Delicious Glazed Apple Cookies

I still had have apples from when I went apple picking with my Mom, and since I don't want them all to go to waste, I decided to make some cookies this weekend. Cookies are a great choice when you want to bake but don't want get get into anything too involved. They are small enough to share with many people and transport easily, and they keep well too.

A Google search for "apple cookies" brought me to this recipe at Allrecipes which has never done me wrong. I knew between the great recipes on that site combined with the high review this one got that I was in luck. I also had all the ingredients- always a great sign! After 2 small substitutions and one omission (only because I forgot to add the milk... oops!), here's how it went.


Ingredients

Cookies:

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 Cup butter

1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 cups sifted whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup apples - peeled, cored and finely

diced

1 cup raisins

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 tablespoons milk (I used soy)

In a large bowl, mix together shortening, butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add egg and beat until thoroughly combined, scraping the sides of the bowl.

Mix remaining dry ingredients together and set aside. I made a face. That part is optional but highly encouraged.

Stir in half of the dry ingredients with the butter/sugar mixture. Mix well. Add apples and raisins and mix until combined. Finally, add remaining dry ingredients. Again, mix well.

Drop dough from a tablespoon onto a cookie sheet, about 1- 1 1/2" apart and bake at 400 degrees for 10-13 minutes.

While the cookies bake, make the glaze by combining all ingredients in a bowl and mixing well. Add the milk gradually, using only as much as is needed to create a glaze (drippy) consistency. Drizzle over warm cookies.

Happy baking!

Apple Tart

October is was apple picking time! I went to an apple orchard with my Mom this year and got some really wonderful Golden Delicious apples, which are one of my favorites. Since we're having this fantastic Indian Summer, I haven't baked as much as I normally would this time of year. Once the snow starts, I'm sure I'll have a LOT more recipes to share!

I got this recipe out of the cookbook that came with my Kitchen Aid mixer. I think it turned out really good, with slightly crisp apples and a nice flavor, but wasn't a huge fan of the crust. It was a bit doughy/glutinous for my liking, but I'm thinking using butter instead of shortening might remedy that. I got thumbs up from everyone else, so if you give this one a try, let me know what you think!

Ingredients

Crust
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening, well chilled
2 Tbs butter, well chilled
5-6 Tbs very cold ice water

Filling

2 1/2 lbs (about 6) apples (I used Golden Delicious), thinly sliced

2 Tbs lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Start by making your crust. To begin, Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut shortening into small pieces and mix in with a pastry blender until the shortening pieces are the size of small peas. Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, and mix with a fork (from the middle, outwards) until the mixture is moistened and can be formed into a ball. (Don't use to much water or over mix. The crust should be flaky- not doughy!

Split the dough in half. Flatten each half into a patty and wrap in saran wrap. Chill for at least 15 minutes.

Once the filling is done, you may roll out this crust and use it. If you use this recipe for a pie, you will probably need to cook it alone first. Consult the recipe you are following.

In a large bowl, toss together apples, sugar and lemon juice. Set aside.

(The lemon juice helps the apples to not turn brown.)

Add all remaining ingredients to a mixer bowl. Mix until crumbly, about 2 minutes on medium speed.

Roll your pie crust out to a 13" circle and transfer to a baking sheet.

Pile your apple mixture onto the center of the crust and sprinkle with brown sugar mixture. I used WAY more apples than the recipe called for, so my tart was a bit bulging at the seams. It was a real fatty.

Fold the sides of the crust up and over to create your tart. Pinch/crimp as desired.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool for at least 10 minutes before enjoying.

I had quite a bit of dough left, so I made mini-apple pies using a muffin tin. I used an old 1 Cup measuring cup to cut perfect circles and used those for the bottom and top crusts. I baked at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes and man were they good!

Happy Fall Baking!

Featured Ingredient: Rhubarb!

Rhubarb in my garden

Rhubarb is one of the first plants that springs up in my yard each year which makes me excited for several reasons. To begin, the rhubarb I have was Marge's and has been growing there for years, so I think of her each time I finally see it sprouting up. Secondly, it's a sure sign spring has arrived/is arriving/came and left but will return again soon (it's hard to tell for sure in Chicago). Lastly, rhubarb means I can finally get back to walking out to my garden for ingredients! (I also grew up on my Grandma's strawberry rhubarb pies, so I've loved this stuff for a long time.)



