Holy Starches!

Yesterday, I was on a baking streak...
Brownies, biscuits, pretzels, pot roast and beef barley soup with lots of veggies. I'm sure that I'm missing something, but...I'll have recipes up soon. No pictures as everything was eaten before I got a chance to take any. Boo. MMMM, homemade pretzels!

I need a better camera.

So, as you can see, I need a better camera, so I'm taking donations. Ha. Please let me know if you'd like to donate so that you don't have to see any more ugly food photos.

Drunken Apple Crisp and Drunken Squirrels

So- I come home from a lovely trip up north to realize that we've had torrential rains, flooding my back yard and causing the ground to become so soft- that my beloved apple tree has toppled over. You should have seen it in the spring- so many flowers, you could hardly see the leaves. Ahhh, so beautiful. Because of it's size and age, many of the limbs were almost touching the ground, creating a serene canopy under the tree- peaceful, quite and private. Yes... just you and the mosquitoes. And a chair, and a book, and a citronella candle... Anyway, we had grown to love this apple tree.

Two years before, the year we moved into the house, the apple tree had blossomed and given a bountiful harvest as well. So many apples had dropped on to the ground that we couldn't keep up with picking them up. Unbenounced to us, some of them had become fermented.

Wild life- mainly squirrels- began to eat the apples to fatten up for winter. Apparently, they had no prior knowledge (or maybe their memory served them well from prior years) of the fermentation process of these apples and the effects of eating them. On any given day, you would see 3-4 of them, nibbling, scavenging, playing, toppling over and falling out of trees. That's correct, DRUNKEN SQUIRRELS. Like a college kid after too many beers, they too were falling over drunk. I have video. I'm giggle-snorting the entire time. Hilarious.

Anyway, the squirrels drunken-ness really has nothing to do with the recipe, except for the same source of their good time, is the basis for the recipe below. Without further adu, I give you the Drunken Apple Crisp!

Ingredients:
5 cups apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
1/4 cup amaretto
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar

Topping:
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter (melted)

Directions:
1. Toss the apples with the amaretto, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar.
2. Mix the flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and butter in a separate, large bowl.
3. Place the apple mixture into an 8x8 inch baking dish and pour the topping on.
4. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until it is bubbling and the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Garlic Cheddar DOG Treats

GARLIC CHEDDAR DOG TREATS
My fur babies love these! I say they're pretty good too!

Ingredients
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 T garlic powder
1 T oil or butter, softened
.5 c milk (may not need all)

Combine flour and cheese. Add in garlic powder and oil.
SLOWLY add milk, a little at a time, until a thick dough is formed.
Knead and roll out on lightly floured work space until 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Turn oven off, cool in oven, on sheets, with the door open.

Apple Streusel Muffins

I woke up one morning to Mike's stomach growling so loudly that I couldn't go back to sleep. He- of course- was sleeping soundly. So, I decided to go see what I had in the pantry. So it happens, I actually have enough junk to concoct this fun little thing. He LOVED it. Maybe it was because I'm a fabulous cook, maybe because I served it to him warm, in bed, maybe because he was obviously starving. Any way it was- they were quite lovely.

Prep: 10 minutes Bake: 18 minutes

Oven: 400 f Makes: 12 muffins

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

1/3 C sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg; beaten

3/4 C milk

1/4 C cooking oil

2 apples; peeled, cored, finely chopped

Streusel Topping:

Combine 3 tbsp all purpose flour, 3 tbsp brown sugar and 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Cut in 2 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2 tbsp chopped nuts.

Grease or paper 12 2.5 in muffin cups; set aside.In a med bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of mixture and set aside.

In another bowl, combine the egg, milk and oil. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and stir until moistened (batter will be lumpy). Add apples.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. If desired, sprinkle with Streusel topping. Bake 400 for 18 to 20 minutes or until wooden tooth-pick inserted comes out clean. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm.

Pastry for Single Crust Pie

I use butter flavored shortening for this recipe. I LOVE this crust! It's still crispy today (Wed) and I made the apple pie on Sunday!

Prep: 10 minutes
1 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 C shortening
4-5 tbsp cold water

In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea-sized.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cold water over part of the flour mixture; gently tossing with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat moistening flour mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, until entire mixture is moistened. Form dough into a ball.
On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to flatten dough slightly. Roll dough from the center to edges into a circle about 12 inches in diameter.
To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin. Unroll into an 9 in pie dish. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it.
Trim pastry to about 1/2 inch beyond the edge of the pie plate. Fold under edges. Crimp the edge as desired. Do NOT prick pastry. Bake as directed in individual recipes.

Crumble Top Apple Pie

This is SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD. You do need to try it right away. For the crust decoration, I re-rolled the crust excess and used a thimble to cut the circles. I also would double the recipe for the Crumble Top as it seemed to be not quite enough.

Be sure to chose a variety of apple that can stand up to heat such as Granny Smith (tart) or Cortland, Jonathan, Pippin, York Imperial, Golden Delicious, Newtown and Rome Beauty (will want to add lemon juice)

Prep: 30 minutes Bake: 1hour

Oven: 375 f Makes: 8 servings

Pie Filling

1 recipe Pastry for Double Crust Pie (see seperate post)

6 C thinly sliced, peeled cooking apples (about 2 1/4 lbs)

1 tbsp lemon juice (optional)

3/4 C sugar

2 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I added 1/4 tsp more)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/3 C dried cranberries (optional- did not use)

Crumble Top (remember, I'd double this if I were you)

1/2 C all purpose flour

1/2 C packed brown sugar

3 tbsp butter

In a small bowl, mix flour and sugar, cut in butter with pastery blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Prepare and roll out Pastry for Double Crust Pie. Line a 9 inch pie plate.

If desired, sprinkle apples with lemon juice (I used Granny Smith and still used juice). In a large bowl, stir together the 3/4 C sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add apple slices and, if desired, cranberries. Gently toss until coated.

Transfer apple mixture to the pastery lined pie plate. Trim the pastery to the edge of the pie plate and crimp or decorate the edges as desired.

Sprinkle crumb mixture over the top and bake for 1 hour.

TIP: To keep fruit filled pies from running, be sure to cool atleast 2 hours before cutting. Fruit pies may stand at room temp for 24 hours; after which, should be covered and refrigerated.

This recipe has been adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.