny's were the only ones to be a total PITA, fyi....
I employed the method of cutting, adding sugar & spice (and everything nice ;) then draining for an hour or so, then making a thick reduction of the juices:

AppleMix

Reduction

By the time I mixed the ooeygooey sauce back in with the apples, the wonderful aroma of apples had penetrated every pore of my body...
I'm convinced it was this euphoric state that caused the next step of actually assembling the pies to be met with hurried exuberance...
I wanted to eat apple pie soooo badly, I did not take too much care in sealing the edges, and I completely forgot to brush the tops with eggwash-or even sprinkle any sugar on them!
The results of my first tray are seen here:

Images-1

Actually-I'm not really censoring them...
I just didn't take any....
They looked dry and flat and very unappetizing; however, they tasted fine (you can be sure I double-checked that, maybe even triple and quadruple if you must know)...
But I knew I could do a much better job, if I paid attention and tried to ignore the dizzying scent of apple goodness...
So the next day, I did this:

Shells

these were better from the start. I made a bigger bottom, and made sure the were way taller than the cups.

Filled

after I filled each one, I was careful to seal, seal, seal  (more on this in a bit), cut slits, and give a nice brush of eggwash, then some sugar, and into the oven.

Here's how they looked:

Finished2

Now, for all the time I spent sealing and sealing, and sealing, some of them still leaked. Though these pies were super fabulous (moist too, even with the spillage), I found out later I should be eggwashing the top and bottom together...doh!
I'm pretty sure I knew I should do that, but I didn't really know-if you know what I mean....
ahhhh, well....next time, for sure!
And yes, there will be a next time because these were soooo good, they were gobbled up very quickly...
Almost too quickly, seeing that I spent the better part of an hour building each one-but hey, mini-apple pies-ACCOMPLISHED!!

President Pie-sinhouser

I wanted to make pie. Apple pie. And I wanted said pie to look super cute and be handy to eat. Eureka!
I'll make mini apple pies!
And they'll just be the cutest, most delicious mini-pies ever!
And it won't be hard at all, because apple pie is an american classic, and no classic can be that difficult, right?

Hurumph...how wrong I was....
The final result was great, but the road to pretty mini-pies is always under construction-at least in my kitchen.

I must let you know, this was not only my first attempt at mini-pies, but my first attempt at homemade pie in general. (Though frozen pies and I go waaay back, it really had no bearing on this endeavor here)

So, I did some research. After much trolling of the internet, I combined the following 3 recipes/methods to create these works of art (or so I hoped they would be):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/super-apple-pie-recipe/index.html
http://www.joyofbaking.com/ApplePie.html
http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/apple-pie-filling.htm

1st up-the easy part:

Beauty

Thesuspects

I got these apples from The Fruit Exchange in Chelsea Market-they were so fresh the entire office smelled like apples, even double bagged! I used Honey Crisp, Breaburn, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith; the Granny's were the only ones to be a total PITA, fyi....
I employed the method of cutting, adding sugar & spice (and everything nice ;) then draining for an hour or so, then making a thick reduction of the juices:

AppleMix

Reduction

By the time I mixed the ooeygooey sauce back in with the apples, the wonderful aroma of apples had penetrated every pore of my body...
I'm convinced it was this euphoric state that caused the next step of actually assembling the pies to be met with hurried exuberance...
I wanted to eat apple pie soooo badly, I did not take too much care in sealing the edges, and I completely forgot to brush the tops with eggwash-or even sprinkle any sugar on them!
The results of my first tray are seen here:

Images-1

Actually-I'm not really censoring them...
I just didn't take any....
They looked dry and flat and very unappetizing; however, they tasted fine (you can be sure I double-checked that, maybe even triple and quadruple if you must know)...
But I knew I could do a much better job, if I paid attention and tried to ignore the dizzying scent of apple goodness...
So the next day, I did this:

Shells

these were better from the start. I made a bigger bottom, and made sure the were way taller than the cups.

Filled

after I filled each one, I was careful to seal, seal, seal  (more on this in a bit), cut slits, and give a nice brush of eggwash, then some sugar, and into the oven.

Here's how they looked:

Finished2

Now, for all the time I spent sealing and sealing, and sealing, some of them still leaked. Though these pies were super fabulous (moist too, even with the spillage), I found out later I should be eggwashing the top and bottom together...doh!
I'm pretty sure I knew I should do that, but I didn't really know-if you know what I mean....
ahhhh, well....next time, for sure!
And yes, there will be a next time because these were soooo good, they were gobbled up very quickly...
Almost too quickly, seeing that I spent the better part of an hour building each one-but hey, mini-apple pies-ACCOMPLISHED!!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

I stumbled upon the recipe for this cake just in time to make it for BF's latest visit.
You can find it here:
http://iamvickie.blogspot.com/2008/06/cream-cheese-coffee-cake.html

I had to use a regular bunt pan, and I switched out the pecans for hazelnuts. I put the topping in the bottom and hoped for the best. While the cake was moist and delicious, the topping (which was actually a bottoming) wasn't so stellar-it crumbled everywhere when sliced. Thank heaven for Confectioner's Sugar! If I made this again, I would either make sure to use a removable-bottom pan (like Vickie's super duper cute one), or just leave the topping out all together (maybe a nice glaze would work here).

Cakestart

Wet Ingredients

Typical build here....
mmmmmm....



                                           Vanilla...

Topping

Topping

Hammering out frustrations on the hazelnuts?  Oh Yeah!

Sugar?

I sugared the pan after greasing it up... Love ya Jenny-thanks for the tip!!

Cakebake

So, it looked good in the pan, but I wasn't happy with it once I turned it out. It looked bleh to me.... kinda boring...







So I jazzed it up with powdered sugar....when it mingled with the nut 'bottoming' it was quite tasty!

The Whole Caboodle

Yum!

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

I stumbled upon the recipe for this cake just in time to make it for BF's latest visit.
You can find it here:
http://iamvickie.blogspot.com/2008/06/cream-cheese-coffee-cake.html

I had to use a regular bunt pan, and I switched out the pecans for hazelnuts. I put the topping in the bottom and hoped for the best. While the cake was moist and delicious, the topping (which was actually a bottoming) wasn't so stellar-it crumbled everywhere when sliced. Thank heaven for Confectioner's Sugar! If I made this again, I would either make sure to use a removable-bottom pan (like Vickie's super duper cute one), or just leave the topping out all together (maybe a nice glaze would work here).

Cakestart

Wet Ingredients

Typical build here....
mmmmmm....



                                           Vanilla...

Topping

Topping

Hammering out frustrations on the hazelnuts?  Oh Yeah!

Sugar?

I sugared the pan after greasing it up... Love ya Jenny-thanks for the tip!!

Cakebake

So, it looked good in the pan, but I wasn't happy with it once I turned it out. It looked bleh to me.... kinda boring...







So I jazzed it up with powdered sugar....when it mingled with the nut 'bottoming' it was quite tasty!

The Whole Caboodle

Yum!

Foto Fridays

Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge... and a very big hill ;)

Stay Tuned...
A fabulous hazelnut-crumb coffee cake is up next!

Foto Fridays

Bay Bridge

Bay Bridge... and a very big hill ;)

Stay Tuned...
A fabulous hazelnut-crumb coffee cake is up next!