Caramel Apple Pie

Note: Let me apologize for this picture, I was lucky to snack anything to get a picture before this was devoured by O and a few friends! I will try to get a better picture when I make this again in the coming weeks.

This is Owen’s favorite apple pie. I originally found it on Allrecipes as Grandma
Opies Apple pie. I have made some changes over the years to suit out tastes more, and now it is the most requested apple pie I make, the main change I made is the addition of cinnamon - it isn't a true apple pie around here unless there is cinnamon.


Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
8 apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I like to use a slightly tart, baking apple)
Pastry dough for a double crust 9 inch pie



Directions:
1. Roll out the bottom crust of the pie and place in the pie plate.
2. Pile the apple slices into the pie crust, you want them so they mound slightly in the middle.
3. In a pot on the stove, melt the butter. Mix in the flour so that it forms a paste.
4. To the butter ‘paste’ add the sugars and water. Mix well and bring to a simmer until it thickens.
5. Add the cinnamon to the butter sugar mixture and pour over the apples in the pie crust.
6. Roll out and add the top crust (we use a full top crust with slits cut in it, but a lattice top works nicely as well if you like less crust).
7. Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F and continue to cook for about 35 minutes.

Note: This pie freezes well. Just wrap in tinfoil and place in the freezer after step 6. When baking it, don’t let it thaw, pop it right into the oven and add an extra 20 to 30 minutes to the cook time.

Reviews:
This pie always gets great reviews, and is always requested when I ask if I should make an apple pie.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

A friend sent me the link to these buns and said they were great when I was looking for a good pumpkin cinnamon bun recipe. I decided to try it, but do to my family's dislike of fruit in their cinnamon buns I made a few alterations. I was pretty confident they would be good, as I have never had a problem with any recipe from King Arthur Flour!


Dough
1 cup canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons to 1/4 cup lukewarm water*
1/4 cup soft butter
2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup skim dry milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, optional
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons yeast
*Adjust the amount of water by the time of year or your climate. For summer, or in a humid environment, use the lesser amount of water. In winter, or in a dry climate, use the greater amount. It's always best to start with the lesser amount; you can add more as needed.
Filling
1.4 cup butter, melted
¾ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon

Directions
1. Mix all of the dough ingredients together and knead into a soft, smooth dough.
2. Let rise for 1 ½ hours (almost doubled) in a greased, covered bowl.
3. Place the dough an a lightly floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle (about 14” by 22”)
4. Spread the melted butter on the rectangle, leaving one edge free for sealing.
5. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, and spread over the melted butter.
6. Roll the dough so that it forms a log that is about 22” long.
7. Slice the roll into 12 equal pieces and set each piece swirl up in a greased baking dish.
8. Cover the dish and let the rolls rise in a warm area for about an hour, until the rolls are puffy.
9. Bake the rolls at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes.

Reviews:
These smelled fantastic, and they must have been good, as the all seemed to disappear. The should be stored in an airtight container if you want them to keep very long, as I was told they were a little dry the second day. This could also be easily remedied (and make the buns a little more decadent) by adding some cream cheese icing as well.

Pumpkin Cream cheese Cookies

I like pumpkin, but pumpkin pie just doesn’t do it for me. I don’t know why, I like pumpkin pie, but it isn’t my favorite thing – however I am a fan of pumpkin cheesecake. So when I came across a pumpkin cookie with a cream cheese icing I was sold. It was also great as I needed some snacks to have around the house thanksgiving weekend. I found the recipe when I was checking out the new recipe sight Tasty Kitchen and decided to try it (with a few adaptations).

Ingredients:
For Creme Pies
1 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup Pumpkin (15 Oz.)
½ cup Vegetable Oil
1 whole Eggs
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
½ Tablespoon Cinnamon
¼ teaspoon Ground Ginger
¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
1/8 teaspoons Ground Cloves

Cream Cheese Filling
½ a brick of cream cheese (softened – room temperature)
¼ cup room temperature butter
2 cups icing sugar (powdered sugar)
½ tsp vanilla
2 dash(es) Cinnamon
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cookies:
1. Beat together brown sugar, sugar, oil and pumpkin. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition, followed by the vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, powder, and spices.
3. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
4. Using a pastry bag with a round tip, or a big zip top plastic bag with one corner snipped, squeeze out concentric circles of batter, starting from the middle and working outward until the circles are about 2 inches in diameter.

5. Bake until firm - about 11 minutes. Let cool on a rack before assembling.
Cream Cheese Filling:
1. Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and cinnamon.
2. Frost flat side of half the pies and top with another piece.

Enjoy right away, or chill overnight. These keep very nicely in the fridge for at least a few days.

Notes: I used a 96star tip and this made a great thickness of a cookie and nice swirls on the top, however I ended up with some aweful hand cramps from trying to pipe these out. I ended up with about 15 to 20 cookies once assembled.

Reviews:
This cookies were amazingly tasty and started disappearing before I even had them all assembled. They didn’t last long, and it was hard to get your hands on one the next day.
My family is a fan of anything that gives them an excuse to eat cream cheese frosting and they started stealing pre-assembled cookies and heaping on the cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

My father’s creations looked a lot like a heap of icing with a little cookie!