October DOTM: Apple Cream Pie

I'm sending out my October DOTM today!
It's a recipe for Apple Cream Pie from Mildred Armstrong Kalish's memoir Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression (which I highly recommend!) Check out the book's website for more farm recipes!

From Chapter 11, "Farm Food"

Here’s how to make crust for two large one-crust pies.

3 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/8 cup skim or whole milk

Blend all together with a fork, and form into two equal balls using your hands. Roll out between two sheets of wax paper. Peel the top paper off the dough using a spatula. With the paper side up, carefully fit the crust into the pie pan. Now carefully remove the wax paper. If the crust tears, don’t worry. Using your fingers, carefully paste over the hole. Take care not to stretch the dough. Unlike the old-fashioned lard dough, you can handle this mixture as much as you like. You will probably never make the old-fashioned dough again. (I was skeptical of this crust at first, because pie crusts intimidate me anyways, but even though it's not that pretty...it was easy and delicious!)

Note: the following recipe for pie filling is for one ten-inch pie; if you want to make two pies, double it.

¾ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons flour
6 large Granny Smith apples
½ pint heavy cream
cinnamon

Combine three quarters of a cup of sugar with three tablespoons flour and one half teaspoon salt. Stir. Add three tablespoons of this mixture to the dough-lined pie pan, and pat it gently but firmly into the crust with the opened palm of your hand. This little trick promises a crisp bottom crust when baked. Set aside the remainder of the sugar mixture.

Peel, core, and cut into eighths six Granny Smith apples. Add two tablespoons of lemon juice if the apples are not tart enough. Arrange apples in the crust, sprinkle with the remainder of the sugar-flour mixture, and dust liberally with cinnamon. Pour a half pint of heavy cream over all and sprinkle one tablespoon of sugar on top of this wonderful creation. Place in 450° oven for twelve minutes, then reduce the heat to 350° and bake about one hour or until the apples are done. You should test for doneness with a toothpick—or a straw drawn from the kitchen broom if you are as indifferent to the dangers of germs as we were.

PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES: PART ONE

What would Halloween be without PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES? Non-fattening, and as you well know I just can't have that. I am making all sorts of Fall/Halloween themed food this week and will be posting! Part two of these lil guys is coming soon once I get the filling just how I want it..

Also, I have started a NEW BLOG. I decided that Tentacles needed a sister blog for just food.
The new blog is called FOOD PUNK.

After much inner debate on exactly what to call myself in regard to my food obsessive tendencies, I decided that Food Punk describes me in a nutshell.

MY GELATO IN A COOKBOOK?!?!!?

I'm as shocked as you are!!


Read all about how my recipe will be published in Amanda Hesser's Food 52 book.

Concord Grape Honey Ice Cream

It's taken me a bit to get hip to the concord grape craze but an unexpected treat in last weeks CSA share forced me to get with the program. I've been on a big ice cream making kick lately and am trying to make them with natural sweeteners whenever possible. I think maple could work well with this combo too so I'll try that next time.

Anyway, I was very pleased with the results here. I'm finally getting my ice cream bases correct so they are smooth after churning and freezing. I'm so happy about that! The flavor of the grapes and cream was sort of unusual, but I really liked it. I also really liked the color. What do you guys think??



Concord Grape Honey Ice Cream

2 cups half and half
2 cups whole milk
2 cups honey
2 cups concord grapes
6 egg yolks

In a large saucepan add the grapes and one cup of honey and simmer until the grapes start to break down. Add the half and half and milk, and cook over medium heat.
Put the yolks in a heat proof bowl and whisk in the other half of the honey. When the cream mixture is starting to steam, whisk a cup or so, 1/4 cup at a time, into the eggs. The goal is the raise the heat of the eggs so they won't curdle when added to cream. When the eggs are tempered, add them to the cream, return to stove until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon and you can draw a clear line through it.

Strain the mixture into a large bowl and chill, 3 hours at least, but preferably overnight. Then process according to your ice-cream maker's instructions, remove from ice cream maker and freeze until it firms up.

Decomposition Of The Monster Club

I got quite the wonderfully creepy surprise in my mailbox today, and I do believe many of you did as well!!!
Decomposition Of The Monster Club...now where I have seen that acronym before???????
Who pray tell sent these spooky goodies???
Whoever it was just MADE MY OCTOBER!! Come forward so I can lavish you with praise!!