Check out these other rhubarb recipes I've tried:

Strawberry-rhubarb pie
Strawberry Rhubarb crumb bars
Rhubarb Cobbler

"What's so great about rhubarb?", you ask? Pft. Where do I start?

Rhubarb is a large and leafy plant with tart, edible stalks. The flavor gives a wonderful balance to strawberry or cherry desserts and has a consistancy similar to that of celery. One cup holds only 26 calories, but has 2 g fiber, 10% DV calcium and 16% DV Vitamin C. You can do worse with dessert ingredients in those fields, am I right? (Hint: I'm always right! haha)

*Don't forget that the leaves are poisonous, so make sure you're only eating the stalk of the plant.*
*Unless you are a member of Steely Dan. Then eat the leaves.*

I kid, I kid!



Today's recipe is an extremely easy and fast way to dress up some vanilla ice cream, frozen yogurt or a great dairy-free vanilla "ice cream". You can experiment by mixing it up by using other berries, too. Because this taste a lot like pie filling (yum) I plan to try this with blueberries and peaches at some point. The strawberry rhubarb mixture was amazingly delicious though, so I'm definitely doing that one again this summer! I plan to try a more innovative recipe with the rhubarb soon, such as a chutney, but wanted to get started using it now.

This recipe came from the Martha Stewart site.


Ingredients
(Everything I used was organic. Yum!)

Frozen Yogurt or Icecream
1 lb strawberries, hulled and quartered
2 Cups rhubarb (2 stalks) cut into 1/2" pieces
1/2 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup water

Hull and quarter strawberries, and cut rhubarb into 1/2" pieces.

Put all ingredients (except the ice cream, of course!) into a large sauce pan and set on high heat.

Once the water starts to simmer, continue cooking on high heat for 8 minutes, or until the rhubarb begins to break down, stirring occasionally.

Let cool and then refrigerate for at least one hour. The longer you wait, the thicker this topping will get. I debated using cornstarch as an emulsifier since it seemed a bit watery, but I definitely didn't need to, so I'm glad I opted against it! (The good old, "Should I try to fix it just in case something goes wrong?" conundrum.)

Serve over ice cream and enjoy! This is a PERFECT summer dessert treat.

Happy Eating!

Lemon-Glazed Cheesecake

When I come across a recipe on the web that looks like something I want to make but don't plan on doing anything with it in the next few days, I e-mail the link to myself. This means that I have dozens of e-mails from myself, to myself, all with random links to fantastic sounding recipes. The problem is, I don't go through them enough and really need to remedy that, because there are some really, really good ones just waiting to be tried! This is a recipe I e-mailed to myself back in December (not bad, considering my track record) and I didn't run across it in my e-mail, but while I was looking for a new recipe to try for Easter dinner.

My inner dialogue last week went as follows:

"I need to try a new recipe... hm. Cookies? Yes! Orange Madelines. Eh, maybe. Ooooh, this recipe looks great! Lemon-gazed cheesecake? A lemon dessert would be perfect and cheesecake is my favorite! Ha- look at that. 1st comment on this blog is from BeadEclectic. I guess this one was meant to be."

You can find the original recipe here, but I did make one substitution and slightly adjusted the cooking time and temp. My favorite cheesecakes almost always use sweetened condensed milk and this didn't call for any. There's something about the flavor, almost a tanginess, that just makes the cake. Soooo, I took out the sugar and added a can of it. I was nervous, but it turned out fine. Great even. Man, do I love me some cheesecake!

Ingredients

Crust

2 1/4 cups honey graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup butter, melted

Filling

3 8oz packages cream cheese, softened

14 oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

4 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 heaping Tablespoon grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Glaze

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

2 Tablespoons grated lemon peel

6 Tablespoons butter

Pre-heat oven to 350.

While the butter is melting for your crust, crush the grahams into smithereens. I put them in a large plastic bag and punch the hell out of them. I'm sure there's a slightly less violent way, but what's better than taking out your aggressions on some unexpecting crackers? Once they're crushed up, add the sugar and butter and mix thoroughly with a fork. (The tines come in handy if you need to break up any pesky cracker pieces that survived the initial beating.) Press the crust along the bottom and partially up the sides of a 9" spring form pan. 

Now, bake the crust at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on your stove burners or a wire rack to cool a bit while you prepare the filling.

 

Using your mixer, beat the cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk together until thoroughly blended and smooth. Under beating the filling will lead to a denser cake, so don't under do it!

