apple hand pies

So, here we are, halfway through February and I'm already yearning for Fall.  Seriously, if we could just have Fall keep going and skip Winter, that would be great.

In the midst of my pining I decided to make pie.  Hand pies to be specific!  I used up some of the last few Elstar apples that we had in storage, and what a perfect ending it was for them.  Now hand pies take quite a bit more time than normal pie does! Ha!  I grew a bit impatient halfway through the process, but I promise that they're worth it.  I think these little parcels of perfection would be so great for a picnic, or bbq where more dishes would just be a hassle.  That's the beauty of a hand pie...you just pick it up with your hand, and eat it!  Heck yes!

Now, if you've been around the blog for a while you'll be aware of the fact that I don't actually like pie all that much.....well USED to not like pie that much.  You see, when I was younger, I really didn't like the idea of cooked fruit, and then I was not too sure about pie crust (what was I thinking?), and as I got older I clung to the idea that "I didn't like pie".  First of all, because I was stubborn, and then because I  was scared of all the pie I would consume if I decided I liked it...since my mom is the queen of pies and we tend to bake quite a number of them around our house.

Anyhow, I ate a hand pie to make sure that they were good......and then I ate another one, and maybe another.  So yeah.  I am now officially converted.  I LIKE PIE!  (And am no longer a freak of nature.)

So, without further ado....here is the recipe!

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Apple Hand Pies

pastry recipe yields: dough for 4 pies - (we refrigerate whatever we don't use)
pastry recipe: Jean Pare - Company's Coming: Desserts

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 (or quite a number of hand pies), 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!

Pastry Ingredients

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

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Hand Pie Apple Filling and Assembly

**NOTE: the number of hand pies this recipe yields will be dependent on how much pastry dough you use, and how big you make the pies.  I made a bunch of filling, and then filled hand pies until I was sick of it!  Hand pies have a higher ratio of dough to filling, so you may want to double the filling recipe if you plan on making a lot of hand pies.

Hand Pie Assembly

First, assemble your apple filling.  Peel your apples, and then dice them into smaller pieces than you would for a regular pie.  Toss the apples in a medium bowl with cinnamon, flour, and sugar.

If your dough is in the fridge, be sure to take it out about an hour before you want to roll it out.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pie dough, and then use a round cookie cutter to cut out circles. (Note: you want your dough very thin, but not so thin that it will rip once you start stuffing it with apples!  this might take a couple trials to get just right).

Spoon a bit of apple filling onto half of the circles, and then place a matching circle on top of each of them.  

Use a bit of water on your fingers to wet the inside edge of one of the circles, and then pinch the edges together tightly until it seals.  Then, use a fork to further seal the edges and make a decorative pattern (see photos below).  Place each hand pie on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a baking mat.

Cut one or two small vent holes in the top of each hand pie.  Brush a bit of milk (or whisked egg) on top of the dough to help them get brown and glossy, and sprinkle with a bit of coarse sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes, or until bubbling occurs and apples are soft!

Apple Filling

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

3/4 tsp Cinnamon

 2 Tbsp Flour

1/3 cup Sugar

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So the moral of the story today is....don't be stubborn, and pie is delicious.

-Kelsey

beignets

Cheers to the first doughnuts of 2016!  Jordyn and I decided to mix it up a bit, and try our hand at beignets!  Now, these are made with a yeast dough, although it's also common to use choux pastry.  I think that means that we'll have to make them again soon to see which we like better!

Now, the process for these beignets is quite a long one, so be prepared!  The rising time is quite a bit longer than other doughnuts, but the pay-off is worth it.  Beignets are also best served warm and fresh, although we did find that they froze well (place in freezer without dusting with icing sugar).

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Beignets

slightly adapted from: handle the heat

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the water, sugar, and yeast.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, and cream.  Then add to the yeast mixture.

Add half of the flour, and mix until combined - use a dough hook here, or a wooden spoon and some determination.  Keep mixing, and add in the salt and butter.  Gradually mix in the rest of the flour, and keep working the dough until it is smooth, and a bit tacky.

*If you don't have a dough hook, just flour your work surface and knead the dough by hand.  It will take a while, around 10 minutes.

Place the dough into a creased bowl, and cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap.  Let the dough rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours.  (Yes this is a long time!  But it's worth it.) 