"NUDICAL AND DESSERTICAL"

Super Uber talented Tara Sinn made a new zine!
JUST DESSERTS
It's in 3D and features nudes and desserts which is just my my cup of tea dish of pudding!

AGAIN WITH THE SKULL

So I tried to make the Crimson Ghost in tart form yet again
It came out far better this time, no?
Still a mess after baking but what are ya gonna do? I used the wonderous Concord Grape tart recipe that Christophile posted from Oct 2008 Martha Stewart Living. It's really delicious regardless of the crust design.
Try it out before Concord Grapes are gone from the markets.

Salty Caramel Ice Cream

Sumptuous...can I say that word? I made a sumptuous dessert last week, salty caramel ice cream. As many of you know, I'm of the dairy-free persuasion and since I can't seem to ever make it to Lula's Sweet Apothecary when I'm in New York (http://www.lulassweetapothecary.com/) I decided to try making a frozen treat on my own. I consulted my *autographed* copy of Wheeler Del Torro's newly released book "The Vegan Scoop" and the results are truly rich and dense with a heavenly hint of salt. You'll need an ice-cream maker (thanks to my friend Reb for leaving hers at my house indefinitely) and I invested $12.00 in an candy thermometer for the caramel. My main inspiration: the key-lime ice cream Nicole made when I had dinner at her place in August.

For the Caramel
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup earth balance (non-dairy butter)
1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Ice Cream
1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons arrowroot powder
2 cups soy creamer
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

To make the caramel: Slowly boil sugar, corn syrup, butter, and coconut milk until mixture reaches "thread" stage on thermometer (235 degrees). Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Set aside.

To make the ice cream: In a small bowl, whisk 1/4 cup soymilk and arrowroot. Set aside.
Mix soy creamer, remaining 3/4 soymilk, and sugar in a saucepan and cook over low heat. Once mixture begins to bil, remove from head and immediately add arrowroot cream. This will cause the liquid to thicken noticeably. Add vanilla extract.

Refrigerate mixture until chilled, approximately 2-3 hours. Freeze/make ice cream according to your ice-cream maker's instructions. In the last few minutes of freezing, swirl in the homemade caramel.

[sorry no pics]

OLIVE OIL ZUCCHINI BREAD

I put the above words into the computer box and a bunch of recipes later, this is what I ended up with.
Divine.





2 cups grated zucchini
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
3 large eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
crushed walnuts
I mixed dry and gave em a nice sift. I mixed wet, added nuts and incorporated to the dry ingredients in three additions. Mix well.
Bake at 350 for an hour checking halfway. I baked mine in a deep 10 wedding cake, cake pan which is a fussy pan and it took longer, plus my oven suffers a temperature identity crises. The olive oil addition to this old stand by is really magnificent.
There was some mention of a sugar glaze but really, the bread needs no adornment.

Sorbete de limon al mar de cava

My contribution to DOTMC last year was inspired by this dessert, Sorbete de limon al mar de cava, which I first had in January 2008 at Cal Boter in Barcelona. I was lucky enough to be able to return yesterday and couldn't resist ordering it again, even though the menu has other tremendously delicious and classic Catalan desserts. There is something about this perfectly smooth sweet and sour sorbet floating in an equally sour but very strong liqueur that just gets my goat. The other thing that makes me crazy is the liqueur is basically impossible to find, even here in Barcelona, so I guess I'll just take what I can get and enjoy the special chances I have every few years.

APPLE CARAMEL WALNUT TART

For Molly and Allison's 20th Friendship Anniversary I made this tart. My idea was to have a layered apple bottom and an almost pecan pie like top. It sort of worked. I did not get a pic of the pie cut but I have one more slice in the fridge so maybe I can add it here later. I used Nick Malgieri's recipe for Pate Brisse and it worked nicely. I used my mandoline to get seriously thin apple slices which I layered atop the crust. Then I made a caramel sauce and mixed it with about a cup to a cup and a half of toasted walnuts and poured it on top.
It came out nicely but was in the oven FOREVER. Next time I will use my head and BLIND BAKE the crust some before filling! Part of success in baking is using everything you know about the craft. I have a tendency to ignore the things I know and plow along pig-headed and stubborn. A deeper tart pan also may have helped and less apples. The finished product was ok, but I know I can do better.

