Cranberry-Applesauce with Candied Ginger

For Cran-Applesauce:
1 12 oz bag cranberries
1 lb apples, cored, peeled and chopped
1 cup sugar (taste, and add more if necessary)
1 cup apple cider
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 cinnamon stick
1/3 cup (about 2 ounces) minced crystallized ginger

Combine apples, cranberries, sugar, apple cider, cinnamon stick, and lemon zest in medium sauce pot.

Cook over medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until apples have softened and cranberries burst open, stirring frequently.

Discard the cinnamon stick & add more sugar to taste if too tart. Stir in chopped candied ginger.

Dulce de Leche Empanadas

I love dulce de leche. I love ice cream. I love apples. I figured they can only be more delicious when combined (sort of a holy triad, if you will). I felt what some might describe as inappropriate joy upon eating these gooey, creamy and sweet creations...*content sigh*.

Maybe these are better described as turnovers, but as I am using frozen empanada wrappers (not as homemade, I know, but it saves SO much time, I highly recommend them in a pinch) to create empanadas de dulce de leche con manzanas y una bola de helado: dulce de leche and apple empandas with good old fashioned vanilla ice cream.

To make 10 empanadas:
1 pack frozen Goya empanada shells
5 small to medium sized apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup dulce de leche
Vanilla ice cream

Defrost empanada shells in fridge until ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 400.

Slice apples into 8ths and then once again horizontally. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon over apples and add lemon juice. Stir mixture.

Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add apples and stir until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Use a rolling pin to flatten empanada shells, one by one. Add about 1/2 of an apple to shell and a scoop of dulce de leche (a bit less than a tablespoon).

Fold dough over and pinch shut. Use a fork to create ridges along edge of dough. Sprinkle remaining cinnamon and brown sugar over the empanadas.

Bake empanadas for about 20 minutes or until slightly golden brown.





Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Autumn Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

I woke up today with that feeling-you know, when you are tired and kind of achy, and just know that a not fun few days are coming? As swine flu is all the rage these days (so to speak) and all universities are deathly afraid of students spreading the illness I really cannot afford to get sick. In Massachusetts they are not even testing for it anymore, you get a fever, you get a week quarantine, no ifs, ands or buts. So I am fighting back with a vitamin and mineral-rich soup, lots of water and a Law and Order marathon (I cannot really be expected to study under duress, can I ?).

My butternut squash and apple soup recipe could be filed under Soup For Dummies (although one could argue that it's actually smarter to pick a time saving recipe such as this one!). After many instances of dicing onion, peeling apples and slicing my squash into even pieces like a good girl, one day I said &^*$ it and just threw in pre-cut squash, baby carrots, apple chunks and onion cut into quarters into a soup pot. Honestly, it really did not make a noticiable difference in the resulting flavor. So for those who don't have much time or patience, voila! here is the perfect recipe for you!

Ingredients:
3 cups butternut squash, cut into chunks (I bought mine at Trader Joe's)
2 apples, cored
1 cup carrots
1 onion, peel removed and onion cut into quarters
2 cups chicken stock
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter

Melt butter in a medium to large stew pot over medium high heat. Add butternut squash, carrots and onion to pot and let saute 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent from sticking/burning.

Add apples, white pepper, cinnamon and chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and cook 45 minutes.

Remove from heat, puree soup in batches.

Serve with toasted bread (good for dipping in soup!)

Note: you can freeze soup and it reheats perfectly for another meal.

Apple Squares

For Pastry Crust:

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 cup full fat sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla


For Apple Filling:

2 lbs apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar (if apples are on the tart side, use 1/3 cup)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For Frosting:

1/4 cup milk (estimated)
1/2 cup powdered sugar (estimated)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut butter into small 1/4 inch thick pieces and place in freezer ten minutes.

Stir together flour, sugar, and baking powder. Using your hands, mix in butter pieces until the mixture feels like coarse meal.

Beat together eggs, sour cream, and vanilla and add to flour mixture. Mix well.

Spread half of the batter into greased 9 by 9 baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until crust is lightly golden. Let cool to room temperature.

While crust is baking, toss apples with lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.

Spread apple mixture over crust. Carefully use a spoon to cover apples with remaining batter.

Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes. Remove from oven.

Mix together powdered sugar with milk. It should look thin but not very runny. Add more milk or sugar to adjust consistency. Drizzle over cooked dessert.

Let cool and slice into squares. Served best at room temperature.

Slovenian Apple Strudel

Apple strudel from Slovenia-štruklji-is not your average store-bought strudel. The dough is pulled and pulled on a floured cloth until it is paper thin; it is then coated with apples, cracker crumbs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. It is then rolled up and baked. It takes time and patience, but when it comes out of the oven....magic! The following is my grandmother's recipe, with a few minor tweaks. She inspected the process, and then proceeded to take 1/2 of it home with her, so I assume the strudel was a success.