Preheat oil in a deep-fryer, or in an electric frying pan to 360 degrees farenheit.  Place the icing sugar in a large bowl or 9x13 baking dish for tossing the beignets.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4" thickness, and cut it into squares.  Deep-fry each square until it's golden brown on both sides, flipping constantly while cooking it.

The beignets will float to the surface as they're frying, and if they don't, you might need more oil in your frying pan, or the oil might need to heat up a bit more.

Once the beignets come out of the frying pan, gently roll them on a cookie sheet lined with paper towels, and then roll them in the icing sugar while still warm.

***NEVER leave your oil unattended!!  Not for one second.

*It's helpful to have 2 people frying and coating the beignets here, especially if you're frying several beignets at once.

Beignets are best served warm, or at least the same day.

You can freeze them if you'd like, and coat them in icing sugar once you bring them out of the freezer and just before you serve them.

Ingredients

3/4 cup warm water

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1 large egg

1/4 cup milk*

1/4 cup cream*

3 1/2 cups flour 

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter

(Oil - for frying beignets)

Topping:

1 1/2 cup icing sugar

*The milk and cream may be replaced with 1/2 cup of evaporated milk.

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Now go on and make yourself some delicious parcels of fried dough people!

-Kelsey

s'mores ice cream

This ice cream might just be the epitome of Summer.  All the flavours of our favorite campfire treat come together in a delicious explosion, and we think you'll love it!

(In case you were wondering....no, I

still

haven't been camping yet.  Don't judge me.)

As the days are slowly getting shorter, and the mornings a bit crisper, why not celebrate the last days of Summer with something epic?

S'mores ice cream.  Best of both worlds? I think so!

S'mores Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

1)  Mix together milk, cream, sugar, graham cracker crumbs, salt and vanilla.

2)  Pour mixture into ice cream maker.

3)  Once the mixture just starts to thicken, very slowly add in the mini marshmallows and chocolate pieces.

4)  Pour into a container and allow to harden in the freezer for 12-24 hours before serving.

Optional: Top with a graham cracker, a couple pieces of dark chocolate, and a roasted marshmallow! 

*You can roast your marshmallows on a cookie sheet in the oven on broil if you don't want to go out and start a fire.  Just don't take your eyes off of them or they'll burn!

Also, the pumpkin spice takeover needs to hold on for a second....we're not done with Summer here!

p.s. 

♥ kelsey & jordyn

lemon layer dessert // a guest blog over at sift and whisk

Hello friends!  A couple months ago we were asked to be a guest blogger for Sift and Whisk while she was on maternity leave...and were so excited that she reached out to us!  We chose to make a lemon layer dessert, which we think is so perfect for Summer.

Hop on over to Sift and Whisk for the full recipe!

p.s.  ♥ kelsey

rhubarb coffee cake

Rhubarb!  Oh, how I love thee.

This is the part where I talk about living on a farm with (almost) unlimited amounts of rhubarb, berries and apples at my fingertips, and you all hate me.

Well, I hope you can try and not hate me, and maybe just settle for bitter jealousy?  Or let's become friends and you can come visit and I'll give you a cake to make up for it.  But seriously, can I just mention one more time how lucky I am to live on a farm that grows so many incredible fruit and veggies?  I don't ever want to leave!

Although I'm a real chocolate girl....I have to say that this just might be my favorite cake in the world.  It definitely wins best coffee cake, hands down.  It's just so light and fluffy, and the pieces of rhubarb bring such a delightful balance with their tartness.  The minute our rhubarb is long enough to justify picking it...this cake will be baking in our kitchen.  Now that's a fact.

I also love the fact that this recipe comes from my great grandma.  Baking runs in the family!

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

recipe from: My Great Grandma Enid!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour milk (mix 1 cup milk with 1 tbsp vinegar/lemon juice - let stand for 5 minutes before using)

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup rhubarb, chopped

Topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1)  In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

2)  Beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.

3)  Mix in sour milk and baking soda.

4)  Add flour and mix until just combined.

5)  Stir in rhubarb pieces.

6)  Pour batter into a greased 9x13 pan, and top with cinnamon and sugar.

7)  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

This is best served the first day, although it rarely lasts longer than that at our house anyway!

