October 08, 2013

tasty tuesday: pumpkin pancakes

October 08, 2013/ Kelsey from {ps:heart }

Some days it's just not your day. And you have three epic recipe fails in a row.

Let's just say that last Sunday was not my day. It was a very humbling experience to have so many catastrophes in the kitchen....and looking back on it, I can finally see the humour in it. Pumpkin pancakes were one of these fails, and I actually made 3 different batches until I was finally happy with the end result!

So, I now present to you....pumpkin pancakes! These are delicious, cozy, and are absolute perfection on a crisp Fall morning.

I've been trying not to overload you guys

too much

on pumpkin and apple recipes, but I have stopped resisting...so be prepared! And let us know in the comments if there are any recipes in particular you'd like to see.

In the meantime, you should probably make these for breakfast tomorrow, or lunch, or supper....or heck, just for a snack! You can always stick them in the fridge for the next day, or pop them in the freezer for later.

Pumpkin Pancakes

adapted from:

allrecipes.com

yields: about 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of milk

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 egg

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 tbsp white vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

3 tbsp brown sugar (packed)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground allspice

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

[optional]: 1 cup chocolate chips (or chopped pecans)

Directions:

1) In a large bowl, mix together milk, pumpkin, egg, oilk and vinegar.

2) In a small bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, allspice, cinnamon and salt.

3) Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just mixed.

4) Heat a greased frying pan (or griddle) over medium high heat.

5) Pour batter onto the pan, flipping when bubbles appear on one side. Brown both sides, and serve hot.*

*I used a 1/4 cup to ladle out the batter, and then used the back of a large spoon to spread out the batter a bit.

And you don't need to grease your pan/griddle after every pancake. Do it before you start, and then again every 3 to 4 pancakes (or whenever you notice them start to stick!). Not greasing your pan will give you nicer, more even colouring on your pancakes!

Also, it's a good idea to cut open the first one or two you do to make sure they're not gummy inside. If they are, just turn down your burner/griddle slightly.

Oh yes, I topped them with chopped pecans and they were perfection!

Now go! Make pancakes!

p.s.

♥ kelsey

September 17, 2013

tasty tuesday: apple crisp

September 17, 2013/ Kelsey from {ps:heart }

Oh yes...more apple recipes! It started with

pie

last week, and it's not going to stop for a long time.

More apple, pumpkin, and squash recipes will be coming at you like crazy for the next few weeks. What can I say? We love Fall, and it helps when you live on an apple/pumpkin farm and have an endless supply of delicious fall fruit!

Crisps are definitely one of the easiest desserts in the world...and yet they're so dang delicous! You just throw fruit in a pan, top it with crumbs, and bam...you have a mouthwatering creation on your hands.

Oh yeah...don't forget to add ice cream!

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

8 cups chopped tart apples (we used Elstar)*

2 tsp flour

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1/3 cup butter (cold)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup rolled quick cooking oats

Directions:

Fruit Layer:

1) Mix together chopped apples, cinnamon and flour. Place in a greased 9x13 pan.

Crumb Topping Layer:

1) In a medium bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder.

2) Then, cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3) Stir in brown sugar and oats.

4) Sprinkle crumbs over fruit evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the apple pieces are tender. Cook time will depend on how big your apple chunks are....so just keep checking it!

(If your crumbs are brown, but your apples are still crunchy, just loosely place a piece of tinfoil on top of the pan to keep the crumbs from getting any browner while it cooks a bit longer!)

Let us know if you have any suggestions for Fall treats! We'd love to hear them.

p.s.

♥

kelsey

September 10, 2013

tasty tuesday: apple pie

September 10, 2013/ Kelsey from {ps:heart }

I'm really not sure why it's taken me so long to talk about pie here....especially since I live on an apple and berry farm, and my mom's known as the best pie-maker in town, and we seem to have pie in the house every other week in summer/fall.

It may have something to do with the fact that I don't actually like pie. Ahem, yes you read that right. I'm not a huge fan....and my friends do enjoy teasing me endlessly about it! Because truly, who the heck doesn't like pie? Whatevs.

Anyways, I love making people happy...so if they want pie, I will give them pie!

My mama helped me out with this post...so not only did it look good, but it tasted amazing as well (or so I've been told...haha). I believe her two main tips for a deliciously flaky crust are: don't overmix your dough, and be sure to chill your dough for 20-30 minutes!

Apple Pie

Pastry recipe from: Company's Coming - Desserts
(Yields enough pastry for 4 pies)

Ingredients:

Pastry

5 cups Flour

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

3 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 lb Lard (or vegetable shortening)

1 Egg

2 tbsp Vinegar

Cold water

Pie filling:

Ingredients:

6ish medium Elstar apples (or any tart apple of your choice)

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 cup Flour

3/4 cup Sugar

Directions:

1) Mix together flour, salt, baking powder and brown sugar in a large bowl.

2) Cut up lard and add to dry ingredients.

3) Using a pastry cutter (or a plain old fork works as well), cut in lard until your mixture is crumbly.

4) Break your egg into a liquid measuring cup and beat well.

5) Add vinegar to the measuring cup.

6) Add very cold water to the measuring cup, until the mixture measures to 1 cup.

7) Pour liquid mixture over flour mixture slowly, and stir.

8) Use your hands to work the mixture together until it no longer crumbles apart. This is where experience will come in, as you don't want to overmix the dough! Once you make it a couple of times, you'll get the feel of it.

9) Divide into 4 equal parts. Each part will make one pie, so you can choose to use it all at once, store some of the dough in the fridge* for up to 2 weeks, or pop some of into the freezer for later!

*If you do refrigerate your dough overnight (or for a few days), be sure to take it out at least an hour before you roll out it. Otherwise it will be too stiff!

Directions:

1) Once your pie dough is ready, you can peel and chop apples (the exact number will depend on the size of your apples, and how full you want to make your pie). We used Elstar apples, which are nice and tart, and are wonderful for baking with!

2) Mix all ingredients in with your diced apples, stir, and let sit for a few minutes.

3) Take approximately an eighth of your dough, and roll it out in a circle. You want your dough circle to be big enough to cover the bottom of your pie plate, and to cover the outside edge at least a half an inch.

4) Add your apple mixture to the pie plate and roll out another dough circle for the top.

5) Before adding the top of the crust, dip your fingers in a tiny bit of water, and run them along the edge of the bottom crust. This will help the top adhere well to the bottom crust.

6) Cover the pie with the top crust, trim any extra dough hanging over the side...leaving about a quarter of an inch over the pie plate.

7) Pinch together the crusts, and fold inwards (this is so any juice that bubbles out won't end up in your oven). Then, you can choose to crimp the edges however you like!

8) Sprinkle the top lightly with sugar, poke several holes (for ventilation) in the top, and you're ready to go.

*If you want to be fancy, you can cut out shapes from the top crust (or from extra crust) to add decorations to your crust. We added a few cute leaves to ours!

9) Bake at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until nice and bubbly.