Ingredients:
2 eggs (room temperature)
8 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup warm water

Apple Filling:
2 quarts of thinly sliced apples (sorry I had written 1 quart before-wrongly!)
2 sticks of melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 graham crackers, crushed into crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 F

Mix together egg, oil and salt until well combined. Alternate adding flour and water until combined. Mix until smooth then kneed for 15 min. Place finished dough in slightly warmed oven for 1/2 hour, covered with floured cloth. Clear off large table surface and place clean floured cotton cloth over top of table. Start stretching dough slowly in circular motion. Check to see that dough is not sticking to cloth-if it it, add more flour. Place your hand palm-side up underneath dough and slowly, patiently pull towards you (it is almost like the dough is sliding off of your hand). Continue pulling from all directions until stretched large without holes. It should be about newspaper thin and translucent if you are somehow amazingly gifted at this. Mine had spots like this, a few holes and some thicker ones. C'est la vie. The warmth from your hand makes the dough more pliable, so if it is hard to pull the dough, try to soften it a bit with your hands.

Drizzle butter over stretched dough until covered. Place filling evenly over dough, leaving one end with about 3 inches bare. Drizzle more butter over ingredients. Hold cloth at filling end and slowly help dough roll over itself evenly. Pinch ends shut to prevent filling leakage. Place in buttered 9x13 inch buttered pan in three strips to fit pan lengthwise or in S shape without cutting. Bake for 1 hour, basting with remaining butter often. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Caramel Apple Puffed Pancake

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, set oven rack in the middle of the oven.

For Apple Filling:
3 medium apples
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Peel apples and slice into thin pieces. Toss with vanilla, cinnamon, lemon juice and brown sugar. Melt butter over medium heat in saucepan. Add apple mixture and cook about 5 minutes, or until apples have softened.

For Pancake:
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon butter

Place 8 inch round pie pan in oven.

Using mixer, beat eggs, milk, flour and sugar together in medium bowl.

Melt tablespoon butter in pie pan. Pour pancake batter into pan. Scoop apple mixture over pancake. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until top is golden and puffy.

Rose Levy Beranbaum's Designer Apple Pie

I made this for my boyfriend to share with his business school group. When I asked him how they liked it, he told me that he ate the whole pie himself.

Open-Faced Designer Apple Pie Recipe (slightly adapted) from: The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Ingredients:
1 recipe Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust for 9-inch lattice pie
1 egg white, lightly beaten
2 1/2 lbs. apples; (about 6), peeled, cored, and sliced 1/8-inch (should equal 8 cups)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Make the dough. Remove one piece of dough from refrigerator. If necessary, allow it to sit for about 10 minutes until it is soft enough to roll. On floured pastry cloth or between 2 sheets of lightly floured plastic wrap, roll pastry 1/8 inch thick or less and large enough to cut 12-inch circle. Use expandable flan ring or cardboard template as guide and sharp knife to cut out circle. Transfer it to the pie plate. Trim the edge if necessary so that it extends 1/4 inch past edge of pie plate. Cover the pastry lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for minimum of 1 hour and maximum of 24 hours. Roll out the second piece of dough 1/8 inch thick and cut about twenty-six 2 1/2-inch leaves, using cutter or small sharp knife. Use small sharp knife to make veins. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees for at least 20 minutes before baking. Line the pastry with parchment, pleating it as necessary so it fits into the pan, and fill it with dried beans or peas. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully lift out the beans with parchment. With fork, prick the bottom and sides and bake 5-10 minutes more or until crust is pale golden. Check after 3 minutes and prick any bubbles that may have formed. Cool the crust on a rack 3 minutes, so it is no longer piping hot, then brush the bottom and sides with lightly beaten egg white.

In large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice, sugars, cinnamon, and salt; toss to mix. Allow the apples to macerate for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours at room temperature.Transfer the apples and their juices to colander over a bowl to capture the liquid. The mixture will release at least 1/2 cup of liquid. Over medium heat, boil down liquid with butter until syrupy and lightly caramelized. Swirl liquid but do not stir it. I like to add 1 additional tablespoon brown sugar and butter to increase the amount of syrup. Meanwhile, transfer the apples to a bowl and toss them with the cornstarch until all traces of it have disappeared. Pour 1/2 of the hot syrup over the apples, tossing gently. (If liquid hardens on contact with apples, allow them to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes or until moisture from apples dissolves it.) Arrange the apples, overlapping the slices in concentric circles in the pie shell, starting from the outside edge. Keep adding more apples, using the tip of a knife to help insert them in between the other slices, until you have used all the slices. Pour any remaining apple juices evenly over the apples. Brush the baked pie crust rim with egg. Brush the bottom of each leaf with egg and place the leaves on the border, tilting them and overlapping them slightly. Brush the top of the leaves with egg. Cover the pie loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes before baking to chill the pastry . This will maintain flakiness.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F for at least 20 minutes before baking. Set an oven rack at lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating. Place large piece of greased foil on top to catch any juices. Set the pie directly on foil-topped baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Cut a round of foil to fit over the apples and the edge of the crust and crimp it in 3 or 4 places to create dome. Cover pie with the foil and cut 3 steam vents in the foil, about 3 inches long. Continue baking for 45 to 50 minutes or until the juices bubble and apples feel tender but not mushy when pierced with a cake tester or small sharp knife. Remove the foil and pour the remaining syrup over apples. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes more or until the top of apples is golden brown. Remove pie to a rack.

Serve warm or at room temperature