Pate Brisee
1 lb butter
1 lb flour
1/2 lb cake flour ( I used all AP)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
6 oz COLD water

cut butter into pieces combine dry ingredients, rub in butter with hands or a paddle. leaving pea size pieces.
stir in water until dough holds together shape into a disc wrap in plastic chill until firm

Peach Pear Pie With Cornmeal Crust

Trying to get back into the pie making game and with the results on this one, I'm happy I did! I used the crust recipe from Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything" replacing 1/4 of the flour with cornmeal which gave it a nice texture, but wasn't overwhelming at all. Since I had peaches and pears from my fruit share at the sweet pea CSA I decided to try a peach pear pie and it worked great. Here's the recipe, I hope you dig it.

Peach Pear Pie in Cornmeal Crust

FILLING:

* 2-1/2 cups sliced peeled fresh peaches
* 2-1/2 cups sliced peeled fresh pears
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1/3 cup maple crystals
* 1/4 cup honey
* 3 tablespoons arrowroot
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground Chinese 5 Spice
* 1 unbaked cornmeal crust (9 inches)

TOPPING:

* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup ground maple crystals
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/4 cup cold butter
* 1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
In a bowl, sprinkle the peaches and pears with lemon juice. Combine the sugar and honey, arrowroot, cinnamon and allspice. Add to fruit, toss gently to coat. Pour into crust.

For topping, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl; cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in walnuts. Sprinkle over filling.

Cover edges loosely with foil.

Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

MOLLY'S BIRTHDAY CAKE

Ms.Schnick had a birthday and this is the cake I made for her. Chocolate cake with layers of caramel and salt, frosted with a caramel chocolate ganache. I used the recipe from Baked.
It was thoroughly enjoyed by all, though the caramel recipe needs to be tweaked a bit, methinks.

Chia Seed Pudding (Vegan and Greek inspired)

A little while back, I posted an item about chia seeds, how they're used in drinks, their health benefits, and about my general love for them.

I just came across this vegan chia seed pudding recipe on Veggie Wedgie and it looks amazing... I haven't tried it yet, but plan on giving it a go soon...thought you'd want to check it out!

Here's a pic from the link... yum:

July 2009 DOTMC: FUNNEL CAKE

Hi, everyone! Here's the recipe card you'll be receiving in the mail this week (so sorry it's late!)... I thought about what desserts I nostalgically relate to summertime. I spent many summers in Ocean City, MD, where my cousins and I would harass our parents into taking us to the boardwalk, and we'd go bananas on various amusement park rides, bumper-cars, and iron-on shops, and then inhale Fishers caramel popcorn, Thrasher's french fries, and my favorite of all, funnel cake, until we were happily, exhaustively ill.

Above is the recipe, as well as a vegan version to the right... it's a pretty solid recipe, and was as good, if not better (read: FRESHER), than the real thing. I also made a strawberry, plum, and lime compote to go along with it. I just threw the fruit (about a cup?) in a pan, a teaspoon of sugar, and the juice of a whole lime and cooked it down, adding some whole, uncooked bits of strawberries at the end, to add a chunkier texture. I grated a bit of lime zest in there as well. You can see the whole album of making both here.

Please enjoy! xo kat

BLUEBERRY LEMON HANDPIES

I was pretty stoked on these.
I used 4 cups of flour one teaspoon of salt one stick of butter and a half cup of crisco for the crust.
Aren't they darlin'?

Outsides
4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 c butter, one stick cold
1/2 c crisco
1/4 cup ice cold H2O ( may not use all of it)

Insides
2 cups of blueberries (I did not measure, actually...more like a mess of blueberries)
1/2 cup of sugar
1-1/2 tsp cornstarch
juice of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest

In a food processor or kitchen aid or a bowl with a dough cutter, Combine dry ingredients for crusts, add the fats, cut em in or process em until they are around pea sized. Start adding cold water a tblsp at a time until the dough keeps a shape when you sqeeze it. Ok, step away now! Wrap in plastic and chill for one hour. (The dough I mean, you can chill too if you are not busy- or you can make the filling!)
Heat in a large pot the berries, lemon juice, zest, sugar and cornstarch until stuff starts to break down and jellify a bit. Let cool.
Roll out yer dough.
Use a small plate to make circles of dough. Re-use scraps as you go. Fill the centers of your dough circles with like 2 tblsp of filling. Wet the rim of ONE side of the circle and fold it over. Now is the time to egg wash if you want them to brown nicely. (one egg whipped w 2 tsps of milk)
bake at 375 for like 20 minutes or until they look real good!