Add eggs and beat on low until combined. Finally, add the lemon peel, lemon zest and vanilla. Beat on low until just combined.

 

Pour the filling into the graham crust and bake at 325 for about 50 minutes. The cake will be jiggly (like jello), which is normal. You don't want to over bake it.

After the cake is ready, remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Run a butter knife along the edges of the cake, to make sure nothing is sticking. Cool for at least another hour and refrigerate overnight, covered.

The filling can be prepared the next day, but I made it while the cake was cooking. I wanted to glaze the cake before it sat overnight, though the original recipe called for glazing it right before serving. "My" way worked out just great!

To make the glaze, whisk the eggs, sugar, lemon juice and lemon rind together in a small sauce pan. Add butter and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the glazed has thickened a bit and will coat the back of a spoon (approx. 5 minutes).  The glaze will further thicken as it cools, so wait about an hour before glazing your cake.

The remaining glaze is to serve along side the cake. Use leftovers in any way you would use lemon curd! Toast and ice cream are two things I plan to use my leftovers on.

This cake is a wonderful springtime dessert, and a great way to end an Easter meal. Unfortunately, I was too full from dinner (that potato casserole was worth every bit of pain it brought on!) so I only tried a bite of this cake when we all ate together. I did have a piece for dinner last night through! (And tonight, too. I hope my pants fit next week...)

Do you have a favorite cheesecake recipe? What's your favorite flavor/topping?

Happy eating!

Lemon, Poppy Seed and Rosemary Muffins

It might be because it is finally warming up and this stupid snow is finally melting, but I'm feeling spring creeping up around the corner! That could be part of the reason that my most recent obsession has been lemon poppy seed muffins. The cafe around the corner from my work has the best muffins, and lately these have been an option other than their usual raspberry or blueberry. (I have no comment on the banana ones, because bananas=gross!) I'm eating them just about daily, so I figured it was time I tried making some from scratch!


Surprisingly, there aren't a whole lot of recipes for these that I found, and many got bad reviews. The one I used from Joy the Baker had some people raving, so I decided to give it a shot. I do like them quite a bit, but think I'll try the using buttermilk in them next time, instead of the sour cream. My only real issue was that they tasted nothing like the yummy ones I enjoy for breakfast, and I'm a bit obsessed with recreating those. In the mean time, these are (and always will be) a different but delicious alternative!

You can find the original recipe here (along with a link to a printable copy!).

Ingredients
*The original recipe calls for a glaze, but I prefer mine plain. Check out the link above for those instructions.

2/3 Cup granulated sugar
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 Cup buttermilk or sour cream ( I used light sour cream)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) butter, melted until browned and cooled
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 Tbs rosemary (My addition, not called for in the original recipe)
2 Tbsp granulated sugar


Line a 12 cup muffin tin and preheat your oven to 400 degrees, with a rack in the center. The recipe calls for putting the muffin tin on a baking sheet (which I did) and I'm not sure why. I've made lots of muffins and not done this before, so next time I make these I'm going to omit this step. It's your call though!

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together until well mixed. (It will smell heavenly!) Next, whisk in the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Set aside.

Melt the stick of butter until browned. When browning butter, I find it helpful to occasionally stir it with a spoon or spatula, or gently swirl the pot around so it doesn't get too foamy. Once ready, it will be dark and smell a bit nutty. I always tend to burn mine a bit, only because I prefer the flavor. (Man oh man, do I love butter!) It's very easy to over brown it, so keep a close eye on the stove. Set aside to cool.

In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermillk/sourcream, vanilla and lemon juice. Once the butter has cooled, slowly whisk it in. (If the butter is hot, you might end up just cooking the eggs a bit, and that is most definitely not the goal here!)

Now, pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold together. I reversed this step and mixed the dry into the wet, only because I have better luck doing it in this order. Folding is more gentle than mixing, and helps control the gluten from over developing. Here's one of many helpful links that explain it! I over mixed mine just a bit, and the consistency quickly turned very doughy (think bread dough). Be careful to not over mix!

Once you are almost done combining the wet and dry ingredients, add the poppy seeds and rosemary.

Fill muffin cups with batter and lightly sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees. My oven is sort of whimpy sometimes, so I baked these bad boys for over 20 minutes, while the original recipe calls for 15-18. Adjust based on your oven, since none are alike, just like snowflakes.

These tasty little guys will be golden on top and let a wooden toothpick out clean when they're ready. Allow to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, then move to a wire rack.

Enjoy!