Happy Summer!

Now go and find some rhubarb and make this cake asap!

p.s. 

♥

 kelsey

funky monkey bars

Mmmmhh...Funky Monkey Bars.

Now these are definitely one of our classic family recipes.  My mom cut the original recipe out of a magazine over 20 years ago....and it has stood the test of time!  You start with fudgey brownies (that have to be made from a box....otherwise they just will

not

work!), and then top it with peanuts, more chocolate, and a drizzle of honey and peanut butter.

These make a mess when you eat them...and they're totally worth it.

And a hilarious story about these....they were originally called Chunky Monkey Bars.  Somewhere along the line, someone started calling them "Funky" Monkey Bars, and the name just stuck!  Seriously though, I have no idea what monkeys have to do with any of it!

Funky Monkey Bars

Ingredients:

1 Brownie mix

1/4 cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup of water

1 egg

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup peanuts

Directions: 

1)

 Don't follow the directions on the box!

  Instead, place the mix in a large bowl and add the oil, water, and egg.  Mix just until moist.  

2)  Spread in a greased 9x13 pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

3)  While the bottom layer is baking, heat up your honey and peanut butter and stir together.  

4)  Immediately after removing brownies from the oven, sprinkle them with chocolate chips and peanuts.  

5)  Drizzle honey and peanut butter mixture over everything.

Cool before cutting.  Keep refrigerated!

**These take a

long

 time to cool (as in, more than an hour), so you'll want to make them well in advance of serving them!

If you don't like super sweet desserts, then these probably aren't for you!  They really are pretty decadent...so be warned!  Or feel free to leave out the chocolate chips on top, and let the saltiness of the peanuts help balance out the flavors.  Sweet and salty.  Is there anything better?

p.s. 

♥

 kelsey & jordyn

back to basics: pizza dough

Who doesn't love pizza?  With a crunchy crust, gooey cheese, and all the toppings you want, who could resist?  

It's like the Leonardo DiCaprio of food.  And like Leo, it will likely never win an Oscar, but it still gets invited to the party.

One of the best things about pizza is that it is so incredibly versatile! You can make practically any kind of pizza you can dream of.  Our go-to pizza is topped with caramelized onions, sauteed red peppers, mushrooms, garlic, spinach and chicken, finished off with feta, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese.  But we also love greek, pepperoni, and we just tried making thai for the first time.  It was the bomb!

This is our tasty recipe for homemade pizza crust.  It takes a bit of time and work, but it is definitely worth it!  The extra spices in the crust add a nice punch of flavour.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

1/2 cup

 hot

 water (not boiling, hot tap water is fine)

2 (.25 ounce) packages

active dry yeast

1/2 tablespoon sugar

6 cups

all-purpose flour

1 tbsp

salt

1 1/2 tablespoons

white sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 cup

vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups warm water

Directions:

1) In a medium size bowl dissolve sugar in the hot water, and then mix in yeast.  Let this rise for 15 minutes.

2) In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.

3) Stir in the risen yeast, the warm water and the oil into the dry ingredients.

4) Mix well.

5) Turn out mixture onto a floured surface and knead until dough has a smooth texture.  About 10 minutes.

6) Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit in a warm area for 1 hour.

7) Split dough in half, each will make a large pizza.

8) With a rolling pin, roll out pizza a bit larger than the pan you are using.  I use

d a large round pizza pan (ours is 14 inches across), and a 10 x 15 square pan.

9) Once the dough has been rolled out, place over well greased pan (I used olive oil) and tuck in the edges to make a crust, poke holes in the crust with a knife or fork (this prevents crust bubbles).

10) Bake pizza at 350 for 20 minutes.

11) Add pizza sauce and desired ingredients.

12) Bake for another 8 minutes, or until the cheese has melted (sometimes we like to broil it).

This is a little sneak peek of what our thai pizza looks like!

Once your crust is cooked smother that baby with pizza sauce (or thai sauce!) and load up with yummy toppings.  By cooking the crust ahead of time, you can keep an eye on how it is doing.  You don't have to worry about a soggy crust under all your ingredients.

Then just pop it back in to heat up the toppings and melt your cheese.  We like to broil it so it gets all bubbly and delicious!

p.s. 

♥

 jordyn & kelsey