RICHARD AND LYNNE'S CINNAMON ROLL AND KLEINUR

Finally posted!! Sorry it took so long. I am all over the Kleinur!!!!!! For step by step illustrated instructions, download the pdfs which are linked below.



Cinnamon Roll



Ömmu-kanelsnú∂ar (Granny's cinnamon rolls)
Adapted from Cool Cuisine by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, Vaka-Helgafell.
Richard Lewis, Dessert of the Month entry for May 2009


From my many visits to Iceland over the years, I've accumulated quite a number of Icelandic cookbooks. Unfortunately, most of them are not available outside of Iceland - like this one
(unless you want to buy the used copy up on Amazon at the moment for $50, which seems a bit much!). I've never actually seen these little rolled cinnamon shortbread-like cookies on my
travels, but they are great, and you probably won't find the recipe elsewhere...
700g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baker's ammonia
225g sugar
200g cold butter
2 eggs
50g melted butter
1 tbs cinnamon
cream
Mix the flour with the baking powder and baker's ammonia in a bowl. Add 150g of the sugar
and mix. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and crumble it thoroughly into the dry ingredients
using a mixer.

Make a well in the middle of the crumbs and break the eggs into it. Gradually stir into the mixer
at low speed and knead until smooth. If the dough does not come together, add cold cream by
tablespoons. Remove from the bowl and form into a disk (you may need to knead it a little to get
all the dough bits to stick together) - wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 355°F. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it into a rectangle,
about 25 x 35 cm. The dough will be pretty firm, but you should be able to shape it pretty well.
Brush the dough with the melted butter.
Trim the edges of the dough so they are straight. Mix the remaining 75g of sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the dough.
Roll up the rectangle, starting at one of the long sides. I recommend using Silpat for these
cookies as it makes it easier to roll the dough.
Cut the roll into 1 cm thick slices and arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment
paper.
Bake the rolls in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes or until nicely brown and crisp. Enjoy!











Kleinur


Kleinur (Icelandic doughnuts)
Adapted from Icelandic Food & Cookery by Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir, Hippocrene Books.
Richard Lewis, Dessert of the Month entry for May 2009
There are variations on this theme around Scandinavia, but here is how to make the Icelandic
version. This recipe tends to make kleinur that are a little more crisp and less dough-y than other
versions, which I like. You can get them pretty much all over in Iceland, even at the airport. I've
never seen them anywhere in the USA, though...


2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baker's ammonia (use a mix of baking soda and baking powder if you don't have it)
Pinch of salt
6 tbs butter
2 eggs
1 tsp freshly ground cardamom
1/4 cup buttermilk (you may not use all of it)
oil for frying
Grinding fresh cardamom makes a difference! I love my mortar and pestle - it gets a lot of use for grinding spices. Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, baker's ammonia, and salt in a bowl. Add the butter and stir until
combined. Add eggs and flavoring and mix well.
Add the buttermilk little by little until the dough is fairly soft, but not sticky. If the dough gets too wet, don't panic - just add flour until it all comes back together.
The dough is pretty forgiving.
Flour a flat surface, take the dough out of the bowl, and roll it out to around 1/8 to 1/6 inch thickness.Don't sweat it too much over the shape - you're going to end up trimming off pieces and re-
rolling this out several times with dough scraps.
Trim off one edge of the dough so that you have a straight side.Use a bench scraper or some other long straight edge to mark out parallel lines roughly 1 1/2
inches apart. Now would be a good time to start heating the oil for frying - a good sized wok works great as the vessel for frying.
Mark off diagonal lines that are spaced out about 3 inches apart.Once you have the whole surface of the dough marked off, go ahead and cut through the dough
fully to make lots of little diamonds. Make a little slit in the center of each diamond, and pull one end of the dough through the center slit.I make all of the diamonds first, and place them on lightly-floured baking sheets. Take all the
scraps from the first set of diamonds, roll it out again, and repeat until you've used up basically all the dough. They recommend getting the oil to 375°F. I usually just wing it, and try a small bit of dough in
the oil to figure out if it's at frying temperature (it'll start sizzling and turning brown when it's hot
enough). Fry the bows, 6 at a time in the oil until just golden, about 2 minutes.
Use a slotted spoon to turn them over once for even cooking. Cook them a bit less on the other side. Use the spoon to remove the bows from the oil, and let them cool and drain on paper towel. Technically, that is it - but I like to dust them with a little powdered sugar just before eating,
even though it's not traditional. Wait until they are cool so the heat and steam don't make the sugar gummy).
Dunking in coffee also works well!

June DOTMC: Strawberry Rhubarb Crema Catalana

These days I’m super into using the best ingredients I can find. For this recipe I wanted to use the fruit from my CSA and fresh raw dairy from my dairy club. I’m also trying not to use refined sugar or corn starch wherever possible so I thought I’d give this a go. This is a traditional Catalan dessert made slightly modern through the use of ingredients as it is usually made with sugar, corn or potato starch and no fruit. Play around with it and fee free to borrow my cast iron caramelizing tool!

5 stalks fresh rhubarb
1 ½ t. butter
1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup honey

Slice and sautee the rhubarb in butter until soft, approximately 4-5 minutes. Combine with strawberries in a large bowl, refrigerate.

2 cups milk
4 tablespoons honey (more to taste if you wish)
seeds of 1 vanilla bean
4 egg yolks
1 T kuzu powder
2 T maple crystals

Pour milk into pan, add 2 T honey, the vanilla bean seeds and bring to a simmer and remove from the heat.
While the milk is heating, beat the egg yolks, 2 T honey and the kuzu. Gradually stir in the hot milk and then return the mixture to the pan. Bring back to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes or until thickened to the consistency of soft pudding. Strain out the vanilla seeds and pour into a serving dish or 4 individual serving dishes, add 2 T of the strawberry-rhubarb mixture to the middle of the custard, let cool, then refrigerate for at least an hour (will be fine covered with plastic for up to a day.) Just before serving, sprinkle maple crystals on top and using either a kitchen torch or cast iron tool specifically for this purpose, burn the crystals to caramelize.

Serves 4

SPEAKING OF SUMMER! RASPBERRY BUTTERMILK CAKE and BANANA PUDDING ICE CREAM

I'm such a dud I totally forgot to post two rad summer desserts I made recently! The Raspberry Buttermilk cake from a recent Gourmet issue and Banana Pudding ice cream!

ARE YOU READY FOR THE SUMMER??

I had this dessert at Ipanema in Rchmond VA. It is vegan poached pear with pecans and a shortbread tart in a caramel sauce. We attacked it, needless to say.
This month we have Richard and Lynne's double dessert whammy that will be posted up here soon. Next up is Molly Neuman! In the mean time.....
Let's get some summer pies up here people!

CHOCOLATE WALNUT PIE

Last night I made this Chocolate Walnut pie, inspired by the Pecan pie in The Gift Of Southern Cooking. It was during this pie making session that I realized my new oven is about 100 degrees off! (Also the racks were in there upside down??) Oh, hurdles of NYC baking....
I am not usually a nut pie person but something about the chill in the air last night brought this pie into my consciousness. That and the pound of walnuts in my bakehouse.
I have no recipe to go along with this as I am not at home right now but I can urge you to go find a copy of The Gift Of Southern Cooking. It's magical.

DOUBLE DESSERTS

We have two Desserts Of the Month to feature today. The first is Molly Schnick's whose month was a while back but I misplaced it. Luckily it resurfaced!!
For those of you who don't know Molly's Snickerdoodles, which I prefer to call Schnickerdoodles, are the best version I have ever tasted. In other words DON'T SLEEP.





















The next DOTM, is APRIL and comes to us from Jodi, our Vegan Queen! I love love love a good quick cake recipe! This one looks moist and flavorful and I plan on making it for sure. It looks like the kind of cake you can build a tea party around!
Thanks Ladies!!!!

KING CARROT CAKE

For Easter Feaster (thanks to Kat for the moniker) this year I made the Ginger Carrot Cake that was featured in MSL's April 1999 issue. It was a long time candying those carrots but it looked spectacular and tasted even better. I moistened the layers with the carrot infused syrup. I felt very proud of this cake and I took many photos of it, it sort of hypnotized me.